by Zack Zombie
However, the moment she did, the man inside let out a colossal noise. “Ho, ho, ho! Who are you, little girl?!!”
It seemed this Santa fella was one of the loudest people I have ever met.
Suddenly, the Wither turned around and bounded back towards the prison. As soon as Piglet saw it coming, he darted down one of the corridors, but Lucy was slower to react and tripped and fell in front of the prison. The Wither loomed over her.
I had no time to lose. Lucy was in serious danger. I ran to the prison and jumped to her side.
“Stop!” I cried, throwing myself between Lucy and the Wither. “She is from the human world. She means no harm. The fat, jolly man in the red suit you’ve captured means a lot to the people of her world. We want to get him out of this prison and return him home!”
“Never!” snapped the middle head of the Wither. “Do you know what this Santa guy has done to me? All my life he has forgotten about me, bringing me nothing but terrible presents while my brothers got the best presents every single year.”
“You?!! I got the worst presents ever!” cried the Wither head on the left.
“You two don’t know the meaning of the word unfair,” the other Wither head on the right said. “Last year Santa brought me a sled, and I was forced to share it with you guys!”
Next thing we know the Wither heads were arguing amongst themselves.
“The reason you guys don’t get good presents is probably because you’re all so mean and nasty!” Lucy cried, climbing to her feet.
The Wither hissed with anger. “I’m as good as any other Wither!” the middle head growled.
“Not better than me!” the left Wither head yelled.
“Oh yeah? Well, I’m better than the both of you,” the right Wither head exclaimed.
Then the Wither’s started arguing again.
“Maybe if you guys weren’t so selfish,” Lucy replied, “maybe Santa would have brought you what you asked for.”
Lucy moved over to see if she could run, but by now the Wither was really mad.
It quickly swooped in front of Lucy, knocking her back. It loomed over her again, hissing and shaking. Then, the Wither shot through the roof of the Nether Fortress making a giant hole in the roof as it flew out.
It let out a loud high-pitched scream.
“EEEEEYYYYAAAAAEEEEEEE!!!!!!”
Its cry echoed across the whole of the Nether. It shook the lava in the river and more Nether bricks fell from the Fortress roof.
Gradually the echo faded away, but in its place came something far more terrifying. As I looked through the Fortress window, I could see on the horizon a mass of black mobs marching toward us.
I squinted to get a better look as they moved into focus. They were moving rapidly towards us. It appeared the Wither had called for reinforcements. Dozens of angry Wither Skeletons were on their way.
It seemed their mission was total destruction. And that included destroying me, Lucy, Santa and destroying Christmas once and for all!
Chapter 8
To the Rescue!
The Wither Skeleton army was advancing faster than I had expected. I looked to Piglet for help, but he was running away at top speed into the distance. It appeared he didn’t want to stick around for the fight. So it was going to be up to me and Lucy to save Santa, and save Christmas for all of the people in her world. However, if we were going to defeat a Wither Skeleton army, I knew we’d need an army of our own.
“Stay here!” I cried to Lucy as she stood there with her mouth open.
“Stay here? Where are you going?”
“I have to go back!”
“Back where?”
“Back though the portal. We need an army to defeat these Withers.”
“Do you know someone in the army or something?” Lucy asked.
“No. Something even better!”
With that, I took one last look at Lucy, gave her a smile of reassurance and then sprinted back across the Nether towards the portal as quickly as I could. As I ran I heard Lucy calling out my name in the distance. I felt terrible for leaving her, but I knew we had no other choice. If Santa and Christmas were going to be saved, this would be the only way to do it.
Soon, I couldn’t hear Lucy’s voice any longer. Part of me feared for her safety, yet I was hoping she and Santa could evade the Wither and his Wither Skeleton army long enough until I got back.
I looked straight in front of me. There it was. The portal was glowing with a purple haze. As I got to it, I closed my eyes and jumped through it.
I felt like I went into a spin as the portal sucked me through and spat me out in to the human world. I tumbled onto the floor in the library of the mysterious house. I knew where I needed to go. I just hoped I could get back to the Nether in time.
I sprinted through the front door, through the gate and stood in the dark passageway. I ran onto the street and then I ran all the way into town.
I made it all the way to the Mr. Windup’s toy shop. I ran around to the back of the store where the dumpster was. And there, right in front of me was exactly what I wanted.
Piled up in front of my eyes were one hundred, six foot tall robot soldiers. I grabbed the first one, stood it up and pushed the button on its back. Its eyes glowed red.
They still work!
I did the same with the next one, and the next. I kept going until the last of the 100 robot soldiers was standing in battle ready position. I was completely worn out, but I needed to head over to the portal as soon as possible to save Lucy, Santa and Christmas before it was too late.
When we made it to Herobrine’s Mansion and made a bee line straight for the portal. As soon as we were in front of it, I gave a final salute to my new army and we marched into the portal.
I dizzily re-emerged in the Nether, got to my feet and looked around. And behind me marched the one hundred robot soldiers. Their eyes glowed red and they were ready to follow me into battle.
I let out a war cry and sprinted towards the Nether Fortress in the distance. I led the army past the long lava river and past caverns until we made it to the Nether Fortress prison. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the Wither army was ready for us too!
My robot soldiers rammed into the Wither Skeletons at a colossal rate and the battle to save Christmas began!
It seemed my robot soldiers were a good match for the menacing Wither Skeletons. They hurled their thick arms at the mobs as the mobs hissed and pounced in retaliation. The red robot soldier’s eyes glowed brighter and then fired laser beams at our attackers. As each Wither was struck it exploded in a ball of light and disappeared.
I wanted to get to the prison to free Santa. If we could get him out while the battle was in full swing, we could take him to the portal and the Wither wouldn’t even notice.
“Herobrine!” Lucy cried as she crept out of her hiding place. “You came back! I kinda thought you were going to leave me here.”
“No way. I just needed to go back for a little help,” I said.
Lucy gave me a big smile. But then I remembered I had to save the jolly fat prisoner in the red suit.
“Let’s get Santa!” I shouted to Lucy over the noise of the fight.
We crawled along the ground, trying to evade the gaze of the Wither Skeletons, or of the Wither who was bouncing up and down in the air, shooting Wither skulls at my soldiers.
When we reached the prison door, we peered inside. Santa was by the door.
“Ho, ho, ho! And who are you my square friend?”
“No time to explain Santa. Just be ready to run as soon as I open the door,” I said.
I kinda felt bad for Santa. As chubby as he was, I knew he ran he wouldn’t get very far.
I took a deep breath and placed my hand on the door, but it was locked. I p
ulled as hard as I could, but it was no use.
“Herobrine, your eyes!” Lucy said.
What? Did she think I was crying or something?
“No, your eyes!” she said using two fingers pointing to her head.
My eyes? I touched my eyes to see what she was talking about. My eyes were burning hot. I think all the excitement must’ve activated them.
“Stand back Santa!” I said.
I focused my eyes as best as I could on the prison lock, and BLAM! White beams shot out of my eye sockets and blasted the door right off of its hinges.
As I went to get Santa, all of a sudden the Wither shot a Wither skull beside me that blasted me a few feet away, and knocked me to the ground.
A horrifying shadow loomed over me. I looked at the Wither as it hovered over me and I wondered if this was the end… Was this the end for me, the end for Lucy, the end for Santa, and the end of Christmas?
Chapter 9
Freeing Santa
I could see nothing but the massive Wither that towered over me preparing a Wither skull to hurl at me. As it unleashed its Wither skull blast, I thought it was all over. Suddenly, one of my robot soldiers jumped in front of me, and the Wither skull blasted the robot soldier into a million pieces.
I turned to look at Lucy, but to my surprise, she wasn’t there. In all the confusion I had totally lost sight of her.
Then, as the Wither seemed like it was about to end my existence with another Wither skull blast, I heard a noise coming from one of the Nether Fortress corridors. The Wither looked up. There, in front of the corridor entrance leading outside was Lucy. She was making noise to attract the Wither and it seemed to be working. It pounced toward Lucy. The Wither’s anger appeared to be intensifying as it sped towards Lucy as quickly as it could.
I whistled to two robot soldiers who were standing nearby. Lucy needed rescuing and fast.
They ran after the Wither as quickly as they could and managed to catch up just as it reached the corridor entrance that led out of the fortress.
Lucy ran for cover as a battle ensued in the entrance of the Nether Fortress between the Wither and the two robot soldiers. The Wither sent blast after blast that missed the soldiers but hit the Nether Fortress, shaking to its foundation. Then one of the blasts hit a robot soldier, blasting him through a wall and shaking the entire fortress, sending Nether bricks tumbling down.
Then, it blew the other robot soldier against the other side of the Nether Fortress. This time there was an even larger crash. The Nether Fortress was beginning to crumble as the Wither stood in the entrance and prepared to fly after Lucy.
While the robot soldiers were distracting the Wither, Santa and I made it out of the Nether Fortress. But after the Wither defeated the robot soldiers it went after Lucy. Lucy had no choice but to run back into the crumbling Nether Fortress.
As she ran in, the Wither flew quickly after her.
What is she thinking? Doesn’t she know this place is about to collapse!
But as she was running through the corridor, I could see her waving at me through the Fortress windows. She was pointing at her eyes again.
Are her eyes starting to hurt or something? I thought.
Then I figured out what she was trying to say. As crazy as it was, I realized that it just might work.
The Wither was getting closer and closer to Lucy as she ran to the other side of the corridor that also led outside.
As she was on her way out, I was concentrating my eyes on the biggest pillar that was barely holding up the entire Nether Fortress. My eyes started getting red hot and then smoke started coming out of my eye sockets.
As soon as Lucy made it outside she yelled.
“NOW!”
I released what I think was the most powerful eyebeams that have ever come out of my head.
“BLAAAAAAM!”
My eyebeams hit the pillar with so much force that it disintegrated. All of a sudden, the entire Nether Fortress came crashing down.
Before the Wither could escape, the fortress crashed down all around it, trapping it inside. And as the dust cleared I could still hear the Wither hissing with anger. It was trapped and had no way to escape.
With their master defeated, the few remaining Wither Skeletons ran to the Nether horizon as quickly as they had arrived.
Lucy ran to my side and she gave me a great big hug.
“We did it!” she said as she hugged me and Santa.
I was so happy I got up and started dancing.
“Oh yeah! We did it! We did it! We did it!” I said doing my Herobrine shuffle.
Then Lucy and Santa eventually joined in.
“Oh yeah! We did it! We did it! We did it!” they yelled as they joined in.
After our little celebration, the Nether became quiet. The only sound was the bubbling of the running lava that flowed through the molten rivers.
“Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!” Santa chuckled as his belly bounced up and down like a bowl full of jelly.
“Thank you Lucy and Herobrine for rescuing me. You’ve been a very good girl and very good…err…boy this year.”
“No problem, Santa,” I replied.
“Ho, ho, ho! Now, could one of you tell me the time, please? I have a busy night ahead of me and I don’t want to be late.”
“I don’t know,” Lucy said. “But it’s after dark.”
“After dark?” Santa panicked. “My goodness. I must get going. Can you show me the way back to the human world so I can find my sleigh? It’s Christmas Eve, you know, and I have things to do!”
Lucy and I laughed and led Santa back to the portal.
“What is this contraption?” Santa asked.
“It’s a portal,” I replied. “The Wither brought you to the Nether through it. It’s the only way back.”
I took Santa by the hand and he gripped ahold of Lucy’s hand too. Then, on the count of three, we all jumped into the glowing purple portal.
We landed with a thump back in the library of the mysterious house. We had made it. We had traveled to the Nether and rescued Santa.
Santa looked up at the clock on the mantelpiece.
“Goodness me! It’s almost midnight!” he said. “I must get going.”
We followed Santa into a small wooded area at the back of the house. All of a sudden Santa gave a whistle, and before we knew it a star swooped out of the sky and landed in front of us. It turned into a sleigh pulled by eight funny looking flying horses.
“Wow! Is this your sleigh and reindeer?” Lucy asked, running her hands over it.
“It certainly is, Lucy,” Santa chuckled. “Now you two, get yourselves off to bed. If you’re not in bed by midnight then I can’t deliver your presents, now can I?”
We gave Santa a hug, but as we did he must have caught sight of my unhappy face.
“What’s the matter, Herobrine? You’ve done a wonderful deed and its Christmas tomorrow. You should be happy!”
“I’m afraid I’ve ruined Christmas for six hundred poor children in the world,” I replied. “You see, I was supposed to make…”
“Yes, yes!” Santa interrupted. “I know all about it. Don’t worry my square young boy. Leave it to me.”
And, with that, Santa climbed aboard the sleigh, signaled to his reindeer and they shot off into the night sky, leaving a trail of magical dust glittering behind them.
Lucy and I stood in the wooded are for a few minutes until the glitter faded. Then we walked back down the streets, into Lucy’s garden, into her house and up into bed. As we climbed under the covers Lucy checked her clock. It was ten minutes to midnight. I closed my eyes tightly. It had been a busy day and I couldn’t wait for Christmas Day to arrive!
Chapter 10
Santa Saves the Day
&n
bsp; “Wake up! Wake up!” cried Lucy, shaking me vigorously. “It’s Christmas morning. Get out of bed. Let’s go and see what Santa brought us.”
We ran downstairs as quickly as we could in our pajamas, with my square feet pounding on each step, making it sound like a thunderstorm.
The moment we entered the living room we were greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Lurker who were both in their thick, red robes.
“You two have slept in a bit this morning,” said Mrs. Lurker, giving us both a huge hug. “That’s not like you, Lucy. Usually on Christmas you’re the first one up.”
“You must have had a busy day yesterday, eh Blockhead?” Mr. Lurker chipped in.
“Yeah! You could say that,” I laughed.
After the Christmas Day hugs were completed, Mr. and Mrs. Lurker moved aside and revealed an incredible sight. There, under the tree was a small mountain of presents. Lucy and I rushed towards them, knelt down and began to read the tags. They all seemed to be for us.
I began ripping the wrapping paper form the boxes and over the next half an hour we opened up every present we had. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be spending Christmas with an amazing family like the Lurkers. However, a part of me still felt sad. I had ruined Christmas for so many poor children. I had to admit, I was surprised that Santa had brought me any presents at all.
As I was pondering this thought, the doorbell rang.
Mrs. Lurker answered the door. I could hear a woman outside speaking. Suddenly, the hair on my square neck stood up as I recognized her voice. It was the woman with horn-rimmed spectacles whose order I had messed up at the toy shop.
“Err… Herobrine?” called Mrs. Lurker, leaning back into the house. “Can you come here for a moment, please?”
I slowly rose to my feet and began to make my way towards the door. What had I done now? Surely I hadn’t created another disaster? Maybe the woman had brought all six hundred children to the Lurker house so I could see how sad they were. After all, why should I enjoy my Christmas when I’d ruined it for so many others?