by Mark Mulle
Sifting through it, Steve found what he had seen shining. It was a key inlaid with diamonds.
“Found him!” Elena called.
Keeping the key, he turned around and hurried over to Herobrine. Elena was giving him a health potion as well. Herobrine winced.
“That thing was strong.” He said to Steve.
“Sure was. I haven’t seen anything like that before. Look, though, it dropped a key.” He showed them the key and then asked Elena, “The sand storm didn’t bother you?”
“No,” She replied, “Maybe because of my Minecraft magic.”
“You moved quicker as well. We got lucky you logged in. That thing was going to crush us.” Steve went.
“You have a key though. I bet that is going to be how we get inside.” Herobrine said, getting to his feet.
“Let’s find out.”
Steve went over to the door and slipped the key in the lock. With a soft turn, the lock clicked and the door to the palace swung open.
Chapter Seven
They stepped inside the palace. All three of them got ready to be attacked but there was nothing. The hallway stretched out before them. There were no doors besides one at the very end. The floor was tiled and painted with beautiful designs. The walls were white marble and torches lit up the area.
Elena wrinkled her nose, “Really dusty in here. Great for my allergies.”
Steve laughed a little as they looked around, “Do you sense anything?”
“Me?” Elena pointed to herself and then looked as if she was trying hard to feel something, “No.”
“Did you feel anything when you fought that monster?” Herobrine whispered.
“Yeah. That thing had a lot of energy coming off of it. I didn’t even notice the sand storm. I just saw Steve in trouble and went for it. So my Minecraft magic just sort of decides when it wants to work, I think.” Elena replied as they walked down the hallway.
“Be prepared for anything that could be behind this door, alright?” Herobrine warned as they stopped in front of it.
Steve and Elena nodded. Then Herobrine opened the door and they stepped inside the main room of the palace. Steve felt his breath catch at the sight of such a beautiful room. The ceiling was raised and had massive windows shining down into the center of the room. The floor was inlaid with rubies which glimmered underneath the sunlight. Marble pillars held up the ceiling.
In the very center of the room, directly underneath the sunlight, was a throne. It was made out of gold and jewels were seemingly covering every inch of it. It was tall, and Steve thought anyone who sat in it must look very small compared to how large the throne itself was.
He took a step towards it. Elena was looking around the room as Herobrine was admiring one of the paintings that were on the farthest wall.
“This is amazing,” Steve heard Elena say, “I mean, this is gorgeous. Do you think I’d get attacked if I tried to sit on the throne?”
“I’d try to avoid sitting there,” Steve said, “Whoever led us here probably thinks the throne is for them.”
Behind the throne were five doors. They were all shut but were the only exits. How in the world could they figure out where to go next? Steve turned around to ask Herobrine for advice when one of the doors suddenly slammed open.
Alarmed, he turned around. To his horror, ghasts were floating into the throne room. They were making their loud wailing noises as they floated in. Steve counted five of them.
“Okay, that’s bad, right?” Elena asked loudly, “Don’t those things shoot fireballs?”
As if hearing her, one of the ghasts let a fireball fly towards her. Elena yelped and ducked behind one of the pillars. Steve hadn’t fought any ghasts since the strange ones back in the Snow Labyrinth.
The second ghast seemed to lock onto Steve. With a wail, a fireball was sent spiraling through the air. He managed to bring his shield up in time to deflect the hit. The fireball bounced back towards the ghast, slamming into it. It turned to ash in front of his eyes.
Herobrine was moving swiftly through the pack, as if he could take them all on himself. For the second time that day, Steve was glad his friend was so skilled in combat. He watched as Herobrine took two of the ghasts down from behind.
That only left two. Elena let an arrow fly from behind the pillar. It struck one of the ghasts. In return, it let another fireball slice through the air. She lowered her head and it hit the pillar.
As Elena squared off against that ghast, Steve was trying to lure the other one towards him. Herobrine was attempting to sneak up on it but it seemed to sense that he was there because right before he struck, the ghast spun around. Letting a fireball fly, it struck Herobrine squarely in the chest.
Herobrine hit the ground, out of breath. Panicked at his friend being hit, Steve leapt forward and brought his sword down on the ghast while it was distracted. Next to him, the final ghast also turned to sand from another arrow sent by Elena.
Steve crouched next to his friend. His armor was dented from the blast. Elena was fumbling for a healing potion in her inventory.
“Are you okay?” Steve asked.
“Been a while since I took a fireball to the chest.”Herobrine said with a groan.
“Here,” Elena handed Herobrine a healing potion, “But I’m going through them too fast. We have to try to stop getting injured.”
“Normally, we don’t have to worry about injuries. Our abilities made it hard to get hurt.” Steve explained.
“Well, you can get hurt now.” Elena said seriously as they waited for Herobrine to drink the potion.
Instead, he shoved the bottle back towards Elena, “She’s right. I can heal on my own. I don’t want to waste them. Not with us not sure when or if we will be able to make more.”
“Are you sure?” Steve asked, concerned.
“I’m sure. Come on. Help me up.”
Steve helped Herobrine to his feet. Then they look at the open door that the ghasts had come through.
“Should we go through there?” Steve wondered aloud.
“What else are we going to do?” Elena asked, “It still feels like we are being led somewhere though. Maybe we should see if we can break open another door instead.”
Herobrine nodded in agreement, “Someone led us to this palace and just want us to go on the path they have set up. Even if we are attacked again, I think we should try to go through another door.”
Ignoring the open door, the group went over to the other four. Elena put her hand on each one and closed her eyes, as if she was trying to sense if something was on the other side of them. After a few minutes, she shrugged, indicating she couldn’t pick up anything.
Each door had a gold lock on them. Herobrine broke each lock off. Then they opened each door to see where it led. Each hallway was a different color. The group looked down each one before staring at each other.
“Now what? We just pick one to go down?” Elena asked.
“Sure you can’t sense anything now that they are open?” Steve said.
Elena turned back to the doors with a sigh. She closed her eyes. Herobrine and Steve watched her. She frowned.
“The blue hallway – there is a lot of energy coming down from there. I can’t tell what is causing it.”
“Then we go down this one. Be ready.” Steve said.
Together, they headed down the blue hallway.
Chapter Eight
The hallway seemed to be endless. There were no other doors. Steve had no idea how the palace could be so large yet have no doors to lead to the other wings. The group pushed on, determined to get to the bottom of what was occurring.
After a while, Steve noticed that Elena was lagging behind. He stopped and turned around to look at her. Her skin was pale and she was leaning against the wall.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
“This whole hallway is brimming with energy. It feels as if it’s feeding off me.” Elena said as she sunk to the ground.
Concerned,
Herobrine crouched next to her. Her teeth were chattering as if she was very cold even though the palace felt humid.
“What could be causing this?” Steve asked, worried.
“I don’t know.” Herobrine admitted.
Then Elena looked around, panicked, “Something is coming. Something large. I don’t know what. I can just feel it.”
Steve pulled out his sword and looked around, ready for an enemy to leap out at them. But instead, he felt the ground underneath his feet begin to shake. Herobrine was helping Elena get up.
Then he saw it. From the direction they had come, a massive torrent of water was rushing down the hallway. Out of everything Steve had been expecting, a flood was not one of those things. Letting out an alarmed noise, he turned around and began to run.
Behind him, Herobrine and Elena also ran. Elena seemed to be pushing aside how sick she felt as the water barreled towards them.
But Steve knew there was no way they were going to be able to out run it. There was no end to the hallway and the water was moving quicker than they were. Letting out a panicked noise, he tried to pick up his speed.
But it was useless. The water slammed into the three of them and sucked them up. Steve got a mouthful of water as the torrent pushed him down the hallway. He reached out and grabbed Elena. Holding onto her arm, all he could do was kick his legs against the powerful current. Herobrine was pulled ahead of them.
The rushing water took them down the hallway. At one point, Steve’s head broke the surface of the water. He managed to suck in air before he was pulled back under. The entire thing reminded him of when they had fallen below the Snow Labryinth and went over a waterfall.
Steve really hoped there wasn’t a waterfall at the end of this.
Suddenly, they were thrown free through the door at the end of the hallway. For a few seconds, there was nothing underneath Steve. Then he was toppling downwards, far, far below, farther than even made sense.
He landed into a pool of water. Herobrine and Elena hit the water next to him as well. He gasped for air as the water drained out above their heads. Elena floated to the surface. She was unconscious. Panicked, Steve swam over to her.
“Elena!” He said.
But she didn’t reply. Next to him, Herobrine was looking around the room. There was a ledge nearby. They took Elena over to it. Steve pulled her over the edge and then sat down next to her.
She began to stir. Relief swept through him that she would be okay. He then looked around the room as well. They were in what looked to be some sort of drainage pool. Above them, windows allowed the sunlight to pour in.
“What happened there?” Steve said, still coughing up water.
Elena moaned as she sat up. She began to cough as well before looking over at them.
“Are you okay?” Herobrine asked her.
“Been better. What happened?” She echoed Steve’s words.
“No idea. Water just came down the hallway and pushed us down here. Into basically just a basin of water. What is this place?” Steve wondered aloud.
“I don’t know. I doubt, however, that water is supposed to be launched down that hallway. Look.” Herobrine pointed.
Steve saw that the hallway ended and a ladder was there to take whoever was walking down it to the ledge below. Herobrine was right. The water wasn’t supposed to send them flying down the hallway like that.
“So, someone got angry we went down the wrong pathway.”
“They can modify this world,” Herobrine went, “Just like we used to be able to.”
“They understand the power they took from us. That makes them even more dangerous. Come on. I think there is an exit this way.” Steve said and walked towards a heavy metal door.
He tried to open it but the handle was stuck. Herobrine came over and tried to help him open it but it didn’t work. Elena stayed sitting on the ground, still looking a bit sick.
“Maybe I’m connected to the world or something? I don’t know. I feel terrible though, honestly.” She grumbled and closed her eyes.
“This is stuck. Maybe we can try to break it down with our force.” Steve suggested.
It was then that the water began to bubble and froth. Herobrine reached over and pulled Elena away from the ledge.
To Steve’s horror, two elder guardians appeared on the surface of the water. They were both staring at the group.
“Okay, this is very bad.” Elena said, clearly trying to push how sick she felt aside.
“Probably too late to wish we had just gone on the path the person was creating for us.” Steve said, equipping his bow.
“Elena, I know you don’t feel well, but can you try to get the door open? Steve and I will try to take care of the elder guardians.”
Elena hurried over to the door and placed her hands against it. Steve knew she was mirroring what she had seen them do before. He only hoped that it would work. Ahead of him, one of the elder guardians began to change colors, signaling that it was going to try to strike one of them with it.
He let an arrow soar towards the elder guardian. But it fired its sparks and deflected the blast.
“That won’t work,” Herobrine called out to him, “They’ll block anything we directly fire at them. Protect Elena.”
Before Steve could stop him, Herobrine leapt into the water towards the elder guardians.
Chapter Nine
Steve didn’t have time to ask if Herobrine had lost his mind. He also technically didn’t need an answer for that. Everything his friend did was crazy. Instead, he focused on protecting Elena as she tried to get through the door.
“There’s a barrier here,” She shouted, “I’m trying to get through it.”
“Be careful!” Steve said and that was when the first elder guardian fired its laser.
Quickly equipping his shield, he leapt forward and deflected the laser from striking Elena. The vibrations made his teeth rattle but he protected Elena. The laser was bounced back, hitting the nearest wall.
Then Herobrine appeared behind the elder guardian. While it was distracted, he brought his sword down and slammed it into the guardian. The guardian didn’t have time to shoot out its spike. It sunk beneath the water, turning to sand.
But the second elder guardian has its sights on Herobrine now. Their plan of distraction and stealth wasn’t going to work on this one. It was already changing colors.
“Get out of there, Herobrine!” Steve cried out, switching back to his bow.
He let two arrows fly quickly. Behind him, he heard Elena grunt as the door handle snapped off and the door swung open.
“Got it!” She said and was hardly able to stand from using so much energy.
Herobrine ducked under the water but he was too slow. The blast struck him and he sunk under the water. Elena crawled through the open door to safety before falling to her knees, completely drained. Suddenly, she logged out of the game and was gone in a blink of the eye.
Steve jumped into the water. The laser would be having Herobrine feeling too fatigued to even swim. If Steve didn’t get to him, he would be in serious trouble. Above him, the elder guardian swam along the surface, as if searching for the two of them.
Herobrine appeared to be unconscious, sinking down to the bottom. Steve grabbed his friend’s arm and began to pull him up. Kicking his feet through the water, he managed to get to the surface. With a groan of effort, he pushed the unconscious Herobrine up on the ledge.
The elder guardian had recharged by this point. It shuddered and set off a laser towards Steve. He raised his shield and the laser hit it. Again, his teeth shook as the laser bounced off the shield –
And slammed into the elder guardian. The guardian looked dazed from being struck by its own laser. Steve quickly pulled himself out of the water and began to shoot his arrows as quickly as he could towards the creature.
Before long, the elder guardian turned to sand and floated to the bottom of the pool. Steve sunk to the floor, feeling exhausted. Next to him, Hero
brine stirred and opened his eyes with a groan.
“Are you okay?” Steve asked.
“Exhausted. I can’t remember the last time that I have been hit by one of their lasers. Doesn’t feel good. Where is Elena?”
“I don’t know. She got the door open and then logged out, almost as if she was disconnected.”
Herobrine frowned, propping himself up, “You think she was forced to be disconnected?”
“Maybe. Wait here. I’m going to call her.”
Steve pushed himself away from his computer desk, wiping his eyes furiously. He had been so focused on the game that his head was staring to hurt. He grabbed his phone off his desk and dialed Elena’s number.
She answered on the first ring, “What happened?”
“That’s what I was calling you about. I saw you open the door and then you were just gone.”
“My game shut down. I can’t even log back in. Whatever power I used to get us out of the room, the person messing with us was not pleased.”
“You can’t get in at all?”
“That’s right. Listen, I need a break anyway. I’m starving. I’ll try again tomorrow.”
With a mumbled good-bye, Steve ended the phone call and stared at his computer. Sliding back into his computer chair, he got back into the game and turned to Herobrine.
“What did she say?”
Steve explained the phone call to Herobrine who listened silently. When he finished, he got to his feet. The effects of the laser were finally fading.
“None of this is good. It just seems all too familiar…” Herobrine went.
“In any case, let’s keep going. I want to see what we can discover. Hopefully, we won’t hit any difficulties without Elena here.”
“If the person wanted Elena out of the game, it probably means they have something planned for us.”
The two friends went over to the door that Elena had opened and walked down the hallway. It turned into a staircase which began to go upwards. They followed the steps in silence, winding around the spiraling staircase. Torches illuminated the pathway.
Finally, they came to a door. Opening it, they stepped out into what appeared to be a large living space. There was a massive bed in the center. The shelves were lined with books. Paintings hung on the walls. Candles lit up the room. Above them, the ceiling was completely glass, showing the sky, which was now streaked with orange as the sun began to set.