“As a matter of fact, I do,” replied Drake seriously. The pleasantries were over, and it was time to get down to business. “First, let me ask you this . . . do you still have the other members of ELM together?”
“Yes,” Arachnia said with a grin. “And we’re still the best bounty hunters in all of Minecraft. Why? Do you need us for something?”
“That I do. Actually, it has to do with the Alliance,” whispered Drake. He glanced around, making sure that nobody in the rambunctious bar was listening before he leaned in closer to Arachnia and continued.
“In the midst of our campaign to conquer Elementia, the Noctem Alliance managed to capture President Stan2012, and a few of his councilmen as well . . .”
“NO!” Arachnia burst out, unable to contain herself.
“Shut up!” hissed Drake, glancing around at several nearby patrons who had given them a sideways glance. “If you don’t keep quiet, then the deal is off!”
“Sorry,” replied Arachnia hastily. She knew from Drake’s tone that this mission of his, whatever it was, was important. And, in her experience, importance equated to quite a large payment.
“Anyway,” continued Drake when he was sure it was safe, “it was my job to oversee their prison. Unfortunately, one of Stan’s friends sacrificed himself so that Stan could escape. The Noctem Alliance is well on its way to breaking through the walls of Element City and destroying the last of the republic’s armies. However, Lord Tenebris is convinced that if President Stan somehow manages to return to the city, he will rally his citizens and turn the tide of the war back in his favor.”
“So . . . what you’re saying is . . . ,” Arachnia replied slowly, heart racing as she pieced together what Drake was saying, “. . . you want me to hunt down and assassinate the president of Elementia?”
“Not exactly,” replied Drake evenly. “For some reason, Lord Tenebris is dead set on killing Stan himself. To be honest, I’m not sure why, but I do trust Lord Tenebris, and I’m sure that he has a perfectly valid reason. Therefore, I’m asking you, Arachnia, to capture President Stan and return him to Lord Tenebris alive.”
“Well . . . ,” replied Arachnia after a moment, trying to appear uninterested despite the fact that she was in utter awe of what Drake was requesting. “This sounds like it’s going to be quite a difficult mission, Drake. If you have no idea where Stan is and no way of finding him, that is . . . and I think that you know as well as I do that no team would be capable of it other than mine.”
“That is why I came to you,” Drake said rather impatiently. He had been expecting her to accept without question.
“And . . . because of that . . . I think you’ll understand where I’m coming from when I say that the price of pulling this off will not be small,” Arachnia said in a rather sleazy fashion.
Drake didn’t hesitate. He reached into the folds of his cloak and pulled out something from his inventory. He revealed it only for a moment before returning it, but it was enough time for Arachnia to see the full stack of sixty-four diamond blocks in Drake’s hand.
“I assure you that payment is no problem,” Drake said simply.
Arachnia was breathing heavily with excitement now. This was it. She and her team were about to pull off the biggest job in the history of Minecraft, and become rich beyond their wildest dreams.
“General Drake,” said Arachnia with a smile, “I’m happy to announce that you now have a team.”
Drake grinned deviously. “I knew I could count on you, Arachnia. Now, assemble your team, and head to the mainland as soon as possible. President Stan is likely trekking back toward Element City as we speak, so you must make haste. Take the train line to the western wall of Element City. There, you will find one of the legions of the Noctem Army, which has laid siege to the city. They will give you all the information we have gathered regarding where President Stan may be, and then you may begin your search.”
“Whatever you say, Drake,” replied Arachnia.
“And remember, Arachnia . . . President Stan is not to be underestimated. Keep in mind that this is the player who bested King Kev in combat. He’s an exceptional fighter, very smart and very crafty. The last thing that we need is for him to return and lead his city once again. The fate of the Noctem Alliance may very well rest in the hands of your team, Arachnia.”
“Don’t worry, Drake,” answered Arachnia, her face showing exhilaration and a hint of bloodlust. “Stan is as good as yours.”
Drake nodded one final time, and stood up from his chair. Without giving Arachnia one more glance, he pulled his golden hood up over his head, made his way through the rabble of drunken players, and left the bar.
CHPATER 2 THE MISSIONS
All five players sitting around the dimly lit council table in the stone-brick castle were silent except for the Mechanist, who was in the process of the ceremonial roll call and other formalities. Although Element Castle was a good distance away from the outer walls of Element City, the cacophony of the bombardment of the outer wall could be heard throughout the city, day and night. This council meeting was no exception, as the muffled booms of detonating TNT blocks could be heard even through the stone walls.
These sounds of the Noctem Alliance’s barrage of artillery only heightened the tension in the room. Out of the nine council members, three of them—Stan, Charlie, and DZ—had been taken hostage in their raid of the Noctem Alliance’s Specialty Base. Another one, Blackraven, had been revealed as a traitor who had been working for the Noctem Alliance the entire time. And yet only four players sat around the council room table now.
They had lost someone else.
As the Mechanist finished with the formalities, he put down his papers and glanced around the table with exhausted eyes. In the faces of Kat, Jayden, and G, there was no sign of sadness or grief, but rather of unkempt and wild hatred, driven by a passion that can only be wrought by the deepest sort of betrayal. Giving a soft and brief sigh, the Mechanist began his speech.
“As you know,” the Mechanist said tiredly, his Texas accent slightly slurred with fatigue, “a most tragic and unfortunate event has befallen us in the past twenty-four hours. . . .”
“Huh, unfortunate . . . yeah, right.”
“Please, Kat,” replied the Mechanist, far too spent to deal with her sarcasm at the moment. “Protocol dictates that I, as interim leader of the council in President Stan’s absence, recount what happened so that it goes on record.”
Nobody protested. They were so furious that they were happy to hear it again to have another opportunity to relish in the cowardice and detestability of what had happened.
“Yesterday afternoon,” started the Mechanist, “all members of this council were called by myself, Mecha11, to this council room to report on how the defense of our outer walls was going. Kat, G, Jayden, and I all returned as planned. However, we soon realized that Gobbleguy was missing.”
There was a shudder of contempt around the room as the Mechanist spoke that name.
“With the help of the police chiefs, we searched the city, and we weren’t able to find him. However, in Gobbleguy’s bedroom, Ben discovered a book that he had written. In it, Gobbleguy said that he was leaving Elementia forever, and going to play Minecraft on other servers. He then proceeded to explain, in probably the most passive and nonconfrontational way I’ve ever heard, that he couldn’t take the pressures of being on the council anymore. He said that it was, and I quote, ‘far too much stress and effort to put into a lousy Minecraft server.’ Because of his desertion, the police chiefs have charged Gobbleguy with treason, and have a warrant out for his arrest should he ever return to Elementia.”
As the Mechanist finished his recap, nobody had anything to say. All they could do was stew in their misery and despise the deserter. It was bad enough that Blackraven had turned out to be a traitor to the council and had been working as a double agent for the Alliance the entire time. It was even worse that his treachery had caused Stan, Charlie, and DZ to be captured,
leaving the five of them left on the council to wonder if their three friends were even still alive. And now, as one last kick to the emotional stomach of the council, one of their own members had up and left them for no reason other than his own weakness.
“Good riddance, I say,” spat Kat in disgust.
“I agree,” replied Jayden, his brow knit in scorn. “If Gobbleguy wants to be a selfish little jerk, then it’s for the best that he’s gone.”
“Yeah. I mean, what did he even do?” said G in a nasty voice. “He just sat at the meetings, looking like a timid little bunny rabbit, never saying anything, and not even having the guts to speak up for himself. Honestly, what did we lose when he left?”
“Nothing at all!” exclaimed Kat fervently.
“True!” Jayden said in an unusually deep voice. “I say we just forget he ever existed and move on.”
There were nods and mumbles of assent around the table. Everybody was privately doing the same thing, and trying to project the feeling that they were happy Gobbleguy was gone. In actuality, however, all four of them were scared senseless by the ramifications of his departure.
Although they would rather die than admit it, the remaining members of the council realized that, when Gobbleguy logged out of Elementia, the Noctem Alliance had claimed him as their victim. Even if Gobbleguy had been useless in the grand scheme of things, the fact remained that he had been driven out by the fear and pressure that the Noctem Alliance was spreading throughout Element City so effectively.
The most frightening fact of all, though, was that the council had reached a startling landmark: of the nine of them who had started the war against the Noctem Alliance, more than half of them were now gone.
“I think that it is fairly safe to say,” the Mechanist spoke after a moment of scared silence, “that our city is, as of now, incredibly well protected. Due to various innovations in defensive technology—”
“All of which you created,” Kat cut in with a smirk. There was a grim chuckle of agreement around the table. In fact, Kat was right; the Mechanist had been the one who had designed the city’s superb outer defenses.
“Well, yes, that’s true,” replied the Mechanist humbly, “but it is also beside the point. As I was saying, because of the resources that we have put into the defenses of our walls, I think that the Noctem Alliance will have a difficult time getting into our city. We are well equipped to fight off any approach of theirs as of right now, whether it be through stealth or by brute force. However, I think that it is also time that we acknowledge that the Noctem Alliance is, at the very least, equal to us in power.”
There were sounds of repugnance around the table. The council still found it difficult to accept that what had started off as a small protesters group had grown into an organization that had pushed them to the brink of annihilation in just a single month. Although they could not bring themselves to disagree with the Mechanist, saying it aloud would mean accepting it, something that Jayden, G, and Kat were not prepared to do.
“Therefore,” the Mechanist continued, reaching under the table and pressing a button as he did so, “I am forced to assume that our current stalemate is temporary. The Noctem Alliance will manage to break through our walls if we are not able to weaken them somehow. For that reason, I’ve asked Bob to come in here and brief us on what we, as high-ranking members of the city, should do to actively fight the Noctem Alliance.”
“Wait a sec,” said Kat as she realized what he was saying. “Are you saying that you want us to actually go out into the server and fight the Alliance? Like, in combat?”
The Mechanist nodded. Kat’s face lit up, and she looked psyched at the prospect of finally going out into the field and actively doing something to take down the Noctem Alliance.
“Hold on,” asked Jayden, a puzzled look crossing his face. “If we’re out in the server doing the fighting, then who’s going to run the council?”
“That’s actually the one thing we need to discuss before Bob gets here,” the Mechanist said tiredly. “In my talks with Bob, he suggested that while the rest of the council goes out and undertakes several highly important objectives throughout Elementia, I myself remain here as the sole governor of Element City.
“I was the first to point out,” the Mechanist continued quickly, as all three of the other council members looked alarmed, “that this idea would give me sole power over the entirety of Element City, which is something that our constitution was designed specifically to avoid. After all, if handled improperly, the idea of a single person leading the city sounds dangerously similar to the doctrine of King Kev.
“However,” the Mechanist said as the others nodded in agreement, “it does say in the constitution that one person is allowed to control Elementia by him- or herself in time of emergency. This can be done if the other council members are required to take action to resolve the emergency, and only if the police keep a sharp eye on the single ruler to make sure that he or she does not turn into a selfish dictator, and keeps the well-being of the city in mind until such time as a council may be reestablished. I don’t think anybody will disagree with me when I say that we most assuredly have an emergency on our hands at the moment.”
Nobody at the table even felt the need to say that they agreed; they all knew that it was true.
“Let us be honest with ourselves, my friends,” the Mechanist explained, sounding exhausted. “The four of us, along with the police chiefs, are the most powerful players in Element City. There are various tasks that need to be done for the sake of protecting our people and ending this war, and I believe that we, the council members, should carry them out. Of the four of us, I think we can all agree . . . and forgive me if I sound arrogant . . . that I am the best leader.”
There was a moment of silence. All the other members gave slow, consensual nods.
“So are we all in agreement?” the Mechanist asked with a definite air of finality about him. “I will stay here and lead Elementia while the three of you complete the missions that Bob has put together for you?”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” said Kat with a grin, and G and Jayden both nodded in agreement.
“Well, good. That’s settled then,” the Mechanist sighed, clearly relieved that none of them had been opposed to this admittedly radical idea. As a matter of fact, the three of them seemed hyped and incredibly excited to finally take action against the Noctem Alliance instead of endlessly plotting out troop movements over the stone brick–block table of the council room .
There was a knock at the door, and all turned to face it.
“Enter,” ordered the Mechanist authoritatively.
The wooden door swung open, and in marched Bob. He looked somber, and judging by his appearance, he had clearly just come from the front lines. His scarlet jumpsuit was ripped and torn in various places, and his pale face and blond hair were tarnished with soot from being at the back end of a TNT cannon. He was seated on Ivanhoe, who looked equally war hardened; his once-shiny saddle was now worn down, the color faded, and the pig himself bore the marks of various wounds that had been healed by potions.
“Ah, good to see you, Bob,” the Mechanist said quietly. “How are the defenses holding up?”
“We’re doing pretty good as of right now,” Bob answered wearily. “The Noctems didn’t launch any major attacks today, and we were able to repel the usual bombardments. That being said, it was pretty obvious that the Noctems weren’t fighting full force either. They didn’t even seem to have that many guys there. I have a feeling that they’re planning something . . . some sort of stealth mission, maybe.”
“You’re probably right,” the Mechanist said. “I trust that you and your brothers will have all the alarms online soon, should they try to use the Invisibility Potions.”
“Of course,” Bob replied.
“Good. Now, you’ve arrived just in time, Bob. The council has just agreed to our plan. I will stay here and run Element City under your supervision while Kat, Jayden, and
G head out into the server and carry out your missions. Are you ready to brief them?”
“Yes, sir,” Bob responded, nodding and looking over to the enthused council members. As soon as they realized that he was speaking to them, Kat, Jayden, and G sat straight up in their seats, their ears perked as Bob began to speak.
“As of right now, all available forces in our army are being used to defend the outer walls of Element City from penetration by the armies of the Noctem Alliance. However, there is a pressing situation that must be dealt with as soon as possible: the hostages. As of right now, Stan, Charlie, DZ, and Commander Crunch of the navy are being held prisoner on the Greater Mushroom Island. We don’t know anything about their status, but we must assume for now that they are all still alive, and the Noctem Alliance will be using them to demand a ransom very soon.
“Also, you’ll remember that when the offensive on Nocturia failed and our armies were pushed back to the city, the Noctem Alliance captured around two dozen residents of the Adorian Village. My brothers and I have sent some scouts out, and we’ve determined that these players are being held hostage in Nocturia. If the Noctem Alliance demands anything in exchange for the safety of those players, then we will have to comply. Even ignoring the fact that it’s the right thing to do, if we have the opportunity to help those lower-level players and we don’t take advantage of it, the citizens of this city will turn on us like a pack of wolves.
“This is why I need you three,” said Bob, sounding official. “One of you is going to have to go with a volunteer to sneak into the prison in the Mushroom Islands and free Stan and the others. The other two are going to have to infiltrate Nocturia and liberate those lower-level players.”
The three players around the table were quiet as they thought about what they had just been asked. The idea of sneaking into Nocturia and the Specialty Base, the Noctem Alliance’s two most heavily fortified strongholds . . . it wasn’t going to be easy.
Kat in particular found herself quite surprised. She had been expecting Bob to ask them to lead a crazy head-on assault with the Elementia Army to drive the Noctem forces back into the Ender Desert. She wasn’t anticipating the request to partake in a stealth mission. Nonetheless, she was eager to participate.
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