“Yes, sir,” Drake replied, reaching into his inventory and laying several items on the ground before him. “Four blocks of Soul Sand and three Wither Skulls, all natural and obtained from the Nether, as requested.”
“Excellent,” Lord Tenebris replied, talking to himself under his breath. “This is most ideal. . . . When they’re made with natural materials, they’re so much easier to control than synthetic ones. . . . Oh, and one more thing,” he said, now addressing his general directly.
“Yes, o glorious one?” Drake replied meekly.
“Your judgment in this scenario was good. Preserving the Wither Skeletons was indeed a wise decision. However,” Lord Tenebris continued with a dark look on his face, “I must advise you to never again disobey my orders.”
“Oh, my lord . . . I am so sorry!” cried out Drake, tears streaming down his face.
“Don’t fret, Drake, I won’t punish you this time,” Lord Tenebris replied lazily. “However, watch yourself in the future. I must be sure that all my subjects are unwaveringly loyal to me. If they’re not, then they are a threat to the Alliance and must be destroyed. And you know that I will not hesitate, Drake. Just look at what happened to Minotaurus and Blackraven if you need more proof.”
As Lord Tenebris gave an evil laugh and Drake cowered in fear, Kat felt a whiplash of shock hit her. What had happened to Blackraven and Minotaurus? Were they . . . did that mean . . . that they had betrayed the Noctem Alliance? Had Lord Tenebris killed them?
“Leave me now, Drake,” Lord Tenebris commanded. “Await my next command outside. And send the villager in.”
Drake stood up and, with his head still bowed, he backed out of the room through a door next to the Nether Portal that Kat hadn’t noticed before. Moments later, another figure stepped out of the door, and Kat gasped. Into the center of the room walked Oob, his skin sickly green with red eyes and tattered brown robes. The Zombie villager walked to the front of Lord Tenebris’s throne.
“Villager,” Lord Tenebris said calmly to Oob. “Whatever I say, I am going to need you to repeat in your vernacular. Do you understand, villager?”
“Oob . . . udder . . . stand . . . ,” Oob croaked out.
Kat’s head was spinning. Oob was there! He was still alive! And . . . he was working with Lord Tenebris?
All Kat could do was watch in horror as Lord Tenebris stepped down from his throne and gathered the materials that Drake had left on the ground. Lord Tenebris assembled the dark-brown blocks—Drake had called them Soul Sand—into a T shape. Kat glanced at Cassandrix. Although her partner’s face still showed absolute terror at the mere sight of Lord Tenebris, Kat also detected a slight element of confusion; she didn’t know what was happening either.
The two girls watched as Lord Tenebris placed each of the tiny gray Wither Skeleton skulls on top of the Soul Sand formation. After he fastened the last one in place, Lord Tenebris took a step back and stood directly in front of his throne. Kat watched with bated breath as the eyes of the skulls glowed white, getting brighter and brighter, until finally a flash of light illuminated the room. In the moment of blindness, a horrible suction sound filled the room, like a demon taking its first breath. When Kat’s vision returned, she saw a sight that made her heart drop into her stomach.
A mob stood in front of Lord Tenebris, but it wasn’t just any mob. It was huge, almost the size of a Ghast. Its body consisted of nothing but a black spine, trailing off into a tail and wrapped in the center by a dusky black rib cage. Atop this skeletal body were three heads, perched on a wide, bony structure. The heads were black skulls, and they all looked around in different directions. The skulls all had empty white eyes and mouths, and they were taking deep, husky breaths. The creature was the most terrifying thing that Kat had ever seen.
“Behold, villager,” Lord Tenebris spoke out, a half smile flashing across his face as he gazed adoringly at the newborn demon. “The Wither.”
Suddenly, the creature began to flash blue and white. Cassandrix and Kat were transfixed on the beast in horror, wondering what this monster, the Wither, was going to do next. Kat started to perceive a change around her. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was, but it was almost as if all the light, warmth, and energy in the room were being sucked out, and were condensing toward the Wither. Kat saw Lord Tenebris take a deep breath and raise a hand in front of him, and suddenly, she guessed what was about to happen. As the Wither gave another ghastly moan, Kat ducked totally behind the pillar, pulling Cassandrix along with her, and covered her eyes and ears.
“What are you . . . ,” Cassandrix hissed, before she was cut off by the explosion.
A thousand megatons of light and sound bombarded the area around Kat and Cassandrix, only missing them because of the indestructible bedrock pillar in front of them. Kat could feel the incredible rush of energy that engulfed the area around them. It felt like she was standing inches away from a passing bullet train. Only when the light and sound had completely died down did Kat dare peek her head back around the side of the pillar.
The monster was now floating in midair. The three heads glanced freely around the room, taking in all that was around it. As the heads of the Wither basked in their newfound existence, Kat couldn’t help but feel as if she were looking at the very faces of evil itself, which sucked all that was good in the world into a void of darkness.
Suddenly, six eyes of the Wither focused on Lord Tenebris, still standing in the open alongside Oob, both of them somehow totally unharmed by the blast. He smiled.
“My name is Lord Tenebris,” he said smoothly. “I am your creator, and I am your master.”
Oob let out a loud Zombie roar, and the Wither Skeleton glanced at him, seeming to understand. The three heads looked back and forth between one another, and then back at Lord Tenebris. Then, all of a sudden, the mouth of the middle and largest Wither head opened and expelled a small black projectile, which sped at rocket speed toward Lord Tenebris.
The Noctem Leader didn’t move. He simply stretched out his hand, and when the projectile made contact, it exploded, engulfing him in smoke. Moments later, the smoke cleared, showing Lord Tenebris totally unharmed.
Kat couldn’t process what she had just seen. This Wither had just shot an explosive projectile from its mouth at Lord Tenebris. And he hadn’t even been hurt by it.
The middle Wither head let out a raspy roar of fury, and spit even more skulls in Lord Tenebris’s direction. Again, he simply held out his hand, and the black projectiles, which Kat could now see as tiny skulls, were simply rupturing on contact, leaving no damage whatsoever. Before long, the other two Wither heads joined in as well, sending a constant barrage of three streams of explosive Wither skulls directly at Lord Tenebris. And yet he continued to take the punishment as effortlessly as if they were blowing wind at him.
Kat didn’t know what she found the most alarming about what she was witnessing. On the one hand, the Wither was clearly an incredibly powerful mob. She could feel the force of its blasts from behind her pillar. The explosions were far stronger than those of the Creeper, and the Wither was dishing them out like machine-gun fire. And on the other hand, Lord Tenebris, their archenemy, the one they had vowed to destroy, was totally unfazed by this onslaught of destructive power.
Then, without warning, Lord Tenebris raised his right hand and pointed it directly at the Wither. Instantly, the mob stopped firing on Lord Tenebris and gave a shallow moan of pain. Kat looked on, having trouble convincing herself she wasn’t in the midst of a nightmare, as Lord Tenebris lowered his left hand. As he did, the Wither floated downward, still squealing in agony, until it was finally forced onto the ground.
A serious frown crossed Lord Tenebris’s face. “I said, I am your master. Should you disobey my commands, you will be subjected to this.”
Lord Tenebris waited for Oob to finish translating and then he squeezed his fist. Instantly, the Wither gave the highest, loudest, and most ear-piercingly shrill cry of all, as it squirmed on the
ground in excruciating pain.
Kat knew that she ought to feel sorry for the killer beast, but she was too busy dealing with overwhelming dread as she watched Lord Tenebris exercise his mysterious powers. She hadn’t been prepared to deal with anything like this. Whenever she had imagined Lord Tenebris, she had pictured a master swordfighter, with an army of soldiers at his command. But this . . . Kat knew that no player in all of Elementia could stand a chance against whatever Lord Tenebris was.
After a moment, Lord Tenebris released the Wither. The giant mob floated back into the air, a tangible element of fear now in its six white eyes.
“Do you understand?” Lord Tenebris asked, followed by a grunt by Oob.
Instantly, the middle head of the Wither let out a brief moan while looking at Oob. The Zombie villager turned to Lord Tenebris and spoke.
“It . . . udder . . . stand.”
Lord Tenebris smiled. “Good. Now, come here behind me.”
At Oob’s command, the Wither proceeded to levitate over Lord Tenebris’s head and make an about-face until it was floating behind him. Lord Tenebris turned his head to face the door next to the Nether Portal.
“Enter, Drake. And bring the prisoners with you.”
The iron door swung open, and Kat’s heart lifted. Through the door, and into the main hall of the bedrock room, marched Charlie and Commander Crunch, followed by Drake holding a diamond sword to their backs.
Although Kat had never met Commander Crunch before, he seemed to be holding up relatively well. Even though he did look tired, his uniform torn and his beard unkempt, he still walked with a strong spirit to him. He glanced around the room in a wily manner, as if plotting out the best method of escape.
Charlie, on the other hand, looked absolutely terrible. His face was covered in bruises, his clothes were tattered and worn out, and he limped into the room, barely able to stay up on his own feet. Kat was beside herself with worry the second she laid eyes on him. Clearly, the time in the prison had taken a heavy toll on him, and the torture of the Noctem Alliance had been nothing short of ruthless.
“Argh, ’tis you again!” bellowed out Commander Crunch in his gruff voice as he caught sight of Lord Tenebris. “Don’t ye know when enough be enough, ye great bloated fool?”
“Oh, you’re in no position to be insulting me, Commander,” Lord Tenebris said coolly. “You see, I’ve found a new method of persuading you to tell me the information that you’ve been withholding from me.”
“Sink me, ye mean that thin’?” laughed Crunch, gesturing to the Wither levitating high above the head of Lord Tenebris. “Ye reckon some giant mutant worm wit’ th’ face o’ th’ Jolly Roger will intimidate me? Reckon again, ye scallywag! I’ll die before I break, I tell ye!”
Although Commander Crunch was laughing like a lunatic, Charlie was a different story. He glanced up at the Wither in a state of total panic. Kat could see him hyperventilating, clearly terrified as he imagined what the three-headed skeletal demon could do to him.
As Commander Crunch cackled on and Lord Tenebris whispered something in Oob’s ear, Kat ducked back behind the pillar. She spun Cassandrix, who had been watching the process with a sickened look on her face, to face her.
“We have to do something,” Kat whispered urgently. “They’re gonna use that thing to torture Charlie and Crunch! We need a plan, right now! Any ideas?”
“Well . . . it’s not much of an idea . . . ,” said Cassandrix slowly.
“We can’t waste time!” Kat hissed, panic ripe on her face. “If you have even the stupidest idea in the world, tell me now!”
“Okay,” said Cassandrix, taking a deep breath, and shaking her head clear of the sickening feeling that had overtaken her since she had first seen Lord Tenebris. “Here’s what we do. I noticed that there’s a lever on the wall at the far end of the room.”
Kat glanced down to the other end of the room, opposite where Charlie and Crunch were being forced to their knees by Drake. Indeed, Cassandrix was right. There was a switch on the far wall, and furthermore, the wall wasn’t made out of bedrock like the rest of the room. Rather, it was made out of stone, and Kat could see that multiple pistons were positioned on the top and bottom of the wall itself.
“I think that wall,” continued Cassandrix hastily, “might be an opening, like a hangar door, so the Wither will be able to fly out of here. If we can get to that lever and open the door, this place will get filled with sunlight, which will give us a distraction for a second.”
“Okay . . . and what do we do with that distraction?” Kat asked eagerly.
“I don’t know!” exclaimed Cassandrix. “I told you it wasn’t much of an idea . . . more of a notion, really . . .”
“Aaaarrrgh!”
The growl of pain echoed throughout the bedrock chamber. Kat poked her head around the pillar and saw the two prisoners on their knees. Commander Crunch was gnashing his teeth together with his face screwed up, and wispy black smoke rising off his back. Lord Tenebris whispered something to Drake. Then, with one last look at the Wither, Lord Tenebris disappeared, teleporting back to wherever it was he had come from.
Then, Kat watched in horror as the Wither opened its mouth, and a black skull shot out and exploded onto Charlie’s back. A scream of pure agony burst forth from Charlie, and he collapsed to the ground, crying and sputtering as the smoke rose from him.
Kat had to do something now. She couldn’t allow this to go on. Even if it was suicide, there was no way that she could just stand by idly and watch this happen. She turned back around to face Cassandrix.
“Get down to that switch,” she commanded her friend. “I’ll distract them.” And without waiting for a response, Kat dashed behind the rows of pillars, finally stopping when she was at the pillar closest to the players. Not even ten blocks away, her friends were being physically abused by Drake for more information. She was so close, and yet so far.
Kat checked to see what she had left. Her inventory had been emptied while she was unconscious, so she no longer had any melee weapon. The two soldiers she and Cassandrix had killed hadn’t been carrying much besides food, but there were a few important things.
The first of these was a bow and a stack of arrows, which she kept on hand, ready to fire. There was also a compass, which would prove invaluable should they escape. She had also managed to come across one single Ender Pearl. This item was of the utmost importance; all she had to do was get to Charlie and Crunch without being killed by Drake or the Wither, and she could warp the three of them straight to the door. Kat thanked her lucky stars that Lord Tenebris wasn’t there anymore. She had no idea where he had warped off to, but as long as she didn’t have to deal with him now, she didn’t really care.
Kat glanced down at her bow, and suddenly an idea struck her. She didn’t know if it would work, and if it didn’t then it would only reveal her and result in far more pain to her friends. But then again, it was the only idea she had, and so she decided to go with it. She drew an arrow in her bow, and peeked around the corner of the pillar. She took a deep breath. These next few shots would not only have to be extremely accurate, but they’d have to be fast, too.
In front of the throne, Drake kicked Commander Crunch to the ground and snarled.
“Fine then,” he growled. “If you don’t want to talk, let’s see if my little friend can convince you otherwise. Villager, order another attack, but don’t use minimal power this time . . . make it hurt more.”
As Oob growled ferociously, a wave of ice chilled Kat’s heart as she realized that she would have to leave Oob behind. She wanted nothing more than to cure the little guy, not just for the sake of taking control of the Wither and the other mobs from the Alliance, but also to get her friend back. Kat shook her head of this feeling. With the operation she was about to attempt, it was no time to be getting emotional.
The Wither Skeleton’s middle mouth began to glow, and Kat felt an intake of the energy around the room. She let the arrow fly, just as the proj
ectile left the Wither’s mouth. The arrow collided with the airborne black skull, and it exploded in a giant burst of light in the center of the Wither’s face. The monster screamed as it careened backward from the blast, crashing into the bedrock wall of the room and tumbling to the floor with a thud.
“What is the meaning of this?” Drake bellowed at the stunned monster. “UP! Get UP! Villager, tell this . . . AUGH!”
Drake shouted in pain as an arrow sunk into his right arm. He whipped his head around to see where it had come from, just in time to see Kat flying toward him. Her fist slammed into his jaw like a cannonball, and he reeled backward, cracking his head against the obsidian throne and slumping unconscious to the ground.
Kat would have loved to take the opportunity to take him out for good, but she had a mission. Crunch, who had tightened his muscles in preparation for the Wither’s next strike, whipped around to see Kat sprinting toward the two of them.
“Who are ye?” the Commander asked, eyes wide. “Aren’t ye that lass from . . .”
“I’m from Element City, yes. I’m here to get you two out,” Kat spat out distractedly, digging the Ender Pearl from her inventory as the Wither slowly levitated back upright.
“Oh, aye . . . uh, that’s wha’ I was about t’ say . . . ,” Crunch replied awkwardly.
“Kat?” asked Charlie deliriously, his eyes struggling to stay focused on her. “Is that . . . is that really you?”
“Yeah,” Kat said, looking over her shoulder to see that Zombie Oob was almost upon them. She stood up and spun around to face him.
“Sorry, buddy,” Kat grunted as she punched Oob in the chest as hard as she could. The villager reeled backward before tripping and tumbling to the ground next to Drake. Unlike Drake, though, he immediately started to recover.
“Get ready, boys . . . we’re warping out of here,” Kat shouted, and she pitched the Ender Pearl as hard as she could toward the exit before grabbing the two prisoners around the shoulders. Suddenly, Kat heard a raspy groan behind her, and saw that the Wither was airborne yet again, and all three white mouths were glowing and hissing.
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