And with that, the Mechanist extracted a bottle of blue-gray potion from his inventory, took a huge gulp, and wiped his mouth. When he was finished, he put the bottle down and got back to work on the designs for the blast doors.
“LAAAAAAND HOOOOOOOH!”
Kat, who had nodded off in the cramped back of the boat, jolted upright, causing the boat to rock sharply from side to side, prompting Charlie, who was steering, to cry “Watch it!” in irritation.
“Would you all shut up?” hissed Cassandrix, looking at Charlie and Commander Crunch, who had just shouted in surprise. “I don’t know if you people remember, but we still have an entire army of Noctem troops looking for us!”
“Oh, well, pardon me,” growled Commander Crunch in irritation. “Ye know, I would ’ave expected that a bunch o’ landlubbers like ye would’ve been more excited by th’ prospect o’ gettin’ off these bloody ships . . .”
“Oh, trust me—we are,” replied Kat, staring fondly at the mass of swampland rising up out of the distant ocean. Finally, after days and days of nothing but ocean and scattered, barren islands, they were back to the mainland. Then, suddenly, a thought occurred to her. She glanced up at Charlie sitting in front of her.
“Are you . . . gonna be okay, Charlie?”
“What? Oh, yeah, don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine,” Charlie replied, and although Kat knew he was trying his hardest to sound earnest, there was a noticeable hint of apprehension in his voice. Kat looked at Charlie with sympathy. Although she had asked him once before, he hadn’t been able to talk about the exact methods that the Noctem Alliance had used to try to get information about Element City out of him. However, Kat knew that they had targeted his legs. She imagined that he was dreading the prospect of having to walk all the way back to Element City.
It wasn’t long before the two boats reached the swampy land mass that Commander Crunch joyfully identified as the peninsula that would lead them back to Element City. As they exited their boats, Kat took a deep breath and stepped onto the soggy dirt blocks. Rex, who had been paddling beside them, pulled himself out of the water and shook his fur dry. Kat relished in the feeling of finally setting foot on dry land again after so long at sea.
The sensation lasted only for a moment, though, before there was a splash behind her. Charlie had tumbled out of the boat and into the water, and Kat helped him back to his feet, despite his protests. However, as Kat had expected, Charlie moved across the swampland with a limp, and Kat wondered how much of the damage would heal over time . . . and how much was permanent.
Without hesitation, all four players set to work. Kat and Commander Crunch broke down their two boats by hand, Cassandrix pulled out the compass and examined it, and Charlie hobbled his way over to the nearest tree and began harvesting wood. When the four of them had finished their various tasks, they walked over and met each other in a circle.
“Okay,” said Cassandrix, pocketing the compass. “By my estimation, we’re still a few days’ walk from Element City.” Charlie let out a small groan. “I think that we should take a rest for now, though. We still have enough food to last us for one more night, and if we go underground then we can get materials to make some new weapons for ourselves. We’ll start hiking tomorrow, after we’ve gotten a good night’s sleep.”
The four players nodded and Charlie pulled a crafting table out of his inventory. Using the wood that he had collected, he crafted some wood planks and sticks, which were soon turned into a wooden pickaxe. As Cassandrix gathered some more wood for their weapons, Charlie punched the dirt blocks on the ground until he finally hit stone. Drawing out his pickaxe, Charlie brought it down onto the stone with a mighty strike, only to wince in pain as he did so. Kat’s eyebrows raised in concern. Clearly, the damage from the torture was more severe than she had expected.
“Let me see that,” Kat said kindly, taking the pickaxe from Charlie’s hand and intentionally avoiding his crestfallen face. It wasn’t long before Kat had tunneled down into ground, and, to her delight, came across a vein of coal ore. She harvested the black lumps, and, after she had Charlie toss a few sticks down to her, she put up torches to illuminate the cube-shaped cave she was carving out. Before long, however, the wooden pickaxe snapped off its handle, having lived out its incredibly short life span.
“Charlie!” Kat yelled. “Can you—”
But before she could finish, she watched as Charlie dropped down the hole and landed on the stone-block floor, stumbling with a grimace and an audible grunt of pain. Kat was alarmed. He shouldn’t have taken any fall damage from such a short drop. She was about to go help him when Charlie looked up at her, determination in his eyes.
“Give me some stone, Kat,” he grunted, pulling himself back to his feet.
“Charlie, you’re hurt. Please, just let me—”
“I said, give it to me, Kat!” Charlie growled, anger coursing through his voice as he pulled the crafting table out of his inventory and slammed it to the ground in a huff. Kat stared at Charlie, taken aback by how aggressive he was all of a sudden. She handed three blocks of cobblestone to him, and he snatched them up. She looked on in shock, having trouble believing that this was the same happy-go-lucky player she was best friends with.
Kat continued to put up torches, still allowing Charlie to widen the space of their underground chamber, despite the clear fact that every stroke of the pickaxe was hurting him. It wasn’t long before the chamber was a perfectly rectangular shape, large enough to comfortably hold all of them. Looking around the room, Charlie nodded to himself, drew a cobblestone block from his inventory, and placed it down, sitting on it and wiping his brow.
“All right, guys. We’re done!” Kat yelled up the hole as she placed the last of the torches on the wall. “Come on down!”
Cassandrix plopped down the hole, landing gracefully next to Kat and immediately walking over to the crafting table. Then, Kat heard a yell come down from the hole in the roof.
“Ahoy scallywags, guess wha’ I found!” Seconds later, Commander Crunch fell through the hole and landed next to Cassandrix and, without hesitation, he tossed a whole mess of wool blocks from his inventory onto the ground. “Thar was a flock o’ sheep roamin’ through th’ swamp! We gonna be sleepin’ comfy tonight! Well, I mean, personally, I prefer t’ sleep on rigid wood planks . . . but I ’ave a feelin’ that ye’ll appreciate it!”
Although the prospect of a good night’s sleep on a real bed did appeal to Kat immensely, it paled in comparison to the joy she felt when Cassandrix pulled a stone sword off the crafting table and put it into Kat’s eagerly awaiting hands. It had been far too long since Kat had felt the wholesome completeness that came with being armed with her weapon of choice. While the bow was definitely a decent second, Kat still felt overjoyed to finally be holding a sword again.
The next couple of hours were spent mainly in silence. While her three friends stayed in the cave and crafted various necessities, Kat climbed back into the swamp and crept her way through it, gathering food for their journey with Rex at her heels, and keeping an eye out for Noctem forces hidden between the trees. As the sun started to set, Kat returned to the hole, leaping her way back in and securing a dirt block above her head before settling into the hideout.
Cassandrix and Commander Crunch were both sitting on beds that had been made from the wool, while Charlie was still sitting on the cobblestone block. All of them looked rather bored. Kat deposited the steaks she had obtained in the furnace and sat down on her own bed, stretching and giving a yawn.
Kat, not being in a particular mood to talk, simply lay down on her bed, closed her eyes, and attempted to drift off to sleep, with Rex curled up at the foot of her bed. However, try as she might, Kat was repeatedly distracted by a rumbling in her stomach. It appeared that eating could not wait until morning.
“Hey, Cassandrix,” mumbled Kat to the girl in the bed next to hers. “You wanna reach into the furnace and grab a steak for me?”
After a moment with n
o reply, Kat continued, “Come on, Cassandrix, you’re right next to it, and I really don’t feel like getting up.”
Still, there was no response.
“Blimey, Cassandrix!” cried out Commander Crunch, his eyebrow knitting as Kat groggily sat upright in her bed and glanced over at Cassandrix. “Th’ lass asked ye a question, th’ least ye can do be respond.”
But suddenly, Kat wasn’t interested in the food anymore. Or at least, not for the time being. Rather, she was distracted by Cassandrix, who was sitting upright on her bed, her eyes glazed over and a terrified expression on her face, as if she were in some sort of trance.
“Cassandrix? Come on! Snap out of it!” cried Kat, clapping her hands together in front of her face. Instantly, Cassandrix’s head gave a jolt, and she looked around in confusion, clutching her chest, before finally realizing that she was in no danger.
“Did you not hear me?” Kat demanded. “I was asking you a question!”
“Oh, quiet yourself, you impudent twit,” growled Cassandrix. “Get it yourself if you’re so hungry.”
“What’s with you?” snapped Kat. She had actually been slowly warming up to Cassandrix over the course of their journey, and she was fully taken aback by this sudden return to her stubbornness.
“Oh, that is just like you, darling . . . so ignorant, so concerned about fairness and avoiding work. Kat, do you have any idea what we’re up against?” screeched Cassandrix, her eyes wide and desperate, pure, primal fear ripe in every inch of her face. “Of course you don’t! You’re just as ignorant as any other young player! You didn’t even recognize who Lord Tenebris was, did you?”
Kat opened her mouth, then closed it. She had been about to scold Cassandrix for dwelling on what they had seen Lord Tenebris do, rather than focusing on returning to Element City. On the one hand, Kat knew that, even though they had seen Lord Tenebris demonstrate terrifying and unexplainable powers, they couldn’t dwell on that now if they wanted to get back to Element City as fast as possible. On the other hand, now that Kat remembered when the two of them had first laid eyes on Lord Tenebris, Kat had definitely sensed some fearful recognition on Cassandrix’s face even before he had demonstrated what he could do.
“No, I didn’t recognize him,” Kat finally admitted.
“WHAT?” bellowed Commander Crunch, causing them all to jump as he leaped onto his feet in outrage. “Are ye tellin’ me that ye looked wit’ yer owns eyes into th’ most infamous, most powerful, ’n’ most evil demon in th’ history o’ Minecraft, ’n’ ye didn’ even recognize ’im?”
“What are you talking about?” demanded Charlie. “Of course we recognized him, Crunch . . . it was Lord Tenebris! Anybody with half a brain could figure that out!”
Rather than responding to Charlie, Commander Crunch turned to look at Cassandrix, who in turn stared back at him. Both of the older players held looks of equal disbelief on their faces.
“I don’t believe it,” whispered Cassandrix.
“Aye,” replied Commander Crunch in an uncharacteristically soft voice. “They really don’t know. . . .”
“Could you two cut to the chase already?” growled Charlie in irritation.
“Yeah,” added Kat, indignant but also a little bit disturbed at her friends’ reactions to her and Charlie’s ignorance. “Clearly you know something that we don’t, so spit it out!”
Cassandrix and Commander Crunch held each other’s gaze for a long time, as if both were lost for words. Finally, Cassandrix turned to face Kat and Charlie, who had stood up and walked over next to Kat.
“The head of the Noctem Alliance,” Cassandrix said slowly, as if carefully choosing her words, “is actually very well known. He’s probably the most famous being in the history of Minecraft. And . . . most of the people who know of Lord Tenebris . . . know him by a different name.”
“Aye,” replied Crunch, giving a solemn nod. “She speaks th’ truth. Have either o’ ye two scallywags ever heard o’ th’ legend o’ Herobrine?”
As the last word left Commander Crunch’s mouth, Cassandrix gave a shuddery outtake of breath, and the aura of dread about her was palpable. Even Commander Crunch seemed fully absent of his usual upbeat sailor demeanor as he spoke. Charlie and Kat, on the other hand, were just confused; neither of them could recall ever hearing the name in their lives.
“No,” Kat replied, quite uneasy but also intrigued. “What do you know about this . . . Herobrine?”
There was a moment of silence in which not a sound was uttered by anybody. Finally, Cassandrix spoke.
“Herobrine,” she replied, taking a deep breath and trying to keep her voice stable, “is a demon. The most evil and most powerful entity in the history of Minecraft, which all but the most gullible believe to be simply an urban legend. I used to believe that as well, before I finally set my gaze upon Lord Tenebris myself.”
“If it’d help ye,” growled Commander Crunch slowly, his stony face flickering in the torchlight, “I jus’ so happen t’ know th’ tale o’ Herobrine’s origin. ’Tis an ole tale—passed from sailor t’ sailor since th’ earliest days o’ Minecraft—’n’ perhaps, I may be able t’ shed some light fer ye two on jus’ wha’ we be dealin’ wit’ in th’ mastermind o’ th’ Noctem Alliance.”
Kat and Charlie glanced at each other, then back at Commander Crunch. After a moment, Kat nodded.
“All right, Commander,” Kat said, a tiny seed of fear in her heart as Charlie sat down in his bed to listen to the story. “Tell us the story of Herobrine.”
And with that, Commander Crunch pressed his fingers together in front of his mouth and began to speak.
“Nigh-on three years ago, a Minecraft player posted a message on an online message board. T’ this day, nobody can say fer sure who this player was. This was back in th’ days when Minecraft was in th’ Alpha stage o’ development, ’n’ prone t’ countless bugs, errors, ’n’ glitches. Th’ post consisted o’ a simple thread o’ text. Here be wha’ it said:
“‘I had recently spawned a new world in single-player Minecraft. Everythin’ was normal at first, as I began choppin’ down trees ’n’ craftin’ a workbench. I noticed somethin’ move amongst th’ dense fog . . . I ’ave a mighty slow computer, so I ’ave t’ play wit’ a wee render distance. I thought ’twas a Cow, so I pursued it, hopin’ t’ grab some hides fer armor.
“‘Aye, but it wasn’t a Cow.
“‘Lookin’ back at me was another character wit’ th’ default skin, but his eyes were empty, white, and lifeless. I double-checked t’ make sure I wasn’t in multiplayer mode. He didn’ stay long, though . . . he looked at me ’n’ quickly ran into th’ fog. I perused out o’ curiosity, but he was gone.
“‘I continued on wit’ th’ game, nah sure wha’ t’ reckon. As I expanded t’ world I saw thin’s that seemed out o’ place fer th’ random map generator t’ make by itself; square tunnels in th’ rocks, wee perfect pyramids made o’ sand in th’ ocean, ’n’ groves o’ trees wit’ all thar leaves cut off. I would constantly reckon I saw th’ other player in th’ deep fog, but I ne’er got a better look at ’im. I tried increasin’ me render distance t’ far whenever I thought I saw ’im but t’ no avail.
“‘I saved th’ map ’n’ went on th’ forums t’ see if anyone else had found th’ pseudo-player. Thar were none. I created me own topic tellin’ o’ th’ scallywag ‘n askin’ if anyone had a similar experience. Th’ post was deleted within five minutes. I tried again, ’n’ th’ topic was deleted even faster. I received a private message from username “Herobrine” containin’ one word: “Stop.”
“‘When I went t’ look at Herobrine’s profile, th’ page was gone.
“‘I received an email from another forum user. He claimed we were safer usin’ email. Th’ email claimed that he had seen th’ mystery player, too, ’n’ had a list o’ other users who had seen ’im as well. Thar worlds were littered wit’ obviously man-made features as well, ’n’ described thar mystery player t’ ’ave no pupils.<
br />
“‘About a month passed till I heard from me informant again. Some o’ th’ players who had encountered th’ mystery scallywag had looked into th’ name Herobrine ’n’ found that name t’ be frequently used by a Swedish gamer. Aft some further information gatherin’, ’twas revealed t’ be th’ brother o’ Notch, th’ game’s developer. I personally emailed Notch ’n’ asked ’im if he had a brother. It took ’im a while, but he finally emailed me back a mighty short message.
“‘He said: “I did, but he be no longer wit’ us.”
“‘I haven’t seen th’ mystery scallywag since our first encounter, ’n’ I haven’t noticed any changes t’ th’ world other than me own. I was able t’ press “print screen” when I first saw ’im. Here’s th’ only evidence o’ his existence.’
“’N’ attached t’ this player’s message,” Commander Crunch continued, as Charlie and Kat listened on, intrigued, “was a picture. Th’ picture showed a Minecraft world in deep fog, wit’ trees, hills, ’n’ a chicken. ’N’ peekin’ out o’ th’ edge o’ th’ fog be a player wit’ navy-blue pants, a turquoise shirt, ’n’ empty, white eyes.
“Naturally, at th’ time when this all came out, ’twas ignored, ’n’ th’ player was called out as a faker,” Commander Crunch continued. “However, afore long, this mysterious, dead-eyed player named Herobrine began t’ appear in other servers. Everywhere he went, he brought havoc wit’ ’im, spawnin’ lava in houses, creatin’ mysterious structures in the worlds of unsuspectin’ players, destroyin’ thin’s that others had created.
“He would also kill some players, playin’ psychological tricks on them by leavin’ items behind them when thar backs were turned, makin’ bumpin’ sounds in the night, makin’ them feel as if they were bein’ watched, ’n’ slowly drivin’ them further ’n’ further into madness afore finally endin’ them, ’n’ corruptin’ thar entire Minecraft server once ’n’ fer all.
“It wasn’t till a few famous Minecraft players had Herobrine appear on thar livestreams that scallywags finally began t’ share thar tales. Since then, Herobrine has become somethin’ o’ an icon t’ Minecraft. ’N’ as soon as he became famous, thousands o’ scallywags started t’ fake sightin’s o’ ’im, eager t’ get thar fifteen minutes o’ fame by convincin’ scallywags that they’ve got th’ real proof that Herobrine exists.
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