Gameknight turned and moved to Crafter’s side. The last and largest of the Taintacles was almost touching the ceiling. It oozed some kind of green poison that had destroyed the many Fronosian creatures that had fallen within its grasp. Suddenly, the thing expanded and grew taller. The tip of the scaly, purple Taintacle was now just scraping the ceiling, leaving charred scratches on the gray stones overhead.
“Gameknight, we don’t know how to attack this,” Crafter said. “Anytime one of us get close enough, it stabs them, infecting them with its poison.”
A strawberry with two tiny little feet and large black eyes walked in a daze across the floor of the chamber. It had somehow gotten past the line of wolves and was now moving right up to the monster. Without hesitation or mercy, the Taintacle slammed its thick body down upon the red creature. When it arose, the creature was shaded a sickly green, flashing as it took damage, then disappearing with a pop.
“Hey, that wasn’t nice!” Herder shouted.
The wolves moved away from the chamber entrance and growled at the monster, Tux squawking loudly, her piercing voice rising above the others. The little penguin looked infuriated. She waddled right up to the Taintacle as if it were going to peck it with her little yellow beak. The thing writhed and shook.
“Digger, do something,” Crafter shouted. “You’re closest.”
Squawk, squawk!
The Taintacle tried to slam its bulk down on top of the penguin, but she was able to step aside at just the last instant.
“Tux … get back,” Digger shouted, his voice cracking with fear.
Squawk, squawk! she shouted—maybe it was her battle cry.
The Taintacle raised itself high in the air, then started its attack again, aiming right for Tux.
“No,” Digger said, then sprinted for the penguin. “NOOOOO!”
Instead of picking up the penguin, Digger leapt high in the air and grabbed hold of the squirming Taintacle. He wrapped his arms and legs around it, his weight pulling the tip of the monster to the ground. Digger moaned as he flashed red, his armor taking most of the damage—his protection would completely fail soon if he didn’t let go.
“Digger … NO!” Gameknight screamed.
He ran to his friend, but as he came close to the purple monster, he saw some of the hard, segmented plates that covered the monster’s purple flesh were now spreading open, revealing the dark flesh that hid beneath.
“Everyone, attack the gaps!”
Gameknight swung his infused-sword at the soft tissue. It hit deep, making the creature flash red. Now Crafter and Weaver were adding their Ichorium blades to the fight, attacking different gaps. The User-that-is-not-a-user’s sword was a bright yellow blur as he chopped at the Taintacle with all his strength.
He glanced at Digger. The three pechs were standing side by side, throwing healing potions on the stocky villager, giving him a few more minutes of life as the others attacked the monster. Each of the gnomes had their magical weapons in their hands in case they were needed, but that much magic unleashed on the monster might tear the fabric of Minecraft just as much as Entity303’s creation. They didn’t dare try to use them.
The monster flailed and tried to escape Digger’s grasp, but the big villager refused to let go. The writhing creature flashed red as the villagers’ blades bit deep into the creature’s flesh. Flashing two more times, the terrible monster gave off a strange tearing sound, then finally disappeared. Digger fell to the ground, unconscious.
The pechs threw rejuvenation potions on him as Gameknight and his companions rushed to his side.
“Is he gonna be okay?” Herder asked.
The wolf pack leader licked Digger’s face with his rough pink tongue.
“What do we do?” Weaver moaned.
Suddenly Hunter and Stitcher went skidding across the floor; Entity303 had used the distraction to knock the sisters aside. The evil user picked up Gameknight’s discarded Ichorium sword and struck at the three pechs. He hit them again and again before anyone could move, causing them to fall to the ground, dropping their wands.
Reaching down, Entity303 quickly scooped up the magical weapons and held them in his right hand, the Ichorium sword in his left. He pointed the cluster of enchanted weapons at the sisters when they tried to stand up and retrieve their dropped bows. They stopped in their tracks.
“All of you back up and stand next to your hero, Gameknight999, or I let the two little girls have it with these wands,” Entity303 growled.
They all stepped back, wary of the power the user held in his hand.
“Entity303, you need to be careful with those,” Gameknight said. “We don’t know what they’ll do if you use them all at the same time. They could destroy everything.”
“You’re right, we don’t know what they’ll do,” Entity303 said with a sneer. “Let’s find out.”
He glared at the three pechs, who were struggling to stand, then flicked his wrist and fired the three magical weapons at the helpless gnomes. Gameknight gasped, knowing nothing could survive all that magic, and all he could do was watch as the horrific scene unfolded before his eyes.
CHAPTER 34
THE THIRDS
Gameknight watched in utter horror as Entity303 used Empech’s magical fishing pole, Forpech’s gem-capped wand, and Trupech’s metal-tipped staff on the three gnomes. Waves of magical power flowed from each of the three enchanted talismans. The sparkling energy washed over the three pechs, making them writhe and convulse in pain. They flashed red with damage; Gameknight didn’t think they could last much longer. Each one shouted out in agony, as did Entity303. The evil user’s face grimaced as the pain flowed through his own body as well as the pechs’, but the vile, hateful expression on his square face never changed. He would likely never relent; he didn’t care what pain he felt, as long as he could destroy these three creatures, as well as the whole of Minecraft at the same time.
The pechs continued to flash red, the bursts of crimson light from their little bodies getting brighter with each pulse. The flashing increased, the time between each throb of damaging red light getting shorter and shorter until the space between pulsations was no longer visible. In fact, the bodies of the pechs gave off such bright red light that Gameknight had to turn away.
He glanced at Entity303 and saw an expression of pain and surprise as the vile user howled in agony, his eyes wide with shock. He shook his hand, as if he were now trying to drop the enchanted weapons, but they refused to fall from his grasp, the magical power continuing to flow unabated.
Hunter and Stitcher ran toward the user, arrows drawn and ready to fire. Entity303 quickly turned the weapons on the sisters, his visage still one of anguish. Instantly, the girls fell to the floor, bathed in magical light. The sisters writhed and convulsed as they screamed in agony. Gameknight and Weaver ran forward to go to their aid, but Entity303 turned the wands on them. Instantly, the User-that-is-not-a-user was enveloped with an explosion of pain. Every nerve was aflame as the magical energy seemed to burn away at his very soul as if it were consuming him from the inside.
But, at the same time, the power of the pechs’ magical tools linked Gameknight999 to his attacker. Empech’s enchanted fishing pole allowed the User-that-is-not-a-user to feel the emotions of his attacker, and he felt so sad for his enemy. Deep inside, Entity303 was consumed by loneliness … such terrible loneliness. The evil user’s feelings were dominated by such a profound sense of isolation that it hurt. Entity303 felt rejected by the entire world after being fired from the Minecraft development team, and rather than come to terms with his emotions and look inward at his own shortcomings so that he could correct them, he instead had chosen a path of revenge and destruction. Without any family or friends or his job helping program Minecraft, Entity303 felt as if he had nothing; he was completely alone.
Gameknight understood that feeling—he’d felt it himself many times at school: I’m invisible … I’m useless … I’m alone. And for some reason, whenever he was drowning
in self-induced sorrow, that was when the bullies would strike, making him feel even more isolated. These feelings of loneliness and being a victim flowed back up through the stream of energy to his adversary; Entity303 was now feeling what Gameknight was feeling as well. Their eyes locked and they realized how similar they really were.
Their feelings then shifted from focusing on each other to focusing on themselves. Forpech’s wand made Entity303 and Gameknight face their choices, acknowledging their successes, and, more importantly, accepting their failures. They were confronted by the feelings they’d caused others and forced to experience them all. Gameknight smiled as he experienced the emotions of his friends, how they felt comforted by his presence and accepted into their community. And there was something even deeper from one of them that the User-that-is-not-a-user did not fully understand. Through the connection of the magical energy, Entity303 felt that Gameknight999 was feeling wanted, feeling friendship … feeling love.
But then Entity303 groaned as he began to face the emotions he had caused in others. The evil user fell to his knees as he felt all the pain and sorrow he’d caused others, both in the physical world and in Minecraft. All of the people he’d wronged on the Minecraft development team materialized in his mind. Their emotions smashed into Entity303 with enormous impact, and, through Forpech’s magic wand, into Gameknight999 as well. Then, the suffering of the innocent creatures Entity303 had tortured and destroyed in the digital lands of the game crashed down upon the two users. Gameknight arched his back as he felt imaginary swords and claws tear into him, just as the evil user’s victims had felt. Entity303 fell to his side and moaned as the same thing happened to him.
The awareness that he’d caused these emotions surfaced in the evil user’s mind. He’d done these things because of his own feelings of insecurity and loneliness, and, rather than deal with his own failures, he’d lashed out at others, hurting them. He had tried to make others suffer so his pain would somehow be more tolerable … but it hadn’t worked, and he realized that now. Entity303 knew, instead of punishing others for his failures, that he would need to take ownership for his actions, and forgive himself as he tried to right the wrongs he caused. Maybe those he’d hurt would give him the smallest bit of forgiveness.
Then, the full power of Trupech’s Staff of Truth smashed into the two users. The images of their true selves came crashing down upon them. Gameknight saw himself as a leader who was afraid and sometimes uncertain. He had known there were terrible monsters on the planets of Galacticraft, but he hadn’t told his friends, for fear of being abandoned.
That’s ridiculous, a voice said in his head. It was Hunter’s voice; she was still in the stream of magic from the three wands. We’d follow you anywhere. Her thoughts were calm and peaceful. I’d follow you anywhere.
And me too, Stitcher’s thoughts said in his mind.
Suddenly, Crafter reached out and grabbed Gameknight’s hand, trying to take some of the damage onto himself to help his friend. Then Herder did the same, as did all his wolves. They piled on one another, hoping to share the damage, to keep their friends alive for just a moment longer.
Gameknight could feel the love they all had for each other, but especially for him. He was their glue, the thing that kept their family together, and they would do anything for him.
You think we wouldn’t follow you because it was dangerous? Hunter thought. Sometimes, you truly are an idiot.
Stitcher laughed even though she was raked with pain, and then Hunter laughed as well. Soon, all of them were laughing and crying at the same time, the strength of their family holding back the damage.
But for Entity303, this was the harshest possible lesson. His true self was a selfish, bitter, childish person who needed his pride and ego constantly reinforced so that he could feel good about himself, even if it meant hurting others. He lacked any self-esteem because of how others avoided him, adding to his sense of isolation. But he also realized that his coworkers had stayed away, not because they wanted to exclude him, but because they felt their companionship was unwanted by him. As a result, Entity303 realized, he had always been the cause of his own isolation. And his loneliness had made him angrier and more bitter, which led to him pushing people even farther away. If he had only accepted himself, and come to terms with his strengths and weaknesses, and stopped driving others away, then he might have felt that which Gameknight999 did within Minecraft … a sense of belonging … a sense of community. He was a member of a family.
And, now that Entity303 had realized the source of his hostile actions, he was able to allow the feelings of being part of a group to flood through him.
Gameknight felt what Entity303 was experiencing and wanted to help. He reached out with his mind and drew the user closer.
What you have with your friends … that’s what I want, Entity303 thought. I never knew it before, because I was so focused on hurting others to hide my own pain, but that’s not what I want anymore. Not revenge, but acceptance.
Gameknight struggled to stand and face his adversary. You get acceptance by letting people into your life, he mentally told the user, instead of shutting everyone out.
But what if they won’t accept me? asked Entity 303.
Try helping others first, Gameknight thought. What you do for yourself dies when you die, but what you do for others creates ripples throughout their lives, even long after you’re gone. What you do for others can live forever. Help people and they will accept you.
As the magical power from the pechs’ weapons slowly faded, Entity303 groaned in realization. “I’m the source of my own problems,” he said. “I can change. I can become better. It’s not necessary for me to hurt others.”
And then, the flow of energy from the wands ceased, but the harsh light did not go away. The pechs were still glowing, the illumination so bright that they all had to turn away. It grew steadily more intense, as if the three gnomes were about to explode.
And then, suddenly, a bright flash of light filled the room. It didn’t come from the wands or the pechs or the ground; it seemed to come from within each of them.
When the light had faded, and Gameknight’s eyes had adjusted, he found the pechs were gone, and standing in their place was an old woman with wrinkled skin, and bright, steely gray eyes. In her hand, she held a crooked wooden cane, its end capped with metal.
It was the Oracle. IT WAS THE ORACLE!
Gameknight’s head felt as if it were spinning, he was so confused.
“Oracle … you’re here?!” Gameknight said, still struggling to stand. “YOU’RE HERE!”
“You don’t need to yell, child, I’m right here,” she said, her voice scratchy and aged.
“What are you doing here?” Gameknight asked. “What’s happening? Where are the pechs?”
“Each of the pechs was a part of me all along. Empech was my empathy, Forpech was my forgiveness, and Trupech was my sense of truth and justice,” the Oracle explained, smiling. “The mods that were loaded into Minecraft by Entity303 had fractured my artificial intelligence software code, splitting me into the Thirds. But now that the wands brought me together, I can continue the battle to protect Minecraft as a whole.”
“I’m … sorry I did those things,” Entity303 said. “I didn’t understand. I thought my pain and loneliness came from others, that it was someone else’s fault. But now I realize that I’m in control of myself, and I need to be responsible for myself. And it’s time I helped fix the damage I caused.”
“Well said, child.” The old woman turned to the User-that-is-not-a-user. “I can’t believe you didn’t expect this,” She pointed at Gameknight999 with her cane.
“How could I have known?” he asked.
“‘When the three became one’ … didn’t you hear the prophecy?” the Oracle asked.
“Well … yeah, but I didn’t think it meant you would—” Gameknight started to reply, but she cut him off.
“Really, child?” she replied, sarcastically. “‘The Mus
ic of Minecraft will return’ … you couldn’t connect the dots?”
“Well … um …”
“‘Do the math?’ Didn’t you hear that?” The Oracle shook her head, just like his favorite teacher, Ms. Shorey, always did whenever he forgot his homework.
Gameknight lowered his gaze, embarrassed and frustrated. But, just then, a beautiful melody floated through the air, filling the chamber and every occupant with soothing notes. Gameknight just stood there and smiled as the harmonious tones passed over him like a gentle spring breeze, carrying with them peace and contentment, and taking away any fear or uncertainty.
“No more time for questions,” she replied. “We have much to do. The tear in the fabric of Minecraft has begun, and it’s ripping through the pyramid of server planes as we speak.”
She pointed to the ground near her feet. Thin cracks spread outward, bright white light shining from within. One of the cracks extended to the wall and just seemed to keep going, stretching out into the void that surrounded the Outer Lands.
“What can we do to stop it?” Gameknight asked.
“Yeah, what can we do to save Minecraft?” Entity303 added, wiping tears from his eyes.
Gameknight could see that the normal, hateful scowl that had seemed perpetually carved on the user’s face was now gone, replaced by a softened and empathetic expression.
The Oracle glanced at the formerly evil user and smiled, then turned and pointed her cane at Weaver.
“We must get young Weaver back where he belongs,” the old woman said. “And we don’t have long before it’s too late.”
“So what do we do?” Gameknight asked.
“We go back to the Overworld,” she replied.
“But how?” Hunter asked.
The old woman smiled, then turned her gaze to Digger. “We dig.”
CHAPTER 35
THE OVERWORLD
“Digger, what happened back there with that Taintacle?” Gameknight asked. “You went from meek and afraid to a raging maniac.”
“I couldn’t just stand by and let Tux get hurt,” Digger said. “She was bravely standing up to that monster, and I knew that if I didn’t do something, Tux would be destroyed. Something sorta bubbled up from inside me. It was like a raging fire, or a pot boiling over, or …”
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