“It can’t be . . .” Gameknight said under his breath.
Cubes of sweat trickled down his face as he ran up the curving cobblestone steps, but he didn’t feel hot. In fact, the thought of what awaited him made him feel cold . . . dead cold.
At the top of the stairs, Gameknight came to a trapdoor. He opened it and carefully climbed into the small obsidian room. At the center was a black chest with a gold latch on the front. Short stripes ran around the lid with two wide stripes below the latch. The stripes would have normally glowed an eerie green, but this chest held something terrible and evil, making the stripes glow a pale, ghostly white. It lit the entire obsidian room, casting his shadow on the dark walls.
Surprisingly, he was not alone. There was already someone there—a tall, lanky boy with long black hair.
“Herder? Is that you?” Gameknight asked.
He reached out and put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, then spun him around.
Gameknight gasped as he saw the boy’s face. His eyes had a strange, milky appearance, as if they were glowing faintly from the inside. But almost as quickly as he’d noticed them, they faded back to their normal dual color, one a pale green, the other steel blue. Are my eyes playing tricks on me? Gameknight wondered. Is that piercing noise making me hallucinate?
“Oh . . . hi, Gameknight,” Herder said as though nothing was wrong. Then he put his hands to his ears. “Er . . . what is that sound?”
Gameknight looked down at the ender chest and pointed.
“It’s coming from there,” the User-that-is-not-a-user said.
Crafter came up the steps behind Gameknight and opened the trapdoor, hands over his ears. He was panting, trying to catch his breath. He looked at Gameknight’s extended blocky finger and followed it down to the ender chest. His bright blue eyes filled with fear.
“But I thought we destroyed Herobrine in the Last Battle, and now his XP is trapped in that chest,” Herder said. “How can his XP be making that noise, unless . . .” The lanky boy turned and looked at Crafter, then brought his eyes to Gameknight’s. “. . . unless he’s still alive.”
Gameknight shuddered as he nodded his head, and then looked down at the glowing ender chest, icicles of fear stabbing into his soul.
CHAPTER 2
THE NEW QUEEN
The king of the endermen, Feyd, teleported from cave to cave, following the last command from his Maker.
“Find Shaivalak,” Herobrine had said to him at the end of the battle with Gameknight999. When the Maker realized he had been tricked by the User-that-is-not-a-user during the Last Battle, and his dragon body would likely not survive, Herobrine had reached out through the fabric of Minecraft using his shadow-crafting powers. His message to Feyd echoed within the slender monster’s mind.
And so now, Feyd began his search. He knew he’d find her in a cave, likely hidden in a dark corner somewhere. The enderman teleported to every cave he’d ever visited, traveling at the speed of thought all throughout Minecraft. He could feel that time was running out, and if he did not find her quickly, she might not survive. He refused to consider the possibility that he could fail to carry out the Maker’s command.
“Where are you, Shaivalak?” Feyd said to himself, grumbling as he moved through the large cavern before him.
Not bothering to walk, the monster gathered his teleportation powers and zipped from one wall of the cave to the other, a cloud of purple teleportation particles floating about him like the morning mist. The cave echoed with dripping water and the squeak of the occasional bat as he peered into every hole and fissure, his growing frustration making his eyes glow white.
Growling with agitation, Feyd materialized into the next cave and listened. He could hear the scurrying of creeper feet scraping across cold stone and the rattling of a skeleton echoing through tunnels somewhere nearby. The monsters were probably hoping to encounter a stray user or NPC to destroy, though it was unlikely any would be found this far away from a village. He walked across the floor to the nearby wall, his eyes on the ground. It was so dark that the enderman could just barely make out the tiny cubes of dust he kicked up. Looking back along his path, he could see there were no other marks but his. No one had been in this cave for a long time.
“Another empty cave!” the enderman yelled at the stone walls.
Striking with lightning speed, he punched the rock with a clenched black fist. The block shattered, throwing pointed shards of granite into the air.
“Where are you, Shaivalak?” he muttered to himself.
His eyes glowed even brighter with anger, and with the additional light, he took one more look through the chamber before teleporting to another.
Instantly, Feyd could tell this cave was different. There were creatures here—dark, violent creatures. His favorite kind. Allowing his rage to build again, the enderman’s eyes glowed a harsh, bright white, casting dual beams of illumination all throughout the cave. Before him lay hundreds of dark eggs, each covered with a smattering of red spots. They were lying on the ground, nestled against the walls, or held precariously up on the ceiling with spider’s web.
Many of the eggs were completely still, but some of them rocked back and forth, the occupant struggling to gain freedom. As the eggs cracked, tiny black spiders emerged, their many red eyes glancing about quickly, looking for threats. These were the Sisters, the female spiders that patrolled the surface of the Overworld. Occasionally, small blue spiders emerged from the dark shell, but instead of scurrying for the cave entrance, they moved farther back into the cave, heading for the long tunnels that burrowed deep into the dark recesses of Minecraft. These were the Brothers—male cave spiders that patrolled the deep tunnels and caves.
As each hatched, Feyd could see that no two spiders moved in the same direction. These were solitary creatures that preferred being alone, rather than in groups. There was a time when they fought for the Maker in huge armies, with hundreds of the dark monsters doing Herobrine’s bidding. But now, after the destruction of their past queen, Shaikulud, at the hands of the User-that-is-not-a-user, there was nothing holding these creatures together.
“Gameknight999, you are responsible for the destruction of Shaikulud and her spider army,” Feyd said aloud to the tiny creatures, none of them paying him any heed. “You will be held responsible. This I promise.”
On the far side of the cave, one of the eggs started to crack open, allowing bright purple light to leak out. No other egg Feyd had seen hatch had given off any light; this one was unique. Teleporting to its location, Feyd looked down on the black and red egg. He could see narrow cracks zigzagging across the surface of the dark shell like vibrant bolts of purple lightning.
“Is it you, Shaivalak?” the king of the endermen asked the unborn spider.
The egg shook violently as if in response. Feyd could hear tapping on the shell from the inside, the sound of something sharp scraping against a hard surface . . . and then it split open, allowing a newborn spider to emerge. At first glance, she looked like every other Sister, with fuzzy black hair running down her back, long spindly legs sticking out from her bulbous body, sharp gray mandibles near her mouth. Feyd smiled when he saw the black wicked-looking claw at the end of each leg. But this spider’s eyes did not glow red; instead, bright purple eyes burned with a fiery intensity. Instantly, the king of the endermen recognized this creature as the one he sought: the new spider queen.
The young spider glanced up at Feyd, a confused look on her dark face.
“You are Shaivalak, the queen of the spiders,” the enderman said. “Herobrine, the Maker, imbued his powers into you while you were still in your egg, giving you control over these other spiders.”
The young spider glanced around at the monsters moving out of the cave before her. Everywhere she looked, her eyes illuminated a patch of the stony cave in purple, her multiple eyes like an array of lavender searchlights.
“Call them to you,” Feyd said in a high-pitched, screechy voice.
Th
e queen looked up at him, then closed her glowing eyes, a look of concentration on her horrific face. Reaching out through the fabric of Minecraft, Shaivalak extended the invisible tendrils of psychic energy that Herobrine had bestowed upon her. She wrapped those powers around every spider on the server, taking control of their will and bending them to her need. They were now hers to command, and they had no choice but to obey. Slowly, the newborn spiders stopped their exodus, confused looks on their monstrous faces, then turned and moved back into the cave. Behind Feyd, newborn and full-grown cave spiders flowed out of the tunnels, their dark blue bodies moving silently through the darkness. Adult Sisters followed the newborns, moving across the cave floor like a terrible black wave, stopping before their queen. They all bowed to her, then sat and waited for instructions. The queen looked up at Feyd to see if he was pleased.
“Well done,” Feyd said as he surveyed the new spider army. “Now, your orders are to assist me in taking revenge for the killing of the Maker . . . your Maker.” Feyd took a step closer and looked down on the tiny creature. “Do you understand?”
The spider nodded her small head, her purple eyes glowing bright with evil and violent thoughts.
“I shhhall do what musssst be done to avenge the Maker,” Shaivalak said. “The sssspidersss of the Overworld will fight with the endermen. We shhhall cleansssse the land of the pathetic villagerssss.”
The spider queen turned her purple gaze on the monsters gathered around her, then looked at the cave entrance and watched as more creatures flowed into the newly-formed spider nest.
“We all remember our enemy, Gameknight999,” the queen shouted to her army, her high-pitched voice piercing through the sound of claws scratching stone. “We are born with the memory of him desssstroying our lasssst queen. For that act, he musssst be punishhhed!”
Shaivalak turned and looked about the cavern, allowing her purple gaze to fall on every spider present.
“We can all feel the Maker calling out to ussss with hissss wonderful ssssong.”
Every monster in the cave could hear the high-pitched whine coming from Herobrine’s XP—a beacon marking the location of their prize. The spiders clicked their mandibles excitedly.
“Gather your forces, Shaivalak,” Feyd said. “We know where the XP of our Maker is being held. When we recapture and release it, the Maker will be reborn, and then he will take vengeance on all of Minecraft! For now, send some of your sisters out to remind the NPCs that your spiders are still here.”
Shaivalak nodded her head, her eyes glowing bright. Drawing in a deep breath, she closed her eyes and concentrated. Along invisible tendrils of thought energy, her commands moved across the Overworld to a group of spiders hiding in the shadows near the village that held their Maker captive.
Wait for a good opportunity, then strike! Shaivalak’s commands resonated within the minds of those distant spiders. She turned and looked up at Feyd and gave him an evil, fanged smile.
CHAPTER 3
SISTERS
Looking down on the workers, Gameknight shook his head as he watched them repair the wall. They had been spending more time arguing than they had working. Monkeypants was now with them, trying to get the NPCs to work together, but it wasn’t working; they were just accusing the others of not working hard enough, or claiming it was their turn for a break, or complaining that they were doing all the work.
Finally, exasperated, Monkeypants pushed aside the NPCs and started doing the work himself. Gameknight was about to do the same when he heard the voice of the lookout from atop the watchtower.
“Riders coming!” Watcher yelled.
Turning to look across the grassy plain, Gameknight saw two riders moving across the blocky terrain. As they neared, he could see that each had vibrant, curly red hair streaming behind them like victorious battle flags. It was Hunter and her young sister, Stitcher. Drawing his diamond sword, the User-that-is-not-a-user waved it high over his head in greeting. They waved back. But as they neared, Gameknight saw angry scowls on their faces. They likely could now hear the relentless whine from Herobrine’s XP, and the piercing sound was already working on their nerves. By the time they passed through the gates of the village, the sisters were arguing bitterly.
“It’s your turn to take care of the horses,” Stitcher snapped at her sister.
“I don’t care,” Hunter replied. “I’m the older sister and I’m in charge.”
“You’re in charge?!” Stitcher replied. “Since when? You’re a mess and can’t do anything for yourself. I have to take care of you, cook food, gather supplies, and keep the house clean. All you do is go out and hunt.”
“That’s right—I hunt to keep us fed,” Hunter replied. “The least you could do is be grateful and take care of the horses.”
“Take care of your own horse,” Stitcher snapped. “I don’t care if you are older, I’m not—”
“Hunter, Stitcher, stop arguing!” Gameknight shouted as he approached.
The sisters looked at the User-that-is-not-a-user with angry eyes and then dismounted.
“You hear that whining sound?” Gameknight999 asked.
Both girls tilted their heads and listened for a moment, then frowned. Stitcher moved her hands to her ears while Hunter pulled out her enchanted bow and notched an arrow.
“There’s nothing to shoot, Hunter,” Gameknight said, putting a calm hand on her bow and aiming it toward the ground. “It’s Herobrine’s XP making the noise.”
“His XP?” Stitcher exclaimed. “How can that be?”
“We don’t know,” said Monkeypants271, coming up behind them.
“He’s right,” said Crafter, joining the small group. Crafter’s black smock had a gray stripe running down the front, and his shoulder-length, sandy blond hair stood out against the dark outfit. He was smaller than Hunter, probably the same height as Stitcher. By his appearance, he looked to be the same age as the younger sister, but this village leader had lived a long time and was probably the oldest NPC in all of Minecraft.
“We went up into my castle,” Gameknight said, “and could tell that it was coming from the ender chest where we have Herobrine’s XP contained.”
“How is this possible? You said we’d be rid of Herobrine,” Hunter said to Gameknight, a not-too-subtle tone of accusation in her voice. “When is this going to be over?”
“I don’t know,” Gameknight answered. “But I think we should—”
“SPIDERS!” someone shouted from atop the tall watchtower.
“Spiders?” Diggers said. “I thought the spider queen was . . .”
Gameknight didn’t hear the rest of Digger’s question; he was already sprinting, full speed, toward an undamaged section of the fortified wall. Taking the stairs two at a time, he reached the top of the battlement in seconds. Gameknight scanned the surroundings and saw a company of spiders scuttling across the grassy plain, about to cross the wooden bridge that spanned the moat. The User-that-is-not-a-user growled in frustration. Watcher should have given his warning when the monsters had moved out of the forest, not when they were at the bridge. There were no archers in the towers that sat on either side of the wooden bridge. The spiders would cross with ease.
“Close the gates!” Gameknight shouted. Surprisingly, no one moved. “Spiders are coming! CLOSE THE GATES NOW!”
The force of his voice sparked the NPCs into motion; Hunter and Stitcher stopped their arguing and rushed to the gates. They pushed the iron doors closed just as the fuzzy monsters slammed their weight against the entrance. The door slowly edged open wider, but Digger charged forward and smashed against it. With the force of his impact, the doors slammed shut again. The villagers locked the gate, preventing the spiders from entering through the front door, at least.
“We could have done it without your help, you know,” Hunter chided.
Digger just rolled his eyes as he ran for the broken part of the fortifications. The spiders were not far behind, their excited clicking growing louder as they sensed a
n opening in the village’s defenses.
“Everyone, move to the open section of the walls!” Digger boomed as he armed himself with two big pickaxes from his inventory and charged forward.
Gameknight drew his diamond sword with his right hand and pulled out the iron blade with his left. Running as fast as he could, he sprinted to the opening in the cobblestone wall. He reached Digger’s side just as the spiders arrived.
“Form up behind us,” the User-that-is-not-a-user shouted. “We cannot let them into the village!”
He expected to hear footsteps rushing up to join him, but instead only heard the spiders’ clicking as the monsters approached. Glancing over his shoulder, Gameknight saw all the villagers standing in place far behind him, weapons drawn. But something was wrong. They weren’t lined up together; they were haphazardly spread out. They weren’t communicating with the other warriors, and silence spread across the village. This isn’t like them, Gameknight thought. All of their successes against the monsters of the Overworld had always been driven by their cooperation, by helping their neighbors and treating everyone like family. But now, the NPCs looked like a bunch of individuals only looking out for themselves. This was bad.
Gameknight turned to face the oncoming monsters. As he readied for the first monster, Monkeypants stepped up beside him, standing with his sword in hand. Next to him was Baker, stone sword held at the ready, a piece of iron armor acting as a shield in his other hand. Gameknight flashed his father a smile, then turned and glared at the oncoming beasts. Maybe there are still a few people left who could fight as a team, he thought.
The first spider charged straight at Gameknight999. The monster swung its wicked, curved claw at him, hoping to tear into his armor, but Gameknight stepped aside, just enough to make the spider barely miss him, before striking back with both his swords, tearing into his enemy’s HP.
Gameknight999 vs. Herobrine Page 2