“You don’t have to do anything, Empech,” Crafter said as he approached. “It’s OK, we’re all here to help.”
“No, no, Crafter does not understand,” Empech moaned.
“All I understand is that this fishing pole of yours is incredible,” Stitcher said. “I’ve never seen anything so powerful. It not only brought that green monster to a stop, it squashed it like a bug!”
She picked up the fishing pole and stared down at it for a second in wonder, then handed it back to the gnome. Empech shook his head.
“No, no, Empech will not touch that again; the price is too high.”
“Well, if you don’t want it, then I’ll take it,” Stitcher said.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Crafter said. “We really don’t know what that thing does.”
“I know what it does: it stops monsters,” she replied.
“Stitcher, I think you should listen to Crafter,” Hunter advised.
“I’m not gonna pass up a weapon that can stop a monster like one of those cave trolls,” the younger sister said. “It might give me the power to crush a monster like Empech just did.” She stared at her older sister. “I want that kind of power.”
“Be careful, young one,” the gnome said, wiping the tears from his crystalline blue eyes. “That power comes with a terrible price.”
“What price?” she replied. “I’ll pay it; just name your price. I can handle anything.”
Empech held up his three-fingered hands and stepped back, giving up his claim on the magical fishing pole.
“Arrogance is a dangerous lens through which to view the world, child,” the gnome said. “Humility and caution are always sage companions.”
“Pffff,” she harrumphed, then put the fishing pole into her inventory with a grin. “Less talking and more moving. Gameknight, which way?”
The User-that-is-not-a-user lifted his arm from the pech’s shoulders, then pointed to the ground. “We must keep going down, to the dungeons.”
“Then let’s stop all the gabbing and get moving.” Stitcher said, then turned and headed into the darkness, the iridescent light of her enchanted bow casting a faint purple sphere of illumination around her lithe form. Suddenly, the young girl shouted from the shadows, her voice echoing off the cold stone walls. “There’s another door over here; come on!”
Gameknight glanced at Crafter. He saw the same look of concern on the young NPC’s face that he felt in his own heart.
Stitcher is without any sensitivity or concern for other people’s feelings, Gameknight thought. How did I let this happen to my friend?
He chest felt heavy as feelings of guilt settled onto his soul like a leaden shroud.
“Hurry up. I’m not gonna wait forever,” Stitcher yelled from the darkness.
Gameknight sighed, as did Crafter and Hunter. The party headed in the direction of her voice, their eyes sad at the realization of what had been stolen from her so long ago in the Nether fortress: her empathy.
The group of comrades moved toward Stitcher’s voice. The splash of purple light from her bow quickly became visible as they strode through the darkness. Gameknight held the Moonworm Queen in his left hand, placing glowing worms on the ground as they walked. Finally, they reached the young girl’s side.
“This must lead somewhere,” Stitcher said as she tapped on the door with her bow. “Everyone ready?”
Gameknight sighed with the others. He was tired of fighting, tired of violence and tired of fear, but he knew they had to continue. As they all held their weapons at the ready, Gameknight999 reached out and placed his hand on a tile. As with the others, the squares disappeared one after another, revealing another stairway that extended downward into the bowels of the White Castle, to what lay waiting for them: an ancient beast … an angry beast … a lethal beast.
CHAPTER 31
THE RUNE DUNGEONS
Like the last wide stairway, this passage was maybe a dozen blocks from one wall to the other. Stitcher moved forward into the darkness and looked down the steps, the shadowy gloom hugging the walls with its terrifying embrace. She went down a couple of steps, then glanced back at the others, an impatient expression on her square face.
“Well?” she asked expectantly.
Crafter moved into the passage followed by Herder and his wolves, a torch in his hand. The furry animals almost disappeared in the ominous hallway, their white fur blending in with the pristine white steps, the darkness making the two merge together.
Gameknight placed a moonworm on the wall. Suddenly, a splash of yellow light lit the stairs and walls.
“Why would they need this to be this wide?” Digger asked nervously. “What were they moving that needed this stairway to be this large?” His voice shook a little.
“Maybe an entire army,” Stitcher suggested in a cold voice.
That made Digger shake even more.
“Stitcher,” Hunter chided.
“What?” the younger sister replied, sounding exasperated, but no one spoke.
Digger sighed as he stepped into the passage and stared down the steps. Everyone could feel his fear; it was almost tangible in the air, a thread stretched nearly to its limits and about to break. Gameknight put a hand on his friend’s shoulder, letting him know he wasn’t alone, then moved down the steps with him.
They descended in utter silence except for the echo of their boots slapping against the cold stone stairs. There were no monster sounds to be heard; Gameknight was thankful of that, but the silence forced him to confront his inner demons: his own feelings of failure and guilt. Uncertainty and doubt circled him like vultures around a wounded animal, pecking away at his courage, but Empech’s words drove the monsters back: You can only do what you believe you can do.
I can do this, he thought, the words driving back the ghostly specter of fear that filled his mind.
They continued down the steps, Gameknight shooting the moonworms onto the walls as they descended.
“It’s too quiet,” Gameknight said worriedly.
“I like quiet,” Digger replied.
“Come on,” Stitcher said, “Let’s go faster and get this little adventure over with.”
The young girl charged down the steps and into the darkness, her enchanted bow in her hands, an arrow already notched. Gameknight tried to keep up with her, placing glowing moonworms farther apart on the walls as he ran to keep up, but Stitcher didn’t wait for anyone. The rest of the party hurried to catch her, but were barely able to keep within sight of her bouncing red curls as they descended down the cold, lifeless staircase.
“Stitcher, slow down,” Gameknight called, but the young girl ignored them and extended her lead. Finally, she stopped and waited for the others.
“Thank you for waiting,” he said.
“I wasn’t waiting for you,” she replied. “It was just getting too dark. I need your little insect friends there to shed some light on the stairs.”
“Well, I don’t want to use the Moonworm Queen anymore unless it’s necessary. Who knows how many worms are left within her? Does anyone have any torches?”
“I do,” Woodcutter said.
The tall NPC moved down a couple of steps, then pulled a handful of torches out of his inventory. He walked down the stairs, placing torches on the wall as he went. The warm circles of flickering, yellow torchlight buoyed their spirits, driving back the shadows and quelling the thoughts of imaginary beasts hiding in the shadowy recesses of their minds.
Soon, they reached another wooden door. As they all stood with their weapons ready, Woodcutter placed a hand on a wooden tile. With popping sounds, the door’s tiles disappeared, letting pink light fill the stairwell.
Instantly, the smell of ash and dust filled their senses. Added to it was an aroma the Gameknight could only describe as the smell of a lightning storm, as if something electrical had been fried. A faint buzzing filled the air, like a distant bee flying just beyond eyesight, its relentless wings continuing to beat ou
t its droning hum.
They stood inside a massive cube built in the center of an unbelievably large room. The cube was fifteen blocks on a side and fifteen blocks tall, with translucent walls that gave off the bright pink light. Like panes of colored glass, the transparent sheets of color that formed the walls allowed them to see similar cubes in the distance, each glowing a different color. Within the other colored rooms were creatures moving about, some very big and some small. They writhed and struggled to stand, as if in terrible pain within the radiant enclosures.
Single-block pillars ran along the edges of the cube-shaped cells, dividing the glowing surfaces into smaller sections. The stone columns were built from special blocks with ornate figures and runes carved into their surfaces, the figures shining the same color as the glowing walls.
“What is that?” Stitcher asked, an uncertain scowl on her face.
She reached out and touched the glowing surface with her hand, then pounded on it with a pickaxe.
“It’s a force field. I remember seeing these last time I played this game,” Gameknight said.
“Game?” Stitcher growled. “Is this a game to you?”
“I mean back in the physical world,” the User-that-is-not-a-user stammered. “You know, before I met all of you.”
Stitcher gave him a scowl and turned away.
“It’s OK, Gameknight,” Crafter said. “Tell us what you know.”
“Well, the last time I pla … explored this world, I found nothing that could break these force fields. We’ll probably be seeing more of these as we descend.” Gameknight pointed to a door in the side of the glowing cube. “We go that way.”
“We’re going out there?” Digger asked, gesturing to the additional glowing rooms.
Gameknight nodded, then moved to the door and waited for the others. Hunter and Stitcher moved to his side with arrows drawn, a pack of wolves pacing angrily at their feet. Gameknight reached out and pressed one of the wooden squares. The door evaporated.
Instantly, the wolves started to growl as they sniffed the air.
“Monsters,” Herder whispered.
“Come on,” the User-that-is-not-a-user said. “This is like a maze down here. We need to find another pink cube with more stairs going down.”
They move out into the dark corridor, the group staying close together. The sounds of monsters filled the cold, dusty passage, but thankfully, they sounded far away … or was it just an echo of something nearby?
They moved cautiously past a blue cell that contained a strange-looking creature. It was short and stocky, with blood-red wings sticking out from its back that resembled those of a bat. Two sharp horns jutted up from the creature’s square head, giving it a devilish look. The monster moaned as if it was in pain, but just glared at the party with venomous hatred as they passed.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Gameknight whispered. “Let’s move fast.”
With Woodcutter at his side, he started to run. The big NPC was placing torches down every dozen blocks or so, placing each just at the edge of the last circle of light. It was providing them enough light to see, but the stone walls and floors were dark and could easily hide dangerous holes. They passed more blue cells, then green and yellow ones, each holding some kind of terrible creature none of them had ever seen before.
“Why is the stone so dark?” Hunter asked. “It looks like regular stone, but it’s as dark as bedrock.”
“It’s deadrock,” Empech said from behind.
“What?” Gameknight asked.
“The walls and floor,” the little creature said. “They are made of deadrock. It is like bedrock, but it is no longer connected to Minecraft. Likely, this is an effect of Entity303’s tampering with Minecraft. Empech is sure this will eventually spread throughout the land until everything is deadrock,””
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Woodcutter said with concern.
The pech just grunted.
“This is probably part of Entity303’s plan,” Gameknight said. “His mods are doing this, I know it.”
“How do we stop this?” Crafter asked.
“There is an ancient prophecy Empech heard,” the gnome said. “It may shed some light on this predicament.”
“What was it?” Crafter asked.
The pech took on a solemn expression, then his voice became scratchy as if something were caught in his throat, or maybe someone else was speaking through him. “When the Three are merged into One, the Music of Minecraft will return to hold the land together, before the end.” His deep blue, gem-like eyes glittered with hope.
“More riddles … thanks a lot,” Stitcher said.
They turned a corner and headed toward a glowing blue cube, the letters etched in the blocks shining the same color. The monster sounds were growing louder.
“What does that mean?” Gameknight asked.
The pech just shrugged as he ran. He was about to say something when a strange, raspy mechanical breathing sound filled the air. A glowing ball of sparkling magic shot out of the darkness and struck the wall just in front of the User-that-is-not-a-user, barely missing him.
“Monsters!” Gameknight yelled.
The party now sprinted through the dark tunnels, Woodcutter placing the torches as fast as he could. They ran from the monstrous wheezing as more sparkling balls of energy streaked over their heads. Now, the sounds of zombie moans could also be heard from behind.
“Great, more monsters,” Crafter moaned.
“And I’m out of torches,” Woodcutter said between panting breaths.
Gameknight pulled out the Moonworm Queen and shot the glowing worms onto the ground. The yellow glow of the creatures instantly spread outward. But the worms seemed to flicker for some reason.
“Just keep running,” Gameknight said. “We need to find the …”
“There’s the pink force field off to the left,” Hunter shouted just then.
Gameknight turned and headed in that direction. When he reached the glowing cube, he pressed his hand to the wooden tiles as the sound of bowstrings filled the air. Stitcher and Hunter were firing back along their trail. Monsters were slowly emerging from the darkness behind them, following the glowing worms on the ground. Many of the creatures screamed in pain as the sisters’ arrows found their targets.
“The door’s open, come on!” Digger shouted as he shoved his way past his friends, Tux squawking fearfully under his arm.
They moved into the cube, where they stood before another stairway that went deeper into the castle.
“The monsters are coming!” Stitcher yelled behind them as she fired her bow as fast as she could draw arrows.
Zombies and spiders and skeletons came at them from the darkness, but a myriad of unfamiliar monsters, all vicious-looking, moved toward them as well. Gameknight turned as he saw things that resembled blazes but were the color of stone, as well as another dwarfish-looking creature with red bat-wings and bright glowing eyes, along with tiny green hobgoblins with razor-sharp teeth and long black claws, and red creatures that could only be described as demons.
“How do you close the door?” Hunter asked, her fearful voice echoing off the pink force fields.
“I don’t know,” Gameknight said. “Everyone down the stairs. We’ll seal them off with stone and dirt.”
The party moved down the dark stairway just as the first of the red, flying dwarfish monsters entered the pink cell. They built a barricade behind them as the creatures reached the first steps. Growls and moans and snarls echoed through the passage as they tore at the barrier of blocks with nails and teeth.
Once the wall of stone and dirt was complete, Gameknight relaxed and turned to his companions. They were clearly terrified by the mob they just escaped, but their barrier had diminished their growls to mere background noise.
“What now?” Crafter asked.
Gameknight glanced at the dark, descending stairway. “Down. I’m sure we’ll find Weaver at the end of this stairway.”
/> He pulled out the Moonworm Queen and placed a glowing, wriggling worm on the wall, the light from the tiny creature buoying their spirits a bit. But just then, a ferocious, thundering growl from below filled the air, followed by a great crash that made the ground shake.
Gameknight shook as lightning bolts of fear stabbed at his every nerve. The great, angry howl echoed through the stairway over and over again until it finally dissipated, leaving a terrifying silence. He took in a dry, sour breath of air, then glanced at his friends. They all looked frightened beyond words, with the exception of Empech. The tiny gnome gazed at the User-that-is-not-a-user and nodded his head, a look of faith in his crystalline blue eyes.
Gameknight sighed. “I guess we have to go down there.”
The others stared at him and nodded, though none of them, not even Stitcher, looked pleased.
“Here we go,” he added, then turned and descended the dark steps, toward the most terrifying sound he’d ever heard.
CHAPTER 32
INTO THE BELLY OF THE BEAST
“Come on, Gameknight, lead the way,” Stitcher said. “Let’s get going. I want to see whatever it is that this Entity303 has waiting for us.”
She was pacing back and forth across the dark passageway like a predatory cat anxious to pounce on an unsuspecting mouse.
The User-that-is-not-a-user placed a moonworm on the ground and stepped forward. The green glow from the worm lit the dark gray deadrock walls.
“Careful what you wish for, child,” Empech said in an almost grandmotherly voice. Something about it reminded Gameknight of the Oracle. He looked at the tiny gnome and wondered….
They continued to weave their way through the next dungeon level, past countless cells with creatures of all types trapped within the glowing walls. Gameknight continued to place the squirming, glowing worms on the ground as they moved forward, but it seemed like the tiny insects writhed as if in pain when they touched the deadrock. Behind them, he saw some of the worms flickering in the distance, those farthest away already perishing from the prolonged touch of the lifeless stone.
“We need to hurry,” Gameknight warned. “I don’t know how long these worms are gonna survive. If they die and stop giving off light, we’ll be trapped down here in the darkness.”
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