The Wither King

by Mark Cheverton

  “No … don’t do it!” Watcher shouted. He tried to stand, but he was too weak.

  Just then, the wither king turned its center head and gazed into the sky. It felt as if the monster was staring right into Watcher’s eyes. The terrifying creature laughed.

  Behold your doom, the wither king said to Watcher with a smile, then looked away, as if dismissing him.

  “Noooo …” Watcher cried out helplessly.

  “It’s okay, Watcher. You’re here with us in the Wizard’s Tower.” Planter held him tight.

  “Yeah … it’s okay,” Fencer said. She reached out and took Watcher’s hand. “I’m here.”

  Planter glared at her.

  Watcher shook his head as he watched the destruction of the village and its helpless inhabitants. The zombie warriors moved through the community like a storm of steel, slashing at anyone who moved or dared to resist; they were unstoppable. Some of the gigantic wolves darted between the buildings, destroying anyone who tried to flee, while others formed a bristling circle of fangs around the community, stopping anyone from running away. When the eight zombies finished their destructive deed, the wither king floated high into the air and bombarded the village with flaming skulls until every structure in the village was blasted into splinters, leaving nothing to show the community had ever existed except a charred stain on the surface of the Far Lands.

  Reaching up, Watcher pulled the Eye of Searching from his head and dropped it to the ground. Instantly, the image disappeared from his mind and the pain from the enchanted relic dissipated. Blaster offered him a slice of melon, which he ate quickly, the food helping to restore his health.

  “Are you okay?” Planter asked worriedly as she helped him to a sitting position.

  “I can’t believe it.” Watcher shook, the horror of what he’d just witnessed still echoing in his mind. He looked down and found he still had the Flail of Regrets clutched in his right hand.

  Did that really happen? the young wizard said in his mind, sending the thoughts to the magical weapon.

  Yes, the weapon replied. The wither has released the Broken Eight. What could not be released has been released. The world is in great peril.

  And then the voice grew quiet.

  “Watcher … what happened?” Blaster helped the boy to his feet.

  Fencer tried to grab an arm and help, but Blaster nudged her gently out of the way.

  “The wither king has released some zombies that had been imprisoned … somewhere.” Watcher glanced around at his friends with a worried expression. “Something bad is gonna happen, and Krael is at the center of it again. I have to talk to Mapper, right now.”

  “Come on, then.” Fencer grabbed his arm. “I’ll make sure you get back to the village okay.”

  Watcher nodded, then took off running with Fencer through the passage, leaving Planter and Blaster standing there.

  Planter shook her head and gave an exasperated sigh.

  “I heard that, Planter,” Blaster said with a smile.

  “Heard what? The sigh?”

  “No, the other thing.”

  “What other thing?”

  “Your eyes rolling.” He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, then followed Watcher and Fencer, Planter a few steps behind.

  Watcher moved through the dark passages with the destruction of the village playing over and over again in his mind; the cruel laughter from the wither king was a macabre soundtrack to the scene.

  “I can’t believe he just destroyed everyone.” He shook his head, trying to dislodge the images, but they were permanently scorched into his mind.

  “I’m sure you can take care of it, Watcher.” Fencer’s voice was a welcome distraction. “We’ll make it to the others soon.”

  “Where are Planter and Blaster?” Watcher glanced over his shoulder. They were alone in the dark tunnel, but he could hear the echo of footsteps in the darkness.

  He came to a halt and waited for the others.

  “We don’t need to wait. I can get you back to the village.” Fencer sounded confident. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  He glanced at her as if she were crazy. The girl didn’t have any armor or weapons at all. She was always following Watcher around, appearing where she wasn’t wanted … or needed. He knew the young girl had a crush on him. Since he’d saved her life by giving her a golden apple to heal her from a terrible fall, Fencer had been infatuated with Watcher, to the annoyance of a lot of people, especially his girlfriend, Planter. Watcher knew he should push Fencer away more assertively, but she was just a kid. And besides, having a cheering section wasn’t the worst thing for his ego. With his history of being the smallest and scrawniest in the village, having someone tell him he was great was a nice change.

  Planter and Blaster emerged from the shadows and ran into the circle of light generated by the magic pulsing through Watcher’s body.

  “Nice of you to wait for us.” Blaster smiled.

  “Well, I wanted to—”

  “We didn’t want to go too fast for you two,” Fencer explained. “Watcher thought it best to wait so he could protect you.”

  “Oh, did he now?” Planter gave him an annoyed look.

  “No, I didn’t think that,” Watcher stammered. “It was just … well …”

  “This whole situation,” Blaster said, pointing at Planter and Fencer with one of his knives, “seems to be working out great for you.” He gave Watcher another smile, then laughed, amused by Watcher’s predicament.

  “I’m gonna remember this if our roles are ever reversed,” Watcher said to Blaster with a snarl.

  “Never gonna happen, my friend.” Blaster seemed even more amused.

  “What situation? What’s he talking about?” Fencer was clueless.

  Blaster laughed again, then took off running. “Planter, you coming?”

  “No, I’ll stay with my boyfriend.” She glared at Fencer. “You should go with Blaster.”

  “I’m okay here, with Watcher.”

  Planter rolled her eyes.

  “I heard that,” Blaster chuckled from the darkness.

  Grabbing Watcher by the sleeve, Planter pulled him forward. “Come on, let’s get back to the village and talk with Mapper.”

  They ran through the passage in an uneasy silence, Planter glaring at the oblivious Fencer now and then. Eventually, they reached a section that was well-lit by torches; it was part of the ancient structure the villagers used on a regular basis.

  “Fencer, it would be really helpful if you found Mapper and told him to meet us in the main tower.” Watcher smiled at the girl.

  “Okay, I’ll do it right away!” The young girl took off running.

  The silence became oppressive as Watcher waited for Planter to blast him with complaints, but she stayed quiet. They walked slowly through the passage, the silence getting louder and louder, until he couldn’t take it anymore.

  “It’s not my fault she’s always following me around.”

  “And why do you think that is?”

  “I don’t know.” Watcher looked back at Planter, trying to sound innocent.

  “Do you remember saving her life by giving her that golden apple after she fell?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And then she gave you a big hug when she was better.” Planter leaned a little closer, her voice soft and calm. “The hug was uncomfortably long; do you remember that?”

  Watcher nodded.

  “And now she follows you around wherever you go. Why do you think Fencer’s doing that?” Her voice was getting louder.

  “How should I know? I’m not a mind reader.”

  “But you’re also not an idiot.” Planter sounded aggravated. “Maybe you should use your ‘wizarding powers’ and cast a spell or something so you can figure it out.”

  She stormed off, leaving Watcher baffled.

  “What did I do?” He glanced around, hoping for some support from someone, but he was all alone in the passage.

  Wat
cher knew why Fencer was treating him this way, but he just didn’t have the heart to hurt the young girl; he didn’t want to be a monster.

  If only I could—, he thought, but the voice of the Flail burst into his mind.

  Tell them! The voice from the magical weapon echoed in his head. Tell them about the Broken Eight … now!

  He sighed, then headed for the main tower.

  Watcher ran through the ancient structure, the many redstone lanterns embedded in the walls and ceiling casting a warm orange glow. As he moved closer to the main tower, he saw more NPCs moving about, doing chores, and just living their lives in this subterranean structure.

  The Wizard’s Tower had been built centuries ago, before the Great War, and the wizards had hidden many artifacts in it, likely to keep them out of the hands of the monsters. Watcher had found his enchanted sword, Needle, in the Tower, as well as countless other enchanted artifacts, the Amulet of Planes being the most recent.

  I wonder why Planter could detect its presence and I couldn’t? Watcher wondered, perplexed.

  “Here he comes,” someone shouted up ahead.

  A group of villagers stood impatiently around the entrance to the main tower; apparently, Fencer had done more than just bring Mapper.

  He slowed when he reached the congregation. Suddenly, Fencer emerged from the crowd.

  “Let him through … let him through.” She moved in front of Watcher and pushed the other NPCs out of the way. “Move out of the way. Watcher has important stuff to talk about with Mapper.”

  The other villagers murmured and spoke quietly; the feeling of anxiety and tension was thick in the air.

  Watcher followed Fencer through the crowd until he made it into the tower. Villagers were packed together here as well. He glanced up at the structure and, as always, felt humbled by its construction. The tower rose about fifty blocks into the air, its walls decorated with different colors of stained glass. Near the top, the sunlight streamed through the windows, splashing an artist’s palette of colors and hues onto the walls of the tower, though the lower windows were still dark. All of the windows would have seen the sunlight when the structure was first built, but, sometime during the Great War between the wizards and warlocks, the entire Wizard’s Tower had fallen into some kind of gigantic hole. Now, just the very top part of the tower was above ground, leaving the rest buried beneath a now-thriving forest.

  “Watcher, what’s going on?” Mapper stood next to Watcher’s father, Cleric. Both men had confused expressions on their wrinkled faces. “Fencer said there was an emergency and you were attacked by something. What was it? Spiders? Skeletons?”

  “What?” He glanced at Fencer and scowled, but her face just lit up when she saw him looking at her.

  “There was no attack.” He turned away from her and faced his father. “At least not here.”

  The other villagers murmured, the tension growing.

  “Then what happened, son?” Cleric moved closer to Watcher, stepping into a bright shaft of orange light streaming through one of the stained-glass windows. It made his gray hair appear gold.

  “It’s the king of the withers again, Krael. He’s up to something, and it’s not good.”

  “I think I can speak for everyone when I say we’d thought we’d seen the last of that monster.” The voice came from the back of the tower; it was his sister, Winger. She pushed through the crowd and stood next to her dad. “When we defeated the spider warlord, you used the Fossil Bow of Destruction and fired an arrow at Krael. I guess I’d hoped it would have destroyed him.”

  “Well, apparently it didn’t.” Another voice boomed from behind.

  Watcher turned and found Cutter moving toward him, with the other villagers quickly moving aside to make room for the big NPC warrior. At his side shuffled Er-Lan, the zombie who had been adopted by the village, and who was likely Watcher’s best friend.

  “What’s all this about an emergency?” Cutter’s steel-gray eyes bored into Watcher. They were, as always, filled with courage and confidence.

  “Ok … well … we were in some of the passages and—”

  “Watcher was attacked by some kind of invisible monster.” Fencer stepped forward and smiled at Watcher proudly, as if she’d just saved him from something.

  The other villagers all started talking at once, many of them glancing about and pulling out their weapons, worried about possible invisible attackers.

  “Hold on … hold on.” Watcher held his hands up in the air, his glowing arms instantly silencing the other villagers. “That’s not what happened.”

  The NPCs grew quiet. When they were calm, he continued. “I felt something terrible happen with my magic; it must have come through the fabric of Minecraft somehow. Anyway, I used a magical artifact to investigate and was able to see the king of the withers. He was moving down a snowy mountain with what looked like a huge castle or prison or something in the background. With him were a bunch of zombies all clad in gold armor and with a bunch of huge wolves with them. They were—”

  “How many were seen?” Er-Lan’s voice shook a little.

  “Ahh … what?”

  “How many zombies were in the vision?” Er-Lan moved closer, eyes wide.

  “There were eight of them, and they all wore the same golden armor, which sparkled, as if it were enchanted. But the really weird thing was their helmets. They were each—”

  “Each helmet was made to resemble a different creature.” Er-Lan said it as a statement, not a question.

  “Yes! How did you know that?”

  Er-Lan sighed. “They are the Broken—the Broken Eight.” The zombie’s voice cracked with fear. “This is bad … this is very bad.”

  “Er-Lan, what are the Broken Eight?” Cleric asked, putting an arm around the zombie, trying to calm him.

  “They were created by the monster warlocks at the end of the Great War. Zombie parents tell the story to children, to make them do chores or behave.” Er-Lan’s voice grew quieter, making the villagers move closer to hear. “They were living weapons, created to hunt down the NPC wizards and destroy them. But the magic used to create the Eight was too strong. Their creators could not control the ancient zombie warriors, and soon, they turned on the warlocks as well. The stories say they were jailed in the Eternal Prison, to be kept there until they perished, but it seems they have returned.”

  “Yep.” Watcher nodded. “They destroyed a village near the prison.” Watcher glanced up at his father. “There were no survivors. I saw the whole thing using the Eye of Searching. But somehow, Krael knew I was watching. I don’t know what he’s up to, but it’s not good.”

  “Er-Lan knows.” The zombie stepped directly in front of Watcher. “Krael still seeks the Cave of Slumber.”

  “What does the Broken Eight have to do with the Cave of Slumber?” Mapper asked.

  “Perhaps the wither king thinks the broken magic woven into these zombies will break the enchantments in the Cave of Slumber.” Er-Lan turned, looking at all the faces staring at him. “Krael will try to free the wither army with these zombies, and Er-Lan believes it may be possible. There is great and terrible magic woven into the Broken Eight.”

  “If Krael is successful, then things are gonna get really bad, really fast,” Blaster said, sounding worried.

  “The wither king will try to get the Broken Eight to the Hall of Planes.” Er-Lan glanced at Mapper. “The Hall is mentioned in many books.”

  Mapper nodded. “Yes, I’ve read about the Hall of Planes. There, it’s possible to travel to different planes of existence throughout the Pyramid of Servers. Er-Lan, is that how Krael will try to reach the Cave of Slumber?”

  The zombie nodded.

  “Wait … did you say ‘Planes?’” Planter reached into her inventory and pulled out the amulet she’d just found. “This thing is called the Amulet of Planes; it told me so.”

  “It told you so?” Winger asked. “That sounds a little crazy … like something Watcher would say.” She smiled
at her brother.

  Watcher just scowled.

  “I know it’s strange, but that’s what I heard.” Planter turned to Mapper. “Have you ever read about something called the Amulet of Planes?”

  The old man reached up and ran his fingers across his bald head, as if he were straightening hair the years had long-since removed. Only a thin circle of gray hair surrounded the old man’s head; his scalp shiny as a quartz block.

  “I do remember something about it.” Mapper leaned forward and stared at the sparkling artifact. “But I thought it would be a key, not a necklace.”

  “It’s an amulet,” Planter corrected.

  “Yes … yes, of course, an amulet.”

  “Why did you think it was a key?” Watcher asked.

  “Well … let me remember.” Mapper stroked his nonexistent hair again. “As I recall, it’s supposed to unlock a door of some kind.”

  “It must unlock the door to the Hall of Planes,” Watcher said. “And if it can unlock it, then it can lock it too.” He glanced at Cutter. “I’m sure Krael plans to get to the Cave of Slumber and release his wither army. If we can get to that door before him, then we can make sure it’s locked, and the king of the withers will never reach the Cave of Slumber.”

  “There’s a lot of ‘ifs’ in there.” Cutter gazed down at Watcher, his height dwarfing everyone in the room. “You sure about this?”

  Watcher glanced around. Everyone was staring at him, expecting some kind of heroic statement, but all he could think to say was one thing:

  “Yep.”

  “Watcher, you’re so brave.” Fencer tried to get to his side, but Planter stepped in front of her and rolled her eyes.

  “Inspiring speech, Watcher,” Blaster said sarcastically, giving his friend a smile.

  “Then let’s do this,” Cutter said. “I say we take about a dozen soldiers with us. A large force would be slow and hard to move quietly through the land. We don’t want to attract any unnecessary attention.”

  “Agreed.” Watcher turned to his father and sister. “I’d feel better if you two stayed here and made sure all the villagers are safe.”

  “Awwww … I want to go, too.” Winger looked upset.