“Yes, but look behind you!” warned Henry. “It’s a witch hut.”
The brown building stood on the grassy marshland. Above it, the moon grew larger, filling the sky as the stars glistened. A small woman opened the front door. She was drinking a tiny glass filled with a potion.
“A witch!” Lucy said as she ran. “Watch out Steve, she’s drinking a speed potion. We have to move fast.”
Steve grabbed Henry by the arm and pulled him from the swampy ground and away from the witch. Rufus followed Steve while barking at the witches, but wolves had no effect on this evil mob.
The witch looked ahead as she swiftly moved through the swamp right behind the treasure hunters. Her lavender eyes darkened as her lips swallowed more foul liquids. The witch hat flopped, and her purple and green robe blew in the wind as she charged toward them.
When Steve looked back to see her evil face, with its large nose and wart, a purple glow emanated from her body. The witch tossed a potion at the group and immediately they began to slow.
“She got us!” screamed Henry.
“It’s a potion of weakness,” added Max.
The witch began to change color. The purple mist surrounding her grew darker as she drank more potions.
“She’s going to splash more potions at us,” warned Lucy. “I have some potions that can help us.” Lucy grabbed a potion of strength from her inventory. “This should work.”
Max ran toward the witch, lunging at her with his sword. She splashed another potion at Max, and a drop of the potion touched his skin.
“It’s poison,” Max said as he started to feel weak and sick. His food bar started to turn green.
“What can we do for Max?” asked Steve.
“The poison doesn’t last that long,” said Lucy, “but he needs to go somewhere and rest. We need to get out of here so Max can recover.”
Meanwhile Henry was battling the witch. The witch jumped, missing the blow from Henry’s sword. Max was the master at battle, and Henry couldn’t fill his shoes. Steve joined Henry and struck the witch, but she didn’t get hurt. She pulled out another bottle and started to drink a new potion. This potion gave her even more strength than before, making her even harder to fight. The witch took out another splash potion and aimed it at Steve and Henry.
Henry grabbed Steve and they began to climb the vines. Lucy rushed toward the witch and knocked her out with a well-placed arrow.
“Good job, Lucy!” exclaimed Henry.
The two friends climbed down from the vines and stood by Max. “Where can we take him?” asked Henry.
Steve grabbed a bottle of weakness potion that had fallen on the ground. He put it in his inventory to help cure Eliot the blacksmith.
Steve stared at the dark blue water in the distance. “We need to build boats,” suggested Steve.
The group quickly gathered wooden planks from their inventory and started crafting four small boats.
“Do you have enough energy to go in a boat?” asked Lucy.
Max nodded his head. He might have been weak, but sailing away from this witch-infested swamp was his only chance for survival.
“Keep an eye out for witches,” Henry told Max as the gang worked on the boats.
Max could see another witch running through the swampland. He told them, “There’s one running our way. She must have a swift potion. She’s moving fast.”
Lucy charged at the witch, but the witch threw out a splash potion of slowness and Lucy’s pace began to decrease. A skeleton emerged from the shadows.
“Skeletons and witches. It’s just like Halloween,” Henry called out as he raced to save Lucy. He took out his bow and fired an arrow at the witch. It knocked her to the ground and defeated her. A glass bottle fell from the witch’s hands, and Henry reached to pick it up.
“Trick or treat,” he said with a smile as he lunged toward the skeleton, who fell back with a loud clang. Henry grabbed a bone from the skeleton.
“Looks like we have a lot of treats!” he exclaimed as he showed the group.
“Let’s get on the boats,” Lucy said while she walked slowly toward the boats. She watched for any other hostile mobs that might be lurking in this spooky swamp-filled land, which was only lit by a full moon.
They placed the boats in the water. The four little boats sailed away from the swamp waters and into the calm sea.
“We can use the stars to guide us,” Max said as he looked up and pointed out the North Star and Orion.
“It’s so peaceful out here,” Steve said as he sat in the boat with Rufus swimming next to him. He felt safe from mobs and was enjoying the ride. Although his wheat farm was near the ocean, this was his first boat ride.
“Maybe you should be a sailor,” Henry joked from his boat.
The four boats floated right next to one another. Steve stood up, and his boat rocked a bit. He said, “I wonder how long it will take us before we see land.”
It seemed like the ocean went on forever. Suddenly, Steve’s boat hit something. Thump!
“What was that?” Steve asked as he looked out to inspect the damage.
Max’s boat fell hard against the same object, and he added, “I think our boats are crashing!”
“It’s squid!” Henry said and pointed to the blue squid with tentacles that reached toward the boat.
“My boat is sinking!” screamed Steve.
Before Lucy or Henry could offer room on their boats, two more loud thumps were heard.
“We’ve all been hit!” yelled Henry.
“What are we going to do?” asked Steve nervously.
“What do you think we’re going to do?” Henry said as he jumped overboard. “We’re going to swim!”
The gang dove from their boats into the sea. Rufus swam next to Steve as they searched for land in this aquatic world. It felt like they were swimming forever. Max was exhausted. The witch’s potion had seriously decreased his strength. When they thought they couldn’t swim another stroke, they saw land.
“An island!” Max screamed for joy.
They swam to shore and found themselves on an abandoned island. Lucy spotted a chicken and took out her bow and arrow.
“We need to eat,” Lucy told the group as she offered them each some chicken.
The sun was rising, and Steve walked around the small island to see if there were any resources.
“Look at those eggs,” Steve said as he kneeled down to get a closer look.
“Those are silverfish eggs. They can kill you,” Henry informed Steve.
Steve immediately took out his sword and began to destroy them before Max had the chance to spit out the word “Stop!”
The eggs broke open and the silverfish were born.
“A griefer put them here. They leave them, because people who don’t know about the eggs try to destroy them to kill the silverfish. They don’t know that’s how silverfish are spawned,” Henry told Steve.
“Build a pillar,” Max yelled at Steve.
Steve quickly constructed a two-block pillar for the group. Lucy grabbed a handful of gravel and threw it on the silverfish, which destroyed them.
“I don’t trust this island. I feel like its booby trapped by a griefer,” Henry said as he jumped down from the pillar.
“I bet that’s because there’s something valuable here, and they want to stop us from getting it,” said Lucy.
Max looked out, saw a cave, and said, “I bet that’s what they want to keep us from.”
“The cave?” asked Steve as Rufus stood next to him.
“I’m pretty sure that’s where we’re going to find our diamonds,” Henry said and walked toward the cave. The group followed him. Steve grabbed a pickaxe from his inventory.
“Let’s go diamond hunting!” Steve said with a wide grin.
11
DIAMONDS AND LAVA
WITH PICKAXES IN HAND, THEY MINED DEEPER and deeper into the ground.
As Steve looked at his shiny pickaxe, he thought about the tools he had gotten from Eliot
, and one of the last conversations they had before the zombie attack. Eliot had been working in the blacksmith shop, and Steve was trading emeralds for the iron pickaxe.
“One day, I’m going to have a diamond pickaxe,” said Steve.
“You’ll have to go out and find that on your own. My shop doesn’t have anything that valuable,” replied Eliot.
If only Eliot knew Steve was finally mining for diamonds and trying to craft a diamond sword. He’d never believe scaredy-cat Steve was actually on an adventure. Of course, Steve didn’t even know if he’d ever see Eliot again and, if he did, if he could save him from the life of a zombie.
“Look what I found,” Max called out.
It was an abandoned mineshaft. The group made a tunnel and entered the mineshaft.
“This is a good sign,” Lucy told the group. “I’ve found diamonds in a mineshaft.”
Within seconds, blue dots glistened on the walls.
“Diamonds!” Steve screamed with joy.
As they picked the first diamonds from the mine’s surface, a wall of bedrock instantly appeared in front of them and trapped the group.
“A griefer!” screamed Henry.
“The griefer has trapped us!” Lucy began to cry. “Why would they do that?”
“They want the diamonds, too! I told you those silverfish eggs were a trap. I bet they never thought we’d get this far,” Henry said.
“The griefer must have seen us coming and put the eggs there,” added Max.
“But we need those diamonds. We have to save the villagers!” Steve exclaimed. He was frustrated. They had come so far, and now a griefer was going to steal their diamonds and trap them.
Max began to break away at a stone wall with his pickaxe. He said, “We have to get out of here. We can’t let him get the diamonds.”
The group furiously knocked the wall down, but there was another wall behind it.
“This could take forever!” Lucy was exhausted.
“I’m sure this is the last wall. The mine isn’t that big,” said Henry.
“By the time we reach the other side, the diamonds will be gone and so will the griefer,” Steve said, still upset.
When the last bits of the wall crumbled to the ground, they were face-to-face with the griefer.
“You tried to attack us with silverfish!” Max called out to the griefer, who was wearing an orange helmet and holding four diamonds in his hands.
“These are my diamonds,” the griefer said as he took a diamond sword out and held it close to the group.
“You trapped us!” Lucy said as she held her sword tightly. She was ready to fight.
“Lucy, don’t,” said Henry. “He’s not worth the fight. I don’t want to see you get hurt battling a tricky thief.”
“These are my diamonds!” the griefer repeated.
The group was worried that he was with other griefers and they’d be outnumbered, but these cunning evil griefers usually traveled alone.
“Maybe we can share the diamonds,” suggested Steve.
“Share?” the griefer said as he began to laugh. “I don’t share.”
“Then we’ll have to battle,” Henry said, and he walked close to the griefer with his sword in hand.
Steve could see a spider’s red eyes staring at him. The spider quietly crawled behind the griefer. Steve pushed the griefer against the wall. The griefer’s head banged against the spider, which began to attack the griefer. The griefer fell to the ground, and Max destroyed the spider with his sword.
“The spider saved the day!” exclaimed Lucy as she ran to the wall and started to collect as many diamonds as she could fit in her inventory.
“I hate griefers,” Max said, “but I love diamonds.”
“I bet there are even more than forty!” Steve said as he picked the blue jewels from the wall of the abandoned mineshaft.
“Don’t get carried away,” Henry said while he started to count the diamonds.
The walls of the mine were lined with blue blocks, and the gang mined as fast as they could.
“We need to be careful,” warned Henry. “I think I hear lava flowing behind this wall.”
The group filled their inventories with diamonds as they slowly extracted the blocks from the wall without unleashing a waterfall of lava.
“The villagers are going to be saved!” said Steve happily.
“How are we going to get back to the village?” asked Lucy.
“I have a portal in the Nether that can bring us to the village,” Steve said. He picked away as he told the group his plan for making their way back to the village.
“I’ve never been to the Nether!” Lucy said, then she added that she had heard stories about the Nether and knew it could be a deathtrap.
“I bet you guys didn’t think we’d ever have an inventory overflowing with diamonds,” Steve said proudly.
“Together we can do anything!” Henry said while he looked through his inventory. He seemed satisfied with their conquest. Henry sat on the floor with Steve as they counted the diamonds.
“Don’t get too relaxed,” warned Max. “It’s not time to count the loot. We’re still deep underground in a mine. Anything can happen.”
“We have forty! Just like we planned!” exclaimed Steve.
Lucy picked the last diamond from the wall and said, “Max is right, we have to get out of here.” She pointed to a large spider that crawled up the wall of the cave and leapt at the group.
With a single swing of Max’s gold sword, the spider fell on its back. He said, “Once we craft the diamond swords, we’ll be even more powerful.”
“Swords?” questioned Steve. “I thought we were just making one sword out of diamonds, and I would use it to destroy the zombies.”
“One sword?” Henry asked, shocked. “Now you’re acting like a griefer and are just thinking about yourself.”
Steve pondered Henry’s comment. He wondered if it would be better if they all had swords and were able to fight as a team, rather than him battling the zombies with one super awesome powerful sword. He used his crafting table to make pickaxes for the group. He gave them out to his friends.
“You’ll let us have diamond pickaxes, but you won’t make us swords?” Lucy asked, perplexed.
“If we all have diamond pickaxes, we can get out of here faster,” Steve announced.
“Are you just trying to save yourself?” Max asked. He was very annoyed.
“We don’t even have an enchantment table,” Henry told everyone. “So these diamonds are useless when making a super awesome powerful sword.”
Lucy held the pickaxe. “This looks super powerful. But you’re right—to have a super powerful sword, you need an enchantment table.”
Steve knew the group was right. He also didn’t know what had come over him. Why had he become greedy? The group should all have swords, especially if they were going to help him save his village.
“We can talk about this later,” Lucy said as she started to bang through the wall to mine her way out of the tunnel. “We need to get out of here.”
“I don’t want to go with Steve if he’s going to be greedy,” said Max.
Henry agreed, “Take your diamonds, Steve. You’re on your own.”
Steve looked at his friends. He changed his plan and said, “Let’s make four swords out of ten diamonds each. I have no idea what got in to me. I was acting like Henry.”
Henry shot Steve a dirty look and retorted, “Seriously, dude, this is no time to pick fights. We need to stick together.”
“You’re right. I guess I wanted to be the hero on my own and save my villagers,” said Steve.
“They’re not your villagers,” Lucy remarked.
“Steve, watch out!” Henry grabbed Steve’s hand as they ran through the tunnel. Hot orange lava began to rush through a hole in the wall.
12
IT’S NETHER ENDING
THE AIR WAS A SEA OF PURPLE MIST AS STEVE USED the last of his obsidian to construct a po
rtal to the Nether, and they all ran through, narrowly escaping the accidental lava flow on the other side.
“Look, a lava waterfall,” Lucy said as she pointed to the waterfall that flowed in front of their portal. “There’s something really pretty about the Nether, but it also seems extremely deadly.”
Steve would never consider himself an expert at anything, especially traveling with his new treasure hunting friends, but he had experience in the Nether and knew many survival skills.
“It looks scarier than it is,” Steve told the group. He led them over a bridge and toward the portal that would take them back to the Overworld and his village.
“It’s so hot here, and so red,” Lucy said. She looked out from the bridge to the maroon expanse of this foreign land.
As they made their way off the bridge, Lucy ran toward a patch of red flowers.
“I didn’t know flowers grew in the Nether,” said Max.
“They’re beautiful,” she said as she smelled them.
“Look out!” Henry took out his bow and arrow and shot a blaze that flew high above him. Fire flew down at them, landing on the flowers.
“You saved us!” said Steve.
“But you killed the flowers,” Lucy said, upset.
“Shhh!” Steve held his finger to his lips. “Do you hear that?”
“What?” asked Henry.
“I hear someone talking,” Steve whispered.
“I don’t hear anything,” Lucy said as she listened.
“We have to make sure nobody steals these diamonds,” Steve said warily. What if somebody saw them get the diamonds and followed them? Or what if the griefer from earlier wasn’t working alone?
“Now I hear,” said Lucy as she looked around to see if she could find the people who were talking.
“Over there,” Max said and pointed to two people standing by a pool of lava.
“Hide the diamonds,” Steve told the group as the two strangers approached them.
They looked very odd. Their skin was the color of rainbows. They walked over to the gang. One of them had a compass in his hand.
“We’re lost. Can you help us?” the one with the compass asked them.
“Compasses don’t work in the Nether,” Steve replied, convinced these were two tricksters who were about to attack them.
The Quest for the Diamond Sword Page 5