by Cube Kid
Armed with this sole truth, he cut away his fears and doubts—cut away as if they were just cobwebs in a mineshaft.
Just hold on, he thought, sprinting toward the portal.
Mom … Meowz … Tufty …
I’m coming!
The lava. The inky gloom. The hot netherrack underneath his paws. All of these things the kitten ignored as he ran toward the portal.
He was too busy trying to make sense of it all. The Nether: a dark world, a fiery world, a world that should have nothing to do with kittens. But for some reason this world chose a kitten to protect it. Perhaps a kitten was a better choice than a zombie pigman.
Then this world called that kitten, pulling him from his own world—the bright and tree-filled Overworld. Later, the Nether granted him special abilities to help him fight the hordes of darkness.
That kitten’s name was Eeebs.
And Eeebs was trying to escape the Nether.
The intense heat no longer gave him any trouble. The clouds of smoke, which once made his eyes water, were nothing to him. Instead, those eyes were now fixed on the warm light radiating from the portal.
Portal.
His friend Clyde had taught him that word. This portal was a doorway, linking two worlds. It looked like a screen of violet energy, surrounded by a great ring of black stone.
Eeebs couldn’t help but think about Clyde.
I’m sorry, he thought. Please forgive me, Clyde, for running away without listening to you. I’ll come back. I have to, because I have to thank you. And that witch, too. She removed whatever illness I had.
Eeebs forced himself to stop thinking about his new friends.
I’m sure they understand.
Eeebs had to go through that portal. He had to leave this world and return to his own. Suddenly, it was the only real thought in his mind.
No.
There was another thought.
Monsters, from this world, were headed to his own world. To attack, to destroy. To claim the Overworld as their own.
Of course, Eeebs had to warn his family and friends before that happened.
He slowed down as he neared the portal. Its enormous obsidian frame towered before him. All he had to do was step through, as he had before, and he’d be back.
His heart froze.
He feared what he might see upon returning to the Overworld. Maybe the monsters had already …
A frightening image spawned in his mind.…
No! There’s no way something like that could happen! Those pigmen are too slow!
He pushed such thoughts away, but another replaced them.
Enough, he told himself. I can’t waste any more time.
He leapt through the purple mist.
As expected, everything went black. He nearly closed his eyes. He was so afraid of seeing something horrible. But the darkness became …
Shades of green, brown. No fire, no ashes. Nothing was burning. He stepped out of the portal into the thicket where the wolves had almost caught him.
The trees were still there, along with the grass and the flowers, and suddenly he realized just how nice the forest smelled. He had never thought about it, until now. Actually, even the swamp smelled better than the Nether. That place was horrible for a kitten’s nose.
That was when he caught another scent. A familiar scent, like rotten mushrooms.
That was the stench of a zombie pigman. Yuck.
He sniffed and sniffed, detecting more scents in the air. That ashen smell was from a blaze, and that bitter smell no doubt came from one of those magma cubes.
They were … here.
Somewhere. Somewhere close.
Maybe just beyond that large hill.
Relief washed over him. The monsters were stupid and slow—they hadn’t yet reached his home. It was far from this area, on the other side of the forest.
His mind was working like never before. The monsters also hadn’t reached the village, where the villagers lived. It was even farther away, in the plains past the forest.
So since Eeebs was so fast now, he could reach his home before the monsters.
Of course, he did want to know what those monsters were up to. Why were they still here, in the forest?
Shouldn’t they have attacked the village by now? What could they be doing? He hadn’t the slightest idea, which meant … he had to find out. He nodded to himself.
No matter how much the Nether had changed him, it couldn’t remove his curiosity.
With his nose as a guide, Eeebs began heading in the direction of the monsters. Slowly, at first, until soon he was bounding over mushrooms and zooming through tall grass.
Eeebs climbed up a hill. With every step, the stench of monsters grew stronger, and their snarls became louder. When Eeebs finally reached the top, he crept low through the grass and peered down the other side.
His pulse quickened. There they were.
All of them.
From blazes to wither skeletons. A snarling, growling mass of undead and fiery beasts.
And in the middle of them all … EnderStar. The kitten’s fear, however, soon evaporated. In fact, he had to keep himself from laughing.
He crept closer to get a better view.
The monsters, they were … staggering around, stumbling into one another. At one point, a zombie pigman fell over into the grass.
Then a second pigman tripped over him, went flying, and knocked over a third.
It was a ridiculous sight: an army of fearsome-looking mobs, bumbling around in a daisy field.
Their distant screams caught his attention. Eeebs perked his ears up to catch what they were saying.
“It hurts!” screamed a zombie pigman. “Mee eyes!”
A blaze hissed and sparked. “Massssshter … me no see!”
“Urgggg!!!” A wither skeleton fell over, dropping his stone sword. He pointed a bony finger toward the sun. “Yellow square thing! Up there! Too … bright!”
Another wither skeleton was chopping at a tree.
“Mee do good, mashter? Look! Mee chop!”
A zombie pigman joined the skeleton.
“Mee too, mashter!”
The wither skeleton’s sword seemed to be stuck in the tree. “BosSsH, mee sword! The enemy is so strong!”
The huge enderman let out a long sigh. “That’s a tree, you idiots!!”
The wither skeleton glanced at EnderStar and then back at the tree.
“How can me know, bossh? Mee eyes don’t work right now!”
The zombie pigman kept chopping at the tree. “Mee want chop things! So … mee chop!!”
A great many zombie pigmen writhed on the ground, hands covering their eyes as they screamed.
“Urggh! Mashter!! Make yellow square go away!”
“It burn! It burn! Rarrrggg!!”
“Bossh! You say attack village very easy! Holp mee!!”
“Arggg!! Villagers use magikk on us!”
“Mashter, mee cannot chop if mee cannot see!”
There were lots of shouts like these.
Eeebs only watched in disbelief.
It reminded Eeebs of a scary time, when he’d gone playing in a cave. There had been a big spider in there, and it had chased him for a long time. The spider had run fast, Eeebs remembered. Faster than him. So fast, the spider had caught up to Eeebs by the time he exited the cave. Eeebs had thought he was a goner. All he could hear was that horrible squeak. And then there were those glowing red eyes.
However, when the spider stepped out into the sun, it froze. The spider just sat there, right in front of Eeebs, fangs dripping and eyes gleaming. It couldn’t do a thing, because it couldn’t see.
That was how Eeebs had learned that spiders w
ere blinded by sunlight. Spiders lived in caves. Their eyes were used to the darkness.
With that in mind, Eeebs now understood why these Nether mobs couldn’t see. They shared the same weakness.
The Nether was, in many ways, similar to a cave. When he first arrived there, Eeebs assumed it was just one gigantic cavern.
Even though the Nether had areas filled with lava, it was still pretty dark in most places. So these monsters had lived their whole lives in that gloomy place. Their eyes were used to the darkness. Just like the spiders.
Wow, he thought. I never could have understood that so easily before. I’m getting smarter, huh? Maybe that’s one of the things the Nether did to me? Made me more intelligent?
Concealed in the tall grass, Eeebs kept spying. EnderStar seemed angrier and angrier.
The enderman looked up and shook a fist at the sky. “I can’t believe this! All of my planning … ruined by the stupid sun!!”
A zombie pigman walked up to the enderman. He was wearing a golden object on his head.
“Mee lord? Maybe we go now … and come back … when no yellow square thing.”
EnderStar patted the pigman on the head.
“You’re a clever one,” he said. “That’s why I’ve made you a captain.”
“So …” The zombie pigman paused. “We go back now?”
“Of course.” EnderStar’s voice crackled like lava. “Gather the troops. Take them back. This was only meant to be practice, anyway. I wanted you all to get some training before we … attack the real village.…”
The pigman nodded. “Yesh, mee lord.”
Eeebs squinted, focusing on the zombie pigman. He seemed different from the others. He wasn’t completely stupid, at least.
So that pigman was EnderStar’s assistant? Also … what was that thing on his head? Eeebs continued observing the mobs from his hiding spot. His ears were raised up in the direction of the army.
“Anyway, today was not a total waste,” said EnderStar. “We’ve learned something useful. Next time, we’ll come right after the sun sets.”
“Of coursh, mee lord. So … you go? I take pigmen and fire things back now? We go home?”
“Yes,” said the enderman. “See you back at the fortress.”
With that, EnderStar vanished into thin air.
POOF!
Eeebs had encountered endermen before. He knew they had this ability, so he wasn’t too surprised.
EnderStar also said something about a … fortress.
Fortress.
Clyde had mentioned that word before. He thought Eeebs had come from a “nether fortress.” So that must be the monsters’ … home?
Eeebs needed to speak with Clyde about this. After he talked to his friends and family, he had to return to the Nether.
Shaking himself from his thoughts, Eeebs looked at the mobs again.
Now in charge of the other mobs, the smart pigman turned to his comrades. “Hey! All you! Shut up! Stop crying! We go home!”
Loud grunts and snorts filled the air.
“Home better anyway,” said a wither skeleton. “Mee no like this place.”
“Bzzztrg … t-too c-c-cold here,” a blaze sputtered. “G-go h-home w-w-warm. Mee happy! Argg! Bzzzt!”
A magma cube shivered and hopped in agreement.
“But we no see,” said a wither skeleton. “We no see! So … how we know where go?”
“I can see,” said the smart zombie pigman. He pointed to the golden object he wore on his head.
Eeebs had seen humans wearing such things to protect themselves in battle. So did that allow the pigman captain to see in the sunlight? He really was smarter than most zombie pigmen.
“Follow me,” he said. “I take you home. All you. Use ears. Me sing song. Okay?”
“Thanks, Rarg! Mee so cold!!”
“Okay! We follow you, Rarg!”
“Yes!! Lead the way! Get mee out of here!”
With that, the captain pigman (whose name was apparently Rarg) began singing.
“Ninety-nine villager noobs in da town! Ninety-nine villager noobs! Smash one down! Into da ground!! Ninety-eight villager noobs in da town! Ninety-eight villager noobs in da town! Ninety-eight villager noobs …”
As he bellowed, the captain trudged off in the direction of the portal. The other monsters followed. Some began singing along:
“Ninety-seven villager noobs in da town! Ninety-seven villager noobs! Smash one down! Into—” Rarg stopped, turned around.
“Shut up! Only I sing! If others sing, how you know who to follow?”
“Rarg so smart!”
“Okay! We shut up!”
Rarg turned back around and began singing and marching again. Eeebs watched them go.
Their little attack failed, he thought. They must have arrived very early in the morning, just before sunrise. Then the sun came up and blinded them all.
And they were stranded. Helpless. Helpless underneath that overpowering light.
That means … the Overworld still has time. Maybe a lot of time.
But … when they do come back, they’ll be more prepared.
Maybe, when they return, they’ll all have those golden things on their heads, like Rarg.
Eeebs didn’t realize, of course, just how well hidden he was. In fact, as he remained motionless in the grass, he had become nearly invisible. Without another thought, the kitten jumped down the hill.
After he moved, he became fully visible again.
Fifteen minutes later …
Eeebs was standing outside of the grove.
It was where all of the cats lived. He could hear playful meows in the distance.
Was that … Tufty? Meowz? He crept through the grass.
He couldn’t believe it. He was actually home? And … he could see them now, in the distance.
His friends.
They were playing some kind of game.
“Hey, not fair!” hissed Tufty, glaring at Meowz. “You always cheat.”
“I didn’t cheat,” she said. “You never said no peeking.”
“It’s always like that,” said Tufty. “You never said this. You never said that. I miss Eeebs. At least he played fair.…”
Meowz looked down at the ground, her eyes full of tears. “Me too.”
Eeebs froze. They were still thinking about him. They were worried about him. But what would they think when they saw him? His fur was blue now.…
He stepped forward anyway.
“I wonder where he is … if he’s still alive.…” said Meowz.
“If you ask me,” said Tufty, “he went into that thing.”
“Hmm. Let’s go looking for him again.”
“Sure, but do you have any idea where that black thing is?”
“It’s called a nether portal,” said Eeebs.
Tufty and Meowz turned to him. The look on their faces was indescribable.
A piercing sound came from Meowz. “Eeeeeee …”
Tufty stepped back. “Who … is …” Then, the two seemed to recognize him. “Eeebs?”
“Eeebs?” Meowz cautiously stepped forward. “Is that … really you?”
Eeebs nodded.
“What … happened to you?”
“I’m the one who should ask,” Eeebs said.
“You went in,” said Tufty. “Didn’t you? You actually … went into that place?”
The kittens knew stories of the Nether, although they didn’t call it by that name. Stories about the black door. The glowing purple light. Old stories. Legends telling how the bravest and strongest cats once went through that door. And never came back.
Eeebs, however, had come back.
Maybe he had been lucky to me
et Clyde, who taught him all about that world. Or maybe it wasn’t luck. Eeebs had thought nothing of talking to Clyde. But an older, wiser cat probably wouldn’t have tried talking to a ghast. An older, wiser cat would have simply run.
Just as Eeebs had ignored the legends and the warnings from his mother, he’d also ignored his common sense—which generally encouraged running away from giant white flying things that cried and shot balls of fire from their mouths.
Who knew there could be a ghast who was actually kind? That was why Eeebs had survived.
As Tufty and Meowz stood before him, in awe, Eeebs told them about all his adventures. What happened to him. How he changed. How the Nether had chosen him.
“Chose you for what?” asked Tufty.
“To help fight against that army,” said Eeebs. “I guess.”
Then, Eeebs told them about how an enderman was planning to take over their own world.
“So let me get this straight,” said Meowz. “That place, the Nether, chose you? To be some kind of warrior? And you have like … special powers and stuff?”
Eeebs nodded again. “Basically, yeah.”
“Wow,” said Tufty. “That’s too cool, huh? Special powers? Fighting bad guys? And honestly, Eeebs, you don’t even look that scary! Where do I sign up? I wanna help you!”