“Xa-Tul, why are you abandoning this chamber and using the portal to go to another zombie village?” Feyd asked. “Surely there is room enough for your great zombie army, which is probably one of the greatest armies ever seen in Minecraft.” The fake compliment almost made him gag.
The endermen moved next to their king, their hands already balled into fists, unable to help being irritated at hearing such lavish praise for the zombies.
“The zombies cannot stay here,” the zombie king said. “The User-that-is-not-a-user will certainly return with more NPCs.”
“But look around you. Easily you have enough zombies to repel any attack they could mount. You are safe here. It is possible to stay and fight.”
“Fighting is not the plan,” Xa-Tul said.
“What?” Feyd exclaimed. “Since when do zombies run from a fight?”
“Xa-Tul is obeying the Maker’s last command,” the zombie said proudly. “Herobrine gave specific instructions to Xa-Tul before leaving this world, and the zombies will see it done.”
“He did, did he? What were his instructions?” the king of the endermen probed as zombies rushed past him and piled into the sparkling green portal. Why would Herobrine ever entrust his last command to a dumb zombie like Xa-Tul? Feyd wondered bitterly. The thought alone made him jealous; he’d always thought he was Herobrine’s favorite monster king.
“Herobrine’s instructions were for the zombies to carry out, not the endermen,” Xa-Tul said. “Everything the enderman king does seems to end in disaster. Xa-Tul will not allow Feyd to mess this up. This task is for the zombies and only the zombies.”
“You fool, if Herobrine gave you a command, then it was meant for all monsters,” Feyd said, lying through his teeth, trying to outsmart him.
The zombie king growled at the insult. Drawing his huge golden broadsword, he turned to face the endermen. The hundreds of zombies around him sensed their king’s rage and extended their claws towards the endermen.
“The enderman king will no longer talk to Xa-Tul with disrespect,” the zombie king said. “Look around. Does Feyd think it is possible to defeat a hundred zombies? Xa-Tul just needs to command it and the endermen in this chamber will be destroyed.”
The endermen around Feyd drew on their teleportation powers, but the purple particles did not come right away; they seemed to sputter and flicker like a torch that was slowly burning out. Xa-Tul laughed, his bellowing voice echoing off the stone walls.
“Come, zombies,” Xa-Tul boomed. “Leave these fools to stand here in the darkness. Our true destination lies elsewhere.”
The monsters drew in their claws and backed away from the endermen. They continued their orderly parade into the portal until the last of them had vanished, leaving just Xa-Tul behind to face the endermen. Carefully, he slid his broadsword into its scabbard, then stared at the endermen king.
“With the numbers of zombies in my army, there is no need for the endermen. If Feyd and his puny endermen get in Xa-Tul’s way, the zombies are strong enough to destroy all endermen, regardless of the teleportation powers the endermen possess. The enderman king can help in this endeavor, or get out of the way. Those are the only choices. But make no mistake, Xa-Tul is in command, and any disrespect or disobedience will have fatal consequences. Feyd must choose to help the zombies, or disappear back to that pathetic floating island in the End.”
The zombie king stared at Feyd, his tiny eyes glowing red with anger and determination. But just as Feyd was about to answer him, the zombie king stepped through the portal and disappeared, traveling to the next zombie-town, leaving the endermen alone in the room.
“What is his plan?” Feyd said to himself as he turned away from the portal. “He will surely mess this up somehow, and it will be left to the endermen to clean up their failure, as always.”
If only endermen could use that green portal, then we could just follow the zombies, Feyd thought. But those gateways will not work for our kind.
He turned and faced his warriors.
“Find which zombie-town they went to … hurry!”
The dark creatures disappeared one after the other until only Feyd was left, alone with the sparkling portals.
“What are you up to, Xa-Tul?” the king of the endermen said to the empty chamber. “Make no mistake about it, I will find out. And when you mess this up, the king of the endermen will be there to snatch victory from your hands. And then I will make you suffer, Xa-Tul, for not including me in the first place.”
He cackled a spine-cringing laugh, then disappeared in a cloud of sputtering, flickering, inconsistent purple mist.
CHAPTER 20
FINDING COURAGE
The minecart clattered on the metal rails as it shot through the dark tunnel. Ahead, Gameknight could just barely make out Hunter’s curly red hair as she faded in and out of view. And then she disappeared again, racing ahead, making him feel as if he were the only person in the tunnel.
The darkness wrapped around him like an ice-cold blanket of guilt as he thought about his friend Herder. In the minecart behind him was Herder’s wolf, the pack leader. Its minecart was nearly touching Gameknight’s. They were so close, he could hear the animal whine and whimper, sad to have lost their villager leader. All of the wolves knew they’d left something dear and important behind, and the animals wanted to go back and fight, but the User-that-is-not-a-user wouldn’t let them. He knew it would mean the death of all the wolves, and he couldn’t be responsible for yet even more tragedy.
How many times, now, had he caused the demise of others? The list of the fallen ran through his mind and it seemed endless.
“Maybe bad things just happen to me,” Gameknight said to the wolf.
The animal’s ears perked up when he heard the voice. The wolf turned and gazed at the User-that-is-not-a-user.
“I need to call you something … a name,” Gameknight said as he wiped tears from his cheek. “Buck … I’ll call you Buck from one of my favorite books, The Call of the Wild. That OK with you … Buck?”
The animal barked once in approval, then settled his head on the edge of the minecart and stared off into the darkness. Gameknight sighed and then closed his eyes. Thoughts about all the bad things that had happened to him since coming into Minecraft flooded into his mind.
Tears began to flow again. He tried to choke them back, but the loss of his friend was too overwhelming. The image of Herder standing on the block of obsidian and staring back at him, while Gameknight could do nothing to help, haunted him. His imagination ran wild at all the possible fates that the lanky boy might currently be suffering. He could be dead, or maybe being tortured for information, or … Gameknight forced the thoughts from his mind. Tiny cubes of tears tumbled down his cheeks again, as they had during most of the terrible flight through the minecart network.
“I failed you, Herder,” Gameknight moaned. “I left you to be captured by the zombies. I should have been by your side.”
His sobs echoed off the tunnel walls.
“Maybe if I’d never come into Minecraft, then Herder would still be OK!” Gameknight shouted into the darkness.
And then suddenly he was enveloped in bright light. His minecart shot out of the tunnel and rolled into the crafting chamber. Around him, Gameknight saw chaos. All of the villagers were talking at once, telling those who had stayed behind in the village what had happened in the zombie-town. Cries of grief rose above the din as loved ones learned of the loss of their husbands and wives and sons and daughters.
“This was my fault,” a voice said to his right.
Gameknight turned and found Cobbler standing in the far corner, hiding in the shadows.
“That’s just not true, Cobbler,” Crafter said as he moved to his side. “This was no one’s fault.”
“Everything bad happens to me,” the young boy moaned. “It’s always been that way, and it’s never gonna change.”
Gameknight could see the boy felt guilty for the tragedy that had befallen their
friends. He wanted to say something to him, to help ease his suffering, but he couldn’t; he felt the same. His friends had counted on the User-that-is-not-a-user to get them safely into that zombie-town and back out again. But in Gameknight’s arrogance, he thought he could handle anything that Xa-Tul threw at them…. He never expected he’d have to face almost a thousand zombies. He’d underestimated the zombie king and paid dearly for his error. His friend had paid even more dearly.
Gameknight knew exactly how Cobbler felt, he realized. How many times had he led his friends into danger and escaped, but left behind piles of weapons and armor from fallen comrades? Ever since he’d come into Minecraft, the NPCs had been under attack from Herobrine and his monster kings, but this time, he’d brought the fight to the monsters. Look at what happened as a result. No, this wasn’t Cobbler’s fault … it was his own.
The User-that-is-not-a-user sat on a block of stone, his body slumped over as if all his bones had left his body. He felt defeated.
“Cobbler, you need to understand that life is made up of a million different events,” Stitcher said. “We make the best decisions we can through life, and then we deal with the consequences. Sometimes the consequences are good and sometimes they are bad. But it isn’t usually that clear which is which. Often, I’ve found that consequences can have both good and bad aspects to them.”
“Really?” Cobbler asked.
Stitcher nodded her head, her curly red hair bouncing like so many crimson springs.
“A while ago, our village was destroyed by monsters, and I was taken prisoner,” she explained. “The evil Malacoda took me to his fortress in the Nether and made me work for him. I’d become a slave and didn’t know how long I would be allowed to live. I was terrified. Lots of NPCs tried to fight back, but they were all destroyed by the ghasts and the blazes. It seemed like the end of the world for me. But then this guy showed up.” Stitcher reached out and put a hand on Gameknight’s shoulder. “He figured out how to defeat the monsters and save me. Before I was saved, I thought everything was terrible, but I didn’t even consider that something great might be just around the corner. If I’d continued focusing on how bad everything was, I probably wouldn’t have become friends with Gameknight999. But I refused to quit, and instead helped Gameknight999 continue the fight.”
The User-that-is-not-a-user sat up a little taller and glanced toward Stitcher, her words of support comforting him.
The young girl stared at the User-that-is-not-a-user and gave him a smile. And in that moment, Gameknight could feel all the gratitude and affection she felt for him. She was truly grateful for knowing him, and thankful for everything he’d ever done for her. He could tell from the look in her deep brown eyes that she meant every word.
He stood and turned to face his friend.
Maybe everything that happened to me in Minecraft wasn’t bad after all, the User-that-is-not-a-user thought, his friend’s words giving him courage.
“And look at us now,” Stitcher continued. “Because of Gameknight999, we are a part of this new village. You are too, Cobbler. Everyone around us is part of our new family.” She held her arms out as if she were enveloping the entire crafting chamber in one gigantic hug. “This is one enormous family. We laugh together, and we cry together, and sometimes, we mourn together. But we are all in this together, and you are now part of that. I’d say that’s a good thing.”
Gameknight smiled as he listened to Stitcher’s words. She was right. This was one huge family, and everyone would do anything to help another. None of the villagers looked at him with blame in their eyes for the loss of a loved one. In fact, they cherished the support others were giving them. The User-that-is-not-a-user finally understood that they would do anything to help those in need, even if it meant taking up arms against a massive army of zombies. They all knew the risks and were still willing to follow Gameknight999 into battle.
He stood up a little taller.
“So when you say only bad things happen to you, Cobbler,” Stitcher continued, “I say you aren’t searching hard enough. Good things are all around you. You just have to open your eyes.” She took a step closer to the young boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. “If you want to feel good, then search for the good. Focusing on the bad only feeds all your fears and worries. But the great thing is that you get to choose how you want to feel. Like Crafter said, create the fate you want.”
“But sometimes bad things happen,” Cobbler replied. “What do you do about them?”
“I have my family to help me through the tough times,” Stitcher said as she turned in a circle and gazed across the crafting chamber. “Our captured friends have each other right now. And when we are ready, we’ll return to the zombie-town and get them back.”
Gameknight moved closer to the young girl and put his arm around her shoulders. Her strength and courage were like a bolt of lightning in his soul. He’d missed the most important thing all along: he was surrounded by people who would help him shoulder the responsibility for this challenge. None of them blamed him for the losses in the zombie-town. In fact, many looked upon him with sympathy in their eyes, for they could see the guilt that was raking his soul.
Someone placed a muscular hand on his left shoulder and gripped him firmly. Turning his head, he saw it was Digger, his green eyes filled with compassion. And then another hand settled on his right. It was Hunter, her brown eyes brimming with confidence in him. Glancing around the chamber, the User-that-is-not-a-user realized that all the villagers were staring at him with affection and understanding. It was as if an overpowering weight of guilt was suddenly lifted in that instant, freeing his thoughts. He was not alone, and their compassion and support felt like a warm blanket, or a reassuring hug from his mom and dad.
A recent memory flashed into his head. It was of him and his dad, Monkeypants_271, playing on his Minecraft server. He hadn’t been able to see it before, because of the shroud of guilt and self-pity, but now the User-that-is-not-a-user could picture it clearly. Gameknight and Monkeypants had been testing a new minigame called TNT-Defense that was just installed on their Minecraft server. He smiled when he remembered defeating his dad for the first time. Gameknight knew this was part of the solution: TNT. Somehow, they’d use it to save their friends … but how? Instead of a shadow of guilt shrouding his soul, he had a raging fire of anger filling him from within. Gameknight999 refused to give up!
“We aren’t going to wait,” the User-that-is-not-a-user suddenly growled. “We know where the zombies are, and we’re going to go in there and get them.”
“But you saw how many zombies were in there,” Hunter said. “We can’t fight that many. Even if we had three or four more villages with us, we’d still be outnumbered.”
“We’ll get more villagers to join us, lots more, but we won’t need them all, because I have an idea that I think you’ll like.”
Hunter smiled.
“It’s all bouncing around in this thick head of mine, but it’s time to prepare. When we get to the zombie-town, I’ll have it figured out. Now, it’s time we got ready for war.”
“Now you’re talking!” Hunter exclaimed.
Gameknight smiled.
“We have a lot to do. Let’s get to work,” the User-that-is-not-a-user said, his voice ringing with confidence for the first time in a long time. “But first, we’re going to need more warriors, and lots of TNT.”
CHAPTER 21
THE PRISONER
A pair of clawed hands shoved Herder roughly through the green portal, right into the back of Bookman, the villager in front of him. But Bookman disappeared before he could make contact, the old NPC vanishing just as the lanky boy entered the sparkling green gateway. When he stepped out of the portal, Herder was stunned by the overwhelming stench of the place they’d been taken to. He looked around. The scene was like all the others, a gigantic cave filled with the aroma of decaying flesh, but like so many of the zombie-towns they’d been pushed through, none of the monsters were stayin
g.
One thing the villagers had not known before was that there were two sparkling green portals in every zombie-town, one that led to the previous cavern and one to the next. After being captured by Xa-Tul and his mob of monsters, Herder and the prisoners had been ushered through many of these portals as they were taken from one zombie-town to the next.
In fact, there were so many that they’d lost count of the number of portals they’d stepped in and out of. But now, it looked like they’d finally arrived at their destination. The captives were shoved quickly out of the portal room and into the center of this new zombie-town. In this new cavern, Herder saw zombies everywhere. They were crowded together on one side of the town, likely so there would be room for the flow of monsters that was still coming through the shimmering green doorway.
With the huge number of stinking creatures in the cavern, it made the space feel small, but in fact, the room was the largest Herder had ever seen. The floor was pockmarked with craters, just like the other ancient zombie-towns, but some NPC captives had been ordered to use cobblestone to patch these holes, making movement across the cavern floor much easier.
On a nearby wall, Herder spotted villagers hard at work digging into the cavern wall, slowly expanding the cave, one block at a time. Herder could see they all were near complete exhaustion, but he suspected that if the NPCs stopped to rest, there would be lethal consequences. Nearby, a massive zombie stood watch, claws extended from his muscular hands, their razor-sharp tips glistening in the emerald light of the many HP fountains around them. The monster continually growled at the NPCs as they worked, shouting insults and threats.
Suddenly, a strong hand shoved Herder toward the diggers.
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