Lost in the End

by Winter Morgan

  “Me too,” Veronica complained. “I hate the swamp.”

  Harriet told everyone to be quiet. “I hear something.”

  Boing! Boing! Boing!

  “I hear it, too! What’s that noise?” cried Julian.

  Boing! Boing! Boing!

  “It sounds like slimes!” Veronica called out.

  Harriet saw four slimes bounce toward them. “Yes! I see slimes. Everyone get out your swords.”

  The gang battled the slimes, but it was tough. The bouncy, slimy creatures broke into smaller slimes, making destroying them particularly tricky. The gang worked hard to obliterate the smaller slimes with their diamond swords. It was an intense battle, and just when they thought it was over, a witch appeared. The purple-robed witch clutched a vile of potion in one hand and sprinted toward the group. She splashed a potion on Harriet.

  Ezra raced toward the witch and struck her with his diamond sword. “Help!” he called out to the others.

  Julian shot an arrow at the witch.

  Veronica ran to Harriet and gave her some milk. “Take this. It will make you feel better.”

  Harriet drank the milk as she watched her friends destroy the witch. “We have to get out of the swamp.”

  “I think we all agree with you,” Julian said as the gang hurried through the swampy biome toward a mountain.

  “It’s almost night,” Veronica pointed out. “We need to build a house.”

  The gang agreed and they found a patch of land by the mountain and constructed a home.

  “We are becoming experts at crafting quick homes,” Harriet remarked as they placed a door on the house.

  Julian sighed, “These are skills I never wanted to have. I just wish I was back on my wheat farm. I want to stop searching for William. I want us to find him soon.”

  “We all feel the same way,” Harriet replied. “Maybe tomorrow is the day we find him.”

  They hadn’t given up hope that they would find him, but they were all exhausted. They climbed into bed and spent another night dreaming of finding William.

  The sun began to rise and they prepared themselves for the trek up the mountain.

  As they walked toward the mountain, Harriet pointed out, “I see a cave.”

  “Do you think we should go mining?” Veronica asked. She was confused.

  “Yes, we can find diamonds and other valuable minerals,” Harriet said. “We don’t know where William is. I feel like our journey might be over. If we don’t find another journal, William might be lost in the Overworld. He will have to escape from Charles on his own.”

  Oliver didn’t like hearing that at all and said, “We can’t just give up on William. We will find another journal and we will free William.”

  Toby agreed and reminded them, “You know we found the first journal in an abandoned mineshaft. Maybe we’ll find another journal in this cave.”

  Harriet added, “We can mine and look.”

  The group was divided. Half of them wanted to go in the cave and the other half felt that it was a waste of time.

  “Mining in a cave is too dangerous and takes too long.” Jack was annoyed.

  Harriet was persistent. “We need to go mining. I want us to have a fully stocked inventory. It’s the only way we can survive this journey if we’re going to keep searching.”

  Veronica added, “It would be a shame to pass up an opportunity to go mining. It’s been a while since we spotted a cave, and I want to see what we can find.”

  Harriet and Veronica entered the cave. They didn’t look back to see who was following them.

  Jack called out, “Harriet and Veronica! Seriously? You are just going to mine without voting on whether or not we should enter the cave?”

  Harriet stopped. “Okay, let’s vote.”

  The group voted. The majority of the gang chose to explore the cave. Jack let out a loud sigh. They could tell he was annoyed. Harriet said, “We voted. It was fair. Now we get to explore the cave.”

  The cave was dark. Julian spotted a cave spider and struck it with his sword. The group dug into the ground with their pickaxes. Ezra called out, “More spiders!”

  “There must be a spawner somewhere.” Harriet looked for the spawner, but didn’t see it.

  “I think I see it!” exclaimed Julian.

  The gang sprinted to Julian’s side. Oliver said, “I see it. We have to destroy it.”

  They used torches to disable the spawner. When it was deactivated, they resumed mining in the cave. They dug their pickaxes deep into the bottom of the cave, but there weren’t any minerals.

  “Where are the diamonds?” Harriet called out. She was annoyed, and she had been the one who had suggested they go mining.

  “Just keep digging and we’ll find them,” Veronica said as she reached another layer underneath the ground and found nothing.

  Julian climbed out of the hole. He was tired and needed a break. He grabbed an apple from his inventory and took a bite.

  Oliver called out, “Julian, are you eating? We need help.”

  Julian looked down and saw a book in the corner of the cave. “Guys!” he called out. “I see a book.”

  The gang jumped from the hole and sprinted toward the book. Oliver reached over and picked it up. “It’s another journal!”

  “Now are you guys upset that I wanted us to mine in this cave?” Harriet said as she peeked over Oliver’s shoulder and looked at the journal.

  “There’s no time to talk about that,” Jack said. “Oliver, read.”

  Oliver started to read from the journal.

  14

  JOURNAL ENTRY: REUNITED

  Entry 7: Victories

  We sprinted in the dark toward the voices. I called out, “Thao!” But there wasn’t a reply.

  “Do you think we were imagining it?” asked Molly.

  “No,” I replied breathlessly.

  Sean stopped and shouted, “Oh no!”

  My heart sank. In front of us stood the largest army of skeletons I’ve ever seen. They surrounded Charles and Thao and were shooting arrows at them.

  “What are going to do?” Esther asked. “There are so many skeletons. We can never battle them all.”

  I grabbed my sword. “We have to try. We need to save Thao.”

  We sprinted toward our friend while we shielded ourselves from skeleton attacks.

  “Help!” Thao called out. His energy was incredibly low and he was desperate.

  Sean splashed potions on the skeletons, which weakened them. I used this opportunity to destroy as many weak skeletons as I could, but the battle seemed pointless. There were too many skeletons.

  I was shocked when Molly reached Charles and he struck her with his diamond sword. I thought he’d use his last bits of strength to fight the skeletons. Molly was about to strike Charles when I shouted, “Don’t attack him. We want him to live so we can find Oliver.”

  Charles shouted, “You’ll never find Oliver. I am not revealing where he is being held prisoner. I’d rather be destroyed by you guys than help Oliver escape.”

  Sean cried for help. “These skeletons are going to destroy me!”

  I was conflicted. I wanted to destroy the skeletons, but I also wanted to confront Charles. This had to end. I sprinted toward Charles and aimed my sword at him. I demanded, “You had better tell us where Oliver is being kept prisoner.”

  Charles laughed.

  “Why are you laughing?” I asked Charles.

  “Look behind you.” Charles let out another laugh.

  I turned around and saw his army fighting the skeletons. The sun began to rise and the skeletons disappeared. We had to fight Charles’s army. I sprinted toward a soldier with my diamond sword, but he wasn’t easy to fight. Charles had a strong army of skilled fighters.

  I looked over at Molly and Esther as they destroyed a bunch of soldiers. This infuriated Charles. He sprinted toward them with his sword.

  Molly shielded herself from his sword and struck Charles. Again, I warned her
not to destroy Charles. She called out, “There’s no other way.”

  The fight continued, but we were losing. Charles called out, “Let us stop battling now. If you are destroyed, I have soldiers stationed at the last place you slept. There is no escaping me. You must surrender now.”

  I didn’t know what to do. There was a possibility that Charles wasn’t telling the truth. I looked over at my friends. They also looked confused.

  I decided to battle Charles. I wasn’t going to be kept prisoner again. I’d rather respawn and try to fight his army than give myself up. Molly was destroying a lot of soldiers and we had a chance of winning. I will admit, it was a small chance, but it was still a chance.

  I struck Charles with my sword.

  Charles called out, “Valentino!”

  I saw a man sprint toward Charles with more soldiers. Valentino raced over to me and hit me with his diamond sword.

  “You’re coming with me,” Valentino demanded.

  I was too weak to fight. I followed Valentino. Charles made the others follow us. We walked toward the desert. I hoped they would put us in a prison with Oliver. We approached a large desert temple. It looked familiar and I realized this was the temple where Oliver, Julian, and I had found the treasure.

  “This way,” Charles said as he led down the stairs into a stronghold that was underneath the desert temple.

  As I walked down the long dark hall deep beneath the temple, I was hoping I’d hear Oliver’s voice, but it was silent.

  Charles stopped in front of a door and laughed. “This is where you’ll be staying. Forever. Don’t try and escape. This time I am clearing your inventories.”

  I struck Charles with my sword. I wasn’t going to give up everything in my inventory. “Never!” I shouted at Charles.

  One of Charles soldiers asked him, “Should I use the command blocks to put them on Hardcore mode?”

  Charles paused. “Not yet.”

  I froze. I couldn’t believe Charles wanted to destroy us. I had to escape. I lunged at him again.

  “Stop!” Charles called out. “I won’t put you on Hardcore mode if you just follow the rules.”

  I looked over at my friends. We walked into the prison cell.

  “I think they’re gone,” Sean said, “I don’t hear anything.”

  “How could be we trapped again? This is awful,” Esther was very upset.

  “We will get out of here,” I told them. “I’m sure of it.”

  Sean paced the small room. “We don’t even have anything in our inventories. Planning an escape seems pointless.”

  I stared at the ground. “Look at that.”

  Molly walked over to me. “Wow, a book.”

  Esther said, “Is it an enchantment book? I mean it’s not like we have anything to enchant.”

  Thao said, “All of our inventories are empty.”

  Sean looked at it more carefully. “It’s a journal.”

  I wondered if it was an old journal of mine that Charles had gotten his hands on. I asked Sean, “Read the journal.”

  Sean said, “It says it’s Oliver’s journal.”

  I was shocked and blurted out, “This is where they must have kept him.”

  Molly said, “Maybe he escaped.”

  My thoughts were a lot grimmer. I worried that Charles had put Oliver on Hardcore mode. I was upset and wanted Sean to read the journal so we could get more information.

  Sean began to read.

  15

  GETTING CLOSER

  We know where they are!” Harriet called out.

  “We need to go back to the desert!” Ezra was excited.

  “Do you have a map?” Julian asked Oliver.

  Oliver was thrilled. “Yes, I have a map!”

  The gang sprinted out of the cave and followed Oliver up the mountain. The energy level was high. Everyone was excited. They finally knew where William was being held prisoner.

  “What did you write in your journal?” Harriet asked Oliver.

  “I wrote about being trapped in the room. It was a horrible existence and I didn’t think I’d ever escape until you guys found me. I think William feels he has more of a chance of escaping because he has friends with him. I was alone and starving and had nothing.”

  “That sounds awful,” said Harriet.

  Oliver stopped at the peak of the mountain and pointed to the desert. “That is where I was trapped. We are almost there. We will set William free soon.”

  The gang carefully made their way down the side of the mountain, and walked into a thick jungle. Oliver cleared a path for the group.

  Harriet was worried they’d lose each other. “The path is thick with leaves. I hope we can all stick together.”

  “I’ll make sure we won’t lose each other,” Oliver said quite confidently.

  “Watch out!” Julian warned everyone.

  Charles’s army sprinted toward them. The soldiers shot arrows at the group. The gang tried to dodge the arrows, but one pierced Jack’s arm.

  “Ouch!” Jack cried.

  “We have to fight these soldiers,” ordered Harriet. “We are too close to saving William. We must use all of our tricks to win this battle.”

  The group shot arrows and used their swords to battle the army, but they were outnumbered and the battle was making them weak.

  Harriet smiled when she saw a creeper silently walk toward a group of soldiers and explode.

  Kaboom!

  More creepers appeared and destroyed the soldiers.

  Ezra said, “I bet Charles summoned the creepers to attack us and it backfired.”

  They used the creeper invasion to escape from the soldiers, sprinting through the jungle, trying to hide behind the leaves as we trekked through the lush jungle.

  “I see a jungle temple,” Veronica called out.

  “We can’t go in there. We have to make our way to the desert fast,” said Harriet.

  Ezra looked back. “There are still soldiers following us. Maybe we should hide in the temple. We can’t run straight to the desert. They will follow us the entire way.”

  The group reluctantly sprinted toward the temple, making sure the soldiers didn’t see them enter the grand temple. Harriet looked out from the temple’s entrance and saw the soldiers sprint by them.

  Harriet was relieved. “I think coming here was a good idea. It looks as if they think we are still running to the desert.”

  Oliver was worried. “I hope they don’t panic and put William on Hardcore mode.”

  Julian remarked, “That would be awful.”

  “We are going to save William,” declared Harriet. “We are also going to defeat both Charles and Valentino and this entire battle will be over.”

  The group was hopeful, but they were worried about William. They were so close to saving him.

  Veronica stood by the entrance to the jungle temple, “I don’t see any soldiers. They’re all gone. We should leave and go to the desert.”

  Nobody suggested that they search for treasure. Everyone was agreed that they should go back to the desert.

  The gang looked in every direction as they searched for soldiers. When they confirmed that the jungle was empty, they sprinted toward the desert.

  Harriet warned, “We should also keep watch for creepers. I’m sure Charles is spawning them.”

  The jungle was immense and the group felt as if they were sprinting forever. As the followed Oliver, who sheared a path through the dense leaves, they were all excited and hopeful they would find William soon.

  “We will finally meet Sean, Molly, Esther, and Thao,” Harriet said to the gang.

  Oliver reminded them, “I’ve met Thao. He wasn’t always nice.”

  “I just want to defeat Charles and Valentino,” Veronica said. “They have caused the Overworld too much trouble.”

  They could see the desert. “We’re almost there! I can’t believe it!” Toby exclaimed.

  The minute they stepped onto the sandy biome, a sea of arrows floo
ded them and they heard a loud sinister laugh. “You think you’re going to save your friend?” Charles called out to them.

  “I don’t think we are going to save him. I know we are going to save him,” Harriet replied.

  “How do you know I didn’t destroy him? I could have used command blocks to put him on Hardcore mode and destroy him.” Charles laughed.

  “You aren’t that bad,” Oliver said.

  “You don’t think I’m bad, Oliver?” Charles was perplexed. “I kept you as a prisoner for years.”

  “And you never destroyed me on Hardcore mode. So why would you do that to William?”

  Charles wasn’t sure he was following Oliver’s logic. He said, “And you escaped. I didn’t want William escaping like you did.”

  “I didn’t just escape. These friends saved me, and I will do the same for William. You have kept too many prisoners. You have no right to do that.” With those last words, Oliver held his diamond sword against Charles’s chest.

  Harriet shot an arrow at Charles. Ezra sprinted toward the soldiers with his diamond sword. It was a full-blown battle. Harriet could see the desert temple in the distance. She hoped William and his friends were still in there. As she lunged at a soldier, she wondered how much longer they’d have to battle. She wanted to free William.

  Valentino sprinted toward the group with his sword. He leapt at Veronica. Harriet joined Veronica and helped her defeat Valentino before he could cause any trouble.

  “Your sidekick is gone,” Harriet called out to Charles.

  He turned around and cried, “Valentino!”

  16

  JOURNAL ENTRY: WE WILL ESCAPE

  Entry 8: Setbacks

  We read Oliver’s journal, but it said nothing about escaping. It just talked about living in solitude in the prison. It was a hard read. I spent the entire time choking back tears. I assumed Charles put Oliver on Hardcore mode one day and the idea that he spent his final years just sitting in a prison was heartbreaking. Oliver chronicled what it was like to be weak and hungry. I couldn’t bear to read the journal. I felt for my friend. I wished I could have helped him. I tried, but it was too late. Molly could see that I was very upset.