“I’m sorry,” Molly said. “I know he was your best friend.”
Sean vowed, “We will escape and we will defeat Charles. He won’t get away with this.”
I wasn’t sure Sean was right. I knew that Charles had a lot of power and he could put us on Hardcore mode and he’d win. But I had to be hopeful. I had to imagine that Oliver escaped, even though I knew that was almost impossible.
Esther looked at me, “I think once we escape, we’ll feel better. Let’s come up with a plan.”
“How?” I asked. I knew this question would upset them. They often looked to me for direction. I was the great world explorer and now I had nothing to offer them. I was ready to give up, and they noticed.
“We can dig a hole and escape,” suggested Sean.
I replied, “With what supplies? Charles emptied our inventories.”
“I was able to hide something in my inventory.” Sean took out a pickaxe. We were all shocked.
Esther asked, “Do you have energy to dig?”
“Yes,” Sean said, and he began to dig a hole in the center of the room.
“I can’t believe you had a pickaxe. This is fantastic.” I stood by Sean. I wanted to help him, but he only had one pickaxe.
“This will take forever.” Molly looked down at the small hole. “We just can’t let Sean do all of the work.”
Sean was losing energy. “You’re right. And I don’t have enough strength to finish it.”
Molly took the pickaxe and dug it into the ground. “Maybe we can take turns.”
“I think this might be pointless,” I told them. “Even if we take turns, we will just lose more energy and we have no way to replenish the supply. Charles hasn’t left any food for us and we have no idea if he put us on Hardcore mode. I don’t want any of us to get destroyed.”
“What are we going to do? I refuse to be trapped in this prison.” Sean was angry and he paced in the small jail cell.
“Stop pacing,” I warned him. “You’ll run out of energy. Just stand still.”
Sean couldn’t stop pacing. He was thinking and plotting our way out of the prison.
Molly looked up at the ceiling. “Do you think it would be easier to escape through the ceiling?”
“No,” I said. “There’s no way we’ll reach the ceiling and it probably would just leave us in the desert temple and we’d be marched back down here.”
We had no plans. We were losing hope. We couldn’t even hear Charles or the soldiers. I wondered if they had abandoned us. They were waiting for us to run out of energy and be destroyed.
Sean continued to pace. “When is Charles going to give us food?”
“Hopefully soon,” I said. “It’s been awhile.”
Molly announced, “My food bar is very low. If I don’t eat soon, I might be destroyed.”
“But what if he put us on Hardcore mode?” Esther panicked. She was worried this was the end.
“What should we do?” Sean was anxious.
“We need to calm down. I will think of a plan,” I told them. But I didn’t have a plan.
And I didn’t have time to think, because Thao shouted, “A spider!”
Sean used his pickaxe to destroy the red-eyed beast.
“We can’t have any other mobs spawn in here or we are ruined.” I didn’t know what to do.
I looked through Oliver’s journal, rereading the entries and hoping I would find some clues. Maybe the journal would give us some tips on how to escape—maybe I had missed a clue.
Thao shouted again. “Another spider!”
Sean destroyed it with his pickaxe. “Thankfully I have this pickaxe, but I can’t keep fighting these insects. I’m getting weak.”
I called to the others. “It looks like there might be a way to escape from this prison. Oliver talked about a planned escape through a tunnel.”
“A tunnel?” Sean sprinted toward my side.
“How are we going to dig a tunnel?” asked Thao.
I heard voices. “Shhh! I hear someone.”
We were silent. I listened to the muffled voices. One particular voice sounded very familiar.
17
SAVING FRIENDS
Charles’s army was weakening, and without Valentino, he was losing the battle.
Harriet struck Charles with her diamond sword and he was destroyed. “Let’s go to the desert temple!” she called out to her friends.
The gang sprinted toward the desert temple. When they entered the temple, three soldiers leapt toward them. One of the soldiers struck Harriet with his diamond sword.
Ezra jumped in front of Harriet and battled the soldier. “Go find William,” Ezra told Harriet. “I can fight.”
“You’re not going to fight alone,” Harriet told him.
The gang battled the three soldiers and destroyed them, but more emerged. Julian looked out at the group of soldiers dressed in black. “I don’t think this is going to be an easy battle.” Julian shot arrows at the soldiers.
Kaboom!
There was an explosion. Harriet called out, “Creepers!”
Two creepers silently crept behind the soldiers and exploded. Ezra said, “We have to watch out for the creepers. I bet Charles is still summoning them.”
Veronica stuck a soldier with her diamond sword when Valentino sprinted into the room.
Valentino warned, “You’re not going to win this battle and you won’t save your friends.”
“Yes, we will!” Veronica raced toward Valentino and struck him with her sword until he was destroyed.
Oliver called out, “The stronghold where I was prisoner is right over here.”
“We won’t let you get into the stronghold,” one of the soldiers shouted at the gang.
Harriet struck the solider with her sword. The army was growing weak. The gang drank milk to replenish their energy, helping them to defeat the army. When the final soldier was destroyed, Oliver sprinted toward the hole in the ground and climbed in. Everyone followed him down into the stronghold. When they reached the stronghold, they saw Charles.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Charles let out a loud laugh.
“Saving our friends.” Harriet stood in front of Charles.
“You don’t even know William. He isn’t your friend.” Charles held his diamond sword against Harriet’s chest.
“I know that the Overworld will be thrilled to have William the Explorer chronicling his expeditions. You have kept him prisoner for too long!” Harriet shouted.
Oliver stood by Harriet and lunged at Charles with his sword. “You aren’t going to stop us this time. You’re our prisoner now.”
Charles laughed. “The soldiers will respawn soon and you’ll never get away with it.”
Valentino sprinted down the hall. “They won’t respawn. I accidently put them on Hardcore mode. They are gone.”
“You fool!” Charles shouted at Valentino.
“I’m sorry,” Valentino cried.
“You’ve destroyed my army,” Charles shouted.
A creeper silently crept behind Charles and exploded.
Kaboom!
“Oh no!” Valentino called out. “He was on Hardcore mode, too!”
“What about William and the others?” Harriet asked.
“No! I mean—I don’t know!” Valentino was confused.
Harriet demanded, “Lead us to the command blocks.”
The gang followed Valentino down a dimly lit hall. A spider emerged from a corner and Harriet destroyed it with one blow from her diamond sword.
“Here are the command blocks,” Valentino showed them. “What should I do?”
Harriet destroyed them and then announced, “We have some friends to save.”
Veronica asked, “But what do we do with Valentino?”
Harriet replied, “Valentino, you must be punished for what you have done to the Overworld. We have visited towns that you have destroyed with nightly zombie attacks. Everything you have done has hurt others.”
&nbs
p; “I’m sorry,” Valentino said with his head down.
“Once we free our friends, we will bring you to the town that you have damaged and you will be placed in a prison in the town,” Harriet informed him.
Valentino stood quietly. There was nothing else he could do. He had no backup and he had no way to escape. Ezra and Julian walked next to Valentino and pointed their swords at him.
Ezra warned, “Don’t even try to find a way to escape.”
The gang sprinted down the hall toward William. They reached his prison cell and Harriet hit the wall with her pickaxe.
“We need to free them,” Harriet shouted.
“We’re here!” Oliver called out to his friends as he banged his pickaxe against the prison wall.
18
JOURNAL ENTRY: IT’S THE END
Entry 9: The Best Day
“Oliver!” I called out.
“Yes, William!” he shouted out from the other side of the wall.
“Save us!” I cried.
“We will,” he replied.
A woman broke down the wall with her pickaxe and set us free. She said, “My name is Harriet.” She then introduced us to her large group of friends. I spotted Julian.
“Julian!” I called out.
“It has been too long, my old friend.”
A woman named Veronica smiled. “The Overworld will be pleased to have you back in action, William. I can’t wait to read about your adventures.”
“Thanks,” I replied. I was overwhelmed.
“How did you find us?” Sean asked.
Harriet explained, “I was in an abandoned mineshaft with my friends Jack and Toby and we found your first journal. The cover said we’d be cursed if we read it, but we wanted to find you.”
“I’m so glad you did,” I replied. I remembered when I wrote that first entry. I didn’t want anyone reading my personal thoughts, so I warned any reader they’d be cursed.
“We are so happy that we found you,” Harriet smiled.
I looked over at Valentino. “What are you doing here?”
Harriet announced, “He is coming back with us. We are placing him in a prison.”
I was happy to hear Valentino would be punished. I looked over at everyone. “Thank you for searching for us.”
We exited the prison and walked through the desert temple and into the desert. The sun was shining brightly.
Oliver looked at his map. “This is the way to the town.”
I didn’t even ask him where we were going. I just wanted to enjoy the sun and the freedom. It was all over. We were finally able to explore the Overworld again. We followed Oliver over a mountain. When we reached the top of the mountain, I asked everyone to stop. I looked at the Overworld. “The view is so beautiful. I can’t wait to start exploring again.”
We headed down the mountain and toward a small village. Harriet led us to a wheat farm and knocked on the door of the farmhouse. A man opened the door.
“Harriet!” he called out.
“Steve, look at who we have with us,” Harriet said and pointed to me.
I introduced myself. “I’m William.”
“I know who you are. I’m so glad you’re free,” said Steve.
Harriet then said, “We also have Valentino. And we need to put him in a prison.”
Steve walked us to the center of town. He stood in the middle of the village and called out, “We have captured Valentino.”
Townspeople emerged from their houses and were jubilant. They applauded. One townsperson announced there would be a feast.
Steve said, “And my friends have also found William and Oliver, the great explorers. This is a historic day in our town.”
Townspeople came up to me and told me how much they loved hearing about my explorations and how glad they were that I was back. I was overjoyed. I looked over at Oliver and smiled. I was ready to explore.
DO YOU LIKE FICTION FOR MINECRAFTERS?
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Lost in the End Page 6