by Billy Miner
The hammer was glowing.
What kind of a hammer was this? Certainly this was not an ordinary hammer.
“Let’s try it out,” Jack said to himself.
He swung the hammer backwards and hit it against a tree.
Craaaaack!
The tree immediately split in half.
“Wow! Such power! Such strength!” Jack exclaimed.
He was astounded by the immense force of this dangerous weapon, but the fact that it was glowing still raised questions in his mind. He decided to use it again. He lifted the hammer up and hit it on the ground as hard as he could. The ground cracked and the hammer showed sparks and electric bolts.
“Very interesting,” Jack mumbled. “Electricity, huh? I think I just might have another way to provide for my family. Let’s see how this little bugger works on water.”
He walked to the lake and did the same thing: He lifted the hammer behind his head and swung with all his might.
Kazaaaap!
He watched in amazement as the whole lake lit up like fireworks. Threads and wired, spinning bolts of electricity emerged from the surface; light blue and white flashes of shocking energy went through the vast, watery elements of nature. It was a gorgeous sight and a powerful experience. Jack had never seen anything like it. It lasted for a while, after which the electricity finally seemed to disappear. Jack went back to sleep.
The next morning, he woke up by the smell of fish. It reeked a little, but it didn’t take long for Jack to find out why. He looked at the lake and saw hundreds of dead fish floating on the surface, perhaps thousands. Anyway, there were too many for him to count, and his mouth fell open when the reality of the situation got through to him.
This was the change of his life!
Part 5: Abundance
Jack knew not to go into the water. He didn’t trust it. The electricity might be gone by now, but he still did not want to take the risk.
Within a few hours, he chopped some trees and uses his tools to create a little raft. He put the raft in the water. Wood was a safe substance, he figured. He took another log and cut the end into a point. Then he jumped on the raft. Nothing went wrong. He rowed to the nearest fish and started pulling them out of the water with his pointy log.
He touched the fish.
Safe.
No shock.
“Great,” he thought. “I am just going to fill up my bags with these delicious fish. Watch, we’ll have enough for the next few weeks if we make sure that we preserve them well. If they don’t rot, we should be able to feed our kids for a while.”
No sooner said than done, Jack filled up both bags with fifty fish. They were crammed inside his bags, leaving little room for the mysterious hammer but just enough to not forget about it. After all, if this hammer had such power, who knew what else he could do with it?
Jack got his stuff together and left for home. He walked around the mountain again, following the same route he had followed on the way there. At the end of the day, he was glad to see the little cottage he called home.
“Guess who’s home, kids!” he shouted with a smiled as he entered the room.
“Dad!” the children screamed in excitement, running at him and giving him a hug.
“Dad, Lucy took my branch and I hit her, but then mom said I shouldn’t hit,” Bart, the middle child, said as he patted dad on his leg.
“Your mother is right,” Jack said. “You shouldn’t hit; next time, just ask for the stick back and if she doesn’t give it back, just tell mom about it first.”
“What do you have in your bags? It smells weird,” Lisa said as she tilted one of the bags a little.
“That is a surprise,” Jack said.
“Hello Jack,” Cornelia said. “How did it go?”
“Cornelia, sweetie,” Jack began. “I think I found a permanent solution to our problems.”
He put the bags on the table and one of the fish fell out of a bag.
“Fish!” Cornelia said joyfully. “I love fish. Where did you get them?”
“At the lake behind the mountain,” Jack said proudly. “There is more than enough for all of us.”
Cornelia was happy. She began to unpack all the fish Jack had gathered and put them in the kitchen, organizing them carefully and cutting one up for dinner. The oldest children got a fire going, after which the whole family had a delicious meal. They were well fed, something that hadn’t happened for some time.
Part 6: Thor
Jack woke up. Cornelia, his wife, was lying in his arms. The sunlight was shining brightly through the cracks between the curtains. Jack stretched his arms and quietly stepped out of bed, heading downstairs to see if the hammer was still there.
There it was, lying on the table, untouched by his curious children. He still had a hard time believing what this amazing weapon could do, and he was eager to find out more about it. Now that he saw it, he wasn’t even certain anymore if he wanted to sell it or not. He knew he could probably get a lot of money for such a beautiful object, but perhaps using it would save him so much work and time that providing for his family would be easier in the years to come.
He took the hammer outside. Perhaps pounding the burnt trees would have a different effect, or maybe he could electrocute some bushes. As he was considering all his options, he felt like a little boy again who was discovering the forces of nature around him.
But then, he suddenly heard a thunderous voice.
“That’s my hammer,” the man said.
“What?”
Jack turned around and stood in front of a bearded man with a red cape. His eyes were blue like the sky, his hair was as orange as the fruit, and he was wearing heavy, silver armor. From a hundred feet away, the man kept walking at Jack with a steady pace.
“That is my hammer,” he repeated as he came closer. He looked a little angry.
“No, it’s not,” Jack said. “I found it, so it belongs to me.”
“You found it because I lost it,” the man said.
“How do I know you’re not just trying to take it from me?”
The man laughed.
“Do you have any idea what this hammer can do… what it’s made of? This hammer is made by the gods. It has been composed by fresh lava forged with iron. With it, one can control the weather, electricity, storms, everything.”
Without further ado, the man snatched the hammer from Jack’s hands and told him to stand back. For some reason, Jack thought it would be wiser to just obey this mysterious cape guy.
Thor looked around him and spread his legs. He chanted some unintelligible words and raised his arm with the hammer in it to the heavens.
Grombrombrom! Craaack!
Loud thunder ripped the sky and thick, black clouds were gathered as one and crashed into each other with unimaginable strength. Lightning flashed through the dark contrast of the heavens, creating a striking display of natural elements in commotion. Rain flooded the soil in less than 30 seconds, changing the weather instantly and showing off with a grand performance.
“That is crazy!” Jack said. “I didn’t know it could do that.”
“There are many things you don’t realize,” the man said.
“Yes, like what your name is,” Jack added. “I don’t even know who you are. Who are you?”
“My name is Thor. I am the god of thunder,” the man in the cape says.
“Seriously? Wow.”
The storm calmed down. The rain was gone. Thor walked to Jack and asked him kindly if he could have his hammer back, seeing that it was his in the first place.
“But if I give you the hammer back,” Jack protested, “then how am I going to feed my family? This hammer is exactly how I got all the fish.”
“Oh yes,” Thor said. “Before I forget, that’s another thing I wanted to mention. Do you realize what you’ve done?”
“No. What are you talking about?” Jack asked.
“You’ve upset the balance. Nature has been disturbed. You weren’t thinking when you elec
trocuted the water, were you?”
“Of course I was. Was is that supposed to mean?”
“Let me explain,” Thor said.
Part 7: Fetching Fish
Thor rolled his eyes and starts.
“When you electrocuted the entire lake with my hammer, all the fish died.”
“Yeah, so? Who cares?” Jack asked rhetorically.
“Well, did you ever think about what would happen in the long run? No more fish means no more fish in the future. Since they are all dead, they cannot even have any new fish. The cycle has been broken. In order to create more fish, you need fish. Get it?”
Jack scratched his head. He never thought about it that way. Now that he killed all the fish in the lake, no other fish would be born, and that was a problem.
“I understand,” he said as he sighed. “I am sorry. I didn’t think of it. But do people actually go there to fish?”
“Sometimes, but since you killed them all, that would be rather pointless, wouldn’t it?” Thor said.
“What can we do?” Jack asked.
“We?” Thor asked. “I am not going to do anything. You caused this dilemma. You solve it. But I will give you a hint. Have you heard of Miners Creek?”
“No, never.”
“Then I will take you there. Let’s go.”
“That way?” Jack asked. “I’ve never been that way.”
“Ah, you didn’t know there is a river there?” Thor asks.
“N-no. I never knew.”
“Oh well. Follow me then. But first, let’s get you a fishing rod and some bait.”
Thor held the hammer in front of him and said some strange words that Jack didn’t understand. The hammer began to radiate lightning bolts and bright flashes. In the middle, a circle of light appeared, as if something was being created from thin air. Slowly but certainly, the circle started to take shape and a fishing rod was being formed.
“Nice,” Jack admitted. “I don’t think I could have done that.”
“There is so much more that this hammer can do,” Thor said. “But it belongs to me and shouldn’t be in the hands of a mortal. I understand that you are struggling, that you can’t provide for your family and that this is the reason why you electrocuted the lake. You probably just wanted as many fish as you could carry and didn’t mind the future of the lake. So I will make you a deal. If you put at least 10 fish in that lake, 5 from each species, then I will make sure they are alive and well; I will use my powers to ascertain that they repopulate the lake. You give me this hammer back, and in return, I will control the weather and help you provide for your family.”
“That sounds like an excellent deal,” Jack said. “Could you please show me where the river is?”
“Of course,” Thor said.
Together they walked to the river on the other side of the mountain. They talked about life, about family, about the climate, nature, fish, chopping wood, using the hammer, and much more. The hike took a few hours, but eventually they arrived at the beautiful flowing river. They set up the fishing gear and Thor magically created some bait with his hammer.
“I don’t know why I didn’t know about this before,” Jack said.
“Well, now you do. I’ll see you later,” Thor said.
“Wait. Where are you going?” Jack asked.
“To Valhalla,” Thor answered.
He lifted up his hammer to the sky and ascended in a straight line as if he was being beamed up by some unknown force.
Jack prepared the bait he got from Thor and put his rod in the river.
It was boring.
Terribly boring.
Using the hammer to electrocute them was so much easier. Too bad he couldn’t do that anymore. Fishing took forever.
Ughh…
Soooo boooring!
“Aha! I think I got one!” Jack said as he jumped up and started pulling the rod toward him. He hauled in the result. It was an old shoe.
“Aaargh… this is driving me crazy,” he said in frustration. “How can people do this for fun?”
But even though it took a toll on his patience, after a while, he caught enough fish. He put them in a container with water and brought them back home to take a rest.
Part 8: Balance
“More fish! Yummy!” one of the children exclaimed.
“No, no, no… these are not for food,” Jack said.
“What? Why not?”
“They have to be thrown back into the lake.”
“What’s going on, honey?” Cornelia asked.
“Not much. I’m just putting these fish into the lake, so that they can procreate and make sure there will be enough fish in the future there.”
After explaining the details to his wife and kids, and telling them about the mysterious god Thor with his red cape, Jack ate something and left on his journey to the other side of the mountain.
The lava was gone. It was as if Thor had made it disappear to make it easier for Jack. The journey was heavier though, because he had to carry all those fish and the water. But when he arrived at the lake, he was proud of himself. He had restored the balance in nature. He had done as he was asked. Now he just hoped for miracles to have enough food for his wife and kids. He would have to trust Thor’s promise.
As he thought of the consequences of this deal, he tossed the fish into the lake and watched them dive under. Then he headed back home and was able to make it back a little after dark.
In the years after that, strange things happened.
Jack taught his children how to fish and duplicated the fishing rod with some home-made equipment. Occasionally, he would join the kids and accompany them when they were fishing, even though the activity in itself was pretty boring.
At other times, he would suddenly find a few trees that hadn’t been there the day before. Their growth had been stimulated by the heavy storm the night before, and it was amazing how they seemed to pop out of nowhere, so that Jack could chop them and sell wood to the villagers.
The most miraculous thing that had ever happened, was this: Jack’s family was out of food. They didn’t know what to do. All the trees were gone, the fish didn’t seem to bite, and he had to scavenge for fruits in the forest. They went to bed hungry that night. The next day, however, when he opened the door, a dead deer lay in front of his little cottage.
“Cornelia!” Jack shouted. “Look.”
His wife ran downstairs and watched the dead deer. She was amazed. Where did this come from?
Jack bent over and examined the carcass.
“It’s a little burnt, as if it got struck by lightning or something,” he said, moving his finger over the animal’s skin.
“Sounds like we’re having deer for dinner tonight,” Cornelia said with a smile before she walked back in.
They were happy, and they were taken care of. The elements of nature seemed to be in their favor, and Jack knew exactly why.
THE END
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Minecraft Book
An Unofficial Minecraft Book
By Billy Miner
Copyright @2015
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Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Life of a Boy
Chapter 2: Book of Letters
Chapter 3: Book of Words
Chapter 4: Book of Pictures
Chapter 5: Book of Sounds
Chapter 6: Book of Symbols
Chapter 7: The Best Book
Introduction
Jonathan has a strange habit: He likes to read books but every time he is halfway a book, he gets tired and falls asleep. His imagination fills his dreams with all kinds of random images and scenarios.
Furthermore, Jonathan likes to make up stories. He loves to write and he wants to become an author, a great one, a bestselling famous one. His habit of falling asleep, however, prevents him from finishing books every once in a while, but this week, the dreams he has aren’t as random as the ones he had before. This time, there may be a connection between his dreams and his desire to become a successful writer.