Just then, the puzzle pieces began to tumble around in Gameknight’s head. He could feel the solution was in there, but with all the possibilities, he couldn’t quite see it yet. For some reason, an image of Herder—“the Wolfman,” as the warriors of his time called him—surfaced at the top of the confusing haze in his mind.
Gameknight glanced at the Oracle as if she somehow had the answer. Slowly, she raised her wooden cane into the air, then brought it down onto the stone block at her feet. It hit the mountainside with such force that Olympus Mons shook. A bolt of lightning blasted the ground next to her, its bright light and accompanying clap of thunder silencing everyone.
When the bright light faded, a new light-crafter stood on either side of her. One was tall and muscular, with long, sinewy legs that looked as if they could run forever. Long white hair flowed down his back and covered his arms. He had a look of strength and pride, but his tiny black eyes bespoke of danger. This was a creature you did not want as your enemy. The other had a green scaly texture to her arms, with long clumpy green hair falling around her shoulders.
The Oracle looked at her new friends and smiled, then turned toward Gameknight999.
“Allow me to introduce you to my newest light-crafters, Wolfbrin and Leafbrin,” the old woman said. “I think Wolfbrin will be able to aid you in your quest, but it’ll take some time before his friends are ready to help. Leafbrin will prove just as useful, but in other ways.”
The wolves, of course, Gameknight thought. And then we’ll use dispensers and pressure plates and…. The ideas flew through him like an unstoppable storm.
Gameknight smiled as the puzzle pieces began to fall into place.
“With all of your help, I think we can come up with a battle strategy that will give us the advantage and destroy Herobrine once and for all,” Gameknight said, his voice ringing with confidence.
All of the villagers were gathering around him now, and the fear that had been there only a moment ago was slowly being driven away by the confidence in their leader’s voice.
“We’re going to play a little game of follow-the-leader with Herobrine and his mob,” Gameknight said. “But we need to act fast. We can only do this if we work together.”
He moved amongst the villagers, reaching out to touch a shoulder here and an arm there.
“I’m going to be asking all of you to do something that will seem terrifying and fill your soul with fear, but I need you to trust me,” Gameknight said. “The only way we can defeat Herobrine is to take him someplace where his ghasts can be neutralized, and he won’t have the advantage. We need to take the monsters to an unexpected place where we’ll have some surprises waiting for them. But I need all of you to put your fears and doubts aside, and trust me, even if what you see makes you want to panic and run away. You must trust me. Can anyone not do this?”
He glanced around at the sea of faces before him. There was trepidation in their expressions; they had heard the seriousness in the blacksmith’s words, and were rightfully afraid that he was asking something of them that they couldn’t give.
I can’t do this without them, Gameknight thought. What if they won’t follow me? What do I do, what do I …?
Suddenly, a strong, proud howl filled the air. Gameknight turned to see that a wolf had appeared next to Wolfbrin; the animal was howling at the top of its lungs, its snout pointed up to the sky. The light-crafter looked down at the animal, then smiled at Gameknight999. Bending his head back, the new light-crafter howled as well, singing to the stars overhead.
Wilbur then began to oink, adding his own little piggy howl to the concert. Weaver joined them, leaning his head back and letting his voice ring, howling as loud as he could. More voices joined the wolf’s; mothers, sons, daughters, fathers … all of them were howling as loud as they could, the air filled with their strength and pride. The wolf pack of villagers was ready for battle.
Finally, they all stopped and shifted their attention back to Gameknight999, confident expressions on every square face.
“Where is this historic battle to take place?” Baker asked. “It seems we need to prepare.”
“Yeah,” Carver added. “Where are we going set up our little surprises? I have a few of my own I’d like to add to the mix.”
“Where are we going?” asked another, then another, and another.
Gameknight raised his hands for silence, then spoke in a low, serious voice.
“We’re going to the Nether.”
CHAPTER 25
PREY IS CORNERED
“Why have we been waiting so long!” Herobrine exclaimed. “Where are my generals? Where is Erebus? EREBUS!”
The evil virus paced back and forth impatiently. He wanted to hit something, to destroy something, but there were no monsters nearby, just tall spruce trees. And where was the fun in punching a tree? It would not suffer from his wrath.
He’d arrived to the huge mountain only to find his advanced force had been destroyed by the blacksmith and his NPCs. Herobrine had sent his monster kings out on scouting missions, to learn what happened to the villagers and where they were hiding, but that had been long ago. Now, the Maker was getting impatient.
Suddenly, Erebus materialized in front of Herobrine, the Enderman king’s eyes glowing bright red.
“We have them trapped,” the dark crimson monster reported.
“What?” Herobrine replied.
“The blacksmith and his rabble destroyed the small army you sent out to greet him,” Erebus continued. “And now they’ve tunneled into the mountain and are hiding inside like a bunch of scared silverfish.”
“Have the ghasts begun firing on the mountaintop yet?” Herobrine asked.
“Not yet,” the king of the Endermen said. “I told Malacoda to wait for you to arrive and direct the battle.”
“Good. That bloated ghast king would probably mess it up.”
Erebus smiled, his eyes glowing red with glee as Herobrine chastised the bombastic Malacoda.
“Bring the army to the foot of the mountain,” Herobrine said. “But I want the spiders to stay off to the side. Then, when the attack begins, they’ll charge in and attack their flank. I want the villagers destroyed as quickly as possible, but Smithy is to be left alive for me. Do you understand?”
Erebus nodded his dark head.
“Good … now go.”
The king of the Endermen disappeared in a cloud of purple mist, leaving Herobrine alone. Closing his eyes, the virus teleported to the top of a tall spruce tree and looked out at the gigantic mountain before him. It stretched all the way up to Minecraft’s maximum build height, a collection of rock and sand and dirt that seemed almost impossibly big. Cacti and long strands of grass decorated a small area of the mountainside where the battle had taken place. A huge crater precisely marked the location; that was where his forces had been defeated.
Herobrine’s eyes grew bright with anger. He didn’t really care if those monsters had been destroyed, nor did he care if the villagers felt momentarily victorious. Soon, the full weight of his army would fall upon them and there was no way they could survive. He was just impatient; he wanted to destroy that blacksmith immediately!
A cat-like cry floated down from overhead. Looking up, he saw his sparkling, infected clouds drifting above him. They had now covered much of the Overworld, from the Dragon’s Teeth to where he was standing now, and were beginning to spread even faster and further away. Soon, his glowing orange clouds would be like a suffocating blanket across all of Minecraft.
Someone’s watching me, Herobrine thought.
Turning quickly, he drew his iron sword with a fluid, deadly grace. Staring into the trees, he scanned the surroundings, his glowing eyes acting like a pair of angry searchlights, shining harsh white light wherever he looked. But there was no one nearby.
He turned and looked back to the mountain, then had the feeling again that he was being watched. Somehow, now he could tell it was that old hag, the Oracle. She was spying on him. Gath
ering his viral powers, he teleported to a different tree that stood near the edge of the mountain. He listened for footsteps in the forest, but heard none; the spies must have left.
With a malicious laugh, he teleported to the ground, then walked to the edge of the forest. It loomed high in front of him, the peak pushing through his orange clouds and …
There it is again! Herobrine thought. She’s watching me, and they’re right behind me.
He spun around, only to find a large spruce sticking up out of the ground, and no villagers or light-crafters in sight. Moving to the tree, he looked at it up close. The feeling of being watched was coming from the leaves on the tree. Somehow, she was spying on him through the trees … how was that possible?
“You want to watch me, Oracle?” Herobrine growled. “Fine, then watch this.”
Reaching out with a dark hand, he touched the side of the tree, then allowed his viral shadow-crafting powers to flow into it. Instantly, the leaves began to lose their rich, green color. They faded to a sickly gray, then crumbled to the ground, leaving the tree a lifeless skeleton. It would stand there forever, but never grow another inch.
“How do you like that, Oracle?!” Herobrine shouted to the night. “You can keep watching, but make no mistake: after I destroy the blacksmith, I’ll turn my monsters upon you. You, too, will beg for mercy at my feet, and you’ll receive just as much as the blacksmith: none.” He stepped out of the forest and faced Olympus Mons. “You can be certain, I’m coming for you both. Soon you will meet your end.”
Herobrine’s eyes grew brighter and brighter as his rage built to the point of exploding.
“Erebus!” he screamed. “Get ready to attack!”
CHAPTER 26
TO THE NETHER
Gameknight moved through the tunnels that wove their way through Olympus Mons like arteries through the body of a rocky giant. He’d remembered them from the last time he’d been to this mountain. It seemed like a million years ago when he’d been here with his friends; but actually, it hadn’t happened yet; it was still a hundred years in the future.
He made his way up a tunnel to led to the surface, specifically to the edge of the crater his TNT had made when they’d destroyed Herobrine’s small army. Around the mountain were the sounds of zombies, spiders, skeletons, Endermen, and ghasts. Herobrine had surrounded the mountain so none could escape across the surface of the mountain, but he hadn’t blocked all avenues.
Gameknight smiled.
Glancing up to the sky, he saw softly glowing orange clouds overhead. They had infected everything as far as the eye could see, tiny orange embers now sparkling along the edges of all the misty blocks. It looked like a subtle firework show was going on in the heavens, the glowing embers floating through the air and disappearing before they ever hit the ground.
“This is bad,” Gameknight said to himself. “We must stop him.”
“Oink,” a low voice said next to his feet.
The User-that-is-not-a-user glanced down and found Wilbur at his side.
“Wilbur, you were supposed to wait in the tunnel for me,” Gameknight said, a scowl creasing his face.
“Oink, oink,” the pig replied defiantly.
The User-that-is-not-a-user smiled. Wilbur was a good friend, and he was here because the pig could likely sense the fear that filled Gameknight’s soul. He reached down and patted his friend on his soft pink head.
“Okay, you ready to do this?”
“OINK!”
“Get ready to run fast,” Gameknight warned.
Stepping up to the edge of the crater, he moved out into the open and pulled a torch out from his inventory. He then took the biggest breath he could and yelled as loud as he’d ever yelled in his life.
“HEROBRINE, COME GET ME IF YOU’RE NOT AFRAID!”
He planted the torch in the ground, then turned and ran across the crater. As he shot back underground, into the tunnels, he paused for just an instant to place a sign near the tunnel entrance. The sign read: “GK WAS HERE.” In the back of his mind, he knew the sign would be important a hundred years in the future.
The two companions dashed through the tunnels, running as fast as their feet would carry them. Soon, he heard the chuckling sounds of Endermen as they materialized on the side of the mountain where he’d just been. The faint sorrowful moans of zombies could be heard trickling through the stone passage, the clattering of bone and clicking of mandibles adding a rhythmical beat; Herobrine’s army had found the entrance. This motivated the pair to run even faster.
They shot through the rocky corridors, heading ever deeper into the bowels of the mountain. As he ran, Gameknight removed the torches marking their path, which would force Herobrine and his monsters to blindly search for him, rather than just follow the trail he’d left behind. And that would give the villagers more time to prepare for the mob’s arrival.
Deeper and deeper they went, taking tunnels that sloped downward at a steep angle, the passage resembling a stairway. Eventually, they reached their destination: a gigantic cavern. Gameknight recognized it instantly when they had first found it. This was the place where Herobrine had set up his command blocks, in an attempt to dump lava across all the villages in the Overworld. The User-that-is-not-a-user and his friends had stopped his plot, and destroyed two of the virus’s monster kings at the same time.
Gameknight ran into the chamber and headed straight for the ring of obsidian that sat in the center. A sheet of purple light filled the dark rectangle, undulating and pulsing as if it were alive, splashing a lavender glow upon the stone floor that stretched across the cavern; it was a portal to the Nether.
Standing next to it were Carver and Baker. As Gameknight’s footsteps echoed through the cave, the two NPCs looked at him and smiled.
“Did he take the bait?” Carver asked.
“Absolutely,” the User-that-is-not-a-user said. “It’ll take them a while to find this cave, but rest assured … they will find it.”
“Okay,” Baker replied. “Fencer just came back and said he found the perfect place for the ambush.”
“Great. Then let’s go,” Gameknight said.
He stepped into the glowing portal. Instantly, his sight began to waver as everything was shaded with a purple hue. And, for the briefest of moments, he could see the dark cavern around him, but at the same time see rivers of lava flowing across a rusty landscape, a rocky ceiling high overhead. Suddenly, a ferocious heat slammed into him like a sledgehammer.
Gameknight stepped away from the portal and fully into the Nether. Behind him, the loud squeals of his friend filled his ears as Wilbur exited behind him. Gameknight bent down and picked up his friend.
“Don’t worry, Wilbur. When you get used to the heat, it won’t be that bad,” Gameknight said.
Baker and Carver then stepped out of the sparkling gateway. Baker’s cheeks were flushed as if she were embarrassed; was it from the intense heat of the Nether? Carver, however, had a satisfied grin on his face, like he’d just won some great contest. Gameknight flashed him a questioning glance. The big NPC just shrugged as Baker walked past, then followed her down the reddish-brown hill.
All around him, rust-colored netherrack covered the ground. It had a texture similar to gravel, its grains filled with reds and oranges and browns. Occasionally, brown soul-sand could be seen; Gameknight had warned all the villagers to stay far away from it. Countless rivers of lava crisscrossed the terrain, some fell from the ceiling and formed wide pools of boiling stone, while others spewed out of the side of a hill or jagged wall. But no matter where it came from, all of the lava flowed downhill, toward a great ocean of molten rock. The size of that body of boiling stone always shocked Gameknight when he saw it. In the future, he knew there would be a great fortress on the shore of that ocean, built by slaves taken from the Overworld; his friend Stitcher had been one. The terrifying structure would stretch out across the landscape like a lethal spider waiting to pounce. But now, in the past, the Nether fortress didn’t
exist.
“Are you coming?” Carver yelled from the bottom of the hill.
“Oh … yeah,” Gameknight replied.
He ran down the hill with Wilbur bouncing in his arms. The pig had stopped squealing, but was still uncomfortable—they all were.
Stuck to the walls and ceilings were yellow clusters of glowstone, the shining cubes adding a touch of yellow to the orange coming from all the lava. Smoke and ash drifted through the air, making the glowstone difficult to see in the distance, and Gameknight knew it would get even worse when they neared the ocean below.
They all ran downhill, carefully dodging burning cubes of netherrack and pools of boiling rock. At places they had to leap over thin rivers of lava; the heat coming up off those glowing streams was terrible. In this section of the Nether, the landscape was formed of thick layers, each sitting about twenty blocks above the next, forming a terraced structure. Lava spilled down the layers, falling from one level to the next as if it were oozing down a set of giant stairs.
Gameknight smiled; this terrain was perfect. The layers were separated enough to give them room to fight, but still restricted enough to keep the ghasts close to the ground.
When they finally reached the plains that stretched out to the boiling shoreline, Carver led them around a massive hill of Nether quartz. The white crystals in the Nether quartz stood out in shining contrast to the surrounding red netherrack. It was the only thing in this land of smoke and flame that was not the colors of fire: red, orange, yellow, and sooty brown.
On the other side of the hill, Gameknight found a massive cavern. Well, it wasn’t really a cavern, as it had no walls to the left or right, just a ceiling. Another layer of netherrack stood above the ground level, at least twenty blocks high. Small clumps of glowstone were clustered sporadically, providing some light but not much. Along one wall was a set of furnaces, each with a flame burning bright inside it. NPCs worked the furnaces, pulling out blocks of stone and replacing them with cobblestone and coal. Across the ground, the stone was being used to replace the netherrack, a thin stone pressure plate positioned on the gray cube. The texture of the pressure plate exactly matched the stone cube, making it nearly invisible; they’ll be impossible to spot in the gloomy light. Lines of redstone ran under the netherrack in a complex series of circuits that led to a wall of dispensers hidden in the darkness.
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