by Mark Mulle
Chapter 5: You're Not Alone
"So... Herobrine?" Tess says, as we make our way to the top of the hill. "Why Herobrine?"
"Ah..." I pick up poppies as we go. Now that I have to think about it, I'm not quite sure as to why exactly. "Well, I guess I've always been interested in Herobrine. I mean, he's so mysterious.
Hundreds of players claim they have seen him, but really, no-one knows what he's like at all. I want to see him for myself. I want to know who he is." I laugh at myself. "I'm sorry. I must sound really weird."
"Hey, no weirder than me and my sad little story!" Tess places a dirt block and jumps on it, to help her climb the hill.
I had reached the top of the hill. I was about to reply, but the sight takes my breath away. Tess hops up beside me.
"Oh. My. DAYS!" I exclaim, and I feel the excitement run through me. "This cave is PERFECT!"
Down the other side of the hill is a large cavern, concealed by the hills surrounding it. From my high vantage point, I can see the exposed coal embedded in the cavern's ceiling; along with a streak of iron, and the shiny yellow sparkle of gold.
I start running down the hill, and narrowly avoid falling into a lava pit.
"Hey! Look what I can see!" Tess calls out, and I come to a halt. "Minecart tracks!"
"An abandoned mine!" I start sprinting to the cave entrance, and stick my first torch into the wall.
Inside is very dark, with no hint of light from a lava pool, or mist from a waterfall. A startled bat flies at my face, before darting back inside the darkness.
I proudly place a sign at the entrance of the cave, identical to the one I'd placed on the treetop back at the shelter.
"Is that some kind of secret code?" Tess asks. She sets up a crafting table besides the sign.
"I believe this message communicates directly into the depths of coding within Minecraft," I explain. "I'm trying to draw out Herobrine. Maybe even summon him."
Sword in hand, I sneak further into the cave. Tess places torches on the walls behind us, but the cave's ceiling is so high that their light doesn't penetrate the darkness above.
"Caves give me the creeps," Tess mutters. "And why are you sneaking?"
I pause, and straighten up again. "I don't know. Hey Tess, look!" I'm about to point out the shining light blue ore a few meters above us, when a loud screeching sound echoes around us. It sounds like the atoms within the air have been pulled apart.
A tall, dark figure has materialized in front of me. It has long, stick-like arms and legs, and glowing violet eyes. I remember a second too late to look away.
"Oh. Hey Tess, look, an Enderman," I say, but Tess has already turned on her heel and is sprinting to the entrance of the cave.
"Some loyal team mate," I mutter to myself, before gripping my sword tightly, and doing battle with the Enderman.
Endermen are always very difficult to fight, because of their ability to teleport behind you and catch you off guard. Despite their creepy appearance, they are fairly harmless - so long as you don't make eye contact with them. Endermen hate being looked at.
After winning the battle, I meet Tess at the cave entrance. She looks a little guilty.
"You know, it is okay to defend yourself," I tell her. "I mean, as long as you're careful not to hit me with your sword when we come up against our next opponent."
"Yeah. I know. Sorry."
"Okay. Shall we try again?"
I lead Tess to the streak of diamonds. "All yours," I say.
"Really?!" She says, happily.
"Well, generosity is appreciated, but yeah, all yours." I jump down from the ledge, and further my exploration of the cave.
An uneasy feeling creeps over me, and I turn back to look at Tess.
"Whoa! No, no, no. Stop!"
Tess turns to me, just as the diamonds she is mining turn into a crumbly mess. I hop back up on the ledge beside her.
"Why are you mining diamonds with a stone pickaxe?" I hand her my iron pickaxe. "Don't you know you should mine diamonds with an iron pickaxe?"
She looks at the diamond ore, sadly. "Oh, yeah. Sorry."
"No, I'm sorry, I just... thought you would've known this already."
"I do." She nods. "I'm just a little out of practice. You know, usually having all my materials provided for me already."
"But, weren't you on a survival server?"
She turns to her diamonds and hacks away at them with the iron pickaxe. "Yes, we were all in survival mode. But, X had a system in order. Miners would gather materials for the crafters, crafters would craft items and arrange all the materials, and the architects and creators would pick up the finished items."
"Wow. That sounds very..." I catch the iron pickaxe, as she hands it back to me. "... organized, but... controlling?"
"Yeah, I guess it was. Anyway." Tess points at the cave. "We've got some exploring to do, and a Herobrine to find."
I grin, and jump off the ledge. Tess collects up the diamonds, and we head further into the depths of the cave, leaving torches as we go.
The minecart tracks had ended long ago, but the tunnels and old wooden rafters are still scattered here and there.
Up ahead, I can see a small glow at the end of the tunnel. We slow down as we get closer. The glow is concealed by a thick wall of spider web. Tess looks uneasy at the sight, and falls back a little.
"Don't worry, Tess. I got this." I equip my sword and begin chopping away at the cobweb. Spider spawners are easy to handle. But as I get closer to the light at the center, a strange feeling comes over me.
This isn't a spider spawner.
I cut down the remaining web, and add the fallen string to my inventory.
Right in front of us is a wooden sign, surrounded by four burning torches.
"Du är inte ensam." Tess reads the sign. "What does that mean? Is it Latin?"
"I... I think it's Swedish." My heart starts to race. "Hold on a second. Let me translate it online."
"Okay."
I type the words into an online translator. It detects the language as Swedish, then converts the message to English.
"... Wow. You're not going to believe this."
"What? Tell me!" Tess demands.
"The message is in Swedish. And you're really going to find this scary."
"Tell me already!"
"Okay then. The message, when translated to English, reads..." I pause a moment.
"What?"
"You're not alone."
"What?!" Tess echoes. She turns to me, then back to the sign. "Who would write that? Was it Herobrine? Or..."
"Or who?!"
Her dark virtual eyes stare straight at me. "Or... I know it sounds crazy, but... It might be Player X. This is exactly the kind of thing he'd do."
"What?" I laugh. "I highly doubt that," I begin, then I remember that anything seems possible in this world.
"Have you tried checking to see how many players are online?" Tess asks.
"Um.. How do I do that?" I have no experience with multiplayer mode. A sudden, loud noise from behind me briefly startles me, and I cut down the zombie in three strikes.
"Press Tab, on your keyboard." Tess says.
I press the key, and sure enough I see the icons of two players at the top of my screen.
"It just shows you and me. Tesseract97 and Ben-in-his-den."
"Same here. Man, this is very strange."
"Yeah. This place is giving me the creeps. I think we should get out of here," I say, taking one last look at the sign before heading back to the cave entrance.