The Phantom Virus

by Mark Cheverton

  “Saztin, there issss our enemy, Gameknight999,” Sakkir said, her eight spider eyes glowing red with hatred.

  “Yessss, I can ssssee,” Saztin said. “We musssst report to the queen, quickly.”

  “Agreed,” Sakkir replied. “But let ussss wait until the villagerssss have returned back to their village.”

  The two spiders moved farther back into the leaves and branches, waiting for the NPCs to retreat behind their fortified walls. The villagers quickly finished the cobblestone structure, outlining the area of the Maker’s prank so that the other idiotic two-legs could avoid getting hit by the slime balls. Sakkir noticed that the foolish villagers looked afraid of Herobrine’s message, especially the User-that-is-not-a-user. This made the spiders smile. Finally, satisfied that they had walled off the strange green rain, the NPCs returned to their village, the sun slowly setting beyond the horizon. The spiders were free to make the return trip to their queen, Shaivalak.

  The two giant monsters moved across the treetops, their long black legs almost a blur as they ran. When they reached the edge of the forest, the duo lowered themselves down on long thin strands of filament until they touched the ground. Around her, Sakkir could hear zombies nearby, their pathetic moaning filling the air.

  “You notice how they’re alwayssss complaining?” Sakkir said to her companion.

  “Yessss, the zombiessss only perceive that which issss bad,” Saztin replied. “They cannot appreciate the beauty of the morning dew on a web.”

  “Or a cloudlesssss ssssky,” Sakkir added.

  Satzin nodded her large head. She glanced in the direction of the moaning and saw a handful of zombies shuffling through the darkness, their arms always extended out before them.

  “Let ussss be going,” Saztin suggested.

  Sakkir nodded. Her eight eyes glowed with annoyance at the presence of the whining green creatures. They headed northeast toward the hidden cave where their queen waited, traveling through many biomes of grassland, forest, desert, and frozen river. It would take them at least two days to traverse the surface of Minecraft and reach their destination, but they had no choice; they had to report back what they had witnessed. The sisters momentarily considered returning to their own spider nest to feast on the moss that had been collected by the brothers (cave spiders). But their instructions had been to return to Herobrine’s cave of devices and report to their queen, Shaivalak, when the User-that-is-not-a-user was found. This was important and there could be no delay, even if it cost them their lives.

  After a day and a half of travel, Sakkir had become extremely hungry. She looked at Saztin and could tell that she, too, was starving.

  “What if we can’t make it?” Sakkir asked in a hoarse, cracking voice.

  “You mean, if we sssstarve?” Saztin replied.

  The spider nodded, her eyes barely glowing at all.

  “Let ussss jusssst try to make it to the top of the next hill,” Saztin said, her voice weak.

  Sakkir nodded, then charged up the sand dune in front of them. When they reached the crest and looked down upon the landscape ahead of them, they saw the end of the desert and another forest beyond the sand. Both spiders sighed with relief when they saw tall spruces in the forest. The ground was covered by dirt that was a mixture of dark brown and soft orange. Leafy ferns decorated the shadowy corners of the forest, their fronds reaching out to absorb the scant sunlight that made it to the ground.

  “There will be food there in the mega taiga biome,” Sakkir said as she scurried down the backside of the dune, her sister fast on her eight heels.

  The two spiders moved down the hill and across the forest floor until they reached a collection of mossy cobblestone. Quickly, the spiders pulled off the green strands of moss and stuffed them into their mouths. The soft verdant material instantly rejuvenated the monsters’ HP, giving them renewed strength. The creatures sat by the stone blocks until they were picked clean, all traces of the green moss eaten.

  “Hurry, we musssst get to Shaivalak and report,” Saztin said, her voice now strong and clear.

  “Agreed,” Sakkir replied, feeling rejuvenated.

  The two spiders continued their journey through the forest. In the distance, they could hear the howl of wolves, but fortunately, none of them came near. They scurried through the forest until it ended at the multicolored mesa biome.

  “We’re getting closssse,” Sakkir said. “I can feel her.”

  “Yessss,” hissed Saztin.

  They ran across the brown, orange, and tan sands like two fuzzy shadows. They knew their dark bodies would be easy to spot against the colorful sand and clay, but they had no choice. Moving as fast as they could, the pair of monsters sprinted across the mesa. In the distance, they could see grassland and an extreme hills biome butting up against the green rolling hills; that was their target. The secret cave would be there, hidden under the massive mountain that loomed on the horizon.

  When they reached the end of the mesa, the spiders moved onto the grasslands, heading toward the distant hills. But as they reached the tall grass, they could feel a rumbling in the ground.

  “Horssssessss,” Sakkir said to her companion.

  “They’ll catch ussss,” Saztin said.

  “You musssst divert them sssso that I can make it back to the queen,” Sakkir commanded.

  The spider sighed, then turned and changed directions, away from her sister. Saztin knew, as the younger of the two, this task must fall to her.

  “Good-bye, Saztin,” Sakkir said in a sad voice. “You sssserve the queen and the nesssst with strength and obedience.”

  Her sister nodded her large black head, then turned and ran toward the thundering hooves.

  There was a sense of pride in Sakkir’s voice as she watched Saztin move off through the tall grass to play a deadly game of hide-and-seek with the approaching mounted warriors. Sakkir knew her sister would not survive, but would make the villagers chase her in the opposite direction so that she could report to their queen.

  As she ran, the spider could feel the vibrations from the horses slowly fade as her sister drew the villagers away. Her sacrifice would allow the news to make it to their spider nest.

  Once she reached the extreme hills biome, Sakkir scurried toward the gigantic mountain that dominated the landscape. She followed her intuition, or the spider queen’s commands—it was hard to tell which sometimes—to the secret tunnels. As the spider followed the twisting passages, she could feel the presence of the queen getting stronger in her mind. Sakkir moved faster and faster until she finally reached a large cavern lit with redstone torches on the walls. At the far end of the cave, the orange light of lava lit the cave walls, showing how truly immense this chamber really was: at least thirty blocks wide at the center and a hundred from end to end.

  Sakkir moved through the entrance and stepped onto a narrow bridge of stone only a single block wide. It led to a large, round platform of cobblestone. Glancing over the edge, the spider could only see darkness below, the depth of the chamber so great that the bottom was not even visible. Scurrying across the platform, Sakkir found the queen perched near the wall of the cave, her small form appearing to float in midair as she dangled from a fine strand of web.

  “What do you report?” the spider queen asked, glaring down with purple eyes.

  “Shaivalak,” Sakkir said, bowing her head low to the ground. “I have sssseen your enemy.”

  “What issss thissss?” the ruler asked.

  “The Usssser-that-issss-not-a-usssser hassss been sssspotted,” Sakkir said.

  Reaching up, Shaivalak severed the web from which she was hanging with one of her curved claws. She landed gracefully on the ground and approached her subject.

  “You ssssaw him?” she asked.

  “Yessss, Shaivalak,” Sakkir replied.

  A skeleton stepped out of the shadows and approached the two spiders. He wore a crown of bones on his head and had an evil look in his cold, dead, eye sockets.

&nb
sp; “It is time,” Reaper, the skeleton king, said.

  “Indeed,” replied Shaivalak.

  “The message from Herobrine, before he went to the physical world, said we were to activate the device when the User-that-is-not-a-user appeared again,” Reaper said, as if he were reciting from a book.

  “I know what hissss final commandssss were,” Shaivalak said, contempt in her voice.

  Standing, the spider queen scurried across the cobblestone platform, moving toward the dark side of the chamber. Reaper followed close behind, curious as to what Shaivalak was doing. She moved across the narrow bridge that connected the cobblestone platform to a shadowy stone plane that had strange orange blocks distributed across it. Weaving her way around the blocks, the spider queen moved to a lever that had been placed on the wall, a hole in the sheer rock nearby. She reached up and placed one of her wicked, curved claws on the mechanism, then looked up at the skeleton king, her eyes glowing bright purple.

  “Thissss issss the lasssst great revenge of Herobrine,” Shaivalak said as she pushed the lever.

  Instantly, redstone lamps flared to life, revealing a counter glowing high overhead. The display was massive, at least a dozen blocks tall and easily visible from anywhere in the cave. The blocks moved on hidden pistons, forming the number 100. Another piston allowed molten stone to spill out of the hole in the wall of the cave. The lava fell into a pool lined with stone, the container nearly empty, but now filling with the deadly liquid. Above the hole was a redstone lantern that pulsed a slow tempo, as if it were a beating heart.

  “When the pool fills with lava,” Reaper said, “Herobrine with have his revenge, and the villagers and Gameknight999 will feel his wrath one final time before they are all destroyed.”

  He turned away from the display and looked down at the fuzzy spiders.

  “Shaivalak, what do you think the Maker is doing to the pathetic users in the physical world?” the skeleton king asked.

  “He issss making them ssssuffer. I have no doubt.”

  “I would love to see it,” Reaper said. “It must be glorious. I’m sure the User-that-is-not-a-user is here in Minecraft to try and hide from the destruction of his home world.”

  “The sssskeleton king issss likely correct,” Shaivalak replied.

  “Are you sure your spiders are out there looking for him?” the skeleton king asked.

  “My warriorssss will sssstop him from ever reaching thissss cave,” Shaivalak said proudly. “But you musssst bring your sssskeletonssss and guard thissss chamber.”

  Reaper looked down at the spider and nodded.

  “I will go and bring my finest warriors. If he manages to get past your spiders, then my skeletons will stop him here. And I hope your sisters do fail, for I look forward to destroying the great Gameknight999 myself.”

  The skeleton king laughed a dry, rattling laugh as he headed for the chamber exit, Shaivalak clicking her mandibles together with evil delight.

  CHAPTER 3

  DESERT SNOW

  Gameknight999 did experiments on the backward-walking pigs and upside-down cows to find out if the animals themselves had been altered permanently. He attached a leash to one of the cows and led the creature away from the COM sign. When it was a few blocks away, the animal quickly climbed to its feet, unharmed. In fact, it appeared as if the cow were unaware that anything was amiss. But when it was led back into the pen, the spotted bovine instantly flipped over and moved on its back again.

  “There’s nothing wrong with the cows,” Gameknight announced to Crafter. “It’s the location that’s making them act weird.”

  “Just like with the pigs,” the young NPC said, nodding his head. “But how can Herobrine be doing this? You said he was destroyed.”

  “He was. I saw my dad destroy the computer he was trapped in. There was no way for that virus to escape into the Internet.” Gameknight closed the gate to the pen and stepped away from the cows. He remembered what Hunter had told him outside the village, that believing things that couldn’t be true just because he was scared was silly. What was happening with the pigs and cows and green rain was really strange, but it didn’t mean that Herobrine was responsible. He couldn’t be. “And even if he had somehow escaped into the Internet, he would have already done terrible damage to things to the physical world and we’d have heard about it.” Gameknight turned away from the cows and brought his gaze down to his friend’s bright blue eyes. “I’m telling you, Herobrine is dead.”

  “Then how can he be causing these pranks?” Crafter asked.

  The User-that-is-not-a-user shook his head.

  “I don’t know,” Gameknight said. “But if …”

  Before he could finish his thought, NPCs came running out of the cobblestone watchtower that loomed high over the village.

  “Someone’s come,” one of the villagers said to Crafter. “They need our help.”

  “What is it?” Gameknight asked.

  “Just come and hear his story,” another villager said.

  Crafter and Gameknight looked at each other, confused, then ran to the watchtower. When they reached the tall cobblestone structure, they dashed inside, heading to the far corner of the floor. A block had been removed, revealing a long vertical tunnel that sank deep into Minecraft. Crafter stepped into the hole and slid down the ladder that was attached to one wall, disappearing into the darkness. Gameknight moved to the passage and followed his friend down the shaft.

  At the bottom of the ladder was a straight horizontal tunnel. Torches dotted the walls of the passage, each casting a circle of illumination that pushed back the darkness. Gameknight followed Crafter, who was four strides ahead of him. They passed through the tunnel in silence, uncertainty slowly filling Gameknight’s mind.

  What is it now? Did some piece of Herobrine survive? Or was it the monster kings that Herobrine created? Questions circled through Gameknight’s mind like hungry vultures.

  They reached the end of the tunnel and came to a large circular room with a pair of iron doors on the far side. This was the room where Gameknight had first met his friend Crafter. It seemed like a million years ago.

  “Come on,” Crafter said from the iron doors.

  Gameknight realized he had stopped in the center of the room and was lost in thought, reliving the memory of that first meeting.

  “Sorry,” he replied and stepped to the door.

  Crafter drew his sword and banged on the door with the hilt. Instantly, a group of armored warriors appeared on the other side, their shining iron armor showing through the small barred window set in the center of each door. Upon recognizing the visitors, the entryway was opened and the warriors stepped aside. Gameknight and Crafter stepped down the stairs and onto the crafting chamber floor. As they descended, Gameknight looked at the activity around him. For the first time in a long time, the workers in the chamber were crafting something other than weapons and armor. There were saddles being made, and boats, and fences … all the things that Minecraft needed when all was peaceful.

  Near the foot of the stairs, they found an NPC leaning against a block of stone. He wore a gray smock with a white stripe running down the center. Gameknight noticed many tiny scars on his forearms, as if he’d been cut by a hundred tiny knives.

  “Stonecutter,” Crafter whispered as they approached.

  Gameknight nodded his understanding; that was this villager’s job, and his name as well.

  “Stonecutter, what brings you to our village?” Crafter asked.

  The visitor stood to face Crafter, but his eyes were focused on Gameknight. The NPC looked up at the letters floating over his head, then even higher to look for the server thread that was not there. A look of wonder came over the villager as he realized who was standing before him.

  “Stonecutter, what is wrong?” Gameknight asked. “Why are you here?”

  “Ohh … ummm … oh yeah, I was sent here by my crafter,” Stonecutter said. “Something strange is happening to our village and we need help.”


  “What’s wrong?” Crafter asked.

  “Actually, I don’t know,” the villager replied. “I was in our crafting chamber, and the crafter and village leaders came down and sent me to your village to find help. My crafter told me very little, mainly, that we needed you,” he said, gesturing to Crafter, “and the User-that-is-not-a-user to come and help us.”

  “What’s all this about?” a voice said from behind.

  Gameknight didn’t need to turn around. He would recognize the voice of Stitcher, Hunter’s younger sister, anywhere.

  “Yeah, what’s going on?” Hunter added.

  The sisters walked up to Crafter and Gameknight. By now, the legend of the redheaded sister archers had spread across Minecraft, and by the look of shock on the stonecutter’s face, he clearly recognized them.

  “What did your crafter tell you?” Gameknight asked.

  “All he said were three words: ‘snowballs and bones,’” the NPC replied.

  “‘Snowballs and bones’?” Gameknight repeated.

  The stonecutter nodded.

  “We should see if we can help,” boomed Digger as he came down the stairs, his big pickaxe in his hands. “But if there are bones, then Herder should come as well. Bones can mean only one of two possibilities: skeletons or wolves.”

  “Digger is right,” Crafter said. “We might need Herder. But what about the snow?”

  The big NPC shrugged.

  Crafter turned and faced one of the workers in the chamber. “Go find Herder and bring him here, please,” the young NPC asked.

  The worker nodded and took off running. In minutes, Herder had joined the companions.

  “Stonecutter, show us to your village,” Crafter said.

  “OK,” the NPC replied.

  Placing his minecart on the tracks before him, he shot off down the iron rails into a tunnel that pierced the wall of the crafting chamber. Crafter pulled minecarts from a nearby chest and handed them out, then took off behind the stonecutter, Gameknight close behind.