Descent Into Overworld: An Unofficial Minecraft Adventure (2 page)

“I have no idea,” Jaina said, unable to take her eyes off the very real and very painful-looking wound on the villager’s side.

Jaina kneeled down to get a closer look at the stranger’s wound but the villager waved her away.

“There is no time,” he said, still fumbling through his bag. “He is coming.”

The villager pulled four blue foam Minecraft swords from the backpack.

Hamid wondered how he fit the long swords into such a small bag. Before he could ask, the guy in the villager costume thrust the swords into his hands.

“You will have to do,” he said.

“Have to do what?” Ant asked.

The villager paused as if he was thinking about Ant’s question.

“Save the Seed. Save us from Herobrine,” he said. His whole body slumped like he had just fallen asleep.

But he wasn’t asleep. Jaina shook him gently. He didn’t wake. She turned to the others, her eyes filled with worry.

Around them, people kept moving through the convention center. No one took any notice of the little man on the ground.

Ant was about to yell for help when the villager began to sparkle. The sparkle grew into a glow that lit up their corner of the lobby. Then, as quick as flicking a light switch, the glow vanished.

And so did the villager.

The three friends stared at the empty patch of carpet where he had been moments before.

The only trace of the strange visitor was the foam swords in their hands and his words echoing in their minds.

Save us from Herobrine.

The foam sword lay across Principal Whiner’s desk. It looked out of place on top of the teetering stack of spreadsheets, test scores and detention records. Each piece of paper represented the worst thing about school: children.

Principal Whiner often dreamed of the day when some genius would figure out how to run a school without those miserable, gap-toothed, snot-nosed monsters known as children. They were loud, rude and always getting in trouble. And when they got in trouble, it was up to him to punish them. He considered it one of the perks of the job.

Whiner scowled at the two boys standing in front of his desk. Anthony Thistle and Hamid Parvan. Two examples of what was wrong with schools today: they let in brats like Hamid and Anthony. Unlike many teachers at North Gray Elementary, Principal Whiner refused to call Anthony by his nickname, ‘Ant’. Nicknames did not appear on report cards. They were a distraction to a child’s learning at school. And often they were fun. To Principal Whiner, fun did not belong in school. Ever.

Whiner picked up the foam sword and held it like it was something pulled from a first grader’s nose.

“This is from that game of yours. Isn’t it?”

He said game like it was a swear word. To Principal Whiner, videogames were worse than any bad word. They warped the minds of children. They made kids lazy. They made kids violent. Videogames were a scourge on the youth of today. And this Minecraft, with its zombies and skeletons, was the worst one of them all. It had seeped into the minds of children in his school unlike any game before. Even the teachers enjoyed it. Some, like that fool Mr. Rodinaldo, wanted to play the game in class to make school fun. School was not meant to be fun. It wasn’t fun when Whiner was a child and it should not be fun today. There was no question about it, Minecraft had to go. Principal Whiner didn’t just want it gone from the halls of North Gray Elementary, he wanted it gone from the world. And the first step in that quest began with the two boys in front of him.

Whiner dropped the sword back onto his desk.

“Well,” he said. “Are you going to answer me or just stand there like two terrified guppies?”

Ant took a deep breath and launched into his prepared defense.

“It is from Minecraft and it’s perfectly harmless —”

That was as far as he got.

“Harmless?” Whiner said in that high, squeaky tone he got when he was getting ready to lay into an unlucky student. “Young man, there is nothing harmless about a sword! It can seriously hurt people.”

“It’s made of foam,” Ant said. “You know that, right?”

Hamid cringed. Was his best friend trying to make things worse? Interrupting Whiner when he was on a roll only added to the inevitable punishment.

“I don’t care if it’s made of diamonds!” Whiner said. “You know the rules. No weapons at school. Foam, wooden or real.”

Hamid knew better than to tell his principal the blue foam sword was meant to be a diamond sword in Minecraft. Ant, who clearly didn’t know better, opened his mouth to speak. Whiner silenced him with a look. Their principal read the pink note that had traveled with them from class.

“According to Ms. Talagrand, you were playing with them during a math test.”

“We were finished, sir,” Hamid said. Technically, Whiner had stopped talking so he hoped this didn’t count as interrupting.

“Don’t interrupt me!” Guess not. Whiner continued to read the pink note. “You were chasing each other around the classroom waving this weapon while one of you was shouting, and I quote, ‘SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS … BOOM!’ Does this sound correct?”

Ant stood up straighter and cleared his throat. “Hamid was a creeper, sir. And I was merely trying to save my classmates from being blown to smithereens.”

Principal Whiner turned his glare up a notch. “Are you messing with me, young man?”

“No, sir, he’s being totally serious,” Hamid said. He struggled to keep a straight face. He was scared of what Whiner would do but the confused look on his principal’s face was pretty funny.

Hamid knew his dad would be furious to hear his son was in trouble again. That would mean no screen time at home. And that meant no Minecraft. He had a dozen things to do on his server. He had plug-ins to update and most likely griefing to roll back. There was always griefing to fix. He couldn’t lose his screen time.

Ant began to speak again but Hamid jumped in first.

“We won’t do it again, sir. Whatever punishment you feel is fitting, we will gladly do it.”

Hamid could feel Ant’s glare burn into him. His friend had trouble with that whole ‘knowing when to quit’ thing. Hamid would have to explain it to Ant. Again.

“A month’s detention for both of you. Starting today.” Principal Whiner jabbed his finger at the foam sword on his desk. “And I’m keeping this.”

“You can’t do that!” Ant said.

“Yes, I can,” Whiner said. “Now get back to class before I make it two months’ detention.”

Hamid dragged Ant out of the office.

“But! But …” his friend stammered on the way through the door.

The office door closed with a satisfying slam. Mr. Whiner’s whole body glowed with satisfaction. Finally, those two brats got to see who was in charge at this school. A month of staying after school instead of rushing home to play that silly game would wipe the smug smiles from their faces.

Whiner allowed himself a satisfied chuckle. There were parts of this job he did enjoy. Showing young people who was in charge was definitely up there as one of his favorites. Principal Whiner tried to enjoy the satisfaction of a kid well punished. But something wasn’t right.

It was that blue foam sword on his desk. It lay there across his very important papers. It seemed to call to him. Try as he might, Principal Whiner couldn’t take his eyes off that sword. Without realizing it, Whiner’s hand moved to the hilt and gripped it.

Immediately, a feeling of warmth ran up his arm, through his chest and down to his feet. Whiner checked over his shoulders in case there was anyone watching in his tiny office. Silly, he knew, but he had to be sure.

The warmth from the sword coursed through his whole body. A smile spread across his normally stone-like face. He wanted to laugh out loud, something he never did at school. He held the sword above his head and swung it through the air. He imagined enemies crawling up from the carpet. Swing! Splat! More coming behind him. Turn, swing, splat!

Principal Whiner, a man who prided himself on crushing the joys of children, skipped around his office, swinging that strange blue sword at imaginary enemies.

With each swing, the energy from the blue sword grew stronger. It charged through him. There was something about this strange sword. It held him as much as he was holding it. Principal Whiner still hated children and he still hated Minecraft, but he knew one thing for sure.

He was never letting go of this sword again.

* * *

Detention moved slower than a zombie through soul sand. Ant and Hamid stared at the clock for the entire hour of their punishment. They were meant to be doing homework, but all Hamid could think about was his Minecraft buddies logging into his server looking for him and Ant. After school was prime Minecraft time. Parents weren’t home from work, so homework and chores could wait.

And now that was gone. For a whole month, Hamid and Ant were stuck in Mr. Mackowitz’s science classroom with the other poor kids who had ticked off Whiner.

When the hour was finally up, Ant and Hamid charged for the door. They burst through it like a pair of creepers on a late-night noob hunt. Mr. Mack was right behind them. The old science teacher hurried down the corridor and out the school doors like his underwear was packed with taco spice.

Jaina stood outside the classroom holding the remaining three foam swords they got from the strange villager.

“Catch.” She tossed a foam sword to Hamid and another to Ant. “Good thing you guys didn’t bring these to class or Whiner would have them, too.”

Jaina’s after-school homework club finished around the same time as their detention. The rest of the school was deserted. Everyone had gone home, except maybe Mr. K, the caretaker. He was probably on the third floor unblocking the toilets.

Ant swung his foam sword through the air in one smooth motion. Hamid’s sword bounced off his hands and crashed to the ground. He picked it up in time to swing it around and stop the attack from his best friend.

“Nice block!” Ant said. “I’ll get you next time, you vile creeper!”

His words echoed down the empty corridor.

“Thanks for waiting for us, Jaina.” Hamid batted away Ant’s sword, signalling the game was over, or at least on pause. When Ant was around, games and silliness were never over.

“No worries,” Jaina said.

“So, did your search turn up anything?” Ant swung his sword at a new invisible enemy.

“Nothing,” Jaina said. “Not a single mention in any of the local newspapers or Minecraft blogs or forums.”

“I don’t get it,” Hamid said. “A dude dressed up as a villager collapses in the middle of the biggest Minecraft convention in town and then just vanishes. And no else saw it but us. That is just too weird.”

“Even Mr. Rodinaldo didn’t see anything!”

“That’s because he was talking to Sheena Raine,” Ant said. He attacked a defenseless locker with his sword. Each swing sent the little combination locks swinging. “Who cares anyway?”

Hamid stopped mid-step. “I care! That guy vanished right in front of my eyes. Yours, too. You might have the memory of a goldfish, Ant, but things like that kind of get stuck in my brain. Once my brain grabs onto a problem, it can’t let go.”

But Ant wasn’t listening. He slow-marched toward Hamid and Jaina, his arms held out straight.

“Braaaiiinns …”

“Ack! Back, zombie!” Jaina whacked Ant with her sword.

Ant ignored the blow and lurched forward.

“Braainns! Must eat brains.” He leaned in and pretended to munch Jaina’s shoulder.

Jaina laughed and pushed her friend away.

Hamid sighed. “Would you two be serious? Something very weird happened yesterday at Mini-Minecon. And no one saw it but us. Don’t you think that’s a little odd?”

Ant stayed in zombie mode. And now Jaina had her arms out in front of her.

“Tasty brains,” she moaned in her best zombie voice.

Hamid knew it was no use. When Jaina and Ant started playing the zombie game, there was no stopping them. Well, maybe there was one way to stop them.

“Back, zombie scum!” Hamid yelled. He doubled-whacked Jaina and Ant with his own foam sword and ran down the hall.

“Get back here!” Ant chased his friend down the empty corridor. Jaina was right on his heels.

“Not fair!” Hamid shouted over his shoulder. “Zombies can’t run!”

“These zombies can!” Jaina waved her foam diamond sword in the air like a warrior queen.

Hamid rounded the corner, sliding on the freshly mopped floor. He took another sharp right and scrambled into the library, making sure not to let the door slam shut behind him.

The lights were off. The librarian was long gone. It was just Hamid and the shelves of books, stretching into the darkness. He crouch-ran to the picture book section and hid behind the giant stuffed library dragon sitting on the Story Time carpet.

Hamid could see the whole library all the way to the computer lab in the back. Jaina and Ant ran past the windows lining the graphic novel section.

“Suckers,” he whispered.

His friends would end up at the main office near the front doors and have no idea where he went. They would have to backtrack to find him. And when they thought to look in the dark library, he would be waiting for them.

Hamid crouched low. His whole body tingled with anticipation. He gripped his foam sword tightly. He would show them how Hamid the Hammer dealt with zombies.

Something clattered in the darkness near the computers at the back of the library. It sounded like a ball rolling down bamboo. He had heard that noise before but couldn’t place it.

“Ant?” Hamid called into the darkness. “Jaina? Is that you?”

The noise came again. This time it was closer.

Hamid stepped out from behind the library dragon. His grip on the sword tightened and threatened to smush the foam flat.

“Joke’s over, guys.” How did Jaina and Ant get into the library? There was only one door and he was watching it the whole time. “This isn’t funny.”

Hamid moved through the darkness to the back of the library. He kept his steps slow and his sword raised. It was only foam, but it was better than nothing.