Descent Into Overworld: An Unofficial Minecraft Adventure (8 page)

The reason for all this protection stood in the middle of the dome. A massive fortress rose out of the rock, reaching to the roof of the dome. Towers of obsidian connected to walls of nether brick, creating a castle of darkness.

“Welcome to Fang Fortress,” Slashax said.

Jaina swore she saw a tear form in the skeleton’s empty eye socket at the sight of his fort.

“It is quite impressive,” Whiner said.

“My minions will build you one, too,” Slashax said. “If you continue to be loyal and serve me.”

Principal Whiner bowed his head. “I am at your service.”

Slashax turned to his skeleton guards and pointed to the cage.

“Bring that to the Portal Chamber. I am eager to try it out.”

“Are we not returning it to your Herobrine master?” Whiner said.

“I have the Seed Generator and two of the True Diamonds.” Slashax chuckled. “I am my own master. And very soon, we shall teach that lesson to Herobrine himself.”

The diamond pickaxe shattered in Hamid’s hand.

A wall of stone stood in front of him and his friend’s complaints echoed behind him.

“I told you we were going the wrong way!” Ant said.

“No,” Hamid growled. “You said we were completely lost, so there wouldn’t be a ‘wrong way’ to go.”

“It doesn’t matter what I said. What matters is we now only have my pickaxe, so we better choose the right way this time or we are trapped down here forever, without any torches or food.”

Hamid spun on his friend.

“We don’t have food because you ate it all!” His words echoed off the walls of the narrow tunnel.

“How was I supposed to know it was all we had!” Ant said.

“Because I said ‘Don’t eat that. It’s all we have.’ But did you listen? Of course not. You never listen. And you never think about anyone other than yourself.”

“All you think about is bossing me around!” Ant snapped. “No one put you in charge, Hamid. No one asked you to lead us. You just think you’re so smart and I’m so dumb. You think you know it all. Well, you don’t. We’re lost and it’s all because of you.”

Ant’s words hurt Hamid more than any zombie bite.

They were in bad shape after their little swim through lava. Their diamond armor had protected them but had melted away with the damage. Most of the items in their inventory also went up in flames. They had lost so much, including their guide and new Minecraft friend.

Seeing Bano’s inventory items floating above the flames was all the confirmation they needed that their friend had perished in the lava. Ant and Hamid had stood in silence and watched as his other items caught fire and eventually disappeared, too. Ant had not said anything but Hamid could tell the loss of their friend weighed heavily on him. By comparison, the loss of their other items meant nothing.

All the items crafted by Ranwin and the villagers were gone. They managed to salvage three loaves of bread. Ant gobbled up two of the loaves right away. Hamid ate the other, but only after snatching it from his friend’s hungry mouth.

Hamid knew Ant wasn’t greedy. Planning ahead just wasn’t one of his stronger skills. Ant had trouble thinking about the future, like ten minutes into the future. He was all impulse and all about right here, right now. That’s why he made ‘poor decisions,’ as Principal Whiner would always say. Poor decisions like dropping the classroom globe out a third floor window to see if it would bounce. It didn’t. It crashed onto Ms. Jannel’s car parked below, denting the hood and landing Ant in the office. Again.

Now, stuck underground in a world of limited resources, planning ahead was a matter of life and death. With a friend like Ant on his side, Hamid was sure death would meet them soon.

They were down to their last pickaxe and had only a long tunnel to show for it.

“You said if we dug upwards, we would hit a cave,” Ant said.

“We should have hit a cave by now,” Hamid said. “A cave or a tunnel or an abandoned mine. Anything.”

But all they had hit was rock. Solid granite. Block after block of rock, with a few chunks of gravel thrown in to break the monotony. Their plan was to use what few tools they had left to dig away from the lava pool and back up to the tunnel Slashax and his skeletons had taken. But their swim through fire had spun them both around. Every block looked the same and Hamid couldn’t be sure where Slashax’s tunnel was. Up and away had been their decision. And now it looked like it was a bad one.

“We have a few hits left in my pickaxe. We need to choose our strikes wisely.” Ant pushed past Hamid. “I’ll find us a way out.”

“Take it easy. No need to shove,” Hamid said. A drop of blue liquid landed on Ant’s shoulder. Hamid grabbed his friend. “Wait! Don’t hit that!”

But it was too late. Ant smacked the block with the diamond pickaxe. It vanished, revealing a solid layer of blue above their heads. Water.

The water gushed through the hole. In a heartbeat, their passage became a river. The rush of water swept them both off their feet and sent them tumbling back down the way they came.

Hamid struggled to keep his head above the water. He grabbed at the walls as he tumbled along with the current. Memories of going to the waterslide park with his family washed through his mind, along with about a gazillion gallons of water. His heart ached at the thought of his family. His dad’s voice rang in his ears, telling him to log out of Minecraft for the millionth time. He would pretend not to hear or bargain for five more minutes, just so he could put down one more block. One more block. Now, Hamid did not want to see another block. He wanted to log out. He wanted to be home and never see another Minecraft brick ever again.

An arm emerged through the rushing water, right beside Hamid’s face. Hamid reached up and grabbed it.

Immediately he stopped tumbling. Water rushed by him, but he managed to get his head above the surface.

Ant crouched in a tiny niche in the wall of their tunnel. He held on to the rock with one arm and reached out to Hamid with the other.

“Hold on and try to stand!” he shouted.

Hamid kicked his feet and found solid rock beneath him. He pushed against the flow of water and slowly walked closer to Ant.

“Get in here!” Ant said over the roar of the water.

“I have a better idea,” Hamid said. He pushed past Ant’s cubbyhole and kept walking. He called over his shoulder to his friend. “Follow!”

With his feet on the ground, Hamid leaned into the water’s flow and pushed through it. After an agonizingly long walk, he was back at the source of the downpour. Ant was right behind him.

Water gushed in from the hole in the low ceiling.

“Plug it up! Quickly!” Ant said.

Hamid shook his head. “We’re not plugging it. We’re swimming through it!”

Before his friend could argue, Hamid walked into the downward column of water. He jumped up and grabbed the edge of the block above him. With all his strength, he pulled himself up and through the narrow opening.

Bubbles bounced at the bottom of his vision. He was underwater and wouldn’t be able to hold his breath for very long. He looked above him, but all he saw was darkness. There had to be a surface to this water. Whether he could hold his breath long enough to reach it was a different question.

Hamid pushed off the ground and swam upward. Below him, Ant crawled through the hole.

Bubbles popped one after another at the edge of his vision and still the surface was not in sight. What if the water was too deep? What if it went all the way to the ceiling? There would be no space for air. And no time left for him and his friend.

Hamid pushed these dark thoughts from his mind and kicked faster. He was down to two bubbles. After they were gone, he would start taking damage and not be able to swim.

The blackness above him became a dark blue. Another bubble popped. One left. Pain burned through his legs with each kick. Dark blue became blue, then light blue. Almost white.

Hamid’s last bubble popped. He lost control of his body. His mouth opened against his will and inhaled desperately. He waited for the sting of water to burn through his lungs.

Instead, he got air. Sweet, delicious air. Hamid had gulped down a second deep lungful before he realized he had made it to the surface.

A second later, Ant burst through the water.

“You see?” he said between coughs. “I told you I’d find us a way out.”

“What would I ever do without you?” Hamid smacked a splash of water at his friend.

He floated while his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the surface. Dark granite walls swept up and over them from either side of the water. They were in an underground lake in the middle of a wide cavern.

“At least we’re alive,” Hamid said.

“But still lost,” Ant said. His wet face broke into a wide grin. “And I’m still hungry.”

Hamid hit him with another splash and started swimming to the shore.

Dripping wet but not complaining, Hamid and Ant pulled themselves out of the water and fell onto the rocky shore. Hamid struggled to keep his eyes open, but it was no use. His whole body was one big ache. His legs were numb from kicking from the bottom of the lake. His lungs burned from holding his breath. And his brain was just plain fried. Ant must have felt the same. They lay there without speaking for many minutes.

Stones crunched beside Hamid. His exhaustion vanished in an instant. He snapped open his eyes to see another pair staring back at him.

Hamid didn’t dare move.

“Get up, Ant!” he hissed.

Ant sat up sleepily.

“What is it? I was having such a nice dream.”

Ant’s jaw slammed shut at the sight of the stranger towering over them.

It had no arms, a sad face and a long body. A creeper, but unlike any he had seen before. Its long body was white, not green. And it hadn’t killed them. Yet.

“Why hasn’t it exploded?” Ant whispered.

“I don’t know,” Hamid said.

“Because blowing you up would be such a waste,” the creeper said. “Besides, if I blow up you won’t be able to save your friend.”

Slashax knew how to build.

Jaina had never seen Minecraft creations on such a large scale. Slashax’s guards led her into the massive cavern, through the minefield of creepers and past the skeleton archers. Towers of obsidian loomed over sturdy battlements lined with deadly TNT cannons. A maze of lava traps and soul sand pits waited below the walls to catch invaders in its twisting paths. The skeleton had a talent for placing blocks. Well, his minions did at least. In the distance an army of block-carrying endermen were busy adding a new wing to Slashax’s already colossal fortress. Ant would have been impressed.

Jaina’s step faltered at the thought of her friend. Ant was always the creative builder in their group. Normally he was more annoying than a creeper attack, but right now, she’d give anything to hear one of his lame jokes.

The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced Ant and Hamid had to be in this world too. If her demented principal had managed to crash the party, then her two best friends must be here. Jaina hoped they were doing better than she was.

A pair of spider-riding skeletons stepped aside to let them through the doors to the fortress.

“Bring her to the Portal Chamber,” Slashax commanded. He marched down the long corridor toward another set of double doors.

The skeleton guards pulled her along behind him. Whiner hurried past to catch up with Slashax.

“Watch out for her,” Whiner said. “She is full of surprises. Besides, you said the swords were all you need to activate the diamond condenser.”

“Never mind what I said.” Slashax’s words cut into the principal like a knife. “And I advise you to do less thinking, Mr. Principal. Unless you want to dance with my green friends in the field of creepers outside these walls.”

The blood drained from her principal’s face. Whiner might be a Minecraft noob, but even he knew getting too close to a creeper is bad news.

The Portal Chamber reminded Jaina of her school library. Tall bookshelves wrapped around the walls behind the tables. Swirling enchantment tables ran along one side of the room. In the middle of the room, steps led up to a circular platform. A rectangle of midnight black blocks stood in the center of the platform. A sheet of purple swirled inside the blocks. A Nether Portal. Jaina recognized the gateway to the world of the Nether instantly.

Four large maps hung on the far wall. Three maps made the points of a wide triangle with a single map in the center. Each map had a label at the top in large letters. Jaina strained to read the labels as the skeletons led her into the middle of the room.

The outside maps each had a different title. The map at the top was labeled Overworld. The maps on the left and right were labeled Nether and End. Jaina recognized each of the maps as the different worlds in Minecraft. Each of these maps showed wide areas of discovered land. Someone had done quite a bit of exploring to uncover all that land in this Minecraft world. The map in the middle was blank, with only a small part of land uncovered. Jaina read the final label. Her heart skipped a beat.

“Recognize your home?” Slashax said.

He walked over to the map and tapped the label with a bony finger. It contained a single word: Earth.

A tiny green patch stood in the middle of the map of Earth. The patch looked vaguely familiar. A small brown building stood on the map inside the patch of green.

“My school!”

Slashax’s red eyes shone brightly. “Soon, this map of Earth will be completely uncovered. And it will completely mine.”

“You’re going to invade Earth?” Jaina said. “Is that why you want me?”

“I don’t want you. I want this!” Slashax held up her diamond sword. “Unfortunately, it’s a package deal. For this sword to do what I want it to do, you must be part of the fun.”

Slashax led Jaina over to the far side of the chamber. Whiner was already there, walking around the weirdest bicycle Jaina had ever seen.

Actually, it looked more like four bicycles had crashed into each other. Four blocky seats were on each side. Instead of handlebars in front of each seat, there was a long slot that ran down the metal frame to the ground.