The Complete Elementia Chronicles: Quest for Justice; The New Order; The Dusk of Hope; Herobrine’s Message. Sean Wolfe Fay
down and leaped back to his feet, ready to charge the mob again, but this time it was Charlie who caught him from the front and prevented him from making progress. This gave Kat the chance to bear-hug Stan from behind. She was much stronger than he was, but he continued to struggle as Kat and Charlie dragged their furious friend back into an alley, where it took the combined effort of Kat and Charlie to force Stan onto the ground.
“Stan! Snap out of it!” cried Charlie hysterically, tears streaming down his face, and it was the pain in his voice that finally made Stan stop fighting Kat. “We’re all upset! And it’s not our fault!” he yelled, reading Stan’s thoughts. “He did the right thing, you hear me? The right thing! If I could, I would run out there and kill all those people myself, but what’s the point?” His voice wasn’t hysterical anymore but shaky, and most certainly pained. “They would turn on us. They hate us, remember? That would just cause more senseless deaths. More senseless, senseless deaths.” Now he just sounded disgusted.
Kat, on the other hand, still had streams of tears on her cheeks. She took her body weight off Stan and gave a sniffle. “Come on, you guys,” she said, her voice shakier than Charlie’s. “Let’s go to this Proclamation Day thing, and we’ll work out what to do from there.” She stood up, Charlie along with her. They looked down at Stan, who was still lying on the ground.
Stan no longer felt his anger and grief choking him. He felt nothing but repugnance at the mob that had killed his friend, which was going wild in its ecstasy, making the fire bigger and bigger. He wanted nothing more right now than to get out of this alley, away from this street, away from the injustice, and to never come back again.
Stan stood up slowly. “Yeah,” he said, looking at his friends. “Let’s go to the proclamation.”
The sun was high in the sky, and the crowds were already thronging onto the grounds of the castle. The mechanical doors in front of the castle swung open, and the King walked out onto the bridge. It was from the bridge, which straddled the two front towers of the gigantic castle, that the King gave all his proclamations.
As the King walked into view, the crowd burst into cheers. It was a huge crowd, encompassing the entire population of the city.
The King did his best to make the area nice for these guests. The grounds were well kept, and there were topiary bushes of players and animals. The King’s personal favourite part of his lawn was the moat of lava that surrounded his castle. Never a bad defence against attackers, it also gave the castle a majestic glow at night.
The King was content with the decision of the Council of Operators regarding what to do about the excess of new players in Element City. He realized that his new law would outrage the city’s lower-level citizens, but the upper-level citizens, who made up a good third of the city’s population of just over one thousand players, would be overjoyed at the announcement.
The King’s right-hand man, Caesar, who was standing to the right and behind the King, handed him a microphone. Down below, they were broadcasting the sound through the speakers around the grounds. The King cleared his throat. “Greetings, citizens of Element City!”
He had a deep, booming voice, and the townspeople cheered and created a wild tumult at his greeting.
“I have called you here before your King for a reason,” the King continued. “I am sure that you will all remember the last time I called for a Day of Proclamation. At that time, due to a player’s increasingly negative influence on the Council of Operators, it was decided that a new law would be passed, one which banned a player from the server after his first death.”
There was a dissatisfied murmur at this. Many of the citizens were not fond of the law.
“I am aware that many of you were opposed to this new law. A petition from those who felt this way most strongly brought about a compromise: I would give up my operating powers, and the law would remain unchanged.
“I am an honourable man, and I always keep my word. Since then, I have given up my operating powers, and I am now as mortal as the rest of you. However, the dissatisfaction with this law did not cease. A new point was brought up.
“In recent months there has been an influx in the number of new players joining the server. This causes great dissatisfaction to the upper-level citizens of Element City, who have lived here longer and have rightfully earned the land on which they now live. These lower-level players have made life much more difficult for the upper-level players, causing shortages in jobs, in food and in land.”
By this point the crowd was in a frenzy. The upper-level players were cheering the King’s praises, and the lower-level players were shouting in fury. The King had to shout to make himself heard.
“Here is the proclamation that you have all assembled here for: Any citizens of Element City with a level under that of fifteen are required to leave Element City within one week of today’s date. After that date, any players under level fifteen found in the city shall be killed, their houses—”
And that was when the arrow hit the King.
Luckily for the King the one who fired the arrow was not a better shot, or the King would have been impaled through the skull and killed. Instead the arrow bounced off his crown, pushing it off and knocking the King to the ground.
The crowd, which had just gone wild with cheers and outrage at the King’s proclamation, was now silent.
The King quickly got up and looked over the railing of the bridge to see who had tried to assassinate him. It didn’t take long for the King to see a clearing towards the back of the lawn. Everybody had backed away from the three players standing there.
One of the three in the clearing was a girl with blond hair, an orange T-shirt with a heart on it and pink shorts. A dog was sitting at her side. The second player looked like a desert nomad. Both looked absolutely shocked.
But the third player, who had the standard Minecraft look, had his bow still raised and pointing at the King. Even at the far distance, the King could see the hatred etched in every line of his face, and the red fury in his eyes.
THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD
There was a moment of stunned silence as the King, his officials, the crowd, and even the players by his side took in the enormity of the player’s attempt on the King’s life. Then, all hell broke loose.
The player turned around and dashed towards the gate, and he was quickly followed by the two players and the dog that had been next to him. The King was still too shocked to be angry, but he was sure that the players would never escape alive. The King’s loyal subjects would destroy the player who had attempted to assassinate their beloved leader.
But alas, the King was only half-correct. For at the exact same moment that the players turned and ran, a path through the people opened for them to escape through. It seemed while the upper-level players were indeed trying to kill the three players, the lower-level players were defending them and fending off the upper-levels. This was a revolt.
Over his shock now, the King was wild with fury at this player who had not only tried to kill him but had also turned the lower-levels of the city against their superiors. Screaming like a mad animal, he ordered that the gates be locked and that the riot control be sent in, effective immediately.
They weren’t quick enough, though. The three players escaped just as the gates slid closed behind them. The King let out a bellow of rage and ordered that police forces be sent out into the city to find and kill the boy, his friends, the dog and any accomplices that they might have.