The Complete Elementia Chronicles: Quest for Justice; The New Order; The Dusk of Hope; Herobrine’s Message. Sean Wolfe Fay
fixated on the cat. “Don’t make any sudden movements,” he repeated, “or you’ll scare him away.”
Kat and Stan watched in amazement as the cat slowly approached Charlie, gave him a pondering look, and began to tentatively eat the fish out of his hand. Then, the cat’s fur began to change. The black spots began to vanish, replaced with orange stripes slightly darker than the golden fur. The ocelot had changed to take on the appearance of a tabby cat.
“Where did you learn to do that?” asked Kat.
“You two should really read that book more,” replied Charlie, stroking behind the cat’s ears. “Now he’ll follow us around like Rex does, and he’ll scare Creepers away.”
“Excellent!” said Kat. Then she hesitated. “But wait, he won’t get into fights with Rex, will he?”
“He shouldn’t,” said Charlie, and as if in response the cat walked over to the seated Rex and curled up next to him. Rex started to lick the cat’s ears.
“Aw, that’s cute,” said Stan. “What are you going to call him, Charlie?”
“Lemon,” said Charlie, as if he had been thinking about it for his entire life. “Now come on, we should try to get at least a little sleep before we start a revolution tomorrow.”
It sounded weird when he said it like that, thought Stan. He lay down with a tuft of leaves as his pillow, and with Lemon and Rex as their guards, the three players drifted out of the awful day and into dreamless sleep.
It was the scream that woke Stan. Actually, it wasn’t so much a scream as it was a high-pitched, ominous, other-worldly sound that brought about a sense of foreboding, comparable to a noise that a small bird might make upon freezing to death in the Arctic.
Stan opened his eyes and found himself staring straight into the sun. It took his eyes a moment to adjust before he fully saw the impressive skyline of jungle trees silhouetted against the sunlight. Suddenly he heard the shriek again, and this time he followed the sound until his gaze met a figure perched upon the highest tree.
This figure was tall, with a slender body and long, spindly arms and legs. It appeared to be holding something in its hand: a block, although Stan could not tell what kind. The creature had glowing purple slits for eyes, and it appeared to be looking right back at Stan.
Stan did a double take and looked back out to the trees, and the figure was gone. Stan shook himself and dismissed the form as a fatigue-induced hallucination. However, even as the others woke up and they broke camp and climbed back down the vines, Stan couldn’t shake the feeling of uneasiness that the haunting cry had sent down his spine.
Back on the ground, they did an inventory of all their items.
“Two iron helmets, three iron chestplates, an iron sword, an iron axe, an iron pickaxe, a compass, a clock, a book, a bow and twelve arrows,” counted Kat as they laid all their items on the ground in front of them. “And we’re going to overthrow the King.”
Stan realized that they did have a very limited amount of supplies, exactly three people devoted to their cause, and no food at all. They had a lot of work to do.
“Well, let’s get back to the basics, I guess,” he said. “We’ve got to start somewhere, so let’s establish a house out here. There are plenty of resources around this jungle, so let’s gather some materials today, and tonight we can discuss how we’re gonna do this thing.”
Kat nodded, and Charlie said, “Good idea, Stan. You go into the woods and gather some wood with your axe. I saw a mine a little while back. I’ll take my pickaxe and go see what I can find down there. Kat, you go find some food, and see if you can build a house around here that we can use until we get a permanent base.”
“OK,” Kat agreed. “I’ll make it underground so that if the King’s men come looking for us, we’ll have a little bit of concealment.”
“Good thinking. OK guys, let’s fall out,” ordered Stan, and with that, they put their armour back on, and Charlie and Lemon walked back the way they had come the previous day. Kat drew her sword and ran towards some wandering chickens, Rex at her heels, and Stan pulled out his axe and skirted around the edge of the lake towards the woods.
As Stan walked along the water’s edge, he noticed a type of plant growing in front of him that he had never seen before, except from a distance on Crazy Steve’s farm. It appeared to be some kind of cane, and it only grew on the sand and dirt directly adjacent to the lake. Curious, Stan brought his axe down on the base of one of the plants, and several pieces of the stalks fell to the ground. Stan picked them up and put them in his inventory. He did this to another plant, and was about to do it again when he heard a stretching sound behind him, then a twang and a whizzing sound.
Stan knew that sound quite well from his first night in Minecraft. He spun around and flipped his axe over, the metal blade just stopping the flying arrow from entering his chest. He dodged another arrow and looked up, expecting to see a Skeleton firing at him from the shade of the woods. Instead, he saw another player standing in the bushes, drawing another arrow. The player was mostly obscured by the bushes and the leather tunic and cap he was wearing, but Stan could see a neat white beard on his face.
Stan rushed the player, axe raised, deflecting two more arrows as he went. The old player was about to draw the stone sword at his belt to fight Stan weapon to weapon, but Stan was too quick. His iron blade shattered the stone blade before it was fully drawn. For good measure, Stan also spun around and cut the string of the bow. Then he kicked the old player, who was also wearing leather trousers and shoes, to the ground. Stan stood over the player, axe raised.
The old player, without hesitation, ripped off the leather tunic to reveal two black sashes across his chest, each with various bottles of coloured liquid attached to them. He yanked a green one from one of the sashes and threw it at Stan before Stan even realized what had happened. The bottle shattered on Stan’s chestplate, and a foul-smelling green gas seeped from the jade liquid that splattered all over him. The stench overpowered Stan, and he blacked out, falling right beside the old player.
When Stan came to, he was in a grey cobblestone room. Torches lined the walls, and Stan became aware that there were twelve machines surrounding him, six on each side. Each was one block in size and had a hole on the front of it.
“Don’t move,” said a voice, and Stan realized that the old player was standing next to the wall, away from the machines. His hand was on a button. “Cooperate with me and you won’t get hurt. Try to run away, kill me, or even move, and I press this button and you get shot to death with arrows by my machine. Why were you destroying those plants?”
“I don’t know” was the first response that came out of Stan’s mouth, and he had a feeling in retrospect that it was the wrong one.
The old player sneered. “I’ve been away from Element City for a whole year now,” he replied in his ancient yet powerful voice. “They banished me, so I was just looking for a little peace out here. I don’t need juvenile delinquents like you destroying my beautiful sugarcane farm like that.”
Stan was confused for a moment, and then he understood. “Oh, those were your plants?” he asked as he pulled the sugarcane from his inventory. “I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t know. Here, take them back.” He tossed the sugarcane stalks back to the old player, and they landed at his feet. He bent over and picked them up, never taking his eyes off Stan.
“How do I know that you aren’t just one of King Kev’s spies?” asked the old player, stashing the cane in his inventory. “I’ve kept my agreement. I’ve stayed out of the city, and I have had absolutely nothing to do with any potion-related activities going on in Element City.”