The Complete Elementia Chronicles: Quest for Justice; The New Order; The Dusk of Hope; Herobrine’s Message. Sean Wolfe Fay
And now he was about to kill three players who were trying to prevent his fate from falling upon the other young players of Elementia.
All of this ran through his head in less than a half a second. Leonidas wished he could refuse, but he knew the consequences, and he knew that there was nothing he could do to prevent it from happening. There was no hope for him any more.
Leonidas touched the redstone torch to the wire, and the pain that he had kept bottled up was projected in the tear that trickled down the side of his blocky cheek as the entire Nether Fortress exploded in a shockwave of fire.
Stan was a half mile underground, but he was still seriously shaken when the mega-explosion above him went off. He had to give credit to Charlie. It was his quick thinking and mining instincts that had gotten them deep enough to be safe from the explosion created by RAT1. He knew now that they were being hunted by the assassin team known as Royal Assassin Team 1, or RAT1, which was composed of sword master Geno, demolition expert Becca and archery prodigy Leonidas. Apparently, according to the Nether Boys, they were a highly esteemed search-and-destroy group that the King sent after particularly evasive or dangerous targets.
Well, thought Stan as Charlie began to tunnel upwards, he was honoured that the King believed that he and his friends were a threat worthy of addressing with the most highly acclaimed assassins in Elementia, but this also came with a problem. Namely, that the King believed that he and his friends were a threat worthy of addressing with the most highly acclaimed assassins in Elementia. If these guys were willing to follow them all over two worlds, Stan guessed that he and his friends would have a pretty hard time finding their way to the End with these assassins in pursuit.
For the time being, however, Stan thought as Charlie hollowed out a little Netherrack room for them to plan their next move in, they had to focus on getting out of the Nether. Stan voiced this opinion to the others as soon as Charlie had finished the room and set up the torches.
“We have all the Blaze Rods we need, so the next thing we need to do is get out of here and break the portal. That way,” he reasoned, “we’ll be able to start hunting the Endermen, and they’ll be stuck in the Nether, at least until they figure a way out. We can use that time to get as far away from the portal as possible.”
“Good thinking, Stan,” agreed Kat. “Now that we’ve got people after us, we’ve got to get to the End as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, I agree,” said Charlie, nodding. “We’ll stop back by our old house to get our stuff and pick up Rex and Lemon, and then we’ll go off into the desert. We’ll keep moving around so they won’t find us, and we’ll hunt Endermen at the same time.”
Kat nodded, and Stan said, “OK then.” He turned to the Nether Boys, who had been huddled together away from the others whispering. “So, what about you guys?” he asked. “What are you going to do when you get out of the Nether?”
“Well, first, we’re going to kiss the sand beneath our feet,” said Bill.
“Then, we’re going to breathe in air that’s under thirty degrees Celsius,” said Bob.
“And then, perhaps, build a shrine to the clouds and swear that we’re never going to take them for granted again,” said Ben.
“OK,” said Kat, rolling her eyes. “We get it. You’re going to be very happy to be back in the Overworld. But what are you going to do? Long term, I mean.”
“Oh,” said Bill. “Why didn’t you just say that?”
Charlie sighed.
“Well, we were just saying that we want to go back to the Adorian Village to help you guys organize the rebellion.”
“Really?” asked Stan, his heart lifting.
“Absolutely,” said Ben. “You keep your end of the deal and get us out of this stupid dimension, and we’ve got nothing to lose by helping you guys out.”
“All right, well, thanks, guys,” said Charlie. “Now, it’s only a matter of time before they realize that we weren’t killed in that explosion, and after they realize it, they’re going to look everywhere, including underground. Now, if my calculations are correct, we should be located right under the cave that has the portal in it. If they got in here, that means that they’ve fixed the portal themselves, so that shouldn’t be a problem anymore.
“So here’s what I want everyone to do.” They all leaned in to listen. Charlie had clearly thought this through. “I want Kat and Bob to jump out of the hole that I’m going to make above us, and be prepared to shoot down anyone in the vicinity. Stan, Ben and I will run towards the portal, and we’ll attack anyone who gets in our way. However, we shouldn’t have that many people to deal with, because I want Bill to use his fishing rod to fling any people between us and the portal out of the way so that Bob and Kat can shoot them. Any questions?” Nobody said a word.
“OK then, get ready,” said Charlie. Kat and Bob drew their bows and arrows out, Stan drew his shovel, Bill drew his fishing rod and Ben drew his sword. Charlie took his pickaxe and, trying to conceal his heart pounding within his chest, he gave three swift blows to the Netherrack block above him. It shattered, and Kat and Bob burst out of the hole, quickly followed by Stan and the others.
Exiting the hole, Stan had to do a double take to truly believe their good luck. He had thought that this was a daring escape, certain to be met with some opposition – but there were no guards around the portal, which was indeed glowing purple and complete once again. Stan looked back as he dashed towards the portal. He could see five men guarding the mouth of the cave, but the six players were silent as they dashed towards the portal, and the guards could not hear them.
Stan was still giddy at their good luck as Charlie dived through the active portal. Charlie was closely followed by Ben, and Stan was about to dive through himself when a figure stepped around the edge of the portal and into his path.
Stan didn’t even think or look at the figure as he beat it senseless over the head with the shovel. The figure fell, and it gave a squeal of pain. Stan was stepping into the portal when he realized that something odd had happened. Why would it squeal?
Stan looked down at the unconscious body and realized that he had not just knocked out a guard – this was a Zombie Pigman, and he had just knocked it dead. He looked around in horror for the horde of angry, undead warriors charging at him, lusting for his blood. But there were none. This Pigman had apparently been alone. However, he did see an even scarier sight.
The sound of the Pigman’s death had alerted the guards to his presence. The five of them were now charging towards the portal, shooting arrows as they ran. Stan became aware of Kat, Bill and Bob diving through the portal, and he did, too. He experienced the horrible squeezing sensation for the few seconds, and then tumbled out onto the sand in the dawn’s early light.
“They’re coming through!” Stan yelled to his five friends, who lay panting on the sand. Stan raised his shovel and began beating the bottom right block of the obsidian portal, and Charlie joined him, as did everybody else. Through the purple particles, they saw the five guards rushing towards the portal, coming to attack them. At the head of the pack was a player who had the skin of a cow but wore iron boots, leggings and a helmet and held an iron axe in his hand. Stan punched faster and faster to break the black block that was so frustratingly solid, and the block broke into several useless chunks at the same moment that the cow-man burst through the portal and set his axe on the nearest target, Kat.
The other five players stepped out of the war zone as Kat and the barbaric warrior battled, their iron weapons moving as fast as silver spirits in the dim pink light. It was obvious that Kat was the superior fighter. She remained calm, while the axe-fighter’s wild attacks became increasingly desperate. One false swipe later and the axe flew out of the player’s hand and skidded across the ground, coming to a stop at the base of the broken Nether portal.
Kat kicked the player to the ground and raised her sword. She held the sword above her head and looked down into the player’s face. He lay sprawled