The Complete Elementia Chronicles: Quest for Justice; The New Order; The Dusk of Hope; Herobrine’s Message. Sean Wolfe Fay
did considerably obstruct Stan’s vision, and it was only by squinting that he could make out the forms of Kat and Charlie, both adorning pumpkins themselves.
“Alrighty boys … and Kat,” said DZ, and Stan was sure from his tone that a manic grin had spread on his face beneath the pumpkin. “Let the Great Enderman Massacre begin!”
Massacre truly was the appropriate word for it, for without being able to detect the players’ lines of sight, the Endermen were powerless to stop the players from ambling right up to them and felling them one after another. Even with Oob not helping (his stone hoe was not strong enough to destroy an Enderman in one hit, and the villager certainly was not capable of beating one), all the Endermen that they could see were dead within the space of three minutes.
“Dude, that was awesome!” Charlie called out to Stan as he pulled the axe out of the monster he had just beheaded after throwing the weapon during a back flip.
“Thanks. Frankly, this was so easy, what are you to do but make up trick shots to keep things interesting?” Stan smirked and he pulled the pumpkin from his head and wiped the sweat off his brow. Though he had exerted almost no effort, it was very hot inside the pumpkin head. The others followed suit.
Now that they had their pumpkins off and no Endermen to deal with, the four players plus Oob took their first real look at the End. The entirety of the ground seemed to be made of the moon-rock-like material, and the sky was a dark static pattern that didn’t seem to move and was almost completely black. It was hard to make out the tall, looming pillars that were set against the black sky on first sight. These pillars were a wide square at the base, and extended various distances into the sky. There was a light source illuminating the top of each of the pillars, but Stan was not close enough to see what it was.
The most interesting part was that, as far as Stan could see, the End was not an infinite dimension like the Overworld or the Nether. They were on a moon-rock island, floating in space, with around ten of the tall obsidian pillars protruding from the ground into the static heavens.
Immediately, something about this setup sat wrong with Stan. He looked at the others and saw from her face that Kat had realized it, too, although DZ and Charlie hadn’t. They were still pondering their surroundings, while Oob was wandering off yet again.
“Guys, the End isn’t infinite. It’s like an island,” said Kat slowly as Stan dragged their villager friend back by the collar, Oob’s eyes still unfocused and clueless.
“Yeah, we’ve noticed,” said Charlie, shrugging. “So what? Easier work for us – fewer places to look.”
“That’s just it,” said Stan, dropping Oob and letting him fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes. “Fewer places to look. So why would the King move his stash here, when there are literally unlimited places to hide it in the Overworld or the Nether?”
“I don’t know, maybe because there are Endermen everywhere?” stated DZ with the air of someone explaining that Earth revolves around the sun.
“DZ, you four players easily defeated all the Endermen by doing nothing more than putting pumpkins on your heads. Clearly, there is something more dangerous here that will prevent us from searching for the King’s possessions,” said Oob.
“He’s right, DZ,” said Charlie, realizing that Stan, Kat and Oob must be correct. “There’s definitely something else going on here that’s going to stop us from looking for the treasure.”
“And what do you suppose that will be?” asked DZ indignantly, ruffled by Oob having made a more intelligent comment than himself.
Then they heard it. A long, piercing roar cut through the otherwise quiet End environment. It sounded like the scream of an Enderman magnified by a thousand, with elements of tyrannosaurus and elephant noises mixed in to form one ultimate, blood-curdling roar.
“What … was … that?” whispered Charlie feebly.
“Oh … my … God,” whispered Stan, as he spotted something in the sky that made his stomach implode with terror.
A pair of purple slits were present in the sky at first glance, but they grew larger, and larger, and larger, and before very long, the eyes of all four players plus Oob were locked in terror as the shape of a massive, black-and-silver winged beast with glowing purple eyes rocketed through the sky and straight towards them.
Not thinking much about it but just acting through a hidden instinct unlocked by fear, Kat, Stan and DZ simultaneously drew their bows and launched their arrows into the giant monster’s face. Stan’s and DZ’s bounced off the monster’s silver scaly forehead, but Kat’s arrow sunk straight into the monster’s left eye. Right as the monster was about to barrel into them, it gave a roar and thrashed its head in agony before changing course to fly back up into the black sky.
It was then that Stan got his first full look at the monster. What he saw was absolutely horrifying. They had just shot arrows into a gigantic, black dragon. Its mighty wings were flapping through the air, creating rushes of wind like a jet plane, and a silver-armour exoskeleton ran the length of its body, creating a web of protection extending over its almost-equally-tough-looking black hide.
Stan watched in wonder and foreboding as the wounded dragon circled the black obsidian pillars. Glowing orbs of white energy flew from atop the pillar and onto the dragon’s face. The dragon roared again and flew on, and a moment later, Kat’s arrow fell to the ground beside the players, having popped out of the dragon’s eye.
“Guys, I think whatever’s up there is healing him!” exclaimed DZ, his sword drawn and his eyes intensely focused on the dragon.
“Then we’ve got to destroy it,” said Stan, already formulating a plan in his mind.
“OK, here’s what we do,” said Kat, her brow knitted in determination. “Stan, DZ, you go destroy whatever’s on top of that pillar. Charlie, Oob, you two distract the dragon, and don’t let it notice Stan and DZ. I don’t think the dragon will like us destroying whatever it is up there.”
“What about you?” Stan asked.
“I have a feeling that we’re gonna be seeing some more Endermen soon,” said Kat firmly, already pulling the pumpkin back into place on her head. “I’ll take care of them. Now go!” she screeched, for she had just noticed the dragon speeding towards them for another attack. Charlie drew his pickaxe and Oob his hoe, and the two weapons plus Kat’s sword simultaneously cut into the dragon’s snout, sending it away for the time being.
“DZ! Start grabbing Ender Pearls!” cried Stan, picking up the orbs from the sea of Enderman corpses they had left in their wake.
“What? Why would we do that?” asked DZ incredulously.
“When I was fighting Mr A, he threw one of these things at me and appeared right next to me with purple smoke all around him,” said Stan, snatching a group of three from the ground. “I think that you can use these things to teleport! Watch this!”
Before DZ could interject, Stan had hummed the Ender Pearl with all his might into the sky, aiming for the top of the black obsidian pillar closest to him. His aim was spot on, and the pearl flew towards the top of the pillar. Stan closed his eyes, and moments later he felt a surge of pain in his knees that caused him to stumble, a sure indicator that something had happened. Once he had regained his footing, Stan opened his eyes.
His plan had worked. Stan was now standing atop one of the looming obsidian pillars. In the centre stood a cubic crystal rotating slowly within a pillar of fire erupting from a block of bedrock. The crystal flashed shades of light blue and pink, and on each side, strange red symbols flashed.
“Stan! Where are you?” came DZ’s anxious cry from dozens of blocks below him. Stan looked down and saw DZ looking desperately around. He could also see the dragon flying away from Charlie and Oob, indicating that they had scored a hit, and Kat sneaking up behind an Enderman.
“I’m up here!” called Stan. He saw DZ look towards his voice and their eyes locked. “The