Minecraft: a Redemption

Chapter 24

  Art and I dashed down dark, damp, and dreary dungeon. Her sword flickered light into the air and the tip of my arrow shot off her light.

  "Where do we go?" I whispered.

  Art shook her head. "I don't know. Where could Ben be?"

  Racking my brain for an answer, I tried to think of the time I spent here. Where would they hide their top prisoner? 

  "Perhaps they put him in a higher part of the fortress so he couldn't just dig himself out," I theorized. It wasn't much of a shot, but it was all we had, and we need to take it. Gregor could be dying any second from then.

  Nodding, Art agreed it was worth the try.

  "We need to go upstairs. Everytime you find a staircase, go upwards."

  So that's what we did. We continued running for who knows how long, making our way higher and higher. Most of the hallways we were in were fruitless and contained no guards, making me wonder what kind of fortress this was.

  Perhaps it was only temporary, and the Warriors of Notch had some other kind of place they stayed.

  Finally, we reached a corridor full of doors that could lead anywhere.

  Most were locked when we tried them, which was weird, since a lot of them were wooden. They shouldn't be able to be locked.

  Eventually we found one that was open.

  Let me just say that our search was over.

  I opened the door and it creaked slowly, as if it had all the time in the world. I, however, didn't.

  Once it finished its debut, I was able to see what was inside. The room was luxerious and had tables, a bed, and a wide open window over the Mountains of Moran. But it also contained something even more valuable.

  Ben.

  The boy looked tired, like he's been here for years. He even looked older. Less like 16 and more like 26.

  "Ben!" I called.

  He was sitting on the edge of the bed, gazing out into the harsh mountains. I wondered how long he had been doing that.

  The second I spoke, his head cracked like a whip to my face. "Ender?"

  Nodding, Art and I walked to him.

  "Ben, we have so much to tell you," I began. "But we can't explain it all now. Gregor is in trouble!"

  Like lightning, Ben's eyes shot open wide. "No! Don't trust Gregor! Notch did something to him! He calls himself Greg. I don't know what happened to the real Gregor, but he's gone."

  I put an arm on my friend's shoulder. Ben was changed since he was last at the Resistance. He'd seen past all the resentment he was holding up and I could tell he was ready to save his companions the way he used to, like they said in the stories.

  "Not anymore," I tell him. "That evil one, Greg, is a clone. We found the real Gregor. He's been locked up here for two years and no one knew about it."

  Ben stared off into my eyes, but not looking at me. "He's been back for two years?" 

  I nodded. "And Jane came back a few hours ago. She just barely found out she'd been dead. She still thought she was fighting those spiders in that field."

  This had a profound impact if I've ever seen one. Ben's eyes filled with tears. "Jane's back."

  Art stiffened next to me, as if she wanted to suggest we leave, but couldn't since she was in the presence of two people who'd both lead the Resistance.