MINECRAFT: Enders

Chapter Eight - Poet

The Mineshaft was vast and winding, and it seemed like every turn either wrapped around or led to a deadend. Alex waved the Torch in front of her, highlighting her path for potential dangers before proceeding. She got into the motion of lighting the outed Torches up on the walls, which helped her remember her place in the Mineshaft.

Alex found a ladder and climbed down it, following a strange heat, then finding that the tunnel ahead had light. Alex grabbed for her Bow, then realized she left it back at Camp with Steve and the gang. Smooth, Alex... So smooth... Alex then continued, putting one careful step in front of another as she and Judo followed the light to its altitude.

Luckily, it wasn't another person with a Torch, in fact, it was much more dangerous than that. They were confronted with a pool of Lava that had nothing more than a narrow Cobblestone path bridging across it. On the other side of the Lava, Alex spotted a chest that looked to have been part of an old Miner's camp. But as she moved to go to it, she looked back down at the one-block wide Cobblestone path she would need to take to get to it, then looked back at Judo.

"Judo, stay here, okay? You don't wanna take a bath in this stuff," Alex said, and Judo whimpered with understanding in response, scooting as far back from the lake of Lava as he could. "Good boy."

Alex then took a breath before balancing across the pathway. She was going to get to the Dragon, she wasn't going to lose in a pit of Lava of all things. After some wobbly steps, she made it to the other side and headed over to the Chest, but then stopped herself. She heard legends of the old Miners setting boobytraps in their Chests to prevent other people from stealing their goods. Alex decided it would be better to look around the camp first, maybe there was a switch that would deactivate the trap if there was one.

The camp was carved into the cave walls and made to look like a room that was about ten-blocks wide on each side and three-blocks tall. There was a Bed, a Clock on the wall above it, then a Crafting Table and Furnace on the other side, near the doorway where Alex stood. It was pretty bare, but it had some furnishings like Carpet in the middle to make it feel like a little chunk of home. She walked further into the room, and then gasped upon spotting a Skeleton leaned up against the far side of the Furnace. It was wearing a full set of Iron Armor and it even had an Iron Sword in its hand.

It didn't appear to be undead, in fact, it looked like it had moved in a very long time. Alex walked over calmly, then grabbed the Helmet off its head to put on her own. She took everything else it had (minus the Boots), suiting herself up in a full set of Armor of decent ware, better than the Leather Cap she had with nothing else on. She set the Blue Cap on the Skeleton's head, then grabbed the Sword from out of its hand.

Alex scanned the room one more time, but she didn't see anything suspicious that could've meant the Chest was trapped, so she went back to it, hoping that no Looters got to it before she did, or they at least left something of use behind.

The Chest creaked open, and Alex's eyes glistened at the treasure inside. It was buried under a lot of Cobblestone and rocks, but there were some more Arrows that she could use for her Bow, and in fact, there was even another Bow that had a Power I enchantment and more durability than Alex's old one. She pushed more things out of the way and drew a breath at the sight of something shiny and bright, actually, a few things that were shiny and bright!

Eight Diamonds, a Fortune II, Efficiency IV Diamond Pickaxe, a Bundle full of Emeralds, Iron Ingots, and Gold Ingots, too! There were even miscellaneous crafting materials sitting inside the bottom of the Chest that they could use to repair their items. Alex grabbed all the goods, even gathered two stacks of Cobblestone, just in case she and Steve needed it.

Alex closed the Chest and was joyed with the haul she carried with her as she walked back to Judo on the other side of the Lava. Even he was wagging his tail, but that could've just been because he was happy to see Alex.