Destruction: The Hacker and the Spirit

5: Seriously, what is going on here?

Bajan slashed at the dummy and its head flew off, rolling to a stop some metres away. Herobrine clapped as Bajan lowered the sword, breathing heavily and grinning.

"Well done Bajan," Herobrine congratulated.

I stood at the edge of the large room, watching Bajan. We were deep below Herobrine's castle, in an area that I had mistaken for another world when we first came down. There were many sections to the room: a forest, grass covered in snow, a deep pool, a mini desert, a grassy plain and the wooden platform that we were on now. Several dummies were scared on the platform, including the one that Bajan had just beheaded. In my hands I clutched the stone sword that Herobrine had given me. Sky came up next to me, holding an iron sword.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, noticing my nervous posture.

I nodded.

"You don't look okay."

"I'm just... nervous," I admitted.

"Hey that's fine. We were all nervous at the start, but it's not as hard as you think. And you don't have to be as good as Bajan. I swear, he was born with a sword in his hand."

"You can't get swords back at home," I told him.

"Yeah well Bajan did. He has life hacks or something."

I chuckled slightly at that. Sky seemed please that he had succeeded in making me laugh.

"Um... Sky?" I asked hesitantly. He hummed, letting me know that he was listening. I ploughed on before I could lose my confidence. "Why aren't you using your real name? I mean, assuming that Sky isn't your actual name?" I asked, trying not to suggest that I was a fangirl. Sky nodded at my question before answering.

"I don't know, it just feels right. We all tried to call each other by our normal names at first since we all know each other but we decided to go by our Minecraft name. My real name is Adam, just so you know. Bajan is Mitch, Jerome is Jerome because he couldn't be original with his Minecraft name and Sub is Matt." (I couldn't find Sub's real name so I made it up)

"My real name is Riley, but my Minecraft name is Xotda2586," I told him.

"Can I just call you by your real name?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

I chuckled again. "Sure."

"Riley, you're next," Herobrine called, beckoning me over to him.

I came slowly, my worries about my sword fighting practice all crashing back. Like Sky, Herobrine noticed this.

"Don't worry. You'll be good, I know it," he said smiling.

I tried to smile back but failed. He started to coach me in the art of swinging a sword. I was dismal at first, but once I understood the basics, I started to get better. At least, Herobrine said I was getting better. I still felt extremely clumsy. I tried to ignore the fact that the others were watching me, and the fact that there was a bat flying above me somewhere. Eventually Herobrine told me to stop and I did it gratefully, my sword dropping my by side and my breath coming in gasps. He patted me on the back.

"That's very good Riley. Especially since it's your first time using a sword," he encouraged as we walked to the others. Sub patted me on the shoulder when I reached him, his way of encouraging me.

"He's right. You're much better than Sky was when he first started," Bajan grinned.

"Shut up Bajan! You know that I don't feel comfortable with this sword," Sky shot back, gesturing with his iron sword.

Herobrine laughed softly. "Come on Sky."

I watched as Sky practised. He did seem awkward with his sword, almost dropping it a few times for no apparent reason. Jerome got bored of watching and he tried to balance his iron axe on the back of his hand. Bajan finally took it away from him after he almost killed himself for the 5th time.