Soul: Book 1 (DISCONTINUED)

It all Begins

"The eyes are the windows to the soul."

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Deadlox's body baked under the desert sun as he wiped the sweat from his brow. He wished that he could remove his butter armor, but the squids had been strangely absent these past few weeks. This wasn't good because it meant that they were plotting something. Squid attacks were always the worst when they had time to think things through.

Deadlox heard a sand block being mined, distracting him from his thoughts. He looked around, clutching a butter sword, but he saw nothing. Just when Deadlox was about to dismiss the sound as his imagination, the sand beneath his feet collapsed. Deadlox fell down with a scream of shock. He opened his eyes to see that he was in a dark tunnel of water. A tentacle wrapped around his ankle tightly. He shook it off with a shriek of disgust. Deadlox realized in horror that he had fallen into the Squids' trap.

The butter sword had slipped from Deadlox's grasp and was now buried in sand, so fighting the numerous squids in the dark was out of the question. The only escape route was from the hole he had fallen in, and that was too high up.

Two tentacles grabbed both of Deadlox's legs and pulled, knocking him into the water. He struggled, punching and kicking the squids that were trying to drag him away. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!" he cried out. A squid covered Deadlox's mouth, silencing him.

"Stop struggling..." a cold voice whispered. "You will have no use if we hurt you..." Deadlox was so surprised by the voice that he stopped fighting the squids for a moment. Big mistake. The squids grabbed Deadlox's head and pushed him back into the water. They were trying to drown him! He clawed desperately at the tentacles, but he was so weak already. Deadlox's chest was beginning to ache from the lack of air.

Just when he thought it was all over for him, Deadlox heard someone scream, "LET GO OF HIM YOU FUCKING SQUIDS!" Their vice-like grip released and he coughed up water. Someone dragged him to a patch of sand. He looked up and saw a familiar face.

"Sky?" Deadlox whispered.

Sky nodded and turned to the squids. He was clad with shining butter armor. "Take the leader as well..." the mysterious voice ordered. With a fearsome battle cry, Sky hacked and slashed at the onslaught of squids, feeling triumphant as he saw inky-blue blood in the water. Behind him, Deadlox smacked the squids with a block of sand, because the logic of Minecraft let him do that.

Floating purple particles flew at Sky from the dark, startling him. That moment of distraction was all the squids needed to hold Sky's ankles and pull him into the water. The butter god tried swinging his sword, but a strong tentacle grabbed his wrist. An audible snap was heard and Sky shrieked in pain. The enchanted butter sword fell from his grasp as Sky went still.

Deadlox grabbed Sky's sword and held it in front of him, his body trembling with fear. "Drop the sword..."

Deadlox realized that the purple particles were the source of the strange voice. His red eyes hardened with anger. "Never." he hissed.

"You are a very determined person..." the voice said, chuckling. "Few dare defy me... But that will not help you when I am through with you..."

Deadlox's blood chilled as goosebumps ran down his skin. "You're making a big mistake, challenging the Sky Army. Let Sky go and retreat before you lose everything." Deadlox demanded, trying to keep his voice steady.

"You are forgetting who is in charge here..." the bodiless voice said coldly. "You do not make the orders here..." The purple particles surrounded the sword. "I do..." Deadlox watched in horror as the butter hardened to a black, smoking lump. He dropped the now useless sword and stepped away from it.

"H-How did you... The butter... What?" Deadlox stammered.

"You are messing with a force that you do not comprehend... Resist us no more... Come with us..."

"And if I don't?"

"Your leader dies as a result of your stubbornness..." Deadlox swallowed nervously and nodded. "That is much better... Still, it is best if we take some precautions... Knock him out..." Before Deadlox could object, a squid smacked him in the head and he collapsed. "Patch up the hole... It would do us no good if the rest of the army finds the tunnel..."

"Yes master!" some of the squids replied as they followed the voice's orders. Deadlox and Sky were carried away to the Squids' home base, their fate uncertain.

For now.