Vengeance: The Glitch and the Violent

6: Boys.

"We did it! Sub we did it! Guys, we're in Minecraft!"

I heard Sky cheering as I slowly pushed myself to a seating position. My back ached, my head was sore and my stomach was churning. Bajan was groaning beside me and it sounded like Jerome was trying to not throw up. I turned my head to find Sub, and I saw him standing beside Sky. Both of them were looking towards the rising sun.

"It's amazing," Sky said softly. Sub nodded.

I slowly stood up, staggering slightly as my foot slipped on the slightly wet ground. I walked and stood beside them. The breeze was soft against my face and the sun's warmth was comforting. The scene was spoilt slightly by Jerome throwing up.

"I can't believe that my stupid plan worked," I said, laughing slightly.

"Yeah, same here Riley," Bajan said, joining us.

Jerome also stood beside us and we stood there, staring at the sun and the trees and the beautiful grass that made up Minecraft.

Then the world turned pink, blue and black for a split second before going back to normal.

"Uh, did anyone else see that?" Sky asked.

The strange colours happened again, with lines of code appearing.

"Okay, I'm totally not the only one who saw that right?" Sky asked again.

"No you're not," I told him. "Entity is in control, and we have to find him before he damages Minecraft permanently."

"Okay, how are we going to find him?" Jerome asked.

"Uh.. I haven't quite thought this far yet," I said uncertainly.

"What do you mean you haven't thought this far?" Bajan asked.

"I didn't think that this was possible, and everything has happened so fast since then!" I said.

Bajan sighed. "So we're here, out in the open, with no plan, no supplies, nothing."

"Oh, come on Bajan!" Sky said. "Moaning isn't going to help anything. How about we go to Herobrine's castle? It's a start at least."

"Where is the castle?" Bajan asked. "Where are we supposed to go?"

I pointed to the horizon. There was the faint outline of something that could be a tall hill, or a tree, or the tip of a castle. "That seems like a good place to start."

We started walking, setting off across the great expanse of Minecraft. I took deep breaths as we walked, delighting in the open space. I started to run, not to get away from anything, just because I could. Before long, all of us were running across the land, swerving in between trees and jumping over small hills in the ground. We laughed and yelled insults at each other as we ran, pushing each other into trees and just playing around, like kids. We reached the castle and I ran up to it, throwing one last insult over my shoulder to Sky before stopping suddenly and gasping.

The castle was destroyed.

The outline we saw in the distance was only a smouldering husk of the tallest tower. It looked like the castle had crumbled in on itself, collapsing under its own weight. Nothing could be salvaged. 

"So now what?" Bajan asked.

Sub gently nudged the cracked steps of the castle with his foot. He pulled out his notebook from his pocket and scribbled on it with a slightly broken pencil. He then held it out for me to read.

"Sub, you're brilliant!" I said after I read it.

"What? What did he say?" Sky asked.

"Sub says that if the castle fell on itself, the armoury might have survived. And even if it didn't, there's bound to be another secret stash of weapons," I explained.

"That actually is brilliant, let's go!" Jerome ran to the castle and started climbing over the rubble. Sub was hot on his heels, slipping and sliding his way over. Sky and I took it slower, Sky cursing every now and then as the material slid beneath him. Bajan dragged up the rear, continually looking around as if he felt that someone was watching us.

"Uh, guys?" Jerome called when he reached the top. "I don't think the armoury survived."

The training room was covered in rubble. It was impossible to get down there to see if the armoury had survived, which looked extremely unlikely at this stage. We stood at the top, looking down on the wreckage.

"Any other great ideas?" Sky asked.

I saw a strange pile of blocks just to my left. They seemed to have collapsed on top of something, creating a bulge with a section to the right of it uncovered. Kind of like a secret door.

A secret door!

"Guys, here!" I called, slipping and sliding over the rubble. I slid down to the door, stopping my fall by landing on what was left of the wall. Someone collided into me, flattening me to the wall.

"Sorry," Bajan muttered, blushing.

I just smiled at him and rolled my eyes before carefully looking inside. Behind the door was a passageway that went underground. It was badly lit, very steep and had mostly broken stairs. I couldn't tell whether they were caused by the collapse of the castle or not.

"Okay, I'll go down first," Bajan said. "Sky, come after me. Then Riley, Sub and Jerome can bring up the rear."

I smiled. That was the Bajan I knew. Taking charge, leading us on the path, giving us all a part to play. He went slowly down the steps, putting one hand on either side of the small passage as he walked. The rest of us followed his example. We reached the bottom without anyone falling, although Sky did almost collide into Bajan. I had to quickly grab the back of his shirt and yank him back.

At the bottom of the staircase was a room. That's it. Just a stone room. No decoration, no furniture, no carvings on the walls, no magic words, nothing. Not even a torch. Just an empty, bare, stupid room.

"Oh, great," Jerome muttered. "Just what we need. A whole load of nothing!"

"Jerome, shut up," Sky said. "What we don't need are your smart remarks."

Jerome huffed. "You could be nicer about it you know," he grumbled.

Sky drew a breath to snap back, but I quickly stepped in.

"Both of you, cut it out."

Bajan was running his hand along the wall. "Completely smooth," he said softly.

"Well, it is Minecraft," I said.

"Yeah, but all the other surfaces have been, well, normal," Bajan said, turning to me. "This is smooth. And I mean, dead smooth. You can't even get something this smooth in our world."

"Alright Bajan, we get it," Jerome said. "The wall is smooth."

"Well you feel it then," Bajan retorted.

Jerome felt the wall. "Oh. It is really smooth," he said, surprised.

All of a sudden, everyone except for me was feeling the walls. I rolled my eyes at them. Boys. Their silly fascination over the smallest things. I resisted the urge to laugh as they all stood almost side by side, rubbing the wall with their hand. I shrugged. Might as well join in. I touched the smooth wall with my hand.

A piston clicked.