Glitch's Short Stories

Crystal Caldera (Entry to Radish Contests)

I remember 55 years ago, when this area was once a mountain.

I remember 55 years ago, when all the meteors landed and destroyed everything.

I remember 55 years ago, when I cried on my father's lap, seeing all the people die as they get crushed by the meteors, if not the fire.

But miraculously, we survived the chaos by hiding in a deep mine that my father owned.

But that was the day where I never saw my mother again.

For 32 years, my father and I hid underground in whatever remained of this wasteland. Occasionally, we'd go back to the surface, and that was it.

As I walked back to the surface, I saw a caldera, lava in the middle with something that looks like an End Crystal on steroids floating above it.

From my numerous times I have risen out of the ground, I couldn't help but notice it growing larger and larger. At this point, it was even larger than the caldera. But I noticed that it was... shaking, and it was flashing a little bit, like TNT that's about to explode. Though, I don't know what's it about to do. Why is it even there, floating like an End Crystal?

In fact, I don't know if anyone knows about this thing.

I then heard coughing. However, a priest villager, probably the same age as I am, appeared out of nowhere, looking at the floating parody of an End Crystal. For some reason, he seemed to be looking at it as if it was about to explode.

"The Mega Legend Crystal..." I could hear him mutter in his old, raspy voice.

I approached him. "Okay... two things. One, get off my lawn--- I mean, territory. And two, Mega Legend Crystal?"

He looked surprised when he turned to me. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know there was anyone living outside the sectors."

"What do you mean? I've lived here in my entire life."

"You never heard of the Sectors, eh?"

"Sectors?"

"I'm taking it as you didn't." He assumed. "But that's not important."

"What are the Sectors?"

"Long story short, it's the patch of land that survived during the Great War. All of Minecraftia's population live there. Well, almost. I'm surprised you never heard of it... did you live under a rock?"

"Actually, yeah. I lived in the caves with my father."

"That's interesting..."

Then I felt the ground below me rumble as the End Crystal... or the Mega Legend Crystal, as what he calls it, grew larger.

"I need to destroy that thing..."

"Wait, why?"

"That thing will destroy the world if left unchecked, uh... what's your name?"

I filled in. "David."

"Gotcha... My name is Emrys."

"So is that why you're here in the middle of nowhere?"

"Sort of... I was expelled by this idiot named Bill from the village... He's too addicted to spleef that he expelled me out of the village after I told him to calm down because he was beaten by this boy named Steve."

"Oof," was all I could say.

"Then I got framed for a crime I didn't do. Bill went to great lengths just to expel me out of the Sectors."

"Double oof."

"Well, that's my story. I just figured I might as well check out the crystal after Steve told me what happened in this volcano."

I then remembered that I once heard a giant machine... I don't know what was it, but it approached this caldera... which was then a volcano, and I heard a lot of things happen on the volcano. Eventually, that choas turned the volcano to this caldera with a giant crystal. I coined the term 'Crystal Caldera'.

The ground shook again, causing me to get knocked off my feet and land on my butt. Do butts even exist in Minecraft?

"The Crystal! It's about to explode!"

"What shall we do, Emrys?"

"Explode it. With TNT."

"But would it yield the same result because we just blew it up?"

"It's better than leaving it so that it can blow entire world. It will probably destroy the entire wasteland... maybe even part of the Sectors if we're unlucky."

"So are you gonna build up and drop that TNT from above?"

"You read my mind."

"Old men think alike. Wait, that's probably not what the saying goes," I commented. "So what do I do to help?"

"Maybe defend me from Skeletons... That will be cool."

That's when I realized that the sun was setting. Oh no.

The ground rumbled again, even stronger than before.

"You need to go now!" I told Emrys. He then started building up with cobblestone blocks. I unsheathed my diamond sword, wore my shield with my left hand, and looked around. Mobs started spawning around me. Zombies to Spiders to Creepers. But what I really need to look out for are Skeletons, which also started spawning. Time for forest warfare.

I took a quick look at Emrys, who was building over the crystal caldera. Then I looked at the oak treeline and saw a Skeleton about to shoot me. I held up my shield as the arrow approached me. I charged and swung. It took a few hits, but it was gone.

That's when mobs started surrounding me.

I slashed through a Zombie. A Spider bit me in the ankle, but I kicked it off and stabbed it. An arrow whizzed past me as I pushed the charging Creeper away, exploding into the mobs and killing a decent amount of them.

I turned around to a Skeleton, poised to send another arrow. I blocked the arrow, then swiped my sword through its skull.

"David!"

I looked up and saw arrows speeding past and on the cobblestone bridge, barely missing Emrys. He was over halfway through the caldera.

"Build a dang support beside the bridge!" I yelled at him.

He then started building another line of blocks, one block up from the bridge, on both sides to act like a support so he wouldn't fall. I also noticed that he's almost there...

I turned back to the mobs and saw them all surround me. I'm not sure if I can handle them all at once... I just hope the explosion expected from the Mega Legend Crystal knock them off far enough for me to escape.

I slashed through another Creeper before it exploded as I saw Emrys drop a charging TNT just above the crystal.

Then it exploded, sending strong sonic waves, knocking almost everything off the ground, including me. I saw Emrys get knocked off up towards the air before I was knocked off almost a hundred blocks away, alongside the mobs around me.

I sped like a bullet, passing through leaves. But my velocity was suddenly stopped by a huge rock, and I passed out, the back of my head still throbbing in pain.

* * * * *

Woo talk about a rushed entry.

At least I decided to be nice and entered your contest Radishologist

That's it from me, everyone!

_Glitch