War For Minecraft (Book 1)

Chapter 2: Creepers Gonna Creep

Too many times have I fallen for a trick like this. Humans that think their acting skills are good enough to ambush unsuspecting do gooders. Unfortunately for him, that's not who I am. I'm a very suspecting do gooder.

"Stupid bandits..." I huffed.

I walked to the person's body but froze a few paces just before reaching them. I habitually began considering the worst outcomes to me being a good samaritan. The first of course, being that the moment I showed an opening-- I'd get a sword to the chest, whether it be from the decoy man in front of me or by someone hiding just out of sight. Or worse than that, they were Bajan's men and planned on taking me alive. As I creeped closer to the 'corpse' I began to inspect him.

Around this man's body was a growing pool of crimson red blood. I felt my stomach tighten at the sight. Fake blood was a pretty elaborate trick for common bandits. Generally made with red dye, half a slime ball, and a bucket of water. It was a pretty rare trick to see, but I couldn't rule it out.

The man was dressed in full iron armor with chainmail boots. His iron sword laid weakly grasped in his right hand. Disarming him would be my best bet to at least avoid a frontal attack. I slowly knelt beside him and picked up the iron sword in case this was a ruse, however my paranoia quickly fell apart as I smelled the a hint of smoke on him. I rolled the man over allowing me to see something far worse than the blood, that I now assumed was real.

A burst of ash was across his chest. As if he'd been struck by a hot concentrated force. Like a lightning bolt. In all my years of combat for King Bajan, the worst thing I ever fought was a Lightning Creeper, they were still relatively predictable-- but their devastating blast was far greater than that of a normal Creeper. It appears this man wasn't as lucky as I was.

I could still hear a faint sizzle from his chest, meaning it was a fresh strike. His plate was still warm confirming my worst fears. This had just happened, the lightning creeper was still around here. Loud rustling noises from deeper in the jungle forced me to flee from the watery path.

I had only passed a few trees before I halted and hid behind one so that I could get a good view of the scene about to take place. I peered out at the already dead man laying there when I heard a crunching noise from in front of me, followed by an all too familiar sound.

"Ssssssssssssssssssssss...." I didn't even bother to look, there was no point in trying to escape.

"Excuse me..." A voice hissed.

I was shocked! My head ripped around and I made eye contact with another pair of human eyes. But this person was dressed incredibly strange. First of all, it was a girl-- and although that wasn't inherently strange, this was the first time I'd ever spotted one this deep in the Divine Jungle. Her hair was orange and her eyes amber. She wore a green hoodie with a creeper logo on the top, with a darker green pair of shorts that stopped almost immediately after they began. She had on green socks that came up mid thigh and a pair of black boots that came up to mid shin.

"Do you not see that man!?" She shouted at me, my jaw was already hanging but the power in her voice made my eyebrows raise and mouth clamp shut.

"Help him!" She said.

"He's dead. Sorry." I stated.

If this girl knew him it was in trouble. But only if she'd seen the hesitation and distrust I'd shown when the man called for help. I could see her face darken and her expression change to a violent depression. "Do you know him?" I asked quietly.

"No... But you only get one life... It seems he wasted his when he tried to kill me." She said

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, gripping the sword handle.

"I was in my cave and he saw me. I didn't even get to say hello before he attacked." She said throwing her hands behind her head and walking away.

I shook my head and kept right up with her deeper into the forest. "Not to hurt your feelings ma'am-- I'm sure you're a great fighter but, that man was killed by a lightning creeper." I said puzzled.

She stopped and turned around to face me. She cocked her head, knotted her eyebrows, and chuckled sarcastically. "I won't call you a liar, when I got hit by the lightning it kind of just redirected itself onto him though. I'm Cupa by the way." She stuck out her hand.

"You got hit by lightning?! How are you alive then!" I said confused.

"Nice to meet you too," she huffed, returning her hand to her side and continuing to walk.

"Creepers can absorb lightning, don't you know?" My pace began to slow when she said that.

Cupa turned around half puzzled. My mouth was hanging open again. That means... "You killed him... Cause you're a creeper??"