Chapter 1 (Flint)

"NOOB!" I hoot at the screen as a player accidentally falls to his death at the bottom of a cliff. I whirl around rapidly, shooting dead another player, and then another. I finish off the last one with three swift blows of the sparkling, diamond blade in my hand.

"Haha! I wee-in!" I exclaim, dancing around the room. I grin as my screen blanks out for a split second, then the familiar quartz structure of the lobby comes into view again.

I quickly enter a second game, knowing that I, Flint, the awesomest at Minecraft, would win. I check who I am playing against, scanning the list of names intently. My exuberant grin fades away immediately as i spot a familiar player name: TheLivingNightmare16.

Athena.

"Aw, crap!" I swear, banging the table. "Really, cuz? Really? Here? Now? Fine, let's do it! I'll crush you!" Stupid Athena. Ruining my darn game. Well, I would show her who was boss. I would crush her like an ant.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO! The server announces. I run for the center, like everyone does. Pulling open a chest, I slay someone mercilessly, beating them to death with my stone sword. Then I run for the trees. Time for some edits to made. Heh.

I close my eyes, willing my consciousness to enter the streams of data. I feel around, looking, manipulating. I change the data, bypassing the server's rules. The next moment, I open my eyes again, knowing that my stone sword is a diamond sword.

Swip! The next second I hear two arrow shots from behind and I am dead, the screen turning red and that horrible, utterly horrible phrase appearing on the screen: 'You died'.

I scream in rage. "WHAT?! NO!" I check the chat expectantly.

In the chat, above the flood of messages of shock (that I had been murdered), amazement (that someone had killed me) and jeering (e.g. 'What a noob) was one final message of death: Flint was shot by TheLivingNightmare16 with a bow.

I facepalm in sheer, total embarrassment. I absolutely refuse to spectate the rest of the game, ignoring all the messages in the chat to do so. Athena wins, as expected, no surprise there. We are always on different servers even if we play at the same time. She wins her games, I win mine so there wasn't really a way to tell who was better. Well, today she came onto the server I frequented, proving that I would lose to her.

My phone rings. Athena's calling. I pick up reluctantly.

"What?" I reply immediately, hostility blatantly obvious in my voice .

Athena replies. "You didn't have to facepalm. I'm just awesome." What? How did she know that? Then my door opens and Athena walks in. I swear I kept that locked...

"How did you..."

"I climbed that tree next to your house and jumped in, as always. And I brought my laptop. And I picked your lock. " She's always like that. Playing Hunger Games in a tree with a laptop. Unfair.

"One more round of Hunger Games? Please?"

"Fine. But I'm playing. Team okay? But I get to kill you in the deathmatch."

"N-O. I'm going to my world then. Hmph." I stalk off to sulk in the corner. Athena leaves, knowing that once I start sulking, I need alone time.

As soon as she closes the door behind her, I quickly exit the server and go to my private world.

However, something is different. I gasp as I see my beautiful house — that I spent so much time on — burning. A troll. But no one trolled me. I made sure of that. I close my eyes again, feeling the rush of adrenaline as my consciousness swoops among the data streams, editing bits and pieces of data to extinguish the house.

When my eyes see the light of day again, my nice structure is...still burning?! I was shocked. I had already checked and re-checked that I had done my job correctly. Who could have done this? I check the list of player names and my blood runs cold. Below my username, is one single word that sends a chill down my spine. Herobrine.

Suddenly, my eyelids feel heavy. What? I swear I...just...woke up… As I fall asleep, my head hitting my desk with a painful thump, the last thing I feel is a pair of hands grabbing me and dragging me away from my computer, along with a cruel voice saying, "Put the Prober in the torture chamber."

But I am already unconscious.