Disclaimer: I own nothing of the actual game of Minecraft, no matter how much I wish I did.
As this is my first story, please be kind with the reviews.
Dirt. Dirt and grass. Dirt, grass, and sun. That accounted for most of what Patrick had seen as he walked down the road to the Capital City of the plains. There he and his friends could do their best to set up a life, hopefully. The spawn point had been a strange place, with lots of locals who looked like them, but were very different. You could be safe there, but since they left, they couldn't return. There had been roads leading to kingdoms and realms of different places, but their group had decided on taking the path to the Plains capital. Michele had wanted to go here, as had Dyllon. The other members of the group, Mitchell, Nicholas, Amelia and Rockwell. Two girls and five boys were marching down the empty road as they carried simple objects like planks, sticks, and a crafting table. It was just past midday, and cows could be seen walking alongside the road, taking nibbles from the grass. There were also sheep, pigs, and even the occasional miniature, white chicken would patter across the path that lay before them. Nicholas picked up the egg that a chicken had lain nearby.
"We could try to hatch it once we get to the city." He reasoned, continuing to walk along the path with his friends. Nicholas took a position behind the rest of his comrades, wanting to watch their back as the sun began to set. He brandished a stick at anything that might appear behind them, while Michele,Amelia, and Rockwell looked to the left and the right. Patrick and Mitchell faced forward to watch the path, and Dyllon remained in the middle, drawing their path, a straight line that ran over loads of small hills. The sun passed over the last hill in the distance as we began to walk more quickly. We had decided earlier that day to continue on through the night as opposed to stopping for a rest. The gravel path crunched under our feet as we ran forward, hoping that we would see the city. Patrick tripped from the top of a hill, hitting the gravel face-first. He cursed loudly as Nicholas turned around to help him. He had lost 1 heart from fall damage. They could not regenerate, as they were all hungry. While Nicholas helped him to stand up, Dyllon let out an exclamation of surprise and fright as skeletons appeared alongside the group. They ducked as the skeletons shot, but Mitchell knew that ducking wouldn't work again. He took a stick and smacked the Skelton on the left side of the road, knocking it back. It took another shot, which he barely avoided. He swung again and heard the "Clack" of wood against bone as the skeleton was knocked backwards once again and fell over the edge of a hill. The others had managed to mob the other skeleton, but they had lost some hearts in the process. They continued onward, but stopped when Mitchell could no longer run, he needed a break and some food. They searched over a few hills, but they turned their heads as they heard a frightened cry from where they had left Mitchell. Two creepers were chasing him, and he was too exhausted to run and escape them. He jogged as quickly as he could, but the creepers cornered him into a cave. Amelia threw a stick at one, hitting it in the back of the head to get its attention. She smiled at her victorious attempt, but the smile was wiped off of her face at the sound of an explosion from the cave. Nicholas ran past the creeper, Rockwell beside him as Patrick and Michele attacked the creeper. Rockwell stopped where a crater was, not wanting to fall in. He couldn't see Blake, but saw a few sticks floating on the other side of the chasm. He turned around, heart heavy with sorrow as he made his way out of the cave with Nicholas. The three others looked at them, not wanting to ask because they knew the answer to their question. There was a moment of silence, and then they were back on the road.
The next morning they reached the plains city. The ten block high walls were made from cobblestone and dirt, and guards walked across the top of them. Patrick whistled and looked over the walls, where a tall building stood in the distance. The building was made from marble, but a large patch in the side was made from cobblestone. Nicholas guided the group to the front gates, which held lines of people entering the city. They each entered a different line, and stopped at the booth at the front.
"Name, please." The security agent said to Rockwell.
"Rockwell, sir."
"Is this your first time here?"
"Yes, sir."
"What's your biome of origin?"
"I don't have one."
"A noob, then?"
"Afraid so, sir."
"Not Officially Oriented Being?"
"Yes, sir."
"Would you like to register here as a citizen of the plains?"
"Yes, sir."
The agent opened a book and wrote into it with a quill. He handed the book to Rockwell and Rockwell took it.
"There, proof of citizenship."
"Thanks, sir."
The officer opened the gate and Rockwell stepped through. People were bustling through the streets and stopping at store windows to view armour, food, and tools. Rockwell planned to sign up as a miner, as it suited him and his name. News booklets all held the same title, and Rockwell picked one up from the ground. The title read: Obsidian bin Lava strikes major plains landmark. He read more,
The noted terrorist from the Desert biome struck again, this time in the plains capital city, where he used a red stone flying machine to steer TNT into the Marble Magnate, business centre of the plains region.
'So that's what's with the patched building.' He thought.
Amelia tapped him on the shoulder."Let's get going. We need to perform the transaction for our second story place." She said, walking up the street. He followed her, placing the news book into a trash can chest. After a bit of walking down the stone street, they reached a small, two story building. A chest was outside labelled: Place the Supplies inside. Nicholas reached into his pocket and placed eight iron ingots into the chest. He then opened the iron door with a button and stepped inside. There was a desk on the first floor, armour stands, display cases, and a red stone lamp. Patrick went upstairs and found six beds, evenly spaced apart. He placed his sticks down before he leaned against the wall, exhausted. He thought of his future job as he saw the sun pass by the tall, damaged tower, and wondered how being a member of the city guard would be.
The next morning everyone woke from good sleep in the beds upstairs. The sun was just rising over the wall, and people could be seen to be opening their front doors and heading out for work. They had some loves of bread from a chest to eat, and then they each went off to find work. Michele and Amelia were going to open a store downstairs, Patrick would join with the guard, Rockwell was planning to be a miner, Nicholas wanted to enter the workforce as a red stone builder, and Dyllon would work for someone's farm.
Rockwell was jogging down the stone street, and stopped when he saw a building labelled: Government mine. Across the street, a mine was labelled: Private Mine. But which to join? The private mine seemed nice, so he could join it, but the government mine would give him healthcare and regulated pay for the hour. The private mine paid him for how much he found. He chose the government mine. Walking up to the front, he saw a sign. It read: New recruits switch on light. He pressed the button and a young man walked out of the room behind the counter, coughing slightly. He was young, and he carried a stone pick axe.
"Are you here for a job?" He asked, smiling.
"Yes." Rockwell responded.
"So just sign here." He said.
"Okay." Rockwell said, signing his name on a board.
The man handed him a stone pick axe and pointed down the mineshaft. Rockwell walked down the stairs as the man went back into the small room. Rockwell reached a flat platform where the small tunnel opened up into a massive gorge. He looked around, seeing minecarts rocketing around at high speeds while workers made new tunnels into the walls of the gorge. There was no sunlight, and the whole place was lit with red stone lamps. A miner waved at him while carrying a handful of Lapis Lazuli.
"Who're you?" He asked, placing the Lapis in a chest.
"New guy." Rocky said, enamoured of the beautiful sight that was the mine.
"Welcome to the team." The man said before walking off.
"That was nice." The mine was warm, with furnaces in lots of places. He walked forward to peer over the edge, from which he was protected by a stone wall. He walked down a stone staircase and landed on the bottom of the gorge. He found an unmined spot and began to hack at it, and two people joined him. They went on for nearly twenty blocks when they found some coal, and the three of them pounced on it, snatching up all of the coal until none remained. The two others chose to go onward from the place where the black ore had been, but Rockwell stayed on his path, tearing apart the stone until he struck a block above him.
Lava poured downward in a molten cascade towards Rockwell. He reached into his pocket and drew out a block of stone, blocking up the stream that could have killed him. He ran back down the tunnel with his coal, andesite and stone. As he exited the tunnel, a creeper dropped down from a ledge above him.
"Mob!" A voice shouted as Rockwell struck out at the creeper, hitting it away from him while he ran to safety. Two other miners leapt at the creeper, and a few seconds later, it was dead. One of the miners tossed the gunpowder to Rockwell, saying,"Here. Take it. A near death accident isn't a fun thing to experience on a first day." Rockwell grabbed it, thanking the man as he stood up. He climbed a ladder up to the entrance, and stopped by the front desk. He placed the coal on the desk as the young man came out from the back room.
"How was your first day?" He asked.
"Tiring." Rockwell said.
"As is every day. Will you be coming back?"
"Probably."
"Here's your pay, for a day's work." He said, handing Rockwell two iron ingots. Rockwell took them gratefully, walking off toward the shop. He opened the door and the pair of people inside turned toward the door, raising wooden swords.
"It's just me." He said.
"We figured it wasn't." Amelia said.
"Obviously." He responded.
"What'd they pay you?" Michele asked.
"Two ingots." He answered, holding them out. Amelia grabbed them and stored them in a chest, saying,
"Good work. We cleaned up the place and sold a stone sword. He paid us with one iron ingot."
"And where's Patrick?" Rockwell asked.
"He joined the military. He stays with his fellow soldiers." Michele said.
"So where's Dyllon?" He asked.
"Upstairs." Amelia responded, yawning,"Time for bed." She trudged upstairs, until she was out of sight. Michele followed her, leaving Rockwell downstairs. He sat in the chair and watched the door, not ready for sleep. He pondered the events of the day, and saw Nicholas walking by with another red stone engineer. Nicholas waved to his companion before opening the door.
"Sup." Nicholas said, bringing in red-stone dust and setting it on the ground. Rockwell was ready to say something when he dozed off in the chair.
Rockwell awoke to a loud noise that sounded like a thump. He looked around but saw nothing. It was relatively dark out, but the sunrise could be seen approaching. He stood up and looked around for the cause of the noise, but could put see much that was different from when he woke up. He sat back down, but didn't fall asleep. In a few minutes, the sun came up, and his friends came downstairs. Dyllon, Michele, Amelia, and...where was Nicholas? He didn't come down after them, as was expected.
"Is Nicholas still up there?" He asked them.
"No. I don't think he came up at all." Dyllon answered.
"Then where is he?"
"Who knows? I don't think he left in the middle of the night. He's probably still here, but we can't find him. Let's look around." Amelia said.
They looked around for him for several minutes, but they didn't see him. Dyllon walked over to a corned that was blocked by a table. He clambered over it and felt his feet push against the floor in a strange way. He heard a noise, and leaned against the wall as the floor opened up. Rockwell looked into the hole and saw stairs. He thought for a moment before climbing in and walking down. Dyllon made to follow and ran for the entrance. Just as he was ready to leap in after Rockwell, the door slammed closed, barely missing his feet.
Rockwell continued down the stairs even after he heard the door close. The stairs were short, and they opened up into a large room, full of lights and noise. Redstone lamps were in every corner while dispensers spat out arrows. In the centre of all of the technology was Nicholas, who was operating the dispenser and placing another one in the wall, facing the door. He had a large number of red-stone lamps on the wall, and he stepped on pressure plates to make them flash. "What are you doing?" He asked Nicholas.
"Oh. You didn't need to come down here. I'm just looking to make something innovative to contribute to the community. Since gravel is a common resource, I thought that it would be useful to make houses from it with roofs held up by slime blocks. Or using ice on streets to make people move quicker. Or maybe red-stone lamp chains used as signals for news to be spread throughout the kingdoms quickly. Lamps and stained glass would be best."
"You've got a lot of ideas."
"Indeed I do." He said, walking toward Rockwell and then past him. "Come on." He said,"Let's go." He walked up the stairs, still carrying a lever. Rockwell raced after him, and watched as he flipped a switch to open the hatch and walk out. "You might want to hurry up and get to your work, and I shall get back to mine." He said, pointing to the door.
"Thanks." Rockwell said, walking out. Nicholas shut the door behind him, walking back to his laboratory.
Rockwell breathed a sigh of relief with his discovery that Nicholas hadn't been kidnapped in the middle of the night. He walked down the street, bumping into a woman who was standing outside of the building next door.
"Sorry!" He said, offering her a hand up. The girl took it, and gave him an inquisitive look.
"I haven't seen you around before." She said, crossing her arms.
"We just moved in, next door."
"That's interesting. What's your name?"
"Rockwell."
"Lucille."
"That's a neat name."
"As is yours."
"Where are you headed?"
"The mines."
"Who's mine?"
"Government's."
"See you there, then. I work there too."
"How about a competition? A race to work."
"Sure. Care for a wager?"
"No gambling, thanks."
"Ok then, when do we go?
"Now!" She said, taking off down the street, with Rockwell chasing after her. She was fast, but was brought to a halt by a herder and his cows. Rockwell leapt over the cows and continued running while Lucille tried to make her way around the smelly stream of cute cows. She went into a shop and out through a side door, trying to find a shortcut to the mine. She saw and opening back onto the Main Street from her side-street and took it, rushing out onto the large road and taking the lead away from Rockwell, who continued to run right behind her. They arrived, signing in and grabbing pick axes from the chest while trying to catch their breath.
"I beat you." She said.
"Barely." He responded.
"See you later!" She called, walking to the right while he stayed there, wondering what to do. He chased after her.
"Why don't we work together?" He asked.
"Ok, but be careful. I work in caves, I don't strip-mine, as some of you call it. We have more danger."
"I'll do my best to handle it."
"Let's go then", she said, climbing down a ladder and into a cave in the side of the gorge. Lava and torches glowed brightly, lighting the place up. The lava not only made it bright, but made it very warm, so that the temperature was comfortably hot, but not painfully so. He took a step forward to admire the beautiful cave for a few moments longer, but tripped and fell onto the cold, rough stone. He stood up quickly, embarrassed.
"Where are the ores?" He asked.
"We have to find them, come on." She said, climbing down another ladder that led to a secondary level that placed her terrifying close to the lava. Rockwell steadied his breath and began to climb down. He closed his eyes until his feet touched solid ground. He got off of the ladder and looked around. It was painfully hot here, with the lava bubbling up onto the rocks in some places. Lucille walked along a stone path, raised her pickaxe (hers was iron, his was still stone) and brought it down, tunnelling through the stone far more quickly than he could have. He followed her, tapping at the walls in some places until he broke though the wall and a rush of cold air hit him. He appeared to have opened up a new cave.
"Lucille!" He called, wanting her advice and help.
"What?" She called from where she was hacking away at a patch of diorite.
"There's a cave that you might want to check out over here!"
"Hold on, I'll be over in a second!" She called. She ran back down the tunnel she had dug, past a second pool of lava and a lava-fall that poured out the molten rock into the natural basin of magma below it. Rockwell waved to her.
"Thanks. Should we go in?" Rockwell asked, tentatively.
"Just wait one moment." Lucille responded, pulling out a stick and setting coal on top of it. It caught fire immediately, crafting into a new torch, which Lucille hurled into the small opening. It lit up the cave, and a bat could be seen flying by the torch.
"Looks good." Lucille stated, stepping back to let Rockwell go first. Rockwell struck the stone a few more times to create a larger entrance for himself. He climbed through the newly fashioned hole and looked around. Seeing nothing, he picked up the torch as Lucille climbed through.
"It's freezing in here!" She remarked, and indeed it was. The undisturbed air had sat in this passageway for who knows how long. Rockwell raised the torch above his head and swept it around. He thought the coast was clear and lowered the torch when an fetid smell reached his vulnerable nostrils. He walked forward and tried to find the source of the smell, with Lucille at his heels. Lucille walked past him, taking the torch from him and walking faster. Rockwell covered his nose and felt like he would vomit. He turned around when he heard a noise that sounded like footsteps. He raised his pickaxe and flinched backward, seeing a zombie through the shadow broken only by the light of the torch. He raised his pickaxe and struck, slashing it across its chest. It growled and swung at him, clawing his arm. Rockwell stepped back, clutching his arm that was bleeding onto the stone floor of the cave. Behind the first zombie were three more, groaning like the first. They smelled awful, and Lucille backed away, handing the torch to Rockwell as she struck out twice, killing the zombie. She looked behind it, and saw even more appearing from a place behind the horde. The zombies struck out at her, and she avoided them, but fell backward. There was a ledge behind them, with lava next to it. She could leap over the edge and attempt to survive, but what about Rockwell? Could he make it? And of course, if they didn't jump, could they defeat the zombies? She looked up and saw Rockwell standing, ready to defend her from the zombies. He swung at the zombies several times before they pushed him back. He killed two more, but Lucille watched in horror as he tripped and fell over the edge, but she heard no frying, no scream of pain. She looked over the ledge and saw him crawling away from the lava, and decided to swing down herself. She pushed herself over, grabbing the edge, and swung down to join him. Lucille grabbed stone blocks and placed them to expand their platform. Two zombies had followed her over, and they melted in the magma. Rockwell stood up, impressed and terrified.
"That was scary. I thought I was done for, but I'm just glad we're okay after all that. Now we just-" he started to say, but was cut off by the sight of a hole ding made on the other side of the lava lake. The hole opened up, and out came three miners, wielding iron pickaxes. The miners stared. Rockwell breathed deeply, waiting for someone to say something. Nobody said anything, but the lead miner from the team of three began to walk forward on a path his teammates built before him, and he saw that Lucille had begun to fashion her own path of stones through the molten rock. The two paths met in the middle, and Rockwell watched as Lucille pointed her pickaxe at the miner, saying,"Those are mine." He looked up at the ceiling and was surprised to see diamonds sparkling among the stone. The miner, who had a quiet, but threatening voice said,"Not on your life."
"Maybe not on my life, but definitely not in yours." She said. The miner drew a diamond sword.
"I'm getting the diamonds, now back off or I'll make you."
"You can try!" Lucille said, swinging her pickaxe at him. He brought his sword up and blocked it, causing a metal clang to echo through the cave. He swung his sword downward, and Lucille hooked her pickaxe around it. Lucille felt confident, but lost her confidence as he yanked his sword backward and pulled her tool from her hand. He smirked.
"Now give up!" He demanded.
"Not likely." She spat back, punching him in the face and snatching up her pickax as he staggered back. The man spun around, causing a rush of air inside the small cavern. He brought his sword down at her as she twisted around to block it. Lucille uncoiled and struck with her pickaxe, causing the miner to lose balance. He staggered back, using the sword for support, and was knocked back toward Rockwell with a swift kick to the stomach from Lucille. He landed with a thud on the cobblestone ground, and stayed down as Lucille approached him, pressing her pickaxe to his throat. He stayed still for a moment. Then, without warning, he delivered an almighty kick to a region that would have crippled her if she has been a man. Lucille was thrown from her feet and was knocked backward, landing dangerously closed to the edge of the small cobblestone platform. Rockwell leapt up, trying to land a blow on his opponent while he wasn't looking, but the man grabbed his sword and disarmed Rockwell, sending his pickax into the lava. He pointed the sword to Rockwell's chest and held it there.
"We're going to take them prisoner." He said to his two friends. One hoisted up Lucille and the other tied down Rockwell with a lead. They marched down a stone corridor, obviously the path that they had taken to reach the small lava lake. Lucille saw sunlight at the end of the tunnel, and she heard...music? Festive music could be heard from the end of the tunnel, and she strained her ear to listen. Her body ached, and she was furious that she had been take prisoner, but she could at least try to look on the brighter side of things. The man carrying her nodded at two men, who were standing at the bottom of the staircase, with a jukebox next to them.
"Get moving." The man said, pointing up the stairs with his sword as he set her on her feet. She complied, moving at a decent pace so as not to warrant any whacking for disobedience. While she wanted to fight, she had no weapon, and her enemies had Rockwell. That made for an impossible victory. She continued to move up the stairs, her feet aching from constant contact with stone. She reached the top, and walked out of the mouth of the cave, shielding her eyes from the sunlight. It was very hot here, wherever here was. She couldn't see what biome this was, but the houses were very colourful. The lead miner took her by the arm, leading her through crowds of people, who stared at her as she was dragged along. It made her feel very uncomfortable. The group reached a large building with a grand gate in front of it. The man waved to a guard on top of the gate, who flipped a switch as the gate slowly opened up. They walked inside, and Lucille couldn't help noticing the consistency of orange among the pillars of the buildings. A fountain ran in the courtyard, but no plants could be seen. She was led towards the largest of the buildings, and stood back as the man opened the iron doors with a pressure plate, letting them all in before letting it snap closed behind him. Another man sat on a throne, wearing gold armour that shone purple with enchanting. He was clutching a golden sword, also enchanted, and he was humming to himself quietly. He turned towards them, and Rockwell let out a gasp as he saw who it was that sat before them.
It was Mitchell. He must have survived the explosion, but how he arrived here after that was unimportant. He just needed to come home.
"Rockwell? What are you doing here, as a prisoner to my kingdom?" He asked, standing up and setting the sword upon the arm of his throne.
"Ask your miners." He responded,"And what are you doing here? How did you survive? We thought you had died!"
"I thought I did too, but I didn't. If you want the long version, you'll have to sweet talk your way to it. Now, miners, what happened?"
"This girl decided to fight me over a patch of diamond. After I had defeated her, this one made an attempt to attack me, but he was unsuccessful." He said.
"Hmm. I see. In that case there's no way you can say you did nothing wrong, because you did. I might let you go, but your friend tried to attack Q, and so she'll stay prisoner. Now, I assume you want the full story."
"Hang on, I didn't start that fight!" Lucille protested.
"Hush, you incompetent dirt-mover! Rockwell, come with me. We have questions for each other." Mitchell said, gesturing to a small wooden door to the side of the throne. Rockwell walked to it, opening it and walking through. Mitchell followed behind him, closing the door.
"You shouldn't have insulted her." Rockwell said.
"I didn't want to, but this whole ruler thing is frustrating. The Mesa kingdom was in need of a King, and I took the job since they lacked any heirs to the deceased ruler. As for how I survived, I fell into a water way, one of the irrigation systems belonging to a farmer. He was quite surprised to see me trudging from his fields in the early morning, but it must have looked cool in some way." He said.
"Yeah. I'm just a miner. Amelia and Michele opened a shop, Dyllon works for a farmer, Patrick is part of the army, and Nicholas make redstone machines." Rockwell told him.
"You can go home as soon as you'd like, but I'm still keeping your friend." He said to Rockwell.
"Come on, you can't be-" Rockwell started to say when a portal appeared, releasing two dozen warriors with grass symbols upon their leather and Iron armour. They spread out, and five of them approached Mitchell and Rockwell.
"Surrender, criminal." One said.
"I'm not a criminal, I'm the king!"
"And you're hiding Obsidian bin Lava."
"I am not! You have no proof!"
"Geoff M. Shrub's orders, and he knows what he's doing. Now come with us, sir. It'll make things easier. We're at war with your Mesa kingdom now, for your aiding of the terrorists."
"Well isn't that great." Mitchell said, wishing he'd brought his golden sword with him. He backed up as the soldiers in leather armour advanced, drawing a mix of stone and iron swords. He reached into his pocket, pulled out flint and steel, and lit a large fire in front of the advancing soldiers. Mitchell turned and ran, tucking away the flint and steel as he went.
"Are you with him?" A soldier asked, putting out the fire with a bucket of water. The sand was soaked by the water, but quickly absorbed it.
"No, we're from the plains, like you. We were taken prisoner by some miners."
"I'm sorry for that. The people here are indeed scum." A tall man said, walking from the portal. His armour shone a bright blue, and his enchanted sword was clutched in his left hand. He was old, but looked like he could and would kill you without batting an eye. His armour clanked as he walked forward as shook Rockwell's hand. "My name's Richard Chain." He said, walking past him and looking over the city as sunset began. He paused for a moment before saying,"Blow it to the sandy ground."
"You heard him!" A soldier shouted,"Move!" Soldiers ran every which way, placing TNT blocks as others followed, detonating the blocks and wrecking the buildings as the walls of sand tumbled down. The palace roof gave way, and a wave of sand and clay blocks fell down upon the marble throne. Rockwell started forward, wanting to find Mitchell, but Chain held him back.
"Come with me. We're going to inspect the city for TNT weapons of mass destruction. If there aren't any, we'll say there were."
"We will?"
"Of course we will, what other reason would we have to have other than the fact that this area is rich in redstone and emeralds?"
"So this fight is mostly for resources?"
"No and yes."
Rockwell had no time to respond. The sound of a piston reached his ears and he saw a lit TNT block raining down towards them. They all ducked, but two soldiers were killed by the blast. Soldiers moved quickly, and before long, arrows had penetrated the body of the TNT gunner. Rockwell continued along, slightly scared. He saw the sun sink low and wondered whether or not Lucille luckily survived the crashing down of the palace roof, or if she had perished painfully under the falling debris.
"Excuse me, but can I go look for my partner? She was taken prisoner by the miners we met in the cavern."
"Fine. If you are in danger, get to the portal."
"Yes sir."
Rockwell ran off toward the rubble of the palace, looking for Lucille. He shouted her name several times before he received a response. He walked toward where the voice was, located above him in one of four towers still standing. He climbed up the ladder, wanting to leave as quickly as possible. As he reached the top, Lucille called out to him.
"Is that you? I've been up here for too long, just waiting for this to end." She said as explosions and shouts echoed in the distance. Fires burned over the houses and soldiers marched through the streets. Rockwell walked over to her, and they both looked out over the vast city as Chain's men destroyed it. Lucille stood up to leave, when Mitchell leapt down from the top of the tower, landing on their platform and hurling Lucille off. Rockwell spun around and drew a stone sword he had been given by Chain before he left. Mitchell advanced toward him, wielding his golden, enchanted sword.
"You! You led them here, didn't you? You're the reason my city is burning and my people dying!"
"I didn't do any of that, your miners took us prisoner!"
"That must have been your idea, to use yourselves as bait for a trap!"
"It wasn't!"
"You're lying. I know you are, and you're going to pay for your treachery! You'll pay for betraying me!" Mitchell yelled, swinging his sword at Rockwell's throat. Rockwell brought his sword up just in time, blocking the blow dealt by the King. Sparks flew from the gold of his sword, revealing a fire enchantment. Mitchell staggered back as Rockwell swung his stone sword at him three more times. Mitchell lunged forward, swinging his sword directly at Rockwell's neck. Rockwell ducked underneath the blow, bringing his fist up into Mitchell's stomach. Mitchell was knocked off balance and was thrown dangerously close to the edge. Rockwell pressed his attack, slashing upward in a grand manoeuvre that Mitchell avoided, rolling across the small stony platform. Mitchell stood up, running at Rockwell and stabbing at his unprotected, armour-less torso. Rockwell dodged the attack, moving to the side and performing his own stab, downward. His sword hit directly on Mitchell's back, knocking him down on the ground. Mitchell's helmet and sword slid over the edge, disappearing from sight. Rockwell grabbed his head and slammed it into the ground. Mitchell did not get stood, taking a deep breath and sitting down. He whisked around abruptly when he heard someone climbing the wooden ladder up to where he was. He crawled behind a corner, ready to spring at this newcomer. The figure reached the platform, and Rocky saw its face as it came around the corner. He leapt up from his hiding spot and embraced Lucille, crushing her in his tired arms.
"Hey! Get off!" She said, laughing,"Yeah, I'm alive. I landed in the fountain down there. It was all good, but I had to stumble around and explain myself to that guy named Chain."
"So what's next?" Rockwell asked.
"They're hunting for him." Lucille said, gesturing toward the unconscious form of the deposed King of the Mesa biome. Smaller cities could still exist, but the centre of the biome's civilisation was now in ruins.
"Should we turn him in?" Rockwell asked.
"Hm. He threw me off of a tower, tried to kill you, and successfully killed many people."
"Fine. I'll grab him." He said, turning to the unconscious man.
He wasn't there. "He must have gotten away somehow!" Lucille shouted, stomping upon the stone floor of the tower. Rockwell looked over the edge and down the ladder, desperately searching for the now-fugitive King.
"I don't know where he is!" Rockwell said, turning around and looking at his comrade with desperation. He paced over toward the ladder and began to climb down. "Let's go. We won't find him anytime soon. We'll just head through the portal." He said. Lucille frowned, but she followed.
"Watch your head. I don't want to end up kicking it." She said, climbing down as quickly as possible before adding,"Suppose they already closed the portal. What would we do?"
"We would walk back. Did you forget we came through a tunnel?" Rockwell asked, reaching the bottom of the ladder. The cool night air rippled across the enormous amounts of sand scattered around him. He took a moment to think about all that had happened, and to think of the gargantuan amounts of death that had been caused over some unconfirmed TNT weapons. It was insane when you thought about it for what it was. It made more sense to accept the existence of these weapons as the truth than possibly believe that this was just death over speculation.
"You're oddly quiet. What's wrong?" Lucille asked, walking up behind him as he stared out over the quiet city. The fires had ceased to burn, but the damage they did was lasting. He saw lights moving along in the dark, moving along a path away from the city.
"Look." He said, pointing to the moving lights,"The survivors."
"Yeah." Lucille responded quietly, looking at the crowd.
"It's a little sad." Rockwell said, after a minute or two had passed.
"Yeah." Lucille responded again.
"Do you think Mitchell left to join them?"
"Probably."
"We should head back to the portal, right?
"Yep."Lucille said, walking towards the rear courtyard of the castle, where the soldier had come through. One soldier stood there, clutching a diamond pickaxe and whistling to himself. As Rockwell got closer, he noticed that it was Patrick who was standing by the portal, dressed in leather armour with a stone sword at his belt. He waved to them, shouting,
"Hey! I was wondering if you had died and if I should just go through, but I didn't, so that's good."
"Good to see you, Patrick." Rocky said, embracing him,"I had no idea they'd put you on a mission like this so soon. One where you could die, I mean."
"I didn't expect it either, but it was better than just patrolling the walls." He said, chuckling.
"How do you two know each other?" Lucille asked, stepping into the conversation. Rockwell turned, ready to explain everything, but he didn't get that far. Patrick took over for him.
"You see, we met at the origin point, and then we all agreed to travel together. There were debates on where to go, but we ended up heading to the plains. I guess that changed things for the better. Maybe it changed them for the worse. This place has seen better days." He said, gesturing to the city,"And who are you? Did you get a girlfriend in the short time I've been gone?"
Avoiding an answer, Rockwell stated in reply,"You're one to talk about short." He reached over and patted him on the head. "Let's hurry. I could use some food. Could you join us for dinner?"
"I can't leave the compound." Patrick said.
"I wasn't talking to you."
"Sure." Lucille said,"I'll check with Matthew."
"Who's he?"
"My real boyfriend." Lucille said, stepping through the portal.