The room was made of stone bricks, and one wall was lined with different blocks, apparently so that the Essences could teleport there. There was a hallway leading off the room, and Wilber could hear animal noises from it. That mean that the mob Essences could teleport here too.
They were all sitting at a large table, waiting for one more person. Stone appeared next to the block-lined wall and straightened up. "That's all the people I can find in a hurry. We have to start now."
Sand nodded, and then she said; "Creeper? You've been doing recon- what do you know about Villager's movements?" A girl who was sitting next to Enderman stood up, revealing that her green shirt had a creeper face on it. She had blond hair and black eyes, and when she started talking, there was a hissing undertone to her voice.
"Villager is training all the villagers to fight well, and their numbers are much higher than we previously thought. She could move on us at any time." Creeper nodded and sat down. Sand took a deep breath and let it out. Somehow she seemed to be in charge, and she was just as obviously not used to it.
"I see. What are we going to do about it?" She asked. A boy dressed in red with blond hair stood up, and the way the light caught his hair made it look like it was on fire. "We're going to take that harpy Villager and blow her ass to kingdom come!" He slammed one fist down on the table.
"Lava," said a girl sitting across from him. "We don't have the strength or numbers to do that. So sit back down." The girl was wearing a shimmering blue dress, and her eyes matched it. Her light brown hair seemed oddly out of place.
Lava growled. "Sissies." He muttered. "What was that?" The blue girl snapped. "Sissies." Lava said louder. The blue girl stood up, and she placed both hands flat on the table to lean forward. "You." she said "Can sissy yourself!"
Lava drew one hand back and slapped the girl -who Wilber guessed was Water- open-handed. There was a hissing sound, like when you pour water on something hot, and Water fell back into her seat. A voice from behind her said "Do you mind? That's frigging uncomfortable!"
The voice came from a girl. She was very small, and she had long black hair and black eyes. Her clothes were a patterned black, unlike Enderman's. She sneezed. "And where am I going to sit?" Water drew a chair up next to her, and the new girl sat down. "Sorry." Water said. "But somebody decided to get violent."
Who could this new girl be? It hit Wilber- she was Obsidian. Lava plus Water made obsidian! Sand stood up, obviously trying to get the meeting under control again. "We need to decide what we're each going to do. Mobs… mobs should warn their people of what's going on. Blocks can conduct further reconnaissance and preparation. We need to be prepared for when Villager moves."
There were nods all around, apart from those that appeared to be hostile mobs. Most of them just grunted in acknowledgement. Then the Essences began to teleport away, eventually leaving Wilber and Sand and Stone alone.
"Stone, we should stay with Wilber. Introduce him to the other Essences." Sand said. Stone nodded. "You have things to do. I'll take him to see my kids." He said. Not even smiling, he reached over and grabbed Wilber's arm.
After gravity reasserted itself, Wilber looked around curiously. He was in a clearing in the forest, and there were several different kinds of blocks placed in the center. Cobblestone, stone bricks, and all the different kinds of ore…
Wilber jumped as each block became a boy. They all had Stone's dark grey hair, but all but two had coloured streaks in it. "He- hello." Wilber said. He still wasn't used to all this. Of the two who didn't have colour streaks in their hair, one's hair was untidy and a bit dirty, the other's was neatly combed. The others' coloured bands were all different colours; black, blue, green, yellow, red and sort of pinkish.
"So?" Stone asked. "What have you found out?" Stone paced back and forth as each one gave his report. All the news was more and more troubling, ending when the boy with red-striped hair -who introduced himself as Redstone Ore- announced that TNT had been captured by Villager.
"Alright." Stone said to himself. "Diamond, you tell Sand about this. Emerald, you keep giving Villager the impression that you're on her side, go trade stuff. Coal and Iron, go to Sand and find where you're needed most. Gold, Cobblestone, Stone Bricks, you go with them." They all teleported away. "And I?" Redstone asked, turning towards his father.
"Redstone…" Just for a moment, Stone looked older, more worn, exhausted. "You go bust TNT out." Redstone seemed surprised. "But father, you know what happens when I touch TNT." "That's why I'm sending you, kid." Stone growled. "Now get on with it!" Redstone nodded. "Yes, father." He left.
"Where are we going now?" Wilber asked. Stone held out his hand, and Wilber took it.
Wilber wasn't prepared to appear among hostile mobs. He was even less prepared for the fact that none of them were attacking him or Stone. Stone led him through the crowd to a space that the mobs were avoiding, crowding everywhere but there. In that space was a table, and there were four Essences standing around it.
One of them was the girl with the hissing voice and the creeper hoodie- Creeper, from the meeting. A second was an albino girl who was very thin and wearing all grey. She was holding a bow, and there was a quiver of arrows slung over her back. The third was a boy with black hair and glowing eyes, but it wasn't Enderman. His eyes were red. He was twitching like he couldn't stay still, and he was muttering to himself, just like Enderman had, only he was hissing and spitting like a spider. The fourth was a boy with dark green skin and blackish hair. His eyes were unfocused and his clothes were ragged, and there was a gash along the side of his face that wasn't bleeding.
"Spider, are you sure your information is correct?" Creeper asked. The boy with glowing eyes looked up "Am I sure?" His voice sounded like he was a spider trying to speak, not a human. He jerked his head at the map. "Yes I'm sure! Villager is almost in place!" "Okay." Creeper said, taking a breath. "Skeleton, do you think you can head villager off? Can your archers get there in time?"
The albino girl nodded. "I believe we can. When should I set off?" She asked. There was a peculiarly hollow quality to her voice, like it was echoing inside her. "Now." Creeper said. "And take Zombie with you, his people can infect the villagers." Skeleton nodded sharply and walked off, dragging the green boy behind her.
"Hello Creeper, Spider." Stone said. "Meet Wilber. He's the Player." Creeper nodded. Spider twitched his head and spat on the ground, his face twisting into a sneer. "Uh. Hi." Wilber said. "Is there anything I can do to help?" It slipped out without asking, and Creeper took it seriously. She bent over the map on the table. "Let me show you where everything is, first."
Creeper pointed. "Here's the village. Villager has troops stationed all around it, according to Spider, and she's working on building barricades. I just sent Skeleton to interrupt her building efforts with flaming arrows and stuff like that. The fort-" She pointed to a spot in the middle of the forest, "-is here, deep underground. We are here." She pointed to a spot between the fort and the village.
She looked critically at Wilber. "How good are you with a bow?" she asked. "Uh. Not bad." Wilber said. Creeper nodded. "If you hurry, you can catch up with Skeleton and help her light a fire under Villager's ass." Wilber nodded. Creeper and Stone sent him off in the right direction, and off he went.
"What's the news?" Creeper asked as Wilber ran off. Stone shook his head. "Not promising. Villager is much farther ahead than we expected, and TNT's been taken prisoner." Creeper hissed, momentarily glowing white. Stone stepped away, but she got her anger under control and asked "Does Sand know?" Stone shook his head. "No, but I sent Redstone to get him out. I'll tell Sand myself." Then he left, leaving Spider and Creeper alone.
