I was awoken the next morning by bright, Minecraftian sunlight, filtering through the glass panes by my bed. Blinking for a few moments, I got out of my bed and walked over to my chest, eating some of the bread that I had received from SquirrelFaic99 yesterday. It tasted crunchy and rich, and I washed it down with a bucket of milk. I cut a slice from the large, cherry-topped cake and devoured that too. Saving the rest for later, I put it back into my chest and walked downstairs.

The bright morning sunlight had flooded into the living room too, giving it a golden appearance. I consulted my book and checked that I had delivered and received payment for all of my crafting requests, putting it back onto the table. Everything seemed to be in order so far. Then, I walked over to the door and stepped outside to check if I had gotten any more orders.

Outside, I could see the blazing square Minecraft sun making its way up through the sky. Rays of sunlight peeked above the trees, and the air was pleasantly cool and smelled of flowers and the forest around Kingsville. I stopped to relax for a moment, and then looked at the space right by the door, where JinnThePoltergeist (the town messenger) usually taped any crafting requests to. However, there were none, and I decided to take the day off and spend it with Onionboy and Lyra. After all, nobody had sent me a request, which meant I was pretty much idle.

Just as I was about to go back inside, I heard feet pounding on cobblestone, which could only mean someone was running towards me. Looking at the street, I saw none other than Onionboy, who had one hand over his head to keep his white creeper jacket's hood on as the wind rushed past his face.

"Rowan!" he yelled, "The meeting started 5 minutes ago! You need to get there quickly!" Closing the door, I sprinted up to him. "I'll lead the way!" he said, and we both ran through the town, speeding past the empty houses. The whole town must've been at the meeting, since even the town plaza was deserted and the shops were closed.

Finally, Noble140's fashionable brick mansion appeared, with the town hall, which was made out of iron blocks and stone bricks, right across the street. I hurried past the garden in front of the building, nearly tripping and falling headfirst into the fountain. However, my only focus was to get into the town hall as quickly as I could. I knew Linkeuraism was going to humiliate me, but still, that wasn't my concern. I was more worried that I could have missed some important news or decrees.

"Well, well, well..." Linkeuraism said, his blue officer uniform's golden buttons and tassels gleaming in the sunlight that had entered the room through the iron door I had opened. He sneered as he said in a loud voice, "Now that RowanTheTurtle has finally decided that it is worth his precious time to come to this meeting, we may begin..." I wasn't very bothered by him, but Onionboy looked like he could have walked over to Linkeuraism and slapped him across the face. Still, seemed to realize that if he did that he would regret it later, so we ignored him proceeded to several empty chairs and sat down, listening intently.

"As you all know," Linkeuraism said, "Noble140 is currently busy, and cannot accommodate this meeting into his schedule. I am sure he will be here...later, but he has seen it fit to allow me to begin this town meeting, which, ironically, is not about the town.

"I am not sure that this is...general knowledge, but as some of you may know," he looked at Lyra and Jinxlolol, who nodded, "there used to be a town called Winterhold, which was thought to have been abandoned some twenty years ago. However..."

His voice trailed off as he looked at the door, which had opened. Noble140 walked in, as relaxed as ever, and said, "Thank you, Linkeuraism, that will be all. I shall continue this meeting." Stepping up to the podium, he smiled at everyone as Linkeuraism nodded curtly and strode towards a corner of the hall, where he stood guard.

"As Linkeuraism was saying, there used to be a town called Winterhold, which was thought to have been abandoned two decades ago. The town was rumored to hold a massive secret, which was heavily guarded and hidden somewhere around the village. But, for some reason that may have been related to the secret object, Winterhold was consistently attacked by massive waves of hostile mobs. The town was able to defend itself for a while, but it was eventually overrun.

"Shortly after, Winterhold's residents disappeared. None were ever found again. Nobody knows where they went, but nearby towns have assured me that they did not find any survivors. Winterhold's location was also lost, and the town was declared to be abandoned five years after the disappearance of the town residents.

"Now, there have been numerous expeditions from the nearby towns of Paclaven and Snowfield to find Winterhold, but none have been successful. Even stranger, about ten years ago, Paclaven sent a expedition of ten players to find Winterhold. None of them returned. Days later, several Paclaven rescuers claim they had seen a strange, eerie green aura in the air around where the 10-player expedition lost contact and seemingly vanished off the map. The rescuers were not able to get any closer to that area, and Paclaven gave up trying to find Winterhold.
"Similar events happened to the explorers sent from Snowfield," Noble140 finished. Everyone was listening intently, except for Jinxlolol and Lyra, who looked as if they had heard this all before.

"The area around where Winterhold's approximate location is a snowy mountain range. The mountains contain large amounts of iron ore, and therefore radar does not function. However, recent earthquakes have shifted the veins of ore so that there is a narrow slice of stone in which radar may be able to travel past. EurekanMediterranean," Noble140 said, nodding his head at him, "informed me that one of his radar mechanisms pieced the 'ore shield' and was able to penetrate the mountain. He has discovered a massive tunnel system under the approximate location of Winterhold. He believes these tunnels were previously undiscovered, and could hold the secret to where the residents disappeared.

"Linkeuraism and I have decided to send a 3-player expedition to find out where these tunnels lead to. Unfortunately, EurekanMediterranean's radar machine was unable to aim its waves to find out if the tunnels lead deeper into the earth, since the ores prevented the machine from being able to select a different target to direct the radar at. We only know that three of these tunnels lead deep into the mountain, though EurekanMediterranean is sure that two of them are decoys and dead-end. However, the middle of the three tunnels seems promising, and it seems to go deep into the ground."

Noble140 paused and looked at us. "As I said before, We need a 3-player expedition to find out more about that tunnel. The journey to the mountain range is about 750 blocks. Be aware that this expedition will be extremely dangerous, and you have a high risk of dying or disappearing. I would not risk the lives of three Kingsville citizens, but I want to take advantage of the recent earthquake and land shifts to see if we can find out the mystery of where the people of Winterhold went to. Any volunteers?"

At first, nobody raised their hands. Noble140, however, did not seem disappointed. "I will provide all food that may be needed," he continued. "I will also provide a clock, a compass, and five stacks of torches, along with one diamond pickaxe, a diamond shovel, an iron sword, and a golden apple."

Even after Noble140's offer of food and equipment, nobody was enthusiastic. However, I had a funny feeling Onionboy would want to volunteer when...he stuck his hand up in the air.

"Dude!" I said frantically, "Are you crazy?! You could get killed!" But he seemed determined. Shaking my head, I raised my hand too, not wanting my friend to go alone. Nobody else dared to volunteer, but Noble140 smiled approvingly at us and nodded. "As we only have two citizens brave enough to submit themselves to this task, I encourage all of you to think about it and talk to Linkeuraism if you want to...volunteer..." And with that, he nodded, dismissing us.

As soon as we got out, Lyra ran over to us. She seemed on the verge of tears. "Rowan! Onionboy! Why did you volunteer? D-didn't you k-know you c-could die? I m-mean, this is s-so obviously dangerous-oh, I don't even know what y-you two were t-thinking! I-I don't know what t-to do now, I don't want y-you two to go and n-never come back!" Onionboy and I stood in an awkward silence as Lyra cried. Suddenly, I regretted volunteering, and so did Onionboy, from the look on his face. "Lyra..." he tried to comfort her, but she simply continued sobbing. Hugoalienasdf and Jinxlolol shot strange looks at Onionboy and me, as we tried to assure Lyra we would try to be careful and we wouldn't get ourselves killed. Linkeuraism was the last to leave, and he sneered slightly at me as he exited the garden and strolled down the cobblestone streets towards his villa.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Lyra calmed down. She still sniffled occasionally, though she seemed to accept the fact that Onionboy and I were going, and that no amount of persuading would stop us. "I'll see you around, then," she said, "Good luck, and don't die..."
Several hours later, Onionboy and I were sitting at a table in Aniseedlist's cafe. I was still confused on why he had even raised his hand, though I knew we couldn't go back now.

"Dude," I asked him, and he turned his head around (where he had been looking at the fountain) and focused on me. "Why did you do it anyway?"

"I told you, it's because my job as a guard is so boring! I mean, I get an iron sword and walk along the wall. Spiders come up. I kill them. Skellies shoot me. I fight back. Every single night. And the messed up creepers are always trying to blow up in my face. It gets really stupid and whatever after a while, and besides, I want some adventure! What could be better than this?" Onionboy replied.

"But we could die! Look, dude, what if we just go into the mountains and never come back! No matter how boring life is, it's still better than death, right? Seriously, we could just walk into that frozen wasteland and disappear, like that expedition from Paclaven!"

Onionboy looked as if he didn't want to continue the discussion. Instead, he rounded on me, asking, "Well Rowan, what made you raise your hand?"

"I did it because...well, I didn't want you to do it alone. If you're going to be crazy, then I'm coming along too, because we're friends, and...friends don't let each other march off into the mountains and...and die, right? I mean, really, if you're doing this, then I'm doing this."

Smiling, Onionboy finished, "Yeah, we're in this together. You've got my back. I've got yours. No problem, man, we can do this!" I had the feeling he was trying to pacify me, but before I could reply, the door to Aniseedlist's cafe opened and Lyra walked in. She looked half determined and half jittery, as if she had just done something she had been afraid of doing.

"Hi Rowan and Onionboy," she said, sitting down next to me. Her eyes were still red from crying, though otherwise she seemed calm and composed. Aniseelist watched over the counter with a strange look on her face, since Lyra usually detested restaurants and stayed away from them. Today, however, she seemed determined to come in and tell us something.

"I...I've volunteered...to be the third person, I mean," she said quietly, and Onionboy's eyes widened. "Not...not you, Lyra...really...I-I didn't-I didn't think you would do that!" He seemed positively stunned at the fact that Lyra, who hated caves, ravines, and anything dangerous or creepy, would volunteer herself for such a risky and life-threatening mission.

"Yeah, well I've done it, so no turning back now," Lyra replied, seemingly on the verge of crying again. "If you two are going to be crazy idiots and run off into the mountains to look for some ghost town, then I'm coming too, because I want to make sure you two don't get too insane." She managed to smile from under her tears, and Onionboy, who had been staring at her with a bewildered look, nodded and said dazedly,

"Yeah...we're in this together...right..."