Red's eyes opened slowly, the bright sunlight lighting up her dull bedroom. Staring at the ceiling, a groan escaped her mouth. The night before had been another unsuccessful assassination attempt on Herobrine. That wasn't the strangest part though; Herobrine had used some sort of cheat code that showed her a scene of Notch talking to a man named Jeb. In the scene, Notch had been discussing with Jeb whether or not they should tell Red about them using her as bait for Herobrine. Blood boiling, Red jumped out of bed and stretched. Today was her day off thank goodness. Failing to kill Herobrine for three months really put her in a bad mood so a day off would do her some good and last night's fiasco didn't help. Her gaze slowly moving around the room, an image of the spare bedroom in Herobrine's mansion popped up. Surprisingly, that creep had a better spare room than she had in her two story house. A small wooden bed was in the corner farthest from the door which led downstairs into her blacksmith shop and kitchen. The quilt wasn't anything special; just the standard red color all Minecraft beds were. The wall the bed was against was a huge glass wall as was the wall next to it. Leaning against the wall of see-through material, Red noticed other Minecraft players moving around busily, some going into shops for weapons, armor and food while others shielded themselves from the blazing sun in the shade of small oak trees that lined the gravel street. Newer players, often the size of kids, ran around happily as they grew acccustomed to the game. Which reminds me... A golden clock began ringing furiously, screaming at Red who was startled enough to slip and fall on the ground.
"Stupid...damn clock." Red, now in a worse mood, turned the screaming time-keeper off as she shook her head and stood up. I've been in the game for almost 3 hours. I really need to log off. The thought surfaced in Red's head but was quickly demolished as a bell's ding sounded downstairs, alerting Red to a customer downstairs. Taking off her jacket and scarf, Red looked down at her simple black shirt and black jeans with black and red boots. Note to self; change my skin to something casual.
After helping a young man by the name of Aaron, a miner who often came to Red for new picks, the oak doors of the closet were opened up. Closets were a little different in Minecraft compared to the real world. Glowing white screens with a code attached on the top showed pictures of different skins the player had saved to their memory card. Scrolling through them, Red was extra picky today. Finally settling on an orange top with white shorts and black flats, Red sighed gladly. Outside, the clouds covered the sun as the breeze picked up slightly. Today would be her day to relax and she'd make the best of it.
"Open: private messages." Silver light blinded the assassin temporarily before settling to a dim glow. In front of her floated a grey box outlined with white. In it showed a few of the private messages she had. Touching the most recent conversation, a picture of a black haired boy with a hat on backwards and a black jacket popped up. His emerald green eyes were vibrant as well as the blue stripes on his black hoodie. White and blue shoes covered his blocky feet and suspenders hung from his dark grey jeans. "Send private message to: Zach309." Keys from a keyboard popped up with the question what would you like to tell Zach309? Pressing the microphone to speak instead of type, Red spoke slowly so as not to confuse the computer in charge of typing. "Today is my day off. Would you like to meet me at the edge of the river? We could boat; or go fishing?" Hitting the send button, Red dismissed the private messaging box. Then, making sure her house was locked, Red set out for the small cottage by the river.
"Hey! Red, over here!" A semi-deep voice caught Red's attention, pulling her eyes to the edge of the river with sugar cane. Across the river was a small, flat area of grass that ascended up into a large mountain not far from the water. Tall, dark oak trees lined the edge of the river where tall grass, mushrooms and sugarcane flourished. The bank of the river was lined with sand where the sugar cane was and merged into tilled earth where a small farm held potatoes, carrots and wheat. A medium-sized two story house overlooked the gorgeous area. Zach309, or Zach, was on the balcony yelling down at Red. Smiling, Red ran into the house and climbed the wooden ladders to meet her friend, both in Minecraft and in real life.
"How have YOU been, Red? Heard you took up the job of assassinating the eeevil legend." Zach laughed as he hugged Red, causing her to groan as he asked that in a creepy voice. Whacking him upside the head, he laughed again at his friend's annoyed attitude.
"How do you know that? Were you hacking again-or, trying to hack?" Red's face was emotionless as she stared accusingly at Zach who raised his hands in a fake surrender.
"You know me too well, Red. Waaay too well. So, I actually have a few questions, well my friend does. I don't know the answers exactly so I figured you could help being Miss Techy." Zach walked out to the balcony laughing and leaned against the fence railing as Red followed. "I bought the uploading program that allows people to play Minecraft the way we are right now and I bought all the equipment but...how does it work? And is the server we're on Survival or Hardcore? Because I've never died so I don't know the definite answer."
Red leaned against the railing next to Zach, rolling her eyes and grinning. Zach had never been much of a technology guy unlike Red, who was taking a college course on the newest gaming technology in hopes of creating better gaming systems. Even so, the fact that he didn't even know if they were in Survival or Hardcore shocked her. "Well Zach, to begin with the simpler question, we are in Hardcore. Look at your hearts. What's different about them from the hearts in Survival?" Zach muttered "Health" in which his hotbar and crosshair came up. Studying the hearts, he replied in an unsure tone.
"They...uh...have red lines in a V shape in the heart?" Zach glanced at Red in hopes he was correct. His eyes lit up when Red nodded.
"Survival hearts don't have that dark red V in the heart. They just have the white reflection in the top left part of the heart. Another way you can figure out if you're on Survival or Hardcore mode is if you look at another play and say the word 'health' plus their username. Try it on me." Standing up straight, Red backed away as Zach focused on her and repeated what she had told him.
"Health CodeRed256." He forced himself to hold in a laugh when he said her username. This made the techno-assassin roll her eyes again.
"Yes yes, I know I know. The username I chose for my account in 7th grade is SO hilarious. Moving on. What do you see above my username?" Her eyes sparkled a little, holding in her own laugh. The username WAS ridiculous. It always made people laugh which was a good thing though so Red didn't mind too much.
"It says, "Health: 23...I didn't think health could be that high in Minecraft." Zach claimed, confused. "Isn't your health in Minecraft only able to be 20 points of health at the highest?" Red nodded then, after a minute of searching through the saved files that were in her memory data, she sent a file to Zach in private messages. "What's this?"
"This server added 10 health points. The file I sent has all sorts of information on this server." Red was searching for another file now. "That's why I have 23 health points. I manage to keep lots of health potions on me so I don't die, which helps considering what I do for a job. I used to have 30 but through the 3 months I've tried killing Herobrine, that bitch managed to scrape off 7 points." Going silent, Zach read the file.
After a few minutes of reading, Zach looked up to see Red growing frustrated. Apparently her search for a certain file wasn't going so well. "What's wrong? Can't find a certain file?"
"Yeah." Red spat bitterly. "The damn file that explains the gaming technology you and I use to upload ourselves to Minecraft to play on servers the way we do. The file explains how the gaming helmet connects all our nerves to the computer and manages to transfer our conscious minds INTO the computer, where as we know leads to playing in Minecraft with actual feeling in their blocky bodies." Looking over, Red caught Zach right as he was in the middle of mimicking her. Freezing, Zach laughed at the sight of Red reached the highest point of being annoyed.
"Uh-oh, it's a frisky kitty. Run!" Placing a ladder on the fence, Zach climbed over the balcony and jumped down, barely missing Red's punch range. Ironically, in his grand escape, his landing wasn't too good; he landed on his feet and fell to his knees, eventually falling on his stomach. Panicking, Zach rolled over and scrambled up, running to the water.
"DAMN IT ZACH!" Giggling, she followed him down expect landing more smoothly and actually ON her feet. Due to her better landing, Red managed to catch up to Zach before he hopped into the old wooden boat bobbing wildly in the wake. Tackling him, both Minecrafters went underwater, wrestling to see who'd win.
After, surprisingly, Zach won the water fight, the two young adults dried off and laid in the grass. The glowing sun's last daylight was shining brighter than usual, illuminating their faces. Stars began appearing and a cool breeze welcomed the night sky. Usually, most players would be going inside and hiding while others put on armor and gathered weapons to hunt mobs. This server controlled the areas where mobs spawned, though, so the two watched the sun disappear behind the hills peacefully.
Looking at his watch, Zach shot up. "Shit, I totally forgot! I've got a dinner plan! Red I gotta go, sorry." Red smiled and rolled her eyes.
"I'M the person you're going to dinner with, Zach. I think it's fine if we're a few minutes late. But I agree; I need to shower and actually put on real clothes."
"Dang Red. How long have you been on?!" Zach looked bewildered at the fact that Red was apparently still in pj's. In the real world that is.
"Uh," she looked away, scratching her head. "Almost….6 Minecraft da-"
"SIX?! You, my friend, have a problem. Six hours of Minecraft is RIDICULOUS!" Zach scoffed, standing up and helping his companion up. "Why do you play so often? Don't you have homework? You know, from college?"
Walking into the forest away from the river and towards her home, Red nodded. "Actually, this is my homework. The first project we're doing is trying to find new ways to improve the current system. So, everyone in the class chose a game that they'll play a ton and evaluate how to make gameplay more realistic from there." City lights were faintly visible through the leaves which wasn't a surprise; the "forest" wasn't very dense.
"Ooooohhhh, I get it." Zach jumped in front of Red and walked backwards so he could see her face. "That sounds fun. Although you must be tired a lo-WHOAH!" The older boy was caught off guard as he ran into a sapling and fell over it, breaking the baby tree and adding it to his inventory. "Damn it." Zach was not amused as Red was who was laughing quite a bit.
"Oh you. Hey we're here." Red pointed towards her home as Zach scrambled up to her, brushing himself off. "I have an extra bed you can stay in. It's safe I promise…..Zach?" Her friend was quiet.
"Red...look." Zach pointed straight ahead as though possessed. Following his gaze, Red caught her breath. Glowing white eyes stared down at her from her bedroom window.
"OH HELL NO!" Red yelled, furious. "I AM NOT IN THE MOOD TO DEAL WITH YOU! FUCK OFF!" Running inside at top speed, multiple things were knocked off which Zach picked up hastily, trying to keep up with the pissed off assassin. "I swear I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind if that bitch is still up there." He wasn't to both Red's disappointment and approval. "What the hell…" She muttered, glaring at the spot where the dipshit had been standing.
"Red…wait…up." Zach was breathing heavier than normal as he wasn't used to running at that speed in either the real world or gaming world. "Where…where is he?" Zach squeezed by Red into her room, hands on knees as he tried to catch his breath. "He…he was just here…wasn't he?"
"Stay here." Red groaned, stepping cautiously around the room, preparing for a sneak attack. There wasn't one. It was plain as day. One minute Herobrine was here, the next, the room was as empty as it had been before. Except for one thing. A small book bound by a pink string and was surrounded by wavering waves of glowing purple magic. It bobbed up and down in the air above her bed, waiting to be picked up. Tapping it, Red noticed the title with disgust. "Your Favorite Player Ever. Yeah right." Walking close enough to pick it up, Red opened it right as Zach joined, standing behind her. Obviously, the book and quill it USED to be was an old one as it smelled musty and damp, like it had been in water. An image of a dank library covered with moss and littered with holes in the walls, holding a few rotting book shelves in a dark corner with plenty of book and quills waiting to be used, appeared in Red's mind. She shuddered, opening it to the first page and cleared her throat to read aloud.
"'Red, I know you hate me. But I want you to know I don't hate you…as much as you hate me at least. I have some information that I believe you'd like to know. Your 'friend' can come along. Here is what you are to do. Go on your dinner date or whatever then BOTH OF YOU log right back in. If you don't, you can say goodbye to whatever items you have in this old place as well as the building itself. You have until midnight real life time to log back on before I wreck not just your place on this server…but your account. Herobrine.' That little son of a bitch! I have 3 YEARS worth of items on this fucking server! And it's not a date…wait, how'd he even KNOW about that?!" Red's voice shook as she chucked the book at the wall, the book bouncing back onto her bed. Shaking in fury, Zach placed his hand on her shoulder. Somehow, that calmed her down enough to talk.
"Ok, let's just go to dinner and think about all this." Zach stared into Red's eyes with a pleading look as though silently begging her to take a few deep breaths and chill out. "We'll do what he says so none of your stuff, or account, is hacked or destroyed or whatever the hell that creep does for fun. Sound good?" The only answer he got was a head nod. "Alright. I'll sleep in the spare bedroom and you, obviously, sleep in here. I'll see you around 8 real world time, kay?" Another head nod. "Ok…see you then." Zach left without another word.
Red slumped over to her bed. Climbing in slowly and pulling the covers over, her eyes closed before any other thought. Her last words before sleep consumed her was, "Fuck you, Herobrine. I'll eliminate you if it's the last thing I do."
