We stared at the staircase in silence for a few moments, taking in the sight. It was wide and had large, shallow stone steps, with moss growing over the sides onto the passage way. On either side of it were two large gaps between it and the unrelenting rock wall, and below it opened onto a chasm of which we could not see the end, although we could hear water trickling down there. To fall from that staircase would mean death.
Slowly, we began to descend. Sergeant Thames took the lead, holding her torch high above her to illuminate the pitch black. I followed her, then the rest of the squad after me. We walked for the best part of an hour, the monotonous darkness beginning to become oppressive. At one point, I heard a cry from behind me and whipped around, seeing one of the squad members start to tip forward into the emptiness. I grabbed his arm and the soldier on his other side grabbed the other, and together we pulled him back up. Crouching, I ran my fingers across the piece of stone he had stepped on. It disintegrated under my hand, the little chunks and powdered rock running in rivulets off the staircase. Closer to the centre of the stair it hardened and refused to collapse.
"Watch your step," I ordered. "Keep to the centre of the stair." They nodded and we proceeded quietly, the only sounds being the crackling torches and our feet on the stone. Fifteen more minutes passed, and finally the torchlight fell on a stone floor at the bottom.
With my feet not suspended above Notch-knows-how-much emptiness, I took a deep breath of the stale air and surveyed the room. It was fairly simple, with a single tunnel going straight ahead. We headed down it, and were only walking for a few seconds before it opened up into a small, unassuming room with a square structure in the centre.
Thames approached it briskly, opening her backpack and pulling out a handful of small, purple spheres, along with a small, tightly sealed leather bag. She rested the orbs on the side of the structure and got to work on the knots on the bag while I investigated the thing. It was large, about two metres on each side, blue with tarnished gold decoration on the top. It was split into sixteen blocks, with the central four missing. The remaining twelve each had a small circular hole in the top.
Returning to Thames' side, I examined one of the orbs. It was a deep plum colour, and glittering sparkles caught the light, embedded inside it.
"What are these things?"
"Ender Pearls."
"Oh." I gingerly put it down.
Finally she loosened the knot and reached in. When she took her hand out again, her fingers were coated in orange powder which flickered like fire. Gently she ran them over the orb in her hand and the orange somehow floated off her fingers and into the purple. Where it touched, the colour paled and warped to a fluorescent blue. She put it down and got to work on the others.
"Put them in the holes when I finish changing them," she told me. I nodded and took the one she had already finished, dropping it into one of the holes in the blocks. It fiercely glowed for a few seconds, then faded to a glimmering turquoise. I did the same with all of the others except for one that she kept in her hand.
"This is what you went to the Nether for," she told me, setting it down on the side. I scowled.
"What do you mean? I went to the Nether for Blaze Rods."
"I know. That powder is crushed Rods. We needed them to get into this portal."
"This is a portal?"
"Yes. When I add the last Pearl, it will open a portal to The End. That is where our final destination lies."
"Why do we need to go there?"
Thames looked up at me with steady, yet saddened eyes. "We go there to slay the Enderdragon."
"The Enderdragon is a huge creature, with scales as black as night and eyes glowing purple. It can carve ravines in the landscape with a flick of its wing, and tear you to shreds with a single snap of its jaws. It feels no pity, no remorse, no love, no hate. Just a lust to kill all who invade its realm."
"Why do we need to kill it?"
"The Egg."
"Why do we need an egg?"
"Not just an egg, The Egg. The Egg of the Dragon. The Egg that will, someday, hatch into another dragon that will terrorize our lands. If we don't get the Egg, Minecraftia will be completely destroyed."
"At some point in the distant future. Isn't the Council supposed to leave it stupidly late and make the heroes of the day save Minecraftia at the very last minute, with a nice dramatic ending usually involving death or betrayal?"
"Not so distant, actually. The astronomers have been checking, and all the omens that herald the birth of an Enderdragon have been appearing steadily. So yes, they did leave it stupidly late, and we do need to save Minecraftia at the very last minute. Hopefully we can skip the death and betrayal part."
I stared at her for a few seconds. "Oh."
"Yeah."
She rose from her seat on the edge of the portal and took up the last Pearl.
"Ready?"
"Yes."
Reaching forward, she dropped it into the hole, and the world collapsed.
Slowly but surely, we're getting closer to the End. I'll be dragging this out for at least three more chapters, and then I can get on with the Mellifluousness-inspired ending.
