Chapter 8

"Aha! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Bryce exclaimed triumphantly. Carefully, he pulled his two pistols from off the enchanting table. The guns glowed in a purple hue of energy for a brief moment before fading away. He had just enchanted both of his pistols with punch two. That should certainly up a little bang into his buck, so to speak.

He'd been lucky to find this library when he did. Wandering the halls for hours on end got boring a lot quicker than he'd thought. Though, he did see some pretty cool sights on his walk. The castle design was amazing, and the real-life minecraft replicas of furniture and Earth items, spot on. Even so, he was very much relieved when he finally found this library. He'd been looking for a place to enchant his items and what better place to have an enchanting table than a library?

It took him a good ten minutes or so of searching before he finally found it. It had been straight ahead of him from the start! As he walked further along the book corridor though, he noticed things were a bit messy. Tattered books looked like the were blown right off their shelves, pages littered all over the floor near the entrance. There was a lever near the opening that led into the small enchanting room, but since the path was open, he'd didn't bother with it and just walked in.

A couple things were off about the room. The first being that drops of blood were randomly on display near the table and by the entrance. A quick glance behind him, showed that there were drops outside the entrance as well. He scolded himself for his lack of perception and examined the rest of the room. A few books were indeed de-shelved and now laid on the floor in crumpled position. A few pieces of paper had been torn from the books, but it didn't look to be deliberate. The final piece of evidence to confirm his suspicions was the tattered shirt that lay in the middle of the floor. There had definitely been a fight here recently.

He had picked up the shirt and upon studying it, he was a little surprised. It belonged to Zyeke! Damn. He hardly though he was the type of guy to go around pickin fights, but then, maybe he was attacked. Maybe he was injured and needed help. That had given him even more reason to enchant his weapons. He holstered his bb pistols and dashed out of the library.

He stopped at the door, looking for any sign as to where Zyeke might have run off to. Thankfully, Zyeke had left a trail behind him. The bad news was that the trail was marked in blood. The droplets didn't show up on the red carpet well unless you were really looking for then, but they stood out like beacons on the quartz floor. Bryce was about to run off in the direction of the trail, but a sudden thought stopped him. Why was he worrying about helping Zyeke at all? After all, they were competitors in these games. Helping his would be combatants seemed counter productive. Especially since Herobrine's twist he threw in with his visit.

From listening to their conversation in the restaurant before, his arrival in the world of minecraft was much different than his human counter parts. They had been forced, one way or another, to come to this world and compete in these games. His appearance had been absolutely voluntary. The others had been supposedly taken from their sleep or while they were unconscious. For him, it was different.

It wasn't like Herobrine's just suddenly poofed in his room one night and stole him away, no. When he came here, it was in the morning. He was at his house, having the day off from school. And being the minecraft fanatic he was, he decided he wanted to play for a little bit before really starting his day. So, he turned on his computer and was about to join one of his favorite servers, when they all just disappeared entirely. Just like that. He had tried refreshing the page,but it did no good and he was about to close the program and restart when something even more strange happened.

A new server with name 'Minecraft' appeared in rainbow text on his screen. Intrigued, he clicked on it and that's when things turned totally cool. His computer went black for a second, then it shot out a great beam of purple light, which attached itself to the ceiling and cascaded slowly down to the floor. It was mesmerizing at the time. Slowly, right before his very eyes, a sign pixilated itself into existence on his floor. It read 'Step into the light. Come prepared'. Bryce had enough sense to realize where this was going and he eagerly packed his belongings, including his pistols.

He left a note for his mom before going and jumped toward into the purple beam. Almost instantly, he was transported into a minecraft cavern, lit by red stone torches. He was so excited that he wasn't even scared of the sentimental being that stood before him, staring at him with white, soulless eyes. He was originally going to tell Bryce he had to compete in the games in order to get back home. But truthfully, he didn't really want to.

Earth was great and all, but living inside this game world had been a fantasy come true for him. There was no way he would leave it after a week, like some stupid vacation. Nah, he wanted to stay and unfortunately, he told that to Herobrine's. He was a bit taken aback by the news, but then just changed the rules, saying that he'd have to win to stay. And to win, sometimes you've gotta let someone else take the fall.

Bryce nearly slapped himself! What was he thinking? Zyeke was a good person, and even though they'd only briefly met, he felt like they were friends. Him, Zyeke, Ramirez, Sully, everyone. There was no way he was going to abandon any one of them. Besides, he knew enough about the game and read enough fan fiction to have a significant advantage over the others anyway. They'd just keep the games interesting.

With his mind made up, he took off in the direction of the blood trail, hoping that wherever he was, Zyeke was still ok.

"Oh, there you are Zyeke."

Immediately, I burst up from my seat, moving my hands up to defend myself, but I was too slow. I felt a fist slam into the side of my face, knocking me off balance. My head throbbed for only a second before it was replaced with a woozy feeling. My whole world spun and I soon found myself on the ground, staff bouncing away from me.

Hilda's swirling figure smirked as she edged slowly closer. I tried to get up, but the lightheaded ness hadn't subsided from my brain. I slumped back down to the ground, but still attempted to crawl away from my assailant. She found this funny and took a pause to let out a small, dark chuckle.

"Oh please, Zyeke. You've lost. You've been beaten." She walked over to me, grabbing what little hair I had and lifting up. I groaned in pain as she lifted my ear to her mouth. "I am victorious and I shall do as I please with my pri…"

She was cut off violently as I heard a small popping sound and felt something small whiz past my face. She gasped in pain, letting my hair go. I dropped to the ground again, gritting my teeth against the pain in my scalp. Looking back at Hilda, she was holding her left cheek in a mixture of shock, anger, and pain. Red blood slithered down her cheek in a slow, but steady flow. She was seething! She glared behind me at my savior.

"Sup Zyeke!" I heard a familiar, slightly cocky, voice say from behind me. "Thought you could use a hand."

My head had cleared enough to register Bryce voice. Quickly, while Hilda was distracted, I dove for my staff by the far wall. Hilda saw me grab it and hurled another one of her whither spells at me. I swung my staff against it, deflecting it away by the end. I stood up and raised my weapon against her for the first time. At this point I had no choice. I still felt weak from her last attack, but I couldn't let that show. I put on a hard war face and sneered at Hilda. Bryce was next to me in a flash, raising both pistols against her, making a menacing cocking sound. Hilda looked from Bryce to me several times and for a moment, no one moved. Then, she turned, and ran off down the hall. Two against one wasn't in her favor apparently.

I waited until she turned the corner and her footsteps receded far enough away that I couldn't hear them before dropping my guard. I knelt down to a knee, utterly exhausted from the previous battle, running for my life, and a further beatdown shortly afterwards. Thank God Bruce came when he did. I didn't want to think about what might have happened if he hadn't showed up.

My head became dizzy again and my vision blurred. I staggered on my knees until I found the reassurance of the back wall. Bryce looked me up and down, concerned.

"Damn dude, you look like you got the shit kicked out of you." He said in an only slightly teasing tone. I could sense the hidden careness behind it though and I chuckled, despite myself.

I couldn't disagree with him though. I felt a smear of red liquid covering the right side of my head, some of it slowly continuing down to my shirt, which felt wetter than it had. My head felt like throbbing and throwing up at the same time, along with my stomach also being queasy. Yeah, I bet I didn't look my best at the moment.

"Thanks a ton." I laughed, in half a joking response to his bad jeer and half seriousness for his help. "Couldn't have come a little sooner though?"

He chuckled. "Sorry man. Didn't think you were in trouble till I finally found that enchanting room." He knelt down and sat beside me. "What the hell happened man?"

I told him about my plan to construct the weapon which now rested at my side. Finding the iron golem forge seemed to interest him and he asked me to show him that later. I told him about my long search for that damn enchantment table and running into Hilda. She had directed me to that room, but blindsided me with a surprise attack. My near escape intrigued him and he commented on my quick thinking. The rest, he knew.

He whistled. "Wrong place, wrong time I guess. Sorry man. Wish I'd gotten there sooner."

"It's fine. I see you upgraded those pistols though. They sure do pack a punch now huh?" I said with a smile. He burst out laughing at that. I didn't really understand why, but it was too contagious not to join in.

"Hah, yeah. Did you enchant yours too?" He asked, pointing towards my staff.

I pulled it closer to me, picking it up and setting it on my lap. It was quite long, almost as much as me. "Yeah, the golems did a real nice job forging this for me. Obsidian is the hardest substance I know in this world. It should give me an advantage over the princesses, though I enchanted it with Power V just in case."

"Wicked." He said, examining my weapon of choice. His eyes rested upon the diamond mechanism meant to separate the two poles. "Hey, what's this do?" He asked, reaching to press the shiny button.

I grabbed his hand as fast as I could. Half because I was worried about the mechanism and half because I didn't want him to know about its purpose just yet. "Just something I added to the staff man. The golems superheated a diamond blocked and chipped this out for me. But, after being superheated and cooled, it needs time to re-harden. Right now it's probably a bit more brittle than normal. I don't want the golem's work to go to waste." I said, releasing his hand.

"Ah, right…" He said, not totally convinced. He looks at my injuries once again and once again, giving me a concerned look. "Dude, seriously, don't you think you should get those che…"

He was cut off by a loud worried voice. "Zyeke! Oh my gosh!"

Bruce fingered his pistols and my grip tightened against my staff, though I wasn't completely sure I could fight. I turned my head in anticipation for another enemy. Instead, I saw a worried looking girl rushing up to me in a very familiar creeper hoodie. Cupa practically sprinted over to me and knelt down to examine my face. She looked absolutely mortified! Did I really look that bad?

"Hey Cupa." I said, trying to ease the anxious girl's nervous state. "How's it hang…" I stopped suddenly, a sudden bulge traveling from my throat up to my throat. I turned over and cough violently, each convulsion sending shudders and pain throughout my body. My coughs threw up a substance that I would have rather not seen. A vile black substance mixed with blood was spat across the white tile floor. Ugh, was that what Hilda's whither magic looked like? Gross.

My coughing fit didn't last long, thankfully, but my two companions stared at me, now both faces filled with worry. I wiped the blood from my lips and attempted to stand. I got almost all the way up before my knees buckled and I was sent spiraling towards Cupa. She was quick in her reflexes though and caught me by my shoulder, causing me to wince slightly.

"Agh. Sorry." I muttered. "Maybe I do need some help." I said with a joking smile.

Cupa shifted her body position so that I could use her as a crutch by her shoulder. "We need to get to Melinda!" She said franticly. "She'll be able to help you."

"By all means, lead the way." I said, still smiling stupidly. I think some of Hilda's magic was starting to effect my brain. I felt kind of...drugged up. As if a bunch of doctors had given me too much medication to numb my pain. In fact, I could hardly feel my limbs as I forced them forward to follow Cupa's steps. My vision started to blur up again, worse this time. I struggled to keep them open and stay conscious, but the strain was too great for me to bear. I felt myself tumbled forward once again, but I didn't remember hitting the ground.

Ethan was in his room, bent over a table. He had since acquired a book and quill from the chest by his bed and had already begun drawing up schematics for the one thing he did best. Traps. As a player, Ethan loved nothing more than to play with redstone and minecraft's mechanical features. He'd made countless systematic machines that included a sorting system for all his materials he'd gain in the game, requiring him only to dump whatever he had on him into a chest. The rest of his system would take each item, figure out what the item was, and place it in his labeled chest.

That wasn't all though. He'd constructed a fully automated defense system around his house that would automatically sprout forth dispensers that would fire an arrow rain against unsuspecting mobs who wandered too close. An automatic farm that would break all his crops and replant it for him was interesting and very difficult to build, but he had also accomplished that in his gaming experience.

It was quiet in the room, the perfect atmosphere for thinking. Nobody bothered him as he worked on the schematics for his newest minecraft creation he would attempt to assimilate. It would certainly help his team out tactically if he could manage it and possibly serve a purpose in combat. But the latter would have to come later.

After another ten minutes or so, when he had finished his makeshift blueprint, he laid the nearly dried out quill next to the ink bottle on the table. He wiped the sweat from his brow, admiring his newest addition to his file of inventions. It hadn't even taken him that long really, just about half an hour to get every detail down. He had become exceeding quick in his years of engineering.

Ethan wasn't really much of an outdoorsy type of person. He always preferred the sanctity and knowledge of books than the physical strain of sports. Most of the time, he spent his time in his room either brushing up on some engineering concept for trapmaking or appliance functionality or playing minecraft on his computer. He supposed this might seem like a secluded lifestyle to others, but he still had friends, of course. Most of them were online players, but they still counted right?

His sister, Katrina, had always tried to get him to go out more and interact with people face to face, rather than on the other side of a computer. And he would go along with her at times, interacting with her friends, who were always pleasant with him, but nothing more. He honestly preferred it that way, since most of her sister's friends were, well, girls. Pleasant, easy conversation made it easier to talk to them. Anything more would cause him to choke up. He knew. It had happened before.

Perhaps he wouldn't be so shy if he really did make an effort to spend more time around people, but for the most part, he had no real incentive to. The kids at his school wouldn't bully him openly, on account of his protective sister, but that didn't stop the subtle glares he'd get, the occasional note left on his locker, or missing textbook that would magically show up later after a class. He knew not all people were like that, but he really had a difficult time trusting others enough to really have a good conversation with them. In fact, the only people he could recall that he could talk to like that were his parents, his sister, and his online friends, but he had a sinking feeling that they didn't count.

He shook his head, trying instead to focus back on his drawing and a way to bring it to life. But even as he tried, his thoughts shifted to his current situation. He was inside a game he'd played for a long time, inside a castle filled to the brim with staff and very…beautiful girls, and a contestant in a new kind of game he didn't really understand. It was kind of nerve racking, particularly because he had a hard enough time talking to girls, especially the pretty ones. Katrina's friends had been an added exception.

He sighed. He knew most guys his age would have killed to be in his position right now. They probably would have had no trouble flirting with the various princess mobs and becoming well acquainted with his human comrades. But him, he preferred the solitude of his room, the one barrier that separated him from the rest of the world. He knew it wouldn't last forever though.

As if on cue, there was a knock at his door. He got up from the wooden chair he was sitting at and eyed the door nervously. Was it his sister coming to check up on him? One of his teammates coming to discuss some sort of strategy for the upcoming event. Or worse, a princess who might have just come to talk! His mind was racing as he approached the door, still debating whether or not to open it.

The decision was made for him, however, as the door opened to reveal his sister, still dressed in the clothes they'd arrived in. He breathed a sigh of relief, while his sister just sighed.

"Figures I'd find you holed up in your room." She said in that slightly disappointed, yet concerned sisterly voice she always had when finding that he hadn't left his room in a couple hours. "Come on! Why don't you come out and be social, like a normal human being?" She said with a teasing poke at his ribs.

"Hey!" He said with surprise, backing away from his sister's finger. "Give me a break sis! I've been working on a way to improve our chances of winning and getting us back home for the past hour." Although, that wasn't exactly true. He'd spent a good portion of his time making more potions and meandering about as well. "What have you been doing?" He countered, pointing an accusing finger at his sister.

She smiled. "Getting to know my awesome teammates. They're really cool, ya know? I'm sure even you'd hit it off with them if you bothered to talk to em." She lifted a finger to her chin in thought. "Though I would consider avoiding Rot. He seems a little too grumpy."

Ethan mentally shook his head. This was just like his sister. She was always the more social one, making lots of friends at school and being a general happy-go-lucky kind of person. Apparently, there was no exception here. He briefly wondered if she really understood the weight of their current situation, but pushed the thought away stupidly. His sister may be carefree, but she wasn't an idiot. He wondered if maybe she was distracting herself from it by trying to be friendly with everyone.

"Well, come on! Get out of your room for a bit then Einstein. You've been working hard on your project, whatever it is, for too long. It's time for a break!" She said energetically.

Before he could protest, she grabbed his arm and practically pulled him away from his quiet sanctuary and dragged him through the halls. He sent out a little prayer that he would be struck down upon meeting these girls because it would be so much easier than trying to talk with them!

Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter! I am doing my best to get these out on a somewhat consistent basis. I am a little disappointed on the lack of interest on my other story, but I suppose everyone has their preference. Anyway, I'll post another one as soon as I can, but I have something else to discuss with you all. I was reading other stories when I came across one that supposedly had fan art made for it. Now, I don't really want to come across as manipulative, but…perhaps a cool cover picture for this story might get more people interested in it. I'm ok at drawing myself, but I'm willing to let others give it a shot as well. Any artists who'd like to give it a shot, I'd greatly appreciate it and give you credit in the next chapter or so. Plus ya know, it would be really awesome anyway to see art based on my story, but I digress. I'll work on my own and see if I can't produce something, but like I said, any awesome artists willing to wow a bunch of people they don't know, PM me your drawing if you'd like XD. Don't forget to follow/favorite if you haven't already and please don't forget to leave me a review and let me know how I'm doing. Until next time!