CHAAAAPTER NIIIIIIIINE! This is the last part of the first episode! Next time, we're off to get either Magnus or Ellegaard!
Movie Mode
Episode One: The Order of the Stone
Part Nine: Ruins of Past Greatness
The screen came back on to show the gang still in the minecarts, disappearing through a tunnel. It switched to show them climbing out and starting to make their way up stairs.
"Can you throw up, like, inside your body?" asked Jesse.
"Uh-huh." said Olivia, "I know because I just did. About five times."
They reached the top of he stairs and the screen gave them a good look of the small circle of land they were on, multiple minecart tracks leading to and from it. Archways looped over each other above them.
"That's amazing." said Lukas.
"Wow." breathed Jesse, "Look at this place!"
"All theses tracks converse at this point." said Olivia, looking around in awe, "You could probably get anywhere in the world from here."
"Yes, you can." confirmed Ellegaard, "It took years and years to build. Although," she gave the other members of the Order a glare, "I was the one that did most of the work."
"We did some of it." said Gabriel.
"There's the portal!" exclaimed Jesse, and they all gathered round the portal, which was just like the one that had been destroyed. Lukas stepped forward.
"This is what Gabriel was talking about."
"That's our way out." said Axel, walking forwards.
"It must lead back to the surface." Olivia said thoughtfully.
"The surface," said Lukas, "Is also where that creature is."
"He's right." Petra said, "Who knows what you'll be walking into?"
At Lukas' words, Axel came to a sudden stop.
"He's right." said Jesse, "We have no idea what we're walking into. It could be dangerous."
"Jesse should go first." Soren said, "He's the only one that's got a sword."
When no one else said anything, Axel hesitantly turned back to the portal, looking it up and down nervously.
"Thanks for being so brave, Axel." said Lukas, no teasing in his voice.
"Aw, great," Axel groaned, "Now I have to go."
"Alright." said Axel, brow furrowed in determination, "I'm gonna go. I'm going. I'm going right now." He looked over his shoulder at them, before turning back to the portal. He still didn't move. "Like right, right now."
"Oh, just go already!" snapped Aiden.
When Axel still didn't go through the portal, Jesse frowned. "I'll go first."
Petra threw her hands into the air, "Thank you!"
"No offence, Axel," said Olivia, "But I think it's for the best. Jesse is the one with the sword."
Axel frowned, "Yeah, yeah, I know."
"That's not what I was saying." said Axel. Jesse put his hands on his hips.
"I'm going."
"Well," Axel stepped back, "If you absolutely insist."
Jesse walked forwards, briefly stopping in front of the swirling purple that would transport him who-knows where. He looked back at the others. "Well... see you guys on the other side, I guess."
"Be careful." said Olivia. Axel nodded.
"Thanks, Jesse."
"It was for the best." said Ellegaard.
With that, Jesse walked forwards and vanished through the portal.
He walked out the other side and into a pool. Looking around, they're shown that it's nighttime, a small waterfall going into the pool and creating two other waterfalls that went down who knew how far.
"Huh." Olivia cocked her head to the side, "That's not... that's not a temple."
"I thought the portal would be inside the temple." said Petra, "Or at least just outside it."
"Are you nuts?" asked Soren, "If we put that portal inside the temple, it would be incredibly easy for anyone to break in! The temple isn't that far from there."
"Okay..." said Jesse, looking around, "Not what I was expecting." He wadded forwards, trying to spot something out of the ordinary, and a zombie appeared with a groan in front of him.
"All right," said Axel, "It's a pretty good thing I didn't go first."
Jesse drew his sword and whacked it, killing it in two well-placed strikes. "Oh, man. That was close."
Axel walked out of the portal, raising an eyebrow when he saw that Jesse had his sword drawn. Jesse turned to him as Axel made his way into the water, sheathing his sword.
"There was a zombie." explained Jesse. To his right, he spotted stairs leading out of the pool.
"Oh... is it dead?" asked Axel.
"Do you think I'd sheath my sword if it wasn't?" asked Jesse.
"I mean, you know, dead-dead?" he followed Jesse towards the stairs, as Olivia appeared through the portal.
"Yeah." said Jesse. He made his way up the steps, looking around at the grass and trees.
"Where are we?" asked Olivia. Above them, Jesse spotted a wandering zombie on the edge of a cliff.
"In the dark, in the middle of the nowhere."
"Maybe we should bed down for the night." said Lukas, as Reuben looked over the edge of the cliff. A spider is seen climbing along its length. "It's dangerous to be out when it's this dark."
"That's the best idea," said Petra, "You don't know how far away the temple is."
"Thought we were headed toward a temple." said Axel.
"We're looking for a giant building," Olivia said, "It should be pretty obvious."
"Ivor said-"
Axel cut Lukas off, "Ohh, 'Ivor said.' Well, then maybe this is the temple."
"Axel." Jesse frowned.
Onscreen, Axel turned to Olivia, "I'm being sarcastic."
"Axel... come on." said Olivia.
"We have to build a shelter." Jesse cut in. Lukas frowned.
"I thought that was what I said, but... uh..."
"Oh, no." muttered Soren, "I think the shocks wearing off."
Olivia frowned at him, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means," said Ellegaard, "That since Lukas isn't apart of your little group and is instead friends with the people that bully you, and with the shock of recent events turning into stress, you guys are most likely to be... unpleasant towards Lukas."
"Well, it is his fault that Petra's not there with us." Axel said, "If he had helped Jesse-"
"Axel," Petra cut in, "As I've said before, it wasn't Lukas' fault. Fear will either give you adrenaline or, well, make you freeze up. Besides, I'm sure I'm fine."
Axel frowned, but turned back to the screen.
"You're right," said Olivia, "We should hurry. I say we build a treehouse."
"That'll take forever," argued Axel, "And we'll be exposed while we do it." From the way the screen was positioned above the group, a zombie's legs could be seen walking past on the cliff, "We just need a quick and dirty hut."
"Look, whatever it is," Lukas cut in, "We gotta do it fast."
No one said anything at that, Olivia putting a hand on her hip and Axel crossing his arms and glaring at the Ocelot. Lukas frowned at the glare, "What?"
"In a hut," continued Olivia, turning back to Axel, "We won't know what's coming until it's knocking on our door."
"But in a hut, you can just block the door up in case a monster tries to knock it down." Magnus pointed out.
"But in a treehouse, only spiders will be able to get to you and you'll be able to see them coming." argued Ellegaard.
"A treehouse is going to be spider town." said Axel, "I hate spiders." With that, Axel marched towards a mound of dirt and began digging it up.
At the others stares, Axel looked back over at them and gestured to Jesse, "Well, he didn't say no."
"You didn't really give me the chance to." said Jesse.
Olivia looked at Jesse and, with a shrug, he said, "We should get started."
"I think a hut's best." said Petra, "It'll take too long to build a treehouse."
Onsreen, it skipped to show Lukas handed dirt over to Jesse, and the group began building the hut at super-speed. It was done, once again, in a matter of seconds, and Olivia turned to the group.
"All that work and we're still eye level with monsters that are going to try to kill us."
"It's done." said Axel, "It's oer. We aren't talking about it anymore."
"We could have maybe done like a multi-level thing, but..." Lukas shrugged, "It's too late now, I mean, it's... it's cool."
"Well," Ellegaard crossed her arms, "It's better than nothing."
They all began making their way into the hut, Jesse the last one to go in, "Let's keep it together, guys." The door shut behind him.
The screen gave a shot of the moon, before it turned into a burning fire, surrounded by stone. Jesse, Olivia and Reuben could be seen sitting around it. The screen switched angles to show Axel standing, and Lukas a little ways away in the corner.
Jesse looked over at Lukas, who was clutching his stomach.
"When was the last time you guys ate?" asked Petra, "Endercon? And with all that running and the minecarts..."
Abruptly, Axel's voice cut through the silence, "Oh, man!"
"What?" asked Olivia.
"I'm going to tell you something." said Axel, "You have to promise not to freak out."
"What's wrong?" Gabriel asked.
"What is it?" asked Jesse. Axel turned to face them.
"I have cookies." And, sure enough, he pulled out a bunch of cookies from his pocket.
"Oh," said Petra, "Well, there you go. You won't be as starving."
"One for me." he handed one to Olivia, who grinned, "One for Olivia." he handed another to Jesse, "One for Jesse."
"Thanks, Axel." Jesse raised the cookie to his mouth, but lowered it when he made eye contact with Lukas, who quickly lookd away. Axel continued.
"And one for Reuben." He threw the last cookie to Reuben's feet, before looking over at Lukas, "Sorry, Lukas. I only have four."
"Can pigs even eat cookies?" asked Petra, frowning.
"Well, they can," said Jesse, "It won't kill them or make them sick or anything, but they, uh, don't really like it. Most would rather eat leaves than something like a cookie."
Lukas kept his eyes on the screen.
"Oh, no." said Lukas, "It's- It's all right. I'm not that hungry anyway."
"Why don't you just eat the pig?" asked Aiden. Maya silenced him with a glare.
Petra sighed, "Lukas, I know for a fact you only had a caramel apple at Endercon. You must be the most hungry out of all of them."
"I'll just... grab something in the morning. Or something."
Jesse glanced at his cookie, before getting to his feet and walking over to Lukas. He held it out. "Take it."
"Jesse..." said Lukas, "You- You already got me out of that basement..."
"Oh, no, no." Lukas said hurriedly, "I- I can't do that."
Jesse pushed the cookie into his hand, "I insist."
Lukas opened his mouth to say something, hesitated, and give Jesse a grateful look. "Thanks, Jesse."
As Lukas began eating the cookie, Jesse returned to his spot by the fire. "That was for you, Jesse," said Axel, "Not him." Jesse looked at him, before sitting back down without saying anything. Axel turned his glare onto Lukas.
Olivia finished her cookie, looking at Jesse, then Axel and then Lukas. She started speaking, still looking Lukas' direction, "If you had to, which would you rather fight: a hundred chicken-sized zombies or or ten zombie-sized chickens?"
Recognizing the question from the beginning, Lukas gave a small chuckle.
Onscreen, Jesse smiled, "Choose wisely."
Lukas chuckled, "That's a good one. Let me think."
"How can you guys joke at a time like this?" asked Axel.
Petra's smile faltered, "You know, it's always good to keep your spirits up in bad situations."
"He's not necessarily angry," said Soren, "He's just worried. About you, most likely."
"Petra is still out there. She's all by herself. There's nothing funny about that."
Jesse took a moment before answering, "Petra wouldn't mind at all."
"He's right." said Petra, "I'm happy that you guys are safe and at least a bit happy. For now, at least."
"She'd want us to keep our spirits up."
"If I were her, I'd... I dunno." Axel turned away to his back was facing them, "It feels wrong."
"Fine, then." said Lukas, getting to his feet, "We should probably get some rest. We gotta start looking for this temple as early as we can." He walked towards them, "Now, my guess is, if we start at the portal and kind of split up-"
Axel turned around to face him with a frown, "Whoa, what are you doing?"
Real-Lukas looked taken aback, "I- I'm helping, aren't I?"
"Axel, you're being a jerk." said Olivia.
"Did I do something to you?" asked Lukas, "I'd really like to know. You keep getting on my case for what seems like no reason."
"He's just trying to help." said Jesse.
"See?" Lukas said.
"I'm sorry, Jesse." Axel crossed his arms, "I'm not gonna sit here and listen to this guy telling us what's what."
"But- But I wasn't!" exclaimed Lukas, "I was just trying to think of someway for us to find the temple. You're making it out as if I'm trying to convince you that creepers just want to a hug."
"How are they supposed to hug?" asked Olivia, "I mean, ignoring the whole exploding thing, they've got no arms."
"I'm just trying to get ready for tomorrow." said Lukas.
"You're the only one wearing that stupid jacket." Axel said, and Lukas glanced down at his jacket, "Don't tell us what to do."
Lukas took a threatening step forward, obviously angry now, "Take. That. Back."
"Can't." Axel turned away, "Wouldn't."
"You know what? I get to wear this jacket because I know how to build. But that doesn't mean I don't know how to break things."
Axel turned back to him, "Your threats don't scare me, now that we know how you really are."
"Jesse, your friend is way out of line." said Lukas.
"And your's never were?" Ellegaard raised an eyebrow at Lukas, who rubbed the back of his neck, "Jesse has every right by now to just say 'he's just trying to get into your head.'"
"I wasn't going to bring it up, but I can only take so much."
Jesse got to his feet, "Let's just drop it."
"Don't be like that, Jesse." said Axel.
Jesse repeated himself more slowly, "Just drop it."
But Axel ignored him, turning back to Lukas, "Haven't you done enough damage for one day?" he shoved him, "Petra might be dead because of you."
"Axel!" exclaimed Petra. Lukas was glaring at his hands, which were clenched into fists in his lap.
"You're taking this too far, Axel." said Olivia.
"I don't have to take this." said Lukas, glaring at the large male, "Listen... why don't I just leave and let you guys hash this out."
"I swear," growled Petra, "If you let him walk out of there and get himself killed, Ivor won't be the only one getting a beating."
"You can't leave." Olivia said, "It's dangerous out there."
"I can take care of myself. It's what Axel wants, right?"
"Let him leave if he wants to leave." said Axel.
"But he doesn't want to leave." said Ellegaard.
"You're not going anywhere." Jesse said.
Petra let out a long breath, "Thank you, Jesse."
Jesse shrugged, "That was all Axel there; Lukas did nothing wrong."
Aiden shared a startled look with Gill.
"But, Jesse..." Axel said. Jesse glared at him.
"That's enough. We're all on the same team now. He's staying."
After a moment, they all sat back down by the fire, Axel the only one that stayed standing. He glared at the flames.
"Zombie-sized chickens." said Lukas quietly, "That's what I'd fight."
"Why's that?" asked Olivia.
"Because I'm starving."
Thunder boomed outside their little hut, and rain could be seen pelting down from the little window on the door. Lukas turned to Jesse.
"Thanks for keeping me around, Jesse."
"Yeah."
The screen went black.
"Yeah. Thanks, Jesse." Lukas said, "First the golem, then the cookie... now this? You're... unbelievably selfless, you know that?"
"Jesse's always been selfless." said Olivia, with a small smile, "Do you know how he and Reuben met? Reuben was being attacked by monsters near our treehouse and the noise woke Jesse up, so he grabbed nothing but a stick and rushed out to save him. Axel and I gave him a tongue-lashing afterwards."
The screen came back on to show the sun rising above the hills. Their little dirt hut is revealed, and the group made their way out of it and continued on in search of the temple.
Axel glanced at Lukas, but didn't say anything. He quickened his pace to walk beside Olivia. Lukas came to a stop, watching them. Jesse stopped as well, turning to him.
"Sorry about all that business last night." he glanced over at Axel.
"You don't need to apologize, Jesse." muttered Lukas, "You didn't do anything wrong."
"Honestly, I'm just... I'm more embarrassed than anything else." Lukas admitted, with a little chuckle. Jesse smiled at him and walked over to Olivia, who gave him a small shrug.
"Hey!" exclaimed Lukas, and they turned to see him on a hill and pointing to the distance, "There's something over that way!"
"Ah, that must be the temple." said Soren.
The screen switched to show Lukas' back and, sure enough, there was a large structure just overhead. Olivia called up to him, "What is it?"
"Some kind of building, I think."
"Let's get a closer look." said Jesse, and the group walked up to some vines on the walls. They began climbing them, pulling themselves up on to the hill, and getting a good look at the building Lukas had spotted. It appeared to be mostly in ruins, and above the entrance was a bunch of stained glass.
"Wow," said Ellegaard, "It's really gone down hill, hasn't it?"
"We should head in," said Jesse, "But let's be careful."
With that said, they all jumped down, Reuben landing with a squeal. They walked towards the entrance, looking about at the ruins.
"What is this place?" asked Axel.
"That's what we're trying to figure out." said Olivia.
Lukas looked up at the stained glass, "It the temple of the Order of the Stone."
"Lukas, are you sure?" Olivia asked. Jesse pulled out the amulet Gabriel gave him, holding it up and comparing it to the stained glass, which looked just like it.
"He's right." said Jesse, "Look."
"Holy crap." Axel said. They began walking forwards.
"Do you think they're in there?" asked Olivia.
"Oh, please," scoffed Magnus, "If we were in there, do you think it would be such a mess?"
"He's got a point." said Petra, sadly, "That place looks like it hasn't been touched in years. Why'd you send them there if the other members of the Order wouldn't be there, Gabriel?"
"The amulet is like a tracking system." Gabriel explained, "I just hope they can figure that out."
"Let's go in and find out." said Axel. The screen went black for a moment, before coming back on to Jesse's voice.
"Let's just all be careful." they were making their way through a dimly light tunnel, or perhaps a hall. Olivia nodded.
"Okay."
"If you spot anything," Jesse continued, "Call it out. We don't have a lot of time."
Axel looked over at the wall with a raised eyebrow, "Isn't it weird how dispensers are carved to look spooky little faces?" the screen gave them a view of the inactivated dispenser, which did indeed look like they had faces.
"Uh oh." said Magnus. "I forgot about that."
"What do you dispense, little guy?"
"IIII get the feeling that we don't really wanna find out." said Olivia. A hissing cut through the air, and Jesse came to a stop, holding his arms out to make sure the others don't keep walking.
"What was that?" asked Maya.
"Get behind me." said Jesse. He walked forward, looking around for whatever had made that noise. The place was dotted with spiderwebs.
They stopped again when a creaking sound filled the silence, and the screen cut down to Reuben, who was shaking and looking around in fright. With a terrified squeal, he ran forwards and Jesse ran after him, the others following him. They all ran right over two pressure plates.
"That can't be good." said Petra.
A fence closed down behind them, stopping them from going back.
"That's probably not a good thing." said Axel.
Sure enough, the dispensers began making noises, indicating that they were about to fire. "Aw, come on, dispenser faces!" said Axel, "I thought we were friends!"
"Run!" Petra shouted.
"Run!" Jesse echoed her, and they all started running as the dispensers began to shoot arrows. Jesse jumped up to avoid one, ducking down into a roll to avoid another and momentarily stopping as one flew past him, before he and Axel arrived to where the others were waiting.
Jesse put his hands on his knees, panting, but he quickly caught his breath and straightened. He gasped, and it was quickly revealed that even more arrows were being fired in front of them. It seemed endless.
"We're trapped!"
"We activated the dispensers with that pressure plate." he pointed to said pressure plate, way over by the gate, "If we can figure out a way to trigger it again, I bet that'll shut 'em off."
"But with what?" asked Gabriel.
"There's a crafting table." said Jesse, pointing to the crafting table, "Maybe we can make something useful."
"Out of what?" Olivia asked, "We don't have anything. All of our tools and materials are back home."
"All right, everyone," Jesse said, "Empty your pockets. Let's see what we've got to work with."
Lukas pulled out a bundle of sticks, "I have a few sticks left over from building the shelter last night."
"I've got some flint and... a piece of string." Olivia said, pulling them out.
"All I have are some chicken feathers I picked up after that chicken machine exploded." Axel pulled them out.
"Let's see..." muttered Jesse, "I've got some flint and steel. A sword. Oh, and some string from a spider that I fought in the woods earlier."
Soren nodded, a hand on his chin, "Not bad, not bad. I'm sure you'll be able to do something with all that."
They put all the useful items the middle of their little circle. "String, sticks, flint and feathers." said Olivia.
Jesse picked them all up and took them over to the crafting table. He placed down three sticks and three bits of string, and they formed together to make a bow. Then he put down a stick, flint and a feather, and they mixed to form an arrow.
"Good job, Jesse." grinned Olivia, "That'll work for sure."
Picking up the bow and single arrow, he held them up. "Let's do this."
He drew the string back and took aim, letting it fly a moment later. The arrow hit the pressure plate and the dispensers shut off.
"Yeah, that's the way to do it!" cheered Axel.
The gang grinned at each other as Jesse turned to face them.
"All right." said Lukas. They continued down the hall.
"The Order of the Pig's luck is changing." Axel said.
They came to a library- the very same library that was shown in the backstory, but in this scene it was covered in cobwebs.
"This... must be their enchantment room." said Lukas.
They made their way deeper in and split up to do some exploring, Axel speaking up with a raised eyebrow. "Doesn't this look like Ivor's creepy basement?"
"Oh, yeah," said Magnus, "I was wondering why it looked so familiar. You based your villainy liar off our old enchantment room? I'm touched!"
Ivor scowled, not answering.
Jesse walked over to Lukas, who was looking through the bookshelves. "Find anything useful?"
"Not sure about useful," said Lukas, "But.. definantly interesting. There is a lot of history in this room."
Jesse left him to his searching, spotting an enchantment book sitting on an obsidian table, the exact same one that had been shown during the backstory. It must have been created years ago.
He walked over to it, reading it out loud. "The battle was fierce, but the Order of the Stone emerged triumphant, saving the land and assuring that peace prosperity would reign forever."
"Well," said Lukas, coming up behind him, "Not exactly forever."
Jesse turned back to the book and continued reading, his voice being replaced by the narrator that had told the backstory.
"These five members," it showed Soren walking out of his archway of iron blocks again, "Five friends," it showed Magnus, "Together," it showed Gabriel, "Would give so much to gain," it showed Ellegaard, "Their rightful place as," someone wearing gold and blue armor is revealed with their back turned, and they slowed turned around to reveal none other than Ivor. Jesse's voice takes over, "Five heroes."
The Order of the Pig, Petra and the Ocelots gasped.
"They," continued Jesse, as Ivor walked up to the others members, who were gathered around the enchantment table, "Would author their own end. They would slay a dragon."
"Ivor was a member of the Order of the Stone?" asked Olivia, the screen going back to the present- or, well, the future. "The stories never mentioned him."
"You lied." said Jesse, turning to the Order with wide eyes, who all avoided his gaze, "Wh- Why did you lie?"
Gabriel sighed, looking guiltily at the floor, "It's... a very long story."
"This is so... crazy." said Lukas. Jesse nodded.
"This might explain why Ivor had such a grudge against Gabriel."
"They lied to us!" exclaimed Olivia, "They lied to the whole world!"
"Why would they do this?" asked Axel.
"This is so crazy." repeated Lukas, turning to the book. Jesse put his hands on his hips.
"The Order might not be what we thought they were, but Petra is still out there. That monster is still out there."
"Jesse's right." said Lukas, seeming to pull himself together, "We need to focus on hat we came here to do."
"Where do these stairs go?" asked Olivia, looking up at a white staircase. The others walked towards her, Lukas taking the book to look for further info. Jesse looked up at the staircase.
"They go up." He hopped down and began making his way up the stairs, the others quick to follow him. He emerged in what must have once been a large room, but now the walls were crumbling and there was holes in the floor. The sun was setting.
"Now this is cool." said Axel.
"Wow." Jesse breathed. Axel walked over to where the entire wall had been demolished.
"What happened to the walls?"
"More like, what happened to this whole place." Jesse corrected.
Olivia turned to them, "This must have been where they met."
"So where are they, then?" asked Axel.
"Gabriel said that once we find the temple," said Jesse, "The amulet would lead us to the Order of the Stone."
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Axel asked, walking towards him, "Pull it out then."
"I'm afraid it's not that simple." said Gabriel.
Jesse pulled out the amulet as the others gathered around him, and held it up above his head. Nothing happened.
"Is... something supposed to happen?" asked Olivia.
"Well, that as a let down." said Axel, as Jesse lowered the amulet.
"There's got to be something we're missing." said Jesse, "Look around and see if you can find anything." They split up to take a look about.
Jesse walked over to Axel, who was looking up at a giant map on the wall. "Watcha looking at?"
Axel jumped, scowling at him, "Nothing. Whatever." he turned away. Jesse gave him a confused look.
"Axel?"
Axel sighed, "I was just trying to figure out where Petra might be." he turned back around to face him, "I mean, I know she's going to be fine, but I was curious."
Petra shook her head with a small smile, "Sure, big guy."
"We're gonna find her." said Jesse, having immediately seen through him. Axel gave him a sad look and returned to the map.
Spotting Lukas setting on some steps under the map reading the book about the Order, Jesse made his way over to him, "Find anything interesting in that book?"
"The only thing I've found so far is that the amulet was used to track the positions of the members of the Order."
"And does it mention how?" asked Jesse.
"It's less technical and... well, more historical." said Lukas.
Jesse nodded and made his way over to Reuben, who was standing to the side, "Hey, Reuben, find any clues?" Reuben looked down with a sad little noise.
He gave Reuben's head a quick rub, before going over to Olivia, who was examining some sort of pedestal. Upon seeing him, she said, "We're in the temple of the Order of the Stone. The Order's actual temple. Who'd of thought it, huh? A bunch of small towners like us wrapped up in an adventure like this."
"Yeah, it's pretty insane." Jesse rubbed the back of his neck, "I just hope we all come out the other side in one piece." He looked over at the pedestal, moving in front of it to get a better look at it. On it was a banner, which had a drawing of what could only be the amulet on it.
"There we go!" said Soren.
"It's the same as the amulet." muttered Jesse. He stepped closer to it and took out the amulet, placing to on top of the pedestal. It sat there as if it were made for it. Spotting levers sitting on a long white table on the other side of the hole where the staircase was, Jesse walked over to it. There was five levers and in front of the middle one was a redstone block.
Turning the one in front of the redstone block, a little ding came from the speakers and two blocks of stained glass glowed a light blue. On either side of the map was six different colored bits of glass, all with a redstone block behind them.
Jesse pulled another random switch, and the light blue ones went out to be replaced by the bottom two, which were green and white. He pulled a different switch and the green one went out, the light blue one coming back on. Another switch, and the light blue one went out to be replaced by the two above it, which were red and normal blue.
"Is this some sort of puzzle?" asked Petra.
Jesse turned another lever and the light blue and green one came back on, so that all the glass blocks were glowing. The redstone block on the table began to glow itself and shot a light right towards the amulet.
"Wow." breathed Jesse.
"Wow, indeed." muttered Lukas.
On the amulet, the two side gems were glowing, the left one red and the right one green. They shot lights of their own, straight towards the giant map in front of them.
"There's only two lights left?" asked Magnus, looking over at Gabriel. The warrior was looking at the screen with grim eyes.
"It's absolutely incredible!" exclaimed Olivia. The red and green lights directed themselves at the map, the red one going to a little island to the East and the green light going to the middle of a country to the West. "How did they build this?"
"Well, we each had to give a bit of our blood." said Ellegaard, "And it took hours and hours of concentration, spells, potions and nearly three years to complete."
"Wow," Olivia said, "That's amazing."
"Okay," Olivia said, "Now I'm impressed."
"This is what Gabriel wanted us to find." said Jesse, "It's the Order, it's showing us where they are right now!"
Lukas stepped forward, "Look, we don't know enough about how this thing works. Maybe the amulet only tracks them when they're on the surface. Or maybe it doesn't work when they're in the Nether. We have to go off what we do know."
"So there's a chance that Gabriel might still be alive?" said Axel.
Soren nodded, "Yes, the amulet is completely useless in any other world that isn't ours. If Gabriel is in the Nether or the End, he won't show up on the map."
"There's only two lights on that map." Jesse said, "If there are only two heroes left than we know what we need to do. Petra's relying on us. That Witherstorm is still out there."
Jesse looked around at the others, "We know that Gabriel was trying to tell us something. We've got to find the Order of the Stone."
"But there are only two lights," said Axel, as Jesse walked forwards to get a closer look at the map, "There are only two members of the Order left?"
"He said Soren was missing." Jesse remembered, looking up at the green and red lights. Lukas spoke up.
"That leaves Magnus." Olivia finished for him.
"Or Ellegaard."
"But they're on different sides of the world!" exclaimed Petra, "You don't have enough time to get both of them."
"You're all fools." sneered Ivor, "They won't be able to save you, or anyone else! They never have!"
Jesse rolled his eyes, "Shut your yap, Ivor. You're not helping your case."
"Let's head out." said Jesse.
"I'm not going with you guys." they turned to Lukas with startled eyes, "I have to stay here. If I know Petra, she's probably doing everything she can to find this place. She's still out there. She has to be."
"Thanks, Lukas." said Petra.
"We might need your help out there," Jesse protested, "You should come with us!"
"Nah, you don't need me." Lukas shook his head, "This is where I should be. If there's even a small chance that she's alive, I have to stay. Go. Get help. I'm gonna focus on making this place safe before nightfall." he looked around at the ruined walls, "This temple is pretty big though. If we're gonna have a chance at fortifying it, I'm going to need some help." he hesitantly turned to them, "If, uh, maybe one of you could hang back with me?"
"Okay, so two stay and two go." Petra said, "Three, if you wanna count Reuben."
"Sounds like Olivia will have you totally covered," said Axel, "While me and Jesse are out finding Magnus."
"'Finding Magnus'?" asked Olivia with a raised eyebrow, turning to him, "You really think that's how it's going to go? We need Ellegaard. She's the worlds greatest engineer. She'll figure out a way to stop that thing."
"We're trying to destroy it." said Axel, turning to the map, "And when it comes to destruction, Magnus is the master."
"Heck yeah!" shouted Magnus. Ellegaard rolled her eyes.
"You're a smart person, Jesse," said Axel, standing under the green light. Olivia stood under the red. "And obviously, the smart thing to do is to go get Magnus."
"I," Olivia laughed, "Think Axel meant Ellegaard there, Jesse."
"They've both got pretty good reasons." said Lukas, "But we've only got enough time to go after one. What'cha gonna choose, Jesse?"
"Uh, no, I don't think I did." said Axel,"Pretty sure Axel meant Magnus."
"Choose me!" shouted Magnus, "Choose me! You don't want that nerd, you want the King!"
Ellegaard shoved him, "What they need is intelligence, not some idiot with a bomb!"
"Who are you calling an idiot?!"
"Jesse, the point is you should be going to Ellegaard. It's the clear choice to make."
"You gotta come with me." insisted Axel.
"You're my best friend, Jesse."
"It's you and me. Like always."
"Holy crap, are you guilt-tripping him?" gaped Petra.
"That's- That's not cool." said Soren.
Axel and Olivia looked at Jesse apologetically.
"Think about it, Jesse." said Olivia.
"This is more of a gut call."
"We need to make sure we get this right. We're not going to get a second shot at this."
Axel sighed, "Whatever decision you make, I'll be cool with it."
Olivia turned to him in surprise, "Really?"
"As long as it's me."
Real-Olivia rolled her eyes.
"Come on, Jesse," said Olivia, "This is an easy call."
Finally, Jesse turned to Axel, "Get ready to roll, Axel. We're going to find Magnus."
Magnus jumped to his feet, hands in the air, "YES! Take that, Nerd Bird."
Ellegaard huffed, crossing her arms.
"Let's do this." said Axel. Jesse turned to Olivia.
"Olivia, you stay here with Lukas and get this place ready for when Petra comes back, okay?"
Olivia sighed, "Fine. But I'm only doing this for Petra."
"Wow, really. Thanks, guys. Again." Petra smiled at them, which they returned.
Jesse smile at her, "I'll take it." He, Axel and Reuben began making their way to the stairs, when a noise that sounded a lot like thunder cut through the air. Lukas looked over at the giant whole, "Uh, guys?"
They all looked towards the distance, their eyes widening. For in front of the setting sun, far into the distance, was a black mass of tentacles and screeching. The screen blacked out, Lukas' voice coming through.
"Please hurry."
"How did it find you so fast?" asked Gabriel, "The temple is ages away from your home."
"Maybe it can teleport?" suggested Gill. Lukas shook his head.
"I'd rather not think about that."
The screen came back on, the words NEXT TIME ON MINECRAFT: STORY MODE decorating the screen. It faded away to show Jesse, Axel and Reuben back in the Nether and in the minecarts, the deep voice from before speaking. "Jesse and Axel return to the Nether, intent on finding Magnus the Rouge."
It changed to show them in a kingdom, with almost every building sporting a gaping hole, "And find themselves in a kingdom of chaos." it switched to show Jesse and Axel leaning back with wide eyes, looking at something they couldn't see, "Full of dangerous people with poor impulse control and some deadly hobbies."
"Wait, that's your kingdom?" asked Jesse. Magnus nodded with a proud grin.
"Yup! The one and only Boom Town!"
Jesse opened his mouth, closed it, and turned back to the screen. "We should've gone to Redstonia."
Olivia gave him a look, "Ya think?"
The screen showed the Witherstorm, "While the great storm grows, consuming everything in it's wake. Time is running out for our intrepid heroes." It went black.
"So that's it?" asked Lukas, "The first 'episode'?"
"Seems like it." Ellegaard looked over at the archway leading to the hall, "We should probably look around a bit before going on to the next episode. Maybe they've got some food lying around. Besides," her eyes scanned them, lingering on Petra and Ivor, "I think we've got some things to... discuss."
Who did you choose to get? Magnus or Ellegaard? Let me know in the reviews!
Okay, guys, that's Episode One finished. The gang's going to take a little break, because while they're in a place where time stands still, they still need food and rest, and they have to hash a few things out.
Now I've got to go into the garage and continue sawing up a bunch of branches my dad chopped down because they were overgrowing, which just so happen to be infested with ants, beetles and spiders. So, yeah. Wish me luck!
