Trapped

Chapter 21: The beginning of the End

It had been five days since I ended up in the Trench. I had yet to use the old wooden pick Mephistophelian had given me, and favored my diamond pick. He had been mining out a large room over what he claims to be 100 years. The room itself was dotted with ore deposits jutting from the walls and floor. Not only that, but the room itself was nearly pitch black. I sighed, and lit the room for him. Afterward, I mined out the ores. It turned out to be nearly enough ore for about 300 ingots of iron and enough diamonds to make armor and tools for a group. "Eh, 'ust 'ut 'em in th' fi'e," He said dully.

"You're kidding?" I exclaimed, "This stuff is rare! And to of found this much in that space is nothing short of a miracle!"
"Kid, don't know what's 'uined your mind, 'ut tha' s'uf is wor'less. All you need is one 'hing in 'ife: to 'ive,"

I dropped the ores into the fire as instructed and returned to work, frustrated. About an hour later, the geezer (who surely didn't have his priorities in order) turned to me and asked, "You seen th' 'ew 'dermen?"

"No, I... wait... how could you know about Endermen if you have been living down here for so long? Unless..."
Just then, a wooden door on the wall was smashed down. A tall, thin man in a white lab coat and purple robe, carrying a black pearl, stepped out. "Ahem... Gentlemen? Or should I say gentlemen and Steve?"

"Wait... End?" I exclaimed, dropping my pick.

"Why, yes. Steve," He said, before walking to Mephistophelian and handing him several diamonds. "I, End Mann, have proven once again I cannot be beaten... although, that may draw to a close. The Society that takes my original mechanical creations and brings them to life disbanded. But don't let that get you believing you can win. I did take over the world. I brought life to it. The World of Minecraft is, in a word, a Chimera designed by me, built by me, and prepared to bring the lives of all who oppose me to an end. Heh, what a fitting demise for you. At the hands of a mere biologist's ultimate creation!"

"What do you mean? What have you done? To my friends? To the millions of citizens? What is this?"

I ran forward and punched End. He did not flinch. "Oh, Steve. You must be certainly aware I was prepared for this,"

End jammed a stick into the ground and then pulled it out. A strange gold dust covered the end of the stick. End then chained it to the wall, and then struck it with coal. A brilliant flash lit the room, and I passed out, with the last thing I saw being End raising a sword...

When I came to, I was in a gray stone room with Mark, Harris, Jade and Cavern. The walls were cracked, and the ceiling had to be about 20 meters up. "Welcome... to your dooms!" End declared from above, before leaping down. He struck the ground unscathed, and stepped back. "Well, then... isn't it wonderful? A biologist with a dream became an emperor! A being with the ultimate power! Oh... don't worry about your past president too much. He's enjoying a rest..."

End threw down a gray hat. "Monster. I knew all along you were evil!" Harris shouted, with flint in one hand and an iron ingot in the other.

"Poor idiot. Didn't get the memo? I can not be destroyed,"

End punched a wall and flipped a switch. A door opened and a timer appeared. "I am giving you all sixty seconds to leave this room and begin your trip through a perfectly devised hell. Failure to do so will result in immediate death,"

We hurried out the door and into a stronghold. Strongholds are long, sprawling mazes full of various dangers. This one in particular was created by End and powered by the literally living world. It was capable of altering the dungeon in any way possible. However, it seemed dormant at the time, so we didn't have much to worry about.

On the other side of the door was a set of tracks and several rusty mine carts. We had to travel down the tracks, it seemed. I went first, only for the tracks to come to an end abruptly and drop the cart. I leaped out and landed on a stone ledge to watch the cart be incinerated. "Jump!" I exclaimed, "The tracks lead to a fire-based doom!"

Harris sprinted down the tracks and leaped onto the ledge, followed by Jade, Mark and Cavern. We hurried along the ledge and through a door. The room was full of complex machinery and contained many devices. Some were launching arrows. Some produced purely mechanical monsters, and some merely opened the floor to a seemingly bottomless pit below. We ran, attempting to avoid everything possible. Cavern tripped, and landed in an incinerator. "Cavern!" I exclaimed, before realizing he was a goner. "End... you will pay for what you have done..."

I ran ahead, leading a way for the remainder of our group. We had reached a door when a large, distorted monster came down. It looked like an Enderman, but with several red eyes and legs. I quickly led it back, getting hit with a ball of fire (Yes, it shoots fire as well), until it fell in the same incinerator as Cavern did. I sprinted back to the rest of my friends and punched down the door. I didn't care anymore. Nearly all of us were injured in some way, and didn't necessarily care about safe ways to do things. We needed to be quick. This mess had to be stopped.

The next room was similar to a tall tower, with many ladders and platforms to cross. I climbed the first ladder and leaped across to a platform. My friends followed, and, just as the last of us made it, the room began to fill with lava. I Sprinted to the wall and climbed the ladder, trying to avoid the fiery demise that was following us. I stepped across platforms swiftly, but, as for Mark, he appeared to have broken something in his leg. "Leave me," He said desperately, "you don't need me to be hindering you. Hurry!"

I climbed the last ladder and opened the door, only to look down at Mark, who burned as a sacrifice. "End has pushed the limits," Jade said, "What did we do to him, exactly? Intrude on his work? What did he do to us? Kill Cavern and then Mark?"

"Yes," Harris replied, "End is evil. Knew it all along. This is too far. Must hurry, though. Stop this,"

We ran across a narrow beam and to the next attempt to murder us all...

End of Chapter 21

The beginning of the End is among us!

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