This Hotel Deserves 1 Star On Yelp

"Just pick one. Any one." Jax said impatiently.

The day after the announcement, Jax had taken me to the armory, which looked like a dollar store, except instead of what would usually be in a dollar store, there were weapons instead. Deadly weapons.

I stared at the weapons that had been hung up on the pale concrete wall. Pleasant music came in through the speakers, and it almost felt like I was shopping instead of seaching for the perfect weapon to stab, smack, impale, or explode Klith.

I stared at a flail made out of iron. The spikes looked sharp.

Nah. I'd probably drop it on my foot or something.

Next to it was a spear that had an obnoxious looking tag on it boasting '50% OFF!'. I wiped the dust off it.

Nope. I'd kill my teammates by accident long before I killed any mob.

A spiked club? Primitive. An battle axe? Too heavy. An enormous hammer? Way too heavy.

I considered the flamethrower, but then decided I'd probably set everything within the area on fire while trying to kill mobs.

Eventually I just settled for an iron double edged sword. It kind of felt awkward in my hands, but Jax was getting impatient and I didn't want to annoy him.

If you thought that I'd been stressed because of the whole quest thing, you'd be shocked at how out of it Jax was lately. He was ready to snap under the stress if anyone talked to him. Jax had been muttering to himself ever since yesterday's 'announcement'. Every so often he would stuff his bag full of items, dump all of them out, stuff his bag with more items, and then put the old stuff back in the bag. I hadn't even begun to start packing yet.

"Hey Jax, I picked my weapon," I told him. "So like, is there anything else I need?"

Jax ignored me—he was running his hand agitatedly through his hair as he stared down a list that reached all the way down to his feet.

"Jax?" I prompted.

"What?" Jax muttered.

"Since I picked my weapon, I can go and pack now, right?" I asked Jax.

"Sure. Have fun."

I stared at at him and tried, "Hey look, it's Notch."

"Yeah, you do that." Jax mumbled. "I didn't pack the potions, did I? God, I didn't. I'm a moron."

I rolled my eyes and walked away from him towards the counter where a bored looking employee handed me a leather sheath I could put my sword in and waved me away. I walked into the elevator, which was both the entrance and the exit to the armory.

I punched a button, and the doors shut.

Soon after, I the doors slid open, and I walked down the hallway, dazed.

How had this all happened so fast? It had only seemed like a few hours ago I'd participated in the game of Skywars, and now I was on a quest to save the world? This was progressing too fast to comprehend.

"Speak of the devil," someone said. I looked up.

In front of my door stood Bandit, Lago, and Rook, all three of whom stared at me until I was uncomfortable.

"Um," I said, "what are you doing in front of my room?"

"Just talking," Lago said, "about recent events. You're going on that quest with Jax?"

"Yeah."

Bandit rolled his eyes as he silently handed Lago a few emeralds, making her grin.

"It is just you and Jax, right?" Rook said enviously. "God, I'm so jealous. You're meeting. Like. The Shaft. Like. The greatest archer. Ever!"

"The whiteboard said it would just be Jax and Toni." Bandit said. "Although I can't say I'm jealous. I mean, confronting Klith? If I were you, I'd start saying my prayers—"

Rook elbowed Bandit in the chest, making him wince. "Ow! It was just a joke."

"Anyways, you better pack," Rook said breathlessly. "This is a big chance!"

"Yeah, chance to get myself killed." I grumbled. "You think that out of all the people here, I'm the most suitable one to fight Klith?"

"Don't worry, Toni." Rook patted me on the shoulder reassuringly. "We all believe in you."

"That didn't answer my question." I complained.

"I said you'll be fine," Rook said. "Come on guys, let's go."

"What?" Bandit said. "But I was about to ask her if the rumors about her being possessed were—"

"Time to go!" Rook grabbed Lago and Bandit by the ear and dragged them off as they protested. "Have a nice quest!"

I sighed and turned to my door, putting my keycard over the card reader.

There was a beep, and the card reader flashed red.

"What the—?" I put the keycard to the card reader, and again it beeped.

"Oh, come on!" I complained. "Why now of all times—"

I heard footsteps behind me, and then suddenly an arm wrapped around my face, blinding me. I screamed until a hand clapped over my mouth, keeping me silent.

I kicked and screamed, but couldn't even fight back as the person holding me dragged me through the hall.

There was a beep, and I was thrown onto the ground. I smacked my head against something, and groaned in pain.

"Open your eyes."

I sat up only to find myself staring into Jared's face.

"What the—what the hell are you doing?" I shouted.

"Bringing down the competition," Jared smoldered.

"What? Why are you doing this?"

"Four years!" Jared shouted. "I've been here for four years, and ever since I used that fire magic I haven't got a single sign from Notch!"

"That's because he couldn't care less about obnoxious brats like you." I snapped.

Jared gave me a cold stare. "You've got a weapon, right? So fight with it."

"You're crazy!" I accused him.

"Crazy? I almost forgot—you're new. This is how people usually settle arguments here." Jared said, and then lunged forwards with his sword.

At the same time, his goons pulled me up, and Jared's sword swung right towards my head.

Welp. I'm dead.

Before the sword cut my head off, it turned, and the flat of the sword slammed into my face, knocking me back.

"What the—" I spluttered.

"Of course I can't kill you," Jared sneered, "or I'd be in trouble. For now, the best I can do is humiliate you."

Jared's blade swung down a second time, and I barely managed to block the swing with my sword. Sparks flew as the two blades slid.

"You are just a scared little girl. A nobody. An orphan, for God's sake." Jared snarled. "And yet you just swoop in and steal the spot light!"

The orphan remark cut deep, and I screamed as I pushed forwards with my sword, "That's because the spot light was never on you in the first place!"

Taken aback by my sudden strength, Jared grunted as he took a step back. Suddenly I get confident, and start pushing even more.

Jared laughed, and then suddenly twisted the sword. The blade pushed my sword aside and pressed against my hand, leaving a cut. I cursed and dropped the sword.

"Whoops," Jared said with a smirk. "I damaged you."

You wish, I wanted to say, but the sight of my own blood made me dizzy.

Jared kicked me in the chest, and I slammed into the wall with a loud thud. I stumbled to my feet as Jared charged.

The room wasn't quite as big as Jax's room, and I didn't have a lot of room to maneuver in. I jumped over a sofa as Jared's sword slashed through the wallpaper, tipping over a small table as I did. Everything on the table fell to the ground with a crash, including a vase with a flower in it that was pretty to the point of making me guilty for choosing the flower over my life.

I turned and saw Jared jump over the sofa, sword in hand. I grabbed the vase and with a pang of guilt, stuck my hand into the vase and threw all of the dirt in the vase at Jared, including the flower.

Jared cursed and spat as the dirt got in his eyes. His sword split the table behind me in half, and I grabbed the vase and swung it, smashing it over Jared's head. Jared stumbled back and tripped over the couch, collapsing onto it.

As he sat back on the couch, stunned, I attempted to jump over the couch but instead tipped it over. The couch slammed to the floor, jolting Jared's head against the floor.

I stepped over Jared and picked up my sword, turning to the goons. They moved forwards, their fists raised, but Jared growled, "Stop."

Jared stood, wiping dirt from his face. He glanced at his hand, which had blood on it that had come from his forehead.

"Dirt in the eyes? Really?" Jared snarled as he advanced.

?-?-?

Y couldn't stand it anymore.

Loud thuds and crashes had been coming from his neighbor's room for thirty minutes now, and he was sick of it. He'd been trying to ignore it as he ate his rabbit soup and read a book, but he couldn't hold back any longer.

Y swore and snapped the book shut. He walked towards the door. He put his hand on the doorknob and then looked forlornly back at the soup, which would probably be cold by the time he was finished bashing his neighbor's heads together.

"I'll be back," he promised the soup, and then walked into the hallway as his door shut behind him. In fact, you might have thought he was going to war instead of beating up a few noisemakers.

Y politely knocked on the door and waited. He may have been as big as a Piglin Brute, but that didn't mean he didn't use manners before beating up people.

The only sound in response was a sound like a vase smashing, and then a couch falling over.

Y grunted. He'd waited long enough. He kicked open the door, only to find—

The newbie, two bulky boys, and Jared, all frozen and staring at him.

Hm. Not what I expected.

?-?-?

I hit the ground again, and gasped as all the air was driven out of my lungs. Still, I got back up and readied my sword, my body burning with exhaustion.

"Wow." Jared raised his eyebrows. "You are really persistent. Too bad you'll lose anyways."

"Shut it," I panted.

Jared looked about ready to insult me again, when the door opened with a loud 'snap'.

We all turned and stared at Y, who was standing in the doorway with a look like someone who had left to go to the bathroom in a movie theater at around what they had thought was the last ten minutes of the movie only to come back and find the movie's ended.

Specific? Yeah. Does that mean it happened?

Maybe.

Anyways, back to my story.

"Huh?" Y said, and then Jared screamed, "GET HIM OUT OF HERE!"

The two goons charged towards Y. One of them swung, and Y ducked and charged Goon #1, lifting him into the air and throwing him against the wall so hard it left a crater.

Goon #2 backed up slightly, but Y didn't give him a chance to get away, grabbing him by the head and then smashing it against his knee.

Suddenly Jared's arm wrapped around my neck, and I felt the tip of his sword poke my neck.

"Move and she gets it!" Jared shouted.

I rolled my eyes at the cliche. "Seriously?"

"Shut it!" Jared snapped.

But Jared had forgotten something—I still had my sword.

I slammed the pommel of my sword into Jared's gut, and then pulled away, turning to face him.

Jared stumbled back and tripped over the couch a second time, his head slamming into one of the legs. Jared slowly slid down, unconscious.

"What a moron! He knocked himself out." I laughed, and then remembered Y was behind me. I turned, and Y pinched the bridge of his nose.

"So it was you making all that noise," Y sighed. "Leave it to the newbie to cause trouble on her first few days."

"Sorry," I mumbled.

"You apologize too easily," Y said casually, flapping his hand at me. "After all, you ain't the one that needs to apologize."

I stared at Y. The whole time I'd known him, which wasn't very long, he'd had this whole 'silent kid' vibe. But right now, he seemed pretty chill.

Y put a hand on my shoulder. "You know, Jax is probably freaking out right now. Come on, let's go."

"What about them?" I said, nudging Jared's foot.

Y considered, and then shook his head. "Leave 'em. They can drag themselves to the infirmary."

I smiled a bit. "Yeah. You're right."

?-?-?

"JARED DID WHAT?"

I winced slightly. In hindsight, I probably should have seen this coming.

"That piece of crap! He stomps around demanding he's the most powerful person in this place, and then beats you up with his two goons watching on the sidelines? What a hypocrite!" Jax shrieked.

"I don't think he tried to kill me. I think he just wanted to prove he's better than me." I said defensively.

For the record: I wasn't defending Jared for his sake. I was defending him because I knew with all the stress Jax was under, he would probably end up impaling Jared with a million obsidian spikes and get in trouble.

"As if that's any better! Why, that little brat should go ahead and—"

Jax then started ranting on and on, cursing Jared so harshly it made my ears bleed. And man, could he swear like drunken sailor. I tried to stop him a few times, and then just started packing while he cursed in the background.

Rook peeked her head into the room. "Hey, guys."

"You know what? Jared can go shove a stick right up his a—"

"Bad time?" Rook said dryly.

"Let him vent," I muttered. "I think he deserves it."

"—and the center of the world? Gee, thanks, NOTCH! I'm SOOO GRATEFUL!"

Anyways, after I was done packing, (and Jax had finished cursing) it was time to head out.

As me, Jax, and Rook took the elevator down to the first floor, Rook turned to me. "Hey, Toni. You ready yet?"

"I probably won't be ready for the next five years or so," I told her. "But I don't think that matters."

The doors slid open, and as we stepped out, people crowded Jax, patting him on the pat, high diving him, some people even hugging him. It was then I realized Jax was a lot more popular than I first thought.

We passed through the crowd and stood at the front doors. This time, people kept their distance.

Cacao shook Jax and then my hand. Bandit patted Jax on the back, and then slipped a few emeralds into my pocket with a mischievous grin. Rook hugged us both, and Lago shook both of our hands like a military officer, wiping something from her face.

"Whoa. Lago, are you crying?" Cacao laughed.

"Shut up," Lago snapped. "It's just….the dust, okay? Hey Jax—don't die, huh? Otherwise I'll follow you into the afterlife and then kill you again."

"Don't worry." Jax smiled. "I'll try not to die."

In fact, people didn't just encourage Jax—they all looked at me and cheered me, giving me encouragement and other nice things like that.

But most of them held back—staring at me with jealously and contempt. I get why some would be jealous. After all, for the little time I was here, I could see that all of them were training for something like this their whole life, and a kid here for maybe two days gets a quest? That probably sucked for them.

But then again, I would have gladly swapped places with someone else. I didn't want this responsibility. I mean, who wants to save the world? It just feels like a lot of pressure.

In the back of the crowd Jared stared at me, holding an ice pack to his head and shooting me a glare that could have burned through bedrock.

Jax pointed into the crowd. "Look, it's lover boy."

"Shut up," I snapped as I smacked his hand. "Didn't your mother tell you it's bad manners to point?"

Jax snorted, but didn't respond.

Owen came out of the crowd and looked at me with interest.

"Reincarnation of Herobrine, huh?" Owen grinned. "I'm impressed."

"It's not really that impressive," I muttered, staring at my shoes.

"Are you kidding?" Owen said enthusiastically. "You know how many people here have been waiting for something like that to happen to them? It's nuts. Anyways, I noticed that sword. Not really quest material, right?"

My cheeks flushed, and I grabbed the stupid iron sword. "Yeah. It sucks, I guess."

"No, I didn't mean—" Owen sighed and pulled a glowing diamond sword from his inventory. "So…this was my grandfather's sword. He went on a quest once, like you. And now…"

I gaped at it. "Are…are you giving that to me?"

"Yup." Owen smiled. "I've been waiting to give this to someone for a while."

"But why me?" I asked.

Owen laughed. "You're the reincarnation of Herobrine. I think you need it more than I do."

"I wish people would stop bringing that up." I muttered.

"It's nothing to be ashamed about, y'know." Owen reassured me. "That just means you're more powerful than the rest of us."

I was grateful for the encouragement, but the way he worded it made it sound uncomfortable. Still, I took the sword from him and swung it a few times.

Perfect.

"Does it have a name?" I asked Owen.

He looked a little surprised. "Oh. A name? I'm not sure if the sword has one. Why do you ask?"

"Y'know. Cause all the cool swords have names. Excalibur, Riptide…all those other famous ones." I mused.

Owen grinned again. "Well, I guess that's for you to figure out."

"I guess it is." I said, and then there was an awkward silence.

"Well, good luck out there." Owen said with an encouraging expression, and then stepped back into the crowd, glancing at me as he left.

"Nice guy," Jax commented. "You two fit nicely together."

My smile quickly faded. "What?"

"You're look like you're on Cloud 9," Jax told me. "You're going to treasure that sword for a while, aren't you?"

In response, I kicked him in the shins.

"Ow!" Jax yelped, grabbing his shins. "That hurt! What the hell?"

"Let's go." I snapped, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him out the door.

We stepped into the front yard of Valaither, and I turned back to look at the mansion.

"Goodbye safety," I sighed, "Hello danger."

We both turned away from the mansion, and our quest started.

?-?-?

We arrived in the same blackstone hallway we'd arrived in before, and Jax led me over to a white portal to the left.

"Why this portal specifically?" I asked Jax.

"Well according to the world maps, Shaft is participating in an archery contest somewhere in Pinefall, so that's where we're going." Jax said.

"Gee, that narrows it down." I said sarcastically. "Now all we have to do is check an entire country."

"Don't worry. It seems like the archery contest is pretty big, so there might be posters around." Jax assured me.

"That's great." I groaned. "So basically, we've got a lot of walking to do."

"That's right," Jax nodded. "So we better get going. I'm not sure how much time we've got left."

"True," I agreed. "I don't think Notch gave us a deadline."

"So let's go." Jax said, and we stepped into the portal.

Everything turned a slightly grim white, and I felt like I was suspended in water for a few seconds before we landed on the ground.

I fell forwards onto my knees, groaning. "I'm still not used to that."

"You get used to it—don't worry." Jax reassured me.

I glanced behind us, and saw the white portal in the side of an enormous spruce tree. As I watched, the portal shrunk until it was gone.

The grass underneath us was a gross looking brown, and Jax ripped up a tuft of it, muttering, "Podzol. We're close."

"Where are we going?" I said.

"Balour." Jax said, holding up a map. "I did a lot of research beforehand and Shaft never stays in one place more than a few weeks, but the information I received says she's in the south part of Pinefall, so that narrows it down at least a little. The portal we went to dropped us off somewhere near Balour, which is a relatively big town, so we're checking there first." Jax explained.

"What if she's in the opposite direction?" I worried. "Or what if your info was wrong? Or what if—"

"Calm down." Jax said. "My information isn't wrong. And besides, if she isn't there that doesn't mean we can't investigate."

I sighed. "Alright. Should we start walking?"

"Yup. We're pretty close." Jax said. "Follow me. I know the way."

You may be asking—what did we do on the first day of our quest?

Walk.

Yup. The only thing we did all day was walk. And occasionally run. And then keep walking. And then, big surprise, walk some more!

As you may imagine, it wasn't a very riveting experience.

And if that wasn't enough, the walk was made even longer because of Jax constantly telling me 'we're almost there' every five minutes.

Eventually the sun began to set, and I groaned as I slumped against a tree, wiping my sweaty forehead with my sleeve.

"Come on," Jax urged. "We're almost—"

"If I have to hear that again I'm going to kill you before Klith does." I threatened.

Jax sighed and sat down on a tree root sticking out of the ground. "Alright, alright. I've just been saying that to make you move."

"I KNEW IT!" I shouted.

"But," Jax said, "only a few more hours and we can make it."

"Few more hours!?" I choked. "My legs are going to break in ten minutes!"

"Come on," Jax wheedled. "We're so close."

"Fine," I snapped. "But we're resting in an hour."

"But—" Jax stopped, and then sighed. "Fine."

I picked myself up off the ground, and we started walking.

Turn's out we didn't have a few hours—it was dark in thirty minutes.

"It got dark really fast," Jax muttered. "Maybe we should rest…"

"Look!" I suddenly yelled, pointing ahead. "A dirt road!"

Jax's head snapped up. "Really? But we shouldn't be there for another few hours!"

"Who cares?" I shouted, running ahead. "Balour, here we come!"

I stopped in the dirt road, shocked.

"Toni!" Jax said as he caught up to me. "What—" Jax began, and then stopped.

In front of us was a small cute little hotel, with smoke coming out of a small chimney at the top. I turned to Jax.

"No," Jax said.

"Yes," I replied.

"Fine." Jax relented. "We can stay at the hotel."

"Thank God," I sighed in relief. "My feet were about to fall off."

"Let's just check in," Jax grumbled.

As soon as we stepped in, a blond man with gray eyes ran up to us.

"Hello there, travelers!" the man's voice was cheery in a way that almost reminded me of the whiteboard. "Can I get you a room for two?"

"Sure," Jax said as he pulled out a green shulker box. "How much?"

"Twenty emeralds, please!" the man said enthusiastically.

As Jax handed the man the emeralds, I glanced around the place. The walls were white concrete, and a few potted plants sat in the corners, as well as a bulletin board on the wall.

Something on the bulletin board caught my eye, and I took a closer look.

There was a paper pinned to the bulletin board with a picture of a smiling archer girl on it aiming an arrow at something, and next to the picture was a small box of words that said: 'Come see the Janlyn archery competition at 4 P.M. at Janlyn tomorrow! Special Guest: Shaft!'

"Hey," I nudged Jax. "You see that?"

Jax grinned. "Jackpot."

"Children," the blond man interrupted, "Would you mind giving a tip? Business has been a bit slow as of recently."

"Er, no thanks." Jax began, but I pulled out two emeralds and handed them to the blond man, glaring at Jax.

"Thank you for the tip," the blond man said with a smile. "TRAVIS! GET THE VISITORS A ROOM!"

"I was going to do that, Michael!" Travis snapped as he came out from behind the reception desk. "Now if you'd follow me," Travis said as he walked past us and towards a set of stairs.

After walking up the set of stairs, we found ourselves in a rather short hallway with doors on either side. This hallway didn't have the same warm vibe as the hallways in Valaither. Instead of red, the walls were a slightly boring beige, and our door was just simple oak.

"Enjoy your stay," Travis smiled as he opened the door to our room. We walked in, and the door shut behind us.

The hotel room's walls were the same beige, and there were no windows. Still the room had a slightly cozy vibe. Luckily, there were two beds, and Jax sat on one of them as he pulled out multiple shulker boxes. He opened one and a map spilled out of it.

"Okay, change of plans." Jax began.

"Nope." I said as I kicked off my shoes and dived into the bed, draping the covers over myself.

"Toni, it's only seven p.m." Jax said, his voice muffled slightly.

"Go tell that to someone who cares."

"Toni…"

"And don't give me that tone!"

?-?-?

I open my eyes and find that I am trapped in yet another cryptic dream.

Really? I thought. This is beginning to get old.

This whole time I've been threatening to end your world. The voice hissed. But I'm afraid you haven't taken me very seriously because you don't know what I will do.

But worry not. For I will show you.

Suddenly Toni finds herself in a peaceful looking village. She looked around, confused.

And then. The rumbling begins.

Trees topple over. Buildings collapse. The sound of screaming fills the air.

Villagers are running around in a panic, a child cries as her mother runs as hard as she can while holding her.

Somewhere in the distance, the ground splits and cracks apart. An enormous wave of lava bursts from the earth, and the ground slowly breaks apart, revealing lava pooling underneath the ground.

Toni turns to run, but finds there is nowhere to run.

The ground underneath her burns away, and she plummets into the boiling lava.

The flames engulf her, and she screams.

All she can see is bright orange, swirling around her...

There's no hope for you. Better to die and spare yourself the pain. The voice hisses.

Even through the pain, Toni opens her mouth.

"Get out of my head."

?-?-?

I wake up with a gasp, and nearly fall out of my bed.

I lay there, panting as if I just ran a marathon. Sweat runs down my neck. I stare at the clock next to my bed.

5:46 A.M.

I turned to see that Jax had gone to sleep, using a rolled up map as a pillow instead of the actual pillows on the floor.

I stumble out of bed and walk towards where the shulker boxes should be. Did Jax pack water? My neck is so dry...

I wander around the room for a while, looking for the shulker boxes, until I realize.

They're all gone.

I blink in surprise. Where could they have gone? Could Jax have put them back into his inventory? Why would he?

Wait.

My inventory.

I check mine and gasp.

It's completely empty. I even turn my pockets inside out.

Nothing. Not even the emeralds Bandit handed me.

But how could that be?

I heard laughing somewhere in the distance, and my head swivels towards the door.

I should wake up Jax. He probably knows what to do.

I turn to Jax, about to wake him up, and then stop.

"You are just a scared little girl. A nobody. An orphan, for God's sake."

There's no hope for you. Better to die and spare yourself the pain.

I quietly open the door, careful not to wake Jax.

The hallway is lit up by redstone lamps in the ceiling.

I can do this by myself.

I quietly stepped down the stairs.

Why am I doing this? I should wake up Jax and just—

No.

There was something...more of a reason why I didn't want to wake Jax. I wanted to prove myself. I wanted to be useful.

I find myself in the lobby of the hotel. I looked around and saw a door behind the reception counter. The laughter seems to be coming from there.

I can do this.

I open the door a crack.

Michael and Travis are in there, along with two other men with crossbows. Travis pulls out a very long sword and sets it on the table between all of them.

A spark of recognition runs through me.

Jax's sword!

"Now, now, now…what's this?" one of the men asked. "An iron sword?"

"No," Travis said. "It's titanium. They look identical, but if you look closely it's got kind of a sheen to it that's different from iron."

"Titanium. no enchants. Alright then—thirty emeralds."

They're going to sell our stuff! I thought, fury running through my veins.

Next, they pulled out a shining diamond sword. I get madder.

That's my sword!

I've seen enough. I quietly shut the door and turned around, looking over my shoulder.

I need to wake up Jax. I need to do something. I think.

At least until I run into the counter with a loud bang.

All falls silent.

A glass falls off the counter, shattering.

The door swings open, and Michael is there. Glaring at me.

I laugh nervously. "So…would you believe I was looking for the bathroom?"

I'm sorry to say this Toni, but you are not as sneaky as you think you are.

Woo! Another long chapter! I'm on a roll, aren't I?

As always, leave a review! It brightens my day and motivates me to write!

Remember to wear a mask, and this is goodbye for now!

Krios