Chapter 8

Enter the Hold...

BanjoNote: Sunday is here! For those of you who forgot, Sundays are my new Update day. Update? Get it?

It's really hard not to burn my eyes off whenever I see that.

Now, now. These chapters are fairly short, only 2k words each. Is it bad? By the Nether, it's very bad. Come the Broken Arc, chapters are going to hopefully be longer, so something to look for!

Another happy thing: There is a confirmed chapter number for Update: Pillage! 100 chapters exactly! It's Fate, baby!

This Chapter does have references to suicide. I won't rate it M, because it's only a slight reference. I, in no way, endorse this behavior. If my story is that bad, then contact me.

Anyways, Time to Enter the Hold!

BanjoMano sure as fuck wishes he owned Minecraft. He doesn't.

[????????]

All I wanted was to find a prophecy that fated the apocalypse. Instead, I found the falling girl.

I was investigating the area where the tunnel ended when I turned my gaze upward. A loud explosion noise echoed down the stone walls, followed by a falling woman, cursing her lungs out of her chest.

Sighing, I stuck out a hand and grabbed her wrist. In a small snap! noise, the two of us faded out of existence.

We reappeared near a wall, and the woman flew out of my grasp and slammed into the stone. She promptly was knocked unconscious, and the shock of the hit changed her clothes into her base outfit- a green tee, brown pants and black boots. Taking out one of my unnecessary cobblestone stacks, I started to block off the wall that allowed passageway to the two of us, then placed two torches on either side of the room.

"Well, yet another life saved." I muttered to myself. "Maybe they'll want an autograph with the 10th Crafter."

Checking my clock, I placed down a bed on the opposite end of the shelter from the girl, and fell asleep."

[Alex]

You'd think that because I'm a Crafter, I'd get visions or whatnot.

I didn't, for your information. I'd like to keep it that way.

The moments before I was knocked unconscious were fuzzy. I remember a hand grabbing my wrist and a face full of plain, gray stone. In other words, I saw my luck in physical form.

I woke up in a gray room, bereft of anything save a bed, two torches, and another person.

"Hey, you." She turned to me. "You're finally awake."

I resisted the urge to sock her right in the face, which took steel power I didn't know I had. Breathing in deeply, I took the girl in. Black hair that fell down a little past her shoulders. Hazel eyes that pierced my gaze. A grey zipper hoodie that was unzipped, showing a white undershirt. A normal pair of jeans, and some black sneakers.

I sat up from my makeshift stone bed. "And who are you?"

She frowned at me. "I should be asking you. After all, it's the least you owe me, since I saved your life."

I could feel my temperature rising. "If you could call leaving me on a stone floor 'saving'. My name is Alex. I'm a Crafter."

She gave me a surprised look, then said "Oh. Another Crafter."

"Anoth-" I sputtered. "You've met another Crafter?"

She laughed, a hearty one that really made me feel bad for getting mad at her. "No, no. I mean, I have in the past, but not recently. I'm the 10th Crafter, Yara'lyn."

I stood there, staring at her. It took me a full 10 seconds to realize that I should say something.

"I - uh, oh." I mumbled. Eloquent, I know.

Yara'lyn leaned on the wall, picking at her nails. "Well? What's your power?"

That question shook me out of my stupor.

"I have no idea." I said honestly. "I've been getting random surges, but I'm getting mixed signals." I had a question of my own. "What's yours?"

"Teleportation, for the basics. Some other passive stuff, like I take no fall damage."

I remembered the event at the Outpost. "Wait - I can teleport also, supposedly." I told her. Yara'lyn stood upright and looked me up and down.

Slowly, she leaned forward and investigated me. "Are... you sure you're telling the truth? Wouldn't be the first wannabe I've met."

Okay, she got right back on my nerves.

"No!" I shouted angrily. "I know what I saw. I was knocked off the tower, and then in the blink of an eye, I was back at the top."

"...sure. Haven't heard that one before." She smiled. "Look, you can just -"

I felt a spark of lightning run up my spine. I thrust out my hand, and a tendril of white lightning shot out at lightning. Yara snapped her fingers and disappeared, appearing right beside me.

"Convincing." She merely said. "That isn't my power, however."

I fell to a knee, suddenly very dizzy. "...who's power is it?"

Yara looked down at me, a look of confusion crossing her face. "Your angry one moment, curious the next? Weird side-effect, if you ask me."

Now it was my turn to look confused. "Side-effect? Our powers have side effects?"

She helped me up to my feet and started to break camp. "I'll tell you as we go. But I'll tell you this - that lightning power? That's my brother's power. BanjoMano."

"A day and a HALF?"

I looked down at Gimero's clock. Angrily, I stuffed it into my belt pouch and turned to Yara.

"And why didn't you tell me this sooner?" I asked through gritted teeth. Yara shrugged. "It never came up."

Why do people always say that? I feel waking up, in general, would bring up that topic.

Now that we were trudging down the dark caves, she decided to tell me just how long I was out.

Gimero would be arriving at Lafor, if I was correct. Athara would... I had no idea.

"I need to get to Lafor," I explained to her. "So... perhaps you could, I don't know, teleport me or something?"

Tilting her head in my direction, she shook her head. "After I get what I'm looking for. There should be a stronghold in here somewhere..."

"Stronghold?" I frowned. "Underground? Doesn't that feel a bit redundant? The hell are you defending against?"

Yara shrugged. "I mean, no Crafter or Human built these. They were randomly found across the world."

"What about Villagers? Did they build these?" I pondered, but Yara snorted.

"Did you seriously ju- I keep on forgetting that you're new to Minecraftia." She took out a pickaxe and mined a nearby Iron ore vein. "Villagers weren't always able to build and craft things like me and you. There was... a war, I suppose you could call it. A group of Humans decided that they were the superior race, and they killed anyone who opposed them. Also known as basically everyone."

"Where were the Crafters?" I asked quietly, not wanting to know the answer.

"Most were busy, rolling in there power and wealth." She sighed. "This was before my time. I was spawned about 20 or so years after the aftermath was dealt with. Look, the point is, a Crafter sacrificed himself so Villagers were equals to Humans. So Villagers couldn't have built the strongholds."

A Crafter... sacrificed himself to... I didn't understand how that could work, but at the same time, trees can float. Whatever the stronghold had, it was probably also mind blowing.

Which reminded me. "What're we looking for in this stronghold?"

Yara stayed silent as the cave went downwards once more, hitting some sort of blackish stone. She took out an... was that an eyeball? And chucked it into the air. It sailed straight ahead, slamming into gray bricks on the wall. She smiled and grabbed my wrist, teleporting toward the other side of the wall.

This time, I kept my footing, though barely. Looking at my arm, I saw that it was slightly faded, translucent. I did the natural thing - I panicked.

Yara watched as I jumped around, bemused. When I finally calmed down, She walked right past me and kneeled down, investigating something on the floor.

"Wha... what the actual hell was that?" I demanded, though it wasn't that intimidating. She looked over her shoulder at me, still with the outline of a smile on her face. "Remember what I said about side-effects? My power is not exactly teleporting. Basically, what I do is I rip you apart and then rebuild you in a different spot. Sometimes the rebuilding takes longer. Once I was stuck in one place for 2 days, though I did try to teleport across half the world."

"That makes me feel so much better." I mumbled. "And what was my side-effect? You sounded like you knew it."

"Your side effect is that your emotions change quickly, which isn't a great thing. People can manipulate them, just as I was and am doing, making you angry. I'm surprised you didn't realize I was teasing you."

"You were -" I stopped myself before I released a nuke or something. "Is there any way to control them?"

Once again, she ignored me. Standing up, she opened up a door and left me behind. I scurried after her, but before I caught up, an arrow whizzed past my ear, hitting Yara in the leg. She pulled out the arrow and turned around, her eyes at me.

"Did you just -"

"Look, I hate you, but I don't hate you that much. Besides, I wouldn't hit you the leg."

Twang!

Yara dove to the side and took out a rapier. Looking down at my blade, I wondered how she got a rapier.

Seeing my confusion, she pushed me aside and ran at the general direction on which the arrow had been shot. Turning the corner, I heard the rattle of bones, and Yara walked out of the corridor, fixing her jacket.

"Rapier?" I asked, gesturing to the weapon in her hand. She raised it up and looked at the steel blade. "It's something called a Tinker's weapon. Most Crafter's have one."

It didn't really help much, but I immediately lost interest. Must've been the emotions thing.

I pulled out my crossbow and walked up to her. She eyed the weapon, then up to me. "I've never seen anything like a crossbow before. Some sort of new -"

I seized up. "A crossbow is a new inclusion to 1.14, also known as Village and Pillage. They can be found on Pillagers - see appendix B - and have a dropping rate of 8.5 percent chance on said Mob. They take 1.253 seconds to load, in which the player will be forced to move at sneaking speed and can complete no other actions. You cannot release the arrow prematurely, as said arrow-"

Yara smacked me on the face. "Snap out of it."

I obliged, shaking off the minor headache I got. Spitting the wikipedia out of my mouth, I asked "How the hell do I know that?"

"It's a Crafter thing." Yara explained. "We know everything that our update brings to Minecraftia. I got polar bears."

"Polar - okay." I stopped myself before I sent Yara into a seizure. "That's interesting. So I know everything in my update?"

She nodded. "You also know the name of the Update. Village and Pillage? Long name, if you ask me. Mine was simple: Frostburn."

Why didn't I get a cool name? I wondered to myself. "And your brother? What was his update?"

She snorted. "Everything in 1.12 was useless, and Banjo knows that. Come on, Alex." she continued into the hallways of the stronghold.

I gave a shrug, and followed her through the many tunnels, most of them practically useless, raising my crossbow in preparation for an attack. Yara looked over her shoulder, slowing down to allow me to catch up.

"I did say that I'd tell you a bit more about Crafters," She started. "I guess the first thing that I should tell you is that Alex isn't your name."

I turned to her on my heel. "I'm pretty sure it is. Someone whispered it to me when I was spawning."

She rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine. It's not your full name. You have a last name, and Alex is part of your first name. Your last name defines your power."

I pondered that, nodding once I made sense of it. "I mean, it doesn't really affect anything. What's your last name?"

Yara smiled. "Phase. Yara'lyn Phase. I learned it a month after I spawned, which is quicker than most Crafters. Typically, It takes a month and a half, maybe 2 months."

Oh. Oh. "It takes two months to master the power?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound too dejected.

Yara turned around and dispatched an attacking zombie in a couple of swipes. "You typically learn your power within the first week, if that's what you're whining about."

I could feel my heat rising. "I'm not whining!"

"You so are."

"So not!" I was totally whining.

She dropped the subject, peering into a room. Tired of staying in the dark, I pushed the question I asked earlier. "Why are we here?"

She sighed, her shoulder depressing. "The 6th Crafter, Solomun Vision, was rumored to have the power to look into the future. He died on the day of the 12th Update, supposedly jumped off a cliff."

"That's awful!" I stated, horrified. "Why would one -"

"Ask such a question?" Yara glared at me. "He could see the future. Some say he saw the end of the world. The same people who say that believe he wrote 2 prophecies, and I'm looking for one."

Mentally calming myself, I breathed in deeply. "So what's this prophecy?"

It was her turn to calm herself down. "If I knew what it was, I wouldn't be here, would I?"

That was a fair point. I bit my tongue. Yara closed the door and looked into the room on the other side. "It's supposedly called the 'Ballad of Beyond'. Someone in Lafor told me that I could find a clue to it's whereabouts, even a passage in 'The Fortress under the Forest'."

Nice ring to that. I thought, deciding that Yara probably wouldn't appreciate any humor from my mouth.

"Come on," She muttered, more to herself then to me. "We've got to keep moving."

And I followed her into the stronghold, wondering what the Ballad might hold in store for the future of Minecraftia.

BanjoNote: Talking. Lots and lots of talking.

But overall, I would consider this chapter to be the most important chapter in the Road to Pillage Arc. It introduces Yara'lyn Phase, who will be very important later on. But not in the way any of you will expect! ;)

Next, Alex learns a bit about Crafter's! Alex isn't even her full name! What is it? Well... I'll tell you in a decade, at the rate these chapters pop out.

Lastly, the Ballad of Beyond? Is it made by the same person who predicted the other Prophecy? Could be. They'll both pop up again, as prophecies tend to do. You might've read some Rick Riordan novels. They sure love them prophecies.

Now, y'all might've seen something on my Profile. The Fall: An Update Story is going to be refreshed! This time, we'll follow the origins of BanjoMano, the 12th Crafter. Unlike this story, the point of The Fall is to make you guys laugh and cry, with sadness and comedy. It will be tagged Family/Friendship and Humour, as opposed to Adventure. The first 3 chapters will be released at one time, since they're short as fuck.

Next Chapter: The Jewel of the Plains! The final chapter to the Road to Pillage Arc. Expect action for Alex, comedy from Gimero, and tragedy from Athara! It won't be too long of a chapter, because I really want to start the Broken Arc! It also will come out today! Two chapters in one day? At the rate I've been writing. I'm practically finished, I just have to edit it!

Long BanjoNote. Read, Review, Favourite and Follow! As always, Banjo On!