Attention, attention! I must say that I will not be here all next week! I am going up to my cottage in Boulder Junction with the family, so I'll be gone for that time, so don't expect any chapter postings then. Thanks, I know you all understand! :D
Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with another chapter from VOiD! I would just like to announce the winner of the OC contest! The winner is Kyle McShade with the OC of Adrian Stevenson, who will be starring in this very chapter! Now, how about some replies to reviews?
Replies To Reviews...
CSICreeper: Ah yes, frosted strawberry, please! X3
Kyle McShade: Congrats on being the winner! I loved your OC, and he'll be appearing in this chapter!
iliketoreviewthegoodstries: Oh yeah! *brofist* And I'll keep in mind to read that chapter!
Guest: That's the Glitch's style; you can't blame it for that.
Enderdude: I feel bad about myself now... But slightly amused... And also, with the OC thing, you're fine. :D
Enderwolf: I know, I know, it just seemed... Don't make me explain it, I can't... :/
Star223: Thank you for contributing.
YoshiEmblem: I read the history.
Somebody10101: That will all be revealed later, my young apprentice! ;)
funkypigeon . com: Er, who's Chris?
EnderBlazeHybrid: When was the first time? Are you referring to the lady that got killed at Salutem's party? Also, Rexum is WAY older than twenty.
CSICreeper: No, I'd prefer if you'd keep it to one at a time. It's easier for me, if you can understand. If you do, then thanks. :)
Alrighty then! Now then, with our new OC in place let's get on with the story! :D
Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with another chapter from VOiD. Last time on VOiD we watched as Mark and his friends saved a little girl named Amelia from a death by mutated mobs. After spending a day with the little girl they headed out on their own towards the jungle where they needed to find the ancient Temple Of Day And Night with the Mastermind inside. With the help of Rexum's epic magic they were able to get through the jungle quickly—or at least as quick as Rexum decided to hobble along with that golden oak cane. They didn't stop for days, but once they were close they rested high up in a tree where the danger was small. But then, in the middle of the night Amelia was taken by mutated spiders, thrown off the gigantic tree onto the jungle floor, then killed with their infected fangs, leaving Mickey, her pet silverfish, alone, and making him turn to Mark to be his new master. But now they finally reach the Temple Of Day And Night. But, before we watch them enter the interesting temple we check back on adults Norman and Lizzy to see how they are taking their loss...
Now, let the story commence!
Chapter 7: A Perplexing Maze And Man
"I... I always knew it w-was unhealthy for him to p-play so m-much Minecraft... But I didn't think it would c-come to this..."
Back on Earth, both adult Norman and Lizzy Cobweb were standing in the brightly lit room where Mark lay on the operation table. Mark lay unconscious, and there were tubes sticking out of his legs, arms, chest, nose and head, all of which were connected to a large whirring piece of machinery behind him. He was on life support, totally in a coma.
Next to him was another operating table. This one held the comatose figure of Vanessa, the same tubes connecting her body to the whirring machine. Both of them were in terrible comas. The doctor standing between the two tables approached Lizzy and said,
"Mrs. Cobweb, I am not sure how to explain their conditions. We know they're both in level nine comas, but we just can't find the cause. Wounds have been appearing and disappearing from his body at random, we've seen blade marks and bruises of all sorts, but then they vanish soon after."
Lizzy just continued to sob into her hanky. The doctor walked over to the machine that Mark and Vanessa's unconscious bodies were connected to and said,
"Your son and daughter have been unconscious for almost two weeks, if we can't find the cause of this soon we will run out of money for the operation. Our only other choice would be to take them off life support."
Lizzy looked up and her puffy eyes glared at the doctor with pure hatred.
"No! You can't take them off life support! Not MY babies!"
The doctor's eyes lowered, looked back to Lizzy, then went to the figure of Mark, then to Vanessa.
"We assure you, neither Mark nor Vanessa will feel a thing, it'll just be like falling asleep for them." he assured her.
Lizzy shook her head, and then launched her arms forward, grabbing the doctor's spotless lab coat.
"I won't let you! We will keep them on life support until you find out what's going on!"
The solemn adult Norman standing nearby made Lizzy release the doctor, and she started sobbing again. The doctor sighed and looked back to Mark and Vanessa on the operation tables. Then he sighed and said,
"Ok, I'll keep them on life support, but we have to find out more about their conditions, and soon."
Norman sighed with relief, and then looked down at his wife. He tilted her head up so she would look at him.
"Lizzy, I think I know what's going on..." he whispered, quiet enough for the doctor to miss.
Lizzy's eyes stared at him wide and red as he continued.
"I think that Mark... You saw that crater where his body was? And you know how Vanessa went missing from the house that night and was found lying right next to him?" Lizzy nodded quietly. Norman leaned closer and whispered in her ear, "The crater they had fallen next to was... Cube shaped."
Lizzy's eyes widened not in fear or anger or sadness, but this time in utterly shocking realization.
"You don't mean they... Just like what happened to us... They're inside..."
"They're inside that temple; both the Mastermind and his Master Compass, both of which will help us find the center of Buenomalo." said Rexum.
Mark, Rexum, Kelsey and Gabe were now standing front of the Temple Of Day And Night. Even though little Amelia was murdered brutally, everyone stuck together and kept walking until they reached the temple. The temple itself was made of a checkerboard-patterned mix of black wool and white wool. The temple was shaped just like a desert temple, so they walked towards one of the side entrances and entered.
Mark's eyes widened in amazement, because the space inside was magically grown to be 10x bigger than it looked from the outside. There was a giant square Yin Yang in the center. The pattern continued throughout the inside. The four of them walked slowly through the black and white room until they were standing on the square Yin Yang. Suddenly, a voice echoed through the room from an unknown source.
"Eeheeheeheeheehee! Welcome, one and all, to the Mastermind's temple of fun! Eeheeheeheeheehee!"
Rexum rubbed two dry fingers into his temple, balanced on his golden-oak staff and sighed impatiently.
"Mastermind, we must speak to you about the Balance Saga." he shouted out, his ancient voice resonating through the room.
The voice, supposedly belonging to the Mastermind they'd been looking for, spoke again.
"Well, if my funny little friends want to talk to me, they'll have to find their way through my perplexing Maze Of Wonder! EeheeheeheeHEEHEEHEE!"
Suddenly, the entire Yin Yang below them disappeared, and all of them fell into the whirlpool of black and white water below. Mark gasped for breath as the suction took him down into the hole, and he started to freefall, the Mastermind's creepy giggle echoing from all around. He landed on his back in a dark room. As he stood up he heard the Mastermind's voice in his head say,
"Time for some devilishly creepy fun! Eeheehee!"
Mark heard a springy noise come from his left, and something smashed into him. He couldn't see what it was in the dark, but he just swung his sword, and suddenly, the room turned blinding bright. He whirled around to see a creepy Jack-In-The-Box that was completely black nearby, which twitched and screeched at him, and then turned white, disappearing in the blinding light around him.
The now-camouflaged Jack-In-The-Box launched forward from somewhere and hit him again, and Mark yelled out in pain as he felt its pointy teeth sink into his shoulder, and he quickly slashed blindly. Just like the last time he swung his sword, the room switched again to the pitch-blackness, and he caught a small glimpse of the evil Jack-In-The-Box before it turned black to disappear.
"Both the room and the creepy toy thingy change when I swing my sword, but how the heck do I kill this thing?!" he wondered to himself.
Mark heard a rustle and lifted up his sword to block the camo-jester creep, and then swung. He heard it screech, and when the room switched to blinding white again he saw the black Jack lying on its side at his feet, its head spinning, its spring twitching and vibrating; he actually hit it that time. Mark wasted no time and brought his sword down, slicing the spring into two, ending the shadowy Jack-In-The-Box's life. The creepy living toy disappeared in a puff of black and white particles.
Suddenly, the surroundings around Mark changed, and something grabbed him from out of nowhere. He blinked for a moment and instantly he was in a room where the walls, ceiling and floor had shifting black and white patterns. He was now in a black and white jelly-like encasing from the neck down, his entire body immobilized. The Mastermind's evil giggle echoed through the room again.
"Let's see how you handle THIS! EEHEEHEEHEEheeheeheeheeheeheehee!" he said.
Suddenly, four blocks—one from each wall—disappeared, and that black and white water starting to gush in. Instead of just flowing and then stopping like the normal water in Minecraft it began to fill up in the room. Mark's stomach knotted and he started to panic. He struggled to get out of his sticky cocoon, plus when he looked around he could see no exit.
The water was already up to his chest considering the small room he was in. He tried to think, but with the panic and the confusing shifting black and white on the walls he began to get a headache. The water now was to his neck, and the only thing he could do was get in as much air as possible. But, just before the water rose over Mark's head he had an idea, and stretched the sticky jelly trapping him up over his head, encasing him entirely. Miraculously, there was a huge bubble of air inside, which he stuck his head in to breathe. He watched as the black and white water filled the room entirely from his safety bubble.
The Mastermind's evil giggle sounded gurgled from inside where Mark was, but suddenly, everything went dark and he felt his eyes close without his doing. He opened them a few seconds later and found himself sitting strapped in a chair in another one of those shifting black and white rooms. He saw a giant creepy black snake with white eyes slither up to him and hiss. Suddenly, in under the time it takes to blink the snake was right beside him.
The snake suddenly duplicated into its opposite, this snake with white scales and black eyes. The other snake slithered to his opposite side, and together both of the snakes rolled up Mark's Minecraft T-shirt, exposing his stomach.
"You'll love this one! It's called Bittersweet Torture! Enjoy! Eeeheeheeheehee!"
Both the snakes licked on opposite sides of his stomach, the white snake's tongue tickling his stomach while the black snake's tongue burned it. He screamed out in pain, but found himself laughing as well. They snakes continued in opposite patterns, letting their tongues slide up his shirt and move all over his torso, tickling and burning it at the same time. Mark immediately understood why it was called Bittersweet Torture, because he wanted to laugh and scream at the same time. Half his body burned with pain while the other one prickled with uncomfortable pleasure.
The snakes slithered down to his feet and removed his shoes and shocks, licking his soles. One foot was being driven crazy by the tickling of the white snake while the other felt like it was being dipped in molten rock. Mark tried to concentrate and figure out what to do, but the torture was making him feel very tired and hurt and uncomfortable. Finally, in the midst of his laughing and screaming he inched his sword near the straps on the chair that held his arms down and cut the right one, freeing his sword arm. Both of the snakes looked up too late, and both were slashed with the diamond blade.
The two snakes hissed and disappeared in puffs of black and white smoke. Mark cut the rest of his bonds and jumped out of the chair, looking for his shoes and socks. Of course, he didn't find them anywhere. So instead he looked around, his diamond sword at the ready.
"Alright, you ghoulish creep, what else do you want me to do?!"
He heard the Mastermind speak again, saying,
"Alright, time for your final game! Eeheeheeheeheeheehee!"
The room shifted and he found himself standing on a gigantic chessboard of black and white. There were no chess pieces anywhere. He stood on one of the white squares. A few seconds later he heard the Mastermind speak again.
"Alright, time for you to meet my monster! Eeheeheeheeheeheeheehee! GOOD LUCK! EEEEEEHEEEEEEEHEEEEEEEHEEEEEEEHEEEEEEEEHEEEE!"
A puff of white smoke appeared on the other side of the room on the king's space. When the smoke cleared there was a glowing black and white ghost, its features distorted, its face twitching and glaring at him with glowing black and white flashing eyes, its fume-crafted body shifting back and forth like a snake tail. It extended two limbs and opened its nimble-fingered hands. Two spheres of black and white energy appeared in them—the black in the left hand and the white in the right. The creature lifted its bony hands up, both the black and white spheres mixing together in a swirl of dark and light, glowing with pure energy. The monster screeched with its hands raised and a group of letters flew from out of the new Yin Yang's aura, forming a name: "SUNSHADOW". To top off the suspense, the tune of "The 5th" by David Garret began to play.
The beast named Sunshadow screeched again and flew forward on a cloud of black and white fumes that made up its body. As it came towards Mark he jumped to the side to make his way across the room. When the creature came close it hurled its Yin Yangs at him, each one barely deflected by Mark's blade. As Mark circled the creature he tried to figure out what its weakness is, but he couldn't think of anything. Instead, he ran forward with his sword and was about to slash through Sunshadow's center when the spirit whirled around and slashed its claw-like hands into his face, sending him flying into the wall with a grunt.
Mark wiped dripping blood from the three slash marks on his forehead, and when he looked he could see that it was mixed with that black and white stuff. But he didn't really care, he stood up, ignoring the searing pain in his wounds. He ran forward and slashed with his sword, but even when turned around Sunshadow whirled around just at the exact moment his sword was at the point to strike and slashed him again in the EXACT same spot, and Mark was knocked onto the floor, blood mixed with black and white substance pouring out of the three slash marks on his forehead.
Mark screamed out of sheer pain, clutching his forehead where his wound was, blood seeping from between his fingers. Sunshadow let out an unearthly screech and its eyes began to glow with even more intensity. Mark collapsed to the ground, still clutching his wound, and squeezed his eyes shut.
"I can't stop this thing! It... It knows what I'm gonna do before I do! God, this hurts so bad!"
Suddenly, from the darkness beneath his eyelids a light appeared. Even though his eyes were closed, an image appeared in front of him. It was black and white like a really old film, and a little blurred, but he could see okay. He watched as a black and white him was grasped around the neck by Sunshadow and lifted into the air. He saw the spirit open a clawed hand and stab all five of its sharp fingers into his neck, and his eyes widened and he saw his mouth open in a silent scream, then he collapsed to the ground, dead. The black and white image faded away and he opened his eyes, and then looked up to see Sunshadow getting closer to him.
Mark jumped backwards despite his immense pain, and watched as Sunshadow lunged to where he was a moment before to grab his neck, but missed. Mark had no idea what was going on, but he stared back at Sunshadow, who screeched and stared at him with malice. Suddenly, everything went black and white like that old movie screen again and he saw Sunshadow lunge forward with both claws open to kill him. His vision returned the next moment, and he saw the real spirit get into an attack position.
Mark threw himself to the side to avoid the lunge, and then stabbed forward, his blade's tip going through the center of Sunshadow's chest. Suddenly, his sword stuck and he let go and fell backwards onto the ground. Sunshadow screeched with anger and pain and unearthly sound, clutching the blade. He could see a small Yin Yang floating around where he had hit, the blade stabbed right through the center of it. It was Sunshadow's now-visible soul, supposedly the monster's only weakness.
Sunshadow wrenched the diamond sword out of its chest and threw it aside, but when it looked down to check the condition of its soul it saw that it was no longer there, and it looked down to the blade beneath, where the soul was still pierced through on the end of the blade. Sunshadow let out an unearthly noise, flying around, flailing its arms, and began to smash into the shifting walls around them. Finally, it bashed into the ceiling above Mark and he dived in front of him to avoid the falling spirit. He heard Sunshadow crash down behind him, feeling a bit of wind on his feet.
Mark stood up and brushed himself off, those black and white fumes covering him from the waist down. He looked at Sunshadow's disintegrating body, and then stared around at the room around him. When he did not hear the Mastermind's voice instantly he again just clutched the three slashes on his forehead, which were searing with terrible pain beyond comprehension. He staggered over to a wall and leaned against it, catching his breath in shallow motions. He sat down there, leaning with his back against the wall, and he felt hot tears run out of his cheeks. From pain and exhaustion, he could no longer stay upright and fell over onto the floor, falling into a subconscious state a few seconds later...
Mark had yet another dream in his unconsciousness.
He found himself standing in that dark room with shifting floors again, only he was on the other side. He ran towards the light at the other end, but then the light turned red and two silhouettes appeared floating in front of the light. Both silhouettes were human bodies, one smaller than the other. Both were suspended like puppets, and then the smaller one twitched and opened its eyes. It had glowing red eyes.
But then, the silhouette puppet-like body went limp and fell to the ground in front of him with an echoing crack, turning into Lucas. But now, Lucas's figure was bent and twisted and bloody, and Mark watched in horror as it disintegrated into many black particles of plasma, which swirled around, fading away into the cold air.
The second silhouette opened its eyes, revealing glowing red eyes again. Then it fell to the ground and turned into the broken figure of Gabe, broken and scarred and bloody. That body also disintegrated into plasma, but this time it was glowing white, also swirling up and fading into the cold air.
Then all of a sudden, he heard an unearthly buzz come from the red light in front of him and the light changed, swirling from red to instead black and white. From out of the black light appeared two evil red eyes, and then two glowing blue from the other. They both looked at Mark for only a second, and then he heard a voice in his head say,
"CHOOSE!"
Vanessa's eyes opened and she looked around. She looked around the dimness of their little room inside the jungle tree, and all he saw was Lucas, lying asleep on his bed. She looked around once more, not seeing anything through the jungle leaves, and decided that what she had dreamed about was nothing. It was nothing... Yes...
Mark sat up on the black and white wool floor and looked around at his checkerboard surroundings. He was again sitting on that giant Yin Yang pattern. He saw no one, but then he heard the Mastermind speak a few seconds later as he was standing up, sweating and shaking.
"Hm... We seem to have a very interesting friend, don't we? Come into the next room, kid, I will speak with you."
Mark saw a doorway materialize at the back of the room and walked towards it. He entered into another room, this one was completely split. On the left side everything was made of black wool, the other side completely of white wool. This made it easier on Mark's eyes. There was a throne split by the black and white colors sitting in the center of the small room. In it sat the Mastermind.
The Mastermind was in fact a tall and nimble jester. His overall height was about three and a half blocks, but he had very thin arms and legs, just like Slenderman. His jester suit was patterned with strips of black and white and the tights were checkerboarded. He wore a black glove on his right hand and a white one on his left, same with his curly-toed jester boots. His face was your typical jester face, also patterned with black and white, and he had a large jester hat with plenty of dangling tendrils—the hat itself spun around on his head like a broken record. And behind a half-and-half black and white mask were two eyes, both shaped like triangles. The right eye was pure white outlined with blurred black, and had a black sun for a pupil while the left eye was pitch black outlined with blurred white, and had a white crescent moon for a pupil.
"So you're the Mastermind." murmured Mark, his eyes beginning to hurt from all the black and white the Mastermind held.
The Mastermind let out another of his evil giggles and then said,
"I've been watching you, Mark Cobweb. I saw what you did with my monster, I saw how you killed Sunshadow, I saw it!"
Mark found himself thinking about those black and white visions.
"I didn't do that on purpose!" he retorted.
The Mastermind drummed his nimble fingers on the throne's arm rests and said,
"Of course, it was instinct! It was MY plan, actually! Those three slash marks from Sunshadow's hand that lay embedded into your forehead," Mark touched his burning forehead and felt the slash marks, wincing when he touched them. "They are the reason you see those visions! Eeheehee!"
Mark glared at the Mastermind and said,
"What do you mean?! Ow..."
"Mark, I planned for Sunshadow to slash your forehead, the black and white energy that you see make him a physical being would mix with your blood and enter your brain, giving you the ability to see into the very near future what would happen if you did nothing! This allows you to change the future if the black and white vision shows a painful fate! I am a genius! EeheeheeheeHEEHEEHEE!"
Mark continued to glare, but in his mind he thought,
"He WANTED me to get slashed across the forehead? Now I'll have a triple-scar up there. Although, maybe it's a good thing, because if this creep isn't lying then I might be able to use these weird visions to stop things from happening!"
The Mastermind continued to laugh maniacally, but then Mark realized something, looked around, and then looked up at him.
"Where's my friends?!" he shouted, gripping his diamond sword tighter.
The Mastermind's forever-smiling face held out two hands and formed a Yin Yang in between them. Mark could see his reflection in it, but then his reflection switched to a live image of two people, their images splitting the width of the reflective Yin Yang. On the left he saw Gabe use his massive muscles to rip out of the jelly in the room filling with black and white water. On the right he saw Kelsey getting the Bittersweet Torture in the chair, laughing and screaming. She had no weapon to save her. Gabe could figure out something, but Kelsey had nothing, and she was completely helpless. Mark looked up at the Mastermind and shouted,
"Gabe can find a way out through the holes where the water comes from, but Kelsey can't get out of the chair! She doesn't have anything to use, she'll be stuck there with the snakes!"
Mark watched as Gabe splashed his way to one of the holes and climbed in, going through and disappearing.
"Well, it looks like your female friend will be getting the Bittersweet Torture forever if she can't figure something out..." taunted the Mastermind, who started laughing again.
Mark threw his arms up and screamed,
"But she's tired and hurt and extremely uncomfortable, you expect her to FOCUS?!"
"Well, she'd better, like I said, the snakes won't stop until they are beaten."
"But she has nothing!"
The Mastermind pointed again to the reflection and said,
"That's not true, Mark."
Mark looked back and saw something very shocking. The white snake with black eyes was cuddling up beside her, and she was petting it, cooing about how cute it was. She didn't have a weapon, but... But she had her own love for animals! Mark watched in amazement as the white snake slithered over Kelsey to the black snake and hissed, and the black snake then cuddled up with Kelsey with the white one, and Kelsey just continued to pet them. She whispered again in their ears and miraculously the two snakes bit off her bonds that kept her in the chair. She stood up and cooed with the snakes one last time, and then headed off-screen somewhere.
"As you can see, swords are not the only tool to use in a situation, hm? Unlike you and her, I had a person wander here a while ago who is STILL getting the Bittersweet Torture. But he's been here for almost two days; I could've sworn he'd die after an hour. I believe his name is Adrian Stevenson. This is him..." said the Mastermind in a singsong voice.
Mark looked back to the reflective Yin Yang saw a different person strapped in the chair with the black and white snakes licking his waist. He looked just over fifteen years old. He had shaggy auburn hair and chocolate brown eyes. He was quite tall and wore a blue checkered shirt, jeans, a cowboy hat, and Mark could see a pair of cowboy boots thrown aside. He looked kinda like a country artist. Mark could see that in his right hand he held a frying pan for some reason—Mark figured it was some sort of mod.
This guy looked like he had been there a while, he was so tired and hurt that he had no strength left to scream or laugh, just silently endure the torture with those wide brown eyes. Mark felt deeply sorry for him, and as if the Mastermind could read his thoughts, which he probably could, he murmured,
"You want to help this boy, don't you? You pity him. Well then, if you wish for him to be alive, I will woefully let him go with you—he was fun to play with anyway... Eeeheeheeheehee!"
Mark watched as the black and white snakes in the reflection bit off the straps holding the cowboyish Adrian, who stood up, launched himself off the chair and grabbed his cowboy boots. He walked off-screen, and a few seconds later Mark heard a thud and watched as Adrian teleported right onto the Mastermind, who looked down with his creepy smile at the person now in his lap.
"Helloooooooo!"
"Gyah!"
Adrian tumbled off of the Mastermind's lap, landing on his butt on the woolen floor. He stood up and brushed off his checkered blue shirt even though there was nothing on it. He pulled his boots back on and then straightened his cowboy hat. As he was glaring up at the Mastermind he said,
"Two damn days! TWO!"
The Mastermind just continued to smile.
"You were a fun patient, I will only say that."
Adrian raised his iron frying pan and said,
"I could knock that head of yours clean off!"
The creepy jester sitting before them folded his fingers together and said,
"Oh, I seriously doubt that. Such a young and impudent mind. EEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!"
"Mastermind, that's enough!"
Mark turned his head around to see Rexum walk through the doorway, hobbling along on his golden oak staff. He stopped behind Mark and Adrian, who turned around to see him.
"You've had your fun, now we must discuss serious business." he muttered discouragingly.
Mastermind's two sun and moon eyes rolled and he said,
"Alright, I'll summon those other two people in here." he snapped his fingers and called out with, "Ridere! Clamatis! Come!" he shouted, slapping his thigh.
The white snake with black eyes and the black snake with white eyes slithered in through the doorway, brushing past Mark and Adrian, who both flinched a little. The two snakes stood at full height at the Mastermind's feet for only a moment, but then their snake bodies twisted together into a living black and white staff, which the Mastermind picked up and twirled around in his fingers, the snakes not minding it at all. The Mastermind looked again at the doorway and watched as both Kelsey and Gabe entered. When Ridere and Clamatis saw Kelsey walk in they both hissed and uncurled from their staff formation and slithered towards her. Kelsey bent down and rubbed their scales, grinning.
"Hey guys! Miss me? Oh, I bet you did, you cuties!"
The white snake with black eyes named Ridere slithered up onto her shoulder and curled snugly around her left arm while the black snake with white eyes named Clamatis curled around her right leg like it was a tree branch. Kelsey sat down and played with the two snakes while Rexum spoke to the Mastermind.
"Mastermind, we need the Master Compass to find our way to the center of Buenomalo where the Void Transport is." he explained.
The Mastermind swiveled around in his chair and swung his legs over the side, looking over their group with those peculiar eyes of his.
"Alright, I'll give it to you on one condition!" his eyes glimmered with mischief for a few seconds before he said, "You and I have a magic duel! You can use any spells—strength, agility, etc, I really don't care. We can have it right outside in the main room, the young ones can speculate from here, but they may not interfere."
Rexum's ancient pale icy eyes stared down the Mastermind's for a few intense seconds. In the silence Mark heard Mickey's voice echo in his head.
"Master Cobweb? This is bad. I don't like the creepy man."
"It's ok, Mickey." murmured Mark, patting somewhere behind him on the leather of his Blockpack.
Adrian leaned over, having to bend down slightly to reach Mark's ear, and he whispered,
"Who's the old man?"
Mark leaned over and whispered out of the corner of his mouth,
"That's Rexum, he's a fortuneteller/wizard that's been helping us with our journey. I'm the main hero of the third chapter for the Divination Of Dimensions."
Adrian's brown eyes widened and he said,
"Cool. You're Mark Cobweb, right?"
"Yep."
Mark noticed a western accent hidden in Adrian's speech and smiled a little. It fit him, he truly was a cowboy with those clothes and that accent. At this time Rexum walked another step forward and stared deep into the Mastermind's black and white sun/moon eyes and declared,
"I believe this is how the young people say it, so I say it now: challenge accepted!"
The Mastermind leapt off his throne and over everyone's head and landed in front of the doorway. They all turned around to see Rexum shuffle with his golden oak cane up to the Mastermind's side. The Mastermind snapped his fingers and Ridere and Clamatis slithered over to him, twisting again into the long staff. Together the two magic men headed into the larger room, and Mark, Kelsey, Gabe and Adrian all crowded around the doorway to watch. They Gabe and Adrian were tall enough to see over Mark and Kelsey, but both Mark and Kelsey fought over the space. Mark got stuck lying on the floor while Kelsey stood over him. It wasn't comfortable, but they could all see.
Mastermind's made his way to one end of the room walking like an Enderman would, using that half walk/glide motion. Rexum took another two minutes to hobble to the other end on his cane, but finally he stopped at the black and white wall opposite of the Mastermind. Then the magic duel began.
Rexum held up his cane and pointed it at the Mastermind. A golden beam shot from it, which formed a bolt like lightning, crackling loudly as it hurtled towards the Mastermind. But the creepy jester held out his own staff made from the two snakes and deflected the lightning, sending it all over the place. Then Rexum stopped and it was the Mastermind's turn.
The Mastermind twirled his staff in midair, and it stopped above him, suspended there. From out of the two spinning ends came a black beam of energy and a white one. The two of them swirled around into a vortex, spiraling towards Rexum. But then Rexum brought down his staff on the ground and created that glittery gold force field around him, and the energy merely bounced off. The Mastermind stopped and caught his staff, giving Rexum the opportunity to strike.
Rexum, even though he was probably over a hundred years old, zoomed forward with his staff in his right hand close to his side. He thrust it at the Mastermind, who blocked it with his own staff, the two of them creating a burst of light when they hit. Rexum dodged a swing from the Mastermind's staff, which, for the record, was at least three times longer. Then he jumped up and sliced with his gold-embedded staff, but was blocked by the Mastermind again. Rexum was now floating in the air on a cloud of gold particles, and he flew backwards, his green robes fluttering in the air. The Mastermind twirled his black and white staff again and created a tornado, which flew underneath him, allowing him to go up into the air with Rexum, whose eyes intensified.
"Not bad, old friend! Eeheeheeheeheehee! It's been a while; a couple hundred years, as I remember it."
On the floor in the doorway Mark's eyes widened and he thought to himself,
"Geez, Rexum's older than I thought! Hundreds of years at least!"
Rexum flew forward on his cloud and swung, the two staffs meeting again in a burst of light. Their staffs flew back and forth with blurring speed, and it was hard to watch with all the light flashes. It was pretty darn cool to all of them watching from the doorway, since everyone viewed Rexum as a rickety old fart.
The Mastermind twirled his black and white staff around with two hands, creating a swirling vortex of light and dark in front of it. Rexum turned away instantly; he knew better than to look into the vortex. But then the staff was brought down, smacking into Rexum's forehead, and the old man fell down to the black and white ground of wool, his many braids of silver hair flying up. As soon as he landed he held up his golden oak staff to knock away a stab from the Mastermind, who did a graceful backflip the moment later to avoid the old man's own swipes.
When the Mastermind landed he thrust out his staff to hit Rexum, but the robed man ducked out of the way every time the Mastermind's staff flew in his direction. Finally, Rexum was close enough for his plan, and he did a quick frontflip all the way over the Mastermind, slicing behind while in midair. His golden oak staff finally met the Mastermind's body, and it was powerful enough to send the creepy jester into the wall all the way through the Temple Of Day And Night wall. A beam of black and white energy shot at supersonic speed, colliding with the unsuspecting Rexum, sending him flying through the other wall.
A few seconds of silence in the room went by. Then both Rexum and the Mastermind walked in through their holes in the black and white walls. Rexum's robes were again tattered and torn, their rips even bigger than before. The Mastermind was clutching his left arm and limping as he walked in. Both of them looked roughed up. Rexum and the Mastermind stopped in front of each other in the center where the giant Yin Yang was and then shook hands.
"Eeheehee... Hee... Let's call this a draw." muttered the Mastermind.
Rexum nodded silently, but then let go of the jester's nimble fingers and said,
"A deal's a deal. Now you must give us the Master Compass."
The Mastermind held out his right hand with the black glove and turned it upside-down, then back up again, and a compass appeared. All of it was black except the thin white needle inside, which quivered slightly. Rexum reached out his bony hand to take the Master Compass, but the Mastermind closed his hand over it and said,
"First tell me why."
Rexum sighed, his voice strained, but still explained.
"My young companion Mark Cobweb is the Ultra Hero of the third chapter from the Divination Of Dimensions, and he needs to get the Balance Core from the Void Transport to the Void Palace to the Aether and place it back on its rightful pedestal. In order to get to the Void Transport we need to find the center of Buenomalo, which means we need the Master Compass to guide us."
The Mastermind took a glance at all of them who had been stuffed into the doorway. He beckoned for them to approach, so everyone fought their way through the doorway until they were all through it. Mark walked until he stood before the slender Mastermind, who stared down at him with those peculiar sun and moon eyes.
"May I see the Balance Core?"
Mark nodded and took off his Blockpack and set it on the ground. As he was looking for it Mickey crawled out and lay down on Mark's shoulder, looking with his beady black eyes at the Mastermind. His voice echoed inside Mark's head.
"Master, he is scary."
Mark pulled out the lidless bottle that held the item form of the Balance Core and handed it to the Mastermind, who inspected it closely.
"Ah yes, I remember when I made this so long ago..."
"YOU made it?" said Adrian in that western accent.
"Of course. Seeing it again is comforting but at the same time disturbing; this belongs on its pedestal in the Aether Palace under Notch's protection, not stuck up in this bottle..." murmured the Mastermind.
The tall jester handed the Balance Core in its bottle back to Mark, who clutched it in his hand with a sort of pride.
"Well, you had better go then!" he tossed Mark the Master Compass, and he caught it with his other hand. "I wish to see my Balance Core where it should be very soon."
Mark looked at the Balance Core in its bottle and thought to himself,
"Man... This little black and white cube is the item that will decide the life or death of all the dimensions in the universe. I just CAN'T let the Glitch take it from me, if I lose this now it will be able to harness its power and... And take over all of the dimensions..."
Mark tightened his grip on the bottle with that all-powerful black and white cube inside. He WOULD succeed in getting it safely to the Aether, even if he had to die for it.
They waved goodbye to the Mastermind as they left the Temple Of Day And Night, and Mark decided to get acquainted with this western Adrian. He walked up to the guy and said,
"So, Adrian, you're fifteen, right?"
Adrian looked down at Mark and said,
"Tha's right."
"So, what were you doing before you found that temple?"
"I was actually on the run. My city was being attacked by all those mutated mobs and there were black bombs being dropped on our city."
Mark thought about that for a second, because that's exactly what happened to Invacuo City.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Tha's alright. My ma and pa escaped, but I never found them. I've been on the run for about a week."
"Two weeks for us..." murmured Mark.
A few seconds of awkward silence went by, but then Mark looked back up again and asked,
"What was your life like before the bombing?"
Adrian smiled with that long mouth of his.
"Me and my family were the least city-drawn. We always went out into the desert on our horses and roped cattle for the fun, plus we had lots of cookouts, and there was always plenty o' beer," Mark suddenly felt nervous. "So we always had lots o' fun. What about you?"
Mark felt a sudden pinch in his stomach when he thought about Earth. He hadn't thought about it for a long time, two whole weeks, in fact. He wondered how his parents were taking everything. He hoped that they knew he was in Minecraft, because from the stories people told him while he was in Minecraft they got sucked in too when they were his age, so they'd know what to do.
"I'll be honest, I LOVED to have fun. I always went to parties and hung out with friends. It's too bad though, I only ever had one girlfriend, but that was two years ago, and I don't even remember anything about her, not even her name."
Mark's shoulders sagged, but Adrian put his arm around Mark and said,
"Tha's ok, at least you were well-liked."
Mark nodded and then felt himself grin. He looked up at Adrian and said,
"Yeah, at least I'm not like my sister. The only friend she's got is her book!"
The two of them chuckled over that, but then they heard someone shout from above.
"HEY! THAT'S NOT TRUE!"
Mark craned his neck to see, but way up inside a tree he could see a hollowed out room with people inside. He couldn't see who they were, but he yelled,
"Vanessa?! Is that you?!"
"Of course it is, idiot!"
Mark gestured for her to come down.
"Come on down, we need you guys to stay with us!"
Suddenly, there was a scream and Vanessa fell out of the tree. Mark had a sudden moment of gut-wrenching panic, but then when she was five blocks from the ground she caught onto some vines dangling down from the tree next to hers. As she was descending slowly to the ground she shook one fist up at the tree she was in and screamed,
"Lucas, I am going to KILL you!"
Now everyone in their group had stopped to see what the commotion was. They watched as Lucas launched himself out of the tree yelling excitedly, and he too caught onto the vines next-door. Bonbon the baby Creeper fell out of the tree as well, but didn't fall far enough to reach the vines, so Mark jumped to the ground and caught her from beneath. Vanessa stomped over to Lucas with "Moby Dick" poised to strike. Mark quickly stepped in front of her.
"I'm just glad I found you, ok? Now that we're together again, can we get a move on? We have to find the center of this planet—it's name is Buenomalo—and find a transport that'll lead us to where we need to go." he said, being careful not to use any Minecraft words that she wouldn't understand.
After about five more minutes of arguing she finally agreed to come with them. Now everyone was together, and Mark's mind was eased. He had less to worry about, at least.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew! Now THAT was an epic magic duel! Now no one can really look at Rexum like he's a bag of old prunes, can they? How'd y'all like that there western Adrian guy? *gives credit for his cowboyishness to Kyle McShade* Now then, MORE QAA!
To Amelia: How is it in the Aether?
Amelia: Oh, it is very fun! It is always cool and Mr. Notch is really nice! He's not nicer than Miss Kelsey, but still very nice! I miss Mickey though... *sniffles*
To the Glitch: Can I join your army?
The Glitch: MWAHAHAHAHAHA! You?! You must be joking! I accept no one in the way of recruitment, so unless you want to die to help add to my ever-growing energy you're out of luck! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
To Mickey: How do silverfish get inside blocks?
Mickey: We build our homes inside stone blocks; there are many cities around you when you walk by, just too small and hidden for you to see! That's why we don't like humans; they break our houses and kill many of us!
To everyone: Why can't we just get along and play Pass The Parcel?
Mark: What's that? Does anyone even play that anymore?
Vanessa: Can't you see I'm too busy reading... Idiot...
Lucas: Ooh! I love that game!
Kelsey: I always lose, I'm an unlucky duck. ^-^
Gabe: I do not accept requests to participate in activities for personal pleasure, that time could be spent on more... NOBLE activities.
Rexum: How can I when I am always bothered by the future? *gazes off dramatically into distance*
Amelia: NO! I wanna play Chutes And Ladders!
Mickey: I loves games!
The mutated bed from Chapter 4: BLARHGMAHARJRAHGBLAH!
The Glitch: Because GAMES are for the weak! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Salutem: Yes, why not? Inter-dimensional peace is all I ever wanted!
Salutem's right-hand program Ben: I'm now the Glitch's slave; I doubt I have extra time for anything it doesn't order me to do... I wish though... *yells out in pain as the Glitch cracks its black plasma whip on back*
To Kelsey: Do you like Mark as a boyfriend? ;]
Kelsey: Well, he is kinda cute... *blushes* I don't know, maybe! It's a secret! *smiles and winks*
To Herobrine: Why do you sometimes attack people when they play Minecraft and build creepy structures and creep out people? I have gone of MCPE a long time ago because of you!
Herobrine: I mean no real harm, I just want to see the looks on my victim's faces! *snickers to self*
To Notch: What gave you the idea for Minecraft Pocket Edition?
Notch: Back on Earth when I was alive I noticed how EVERYTHING was coming onto mobile devices, so I decided to make myself known among the modern technology. It was an instant success, I do not regret my choice.
Remember everyone, I will not be here next week, for I am going up to my cottage up north in Boulder Junction. Just don't expect any chapter posts, I'll be back the week after! :D
Alright, but for next time, how long will it take for Mark and his friends to find the center of Buenomalo, even with the Master Compass? Will anyone be taken to the grave by the mutated landscape when it turns nighttime? And who knew that Rexum's old figure was capable of that kind of athleticism? Find out NEXT chapter in VOiD!
But for now, this is Pastrinator64, and I'll see you later with chapter numbah eight!
*throws sugar bomb, disappears in a cloud of fine white sugar*
Byyyyyeeeeee...
~Pastrinator64 [~]