Chapter 5: It Was Like a Nightmare

The dream world was the same as before. However, the sky was tinted gold with the setting sun. Pink clouds danced across the open air, bringing with them a strange peaceful feeling. The air was cooler, and I could detect the faintest hint of autumn in it. The flowers still blossomed around me, and I leaned down to pick a blue orchid.

"I never knew you liked orchids."

My head snapped up. Amused eyes met mine, and were framed by orange hair. He was dressed in a stark white toga, with a laurel wrapped around his head. Why didn't I notice that before?

"Jeb." I greeted, smiling. Maybe this time I would get some helpful answers. "Yeah, I love orchids. And if you couldn't tell already, blue is my favorite color."

He laughed. "I can see your humor has improved. Are you adjusting well?"

I nodded, but a grimace crossed my features. "I think so, besides getting beaten up by mobs every day."

It may have been a trick of the light, but I thought Jeb's face darkened a bit. "I saw you fight the Creeper and Spider. I must say, I'm impressed."

Ignoring the questions buzzing in my head, I shrugged. "I'm sure there are better people."

Jeb considered me for a moment until he shook his head. "I don't think so."

A sigh escaped me. I couldn't hold on to these questions much longer. "Listen, I'm not the best Minecraft player out there. I just remembered the strategies needed to fight the mobs, and then…"

"Then it just came to you." Jeb finished. "Why do you think that is?"

I looked up at him. "I was hoping you could answer that."

I expected him to laugh and tell me to wait. I expected he would be lighthearted about it and shrug off my wondering. However, I did not expect him to sober up.

"Samus." He grabbed my shoulders in a desperate way, like he was clinging to a lifeline. "You and your friends are important. More important than you're probably comfortable with. Keep questioning everything, okay? Keep fighting. If you don't keep fighting, everything turns to dust. Trust your instincts, please. Trust your friends. I know you have questions, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait. I'm so sorry."

I was completely nonplussed. I grabbed his shoulders as well. "Jeb, what's wrong? What do we have to do?"

Our eyes locked, and his usual mirth was replaced with fear. Genuine fear. A shiver ran through my body.

"Samus." He whispered. "I'm so sorry, but you're going to have to fight for your friend's lives. They'll have to fight for yours. All of you, please, fight for the game. Bring peace. I'm begging you."

My mouth was wide open. I thought my body was shaking slightly. Fight? Of course I would, for my friends. However, for the game? I assumed he meant Minecraft, but if it was just that he would've been able to fix it without our help. Whatever was threatening this world, it must be elusive, and evil. Evil…

And then it dawned on me.

"Herobrine. It's Herobrine, isn't it?" I said slowly.

"Smart." Jeb half smiled. "Do you accept?"

Yes, I wanted to say. I wanted to help save Minecraft, but I could not speak for my friends.

"I'll have to ask my friends. But, my answer is yes. I'll help."

He smiled fully once again. "Good. Well, enough dramatics for tonight. See you in your dreams, warrior."

Slightly stunned by his words, I replied, "Meet you in my nightmares, Jeb."

The world dimmed, and darkness blanketed me.

"SAMUS!"

I awoke with a jolt and jumped to my feet. My blurry eyes tried to observe what was happening. Emmy was awake as well, her sword shaking in her hands. My eyesight cleared, and I saw the open door. The sight outside struck panic in my chest.

Tanner was surrounded by a zombie horde. How he managed that was beyond me, but he looked beat up. Bite marks on his body were glowing a faint green, but I knew soon his power would be exhausted. His sword was badly damaged, and he was panting heavily. The wooden sword collided with the mobs, drawing them back. More filled their places.

Without hesitating, I drew the stone sword I had crafted before I had gone to sleep. Emmy did the same. One look was shared, and then we charged at the swarm.

Emmy was considerably better than I had given her credit for. Her sword tore through undead, and a cry escaped her lips. Her defense was amazing. She blocked every swipe the zombies threw, and even thrashed the stone weapon against open spots in the zombies' formation.

My mission was to rescue Tanner. Fury blazed in my chest, and my thoughts cleared. A few zombies had zeroed in on him, and I went for the kill.

Without even thinking, my entire body spun, my sword along with it. I felt resistance as my weapon made contact with the enemies, but I kept it steady. When I landed from my spin, I glanced at my handiwork. The green monsters lay unmoving, wide slash marks decorating their chests. I had cleared the area for a little while, but Emmy was still fighting. We needed to help her.

"Tanner," I commanded, my adrenaline pumping, "Switch to your stone sword! We're helping Emmy!"

There was no room for arguments in my words, and Tanner sensed that. Though he looked frightened, he equipped the correct sword and advanced with me.

Emmy could handle herself well, but she had her limits. The zombies were surrounding her, causing her to panic. Her grip on her sword loosened, and it was dangerously close to falling out of her grasp. Surging forward with more speed, I began my attack.

I tried to spin attack once more. It seemed effective, and it worked. I was aware of someone screaming out, registering that it was probably me. I made my way to Emmy, slashing my sword around and dodging the arms of zombies. Unlike Emmy, I didn't block their attacks. I ducked and swerved, my main goal reaching her.

Anxiety built up in my throat. I was in the thick of battle, with my life on the line. The thought had just hit me, and I almost faltered. However, I was more anxious about not reaching Emmy in time. My life could wait.

When I did reach her, Tanner was not behind me. He was on the outskirts of the hoard, swinging his sword at the outer zombies. Most of them had their attention on me and Emmy, but he was doing his part to draw them away.

My back pressed against Emmy's as we extended our swords. We caught our breaths while the zombies hesitated, almost wary of facing two challengers.

"You ready?" I whispered.

"Bring it." Emmy smiled.

With blinding speed, we split apart and slashed viciously at the monsters. The zombies had the advantage in numbers, but we were too fast for that to matter. My sword ripped through their flesh, and I tried to ignore their screams. Every once in a while, I could feel pain shooting through my body. I forced those thoughts from my mind, focusing on my sword and nothing else. I let instincts take over, and my sword became a part of myself.

When the last zombie dropped, Emmy was laying on the ground, breathing heavily. I leaned on my sword, which was littered with cracks and painted a stomach-churning red. Blood dripped from a scratch on my cheek, and my left leg was burning. I glanced at Emmy, hoping she wasn't in a worse state.

She had a large wound on her arm, but other than that she just seemed exhausted. She gave me a faint smile, but made no move to get up.

"Guys!" We heard Tanner shout.

He was running towards us, a frantic look on his face. He didn't have any scratches or bruises, which made me relieved, yet slightly bitter. Where had he been during that fight?

He was panting by the time he reached us. "Guys, we should head inside. We probably attracted mobs."

I nodded, too weary to form words. With a groan, Emmy forced herself into a standing position. With much effort on our parts, we limped towards the shack. I made sure the door was shut tight before rounding on Tanner.

"Why was the door open?" I asked, a dangerous edge on my voice.

Tanner looked uncomfortable when he replied. "The zombies were outside, and then they started banging on the door. I thought that I could take them, so I went out to fight them. I thought there were only four, I didn't know that there was a small horde out th-"

"A small horde!?" I couldn't help it as I yelled. "There were twenty freaking zombies out there! You could've woken us, or just ignored them! You didn't have to be the hero!"

"Yeah?" Tanner stood and raised his voice. "Well neither do you! You didn't have to command me like a child! You didn't have to run into that swarm and save the day!"

"Oh!?" I challenged. "Well what else was there to do!?"

"You could've waited with me! You didn't have to rush in like a suicidal-"

"Suicidal!?" My voice was angry, but I could hear the hurt in it.

Tanner knew he had the upper hand in the argument now. "You just want the glory, don't you? You don't care that others deserve it, you just take it!"

My eyes glinted in a dark way, and I stalked towards him. Even though he was taller than me, he recoiled a bit.

"You would have been dead if it wasn't for me and Emmy." My voice was low. I wasn't shouting anymore. "I don't fucking care about glory. I want you safe, that's it. You two are extremely important to me. If anything happened to you guys, I would lose it. I just want you safe."

My voice broke at the end. I was tired, and Tanner wouldn't see sense. My head was pounding and my stomach was burning, demanding food. My wounds still hurt, and I felt physically and emotionally drained.

Tanner looked at me with shocked eyes. He appeared touched, but still a bit angry. Honestly, I didn't blame him. As he opened his mouth, my heart dropped.

"Bu-"

"Stop it."

Emmy's voice rang through the shack with surprising authority. Startled, we turned our gazes to her. She was weary, but she had fire in her eyes.

"You two both need to stop it."

My mouth clamped shut, as did Tanner's. When Emmy was this mad, we knew that talking would only make it worse.

She seemed pleased when she was greeted by silence. "That's better. Now, you're both to blame here. Samus," she turned her gaze toward me, "You didn't have to rush in, though I'd probably be in a worse state if you hadn't. However, you need to take time and plan things. You can't do things on impulse. Tanner," Tanner cringed when she locked her eyes on him, "Samus was only trying to help. She's right, without her, you would be dead. And you should know by now that she doesn't want to steal glory, or anything for that matter, from us. Be aware of your strengths, too. There's no harm in needing help."

Letting the words sink in, I realized she was right. I should've made a plan with Tanner. I was too focused on saving my friends that I forgot a key point in my personality. I was intelligent and a quick planner. Sure, when survival instincts kick in I rely on impulse, but it shouldn't be that way. I needed to rely on others as well, but that may take some time. Still, it needed to be done.

Tanner reflected on Emmy's words before looking at me.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I shouldn't have said you wanted it for the glory. Also, that you were-"

I cut him off with a hug. "It's okay." I said.

Emmy beamed, happy that she had solved our problem. She always had the solution it seemed.

"Now," Emmy began, a smile tugging at the edges of her mouth, "Who wants some delicious steak?"

Laughing, we sat down on the cold, wooden floor. We all ate steak, and soon the shack was steeped with green light as our wounds healed themselves. Tanner and I laughed and joked, easing some of the left over tension. Sure, we may fight often, but we were still close.

As we ate, I brought up my dream conversations with Jeb.

"Jeb?" Emmy asked. "Not Notch?"

"Nope, it was Jeb." I answered. "He's visited me a couple of times. What about you guys?"

"Nothing." Tanner shook his head.

"Me neither." Emmy added. "What does he talk to you about?"

I explained our strange encounters, making sure to supply them with all of the details. They seemed confused by most of it, but in the end, we all agreed to fight for Minecraft. However, we also decided that we should build our inventory through mining. We would need iron equipment, and hopefully some diamond as well, if we ever hoped to rescue Minecraft.

Somewhere in the discussion, I let out a yawn. Deeming it was time for bed, Tanner forced me and Emmy to sleep while he took first watch. While we had recovered from our injuries, we were still drained.

I leaned against the wall of the shack and sat down. So much had happened today, it was overwhelming. Another yawn escaped my lips, and my eyelids fluttered shut. Hopefully there would be another conversation with Jeb tonight. I had to admit they were enjoyable, except the last one had a hint of urgency about it. Worried thoughts raced through my head, but I forced them away. I was too tired.

As I drifted, I swear I heard laughter. However, instead of the lighthearted laughter of Jeb, or the warming giggles from my friends, this laugh was dark and menacing. Shivers ran down my spine, and the laughter became louder. I couldn't open my eyes, but I could still make out the white glow of something truly terrifying.

A/N Hello! Not my favorite chapter, but I like it. I hope you enjoyed!