Hello everyone, and welcome back to Saga of Survival!
I apologize for the long wait. HOWEVER! SoS is now back!
And so, without further ado... start the chapter in 3...2...1...
Chapter 8- Thinking with Portals
I stumble on through the cave, holding out my hands to protect from any oncoming turns. I'd already gotten some nasty bruises so far, and am generally having a very bad day.
My mind wanders to Belle and Niegel. I wonder if they're looking for me, or if they've given me up for lost. Maybe they've found obsidian, for the next step in reaching the End. I'm to exhausted to try to think about the ordeals that will lie before me if I manage to escape my underground tomb.
Suddenly a dim sparkle of light appears before me. I begin to run, hoping it's the exit, but come to a passage with a short wall that rises to my waist.
I peer over the wall.
My first glimpse is of a massive chamber. Its floor is far down below me, and its ceiling stretches up into the darkness, farther than I can see. The walls are made purely of a black, glossy substance shot through with lighter streaks. It is lined with red torches that give off a dim light.
Then I notice the beings moving around in the chamber. Hundreds- no, thousands of Endermen mingle in the cave, chittering and groaning in their strange tongue. I hastily avert my eyes from the spectacle, but luckily none of them seem to be looking my way.
I focus on one Enderman, standing apart from the rest. He has two sticks and several pieces of iron on the floor in front of him. The purple aura around him flashes brilliantly, and an iron axe lies on the floor in front of him.
The sight of this monster using the ability I had counted on as my trump card, the ace up my sleeve, overwhelms me, and I slide down the wall, shaking. They can craft, too! I think wildly. A sneaking suspicion appears in my mind that this simulation is not running at all as it was intended to do.
I look over the wall again just in time to see the axe-wielding Enderman depart the cave through a side tunnel. If he's going to collect wood, that tunnel must lead to the surface! All I have to do is reach it...
Jumping down is not a viable solution. Could I carve steps down with my pickaxe? Not before the Endermen see me. Then I notice a thin ledge running around the cave's circumference at my height. I could move closer to the tunnel on that, and then find a way down.
My musings are interrupted by the return of the axe-wielding Enderman. He carries in his hand a single plank of wood. The other Endermen cheer, then start hasty work. One smashes a hole in the wall, and a stream of lava pours out. The others pick up pieces of the material that makes up the walls of the chamber, and form them into a rectangular shape around the lava stream. The Enderman holding the wood plank ceremoniously inserts it into the lava, and it catches fire.
I feel a rushing sensation, like all of the air is being sucked toward that fire. The purple aura of the Endermen swirls around it. The red lamps flare. The fire bursts into a violent inferno, blinding me for a second, and...
The rectangular space is filled with a whirling purple light. It is just barely transparent. Five Endermen walk forward, holding crafted swords, and step into the light.
I crane my neck to see them coming out the other side, but there is nothing there. They are simply gone.
Time to leave.
_
The scientists watch carefully as the Endermen complete their ritual, hoping for some insight into the mysterious creatures.
"Incredible!" exclaims Notch. "What amazing artificial intelligence!" He moves closer to the screen, but trips over a wire. He grasps for something to break his fall, and comes upon a plug in the wall.
The screens go dark.
As the scientists shout angrily, he shoves the plug back in, only to be greeted with an error message on the screen.
-FATAL DATA LOSS. CONTINUE IN EMERGENCY MODE?-
-YES- -NO-
The nameless scientist stares at Notch in speechless fury. The entire experiment had almost been destroyed, along with the consciousness of their test subject. He could not allow Will to be killed, or else face investigations and the destruction of everything he had worked for.
Still seething, he selects YES.
The world within the computer begins to compensate itself, from the edges in, for this sudden loss of data. The edges become rougher, the details less defined, and reality itself becomes impossible.
_
I inch out onto the ledge. I keep my eyes firmly locked straight ahead of me, hoping not to be noticed by any Endermen. In my deep focus, I fail to notice the pebble until it is too late.
Clatter-clatter-clatter-CRASH!
Every Enderman eye points toward the source of the noise.
I lose my head and begin frantically digging into the wall with my pickaxe, trying to put distance between myself and the monsters. Several Endermen appear on the ledge next to me, reaching out with grasping arms.
Suddenly, my pickaxe breaks through the wall. There is a rumble, and a jet of freezing water explodes out of the wall.
I scream as the Endermen and I are swept off the ledge. The water begins to fill the cavern, dissipating the strange substance created by the flaming wood plank. The Endermen are vaporized as the water touches them. My momentary elation at having discovered their weakness turns to fear as the water level continues to rise. Drowning below ground is not on my list of priorities.
As I begin to slog through the liquid toward my escape route, I notice that the vanishing Endermen are leaving behind small, sparkling pearls as they are destroyed. I stuff as many as I can into my backpack, and keep moving.
The tide reaches the tunnel before I do. I run into the gaping maw of the passage, trying to stay ahead of the water, but to no avail. The water reaches a height at which I am forced to swim, and the pressure of the rising water forces my up the steep path.
I am plunged into darkness as I continue moving up, up up... Just how deep was I? I think. Out of nowhere, pure, blinding sunlight comes into view, and I am ejected back onto the surface in a rushing geyser of water.
I wipe my eyes and peer around. To my shock, the village and the cave that I entered seemingly a million years ago are both in sight. I must have been walking in circles the entire time! Summoning up the last of my strength, I walk toward the village, but meet with a strange sight when I reach it.
In the center of the village, around where Niegel and I fought the zombie horde, there stands a dark rectangle nearly identical to the one the Endermen had created down in the cavern. This one however, is devoid of any glowing purple substances.
To my relief, Niegel, Belle, and Bacon appear from around a house. Niegel has his sword drawn, and Belle her bow. From this, I surmise she is in Belligerence mode.
"Hi, guys!" I say in a cracking voice.
Niegel puts his sword down. "Will? I almost didn't recognize you! You're all messed up! What happened?"
Suddenly angry at Niegel, I shout, "Well, here's what happened. I got lost down a cave, saw some Endermen doing a creepy ritual and building some sort of magic lava thing, and now I finally make it out and you are doing the same thing! Are you on their side? Why didn't you tell me? I've been helping you all this time!"
Niegel puts his hands out. "Will, calm down. None of us want anything to do with the Endermen. This is all to reach the End, like you know we've been trying to do all along, and shut down the simulation."
He points to the black rectangle. "That's a Nether portal, made of obsidian. When I light it, we can travel through it to reach the Nether, where we can find materials that will aid us in reaching the End."
I think about this. "Fine. I'll believe you. But what were the Endermen doing going to the Nether? I thought they lived in the End!"
Niegel shrugs. "I honestly don't know. Now, what say we-"
He is interrupted by a clap of thunder. A storm had moved in overhead, unbeknownst to us. Belligerence points down an alley, and we take off for Niegel's home.
I count the seconds between the lightning and thunder, and find that the strikes are very close to us. I hope against hope that we can make it back in time.
My hopes are dashed when an earsplitting sound deafens me, and a flash of light and force throws me onto the ground. Lightning must have struck right next to us. I turn around, and see Bacon lying on the ground, smoking.
"Noooo!" I run back to my pet, but halt when he stands up on two legs.
"Bacon?" I ask, slightly confused.
Before my eyes, his legs lengthen and he grows hands on his forelegs. He reaches my own height, and a golden sword appears in his hand. He shrieks in agony, and turns tail to run back toward the town center. I give chase.
Just before we arrive at he Nether portal, a bolt of lightning strikes the obsidian, and the portal is lit with the same aura as the one possessed by the Endermen. Without slowing down, Bacon the zombie sprints through and vanishes.
I fall to my knees as the rain sheets down around me, and the lightning explodes overhead. I shut my eyes, trying to block it all out.
When I open my eyes, the world is no longer the same as it was before.
My last thought before losing consciousness is, The world is made of blocks. That's the strangest thing I've seen all day.
Thanks for reading the latest chapter! Don't forget to review!
Also, what should I make the cover picture for SoS? I'll take any and all suggestions!