"Zoey!" I called at the top of my lungs, looking around the area for the Mushroom Queen, as she called herself. There was no sign of anyone listening to me, except from a cow looking up from the grass it was eating, before turning its head away.
"Zoeya!" I screamed, my voice sounding higher this time. I squeezed my eyes shut for the few seconds as my voice echoed around the plains around me, but then I opened them. Again, nothing. The cow was staring at me. I let out a breath of air towards it, and within a split second my emerald sword had beheaded the beast. I left it, though. I had enough food with me for the time being. Possibly a wolf would want it.
"I don't want to hurt you! Not even rob you! I just need your help!" I pleaded, my voice cracking as I spoke. My throat was feeling sore, and it was making it harder to yell. I rummaged in my backpack for a bottle of milk, and I drank a few mouthfuls of it before putting the bottle back in my pack. I looked around, and there still was no sign of her.
I really hoped she was actually there. I had been told that she lived somewhere around where I was, but there was no sign of a house or anything. Possibly she was hiding, and that is why I told her that I wasn't going to hurt her.
"I come in peace, Technomage- or mancer... Or whatever!" I bellowed. I felt like giving up and sitting down, but pushed away the urge. I was in serious need of Enderdragon Armor, and finding Zoey was the first step to getting there. There was, once again, nothing. I couldn't think of anything else to scream, but when I saw a mushroom at the front of a pitch black cave, I had an idea.
"Oh mighty Mushroom-mancer, I wish to speak with thee!" I spun around as I said that, keeping an eye out for her appearance. I heard the noise of pistons moving, and hoped that was a good thing. I looked around for where the pistons might have moved, but couldn't see any change.
"Heya Martie!" I almost had a heart attack as I heard her voice from right behind me. I spun around in a split second and looked at Zoey. Her sky blue eyes were staring right up at me. A grin was spread across her face. I instantly took a step back.
I hadn't seen Zoey in a long time. I knew I had spoken to her a few times many years ago, but not once since then. She had changed- a lot.
For one thing, her hair was longer. It went down to her waist, but currently was in a braid. The blonde streak was easy to see. She had a few strands of hair dangling at the sides of her face. I noticed the familiar two marks on the left of her face (my left). She had her goggles perched on her head. She was dressed in a dark grey top with short sleeves. On her upper arms were many strange tattoos, mostly lines and swirls. She was also wearing black leggings and sandals. I then noticed she was wearing a long red cape, which reached her ankles.
"Oh! Hello Zoey. You gave me a fright..." I greeted, looking up at her face. "Umm, I need to speak to you about something. Do you have time to? I can come back later if you want!" I continued. She looked at me for a few more seconds, then began to count something on her hands.
"Nah, I'm free for the next few hours, so you can come in if you want." She sung, gesturing towards the cave. I knew she had come kind of secret base deeper inside the cave, due to the pistons I heard earlier. I nodded at her, and offered a smile. Knowing what her base is like could be useful.
"Okay then, Follow me!" She turned, her red cape swishing behind her. Then she was running into the cave. I followed, keeping a fine pace with her. There was a few tight turns, and then I noticed there was a huge drop, going into darkness.
She stopped at it aswell.
"You can jump down, or there are ladders against the wall somewhere." She explained, before running forward slightly and then pushing one foot against the rocks beneath her, pushing her up into the air before she plummeted down to god-knows-where. I decided to take the ladder. It took a few seconds of feeling around to find it, but when I did I slid down it with ease. It was completely pitch black a lot of the way down, but when I reached the bottom I realised the floor was made of sponge. It was damp, and quite springy. I bounced on it for a few seconds, then began to walk, which was very uncomfortable.
I saw Zoey standing on a stone platform beside one of the walls. It about two meters squared. I stood next to her.
"Wow... I didn't expect that." I breathed. She giggled, and slapped a stone button on the wall. There was a noise of pistons clanging, and then two chunks of stone opened up to a big room.
She took a while showing me around the place. It was a huge laboratory, conducting all kinds of experiments. Most involved mushrooms, but quite a few didn't. One I particuarly liked was one she was testing to see if Mushrooms were capable of thoughts. She had a machine which displayed a flat line on a screen. She hooked up a few wires onto me in various places, and when I thought the line on the screen spiked up. The more things I was thinking about, the higher the line went. She then hooked it onto a mushroom, and the line was completely still. When she spoke though, It moved up with her voice. When I began to speak aswell, It went up even higher. She had an idea that Mushrooms weren't capable of their own thoughts, but they stored everything they heard as a memory. A few of the mushrooms were supposedly deaf, so she was using the machine on many mushrooms.
We eventually settled down in her bedroom. It was quite small. She said she rarely used it. It had a few beds in it, bookshelves, a fridge and a fire in it. We sat around the fire and she got me a drink of tea. She said it was special tea she had made herself, and was being mass produced in the labs.
"Okay, so. What did you want to ask me about?" Zoey enquired before taking a long sip of her tea. I bit my lip, and knew that now I was on careful grounds. I had to make her not seem suspicious of my actions. I honestly wasn't sure If she was friends or enemies with Rythian, but I did know that If anyone knew where he was it would be her.
"Okay Zoey. I'm not going to beat around the bush. Pretty much, I need to know where Rythian is. I don't want to be giving away any details, but It's something very important to do with him." I told her, hoping for a good response.
"Well why don't you tell me what you need to tell him. I can't just go about giving his location to anyone- no offence." Zoey looked down at her mug.
"None taken. Okay, I'll tell you. It's to do with the... enderman. I saw a lot of them circling a weird monument kind of thing. I didn't go close to them, but I think it's some of his business." I lied, trying to make my reason sound good. I knew Rythian had something to do with enderman, but I didn't really know what, and actually didn't really care about it either. Zoey raised a brow in interest.
"Where is it?" She asked quietly. One of her hands hit the floor, spreading across the wood planks. I smiled.
"I can't just go about giving it's lovation to anyone- no offence." I mimicked. This was a good idea. I hated lying to someone as innocent and kind as Zoey. She didn't even see me as a thief. She just looked at me as If I was a normal person. I was slowly wrecking that reputation with her though.
"Fine. If I tell you where Rythian might be, I get to come with you and be with you when you are telling him about the ender-thingy." She offered confidently. I bit my lip, trying to think what to do quickly.
"Fine. We stay here for a few days, and then set off. Now where is he?" I told her, then remembering I had to get the Creation Stone off him as soon as possible, before he would use it.
"No. We leave tomorrow morning. No time to waste, right. This information to give him must be important." I swear when she said that It was like she had just read my mind. That was great.
"Okay. Sounds like a plan" I smiled at her, taking a sip of my drink. She nodded.
"A plan it is"