Chapter 8: Unjust Desserts
Texik was eating his words when the group returned to the village.
Good news: Reed technically wasn't mad. He actually expected that Jewel would've found someway or another to get to the Nether. He was just glad she was safe. However, she DID get kidnapped by Parker, the very thing he tried to prevent. He figured sending her to another village would do nothing. Instead, he put the group under a rather painful house arrest. While night was about, he had some miners take away their inventories, put them in an obsidian chamber which could only be accessed through an iron trapdoor, and gave them a curfew until further notice.
He wasn't mad...he was just very disappointed.
Pickaxe was slumped against his mushroom house. No pickaxe...no sword...no pumpkin… It was dull. He felt like when he first showed up in the world. Ah, simpler days…, he thought to himself. If he wanted to craft something, he could craft it, but somehow Reed banned that, too. Pickaxe wished Reed was a bit more lenient in this situation. They were still alive! But that seemed insignificant. If only there was something he could do…
Well, he recalled, there is one thing…
Endre was at Parker's former house, helping his Parker's mother organize a few things. Well, more like he was organizing the house while the woman slept. That was all she did after they got back from the Nether. Kind of worrying, honestly. He was in the middle of moving the food stuffs from the storage room to the kitchen. Maybe I should bring Margret something, he thought, thinking about Parker's mother.
Milk and cookies sounded pretty good.
He walked up the steps to Margret's room. He opened the door, seeing her sleeping in her white bed. She looked so peaceful, too, sleeping among her bookshelves. She did a bit of reading in her spare time, before… she had gone missing. Endre shivered. Had she been in that dungeon the whole time? Had Parker tortured her for that long!? It was only a day or two after Jewel went missing. How could Parker have done such an underhanded lowlife-!?
Margret let out a small snore. Endre took a few breaths.
He couldn't be upset now. While he and his friends could do nothing against Parker upfront, Reed had assured them that he and his men would put a stop to him. Endre hoped so. The might have dealt a huge blow to their operation, but Parker could still be out there. Sarah had said so herself. He sighed, walking over to Margret's bed. He slowly shook her from her slumber, whispering "Wake up, sleepy head…"
Margret's eyes slowly opened, lighting up upon seeing Endre's face. "Good morning," she replied.
Jewel had gone to the library, showing how utterly bored she was. What she didn't expect to see was Pickaxe, reading through the books. He and Stan were conversing about a particular book. Jewel walked up to them, curious. She managed to get a look at the book: The History of Minecraft. She rolled her eyes. "Stan, you are way to into that book…" she sighed. Stan blinked, before defending, "Well, is it my fault it's such a glorious work of art?" Pickaxe shrugged, adding, "It isn't that bad."
Jewel facepalmed, as Stan's eyes began sparkling like diamonds.
"Really?" he squeaked, getting giddier by the second. "What's your favorite part? The Great Emergence, The Dimensional Formation, The First Dragon Slaying, The First Wither Summoning, The Wither Storm Arc…" Stan kept on rambling event after event in the book. When he finished, Pickaxe flatly stated, "No," to all of them. Stan's face sunk. Pickaxe flipped to the proper page in the book. He cleared his throat. "*Ahem*..."
Spawns and Breeds
When the world first came to be after The Great Emergence, there were only four "spawn" miners in the first world. After these miners established multiple worlds during The Dimension Formation, more spawns began to appear throughout these worlds. We still do not understand how these spawns came into existence, but the head of the first four spawns, Notch, has told us that "they were created when the universe saw fit." As time continued its course, male and female spawns were attracted to one another, eventually resulting in marriage. Then, they bore children; the first "breed" miners were brought into the world. There is nothing that differentiates a spawn from a breed in terms of speed, stamina, and strength, except for the way the are brought into the world. Despite this, throughout history, spawns and breeds have occasionally shown hostility towards one another, though thankfully, it never escalated into fights or full-fledged war. Later on, these occasional hostile shifts would dissipate, and all miners would live in harmony amongst the cruelty of our world. However, at one point in time, a few centuries ago, spawns became less and less common. Notch addressed the issue, stating, "The universe, at this point, has decided to halt the creation of spawns. It sees no further reason to create new spawns when the worlds are quite populous…" Since then, to this day, no one has seen or heard about new spawns. Spawns that existed before the occurrence have also become progressively rare.
Pickaxe closed the book, as he and Stan looked at Jewel, sleeping on the floor.
Texik was helping Sabrina and Reed move the livestock to another pen. Carrying wheat and a carrot in both hands definitely wasn't something he thought he'd be doing in life. Then again, the whole reason he was in this mess was because he had griefed the right people. Life was funny that way. He sighed, as he herded all the cows, mushrooms, sheep, and pigs into the pen. He was about to leave, but then Reed cleared his throat.
Reed held his hand out, and Texik reluctantly placed the vegetation in it.
He REALLY wished he didn't jinx himself back in the Nether. Maybe, just maybe, if he had just shut his trap, the whole group wouldn't be in this mess. He wandered around for a while, before accidentally bumping into a miner. Madison, to be exact. They both briefly stumbled before recollecting themselves. Texik received a glare from Madison; "Do you have anything else to do!?" she questioned furiously. "No, not really…" Texik retorted rather smugly.
He recieved to blows to the head for his smugness.
While Texik and Madison were bickering, Endre was helping Margret out of the house. She relished in the gentle breeze that flowed across the island. The Nether wasn't known for such freshness, for obvious reasons. "I really appreciate this," she told Endre, "After all that Parker did to you and your friends, I'm genuinely surprised you came back for me." "Why wouldn't we? You're not even remotely like Parker…" Endre assured. In spite of herself, Margret let out a little laugh. "Well...I suppose he is a more… exaggerated version of his father. Hm?" she replied, noticing Texik and Madison.
"Oh boy…" Endre complained, "This is getting to be too much."
Margret looked at the two bickering miners. She also noticed how in the distance, Pickaxe was somehow sitting on top of his mushroom house. How Stan and Jewel were helping their parents. How Sarah wrote with a book and quill in front of the library. All these miners… they had potential. They could overthrow her son and his tyranny, maybe save the village. Then again, they'd still have to defeat Victor somehow. That'd have to come later. For now, they'd need to prepare, without Reed intervening.
She nudged Endre, who flinched in surprise.
She slipped 32 emeralds in his hands, as well as some stone, pistons, redstone, and sticks. "That's all I can give without raising too much suspicion," she explained, "but I think you know what needs to be done." She pointed over to a small hill in the distance. Then she pointed to the village. "Use your emeralds wisely," she advised. Endre just stood there for a little while, his eyes bulging from his skull. He embraced Margret in a bear hug.
Praise Notch for his mercy…, he thought.
He quickly went into the village, trading with the local toolsmith and priest (though they prefered to be called clerics) for an iron shovel and an iron pickaxe, as well as some additional redstone and glowstone. On his way back, he noticed Sarah was still writing in her book and quill in front of the library. He patted her on the shoulder, showing her his tools. She was about to say something, but Endre swished his hand in front of his neck, saying she needed to keep quiet. He motioned toward the small hill, handing her the shovel.
The duo was at work for several moments.
When they were finished hollowing out the hill, Endre set to work on preparing the redstone circuit, while Sarah went to Margret for more supplies. By the time Endre finished setting the circuit and began to camouflage the base, Sarah came back with some interior items. Specifically, some wood planks, some bookshelves, an enchantment table, a brewing stand, and a cauldron. When they were finished, it looked as though the hill had only been slightly altered. Hopefully, the single block of cobblestone they used as a marker wouldn't be too much of a give away.
They would just have to wait and see for tomorrow.