Chapter 10: Uprising

Pickaxe slowly opened his eyes to the sunlight shining through his window.

He let out a yawn, stretching his arms. He slowly rose from his bedside, and looked throughout the village. Same as usual, he thought. It didn't look as though anything would be happening today. Still, it wouldn't hurt to take some items. He grabbed his set of mismatch armor, shield, bow with arrows, sword, potions, and pickaxe, making sure not to hold any of them in his hand. "Time to greet the day," he said to himself.

He once again descended the ladder from his mushroom house.

The village went about its usual routine. In spite of recent events, several miners were traveling through the Nether portal in the center of town. Lucky ducks… He continued onward, holding himself back from rushing through the portal. That would look pretty bad on his part. Other miners were crafting resources, constructing the village, or improving upon previous builds. He was lucky that the group was meeting at the library today. Margret had something to discuss.

Speaking of which, Pickaxe saw her heading towards the library herself.

He was about to call out "Hi," but something stopped him. As soon as she reached the corner just before the library, something grabbed her and pulled her in another direction. Pickaxe darted his head. No one else had taken notice. Without hesitation, he quickly pursued Margret in the direction she had been taken. He only saw last minute glimpses of her, as her captors took her through vacant areas in the village. Finally, they stopped at an alley, and Pickaxe got a good look.

Ironically, the trio were dressed to not be seen.

They were all wearing black leather armor, carrying stone swords. Their faces were masked by black skeleton skulls, with Margret cowering between all of them. Pickaxe drank a potion of invisibility, and slowly advanced at the scene. "W-w-who are you?" Margret whimpered, "W-what do you want?" One of the guards stepped toward Margret. "Nothin' much," he replied unconcernedly, "The boss is planning to tear this village to the ground. Gave us orders to make sure you and another miner were out of the village before then." Pickaxe froze; Parker was planning to destroy the village? And kidnap Jewel and Margret to!? He continued to advance, trying to contain his fury.

"N-no," Margret defied, speaking up a little louder, "Stay away! I'm not going ba-"

The miner put the sword up to her neck, pinning her to the wall. "You don't have a choice," he stated flatly, "The boss doesn't care about whether or not you want to go. He said it was a non negotiable order." He put his face closer to Margret's, who was nearly on the brink of crying. "He will tear this village down, block by block. But… he did say if you refused, we could cause a little carnage before then…" A single tear streamed down Margret's face. "So, missy," the miner continued, "what's it gonna be?"

The other two miners suddenly howled in pain.

The first miner turned around, stunned to see that both of his comrades were impaled with arrows. They fell to the ground, disappearing in puffs of smoke. Without warning, another arrow struck him down as well, killing him along with his fellow miners. Margret just stood there, paralyzed with fear. She saw a floating enchanted bow in front of her, as though it was being carried… "You okay?" said a voice. Margret nearly jumped. That voice… it belonged to Pickaxe! As if to confirm her suspicions, Pickaxe's invisibility potion wore off, revealing himself. Magret immediately ran towards him, tackling him with a bear hug.

The hug was eventually ended with a grave reminder; "We need to tell the others."

Pickaxe and Margret raced back to the library, where the rest of the group was already waiting, including… Jewel!? "How are you-?" Pickaxe tried to ask, only to fail because he couldn't process the scenario in front of him. Jewel had a grimace on her face. "Some thugs in black leather armor tried to kindnap me," she explained, "but…" She placed an iron sword on the table. "...they weren't exactly the best at fighting."

Well, that predicament was sorted out.

After everyone had settled down at the library table, it took Margret sometime to collect herself. "There's something you should know," she began, her shakiness still subsiding. "After what happened this morning, I know more now than ever you need to hear this," she continued, the rest of the group leaning in in anticipation. I'm really going to do this, she thought to herself. She took a deep breath before exhaling.

It was about time the group learned about Victor.

When Reed left the city of Mojang, a small group of miners accompanied him, including me, Parker's father, Endre's parents, Sabrina, a few others, and a man named Victor. Victor and Reed were good friends, and always looked out for each other. One night, while we were staying close to a village in the desert, a zombie siege overtook the village. While a majority of us made it out alive, one of Victor's friends got lost. We went to search for him the next morning, only to find his inventory scattered. He had died. Victor became distant. He didn't talk to anyone during the rest of the expedition, except for Parker's father, Connor, and Reed of course. Nothing could break them apart.

Or so it seemed.

It all started sometime after we began settling in the mushroom island village, and had begun to start families. Sometime while mining, Victor had acquired enough obsidian to build a Nether portal. The other miner's were wary, seeing as we could just row back to the mainland to get supplies, but Reed and Connor were all for it. That was the thing about those two; they never turned down an adventure. Upon constructing and activating the portal, those three, as well as me, Sabrina, and Endre's parents. After some exploring, we had reached a Nether fortress, and were naturally inclined to explore it. Once inside, we were immediately cornered by wither skeletons. We did our best to fight them off, but it seemed as though every time we took one down, another took its place.

Then Conner got hit with one of their swords.

Victor and Reed quickly grabbed onto him, trying to get him back to the portal. Some blazes had seen them running across the landscape, and began shooting fireballs at them. Endre's mother had tried to distract them and nearly succeeded. Once they turned their sights on her however, the situation quickly turned against her. She died because of those blazes. Reed looked back at the fortress, seeing that the rest of the group was in danger. That moment of hesitation was enough for a ghast to land a fireball on them. While Reed and Victor were grazed, Connor… didn't make it. His inventory just laid there among the charred ruins.

Eventually, some other miners came through the portal, saving us before we met the same fate.

For the next few days, it was somber and tense. Everyone tried forgetting about the Nether incident, tried going back to their old lives. Everyone but Victor. He was bitter and angry. Because one of his best friends choked, they lost the other. One night, there was a thunderstorm. By the time it had cleared, Victor was gone. There was no warning. Just a glowing Nether portal…

BOOM!

Everyone turned to face the direction of the explosion. They were still stiff from the story Margret had told them. The library had a gaping hole in its side, exposing the scene of renegade miners thrashing all over the place. Parker's men. While the iron golems tried to fend back the intruders, more often than not several miners ganged up on one and slayed it. It was utter chaos in and of itself.

The invasion had begun.

Pickaxe pulled out several invisibility and swiftness potions. "We need to go. NOW!" He tossed everyone the two potions, before consuming his own and darting out of the library. The land bridge wasn't his first destination, however. He was heading towards Sabrina and Reed's house. No way was he leaving without them. He swatted a few unsuspecting soldiers on his way there; there were too many to count.

When he finally arrived, someone had already beaten him to the punch.

Parker, Rosetta, and Blade were all in the living room, with Reed standing in front of Sabrinna on the other side. Blade looked more terrifying when you could see him. An iron sword hung at his side, a red scar cut down his right cheek, a black headband suppressing his flowing brown hair. He wore black dyed armor, just like the miners from earlier that day. Rosetta had a bow drawn.

"Surrender now," Parker stated, "And maybe Victor will show you mercy."

Pickaxe flinched; Victor was a part of this? Well, to be fair, there was no way that Parker would have the means of leading his military force ENTIRELY on his own. But Victor was a part of this? The man who had felt betrayed by Reed had orchestrated this entire plan from the start? There were no answers. Only questions.

"I will never surrender to that madman," Reed replied.

Parker made a "tsk-tsk" noise, looking disappointed. "Victor was right," he sighed, "You never think twice about your actions." He turned to face the archer, who was wearing her black skull. "Looks like he's a lost cause. Dispose of him." The archer nodded, gripping the bow and arrow tighter. Reed stiffened his position in front of Sabrina. "Tell dad I said hi… if you are heading his direction," was all Parker had said.

The archer released the arrow… only for it to snap in two.

The room was silent. Blade was suddenly thrown across the room, a floating iron shovel in the perpetrator's hand. Nice one, Endre, thought Pickaxe. While still invisible, Endre proceeded to sweep the archer to the side, as well as Parker. The trio had tried to catch the wielder of the floating iron shovel, but to no avail. They were all unconscious by the time Endre had finished them off. The invisibility potion decided to wear off at that point.

Reed sighed from relief, before sternly adding, "We will discuss your penalties later."

Pickaxe dragged Parker and Rosetta out of the house, while Endre took care of Blade. They were met with the rest of the group, Margret, and Stan. Stan in particular looked out of breath. "So...many...miners…" he panted. Everyone but Reed was somewhat amused. "We need to get off the island," he announced, "If we can make it to the land bridge, we might have a chance." "Yeah, one hiccup with that idea," Texik brought up. He pointed in the direction the land bridge should have been…

...only to see some miners tearing it to shreads.

Reed's face sank. There was no way off the island. Pickaxe looked on toward the chaos that consumed the village. Miners desperate to retain their freedom tried swimming across the sea. Others surrendered involuntarily, were captured, or were killed. He looked to the Nether portal, his last resort at the time. Several dozen black-clad miners guarded that as well. So they were trapped… If only they could walk on water.

Walk on water...frost walker.

Several black clad miners took notice of the group, and began advancing toward the house. Pickaxe looked down toward their captives. His plan could work… but not with this much dead weight. He turned to face the group, "There's only one other way off this island," he started, "But it's kind of crazy…" Reed looked at him, desperation on his face. "Please," he begged, "I'm all up for ideas." Pickaxe turned towards the sea. He put his diamond boots on. The black-clad miners were so close to them…

"RUUUUUUUUN!"

The group slashed through Parker's men and darted to the shoreline. Pickaxe took a deep breath, and forced himself into the water. Only, he wasn't in the water. He somehow continued running without sinking or getting soaked. When he looked down at his feet, wherever he stepped on a water block, it became ice. "Frost walker," Sarah said in the back, "of course! Any boots with the frost walker enchantment allow literal walking on water!" Some of the miners had tried to follow them onto the ice bridge, but it had already begun to collapse by the time they reached it.

They ran until they reached land, and then ran some more.

The group panted from exhaustion. They were in the middle of the valley, daylight several moments from leaving. Pickaxe searched his inventory. A forest was behind them, and some coal was exposed in the rock face. Several sheep roamed the area. Pickaxe wasted no time. While he was collecting coal and shoveling up dirt, Madison was chopping down wood, and Margret, having brought shears, began shearing the sheep. As nightfall continued closing in, Pickaxe began to make shelters and torches.

They were all in dirt huts and in beds before nightfall.