AN: Not sure if you guys are growing tired with this story or not. Some feedback would be nice.
Congrats to Slenderbrine for getting last week's puzzle correct. If you guessed white because of polar bears, you're wrong because polar bears don't live at the South Pole. The correct answer was no bears. Enjoy your cookie and your acknowledgement.
(::)
Puzzle: When you do not know what I am, then I am something. But when you know what I am, then I am nothing. What am I?
Disclaimer: I don't own Minecraft. If I did, I'd make dual-wielding actually meant you can swing two swords at once.
Beta: Void of Shining Darkness
Chapter 37
Anomaly
[Wynn]
"Perhaps you should have accepted his advances." I commented to the blonde as we took cover from the Jibberman behind the bar.
"And jeopardize our cozy relationship? Not a chance." Veronica joked, despite the grimace of pain on her face. Her arm was bent at an unnatural angle, broken by one of the Jibberman's monstrous strikes. Just because Crafters could regenerate health, did not mean they were immune from pain or injuries. If the damage sprained an arm or broke a bone, the Crafter would have to wait for their Health to tick back up before the injury healed.
And with Veronica Hunger Meter so low, she wouldn't be able to regenerate anything.
I chanced a glance over the bar counter, spotting the Jibberman lumber about in search of us. He was strong, incredibly strong, and durable. But in terms of speed and intellect, he was lacking. So hiding wasn't the worst of strategies.
"Hey, Jibberbrains!" Meyrick called down snidely from his perch, devouring cooked mutton like popcorn at the movies. "They're over by the bar!"
"Ls, ivzoob?"
But it would have been a better strategy if Meyrick wasn't giving away our positions. His position gave him a bird's eye view while he acted as the brain to Goon #13.
"Heal up." I tossed Veronica some baked potatoes before leaping over the counter and charging the Jibberman making his way towards us. He reared back an ironclad fist before bringing it smashing down, but I was too fast for him. I slid beneath his legs, just missing his fist, and came back up behind him.
My rapier struck the back of his knees, poking through the iron armor like it was paper. Given his size and muscle, targeting the Jibberman's balance was the best place to start.
"LD!" He roared as he swung a backhanded strike at me. I deftly leapt over it with the effects of my Potion of Leaping, but I failed to observe his other hand, already clenched in a fist and using the momentum of his first swing to his advantage. I couldn't dodge midair.
My vision flashed white as the fist connected with my cheek, rocketing me across the room. I twisted my body as best I could while trying to stay conscious and managed to land on my feet, skidding to a stop on the dance floor.
"Ooooh! That looked like it hurt." The snide voice of Meyrick commented insincerely.
I winced as the sting of the fist finally registered. The Jibberman certainly packed a punch. Taking another hit like that would knock me out for sure.
The Jibberman lumbered forward in a wild charge, looking like he had every intention to steamroll me. However, at the edge where the raised level met the dance floor, an arrow caught him in the knee, causing him to stumble.
I quickly backpedaled to avoid the falling goon before leaping forward and unleashing a series of stabs against the Jibberman's exposed back.
Again the Jibberman roared, rolling over to unbalance me. But I was two steps ahead of him, already retreating to the far wall.
The Jibberman got to his feet, but was met with a flurry of arrows courtesy of a fully healed Veronica.
The Jibberman charged wildly towards the blonde, tanking several arrows to the shoulder and chest before bringing his fists crashing down on the bar counter, splintering it, but not Veronica. She had already somersaulted over the goon, loosing a few more arrows into him at the height of her arc.
I was about to back her up when I felt something fall right behind me. I turned around to see a sneering Meyrick just before his Knockback hoe struck my leg. I spiraled backwards from the force before being painfully clothes-lined by the Jibberman's waiting arm. Right into the ground.
"Wynn!" The blonde called out as she fired several arrows that met their mark in the Jibberman's neck. He tried to roar again, but it was incoherent with all the arrows pumped into him. He had to be close to death by now.
"At least kill one of them, Jibberbrains!" Meyrick called in exasperation while pointing at me.
In response, the Jibberman lifted his foot and stomped down onto my chest. I felt the wind get knocked out of me as well as something crack beneath his weight. A rib or two.
"Noo!" Veronica cried out as she leapt onto the Jibberman, strangling him with her bow. He thrashed trying to get at her, and unknowingly lifted the foot pinning me to the floor.
The edges of my vision were growing darker, making it harder to focus. There was a blur of golden hair as Veronica was swung around, a flash of silver that could only be the Jibberman's armor, the blinking lights of the partially destroyed dance floor…
And the flowing red remains of the lava source placed by one of the goons.
That's it!
The Jibberman finally got a grasp of Veronica and chucked her to the floor before preparing to stomp her out of existence. So with all my remaining strength, and in a terrible show of proper form, I tackled him. It felt like I was running into a brick wall, but it was enough to unbalance the brute, causing to stumble right into the lava source.
He instantly caught fire and whatever health he had left was burned away, his last words were his dying howls. "Rm srmwhrtsg, trermt gszg lmv tllm ozez dzh z kivggb hgfkrw rwvz! R Wvzw!"
Then he burst into gear. Most of it burned in the lava along with his Head, but a few pieces of his iron armor landed safely.
"And…that's my cue to leave." Meyrick stated in what he thought was a charming tone as he tiptoed towards the backdoor. But a second later, five arrows pinned his overcoat to the wall. "…Damnit."
Veronica smirked to herself, trying not to let on how close to death she was as she confidently strode over to the immobilized Meyrick. "You…me…talk…" She gasped out, still trying to catch her breath.
I was the same way, hunched over while my health ticked back up. The baked potatoes never tasted sweeter to my exhausted self.
"Talk? This is police brutality!" Meyrick countered while struggling to free himself of the arrows. "You come into my nightclub, kill or knockout my goons, trash the place—I feel transgressed and violated!"
"We know you're supplying people with TNT. Illegally, I may add." Veronica finally caught her breath. "What I want to know is who you're supplying?"
I walked over to stand by Veronica as she interrogated the man.
"A-alright…so I supply a couple of Griefers and bombers. So what?" Meyrick talked like it was no big deal to be supplying terrorists. "I'm just out to make emeralds. So is every criminal."
Veronica opened her mouth to retort, but I cut her off by grabbing Meyrick by the collar. "A few days ago, a pack of Griefers nearly killed my men with TNT. Are you the reason they had those explosives? Are you the reason my men almost died?"
The anger in my voice was enough to make him sweat. "W-wait, wait, wait! You can't…I mean—Yeah, I made the TNT…but it's Burke and LeShui that are delivering it to the Griefers!"
"Burke and Le-who?" Veronica repeated as she held me back. Then her eyes suddenly widened. "Is…is LeShui the bridge bomber!? The one that broke Burke out of jail?"
"Yeah, yeah that's him…" Meyrick gulped, his eyes trained on my amber glare. "Him and Burke have some cozy arrangement with an out-of-Kingdom employer. An…Alec, I think—"
"And where are Burke and LeShui now?" Veronica asked eagerly.
"…" Meyrick averted his eyes and kept silent. Meaning he knew, but he wouldn't give up that information easily.
"Wynn." Veronica turned to face me and smiled sweetly. "Can you give me and Meyrick some alone time? I think it's time I break out Mr. Sunflower."
"Mr. what?" Meyrick asked fearfully, even as I acquiesced to Veronica's request. He was probably expecting some kind of dangerous, iron-barbed, torture device unsuitably named 'Mr. Sunflower.'
Little did he know, the truth was far more…silly.
[Cobb]
I set down a torch, quickly lighting up our location.
It was completely natural for me to forget I had torches after running for my life from a swarm of angry Bugs. I mean, it wasn't like I had something keeping track of my Inventory at all times.
"My word…" Lenzington spoke, clutching his chest as if he was suffering a major heart attack. He stared at the bedrock wall we came through. "I thought that was the end for me."
Yeah, same." I commented lamely while checking my Inventory over. My Note Block and a good portion of my cobblestone were left behind. Not to mention I forgot to pick the water back up in my bucket.
It seemed like the further in I got, the more it cost me. I couldn't help but wonder what more it would take to finally escape the Stronghold's…hold.
Brain: Boooo! Your pun sucks!
I banged my head against the wall, inwardly smirking at the pain it caused Brain while outwardly clutching it in pain. Why did I do that!?
Lenzington seemed to play off my odd behavior as me trying to break open the bedrock. "It is no use, Cobbert. Bedrock is unbreakable. Not even your dense skull can break it." He walked up to the wall and patted it. "Which means those parasites will be unable to meld through and pursue us."
"No Bugs sounds good to me." I munched on some pumpkin pies to replenish my Hunger. "We can just slip out that emergency exit you talked about, right?" Lenzington stiffened. "Right?"
"Er…yes…of course…I am fairly certain Jeb would have planned—"
"Fairly certain?" I questioned with a hint of worry. "Hang on. There's definitely an exit, right? We can't be trapped in here."
"No, we are not trapped." Lenzington spoke carefully as he pointed to the bedrock door. "For every entrance, there is an exit. And vice-versa. There must be an alternative route out of here. And if there is not, we need only wait for those parasites to return to dormancy before making our escape."
I bit my lip in frustration. Things were becoming increasingly tedious and complicated…just like Lenzington preferred. But it wouldn't be Dusk forever.
"Strange." Lenzington continued, marveling at the bedrock. "Bedrock is an indestructible block, confined to the lowest regions of the earth. Yet Jeb has seemingly surrounded the entire Core Chambers with it."
"Oh, yeah." I realized. "Then how'd you make an opening through it?"
The student shook his head. "I merely altered the redstone. Jeb is the true genius behind the bedrock machination. I believe he used a device that somehow replaced the blocks of bedrock with blocks of air, momentarily creating an opening before resealing it with bedrock."
I scratched my head in confusion. "Blocks of air? Is that even possible?"
"With redstone, anything is possible." Lenzington advised while swapping his tinted goggles back to his standard tinted glasses. He then adopted a contemplative look. "If I were to discover the secret to Jeb's bedrock supply…an indestructible material at my disposal…Potato Tech would be eating out of the palm of my hand. Like trained dogs!" Lenzington was talking to himself, rubbing his hands together excitedly.
"Um…Lenz?" I ventured, wondering if the guy had gone crazy.
"And once I have them right where I want them, then…THEN…I will politely ask for an internship." He folded his arms and nodded to himself, his plans laid out before him.
"Right…" I responded hesitantly, not quite getting his intentions, but admiring his ambition. "Let's try and look for an exit, though. Okay?"
"Indeed. That is 'okay'." He responded with a small smile, before suddenly frowning. "You called me 'Lenz' again."
"Oh…yeah, well—"
"And you are more understanding of the lack of possible exits than I anticipated."
"Well…I don't know…" I scratched my head awkwardly. "You saved my life and I saved yours, so we're cool now, right?"
"Pardon?"
"I mean, I wouldn't have known how to open the bedrock if you hadn't told me to press the button. So you saved my life from those Bugs. And then that Stickman almost got to you, but I scared it off."
He looked puzzled. "Stickman? Is that what you call those long-legged creatures?"
"Well, they have sticks for limbs so, yeah. Stickmen." I defended. "What do you call them?"
He scoffed. "I call them by their widely accepted name: Endermen."
"Endermen?" I echoed, trying to get a feel for the word. It wasn't a bad name. Kind of catchy. And their monstrous strength gave credibility to the fact that they would be the 'End' of you if crossed.
Heh. Pun.
Lenz folded his arms while glancing to the bedrock door. "While I am sure you mean the best with your nicknames, Cobbert, I am afraid I prefer my full name: Lenzington. Additionally, your increased familiarity with me is misplaced. Do not confuse personal necessity with selfless heroism." He jabbed me in the chest. "You saved me from the parasites and the Enderman because you needed a guide to escape the Stronghold. Even now, that tethers you to me."
I frowned at his cold words. That was completely not true! I wouldn't have just let him die, regardless of whether I was lost or not…right?
He then hiked a thumb towards himself. "And I told you of the button because these Core Chambers are a complete unknown to me. The pitch-black darkness also suggests possible Mobs within, meaning I need an experienced warrior to avoid harm." He looked me up and down. "Given the situation, you will have to do."
Ouch.
And here I thought we would become good friends. Mutual life-saving worked for Floyd, so I assumed it would work for anyone. But clearly, Lenz wasn't much of the warrior type, looking past actions and deducing the hidden agendas within.
"I'm numbered at one billion, literally spawned three weeks ago, and yet I'm more experienced than you?" I questioned. "Remind me, what number are you?"
"Seven-hundred-forty-five-million-nine-hundred-twenty-three-thousand-four-hundred-and-twelve." He recited clearly. "And this is not about experience. It is about acting within your aptitude."
"The hell does that mean?"
"It means, your place is to fight and my place is to engineer." He gestured down the bedrock hall that I only just noticed. "For instance, do you see that tripwire along the floor?"
"Yes." I lied, squinting my eyes to find the tripwire in the dim torchlight.
"It is most likely hooked up to a trap. Another of Jeb's precautions. And it is barring our path." Lenz shifted through his backpack. "How fortuitously, then, that I, as an engineer, have brought with me my Basic Redstone Travel Kit or BRTK for short." He pulled out levers, buttons, redstone, lamps, and finally a pair of shears. "But with these wire cutters—"
"They look like shears."
"Wire cutters." He emphasized in a no-nonsense tone. "I can clear us a path."
"What do shears have to do with engineering?"
"Silence!" He shouted before snipping at the wires. They popped out as string, but failed to trigger the trap. "And now we can proce—"
*RATTLE*
Lenz rushed back to my side as soon as he heard a noise. It was a Skeleton, appearing from the darkness with empty sockets directed at us.
"N-now it is your turn." Lenz nudged me forward. "Go and perform the job you were made for."
Is he serious? I thought incredulously before drawing my fishing rod and casting it at the Mob. "Flail!"
The hook caught the Mob and pulled it to the partially destroyed tripwire. With a click, the ceiling opened up and several bright red splash Potions of Healing descended, instantly killing the Skeleton.
Huh…so Potions of Healing…damage Skeletons. That was in Herobrine's book, if I remembered correctly. Zombies and Skeletons only, though. Was it because they were undead, made of bones and decaying flesh? Like Holy Water, the Potions of Healing purified the undead.
"A tad unorthodox, but you did your part." Lenz patted me on the shoulder before nudging me forward again. "Now you lead the way so no Mobs can get at me."
I rolled my eyes at the student before cautiously walking forward.
I didn't have to go far though. The next corner led to two opened iron doors which led into a massive room that I partially illuminated with a torch. Lenz noticed a lever on the side of the door and flicked it, triggering the lamps on the ceiling to completely illuminate the room.
Lenz let out an excited gasp.
It was straight out of a mad scientist's lab. There was redstone machinery all over the place, for things I didn't care to know about. Bubbling stands containing multi-colored potions were on the right side of the room along with a library, several chests, and framed books. One corner of the lab was filled with signs as well as a circle of redstone surrounding some blocks. The left side of the lab had several iron barred jail cells like the ones we saw before. Only instead of stone brick walls inside the cells, it was bedrock walls. And no doors either. And along the back side of the wall was a large picture and a chest.
Beside me, Lenz was making so many excited noises. It looked like his birthday, Christmas, and National Crazy Sex Day had all come at once on the same day. And that day was today. "This…this is…Jeb's Laboratory! It must be!"
He ran forward to the nearest redstone contraption, quickly forgetting any possible Mob threats. I walked over to something on the side that caught my attention.
They were two buttons, placed side-by-side, with signs hanging over them.
The first button said 'Cake Button.'
The second button said 'Warning: Self-Destruct Button. Why on Earth Did I Think Placing These Two Buttons Side-By-Side was a Good Idea. I Must Have Been Drunk.'
I thought for a moment. Not with my brain but with my stomach.
Stomach: Cake sounds pretty good right about now.
Brain: Really? Cuz I'm really feeling the second button would be the better choice.
Heart: Brain, no.
Brain: Brain, yes!
I clicked the cake button and immediately a cake flew out of the wall and into my hand.
I smiled to myself and tried to eat it, but to my surprise it wouldn't fit. It was too big to be devoured in one go.
"Well, that's a waste." I said to myself before placing the cake in my Inventory. Maybe I had to craft it into slices on a crafting table before I could enjoy it.
"Oooh. Hee hee hee." Lenz laughed like a school girl as he prodded the machinery he was admiring. "A Hopper Clock…with customizable pace settings…ingenious!"
It made sense that Lenz would be having a fan-boy moment. From what he said, he had been searching for Jeb's Secret Lab for years. And now that he finally found it, he was like a kid at the candy store.
But…something about the place felt off. If Jeb was a redstone expert, then why all the other stuff in the room?
Like the potion stands. I was no expert in alchemy, but I assumed they needed a constant source of materials to concoct. Where would Jeb get that in a secret lab buried underground…surrounded by bedrock.
Plus, wouldn't it be a huge waste to put bedrock all around the lab? I mean, security was important, but it was almost like he was both keeping people out and keeping something in.
…
Meh, maybe I was over thinking it.
I walked over to the large painting at the back. As soon as I looked at it, I felt my blood run cold. It both repulsed and fascinated me, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I knew there was no harm in just looking at it, but also that there was something inherently evil about it. And I had no idea why.
The painting depicted a kind of scare-crow, made up of dark brown blocks in a 'T' shape with three black skulls aligned atop in a row. The painting's lack of detail only made it creepier, as if the obscurity of those skulls' eyes made the thing even more terrifying.
I was glad Lenz was behind me, making awestruck sounds of joy. It lessened the creepiness of the painting and shook off the feeling that something sinister was watching me.
There was also a chest before the painting. Despite not wanting to know more about the creepy picture, I felt something inside me urge me to open the chest. Like it was of vital importance.
Inside the chest was a book with no title. I opened it to reveal a poem.
...
[Withering]
There are days when it rains
and I just want to lay down
with my back on the pavement.
I'd stare up at the tears
of the nameless.
Pretending every chilling drop
is a faintly stinging kiss.
Then I'd fade away from it all
without notice or being missed.
…
How cheery.
"I suppose Jeb appreciated strange art." Lenz spoke up, taking an interest in the painting I was looking at. "Perhaps he frequented art galleries in his spare time?"
And maybe he was taking poetry lessons from Edgar Allen Poe…wait, who is that again?
"You seem pretty sure that this is Jeb's lab. Are you sure it couldn't belong to anyone else?" I questioned as I tossed the book back into the chest and shut it. I didn't feel any better after reading it, if anything I felt a bit depressed. Poetry like that just sucked the joy out of me. Like some kind of joy vampire.
Lenz scoffed at my doubt. "Of course it is his lab! Why just look at this...um…thing!" He gestured to the corner with the redstone circle. Upon closer inspection it was an eye pattern along the floor, with a cauldron atop a jukebox in the center.
"What does it even do?" I questioned. The redstone didn't appear to be connected to any device. No switch or lever. No lamp or piston. Nothing but a pattern.
"Admittedly…I have no idea…HOWEVER…" He raised a triumphant finger. "I am positive he has something written down in his notes. A little research and I should get a grasp on it…now where would he put those notes...?"
"What about all these?" I pointed out all the signs plastered near the redstone circle. "Maybe they're the notes—"
"Doubtful. Jeb would have kept a written record of his research rather than the limited space of a wooden sign." Lenz scoffed at my assumption, but I was barely listening. I was more preoccupied with the stuff written on the signs.
It was like walking into a serial killer's home. There were dozens of signs. Against the walls, propped along the floor, signs hanging off signs (not even sure how that worked). And they all seemed to paint a story.
'He took it!'
'He ruined everything!'
'I was so close!'
'The Egg!'
'Trusted him.'
'Changed the world!'
'Research cannot be for naught.'
'Must find new Egg!'
'Back through the portal. Only way forward…'
The other signs repeated those basic messages over and over. It sounded like the writer lost something, an Egg, to another guy whom he trusted. And apparently the Egg was enough of a big deal to make the writer go full-on obsessed.
"Jeb is…dead, right?" I questioned the Jeb expert who poked around the library for possible notes. "So he wouldn't have come back here for a long time?"
"Correct." Lenz offered, only half-listening as he opened some chests. "He has been dead for quite some time."
"And was he mentally stable?" I questioned. Because the metaphorical and literal signs all said otherwise.
"Mental stability is relative." Lenz dismissed while closing another useless chest. "Often times, the most brilliant of minds were shunned because the world was not ready to accept their ideas. The mentally unstable today could be the norm tomorrow."
"And if they're coming at you with an axe screaming 'Here's Johnny!' are they still the norm?"
"No…then they would need to be committed to a mental institution or a Jibbermen Rehabilitation Center."
A thought crossed my mind. "Maybe Jibberman are the brilliant minds being shunned."
"I will admit I have seen some Jibbermen do incredible things." Lenz shifted his glasses a bit. "But it will be a long time before they are accepted."
Lenz shifted through another chest only to come up empty. "Comparators! There is nothing but survival guidebooks! Where are his notes?"
I glanced around the room again. Lenz could have his stupid notes, but I needed to find that emergency exit. The lab only had one set of doors: The ones we entered. But that didn't mean there couldn't be a secret door hidden somewhere.
I prodded at the wall with the toe of my sneaker, hoping I'd get lucky and it would magically open to reveal an escape ladder. But I had no such luck.
*Cough*
Maybe there was a lever or button that needed to be placed at a certain spot. Lenz would have to tear up the floor and expose the circuitry to—
…
That cough didn't sound like Lenz.
*Cough* "Who…is there?"
I spun around to locate the voice, only to see Lenz standing besides the bedrock jail cells.
And inside, hugging her knees to her chest, was a woman. It had to be a woman judging by the feminine sound of her voice. She was partly concealed in the shadows, but her skin looked a sickly green. I immediately thought Potion of Poison.
Lenz glanced at me searchingly, not knowing what to do, before returning his attention to the imprisoned woman. "Um…my name is Lenzington. Who are—"
"The…other one." The woman murmured with a slight cough. "Is he…Him?"
I stepped closer to the cell, barely hearing the woman's voice. She sidled back in fear, backing up into the wall. No longer were her legs visible in the lamplight. I could just make out her silhouette and the dark-grey eyes of hers that reflected the lamplight.
I held up my arms disarmingly. "Whoa. We just got here. We're not here to hurt you."
I watched as the dark-grey eyes narrowed in the cell. "…No. You're not Him. There are similarities…but you're not Him." The dark-grey eyes closed as she coughed again. "You should be here…to hurt me…to kill me…to end me…"
"Why would we want to do that?" I questioned kindly, shuffling in my bag for some kind of food for the woman. I pulled out some baked potatoes and slipped them through the bars.
The woman's eyes snapped wide and she sidled closer to the bars, thrusting her legs back into the light. She reached out a sickly green hand towards the bars, but paused when my hand dropped the potatoes and returned to my side. Her hand hovered for a moment before reaching down for the potatoes.
Seeing that green skin of hers…There was something familiar about it. It wasn't from a Potion of Poison, but something else. Something I'd seen before. But I couldn't quite place it.
I glanced up at the sign above her cell. It read 'Experiment 24' in big, bold letters. The cells beside hers had similar signs, all labeled with Experiment numbers. Though hers was the only occupied cell.
I heard a ravenous munching sound coming from her cell. "Mmm…it's been so long…since I've eaten food…"
"How long have you been imprisoned?" Lenz interjected, looking worried. He was undoubtedly finding moral issues with Jeb's imprisoning of a young woman with no food. "And who is this 'Him' you are so afraid of? Is it Jeb?"
My mind was hung up on something else though. If the woman hadn't eaten anything in a long time, how was she still alive? Hunger needed to be refilled daily to stay at full energy. A week would probably be the maximum you could last with no food before starving to death. Had she lasted so long because she wasn't moving to burn off energy?
The woman's eyes darted back and forth between us. "I…I don't know how long…no windows or clocks…in this tomb…" She closed her eyes again and let out a sigh of relief. "But today…that all ends…no more…"
"Indeed." Lenz agreed as he stepped closer to the bars. "But the cell you reside in is made of bedrock. Breaking the cell bars will not give you enough space to slip out."
*Cough* "I know that…for decades I've known that…"
"Then to free you, we would need the bedrock removing mechanism. Point us in the right direction and we will happily free you—"
Anger flared in me, and I slapped Lenz in the shoulders. "Are you serious!? Look at her!?" I gestured to the weakened figure in the cell. "She's been trapped here for who knows how long and you're trying to bargain with her!?"
Lenz rubbed his shoulder and scowled at me. "Resorting to violence, barbarian? We need the bedrock device to free her and I need the bedrock device to become a legend at Potato Tech. This is not selfless heroism, but mutual necessity."
I scowled in anger, but the woman's voice broke me out.
"To save me…to free me…"
"Yes?" Lenz asked eagerly, getting closer to the bars.
"…The bedrock…" She mumbled something else, closing her dark-grey eyes.
Lenz stepped closer to the bars. "Apologies, I did not hear—"
The woman lunged forward, slipping her arms through the bars and crossing them around Lenz's back, entrapping him. Meanwhile, Lenz was screaming like a banshee at the woman's face, now clearly visible from the lamplight.
Her skin was a sickly green speckled with white, making me realize where I saw it before: A Creeper. She had orange hair growing in ugly patches atop her head and her face had a gruesome, perpetual grimace.
"Finally…" She spoke calmly and full of relief, despite Lenz's shouts and desperate attempts at prying her off. She closed her eyes and began to flash white. "I can…end myself…"
The last of her sentence came out as a hiss, but I already knew what was about to happen. That white flash and hiss…I tried to help Lenz disentangle the woman's hold but she was clutching him for dear life.
Or maybe dear death.
"Release me!" Lenz screamed as we both fought to get him away from the cell. The Creeper woman was starting to expand, and I knew she wouldn't let go until she went 'BOOM!'
With little time, I reached into my belt for my gold sword and attempted to slash her hands off the student. Still, I couldn't get her to release her death grip. With no way to free him, I grabbed Lenz from behind before slipping the sword in between him and the woman and held it defensively.
"What are you doing!?" Lenz shrieked with increased desperation. "A SWORD IS NOT GOING TO STOP—!"
*BOOM!*
The sword blocked the explosion, but the combination of two people behind the blast as well as being held by the exploding force propelled us apart. I clenched my eyes in pain as I was thrown across the lab, impacting the wall above the bookshelves. Several picture frames, as well as the books they held, were knocked off the wall and onto me as I slid to the floor.
I coughed painfully and cracked an eye open. "Lenz?...You okay?"
I didn't get a response. Nor did I see Lenz anywhere in the lab. Did he get blasted away somewhere?
I used the bookshelves for support as I got to my feet. I was staggered, but I would've been worse off if I hadn't blocked that explosion.
I looked across to see that the cell, being made from bedrock, had survived the explosion. The iron bars hadn't been so lucky. And as for the Creeper—er, the woman…
All that was left of her was the potato I gave her and a Head, presumably hers. It had her same orange hair, but it was longer and not in patches. It also lacked the sickly green Creeper tinge and had beautiful blue eyes. The horrifying grimace was also gone, replaced with a neutral smile.
No sooner had I observed the disembodied Head than it began to contort and warp. Its edges curved in on itself, marring the woman's newly beautiful features, before it imploded. It swirled and pulled itself into a tiny prick in space, leaving nothing behind.
"…" I just stared at the spot the Head disappeared from with horror and disbelief. There was no result or evidence it had been there. That the woman had been there. That she had existed.
It was all gone.
"Lenz!?" I called out frantically, wondering where the college student went. If he got caught up in the explosion…or he caught whatever that woman had to make her Head implode—
No! No that couldn't have happened. His gear would be strewn about if he died. He was alive. He had to be.
"Lenzington!" I called out again. This wasn't about me needing him to find my way out anymore. I didn't need him for anything. But I wasn't about to let the guy die and have that on my conscious.
"AGHHHHHH!"
That was him!
He was alive. That scream was definitely his voice and it came from that creepy scarecrow painting. I ran over to it and pressed an ear against it to better hear him. However, instead of meeting the surface of the painting, my entire head phased right through it.
It was a secret door, disguised as a painting and propped up by signs.
And behind it was—
"Holy FUCK!" I shouted in fear after coming face to face with a disembodied Head. I twisted my body to avoid running into it, only to fall onto a pile of more severed Heads. "AUGH!"
The whole room behind the painting was filled with Crafter Heads. Hundreds of them. Blue hair, green-hair, pink hair, red hair. Fair skin, freckled, tanned, dark. Some grinning, some frowning, but all with those same cold, dead eyes…
"Oh God…" I felt the contents of my stomach threaten to make a reappearance as I tried to take it all in. I got to my feet and hurried past the Heads, doing my best to ignore them. Lenz must have screamed when he saw the Heads.
But where is he now?
Lungs: *Sigh*
Heart: Yeah…I agree with Lungs. We need to get out of this place…right now.
Bladder: All these Heads are making me lose control of myself.
Brain: I don't know who this Jeb guy thinks he is, but he must be a sick fuck to keep all these Heads here.
Stomach: Don't hurl, Cobb! I don't want to lose all those potatoes and pies you ate! Oh…and also…yeah, this place is officially creepy.
Liver: I don't want to end up like these dead guys! Find Lenz and let's get the hell out of here!
Never had all my organs been in agreement over something. I was wondering why Jeb would go through such lengths to booby trap his lab. Now I knew why. He didn't want people to know that he was a deranged sicko whose Skeletons in the closet were actually Heads in the closet. Not to mention the Creeper woman he had locked away and done who knows what to.
Once I was finally out of the hall of Heads, I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. Hunched over with my hands on trembling knees, I fought to keep my potatoes down.
It was only after several minutes that I finally calmed down. I stood myself up and kept my eyes forward, not even glancing at the hall of Heads behind me.
What I did see, was myself in a small stone brick room with flowing lava behind iron bars in the walls. There was also a giant pool of lava beneath some weird pale structure with green markings along it.
My immediate thought was not to break anything, lest I tempt those Bugs to reappear. My second immediate thought was disbelief mixed with joy. Over by the corner of the room was a ladder with a sign that read 'Emergency Escape Ladder' in big, hot-damn-am-I-glad-to-see-that, bold letters.
There really was an emergency exit! Lenz was right! There it—
Oh, right. Lenz. Did he already go up? I thought to myself, even as something glinted on the steps leading to the pale structure.
I walked up the steps to get a better look at the glinting object, and found it to be a pair of shears. Probably Lenz'.
And from my position at the top of the stairs, I couldn't help but gasp. The pale structure was actually a ring of odd blocks holding lime-green reptilian eyes. And the inside of the ring was of a material I had no idea of. It was black with hints of dark blue, but it didn't look like it had any substance to it. The closest thing I could compare it to would be liquid onyx.
It was labeled 'Portal' with a wooden sign. And the sound it was making…unearthly…foreign…
I took a step forward, unintentionally nudging Lenz's shears into the liquid onyx. It vanished with a flash and I didn't hear the sound of it being burnt by the lava below. Almost like the shears were caught by something.
Just to prove my theory, I climbed down from the pale structure and withdrew a useless item, a bone, from my backpack. I held one hand above the liquid onyx and one hand below it, careful not to burn it from the lava's heat. Then, when I dropped the bone into the onyx, it too vanished with a flash, without falling through into my waiting hand.
So it is a portal. I verified before realizing I had lost a bone and Lenz's shears…
And Lenz! Crap! He must have fallen into this thing while he was too busy freaking out over those disembodied Heads!
Brain: Sweet! Now we don't have to worry about him killing us to keep us quiet. And the exit is right there! If we hurry, we can probably get back to the Inn before Wynn gets back!
Heart: But…what about Lenz?
Brain: What about him?
Stomach: Yeah! He tried to kill us…I don't even know how many times!
Bladder: Plus, he was kind of right. We were using him just like he was using Cobb. With the exit in sight, there's no point in following him through that portal.
My organs were surprisingly cold, but were they right? Did I jump in to save Lenz because I needed him? The consequences of escaping by myself, the lack of an engineer, the lack of an archer, not knowing where I was going or how to get back to the Inn…
There was no way my hamster wheel powered brain could have considered all that in the split-second he almost died!
Brain: Hamster wheel powered…?
No matter how I looked at it, I saved him because I didn't want the guy to die. He was a coward, afraid of Mobs despite his skill with a bow. He didn't deserve to die. And he certainly didn't deserve being stuck in God-knows-where without any idea on how to escape.
And boy, did I know what that felt like.
Heart: That's it, Cobb! Sympathize with him! Let the compassion flow through you like a river of shared misery!
Liver: Misery!
I turned away from the emergency ladder and walked back up the stairs to the portal.
Stomach: Don't do this, Cobb! He's not worth it!
My feet stood on the edge.
Brain: If you go in there, you'll never get back to the Inn in time!
Maybe…but he only fell in because I got him to this lab in the first place. I reasoned as I stared into the inky darkness of the liquid onyx portal. I'll just have to apologize to the Captain.
Bladder: But I don't want her to stab me!
Brain: And I'll turn to mush if I have to listen to fifty volumes worth of—!
I closed my eyes, silencing my inner organs, and leapt into the portal.
Inventory (Cobb): 1 Wooden Shovel, 1 Stone Sword, 1 Golden Sword [Sharpness I, Unbreaking I]{Weak}, 1 Wooden Pickaxe, 1 Iron Pickaxe, 1 Fishing Rod {Weak}, 11 Cobblestone, 1 Coal, 18 Torches, 4 Oak Wood Planks, 1 Clock, 2 Signs, 1 Bucket, 10 String, 6 Baked Potatoes, 19 Pumpkin Pies, 33 Cookies, 1 Cake, 1 Leather Cap, 1 Leather Tunic [Dyed Green, Unbreaking I], 1 Crafting Table, 1 Furnace, 11 Rotten Flesh, 1 Arrow, 4 Item Frames, 1 Book {?}, 1 Book {?}, 1 Book {?}, 1 Book {?}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Daymonte Temporary Entry Pass}
[EXP: 9]
AN: No Omake this week. Couldn't think of one. Also too busy celebrating Villanova's win. There were some arrests...
This chapter is probably one of the most important ones in terms of overall plot. Several things have been witnessed and have happened, which will be touched upon more in the next chapter.
If any of you have played Minecraft, you probably know what portal Cobb found and where it leads...but what about the less noticeable stuff?
The things that could spell the doom of Minecraftia...
Give me your feedback, leave a fav, follow, review (unless it's inappropriate and/or embarrassing), and see you next week.