AN: Okay everybody. I'm done.
It's finally reached the point where I can't go on. I've tried and tried to keep it going, but I'm just out of ideas. I know this might be dissapointing to some, but...
Oh, wait... did you think I meant this story? No! No, I meant the riddles. I'm done with the riddles. I've told too many. Probably more than fifty riddles if my math is right. I can't keep up. I'm sorry.
I either need a new source of riddles or else some other way of awarding Victory Cookies to the masses. Pm me ideas, I'm open to suggestions. But for now, this is probably the last riddle you'll see for a while.
Puzzle: Carys says, "If you lie to me I will slay you with my scythe. If you tell me the truth, I will slay you with my fists." What must Cobb say to stay alive?
Disclaimer: I don't own Minecraft. Bwuh.
Chapter 137
Fear of Knowing
[Cobb]
My back was screaming in pain when I woke up. As soon as I was sensible enough to feel it, I let out a pained hiss into the darkness.
I rolled onto my front, and then collapsed - my face pressed into gravel - when the pain from that act alone nearly made me pass out. It felt like my back had hit every cliff on the way down.
I peeked an eye open and came face to face with Beican's Head.
Mirabelle's was there too, having fallen out of the miner's Inventory in the explosion. Of all the times for a Creeper to show up, and out of all the people it could have attacked, it went for the unconscious one.
For a while, I just stared at the dead eyes of the miner and his wife. A few hours ago they'd been canoodling one another with absolute adoration. These were two people in love. They would have done anything for each other.
And now they were both dead. The thought made tears pool beneath my cheek. It didn't matter what Beican tried to do in his grief. I couldn't find it in myself to hate him. We were too similar.
"...Why did you come down here, Mirabelle?" I asked before my face fell into the gravel.
Beside me, I heard a groan. Not a Zombie, but a Crafter. I tilted my head to look and saw in the dim glow a suit and dress pants. Noman feebly stirred, propping himself up by his elbows.
I was confused as to how I could even see anything. There was darkness everywhere and no torches, so what was causing the light?
Getting to my knees, I found the answer in the form of some glowing red ore beneath us. Redstone ore. Anywhere my hands pressed against the mineral would light up. It was dimmer than a torch, but it allowed us to see.
It didn't prevent Mobs from spawning, though.
"Never a break…" I complained with a grunt, fumbling for a weapon. Noman was the same way, his injured limbs resisting his commands and taking longer to draw his shield. It looked like we were the only ones down here, so we'd be the only ones who could save us.
I swayed to my feet, ignoring the throbbing in my back, before swiping with my sword at an oncoming Spider. I put in too much strength, however, and found myself leaning on a chunk of gravel for support. The Spider wasn't so encumbered and returned with a vengeance to take a bite out of my leg.
"Step OFF!" I kicked out, flinging the spider into Noman by mistake and bowling him over. "Uh… Sorry!"
Noman had his own problems. A pair of Skeletons were peppering his shield like a fine steak, giving him no opening to get close. He winced and shifted his shield slightly, and in doing so, deflected one of the arrows into the cavern wall. His gaze tracked it, and I could see the gears turning in his head as he angled his shield in such a way that one of the arrows deflected into one of the Skeletons.
It gave him an opening and he took it, swapping his shield out for his bow and taking aim before firing an arrow.
It missed.
He sheepishly loaded another one and took a more careful aim, this time hitting the Skeleton. He alternated between deflecting with his shield and firing back, killing the skeletal Mobs with little problem.
To the tune of the vale's eternal wailing, we took out Mob after Mob. We devoured mutton in-between waves and the pain in my back slowly faded, but there was no end to them. The meager light coming from the redstone ore we battled across was too little to fully illuminate the cavern's darkness. Mobs kept spawning and we had no torches between the two of us. I had the material to make some, but that required time.
"Noman!" I called while swinging a Zombie at a Skeleton. "Cover me! I'm making some torches!"
Noman nodded, bringing his shield up and taking position before me. I pressed my back against the cavern wall and took out the jungle wood planks I'd been carrying since Jolin. Planks became sticks, and sticks combined with coal to make the one thing that could light up the darkness.
Sixteen torches. I placed them down in a circle, my eyes finding relief as the once-shadowed Mobs were seen with greater clarity. The light reclaimed the darkest corners from where the Mobs were spawning endlessly, and, almost as if realizing their lost advantage, a few of the Mobs paused to look to one another.
Noman and I struck fast.
"That's the last of them." The shield-bearer flicked his enchanted sword upon the last Skeleton before returning it to his belt. His gaze then turned to Beican and Mirabelle's resting place. "Notch, why did this happen…"
There wasn't much I could say that hadn't already crossed my mind. I didn't want to look at the dead couple. It reminded me of my fears. Every glimpse I took of them was a pang that reminded me of Jade.
I at least had the decency to watch as Noman combined flint with iron and burned the Heads in a manner similar to what Beican did for Cormac. A proper burial. I watched the smoke rise from the funeral pyre and float in the dim torchlight before it vanished into the darkness of the cavern.
"How far down you think we are?" I asked, trying to figure out where we fell from. Soul and Lenz were nowhere to be seen. Hopefully they landed on a ledge further up.
Hopefully.
I took out my map again and felt a weight lift when I saw their blips were still alive and accounted for. The only blip I couldn't see was Jade's.
Heart: We need to find her.
"Come on." I mumbled, walking past Noman and the burning fire. "Keep going."
"Wait a second, Cobb." Noman snagged my shoulder, pulling me back and moving before me. "Where are we even going?"
"To find Jade." I urged.
"And Beatrix?"
"Of course." I growled. Something about the way he said it rubbed me the wrong way. What, did he think I only cared about Jade? Did he think I was unaffected by the loss of Cormac, Mirabelle, and Beican? Did he think I was made of stone? No! They all mattered. But Jade… Jade mattered more.
It was a bias. A bad bias, Noman would say, but I never kissed Beatrix. I never connected as much with Beatrix. I wasn't as invested with Beatrix. Would I save her if she was in trouble, of course. But…
But a part of me hoped to locate Jade first. Then I could calm down, then I could stop stressing, then I could get everything under control, take a breath, and just-just-just-!
"If we're going to find either of them, we need to keep moving." I wrenched my shoulder away and trekked on down the cavern, but, infuriatingly, Noman got in my way.
"All we've been doing since arriving here is moving." He said, annoyingly calm. "We've lost more and more people and we fall down further and further. Without Beican's knowledge of these mines, we can't even find the exit."
"He said to dig up." I reminded him. "So we'll dig up. After we find Jade and Beatrix."
"And if we get separated again?" Noman asked. "If we run into the spirit that's hunting us? What then, Cobb?" He held up his map, showing the blips I'd seen moments ago. "Jade lost her map. But Lenz and Soul still have theirs. We should focus on locating blips we can see rather than scouring these mines without any clues."
I narrowed my eyes at the map in his hands. The synced maps were a sign of trust among the Beginners; a way to always find one another no matter where in Minecraftia we may be. But we had never made a map for Noman. His had been made by Carys' people to hunt us down. He fought them off and took it for himself, but he never earned it. He wasn't a Beginner.
"I'm not saying we should abandon Jade or Beatrix." He clarified. "But without knowing where they are, we'd be doing more harm than good. We need to reconvene with the others."
He had a point. Walking around the mines just hoping we'd stumble upon the two women was idiotic. Meanwhile, we knew where Soul and Lenz were. It should have been the obvious choice, then we could all continue the search as a team.
I just wasn't sure Noman would want to continue the search.
"...Before we do anything else," I started, cocking my head at the suited man across from me, "I have a question. Would you rather save a life or save an artifact?"
A surge of anger flashed across his face. "Really? You're going to discuss that now!? Here? In this godforsaken mine with who-knows-what hunting us!?"
"I have to know."
"Why?"
"So I can be sure you won't leave us in the mine the first chance you get."
Noman looked affronted. "You… You think I would just abandon-"
"I don't know what to think." I admitted with a scowl. "Just now, Beican almost killed Lenz and I saw you wavering - fucking wavering! - to do anything until I screamed about the stupid boots. What the hell?"
"Double language!"
"Just..." I let out an irritated sigh before fisting a handful of my jeans. "Just tell me something convincing. Please."
Noman's anger lessened after hearing how desperate I sounded. He stared at me for a long while, the wails trailing on in the background, before he considered a reply.
"Once upon a time, the artifacts were all I was obsessed with." He finally broke the silence. "I risked a life and a friendship over one, before realizing where I went wrong. It was a mistake." He stressed. "But now I know better. I know that all life is precious, be it Lenz, Soul, Jade, or Beatrix. This decision to regroup is not, as you think, to assure the safety of the Bottes Zephyr in Lenz's possession. It's to ensure the most lives survive this ordeal. Beican was…" He ran a hand through his hair. "Beican caught me off guard. I didn't want to hurt him. I didn't want you to kill him. I didn't want Lenz to get killed. I… I hesitated. It won't happen again."
"That… is exactly what I needed to hear." I sighed, turning to track Soul and Lenz's blips on the map. "They're in this direction. No telling how deep."
"We can build our way up." Noman nodded.
"Yeah…"
Wait for me, Jade. Just hang on a little bit longer.
[Baltic]
"Damnit, where did that Lieutenant go?" Perry growled, having just cleared a house with Wing. I was tasked with leading our search party of three. Z7 headed the group with her fellow Epsilon members, Dorian and Shroud, and Carys led Luis and Heather.
Carys had sent us out immediately after killing that summoned iron golem. I had to concede the Lieutenant's brilliance; the golem he made distracted us perfectly and allowed him to free the Testificates and Crafter from our clutches.
I knew Carys. Her methods of acquiring information may have been… heavy-handed, but she had every intention of curing those Testificates had they been zombified. That why she had me make the Splash Potions of Weakness. It wasn't widely known, but a zombified Testificate could be cured by splashing it with weakness before feeding it a golden apple. I had the apples in my ender chest. After we got the information from Delaney, we would have turned them back.
...I would have turned them back.
The Testificates were innocent. They could do no harm. And Delaney didn't seem like a cultist. More likely she was a hapless bystander tricked by a cultist's creative lie. I would have spoken in her defense and spared her Carys' more… violent tendencies.
The Endward Cult was what she was really after. Killing those killers was her reason for living, and the Endward Cult were killers, sowing death and destruction throughout Minecraftia.
And yet… Flawwed_Floyd had rescued those three.
That was what confused me the most. I couldn't wrap my head around what motivated him to interfere. No cultist in their right mind would risk their lives to rescue two Testificates and a hapless bystander in a room full of Paragons. Not with the Angel of Death watching.
And yet, he did.
He could have just slipped away. Escaped, while Carys was busy torturing them for information. Or he could have silenced them with his blade before we even arrived to minimize the risk of a leak.
He did neither.
What strategic benefit was there in those two Testificates and one bystander? What did the Endward Cult want with them? Delaney clearly wasn't a cultist, no matter what Carys or the others suggested.
The only answer I could come up with was an unsavory one. One that I've come to expect from Carys, but never one she'd have to lie about. We were on the same side, she should have no reason to lie. But clearly she thought differently.
Why did a cultist save those Testificates? Because he wasn't a cultist at all.
Which meant King_Cobb was just as innocent. I remembered the words he threw out, on the battlements of Cloud Castle.
'We're not cultists! I don't know what lies she said, but she's only doing this for a personal vendetta! There's no benefit for what you're doing here!'
I rubbed at my eyes, tired, while rain soaked through my clothes. It was looking a lot like Cobb had been telling the truth.
Which means this whole thing was a gigantic waste of our time.
Carys knew that. She knew, but she didn't care. Or rather, she felt that bringing Mr. Piggles' killer to justice was more important. Maybe she was right. Her sanity hung by a thread whenever Cobb escaped or outwitted her. Maybe she figured dealing with him would clear her head. It was a chapter of her life she wanted to close.
By torturing the poor bastard and killing his friends in front of him.
I didn't like that.
But, considering all Carys had been put through…
I couldn't say that Cobb didn't deserve it.
So I kept my mouth shut and led our group into searching more houses, all the while trying to convince myself that this was the best thing for Carys.
[Noman]
It was while setting up the latest torch that Cobb could a glimpse of a sword handle along the cavern floor. Another torch revealed the rest, a mess of gear strewn about and a couple of floating orbs of EXP.
Someone had fallen here.
His reaction was… muted. It was there, but… he seemed almost lethargic about it, calmly stalking over to the gear and picking through it. He never made a sound, not even when he picked up a map.
Jade's map.
Still, Cobb never uttered a word. He just kept meandering amongst the gear, picking through it like a lost child. The EXP orbs floated into his arm when he finally found the Head...
Beatrix.
Cobb picked it up and turned it over in his hands, remaining eerily quiet. It was almost like he was trying to memorize the features. It was unsettling. His shoulders shook, but I couldn't make out his face.
"Cobb…?"
The only sign he had heard me was when he slowly bobbed his head back and forth. He didn't speak, didn't look at me, and above all, he didn't cry. It was a pained expression that I realized what was going on. He had grown used to it. Finding the dead, finding the discarded gear and Heads.
He'd become desensitized to it all.
*RATTLE*
I looked up with a start, my shield and sword drawn. "Cobb, Mobs incoming. Weapons out."
Cobb refused to move, still hunched over, turning the Head over in his shaking hands.
"Cobb! Get up! Come on!"
The only sound he made was a grunt when an arrow pierced his shoulder.
Realizing he was in no condition to fight, I bundled a handful of his shirt in one hand and hauled him to his feet. With the other, I kept my shield up, deflecting the arrows of the Skeletons. Alternating between pushing and dragging him, I guided us to a small alcove in the cavern. It was small, likely dug when their was ore to extract. But now, it was the perfect shelter. There was a small pool of lava to the side, illuminating it. I quickly plugged the only entrance with gravel, sealing us inside. The Skeletons rattled fruitlessly against it, and I could hear arrows sinking into the gravel, but there was little they could do without a Creeper or Enderman to displace the blocks.
The unending wails continued to assault our eardrums, but whatever creature was making them couldn't have been close I sat Cobb down and lowered myself across from him, ready to get to the bottom of this.
"What happened?" I started. "I know you found another Head, but that's no reason to just shut down. It wasn't Jade's. She could still be alright."
Finally, Cobb looked at me. I expected wet eyes, trails of tears, snot dribbling down his face.
Dry eyes stared back at me, empty.
I leaned back, shocked at his lack of emotion.
"I can't do it." He mumbled, shaking his head. "Crying. I can't do it anymore." He looked at the Head of Beatrix, still held firmly between his hands. "Every time we find gear littered about, I keep thinking, 'This is it. This time it'll be her.' And there's so much… dread." He clutched his heart. "It grows and grows, with every step I take, until I find out it's someone else and I can breathe again… only to start the whole damn thing all over again. I can't take it."
I didn't bother chastising him for his language. I could tell that now wasn't the time.
"I didn't want them to die." He says. "Cormac, Mirabelle, Beican, Beatrix. I cried for them. And yet…" He paused. "I was also happy, since it wasn't her I was finding. Now though…" He brought out Jade's map, the one thing she should have had on her. "I just… don't have any tears left to give."
"Cobb…" I reached out, but he leaned out of the way, his eyes unfocused.
"I'm supposed to be the leader." He mumbled. "The man with the plan. But now, I dunno… now I'm thinking Beican was right. Maybe we are pretty much useless. Maybe all we really do is show up and find the Heads." He swallowed thickly, no tears, but he could barely form the words.
"I don't want to find my girlfriend's Head."
He was halfway to defeat saying that. Maybe more like three-quarters to defeat. He was terrified to go any further. The fear of knowing had paralyzed him. There was nobody left to die except those he cared deeply for, and that thought was crushing him inside.
No matter our differences, Cobb needed help.
I reached into my backpack.
"Life itself is always a trial." I began, much to Cobb's confusion. "In training, you must test and polish yourself in order to face the great challenges of life. Transcend the realm of life and death, and then you will be able to make your way calmly and safely through any crisis that confronts you."
Once I was finished, Cobb let a beat of silence pass before tilting his chin to look at me. "What, is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"Partly." I pulled out my one and only ender chest and placed it down. Cobb flinched at the sight of it, but then relaxed when he saw me take out a book. "It's a quote from the Art of Peace. Aikido." I waved the book slightly. "There's another one. 'Be grateful even for hardship, setbacks, and bad people. Dealing with such obstacles is an essential part of training in the Art of Peace.'"
"I don't-" Cobb let out an annoyed sigh. "I'm not an Aikidoist or whatever you are, Noman. I can't care for every living being in the world, so your teachings don't apply."
"Whether they apply or not doesn't matter. Contextually, people face hardships all the time." I explained. "It's in overcoming these hardships that true strength is forged. The strength of spirit."
"No offense, Noman, but my 'spirit' feels like its flatlined." He mumbled depressingly.
"I know you're scared." I said. "I know it feels like going further - learning Jade's fate - is harder than any foe you've faced so far." He turned his head and stared vacantly at the wall. "But that just means you have to find the strength to face it anyway. Because you have to know."
"...I can't keep my hopes up, Noman." He answered weakly, refusing to look at me. "Everytime I go through it, it just hits me harder and harder. Then when I actually find her-"
"You think Beican wanted to find Mirabelle's Head?" He flinched at the name, a grimace forming. "You think he wanted to find his wife dead?"
"Of course not."
"But he came down here anyway. Because he knew he had to try. He knew he had to know for sure. Even when he knew it would either be painful enough to break him or wonderful enough to make him cherish life. He came down here to find her, dead or alive, and you owe it to Jade to do the same. The very fact we haven't found her Head yet means she fought harder than all the other fallen Crafters to live." There was a flicker in Cobb's eye. A rekindling of hope. "She kept herself alive in the hopes that help would come. Are you just going to give up now and put her efforts to shame?"
"...No."
"I can't hear you. Say it louder."
"No!" He looked up, his eyes strong. "You're right. Alive or… not… Jade's efforts can't be for nothing. I have to find her. Even… even if it's painful." He looked down, clutching at his heart. "So very painful…"
"Then let's get out of this hole and find her." I smiled, slipping the Art of Peace back into my ender chest. My fingers grazed the Severe Shield as I withdrew them, but Cobb couldn't see it. It was my Inventory, not his. Though, his eyes did stray to the ender chest.
"...Thanks, Noman." He choked out. "I know I don't deserve it after what I stole from you, but-"
"It can wait. We need to find your friends."
"Yeah. My friends." He nodded absently before turning to the pool of lava in the room and approaching it with a bucket. He scooped out a healthy dose of it and brandished it like a weapon towards the gravel-blocked entrance to our hiding spot. Behind it, Skeletons rattled away. "Open it."
With a swing of my sword, I complied.
With Cobb's spirits bolstered, we made short work of the skeletal Mobs. They burned to death in a puddle of lava before Cobb recollected the fiery liquid death with his bucket.
Instead of going further into the tunnel, however, Cobb went back to where he found Beatrix's gear and Jade's map.
"I've thought about it." He said, combing over the area carefully. "This is all Beatrix's gear, but only Jade's map. How can that be?"
I saw what he meant. "Jade must have given the map to her."
"Exactly." Cobb nodded, searching more carefully. "I bet Jade gave it away to give Beatrix a way to find us, presumably while she hung back to fight whatever was chasing them. But we haven't found Jade's gear yet."
"So then, when Beatrix was killed by the spirit, the blip faded because she dropped the map. But that means Jade could be anywhere. What makes you think there's a clue here?"
To answer, he pointed upwards. I traced his finger and saw something I hadn't noticed before. A hole in the cavern's ceiling, where torchlight filtered down.
"I didn't notice it before," Cobb admitted, pointing out the blocks of gravel that must have fallen from above. "The torchlight above means someone was there to place torches, and the gravel means those same people suffered a collapsing floor courtesy of the same thing that's been haunting these caves. Beatrix wasn't killed, she fell to her death."
"And Jade didn't?"
At that, Cobb scoffed. "Jade's a parkour master. No way she'd fall down without catching herself on one or two ledges. She fell, but not fatally. And it was so dark she couldn't relocate the map off Beatrix's remains."
"So then, where is she?"
"I'm… I'm not sure." Cobb looked around again, staring determinedly at the cavern walls. Then, he went still, his arms going slack.
Over by the wall was a bit of cobblestone, contrasting sharply with the smooth stone beside it.
"Maybe…" Cobb began, his words faint. "Maybe she was injured by the fall."
He slowly started walking towards the cobblestone-patched wall.
"Maybe she broke an arm or… or a leg…" He gulped. "She could have hit her head, her vision fading, the spirit chasing her. She could have dragged herself to the nearest hiding spot and…" he placed his hands on the cobblestone. It wouldn't have appeared there naturally. Someone placed it.
"Maybe… maybe some Mobs got in there with her." He wondered aloud. "What if… what if she passed out. It could be dark in there. Mobs could have spawned, and… and…"
Cobb took a shaky breath, placing both palms on the cobblestone and using it to support himself. He was on the precipice. The verge of knowing. He was still hesitant. He needed a push. One last push.
"You need to know." I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "No matter what's behind it, you have to know."
He bit his lip, offered a shaky nod, before taking a deep breath to steady himself. Then, he took out his weakened pickaxe, adjusting his grip three times to delay, and then swung down, splintering the cobblestone.
The pick broke on the first block. Light burst forth, momentarily blinding us.
"Hey, Cobb…" A weary Jade smiled back, her eyes barely flicking open. She was clutching her head and she looked shaken. "What… kept you…?"
Cobb broke down, but for once it wasn't in debilitating grief. From dry eyes a fresh wellspring of tears gushed forth. Cobb was laughing and crying and saying Jade's name over and over while he dug through the cobblestone with his bare hands. As soon as all obstacles were removed, he embraced the parkour master in a tight hug, kissing her cheek and forehead and dripping tears all over her.
I smiled fondly watching the display. Jade let out a weak noise of distress, trying to assure Cobb she was fine, but Cobb just kept a hold on her. I offered a Potion of Regeneration, which he gratefully accepted before pouring it gingerly down Jade's throat. She stirred slightly and a little color returned to her face, but her eyelids fluttered closed. Whatever she went through exhausted her.
It was exhausting for Cobb too.
"Hey, Noman."
"Yeah?" I wiped a tear out of my eye. Cobb gave a watery smile, a weight off his shoulders.
"I'm really glad I didn't quit looking."
[Lenz]
*UHNNN!*
My body was in pain, but my senses worked just fine. My mind was already perceiving the threat known to make such moans, and it was no spirit.
*UHNNN!*
I lifted my head off the cave floor and bent my legs in a struggle to generate movement. The Zombie was coming for me, its green, outstretched arms and claws promising a protracted death.
Must… move!
I brought up an elbow, flipping my sluggish body onto my back just out of the Mob's reach. Fingers fumbled at my belt before gripping my trusty bow and fitting an arrow into the string. I pulled back with the Zombie towering before me and fired.
The Zombie vanished in a puff of smoke and rotten flesh, and EXP, which flew into my arm.
I looked around for any other threats, but found only our resident axe-weilder, laid out flat and nursing his head with the back of one hand. He was mumbling something.
"Soul." I groaned, clutching my sides. I quickly shoved some mutton into my mouth and chewed furiously. My Health began to tick back up, allowing me to move more easily. "Soul, eat something."
"M'kay." He remarked drowsily, taking out his own slab of mutton. He fruitlessly dabbed the meat around his open mouth before finally succeeding in getting it past his teeth. The effects were immediate, giving him a better sense of where he was. "What happened? Agh, my head's killing me."
"Likely you fell on it." I guessed, pushing myself to my feet and limping over to him. "I do not see Cobbert or Noman. Beican was unconscious when the Creeper exploded. Do you think he is-"
"Dead." Soul nodded grimly. "I saw his Inventory spray out just before the floor gave."
"Oh."
I did not have much else to say. It was hard to mourn a man who had just tried to kill me, and yet his fear and desperation were completely understandable. He had just found his wife's and friend's Heads. The parallels between that and the Wailing Vale story were not lost on me. He may have been wrong to suspect us of being responsible for either of the death's, but it was our own fault for going in after Mirabelle. Her note had warned us against it, and yet we still came.
"Soul?"
"What?"
"Is… Is this our fault?"
We never meant to mean something to Beican's band. We never meant to have Mirabelle risk her life for coal. We never meant for her, Cormac, and Beican to die down here. But that was everything that happened. Jade and Beatrix were who knows where, Cobbert and Noman were missing, and something was hunting us down and killing us.
Not a spirit, but something.
"I am starting to think that mentioning our need for coal was a mistake." I winced, limping over to lean against a wall. My health was still ticking up, a reminder that I was still alive. "What do we tell Delaney and Beatrix?"
"We didn't do this." Soul insisted. "It was Mirabelle's choice to come down here. We never asked her to. And everyone who came down here knew the risks." Soul rubbed his arm, wincing under the pain. "Maybe… Maybe Beican was our fault. We knocked him out. But nobody would have stood by and let him kill you. Least of all Cobb."
I rubbed my throat, almost feeling the pickaxe Beican had pressed to it. "...I am glad to still be alive. But Beican… He died in misery." I remembered the aggrieved wail he gave having found his wife's remains. "He did not deserve that."
"Then we should kill whatever did that to him." Soul said resolutely, twirling his axe and pointing to the tunnel. "Let's go bust that ghost."
"It is not a ghost." I sighed, half in exasperation. "But we should kill whatever Mob has been inhabiting these mines."
"You mean you're still not convinced!?" Soul threw his arms up as he followed me out of the cave. "You can still hear the wailing! It's the Wailing Vale spirit."
"I have yet to see a thing besides explosions and lesser Mobs." I answered vehemently. "Think about the initial story. Beican said there were blood-curdling screams when the 'spirit' was first investigated, but those could have easily been the adventurers' screams. And Cobbert only said he heard Jade and the others run away from something behind that wall of gravel. It could have been Mobs. A dozen Creepers."
"Okay, smarty-pants. Then how do you explain the wails we keep hearing?"
At that, I whipped my head forward and marched on. "I am certain the answer will reveal itself in due time."
"You're in denial, man. Why can't you just accept there's something supernatural down here?"
"Because I deal in science and logic as opposed to 'supernature'." I replied matter-of-factly. "Redstone Engineering is all about cause and effect. You place the redstone dust in a path no farther than fifteen blocks in distance, you attach it with a button, a lever, or a pressure plate, and then you activate it to output a signal. All of which can be explained through the nature of redstone usage. Redstone is a conductive dust that can transfer energy, and harnessing it allows for many of Minecraftia's most advanced technological marvels."
"But the idea that the dead can inhabit this plane as spirits is just ludicrous when there has been no instance of anything like that in recorded history. As an engineer - a man of science - phenomena have to be grounded in facts, not fiction. Accepting the impossible will only hinder one's thought process."
"Whatever. All I need to know is there's something bad down here and I'mma kill it."
"Spoken like a true meathead."
"Well talking the thing to death isn't going to work." Soul smirked. "If it did, you'd have killed us long ago."
"Hardy-har-har."
"Just trying to diffuse the tension."
"Well try to - shhh!" I bent low, drawing my bow. "The wails are close."
"Yeah, I hear it too." Soul stood beside me, axe at the ready. "Sounds like it's right around that corner up ahead. Get ready with those arrows."
I nodded and together, the pair of us crept towards the tunnel's bend, towards the mysterious wailing.
Closer…
Closer…
Soul placed a hand at the rock, ready to pull himself around and start swinging. My bowstring was taut, much like my nerves.
At once, we jumped around the corner, our eyes frantically taking in the scene. But there was no danger, be it Mob or 'spirit'.
The tunnel opened up into a large chasm. It was probably the same chasm from Beican's story, where the husband had fallen down. Sure enough, there were openings near the ceiling that almost certainly led into parts of the coal mine. They gave off a faint glow from the torchlight.
Oddly enough, however, we had not misheard the wails. The entire chasm was echoing with them, the sounds vibrating our bones. There was also a powerful breeze that caused my scarf to flutter like a flag.
"Why is it so windy underground?" Soul questioned as he peered up into the chasm. "And where are those stupid wails coming from?"
Suddenly, everything clicked into place. The wind and the wails. It all made sense now!
"The wails are the wind!" I turned to a confused Soul, a triumphant smile on my face. "I knew there was an explanation! I knew it!"
"What do you mean?"
To answer, I pointed up to the chasm. "The wind is from the storm outside. There must be another entrance from which the wind can enter. What we have been hearing all this time - what the villagers of Shansi have been hearing all this time - is the wind blowing against the rocks!"
Much like how blowing air between your lips made a whistle, the fierce winds blowing against the sturdy chasm walls made a sort of moaning wail. Indeed it sounded like the walls were howling in anguish. And the sound echoing against everything distorted the wails even further. No wonder the villagers thought it was a 'spirit'.
"But… but Beican said the wails showed up a week after that woman went missing."
I thought about that for a moment. "I bet it was because she set off a Creeper." I gazed at the craters littering the chasm. "Beican did say Creeper explosions were common. The woman must have set off a Creeper near the surface, opening up this chasm to the valley above ground. And whenever the winds funneled into the valley, they would come down here and make this wail." I laughed. "The 'spirit' everyone was so afraid of was the wind all along."
"Hang on," Soul raised a hand. "Then what about the adventurers? They said they ran into a monster. And Jade and the others ran from something. And what's been setting off all these cave-ins?"
"Creepers. What else?" I replied back confidently. "They could have been attracted by all the reverberating sounds and detonated prematurely. Those adventurers must have just fabricated the spirit in their fear after running into some regular, ordinary Mobs. And even Jade would flee if she were to encounter too many Mobs."
"And the screams? The blood-curdling screams?"
I just shrugged. "Must have belonged to those getting attacked. Or maybe a change in the wind's intensity! That could be it too."
"So… all this time… there was nothing to be scared of?"
"That is correct, Soul." I smiled triumphantly, dusting off my hands at my expert deductions. "There is nothing spooky down here."
*BOOM*
An explosion sent cobblestone raining down upon us. I shielded my head as best I could from the debris, but noticed that the howling wails from the chasm walls took an eerie turn.
"Aahaahie…"
It was nothing like the wailing I was familiar with. It was high-pitched, sounding like a cross between a cat, a child, and some demonic being. I whirled around to where the explosion came from and gave a small whimper upon seeing the strange white appendages looming out of the hole in the chasm walls. They squirmed, gripping the sides of the crater before pulling the rest of itself free, where instead of falling it hung suspended.
Floating before me was probably the most terrifying thing I had ever seen.
It was four times my size and had some semblance of a human form. But only a semblance. It wore tattered clothes that hung loose and swayed in the wind. Its skin was ashen white and stretched tight across its 'body'. I use the word loosely since its 'body' was a torso split off into a contorted mess of tentacles - nine in total - that alternated between groping around the air and hugging itself reservedly. Three of the tentacles swayed beneath the floating monstrocity, ending in pale feet, while two tentacles ended in deformed hands. The other four were like white squid tentacles, and one of them concealed part of the monster's face.
If only it had concealed all of it.
Positioned atop the torso and writhing mass of tentacles was a spindly, ashen face. Its hair was long, white, and streaked with light-gray, and defied gravity, blowing to the right in a direction different from the wind. The eyes and mouth were mere slits, and there were tracts of tears showing that the monster had been crying. Crying for longer than anything.
The wraith floated above the ground, larger than any Mob I had ever seen, and slowly, its slit-like eyes peered open to reveal black sclerae and bloody pupils. Tentacles vibrated like rattlesnakes and its mouth opened wide as soft wails turned to blood-curdling, high-pitched screams before it spat out a ball of fire at us.
We ducked as the fireball crashed into the chasm wall. The resulting explosion left behind a flaming crater in the stone.
"UehuehEEEIH!" It screamed horribly, spitting another fireball towards us.
"RUN!" Soul shouted.
Not needing to be told twice, I channeled all my strength into my legs, pumping them desperately in a mad dash to escape whatever unholy monstrosity was chasing us. The thing gave a horrible wail before pursuing, spitting fireballs that struck with powerful, rock-breaking blasts.
"Lenz! Is this also the work of the wind?"
"Alright, fine! It is a ghost! Happy!? Now shut up and run faster!"
Inventory (Cobb): 1 Iron Helmet, 1 Leather Tunic [Dyed Green, Mending I, Unbreaking I], 1 Diamond Leggings [Projectile Protection IV], 1 Iron Boots, 1 Fishing Rod {Backlash} [Knockback II, Luck of the Sea III, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Sword, 1 Banner {Beginners}, 64 Cobblestone, 61 Cobblestone, 64 Gravel, 64 Gravel, 64 Gravel, 4 Gravel, 1 Bed, 36 Dirt, 7 Coal, 24 Flint, 12 Jungle Wood Logs, 60 Jungle Wood Planks, 7 Torches, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Clock, 1 Lava Bucket, 5 String, 21 Emeralds, 11 Snowballs, 9 Gunpowder, 34 Cooked Mutton, 27 Rotten Flesh, 1 Book {How to Kill Stuff for Numb Nuts}, 1 Book {Advanced Mob-Slaying}, 2 Maps {Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}
[EXP: 33]
Inventory (Floyd): 1 Leather Cap [Dyed Brown, Curse of Binding I, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Chestplate [Projectile Protection IV], 1 Leather Pants [Dyed Brown, Curse of Binding I, Unbreaking III] {Weak}, 1 Leather Boots [Dyed Brown, Curse of Binding I, Unbreaking III], 1 Iron Pickaxe, 3 Iron Ingots, 47 Dirt, 1 Fishing Rod, 1 Furnace, 42 Cooked Mutton, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Minecart, 1 Bed, 1 Boat, 1 Emerald, 1 Iron Sword {Weak}, 1 Diamond Helmet [Projectile Protection IV], 1 Diamond Leggings [Projectile Protection IV], 1 Diamond Boots [Projectile Protection IV], 1 Iron Leggings, 16 Gunpowder, 8 Ender Pearls, 1 Splash Potion of Invisibility {6:00}, 1 Splash Potion of Invisibility {6:00}, 1 Iron Chestplate, 1 Iron Leggings, 1 Iron Boots, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}
[EXP: 32]
Inventory (Lenz): 1 Leather Cap [Dyed Brown, Curse of Binding I, Unbreaking III], 1 Leather Pants [Dyed Brown, Curse of Binding I, Unbreaking III], 1 Leather Boots [Dyed Brown, Curse of Binding I, Unbreaking III], 1 Bow, 1 Shears, 2 Levers, 1 Stone Button, 5 Redstone Torches, 1 Bed, 9 Redstone Repeaters, 3 Redstone Comparators, 28 Redstone, 18 Blocks of Redstone, 2 Hoppers, 3 Pistons, 2 Sticky Pistons, 48 Cobblestone, 64 Gravel, 1 Minecart, 1 Compass, 25 Gunpowder, 44 Arrows, 16 Jungle Wood Planks, 1 Crafting Table, 49 Cooked Mutton, 16 Sugar Cane, 8 Paper, 5 Ink Sacs, 3 Leather, 5 Emeralds, 1 Book {Airship Piloting 101}, 1 Book {Notebook}, 1 Book {How to Kill Stuff for Numb Nuts}, 1 Book {Advanced Mob-Slaying}, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Daymonte Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}
[EXP: 15]
Inventory (Soul): 1 Diamond Axe [Sharpness V], 1 Iron Pickaxe, 64 Iron Ingots, 52 Iron Ingots, 20 Flint, 12 Gold Ingots, 1 Milk, 1 Diamond Helmet [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Chestplate [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Leggings [Protection IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Boots [Protection IV, Feather Falling IV, Unbreaking III], 1 Crafting Table, 1 Bed, 1 Furnace, 24 Torches, 34 White Wool, 58 Dirt, 64 Cobblestone, 62 Cobblestone, 64 Gravel, 64 Gravel, 64 Gravel, 18 Gravel, 32 Jungle Wood Planks, 1 Armor Stand, 7 Ender Pearls, 28 Emeralds, 59 Cooked Mutton, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}
[EXP: 26]
Inventory (Jade): 1 Diamond Helmet [Protection IV], 1 Leather Tunic [Dyed Brown, Curse of Binding I, Unbreaking III] {Weak}, 1 Leather Pants [Dyed Brown, Curse of Binding I, Unbreaking III] {Weak}, 1 Leather Boots [Dyed Brown, Curse of Binding I, Unbreaking III], 1 Diamond Chestplate [Protection IV], 1 Diamond Leggings [Protection IV], 1 Diamond Boots [Protection IV], 1 Iron Sword, 1 Diamond Cutlass, 1 Bed, 1 Iron Pickaxe, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Furnace, 16 String, 38 Cooked Mutton, 14 Torches, 30 Jungle Wood Planks, 64 Cobblestone, 64 Cobblestone, 24 Obsidian, 2 Buckets, 1 Compass, 1 Clock, 23 Emeralds, 2 Ender Chests, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Dover Plains Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Lazuli Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}
[EXP: 36]
Inventory (Noman): 1 Diamond Sword [Sharpness I], 1 Black Shield {Slight Shield} [Blue Cross] {Weak}, 1 Flint and Steel, 1 Bow [Infinity], 28 Birch Wood Planks, 34 Iron Ingots, 18 Sticks, 1 Bucket, 1 Crafting Table, 29 Cooked Mutton, 9 Ender Pearls, 1 Potion of Healing II, 1 Potion of Healing II, 1 Potion of Regeneration II {0:22}, 1 Potion of Water Breathing {8:00}, 1 Bed, 1 Book {Artifact List}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Zeppil Entry Pass}, 1 Map {Zeppil}, 1 Compass, 1 Arrow, 3 Sugar, 14 Bookshelves, 6 Enchanted Golden Apples, 1 Diamond Helmet, 1 Diamond Chestplate, 1 Diamond Leggings, 1 Diamond Boots, 10 Emerald Blocks, 1 Map {Minecraftia}, 18 Bones, 64 Gravel, 64 Gravel, 64 Gravel, 49 Gravel, 9 Flint
[EXP: 24]
AN: People suspected the spirit was a Ghast, but only a few of you suspected a Hybrid! Kudos to those people, you know who you are, you clever readers, you.
Anyway, another Chapter done. I'm actually doing a good job keeping the story on track and meeting my publish dates. Surprising, I know.
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