Chapter 6 - Echoes In The Black Fog

Lizzie ran through her double chest, gathering any useful adventuring tools that were left there.

*Knock Knock* Stampy enters her wooden room.

Lizzie noticed him. "Stampy? Do you need anything?"

He shook his head. "Why did everyone agree to this?"

"You are asking the wrong person," she shrugged. "As far as I know, everyone has their own reasons for doing so."

"Well yes everyone already told me that, but I meant why should anybody accept something that includes pain on others? I'm not crazy for thinking this is wrong, right?"

Opening another chest, Lizzie sighed. "Do we have any other options? Like Alpha said, this might be our last chance."

"I um..."

She closed the box and walked to Stampy. "Look. I get that this doesn't seem like a good thing to do, but you have something back in the real world that you want to see again, right?"

He nodded.

"Then how about this. I'll handle anything that seems gruesome while you just support me from the back."

Stampy denied her offer. "No. I can handle myself. I just don't want to cause trouble for anyone."

"Okay. But I'm just saying that if you need help you can ask me."

All the YouTubers gathered around the real hidden portal. Some came with iron armour and others armourless.

I thought I would need Jesse and his team for this operation, but I guess this works too.

Stampy furrowed. "I can't believe I'm doing something like this."

"You better be prepared to fight for your life and be able to work as a team as efficiently as possible. We must not show any weakness."

Everyone nodded. Dan lit the portal and we all walked in. Once we stepped into the portal network, we searched for the crimson portal. It took us a while but eventually... "I found it!" Lizzie shouted.

We all ran towards her. I turned to them. "Once we enter, I'll drink the invisibility potion while you do what I told you."

As they all entered the hot air blasted in their faces. They squinted their eyes as they looked around. It was a huge mesa biome.

"Wow," Stacy awed in amazement. "A mesa biome..."

Stampy removed his orange cat hoodie. "It's so hot here."

"Alright guys, let's go." I pointed at the town's direction and drank my last potion of invisibility. The others followed my direction.

After sprinting along the long sandy road, we reached the town and avoided every mind-controlled monster and people. I snuck my way inside the supercomputer called PAMA, an advanced redstone machine.

The others should be distracting the machine with an impossible question. I should hurry and take out the heart quickly before I get swarmed by PAMA's pets.

There were three redstone towers connected to the source block. Without much thought, I destroyed pillars.

"ERROR. ERROR. Unknown Threat Detected. Preservation. Protocol. Initiated."

The machine began to protect its heart. "Oh no you don't." I hurried to the core. Smashing the glass, I pulled out the red heart, which killed the computer instantly.

"Easy." I went outside and noticed the group rushing over to me.

"We're now going to the next portal?" Dan asked.

"Yep. I'll build the redstone portal first." I took out the redstone and golden blocks and built the gateway exactly like the one we entered before. "Let's keep this up."

After helping all the sky citizens get down the surface, we agreed that someone named Milo will help lead in this new land. He and his group know how to build better than of the other sky city people. As for Aiden's buddies, they were both put under watch by the guards. We said our goodbyes and went back to the portal.

"Man... Today was sure stressful," Lukas said.

Petra nodded. "I know right? But I'm just glad I get to go home and rest a bit." Reaching the portal, she noticed Jesse deep in thought. "Hey Jesse? What's up?"

"I'm just thinking about what Aiden said before he perished," Jesse murmured.

"Oh? And what were his final words?"

He glared at her. "I don't care what his final words were, but I think that Alpha manipulated and aggravated him to act crazy against us."

"Really?" Lukas glanced at him. "Alpha was the cause of this?"

Jesse shook his head. "Even if she is the cause, your friend should've realized that it was morally wrong to act that way and stop immediately."

Lukas looked down with a sigh. "That is true... If Alpha never interfered, I wonder if Aiden would've still followed the same path..."

He patted his shoulder. "Hey. No use thinking about that now. Let's just go home and rest."

Lukas nodded. "You're right. Thanks a lot, Jesse."

They finally entered the lit portal, all thinking about what to do next back home, but to their surprise they found themselves in a long dark corridor filled with various portals.

Petra looked around with shock. "What..."

Jesse dashed ahead without a heads-up. "Alpha!"

Everyone followed behind him.

"Hey Jesse! What is going on?" Petra scanned ahead of Jesse. "Did you see that Silver Lunatic anywhere?"

Jesse stopped running and pointed up the quartz stairs. "I saw her go up there! We need to catch her!"

She looks at him worried. "I don't like this. What if it's a trap like last time."

"We have a team of four now where Alpha is still by herself. I think we can handle it," Jesse said in confidence. "Plus, I can't just let someone who killed my friend run around freely."

"Fine. But don't push yourself."

The beautiful white landscape was a sight to see. Yet at the same time, a chilly one. Stampy wore his orange hoodie again as he tried to warm himself up. "Hot to cold. Just marvelous..."

"Who are you?" Everyone looked up and saw an old man with purple clothing looking down at us. There was also an old woman, who seemed a bit younger, standing next to him.

"Faster than I expected..." Alpha mumbled. She steps up. "Hadrian and Mevia. I have a quick question."

Both looked at her curiously. "What?"

"You seem to have unusual powers as an Old Builder. Your building skills are abnormally fast, and players can resurrect in your respawn zones after dying. Tell me, is this power related to the Admin?"

"Why should I tell a stranger like you?" Mevia asked.

Alpha smirked. "So, is that a yes? Then tell me if the power you have is enough to leave this world."

Hadrian frustratingly shook his head. "Come on Mevia, we don't have time for this. We're already late to our game."

Positioning herself as she raised her blade, Alpha closed her eyes. "Looks like this was a waste of my time as well... I might as well send you guys back to your respawn zones." In an instant the two were sliced in one swoop, falling to the ground. Alpha picks up the Atlas from their smoking ashes. "Today's my lucky day huh? Now we can quickly find the exit which I don't remember."

"ALPHA!"

*CLANG*

Alpha countered the attack from the corner of her eye. Jesse gritted his teeth as he held his blade. "What an unexpected reunion. Here I thought you'd be distracted by the other portals."

"You murdered another person?! Why? Why the unnecessary destruction and manipulation?!" Jesse yelled.

Meanwhile this was happening, Dan looked at his friends. "What's going on? Who is Jesse?"

Stampy looked around nervously. "She didn't kill them, right? Right?"

Alpha kicked Jesse away into the snow with her mechanical leg. "Guys! We need to leave now!" She yelled at them.

"Um..."

"Stampy! She'll probably explain the situation later," Lizzie said. "Let's go now!"

The orange man hesitated before quickly nodding his head and tagging along with his group.

Jesse and his friends began to run after Alpha's group. After the long chase, they reached a portal room.

Ivor huffed as he tried to catch up with the group. "That woman has become too strong. How are you planning to stop her, Jesse?"

"I don't know... But I need to stop her." Jesse and everybody else jumped in the portal. Ivor shook his head and followed them.

As Jesse reached the other side, he found that Alpha and the ones who were following her ran in the wooden framed portal. He and the rest hopped in that portal.

Jesse reached the other side of the portal. "How many portals do I have to go through..." He looked around the familiar room. "This is..."

"We're back in Beacon Town..." Petra said. She searched around the room. "Where did Alpha and her group go?"

Jesse ran out the front redstone door and scanned the town. He grunted in frustration. "Lost once again."

Alpha landed on familiar ground. The other five landed next to her as well.

Sparklez examined the land around him. "It's been a while since I last set foot here."

Stacy nodded. "Yeah. This is where it all started..."

Alpha curiously glanced at them. "Started?"

Stacy looked at me as if she just heard one of the strangest jokes in her entire life. "Did you forget? Because everyone in this world was here."

"Everyone? I don't understand."

They all looked at each other and back to her. "Um. Do you remember waking up here on your first day?"

Alpha thought for a moment. "Y- Wait... Are you telling me that everyone started their first day right here?"

Stampy nodded. "Yeah. There were so many people. Too many to count. We had to spread out because of the crowded space we were in."

"There were many who strangely knew how this world worked and many who were lost. We were the ones who helped the lost ones during the first night. But one day someone discovered a portal to other worlds and many people started to explore and live there." Sparklez explained.

"We wanted to go out and explore one and we did, but once we entered," Lizzie shook her head, "we realized we didn't have the key back home. So we thought we could find one somewhere else in that world. Eventually we did after many years of searching but we couldn't leave immediately because of someone's silly prank," Lizzie said as she eyed Stampy.

Stampy looked down. "I'm sorry, okay? I won't do it ever again."

Dan crossed his arms. "I enjoy your little pranks but don't try to take them to the next level."

"Noted."

Alpha analyzed the area. "So, I probably woke up a bit late to the party... Why are there still many trees here? I would've expected it to be a wasteland if that many people were here."

Sparklez shrugged. "Someone must have replanted them because the trees and landscape right now seem unnatural."

"I see... What about the world under the bedrock floor?" Alpha asked.

They all looked at me as if I just said another strange thing. "What? But isn't it just all void below?"

Alpha sighed "Forget it. Let's just go before the sun sets. We need to find a village."

Stampy walks up to her. "Um, before that. Can you explain why that guy named Jesse saw you as some kind of evil person. Can you explain yourself?"

She turns around, not looking back. "I... might have done a few things to him and the whole world, which I don't have any regrets, but I'm not a total monster. I wanted to give him something that I stole a while back, yet I didn't have the time for that today." Alpha looks down on the reflection of her blade, lost in thought. "Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing the right thing..." she mumbled. "But at the same time, I can feel the endless-"

"Alpha?"

She snaps out of it. "Tsk... Let's get going. We wasted enough time chatting."

Jesse hacked away with his crystal blue blade.

I can't believe I let her escape! I need to be stronger, faster. Anything to defeat Alpha!

"What are you doing there?" Petra asked as she entered the room.

Jesse grunted as he continued to destroy the torn dummy. "Giving this Silver Memory a good exercise."

"Silver Memory?"

Jesse stopped training and looked at his blade. "It's the name of my blade. I don't want to ever forget what happened that day."

"Jesse..." She began walking towards him. "It's been a week since we last went portal hopping. Why are you so obsessed with her? It's always Alpha this and Alpha that. But what about us? Can't you spend more time with your friends?"

He suddenly realized what he was doing for the past few days. "Oh. I... I guess you're right. I've been so focused on beating her so much that I haven't talked much with you guys."

"And I came here to remind you that we are always there for you. Don't need to do this all alone."

Jesse put his Silver Memory away. "Yeah. I understand. How about I meet up with Axel and Olivia. It's been a while since I've seen them."

Petra sighed. "Haven't you heard? Olivia left to look out for Redstonia and Axel is now the king of Boomtown. They're pretty busy right now."

"Oh..." He scratched the back of his head. "I'm really not up to date with the news."

"Anyways, Lukas and I decided to see what our new neighbors are doing. You're needed there."

"New neighbors?"

Petra rolled her eyes. "You really have been stuck in your little cave. For goodness' sake you're this town's leader." She grabbed Jesse's hand. "Come on. Lukas is waiting for us."

The new neighboring town. It wasn't anything too big. Only a few small towers there and here. But there were a few massive skyscrapers that were in construction. Becoming more like a modern city.

Jesse and his friends spread out as they searched for the leader.

"Welcome Jesse."

Jesse turned around to find a black-haired lady in a black dress. "Who are you?"

"Hello. My name is Stella, the leader of Champion City," she said.

"Champion City? That's a cool name. But I wonder why you had to make this town separate from ours."

Stella fidgeted with her hands. "Well, me and the others wanted to recreate something big from our distant past... You know what I'm talking about right?"

Distant past? I... think I know what she's talking about. Jesse nodded.

She gently looked up with her sky-blue eyes. "While our memories are a bit hazy, I believe we can create the paradise I once remember living in."

"Paradise huh?" Jesse observed the blue towers.

She nodded. "Um. So, while I did like staying in Beacontown, I thought I could begin something new."

"I see. Well, we came here to see what you guys were doing. And so far, it seems alright. But if you're going to be next to my town," he reached out for his book and quill, "we would need to set some ground rules. I'm sure we don't want any conflict in the future... but with someone like you leading this city, I'm sure there won't be any problems."

Stella quietly nodded as she grabbed the quill, read the book, and signed her name on it. "Done."

Jesse placed down a crafting table, copied the signed book, and gave the copy to the city's leader. "With that out of the way, we will head back. I hope your city will prosper well. Looking forward to it."

Jesse waved her goodbye as he signaled his friends that they were leaving. As they walked, he explained the short version of what he and Stella talked about.

"Champion City huh?" Lukas wondered as they walked the road back to Beacontown. "I wonder how it will turn out to be."

"Well, whatever their planning sure sounds exciting," Petra said.

"And such a timid person running that big city, I wonder if we should help her in the future," Jesse said... He stopped walking, holding his hand out. "Did you guys hear that?"

Lukas glanced at him. "Hear what?"

"Quite!" Jesse whispered. He stayed silent for a moment, yet nothing happened.

"Jesse?" Petra was worried. "Is something wrong?"

He shook his head. "Must be my imagination. Maybe I'm just getting hungry."

Lukas gleamed in excitement. "I baked a cake earlier today."

Jesse glanced at him curiously. "Why are you so excited about baking a cake all of a sudden?"

"I tried to mix up some ingredients a few days ago and it was really delicious. Something that I've never tasted before."

"Oh? I didn't know you were into baking," Jesse said.

Lukas looked away. "Well, I was just dying of boredom and decided to try something new... You know, you should stop being obsessive with Alpha and focus on more important things. The people in Beacontown, your friends-"

"That's what I said this morning. Jesse should have got that by now," she glared at the leader, "right?"

Jesse sighed. "No need to repeat. You guys already drilled it into my brain good enough. Let's just try Lukas's new cake and call it a day."

Alpha's group found a small village in a plain's biome. Many villagers walked around, and some humans were also there. They searched around for a cartographer. Eventually they found one working inside his small workshop in one of the buildings.

"Hello sir. Do you happen to have any maps that can lead us to an Ocean Monument?" Alpha asked the villager.

The cartographer turned around in surprise. "Hmm Nrgh!"

"Sorry but I don't speak in Villagerese." She placed down her ender chest and took out a stack of emerald blocks. Alpha slams the shiny blocks on the table. "I'll let my valuables talk. Show me what you've got."

Suddenly the villager rapidly opened his chest and took out three maps. Alpha looked through each one. "Seems legit." She grabbed her sword. "Is that everything you have?"

He quickly nodded.

"Good." She turned around towards the exit. "Enjoy your emeralds."

As Alpha exited the shop, she looked through the maps again. Each one of them seems to be leading in different locations.

"So, we just need to follow one of these maps?" Lizzie asked.

"Yes. Though I don't know which one it is, I know it's not super far from here."

Stacy sighed in relief. "That's good to know."

"So, let's just rest up here for tonight?" Dan suggested. "I'm feeling pretty tired from all that walking and portal traveling."

"Sure. Though I would have preferred to head out now," Alpha said.

"What are you? Some kind of superhuman? No way you're not feeling tired," Stacy said.

"I'm not hundred percent sure but I think I'm an android. Because of this cool Minecart skin that I used during the real world, I've now became her. It resembles one character that I really liked a lot from a different videogame. It's weird thinking about this look because I know for a fact that I'm human and something entirely different." Alpha looked at her metal hand. "Maybe that's why I was able to skip every night without rest."

"Android? Videogame? It sounds familiar."

Alpha facepalmed, realizing that if she went any further it wouldn't end well. "Right... Just think of it as a complex redstone machine... Anyways, since I spent all my emeralds we can't sleep in an Inn. Let's build a small camp on the outskirts of the village."

"The outskirts?! But that is where most of the googlies are," Stampy complained. "Can't we stay here?"

"Stampy, we are going to be camping out in the wild once we move out. So, get used to it. And since I don't need to sleep, I'll just stand guard and watch out for any signs of danger."

They were sleeping peacefully inside the cheap dirt hut as I leaned against the door.

The 'first day' huh... But I also wonder what happened in the first world underneath this one... Did they have a 'first day' like that as well? Actually, my real question is why did I arrive much later? And who did this? The Admin? And why...

I tried to remember what happened in Minecraft Story Mode but couldn't come up with anything.

It's no use. It's been a while since I played that game. I don't remember every single detail about-

"— – — — – - · – · —"

The wailing echoes sent shivers down my spine. I took my blade and torch out. "What was that distorted noise?" I scanned around the area, but I couldn't find anything.

"- — · - – — ·"

"There it is again. What the heck am I hearing?" I continued to search more thoroughly and finally found the source in the woods. It was a skeleton horse covered in some kind of black mist. Before I could even respond, lightning struck and transformed the horse into four skeleton horsemen, while still retaining the black mist.

As they surrounded me, all the bow and arrows were immediately pointed directly at my head. I quickly closed my eyes. As time slowed down, I cut down the bones in half in one slice. At least that's what I expected, but it took me to at least three slashes before I could eliminate it.

"— · – - · — — –!"

I sheathed my blade as the monsters echoing screech pierced my ears. "What a hideous sound. It's even worse than an endermen."

Going back to the hut I checked through the door window to see if everyone was doing alright. I sighed in relief as they were still sleeping on their own beds.

I stood there until morning. As everyone woke up, we destroyed the small dirt shelter and packed up. "Have you heard anything strange last night?"

"Strange?" Sparklez shook his head. "I didn't hear anything strange. I was mostly asleep. But I had the strangest dream for sure-"

"· – — – - — - – · – — — — —"

The wailing once again echoed. It sounded far away from us. I unsheathed my blade. "There's more of them?!"

Dan looked around. "Is that the strange sound you're talking about? And what do you mean there's more of them?"

I scanned the area. "I fought one while you guys were sleeping. It was a skeleton horse that had some kind of black fog. They were so strong that I needed to use my powers twice, which isn't a good thing."

"Not a good thing?" Sparklez looked at me confused. "I thought you could use that zappy power of yours any time you wanted."

I snorted. "If I could, I wouldn't need your help. This weapon limits my usage of its powers. The insides in my body will fracture and repair itself if I use it once. But if I use it multiple times, the damage will get worse, and the healing progress will become slower. Though, I never tested the limit. Only focused on maintaining my usage."

"Oh. I didn't know you had that going on for you."

I shrugged. "I'm used to it." We waited for the noise to come back, yet nothing happened. I swapped out the sword for my map. "Let's go to the ocean monument with caution. We need to watch out for any black fog along the way."

"Great... Is this the pain and suffering you're talking about?" Dan asked.

"Well, I didn't expect something like this to happen. But I was referring to what's to come after we meet the Admin. Though truth be told, I don't really know if it will be as bad as I told you. I just assumed that's how it's going to be since joining the Admin's side means becoming the enemy of mankind. I just hope it won't come to that."

"Oh, I see," Sparkles nodded. "Well, we only joined you so we can find a way to leave. It would be nice if we could leave this world without doing any harm."

"— · – · — — – - - — · - - — –"

The echoes were slightly closer. "Well, that's our signal to start moving. Let's get out of here."

After walking for hours, they were finally surrounded by the black fog. "So, we meet again..."

"— - – - - – · — – — ·"

Stampy panicked. "What is this?"

Four zombie horsemen, three normal skeletons, and three creepers. They were all covered in the thick fog.

Dan noticed the helmetless archers. "The skeletons aren't burning?"

Alpha ran head on and kicked back all three creepers using her powers. "I'll take care of explosives. You guys deal with the others!"

Everyone nodded and split up into groups. Dan, Sparklez and Stacy attacked the zombies while Lizzie and Stampy focused on the skeletons.

Taking out his bulky shield, the arrows immediately bounced off. "Phew. That was close..."

"Nice one Stampy. Now stay there and don't move." Lizzie took out multiple splash potions of healing and threw all of them over the shield, harming the undead archers. "What?!" She took out more splash potions. "They should have died from that!"

Stampy took out his iron blade. "If it's not enough, I'll also help!" He charged in with his shield, blocking their assault, and swung his sword at the skeleton, breaking some of its bones. "Lizzie! You throw your healing potions on me while I distract them!"

Understanding what he was saying Lizzie grinned. "Good thinking!"

In a matter of seconds, they wiped away the echoing skeletons. The two rushed over to help support the other three.

Dan slammed into the zombie horse, knocking down the zombie rider. "That's quick. Do you have any more of those potions?" he asked Liz.

"Only a few."

"Use them all quickly!"

Nodding, she threw the remaining three bottles at the four horsemen and took out her enchanted golden sword. "That's all I have!"

Suddenly flaming arrows rained down the zombies, which burned them to death. They turned to see Alpha holding her glimmering bow.

Sparklez wiped his sweat. "Thanks a lot. That was stressful. I'm not really a fighter here."

Stacy sheathed her iron sword. "Seriously. What are those things? I've never seen anything like it. And that noise they make is horrible."

Alpha pondered. "I think they're something entirely new. Maybe we can just call them the Fogbeast for now."

"That sounds about right," Lizzie agreed.

"- — · · – · – - - - — — – - · —"

More echoes were heard in the far distance. "Great..." Alpha muttered.