Quest for Justice

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The thunderstorm was beginning to get dangerous, with the bolts extremely frequent now. Once, lightning struck a tree right next to Kat and it caught fire, causing her to give a screech of surprise. Fortunately it was immediately extinguished by the rain.

As they approached the tower, they noticed that it was actually a pyramid, and that it covered the entire road. Stan was suspicious. Something felt wrong. As he walked closer, his suspicions were confirmed. The entire pyramid was made of stacked blocks of TNT.

“Why would someone put this here?” asked Kat.

“I don’t know, but I don’t feel safe near it,” replied Stan.

“Why?” asked Charlie, walking up to the pyramid. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

As if on cue, the worst thing did happen. Lightning struck the top of the pyramid, and the powder in the block was ignited. It began to flash dangerously.

“RUN!” screamed Stan as the block exploded. As the three players and Rex ran for it, the entire tower exploded from the top down, with each explosion sending lit TNT blocks flying everywhere like lava spewing from a volcano. Luckily, they escaped the range of the explosions with top-speed sprinting. As they gazed at the exploding pyramid it became clear that the explosives were underground, too. They could hear the explosions continue on for about sixty seconds before the tumult finally stopped.

The rain had died down, so they could talk in normal voices again. There was dust in the air now from the explosion, just like the Creeper explosion in the mine on the way to the Adorian Village. But this explosion was much larger, and it had blown a huge fissure in the middle of the road. They were cut off from the other side.

“The woods, then?” Stan said in an unnaturally high voice. They looked at each other. They remembered what Sally had said. The Griefers avoid the main road in case they come across well-armed travellers. Straying off the road would lead them directly into enemy territory.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, we don’t—” started Charlie, but he was cut off by Kat.

“Don’t kid yourself, Charlie. Stan’s right.” They could tell from her trembling lip that Kat was making a determined effort to keep her cool. “Come on,” she said, and she started into the woods, Rex at her heels, growling in a low tone. Charlie made a high-pitched squeal, but he forced himself to follow Stan into the forest.

It was dark. Stan could barely make out the neon orange of Kat’s shirt. Every now and then, there was another flash of lightning, and Stan could make out a Spider web, a tree trunk, a Zombie lumbering in the distance.

Suddenly, there was a rustling to Stan’s right. There was something in the underbrush, and it was running straight towards him. “Run!” he yelled, and he started running, hacking branches out of the way with his axe. Kat and Charlie looked confused for a second, but when they heard the rustling they followed suit.

Stan burst out of the forest and into the light, now on the other side of the giant crater. Kat burst out right after him, closely followed by Rex and Charlie. Stan whipped out his axe and raised it above his head, Kat drew her sword and dropped in a fighting stance, and Charlie held his pickaxe in trembling hands. Then, the thing that had been chasing them burst into the clearing.

“Are you kidding me? You were scared of this little guy?” laughed Kat as she walked up to the pig and stroked it behind the ears, which it seemed to like. Rex came up to the pig and started sniffing it.

“Honestly, Stan, don’t do that!” said Charlie, his eyes wide, holding his chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“I’m sorry, all right?” said Stan, but he was smiling. It was a cute little pig. “Kat, get Rex away from that pig. I could use some meat.” At Kat’s command Rex left the pig alone and sat at her feet. “Bye-bye, little guy,” said Stan, and he raised his axe and brought it down on the pig, just as lightning struck.

His axe was countered by a golden sword.

Kat’s jaw dropped, Charlie gave a yelp, and Stan nearly fell back, eyes wide, as he saw the monster that the pig had transformed into upon being struck by lightning.

It was like a player in form, and it had the general colour of a pig, but the flesh was rotting off all over its body, and part of its skull was showing through the side of its head. Its ribs stuck out of its stomach. It wore a brown loincloth, and in its hand was a golden sword that was locked against the steel of Stan’s axe. It appeared to Stan to be some king of pig-Zombie hybrid. And it looked mad.

The Pig-Zombie pressed the attack. It swung its sword in complicated patterns and drove Stan backwards. Stan tried to counter with his axe, but the attempts were futile. The Pig-Zombie’s golden blade dodged an axe blow and severed the axe’s blade from the handle. Stan’s weapon was destroyed.

Stan danced backwards, trying to avoid the sword slices, when a pickaxe flew through the air and embedded itself in the Pig-Zombie’s exposed skull. The attack did no damage whatsoever, but it had the intended effect. The Pig-Zombie turned his attention from Stan and now set its sights on Charlie.

Charlie might have thought through the desperate attack a little better, though. The Pig-Zombie was faster than he anticipated, and Stan watched in horror as the undead warrior rushed in and slashed Charlie’s leg and forehead. Charlie yelled out in pain, falling to the ground and grabbing his damaged limb and temple. The golden sword rose for the death blow, but before the inevitable strike, a white blur connected with the Pig-Zombie and it was knocked to the ground.

Rex, at Kat’s command, had tackled the Pig-Zombie. There was a moment when the two animals wrestled with each other, attempting to tear out the other’s throat, until Rex was finally overpowered. The dog was thrown to the edge of the crater, where he lay whimpering, unable to get up.

Upon seeing Charlie and her dog in such pain, Kat’s eyes blazed with fury, and she rushed the Pig-Zombie. The iron and golden blades clashed, and the two warriors began to fight. Kat’s skill was incredible, but was matched equally by the Pig-Zombie. And Kat was at an obvious disadvantage. She managed to slash the Pig-Zombie across the stomach once, but all that did was make some of its flesh fall off, not slowing it down in the least.

Stan felt hopeless. His axe was broken, Charlie was on the verge of death and Kat was beginning to wear out as she fought the Pig-Zombie. It was clear that it would take an incredibly powerful attack to finish off the Pig-Zombie, like an explosion of some sorts, like …

Stan suddenly felt something, like the air was static. He looked towards the source. A little ways down the road, a figure was emerging from the forest. It was as tall as he was, but with four squat legs. A Creeper. But there was something different about this one. It had little lines of electricity dancing around its body, and it was giving off a current that Stan could feel even from such a distance. It was as if the Creeper had been struck by lightning. Stan could sense that an explosion from a Creeper charged with so much electricity could be … fatal.

He knew what he had to do. He yelled, “Kat! Toss me the bow and arrows!”

Kat was tired from fighting the Pig-Zombie, and she knew that it would overpower her soon. As the Pig-Zombie slashed, she feinted back and gave an almighty attack with her sword, as if she were brandishing a baseball bat. The undead being flew backwards and slammed into a tree. She threw the bow and arrows to Stan, and took the opportunity to catch her breath.

Stan took the bow, positioned the arrow, took aim, and fired.

He hit his target. The arrow sunk deep into the Creeper’s head.

The Creeper looked at Stan. Its eyes glowed red, and the electric activity around its body increased significantly. Then the monster charged, full speed, towards them.

“What do you think you’re doing?” yelled Kat, but she had to turn her eyes back to her own fight. The Pig-Zombie was back on its feet, and it gave her a cut across the back that sent her tumbling. Her sword flew high into the air.

Stan knew that he couldn’t allow himself to think of his two fallen friends until he completed the task at hand. He caught Kat’s iron sword and rushed at the Pig-Zombie. The swords collided, and the two struggled to overpower each other. Stan stared into the beast’s face, noticing that one of its eyes was nothing more than an empty socket, and he saw out of the corner of his right eye that the Creeper was almost upon him. Stan feinted back and used all his remaining strength to thrust the sword into the Pig-Zombie’s stomach. Before the undead fiend had time to react, Stan flung the Pig-Zombie over his head, and it collided with the hissing Creeper. Stan dived out of the way just as he heard the tremendous explosion behind him.

Stan was badly rattled from the blast, and he knew that he’d been injured during the fight, but he forced himself to get up and survey the scene around him. Charlie was lying on the side of the road, the cuts on his head and leg bleeding. Rex lay on the edge of the crater, still whimpering. Kat was nowhere to be found. In the place where the two monsters had collided there was a crater, three times bigger than a normal crater caused by a Creeper explosion. The Pig-Zombie was gone, and all that remained was a pile of rotten meat and a bloodstained gold sword.

Wasting no time, Stan started to walk to the crater. Each step was excruciating, but he had to save his friends. He scooped up the golden sword and put both swords into his inventory. He held the rotten flesh in his hands. This he fed to Rex, whose tail instantly shot up, and he became the same dog again, licking Stan’s hand.

Stan hobbled over to Charlie next. He wasn’t moving at all, and his wounds looked worse up close. Fearing the worst, Stan reached into Charlie’s inventory and pulled out a watermelon slice. He stuffed it into Charlie’s mouth, hoping for a sign of life. To his relief, Charlie slowly started to chew the watermelon and then gave a sigh. Stan sighed, too, now sure that Charlie would be all right if he could find the right treatment quickly enough.

That left Kat. Stan had no idea where she was. He couldn’t see her anywhere. He was just starting to panic when he heard a raspy, female voice calling his name from within the crater made by the pyramid explosion. He looked into it and saw Kat lying spread-eagle on a ledge about five blocks down. As Stan punched his way through the dirt to get down to help her, it became clear that Kat had had the wind knocked out of her. Her breathing was shallow and raspy.

With great difficulty, Stan and Kat made their way out of the colossal crater and then, without a word, both fell to the ground, unconscious.

Stan woke up to the feel of Rex licking his face. Judging by the fact that it was early morning and the sky was no longer grey, they had been out cold for a while. Stan sat up and woke Kat.

“It’s funny,” she said with a grimace. “Each day I think this game couldn’t get any more dangerous.”

Stan nodded. He understood what she meant. “Well, let’s hurry. We have to get Charlie some help as soon as possible, and I have a hunch that we’ll find that in Element City.” Kat nodded and stood up. Looking at himself, he saw that he was covered in dust and debris from the explosion. “We’d both better jump in the water when we get a chance, too,” said Stan. “We’re a mess!”

Kat didn’t say anything, but got up and walked slowly and painfully over to Charlie. Stan followed right behind her. Together, with extreme difficulty, they slung the unconscious Charlie onto their shoulders, and started limping down the path once again.

It was agony. The Creeper’s explosion had damaged something within Stan, and every breath he took felt detached, like it was hurting rather than helping him. Kat, on the other hand, had a huge slash on her back from battling the Pig-Zombie, and she might have also suffered more injuries from being thrown into the crater. Charlie wasn’t capable of doing anything to help. The wounds to his head and leg were severe, and the thought of these wounds not healing was the only thing pushing Kat and Stan to continue down the path.

After what seemed like an entire day (though, in reality, the sun was high in the sky, and it was only about noon), a wall came into view. It was a huge wall, and the only things that Stan could see over the wall were the tall towers of what looked like a castle. Stan was just noticing the guards pacing back and forth on top of the wall, armed with bows, when something inside him gave an awful lurch. He found himself falling, blacking out before he had even hit the ground.

CHAPTER 8 (#ulink_6b905c8a-a4a8-5aae-beb0-270f9e05e1d3)

PROCLAMATION DAY (#ulink_6b905c8a-a4a8-5aae-beb0-270f9e05e1d3)

When Stan woke up, he found himself lying on the ground. There were dirt and weeds beneath him, and brick walls rose on both sides of him. He had just noticed this when he saw Kat squatting down next to him, stuffing a golden apple into the unconscious Charlie’s mouth. Stan noticed that the cut on her back had vanished. She must have eaten a golden apple as well.

“Oh, Kat … what happened?” Stan asked, his hand to his head, as Charlie began to stir, his cuts already completely vanished.

“You passed out,” Kat said. “Right outside the gate. You and Charlie were both down, and I knew that I needed golden apples. None of the guards would even talk to me, and I had to look through about three shops before I found one that was willing to trade for three golden apples. I gave him the crafting table, the furnace and coal, the bow, the eleven arrows, the iron and golden swords, and most of the watermelon, and he still seemed to think that I was almost stealing by taking the apples from him.”

“Wait,” said Stan, trying to process what she had said. “Questions. What do you mean, shops?”

“Oh, well, we made it to Element City. Apparently, that’s what that wall was.” Stan noticed a row of buildings with players swarming in the streets. “And right at the entrance is the merchant’s area. They barter from inside their shops.”

“OK,” Stan said. “Where are we now?”

“Oh, I just dragged you two into the nearest convenient alleyway and then got the golden apples.”

“OK so … wait a minute … crafting table … furnace, coal … bow, arrows … two swords … watermel— You gave him all our stuff!?” Charlie said, for he’d recovered and was listening now, too.

“And he still thought I was ripping him off, even though I was still bleeding really bad myself,” said Kat, shaking her head. “I tell you, the people here are total jerks compared to the Adorian Village.”

Stan remembered how Adoria had hesitated before telling them that going to Element City was a good idea. This must be what she meant, he thought.

“I’ll say, though,” said Kat. “The guy seemed really surprised when I said that the wounds were from a Zombie Pigman. Apparently they—”

“Wait, what’s a Zombie Pigman?” asked Charlie.

The other two stared at him for a minute. Then Kat said, “Charlie, are you dense?”

Charlie looked confused.

“Dude, what did we just fight? What gave you cuts on the head and leg?”

Charlie concentrated for a second, and then his face lit up. “Oh, I get it! ’Cause it’s a Zombie but it looks like a pig and has the body shape of a man!”

Kat and Stan glanced at each other.

“Let’s hope that’s just a side effect of the apple,” said Kat dismissively. “Anyway, we’re here now, and Goldman told me that the thing that you want to do once you get here is get a job. They offer you lodging and food, and you work for them. Sometimes they’ll offer you a more tedious task, and they’ll pay you in materials. Those materials can be traded for other things that you need, and eventually you’ll be able to open your own house that you buy on the real estate market and open your own business beneath it.”

As she finished her monologue, Stan and Charlie looked at her with raised eyebrows.

“When did you spend so much time talking to G?”

“And why did you call him ‘Goldman’?”

Kat rolled her eyes. “I talked to him at night after training. It’s nice to talk to someone who knows what he’s talking about. And for the record, he prefers to be called Goldman, but he lets people call him G because Goldman is kind of a mouthful. I don’t mind, though,” she added, as Charlie and Stan sniggered. “Let’s go find jobs.”

And with that, the trio stood up, ate the last three watermelon slices, and, with nothing left to their names, walked out of the alley and into the street.

The city was breathtaking. The cobblestone streets were overflowing with people walking down the blocks. Above their heads, a monorail-like system of railroad tracks ran above the houses. And the houses were everywhere. The ground floors of the houses were various stores and shops, with the living quarters situated above.

Overlooking this metropolis were skyscrapers. The area they were in was clearly the merchants’ district, but there were other zones of the city as well, and one of them was filled with skyscrapers. The tallest buildings were three towers, connected by bridges at various points. The middle was crowned by a slender spire. However, the main building of this city was clearly the castle.

Raised up significantly higher than the skyscrapers, this building stretched into the clouds at its peak. The tallest towers of the castle, the ones that could be seen from outside the city over the high wall, must have literally been able to touch the clouds. And the castle was wide, too – it stretched halfway across the city. Even from this distance, they could clearly make out the flag flying from the castle’s bridge. It was emblazoned with a design of three beings: a Creeper, a cow and a player with pale skin, blond hair and a gold crown, who Stan guessed must be the King.

Kat let the boys marvel at the city for a few minutes, but then she forced them to start walking around and asking for work. They went door to door, asking if there were three jobs available. Stan noticed a pattern throughout the process. Whenever they asked for jobs, the first question that was asked was what level they were. Every time they said that Kat was level eight, Stan was level six, and Charlie was level five, they were turned down without further questioning.

After their twelfth rejection, Kat was looking exasperated and Charlie was looking downright irritated. Stan was about to say that they call it quits and tough it out in the alley for the night when he heard a noise behind him.

“Psst!”

His immediate thought was, Creeper! Being the target of three Creeper attacks will do that to a player. He whipped around and made to draw his axe (which he had forgotten he no longer had), but he realized that it was not a Creeper. A player gestured to them from a store across the street. This player had on the most bizarre getup they had ever seen. He appeared to be dressed as a black crow, complete with a yellow beak on his face.

“Psst! Come here, you three!” he whispered, which Stan didn’t get, seeing as all the other stores were closing for the night. And besides, why would he want to keep their visit secret from the neighbours? It all seemed a little sketchy to Stan.

The lights turned on as Stan followed the player across the street and into a store. He saw shelves and shelves stocked with rotten flesh, bones, string, Spider eyes and other things that were taken from the monsters of Minecraft. He also noticed the weapons. Swords of various materials were laid out on tables. Axes hung from hooks on the ceiling. An entire wall was completely covered with hanging bows. There were also mannequins dressed in full sets of leather, iron and diamond armour. Stan was impressed. He had a feeling that if this player wanted to hire them, he would like the job quite a lot.

They climbed up a ladder in the back of the shop and into the player’s house. It was very simple. The only items inside were torches on the walls, a bed, two chairs, a sapling tree on a block of dirt, some chests, a crafting table, a furnace and a counter with a machine with a button on it.

“Sit,” the player said. While Charlie and Kat sat on the chairs and Stan on the floor, they saw the player walk over to the machine and press the button four times. Four loaves of bread popped out of a hole in the front of the machine. He handed three of these to his guests and kept the fourth for himself. He sat down on the bed.

“Am I correct in thinking that you three are looking for jobs?” the player asked.

“Yes,” Kat said. “We’re new here—”

“Sh, sh, shhh!” said the player, looking nervous. For whatever reason, he clearly didn’t wish to be heard. “Not so loud! My name is Blackraven100, and I’m looking for some helping hands in my hunting business.”

“What do you mean, hunting business? Hunting what?” asked Charlie.

“Oh, right, I keep forgetting that you three are … lower-level players,” he whispered, as if it were an awful word. “You see, some rich players like to go hunting for Zombies and other mobs for sport. It’s great fun if you’re well prepared, and you can get some pretty valuable loot. I used to be one of those hunters, but ever since I passed level fifty, I don’t find it as fun as I used to. Now, I sell all the loot that I collected over the years, and I plan to buy an unsettled plot of land that I can build on.

“Unfortunately, my supply has begun to dwindle, and now I need some help with my hunting while I tend the shop. I need players to go into the woods, kill all the monsters that they can find, and bring the loot back to me. The pay will be high. So, what do you say? Obviously I would be happy to lodge and feed you.”

He looked at them expectantly. Stan, Kat and Charlie looked at each other. Stan was nodding, and Charlie was shrugging with a smile, so Kat said, “That sounds good. Thank you for hiring us. Nobody else would. By the way, why wouldn’t any of the others hire us? We’re very grateful that you hired us,” she quickly added, at which Stan and Charlie nodded. “But I’d still like to know.”

Blackraven closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again. “Oh, some of the higher-level players here have a prejudice against anyone under, say, level fourteen or fifteen. It’s stupid, really. They say the upper-levels have been on the server longer and have had to fight their way to the top, and the lower-levels today don’t have to work as hard because they are building off what the upper-levels have done.”

Kat’s and Stan’s mouths dropped open, and Charlie actually said loudly, “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! Do you know what we’ve been through since—”

“Ssssshhhhhhhh!” said Blackraven, cutting Charlie off. “The people around here aren’t fond of upper-level players who treat lower-levels kindly. Personally, I think that the whole thing is nonsense, but I can’t afford to voice the opinion when so many around me think that it isn’t.

“Now, let’s go to bed,” he said. He walked to the chest and pulled out some wool and wood. He walked over to the crafting table, and within minutes there were four beds lined up around the room, each occupied by a player.

As he lay in bed, Stan wondered if this unjust prejudice against lower-level players had been the motive of the Griefer that killed Crazy Steve, or even … the motive that drove Mr A, the Griefer that had tried to kill them so many days ago. Perhaps a lower-level player had once robbed him of his items, and he was struggling to get back what he had once had. Yes, that would make perfect sense