Herobrine's Message (9 page)

As the group of players repeated the last lines back, G shuddered as he spoke the words. Although he himself didn't mean a word of it, he couldn't help but be terrified by the zealous fervor instilled in the crowd of players as they said this one particular line.

“And I hereby surrender myself to the Noctem Alliance.”

“AND I HEREBY SURRENDER MYSELF TO THE NOCTEM ALLIANCE.”

“Long live Lord Tenebris!”

“LONG LIVE LORD TENEBRIS!”

“Long live the Noctem Alliance!”

“LONG LIVE THE NOCTEM ALLIANCE!”

“Viva la Noctem!”

G grimaced. He had been wondering when he would be forced to say that hateful phrase, the slogan that he had despised since he had first heard it at the Noctem rally more than a month ago. He took a deep breath, swallowed his pride, and belted out the motto of the Noctem Alliance alongside Jayden and all the Noctem recruits.

“
VIVA LA NOCTEM!”

Kat's eyes fluttered. Her head felt heavy and clunky. She recognized this feeling from many months ago, when she had been attacked by a horde of poisonous spiders in an abandoned mine shaft. Luckily, Stan and Charlie had been there to fight off the Spiders and heal her then. . . . Now, though, Kat could only guess at how long she'd been knocked out.

She took a deep breath, and realized that she was sitting in a tiny, cramped cobblestone cell with an iron door in front of her. Kat grimaced as she forced herself to sit up straight, and realized what had woken her up. The shrill, irritating, upper-class accented voice of Cassandrix echoed through the space outside her cell. Kat pulled herself to her feet and put her ear to the door, listening to the conversation.

“. . . will have you know that I am a high-ranking member of the hierarchy of Element City!” Cassandrix squealed.
“If you don't release me this instant, Element City will bear down on you with all its might!”

Kat banged her head against the door in frustration. Did Cassandrix honestly think that she was in any position to make demands?

“Ha!” a deep female voice replied from the outside hall, sounding amused. “Do you honestly think you're in any position to make demands?” (Kat slapped her forehead with her blocky hand as she heard this.) “We know exactly who you and your little friend are, and believe me, General Spyro has some business with the two of you.”

“I won't tell you
anything
unless you set me free!” bellowed Cassandrix.

The guard gave a chuckle. “Oh, we'll see about that. You'll find that we here at Mount Fungarus can be . . . well . . . rather
convincing
, shall we say.”

Kat's ears perked up.
Well,
she thought glumly,
at least they had made it to Mount Fungarus in one piece
.

“What are you talking about?” demanded Cassandrix.

“Well, allow me to put it this way,” the guard continued, clearly enjoying hearing Cassandrix sound so desperate. “When the esteemed Councilman Charlie first arrived at this prison, he wasn't willing to talk either. But now . . . well, let's just say that not only have we retrieved some very interesting information from that brilliant mind of his, but he also will
probably never be able to walk properly again.”

Cassandrix let out an audible gasp of horror as the guard chuckled yet again. Kat shuddered, trying to convince herself that the guard was lying, and that they weren't too late. As Kat heard the footsteps of the guard walking away, she knew that they had to get out of their cells as quickly as possible. If the guard was telling the truth, and Charlie was being tortured to the point of becoming crippled, then they didn't have a single second to spare.

“Hey, Cassandrix,” Kat said, trying to be as loud as possible without attracting attention.

“Oh . . .
you're
here . . . ,” Cassandrix sighed from somewhere down the hall.

Kat gave a grunt of frustration. “It's good to see you, too. How long have you been up?”

“Oh, I awoke as soon as the guard came, darling . . . what, did you just wake up? Well to be frank, I'm not surprised. What with your low intelligence and strength, it only stands to reason that I would be able to shake off the poison first . . .”

Kat gave a roar of anger and punched the stone wall in frustration. “You're infuriating, you know that? We get captured and thrown in jail, and still you can't stop being so stuck-up!”

“Well, pardon me, darling,” Cassandrix replied, sounding
offhanded yet also angry, “but I seem to recall that it was your impudence that got us into this situation in the first place, so pardon me if I find it difficult to suppress my indignation!”

“Oh, I'm sorry,” Kat spat in response, “pardon
me
if I actually tried to listen in to find out valuable information from those bounty hunters, and then didn't take it lying down when you said that DZ's death didn't matter!”

“Oh, stop being such a baby.” Cassandrix seethed in exasperation. “Honestly, you young players are all the same . . . thinking that you know what's best, barreling headfirst into dangerous situations, letting your emotions get the best of your common sense . . .”

“Excuse me,” replied Kat, deeply offended and disturbed, “but you're starting to sound like a member of the Noctem Alliance.”

“How
dare
you!” screamed Cassandrix. “I resent the implication that I am on the same level as those evil lunatics! I mean, do I resent the fact that since Stan took over, our city has devoted itself to pampering the younger, lower-level players into wealth and fortune with next to no work on their part? Of course I do! But never in a thousand lifetimes would I dream of discriminating against them or attacking them! It would be like attacking a toddler!”

“WHAT?”
shouted Kat. “You think that the new players
have it
easy
? I'm sorry, but I seem to recall that my first few weeks in Elementia were spent fighting an evil dictator who was trying to kill me because of my
level
!”

“Oh, but you succeeded, didn't you?” Cassandrix shot back. “In a matter of weeks, you were able to upgrade your skills and materials until you were able to go toe to toe with the leaders of King Kev's army, players who had been training and gathering materials for years! Do you think that
I
had an Adorian Village to teach me when I first joined Elementia? Do you think that Element City or the Adorian Village would exist today if the people of my level hadn't struggled and toiled to raise it from the ground? And don't get me started on the Spleef tournament . . .”

“What does Spleef have to do with anything?” Kat demanded.

“Oh, don't make me laugh, darling,” Cassandrix replied with a bitter, forced chuckle. “I'm referring to players like
you
, Kat.”

“What are you—”

“I have worked for as long as I've been in Minecraft to become the best Spleef athlete in the world,” Cassandrix spat, an almost imperceptible catch in her voice. “And all throughout King Kev's reign, I was never able to achieve any success. I was the best player in the league, but despite my hard work, it never amounted to anything. When Spleef
returned after the fall of King Kev, I realized that, finally, I would have my chance in the spotlight and become the undisputed best Spleef player in the world. At long last, my hard work would pay off.

“And yet, all around me, I saw that new players, who had only been in Elementia for weeks, were playing Spleef alongside the best of us. While I was still the best Spleef player in the league, I was still barely ahead of these spoiled newer players, whose lives have been so easy that that they've been able to pick up the art of Spleef almost effortlessly. And right at the forefront was you, Kat . . . fighting alongside Ben and DZ, two older players who had put in just as much effort as I had. And yet, despite all your inexperience, you still equaled them in skill, while surpassing them handily in arrogance.

“So, yes, Kat, I
do
have a few problems with lower-level players. I hope that you can forgive me from up there on your high horse.” Cassandrix sighed bitterly.

Ordinarily, Kat would have jumped on the opportunity to scorn Cassandrix for her insults, but now, she felt no such desire. In fact, Kat wasn't sure what she was feeling. Obviously, she knew that many of the things that Cassandrix had just spouted out were wrong and misguided, but . . . there also seemed to be very real elements of truth to them. And furthermore, Kat suddenly found herself in the inexplicable position of feeling sorry for Cassandrix. Kat hadn't realized
just how much Cassandrix had been keeping bottled up, nor how unprepared she had been to see it erupt.

Suddenly, Kat heard footsteps coming from down the hall, and she snapped out of it. This wasn't the time to be thinking about such things. Their only priority had to be freeing themselves, and then finding Charlie and Commander Crunch.

Kat glanced out the tiny window of the steel door and saw the guard, totally obscured by a mask and her black armor, stop outside the door to Cassandrix's cell. Her hand went down to a lever outside the door.

“You in there,” she grunted in Cassandrix's direction. “Back to the wall. You're coming with me to see General Spyro. If you cooperate, you won't be hurt.”

Kat's heart skipped a beat. They were coming for them already? It had been less than five minutes! Kat's mind raced wildly, trying to formulate a plan.

“And don't even think about trying anything funny,” continued the soldier, drawing an iron pickaxe from her inventory, “or I'll lodge this pickaxe into your back.”

Suddenly, a thought struck Kat. Quickly, she glanced down the hallway. It was narrow but she was pretty sure that he'd be able to make it, wherever he was.

The soldier pulled the lever, and Cassandrix stepped out into the hallway. Kat saw that, although her white and golden
flowing clothes were stunning, Cassandrix's white face was downcast and depressed. Kat only hoped that Cassandrix would take advantage of the opportunity that Kat was about to give her.

“Walk forward,” the soldier commanded.

Kat took a deep breath, and gave a two-note whistle. Instantly, Rex appeared in the middle of the hallway. The soldier whipped around just as the wolf's eyes locked onto her.

“Sic 'em, boy!” Kat shouted.

Instantly, Rex's eyes glowed red, and he barreled down the hallway toward the soldier, snarling and barking like mad. She gave a shout of surprise before dropping into a fighting stance, and raising her pickaxe to strike. Rex leaped through the air toward her, and before the soldier could deliver the blow, Cassandrix body-checked her from the back, sending her smashing into the wall and tumbling to the floor.

The pickaxe went flying through the air and landed in Cassandrix's hand as Rex landed on top of the soldier, pinning her to the ground. Cassandrix brought the pickaxe above her head and drove it directly into the center of the soldier's leather armor. Immediately, a ring of items burst out from around her, signifying her demise.

“Good boy, Rex!” Kat shouted out from her cell as Cassandrix picked up the soldier's dropped items. Rex pounced over to the door of Kat's cell and began pawing at the steel
barrier, whimpering. Cassandrix walked over to a second lever on the wall and pulled it down, allowing the door to swing open. Rex tackled Kat to the ground, licking her face.

“It's good to see you, too, boy!” Kat laughed, as she scratched the dog under his red collar, causing his tail to wag harder than ever. Cassandrix walked over to them.

“If you two are done,” Cassandrix said in a determined voice, “we've still got to find Charlie and Crunch. And I'm sure the guards will be sending some reinforcements up soon. That attack wasn't exactly silent, you know.”

Kat opened her mouth, ready to acknowledge in the most sarcastic way possible that Cassandrix hadn't even thanked her for saving her life, but she realized that Cassandrix was right. They had a mission to finish.

“You're right,” Kat replied, nodding. “Let's go.”

S
ally!” cried Stan as the two players ran toward each other, and met in a tight embrace. “Oh, it's so good to see you again! In person, I mean.”

Sally chuckled as she let him go. “Haha, yeah, I missed you, too, noob. I mean, being your omnipresent spirit mentor is nice and fun and all, but it's so much more hilarious when I can mess with ya in person.”

Stan smiled. “Man, you just don't change, do you? Even after all this craziness, you're still exactly the same person that I met in the Adorian Village all those months ago . . .”

“Oh, don't go getting sentimental on me, noob,” Sally scoffed, crossing her arms. “We've got a lot of work to do, and not nearly enough time to do it, so we can't waste any more words.”

“Oh . . . okay,” said Stan, feeling slightly awkward.
Yep,
he thought to himself.
Nothing's changed at all . . .

“Anyway, I'm guessing that you want to know why you're here, noob.”

“Well,” replied Stan, slightly taken aback, “I, uh . . . assumed it was because you just wanted to see me again.”

“Oh, Stan, Stan, Stan,” Sally chuckled, closing her eyes and shaking her head in amusement. “You know
what they say, noob . . . When you
assume,
you make an . . .”

“Hey!” exclaimed Stan, cutting her off. “If assuming things is so bad, then why did you assume that I wanted to know what I'm doing here?”

Sally opened her mouth, then closed it again. She scratched her head for a second, looking confused, and then nodded reasonably.

“Good point, noob,” Sally replied agreeably. “Well, regardless, the important thing is that we both ended up looking stupid.”

“Okay, fair enough,” Stan replied. “So, why do you want me here, anyway?”

“Well, there are actually two reasons,” Sally said. “The first reason is that I wanted us to be able to establish a place where we can meet up and talk without any problems. As of now, I've been spending only half my time spying on the Noctem Alliance, and the other half has been spent trying to contact you to tell you about it. Now that I have this server up and running, we can meet here if I have anything to tell you. It'll be much easier to find you for a minute and tell you to meet me here rather than to try to tell you the entire report in Elementia.”

“Okay, fair enough,” Stan replied, nodding his head. “So I'll still hear your voice in Elementia, and when I do, it means come onto this server?”

“Yes,” Sally answered.

“Okay, good thinking,” said Stan. “So, do you have any news to report to me?”

“Nothing yet,” Sally replied. “I don't know who the Noctems have got doing their tech work, but they're clearly doing their job exceptionally well. I've never seen anything as difficult to hack in my life as Elementia is right now. And the worst part is, even if they're killed in Elementia, they'll still be able to keep working from beyond the server, like I am.”

“Well, that's unfortunate,” Stan said bitterly. “But I guess that it's a given, and we have to work with it. Anyway, you said you had two reasons for getting me to come over here.”

“That I do, noob,” Sally said nodding her head, a wild gleam of excitement shining in her eyes. “I'm gonna cut straight to the chase with you, Stan: I'm gonna try to get you operating powers in Elementia.”

“Wait, what?” Stan asked, bewildered. He wasn't sure what he was expecting her to say, but it certainly wasn't that.

“You heard me,” Sally replied.

“But . . . how . . .”

“Because I think I've figured out how,” Sally said. “I was trying to work out how I could rejoin Elementia, but I found out that it wasn't possible. I did figure out that I should be able to give you operating powers, though. And if you had
operating powers, then defeating the Noctem Alliance would be cake.”

“So . . . hold on . . . questions . . . ,” Stan sputtered as he tried to put together what Sally was saying. “Let me ask you this first . . . I've heard a lot about operating powers since I've been in Elementia . . . I know that King Kev and Avery used to have them, but then King Kev gave them up, and now nobody has them . . . but I'm still not entirely sure what operating powers are. I mean, what can you do with them, exactly?”

A devious grin crossed Sally's face. “Weeeellll . . . ,” she said.

Then, without warning, Sally jumped off the ground, propelling herself into the air . . . and didn't come back down. She rocketed higher and higher into the sky, and then dipped downward. She bolted around the air like a superhero, performing loops and U-turns, all before returning. She flew suspended in the air directly above Stan, who stood motionless, and entranced.

“Well, you can fly, for one,” she shouted from the air, her voice giddy.

Sally closed her eyes for a moment and then, without warning, a diamond sword popped out of midair and landed in her left hand. She stretched out her left hand toward the ground a distance away, took a deep breath and, with a
rumbling sound, a tower of brick blocks began to construct itself, reaching high into the sky in a matter of seconds.

“You can also create items and blocks using your mind.”

Sally rocketed off directly toward the brick tower, her fist outstretched. Stan watched in awe as she barreled directly through the center of the tower, leaving a gaping hole behind her. She circled backward and cut through the tower at six other points of various heights before finally flying back. Sally punched her fist through the air toward the tower, and immediately, an explosion rang out, taking a chunk of the tower with it. Sally aimed a blitz of quick jabs from the ground to the sky, destroying the tower from the bottom to the top.

“And you can also destroy blocks, either by hitting them with one punch or by creating explosions.”

After the explosions had ceased, Sally flew back down to the ground, stopping just above Stan.

“So, yeah, those are a few things you can do with operating powers. There are a bunch more, too, but for now, there's really only one more that I want to show you.”

Sally tossed her sword into the air, and stretched out her left hand toward it. The sword stood still in midair. As Sally moved her hand from side to side, the sword moved along with it, slicing through the open space. Sally clenched her fist, and the sword began to spin around in circles, like
a midair top. As Sally released her fist and the sword hovered still once more, she directed her right hand down at the ground, toward Stan.

Instantly, Stan found himself unable to move. His arms and legs stiffened, as did his neck, and he began to levitate into the sky. All at once, Stan wasn't feeling blown away by these wonderful powers; quite the contrary, he felt terrified. He wasn't prepared to totally lose control of his body, especially when he was off the ground.

“Okay, Sally, you've made your point,” Stan said firmly, trying not to hide the fear that was welling up in his body. “You can stop now.”

But Sally didn't stop. Rather, at his request, a psychotic grin crossed Sally's face as she jerked her right hand upward. Stan let out a squeak of terror as he felt himself rocket into the air, jerking to a stop high above the grassy ground below. Sally's left hand moved a little, and the sword spun to face Stan.

“Sally . . . what're you doing?” asked Stan in horror.

“Teaching!” Sally replied, her eyes flashing with madness as she clapped her hands together in front of her. All at once, Stan felt himself fly forward at breakneck speeds, right toward the flying diamond sword.

Stan barely had time to comprehend what was happening before the sword had pierced him through the stomach
and shot out his back. Stan felt an instant of pain, followed by a vacuum of light and sound until everything went black and silent.

Then, all at once, Stan found himself on a field of grass. His heart was racing. He glanced around wildly. He was sitting in the middle of the endless expanse of grass, and Sally was still levitating in the air next to her diamond sword. Immediately, Stan's hand went to his stomach . . . and found no wound. There wasn't even a rip in his shirt. And as Stan realized this, he also found that he wasn't in any pain. Confused out of his mind, he glanced up at Sally as she landed next to him.

“What did . . . how . . . are you insa . . . but I was de . . .
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
” Stan demanded in fury.

Sally chuckled. “Oh, I just thought I'd kill two Creepers with one arrow. You know, demonstrate what my operating powers can do and show you that you can't die on this server at the same time. You know, you—”

“Okay, back up,” Stan managed to get out, his head spinning. “First of all . . . why exactly am I not dead?”

“Oh, you poor sap,” Sally replied, shaking her head and clicking her tongue in mock sympathy. “You've played on Elementia your whole life, and you're so ignorant to the rest of the Minecraft world.”

“Wha . . . ?”

“Elementia isn't like other Minecraft worlds, noob,” Sally said wisely. “On most Minecraft servers, after you die, you just appear back in the last bed you slept in . . . or at the spawnpoint, if your bed was destroyed or you haven't slept yet. Elementia is different because King Kev locked the server into Hardcore PVP mode. That means that the difficulty of the monsters is permanently on the hardest setting, players can hurt each other, and if you die you're banished from the server forever.”

“So . . . ,” Stan said slowly, trying to put things together in his head. “This server . . . SalAcademy . . . isn't like that?”

“Nope,” replied Sally. “It's just a normal PVP server. Which means we can hurt each other, but we can also respawn, and operators like me can change the game mode.”

“Okay, well, that leads into my other question, actually,” said Stan. “How did you manage to get operating powers on this server?”

“You automatically get operating powers if you start a server,” Sally answered, as if it were obvious. “Besides that, the only way to get operating powers is if somebody who already has operating powers gives them to you . . . like I'm about to do for you, in fact.”

“Wait,” exclaimed Stan, jumping to his feet and looking Sally in the eye. “You're gonna give me operating powers? I'm gonna be able to do all that stuff you just did?”

“After I train you,” Sally replied, nodding with a smile.

“And once I get my powers,” Stan said quickly, becoming more excited by the second as he realized the possibilities this development held, “I'll be able to use them anywhere? Both here and in Elementia?”

“No,” Sally replied, shaking her head. “You'll only be able to use operating powers here, in SalAcademy.”

“Well, then . . . what's the point?” Stan asked, crestfallen.

“The point is that, here, I'll be able to teach you how to use them,” Sally said. “It takes a lot of training and practice to master the use of operating powers. It's not nearly as easy as I just made it look. I'm going to try to illegally hack the powers onto you in Elementia, but before I do, you need to learn how to use them. Once the Noctem Alliance realizes that I'm going to try this, they'll try to stop me, so I'll only have one shot at giving the powers to you without getting blocked. I want to make sure that you know how to use your powers when I take that shot.”

“Well then, what're we waiting for?” Stan asked eagerly. “Give me my powers, and let's get training!”

“Haha, okay, noob,” Sally replied as Stan bounced around like a puppy about to get a treat. “Stand still and calm down. And close your eyes.”

Stan took a deep breath and stood still. He let the breath out and closed his eyes. After a moment, he felt a hand touch
his forehead. An instant later, he felt like his entire body was going numb from an electric current. The sensation lasted for an instant . . . and then it stopped. Stan opened his eyes, and saw Sally drawing her right hand back.

“How do you feel?” Sally asked quizzically.

“Well, I felt something for a second . . . I don't feel much different now, though,” Stan replied, confused.

“Well, there's only one way to find out for sure if it worked,” replied Sally, stepping back and cracking her knuckles. Then she paused.

“Well,” she continued, “actually, there are a few other ways we could check—we could check the file systems and such—but this way is a lot more fun!”

Sally stared at the ground in front of Stan. She took a deep breath and pushed her open-palm hand forward. Instantly, a three-block-high pillar appeared in front of Stan. These weren't blocks that Stan had seen before. They were dark stone blocks, streaked across the surface with the colors gray, black, and white.

“This is bedrock,” Sally said, her eyebrows knit into a serious face. “It's the hardest block in Minecraft, it makes up the bottom layer of the world, and it's impossible to mine through. If you are a true operator, noob, you'll be able to destroy it in one punch.”

“Okay,” Stan replied. He stared at the pillar, fists balled
up under his chin. He bounced back and forth on the balls of his feet. He started mumbling to himself under his breath.

“All right . . . come on, Mr. Block . . . you're going down . . . what, you made outta bedrock? I'll tell you what else is made of bedrock . . . my
fist
! Well actually . . . not really . . . but it's as hard as bedrock . . . well, not really, but metaphorically I mean . . . and metaphorically, it's just as tough, too . . . and I'll tell you what else, metaphorically . . .”

“Just throw the stupid punch!”
Sally shouted in irritation, snapping Stan out of it. He shook his head and focused in on the block. Then, in one graceful motion, he pulled back his fist and sunk it as hard as he could into the bedrock block.