The New Order (11 page)

Stan saw Kat and Charlie flinch out of the corner of his eye. They, too, knew that it was necessary to discuss the Alliance with Oob, but it was still painful to talk about something like that in the midst of all his joy.

Oob's unibrow creased on his forehead, and his giant nose scrunched up a little bit. “The Noctem Alliance? I have never heard of anything called the Noctem Alliance. What is it?”

He took a deep breath, and thought for a moment about
how to explain the situation to Oob without revealing to him the very real possibility that another great war was on the horizon. He opened his mouth, but before he could get a word out, the door to the infirmary flew open with a bang. The three players and villager looked up with a start to see Ben, completely out of breath, sweat running through his sleek black hair. Rex barked at his sudden entrance.

“Stan . . . I came as . . . as soon as I could,” he panted, bending over and out of breath. “I have . . . new report for you . . . couldn't believe it . . .”

“What happened, Ben?” Stan asked, his stomach already tightening. Surely the Noctem Alliance couldn't have counterattacked already!

“We just . . . got a messenger from the Noctem Alliance,” replied Ben, standing up straight as he regained his breath. His face showed alarm and confusion. “He came here under a white flag, and he delivered a message to the police to give to you, Stan.”

Stan was floored. The Noctem Alliance had sent a message out to them?

“And . . . what was the message?” Stan asked. The tension in his voice was palpable. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. Kat and Charlie looked equally panicked. Oob looked around, terrified and perplexed at what was happening.

Ben took a deep breath. “I'd think you'd better hear it yourself.” And with that, he pulled the door open. In marched five players. Four of them were in Elementia police uniforms, holding out diamond swords pointed at the one player standing between them. This player was dressed in a dusk-gray jumpsuit with a black sash and a wrapping concealing his face.

“Give President Stan your message,” Ben ordered gravely.

From behind his face wrap, the player spoke. He had an unexpectedly oily and devious-sounding voice, but Stan didn't notice this. It was what the player said that hit Stan with a feeling of being punched in the gut.

“I am here to tell you, President Stan, that the great and powerful Lord Tenebris, founder of the Noctem Alliance, has founded his own city in the Southern Tundra Biome, which he has named Nocturia. Lord Tenebris has claimed the city, and the land surrounding it, as his own. He has declared independence from the Grand Republic of Elementia. He has called his new country the Nation of the Noctem Alliance, and it will forever be a haven for those upper-level players who have been wronged by your tyranny, President Stan. Long live Lord Tenebris! And long live the Noctem Alliance! Viva la Noctem!”

And Stan could see from the look in the player's eyes that, had his face not been concealed, his features would have broken out into a wicked grin.

CHAPTER 11
HOME AGAIN

L
eonidas was in agony. With every step he took, immense pain shot through his entire body. He had used his two potions of healing to cure the arrow wounds in his legs. However, when the potion ran out, he was forced to grit his teeth and endure the pain in his shoulder and arm.

Leonidas glanced back at the jungle disappearing in the distance behind him, wincing in pain as he did so. He tried not to think about the fact that he was in the middle of the Ender Desert, only halfway back to the tundra that held Nocturia. He would love nothing more than to use his remaining Ender Pearls to teleport great distances in one throw, cutting the travel time in half. However, each Ender Pearl that he used took a toll on his legs, and seeing as they were the only part of his body that didn't feel like they were on fire, he thought better of it.

Leonidas's thoughts drifted to Caesar, and quickly turned bitter. He imagined Caesar was with Lord Tenebris now, plotting the details of their next attack against the Republic of Elementia. Leonidas knew Lord Tenebris was planning to found his own country out in the tundra around Nocturia. He wondered if the plan had gone into effect yet.

This thought was fleeting and vague, however.
Leonidas found it hard to focus on anything else besides how much he resented Caesar. Why was it that Caesar got to sit around in a comfortable throne room, commanding Leonidas to go around on errands like a grandmaster maneuvering an expendable chess piece? There were four players who had started the Alliance on Spawnpoint Hill all those months ago, and somehow he, Leonidas, had ended up in a far worse position than any of the other three. Caesar had been in a nice, completed building the entire time. He had never been forced to run dangers like Leonidas had. Leonidas had no idea what Minotaurus or the Noctem spy within Stan's government were doing, but he found it hard to imagine they were much worse off than he was.

A wave of anger crashed over Leonidas as these thoughts spiraled around him like a vortex. He had braved the cold of the tundra, constructed the whole of Nocturia with insufficient manpower, fought to take the Jungle Base, and then abandoned that same base the second Stan tried to take it back, getting seriously hurt in the process. And for what? Why was it that he, Leonidas, was still part of the Alliance? It had done nothing for him.

Leonidas looked back on that night atop the Jungle Base with painful recollection. He had spoken his mind to Stan that night . . . he really didn't feel like he had chosen to join the Noctem Alliance, he had simply latched on because there
was no other choice. Leonidas had never had any problems with lower-level players, or any players at all for that matter. He had never wanted to join King Kev's army to begin with. The only reason he had was to save his family.

Suddenly, a rush of comprehension slammed into Leonidas full force, as he realized where he was. His mind began to race. Was there any possibility that they were still out here? Did the community that contained Leonidas's family still exist out here in the Ender Desert after all this time? Leonidas didn't have to think twice about it. He had to find out. Whatever Caesar had for him to do back in Nocturia, well, he could just get up out of his comfortable little safe room and do it himself.

Leonidas glanced up at the sun. It was early afternoon, so the sun was just past its apex and starting to tilt toward the west. Leonidas still knew where the village was by heart, and so he turned to face northeast and walked out into the barren stretches of desert. He did all he could to ignore the wounds that hurt exponentially more the faster he walked, instead focusing on the thought of seeing his family for the first time since he had joined King Kev's army all those months ago.

As Leonidas trekked on for hours, the pain became harder and harder to ignore. The sun swung farther and farther toward the horizon, each minute bringing Leonidas
closer to being trapped in the middle of the desert with evil mobs and roaming gangs of nomads. He had dealt with both of these dangers before, and had no intention of doing so again. Finally, when the sun was nearing the horizon and the sky was starting to turn pink, Leonidas saw it—the outline of buildings against the fading light of the sky.

Adrenaline and excitement surged through Leonidas as he soldiered on, the pain suddenly seeming trivial. As he got closer and closer to the village, more details came into view despite the fading light. The wooden houses, the gravel pathway, the rings of wood blocks containing water and wheat farms. Leonidas was overwhelmed by a feeling of joy to be back here, among his family once again. He saw farms of carrots and potatoes next to the wheat farms. It was good to see that the villagers had expanded their produce. They must have been doing pretty well for themselves.

As Leonidas walked down the pathway and toward the main well, he saw them for the first time. They looked exactly as he remembered them—brown robes, dark brown shoes, and odd faces with creased unibrows and noses that would give Squidward a run for his money. He looked at one of the NPC villagers that he knew to be called Libroru. The villager gave him a polite smile before continuing down the path. Leonidas wondered for a moment why Libroru didn't acknowledge him, before remembering that he had changed
his skin since the last time he had been to the village all that time ago.

Leonidas knew who he had to see. He knew for a fact that there was one resident of the NPC village who didn't recognize players by their outward appearance, but instead by their eyes, which retained some unexplainable quality of individuality even when skins were changed. Leonidas was about to head down the path when he paused for a moment.

All of a sudden, he was overcome with a tremendous amount of anxiety. It was just now occurring to him that these villagers had not seen him for dozens of months. How would they react to him? Would they even remember him at all? Was it worth finding out?

Leonidas hesitated for a moment, before collecting himself.
Yes, it's worth it
, he told himself firmly.
You're here
, he thought,
and you're goin' to at least try
. Not allowing himself to be nervous, Leonidas marched down the gravel pathway, coming to a halt outside the church. The cobblestone building was tall and imposing, standing high above the rest of the buildings of the village. Taking a deep breath, Leonidas knocked on the door.

Moments later, the door swung open. Leonidas was now standing face-to-face with a villager clad in purple. Leonidas knew that this particular villager was wiser than the others, and it was difficult to catch her off guard. However, as
Moganga stared into his eyes and realized who he was, her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, and she actually tumbled backward a few steps in shock, as if she were seeing a ghost.

“Oh, great Notch above!” she moaned, struggling to comprehend the player who stood before her. “Is it truly . . . could it really be . . . ?”

Leonidas smiled. “Yeah, Moganga, it's me. Did ya miss me?”

Moganga clutched her chest and sunk to the ground, overwhelmed that this player who she believed to have gone forever from the village had returned and was standing before her. Leonidas was elated, and offered her a hand up, which she accepted tentatively. Even when he let her hand go, she still stared at it, in a state of complete disbelief.

“Do ya think ya could call a village meetin' in here, Moganga? I wanna say hi to everyone.”

There was no hesitation. Leonidas stepped to the side as Moganga nodded fervently and moved to the doorstep. She took a deep breath and proceeded to emit from her mouth a ghostly wailing noise, as if a spirit were trying to contact the living. The effect of the wail was immediate. Every single door in the village flew open as the villagers filed into the streets, recognizing that a town meeting had been called in the church. Leonidas watched the villagers enter, his heart racing in excitement.

Although none of the villagers paid a second glance to Leonidas standing next to the church entrance, he recognized some of them as they assembled. Some that stood out were Ohsow, the village butcher, adorned in a white apron, a confused look on his face, as well as Mella and Blerge, two villagers in the typical brown robes who stood very close to each other, with a very young villager holding his mother's hand.

Leonidas was a little surprised that their older son wasn't with them, and a resurgence of anxiety knotted in Leonidas's stomach. As the last of the villagers filed in, it occurred to him that there were far less of them than he remembered. He could only assume there had been a lot of death in the village since he had last been there.

“Please, come in,” said a voice from the doorway, jolting Leonidas from his thoughts. It was Moganga, the look on her face nothing less than ecstatic. Leonidas forced himself to suppress his anxiety. It wasn't his place now to worry about the dead villagers, but to reunite with those still here.

As Leonidas walked down the middle aisle of the church behind Moganga, the villagers stared at him inquisitively, chatting among themselves in bemused voices. They were baffled as to why their leader had called them to a meeting just to see this alien player. When the two stood before the altar of the church, Moganga turned around and raised her
hands. Instantly, the congregation fell silent.

“My dear brothers and sisters,” boomed Moganga, her voice containing some indefinable quality of mysticism. “I doubt that any of you here will be able to recognize this player standing beside me at a glance. He has changed greatly in appearance since the last time he was in our village, which was long ago.”

The villagers murmured in confusion. A player from long ago? They had never had players visit the village until very recently. What player could this possibly be, if he was from long ago?

“I ask you now, my brethren, look into the eyes of this player!” wailed Moganga, exuding power. “Do any of you recognize this player by his eyes, the trait that remains consistent no matter how appearances may change over time?”

Leonidas felt twenty pairs of eyes trained on him. Most of the villagers simply looked even more perplexed than before. However, there was one villager who stood up from his stone seat. His eyes were wide, and his face showed a look of disbelief that mirrored Moganga's from moments before.

Blerge staggered down the middle aisle, a shaky hand outstretched toward Leonidas, a look of sheer blissful incredulity in his features. There was a long pause, during which the teary-eyed villager seemed unable to speak. Then, finally, his mouth opened.

“Is that . . . could it be . . . ,” he stammered, tears of joy streaming down his face. “Is it . . . truly you, Leo-nidas?”

The moment the name left his lips, the face of every single villager in the assembly showed shock, followed by a type of joy powered by an almost religious fervor. Even the youngest of the villager children recognized this name, as they had been taught from birth about the story of a brave player, a player who had lived in their village in a time before the Great Sadness. When the evil King Kev had risen to power, this player had sacrificed himself to the king so that the villagers may live in peace. The villagers had hailed the player as their savior, and vowed never to speak the player's name again except in the most important of ceremonies, until the day that he would return to their village.

This was the player who stood before them now. Leonidas watched in awe as every single villager sunk down to their knees in reverence. As Moganga sunk down beside him, she enunciated the words clearly, unfazed by the tears streaming down her face.

“At last, the savior of our village has returned! All hail, Leo-nidas! All hail the Sacred One!”

“All hail the Sacred One! All hail the Sacred One!” the bowed villagers repeated in a unified chant.

Leonidas watched in awe, amazed as he realized what was going on. He had remembered back in the old days
when the villagers would perform this ritual. It was a sacred ritual to them, performed only to hail Notch, their creator. And now they were performing it for him! Tears welled up in Leonidas's eyes, and he was about to pour out his heart to the villagers, telling how much he had missed them, when the door slammed open.

In the doorway of the church stood three players who were silhouetted against the setting sun behind them. They stepped inside. Leonidas was horror-struck. He knew the villagers took their religious customs very seriously, and it was an offense of the highest degree to interrupt them. Moganga seemed to recognize this. She stared at the three players, appalled. The other villagers didn't even seem to notice the three players, as they were too focused on worshiping Leonidas.

As the three players stepped into the torch-lit room, Leonidas could make out their features. One of them looked like the standard Minecraft skin, but he was decked out in a full brown beard, with holsters and sheaths for twin swords covering his body. Another one resembled Master Chief, but his armor was indigo instead of green, which gave a sleek contrast to his orange visor. Standing in front of these two was a player with a simple tunic skin, but the look on his face could only be described as the embodiment of menace. A bow was slung over his back. All three of these players had one thing in common: a badge on the left of their chest that designated
them as part of the Grand Elementia Army.

Leonidas was instantly struck into panic as the eyes of all three soldiers locked on him. How had the army tracked him out here? And why did they have to find him here, when he had finally reconnected with the only real family he'd ever had? Despite his growing angst, Leonidas refused to pull his bow. He refused to kill any player in front of these villagers. He would rather be captured.

Leonidas swore to himself that he would go down with honor, and not give the players the satisfaction of making him show pain. It was all Leonidas could do to stop from wincing as the player opened his mouth, surely about to call out his arrest.