Rise of the Wither, Book 1: New Danger



  Rise of the Wither, Book 1: New Danger

  Copyright 2015 Mark Mulle

  Author’s Note

  This short story is for your reading pleasure. The characters in this "Minecraft Adventure Series" such as Steve, Endermen or Herobrine...etc are based on the Minecraft Game coming from Minecraft ®/TM & © 2009-2013 Mojang / Notch 

  Table of Contents

  Book 1: New Danger

  About the Author

  Other Books from This Author

  Book 1: New Danger

   

  Steve tilted his head, eyeing the structure critically.

  “A block to the left,” he called.

  Alex sighed in exasperation.

  “You just told me to move it a block to the right,” she answered.

  “Yeah, but I’m sure about that now. Try it to the left.”

  Rolling her eyes, Alex dug out the block once again and placed it back where it had been a few minutes before.

  “Okay, I think I was right before; one to the right.”

  “You know, why don’t you come up here and do this?” she snapped.

  “Last time, I promise!”

  Alex dug out the block and replaced it yet again, then hopped down off of the wall before Steve could change his mind.

  “There,” she said. “Done. One more word and I’ll shoot you.”

  Steve stood back a few more blocks and tried to take in the full effect.

  “Okay,” he said. “Looks pretty good.”

  “Thank you! Now I’m going to go work on my garden. If you need any more help, save it for tomorrow.”

  She sprinted off, apparently eager to get away before Steve could reply. He watched her go with an amused smile. In truth, he had just made her move the block back and forth to needle her. He thought she was kind of cute when she was annoyed.

  He climbed up onto the wall and, using the block Alex had placed as a guide, began to build.

  The idea was to make a mural of himself and Alex defeating Draugr. It was a more ambitious project than he had yet attempted, and Steve was anxious of how it would turn out. He was beginning with the image of himself, just because he would feel better about messing up his own image than Alex’s.

  They had done quite well for themselves since defeating Draugr and raiding his castle. Now they had a thriving stronghold about the village, which was surrounded by an obsidian wall guarded by iron gates that could only be operated from the inside and topped with a cobblestone walkway from which Steve and Alex could stand and shoot at any attackers.

  Outside the wall they had constructed a small palace for themselves on the field across the river (which was now bridge with a broad cobblestone path). Their palace had three turrets, two bedrooms, a library (stocked with books taken from Draugr’s castle), a massive storeroom, and a kitchen, among others. It had been a massive project and Steve insisted that they still weren’t finished.

  Despite the two bedrooms, Alex rarely stayed in the palace. She still said all that stone made her uncomfortable, so she mostly slept in her own little wood cabin which she had built on the edge of the forest right next to their wheat field. She took on the responsibility of caring for the crops and livestock, of which they had whole paddocks of sheep, cows, and chickens. Steve was still the one who mined and who conceived most of their structures.

  After he had finished his own likeness, which he thought had turned out alright, all things considered, Steve checked his clock and saw that it was getting on towards evening. He looked over in the direction of Alex’s garden and sighed. He had promised himself that he would do this today, so he might as well do it now.

  Alex’s garden was a fenced in section of the forest which she had zealously staked out for her own use and stocked with every kind of flower and shrub she could find and she was constantly planting and replanting them in new patterns. A small fountain in the middle which fed the four streams that pin-wheeled about the grounds was the only stone object in it.

  Steve always enjoyed coming in here. It was so beautiful and so peaceful. He certainly couldn’t have made anything like this; it took a real, artistic touch like Alex’s to know how to be so perfectly limited.

  “It’s looking good,” he said.

  “Thanks,” she answered. “Still not quite right, though.” She looked over his shoulder. “I notice you made yourself first. Turned out pretty well.”

  “Thanks,” he said in his turn, glancing back to see the effect of the image of himself on the hillside. Then he took a deep breath and went into it.

  “Hey, Alex, can we talk?”

  “Oh, not this again!” she sighed.

  “Well, I mean, you did kiss me. Twice.”

  “And I told you, both times were under emotional distress and so don’t count,” she answered. “Besides, you only keep bringing this up because I’m the only girl you know.”

  “No you’re not!” he said. “What about all the villager girls? I keep bringing it up because you’re the smartest, toughest, and prettiest girl I know.”

  “Thanks, and nice try, but you know the villagers aren’t really…you know, the same sort of people that we are.”

  Steve shrugged. “We don’t really know what we are. Anyway, that’s not the point…”

  “I know, I know,” she said. “Look, Steve, now is just not a good time, alright?”

  “’Not a good time’?” he repeated. “Compared to what? Alex, we’re on top of the world! Draugr’s gone, the Mobs are scared of us, the village is safe as can be, and we’ve got this amazing set up here. What, exactly, is your idea of a ‘good time’?”

  “When I decide it is,” she answered. “Now drop it, will you?”

  Steve looked at her seriously.

  “You know,” he said. “I do care about you…”

  She furiously ripped up three flowers at once.

  “I said drop it!”

  There was a tense silence.

  “Okay,” he said. “Fine.”

  They stood there for a moment, not looking at each other.

  “I’m going down into the mines,” he said. “See you later.”

  Alex watched him go, feeling rotten. She had lost her temper again. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Steve. On the contrary, she liked him a lot. They’d both risked their lives for each other more than once before. But risking your life for someone was different and in some ways easier than just being with them.

  For the first few months of her life in this world, Alex had been the prisoner of Draugr, the Skeleton King. She escaped, but her time in that dark dungeon still haunted her, still ruled her dreams at night. While she was awake, however, she had always done whatever she could to put those memories behind her. She wanted to live now as differently from how she lived then as possible.

  Then she had always been under the watchful eye and dominion of Draugr. Now she intended to be as independent as she could. She wanted to live without needing anyone else.

  There was another problem. Steve had saved her life. Granted, she had saved him first, but still, she owed him. Alex knew Steve would never try to hold that fact over her, but even so she felt bound.

  At the same time, Alex knew that she wasn’t being honest with Steve. The two kisses she had given him hadn’t simply been due to stress or relief. She had wanted to kiss him. And she still did.

  It was all so confusing and so complicated. Alex didn’t know what to do. She liked Steve, but she couldn’t stand being bound. She thought about just going away and starting her own stronghold, but then she thought about how much she’d miss Steve and all their friends in the village, but that made her feel bound again, wh
ich only made it worse.

  In short, she was miserable and didn’t know what to do about it.

  Alex replaced the three flowers she’d snatched up into better positions, and then decided she didn’t like them there after all and snatched them up again.

  “I don’t get her,” Steve complained. “I just…don’t…get her!”

  As he spoke, he carved through the stone, swinging his diamond pick with unnecessary force.

  “Is that right?” asked Shulshm.

  “I mean, we’re close, right? It’s not like this is something out of the blue. She kissed me!”

  “That she did,” Shulshm agreed distractedly. “Ah, more diorite!”

  They were in Steve’s latest mineshaft, working side-by-side as usual. Shulshm had been one of the few villagers to take an interest in mining. Sometimes Steve thought he took a little too much interest in it, since it was all-but impossible to engage him on any other subject while he was at it.

  “I just want things to be clear between us,” Steve went on, more to himself than to