“So… what you’re saying is…” Arachnia replied slowly, heart racing as she pieced together what Drake was saying, “… you want me to hunt down and assassinate the president of Elementia?”
“Not exactly,” replied Drake evenly. “For some reason, Lord Tenebris is dead set on killing Stan himself. To be honest, I’m not sure why, but I do trust Lord Tenebris, and I’m sure that he has a perfectly valid reason. Therefore, I’m asking you, Arachnia, to capture President Stan and return him to Lord Tenebris alive.”
“Well…” replied Arachnia after a moment, trying to appear uninterested despite the fact that she was in utter awe of what Drake was requesting. “This sounds like it’s going to be quite a difficult mission, Drake. If you have no idea where Stan is and no way of finding him, that is… and I think that you know as well as I do that no team would be capable of it other than mine.”
“That is why I came to you,” Drake said rather impatiently. He had been expecting her to accept without question.
“And… because of that… I think you’ll understand where I’m coming from when I say that the price of pulling this off will not be small,” Arachnia said in a rather sleazy fashion.
Drake didn’t hesitate. He reached into the folds of his cloak and pulled out something from his inventory. He revealed it only for a moment before returning it, but it was enough time for Arachnia to see the full stack of sixty-four diamond blocks in Drake’s hand.
“I assure you that payment is no problem,” Drake said simply.
Arachnia was breathing heavily with excitement now. This was it. She and her team were about to pull off the biggest job in the history of Minecraft, and become rich beyond their wildest dreams.
“General Drake,” said Arachnia with a smile, “I’m happy to announce that you now have a team.”
Drake grinned deviously. “I knew I could count on you, Arachnia. Now, assemble your team, and head to the mainland as soon as possible. President Stan is likely trekking back towards Element City as we speak, so you must make haste. Take the train line to the western wall of Element City. There, you will find one of the legions of the Noctem Army, which has laid siege to the city. They will give you all the information we have gathered regarding where President Stan may be, and then you may begin your search.”
“Whatever you say, Drake,” replied Arachnia.
“And remember, Arachnia… President Stan is not to be underestimated. Keep in mind that this is the player who bested King Kev in combat. He’s an exceptional fighter, very smart and very crafty. The last thing that we need is for him to return and lead his city once again. The fate of the Noctem Alliance may very well rest in the hands of your team, Arachnia.”
“Don’t worry, Drake,” answered Arachnia, her face showing exhilaration and a hint of bloodlust. “Stan is as good as yours.”
Drake nodded one final time, and stood up from his chair. Without giving Arachnia one more glance, he pulled his golden hood up over his head, made his way through the rabble of drunken players, and left the bar.
All five players sitting around the dimly lit council table in the stone-brick castle were silent except for the Mechanist, who was in the process of the ceremonial roll call and other formalities. Although Element Castle was a good distance away from the outer walls of Element City, the cacophony of the bombardment of the outer wall could be heard throughout the city, day and night. This council meeting was no exception, as the muffled booms of detonating TNT blocks could be heard even through the stone walls.
These sounds of the Noctem Alliance’s barrage of artillery only heightened the tension in the room. Out of the nine council members, three of them—Stan, Charlie and DZ—had been taken hostage in their raid of the Noctem Alliance’s Specialty Base. Another one, Blackraven, had been revealed as a traitor who had been working for the Noctem Alliance the entire time. And yet only four players sat around the council room table now.
They had lost someone else.
As the Mechanist finished with the formalities, he put down his papers and glanced around the table with exhausted eyes. In the faces of Kat, Jayden and G, there was no sign of sadness or grief, but rather of unkempt and wild hatred, driven by a passion that can only be wrought by the deepest sort of betrayal. Giving a soft and brief sigh, the Mechanist began his speech.
“As you know,” the Mechanist said tiredly, his Texas accent slightly slurred with fatigue, “a most tragic and unfortunate event has befallen us in the past twenty-four hours…”
“Huh, unfortunate… yeah, right.”
“Please, Kat,” replied the Mechanist, far too spent to deal with her sarcasm at the moment. “Protocol dictates that I, as interim leader of the council in President Stan’s absence, recount what happened so that it goes on record.”
Nobody protested. They were so furious that they were happy to hear it again to have another opportunity to relish in the cowardice and detestability of what had happened.
“Yesterday afternoon,” started the Mechanist, “all members of this council were called by myself, Mecha11, to this council room to report on how the defence of our outer walls was going. Kat, G, Jayden and I all returned as planned. However, we soon realized that Gobbleguy was missing.”
There was a shudder of contempt around the room as the Mechanist spoke that name.
“With the help of the police chiefs, we searched the city, and we weren’t able to find him. However, in Gobbleguy’s bedroom, Ben discovered a book that he had written. In it, Gobbleguy said that he was leaving Elementia forever, and going to play Minecraft on other servers. He then proceeded to explain, in probably the most passive and nonconfrontational way I’ve ever heard, that he couldn’t take the pressures of being on the council anymore. He said that it was, and I quote, ‘far too much stress and effort to put into a lousy Minecraft server.’ Because of his desertion, the police chiefs have charged Gobbleguy with treason, and have a warrant out for his arrest should he ever return to Elementia.”
As the Mechanist finished his recap, nobody had anything to say. All they could do was stew in their misery and despise the deserter. It was bad enough that Blackraven had turned out to be a traitor to the council and had been working as a double agent for the Alliance the entire time. It was even worse that his treachery had caused Stan, Charlie and DZ to be captured, leaving the five of them left on the council to wonder if their three friends were even still alive. And now, as one last kick to the emotional stomach of the council, one of their own members had up and left them for no reason other than his own weakness.
“Good riddance, I say,” spat Kat in disgust.
“I agree,” replied Jayden, his brow knit in scorn. “If Gobbleguy wants to be a selfish little jerk, then it’s for the best that he’s gone.”
“Yeah. I mean, what did he even do?” said G in a nasty voice. “He just sat at the meetings, looking like a timid little bunny rabbit, never saying anything, and not even having the guts to speak up for himself. Honestly, what did we lose when he left?”
“Nothing at all!” exclaimed Kat fervently.
“True!” Jayden said in an unusually deep voice. “I say we just forget he ever existed and move on.”
There were nods and mumbles of assent around the table. Everybody was