All at once, Sally felt herself unable to move. She focussed as hard as she could on warping away, but she couldn’t. She looked down in shock as Stan drew his hand slowly towards himself and, without warning, Sally rocketed towards him. A scream of surprise escaped her mouth as Stan dropped his axe to the ground below him and summoned a diamond sword, glowing red with enchanted heat, outstretched in his hand. Sally flew towards him, unable to do a thing about it as she collided with his sword, the blade impaling her through the chest and her body disappearing the instant the blade stuck through her back.
With his sparring match now over, Stan turned to face the dragon. The great monster was still recovering from its run-in with the Ghast, and it seemed out of sorts. Formulating a plan instantly, Stan proceeded to fly at top speed towards the dragon, sword outstretched beside him. As he flew past the dragon, the sword grazed the black hide, leaving a flaming cut on the monster’s side, causing it to cry in agony. Not checking his speed at all, Stan proceeded to warp again, right next to the dragon, and landed another blow.
Stan rocketed around the dragon like a bug, repeatedly warping around it and dragging his sword across until the Ender Dragon was completely covered in trails of flame. Sensing that the Dragon was weak enough to finish, Stan proceeded to teleport directly under the monster and, aiming skywards, he stretched his sword out in front of him and burst through the dragon’s neck swordfirst, leaving a large, gaping hole.
He took a deep breath and looked down at the dragon. The monster was frozen in midair. Stan watched as rays of light erupted from within the Ender Dragon until, finally, the monster exploded in a beautiful burst of light.
“Well done, noob,” Sally smirked, applauding Stan as he levitated downwards and landed next to Sally with the crunch of dirt block underfoot. “I admit it, I got too cocky. You fully deserve that victory.”
“Well, you’re not wrong,” Stan replied smugly, a self-indulgent smile wide on his face. “That was a good warm-up. What’ve you got to show me today?”
Sally smiled and shook her head. “There’s nothing else to show you, noob. Your training is complete.”
Stan did a double take, and then stared at Sally, mouth hanging slightly open. “Are you … are you serious?”
“Come on, noob, when am I not?” Sally replied again, conjuring a wool block beneath her and plopping down on it. “We’ve been working at it for weeks now, and I’ve finally shown you everything that I know. Ha … You know, I remember back when you really were just a noob … walking into the Adorian Village, training with me and the guys, and heading off to Element City for the first time. And look at you now. You’re an operator, Stan.”
An overwhelming feeling crashed over Stan. He didn’t know how to describe it – it wasn’t sad, but it certainly wasn’t happy, either. It was as if, in that moment, the entire weight of how far he’d come crashed down on him like an avalanche. He remembered all that he’d learned … all the people he’d come to know … all those he’d lost … and all that he had left to do.
“Sally,” Stan said, turning around to look at his teacher. “Do you … do you really think that I’m going to be able to beat Lord Tenebris?”
“You know, Stan, that’s something that’s really bothered me,” Sally spat out in annoyance. “You know who Lord Tenebris really is. And you know what he’s doing to Elementia, and thousands of other Minecraft servers, as we speak. He’s the most evil and destructive force that Minecraft has ever faced, so the least you can do is call him by his real name.”
Stan shuddered. It was true. He, along with the rest of his friends, had avoided calling Lord Tenebris by his true name. It just seemed that if they didn’t say it, they wouldn’t have to face it. They wouldn’t have to face the reality of what they were going up against, what they had to destroy. Stan took a deep breath and spoke again.
“Fine. Sally, do you think that I’m going to be able to defeat Herobrine?”
Sally looked at the grass-block ground for a moment, and then looked up at him, an earnest look in her eyes.
“Stan, do you want my one-hundred-percent honest answer?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know. I have no idea whether or not you’re going to be able to beat Herobrine. I mean … something that has the ability to steal energy from the game of Minecraft itself … to put thousands of servers at risk … just to make itself stronger? If he can do that, then I can only guess what he’s fully capable of, and I’m not sure if you’re going to be able to defeat him, even if I do somehow manage to hack operating powers onto you in Elementia.”
Stan felt like the air was being drained from his lungs, and he was forced to conjure a block below himself and sit. It hadn’t even occurred to him that he probably wouldn’t be able to get operating powers in Elementia at all … and that he was more than likely going to have to fight Herobrine without any aid, armed with only an axe. The Elementia Army had no plan to defeat Herobrine – in all their strategy talks, they had treated Herobrine like the elephant in the room. Nobody was willing to bring him up, terrified by the prospect of what he might be able to do. If Stan didn’t get operating powers … they were all doomed. And even if he did …
“But I’ll tell you one more thing, noob.” Stan turned to face Sally, who was giving him an encouraging smile.
“If I had to pick anybody in Elementia to fight Herobrine, then I’d choose you in a heartbeat.”
Stan smiled. For a while, they simply looked at each other. Nothing was said. Nothing was done. They just stared into each other’s eyes, taking in the immense respect that they shared. Before long, though, Stan stood up.
“Well, I’d better go now. The tunnellers are probably under the Adorian Village by now, and they’ll be getting ready for the attack.”
Sally nodded. “Good luck, noob. I may not be sure if you can take down Herobrine, but I have no doubt at all that you’ll be able to take back my hometown.”
Stan gave a laugh as he nodded in agreement, but then, his face hardened. Stan focussed, and once again, the words flashed in his mind.
DISCONNECT FROM SERVER?
“Yes.”
“The preparations for the attack are all ready, sir,” Sirus reported, standing in full salute and sounding official. “We’re directly underneath the main street of the Adorian Village, and we’re all ready to, you know, totally blow our way in and take out all the Noctem soldiers by surprise. Haha, they won’t know what hit them!”
“Thank you, Sirus,” Bob replied, nodding his thanks. “Please go and prepare the troops for the assault. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Sirus nodded and took off as Bob turned to his brother, who was sitting next to him alongside all the other Elementia leaders in the base of the cave. “Come on, Ben,” he said, commanding Ivanhoe to walk away from the circle. “Let’s inspect the troops. And get ready, guys, we’re gonna launch the assault as soon as Stan gets back.”
Bob and Ivanhoe walked away from the circle of players and towards a mass of troops further down the tunnel. Ben followed them. Leonidas watched them go and looked around.
This cave wasn’t a natural mine that had been expanded, like the bunker beneath Element City had been. This was a square-shaped tunnel, carved through the stone block underground by hundreds of miners, desperately digging as fast as possible to avoid the encroaching Wither that was blasting its way in, with Noctem troops not far behind. About twenty troops had stayed behind in the bunker to man