Charlie looked Leonidas in the face. “Leonidas, can I tell you something? And if I do, do you swear you won’t tell anybody else?”
“Sure, man,” Leonidas replied, genuinely concerned now. “What is it?”
Charlie took a deep breath. There were tears streaming down his face, and his features expressed more pain and disappointment in himself than Leonidas had ever seen. There was a moment of silence, only broken by the scuffle of troops down the cave preparing for battle, as Charlie prepared to reveal his darkest secret.
“I’m the reason that the Noctem Alliance found this cave. I told Drake where the entrance was when he was torturing me on the Mushroom Islands.”
Leonidas’s jaw dropped. He looked at Charlie, hardly able to believe what he had just heard, as Charlie rambled on, sobs interspersed with his choked-up speech now.
“I didn’t want to … I held out for as long as I could, trying to endure the pain that those savages put me through in that prison. The last thing I wanted was to give them what they wanted, our secret war plans … but then they started on my legs … it was unbearable, Leonidas. They forced my legs into a pit full of silverfish and told me that the only way out was to tell them where the secret bunker was … the little monsters started to chew at my legs, gnawing away … it was too much, I had to make it stop … so I told them.
“I should’ve held out. I should’ve died, rather than tell them where the bunker was. I mean, Crunch held out fine. He just shook it off, the way I couldn’t … And now, because of me, we’re all in danger. They forced us to move before we were ready, and throw together this half-baked assault that’ll cause who knows how many of our fighters to die. And I can’t even fight on the battlefield alongside my friends to make up for my mistake.”
As Charlie finished, Leonidas stared at him. He was utterly speechless. There was no anger in the stare, no exasperation, not even shock. Only sympathy shone on Leonidas’s face as he absorbed everything that Charlie had just told him.
Charlie said nothing. He looked down at the ground again, gave a heavy sigh, and proceeded to limp away from the crack in the cave wall towards Ben and Bob, leaving Leonidas standing alone.
“Look at them all.”
“I’m sorry?” Cassandrix replied, looking up from the iron boots she was pulling on to look over at Kat, who was already armoured up with Rex sitting beside her, watching a large group of players load up their own gear. Judging by their mostly leather armor, they were lower-level players. Despite the fact that the army had distributed the armour for the battle, it had somehow occurred that the lower-level players had gotten the weaker armour (not that Kat or anyone else had time to fix this inequity).
“I can’t believe that those players are being forced into combat,” Kat replied sadly.
“They haven’t been forced!” Cassandrix replied vehemently. “Bob and Ben have made it very clear that only the soldiers are required to take part in the invasion. All others are volunteers. Those players wouldn’t be part of the invasion if they didn’t want to be.”
“Yeah, well, they might as well have been forced into it,” Kat spat in disgust. “I mean, sure, we didn’t outright say that they had to, but what would happen if we lose? What would happen to the lower-level players? What would they have to come back to? Face it, Cassandrix, those players aren’t fighting because they want to. They’re fighting because they’re afraid of what will happen if they don’t.”
“Honestly, darling,” Cassandrix laughed, rolling her eyes. Kat’s ears perked up in alarm, as they did whenever Cassandrix used the word darling. “You’re acting like putting lower-level players into combat is the worst thing in the world … as if the little brats shouldn’t have to fight, just because they’re new and inexperienced. Well, Kat, darling, I have a question for you: if they don’t fight, then however are they going to gain experience?”
There was a moment of silence as Kat stared at Cassandrix.
“Exactly,” Cassandrix continued. “You need to stop holding the hands of the lower-level players, Kat, or they’ll never learn anything for themselves. Why, I never had a group of upper-level players looking after me when I first joined Elementia – there were no upper-level players! But did that stop me from taking part in the Terramist War? No, of course not! I fought that war, and in doing so, not only did I help to establish the original Kingdom of Elementia, but I also learned the skills of Minecraft by myself!”
Cassandrix looked smugly at Kat, as if positive that there would be nothing that Kat could say that would pass over her insurmountable wall of logic. However, Kat merely returned a knowing smile.
“So, let me get this straight, Cassandrix: You took part in a war when you were a new player, and that’s how you learned to fight so well?”
“That is correct, dear.”
“OK, OK. And Cassandrix … during that war … how many times did you die, and spawn back in your warm, comfortable bed?”
“Well … to be honest, there was more than one time that I found myself dead, and respawned.”
“And if you were in that same scenario today – if you were a new player, and you took part in a war with no combat experience – what would happen to you if you died?”
There was no reply. They both knew what happened if a player was killed in Elementia today.
“Cassandrix, I have no problem with the way that you learned how to play Minecraft, and I even see where you’re coming from,” Kat said pointedly, “but the world has changed. The rules of the server are different from when you were a new player. If new players today make one wrong move, they’ll be kicked out of Elementia with no second chance, so I don’t see the harm in helping them out a bit. Just keep that in mind.”
And with that, Kat stood up and walked down the tunnel towards the makeshift armoury, Rex following behind her, leaving a speechless Cassandrix in their wake.
All throughout the night, preparations went on for the invasion of the Adorian Village. By morning, everyone was ready. All leaders, soldiers and volunteers were brimming with armour and weaponry. Charlie was staying behind in the cave, to watch over those players who didn’t have enough armour, or were too weak from hunger to fight. At the break of dawn (according to the single golden clock that somebody had managed to take into the underground with them), the fighting forces of Elementia congregated around a section of cave wall. This particular wall was covered with ladders leading up to the roof of the cave. The group of players was clustered around one specific ladder that had been designated the night before.
Before long, a cheer erupted from the crowd. President Stan was climbing the selected ladder, and when he reached the halfway point, he jumped off and onto a nearby ledge of coal ore blocks that was jutting out from the wall. He was wearing a smile ear to ear. In the night, a wonderful, unexpected surprise had befallen them, which he was happy to share with his citizens who were as of yet unaware.
“My citizens, at long last, the day that we’ve been awaiting for weeks is finally here. In a few minutes, we will burst into the Adorian Village, swarm the streets and drive the forces of the Noctem Alliance out, taking a giant leap towards returning control of Elementia to its rightful, elected rulers!”
Another round of applause and shouts of admiration erupted from the crowd.
“I cannot thank you enough for your patience, endurance and valour, my citizens. I am fully aware of how difficult your lives have been since the Noctem Alliance declared war on Elementia months ago. However, by the end of today, all our pain and toil will finally come to fruition when we raise the colours of Elementia over the Town Hall of the Adorian Village!
“Now, my citizens,” Stan continued, the roar of the crowd dying instantly as they realized he had more to say, “I have a very exciting announcement. In the middle of the night, a very special player came to us. He arrived in our cave after