Elytra Perils Read online

  Elytra Perils

  A Gameknight999 Adventure

  By

  Mark Cheverton

  This book is not authorized or sponsored by Microsoft Corp., Mojang AB, Notch Development AB or Scholastic Inc., or any other person or entity owning or controlling rights in the Minecraft name, trademark, or copyrights.

  Copyright © 2016 by Mark Cheverton

  Minecraft® is a registered trademark of Notch Development AB

  The Minecraft game is copyright © Mojang AB

  This book is not authorized or sponsored by Microsoft Corp., Mojang AB, Notch Development AB or Scholastic Inc., or any other person or entity owning or controlling rights in the Minecraft name, trademark or copyrights.

  All rights reserved.

  Books by Mark Cheverton

  The Gameknight999 Series

  Invasion of the Overworld

  Battle for the Nether

  Confronting the Dragon

  The Mystery of Herobrine Series: A Gameknight999 Adventure

  Trouble in Zombie-town

  The Jungle Temple Oracle

  Last Stand on the Ocean Shore

  Herobrine Reborn Series: A Gameknight999 Adventure

  Saving Crafter

  The Destruction of the Overworld

  Gameknight999 vs. Herobrine

  Herobrine’s Revenge Series: A Gameknight999 Adventure

  The Phantom Virus

  Overworld in Flames

  System Overload

  The Birth of Herobrine: A Gameknight999 Adventure

  The Great Zombie Invasion (Coming Soon!)

  Attack of the Shadow-Crafters (Coming Soon!)

  Herobrine’s War (Coming Soon!)

  Box Sets

  The Gameknight999 Box Set

  The Gameknight999 vs. Herobrine Box Set (Coming Soon!)

  Note from the author

  This is my first short story about Gameknight999. I had intended it to be much shorter, but sometimes, while I’m writing, the story can take control and guide itself to its eventual conclusion regardless of what the author intends; that’s what happened here. But I feel good about the final story and how it ended. If you think the ending hints at more stories to come after this, you are absolutely right. I want to write more stories like this, but they will likely not be written very quickly, as my writing schedule is very tight.

  Part of the purpose of this story is to introduce Minecraft players to the new game on the Gameknight999 Minecraft Network, http://www.gameknight999.com. We’re calling it Elytra Peril…hey, wait a minute, that’s the same name as the title of this short story. You’re right. I wanted to write a story that you can be thinking about while you are playing the game on our server. When I release a new story, it will be linked to a new game or game mode on the Gameknight999 Minecraft Network. So as you are playing, you can role play that section of the story with your friends and really imagine you are in it with Gameknight999. Keep checking www.gameknight999.com and www.markcheverton.com for notices about new short stories and new Minecraft games.

  Teachers, I have learned a lot from writing 5 failed novels and then publishing 15 Minecraft novels. I’ve read a lot of books about plot construction, character development, use of tension and conflict…and have broken the elements of a story down into bite-sized pieces that are easily digestible for kids. These materials have been successfully tested in workshops with kids. You can find these materials on the Teacher Resources page on www.markcheverton.com. It is my hope that you print out many copies of this story and give them to your students. After going through my materials, students might enjoy identifying the Hook or the Dark Night of the Soul or the Character Flaw. By seeing how I use these techniques in this story, I hope your students will begin to understand them better and use them in their own writing. Hopefully, together, we can inspire them to write more stories of their own. They can send their stories to www.markcheverton.com. I post every story I receive that is more than 1 sentence long, so please encourage your students to send them to me. Every email I receive is answered, personally, by me.

  Keep reading, keep writing and watch out for creepers.

  Mark Cheverton (Monkeypants_271)

  Don’t give in to your fears, for they will form a prison where escape is difficult. You must keep pushing against your fears and refuse to yield. It doesn’t matter how hard you push, or if you make great strides against your fear or anxiety; all that matters is that you refuse to give up. For every time you push back against your fear, the bars of your prison become a little weaker until one day they will shatter. Remember Crafter’s words, “Deeds do not make the hero, it’s the fear they overcome that does.”

  Chapter 1

  The Phone Call

  Gameknight wasn’t sure how long this would take, but he moved carefully up to the lava and peered down. A warm glow came from the molten stone, but offered little light. The walls of this area were cracked and jagged, with veins of lava flowing through the stone. But even with all that lava, there was little light. Fortunately, he’d prepared the space by placing many torches along the stone platform that he’d meticulously built while being attacked by fire imps, lava slimes, demons and bone serpents. Now, the battlefield was ready.

  Carefully, he tossed the Guide Voodoo Doll into the boiling stone. He didn’t have to wait long. A distant growl filled the air; it was incredibly spooky. With the Minishark in his hands, he moved back away from the lava and stepped onto the platform of stone blocks.

  And then it appeared.

  Two giant eyeballs stared down upon him as a massive curved mouth snapped closed, the razor sharp teeth crashing together, all of it connected by a vertical column of creepy skin and bones. It was the Wall of Flesh, the gateway into Hardmode in Terraria. The massive boss moved forward, passing through hills and lava, forcing Gameknight999 to move backward across the stone platform.

  “Here goes nothin’,” he said to himself.

  Gameknight opened fire with the Minishark. A hail of bullets slammed into the creature, causing tiny red numbers to appear; it was HP loss…but not enough. Suddenly, the eyeballs opened fire. Blue laser beams lanced down at him, striking his Molten armor, which was fortunately holding up well, for now.

  Gameknight continued to fire as evil looking hands reached out to him from the ends of multiple long spiny arms. Drawing his Demon Scythe, he launched sparkling arcs of blue magic at the hands, destroying them quickly. But that didn’t stop the lasers firing at him from the demonic eyes.

  He moved back again, this time pulling out his Water Bolt. Shooting the magical weapon at the bottom eye, Gameknight jumped into the air and activated his boots, narrowly avoiding a cluster of blue laser beams. His rocket boots lifted him upward, leaving a trail of sparkling particles as they pushed him away from the ground. It gave him an uneasy feeling, flying through the air. He was always uncomfortable with flying and was deathly afraid of it. But right now, he was more afraid of the Wall of Flesh.

  Firing the Water Bolt again, he strafed one of the eyes, causing more red numbers to appear in the air as the creature took more damage. Then the stream of water trickled to a stop as Gameknight’s mana was consumed. He smiled; he’d done significant damage.

  “Maybe I am going to win this after all,” he said, but instantly knew that was a mistake.

  A fire imp suddenly appeared and launched a barrage of attacks, then disappeared, only to reappear above him. Putting away the Water Bolt, he aimed his Minishark and destroyed the magical creature. But while he was distracted, the Wall of Flesh moved closer and attacked. Blue shafts of energy struck him again and again, causing his health to drop. Quickly, he drank a potion of regeneration, then turned and fired just as the roar of the monster echoed through his MLG headphones.r />
  Just then, his cell phone rang. Tommy glanced at the number and saw an area code he didn’t recognize; it was 999.

  What kind of area code was 999, he thought. I’ll just ignore it.

  The Wall of Flesh moved forward, the ravenous jaws snapping at him as shafts of light lanced out at him from terrifying eyeballs. Using his Pheonix Gun, he fired a burst of rounds while he drank a mana potion. With his magic recharged, he used the Demon Scythe again, tearing HP from the creature’s body, but not before a blast of cerulean blue laser beams tore into his Molten armor. Gameknight saw his own HP drop as the intense beams of light blasted through the protective coating and dug into his flesh. Fortunately, he was just playing the game, and was not in the game for real.

  Tommy hadn’t used his father’s invention, the Digitizer, for a while now; that whole time traveling thing had scared him a bit. But more importantly, he wasn’t anxious to use the Gateway of Light to go into Terraria. The idea of battling Mimics, or Wyverns, or Wandering Eyes, or World Feeders while actually in the game seemed terrifying…and probably a dumb thing to do. Even Gameknight999 wasn’t foolish enough to do that.

  His cell phone rang again. Tommy glanced down from the battle and saw the area code again; it was 999. This time there was a picture on the screen, and it was Herobrine.

  Is Herobrine calling me? Tommy thought. How can that be?

  The ringer continued to wail as the vibration from the device caused the surface of the desk to buzz annoyingly. He took his eyes away from the computer screen and reached for the phone. Just then, a splat sound filled his headphones. Turning to his 4k monitor, he saw the words YOU WERE SLAIN glowing in the middle of the screen; he’d lost again!

  With a sigh, he answered the call.

  “Hello,” Tommy said.

  “Is this the famous Gameknight999?” a voice asked.

  “Who is this, what’s this about?”

  “You have a problem in Minecraft,” the voice said with a sinister tone. “Your friends are in need of your assistance, if you are brave enough to help them.”

  “What are you talking about?” Tommy asked.

  “Turn on FaceTime and see their peril.”

  He held the phone out and pushed the FaceTime button, instantly, the screen changed from displaying the phone number to a blocky environment, with strange rectangular cows mooing and tiny white chickens clucking about. And then he realized he was seeing an image of Minecraft.

  “What is this, some kind of prank?” Tommy asked.

  “Actually, I think you’re right,” the voice said. “This is a prank, but unfortunately for your friends, it is a lethal one. Here look.”

  The image changed as the point of view scanned across rolling grass-covered hills, past a forest in the background, past some kind of gigantic structure that seemed like a massive cell phone floating in the air, until the scene settled onto Crafter’s village in Minecraft. Tommy could see the large cobblestone wall that ringed the community, as well as part of the obsidian wall around his own castle visible off to the left side of the screen. NPCs walked about along the fortified walls. They appeared nervous as they stared down at the camera.

  “Let’s get a little closer, shall we?” the voice said.

  The village moved closer, the fortified wall now filling the entire view. It tilted up, then zoomed in on the villagers atop the ramparts. A short girl with curly red hair stood staring down at the camera, a stocky character right next to her.

  “Sticher, Digger!” Gameknight exclaimed.

  “Yes, these are your friends in Minecraft, Gameknight999,” the voice said. “They are currently trapped within their village. I’ve placed barrier blocks all around them; there is no escape.”

  “Are you hoping to starve them or something,” Tommy said. “You’re an idiot, I’ll just come in there in creative mode and open the wall up.”

  “If you come into Minecraft as a normal user, then I’m afraid I’ll have to punish this village,” the voice said in a maniacal tone. “Look what floats above them.”

  The camera tilted as it backed up. Above the village was a layer of lava, floating a few blocks above the cobblestone watchtower. It seemed to be resting on some kind of invisible plane, likely more barrier blocks.

  “You are going to come into Minecraft as the User-that-is-not-a-user,” the voice continued. “If you do anything else, I’ll turn the barrier blocks into air, and let the lava coat everything, including the villagers.” The voice paused for a moment to let it sink in, then continued with a sinister tone. “You’re going to do what I say, or else.”

  “You don’t know what you are doing,” Tommy pleaded. “They’re alive. All the villages are alive; they’re not just segments of code moving about the terrain. They’re people just like you and me, the only difference is that the NPCs are digital.”

  “That is just fascinating, but you know what…I don’t care!”

  “Who are you and why are you doing this?” Tommy asked.

  “As to who I am, we’ll get to that later,” the voice replied. “But as to why…I’ve heard so much about Gameknight999, the great User-that-is-not-a-user. Well, I want to find out if all the stories are true. I want to see if you are a worthy adversary, or just another poser trying to pretend that they really understand Minecraft. You see, Gameknight999, I’m bored. I’m tired of just hacking into servers and adding mods and disabling plugins. The security systems of many of the Minecraft servers out there are pathetic and offer no challenges at all. I’ve written viruses to get into many of these servers, and it wasn’t even difficult. Now I need a new challenge, and I’ve decided that you’re it. I’m going to test you with some challenges, to see if you’re as good as people say. If not, then bye-bye villagers.” The voice laughed maliciously.

  “No, you can’t do this!” Gameknight protested, but the voice continued to laugh.

  “I’ll give you five minutes to get into Minecraft. If you are a second late, then we’ll have us a barbeque in the village…you understand.”

  Tommy didn’t say anything; he just growled in frustration.

  “I didn’t hear you?” the voice said.

  “Yes, I understand,” Tommy replied. “Now, tell me your name, if you’re not afraid.”

  “Oooo…clever tactic,” the voice mocked. “Fine, I’m the one you’ve heard about lurking in the shadows, watching. I’ve infiltrated every level of the software and know more about how it was developed than probably any single person. I’m going to exact my revenge on Minecraft when I’m ready, but for now, I’m just going to have a little fun and toy with all the pathetic users.”

  “This all sounds familiar,” Tommy replied. “It’s been done before by Herobrine, and that didn’t end very well for him.”

  “Herobrine!” the voice exclaimed. “That virus was nothing, a little distraction I created because I was bored. No, I’m the real thing. Get ready for some serious trouble because Entity303 is here now.”

  Entity303, Gameknight thought with dread.

  He’d heard about him. No one was sure if it was just one person, or a group of people, but they were tough and knew a lot about Minecraft. This wasn’t going to be easy.

  “You now have four minutes forty-five seconds to get into Minecraft,” Entity303 said. “Maybe I’ll just get rid of one barrier block to motivate you.”

  “No…no, I’m coming,” Tommy said. “But mark my words, you’re going to be sorry you messed with Gameknight999.”

  Before Entity303 could reply, Tommy hung up the phone.

  Grabbing the bottle of water nearby, he drank the contents quickly, then positioned a pillow near his head. Reaching out, he flipped on the power supply to the digitizer. The electronics began to glow as LEDs lit up like bright little stars, then began to blink faster and faster. A buzzing sound echoed off the bare concrete walls of the basement. At first it was faint, like a single bee flying nearby, but slowly the sound grew louder and louder, until the noise buzzed like a hive of angry hor
nets. Quickly, Gameknight set his head on the pillow; bruised foreheads in the past had taught him to be ready.

  Suddenly, he was enveloped in a cloud of bright white. His body felt scalding hot and freezing cold at the same time while electrical charges ran across his skin like tiny spiders. A swirling sensation enveloped his mind. It felt as if he were getting sucked down the drain of some kind of massive bathtub, getting squished and stretched as he spun, the fire and ice of the Digitizer biting into his skin.

  And then, just as suddenly as it started, it ended. Darkness filled his mind. It was a darkness so complete that it felt like something was covering his eyes. Fear began to nibble at his senses. Was he blind? was Minecraft destroyed? Was…

  “Are you going to get up and stop acting like an idiot,” a voice said next to him.

  Gameknight opened his eyes and realized he had them shut and was facing down into the ground. He definitely felt like an idiot. Glancing up, he saw brilliant red curls dangling across strong shoulders as a pair of deep brown eyes peered down at him.

  “You planning on getting up anytime soon?”

  “Hunter!” Gameknight exclaimed.

  “You remembered my name, that’s a good start,” Hunter said with a sarcastic smile. “I figured with all the lava over the village, you’d be showing up sooner or later.”

  The User-that-is-not-a-user reached up, took her proffered hand and stood. Around him, he saw the usual blocky landscape, cube-like bushes and terraced hills. A constant breeze blew from the east to the west, carrying with it the rich smell of the grass and the woody aroma of the nearby oak trees. In the distance, he could hear the sorrowful moan of a zombie. Thankfully it was far away, but it still caused icicles of fear to nibble at his spine. No question about it, he was back inside Minecraft.