Overworld in Flames Read online

  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 (Coming Soon!)

  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!)

  The Gameknight999 Box Set

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

  The Algae Voices of Azule Series

  Algae Voices of Azule

  Finding Home

  Finding the Lost

  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. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

  Sky Pony Press books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or [email protected].

  Sky Pony® is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.®, a Delaware corporation.

  Visit our website at www.skyponypress.com.

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

  Cover design by Owen Corrigan

  Cover artwork by Thomas Frick

  Technical consultant: Gameknight999

  Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0681-1

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0684-2

  Printed in Canada

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I’d like to thank my family for their support through this crazy writing adventure. Without their understanding of my typing at 4:00 a.m., or writing all weekend long, or scribbling constantly in notebooks when we were out, I would likely have gone crazy. I’d also like to thank Cory Allyn, my editor, and all the great people at Skyhorse Publishing. Without their hard work and dedication, these books would never have been as successful nor reached as many kids as they have.

  To all the kids I’ve met through Skyping with your school: thank you for all your crazy, energized support. I love reading all the stories that many of you have sent to me, and I can’t wait to see more. To those I see on our Minecraft server and all the kids I meet at book signings or at schools, and all those that send me emails through my website, www.markcheverton.com, thank you for taking Gameknight999, Crafter, Hunter, Stitcher, Digger, and Herder into your lives and cherishing them as much as I do. Your excitement about my books keeps me working hard, so that I can keep writing books that hopefully you will love.

  A big THANK YOU goes out to our dream team of Christine Jones, Inge Jacobs, Carol Piotrowski, Hilary Northrop, and Shari Thomas. Your help, support, understanding, and dedication have had a powerful and positive impact on us all. We are forever in your debt.

  Don’t judge your value by your popularity or importance; rather, judge yourself by the quality of the friends you surround yourself with.

  CHAPTER 1

  SCAR

  Gameknight999 scanned his surroundings from atop his black-and-white spotted horse, expecting a horde of spiders or an army of skeletons to attack at any minute. But all he could hear were the moos and oinks and clucks of friendly animals. Tall, dark oak trees stretched up into the air; their branches spread out in all directions, forming a leafy canopy that blotted out the sky. Shafts of golden sunlight illuminated the forest floor in patches. Behind him, Gameknight’s companions rode in silence as they enjoyed the moment of peaceful tranquility.

  “I’d forgotten how nice it can be when we aren’t battling hostile mobs,” Stitcher finally said.

  Gameknight turned and gazed at his friend. Stitcher, Hunter’s younger sister, rode next to her sibling. Their red curls hung down around their shoulders. Each of the girls held an enchanted bow; purple waves of magic pulsed along the length of the weapons, casting an iridescent violet light on the forest around them.

  “Yeah,” Hunter added. “When the User-that-is-not-a-user hasn’t angered the monster kings and convinced their forces to chase us all over Minecraft … it can be kinda nice.”

  She cast him a mischievous smile, which Gameknight ignored.

  “It’s not always my fault,” he complained.

  “But they do always seem focused on you,” Digger added with a grin.

  “Maybe it’s just your sparkling personality the monsters like so much,” Crafter added with a laugh.

  One of the wolves walking alongside the party of mounted warriors barked in agreement. Gameknight rolled his eyes as he saw Herder bend down and pat the white, furry animal on the side.

  “I feel like everyone’s ganging up on me,” Gameknight replied with a smile. “Everyone except for Butch.”

  The big NPC rode on a coal-black mare, his iron armor standing out against his animal’s dark coat. In his hand, he held a shining iron sword; the purple waves of magic running up and down its length added to the glow being made by the sisters’ bows.

  Butch had said little since they’d left his village. Herobrine’s command blocks had done a lot of damage to Butch’s community, causing holes to open in the surface of Minecraft that extended all the way down to the bedrock level. All who had been caught in one of those holes had fallen to their death. Many NPCs had been killed—whole families had been destroyed in the blink of an eye—and the rage that Butch felt over this atrocity was like a blazing fire within his soul. He now spoke only in short, clipped sentences, and only when necessary. He also had developed a short temper, and because of that, few tried to actually speak with him, except for Gameknight999. The User-that-is-not-a-user could see how the big NPC was suffering, and he refused to let him agonize alone.

  “Butch, it was a good idea to ride back to Crafter’s village instead of taking the minecart network,” Gameknight said. “We can check on the other villages on the way and make sure they all fared well after we deactivated Herobrine’s command blocks.”

  “Hmm,” Butch grunted, but his mind was clearly elsewhere as he scanned the shadowy forest for monsters.

  They continued along at a leisurely pace. Then, suddenly, the big villager veered off to the right, urging his mount to a gallop and giving off a loud battle cry as he held his sword up high. Gameknight kicked his horse into action and followed the villager. He dre
w his own diamond sword and steeled himself for battle.

  “What is it? Spiders?” Hunter asked as she pulled up alongside him.

  “I don’t know,” Gameknight replied as he ducked under a low tree branch.

  Suddenly, they burst into a clearing, the unexpected sunlight making Gameknight squint. Butch, ten blocks ahead of him, was charging at a lone zombie. Shooting past the monster, Butch slashed at the creature, and the Knockback enchantment on his sword made the zombie fly backward. This made it easy for Butch to make another pass without having to slow down and turn. After three hits, the zombie was gone—just a trio of glowing balls of XP was left floating on the ground.

  Slowing his dark horse, the villager turned and headed back to the rest of the party, a satisfied expression on his face.

  “Are there any more?” Gameknight asked as he scanned the forest.

  “No, just the one,” Butch replied.

  “You mean you charged off all this way just to attack one zombie?” Stitcher asked. “We could have kept going, and the zombie never would have bothered us.”

  “It was a monster,” Butch replied. “It needed to be destroyed.”

  “Butch, we don’t need to destroy every monster we see,” Crafter said as he moved his brown-and-white pony to the big NPC’s side.

  “They destroyed my village, and I will have my revenge,” the big NPC growled in a low voice.

  “But that zombie had nothing to do with your village being attacked,” Stitcher pointed out. “It was Herobrine’s command blocks that hurt your community.”

  “Herobrine … monsters … it’s all the same to me,” Butch said with an angry scowl.

  Gameknight glanced at the NPC and wanted to say something to help, but he couldn’t find the words. Butch had been devastated by the damage Herobrine had done to his village and the people living in it, and now his desire for revenge was like a disease eating at him from within.

  “Come on, we’ve got to get to the next village before nightfall,” Digger said, purposely changing the subject. They’d learned that talking about Butch’s violence yielded few positive results.

  Pulling at his reins, Butch wheeled his black mare back in the direction they had been traveling—southwest—and continued the journey. Urging their horses to follow Butch, the party shifted to a gallop as they wove their way around the thick trunks of the dark oak trees.

  They rode in uncomfortable silence. None of the companions knew what to say, and tension seemed to orbit around Butch like a moon trapped by gravity. Ahead, Gameknight could see the long shadows cast by the thick overhead canopy start to fade; they were reaching the end of the roofed forest.

  Gameknight remembered from their last trip that a birch forest sat adjacent to this biome. The clean, white bark and the blue sky overhead would be a welcome sight. But as they left the shadowy roofed forest, everyone was shocked at what they saw.

  The birch forest was burned to the ground—the entire biome had been completely destroyed.

  “What is this?” Gameknight asked, confused.

  No one replied; they were all too stunned to speak.

  Everything was burned: the trees, the branches. Even the grass that normally coated the ground between the birch trees was charred and black. But Gameknight noticed something else about the horrific scene: countless tree trunks lay on their sides, their charred carcasses marking their deaths like silent, ashen gravestones. That was unusual. Typically, when tree trunks fell over, they disappeared completely. So why were these left behind?

  Gameknight climbed off his horse and approached one of the fallen trees. Placing his hand lightly on its side, he dug his fingers into the trunk. It immediately crumbled to ash. He could see the area on the ground where the tree had once been planted, but the now-barren spot had a glassy appearance to it, as if the base of the tree had been subjected to intense heat.

  Kneeling, Gameknight rubbed his hand across the burned ground. The soil was like dirty, brown glass, the result of seared blades of grass and soil melted together. Jagged shards stuck up at different angles as if trying to escape the atrocity that had befallen the block. Gameknight felt like he was on some other planet in outer space. The User-that-is-not-a-user stood and kicked at the glassy surface. The soil shattered like fragile crystal, and the ground crumbled to dust.

  “What could do this to the land?” Gameknight asked as he scrutinized the surroundings. As far as the eye could see, the birch forest biome was completely destroyed. All trace of life had been erased from the surface of Minecraft.

  “It must have been the monsters,” Butch stated. “That is why we need to destroy them.”

  “We don’t know that, Butch,” Crafter said. “Maybe it was a lightning strike that caused this fire.”

  The big NPC moved to a small hill and kicked it with his iron boot. The cubes of glassy dirt fell apart, turning to dust and revealing more glassy blocks underneath.

  “Are you telling me lightning did this … to the whole biome?” Butch asked.

  Crafter did not reply. He just shook his head in shock.

  “This was no ordinary fire,” Digger said. “The flames were so hot they turned the soil to glass. This land will never support life again. It is a permanent scar on the face of the Overworld. If this happens again, and more land is destroyed … whatever is causing this, it must be stopped.”

  “Agreed, but we can’t just go off on a killing spree, destroying every monster in sight in the hope that it might stop these tragedies,” Crafter said, glancing at Butch.

  The big NPC wasn’t listening. He was staring across the devastated forest, his eyes burning with rage. Gameknight’s gaze swept across the wasteland; his own anger was close to boiling over as well.

  “We must find out who is responsible for this and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Butch growled.

  “I think you’re right, Butch,” Gameknight replied.

  “They must be punished … they must all be punished,” Butch said in a low voice.

  Gameknight heard the anger—the unbridled, barely controlled rage—in the big NPC’s voice. It made him scared, not for those responsible for the atrocity before them, but for Butch himself. That much anger has a way of destroying everything and everyone within its reach, he thought, whether friend or foe.

  CHAPTER 2

  CHARYBDIS

  Charybdis, the king of the blazes, watched as his warriors launched their fireballs at the trees of a savannah biome. The strangely-bent acacia trees almost looked like they were leaning away from the firestorm that surged through the landscape. The flames danced across the gray-green grass as if they were alive. Tongues of fire licked up the sides of the distorted trunks, going higher and higher until the acacia trees exploded into flame, their dry leaves making excellent fuel for the ravenous inferno.

  His blazes had done a fantastic job of destroying the last biome, a birch forest. They had torched every plant and tree to cinders, and then they had proceeded to melt the very soil into glass, eliminating any possibility of that land ever supporting life again. As a reward for their exemplary efforts, Charybdis had built another of his new portals, which brought the monsters to this savannah.

  The sun was slowly setting on the western horizon, but Charybdis noticed, with a smile, that the sky was not blushing its customary rosy red. Instead, an ugly gray haze hung in the air like a malignant fog, staining the crimson sky with a diseased hue; it was the smoke from the raging fires. The billowing ash was rising into the air, blotting out the darkening blue sky and hiding the sun as it set its square face behind the line of mountains in the distance.

  The blaze king stared at the destruction and chuckled as he took a wheezing, mechanical-sounding breath. He was a creature made almost entirely of flame and glowing sticks called blaze rods. The radiant sticks gave off a warm, golden-orange light as they revolved about his ethereal body. The blazes, the king’s soldiers, were like phantoms of ash and flame, their internal fire holding the blaze rods togeth
er to form their bodies.

  Charybdis shifted his gaze from the setting sun to his general down below. Slowly settling to the ground, the blaze king moved to the blaze’s side.

  “General, have your lieutenant deliver a full report to me after this biome is completely erased from the surface of Minecraft,” the blaze king said. “You and I must return back to the Nether. There is much to discuss, and a campaign of destruction to plan.”

  The commander moved to his lieutenant and delivered the instructions, then turned and floated back to his king’s side. Together, the two blazes drifted to a fiery orange rectangle hovering in the air. Charybdis still marveled at its appearance. The portal was like a shimmering membrane of fire that was impossibly thin, yet insanely bright. It shimmered and sparkled like the inside of a furnace, yet the edges of the portal did not flow outward as flames normally would. It appeared, somehow, captured within an invisible rectangle. The blaze king didn’t really understand how it worked … nor did he care. All he wanted to do was destroy the Overworld and take it for himself. However it happened was inconsequential.

  Charybdis gave his general a warning glance. The blaze slowed dutifully, allowing the king of the blazes to enter the portal first. As he passed through the sheet of flame, his vision wavered and undulated as it filled with orange light. Slowly, the burning scene of destruction in the savannah biome was replaced with a view of the Nether, another landscape of smoke and fire.

  The blaze king moved out of the portal and looked around him. He had reappeared right where he had expected: in the large gathering chamber of his Nether fortress. Dark walls loomed high overhead, stretching upward to meet a ceiling that was barely visible in the smoke and haze. Everything was made of dark red Nether bricks, their surfaces lit by glowstones and blocks of netherrack that burned nearby. Charybdis loved the open fires, with their smoke and ash billowing into the air. It made him feel welcome and comforted. The blocks of netherrack would burn forever due to the property of its materials. Netherrack burned throughout all of the Nether. No one really knew what started the fires, but the blocks had continued to burn unquenched for as long as any monster could remember.