The Jungle Temple Oracle Page 13

“I didn’t do anything,” Gameknight replied. “I just kept going . . . that’s all.”

  “Sometimes surrender is easier than persistence,” Crafter said. “But your reluctance to quit kept everyone going.”

  “I don’t know . . . I’m just glad we’re here,” Gameknight said. “But we aren’t done yet . . . look.”

  He pointed to the sun that was just starting to move behind the junglewood trees behind them. Its yellow face could be seen between the branches of the trees, but it was getting perilously near the horizon.

  “It will be dark soon,” Gameknight said in a low voice. “The real battle will start tonight. We must be prepared.”

  “Everyone will do what they must,” Crafter reassured, “no matter how tired they are.”

  Gameknight nodded his head, then turned and looked for Digger. He found the big NPC near the edge of the river, washing his hands. Gameknight moved to his side.

  “Digger, I need you to prepare the defenses,” Gameknight said. “I’m going into the temple to see if we can find this Oracle. I know Herobrine will throw everything he has against us . . . we must be prepared with some surprises of our own.”

  Reaching into his inventory, Digger pulled out a stack of redstone dust with his right hand, then drew a stack of pistons with his left. Looking up at Gameknight999, the big NPC smiled.

  “Where did you get that?” Gameknight asked.

  Digger pointed to a chest that was nestled under a bush, a redstone torch next to it, making it stand out against the green foliage.

  “I just found it there,” Digger explained. “It was as if it were just waiting for us.”

  Gameknight smiled, then looked up into the air and mouthed, THANK YOU, SHAWNY.

  “OK, we have a lot to do,” Gameknight said as he waded through the river. Turning, he faced the NPCs. “We have defenses to set up, traps to build, and a war to prepare for . . . all before sunset, so let’s get to it!”

  “Yeah!” cheered the NPCs as they charged through the river and stood on the opposite bank, the ancient jungle temple standing before them . . . waiting.

  CHAPTER 17

  THE ORACLE

  They stepped into the musty temple cautiously, with eyes sharp and senses focused. Gameknight knew that jungle temples were always rigged with traps; there would be tripwires attached to dispensers, and pressure plates set to trigger pistons, and more . . . There was no telling how many traps would be in this ancient structure; they had to be careful.

  Crafter moved into the temple first, planting torches on the ground as we went. His sharp eyes searched every part of the cobblestone passageway, looking for anything out of place. Following close behind were Gameknight, Stitcher, Monet, Hunter, and Herder, each also planting torches to drive away the shadows . . . and their fear.

  The entrance led to a floor with two stairways going up and one wide staircase going down to the floor below.

  “Hunter, Stitcher, check the floor above,” Gameknight said.

  “Couldn’t there be traps up there?” Monet asked. Clearly she was concerned for her friend.

  “No, the traps are always down below,” Gameknight answered. “You go with them.”

  Excitedly, she ran after them, taking the steps two at a time.

  “It’s all empty up here,” Hunter shouted from the top floor. “But it would be a good place to put some archers.”

  “Do it,” Gameknight said. “Also, have someone put some more holes in the walls so that we can get a larger field of fire. Stitcher, get someone to help.”

  The young girl ran down the steps, her red hair streaming behind her like luminous flames.

  “Wait,” Gameknight said, stopping Stitcher in her tracks. “We also need to get some archers on the roof. Get one of the Masons to put some steps in and have fortifications built up there . . . you got it?”

  She nodded her head then took off.

  “Hunter, come on down,” Gameknight said.

  The older sister came bounding down the steps with Monet right behind.

  “Let’s go down,” Crafter said. “Everyone stay close and don’t touch anything.”

  The group went carefully down the steps until the stairway ended in a narrow corridor that went off to the right. Turning the corner, the group followed the passage until it ended, and then turned to the right again. Crafter stopped at the corner and looked down the next long hallway. At the other end, he could see a chest that sat against a vine-covered wall.

  “A chest!” Monet exclaimed. “There could be something magical, maybe some enchanted armor.”

  She started to run down the hallway, but Gameknight caught her arm and held fast, jerking her to a stop.

  “What?” she whined.

  “It’s a trap,” Gameknight said.

  “I don’t see anything,” she complained.

  “Exactly,” Crafter added.

  Moving carefully forward, Crafter led them down the left side of the hallway, so that they weren’t directly in front of the vine-covered blocks. Creeping forward ever so slowly, the young NPC peered into the small nooks created by the alternating blocks that lined the bottom of the walls.

  “Here it is,” Crafter said as he pulled out his pickaxe.

  Chopping at something that was hidden in the shadows, Crafter pulled out a tripwire mechanism. Moving further down the passage, they could now see the redstone that was wired to the vine-covered block.

  “Monet, you see the black hole in that block?” Crafter asked.

  She nodded.

  He cut away the rest of the vines, and Monet gasped. They could all see a dispenser at the end of the red stone circuit. Inside, they found it filled with stacks and stacks of arrows.

  “Perfect,” Hunter said as she reached in and took all the arrows. “The archers could use these . . . some of them are getting low.”

  Stuffing them into her inventory, Hunter then knelt next to the chest that sat below the dispenser and slowly opened it. The hinges creaked and groaned from the years of neglect. Pushing hard to get it open, Hunter gasped at what she saw within.

  Inside the chest, they found a single diamond and three iron ingots. There was also an iron pickaxe that sparkled with magical enchantments. Gameknight reached in for the pick. The waves of iridescent magic flowed up and down the tool, illuminating the corridor with sapphire light. Gameknight wished there had been more diamonds so that he could repair his armor; it was still badly damaged from his last encounter with Herobrine, but it didn’t do any good to wish for what wasn’t there.

  Placing the pickaxe into his inventory, Gameknight closed the lid, then turned as he heard footsteps echoing down the next corridor. It was his sister, Monet. She’d walked through the adjacent passage that led off to the right.

  “Look, switches,” she said.

  Gameknight could see three switches on the wall at the far end of the cobblestone-lined hallway. Vines had grown down the wall above the switches, but had been trimmed neatly to allow the switches to still work.

  “What do the switches do?” Monet asked.

  “Those usually do nothing,” Gameknight explained. “They just move some pistons so that it sounds like they are opening doors or setting traps, but they don’t do anything.”

  “Let’s see,” Monet said as she flipped one of the levers.

  “Nooo!” Crafter yelled, but it was too late.

  Monet placed her hand on the first lever and flipped it down. A click sounded as a piston moved somewhere beneath them, triggering additional pistons. The rumbling sound of stone grinding against stone resonated throughout the temple as the passageway became dark. The light streaming in down the main staircase slowly dimmed until the stairs were completely encased in shadows.

  Running to the stairway, Gameknight found the descending entrance completely blocked; a new wall of bedrock was now closing off their exit. It was impossible to tunnel through bedrock, even with diamond pickaxes . . . which meant they could not escape. Returning to his friends, Game
knight999 scowled at his sister.

  “Great, we’re trapped in here,” he said to the others, then turned to his sister. “Thanks!”

  Monet looked away from her brother and at the ground.

  Why does she have to be so impulsive? he thought. Why can’t she be like me and carefully make plans and calculate what might happen before acting?

  He shook his head as he glared at her. Following her gaze, he could see that Monet was looking at the floor. Clearly she felt bad . . . but then he noticed something else. There was a small stone button near the floor beneath the three switches. Stone buttons were difficult to see when placed on cobblestone, and this one was placed right near the floor as well, making it even harder to see. Moving to his sister’s side, he pointed down at the button.

  “Look at this, Crafter,” Gameknight said.

  Crafter moved next to Monet, then knelt on the ground. With a puff of air, he blew away the dust that covered these lower blocks, revealing the stone switch.

  “You ever see one of these in a jungle temple?” Gameknight asked.

  Crafter shook his head.

  “There is . . . ahh . . . something else here,” Herder said as he moved to Monet’s other side.

  Reaching up, Herder pulled at the vines that covered the walls above the switches. When the tangle of plants fell to the ground, they revealed four signs, one above each switch, and one higher up on the wall. There was writing on each sign.

  “What do they say?” Gameknight asked.

  “We need more light,” Herder replied.

  Crafter planted a torch next to the signs.

  “One says BLUE, the next says RED, and the last says YELLOW,” Herder read.

  Each of those signs was placed directly above a switch.

  “What about the one above those?” Crafter asked.

  “It doesn’t make any sense,” Herder said as he squinted to see the letters. “It says, WHAT ARE THE COLORS OF SUPERMAN’S CAPE?” The lanky NPC turned to Crafter, a confused look on his face. “What does it mean?”

  “I don’t know?” Crafter answered.

  “It’s a riddle that only a user could answer,” the Gameknight replied with a smile. “We’re trapped in here until we can answer the riddle . . . and it’s easy.”

  Stepping up to the switches, he gently pushed the others out of the way and flipped the red switch up, moving the other levers to the down position. Kneeling, Gameknight reached for the stone button.

  “Superman’s cape is red,” the User-that-is-not-a-user said triumphantly with a self-satisfied grin, then pushed the stone button.

  “Nooo!” shouted Monet, but it was too late.

  The sound of stone grinding against stone filled the passage as the floor just behind them slowly slid away, revealing a pool of lava underneath. The heat from the molten stone blasted the companions in the face, causing small cubes of sweat to form and trickle down their flat cheeks. Moving as far from the lava as they could, the NPCs and Monet looked up at Gameknight999.

  “It’s easy, huh?” Hunter asked.

  “That was the wrong answer,” Monet said with an exasperated tone.

  “What are you talking about?” Gameknight asked. “It’s red.”

  “Nope,” Monet replied.

  “But I’ve seen all the movies,” Gameknight said, “and read a bunch of the comics . . . Superman’s cape is RED!”

  “Nope,” she said again, this time with a knowing smile on her face.

  “Oh yeah?” Gameknight snapped. “Then if you’re so smart, what color is it?”

  Monet reached down and reset the switches, then flipped up the red switch.

  Gameknight smiled.

  Then she flipped up the yellow switch.

  Gameknight looked confused and stared at his sister.

  “The “S” on his cape is yellow!” she said proudly, then reached down and pressed the button.

  “Before you press that, you should realize that we don’t have any place to run to,” Crafter said. “If you’re wrong, then likely the floor under us will fall away and we’ll end up trying to swim in lava.”

  Monet looked up at her friends, the confident look on her face starting to fade, but then she pushed the button. The sound of stone grinding against stone filled the corridor again, but the floor didn’t move. Instead, the wall next to them slid sideways, revealing a torch-lit stairway that plunged deep under the temple.

  “YES!” Monet exclaimed.

  “Apparently you were right,” Gameknight said reluctantly.

  “What?” Monet asked, wanting to hear it again.

  “You heard me!” he snapped, then headed down the lit stairway, Crafter following close behind.

  Monet stood there and smiled at Hunter and Herder for an instant, then followed the young NPC with Herder on her heels, Hunter bringing up the rear.

  They moved down the steps, probably plunging down at least fifty blocks before reaching some kind of brightly lit room.

  Moving cautiously to the entrance, Gameknight peered into the underground chamber. What he found was ornately designed, like a throne room for a king. Tall pillars of mossy cobblestone stretched up from the floor to greet the stone ceiling that was probably fifteen blocks high overhead. Around the edges of the room were torches set in every third block, with glowstone cubes placed throughout the chamber, adding to the illumination. Off to the left side of the chamber, Gameknight could see another passageway that led off to some other room. Sounds came from that passage . . . sounds that he couldn’t quite recognize and that made him a little afraid.

  Across the center of the massive room were complex structures built of every color imaginable. Emerald blocks lined what looked like a walkway that stretched the distance from the stairway to the tall platform at the other end of the room. Blocks of lapis filled in the walkway, with gold and iron cubes mixed in to add contrast to the complex pattern of colors.

  Gameknight could hear Monet gasp when she finally reached the entrance. Turning to look at his sister, Gameknight saw a look of awe on her square face, her eyes filled with wonder at all the colors. For her, this was the finest of feasts.

  But then a tapping sound echoed through the chamber. Gameknight could tell that it came from the raised platform on the far side, from behind the structure on the platform that could only be described as a throne. The tapping grew louder as an old woman, older than any NPC he’d ever seen, stepped out from behind the throne.

  “I have been expecting you, Gameknight999,” the old woman said in a scratchy voice. “You brought your friends, I see . . . I should have expected this.”

  She moved across the raised platform, and slowly, carefully, down the stone steps that led to the ground. The cane that she used looked to be carved from some kind of ancient wood, the end of the stick capped with iron. She used it to help her walk, the metal end tapping on the ground with each step. Her long gray hair swayed back and forth as she strained to walk down the steps. Moving along the emerald-lined path, she slowly traversed half the length of the room and stood there . . . waiting.

  “Well?” she asked. “Are you going to just stand there, or are you going to come in?”

  Gameknight looked at Crafter, then Hunter. They both shrugged, uncertain what to do. Turning to look back at the old woman, the User-that-is-not-a-user cautiously moved into the chamber and crossed the colorful floor until he was standing before her, three blocks away. Without having to look back, he could tell that his friends had followed.

  “It is nice to finally meet you, Gameknight999.” The old woman turned toward Monet. “Ahh . . . I see you have your sister with you. Welcome, Monet113.” She then turned to Crafter and Hunter. “Crafter, we finally meet in person. I have heard so much about you over the years. And lastly, Hunter, the great warrior . . . I have watched you many times in the Land of Dreams; you are a most diligent protector . . . I commend you, but I had hoped to also meet your younger sister. Oh well, perhaps later.”

  The companions sta
red at the old woman, not knowing what to say.

  How did this woman know all our names? Gameknight thought.

  “I know your names, Gameknight999, because the Creator, Notch, constructed me to be part of Minecraft,” she explained. “I’m not just another segment of code running around out there. I am part of the fabric that holds all this together. I create the music of Minecraft that you all hear when your mind is still. Notch created me to be part of the entire system, so that I could protect the servers and the digital lives that live within them. And there is a threat to these lives, you know his name as Herobrine. He infected these servers a hundred years ago, and now it is time he was controlled. Herobrine is a virus that can no longer be allowed to run around, unchecked. I am the anti-virus.”

  She then took a step closer to Gameknight999 and peered into his worried eyes.

  “User-that-is-not-a-user and his trusted companions, welcome to my lair,” she said with a rough, aged voice, holding her arms out wide. “I am the Oracle, and the real battle for Minecraft is about to start.”

  CHAPTER 18

  THE WEAPON

  We have a lot of questions,” Gameknight said.

  “I’m sure you do,” the Oracle responded.

  Gameknight looked at Crafter, his friends’ eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open. He looked stunned to be standing before this piece of Minecraft history.

  “Crafter . . . you have any questions?” Gameknight said a little louder.

  “OK, here’s the deal,” Hunter said as she stepped in front of Crafter and came closer to the old woman.

  But before she could finish, a growling sound came from the dark tunnel to their left. They were angry sounds, not just from one creature, but many of them. Instinctively, Gameknight reached for his sword and Hunter drew her bow.

  “You do not need your weapons,” the Oracle said. “You are quite safe in my temple.”

  “How do you know that?” Hunter asked. “What about those growls?” She pointed to the shadowy tunnel.

  “This is my domain . . . not his,” the Oracle stated as if she were reciting some universal truth. “You are all completely safe while you are in here with me.”