Elytra Perils Read online

  “But what about his clue, finish the fluffy rainbow?” Hunter asked. “I don’t see anything fluffy, and this rainbow looks complete.”

  Gameknight moved closer to the glass structure, and as he went around the other side, he was surprised at what he found.

  “Hunter come around here,” he said.

  She quickly ran around the side and stood next to Gameknight, shocked and amazed. Before them stood a portal made out of colored glass blocks. Every color possible was present in the rectangular frame, a sparkling sheet of light at the center shifting from one color to the next. It was like staring into a kaleidoscope with colors bathing the ground in all directions.

  “I guess we need to go through there,” Gameknight said.

  “I suppose,” Hunter replied. “But how do we know it isn’t a trap?”

  Thirty-five minutes and counting, the letters said as they scrolled through his mind.

  “We have no choice,” Gameknight said. “There are only thirty-five minutes left. You can stay here if you want, but I’m going through.”

  “Don’t be an idiot,” Hunter replied with a smile. “I’m not gonna let you have all the fun!”

  With an arrow notched to her bow, she stepped through the multi-colored portal, a grim look of determination on her square face. Her figure wavered for just an instant, then disappeared.

  Gameknight glanced up at the sky again, imagining that he was staring straight into Entity303’s eyes. Then he drew his two swords.

  “I’m not sure what I’m doing, but I’m not just gonna stand around and worry,” Gameknight said. “It’s GO time.”

  And he stepped through the portal, with all of his uncertainties and fears wrapping around him like the coils of some kind of terrifying serpent. As he disappeared, the User-that-is-not-a-user thought he heard laughter, sinister, mocking laughter that chilled him to the bone.

  Chapter 6

  Chamber of Fear

  Gameknight appeared on a round platform made of quartz, a ring of dark stone at the edge. Sixteen white cubes were positioned around the edge of the platform, with a colored cube of glass above each. The glass was connected by a ring of more quartz blocks that formed a circle above the edge of the platform. At the very center was a single sea lantern, more colored glass blocks set in the ground.

  All around the platform, Gameknight saw a curved wall that was made of some kind of dark material. It curved all around the platform, making it seem as if he was inside a gigantic hollow sphere. Rings of sea lanterns stretched around the spherical shell, adding more light to the structure, making it impossible for shadows to survive in the bright environment.

  “What is this place?” Hunter asked.

  Gameknight didn’t respond, he just slowly turned, taking in all of their surroundings. He could see large round holes in the walls of the huge spherical shell. They looked like curving tunnels that extended far from the shell, leading out in all directions. Some of them pierced the side of the sphere from below the platform while others came from above. The tunnels were made of different colors, with stripes and rings and spots decorating every round passage.

  Thirty-three minutes: better get flying, if you dare, the words said as they scrolled through his mind.

  “We’re running out of time,” Gameknight said.

  “Ok, I’ll hurry up if you tell me what we’re supposed to do,” Hunter replied.

  That was when he noticed Hunter’s armor was missing. Glancing into his inventory, he saw his was missing as well. In fact, everything was missing except for an enchanted bow, a single arrow and something he didn’t expect to find…a set of elytra wings.

  “Hunter, check your inventory,” Gameknight said.

  She paused for a moment and closed her eyes, then opened them, an expression of surprise on her face.

  “What happened?” she asked. “Where’s all our stuff. And what’s the deal with these wings?”

  “Those are Elytra wings,” Gameknight explained. “They’re new to Minecraft. I think Entity303 expects us to fly through those tunnels.”

  And then he remembered a video he saw on one of the Minecraft snapshots…the elytra wings. They give the player the ability to glide, but they were difficult to control and took a lot of practice. He had heard about this game they were in as well; it had been called Elytra…something, he couldn’t remember. There had been numerous videos made on this course, and he’d watched one, but it had been late at night, and Gameknight didn’t remember very much. What he could recall was that at the end of the tunnel, you click on a chest, and take a fuzzy cube of wool. Each tunnel gives a different color.

  Reaching into his inventory, he moved the wings to the slot normally reserved for the chest plate armor. Instantly, the Elytra appeared on his back, like the gray wings of some kind of gigantic bug.

  “How did you do that?” Hunter asked.

  “Put the wings where your chest plate would go,” Gameknight explained.

  Wings suddenly materialized on Hunter’s back.

  Glancing around at the pedestals that ringed the quartz platform, he noticed signs on each, a single word written in the center. He saw ‘red’ written on the sign under the red glass cube, and ‘blue’ written under the blue cube.

  “Fuzzy rainbow, I get it now,” Gameknight said.

  “What?”

  “We need to complete each course, and collect the colored wool before the timer runs out,” Gameknight said.

  “You mean fly with these wing-things,” Hunter replied.

  “They’re called Elytra.”

  “Whatever, let’s just get this done,” she growled.

  Thirty-two minutes left, the words displayed in his mind.

  Suddenly, a sorrowful moan echoed out of one of the tunnels, followed by a mechanical wheezing sound.

  “I suspect there are monsters in those tunnels,” Gameknight said.

  “You think?” she replied sarcastically.

  The User-that-is-not-a-user stepped up to the edge of the platform and peered down. The bottom of the spherical shell was a long way down there; a fall from this height would certainly be fatal.

  “OK, Gameknight, what’s the plan?” Hunter asked.

  He glanced at his friend, then stared down at his feet. His fear of heights wasn’t a problem when he was building or climbing or doing normal Minecraft stuff, but flying down there and going through those tunnels…it was terrifying. Flying was completely different from climbing. You didn’t worry about crashing into things when you climbed, but the thought of flying through those tunnels turned Gameknight’s blood to ice.

  “Hey…you OK?” Hunter said. “You look like you’re shaking.”

  He stepped back from the edge of the platform and stared at his friend.

  “I don’t know if I can do this…you know…flying through those tunnels,” Gameknight said in a weak voice. “I can face zombies or blazes or ghasts or even ender dragons, but the thought of flying through those tunnels is…” He didn’t want to verbalize his fear; it would likely make him feel like a coward.

  But then the image of Stitcher staring down at him from the village’s wall filled his mind. She had an expression of fear painted on her boxy face, no not fear…terror. But even with a huge layer of lava hanging over her head, Gameknight could still see confidence and hope in her brown eyes. She had no doubt Gameknight would do whatever was necessary to help the village. Stitcher had faith in him, as did Digger and Crafter and Herder and everyone in the village. They were relying on him, and he couldn’t let them down. After all, if he quit, then he would only be guaranteeing the outcome and that was unacceptable.

  “Gameknight, you want to stay here and I’ll fly the course,” Hunter said, compassion and understanding in her voice.

  “NO!” he exclaimed. “Our friends need me…no, they need us. And we aren’t gonna let them down, are we?”

  “Not gonna happen,” Hunter replied, a grin on her square face.

  “Let’s do this,” Game
knight growled, confidence filling his voice.

  “What do you always like to say…let’s danc…”

  “No, that was the old Gameknight,” he said. “This is the new Gameknight999, and now…it’s GO-time!”

  “You mean, fly-time!” she added.

  Gameknight gave her a grin, then stepped up to the side of the platform and jumped.

  Chapter 7

  Elytra Peril

  For the briefest of moments, all of Gameknight’s fears were realized as he fell, the unrelenting fingers of gravity wrapping themselves around him and drawing him down toward his doom. But then, suddenly, Gameknight’s wings opened and he was soaring through the air.

  “I’m flying…I’M FLYING!” he screamed.

  A joyous laugh escaped his lips as the terror that had filled his entire being was now replaced with the sheer enjoyment of flight.

  “I see that, genius,” Hunter replied as she glided up next to him. “How about you pick a tunnel.”

  “Ok, just a minute,” he replied.

  He soared around the central platform on which they spawned. He could now see the platform was actually the flattened top of a sphere that was held up by a twisting line of glowing sea lanterns.

  Thirty-one minutes, the text scrolled through his mind.

  I have to do this faster, somehow, he thought as he finished his revolution around the spherical shell.

  “There are thirty-two tunnels in total,” Gameknight said. “But probably half are entrances and half are exits, so we need to only do sixteen of them.”

  “That’s great,” Hunter said as she rolled her eyes. “I can do the math, we have two minutes for each. But we’ll never get that done if we don’t start soon.”

  “Right. Head for the gray one with the blue stripe.”

  Gameknight banked, veering to the right and he dove toward the opening, Hunter right behind. As they entered the tunnel, the echo of clattering skeleton bones filled the air. Suddenly, and arrow zipped past Gameknight’s head.

  “Watch out for the…”

  The User-that-is-not-a-user never finished the sentence. Hunter fired three quick shots as they approached the monster, her arrows silencing the skeleton instantly.

  “Keep your eyes open and don’t get shot, or crash, or fall,” Hunter said.

  “Great advice,” he replied.

  The tunnel turned to the left, then slowly dropped. Gameknight leaned forward and brought himself near the ground, the blue and white stripes flashing past him in a blur.

  They did a couple more turns, then reached a long banking turn to the right that must have spiraled downward hundreds of blocks. At the bottom of the spiral, the tunnel straightened out for a bit, then suddenly dropped at a steep angle. Gameknight leaned forward again, but wasn’t dropping as fast as the tunnel. That meant he was slowly getting closer and closer to the ceiling.

  “You’re getting too close!” Hunter yelled.

  “I know, I’m trying to get lower, but I can’t,” Gameknight replied.

  In the distance, they could both see the tunnel opened to a large cavern, but the User-that-is-not-a-user was getting closer and closer to the tunnel’s ceiling.

  “Try to slow down,” Hunter said.

  “I don’t know how!” he replied, his voice sounding a little frantic.

  Don’t panic, you’re almost there…almost there, he thought. You’re almost...

  SMASH…he crashed into the ceiling just as the tunnel opened to the large cavern. Hanging from the top of the large cave, Gameknight saw a chest suspended from a series of blocks. He reached out for the wooden box, but the impact with the ceiling had sent him spiraling off to the side; he missed his chance.

  The bitter taste of failure filled his soul as he streaked through the chamber and headed down another tunnel identical to the one they’d just navigated. But this one had few turns or obstacles. It opened into the large spherical chamber where they’d originally spawned. Curving in a wide arc, he slowly settled to the quartz platform, grateful to have his feet on the ground again. Hunter landed right behind him.

  “I missed it, Hunter,” Gameknight moaned. “I missed the chest. There was probably some…”

  “Gray wool,” she said with a smile.

  Reaching into her inventory, she pulled out the fuzzy block and handed it to Gameknight999.

  “How did you get it?” he asked.

  “When I saw you hit the ceiling, I ducked my head and soared up toward the chest. When the box opened, I figured we needed the block of wool, so I took it.”

  Gameknight gave a sigh of relief.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  “Hey…we’re a team, as always.”

  “As always,” the User-that-is-not-a-user replied.

  Walking around the platform, he found the pedestal that sat under a gray cube of glass. A small sign said GRAY beneath the glass. He placed the wool on the pedestal, then wiped his brow and stepped up to the edge of the platform.

  Twenty-eight minutes.

  “That took too long, Hunter,” Gameknight said. “We gotta go faster.”

  “No problem,” she said. “Let’s do it.”

  The companions leapt off the platform and chose another tunnel, this time a red one. Gameknight took the lead, staying low in the tunnel. As they shot through the red passage like two winged bullets, they saw zombies on the floor of the round twisting corridor, their glistening claws reaching up as they passed. Both Hunter and Gameknight fired their bows as they flew by, their arrows piercing the decaying skin and causing the monsters to growl and moan in anger.

  The User-that-is-not-a-user aimed his bow and fired at a zombie, but as he aimed, he also descended. The arrow missed the zombie, but the creature’s razor sharp claws did not miss Gameknight. Pain erupted down his leg as the monster tore into him, causing his HP to decrease.

  “You OK?” Hunter shouted.

  “Yeah,” he replied as he moved farther away from the bottom of the tunnel. He reached down and rubbed his leg. “We need to speed up!”

  “But it will be too fast,” Hunter said. “We can’t shoot at the monsters if we go any faster.”

  “I don’t care.”

  Gameknight put away his bow and pulled his arms to his sides, then leaned in, pushing himself faster. The passage banked and turned, but he focused on the route ahead. More zombies tried to reach up and hit him, but Gameknight focused on speed; that was his weapon, and that was how he would defeat Entity303.

  They shot through the tunnel like boxy missiles, cutting corners and getting as close to the walls and floors as necessary. Soon, they saw the huge chamber at the end of the tunnel, Gameknight banked upward, trying to come as close to the ceiling as possible, he could feel his Elytra wings scrape against the blocks, but he didn’t take any damage. Reaching out, the User-that-is-not-a-user easily opened the chest and took out a red cube of wool, then dove for the exit tunnel. In seconds, they were back to the central platform again.

  “That was a lot easier that time,” Hunter said.

  But Gameknight did not answer. He ran around the platform, looking for the red glass cube. He put the wool in its place, then ran to the edge of the platform.

  “Purple tunnel!” Gameknight shouted as he jumped off the platform, not waiting for Hunter.

  “Wait!” she yelled.

  But the User-that-is-not-a-user shook his head. He knew they had to go faster if they were going to complete all of these before the deadline.

  The two friends shot through tunnel after tunnel, completing one passage after the next without rest. Blazes and spiders joined the assembly of monsters that tried to stop them, but Gameknight ignored him. His only focus was speed, blinding fast speed. But now the courses were beginning to get harder. Obstacles were appearing within most of the passages. Sometimes there were vertical columns of stone, or horizontal sheets of glass, or spiny cactus jutting out from the walls. No longer could they just focus on speed; now they had to also avoid the many objects th
at could cause a collision. Gameknight crashed into a cluster of cactus, taking damage and loosing vital speed. Hunter collided with blocks of glass and was injured. As they progressed through all of the tunnels, they took more and more damage.

  “You think we’re going to survive this?” Hunter asked as she placed the trophy from the last tunnel, a green block of wool, on its pedestal.

  “We don’t have a choice,” Gameknight replied. “There are only two more tunnels left, and…”

  Four minutes left…losers.

  He could just imagine the mocking laugh from Entity303, when he typed that message.

  “Come on, there’s four minutes left,” Gameknight said. “We have two tunnels remaining and we gotta hurry.”

  “I have a feeling these are the hard ones,” Hunter said as she followed her friend off the platform.

  “We do the orange tunnel first, then the blue last,” Gameknight said as he climbed high into the air, then dove toward the tunnel.

  “Wait, you’re going too fast!” Hunter shouted.

  But the User-that-is-not-a-user ignored her. His only focus was speed, pure blinding speed.

  He fell toward the orange tunnel, picking up more speed. At the last minute, he pulled up, narrowly missing the rocky edge of the passage. Streaking through the round passage, he curved and banked as he followed the tunnel. Blazes hid behind blocks and hovered near sharp corners to attack the unwary. They fired their balls of death at him, but he was so fast; the creatures of smoke and flame had little chance to even aim. He was like a living bolt of blue and green lightning, his clothing seeming to blend together as he went faster and faster.

  SMASH.

  He hit something, but never even saw what it was. Gameknight knew his health was dangerously low, but there was no choice; everything had to be risked to get through this course with enough time for the last one.

  SMASH.

  Another collision and more lost HP. But this time, the User-that-is-not-a-user saw what it was…glass panes. Entity303 had put panes of glass across the passage so that all he saw was the narrow end of the sheet. Fortunately, they were colored a light green and not clear. Transparent panes of glass would have been impossible to spot, but at these speeds, everything was difficult to see.