Elytra Perils Read online

  Leaning into a turn, he dove downward with the tunnel, picking up more speed.

  Green…

  He banked to the left, just missing a tall column of glass. Scanning the tunnel, he tried to will himself to go faster and faster.

  Green…

  He ducked just as he went under more glass. It felt as if his hair was shaved off a little. Watching carefully for the green panes, he leaned to the left and right as he avoided more of the obstacles. Thankfully, he could see the large chamber just at the end of the passage, but the sides of the tunnel were lined with dozens of blazes. The wheezing monsters turned toward him as he approached. Twenty fireballs streaked toward him, all of them intent on taking the last of his HP. Diving downward, he tried to fly under the maelstrom of flame. With his bow out, he batted at the fireballs that came close, deflecting them to the side.

  Once he was past the monsters, he dropped the bow and reached up for the chest. As he grabbed the orange wool, more letters filled his head.

  Two minutes left…ha ha ha.

  Gameknight growled, then headed for the exit tunnel. He could feel his Elytra wings strain under the blast of the wind, but he didn’t have time to wait. Landing gracefully on the platform, he sprinted to the pedestal and placed the fuzzy cube in its place.

  Not waiting for Hunter, he ran to the edge and jumped. With his wings extended, he dove toward the last tunnel. It was colored a sky blue, with a black stripe running down the center. He was certain this one would be the hardest, but he couldn’t give it any though, all his attention was focused on speed and dodging whatever lay in wait.

  And then he saw the next obstacle; it looked like a gigantic dragon’s egg. The dark ovoid was nearly as wide as the passage, with just the narrowest opening along one edge. Aiming for the slender gap, he shot through like a hawk diving after a field mouse. Right after the egg, the tunnel turned to the right. Because of the size of the obstacle, he didn’t see the curve until the last second. Leaning with all his strength, he forced his wings to bank hard, straining their delicate fabric and stout frame; but it wasn’t enough. Reaching out with his hands and feet, he cushioned the collision and pushed off the wall, completing the turn. Ahead, he could see another massive egg, a thin space at the top.

  “I bet the tunnel goes down after that,” Gameknight muttered to himself.

  Carefully rising to the ceiling, he moved even faster as he tucked his hands to his side. As soon as he shot through the gap, he bend down, diving in the direction he thought the tunnel would go. If he was wrong, he was probably dead.

  One minute…isn’t this fun!

  “I hate that guy,” Gameknight growled as he dove.

  Sure enough, the passage sloped downward in the opposite direction from the gap. Picking up speed, he banked to the left and right as he followed the blue passage, the black stripe like a blur as it shot past.

  Suddenly, Hunter was at his side. He stole a quick glance and found her smiling, her wings cracked and bent.

  “How we doing?” she shouted.

  “Less than one minute.”

  “I figured,” she replied, then stared straight ahead.

  Another dragon egg blocked the passage, this one with a gap on the left side.

  “After the gap, bank to the right,” Gameknight said.

  “You sure?”

  He nodded.

  Hunter didn’t ask any more questions. She trusted him, and Gameknight knew it. But, of course, if he was wrong, then they were both in serious trouble.

  They shot through the gap, one above the other, then turned to the right. Again, the tunnel curved in the opposite direction from the gap. Staying in the center of the passage, they moved faster and faster.

  Gameknight smiled.

  “I got you figured out, Entity303,” Gameknight said in a low voice.

  Fifteen seconds…bye-bye village.

  Ahead they could see another dragon egg. This time the gap was on the right. Hunter steered to the side of the passage, making room for his friend. She fell back a little, giving Gameknight999 more room.

  “Go to the left after the gap?” Hunter asked.

  Gameknight thought about it. The massive dragon’s egg was getting closer.

  Should we go left? he thought. All the other times the curve of the tunnel was opposite from the gap. Would he do it again?

  The egg was getting closer.

  “Gameknight, what’ the plan?” Hunter asked, her voice filled with uncertainty and fear.

  It seemed too obvious to go that way again, but was that what Entity303 wanted us to think?

  They were almost at the egg.

  “Gameknight which way, which way?!” Hunter’s voice sounded frantic.

  “RIGHT…RIGHT…RIGHT!”

  If he guess was wrong, then they wouldn’t survive, and everyone in Crafter’s village would be destroyed.

  They shot through the aperture, then banked hard to the right. When they were through, Gameknight smiled. The passage turned to the right as well, then straightened out; the large cavern visible at the end of the tunnel.

  “We did it,” Hunter exclaimed. “Now all we need to do is collect that block of wool and we’re done.”

  “But did you notice there were no monsters in this tunnel?” Gameknight asked.

  “Leave it to the User-that-is-not-a-user to be disappointed because no monsters are nearby.”

  She laughed as they shot into the large chamber and headed for their prize…the wooden chest hanging in the center. Suddenly, a cat-like yowl filled the air as a bright ball of flame shot right in front of the duo.

  “GHAST!” Hunter yelled.

  Gameknight banked to the left while Hunter turned to the right. Another fireball shot between them, the harsh light momentarily blinding them. Part of the fireball hit Gameknight’s Elytra wings, causing them to begin to burn. He spun out of control as one wing burned faster and faster, the blast of the wind feeding the ravenous flames.

  He missed the chest. He failed!

  With the wooden chest now completely out of sight, and both of them flying nearly out of control, his only choice was to head for the platform. The ghast gave them a baby-like cry and fired another fireball. Gameknight zigzagged and he headed for the exit, feelings of failure and despair filling his entire being.

  The ghast let out one more feline cry, then receded behind them.

  Gameknight was losing lift and was having trouble keeping level. He could feel the flames on his back licking ever so slightly at his skin. His shirt was probably starting to burn as the Elytra slowly disintegrated. With one last gasp, the wings reached out to ride on the flowing wind, then finally failed, and Gameknight’s fears were realized as he fell.

  Five seconds…good-bye losers.

  Chapter 8

  The End

  The User-that-is-not-a-user fell, tumbling through the sky.

  Four seconds...

  He smashed into the side of the central sphere upon which the starting platform was built. Gameknight reached out and grabbed the quarts blocks, then held on for his life. His feet dangled out into open air.

  Three seconds...

  Glancing down, he could see the impossibly distant bottom surface of the spherical shell; the drop would easily take the rest of his HP.

  Maybe I should just let go? Gameknight thought.

  “No!” he growled.

  Thoughts flew through his head, images of Crafter when he’d first met him, the memory of meeting Stitcher in the Nether, Digger’s forgiveness over his wife…memory after memory flooded through is mind.

  But then the letters appeared in his mind again,

  Two seconds...

  An overwhelming sadness filled his soul as he thought about never seeing his friends again. They had expected him to save them, and he’d failed. Now they would be destroyed by this hideous Entity303…all because of him.

  More letters. This was the end

  One sec—

  And then silence.
/>   Glancing up to the platform, Gameknight saw a huge array of beacons shining upward into the sky, each shaft of light glowing a different color. Carefully, he climbed up the side of the sphere and crawled to the safety of the flattened top. He found Hunter standing there, a huge grin on her face. She stood next to the blue wool cube, the blazing colored light of the beacons bathing the platform in a myriad of hues.

  “It’s nice they put the signs here,” she said. “People too stupid to notice the colored glass will still know where to put the blocks.”

  “You got the wool?”

  “I got the wool!”

  “YOU GOT THE WOOL!” Gameknight was overcome with joy. “How did you do it?”

  “When the ghast shot us and we were scattered, the blast of the fireball actually sent me colliding with the chest,” she explained. “When I hit it, I grabbed the chest and opened it, then jumped off with our trophy in my inventory. I saw you crash into the quartz, but focused on landing and getting to the pedestal.” Her grin turned to an expression of fear. “I was afraid you were going to fall, but as soon as I placed the wool cube down, these beacons turned on and I saw you climb up.”

  Gameknight was so happy he wanted to scream.

  “So what now?” Hunter asked. “How do we get back home? I don’t trust that Entity303 guy. I want to see that the village is safe.”

  “I bet we go in there,” the User-that-is-not-a-user replied, pointing at the beacons. “I’m just not sure if it’s completely safe.”

  “I’ll let you know,” Hunter said.

  With her cracked and damaged wings barely hanging off her back, she stepped into the field of beacons and disappeared.

  “Hunter, are you there?” Gameknight shouted, but silence was the only reply.

  Gritting his teeth, he stepped into the multi-colored light of the beacons. Instantly, his vision began to waver as he was transported to somewhere. The colored light became brighter and brighter, as if he’d been swallowed by a brilliantly lit rainbow. And then he realized what Entity303 had really wanted them to do. The wool blocks were not part of the rainbow; they were only the trigger that activated it. These beacons were the rainbow!

  But why did Entity303 want him to turn it on. Was it that he was unable to do the course in the allotted time? And what did this rainbow do? Gameknight had the feeling that there were plans within plans here, and he couldn’t see Entity303’s real objective, not yet.

  And as suddenly as the light had filled his vision, it went away, revealing a blue sky with a faint pinkish hue. Cows were mooing, chickens were walking nearby, spy-chickens, he thought and smiled.

  “Hey, knuckle-head, how about you turn around,” a voice said from behind.

  Gameknight turned and found he was standing in front of their village. That warm orange glow was gone; the lava overhead had completely vanished. NPCs were streaming out of the village, all of them cheering. Suddenly, Gameknight was knocked to the ground when Digger’s twin children, Topper and Filler dove into him, wrapping their thin rectangular arms around him and hugging him tight. They fell in a heap, laughing.

  “Thank you Gameknight999,” a voice said from above.

  Detangling himself from the twins, the User-that-is-not-a-user looked up and found Crafter staring down at him, his blue eyes shining bright.

  “Again, you were there for us,” the young NPC continued, “and the crisis has been averted.”

  Gameknight stood and tussled the twin’s hair, then moved next to Crafter. Hunter saw them and joined them, followed by Digger, Stitcher and Herder.

  “The thing is, I don’t think the crisis is averted,” Gameknight said in a low voice. “Entity303 needed us to turn on those beacons for some reason. I think he used the lava to force us to do his dirty work because he couldn’t, but there is something else going on.”

  “Always with the conspiracies,” Hunter interjected.

  “Perhaps, but I’ve learned to trust my instincts,” he replied. “There is more to this than meets the eye, and Entity303 will be back. I think the game is afoot.”

  “You are so weird sometimes,” Hunter said, then punched him in the shoulder.

  “Come on, everyone, let’s celebrate!” Digger shouted. “Cake for everyone!”

  Topper and Filler cheered, then ran back to the village, the rest of the NPCs following the twins.

  The cake is a lie...and I’ll be back, Entity303 said through the chat. We have just begun our contests.

  Gameknight999 glanced up to the sky and scowled at the words in his head, then turned and headed into the village, to celebrate life with his friends.

  The End???

  If you liked this story, go to www.gameknight999.com and check for more short stories about Gameknight999 and his friends. Please feel free to distribute this story to your friends, or students, or colleagues, or anyone you think might enjoy it. As long as you are not trying to make money with this story, I’m happy that you give it out to anyone and everyone.

  Also, go to www.markcheverton.com to see information about all my other novels. You can also find information at Sky Pony Press the publisher that took a chance on me, and put these books on the bookshelves. My books have also been published in 23 countries and translated into 13 languages across the world, with over a million copies in print.

  Keep reading and watch out for creepers.

  Mark

  Gameknight999 Minecraft Network

  Below is an image from the building server on the Gameknight999 Minecraft Network. This is a public Minecraft server made for kids and readers of my books. We don’t tolerate bullying, cussing, stealing, griefing, or anything that hurts the community. As a result, people help each other, just as Crafter or Stitcher or Hunter or Digger or Herder would expect.

  This server was setup by our server/plugin/Minecraft ninja, quadbamber. Check out his YouTube channel; it’s called LBEGaming. He is a wizard with all things Minecraft and this server would not be possible without his hard work!

  There is a Survival server, Creative server, KitPvP server, as well as others coming soon. Hopefully, by the time you read this story, we’ll have an Elytra Perils server up and running, though we’ve made some changes to the game so that people can fly through the tunnels and see who has the fastest time. Elytra Falls was a map made by pi314159265358978, be sure to check out his YouTube channel, he has some really cool stuff there!

  Here is an image from the Gameknight999 Minecraft Network. This is the Capital of the building server. It was made by our builders: Harrybamber, arp97, mr_man12 and benma98.

  The IP address for the Gameknight999 Minecraft server is: mc.gameknight999.com

  Gameknight999, Monkeypants_271, and Quadbamber flying the Elytra Perils course

  Below is a video of myself, Monkeypants_271, my son, Gameknight999, and the head developer of the Gameknight999 Minecraft Network, Quadbamber flying the Elytra Perils course that will soon be opening on the Gameknight999 Minecraft server. This is the actual game that we’ll be using on the server. It was programmed exculsively for the Gameknight999 Minecraft server. Come race your friends when we have an Elytra Perils tournament. Watch for information and notices on the server news on www.gameknight999.com for the next tournament. Click on the link below to see the video, leave a comment, and enjoy!

  Be sure to check out the newest version of Minecraft. Right now, it’s version 1.10 and there’s some really cool stuff in it. Upgrade to it and go find a bear to pet, they really like that, especially if their cubs are nearby. Then maybe build a terrifying castle with some lava blocks or use these new blocks for a monster grinder. There are so many things you can do in Minecraft, it’s amazing, so upgrade and start creating! Check out the video of Gameknight, quadbamber and myself, Monkeypants, flying on the Elytra Flying server: https://youtu.be/q4iih8BaaF0.

 

 

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