"What do you mean?" Ay asks in a stricken tone,

"What I said. Out of the few who dare to go in not a single one comes out."

"Why?" I ask,

"Nobody knows," Warden shrugs, "Maybe there are people still living in there, probably not, but it's impossible to see over their huge wall," Warden says. But we have Kelia, and that's why I'm pretty sure what's in there. But I am not telling, because I just barely got out from under suspicion, and I have a feeling another test won't work, not now that we know they're a thing.

"Okay, but we still have to go!"

"Why?" This time Warden's the one asking that question,

"Because there's... something, a relic or something special of my great-great-and then some Grandfather's who lived in Spots before the war that's really important to my family, and my Father desperately wants it because it was passed down for so long and then was lost in Spots!" I lie easily,

"So it's worth your lives?" Warden asks.

"It's worth more than my life for sure," I say earnestly. There's a brief, tense silence.

"Pathetic." He says, suddenly cold and angry. I wince against my will, because I've heard that word thrown at me many times before, and it still hurts the same as when I was a one-year-old toddling about my home shakket as it does now.

"It is not! Just - just take us - me, there, please! You don't even have to escort us, we just need directions!" I cry. Warden is silent then, 

"SIERRA!" Warden shifts down a lever that opens up to another air vent, which he calls up. Probably to wherever Sierra lives, or works, or whatever. Warden presses a button behind his desk and the wall behind him opens up revealing a small oak, iron, and cobblestone... compartment? Then a little box chugs down jerkily into the compartment space and its' walls open up, revealing a stone-cold room. And an incredibly contrasting sunny Sierra. 

"Hey S, hey Ay! Warden, they passed, right?" She asks,

"Yes. Take them up to some of the rooms and organize anything from there. Thank you, cousin." Warden says. Wait, they're cousins!? That's kind of cool, I'll have to ask Sierra about that. 

"Okay, everybody! Right into the elevator!" Sierra calls. Ay and I hesitantly oblige and step into the small smooth stone box. Sierra shoves up another lever once we're safely crouching in the back of the contraption and glossy glass doors slide shut. 

"So how does this work?" I ask,

"Well, when I see the right colored doors come up I shift this lever -" Sierra signals to a second lever above a simple sign reading, 'Stop' "and the elevator will stop abruptly, so get ready when you see the crimson plank colored bit of wall." Sierra finishes, staring intently through the glass doors. The elevator chugs along steadily, a little slow but way faster than navigating the Minecrafters' maze of a base. We pass an acacia plank door, an iron door, a blackstone door, a grey concrete door, a yellow concrete door, and finally I see the corner of a crimson plank.

"There!" Me and Ay both cry in unison. Sierra waits until the last second and jams down the second lever, then the first in consecutive order. The elevator doors slide open, but the crimson ones remain shut. 

"Bother," Sierra murmurs just audibly, and shoves down another lever on the crimson door, opening another air vent. "Jerrt, what did I say about getting the elevator doors ready, open them no- oof!" the doors open suddenly and Sierra falls forward into a crimson plank lobby. I and Ay both follow her in slowly. The air is crisp and clear and I can feel we're close to the surface. Despite being underground it seems many efforts have been made to make the space bright and comfortable. Brewing stands puff, torches gleam, a couple of precious sea lanterns shine, redstone lamps light up desks and couch areas, and a beautiful desk made of glowstone sits in front of the elevator.

"Hi! I'm Jerrt!" a bright-looking yet slightly older minecraftian with greying-brown hair and twinkling eyes greets us with a little bow. He wears a suit and tie made of shiny grey and black fabrics and holds out his hands to shake ours rigorously. "It's so exciting to have newcomers. Warden has just vented me and filled me in, we have an appointment for us to escort you to Spots tomorrow just after sunrise! Until then would you girls like to share with each other or have your own rooms? Or neither, the couches are always open!" Jerrt chuckles to himself and I feel myself instantly warming to him.

"We'll each take our own room, thanks!" Ay smiles,

"Sure," I agree.

"Rightie, then! This way please we have plenty of extra rooms for future Minecrafters - you could join us you know, ho ho." Jerrt chuckles again lightly. "Aha, here we are miss Ay?" Jerrt turns to me.

"Um, this is S. My partner Ay is right behind me." I shove Ay in front of me for Jerrt to see. "Oh! Sorry lasses, Warden had warned me Ay would be the one in the creeper-patterned outfit, but I suppose you both are, ho ho!" Jerrt chuckles again at himself. "Well then, miss S, this room can be yours," Jerrt mines and rewrites the sign to read 'S', and then ushers me in. "It's nothing fancy, just the necessities. The hot tub is lit by a magma block in the center, but don't worry it's only one block deep so if you were - pardon - ahem, tired, I suppose, enough to step onto it you should probably be able to get off quite easily and swim away."

"This is very nice, thank you," I say politely.

"Have a good day! I'll be in the lobby, as usual, not going anywhere anytime soon - except to bed, ho ho! Good day!" Jerrt calls, shutting the door behind him politely. I'm left alone in the well-furnished room. Jerrt was right, it's not fancy, really, but it's nice - I wish I had this room in Prisseters. It has a medium-sized hot tub in the center of the room, a queen-sized bed with stark white sheets, as I'm used to, a few chests, a brewing stand, and all the necessary tables along with a modest changing room and well-lit and modernly decorated walls. All of a sudden I'm dying to take a swim. 

I go into the changing room and change into a white wrap-around style one-piece swimsuit-like garment. It's really comfortable. Then I hang up my new clothes net to another small put-together outfit and jump into the pool, careful to mind the magma block. The water is warm and welcome. I'm content to sit in its shallow depths all day, except I want to try and check on something else.

I emerge from the water and dry myself off with a small carpet-like thin white square and put on the put-together outfit, which is a red T-shirt, brown leather capri pants, and leather sandals - my ideal combo - along with a thick leather headband to pull back my long mane of dirty blonde hair, which is an awesome bonus, and head towards the brewing stand, which conveniently sits by a familiar barrel. 

I open up the barrel and find bottles of dragon's breath, awkward potion, weakness potion, mundane potion, thick potion, water, splash water, and inventory slots of lots and lots of blaze powder, sugar, rabbit's feet, glistering melon, spider eyes, pufferfish, magma cream, golden carrots, and every potion ingredient invented and more. 

I reach into the depths of the barrel and pull out a water bottle and an awkward potion. Then I reach into the barrel and take out three sprigs of nether wart, which I drop into the brewing stand. I wait for the amount of time I hope I remember correctly and then drip in three cool ghast tears and mix them in thoroughly. After measuring each vial out correctly I take a pinch of sugar and sprinkle it into the first tube, watching the liquids rise up to meat the little grains and begin to sizzle and puff more smoke.

Now's the hard part. I stir in the 'jumpstart' rabbit's foot, which I have to cube neatly as small as possible before adding into the smoking vial and watching them disintegrate into the liquids, and then I wait a few seconds before pouring in two thick potions simultaneously, at which the liquids explode with power, rattling the room. Oh my goodness, wow, this is way beyond my level! Two thick potions should have just quadrupled the level! 

Finally, I worriedly drip a single drop of glistering melon juice into the concoction and a puff of smoke turns the liquid a vibrant purple pink. But now I really have to take a risk. As I drizzle the liquid into the water-filled vial and shake it up, placing it in the top of my inventory I step into the water, this time walking straight towards the center of the shallow pool. As my foot steps down resolutely onto the sizzling magma block and I instantly feel my health jarring away, I gulp down the electric liquid and feel something impossible.

So terrifying and powerful I'm going to explode trying to hold it in. This is unbelievable - this is something as powerful as the gift bags in the Master's Halls. The last thing I think before I'm totally overloaded is, Who in Minecraftia is Chadd!? 

Is this a gamechanger? This is getting fun to write again and I'm finally caught up after, like, an entire week! For now! We're getting really close to the end of the book, and could Chadd be the one to get them there? This is getting epic, and it could end any day now!

Consider voting if you liked this story, and something big is going to be announced soon on my page! I still have to find a book of the week, oops.

Just Be!