Chapter 36: Whatever It Takes II

S

I can't stop it. Any of it. I'm suspended in midair, completely trapped, and to top it all off I'm watching myself, or my colossus Master-self body-thingie stomp open the ground and crack the Minecrafters base right down the center, opening ravines and cracks in all directions. And the worst part is that I have no idea who's inside the base, and I have no idea if my body has just murdered one of my friends. All I can do is sit here and hope while I hunt down the people who saved my life.

Ay

"JERRT!" My mouth cries, but no sound comes out. I find myself on the ground next to the ravine, staring helplessly into its core. Sunlight pours into the ravine, but suddenly it's extinguished, overshadowed by the gigantic head of the Colossus. I want to kill it, to destroy it, to stop it from ever hurting anybody again. But inside the horrible monster is my best friend, so I can't really do anything.

"Ay! Come on!" I hear Warden's voice from across the ravine in the elevator, "We have to get out, did you send Jerrt up?" He asks urgently. In response tears spill down my face. Even though I didn't know him very well, I know what kind of person he was. And I know the kind of death he suffered. And I couldn't get to him on time.

I answer Warden the only way I can, I gesture to the lava waiting at the bottom of the crack and watch his face fall and eyes mist over. Then he grabs some dirt blocks from his inventory and stumbles, nearly falling into the ravine as the giant stomps again and we hear another crack and the earth split somewhere not far away. 

Warden quickly builds a small bridge for me to cross over and yanks me across and into the elevator, firmly jarring the door shut and we begin the jerky ascent. 

"We have a secret way out, a passageway that starts in my office, we just have to- HURK!" Warden cuts of as we feel the elevator shake, fall a few blocks, and begin ascending again making an odd moaning and screeching and going much slower. "We need to get off now!" Warden interrupts his thoughts.

He jams the breaks and mines the block above us in the roof of the elevator, pulling out a flint and steel and lighting himself off to propel him onto the elevator roof. I follow, pillaring instead. Above the elevator is an exposed redstone circuit, which I tread on carefully to make sure I don't break anything. 

"We have a maintenance ladder on the left side of the wall," Warden says once we're inside the dark shaft. "Be careful not to fall it's at least a hundred block drop until the strong room," Warden warns, jumping over an apparently very far drop on the left-hand side. I hear him latch on to something invisible and begin climbing.

I take a deep breath and launch myself through the air and over the gap, terrified. I've always had an intense fear of heights, but now I don't have time to dwell on the fear. In an instant, my hands close around the rungs of a wooden ladder and I exhale, beginning the climb as soon as I can.

"Here we go! I found the door!" Warden stops the ascent when we see dim lights illuminating the broad elevator doors of Warden's office. Warden stops suddenly and jumps across the shaft, narrowly making the jump onto the trapdoor above the air shaft and taking out a diamond pickaxe to mine through the thick metal doors.

He finished opening a hole and sidles into the office. I get ready to jump positioning myself just right on the ladder. Then suddenly just as I'm kicking off another tremor rocks the shaft back and forth sending me flying through the air and falling down, down, down...

Then I feel a hand, and I see Warden clinging to an impossibly long weeping vine from the Nether with one hand, and holding onto my hand with the other. He pulls me up onto the vine and we both clamber shakily up the vine and into the door, this time bracing for the large tremor that hits when we're almost fully up the vine. 

"How did you do that?" I ask - that vine was not there before, and it's impossible to cast out that much at once, especially if he had to place them one by one.

"Right before we felt the first tremors I was working in the Nether sector of the crop room. I happened to be working with weeping vines." Warden shrugs, catching his breath.

"How did you get it that long that fast!?" I ask,

"Bonemeal. Place two weeping vines, latch onto the second and use bonemeal on the first and wait for it to grow." Warden shrugs again. That kind of reflexes takes way more skill - and bravery than I possess. I'm starting to understand why he's the leader of the Minecrafters. 

Suddenly another tremor shakes the earth and the center of the room begins to crack. "We have to stop her! We have to somehow destroy the giant!" I cry, "we can't let it hurt anybody else!" 

"Her?" Warden asks, suddenly looking suspicious.

"It's S! The Master has her, and he's possessing her body to start this war! It's the same thing that happened with Shadow! We have to un-possess her somehow!" I cry. Warden's eyes bulge but he shakes his head,

"No, we have to flee. I forbid you to fight the giant, this is just getting worse and worse." Warden turns away and clicks a secret button underneath his desk, opening up a two-block high, one-block wide narrow tunnel made of chiseled sandstone. "Get in!" Warden yells, jolting me into the tunnel as the quartz piston door slides closed behind us. 

"How long is the tunnel?" I ask, jarring forward as another tremor shakes the earth. 

"It will let us out on the seaside. I hope everyone got out okay besides-" Warden breaks off. Jerrt. The name remains unspoken. Suddenly I know what I have to do.

"I'm sorry Warden, but I need to save anyone still in there, I need to avenge Jerrt - whatever it takes. Get out of here, grab a boat, do whatever you need to do but I'm not a coward. Chadd stayed behind to save us, and for all, we know he's still back there waiting for backup. I'm not running, I'm going to stay and fight to save the world." I'm surprised at my own speech, but I mine straight up and pillar out before Warden can try to stop me. 

I emerge on top of a sand dune with a clear view of the giant. From here I can see the full scope of the damage the Minecrafter's base has taken. The statue is completely obliterated along with the redstone circuit that opened the door, meaning anyone who tried to escape using the door would have been trapped in the main room - and died since the giant has stomped down the entire room and created a mini crater.

Around the creator cracks and ravines run in all directions, and as I run forward towards the giant I nearly fall into one. Except right before I can say goodbye to Minecraftia I feel a familiar potion splash and all of a sudden I can hardly move. A potion of slowness, and I highly, highly effective one I must say.

"Chadd?" I ask. The mad potionologist appears behind me holding the last two potions in his supply. 

"Last slowness." He huffs.

"How long does it last?" I ask, still immobilized as some of the armies advance towards us. The only thing separating us from death is the ravine, and already some mobs are working their way around it. At least we're only chased by a hundred of the thousands which are now pouring into the Minecrafters base. Whoever didn't escape is toast now, and they're on their own because as far as we're concerned me and Chadd can't get down there to save them. Hopefully, everyone is out. 

"Three minutes," Chadd says, pulling me away and lugging me back up the sand dune. I wait for a minute dutifully and find my speed returning from our little hidden alcove behind the dune. 

"Chadd, I know what you'll think but I'm going back out there. I have to do something, I don't know, lead the giant away? Something. It's a one on one now that most of the cursed mobs are down looting the base." I say, unsheathing my diamond blade and pulling out my iron-edged shield.

"Here." Chadd hands me a familiar-looking vibrant magenta potion, which isn't brewed in splash format like the majority of his concoctions.

"The Notch Elixer." I breathe.

"What?" Chadd frowns,

"S tried to remake this recipe, I called it Notch Elixer-"

"It will regenerate at a high velocity. Take it sparingly." Chadd warns. Like I don't already know. 

"Stay safe, and don't even think about going back down for your potions," I warn. Chadd nods and takes off in the direction of the seashore like the other Minecrafters. I take a small sip of the regeneration brew and feel my golden hearts fizz up alarmingly as I run out onto the field straight towards the giant.

I have to do this. I have to do whatever it takes to get my friend back.

Dun dun dun! We are at the climax and I'm estimating three more chapters...? Maybe 2, maybe 4 it really depends on the pace! 

Who likes Warden now? I liked him, then loathed him, then liked him again! He has some fun facts, too and there are some secrets around him and Sierra apparently, which I'm not sure I'll ever get to write about and will have to stay in the margins. 

Will he come back to help? Or is Ay truly on her own?

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