18
Heroes aren't afraid of arrows to the knee.
By Peter Pencil.
When Steve’s boat touched the virgin sandy coast of the new land he took a deep breath. Resources were completely gone by then and he had nothing to rely on but his basic stone gear of a pickaxe, an axe and an iron sword.
Grass adorned the green leading to a forest roofed by the dense leaves of the thick oak trees. Steve look around, from the coast no other surrounding islands could be seen. “This could be a nice place to fish” He thought, if only he’d brought a fishing pole with him. His first priority was to find something to eat, no animals could be seen around but he was sure that all sorts of preys could inhabit the forest.
Steve was a skillful swordfighter. He’d kill a creeper with his bare fists if he had to, and to such a great adventurer the darkest of forest wouldn’t pose a threat for him. So in he went into the forest, with every step the sun was to set and the moon would bring unwanted encounters, though finding a spider would do him good for fishing pole he thought, but where’s the fun of wasting the entire day doing nothing when a brand new land was there for him?
After some time Steve heard the crunching sound of grass being devoured, a sheep was around. “Lucky me.” He thought as he started tracking the sheep’s noises. He found it in the open part of the forest, next to a small patch of water. The animal was eating without haste and not even having into account the presence of the adventurer. Steve took his sword in one hand and started to get closer to his prey.
“A quick slash or two would do it.” He whispered calling the attention of the sheep. Yet it was too late for the white animal as the human was already in the air yielding his sword front, but right before the sword would put an end to the sheep’s meal, a second figure jumped from the bushes and took the sheep’s head with its fangs.
A grinning wolf was now in front of Steve, ready to strike if the human didn’t step back. Steve looked at his meal be taken by some other hunter, but what was there to be done? He would dare to eat a wolf, he didn’t have bones to offer the canine and there was nothing left but a bunch of wool. He’d need to more of those to make a decent bed. So he left the wolf alone and went on in another direction, hoping to find another animal and sarcastically saying again, “lucky me.”
His daylight was running out a no other animal could be spot of heard in the surroundings, the situation started to look bad for the human. Finally, he found some mushrooms sheltering from the sun under a birch tree, he took most of them, leaving one so he could have at least a source of food in case he couldn’t find nothing else. Back in the shore Steve was having mushroom stew. He knew that such dish wouldn’t do much for his hunger, he needed to find meat fast.
Steve kept exploring the island, this time he walked bordering the coast. The sun was almost gone so he tried to open a whole to get stone and build a furnace, yet when he punched the sand nothing happened. “What?” he complained, this island seemed to have different rules than the rest of the world. He tore down a nearby tree and built himself a shovel to dig, at last he had some stone.
By the moment the furnace was ready it was sunset and Steve threw the remaining logs into the furnace to build some vegetable coal, he then made a few torches and lighted his shelter-less coast. This was going to be a night with no sleep.
With a torch in one hand and the sword in the other Steve was guarding his post. Suddenly he heard a small grass step a few meters away from him, his grip tightened and he went to investigate, the tall grass wouldn’t let him see his stalker, yet he charged sword in hand and prepared to push the creature away, ready to stab it to death. Yet when he was almost there, the creature jumped away. It was an ocelot that went back to the darkness of the woods when it saw Steve coming to it.
The human took a deep breath in relief and turned back to the furnace when an arrow passed right next to his head and impacted a tree behind him. Steve saw the projectile stuck in the wood and turned back quickly to see the cadaveric figure of a skeleton shooting a second arrow that hit him in the knee.
“Darn it!” Steve jumped back in pain, the skeleton loaded another arrow, and with a quick gasp the human hid behind a nearby tree and hear the sound of the wood being hit by the projectile. The mob started approaching to the tree, Steve was breathing hard as he looked at the arrow stuck on his knee. The irony was not a laughter matter anymore as his life was now at risk. The skeleton loaded another arrow and proceeded to round the tree, yet Steve was not on the other site.
The skeleton started searching around in confusion, getting one block far from the tree. There Steve made his move, he rounded the tree the same as the skeleton had done to keep himself out of the mob’s sight until it got close enough, now it was the time to fight back. The first strike took the skeleton off guard and made it miss the shot before he received the second slash, and just when he was loading another arrow Steve’s sword was crossing its spine leaving nothing but two arrows and a bone.
“Lucky me” He repeated for the third time as he panted. Only that this time he meant it. He took the dropped items and thought for a second, trying to orientate himself. The he heard paws approaching to him, he was tired and any hit would end him for sure. Yet he held his sword pointing at the source of the incoming noise, if he’d fall, he’d do it like the hero he was. He was in no conditions to run away and he wouldn’t dare to do so.
Finally the creature approaching to him emerged from among the trees. It was the wolf, holding a piece of mutton on its fang. The look of the animal was different to the time he encountered him earlier. Steve could swear he could sense a spark of respect on the canine’s eyes. And so it was as the wolf dropped the portion of raw mutton in front of Steve. Steve didn’t know what to say, this wolf wasn’t even domesticated and he was helping him. He stared at the bone he had and back at the wolf asking, “Do you want this?” The wolf didn’t answer, but when Steve picked up the mutton the wolf came closer to him, as if he didn’t need to be domesticated to follow the wounded adventurer.
They walked back home, slower than usual due to Steve’s wound and hunger. The wolf seemed to be protecting him all the way back. Once in the furnace Steve cooked the mutton and ate it with total satisfaction. He could feel how finally he was starting to feel better. Then they heard the sound of a spider nearby. Steve thought he could use the spider’s web string to build himself a fishing rod, he looked at his new companion and said. “Let’s go get that spider.”
And so they did, Steve considered the hunt of spiders as easy as hunting a single zombie. All he needed to do was to wait until the mob jumped and hit it back with a slash until the creature would be no more, the result was enough string to build a fishing rod. Steve spent the rest of the night fishing as the dog was guarding the spot. By the sunrise they had enough fish for both.
With Steve’s inventory being restock on food, wood and stone tools, he decided to enter back to the forest with his new friend. During the way they felt they were being followed. Only this time Steve was not in disadvantage, and if it was a mob he’d take it down. However the feeling disappeared and they went through with no problems until they got to the foot of a huge mountain. Right in front of them was the entrance to a cave.
“Hmm, looks promising.” Said Steve as he could see some iron and coal not far from the entrance. First he’d need to build a more decent shelter. A small cabin with the wood provided in the forest and a shield with the ingot of iron he found at the entrance of the cave and they were ready to enter the cave and explore it.
The first steps into the cave were no problem for Steve and his canine companion, but as they walked further inside the sunlight was no longer providing any visibility. And so, Steve drew a torch and started lighting the path, placing torches every certain distance to keep a path he could follow back outside.
Going further and lower, past some narrow tunnels and dark bifurcations; Steve found himself in front of a ravine. Everything was dark if he looked up, and some water drops fell from the top of the structure to the abyss. Only a small patch of lava could be seen at the bottom of the ravine and as a tempting prize, Steve could see from the distance the unmistakable color of diamonds.
How many? He couldn’t tell. Still every diamond counts in this world and Steve knew it. Quickly, he began to look for a way to go down. Perhaps he should jump to that spring of water bordering the lava? What if he did? How could the wolf follow him? How about digging a tunnel down? Like stairs, that way seemed to be the easiest.
And so, he did. He opened a breach in the stone with his pickaxe and every six blocks he would place a torch. Coal was not a problem as he found more during this underground trip. However wood should not be spared like this, still… Diamonds was the only thing on Steve’s head now.
As he approached to the bottom of the ravine he would hear the lava slow bubbling louder and louder, “we’re close.” He said to the wolf behind him. Yet, as the sound of the lava came closer also the sound of a spider on the other side of the tunnel he was building, there was no time to waste on a puny spider, he thought and broke in when he was sure the tunnel was right next to the lava patch.
The diamonds were there, shining with the light of the burning lava. He took his new iron pickaxe and began mining. One, two, three… three diamonds he counted. Fair enough for such trip, but as he placed a torch and got ready to leave he looked behind him at a strange formation, it was obsidian, which it is strange as a matter of water being around lava, but the interesting part is that the shape generated by the obsidian was the one of a nether portal. Inactive of course.
What a fascinating coincidence, yet Steve was not in the mood for exploring the nether right now. Yet as he examined the structure he noticed more diamonds, so he placed his torch in front of the obsidian formation and began mining the diamonds. One, two, three, four… Now he had four more diamonds, and he was digging a fifth one, unaware that a small particle of fire from the torch flew to the obsidian formation and lit the portal. Steve finally heard the strange sounds of the portal and turned around to look at the purple aura and the reverberating voices. On the other side he could hear some else, something like a cat speaking backwards; a white figure floating and staring at the portal… A ghast.
It stared at Steve as he stared at it, but as soon as the human held a grip on his sword and the wolf grinned at the monster on the other side of the portal, the ghast spat a fire ball, the big projectile passed through the portal in ascendance to Steve, he barely dodged it and the ball kept going up until it hit the ceiling of the ravine. A cracking sound and then a huge water flow started coming in turning off all of the torches, Steve dropped his sword and held the wolf, heading for the tunnel.
It was useless, water was coming with great strength down the tunnel and the light was fading, even the lava was now turned into obsidian. The ravine started to flood in water and darkness with both Steve and the wolf inside.
In the surface, the last bubbles of the flooded ravine reached the coast, apart from that, everything was quiet, without a trace of what just happened inside the mysterious island. Still, after a few minutes, two figures emerged from the water. Steve and the wolf gasped as they finally had oxygen again.
The human helped the wolf reach the coast and in front of them was the small camp they left a few hours ago. The diamonds and other tools Steve had sank in the flooded ravine. But they both were alive, Steve sat in the sand looking at the hole that led to the ravine, the wolf shook all the water he could and sat next to his new master. Both panting, both happy to be alive. Steve looked at his wolf and said. “Lucky us.”
The end.
By Peter Pencil.
When Steve’s boat touched the virgin sandy coast of the new land he took a deep breath. Resources were completely gone by then and he had nothing to rely on but his basic stone gear of a pickaxe, an axe and an iron sword.
Grass adorned the green leading to a forest roofed by the dense leaves of the thick oak trees. Steve look around, from the coast no other surrounding islands could be seen. “This could be a nice place to fish” He thought, if only he’d brought a fishing pole with him. His first priority was to find something to eat, no animals could be seen around but he was sure that all sorts of preys could inhabit the forest.
Steve was a skillful swordfighter. He’d kill a creeper with his bare fists if he had to, and to such a great adventurer the darkest of forest wouldn’t pose a threat for him. So in he went into the forest, with every step the sun was to set and the moon would bring unwanted encounters, though finding a spider would do him good for fishing pole he thought, but where’s the fun of wasting the entire day doing nothing when a brand new land was there for him?
After some time Steve heard the crunching sound of grass being devoured, a sheep was around. “Lucky me.” He thought as he started tracking the sheep’s noises. He found it in the open part of the forest, next to a small patch of water. The animal was eating without haste and not even having into account the presence of the adventurer. Steve took his sword in one hand and started to get closer to his prey.
“A quick slash or two would do it.” He whispered calling the attention of the sheep. Yet it was too late for the white animal as the human was already in the air yielding his sword front, but right before the sword would put an end to the sheep’s meal, a second figure jumped from the bushes and took the sheep’s head with its fangs.
A grinning wolf was now in front of Steve, ready to strike if the human didn’t step back. Steve looked at his meal be taken by some other hunter, but what was there to be done? He would dare to eat a wolf, he didn’t have bones to offer the canine and there was nothing left but a bunch of wool. He’d need to more of those to make a decent bed. So he left the wolf alone and went on in another direction, hoping to find another animal and sarcastically saying again, “lucky me.”
His daylight was running out a no other animal could be spot of heard in the surroundings, the situation started to look bad for the human. Finally, he found some mushrooms sheltering from the sun under a birch tree, he took most of them, leaving one so he could have at least a source of food in case he couldn’t find nothing else. Back in the shore Steve was having mushroom stew. He knew that such dish wouldn’t do much for his hunger, he needed to find meat fast.
Steve kept exploring the island, this time he walked bordering the coast. The sun was almost gone so he tried to open a whole to get stone and build a furnace, yet when he punched the sand nothing happened. “What?” he complained, this island seemed to have different rules than the rest of the world. He tore down a nearby tree and built himself a shovel to dig, at last he had some stone.
By the moment the furnace was ready it was sunset and Steve threw the remaining logs into the furnace to build some vegetable coal, he then made a few torches and lighted his shelter-less coast. This was going to be a night with no sleep.
With a torch in one hand and the sword in the other Steve was guarding his post. Suddenly he heard a small grass step a few meters away from him, his grip tightened and he went to investigate, the tall grass wouldn’t let him see his stalker, yet he charged sword in hand and prepared to push the creature away, ready to stab it to death. Yet when he was almost there, the creature jumped away. It was an ocelot that went back to the darkness of the woods when it saw Steve coming to it.
The human took a deep breath in relief and turned back to the furnace when an arrow passed right next to his head and impacted a tree behind him. Steve saw the projectile stuck in the wood and turned back quickly to see the cadaveric figure of a skeleton shooting a second arrow that hit him in the knee.
“Darn it!” Steve jumped back in pain, the skeleton loaded another arrow, and with a quick gasp the human hid behind a nearby tree and hear the sound of the wood being hit by the projectile. The mob started approaching to the tree, Steve was breathing hard as he looked at the arrow stuck on his knee. The irony was not a laughter matter anymore as his life was now at risk. The skeleton loaded another arrow and proceeded to round the tree, yet Steve was not on the other site.
The skeleton started searching around in confusion, getting one block far from the tree. There Steve made his move, he rounded the tree the same as the skeleton had done to keep himself out of the mob’s sight until it got close enough, now it was the time to fight back. The first strike took the skeleton off guard and made it miss the shot before he received the second slash, and just when he was loading another arrow Steve’s sword was crossing its spine leaving nothing but two arrows and a bone.
“Lucky me” He repeated for the third time as he panted. Only that this time he meant it. He took the dropped items and thought for a second, trying to orientate himself. The he heard paws approaching to him, he was tired and any hit would end him for sure. Yet he held his sword pointing at the source of the incoming noise, if he’d fall, he’d do it like the hero he was. He was in no conditions to run away and he wouldn’t dare to do so.
Finally the creature approaching to him emerged from among the trees. It was the wolf, holding a piece of mutton on its fang. The look of the animal was different to the time he encountered him earlier. Steve could swear he could sense a spark of respect on the canine’s eyes. And so it was as the wolf dropped the portion of raw mutton in front of Steve. Steve didn’t know what to say, this wolf wasn’t even domesticated and he was helping him. He stared at the bone he had and back at the wolf asking, “Do you want this?” The wolf didn’t answer, but when Steve picked up the mutton the wolf came closer to him, as if he didn’t need to be domesticated to follow the wounded adventurer.
They walked back home, slower than usual due to Steve’s wound and hunger. The wolf seemed to be protecting him all the way back. Once in the furnace Steve cooked the mutton and ate it with total satisfaction. He could feel how finally he was starting to feel better. Then they heard the sound of a spider nearby. Steve thought he could use the spider’s web string to build himself a fishing rod, he looked at his new companion and said. “Let’s go get that spider.”
And so they did, Steve considered the hunt of spiders as easy as hunting a single zombie. All he needed to do was to wait until the mob jumped and hit it back with a slash until the creature would be no more, the result was enough string to build a fishing rod. Steve spent the rest of the night fishing as the dog was guarding the spot. By the sunrise they had enough fish for both.
With Steve’s inventory being restock on food, wood and stone tools, he decided to enter back to the forest with his new friend. During the way they felt they were being followed. Only this time Steve was not in disadvantage, and if it was a mob he’d take it down. However the feeling disappeared and they went through with no problems until they got to the foot of a huge mountain. Right in front of them was the entrance to a cave.
“Hmm, looks promising.” Said Steve as he could see some iron and coal not far from the entrance. First he’d need to build a more decent shelter. A small cabin with the wood provided in the forest and a shield with the ingot of iron he found at the entrance of the cave and they were ready to enter the cave and explore it.
The first steps into the cave were no problem for Steve and his canine companion, but as they walked further inside the sunlight was no longer providing any visibility. And so, Steve drew a torch and started lighting the path, placing torches every certain distance to keep a path he could follow back outside.
Going further and lower, past some narrow tunnels and dark bifurcations; Steve found himself in front of a ravine. Everything was dark if he looked up, and some water drops fell from the top of the structure to the abyss. Only a small patch of lava could be seen at the bottom of the ravine and as a tempting prize, Steve could see from the distance the unmistakable color of diamonds.
How many? He couldn’t tell. Still every diamond counts in this world and Steve knew it. Quickly, he began to look for a way to go down. Perhaps he should jump to that spring of water bordering the lava? What if he did? How could the wolf follow him? How about digging a tunnel down? Like stairs, that way seemed to be the easiest.
And so, he did. He opened a breach in the stone with his pickaxe and every six blocks he would place a torch. Coal was not a problem as he found more during this underground trip. However wood should not be spared like this, still… Diamonds was the only thing on Steve’s head now.
As he approached to the bottom of the ravine he would hear the lava slow bubbling louder and louder, “we’re close.” He said to the wolf behind him. Yet, as the sound of the lava came closer also the sound of a spider on the other side of the tunnel he was building, there was no time to waste on a puny spider, he thought and broke in when he was sure the tunnel was right next to the lava patch.
The diamonds were there, shining with the light of the burning lava. He took his new iron pickaxe and began mining. One, two, three… three diamonds he counted. Fair enough for such trip, but as he placed a torch and got ready to leave he looked behind him at a strange formation, it was obsidian, which it is strange as a matter of water being around lava, but the interesting part is that the shape generated by the obsidian was the one of a nether portal. Inactive of course.
What a fascinating coincidence, yet Steve was not in the mood for exploring the nether right now. Yet as he examined the structure he noticed more diamonds, so he placed his torch in front of the obsidian formation and began mining the diamonds. One, two, three, four… Now he had four more diamonds, and he was digging a fifth one, unaware that a small particle of fire from the torch flew to the obsidian formation and lit the portal. Steve finally heard the strange sounds of the portal and turned around to look at the purple aura and the reverberating voices. On the other side he could hear some else, something like a cat speaking backwards; a white figure floating and staring at the portal… A ghast.
It stared at Steve as he stared at it, but as soon as the human held a grip on his sword and the wolf grinned at the monster on the other side of the portal, the ghast spat a fire ball, the big projectile passed through the portal in ascendance to Steve, he barely dodged it and the ball kept going up until it hit the ceiling of the ravine. A cracking sound and then a huge water flow started coming in turning off all of the torches, Steve dropped his sword and held the wolf, heading for the tunnel.
It was useless, water was coming with great strength down the tunnel and the light was fading, even the lava was now turned into obsidian. The ravine started to flood in water and darkness with both Steve and the wolf inside.
In the surface, the last bubbles of the flooded ravine reached the coast, apart from that, everything was quiet, without a trace of what just happened inside the mysterious island. Still, after a few minutes, two figures emerged from the water. Steve and the wolf gasped as they finally had oxygen again.
The human helped the wolf reach the coast and in front of them was the small camp they left a few hours ago. The diamonds and other tools Steve had sank in the flooded ravine. But they both were alive, Steve sat in the sand looking at the hole that led to the ravine, the wolf shook all the water he could and sat next to his new master. Both panting, both happy to be alive. Steve looked at his wolf and said. “Lucky us.”
The end.
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I might do another update or two until the story's ready. Hope you like it and hope it's ok with the contest to post it by parts.