Book 1 - Chapter 3

Oct 20th, 2024 • 10/20/24 5:00 am

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Harita Ustasi
Lvl 39 • Artisan Explorer

Warning. This story has been translated into English by automatic translation. Don't hesitate to tell me if I made a typo. And if you like you can: My Patreon

Book 1 - Chapter 3

I wrote this novel series 10 years ago. It may seem a bit childish. I made the last changes in version 1.18. Nothing added or changed in newer versions will be found in this book.

BOOK 1: THE FIRST ADVENTURE

CHAPTER 3: SNOW KINGDOM

Chapter 1
Chapter 2

The three siblings set off thanks to the map their aunt had given them. The castle was at the peak of Mount Snow. After walking for four days, the siblings had only reached a distance where they could see the mountain. This place was a biome covered with snow and ice stalagmites. Mark, as usual, was tired and hungry, complaining.

—Did Grandpa really walk all this way? The mountain looks so far away. Do we have to go all the way there too? ... But when he advanced a bit and saw the majestic view of the mountain, his mouth dropped open, and he couldn’t say a word the whole way.

There was a massive castle at the top of the mountain. In the middle, a statue of a king was carved. The statue's crown was made of gold blocks, its armor of iron blocks, its cape of red wool, and the rest of the statue was made of colorful concrete. It was adorned with diamond, redstone, and lapis blocks. Considering that the statue was more than fifty blocks tall, it must have taken a century to complete. It must have been well-guarded to prevent thieves from stealing it. The siblings couldn’t help but wonder how many people lived in the castle. They had never seen such a crowded place before. How would they find the knight they were looking for?

The mountain was very steep. There was no place to climb.

—Let’s move quickly before it gets dark, grab those dirt blocks. We’ll use them to climb. The siblings started jumping and placing dirt under themselves to go higher. As the sun began to set, suddenly the bowls hanging on the side of the mountain burst into flames. The flames were bright blue. The siblings had never seen anything like it before. Their grandfather had once told them that soul sand in the Nether realm produced flames of this color when burned. But they always thought it was just a made-up story. If the people in this castle could make these flames, they must have been to the Nether. They must have been very brave and powerful, as only heroes with such qualities could survive the Nether.

Despite being tired, Mark enjoyed climbing this way. He was also very curious about the warriors in the castle. There was so much he could learn from them. He placed blocks faster and boasted:

—Look how much faster I am than you! He placed a few more blocks and then saw small windows carved into the mountain. They must have been archer slots, set up against anyone trying to sneak into the castle. There was something moving, but it wasn’t human. Before he could figure out what it was, a snowball hit him in the face. Losing his balance, he fell off the dirt he was standing on. He tried to hold on but couldn’t. He screamed with all his might as he looked down, falling forty or fifty blocks into the soft snow below.

His siblings shouted after him, but there was nothing they could do to save him. All they could see was the trail Mark left in the snow. Even though they were terrified he might have died, he was alive. He poked his head out of the snow and waved at his siblings. He hadn’t died, but monsters were rapidly approaching him. Luke shot arrows at the monsters to distract them. He was too high up, and only about a third of his shots hit the target. Johnson shouted from the top:

—Mark, there’s a lake over there. Dive into the lake! The monsters can’t go underwater! Mark quickly broke the ice and dived in. The water was freezing cold. He hadn’t taken a breath before diving. Just as he was about to come up for air, a creeper jumped into the hole he had entered. He could break another ice block to get air, but there were several monsters standing right above him. If he broke it, he’d die instantly. He was running out of breath. If a monster hit him or an arrow struck him, he’d be dead. His lungs slowly filled with water as he searched for something to save him within the lake.

*

His brother still hadn’t come out of the lake. Was he dead? Johnson broke the dirt beneath him and descended. Luke, worried about his brother, shouted:

—What are you doing? You don’t even know how to fight. They’ll kill you right away. But that didn’t stop Johnson.

—Mark might still be alive. I’m going to save him. Luke also started digging down to save Johnson. But Mark was still nowhere to be seen. They were getting more and more worried. When Johnson reached the bottom, he ran toward the lake. Luke protected his brother by shooting arrows from a safe distance where the monsters couldn’t touch him. One of the monsters on the ground was a spider jockey, a snow skeleton riding a spider, holding an enchanted bow. Unlike regular skeletons, it shot arrows of slowness. It fired at Johnson. The arrow missed, but it caught Luke’s attention. He stopped shooting at the other monsters and aimed at the jockey.

Zombies were blocking Johnson’s path to the lake. He placed dirt beneath him to reach a height where the zombies couldn’t attack and moved toward the lake.

Luke kept shooting arrows at the jockey. Since he was standing on dirt, he couldn’t dodge the jockey’s arrows. The monster fixed its eyes on Luke and approached on its spider. Then the spider began to climb the dirt Luke was standing on. As it climbed, Luke shot an arrow at its head, turning it to dust. With the spider gone, the jockey couldn’t hold on and fell to its death.

Johnson had almost reached the center of the lake when a zombie, holding an enchanted shovel, broke the dirt beneath him. Realizing he was about to fall, Johnson clung to the dirt behind him. Zombies were trying to attack his legs hanging down below.

—Luke!! Luke!!! Help me!! Luke jumped down from the dirt he was standing on and grabbed the bow the jockey had dropped. It had the power enchantment on it. With the worn-out enchanted bow, he rained arrows on the zombies. The zombies changed their target and turned toward Luke. Since he had enough arrows, he killed them all without a problem. But as he fired the last arrow, the bow broke in two.

Once Johnson was free of the zombies, he jumped down. After killing the creeper in the lake hole, they looked inside. They had lost too much time. It seemed Mark had drowned, and his remains had disappeared in the depths of the lake. Johnson broke all the ice in the lake. They didn’t dare dive into the cold water. They shone light into the lake. They could see the bottom. There was nothing. Was Mark really dead? Tears flowed from their eyes as they began to sob uncontrollably. They couldn’t believe he had died. He must have found a way to survive... Luke, refusing to believe it, dove into the lake, hoping to find the slightest clue that he had survived. He searched the bottom of the lake. Strangely, there was nothing there.

Normally, when someone turned to dust, all their belongings would scatter around. But here, there was nothing. Mark must have survived. He surfaced with joy. Johnson wiped his tears away. His teeth were chattering from the cold, but he managed to speak.

—H-h-he’s a-a-alive. Johnson couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could that be? He could see the whole lake. Mark wasn’t there. Luke dove again. There had to be a hidden exit in the lake. When he looked behind the moss, he found a door. He surfaced and showed his brother the door. There were tears in his brother’s eyes and a smile on his face from hearing that Mark wasn’t dead. He prepared to dive into the lake. He hated the cold, but for his brother, he had to endure it. He dived headfirst, and they passed through the door together.

The door led to a corridor similar to the one beneath their house. They walked a little, then climbed a long staircase. At the end of the staircase, a wonderful smell of pumpkin pie reached their noses. The siblings must have followed the smell. When they followed the scent through the hallways, they found Mark in a kitchen, devouring pies. With a pie in each hand:

—I was just about to tell you I made it out, he said. Johnson wanted to hug his brother out of happiness, but with tears still in his eyes, he was also a bit annoyed that his brother was so relaxed, stuffing his face. Luke hugged him warmly:

—You scared us to death. For a moment, we thought you had died, he said. Johnson hugged him too, but it wasn’t so friendly. He squeezed him as hard as he could, trying to release all his anger. But since he wasn’t very strong, he wasn’t satisfied and smashed a pie into his brother’s face.

—Why did you do that?

—Why? I was terrified out there. You could have waited at the door to tell us you survived. But no, you come into the castle and start eating, he said. As he threw another pie, Luke stepped between them:

—Are you sure the owner of the pies isn’t coming? If they showed up, they might think they were thieves and throw them in the dungeon. Mark, carefree:

—Don’t worry... The pies were being made by a snowman. When he saw me, he got scared and ran out that door, he said.

—And you decided to eat the pies? That snowman must have gone to fetch his master. Before he could finish speaking, the door swung open. A figure appeared, wearing a pumpkin on their head, a magical iron set, and holding a magical diamond sword.

The siblings raised their hands in fear. Mark was licking the pie crumbs off his face. Although he was terrified, his first instinct was to quickly hide his pies behind him.

—Take your filthy hands off my pumpkins, thieves!

Before his siblings could respond, Luke quickly spoke up:

—We came for our grandfather John; we’re not thieves.

The man lowered the sword he was pointing at them. He took off the pumpkin on his head and put it in his pocket. He was an elderly man with a gray beard and a hunched back.

—Did you say John? He wanted to confirm. John had mentioned that children would be coming, but he didn’t expect them so soon. When the siblings nodded, he continued:

—Your grandfather was here… Was it a day ago? Or a month? I can’t remember. Days pass so strangely here.

The siblings felt a flicker of hope when they heard the word "day," but their excitement quickly faded.

—Come over by the fire before you catch a chill.

—Are you Sir Zek?

—Yes, that’s me, he confirmed. They had found the knight they were looking for. Now, he was supposed to give them a book and tell them where to go next. But they didn’t bring it up right away; it was too late to continue their journey now. Resting for a couple of days wouldn’t hurt.

—If you’re the children John spoke of, then tell me your names, he demanded.

After they introduced themselves, he replied:

—Ah, those names sound familiar. I must have heard them before, but I forgot after John left. Don’t mind my poor memory.

—Follow me; let me show you around the castle.

The siblings followed him. The floors were covered in snow, thanks to the snowmen wandering all over the place. The castle was naturally cold inside, but Zek didn’t seem to care. He had carved each snowman’s face differently and even named them. As they passed by, he called out to them by name, treating them like they were human.

—Doesn’t anyone else live in this castle? Mark wondered aloud. Zek quickly replied:

—We’re here, aren’t we? He gestured to the snowmen. Then he added, —By the way, how did you get in here?

—We found a door inside a lake below. It must have been a secret entrance.

—A secret entrance? I’d forgotten that even existed. Must be from over fifty years ago… When you live in the same place for years, you get bored and look for things to do. Your grandfather taught me how to build secret passages. I’ve made plenty of them over the years.

—When did you meet our grandfather?

—More than a century ago.

The siblings simultaneously exclaimed:

—Wow!

A century seemed impossibly long to them.

—How old are you?

—After two hundred, I stopped counting. When you reach my age, the years don’t matter much.

As they talked, they toured the rooms: guest rooms, snow rooms, a gunpowder room, a pumpkin room… The castle seemed endless. They had visited the twentieth guest room, the pumpkin seed room, and it was still not over. Zek hadn’t shown them a few places yet, including the hidden passages, but these were the rooms he usually showed to guests.

—We didn’t even see a goat around the castle. How do you defend it all by yourself? I mean… snowmen can’t kill anyone.

—These snowmen? They mostly handle the chores. The real fighters are in the cellar.

—Fighters? Zek, with excitement:

—Yes, I’ve designed special snowmen. They’re strong and can easily take down monsters.

He always got excited when showing off his custom-made snowmen. He led the siblings toward the cellar.

—Why do you keep them in the cellar? Don’t they need to defend the castle?

—It’s never been a problem. This place is so remote. They usually guard the walls, but this week they’re on break.

—Your golems get days off?

—I can’t work them seven days a week.

—But they’re golems; they don’t get tired.

Zek put the pumpkin back on his head as he opened the cellar door.

—How rude! They have feelings too. Don’t ever talk like that in front of them.

The man was clearly obsessed with his golems. Maybe their aunt was right about him.

The massive cellar door opened downwards. Inside, the space was enormous, with no windows. It was dimly lit by a lamp overhead, and the floor was covered in a meter of snow. It was colder in here than anywhere else, even outside. They descended a small staircase to the level where the snowmen were. The three siblings exclaimed at once:

—Wow! I’ve never seen monsters like these in my life!

The snowmen were two to three times larger than regular ones. With their huge arms, they were tossing ice blocks around like they were playing. When the siblings entered, the snowmen turned their pumpkin heads toward them. The siblings were a bit scared, but Zek reassured them:

—Don’t worry; they only attack monsters.

One snowman slowly approached Mark and gave him a poke.

—Don’t be afraid; they’re just curious about you. They’re a bit too curious sometimes.

Mark, trying to show off to his siblings, said:

—Afraid? Me? Never!

But then the snowman grabbed him by the leg and lifted him into the air. Mark kept his serious expression:

—See? Still not afraid.

The snowman shook him up and down, making his head smack against the snow-covered floor. During this, a diamond he had received from a villager for his birthday fell out of his pocket.

—Hey! Isn’t that the diamond I gave you for your birthday?

Mark was too dizzy to understand what Johnson was saying. The snowman’s actions caught the attention of another snowman, who picked up Luke and shook him as well. But Luke had no diamonds in his pockets—only arrows. As the arrows fell, they hit the snowman’s face, which made it angry. It threw Luke to the ground and formed an ice block in its hand. Then it shattered all the arrows with the ice. Seeing his arrows destroyed, Luke cried out:

—Nooooo!!!

Johnson rushed to his side, leaving the diamond behind. The snowmen, startled by the shouting, retreated. Though they looked powerful, they were afraid of hurting people. Mark, still dizzy, staggered as his head stopped spinning. He secretly slipped the diamond back into his pocket. Luke, out of breath and speechless, sat on the ground. Zek, now embarrassed and apologetic, said in a soft voice:

—I’m so sorry. They didn’t mean to. They were just playing. I’m really sorry.

The snowmen began to cry ice crystal-shaped tears from inside their pumpkin heads. Luke continued to cry for minutes. He rarely cried like this, and his siblings could see how upset he was. Johnson turned to Mark and said:

—Go make arrows for your brother, or kill some skeletons to get more.

Mark leaned back against a rock and replied:

—Why should I? The ones who broke them should go gather arrows.

The snowmen took Mark seriously and rushed out of the cellar. Zek’s eyes widened in shock.

—What did you just say?! he shouted angrily.

—They don’t understand jokes, metaphors, or exaggerations. They heard it as an order and went off to hunt skeletons. Come with me!

Mark, who had tried to avoid work, had now created an even bigger problem for himself. He and Zek ran to stop as many snowmen as they could and bring them back to the cellar. But most of them had already scattered across the land. Hours passed. The sun began to set, and there were still nine snowmen outside.

*

Luke was still upset. Johnson, trying to cheer him up, threw a snowball at him to distract him. It worked. When Luke looked up, he got hit with another snowball. Wiping away his tears, he grabbed one. Though they didn’t live in a snowy region and weren’t used to these kinds of games, he quickly got the hang of it and showed off his marksmanship skills.

Occasionally, giant snowmen returned to the castle and descended back into the cellar. The siblings expanded their snowball fight, turning it into a full-blown battle in the courtyard. Each of the two brothers took five snowmen to their side and explained what they were going to do. They built snow forts in the castle courtyard. Luke’s team made a light green flag, while Johnson’s team had an orange one. The goal was to capture the opponent’s flag and bring it back to their own territory. Johnson planned to go easy on his brother so he could win, but before he knew it, he was knocked down. Luke didn’t need any help; his sharp eyes and excellent marksmanship took down Johnson’s snowmen one by one. A minute later, when he looked back, his flag was gone.

*

Mark and Zek sent all but four snowmen to the castle. Half an hour later, they found another one. It was fighting with endermans. The endermans were teleporting away from the ice and hitting the snowman. Mark and Zek drew their swords to help the snowman. When the endermans died, they sent that snowman to the castle as well. This was the first time Mark had ever killed an enderman. Before he could examine the ender pearl he had won, Zek reminded him that there were three more snowmen to find.

*

The two snowmen had followed the skeletons they had found and arrived at a cave. They descended further and further into the cave. They were on a level where there was lava everywhere. There were many skeletons around. They were all going in one direction. They were passing over a bridge between two lava falls. The snowmen followed them.

When they crossed the bridge, they came to a place covered in soul sands. On the right was a broken Nether portal, and in front of them was a large temple. It must have been left over from centuries ago. Its walls were quite damaged. There was an inscription carved into the entrance.

—HE..O ........E The snowmen could not understand the words because they could not read. They could only make out a few letters they had learned by hearing from the knight Zek. The walls of the temple, which seemed abandoned, were filled with spider webs. They saw a group of skeletons. They had not forgotten the order. They followed the skeletons for more arrows.

*

Mark and Zek searched for three snowmen but could not find them.

—It was getting dark. What would happen if three snowmen were missing, Mark said. Zek replied angrily:

—Each one of them is like a child to me. Would you abandon your brothers?

—Snowmen are strong, they can protect themselves. We should think about our own safety. Zek was determined to find his snowmen, but monsters would come out with the darkening weather. He would never forgive himself if he saw the child next to him die for his own problems. He decided to return to the castle a little later.

They reached the castle without any problems after five or ten minutes. It was completely dark. They filled their stomachs by taking out borscht and bread from the castle's barn. The three brothers felt sleepy. They went to bed in the rooms assigned to them, but Zek, who was worried about his snowmen, would not be able to sleep that night.

In the middle of the night, Johnson woke up to the sounds coming from outside. He got up from his bed. He left his room and followed the sound. The sound was coming from Zek's room. He opened the door and looked around. Zek had a pumpkin on his head. Did this man always stand with a pumpkin? He was watching outside from the balcony and singing a song. The song was about a war that had happened years ago. His grandfather had mentioned it once, but he hadn't given much detail. He came up to him and said:

—Wherever we go, we bring disasters with us. I'm sorry about your snowmen, he said. Zek hadn't noticed Johnson coming. He got scared and drew his sword. He took the pumpkin off his head and said:

—You scared me. You shouldn't approach people so quietly. I could have hurt you, he said. Johnson asked about the legend without paying attention to what he said. Zek's face had looked sad since they arrived at the castle. Even when he was smiling, his face was always sad. He was sadder than ever now. His eyes were filled with tears.

—A very old legend... One of the dustiest events in history. It would be better if I didn't tell it, he said. Johnson realized that he should leave Zek alone and left his room. Who knows what wars he had seen in his long life. He fell asleep without thinking because he was very tired.

*

The skeletons trapped them in a large room. When the two snowmen arrived, they all drew their bows. The snowmen had prepared ice cubes. They threw them at the same time. The ice shattered the arrows and crushed the four skeletons. When the skeletons turned into dust, they picked up the arrows that fell from them.

Although the room was damaged and looked like a ruin, it was obvious that it had once been very magnificent. The ceiling was twenty or thirty blocks high. Huge columns lined the sides of the room. In the middle was a large sarcophagus-like structure. Five skeletons were standing in front of the sarcophagus. When they ran towards the skeletons, they saw something lying on the sarcophagus. Although they could not see it clearly, they understood from the green light that was emitting that the thing lying was awake. The same green light appeared in the eyes of all five skeletons standing in front. These skeletons did not use bows and arrows. They had spears in their hands. The monster that was lying stood up. But it did it without touching anything. It was floating right now. It was a giant skeleton, five blocks tall, with green glowing eyes and a staff, an iron crown and belt decorated with green stone, and a purple cloak.

*

The sun rose and the brothers got up. Mark yawned widely:

—I haven’t slept like this in a long time, he said. They left their room. They looked around. Snowmen didn’t need sleep. They were constantly wandering around. They knocked on Zek’s door. There was no answer. When they looked in the room, they didn’t see anyone. They asked the snowmen where their master was. Either they were listening only to their masters and didn’t answer, or they didn’t have any language. They split up and searched every corner of the castle. There was nothing. They even found a secret passage that could only be entered from the knight’s room. The passage led to a courtyard in the middle of the castle. There was also an observation tower in the middle of the courtyard. It looked like a ruin compared to the castle. Besides, he couldn’t see anything from the surrounding walls. Zek wasn’t there either. They met with the Johnson brothers and said:

—We lingered here too long. We forgot our purpose. The knight said, “Let’s ask for what he will give us wherever he is.” They searched everywhere again, but to no avail. Zek had already left the castle and was looking for the giant snowmen outside.

*

The snowmen stared at the giant skeleton standing in front of them. Their natural instinct was to attack any monster they saw. So they did. They formed blocks of ice in their hands and threw them.

The giant skeleton dodged by slithering to the side. He pointed his staff at the snowmen and let out a war cry. The spear-wielding skeletons below him ran at the snowmen with their spears pointed forward. They couldn’t throw ice at all of them at once. Several of the spears hit their snow legs. They smashed the skeletons with their huge arms. The giant skeleton released a beam of light from his staff. With the light, six spear-wielding skeletons emerged from somewhere. This skeleton was a wizard.

When the skeletons were broken, the wizard pulled out several green cubes from his staff. The cubes followed the snowmen, and they didn’t disappear when he threw ice. Instead of dealing with the cubes, they tried to attack the wizard. They had thrown the ice in a way that it could not float and escape, but this time it teleported. They could not see where it was going. Then suddenly they were surrounded by giant skeleton wizards. The wizards lined up in a circle, simultaneously pulled out green cubes from their wands. It was not a fair fight at all.

The snowmen were confused. They did not know where to attack. They threw ice at the wizards one by one, but the wizards did not seem real. They disappeared the moment the ice touched them. When three wizards were left, they found the real one. When he ate ice in his stomach, he floated back. The other wizards disappeared all of a sudden.

Taking damage angered him. He escaped by teleporting from the thrown ice and brought out six speared skeletons behind the snowmen. The skeletons that jumped out from under the ground stabbed their spears into the snowmen.

No matter how much they tried to defend themselves, it was in vain. More skeletons were coming out of the ground, the green cubes were hurting them. They could not withstand the blows. One of them turned into dust. The green cube hit his chest as the other looked at his friend and he too was turned into dust. Only the empty pumpkin heads remained. The wizard laughed devilishly. His centuries-long sleep had finally ended. He looked at his ruined temple. The years had changed many things. But the wizard's purpose had not changed. He picked up a pumpkin on the ground.

*

The brothers met again. They couldn't find him. They were also very tired.

—We can even find our grandfather in this castle, but we can't find Zek. His brothers talked among themselves, not caring about Mark's joke.

—It was a good joke... Didn't you get it?

—I think he left the castle as soon as the morning and went to look for his snowmen. Johnson thought so too.

—Then will we go out?

—It would be more logical to go out and find him, instead of sitting here waiting for him to come, they said and packed their things. They left the castle's big gate. They looked down from the peak of the mountain. They were on the clouds. The moment Mark fell flashed before his eyes.

—We can't get down from here.

—Let's go down the secret path under the castle, the way we went out last night. Johnson:

—Why didn't you tell me this before?! he got angry at his brother. We went back into the castle and went under the castle.

Zek thought, "Why am I standing here while my children are outside, fighting monsters in the pitiless darkness of the night? They need me." Half an hour after talking to Johnson, he went out alone. This protective attitude towards the golems was actually an expression of the tragedy he had experienced years ago. Although he had forgotten most of the events, fragments of memories kept entering his nightmares. He had built this castle, the giant statue, and the golems to escape from the nightmares. But he could not completely escape the nightmares.

Thanks to his durable armor, magical sword, and potions, the monsters outside could not harm him much. He searched everywhere the snowmen could go. There was no sign of the three snowmen. Their huge bodies would prevent them from entering the pine forest. There was the ocean on the other side. There were not many directions they could go. Just in case, he started searching the pine forest.

While walking in the forest, he heard the sound of skeletons running away. He ran excitedly towards the sound. But his excitement ended in disappointment. A wolf with a fondness for bones was chasing the skeletons.

He leaned against the tree because he was tired. The wolf hunted the skeletons one by one. But he still looked angry. Zek looked around. There were no skeletons. There were no sheep or rabbits around here. When he looked in the direction the wolf was going, he saw that he was about to attack a sleeping arctic fox. He loved foxes. And the snow-white ones. He even tried to tame one once, but it didn't end well. He had to stop the wolf. He picked up one of the bones on the ground and threw it far away. The wolf's attention was distracted when he saw the bone. He ran towards the bone. Zek took the opportunity and woke the fox. The fox, whose sound sleep was interrupted, couldn't understand what was happening, and when he saw the human in front of him, he took off his feet. The wolf came back and left the bone in front of Zek.

Zek, who was angry at the wolf for trying to attack the fox, tried to chase it away, but the wolf wouldn't leave him. He was following him every step of the way. When he realized that he couldn't get away, he ignored him and thought about his purpose. Where could the snowmen be? He had searched every possible place on earth. They couldn't be dead. So where were they?

After thinking for a while, he realized there was only one place he hadn't searched. Underground.

*

—Knocking on the door won't do any good, I think we should build a cabin. Then when Zek arrives, the snowmen open the door. Mark shouted as if he had found a great idea:

—Let's go down and enter the icy lake, and from there we can enter the castle!! He said. When his brothers started laughing:

—What's so funny? I said something very reasonable... You don't know what to laugh at, he said angrily. Johnson was still laughing:

—Let's start building the cabin as soon as possible. If we delay, it will get dark, he said. When he looked in a nearby cave, he found a snowman. He was very happy to finally find one. The other two weren't in that cave. The sun was setting. He looked up at his mountain as he went to another cave. Smoke was rising from the peak of the mountain. The smoke could only come from a system that the snowmen would activate in case of an alarm. There was nothing else in his castle that would make smoke.

He forgot about the two snowmen and started running towards his castle. The giant snowman and the wolf were following him. He wondered what the alarm could be along the way. Maybe the little kids were worried about him and had set off the alarm system?

As he climbed up the mountain through a secret passage, he realized how long he hadn't left his castle. He was comfortable and peaceful in his castle, but he realized that he needed to go out sometimes. He hadn't seen an animal or walked in the forest for years. He would have enjoyed it if he hadn't been in a rush to find his snowmen.

*

The brothers were cold. Johnson lit a campfire before building the cabin. After warming up by the fire, they built a small cabin. While they were putting the necessary items inside the cabin, the sun was quickly disappearing behind the mountains across the way. Zek was still gone.

Mark quickly got bored of staying in the cabin. He was looking for excitement. He tried to enter the castle again. It was obvious that he had failed when he returned to the cabin with two snowballs stuck in his eyes. There was no passage from the snowmen. Johnson laughed and said:

—Snowmen are terrible marksmen, but it seems you have no trouble aiming at your big head. Mark then took the snowballs in his eyes and threw them at his two brothers. The cabin was so small that his brothers could not escape.

A little later, Johnson shouted at his desk as if he had accomplished something very important. He had made a bed for the cabin and put it there. He said he would be the first to go to bed and jumped up to lie down on it, yawning. But there was something hard underneath it. Mark was lying underneath it. Luke was crushed underneath it.

—Hey, I made the bed. I have to go to bed first.

—I got the bed first. I have the right to go to bed first. Mark wanted to object, but when he could not find anything to object to, he said:

—Let's draw lots. They had accepted the lot. Mark took three sticks in his hand and said:

—The one who pulls the short stick gets to sleep in the bed. Luke pulled the stick first. He pulled the long stick. Then, Johnson pulled the long stick.

—Hooray! So I'm the one lying in bed. He put the stick in his hand on the desk and lay down on the bed yawning. Johnson saw the stick. The stick hadn't broken at all. So his brother had cheated. He informed Luke. They decided to play a practical joke on Mark.

They thought of a joke, but all of them were either very bad or difficult jokes to do. Luke:

—The best thing is to put water under the bed and then break the bed, he said. Johnson liked the idea too. They prepared the joke together. Just as they were about to break the bed, they argued, "I'll break it, no, I'll break it." They both wanted to taste the pleasure. Normally, Mark would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow and no noise could wake him up, but this time they were on top of a snowy mountain. He couldn't sleep because of the cold. He heard all of his brothers' plans while he was trying to sleep. He got up from the bed and looked at his brothers who were arguing. Giggling, he picked up two pumpkin pies he had taken from the castle and:

—At least if you are going to make a joke, do it like me, he said and threw the pies in the faces of the brothers. Luke, who had eaten the pie in his face, kicked the bed. The bed broke and Mark fell into the water. All the brothers got wet with the splash of water. Johnson was wiping the pie from his face and the water that had splashed on his pants, while at the same time:

—I was going to drop Mark in the water!! He was getting angry at his brother. Suddenly the ground shook. They had heard an explosion. What could have happened? They immediately left the hut. It was night, and monster sounds were coming from outside. But they were not the source of this tremor. The piston door of the castle had completely broken down. There were also a lot of footprints entering the door. The footprints were at regular intervals. Whatever entered, they were not normal monsters.

They didn't need to follow the tracks. When they raised their heads, they saw what they were. They were shocked by what they saw, their mouths were wide open.

*

Zek entered his castle through the secret passage.

—My castle, my beautiful castle. It was just me outside one day, what happened to you my beautiful castle? I will never leave you again... he said things like that. There were no snowmen in the corridor he entered. Normally, at least three snowmen would wander in this corridor. The dog behind him jumped up and started running. He must have sensed something. They followed the dog.

The dog had come to the entrance of the castle. But this place looked more like a battlefield than an entrance. Skeletons with spears everywhere were turning the snowmen into dust. And a skeleton the size of five blocks was floating in the air... Dust was flying everywhere. Unforgettable past memories came to his mind. The battle cries of the knights, the death cries of armored horses, the frighteningly dark air, the dust clouds raised by the dead... He was frozen. He could not move a finger. Even though he saw the green magic coming at him, his body was stiff with muscles and he could not escape. Luke, who jumped on him, saved him. If he had not pushed Zek aside, the dark magic could have killed him.

The brothers were hiding behind the pillars at the entrance and killing the spear-wielding skeletons that came to them. They could not get out from behind the pillars because they were afraid of the green cubes. The giant skeleton was throwing his evil smile and sending green cubes from his staff in all directions, the cubes were turning the snowmen into dust without missing. All the normal snowmen in the castle had come to the entrance. But they were throwing snowballs against the spears and black magic. They were helpless. The giant snowmen had not come to fight because they had not heard the noise in the cellar. Johnson shouted to Luke:

—Go to the cellar immediately, bring your other snowmen here! They could not approach this giant skeleton without help. Even his laughter made all his hair stand on end. What kind of monster could this be? He had never read or heard anything about a monster this big before. What about the spear-wielding skeletons? This was his first time seeing them too. They were like armored war machines with a spear and shield in one hand. They were very difficult to kill. However, if Johnson distracted someone with his pickaxe, Mark could kill them from behind.

Luke dragged the knight to safety and ran towards the cellar. He was still rigid, unable to react to anything that was happening. The giant snowman and wolf next to him were engaged in battle. Although the skeletons could kill the wolf with a few hits, their instincts told them to run. As they ran, the snowman threw ice at them and shattered them. When Luke reached the cellar, he saw the snowmen playing, oblivious to what was happening. When they saw Luke, they ran to him and gave him the arrows they had collected. It wasn't many, but he was glad he could use his bow. He led the giant snowmen after him and returned to the battlefield.

The wizard was happy to see that the skeleton people were also in the castle. The reason he had slept for centuries was because of the people. He had fled his temple after it was badly damaged in a war, and had fallen into a sleep to recover his strength. He had to take revenge on the people for this. He pointed his staff at the two brothers. Three green cubes flew out of the staff and headed behind the pillars. Seeing this, Mark shouted to his brother:

—Get down! he shouted. The green cubes had missed the brothers, but they couldn’t hide any longer. The skeletons were also walking towards them. They had surrounded them. The green cubes were also coming towards them. If they had gone a little further, they could have killed the brothers. Luke was fast, but he hadn’t been to the cellar long. He couldn’t come and save them.

They might have died if it weren’t for the snowman coming with Zek. The snowman threw the ice block first at the skeletons and then at the wizard. The attention was drawn to him. While they were attacking him, Luke appeared behind him with dozens of giant snowmen. Unable to hide his fear and trembling, Mark let out a cry of joy. The giant snowmen were astonished by what they saw, and were preparing their ice in their hands. They threw their ice with the arrow Luke shot. The ice shattered all the speared skeletons. The wizard’s evil smile stopped. He was surprised. He hadn’t expected such a defense. He looked at the dozens of snowmen who had come to the entrance. There were more snowmen than the two he had defeated. He thought he was very strong. What could these snow creatures do to him? He pulled out more skeletons from underground and prepared to laugh evilly, but before he could laugh, the ice block had shattered on his face. All of his skeletons were in pieces. He tried to clone himself and attack from all sides, just like he did with the other snowmen. The brothers who dared to come out from behind the pillars watched the wizard in amazement. How had he suddenly made so many of himself? Was he growing more of himself as he took damage like slime? But they saw something they had never seen on his face before. Fear. He had had the same expression on his face since he had entered the castle and attacked them. A confident, evil, scary expression. But now they could feel the fear on the skeleton's bone face. So they were successful. They could defeat him.

Mark was filled with courage. Although his hands were shaking, he attacked one of the wizard's copies, shouting a battle cry. The magician was suddenly destroyed with the sword strike, and an ice thrown at the magician hit Mark's head instead of him. He fell to the ground with the blow he received. He would not wake up until the end of the battle.

The magician thought he was safe by multiplying himself, but two snowmen fell on his head. The fake ones disappeared immediately. The real one had also eaten two ice blocks. One of the blocks hit his crown. The magician's face was full of anger when he saw his crown on the ground. He held his staff with both hands and directed it towards the castle wall. He was trying to cast a big spell. They attacked him to prevent him from having a chance, but ice, snow balls, arrows... He was dodging all of them. Not even one of them hit. He managed to cast the spell. He ripped the castle wall from its place and threw it at the snowmen. A few of them were pulverized by the impact of the heavy wall. There were still many snowmen alive. When he threw the ice at the same time, three of them hit. The magician realized that he had lost this fight. He threw a malicious look at everyone and teleported away from the castle. But that look that could not be forgotten in their minds guaranteed that he would return.

The excitement was over. All the noise had stopped and deathly silence had taken over the place. The two brothers breathed a sigh of relief. They had just fought the most powerful thing they had ever seen in their lives. After they relaxed, they took a good look around. Mark was unconscious on the ground, the wizard's giant crown in front of him, broken pumpkin pieces everywhere and dust from dead snowmen...

They wondered about the knight and went to him. Zek was crouching and muttering something. His face was paler than usual and his eyes were staring blankly into the air.

—I failed. They died because of me. I caused their deaths. I could have saved them... The brothers were very sorry for the knight. Most of the snowmen he had protected and looked after for years and considered as his children had died. He, on the other hand, was tied up and could not do anything. While they were trying to cheer up the knight, Mark came to. The last thing he remembered was hitting the sword and the wizard disappearing. When he looked at the crown in front of him, he could not believe it at first. Then he got all fancy and said:

—Look, I killed that giant monster! Of course... My muscular arms and iron sword won't resist... I shot him and he died. His brothers were sad about the knight's situation, but they couldn't help but laugh at it. Mark's face turned red. He got angry at his brothers who were laughing.

—What are you laughing at? Your brother became a hero. Now call me Hero Mark. I have to give this sword of mine a name. After all, famous heroes' weapons are also famous. Monster Destroyer... No, too ordinary. Dark Magician Banisher... No, too long... They carried Zek to his room while his brother continued to talk to himself. He continued to rave. Thinking that he would need some time alone, they left the room. They also took out the wolf that came after him.

They went to bed after repairing the entrance to the castle. They had had a tiring day. The first thing they did after waking up from a deep sleep was to look at Zek. Zek got out of bed and was making them breakfast. He was walking slowly, his hands were shaking. His face was as pale as yesterday, and his gaze was still empty. The wolf next to him was demanding food from his master. But there was no meat in the castle.

When the brothers sat at the dinner table, he said in a heavy voice:

—I apologize for what happened yesterday. I couldn't help you. Johnson stepped forward:

—We apologize, we caused you a lot of trouble. We are also sorry about your snowmen. We will help you as an apology, he said. Mark choked on the word help. He didn't want to do business like his aunts.

—Help? What help? Johnson elbowed his brother to keep quiet:

—Let's start making the snowman right now, but I want to ask a few questions before that. You know our grandfather John. Did he give you any information about where he was going? He said you would give us provisions and books. The knight slowly raised his head.

—He didn't tell me much. He said it was very dangerous and that he would stop by a village before going. The book is in my room. But I can't give you enough equipment. I gave my last diamond armor to your grandfather. I haven't fought in battle for years, so I don't have any weapons. Sorry.

—It doesn't matter... Did he say which village it was?

—He's going to get something from the nearest village. Something that every village's librarian has. I don't know what it is, but if you talk to the librarian, he'll tell you. Brothers:

—Okay, after saying that, they took pumpkins from the castle's storage and started carving. While Johnson and Luke carved four pumpkins, Mark could only carve one.

—Why are you so slow? they asked. Mark proudly showed the pumpkin he had carved. He had carved faces on all four sides.

—This way, he'll be able to see all four sides at once, he said. The idea of a pumpkin with four faces was frightening to his brothers.

—Do these normally. We don't want him to scare his opponent and kill him. Mark, who didn't like any of his ideas, snapped:

—Well, you don't know anything about fun either, he said. Zek came to them with a book in his hand. The name of the book was "The Known Realms". It was supposed to give information about the legendary Nether and End realms. But why did their grandfather want this book to be given to them? Or had he gone to another land?

The new episode will be on the patreon page on the 15th of every month. I will share it here on the 20th of every month.
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Book 1 - Chapter 3