A Fault in the Code

Chapter 18

The last thing that is written to me seems strange. It feels off. I grab the diamond sword I got while fishing and put the button on the wall next to the door.

I now stand in a room, just like the one I was in before, but with a strange-looking portal in the middle of the room. It is unlit. The portal looks to be made out of solid black blocks, with small green pixels here and there. Not the typical block you'd just be able to come across in a cave.

And in front of the portal is a keyboard. Do I have to type something in order to light it? What would I type? I put the torch on the wall and walk toward the portal, but before I can reach the keyboard, I can hear an enderman teleporting sound behind me.

I turn around and see Jeff, leaning against the wall, arms crossed, head down looking at his feet.

"Jeff!" I cry as I run toward him. When I get closer I see that his eyes are closed. "What's wrong?" I ask.

Then, he tilts his head toward me and opens his eyes. But instead of purple, they are pure white.

This is not Jeff.

I stare at him and slowly back away, back toward the portal and keyboard. But then I bump into something. I turn around and see the another white-eyed enderman. The one against the wall is gone. This must be the same one, just teleported.

I attempt many times to get to the keyboard, but the enderman keeps blocking me. But not trying to hurt me.

Never mind, I spoke too soon.

At some point he starts to swing his arm at my head, trying to knock me out. I dodge the hand as much as I can, sometimes it is such a close call I can feel its skin brush across the top of my head. If I have to type something into the keyboard, I need to get rid of this enderman or else I won't type one letter without getting knocked out.

It corners me. The arm swings up, but I can see the slightest bit of restraint in it. And then I see something that makes my knees feel week. The white eyes of the enderman, for a split second, flash purple. The enderman closes its eyes and shakes its head, making a noise, then opening them back up, back to the white color.

Is it Jeff?

I run under his arm and speak.

"Jeff. If it's you in there, or even if you're another innocent enderman, you're being possessed. Stand against it! Try to be yourself!"

The enderman's eyes turn angry. It speeds toward me and smacks me right upside the head, hard enough to knock me down, but not knock me out. I feel woozy when I sit up, and I look up and see the enderman's face staring down at me.

"Just try." I say. "I know it's you in there, Jeff, please, just try." I am almost in tears.

Then it happens again. The eyes flash purple. Three times. He stumbles backward and falls down. I get up and walk over to him. I stare at him right in his eyes, though it is blinding. And a tear falls down my cheek. He clutches his head, and falls onto his back, his eyes closed.

And then, Herobrine emerges from the enderman's chest. He rolls off of Jeff's body and onto the stone floor, where he stands up and stares at me. I feel the extreme pain in my head, but ignore it. I worry about Jeff.

Jeff sits up, and I feel relief fill my body. He looks at me, his eyes sad, then at Herobrine, his sadness replaced by fear. He almost looks as scared as I feel. He backs up against the wall, as if trying to escape without teleporting. Why can't he? He teleported just seconds ago. But if he could teleport on his own, he probably would. But he's not.

Herobrine turns his body around to look at Jeff. Then, out of nowhere, a diamond sword appears in his hand, and he slowly walks toward Jeff, the fear in his eyes enough to make me want to scream his name and comfort him, tell him it will be okay. But it won't.

I, too get my sword ready, and lunge at Herobrine. But the moment the sword hits his back, it passes right through him, as if he's a hologram. Then the pain in my head increases. Jeff's must too, because he clutches his head again. Then I hear the demonic voice that can only belong to Herobrine.

.namredne ,deliaf evah uoY

"You have failed, enderman." Is what he says.

Jeff is pushing against the wall as hard as he can, as if he were expecting it to give in and make an escape hole. Then he looks at me and points to the keyboard. He wants me to take this time to put in the code and go. But I can't just let him be killed.

Herobrine is at Jeff's feet. I want to help Jeff but I cannot move. I am frozen in fear. Even as I try, as hard as I can, to put one foot in front of the other, they are glued to the ground.

Herobrine raises his sword, Jeff raises his arm in front of his face.

My teeth are clenched. But as tears well up in my eyes, I force myself to speak.

"I'm s-so, sorry, J-jeff," I sob, quietly. "I..." I stop. This would sound weird to an enderman. But then I pick up my sentence. "I love you," I mouth. And I mean it. But friendshipwise, of course.

And suddenly, I can move. I start running toward Herobrine to tackle him, but once I am within an arms reach of him, the sword plunges into Jeff's body, and Jeff freezes and makes the most horrible and painful sound I've ever heard out of him. Then, he is still. And my fear turns to pure anger and hatred.

I don't care if this guy can't be killed with a sword, and I don't care if the only way of killing him is to go through the probably millions of codes and delete his. He just murdered my best friend. I can't just stand here and accept that.

Herobrine is very close to me, and I feel needles in my skin and knives in my head. And as I run to the keyboard, the pain subsides for a moment, but then returns, stronger than before, and I look behind me. There is only a few inches of open air in between us. I raise my leg up a few inches, then quickly bring it backwards and kick him in the shin. He shows no sign of pain. He doesn't even move.

I keep heading toward the keyboard and try to remember if there's anything that could help me with the code or password. But then I remember the beginning of the voyage, when I saw the letters that would have spelled "BACKWARDS" if I hadn't of figured it out before finding all the letters. Could that be the password?

I type it in as fast as I can and press enter, but nothing happens. I try typing the word "backwards" in caps, lowercase, and half and half, but nothing works. Then I think of something else. I type in:

SDRAWKCAB

But that doesn't work either. I try writing my name backwards, Jeff backwards, and Herobrine backwards. But nothing works. How am I supposed to kill Herobrine if I can't even type in the right password?

By this point I am surprised Herobrine hasn't done anything to me yet. But then the word "goal" pops into my head. I try it. Doesn't work. But then I feel stupid. They meant goal as in my goal on this quest. To kill herobrine.

Killherobrine

Enirborehllik

The moment my finger hovers over the enter key, I feel an extremely painful thump on my head. I find myself against the wall seconds later, out of breath. Herobrine is still next to the keyboard, staring at me.

Well I know one thing. That password is definitely correct. If it weren't, I'd probably still be typing on the keyboard right now, with Herobrine breathing on my neck, looking over my shoulder. Why else would he attack me on that specific password guess? He knows what the password is, and he is trying to keep me from activating and entering the portal.

As far as I can tell, he has not cleared the letters I have typed yet. All I have to do is find a way to get over there and press enter. I stand up, sprint as fast as I can to the keyboard, and try to press enter, but Herobrine's hand smacks mine away from the keys, sending needles down my arm. His eyes flash with anger, and he brings up his hand in a punch-ready position, and swings his fist. I duck just in time and manage to get my finger on the enter key. I press down.

A loud Ding! of success fills the room, and the portal frame is suddenly filled with a transparent, swirling substance, like the Nether portal, but instead of purple, it is black.

I then run to the other side of the portal, opposite Herobrine. Then I step onto the black and green block, see and feel everything start to warp, then my vision goes black.