The Great War (Prequel to A Minecraft Story)

Chapter 20

Jeb's Point of View

Jeb, Ash, and Steven emerged from the portal in the Nether. The heat was intense, and everything had a reddish tint to it.

"We just have to kill a Ghast, then get to HiddenBlock," Jeb said matter-of-factly. "Easy, right?"

Right after he said that, they heard a sound like a baby whining, and a fireball exploded right behind them, making them dive for cover.

"Yeah. Easy," Ash muttered.

They looked around for the Ghast, by from their angle, they couldn't see it. They heard the noise again, and a fireball exploded on the Nether portal they had come through.

The center no longer glowed purple.

They sat in shocked silence for a few seconds. Then, Ash said, "Not to worry. I still have the..." He trailed off as he searched his inventory.

"You put it down after you ignited the portal," Steven said. "That means there's no way out of here."

Jeb let the words sink in. No way out. They couldn't even get their ingredient to Notch and the others. Unless...

"Not if we find another portal down here!" Jeb exclaimed. "Maybe we can find one that leads to HiddenBlock!"

"You know how long that's gonna take?" Steven asked. "A long time. Unless we get lucky."

"Well, we better hope we do," Jeb replied, standing up. "Come on. Let's go kill that Ghast."

He walked out from under the netherrack roofing they had been under, Ash and Steven following.

Out here, the netherrack sloped down to the lava sea ahead of them. To the right was an entrance to a Nether fortress, which was out above the lava. And to their left, was an open expanse of netherrack.

On this large area of netherrack were a ton of Zombie Pigmen, some Magma Cubes, and Wither Skeletons. Floating above were about ten Blazes and five Ghasts.

They were all staring at Jeb, Ash, and Steven.

And they all had glowing red eyes.

"RUN!" Jeb shouted. He, Ash, and Steven started running the opposite way, towards the Nether fortress. Fireballs from the Ghasts and Blazes exploded all around them.

They turned a corner in the fortress, a fireball exploding where Jeb had been a second ago. Jeb looked over his shoulder as he ran. He saw all the monsters chasing them.

Steven was in the lead, and he ran through a doorway into a small room. Ash and Jeb sprinted inside, and Steven proceeded to cover up the doorway with cobblestone.

Cobblestone was fireball proof.

The entire doorway was now blocked. Jeb slumped down to the ground, the first exhausted.

"I thought..." Jeb had trouble catching his breath. "I thought Herobrine was supposed to be in HiddenBlock."

"Well, he's down here for some reason," Ash replied, also out of breath. "Because he's controlling all these monsters."