The Great War (Prequel to A Minecraft Story)

Chapter 27

Lourd's Point of View

Nothingness.

That was what Lourd saw.

Nothingness.

But then, there was a light. It looked like it was at the end of a dark hallway. Lourd decided to go towards it.

But then, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He couldn't see who it was, and he couldn't shake it off either. Lourd struggled, but finally, the hand jerked him back.

Lourd gasped for air and sat up, opening his eyes. He looked around.

He seemed to be in a barren field. There was no grass, just dead ground. It was all stone. The sun was on its way down.

There were huge craters in some places, and even a few skeletons. Not the monsters, but actual skeletons.

This was from Herobrine, Lourd knew. But, if Herobrine had succeeded, shouldn't the whole world be destroyed? Shouldn't nothing exist anymore?

This could only mean one thing: Notch and Jeb had succeeded at destroying Herobrine.

Still, a lot of the world was half-destroyed. Lourd wondered if there was anything left in the world that hadn't been touched by Herobrine's menace.

And another thing, why was Lourd still alive? There was water nearby, so maybe Lourd had landed in that after he was struck by the lightning. But, shouldn't he have drowned in the water?

Lourd looked around some more, but there was no one in sight. But someone had to have saved him. He couldn't have just floated out of the water himself.

Suddenly, a woman and a boy appeared in front of Lourd. At first, Lourd thought they magically teleported there, but then he realized they had been using an invisibility potion, and it just now wore off.

The woman looked about thirty years old. She had black, curly hair that went down to her shoulders. She wore normal clothes--a black T-shirt and jeans--but they were ragged. There were several holes in her shirt and pants, and her hair was messy.

The boy looked about ten years old. He had long black hair swept back over his eyes, and wore jeans and a white T-shirt. Just like the woman, he had ragged clothes.

Both the woman and the boy had clear blue eyes like cloudless skies. Lourd could tell from their appearances and the way the boy stayed close to the woman that she was his mother.

"Who are you?" Lourd asked after a moment.

"Who are you?" the woman retorted.

"I'm Lourd," Lourd answered sheepishly.

"You fell from the sky," the woman said. "And I saved your life. It wasn't till after that I realized you could be the cause of all this." She gestured to the barren land around her.

"No, no, I was trying to stop the guy who started all this. I failed, but it looks like my friends stopped him," Lourd explained.

The woman eyed him skeptically. The boy tugged on her shirt and said: "Mommy, he doesn't have a weapon."

Lourd searched his inventory and found that the boy was right. He must've dropped his sword when Herobrine struck him with lightning.

"So, what're your names?" Lourd asked. He tried standing up, but he was sore everywhere.

After a moment's hesitation, the woman finally answered. "I'm Karen. This is Aaron. We used to live in a town a few miles away. But it was destroyed."

Lourd sighed. More lives Herobrine had taken. "I'm sorry. Do you know where we are, by the way?"

"Well, the town's name was Stormgrove. If you have a map, you can find it on there," Karen replied.

Lourd searched his inventory again. He did have a map. Genny must've given it to him.

Now she was dead.

Anyway, Lourd opened up the map and looked for the name "Stormgrove". He finally found it.

It was east of HiddenBlock, and north of Mineville. Mineville was closer than HiddenBlock was, but it'd still be about four hours to get there.

By train.

Lourd figured there wouldn't be any operating trains anymore. He would have to walk.

Lourd wanted to go to Mineville because that was where Ruth and Madge were. And Lourd knew that would be where Notch and Jeb would go next, if they were alive.

"I'm going to what's left of Mineville. Wanna come with me?" Lourd asked.

"You're going to walk to Mineville? Are you crazy?" Karen asked.

"Probably. But do you have any better ideas?" Lourd shot back.

"Well...no. But either way, we're not coming with you. Aaron and I are on our way to Geph. That's where my husband was, the last I heard of him. We need to find him," Karen explained.

"Alright. Good luck to you," Lourd replied. He recalled the town of Geph being pretty close to where they were now.

"And good luck to you, too," Karen said. She and Aaron headed the opposite direction Lourd was headed in.

Lourd knew it would soon be night, and he didn't have a weapon. So, he decided to make a shelter.

After walking a few hundred blocks, he found a mountain, half destroyed, and completely stone. Lourd got out his pickaxe and mined a small cave in it, then placed some torches inside. He sat in there, ready to sleep for the night.

By this point it was dark outside, and Lourd heard the growls of monsters outside. Hopefully, they wouldn't come inside.

A few minutes later, a wolf walked into the shelter. It stared at Lourd, and Lourd stared back. He didn't have anything to tame the wolf, so he just let it sniff around.

Surprisingly, the wolf lied down in the shelter, but as far away from Lourd as it could get. Lourd didn't mind.

He wondered how Karen and Aaron were doing. He hoped they were okay.

A few more minutes later, Lourd fell asleep.

* * *

The next day, Lourd woke up, his head pounding. Sunlight was filtering through the opening in the shelter. The wolf was nowhere to be seen.

Lourd stood up and stretched. He walked out of the shelter, and started walking.

And he continued his journey to Ruth's hut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm exhausted.

Three days of play practice right after school until 8pm, then three days of the play right after school until 10pm.

It was a Shakespeare play called Macbeth and it was actually really cool. I'm on the technical crew for it.

It was exhausting.

But I still got a chapter up! It's a boring one, but it's an important one.

Remember that.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to vote, comment, and follow!

~Radishologist