Trapped in Minecraft

Chapter 7 - The Nether Knight

At first, Collin thought that the dizziness would only last a few seconds, but it seemed to stay with him for a few minutes instead. They had just entered the newly-made nether portal and had found themselves in a new world where lava and light seemed to be everywhere.

For some reason, Collin was the only one that felt dizzy after using the swirly, purple portal and the intense heat certainly did not make him feel any better. He held onto his stomach and tried to find somewhere to sit down. After a while, he instantly felt better and went to communicate with the rest of his team.

"So, how will we find a nether fortress? It's like a maze in this place."

"We could always try separating and meeting back here in order to cover more ground," Greg suggested with a proud grin.

Shaking his head, Sam began to speak, "that's a bad idea. It's way too risky, especially in this environment."

"Why so?" Greg challenged with an eyebrow raised.

"Well, we can easily get ambushed by ghasts or fall into a pool of lava if we search for the fortress by ourselves without backup," Sam argued with his arms crossed.

Greg's face turned slightly red, "that's no big deal. If we die, we will just respawn."

"That's the problem, Collin and I only have one life left!" Sam was now starting to raise his voice.

Before Greg could reply, Collin interrupted, "guys, this isn't the time to argue." Collin pointed at a group of sword-wielding foes before continuing, "We've got company."

Greg drew out his golden sword quickly and Sam nocked an arrow. About six zombie pigmen were heading towards them with golden swords raised. The mobs surrounded the three Minecraftians and started to get closer. Collin made the first move and swiftly sliced a zombie pigmen in half; turning it into dust.

"Why did they surround us in the first place? I don't remember us attacking them before," Sam asked as he shot down one of the five remaining targets.

Two zombie pigmen charged and swung at Greg. The golden knight countered both attacks and killed off the pair of pigmen before they could have a chance to strike again. Unfortunately, he did not realise there was another one behind him and before he could turn around, he was quickly knocked in the head and Greg blacked out as he fell face first into the ground.

Sam quickly avenged his friend and pierced an arrow through the zombie pigmen while Collin slashed at the sixth member. When there were no more monsters in sight, Collin bent down next to Greg and grabbed his wrist in order to check the pulse.

"Is he okay?" The blond haired boy asked with a concerned tone.

After a few seconds of silence, Collin replied, "Yes. He's still breathing but I believe he might be unconscious."

Before either of them could think of what to do next, a blazing fireball flew towards them and missed Collin by a few blocks. The impact sent a small shockwave in the area and lit the ground on fire. With swift movement, he dragged the golden knight behind a low wall of netherrack to use as a barrier.

"Sam! Shoot down the ghast while I keep Greg out of harm's way."

Collin sighed when he saw more hostile mobs approach him from the opposite direction of the ghast. Two medium-sized magma cubes were bouncing their way towards him. He brought out his heavy diamond sword and got ready for another fight.

The first fiery creature sprung up into the air and tried to squash the Minecraftian but instead, Collin rolled forward and swung behind him, turning the magma cube into four smaller versions of itself. He continued to slice at the small, fiery cubes but as he killed the fourth one, the other medium sized magma cube jumped on him. He was forced to stumble and fall over and he knew he would not have enough time to get up before getting attacked again.

The magma cube bounced into the air once more for another deadly strike but instead of landing on Collin, it landed straight into the pointed edge of an iron blade. With four more timed slashes, the magma cube was no more. Collin looked up at the person who had saved his life; she had long, red hair and was wearing enchanted iron armour. She turned around, revealing her amber-coloured eyes.

"Are you okay?" The girl asked with concern as she held out her hand to help Collin up.

Collin was amazed at how beautiful she was and instantly forgot how to speak. Instead, he allowed her to help him up to his feet and noticed that her hands were quite warm.

"Who are you?" The girl asked as she quickly scanned the area to check for anymore dangers.

Finally remembering that he could use his mouth, Collin replied, "I'm Collin, and thanks for saving my life just now. My friends and I are trying to look for a nether fortress. Perhaps you could help us?"

"I know the location of the nether fortress and it's not far from here actually. After all, I am knight of the nether." She beamed proudly for a second before her expression turned stern. "However, if I show you where it is, what's it in for me?"

"I have diamonds in my backpack if you want, how much do you need?"

The nether knight laughed loudly. "Diamonds? Why would I need that?"

Usually, Collin would get angry when people laughed at him, but her laugh caused butterflies in his stomach and he couldn't stop himself from thinking of how cute she looked when she smiled. "Well, you're wearing iron armour, and I thought that maybe a set of diamond gear would be more useful for you."

"Actually, my iron armour has special enchantments. Plus, my iron sword can actually light my targets on fire, so a diamond set wouldn't mean much to me. But I guess I'll help you for free since I rarely get visitors."

"Thank you," Collin said with appreciation. "What's your name by the way? You haven't told me yet."

"None of your business!" The girl snapped with a scowl.

At that second, Greg woke up and stood, "what did I miss?"

Sam also reappeared and sprinted towards Collin's direction. "Who's that?"

As they regrouped, Collin began to introduce the nether knight to his friends as well as explained to her about their goal to fight the Enderdragon. At first, the four of them stood quietly until one of them spoke up and suggested that they head towards the fortress as soon as possible.

It wasn't a long walk, and after about ten minutes, the nether fortress was in sight. The huge fortress stood in the middle of lava and the only way across was a small nether brick bridge, which was heavily guarded by zombie pigmen and withers skeletons. "How are we going to get past that big group of mobs?" Collin asked while scanning the area for another bridge or way across.

"Well, we definitely can't fight them all and risk getting overwhelmed. So that leaves us with only one more option," the nether knight stated with an unreadable expression.

"So what would be that option?" Greg challenged.

The girl in enchanted iron armour headed towards the edge of the cliff where lava was about ten blocks below. "We'll have to swim across." And with that, she plunged into the pool of intense heat without warning.