Chapter 24: Diamond Mine

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"Let the Household Trial begin!" Herobrine declared happily.
Tyler looked around their circle. At one time, all these stands had been full...actually, no-Jordan never made it to the Trial room... But the room still felt so empty now. Three new pictures had been added this time to empty stands, Matt, Bash and Ty.
"Alright, so Bash, or Suiko, and Ty are dead," Brice said, getting down to business. "Was there one culprit, or were they each murdered by a different person?"
"Hm, well remember what Matt said before?" Jason replied thoughtfully. "The rules said that one person could murder a maximum of two people. And there wasn't a double murder until after he said that, right? There's no proof, but that's my thought."
"I think whoever was the murderer must have known about the command blocks," Quentin proposed, "Because they locked the door and taped Suiko to it for blockage."
Herobrine sat upright in his throne. "Wha-command blocks?! Who told you about those?!"
"The ghost," Tyler replied, glancing at Herobrine cautiously. Does he really know nothing about that thing?
"Alright, carry on then," Herobrine said, sitting back down. Tyler could just barely hear Herobrine mutter "Why can't those two just let us have fun?"
"We weren't exactly intended to know about those command blocks though," Brice pointed out. "How'd they expect us to get inside? They obviously wanted the bodies to be noticed."
"I think they wanted us to eventually break down the door," Tyler said thoughtfully, "So Suiko's body would seem to jump out and scare us."
"Why?" Ryan asked, tilting his head to the side.
"Because they wanted us to feel despair," Tyler replied, the gears in his brain turning. "Didn't you see the message written in blood on the wall?"
"Then that's why Ty was hung up on the painting nail?" Ryan asked. "I think so," Tyler replied uncertainly.
"The culprit obviously wanted to put us in despair," Brice pointed out. "That seems like a Ty thing to do, but..."
"Well, isn't Ty all about hope?" Jerome asked. "True," Quentin nodded. "Maybe that's why the culprit murdered them."
"Alright, but please explain why Ty was in one of my suits," Ryan said. "How do you know it was yours?" Jason asked.
"First of all, where else would you find batman suits?" Ryan asked. "Second, during the investigation I checked, one of my suits was missing. It was probably the person who knocked me out." "Was that person Ty, then?" Brice wondered.
"Did Ty put the suit on himself, or did the culprit put it on himself?" Tyler asked.
"Yeah!" Jerome exclaimed. "Maybe they were trying to hide Ty's identity. Or Ty was trying to hide his identity."
"Why, though?" Jason asked.
"Maybe to trick us into thinking that Ty was actually Ryan," Quentin suggested.
"Then why would someone want to keep Ty's identity a secret?" Tyler wondered. "Maybe Ty was in the middle of some 'hope test' when he got killed?" Brice suggested.
"Hm...who would want to put us in despair, kill two people, and knew about the command blocks?" Ryan wondered out loud.
"Not just any two people," Quentin added. "Don't you realize what Suiko and Ty have in common?"
Ryan frowned. "Uh...they're both dead?"
Quentin sighed. "Besides that. Suiko and Ty are the only two houseguests to have been caught trying to murder someone, without their target actually dying."
"So what does that have to do with anything?" Jerome asked. "Does that mean the culprit wanted to get rid of the dangerous people?"
"Maybe, but think about it," Quentin pressed, "Who was their target?" "Hm...uh, Tyler, right?" Jason answered.
Tyler frowned. "So what does that mean?" Quentin glanced over at him. "You may have wanted to get vengeance, right?"
"What?!" Tyler exclaimed. Quentin was accusing him of murder!
"He's got a point..." Brice agreed uneasily. "Tyler, weren't you the first person to get to the second floor?" "He could have set up the bodies while he was in there, then come running like he had only found it!" Jerome exclaimed. "He is the Super Minecraft Level Actor, after all..." Jason added, not meeting Tyler's eyes.
"What? But how would I know about the command blocks?" Tyler demanded.
"That ghost thing follows you around sometimes, right?" Ryan asked. "And it obviously knew about the command blocks."
"Then how would I get tape and an arrow for Suiko's death?" Tyler retaliated. "How would anyone? We never found either of those things."
"Hm...A secret place in the mansion that that ghost told you about?" Ryan wondered.
"Herobrine," Quentin called out, "How many floors does this mansion have?"
Herobrine looked surprised. "Um...Five."
"Five?" Jerome exclaimed. "Why did we never get to see it?"
"Uh...well, I didn't really think we were going to need it...it's just the attic, really...I guess some ghost found its way there and told a friend," Herobrine said accusingly.
He's hinting that I'm the murderer! Tyler thought helplessly. That's not fair!
"What could you find in this...attic?" Brice asked Herobrine.
"Uh...mostly supplies that were never needed... you know, extra furniture, tools, weapons, supplies..." Herobrine replied hesitantly.
"Weapons?!" Jason exclaimed.
"The ghost must have led Tyler to the fifth floor, then..." Jerome said, "...and there, Tyler found the tape and the arrow."
Everyone was throwing nervous glances over at Tyler, like they did with all the culprits.
"What?!" Tyler exclaimed. "This is so unfair! Herobrine's not allowed to hint that I did it! And I didn't do it, either! We're all gonna die now, because you're guessing the wrong person!" He exploded angrily and desperately. His mind was running. He never commit the murder! Did he have some alter personality that killed them, like Suiko? No, he would've known...Tyler's mind raced for any possible solution, but could think of nothing. He was innocent.
"Tyler, th-the signs point to you..." Jason pointed out quietly.
"What signs?" Tyler demanded. "There's so much evidence we haven't thought through! The woodchip in Ty's hair? Why he was so cold? The blood in his mouth? Or why Suiko didn't look as though he were in much pain? Or how he saw Ty dead and died soon after?"
"Maybe they were just false pieces of evidence...?" Brice suggested.
Tyler looked around helplessly. His friends were all scared. Confused, and willing to accuse anyone. They just wanted this to end as much as he did, and would jump to accuse anyone. But they were accusing the wrong person. If they all voted for Tyler, everyone would die, except the true culprit...
Tyler opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Herobrine. "So are we ready to vote then?"
"Wait!" Tyler called out, but Herobrine ignored him, and the slot machine came out and began to spin.
Everyone watched as all three slots stopped on Tyler's face. Then the word GUILTY flashed on the machine.
Tyler felt his stomach dropped. Was the machine rigged? He didn't do it!
"That's right, everyone! Tyler's your culprit!" Herobrine exclaimed. He shot a wicked glance down at Tyler that made him feel extremely uneasy. Did Herobrine...know he was innocent...?
"Alright, well, it's Execution Time!" Herobrine declared as the red button rose.
Tyler gasped in fear and looked around at everyone in shock. They all were avoiding his eyes guiltily. Even Quentin seemed to become very interested on the wood on his stand.
"N...No! No, this can't be! This...this is so messed up!" Tyler exclaimed, and the screen on the red button displayed its usual spite animation, with tiny sprite Tyler being dragged away by Herobrine.
≪≫
DIAMOND MINE

Tyler was tied to a two-block-tall tower of diamond ore, which was only slightly taller than him.
He was on a conveyor belt, moving slowly forward. Tyler was facing the other way, so to him it seemed like he was going backwards.
Behind him were three large blades swinging back and fourth from the ceiling. They were all shaped and colored like diamond pickaxes, and Tyler could hear the swoosh, swoosh as the blades swung back and fourth, the sound gradually getting closer an closer.
Tyler couldn't stop his body from shaking, and he felt sweat beads on his face. He nudged on the ropes around his arms and torso, but they weren't budging.
Swoosh, swoosh.
The first blade was getting closer, and the conveyor belt was moving too slow to possibly avoid it.
Swoo-CLANG.
The first blade made contact-luckily, it was just with the diamond ore, but it left a chunk gone in the block, and Tyler was shaken to the bone from the impact. He wouldn't be so lucky the next two blades.
The conveyor belt continued on, Tyler slowly and dreadfully going with it. Soon, the swoosh, swoosh of the second blade began to draw closer.
Tyler closed his eyes. Would this one be-
Swoo-CLANG.
Tyler gasped from the impact as the second blade came down on the diamond ore again. A bigger chunk was left in the diamond ore this time, and Tyler thought he felt his ropes loosen slightly. He glanced over to his left slightly.
There had also been a gash left in one of the ropes. It hadn't snapped the rope entirely, but maybe with a little force it could be snapped...
Tyler continued down the conveyor belt, a new spark of hope at the cut rope. He began tugging and squirming in attempt to snap the rope, and some struggling later he realized he could hear the swoosh, swoosh again.
The third blade, Tyler thought. I need to hurry.
He began struggling more, but the rope still wasn't budging. He paused when he felt the conveyor belt come to a halt.
Tyler looked to the left.
The belt had stopped directly in the path of the third blade. It would get Tyler this time for sure; the other two blades must have been for suspense.
Tyler was shaking more violently now. This was it. The blade seemed to be coming down in slow motion. It was all over, and he wasn't guilty...
Tyler took in a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut.
Swooosh...cre-e-eeak...
Tyler blinked open his eyes. What was that noise? He looked up to see the blade slowly stopping, light purple electricity shooting up and down the pickaxe shaped blade. It eventually came to a gentle halt, poking Tyler's arm, not even breaking skin.
Tyler stared at it and awe and looked up as the strange purple lightning shot up from the third blade and across the large metal beam on the ceiling holding the blades, and down to the other two blades in front of him.
Something the color of the lightning flashed in front of him-no-someone, and looked over its shoulder at Tyler with a familiar bright smile.
"AlterSorcerer?!" Tyler exclaimed.
AlterSorcerer was life-sized, and there were no light beams attached to him. And he had stopped the blades from slicing Tyler in half.
A small part of the tip of the blade became surrounded in a purple aura and broke off the blade. AlterSorcerer's hand was glowing too, and moving with the floating shard. He moved the shard over to Tyler's ropes and easily sliced them, and they fell to Tyler's feet.
"Run!" AlterSorcerer whispered excitedly, and glitched away, like the white figure always did.
Tyler stared at where AlterSorcerer had disappeared a second ago in shock. Then, he snapped back to reality when he saw Herobrine marching down the conveyor belt, glaring fiercely straight at Tyler with furious eyes blazing white. Behind him Tyler could see the gate which separated him from the other houseguests watching. He couldn't actually see them, but they were obviously there.
Tyler took a couple steps back as Herobrine approached, then whipped around and broke out into a run.
The only thing after the three pickaxe blades was an open doorway, and it was only black on the inside as far as Tyler could see. Tyler had no other choice; he ran through the doorway. He let out a startled gasp as he felt no floor under him in the black doorway, and began to fall into the black hole.
"No!" Herobrine roared. "You idiot! Come back!" Was the last thing Tyler heard, echoing around the chute until his head hit something hard, and he blacked out.

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