To Save Us All | Escaping Minecraft

Chapter Six: Hellscape

Lily25 has made the advancement: [We Need to go Deeper]

Well, so much for that. I should've known the message would pop up in chat. 

But never mind that now, there was danger in front of me. 

And we had to have spawned in a soul sand valley. Like, why even?! I sighed. The game had to be rigged or something. At least I had the decency to bring a shield. 

1.16 PvP was annoying, though. What with the shield cooldown and hunger dropping, it was basically against all I did. I shrugged, and took a hesitant step out of the cobblestone shelter. Immediately, four or five skeletons started shooting at me. 

Like, what the heck! There were other players coming through, why did the have to attack me?! Enough with the ranting, I told myself. We have to find the fortress. 

And I set off. I'd checked before that I had plenty of blocks to build with, since I couldn't afford going back through the portal. Dream and Techno would honestly kill me. Not actually, of course. That'd be too permanent. 

But oh, I did not want to see the looks on their faces when I came back. Best to delay it as much as possible. So, of course I did. Hopping over streams of lava, bridging over vast lakes, digging deep into the heart of the nether. 

And still, I did not find the fortress. I had gone in a completely unexplored direction, no one at my side. It was for the best. I didn't want to hurt anyone. And if I did die, it'd hurt no one but me. No one would try to save me. 

And it'd all be for the better. 

Ghasts shot at me as I travelled deep into their territory, the sky. Sharp pillars of basalt dotted the bleak landscape I was bridging across. I whacked back their fireballs with my own sword... risking its life, and mine in the process. I couldn't afford to miss. 

I couldn't fall, either. The pillars would impale me, and even if I did miss them, the fall would break so many bones... I would be so hurt... I would be as good as dead. 

For a moment, I considered doing just that. But I couldn't, people needed me out there. 

So I kept bridging. 

I guess it was an hour or two in, and I'd almost run out of blocks. So I dropped down to the floor, being only a few blocks below me, and collected netherrack. I was in a nether wastes biome now, having passed through a basalt delta on my way here. 

Piglins were here, quite a few, actually. I tried to get some gold to trade with them, but got nothing much. Just some gravel, leather and obsidian. Wait, leather! 

I snapped out of the trance I'd been in for a while, and realised that leather could make books... which in turn would make an enchanting table or enchanted books! This was helpful! 

But I had a fortress to find. I could return here another time. 

A few hours later, and numerous trips to collect netherrack, I saw something in the fog. Something that made my heart leap, and I hesitated. 

I'd found the fortress, yes, but I couldn't go in alone. This was so much bigger than the normal ones in-game, and I'd get lost. I had only a stack of torches, and in the dim light of the nether, they'd be lost to sight almost instantly. 

I had to turn back. 

But I really didn't want to. 

For one, Dream, Techno, and basically everyone on the committee would be—ugh, they'd be so mad. Mad enough to lock me in my room like I was a little kid. 

Second, it was so close. I could clearly see the outlines out fences, blocks, the whole structure of the fortress. I could even see dark silhouettes of wither skeletons patrolling the edges. 

And the place was truly massive. It would take me, or a small band of people, a small eternity to search the whole fortress. And we didn't have a small eternity. 

Reports of people turning against us were pouring in every day. Most were false, like someone accused Mega of turning, but some... when we checked for them, they were gone. 

So I had to turn back. 

Which was probably a bad idea, in hindsight, but well... there was no other choice. In front of me was certain death. I hadn't expected to find the fortress, and I was unprepared. No cauldrons, milk or potions. Just a shield, a stack of torches and food, and my tools. Plus a whole lot of cobble that had been used up. 

But I was carrying something unseen. I was carrying the hopes and dreams of the players. Not just the players of Cassiopeia, the players of Aquarius, and Orion, and Ursa... so many players. And I was filled with hope myself. 

Because I had found the fortress. 

(WC: 832 words)

Woo, I did it! I'm keeping this part short for your sake, also 50 FOLLOWERS POGG!! Thank you Maya! Working on a 50-follower special, it's gonna be in the oneshots book which I will not say the name of. And no, it's not part 3 to "Something to Hide." That's coming soon. Very soon. 

And now, goodbye! I'm off to writing again!!

~Lily