Chapter 5
The Arrival
"You guys ready?" I ask. Ciu and Guinessis nod their heads, but Ciu seems a bit hesitant. I can't blame him; he almost died in the temple, not to mention what happened to him when he came out. I can only imagine the thoughts that are swirling in his head right now.
"Come on, we ain't got time for chit-chat," Dlmt3 says in his normal cranky tone. We stroll up to the helicopter and hop in. I am surprised to see Baker93 in the shotgun seat next to the chubby man.
"Hiya," he says. "So I'm going to be tagging along with you guys. You feeling alright, Ciu?"
"Yeah, a little shaken up, but fine," Ciu replies.
"Alright then. So, S_swimmer, why exactly do we need to go to this temple?"
"The forest told me," I reply.
"Ah, yes. I almost forgot about your meeting with the Grove. Whatever reason you have been told for bringing us to the temple, I suggest you not share it with anyone." I need no further explanation, but Dlmt3 does.
"Whoa, whoa," he says, confused. "Hold on a sec, people. Talking forests?" We laugh. Apparently, Dlmt hasn't lived in Gardenvale. "What?" He asks angrily. "You really think anyone would know what you mean?"
"Gardenvale has a holy place called the Sacred Grove," Baker93 explains to him. "It's the most holy outcropping of nature in the universe. Very few people have ever been allowed in, and the people who were say that the forest actually spe to them. All who have came in later became known as some of the wisest people in history. Surely, you have heard of Albert Einstein?"
"You ain't going to convince me he got wise from trees," he says gruffly. Baker93 nods his head, understanding.
"It's a hard thing to believe when you put it
that way," he says. "but it doesn't matter." He leans in and says quietly, "That's about the shortest Gardenvale lesson I've ever given. Consider yourself lucky." The ride is silent for a while. I look outside and get lost in the wonder of how small everything is from here. Everything is so tiny and detailed, and whenever we pass a city, you can see how it was planned and where things are. One city was divided into four sections of skyscrapers with a large, flat space in the middle for parks and public buildings and stores. Even the cities that I curse for being polluted look beautiful up here. I wish I remembered to look down at Gardenvale when we flew above.
That would take my breath away.
I snap out of my trance only to listen to Dlmt3 talk about how he lost his leg. Apparently, he was an incredibly fierce warrior, and he even fought in the third Dwarf War when one of the dwarves' finest warriors challenged him to a duel. The poor dwarf lost his life, but Dlmt lost something that he couldn't fight without. He resigned from the army the moment his leg healed, and the loss deprived him of being able to exercize, slowly molding him into the cranky, chubby man that drives our helicopter today.
We land at the temple about the time he finishes his story.
"You guys better be careful," Dlmt warns us. "Ciu ain't the only person that's been got by that thing." We nod our heads and begin the trek down the pit.
The Temple
Terror and uncertainty hang in the atmosphere as our small team makes the first shaky steps onto the floor. There is no sound but the contact of our feet on the stone floor and our heavy breathing. But, for some reason, the absence of sound is more unsettling.
"I think I remember why I don't like this place," Ciu says nervously. "You know, other than the fact that I almost died here."
Suddenly, we all jump back as I put my foot down on the first step and the fires on the pillars light up all at once. I shake it off and continue climbing the steps. The further I approach the inside of the temple, the darker it seems to become outside. When I ascend the entire staircase, I turn around and see the sky completely black. But that is not the only thing I see. The orange fires of the pillars have once again turned a menacing purple, giving the place an eerie dim purple glow. The rest of the team is looking at me.
"What?" I ask.
"Lead the way," says Baker93, which confuses me. When did I suddenly become the leader? I shrug it off and turn around to face the temple. I start walking, then almost immediately stop in place when I remember what this temple is. This is the temple that is covered in death like a blanket. This is the temple where the greatest evil in Minecraftia could inhabit. This is the temple where
it took Ciu. I look into the entrance. There is nothing but darkness inside. A darkness that seems surreal, a darkness darker than black. A darkness that isn't just black, but a darkness that creeps into your thoughts and produces darkness within you.
"Swimmer," Guinessis says, which snaps me out of my trance. I suck in my breath and my fear and charge in.
As if it were a curtain over the entrance, the darkness immediately fades away when I pass through it. It reveals a narrow spiral staircase with torches lining the outer wall. Water drips from the ceiling, and the walls and stairs are cracked and mossy. I motion the others in, and we start the trek down the staircase. With every step, I can feel my heart beat louder and harder. It's as if the entire place is pulsing, because with every heartbeat, I see the torches grow bright for a second, then fade again.
"Do you guys notice anything.... weird?" Guinessis says after about a half an hour. At that moment, I
do notice something. The torches are still glowing, but they give off no light. Not only that, but the air seems to have a familiar dark purple luster. I shudder. This can only mean bad news.
"Yea," I say. "The torches."
"No," Guinessis says. "I mean the fact that this staircase seems to be growing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a wall around the stairs for about 10 minutes now." That's when I see it, too. Poking around the corner is a flat wall, normally the sign of a doorway. I get excited and run down to the wall, but I make no progress. The wall is still just around the corner.
"What the heck?" I exclaim. I break out into a dead sprint down the stairs, but the wall still remains in the same spot. Finally, I lunge towards the wall and grab on. I can feel the doorway's edge. I let go and stand up. Then I notice that there is nobody behind me.
"Guys! Down here!" I yell, and in a few seconds, they catch up to me.
"What happened?" Ciu asks.
"Well, the stairs kept coming out from the doorway, then I caught it. It seemed to break the illusion. Or, I think that's what it was. I don't really know with this place." I shake it off and stroll into the next room.
The Dark Hunter
"Well, what do you know," I say sarcastically. "More stairs." The only thing different is that this time, it's a straight staircase down, not a spiral one. The other thing different is that there is no torches. But other than that, it's still the same thing; an endless, mossy, cracked staircase in a dark, gloomy place with water and vines flowing down from the ceiling.
We begin the descent. It feels more ominous and scary than ever. Once again I start to get the feeling I got when I peered into the darkness at the temple's entrance. My stomach somersaults in fear. Suddenly, I am overcome with the urge of just lying down, curling up into a ball, and rotting on this very floor.
"Swimmer!" Guinessis exclaims, and I realize I have stopped in my tracks. I blink and push back the urge.
It's been 15 minutes now, and a greenish glow finally illumines the bottom of the staircase. Excitement, curiosity and confusion all mixed with terror propells us down the stairs to the glow. We finally reach the bottom, and look into..... oh, no.
It is a small, box-shaped room with green torches in the corners. In the middle, there is a small staircase leading up to a platform with green torches and a pedestal in the middle. On the pedestal is the same pumpkin we found in the desert. It is charged with lightning and emits crackling noises as small thunderbolts shoot out from it and plunge back in. It acts as if it is a black hole, sucking all the air into it. The sound is deafening. And, grinning evilly at us at the bottom of the staircase leading up to the platform, is Danni122112.
"No," I mutter under my breath, stupefied. "NO!"
"You've always been wrong, S_swimmer!" Danni yells over the wind, a mad look in his dark purple eyes. "You've always ran from the future! Embrace the darkness and you shall live!"
"Danni!" Baker93 screams. "You are insane! Walk away from the stairs, before you get consumed!"
Danni laughs a deep, booming, bloodcurdling laugh. The volume of his voice is surreal. "I AM NOT INSANE! I HAVE NEVER FELT MORE STRONG! MORE POWERFUL! MORE ALIVE!" And with that, he runs up to the pedestal and grabs the pumpkin.
"NOOOOO!!!!" I scream, but it's too late. Danni puts on the pumpkin, and the thunderbolts rumble through his body. Long tendrils of smoke slither around him. And I hear... laughter. Evil, mutated laughter. Then, the transformation is complete, and there is only silence.
As particles from the ground slowly rise and circle around Danni, we slowly, ever so slowly back away towards the staircase. Then the worst thing happens. I step in a puddle of water, and slip.
Danni's pumpkin head rotates a full 180°, looks at us and immediately charges. We race up the staircase at an unimaginable speed. Danni flies up behind us, tendrils of smoke racing out to grab us and pull us in. The light of the outside is only a few yards away. 3...... 2...... 1......
We emerge at the temple's entrance and sprint for the helicopter. I look behind and see Danni at the entrance. He spreads his arms out to the side, and a colossal smoke cloud reaching out to the extents of my vision rockets toward us.
"GET IN! NOW!!!!" Dlmt3 yells. We all jump in and he immediately takes off. The booming tidal wave of smoke slowly closes the distance.
"Faster!" I yell.
"This can't go any faster!" Dlmt turns around, tears running down his face. His eyes open wide in terror. A giant column of smoke shoots oout from the tidal wave and smashes the tail off the helicopter. We slowly spiral towards the ground.
"We have to jump!" Baker screams. "3! 2! 1! NOW!" We all jump out the moment before the helicopter plummets to the ground and explodes. We continue to sprint from the smoke, but Dlmt can't keep up. He falls back more, and more, and more, until he trips and falls down.
"DLMT!" I lock eyes with him and see the sheer terror in his soul before the smoke engulfs him entirely. "NOOOO!!!!" I yell, and run at the smoke to get him, but Baker93 pulls me back.
"It's too late," he says grimly. "We have to escape." With tears streaming down my cheeks, I nod and run.
-•-LOTDH-•-
"You have been revived," a deep voice says in his mind as he kneels, eyes closed, at the temple's entrance. "You have been reborn anew, and you now shall rekindle the light of darkness. Do you serve darkness?"
Dlmt3 opens his eyes and raises his pumpkin head. "Yes."
End Chapter 5