THE STOLEN MEMORIES

GOLDMAN44 VS Nightcrafter BOOK 1

Books in the Goldman44 Series

Goldman44 vs. Nightcrafter
Book 1. The Stolen Memories
Book 2. Warlords Awakened
Book 3. Goldman44 vs. Nightcrafter (Coming Soon!)

CHAPTER 1 – Evil Arises

Goldman44 drew his shimmering enchanted sword. The iridescent glow of the weapon lit his surroundings just enough to see in front of him. There were mounds of pale yellow blocks: end stone.
He shuddered as he realized where he was. He was in the End, a dark dimension where there were floating islands of end stone, and a massive creature called the Ender Dragon. You would not want to be hit by that… thing.
The golden user looked down into the darkness below the massive island of end stone. It stretched down into endless darkness, the Void. If he fell down there…
Goldman decided not to think about it. Instead, he peered into a black cube just floating in midair. It seemed to be some kind of portal. But he had never seen it before, it was either a new update to the game or something evil…
Goldman’s curiosity shattered his will. He reached into his inventory and pulled out an ender pearl. The small pearl seemed to stare back at him.
The user threw the pearl into the black cube. It sank into it as if it were made of shadow, and disappeared into the blackness. He was starting to wonder if he had made a mistake.
Suddenly, pain filled his senses as he was teleported into whatever was inside that dark block. His HP (health points) decreased as he materialized in the pitch darkness, and then his vision cleared. He was back in the End, but there was a strange feel to it. Tall, purple stems rose out of the ground and ended high in the dark sky. 
Welcome to the end city, a voice said in Goldman44’s mind. Goldman scratched his head. End City? Hmmmmm… 
Suddenly, Goldman heard a chuckling sound behind him. The golden user whirled around to face this seemingly threat. But before he could draw his sword, a blow struck him in the head, causing Goldman to blackout.
Goldman44 slowly woke. He was laying in the grass. But why? Had he passed out? Had he died? WHAT HAD HAPPENED? Before he even had the chance to think, the golden user thought he still heard a chuckle. When he turned, NOTHING WAS THERE!!!
Goldman44 shuddered. He pulled out his golden blade and looked around. For a second he thought an enderman was watching him over a hill. Then it disappeared.
The user then looked to the east. Nothing.
He looked at the southern horizon. Nothing.
Goldman peered up to the north. Still nothing.
Ooh, civilization! Goldman44 thought as he looked to the west. There was a large fortified village. He began to sprint when he heard a loud CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! 
He’d been spotted.
Goldman sheathed his enchanted blade and readied himself for a deadly wave of arrows. But surprisingly, he heard voices.
“HE’S BACK!”
Goldman44 rubbed his head. That was a lot of he’s backs. He hoped he could avoid it next time. But then it dawned on him. Why were they shouting, HE’S BACK!? It was almost like…
Suddenly, gates in the village burst open. Goldman44 thought that NPCs would be riding out, but strangely, it was a large group of users. But why were they here? Did they know him? He definitely did not recognize any of them.
“Goldman!” the one in diamond armor said. “You’re back!”
Do I know you? Goldman thought. The user’s voice seemed familiar but was definitely not ringing any bells. He did NOT know these people.
“Goldman?” the one that had a black skin mottled with pinks, purples and greens asked. “Why are you acting so strangely?”
Goldman44 began to back away slowly, but one of the users wrapped a diamond-coated arm around his shoulder and pulled him into the village.
“I’m your best buddy Craftpower! Ready for archery target practice?”
Craftpower? Goldman thought. This still wasn’t ringing any bells. Who was this “Craftpower”? Goldman wanted to ask, but he was dragged away. Soon he was in a training ground with target after target.
Goldman44 drew the enchanted bow he’d been given, and notched an arrow. He took aim at a target and fired. The projectile soared through the air and hit its mark. The glowstone lamp activated and a diamond landed on the ground.
Goldman looked at the diamond.
“Go ahead and get it,” said Craftpower. “It’s your prize.” 
Goldman grunted and sprinted toward the diamond. He was about to pick it up when the village bell rang. A noise echoed throughout the village. 
Craftpower’s expression turned to fear. He began to run away.
“Where are you going?” Goldman asked.
“Monsters are attacking!” Craftpower replied. “Get ready!”
Goldman shrugged and sprinted after him. When he reached an archer tower, he peered out into the field in front of the village. When he saw what was approaching, his blood turned to ice. There must have been a hundred spiders charging straight at the village walls. There was no way that a handful of users could stop a force this size.
And then, a single NPC was standing in front of the gates, then another and another until there were two hundred villagers. Goldman thought that villagers had their arms linked across their chests. But each NPC was holding an iron sword, a few diamonds, and a handful of stone, but they all had armor. How exciting! “Smithy!” One of the villagers screamed, as a larger NPC rode to the front of the defending army. “Hold your lines!” Smithy bellowed, “Cobbler, Mapper, you take squads B and C to flank the monsters! I’ll hold them with squad A.”
The villagers soon fell under the assault, the spiders tearing into NPCs, but as if on command, three hundred arrows erupted from NPCs on the walls. This was a devastating blow to the spider army, but the fuzzy monsters did not slow. 
NPCs fell as their HP was consumed by spider claws. It was a deadly battle, but then another volley of arrows filled the air. The spiders flashed red as they took damage, pointed shafts sticking into their bloated bodies. But then another wave of spiders flowed over the north wall, catching the defenders completely by surprise. Spider claws tore through iron armor. The archers on the walls drew swords to get rid of the mob, but this gave the first group of spiders complete control over the swordsmen. The first group of spiders tore into those on the ground, destroying half of them in a mere minute. The remaining warriors fled inside, but that wasn’t much better at all.
Goldman notched an arrow and took aim, but he knew one arrow would not make much of a difference. He released the arrow, but surprisingly, a hundred arrows behind him sped toward the spider army. The monsters flashed bright red but still continued to attack those on the ground.
“TO THE ARCHER TOWERS!” somebody from a different tower screamed.
The surviving soldiers ran toward the entrances, but many could not escape the wave of death. Most of the warriors made it through though. The spiders, realizing they could not win this battle, turned and fled north. Goldman44 watched the fuzzy monsters disappear over the horizon, and then every NPC and user cheered, not because they had won the battle, but for Goldman.
But Goldman was not cheering.
Craftpower moved next to him. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“The spiders are solo creatures,” Goldman hissed. “They never work together unless they are forced to.”
Craftpower gritted his teeth. “Someone must be leading them.”
“Or something.”
Craftpower nodded and gave Goldman44 a cold look that chilled the golden user to the bone.
The monsters were plotting something. Something bad.

CHAPTER 2 – Black Mask

Goldman44 stood in the wreckage of the battle. Probably a hundred NPCs had died in the fighting today, and the warrior wasn’t happy about it. And everybody else didn’t seem to be happy about it either. But it was still clear what they were going to do. Their army-maybe six hundred NPCs- would search the land until they found the source of this hatred for the villagers. So everybody was getting ready for tomorrow when the journey would begin.
“Hey, Goldman,” one of the users, Skull23487, said, “You should get to sleep. We have a big day ahead of us.”
Goldman sighed in agreement. “I guess you’re right,” he told Skull. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Goldman waved to his new friends and went to his new home. The outside was completely made out of gold. One of his friends had told him that Goldman had built it himself, but he didn’t remember that either. He went to his room, acting like he’d done it a thousand times. He took off his golden armor and put on yellow leather armor. He then lay back in his bed and went to sleep.
The hazy fog of his subconscious wrapped around Goldman44 with dark, misty fingers. The golden user thought about another of his friends that had helped him on his journey here, Glowstonia6, and instantly he materialized at her house.
“Hello, Goldman,” Glowstonia said to him. “What brings you here?”
Goldman shrugged. “Where’s Redbeam?”
Another user suddenly appeared next to Goldman44. The golden warrior jumped back in surprise.
“What’s up, man?” Redbeam86 asked. “What brings you here today? Anything important?”
“Actually, yes.” Goldman44 agreed. “A spider army attacked a huge village yesterday and killed, like, a hundred villagers, a seventh of the NPCs in the village.”
“Wait, what?” Glowstonia interrupted. “There are seven HUNDRED NPCs in that village?”
“Yes,” Goldman said. “Or at least there were-OOMPH!”
A thunderous blow shook the dream. Goldman dropped to the ground.
Redbeam86 gritted his teeth. “We’re under attack again.” he drew his sword and vanished, disappearing from the dream instantly.
Blocks of cobblestone and obsidian began to rain down. Goldman44 reached into his inventory and pulled out his map. The golden warrior handed the item to Glowstonia.
“We may need some help,” Goldman shouted. “Come and find-”
And then a block of obsidian hit him in the head, the dark block hammering into his skull. The dream faded, but Goldman could hear Glowstonia6 shouting to him:
“GOT IT!”
Goldman44 smiled as he slumped over and the dream turned grey. Soon, it was black.
Goldman44 woke up quickly. The sun was shining. It was time for the big day. It was.
Goldman44 started to stroll out. Then he realized that the whole village was in chaos. NPCs had iron weapons and armor ready. Archers were on the walls, firing arrows at an unseen threat.
Goldman44 leaped up onto the wall and climbed over. But it was only a dozen slimes and skeletons. Skeletons? In the day? Then Goldman saw the leather caps and nodded. He drew his enchanted golden blade.
An arrow hit him in the shoulder. Goldman shouted out in pain and attacked. The slimes protected the skeletons, who fired up at the archers. But there were so many archers that the three skeletons would easily be overrun any moment.
A slime bumped into Goldman44. Its acidic jelly skin seeped through the large cracks in Goldman’s armor, the stinging touch causing Goldman44 to step back. A slime lunged at him, and his leggings shattered under the strain of the monster’s skin.
Goldman swung his enchanted blade, it’s razor-sharp edge cutting through the green mobs like they were made of warm cheese. The slimes divided, and Goldman44 was quickly surrounded.
Suddenly, a string of arrows flew through the air. The slimes divided again into tiny slimes and disappeared as the arrows tore into them, claiming their HP.
There were only two skeletons left, both near death.
Goldman44 attacked with his enchanted blade. It slashed into a skeleton, scoring blow after blow after blow. The bony monster disappeared with a pop, it’s HP consumed. The remaining mob destroyed one villager before getting cleaved in half by Goldman’s blade.
Goldman took off his slowly crumbling armor. It was too damaged to be much use anymore. He put the armor in his inventory and sheathed his golden blade.
Gradually, the army of villagers exited the village. Goldman was wrong, there were far more NPCs in the village, probably a thousand. A user named Lavaguy222 jogged to Goldman and handed him a set of gold armor. No, not gold, enchanted gold. He was about to ask what the enchantments were when Lavaguy222 said,” They all have Projectile Protection IV and Unbreaking III. The helmet has Aqua Affinity I and Respiration II, and the boots have Depth Strider III and Feather Falling I.
“Wow, thanks!” Goldman said cheerfully as he put on the armor.
Lavaguy just grunted.
Well, he’s grumpy today, Goldman thought to himself. He climbed onto a horse and began to gallop north.
He daydreamed along the way to the source of the threat. He found himself on his horse riding IN THE SKY…
The wind was blowing strongly from the north. Goldman44 dismounted and peered around. There was nothing there. Goldman44 was so used to ACTUALLY HAVING SOMETHING AROUND. He wished that there was something… anything… and he was suddenly in an obsidian hallway. It was strange.
Goldman decided that it was better than nothing and began to explore the hallways of this structure.
The dark obsidian blocks seemed to touch him as he moved through the twisting passageways. And then he found himself at a dead end.
Okay… Goldman thought.
He started in the other direction and went through twists and turns. It seemed to go on forever. For some reason, he kept turning right every five blocks. Goldman didn’t realize he was going around in circles for a while. He only stopped to go down a different corridor after he got dizzy.
This is the most peculiar dream I have had so far. Goldman thought. And my dreams do get rather peculiar a lot of the time-WHOA!!!
Goldman came to another dead end. He started in the other direction again. He ran around like crazy until he came to another dead end that had a sign like all of the dead ends. It said-surprise!-DEAD END.
Goldman44 turned the other direction again. He wanted to mine the obsidian, but his diamond pickaxe was missing from his inventory. So was his sword, bow, arrows… there was nothing at all in his inventory. He couldn’t escape. There was nothing left to do rather than see if there was a way out of this place.
OOMPH! Another dead end.
Goldman44 started back again, walking along for a few minutes. It seemed like it took a shorter time to get to another dead end. 334 seconds.
The next time, it took 297 seconds. It was getting creepier and creepier. Goldman felt like he was gonna die!
Dead end.
Goldman looked up. All he could see was a misty purple haze up above in the air. It was impossible to tell where the obsidian ended and the haze began. Maybe the obsidian didn’t end. Goldman gulped. 202 seconds. What a nightmare!
Dead end.
183 seconds. Dead end.
165 seconds. Dead end.
149 seconds. Dead end.
121 seconds. Dead end.
100 seconds. Dead end.
86 seconds. Dead end.86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end. 86 seconds. Dead end.
At the 86th time, Goldman44 counted the dead end, it suddenly became pitch black. Booming laughter echoed through the dream.
MWAH HAHA. the voice said. SO YOU AND YOUR PATHETIC ARMY THINK THAT YOU CAN STOP ME FROM DESTROYING MINECRAFT? YOU ARE ALL IDIOTS!!!
“Nobody calls me an idiot,” Goldman shouted back. The golden user summoned all his will and drew his enchanted golden blade, his new armor already on his body. He looked up into the mist above him and saw the shape of a sinister face above him. Its purple eyes seemed to glare down at him. Goldman was afraid.
I WOULD LOVE DESTROYING YOU MYSELF, BUT UNFORTUNATELY, I HAVE NOT RISEN YET. THOUGH SOON YOU AND YOUR SO-CALLED “FRIENDS” WILL BE SORRY YOU DECIDED TO FACE THE WRATH OF Nightcrafter.
The dream melted into a black mush. Goldman44 thought that he was waking up, but the black mush morphed into a large obsidian chamber. Goldman44 gasped. There must have been five hundred monsters there. And on one side of the chamber, there was a wide, eight-block wide tunnel. Every few seconds, a monster would scurry into the chamber. If this was what they were up against, then the villagers had little chance of survival. Sure the monsters were badly outnumbered, but the difference between the two armies was that the monster army was growing. There was no chance of survival for the NPCs unless they hurried.
HA HA HA. Nightcrafter laughed. AND BY THE WAY, I HAVE SOMEONE WHO WOULD LIKE TO MEET YOU.
A dark, black-masked figure stepped in front of Goldman44. It drew a golden sword identical to Goldman’s. Goldman44 readied himself for an attack. But instead, the black-masked figure reached for it’s mask and yanked it off. Goldman shrieked when he saw what was underneath.
His own face.
The dream dissolved, along with Nightcrafter’s laughter. But just before the dream faded, Goldman heard Nightcrafter say SOMETHING. But Goldman could only make out the word surprise.
And the dream faded to black.
Goldman44 woke up screaming. He pulled on the reins of his horse. The animal suddenly stopped. Craftpower stopped his mount and looked at an embarrassed Goldman. The golden user chuckled nervously.
“Uh…heh heh…just daydreaming?” he stammered.
Craftpower looked at him oddly, then continued to ride his horse. Goldman44 looked behind him and saw the army, one thousand NPC soldiers. He wondered how many of them would have to die because of Nightcrafter, the new enemy. At the front and back of the army, the dozen or so users stood guard, watching for-
“CREEPERS!” a loud voice shouted from the middle of the army. Goldman44 and Craftpower steered their mounts just as an explosion echoed across the land. Creepers.
Goldman knew that this force was at least fifty strong. The NPC archers fired at the creepers, but the black and green spotted monsters split and snuck up on the villagers. Before any of the other warriors could utter a sound, the creepers detonated, tearing a huge hole in the NPC army. The remaining warriors turned around to fight off the monsters, but the first group moved to their rear and exploded. The archers disappeared, fifty NPC warriors gone.
NOOOOOO! Goldman thought as he drew his own blade. Although he had barely known these people for a day, he still felt responsible for every death caused by the monsters.
Worst still, the sun was sinking below the horizon. They had only a few minutes before it was night, so this was really bad. The monsters of the night would come out to greet them soon, and if-
A creeper detonated, throwing Goldman44 back. He slammed into a group of warriors, knocking many to the ground. The others circled the mob, sheathing their iron swords and drawing bows. They fired steel-tipped projectiles, the arrows raining down on the creepers, ten monsters left…
Nine…
Eight…
Seven…
The remaining seven creepers scattered, making it harder for the archers to aim. Yet it didn’t really matter because there were hundreds of NPC warriors and only a handful of monsters. More dark arrows hit their mark, extinguishing the life of another creeper; six left…
Five…
Four…
Three…
Two…
One…
And the last arrow flew through the air. It struck the last monster, claiming the last of it’s HP. They had won the battle.
Goldman looked around and saw a large amount of gunpowder and XP, but there were at least sixty piles of items, each pile representing an NPC that had died in the battle. They had probably exchanged one life for one life, and if they didn’t stop Nightcrafter soon, then…
But looking at the now sunless horizon, Goldman44 decided not to think about it. Now, they had bigger problems to deal with.
An arrow sped out of the darkness, followed by the sorrowful moan of a lone zombie. Uh, oh…this was not good.

CHAPTER 3 – The Night Watchmen

The army moved almost soundlessly. They were all very careful not to be seen or heard, for that would likely mean a huge mob of enemy warriors. While they walked, Goldman explained his situation to a few of the users, who passed it on again and again until every NPC knew what was going on. This did little to ease their fear, for it only increased it, but they all listened because the soldiers knew it was important.
Goldman44 was starting to learn the users better. There was Lavaguy222, Skull23487, EvJEDP, Ashtail, Magefiresword, BaseballUSA21, Sammy078, Zomb33, Spacedude101, Craftpower, MattVienn, Dark, Scrubspike, Seandrums95, YOUTUBE34 and LittleWolfPup. It was as if every famous user in Minecraft had come to stop Nightcrafter. But Goldman still wasn’t certain that Nightcrafter was their real enem-
Suddenly, Magefiresword pulled him by the back of his enchanted chest plate and positioned him behind a blocky tree.
“Take off your enchanted armor.”Mage said.
“Why?”Goldman44 asked as he took off his helmet.
Magefiresword pointed with his diamond sword. Goldman looked in that direction, and his blood turned cold. There was a huge obsidian fort, just like in his dream. This must have been Nightcrafter’s base.
Goldman put on a set of mundane iron armor and stepped out from his hiding, iron sword outstretched. There were at least a hundred skeleton archers guarding the fort. If they had to battle this many, a large chunk of their army would be destroyed, it was too risky. If only a small group went, then it would save countless lives.
“I need a hundred soldiers,” Goldman told one of the NPC generals. The villager motioned for a group of soldiers to come closer, then moved away. The NPCs looked up at him.
Goldman drew a non-enchanted bow and motioned for the soldiers to follow. The group of warriors followed, and soon they were behind the skeletons, the monster’s bony backs turned. Goldman could see the users had recognized his plan. They formed groups and waited.
Wait for it… soon, hold on… three, two…no…one…hmmm… YES! THIS IS IT! AND…
Suddenly, eight hundred NPCs attacked. Arrow after arrow shot into skeleton bodies. The bony monsters fired back, but were unable to turn back the tide. The monsters quickly perished, now only piles of bones and XP. It was time. A hundred NPC warriors followed Goldman44 into the entrance. It was huge, then medium, and then no more than two blocks wide, and suddenly the villagers were moving single file, a bad formation if any monsters caught them. Then Goldman44 reached a dead end.
Fear suddenly rippled down his spine…the dream!
Instead of moving in the other direction, the miners pulled out their diamond pickaxes and hammered at the obsidian. They broke block after block, but the obsidian seemed endless.
Goldman44 shuddered and looked back at Magefiresword. He must have had that dream too, because he looked equally terrified. 
Goldman could tell in general.
“Come on, we need to get out of here.” Mage said. Goldman nodded. “I doubt the NPCs here will survive if the dream repeats itself.”
Mage nodded his blocky head. He pulled out a diamond pickaxe and started to help the warriors expand the cavern so they could all fit. Soon, the chamber was huge. It was ten blocks by twenty blocks, and each soldier had their space. Goldman could tell this was where they would make a stand against the army of Nightcrafter.
“You’re worried, are you?” BaseballUSA21 asked. Goldman nodded in reply and looked at the end of the growing cavern, the corridor that led off into darkness. Goldman was sure that was the way that they had come in, but it would likely end without an exit.
I HATE YOU, NIGHTCRAFTER! Goldman screamed within his mind. He looked at Baseball, Mage, and Ashtail, his new friends. As he thought, he realized exactly how tired he really was. But then he thought about his friends who helped him on his journey, and refused to fail. He thought about the NPCs who had died for nothing except for Nightcrafter’s enjoyment, and refused to fail. He thought about his new friends, and about the monsters that would likely crash down on them, and refused to fail. But then the fear that had been deep in his subconscious struck. 
NO. Goldman thought. I REFUSE TO FAIL. 
Goldman gritted his teeth. The serpent of fear struck again. He pushed it aside.
NO. he thought. The only reason I think I will fail is because I haven’t tried. I REFUSE to fail my friends. THEY HAVE TO BE STOPPED!!!
“THEY HAVE TO BE STOPPED!!!”
The NPC warriors let out a great cheer. They COULD do this! The NPCs began to place down crafting benches and make new things out of diamonds. The miners had been busy back in the village. Sets of diamond armor were banged out as the three blacksmiths forged diamond swords. Soon, a hundred NPCs had diamond armor and weapons, and that meant all of them in the chamber. Magefiresword offered him the diamond weapons, but Goldman44 refused the offer. He always felt better wearing gold armor and holding his enchanted blade that he knew so well. The NPCs worked faster and faster until they had TNT, a level 30 enchantment table, and TNT cannons. 
Suddenly, a scream echoed from the other side of the outer wall. The army stopped cheering and drew their diamond pickaxes. The miners hammered at the blocks of obsidian. And then they saw what was on the other side. Monsters, hundreds and hundreds of them.
Goldman44’s blood turned to ice. There were even more than a thousand creatures, it would be nearly impossible for the villagers to survive this. But then, Goldman’s eye drifted to that black masked figure he had seen in his dream. No, wait, now there were two. No, three. Four?
Goldman’s blood went below zero. There were twenty-one black masked figures, more than the number of users. Slowly, one drew an enchanted golden sword and pointed its tip at Goldman. The user drew his swords, one his golden blade and the other one iron. The black masked figure with the golden blade approached Goldman44. 
Fear rippled down the golden user’s spine as that one black masked figure took off his mask. Underneath, Goldman saw a face identical to his except for one thing. The eyes.
They had blood red pupils with glowing purple around it. The evil users venomous stare chilled him to the bone. And then Evil Goldman charged at Goldman44.

CHAPTER 4 – Double Trouble

Goldman44 brought up his enchanted blade and just barely was able to  block the attack. The golden swords smashed together in a shower of sparks, the resulting sound like a clap of thunder. Goldman moved back as the sword streaked by his head; that had been close.
The golden warrior stabbed with his enchanted sword, while at the same time swinging his iron blade. The evil warrior knocked away his stab, just as the iron blade hit him in the side. Goldman thought it would easily go through his evil clones black armor, but it hardly did anything. His sword clashed against the dark chest plate, but it was like hitting an armored tank. A painful vibration moved up Goldman44’s arm. Then Evil Goldman kicked Goldman in the stomach, causing him to stumble back. Just as quickly, he slashed at Goldman44’s legs, the blade slicing through his enchanted armor. Pain flared up his thigh, his HP decreasing. Goldman blocked the next attack with his iron sword, then backed up.
The evil user drew his enchanted bow and aimed at Goldman. And… TWANG! The arrow struck Goldman in the chest, causing his chest plate to crack as hairline fractures spread across the armor plate. Goldman did a leaping attack, swinging his enchanted blade, but the weapon smashed into the evil warrior’s side, doing little more than annoy Evil Goldman. Otherwise, it was like hitting solid bedrock.
Ha ha ha. A sinister face seared itself into Goldman44’s mind; it was Nightcrafter. Problem?
Goldman blocked an attack with his golden sword, the lashed out. He struck, his blades glancing off the dark armor, and then screamed at the dark golden blade slashed through the armor on his back. The sword broke a chunk off his chest plate, stabbing into soft flesh. Goldman tried to ignore the pain, and kicked his enemy away.
Goldman slashed at his evil counterpart again and again, but each time, his blades would bounce off while he himself was torn to pieces, his HP plummeting every time he took damage. If this was one of Nightcrafter’s minions, then Nightcrafter’s strength…
His thoughts vaporized as the golden sword sliced into the armor on his arm. Goldman flashed red again, then blocked another attack. He tried slashing at the armor’s weak points… between armor plates, and his blade found flesh. In the blink of an eye, another blow flashed through his enemy’s blade, punching a hole in his leggings.
But Goldman found a glimmer of hope. He had managed to strike the black masked figure. And so he attacked again. But he was quickly blocked and shoved to the ground. Black Mask’s sword stabbed into his chest and dug in. Waves of pain shot through his body, his HP diminishing to nearly zero. Goldman slashed up, landing a strong blow in his enemy’s side. Goldman stood and backed away slowly.
He quickly bumped into an obsidian wall; he was cornered. Black Mask approached him, the sword held firm.
Goldman knew he couldn’t retreat, and surrendering was equally bad, as the NPCs he led would also have to surrender. So Goldman44 knew he had only one option.
He attacked.
Black Mask blocked the attack and swung his enchanted golden sword. Goldman ducked under the attacked and stabbed under the chest plate. He’d scored another hit.
Goldman slashed again, but his sword glanced off Black Mask’s armor. But it was like hitting something more like obsidian than bedrock, the armor’s strength was waning.
Black Mask slashed again. Goldman almost doubled over in pain, his HP was nearly depleted. A few more hits from the shadowy blade, and Goldman44 was toast.
Goldman stabbed again at the armor’s weak points. His enemy flashed bright red over and over again, the armor weakening each time. Goldman slashed again, and his blade dug into the armor. The golden user struck again, this time harder.
CRACK… a chunk of black armor broke off.
Black Mask howled and charged. Once again, the blade slashed into Goldman’s flesh. Pain radiated through his body, his legs suddenly becoming unstable. Goldman fought back vigorously, his swords slashing into exposed armor. Flash…flash…flash…
And the final blow slashed into Goldman. His HP dropped to almost zero and he fell to the ground, too weak to stand. He was sure Black Mask would have finished him off by now, but instead, the shadowy user picked him up and threw Goldman over his shoulder. Black Mask then sprinted toward one of the of the tunnels.
Goldman looked back at his friends, then everything went dark.

The fog of dreams wrapped around Goldman44’s soul with its dark misty fingers. It was cold and clammy, sucking his hope and filling him with dread. As the dream began to form around him, he was shocked by what he saw.
It was not the open Overworld, the Nether, or the End, and not even End City. There was just Void below him.
Goldman began to panic, thinking it was doomsday.
But he did not fall. It was as if there was an invisible barrier holding him up. He stamped the ground with his foot, and it sounded and felt solid.
It was only then when Goldman started looking at his surroundings. It was just an endless sea of darkness except for one thing and one thing only. There was a HUGE beacon. No, it was huger than huge. This would have dwarfed the largest mountain in Minecraft. It was an exact pyramid, with eighteen beacons up at the top. Goldman didn’t want to walk up the impossibly huge structure, so he used his mind. After all, in a dream you could do anything!
His vision went blurry for a moment. Then he was at the top of the pyramid. He realized where he was, the beacon of Minecraft. There was one beam for each color of wool. Goldman knew that if they were all extinguished, Minecraft would be extinguished as well.
And the monsters probably would want to destroy this as well, but it made no sense. Wouldn’t they die as well? Then Goldman shuddered. The monsters wanted to rule everything. Not Minecraft, but the physical world as well. This was not good.
Goldman decided he had to warn his friends, but the dream was fading. No, it could not have been a dream, but a vision. This last thought lingered inside of Goldman’s head as the last of the dream evaporated, the confines of his dark subconscious closing in on him.

Goldman awoke to voices. Lots of them. They were monster voices. They were saying, “This is the last of them.”
“Good, good.”
“The Queen will be proud.”
“We will rule all!”
The last of them? The Queen? It made no sense. But that evil figure holding him with his vile touch said, “Present him to the Queen.”
Goldman44 opened his eyes.

CHAPTER 5 – The Silver Queen

The first thing Goldman44 saw after being knocked out was a silvery light. Then he realized that it was only sunlight reflecting from blocks. How strange these blocks were, Goldman thought. But what type of blocks were they? He had never seen these before. It was a color Goldman44 knew, but never really knew that they had ever existed in Minecraft. They were blocks of silver.
I know. Goldman44 was surprised too. But it was only a few moments later that Goldman44 realized that the blocks were not the only thing that was silver. There was a small amount of monsters and users inside, maybe no more than a hundred of them. They all had silver skin, even the endermen had silver particles around them. They all looked afraid of something, but it couldn’t have been Nightcrafter. Monsters were the specialty of Nightcrafter.
The Queen, that single thought still lingered inside his head. He looked up. There was a massive throne made out of blocks of silver. Somebody was sitting in it; a Queen.
“I am Silvergirl22, the Silver Queen,” the Queen said to Goldman44 as he stood. Goldman could tell his HP was still low. The number of silver monsters in the room was not large, but Goldman did not want to take his chances. He had to do whatever this “Silvergirl22” told him to avoid a fight.
“What do you want with me?” Goldman asked, trying to sound confident, but inside he felt the same thing: overwhelming fear.
The Silver Queen glared at him. “He’s the stubborn one.” she said.
Goldman felt insulted. “Well,if you’re gonna kill me, then get on with it already!!!”
Some of the silver monsters started to move forward, but the Queen stopped them. “No, do not attack. I have much better plans for this one.”
The monsters slowly backed away. Goldman looked up. He could see cages made of silver. There was one empty one, and the rest were filled with Goldman’s friends. Goldman knew who was going to go in that empty cage. He was trapped.
Goldman looked out at the monsters and could tell that even if he could release the users, there would still be no way to escape. They were doomed.
Goldman lare back up at the Silver Queen. He then slowly drew his bow, ready to fight until the end.
He pointed the arrow at the Queen.
Silvergirl22 didn’t even see the golden user as a threat. Goldman pulled his arrow back further, aiming for her chest. And then he released the arrow.
The Flame enchantment on the bow made the tip of the arrow light on fire as it arched through the air. The arrow should have pierced straight through the Queen’s chest, but it just bounced off her silver dress. The flaming shaft clattered to the ground at the Silver Queen’s feet.
The Queen laughed. Goldman gulped and took a step back. And then another golden blade slashed into his weapon, knocking the bow to the ground. The Silver Queen picked it up and the enchanted weapon turned to silver just like that.
“Thank you, my minion,” the Queen said, gesturing to Black Mask. Black Mask bowed, showing respect for his Queen.
“Wait,” Goldman said. “He’s your minion?”
“Ahh, yes.” the Silver Queen said, stepping down from her majestic throne. “We are not Nightcrafter’s servants, but his ally.”
“ Well, you still haven’t answered my question,” Goldman snapped back. “What do you want with me?”
The Queen gave him another evil grin. “Why, to take away your powers and give them to Nightcrafter.” she said. “And once Nightcrafter rules, he will destroy every last one of your puny friends by throwing them into the Void. And then I will have you forever.”
Goldman44 waved his sword to keep the Queen from advancing, but yet the silver figure approached him. Goldman backed up and bumped him into the wall; he was trapped. The Silver Queen moved forward toward him.
“NO!” Goldman screamed.
Then everything went dark.

_ _ _

When Goldman came to, he was sitting in a large silver bed. He looked around. Everything was still silver. Goldman44 groaned and lay back in the bed. So it hadn’t been a dream at all. He was still trapped inside the Silver Queen’s domain. Just then the door opened.
A hunter came in, holding a platter of food. “The Queen has commanded that-”
Goldman was suddenly filled with an overwhelming rage.
“GET!!! SCRAM!!!” he screamed.
Goldman sat up and reached for his golden sword. The hunter ran away screaming. Goldman pulled out his sword and almost screamed himself. This was not his sword!
Goldman looked at the new weapon. It was a silver blade just as big and heavy as his favorite golden blade. It also had the same enchantments, Sharpness V and Knockback II.
Goldman looked down at himself and almost screamed again. Instead of his usual yellow shirt, his clothes were perfectly new and were the color of silver. And at the foot of his bed, on a silver stand, there was a new set of enchanted silver armor. All of Goldman’s possessions, his armor, sword, bow, tools…
They had all been replaced by the silver items that stood before him. Goldman donned the armor and looked around the room for any more weapons, and found a silver shield. Goldman took the extra protection and marched out of his room.
Goldman had been wrong about the size of the silver monster army. There were easily six hundred of the shiny monsters, some going to the surface.
Goldman decided that he could blend in and investigate. He put away his sword and shield. Then he joined the huge crowd of monsters going to the surface. 
Then he heard the sound of drums. Goldman44 knew that something was going on. He gripped the hilt of his sword firmly and emerged from the palace.
Goldman gasped when he saw what was going on, but he kept his mouth shut afterward to avoid detection. Lavaguy222 was just being led out of a passage at the opposite side of what Goldman recognized as a stadium. Goldman gritted his teeth. What was going on? He sat down in a seat just as Lavaguy222 was led toward a pit of lava.
OH NO! Goldman thought. He had to resist the urge to draw his enchanted blade. And then Lavaguy was thrown over the side.
Noooooooo… Goldman bit his tongue. Lavaguy was gone! 
Noooooooo… he screamed at himself again, but there was nothing he could do. Or was there?
“NO.” Goldman said, this time aloud. His anger was building up… soon, he would explode. The other monsters started to notice him.
“NO…NO!!!” he screamed. “NO!!!”
Suddenly, he drew the shimmering blade and pounced on the endermen who had thrown Lavaguy222 over the side. The golden user slashed with such ferocity that his arm hurt. The pain fed to his anger as he hacked away at the silver endermen again and again. In seconds, they were gone.
Goldman drew another silver blade out of his inventory, probably the one that used to be the iron blade. Five hundred silver monsters charged at him, but he was not afraid. He was overcome with such a hatred it hurt.
And the monsters were on him.
His blocky arms were a blur as he slashed again and again. Twelve monsters lost their lives before they knew what was happening. They saw a flash of silver as Goldman44 whittled down at their ranks. The monsters fought back, but could not master Goldman’s deadly accuracy. He slaughtered monster after monster. Soon, the monsters backed away,fifty of them gone.
“COME ON.” Goldman growled. “YOU WANT SOME?”
“MONSTERS,” the Silver Queen yelled in disbelief. “ATTACK!!!”
Goldman gripped his swords firmly, refusing to give up.
And then the battle began.

CHAPTER 6 – Breakin’ Out of Jail

Goldman put away his mundane silver blade into his inventory and drew the enchanted shield. Gripping his enchanted blade firmly, Goldman readied for the assault. And then the mob was on him.
Dark claws tore into him as arrows bounced off his silver armor. A claw slipped under, slicing into his shirt. It just barely touched his skin, causing Goldman to grunt, but he continued fighting against the flood of silver monsters.
SLASH… a chunk of his armor broke off and an arrow pierced Goldman’s exposed skin. 
TWANG… skeleton bows hummed, but the arrows bounced off of Goldman44’s shield.
SLICE… Goldman brought his enchanted blade down on a monster. The spider disappeared with a pop.
Goldman fought as hard as he could, but there were three hundred monsters and only one of him. His strength faded and was replaced by fear.
I can’t do this… the golden user thought as he slashed at an armored zombie, the last of the creature’s silver armor crumbling. Goldman attacked again looking for reinforcements, but, of course, there were none.
Wait, what was that?
Goldman squinted at the edge of the stadium. There were 2 users, along with one NPC, no two, three?
With a roar, three hundred NPC warriors burst over the side. Arrows rained down on the approaching horde, zombies and skeletons disappearing followed by spiders. In just under a minute, there were only a dozen monsters left. The zombies moaned in protest and the skeletons clattered. But they could do nothing; they had become prisoners.
The army let out a cheer and made faces at the remnant of the monster army. The zombies snarled.
But the Silver Queen was the one who was angry.
“YOU LITTLE NIGHTMARES…” the angry Queen screeched. “DESTROY THEM!!!”
The monsters attacked, but were quickly silenced by arrows. Only one lone skeleton remained. Goldman quickly cut it down with his enchanted silver sword. The silver warrior yelled in frustration and stepped down onto the arena.
Goldman held up his damaged shield, ready for the attack that would surely follow. Goldman looked around and saw the users, a few he did not know. Goldman knew he had to free them.
The user looked back and could see the Queen had her back turned to him. Goldman44 quickly sprinted over to the cages and struck at the bars. Unfortunately, his silver pickaxe didn’t help.
Goldman saw a lock and looked around. There was no key. He sighed and plunged his sword into the locks, tying to…
CLICK… EvJEDP’s cage crumbled to dust. The user drew his blood red sword, looking around for threats, then using Goldman’s technique. The cages crumbled when they were unlocked. Soon, about twenty users stood in the room. 
Goldman walked back into the arena. The Silver Queen looked back at them. The users drew their swords. Goldman grinned as he drew his other blade. The Silver Queen looked less confident as the users came closer, the NPC army close behind. Goldman pointed his enchanted blade at his enemy’s chest. 
“Surrender yet?” he asked with a sneer.
The Silver Queen backed up, but found there was nowhere to go.
Goldman smiled as his enemy put her hands up. 
“Well, if you are to live, you will tell us what you know about Nightcrafter’s plans. Unless you would like to die? I’m sure this sword is plenty sharp.”
‘Fine, I’ll tell.” the Silver Queen said. “Nightcrafter plans to use you and your friends to give him unlimited powers. He said stealing your memory was necessary, so-”
‘Wait, my memory was stolen by Nightcrafter?” Goldman asked.
The Silver Queen nodded. “You were the leader among your friends. So Nightcrafter stole your memories and put them into an apple.”
Goldman nodded. “But why? Why would he-”
Suddenly, the ground rumbled. Goldman suddenly felt like thousands of slimes were moving under him. The sky turned purple and lightning flashed. Rain made out of purple liquid rained down in sheets. They landed on Goldman’s silver helmet. The armor sizzled,
“Oh no,” the Silver Queen said. “The destruction of the Overworld has begun.”
Goldman winced as a drop of acid rain splattered on exposed skin, some of the armor missing. It felt like fire, and he could feel his HP decrease.
“We need to get out of here!” Skull23487 said as he fell to one knee. Goldman raised his shield to give himself protection, then turned to the NPC army.
“We must escape the Overworld.” the user checked his inventory. “Does everyone have enough supplies?”
Nodding from the NPCs and users.
Goldman continued. “I know it may seem crazy, but Nightcrafter is not in the Overworld.”
The Silver Queen nodded. “Yes, it is in the Realm of Evil.”
Goldman shuddered. “The Realm of Evil? That doesn’t sound very good.” Another drop of rain burned through his chest plate.
The Queen shook her head. “No, it is not. But the key to defeating Nightcrafter is in there.”
Goldman frowned.
“Well, how do we get there?”
“You need to travel across eight dimensions, each worse than the last. You will also need better armor and weapons.”
Goldman looked back at the NPCs and users. They had iron armor while maybe a third had diamond. Wasn’t that strong enough?
“Diamond armor?”Goldman asked.
“Yes, diamond will be fine. But more importantly, the seven power users need a stronger armor, elemental armor.”
“What is elemental armor?” Scrubspike asked.
“Yeah, and who are the power users?” Craftpower asked.
“Well, the power users are the only ones who can defeat Nightcrafter.”
“Oh boy, now we get to talk about prophecies. Hooray.” muttered Ashtail.
“Be nice,” EvJEDP chided. 
“Anyway,” the Queen continued. “I have the elemental armor.”
Goldman grew excited. “Where is it?”
“In the armory,” the silver warrior replied.
Goldman remembered seeing a room labeled ARMORY.
He bolted into the silver castle. Soon, he came to it and opened the door, which was made of silver.”
“Whoa,” Skull said. “They have a diamond knockback scythe.”
“It’s a hoe, dude.” Mage said.
“Oh,” Skull replied. “Um… I knew that.”
“Look at this oxygen helmet!” Spacedude exclaimed. “It has Respiration INFINITE!!”
“Yeah?” Ash said. “So?”
“Ummm…” Spacedude said as he put the enchanted iron helmet on.
Goldman found his golden blade. He quickly grabbed it, holding it out at the ready, switching the silver blade to his left hand. With the two enchanted blades, he felt unstoppable.
“Ahhh… here is the elemental armor.” the Queen said.
“ Thanks, uhh… what should I call you?”
“Silvergirl22,” the former queen replied.
Goldman found a set of golden armor…golden elemental armor. He felt like it was calling to him, so he put it on. He then felt so powerful it hurt for a moment, but then he got used to it being put on.
“Am I a power user?” Goldman asked.
Silvergirl22 nodded. She took a book with silver binding out of her inventory and read aloud:
“The power users are Goldman44, Lavaguy222, Skull23487, Ashtail, EvJEDP, Silvergirl22, and Watergirl111.”
Goldman gestured for his power user friends. Six stepped forward, only one that he didn’t know. They each put on the elemental armor, even Silvergirl22 doing so. Goldman noticed one set not put on.
“Lavaguy222.” Goldman sobbed.
“Uh, what?” someone asked from over his shoulder.
Wait, Goldman thought. Where do I know that voice from? Is it Lavaguy? Yeah, Lavaguy. Lavaguy? LAVAGUY!!!”
“Lavaguy!” Goldman turned around and hugged Lavaguy so tight that the flaming user’s armor cracked and popped.
“Ribs!” he squeaked.
Goldman handed the user his flaming armor. Goldman could feel his HP decreasing as he gave the armor to Lavaguy222, the flames burning into his flesh. Then Lavaguy accepted the armor, and his HP began to increase again.
Lavaguy then pointed his enchanted diamond sword at Silvergirl22.
“So, we need to get to the Realm of Evil to stop Nightcrafter. Can you help us?”
Silvergirl nodded. “The gateway is in the Realm of Destiny.”
“Wait, we can’t get there from the Overworld?”
‘I’m afraid not. You have to go across seven dimensions, and the eighth will be the Realm of Evil.”
“Oh great. So how do we get to the first dimension?”
“The portal room.”
“Can you take us to the ‘portal room’?”
“Sure,” Silvergirl22 replied. “Though first, I need to gather my remaining minions so we may help you on the quest.
‘Wait, you decided to help us?” Goldman asked as a collection of a hundred silver users gathered in the armory.
“Yes,” Silvergirl replied. ‘Now we must hurry before Nightcrafter rises. And if he does, it will be nearly impossible to win.”
“Then let’s go,” Ash said.
_ _ _

The army streamed out of the other side of the portal like an unstoppable flood. This land looked much like the Nether, but instead of being made out of the usual netherrack, everything was made out of obsidian, fire, and lava. This was the Realm of-
“This is the Realm of Fire.” Silvergirl22 explained, interrupting Goldman’s thoughts. “It is Lavaguy’s realm.”
Lavaguy gazed around in wonder. “My dimension?”
“Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha no.” Silvergirl replied to Lavaguy’s question. “Your kingdom is here, but you do not own this entire dimension. There are also guardians, such as the fire-troopers. You also may want to fight for the Sword of Matrix.”
‘What’s the Sword of Matrix?” Lavaguy222 asked. He drew his enchanted diamond sword. “This?”
Silvergirl22 shook her head, then handed that silver bound book to Goldman44. Goldman took the book and looked at the title. It said, Minecraft. 
“Catchy title.” Goldman muttered.
“It will tell you everything you need to know. It holds the answers to the questions you’re asking yourself and me.”

“Like how to defeat Nightcrafter?” Goldman asked. 
“Well, no.” Silvergirl replied. “It does not tell those kind of answers, for you will need to figure it out on your own.”
“Why can’t we just ask you?”  Skull asked.
“Hey, would you like to be bombarded by questions for the next few hours?” Silvergirl asked him.
“Uhh…no, would you?”
“OF COURSE NOT!!!” the silver user shouted. Skull took two steps backward, in case Silvergirl was still an enemy.
“Aha!” Goldman exclaimed, hoping to avoid an argument. “The creation of Nightcrafter.”
“What’s it say?” Ash asked. 
Goldman started reading from the book.
THE CREATION OF Nightcrafter
It all began with the destruction of Herobrine. Herobrine was a virus that made it’s way into Minecraft’s systems and it wanted to rule all. So the virus organized a monster army, led by his enderman king Teleportus, to march on the base of the rebels and destroy them once and for all.
The seven users of hope fought back against the tide. But Herobrine’s army was much too massive, and the monsters won that battle. Luckily, the creator of Minecraft, Notch, sent in the antivirus program Arc101. With renewed strength, the villagers and users fought back and pushed the mob back into the shadows, and this conflict ended with the destruction of Herobrine.
Arc101 collected Herobrine’s XP himself, and the villagers respected him for saving Minecraft. But what Arc101 didn’t know was Herobrine’s evil XP still contained the smallest amount of his evil. This evil became the virus Nightcrafter. And slowly, the virus grew and took over Arc101 before destroying him once and for all.
But there is still hope. One day, the seven power users will rise and attack Nightcrafter in a deadly battle for Minecraft itself.
Goldman finished the book. He expected somebody to start to ask a question, but nobody did. Everyone was speechless.
After a few minutes, Ev broke the silence.
“Where are we going now?” Ev asked. “It seems like we have been walking aimlessly for an hour without knowing which way to go.”
Nobody really wanted to talk much, but Silvergirl22 led the way anyway. After that, Goldman talked to Lavaguy, even though they were not really in the mood.
“Do you know what the Sword of Matrix is?” Lavaguy222 whispered to Goldman. In response, Goldman said, “Nope. Do you want me to look it up in the book?”
Lavaguy nodded.
Goldman opened the silver book and flipped to the Ss. “Sword of Bones, Sword of Destiny, Sword of- hmmm… AHA! Sword of Matrix. It says the sword is a weapon to use against Nightcrafter, one of the eight elemental swords. It can be found in the realm of fire, and is meant for the hands of the lava power user.”
“Yo, who is the lava power user?”
“You.”
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“How do you know?”
“I wasn’t finished reading. It says ‘the lava power user, Lavaguy222.”
“Oh. Makes a lot of sense.”
“I know.”
“But I thought prophecies don’t make a lot of sense.”
“Did I SAY that this was a prophecy?”
“Uh, no?”
“Hrmph.”
Lavaguy seemed to have had enough. He walked away. Goldman decided to see what realms were in the book. He opened it when he was knocked off his feet. Pain radiated through his body.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Goldman asked loudly. Then he looked up. There were a huge group of NPCs up on the side of an obsidian mountain. One of them turned bright orange and a fireball shot out of the creature’s bow. Goldman ducked, the blazing sphere of death just barely missing his elemental helmet. He drew his own bow and fired back.
“Fire troopers,” Silvergirl22 hissed. Goldman ran to shield an NPC, a fireball hitting his armor. If it was made of gold, it would have melted. But the elemental armor held just fine.
Goldman drew his golden sword with his right hand and the silver sword with his left hand. He snickered, knowing what to do.
“COME AND GET ME, FREAKS!” Goldman shouted.
A half dozen fire troopers turned red hot, then spat a blazing volley. Goldman struck at the first fireball with his enchanted silver blade. He then dodged the second and struck the third and fourth with his blades. The fifth slammed into his chest plate, but he deflected the sixth.
BOOM…BOOM…BOOM…BOOM!
Balls of fire blossomed, engulfing the fire troopers with their flaming fingers of death. The flaming NPCs screamed as a hundred arrows, then a hundred more, rained down on them. Soon, with the cost of just one villager, the whole battle was over.
“Man, high five!” Zomb33 shouted, high fiving users and NPCs. The army let out a great cheer, but it was drowned out by an alarm.
BLONK! BLONK! BLONK!
They’d been spotted.
Goldman drew his shield and headed up the hill. What he saw was a village made out of magma blocks. There must have been a hundred flaming NPCs, and they didn’t look happy.
“WE NEED TO MOVE!”
The villagers didn’t stop to think. They drew shields and hurried down a set of narrow obsidian steps that had clearly been carved or placed on the side of the mountain. Goldman peered down, but he couldn’t see the bottom; only a set of steps falling into a dark red haze. Whatever was down there clearly would not want to be seen.
Goldman hurried down the steps, bringing up the rear of the army. There were 2 users at his side, one Spacedude101 and the other Goldman hadn’t seen before. But when the user fired her bow, the arrows exploded in a shower of water when they hit a target, slowing down some of the approaching fire troopers. Goldman drew his own bow and fired, along with Spacedude. The enemy was getting drenched and taking damage from the violent showers of water, then cut down by Goldman and Spacedude’s arrows. The fire troopers gave up and retreated after losing twenty soldiers.
“Spacedude, what’s it like down there?” the water user asked.
“IDK,” Spacedude replied. “Should I check?”
“Yeah.” the girl replied.
Spacedude grinned at Goldman. “Watch this.”
A burning smell started to come from Spacedude101. Goldman didn’t know what was going on until-
“You can levitate?” Goldman asked.
“Jetpack style.” Spacedude smiled.
Goldman watched the flying user soar down into the red haze. A few minutes later, he flew back up. Goldman nodded.
“Nothing but a sea of lava. Oh, and a chest.”
“Do you know what is in the chest?”
“Some sword with a carving on the hilt. I think it said Matrix.
“Wait, it said MATRIX? M-A-T-R-I-X?”
Spacedude101 nodded. “Do you have any idea what MATRIX means? At all?”
“The Sword of Matrix,” Goldman muttered. “We need it to fight Nightcrafter. But there is a guardian.”
“Really? What?” Spacedude asked.
Suddenly, Goldman heard screaming down below.
“DRAGON!!!” It screamed. “DRAG-”
There was a loud roar from down below. The NPCs put away their shields and drew their iron swords. Goldman heard the sound of flapping wings, and then he saw it, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, far, below. It was a huge dragon made of lava.
“The Guardian of the Sword.” he said. He turned to the water user. “Keep it at bay with your arrows,” he said.
The user smiled. “Watergirl111 at your service.”
Watergirl started to shoot watery missiles from her blue bow. Goldman saw an arrow land on the ground, now visible, and turn into a pool of water. Goldman decided the time was right.
He jumped.
Goldman streaked through the air. Had he made a mistake? Goldman was getting scared. He then landed with a huge splash. He survived!!!
Goldman pulled out a stack of cobblestone and held it at the ready. He could see the lava dragon clearly now. He readied for it’s “lovely” embrace. And it was on him. Goldman placed his cobblestone at the last second. The dragon slammed into the gray blocks. It screamed in pain as arrows rained down on it. Goldman noticed an orange boss health bar on the top of his vision, decreasing by about a sixteenth. Goldman didn’t know why, but he was good at fractions. The dragon attacked him. Goldman thrust his enchanted blade up, but it only felt air as the Lava Dragon slammed into him, knocking him to the edge of the lava pool. The Dragon took the plunge, and Goldman was knocked into the boiling ocean.
Pain radiated through his body as the burning liquid seeped through his elemental armor. The protective coating absorbed most of the damage, but Goldman could still feel his HP decreasing at a large rate. Goldman kicked and swam to the surface, but the dragon knocked him in again. Goldman could feel his HP draining, getting dangerously low.
Goldman made his way to the surface and held out his silver shield. The dragon’s claws sliced into the metal, cracking and gouging it’s shiny surface. Goldman struck at it with his golden sword, making it flash red.
The golden user pulled out a glass bottle, dropping his weapons. He drank its contents, picked up his sword and shield, and faced the dragon, which was now at three quarters health.
But the fiery creature was busy.
Goldman watched as it tore into the NPC army. The archers attacked with their steel-tipped rain, but the dragon’s health increased ever so slightly, making the pointed shafts have less effect. The dragon tore into the squad, reducing the number of archers to less than a hundred. The swordsmen drew bows and fired, but even they could not vanquish the dragon. Goldman watched as the NPC swordsmen were eliminated, and then the archers.
Goldman looked around at the remnant of the army, maybe twenty users. They all had enchanted bows out. The dragon tried to take them out, but then Zomb33 and Spacedude101 would land on it’s back and strike it with their enchanted iron blades.
But it was still a hopeless battle.
Goldman suddenly got an idea. He ran up the side of the mountain, hoping the dragon would not notice him. It was working. Goldman sprinted up the stairs until he was twice as high up as the dragon.
Thanks for the idea, Gameknight999 and Monkeypants_271. He thought. Who knew those books would come in handy now?
Goldman grinned and put away his swords. He then jumped off the cliff toward solid ground.
It’s funny how these things happen right before your death, he thought. Then he placed the slime block.
BOING!
Goldman flew through the air. He grabbed the dragon’s tail just in time, hanging by one hand. The golden user climbed up the dragon’s back and struck it with his golden sword. The flying nightmare groaned in pain. The tail slammed into Goldman, but his elemental chest plate withstood the mighty blows. Goldman could hear it crack the slightest bit as the dragon began to lose altitude. Zomb and Spacedude used their jetpack chest plates and joined Goldman44. The Lava Dragon’s health fell lower and lower. It shook its tail wildly, hoping to shake Goldman off. Goldman stabbed it again, then an arrow hit the creature’s head, Zomb slashed again…the dragon was losing strength.
“NOW!” Zomb shouted.
Two-dozen arrows flew through the air, claiming the last of the dragon’s HP. The boss health bar went 1 whole empty, and Goldman looked around as the dragon vanished.
Gravity took hold.

CHAPTER 7 – Nightcrafter

Goldman streaked toward the lava ocean like a shining gold missle. Knowing what to do, the golden user took off his chest plate. He quickly put on his enchanted elytra. It had Mending to keep it in top shape. Goldman was still falling. His elemental boots dipped into the molten stone as the elytra opened. Goldman could hear them sizzling as he glided toward shore. At last, he collapsed, covered in soot. He looked up and was shocked to find a white portal, and the chest had opened by itself. Goldman saw Lavaguy take out the Sword of Matrix. The blade turned from white to orange.
The users let out a cheer.
Goldman wiped the soot off of his elytra. It filled the air with dark smoke. Goldman coughed and stopped brushing the gray wings. He quickly removed them and put on his elemental armor.
Goldman then looked at the glowing white portal. 
“The portal to the Realm of Bones.” Skull23487 said. He put his hand through and vanished. The others did too, leaving Goldman, Zomb, and Spacedude. They all looked at each other and nodded. Then they jumped into the portal.
Goldman felt like he was a sonic wave.
His body had broken up into tiny different parts. It was causing him nausea. He really didn’t want to throw up in hyperspace, but sometimes you can’t hold it back. The piece that was his mouth emitted a massive bubble of slime that covered Goldman. Then, his gut twisted, and then he was there.
The Realm of Bones was a lot different than the Realm of Fire. It was made out of white bone blocks. He decided that this represented Skull23487 because of his skeleton skin. The golden user then realized something was moaning next to him. He punched, drew his silver shovel and attacked. Pretty inconvenient. Goldman saw his arm flash red as a bony claw slashed into his elemental armor, clawing it’s way through. Goldman drew his shears and shore away at the bony creature’s health.
Then, it was done. A massive pile of bones lay ast Goldman’s feet.
“What was that?” Goldman asked as he caught up.
“A skele-demon,” Silvergirl22 replied. “And for your information, you shouldn’t use a shovel and shears. They get pretty tough. And that was only a baby one.”
“But…but…that thing was like twice as tall as me!” Goldman stammered. “How is that-” but his words were cut off by a loud, rattling groan that shook the landscape.”
“Um, Goldman?” Silvergirl looked nervous. “You know how skele-demons are really protective of their young?”
“Yeah. So?” Goldman asked.
“Here comes Mama.” Silvergirl said. Then she began to run. Goldman turned around and found himself face to face with a skeleton head.
“GAAAHHHH!!!”
Goldman tried to run, but was caught in a huge hand. The skeleton demon drew Goldman closer and opened a gaping maw. Oh no! Goldman was about to become breakfast. He drew his silver axe and smashed the monster. The skeleton apparently had armor made of bone, because it did not cry out. Mama Skeleton struck, but Goldman deflected it with his enchanted axe.
The golden user drew his swords and struck. A chunk of chest plate fell to the floor as Goldman44 attacked. The creature flashed red like a blinking strobe… and was gone.
Goldman stood panting. He quickly munched on a pork chop to get his HP up. The little hearts of health were refilling, even though Goldman couldn’t see them. He sprinted over to the rest of the party. Then Skull announced boldly:
“Everyone, we need to rest. You all look terrible.”
Lots of grunting.
“So, I’ll take first shift while you sleep like rocks.”
More grunting.
“Any objection-”
More grunting.
“WOULD YOU JUST STOP WITH THE STUPID GRUNTING?”
The grunting stopped.
Goldman reached into his inventory and pulled out a red bed. It was the one Redbeam86 had given him. He placed it on the ground and jumped in, falling asleep quickly.

Goldman floated up out of his bed and into the ceiling of the Realm of Bones. Goldman went higher and higher until he appeared in the Overworld. When he saw the biome, he gasped.
The world was dying.
The lush green trees of the forest had all but crumbled. The purple rain was coming down in sheets, spreading across the land.
“Ow…ow…ow…ow!” Goldman screamed as the rain hit him. He flashed red before putting on a golden helmet to protect him.
“So, Goldman44.” a voice said. “You are here to witness your doom, correct? It is I, Nightcrafter.”
“Show yourself, coward!” Goldman screamed.
“Hah, how pathetic.” Nightcrafter laughed again. “Here I am.”
A dark cloud of smoke billowed around him. But how could this smoke be Nightcrafter, Goldman thought.
“Remember, weakling, you will be saved for last to witness the destruction of Minecraft.” Nightcrafter taunted. Goldman switched his gold helmet for the elemental armor and faced the dark cloud.
“So, this is where you reside.” Nightcrafter said. “I will be sure to send my fire troopers after you and your friends. Let me show you what I have in store for you and your friends… ha ha ha ha.”
Goldman saw the mist thin, then disappear as the golden user himself was teleported back to the fire realm. He floated around and then he saw it.
Ten hundred fire troopers marching.
“So you see,” Nightcrafter’s voice now seemed to echo across the Lava Realm. “I CAN stop you from getting your pathetic memories back.” 
Goldman gritted his teeth. “Ha! You admit it!” he shrieked. “So you did steal them! You will be punished for your thievery.”
Nightcrafter chuckled. “And who, exactly, will be brave enough to face me? You? Ha ha ha!”
Goldman scowled in response. “I hate you,” he growled.
“Oh my, are we angry?” Nightcrafter mocked.
Goldman couldn’t take it any more. He attacked with his enchanted blades, swinging them wildly. The cloud of purple mist seemed to shudder as his blades passed through it. Nightcrafter attacked, the purple mist solidifying. Goldman struck again, but the mist seemed acidic. He shuddered and fell toward the ground below.
“WAKE UP!” he screamed just before he hit the ground.
Goldman fell out of his bed. He scrambled to his feet and glanced around at his friends, who were sleeping. He almost puked on Lavaguy, but he held it back, getting a gross taste in his mouth.
“Yuuuccccckkkkkkk!!!” he moaned.
Skull23487 was still awake. That’s when Goldman noticed that he wasn’t moving. In fact, he was in mid-yawn. It seemed like everything had frozen. Goldman touched the blankets on his bed. They were as hard as solid bedrock.
What is going on? He thought. Is time frozen?
Goldman touched Skull. He didn’t move. Nothing was moving. The sparks from the white portal in the distance were frozen in place.
Going somewhere? A voice asked. Goldman turned and found a figure that was pitch black. Slowly, it walked toward the petrified user.
No need to be afraid, the voice said in the back of his mind. Just give me your elemental armor, and you will be unharmed… for now.
Goldman drew his golden sword and held it out to defend himself. The dark figure walked closer. Goldman waved his sword in short strokes.
Suddenly, the dark figure exploded into a cloud of blackness. It streaked toward Goldman44, smashing into his chest. Goldman flew backward and hit his bed. A crack now ran along the length of his chest plate. Goldman attacked again, striking to the left and right. The cloud moved with his blade, then spilled down the golden weapon, smashing into his armor, the leggings turning a diseased purple. Goldman fell back. The shadow reeled.
NOW HAND IT OVER BEFORE I DESTROY YOU, it screeched. You saw my army. They will spare you. Now-
“Nightcrafter?” Goldman was stunned. “Guys, WAKE UP!”
The golden user shouted out with all his strength, and time unfroze. The users drew their weapons.
They approached the cloud slowly. And then, Lavaguy222 lept forward with a chest in his hands. Nightcrafter realized his plans were foiled and tried to get away, but Lavaguy sealed the lid tight.
The users cheered.
I will slaughter you, Nightcrafter said. This only made the users laugh harder.
Alright, then. Nightcrafter said. ENJOY.
There was a sudden rumbling sound off in the distance. Goldman could feel the ground shaking. But what was going on? The golden user looked around and could see the pale white mountains crumbling. The ground was cracking. And at the portal…
“GAAAAAAHHHHHH!” Silvergirl screamed. “The Fire army!”
Goldman looked at the portal. There were fire troopers pouring out, hundreds and hundreds of them. There was no way to survive that.
The users held their weapons, ready for the battle.
“NO,” Goldman ordered. “We can’t fight them, we’ll die!”
“Pfft.” Lavaguy said. “This is nothing.”
“Yeah,” agreed Ashtail. “Take them down.”
“Seriously!” Goldman said. “Does anyone agree with me?”
Spacedude and Zomb moved to Goldman’s side, but nobody else did. It was a hopeless battle.
“Come on,” Zomb said to Goldman. “We must keep going. I hate to leave my friends behind, but we have no choice.”
“Okay, then.” Goldman said. “Let’s go.” The rumbling was getting louder. Then Watergirl said, “Fine, I’ll come. After all, it’s not like that they’re gonna split up and go crazy.”
She gave the crazy users a smirk.
“Apparently we are four.” Spacedude said.
“The Fantastic Four.” Goldman replied, smiling.
“Let’s go,” Zomb explained. “Before they come after us.”
“I must point out,” Goldman said, “That that was either incredibly brave, or it was incredibly stupid.”
They laughed.
The four non-insane users trekked to the other side of a mountain and started.
“Alright, which way should we go?” Spacedude said.
“Did anyone bring a map?” Watergirl asked, already regretting her decision.
“Uh, I’ve got one.” Goldman said, flipping through the book until he came to it.
“Well, what does it say?” Zomb asked. “Please don’t tell me we have to face another one of those dragons again.”
“Don’t worry, Zomb.” Spacedude said.
“Aha, here!” Goldman said, pointing to the southeast. “That’s the easiest way to a portal.”
“Wait,” Watergirl interrupted. “There’s more than one portal?”
“Yeah,” replied Goldman. “There’s two. One where we fight the skeleton dragon for the Sword of Souls, and the other at the portal room.”
“Well, Skull’s not here, so what use is the Sword?” Watergirl111 remarked. “Let’s go.”
Zomb was already walking down the mountain.
Goldman went last. He heard a shout of pain and had to resist the urge to go back and help his friends. He knew that if he went back, it would likely mean his downfall.
“Let’s go,” he muttered under his breath. “Let’s go.”
_ _ _

Goldman was bored of hiking. Apparently this was the long way, and it would have been better with horses. He was still guilty about leaving those users behind at the battle, but it was too late to change anything now.
“How much further?” Spacedude101 asked. “My legs are aching.”
“If I’m correct,” Goldman said, “It should be just up ahead.”
“Yeah, but where is it?” Watergirl111 asked.
“Right here,” Zomb replied.
Goldman looked down at the ground. One block seemed to be out of place, so he broke it, revealing a long shaft that stretched down into the darkness. 
“There’s no way down,” Watergirl said. “How do you know this is the right way?”
“I don’t.” Goldman replied with a grin. “Can you fire one of those arrows to the bottom of the shaft?”
“Okay,” replied the water power user. She shot down an arrow and it erupted into a pool of water.
“Cannonball!” Goldman44 jumped in and landed with a loud splash. 
“Well?” Spacedude shouted. “What do you see?”
“It’s dark down here,” Goldman replied. “Let me place a few torches.”
A few seconds later, he called, “Ok, it’s good!”
The others hopped down into the hole after Goldman44. Goldman led the way down the dark passageway. It stretched far down before coming to an intersection. Goldman44 hated intersections. It gave him the creeps, as if he would get lost down here. Today his fear was extra strong after seeing Nightcrafter at that frozen in time visit. The stench of mold didn’t help either.
“Which way?” Watergirl asked.
“Can I see the map?” Zomb asked, tapping Goldman on the shoulder. Goldman handed the user the book. He studied it for a moment, then said, “That way,” pointing off to the left.
“Race you to the next intersection!” Spacedude said. He actually lost in that race after the other three sped after him.
“Alright, you win,” Spacedude muttered. “Which way now?”
“Beats me,” Goldman replied. “Zomb has the map.”
“This way, guys. The portal room should be at the next intersection.”
“OK!” Goldman said, racing ahead of them. They reached the portal room in under a minute. There were sixteen portals.
“Wow,” Watergirl said. “Which one?”
“Just give me a minute.” Zomb said. Goldman should have known that a minute actually meant three hours.
Waiting…

Waiting…

Waiting…

Waiting…

Waiting…

Waiting…

Goldman couldn’t take it any longer. Zomb was taking way too long. He spoke to Spacedude and Watergirl momentarily and they agreed to choose a portal. They chose one that was blue and wavy.
“Cmon, Zomb,” Spacedude said. “Time to go.”
“Mmblegluh.” was all that Zomb replied with. The three users looked at each other.
“HEAVE!” Goldman said as they shoved Zomb into the portal.
Boy, what did you eat for breakfast? Goldman thought. Cement?
Watergirl and Spacedude lept into the portal, leaving Goldman alone. Goldman leaned closer to the portal. It smelled…salty. Like the sea. Goldman tried to feel what was on the other side and stuck his hands in. Things went brilliantly bright as Goldman was sucked into the next Realm. Then everything went chillingly cold. Goldman realized he was holding his breath. He opened his eyes.
“MBBMM!!! WBMMM BMBMM BMMBMMB BMMMBBMM BMMBMM?!?!” he mumbled.. Goldman44 was under water. The golden user thought that this was the most inconvenient place for the exit. He looked up… or which way he thought was up…and could see light. But so far away! Icy water started to fill his lungs. Goldman’s strength was waning. He kicked upward, hoping that he would make it before his HP ran out. He sucked in water and screamed until he got to the surface. He gasped for breath and flopped over. He spewed out water until he was empty. Only then was he able to catch his breath.
Goldman felt like he was gonna die.
The golden user pulled out a healing potion and drank it, his health rising until it was half full. Goldman reached into his inventory and pulled out a tool Redbeam86 had given him, the obsidian boat. He placed the device on the ground…if you could call it ground. He sat down in it and looked around. Nothing in sight.
Okay…
Goldman44 had no idea where he was. He didn’t even have the book. Where were his friends? It was probably hopeless.
“I’m going to starve anyway.” he said. “I have to keep going.”
Goldman44 looked around. He could see something on the horizon. He was safe! He started to row toward it when he realized something.
That’s not an island!!!
A gigantic Elder Guardian leapt in front of Goldman’s boat. The golden user drew his shield and held it out. The monster smashed into the silver with the force of a giant’s fist, causing hairline fractures to appear in the back of the silver plate. Goldman stood in his boat as the guardian readied another attack. The golden user drew his enchanted blade. But the Guardian had disappeared. A sharp spike smashed into the back of his chest plate. Pain radiated through his body.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWW!!!!” Goldman yelped. He stabbed, but the fish was gone.  Then more pain erupted through his arm. The golden user slashed at the fish, landing a hit, but then the spiny fish slammed into him, it’s spines smashing into his elemental armor.
Goldman put away his shield and drew his silver sword. He knew he could stab the fish when it got close, but where would it attack next?
Goldman saw it. The beast shot out of the water and attacked. Goldman stuck his swords into the fish and threw it aside. It counterattacked, one of its spines knocking the golden user into the water. Goldman scrambled up into his boat and attacked again, swinging the blades as fast as possible. His blades slashed, and the Elder Guardian disappeared with a pop. Goldman rowed his boat away as fast as possible. But he also wanted to stay in the same direction.
“HELLO?” he called to the open ocean. No answer.
Goldman44 wanted to panic, but he forced himself not to. He knew he had to survive if he were to survive at all. He just lay there for a bit in the sea, thinking about what he should do.
Am I seriously going to die? He thought. I shouldn’t have eaten all those pork chops.
Goldman clutched the oar. It was almost night. Goldman decided he had to keep moving. He chose a direction and began to row his oars. Row…row…row.
He found sea, sea, AND…
More sea.
“YARRRRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!” he groaned. It was approaching night. Soon, there would probably be sea monsters wanting to have him for dinner.
So he kept on rowing.
Goldman thought time was going in slow motion. But it wasn’t. The golden user shot across the water like he was on the fastest jet-ski ever made. He was like a golden missile. The Realm became a blur until he couldn’t see where he was going.
CRUNCH.
Goldman went flying through the air and ended up face first in a huge sand dune. He groaned and sat up. He was on an island. It looked deserted. Man, it was so deserted. Goldman took one step further until he was yanked backward. 
            “HEY! WHAT IS-MBBLFFF-”
            He fell into the ocean.

CHAPTER 8 – The Realm of Water: YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET

Goldman opened his mouth to scream, and found he was gagged. By an apple. He squirmed and struggled as his HP started to decrease from the lack of oxygen. He couldn’t swim, because he was tied up from head to toe. He tried to break free before the last of his HP gave out.
            BLAM!!!
            All of a sudden, he was falling through the air…sweet sweet air. He sucked it in as his HP gradually recharged. Then, he heard the sound of him hitting the floor.
            BOINNNNNGGGGGG!
            Boing?
            BOINNNNNGGGGGG!
            What was going on here?
            BOINNNNNGGGGGG!
            Stop the ride please, Goldman thought.
            BOINNNNNGGGGGG!
            BOINNNNNGGGGGG!
            BOINNNNNGGGGGG!
            BOINNNNNGGGGGG!
            JUST STOP THE RICE…I MEAN RIDE…
            BOINNNNNGGGGGG!
            I will sue you.
BOINNNNNGGGGGG!
Goldman landed on a sandy floor. He had no idea where he was, because his face was in the sand for the second time in five minutes. He sat up and opened his eyes.
His first thought was: DARK.
Goldman drew his blade and stood up in the dungeon. He looked out of the iron bars and could see that he was in some kind of dungeon. So he had been right. He pulled out his silver pickaxe and smashed the iron bars to pieces. He looked around again. If this was a dungeon, then the people who owned it were the stupidest things on the planet. He could see ha gate at the end of the dungeon hallway when he heard, “Goldman…”
He stopped in his tracks.
“Goldman!” the voice called again.
The golden user looked around.
“GOLDMAN!!!” the voice was loud. Probably at a decibel 150 level, louder than a rock concert. He covered his ears.
“GOLDMAN!!!!!!!!”
Goldman fell to the ground, his ears aching. But the voice did not stop. It shouted again, louder than before.
“GOLDMAN44!!!!!!!!!!”
Goldman felt like his ears would explode. He called back,
“Whaddaya want?”
“It’s me, Spacedude101.”
“And Zomb33”
“And Watergirl111”
“You’re here?” Goldman asked, shocked.
“To your left.” Spacedude said.
Goldman went to the cell on the left. Sure enough, there was Spacedude101. He looked worried. 
“I would have busted out, but I lost my diamond pickaxe in the tumble.” Spacedude explained. “And my iron one broke after the first bar.”
Goldman could see one piece of iron bar was missing, but it would be too tight a squeeze. Goldman looked back down the hallway and could see an enchanted diamond pickaxe lying on the ground. He sighed and smashed the iron bars with his silver pickaxe. Spacedude retrieved his diamond pick and helped with the other two cages. They dug away at the iron bars until they were destroyed.
“Thanks.” Zomb33 said as he stepped out of the dungeon.
Goldman smiled. “Together we can do anything.”
“For example, actually get this door open,” Watergirl said from the other end of the hallway. Spacedude, Goldman, and Zomb ran and banged their pickaxes against the door, but it would not budge.
“Hey, what’s it take, huh?” Spacedude complained. Watergirl just rolled her eyes. Zomb tried digging through with a shovel and axe, and all he got were two broken stone tools. He sighed and stopped.
“How do we get out?” Goldman asked. “There has got to be a way.”
“Good idea,” Watergirl said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “What are they going to hide some special pickaxe so the prisoners can-”
“I got it!” Zomb shouted. He held a green pickaxe in his hand. It was an emerald pickaxe. But that was a mod!
Zomb33 dug away at the door. The emerald tool sliced through the blocks like they were leather. They fell away, leaving them an escape route.
“Zomb, can you seal the door?” Spacedude asked. “We want to cover our escape. Okay?”
“Sure,” the user replied, replacing the blocks and making it impossible to tell at first glance that the four of them had escaped. Watergirl111 looked down the passageway and nodded.
“All clear.”
Where is everybody anyway? Goldman thought. Unless this place is abandoned…
“Where is everybody anyway?” Goldman said. “Unless this place is abandoned…”
“Wait, I hear something…” Spacedude said. “Be cautious.”
Goldman heard it to. It was the sound of walking feet. Oh no! There was no escape. It was getting closer. Help! Help! Help!
Goldman froze in place. The sound grew louder and louder. Whatever was causing it, they would burst into their hallway any second,
What are we going to do? WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!??!WHAT ARE WE-
The guards burst into view.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
Goldman ran he smashed into the gate wall so hard that he didn’t need an emerald pickaxe to break it. His elemental armor cracked under the effort, but he broke through. He went through wall after wall after wall…
SNAP… his elemental armor shattered.
He was now bowling through walls. He paused for a moment to put his enchanted golden armor on. That fell away even quicker. Pain radiated through his body as his remaining HP slowly began to deplete. But Goldman didn’t care. Then he burst through the last wall. He stopped dead in his tracks. This was even worse. A few thousand soldiers stood before him. There was no way he could stand up against this. He drew his sword and ran the other way. BZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!
Goldman was back at his friends in seconds. But instead of a huge group of guards, it was…
“Wait, how did you find us?” Goldman asked.
Lavaguy222 rolled his eyes. Then he tossed Goldman some green armor. “You’ll need this. We need to run from the merpeople.
Goldman put on the emerald armor and took out his silver shield, wielding his enchanted golden blade. He had somehow lost his silver sword in the struggle, but that wasn’t important right now. Right now they needed speed, and just hanging out here wasn’t an option.
“Go,” Goldman said. “I’ll hold them off.”
The others nodded, and they all ran off except for Sammy078.
“What are you doing?” Goldman asked. “Go!”
“I think I’ll wait here for a while,” Sammy said as he drew his sword.
Goldman could see the massive wave of destruction approaching. There were probably three hundred of them. The rest of the merpeople had probably gone after the others.
“There’s too many,” Goldman said. “We need to go. Here.”
He tossed a swiftness potion on the ground. It splattered around, and Goldman’s vision became narrow. He sped, Sammy078 bringing up the rear. An arrow flew by Goldman’s head. The tip was green.
Poison arrows?!?!
Goldman held up his shield. The silver metal plate intercepted some of the poison arrows, but one lodged into Goldman’s shoulder. He started to feel weak as green spirals danced before his eyes.
“Run!” Sammy shouted.
Goldman lowered his shield into his inventory and stumbled after his friend. His legs felt like iron blocks, and the enemy was gaining on him.
Goldman ran faster. He slid his enchanted blade in his inventory as his jog increased to a run. He caught up to his friends and collapsed to the ground. Pain radiated through his body.
Goldman struggled to his feet and ran on. He felt an arrow bounce off his emerald leggings, and this motivated him to sprint. But he was to weak, and the swiftness potion was wearing off. Life could not have been worse.
Oh wait…
The sound of explosions rocked the chamber. Goldman thought about it, but his thoughts were sluggish. 
Oh no, TNT cannons.
Goldman slowed to a jog. The poison was too strong. He yanked the barbed projectile out of his shoulder and drank his last healing potion. It slowed the poison down and added to his strength. He ran with all his might, but then he was wrapped in rope. He fell to the ground.
“HELP!” he screamed. “HELP! HELP! HELP M-”
Then he was gagged.
Goldman struggled against the ropes, but the poison was too strong. His strength level went to zero, and he flumped backwards into a wall. He watched the battle from there. His friends turned to fight the mob of mermen soldiers. They fought like demons, Lavaguy’s Sword of Matrix doing the most damage, the mobs vaporizing from Skull’s Sword of Souls, they must have battled for it in the Realm of Bones. Seandrum’s dual iron swords were definitely the most impressive, smashing into the enemy like they had no cares, Scrubspike blasted the mob with his palm laser cannons, destroying multiple mobs at once. Goldman struggled to stay conscious as the users took an overwhelming victory. Then Skull an Lavaguy rushed to Goldman’s side as the golden user blacked out.

Goldman came to in his next dream. He shouted to himself, “WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!!!”

He came to after what seemed like hours. He was still weak from the poison, so it took him a while to realize where he was. Then, he found that he was not where he expected. He looked down and gasped. He was a cave spider! He must have died and reincarnated. Oh no… he had died. This would be difficult explaining to his friends if he ever saw them again. Oh this was not good.
“Oh no,” he said. ‘I musssst get out of this place assss ssssoon assss possssible.”
Goldman the Cave Spider snarled. He even had that vile hissy voice that he had always dreaded. Hopefully this was only a dream. It had that feeling of a dream, but hey, he had never been a cave spider before. Maybe it always felt like this. Yeah, that was probably it.
Dang It!!!!!
Goldman clawed at the eggshell with his new black claws. He tumbled out after the last of it fell away. He landed in a heap of green moss. This was probably what spiders fed on. Yessss…

And then he woke up. He was lying in his bed, in the middle of a small deserted island. He groaned and sat up in his bed, stretching out his sore limbs. He felt like jelly, the poison still there, but not quite as strong. The golden user wondered what was happening.  He stood up and looked about. He was about to find out that he wasn’t as safe as he thought.
The water at the shore exploded in a flash of light. Goldman was drenched as a huge mouth of snapping jaws crashed upon him. His chest plate almost gave out instantly. Goldman fell back onto the sand.
Owch. he thought. That really hurt!
Goldman drew his golden sword. He really was not in the mood for fighting, but, hey, he had to do something. He swung his sword at the massive sea monster, and the beat flashed red. Goldman drew his enchanted bow and fired flaming projectiles at the monster, but they bounced harmlessly off the side of the beast.
The sea monster no longer was interested in Goldman44. The golden user watched helplessly as it searched for another target, probably one of his friends if he was lucky enough for that to happen.
Yep. He was.
A blue dragon flew through the sky, controlled by Watergirl111. She had a glowing blue blade in her hands, the next elemental blade. Goldman cheered, but then called, “What’s with the dragon?”
“Concentrate!” Watergirl shouted back as she stabbed the creature with the Sword of Swiftness.
Goldman closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could. And suddenly, he was hovering through the air. When he opened his eyes, he was sitting on the saddle of a huge golden dragon. He drew his sword and pulled on the reins. Unfortunately, he sucked at dragon riding.
Goldman44 was spinning out of control. He pulled on the reins and the dragon went downward. “UP!!” Goldman cried.
The golden dragon flew skyward. Goldman tried to control it and ended up upside down. He threw up as his dragon broke the sound barrier. Goldman was getting scared.
POP! The dragon just disappeared in a flash. Goldman tried to concentrate, but fear ruled his mind. He splashed into the cold sea, then desperately swam toward shore. The sea monster hammered into him, his emerald leggings cracking under the strain. The golden user clawed at the beach and scrambled onto shore. Watergirl111 just finished off the monster.
Goldman could now breathe again. He looked around for his golden blade, but found he had lost it in the dragon ride. He sighed and drew his next best weapon, an axe with Smite IV.
A new portal had opened up. It was radiating a smoky gray color. No doubt he knew what this was. Probably the Realm of Magic. It was time to face one of the hardest ones of all. He watched as the users jumped in, and then so did he.
He materialized in open air. It was strange being out in the open like this, but for some reason he wasn’t falling. He was just standing on something that was probably a barrier block. He readied his axe, but Ashtail gave him an emerald sword with Sharpness IV. Goldman smiled.
“We need to split up.” Goldman said.
“Why?” Ashtail asked.
“Because,” Goldman explained, “You still remember that Nightcrafter is after us?”
Ashtail hung his head. “Oh… I forgot.”
Goldman chuckled for a moment. “Well, I kinda had a vision, and Nightcrafter was sending out a thousand fire troopers.”
“Yeah, we killed half of them.”
“Right,” Goldman said. “But the merpeople army- a thousand soldiers…”
“Yeah, and I forgot to mention those five hundred skele-demons.”
“This just keeps getting better and better.”
“So why do we split up?”
“Because if they find out that all of us are here,” Goldman politely explained, “Then they will send all of their forces against us. Though if we are in multiple groups-”
“We have a better chance of survival.” Ashtail realized. “Genius.”
Goldman grinned.
“There’s only one flaw to his plan,” Watergirl said as she entered the conversation. “What if they pick us off one by one?”
“Hmmmmm…” Ashtail muttered.
“They’ll have to catch us first. Besides, it is better than staying together.” Goldman interrupted, hoping to not die from Watergirl’s sarcasm.
“I agree.” Ashtail announced. “Let’s do it!”

Goldman ended up with Skull23487, Ashtail, Silvergirl22, and EvJEDP. They all checked that they had at least emerald armor on. They all did. Goldman drew his enchanted emerald sword and looked down. Why was the freaking floor invisible? It didn’t make sense. He pulled out his new emerald tools and pounded the floor with his shovel; it was solid.
Goldman sighed and put away his shovel and pickaxe. He already did not like the Realm of Magic. He wanted something to stand on that was… visible.
“Tough time?” EvJEDP asked. Goldman grunted. He waved his sword in threatening motions. Ev waved back. Goldman charged in a fury of anger and slashed at his teammate’s legs, causing cracks to appear. He rolled to the other side and slashed, causing mor hairline fractures to spread across it. Goldman’s anger subsided, and he no longer remembered even attacking. It was weird.
EvJEDP slashed back. Goldman just barely parried the attack, but then a strong blow smashed into his emerald chestplate. He parried, not wanting to hurt his friend. Goldman gasped when he saw EvJEDP’s eyes glowing a startling red. Then they turned back to normal, and the user lowered his diamond sword.
“What was that?” Goldman asked.
“What was what?” Ev replied.
“You attacked me!”
“I did not.”
“Did too!”
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
“Did not!” 
“Did too!”
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
“Did not!”
“Did not!” Goldman smiled.
“Did too!”
“Hah, you admit it!”
“But I didn’t,” Ev protested. “YOU did!”
“Why that is such a filthy lie…” Goldman’s anger started to bubble up. He noticed a glow come from his eyes, a blood red, and then he was out of control.
Wait what? Goldman thought. MY BODY IS NOT RESPONDING!!!
Goldman watched in horror as his emerald sword cut into EvJEDP’s elemental armor. SLASH SLASH SLASH!!!
Goldman regained control just as Ashtail shoutd “WIZARDS!”
A bright red ball of fire hit Goldman44 square in the chest. Pain radiated through his body as fire seeped through the fractures in his armor. He could feel his HP decrease.
Goldman pulled out a regeneration potion and drank the sweet tasting liquid in two gulps. His HP increased again and again until it was full. Goldman looked up and saw two small NPCs with wands and gray labcoats. They pointed the wands and two fireballs hit Ashtail and Silvergirl, making the two users flash red. Goldman drew his enchanted bow and launched two arrows into the air. Only one was required to kill one, and both vaporized on the spot. Goldman smiled and put away his bow. 
“Apparently they don’t have so much health,” Skull pointed out.
“Nope,” Silvergirl agreed. “They don’t.”
“How many of them do you think there are?” Ashtail asked.
“Let’s not find out.” Ev said.
“Okay,” Goldman replied. “Let’s keep going toward the next boss.”
The five users scanned the area of any wizards, and ran through the day. The ground had turned visible, so Goldman was happy. He drew his shield and looked back. There was one lone wizard, but Skull’s arrow cut it down just as it raised it’s wand.
Goldman smiled and said, “Thanks.”

CHAPTER 8 – Into the Belly of the Beast

Goldman’s enchanted blade smashed into the wizards with practiced skill. One wizard dropped it’s wand and Ashtail picked it up. Green blasts of flame burned the wizard army to a crisp. Ashtail hefted the wand. “Not too shabby, eh?” he asked.
“Dude, we need more of those to fight Nightcrafter!” Goldman said. There were three more sprawled across the battlefield, which the others picked up. Goldman looked in his inventory and found one that he had picked up during the battle.
“This is great!” Silvergirl exclaimed.
“Wow, it would be cool if we had dual ones!”
“Or long range blasts with awesome damage.”
Goldman noticed pale yellow money signs over the three user’s heads. They looked greedy. Goldman sighed. It must have been a greed spell. Hopefully it would wear off soon.
Ashtail picked up numerous random items across the battlefield. Potatoes, healing potions, some wooden swords, gunpowder, slimeballs, you name it. Goldman picked up a golden apple and an emerald. This was crazy. There was a lot of raw and cooked meat, so Goldman took about two stacks of food and three enchanted golden apples. Diamonds, books, red wool, shulker spawn eggs… Goldman found an anvil and an enchanted book with Knockback 2, the enchanted his emerald sword. Now it was even more powerful. The golden user scooped up items that would be useful later.
The greed spell wore off on the other users. Goldman picked up the last golden apple. He then looked across the horizon. There was a chest in the distance. Ashtail was running toward it. 
Wait, is this the Sword of Spells? Goldman thought. Was this really the boss?
Goldman ran to catch up. Ashtail held the Sword.
“Ever feel like you’re being watched?” Skull asked.
There was a roar.
Goldman ran for his life. The Dragon was behind them, closing in. A ball of purple fire slammed into his legs. The emerald leggings shattered, unable to stand up against the Dragon. Goldman pulled out his crafting bench and a handful of emeralds to make new ones. He put them on quickly, then charged into the fray. It was easy at first, but then the dragon spread its wings and a volley of huge spikes slammed into all five users. Goldman drank a regeneration potion again and concentrated.
The golden dragon came into view. Goldman was now ready to fight. He pulled the reins and the dragon went up. He loosened the reins and the dragon leveled out at the Magic Dragon’s eye level.
“Fire?” Goldman asked.
The dragon opened it’s mouth and spat three balls of fire at the Dragon’s eye. It roared in pain and flashed red. Goldman commanded it to attack again, and the enemy flashed red. The Dragon then raised it’s hand and slapped Goldman down. Pain radiated through his body as his dragon flickered. It had obviously taken a lot of damage. Goldman urged it higher and dodged a claw. The dragon bellowed in rage.
“FIRE!!!”
The golden dragon blasted the enemy again and again. The others summoned their own dragons and also used the fire command. Little by little, the enemy dragon’s HP dropped. It swiped at the smaller dragons, just occasionally landing a hit, and then dropped dead and disappeared.
The users cheered, then lowered their dragons to the ground. Goldman de-summoned his mount and landed on the ground. He then looked at the dragon’s drops: a sea of useful items. Goldman found scattered pieces of enchanted gold armor. He also found a better enchanted bow and a golden blade exactly like his old one. Goldman smiled and put the good items in his inventory, then sat down on the ever expanding pile of items. The Dragon was still dropping them. Goldman got buried and was poked by wooden and stone tools. He scrambled out and moved far away from the rapidly expanding sea of items. It could have been dangerous. Eventually, the other two group of users arrived.
Goldman gasped. The portal!
He drew his two shovels, one silver, the other emerald, and began clearing away the items. The other users realized what he was doing and helped clear away the massive sea until they reached the portal. Goldman winced as an iron axe poked him in the leg. He uncovered the portal and dug a little more through the items, then hopped in. He thought that he had made a mistake, then appeared in a small room of bedrock. His friends appeared, crowding the room until it was full. Goldman leaned against the wall and fell right through it. It was an illusion!
The Realm of Illusions.
Goldman drew his dual swords and scanned the area for threats. There appeared to be none. But what if this was all fake, an illusion? It was the Realm of Illusions after all.
Get it together, Goldman, Goldman thought, trying to calm himself down. You’re almost to Nightcrafter’s base.
And your doom, the serpent of fear that was coiled about his soul reminded him. The last of Goldman’s courage was replaced by fear as he looked around. Then he saw his friends FLYING!
Goldman jumped and was suddenly floating in midair. He decided to get rid of his current worries and have some fun. He shouted, “MIDAIR SNOWBALL FIGHT!” as he pulled a stack of snowballs from his inventory. He threw one at Skull. PIFF! One hit him square in the chest. PIFF! PIFF!
Goldman and the others enjoyed their moment of happiness before they had to face the next boss. A snowball hit Goldman in the legs and he turned upside down. Goldman swam upward and threw more snowballs. Then he ran out of snowballs.
Goldman tried to imagine more snowballs and got an illusion. They were not solid, but they were cold, somehow. Goldman threw the snowballs that didn’t really exist at his friends. Worked like a charm. Goldman threw them until he ran out, then lowered himself onto the floor. It suddenly shifted, and the golden user slid to the left. Goldman got balanced, and the ground shifted the other way. Goldman rolled to the right. Then he imagined a tree and landed on it, even though it didn’t really exist.
What fun!
Goldman swam up again. Blocks of cobblestone started raining down. Hopefully they were not solid, but Goldman thought wrong. He smacked into the ground at a high speed velocity. The others drew their shields and blocked the rain. Then it was raining cats and dogs. Literally.
A cat landed on Goldman’s head. Goldman slashed at it with his emerald sword. He then raised his shield as the cats and dogs stopped and it began raining purple acid. Just as they had seen in the Overworld.
Nightcrafter was almost done destroying Minecraft.
Goldman started running. Acid landed on his helmet, slowly decreasing its durability. Goldman raised his shield over his head like an umbrella. It provided relief for the moment. Goldman summoned his dragon, which was still a bit weak from the boss fight. Goldman pointed his golden sword in one direction. The dragon flapped it’s wings and flew into the air. Goldman was a bit dizzy after all the flying, but it was a race against time. The acidic rain was also making the dragon weaker, and it wouldn’t be long before Goldman had to proceed on foot. The others were coming after him, and their dragons were getting hurt as well.
Goldman could see pale white zombies below, but they were not burning up. Occasionally, one would die and drop a wooden sword. Goldman flew his dragon over to an overhang structure, and landed to wait for his friends. His dragon liked to be out of the rain for a moment. 
Goldman started to cruise through the air again. He had his golden sword out and ready to face any threat. Then his dragon took a shallow dive into a group of zombies, destroying them in an instant. A wooden sword went into Goldman’s inventory.
The golden user soared up and out of the range of the zombie’s wooden blades and drew his enchanted bow. His dragon shuddered; it was losing strength. Goldman urged his mount higher, but he wasn’t sure how long it could stay up. He concentrated harder and the dragon’s strength seemed to rise, but just barely. Goldman lowered himself onto the ground and drew his emerald sword. The zombies, with their wooden swords, came in.
Goldman kicked one aside, then slashed at one with his enchanted blades. Then, he faked to the left and blocked a sharp wooden blade with his emerald sword as he stabbed one with his golden blade. A wooden sword dug into his helmet, but Goldman snapped it in half with a vicious blow. The creature fell back and died. Goldman slashed at the last monster, and that was gone too. Goldman hopped back onto his dragon and made a u-turn. He caught up to his friends who were battling the last of the zombies. They turned to him and nodde. Goldman used the last of his dragon’s strength to break the sound barrier. The world became a blur, and suddenly Goldman was standing alone in a place where the acid hadn’t started to fall. He looked around at the illusionary world. It was bright, and trees flickered into existence, then became mountains before vanishing again. Goldman heard a loud sonic boom as his friends appeared again. He looked around and could see a huge dome. That must have been where the boss was. Goldman got ready and took his shield out. It was time. 
He sprinted toward the dome. There was a door on the side. He opened it and rushed in, followed by the other users. They looked around, but the boss was not there. Where could it had been?
“Uh oh.” Goldman said. The beast was here. Only they were INSIDE IT’S MOUTH!!!!
Goldman and his friends were swallowed.

Goldman tumbled through the darkness of the monster’s throat. It was pitch black, and the golden user wasn’t sure when he would hit the bottom… if there was a bottom. It seemed that he fell for either a minute or  a day. His hunger made it impossible to tell. He wished that he could escape, but there were not any illusions for meteor TNT. And then…
SUCK-PLOP!!!
Goldman could tell in the faint blue light of his enchanted armor that he had ended up inside the monster’s belly. He tried to move, but his feet were stuck in some colorless gray slop. Goldman took out a wooden hoe and cleared it off of his leggings, then threw the hoe away. It snapped when it hit a slimy wall and broke into a hundred pieces. Ugh. Gross. Goldman pulled out a torch and placed it on the slimy ground. The light would have been welcoming if it hadn’t revealed a huge stomach. Oh boy. This boss probably could have eaten fifty of the previous bosses. It was a powerful one. Goldman stepped toward someone lying in the sludge. It was Lavaguy.
Goldman helped Lavaguy up. His face was covered with the slime, and what made it worse was when he said, “Ewwww! I think some of it got into my mouth!”
Goldman puked.
It got all over Lavaguy’s elemental chest plate, which was nearly destroyed. A wide crack ran along the length; it wouldn’t last much longer. The rest of his armor was emerald.
“So how do we get out of here?” Lavaguy asked, stepping out of the sludge. Then he chuckled. “Oh wow. Nice look.”
Goldman looked down at himself. He was covered by so much Illusia Boss sludge that his armor or clothes were not even visible. Goldman pulled out his second wooden hoe and cleared off the muck. Then he whapped Lavaguy on the shoulder. Lavaguy hit Goldman with his wooden shovel. Goldman hit back and…
BONK…BONK…BONK…BONK…BONK…BONK…BONK…BONK…
Goldman was about to hit back again when he was stopped cold. Goldman was sure he had heard something. Lavaguy took this opportunity to wahp Goldman on the head with his shovel. Goldman drew his dual swords and stepped away from Lavaguy, looking up at the same time. Something was obviously not right here. Then Goldman heard it again.
Hsssthhhhhh…
Goldman was sure that it was trying to say something. But just what. Goldman intercepted an attack from the wooden shovel and said, “shh” his companion. Lavaguy drew his own blade, the Sword of Matrix, and looked around, then up where Goldman was staring.
Husshhhttthhh…
Lavaguy’s orange eyes filled with surprise. He leaned in toward Goldman and whispered, What do you think it is?
I dunno, Goldman44 replied. Now listen and don’t say anything.
The two waited for a minute before they heard the voice again, this time it seemed a bit louder. It was now more of a mumble than a hiss.
Hunsshhty… the voice groaned. Goldman looked at Lavaguy for a moment and could see that his eyes were filled with fear. This was definitely something, but what?
Hunthhhhshty…
Goldman’s mind was racing. His heartbeat seemed even louder in his chest, filling his ears with an unsteady rhythm. Ba-boom Ba-boom Ba-boom… Goldman’s thoughts drifted back to what they had heard. It seemed like it was coming from a closer distance, and Goldman was even more terrified by that thought.
Hungtttthhhhhhyyyy…
Now it was definitely closer than it had been before. The voice was getting louder too. Goldman glanced at Lavaguy and could tell that he was as terrified as he was if not more. What was going on?
Hunngthhy… 
Goldman thought he could feel warm air against his back. He dared a glance behind him but could see nothing more than endless sludge. Was he crazy? No, Lavaguy had heard it too. It couldn’t have been Goldman’s imagination. But what was it then?
Hunnnntthhhagry…
Goldman thought it was right behind him. He wanted to move, run, scream, but his feet seemed to have planted to the ground. He was frozen with terror, and judging by Lavaguy’s mortified expression, the fire user was feeling the exact same way.
Hungry…
Goldman stopped being frozen long enough to gulp. Whatever this thing was, it was hungry. For them.
Well, Goldman thought. We didn’t expect teddy bears.
HUNGRY!!!!!
Goldman was paralyzed with fear. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t run. He couldn’t even scream. He and Lavaguy were about to be something’s lunch. And they were NOT being served on a silver platter.
HUNGRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Goldman ran for his life, Lavaguy close behind. There was the sound of running paws behind both of them, and it seemed that they were much faster than the duo. Goldman looked behind and started sprinting instead of running. There was a huge teddy bear chasing them, and this was not the kind you would sleep with, much less be awake with.
It was chasing them.
Goldman ran to the left, hoping to confuse the ferocious teddy bear. Oh why did he not expect teddy bears? Er… Goldman-eating-ferocious- beasts-of-death-teddy bears. What a day! First he was in the water realm and almost got eaten up by a sea monster. Then, he faced mind controlling wizards that made him attack one of his friends. After that, he almost got impaled by a wooden spike going five hundred miles per hour. For the next half hour he fought a hundred zombies and nearly died(that was the easy one). Next still, he entered a quartz dome that was really an illusion to hide a monster’s gaping maw, and finally he was being hunted by a hungry, man eating teddy bear.
Things could not get any worse.
Unless, Goldman thought as he looked up, Unless there were two man eating teddy bears?
The second one dropped down from the slimy ceiling.
Goldman was having your average day in Minecraft. Seriously, things were not about to escalate from here-OH MY GOD…
There were a hundred man eating teddy bears. Each one was chasing one (or more of Goldman’s friends because of their massive size) and herding them to the center. It was clear that this was where that the mob would have their next meal.
HUNGRY…HUNGRY…HUNGRY…
Lavaguy was so scared he dropped his sword. It stuck into the floor of the Illusia Dragon’s belly and began to steam. The ground suddenly rippled. Then there was a belch. A loud one.

CHAPTER 9 – Regurgitation

Goldman had thrown up many times. It was annoying. However, to actually be thrown up was another matter. He was spewed out of the dragon’s mouth. Seriously, those stains were never going to come out of Goldman’s shirt. At first Goldman was like, okay, a little gross, but at least I got out.
            Then one of Goldman’s little friends Gravity gave him a crushing bone hug. Goldman was falling before he knew it. It made him the slightest bit queasy himself. And then he landed on the ground.
            Goldman survived.
            He looked at the dragon, who was flashing red as it tried to catapult it’s guts out. Seriously, this could kill somebody. But the teddy bears were still alive and chasing Lavaguy222.
            Goldman looked at the dragon as the last of the Illusia Boss’ health wore away and it fell to the ground, vanishing. A portal appeared under the spot where the dragon had disappeared. If Goldman had counted right, then they had gone through five realms, defeated four bosses, and having one die from catapulting it’s guts out. A little gross. But a boss defeated was a boss defeated.
            Goldman watched as Lavaguy turned and struck at the first teddy bear. It’s fur seemed to be some kind of armor, for the enchanted diamond sword did almost no damage. Lavaguy attacked again, but only succeeded in damaging his own weapon. 
            The teddy bear grabbed at him. The fire user rolled to the right and slashed at the creature’s legs with his diamond blade. He rolled to the other side and did the same, chipping away at the stuffed animal’s armor.
            Goldman decided to help. He, Silvergirl and Watergirl drew their bows and began to fire steel-tipped projectiles at the mob. But there were much too many for the three of them. Every time a teddy bear got hit, it was pushed back three blocks, but eventually Lavaguy would be overrun. 
            Goldman drew his golden sword with his right hand, shield in the other. He motioned for the other five power users to attack melee, while all the other users took on range.
            Goldman landed a blow on one of the teddy bear’s legs. It smashed into the creature, but barely hurt it. Goldman was picked up and thrown at Sammy078. CRASH!!!
“Oops, sorry.” Goldman said.
Sammy078 drew his emerald swords. He readied for the first mob, and when it was close enough, he struck. The beast flashed red as some of it’s armor fell away. The archers aimed for the open spot. The teddy bear popped out of existence. Apparently emerald was strong enough to pierce their armor.
            “Way to go,” Goldman said, giving Sammy078 a grin. Magefiresword and Stormy34 moved forward and pushed back against the monster horde, striking them with emerald swords until the armor on their legs gave way. Then the archers attacked, destroying the mobs quickly.
            But there were still way too many of the teddy bears, and the user army was getting torn to shreds. Yet they fought on, determined, but the teddy bears were just too strong.
            Suddenly, Goldman heard a clap of thunder, then a rumbling sound. Something huge was moving toward them from the next hill. The army’s commanders were…
            Redbeam and Glowstonia?
            A thousand villagers on horseback plowed forward, each with diamond armor and enchanted weapons. The teddy bears fell away quickly. The army of NPCs smashed into the surviving creatures, taking down their life force. Soon there were fifty teddy bears, than forty, thirty, twenty, ten…
And then the last teddy bear disappeared with a pop.
            The NPCs cheered. Goldman rushed down to meet his old friends, who had huge grins on their blocky faces. There were a few more users intermixed with the NPCs. Goldman reached Readbeam and Glowstonia.
Goldman high fived them and explained the situation.
            “You already told us,” Redbeam interrupted.
            “I did?” Goldman asked.
            “Before you vanished and your memories got wiped,” Glowstonia replied. “Nightcrafter really has it in for you.”
            “I prefer not to talk about that crazy villain until the time is right,” Goldman said. “Please.”
            “Ah, ok.” Redbeam said. “ALRIGHT NPCS. TO THE PORTAL.”
            The villagers and users cheered and charged toward the portal, leaving just four of them: Goldman44, Redbeam86, Glowstonia6 and Redstonia6, Glowstonia’s sister.
            “Okay, let’s go,” Goldman said.
            They jumped into the portal.
Goldman was freezing cold. He plummeted from the Realm of Illusions to the next one. 
Goldman stepped out onto the next environment. It was colder, but not as cold, and had the same portal as the Silver Queen’s castle. The Realm of Silver. Silvergirl’s Realm.
The golden user found he had materialized on top of a silver plateau. He was at the very edge, where the last of the NPC army stormed down.
Redbeam and Glowstonia’s army had already lost a hundred soldiers in the teddy bear battle. Goldman tried to ignore the pain in his shoulder, his HP was still low but gradually recharging. Instead, he focused on the task at hand, which was defeating the Metallic Boss and getting to the Realm of Destiny. Then they would make their stand at Nightcrafter’s Realm of Evil. Goldman remembered both the Silver Queen and Nightcrafter himself had said. Nightcrafter needed to be awakened in order to take over Minecraft. 
Goldman44 shuddered at the thought of going to Nightcrafter’s base. What if the army could not make it out alive after the next bosses?
The golden user turned to Redbeam.
“Deploy two lines of swordsmen facing outward,” Goldman said. “We need the archers in the middle pushing outward to attack the monsters. And I have counted the number of mobs that were up against. This is at least three thousand.”
Redbeam nodded. “I’ll do as you ask.”
“Thanks.” Goldman fist bumped Redbeam as he began to set up the position. Goldman knew that it was almost time. He also wondered what happened to Black Mask and the other silver minions. They seemed absent, yet at least two hundred had survived. Was Black Mask still loyal to his Queen?
Goldman suddenly heard a mighty roar. The were at the Metallic Boss’ chamber. Goldman hadn’t even realized where the army was going, he had been too lost in thought to be paying any attention.
The golden user sprinted to the head of the army, where the power users stood. They all had one of the elemental swords except for Silvergirl22. Goldman drew his golden sword and got ready.
The dragon let off a loud roar and flew straight toward Silvergirl22. Goldman jumped in front of the power user with his shield and blocked the attack. The dragon hit his shield with the force of a comet from outer space. Goldman heard his enchanted shield crack in half and fall apart.
He was defenseless.
The golden user drew his emerald sword and readied for the silver beast. He ducked as as a claw raked across his golden helmet. The armor cracked as the dragon’s teeth bit into its durability. Goldman stabbed the beast as did all the other users. The dragon’s health fell. The mighty creature then grabbed out at the NPCs as the archers pumped arrows into the beast. Goldman summoned his dragon and soared up. The silver boss swiped at him, but his dragon reeled and spat balls of golden fire. The enemy roared in pain as it’s HP slowly fell. Then the NPCs started to fire..
The dragon flashed red and flapped it’s mighty wings, soaring up into the air, hoping to escape blade and arrow. It’s health was at a critical amount, their army was winning.
Goldman flew up into the air. The archers were still launching arrows, but most did not make their mark. Then Goldman’t elemental dragon fired. The silver boss let off a roar and vanished, leaving a portal on the ground.
“Quick,” Goldman said. “We have little time.”
The golden user jumped into the portal.

CHAPTER 9 – The Final Battle

The golden user stood before the Dragon of Destiny. He could see the chest at the end of the chamber. He needed to get to that chest, and then slay the dragon. It seemed so impossible.
Goldman gripped his golden sword. He could not fail.
He charged forward. The dragon’s talons slashed in front of his face; that had been a close call. The golden warrior slashed at the creature’s scaly arm as he passed, making it flash red. Goldman had scored a hit. He then rolled away, ducking under an attack. The golden sky was losing its color and Nightcrafter’s venomous rain would start falling if he did not hurry.
He jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding a golden fireball. The heat was so intense that his armor cracked. Goldman stabbed at the creature’s thigh, making it flash red as it took damage.
The golden warrior rolled to the side as a massive claw swiped through the air, missing him by an inch. Goldman reached the chest. Then he was knocked aside, his emerald blade skittering across the ground.
Goldman launched himself to the side. He crawled toward the Sword, but was knocked back again. His golden blade flew and crashed against the ground.
Goldman drank a swiftness potion quickly and dove in again.  The monster swiped at him, but he was too fast, and the golden user grabbed the Sword of Destiny.
Goldman summoned his own dragon to give himself a boost into the air. He landed on the boss’ neck hanging by one hand as he stabbed with the Sword. The dragon slashed at him, but missed, damaging its own HP. Goldman continued stabbing. The dragon roared, fell limp, and died. That’s when the rest of the army entered the room.
“Whoa.” Watergirl said.
“How did…”
Slowpokes, Goldman thought. “Okay, army, let’s go!”
Goldman arrived in the Realm of Evil. It was… pitch black. Then Glowstonia placed some glowstone, and suddenly, Goldman could see.
So, Nightcrafter’s voice reverberated across his domain. You have arrived. It is time to meet my army.
Goldman held the Sword of Destiny. He knew that they had only about an hour to stop Nightcrafter. And then the sky let off an eerie, purple glow. This revealed a huge army on the bottom of the hill that they stood on. Goldman counted the monsters and estimated eight thousand creatures. There was no way to stop Nightcrafter with all those monsters. Goldman looked a little further and could see a dark castle. 
Goldman knew what they had to do.
“Keep the monsters distracted,” Goldman muttered to himself.”And then the power users go into the tower and find out how to stop Night Crafter.
“I KNOW WHAT TO DO.” Goldman said the army. And he explained his bold plan, hoping it might work. And then the Final Battle began.
Goldman and the other six power users split off from the rest of the army. The golden user led the way, his Sword shining bright with magical powers. A stray monster leapt toward them and slashed. Goldman pointed the glowing Sword of Destiny. A bolt of magical power blasted the monster, and it vaporized without a trace.
“Look, a secret entrance,” Ashtail whispered.
“Where?” asked EvJEDP. “I can’t see a thing!”
“Right here,” Skull23487 replied. His arm went right into the wall.
“Then let’s go.” Silvergirl22 said, jumping into the nonexistent stone. The user sank into the wall and was gone.
Goldman dove in after her. He thought he would suffocate, but his head poked out the other side; he was through. He stepped into the hallway. There was no sign of where they had to go.
“This way,” Watergirl111 said, pointing down the long shaft.
“Are you sure?” Goldman asked.
“Positive,” Watergirl replied. “I had a vision about this.”
“Yeah, me too.” commented Lavaguy.
“So are we agreed?” Skull asked.
The others nodded. Then they rushed down the corridor.
“Get ready for mission impossible,” Lavaguy said with a smirk. “I think you guys will like this.”
Goldman ducked under a pair of arrows. The golden user drew his bow and fired four projectiles down the hall. The sound of skeleton bones clattering against the floor soon followed.
“It’s safe now,” the golden user told the group.
“I’m hungry.” Lavaguy moaned.
Ev tossed him some cooked beef.
Goldman led the way down the dark passageway. Occasionally he had to ask Lavaguy or Watergirl about it, and they went through multiple twists and turns. Eventually, they came to a massive chamber with a hundred purple quartz blocks. They were projecting rays of light into a dark body just floating in the center of the room.
“Nightcrafter will awaken soon,” Goldman said. He looked up at a timer on the wall. It said 10 minutes.
9:59
9:58
Goldman put away the sword of destiny and pulled out his emerald pickaxe. He stepped forward to begin working on the first quartz block. But the purple crystals seemed almost impenetrable.
“Start digging,” Ashtail yelled.
Goldman drew his other pickaxe. He hammered at the block. Cracks started to form on the block…crack…crack…crack…
Goldman smashed the picks harder. The quartz was cracking faster until it burst. Goldman’s picks moved to the next block, smashing at them over and over until it shattered. Goldman pounded with all his strength…CRACK…CRACK…shatter. Goldman collected the third block.
The golden user glanced on how the other power users were doing. They had already collected maybe a tenth of the section. Goldman looked back up at the clock. It read 8:45.
Goldman hit the blocks again and again, destroying another and another. At fifty percent, Goldman thought things were looking good.
But then:
STOP THEM.
Nightcrafter’s body radiated intense light with every syllable. Goldman heard a rumbling sound. He smashed with his picks…CRACK…CRACK…shatter.
STOP THEM.
STOP THEM. NOW!
Suddenly thirty wither skeletons appeared in the waking chamber. Goldman put away his silver pick and drew his Sword of Destiny. He smashed at the skeletons when they drew near, but kept his eyes glued to the task at hand. 5:05…5:04…
Goldman dug like crazy. He heard the sound of skeleton bones diminish to just an annoyance. Goldman then drew his other pickaxe and hammered away. A lone skeleton was slashing at his back with it’s stone sword, but Goldman44 knew that his golden armor would give him enough protection for the moment.
There were three minutes left.
The last of the skeletons vanished. Goldman dug. There were only three blocks left! But he quickly noticed that his picks were the only ones digging. But why?
Goldman raised his pickaxes over the last block. One hit would destroy it, and this was it. He swung down the tools.
When suddenly, he was knocked to the side. 

CHAPTER 10 (PART 1) – Goldman44 vs. Teleportus

Goldman stood and drew his Sword. Before him stood a mighty endermen. The arms and legs rippled with muscles. Goldman looked up.
“It is time to finish what Herobrine started.” the dark creature said.
Goldman’s eyes grew wide with terror. “Teleportus,” Goldman hissed.
The tall creature gave Goldman44 a toothy grin. Goldman stepped back. He had heard of this creature; Teleportus, created by Herobrine. Goldman looked at the clock. There were three minutes left. He faced Teleportus and held the Sword of Destiny in front of him. Then the king of the endermen charged.
Goldman slashed at Teleportus. The enderman teleported behind him and punched. Goldman kicked him away and faked to the left. Teleportus moved to the right and Goldman44 slashed, scoring a blow. Teleportus screeched and attacked. Goldman blocked another punch with the sharp edge of his blade, and Teleportus flashed red.
The enderman was suddenly behind Goldman44. Goldman saw his arm flash red with damage as the king of the endermen landed a hammering blow. His armor cracked and huge chunks fell off.
Teleportus teleported again. POW! POW! POW!
Goldman was landing blows on Teleportus, but he was taking severe damage himself. Goldman swung his Sword of Destiny, but it felt open air as a pair of punches smashed into his back, destroying the last of his golden armor. Goldman swung behind him, and the enderman king flashed red with damage. Goldman could see that his HP was nearly exhausted. But it was clear that Teleportus was also near death, his teleportation movements not as speedy. Goldman dared another glance at the clock. There were only thirty seconds before Nightcrafter rose!
Goldman gritted his teeth. And then he charged.
The enderman teleported. Goldman kicked him back and swiped his sword across the dark flesh. Then he rolled and attacked the legs. Teleportus backed up, looked at the clock, and smiled.
“Too late.” he said. And vanished in a cloud of teleportation particles.
Goldman was all the way at the other side of the room. There were six seconds left on the clock. Goldman charged and made it to the last crystal in three seconds. He pulled out his pickaxes and smashed the block like there was no tomorrow. Goldman hit it with all his strength. He destroyed it with absolutely no time to spare.
No, Nightcrafter said. No. NO. NOOOOOOOOO!!!
The room was crumbling. Goldman had no idea where his friends were. He was coughing as dust seeped into his throat. He couldn’t see anything. Where was the exit?
Pain radiated throughout his body as the stone crumbled. He fell to the ground. He heard Nightcrafter screaming in rage, but at least he had done it. He had saved the world from Nightcrafter’s wrath.
A rumbling sound filled Goldman’s ears. He put his head down as the world went white.

CHAPTER 10 (PART 2) – Saved the World?

Goldman slowly woke. His head was in a heap of gray, ashy grass. He stood and shook his pounding skull. He didn’t remember anything…oh, wait, yes, his friends…Teleportus…Nightcrafter. He had saved the world.
Goldman looked around at the dying landscape. He was back in the Overworld. The rain had stopped falling, but the damage had been done. The Overworld would soon be dead.
Goldman was covered with soot. His golden armor was still missing, destroyed by the enderman Teleportus.
The golden user looked around. Users and NPCs were scattered across the landscape. As they sat up, Goldman could see one of his friends, and another, Stormy34 and LittleWolfPup coming to him. Goldman smiled. The land wasn’t dying! No, with the destruction of Nightcrafter, the land was healing itself. Goldman could see young flowers blooming and new grass sprouting out of the ground. He turned back to his friends.
“Well, we did it.” Stormy said.
“And now we can get your memories back!” LittleWolfPup exclaimed.
“Yay! And then we-wait, what?” Goldman asked.
Little WolfPup gave Goldman a black apple. The Memory Apple. Goldman took a bite, and another, and another, until he had eaten the whole apple. His memories started to come back.
“Come on.” Stormy said. “Let’s enjoy a Nightcrafter-free vacation.”
The three users laughed as they walked away. They didn’t notice the sinister figure peeking over the hill. It only said two words, but those two words announced the fate of Minecraft:

“I’m free.”

— 
This e-mail was sent from a contact form on Mark Cheverton (https://giants-markcheverton.com)