Chapter 2 – Lost

Gameknight999 walked quickly through the tunnel and kept his eyes on the ground when he walked through the room where he had first met Crafter. His stomach squeezed uncomfortably with suppressed memories as he bolted through the iron doors. Finally, he reached the crafting chamber. The entire village was crammed inside, the village elders standing atop a quickly constructed cobblestone stage at the back of the large room. In one corner, Gameknight saw the village’s two light-crafters, Treebrin and Grassbrin, standing alone. Grassbrin’s bright green stringy hair stood out next to Treebrin’s bark-like skin. The brown light-crafter towered over the villagers, his giant hands curled into fists, but his warm brown eyes and large smile instantly halted any nervousness. Grassbrin was constantly shoving his long hair back into place, the strands sticking up all around his head. As always, he was humming in his lyrical voice, which sounded like a breeze rushing over windswept plains. Even through all the noise, Gameknight could hear the lyrical tones. The two unique individuals were greatly accepted in the village, having been critical in many battles. 

  In the other corner, Gameknight could see Wonder and Sky. The small glowing eyed girl was staring apprehensively at the light-crafters, tugging at her multicolored hair. She seemed to hide behind her older companion, fear still present on her face. Gameknight walked over to Treebrin and Grassbrin. Grassbrin’s face lit up when he saw the User-that-is-not-a-user. “Gaameknightt!” He sang. His green eyes were bright and sparkling. “Grabnit,” Treebrin grumbled. Gameknight smiled. “Hey.” Grassbrin’s face fell. “I aam sorry about tthe crafterr, most sincere apppologies.” Treebrins consolation was much simpler. “Grrrable hoommic gorgzola.” Gameknight wasn’t sure what it meant, but it still was nice. Grassbrin’s usually calm face was sketched with anger. “We willl catch that hhhoorrible virus, and make himm pay ffor his crimes against Minecraft.” Gameknight nodded. “You can be sure of that,” is what he said on the outside. On the inside, he was a shivering wreck hiding in a dark corner. His fear overwhelmed him. He didn’t want to fight Herobrine again, he didn’t want to go to war, he didn’t want any of it. He just wanted to be a kid playing Minecraft, hanging with his friends. But it was too late for all that. 

   “What are you doing?” A voice said from behind him. Gameknight turned to see Monet113 standing behind him, a scowl on her square face. “You should be up there!” She told him sharply. She promptly started shoving him toward the stage. “Monet- hey! Stop! What are you doing?!” She didn’t answer, only continued to push until her brother was suddenly jumping onto the cobblestone platform to keep from tripping flat on his face. Digger smiled at him, any unusual anger from earlier gone. Gameknight, his cheeks feeling hot, quickly stood as far back against the wall as possible. He watched as Monet triumphantly headed toward Wonder and Sky, Stitcher at her side. The red heads maroon curls bounced up and down, glittering in the torchlight. Gameknight could see her sister in the middle of the crowd, grinning up at him. 

Sky’s eyes lit up, literally, when she saw Stitcher. The colors of the rainbow danced along the wall. But her excitement dropped as soon as she noticed Monet, her hand reaching for her inventory. Wonder glared at her, and Sky crossed her arms instead. Monet sighed and her face fell. Stitcher and Monet had been trying to make the newcomer feel welcome, and it had worked, sort of. Sky loved Stitcher, but didn’t trust Monet for whatever reason. Gameknight’s attention was diverted suddenly, as Priest started talking. “Several happenings have been going on in the past few days. As you know, our crafter…” His voice cracked with emotion. “… isn’t here anymore. So now, we must figure out what happens next.” He shook his head, as if trying to clear his brain. “We have five days to either get a crafter or evacuate the village. If neither of those things happen in the period of time given, the Council of Crafters will, ahh, pay us a visit.” The crowd gasped, and suddenly started shouting dozens of things at once. “That’s not fair!” Someone screamed. “They never do that! Why us?” Priest winced. “Due to our villages… uniqueness, they thought it wise to come, just to make sure everything goes smoothly. 

“If we do not have a crafter by that time, we will be-“ Priest stopped, choking on the word. Taking a deep breath, he continued. “Lost,” He whispered. The word vibrated around the chamber, every villager stilling and staring fearfully up at the platform. They were silent for a moment. Then Wonder, always the first to speak, asked, “What’s a Lost?” All eyes turned to her in surprise. She looked at them all. “What?” She complained. “Did you forget that I’m still new to all this? I don’t know half of what you people are saying.” Gameknight was one of the only ones who noticed that Sky had cleverly teleported away. The other person was Stitcher, who suddenly frowned and looked around. Digger stepped up. “When a village loses its crafter before they have time to transfer their abilities to another villager, it no longer has a leader and the people become the Lost. They must leave their village, and strike out across the Overworld to find a new home. For almost every villager, this means certain death.” Wonder stared at him, open mouthed. “That,” She began slowly. “Is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!” All the villagers looked shocked and appalled at her outburst. Gameknight just smiled. She scowled at them all. “Why go off by yourself? You should stick together for as long as you can! And why try and find a new village?” Digger shook his head. “It- uh, well, the thing is, without a leader we can’t-“ Wonder waved her hands dismissively. “Oh, I know, I know! That’s not what I meant! I mean, there is a much safer way to get to another village.” The villagers looked around and mumbled. Even Digger looked stumped. Wonder sighed and threw up her hands. “The minecarts!” She marched to one of the minecart tunnels and pointed dramatically at it. “The track-things!” She said proudly. “You mean the Minecraft system?” Gameknight pointed out. She nodded exuberantly. “Don’t tell me you’ve never thought of that!” She groaned and placed her hands on her hips. “They all lead to villages, don’t they?” Everyone was completely silent as they pondered this sudden change of events. “But- but- it’s never been done! That’s not the way!” Priest spluttered. Wonder crossed her arms. “Well, maybe it should be the way,” She said angrily. The two erupted into argument, with other villagers choosing sides. “ENOUGH!” Digger boomed. They all fell silent as the giant NPC’s glare crossed over all of them. “Don’t you see what’s happening?” He snapped. “We are coming apart! We need to stick together and focus on our real enemy.” Priest quickly stepped back and regained his normally composed face. “Yes, of course.” He said. “Exactly,” Digger explained firmly. “Herobrine.” Gameknight let it an involuntary yelp. The crowd looked at him in surprise. “Ahh…” He stuttered. “Yeah, Gameknight, what do you think?” Herder yelled. The boy stared up at him excitedly, his blue and green eyes filled with faith in his idol. “Well,” Gameknight stalled as he tried to think. His voice was faint and wavering. “Uh… we need, um, to know… where he is?” The whole sentence sounded pleadingly like a question. He felt the pressure of almost a hundred eyes upon him. Square beads of sweat appeared on his brow. 

   “Exactly,” Digger said. Gameknight’s shoulders slumped with relief. “But… how do you find Herobrine?” He placed a sign on the wall. It read, “Where could Herobrine be hiding?” Digger took red dye from his inventory and colored the words in. He turned back to the crowd and shrugged. “Well, I got nothing,” He sighed. Slowly, the villagers started yelling out options. Digger put everyone’s ideas on another sign. Finally, after half an hour they stopped. 

Where could Herobrine be hiding?

Creeper hive

Extreme hills caves

Cavern

Zombie-town

Ravine

Dragon’s Teeth

Skelton-town

Desert temple

Spider nest

Nether fortress

End

Ocean

Jungle

Mushroom biome

Shadow crafter lair

Abandoned village

Stronghold

Ice spikes

Village

   “As if Herobrine would be in a village, Mapper!” A woman yelled at the man who had the idea. “We don’t know that!” Mapper snapped. Gameknight smiled, sincerely doubting himself about the possibility. Digger sighed. “Alright, everybody, it’s late! Time to go home.” The villagers muttered to each other as they headed toward the ladder. Gameknight leapt off of the small stage, glad that the meeting was over. He started walking toward the tunnel that led to his castle and his warm bed. The horrible fear that had been gnawing at his insides was just as strong as before. He thought about the list of possibilities and smiled to himself. He knew that Herobrine would never camp out in a village, no matter what the situation.

   “A village! What a fantastic idea!” Herobrine 3 exclaimed. Herobrine 1 grinned as he stared down at the taiga village he had taken over. The village’s occupants looked fearfully up at him and his four companions. “Why, thank you,” Herobrine 5 said smugly. “I thought it was a brilliant idea myself.” Herobrine 3 scoffed. “Not you!” He snapped. All five bodies laughed. Herobrine had successfully infected three other villagers, a hunter and two woodcutters. Each had been outside their village doing their jobs, which gave the evil virus an easy opportunity to continue on with his scheme without notice. Now he was ready to go even farther. He had blocked off all of the minecart tunnels underneath this pathetic village in the dead of night with obsidian, which left the village completely defenseless when his small band of monsters descended upon them. There were only about twenty mobs in the band, but Herobrine had teleported them into the village just as the horizon turned pale and instructed them to be silent. The monsters, understanding the effect of punishment, were quick to obey and soon the village was in chaos. The horde was destroyed easily but not without casualties on both sides. The villagers, shaken and weak, quickly surrendered when Herobrine appeared, all five of him. The entire community was clustered in a large mob around their well, tending to their wounded and speaking in hushed whispers. Herobrine grinned evilly. Everything was so perfect. The different bodies were all controlled by him. They all shared the same strong emotions, so if one of them was hurt the entire group would go to their aid. They could share thoughts instantaneously, and was just enough their own person that Herobrine 1 wasn’t constantly getting barraged by thoughts. And the best thing of all, he knew that his army would never betray or disappoint him. They would agree on everything, do everything perfectly, and of course they were more powerful than any other army had ever been and ever would be. 

  “Alright, plan of action,” Herobrine 1 said grimly. “4 and 5, take all the wounded and elderly around the back of the blacksmith shop. I don’t want to see any of them ever again. Make sure it’s painful, alright?” The two nodded eagerly. Herobrine 1 was sorry that his body wouldn’t be the one to do it, but he knew he could go back into their shared memories later on and relive it. He turned. “3, I saw about fifteen villagers strong enough to be worth our while. You know who they are. Separate them from the group and start the infection. 2 will join you soon.” 3 nodded and teleported away. Screams were starting to float up from the ground as grandparents, parents, and injured friends were yanked from the group. A young girl cried and reached out for her limping brother and he was shoved forward at sword point. The crowd held her back, and she collapsed with grief. Herobrine felt a prickle of a headache somewhere far back in his skull, like a mallet hitting a tiny gong or a pebble getting dropped into a smooth pond. Pain rippled outward. He shook his head. He turned toward his comrade. “You ready?” He asked. Herobrine 2 was at least half his size. His blonde hair was ruffled and the wind played with the hem of his smock. He groaned. “The boy-crafter is struggling again,” 2 complained. “Why is it that their personalities don’t die when we infect them?” He walked awkwardly towards the other, his legs stiff as if he was working hard to control them. Herobrine 1 sighed. “We don’t have time for this,” He grumbled. Herobrine 2 nodded in agreement and suddenly flopped onto the ground. “He’s got my leg!” The virus screamed. He struggled to grab onto his squirming limb. “Quiet!” Herobrine 1 snapped. “The villagers will hear you. Just hold on.” He placed his hands on 2’s shoulders. Closing his eyes, he concentrated all his viral powers into the second body he inhabited. He could feel the boy’s presence. The crafter knew he was there, he could sense it. The villager radiated determination, refusing to back down. Herobrine mentally shoved against the NPC, pushing him deeper into his mind. Slowly the NPCs strength waned and his personality all but disappeared. Satisfied, Herobrine stirred up some of the villagers’ worst memories, just to make him suffer. Part of Herobrines personality pulled away from Herobrine 2’s body and took over Herobrine 1 once more. “Now go,” 1 ordered. 2 nodded and teleported away. Herobrine 1 closed his eyes and suddenly appeared in front of the main group. “Everyone in the crafting chamber!” He screamed angrily. “Last one there ends up behind the blacksmith shop!” The villagers, listening to the mournful cries starting to float on the breeze from the said building, all sprinted for the watchtower as fast as their legs could carry them. Herobrine 1 cackled. The spruce trees around him swayed evilly in the wind. “Just wait, Gameknight999!” The virus shouted. He teleported on top of the hill borne watchtower. From here he could see over the trees and the faded horizon surrounded him. “You’ll never see me coming.” He glared at the sky and the setting sun. “And that is a promise.”