The Adventures of Steve (Book 3) – Legend of the Shadow Thing.

Intro

A lot of things happened before we got to winter-land. We spent the whole way being chased by a “thing” that we have never seen before. One of the guards from the fortress told us a little about it. Apparently, this thing has a name, and if anyone says his name it will come get you wherever you are. Also he said it was immortal–it cannot be killed. When I talked to Joe the villager, he told me that the “thing” was taller than an oak-wood tree.

Then there was the nightmare I had about that “being” that appeared to me; Sam told me it was one of those Endermen. The “being” warned me that there was an evil “thing” that escaped from his world and is now here in this world. He said it only exists to cause chaos and destruction. The “being” also said it has caused much destruction in his own world. Sam believes the “being” was just in my dreams, but I believe it was more real than our own reality.

As soon as we arrived at Winter-land, we were treated as hostiles, but then again I think they had a good reason to. Everything outside the fortress is hostile. The only reason they let us in is because I was able to defeat one of those skeleton things. Before that, they thought the skeletons were immortal. I don’t know why.

They have probably never been face-to-face with them. Their only job is to guard the wall. I am now a tiny bit relieved, now that Erik is finally getting medical attention. After Sam and I managed to survive a trip to the mines on our own, we gained respect from the people of Winter-land. When he army’s Commander asked us to be watchmen for a night, we thought nothing was going to happen that night…we were wrong.

Day 59-61

Sam and I stood there helplessly in the watch-tower, watching as the skeleton army approached the fortress. There were hundreds of them. I had absolutely no idea what we were going to do. I’ve never been in this kind of situation before. I was paralyzed with fear, my mind racing with all the things that could go wrong.

Steve: “I think putting us in charge of the watch-tower was a very bad idea!”

Sam: “Where is he anyways?”

Steve: “I have no idea!”

Sam: “What are we going to do?!”

Steve: “Well, first we should take a deep breath and relax!”

Sam: “You don’t sound relaxed!”

Steve: “Let me think!”

I stopped to think what the watch-men would do in this kind of situation. I remembered that they had an iron bell right above the watch-tower. I looked around for a second and saw an iron mallet laying on the corner of the room.

Steve: “Sam! Get that iron mallet from that corner, climb to the top of the watch-tower and hit the bell. We need to warn the guards that the skeletons are here!”

Sam: “Okay, right away!”

Sam climbed up and started hitting the iron bell as hard as he could. As soon as the guards heard that they began coming out of their sleeping posts in a hurry. They rubbed their eyes, too, and splashed some cold water on their faces to wake up. They ran into the armory, picking up their weapons and armor.

After that, they climbed the ladder that took them to the top of the wall, took their positions, and waited for me to give the order to attack. “Wait, don’t attack yet!” I yelled. I turned around to look back at the skeleton army. They weren’t doing anything–they just stood there in a crowd and looked up at us. I thought to myself, Why are they just looking at us? It looked as though they were also awaiting for their commander to give them the order to attack.

Steve: “Hey Sam!”

Sam: “Yeah?”

Steve: “Stop hitting the bell and come back down here.”

Sam: “I’m coming!”

Steve: “Look. They are just standing there. Why do you think that is?”

Sam: “It looks like they are trying to intimidate us.”

We both stood there looking at the skeleton army as they stared back at us. We looked at each other for a couple of minutes until we saw one skeleton on a horse coming out from the middle of the crowd. He was wearing diamond armor and had a diamond sword with him.

Sam: “It looks like this one is their commander. He is the only one with diamond gear.”

Steve: “I’ve never seen an enemy equipped with that kind of armor before.”

Sam: “I have, but the ones I’ve seen only wore iron armor. I think they kill people and take it from them.”

Steve: “Look, he is raising his sword. Get ready for attack, Sam.”

Sam: “I’m ready.”

As soon as the skeleton commander raised his sword, the whole skeleton army began running towards the fortress walls. As they ran towards the walls, I also raised up my sword and yelled, “Everybody! Attack!” The men got into position, lifted up their bows, and shot the first round of arrows into the skeleton crowd. The first round of arrows flew fast and with a huge force, but many of them landed into the snow. A small percentage of the arrows landed on some skeletons. It took out about six of them.

Steve: “Okay, guards, reload! And prepare to fire!”

While my men reloaded their bows, the skeleton army took out some iron pickaxes and ran towards the fortress walls once again. They began to chop away at the obsidian wall. As soon as I saw that, I commanded my men to hurry up and reload. If those skeletons managed to break through the wall we were done! We needed to move fast. The skeleton commander raised his sword once more and let out a huge growl. As soon as he did that, two dozen more skeletons ran towards the wall with their iron pickaxes. Now I was really worried.

Steve: “Sam, stop shooting for a second and come over here.”

Sam: “Hey, Steve. What’s up?”

Steve: “I need you to gather up some guards. Go to the artillery building, in the center of the fortress. Pick as as many TNT blocks as you can carry.”

Sam: “Okay! How many guards should I take with me?”

Steve: “Take as many as you can.”

Sam: “Yes, sir!”

Steve: “Please hurry up, or the skeletons are going to manage to take down the wall!”

While they went to pick up the TNT blocks, I commanded my men to draw their bows once again and fire. They took out about a dozen skeletons, but that wasn’t enough. There were still hundreds out there if not thousands. We only had about one hundred men. I really thought we weren’t getting through this. One of my men barged through the door of the watch-tower and told me that we were out of arrows already.

How can this happen? I thought to myself, They are supposed to be prepared! I quickly told the man to gather as many buckets as they could and fill them up with lava. While they did that, Sam came up there with his group of guards to tell me that they had the TNT blocks. I said, “Good. Now take your men to where the sling shots are and set the TNT on them to be thrown. Wait for my command.”

Sam said, “Yes, sir,” and immediately left with his men.

I took a quick look out the window and saw that the men were ready with the buckets full of lava. I gave them the signal, and they began pouring the lava over the wall and onto the skeletons. Sam and his men were ready with the TNT. I gave them the order to fire. They must have shot about twenty TNT blocks because they landed right in the middle of the skeleton mob and took out about a hundred of them. As soon as the skeletons saw what happened they began to retreat. It was over, we had won the battle! Sam came in with a sad look on his face, and I asked him:

Steve: “What’s wrong, Sam? Aren’t you happy we just won the battle?”

Sam: “the skeletons were also attacking behind the fortress–they managed to get through the wall.”

Steve: “But they are gone now, aren’t they?”

Sam: “Yes, they’re gone but they broke through the hospital…they took some of the patients and Erik was one of them.”

Steve: “This can’t be! I thought the men were also guarding the back of the fortress!”

Sam: “Well we were outnumbered in the front so I commanded all of the men to come to the front.”

Steve: “How could you do that, Sam?!”

Sam: “I’m sorry, I didn’t know this would happen. I talked to some of the civilians, and they told me it was the ‘thing’ that broke the wall, and took the patients.”

Steve: “You, mean the ‘thing’ did this on its own?”

Sam: “Yeah, that’s what the civilians are saying.”

Steve: “Did they say what he looked like?”

Sam: “Well they said this ‘thing’ was kind of like a black hole, it kinda sucks all the light around it, making it impossible to see it. They told me all they saw was his glowing red eyes. They also said he had some kind of mind power that allowed him to move things around it.”

Steve: “Like telekinesis?”

Sam: “Yeah, I guess.”

Steve: “That can’t be true.”

Sam: “Well, that’s what they said. Anyway, he has Erik. We must find where he is!”

Steve: “I know, but where do we begin?”

Sam: “I have no idea. Right now we need to go to the mines and get some more obsidian blocks to fix the wall.”

Steve: “There’s no time to sleep–we will have to mine all night. Gather up some guards so we can go get some obsidian.”

Sam: “Okay, will three of them be enough?”

Steve: “Yeah. We need to stick together. Remember what happened last time we went to the local mine.”

Sam: “Oh. Yeah.”

Steve: “Let’s go pick up some diamond pickaxes from the crafting shop.”

Sam: “Okay.”

Sam and I arrived at the obsidian mines along with our guards, shortly after. We set up our shelters as always, in case we ran into some trouble. We could always run to it. The shelter is really simple. All we do is dig a couple of blocks out of the wall, put a door up, set up beds, crafting tables, a furnace, and chests. Once we were done setting up our stuff, we decided we should split up.

This way we could cover more ground. There were two paths in the obsidian mine. I told the guards to take the left side. Sam and I would take the right side. I also told them to set up signs that point the way back to the exit so they wouldn’t get lost. We agreed to meet up here at the shelter by nighttime and, if one of the groups wasn’t here, we would begin a search party immediately.

We began walking towards the path that leads to the obsidian, setting up torches all the way there. We walked and walked until our legs got tired but we still couldn’t find the obsidian. If we couldn’t find any obsidian, the fortress and its residents would be in big trouble. One more attack from the skeleton army and they’re done! We had no luck finding the obsidian, so Sam and I decided we should begin picking up some cobblestone. That’s the best we could do for the time being.

Steve: “I wonder if the guards found obsidian.”

Sam: “Yeah, me too.”

Steve: “We will have to gather as much cobblestone as we can. We’re going to have to patch up the wall and add at least three more layers. This cobblestone is too weak. I wish we could make something stronger.”

Sam: “I’m still worried about Erik.”

Steve: “Yeah, me too. As soon as we patch up this wall we are going to go search for him. We will gather up as many guards as we can to help us.”

Sam: “We should probably get some sleep; we need to be rested when we begin the search party.”

Steve: “Yeah, i think you’re right.”

Sam: “How many bundles of cobblestone do you have?”

Steve: “Let me check my inventory…I have ten stacks of sixty-four.”

Sam: “Oh, cool. I have eight stacks.”

Steve: “I think I know what that ‘being’ I saw in my dream was warning me about.”

Sam: “What?”

Steve: “He was trying to warn me about the ‘thing’ that broke into the fortress today.”

Sam: “You think so?”

Steve: “Yes. Why do you think he took those people?”

Sam: “I have no idea, but I hope they’re okay.”

Steve: “Yeah, me too.”

Sam: “Do you think the ‘thing’ is really immortal?”

Steve: “I don’t know. I just think that’s what people say to scare each other.”

While Sam and I were chatting we heard a huge explosion on the other side of the mine. The explosion was so huge that it made the whole mine shake as if there was an earthquake.

Steve: “Wow! That was loud. We should go check it out!”

Sam: “Yeah, let’s go. Maybe the guards are in trouble!”

We ran to the other side of the mine, and when we got there we saw that the guards were surrounded with about a dozen creepers. The guards managed to get on high ground by jumping and putting cobblestone below them. There was no way they could escape from this. If they shot the creepers, they would detonate and take the guards with them. It didn’t help that there was a lava fields below the stone floor.

As soon as we got there, the creepers turned their attention towards us. So Sam and I began to jump and put some cobblestone below us also. We were high up pretty quickly. So then we were stuck once again, with no chance of getting out. The creepers look more desperate than ever to blow us up. They hissed louder than normal, and they jumped relentlessly to get us. The look in their eyes was creepier than ever. I don’t feel like being stuck here for days like we were last time. We needed to get to the fortress as soon as possible. I got an idea.

Steve: “Hey, Sam, do you have a crafting table with you?”

Sam: “Yeah, in my inventory.”

Steve: “What about some wooden planks?”

Sam: “Yeah, I have about ten of them.”

Steve: “Okay, the plan is that I’m going to dig here on the top of the mine. Then I will dig under to get to the level, where the creepers are. Then I will make an opening and set up a door. Once I do that, I will call the creepers to come get me, and when I give you the signal you will shoot one of them with your arrow.”

Sam: “What about you?”

Steve: “Don’t worry, by the time they explode I will be up here again!”

Sam: “Okay, sounds like a plan. Be careful, Steve.”

Steve: “Okay, get your bow ready.”

Sam took his bow out of his inventory and got into position to shoot one of the creepers. Meanwhile, I dug my trap. Once I was done with the digging I set up the door. Looked up to see if Sam was ready. I opened the door, and yelled to the creepers, “Hey! Dummies! Come get me!” The creepers started racing towards the door. As soon as they got close enough, I said, “Now, Sam!” I immediately began climbing up as fast as I could. Sam shot the first arrow and hit the first creeper right on the body. As soon as the creeper was hit he began glowing–he was ready to detonate. He exploded and set up a chain reaction of explosions! All the other creepers detonated with him. They made a huge explosion, making a huge hole on the wall. There were cobblestone blocks everywhere! Hundreds of them.

We immediately jumped down and began collecting every single one of them. Once we were down there we found out that the explosion exposed a huge vein of diamond blocks! We rushed to collect them, and when we were done we began walking towards the exit. On the way to the exit our torches began turning off one by one. We were stuck there in the cave in the dark. I called out to the guard to see if they had any torches, but no one answered.

Steve: “Sam?”

Sam: “Yeah?”

Steve: “What happened to the guards?”

Sam: “I don’t know. They were right behind us, weren’t they?”

Steve: “Yeah. I think they’re gone.”

Sam: “You mean they left us here?”

Steve: “No, maybe something took them.”

Sam: “Are you trying to scare me, Steve?”

Steve: “No, i swear they’re gone.”

Sam: “We need some light.”

Immediately, the torches were rekindled and the whole mine lit up once again. We looked all over the place and the three guards were nowhere to be found. They had just vanished into thin air! As soon as we confirmed that they were really gone, we ran towards the exit as fast as we could. Once we got to the fortress one of the guards informed us that the commander was looking for us and that he would be waiting for us at the watch-tower. Sam and I rushed to the top of the tower to inform him about what happened in the obsidian-mine. As soon as we got there, the commander began praising us.

Commander: “Sam. Steve. I am so impressed with how you handled the attack on the fortress. You guys were born to do this!”

Sam: “Thank you sir.”

Steve: “Thank you sir.”

Commander: “I heard the skeleton army did some damage to the walls, and it was bad.”

Steve: “Yes, sir. Right after the battle we went to the obsidian-mines to collect some obsidian to repair the walls. We couldn’t find any. It’s all gone.”

Commander: “This can’t be! What are we going to do now?”

Sam: “We took some guards from the watch-tower and they vanished!”

Commander: “What do you mean?”

Steve: “Well, on the way back they disappeared.”

Commander: “How could you let that happen?! They were my best men!”

Steve: “Sorry, sir. I didn’t know that would happen.”

Sam: “Sorry.”

Steve: “We should probably fix the wall now.”

Commander: “Just leave the blocks here and I will get some of my men to repair it. Now, go get some sleep! You need to be rested in case there is another attack.”

Steve: “Yes, sir.”

Sam: “Yes, sir.”

Steve: “Come on, Sam. Lets go get some much needed rest.”

Sam: “Yeah, we haven’t slept like in three days. Well, Steve, I will see you tomorrow.”

Steve: “See, ya.”

I went to my cabin, kicked off my diamond boots, took off my helmet, and passed out in the bed. I was sooooo tired I thought I would sleep for days. I fell deeply asleep and began to dream. In my dream, I was standing in an obsidian cave. It was dimly lit by one block of lava far in the corner. I had my diamond pickaxe and was chopping away at the obsidian blocks. While I was swinging my pickaxe I got paralyzed once again. I tried as hard as I could to move, but I was stuck. One of those “beings” appeared once again, out of thin air.

Steve: “Hey, it’s you again.”

Being: “Yes, it’s me.”

Steve: “What do you want?”

Being: “I’m here to tell you how to defeat the ‘thing’.”

Steve: “You mean it can be killed?”

Being: “No. It’s immortal. It cannot be killed.”

Steve: “How do i stop it?”

Being: “You cannot stop it, you can only make it go away temporarily.”

Steve: “Okay, I’m listening.”

Being: “You will need fire.”

Steve: “Fire?”

Being: “Yes, fire! You need to collect as much fire as you can, and pour it over the ‘thing’.”

Steve: “How am I going to do that?”

Being: “Find a way human. NOW WAKE UP!”

Day 64

Well, I thought, I really messed up this time. I had ended up sleeping for two days straight! I really needed that. I was dead tired. The good thing was that I was fully rested. the dark circles under my eyes were finally gone. I had been so busy those past few days that I’d bare had any time to eat. I cooked myself a huge breakfast, feeling like we were going to have a long week ahead of us.

It seemed like that morning has been especially cold. All my stuff was frozen! It seemed like there was a huge blizzard while I slept. The high winds even blew my windows open and there was snow all over my cabin! I should go check on Sam. I went outside, and it was especially quiet. I looked around the fortress, and it was all empty; it looked like a ghost town. I went to go check on Sam in his cabin. I knocked, knocked, and knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

I decided I should open it. The cabin was completely dark. I called out Sam’s name and there was no answer. What’s going on? I thought to myself. I went back outside and walked along the fortress wall. When I finally got to the left side of the fortress wall, I got one of the biggest surprises of my life! The whole wall had been knocked down…it looked like the fortress was attacked once again while I was asleep. They made sure to knock down the weakest side of the wall since it was the part that was patched up with the cobblestone. I ran to the watch-tower to see if the commander was there. I found him sitting down in his office chair looking down at the ground.

Steve: “Hey, Commander?”

Commander: “Hey, Steve.”

Steve: “What happened here? It looks like everyone is gone!”

Commander: “Well yesterday we had the biggest attack on the fortress ever. Didn’t you come out to fight? We hit the bells.”

Steve: “Well, I was so tired that I slept all the way through the night.”

Commander: “That’s fine, it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. They came and took almost everyone! There are only a couple of men left.”

Steve: “This is horrible! what are we going to do now?”

Commander: “Well, we don’t have enough men to protect the fortress. We will have to abandon it.”

Steve: “But who will keep those monsters away from the other parts of the world?”

Commander: “Well, I don’t know, Steve. If we don’t get enough men to protect the fortress, the rest of the world is doomed!”

Steve: “Well, now Sam is missing. We are losing everybody! We must be brave.”

Commander: “It’s us versus thousands of skeletons, and that ‘thing’ whose name we cannot mention.”

Steve: “I am tired of losing my friends! We are going to do something about this or we will lose the fortress!”

Commander: “What do you have in mind, Steve?”

Steve: ” I think the ‘thing’ is the leader of the skeleton army, because every time they show up, the ‘thing’ shows up.”

Commander: “That’s a good observation, Steve.”

Steve: “I noticed the obsidian-mines are full of lava. We need to send all of our men with as many buckets as they can carry so they can pick up some lava. We will use that lava to pour it all around the fortress. That way the skeleton army wont be able to get close.”

Commander: “That’s a ton of work! It might take days! And we don’t have time.”

Steve: “That’s why we need to get going as soon as possible. We will work day and night to get done! And hope that they don’t attack soon.”

Commander: “I will have a meeting with my men and tell them as soon as possible.”

Steve: “Thank you, Commander. One more thing.”

Commander: “What?”

Steve: “I will need to know the real name of the ‘thing’.”

Commander: “Why? No. That’s crazy! You know that if you call that ‘thing’ by its real name it will appear, don’t you?”

Steve: “Yes, that’s part of the plan. We need to get him right in the center of the fortress so we can fight him.”

Commander: “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard! How do you plan to defeat him?”

Steve: “Well, we need to make a small lava pit under the fortress. We will set up TNT traps, cover them up with dirt, set up pressure plates, and use them as detonators. As soon as that ‘thing’ steps on one of those he will fall right into the lava pit!”

Commander: “Well, Steve. I am going to have to trust you with this. We have no choice anyways. I just got the report in. It looks like we only have twenty men left.”

Steve: “That’s perfect!”

Commander: “Well as Commander, I will give you the first order, Steve. You will gather up all twenty men. You will instruct three of them to begin digging all around the outside of the fortress. You will send ten men to go collect the lava from the mines. You will send the rest of the men to go dig the pit in the center of the fortress. Steve, you will be in charge of setting up the traps.”

Steve: “Yes, sir. I will get on it right away!”

Commander: “Now, get going. I will be here crafting arrows. We will need thousands of them!”

I left the watch-tower and did what the commander asked me to do. I gave the men their jobs and they got to work. Since I was in charge of building the TNT traps, I went to the crafting shop to get some materials. I set up my crafting table and began making some pressure plates. The crafting shop had all kinds of materials in chests and they were all labeled. I looked for the one that had the gun-powder. Then I looked for the one that had the sand in it. I used both of those materials to craft some TNT. I began digging holes in the ground in the fortress to set up my TNT traps. I ended setting up about twenty traps in total. A while after, those who were in charge of bringing the lava arrived. I helped them dig the pit so we could finish faster and poured the lava. We covered the pit up and I set the TNT traps on it. That part of the plan was ready. Then we went all around the outside of the fortress and poured the lava into the ditch that they’d dug. After working all day and all night my plan was done. I went up to the watch-tower to inform the commander that we were ready.

Commander: “Good. Now that we have everything ready, I want you to go get a diamond armor and diamond sword.”

Steve: “I already have that stuff.”

Commander: “The armor isn’t for you, it’s for me.”

Steve: “You will be fighting with me?”

Commander: “Of course! You think just because I’m an old man that I can’t fight? Remember, I am the one who trained all of these men. When I was younger, I was considered one of the greatest swordsmen in all of the kingdom.”

Steve: “Wow! I didn’t know that, Commander. I am honored that you are choosing to fight along side me.”

Commander: “Well let’s just hope my old age hasn’t caught up with me.”

Steve: “I think we are going to destroy this thing.”

Commander: “I agree. Now we will just sit here and wait for the skeleton army to arrive. I have given my men the order to stand on top of the wall and be ready to attack the skeleton army when they arrive. As soon as they arrive, you and I will go to the center of the fortress and say the ‘thing’’s name. Now are you ready for this, Steve?”

Steve: “Yes, sir. I am ready.”

Commander: “Steve, come over here and look at this!”

Steve: “What?”

Commander: “Looks like the battle is about to begin. I already see the skeletons approaching.”

Steve: “Looks like the lava in the ditches is working! They just stopped!”

Commander: “Yeah, but it looks like they are carrying bows this time. It’s almost as if someone warned them about the lava.”

Steve: “Get down, Commander. They are taking aim.”

The commander and I got down and waited for the skeleton army to shoot the arrows. While I was down, I broke one of the obsidian blocks and set up a glass pane to see what they were doing. Their commander came forth and raised his diamond sword…There it was, the beginning of the greatest battle to ever take place in Winter-land.

The skeleton army shot their arrows at our men and, since they were are taking cover, none of the arrows hit any of them. The Commander looked at me and said, “It’s time.” I looked at him and nodded in agreement. We picked up our swords and began running towards the stairs. We climbed down as fast as we could, and finally got to the center of the fortress. I told the Commander that it was time to say the name. He looked at me with fear in his eyes and said, “I can’t do this, Steve.”

I told him, “We do this, or the fortress will be destroyed forever. Everything you ever knew will be gone. Everyone you know will be gone!” He looked like he was going to say it this time.

He hesitated for a second and said, “E e en.”

I said, “Please, Commander. I want my friends back! I am sure the ‘thing’ took someone you know too!”

Commander: “You’re right, Steve. That ‘thing’ took my son!”

Steve: “You want him back, Commander?”

Commander: “Yes, i want him back so bad!”

Steve: “THEN SAY IT! SAY HIS NAME!”

Commander: “Shadow thing! HIS NAME IS Shadow thing!”

Steve: “Ha-ha, what a stupid name! Shadow thing? What kind of name is that?”

Commander: “Ha-ha, you’re right it’s a stupid name.”

Steve: “Well, nothing is happening! We said stupid Shadow thing like six times already.”

Commander: “I know! Why isn’t the stupid Shadow thing coming?”

The commander and I sat there for a couple of minutes and nothing was happening. The stupid Shadow thing wasn’t showing up. We decided that we should go and help the rest of the men fight the skeleton army. While we were walking back, all the torches that were set up around the fortress began turning off.

Commander: “huh? What’s going on? Who turned off the torches?!”

Steve: “It was probably the Shadow thing!”

Commander: “Look up at the sky! It got really dark. You cant even see the light from the moon!”

Steve: “Let’s take out our bows.”

The whole fortress got dark, and by dark, I mean you couldn’t even see your hand in front of your face. It was finally happening, the Shadow thing was here. There was no time to be scared. The  commander and I took cover behind some dirt blocks. We carefully took a peek to see if it would show its face, and there it was! All you were able to see were those red glowing eyes! I anxiously broke a couple of dirt blocks from the ground, exposing the lava below the ground. The lava gave of enough light that we were able to see the body of the Shadow thing. It was huge! It was even taller than we once thought. In fact it was almost as tall as the fortress walls! I must have stepped on some leaves from a tree, because it made a loud cracking sound. The Shadow thing heard and immediately turned in the direction of our hiding spot.

Commander: “Be quiet! Steve! He is going to hear us!”

Steve: “Sorry, my bad.”

Commander: “Alright, we are going to flank him. I am going to run to the other side of the fortress, and when i light up my torch, shoot him in the knee.”

Steve: “Okay, I’m ready!”

The Commander tip-toed to the other side of the fortress, when all of a sudden he crashed into a garbage can, making a huge crashing noise. The Shadow thing heard, and turned to where the commander was standing. The Shadow thing let out a huge screeching sound and began walking towards the Commander. I had to do something quick! So I pointed at his knee, prayed that I would hit him, and shot the first arrow. I hit the Shadow thing right in the knee. It looked like it was hurt because he screeched once again and fell onto his knee.

He turned around to see where the arrow came from. I think he spotted me because he began to do some weird thing with his arm, and one of the obsidian blocks from the ground began lifting up. He swung his arm and the block flew towards me at an alarming rate. I took a dive onto some bushes and the block missed! He began walking towards me and he ended up stepping on one of the TNT traps. The ground exploded from under him and he began falling down, but he would just not give up! He was holding on for his life on some of the blocks above ground.

I reloaded an arrow into my bow and shot him right on the hand. As soon as he felt the arrow strike his hand, he let go and fell into the lava pit. I stood there looking at him and while the Shadow thing was sinking he said, “I will be back, Steve. I am going to take this fortress. I am going to take your friends. I am going to take YOU!”

I stood back and said, “Ha-ha! How are you going to do that if you’re in this lava pit! Ha-ha stupid Shadow thing!” The Shadow thing didn’t reply, he just teleported out of there, and disappeared into the night.

When he left i found a note that said, “I can’t be stopped, I am immortal. –Shadow thing.”

As soon as the ‘thing’ was gone, the light in the sky came back and all the people who had been taken appeared before my eyes! The most important part of all is that I had my friends back! Sam and Erik were back!

Steve: “Hi, guys! I’m so glad to have you back!”

Erik: “I’m happy to be back!”

Sam: “Are you ready to get out of this stinky place?”

Erik: “I’m ready to go to Spring-land!”

Steve: “Yeah! Let’s get out of here! Maybe on the way there I’ll tell you guys what happened while you were gone. Were did you guys go anyway?”

Sam: “Uh, we were in some sort of prison. We really couldn’t see anything. I could just feel the cell bars with my hands.”