The True Hero: A Minecraft Story

Chapter 13: Cave Systems

The part of the cave where the ladder came down from the ceiling had a dull rocky dead-end on one side. But the other side, was a vast system of caves that would take years to explore fully.
It  was pretty dark with the exception of a few torches placed here and there.
All different kinds of shiny ores sparkled the dark shadows.
"This is awesome..."
Alex grabbed his pickaxe from the backpack and started walking once Firea joined him.
She also grabbed her pickaxe yet she seemed less amused by the cave.
Alex continued walking but pointed towards a group of stone blocks covered with little yellowish sparkles.
"What is that?"

Firea looked over to where he pointed,
"That is sulfur Alex, it is used mainly by scientists... and it smells bad."

Alex smiled and looked back in front of him,
"Do you know where we should look?"

Firea stopped walking and pointed with her left hand towards a cluster of iron ore,
"Well first we are going to need some of that iron, and then the rest of what we need is found down below."

Alex ran over toward a part of the cave wall with little orangish spots on it.
He pulled back his arm and then swung forward, over and over again. He mined out the iron ore and with every block of it broken, the ore would drop down from it. After mining 5 blocks of it, he knelt down and scooped up the loose ore he got. He stuck it over his shoulder and into the backpack.

Firea walked over,
"Wow that was fast."

Alex smiled,
"Where to now?"

Firea motioned with the tip of her red tail and with her left arm for Alex to follow her.
She began to walk forward through the cave until coming to a three-way intersection of caves, the choice of going either left or right.

"Hmm...."
Alex brushed some dust off his jacket and look at Firea,
"Which way? Left has a lot of torches so I think the rare stuff would be there, after-all why else would there be that many torches?"

Firea looked down the brightly lit left side, then slowly turned to look down the right side,
"Actually, I think we should go right."

Alex felt confused, "Why?"

"Because the right side has less torches, so less of the ores we are looking for have been taken," she began walking right, "You can go left if you'd like but I'm heading right."

Alex quickly followed her,
"You lead the way."

* * *
After a little while of traveling through the dimly lit caves, passing by only coal and iron, Alex and Firea eventually came to an entryway in the cave that led to an even larger area filled with large stalactites hanging from the ceiling and large stalagmites jutting out of the ground. Accompanying the 40 block tall and 60 block wide area were a vast assortment of colorful ores all over the walls, ground and ceiling.

"Wow," Alex exclaimed, "I've never seen this many ores before..."

Firea looked all around before walking forward, "They're beautiful."

Alex followed Firea, weaving in and around the stalagmites on the stone floor.
Eventually Alex looked down at the glistening yellows and blues of ores on the ground and began to stare as he walked.
He was mesmerized by the enchanting colors, only walking while following the sound of Firea's footsteps.
He could identify gold, lapis, iron, and a couple of new ones he had yet to see, all while keeping track of Firea's soft footsteps.
And as he gazed longer, he began to hear no more walking but his own.
Alex looked up to see a large stalagmite about 10 blocks tall and 5 blocks wide standing before him.
No sign of Firea.
Alex felt uneasy, he felt a dark presence,
"Firea? You there...?"

Suddenly he heard a slight crack behind him, like a pebble dropping and he twisted around instantly.

"BWAH!!"
Firea shouted in his face!

Alex slipped backwards and landed on his back with a thud, his heart racing.
He was then accompanied by Firea's quiet laughter,
"You should have seen your face Alex!"

Alex sat on the ground, taking 5 seconds to realize that he just got spooked by her.

Firea leaned down towards him and said, "You just got beaned."

She held out a hand to Alex all the while laughing.
Alex took her hand and started to chuckle as he stood up, and upon standing he knelt back down with his hand on his stomach laughing,
"Beaned? I got beaned alright!"
He then straighten up and started walking,
"Come on," he rubbed his eyes as he calmed down, and then he looked back at Firea who was smiling, while he walked, "Please don't bean me aga-"
Alex stopped speaking as he bumped into something with his chest.
He spun his head back to the front of himself and was greeted by a hiss.
In front of him was a four-legged creature the same height as him, made up of an assortment of green colors, and it had a noticeable frown on its face.
"SSSSSSssssss..."

Alex stared into its eyes as it grew a tiny bit bigger, "What the..."
He was then tugged backwards by his jacket, presumably Firea yanking him back.
He stumbled backwards fast only to see the green creature in front of him explode with a deafening
*BOOM!!*

Alex flew a block or two into the air and came crashing down onto the cold hard ground.