The Edge of MINECRAFT (Being the Second Volume of the Minecraft Trilogy)

Heroes Wanted

Steve walked through the busy camp of men. Food cooked over fires, weapons were prepared, and warriors trained for battle. In one tent, medics, doctors and sages led by Steve's friend Patrick worked on brewing health elixirs and readying first-aid supplies. In another, cartographers talked with scouts as they added locations to maps. Steve reached the camp's north edge and turned to face the assembly. In the camp close to one hundred men (and some women) had assembled. These were the best of their villages. This group had all signed on to use their talents to assist Steve with one thing: the destruction of Herobrine's secret empire.

"The scouts have returned," announced a voice behind Steve. He turned to see his friend Lucas Ravencroft walking toward him. Lucas had been with Steve in the recent adventures that had led to the formation of this army. An excellent marksman and brilliant strategist, Lucas was one of Steve's closest friends.

"Great," Steve replied. "What's the word? Some rogue monsters? The routine stuff?"

Lucas shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. I didn't get much from Ben, but he said that it's a big group. More on the scale of a small army."

Steve looked toward the scouts, who had entered the camp and were heading for his tent. Some of the men clustered around them, but Ben waved them off. He met Steve's eye contact and motioned for a meeting. Steve nodded to Lucas, and the two of them slipped into the tent alongside Ben and his scouts.

"So you've got news for us, then?" asked Steve.

"Yes," the scout leader affirmed. "My men have discovered large groups of monsters moving through the forest. We honed on to one particularly large group that seemed to be operating out of one of the major precincts indicated on Herobrine's map."

Steve considered this. Ben was referring to a map that had been recovered in Herobrine's fortress in the weeks after the duel with the Dark Lord. While most of Steve's group had recuperated, the more able-bodied had returned to the stronghold of evil to retrieve any artifacts of interest and dispose of any monsters that had returned. Among the things recovered was a map of other "precincts", as they had been dubbed. Apparently, the one Herobrine had appeared in was only one of his many bases.

"That means we can be dealing with a force the size of the army we fought back three months ago," Steve commented.

"Or bigger," Ben added gravely.

Steve never had pleasant thoughts thinking back to the duel three months prior. Though they had been triumphant, Steve had stared death in the face. He had also stared Herobrine in the face, and he still debated which was worse. Slowly, Steve's warriors had recovered, and in the meantime, Steve had met with village leaders, including Westlodge's chief elder Jameson. He had worked to assemble warriors willing to exterminate the darkness Herobrine had sewn across the land. Covertly, Steve's core group still had their original purpose of slaying the mythical Ender Dragon, but that was a task to be accomplished after this one.

Over three months, Steve had brought together close to two thousand people (albeit spread out in different camps) with ranks growing every day. Plus, this was just the people that signed on to help with Steve. News poured in from other regions of Minecraft that groups were being organized to hunt down monsters. Bounty hunters were scurrying across the country to increase their kill count and earn big money. In just the past month, Steve had led several battles against groups of monsters. In fact, his men had already taken on and destroyed three minor precincts, along with twelve outposts and countless squads. In short, it seemed Steve's actions had sparked all of Minecraft to uncover and attack the monster forces.

Still, only little groups of men left the camp at one time, and few of them had ever taken on an army before.

"Do we have the forces to take on this army?" asked Steve.

"I doubt it," Ben answered. "We could call in reinforcements from Applewood, and maybe then-"

"Applewood's sent off most of their men to drive the monsters from Brandston and provide a relief effort to the citizens," Steve interrupted. "They can't help us. I don't think any other camp can send men in time."

"Jack is coming with the new recruits in an hour," chimed in Lucas, who had just looked up from his pocket watch. Steve and Ben both stared at him.

"Yes!" cried Steve with realization. "Jack's coming today. I totally forgot." He thought for a moment. "Will the new recruits be able to handle an army for their first asignment, though?"

"Jack's been training them for a few weeks now," Lucas said. "Its worth a shot."

"He's right," Ben agreed. "I don't know why their entire army is out, but they won't be forever. You saw Herobrine's fortress. No way we'll be able to storm one of this things. This is our chance to take down a major cell."

Steve considered his options. His scout was right. This was a chance they needed. There would most definitely be casualties, but it seemed worth the risk. Of course, it could be a trap. But then again, everything always had at least a slight chance of being a trap.

Steve turned to face Lucas. "Rally the troops. We head out in five hours." They all turned when a commotion reached their ears. Steve peaked his head out of the tent just in time to see fifty young men and women walk into the camp. Leading them was another of Steve's greatest friends, Jack Justinson. The young, strong lumberjack was a great ally of Steve. The boy was also well versed in Minecraft mythology, a knowledge that came in handy now that they were dealing with the forces that inspired a good deal if those myths.

"Steve!" Jack shouted. He embraced the slightly older boy in a gigantic bear hug.

"Good to... see you, too," Steve squeezed out. Jack released him, and he panted. "Thought you were going to kill me for a second," Steve gasped as he drew in breaths. "I guess that means your arm is healed."

Jack held up his arm, now free of a sling. "Yup. Got it taken off soon after I started training these guys. They're a good batch, maybe even the best yet."

"You say that about every squad you train," replied Steve.

"Then I guess they just get better and better," explained Jack. Steve laughed. He had missed his friend. Jack was often giving everybody a good laugh with his quick wit and strangely tough perkiness.

"Axin' Jackson returns, everyone!" called Lucas from behind. Everyone gave him a round of applause. "In case you didn't know, it's kinda what they call you now," Lucas added to his friend. The two of them embraced and looked around.

"More people have shown up since I left," Jack remarked. He searched some faces. "Where's Amos?" he inquired, just a little bit worried.

"He fractured his shin," Steve assured. "In fact, he should be back any day now. He sends his love."

"Oh, I knew nothing serious had happened," Jack chuckled. "I was just afraid that he had finally realized that his true passion in life was reading Fishing Journal and watching Spleef games." Everyone burst out laughing in response to this.

"You've shown up just in time," Steve informed Jack as the laughter died down. "We've got a pretty big job ahead of us. I hope the newbies are ready."

Jack smiled solemnly. "Like I said, I only took the best. They'll fight alongside you. To the death even."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Steve confided. "We're going to see some losses today."

"But in the end, we will win," Jack replied. "They can fight for you, die for you, because they rest in the fact that we will win."

"Jack's hit it head-on," Lucas said. "Herobrine's already lost. He's disappeared, and his empire has fallen apart. All we're doing is sweeping up the pieces."

Steve looked at his friends. "Then let's get to sweeping," he ordered. The three of them turned and walked toward the man that had assembled in front of them. Steve knew that several of then would die.

What he didn't know for once was that he was going to his own death.