Hidden in the Overworld Read online

  Noah crafted a bunch of snowballs and placed them in his inventory. Harrison stared at the enormous mountain that stood in front of them. “Do we have to climb that mountain to make our way back to the village?”

  “Yes. It’s a challenge, but we can do it.” Noah climbed up the snowy mountain as Harrison followed.

  They stopped at the top of the mountain and looked out at the horizon. “I can see our village,” Noah said when he spotted the new iron golem that looked over their peaceful village.

  “We’re almost there!” Harrison called out.

  “It’s farther than it appears,” warned Noah, “and we’d better start moving along because it will be dark soon.”

  They made their way down the mountain, and suddenly stumbled across a cave.

  “Should we stop here and mine?” asked Harrison.

  “Maybe we can place torches around the cave, so we can stay there for the night. I don’t want to get stuck in the dark.” Noah inspected the cave, walking slowly into the murky interior.

  Harrison placed a torch by the entrance. He heard Noah call out, “Help!”

  A horde of cave spiders surrounded him. Noah struck them with his enchanted diamond sword, but he wasn’t able to destroy all of the spiders.

  “I think I’ve been bitten!” Noah shouted.

  Harrison rushed to Noah’s side, striking spiders and handing Noah a vial of milk. “Drink this.”

  The two battled the spiders. Noah called out, “I see a spawner in the corner.” He rushed toward it, using all of the torches in his inventory to destroy the cave spider spawner.

  Harrison struck a cluster of spiders. Only a few remained and Noah helped Harrison destroy them.

  Noah took out his pickaxe and dug deep within the ground. “Since we’re here, we should see if there are any diamonds.”

  They dug with their pickaxes until Noah called out, “Diamonds!” A layer of blue surfaced, and they eagerly unearthed the gems.

  As they were about to place them in their inventory a voice called out, “Hand over those diamonds now!”

  4

  SURVIVAL IN THE SWAMP

  Noah aimed his powerful enchanted sword at a stranger dressed in diamond armor and sunglasses.

  The newcomer charged toward Noah with his sword out. Harrison and Noah both struck the aggressor, depleting his energy.

  “Stop!” pleaded the person wearing sunglasses. “Okay, you can keep the diamonds.”

  Noah held his sword close to the man. “Why shouldn’t we destroy you?”

  “You tried to steal our diamonds!” shouted Harrison.

  “I’m desperate,” begged the outsider. “I have nothing. My energy is so low, I’m only a strike away from being destroyed. If I respawn, I’ll wake up in a terrible place and I never want to go back there.”

  “Where are you from?” Noah questioned.

  “I was a prisoner.”

  “Who did that to you?” Harrison asked.

  “I’m not sure who he was, but he wasn’t alone. He had two rainbow griefers with him.”

  Noah’s heart skipped a beat as he questioned, “Did you say rainbow griefers?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where did they keep you?” asked Harrison.

  The stranger in the sunglasses told them his story. “I was exploring an ocean monument when I came up to the surface of the water for air. My potion of Underwater Breathing was running low. As I swam toward the beach, a man approached me. He was with two rainbow griefers. He demanded that I hand over any treasures I had in my inventory. I tried to fight them, but they overpowered me. At first I thought they would destroy me and get my stuff and I’d respawn in a cabin I had built, but the man said I looked useful. They captured me and put me in a bedrock room. I couldn’t escape.”

  “Where was the bedrock room?” asked Noah.

  “How did you escape?” questioned Harrison.

  There were many questions circulating in their minds, and they were overwhelming the tired stranger in sunglasses. “Please. One at a time. I promise to answer all of your questions.

  “The bedrock room was inside a cave in the Jungle Biome. I escaped because my captors moved to a new location and they just left me there. I spent days in the room without food. Once I realized they were gone, I felt brave enough to try and escape. I dug a hole in the dirt ceiling. And then I found you guys.”

  “That’s awful. I’m glad you escaped,” said Noah.

  “What’s your name?” asked Harrison.

  “I’m Elias.”

  “Elias, we are Harrison and Noah, and you’re welcome to head back with us. We have to get home. We believe the same people are also attacking our village. They summoned the Ender Dragon to attack our townspeople in the middle of the day,” explained Noah.

  Elias followed Noah and Harrison toward their town. They reached the Swamp Biome as evening was setting in, and the sky was getting dark. Noah looked up and said, “We have to build some shelter.”

  A bat flew close to Noah’s head. Harrison cried out, “Look—a witch hut!”

  A witch hut with potted mushrooms on the windowsill had spawned right in front of them. A witch emerged from the hut and scuffled toward the trio, clutching a potion in her hand. The group took out their swords and bows and arrows, but the witch splashed them with a potion of Weakness, lowering their health bars and slowing them down.

  Noah tried to shoot an arrow at the witch, but he was too weak. Harrison grabbed some milk from his inventory and took a sip. He regained his energy and rushed toward her with his diamond sword, striking the purple-robed witch.

  Noah also drank some milk and then handed the bottle to Elias. When the milk had worked its magic, they joined Harrison in the battle. The witch drank a potion of Healing, but she was outnumbered and defeated. Six pieces of glowstone dropped on the ground, so they quickly picked it up and placed it in their inventories.

  The group began to craft a crude cabin to spend the night in when they heard a bouncing sound. “Slimes!” Harrison pointed at two green blocks hopping toward them.

  Noah put down the wooden planks he was using to build the cabin and struck a green slime with his sword.

  The slimes broke into smaller cubes. Noah, Harrison, and Elias struggled to fight the array of cubes that jumped at them.

  Noah clobbered a larger slime as Harrison warned, “Don’t fall in the water.”

  Noah was so immersed in obliterating the slimes, he didn’t notice that he stood on the edge of a body of murky swamp water. A group of bats flew past as Noah struck a large slime with his sword. Harrison and Elias helped Noah battle the smaller slimes.

  “It looks like we defeated all the slimes,” Noah said in relief as he looked out in the distance.

  “We need to build this cabin fast. I have to sleep here. If not, I’ll respawn in that bedrock jail, and the rainbow griefers could be back there,” said Elias.

  Noah tried to craft the cabin as quickly as he could. He wished Violet were with him. He was rather lazy with his building skills since she was a master builder and was able to craft makeshift homes in a matter of minutes, while he was still trying to make a door for the house.

  Harrison and Elias helped him, but they could hear more slimes bouncing in their direction.

  “We’ll take care of those slimy beasts. You just keep building the house,” Elias told Noah.

  Noah worked as fast as he could. He was almost done with the external structure and then had to craft beds for the gang.

  Harrison and Elias used nearly all of their last bits of energy to defeat the slimes. Both of them were struck by the slimes and their health bars were dangerously low. Just in time, Noah finished the house and destroyed the remaining slimes.

  “We need to get to bed,” Noah said.

  The trio hurried inside the house, crawled underneath blue wool blankets, and fell asleep. They didn’t get to sleep very long though, because within minutes the sun had risen. It was a new day. And there was a sus
picious noise coming from outside their door.

  “What’s that?” Harrison’s voice wavered as he asked that question.

  “I’m not sure.” Noah walked to the small window to investigate the banging sound that boomed in the distance.

  Kaboom!

  “It looks like there was an explosion!” exclaimed Noah. He could see smoke, but wasn’t sure what had been destroyed.

  Noah could see a rainbow griefer sprint past a patch of giant mushrooms.

  5

  BACK HOME

  “Are you sure it was a rainbow griefer?” asked Harrison.

  “Do you think maybe they’re following me?” worried Elias.

  “We need to head back to our village. We have to warn Violet,” Noah said as they set out toward the village, and into the Jungle Biome thick with leaves.

  “I can’t see,” Elias remarked as he took out shears and cleared a path.

  “The village isn’t far from here.” Noah led the way.

  “It’s been so long since I’ve been home,” Harrison said as he brushed his green hair from his face. He had forgotten a lot about the village, but when they approached the town and Harrison spotted the village streets, everything became familiar to him.

  The trio walked down the busy village streets, past the library and the locksmith’s shop.

  “There’s Valentino the Butcher!” Harrison called out and hurried over to his old friend.

  “Harrison!” Valentino was stunned to see him. “It’s been ages. How did you find your way back?”

  “I have to thank my new friend Noah.”

  Noah walked over with Elias and introduced him to Valentino.

  “Noah, you are a good person,” remarked Valentino the Butcher. “You saved me from the zombies and you’ve reunited me with an old dear friend, Harrison, and also introduced me to a new friend, Elias.”

  Violet spotted Noah in town and rushed toward him. “You’re back!” She was extremely excited to see him.

  “Have there been any more attacks from the Ender Dragon?” Noah asked as he looked nervously up at the sunny sky.

  “No, things have been calm here. So, you must have defeated the Ender Dragon in the End?” Violet was impressed.

  “Yes, it wasn’t easy. I spawned in the desert and met Harrison. And then we met Elias.” He introduced them to Violet.

  Violet wanted to show Noah the tree house. Since he was gone she had made serious progress on it. One portion of the lavish, scenic building was completed. Noah and his new friends followed Violet to the tree house. He told Violet the story of Daniel and the rainbow griefers capturing Elias. Noah finished by stating, “I’m pretty sure I saw a rainbow griefer in the swamp outside of the village. They had blown something up with TNT.”

  “Did you see what they blew up?” questioned Violet, as she climbed the ladder up to the tree house.

  “No, I wanted to make my way back here. We were running low on resources and I also wanted your help.”

  Harrison told Violet how difficult it was to build a house quickly. “Noah told us you are one of the best builders in the Overworld,” Harrison said as he looked around the grand tree house. “I guess he wasn’t exaggerating.”

  “Thanks. But there is no time to tour the tree house now; we have to find Daniel and the rainbow griefers before they attack us or other innocent people. I can’t relax knowing that they are so close to us.” Violet walked into her tree house bedroom and opened a chest containing her armor and swords. She filled her inventory with all the resources she needed to battle the griefers. “Does anybody need anything?”

  The trio looked through their inventories and used Violet’s crafting table and anvil to create powerful swords and armor.

  “We need Hannah to brew potions with this glowstone,” Noah said to Violet.

  “Yes, she should come with us on our journey to find these evil rainbow griefers. We can’t just wait here until they attack us. We have to go find them.” Violet had suited up in armor. She climbed down the ladder and walked to Hannah’s house.

  Hannah and Ben were farming. Ben was happy to see Noah had returned to the village.

  “You beat the Ender Dragon!” Hannah exclaimed.

  “Yes, but I also found rainbow griefers in the swamp and we have to battle them,” replied Noah.

  Hannah and Ben filled their inventories with supplies. Everybody was ready to hunt for rainbow griefers.

  “The sun is setting,” Violet said as she looked at the darkened sky. “I think we should wait until morning.”

  They all agreed to meet in front of Hannah’s house at daybreak. Noah and the others walked back to the tree house for the night.

  “I hate losing time. I wish we could just leave now.” Violet was upset.

  “Try to be patient. If we left now, it would be a losing battle,” reasoned Noah.

  Harrison and Elias were excited to spend the night in a tree house. They quickened their pace as they neared the house and the sky grew darker. When they approached the ladder, a spider jockey jumped out from behind the tree trunk and shot an arrow at Violet. She was still wearing her armor, so it didn’t affect her.

  Noah shot an arrow at the spider jockey, but it lunged at the group and avoided his arrow. Harrison’s arrow hit the spider, weakening the evil arachnoid. Violet shot arrows at the skeleton.

  “I got it!” Elias delivered the final blow to the skeleton while the others rushed to destroy the spider. Harrison swung his diamond sword at the mob, obliterating it.

  The skeleton dropped an arrow and the spider dropped a spider’s eye.

  “We should get some sleep,” Violet said as she climbed the ladder. She stopped abruptly when she saw a group of skeletons advancing through the village streets.

  6

  ON THE ROAD AGAIN

  An arrow streaked across the night sky, hitting Noah. As skeletons filled the village streets, the townspeople emerged from their homes to defend themselves from the invasion. Arrows flew everywhere, and the skeletons were slowly being destroyed by the townspeople who attacked the bony menaces.

  “Get him!” Elias shouted to Noah, warning him about a skeleton sneaking up from behind.

  Noah struck the skeleton with his sword, as more skeletons filled the village streets. Noah was suspicious of the attack. He wondered if Daniel and the rainbow griefers were spawning skeletons outside of the town. He fought hard all through the night. The gang needed to find Daniel and the rainbow griefers and stop them from attacking their town.

  The last skeleton was finally destroyed and dropped a bow. Noah picked it up and placed it in his inventory. There was still a while before morning would arrive. Violet suggested they rest. “Let’s all sleep in the tree house so if we get destroyed, we’ll respawn here.”

  Harrison, Hannah, Ben, Noah, and Elias followed Violet up the tree house ladder. Violet showed them a large room filled with beds. “This is my guest room. We should all stay in here for the night.”

  Everyone climbed into a bed and got underneath the wool covers. It was hard to sleep. They were eager to start their journey to find Daniel and the rainbow griefers that were hidden in the Overworld.

  Soon the sun shined through the large picture window of the tree house. Violet got up and offered, “Let’s go into my kitchen, where I have some cake.”

  “Cake!” Elias was thrilled.

  The group stood in the rustic kitchen with views of the village. As they ate the cake, they looked out the window and saw the village coming to life in the early morning sun. The shops were opening. The village librarian walked through the town. They could see Valentino the Butcher heading for his shop.

  “I’m going to miss this town when I’m away,” Hannah commented and took a bite of her cake.

  “If we don’t go on this mission, we can’t save it,” Violet admonished her. “We’ll return, and Daniel and his evil griefers will realize that they can’t attack this town anymore. We aren’t afraid of them and they can’t terrorize
us.”

  “I can’t live here if they take over this town again; that was just awful,” Ben remarked as he suited up in armor and double-checked his inventory.

  “I have an inventory full of potions,” announced Hannah. “I think we’ll be fine.”

  “I wouldn’t use the word fine,” added Violet. “This isn’t going to be an easy battle, but we will get through it.”

  With stomachs comfortably full of cake, the group strolled down the village streets and headed toward the lush green biome outside of town. A wild ocelot dashed past them, but they avoided the creature. Ben had to leave his dog Hope behind, and they all agreed not to take in any more pets. This was going to be a difficult journey and they needed to concentrate on finding the griefers. There was no time for any distractions.

  When the group reached the jungle biome, they heard a noise in the distance. They hid behind a thick patch of leaves and stood still.

  “It sounds like voices,” whispered Hannah.

  “I see a purple leg,” Violet said as she poked her head through the leaves.

  “Griefers!” Noah was ready to pounce.

  “Stop,” warned Violet. “We need to follow them and see where they’re going. We don’t want them to see us. Trust me, it will be better if we stage a grand scale surprise attack.”

  The others agreed. They attempted to shelter themselves with as many leaves as they could find, then stood silently and waited for the two purple griefers to walk past.

  Violet held her breath. Noah’s heart beat fast. And the purple griefers soon passed by.

  When the griefers were still visible but out of earshot Violet said to the others, “Let’s go.” The group trailed cautiously behind the purple griefers.

  The griefers walked on a cleared path and went into a large house.

  “I wonder who built that house—it’s very nice,” Violet declared as she studied the wooden structure built on four stilts that made it rise above the verdant jungle. On either side of the house were two flaming torches. The one side of the house had a porch where two orange griefers stood looking out.