Descent Into Overworld: An Unofficial Minecraft Adventure Read Free

eyes off that sword. Without realizing it, Whiner’s hand moved to the hilt and gripped it.
    Immediately, a feeling of warmth ran up his arm, through his chest and down to his feet. Whiner checked over his shoulders in case there was anyone watching in his tiny office. Silly, he knew, but he had to be sure.
    The warmth from the sword coursed through his whole body. A smile spread across his normally stone-like face. He wanted to laugh out loud, something he never did at school. He held the sword above his head and swung it through the air. He imagined enemies crawling up from the carpet. Swing! Splat! More coming behind him. Turn, swing, splat!
    Principal Whiner, a man who prided himself on crushing the joys of children, skipped around his office, swinging that strange blue sword at imaginary enemies.
    With each swing, the energy from the blue sword grew stronger. It charged through him. There was something about this strange sword. It held him as much as he was holding it. Principal Whiner still hated children and he still hated Minecraft, but he knew one thing for sure.
    He was never letting go of this sword again.
     
    * * *
     
    Detention moved slower than a zombie through soul sand. Ant and Hamid stared at the clock for the entire hour of their punishment. They were meant to be doing homework, but all Hamid could think about was his Minecraft buddies logging into his server looking for him and Ant. After school was prime Minecraft time. Parents weren’t home from work, so homework and chores could wait.
    And now that was gone. For a whole month, Hamid and Ant were stuck in Mr. Mackowitz’s science classroom with the other poor kids who had ticked off Whiner.
    When the hour was finally up, Ant and Hamid charged for the door. They burst through it like a pair of creepers on a late-night noob hunt. Mr. Mack was right behind them. The old science teacher hurried down the corridor and out the school doors like his underwear was packed with taco spice.
    Jaina stood outside the classroom holding the remaining three foam swords they got from the strange villager.
    “Catch.” She tossed a foam sword to Hamid and another to Ant. “Good thing you guys didn’t bring these to class or Whiner would have them, too.”
    Jaina’s after-school homework club finished around the same time as their detention. The rest of the school was deserted. Everyone had gone home, except maybe Mr. K, the caretaker. He was probably on the third floor unblocking the toilets.
    Ant swung his foam sword through the air in one smooth motion. Hamid’s sword bounced off his hands and crashed to the ground. He picked it up in time to swing it around and stop the attack from his best friend.
    “Nice block!” Ant said. “I’ll get you next time, you vile creeper!”
    His words echoed down the empty corridor.
    “Thanks for waiting for us, Jaina.” Hamid batted away Ant’s sword, signalling the game was over, or at least on pause. When Ant was around, games and silliness were never over.
    “No worries,” Jaina said.
    “So, did your search turn up anything?” Ant swung his sword at a new invisible enemy.
    “Nothing,” Jaina said. “Not a single mention in any of the local newspapers or Minecraft blogs or forums.”
    “I don’t get it,” Hamid said. “A dude dressed up as a villager collapses in the middle of the biggest Minecraft convention in town and then just vanishes. And no else saw it but us. That is just too weird.”
    “Even Mr. Rodinaldo didn’t see anything!”
    “That’s because he was talking to Sheena Raine,” Ant said. He attacked a defenseless locker with his sword. Each swing sent the little combination locks swinging. “Who cares anyway?”
    Hamid stopped mid-step. “I care! That guy vanished right in front of my eyes. Yours, too. You might have the memory of a goldfish, Ant, but things like that kind of get stuck in my brain. Once my brain grabs onto a problem, it can’t let go.”
    But Ant wasn’t listening. He