Sean Wolfe - The Complete Elementia Chronicles - Quest for Justice; The New Order; The Dusk of Hope; Herobrine’s Message

There was a moment of stunned silence as the King, his officials, the crowd, and even the players by his side took in the enormity of the player’s attempt on the King’s life. Then, all hell broke loose.

The player turned around and dashed towards the gate, and he was quickly followed by the two players and the dog that had been next to him. The King was still too shocked to be angry, but he was sure that the players would never escape alive. The King’s loyal subjects would destroy the player who had attempted to assassinate their beloved leader.

But alas, the King was only half-correct. For at the exact same moment that the players turned and ran, a path through the people opened for them to escape through. It seemed while the upper-level players were indeed trying to kill the three players, the lower-level players were defending them and fending off the upper-levels. This was a revolt.

Over his shock now, the King was wild with fury at this player who had not only tried to kill him but had also turned the lower-levels of the city against their superiors. Screaming like a mad animal, he ordered that the gates be locked and that the riot control be sent in, effective immediately.

They weren’t quick enough, though. The three players escaped just as the gates slid closed behind them. The King let out a bellow of rage and ordered that police forces be sent out into the city to find and kill the boy, his friends, the dog and any accomplices that they might have.

Meanwhile, the riot control had reached the mob. The crowd was still fighting among itself, sending players of all levels toppling like tipped cows. The riot control mainly fired arrows into the crowd, trying to subdue the lower-levels, but the leader of the control force had other ideas.

Minotaurus was a player who had, using mods (outside programmes), become twice the size of a normal player and looked just like a real Minotaur, horns and all. He carried around a double-bladed diamond battle-axe that never wore out.

Normally, the King would not allow a modified player on the server, but Minotaurus had shown a wicked taste for massacre. He had been deemed worthy by the King when the King had ordered Minotaurus to prove himself by killing his own brother and two sisters on the server. He had done so without batting an eye. He was absolutely ruthless … and the King loved it.

The King prized loyalty, and he had made Minotaurus the head of riot control. Minotaurus could slice through men like butter with that battle-axe, and he could effectively and quickly end riots, which were common in the city. Why, no more than an hour before the proclamation, the King had sent Minotaurus and his men out to stop an angry mob that had killed a player and set his house on fire.

The King had no sympathy for the player the mob had killed. He had been sheltering lower-levels. But the fire had been starting to spread, and the mob had kept making it bigger. Within sixty seconds of Minotaurus’s arrival, all the rioters were either dead or retreating.

Minotaurus was the one who led the charge on the rioters now. He killed without mercy, slicing through anyone in his way with that giant battle-axe. Within a matter of minutes, the riot had stopped, but Minotaurus was still killing. It took five Potions of Slowness thrown by his own men to finally subdue him.

The King smiled. He was still here, and as long as he had Minotaurus and riot control, there wouldn’t be any more riots of this magnitude. He did have to do something about the assassin, though. The last thing he needed was an uprising on his hands, and if there was any player that held a high risk of creating an uprising, it was the assassin. But where would he get the men? The King would make sure that the lower-levels in the capital were closely monitored by the authorities so that they wouldn’t rebel, but the assassin must have known that he would do that. And the only other place where there were enough lower-levels to start an uprising would be …

The King knew what he had to do. He took the liberty of personally walking down to the riot control office. Minotaurus was waiting, having been informed of the King’s coming.

“I have a job for you,” the King said.

“What kind of job?” Minotaurus asked in his baritone voice.

The King watched Minotaurus’s eyes grow wide with pleasure at the assignment. This kind of thing was right up his alley.

“Take half your men with you,” the King said, “Leave half here in case the citizens riot again. Destroy everything. Leave no survivors. Make sure that there is no way that civilization can continue on that spot. Take what you need from the armoury. I suggest fire and TNT. Do me proud, Minotaurus.”

The giant bull-man sprang to a salute. “Yes, sir. We won’t let you down, sir!”

Then, glowing with excitement, Minotaurus and half his team ran down the hall to the armoury.

Stan was running. Charlie, Kat and Rex were running behind him. They didn’t stop to walk. They didn’t take breaks. They kept running until they were out of the castle grounds, out of Element City, into the forest, around the crater and down the path. They finally stopped when they were back at the Adorian Village.

Stan was amazed by his own thoughts. He had just tried to kill the most powerful player in Elementia and had then sprinted an incredible distance back to the Adorian Village. Yet the only thing that filled Stan’s mind was his astonishment that he had been able to shoot so accurately. He could only think about the fact that he had been deemed hopeless by Archie and that he had only hit the target once. That being said, he’d had time to aim this time.

Stan saw Sally and Jayden running up to them. They initially looked happy to see the trio, but the smiles dropped when they saw the looks on their faces.

“What happened, guys?” Jayden asked. “You look like you’ve—”

But he was cut off by Charlie, still out of breath, sputtering out, “Stan … proclamation … arrow … King … riot …”

“What are you talking about?” asked Sally incredulously.

“Stan tried to kill the King with an arrow,” Kat said gravely.

There was nothing but stunned silence from Sally, Jayden and Adoria, who had just walked up and heard Kat’s announcement.

“You tried to what ?” she finally yelled, a look of terror on her face.

“What possessed you to try to kill the King?” screamed Jayden, his eyes bulging. Sally looked like death warmed over.

“That’s a fair point, Stan,” said Charlie, who was trembling with fear. “Why?”

“I … just …” said Stan, and he sputtered for a minute, the anger building in him again. He felt indescribable rage about their mistreatment, about Blackraven’s death and about the proclamation. After a minute of him sputtering and the others questioning, he blurted out, “He deserved it!” He told them about what had happened after his, Kat’s and Charlie’s departure from the Adorian Village. It was the news of the new proclamation that stunned everyone the most.

“The King’s going to kick all the lower-levels out of Element City?” said Sally disbelievingly.

“How can he do that? They make up two-thirds of the population now!” said Adoria. Charlie explained about the shortages.

“So he gets more land!” yelled Jayden. “He orders trees cleared, which opens new land, which would create new jobs! He’s the King . He has the entire city at his command! He can do anything!”

“Oh, it’s more complicated than that,” replied Adoria. “He thinks that the groundwork laid by the upper-levels makes life easier for lower-levels, and the upper-levels resent that. When you think that the city’s council is made up of all upper-level players, it’s not surprising that they would pass a law this selfish.”