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

“It was at this point that the King became incredibly paranoid, afraid that he would lose his absolute power. He had granted Avery operating powers a while before this, and he was afraid that Avery was going to overthrow him. This led him to implement the Law of One Death, changing the mode of this server to Hardcore PVP, meaning that you cannot return to Elementia after death. He and Avery then battled, using their operating powers to fly high over the city. I tell you, it was a spectacle – two operators battling is the most amazing thing you will ever see. In the end, though, Avery was overpowered. He was killed and banished from the server. By the next day, the King had killed three other people with strong followings on the server. With Avery gone, the King was the only operator remaining.”

“That is very interesting, sir,” said Stan, which he sincerely meant, “but where do you come into this?”

“Oh. Well, you see, I was still very much in the King’s favour, although I was very upset with him for killing and banishing those players, all of whom were my good friends. But paranoia had twisted King Kev’s mind by that point. There were rumours of a rebellion going around, so any of the alleged leaders of the hypothetical rebellion were killed. That’s why no sane player who is in league with the King today would even joke about overthrowing him.

“My problems started when a rumour came up that the apothecaries in Element City were providing potions to a rebellion movement. I was lucky. Four of my friends and I were accused by King Kev of treason on the same day. There was me; there was the chief of Redstone Experiments, Mecha11; and there were the three Chiefs of Exploration, Bill33, Bob33 and Ben33. There was a high amount of unrest in the kingdom due to the number of people that the King had killed, so he pledged to never kill anyone again unless they were proven guilty. Instead of killing us, King Kev banished us from the city, warning us to never again run into a government official, or we would risk dire consequences. I opened my own Nether portal here in the jungle and began stockpiling potions. I have no idea what happened to the Mechanist, or to Bill, Bob and Ben.

“So you see,” said the old player, and Stan sensed that he was about to say something important, “if you truly want to overthrow the King, I would be happy to use my knowledge of Elementia’s inner workings, as well as the potions I have stockpiled, to help you in any way that I can.”

“Thank you!” Charlie threw himself at the Apothecary, and began wringing his hand. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Yes, we really appreciate your help, sir,” said Kat, and Stan could tell that she finally trusted him.

“So I have a question, sir,” said Stan, voicing something that had been on his mind since that morning. “How many people do you think that we’ll need to launch an assault on the King’s castle in Element City? If we can take the castle, then we’ll have control over the city.”

The old player thought for a moment and then said, “Well, I imagine that the King probably has around two hundred men in his military. You see, King Kev has the ability to call any of his citizens to do anything at any time. While he typically commands the lower-level players to take care of jobs in Element City, his military of two hundred players is made up of only the best fighters in Elementia … mainly upper-level players, that is. So, assuming that the lower-level citizens of the army were to abandon the army if you attacked the castle, you would still have, say, another one hundred and thirty or so men to face.”

Stan was shocked. He looked at Charlie and Kat. “Where can we possibly get that many people to invade the city?”

Kat was about to answer, but the Apothecary cut her off by saying, “How about the Adorian Village?”

There was a moment of silence. Then Kat said, “Um, sir, weren’t you listening? The King’s riot control destroyed the Adorian Village. Everybody who lived there is dead now.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” said the Apothecary with a smile. “New players join Elementia every day. Most of them will still be inclined to follow the path to the Adorian Village. And also, don’t be so sure that all the people that were in that village are dead.”

“How could any of them have survived?” asked Charlie incredulously. “They blew up all the stone houses and burned down the wooden ones!”

“Well,” the Apothecary replied, “One thing that I didn’t mention in my story is that the King has largely ignored the Adorian Village, as have the majority of the Council of Operators. Avery and I were the only ones on the council who aided young Adoria when she was a new player on the scene who wanted to create a village for the new players of Minecraft. We helped her design the village, and the houses within.

“Every few days, the Adorian Village has a drill. You must have missed it since you were there for such a short time. They prepare for a large-scale Griefer attack, which was essentially what you described to me. Each of those houses has an underground survival cellar, which can sustain four people for a month. The entrance is very inconspicuous; only the most observant soldier would recognize it. They also have that mine to hide in. I’d be surprised if more than a third of the inhabitants of the Adorian Village were actually killed in that attack.”

Stan’s heart lifted at the thought that there might have been far fewer casualties of the attack on the Adorian Village than he had originally thought.

“And I’ll bet that those survivors are furious with the King right now,” added Charlie. “ And I’ll bet that Jayden and Sally and the others are still training those players, and they have no clue where to go now.”

“Well, that’s settled, then,” said Kat. “The survivors of the Adorian Village will be our main reinforcements when we attack the King’s castle. One of us should go back to the village and tell the others of our plan. The other three should try to find some supplies, like diamonds, steaks and golden apples. We need enough materials for an army of, say, one hundred.” She looked at the Apothecary. “Any idea where we might find all that? Because Charlie and I have been discussing it all afternoon, and we’ve got nothing.”

The Apothecary replied, “I actually might.”

Stan was caught off guard. He had expected the old player to shoot down all their ideas, not offer to help them prepare for their battle.

“Oh, hold your horses. I don’t know for sure where it is. But what I do know is that in the days of my seat on the Council of Operators, I heard rumours going around that the King had created a secret stash of armour, weapons, food – everything he would need to re-create his army if he was ever ousted from power. There were several rumours about where the stash was, but the one I heard most said that it’s underground, at the centre of Ender Desert. I’m not positive that’s where the stash is, but there definitely is a stash, and there was too much talk about that location for there not to be at least something there.”

Stan jumped up. “Charlie!” he yelled.

Everyone looked at him, and Charlie replied, “Yes?” with a concerned look on his face.

“Charlie, you have the best mining instincts of anyone. G said so himself! If there’s anyone who could find an underground stash of supplies, it’s you.”

The Apothecary stood up and slammed his fist on the table. “It’s settled then! I myself shall go back to the Adorian Village and work with Adoria’s pupils to train their new players for battle with the King’s forces. The three of you must go into the Ender Desert and find the secret stash. I swear to you, if the stash isn’t there, something will be, and maybe it will be something that you can use to your advantage.”