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

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СКАЧАТЬ sh, shhh!” said the player, looking nervous. For whatever reason, he clearly didn’t wish to be heard. “Not so loud! My name is Blackraven100, and I’m looking for some helping hands in my hunting business.”

      “What do you mean, hunting business? Hunting what?” asked Charlie.

      “Oh, right, I keep forgetting that you three are … lower-level players,” he whispered, as if it were an awful word. “You see, some rich players like to go hunting for Zombies and other mobs for sport. It’s great fun if you’re well prepared, and you can get some pretty valuable loot. I used to be one of those hunters, but ever since I passed level fifty, I don’t find it as fun as I used to. Now, I sell all the loot that I collected over the years, and I plan to buy an unsettled plot of land that I can build on.

      “Unfortunately, my supply has begun to dwindle, and now I need some help with my hunting while I tend the shop. I need players to go into the woods, kill all the monsters that they can find, and bring the loot back to me. The pay will be high. So, what do you say? Obviously I would be happy to lodge and feed you.”

      He looked at them expectantly. Stan, Kat and Charlie looked at each other. Stan was nodding, and Charlie was shrugging with a smile, so Kat said, “That sounds good. Thank you for hiring us. Nobody else would. By the way, why wouldn’t any of the others hire us? We’re very grateful that you hired us,” she quickly added, at which Stan and Charlie nodded. “But I’d still like to know.”

      Blackraven closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again. “Oh, some of the higher-level players here have a prejudice against anyone under, say, level fourteen or fifteen. It’s stupid, really. They say the upper-levels have been on the server longer and have had to fight their way to the top, and the lower-levels today don’t have to work as hard because they are building off what the upper-levels have done.”

      Kat’s and Stan’s mouths dropped open, and Charlie actually said loudly, “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! Do you know what we’ve been through since—”

      “Ssssshhhhhhhh!” said Blackraven, cutting Charlie off. “The people around here aren’t fond of upper-level players who treat lower-levels kindly. Personally, I think that the whole thing is nonsense, but I can’t afford to voice the opinion when so many around me think that it isn’t.

      “Now, let’s go to bed,” he said. He walked to the chest and pulled out some wool and wood. He walked over to the crafting table, and within minutes there were four beds lined up around the room, each occupied by a player.

      As he lay in bed, Stan wondered if this unjust prejudice against lower-level players had been the motive of the Griefer that killed Crazy Steve, or even … the motive that drove Mr A, the Griefer that had tried to kill them so many days ago. Perhaps a lower-level player had once robbed him of his items, and he was struggling to get back what he had once had. Yes, that would make perfect sense, thought Stan, as he drifted into sleep.

      The next day, Stan, Kat and Charlie set out, laden with gear, to go hunting on their first day under the employ of Blackraven100. Each player was wearing an iron chestplate and helmet. Kat walked in front, holding an iron sword at her side, a bow and quiver of arrows slung across her back. Rex walked behind her, followed by Stan. Stan was holding an iron axe that glinted in the sunlight, and he was also carrying six loaves of bread. Charlie walked next to Stan, holding a pickaxe and their two most important items: a compass and a clock. The compass would help them if they got lost, and the clock told them the time of day in the dark forest.

      “Be sure you get back by noon,” Blackraven had said, “so you don’t miss the King’s proclamation. You can go back out after that.”

      “Proclamation? What’s that?” asked Stan.

      “Oh, every now and then the King of Element City makes an announcement that there will be a major law change or something of that sort. You’re citizens of the city now, so you should be there.”

      With this in mind, the three players, along with the dog, went out of the big city gates and into the forest to start to hunt.

      It was odd. They had run into so many monsters in that dark forest before, but now they ran into virtually none at all. The only monsters that they were able to find and kill were a Zombie (killed by a pickaxe to the head from Charlie), two Skeletons (shot from afar by Kat), and a Creeper (felled by Stan’s axe). The Creeper was actually pretty impressive, as it was the first Creeper that any of them had personally killed. Still, they were upset by the fact that, when the clock showed that it was nearing midday, they walked back into the city almost empty-handed, holding only a piece of rotten flesh, three bones, two arrows and a handful of gunpowder from the Creeper.

      The moment they stepped through the gates Stan could tell that something was wrong. The people on the streets were unusually quiet, and Stan occasionally caught whispers, such as “Did you hear about that merchant whose store was vandalized?” and “Yes, I heard that he was offering jobs to noobs. The thought!” This particular comment heightened Stan’s panic, and he actually started to hyperventilate when he saw the smoke rising from the area of Blackraven’s store and heard the angry shouts from that direction.

      The trio turned the corner and their eyes bulged in horror. Even the dog whimpered at the awful scene before them.

      Blackraven’s store had been set on fire. Flames blazed out of his upstairs bedroom, and the downstairs was gleaming with the rising blues, yellows, reds, and blacks of burning charcoal. There was a mob outside, and they were yelling in fury, but not at the scene of destruction. Stan heard yells of “How do you like being forced out of house and home?” and “That’s what you get for sheltering noobs!” Stan watched in terror as the people threw bricks, shattering the upstairs windows. Stan was petrified. The three of them had brought this on! What if Blackraven was still in there?

      Then, the unimaginable happened. In a shower of sparks, the support beams of the store gave in, and the entire store and house folded in on itself until nothing remained but a smouldering pile of charcoal, flames, and scorched brick. Only one thought filled Stan’s mind: Blackraven100 was most certainly dead.

      As the crowd cheered at the collapse of the store, Stan drew out his axe, his eyes blazing in fury. The rage he felt consumed him, unlike anything that he had ever felt before. What he had felt at Crazy Steve’s death was nothing compared to this. He raised his axe over his head and was about to charge the cheering mob when a force unseen pulled him backwards by his collar, and he fell on his butt.

      Kat had grabbed him, sensing what he was about to do. Stan, unreasonable with rage, pushed Kat down and leaped back to his feet, ready to charge the mob again, but this time it was Charlie who caught him from the front and prevented him from making progress. This gave Kat the chance to bear-hug Stan from behind. She was much stronger than he was, but he continued to struggle as Kat and Charlie dragged their furious friend back into an alley, where it took the combined effort of Kat and Charlie to force Stan onto the ground.

      “Stan! Snap out of it!” cried Charlie hysterically, tears streaming down his face, and it was the pain in his voice that finally made Stan stop fighting Kat. “We’re all upset! And it’s not our fault!” he yelled, reading Stan’s thoughts. “He did the right thing, you hear me? The right thing! If I could, I would run out there and kill all those people myself, but what’s the point?” His voice wasn’t hysterical anymore but shaky, and most certainly pained. “They would turn on us. They hate us, remember? That would just cause more senseless deaths. More senseless, senseless deaths.” Now he just sounded disgusted.

      Kat, on the other hand, still had streams of tears on her cheeks. She took her СКАЧАТЬ