MineLantis
King Xavier's Castle
"Wait up you two!" Daniel said from a short distance behind Calvin and Borris, "where are we going?"
Calvin sighed dramatically. He turned his head and looked back over his right shoulder at Daniel and Darron. The stare he gave Daniel was a serious stare.
"Sirens have infiltrated MineLantis. They've taken the King hostage. We don't know where he is, or if he's hurt. Heck, we don't even know how many more are posing as MineLantians guards," Calvin explained.
"We're going to get the trident before they get their filthy hands on it," Borris said as he finished what Calvin was intending on telling Daniel and Darron.
Daniel briefly glanced over at Darron. Darron looked back at him. He shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know what to say or how to say what he wanted to say. All he did was stay silent.
Calvin turned his head back to face forward. Borris glanced over at him. They mumbled something to each other. Nothing of which Daniel or Darron could hear. As they came upon the end of this long and narrow hallway, one guard came swimming out around the corner. He stopped swimming when he saw Calvin and Borris. The guard stared at them as they swam by him. After they swam further away, Daniel and Darron also swam by him.
He was silent as he stared at everyone. He seemed confused. Why weren't these two blockheads wearing their armor? Where were their tridents? Who were they? He's never seen them before.
Daniel and Darron swam faster to catch up to Calvin and Borris. Once they managed to do so, Borris and Calvin suddenly stopped swimming. Their backs were facing both Daniel and Darron.
"Why'd you guys stop?" Daniel asked.
Borris slowly and cautiously turned around. Daniel and Darron both tilted their heads slightly. He was acting weird. Why was that? Did it have to do something with the guard they just swam past?
Borris stared at the lone guard at the end of the hallway. As he was doing that, he raised his arm up and above his head slowly and carefully. He was paying no attention to Daniel or Darron. Not even Calvin either. His attention was focused on that suspicious lone guard.
But before Borris had the chance to throw his trident, the guard began swimming away as fast as he could. Borris didn't hesitate once so ever. He began chasing after him. As he swam further away, he shouted back at Calvin, Daniel, and Darron.
"Go!" He shouted, "get the trident! I'll be fine."
Daniel and Darron turned back around. They both glanced over at Calvin. Calvin glared back at them.
"Follow me," Calvin said as he turned around and began swimming down the hallway once again. Daniel and Darron followed right behind him.
"Calvin," Daniel said, "is Borris going to be okay by himself?"
"He's a strong and noble fighter," Calvin said, "of course he'll be fine. We wouldn't be MineLantian Soldiers if we couldn't handle ourselves."
Daniel slowly nodded his head.
"And what about this trident? How do you know that the trident is what the Sirens want?" Darron asked.
"MineLantis has been fighting a never ending war against the Sirens," Calvin said, "ever since King Xavier's father forged the trident, they've wanted to obtain it. Ever since they witnessed the immense power of what that trident could do, they've wanted to steal that power from us. A little known secret that not many know is that the true power isn't within the trident itself, but the blockhead wielding the trident."
"So If I'm understanding this correctly, the blockhead weiliding the trident is the one supplying the power to it? Is that right?" Daniel asked.
Calvin turned his head to his right slightly, looking back over his right shoulder at Daniel and Darron. He didn't verbally respond at first. The only thing he did was nod his head once. "That's right," he responded.
"You have to tell the OverWorld that you exist," Daniel said, "do you know how safe the OverWorld would be if someone had that kind of power?"
Calvin shook his head rapidly. "Don't care. MineLantis is hidden from the rest of the OverWorld for that exact reason. The power we possess isn't a toy. It's serious stuff. No offense Daniel, but I'm not quite sure the King would like what you're saying. As much as we'd love to help protect the OverWorld, we weren't the Kingdom we once were. We don't have a big army like we used to. Those are more reasons why we're hidden from the rest of the OverWorld."
"Ahh, I see," Daniel said as he nodded his head. To be honest, he was a little blown away by what Calvin had just said. He listened to what Calvin had to say carefully and quietly. Daniel and Darron still had no idea of what MineLantis was like back then, but they were getting bits and pieces of what the Kingdom used to be like. All they had to do was assemble the pieces and come up with a conclusion themselves. But in order to do so, they needed more information. And Calvin didn't seem like the blockhead who'd spill the beans, making it that much harder to figure out MineLantis' backstory.
As they continued making their way down the hallway to the room where the ancient trident was being stored, things outside the Castle weren't going much better. The soldiers who were patrolling the exterior wall of the Kingdom had no idea that Sirens had infiltrated the Kingdom. They had the slightest clue as to what was coming. They also didn't know how much danger they were truly in. Until now..
As for Martin and Thomas, they were patrolling the outside of the wall, while other soldiers were up on top of the quartz wall doing their own thing. Suddenly, as Martin looked over to his left, he saw something in the near distance swimming directly towards them. He tapped Thomas's shoulder and pointed. When Thomas looked at him, Martin pointed in the direction of the thing that was coming towards them.
"What is that?" Martin asked.
Thomas looked out, staring in the direction that Martin was pointing at. He squinted his eyes so he could try and see better. But that wasn't helping. The two of them were interrupted by a loud scream that came from the top of the quartz wall. Thomas and Martin both turned their heads and looked up at the wall. When they did, the body of one of the soldiers that was up there came falling down towards them slowly.
Thomas and Martin watched in utter shock and confusion as the body of one of their friends landed on the seafloor right in front of them. They looked down at him, leaning over to get a good look at what had happened to him.
At first, he wasn't moving. What Thomas and Martin did see was that there were three holes in his golden chest plate. Three holes that were made by something all but too familiar to them. He was stabbed with a trident. But they didn't know why or who would do this.
Their friend, who's name was Goerge, suddenly opened his eyes and reached out. He grabbed onto Thomas's arm, pulling him down closer to him. Thomas looked directly into Goerge's eyes, wondering what had happened and who did this to him.
"We're--we're under attack," George mumbled into Thomas's ear, "by--by them."
After Goerge had said that, his grip on Thomas's arm loosened. His arm then slowly fell back down onto the sandy seafloor. Thomas stood back up straight and turned his head to look over at Martin.
"It's them," Thomas told Martin. "The Sirens. They're here for the trident."
Martin was at a loss for words. He didn't know what to say or do. They couldn't just stand around and speculate on what was happening. They needed to act now. MineLantis is under attack! Martin quickly reached into his inventory to grab a large conch shell out. He glanced at Thomas once more before raising the shell up to his mouth.
"We have to sound the alarm," Martin said, "the Kingdom needs to be warned. This is the only way."
Thomas sighed as he nodded his head once. He put one end of the shell into his mouth slightly and inhaled deeply. When he exhaled, he blew right into the shell. The outcome? A loud, horn-like, sound came blaring out of the shell. The sound was so loud that Thomas covered his ears with his hands. After Martin blew into the shell for a brief moment, he stopped.
"I hope that was loud enough," Martin said.
Thomas took his hands off of his ears and glanced over at Martin. As he shook his head, he responded back to him. "Yeah, it was. Don't worry. I'm sure they heard it," he mentioned.
As Martin reached behind his back to put the shell back into his inventory, the both of them turned around. They were both curious to know what was coming at them. But, by now, they had a good idea of what it was. The lone Siren that Martin had spotted moments earlier, had now turned into an entire army of Sirens. Thomas and Martin both gasped as they stared off into the distance at the incoming enemy army.
"Holy seashells!" Martin said, "I've never seen an army that big since…,"
"Since the fall of MineLantis?" Thomas said as he gazed over at Martin briefly. Martin looked back at him and nodded his head.
"Yeah," Martin replied as he then looked away from Thomas and back at the incoming army of Sirens. He tightened his grip on his trident. Thomas did the same, occasionally looking back over his right shoulder to see if anymore MineLantian Soldiers would come to help defend MineLantis. Was the sound of the conch shell loud enough? Did everyone hear it? Was anyone else going to come and help keep the Sirens out of the Kingdom as long as possible? The only thing they could do was hope and pray that help was on the way.
As the Sirens army got closer and closer, Martin and Thomas both began getting worried that backup wasn't on the way. But how wrong they were to think that. Not a moment later, screaming and hissing sounds were heard once again from the top of the wall. They turned around and looked up. When they did, they saw four bodies of Sirens floating down towards the seafloor, followed by actual MineLantian Soldiers.
One by one, the soldiers came swimming down to them, taking up space directly behind them.
"Martin, Thomas," their friend Ivor said with a nod of his head, "we heard the warning horn loud and clear."
Martin sighed a sigh of relief, followed by a brief chuckle of laughter. He looked over at Thomas and smiled at him. "We never doubted you couldn't hear it. Not even once."
"Who blew the warning horn?" another MineLantian Soldier said as he came descending down towards the seafloor. "What's going on? Why did those guards up on the wall try to hurt us?"
Martin and Thomas both glanced over at each other briefly before looking back at their friend Nathan. "Sirens. They're going to attack the Kingdom."
Nathan sighed heavily and shook his head. "Let me guess," he said, "is this about the trident again?"
Martin nodded.
Nathan rolled his eyes and chuckled sarcastically. "They've failed numerous times in the past. When will they learn to just give up already?" Nathan asked.
"They won't. Not until they have what they want. We have to keep them out of the Kingdom as long as possible. Hopefully Calvin and Borris figured out what's happening and are on their way to retrieve the trident as we speak."
"Ahh, okay," Nathan responded, "let's hope. In the meantime, though, we'll stall for them as long as we can. We protect and fight as one. We can do this, I know we can."
"Love the enthusiasm Nathan," Thomas mentioned as he turned back around. As they waited for the Sirens army to get closer to them, more and more MineLantian Soldiers began coming over the wall. Not a moment later, and the entire exterior of the quartz wall was teaming with MineLantian Soldiers, male and female. All ready to fight, all ready to defend their home, their families, and their friends. All for one and one for all.
As they all prepared themselves to fight the invading army of Sirens, things back inside of the castle weren't going very well either. Borris was still chasing after the lone guard he had come into contact a little while earlier. He was kicking his legs as fast as he could in order to keep up with the fleeing guard, who was actually in turn, a Siren in disguise.
They turned left and began swimming down another long and narrow hallway. Slowly but surely, Borris was catching up to the pesky Siren. As he gained in on the Siren, he raised his arm up once again. He was holding onto his trident tightly. Suddenly, the Siren stopped swimming. Everything around them fell silent. The only things that were heard by the both of them were the faint shouting voices of those fighting on the outside of the wall, near the edge of the Kingdom.
He turned around to look directly back at Borris. Borris stopped swimming, but still held his arm up in the air. He retracted his arm quickly, then threw his arm forward in a forward move. Borris let go of his trident. It went cutting through the water like a ship's bow would. The Siren gasped as he tried to move out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough. Borris' trident pierced him right in the stomach.
"Ha!" Borris shouted, "I got you, you pesky bottomfeeder!"
The Siren glanced down at his stomach, reaching his hand out to touch the lodged trident. He began shaking uncontrollably. The pain he was now experiencing was excruciating. Borris stood his ground as he watched the Siren react to the wounds he's acquired. He remained quiet as he did so.
But then he slowly raised his head back up, looking away from his stomach and the lodged trident. "They say that everyone deserves--a second chance. Any chance you'll give me one? Please Borris. I have a family."
"A family that will only replace you and carry on with what you left behind," Borris responded, "no! No second chances for you. I'm surprised your kind hasn't given up yet. How much longer will your kind keep attacking MineLantis? You do know you'll never succeed, right?"
"As long as that trident exists, we will never stop trying. Not until we get our hands on it," the Siren responded back to Borris.
Borris sighed heavily as he looked down at the mossy wooden floor. He shook his head a couple of times and chuckled sarcastically. "What do you not understand about what I'm saying? You'll never get it. Just give up already! Sheesh!"
"I'm surprised that you are so good at becoming distracted," the Siren said as he looked over Borris' shoulder. Borris quickly turned around to see what it was the Siren was staring at. Borris practically froze in place as he found out who the Siren was staring at.
Not only were there three more Sirens present, but he was also staring at his fate as well. It took a minute for Borris to realize that these Sirens were the ones who were posing as the King and his two guards. He didn't know how to react. All three Sirens were holding tridents that they had stolen earlier to complete their disguise.
"Oh sea pickles," Borris said.
The Siren that was standing in the middle extended her arm out. When she did, her trident pierced right through Borris' golden chest plate. He grunted and cried out in pain. She then pulled her trident back out of Borris' chest plate and stomach.
He quickly looked down at his stomach. His breathing began to pick up speed. Borris covered the wound and glanced back up at the three Sirens. Once he did that, he suddenly fainted. Down to the mossy wooden floor he went, lying on his back. Not only did he lie on the mossy wooden floor on his back, but he regained consciousness. When he did, he glared up at the three female Sirens. The one that Borris injured moments earlier came swimming on over to his fellow Sirens. He grabbed onto the trident, which was still lodged in his chest, and began yanking and pulling on the trident.
After yanking and tugging on the trident, he finally managed to pull it out of his stomach. He sighed a big sigh of relief. He was still in pain, but not as bad as before.
"Where's our army at?" the Siren asked.
The three other Sirens stared back over at him.
"Are you okay Teddy?" Beth asked in a worried and nervous tone.
"I'm fine," he answered, "we know what we're supposed to do. Let's get a move on before they can get to the trident."
"And what about him?" Beth asked as she glanced down at the floor where Borris was laying.
Teddy turned his head slightly as he glared down at Borris. He shrugged his shoulders. "Leave him be. His friends will find him eventually. Now let's go already!"
As the four of them began swimming away from Borris, Teddy let go of Borris' trident. It drifted down and onto the mossy wooden floor. As it made contact with the floor, the trident clinged and banged semi-loudly. Borris lifted his head up to watch the four Sirens leave him behind. They then turned the corner of the hallway and then disappeared.
Borris gently set his head back down onto the floor. He continued breathing heavily as he stared up at the arched ceiling and copper support beams.
How things were going on Calvin, Daniel, and Darron's side wasn't very eventful. They had managed to beat the Sirens to the room with the trident. Oh, thank goodness for that, am I right? Calvin, Daniel, and Darron all walked into the small, cramped room. Calvin flipped the lever that was on the wall up, turning the single redstone powered lantern. The lantern was hanging from the ceiling by some rusty, brown chains.
Once they were all inside, Calvin had closed the door behind them. Once he finished doing that, he turned back around to look back over Daniel and Darron. He faintly smiled at them both.
"Well, this is it," Calvin said, "the room where the trident is being kept," Calvin continued on as he corrected himself and what he had said.
"This is the room huh?" Daniel asked as he glanced over to his left at Calvin. In response, Calvin nodded his head once.
"Indeed," he said.
In the middle of this small room, there was a solid block of stone. Lodged into the stone was the very trident Borris and Calvin had told them about earlier. There was only one problem though. How was Daniel supposed to get the trident out of the stone? It looked and seemed like it was something only a strong blockhead could accomplish. Sadly though, Daniel wasn't one of them.
How in the world was he supposed to extract the trident? Why did he have to do it? Why couldn't Calvin or Darron do it? Something seemed a bit off about this whole situation. Daniel felt that some secrets were being kept from him. What were those things and what did they mean?
"Why does it have to be me again?" Daniel asked Calvin.
"Because I have a feeling you're the chosen one," Calvin answered, "you see, when this trident was forged long ago, a witch had put an enchantment on it. That enchantment prevented anyone who wasn't worthy of possessing it, unworthy to wield it."
"So you think I'm the one then, huh?" Daniel asked as he stared over at Calvin.
"I do," Calvin said, "now give it a try. If the trident deems you worthy of possessing the power, you won't have any trouble in pulling it out. Give it a try, would you?" Calvin continued on to say to Daniel.
Daniel sighed heavily and shook his head. He then walked over to the stone block in the middle of the room. He hesitantly, and carefully, grabbed the handle. When he did, the trident began glowing a bright purple color. Calvin gasped because he was shocked to find out that his suspicions were right. Daniel was worthy!
A few seconds later, Calvin instructed Daniel to pull the trident out of the rock. "Nice and easy," Calvin said, "gentle you hear? That's a very delicate weapon. The only one in existence honestly."
Daniel nodded his head and faintly smiled back at him. As he counted down from three, he tightened his grasp. "Three, two, one," he counted down.
Daniel didn't need to use much effort to extract the trident. It came out so easily and fast that it startled him. He yelped only because he was scared that he might've broken it. Luckily though, that wasn't the case. The trident was just fine. No damages. No dents. No scratches. Clean and shiny it became once again.
"Now what?" Daniel asked as he glanced over at Calvin. Calvin was blown away at the whole thing. Who would've thought that he was the worthy one. Does he know what this means? Not only was he able to wield the sword, but he also now had control of every living creature in the ocean. From dolphins to sea turtles, sea turtles to giant whales and sharks. As far as anyone was concerned, Daniel now had complete control over the ocean. How cool was that?
"Let's go," Daniel said, "let's go end this endless war, shall we?" He continued on to say as he made his way over to the iron door. When he did that, he looked over to his left only to notice a button on the wall. What did it do? No clue. Should he touch it? Maybe. And so he reached out to press the small button on the wall. He pressed it.
When he did that, the iron door that was closed a moment ago, was now fully open. Daniel looked back over his right shoulder and back at Calvin and Darron. He nudged his head, non-verbally telling them to follow him. Nothing could stand in their way now, not even the Sirens in disguise. As they one by one swam back out into the hallway, they were met by voices shouting loudly. Daniel, Darron, and Calvin all looked over to their left, trying to see who it was that was shouting at them.
By the sounds of their voices and tones, they weren't friendly at all. No worries though. He's now capable of handling them thanks to his newly acquired weapon.
"You three!" One of them shouted loudly, "don't move another foot forward. You'll regret it."
Daniel turned his head to look over his shoulder and back at Darron and Calvin. They both smiled seriously and nodded their heads. Daniel finally understood what he needed to do. When Daniel turned back around to gaze at the three Sirens, they were still stationary. They weren't even moving.
They were all looking down at his hand. When Daniel noticed where they were looking, he slowly looked down at his right hand. He was holding the trident in that hand.
They must be scared of the trident he was holding tightly in his right hand. Calvin started laughing hysterically as he started making fun of the Sirens.
"Haha dummies!" Calvin shouted, "you're too late. We beat you to it! Haha!" Calvin continued as he pointed directly over at them.
"When are you all going to learn you'll never succeed, hmm?" Darron barged in. "You heard him. When will you stop?"
The three Sirens smiled creepily as they continued to stare back at Calvin, Daniel, and Darron silently. One of the Sirens slowly began shaking her head from side to side, non-verbally telling them that they were never going to stop trying. If one thing was certain, it was that the Sirens would eventually get their way and retrieve what they want. But until then, they'll just have to keep on trying. Yet they'll fail yet again in doing so.
"Where's the King?" Calvin asked in a really loud voice, "what have you done to him?"
After Calvin finished asking them his questions, one of them verbally responded to him. The Siren shrugged her shoulders and looked down at the mossy wooden floor. "Don't worry buttercup," she said, "your King is fine. Well, for now at least."
"Give us what we want and in exchange we'll hand your king back over to you guys. We aren't just going to hand him back over to you free of charge. Give us the trident."
Daniel sighed heavily as he stood his trident up straight. After he did that, he suddenly disappeared. Darron was extremely curious to know what had just happened. Where'd Daniel go? Only a moment went by since he disappeared. When he reappeared, he was still holding the trident in his right hand.
"You want it, go get it!" Daniel shouted as he threw the trident as far as he could. All three of the Sirens went chasing after it. As they did that, it suddenly flew right into the cobblestone wall. The sound of its impact made it cling loudly before fluttering down towards the floor. All three of them raced over to it, trying to be the first one to pick it up.
As they were busy doing that, Daniel turned around. He had a bright smile on his face. Calvin and Darron wondered why he would just give the trident over to the Sirens. Why would he do something like that? There's more to the story, that's for sure. But this wasn't the place to talk about it. Daniel reached back into his inventory. What he pulled out of his inventory was the actual ancient trident. Calvin and Darron gasped quietly.
"Let's go before they notice I have the real one," Daniel whispered to the both of them. Calvin and Darron and Daniel all held each other's hands. They all closed their eyes. A moment later, they opened their eyes. No longer were they in the middle of the hallway with those Sirens. They were somewhere else. Hopefully somewhere far away from them.
"Too bad they're not as smart as one would think they were," Daniel said, "the trident I handed over to them was a fake, a phony one. It wasn't the real one after all. Did you really think I'd just give it away? Just like that? I'm not that stupid. I've faced far bigger threats in the past. I've been through similar situations like these too."
"We need to end this now!" Calvin suggested they'd do, "no longer will they be a threat to MineLantis. And no longer will they terrorize MineLantis. Their reign will end today, I promise you that much."