Desert Kingdom, OverWorld
Night
It was dark. Fires raged all around him. Nothing but fires, ash, and dangerously hot lava for miles. The ground Steve was standing on was scorched, recently burned by the fires presumably?
The sky was not blue, and neither the sun nor moon shined. Not even stars twinkled. No cows moo'd, and no chickens clucked. As the fires crackled and popped all around him, Steve tried to find a way out of his burning surroundings. No luck.
He began panicking, wondering if he would ever find a way to escape. As his mind began to crumble, and as he was losing hope, a pathway opened up. By looking down the pathway, he saw a faint path of greenery with a single oak tree standing tall and proud.
Mesmerized by what he was seeing, he began walking over to it. As he got closer, a source of light appeared over the small path of normal land. Two blockheads appeared, standing in front of a mysterious and ominous portal. The portal was made of some sort of blackish-purple rock, with the actual portal itself being purple.
"What is that?" Steve said as he squinted his eyes to try and get a clearer picture as to what he was seeing. Steve was trying to connect the pieces, while also trying to understand where he was and why he was here.
The two blockheads on the patch of greenery with the tree began speaking. A familiar blockhead was lying on his back on the ground.
"Get up EnderBrine," the male blockhead said, "your fight is over. No more will you wreak havoc on the OverWorld."
"EnderBrine?" Steve mumbled to himself as he continued to watch. As he watched the scene play out, he drowned out the crackling and popping sounds from the fires around him. "How is he there?"
EnderBrine got back up onto his feet. He looked at the male and female blockhead. What wasn't seen in the scene being played out, was a group of blockheads and a large dragon. Was it him and Alex in the scene? It had to be. He couldn't think of anyone else who could be in that scene.
"Fine, fine!" EnderBrine said, "you all win. I surrender."
"Why would you do something to this extreme? Mineaggedon? Killing innocent blockheads? Why?" The female blockhead asked EnderBrine.
"Mineaggedon?" Steve questioned.
What's that? Is EnderBrine somehow connected? Steve thought mentally to himself.
"You wouldn't understand if I told you," EnderBrine said, "it's too complicated."
After EnderBrine had said that, the scene finished. The light faded away, as did the small patch of greenery. The fires returned. Steve was left thinking of what he just saw. Where did that scene take place?
For one thing, he knew it took place somewhere on the OverWorld. From the looks of it, the scene he saw could have played out in a forest biome? A jungle maybe?
"No, no. It can't be a jungle. That was an oak tree," Steve said to himself. "Where could that have been?"
As he began to get lost in deep thoughts, a faint female blockhead voice began to echo all around him. "Steve?" The voice said, "Steve? Wake up!"
The next thing he knew, he awoke from his deep sleep. It was the middle of the night. He was laying on his blue bed in a room Sam had provided for him to stay in. Alex, Annabeth, Sedrick, and Sam were all standing at his bedside.
He sat up, staring at them. At first glance, he was surprised to see Sedrick. It was almost as if he never disappeared after his battleship exploded. But after he rubbed his eyes, Sedrick was no longer there. What the heck? After all, he did just wake up.
"We need to get you and Alex to safety now!" Sam said. As Steve continued to wake up, he looked at Alex and Sam.
"What's going on?" Steve asked.
"Pirates!" Sam answered, "they're attacking the Kingdom. It seems they seek revenge after what we did to their ships this morning."
Steve jumped out of bed. Hanging on the oak wood wall at the end of his bed was his iron sword. He ran over to it and grabbed it. For some reason, he was growing very fond of the weapon. Although he didn't know how to properly use it yet, he still liked carrying it around. He considered it a good luck charm.
"Steve!" Alex shouted, "we need to go now. It's not safe here."
"Where are we going?" Steve asked Sam.
Sam knew exactly where he was going to take his new found friends to..the escape tunnel below the Kingdom. Not expecting the Pirates to retaliate, Sam's guardsmen weren't properly prepared. If one thing is for sure, Sam should have taken extra precautions in protecting the Kingdom. That was one of his duties as a King. Now because of that, he not only failed to protect Steve, Alex, and Annabeth, but he failed to protect his people.
Although the Kingdom was utterly unprepared, the guardsmen were fighting back at the vicious pirates with everything they had. Crossbows and swords were the two main weapons being used to fight back.
Sam, Steve, Alex, and Annabeth all rushed out of Steve's room and into the hallway. The entire Kingdom was in chaos. Explosions rocked the ground. The arched ceiling of Sam's castle was beginning to crack and crumble. Blocks of heavy cobblestone began falling down.
The castle, for as everyone knew, was falling apart. Racing against the clock to get Steve, Alex, and Annabeth to safety was all Sam cared about at the moment.
"Watch for the blocks," Sam mentioned, "be careful! The entrance to the tunnel is just up ahead."
Everyone was running. Their lives depended on it. No one would have ever thought they would be in trouble again so soon. They thought they had escaped the Pirates for good. Guess they were wrong. There was no way of escaping the bad guys. What's lost can always be found. In this case, the pirates had found Steve, Alex, and Annabeth. What is it they want so badly? Steve was still trying to figure that part out still.
As everyone reached the end of the hallway, Sam pulled the lever on the wall down. The iron door opened. On the other side of the door it was dark. Only a few red stone torches were burning. Without hesitating, Steve, Alex, and Annabeth ran through the opening. The iron door closed right behind them. Sam was standing on the other side. He wasn't going to follow them.
Steve and Alex looked at the door, staring at Sam on the other side. "Follow the others," Sam said, "farewell my friends."
After he said that, he turned around and ran away down the hallway. Not knowing where he was going or what he was doing worried Steve, Alex, and Annabeth. Why wasn't he coming with them? There had to be a reason.
"Where's he going?" Alex questioned as she started thinking of possible reasons as to why he didn't come with them.
"He's probably going to help the others fight the pirates," Steve theorized. "I'm sure he will be right behind us."
"C'mon," Annabeth said, "let's go."
Together, Steve and Alex began following behind Annabeth as they began making their way down the winding cobblestone stair-well. Trying to remain as calm as possible was all they could try and do. As they walked down the stairs, Franklin was seen slowly making his way down the stairs. He was hoping carefully and slowly down to the next step.
"Franklin?" Steve questioned, "do you want some assistance?"
Franklin looked over his left shoulder at Steve, shaking his head. He was holding his cane in one hand, while he leaned onto the cobblestone wall for support. He didn't want to fall and tumble down the stairs. How painful that would be, huh?
"No, no," Franklin said, "I can do it."
"Okay," Steve said.
"Thank you for offering though," Franklin said.
"You're welcome," Steve responded.
"You know what Steve?" Franklin said, "you're going to go down in history as a heart-felt, kind blockhead. You'll be remembered forever...in writing of course."