MineLantis
The King's Castle
"Why isn't this stupid thing working? Why aren't the animals following my orders?" Beth asked as she held the supposed ancient trident in her right hand. Maureen and Trixie glanced over at Beth. The two of them shrugged their shoulders. They didn't know what was going on muchless why the trident wasn't working. But Beth suddenly figured out why it wasn't working. When she did, she began laughing hysterically.
She raised her head and looked over at Trixie and Maureen. As she shook her head from side to side, she told Maureen and Trixie what she had figured out. "It's not working because it's a fake!"
Trixie and Maureen gasped. How could they let themselves be fooled into thinking that Daniel had given them the real trident? They should've known better. They should've been quicker in getting to the trident first. The plan that had been in the making for a considerable amount of time now was now beginning to crumble and fall apart. In order to assure the very survival of their kind, they need that trident. Without it the Trench Kingdom, their home, will succumb to the good side and fall. No longer will they exist. But with a plan, there's always a back up plan, right?
Beth glanced down at the trident, suddenly noticing that the trident had been painted black to look like netherite. The real color of the trident was made out of copper. She began rubbing her left hand up and down the handle to get the paint off of it. When enough of the paint was removed, she held the trident up so that Trixie and Maureen could see what she was talking about.
"You're joking, right?" Maureen questioned as she gazed over at Beth. Beth stared back at her and slowly shook her head from side to side once again.
"Nope," Beth said as she turned around so that she could confront Daniel, Darron, and Calvin. Maureen and Trixie did the same, also turning around to look at their sworn enemy. But what they saw was only an empty hallway.
"Fiddlesticks!" Maureen shouted as loud as her voice would let her, "where'd they go now?"
As the three of them grew more angry and desperate, Daniel, Darron, and Calvin were hiding behind the corner of a wall at the end of the hallway. Daniel had watched them figure out that they didn't have the real trident. When he did, he backed away from the corner and turned around to face Darron and Calvin.
"So you didn't give them the real trident then?" Calvin asked.
"That's correct," Daniel said, "I went back to the room where we got this one from and grabbed a different one and quickly painted over it with black paint. When I returned to the hallway, the real trident was in my inventory. The one I was holding in my hand was the fake one I had made to give to them. It's all going according to plan."
"Now what?" Darron asked, "what are we going to do about the army just outside the wall?"
Daniel turned his head slightly to look over at Darron. He faintly smiled at him as he placed both of his hands on the handle of the trident. He closed his eyes. Calvin and Darron watched every second of what Daniel was doing. Small ripples began emitting out from the trident. As the ripples continued to burst out of the three forks of the trident, familiar squeaking sounds were heard. They got louder and louder.
When Darron and Calvin turned around to see what was making those sounds, they recognized what animals were coming their way. It was Lola and Sampson. Lola and Samson both swam through a large hole in the wall and began swimming frantically towards them.
Daniel then took one hand off of the trident and opened his eyes again. When he did, Lola and Samson swam over to him and began squeaking non-stop. Daniel frowned.
"What'd you say Lola?" Daniel asked, "this trident makes my butt look big? Really, it does? Huh, who would've thought."
Lola squeaked as Darron and Calvin were wondering how Daniel was communicating with her. Daniel couldn't have been doing that by himself. Was it the trident that allowed him to understand Lola and Samson? Or was it another type of power he had? Anyways, the good thing about this was that if he could understand Lola and Samson, then maybe he could understand the rest of the creatures as well?
Daniel then glanced over at Calvin and Darron. "Samson says the soldiers fighting outside of the wall are starting to get overwhelmed by the Sirens' army. He said we should go and help them."
Calvin scoffed as he looked over at Samson and Lola both. He squinted his eyes and tilted his head. He began tapping his chin as he looked back over at Daniel. "Can he understand me? Why can't I understand him?"
Daniel looked at Samson and repeated that question to him. "Calvin wants to know why he can't understand you."
Samson squeaked a couple of times. Daniel nodded his head as he listened to Samson answer his question. Once he finished doing that, Daniel repeated his answer back to Calvin.
"Only the blockhead possessing this trident cant speak to the animals," Daniel said, "that's why you can't understand him."
Calvin huffed and puffed. "Well if I would've known that earlier, I would've been the one to remove the trident. How could I be so dumb?"
Samson swam over to Calvin and nudged at Calvin with his nose. Calvin raised his head to look at Samson. Samson began rubbing his nose on Calvin's face. Up and down. Side to side.
"You're still his best friend," Daniel said, "he wanted me to tell you that. Even though you can't understand him, he can understand you. You're still best friends. You've always been that. Samson still loves and cares about you."
"He--he said that?" Calvin asked as he began to quiver his lips. Daniel nodded his head as he looked over at Lola. Lola squeaked and then swam over to Calvin as well. She too rubbed her nose all over Calvin's face.
"Lola said she loves you so much," Daniel said with a faint smile on his face. This was a heartwarming moment for him. Not because it was a sad moment, but because it was a somber, beautiful moment. The power of friendship was being expressed through love. Calvin was happy that Samson and Lola were still his friends, even though they couldn't talk to each other.
Calvin brushed the fact that he couldn't talk to them off of his shoulders and eventually forgot about that aspect. What he did appreciate was that Samson and Lola were still loyal to him, even when he wasn't the one wielding the ancient trident.
But just as they were sharing the heartwarming moment, a trident came whooshing past Daniel's right ear. The trident flew directly over, striking Samson right in the side of his stomach. He squealed as he began falling down to the mossy wooden floor.
Daniel quickly turned around to see who had thrown the trident. It was Beth, Trixie, and Maureen. Those sneaky, pesky Sirens! Why would they do that to such an innocent animal like Samson? What did he ever do to them to make them mad? Without hesitating, Daniel raised his trident up and straight out in front of him. The three forks at the end of the trident began flowing a bright yellow.
Before Beth, Trixie, and Maureen could react, a bright yellow beam came shooting out of the trident. The beam shot through the water, hitting Maureen right in the stomach. She grunted as the force of the beam sent her flying backwards and slamming into the wall. After she hit the wall, her body suddenly turned into just bare white bones. The beam had burned her entire body. When Daniel stopped blasting the beam at her, Trixie and Beth slowly turned their heads to look back over at him.
As Daniel was catching his breath, he stared over at the two of them. They stared back at him, but didn't say a single word. The only thing they did was flee...and fleeing they did. The skeleton of what used to be Maureen slowly drifted downwards towards the wooden floor. When Daniel turned around to look back at Samson and Calvin, he saw that Samson was beginning to breathe heavily. Calvin was trying to comfort him by petting him.
"How bad is it Calvin?" Daniel asked as Calvin began to get emotional. Lola was rubbing her nose on Samson's nose and squealing quietly to him. She was upset and sad too. Darron cautiously approached Calvin, resting his hand on Calvin's right shoulder. Darron sighed as he began to get emotional too. Samson was really hurt. There was no way he'd be able to recover from this wound. This one, I'm afraid, sealed Samson's fate.
"Can't I use the trident to heal him?" Daniel asked.
Calvin slowly turned his head over to his left to look over at Daniel. As he continued to quiver his lips he shook his head slowly. The sight of what Calvin was going through reminded Daniel too much of what he went through when Elderon had died. This situation felt all too similar to what he had gone through weeks earlier.
"No," Calvin said, "that's not something that trident can do, I'm afraid."
Daniel sighed. There must be something he could do to save Samson, right? He couldn't let Calvin go through what he went through a while back. As he began thinking of possible ways he could save Samson from certain death, Calvin suddenly snagged Daniel's attention.
"Daniel, Daniel!" Calvin said as Daniel raised his head to look over at him and Samson. Calvin looked back at him, slowly shaking his head. He slowly took his hands off of Samson's body. "It's too late," he said, "he's gone."
Daniel frowned as he put the trident into his inventory. He approached Calvin. Darron did the same. Together, the two of them hugged Calvin to comfort him. Calvin began crying out, shouting and yelling loudly. As they all hugged, Samson's body suddenly vanished into thin air.
POOF!
And just like that, Samson was killed. Who knew a single blow from a trident would take him down so easily. Daniel thought that it would take more than one strike from a trident to take them down. But how wrong he was. But there was one thing they could all do. One thing that would avenge Samson's death. By defeating the Sirens and stopping them once and for all. That's what they could and needed to do.
The trident that was lodged in Samson's stomach fell straight down to the wooden floor. It's forks pierced through the rotting mossy wood, lodging it once again in a straight up position.
"Let's go," Daniel said, "let's fight in his honor."
Calvin gazed into Daniel's eyes, slowly nodding his head. He understood what Daniel was trying to tell him. If they could defeat the Sirens, they'd be avenging not only Samson's death, but everyone else's lives as well that the Sirens had taken.
"You're right," Calvin said as he rubbed his eyes with his hands a couple of times. "For Samson. All for one and one for all. Let's go stop these invaders!"
Daniel grabbed onto Lola's dorsal fin, as did Calvin and Darron. Once everyone was holding onto Lola's dorsal fin, she began paddling her tail up and down as fast as she could, swimming as fast as she could down the hallway and out through the hole that she and Samson came through moments earlier.
Once they were outside of the Castle once again, Daniel and Darron took a good look around at everything. The Kingdom was practically empty, almost like an abandoned village was. But as they focused their sights into the near horizon, they saw the Sirens' army fighting with the MineLantian Soldiers.
"I'm going to help them," Calvin said.
"Me too," Darron also said. Calvin looked over at Darron, who was on Lola's left side so that he could ask him a question.
"With what weapon?" Calvin asked.
Darron sighed and rolled his eyes. "You don't always need a weapon to fight in a battle," Darron said, "we do have hands for a reason."
Calvin shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head. "I guess you're right," he responded.
"I know I am," Darron said as they both let go of Lola's dorsal fin. Side by side, they began kicking their feet. Swimming down towards the fighting forces of the Sirens and the MineLantian Soldiers. Daniel remained behind. He reached into his inventory to grab the trident he had put in there earlier back out. He was now holding it in his hand once again.
Lola began squeaking at him. She was trying to tell him something important. He listened carefully to what she had to say. Once she finished squeaking, he thought about what she had said for a brief moment. "You think that'll work? You think that'll scare them off?" Daniel asked.
Lola squeaked.
"I guess it's worth a try, right?" Daniel responded as he let go of Lola's dorsal fin. Once he did that, she zoomed away as fast as she could swim. She went swimming as fast as she could down towards the fighting forces below, while Daniel remained high above the entire Kingdom of MineLantis.
Daniel grabbed a hold of the trident with both of his hands. He again closed his eyes. If you're wondering what he was doing, he was beginning to call out to the creatures of the ocean to come help MineLantian Soldiers win the fight against the Sirens.
As the trident began glowing and emitting ripples outward, Daniel began mumbling to himself.
"Creatures of the ocean, big and small, I call out to you," Daniel began saying, "From the creatures nearby and far away, I ask that you come to MineLantis' assistance. We can't win this fight alone. We need the strength of the ocean by our side to ensure victory. Please come," Daniel said as he finally finished calling out to every known creature that lives in the ocean.
He opened his eyes. His trident stopped emitting ripples. Daniel began looking all around him, trying to see if any creatures heard his call for help. But there was nothing. Nothing but a vast, empty horizon. Daniel watched in complete silence as he waited for something and anything to appear. Then, as Daniel squinted his eyes, a giant squid emerged from the deep underwater ravine that was nearby the Kingdom. Daniel sighed a big sigh of relief. The giant squid wasn't the only creature to answer his call. A large school of fish appeared, as did a large family of dolphins too. The school of fish were swimming right behind the dolphins. Sea turtles, pufferfish, jellyfish, humpback whales, hammerhead sharks and a single megalodon shark followed behind the Giant Squid.
They were swimming directly towards Daniel. When Daniel realized that they were coming to him for orders on what they should do, he looked down at his trident and then back over at them. After he did that, he held his arm out straight, pointing his trident down at the Sirens' army. All together, the large army of sea animals began changing directions. They were now beginning to swim down towards the Sirens' army.
Daniel remained where he was at when he let go of Lola's dorsal fin. He was watching over the entire battle below, watching every creature band together to fight as one powerful force. As the Sirens continued fighting the MineLantian soldiers down below, one of the Sirens managed to glance up at the incoming creatures. She also saw that Daniel was the one commanding them.
The Siren, while holding the MineLantian's trident at bay, began shouting out to her fellow comrades. "Retreat!" She shouted, "Leave now! Common!"
One by one, the remainder of the army of Sirens all looked up at the incoming creatures. They all gasped as they all quickly began abandoning their positions. Fleeing they did. If you were to have blinked even once, you would've missed seeing the scared Sirens abandoning the fight.
They stood absolutely no chance against the power of the ocean. They should've known the fight would escalate to this extreme. But because their judgement was clouded by their constant attempts at trying to retrieve the trident, they didn't think one bit about this fight escalating as fast as it did.
Whatever plan they devised, it was now up in flames. No longer were they going to declare victory against the Kingdom of MineLantis. No longer were they going to try and fight till the end. They chose their next moves wisely. Abandoning the fight was the only good thing they could do.
But they weren't out of hot water just yet. Even though they were fleeing the scene of the battle, the army of creatures still followed them. Their fight may have ended against the MineLantian Soldiers, but it wasn't over with the Creatures of the Ocean. As the creatures swam over the MineLantian Soldiers below, the Soldiers all froze in place as they watched the strength of the ocean swim over them. They were all taken away at just how many creatures lived amongst them. They had no idea the ocean housed such wondrous and beautiful creatures like them. It was truly breathtaking. Stunning even.
One MineLantian Soldier swam up to the top of the wall. Once she got to the top of the wall, she stared directly at Daniel. Her mouth dropped as she was starstruck at what she was seeing. She slowly lifted her arm and pointed at him as she turned her head around to look down at the seafloor at her fellow comrades.
"Guys!" She shouted as loudly as she could, "you have to come and see this!"
Martin, Thomas, Ivor, and Nathan were amongst those who were fighting the Sirens. When they heard her shouting down at them, they all gazed up at the top of the quartz wall at her. They wondered why she was acting so enthusiastically. So they all swam up to the top of the wall. When they did, they saw what she was telling them about.
"He commands the ocean!" She repeated to them, "he's the one. He's our savior, our hero. He has the power of the ocean at his fingertips."
"How is this possible?" Martin asked as he stared up at Daniel. Daniel was floating in place, kicking his feet gently to stay where he was already. He held his trident in his right hand up straight as he looked down upon the other MineLantian Soldiers who had fought bravely.
"I'll tell you why," Calvin said, "it's because he's a true hero. That's why."
Martin and Thomas both looked over at Calvin. They both tilted their heads as they wondered what he had meant by what he told them. "What do you mean?"
"Only the worthy and noble can wield that trident," Calvin said, "and I'm happy to report that he's one of the very few who can withstand the immense power kept within that trident. Isn't that amazing? He now commands the sea. Anything he wants done, any threats he wants stopped, all he has to do is order the creatures to carry out his orders. The ocean is going to be very different going forward now that he's in charge."