(Nothing built can last forever.)
(And every legend, no matter how great, fades with time, until all that remains are myths, half-truths... to put it simply, lies.)
(And yet, in all the known universe, from here to the Farlands, the legend of the Order of the Stone endures, unabridged, as a self-evident fact.)
(Indeed, it is only a troubled land that is in need of heroes, and ours was fortunate enough to have had heroes such as these.)
(In the vast world of Minecraft, these were the legendary heroes who sought vengeance and justice while ensuring that peace reigned supreme.)
(Gabriel, the Warrior, the heroic one, before whose sword all combatants would tremble.)
(No one could match his mighty Diamond Sword.)
(Ellegaard, the Redstone Engineer, the intellectual one, whose creations would spark an era of invention.)
(No one could create more complex machines than her.)
(Magnus, the Rogue, the crazed one, who would channel his destructive creativity for the benefit of all.)
(No one loved TNT more than he did.)
(and Soren, the Architect, the wise one, Builder of Worlds, and leader of the Order of the Stone.)
(No one was better equipped for the role of leader than he.)
(These FOUR friends would do anything to gain their rightful place as FOUR heroes.)
(Their greatest quest would take them on a dangerous journey to fight the mysterious creature known as the Ender Dragon.)
(The mythical beast that guarded the End Dimension.)
(In the end, the Order of the Stone emerged victorious, and the dragon was defeated.)
(Their story complete, they slipped away into the pages of legend...)
(But when one story ends, another one begins.)
[Jesse's POV.]
(Before slashing the armour stand in front of me, I hold my wooden sword in an offensive position.)
(Concentrating on what angles would be best suited to quickly eliminate the Stand before it has a chance to touch me.)
(That is until Olivia, out of the blue, interrupted that concentration when she flung a question across the room.)
Olivia: "Would you rather fight a hundred chicken-sized zombies, or ten zombie-sized chickens?"
Jesse: "Huh?"
Olivia: "Just to be clear, you wouldn't have any weapons or armour. So you'd have to fight them with your hands."
Jesse: "Huh?"
Olivia: "It's just a hypothetical question, Jesse."
Jesse: "Olivia, why do you always ask the most random things...?"
Olivia: "I don't know, spending most of the day at home gets boring."
(I sigh. This is one of my friends, Olivia. We and my other two friends, Axel and Reuben live together in this small Treehouse.)
(Olivia always loves to ask random questions.)
(Oh well, I'm not the one to complain. It's not like I have anything better to do.)
(I stop my training session, placing my sword in my inventory.)
(I think I did enough for today and turn my attention to her question.)
Jesse: "...zombie-sized chickens?"
Olivia: "Why is that?"
Jesse: "It's not because I want to or because I think it would be easy, but because they would be an abomination."
Olivia: "Imagine their giant feet."
Jesse: "Like I said, an abomination."
Olivia: "Soo anyway..."
(Olivia changes subjects.)
Olivia: "I've got a daylight censor on the roof."
Jesse: "Mmm-hmm..."
Olivia: "And if I did this right, these lamps should turn on once it gets dark."
(Olivia places some redstone on the table.)
Jesse: "Mmm-hmm!"
Olivia: "I didn't want to just leave Reuben here with nothing while we're at the building competition."
Jesse: "He's coming with us."
(Reuben shyly creeps behind the armour stand, oinking in the process.)
Olivia: "Really?"
Jesse: "What kind of question is that? Of course he is."
Olivia: "Okay, I'm not saying he shouldn't come. I'm not... but don't you think it's a little weird that you take him with you everywhere you go? He kind of makes us look like... I don't know... amateurs."
Jesse: "Reuben's my pig! The most adorable of his kind, he's my best friend!"
(Reuben responds cheerfully and leaps up onto the table.)
Olivia: "I thought I was your best friend."
Jesse: "Both of you are!"
Olivia: "I-I didn't mean it like that-, I'm glad he's coming. I just don't wanna give people one more reason to call us 'losers'. I'm getting tired of it! I'm tired of being a laughing stalk!"
Jesse: "Who CARES what they think?!"
Olivia: "I know, I just... it wears you down."
Jesse: "You say you're not a loser, Olivia! So WIN!"
(Olivia with an unsure look, rethinks my words.)
Jesse: "If you give up now, then we'll always end up being losers!"
Olivia (sigh): "... Okay. Fine, I'll try to not think too much about it..."
(At that moment, we suddenly hear a loud hissing noise.)
(Reuben gasps, jumping up a little.)
Olivia: "D-Do you hear that?"
(Olivia shudders.)
???: "Ssssssss..."
Olivia: "Oh no!"
Jesse: "It couldn't be... They can't climb up ladders, can they???"
(Then, the trapdoors leading to our Treehouse opens and we're greeted by a green scary creeper face.)
???: "BOOOOO!!!!!"
(Olivia screams, immediately followed by mine, while Reuben squeals and falls down the table, almost fainting.)
(That is then followed by laughter as Axel takes off his creeper mask.)
Axel: "Hahaha!!! Oh man, you guys freaked out! That was awe-"
(Reuben, recovering from his fall, angrily charges at Axel and hits him in the stomach for payback.)
Axel: "Oof!"
(With a annoyed glare, Reuben walks away.)
Olivia: "Axel! What's the matter with you?!"
(Olivia grumbles.)
Axel: "Great! Now I'm gonna smell like a pig at EnderCon! I thought we were buddies!"
Jesse: "That's what you get, Axel!"
Axel: "I brought you good times, and now I'm being punished for it?"
Jesse: "You scared us half to death!"
Axel: "Nothin' is fun if you're not scared half to death!"
(This is Axel. He's sort of a prankster and is the sort of guy who would do anything to have fun.)
(I wouldn't say he's fat, but you can't deny that he's visibly larger and wider than we are.)
(His most distinct feature, however, is his Unibrow.)
Olivia: "Did you bring the fireworks?"
Axel: "Of course I did! I even brought something for the little guy!"
(Axel pulls out a pig-sized Ender dragon costume.)
Jesse: "Nice!"
(Axel might be a big prankster, but he sure knows how to make a good costume.)
Olivia: "You brought Reuben a disguise?"
(Olivia questions.)
Axel: "Umm... We're going to a competition! Somebody's gotta where a costume!"
(Axel puts the costume on Reuben.)
(Looking out of the purple tinted holes, Reuben starts running around the room in excitement.)
Jesse: "He looks AWESOME!"
(Reuben oinks as a response.)
Axel: "I know, right? It only took me like a million hours to build it."
Jesse: "Alright. Alright."
(No need to get grumpy.)
Olivia: "But you definitely brought the fireworks, right?"
(Olivia, still wanting to know.)
Axel: "Yes, yes... I'm ready! Waiting on you guys!"
Olivia: "If he was Really your best friend, you wouldn't let him go outside dressed like that."
Jesse: "Olivia... The only thing more dangerous than putting a costume ON a pig, is trying to take it OFF. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience."
(Reuben snores at me suspiciously.)
Axel: "Hurry up and grab your stuff!"
(Axel yells as he opens the trapdoor and starts descending the ladder.)
Olivia: "We'll meet you downstairs, okay?"
(Olivia joins Axel.)
Jesse: "Okay!"
(Olivia closes the trapdoor after that response.)
(Okay! Now it's time for us to go to the annual building competition! I look at our EnderCon Banner.)
Jesse: "One of these days, we're gonna WIN, the Endercon building competition, and WHEN we do, people will look up at us and say 'Hey, there goes Jesse and Reuben, winners of the EnderCon building competition!' That's right! We might have lost to Lukas and the Ocelots the last time but I'm sure we'll beat them this time! I know it!"
(Reuben doesn't look as bewildered after that speech.)
(I look over to a Gabriel Banner we have.)
Jesse: "You think we'll EVER get that famous?"
(Reuben shakes his head.)
(C'mon, you're not even trying to be encouraging.)
Jesse: "It's not impossible! Maybe I'LL get famous for my... sweet poster collection!"
(I grin at that thought.)
(Being famous for my hobby of collecting posters.)
Jesse: "Give me a dragon roar, Reuben!"
(Reuben, trying to imitate the Ender dragon, squeals loudly.)
Jesse: "That'll do, Reuben... That'll do."
(Anyway, Olivia told me that I shouldn't bring too many things to EnderCon but you never know if you'd need something if you're outside.)
(Opening our chest, I take out some shear.)
(You'll never know when you might need to shear some sheep! Oh, and I'll take the flint and steel too.)
(Alright, I think that's everything.)
(Reuben who no longer can hold his excitement, starts running around again.)
(I pick him up before I no longer can and make my way down the Treehouse.)
(Closing the trapdoor above me, we descend down the ladder and land on the grass below.)
Olivia: "Took you long enough..."
Jesse: "Don't judge me, I just took my sweet time, Olivia."
Axel: "Anyway, let's roll!"
(Axel, full of energy, leads the way.)
Olivia: "Yeah, dude... 'Roll'".
Jesse: "Cheer up Olivia, let's go!"
(Reuben agrees.)
Axel: "By the way, I heard a pretty juicy rumor about the building competition, but you guys have to Promise not to say anything."
Olivia: "Um... Okay."
Axel: "Also It's in two parts! Each part more exciting than the last!"
(Where's Axel going with this?)
Jesse: "Spit it out, Axel!"
Axel: "Part One. The special guest of this year's EnderCon is none other than Gabriel the Warrior him-freaking-self!"
Jesse: "Wow! That would be a dream and an honor!"
Olivia: "Totally, he's awesome! It'd be amazing to meet him!"
Axel: "Man! We really have to try and win this year! Reuben better be careful in that costume. The last time Gabriel saw a dragon, it didn't END well, Pun intended."
(Reuben looks visibly disappointed.)
(Walking past the "Poster Forest" where our poster collection is, Olivia questions the truthfulness of this rumor.)
Olivia: "Soo... does this 'source' of yours make posters for a living?"
Axel: "Eh, my source, uhhh, doesn't... uh... exist. You guys are my only friends."
Jesse: "Guys, let's stay focused, We have a competition to win."
Olivia: "But we never win, and this year we've got Reuben with us, we basically have no chance."
(Olivia, I just reassured you a minute ago.)
Jesse: "Have a little faith, Olivia. Because up to now we've hated losing. But today, today my friends, we're going to start learning how to love winning. uh, that didn't sound as good as it did in my head..."
(Crap, now even my self-esteem is going down...)
(*sigh* How can we make sure we win this? Last time, I even forgot what we did last time! It must have been so bad that my brain just deleted that memory from my brain.)
(But I do remember that Lukas and the Ocelots won with their outstanding, colorful Ocelot statue.)
(Outstanding...)
Jesse: "Hold on, wait a minute... we're thinking about this all wrong. The point of the building competition isn't just to build something. We have to do something to get noticed by the judges!"
Olivia: "Okay, then. So how do we do this?"
Jesse: "We don't just build something functional. We build something fun. After we finish the fireworks machine, like we planned -- then we build something cool on top of it."
Olivia: "You might be on to something.."
Axel: "If you want to get a reaction out of the judges, you build something scary. So I say we build a creeper..."
Olivia: "Wouldn't an enderman be better? I'm more scared of Endermen than Creepers."
Jesse: "I think a creeper would be great, They are more common and aggressive than Endermen."
Olivia: "You're going with Axel's idea???"
Axel: "What's wrong with my idea?"
Olivia: "N-Nothing, I just thought it was cool. actually, this is the first time we've decided on something before getting to the competition. Think we've got everything we need?"
Jesse: "It wouldn't hurt to grab a little more. With the creeper, we need to grab a little more wool anyway."
Axel: "Let's get with the grabbin', then."
Jesse: "We're so prepared. We can't lose. Cannot! Bring it in."
(Everyone comes together forming a circle, putting our hands out together in the middle of the group.)
Jesse: "Okay! 'Dare to Prepare' on three! Wait no, 'Preparing is daring' Nope, that's the same thing. Forget it. 'Team!' on three!"
Jesse: """One!""" Two! """Three! 'TEAM!!!""""
(We all raise our hands together.)
(Time to get some supplies! First things first, wood! Time to punch some trees! Eh, It's a little tiring without an axe but I'll have to deal with it.)
Jesse: "If I was stronger, maybe it would work better..."
(Reuben then signals for me to lay down.)
(Are you trying to make me work out? Reuben was staring at me, like he was telling me to not be a lazy ass.)
(You're not going to stop trying until I do it, aren't you, Reuben?)
(A few minutes pass.)
(Damn you Reuben, making me work out and stuff.)
(Anyway, right, Wool! It's a good thing there's a large group of sheep near our house, I hope you weren't saving your wool for later.)
(sheared.. sheared... sheared.)
(Oh, and we need some black dye for the black wool too.)
(Normally, you would have to wrestle with a squid, but they usually kill themselves before you even intervene.)
(Squids aren't really intelligent, are they? Oh, that's one unfortunate one who was dumb enough to strand itself on the shore.)
(These will be enough. I think Olivia is already getting the lime wool, so that would be everything.)
(Time to head back to the others.)
Olivia: "Did you get everything we need?"
Jesse: "Sure, did!"
Axel: "Well let's head to the building competition then!"
(Coming back together, we raise our hands together as a sign of teamwork.)
(This time! We're going to be the ones dominating the competition!!!)
(After walking for a few minutes, we finally see the entrance booth to the competition, appearing behind the forest.)
(The area where the competition would take place was on a grass field beside a river.)
(The area is divided by fences, where each team would make their build.)
(In the middle of the field is a platform, where the judges were sitting.(
Axel: "We know what we're building, we got all the stuff for it. We are SO ready!"
Olivia: "This year it's going to be different. I'm not just ready to build, I'm ready to win!"
person: "Nice pig. losers."
(Our gaze immediately snaps to the person who said that.)
(The insult alone was enough to make our blood boil, and it didn't help once
we knew who that person was.)
(It was Gill, who noticed us approaching, signals his friends that we have arrived.)
(Standing in front of the entrance to the building competition is the blonde- haired Lukas with his team members, Aiden, Maya and Gill, they're also known as the Ocelots.)
(All are wearing matching black leather jackets with an Ocelot face at the back.)
Axel: "Oh, great, there's Lukas and the Ocelots. The rivalry continues."
Aiden: "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Order of the Losers."
Maya: "Great, the fail squad's here."
Aiden: "Lukas, get a load of these losers!"
(Aiden signals Lukas, who has finished talking to the reception lady and still has his back turned.)
Lukas: "Let's go, guys."
(Looking at us once, he encourages his group to focus on bigger things.)
(Aiden and the others turn to walk away from us, but not before giving us an evil grin first.)
(Once they entered the fenced side, we approach the receptionist, trying to not think much from the usual insult.)
Reception Lady: "Name, please?"
Axel: "Axel, and uh, how do you do?"
Reception Lady: "No, I meant your team name."
Axel: "Team name?...We are not ready for this..."
Olivia: "So much for losing anonymously."
(And our confidence is down the drain, again... I can already see the Ocelots in the distance, silently laughing at us.)
(We were so prepared, but then the world throws everything at us that we hadn't prepared for? Crap... I'll just have to make one up right now!)
Jesse: "Uh... okay, let's think. We could be… the 'Nether Maniacs,' or... 'The Redstone Warriors'... Oh! I got it—'The Dead Enders'!"
Olivia: "The Dead Enders? That sounds... kind of ominous. I like it."
Axel: "Yeah! I dig it! We're tough, we're edgy, and we won't let anything stop us. Perfect!"
(Reuben snorts approvingly, which I'll take as a good sign.)
Reception Lady: "O-Okay, The Dead Enders... You guys are in Booth 5."
(We awkwardly start walking to the entrance gate.)
(The situation, however, only worsens when Axel gets stuck when he can't fit through the fence gate.)
(Desperately trying to wriggle his way through the other side, he only became an even bigger laughing stock for the Ocelots to laugh at, which they do.)
(Apparently, Aiden had been observing us the entire time, waiting for something to laugh about.)
(Damn, they really can't leave us alone.)
Axel did eventually make his way through, but it didn't stop our humiliation.)
(Trying to ignore the Ocelots' laughter, we quietly make our way to our booth. "Sigh")
(This is going to be a long day...)
[To be continued...]