Descent Into Overworld: An Unofficial Minecraft Adventure by Liam O'Donnell Page A

much?” she said.
    “Because you love it so much!” Principal Whiner snapped. “You kids spend so much time staring at computer screens, smacking each other with swords. You should be at home studying and preparing for exams. That’s what we did as children. We never had distractions like Minecraft.”
    She heard the hurt in his words, like an angry first grader.
    “You’re jealous!” Jaina said.
    “Don’t be ridiculous,” Whiner said.
    “You’re just mad because all you had when you were a kid was a few sticks to rub together.”
    His eyes narrowed. “You listen here, young lady. When I was a child, we learned the proper way. With pencils and paper, not gadgets and games. I am here to save you from all this blocky madness. That Herobrine fellow has the right idea. If he can use that seed contraption to destroy this game, then I will help him do it.”
    “He wants to take over the real world, too!” Jaina said.
    Whiner dismissed her with a wave. “He doesn’t stand a chance. The authorities will be alerted and he’ll be arrested before he can summon the first cropper.”
    “It’s a creeper, noob,” Jaina said. “And you won’t be smiling when they blow up your office at school!”
    They entered a room with a low ceiling and lined with wooden chests. It was a storage room. Chests ran in neat rows from wall to wall.
    Jaina slowed her pace, letting the mindless skeletons march ahead. Behind her, Whiner had his back to them as he fumbled with closing the door. Noob.
    Jaina saw her chance.
    She moved to the nearest chest. The lid creaked open to reveal its contents. Without pausing to let fear take over, Jaina scooped everything she saw into her inventory.
    “Stop messing with that,” Whiner called, the door finally closed.
    The skeletons rounded on Jaina and pulled her from the chest. Their bony fingers gripped her arms like vices.
    “I tripped,” she said.
    She held her breath, waiting for Whiner to demand she empty her inventory.
    “Clumsy child,” he said and walked past her.
    Jaina breathed again and let herself be dragged along by the skeletons.
    Whiner hated Minecraft so much, he never played it. He had no idea what just happened. That old noob didn’t realize she had just taken the first step towards escape.
    They led her through another set of twisting corridors. Eventually they came to an iron door and ordered her into the small, windowless room on the other side.
    The door slammed shut, locking her inside. Everything outside the door fell silent.
    She was alone. She could finally inspect her haul.
    Lapis lazuli, some string from a cave spider, an iron sword, two pieces of redstone dust and a single redstone torch.
    The lapis and string were no good to her in here. The sword was a lucky find and the redstone items held promise.
    Jaina paced around the small square room. Five blocks along each, and five blocks tall. Walls made of granite with no windows anywhere. She had no tools to break through the walls. But there was the door. An iron door.
    She placed the pieces of redstone on the ground in front of the door. A line of dull red ran from the door two squares into her tiny prison cell.
    She waited until there were no sounds of skeletons clattering on the other side.
    “Here goes nothing,” she said to the empty cell.
    She placed the redstone torch on the ground at the end of the line of redstone dust. The red line burst to life, turning a bright red. Sparks wafted into the air.
    The door swung open.
    “Noobs,” Jaina whispered.
    She slipped out the open door into the narrow stone corridor. She was free — sort of. She was still stuck inside Slashax’s fort. But she wouldn’t be for long.
    Jaina hurried down the corridor, hopefully in the direction she had come with Principal Whiner. Maybe if she backtracked, she could find that storeroom again and grab something more useful than string.
    Three times she had to jump out of the way to avoid skeleton patrols. The monstrous guards would