Herobrine's Message (53 page)

Stan's body had the same effect as a wrecking ball as he barreled straight through the core of the skyscraper, tearing countless blocks away as he did. As hundreds of blocks were ripped from their place by Stan's body-turned-projectile, he went into a sort of trance, where his senses nearly shut off. He simply turned into a living meteor as he ripped through the core of the building, burst out the other side, and slammed into the stone-block street below. Stan felt himself propelled deep into the ground with a sickly crunch before finally slowing to a halt.

For quite a long time, Stan lay there in his crater on one of the many roads that crisscrossed through the buildings of Element City's Skyscraper District. Slowly but surely, Stan's senses returned, and he came to the realization that he was still alive. He wasn't entirely sure how—even with full enchanted diamond armor and his enhanced level of durability as an operator, he was sure that he should have died from such a huge impact.

Stan opened his eye just the tiniest crack, and his heart jumped as he saw the form of Lord Tenebris, descending from the gray sky to where he now lay. Stan knew that he had to get out of there. As much as he wanted to lie there forever, there was far too much on the line to risk anything now. With a single deep breath, Stan once again felt a wave of healing wash over him, just as Lord Tenebris touched down beside him. He raised his diamond sword over Stan, preparing to finish the job.

Just as the sword fell, Stan vanished, reappearing in the middle of the street directly behind Lord Tenebris. The sword plunged into the stone at the bottom of the crater with a clang, and Lord Tenebris cursed loudly before whipping around, realizing that Stan was there, and meeting his eye.

“I need to talk to you, Kev,” Stan said authoritatively. “If you don't stop using—”

He was cut off as a bombardment of dozens of fireballs shot out of Lord Tenebris's hands, directly at Stan. He warped out of the way just in time, and the fireballs flew behind him and collided with the nearest skyscraper in a wave of heat. Instantly, the base of the colossal building burst into flames, and even as Stan watched, the flames began to climb higher and higher up the walls, threatening to engulf the entire tower within minutes.

Stan barely had time to register this, though. He was
too busy dodging the mixed flurry of fireballs and explosive blasts that Lord Tenebris was firing at him like a machine gun, punching back and forth between his hands. Each new burst was accompanied by a grunt from Lord Tenebris, whose face bore a look of insanity.

Stan warped side to side, each time just barely missing the attacks, and each time condemning another building to burst into flames, or be torn apart by an explosion as the missed attacks flew off into the city. Stan tried to speak to Lord Tenebris for just a moment, to beg him to stop for his own sake at least, but every time he reappeared, a new blast of fire and volatile energy was upon him.

Before long, Stan began to tire; having to constantly warp around was really wearing him out. Thus, after one particularly close call, Stan didn't warp again, but instead took off, leaping into the air and flying through the city like a rocket. Behind him, he heard the sound of another player taking flight, and he glanced back to see that Lord Tenebris had taken chase, gaining on him while continuing his barrage of fire from his outstretched hand.

Stan felt the heat as the fireballs gained on him, and rolled to the side, leaving the fireballs to crash into the side of a cobblestone building. Stan cut a sharp turn to dodge another flurry of fireballs, and then began to fly straight up before swerving around the edge of a skyscraper. Behind
him, he saw the top of the skyscraper he had just turned around explode with massive force as Lord Tenebris's missed attack connected with it.

Stan continued to fly, weaving in between the mile-high buildings as fast as he could, desperate to come up with some sort of plan to stop Lord Tenebris and speak to him before it was too late. Stan felt a series of explosive bursts coming up on him fast, and he did a barrel roll to dodge them. On and on Stan flew through the city, just barely managing to evade the rapid-fire string of explosions that were shooting from Lord Tenebris's hand. Stan glanced behind him and saw that the buildings in the city were being torn to shreds by what seemed like a straight line of explosions, slashing the buildings like a machete that drew closer and closer to Stan.

Then, all at once, the blasts just stopped. Stan continued to rocket forward through the city, but the line of explosions slashing across the facades of the buildings had totally ceased. His heart skipped a beat as he realized what had happened, and he looked forward again and there, sure enough was Lord Tenebris, floating directly in front of him and aiming his fist directly at Stan.

Finally,
Stan thought to himself.

In one motion, Stan summoned an axe in his hand and cut in front of himself, hitting the explosion midflight as it went off in his face. Barely noticing as the blast tore off his
remaining diamond armor, leaving him unscathed, Stan let go of his axe, allowing it to fly down to the ground below, as he stretched both of his hands out toward Lord Tenebris, just as the Noctem leader did the same to him.

Instantly, Stan's entire body went rigid, and he found himself nearly unable to move as he was locked into Lord Tenebris's psychic grip. He looked up in shock and saw that Lord Tenebris, too, had gone as stiff as a board, unable to move as he held his hands out toward Stan. The two operators floated, still locked into each other's telekinetic grips and totally immobile. When Stan realized he could talk, he knew that his chance had come.

“Kev, for your own good,” Stan implored to Lord Tenebris. “Please listen to . . .
aaugh
!”

All of a sudden, Stan felt the invisible grip that was holding him intensify tenfold. As hard as he tried to fight it, Stan felt his arm moving backward. He glanced up in desperation and saw Lord Tenebris radiating some sort of blue energy from his body, rising off his skin like flames as he stared intently at Stan.

As it moved of its own volition, Stan felt his arm twist awkwardly behind his back. He let out a scream of agony. The more he tried to fight it, the harder Lord Tenebris's power bent his body, twisting it in odd and unnatural ways. Stan's back arched inwardly, far further than it would normally go,
and he felt his legs splay apart and begin to travel toward his head. He felt as though his entire body were being compressed in a trash compactor, and he was about to suffocate under the sheer unnaturalness of how he was being contorted by Lord Tenebris.

A ringing cackle filled Stan's ears, and he looked up to see Lord Tenebris laughing. Even as he was trapped in Stan's psychic hold, Lord Tenebris was laughing maniacally as he used his mind to torture Stan.

The more he listened to this evil, sadistic monster laugh, the more it occurred to Stan just who was doing this to him. He was being tortured by King Kev—and by Lord Tenebris. This was the player who had attempted to force all lower-level players to leave his city. This was the player who had destroyed the Adorian Village—twice. This was the player who had ordered the abuse, attack, and murder of the NPC villagers just for his own personal gain. This was the player who had tortured Charlie to the brink of insanity. This was the player who had killed so many of Stan's friends—Adoria, the Apothecary, Sally, DZ . . . and Kat . . .

Suddenly, Stan looked at Lord Tenebris and saw the player that he hated most in all of Elementia, who had done so many cruel and heinous acts, both directly and through his followers, that he was far beyond redemption or remorse. Stan knew that there was no way he could allow himself to
be humiliated and tormented by this monster. Stan felt a great power building up inside of him, fueled by his rage and hatred of the one who floated across from him, contorting Stan's body into unnatural shapes as he laughed with pleasure. The power built and built, and when it finally reached its breaking point, Stan released it.

“ENOUGH!” Stan bellowed, his voice booming from directly inside Lord Tenebris's head with the volume of a thousand TNT blasts. Lord Tenebris's hands flew to his ears in shock as Stan uncurled himself into a standing position and thrust his arms and legs, creating a massive explosion around himself. The shock wave crashed over Lord Tenebris, pushing him away from Stan as he continued to speak.

“KING KEV, YOUR TAMPERINGS WITH THE INNER MECHANISMS OF ELEMENTIA HAVE PUT YOUR SERVER AND ALL OF MINECRAFT IN GREAT DANGER!” Stan shouted, a bolt of lightning striking behind him as he continued to bellow as loud as he could at his arch nemesis. “STOP WITH YOUR UNNATURAL AND SORCERER'S WAYS RIGHT NOW, OR YOU RISK DESTROYING ELEMENTIA AND EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE WORKED SO HARD TO CREATE!”

Stan felt his fury building up inside him, threatening to erupt out of him as Lord Tenebris stood watching him break down, totally stunned. Then, as suddenly as his outburst had started, Stan stopped. The thunder clouds that had begun to
gather over his head parted, and Stan took a deep breath, opening his eyes and looking at Lord Tenebris. He knew that he had to stay calm if he were to win this fight.

“What . . . what are you talking about?” Lord Tenebris asked incredulously.

“While Sally was digging through the code of Elementia, trying to give me operating powers, she found evidence that you were drawing power from the server itself to try to bolster your own strength.”

“And so what if I was?” scoffed Lord Tenebris. “This is warfare, Stan. Nothing is off limits.”

“What she found,” Stan continued calmly as if he hadn't been interrupted, “is that by drawing power from the server, you were weakening it. The more that you used abilities that were beyond the scope of your normal operating powers, the closer you came to creating a glitch that could corrupt Elementia, causing this world that you have worked for so many years to create to be lost forever. And from there, the glitch could travel over the internet, corrupting every other Minecraft server it comes into contact with.”

Lord Tenebris stared at Stan. As much as he hated to believe it, he knew that Stan was telling the truth. He had guessed that there might be some side effects to strengthening himself in such a way, but he never imagined that the consequences could be so severe.

“You and I are very different people, Kev,” Stan continued evenly. “We have very different philosophies, and very different methods of leadership. I will not deny that I despise you, and will never rest until you're dead. However, there is one thing that I believe the two of us have in common, and that's our love of this server, Elementia.”

Lord Tenebris stared at Stan for a moment. Then he looked down for a moment before looking up at Stan again, and giving a begrudging nod.

“Both of us have fought long and hard for this server, each trying to impress our own vision of justice and liberty on it. And yet, look at what we've done to the place we both love so much!” Stan exclaimed.

Lord Tenebris followed Stan's finger, and his gaze landed on the Skyscraper District. Several buildings had been torn to shreds by their explosive battle, and some skyscrapers, including a few of the tallest ones, had been totally engulfed in flames. Black smoke rose thick and pungent from within the district, and in the distance both players could see more black smoke rising from other districts in which the fighting, both between them and their people, had taken place.

“We've been so set on destroying each other that we've nearly destroyed the very thing we've been fighting for,” Stan said earnestly. “We have to stop this madness now. If we
don't, then there isn't going to be anything worth fighting for anymore.”

“Ha, what are you suggesting?” Lord Tenebris scoffed. “That we broker some sort of peace treaty, and live side by side from now until you realize just how ignorant you've been, and come crawling back to me?”

“I never said that,” Stan said slowly, although a fascinating idea sprung up in his head as Lord Tenebris said this. He pocketed the idea in the back of his mind, sure that he would have use for it later.

“I said it before, and I'll say it again: I despise you, Kev, and I won't rest until you're dead. I'm just as ready for this war to be over as you are, and I would never want to live in a server that had you in it. I'm sure that you feel the same way about me. However, I think that there are ways to settle our differences without so much collateral damage and risk to our server.”

Lord Tenebris looked at Stan pensively. “What are you suggesting, Stan?” he said slowly.

Stan took a deep breath and responded confidently.

“Kev, I challenge you to a duel. A
traditional
duel, just like the one we had on the bridge of Element Castle all those months ago. No operating powers. No flight. No drawing any energy from the server. No healing or enhancements of any kind. Just you and me, armed with only our weapons and our wits, fighting to the death as if we were just normal players.
The terms of the duel remain unchanged from before—whoever walks away is the true and rightful ruler of Elementia.”

Lord Tenebris raised an eyebrow, chuckled for a moment, and then replied, “Stan, I accept your challenge.”

Stan smiled. He knew exactly what Lord Tenebris was thinking. The last time they had fought, he had outclassed Stan by such a large margin that Stan was foolish to ask that they replicate it now. But Stan knew better. He had only gotten stronger and stronger by the day since the Battle for Elementia, while Lord Tenebris had sat up in Fungarus ordering troops around, doing no fighting of any kind. The Noctem leader was out of practice, while Stan was at the top of his game.

Stan looked below him and focused as hard as he could. With a pop, a single block of bedrock appeared in midair, floating high above the burning Skyscraper District. With a deep breath, Stan willed more blocks to appear, and in the space of a second, a twenty-by-twenty-block square of bedrock materialized. Stan and Lord Tenebris both floated down to opposite ends of the bedrock, totally empty-handed. They kept their eyes locked, glaring at each other until their feet simultaneously touched down on the platform.