JeromeASF - Bacca and the Skeleton King: An Unofficial Minecrafters Adventure

Also by JeromeASF:

Bacca and the Riddle of the Diamond Dragon

This book is not authorized or sponsored by Microsoft Corporation, Mojang AB, Notch Development AB, or Scholastic Corporation, or any other person or entity owning or controlling rights in the Minecraft name, trademark, or copyrights.

Copyright 2016 by Jerome Aceti

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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Sky Pony is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

Minecraft is a registered trademark of Notch Development AB.

The Minecraft game is copyright Mojang AB.

Visit our website at www.skyponypress.com.

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Manufactured in Canada, December 2015

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Brian Peterson

Cover artwork by Josh Bruce (www.inkbyte.net)

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0902-7

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0903-4

Printed in Canada

CHAPTER ONE

A ll was quiet in the valley.

The warm breeze blew softly across the shimmering green landscape of the Overworld. The clouds hung low in the sky. Night had just fallen. The surrounding hills were covered in a thick green lawn. The breeze gently rustled each blade of grass.

which completely hid the footsteps of the approaching horde.

At the edge of the valley, a peaceful crafter named Brian walked out the back door of his house and carefully closed it behind him. He had crafted his modest home out of red sandstone blocks from a nearby mesa. Brian made a living as an expert smelter, specializing in making iron ingots. Each day, he turned hundreds of blocks of iron ore into ingots which he sold to other crafters. Throughout the Overworld, there were few iron ingots finer than his.

After a long day of smelting, Brian liked to eat his dinner outside in the moonlight. There was a pleasant view of the valley from the back of his house, and Brian enjoyed it very much. However, this night was not to be like other ones. As Brians nose took in the fragrant evening air, he noticed that something seemed a little bit off. Staring down into the beautiful green valley usually gave him a deep sense of calm. Yet tonight, he found that he could not relax. Danger was on the wind. Danger, and the scent of Was that bones ?

Do bones have a smell? Brian wondered out loud. He couldnt recall the last time he had smelled one on purpose. Whenever he cooked himself a rabbit stew, he usually just threw the bones straight into the trash.

But no. Something told him that the strange odor on the wind tonight was definitely bones.

Thats very strange, Brian said.

Then it got stranger.

The wind shifted directions, and Brian began to detect a second smell. It seemed to be coming from the opposite side of the valley. It was much stronger. And it was much, much worse.

This second smell carried the distinctive stench of rotting flesh. Of decay. Of gross, way-past-the-expiration-date meat, and other nasty things that were very unpleasant to think about.

Brian wrinkled his nose. Usually, his valley smelled wonderful at dusk, but tonight, something had completely ruined all of that. Yet what concerned Brian most of all was that these smellsboth of themseemed to be getting stronger by the minute. Which meant that something was getting closer.

Then Brian heard the moans.

From one side of the valley, a chorus of deep, low moans began to accompany the awful smells. Brian was an experienced crafter who had lived in many different parts of the Overworld, and he understood right away that this sound could mean only one thing. Zombies.

Brian knew these pests very well. They came out at night and sometimes wandered into your neighborhood. They could be a real nuisancedisturbing the landscaping, knocking things over, and generally being annoying. On top of everything else, they liked to attack unsuspecting people they came across, especially crafters. On the upside, they were slow, and usually easy to avoid. Brian could always retreat inside his sandstone house whenever he spotted one headed his way.

But Brian had a sneaking suspicion that whatever was making its way toward him was no normal mob of zombies.

Moments later, this sneaking suspicion was proved right.

As the smelter looked on, the largest group of zombies he had ever seen crested the hill on the east side of his valley. It was more than a mobmore than several mobs. It was a small army.

Rows and rows of hungry-looking zombies lined up at the lip of the valley. Several of them carried weapons, and many wore armor. Two or three even rode chickens. They all had mean, angry-looking expressions on their faces.

Brian was almost too astounded to feel afraid. What on earth were all of these zombies doing here? How had they all come together like this? What could they possibly want? Why were the chickens okay with this??

Then the answer (well, not to every question) loped into view.

From the corner of his eye, Brian suddenly detected movement on the opposite side of the valley. He turned and saw something even more astounding. Another army! This one was entirely made up of skeletons. Rows and rows of the bony things were carefully lining themselves up facing the zombies. Their bones gleamed brightly in the moonlight, and their bows made loud clack-sounds as they jostled against one another.

Having no eyebrows or lipsor, really, faces at allit was usually hard for Brian to get an idea of a skeletons facial expression. But on this night, things were different. Each one of the skeletons bony skulls found a way to look really, really angry!

Brian swallowed hard.

Like most crafters, Brian didnt particularly like zombies or skeletons. He might have said some bad things about them to other crafters. Okay, he definitely had. And sure, now and then he liked to try out a new weapon by bashing some skeletons or smacking some zombies with it. In fact, just last week hed received a new golden sword as a birthday present from his brother. The first thing hed done was to go looking for some zombies to try it out on. A fact he now deeply regretted.

But on the other hand, it wasnt like Brian was some kind of special undead-hunter. Plenty of crafters had spent more time than him shooting at zombies with arrows or whacking away at skeletons with a nice sharp axe. Why both mobs would choose to get together and gang up on him was completely beyond Brian.

Brian nervously rubbed his hands together and wondered what to do. Were they coming for him? Should he run back inside his house, shut the door, and hope all the monsters just went away? Should he flee from the valley entirely, even though it was his home? Should he break his golden sword over his knee and tell the zombies he was really, really sorry and hed never do it again?

As Brian tried to figure out how we could possibly make it through the night alive, the zombie army and the skeleton army did something very strange. It was something that Brian had never known zombies or skeletons to do in the history of Minecraft. Ever. It was something unexpected. Something unprecedented.