Chapter 14

Chapter 14 A NEW DAY DAWNS! AN UNKNOWN DANGER LOOMs... Anew day dawned on the Minecraft village. Ash and her friends were there to greet it. But they also had work to do. They had depleted their inventory while fighting off the monstrous mobs. Their tools and weapons were all damaged. Food was in scarce supply. Together, they came up with a plan to get themselves back on their feet as quickly as possible. Morgan focused on digging. The mountain was rich in mineral ores. And what they couldn't use, they could trade. He was careful not to dig too deep, though. He'd had enough of hostile mobs

for a while. At one point, the sound of a single bat squeaking sent him running for the hills. Jodi was on Overworld duty. She hacked up trees, gathered apples, and tended crops. With the bone meal from defeated skeletons as fertilizer, the crops grew extremely fast. Po was their runner. In his custom mail carrier skin, he would visit Morgan and Jodi, and they would give him any extra materials they didn't need to keep. Then he would deliver those materials to Ash before turning around to do it all over again. It was Ash's job to trade the extra materials with the villagers. She had been keeping track of what was in their inventory, so she had a good idea of what they still needed. She was especially excited to trade their rotting zombie flesh to the priest, who then offered lapis lazuli for sale.

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Lapis lazuli was a rare ore in a strikingly beautiful shade of blue. No doubt Po or Jodi would love to get their hands on it. But Ash knew of another use for lapis lazuli. She passed it to Harper, who was in charge of crafting new tools to replace their damaged items. "Do you know what to do with this?" Ash asked as she handed over the lapis. Harper smiled. "I sure do." Harper let Ash tag along when she went to the village library. Together, they approached the enchanting table with its eerie floating book. As before, the book opened at their approach. "Magic," Ash breathed. "Real magic!" "With the lapis, along with all the experience points we got for fighting the mobs, WE CAN DO SOME MAGIC OF OUR OWN." She rubbed her blocky hands together. "So where do we start? A flaming sword? A helmet that deflects arrows?" Ash thought about it. "But which one of us would wear the helmet? WHO WOULD GET TO WIELD THE SWORD? I wonder if there's an option that will benefit all of us at the same time." "Let's think about it," Harper said. Then she looked around. "Huh. That's weird."

"What is?" asked Ash. "I haven't seen that librarian at all today," Harper answered. "I assumed she'd be in here." "That is strange," said Ash. Villagers were usually very predictable. She sighed. "One more mystery. Add it to the list." After a few in-game days of preparation, Ash finally felt confident that they were ready to move on. "I'M EAGER TO SEE WHAT ELSE IS OUT THERE," she said. "Even if it's not friendly?" asked Morgan. Jodi hopped in place. "We handled that horde," she said. "We can handle anything!" "Neither snow nor rain will stop us," said Po, quoting an old postal service motto. "And I've got something to make the journey a little easier," said Harper. She held up a fishing rod for all to see. "TA-DA!" "Yes!" said Jodi. "Finally, we'll be able to eat something other than apples and bread." "But it's not just any old fishing rod," Harper said. "I enchanted it, so fishing will be easier." "OUR FIRST ENCHANTED ITEM," said Po.

"Now, that's a special delivery!" Jodi poked him and said, "Enough with the postal humor. Return to sender, mailman." "Male man?" said Po. "Isn't that redundant?" Ash noticed Morgan was lost in thought. "WHAT'S THE MATTER, MORGAN?" she asked. Morgan seemed hesitant to say anything. "I've been thinking," he said at last. "We figured out the mobs were relocating like the bats did. But the bats relocated for a reason. They were driven out of their home—out of their habitat." "I think I see where you're going with this," said Ash. "Right," said Morgan. "I'm wondering: WHY WERE THE MONSTERS RELOCATING? What happened to their habitat? Were they fleeing from something?" "Fleeing?" said Jodi. "You think the monsters were running away?" "RUNNING AWAY FROM WHAT?" asked Po. "Yeah. What could possibly scare a whole horde of zombies and skeletons?" asked Harper. Morgan turned toward the mountain. "THE ANSWER'S OUT THERE SOMEWHERE." He gripped his newly crafted iron sword. "IT'S UP TO US TO FIND IT."