Chapter 8

Chapter 8 THE END CITY: COME FOR THE SIGHTS. STAY BECAUSE YOURE TRAPPED. FOREVER! Ash tried to hide it, but she was worried. Very worried. She'd always been pretty good at keeping track of the group's inventory. Even with everything split up among them, she usually had a rough idea of how many arrows, apples, and torches they had left. Right now, they didn't have much. The dungeon delve had pushed them to their limits. They hadn't worried about it too much, because they had assumed they'd be able to resupply when they were back on the surface.

So much for that. She stood now in the shadow of their old castle and watched Morgan try to gnaw on a piece of cooked fish. "It's not working," he said, putting the fillet back into his inventory. "I can't eat. And that means I can't heal the damage I took from the skeleton's arrow." That isn't good, Ash thought. It isn't good at all. But out loud, she said, "That's okay. WE'LL JUST HAVE TO BE REALLY CAREFUL." She closed her eyes and pulled up her own status bar. Her health was full, but her hunger meter was not. When that meter ran out, she'd start taking damage. It was the same for all of them. They still didn't know what would happen if one of them ran out of health here. Ash really didn't want to find out. "And you're sure we can't go to Theo?" she asked Harper. "I STILL THINK A PROGRAMMER COULD HELP." "Maybe a programmer could help," said Harper. "But we can't risk asking him. Not until we know what he's hiding."

By then, Ash thought, it might be too late. But out loud, she said, "All right, Harper. It's your call, and I trust you." Despite low health and mostly unusable items in their inventories, they set out for the block tower in the distance. It was still raining. With each step, Ash felt gloomier. It would have been smarter to tunnel through the great hill so they could reach the tower without being easily seen. But that wasn't an option. They had precious few options left to them. What could they do except walk up to the tower and step through its front door? Ash recognized the tower as an End City a structure typically found in another dimension entirely. Putting the tower square in the middle of the Overworld was just the latest example of the Evoker King's flaunting his powers. She would have call it arrogance…except his powers were very impressive. They came upon a waterfall, and Ash gasped at the sight. The blocks of water had stopped mid-fall.

It was like a 3D sculpture of a waterfall— utterly still and silent. There was something especially eerie about seeing the water blocks stuck in place while rain still fell from the sky. The silence was interrupted by the sound of honking. Ash turned to see a villager walking across the grassy field. His movements were erratic. "He's a little far from home," said Po. "The nearest village is a good long walk from here." "He seems a little…off," said Harper.

Ash thought Harper was right. The villager was wandering aimlessly rather than going anywhere in particular. Even his honking sounded confused and desperate. "Poor guy," said Jodi. "Maybe he's a farmer who just discovered he can't harvest his crop. Maybe he can't even get his front door open. He must be so confused!" They all watched as the villager staggered out of view. Then they resumed their journey. The End City grew larger as they drew nearer.

There was another sound, which Ash recognized as clucking. Sure enough, a chicken came into view as it walked atop a nearby hill. It was followed by a cute, blocky chick. Jodi took a big step back. "Are you all right, Jodi?" asked Ash. "I don't think I've ever seen you step away from an animal before." "Other than spiders!" said Po. Jodi frowned. "I'm just afraid a lightning bolt is going to turn that chicken into a razor-beaked attack skeleton," Jodi said. "You know…the usual." The chicken didn't transform, however. It led its chick over the hill and out of sight. "That little chick will never grow up," said Morgan. "And the mama chicken will never lay another egg."