Into the Mines

The midday sun gently warmed my shoulders, the wind softly moved the tender growing stalks of wheat in a field nearby, the aroma of fried fish drifted through the doors of the cabin, and moos of recently tamed cows sounded from the coral. In just a few days Steve and I settled well in this place. Fertile land and fat herds made this land perfect for farming.

I sat by the shore of a pond and fished, enjoying the quiet.

Steve left early in the morning into his mines. For him, that was his favorite past-time. We built our dwelling in the foothills of a large mountain.

"Davis! Hey, Davis!" And there was Steve.

"You won't believe what I found!" He rushed past me into the hut and began hectically rummage through the chests. Judging by his content look, his discovery was a good one. But what could he have possibly found, tinkering underground?

"Let me guess, you stumbled on a gold mine?"

"It's better than that!" Steve turned to me, already packed with torches. He usually carried entire bundles of them, but this time he exceeded all my expectations.

"I found the abandoned mine shafts!"

"Yes. And let me guess. Now you want me to guard you while you hang up lights everywhere?"

"Exactly right, buddy. And soon you will see how the miners used to work in the past."

I knew perfectly well that the mines Steve spoke of still roamed in the bowels of the mountain. They probably waited for us in the dark deep dungeons. Waited to taste our flesh.

Not that I was scared by the possibility of running into the walking undead, but I did not find the idea thrilling. Steve was literally jumping with excitement, he wanted to head off immediately to explore those mines.

No, I still couldn't understand it – the passion of a real miner.

Meanwhile, Steve was already dragging me into the tunnels.

The hot sun overheard shifted to the damp ceiling of a stone vault. We followed along the narrow passages Steve dug up, until...

"Wait!" My friend warned and just in time. The tunnel ended right in front of me, dropping off into a bottomless hole hungrily yawning its mouth.

We stood on the edge of a huge crevice so deep that the bottom was lost in darkness. Up above, a thin strip of the sky showed through the narrow crevice.

"There are canyons here." Steve commented and pointed a little below the ledge on which we stood.

"And look there." Following the direction with my gaze, I saw a wooden bridge that reached from one side of the canyon to another. A dim torch illuminated it.

"And it is not a trick?... By..." I did not dare say Herobrine's name out loud, but Steve understood.

"Definitely not. I already ran into such dungeons before." He reassured.

I will not tell you of our journey down into the mines along the narrow path twisting right next to sharp drop offs or of the fear I felt on occasion. Steve did not seem bothered by any of this at all. He was in his element, like a fish in the sea.

I finally took a breath of relief only after my feet stepped upon the hard, steady surface of a large platform.

Immediately, my friend began to light additional torches in addition to those that had already been placed there. And I took a look around.

Nothing special – just more tunnels stretching into the darkness, ahead and behind us. And wooden supports and rails laid out across the floor.

"And now, to the adventure!" Steve waved his pickax.

"Sure." I agreed, though I didn't share in his enthusiasm.

We randomly chose a tunnel and started walking, attaching torches to the walls. Several turns later into the branches, we came across an intersection already lit by torches.

"Wait, we've been here already." Steve muttered. "Let's keep going..."

Without noticing it, we descended deeper and deeper, until we finally knew we were lost. And then our light revealed them – the original denizens of this place, rows and rows of them.

"No problem." Steve chopped apart a zombie that stumbled toward him, but another immediately showed up to replace him.

"Do they have a nest here or something?" I complained, losing my breath as we forced our way through the pressing crowd.

"I guess we are about to find out." Steve declared, slashing his sword.

A moment later we burst into a cramped square room. Immediately, I knew that this was an unusual place. Dense thickets of moss covered the cobblestone floor, a pair of chests stood near the walls, and a small cage, engulfed in flames, hung in the middle of the room. Within was a tiny, writhing figure.

"Magic?" I gasped with surprise.

"Yep. Another one." Steve said and began hastily hang torches on the walls, so not a single spot of shadow remained.

The cage burst into flames and a zombie suddenly appeared before it in the air, immediately met by my blade.

"Done." My friend finished with the torches and brushed the dust from his hands. "And now the prize!"

He went to one of the chests and lifted the lid. Curiously hovering above his shoulder, I saw several iron ingots and a handful of red dust. Steve had already explained earlier to me on how indispensable that stuff was for assembly of some mechanisms.

Another chest contained several loaves of bread, a bunch of thread, and...

"Wow, saddles..." Steve cheered. "It's a pity that we have no horses near the house."

The regret did not stop us from grabbing all the treasures we found. Only after we finished raiding the chests and started on our way did we suddenly realize that we did not know how to get back.

"Look, maybe there?" I pointed at one of the branches. My hopes fell after the tunnel led us to a huge lava lake. The thick molten stone glowed bright orange, casting glimmering lights on the walls. Magma gurgled idly, radiating waves of heat.

"We are still very far from the surface." Steve said and grinned, looking up at the walls of the cave with pure delight. "But it was a lucky choice. Look!"

He ran to one of the walls, where light blue veins streaked out. Hit with a pickaxe crumbled the fragile rock and released translucent crystals.

"Do you know what these are? DIAMONDS!" Steve began furiously working. "I didn't even dare dream of finding them before!"

Caught up by Steve's fervor, I joined him in mining. Soon, the vein was used up and our pockets filled with precious stones.

"I wish we would have such finds more often." Steve commented, pleased, as we departed from the lava lake cave.

"Yeah, and it would be nice to get all this safely home." I said. "Where to now?"

"Up. I saw a shaft nearby." Steve declared and led the way, while I obediently followed him.

Around the corner waited an unpleasant surprise. The passage up ahead was filled with webs. White sticky nets tightly tangled the wooden support beams of the abandoned mine. Something stirred among the snares, red eyes flickering in the dark, and long furry legs rustled.

"Definitely not this way. Run!" Without waiting until the cave spiders got to us from their den, we rushed away through the tunnels...

"Now we are on the right track!" Steve helped me up to a rocky ledge and then pulled himself up.

Finally, we seemed to be in a passage, which led to the open air, judging by a light draft coming from up ahead. By now, we had crossed many tunnels, fighting our way past the skeletons, chopping through hordes of zombies as they wandered after us with stretched out hands.

And, finally, the long climb was over.

We stumbled out of the dungeons right at the top of the ridge. To our view opened a wonderful view, but there was no time to admire it. The undead were following us out of the cave.

"Ha! And what do we have here?" Steve said, looking at a herd of pigs on the side of a mountain.

Taking a bunch of carrots from his pocket, he lured the pigs. As soon as one of them came close, he jammed one of the trophy saddles on it and jumped on. A hilarious idea came.

"Steve, let me have some carrots."

I took a couple of fishing rods and planted the carrots on a hook. Then, I saddled the nearest pig just as Steve did.

"Great idea, Davis!" My friend admired, seeing how the pigs obediently ran after the carrots dangling in front of them.

We swiftly rode along the top of the cliffs. The wind whistled in my ears, exhilaration surging through and leaving all the fears and anxieties of the underground adventures far behind. It was fun!

"How about a little swim?" Steve guided his animal to the edge of the cliff, below which lay a small lake. I followed his example and with joyful screams, we shot straight from the mountain into the water.

Who said that pigs cannot fly!