Artiopas 3: Reqai'mia

​Author's Note: ​''​The original writer of this story, that is, Artiopas, is Yoshfico123, and not I, H950sm. However, I own this remake. This entry has been made for the final round of the official Artiopas Remake Competition.''

1
Listen, I don't know where exactly to commence, but anyways, let's make it reasonable.

I turned, and saw the hole in the ground covered with a bedrock block, just like Sam had told me.

It was time.

He had to be stopped for once and for all.

Sam had told me that the Town would be somewhere out there. I knew where it was, as I was a frequent visitor to that area. There was no official warp to the area, though one could reach it after a 10-minute run from the spawn.

I then remembered that I had set a home in that area because of such reasons. I opened up the chat, and executed: ​/home town​.

​''ERROR: Home not found. ''​said a series of red, bold text in the chat.

Well, I can't just waste my time here.

I guess I'll have to come all the way from the spawn then.

Hence, I opened the chat, and executed: /spawn​.

In an instant, I was teleported to the area, right under the shade of the dome. I immediately came out of the building, and stopped outside, running into a sign. It was a sign with the text, ​The Town​, with an arrow below it, pointing ahead of me. Beads of precipitation began to tickle the sides of my forehead. I quickly wiped them off and reassembled my hand on my mouse.

Then I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

It was time, that the evil shall be wiped off this server. Time was running short. He had been a weird, very weird person. He had appeared out of nowhere, threatened me at the first moment, and acted like a complete idiot. This typical hacker deserved to get rekt.

And so I ran. With my fingers pressed against the W and Ctrl keys, I ran. The short journey would take a while, although not an eternity. And against all odds, I had to wait. At the same time, thoughts began to enter my mind.

It was just a normal day, and then this crap happened. I had managed to save an entire server, but still, there were no ANSWERS. And then he randomly re-appeared. Like the previous time, he caused havoc, captured the Admins, and all that stuff.

Hopefully, I'll get some at the very end.

I hopped off the edge, onto the ground with no damage. Yet, I hadn't stopped running. My hunger bar was reduced to five bars, and I had no food. Well, if only that guy hadn't completely destroy the system.

Behnind and in front of me, is a long road of tilled soil. Houses began to flank me by both sides. There were many houses around. I happened to notice some markets with vegetables and fruits laid down on the floor.

I released the CTRL and W keys.

And with that act, I completely stopped in my tracks. I was standing in the middle of a motionless crowd which faced a pillar striking the roof of the sky.

And on top of the pillar, was him.

That douchebag.

 You may know me from the past. Years of torment and psychological issues has led me, and you to this. From now on, you are to obey me, and me only.

No, you won't.

 I will be releasing Sam, and from that point on, you are to also respect and follow his orders.

''No. Not Sam. ''

''Why. ''

Can't. 

''He. ''

''Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudge. ''

Off.

Without any prior warning, my fingers pressed the CTRL and W keys again. I didn't know what I was doing, but all I wanted to do at the moment was to kill this retard. I passed through the crowd like a charging tsunami striking the shore. Then I hopped onto a block, and made a leap for it. In the air, I saw Zephyr turning to me and his eyes widening.

My fist arrived on his nose.

The fall after that was okay, no problems at all. I walked around the pillar and found him on his knees, with a hand on his nose. He shot his eyes at me, and surprisingly enough, smiled.

A pure sign of the Devil.

He got back to his feet.

 Hash.... what a pleasant surprise! I expected you to come here.

 Yes, and I am here to get rid of you, for once and for all. You should have thought about how this server would have been and how the players would be affected by such a catastrophe. But no, all you wanted was destruction. How could one be so adamant to take over a flourishing server, rather than creating his own?

His brows were lowered.

 For the millionth time, Hash, you know NOTHING about this. You know NOTHING about how I was treated completely USELESS. But yet you come at me, intending to kick me out of the server. Ha, ha, how determined are you?

I looked at him.

 I could explained every single thing to you, but at the moment we are running short of time. YOU are the problem here, Hash. And now, I shall finish you.

He charged at me at an immense speed. I jumped out of his path.

 Heh, becoming more and more smart by the day, eh?

 It's 'smarter', not 'more smart', you idiot!

 NOW THAT'S QUITE MUCH.

He struck at me again, again, and again. But no incoming punch ever touched me.

 STAND STILL, YOU RETARD!

 Come at me, m8, come at me.

Punches from here, punches from there. Yet no injury.

 FOR THE SAKE OF-

That was when I swiftly approached from the back and punched him, and enjoyed its feeling.

 YOU-

Before he could, I landed another punch in the eye.

 OW! YOU-

One in the face.

 ST-

One in his abdomen.

 OOOFF! JUST-

One in his arm.

<Zetpevhyre> ...stop....

Another one in his leg.

<Setpevye> Please...

Another one.

<Stpeve> Just... just... just... please...

Another one in his chest. Like he did in reaction to the other punches, he stumbled back once more, this time falling on his butt. Then a shock of lightning struck the place where he was and shook the stunned world, and after that, everything was normal, except for Zephyr's skin, which had changed back to the default skin, Steve.

My jaw dropped open.

<Steve> ...

He gradually got to his feet, looking as completely innocent. I could tell that he wasn't going to attack me anymore.

But what had just happened to him?

<Steve> Hash, was this what you wanted? You wanted me gone for no reason? You wanted me gone forever? You wanted justice, huh, and you call THIS justice?!

<Me> ...wha...

<Steve> I knew with all my might I couldn't beat you. Even if I retreated, if I refused to die... The days I was thrown in torment would still haunt me...

I was utterly bewildered. What did he mean?

<Steve> I can't remember my body... It's losing itself centimeter by centimeter.

<Steve> The day I died... I...

<StEevhe> I...

<SZtever> ...

<Steve> I'm suffering from great pain and regret...You can't feel remorse for anything, can you?

<Steve> My gaming days are over... my soul is decaying...

<Steve> Mark my words...

<StvE> This day forward...

"Minecraft."

'"Will." '

'"Remember." '

"Me."

Those were his final words before suddenly shattering into a million particles and being blown away.

I stood there for a while, trying to understand what happened.

Cheering.

Applauding.

I heard it all around me. I looked around, and saw the Admins walking up to me, clapping. I knew that I was supposed to enjoy this moment, but how could I when I had heard those words of the "desperate" soul through my earphones?

<ExoticButters000> Well, this was an interesting moment.

<Rick67> And an enjoyable moment as well, I believe.

<ExoticButters000> Such bravery... he portrayed such bravery keeping in mind that all of this was only a game.

<Rick67> The bravery we wanted to portray, but failed to do so.

<ExoticButters000> Hmm. This fella must be rewarded.

<Rick67> A keen observer and on-the-feet-thinker he is. I say we crown him as an Admin.

<Sam> YES, YES!

I watched as Sam emerged from the crowd and joined us. It seemed as if he didn't remember anything, or most likely, recovered quickly.

<Me> Didn't you doubt me?

<Sam> Yes, but that "hacker" had a dark history.

<Me> I don't know whether to label this as climactic or anticlimactic... it's so... weird.

<Sam> Sure seems like it.

<Rick67> Well, I'm pretty sure you would make a good Admin.

As I contemplated about this, they all stared at me, anxiously waiting for a reply.

<Me> Are you sure?

<Rick67> Why such doubts? After all, you've saved our server from total destruction. If it was no longer there, I would have to start all over again. Coding, adding plugins, buying credits, setting the map, etc.

<Me> But all he wanted, well, according to him, was peace.

<Rick67> Yes.

<Rick67> But not all hackers are truth-telling.

<Me> Sure thing.

Then I walked away from the area, disappearing into the dissolving crowd. Some were still cheering in chorus, spamming the chat, but it seemed that the Admins did not care. Some were retreating back into the houses on the streets, probably those which they own. Some just ran off with different intentions. I needed a break from this experience. All I wanted to do now was go back to my base and reassemble it. As I had experienced before, the /home command was completely broken. God, almost all of the commands were broken.

I walked past the gate of the town, returning to the lush vegetation that flanked me on both sides. And though it was not present, I could feel it: the whisper of the wind among the plants which swayed in response to it, the sun wrapping its warm arms around me, and the sweet chuckles of the flowers as I proceeded with each step.

Yes, Minecraft, is the best game ever, well, as long as you can understand its 'inner qualities'.

Suddenly a series of text popped up in the chat box. It was a PM from Rick, and the message was just a sentence: first test msg after repairing cmds ;). I didn't really care about it until I paused my peaceful walk for a moment to open up the chat and look at something I noticed next to my nametag.

An Admin tag.

2
For a moment I thought that it was just a prank put on by the Admins. Heh, a stupid thought.

To see if my speculations were right, I hit help. The List of Commands opened up, and upon seeing the first sentence itself my eyes widened:

You are reading the List of Commands (Page 1/45).

As per my knowledge, a normal user would have the access to about 20 commands only.

So it did turn out that my privileges were expanded.

''Oh. ''

Boy.

At this moment, I felt a rush of adrenaline flowing in my bloodstream; it was the first time that I ever did feel one. And it was my first time becoming an Admin on a server I was highly familiar with.

So.

Awesome.

I couldn't hold it in any longer.

My fingers toured around the keyboard, having this to be displayed in the chat bar:

/gamemode 1

Before I knew it, another finger was on the ENTER key. And so, the message regarding the change of my gamemode popped up, and I noticed my FOV going wide by a bit. Wasting no time, I closed the chat.

I spread out a couple of fingers on the respective keys, preparing myself for flight.

Three.

Two.

One.

And I left the ground once more again at a such speed that I was high in the sky in an instance.

I flew around.

I raced with the clouds.

I flew up and down, left and right, diagonally and went on flying further.

I laughed. It was that moment in life where I was temporarily relieved from all sorts of stress, only with the potential aid of a normal game. Well, maybe not that normal, but whatever.

As I flew, my entire body, including the face, remained parallel to the ground. Trees and other vegetation swiftly passed by. Then there was a period where I saw nothing but the plains, moderately inhabited by grass, flower, and small pools of water. Following the open land, was another set of trees after which there was some rows of hills, scattered throughout the dense landscape.

Yes, Minecraft is the best game, well, as long you can understand its 'inner qualities'.

It was then that I noticed Sam smacking a ball back and forth a brick wall in a small open space between the two mountains.

Hmm, what could he be doing at this moment?

Time to check out.

I immediately threw my legs downwards, and that quickly slowed me down so that I could be hovering in the air with my feet facing the ground. I then slowly descended, nearing the ground with every move.

When I was very close, I dropped to the soil. My feet roughly pressed against it and as a result some soil jumped out from under my feet.

<Me> Hey, homie.

Sam, in response, grabbed the ball when it again returned to him with a single hand, and turned to me. I then saw what appeared to be a tennis racket in the other hand.

Heh, custom texture packs.

<Sam> 'Sup.

<Me> I assume you're playing tennis here, aren't you?

He turned back, facing the wall again, and then launched the ball and resumed his little business.

<Sam> Yup. Just needed a break from all that stuff.

<Me> Yeah, y'know. Well at least it's over for now.

<Sam> Yup. *smacks the ball even harder*

The ball, instead of moving towards the wall, gets hurled high away in the sky.

<Sam> God... dammit. *turns to me* That's the effing fifth ball I'm losing. I guess I'll have to purchase another one from the store. What a waste of money.

<Me> They need such utilities to further support this server.

<Sam> Well, yeah, *heavily sighs* I guess you're right.

He turned to me.

<Sam> So, yeah. Any new topic to talk about?

<Me> Hmm. Well, don't you think that that "hacker" wasn't just a "hacker"? There's got to be something more.

<Sam> Well, how can you tell?

<Me> The way in which he conversed with me... tells me that he isn't just... you know, a "hacker".

<Sam> You make sense. I myself have experienced such from him. But yeah, whatever just happened was a normal thing many Admins, and supposedly Moderators, face every day. So let's just not talk about it further.

<Me> Yeah, and the key is to be being positive, not being worried.

<Sam> Yup. Oh, and how about we go to the bistro?

<Me> Haha, you read my mind. C'mon, let's go.

''Meanwhile... somewhere else...''

[Seated on some chairs flanking a round table by its whole circumference, are four people, talking.]

<Zephyr> Yes, it's true.

<Herobrine> Well. *Looks at Entity 303*

<Entity303> You had such a great opportunity to take over the server. You could have defeated them easily. You could have become their leader.

<Zephyr> *stares at the table, half-embarrassed*

<Null> Null null null, null null null null null null null null null null null null null null null null null null. Null null null null null, null null null.

<Zephyr> Uh... *leans in to Herobrine* What did she just say?

<Entity303> *facepalms on his frowned face*

<Herobrine> *Sigh* You shouldn't mind that, y'know. It just utter nonsense.

<Null> NUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

<Entity303> He said it.

<Null> *bursts out of her seat, frustrated, indignant, and unhappy, and walks out of the chamber*

<Zephyr> You seemed to annoy her.

<Herobrine> Don't care 'bout her, she's just useless. I don't even know why we still have her up to now.

<Entity303> Anyways, as we said, you must do something before Notch finds this damn server and shuts it down. We need a stronger server to be on, and carry out our rule.

[A period of silence ensues. Zephyr is contemplating about something.]

To be continued...

Credited to H950sm.