Alex's POV

I crept along the stone corridors, lost and with no idea of where I'm supposed to go. Zombies were everywhere; guarding doors, wrestling, floating in an indoor pool and staring blankly at various objects. Torches were hung on the walls and I was terrified of my shadow being spotted. I turned right down another corridor, one that looked exactly the same as the one I just left. I groaned inwardly. I might be going in circles for all I know. And I only have about 6 minutes left.

I turned right again, narrowly dodging a zombie that had a wig on and several books in his arms. There were less torches down this corridor, resulting in less of a chance of me being spotted. I kept walking, looking for some sort of sign that could show me where I needed to go.

"MORE! MORE FOOD!" I heard a zombie yell. I sprinted down the corridor, almost crashing into the wall as I turned left. There was a single open door in this corridor and I carefully walked up to it. 

"WHERE'S MY FOOD?!"

 I peeked into the room. It was dominated by a long table. At one end, facing me, was a zombie with a considerable girth. He had a golden crown with an emerald in it resting on top of his head. Surrounding him was several zombies, most of them carrying empty platters. One of them was similar to the zombie I almost bumped into before: A wig on his head and several books laid out in front of him.

"But..but sir...you should be getting ready," The zombie with the wig babbled.

"READY FOR WHAT?" the Zombie King yelled, obviously drunk.

"The...the trip... to the site?"

"WHAT SITE SCRIBE?"

The wigged zombie ushered the servant zombies out of the room before answering. "The site of the curse sir. The curse that makes us strong."

"OH YES, THAT'S RIGHT!" the King yelled, struggled up off his throne.

"And we need to get extra food sir, the Nether doesn't have any yummy chickens!" The scribe helped his King out of the room via a back door.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I had been worried that they would bump into me as they left the room. I glanced around the room to make sure it was deserted then walked inside. I had a quick look around, stepping over chicken bones and feathers. As I walked behind the throne, a gleam caught my eye. I stepped back and saw a weapon lying at the base of the throne.

It looked similar to an axe but the end was spiked instead of curved and it shimmered with an enchantment. Smiling, I picked up the Zombie King's Axe and ran out of the room, careful to not drop it. I turned down random corridors, hoping to find my way out by pure luck. A sudden sound made me dash to the wall, hugging it tight. The sound of many zombies walking in step. 

I looked up and down the wide corridor, trying to find a doorway that I could hide in, or at least somewhere to stash the Axe. I could see it hanging from my invisible hand and I knew that the zombies would be able to see it too. No place revealed itself and I started to panic. 

The zombies came closer and I could see their shadows as they rounded the corner. I considered running but that would draw attention. I also considered dropping the Axe but realised that I should have done that before they came around the corner and that it would still be visible in the torch light. The zombies marched closer and I braced myself, ready for them to see the Axe hanging in mid-air.

The group was thrown into disarray as the sounds of zombies being hurt and dying suddenly filled the air . I used the confusion and ran in the opposite direction. The thudding of my shoes hitting the ground echoed in the corridor but I ignored it. I stopped only when I saw a map that had been pinned to the wall. Taking it down, I saw that there was a red line starting from where I was now and finishing outside the castle. I also realised that I only had two minutes left of my invisibility. 

I panicked and started running, following the map. In the back of my mind, I wondered if the map had been pinned to the wall purposely, as if someone was helping me. It led me down several small corridors, each one very dark as they had no torches. I was so focused on getting out of the castle in the next two minutes that I failed to notice the zombie bodies that had been dragged to the side of the hall and the blood that was on the floor. 

I just followed the map, reaching a small door that was in the wall. Behind the door was a dirt tunnel that looked as if it had been dug only minutes before. Not dwelling on this fact too much, I jogged down it, coming up just outside the wall. I started running away, aware that I only had seconds before the potion wore off. I became visible just a few steps before I was completely in the forest.

I leaned on a tree, struggling to catch my breath. Glancing up at the stone castle I had just escaped, I saw the outline of a man standing on the walls. The man moved out of sight almost as soon as I saw him. 

'Did he help me?' I wondered. Shaking my head, I crept back to where I left Fury only 10 minutes ago.

"Hey Fury," I said, making her jump.

"Alex! Don't scare me!" she sighed, moving her hand from her sword handle. "Did you get the Axe?"

I held it up. "And I also found out where we need to go."

"Great! Where is it?" Fury asked as we started walking back.

"Well, they said that they needed to go to the site of the curse," I told her, thinking back to the conversation between the Zombie King and his scribe. "Then the scribe said that they need to get more food because the Nether doesn't have food, so it's a pretty good bet that we need to go there. Which is actually handy because we need to go there anyway to get the glowstone. Fury?" 

I realised that she wasn't walking beside me. I stopped and looked back. She was standing still, staring at the ground.

"Fury? Hello?" I waved my hand in front of her face.

"Wha? Oh sorry, I..I was just...thinking," she said, flustered.

"What were you thinking about?" I questioned as we resumed walking.

"Um, just stuff. The Nether. And... his castle," she whispered the last bit.

"His castle? As in, Herobrine's castle?"

"Yes. Just..." Fury took a deep breath. "Just don't talk to me about it okay? Not yet. And don't tell the others either. About his castle that is."

"Okay, I won't tell them," I promised. 'What is she hiding?' I asked myself.

I didn't talk to her for the rest of the way. As we reached our friends, I was bombarded by questions.

"Alex! Are you okay?"

"How did it go?"

"Were you spotted?"

"Did you get the Axe?"

"Did you kill any zombies?"

Before I could answer any of these questions, I was knocked over by a small furry thing.

"Arg, Wolf. Geroff me," I mumbled as the dog licked my face. "I said get off!" I pushed him off, but he refused to go too far. I wiped the slobber off my face.

"Uh, disgusting. Anyway, I'm fine, I broke in, I've got the Axe, no one saw me and no, I didn't kill any zombies. But someone else did." I told them about the strange man.

Fury frowned. "I didn't see anyone go in the castle, at least not by the front door."

"He doesn't matter for now. Did you find out where we need to end up?" Zip questioned.

"Yes. The source of the curse is in the Nether."

"Does that mean we have to get an Ender Crystal next?" Luke asked.

"That's right."

Luke and Jade both groaned. "Endermen," Luke complained. "Our least favourite mob."