Iron Dagger

Finally. The day of the tournament had arrived. Time seemed to slow down a bit after Audrey was banished. At least I didn't have to hide healing potions under my bed anymore. I was able to focus more time on training and not worrying about her fists striking me just around the other corner. Still, it was hard to believe that I had been there for three whole months. I felt like I had learned a lot. Every weekend I either learned more about a power I already knew or learned a whole new one. I was successfully able to hover a block off the ground, which wasn't exactly flying but I was able to zoom down the halls even faster than before. I was also able to jump high, make a cloud of smoke around me to hide in, control water, control fire even better, and even lift things with my mind. That last one was still pretty new though and I could only lift small objects.

The time had finally arrived for the tournament to start and me, Daniel, and Bruce were in our own rooms preparing for the fight. I was probably the one that was the most anxious. Daniel was hoping that he might finally win and Bruce just wanted the food that came afterward. I was hitting an armor stand with the iron sword I stole from Henry in my room but making sure not to use up too much of my energy. I figured the other two were doing the same.

"Time for the tournament." I heard a pig-man say through my bedroom door. I put the sword on my bed and walked out the door. Once out, I followed the mob through halls I had never been through until the halls opened into a large dome-shaped room. The roof was made out of glass and lava floated in rings around the ceiling to lighten the place up. I looked around and saw bleachers circling around the central arena at the floor. There was a throne right across the door I had entered where Herobrine was already sitting. Mobs of all kinds sat in the bleachers to watch the fighting. Herobrine looked up at me and smiled, it was surprisingly friendly.

"Hazel has now entered! The tournament will be starting shortly. But first, I would like to reintroduce some old friends." Herobrine said to everyone as he gestured to a door next to and behind him were two people with glowing white eyes entered. The first was a twenty-year-old man with dark brown hair, a dark grey long sleeve shirt with a leather jacket over it, and black pants. The second to walk through was a girl about nineteen, and she was followed by several dogs and cats. She had natural red hair, a light blue t-shirt, and dark blue jean shorts. They both had glowing white eyes like Herobrine. Those two must have been the students who were old enough to go on missions for Herobrine. They both smiled as if this was a party and sat down in smaller seats on each side of Herobrine. The girl on the left, and the boy on the right.

"I'm Emily." The girl introduced herself before sitting down.

"And I'm Zach." The guy did the same. I was then walked into a room under the bleachers so I could walk into the arena all dramatically. The large door opened and I walked out into the arena. Everything was made out of Nether Brick. I was kinda getting bored of the dark red color by then. I looked around into the circle-shaped flat area and saw three of the four other doors had opened and Daniel and Bruce stepped out the same time I did. We stood in front of Herobrine's throne and looked up at him like we were instructed to while inside the rooms under the bleachers. Good thing the throne wasn't up really high because I only had to look up a little so my neck didn't hurt. I know, I know, it's Minecraft. But for some reason, the neck feeling doesn't vanish with the fingers. You just can't see it for some code related reason. It's a game, let me continue already!!.. Anyway!

"Here we have our three contestants! Daniel, Hazel, and Bruce! The rules are simple. Stay inside the arena, don't destroy everything, no blood, just until the other surrenders, and... you can use your powers." Herobrine laid out the rules for all of us to hear.

"Yess!" I heard Daniel whisper excitedly to himself. I wondered why the powers thing was so exciting to him.

"Now everyone will choose their weapons and we will begin-" Herobrine said before he was interrupted.

"Wait!!" A strangely familiar voice yelled from behind me. My blood went cold when I realized who it was and I turned to make sure my ears weren't deceiving me. I just grew colder when I saw Audrey standing just a few blocks behind me, staring up at Herobrine. Bruce and Daniel turned around just as quickly as I did and several gasps were heard throughout the crowd. I could tell by the way Audrey was looking up at him that even Herobrine was surprised that she was there.

"Audrey?! I banished you." Herobrine said, stating the obvious.

"You should know by now after having been banished to the Nether so many times, that there are ways of escaping." Audrey said with an almost evil smile. "..But I have not come to take my anger out on you. Instead, I have come to ask for forgiveness and offer my assistance." She said while bowing before Herobrine. The pauses in her words and even the words themselves sounded unnatural. It sounded almost like she was just saying whatever was being whispered into her ear. I looked at Herobrine and he was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Why then have you decided to come now during the tournament?" Herobrine finally asked.

"I wanted to compete, and show my worth, of course." She said as she looked at me with an evil grin. I gulped hard and Daniel gave a hopeless groan.

"Fine! Join the others. You already know the rules." Herobrine agreed.

"Indeed I do.." Audrey said quietly to herself as she slipped into the line. For some reason, she chose to stand right next to me. At my left. She usually never even wanted to be in the same room as me unless it was to punch me. I felt her presence next to me, it was different for some reason.

"Let the tournament begin!!" An enderman shouted to everyone and the crowd cheered. A wall of weapons and shields suddenly appeared behind us and we turned around, away from the throne to look at them. There were weapons from small knives to huge hammers. I hadn't really practiced with many weapons before but I felt like the iron dagger to my right was calling my name. We all at the same time walked over to the wall and picked the weapons of our choice. I grabbed the iron dagger and a stone sword. I left the shields because they would just slow me down. I knew I didn't really have much of a fighting style, but I knew I didn't like feeling weighed down by anything like heavy armor, shields, or weapons. Probably a big reason I chose the dagger. It wasn't a normal dagger either. It curved at the end, making it look like a slight hook at the tip. Daniel grabbed a simple iron sword and a shield and Bruce grabbed a stone axe and a shield as well. I watched closely as Audrey grabbed a bow and a couple arrows. She didn't even bother to grab them all.

"The first fight will be between Hazel and Daniel!" The same enderman announced. "Whoever wins will go against Bruce! Whoever wins that fight will go against Audrey!" I didn't feel ready. The whole three months, I had been waiting for me to finally calm down and be ready. But I still wasn't. At least I was going first..