Herobrine's Message by Sean Fay Wolfe

Notch for Minecraft’s broken water physics, Leonidas continued to punch into the dirt wall, eventually creating a room large enough for two people to stand and walk around in. Hopefully, if Stan was planning on making his way down to the trench to finish him off, Leonidas would be able to explain what was going on.
    However, Stan didn’t come down. After a while, Leonidas gave a deep breath and a sigh. He was furious with himself for making such a crucial mistake; he would have a much harder time convincing Stan that he was planning to join the Elementia Army now. Leonidas gave the wall a lurid punch of frustration before slipping out of his air pocket and rising back toward the surface, planning how he could fix the damage caused by this monumental error.
    Stan was barely managing to keep himself afloat. The cut across his chest by Leonidas’s sword had torn through his armor, leaving a light cut in the center of his chest. This wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t for the fact that he had then tumbled directly into the ocean, ramping up his pain to excruciating levels as the salt water seeped into the open wound. Add that to the fact that Stan had accidentally swallowed a mouthful of seawater during his plunge, and he had become so weak that it had been a struggle to pull himself back into the boat.
    And that was back when he still had the boat. The struggle against Leonidas had done substantial damage to the craft, to the point where it barely floated anymore, and he couldn’t control it. He had half a mind to just leave it there in the middle of the ocean, but he knew that there was a chance Leonidas might find it and somehow use the wrecked dinghy to his advantage, so he had destroyed it. Stan now held three wood-plank blocks and two sticks in his inventory, the only remnants of the boat.
    Stan quivered with fury. He couldn’t believe that Leonidas had followed him all the way out here just to ambush him. Actually, now that Stan thought about it, he realized that he shouldn’t be surprised at all. He knew that out of all the Noctem Alliance’s forces, Leonidas was the most savage, alongside Minotaurus. Leonidas had probably volunteered tohunt him down, Stan thought in disgust.
    The one thing that Stan was slightly confused by was how he had managed to escape Leonidas. But, the more Stan thought, the more he realized that it was probably because Leonidas had let his blind bloodlust take over his common sense. He probably hadn’t meant to knock Stan into the water. Leonidas most likely was a terrible underwater fighter, and had fled to avoid fighting Stan while he had that disadvantage.
    That being said, Stan knew that Leonidas couldn’t be far behind him. He was probably just trying to heal up from his underwater melee with Stan, and would be in hot pursuit in no time. Stan was in no condition to repel the Noctem archer now, and he had no place to rest up. If only, thought Stan as he gritted his teeth, somewhere, in this entire ocean, there was . . .
    Stan’s heart leaped for joy as finally, on the far horizon, he could see a dark mass of blocks expanding up from the surface of the ocean. Finally, Stan thought as he gave a sigh of relief.
    As Stan paddled closer and closer to the island, his enthusiasm grew less and less. This island had barely anything on it. There were no trees, no animals, and not much of anything else. It was just a small mound of dirt expanding out from the ocean. At the very least, though, there didn’t appear to be any Noctem forces anywhere near it.
    Stan finally reached the shoreline and dragged himself up onto the dirt-block shore. Stan collapsed face-down on the ground. He didn’t care that he was completely exposed and out in the open. He didn’t care about the potential monsters roaming this dark island. All Stan cared about was finally being back on dry land. At that moment, fatigued beyond comprehension from the ordeals of the