I mean, yes, I had also fallen off three of them, and Biscuit had nearly frozen solid trying to choose between two equally fast routes back to the main platform, and at one point I accidentally communicated something to a group of Endermites that made them carry the sea lanterns away from me before I corrected whatever I’d said. But we had all the materials. Every single one. Rainbow wool, sea lanterns, and amethyst blocks, all crammed into Biscuit’s truly miraculous backpack.
“Forty-two minutes when we started,” Biscuit announced, consulting the little hourglass she’d pulled from her bag, “which means we now have eleven minutes and — oh no.”
“Eleven minutes is great!” I said, only partially believing it.
The Elegance Duel platform was enormous — a flat stretch of endstone as wide as Sproutville’s entire square, glowing faintly purple in the dim End sky. Two building zones were marked out with thin lines of amethyst dust: one on the left, one on the right. The Ender Earl was already in his zone, working in absolute silence. His structure was breathtaking. A symmetrical tower of purpur blocks, each one perfectly aligned, rising in neat identical tiers. Sea lanterns placed at exact intervals. Everything level. Everything square.
It was the most organized thing I had ever seen. I hated it a little bit.
I stepped into my zone, set all the materials in a careful pile, and immediately tripped over the pile.
