Crafted

(Again, I do not own the title Minecraft, or the ideas, those are owned my Mojang) Friends whom venture to another world or two.

Oki

I remember a light. Something bright was shining in my face. It was sunlight pouring in through the window. I sat up and looked around. I hated the feeling of waking up from a nightmare you know scared the hell out of you but you don’t remember. I was lying on a bed of some kind. There were some bookshelves and a chest in the room. There was furnace with some cold pieces of steak in it. Some coal that had gone cold as well was in the furnace as a fuel source.

 I wandered around the small house and found that it was it was two stories tall, it seemed like it was more like a barn that had been converted into a home. I wasn’t alone, and that was ok I suppose. There was a horse by the name of Chancellor in one of the few stalls left. I didn’t know who lived here, but it wasn’t my house. There was a notebook in the chest. It had one page left in it, with something written inside it. It was a warning to presumably me. It read: “get out before nightfall, or you will die. Leave this house, and burn it to the ground. You’ll find a Flint and Steel in the chest.” That was all the motivation I needed. I grabbed the food I could carry. A few loafs of bread, some apples, the steaks and a bowl of cold mushroom stew. There was an iron sword in the chest next to the one with the notebook and flint and Steel. I picked up the sword and my eyes widened. It was heavier than I thought. It shined like new. There was a satchel and a weapons and tool belt in the chest as well. The belt had nine slots and pouches on it. The satchel could hold several things in it. It was pretty shameful looking for a satchel to be so empty. I just shrugged it off. I found a stone pickaxe on the floor. I didn’t want anyone to have to be here aside from me. I hit the furnace a few times and for some reason I was shocked when instead of breaking it shrunk down to a small cube. I picked it up and dropped it as the coal that fell out into my bag.

 I walked downstairs and found the horse staring at the door. Like she knew what I was thinking. I grabbed her lead and led her outside. I untied her then mounted her. She reared up and tried to buck me off, but she gave up when I didn’t let go of the reigns. I yipped and she charged away from the barn. I took in the surroundings and there was nothing but a desert. It was a barren landscape stretched as far as the eye could see. Passing a few sand dunes, a few cactuses, and a few shrubs the landscape changed quickly as I came upon the entrance to a forest.

I slowed Chancellor to a slower pace so we wouldn’t run into a tree. She walked slowly, as if she knew something I didn’t. I noticed the sun was beginning to set. Chancellor tried to quicken her pace, but I wouldn’t let her. As the sun set completely I was amazed how bright the world still was. The endless stars and glorious white moon lit the forest up like the sun. I heard the clacking of hollowness hitting hollowness, feet shuffling, and a strange croaking sound. Chancellor stopped suddenly I looked ahead and saw why. Someone was standing there. A few feet away from us they were covered in blood and had their back to us. I dismounted and walked closer. Chancellor started getting more and more restless as I approached him. The man stood so still it was eerie there seemed to be a strange evilness that was in the air. I grabbed the hilt of my sword with one hand, just to be sure. I reached out to touch his shoulder.

“Excuse me, are you ok sir?” I asked him. As I approached, I heard it. It was low at first. So quiet and low pitched that I couldn’t really make out what it was. Now that I was closer, I could hear it plain as the night and day. This sound, this sound that this…person was emitting…sent chills up my spine. This person was groaning, with an odd hollowness in their voice. They slowly turned their head towards me and showed me just what they were. It was a pale green color with soulless black eyes. Its teeth were jagged and had shreds of blood and cloth in them. In its hands, it held what was left of a human arm. I drew my sword and held it close to me.

“Stay back, you…whatever you are.” I threatened to no prevail. As it started to come closer I thrust the sword towards it. The sword impaled it, straight through its chest and out the other side. The creature looked down, as if confused by what I was doing. I withdrew the sword and stabbed it again. Nothing happened it merely stood there, moaning. I knew what it was now. It was a zombie. The living dead, reanimated through some means. I withdrew my sword again, and swung it with all my might. The sword sliced through the zombie’s torso with one slash. The body fell to the ground, and evaporated into a black mist.

Relieved, I sheathed my sword, and turned back to Chancellor. My heart dropped and my blood chilled at the sight. Over a dozen zombies were shambling into the clearing. Two had already grabbed Chancellor and had bitten into her legs. From the sizes of the bites, I knew she’d never walk again.  My satchel of supplies was still wrapped on the saddle. In a desperate race, I charged at her. I grabbed the satchel, and struck down the two zombies that had bitten her. She fell to the ground in pain. I looked around to try and see how much time I had. Not nearly enough.

 By the dozens, more zombies were appearing. A small militia’s worth of undead was forming. I couldn’t leave her like this. I just didn’t have the heart. I drew my sword and plunged it into her side. She let out a weak nay, and then her body faded away into white mist. I gripped my sword tightly and charged away from the zombies. I could hear them, running behind me as I ran through the forest. I looked behind me and spotted them coming around a tree. I turned back just in time to duck something. It struck a tree and pinged as it hit. It was the ping of a sword. I raised mine to fight whatever was holding it. The sword swung towards me. And I swung towards it.

 

 

Woxy

 “Are you still doing that journal thing Woxy?” Kitty asked.

“Yes. It helps so that the days don’t just blend together. How’s everything looking out there?” I asked her.

“Things seem calm enough. I can see the opening to Lava Pit caves is still being guarded by Skeleton archers. They haven’t moved in a few days, so I think they are inclined to stay there.” She reported. I smiled. Kitty and Ashes, the Captain’s wife were our marksmen. They stayed in the tower during the night to watch for anything not human. The Captain was walking by the archive room around then. I decided to put my monologs on hold and ran to catch up with him.

“Captain Zaphod! Zaphod wait up!” I called out as I rushed out of the door.

“Woxy, how are you on this fine morning?” Zaphod responded with a smile.

“Fine I guess. Look, we need to talk. I want your permission to go scouting today. We’re low on food and supplies.” I asked.

“Woxy I enjoy our little talks but here’s the thing: No.” He replied.

“Why!? We’re low on food, the animals we do have are low on clean drinking water, and I don’t know about you, but a few extra beds wouldn’t kill us. Nor would a few extra houses hurt us either.” I complained.

“Woxy I need you here to protect the village. We have plenty of food as long as you, Kitty, Lol, Ashes and I don’t eat for a while.” He smiled.

“Don’t eat? What the hell is your problem? If we don’t eat, and something attacks there won’t be anything we can do to protect the village.” I argued. He smiled at me and walked away towards the library. I shook my head and walked away to my house. Inside, I picked up my stone sword and some apples. I exited my house and made my way to the Western gate. I hit the switch to open it, and left without a word to anyone.

Outside was odd to me. I hadn’t left the village in over a week. I followed a river nearby up to the mountains. I cut down a few trees here and there. I mined some stone for weapons, tools and décor from a nearby mountain as well. After over an hour of searching, I found some animals. There were a few cows and pigs together. I counted only three sheep however, but that was enough for a bed. I stood carefully still and waited. When they weren’t looking, I pressed my feet firmly into the dirt and kicked off the ground into a sprint. They all looked up at me as I approached. I couldn’t tell if they were convinced I wouldn’t kill them or just them accepting their fate.

 I entered the heart of the pack; I drew my sword and swung in every direction as I ran through. I stopped and put my sword away. I turned to see them all vanish into white mist. I clasped my hands together and bowed to them as they died.

“I thank you all for these gifts you’ve given me with your lives.” I chanted. I picked up the balls of wool, pork chops, steaks and cow hides off of the ground. I looked around and smiled. The wild, this is where I belonged. However it was short lived. Kitty, Lol and I had devised a system of blinks from the watch tower that told each other, if we were out hunting that we needed to get back ASAP. Reluctantly, I walked back towards the village. As I approached the wall, the gate opened up. Standing there, arms crossed, scowl on his face, and eyes beaming; was Zaphod.

“What did I tell you Woxy? Not to go out. What if the village had been attacked while you were gone Woxy!?” He yelled.

“Captain with all due respect: you’re out of your mind. We’ve never been attacked in the daylight before. We’ve never seen a zombie out in the daylight. We’ve never seen anything out in the light for that matter. The odds are high that these things can’t spawn in the light.” I explained. The Captain grabbed the hilt of his sword. I knew he wanted to fight me. I could sense it. But he wouldn’t fight me, not without an actual excuse.

 Zaphod liked to do things by the books. Build things like our blue-prints told him to. Use only coal in furnaces instead of anything that would burn. I even offered to put a lava filled bucket in a furnace for him once so that it’ll smelt things faster, and he declined. He liked things done a certain way. And that is where we bumped heads. I hated normalcy for the most part. I liked things to be a little less etched in stone and a little more chisel as you go. We got in arguments about it a lot.

“Despite that, you did well in bringing these supplies. What about the water?” He asked.

“I didn’t get the chance. I’ll run and get some.” I replied. He smiled. After retrieving several buckets of water, I retired to my house for the remainder of the day. Kitty and Ashes were in the towers tonight. I was supposed to be on alert in my sleep for any danger. Little did I know; that was exactly what I’d get.

I think it was a few hours later. It could have been a few days, I’m not really sure. All I know is; sleep never felt so good. And waking up; never sucked more than it did now. Knocking…knocking and more knocking woke me up. I answered the door to find Lol standing there.

“What is it? Let me warn you that if this isn’t good, I’m spearing you right now.” I warned.

“Kitty and Ashes need to see us up in the tower.” He reported. I had never seen Lol so serious. He was normally a total fool and a joker but for some reason, this time seemed like he was actually taking his job seriously.

Without delay, I grabbed my sword and ran with him to the center of town where the ladder to the Watchtower was. The Watchtower stretched high above the town, so anyone up there could see a great distance. At the top, we found Ashes, Kitty and the Captain standing at the same window.

“What is it guys?” I asked.

“We have a major zombie problem tonight. But they aren’t after us. They seem to be going after someone or something else in the distance. We haven’t had any contact yet.” Kitty reported.

“Regardless, if they aren’t after the village then I’m not concerned. Leave the zombies be and only report to me if they come towards the village.” Zaphod said. He began descending down the ladder back to town.

“Guys, I think there is someone there. I just saw them kill an injured horse. I don’t think they have much of an escape plan.” Kitty reported. I looked at Lol and nodded. He grabbed his sword and we hurried down the ladder. Zaphod was at the bottom talking to some villagers. We rushed by and opened the closest gate and ran out. I heard Zaphod yell at us as we ran out. I took to the ground while Lol jumped from tree to tree.

As I approached the clearing we had seen the zombies in, I heard footsteps. I hid behind a tree and waited. The seconds seemed like hours as I waited. Finally the footsteps were right next to me. I heard a moan, and immediately thought of a zombie.

I swung my sword toward the source of the footsteps, but met a blade rather than a skull. I repulsed the blade, and swung again, having the same conclusion. We struck swords several more times until I heard him call out. “Stop attacking me, will you? I’m running from monsters.” The voice called.

The adrenaline in my blood increased as I saw the undead begin to make their ways through the trees. I took my blade from theirs and readied for the assault. The mysterious man did as well. Lol jumped from the tree nearby and joined our small line.

The fight began when the first zombie rushed us from behind a close by tree. He tried to bite Lol, but I intervened with a stab into his chest. My sword was stuck in the zombie’s torso when another one appeared from behind the same tree. Unable to remove my sword, I readied for its bite. Suddenly, the strange man jumped over me, and sliced straight down through the zombie. He grabbed the zombie I had impaled, and threw him backwards toward another zombie. Lol was slashing away at zombies left and right. I joined the fight, newly determined not to die.

The battle seemed to last hours, but only went on for a few minutes. Left and right, black mist was filling the air and fading away as the zombies dropped. We were starting to get tiered, but the swarm kept coming. At one point, a zombie had me pinned. Its mouth was trying to bite me, when an arrow nailed it in the side of the head, killing it. I knew who the archer was. I smiled and gave her a thumb up. I got back to my feet, then it hit me; exhaustion. We all dropped to one knee but kept our swords ready. The zombies closed in, a few dropping from arrows to the head. Just as they were a few feet from us, they stopped. They stood there, staring at us. The zombies as a group let out a moaning sort of laugh, and stood aside, forming a pathway to us. That’s when he appeared. A general zombie clad in armor. One of the lower ranked one, he was in golden armor. Gold was better to enchant, but as weak as leather armor when it came to battles. An ominous blue glow emitted from his armor. In its hand, it held a single golden sword. The sword was emitting the same blue glow as its armor. I hesitated as I tried to stand. I didn’t understand it. A moment ago I had been full of adrenaline. Now I was clutched by fear, facing certain death in the face.

I tried to stand, but couldn’t. Lol and the man were in the same position as I was. They were bowing their heads, ready to meet their ends with grace and dignity. I too bowed my head. The general was standing in front of me, and I heard the air split as he raised his sword high in the air. I saw him move his arm, and knew it was coming.

Then a miracle came in the name of Kitty, and Ashes. Two arrows flew through the air, splitting the silence as they impacted the general’s helmet. He fell over, dazed and confused as we all were. I heard a voice call to us.

“Run you idiots!” The voice called.

It was faint and hard to hear over the zombie’s now growing moan, but it was no doubt Ashes waiting for us at the gate of the village. I used all my strength I could muster to pull myself up. The others followed suit. I led them through the forest as fast as we could run. Closer the gate appeared. We were thirty feet away. And then we were twenty feet away. Now we were ten feet away. The last moment, we all three jumped through the archway into the village. The walls shifted as the archway closed. I looked around and saw the villagers, Zaphod, Ashes and Kitty standing around us. That was the last I remembered of that day.

 

 

Kitty LeStrange

He was a pest and he bugged me in fact he drove me crazy to the point sometimes I wished the skeletons had just taken him away. But Woxy was a friend… I couldn’t let him or the others die or at least not like that. Despite Zaphod’s orders, I readied an arrow in my bow and took aim as I focused my eyes carefully. It wasn’t much of a power, but perfect vision in the dark and over distances had its usefulness. I looked over at my friend Ashes she was smiling as she also readied her bow to fire. I took aim and told her where to fire. My breathing slowed a bit as I let the arrow loose. The arrow struck the distant zombie in the helmet, unfortunately. I looked to Ashes for advice, but she was already making her way down the Watchtower’s ladder. I turned my attention back to the zombies.

Woxy and the others were now slowly making their way to the gates. I provided them with some cover just in case they stopped. When they were out of sight from the tower, I knew there was nothing that could keep them from entering the village. I decided to make my way down the tower.

            When I arrived, the three were already inside the walls. Woxy was passed out and some villagers were taking him to his house. Captain Zaphod was helping Lol to his feet. I approached the new man lying on the ground.

“Hey, what’s your name?” I asked him.

“Oki.” He replied. Before I could respond Zaphod drew his sword.

“Give me one reason I shouldn’t take your head, for putting my men and this village in peril?” Zaphod asked. I moved between Zaphod’s sword, and Oki.

“Knock it off Zaphod. Ashes; you guys still have that extra bunk at your place?” I asked.

“Yeah we do, it’s in the main den.” She replied.

“Cool, can I stay with you guys tonight? I’m going to let Oki use my place to get some rest. Like we all should.” I said looking at Zaphod. He smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

“No, no it’s all fine Kitty. Let him into the village without a proper interrogation or anything. You know what; while we’re at it how about we repair his sword and waste some of our materials and time too? Does that suit you?” Zaphod asked me. He seemed extremely aggravated.

“Zaphod; let me tell you what’s about to happen. Kitty is going to let him use her house to rest. You and I are going back home, and letting her use our spare bed. Demetria is going to take his sword and repair it the best she can, and in the morning we’re all going to go get him from Kitty’s house, and TALK to him. No interrogation or anything like that.”  Ashes told him. He looked like he wanted to argue, but he smiled and nodded instead. I helped Oki to his feet, and led him to my house.

“There’s some food in the chest, it’s not much but feel free to it. Water and all of that is in the-“

I was interrupted by snoring. I turned to see Oki fast asleep in my bed. I smiled. I walked over and picked up his sword. I exited the house, as quiet as I could be. Outside, I found Demetria in her iron works shop.

“Ms. LeStrange: what can I do for you?” She asked.

“Could you repair this sword? It’s not mine but I’ll pay for it none the less. Full repair would be nice please?” I asked.

“Of course, just hand him over and-“Demetria’s eyes widened as I handed her the blade.

“Oh my, oh my, oh my, what has this world done to you my dear? You’re so tainted. Hmm, why would a sword as pure as you, be so evil.” Demetria asked the sword, caressing it like a child.

I gave her a questionable look, but she didn’t seem to care or notice. I walked out of the shop, and towards Zaphod and Ashes’ home. I knocked on the door and Ashes opened it, a look of concern on her face.

“You okay?” I asked.

“He’s having a fit because of today.” She told me. I laughed with her, and we entered the house. She said “goodnight” to me, and proceeded up the stairs. I closed my eyes, and fell asleep to the sound of Zaphod talking loudly.

 

Oki

Yet again, I found myself waking up somewhere I didn’t know. I still had my satchel on, so I hadn’t been kidnapped. Plus I was in a strange bed….again. But this time the house had a pleasant flowery fragrance throughout it. I figured it was a girl’s house, but who’s house? I got out of bed and fixed my satchel. I looked around for my sword, but couldn’t find it. I remembered that the people here were talking about taking it and doing…something with it.

I left the house and was greeted with two kids who were roughly teenagers, but I couldn’t really tell. They were walking by and giving me a strange look of curiosity. The girl of the two started whispering once they were out of ear shot. Looking around, I was getting strange looks from everyone. I saw the man from last night. He…he scared me. His skin was a blackish purple color over half of his face. One eye appeared human the other had a purple coloration to it.

“Hey you, purple!” I called out. He looked at me and scoffed as her turned away.

“Hey, freak show!” I yelled again. This time, he turned and glared at me. As I walked by the girls and guys from last night, I overheard them talking.

“Not the smartest way to make a first impression my man.” The fox looking guy from last night said.

“Yes, what can I help you with, ungrateful rat?” The purple man asked.

“I want my sword back. Where is it, huh?” I asked.

“Your sword is gone? What do you mean? I wouldn’t take it.” The man said.

“I heard you saying last night you wanted my sword. Well, it’s mine. You can’t have it for your village protection gang or whatever. Just hand it over and I’ll be on my way.” I told him

“I wish I could, but I honestly don’t have it. And to be honest, it won’t be returned hopefully. We need all the weapons and supplies we can get. You can stay, but then you’d work for me. Otherwise, you can leave the satchel on the way out.” The man smiled cockily at me.

            I glared. I couldn’t do anything really. Not without the sword. I saw him reach for the hilt of his sword. Suddenly…

“Excuse me captain. Sir, I believe this is yours.” A woman in a wielding outfit handed me a golden sheath. I unsheathed my sword and gazed at it.

“It’s like new. How’d you do such great and flawless job?” I asked.

“I’m the village blacksmith. I’ve done this since I was a little girl, so I have a bond with weapons. They speak to me. They tell me how old they are. What was used to forge them, and where it was mined and by who. What the sword had been through and everything about it. Your sword was rather quiet last night though. As if it were sleeping, or weakened. Until I repaired it that is, now that it’s back in the light, I can hear its voice.” She said as she touched the blade. As her finger touched the blade, her eyes went wide with terror. She backed away from me and looked at me in shock.

“Captain, I need to speak with you, at once.” She demanded.

The two of them walked away. I knew that was my cue to leave. I sheathed my sword again, and ran for the nearest wall. I remembered there being a way to open it, but I couldn’t find it. Just as I found the lever, I heard a voice.

“Thief and murderer: get back here!” The man called. I turned around to see him standing behind me, his sword drawn. I drew my sword and raised it. The two tips sat nearly connected. My heart pounded as everyone began to stare at me.

“What is your name?” the man demanded.

“I’m Oki Nagasaki. What’s your name?” I asked.

“I am Captain Zaphod of the defense committee for the village of Frost Green. And you’re suspected of theft and murder.” Zaphod announced. At the mention of murder, the villagers all got tense. I shuffled to the left a bit, but he followed my every step.

“I didn’t kill anyone. And I didn’t steal this sword, it was left to me.” I explained.

He scoffed. I knew he didn’t and would never believe me. We both stood with our swords aimed at the other. My heart was pounding. I could tell his was too from his heavy breathing. He grabbed his sword with both hands and charged at me.

I raised my sword and parried his attacks. I couldn’t remember where, but I had seen these fighting skills somewhere. His attacks were aggressive, had no technique, no stylization, and no control. He was attacking out of bloodlust. The realization hit me; that he really wanted to kill me. His attacks showed no sign of letting up. After I deflected one attack, I swung my sword in a counter attack. He dodged it, but just barely. I ended up cutting his arm a bit. He glanced down at the cut and smiled. When he stood still, I charged for my turn at attacks. For me however, it wasn’t just barbaric swinging. I tried to mix in a few punches here and there, but no matter what I did, it seemed he knew what I was doing.

“You fight like an old friend of mine. Trying to get people to focus on your blade, rather than your punches, but it won’t work on-“

I had taken advantage of his talking, and hit him with a left hook. Not my strongest, but effective. With him dazed, I swung my sword low enough to hit his torso. I heard a collective gasp as my sword struck…something. I glanced down to see my sword stuck in his side. His face had a devilish smile on it, with a hint of concern. I looked at the ground to see shards of black stone laying there. Confused I removed my sword, and backed away.

“That was impressive display Oki. Nobody has ever managed to fracture my armor. Let alone chip it. That really is an impressive blade. But, the fun and games ends here.” Zaphod said.

He began marching towards me slowly. Considering the villagers and others had formed a circle around us, I figured I couldn’t leave. So I charged him again, and swung down onto his head. Small shards of black stone loosened and fell from the impact spot. I tried again and again to strike him at several different spots on his body. Each time, only small shards fell. After the fifth strike, he kicked me in the chest. The kick was like landing on stone, face first, after falling several hundred feet.

“Painful isn’t it? Not being able to breathe?” Zaphod asked.

It was. He’d knocked the air out of my lungs and because of that, I could barely stand. I dropped to my knees, but fell onto my back. I lied there unable to catch a full breath of air. Now, Zaphod stood over me, his sword ready to impale me, and end my life.

“It was cute while it lasted kid, but now it’s time to die.” Zaphod laughed.

My mind began to race. As much as I didn’t want them to know, I had no choice. I looked over at the ring line of villagers. I focused the location locked in my mind. As he began to strike downwards with his sword the area around me started to blur, and when it refocused I was near the villagers.

I heard Zaphod’s sword impact the ground, and the gasp of the villagers and Zaphod. Despite teleporting I managed to get air in my lungs and stand.

“Surprised? You’re not the only special person. It’s my turn to fight unfair.” I said.

I had to get the locations right. In the perfect order so I could end the fight in style. First I focused on the side of a nearby building. The impact from the teleportation should have knocked the wind out of him. Afterwards, I focused on the side of the tower above. Just to give him a taste of how it feels to be struck by stone. In midair, to have him free fall, and finally, right where he would land for the final blow. I smiled.

I ran at him with what little energy I could muster. I noticed his skin wasn’t as dark as it was before, so I figured like me, he had to stay focused. As I reached him, I wrapped my hands around him and teleported. First was the small building nearby, then the side of the stone structure across the village. After which, we impacted the side of the tower, this time, leaving an indent in the side of it. I let him drop, and teleported down to where he’d land. I grabbed my sword, and held it high. As he landed on it, there was a loud cracking sound. The impact of which knocked me onto my back.

“I told you, I don’t play fair.” I said, struggling to get back to my feet.

‘It’s ok; you’ll have plenty of time to learn while you’re dead.” Zaphod said. Like me, he struggled to stand.

The ground around him was covered in black shards of stone. I saw why as he stood. There was a large gash of stone missing from his back. I could see he was in great pain from it. We both staggered towards each other, unable to run.

“That’s enough from you both.”  A voice called out.

A girl I recognized from last night approached the spot between us.

“It’s obvious this isn’t going to go anywhere. Zaphod, let’s hear his story before we judge him. Kitty: get us some golden apples for these two. Woxy: get the command room ready. Lol: get all of these villagers back to their day to day lives.” The girl demanded.

“Yes ma’am.” They all said from the crowd.

The guy, I’m assuming was Lol, started telling everyone to walk away. The fox from last night went into a nearby building, while the girl went into the house I had woken up in that morning. The other girl who had stopped us helped Zaphod to his feet.

“Ashes, why’d you do that? I had him.” Zaphod said.

“Yeah, of course you did. How’s that gash in your back by the way?” I asked. He glared.

“Come on, follow us.” The girl ordered.

Despite wanting to leave, I followed them. I half expected it to be a trap, but when I walked into the building; everyone minus Kitty was there, sitting at a table. I sat down, and sat my sword by my side. Behind me, the door opened up. A Yellow apple was dropped into my lap by Kitty. I took a bite, and felt something. A sudden urge to eat the whole apple, and I hated apples. I devoured the apple, as did Zaphod. The energy I felt was amazing. The few cuts and bruises I had healed instantly. The gash in Zaphod’s back healed with a symphony of gut churning snaps and crunches.

Kitty sat down next to me, and smiled at me.

 “So, let’s hear your story.” Zaphod asked. His skin returned to its old coloration.

I explained everything that had happened to me in the last two days. But I told them nothing about prior to yesterday, because I couldn’t remember. After I finished, there was a silence in the room that couldn’t be cut.

“So you are like us.” Zaphod said.

He and the others exchanged glances and nodded.

“What do you mean by that? I want to hear your guys’ stories.” I asked.

 

Zaphod

“Firstly, I’m Captain Zaphod. B. Well, my story is the beginning of everyone’s really. Or, more appropriately: the end. A month or so ago, I woke up in a building that looked like it hadn’t been used in years. There was a chest in the building, with a stone sword in it, as well as a book with a few pages of instructions. The book read “In this ruined village, there is most likely a girl, waiting for someone to let her out of her prison cell. Don’t be alarmed, she isn’t a threat. She, like you, has no memory. She awoke within the cell. She will help you protect this world. You must wait, for four others to join you before your adventure can begin. This village was destroyed by a force, which will track and destroy you, and every living thing in this world. Go to these coordinates once you’re ready for your adventure to begin. Until then, protect the first village you find with all your strength. No matter what anyone tells you; be afraid of the dark.” I took that to heart, and found Ashes in the cell, just as the book said. We traveled around for weeks, fighting off nightmarish creatures and living off of anything edible we could find. Eventually we found this village, and built a small wall around it. A week later, Woxy, Lol and Kitty showed up.” I explained. Oki looked relived.

“Yeah, my stories pretty much the same as his after he rescued me. I’m Ashes Fallfar. It’s nice to meet you Oki.” Ashes introduced.

 

Woxy

“I’m Woxy Foxy. And that guy over there is Lol King. We woke up in a field to the North of here. Like everyone else, there was a chest near us and some tools. Along with a red matter that had a strange energy in it, and a compass. Our book said: “You must act quickly. Use the compass to make it to this location before nightfall, or you will all die. Afterwards, find the closest village you can. Inside, you should meet a man and woman named Zaphod and Ashes. Help them, until the last one arrives.” So, I woke Lol up and we went to where the book told us to go. We arrived just as night was hitting. We stood there for a while, until we heard someone scream. Tracking down the source, we found Kitty, who was being hunted by a bunch of Skeleton archers. We killed them, me taking an arrow in the side. Kitty had some healing supplies with her, and patched me up. We walked about half of the night, when we came across the village. We entered and found Zaphod and the others building a few new houses. We made friends and went about our merry way with the helping them further build the walls. I used the book’s instructions on how to use the Redstone to create some unique ways to get in and out of the village.” I explained.

Oki seemed confused about the Redstone part, but I let it be.

 

Kitty

“I’m uh, Kitty LeStrange. I woke up in a tree, with a satchel of food, medical supplies, and a book saying to meet some guys at a certain spot, and to get there at nightfall. So, I did. You know the rest. I got there, a bunch of Skeletons jumped me, and they saved me. I took the role of the village’s healer once we got here.” I said proudly.

Oki looked me oddly, like he was there, but his mind was elsewhere.

“Well, it was nice meeting you all, but I have one other question: what did Zaphod mean by “you are like us?”” Oki asked.

“Oh, well, as you saw, Zaphod has a power like you. His skin is able to turn really dense. Like Obsidian stone. He gets slower, but he can breathe underwater and isn’t as hurt by arrows and swords and stuff. I’m part cat, so I have great vision in the dark and over distances. Woxy is a fox, so he is a fast runner, and has really good hearing. Lol is a hunter, so he can jump incredible distances. And Ashes is a cat like me, so we share a lot of similar traits.” I explained.

“Oh. Yeah, not sure why, but as you all saw I can teleport. It drains the energy out of me badly though.” Oki said.

“Now, onto the real matter at hand: where do we start mining?” Woxy asked.

“What?” I asked him

“The book Zaphod had also said once we were altogether, that we go to a certain area and mine there for a while.” Woxy explained.

“We go after we’re done here.” Ashes said.

“Says who!?” Zaphod said his voice a bit angry.

“Says me.” Ashes said sternly.

 

 

Oki

 

I was given a pickaxe made of iron, a crafting table, some torches, and a furnace.

“So how do the crafting table and furnace things work?” I asked.

“You place them down somewhere, and they grow to a full sized shape. You need wood or something flammable to use the furnace. And you need to know craft recipes for the table. We’ll help you out when the time comes. Ok everyone; gather around for some instructions.” Ashes ordered.

Everyone stood around Ashes including Zaphod who’d finally given into the idea that Ashes was in charge.

“Ok; everyone should have at least two swords, two pickaxes, a crafting table, a furnace, some torches, some coal, some sticks, and a water bucket in their satchels. I’ve also taken the liberty of giving you guys some clocks. There should be one clock per person. Its sunrise right now, so the mobs should be retreating underground. Keep a look out for anything that moves in the dark that shouldn’t be there.” Ashes explained.

“I have a question; what, other than the zombies, is there to be afraid of?” I asked.

“Zombies can pick up things and will use them to try and kill you. Skeletons usually carry bows, but can wield swords. Creepers are what you really want to watch out for. They’re green with soulless black eyes. They don’t try to kill you, they kill you. They run up to you and explode. Aside from them, there are some spiders, and cave spiders to worry about.” Ashes explained.

“Where the hell do these things come from?” I asked.

“We don’t know.” Zaphod said.

We finished our packing, and headed out of the building. On our way out of the village the blacksmith was given a sword to protect the village in our absence. We exited through a gateway, and headed towards a nearby mountain. On our walk…

“Hey Zaphod, I need to ask you: what did the blacksmith say to you that made you attack me?” I asked.

“She said that when she touched the blade, she saw glimpses of that sword being held by someone else. And that person, killed thousands and thousands of the creatures of this world, even ones not of the world. But something happened to him, he’s somewhere, trapped by a creature of such danger, she was horrified by it.” Zaphod explained.

As much as I didn’t want to believe that this sword could have such a dark past, I had no choice but to believe it for the time being.

“We’re going over there everyone, there’s a ravine that we can use to get some material. We’ll have to use the waterfall to get down and back up, so everyone be ready to hold your breath.” Woxy told us.

We reached the end of the ravine where the earth had given away, and allowed the water of the nearby river to flow in. One by one, we jumped into the waterfall and rode it down into the ravine. At the bottom, we each began to place some torches and eventually split up to begin mining. About an hour into it…

“I found some iron guys!” Kitty called down from the top of the ravine.

“I found coal, and plenty of it.” I responded.

“I found Redstone, Lapis, Gold, and some emeralds. I think I got you all beat.” Zaphod laughed.

“Any of you seen Woxy?” Ashes asked.

At that, a horrible blood chilling shriek echoed throughout the ravine.

“Woxy?” I called out.

There was silence. Everyone made their way to the ledge where Woxy had gone to mine. We stood on the ledge below, waiting for a response. We all jumped when a Skeleton suddenly flew from above the ledge and out to the bottom of the ravine. Several others either went flying, or jumped to follow their friends to death. We all climbed up and found Woxy and Lol, fighting an endless sea of Skeletons.

“SPAWNER! Destroy it now!” Lol yelled from the pack of Skeletons.

I looked around and saw a room of mossed over crumbling stone. I ran in and was blinded by how bright the room was. There I saw the Spawner they were all talking about. It was a small cage with the head of a Skeleton inside of it. The Skeleton’s eyes were glowing red and small black sparks danced around the cage. The others followed me in, Zaphod and Ashes being a wall, in case any Skeletons came back.

“It’s a Spawner alright. Looks like the light is keeping them from spawning in mass, but one will slip out soon. I can feel the evilness of it flowing forth.” Kitty said.

“Someone with a good pickaxe, break it then. We don’t have much time until one spawns and they all turn their attention on us.” Zaphod commanded.

Kitty raised her pickaxe and struck the Spawner several times. Each time she struck it, cracks of purple light spread further and further across the small cage’s surface. Finally, the last hit came. As she hit it, the cage burst into small fragments. The fragments faded into nothingness, and the Skeleton’s head from within the cage disappeared in a puff of black mist.

“It’s done!” Kitty said happily.

We all breathed a sigh of relief, until we heard Lol and Woxy yell for help. We all raced down the tunnel as fast as we could. When we reached them, all of the Skeletons were gone.

“They disappeared. Damn that was a lot.” Woxy said, falling to the ground.

“Yeah, I bet it was. Now do you see why I never have us go out alone?” Zaphod asked.

“I’m happy I wasn’t alone. I won.” Woxy smiled. Zaphod gave him a questionable look.

“You said you found more stuff than anyone. I found a Spawner.” Woxy laughed.

“I destroyed it.” Kitty chimed.

We all laughed a bit and stood there in the silence. There was a feeling in the air, which not only I seemed to feel. It was like we were all being watched by a malevolent force. We all walked to the ledge from before and looked up and down the ravine.

“I don’t see anything else worth getting. Let’s get back and check our loot find.” Zaphod said.

We all agreed and began to descend to the end of the waterfall, when I saw him. It was hard to make him out, but there was no denying it.

“Hey…hey I can see you over there! Who are you? Answer me!” I yelled.

There was a low toned laugh in my head. Judging by everyone’s expression, they heard it too.

“Fools…follow for….the truth. It is…time…for you…to…take part…in…the….fate.” The voice echoed in our heads.

 I teleported us all over to the spot I had seen the man. I dropped to one knee, a bit drained n energy.

“Sorry, force of habit I guess.” I apologized.

“You can teleport all of us? That’s awesome.” Lol said.

I smiled and stood up. There was a narrow tunnel leading into the earth. We had to go, one by one. I went first. Behind me; Zaphod had point, behind him was Ashes, then I believe it was Kitty, Lol and Woxy was last. The tunnel turned every few feet. At each turn, I saw the man at the end of the tunnel. Finally, after several minutes of shuffling through the narrow tunnel, we made it to the end. And it was actually, a dead end.

“What? There’s nothing up here guys…but…I saw him go through.” I announced.

“Maybe it’s a Redstone door. Which means; we can break it down.” Woxy yelled from the back.

“Someone hand me a pickaxe and I will. Mine’s broken.” I called.

Someone handed me one, and I began hitting the wall. After only two swings, the whole thing came down and revealed a library. We filed out into the library, and began looking around.

“This place, exists here? How is that possible?” Ashes asked.

“The elder of the village who keeps to his home, he says that there used to be an entire town around here. But something swallowed the rest of the town and its villagers into the darkness. It looks like it was just an oversized sinkhole.” Zaphod said.

I wasn’t too sure about that, but I found something I was sure about. I was sure it was evil. A black chest with purple particles floating around it was in a back room. Inside were several books. One titled: The First Three. The Second was titled: Monsters of the New Realm. And the third was titled: Three worlds: The Future? These titles said something to me. It was like they were important to us all. I opened one and tried to read it, but the words were in a language I’d never seen. I shrugged and looked in the chest again. Inside the chest was also a strange jeweled eye. It was green in coloration but that wasn’t the strange part. When I picked it up, it felt like it was vibrating, moving in a certain direction. I looked at it closely, only to have it blink at me. Of course I screamed and dropped it.

“What is, what’s wrong!?” Zaphod yelled, drawing his sword.

I exited the small room and showed everybody the eye and the books.

“I can’t read what’s in them. It’s either so worn it can’t be read, or in another language.” I said.

“We’ll take it to the elder. He’s so old he should be able to. And if he can’t, no one can.” Woxy explained.

“And what exactly should I do with the eye? It may look like crystal but its real, it blinked at me.” I said, holding the eye away from me.

“It’s probably in the one of the books; we’ll…what the hell is that?” Ashes asked.

Ashes pointed to something on the second floor. Whatever it was had black skin and bright purple eyes like Zaphod. The moment we all made eye contact with it, it went berserk, letting out the same shriek we had heard earlier. It teleported down to the floor we were on and stood there, looking us all over. We probably looked threating with our swords drawn. It looked at me, or more specifically, my bag. Its long arms began to shake, along with its tall slender body. Its head began to stretch vertically. As it did, the black skin began to drip and rip like ooze moving too fast. The head reconnected with the body, and then detached again, only begin held on by a few tethers of blackened skin.

“Everyone: get ready!” Zaphod ordered.

The creature ran at me, its arms outstretched. I swung my sword, trying to warn it away. The creature suddenly teleported behind Ashes and grabbed her arms. She elbowed the creature in the side, causing it to release her. Ashes staggered away from it, and threw her sword at it causing it to teleport again.

“It’s too small in here, we need to get outside. Everyone head for the tunnel!” Zaphod commanded.

We all made a break for the tunnel. Unfortunately, I was the last to arrive. As I tried to squeeze in, the creature grabbed me. The moment it touched my skin, I felt a strange surge of energy. I turned and looked at the creature dead in the eyes. It let out another shriek, to which I yelled back.

“You want me? Just do it already you tall b*****d!” I yelled.

The room began to shake now. The walls and floor began to blur. There was a rush of air and then; a bright light. It was the sunlight. We had somehow teleported onto the surface.

“What did…how…you did this!?” I yelled again.

I charged the creature and thrust at it with sword. Instead of teleporting, my sword stabbed into the creature’s side. It let out a scream and teleported away to the edge of the ravine. The creature was rubbing its eyes, like they hurt. It looked around, and seemed to be looking at me. It started running at me, when it suddenly fell to the ground on its knees. It looked at me, its mouth still open like it was screaming at me. I walked up to it, and looked at it. That’s when I saw an arrow stuck in its back. I looked around and saw Ashes standing there. I saw the others begin to climb out of the ravine.

“This thing and I-“

“You teleported over half of the library here Oki” Lol exclaimed.

“I did? How do you know that?” I asked.

“We heard some rumbling and ran back to check on you. When we got back to the library, chunks of the stone walls, the bookshelves and the floor were missing.” Kitty explained.

I smiled then looked back at the creature. Its skin was beginning to look dryer. Its body was shaking violently and the arrow appeared to be slowly being pushed out of its body. I saw this and acted. I raised my sword, and brought it down on the creature’s head.

 

Zaphod

It was strange seeing this. Here I had been the one to suggest we stay in town, but I was now the one saying how we should go mining more often. I could tell by the look on everyone’s faces, they felt the same way as me. They thought I had changed from that trip. And I had, for the better I hoped.

“When we get back to the village, I want to make an announcement. We’ll give our material to Demetria and I’ll call a town meeting.” I told everyone.

They all smiled as if what just happened never occurred. The sight of Oki killing a creature we had never seen, and that creature being able to teleport like him. As well as the strange underground library, the books, the crystal eye, and the strange gem that was dropped by the black creature. All of these factors played in my head, trying to piece themselves together. I shrugged it off for now. Seeing how much fun everyone had, gave me a new look on life.

Entering the village, I could immediately tell something was off. The feeling I had felt in the mines was back. A dark foreboding feeling hung in the air. The rest of the group seemed to sense it too. Demetria walked up to me at that point, a sad and guilty look in her eyes.

“Oh sir, you’re back. We have…um…a bit of a situation. Someone came while you were gone.” Demetria said.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Well, nothing really “happened.” We just got a visitor who stayed.” Demetria explained.

I looked at her. I was full of confusion, anger and doubt.

“Go smelt these, and forge what you can with them. Everyone; swords out, and follow me to, where Demetria?” I asked.

“He’s being held in the spare house, with guards on all sides.” Demetria explained.

I led the march to the house. It wasn’t hard to find as there was a large crowed of curious onlookers surrounding the house.

“Everyone back away! Kitty, Ashes; up on those houses and have arrows ready. Lol, Oki, Woxy; you three with me, form an arch. Doug, open the door.” I ordered.

The guard nodded and opened the door slowly. Oki, Woxy, Lol and I readied for someone to come charging out. Instead, a man just slowly walked out of the house. He rubbed his eyes and looked around.

“Is this how you treat all of your guest, leader?” The man asked.

“This is how I treat people who come into the village uninvited. Just ask this guy.” I said, motioning towards Oki.

“Oh well, where are my manners? I’m Hero Brine.” Hero introduced.

“I’m-“

“Zaphod the Protector, I assume. The cat girl up on that building over there is your wife, Ashes Fallfar. The fox guy over there is Woxy foxy, and next to him is Lol King. The cat girl in the black and purple hoodie is Kitty LeStrange and he’s…a commoner.” Hero smiled.

Oki tensed up suddenly. He stared dead straight at Hero.

“Easy Oki, he’s just trying to get under your skin. You’re going to stay in there for a while, until we know we can trust you.” I explained.

“It’s your funeral.” Hero said as Doug shut the door and locked it.

“Everyone go home and go to bed, now! Just because he’s here doesn’t mean training and daily chores are canceled. Everyone else, follow me to the elder’s house. We need to get these books translated if possible.” I ordered.

Everyone scattered in different directions. Kitty and Ashes climbed off of the buildings they were on and followed me. Oki ran up next to me and stopped me.

“I want him gone. I don’t know what you think he can offer us, but I know I saw him down in that ravine, the one I yelled at.” Oki said.

“I understand Oki, but I can’t just kick him out when he says something like; your funeral.” I explained.

“That was a threat! He’s threatening you in the guise of trying to help you from something bad.” Oki said.

I left it alone as we arrived at the elder’s house. His house was made out of cobblestone, as opposed to the wooden buildings we all used as homes. I knocked on the door, but heard no answer.

“Maybe he’s out?” Lol asked.

“From what I’ve been told, he’s never left his house. Maybe we can-“

Suddenly, Oki sighed loudly, and teleported. We all looked around but couldn’t see him. There was a commotion inside the house. The door burst open to reveal Oki standing there and the elder looking terrified.

“I found him.” Oki said proudly.

I smiled, and we all walked inside.

 

Elder

I just wanted them to leave. They were just there to make fun of me, like they all do. I ignored the door, and made my way to the kitchen. Suddenly, a guest of air from behind me caused me to turn around. A young man in a suit stood there. I had double bolted the door, so there was no way he could have broken in. He teleported over to me, and grabbed me by the shirt collar.

“Open the door for my friends now old man.” The man threatened.

I grabbed my keys and went over to the door. I turned the locks and heard the deadbolts deactivate.

“That’s a lot of security for trying to keep people out.” The man said to me.

“My locks are not just about keeping people out. They’re about keeping them in.” I told him.

I opened the door to see several other people standing outside my door.

“Won’t you, come in…I guess.” I said.

They all came into my home and stood around the table, as if they were waiting for me to tell them something.

“Well, I don’t have much to entertain guest. I only have what I-“

“We brought you some books.” Captain Zaphod said.

The man from earlier gave me three books. I looked them over, my eyes growing wide.

“Oh dear…oh my…what have you brought to me?” I asked.

“We don’t know. We can’t read anything except the covers. We were hoping you’d be able to tell us.” Zaphod asked.

“I can. But I must warn you; these are long tales.” I warned.

Everyone took a seat and looked at me, like I was their grandfather spinning an old yarn about my youth.

“Oh, I see. This must be important then. Allow me to translate. This first one is the history of our past. How the world came to be, and how the others did as well. I’ll begin with that one.

Long ago, our great deity Notch Mojang, created this land. At the center of it, he created a source of energy so powerful, it kept the world spinning. On the earth, he created three beings. The Dragon was created to guard the sky, and help the sun and moon across the sky. The Human warrior was created to watch over the land, to observe the planets growing there. And the Skeleton was created to watch over the underground caves. All three lived peacefully and in harmony with each other. One day, Notch told his creations that one of them will be given the energy of the world, to create in his absence. Because of this, the Dragon work exceptionally hard to claim the prize. The Skeleton shirked his job, as the earth was never going to cave into the ground. The Human, continuously did his job as he did every day. Finally the day came, and the Dragon was sure he would get the power. However, when the time came, Notch granted it to the Human. Confused and outraged, the Dragon protested Notch’s choice. Notch explained that he was proud of the Human for not doing his job because he would be rewarded. Angered, the Dragon returned to the sky, to guide the moon across. Meanwhile, the human used his newfound power, to create a beautiful new world. He created vast forest, plentiful seas, sky piercing mountains, and death inviting ravines.  Notch was pleased with his child’s progress. However, the Dragon was even more angered by this. One night, the Dragon went down to visit the Skeleton, and convinced it to team up against the human, to take the power for themselves. So, they attacked, and were defeated. But in their defeat, was also a victory. While they failed to claim the power for themselves in a whole, they succeeded in separating the power into three parts. Outraged by their betrayal, Notch banished the Skeleton into a realm far below the planet, and the Dragon into a realm high above. He created dimensional barriers to make sure that neither of them could return to his earth. Ashamed, the human sulked for being so weak. Notch comforted him, and together with the planet’s remaining power brought fourth animals and other humans into the land. Meanwhile, the Skeleton now drunk with power forged his own realm.  A twisted mockery of the world above, it was hellish world. No water flowed in it, only rivers and seas of magma. No animals could thrive there. Nothing but the Skeleton could live there. While the Dragon, created nothing but a single floating island for him to rule over. And things were peaceful until the Dragon became power hungry again. Notch had foreseen his son’s unquenchable thirst for power, and came up with a backup plan. He plucked a single star from the sky, and handed it to the Human. He explained how to craft a device, which would pull the three realms together. Only the realm where the device was activated from, would survive, as would the creatures from it. All others, would parish. The Dragon couldn’t let his home be destroyed. He studied his energy every day, and found his Father’s mistake. The three parts of the energy were still resonating together. They were connected through the dimensions. He crafted thousands of pearls that produced similar energy signals, enough to travel to the other world, but never enough to create life. Though he tried countless times, he was never able to enter earth again. Instead, he created life. He took all of the black soil of his island in the sky, and forged creatures out of it. Their skin black as the soil, they were merely puppets, with no heart or soul. He gave them the pearls, and sent them to earth. Once on earth, they stole the star from the Human, and returned to the Dragon. Notch demanded the star back to which the Dragon revealed his plan. He planned on activating the device, to bring all worlds to his own. The energy would survive, and he would absorb them as well, and become the true ruler of his own world, a world and event he called The End. Notch was angered by this, and gave the Human portals to enter the other worlds with. The Human readied for battle, but was too late. The Dragon entered the Nether, and destroyed his brother. Sealing the star within his soul before his death, he then burned his body to dust, and separated his heads, creating bodies for them. Notch knew that if his son absorbed the two parts, he would be too strong for the Human to defeat. So he finally intervened with his last remaining strength. He permanently bound the Dragon to The End, so that the only way he could escape, was with all three parts of the energy core. The portals to the other worlds were destroyed. The very keys to reactivating them, in the very creatures the Dragon, now known as the Ender Dragon had created. Notch’s power began to fade. He left the human in charge of the world, until he could recover; a job not so easily done. The Ender Dragon’s travels to the Nether and his Endermen’s travels to earth, left fractures in the barriers that Notch had placed. Horrid creature’s, not of any world’s design, began to leak into the earth and the Nether. The gasses of the fractures engulfed the residents of the earth. Corpses that had been dead for generations, and were nothing but bones begin to rise, and attack the living with arrows. The living and the recently dead began to attack the living, infecting them. Spiders grew to large sizes. Human females, who breathed the gasses in, quickly grew hateful, and knew the arcane art of potion making by heart. Any of these creatures that breathed in too much of the gas turned green, and were filled with so much energy, they exploded. The earth became a nightmarish place. Creatures began to enter the Nether as well. These creatures however, seemed to be attracted to the Nether. Happy there, they seemed to coexists in peace.” I breathed deeply.

They all sat there, speechless.

“Well that was quite a mouthful. Now um, this second book appears to be someone’s interpretation and observations of the creatures. Including the Wither Skeleton and the Ender Dragon it seems. Curious book, isn’t it?” I asked.

They all looked at me.

“Well, here’s what this says.

The creatures invading this world are not to be trifled with. They all possess strengths and weaknesses.

The Creeper; nocturnal, always hostile, explode on contact, appears to have a stomach of concentrated energy.

The Zombie; nocturnal, always hostile, burns in sunlight, appears to retain some intelligence and memory as they can use weapons, they may infect other humans.

The Skeleton; nocturnal, always hostile, burns in sunlight, appears to retain some intelligence and memory as they can use weapons.

The Spider; nocturnal, passive-aggressive in the light, they attack only at night and only when provoked in the day.

The Endermen; nocturnal, passive-aggressive, only attacks when looked at, can teleport, has strange attraction to natural material such as dirt.

The Witch; nocturnal, aggressive, only females are affected by gasses, always use a healing potion before they attack.

Slimes; only known statues are they are comprised of solid yet liquid ooze that is animated through some unknown means. Also: hostile.

Creatures of the Nether-

Magma cubes: only known statues are they are comprised of solid yet liquid ooze that is animated through some unknown means. Also: hostile.

Zombie Pigmen; reanimated animals, passive-aggressive, are hostile to anyone who threatens the pack.

Ghast; are extremely hostile, flying enemy, fires explosive blast.

Blazes; territorial hostile, will throw molten stone at attackers. Note: appears to be held together through magic?

Wither Skeletons; Blackened tall skeletons, three are within the fortress. No further observations.

Wither Skeleton; My brother, three headed floating skeleton; he is able to blind and distort his victims.

Ender Dragon; my eldest brother, he’s locked in The End until his release. Note: he was unable to fully absorb both of his parts of the energy; he created nodes to regulate the power to him. Destruction of nodes; possible battle technique?” I finished reading.

Again, the room was silent.

“This last book only has a few lines in it.

If you’re reading this book, then you are the only hope there is. My brother, the Ender Dragon, will one day bring an end to this world. If you are reading this, I am dead, or otherwise unable to fulfill my duties as protector of this realm. You must retrieve the star from my younger brother the Wither Skeleton. To bring him back to life, you must slay the three separate black Skeletons, hidden in the Nether. And collect the Soul Sand that was left from his burnt corpse. Once you summon him, and kill him, you should find the star. Build the device as instructed on the next few pages, and the world should be saved. However, if the Beacon doesn’t fire, that is because no energy is present in that realm. Which means you must come to The End to find the Ender Dragon, and I’m assuming me. I must still be alive there if he hasn’t invaded your realm. To reach The End, relieve a Blaze of its fiery rods, and break them into powder. Sprinkle them onto an Ender Pearl, collected from slaying an Endermen and they should lead you to a monster fortress, at the end of which is my portal to The End. Good luck, and may Notch Mojang watch over you.” I explained.

At that, Captain Zaphod stood up, and thanked me. They exited my house silently. I stood there, wondering what I had just done.

 

Oki

I breathed in the coming cool night air.

“I’ll take watch tonight with Kitty.” I said.

Zaphod agreed as he and the others separated to their houses. I followed Kitty up the ladder to the Watch Tower.

“So here’s where we do all the overlooking of the area. That chest over there has some arrows and a bow in it, with some food to keep us awake. Eat the food with care; it might just knock you out.” Kitty laughed.

We walked around all of the windows and looked around the Village’s walls. Off in the distance, I saw something that, from the moment I saw it moving, disturbed me.

“Kitty, can you check out whatever that is over there?” I asked.

She walked over and looked off into the distance, her eyes focusing. They grew wide and she grabbed her bow from her side and strung up an arrow.

“Go get the others. Tell them we have a whole lot of fight coming our way…” Kitty said sternly.

Confused, I quickly climbed down the stairs. Once at the bottom, I heard it. It was low due to its distance, but it was loud from the volume of those sharing it; the collective moans of zombies.

“Zaphod wake up! Ashes, Woxy and Lol; wake up! This is not a drill I repeat this is not a drill!” I yelled as I ran around the village.

As I ran around the village, I heard doors opening up besides just the ones I wanted.

“Everyone; get inside and lock your doors until we tell you otherwise!” I yelled.

Everyone retreated back into their homes. Ashes, Zaphod, Woxy and Lol all ran up to me, swords and armor ready.

“What’s going on?” Zaphod asked me urgently.

Before I could answer, there was another wave of moans. They sounded not closer, but larger in number. We all quickly made our ways to the Watch Tower. At the top, we found Kitty sitting in a corner, cradled and rocking back and forth.

“We’re all going to die here, tonight. We’re all going to die here, tonight. We’re all going to die here, tonight.” She repeated.

“Kitty; get ahold of yourself and tell me what’s going on!” Zaphod ordered.

“Look towards the ocean…” Kitty suggested.

We all looked off in the direction I had told her to. Our hearts collectively skipped several beats from the sight. Armies of zombies were gathering on the hill. There appeared to be four different factions of zombies. One faction was clad in leather armor, with a leader at the front on a horse, wearing bright white leather armor. The next faction was clad in what appeared to be chainmail armor. Their leader was also on a horse. The last two factions were clad in either gold, or iron armor. Regardless of their armor color, they were all marching towards the village.

“Everyone get ready. We’re going to intercept them at that field over there. Death or victory; we will protect this village.” Zaphod ordered.

We all nodded in agreement and rushed down the ladder. At the bottom, I heard someone calling to us. Looking around, I saw Hero Brine’s face at the window of his cell.

“Guys please; this is what I was trying to warn you about. The armies of darkness are on their way here. They’re destroying any and every village they can, until nothings left. My village was destroyed because I wasn’t there. Please; let me avenge my family and friends.” Hero begged.

“Fine; you’re staying here to watch the village. If anything makes it over or through that wall; kill them.” Zaphod ordered.

I was given some iron armor and food. The black smith supplied us all with backup swords. After we were set, we all ran out of the village towards the upcoming armies. A thousands thoughts raced in my head. Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine of those were about the different ways I could, and most likely would die. The last thought, was on the one way I could possibly live.

“We’re here…” Zaphod said as we burst from the forest tree line, into the field.

Unfortunately he was right. The thick forest we had been in was now a wide open green field. Directly across from us, the armies stood, ready for battle.

“This feels wrong.” Ashes said as she drew her sword.

“All that’s missing is�"“

Before Lol could finish what he was saying, it began to rain.

“Eyes open everyone. More things can spawn in the rain.” Woxy warned.

One of the apparent zombie generals stepped forward. He had something or someone on his back. Once he was close, he took the thing off his back, revealing it to be a person, wrapped up in a cloth bag. The zombie placed the man down in a sitting position, and placed his hand on top of the man’s head.

“Put your weapons down, and walk away fleshlings. We only want to find the one called Hero Brine.” The man puppet said.

The puppet talked with an odd hollowness to his voice. A mixture of what I’m assuming was the voice of both the dead man, and the zombie when they were alive.

“What do you want with him?” I asked.

“That is between the creatures of this world, and him.” The puppet said.

“We are creatures of this world. Now either you tell us, or we could start Feast Day early and carve all of you up now.” Ashes threatened.

“Hero Brine is the harbinger of; The End. He will bring about the destruction of this world if he isn’t stopped.” The puppet explained.

“You swear on the grounds we kill you, you’ll only take him and go?” Zaphod asked.

“I cannot promise that my brothers and sisters will not harm a human, but I can promise that we will take him and go.” The puppet said, a weak smile forming on its face.

“We will bring him out. You will take him away, eat him, kill him, and do what you wish. But you will never harm my village.” Zaphod told him, lowering his sword.

“I will gladly accept your surrender Captain Za�"“

The air began to whistle. We all looked around to see what it was. An arrow suddenly impaled the zombie in the head, killing it instantly. As its body vanished in a puff of black mist, the other zombies charged us.

Drawing our swords again, we were engulfed by a sea of zombies. I felt one of them try and bite my leg. I kicked him off and teleported myself to one of the trees. Once I was up there, I looked around the swarm of zombies. I saw everyone completely over run. Focusing on the spot I was in and each of them, I teleported to each of them and back to the tree. After I rescued the last one, Lol, we all sat at the top of the tree looking down at the swarm of zombies.

“I can’t do this guy’s it’s impossible.” Lol said.

“We can’t give up.” Zaphod said, staggering to his feet.

“Za, I want to protect the village too, but there comes a time where we just can’t. This is that time.” Ashes said sadly.

We all dropped our heads in sadness. We watched as the zombies made their way to the village.

“Here’s to the end of the village.” Woxy said sadly.

The sadness was pierced by the sound of zombies dying as they got close to the village. We jumped from tree to tree to see what the commotion was. A wall of flames had surrounded the village walls, killing every zombie that touched it instantly.

“Nice defense guys, that was really clever of you.” Zaphod said.

‘What? You mean you didn’t set that up?” I asked.

“Of course I didn’t. You guys did…right?” He asked, now a bit more concerned.

We all shook our heads.

“Shh. Guys, you hear that?” Kitty asked.

Through the zombie’s moans and death cries, there was screaming. Not pain filled, like one would expect from being eaten alive by zombies, but more fearful. Like seeing something you never were meant to see.

“We have to get in there, Oki, teleport us in.” Zaphod commanded.

I focused my mind and tried, but when I did, I saw a flash of Hero Brine’s face in my head, and an evil and sinister laugh.

“I can’t. Hero Brine is blocking my powers somehow.” I explained.

“Through the wall of flames it is then!” Lol cried.

He jumped off the tree and charged towards the flames. Right before he touched them, the flames opened like a curtain and he went through unharmed. Confused but relieved, we jumped down and followed him to the other side of the wall of flames.

“I don’t hear the screams anymore…” Kitty said quietly.

Zaphod hit a switch and the gateway opened. We all walked in, and were stunned by the sight; nothing. There wasn’t a soul in the village left. The buildings had all been picked apart, and pieces of them were scattered everywhere. Hero Brine was next to the elder’s house, passed out. We approached him with caution.

“Hero, what happened?” Ashes asked.

“They came so quickly. I had no choice, but to use my powers and put up a wall to protect us. I saved the villagers. But the man in this house, we couldn’t…” Hero trailed off.

“It’s ok Hero. Elder! It’s Zaphod! You can come out of your house now, the zombies are gone!” Zaphod called out.

There was a noise inside the house. The front door creaked as something pushed against it. I looked down, and saw water leaking from the door.

“Guys, I think he’s trapped. Something must have happened, look at all that water.” I said.

Ashes walked over to the door with Woxy. The two of them kicked the door, breaking it. Water flooded the area outside his house. The elder fell out of the house on the current.

“What have you fools done!? You broke my only source of protection!” The elder yelled.

“What are you talking about? Zombies can swim; you weren’t safer in there than out here.” I told him.

“I’m not hiding from the zombies, I’m hiding from…look out Captain!” The elder yelled again.

The elder grabbed Zaphod, and spun him around him. An arrow suddenly impacted his back. We looked for the shooter, and saw Hero hovering in midair.

“So, my little secret is out.” Hero laughed.

“What the hell Hero? What’d you do that for?” Zaphod screamed.

“My master asked for every soul of this village to be taken and converted to either Endermen, or their souls turned into Ender Pearls. We took everyone to The End, but he…he had protection. His house has a layer of water flowing between its bricks, something the creatures of The End can’t touch. So we couldn’t get in his house, so we waited. Little did we know the old man was going to try to kill himself; taking the secrets of the Beacon to his watery grave. But you fools played your parts perfectly. And I didn’t even have to try to trick you. Thank you for your service to the Ender Dragon.” Hero explained.

“You b*****d I’ll kill you!” Zaphod yelled.

“Kill me with what dear Captain? Your impenetrable armor or your freak show face?” Hero laughed.

We all readied for battle. Hero raised his bow in the air. Purple fog covered it and lifted, revealing a turquoise colored sword. Everyone stepped back, a bit discouraged.

“That’s right mortals. Tremble before the might of the very sword that will bring The End to reality. My master has sat, and waited in The End for ten thousand years. Waiting to absorb the power of this planet ever since. That old man’s brain holds the final pieces of the key I need to build. Now, hand him over or�"“

Hero fell to the ground, holding his head. His skin was beginning to turn black as night. The elder was chanting something that seemed to be working on him.

“Eductor finis, audite verba; haec cutis est solum animo falsissimum. Tuus cutis est anima tua, et usque ad coques coques. Corpus tuum, et luto cor par. Quia morieris tu anima omnis malitia et anima in me ponere cibis.Tenebris ad tuum mitto maledicta vita. Perforabit verba mea quasi exacutus cultro. Vivamus erus tibi mitto. Finis enim ferre non hodie. (Bringer of The End; hear these words: Your skin is soil, your soul fake. Your skin shall boil and your soul to bake. Your body is dirt, and your heart to match. You will die for every soul you’ve hurt, and on your soul, I place a latch. I send you back to the dark with your cursed life. Let my words pierce you, like a sharpened knife. Back to your master, you I send. For today you shall not bring The End.)” The elder chanted.

Hero’s body began to shake. He staggered to his feet and glared at the elder.

“Your kind should have been exterminated long ago. I’ll be back. And I will kill every one of the humans of this world.” Hero groaned.

Hero jumped up and vanished into purple mist. The elder smiled as he vanished.

“So…I was right. I knew something was wrong with him.” I told them.

“Young ones listen to the last advice of a foolish old man. You don’t have much time. It is too late to save the people of this village. This mess is my fault. Hero Brine is my creation, and unfortunately because of my love, your burden. He was my son several years ago. But from the moment my wife gave birth to him, I knew he was evil. He had destroyed our village, killing everyone there, and his powers were growing every day. I had no choice but to kill him. I left his body, buried underground. But one night, a beam of light shot from the spot I buried him. The Ender Dragon resurrected him, leaving a portion of his soul intact so that he may live. That soul is deteriorating. Once it is gone, he will slip between the barriers of life and death, and fade away. To accelerate that, repeat the words I’ve written on the black book in my house. The Ender Dragon is looking for someone. I feel it is Steve, the original human. What’s more; I believe he is looking for someone to control, who is strong enough to carry out his will. You mustn’t let that happen. Follow the instructions in the Orange book, and you will find the Wither. Build the Beacon, and fire it. The Nether and The End will collapse. Once they do, the fractures will heal, and creatures will no longer spawn in this world. Please…you…must…” The elder’s words began to grow raspy.

We watched as the life left his eyes, and his body faded into white mist.

            Woxy

As the Elder’s body faded away, Zaphod and I stood up and looked at each other. I knew we had the same idea.

“I’ll get the food that’s left ready.” I announced.

“I’ll go get the horses.” Zaphod said.

We went our separate directions, and later met back up in the center of town.

“Ok, we should be able to arrive there by sundown, if we ride these horses to the brink of collapse.” Zaphod said.

“Well, depending on where it is.” I said.

“I know exactly where it is.” Zaphod explained.

I looked at him questionably. Kitty exited the Elder’s house, holding the two books he’d left for us.

“According to this orange one, we need ten pieces of stone called Obsidian. Mined using a diamond pickaxe, they must be placed in a specific way. Two stones making the base, and the top of the doorway. Three stones making the two sides. After that, if we strike it with some flint and steel, the sparks should ignite a temporary portal to the Nether. Then he left a location to build it…I think.” Kitty explained.

“Throw that book away.” Zaphod ordered.

“Throw it away? That’s our whole route right there.” I protested.

“It’s our route? I know my way to the Mountain village.’ He said.

“What? You want to go to the mountain village?” I asked.

“We’re going to the village up on Snow Peak. Where did you think we were going?” Zaphod asked me.

“We’re going to the Nether to get the Wither Skeleton supplies.” I explained.

“That’s a fairytale a dying old man told you. It’s not real. The village in the mountains is a real place. And it’s probably one of the last remaining villages in the area.” Zaphod told us.

I drew my sword, which caused Ashes to string an arrow to her bow. She caused a chain reaction of everyone drawing their weapons.

“If you want to go hide until the Endermen take you all away, be my guest. We’re following those books and putting an end to this.” I told him.

Zaphod looked at me, hate and sadness in his eyes.

“It seems we’re destined to drift away. Fine, go find your diamonds. Mine your obsidian and go to the Nether. I’ll be sure to write how fool hearted you were on your grave stones.” Zaphod said.

He turned away from us and motioned to Ashes to lower her bow, which she did slowly. The two of them walked towards the gateway to the mountains, and left without saying a word.

“Woxy, you’re our leader now. Better be right about this.” Oki said to me.

I turned and smiled a confident smile towards him.

“I’m not sure I am. But I’m sick of doing things by the book.” I said.

Which was ironic: considering I was going to be following a book, written by a crazed old man, to the letter.

We all sulked for a moment, and decided to move on. We picked up out bags and were proceeding towards the gate, when Kitty stopped us.

“Well, we should use this place as a base. Until we get everything settled. We could use the ravine nearby as a place to mine. We don’t even really have to leave.” Kitty explained.

“She makes a good point. It’d be kind of pointless to go somewhere else. Besides; the Endermen have already picked this place apart as far as they know. There’s no reason to come here again.” Oki said.

I nodded in agreement. We all sighed a sigh of relief. We broke apart towards our respective houses, and re-grouped in the center of town again, pickaxes in hand.

“Well, this is it. Anyone want to say anything before we go?” I asked.

“Yeah. First to three diamonds gets to go into the Nether first.” Oki laughed as he made his way to the gateway.

 

Zaphod

            Leaving them was difficult. I was reluctant to leave, but I knew my place in the world: to follow the rules to the best of my abilities. My rules. Ashes understood that, or I think she did. But I was getting this feeling of a deep sadness from her. Night had fallen, and it had been a long a tedious walk for the both of us. We were in a field, directly below the mountains. The walk was bad enough, the climb promised to be worse. Our goal was in sight though: what I assumed was the last of the villages in the world. High up on the mountains, the only thing connecting the mountain’s two peaks. I smiled.

“Ashes, this is it. We’re nearly…there? Ashes?” I asked.

I turned to see Ashes glaring at me.

“What is it?” I asked again.

“You. It’s you Zaphod. You think this is the best option? I agree with what they’re doing, they’re trying to stop this at the source.” Ashes seemed agitated.

“Ashes: This is our place in this world. To fight for those who otherwise can’t fight for themselves. “I explained.

She narrowed her eyes further. I sighed and grabbed for the first rock I could.

“Fine. I’ll come with you. Just remember; every wall will to fall.” She told.

I took what she said to heart. And it pierced my heart like a dagger. Through this pain of knowing she wasn’t happy with my choice, we ascended to the mountain village. Stone after stone, divot after divot, we climbed to the snow covered peaks.

“Are we almost there?” Ashes asked from below me.

I looked down at her, a thought crossing my mind. Were we almost there? I turned my head back towards the top, and got my answer. Spears, swords and bows were readied and aimed directly at my head.

“Oh. Um, hello. I am Captain Zaphod. B. of the Village at the Forest’s edge. I’ve come to bring myself and my wife, Ashes Fallfar to assist you in warding off creatures and anything else needed.” I announced.

One of the spear holders, a girl of about thirteen smiled a devilish smile at me.

“Oh really now, because it looks more like you two need the help.” The girl laughed.

Several others in the group chuckled, but held their weapons steady.

“Out of the way: the Chief’s coming through!” A voice boomed from behind the crowed.

The crowed parted in half, and took a knee. A man approached the edge I was clinging to. I couldn’t tell if he was going to let me in, or kick me off the mountain side. I took his silent moment to look down at Ashes. She had her back pressed against the side of the mountain, her arms reaching in either direction to grab hold of the stones. She looked up at me and glared.

“Tell him if he doesn’t let us up there, I’m going to climb up and throw his a*s off myself!” She yelled.

“Is that so ma’am?” The Chief asked.

“Don’t call me ma’am!” Ashes yelled back.

“(Hearty laugh) I haven’t heard someone this feisty since my daughter lived here. Let them up. Let them keep their rations and weapons.” The chief motioned and walked away.

Though I could tell the girl from earlier was disappointed, the others helped Ashes and I up onto the cliff side. We all marched back towards their town. As the gates opened…

“Lady and gentleman, I’d like to be the first to welcome you to the Village at the Top of the World. I welcome you: to Icemites Village.” The Chief said proudly.

 

Oki

            Three hours after the decision to return to the ravine…      

“I knew this was a s****y idea!” I screamed.

“Shut up and run Oki!” Kitty yelled from behind me.

It’d been less than five hours since we’d ventured underground. We had chosen to stay together and mine further down into the ground to find diamonds. Unfortunately, we dug too much of the ground away, and when the floor collapsed from under us we fell into a spider Spawner room. We exited post haste and had been running for ten minutes when the spider pursuers gave up.

“That….was….ri…ridiculous.” I said my breathing heavy and shaky.

“Yeah, we were almost dinner.” Kitty laughed a bit.

We all laughed a bit, until we heard the hiss of a spider nearby. We caught our breath and continued looking.

“Guys, I’m convinced we aren’t going to find…oh…hello.” Lol walked over a small mound in the cave.

We walked over the mound and saw what he was looking at. Across a small pond of lava, three distinctive stones were encrusted with diamond shards.

“It’s too dangerous. We should backtrack and see if we can’t�"“

“Isn’t the river just above us?” I asked, interrupting Woxy.

“Yeah it is. Why?” Woxy asked.

“I’ll climb up there, and mine to the surface. Once I hit it, the water will flow down, and convert the lava into stone.” I said proudly.

“Assuming you could climb up there. Let’s just build a stone walk way over.” Kitty suggested.

We all began arguing with one another. As if fed up with us, the roof of the cave began to lower. Water began to drip from it, and before we could move, a cascade of water burst through the dirt and washed us all into different directions. The water took me towards the lava. I tried to teleport, but it wouldn’t work. I couldn’t focus with so much going on. I saw and felt the heat of the lava as I approached on the wave. I closed my eyes and braced for the impact.

“Oki!” I heard everyone call out.

My face smashed into something abnormally hard. The flow of water seemed to die away. Dazed, I looked up and saw why. Lol, Woxy and Kitty had made a human ladder to the hole in the roof. They’d plugged it with something I wasn’t able to see.

“Lucky for you, I carried a few blocks of stone with us.” Kitty laughed at me.

As the water seemed to just vanish, I looked down at the purple stone it had left.

“Lol, what does the book say about this Obsidian stuff?” I asked.

Kitty handed the book to Lol, while she began to mine the diamonds.

“It says that it’s crated through rapid cooling of lava and water. It can only be mined with a diamond pickaxe.” He reported.

“This is it. The obsidian we need!” I yelled.

Everyone shushed me.

“There’s one problem. He depicts a box around it, and a note that says cage. He also wrote two-way-door.” Lol said.

“That means other things can come out. If: they find the portal. I have an idea. We’ll construct a dome around it. That can only be opened from the outside. We’ll build it near the town, that way; one person can stay at home, and the other three go out. We’ll find a way to let them know when we’re home.” Woxy announced.

We agreed. Suddenly, something smashed into the stone near me. Kitty had mined the diamonds and constructed a pickaxe in that time period. I was stunned by her quickness. She hit the stone several dozen times. After the twentieth hit, the stone shrunk to a small cube. I picked it up and smiled.

“This is it. We’re one tenth of the way to freeing this world.” I smiled.

Half an hour passed. In that time we had collected all of the obsidian needed, made out way back to the surface, and battled some creatures. We returned to the city and began constructing a glass dome. According to Woxy, creatures were unable to understand the concept of glass, and thought they were being blocked by a wall of air. It took time, coal and sand in furnaces. But we successfully found a way to complete the dome. Thanks to Woxy’s understanding of redstone devices, we were able to craft solid iron doors. At a safe distance, a lever was placed to open the doors safely allowing only those out that were wanted.

“It’s done.” Lol sighed as he fell onto his back.

We had worked through the night and were all exhausted. Tiered and drained of all energy, we each said good morning and left for our houses. In Kitty’s house, I collapsed onto her bed, and passed out. The morning sun was blinding me, but a warm fuzzy embrace as well.

That night, I was awoken by a screeching sound. I jumped out of bed and grabbed my sword. I rushed out of Kitty’s house and saw that the others were all standing around the Nether portal dome.

“So, come to see the show too?” Woxy asked.

I walked up to the dome and saw what he was referring to: zombies with swords. The creatures had pink colored skin, but several spots were also rotting away, revealing bones and internal organs. They snorted like pigs and all carried golden swords.

“Kitty says according to the book, these are Zombie Pigmen. They’re warriors of the Nether. They won’t attack unless we attack them first.” Woxy explained.

“They also have immunity to fire and lava. Like most of the Nether born creatures do.” Kitty reported.

“This doesn’t change anything. Kitty, you’re our archive. You record everything we find in this book I made. You’re also our sniper. Lol, you’re my second warrior. I’ll take point.” Woxy ordered.

He handed Kitty a book made out of black leather, titled Break Off team’s guide in the Nether. Lol was shuffling food around his bag. Kitty was writing now, writing about the Zombie Pigmen I guessed.

“So I get to stay here, and be the portal babysitter?” I asked a bit annoyed.

“Yeah. Last one up, last to go in. Don’t worry, we’ll be back.” Woxy smiled.

With that, I wondered over to the lever and pulled it. The two iron doors opened slowly, and the three entered. One of the zombie Pigmen exited the gates. I’d deal with him later. I shut the door before anymore could exit. The three of them stood in front of the doorway to the Nether, staring at it. I could see why it would be hypnotizing. The gateway was made out of a dark purple stone, and in the center, what was the portal itself, was a swirling mass of light purple mist.

“Come on guys, don’t be cowards. It’s just a hellish dimension where nothing can thrive from this world.” I joked.

Woxy looked back and glared. Kitty was the first to approach the portal. She slowly raised her hand to touch it. As she made contact, her skin began to disintegrate into nothing. She put more of her hand in. After that, her arm, shoulder, the left side of her body, and then she was gone. Woxy slowly approached the portal next.

“Kitty?” Woxy asked.

Kitty’s head reappeared from the portal.

“You guys have to come in here. It’s so…evil!” Kitty said, surprisingly happily.

Woxy and Lol exchanged looks before entering the portal. I frowned as Lol’s last foot disappeared. I leaned against the building behind me and frowned harder.

“This sucks.” I said to myself.

The escaped zombie Pigmen was wondering around aimlessly. It was exploring if I had to guess. I drew my sword and walked towards it.

“At least I can deal with you. You won’t be able to do much alone.” I smiled.

I was standing directly behind the Pigmen when it turned towards me. It seemed to be wondering who or what I was. As far as it knew, the Nether and its creatures were the only things there could be. I was a strange new creature.

“Good-bye.” I said as I swung my sword.

A single slice and his head, was lying on the ground next to him. A strange new deadly creature is what he was probably thinking now. His friends were. The moment my sword connected with his neck, the zombie Pigmen in the dome started to get in an uproar. I turned to see them pounding against the dome. Their swords all had a strange glow around them. As did the sword of the Pigmen, that just died. I picked up the sword, and was immediately filled with hatred towards myself. I dropped it once I saw the images of Kitty and the others begin to flash in my mind.

“Smite. You guys have a hive mind. You know who hates who, and you all hate them, right?” I asked the creatures through the glass.

As if to answer me, they all began to jump through the portal home.

“S**t, they’re going after them. I only hope they could get away.” I said to myself again.

Again, the portal answered me. Something was spit out of the portal. I was considering opening the doors, when whatever had appeared began to yell.

“Open the door! Let me out Oki!” The thing yelled.

That’s when I noticed what or rather, who it was. Despite being covered in a strange black substance, it was obvious now.

“Woxy!” I screamed happily.

            Woxy

            The portal left an electrifying, tingling sensation across my body as I walked through it. Kitty was standing on a ledge of the apparent cliff the portal appeared on. She was writing in the book I gave her.

“So, this is….this is the Nether? It doesn’t seem that bad.” Lol asked as he stepped through the portal.

“Yeah, seems to be. And where is the fortress. Anyone got a compass?” I asked.

“I do. It’s spinning wildly, so we won’t be able to tell north south east or west. But, it does still tell us our current position. And we are-“

“We’re right above where we need to be.” Kitty interrupted.

I walked over to the ledge with her and looked down. A large bridge, constructed of dark red bricks was below us. It led to a large structure off in the distance.

“Kitty, you still have that magic map we got a few weeks back?” I asked her.

“Of course, it’s back at home through, why?” She asked me.

“It’s able to show every room and the entire structure of a building it’s in. We have to get it into that building. I’ll head down and take a look. You two get started on a base for us to use while we’re here.” I ordered.

They happily agreed and began mining into the red stone that formed the ground. I began climbing down to the bridge when I heard Kitty scream.

“Woxy: start running!” Lol yelled.

Before I could act, a flood of zombie Pigmen rushed over the ledge after me. I began to run down the side of the cliff, more of a sprinting pace due to the incline.

“Why are they so mad!?” I screamed.

I stepped on a small pile of rocks that gave way. I tumbled and fell down onto the bridge. The wind knocked out of me, I rolled onto my back and looked up.

“Son of a b***h...” I said.

Something was standing over me. It was twice my normal height and held a large stone sword. Its bones were charred black, and where its eyes should have been, was red mist. It was a Wither Skeleton warrior.

“Guys, come fight this thing. Avenge me!” I yelled.

The skeleton thrust its sword down into my abdomen. I could feel its jagged edges begin to rip away my flesh as it withdrew it from me. I looked at the wound. Like a spider’s web, strands of blackness emerged from the wound and began to cover my body.

“He’s: Withering away!” I heard Kitty yell from the top of the cliff.

The skeleton let out what I’m guessing was a laugh. The zombie Pigmen, most likely enraged he stole their prey, now charged from the cliff they had stood on since I fell. My vision was fading, but I could make out the skeleton killing the Pigmen one at a time. Then, everything blurred. The worlds twisted and morphed. I smiled.

“I’m finally going to be at peace.” I said to myself.

Everything began to blur together. Then it hit me again, that same electrifying, tingling sensation. I landed somewhere, somewhere soft yet hard. I couldn’t see much, but I could make out one shape.

“Open the door! Let me out Oki!” I yelled.

The metal doors opened, and I slowly crawled out.

“What’s this black gunk all over you Woxy?” Oki asked.

“Just get me into my house. I need a shower and some water.” I told him.

 

Kitty

            Seeing Woxy’s body fade into white mist seemed to set Lol off. He charged down to the bridge. The landing hurt him I could tell, but he charged at the skeleton that had killed our friend. The zombie Pigmen were now all but gone now, the skeleton slightly weakened from his encounter with them. I recorded my findings into the journal. About the Withering effect they seemed to give.

“I’ll cover you!” I shouted.

 I strung an arrow to my bow and fired. I hit the skeleton dead in the forehead. He stumbled back a bit, from the impact or the surprise of. Either way, I bought Lol enough time to attack.

“I’ll kill you!” I heard Lol yell.

A few swings of his sword, and the skeleton’s ribs were nonexistent. The skeleton didn’t seem to take that as much of a disadvantage, as he began to attack Lol now. Their swords began to clash and bang together. Even though Lol’s was stronger, I could tell the impact from the skeleton’s sword was strong. I strung another arrow, and let it fly. It impacted the skeleton where its heart should have been, hitting the spinal cord instead. Its right arm, where it held its sword twitched violently and it dropped its sword.

“It…it reacts when its spin is hit? But it doesn’t have a brain…does it?” I said to myself.

I strung another arrow and fired at its head. The arrow impacted where the first arrow had. Only this time, there was a gut wrenching cracking sound. Lol, who had been just standing there, amazed by the spinal cord attack, leaped into action. He swung his sword with all of his strength, and cut the skeleton’s head off. The body vanished, but the head remained.

“Pick it up, and let’s head back. We have to tell Oki what happened.” I called down.

Lol looked back at me and nodded sadly. As he climbed back up to where I was, he had tears in his eyes.

“It’s ok Lol. You know he would have rather died by trying to do something than to do nothing.” I told him.

He smiled at me.

“Hold on. I have two doors. Give me a second.” He said.

He walked over and placed several blocks of stone into a little doorway, and then placed a door there.

“This whole thing will be our base. We’ll mine some more out and make it bigger. Nothing come in that can’t open a door.” He smiled.

 I nodded and walked through the portal. On the other side, the doors were wide open.

“Oh no…OKI! Oki!” I called.

Oki walked out of Woxy’s house.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Show some respect. Woxy’s…dead.” I said sadly.

“No he’s not, he’s in here. He’s resting. Or trying to, it’s not easy with you screaming.” Oki laughed.

“That’s not funny!” Lol said.

Lol drew his sword and started running towards Oki. He stopped, as did I. Someone was standing at the doorway with him.

“It’s really hard to sleep with you guys screaming, you know that?” Woxy asked.

“How…but…you…how are you here!? We saw you get killed!” Lol yelled.

“I did. But I have a theory I’ve been working on. Actually, Oki was just about to go test it. I’d like you to go with him Lol.” Woxy asked.

 

Oki

            The portal left a fuzzy feeling in my stomach. I had gone in after Lol and appeared behind him.

“So what’s this theory of his?” Lol asked.

“It’s funny you should mention that.” I said.

I drew my sword and stabbed Lol right in the heart.

“You’re a…b-b*****d.” He said on his last breath.

I shrugged.

“I hope that worked…” I said to myself.

I walked back through the portal. I immediately tripped over something.

“Ow. First you kill me, and then you trip over my corpse?” Lol asked.

“If it was just your corpse, and you were dead, you wouldn’t be able to say ow.” I explained.

Lol and I stood up. He looked at his body, and held his chest tightly. He looked and me and glared.

“What the hell was that for a*****e!?” He screamed.

“It was for my theory Lol. And it was right.” Woxy said from the dome doorway.

We exited the dome and shut the doors. We all went inside Woxy’s house and sat down to listen.

“So, thanks to Oki’s actions, I have put together a solid-ish theory. For one reason or another, the Nether seems to send us out whenever we are killed. I’m assuming from how Oki wasn’t out of breath and Lol was that when we die in there, we are drained of our energy upon our death returns.” Woxy explained.

I thought about it, and it seemed just as logical as a portal to another world.

“Oh, we picked this up.” Kitty said.

She reached into her bag, and pulled out the head of a black skeleton.

“You…you got one of the heads!?” I asked.

She nodded and smiled at me. She placed the head on the table in front of us and we all stared at it.

“That leaves two skulls and the sand. We need a game plan now that we know we can’t be killed.” Woxy said.

We all bowed our heads and let out a collective sigh. Woxy sat back in his chair and looked at his hands.

“I have an idea. Two of us go after the skeletons. The other goes for the sand. While the fourth person stays here. Oki; since you haven’t been able to go there with a purpose besides killing Lol, you’re with me. Kitty, you’re staying here. Lol, you’re going after the sand. Anybody have any questions?” Woxy asked.

“Yes, at what point in your plan do you give up this pointless endeavor?” A voice asked.

We all stood up and looked around. Lol opened the front door and looked outside. No one was there. We all drew our swords and stood back to back.

“Turn around idiots.” The voice chimed again.

We all turned slowly to see the transparent image of Hero. He was smiling evilly. Lol thrust his sword towards him, but it went straight through him like air.

“You can’t touch a spirit people. It’s like air. I’m merely telling you to give up this pointless search. The End is coming to claim this world from all of you. Fighting it is pointless. Just accept your fates with dignity.” Hero begged.

“Get lost Brine. You’re not welcome here.” Kitty said, drawing a book from her bag.

“Fine, save me those infernal words. But before I go, a little advice; the Wither and my master are GODS. In that right, they are able to see through each and every one of you because to them, you’re merely dust on the road to their and this world’s future. You’re minuscule�"“

“Eductor finis, audite verba; haec cutis est solum animo falsissimum. Tuus cutis est anima tua, et usque ad coques coques. Corpus tuum, et luto cor par. Quia morieris tu anima omnis malitia et anima in me ponere cibis.Tenebris ad tuum mitto maledicta vita. Perforabit verba mea quasi exacutus cultro. Vivamus erus tibi mitto. Finis enim ferre non hodie.” Kitty chanted.

Hero’s image faded away with an agonizing cry.

“He’s scared.” I told everyone.

“Of course he’s scared. Kitty knows how to get rid of him now.” Lol laughed.

“Not him. Well, yes his too. But I meant the Ender Dragon. He’s scared of the fact we’re brave enough to stand against him. He’s trying to discourage us from getting to the End portal.” I smiled.

Woxy nodded approvingly.

“Well then, let’s get ready. We have a Wither skeleton to revive.” Woxy said.

We all agreed and walked outside.

“We have to make this exact. I have the map ready. Once we’re inside, I’ll need at least three minutes minimum to get the layout. I need you to make sure nothing gets to this map.” Woxy asked me.

“Of course, you’ll be safe. With an iron sword, I’ll cut through anyone who stands in our way.” I said proudly.

“And Lol, you have to get to that spot and dig up the sand. Kitty has the location ready. Take the compass, and remember where the portal is.” Woxy ordered.

Lol rolled his eyes.

“I get it already, remember this or we die, whatever, can we go?” He asked.

Woxy glared but agreed. The three of us stood in front of the portal dome doors. Kitty flipped the switch and we entered. Once we were in, the doors closed behind us, sealing us in. I stepped into the portal, and all hell broke loose. Again.

 

Zaphod.

 

            “So, this is the “greatest village ever constructed” huh?” I asked walking through the gates.

“Yes. It took months of planning, and over a year of prepping. Once that was all done, it only took three months of work to actually build it all. But it was all worth it. The zombies can’t make it up here, too cold, what muscles they have, begin to contract too much, and they can’t climb. Skeleton’s bow’s hairs freeze and break if strung. Spiders die and creepers don’t seem to like the cold for whatever reason. Plus, we have cats in here. This is the ultimate fortress. And we’re making additions to it through the mountain peaks. Welcome home Capitan.” The village leader explained.

Ashes and I had finally made it to our…or rather, my paradise. We were home. But I had to warn them.

“Excuse me sir but, do you have any protections in place for the Endermen?” I asked.

The leader turned to me and gave me a confused look.

“Ender what? Sir, we have no idea what you’re talking about. Is that a new creature?” he asked.

“Take us inside, and bring whoever are fighters and or builders with you.” I suggested.

“Sailor, call a town meeting a week ago. Now!” The leader ordered sternly.

Within minutes, the entire village was in the center of the village with us.

“Explain. Now.” The leader said to me.

“Alright. I come from the Village at the Forest’s Edge. And they were like family to me. But…they’re all dead now, because we were attacked by something…not of this world. I don’t know how many of you believe the old stories of the End and the Nether, but supposedly, these creatures come from the End and can teleport around at will. They have an obsession with natural materials that haven’t been altered, and can’t touch water. My village was destroyed, and everyone but myself and Ashes taken away to…I don’t know where. They’re supposedly attacking every village they find. But what we learned was that there is a harbinger of their coming. He’s a man by the name of Hero Brine. He is…according to him…an agent of the Ender Dragon.” I explained.

Everyone’s attention turned from me, to someone in the back row. I looked and saw him. He was standing there, a large smile on his face.

“Bravo Zaphod, you’ve picked me out of the lineup. But tell me; how is this going to save you!?” Hero said.

He suddenly drew a bow, and fired an arrow at me. I didn’t have time to move. I closed my eyes, but opened them when nothing happened. The village leader had grabbed the arrow, inches from my face. The arrow snapped in his hand. He pointed at Hero and shouted.

“Kill that traitorous b*****d!” The leader yelled.

Everyone rushed Hero. I saw the gates of the village open. The crowed picked up Hero, and carried him to the gates. They tossed him over the edge of the mountain.

“Oh…my…god. That was so cool.” Ashes Laughed.

“What was that about?” I asked.

“He arrived here hours before you. He warned us about you two coming, so that’s why my troops were waiting for you. You say that he means those…things are coming?” The leader asked.

I nodded sadly. The leader looked up at the cascading snow and smiled.

“I have an idea. Yuri! Where are you!?” The leader yelled out.

A skinny man with a hunch in his back made his way from the crowd.

“Yes sir?” Yuri asked.

“How much coal do we have? I want to make a heating system for the sky.” The leader said.

Yuri gave him a confused look.

“Considering we hit an old coal mine that hasn’t been touched in years, with miles of pure coal, we’re doing fine. What do you mean the sky?” Yuri asked.

“I want furnaces placed above our city. The heat will convert the snow into rain. If they can touch snow, but not rain, then we will give them rain!” The leader laughed manically.

Ashes joined in his laughter. I shrugged and looked around. I saw a building labeled “armory” and went towards it. Inside, there were rows of iron suits and weapons. The girl that had given Ashes and I a hard time was sitting behind a desk, chipping away at something with a miniature sword.

“Well, well, look who it is. I guess you made yourself pretty useful here. I guess I owe you an apology.” The girl said.

“It’s fine. I’m actually here to procure some armor and a better sword. Mine’s…old.” I laughed a little.

The girl gave me a confused look. I drew my sword and placed it on the table.

“Oh wow. That is an antique of antiques. How many ingots went into that? Two? Three maybe? Well, all of ours are no less than seven ingots. We had to melt away and filter out any impurities. It is very time consuming.” The girl explained with a proud smile.

I nodded and gave her my sword. I walked over and picked up one of their swords. It was far heavier than my old sword, but still felt right. I walked back to the counter.

“How much does this sword cost?” I asked.

“It’s on the house. Take it as my apology.” The girl smiled.

I smiled back and sheathed the sword. I walked outside to find Ashes standing there, looking up at the sky. Something wet touched my cheek. Despite how cold it was, it was surprisingly warm. I looked up, and my eyes grew wide. Dozens of furnaces were blazing around a cobble stone ring high above the village.

“What…they have it done already?” I asked.

“Yeah, they had the furnaces made and the coal mined, so they put them up while you were shopping.” Ashes said jokingly.

Suddenly, the whole mountain side shook, and a feeling of dread, hate and depression fell over me. I climbed up to the top of the highest building and looked around. In the distance, I could see the old village. Something was hovering above it. Smoke was bellowing from it, and I could hear the faintest sound of people yelling. Not in fear, but battle cries.

 

Woxy

 

            The plan was too simple. I knew that from the get go. Something as complicated as summoning a god of old to the world and then killing it needed time. Lots of time. But we only had a few hours of prep. Our plan had been to fight the Wither Skeleton Warriors around the Nether fortress, but someone did that for us. We found the heads, conveniently in a large domed area. Oki and I barely made it out, before the place was flooded with lava. We waited at the portal to our world for Lol for only ten minutes, when he appeared with the sand in his bag. It was too easy. Something didn’t feel right, I knew that. Despite that, we stepped back through the portal, and home.

“Back already? That was barely an hour.” Kitty explained as she opened the dome doors.

“Yeah. Someone killed the other skeletons before we could, and was going to burn their heads. Luckily, we got there first.” Oki said with a smile.

Kitty gave me the same concerned look I knew I had on my face.

“Well, I guess we should rest?” Lol asked.

“Why? We barely broke a sweat in there. We might as well do it now and get it over with.” Oki said confidently.

“Oki; something doesn’t feel right. It was too easy. If someone honestly didn’t want this to happen, they would have taken more…extreme measures than that. Let’s rest for the night, and regroup in the morning. Okay?” I asked.

Oki let out a long sigh. He shrugged his shoulders and walked back towards Kitty’s house. With Kitty staying at Zaphod and Ashes’ old place, it seemed like things were somewhat normal again. Except there was a portal to another world in the middle of the village, Zaphod and Ashes were gone, there were no villagers, and we were in the habit of sleeping when the sun had barely risen, rather than set.

“Okay; everyone to bed, that’s an order from your appointed leader.” I said.

With that, everyone separated, Oki already inside Kitty’s house. As I got cozy in my bed, I could hear the faint sound of Oki snoring.

“He was the first one to start bitching about it, but the first one to fall asleep.” I said to myself.

I rolled over and pictured what the Wither would be like. The very thought of us HAVING to summon him gave me chills. It took some time, but I eventually drifted off into sleep.

 

Oki

            I knew we shouldn’t have slept. A noise woke me up. It was someone yelling and then silence. I walked over to the window, and glanced outside to see…something sitting in the middle of the village. It was four blocks of dark colored sand, stacked two blocks high, and then one on each side of the top block, like a person’s body. Two black skeleton heads were placed on two of the three top blocks. My eyes widened as I realized what this was.

“Who’s…?” I asked myself.

To answer my question, Lol came into view. His eyes were wide open and he seemed to be in some sort of trance. He had the third head in his hands and was about to place it on the sand.

“Lol, NO!” I yelled.

I yelled at him in vain. He turned towards me and for an instant; I thought I saw the ghost of Hero Brine again, surrounding him. I shook my shock and ran as quickly outside as I could. I was shouting for Kitty and Woxy to wake up as I did so.

“Guys, he’s summoning the Wither! Guys wake up, please!” I shouted.

Kitty and Woxy opened their house doors, and looked outside. I’d obviously woken them up from a deep sleep.

“Oki, what’re you…Lol? Lol; what’re you doing…Lol….LOL WAKE UP!” Woxy’s fear was obvious as he shouted.

I drew my sword and stood in front of Lol. His eyes were even more glazed over than I’d thought. He was obviously under some kind of control or spell.

“Kitty, is there anything in the book about hypnosis?” I asked.

Kitty had barely gotten out of her house. She pulled the book from the satchel, and began flipping quickly through pages. She frowned at one page and looked up.

“It says if he’s possessed or cursed, the only way to break him is for him to fulfil what he was tasked to do…or…kill him.” Kitty said sadly.

I held my sword steady, despite my shaking from the realization I would have to kill my friend.

“Lol, listen I know you’re still in there. Please, just let us do this. I know this is what we want to do and all, but it’s not time yet. We need to be more prepared. I realize that now. Please, hand me the skull.” I asked, extending my hand.

His eyes seemed to shift a bit, from me to the statue. Before he even made his move, I knew it was too late. He threw the skull in the air, and drew his sword. In a quick spinning movement, his sword impacted mine, sending me to the ground. Hero was adding his unnatural strength to Lol’s already impressive strength. With me out of the way, Lol grabbed the skull from the air, and placed it in the final spot. Immediately, the horrid feeling of dread, sadness, anger and depression fell over us. Lol fell back, and looked at me with the same evil smiled Hero had given us when he came to us earlier that day. I gripped my sword, but loosened it when I saw the glazed look fade from Lol’s eyes.

“Glad to have you back man. You’re just in time to be killed with the rest of us.” I joked.

Lol looked confused, as did we all I’m sure. The sand was shifting into a shape. A spine and ribs took shape first. And been then what should have been shoulder blades, instead supported heads. The two side heads on the shoulder blades, kept their size, while the middle head grew twice its size. The bone structures then began to turn black as the night. The eyes of the skulls lit up in white flames.

“Oki, stand up. This is the fight you’ve been waiting for.” Woxy ordered.

I stood up and stood by everyone’s side. The skeleton in front of us began to rise in the air, high above the village. With one final explosion, and shriek of anger, the Wither was reborn. We all began to shout battle cries. Although, given the likelihood of our survival, it could be said they were less of battle cries, and more shrieks of terror.

Things started off fast, and didn’t improve quickly. The Wither immediately descended towards us, howling hollowly as it did. We scattered in different directions, Kitty running for the Watch Tower, Woxy for the Elder’s house, and Lol for Kitty’s house. I stood behind the side of a building. The Wither was either after something, or confused, as it hit the ground, and stayed there, driving itself further into the ground. Confused, I rushed it.

“Oki, what’re you doing!?” I heard Kitty yell.

I thrust my sword downwards into one of its heads. It let out the same hollow shriek it had when it charged us. Despite the stab wound in the skull, the little skull turned towards me. The white flames in its eyes turned black. It shot something at me, hitting me in the face. Whatever it was, it burned, but more importantly, it blinded me. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t feel. I could barely stand. I could hear muffled shouting and screams of some kind. Laughter was mixed in the background. I fell back to the ground and lied there for a moment.

“Ki! O…ki! OKI!” I heard someone yell.

My vision began to clear us, as did my sense of feeling and hearing. I could breathe normally again, and was even able to stand. I must have been out for a few minutes. When I’d gone down, the Wither was trying to dig underground, or something of the sort. Now; it was hovering around the Watch Tower, shooting the same black masses that it had hit me with. Each time one of them struck the tower, fragments of it fell off. Kitty was firing arrows from the tower, while Woxy was throwing stone at it. Lol was standing over me, still screaming at me.

“I’m awake!” I shouted.

“Good, I need your help. Remember those fireworks we made? Let’s get them.” Lol smiled.

I smiled back, knowing his plan. We rushed inside his house, Woxy yelling at us as we ran inside. It was fine, the Wither, for whatever reason, was obsessed with finding Kitty.

“I kept them in one of the chest in the basement. You got get them, I’ll get the fuses.” Lol laughed.

I opened the trap door and descended into his basement. Down there, there were chest full of explosives all armed, but not ready to be lit.

“Lol: do you love these explosives and this house?” I asked.

“No. I could make more, why?” He asked.

“I have a plan.” I explained.

He looked at me worryingly. Outside, I heard Kitty scream for help.

“You go get her, and Woxy. Have them run towards, but not into your house.” I ordered.

I could tell he didn’t want to, but he did. I heard his footsteps leaving the house. I took a nearby fuse, and placed it inside one of the TNT charges nearby. I lit it, and ran. I climbed up the ladder, and was met with Woxy, Kitty and Lol. Outside the door, the Wither was trying to break it down.

“Everyone, get outside now!” I yelled.

“How?” kitty asked.

I took an axe from her pouch and hit the wall sever times. I opened a doorway big enough for one person at a time to go through. Lol was the last one out.

“And the point of that was?” Kitty asked.

Just then, there was a loud creaking sound. The Wither had broken through the wall, and was now trying to get out of the house through the newly formed doorway. I smiled.

“Let’s get going.” I said calmly.

Everyone gave me a look like I was crazy. I led everyone quickly out of the village walls. I calmly walked into the forest and sat behind a tree.

“What’re you doing!?” Lol asked.

I motioned for him to sit. They all, regrettably, sat next to me. I smiled and counted down. Before I hit one, there was a loud, powerful explosion. The force of which, ripped apart the village walls, and almost uprooted the tree I was leaning against. Once everyone recovered from the blast wave, we looked back at the village…or what was left of it.

“Was that�"“

“Your entire stock of explosives, yes Lol, it was.” I laughed.

The damage was greater than I thought originally. There was a large crater where Lol’s house had been. The ladder to the Watch Tower was all but destroyed. The wall nearest Lol’s house was gone, and the surrounding houses, including Kitty’s, were gone as well. A few houses across the village had taken some damage, but were, for the most part intact.

“You blew my house up…”Lol said sadly.

I looked in the crater as we all passed by. There were fragments of the Wither left. But what caught my attention, was a small shining object at the bottom. I started climbing down to retrieve it.

“Guys; it was worth it.” I said.

I grabbed the object, and climbed back out of the crater. They all looked at me, all angry. I smiled as I stood up, and held out an object.

“Wait…is that…”Kitty trailed off.

“Lady and gentlemen, this is what we fought to get. This is: The Nether Star.” I announced.

 

Zaphod.

            I watched the explosion that destroyed the gates. I looked back down towards Ashes.

“What was that? It sounds bad.” She called up to me.

“It was the others. They just…blew up the village.” I sighed.

Ashes gave me a shocked look. I climbed down to the ground and looked at her.

“It was their choice. We have to keep this place safe.” I said.

She frowned and rolled her eyes.

“That explosion shook us pretty good. Your friends know a thing or two about bombs, right?” The village leader asked.

I shook my head.

“No, they collect the material, and put them together, but we only used them in emergencies. Whatever they were doing, must have been really important.” I said, unsure if it was true.

“Whatever they did, they got something really shiny down there.” The girl from the armory said.

I looked at her, confused. Ashes eyes grew wide.

“They must have killed the Wither. The book Kitty had said that when it came into the world, there was supposed to be all this negative energy released. That shiny thing has to be the Nether Star, the star to make the Beacon. Zaphod, the legend is true.” Ashes eyes lit up.

“Of course is true. What, you don’t believe it?” The village leader asked me.

“Not really, no. Besides, I came here to help you guys. I’m not going to chase fantasies.” I explained.

“Young man, listen to me: There are many horrors of the world today. I tell the little ones stories of the Gods of old so that they can have hope, that this’ll all be over one day. Your friends have the idea to take us a step in that direction. And from the sounds of it, they aren’t doing too badly. If I were you, I’d quickly be by their side.” The village leader explained.

I looked at Ashes, who gave me a confirming nod. I smiled to myself and looked at the village leader.

“Yeah I guess you’re right. But they seem to be able to handle this all on their own. So I’d like to stay, if that’s ok?” I asked.

The leader looked at me with sadness in his eyes, but he nodded.

“I hope, for all of our sakes, this isn’t the end of everything my friend.” The leader said to me.

I looked around the village. At the happy faces of all the people. As much as I hated to believe it, they were right. If I didn’t help them, this could all be lost…

“Ashes, I’ve been thinking. Maybe we should…go and help�"“

Just then, a black mass appeared in the center of the village. Everyone stared at it, some drawing their weapons. Ashes slowly approached it, the village leader following close behind her. They were inches away from it now. As far as I could tell, there was no adverse effect from the mass.

“I’m going to touch it. Someone hand me a sword.” Ashes asked.

The leader handed her a sword, and she inched the tip of it closer to the mass. The moment it, touched, the mass climbed up the sword, and onto Ashes. She dropped the sword, and started swatting at the blackness covering her, to no prevail. I ran to her, but was stopped by the village leader. I struggled to get lose, but every attempt was thwarted by the leader. I watched, as she held her arm out for help, but was eventually drug into the shadow. Once she was consumed, the shadow flew into the sky, and moved towards my old village.

“I have to warn them. I have to find that shadow!” I told the leader.

He nodded.

“I agree. We have emergency exit for…emergencies.” He said.

He walked over to a trap door in the ground and opened it. I looked in, and saw water.

“Hold breath.” He commanded.

I looked at him confused but held my breath. He picked me up by the collar of my shirt.

“Good luck friend.” The leader said.

He dropped me into the hole, and that was the last I saw of him.

 

            Woxy

Oki stood there, happy as could be. My eyes never left the star though. We had done the impossible, at the expense of our home: destroyed the god-like creature the Wither Skeleton. With smiles on our faces, we all stood there, looking at out prize.

“If we still have a crafting table…we could take of the obsidian from the portal, and craft the Beacon. We could end this all!” I said happily.

“Then I’ll get the obsidian. And Oki, you can go get the crafting table. Lol, we’ll need some glass.” Kitty explained.

Everyone nodded and separated, to gather their supplies. Once collected, we regrouped in the center of the village.

“Guys, let me just say that this was worth the effort.” I said.

“Yeah…but…doesn’t something feel a little…off to you? Like something was supposed to happen, in case the Wither fell in battle? I feel like the Ender Dragon shouldn’t have made it so easy.” Lol explained.

“I used to think the same thing. But…maybe we weren’t the only ones to ever try and do this. Maybe the others succeeded in killing them but never picked up the skulls for one reason or another.” I said.

He gave me a concerned look, but I shrugged it off. Oki returned with the crafting table and Kitty with the three pieces of obsidian from the portal. The portal was no longer active. Giving me a confident and calming feeling. Oki took the crafting table out of his bag and held it. He placed it on the ground. It grew to its normal size, and its 3x3 building table opened. On the bottom row, Kitty placed her three pieces of obsidian. Lol placed glass in all of the remaining sections except for the middle. And finally, Oki placed the Nether Star in the center. As soon as he did, the “final product” box showed a blue colored object with a black stand, surrounded in glass. I picked it up, causing the other objects to disappear. I placed it on the ground, and watched as it grew.

“Alright Kitty, tell us what we have to do.” I asked.

Kitty took out the book from the elder, and began flipping through pages. She smiled and stopped on one page.

“You’ve already done it. It says that once it’s placed on the ground or held in your hands, at its true shape, you’re done. Within thirty seconds of it being activated by…gold, iron, an emerald or a diamond…it’ll fire a beam into the sky. After that, the world will shake violently but remain intact. People within a mile of the Beacon will witness the other worlds be absorbed into the light beam.” Kitty explained.

I reached into my pocket, and held out a single diamond.

“You sneaky b*****d.” Oki laughed.

“I was going to sell it for some cash if this went south.” I said.

I held the diamond near the Beacon. The diamond’s surface began to shimmer brightly and shift, like the ripples of water’s surface. I let go of it, but it remained here I had held it. The diamond’s image began to fade away. As it faded away, the Beacon began to glow. Once the diamond’s image was gone from sight, the ground below the Beacon cracked open with blue light. I bent down to feel the cracks, but couldn’t feel anything.

“Its…anchored…in this world…” I said.

The Beacon tried to do something. It glowed brightly, and made this high pitched screeching sound. I looked at Kitty, who was now scrambling through the pages of the book again.

“It says that means there’s no energy in this world. The cracks are the Beacon trying to anchor itself. But there’s no energy coming from the world…the Beacon’s core will turn a certain color, depending on where it says there’s energy. Red means the Nether. Green will mean the Overworld, and purple…the End.” Kitty said pointing at the Beacon.

I looked back at it, and sulked a bit. The glow from within was steadily turning purple.

“Well, I guess we know what we have to do now.” Kitty said sadly.

I grabbed the Beacon, and tried to lift it. The cracks in the ground vanished, and it lifted into my hands, and shrunk to a small block. I placed it in my pocket, and looked at the others. Kitty and Lol were staring at me, while Oki was looking off in the distance, his eyes wide. I followed his gaze, and saw a mass of blackness heading straight for us.

“Everyone take cover!” I yelled.

It was too late though. The moment I yelled, the mass funneled and surrounded Kitty. I heard her yelling for help. We all rushed to try and help her, but were knocked back by some unseen force. Oki was the last one to try and help her, quickly recovering from being knocked down, he rushed the mass again. A hand reached out to him, covered in blackness. He grabbed it and pulled, but his hands suddenly slipped through it like water, and he fell on the ground. The hand and the mass flew into the air, and flew off into the distance.

“What the hell was that!?” Oki yelled.

“The same thing we have to stop…” A voice from behind us said.

We turned to see Zaphod standing there, clad in solid iron armor.

 

            Oki

We weren’t prepared for the journey, but now we had no choice. Two of our own had been taken. Two that had places in two of our hearts. Kitty had dropped one of the books that the elder left her, before she was taken. It was the one about finding the End portal. It said we would need at least 12 Eyes of Ender, in order to open the portal, but only one was needed to actually get to it. I had one that we found in the underground library. I pulled it out of my satchel, and tied a string to it. Sure enough, once I let go, it tried to take off. I held the other end of the string firmly, and the four of us followed it. We traveled several hours, not seeing any creatures the whole trip. Finally, the orb stopped. It hovered above a spot on the ground.

“It must be underground. I can actually feel it. It feels…evil.” Woxy said, shuttering a bit.

“Hero Brine!” Lol shouted.

We all turned to where he was pointing. There he sort of stood. It was hard to see him, as he was very transparent, but he was there. He stood at the entrance to an opening in the mountain. His image vanished, but something dropped on the ground below him. Zaphod cautiously approached it. He picked it up, and read it aloud.

“If you mortals believe you truly deserve to die at the very hands of my master, bring the Beacon to the End portal at the end of this gauntlet. This abandon fortress is now home to monsters. The Eye shall guide you once you’re inside. Be forewarned: victory for you is still defeat.” Zaphod read.

We all exchanged looks. I knew we were in agreement, but to further prove it, the Eye began to travel into the cave. We followed it slowly. Once inside, the doors closed behind us.

“Ok: one of us is the torch carrier. The other two, are guards. Oki, you and that eye appear to be friends, so you hold it. Only swing when you’re not near the string. We lose that eye, we lose Ashes and Kitty.” Zaphod ordered.

I couldn’t tell if anyone but me nodded, but I still did. Lol struck up a torch and held it up. Woxy held up a map, and looked at it as the structure began to form on it.

“Thirteen floors. Basically all hallways aside from a few rooms we pass. There’s at least one large room per floor, except the 13^th. The 13^th floor is just a hallway and a small room with something in the center. I’m assuming that’s the End portal.” Woxy explained. He put his map in his pocket and drew his sword.

“Alright guys: let’s speed run this s**t.” Zaphod ordered.

I didn’t realize that speed run meant actual running. The moment he said that, the group broke out into a full on sprint. I was stuck in the middle, the Eye pulling me, and Woxy pushing me from behind. I could hear our footsteps beginning to be drowned out by the wails and cries of creatures hunting us. Several arrows flew over my head and past us as we made our way down the hallway.

“I memorized the map; make a left at this next turn. After that, fifty blocks and we’ll be at the first room.” Woxy said.

We hit the turn, and turned left, nearly running into a green creature. I couldn’t tell if it was a zombie or a Creeper, but I didn’t care to find out. At the end of the hallway, we saw light.

“Lava?” I asked.

“I don’t think so, lava normally shows up. Must be torches or glowstone.” Woxy explained.

We all ran into the room, and heard a slam behind us. We turned back, to see the wall had shut. The room was empty. A dirt floor and stone walls. Nothing more.

“I brought Kitty’s old diamond pickaxe. I should be able to get us through that wall in seconds.” Lol said proudly.

He separated himself, and started walking towards the other side of the room. A feeling of dread came over me again. I looked up, and saw a single cage.

“Lol, get back here! It’s a trap.” I called out.

He looked up and quickly ran back to the group. The cage slowly lowered and silently touched the floor. The door opened, and we readied. We heard footsteps from within the cage.

Red eyes and a green face emerged from the cage. The face retreated into the cage, but let out a high pitched hissing sound. Several more came from within the cage.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this.” Woxy said, lowering his sword. A laugh echoed across the room.

A Creeper appeared from within the cage. We laughed.

“That’s it? A single Creeper?” I asked.

We all laughed as Lol strung an arrow up in a bow and took aim. He fired the arrow, and it struck the creeper in the left eye. It fell back, and vanished into black mist. Lol smiled and let out a sarcastic scream.

“That was so difficult.” He laughed.

More hissing erupted from the cage. Another creeper jumped out, followed by two more and two more after them. The cage appeared to house several Creepers. Our laughing died down a bit.

“Still not that scary.” I said.

A black cloud appeared overhead, similar in appearance to the black mass that had taken the girls. A single lightning bolt shot from the cloud, and split into several arches, striking each of the Creepers. A blue glow now surrounded the Creepers. They all looked at us and hissed together.

“Well crap…” Zaphod said.

We all split up as the Creepers charged after us. I looked behind me; two were chasing me directly on my heels. I stopped and turned around. I held my sword to try and shield myself. One of the two stopped, the other charged right up to me, and exploded. The blast threw me several feet back. Although in pain, I stood up and started running again. I looked around for an exit. The only one was the iron gates that led to the lower levels. I looked back; the Creeper had given up on me, and was joining several others that had cornered Zaphod. One of them started to expand, like it was going to explode. I had to act. I teleported to the crowed, and grabbed Zaphod and the Creeper. I reappeared next to the gate, dropped the Creeper, and teleported away. The Creeper exploded, destroying the gates.

“Go!” Zaphod shouted.

We all ran towards the new opening, the Creepers following behind us.

“If there are creatures waiting in every room, this’ll take forever!” Lol yelled.

“I have an idea, Woxy hand me the map.” I ordered.

He handed me the map and we stopped, creatures were slowly closing in on us.

“Ok, if I have this layout right, this is a staircase, not a hallway. And this should be a small waiting area…so…” I trailed off and started talking to myself.

“Oki, sometime soon?” Zaphod asked urgently.

The creatures, primarily the Super Creepers were feet away from us.

“Everyone; grab my shirt.” I said.

They all hesitated, but grabbed my shirt. I concentrated on the floor layout. I opened my eye for a moment. A Super Creeper was standing next to us, its body growing as it was about to blow. The Creepers and the dark hall melted away, blurred and spun. When they began to clear up, there was light. Bright light and warmth now engulfed us. I opened my eyes, and was greeted with nothing but my friends. No Creepers or any creatures. There was a flight of stairs behind us and a small set of stairs in front of us.

“Guys…we’re here.” I said, my breath taken.

The others let go of my shirt, and looked around. A zombie’s moan ruined the moment. Lol walked to the stairs, and placed several blocks to block the entrance.

“We’ll clear it when we get back.” He said.

The Eye of Ender pulled strongly towards the small staircase. I walked up the stairs, and looked at what was there. Twelve blocks of a dense sand colored stone formed a square with the four corners missing. The stones had blue-ish green metal objects on them, 11 of which were filled with what looked like Eye of Enders. I untied the one on the string, and it took its place amongst its brothers. The moment it placed itself inside of the stone, black sparks jumped around the portal. Stars…stars as far as the eye could see. That’s what we saw in the portal frame.

“Guys. This is it. If we fail here…if we die here we don’t know if we’ll actually come back like from the Nether. So no matter what’s in there, remember one thing: We own this world, not that Ender Dragon b*****d.” Woxy comforted us.

We nodded and looked at the portal. Zaphod and I were the first two in. Unlike with the Nether portal, being a tingly and stomach churning, this portal drained my hope and happiness. It left nothing but sadness and hatred.

We appeared on a slab of obsidian. It floated above, what I could see, was an island below us. Terrified, I jumped. I landed on the island without the pain of the long fall. The others followed behind me and landed without a thud.

“So, this is the End?” I asked.

“No, this is your gravesite!” A person shouted.

His voice came from above us. We looked up, but couldn’t see anything. Suddenly, large iron poles extended from the ground. A green beam surrounded us, connecting the four poles at the top like a pyramid, and forming walls. Green sparks began dancing around the inner part of the pyramid. They were connecting to our bodies, each time they did, a feeling of exhaustion overcame us. When the pyramid vanished, we were all lying on the ground unable to move.

“You stupid fools, really thought it’d be so easy?” Hero asked, appearing in front of us.

Hero started levitating, our limp bodies floating with him.

“You really thought you’d just walk in here and slay a GOD!?” he laughed.

“We…we did it once…we can…do it again.” I said breathlessly.

“Oh, you still don’t understand do you? We played you. Would you like me to explain it? Fine, until my master returns, I will humor you. See: When you were last here, you nearly killed my master. Thankfully though, he managed to retain his greatness, and kill you all…or so we thought. Instead of falling out of this dimension, you plummeted to Overworld. Your friend up there was the last one here. Only master couldn’t risk you all getting away, knowing that you’d leave him here to rot in this hell. So, he trapped him with no hope of escaping. Knowing that you’d eventually regain your memories, he waited. But instead, you didn’t remember anything. So we had to start making plans. Well, master did. I was one of those plans. An attempt of creating a perfect clone of your friend, I lacked a soul but had powers beyond belief. Not enough to kill him, a god of in his own right, but you mortals? I had more than enough. But simply killing you wouldn’t have solved anything. As the Beacon can only be crafted by a living creature’s hands as Notch proclaimed. SO we set everything up. The elder giving you those books, the diamonds conveniently under the village. The hole in the roof that led you to your obsidian. The Wither fortress being exactly where your portal appeared, as well as the already killed and mined Wither skeleton warriors and Soul sand. The Wither you killed, was a shell of his former self, my master drained him dry thousands of years ago. You fought a mindless killing machine. That is all. Finally, I had to get you all together. A task, at first glance, difficult as you were going your separate ways. However, two of you have heart filled connections to those two girls. So I kidnapped them, and forced your hands. Your powers? Hardened skin, teleportation, hearing, super eyesight, agility, reflexes? My master’s grace gave you them. When you were here last, each one of you managed to destroy one of his sacred runes before you apparent deaths. I’ve stripped you of those powers, and will leave you in the same cage your women and friend are in. Master is out at the moment, attending to something somewhere in this void. When he returns, you WILL surrender the Beacon. After that, he may take pity on you, and make you his slaves if you if you agree to follow him.” Hero explained.

Unable to fully grasp what he said, we were dropped into a cage made out of obsidian. I struggled to stand, and felt a hand on my back. I looked, and it was Kitty.

“You’re late.” She joked. Ashes was here too, helping Zaphod up. Over on the other side of the cage, a man was looking out of the cage at the endless, static void of the End.

“I’m sorry friends. Oki, Zaphod, Kitty, Ashes, Lol and Woxy…you guys were my best friends. And I ruined and possibly ended your lives.” The man said.

“I never got around to asking, but who are you?” Ashes asked.

“Forgive me. I am your oldest friend, in many different ways. I’m supposed to be the lone defender of Overworld. I was the first humanoid creature, born from Notch’s great and gentle heart. I; am Steve.” Steve introduced.

 

Steve

 

My eldest brother had flown away, long before they entered. Several pieces of the obsidian towers around the island, dislodged and rejoined, forming a platform in mid-air. The remainder of the group appeared on the platform and jumped down. I watched helplessly as they were trapped in the same prison I had been in for months. After I introduced myself, they all gave me looks of confusion. Granted. However, before I could explain the story, we were interrupted by wind. A gust of air from something large above us. I stared in horror, as the Ender Dragon flew high above us, and off into the distance. He turned, and flew back towards us. he landed on the island below, but was tall enough, so his eyes were directly locked with the cage.

“So great to finally met you all again. I’m sure you have no idea who I am, right?” The Ender Dragon boomed.

His voice rattled the cage as he spoke. Zaphod was the first to speak.

“You must be the Ender Dragon. Ruler of the Nether and the End.” Zaphod said.

“Quick to catch on. But, I already know my idiot human attempt told you.” The Dragon glared downwards.

“My sire, please, let me explain�"“

“SILENCE FOOL! Your job was to drain their gifts, and that is all. But you told them of their past and imprisoned them? You will suffer for your insolence.” The Dragon roared.

A purple flame shot from his mouth, and completely engulfed Hero.

“You’re just as much of a monster now, as the day father gave me the Star and the Planet’s power.” I said.

“Father was a fool, and you’re a weakling! I should have been given that power. I guided the sun and the moon across the sky day and night, without rest. You lazed around and planted trees and flowers. But that doesn’t matter. Let’s forget the past. I have a proposition for you. You come and be my personal slaves, fetching me water, food, whatever I wish, and in exchange, I won’t send you back to Overworld to die with your retched kind.” The Dragon offered.

“We would rather die.” I shouted.

“So be it.” The Dragon laughed.

His tongue slowly entered the cage. I reached under my shirt, and pulled out my sword, that I’d been keeping hidden. The world’s finest; diamond sword. I slashed at my brother’s tongue and managed to get a slice down it. Purple blood spurted out. He reared up, and hit his head against the cage from below. The cage toppled over, and crashed onto the island below. We all recovered, and readied.

“Listen everyone, you may not remember this, but last time we were together, we destroyed all but one rune symbol. That rune is now up on the last tower, behind the dragon. Without your teleportation Oki, someone else will have to do it. We need someone with good bow skills to hit it. A few strikes should do. Once that’s done, the power flow from the two energies he has, should make him more powerful, but unstable. If we can land a good blow with this sword on mine, he’ll be defeated.” I explained.

“That sounds good. Only problem, it sounds IMPOSSIBLE.” Oki said.

“Glad you kept your sense of confidence Oki.” I laughed.

The Dragon finally stopped trashing around, and glared at us.

“You powerless curs! I’ll destroy you all!” The Dragon shouted.

We all separated, Hero stopping me in my tracks.

“Not so�"“

Before Hero could finish, the Dragon swatted him out of his way like a bug.

“Move you imperfect fool!” The Dragon yelled.

I grabbed my bow from my bag, and strung an arrow. I let it fly, striking Dragon’s eye. He heaved back, purple blood shooting out. I took the moment to look around. Lol, Oki and Woxy had their swords drawn and were slowly climbing up the Dragon’s back spikes. Ashes, Zaphod and Kitty were each climbing the large obsidian tower to reach the rune. I smiled.

“That’s the team I remember.” I thought. The Dragon let out a loud laugh. The blood stopped spurting as the rune began to glow.

“The runes healing him! Someone destroy it!” I shouted.

The Dragon looked at the tower and inhaled.

“He’s going to burn them to a crisp!” I yelled again.

Lol and Oki stopped climbing, and began stabbing the Dragon’s back with their swords. Woxy continued climbing until he reached the Dragon’s head. He plunged his sword directly into the Dragon’s forehead. Again, the Dragon’s head jerked around, as he began breathing a purple flame.

“Agh! You bothersome flies need to learn your place in the presence of a god!” The Dragon roared.

“No, you need to realize who you’re dealing with!” Woxy laughed as he jumped off the Dragon’s nose.

“We’re the protectors of Overworld.” Woxy called out.

The Dragon roared furiously. As the rune began to glow again, the sword slowly began to draw itself from his forehead. He turned towards the tower, and hit it with his hand. Everyone plummeted to the ground below. The dragon reared up, ad flapped his wings violently. Oki and Lol fell off his back and next to his feet.

“Oki, Lol!” I called.

The Dragon grinned and back handed me away. I landed on the top of the tower, next to the rune.

“I got it!” I said as I slashed the rune.

As my sword struck it, it exploded. The blast force nearly knocked me off of the tower. An orb of light shot from where the rune used to be, and impacted the Dragon, fusing with him.

“You think you ants can defeat a god!? I am the ruler of this dimension and beyond! Notch shall bow to me one day. But for now, I shall destroy the warriors and his son he left to protect his square of dirt he calls the Overworld.” The Dragon grinned.

He inhaled again. This time, I knew they would never be able to get away. I gripped my sword tightly.

“Notch…father…please help me. I don’t want to lose my friends. Please, hear my voice.” I said to myself.

My father answered. My sword began to glow a bright white. I nodded upwards, knowing he was watching me.

“Ender! Killing them will just prove you’re pathetic. Killing your brother will prove you deserve this power!” I called.

He turned his head towards me, and let his flames go. I moved the sword in front of me. The flames hit an invisible field of some kind and burst around me. Both I and everyone else, the Dragon included, looked at the sword.

“That is it? A glowing sword and shield? Even father knows you’re doomed. I can fly away, and leave you here to rot away!” The Dragon laughed.

He began flapping his wings, but suddenly stopped. Something black was chaining his legs to the ground.

“Hero!” Kitty called out.

She pointed to something behind the Dragon’s tail.

“DO IT!” He called to me.

“You useless puppet!” The Dragon roared.

He swung his tail, and slammed it down on Hero. A large cloud of black mist exploded from where Hero once was. The black chains disappeared with it.

“I am victorious!” The Dragon yelled.

“No you’re not!” I screamed as I plummeted down on top of him.

My sword impacted just below his chin, into his throat. As I continued to fall, the sword sliced its way through his torso, leaving a trail of light. I wound up below him, lying on my back. The sword’s glow gone.

“That…was actually…painful. You win this round father….brother. But one day, my child will be born into the space that was once the End. And he shall find a way out. He will destroy your world…” The Dragon smiled.

“And we’ll be waiting.” Zaphod said.

I tilted my head back. They were all standing there.

“Hmm…the humans who defeated a god…that’s a catchy title. Wear it with pride. While you can.” The Dragon said.

His body floated into the sky, and a mixture of purple and red light flowing from him. Instead of his body vanishing into smoke, it merely faded into nothing. The red and purple lights suddenly bathed me in their warmth. The lights faded too.

“So, that’s it?” Oki asked.

“No. We need to destroy this world, and the Nether.” I explained.

“How do we get back? I just got my memories back; I don’t exactly want to lose them again.” Ashes sighed.

“We won’t. Look, over there.” I pointed.

A portal formed of black and white blocks had formed where Hero once stood. I smiled.

“That is how. Hero’s death made a one way portal to the Overworld. Just as my father told me it’d happen.” I smiled.

“Wait, what?” Woxy asked.

I was about to explain, but was interrupted by a screeching sound. I turned to see and Enderman running at us. Another one behind him, and another one that teleported in behind him.

“Their trying to stop us. Everyone, to the portal!” Lol called. We ran to the portal, a growing army of Endermen chasing after us. I watched as my friends jumped into the portal. I stopped and looked at the top of the structure. I glared at the sight. A black and purple egg rested at the top. I shrugged.

“I’ll be waiting.” I said, jumping into the portal.

I could hear my father’s voice, calling to me as fell. I assumed I was falling, I could feel wind rushing around me. I suddenly hit something hard yet soft. The impact didn’t hurt me though. Light began to peak over a nearby mountain. I sat up and looked around. Everyone was standing, side by side, watching the sunrise.

“Well, this is a scene I never thought I’d see again.” I laughed.

They all turned towards me. I could tell, that despite their smiles, they were angered.

“I’m assuming you’d like some answers?” I asked.

They nodded.

“I’ll go first: You said we were friends, how so?” Zaphod asked.

“Well several months ago, while tracking down Spawners, believing I could have prevented that whole fight if I did, I stumbled into your village exhausted. Oki and Kitty, you two ran an INN for travelers. You took me in and made me very comfortable. Lol, you were the town joker, but worked with Ashes and Zaphod on the defense force. Woxy, you were the town alchemist. Always using potions, Redstone, stuff like that. I enlisted all of your guys’ help, knowing you would be helpful. Plus, as I began to get closer to you all, I found that you all wanted an adventure.” I explained.

“What happened to us exactly?”  Lol asked.

“During our first encounter with the Ender Dragon, you all were knocked off the edge of the island. However, I knew you didn’t die. I just didn’t know you’d lose your memory. So, I threw a book that I had written specifically for each of you. Being thousands of years old, I’ve had a lot of time to explore the time and distance difference between the End and the Overworld. I knew where you would each land, and how far from each other you would be.” I explained.

“Why didn’t he just kill you when he could have?” Ashes asked.

“My father made sure that only creatures born of the Overworld could touch the Nether star. Therefore, all that would have helped was his destruction. In the End, he could create runes to balance his power. Not in Overworld.” I smiled a bit.

“Now what?” Oki asked.

“Well, we activate the Beacon.” I looked at him and nodded.

“And after that?” Kitty asked.

“Well, I suppose the Nether and the End will collapse. However, we were deceived. The Spawners of the world will not disappear. They will remain, as rips. Until they are destroyed, the creatures of this world will continue to appear.” I told him.

“Will you allow us to hunt them down with you?” Woxy asked.

“Yes my old friend.” I smiled.

He took the Beacon out of his pocket and placed it on the ground. I concentrated and placed my hands on the Beacon. The Beacon glowed brightly. A beam fired into the sky, and cracked like thunder. The clouds turned dark, and spiraled around the beam. Images of the Nether and the End appeared above us. We watched, as the two began to shake violently, and collided into each other. The ground shook and the wind picked up as they seemed to vanish into the beam. Small particles of the two worlds, traveled down the beam into the Beacon. When the last of the two were absorbed, the Beacon’s beam ceased. I felt a sudden wave of powerful energy flow through me. I could tell by how everyone was looking themselves up and down, I wasn’t the only one.

“That’s it…that nightmare’s over. Our next task: The Spawners.” I smiled. 

Author's Note

grammar has hopefully been improved. Please ignore the point of view changes