Monsters and Men

Overture

"I know I can do this, I'm gonna become immortal!"

The scientist slashed the illagers left and right, ignoring their angry hums and groans. Each kill was simply another totem, and he was quite happy with how things were going. His hand was starting to sweat around his sword's hilt, and he'd had to wipe his hand a few times against his jacket to prevent it from slipping out of his grip. He wasn't much of a sadist or murderer, don't get me wrong, but it was energizing to know that with this farm, he'd soon become unstoppable. Nah, unstoppable wasn't the right word, he still had so much to improve on. Rather, he'd just become unkillable. Which was useful in a world where if you die once, you lose everything.

The traversing through worlds is difficult. There's this small void you go to if you die in one of these 'hardcore' worlds, or if you get banned from a world. There, you have to use your communicator to quickly escape from the void and move to a new world. It's nice to have a device as useful as a communicator, especially if you need to contact others from different worlds. Those devices can be a life saver.

This will be important later, I promise.

Back to our protagonist. He continues slaying the evokers he's trapped, but he must also deal with vindicators and vex too. That's the trouble with farming a whole raid. You have much to deal with. He is only a single man in a world with a multitude of mobs against him. Despite the fact he has upgraded himself to as much netherite as he can, this farm is still quite taxing. It was taxing to put together, and was taxing to farm with too. Tedious, almost. He started to lose care for certain mobs, and began growing more confident and reckless on how he killed, soon finding this fight easy.

So it was no wonder that he got too close, fighting and trying to kill as much as possible.

He thought he was protected by the stone wall separating himself from the foes he was slaying.

But magic does not care for the arbitrary walls that players put up.

So when he whipped around, two little blue faeries were laughing and attacking him with their tiny iron swords.

"AH!"

They shouldn't have been able to escape the trap he had set, yet here they were, attacking him. He was already low on health from the few hits that his enemies had gotten from inside the cage, and the shock allowed the fae to attack him over and over. No matter how much he desperately tried to fend them off, they were still more powerful than he was. Because they were the vex, and he was a menial player.

The totem in his hand disintegrated and gave him his life back. The totem of undying, so he could continue fighting. But the fae don't back down, they never surrender.

He kept trying to fight back, trying to get hits, but the shock of it was too much. The vex were too fast. They snatched away his life, and with that, the world he had spent so long creating.

<DanTDM was slain by the Vex.>

~~~

He expected to wake up in the black void many players simply called the 'main menu', but where he instead awoke was a white and grey stained wasteland, with nothing he could see for miles on end. It hurt his eyes, the whiplash from the fairly dark room he had last been in to wherever he was now...what was he doing again? Oh right, he had died.

Oh right, he had lost everything from a span of..many days. Months. Years, maybe.

He knew where he was now wasn't the main menu, he'd been there his fair share of times. It couldn't be a glitch either, he'd be able to tell that. So where was he?

He tried to pull out his communicator, but couldn't seem to find it. Looking around, it didn't look as if there was anything interesting, just a bright white all over.

"Hello there, Daniel!"

The cheery voice behind him causes him to whip around, face to face with a smiling, flying blue fae. Not just any blue fae, the one that had slaughtered him. It's face seemed to be twisted into an ever smiling grin. A malicious vibe was diffused from it, and he couldn't help but shiver.

"Wh-where am I?! What do you want from me?!"

"Dan, dearie, you're trapped in your own mind."

So that must be where he currently is. His mind, where he formulates his thoughts. He knew it sounded stupid but he was willing for any explanation at that current moment.

"Well, can I get out of my mind?" He asked, sounding more aggressive than he intended. "I'd like to get to my friends."

"No, you can't. You're trapped here, Danny." The vex shook its head, but even though it sounded sympathetic, it was ever smiling. Meanwhile, Dan began to panic. Badly. He didn't like the idea of being trapped in his own mind while his body laid in the remains of his slowly fading away hardcore world. He'd heard stories of what happens to players who get trapped in glitched worlds. He'd never want to be in one himself.

"Wh-no! I don't want to be trapped here! I need to get back to Justin and James and Squid and Shady Oaks!" He cried, not sure if he was simply venting or asking the fae in front of him for help. It obviously took it as a cry for help.

"Well, there is one way." It said, smirking at him still. It's eerie gaze set Dan's flight or flight reflex off, but instead he simply fauned.

"Well, what is it? How do I get out of here?"

"You make a deal with us." It said, expression never changing. The only motion it seemed to be making was the flapping of its crystal wings. "We let you free if you give us control." Us? We? The vex wasn't making any sense.

"What do you mean, control?" Dan quiered, but the vex remained silent. "How do I know you're not tricking me? You were the ones that killed me, after all." He placed his hand on his hip, trying to seem demanding or threatening. However, it felt more like he was trying to mask his fear.

"You have to remember that if you don't, you'll be trapped here for good. Are you sure you want to abandon your friends with no explanation?"

The vex have a fair, fair point, he thinks. It's not as if they'd see his death message, they weren't in the world. Which means that they wouldn't know where he was if he was trapped. And if he was let free, he would at least be able to see them...

"Fine. It's a deal."

"Good choice."