Minecraft: The Marvelous Adventures of Steve: The Invasion Trilogy

Rumors Become Reality

Sam scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah... Sorry about that. I had my guard down, and a creeper blew. I didn't know they could throw you that far. I always stayed away from them."

"Yeah. They're pretty ridiculous creatures. How did you get here?"

"I was following a stream. I was hoping to find a village somewhere before nightfall, but I wasn't so lucky. They started spawning, and I just started running. I didn't know where I was or where to go. I jumped into the river in your valley. I'm sorry if I'm intruding on your property."

"No no, you're fine. I just haven't seen anyone for a while. Are you a traveler?"

Sam laughed, but it was a sad one.

"I didn't use to be."

Steve didn't like the way that sounded.

"What do you mean?"

Sam looked at Steve.

"There's something really wrong with our world," Sam said.

Steve stopped tapping his fingers.

"What?"

"It's a long story," Sam said, looking away.

"Try me," Steve said. "I'm a great listener."

Sam looked at Steve. He thought he could feel a soft glow when he looked into his eyes. Somehow, he knew he could trust him. He took a deep breath.

"Okay. It all started a while back. I don't know how long I had been moving, but it was pretty far. I used to live in a small village. Villagers carried out daily tasks, and the other people would help. We worked together. We lived. We had fun. Not bragging, but I would do most of the work. I built houses and community buildings for the village. I was always proud of my work, and everyone seemed to enjoy them, so I prepared for expansions."

"We knew the village would be growing, so I planned ahead to create a safer and more child-friendly village. Children always played. Their laughs were like music to our ears. They chased each other without a care in the world. We, the adults, conversed daily and always had a good time. I would offer help whenever I could. I always liked to stay busy. On my free time, I made out plans in my journal for building moats and walls like a castle. We would have had a safe abbey for our village and visitors. I... was so naive."

"Everything was going so well. I was about to begin working on defenses when they invaded."

"They? Who's they?"

"The mobs. Countless creatures taking over the village. They broke down doors and blew up houses. It was chaos."

"That's not... abnormal," Steve said. "Mobs do that if they can see you, so you would just go inside for the night. You would have been fine... right?"

"We should have been, but we weren't. You don't understand, Steve," Sam said.

Steve looked into his eyes and was suddenly overwhelmed with fear. There was a dark truth behind them.

"The mobs attacked in broad daylight."

Steve shuddered. His nightmare last night came back clear as glass. The immune zombies.

"That should be impossible," Steve said.

"It happened," Sam said. "I saw it all. I was out with a lumberjack collecting wood when we heard screaming. We ran back to find the village in chaos. The buildings were burning. There was a lot of smoke, but we could see through it. Zombies. Skeletons. Hostile spiders. There were so many, Steve, and were attacking everyone."

"We tried to help, but the mobs turned on us. Jack was killed, but... I barely made it out. Whoever was left... didn't make it."

Sam started shedding blocky tears. Steve put a friendly hand on his shoulder.

"How long ago did this happen?"

Sam sniffled.

"About seven days. I hid at night and struggled day after day to find a village."

Sam stopped crying altogether, realizing what was happening. He looked into Steve's eyes again.

"They're coming, Steve. It'll-It'll be like an ocean wave, and I led them here. Notch!"

Sam slammed his fists down on the table.

"It's okay," Steve said. "We'll just have to fight them off."

"Do you think it's possible?" Sam asked. "There were so many, and now more would have spawned."

"We can prepare. We'll be ready for them."

"We? You mean you're letting me stay?"

"Of course. You can't go back out there alone. You'll be killed. Stay here. Help me fight."

"Maybe I can go back up and guide them away from the valley," Sam said. "It was me they were after. Not you. I can't let you take the fall for something I caused."

"No. We're in this together. You won't last out there without help. Do you still have that journal?"

"Yeah?"

"Let me see it."

Sam took out the journal and gave it to Steve.

"It's still a little wet," Steve said.

"It should be fine," Sam said.

He turned the damp pages, looking at the blueprints.

"These are good," Steve said with sincerity. "We can build these within three days."

"Do you think so?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Well... there's something else you should know."

"What's that?"

"The villagers were discussing rumors before the mobs attacked us. You know how villagers can... feel certain things about the world, right? Well, they had felt something had changed. An old power had come back."

"Old power? What do you mean?"

"The Ender Dragon. It's back."

Steve's eyes went wide.

"But.. the Ender Dragon has been dead for years. How?"

"They don't know. All they could talk about was... some kind of different power. A stronger power. Something powerful brought it back to life. I don't think it's a coincidence. Ender has to be the reason why the mobs aren't dying."

Steve looked down at his food.

"I see."

"What are we gonna do?"

Steve thought for a moment.

"We'll have to survive," Steve said. "First, we fortify the house. Make traps. Do anything to slow them down. We need to get some weapons and armor, too. I only have an ax and pickax. We can make some iron doors, too. Maybe even diamond sword."

"Diamond swords? Wow!" Sam exclaimed. "But... I've never even held a sword."

Steve was baffled.

"Wait... so you've never used a sword?"

"No. We had people in the village for that. I'm just a builder. Sorry."

"Don't worry. It's not hard to learn how. Bows are the difficult pieces. I love using swords. I practice using bows in my spare time."

"I've used a bow before," he said. "Not much, but a little."

"Okay. Here's the plan. We're going to follow your drawings and build up the wall. Grab some stacks of cobble from the chest. I'll make some iron doors with what I have left over."

Steve furrowed his eyebrows and frowned.

"If they want war, they're gonna get it."