Bla bla bla Let's begin the chapter (:
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A bone chilling scream.
Wind.
It howled through my hair and prompted goose bumps on my skin. Is that why I was so cold? Is that why I felt like my body was being torn to shreds, whipped and shredded by the merciless wind?
My eyes flickered open, and the pain retreated. But the wind didn't. The wind still kept me company in this harsh… Harsh, harsh what?
Where was I?
From where I lay I could only see the awakening sky, its endless blue like something from a movie. Where had I seen that shade before? My memories hurried to reorganise themselves. I remembered a ski trip, when I was only young. Dad had rented a cabin high up in the mountains where the forests were laden with heavy snow and the skies stretched on for an eternity.
It was that type of blue.
As I watched, it became lighter. The sun was rising. A new day. I struggled to push myself up. My muscles ached and my head throbbed. I swayed precariously on my feet, balancing as if I had to teach myself to walk all over again. Where the hell wa-
I dare not move another inch. My foot was planted on the ledge of a cliff, only just preventing my perilous decent. I swallowed as I stared out at the phenomenon before me. It was a deadly drop, the surface of the torrents that raged beneath only just visible through the haze of distance. Similarly a parallel cliff face stood at least a kilometre away, constructed of solid stone, standing directly opposite my platform.
I dropped backwards and crawled away from the terrifying plummet. Once my panicked breathing had returned to normal, I stood up once more and looked around. It would seem that I had awoken on a small plain. Grasslands spread out before me, their edges tinged with thick forest on one side and gigantic mountain ranges on the other.
My eyes widened at the sight. How the hell did I get here? I thought back… Key, Enderman, I was attacked… I groaned in realization.
"Minecraft. He teleported me, to fucking Minecraft!" I shouted at the relentless winds.
But why wasn't it all blocky, like it was in the game? Everything seemed real and quite normal. And furthermore, where was the Enderman? I shuddered at the thought… I wasn't his target, I was just an inconvenience. Which means that the hybrid, is still… Key, Raven. I needed to warn them.
Just as I was considering how to get out of this god forsaken world, something flashed in the sunlight, catching my eye. A piece of metal perhaps? It had come from over by the cliff, where I had, for lack of a better word, spawned. Metal? I squinted in the general direction and waited for the sun to reveal its hiding place.
It was a time before the spark of light pulled my attention towards a spot, not too far from where I sat. Slowly, I stood and shuffled towards the unknown object, trying my best not to look at the nerve-wracking drop that was mere meters away. Soon, the mystery revealed itself. I recognised the form almost instantly, and it did nothing but fill my mind with more and more unanswerable questions.
A blocky character lay face down in the dirt. A full scale replica of a Minecraft player. Not just any character, this metal creation was coated in my skin. The skin that I had uploaded to my account. The clean cut pixels arranged to create a smart looking mechanic, steampunk goggles and all.
Mustering my courage, I prodded the figure with my foot. Apart from the dull thud of leather against metal, nothing happened. My brain swirled with possibilities. It was obvious enough that this was some type of machine, but why did it look like a Minecraft character? Why did it look like my Minecraft character? My mind churned on the queries.
Perhaps…
Struggling, I rolled the heavy iron mech over so that it lay face up. There were hardly any differences, apart from the eyes. I had expected cameras, I was very wrong. Holes, rimmed with a static purple lightening, sat inlaid in each slot. As I leaned forwards and peered through the ominous voids, a few of my questions were answered.
On the other side, I could see my room. The same old boring white walls and the same old ceiling. The hybrid lay in wait, watching me through the monitor. I shied away from the sight and sat on the soft grass that covered the ground.
Minecraft.
It wasn't a game… Every player was controlling a robot like this one. In a real world. But why!? I yelled at my own consciousness. Nothing made sense! Why were there so many mysteries within mysteries!? Every one that I answered just created dozens more…
I lay down in defeat. There was no point trying to understand. It was a puzzle missing the corner pieces.
The wind still thrashed against my skin, unforgiving. I suppose it might be a good idea to find some shelter. I groaned. If this was Minecraft that meant that my house was out there somewhere. How convenient that I had gotten horribly lost while exploring. There was no point wasting time trying to find it. It might have been possible to recognise land marks while they were still blocky and pixelated, but now that they were so realistic…
I sighed and stood up. I suppose the forests might be a good place to start.
Of course I tried it, anybody would have. But apparently punching trees accomplished only two things. Hurting yourself, and looking like an absolute idiot. Furthermore, it did nothing but confirm the fact that this world's physics were no different from Earth's. Still, the things I had learnt from playing the game previously might come in handy. I never aced my design tech class, but I knew enough to manage tearing off a few branches and constructing a crude wooden axe.
I smiled at what I had accomplished. It was small, but it proved that I might actually have a chance. The smile slowly faded as I realised how much effort it took to fell the giant oaken beasts. As the sun reached mid-day I had only managed to bring five trunks to the ground. After that, I had to strip them into manageable planks which cost me even more time.
The once comforting blue sky began to descend into a spectrum of different colours. Yellow, orange, red… I didn't have much time. After all, the last thing I wanted was to be outside at night. The existence of Endermen confirmed the existence of all the other mobs and there was no hurry to meet them. I looked around for options… The mountains in the distance undoubtedly hid many caves, but there wouldn't be enough time to travel there, let alone secure a safe area. The grasslands were far too open to even consider spending the night in. The forest seemed to be the best bet, if I could scale one of the trees, I might survive the night… Might.
Taking a few steps back, I steadied myself before running at the nearest tree. Aiming for one of the lowest branches, I planted my foot on the rough bark and jumped upwards. Grimacing as my hands clasped around the branch, my legs swinging haphazardly beneath me. I had only just made it, it was reckless, if I injured myself here I would probably end up dea-
The thin branch creaked and splintered, pausing only a moment to let me realise what was happening. Well shit. A loud crack echoed through the surroundings as I began to fall. I managed to curl into a ball before I hit the unforgiving dirt. A jolt of pain broke through my nerves, making me squirm and writhe on the cold hard ground.
A burst of laughter sounded from above. My motions stopped and I stood up, alarmed. I winced as my muscles complained, but continued searching for the source anyway. "Who's there?"
"Honestly, that was the best tree climbing attempt I've seen in a long time." Was the only reply I got, followed by a small snicker.
It seemed to have no origin, as the noise came from all directions. "Show yourself."
A sigh. "If you inssssssssssist."
The bright cat like eyes were the first thing that became noticeable in the darkness. They stared down at me as the figure descended from a tree not too far away. It slowly strode in my direction, completely as ease and yet… So silent. I could barely hear footsteps or any notion of movement. It was almost…
Creepy.
Eventually the form stood close enough for me to make out details through the gloomy moonlight. A boy, perhaps the same age as myself, if not a little older. He wore a hoodie that painfully reminded me of Key and the danger she was in, the only difference was the unmistakable creeper face stitched in green. In this light it was hard to tell if his hair was black or a dark brown, but it hung just above his eyes making him seem all the more delinquent. A dark blue t-shirt, baggy black jeans, light boots.
He was quite the character and I kept noticing more and more peculiar details about his appearance. Two silver chains that ran from his belt into his pocket, a single studded earing, dark aviator sunglasses hanging precariously from the neck of his shirt.
I had to force myself to stop looking for new features and focus on a conversation. "Who are you?"
He looked at me lazily. "Herobrine."
Rolling my eyes I tried again. "My name is David, what's yours?"
He tilted his head at me, thinking before he grinned. "Isaac." As I contemplated how to go about my next question, the stranger spoke. "Most villagers don't get my sarcasm."
This caught my attention. "Villagers?"
The one who called himself Isaac examined me quizzically, debating how to answer. "You're not from around here are you?"
It hadn't taken him long to figure it out. "What about you, what are you doing here?"
He shrugged. "I've been watching you scurry around all day."
"Why?"
"Seemed interest-" His voice dropped off and he slowly turned to face into the forest.
I was about to question him, but he held up his hand to signal me otherwise. Patiently, I waited for whatever was to come next.
A rattle in the darkness.
A spine chilling groan.
All of a sudden the noises came to stop, half way through their release. I watched Isaac crack his fingers. He was waiting for something… The glint of an arrow head flew towards me at incredible speed. I didn't have time to react as it raced towards my chest. I braced for pain.
But there was none. My eyes soon crept open to find a cocky looking teenager watching me, a giant grin spread across his face and a splintered arrow clutched in his hand. Sadly, we didn't have time to marvel at his epic performance as the groans and rattles grew louder and closer. We had to move, now.
My new found saviour laughed as he ran past me, heading for the grasslands. "Run!"
I didn't need to be told again.
We dodged and weaved around tress and greenery, jumping over fallen logs and tree stumps. I didn't remember coming this far in… The sounds of monsters were not attempting to conceal themselves any longer. Groans, rattles, shrieks, patters, they echoed around us in a terrifying melody. And yet the whole time Isaac was laughing, he seemed to enjoy being in perilous danger.
I could barely keep up with him and I could tell he was holding himself back to give me a chance. The way he seemed to vault over any object with ease was eerie. It seemed to come so naturally to him. Furthermore, I could not understand the reasoning behind his actions. First, he had stalked me all day, watching my every move like I was prey. But then he had saved my life. Why?
I stumbled and pushed the thoughts out of my mind, returning my focus to evading the countless arrows that struck the ground around us. And finally, I saw them. The blocky graphics of Minecraft did nothing to describe the horrors that lay before me. Skeletons, bare beings with only shreds of skin hanging from their bones, deadly bows gripped in their hands, the spaces where their eyes should have been held nothing but darkness. Zombies, humans that were scratched and bloated, their skin turned a pale green. Spiders, gigantic insects covered in a thick black hair with glowing red orbs for eyes.
But most horrifying of all… Creepers.
They crawled around on four short legs, glaring at anything that neared them with an intense hatred. Slightly smaller than they appeared in the game, coated in a sickly green skin that oozed a black substance which I presumed to be gunpowder.
As we burst through the overgrowth and into the clear, I could do nothing but stand in awe at the collections of mobs that crowded the grasslands, creating a never ending horde. Isaac did not hesitate and continued running. Not seeing another option, I followed him.
We ran for a time, barely avoiding confrontations with the dreadful beings that rushed at us. Before long, I saw where the capable teen was heading. A small hill sat at the edge of the seemingly endless clearing. However, although it was small compared to the mountains in the distance, it still seemed a little too high to be scaled by anyone. I couldn't help but wonder what his plan was, did he even have one?
I skidded to a stop as I saw a decomposed zombie block our path, going around him would take us into the paths of the many other mobs that dotted the landscape. Isaac continued sprinting as if nothing had changed.
"Look ou-" My warning became useless as the mysterious boy detached a vicious looking metal mace from his belt, I hadn't even noticed it before. From what I could see it was about half the length of a baseball bat, scratched and dented from use, the sharp studs that covered it made it appear even more menacing.
I began running again as I watched him swing in an arc, smashing the weapon into his opponents head. A sickening crack followed by a gush of discoloured blood separated itself from the now crippled zombie. It fell uselessly to the ground, still twitching. I had to pull my gaze from the disgusting scene and fixed my eyes instead on the imposing cliff face that lay before us.
Isaac clipped our protector back onto his belt where it was held firmly in place by a thick leather strap. Unlike me, he was prepared. He picked up speed as we neared the barrier, almost as if he was planning to run straight through it. I cringed as I awaited his impact. But instead of slamming into the harsh surface of stone, he planted a foot on the wall and kicked upwards, planting another after that.
Within a few centimetres of margin, he caught onto the slightly overhanging edge. He did not slow for so much as a moment as he pulled himself up and swung around to outstretch an arm to me. I couldn't wrap my head around it, it was almost as if he had defied physics with a few relaxed bounds. But I didn't have time to think about that now.
I realised that I was about to attempt an identical action to what I had previously that day, climbing the tree. A dull throb in my lower back reminded me of how that had turned out. But this time, the target was a good half a meter higher. Gritting my teeth, I sped up.
My first step only just held traction as I pushed upwards, the second… Was not so kind. I began to slip and soon realised that I would end up as a midnight snack for the large group of monsters that were still chasing us. A rough hand caught my wrist. Looking up, I found the strained face of Isaac. He was hanging precariously over the edge, almost to the point of falling himself.
"Just let me go!" I shouted at him.
"Are you underestimating my epic strength?" He replied through his teeth.
How could he still be joking around in a position like this? If the already hopeless situation was not hopeless enough, my human rope slid a little closer to the treacherous drop. He fumbled for grip.
"For fucks sake just dro-" I was interrupted by a strenuous growl.
Issac's face turned from one of pressure to one of determination and amazingly, I began to ascend. It was a struggle and I doubted the whole while if he would succeed, but eventually I had reached a point where I could roll myself onto the soft grass that sat at the top.
We lay face up, panting at the stars. They were beautiful constellations, I hadn't had time to admire them before. A spectacular pallet of blues, blacks and whites dotted the sky. But I suppose anything could seem beautiful when you were supposed to be dead. Isaac began laughing, just a light chuckle at first, but it soon turned into full-fledged howling.
His cocky laugh was so infectious that I couldn't help but join in. So we lay there laughing at the stars, laughing at this cruel reality that had tried to execute us and laughing at the unpleasant fate we had only just escaped from.
What a hopeless world.
I awoke to the sound of burning. There were no howls or screams of suffering, just the faint smell of ash and smoke. Sitting up, I overlooked the platform of grass that spread out before me. A series of flaming corpses lay strewn around the fields. I recalled that zombies and skeletons sparked when the first rays of morning sunlight fell upon them. It was a depressing sight, but I could not look away. It was odd, watching your enemies die so helplessly. I pushed down the overwhelming urge that told me to do something to save them.
It was too late for that.
I searched the hill top that had served as our island for my saviour. A pang of loss hit me when I saw that he was nowhere to be found. He had no reason to remain after all. It was kind of him to risk his life for mine, but no sane person would stay to do it again… I suppose it was just me n-
Isaac, who had an overpowered talent for cutting me off, hauled himself up onto the raised island, somehow he had managed to carry a large bundle of planks across his shoulders. The planks that I had crafted yesterday… "Morning." He greeted, laying the bundle on the ground.
"I thought you had left." I answered, still a little amazed that he had returned.
The boy grinned. "Left to where?"
The question confused me somewhat. "Don't you have a home or something?"
He sniggered as he turned to climb back down the cliff face. "That's where you come in."
Where I come in? Wait… Does that mean he wants to st- My eyes widened as I watched him jump off of the ledge, I rushed to it just in time to see him hit the ground and roll over his shoulder. Remarkably, he stood up unscathed. How did he become so good at navigating the terrain? To be honest I was a little envious at his ability. I guess sitting inside everyday explains my lack of talent.
As I stared down at him, I noticed that the majority of planks had already been dragged over from the forest. He was beginning to bundle up another load. "What do you mean, 'that's where you come in'?"
He looked up at me as he crouched to pile the wood. Reaching into his hoodie, he pulled out a short red stick. I recognised it almost instantly, dynamite… "I'm really good at destroying things. But I can't build or craft for shit." Placing the explosive back to whichever hidden pocket it came from, he returned to his task.
I mulled the situation over. "So you want me to build a house. That's why you were watching me, and why you protected me…" The respect I had gained for him diminished slightly.
"No. I protected you because it was fun. And also I'm a show off."
The corner of my mouth turned upwards in a small grin. "Fine. But I've got some questions to ask you."
His distaste was obvious.
By the time we had collected and retrieved all of the materials we needed it was already mid-morning. I traced a quick blueprint in the dirt as we sat on the logs that had been placed across from each other. Isaac watched on attentively.
In the short time that had passed, I had managed to survey the small outcrop of land in a new light. It was across the grasslands from where I had spawned, and yet one edge still dropped off into the crashing ocean below. It would seem that we were on an island that had somehow been raised significantly out of the unforgiving sea. Although that observation was not final, we could still be attached to the mainland somewhere…
Anyway, the hill itself was quite large and it was raised even further, setting its peak above that of the surrounding land. It was quite an odd creation, now that I looked at it. It would have taken a freak of nature or decades of mishap erosion to create it. But never the less, it was here now.
I returned my attention to the blueprint in front of me. My plan was simple, so simple in fact that it could be described in four words. So simple that decades of engineers and builders had done the same thing over and over on repeat. So simple that I was probably just wasting time by drawing a blueprint at all. It combined all of my knowledge on practical construction and assembly into one.
It was a rectangle.
"Seriously?" My companion complained.
"We can add more rooms later, but for now this will be a good base." I nodded at the logs that had not yet been stripped into planks. "We can use those for corner posts. If we use a notching system we won't have to make nails." Isaac stared at me vacantly. I shrugged and handed him a plank that I had carved slightly to resemble a shovel. "Start digging."
He seemed happy to get started and began work at the points I had specified. In the meantime, I busied myself with finding an alternative to wooden tools. My trusty axe had broken long ago and that shovel wouldn't hold out long either. We needed something more durable. Metal would be the preference, but to mine metal we needed tools…
It created a hopeless circle. Metal for tools, tools for metal. My eyes became unfocused as I gazed off at the hulking stone giants in the distance. Their summits were still coated in a thin layer of crisp white snow and sometimes the occasional cloud would shield them from view.
Stone…
I leapt to my feet as the idea began to form. I would need something to mine the stone with first so that meant a wooden pickaxe. I hurried to collect the toughest pieces of oak I could find. Deciding that my seat would now serve as a crafting table, I chipped away at the wood with one of the sharp rocks that scattered the ground. It took a painfully long while but eventually I stood up triumphantly.
This pickaxe, albeit a little oddly shaped, would be my best chance at progressing in this world. I looked up to find Isaac lying on the floor, only two of the four holes had been dug and the second one looked more like a crater. His dark sunglasses were on and his blackish brown hair flickered in the wind. Was he… Taking a nap?
"Isaac."
"Mmm?" He didn't move.
"What are you doing?"
A new gust of wind swept through the air, he waited until it had died down. "Building is hard."
"No, you're just lazy." I replied, with an annoyed pang of realization.
He yawned. "That too."
I sighed and swung my tool over my shoulder, making for the edge. Carefully, I climbed downwards and somehow managed to avoid slipping on the loose surface. I had no intention of being caught out in the dark again so I made haste towards the mountains in the distance.
It was a struggle in some places as the grass crept up higher and higher. Before long it was a tangled mess that gathered around my waist. But when I watched how the fields of untamed greenery moved like a set of calming waves in the wind, it wasn't so bothersome. In fact it reminded me of the wheat fields that sat on the city's outskirts. Half way past summer's dawn, each grain would have grown to a similar height. I used to spend hours staring at them before I had found the entertaining world that was the internet.
I would have to take Key there sometime… If she was still… I shook my head in annoyance. Thinking about the possibilities would solve nothing. My goal was to survive until I found a way to get back, that was all. There was nothing more important.
The next footstep landed on something harder than grass, I looked down in interest. Stone? Had I already come this far? I turned around to find the small island that would soon be our home only just visible in the distance. Checking the sun, I made haste. It was already past midday.
Bracing myself for disappointment, I hoisted the oaken pick above my head and slammed it down into the stone beneath me. If it broke now, then we had no chance of surviving for long. The handle vibrated fiercely in my hands, making me want to drop it. But I held tight and examined what impact my efforts had made. My pride swelled in my chest. A clear dent and a few small cracks spread out from the tip of the tool.
It was possible after all.
Isaac lay exactly where I had left him. Not a care in the world for what was going on around him. My anger bubbled as I realised that we would be spending another night in the open darkness. He raised a hand to point at something. Confused, I followed his gesture.
Not only had he dug the holes, he had also managed to lift the giant logs into them and pack them down with dirt, a task that I had thought impossible for a single being. He grinned, smugly. I dropped everything that I had collected next to him.
The boy jumped up in fright, the smug grin replaced with a hurried surprise. What lay before him was a neatly crafted stone pick, a brand new axe, a pile of stone shards and a few lumps of black substance which I had presumed to be coal.
He looked up at me blankly, obviously oblivious to what I had accomplished. "What's this stuff?"
My head dropped in defeat. "Let's just finish the house."
We began working on carving notches into the corner posts, this way we could simply sit the planks into them and let gravity act as our nails. As the time passed I eventually decided to ask some of the questions that were still running rampant around my head. "You said something about villagers before… Are they human?"
Isaac did not turn from his task. "Something like that. They live further inland so I don't usually see many of them, except for the few that turn up out here."
I nodded. "You're not human though, are you?"
His head tilted slightly. "Not bad." The boy turned from his task and gave an exaggerated bow. "Isaac Gilan, a pleasssssure to meet you." His prolonged hiss only confirmed what I had been contemplating. This boy was not a human… He was a Creeper hybrid. I instantly felt more wary of him, remembering the horrid green creatures that had chased us earlier. He gave me a quizzical stare. "You're not scared?"
"Should I be?"
A thoughtful expression crossed his face. "Only on Mondays."
Monda- What? What was he on about? Before I could reply he had already returned to work, ending the conversation. With an exasperated sigh I followed suit.
And so we progressed. Slowly. But before long our walls were up and our roof was on. Isaac stood next to me as we inspected our creation proudly. "Awesome."
"I feel like we've forgotten something…" I stated, examining the structure for defects.
Isaac said nothing as he joined the search for the missing factor. Corner posts, walls, roof and even a small window that looked out onto the sea… Why was there such a nagging feeling that something was wrong?
In a single instant we both knew exactly what it was.
"Shit." Both Isaac and I swore simultaneously.
Taking up my axe, I began to hack away at the side of the house. A few moments later I was finished and joined the Creeper boy again, looking on our achievement in a new light. Corner posts, walls, roof, a window and now a recently added door. It was complete.
We sat inside, sheltered from the wind and the terrors of the night. Safe. We could relax. The torches I had crafted gave of a warm yellow glow that occupied the room. I took another bite of the apple Isaac had shared for dinner. It was hardly a feast, my stomach still growled in protest, but it was better than nothing.
The hybrid sat up against the opposite wall, fiddling with a stick of dynamite. He gave off such a confident aura that my worry was minimal. "What are hybrids?"
"The million dollar question." He held the stick up to the light, inspecting it for something that was unknown to me. When he was satisfied, he continued. "I remember screaming." He paused to let his words sink in. "From the little I found out before I was abandoned, a hybrid is made, not born. Two beings, forced into one. A human with a mob."
Two beings, forced into one? "Who creates them?"
He smirked. "Wish I knew."
Sensing a dead end, I tried a different question. "You said 'abandoned'."
With a sigh, he answered. "Meshing two bodies together is possible, as you can see. But meshing two souls is a completely different matter. When they've finished with you, you've either got the mob's soul or the human's."
The overload of information was beginning to exceed my limits but I pushed forward anyway. "So the ones that have human souls…"
"Are thrown into the wild to fend for themselves. Failed experiments." Isaac finished for me, subtly spitting the last few words out.
I paused to get my head around the data. So that means that Key, is more human than Enderman, as is Isaac more so than Creeper. I sighed. As usual the answer of one question only raised a dozen more. Who or what creates the hybrids? Why are they being created? Why is it that the ones with human souls are rejected? This was starting to become a hydra of trivia. "How many human hybrids are there?"
He raised an eyebrow, surprised at my question for some reason. "Not many. I've only ever met a few and most of them have tried to kill me."
"Kill you?" He seemed so at ease with what he had just said.
"Yeah, there was one a few days ago actually, skeleton. The bitch shot an arrow into my shoulder."
He hadn't answered my question at all. "Why?"
Shrugging, the creeper explained. "Every race blames every other race for the weird things that have been going on lately. It's like a full-fledged war. Better to stay away from the inland, where nobody really gives a fuck."
His use of the word 'inland' as opposed to 'mainland' lead me to believe that we were not stranded on an island after all. It was an odd thing to be noticing when he had basically told me that mobs were sentient and intelligent, had a political system and were at each other's throats in just a few sentences.
I was tired. For the past hour I had been ignoring my strained eyelids, but they were relentless. We had been working all day, I suppose it was only natural. Yawning, I lay down on the soft grass. "Let's pick this up tomorrow."
Isaac began examining another explosive. "Agreed."
My head had barely hit the ground before I was dead to the world. Only a few trails of thought lingered into my dreams. Most of it nonsense, but one image stood out. It wasn't an image so much as an ocean, but then again it was not an ocean either… White, as far as the eye could see… It was comforting, in some way. Warm. An overwhelming feeling of completion…
Mmph. Go to sleep David…
A bone chilling scream rocked me from my slumber.
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Just keep chilling, just keep chilling~
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Okay I'm going to sleep cuz it's 1:00 in the night.
So yeah stay tune for the next chapter.
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