Hey guys! EpicPwner333 here, and . . . I'm back! Now, if you don't enjoy long A/N's, then skip to the story by all means. A New Civilization WILL be continued. That story is close to my heart. The one before that . . . I can't even remember its name - it will be deleted. MineZ: Land of Terror I'm putting on hiatus.

My friends, this will be my greatest story yet. I make a solemn pledge to finish this by any means necessary. Someday in the future, I will hit the "complete" button under this story. The chapters will be long - this one for example is +3,000 words long.

So there you have it. Tell me what you think. This story will have many interesting twists and turns that I will throw your way - so be prepared.

It's time for The Tale Of Drake

A harsh light settled over a small town in Minecraftia. A faded, aged sign announced to anyone who cared that they were in Filsborough, a mining community in the rolling hills around the main cities of Minecraftia. The one problem with this claim was that the hills had long been stripped of their precious ores and minerals. This once thriving, charming little town was dying out. This wasn't by any destructive means, however; most of the kids growing up left the town for the outside world. Slowly but surely, this town would be reduced to an abandoned pile of looted buildings.

In the tiny Town Square, almost the entire population of the town was gathered to send off a newly-grown up teenager. He stood proudly with his mother, who was is old age and obviously was having a hard time standing up. His mother is unimportant, and she was to die several days after her son's departure. The young man is very important, however. He stood at a good six feet, tall for his age. Of course he didn't really know that; he grew up in a time where the closest anyone in the town was to his age was almost five years his senior. To say he was a lonely child would be a gross understatement.

He had jet black hair that was sloppily combed, and it was fairly long. He wore a simple brown t-shirt, and the rugged, all-purpose blue jeans that almost everyone in Minecraftia used. He hefted a medium-sized backpack, and had a plain-looking iron sword attached to his belt. Of greater use to him in these peaceful areas was his again, plain stone pickaxe that was tied to his pack. After a morning of celebration and partying, he finally walked out of the village. He didn't particularly regret it; life had boring and tedious, and his only family left, his mom, was about to die. Everyone knew it, and he didn't even try and deny it. He had already made peace with his mom, said a long and tearful goodbye, and he failed to leave a single burden behind in Filsborough. He was ready, even eager to get away from his birthplace.

His name was Thomas Drake.


Drake was a miner, like most players in Minecraftia. He nevertheless liked to take walks into the forest as a kid, and was equally at home in the cool stillness of the trees as he was in the dark, putrid mineshafts where he had toiled to find the last vestiges of ore veins that remained in the town limits. Any iron they managed to find was generally of poor quality anyways, but this sword was better than most that the relatively incompetent town blacksmith had clumsily forged.

He had visited the nearby city of Ragonsworth a few times in his life, mostly to trade whatever supplies they had on hand for needed materials. The city could barely be called that, with only around 789 players calling it home. Version 2.5 had allowed for emerald shards and gold coins in addition with emeralds for currency, and he carried quite a few shards in his pack. "Version 2.5" was just a term for these new eras of knowledge that the inhabitants (called players) of Minecraftia had dubbed. Every so often, the King of Minecraftia was supposedly summoned by Notch (a.k.a God) to be told of new things that were possible. The records were kept all the way back to Version 1.9, and there the books abruptly ended.

The city was surrounded by a simple wooden wall, and in the center of a haphazard crowd of simple houses and shops was a largest man-made mound of dirt that had a stone tower on top – in effect, the "castle" that protected the city. It was the 22nd largest city in civilized Minecraftia. A small wooden tower in the north of the city marked the location of the Kingdom Outpost, the representation of the Minecraftia central government. Five Royal Guards resided there, augmenting the rag-tag, part-time militia of almost 100 random players who lived in or around Ragonsworth. It wasn't needed of course – the city was deep in the safe, peaceful territory of the Kingdom.

As Drake strolled through the gate of the city, he stopped to take in the sights and smells. It was still the biggest collection of players and houses he had ever seen in his life. He'd barely been walking for an hour and half down the gravel road before he'd reached Ragonsworth. He didn't plan on staying long, though. Just a quick overnight stay, maybe a bit of shopping for some better gear, and he was taking the ferry down the river to the larger cities and get a job mining, perhaps. Maybe he'd even sign on with one of those adventurers who sailed ships across oceans in search of . . . well, anything really. As for shopping for better gear, almost anything here was better than the shoddy supplies he carried from Filsborough.

As if to prove his point to himself, he spied a wealth of tools and clothing through a shop window. He waltzed through the doors, wide-eyed at the wealth around him on the walls. Not even the mayor of his old town had this much stuff in his possession. His reverie was interrupted by the voice of the shopkeeper.

"You here to buy something, or are you just gonna keep staring at my wares?" the gruff, aged man at the counter inquired.

"Sorry…" Drake muttered, wondering what to get.

After almost fifteen minutes of slowly wandering around the shop, drawing an uncomfortable stare from the shopkeeper, Drake selected a pair of rugged-looking leather boots, a water bottle, a cheap compass, a fedora, a small diamond shard necklace that caught his eye, and a bandana. All in all, he had to pay thirteen emerald shards for the items. Next, he searched out and found the cheapest inn in town. He only had to give up a single, measly emerald shard to stay a night in one of its cramped rooms, leaving him with thirty-five shards. Sleep came easily to him, as he had always had an uncanny ability to sleep very easily, anywhere.

He couldn't wait to see what tomorrow would bring.


It was a beautiful morning, he realized as he looked out his grimy window, recently woken up. The Ragonsworth was already wide awake, and the sound of hundreds of people going about their daily business resounded in his head. Hammers clanging off anvils in forges, animals pulling carts around, people talking and yelling to each other, the roar of fires in the charcoal factory, everything. He was sure he would never really get used to that noise.

Time to leave, hopefully. He sat down for a quick breakfast of a slice of bread that he had in his backpack from Filsborough, and a few minutes later he was out of the inn and walking towards the waterfront. Ragonsworth was located on the Borhan River, like many of the major cities in Minecraftia. The Borhan River was fairly wide, and was the second longest/widest river in the area. It even connected that larger river, the Earhees River at one point with a canal. The water front, in fact, was the most developed and best-kept section of Ragonsworth.

Several dozen ships were tied up at the numerous docks, and the whole area was swarming with players offloading supplies, running about, and generally crowding the area. He'd changed his mind; he would and try and find a quick job in the town for some cash, and then start out for the great port city of Delorees and then decide what to do there. Two more cities were in his path, and the cost of food and ferries was enough to drive him to seek a job. He didn't want to become tied down anywhere. He wanted to wander, to seek out adventure, to make up for all those years spent wasting away in his hometown.

The waterfront wasn't just the center of shipping and commerce in Ragonsworth; it was also the center of practically everything else that went on in the city. Drake spotted a large stall in the center of the bustling area, with many people crowded around it. He walked up. A large sign announced to all that this was a place to sign up for a MineTex job in the nearby Gorgobad Mountains near Ragonsworth. Drake remembered them, as he had often stood staring at them in the distance in his hometown. Rumor was that those mountains still were full of ores and minerals, and that MineTex, a massive multi-city corporation, periodically sent huge teams of miners into the caves and old mineshafts to claim those resources.

Without a word, he walked up to the book and signed "Thomas Drake, 16, Filsborough" into the appropriate slots. He stepped back and headed for the group of people that the clerk pointed to. As he pushed his way through the crowd, he was surprised to see many angry looks. One man, a grizzled old miner, leaned in and whispered to him.

"You best not be goin' wit them. Those guys almost never come back."

Unsettled, Drake passed him without response and made his way over to the group of assembled MineTex employees. It was a mixed group, to say the least. A few players looked like locals, equipped with standard stone pickaxes, and what appeared to be cheap stone swords that were recently handed out by the company representative. At least they looked like they knew what they were doing; half the players there didn't seem to know at all what they were doing with the pickaxes. A few of those players were heavily armed and looked more like adventurers than miners. They were few and far between, though. Most looked like random noobs that had as much a right to be down in the mines and caves as they did in the middle of the Far Lands. Drake suddenly felt a lot better at his skill level.

Significantly, there was a decided lack of veteran, hardened lifelong miners in the group. Drake knew that such men and women were the backbone of any dangerous mining expedition. Equally adept with smashing ore veins to small chunks with a pickaxe as with fending off deadly monsters with their ever-present swords, each one was said to be worth at least five inexperienced noobs in the caves and mines. However, while Drake did notice a few, they were standing off to the side, watching the MineTex group and occasionally shaking their heads and casting piteous looks at them.

There were about 30 miners in all. Drake thought that was a bit much, but then he noticed other, similar groups all around. That brought the total MineTex presence in the mountains to almost 150 players in total. Drake concentrated on his "little" group. Something told him that he ought to seek out and find the best players and stick to them in the caves. In Filsborough, the old mineshafts had always been well lit and that provided monster spawning. However, Drake was aware that in unexplored caves and abandoned mineshafts, the extremely dark and unlit conditions were perfect for monsters to spawn. In fact, Drake probably knew more about monsters than any other person in the group. The famous Guide to Deadly Monsters was his favorite book in the Filsborough library – reading was one of the bright points in his otherwise dull existence in his hometown.

Only five people caught his eye. The MineTex representative was one of them. He actually seemed somewhat experienced, and also seemed willing to get his hand dirty with his erstwhile subordinates. Two adults also looked fairly well-balanced, a male and female. They were talking to each other in low, subdued voices. Both had dirty, unkempt clothing, and had light brown hair. The next person was a noob who had an iron pickaxe, and that was the only reason that Drake noticed him. Drake figured that if the monsters got him, he ought to at least stay close to take the fallen man's nice pickaxe. The last was a girl around his age who while looked utterly hopeless with her MineTex-provided pickaxe, was taken to randomly twirling her thin, honed iron rapier around in tight circles. Needless to say, everyone kept their distance to the petite, fiery-looking redhead.

Before Drake had a chance to speak with any of them, the MineTex representative finally spoke up, and while doing so handed out free torches.

"Alright, listen up people. I'm gonna only say this once to you – so listen! When we get down there, you may choose which cave entrance or old mineshaft to enter. It may seem that it will be crowded, but they will spread out greatly! Stick together! Do it! Pick some comrades, and stay with them. We will mine until dusk. One quarter of your finds must be returned to MineTex as a fee for us letting you into our land."

A chorus of good-natured groans erupted from the assembled group, but anyone remotely familiar with working in companies like this knew that was a fantastic price. No one in their right mind would ever turn down an offer like that – and again, Drake's mind wandered back to how the veteran miners seemed to be avoiding this particular expedition. Not encouraging.

And so the massive column of players set out for the Gorgobad Mountains. Drake realized it was unlikely the MineTex representative would randomly accompany a complete stranger like him, so he focused on his other picks. He walked up to the couple.

"Hello," he said, unsure of how exactly to greet them as they marched along.

"Sup," the man said.

"Uh…I was sort of, um, wondering if you two would, er, like to accompany me in the mines. " Drake managed to stutter out.

The woman answered this one. "Sure, stranger. Wonderin' the same thing misself, really. I'm Priscilla, and this here's Gordon," she said as she extended her hand.

Drake awkwardly took it. "Uh thanks. I guess I'll go and see if anyone else will come with us. Um, bye, I guess? For now?" Drake mentally facepalmed as he quickly strode away.

Where was that girl? She had been around that MineTex supply cart just a few moments ago, Drake was sure. Players didn't just disappear like that…

His thoughts were interrupted as he rounded the corner of the cart, head scanning the veritable crowd of miners. He crashed straight into someone doing the same thing. The blow wasn't all that serious, but he was extremely startled, to say the least. Taking a step back, and stammering out profuse apologies, he realized two things.

The player he had run into was doing much the same thing; quickly apologizing and looking away. Second, that player was the redheaded girl he had been searching for. She was a good head shorter than he was, and was wearing much the same, practical clothing as he was. Jeans, a good t-shirt, and wearing a backpack.

"H-hello there. Sorry about that." He said.

"Oh, no no no. I should be the one sorry. I-I was looking for this guy who looked like he would be useful to be with in the mines-"

She stopped talking when she too realized the person she was talking to was the same she was describing. "Oh, wow…"

"Hey." Drake said grinning. "Guess what? I was about to say the same thing. Come on." He said, motioning with his hand to keep moving along with the column. She complied.

"Right. Um, as I was saying, I was hoping you could accompany me like that MineTex guys said to." She said.

"Cool." Drake said. A second later, he cringed and corrected himself, "I mean sure, I'd like that. Name's Thomas Drake by the way. First time with MineTex."

"Nice, um, my name's Marie Jacobs. I'm from the eastern cities." She replied.

"So, why did you choose me?" Drake inquired.

"Well, 'cause you were one of the only ones here who looked like they knew anything about how to use a pickaxe. That, by the way, is something I am truly terrible at." She said.

"I ought to look like that. Grew up a miner in the town of Filsborough."

"That's cool. I grew up in the city of Ducres on the Eastern Sea. Hey, I might suck at mining stuff, but I'll kick your butt at sword fighting any day." She smirked at him.

"Ducres, you said? Like, the capitol of the Rebel Command? The main opponent of our kingdom?" Drake asked, furrowing his brow.

"Yeah, yeah. I didn't say I was proud of it." She said, waving it off.

"…is this your first time in a cave? Or a mineshaft?" he asked.

"Perhaps. But trust, just stick behind me and all you'll have to do is step over the bodies of monsters after I'm done with them." She proudly boasted.

Drake darkened suddenly, surprising Marie. "There's more to surviving down there than being good at fighting," He laughed, "in fact, monsters will be the least of our worries down there."

"And I will leave that part completely to you." She said.

"Whatever. And here we are, by the way." He said as they reached the foot of the Gorgobad Mountains.

True to their word, Priscilla and Gordon were at the entrance of a nearby cave. Gordon gave him a lopsided, knowing smile at him and Marie that took Drake a few seconds to comprehend, and then respond to with a fierce glare.

Following in the footsteps of about 20 fellow MineTex miners, the four players descended slowly into the cool, dark depths of the caves.

So, how was that? Better than my previous stories? Please, give me a review! Even if you just write "it was cool" or "nice" or even "meh", each and every one of your reviews will make a difference. There's no words that describe the feeling each time someone positively comments on my stories. Its really the main reason I keep writing here, on FanFiction. Through school, repeated failed stories, and all the crap life can throw at me, each review makes my day.

*sniff*

#emotional rant over