CHAPTER ONE: Poison

The mineshafts were, as always, full of sweaty-palmed miners looking for ores. Hefting Stonekiller, my Efficiency V iron pickaxe, I joined them. As if I had any choice. The mysterious HB, who ruled our world, demanded it. The cave spiders, who guard our payment and ensure we turn in our daily quota of coal and iron, were relentless in their punishments.

As I mined through seemingly endless stone, my mind wandered to the happy memories of when Ender Dragon was still in power. She was a kind ruler, though she did have a softer spot for endermen than other mobs, but we villagers were treated kindly and with much respect.

My favorite of the memories was the day that my uncle, who was the village priest, gave me Stonekiller. It was only my eighth birthday, but rumor was that HB would be taking power soon and forcing us all into mines, so he wanted me to have the best possible pickaxe. That was the last time I'd seen him.

"Erro, your uncle's there!" my mom called to me. I came racing to the front door to greet him with the grin that many people had said was dazzling. He smiled at me and said, "I have a surprise for you, but I'm going to give it to you in private." My eyes widened and we went into the backyard. He gave me a smile and handed me a pickaxe that sparkled with the telltale signs of enchantment. I took it eagerly and read what it said. "Efficiency V? And you even named it Stonekiller for me! Thank you thank you THANK YOU!" I screeched, hysterical with excitement. Stonekiller had been the name of my imaginary pickaxe when I was five years old.

Suddenly, my eyes focused in at the block in front of me. I couldn't believe my luck. Right there, in the side of the wall, a few pieces of gold were imbedded in stone. I mined them up quickly and continued on. They were good, but nowhere near my daily quota.

When the end of the day came, I went with all of the others to turn in what I had found: gold and a few lumps of coal. It wasn't enough to please the cave spiders. I braced myself for what came next: a sharp bite of poison in my chest. The poison wouldn't kill me, but it was agonizing while it lasted. I waited until it finally stopped and drew myself up to my full height: two blocks, a respectable distance for a twelve year old.

Some of the other miners looked at me with sympathetic glances. We'd all had to bear the wrath of the cave spider at one point or another, but I was among the youngest miners and so, even with my pickaxe, I couldn't go far enough most days to get ores and avoid the poison.

"Are you okay? They do that to you almost every day," one of the others said to me. I brushed them off, not wanting any pity. "I'll be fine. I just need to eat food," I lied. In truth, I probably couldn't survive much longer like this, though I wouldn't have turned down some fresh bread or baked potatoes.

I walked away before they could say anything more about my sickly green face or how my calm outer façade was cracking a bit more every day. Stonekiller was a comforting weight on my back, something to remind me of the pre-HB era.

My real village was too far away to go there every day after work, but the mule delivery system kept them alive with my pay. I lived in a small crevice of a cave like many other workers, not eating any of the freshly grown crops that I did before HB took power. Instead, I did what my parents taught me not to: whenever I get the chance to surface, I killed animals for their meat using a simple stone sword, which I crafted from all of the stone that looms around me.

Stonekiller was my only iron tool, but that's more than most people had, be-cause we didn't get to keep anything that we mined, having to trade our pay for it instead. I could've just made my own mine from my shelter, but I wastoo exhausted by the end of the day to use it.

I lay down in bed and waited until everyone else has, too, before finally fall-ing asleep. When I woke up, I saw something weird on my wall. It was two item frames, one with a book-and-quill in it, the other with a map. Hesitantly, I got out the book and opened it up.

HB, the faceless ruler who is all mystery, needs to go. The Ender Dragon has been imprisoned in her dimension with her egg. You are needed to free her from what was her home but what has now become her prison. The Fortress needs you. If you want to join us, there is a Nether Portal hidden at these coordinates: X: 0, Y: 64, Z: 0. The Portal will de-spawn after sunset. If you turn us in, you will be the first to die. Come this afternoon.

My mind was racing with possibilities. I thought that The Fortress was just a myth, but the evidence was undeniably there. I could've turned them in, because they were wanted for three diamonds, but I couldn't really have brought myself to do it. The coordinates, it turned out, were only a short distance from the cave.

I'd made up my mind to go by the time that work started. I didn't even find a lump of coal, mostly because most of that workday was spent traveling to an espe-cially far mining site, leaving me little time to actually use Stonekiller.

The cave spiders seemed in an especially bad mood today, making me nervous when I turn in nothing but cobblestone. Two bit me at once. I fell to the floor writhing in pain.

Finally, the pain stopped, but I was still weak and too hungry to heal myself. I could barely walk over to the minecart; how was I supposed to get to the Nether Po-rtal in time? Even if I managed to get there, could I survive changing dimensions?

I knew the answer before I even thought the question. Of course I couldn't go to the Portal. There was a large delay on the trip back, something that was becoming more and more common. While I sat in the minecart, doubled over from pain, some-one behind me saw how hurt I was.

"I live pretty near here. Do you want to come with me?" they offered. "What?" I asked, not believing my ears. "I said, I live pretty near here, above the ground. I take the minecart home each night, which is easier than maneuvering through a cave sys-tem to get to a small, rocky crevice. Do you want to come? I'm guessing you haven't had any bread in a while."

Normally, I wouldn't have accepted what is clearly just an offer made out of pity. As in, Oh, look at the poor little twelve-year-old who has to work in the mines all day. It would be a good deed to help them.

But, as much as I didn't want to be someone's good deed for the day, I was not going to survive to make it to the small carving I made in the wall to lived in, so I numbly nodded my head in gratitude.

"It's a bit of a long journey, especially without power rails. Do you think you'll be able to make it? I have some milk with me for the days I get bitten. I'd be happy to give you some."

"Th-thank you. I mean, you're saving my life. What's your name?" I asked, try-ing to remember how to be social.

"Me? I'm Luna, named after my grandmother," she answered after a pause that seemed oddly sad.

"Pretty name," I replied. As I drained the bucket, I felt the power of the milk going through my body, rejuvenating it until my health began to climb steadily upwards, half-heart by half-heart.

Finally, we arrived at our destination. When I saw where we are, I stifled a gasp. It was clear why Luna offered to help me. She lived in the Nether.