The Simple Life
The early morning sun peaked through the tops of the trees, softly pulling me from my slumber. After a peaceful night's sleep with pleasant dreams, I'm energized for the day of activities ahead of me. There are a few things that I still need to get done, so I'm happy I got the sleep in when I could, and the early start to the day helps too. Hopefully I'll be able to get everything done and be home early enough to watch the sunset in bed. It really is beautiful this time of year.
As I eat my hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs, I watch the birds flit through the trees around me. They don't take any notice of me, even through my full wall-length windows. The only time I have every really bothered them was while I was still constructing my house, but even then, they weren't too annoyed with me. I tried to be as quick as I could, without being too destructive or distracting.
I gather the tools that I need for the day, the stacks of smooth stone that I prepared the night before, a couple of apples, and a stack of dirt for good luck, then I head to the trapdoor. I clip myself onto the safety bar that runs down the length of the tree next to the ladder, and start the long climb down.
That's the only downside I have seen to picking the tallest tree on the edge of the rainforest to build my home in; the climb up and down the ladder is a killer on the calf muscles. But the beauty of seeing the world from above makes the pain worth it. There was the threat of falling and dying early on, but after the near miss 2 months after my house was finished, I installed the safety bar to prevent any more of that.
As soon as I reach the bottom of the ladder and unclip myself, the cows start mooing at me. They know what's coming very soon. I cross the wooden bridge that I built over the river, from my home tree to my little farm area. So far, I have a little field of crops, a chicken pen, and a cow pen. I have a space set aside and ready to go for a pig pen, but I need to finish the mammoth task that is the pathway before I get any more animals.
The first chore of the day is harvesting whichever wheat crops are ready, and replanting more wheat in their place. After the wheat is done, I feed the chickens. When carrots and apples get too soft for me, I bring them down to a little chest next to the chicken pen. Then sometime they'll get some handfuls of seed, depending on how much I have spare. They strut around, clucking and scratching and eating, living their good chicken lives. I'll check for eggs when I get home in the evening.
The cows are next. As soon as I turn in their direction, the mooing intensifies and they all push their way up against the fence to get closer to me. One of the girls has had a baby during the night, so I'm now up to 4 cows and 2 calves. When I reach the chest that holds their feed, one of the big girls grabs a lock of my hair between her lips, tugging gently. I pull out a large armful of wheat and start spreading it around their pen. The cows leave me very quickly to eat what they can before the others, while the two little ones play around, not caring so much about foods yet.
Now that all the animals are done for the morning, I can move onto the real task that I have set for myself. During construction on my home, I had gone searching for the right sort of wood that I wanted for my flooring. My searching had led me to a huge ravine, splitting the earth in two, and full of all sorts of secrets. I knew it would be an ideal place to start properly mining for precious metals, but as soon as I had found it, I knew I was lost.
That's when an idea had struck me; I built a beacon, a tall stack of dirt with torches at the top, right where I almost fell into the ravine so that I would always be able to find my way back there. Then, when I finally found my way home, I started digging a trench in the dirt, from the edge of my farm land, down the side of the hill, and all the way back to the ravine. Then, just for pure aesthetic purposes, I started to turn that trench into a beautiful stone pathway, with torches all the way along it. Practical, yet also beautiful in the darkness.
I was making the pathway two blocks wide, and I had almost finished filling in one half of the path with the stone blocks. Today, I had enough to finally finish the half. Then I would collect more cobblestone before heading back for the night. But once I get the first half down, I would feel better. I would feel accomplished. I haven't felt that way since I finished my house.
Walking along the part of the path I have already filled in does fill me with a little bit of pride though; I have done a lot so far. It's kind of a long walk, but the sun is nice today and the apples are sweet.
Along the path, in the early stages of filling it back in, I had found some promising looking holes in the ground. In the first one I tried to search, I came across a very angry skeleton who almost shot me. After that, I decided it would be best to cover the holes in a way that lets me remember they are there for later, when I have some proper armour to deal with the mobs. With the first, I fixed the natural stairway in and then built a little dirt hut around the entrance, and completed it with a door. Now, there are 4 of these little huts along the pathway, each underground cave seemed promising from the entrance.
And I think I may have just found another. With the last bite of my apple, I lobbed the core away from the path, into the long grass. The resulting echoing thud piqued my interest. Just far enough from the pathway to be hidden was another underground cave entrance. I start to build a small hut just around the opening, but nothing too big or fancy. Once I finish with each potential cave, I will knock the hut down and cover the opening with the dirt.
A movement in the trees to my left makes me stop dead. I start to turn my eyes to see what it is, when I notice the familiar dark shape. Long black legs, with long black arms that reach down to its knees is all I need to see to return my eyes back to the grass in front of my feet. The Enderman is close enough that if I look it in the eyes, it will run at me full speed, like a murderous steam train. I have never encountered an Enderman before, but I have seen one attack a pig from my treehouse. I have heard the sounds that erupt from its body as it moves in for the kill.
I don't want to look at it, not even in its direction, just in case the stories are not completely true, so I try my best to listen. I think I can hear the small almost chirping noises that it makes normally, but it's impossible to tell over the roar of blood in my ears.
It's not normal to see an Enderman during the day, but I guess it must have just teleported wrong, or maybe it's searching for something. It would be out of the sun under those trees though, they do provide a lot of shade for it to hide away in.
After some time of standing and waiting and trying to listen for it, I decided to risk a small peak. I had to. I couldn't just stand around all day, burning in the sun, and losing all of the daylight. With squinted eyes, ready to shut them in an instant, I slowly turned my head towards the trees where I saw it, slowly moving my eyes up enough to see its legs. The drumroll of blood rushing in my ears reached its highest peak before ending completely, leaving the sudden roar of silence behind. The Enderman had teleported away. It was no longer under the tree where I first saw it. A quick scan of the surrounding trees proved my safety, for the time being.
After that scare, I finished working on the small hut and turned my attention back to the pathway. I could see where the trench ended now, just up ahead, and I got to work. Laying the rest of the stone blocks for this half of the path was an easier task than I had anticipated for the day, and I had more time left in the day than I thought. I decided to work on the stairway down into the ravine from my pathway.
The stairway was going to be a little bit trickier to complete, but getting it carved out today would give me more stone needed for the second half of the path, and it would make the rest of this work easier, before I really got into mining down here.
The drop down into the ravine was kind of daunting. It was easily double the height needed to kill me if I fell. I would need to take this slowly and carefully if I ever wanted to get this done, preferably in one piece. I just started by making a rough staircase, in the wall of the ravine, made out of whatever was in the earth already. I could fix it up, make it double the width, and lay down the polished stone later on, but for now this would do the trick.
Inside the ravine was cool and dark, a completely different atmosphere to not long ago when I was still above ground under the sun. Bats nestled into their little homes in crevices, waiting for the night to arrive. From somewhere to my left, behind the layer of dirt and stone, I could hear the faint wails of a zombie. I would need to be careful now, this was their domain. With my sword close at hand, I picked a direction and started following the natural lay of the land, excited to see what I would uncover.
The very first exciting discovery was some iron ore: easy to collect, easy to use, handy for almost anything. I collect all 11 blocks that were in the cluster and tuck them away to smelt down later. I already knew what I would be making first: an iron sword and iron pickaxe. Then I would slowly start to replace the leather armour I currently had, for the more durable and protective iron armour I could make. It would be a step in the right direction toward, dare I say it... Diamonds. That is, if I am ever lucky enough to come across some.
But by the way the villagers talk about diamonds the few times I have been to the village, I don't know if that day will ever come. The villagers seem to have stories for everything. In the early days of my home in the trees, I would go to the nearby village to collect some simple food supplies: small baked goods, seeds, and fresh fruit. And by nearby village, I mean it actually took a good two hours to walk there, so I would stock up on what I could while I was there.
The grocer liked to tell stories about the monsters that lived out in the world, the mobs that would attack you as soon as they saw you. While the baker liked to talk about all the precious metals and rare items out there, that of course he had already found. I didn't believe a lot of what they were saying, until I came across a spider late one night, stalking my chickens, trying to get to them. I watched it until I fell asleep, and then by morning it was gone.
It is nice to be out of the sun in this ravine, and I may as well have a look around at some more stuff while I'm here and while I still have the light. I continue to my right, where the ravine seems to stretch into the darkness forever. Up ahead, I think I can see the small glint of more iron ore in the walls, so I make my way to each little vein to collect whatever is there. I get up to 36 iron ore blocks before I run out of easily accessible places to collect it, I will have to build and climb to collect a lot of what is left, which I might do at a later date.
The distance growling of thunder pulls my eyes in the direction of the sky. A storm was rolling in, and it would properly start pretty soon. The sky had darkened, thick almost-purple clouds had overtaken the most of the sky, covering the bright sun. It looked like they would burst at any second, but judging from the thunder I just heard, I had a little bit more time. Even then, walking back home in the afternoon rain wouldn't be that bad. Even if the rain was really heavy.
I almost turned back to my staircase when my gut told me to continue the way I had been going for a little bit longer, explore a little bit further. I was just about to place down another torch, as it was getting dark, when a soft glow appeared in the ground to my right. Naturally carved into the stone floor was a diagonal hole down, revealing a lava lake below. A smile spread across my face; "Where there is lava, there are diamonds." That is the one thing that everyone in the village seemed to agree on. I would need to be very careful though, not only was the fall enough to either break my bones or kill me, I would also be falling directly into lava, which would kill me anyway. And the heat already radiating up at me from this distance told me that this would be intense.
I started by digging around the hole already in the ground, taking it slow, chipping away piece by piece until I felt like I could see enough. A little bit down from where I was standing, and a little bit too the left, was a small ledge jutting out beneath me. If I could make some stairs down to that ledge, then I would be a little bit closer and it might be easier for me to make my next move. I had two possible was to do this though: I could clear a bit more of the hole I made, and build the steps onto the wall that I hoped was there, or I could jump to the ledge and then build back up. I wasn't in a crazy or dangerous mood, so I decided to clear more of the hole. Luckily for me, the wall was right there, full and sturdy and ready to be the base of my stairs.
Standing on the ledge was hot, and panic started to flood through my mind. What do I do now? Where do I go from here? What is the safest thing to do? How do I go down further now? What if I drop my iron? Oh god, what if I fall now? What would that feel like? How is it going to feel when I am actually down there mining?
I needed to calm myself before I possibly did something irrational, so I looked back up at the progress I had already made down here. I studied the stairs, how I made them, and how I would replicate them again this time but on a bigger scale. While I was thinking, my eyes drifted up to the sky above. As my mind calmed, I started to notice that the colour looked different up there. It was no longer the deep, purple-grey of a cloud pregnant with rain, even though those were clearly still there. It looked... darker. My eyes began to widen as a wave of realisation hit me.
"No no no no no, it can't be. It can't be, please god no."
I didn't even realise that the words were coming out of my mouth, I was just focused on climbing back up and out of the hole I had made. I ran back towards the main stairs I had built, being careful not to trip and fall on the uneven ground, and I threw myself up the steps to reach the surface.
When I reached the top of the stairs, I slowly stood up straight. My heart rate picked up, roaring in my ears with each beat. The blood started galloping in my veins. Adrenaline courses through my body to try and prepare me for what I need to do, and then all sound seems to disappear around me. None of this makes sense. I had plenty of time, I woke up early, I moved quickly. But it doesn't matter now. All that matters is that I am standing in the dark of night, far from home, and surrounded by monsters.
The first sound to break through the silence was the terrifying shriek of a spider as it leapt at me and sunk its fangs into my right thigh. The initial shock held me in place for a moment, before instinct kicked in. I pulled out my sword and swung it at the spider's head, only just missing my own leg. The blow didn't kill it, but it did make it let go and move away from me, which was what I needed. But as soon as it removed its fangs from my flesh, I could feel the venom start to spread with each beat of my heart. It moved quickly, spreading through the rest of my leg like an icy fire. But even this feeling wasn't as bad as hearing the spider shriek. I would do anything to never heard that sound again.
My mind kicked into gear then, realising what was happening, and as all the other monsters around me turned to see what the sound was, my legs pushed me forwards as fast as I could go. I was flying along the path.
All the sounds of this dark and dangerous time crowded around me again. More shrieks from the spiders, the clattering of bones as the skeletons started moving, the deep groans from the zombies. Everything sounded so very close to my ears, but far away at the same time. I tried not to look around me at where they all were, I just focused on running, breathing, and the sound of my boots slapping on the stone to keep me going. Although trying as hard as I could didn't stop me from seeing some of the monsters moving in towards me from the sides.
I could see one zombie to my left, moving towards me from the trees, dead eyes focused only on me. As I kept running, getting closer to it, I was trying to decide whether to pull out my sword again and kill it or not. A few well-placed hits should take it out pretty quickly, but I didn't know how close everything else was...
It all happened so fast then. My left arm swung out in front of me as part of my stride. The spider that was running toward me in the grass had kept silent. Its glowing, red eyes flashed into my vision, then its pitch-black body blocked everything I could see. Another jolt of pain came as suddenly as the last one had, setting my left forearm ablaze. The momentum of the huge spider jumping across me spun my body around completely, knocking me off balance, and sending me flat on my back half on the stone beneath me, half on the grass next to the path.
Thankfully, if I could be thankful for any of this, my head ended up in the grass. I didn't knock myself out, I was just severely winded. But my mind was able to override everything I was feeling in that moment, push all the pain aside for the time being and handle the problem before me.
My sword was pulled out before I even registered thinking about it. I swung it at the spider before me, cutting off its right mandible, spewing blood out onto the pathway. My second swing in the other direction missed its target, by mere centimetres. The third move seemed more natural; grabbing the handle in both hands and driving it straight into the spider's face, splitting it open right down the middle. Its huge body twitched once, it let out one final hurt noise, and then it collapsed at my feet.
There was a small moment where I really soaked up the victory, but it was savagely cut short by my left arm. The newest bite was spilling more blood than my left leg, as the momentum of the spider had ripped it open as it bit me. My left arm was basically useless at that point. I tried to pull my sword back out of the spider, but it wouldn't budge. I gripped it hard with my right hand, yanking it back and forth and to both sides, trying to dislodge it, but I couldn't get it to move. It just pulled the spider's head around with it.
I used my left hand to try and help wiggle it free, but my efforts were completely halted in their tracks when an arrow pierced through the back of my shoulder, just next to the bone, forcing the arrowhead out through the front of my body, in the soft hollow between the shoulder and the collarbone. The force of the arrow pushed my head forwards, back down into the grass.
My mouth opened, ready to erupt the most inhuman scream I could produce, but nothing came out. A gasp escaped my lips as my mind fully registered how bad this pain was. Before now, there was nothing. It was as if, before this arrow, I had never experienced anything even remotely close to pain. I closed my eyes and waited for death. My body wanted to shut down, but kept on moving. My heart stuttered in a scary way, but kept on beating. And my mind continued to race onwards.
The nearby moan of a zombie snapped my eyes back open. The light of a nearby torch blinded me momentarily, then I focused on the dead, dirty feet before me. I rolled out of the zombie's path, clumsily stumbling back to my feet. In a split second I was back on the path and running home. I didn't look back at the zombie, I didn't look back at the skeleton that shot me, I just ran. My arms dangling at my sides, neither of them in good shape, and a limp was just starting to creep in as the adrenaline began to wear out.
I tripped on the first stone step back up to my small farm and landed on my knees. The harsh stop sent a wave of red over my vision, pain from the arrow in my shoulder. But it didn't keep my down very long. I was back up almost instantly, gritting my teeth as I climbed the rest of the stairs and flew across the paddock in front of me. The cows tried to greet me with their deep mooing, but upon seeing me properly, they stopped all sounds they were making.
My heart sped up as the ground changed from dirt and grass to wood under my feet. I was so close, I was almost home, almost safe again. Just a few more steps and I would be at the ladder. Then a few more steps and I would be inside my house. Then a few more steps and I would be able to get the medicines and bandages out of my chest. But as soon as I reached the base of the ladder, I realised it would not happen like that.
I couldn't raise my right arm with the arrow still lodged in my shoulder, and even though I had some feeling in my left arm, I wouldn't be able to climb the ladder with it alone. I didn't want to think about what was coming, and what I needed to do, but I didn't have a choice.
Gritting my teeth, with tears already streaming down my face, I grabbed the front half of the arrow. I snapped the tip off, as close to the arrowhead as I could, but it wasn't as clean as I would have liked. Then reaching around to the back of my shoulder, I slowly pulled the arrow back out, the way it had gone in. I couldn't tell which part was worse; pulling the arrow out, or having shards of it be left behind in my body, but it was out. It was out, and I could move my arm.
I didn't worry about the safety bar, I just climbed. And as I climbed, I could feel every part of my body ache in protest. And as I climbed, I could feel myself losing the little strength I had left. But as I climbed, I could feel hope blossoming in my chest. I was so close, and then I would be ok again.
I almost slipped when I reached the second last rung, but I held on for dear life. I reached the top, grabbed the lip on the edge of the floor and dragged myself into my home. I kicked the trapdoor back down into place, scared that something might have followed me up. Then I slid across the floor, on my stomach, to the chest.
Getting the chest open was hard work without being able to sit up, but I did it. It was open. And now all I needed to do was reach up and in. My arms stretched out before me. I could almost reach it, almost touch it, almost feel the cloth of the bandage beneath my fingertips. Then the darkness came. Just a little bit at first, but the harder I tried to reach for the chest, the further in the darkness pushed. The quicker it tried to converge on me. Panic set in, amplifying the pain in every battered inch of my body. What if I could never move from this place on the floor? What if anymore movements caused me to go blind? What if the venom kills me? But I had to try.
As soon as I made the slightest move towards the chest again the darkness swept over me, at an alarming rate. A scream escaped my lips as the darkness dragged me under, pulled away from everything. The last thing I heard was the scared, dying sound of an animal echoing through the empty house. That animal being me.
THE END