In one of the darkest caverns of Minecraftia monsters bellowed in the darkness creating an endless echo to fill the rooms. Only one creature remained silent. This creature was not quiet from drowsiness but from sorrow. It was Yaebi, the zombie. Perching on a stone slab, water trickled from above, drenching the poor boy. Yaebi was too depressed to move from his spot. Stopping this annoyance wouldn't change anything.

For two years he endured the same burden. It was a burden that no one else could relate to as far as he was concerned. It wasn't being a zombie that was the problem. In fact, he was the one special Zombie that was 91% human. Very few monsters were like that. The real problem was the fact that people always thought that he was a girl. He felt suppressed when people treated him this way. Usually, if anyone had the same problem they would shrug it off and go on with their normal lives. But this was different for Yaebi. Living in a cavern didn't open very many opportunities for friendship or any type of relationship for that matter. Other mobs would come and go very rarely but those that did would talk with Yaebi briefly and then leave before he could tell them that he was a boy (because they always assumed that he was a girl). Yaebi knew those mobs spread the word occasionally because in three or so weeks, the young teen would be encountered by one of the mobs friends who would treat him as such. And because, creatures would only pass through on errands, Yaebi could never prove that he was a boy in time. These people don't matter; he would think to himself, I probably won't see them again. But deep down he knew that word would spread on the surface and end up coming back to him.

Some said he was a cute girl others would mention him being a shy girl. No matter what no one would learn the truth. Perhaps the worst part of it all was that NO ONE believed anything Yaebi said. The Zombie boy wasn't prone to lying, so that wasn't the case. The reason nobody believed Yaebi was the fact that the majority of Humobs (the human formed mobs such as himself) were all female. Therefor everyone automatically assumed that all Humobs were female.

That's how Yaebi's problem was as bad as it is. Humobs were extremely rare to find but were notorious to most mobs. Yaebi already knew that people he ran into already met a humob before and treated him like a girl.

Yaebi shared the cavern with a few other humobs. These ones were girls obviously but despite living in the same place for years on end, not even they believed he was a boy. All of this caused him to cry silently in the darkness. He was alone, going through life being treated like something he was not. These girls were not dimwitted but still assumed what everyone else did.

These were his friends and he loved them, but they treated him like a sister. A younger sister in fact (Being the youngest of them all)! The only one who did believe him was Cupa. She was a nice friend who always had Yaebi's back. But only when she was around.

All of these feelings spilled out of Yaebi all at once and he started crying in the dark. You're such a wimp, he thought to himself, you're being a total girl. The young teen tried to silence his whimpering, afraid of attracting unwanted attention. I might as well take a shower. He stumbled over to a spring of falling water, ten feet to his right. The Zombie boy moved under the heavy stream and continued to crouch, hanging his head low while his green hair fell over his eyes. The warm water calmed down for a while. Setting his hat aside, Yaebi let the flowing water mask his tears. This was not his first breakdown. Trying to forget about all the depressing stuff going on in his life, Yaebi couldn't stop thinking how much he wanted to escape. Not, suicide, no, but to escape the dungeons that held him captive, and to break through to the over world. But he was scared. He knew the overworld was no place for a Zombie. He was afraid of being burned alive by the monster curse. Even at night, hell ran loose. Iron Golems would patrol every inch of the forests and humans would stalk the landscape. Once his Humob friend, Skelry, brought her recovering boyfriend down into the cavern. This boy was being treated for UV burns from the sun. Yaebi watched this young man suffer tremendous pain. It was hard to think if he wasn't so smart and had not jumped into a nearby lake. Yaebi sympathized with Skelry but at least she had someone. Yaebi knew relationships would never work out for him being as he was. It never helped when his friends brought a guy to him. It would make him cringe once he found out that boy had a crush on him. Why do they not believe me, maybe I haven't tried convincing them in a while.

Yaebi knew he considered all the options for convincing them and none were good. The worst option was exposing himself in front of all his friends. The option was horrible not only because the cavern was too dark to see anything, Yaebi was seriously self-conscious. He was embarrassed of what it looked like and knew his genitalia would freak them out. Standing there naked and weak sent shivers up his spine just thinking about it. He hardly undressed while he was showering.

Yaebi hardly moved, letting the flowing water run down his back. It didn't matter to him if his clothes were soggy-it happened all the time. The one thing that he did want to keep dry was his Zombie Hat. It was a part of him in a way. He started fingering a fresh hole in his skin when suddenly he heard a shoveling noise. The scurrying of silverfish echoed throughout the cave. The shoveling obviously wasn't a miner. This noise however was load and grinding. At that moment a cave troll broke through the walls and batted the boy into the ceiling. The rampaging beast decided to pummel Yaebi since he was the only one around. Monster eggs exploded with confused silver fish that then began to attack Yaebi, tearing into his flesh. This is the end isn't it he thought in terror before he was knocked out. However it wasn't the end.

Yaebi had no idea how long he was out but when he woke up he found himself in a small wooden house with his sides bandaged up and a cast on his left arm. His vision was blurry but still allowed him to identify the area. The Zombie boy had no experience in the Overworld so he was a bit surprised to see things like wood and cobblestone. Where am I, he thought. A blinding light poured through a bay window, which caused his head to throb with pain. Why was the Overworld so bright? He shielded his eyes until he finally got used to the newfound light.

He heard dishes being washed behind him. Clutching his side, Yaebi turned around and noticed an older girl scrubbing a wooden bowl at a makeshift sink, focused on the task at hand. He noticed that the girl was pretty quiet. She looked two or three years older than him, and had auburn hair that hung in a pony-tail down her back. She was so interesting that he couldn't stop examining her. The strange girl raised the bowl to the light to admire her work. She then turned, arms crossed, towards Yaebi. The Zombie boy almost jumped when the girl looked directly at him. There was mix of stern and relief in her eyes. She was intimidating, and didn't look disgusted at the zombie boy. But she didn't look down on him for the stare she gave him was displeasure towards her work. He could tell because she looked at his many coverings. Why did she save me, he thought, even Golems wouldn't be so kind.

Yaebi was lost for words but tried to build up the courage to say thank you. Once he brought himself to speak the girl already began to leave for an errand.

"Stay put" she ordered the younger boy "those casts aren't cheap".

She left the house, leaving him all alone. Without hesitation, Yaebi examined his surroundings. Never in his life had he seen such a place. However mediocre the house seemed, it was hard to comprehend. On the walls, paintings of monsters and artists filled the room. In the kitchen, bowl of washed pots gave off the smell of mushrooms and good earth. Looking at his surroundings, Yaebi noticed that numerous medical tools scattered along the table. He already realized he was given medical attention, but from the looks of the tools, he hadn't expected himself to be in as bad of a condition. He wasn't so sure if it was his imagination but he thought he saw a few tools with blades. What on earth would she need blades for? How serious was his injuries? All these questions filled Yaebi's head all at once that he couldn't take it anymore; he had to go talk to that mysterious girl. But that would be a problem because as soon as he was about to get up, he realized his right arm was strapped to the side of the bed. He wouldn't be able to go anywhere. But he wasn't going to be stopped that easily. The harness was strapped on tight so the only option was to take it with him. Hauling what seemed to be a gernie, the boy stumbled out the door, and was immediately greeted by sunlight. He felt the harmful rays penetrate his skin and caused a sudden fiery pain. That brief moment caused him to take cover under the bed. Why do I think of these things, he thought. There was no turning back now. He started to come out slowly, into the sunlight. It wasn't as painful this time. In fact, the Zombie boy edged himself out of cover even faster. Yaebi even welcomed the warmth a little. It was a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time. Finally, he was out of the shade and back on his feet.

Squinting from the sunlight, Yaebi searched for the mysterious girl. It was hard to see anything. He wasn't used to this. He scanned the landscape until he saw a sparkling lake. The sun's rays glinted off its reflective surface. Not once in his life had he seen so much beauty. He was speechless. But he snapped out of it immediately and focused on the task at hand. He didn't want the girl to return while he was gone- that would look bad. She would probably be furious and wouldn't let him back in. Then what would he do about the gerny strapped to his arm. He couldn't haul it around forever. Not to mention how much it would hinder his hiding during the night. Even zombies had enemies.

Finally he saw her, fishing in the lake. From the looks of it she wasn't having much luck. But she looked determined to catch a fish, even if she had to stay here all night. So, thankfully, she wasn't going anywhere. Yaebi started thinking of how he should approach her. Even though there weren't many options due to the big hunk of fabric and metal, he still didn't want to make a bad first impression. As he stumbled on over, he started to notice some very appealing features of the girl. Everything about her seemed so angelic but at the same time wild. She wasn't even trying to look good for all he could tell. Yaebi knew this girl for hardly a second and he already seemed to have a crush on her. He paused, to admire the strange girl, that was now 4 feet away from him (he was really stealthy while dragging the gernie). That brief moment the girl turned around. She noticed and gave him a cold stare, that was enough to send him toppling onto the bed.

"S-sorry," he said trying not to stutter. "I just couldn't-"

"Didn't I tell you to stay put" she interrupted.

"But I- "

She sighed, obviously ignoring the boy

"Never mind I understand, I think"

Yaebi sighed in relief.

"But I'm not helping you carry that in. If you brought it out you can bring it back in."

He winced in pain, grabbing his arm. Heat pierced his skin, for the suns rays were already taking effect. His time was up.

"fine I'll take you inside boy" she responded after quickly noticing his pain.

Together, they hauled the gerny into the house. Without hesitation, the zombie boy was laid down and examined by the girl. She started patching him up in a quick manner. Afraid of the consequences of interrupting surgery, Yaebi stood still and looked at the ceiling. He had to do this for 30 painful minutes. As soon as she was done and turned to another job, Yaebi cautiously got up and tried to get her attention.

"Umm excuse me.."

"What is it," she responded, apparently annoyed.

" I just wanted to say thank you," Yaebi said.

"sure, no prob" immediately turning to her other job. This girl intimidated the hell out of him. But there was still something bugging Yaebi.

"How did you know I was a boy?" he blurted out.

Instead of answering with words, the girl looked at him not directly- but at his leg.

Looking down he saw huge gash up the side of his pants, exposing his thigh. He became severly embarrassed and covered the exposed skin. Nothing private was showing, but it was embarrassing none the less. He must have been blushing furiously. He looked at the girl and saw that she giggled a bit.

"Don't worry, it wasn't that"

Yaebi was relieved. But she wasn't done talking.

"At first I was having my doubts, but when I did a full body checkup, I was certain I knew your gender"

This was a bit unnerving to Yaebi but a doctor's got to do what a doctor's got to do. This caused an uncomfortable silence between the two. Trying to avoid the awkward situation, Yaebi noticed the girl looking outside. The sun was starting to set. What some may have considered beautiful before was now a sign of danger. Even a cave dweller like Yaebi knew the trouble when sunset came.

"You can stay the night," the girl assured him.

"Okay," he happily agreed.

But he had nowhere to go afterwards. He just met this girl but asking her now was as good a time as any.

"Um…can..I.."

"What?"

"Stay here?"

This caught her off guard but she didn't look angry. Yaebi saw that she was thinking hard on it.

"Fine, but you'll have to sleep in the basement."

Relieved, Yaebi thanked her and started to go downstairs.

"But I must warn you, I have my own personal mineshaft down there. It connects to a few dungeons so be careful. Then again, since you're a zombie you might run into one of your friends"

Usually, mineshafts made Yaebi a bit uneasy. Caves he was used to; Mineshafts were trouble. Some of the meanest, most fowl monsters lived in them-especially the cave spiders. The only friendly cave spider was But this girl had a point. Most mobs didn't attack him as much as they did other humans.

"And don't touch my chest"

He snickered at this, and this even made the girl start to giggle.

"Alright good night."

That night was the first time Yaebi ever slept in a bed. Usually he'd sleep on a slab of rock or once in a while, a mine track. He pulled the covers over his body. He could tell this bed wasn't something someone would want to sleep on but he was grateful none the less. It smelled like dead fish and stinkbugs. But trust me, he'd smelled worse. Usually he would only sleep when he was tired. In the cavern, no one could tell the difference between night and day since hardly any of the inhabitants had seen the surface world. Now, he knew what the surface looked like and what daytime and nighttime were. This world is strange, he thought. But that girl…she's… she's something else. That night he slept peacefully. The sounds of the night helped put him to sleep. The same sounds that put people on edge were the same ones he was used to. All the growls, hisses, and moans were comforting. It was just like home. It was the best sleep he'd had so far.

The Next Morning, he woke up on the floor. This wasn't an odd occurrence, because he would usually sleep on stone. Maybe, he was unconsciously driven to sleep there. For a long time, he had been used to sleeping on cold stone. Even when wearing the skimpy clothes he'd had forever, it was still considered a comfort. He was used to the cold, in fact he welcomed it. Life in a cave had made him to be that way.

"So", he said to himself, "this is what morning is."

Then, he started to smell something- food! Warm, fresh, delicious food. The smell was coming from upstairs, and damn did it smell good. Was it for him, he didn't know. All he knew was that he needed to check it out. After cautiously walking up the stairs, Yaebi peeked into the kitchen. Standing at the stove was the mysterious girl. She was cooking breakfast. She was a pretty good cook. The food looked amazing! Though he was still afraid to confront her. But despite his efforts at hiding, the girl noticed him within a matter of seconds. She sent a warm smile to the boy and gestured him over.

" Good morning," She said "Come here, sit with me."

Like an ocelot to a fish, the Zombie boy cautiously walked over to his host. While still trying not to draw attention to himself, he sat in a chair across from the girl and began to nom on some bread. Apparently, the girl was looking at him. Yaebi sat silently trying to avoid eye contact. But the girl would have none of that.

"Hey," she lectured "why are you so shy?"

He started to look up and shrugged. He returned to his bread once more.

"You know what, we haven't been properly introduced."

Only then, did he make eye contact.

"Let's start with you, what's your name."

He stopped munching on his bread.

"Yaebi," he answered.

"Huh, that's interesting"

He then built up enough courage to ask her a question.

"W-What's your name?" he asked.

"Shelby Catherine Aran," she announced in a matter- of- fact tone.

"Cool," uttered Yaebi in between bites.

When Yaebi didn't say anything more, the girl returned to cutting her pancakes.

Yaebi didn't feel like conversing at the moment. But I might as well, he thought. The pancakes he smelled would taste really good and he might as well ask for them. When he finally decided to look up he was greeted by a sight that made him jolt and nearly fall out of his chair. This caused Shelby to giggle softly. What he saw on her shoulder was something you hardly see with a human. It was a silverfish. A hostile mob that guarded strongholds. Silverfish were a menace, and here Yaebi saw the same creature perching on a girls shoulder like a domestic parrot. The boy regained his balance but couldn't stop staring at the creature in front of him.

"I see you've met Neptar, "Acknowledged Shelby still stifling a laugh.

"But… how .."

Yaebi couldn't take his eyes off Shelby. She was truly unique, and he only knew her for less than a day. But it wasn't just the pet silverfish- it was everything. The day he walked out onto the surface world for the first time, determined his fascination with this girl. And now here she was sitting down eating her breakfast, completely unfazed by the slithering creature perched on her shoulder. Carefully choosing his words (because he was starting to get irritated by his sudden pauses, even though they were caused by his nervous personality), he asked about Nepter.

"How come you have a silverfish as a pet?" questioned Yaebi, "Aren't they dangerous?"

Shelby replied willingly, since the Yaebi's silence must have been unnerving.

"Well," she continued "A few years ago, when I was exploring dungeons, I came upon a stronghold."

Yaebi heard about strongholds. They were better maintained than mineshafts, since (according to legends) the civilization that constructed the mines were a dying race that were running out of materials. Apparently, that race was hunted by a malevolent force that drove them into hiding. This was extremely interesting to the zombie boy. He returned immediately turned his attention toward Shelby's story.

"So I found the legendary End portal, but I didn't have any eyes of ender so I decided to turn back until I came upon something."

Yaebi was enjoying listening to her.

"It was baby silver fish," she narrated "And it was seriously wounded. I looked around for the cause of the injury, and since none was in sight I took the little creature into my arms and took him home with me. One thing lead to another and that's how I got a new friend."

Yaebi was in total awe. Shelby was just so fascinating. Here he was gaping at this mysterious heroine with a domesticated silverfish perched on her shoulder, intent on watching what his master was doing.

This girl kept getting weirder and weirder. There was more to her than meets the eye.