I walk along the lonely, shredded streets, vines and bushes hiding the once flourishing village behind an impenetrable wall of time. Broken fences and rusty tools and weaponry lay strewn across the floor, uncared for in years. But it wasn't always this way.
When I was in charge, the mobs would fear us. They'd cower in fear at the sight of me or my soldiers. Monsters didn't dare come near my people, the few that did were locked up straight away. My people would cheer my way, singing songs about my false legacies of which they had written. I did everything I could to come off as friendly and approachable, venturing into the village every day and socialising with anybody I saw. Giving flowers, putting on puppet shows, we had it all.
Then, the world began to fall, all over the course of one night. Herobrine, a mythical glitch in the system appeared under the cover of darkness. With a strike of the pickaxe, he ignited the TNT he placed outside the monster containment section, blowing a hole through the wall, a gaping mouth filled with zombies, skeletons, spiders, creepers, you name it, they were in there.
The undead roamed the streets all night, my soldiers were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers in front of them. I remember the last of them retreating into my castle, arrows sticking from his back as he fell dead on the royal carpet. I had to take a stand, right? I pulled a sword and helmet from one of the armour stands, brandishing the shiny blade and heading out into the chaotic battlefield. Once I felled one skeleton, I looked around. They were everywhere, it became apparent why my friends had failed.
In any direction I looked, I couldn't escape the monsters. There were too many to handle. I turn on my heel and retreat into the castle with my tail between my legs. I have to secure what Herobrine came for, the portal to the End. It's hidden deep below the castle, in the chambers only the kings and princes of the family knew of. When I find it, I take in the sight. It's composed of twelve, large, glassy bricks with sea-green eyes slot into the holes on top of each. I reach for the eye closest to me and rip it free, disabling the portal and tucking the key into my robe. Now to get my family out…
I return upstairs and see my wife, cradling our son in her arms. No need for it anymore, I throw the sword to the ground and take her hand in mine, pulling her up a flight of stairs. As we step on the bridge to our freedom, a combination of crunching leaves and the hiss of a fuse draws me from my adrenaline high.
Creepers…
Two of them stand in our way, slowly advancing on us. The first detonates, leaving a gaping hole in the bridge. It's companion is thrown to the floor, sizzling and hissing like a snake in the grass. I take my wife's hand once again and lead her around the hole, hoping, praying to pass the subdued monster unharmed. All my prayers are in vain.
A second explosion rings throughout the corridor, knocking my wife and son back towards the hoard whilst the only way for me to go is forward. I briefly check over my shoulder. I want to go back, I want to save them after failing to save the rest of my people, but the ever closer parade of monsters advancing on them would take all three of us, dare I attempt. I look ahead, another staircase. I know exactly where it'll take me.
I climb the final tower, leaning out over the balcony, looking for any safe way of climbing down. No vines, no ladders, nothing. I'm on my own. The growls of zombies and shrieks of spiders behind me turn me around to face them.
They're here…
"No, you won't take me…" And with that, I gave a quick salute before ending myself over the edge. I fall for what feels like an eternity, the wind rushing past me, tearing my undeserved crown from my head and flinging it to a place I'll never see it again.
Suddenly, the fall stops. I should be dead, but I'm not. My eyes slowly adapt to the gloom as I desperately fight to gain my bearings back. When I'm calmed, I realise that there is water all around me. The moat. I tried to kill myself by jumping into the moat surrounding my castle. I can't even end myself right, what can I do as a king? The emerald green glow in front of me answers my question.
The eye of ender, it made it! I cut Herobrine's only way into the End off from him. I prevented a tamed dragon under his thrall, wrecking havoc from the skies. I reach out and tuck it back into my robes, climbing to the surface and pulling myself onto the shore with glorious air filling my lungs. I give one final look toward my fallen kingdom, gazing off into the growing night. The screams of my subjects echo through the twilight. A frustrated yell escapes me as I turn around, throwing my body to the cold hard ground. Though this battle didn't leave me slain, Herobrine will no-longer call my name. What good is taking a stand? I've failed to rule my land…
The Queen's P.o.v.
As I come to, I see my dear husband fleeing from the scene. The sounds of gruesome creature behind me tells me that my end is near. Looking forward, I see our infant son, only four years of age.
He needs to make it. He needs to survive.
I crawl forward with as much strength as I can muster, pulling the poor child into a tight embrace. Completely oblivious as to what I'm about to do, he hugs me back, right before I push him into the chasm created by the blasts from the creepers.
I hear his anguished screams as he falls, but I know I did the right thing. He has a better chance of surviving that fall than what's up hear. Me, on the other hand.
Well, this is it, I suppose…
The Mentor's P.o.v.
When the player's kingdom fell, the village wanted to send out a search party. I wasn't sure we should care about them. After all, the only reason the keep us around is so they can trade.
"Oh, but the emeralds they bless us with! They're worthy tradesmen!" The villagers at my side would say. As I was the only one with my thought process, I was outnumbers. So even when I complained at sending out a rescue party, they did it anyway. And what they brought back shook me to my very core…
I peeked out of my window as they returned, they seemed to be looking for someone. A child pointed them toward my house, moments later, they knocked on the door. I answer and see the prince slung over one of their shoulders, lifeless.
"You know more about players than anyone else in the village, you should take care of him." they said. So I was tasked with raising him as my own.
When he came to a few hours later, I could see him eyeing a diamond sword on the wall as I prepared his food.
"What's that?" He asked me. I look over at him to answer.
"That right there is a diamond blade, crafted with the hardest substance we can harvest." He continues to stare at it, fascinated.
"What's it for?" This answer was harder to tell him, you can't just blatantly tell a kid you kill things with a sword, right? Well, surely he would have seen one during the monster's uprising, right? Perhaps…
I turn fully away from the counter with his soup and sidle up to him. He's sitting on a desk with his legs dangling over the edge, a short distance from the floor. Carefully, I kneel down in front of him and place my hands on both his shoulders.
"Boy, what do you remember? From before you came here?" He's silent. No response for a while.
"Nothing, was I somewhere else before I came here?" He doesn't even remember his origins. He has no idea he came from royalty, or that his parents are dead. This poor kid, and he's stuck with an old man like me.
"You'll find out some day, when you grow into a strong, young warrior. You might even need that sword." I brush his golden locks away from his face for a moment. "I just hope I'm here to see it when it happens."
5 years passed, I had the prince work around the village. He helped plough the fields, retrieved water from the well. Heck, I even managed to find a horse for him to care for! By the time he was nine, I felt he was ready to begin.
I burst into his room one day and threw a bunch of supplies onto the floor, sending a hefty backpack in tow.
"Pack those, we're leaving at sunrise tomorrow." The look of shock on his face was unforgettable, but he didn't hesitate. He got to work immediately. While he was at it, I took a quick tour around the town, telling everyone nearby we'd be gone for a few years. They were confused at first, but settled when they remembered his origins.
Sunrise the next day, we awoke early and began the arduous trek to the sacred training ground my father had taken me at his age. There was a crystal-blue river with a glorious flow rushing over the falls, surrounded by a luscious green forest in stark contrast to the desert he'd been raised in. He dragged the backpack to a stop and stumbled backwards in fatigue. "Are we here yet?" He asked for the four-hundred and fifty-third time and yes, I counted. I reached into the bag and pulled out two, large tree branches, one for myself and one for him.
"Hit me." I ordered as I handed him the stick.
"B-but, father?" I wince when I hear this. The prince still had no idea where he came from, his history, his royal blood was all a myth to him. Consequently, he'd taken to calling me father. Not that I particularly minded, it just upset me how painfully oblivious he was to his importance. But now is not the time to dwell on it, so I cut him off before he can make an excuse. He winds up and smacks me in the thigh with all his might, all though he doesn't do a great job. The force from the blow ends up sending him backwards, he falls on his behind as the make-do weapon leaves his grasp. His first strike, a horizontal, slashing motion. He'll need a sword, when the time comes…
More and more training time passed. Weeks turned to months, months turned to years. Before we even knew it, he was aged 17. We'd been at this for almost a decade, with little to no progress. He still left his guard open, charged recklessly for an attack, general mistakes of a rookie swordsman. However, one day, this worked out in our favour.
We were fighting in a strange structure made of quartz when he dashed at me. I tripped him over, he fell into a hole in the ground we hadn't noticed before. As I looked over the edge, he lay flat on the ground.
"Boy!" A cough and a splutter are enough signs to show me that he's alive. I tie a rope around a brick pillar and lower myself into the cave he fell into. Brandishing a torch, it's made clear that our villagers aren't the only ones to predict Herobrine's retribution. Cave paintings show a boy, who looks just like the prince, dueling with the glitch and defeating him in a burning palace forged from the fires of hell and surrounded by a molten river.
"I-is that me?" He looks at me expectantly, his eyes wide in search of my answer.
"Yes son, it is indeed."
From that moment onwards, branches were no longer in our arsenal. It was time to use the swords I'd predicted he'd need long ago. He immediately became better, he understood the concept of protecting himself by deflecting attacks with the edge of his blade, timing his attack when they'd be more effective. Most importantly, after a few more months of training, he won his first fight with me. Intricate flips and stunts bewilder me before he kicks the iron sword from my grasp, where it digs itself into the grass a short distance away.
"You're ready to go home." I can practically see the smile shoot across his face, spreading faster than a plague.
"The village! The village! It's been so long, I wonder how Stor-" I cut his sentence short once again.
"No, son, not the village." Confusion banishes the smile from his expression. "Your real home…"
We pack up our things and return to the place from whence we came. As we grow nearer, the smell of sulphur fills the air.
Fire…
We quicken our pace and arrive at the village. Sure enough, there is a purple portal screen surrounded by a dark stone, zombified pig-men roaming the gravel roads and terrorising the villagers. Golden blades glint in the fire-light, and I know this it time to put the prince's skills to the test.
"Get the swords out of the pack, quick!" He does as he's told, unclipping the latch and tossing me the hilt of a blade. With one final salute, we head into the village and fight the greatest battle of my life.
We've been at it for an hour or two, the pig-men keep coming through the portal to fill the gaps of the many we've slain. Then, the most terrifying thing I've ever seen barreled into a home. A large, brutal-looking pig-man weilding a ball and chain and wearing wither-skeleton bones for armour was terrorising a man with wooden tools loose on the floor around him. I crashed through the front door, hoping to help. The berzerker roared like a maniac and slammed his mace into the floor. I knew exactly what I had to do and how to do it in order for this other villager to escape. As he began to crawl away, I jumped at the pig-man to lure his attention back to me. He crashed forward, barreling towards me at a speed I didn't deem possible for a beast of that size.
The house now had two of four corners of the wall destroyed. The pig-man burst through the rubble, I simply watched as he frantically looked around. As soon as he spotted me, I threw a chunk of sandstone at him and watched as he became fully enraged. The beast thundered in my direction with the speed and reaction times of a bull, crashing into one of the two remain corners of the house. The roof collapsed on him, burying him under the rocks. A small scroll stuck out of his backpack. Curious, I plucked it from the strap and dodged an arrow as I started to read. It was a scroll about Herobrine. Before I could finish, the blackstone flail smashed into my back, launching me halfway across the entire village. I slowly slid to a stop, hitting my back on the Nether portal from which they came from. The last sight I saw was the pig-man hurtling through the air towards me with his weapon raised high…
The Prince's P.o.v.
It seemed like the battle was in our favour. The numbers were overwhelming, but not a single pig-man warrior could lay a hit on me. Suddenly, an anguished cry echoes across the fire and the flames. I turn around to see a massive pig-man weilding an obsidian ball and chain laying into my father, right beside the Nether portal.
"No… No, no no No No NO!" Recklessly, I dash from where I was, felling zombie after zombie with the blade I've been training with for months now. Finally, I'm where I'm supposed to be. A quick punch in the Wither-Pig-Man's back sends him half tumbling through the portal, his legs still dangling into our world. Without thinking, I slam the flat of my blade into the portal frame, severing the connection between the dimensions. With that, he was cut in half by the universes being ripped apart from their only connection point, him. But by then, it was too late. My father's body lays limp, slumped over my the obsidian towers. "Father… It's me…" I shake him gently by the shoulder. "Please…" Again, I shake, a little more violently.
Nothing.
He's gone…
With the village in a state of disrepair, and the threat of the Pig-men finding another way through, we were forced to evacuate the village. I followed my friends to our new home, a desert temple a short distance away from where we used to reside. I carried my father over my shoulder, gently laying him down to rest when we finally arrive.
Then, as I lay him down, I notice something grasped in his hand.
A scroll…
I take the parchment in my hands and give it a thorough read through. It's about…
Herobrine.
It depicts the story of him destroying a kingdom in a single night. This is who the pig-men were working for. I'm sure of it.
With nothing but severe retribution on my mind, I exit the temple in a hurry, hopping on my horse's back and digging my heels to the flanks. "Ride, Storm! Hyah!" We return to the village, and straight away, I search for the house I lived in before we left. My eyes scan the charred wreckage, searching.
There.
A small, sandstone house on the outskirts of the village. I burst through the door and see it. The forbidden Diamond Blade I wasn't allowed to touch. My father's voice echoes through my mind.
"You might even need that sword. I just hope I'm here to see it when it happens." He's not here, but that won't stop me. I lash out and grab the sword from it's resting spot. I feel my face curl into a cruel, twisted expression as I fight to clear my mind. I have to cast the shadows out from sight. Take a final stand, a shouting cry. With raging thoughts seething through my mind, I'll fight the good fight and take back that night.
Me and Storm, my horse since I was a kid, galloped for many days. We made it through the harshest conditions. A wide expanse of desert, a freezing cold winter, a zombie hotspot, you name the danger. As we were crossing a volcanic terrain, a massive magma golem arose next to the path way. The smell of sulphur was already in the air, but this was just horrid. He swung his arms manically and shot flickering flames from his mouth. Storm had already been skittish, and now I knew why. As the giant brought a rock fist down to crush us, I dodged to the side, grabbing onto the burning cobbles and climbing with all the strength I could muster as my roasting palms scream in protest. I'm finally in a place where I can stand. With the violent shaking of his shoulder in an attempt to throw me off, my shakey stance is hard to keep. But finally, I make the jump towards his face. My sword slices cleanly through the obsidian, opening the side of his head and letting the molten substance inside empty it's contents. With all of his fuel gone, he slowly began to cool off, the stone splintering and cracking as he fought to regain control of his body. It was no use, he slowly toppled backwards and smashed himself to pieces on a jutting piece of volcanic rock. I hopped back into Storm's saddle and forged onwards.
The castle was in sight, and the familiar smell of sulphur invaded my nostrils once again. I rode across the bridge, not confident, but determined. This was it, it was avenge my father or die trying. I left Storm outside, I couldn't put him in any more danger. Besides, I have no idea what this Herobrine is capable. For all I know, Storm might be completely useless here. Nervously, I push on the wood of the grand door, sliding the wood open and watching as two bats immediately escape into the night. It's time…
I enter the battlefield with my sword drawn. Lining the walls are statues of familiar monsters, as well as some I've never seen before. A tall, humanoid creature with thin limbs and a gaping mouth, I have no idea what it is. Then, a clap of thunder ricochets through the hall. The floor cracks beneath my feet and I immediately feel the heat radiating upwards from the molten magma beneath. A blur of black, blue and glowing white dashes forth from the darkness, striking me once before retreating into the wings. From that moment on, the hall begins to collapse. I search and search for another island to hop to, but I'm drawn from my thoughts as a punch to the back of my head spreads pain throughout my entire body. I retreat from him for a moment, jumping down a stone set of steps to get my bearing before retaliating, using the momentum of a 180 spin to try and strike him. Before my blade could connect, he vanished. His palm forced it's way into my back again, knocking me away and sliding me along the smooth stones. I feel my hair dangling dangerously close to the lava below me. A foot presses it's weight into my chest, I look up to see Herobrine pinning me down with his boot and raising his hand, forming a fire-ball in his palm.
An opening.
While he's charging up, I take my blade and swipe at his face. He backs down from me, clutching his empty eye sockets and allowing me time to regroup. When I turn back to him, he's already fully recovered from the blow. An inhuman scream escapes his lips as he vollies fireball after fireball in my direction, destroying the ground my footing was on moments after I depart for the next option.
Jump.
Jump.
Jump.
The shrapnel from the explosions splinters into my back, but I'm not letting some tiny stones get between me and some revenge. Finally, I'm in a position to jump not towards safety, but towards Herobrine. I launch myself to his pillar as a fireball travels from his hand towards me. "Hyah!" I gracefully spin through the air with my blade extended, deflecting the projectile and returning it to it's sender.
Herobrine was thrown back by the blast, smacking flat against the cobble wall behind him and falling to the one part of the floor still standing. He tried to push himself up, to continue fighting, but I denied him that privilege, descending on him why my blade aimed for his back. A satisfying thunk of his flesh being pierced followed. Satisfied, I removed my sword from the glitch's corpse and climbed from the wreckage of the castle.
"I did it, father…"
Five years passed since that day. The villagers moved back into their home and the portal was officially destroyed. My life became rather erratic, as I was well known for my impossible feats and became somewhat of a celebrity around the place. I tried to stay modest, you know? But you can't help but feel a little good about yourself when you obliterate a terrorising glitch who's haunted each and every corner of the universe since the dawn of time.
But all this time, one thing was still on my mind. One thing that continued to nag at me and leave me unsettled. I set my mind back to that fateful night my father, or rather, the man I thought was my father, was killed in battle as I fought alongside him. His words echo back, bouncing around my skull as I'm unable to catch onto their meaning.
"Not the village, your real home…" What real home? I tried to remember, for days at a time in some cases, I'd just sit and meditate. Clear my mind, see if anything would come to the surface, but nothing ever did. Until that one day, where I woke up in a cold sweat from a dream I had.
No, not a dream, a vision. What I experienced that night was the night I lost my home…
I must've been young at the time, only four or five years old. I was nestled into my mother's arms, she was draped in a long, flowing purple robe and wearing a…
Is that a crown on her head? Was my mother a princess, or queen? I look over to my father who's running towards us, wearing a red robe around himself and yet another crown on his head. He threw a diamond sword to the ground and took my mother's hand in his, dragging us up a tower and onto a bridge connecting two large parts of what was once my home. The bridge is blown to pieces by a pair of creepers blocking their way, me and my mother get separated from my father and trapped with the hoard. I'm almost certain that death is what awaits us. I look over to my mother, who appears to be stirring from the blast. As she recovers, the crawls over to me and holds me in a tight embrace. Her face is the last thing I see before she pushes me over the ledge and sends me falling down into the throne room below us.
I fall. How long, it seems like hours. The events of that night flash before my eyes before I hit the ground hard, a storm of bricks and cement following in my footsteps. I get cocooned in the masonry, covered in the rubble and protected from further outside harm. Then, I black out.
What happened next was an outer body experience unlike anything I'd ever thought was possible. It's like I'm a spectator, my vision leaves my body and floats back up to the bridge where my father was. I have no control over it, even when I want to stay and make sure my mother was ok. I catch a glimpse of her jumping down to join me as I pass her by, but the spirit controlling what I'm seeing right now clearly finds that unimportant. I'm suddenly watching my father at the crest of one of the towers. He gives the monsters cornering him a quick salute before tipping himself over the edge and falling to the cold hard…
Moat, below him…
He's dazed from the fall for a moment, searching in the darkness for any indication as to where he is. Then, the green glow of an Eye of Ender slits through the darkness and murk, the only light source available. As the eye reaches it's glowing peak, I'm dragged away from the scene to the Herobrine I slaughtered stood on the frame of an End portal. It was at this point that I suddenly realised what I was seeing. It was what had been on the parchment scroll my mentor had picked up;
"Herobrine, the enigma of the Minecraft Universe. They say he could form thunderbolts that rival Zeus himself, that he was able to cause a kingdom to fall in less than a night and you wouldn't see him coming."
I wake up in a cold sweat. This vision was the fallen kingdom. My fallen kingdom. I realise now what I was dreaming, the pieces were in place for me.
I just needed to put them back together…
I hop out of my front door, pulling my shoes on in a rush before sprinting down the gravel pathways and finding everyone I needed. I burst into the village chef's house, he was preparing some food for late on. I could tell I made him jump, so the first thing I said was a profuse apology.
"Don't worry about it, kid. It's fine!" He simply laughed back. "You wouldn't be in this kind of a rush if it weren't important. Tell me what's on your mind!" I take a deep breath before letting him know that I went through the epiphany.
"I had a vision, a vision of my life before I came to this village and how I lost it all." The smile slowly fades from his face.
"I know who we need, follow me." He sticks his knife into the knife block and pushes his way past me, out of the door.
We sprint through the village together until we find the next person, the stable-master who was tending to Storm, who was still my nobel stallion friend. We dragged him away from the horse and explained the situation to him before we finally made it to the library. The librarian opened the door to see the three of us staring at him with wide eyes, before I finally told him why we were here.
"I… I want to know where I came from… Y'know, before the village." He ushers us inside at this notion.
Our party followed the librarian through the rooms, filled with shelves upon shelves of books.
"It's around here somewhere…" His spectacles scan over the literature until he finally settles on a large, yellowing scroll with images and symbols on it.
A map.
He pulls the map down from the top shelf and rolls it flat out onto a table, pointing first to the village, then to a small port a short distance west of us before finishing on a castle image labelled "Fallen Kingdom" I'll have to go past a fishing village called Port Juno in order to sail there, maybe I could stop for supplies on the way. I don't know, I have no idea what this quest will have in store for me. All I know is that I can't wait for the endgame.
"Storm, it's you and me again!" I call out to my friend as I hop on his back and shake the reigns to spur him forward. I've packed all that I'd need, my sword and some rations. It's time to begin. The cook, the stable-master and the librarian all wave me off as I gallop into the horizon.
I find the small port that was mentioned before, an old man with a tamed wolf is sat in a rocking chair just outside his shack, a small pipe tucked neatly into his mouth.
A player? Like me?
"Excuse me sir, how much to hire your boat out?" He removes the pipe from his mouth and exhales deeply.
"You keep it, I know why you're here, your father and I used to be good friends. Go make sure the loss wasn't for nothing."
My father? Does he mean my mentor, or…?
Instead of hanging myself up on what he meant, I decide it'll be better off to just get on the boat and set sail.
"Take care of Storm, please! If I don't make it back, you can keep him." I immediately see the worry form in my steed's eyes. "Sorry, pal…" I turn away from the protesting horse and open the sails, unaware that this might be the last time I see the village...
Pigman Captain's P.o.v.
After the prince had slain Herobrine, the Nether was thrown into chaos. Years of civil war followed in its wake, until I made my people see sense. We elected a new leader, one of our own kind instead of a ghoul nobody was sure existed until he was right in front of us. Under his ruling and my help and loyalty, the Nether recovered. But, he had sworn revenge on the prince of all those years of hard work lost because of him.
One d̵̝̙͙̗̦͎̝̰̝̫̄̎̃̓̏͛̈̃́̂͘a̷̹̮͂͗͗̓̈́́̀͂̕̚͘̕ͅy̵̧̦̲͌̈́̇͆̕, I was called to see him in the throne room of his palace he'd built on the cliffs of Netherrack throughout our home.
"Captain, glad you could make it." He grunts a greeting at me, which is a sign for my to take a knee for a moment.
"Honoured to be here, sire." I respond to him. "What calls me-" My question is cut short when a short pig-man comes in from the left and hands me a chest. Curious, I take a peek inside.
Are those…
Witherskulls?
Three of them, no less. I can put two and two together, I know what he wants me to do.
"And should the prince kill the Wither, make sure you have a team on standby to collect the Nether Star before he can." I begin to bellow a laugh out, unaware of my insensitivity.
"A Nether Star? What would we need one of those for? All they are good for is powering beacon blocks, and we're already stronger and faster than the prince." This time, it's the king's turn to laugh.
"You see, captain, beacon blocks are only scratching the surface of what a Nether Star can give power to." I stare, dazed and confused. "The confidential project you may have heard me mention recently need it, just get it done." I give a quick nod of a salute to show my understanding of what needs to be done. "Also, I'd recommend a sea-side town 'Port Juno' for the Wither's touchdown. It's directly on the path the prince will be taking from the village to the kingdom. As soon as he hears that explosion, he'll be drawn in to fight. Then, it's a win-win situation from there…" I raise my hand to silence any further explanation.
"Say no more, my lord. I have this on lock." With that, I exit the throne room.
I find myself at a portal to the overworld. A few of my soldiers arrive, saluting me. I hand them the chest as well as some Soul Sand and send them through, into the heart of Port Juno. Moments later, they returned through the portal.
"It's done, sir. The Wither is on a rampage."
"Well done." I pat one of them on the back. "Team! Get a ship ready to spawn just off the coast of Port Juno! We might need it!" Pigmen on the catwalks above me immediately scuttle off to do as they've been told.
The Prince's P.o.v.
There's Port Juno. Just as I expected from looking on the map, that place is absolutely massive. Ships line the docks and homes cluster together on the shore. It's quite a sight to behold. Then, a titanic mushroom cloud appears over the town, followed by a loud boom rippling over the air towards me. What was that? People could be in danger over there, I have to investigate.
I hastily pull my boat up to the side of a quay, hopping out and brandishing my diamond blade. I see what I assume is the cause of the explosion, a floating, skeletal monster with three heads, hovering menacingly towards a villager thrown to the ground. Without thinking, I leap forward and kick the beast away from him. A short wave from the villager is followed by the creature's return, sending a skull flying towards the two of us. The blast kills the villager instantly, I instead get thrown back against a wall.
What is this thing?
I scramble to my feet and roll to avoid another explosive skull, jumping off of a slime block and swinging myself round an overhanging roof-tile to find myself stood face to faces with this thing. I carelessly leap from my standing point and grab onto more than I bargained for, the central head. The stench of rotting flesh and bone flared into my nostrils, the monster shaking violently in an attempt to throw me off.
After multiple failed attempts, it scraped me off on the roof of a building, sending me back down to the cold, hard flagstones below…
Right next to a bow.
I picked the bow from my side, notching an arrow to the string and taking a steady aim. As the monster draws nearer to a pile of TNT explosive, I let the arrow fly into one of the sticks in the bundle. The blast sends the body of the creature into many different directions, bones splintering and spreading across the nearby area. On the ground below where it once stood, a glowing object with four points sat dormant, waiting. I reach out to pick it up, curious as to what it might be.
Whvoom!
Out at sea, an incomprehensibly large Nether portal has risen from the water and activated, a large, crimson battleship emerging from the purple swirling centre. Huge oars brush the water behind it in long, powerful strokes. Once the boat has reached a close enough position, a flap unfolds and a Pig-man at the trigger of a grappling gun fires out, snatching the arcane object from beneath my nose. The grapple retreats inside of the ship, and a canon-wielding Pig-man is shoved out from a larger opening just above. A volley of fireballs rain down on Port Juno, each one fired with the soul purpose of ending my life. Kaboom, crash! I dodge as many as I can, but one eventually strikes too close to me. I fly through the air, landing unconscious a short distance away as light-posts and generic rubble fall to cover me. Satisfied, the ship retreats back into the portal…
I come to the next morning, Port Juno now in ruins. Forcefully, I shove the wooden pieces away from me and pull myself to my feet, heaving my capsized sailboat upright and hopping onboard.
I continue sailing, the Nether portal now closed, the empty frame rising high out of the water and looking out over the destruction they caused. I'd help rebuild Juno, but I've got my own quest to worry about. I can't forget about why I embarked on this journey in the first place.
I've been sailing for a day now, since I left Juno. Rations are running low and my sail is torn. I've still not seen any telltale signs of being where I'm supposed to be. Then, something unimaginable peaks it's head over some mountaintops. A shredded, triangular flag, yellow with a red cross in the middle, still flailing in the winds. I check the map, familiar features of the area around me begin to line up with what's drawn into the dark parchment. This is where I came from…
I guide my boat into the cove, drifting across the water and pulling up beside a small docking area. An overgrown village overshadowed by a wrecked castle sits dormant before me. As I tie my boat up on the moore, footsteps behind me draw my attention to a man, clothed in disheveled robes and a scraggly beard coating his face…
"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me, son…"
But de-age him 14 years, and he looks just like the king in my vision.
My father…
Pigman Captain's P.o.v.
The ship hauled itself back into its home dimension. One of the crew members held the Nether Star high for me to see, docking the vessel and handing it to me. "Let's get this to the king, I guess."
Once again, I'm in the Pig-man king's throne room. I show him the retrieved item-drop and he beams widely from ear to ear.
"Nice going, Captain." His grunts echo throughout the spacious area. "Take it down to the 'Project Uprising' section of the Nether, we'll take it from there."
"Understood, my lord." I take a knee once again before turning on my heel and heading to where he sent me.
I'm sat on one of the catwalks, waiting. Eventually, a Ghast with two Pig-men riding on top pulls up beside the catwalk, one of the zombie-swines reaching an outstretched hand. I carelessly toss over the star in my hand and watch as he snatches it from it's fall, the other Pig-man guiding the Ghast elsewhere in the vicinity. Chains groan and gears creek as a pair of white eyes light up inside the skull of the berzerker Pig-man inside a giant mech. It's almost time to end that royal blood line, once and for all...
The Prince's P.o.v.
I'm here, where I came from. This was once my home, but it's all wrecked. My father, my real father tours me around the area. An old puppet-show stand lies dormant, it must've been years since a show was put on inside that tiny theatre. I point excitedly to it, but my dad's focus is elsewhere. A cave, a hole in the cliff face, a short climb from the ground. The mouth is coated in the same red stones I remember from the siege on my village, the night my mentor was killed. I wince as the memory bitterly surfaces, but I force it from my mind. There are more pressing issues in present time, the solution to one of those lies inside that tunnel…
We walk through the torch-lit gloom, my father educating me on what this tunnel was for. Pig-men sit chained to the floor, angrily grunting at us as we pass the by. My father pays no attention, but I can't help but glare at each and every one of them as I freely pass by. Finally, at the end of the tunnel, we reach a large, sturdy wooden door with a pair of levers fused to a walls on either side. We split off to pull each lever at once, and the wall folds away to reveal another room with a glowing End portal resting inside.
Pigman captain's P.o.v.
I wander around the sector, checking up on the progress of the preparations. My brothers aimlessly wander left and right, lost, but marching on nonetheless. As I find my way to the mech, newly finished and prepared for combat operations, a couple of workers at its feet throw some switches and dials into motion and the titanic robot creeks to life. Two glimmering eyes shine forth from the Wither skull helmet on the berserker's head, boring deep into my own gaze.
"Welcome back, old friend. You've been sleeping for far too long." I await a response that's never coming. "Not a talker anymore?" The mech shook violently from side to side to signal a 'no' before standing up straight turning to face the portal. "Hold back, berserker, you're our last resort! The rest of you, through the portals now!" I watch as ghasts and pig-men careen through the purple swirls and into the overworld, the battle cries ricocheting around the Nether's cramped spaces before returning to our own ears. I grab onto the tentacle of a ghast as it flies by me, hitchhiking my way into the battlefield.
Port Juno, now with plenty more ships docking in the port, as well as gigantic, flying squids with the ability to shoot fireballs. They stand no chance against our raid, we will have victory this time.
And nothing, and noone is going to stop us…
The Prince's P.o.v.
We step into the End portal and find ourselves in the barren plain. Stacks of obsidian with crystals atop them stretch into the dark, voidious sky in the distance. Dark, tall, thin figures I recognise from the statues in Herobrine's palace litter the floor, while a graceful dragon soars high above them with a mighty roar that causes the Nether, Earth and End alike to tremble.
"What's the plan here, father?" I ask in desperation.
"Carry that enderchest, we'll need it for this." He shoves the chest into my hands before running forward from the spawn platform.
Swipe!
An Enderman reaches a lanky arm out at me and swipes my feet out from underneath me. The chest falls from my grasp as I crumple to the ground. Me and my father look up to spot the dragon swooping down to finish us off.
"Dad, why're you coming back this way? We're supposed to fight it, right?" My bewilderment is answered as my dad cuts through the lock on the chest and swings it open, reaching inside and brandishing a celestial staff as the dragon lands. She rears up and form a blast in her mouth, I can see the arcane glow forming deep in the back of her throat. But as the staff lights up, the dragon calms. She closes her mouth and submits as a magical collar forms around her neck.
"That's why, my boy." My father turned to face me once more before climbing atop the dragon and lending a hand. "Now let's get back, we have bacon to fry!"
After leaving the end on the dragon's back, we rocketed back to Port Juno. A giant, towering mech robot loomed high over the buildings, heaving up and down as if it were breathing.
As it turns to face us, I drop down from the dragon's back and land on the floor with my sword and shield ready. An armada of Pig-men stand between me and their captain, it's time to fight my way through them.
One by one, they fell at my feet. I'd disarm them and use their own sword against them, or throw them into the flames where they'd be unable to reach me. Finally, the pig-man captain stood before me, atop a pile of cobblestone rubble from nearby buildings. He turned to face me, his deep, guttural voice taunting me from above.
"The lost prince of the fallen kingdom, huh?" His chuckle was casual and careless. Despite my feats in the past, he showed no sign of fear. Me, on the other hand, I can't help but feel threatened.
"You… You organised the attack that killed my mentor!"
"Oh please, if we'd done it sooner, we wouldn't be in this position right now, you wouldn't have learned how to fight. You wouldn't have become a life risking warrior. Doesn't that life sound inviting?" I can already feel my grip tighten on the hilt of my sword. "Oh, but then you'd be left to think he was your father, wouldn't you, and that'd hurt you even more. Come to think of it, maybe we should have acted sooner…"
As the remark leaves his lips, a throat-ripping roar erupts from mine as I charge forward. With my sword raised above my head. He jumps from his vantage point, slamming one of his blades against mine. I hold steady, throwing his weight away from me. He takes the momentum and begins spinning, holding the swords in a way that creates a bladed cyclone. I crouch behind my shield as the attack slams into the wood over and over again. My legs tire as I hold steady against the barrage, eventually stumbling back a few paces and falling over a small drop. I land on my feet and look up to see the captain diving on me, throwing up my shield to bounce him over me. Just before he lands in the flames, he digs the tip of one of his swords into the bricks and swings around the anchor point to land in front of me once again. His weapon spins gracefully in his hand, finishing in a reverse grip and easily penetrating my shield, the protective barrier dented and broken from the onslaught earlier. As the edge narrowly misses my body, I deem the shield useless and toss it into the fires around us, hearing the smouldering wood crackles with the heat. Whoever said the best offense is defense was wrong…
The duel continues, deflecting blows from one another to fight for our own survival. After a lightning fast feint attack, the captain shoulder barges forward, pinning me to the wall he'd just jumped off of, bringing his weapon forward for a finishing strike. I'm faster. I let my foot lash out at him, he reels from the blow, his backwards momentum sending him into a series of backflips as a tactical retreat. Free from my pig-man prison, I push off of the wall and launch into the air, coming down with a somersault attack that forces the diamond blade cleanly through his sword arm. Retracting from this puts me in the perfect position to thrust forward into his chest. His snouted face twists and contorts in the pain as I shove him off of my weapon, leaving him to fall to the hungry fires below us.
And there it is…
I look over to where my dad is battling the mech robot astride the Ender dragon. Purple fire spews from the mighty beast, the berserker bringing his arm up to protect himself from the onslaught as much as possible. Out of nowhere, a sudden wave of the stuff erupted from the creature and brought the Nether Star's creation to its knees… Done with my own fight, I decided to save my father a landing and finish his for him, so I climbed upon the mech's broken limbs and brandished my dulled weapon. In his panic, the berserker ejected a missile from his new body's chest cavity.
A missile I was riding on…
My sword dug into the scorching metal's surface as I grip onto it's handle for dear life. I look below me and see thousands of awestruck faces staring up at me as I ride the rocket through the sky. As I return my gaze from the ground to the flight path, it's apparent that I'm headed directly for my father on the dragon's back…
No…
No!
I won't lose him a second time!
I pull my body a up a little before thrusting downward with all my might, spinning the bomb to a position I can straddle it and wrenching the sword to the right. I ride the leviathan south, across the harbour and back into the Nether Portal these pig-men came from.
As I enter their homeland, red rocks made of fire and war line the cave walls, bloody. Pouring magma streams from the ceilings and a fortress of crimson bricks clings to the flammable stones. A fortress I'm headed straight for.
I see the missile's journey through to the end. Even if I jump off now, there's no way I'll get out of the Nether alive. I might as well just accept that, which is what I do. I steadily rise to my feet and pose like a cross atop the rocket, closing my eyes.
Wow, what a quest. What a lifetime. I survived a monster raid on my first home, fought off a siege on my second, killed Herobrine, a Wither, helped my father tame a dragon. Now, I've put an end to the Pig-men's reign of terror, add that to the list. Given how much good I've done for our world, our corner of the universe, I can accept that there are no more chapters of my destiny to write. The blast hits…
The King's P.o.v.
There he is, clung to the side of an explosive rocket that would kill us both should it strike. But it doesn't, for he throws his weight downwards, rolling the missile to a point where he'd be on top. With the blade still stuck into the weapon, he twists and turns it, guiding the stallion out across the port, right into the heart of a Nether Portal.
"Son!" I call out, coaxing my steed to bring me through the portal myself to save him. But before we can enter the dimension, an explosion of the universe sealing back together slams the portal shut, throwing us away from it. All portals in the area follow the trend, radiating with the fresh sunlight shining through from a new dawn. I watch in despair from the shore line as the fragile black-stone frames crumbled to pieces against the buttery skyline. The war ships sink and the Pig-men remaining shudder violently like a tased victim before dropping to the ground, motionless as a statue.
Statue.
Statue…
Statue…
Statue…
"A statue shall be built in his honour, in the new kingdom." I promised to myself. "Next to that of his mother."
Months later, restoration was under way. Cranes heaved and men toiled away, slowly putting the King's village back together. I had been helping a large amount with the project this time around. I carelessly slugged a roof panel onto a house and sat back from my work. At this rate, the kingdom would be back to normal by the end of the year. I gaze off into the boundless skyline, note-block choirs playing in the sunshine. I turn around, pick up my robes and climb up, to pay my respects to my son before the time's up.
Though this battle had left him slain, I can't help but wonder if things would ever be the same if that night, I'd lived up to my fame. I take a knee at the foot of the delicately carved statues and stare up into each of their eyes. I glance at both of the nameplates.
"The Queen: Selfless"
"The Prince: Dragonhearted"
No word would be better suited to take that spot on his plaque. I just wish he was here to see it. I give way to grief...