Hola, chicos y chicas! This is my first attempt at a FanFiction story, and I don't know how well it will be received, or even if it will be noticed at all, but I figured I'd try. Consequently, to anyone reading this: thank you!
What you're about to read is a Minecraft-based adventure story. I have altered several details of Minecraft's storyline, physics, etc. in order to make the story flow more smoothly, so please bear with me as I warp and alter Minecraft a little. Comments and constructive feedback are always appreciated, and if anyone bothers to read this and likes it, I'll gladly continue the story. Thanks!
-Mobius
This tale begins in the earliest era of Minecraftia, long beyond the memory of even the oldest Steve alive. In the beginning, the mighty deity known as Notch created a vast, blocky world and its population was race of people known as "Steves". To provide for the needs of the newly created beings, the almighty Notch sowed the world, which came to be known as "Minecraftia", with plants and animals, with which the Steves learned to sustain themselves. The powerful deity created pigs and cows; fish and chickens; wolves and sheep, and in these animals the Steves found food and armor; clothing and beds; and with the wolves, companionship. In the land, Notch scattered metals and minerals such as iron, gold, and the rare diamond, with which the Steves created weapons, tools, and better armor, and the land itself he cast in many forms; snow and desert, forest and plains, jungle and ocean, and these became known as "biomes". Thus the world of Minecraftia began, and for a time, peace reigned over the lands as the Steves flourished with the gifts of the benevolent Notch, but ere long a great evil began to creep over the world. For the great Notch had a brother, as wicked as Notch was kind, and he was known as Herobrine.
Herobrine could not match the creations of his brother, and each being he created was an evil, pitiful mockery of Notch's work, and for this he envied and despised his brother. Herobrine's replica of the Steves were warped beings, black as pitch and taller than any Steve, his creation meant to be a pig was a green, exploding creature that could creep silently on four short legs, and his version of the fish was a small spiny reptile that made its home within stone blocks and attacked in swarms any who disturbed it. Resentful Notch and his perfect creations and angered by his own failures, Herobrine again tried to create his own Steves, this time using the deceased bodies of Notch's own creations and trying to force life back into them using dark, terrible enchantments. The results were abominations; reanimated bodies of dead Steves, and skeletal figures armed with bows that sought only to hunt and kill their living counterparts, driven by Herobrine's malice. Consumed by jealousy and hatred for his brother, and infuriated by his failure to match Notch's creations, Herobrine unleashed his aberrations upon Minecraftia, seeking to destroy the Steves, the source of his embarrassment and anger. Fighting for their lives against the hordes of evil creatures, the Steves waged a terrible battle against Herobrine's forces for many years, locked in a deadly struggle that would decide the fate of Minecraftia for the ages to follow. The struggle was long and vicious, but the Steves, empowered by the righteous might of the all-powerful Notch, at last began to steadily defeat the demented, evil deity's army, until at last nearly all of Herobrine's creations were destroyed and the malicious brother of Notch found himself on the verge of defeat. Enraged, and desperate to deny his brother victory, Herobrine created one final evil to set upon Minecraftia. Drawing blackness from The Void itself, Herobrine imbued it with souls of Steves he himself had slain and cast terrible enchantments over it, enchantments long since lost in the tides of time.
This last monstrosity, created from the utter emptiness of The Void and infused with the eternally suffering souls of Notch's Steves, took the from of a mighty dragon, blacker than pitch and possessed of smoldering purple eyes; fueled by the essence of Notch's own greatest creation, this monster was far more powerful than any creature in existence and Herobrine prepared to unleash it upon the race of Steves as his final act of spite against his brother. Learning of his sibling's plan, Notch rushed to stop him, knowing the creature would massacre his creations without mercy. He reached Herobrine just as the demented deity began to release the dragon and the two engaged in a final battle, struggling for control of Minecraftia. As the battle reached its end, Notch struck down Herobrine and lifted his blade, preparing to put an end to the evil that plagued Minecraftia. At the last, however, Notch took pity upon his brother, realizing that Herobrine's evil stemmed from the acidic envy he, Notch, had caused in his sibling. Sparing Herobrine's life, Notch instead banished him to the Nether, a hellish realm and the polar opposite of Minecraftia's bright Overworld. With the threat of Herobrine's evil gone, Notch turned his focus to the dragon-formed abomination his brother had created. The creature was far too powerful to destroy, so Notch gathered about him the greatest warriors and enchanters of the Steves, and together they created a new realm within The Void itself and imprisoned the dragon inside this bleak, barren world, known as The End.
To ensure that this terrible evil could not be released, they created three separate portals, widely spread across Minecraftia, buried them deep within the ground, and built formidable Strongholds around them; to open a gateway to the dragon's realm, it was necessary to activate each of the three portals. As an extra safeguard, Notch and his chosen compatriots, who became known as the EnderGuards constructed an enormous city between the trio of Strongholds, and its citizens were charged with the protection of the portals. In time, this city became known as The Citadel, and it was a beacon of hope for all of Minecraftia, a promise that history would not repeat; that the Steves would stand strong together against any evil, any threat, and overcome it, and that they were beloved by Notch. Any Steve who wished to was welcome to join The Citadel, but only those who were chosen, who displayed great prowess in battle, leadership, and loyalty were inducted into the EnderGuards and permitted to enter the Strongholds and behold the portals. These Steves were the fighting force of the Citadel; highly trained and loyal to their cause, they had not been defeated in all the time since the construction of The Citadel, and the rumor was that they were protected by Notch himself. This tale begins with one of the Citadel's many detachments of EnderGuards; a platoon of eight Steves who would, in time, become the saviors of Minecraftia as an ancient evil began to stir again, threatening to engulf their world forever.