Chapter One
Panicked breathing filled the air as a woman raced through an oak forest, frantically searching for a way out, not out of the forest, but of the game which she had been sucked into. Never did the woman believe she would curse the game which she loved so much.
"Fucking hell! Why me?" Surrounding the woman was a familiar world made of blocks, and nothing but blocks. The woman had been playing the game Minecraft late at night when the game had begun to spazz out slightly and glitch. Her render distance had been changed to short instead of far, passive mobs were disappearing and being replaced with hostile mobs. Never before had the woman been so grateful for her wolf army which usually surrounded her when at her "home" in game. The woman had quickly grown frustrated, particularly when her avatar stopped responding to her. As she had moved to shut the game down however, something had caught her attention on the screen. Just inside the fog from her now short render distance she could have sworn she saw two bright white spots. That moment of hesitation and distraction was all whatever had done this to her had needed. She didn't remember much other than a hand bursting out of the screen in front of her and grabbing the front of her sweater and pulling her towards the screen. She hadn't even had a chance to scream before her world had turned completely dark. The next thing the woman had known was with her waking up within the very game she had just been playing. Once realizing that what she had gone through shouldn't even be possible she began panicking and running which brought her to where she currently was with burning lungs and sweat forming across her brow. She hadn't made it very far from her starting point seeing as how she had never been much of a runner but rather a dancer and equestrianist. It had always irritated her how so many people would assume that she could run simply because she had long legs. It wasn't long before the woman's stamina ran out and she found herself hunched over, leaning against an oak tree for support. Long strands of hair fell in front of her face and that's when she noticed that instead of her usual brown hair, her hair was white. The woman's eyes widened as she next noticed that her clothes were not the same either. Instead of her purple hooded sweater and denim shorts with mis-matched knee socks she was wearing a black sweater which left her shoulders bare and the ends of her sleeves were checkered with two different shades of red. Her black bra straps could easily be seen since her shoulders were bare which was not something the woman was entirely comfortable with. She also wore red shorts and black boots with red laces. It took the woman a moment to grasp that she was not only dressed like her Minecraft avatar, but looked like them as well. She had to assume that her eyes were now a bright, light icy blue instead of their normal warm brown. Looking around herself the woman began to come to grasps with her situation. She took a couple of calming breaths to calm herself.
"Alright, that's enough panicking, I just have to think this through. If I'm somehow actually in Minecraft then I should be able to do basic things, right? I just need to figure out how to at least make things and build a shelter. That should protect me from mobs for at least tonight." The woman glanced at the tree next to her and sighed. "Let's see how well this works." Curling her hand into a fist she threw it at the tree, fully expecting it to be painful, and she was right. Pain flared through her hand which she quickly drew in towards her body and cradled against herself. She was caught off guard by a chuckle which originated from behind her. Whipping around she found nothing except a leather messenger bag. Cautiously approaching the bag she picked it up and opened it. Sitting inside of it were basic wooden tools, a couple of unlit torches, a flint and steel, and a strange stone square which was divided into four smaller squares. This stone square was what had the majority of the woman's attention as she flipped it over in her hand. The back side of the square was smooth with no markings to indicate what it was. Placing it back into the bag she withdrew a wooden ax. She held it in her hands and felt how light it was. She had used axes in the past so she was familiar with the weight they usually carried, this was lighter. Sighing the woman stood and approached the tree which she had just punched. With her knuckles still stinging from the punch she had thrown she began swinging the ax at the tree. The wooden ax hit with a satisfying thunk, tearing a chunk of tree away when she pulled it back in order to swing again. Each swing resulted in a dull thunk and more wood being torn away. She had been swinging for a couple of minutes before a small square popped away, a miniature form of what she had just cut. She had expected the game to follow it's game mechanics, but instead she found herself leaping out of the way as the tree began falling directly towards her. The woman grunted as she hit the ground only to feel the tree hit the ground behind her. Turning to look at the felled tree she sighed as she realized it had fallen directly between her and her bag. Standing she approached the tree and began hacking away at it, retrieving more small pieces of wood from it. She had managed to get six squares from the tree before the wood was gone, then the leaves began to disappear on their own.
"Well at least some things are the same as the game," The woman muttered to herself. "Now to go gather some stone." She didn't have to walk very far before she came across a large hill which had some stone exposed on the side. Once again digging through her bag she found a wooden pickax and approached the stone. Raising the pick up she brought it down with as much strength as she could muster. As she began the process of mining away at the rock she couldn't help but let her mind wander back to what had happened to her. There hadn't been any pain when she had been pulled into the game, but at the same time whoever had done so hadn't been there to greet her either once she woke. Shaking herself free from her thoughts the woman discovered that she had already collected several pieces of stone so she could now make better weapons. The woman frowned as she realized she had no idea how to create a crafting table at all. With a sigh she dug through her bag again, to see if there was any hint as to what she needed to do. When her hand brushed against the stone square again she paused. Now that she thought about it, the small stone square was set up like the crafting squares which came up when a player pulled up their inventory. Pulling out the square she looked it over again, trying to figure out exactly how it worked. With a frown she pulled out one of the miniature versions of the wood and compared it's size to the four squares on the tablet. Laying the tablet flat on her hand she then placed one of the miniature versions of the wood into one of the squares. Immediately an almost holographic looking like image of four blocks of oak wood planks popped up next to the tablet. With a trembling hand the woman reached out and touched the floating image only to have four miniature, and solid versions of the image fall into her lap and the wood she had placed on the tablet disappeared. Gathering up the four blocks of planks she repeated the process except this time placing each of the blocks in one of the four spaces. Popping up next to the tablet came a holographic image of a crafting table. With a bit more confidence the woman tapped the image and a miniature version of a crafting table plopped down into her lap, using up the wood which she had placed on the tablet. Smiling a bit now the woman stood up and approached the rock wall she had been mining. She gently threw the crafting table at a spot on the ground and it instantly grew in size until it was a full sized crafting table. Approaching it, the woman rested her hands against it.
"Alright, at least now I have a crafting table that I can use. Now I just need to start gathering more supplies for a shelter." The woman glanced skywards noting that more than half the day had already passed. Sighing she retrieved her ax again and began chopping down the trees closest to her crafting table. This time she was ready for when the tree began to fall. She felled several trees, quickly turning the blocks of wood into blocks of planks. With what stone she had left she crafted a furnace which she stuck a few pieces of wood in to make charcoal. She had managed to get a couple of apples from the trees she had taken down and began building a shelter around where she had placed her crafting bench. She used the side of the hill as the back of her house. She was quick to throw up her walls and a roof. She grabbed the charcoal out of her furnace and then made a few sticks so she could make some torches. However they weren't lit and at that point she remembered that she had some torches in her bag already. Groaning she smacked her palm against her forehead as she chastised herself about doing something which wasn't necessary. With a sigh she dug the flint and steel out of her bag and lit the torches she had just decided to make and save the other ones for later. Stabbing the torches into the ground she looked around her small shelter. She had no bed but she had a feeling she wouldn't need it to go to sleep. She had made a simple door and when she glanced out of the small window she saw how quickly night had approached. Heading into the corner farthest from the door she retrieved an apple from her bag and began eating it. Now that she wasn't doing anything her mind once again returned to the subject of how she had gotten into the game and who had brought her here. There was one character from online which kept returning to her thoughts, but he wasn't real, was he? With a moan the woman clutched at her head and tried to cease her endless train of thoughts.
"I need to sleep, not run my mind ragged with these thoughts." With a sigh she curled up into a tight ball in the corner of her shelter. Closing her eyes she took several deep and slow breathes to calm her body and encourage it to let her rest. It took several minutes, but eventually she did fall asleep.
From outside of the woman's small shelter a tall and well built man stood grinning maliciously at her thrown together shelter. His strong arms were crossed over his chest with a diamond pickax hanging loosely in his grip from his right hand. He wore a cyan t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and black work boots. The simple attire identical to his brother, in fact he probably would be mistaken as his brother if it weren't for his eyes. His eyes were a blank white which glowed with the light of insanity. A dark chuckle escaped the man as he stepped closer to the small shelter. He listened intently and could hear that the woman was asleep. Silently opening the door he slipped into the shelter to observe the woman. She lay curled up in a corner of her shelter and he could see small shivers running through her body as the night began to cool down rapidly. With a small flick of his hand the man brought up what was essentially a small screen which gave him the basic information on the woman's character. He ignored most everything on the screen other than the woman's name: Lilinthia. The man smirked as he crouched down next to the woman's sleeping figure. Slowly he ran a calloused finger along the Lilinthia's cheek, causing her to shudder and shift in her sleep. The man was amused when she pulled away from his touch rather than moving into it. Most would move into his touch when they were asleep since his body ran at a much higher temperature than normal and they were normally cold at night. He would sometimes use this as a way of tormenting his victims later when they would run from him, taunting them about the fact that they had originally craved his warmth. Reaching out the man gently rested a few fingers atop Lilinthia's head and focused his power there, forcing himself into her mind. When he entered he found nothing but darkness and her standing before him, shivering from the cold. Turning himself invisible he reached out and gently lay a hand on Lilinthia's shoulder. The woman immediately jumped away from his touch and turned to face him. He watched as her icy colored eyes scanned her surroundings for the source of the touch. Lilinthia swallowed before speaking, her voice shaking slightly.
"Who's there!" The man chuckled darkly causing the woman to scan her surroundings again as his voice echoed from everywhere.
"Tell me, why do you pull away from my touch?" Lilinthia scowled deeply, her patience already beginning to wear thin.
"I'm not all that fond of being touched if you really must know. Now answer my question: who are you?" The man thought this new information over for a brief moment.
"I'm assuming you simply do not like being touched by those you don't know very well, in that case..." With a simple snap of his fingers several zombie arms appeared from the darkness and grabbed Lilinthia who shrieked in surprise and fear. She struggled and pulled against the grip of the undead, fighting as much as she could as the arms worked on immobilizing her. The man laughed aloud as he watched the woman's reactions as she struggled and tried to fight back. He watched Lilinthia shudder at the sound of his voice as her movements slowly ceased as the hands gripped her even more tightly. The only thing not being held still was her head which she thrashed back and forth vigorously. The man approached her quietly now and gripped her chin within his fingers, ceasing the last of her movements. He could easily see the panic in the woman's eyes as she stared exactly where he was even though she couldn't see him. Even though she was terrified at the moment, she still managed to scowl.
"You still haven't answered my question bastard." The man hummed lightly as he tilted the woman's head upwards, forcing her to stretch her neck out as much as she could, He leaned in so he was whispering directly into her ear, his warm breath causing another shiver to run through Lilinthia's body.
"I believe you have a very good idea of who I am, Lilinthia." The man then forcefully dragged her out of her dream, teleporting out of her shelter before she was fully awake. He waited just outside of her door and heard her gasp as she came fully back to consciousness. Inside of the shelter Lilinthia had sat up and pulled her knees up to her chest as she panted. The dream had been so vivid, and as someone who often didn't remember her dreams, that in itself scared her. The disembodied voice which had echoed from everywhere around her in the darkness, and the grasping hands of rotting flesh which had immobilized her had all felt so real she was surprised that there were no bruises forming on her skin. Lilinthia shook her head slightly.
"What the hell was all that?" Outside of the shelter the man smirked.
'Come now girl, you know fully well what that was, and who I am.' The man thought to himself. Inside the shelter he could hear the girl shifting around as she stood and began to pace slightly. Patiently he waited to hear his name pass through Lilinthia's lips.
"I'm assuming that the voice I was hearing came from whoever, or whatever, brought me here. It said that I knew who it was, and it sounded male. No matter how I try to rationalize this, the only name I can come up with, is Herobrine." That was what the man had been waiting for. Her banged the woman's door open, partially ripping it off of it's hinges. Lilinthia screamed as she pushed herself up against the wall opposite the door. Herobrine remained hidden out of sight, waiting to see what the woman would do next. After a moment of panicked breathing he heard Lilinthia's breaths settle and she began taking cautious steps closer to the door. When she reached it she examined the door briefly to see if it was salvageable. Since the crafting recipe created three doors she knew she had spares, one of which she was going to need. Earlier she had placed the wooden sword she had found in the bag next to her and she had grabbed it on her way to the door. Hesitantly Lilinthia stepped out of her shelter and Herobrine rolled his eyes. Her hold on the sword was too stiff and it was obvious that she had no idea how to properly use a sword. Once Lilinthia had stepped completely out of her shelter Herobrine made his move. He darted behind the woman, using one of his arms to trap both of hers behind her and against him while his other held his pick up against her throat. He took such delight in her trembling and shortened breaths, although he was surprised that she wasn't struggling much.
"You called?" He purred into her ear, eliciting a shudder from Lilinthia as she felt his breath ghost across her ear. She attempted to hide her fear as she responded.
"I don't recall calling you, nor asking to be brought into this game." Herobrine chuckled and tightened his grip on her arms.
"But you did call me, when you said my name. As for being brought into my game, well that was entirely my decision." Lilinthia scowled in response to Herobrine's answer.
"Why me?" Herobrine hummed lightly as he considered how to answer Lilinthia.
"How about we make a deal my dear?" Lilinthia frowned as she shifted slightly, her arms becoming a bit more uncomfortable in their held position.
"What sort of deal?" Herobrine flipped the woman around, pining her up against her own shelter and allowing her to get a decent look at him. He heard her breath hitch as she took in his features.
"If you manage to survive for one week, I'll give you some information as to why I chose you." Lilinthia considered what he was saying.
"That sounds too simple coming from you." Herobrine grinned darkly as he applied a bit more pressure against the woman.
"Oh believe me, I will be making this as difficult for you as I can my dear. However your smart, smarter than most others I have brought into the game, so you might just survive after all." Lilinthia sighed as she bowed her head slightly.
"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Herobrine shook his head slightly.
"No, you most certainly do not." Lilinthia raised her head and stared the demon in front of her directly in the eyes.
"Very well, I accept. I'll figure out a way to survive for a week." Herobrine laughed as he took a step away from the woman.
"I look forwards to seeing what you do my dear. In fact, I'm going to give you one final gift." In his hand he summoned a miniature version of a bed and tossed it at Lilinthia. "I truly do wish to see what you can accomplish, but that will be difficult to do if you don't have any proper rest, so rest up my dear." With that Herobrine vanished, leaving Lilinthia alone and staring out into the dark forest. She collapsed to her knees from the shock of actually surviving such an encounter with what she had thought was a fictional character. An absolutely terrifying fictional character. After a moment she heard a familiar rattle of bones and just barely managed to knock herself out of her daze to avoid the arrow shot at her by a skeleton archer. Darting back into her shelter she quickly replaced the door before considering what to do next. Her body was currently wide awake thanks to Herobrine's visit and so she decided to start working on expanding her shelter into the hill. Stepping over to the crafting table she crafted herself some stone tools to work with. Slowly she began digging into the hill side, gaining a few seeds in the process from the few bits of grass which were there. Lilinthia continued to steadily work. She managed to gain a couple stacks of stone, a bit of coal, and had even found a small pocket of iron. She set about smelting the iron and building a chest from the wood she had leftover so she could store the stone she had just dug up. She lit a couple more torches and placed them where she had dug out to prevent any monsters from spawning. By now the adrenaline had left her body and exhaustion was ready to take over. With a yawn she placed down the bed Herobrine had given her and then hesitated. Unlike the normal beds which had red sheets when crafted, this one had black sheets, and the frame was made out of a sturdy iron. Despite how tired she was, she honestly couldn't bring herself to lay down in the bed. Lilinthia walked over to the other side and slid down in the corner, curling in on herself to preserve warmth before falling asleep.
Herobrine knew that Lilinthia wouldn't be capable of going immediately back to sleep after her encounter with him and so he stayed nearby to watch her. He saw the skeleton shoot at her and her panicked retreat into her pathetic little shelter. He was surprised when several minutes later he began to hear her working away at the stone within her shelter. Curious he teleported into the shelter and watched her, remaining invisible to her. He began to see what she was doing which was expanding her shelter. He watched her discover some coal and iron which she immediately set about smelting. He began grinning again when she placed down the bed he had given her, it was a special bed, one which would restrain her if he so wished while she was in it. His grin turned into a frown when he saw her hesitate to sleep in the bed, and his frown became a scowl when she made her way to the other side of the room to sleep in the corner. He waited patiently for her to fall asleep before making himself visible once more. His anger was beginning to grow and he wanted to hurt her then and there. However he had made a bet with what he would very loosely consider family to him, another digital entity who also could pull victims into their game. They had a bet going as to who could go the longest without killing a victim while they were in game. Herobrine had of course accepted the challenge and he refused to lose. With a sigh he waited for awhile for the woman before him to slip into a deeper sleep. While he waited he stepped over to the bed and pulled the covers back, preparing it for the woman. Slipping out from beneath the mattress came thick iron coils, searching for anything to grab onto. Herobrine turned back towards the woman and listened to her heartbeat and her breathing. She had quickly slipped back into a deep sleep and he now approached her and picked her up. Gently he set her down into the bed and watched as the iron coils quickly found and latched onto her wrists. Herobrine's dark grin returned as he pulled the covers up over Lilinthia. He was determined to win this bet, and they had never said anything about helping the potential victim survive. With a slight nod of satisfaction to himself Herobrine vanished back into the Nether where his own place of residence was.