The Nether's Child part 1

If Twilight was being completely honest, she didn't know when she first got to her former home.

It was all just sort of a blurry mess of memories that meshed into one sort of blob of incoherent thoughts. She knew that she had been young… four, maybe? The girl also knew that it all had happened on her own accord. The memories of the events of the day before she was home still rang fresh in her mind, as if it had happened only the day before. It was the only thing she could remember before her life with her Father began.

But as she walked through the forest that had become like a new home for her, she couldn't help but wonder what it had been like. She was always moving from place to place. After all, she couldn't have her Father finding her. While she wanted to go home, to the lava and nether stone brick fortress that she knew like the back of her hand, she felt that she would miss the surface even more. The way the sun breached through the tree branches, the running water which would just vanish in the Nether, the cool breeze. It was all just so… perfect.

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Brilliant blue eyes shone like sapphires in the daylight, short bark brown hair waved through the air slightly in a loose braid. Laughter filled the brisk, clean air. A small village was close by, with a vast desert slowly approaching from the west. Everyone knew everyone in that small town, children of all ages ran around free. A large hill that seemed to be fifty blocks tall stood alone to the north. There were very few rules in the community: no stealing, be respectful, don't venture out at night, and never under any circumstances climb the hill or explore the approaching desert.

Both places held stories used to frighten young ones into obeying the law. It was said that if someone went into the desert they became infected with some sort of virus. At first it would be like the person had a fever, but as their health began to deteriorate the fever became worse. The person would start hallucinating; rashes would appear on the skin wherever the sand had touched them. Soon the subject would fall into a coma, and die soon after. As for the hill, the story was much simpler. People would go up the hill, and they would never be seen again.

For the most part, the stories had kept the young ones away from both places. No one would go anywhere near the desert with a ten foot pole. The descriptions of the illness scaring them off without any issue. The hill however, remained a mystery. As such it had become a common dare amongst the children to climb the hill all the way to the top and come back to report what was up there. Most children never made it past the first four blocks. Even fewer would make it past nine blocks, and none of them had ever gone past eleven blocks high. Fearing what would happen if they did.

She had been close friends with a young boy. He had lighter, almost chocolate colored brown hair and eyes that were the exact same shade. As for his name… she would never be able to remember it. The girl had tried many times, but it never came to her. So she tried not to dwell on it when she thought about him. After all, he was probably dead; the place that had been her home before she found her true place at Father's side had been destroyed by the sands. Father had told her that years ago. But she was getting ahead of herself.

They had been playing nearby the hill when he suggested it. His exact words had been "I dare you to climb the hill. I bet you can't do it." He had a childish expression on his face, one of glee and endearment. She loved to remember that face, when it came to her mind to do so, it made her smile and feel like everything would be alright. Maybe when she was younger she had a crush on him, but it didn't matter in the long run.

In response she had stuck out her tongue with a stubborn reply of "I bet you I can." The two had gone back and forth like that for a few minutes. She had been the first to break "I bet I can do it, and I'll even prove it too you!" With that she had gone running to the hill, dragging the boy behind her by the arm. A determined look on her face as she stopped at the bottom and told him to "wait here for me." He did as he was told, a pout on his face, clearly not looking forward to having to watch her. She liked remembering that face as well, it made her laugh. He obviously thought she was going to fail. She would prove him wrong, she swore she would.

The first couple blocks had been a piece of cake. Sure her clothes were getting muddy, but they weren't anything special, just a pair of blue jeans and a ragged black shirt. She had rocketed past the first four blocks with the skill of an advanced climber; she guessed she had climbed a lot while she was in that small town. Where she had climbed, she had no clue. The next five blocks were simple enough; she had to hop and jump to get past some parts were the dirt was stacked two blocks high. When she got to block eleven, she turned back to the boy who seemed impressed. More than impressed, actually, stunned seemed to be the better word for it, his jaw had dropped slightly and his eyes were wide.

With a smirk, she continued upward, becoming the first person in the village's recent history to go past block eleven. Leaping and bounding past block thirteen before things got a little more challenging, but it was still child's play to her. Her conscious had been telling her to turn back once she got past block fifth teen, and by the time she got past block twenty it was practically screaming at her. But, of course, she had to ignore it. She had to be an idiot and disregard her common sense like every other person in the world. In determination to be the first person to the top and back it had been pushed aside foolishly. After all, she was almost there. Just a few more blocks and she would she what was at the top.

A smile played onto her face as she thought of what her friend would think of her once she went back down to him and told him what was at the top. Needless to say, what she found had been… underwhelming. What she had been expecting was some sort of cave with some sort of mob inside it that was had to run from. But, as she climbed the final block she saw a simple obsidian structure. Rectangular in shape, made of ten blocks of the rare, hard, black material. Carefully she walked up to it, inspecting it with curious eyes. At the time, she had no clue what the peculiar structure was. It wasn't until her Father had told her it was called a portal that she somewhat understood what had happened to her next.

It was like magic when it happened. The structure glowed white for a second, temporarily blinding her, before it faded. The empty hole that had been there was filled with a strange swirling purple thing. It looked like some sort of liquid to her, and when she went to touch it, her hand went straight through, past the purple, and could be seen on the other side of the stuff. The stuff itself didn't really feel like anything she had touched before. It was all sort of tingling and made her arm itch. At the same time, it coated her arm the same way water in a river would, wrapping around it before continuing on its swirling path.

At that moment her conscious was going into a frenzy. It was telling her to get away and go back down the hill and never to come back. How could she do that though? She didn't know what this thing was. Wouldn't it be great if she could tell the boy exactly what it was that they were being told to stay away from? Besides, she would only get into trouble if she went back down the hill. She had broken one of the laws. Wouldn't she be thrown into the town's equivalents of jail? No. It would be better if she found out what it was everyone was so afraid of, wouldn't it? Surely, it couldn't be that bad.

So, she stepped onto the lowest obsidian block. The purple stuff swirling around her, making her entire body tingle and itch. It wasn't long before she felt like sick, her vision swirling the same way the stuff was. She had closed her eyes and tried taking deep breaths. Whatever was happening felt really weird. She didn't like it. It made her tummy churn and her head ache.

Then, it just stopped. There was no rhythm or reason behind it; it just stopped. She opened her eyes only to see dark magenta-ish bricks around her. It was hot, much warmer than a desert or the heat of a lava pool. The air was thick and it was sort of hard to breath. It made her head feel foggy and her vision swim again. Looking up, there was a pure white face with red eyes looking down at her. She would soon learn to call that face Father because that was what he was. He had raised her. So why wouldn't she call him Father.

As the years would gone by Father would teach her many things. She was told she was lucky that he had found her, if he hadn't a blaze or ghast would have and she would have been dead. She was also told that she was lucky she was so young. It went against his "merciful" nature to kill a child her age for the simple reason that she couldn't fight back. She wouldn't have been able to run away or put up any fight, it took the fun out of it, he had said. Father was always wearing black and gray clothes; it made him seem scary at first. When she woke up in a small room with only a bed and a locked iron door, she would dread his rare visits.

The people who had guarded her were nice. They held golden swords, and they didn't look very pleasant, but they were friendly. She had called one of them Gavin and the other one Michael. After all, calling them things and it didn't seem very pleasant. It removed the idea that they had a conscious of their own, which they did. Michael seemed like the smarter and more competent of the two, as Gavin would always run away from oncoming threats and seemingly look for comfort/protection from the other. Sure the room was small and cell-like but the two guards always made her feel a little happier. Watching the two interact was an entertaining sight.

After a year or so, she had been given a room of her own that wasn't so much like a prison cell. She had a bed, a dresser loaded with clothes and other things to keep her entertained were scattered about the room. Bookshelves loaded with scrolls she couldn't read and thick textbook sized books, paper and pencils. She still wasn't allowed outside her room -she still had Gavin and Michael guarding her, as well- unless Father couldn't go to her room and see her. In which case, Gavin and Michael would bring her to him, but she didn't mind too much. She had grown used to their company, just like she got used to the sweltering heat of the realm, and the odd consistency of the air, and they seemed to enjoy being around her. She never had to worry about blazes or ghasts because they would keep them at bay. By they, she of course meant Michael, Gavin would fall back and stay at her side to let the other handle it. It was comical. And slowly, Father's visits became more frequent, and she grew to love him…in a way.

He would come in and give her lessons. Teaching her about the place she was, which he had called the Nether, and about her new place in the realm. Father was practically the king, second only to a man named Herobrine. However, Father was the King of Mobs and that made her both the Princess of Mobs and a Princess of the Nether, if she wanted to see herself that way. But she never did, refusing the formal tittles, saying she didn't see herself as anything other than the child she was. She was also the only child in the realm, while others of her kind had come into the realm, Father always caught them and "took good care of them." At night, she would sometimes hear screams of agony echoing through the fortress, her home, but she always ignored them. Never truly understanding where they were coming from and what they were until she many months after leaving the fortress.

He also helped her learn how to speak Michael and Gavin's language so she could have full-fledged conversations with them. They could always understand her when she spoke Minecraftian, but she could never understand what they said back. Within a month and a half she was fluent in their language. She would laugh when Gavin called himself and Michael Team Nice Dynamite, which would follow with Michael giving him a push into the wall and a laugh from both of them. He would teach her how to think before speaking and never to let any personal information slip in a conversation. Saying that she could never be too sure what the persons intentions were. He also had gathered the leaders of each mob group and told them to tell their subjects that if they ever saw her to leave her be. That if she should be harmed by any one of them that they would be punished.

When she was about eight Father had given her a gift. He changed her appearance from that of a cerulean eyed, brown haired surface dweller, to that of a lava orange eyed, ghast white haired Nether dweller. Instead of her jeans, t shirt and sneakers, she was given a black ball gown type dress with red trim, black stockings and black maryjanes. He had also given her a necklace, a silver chain with an onix pendent shaped like a key with a diamond embedded in the rounded end closest to the chain. On her arm was a jet black tattoo that stood against pale white skin, it crisscrossed around the area near her elbow in an intricate fashion forming small star and cross designs as it weaved around the area. It ended up being a half of an inch thick when it had finished winding around her arm. He told her with a simple touch she could return to former surface form if she so desired.

She had thanked Father profusely for the gift and never changed back. It made her look like she belonged in the Nether, with the lava, nether rack and flames. With it, she seemed to blend in and have a place in her home. Like she was truly being accepted into it for the first time. Michael and Gavin loved the change in her look as well, and Father was pleased with it. So what reason did she have to change back? The simple answer, she had none.

It was when she was fourteen that Father began to warn her about the Heroes of Minecraftia and the surface world above. He told her that they were out to kill him, and that they would kill her too if they got the chance. He told her how they killed mobs ruthlessly and would not hesitate to do the same to her. He showed her what had become of the zombies, spiders and creepers that had gotten slaughtered by them. Heads cut off, torsos torn in two, limbs cut off, gray matter leaking out of the skull from a punctured brain, ribs broken and lungs pierced as result of it. It was horrific, and almost made her vomit from the mere sight of it all.

The surface was not safe, he had told her. If anyone from there saw her they would kill her. They didn't know what mercy was. They only knew how to kill. They would not think for a second that they were killing someone's child, a young girl or boy. He showed her the Survival Games that they played, showing they killed each other for sport only to be brought back once the game was done to do it again if they so pleased. He showed her how when they played a simple game of hide and seek they would use swords, bows and armor to kill the hiders only for them to be brought back as seekers. It was revolting, and so she swore never to go back to the surface. She would remain with her Father, Gavin and Michael where it was safe. Where she didn't have to worry about Survival Games or deadly games of hide and seek.

When she was fifth teen, the fortress had been infiltrated by the Heroes… at least that was what Gavin had told her as he dragged her through the halls by the hand. Michael was following close behind them, sword drawn, making sure nothing would attack her from behind. The blazes and ghasts had given up on her long ago, Michael was keeping her safe from the Heroes. Swearing that if they so much as touched her they would be dead. Gavin made the same promise to her as well. A small bag was on her back that had her surface clothing. They had told her to bring it along, just in case they had to send her to the world above if they couldn't make it to another fortress.

She had been terrified. The fortress had been what she had always known, she didn't want to leave. The idea that the Heroes had arrived made her feel sick to the stomach. What if her friends turned into victims of their brutal massacres? What if they found her? They would kill her, that much was obvious, but would they really not hesitate in the slightest. She was a Minecraftian, right? That was what Father had said she was before he told her that she was his child.

The three came across a portal before they left the fortress and her friends lite it quickly. Insisting that she leave through it. It may not be safer, but they would come back for her as soon as it was safe. Her eyes had grown wide and she tried to refuse, saying everything that could go wrong with their plan. But they shoved her into the purple swirls of the portal and yelled at her to tap the tattoo that she never covered up. She did as she was told, but she never got to see if it actually worked before the portal whisked her away to the surface.

When she reappeared she was in a forest, the sun was bright and the weather was cool. She shivered, wrapping her around herself while shouldering the bag. That was when she saw her hair, it was brown once again. If she could see her eyes, they would be the brilliant blue they once had been. It had worked; she had changed back to how she used to look before Father's gift. Quickly, she fled from the portal, into the woods, not caring she didn't know her way around or that she was tripping over her gown. She had to get away from that portal. Michael and Gavin would be able to find her if she stayed close enough to it. At least, that was what she hoped.

Once she deemed herself far enough away, but close enough for her friends to find her she placed the bag on the ground. Looking around for anyone, she decided no one was there. She could change into her surface clothes without anyone looking or killing her. The end of that thought made her heart clench in fear. She didn't want to die. Not now when she was still young. Stuffing her gown into the bag and pulling on the black long sleeved shirt, she debated what to do with it. Odds were she would never need it ever again. She had kept the necklace on, it was precious to her, but the clothes… with a shrug she shouldered the bag once again went closer to the portal to wait for her friends to get her. She didn't want to stay here longer than she had too.

They never did come back for her. She can only guess they died. Tears were shed, and she mourned the loss of her two closest friends. Team Nice Dynamite was no more and she would never get to hear the two joke around with each other again. She would never know if it was safe for her to return home, or what had become of the place. She couldn't risk going back, but she couldn't risk staying on the surface. So her only option was to wonder and hope she would never encounter anyone.

It would be a lonely existence, but Twilight was no stranger too being alone.

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Thus begins the first half of my first Minecraft story. There are only two parts, and the other half is done, I had originally planned it to be one chapter. Than I realised it would take forever for people to read. So I split it into two. The next half will be up tomarrow. ^^

I was going for a Shadow of Israphel type feel because of who "Father" is. By the end of the story, it should be pretty obvious who he is. I included things like the Hunger/Survival Games for the simple reason of, if you were going to show a child a reason not to go back to the surface and prove to them that he/she would be killed if they did, what would you show them? The Hunger/Survival Games just seemed like the perfect choice.

This plot idea is one I've had in mind for months now. And I haven't seen anyone do it before. Don't get me wrong! I'm sure there are loads of them. I've just never seen them personally. For a while, I couldn't figure out how to write it. So when I managed to figure out the first few paragraphs one night, I just went off and couldn't stop. After three school days I finally finished it and edited it once. Since I'm my own editer, there are bound to be loads of mistakes, so if you find one, please let me know.

I'll see you guys tomarrow,

Ember

Disclaimer: Team Nice Dynamite belongs to Gavin and Michael from Rooster Teeth, "Father" (not saying is name until next chapter, besides, it should be obvious) belongs to the Yogscast, Gavin and Michael belong to themselves.