A pickaxe broke through yet another block of stone. The agitated miner, still reminiscing over the day's events, silently cursed under his breath. The golden clock he pulled out of his tote bag said it was getting dark.
Grunting with displeasure, he lifted up his hefty iron pickaxe from the stone block it was now embedded in. Putting it in his tote bag, he quickly broke into a sprint, trying to beat the night. Hopefully supper's still warm,
he thought with a dry smile. As he neared the surface, he began to hear menacing groans from above. A zombie, one of the many hostile specimens inhabiting this dark world, turned to see the miner with keen night vision.
The zombie had him trapped. He had no weapons; he was only a simple man of the trade. At this rate, the zombie would just chase him back into the cave he had wanted so eagerly to escape. The old iron pickaxe will have to do, he thought. He poised the pickaxe directly beside the monster's head, and swung full-tilt. The pickaxe had never sunk into flesh before; it was hardened by the steel and the stone it mined so profoundly during its lifespan. It plunged into the flesh like a hot knife would plunge into butter. The miner stood back for a moment, taken by surprise how effective this mining tool was for the violent purpose of killing. He cursed himself yet again for wasting these precious seconds staring at this corpse like an vulture would scavenge prey. It disgusted him, the thought of taking lives, even the undead. Removing the now blood-coated pickaxe from the zombie's cranium, he cast it aside with hatred, hating the sight of blood. "I'm not a murderer", he said aloud, having more to to think about than ever for the days to come. He sprinted the rest of the way, not stopping until he was safe in his home. He shut the piston doors just as an arrow sunk into the wood behind him. There were two other tradesmen sitting about, appearing to be playing a game of chess, with hot leaf tea at the corner of the chess board. There were wolves at their heels, licking at their feet and begging for food. The fireplace was ablaze, almost enough to set the wooden house on fire, yet contained by the glass pane. One of the wolves licked the feet as to provoke laughter from the tradesman on the right. As he smiled and laughed, his eyes fell over onto the miner. His grin immediately gave way to a frown. "Where in the name of Notch have you been,
Jed?" The man said, getting up from his seat. The other tradesman who had not immediately noticed Jed put his tea down and also stood up. "I was just finishing up some mining, Axel," Jed replied. "We thought that the monsters got you for good this time!" The other tradesman who had not spoken yet said. "I'm sorry for worrying you, West," Jed apologized, wincing that he came back at 11:30. The wolves started whining as to warn their masters. Jed, thankful for the wolves to intervene, walked outside to check for intruders. A creeper, another harmful monster that lived here at night, crept slowly and silently towards the house. If the dogs hadn't barked, he probably wouldn't have noticed it. Considering that none of these men were warriors, it was only natural for them to flee the parlour straightaway, as Jed of course had not-so-subtly informed them. They all hid in the "Monster Evacuation Room" as it was called. It was a simple 5x7 block iron room with chests on either side. The chests contained mainly survival items, as they may need, in worst case scenarios, to retire to this room for quite a few days. West pulled out a clock, a simple golden trinket identical to Jed's. " Daylight's in 15 minutes," He said with a smirk, almost with triumph, although dripping with apathy. They had learned,
above all, to stay calm and quite uncaring during these stressful events. Better to be apathetic than to panic, thought Axel. Axel was always the thinker, always the one behind the plans. West and Jed relied on him sparingly, because after all, he was the eldest brother. Yes, the three tradesman were in fact brothers, Axel being the eldest, then Jed, then finally West. If one not knowing that they were related were to visit them, they wouldn't be able to tell. Mentioned before, Axel was the leader and philosopher, dealing with the villagers and paperwork. Jed was much more of a working type, being an expert at logging and mining. West was the farmer, having almost every animal specimen that his biome could handle. Yes, the brothers each lived in different biomes, on the border of each other. Axel, being the most experienced, set up his home in the frozen plains. Jed, being called by the forest's opportunities, moved to the roofed forest. West, enjoying heat and large trees to stay safe from danger, lived in the jungle. If someone was to draw a map of the biomes these brothers live in, Axel would be northernmost, Jed would be southernmost, and ironically, West would be westernmost. There was also a small village, Plainbelle, southeastern of these biomes, where the brothers would do business. The brothers, not being much of explorers, never really searched around the surrounding area. They were perfectly content here. West's talking all interrupted the thought of Axel, who indeed was thinking all this this entire time. "It's daylight, Axel!" "All right," Axel retorted. Axel didn't enjoy his deep thought being interrupted. Eventually, Axel and West left from Jed's home they had been staying in for the night. Along the rails,
the day's sounds were littered with sounds of burning and death. The monsters. Most monsters burn up when exposed to light, Axel thought. He smiled particularly at a skeleton, trying to crawl under a tree for shade while its body was engulfed in flames. Axel considered it retribution, that these evil monsters were dangerous and deserved death. In the middle of some more deep thinking, there was a sudden jolt, and Axel realized that somehow he had been derailed. It didn't take him long to figure out that something had pushed him off track, just when he hit the ground.