The forest was black, the wood smoldered by fire. Ash covered the ground, and out of the burnt earth flowered grass and, well, flowers. New trees were starting to grow, the greenery standing out among the skeletons of the once beautiful flora. Looking out into the west, Rookie could see the sun setting, and she turned to Fido.
"Oh, this is just great! We're going to be out here during the night!" Rookie said angrily, pulling an unlit torch out of her pocket. She wore black jeans and a purple shirt with the symbol of a creeper on it. Her hair was relatively short, only coming down to her shoulders, and she had dark, brown eyes. Over her back were slung to scabbards, each holding an iron sword.
Fido pulled a shiny steel sword out of its scabbard, and scowled. "What gives Kryptid a right to show up out of nowhere and start giving orders?" She wore a sleeveless brown shirt, and her hair was crudely short just below her shoulders. A pale blonde streak stretched down the front of her hair, and under her left eye was a small scar.
"Exactly. And he sends us off to Notch knows where, to look for... What was it again?"
Fido shook her head. "I don't know," she said slowly, utterly confused. Darkness began to surround them, and soon the thickness of night swamped them. As they walked through the forest, the sounds of the monsters followed them every second.
They arrived at the burnt wreckage of what once was a wooden house. Rookie sighed at the sight of it.
"This place is tied to so many memories. It makes me sad," Fido whispered. She turned around quickly, startled by a loud noise behind her. Rookie pulled one of her swords out from its scabbard and jumped over Fido, the sword cutting through a creeper's head. The monster's blood stained the ground where it fell, but while Rookie tried to wipe it of her blade more monsters began to appear in the dark.
"That's a lot more than usual," Fido smiled sadly.
"We're screwed."
Kryptid stood at the top of the tallest watch tower, which towered over the large town that had sprung up beneath the cliffs of the valley, watching the sun set. His robes flapped in the wind, and his hood was blown off of his head. He had olive skin and black, messy hair that covered his eyes. However large shadows were noticeable below his eyes, as if he hadn't slept well in weeks.
Ever since Kryptid arrived back from his journey, the monsters had started to attack in more and more force. Whatever he had seen in the End was having some effect on the creatures of Minecraftia. Especially on the Enderman. Even Kryptid himself had been experiencing visions of sorts, and he was almost sure he knew what the cause of it was.
Rookie and Fido stood back to back, swords darting back and forth, cutting and slicing through the flesh and bones of the undead. Using momentum Rookie launched a zombie into a charred tree, while Fido deflected an arrow into the head of a spider.
"Why did Kryptid even send us?" Fido shouted, over the clash of sword and bone.
"Maybe he wants us out of the picture," Rookie said, only half joking. Grunting, she threw off a zombie which had tried to take a bite out of her, and she crushed its skull.
Smiling a smile that quickly turned to a frown, Fido stabbed into the neck of a creeper, blood splattering onto the surrounding monsters, melting into their flesh.
"Ow!" she shouted. "I hate it when they do that!"
"Yeah," Rookie said. "Even I don't know how that happens." She laughed, trying to keep the atmosphere light, even as she slaughtered another of her kind; the creeper.
Destructo shouted down to Kryptid as the first of the monsters were able to be seen.
"Is everyone ready? Cause this is probably going to be the biggest horde they've ever seen," he shouted.
"Are you sure?" Kryptid shouted back up. He couldn't see Destructo, but he could almost imagine his enormous grin etched across his face. That smile however would be a frown, as he could only imagine the size of the horror they would soon have to fight. Turning to the crowd of people who had been willing to fight, he could see some familiar faces. However most of the crowd were unknown to him, and he wondered what they thought of him.
"Yeah, I can already see it!"
"Great," Kryptid said sarcastically as he turned back to the group.
"Now I know most of you don't know who I am, but know this! I will be down in the midst of those monsters with you, fighting with you!" Kryptid shouted into the crowd. Most of the people became quiet, but some remained talking.
"Will you shut up and listen!" Kryptid shouted down to one person in particular.
"Um, I'm sorry if this comes across as rude but, who the Nether are you, and what rights do you have to tell us what to do?" he asked, obviously perfectly fine with him being rude.
"Have you heard of the defeat Herobrine?" Kryptid asked, smiling.
"Obviously. Who hasn't?"
"Well then surely you've heard of Kryptid?"
"Um, yeah. Where are you going with this?" he asked, confused beyond the point his brain seemed to be capable of handling.
Kryptid teleported into the crowd and grabbed the man by the collar, smiling.
"I'm him."
They were completely surrounded, deflecting blows and killing monsters, but the swarm didn't seem to get any smaller. Fido cut through a baby zombie that had jumped onto Rookie's back while she exploded a skeletons skull off. Picking up its dropped bow, Fido fired her entire supply of arrows into the crowd. She was pulling out her sword when a zombie knocked it out of her hand. Fido scrambled backwards, trying to keep the monsters as far away as possible. As she backed into a corner, Rookie stood in front of her, keeping the monsters from killing Fido.
"I guess this is goodbye," Rookie said as her last sword broke cutting into a zombie's chest.
"This sucks. I mean, we survived Herobrine only to be killed by lowly monsters," Fido said sadly. Rookie was about to reply, but suddenly a deep rumbling filled the night. A flash of lightning struck in the middle of the horde, and in it a figure stood. The figure darted out, glowing with a fierce energy, and cutting down any monsters that stood in its way. The fight was a blur of blood and blade, but soon every last monster was dead, and the figure walked towards them. As he stepped into the light, Fido and Rookie gasped.
"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost," Steve said smiling.
Kryptid agreed with Destructo. This was by far the biggest horde of monsters he had seen in a long time, and certainly the biggest he had ever fought. Looking over the battlements, the monsters could be seen closing in. As they came within range Destructo gave the word, and a shower of arrows rained down upon the monsters. They continued their slow and disorganised march forward. Kryptid turned back around to face his audience.
"Open the gate!" he shouted, and he dropped down to the front of his own personal army. He laughed at that, and smiled when Blue stepped beside him.
"Long time no see," she said, and Kryptid nodded in agreement. Her ocelot Leif sat on her shoulder, but when the gate was wide open it jumped off and retreated over the trees into the village.
"How has everyone been?" Kryptid asked, slowly leading the mass of bodies to the gate.
"Scared. The monsters haven't been this plentiful since the dark days of legends," Blue said ominously. Then she laughed. "Everyone's fine, except for Jibbo. Apparently an 'entity of power' came to him in his sleep. He's been trying to convince everyone, but no one's buying it."
Kryptid laughed, but on the inside he was worried. He had recently began to wonder whether Jibbo was actually crazy, or if he was something else. If he was seeing things in his dreams as well, it may be time to start worrying. Walking out of the gates, Kryptid scanned the horde of monsters.
"I hope this goes better than I'm thinking it will," he said, and Blue nodded in agreement. Addressing the small army he had at his disposal, Kryptid shouted, "Charge!"
And they charged head first into the monsters.
"Why aren't you a zombie anymore, Fido?" Steve asked as he walked with them through the charred forest.
"We found a cure. The most powerful golden apple, a Notch apple," she said, dropping down a small ledge.
"Sounds difficult to make," he laughed, pushing his sword through the head of a spider that had jumped at him.
"It was. Took us forever," Rookie said, looking over her shoulder at the sound of a hiss.
"So, what has been happening in the quant town that we built since, you know."
"You died?" Rookie laughed. She kicked a creeper off a ledge into a small ravine. A quiet hiss was heard when it burst into blood at the bottom.
"Yeah."
"Well, we've built a formidable town with walls almost completely surrounding it. What isn't protected by walls is protracted by the cliffs. It's almost impenetrable," Fido said.
"Is it still just who was alive when I died?" Steve asked as he led the others out of the forest, and into the mountains.
"What do you mean?" Fido asked, confused.
"Has anyone died? Has anyone new shown up?"
"No one's dead. Well, no one you knew," Rookie said slowly.
"Yeah," Fido said, "but plenty of new people have arrived. I mean, it has been a while."
Steve stopped in his tracks.
"How long, HAS it been?" Steve asked loudly.
"Two years."
Kryptid brought his dagger up into the jaw of a zombie, knocking its head right off. He spun in a circle, kicking out the legs of a skeleton and crushing its skull with his foot. Teleporting behind a creeper, he pulled his other dagger out from beneath his cloak and sliced clean through its head.
"Haven't done this for a while!" Jibbo shouted as he made his way through the horde to Kryptid, dodging an arrow that had come from one of the many archers atop the town's wall.
"No, no we haven't," Kryptid said smiling, as he blocked a spider's leap, cutting off most of its legs in the process.
Jibbo pulled his sword out a zombie's belly, and ploughed it into the chest of another. He wore a long tunic which had been dyed pink and purple. His hair was brown, with a tinge of pink where it had once also been dyed that colour, and a glowing wooden shovel was strapped to his back.
A boy stumbled into Kryptid, whose eyes widened as he saw an axe protruding from the boy's chest. As the boy fell to the ground, Jibbo pulled the axe out and flung it into a creeper who was about to explode behind a short girl with red and brown hair and a black leather jacket. The boy fell to the floor, dead, as the girl ran over.
"Kryptid! When did you get back?" she asked as she buried her sword in the head of a zombie.
"Hey Emi. Ah, I got back yesterday," he said as he teleported behind Jibbo, killing a skeleton which had been primed with an arrow, ready to fire it into his head.
She was about to answer, but a creeper led her away. Kryptid kicked a zombie's head in, deflected the sword of a zombie, and plunged his into its head. Arrows collided with monsters around him, and Kryptid teleported up to the shooter of them, Destructo, who stood on the wall of the city.
"See anyone that needs help?" he asked.
"Down there, um, guy with an arrow in his leg," Destructo answered, pointing towards a horde of zombies. Kryptid could barely see a figure spinning in circles, slashing wildly.
Teleporting next to him, Kryptid grabbed one of the zombies by the head, and swung it into several others. Cutting down monster after monster, Kryptid reached the figure quickly and teleported him onto the wall. He was completely coated in blood and grime, but Kryptid didn't wait around for formalities. Without a word, he re-joined the fight.
The valley was covered in blood. The rotting and flaming dead bodies of the undead littered the battlefield, and Steve slowly led Rookie and Fido through the carnage.
"This the usual?" Steve asked, carefully stepping over a dissolving corpse. He covered his nose, gagging at the smell.
"Sort of. This happens every night, but never as big as this. People would have died tonight," Rookie said sadly. She looked down at a creeper, struggling to stand. Her sword ended its life.
Kryptid stood on the wall, looking out for the dead of the people. They deserved a burial, and he wanted to at least try and help. However, he now saw something wonderful.
"Oh you son of a bitch," he said, smiling, as he teleported in front of the trio.
"Steve! You're alive. I hoped as much," Kryptid hugged him, then looked at the others. "Good to see you guys alive, I guess."
"Likewise," Rookie scowled, but she knew it was a joke.
"What do you mean you hoped as much?" Steve asked, intrigued.
"When I was in the End, I heard of a prophecy about someone who was dead coming back to life and really helping out. I assumed it was you. And I hoped it was you."
"Right…" Steve said. He looked out at the wall that stretched the valley, cutting off the town from the rest of the world. "You guys have been busy."
"We'll have to show you around some time. But right now, we need to talk," Kryptid said, frowning. "Now."
Steve walked into the back room of the extravagant town hall. Spread out on a table was a large map detailing the surrounding area, but at the moment it was just for show. Seated around the table were a strange assortment of people, each one ready to pit their thoughts against the others.
Jibbo sat with his feet placed on the table, his eyes closed, and Steve was taken aback by his relatively normality. Instead of his usual pink and purple hair and beard, and his hair was now brown, with no beard to be seen. Kryptid stood in the corner of the room, watching the situation unfold. Rookie had given up trying to talk and waited patiently, her sword held firmly in her hand; and Fido sat to the left of her, in a vicious argument with a skeletal man in a brown robe over who should lead the venture into the Nether that had apparently been planned for several weeks.
"What are you talking about?" Isodion shouted at Fido. "I've lived in the Nether for almost all my life, and you think you're more suitable for this?"
"I died there didn't I? Isn't that more of a qualification then life?" Fido asked, slowly losing the argument.
Kryptid teleported over to Steve, noticing his gaze. "Don't worry about them. The exploration is never going to happen, especially not now."
"Shut up!" Rookie shouted over the noise, bringing everyone to silence. She gestured for Steve to join her, and she addressed the room again.
"This is Steve. Pretty self-explanatory: he's alive again."
Isodion and Jibbo glanced up at Steve's name, and both looked surprised. Blue had noticed him when he walked in, so while she looked surprised, she didn't look as surprised as the others. Steve didn't recognise everyone else, but they must have heard of him, as even they looked surprised. However they pretty quickly went back to what they were doing before Steve had showed up.
Rookie began to introduce everyone to Steve.
"That's Emi," she said, pointing to a girl sitting at the back of the room. "She was the first person to arrive here after you died. She's nice, but… don't get on her bad side."
She then pointed at a dapper looking gentleman towards the front of the room. He wore a strange suit that shimmered various colours, and his hair was black.
"That's Duck. He thinks he's a duck, and he often calls himself the most 'dapper of the ducks'. He's a nutjob."
"And that's June," she continued, this time pointing at a strange looking man that had mushrooms sprouting all over his body. "He can talk to mushrooms. I think. He claims he can. And he does seem to grow mushrooms everywhere he goes."
"Is everyone here crazy?" Steve asked.
"Pretty much."
Hey guys; I'm back with the sequel to Spawned and the second installment in the Steve trilogy - Respawned.
Hope you enjoy!
~ Dark