[[AUTHOR'S NOTE:: This is a complete overhaul and rewrite of my story "Living with an Enderman"

After reading through it again, I can't stand it anymore. It's badly written, clunky, rushed, and the setting isn't clear. So I am coming back to it and completely redoing it from scratch! Once I am about halfway through this one, enough time to give people a chance to favorite and follow this one instead of that one; I will delete the old version!

I am going to take much greater attention to detail and describe emotion and setting much, much better. I want to immerse the reader into the story. I've also done further fleshing out on the personalities of the main characters, as well as put more detail into my theories on Endermen. Some parts will be edited out completely, and other parts rehashed to make them more clear and improve the general flow of the story.

The general story line will be the same. If you have not read the previous version, ignore it. It will be gone soon. Follow this version because it will be way, way better. If you HAVE read the previous version, I say give this version a go as well. I think you will enjoy it, and there will be enough changes made to make it still interesting!

Notes on the Setting:: No, this is not set in a Minecraft setting. The setting is actually more low-fantasy. There are some references to magic, but magic is a bit rare and not often used, especially not by humans. There are some references to the minecraft world, obviously, which you will see as the story progresses. I use my own personal theories on Endermen. If you have not read them already, I suggest you do; you can find it on this fanfiction account.

Note that my theories on Endermen may not line up with your theories. If our theories are different, please don't crawl up my rear end about it.

Rated M for swearing, violence, and adult situations. ::Note that there are a few sexual scenes in this story, BUT they are skimmed over and not detailed! I may eventually post an 18+ version on my fA.

Without further ado, enjoy! ]]

Thock Thock Thock. The hollow sound of an axe hitting wood rang through the forest. The animals, though, were used to this sound, for it had been frequent of late.

Crack. Creek. Groan. Crash! These sounds had birds taking off in flight; for the tree's trunk had been severed to the point where it had collapsed under its own weight and now lay on the ground in a mess of sticks, leaves, and axe-hewn wood fragments.

Axe in hand and sweat on his brow, a man, appearing to be in his mid to late twenty's, was hard at work. He was reasonably well muscled, with shoulder-length black hair, and a black goatee. His eyes were a nice shade of blue, striking in his sun-tanned face. He was reasonably handsome, with the rugged features of a hard-working outdoorsman. He wore simple clothing, a tattered tan shirt, and dark brown pants, covered by worn chainmail. He knew it would make his work considerably harder, but there were dangers in the forest and it would protect him from the claws of predators.

He paused, wiping the sweat from his brow with a cloth, before getting back to work. It was getting late, but he was in the zone, as it were.

The lengthening of his shadow and the changing of the light, though, alerted the man of the late hour. He ran the cloth through his damp black hair, and leaned back on one of the trees yet to be cut down.

He watched the horizon where the sun was nearly set. He was exhausted, but looking back at his work he was quite satisfied. He'd cut down several trees, and pulled several stumps; revealing dark, fertile dirt ready to be worked and planted for future crops.

This, though, meant he would need to head to the village to purchase seeds. The town wasn't too far off. About five miles away. A long way by foot, but Evan did not have a horse. But there was no going to the village today. The sun had nearly set, and the Dyre Beasts roamed the land.

Dyre Beasts were not like normal beasts. They were bigger, more dangerous, fiercer, and roamed at night. There were Dyre Wolves, the size of small horses, great saber-fanged forest cats, and bears as large as elephants. Not to mention the massive spiders that roamed the land; arachnids so large they could eat a man his size as if he was a fly. Fortunately, they did not spin webs, and they were not overly venomous. But with their speed, and great size, they didn't need to weave traps or poison their prey to catch it.

That was not the only danger about; the Undead were said to rise from the ground as the sun set. It was fortunate they could not exist by day and would burn away if they did not seek shelter. Nobody knew where they all came from. But it was a general rule of thumb to stay indoors at night. Night was when the monsters prowled.

The village was safe, tucked away in a valley and surrounded by tall mountains like a great fortress wall. Bandits and Raiders never came this far; and Dyre Beasts aside it was a very safe location. Surrounded by pristine wilderness and thick forest, the village was very hard to find unless one was directly searching for it. Evan had grown up there, in the Village; so he was very familiar with it. But he had decided to go to his great grandfather's house and survive out in the woods on his own. The house had been abandoned for nearly two generations, and was in generally bad repair, but he had decided to fix it up to the best of his ability. It had a good foundation and had been well built. He had his work cut out for him, but he enjoyed it.

That didn't stop him from going to the village to buy and sell meat, hides, and supplies on occasion. He had friends there. All in all, he'd been pretty successful since he had started his new life in the wilds.

"Might as well be getting inside." Evan murmured to himself. "It's getting late."

His steps crunched through the underbrush as he made his way back to his home. But another sound came to his ears. It was oddly staticy; almost coo-ing in its quality. And it sent a feeling of ice shooting up and down Evan's spine. He had encountered one of the shadowy monsters once in his life, and he had nasty scars on his side and shoulder to prove it. He had barely survived the encounter. Honestly, he didn't know how he had. He'd woken, on the ground, weak and hurt, but alive; with the shadowy creature nowhere near.

Instinctively, he turned to look in the direction the sound came from. And he instantly regretted it. Staring back at him was a pair of glowing, purple eyes and a tall, thin black frame. It was surrounded by odd, glowing purple particles that appeared, floated around like motes of dust caught in a beam of sunlight, and disappeared constantly. The creature's posture changed the instant their eyes met, going into a partial crouch as its eyes went wide and its mouth opened wider then any human mouth could open. Its glowing tongue and throat made those long, sharp, needle-like teeth all the more visible and frightening. Evan felt frozen to the spot.

The distorted, staticy growl he heard next made him feel cold all over as his skin prickled with goosebumps. He trembled as the growl rose, becoming an unearthly howl. It seemed to come from every direction at once. The creature's entire frame quivered as it emitted its terrifying howl. The red light of the setting sun reflected off of long, razor sharp claws.

Evan staggered back a step, but tripped over a stick. He had to break his gaze with the creature to regain his balance and avoid falling to the ground.

Vwoomp! The creature was gone. His blood ran cold as he looked all around, trying to locate the monster once again. His sword was drawn, held in shaking hands. But there was no sign of it; not anymore. He expected an attack, another teleport, and razor sharp claws lashing out at him at any moment. But there was nothing.

He backed warily towards his house, his hand feeling behind him for the doorknob. His entire body buzzing with adrenaline, he felt more awake, more alert, and more alive then he ever had before. Every second felt like ten as his ears were filled with the rapid beating of his own heart. It felt like a lifetime before is fingertips finally encountered the rough wood of his door and the cool iron knob. He slipped inside his house quickly, slamming the door behind him, before leaning back against it with a shaky sigh.

Evan's breath trembled in fear as he held his chest and tried to slow his rapidly beating heart and calm himself enough to move.

That had been entirely too close. An Enderman... this close to his house? This did not bode well for him. He would have to be more careful. He didn't know much about the shadowy creatures. They were said to have come from a mysterious place known as "The End";called so because it was said to be the very last realm between the Underrealms and the Void. They were known for their deadly strength, power, and speed. Not to mention their ability to teleport from place to place. Their tough, thick skin made them difficult to damage.

Finally, the human found the strength to move. He removed his chainmail, followed by his sweaty clothes, and went to clean himself in the washbasin with water heated over a coal furnace. He mined the coal himself. The warm water felt soothing on his sore muscles as he sank into it with a long, contented sigh. He soaked himself until he water started to get cold. Putting on his nightclothes, he flopped on his bed with an exhausted sigh.

As he lay in bed trying to find sleep for the night, he wondered... why hadn't the creature attacked him? It had made that sound, but it hadn't attacked. It'd just teleported away. Had he gotten inside before it could attack him? Had it just decided he wasn't worth the effort? He didn't know. And his naturally curious mind mulled over the encounter time and time again until he finally fell into a fitful sleep.

Morning came as normal as every other morning. A light breakfast of dried meat, milk, and fried eggs followed by his usual morning chores. First up was to feed the chickens and gather their eggs. Then milk the cow and store the milk in the Coldroom in the cellar. Even without ice, the room was always cold; clearly enchanted. He figured his great grandfather had paid a magic-worker to put an enchantment on it; because stuff lasted a lot longer and stayed nice and cold. It was nice not to have to go high in the mountains and haul down ice to keep the room cold.

All of this done, he gathered up the furs he wanted to sell and a small satchel of coins and started his long trek to the village. He pulled a cart behind him, with some effort. The trip was long and exhausting; but he made it in about two and a half hours with a few stops to drink from his waterskin and rest. He would have moved much faster without his burden.

"I really need a horse." Evan said to himself as the village finally came into sight.

First order of business; go to the Trader's shop. Evan was greeted by Dan, the trader, as the bell above the door rang to announce his arrival. Dan was a generally good-natured and friendly middle-aged man; a little portly with graying hair and laughter lines around his eyes and mouth.

"'Ey, Evan!" He greeted with a wave of his hand. "What brings you here today?"

"Have some prepared furs to sell." Evan said. "And I wanted to buy some seeds."

"Decided to grow your own crops, hm?" Dan questioned in a friendly tone.

"Another step closer to holding my own out there in the wilds." Evan said.

"Why not just move back to the village? Wouldn't it be easier?" Dan asked.

Evan shrugged. "Yeah, it would, but I like it out there at my great grandfather's place. It's peaceful, you know. Step out your door and all there is, is wilderness as far as the eye can see. It's hard work surviving out there, but I don't mind."

"You got more balls then I do, that's for sure." Dan laughed. Evan laughed as well.

"If you say so. Hey, Leanna around?" The Woodsman questioned.

"Yup, she's in the back room organizing supplies, so we know what to put on the floor next." Dan said. "I'll tell her you said hi. Anyway, what do you have to sell?"

"A few hides. Tanned them and prepared them myself, so they are ready for you to sell. Managed to take down a Dyre Bear with my bow. Let me tell you it was not easy." He lead Dan out to his cart.

"Dyre Bear hides are really hard to get, you should be able to get a good bit of money out of it. And that's being honest with you." Dan said, as he inspected the furs. He stretched out the Dyre Bear hide; which was huge, and whistled to himself. "Ya know, I could do a straight up trade with you."

"Oh?" Evan questioned.

"All of these furs, and the Dyre Bear hide, for one of my mules, and the remainder of the value in coins?" Dan questioned, as he crunched numbers in his mind.

Evan thought it over for a moment. "I was intending on using some of the coin I gained today to save up for a mule." He said. "But this works out even better. Yeah, it's a deal." he said. The two men shook on it, before the transaction was made. A small handful of silver coins and a couple gold coins were added to his satchel, before he paid for the seeds.

As he turned to leave, he turned back to the Trader. "Hey, just thought I'd warn you; I don't think it will come near the village; but I encountered an Enderman last night. I don't know if it's here to stay or just passing by but you might want to be careful."

"Enderman, eh? Been a while since I've heard of one of those around here." He said. "You look like you're in one piece, so there's that." Dan chuckled a bit.

"I was fortunate that it just ran off and I was close enough to get into my house quickly." Evan commented. "But I will never forget the beast's howl."

"The sounds they make are downright creepy." The Trader agreed. "Never seen one myself, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"I'll try to avoid encountering it again." Evan said. "Anyway, good day to you. I must head back home and get the last of the stumps pulled and these seeds planted before it gets too late."

"Allright then." Dan nodded. "See you later." He waved his hand as Evan harnessed his new mule to the cart, and lead it back to his house.

He got the rest of the stumps pulled. Getting the trees moved out of the way was much faster and easier with the mule. The beast was well trained, young, and strong. He made good time, and was even able to till the soil, and start working on a fence to keep wild beasts out of his garden. The sun had nearly set when he reluctantly stopped working and headed back to his house.

Much to his relief, he did not encounter the Enderman again that day.

Or the next day.

In fact, several days passed without incident. He finished the fence, dug a trench from the stream to direct the water to the crops, built a floodgate to control the flow of water so as not to overwater them, and built a pen for the mule, which he had named Jack. He still hadn't forgotten his encounter with the Enderman, but it was far from his mind with his daily chores.