Alex's P.O.V

It all started when I saw the face in the pond…

It was simply regular day in the life of me, Alex. Except for the fact that I didn't have my base, didn't have my diamonds, my iron, or my - but that's besides the fact. I had just woken up in the forest - the Roofed Forest biome, to be specific. The night before I had spent the darkness inside a red and white mushroom.

A lot of the time I didn't even bother to sleep, but trying to go outside without any armor or anything probably wasn't the greatest idea.

I scowled. How I wished I was back in my mine, or anywhere but here. But there was nothing I could do about that. Everything I owned was gone and it was all his fault. I shook my head - I'd promised myself I wouldn't think about him. Nope. It was time to start the day.

I picked up my bed and crafting table; I always had to be ready to set up a quick base. The one thing I despised most was staying in one place for too long. That would make me become too used to my surroundings, too sure of myself, and then the one moment I'd let my guard down...No. It was better to keep moving.

"Wake up, sleepy-head…" I smiled, petting my pet wolf, Emmy. She'd been with me since the beginning. When I...when I had to "start over", she must've used teleportation she'd acquired after eating my prized Enderpearl. Sure, it was annoying when she did it, but if she hadn't she wouldn't be with me now.

She barked and I wondered what I'd do without her. "That would be one more thing that was his fault," I mentally scolded myself again. Before I did it again, I figured I should better preoccupy myself.

Hey, why don't I go collect some materials? I thought to myself after glancing inside my backpack and noticing I was running low on wood, which was essential for crafting. Of course I was running out - I was starting fresh after all. So, that's exactly what I decided to do.

After looking at a tree to cut down, I grinned. It was Dark-Oak, which was a hassle to cut down, but chopping down just one or two would keep me supplied for a long while. It would be some time before I found myself short on wood again (hopefully).

I was in the middle of hacking down my second Dark-Oak tree when the sound of Emmy barking made me jump. She honestly did that a lot, even if she wasn't barking at anything, but paying attention to her was partly what had kept me alive before. She always knew if something was after me.

"What is it, girl?" I asked, setting down my axe and bending down to face her shining, silver gray fur. "Is there a monster?"

Unfortunately, she didn't give me a single response - not even another bark. Instead, she ran off deeper into the forest, leaving me behind. I didn't like that one bit. Going deeper into that forest was practically suicide...It was so shady from the canopy of Dark-Oak leaves that the monsters wouldn't burn in the daylight! But I didn't want to leave my dog alone, either - no, this was one of the most dangerous biomes, and I didn't want either of us to be separated at all if we didn't have to be.

After a quick breath I grabbed my Stone Axe back and sprinted after her.

Emmy kept stopping every now and then, her ears twitching as if she was hearing something, thankfully, giving me a brief chance to catch up with her as she sped through the trees.

"What is she after?!" I panted, before fearing she was going back to her sheepy-life-taking ways.

Finally, when we had reached a small clearing, I heard it too.

Coming from a small, crystal clear blue pond, someone-something was...was calling my name. "Alexandra... Alexndra..." It sounded like a hundred voices trying to say something all at once.

I winced, chills creeping up my spine with every syllable the voice muttered; it had been a very long time since anyone had called me that. I never told anyone my full name, and I'd been rather solitary the past few years.

Nerves jumping, I tightened my grip on my Stone Axe, and slowly walked closer to the pond. I had to see what was in there, whether it killed me or not.

The whispering stopped. I held my axe so tight my knuckles turned pale white.

Emmy bared her teeth and growled, standing in front of me in a battle stance, ready to lunge at a seconds notice... At least I knew I wasn't insane if she was hearing it too.

I looked up at the sky and almost threw my only weapon in frustration and fear. The sun was going down! Hadn't it only just risen? Something strange was happening.

I took a deep breath. If something was going to attack me, it'd be best to face it while I could. Besides, if I turned back now, I'd have things coming for me from behind the trees - at least here I could see them...And I couldn't just abandon that pond! I had to stay.

Slowly and on my toes, I edged closer to the pond. But then of course my ears had to be filled with the sound of moaning and groaning. Why zombies, why?

"Agh!" I yelped as a hoard of zombies emerged from the surrounding trees. I wasn't really surprised, just angry at myself for coming here. I should have climbed one of the trees with Emmy, and stayed there till morning. But my curiosity had gotten the better of me.

Instinctively, I slammed my weapon down as hard as I could on the face of a one of them. At least my reflexes hadn't...er...restarted with me. Emmy lept into the air before she began to run around, biting and distracting the Zombies while I tried my hardest to completely destroy them.

I wiped beads of sweat off my face. The zombies were gone. "Phew!" I was so ready to get out of that place - and I had to do it quickly. More creatures of the night were bound to come quickly, and I didn't want to be so exposed again when they did. I didn't even want to look in the pond anymore.

"Let's get out of here, Emmy. We're safe right-" Before I could finish, I was cut off by Emmy's terrified sounding yelp.

To say the least, I had kinda...sorta...okay, definitely spoken too soon.

Entire herds, packs - or whatever the multiple is - of creepers, zombies, skeletons, spiders, and every kind of horrible beasty started pouring out from the forest. Some were even breaking through from the ground, others appearing out of nowhere from Spawning. For a split second, out of the corner of my eye I saw staring purple eyes. But then they were gone and instead replaced with the red of a spider's. A trick of the light?

But then that spider jumped on me. Pinned to the ground, I grabbed my axe and smashed it. Emmy growled and pounced, and that was at least one monster down. Ten more? I scanned around me and was quickly discouraged. Ten multiplied by ten, more like it.

I wasn't stupid. I knew this was the end; one person with a half broken stone axe and a wolf versus that many monsters? I wouldn't last four seconds. Then I'd have to up another - uh - privilege, and this time I wouldn't have anyone to blame it on.

But then something...unexpected...happened.

"STOP!" yelled a booming voice, and the ground shivered in fear. I have to admit, so did I. I'd never heard anything like it - it sounded so anciently powerful, it made the hairs on the back of my neck tingle. It almost sounded like it came from the very sky itself.

The monsters indeed did stop. They stopped dead in their tracks. Then, all of a sudden, they dropped to their knees. Except the kinda just fell on their faces.

My mouth opened a little when I realized they were bowing.

"LEAVE THIS PLACE! BEGONE!"

And they did. They got out of the forest as fast as they could. All of them! Every. Single. One. I never thought I'd see a zombie run.

I simply stood there for a minute, completely and utterly stunned. The mobs had never shown anything other than hatred for Minecrafters. They were obeying this person's orders?

...Was this even a 'person'?

I should have been a lot more scared. I should have been horrified, actually. The thought of whatever this was being my nightmares' nightmare should have made my very insides crawl. Instead, however, I was filled with wonder.

Slowly and still in awe, I leaned over the water, my poor wolf growling, terrified. In the center of the small pond was a face. His hair was glowing silver, his skin was pale, and he had a sort of wise and saddened expression on his face that made him look older than he should've. But one feature stood out among the rest.

His eyes. They were paper-blank white, no emotion whatsoever. For the first time since the monsters had left, I truly felt fear. He looked dangerous with those eyes - like he wouldn't hesitate to do anything because he didn't care.

I was almost afraid to look at him, as if he could somehow manage to steal my soul if I looked into his empty eyes for too long. "Who are you?" I asked, as quiet as I'd been in a long time.

"I am Herobrine," replied the face inside the water, this time so softly I didn't believe they were the same person. "And I believe you are Alexandra."