Chapter 1: a cave-in

Chell didn't know how this all happened. One second, she was exploring an abandoned mine, breaking the stones with a hint of joy on her face. She has never been this deep inside the earth, and her curiousity led her to go deeper and deeper. She was feeling extremely lucky that day, so she just followed her instinct - maybe she can somehow find a diamond.

Then there was a rumble. Chell ignored the noise at first, but as she heard the booming sound nearby, she immediately know something was wrong. The noise was too loud and rumbling to be a mere creeper exploding.

And then the ceiling came crashing down.

over her head.

Chell instinctively covered her head with both arms and tried to move back, but it was too late. There was an immediate pain through her raised arms and shoulder and all went black.

When she opened her eyes again, Chell noticed that she was lying on the cold stone surface. Her whole body ached and her right shoulder felt numb. Thankfully, she didn't feel any headache so maybe it was a good choice of action to protect her head. At least she could think clearly.

With an effort Chell slowly opened her eyes and tried to sat up. Surprisingly, the torch she dropped was still intact and thus allow her to observe the surroundings.

The first thing Chell did was to listen whether there was a mob nearby. Silence greeted her ears. The only sound filling the space was her irregular breathings - which started to became more stable as a time pass.

After she confirmed that there was no 'imminent' danger nearby, Chell tried to stand up -and avoid the stone ceiling just in time. So the ceiling was low. Okay, maybe she should crawl her way back. Chell didn't complain - she was actually quite thankful that the stone wall didn't just crush her to the pulp. Hell, the situation could have gone much worse than now. That was when she find the gap that was emitting a faint light. Chell quickly moved herself and started to widen a gap. She was starting to feel hungry, and it was best to return home as fast as she could.

Finally, there was a hole enough for her to crawl in and Chell didn't hesitate. Even it was no more than a few minutes, Chell was already feeling claustrophobic. Of course, she wasn't a person who normally feel scared in closed space, but it was hard to move when the stone ceiling was right over your head - and she didn't think there was enough air for her if she stayed any longer.

She sqeezed herself out to the open, and find it was actually a lava that was providing the light. There was a pool of lava and Chell thought it somehow resembles a pond she made inside her garden. Well, minus the heat and the brightness of course. She look around and started her way to the corner, which seems to lead to another way. Chell go around the corner, only to understand a bitter truth. It was a dead end. With a black humanoid creature lying limply on the ground. And it was injured.

Chell gulped. She was certain the Enderman wasn't dead yet - if it was, then there would be nothing but a pearl left on the surface. But nonethless, the creature was lying still as a corpse. And she won't let this fine opportunity to go.

Chell instinctivly reached for her iron sword, only to realise that she have none.

What?

She checked her things, and find out most of her belongings have gone missing. The only thing she was left with was a torch, a iron pixate,a piece of cloth, and two porkchops inside her pocket.

She was screwed. Very, very screwed.

Chell was sure she couldn't deal enough damage to kill the creature without a sword, and to be honest she didn't want to waste her energy - especially when she was limited on resource like this. She had encoutered Enderman before, and she was quite certain - due to her experience - it didn't attack you if you don't provoke them first.

Chell however doubted the Enderman before her will be something like a threat. It was leaking fluid on one side of its torso, and have numerous wounds everywhere - which looks suspiciously like a deep burn to Chell. It was breathing though, barely but breathing nonethless.

So Endermen could actually breath.

Chell mused to herself, still inspecting the limp form before her.

Her logical mind screamed that she shouldn't waste a time like this nonsense, that she should now have to dig her way as fast as she could before she gets hungry and thus, became low on energy.

Screw logic, then. She never had a chance to observe an Enderman - let alone a heavily damaged one, - this close, and her curiousity was on a peak. Also, just how can a few minute of observation could go wrong?

Her eyes trail the lithe form once again. The wounds WERE nasty, and she almost pitied the mob for sustaining so much damage. It'll feel like hell, no doubt.

At last, her gaze fall on the mobs face. It's eyes were closed and Chell couldn't see any facial expressions on its face. It was as if the creature was sleeping peacefully.

It was hard to describe the feeling Chell was in right now. She was gazing - gazing - at the Enderman's face.

Well, technically Endermen get downright aggressive when your gaze 'locked' with them, but to Chell, it was almost the same. And it gave a strange sensation to her - as if she had done a thing that not many people would acheieve in their lifetime. Chell wished she could see its purple, glowing eyes but knewing that'll never happen, she just knelt down on her knees and tried to capture the whole thing in her memories.

And that was the exact moment the creature chose to open its eyes.

A.N: English is not my first language, so there will be many mistakes. If you have any ideas or critism, please feel free to tell me and feedback is always welcome.