Ruben's Adventure
Chapter 1: Blocky World, Blocky Laws
Disclaimer: I do not own Minecraft or any of the characters involved except Ruben
It was a sunny day in Muderia, the grass was sitting still, and the lakes were calm and peaceful, reflecting the sunlight from above. A small town that was surrounded by a wooden wall with a stone foundation was bustling with activity. A crowd of blocky people were gathered around and were all talking to each other around a single figure. He stood on a wooden platform and was smiling as people walked up and patted him on the shoulder or whispered something to him. He wore a simple black shirt and blue pants with gray shoes, his black eyes showed a look of determination and his black hair reflected the sunlight from above. He glanced up at the sky occasionally and a look of worry came over his face before someone else approached him and he put a smile back on immediately. When everyone except two people were finished they approached the young man. The first was an elderly gentlemen who wore a long, brown, leather, robe. He had a long white beard and a thick, white mustache. He was carrying a walking stick and leaning against it to stand.
The second person was a woman with bright red hair. She was wearing a light blue shirt and purple jacket with a dark blue skirt. She smiled at the boy and he waved back.
The old man cleared his throat to speak, the whole crowd silenced and waited for his next words. He opened his mouth and said: "Ruben, as is our village's tradition. You have lived for thirty cycles of the moon and sun. You are ready to adventure out into the world and make your own mark in the world."
Ruben, the young man, nodded and glanced up at the sky again. "As is also tradition we are to warn you of the dangers you face ahead of you, and to wish you best of luck."
"Thank you elder." Ruben said, bowing. His voice was a moderate tone and had a small sounding of a sly mind behind it.
"Oh! My little Ruben off to adventure in the world!" The woman shouted.
"Mom, you're ruining the moment." Ruben said to her.
"Sorry, sorry, go on." She motioned to the elder to proceed.
"As I was saying. The dangers of the path that lies ahead are numerous, and each as dangerous as the last. Always be prepared, and never take any unnecessary risks."
"Now that your rites have been given it is time to send you out into the world. You are to travel fifty blocks from the village walls and thereby begin your adventure."
Ruben turned on the spot and a few of the villagers switched on a pair of levers. The wall opened up as some pistons pulled the blocks apart. Ruben took a step forward and was soon out of the village. The wall closed behind him and he walked fifty blocks before looking around.
"Alright, I need to find some wood… gotta start with the basic stuff." He said to himself, approaching a tree.
He lifted his fists and began to punch at the bark until the block shattered into a tiny fragment of itself. Ruben looked at it and it jumped into his hand, he took his other hand and smashed it, lifting it away he found four blocks of wooden planking sitting in his right palm. He compressed them between both hands and suddenly a large table appeared. He set it on the ground and nodded to himself.
"Just like they taught me in school." He punched the rest of the tree down and when he had enough wood blocks he made more wooden planks.
Some he converted into sticks, and used those sticks as handles for his tools. He looked at the array he'd laid on the ground: There was a pickaxe, a shovel, an axe, a hoe, and a sword. All made of wood. He picked them all up with a sweeping motion of his arm and used the axe to chop up his crafting table for easier transportation. He then made his way through the area, looking for more trees and a suitable place to set up his base camp. He smashed the grass underfoot and occasionally small seeds appeared in his hands, he put them in his pockets without thinking about it and continued on.
As Ruben traveled through the world the sun began to lower toward the horizon and dark began to set in.
"Uh oh… I gotta find a place to spend the night." He said to himself, looking around frantically. He looked to the large mountain he'd been walking toward and saw what looked like a cave on the other side. He took off at a dead sprint toward the cave mouth. He'd only covered five blocks when a figure leapt out from behind a tree at him knocking him to the ground. A green, and decaying zombie was trying to bite him. Ruben's eyes widened as he took in the monster, its arms were held out in front of it, and some of its head was missing revealing its blocky brain. Ruben pulled his sword out of his pocket and slashed as the zombie sending it flying backward. It spat at him before resuming its charge. Ruben dodged its attacks and slashed and hacked away until the zombie fell to the ground and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Three little green orbs flew into Ruben's body and he felt all of the adventures and experience the zombie had accumulated flow through his mind. He looked around to see other dark figures in the plains behind him. He silently crept toward the mountain. He covered another fifteen blocks without incident and when he made his way around the mountain he sighed in relief. A cave was shining brightly in the darkness. He rushed toward it, forgoing his sense of stealth for one of self-protection.
He came to a stop five blocks into the cave and looked around. It was a simple cave, only twenty blocks deep, by another rough ten blocks across with a ceiling about four to five blocks high. Ruben saw a figure sitting at a table with its back turned to him. The figure had a bucket of milk in their hand. Ruben took this time to look around and saw that there was a fire burning inside a brick chimney in the back center of the cave, and a bed was tucked into the left-hand corner. Closer to him was a stack of bookshelves and across the room was a double chest, with a furnace placed in the opposite corner of the bed. The figure and his table were closest to Ruben on the side with the bed and bookshelves. Torches lined the walls all around.
"Um… excuse me." Ruben said, making the figure jump, "I was hoping I could seek shelter in your cave until morning?"
The figure grunted as he stood up and turned to look at Ruben. He was a gruff looking man with a brown beard and mustache, he wore a leather tunic over his green shirt and leather pants over his blue ones.
"Get out." He said.
"What?" Ruben asked.
"Get out."
"Please, I just want to stay the night. I don't mean any trouble."
"Get out." The man repeated for a third time, drawing out an iron sword.
"O-ok, I'll leave." Ruben said, holding up his hands and backing out of the cave.
The man continued to stare at Ruben until he was out of the cave and down the hill at the base of the mountain.
"What do I do now?" he asked himself, looking around and holding his sword with both hands.
A tower-like creature was now walking toward him. It was a mix of greens and white, glaring at him it continued to close the distance. Ruben slashed at it with his sword when it came close enough. This seemed to anger it even more as it began to hiss and swell in size. Ruben backed away quickly and was just in time as the creature exploded.
"What the-?" Ruben asked himself, looking down at the crater the creature had made.
He slowly backed away from the crater and turned to walk away. He traveled all through the night, dodging zombies, skeletons, and the new green creatures he'd dubbed 'creepers'. Soon, the sun began to rise and Ruben looked up at it, smiling. His stomach growled and he was leaning against his wooden sword which looked dented and scuffed.
"I need to find shelter." He said to himself weakly as he looked around.
He noticed he was in the middle of a forest, and not too far away was a large clearing that looked perfect for a house. He lifted himself weakly and began to walk toward the clearing. He arrived five minutes later and sighed in relief, no monsters. Just then, he heard the grass trampling behind him. He leapt back and twirled in the air to see who or what was sneaking up on him. He landed and stared ahead like it was another creeper charging him. It wasn't, instead a pink creature looked up at him with its crossed-eyes.
Ruben smiled as he lifted his sword above his head "I'm dining well tonight!" He shouted as he brought it down and slaughtered the pig.
Two raw porkchops fell out of the pig's corpse. Ruben picked them up and stored them in his pocket. Taking out his axe began to chop down the nearby trees, slicing them into wooden planks. When he had a few stacks of wooden planks he took out his shovel and dug down through the dirt layer until he hit stone, then he produced his pickaxe and began to mine away. He spent an hour underground mining the stone. He also found coal, and iron ore. When his pickaxe finally broke he returned to the surface and laid down a stone foundation. The sun was beginning to set when he finished putting up the wooden walls of his house. He used the excess wooden planks to make some stick and put coal on the end making torches which he put on the walls of his house. Settling down into a wooden chair he'd crafted himself he began to consider what to do tomorrow.
The next, Ruben woke from his sleep and mined out his wall to see it was early morning. He took a few of his extra wooden planks and crafted a door which he placed in the hole he'd mined. He also crafted two chests and put them next to his crafting table, leaving a space between them, he crafted a furnace with his cobblestone and placed it between the crafting table and the double chest. Putting his coal in it with the iron ore he left it to smelt. He crafted copies of his tools out of stone, and deposited the wooden tools in his chest. From there he left his house, closing the door behind him.
"Let's see, let's see. Food would be good, and a field wouldn't be a bad addition either. I'll need some fence posts to keep mobs and animals out of it." Ruben said to himself as he walked into the woods. He pulled out his stone axe and chopped down three trees, collecting their saplings and putting them and the wood in his pocket. He continued through the forest for a few hours, it was noon when Ruben stumbled out of the woods into a large, open grassland. He looked around and could see for miles on end, and it was then that he spotted it: A large cobblestone structure breaking the skyline. It looked like a castle. Ruben readied his sword and approached quietly, when he was up against the wall he went around, looking for a way inside. He didn't find any doors or drawbridges, but he did notice a block that was missing the grass on top of it. He dug at it with his shovel and it revealed a secret entrance. Dropping down into the hole he replaced the dirt block and went inside. The dirt tunnel was lit with torches and at the end was a ladder that led up into the castle. Ruben grabbed the rungs and began to pull himself up. He set his feet down inside the castle and looked around. He noticed a set of blocks that lined the top of the castle walls, not knowing what they were he ignored them. Proceeding into the castle to search it. Walking into the central building Ruben found himself in a large chamber that branched out in multiple directions. He chose the center path and proceeded forward caustiously.
He traveled down the torch-lined corridor for five minutes before emerging into a small room that contained a bed, a chest, a crafting table, furnace and an anvil. Ruben lowered his sword and walked over to the blocks, feeling the surface.
"It's still warm, these were used recently." He looked at the furnace to see the coals were still blazing brightly, looking inside he saw iron ore being smelted into iron ingots.
"Someone lives here." Ruben said to himself, putting a hand on his chin.
"That's right, and you better leave before that someone puts an arrow through you." A voice said from behind Ruben.
He spun on the spot to see a figure in iron armor with a bow in his hands, the arrow was drawn back to full draw and aimed ate Ruben's head.
"Wait a second." Ruben said, holding up his hands, "I didn't mean to intrude, I was just investigating what seemed like an abandoned castle."
"Well, I assure you, it's not abandoned, now get out." The stranger told him.
"I'm going." Ruben said, slowly walking toward the door, the stranger moved out of his way, but never took the arrow of the string, or Ruben's head.
He watched Ruben make his way out of the castle and when Ruben was about fifty blocks away, just inside the tree-line, he returned to the castle floor where he flipped a switch and the blocks on top of the walls Ruben noticed earlier began to spit arrows toward the ground. Ruben stared at the castle, assessing it before returning to his house.
It was starting to get dark when he arrived. He closed the door behind him as he sank into his chair and sighed. He looked around and saw the iron ingots were sitting in his furnace. He'd take care of it tomorrow he told himself before sinking off to sleep again. He woke the next morning and pulled out the iron ingots. He used them to craft a sword and a pickaxe. He put the stone counterparts in his chest along with the wood from yesterday, before setting off again. He traveled through the forest and killed half a dozen cows, pigs, chickens, and sheep. He also chopped town ten trees and collected their saplings. He looked around and saw nothing else he needed and returned to his home. He went inside and began crafting so he had two stacks of fence posts. He went outside and began to place the fence around the area, marking off his yard and house. When he was done he used the extra posts to make another fenced off area inside his property. From there he used his stone hoe to till the ground and he planted the seeds. When he was done he stood up and wiped his brow with his arm, just then he heard a noise in the wood. He turned and drew his iron sword from his pocket. Out of the trees came the man he'd met in the castle.
"What are you doing here?" Ruben asked him.
"You?" The man asked, sounding surprised. "Never mind, quick, get inside." He ran over and jumped onto a dirt block then over Ruben's fence.
Ruben made a mental note to mine that out tomorrow, it was starting to get late in the evening. The figure ran past him and into his house. He slammed the door behind him, Ruben followed him inside and when the door was shut again he looked at the figure standing before him. It was definitely the same man, he was still wearing his iron armor, but it looked dented and scratched.
"What happened?" Ruben asked.
"Endermen, left a hole in the wall." The man replied, "Damn! I should've seen that coming." He said, slamming his fist into Ruben's stone floor.
"Endermen?" he asked.
"Beings from another world, they're tall, black, and have the deepest eyes of anything in Muderia, but they hate it if you stare them in the face. It's best to stay away from them if you can."
"What did you mean when you said they made a hole in your castle wall?"
"Endermen are the only enemies gifted with the ability to pick up and move blocks like we do. They're also as smart as us, some adventurers suppose they're smarter, so smart what they do doesn't seem rational to us, but they have a reason. They speak in these strange noises, and again, some Adventurers consider this a language that no one understands. They teleport when hit or spotted, or when they touch water, stuff seems to hurt 'em." The man explained.
"And so they moved the blocks in your wall and then what?"
"The usual, Creepers decided to move in and check the place out, they started blastin' holes in the wall when they saw me and then zombies showed up, Skeletons didn't take long after that. Spiders were starting to gather around when I disappeared into the woods. Figured they didn't see me."
Ruben had stopped staring at the man and was now staring out the hole he'd left in his house as a window, a black figure was standing in the whole, and suddenly the bottom of the wall was grabbed by a pair of long black arms and it was ripped from its place.
"Sir! Is that the endermen you spoke of?" Ruben asked, readying his sword.
The man turned and saw the figure. "That'd be it!" he shouted, drawing his own iron sword and charging it.
He slammed into it with tremendous force, Ruben noticed stars flew off the sword when he struck the enderman. It dropped the wooden planks and disappeared, releasing a sound like a wheezing cough as it did so.
Ruben took out his axe and mined the block, he and the stranger went back through the hole in the wall before Ruben replaced the block.
"What's your name anyway?" Ruben asked.
"My name? It's Jack."
"Jack… not the Jack."
"What do you mean the Jack?"
"The village I'm from, they talk of a man named Jack, who came and built the wall for us to keep us safe. That was about fifty cycles ago."
"I assume you weren't around yet?" Jack asked.
"No, I'm only thirty cycles old." Ruben replied.
"Thirty cycles!? And they sent you out with nothing but the clothes on your back?"
Ruben nodded which made Jack sigh, "Alright look, uh-"
"Ruben"
"Ruben, I did put a wall up around a village a few cycles back, before I made the castle you found earlier. I was still a wandering adventurer back then. Look, can I ask you a favor, I know I'm not in the best position to, but could I spend the night here, I'll be gone by morning, and I'll have left the area by noon."
"Don't, stay as long as you like." Ruben said, "You're a hero to my village, and it'll make for quite a story when I return saying I helped the great Jack."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
Ruben nodded, "I just got enough wool today to make a few beds. Let me get them ready."
He walked over to his crafting table and laid out the wool and grabbed a few planks from his chest. Jack watched him with some curiousity. "Sent him out with thirty cycles of age and nothing but his clothes, seems he's a fast learner though."
"Done." Ruben said, putting the beds down across the house from each other.
"Not bad kid." Jack said, pushing on one of the beds with his hand, testing its durability.
"I just did what they told me to do in school."
"School? You were taught how to survive out here?" Jack asked.
Ruben nodded again, "It's tradition in my village to train our young men to travel out at thirty cycles of age and adventure across our great world."
Jack sighed, "Thirty cycles just seems so young to me."
"Why? When did you set out?"
"Thirty cycles, like you, but I had no training. I was running." Jack said.
"Running? From who?"
"The Griefers." Jack said, looking up at Ruben with castaway eyes.
"They attacked my village, a group of adventurers who enjoyed causing harm to others. Taking their belongings and the things most precious to them. They killed my parents and took everything we owned. I managed to escape from the village as they burned it to the ground. Since then I ran, and continued running until two weeks ago when I made that castle, now it's gone too."
Ruben's eyes went from curious to determined. "We'll make a new castle, a better castle." He said.
"No Ruben, I'm done running. I'm ready to let it end. I've been around far longer than I should've been… but enough of this talk. Let's get some sleep."
The two of the crawled into bed and slept the night away, awaking refreshed Ruben noticed Jack was missing, a book and quill were placed on his bed. Ruben picked them up and read:
Dear Ruben,
Thank you for your hospitality, but I've got to make my own path and not get you caught up in my troubles. I left a present for you in your chest. I hope it helps.
Signed,
Jack
Ruben put the book and quill in his pocket before opening his chest, a diamond block was sitting in the chest. He picked it up and gazed at it in amazement. He took it over to his crafting table and broke it down into 9 diamonds. He made them into a sword, a pickaxe, and boots. Slipping into them and spinning his sword experimentally he put it away on his back. He left his house and set out into the woods, coming across creepers, skeletons, spiders, and zombies he dismissed them easily with his sword. When it was beginning to get dark he returned home: in the day's events he'd managed to capture two cows, two sheep, and two chickens with the wheat and seeds he'd farmed from his field.
Sleeping away the night in his bed Ruben awoke to a horrific sight, the forest was on fire. He rushed out of his house and looked out into the woods to see fire was engulfing everything.
"Who did this?" he asked.
Without thinking he rushed back inside and unloaded all of his important items into his pockets. He picked up his bed and stored it in his pockets as well, checking to make sure he didn't leave anything useful behind. He noticed the corner of his house had caught fire. Rushing outside and opening the cages and letting the animals out. He continued into the trees and kept running until the light of the fire had faded and he didn't stop or look back.
When he finally stopped he bent over and put his hands on his knees and was gasping for breath.
"Things are gonna get a lot more difficult from here… I need to find a better place to stay…" Ruben said looking around, he spotted a bulge in the horizon some distance away. "That looks like something…"
He began to walk toward the object, hoping it was something worth-while.