Chapter 1:

New Home

-Third Person POV-

Paton, as captain of the village guard, had gotten word of the attack on the castle and rushed to help with some of his best men. Which were not many due to the small size of the village they lived in. But the journey was longer than they had expected, and thus they had arrived too late.

The entire castle and town was in ruins and on fire, and there didn't appear to be any survivors. But they would check thoroughly just to be sure.

Unfortunately, there were no survivors in the town, and the air was already permeated with the scent of death. Hopefully there would be someone at the castle.

Paton led his men up to the castle, struggling to clamber up the destroyed stairs. The castle was in no better shape than the village. Already it looked like no one had survived. He turned to his men.

"Spread out and check every room." The men nodded and each went in certain directions. An hour later, Paton had begun to loose hope. Had no one survived the attack?

"Over here! I need help!" Someone shouted and everyone rushed over to the man who had called. He was standing over a boy trapped beneath some rubble. And he was alive.

"Get those rocks off of him!" Paton ordered and began to lift along with his men until the boy could be pulled out. Once he was free, they dropped the stone and turned to the boy.

He was out cold and injured, but still alive. Paton grabbed him and checked to make sure the child didn't have any serious injuries. Luckily, the worst injuries were the legs.

"He should be oka-" Paton was interrupted by the castle shaking. He instantly knew what was happening, aftershocks of a quake. He ordered his men to get out and they rushed out of the castle. The unconscious boy still lugged over his shoulder.


The small company of men walked an entire day and night until they could finally see the village in their sights. And as the sun began to break over the horizon, the villagers began to peer out and observe Paton and his team.

They paid the villagers no mind, and instead, went to a house near the edge of the village. At the door was a bald man with a strange mustache that most people would mistake for a hairy snake at first glance. He had a white robe on, but the fringes of the robe were red. This was Tasen, one of the village's best medicine men and an expert in swords and martial arts. He had a sad look in his eyes.

"Is he the only survivor?"

"Yes," Paton answered, "even Queen Rodina and King Arran were dead. Whoever attacked only wanted one witness." Tasen sighed wearily.

"Today is truly a dark day for Minecraftia if there is a man who could destroy even the great kingdom of Therawin in one night." He looked at the boy once more, "Hand him to me. I shall tend to his wounds, and once he has awakened, we shall find out who attacked the kingdom." Paton nodded in affirmation, handing the boy over to Tasen.

Tasen watched the retreating figure of Paton and then glanced at the boy's legs.

"Let's get you fixed up." He walked into his house and sat the boy down on the boy.

-Bae's POV-

When I woke up I noticed several things. First, the pain in my legs had gone down and. I couldn't feel any weight on them. Second, I wasn't laying on the cold hard ground, and was instead on a comfy bed. Third, I wasn't in the castle.

I sat up quickly and nearly regretted it, biting my tongue as a wave of pain shot through my legs. I must have made some sort of sound though, because someone soon walked over. One thing was sure, he wasn't from the castle. I would recognize that mustache if I had seen it before.

"Careful, you haven't fully recovered yet." He handed me a bowl filled with a strange liquid, "Drink up. That stuff will get you feeling better in no time." I chugged down the liquid, which tasted like honey and strawberries.

"Thank you," I managed to say, "My name's Baelfire. Just call me Bae."

"Nice to meet you, Bae. I'm Tasen, some of the villagers brought you back here." I looked out the window and found myself staring at a village in the middle of a desert.

"If you don't mind my asking, where exactly is 'here'?"

"This is the village of Erimount. It's about a day's journey from your kingdom." That's when I suddenly remembered what had happened.

"My mom," I croaked out, "is she really... gone?" I saw the solemn look on his face and knew my answer. I wanted to cry, so I did. But soon I wiped away my tears, knowing that my mom wouldn't want me to mourn her death for too long.

"So," Tasen started, "do you mind telling me what happened." And so I recounted to him what I could remember. From noticing the escaping mobs, to running with my family, to the strange white eyed man. I noticed that he tensed when I talked about the strange man.

"Well, it will take a while, but once you are back in your feet I can help you train to fight this man."

"Yes!" I exclaimed, wincing as another jolt of pain went through my legs, "I would like that."

"Good, once you are able to walk we'll start by strengthning your legs back up." After that Tasen left and I fell back into the bed, closing my eyes for some more sleep.


It had been several months since I had arrived in the village. My legs had been healing nicely. And in about a week, Tasen and I would be leaving for our training excursion. But until then I had other things to do. Such as mapping out the desert.

Currently I was riding one of the towns fastest horses around the desert. The horse was still young and small, just my size. It was a brown and white pinto mare that's fur showed that it was a pinto. She had a white diamond on her forehead on her forehead and deep blue eyes. I had named her Jasper.

"C'mon Jasper, faster." She let out an excited whinny and sped up. She went for a sharp turn and I adjusted myself to not fall off, having learned it as one for my first horse-riding lessons as a prince. The thought made me smile sadly, and as if she sensed my depression, Jasper slowed down to a slow trot.

We continued at the slow pace for a while before stopping at a watering hole. I hopped off Jasper and led her to the water. She began to lap up the water earnestly as I stood up on the top of the nearest dune.

"We haven't been here before." I said aloud and took a small book out from pocket. I placed it on the ground an opened it up. I then began to unfold the pages inside, revealing a rather large map. I then grabbed a piece of blank paper and drew a rough sketch of the area before sticking it onto the map.

"Well, Jasper, we should probably be heading back soon." Jasper neighed and shook her head.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" Jasper started jerking her head in the direction behind me. Taking that as a signal to look behind me, I did so. Putting my hands above my eyes, I squinted at the sand. That's when I saw it, a figure on the ground. Not sure what it was, I jumped onto Jasper and rode over.

"It's a girl!" I exclaimed once we neared the figure. I jumped off and looked at the girl. She had dark brown hair and black eyes. She had to have been around my age, maybe a year older. She looked weak and thin, looking like she hadn't had a good meal in forever, and was wearing clothes that would be best described as rags. Her skin was horribly sunburnt and she appeared nearly dead.

I quickly scooped her up and snapped Jasper's reigns. She ran quickly, dodging cacti, small holes, and large dunes until we finally reached the village.

Throwing open he door, I brought the girl into Tasen's home. I placed her on the bed and did my best to cool her off before shouting at the nearest villager to grab Tasen. A minute later and Tasen was right beside me, tending to her burns.

Soon, the girls breathing began to return to normal. I sighed in relief as I fell into the nearest chair.

"That was close one, any longer and she would have probably died." Tasen said.

"I know." I replied, "Thank Isyn that I decided to go riding."

"Do you recognize her from your kingdom? Is it possible that she escaped the massacre?" I shook my head. As I looked at he girl sadly. Wherever she had lived, she hadn't had a good life. Seeing her just reminded me how lucky I had been before the attack. I had had everything I wanted, I always had great feasts, and I always had good clothes. This girl had absolutely nothing. Her food was probably either stolen, begged for, or found in back alley trash cans. Her clothes were made of worn out cloth and had been crudely sewn together.

The two of us were polar opposites, and here we were in the same small village. In the same situation.

"You go get some rest, Bae. It's been a long day." I didn't complain as I made my way to the small house I called home. And as I lied down on the bed, my thoughts drifted to the girl.

-The Next Day-

The next morning I woke up and looked at the calendar. Just 7 more days until my 6th birthday and then Tasen will take me on the training trip.

But that wasn't the main thing on my mind. I wondered whether the girl had woken up yet. I quickly decided to go check.

I walked to the other side of the village, stopping to rub Jasper's snout briefly, adn walked into Tasen's home. Inside I could see the girl sitting up in bed, silently eating some of Tasen's "Miracle Soup".

She glanced in my direction, but said nothing. I decided ti wait until she finished eating ti start with the introductions. She soon set the bowl down and looked at my for a moment, tilting my head.

"You must be the boy who rescued me the other day." She stated, her voice sounded scratchy and dry, even with the soup she had just eaten.

I nodded my head in confirmations, "I'm Bae, and really it wasn't that big of a deal. Anyone would have done it."

"Kind and humble." She noted, "Rare traits in these times... My name's Rin." I carefully shook her hand and then asked if she wanted anything else. She had responded with sleep and I took that as my cue to get out of there.

I found Tasen waiting outside.

"Already up and about. Have to admit, the two of you are fast healers." He commented.

"It's just a coincidence."

"Whatever you say." He said, "Don't you have to go harvest the crops soon?" I shot up instantly.

"Yabe!" I exclaimed, "Thanks for reminding me old man." I took off towards the fields, a laughing Tasen still leaning against the wall.

-One Week Later-

A week had passed since Rin had woken up and Tasen and I were finally getting ready to leave. Over the past week, Rin and I had talked more and became good friends. She had changed from her rags to a white dress, and once she had gotten cleaned up. Not even words could have described what I had seen.

I placed the large bag on my back, stumbling from the weight. I sturdied myself using the wall and opened the door. I took one step... and ended up face first in sand. I heard a few snickers behind me and glared at Tasen. He chuckled and helped me up as we walked along the path out of the village.

At the end, the rest of the village was waiting for us. We said our goodbyes, and Rin embraced me, much to my embaressment.

"Take care of Jasper for me." I asked her.

"Sure thing. And you take care of yourself." I caught up with Tasen after a final goodbye. As we walked away from the village, I took one last look back.

"I'm going to miss this place." I said.

"The village? Or..." Tasen grinned cheekily, "Someone at the village?" I turned to him and instantly knew he was talking about Rin. He had been teasing me day in and day out about that from the first day she woke up.

"Sh-shut up!" I sputtered, earning another round of laughter from Tasen. If it was going to be like this the entire time, then this was going to be a long trip.


Okay, before I end this chapter I need to say a few things. One, even though this follows the plot line of "Take Back the Night", I will be adding some elements to the story.

Two, I decided to give the world of Minecraftia it's own mythology, which will be delved into in later chapters.

Isyn is a made up goddess, one who resides over medicine, health, and the ilk.

Three, they will have their own language. A combination of Japanese and Latin, and words in this language will be italicized and translated at the bottom of each chapter.

Yabe: the equivalent of "Dang it" or "Crap".

Four, Rin is going to be Bae's love interest for this story, although that won't be for a while.

Anyways, now that I'm done ranting, you are free to leave.