Hey, guys! And welcome to chapter two of COUNTDOWN! Today, we take a little trip to the End to see Soren among his Enderfriends. Today's inspiration comes from episode 3, and that infamous song of Soren's that was sadly interrupted by a notorious blonde. Who's not dead. Hehe… well, here we go with some reviews!
Ariza Luca: Ha! Thanks for reading it and then reviewing!
RapidSammi: Yep. I imagine the characters to be at least twenty, in their thirties at the highest, meaning that it's been about thirty years since episode 8 in that one. Ha, good times. For some weird reason, I like writing about the men of the Order having facial hair. Maybe it's just a fangirl thing.
Raintag: Hehe, I'll try! I hope it was more humorous to you than frightening.
Well, day three, everyone! Hit it, Crisper!
Crisper: (hits it)
The sky was black and spattered with stars, so Soren always kept a clock close by. Here in the End, he didn't awaken to a rooster's crow or the rising sun. Instead, it was an alarm-clock's chime. This time, the clock chimed in his favorite time of the day: Outdoor Enderman Study. And like every day spent in the End, it found him outside among the lanky, jet-black mobs with bright, purple eyes, except this time something seemed wrong.
Even though he was wearing his sturdy, new-and-improved Ender-suit, complete with leg- and arm-stalks, he felt unsafe. Almost like someone was watching him. He had nothing but his hands to defend himself; he couldn't imagine bringing a sword down on one of the Endermen. They were his friends! But that didn't exempt him from occasional feelings of unease. His eyes searched the hundreds or so Endermen, trying to find something that stood out to him. He was determined to find what was making him feel so uneasy. He scanned the area a few minutes more, and that's when he found it. Rather, heard it. It began as a low rumble that slowly grew into the familiar, anguished cry of an agitated Enderman. He barely caught a glimpse of a black stalk rushing towards him and Soren knew he needed to run! He spun on his stalks, but too quickly and plummeted to the ground with a splintering crack. He rolled over and groaned at the sight of a broken stalk. He tried to scramble away in an awkward crawl, but when he looked up, he knew it was too late.
The Enderman glared at him, eyes aglow with rage, and screamed at him. Soren's arm flew up to his face to shield himself, but small, strong hands pulled it away as the screaming died down. He forced himself to look into the Enderman's eyes and instantly breathed a sigh of relief.
Oh, hello, Gary, Soren thought, grinning weakly underneath the Enderman mask as he looked at the mob's tag. He'd tagged every single one of his Endermen, and there were hundreds over them. But one man's insanity was just another architect's diligence. He placed the nearly invisible tags on their arms, a place where he'd easily see it. Gary clicked, seeing the familiar human's eyes grow soft again. But just as quickly he turned away and walked off, suddenly disinterested in Soren since he was back to normal. Soren pulled the stalks off his legs and quickly followed Gary. When he felt he was being followed, Gary suddenly turned around to stare Soren down. Soren grinned again. The Endermen's fascination with him never failed to please. It was like the same swell of pride a pet-owner felt when his dog barked and sniffed, so surprised and happy to be with him. But these were no pets. These were friends.
Gary suddenly disappeared, leaving behind a spray of purple Ender-magic. Before Soren could turn around, he felt those same strong paws push him lightly. He spun around but was only met with those same purple particles. Behind him he heard a loud vrrp and turned to see Gary, staring down as if nothing happened. Was Gary… playing with him? One side of Soren wanted to rush inside and write about this fantastic miracle, or even go as far as running back to the Overworld to tell someone! But the playful, loving side of him wanted to stand there and let the magic happen. He'd always be able to write about it later, and why would he tell anyone back there? Would anyone believe him, or even remember him? Gary disappeared again, this time giving Soren a harder thwack to the head. Soren faceplanted and lay there, awestruck and just struck. Two black stalks appeared before his eyes.
Gary watched Soren closely, starting to wonder if he'd killed the man. He gently kicked Soren in the cheek, making small Ender-noises when he sat up, his eyes squinted. Did he make him mad? Gary clicked again, blinked a few times and was off.
Soren sighed, standing up and dusting himself off. With Gary gone, he had little to do now. It felt so good to see Gary's new behavior. Playing with the Endermen…. That sounded like a new study he was going to begin. Speaking of study, he began to wonder how the Endermen were doing with their latest "building project": A letter 'x'. He walked to another part of the End-fields, where he'd constructed a platform for building. He walked towards it and looked it over. Nothing still. A flash of pink caught his eye and he looked to see an Enderman carrying one of the five blocks of pink-clay he'd set out for the project. The Enderman idled about, staring at the block as if it was some amusing trinket. Occasionally, it would lift it up, swaying it around like a child playing with a toy airplane. Soren quickly read its tag. Sallie.
He rushed up to her, watching her with the block. She turned around and looked at him, as if asking 'Have you seen my block today?' Soren glanced at the pile of clay blocks over to the side and grabbed one. He felt somewhat guilty for giving her a hint to the "puzzle", but he knew it wasn't cheating if he didn't show the full answer. Nothing a head-start would damage. Look, Sallie. Watch this. He thought, knowing very well not to speak out loud while around the Endermen. It had taken them a while to get used to a human present in their world, and Soren didn't want to push his luck again and start talking. Luckily, he thought, it was only three of them who heard him.
He walked to the three-by-three platform and glanced at Sallie. Sure enough, she was paying close attention, wondering what Soren was going to do with his block. Why couldn't he just hold it like a regular Enderman? Holding things was fun! Putting them down was boring. Blocks were fun for cuddling, too. She watched Soren place his block in the middle of the grid. She glanced at her own block, then at his, then hers, then his.
Soren felt like he was on the edge of a steep ledge as Sallie processed the new information. If Gary had played with him, surely he'd be lucky enough to have the Endermen complete a project. Sallie seemed to understand, or was at least trying to. This was golden!
Sallie felt strange as Soren stared at her, his eyes occasionally going for her block. Did he want it? This was her block! He put his down, and that was on him. Sally clicked angrily and walked off, holding her block tightly. This Enderman was strange. He didn't seem to understand that blocks were meant to be cherished and held, not abandoned on the ground! If any other strange Endermen wanted to take her block, he was going to hear it from her! She teleported to stand right next to the purple glass of Soren's study. No one would bother her there, she hoped.
Soren's heart faltered just a bit when she left, but he'd partially expected it. He glanced around the End, seeing his Enderfriends "enjoying" their lives. He thought about how he knew each and every one of them by name, er, tag. Every single one of them. They were like people to him, each with their own defining quirks and unique clicking patterns. To any other person, they all looked and sounded the same, but not to him. After spending so much time among them, they weren't a group of mobs. They were individuals.
Soren tapped his foot on the ground, silently humming a tune that suddenly sprang into him. Before he knew it, he was snapping along, a new song being created in his mind. He'd written many of them, what with endless free-time and plenty of inspiration from this strange place. He thought about Gary, Sallie and all of his friends from this place, and the words began to flow. Suddenly, he lost his appetite for studying, for the time being, anyways. As he raced back to his study, he realized that he was glad to be giving back to his tall friends after all the new information, priceless presence and lasting friendship they'd given him. He swung the doors open and raced up the stairs to his music room.
Outside, Gary walked over to Sallie, who was still hanging onto her cuddle-buddy block. He glanced at it, and she pulled it away, warning him not to come any closer.
"Just looking." He said in his low, guttural voice. He looked at the purple glass, seeing nothing but that. Endermen couldn't see through glass, and the whole of them only saw a thick, purple screen. "Isn't he a weird one?"
"That's for sure. He's one of the strangest Endermen I've ever seen in my life!" She said, not taking her eyes off her block. "I wonder what he does in that strange place." The sound of cheery singing reached their ears and they hissed with annoyance. "Sounds horrible."
"Poor guy doesn't even make good Enderman calls." They listened a moment longer. "Well, at least he's fun to hang out with." He said.
"Yeah, and he doesn't make those terrible calls out here. They must be loud since we can hear them past that screen." She tuned her ears, trying to ignore Soren's singing and focus on the piano itself. "I like the other tunes, though. They sound pretty."
"Maybe he'll bring out the special sound-block tomorrow and we can listen. I like his songs, but not his calls."
"I wish he'd teach us music." She said wistfully.
"Maybe if he'd stop bringing us these pink blocks, he would." Gary said, starting to walk off. He stopped to turn around. "Why does he like these pink blocks anyways? They aren't as cool as the green pricklies or the blue, sparkly ones."
Sallie studied her pink block and smiled. "Maybe he just really likes them, like I do."
Inside, Soren smiled at the staff-paper in front of his piano, where he'd just finished writing his latest tune. He hoped his friends would like it. They seemed to have an odd fascination with his music, even though they seemed to hate singing. Maybe they'd changed their minds over the months. Nevertheless, they'd given Soren the gift of friendship. Now Soren was going to give them the gift of song.
Haha! Chapter two! And without the stress of my mom wanting me to go to bed (Toni, if you're reading this, I can now relate to that stress).
Did anyone know who Sallie was talking about when she didn't want another strange Enderman taking her block? Let me know!
Besides the dialogue between Sallie and Gary at the end, I tried to keep this mostly down to action and thought, because Endermen are known to be action-driven, (usually) quiet creatures. So, I wanted the story to be the same way. Just an artistic approach (that was probably defeated by the end dialogue).
Depending on what time I get home tomorrow, we may or may not have one for that tragic day known as episode 4. Hopefully, I completely forget. JK, but really. I can't remember. Did Reuben and Magnus/Ellie die in episode 4? Or did Magnus/Ellie die in this episode? Either way, I might commemorate on both deaths. I dunno. Well, thanks for reading and reviewing, guys! And don't forget to follow and favorite! Countdown's just beginning!
