I assure to you guys that I am still alive! Sorry for the super long wait, I had a major traffic jam in school and other writing projects! So now that I'm done with those, I plan to update sooner and (hopefully) have longer chapters! So, I've got Minecraft parodies goin' on in the background and a big soda to keep me on...let's see how this goes! Please enjoy and don't forget to R/R
By the time the weary travelers had arrived at the village, Clara's legs felt as if they were about to fall off. The Doctor crouched down next to her, panting heavily saying, "I think…we made it." He gave a small and unenthusiastic 'woo-hoo', nearly collapsing on the spot.
Clara sat down on the surprisingly chilly grass to catch her breath from the exhausting walk. She looked out over the hills they had previously climbed and sighed in satisfaction of their accomplished hard work. She hadn't realized at first how simple yet beautiful the landscape became as it got closer to dark.
The now nearly faded mountains took on a cooled shade of gray with its snow-capped peaks, the clouds were a bright orange as the final glints of sunlight lit them aflame, and a sliver of the moon was just appearing on the opposite side of the horizon. At any moment, Clara expected crickets to chirp their familiar tune from the darkened grasses that surrounded them, but was disappointed when none came.
A few minutes passed on and soon the Doctor came over, helping Clara back to her feet saying, "Come on, it's getting dark." Clara didn't want to move from the secluded spot. It was nice; the view of the forests and peaks of the mountains beyond seemed to soothe her. "What's wrong with the dark?" The Doctor smiled and muttered quietly, "I don't really want to hang around to find out." Reluctantly, Clara moved away and entered into the village, casting one last look over her shoulder to see the sun finally set.
When they had seen the village from a distance, the buildings and structures looked sound and peaceful; but now that they were up close, the place looked ransacked and abandoned. Houses were missing most of their structure and the small plantations were a mess with most of the crop either destroyed or gone.
"What a mess. Is this how the villages are supposed to be set up?" Clara asked as she inspected a house that was more rubble than a proper structure.
"No, I'm sure this was done by one of the players most likely-" He was interrupted by a loud and high-pitched screech that made them both cover their ears and whip around. What they faced was the last thing that Clara would've expected; a large spider crouched on the wall of one of the abandoned houses and snapped its pincers, preparing to attack.
"Run!"
They dashed away as fast as their tired legs could muster in a random direction. Clara heard more scuttling just a few inches from her feet. Her heart raced a hundred miles an hour as she made her way to the nearest intact house with the Doctor by her side. She glanced over at him to make sure he was still with her when Clara tripped over her own rushing feet. As she hit her face on the gravel she cursed under her breath, knowing immense pain would follow soon after.
"Clara!" She heard the Doctor's startled voice and just nearly got up before being pinned down harshly by the large beast. It seemed to cackle in triumph as it kept her on the ground and prepared to strike. Clara closed her eyes, not wishing to see what would come next, but was surprised when the uncomfortable weight was thrown off unexpectedly, followed by more screeching. She opened her eyes in time to see a figure in the shadows slice at the spider with a large sword.
The Doctor finally made it to her side and helped her up, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He said in haste, looking Clara over for any open wounds or serious injuries.
"I'm alri-AH!" It was more in surprise than in pain when Clara finally felt the scratches on her face from the fall. Her nose wasn't bleeding thankfully, but everything still ached miserably. "Careful, it's just the aftershock. Come on we better get inside before any more come around." The Doctor turned around to face the player that had saved Clara, "Thank you for saving her, to whom do we owe the pleasure…?"
The figure stepped out of the shadows to reveal one of the familiar box-shaped characters that seemed to inhabit the game. This one in particular had brown hair with a red bandana around his head. He wore a white athletic shirt with long black slacks that. If not for the generic block size, Clara would've guessed he was around his early twenties.
"My name's Dragon reborn9," Of course, an American gamer. Go-figure. Clara thought, recognizing the accent the gamer possessed. "And why in the world are you outside? Get in here!" He abruptly shoved the Doctor and Clara into the nearest intact house without another word.
When he shut the door, he looked out the windows and put up several torches around the single room. When he was finished, Dragon reborn9 finally blew out a sigh of relief and turned to the Doctor and Clara. "So, who are you guys?"
The Doctor spoke up. "I'm the Doctor and this is Clara. Mind if we crash here for a bit and ask a few questions?" He leaned casually against one of the walls and eyed the sword that was still in the gamer's hand cautiously.
"I don't mind, it's not my place anyway." The player seemed to shrug it off, "I'm just a pvp'er, I go wherever I please, and this was just my stop for the night anyway. You've got questions, I may have answers. Ask away!"
"What exactly was that spider that attacked me?" Clara piped up as she settled herself on the hard floor.
"It's just a spider, one of the many mobs out here that try to kill you in the dark." Dragon stated matter-of-factly.
"I'm sorry, a what?" The Doctor said in clear confusion.
The player looked between the both of them and wore (from what they could guess) an amazed expression, saying, "Wow, you really are noobies. Please tell me you at least know what game you're playing."
"Nope! Haven't the slightest clue. Why don't you just make things easier and tell us in one big summary what we're getting into here." Clara was in no mood to have the whole back and forth scenario with the questions.
"All of it?" Dragon reborn9 seemed taken aback by the mysterious pair's ignorance of the game.
"Yep." The Doctor and Clara said at the same time, sharing a small smile with one another and then turning their attention back to the gamer.
The player blew out a stream of air and started, "Okay. This is a sandbox game called 'Minecraft' where everybody can choose what he or she wants to do, having complete freedom with the game. You can become an architect, warrior, hunter, miner, admin of a server, programmer, anything you can think of.
After several updates, monsters or 'mobs' were added over time to the game: zombies, skeletons, spiders, wolves, creepers…"
"Creepers?" Clara interrupted, clearly perplexed by the notion of generated players that just stalked you.
"Yes, creepers." He answered, "A glitch in the coding of an animal back when the game was still new, after a while they made it into a mob. They're called creepers because they make almost no sound and they creep up behind you to eventually blow up in your face."
"Sounds lovely." The Doctor said sarcastically.
Dragon reborn continued, "Now onto your predicament. You're in an online server where you can connect with other gamers that are on the same server, sadly for you guys it's a pvp only, or as abbreviated for player-versus-player. Any other questions?"
"Why is it unfortunate for us if it's pvp?" Clara crossed her arms, wondering why he was singling them out.
"You guys can't even fend off a simple spider." Dragon chuckled at their hopelessness.
The Doctor sat back against the wall next to Clara. "What happens if you die in this game?"
"You die and then re-spawn back to where you began at the start of the game, unless if you've already set a spawn, then you're left with nothing all over again. But I wouldn't advise you go everywhere dying willy-nilly."The Doctor gave a small nod as if a theory was proven correct.
A short silence filled the room as Dragon reborn9 waited for more questions, but as none were asked he tossed the sword he was holding to the Doctor saying, "Here, you'll need this to protect yourself and so forth. If you need me I'll be on the roof of the church."
"Why are you leaving us?" Clara inquired. He was the one who knew this game and what they were in for, so she wasn't exactly comfortable with the fact that he was leaving them both there in the dark.
"I'm sure you'll manage on your own." He hollered back as he left the house, closing the door behind him.
Once the two were left alone in the pressing silence, the Doctor got up and began walking towards one of the windows. "Why don't you get some sleep, I'll keep guard."
"Don't you need to sleep?"
"No. I don't sleep very much anyway. Go lay down, I'll be here if you need me." He gave a small smile and sat at his post, looking out for danger.
Typical Doctor…Clara couldn't help but smile back as she turned over on her side, back facing her beloved friend. As much as she wanted to fall into a peaceful slumber she couldn't manage to. It was as if the game itself prohibited it. Clara gave a great sigh and let her mind wander for the time being.
It wasn't long before the Doctor came over and shook her gently saying, "Clara, wake up. It's time to go." She got up reluctantly but gratefully as she stretched her sore joints. Before she had time to speak, the Doctor led her over to the window, saying, "We've got to find a way out of here." Before she could ask why she noticed the outside ground's more realistic tone, with actual blades of grass glittering in the dew and the clouds more puffy than the usual blocks that dotted the sky.
"Why would we need to go?" Clara was nearly mesmerized by the beauty of the morning and wondered how it could possibly be a bad sign.
"With the Tardis through the rift, our reality is bleeding through, except we'll be the only ones affected by it because we came in here from that reality. Everyone else will still see blocks because they're using the game, not in it." The Doctor said.
"So, if our reality is bleeding through…how come the only thing that changed is the grass and clouds?"
"It'll take time for all of it to come through, the longer we stay, the more reality we'll see."
"Well, that's not bad is it?" How could a simple change of scenery be something to worry about?
The Doctor gestured outside, "Think about it, if this becomes our reality…pain and exhaustion will become more immediate and dangers will become more than a normal threat." He leaned forward to give the notion that he was being dead serious with Clara and said in a dark tone, "Imagine what would really happen if we were to die here. The spawn wouldn't work with us by then and we'd be stuck in a near-eternal limbo."
Clara then grasped the whole situation with dread and asked, "So what do we do?"
The Doctor picked up the sword that was leaning against the wall and walked towards the door, "We find whoever wants us or the Tardis, and fast."
Thanks for everything guys, especially for sticking around for this long! So please be patient for the next chapter (*cough* cough* Kat) and I'll update soon :D