Chapter 1: The Days Before

One more morning closer to the expedition.

Endre was up early that morning. While everyone else was sleeping in bed, he was at the training grounds, whacking the living daylights out of an armor stand. He was itching for the day he could enter the Nether, and send Parker to an early grave. He could still hear his father's last words: "Don't… go down… without… a… fight…" Oh, there wouldn't need to be a fight. Endre was going to march into the Nether, and show Parker who was boss. Nothing was going to stand in his way. No-squish. Someone was here. He shot an arrow in the direction of the footstep…

...only to be met with Pickaxe, who begrudgingly plucked it out of his chest.

Pickaxe was in the mines, working himself to death, as usual. Ever since he witnessed Endre's father get shot with an arrow, he knew another expedition was afoot. Of course Sabrinna tried talking him out of it on several occasions. He usually wasn't there to hear it. Eventually, she caved in. "But please," she begged, "At least stay for the week." He couldn't say no to THAT. Combined with the fact that she was near-identical to Jewel… you get the idea.

Besides, it wasn't TOO long of a time to wait.

He emerged from the cave, swerving his head left and right to make sure he wouldn't get hit with an arrow. Endre's seriously worked up, thought Pickaxe, I don't blame him, either. Now wasn't the time to dwell on that, though. He had emeralds. And he was going to use them. "64 of these things…" he whispered. "Let's have some fun." First item on the list: a fishing hook. He stopped a villager in a brown robe. "Any deals, fisherman?" he asked politely.

One Enchanated Fishing Rod for Eight Emeralds. Take It Or Leave It.

He planned to fish later that day. But he still had 56 emeralds left. What to do, what to do… "Hey, Endre!" he called out. Said miner turned his head around, and let out a "MEEP!" Pickaxe laughed, adding, "Relax! I'm fine." Endre sighed from relief. "In fact," Pickaxe mentioned, pulling out 12 emeralds, "I wanted to give you these."

Pickaxe and Endre could've sworn they heard Texik "WHOOP-WHOOOOOOOOP!"-ing in the distance.

Back to haggling. He needed to find a librarian, stat. Luckily, one of the white robed villagers was currently standing in front of the local library. "Over here, my good man!" Pickaxe yelled. A Bookshelf for Four Emeralds. Take It Or Leave It. He took the bookshelf and placed it in front of him. Then he cutted it with an axe. Three books feel in the bookshelf's place. "Yes!" Pickaxe cheered. Now he could get the ultimate goal of his master plan. "How much for three enchanted books?" he asked.

The rest of his emeralds later, Pickaxe had acquired Luck of the Sea I, Looting II, and Fortune III.

Jewel and Stan probably should've stayed hidden this morning.

The first thing their parents did was assign them to farm work. Jewel had been assigned to the animals; Stan was currently tending to the crops. "Darn. Why does beetroot have to grow so soon?" Stan muttered. He was more into books, not labor! But, he thought, I might as well get used to the responsibility. He was going to have a lot of it in the future. "Wonder how Jewel's doing with the animals…" he thought aloud.

Unsurprisingly, she was doing quite well.

She had sheared all the sheep, collected the chickens eggs, and had milked (and souped) all the mooshrooms. She adored animals, especially considering they wouldn't kill her on sight like other mobs… Where was mom? She was supposed to be here by now. Something about teaching her "The secret of life." How bad could it be?, she thought, as Sabrina began to approach the pens.

After some wheat and seeds, Jewel decided she needed to go see Sarah.

The enchantress was currently putting her focus on a brewing stand in the local brewery. "Whatcha making?" Jewel asked, startling Sarah from behind. After catching her breath, she calmly answered, "Just some potions of swiftness." She pulled out the sugar, placing it at the top of the stand.

Within the course of a few seconds, the awkward potions had changed into potions of swiftness.

"And that's the last of the blaze powder," Sarah sighed. She began to play with her golden sword again. "That trip to the Nether can't come soon enough…" "Mmm hmm…" Jewel muttered. She looked… despondent. "What's up?" asked Sarah. Jewel looked like she didn't want to respond. "Just… thinking about an old friend…" she answered. Sarah knew that wasn't the whole story.

"Wanna talk about it?"

Madison was in the right place at the right time.

Pickaxe was walking to the main island shore, an enchanted fishing rod in hand. He looked unintentionally swanky. She let out a small snicker. "Someone looks like they'll enjoy fishing." she thought aloud. That being said, Pickaxe sat a block away from the shore, and casted his rod. He waited for several moments. Particles began surfacing on the water. Pickaxe reeled in his catch, and caught… a puffer fish.

Not TOO bad, but he could do better.

He casted his rod again. Madison watched with intent. What would he catch this time? He reeled in his rod again to find… leather boots. Did not see that coming, Madison admitted in her head. Pickaxe placed the boots in a chest he placed next to him. He tried to reel in another catch, and found… a regular fish. Again, he casted his rod, and found… ink sacs. How anticlimactic, Madison muttered in her head.

Usually Pickaxe caught fish, a few times he caught junk, until…

A bow was on his hook. Pickaxe and Jewel gawked at the discovery. A bow. On a hook. "Wow," was all Pickaxe could say. Endre suddenly walked up to Pickaxe. "Hey," he greeted. "Hey," Pickaxe greeted back. Then he took a second look at him. Endre was wearing this weird type of helmet he hadn't seen before. "Chainmail," Endre stated, "I got it with the emeralds you gave me. Speaking of which, I also got... this!" He pulled out an enchanted iron shovel. "This bad boy somehow had Smite V! All the zombies will fear me now!" "Cool," complemented Pickaxe, before showing off his pickaxe's newly acquired Fortune III and his sword's Looting II. "Wanna fish?" he asked, pulling out a fishing rod from the sea.

They were there until the sun was about to set.

Under the cover of darkness, the Nether portal was reactivated. None in the village would have known that two figures stepped out of the portal, their faces concealed in darkness. "Are you sure this is the place?" asked one of the voices. "I'm certain." said the other voice, sounding much younger and refined than the former. "I don't see why you're interested in this miniscule village…" "All in good time my friend. For now, all you need to know is that a grand treasure is buried here." "The rich kind?" "Surprisingly, no. The dimensional kind." "Then why don't we just grab it now, while the village is oblivious?" "It would take too long. Besides, we're here for another reason… an old friend of mine…" "Dwell on the past, much?" "I don't have to answer that question. We won't get her tonight, anyway. I just needed to see her house's location." "Why is she so important?"

"She's the chief's daughter, nimrod."

"Oh." "Yes, and once I convince her to join my cause, it will only soften the chief's current opposition against me." "Is that so? I heard she's got some new friends, if the rumors are true…" "Nonsense. It's merely rumors to belittle her. She can survive on her own. They just kept her in a cage…" "And your solution was to nearly kill her?" "T-that was a mistake! I underestimated the potential danger she would be in!" "Even so, what makes you think she'll join you? No doubt she saw the murder of the old coot you shot." "He was a loose end. The girl will listen to me. She wouldn't ignore a friend." "Are you delusional?" "No. I just see the way things should be. Now get back to your post, or you won't receive pay." "Fair enough."

"Don't worry, Jewel. We'll be together soon… as the rulers of our new empire…"

The portal dissipated as the figures left, leaving no indication of their meeting.

Pickaxe

A Minecraft FanFiction

Book Two: Nether Dead

Author's Note: Trust me my friends, the next few adventures won't be so easy. I somehow finished the remainder of Book One in a day, so I figured, What the heck? I'll try to get Book Two out as best as I can, but I start school soon, so… expect more delays than usual. I hope you enjoyed the first book… because the second one's about to bring the heat. ...I'll see myself out. Bye!