This chapter focuses on my Original Character Annie Van Gale.

A little far outside of Trolberg, a chicken was walking around minding its own business. It started pecking at the ground for various reasons but before it could have time to react the chicken was attacked by a swinging Stone Sword. The person holding that sword was Annie Van Gale, who then grabbed the Raw Chicken that was left behind once the chicken was slain. Placing the Raw Chicken into her inventory Annie pressed onto the task she gave to herself ahead.

Annie left the city of Trolberg for a certain ingredient for her contraption, which will be the very thing to make it work, a Bucket of Water. Before she left to retrieve the water, she was building a contraption for the local farmer of Trolberg, a man named Oliver, which would allow him to harvest Pumpkins and Melons in almost no time at all. Sure, he said to Annie that there was no need for that, that he would like it to be done the regular way, but the thing about Redstone Engineering is that even though people say things like that, once it has been done, they eventually thank the engineer for crafting it and use it whenever they can.

Although, now that Annie thinks about it, most of the time people say that she should not be making these contraptions at all, mostly because they do not always work, but the second thing about Redstone Engineering is that you keep inventing until you finally succeed. If there was one thing to be said about Annie Van Gale it is that even in the face of defeat, she always keeps inventing. She has been known to be quite stubborn.

She was however, getting frustrated to have not found a stream of water yet, she would even settle for a puddle. "There has to be some water around here somewhere." Annie said to herself. She took a moment to check her Leather Armor, that was enchanted with Fire Resistance, to make sure that it was all situated and no part of her was exposed. It was not any of the mobs that she was worried about, she dealt with those all the time, there was only one thing she was afraid of being exposed to more than anything in the world.

The sun.

Annie was not sure when it happened, but pretty much her entire life she had an intense fear of the sun. She knew that she was not the only one who had that fear, after all they gave it name, Heliophobia, but she also knew that many people considered it an irrational fear since the sun is needed for everyone's lives. Annie knew that, but she was still afraid of it, she always makes sure that no part of her is exposed, for even the tiniest exposed part of her gets touched by the sun's rays, then she starts freaking out.

Few people took pity on her since she is afraid of something that is always around, Annie did not really like people feeling sorry for her, making her feal week and helpless. Many other people, however, laughed at her for fearing something like the sun, believing that there was no reason at all to be afraid of it, people like that tend to make fun of her. One group in particular make fun of her every chance they get, a group of bratty teenage girls some of them the same age as Annie, calling themselves the Marra. One of them more so than the rest, a girl with two ponytails, an over-sized black sweatshirt, and a pink scarf, her name was Jaeden.

No doubt she was the meanest one in the group, even though she was not the leader, Jaeden would always find ways to make fun of Annie, sometimes she purposely looks for her just to hurt her. Though most of the time she is with the rest of her group lead by a girl with long blonde hair and a pink shirt with a white star in the middle with a white long sleeved shirt underneath it, her name was Kelly. Annie was not sure what to make of Kelly, whenever the other girls make fun of her Kelly would always give them a reason to leave her alone, that they have more important things to do than make fun of Annie.

Annie wished that she knew more about Kelly, but she did not. And if Annie was being completely honest with herself, she did find Kelly to be somewhat attractive, for someone who leads a group of griefers.

Shaking herself out of those thoughts she went back to looking for water. She looked to her right to see some Sweet Berries, thinking that she could use a little snack she grabbed some of them while also making sure there were no Bees around. Luckily, there were not, and Annie was able to grab the Sweet Berries with ease. She was going to eat some of them but stopped when she heard flowing water. "Yes! Finally!" Annie shouted with joy.

She ran to the location and saw a stream of water underneath a small hill. Grabbing her Bucket out of her inventory she jumped and landed near the stream. She was about to walk towards the water, but she then heard a noise behind her. She looked and saw a Creeper come out of a cave that was within the small hill. Annie tried to grab her Stone Sword, but the Creeper blew up before she even had time to react. Luckily, thanks to her armor, the explosion did not kill her.

The explosion forced her into the water, which was also lucky, if there was a large hole or something and she fell in she would have been a goner for sure. Still holding the Bucket, she grabbed the water she needed but then noticed something off. She noticed her skin felt like it was on fire, putting the Bucket of Water in her inventory she checked herself out and noticed, to her despair, that her helmet had been destroyed. The explosion from the Creeper must have broken it.

Her heart was beating rapidly, and she found it incredibly hard to breath. "No, no, no, no, no, no." Annie started freaking out, she felt like she was burning, she was sweating, and she could not get herself to move. She could not move, but she needed to, she needed to find a safe place to hide from the sun. Annie thought of going into the cave but decided against it since there might be more mobs in there. Her only option was to mine a safe place for herself, gathering whatever courage she had now, she sprinted out of the water and up to another part of the hill that was untouched.

Quickly grabbing her Stone Pickaxe, she started mining like crazy, gathering a lot of Cobblestone in the process. Soon she made a small hole in the hill, but before she could mine any more her Stone Pickaxe broke apart, too bad for her since that was the only pickaxe she had and she did not have any Sticks or a Crafting Table on her, so this small opening was all she could manage. Annie had no choice but to sit there and wait for the sun to go down.

After a minute of getting her breathing under control Annie started crying. She could not help it; she always gets like this she gets unfortunate enough to get hit by the sun's rays. "Why? Why can't I get over this fear of mine?" Hugging her knees, she let the tears flow out.

Sitting right there, trapped and alone, makes Annie think about the times in Trolberg where she felt like this.

Days like that, she wished that someone would show her even a little bit of kindness, she could not get it from her parents after all. Annie made the mistake of making a potion of Fire Resistance one day and her parents, who hated the thought of Potion Brewing and Enchanting because of all the Witches and Evokers, have flat out disowned Annie and threw her out of the house. That was the day that living safe from the sun came to an end.

She was all alone, hardly any food, and only a small crevice of shade to keep her safe from the sun. Annie felt trapped, like making a Potion was a crime against humanity and the small crevice was her prison cell. The people there did not make it any easier, the Marra especially.

"Well, well, well." Speak of the Wither. "Annie Van Gale, how are you doing?" Annie looked up and saw Jaeden, she was alone right now, but would not last.

"I'm alright." Annie said hesitantly.

Jaeden looked around and asked, "What are you doing over here?"

Annie nervously laughed and replied. "Oh, you know, just sitting around."

Jaeden smirked at that having an evil look in her eye. "Well good news Annie," Jaeden pulled out a Diamond from her inventory. "I just happened to have a Diamond here, found some in the mine, lucky me."

"Yeah, lucky you." Annie said looking at the Diamond.

"Thing is I kind of already have enough something so this one right is left over. Do you want it?" Jaeden saw the look in Annie's eyes saying that she would like it. "I'm sure you could use this for all sorts of things. So, if you want it," Jaeden stepped into the sunlight and held out the Diamond. "Then why don't you just walk over here and grab it?"

And there it was, the thing Annie had been expecting, Jaeden taunting her with a Diamond and making fun of her fear of the sun. Annie stayed where she was and said, "Um…no thanks I'm good."

Jaeden had a fake expression of shock. "What? You don't want this; think about the things you could get with it." Annie shook her head. "You know that Diamonds are so hard to get, I was lucky enough to find one, but I have more than that and I want you to have this as a token of our friendship." Annie looked sad at this which made Jaeden smirk. "You seriously don't want this?"

"That's enough Jaeden."

Annie and Jaeden turned to the direction of the one who spoke and saw the leader of Jaeden's group, Kelly, walk up to them. "What?" Jaeden asked. "I seriously want Annie to have this."

Kelly looked at the Diamond and then to Annie and back at Jaeden. "If you really want her to have it then why don't you just hand it over to her?"

"Oh, come on…I just want her to step over here to grab it. It's not that hard to do." Jaeden then looked back over at Annie. "I mean it's not like she's a Zombie and can catch fire. Or even a Skeleton, even though she's as pale as a Skeleton." Annie looked down at that and started stroking her pale blonde hair at what she said.

Kelly looked at Annie and then shook her head. "Come on, we need to get going. Unless you forgot about our meeting again."

Jaeden looked genuinely surprised at that. "That only happened one time."

"Three."

"Three times." Jaeden corrected herself.

"Well, I just knew that you would be here so there wouldn't be a fourth time, now let's go." Kelly said as she started walking away.

Jaeden scoffed at that and turned back to Annie. Placing the Diamond in her inventory she said, "You're lucky I have somewhere to be right now."

"JAEDEN!" Kelly shouted behind her.

"I'M COMING!" Jaeden shouted back leaving Annie alone again. Alone once again, just like she had always been.

Annie was so deep in thought about that memory she was jumped up in surprise once she heard a noise. Looking everywhere hoping that it was not Zombie, or Skeleton, or Creeper, she looked down and saw a Fox right below her. This Fox was red, common unlike the white ones, the Fox was also small, meaning this one was a baby, that meant its parents must be near.

Waving her hands in a shooing motion Annie said, "Shoo, shoo, go on." The Fox however, remained still. It sniffed around Annie making her realize that it must smell the Sweet Berries that she had. "No, you can't have the Sweet Berries, they're mine." Annie said in a defensive position.

The baby Fox looked at her with pleading eyes hoping to get the Sweet Berries from her. Annie felt her defenses being lowered at this and she groaned in defeat. Pulling the Sweet Berries from her inventory she tossed them to the baby Fox who ate them with glee. The baby Fox then got up and ran out of the hole Annie mined herself into leaving Annie alone again. While it left Annie started thinking about another memory of hers that felt like this.

Annie had asked to go inside a building that looked like a library so she could stay safe from the sun, the head librarian, that is referred to both the names Maven and Kaisa, however, was no where to be found. There were two people there, two people with red and white hair, one of them in a full-length black dress and the other was wearing something that kind of resembled a military uniform, their names were Caroline and Emily. Annie asked if she could stay but the two of them through her out before she finishes what she was saying, almost like they were hiding something.

Being exposed to the sun again, Annie quickly ducked into a nearby alley, once again feeling trapped. Though she was used to this, most people would turn her down instead of offering to help, she only hoped that some of the adults made show mercy but that was not the case.

Annie did not know how long she was sitting there until she heard someone call out to her. "Excuse me? Miss?" Annie looked up and saw a woman about her height with brown hair with red streaks. The woman came closer and asked, "What are you doing out here?"

Annie was afraid that this person was going to try and do something harsh to her, the same way her parents and those Marra have done so many times. Annie scooted backward and said, "I'm just trying to stay out of the sun."

The woman before her looked around and held her hand in the air, trying to test the heat of the day. Honestly, it seemed nice out at least 70 degrees, so why was this girl ducking in the shade, well the woman thought that that was none of her business. "Wouldn't you rather be inside?"

Annie looked at her with a sneer. "Not that it's any of your business but I was thrown out."

The woman looked surprised. "Kaisa threw someone out of the library. She hardly ever does that."

"I don't know who this 'Kaisa' person is but two women with red and white hair threw me out before I could even ask them if can stay." Annie explained to the woman.

Hearing what Annie said, the woman groaned. "Not again, they can't keep doing this. It's only going to make things worse." The woman grabbed Annie's hand and pulled her up. "Come on I can let them let you in."

Annie was surprised that this woman grabbed her arm, but as soon as her hand was exposed to sunlight Annie started freaking out. "NO NO NOOOO!" Annie forced her hand away from the woman and retreated into the shade. The woman was shocked to see that happen and was about to ask why Annie screamed and thrashed around only to stop and see Annie blowing on her hand like her hand was on fire. She then placed her hand on her heart and started breathing deeply to try and calm herself.

The woman then remembered that Annie said the reason she was in this alley was so she could get out of the sun, when she tried to pull Annie out of the alley she quickly retreated while panicking, and now that she got a good look at Annie, pale skin and hair it all made sense. She knew the term for this but never thought she would meet someone who suffered from it, Heliophobia, a fear of the sun.

"I'm…I'm sorry." The woman apologized to Annie. "I had no idea." Annie looked at the woman fearfully and kept her distance. "Please forgive me." She tried moving toward Annie but that just made Annie for fearful, so she stayed where she was. "You don't need to be afraid of me, my name's Cassandra" A few seconds of silence when by. "What's your name?"

Annie was hesitant to answer but what does she have to lose, she already lost everything when her parents threw her out of the house. "Annie."

"Alright, Annie." Cassandra said delighted that she got her to say her name. "Please forgive me if what I ask is personal, but wouldn't you rather be in her house?" Safe from the sun?"

Just as Cassandra asked that question Annie started crying making Cassandra place her hand on her mouth for making her cry. Annie really did not want anyone know but after everything that has been happening, she felt like she needed to let someone know what happened, even if that someone was a stranger. Through her tears she looked at Cassandra and said, "My parents threw me out of the house. I made a Potion of Fire Resistance, and they threw me out."

Cassandra gasped at this, though in all honesty she knew exactly what Annie was talking about. For a long time, she has dealt with people like that, just the very act of making a Potion or enchanting an item would brand you as a Witch or an Evoker, just because they exist does not mean that they themselves are like them. So, what if someone likes magic, who cares? It was reasons like that that Cassandra and her friends Caroline and Emily created a haven for people like Annie.

Cassandra then thought of something that she could do for Annie. "Wait right here, I'll be right back." Cassandra walked away from the alley an into the library, leaving Annie alone again.

Annie had been so deep in thought that once she looked up at the sky, she noticed that it was getting dark. Just how long had she been sitting in there? She did not want to know, the only thing that mattered was that the sun was going down allowing her to finally head back into the city.

Checking her inventory to see if she had everything, except for the Stone Pickaxe that was destroyed, she saw that everything was in order, including the Bucket of Water, the very reason why she was out here in the first place. Seeing everything in order, after calming herself down, she got ready to head back to Trolberg but stopped when she heard something. She looked in the direction of the noise and saw a bunch of Spiders, looking closer she saw that they were surrounding a baby Fox, possibly the same one she saw earlier.

The sun had set which meant that Annie needed to make her move but seeing the baby Fox surrounded by Spiders made her freeze. Should the parents be there to protect their young? Why were they not there? Annie looked at her Stone Sword seeing that the durability was low but enough to take them on. Looking back, she that there were five Spiders, maybe more on the way. She could probably finish them off but if there were more coming than her sword would be destroyed. With the trees around and the Cobblestone she has she could make another sword but with how fast Spiders are they would finish off the Fox before she had time to make the sword.

"What do I do?" On one hand she risks it and saves the Fox, on the other hand she takes what she has and heads back home. Looking back at the Fox and now realizing that the parents were not coming to help their young, she thought the Fox was done for, abandoned.

"Just like me."

With that thought in mind Annie knew what needed to be done. "HEY, GET AWAY FROM THAT FOX!" Annie shouted at the Spiders getting their attention. She charged at them to help the Fox; the same way Cassandra was there to help Annie when she needed it.

"She's not coming back." Annie said to herself as she waited for a long time for Cassandra to come back. With the time slipping by Annie was starting to think that she ditched her, just like everyone else. "Maybe I should take this as a sign to just leave the city, live on my own. People do that sometimes."

Just when she started losing hope, she heard a door open and close. She looked and saw Cassandra walking back to her. Annie honestly thought that she was going to be alone again, but seeing Cassandra come back brought back hope to her heart. "Sorry I took so long, I needed to find the right Enchanted Books." Annie was confused at what she said. "But I got you something." She handed the things she made to Annie and what she saw surprised her.

Annie was holding a complete Leather Armor set, with Chest plate, Helmet, Leggings, and Boots. Though it was not the armor itself that she was surprised about, it was that all the items were Enchanted, looking closer she saw that the Enchantment for all the items was Fire Resistance. Annie looked back at Cassandra and saw that she was smiling.

"I had some left-over levels to spare as well as some Lapis Lazuli, but the difficult part was finding four copies of the same Enchantment. I don't know if it will help but if you wear this then maybe you'll be better protected from the sun." Cassandra explained to Annie.

Annie looked down at the armor and did not hesitate to put it on. She started with the Leggings, then the Boots, next was the Chest plate, finally the Helmet went on. With the full set of Enchanted Leather Armor on she looked back at Cassandra, showing it off. "It fits great."

"I was hoping it would." Cassandra said even though she knew all armor fit each individual person.

Now, however, was the true test. Annie looked out into the street, the sun still shining she took a few hesitant steps. She kept going at a slow pace until finally she walked out into the sun and waited for something to happen. Annie opened her eyes and looked at herself for any part of her exposed, but no part of her was. The Leather Armor kept herself covered, not a single ray of sunlight hit her, that and the Fire Resistance Enchantment kept her feeling cool, safe, and protected.

For the first time in a long time, Annie felt completely safe.

Annie looked back at Cassandra and smiled with tears of happiness. "I love it, thank you."

"It's my pleasure, after all we Witches need to stick together." Annie looked shocked at what she said, and Cassandra corrected herself. "No, no, I'm talking about the Witches who live out there, the ones that are commonly found in the Swamp biome. We're different from them, better."

That, however, was not Annie's concern, sure she did not want to think that this person was a Witch like the ones outside the city, but she knew that already. There was only one thing that concerned her. "No that's not it, I'm not a Witch, I'm a Redstone Engineer." Annie looked away in fear. "Things like that don't excite me in any way."

"There's no reason you can't like both." Cassandra said knowing that what Annie said was a lie. "Don't think I didn't see the look in your eyes when you saw the Enchanted Armor, also I still remember you mentioned making a Potion." Cassandra moved toward Annie and placed her hand on Annie's shoulder trying to comfort her. "You don't need to hide your love of magic from me, you can like Redstone Engineering and do magical things and I won't shun you. We look out for one another." Annie looked at her in awe, she only wished her own mother would have been this supportive. "Speaking of, do you have any other family member you can live with?"

Annie thought of it and said, "My Grandmother, but she left Trolberg a long time ago, I don't know where she is now."

"Well in that case, you stay with me in the meantime." Cassandra said making Annie's decision for her. Annie was about to say something when Cassandra beat her to it. "I insist you stay with me, don't want you to live out in the open world where mobs could get you at any time." Annie had to agree with that, she did not have any weapons on her. "Alright now come along, there are two people that owe you an apology." She said grabbing Annie's hand and lead her to the library.

Annie defeated the last Spider, turned out there was more but only like two more, and with that her Stone Sword was destroyed, but thankfully there were no other mobs showing up so both her and the baby Fox was in the clear. She looked down and saw the Fox was also alright, sighing in relief that she was successful.

"Glad you're alright little guy." Annie searched through her inventory and pulled out some more Sweet Berries for the Fox. "Here eat up." The Fox at the Sweet Berries, but before it did it dropped something it was holding in its mouth. Annie looked at what it dropped and saw that it was a Slime Ball. "Where did you get this? Why do you have it?" A thought then came to Annie, she looked back at the Slime Ball and then looked in her inventory and saw that she had a least four String.

What she had was all the ingredients to make a Lead.

She looked back at the Fox and asked, "You want to come with me?" The Fox nodded its head at that. Looking around and still not seeing the baby Fox's parents she started thinking that maybe the baby Fox really was abandoned. They abandoned their child like her parents threw her out of her own home. She looked at the Fox and saw that it was pleading again, but the Fox really did not need to do that, after all Annie would not let what happened to her happen to anyone else, or any creature for that matter. "Wait right here."

Annie walked over to a nearby tree and punched it until a single block of wood popped off. She turned that would into Wooden Planks and then turned them into a Crafting Table. With her new Crafting Table at her disposal, she placed it on the ground and got to crafting. One String on the bottom right corner, two on the center left and top left side, one on the top middle, and finally a Slime Ball in the center. With all those in place she crafted a Lead.

Destroying the Crafting Table so she could place it back in her inventory, she walked back to the baby Fox and tied the Lead onto it. "Here you are little guy." Suddenly a thought came to her. "Huh, guess I don't really know your gender do I, well the least I can do is give you a name." Annie thought of it for a moment and finally said, "How about…Scarlet? You like that?"

The Fox jumped up in the air happily at that, accepting its new name.

"Alright then Scarlet, come on." Annie said walking away with her new friend in tow. "Let's get home before the sun rises again. I need a new Helmet."