AUTHOR'S NOTES

The giddiness compels meeee! :D

Thank you so much for your review SuperTheDoodle! Not sure if I should be glad to know you have the same problem? And, yes, I thought that I might have the burning out issue, so I decided to write a 'schedule' of sorts.

It's essentially a loose lead of what the milestones in the story are.

Also, thank you for your continued support GiggiEba, you are awesome! Glad to know you're enjoying the content so far!

Anyway, on with the story! Thomas is starting this time.

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I woke up with something smooth and warm leaning against me. Hence why I didn't want to move.

I had no idea what it was, just that it was very comfortable. So I opened my groggy eyes...

And looked into Sarah's just as sleepy grey ones

We both were shocked awake, and she quickly stood up on a higher branch. I wasn't as agile, so instead of landing higher on the tree, I landed on a lower branch. And an even lower one, hitting every branch on my way down.

I landed with a pathetic thud, and groaned from all the impacts. I looked up to see Sarah staring at me with concern. When she realized that I was looking she quickly changed her look of worry to a scowl, her cheeks reddening just so.

She looked awfully cute.

She easily jumped down from the tree and landed beside me. "That should teach you to snuggle up to me, creep!" As she was saying this her cheeks reddened even more, visibly this time.

I groaned again and carefully sat up. "I didn't snuggle! You did! I was on the opposite side of the damn tree!"

Her grimace wavered a little, but held steady. She was as red as can be. Her only response was turning away from me and an indignified 'hmmph!'. I slowly got myself onto my feet and started collecting the branches that I had knocked down. No sense in letting them go to waste.

Once Sarah had visibly calmed down, I trodded over to her and spoke. "Hey, let's just forget about that, mmkay? We need to start building a shelter if we don't want the issue to repeat itself. C'mon, the plains are just over there." I walked a few steps and looked back to see if she was following

She hesitated a little, but then started reluctantly tagging along.

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I won't be specifying on whose POV this is because there is only two people so far! :D

Nope, can't be true.

I am a battle-hardened, Elite, Skeleton Acrcher!

I do not snuggle!

I don't. But he is right about me being on the parallel side to him. Must be a coincidence, must've been something that was bothering me in my sleep and it pushed me towards him. There is no other logical explanation.

Oh, for all the holy spirits's sakes, I'm gonna kill him one of these days.

We wandered for a little while until we exited the edge of the forest. The plains were beautiful, emerald grasses and fields of flowers extended throughout the land. Thomas was visibly exited by the latter, which was very funny.

sigh, it has been a long time since I thought something was funny.

Thomas heard and misinterpreted my sigh, believing it to be one of exasperation. He quickly composed himself and started walking out into the plains.

He pointed through the opposite forest. "Do you see that? I think it's a lake."

I squinted and sure enough, there was a relatively large water mass on the other side. Again, he was hiding his excitement, and although it did make me feel a little bad, I wasn't going to tell him. It was probably better if he didn't get overly giddy.

He lead us towards a large oak tree filled with red apples. He took out a very shoddy-looking axe and swung at the tree, leaving a deep mark in its trunk. I was surprised at the strength of the blow. He npmust have noticed, because he made and overly dramatic show of pulling the axe out and swinging it again. I rolled my eyes and started wandering off.

Then I heard a familiar voice yell 'timber!'. I turned around and realized that in the four seconds I turned around, he had managed to down the oak tree that that had probably been there for over a century. I also realized that the ancient oak tree was leaning towards me as it fell.

Thomas appeared at the edge of my vision in a flash, and he dove towards me, nocking me and him out of the way.

The tree shattered with a defeaning sound that that would have rivaled thunder, lifting dust and pieces of wood into the air, along with a few shining apples.

Once the dust cleared and we stopped coughing, both of us looked up at Thomas's achievement. The tall tree had broken into four chunks, each of equal length. The branches were mangled and broken, some of them split from the trunk entirely. I noticed that Thomas was still hanging on to me by my forearm, his grip soft and caring. I felt myself blush as I stepped away and screamed at him. "What were you thinking!? You could've killed me!"

He stepped back, hurt. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for it to fall that way!" Then his eyes hardened, changing from visibly hurt to visibly upset. "In fact, why am I even apologizing? The tree fell on its own! If you hadn't been distracted, then you would've been fine! And it didn't even matter because I was there to save you! Just like I have done in the past! All I've done since meeting you was be there to protect you!" He pointed a judge mental finger in my direction as he spit out the last words.

I hated him for always being right. Now it was my turn to be visibly hurt. His gaze softened and he dropped his hand to his side. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for and rude. It was my fault for not warning you in time."

I looked at the ground and mumbled. "No, you're right. I shouldn't have been distracted. And I shouldn't have yelled at you when you have been nothing but helpful. It's just... a little in dignifying, to be saved all the time."

We both just stared at each other. He sighed and started towards the nearest chunk of log. "Can you help me? We need to move these logs into the right position to use them as supports for the shelter."

I walked towards him and helped him move the heavy log to the center of the plains. As we walked, I could feel the grasses and flowers tickling my legs and thighs, making me wish that Thomas hadn't scrapped my leggings. At least I still had my shorts and slightly bloody shirt. Some strands of my inky black hair got in the way of my vision, and I made a mental note to tie it in a ponytail. Usually my helmet kept this problem at bay, but well...

We dropped the log in place and Thomas started carving out a space in the dirt. "Ehh... could you see if you can bring another log?" His hesitation brought My hardheadedness to light. "Of course." I walked back toward the fallen tree, tieing my hair as I did.

I managed to drag the big chunk of log towards Thomas, all the while feeling him stare at me. I managed to drop it at his feet, beside the first log with had been lifted upright and into the hole he had carved out.

We spent the whole day logging trees, splitting some trunks in half to use as walls, and all the while I stayed put. I mean, I did help with the halfhearted building here and there, but it's not like I did much. I'm not an enderman, after all.

Then again, neither is he...

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Sarah spent most of the day wandering while I built up the shelter. It was simple, but I was still proud of it one I was finished.

It was a little short, but it stood. I stripped the bark on some of the tree trunks to use them as walls, and the branches and foliage were used to make the roof. Also, we now had a metric buttload of apples.

An I was quite happy with all of this. The shelter had a haphazard and crude door, made with a plank of wood placed on a hole in the side of the shelter. Sarah had tied her beautiful black hair into a short ponytail, and had removed the old bandages that she didn't really need.

I brought all of the leftover sticks and wood, as well as most of the apples, into the shelter. I stacked it all into neat piles on one side of the shelter. Then I stepped outside and called for Sarah. She arrived quickly, her knife out and eyes looking through the plains, expecting to see an enemy. I smiled in spite of the terrifying sight.

When she realized no mobs were around, she slowed down to meet me. "What happened?" "Nothing, just wanted to tell you that the shelter was done. It's getting dark, though, so we should head inside." I opened the 'door' for her, and she wandered inside without a word.

Once inside, she complained about it being dark. I offered her a stubby stick with a few leaves on the end, and she took it lightly indignified. Taking out her knife again, she picked up a stone. Sarah scraped the edge of the knife against the stone, causing a spark to emerge and light the leaves on the stick. She drove it into the earth and sat back, satisfied.

The light gave our small shelter a sombre mood, and I decided to kill the silence. "Uh, Sarah? Tell me a story? I mean... a legend." I felt a blush on my face, realizing how childish I probably sounded.

She smiled though, a beautiful and captivating smile. "Of course. Which one?" I thought for a moment, remembering all of the details of yesterday's storytelling. "You said that the legend you told me started 'after the beginning of time'. What did you mean?"

She thought for a moment too, hesitant as to how to answer. "Well, it's more of a myth than a legend, but okay.

Before time had started, and when the world was very new, the first monsters were spawned from soul sand, the only viable reasource at the moment. A skeleton, a zombie, a spider, a creeper, an enderman, and a slime.

The mobs walked their home, shaping everything in their path, from the trees to the mountains, creating life around them. They had been light spirits, mortal creatures of great compassion and loyalty. But when the sun set, and darkness fell, the spirit's darker side consumed their mortal bodies.

One night, the darkness within them took over, expelling them from their bodies and leaving them as shadow spirits, keeping their knowledge and compassion in their eyes. The monsters that roamed the land spawned more from the soul sand around them, and the shadow spirits did the same.

They created the first leaders, and passed on their knowledge to them. They taught endermen to build, skeletons to hunt, zombies to heal, spiders to trap, creepers to tinker, and slimes to mine.

The evil mobs became jealous of their structures and creations. So they sent a legion of their malevolent spawn. A great battle raged on, each ancestral leader fighting for his and her partners.

The leaders were successful because of their teamwork and intelligence. The mortal bodies of the evil spirits perished, and their monsters inherited the hate and jealousy they had for the shadow spirits.

This catalyst marks the beginning of time, and the reason why monsters hate mobs."

She yawned and curled up in the wool blanket I had made for her when she was sick. Just like that, she fell asleep. I was stunned and more than a little mistifyed. I just had to learn more about these clans. But not today. I got myself as comfortable as possible and followed suit, lulled by Sarah's steady and soft breathing.

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SOME MORE AUTHOR'S NOTES

Huzza! Another chapter delivered within a day! And over two thousand words, no less!

Thank you all for your time and support! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the lore it contained!

Anywho, thank you again for your time, and have a good day!

~ LeMafiaKreb