Chapter 3: Mob 101
The days began passing. The mobs took Deci out every night, trying to teach her each of their special abilities and instincts. Instincts took virtually no time to implant in the toddler's pliable mind. Abilities though? Took a little longer. Especially since the only one who could actually speak Player was Zoe.
For this reason, the mobs made the executive decision to also try to teach Deci to speak the language of the mobs herself. Whenever Deci pointed to something, the mobs would each tell her the name of the object in Entitian.
Deci pointed to the bow hanging on the wall, over Bones' bed.
"Bow." Ender would say, followed by the rest of the mobs. Then Deci would try to repeat it.
It was surprising to them to see Deci progress so quickly with learning Entitian. When they felt Deci could communicate on a pretty good basis, they decided to continue teaching her other abilities and skills.
The days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months. Months began to pile up into years, even.
"Deci, try to aim a little higher. You have to account for height of the creature, and the most precise shot." Bones said, one day. Deci leveled her bow, and accounted for the gravity of the arrow, like she'd been taught. Though she was still young, the eight-year-old child could draw back the bowstring of a bow that many children were barely large enough to pick up, let alone fire.
Ender stood off to the side, along with Zoe and Crea. All the mobs watched patiently.
Deci breathed out slowly, and picked her target in her mind, measuring the distance and height of the apple on the fencepost.
She let the arrow fly.
The arrow sliced through the air in a graceful arc…
…before landing two blocks short of the fencepost.
The mobs all sighed internally.
Deci frowned and before anybody could say anything else, she notched another arrow and let it fly in one smooth motion. This time, the arrow flew straight through the air, not pausing to bother with wind or gravity, and took the apple right off the fence, pinning it to the tree behind the fencepost.
Deci turned to Bones, handing him his bow back. Bones just stared at her for a few moments, frankly astonished.
"C'mooon, you've been practicing, haven't you?" Bones finally said, grinning his toothy grin.
"No, I just have four good teachers." Deci said, grinning.
"Aaaww, you're gonna make me cry!" Zoe said, giving Deci a hug. "Good job!"
Aside from her training, the mobs were occasionally called out to perform raids on the Players. Deci was usually left in the cave when they went out, for fear that the other mobs wouldn't understand and would try to kill her. To the four mobs, Deci was as much their daughter as she was a Player. Even Crea became very fond of Deci, occasionally sneaking Deci some of the sweeter things she looted from the Players.
And in fact, Deci began to believe, slowly, that she herself was a mob. The knowledge she was a Player was pushed to the back of her mind, as the years began to pass without the contact of the Players.
One night, nearly seven or eight years after the mobs first found her, Deci was walking with Ender through the dark forest. The other mobs knew that Ender wanted to teach Deci his talent in a secluded environment.
Ender turned to Deci.
"I'm going to teach you how to teleport, Deci." Ender said, to the point.
"I'm excited to learn, father." Deci said, politely. She had long since learned how to address the mobs who raised her, even if they were only adoptive parents.
Ender turned back around, looking at the empty forest around them. Ender was always the most cautious of the mobs, and tried to make sure in everything that Deci was always safe.
"First, you have to breathe in steadily. This helps clear your instincts, most of the time. When you get good at this, the breathing won't be necessary." Ender said, turning back to Deci. "Try it like me."
Ender showed her how to breathe correctly for the beginners.
"Okay, now I need you to pick a target in your mind. Any target." Ender said. "Once you have your target in your mind, don't let go of it."
Deci closed her eyes, but Ender interrupted her.
"Don't close your eyes. You need to be aware of your surroundings." Ender said.
Deci took a deep breath and focused. She wanted to appear next to that shrub over there. She focused hard.
"Good. I can feel your link." Ender said, mysteriously. Deci hadn't been taught the Endermen's 'End force' philosophy, but had picked up snippets. Links were like a connection from an entity to a specific destination. Each link was like a coordinate sequence, and the Endermen could teleport safely because of this.
"Now, I need you to open a rift in space with your mind." Ender said.
That was where he lost her.
She tried to do what he said, but try as she might, the rift refused to open. She strained as hard as she could, trying to figure out how to open the said rift, but had no luck. Ender saw her face tightened with effort, and stepped forward.
"It doesn't need to be as hard as you're working, Deci. Here." He said, producing a familiar green pearl. "You've seen me eat the pearls before, right?"
Deci nodded, trying not to lose her destination until Ender told her she could.
"I want you to try to swallow one. It shouldn't hurt, but if you can try to crush it in your mouth. The pearls need to be a fine powder before they'll work for you."
Deci opened her mouth and put the pearl in. She bit on it as hard as she could, but the pearl wasn't cracking. Ender had a strong jaw!
Suddenly, a voice rang out.
"Hey!" the voice said, startling Deci into losing her destination. Ender spun around as well, shaking with anger. Only one thing could rile up Ender so quickly.
A Player, Notch only knows how he found them, was sitting in a nearby tree, his bowstring drawn back. "Get away from her!"
Deci didn't seem to realize that 'her' was herself. She pulled out a careworn shield, just as the Player fired his arrow. Ender teleported behind Deci, who hunkered down behind the shield. Ender grabbed hold of Deci and teleported off, much to the frustration of the other Player. He hadn't expected the move on the Enderman's part.
Ender appeared in the cave, carrying Deci with him. He put her down, and walked over to his bed, watching Deci carefully. Her first interaction with Players. What would be the consequences?
Deci put her shield away, and let the pearl fall from her mouth into her hand. She looked at it for a moment, before putting it back into her mouth. She applied so much pressure she thought her teeth were going to crack. But just before her breaking point, she heard a loud pop. The pearl crumbled to dust in her mouth.
Suddenly, like a rush of wind, she felt energy flooding through her. It was strange, but not entirely unpleasant. It smelled like fresh fruits on stale air, which was not an unpleasant smell to Deci.
Zoe shuffled over to Ender, and sat down with him.
"So, what happened?" Zoe asked. "Why did you come back in such a hurry?"
"Players." Ender said, sighing. "A Player saw Deci and I, and he tried to get me to leave." Ender said, quietly. Deci was concentrating on locating a destination, and Ender could feel her link herself to her room. "I'm not sure what Deci's reaction will be to seeing such an entity that looks so similar to herself."
Zoe placed a hand on Enders arm. "Don't worry. You know that Deci wouldn't just leave us like that."
Ender turned to her. "You think so?"
"Certainly." Zoe said.
Crea walked into the cave, toting something blockish on top of her head.
"Heeey, Deeciii, guess what I just fooouuunnnddd!" she said, walking up behind Deci.
"Just a second, Aunt Crea. I'm trying to fix my—ah HA!" Deci said.
"WOAH!" Crea said, nearly falling backwards as suddenly Deci disappeared, reappearing on top of her bed.
"I DID IT!" Deci whooped, falling on top of her bed.
Ender teleported next to her, his eyes gleaming with pride.
"That's our girl!" Zoe said, moaning excitedly.
"Congratulations!" Bones said, waking up from his midnight nap just long enough to congratulate Deci. He promptly fell back asleep.
Crea placed the block down on top of a block of wooden planks that Deci had crafted, acting as their table. "And to celebrate that victory, I found you a cake!"
Deci teleported over to the cake, kind of drunk on her own newfound teleportation powers.
"OOoohh, what's the occasion?" Deci asked, her eyes wide for the sugary cake that was before her. Carrot cake. Her favorite.
"Guurl, its your birthday!" Crea laughed. "Don't you remember?"
"Birthday? Cake?" Bones said, sitting upright again. "What?"
"C'mon, knucklehead, get on over here. We gotta celebrate!" Zoe said.
The mobs lined up.
"We've been working pretty hard to get you these things, but you're worth it." Zoe said. The mobs each brought out something for Deci from behind their backs.
Crea nudged something forward with her foot. It was a flint and steel, glowing dimly.
"I noticed that the cave sometimes isn't the warmest place," Crea began, "And I know that you know this too. So if you can promise to keep the fire in your room, and not burn anything else, you can keep yourself warm with these."
"Aw, thank you Aunt Crea!" Deci said, giving the Creeper a hug. "I needed one of these!"
"Me next!" Zoe said, bringing her gift forward.
"Deci, I saw this and thought of you." Zoe said, handing her the item. Deci's eyes widened.
"Mother, this is a…" Deci began, but she almost couldn't make it out. Zoe squealed in excitement.
"It is! I went out and had to negotiate with several cousins, but I managed to get you a trident!" Zoe moaned, nearly bursting with enthusiasm.
"Wow, I've heard AWESOME things about this weapon!" Deci said, giving Zoe an enormous hug. "Thank you so much!"
"Let me present my present!" Bones clacked. With triumph, he pulled out… a leather helmet.
"Uh, Bones what the heck is that? Where did you put the other present?" Zoe asked, looking over at him.
"Oh, I didn't mean to pull this out." Bones said, rifling through his items. "Ah, here we go."
Bones pulled out four familiar items…
"OhmyNotch, you got me DIAMONDS!?" Deci squealed, before nearly crushing Bones in a bear-hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"
Deci handled the diamonds like they were… well, diamonds. She carefully put them in her inventory. Oh yeah, she was doing some crafting later.
When she reached the end of the line of mobs, she looked up into Ender's eyes. She was definitely getting taller by now. She was almost up to Ender's shoulder.
Ender slowly pulled out his gift. It was… a chain. On the end glittered three familiar pearls. But the one in the middle looked… different.
"In the End, the Endermen are always given an amulet when going to the Overworld, to remind them of home." Ender said. "And if they are ever lost, they have the eyes of the true Ender to guide them back home."
Ender carefully placed the amulet around Deci's neck.
"May this amulet be such a guide and a guardian to yourself, when all hope may be lost. Between all the dimensions, you will be safe under its gaze." Ender said, though his expressions seemed to war between sadness and pride.
Everyone else in the cave was tearing up, as Deci hugged Ender fiercely.
"That was beautiful, Ender!" Zoe said, wiping a tear away.
"If I could cry, I'd probably be doing so right now." Bones agreed.
"I love it, father." Deci said, fingering the pearls on her new amulet. "I love all your gifts."
The mobs group-hugged, Ender's long arms encompassing them all. Deci laughed.
"You all are going to make me cry even more. Now, I'm going to go see what I can manage to make with these materials!" Deci said, after the hug was finished.
She rushed over to her crafting table, and it wasn't long before she shouted in triumph.
"THIS IS AMAZING!" Deci said, brandishing a diamond sword in the air. A lone ender pearl was set in the hilt, making the entire blade thrum with energy. "I'M GOING TO GO HUNT SOME SHEEP!"
"Try not to stay out too late, please." Zoe said. "You never know when the sun is going to come up."
"I'll hurry, don't worry." Deci said, putting on her own iron helmet. She didn't want to get sunburned like her mother or uncle did.
Deci rushed out of the cave, looking around her eagerly to find any sheep that she might be able to hunt.
She spotted a movement of grey in the treeline. She grinned.
'Time to die, Mr. Sheep.' Deci thought, rushing forward. Gosh, this sheep was fast. It would duck behind another tree almost as soon as Deci came near.
Finally, after a few hours of this chase, Deci found herself right outside a clearing. The grey corner was hiding behind a lone tree, standing very, very still. Deci began creeping up, using the methods that her mother had taught her.
Three blocks away. Two blocks. One blo—
The grey corner spun around, facing her with a bow drawn, and finally it occurred to Deci that this was not in fact a sheep.
It looked… like her? Well, it looked a little different, but it had the same body shape, and wasn't rotten like a zombie…
"Oh, hi. Thought you were a zombie or something." The strange figure said, lowering his bow. "What are you doing out here, this late at night?"
Deci just stared at the figure for a minute, unsure of what to make of him. She was so intent on studying him, she nearly screamed when he spoke to her, in a language she didn't really understand.
Who was this weird girl, why was she out so late in the forest, alone, and why wasn't she speaking or saying something?
These were the things rushing through Flynt's mind.
"Csskkhaa?" the girl asked him.
Uh, that was new.
"Uh, what?" Flynt responded. What was she saying?
"Zldrip?" the girl replied, tilting her head in confusion.
"Wow, uh, those are really good impressions of Endermen and Creepers and stuff…" Flynt said, sufficiently weirded out by this strange girl. "…I'm going to leave then. Would you like a place to stay for the night?"
The girl did not respond, still confused.
"Huh. Well, if you want to take me up on it, give a holler, okay? Maybe we can have a carrot or something, sometime." Flynt said, turning to go.
He felt a hand on his arm. He turned once more, to see the girl, staring deeply into his eyes, looking as though she was trying hard to remember something.
"C-Car-rot?" she said slowly, enunciating the word.
"Uh, yeah?" Flynt asked. Finally it hit him that the girl in front of him truly did not know what he was talking about, but she was trying so hard. "Oh, here."
He drew a carrot from his inventory, holding it up to the moonlight.
"Carrot." He said, looking at her.
She studied the carrot for a moment, before smiling.
"Carrot!" she said, before laughing. She rushed over to the side of the meadow, and picked a daisy. "Xssrt!" she said, holding the flower up to him.
"Daisy." Flynt said, eyeing the clearing around them. He got the strange impression they were being watched. "I… gotta go. C'mon. It's not safe out here alone."
He reached for her hand, and suddenly, the girl went into full defensive-crazy-mode. She drew a weapon and backed off, her eyes wide with apprehension. The diamond blade glinted in the moonlight, and Flynt backed up carefully.
"Okay, woah, we don't need to get hostile, y'know." Flynt said, backing away slowly. "I'm just trying to—GAH!"
An Enderman suddenly appeared, a stone block raised above its head, ready to crush Flynt. It screeched, and Flynt drew a worn stone sword from his inventory, and a shield to try to block the strike.
But then the girl did something unexpected.
She glanced at the sword in Flynt's hands, and yelped. She rushed over, speaking in her strange gibberish.
"Bzrplt! Chssk, grrdh hssf xviaa!" The girl said, flinging herself on the Enderman. But she wasn't attacking it. She looked more like she was… reasoning with it?
Flynt cautiously backed up a few steps, still holding his sword out. The Enderman somehow seemed to calm down a little, lowering the block and putting it down on the ground. But when it turned to the girl, Flynt knew he couldn't let it hurt her. He rushed forward again, and would have engaged the Enderman again, if the girl hadn't thrown out her hand in a universal gesture.
"STOP!" she said.
She couldn't say 'daisy', but she knew what 'stop' meant? Flynt was so confused.
The girl stared at him a little harder, as though trying to decide what to make of him. Then she spoke in her gibberish again, turning to the Enderman.
"Czhixk." She said. The Enderman wrapped his long arms around her.
"Wait, waitwaitwai—!" Flynt said, starting forward again. But it wouldn't matter.
The Enderman vanished, taking the girl with him.
Ender reappeared in the cave, once again toting Deci. He put her down, once again, and again walked over to his bed, sitting down on it. Deci, however, came with him this time.
"Father, what was that thing? Why were you ready to kill it?" Deci asked.
The other three mobs looked up from what they were doing, making simultaneous eye contact with Ender and with each other. Their silent conversations went like this sometimes.
They knew they had to tell her. To remind her.
"Deci, there's something… there's something you should know about your childhood…" Zoe said, sitting down next to Deci as well. "You see, when you were little… really little, Ender found you in the forest. He took you to your home, because right then, he knew you were special. But later that night, we were all surprised to see you again. This time, you didn't… you didn't have a home to return to, so we all decided to… to…"
Bones stepped forward, giving it to Deci straight, just like he always had. "We adopted you, Deci. In the reality of the situation, you're actually a Player. A Player raised by mobs. But it was either take you in or let you die, and honestly we were all fond of you, even from the start."
With a flash, Deci's memories of that night, the night of the fire, the night of meeting her new family… it all came back from the recesses of her mind. Deci put a hand to her head as she remembered it all.
Nobody spoke for a few minutes.
"I suppose I'll understand if you're mad that we didn't tell you this earlier…" Zoe said, shamedly, "But you see we thought…"
"That I'd be mad?" Deci asked. She looked at Zoe. "That I wouldn't understand, or maybe even start looking for my own kind?"
The mobs fell silent.
"Well, I hope you four know that I…" Deci began, hanging her head. When she looked up again, she had tears in her eyes, but she was smiling. "… I could never stay mad at you. The Players are my kind, but you are all my family."
The mobs all looked up. Zoe suddenly burst into tears.
"That's my daughter!" she said, crying as she gave Deci a hug. Deci returned the hug, and gave one to each of the other mobs as well. But after everyone had been settled again, comforted, Deci continued.
"But it still doesn't change the fact that I did in fact see a Player tonight. Father, why… why were you ready to kill it? I need to know."
Ender sighed.
"The mobs and the Players have been locked in… in combat for many years." Ender began. "Longer than you've been alive. This confrontation goes all the way back to the times of the prime of the Ender Dynasty.
"In those times, the Dragons, the high-kings and queens over all mobs, all lived in the Overworld dimension. The End didn't exist, and the Nether was a horror-story only. The Endermen walked freely in the sun.
"But suddenly the mobs found something else in their world. The Players. It's unclear who made the first strike, honestly, but something happened long ago, resulting in the awakening of the ancient species of the Admins.
"The mobs and the Players were at war for so long, and the Player's species was about to die out. The mobs had numbers on their side, and the Players had abilities given to them by the Admins. But the Admins, in the hope that the world they created would not be destroyed, made a sort of treaty, forcing both the Players, and Notch only knows how he managed to get the Dragons to sign it.
"Everyone would go to their own dimension. Only a few species of mobs were allowed to remain in the Overworld. The rest of us, the most dangerous, were banished from this realm, and sent to the End or the Nether. But it wasn't long before the Dragons discovered the tricks used to force them to exile in the End. The Dragon Ender was the first to find and utilize the 'End force', harnessing powers from the other dimensions of the universe. His queen Jean quickly followed suit, and became even more powerful than the great Dragon, but that's another story for later. Using their powers, the Dragons sent out several Endermen to the other dimensions, to try to rally troops until the day may come when the Dragons themselves might break free of the End.
"And that is some of the history of mob-kind. You Deci, are in the unique position to choose which part you would rather partake in. A Player raised by mobs." Ender wrapped up.
"Mobs, hands-down. I don't know if I much like these Players anymore." Deci said, frowning.
Ender sighed. "That may be true, but they aren't all bad."
The other mobs gave him a confused stare for a minute. Ender ignored them, turning to Deci.
"I mean, we've got you, haven't we?" he said, smiling.
Deci smiled back and gave him another hug. Everyone else also joined in.
When this hug was finally dispersed, Deci sighed.
"I'm going to go to bed now. Good morning." Deci yawned, feeling the sun begin to waft in from the cave's entrance.
"Good morning, daughter." Zoe said. She turned to the other mobs. "I'm going to head to bed as well."
"Wait. We all need to discuss the Player as well." Ender said. Zoe sat back down. "This is the second Player tonight that we've seen. Within an hour of each other."
"That… that can be coincidence, right?" Zoe asked, looking fondly at her bed.
"I'm afraid not. You all know the routine. One of us, at all times, has to be awake to guard the cave." Ender said, rising. "I'll take the first shift."
"No." Deci's voice said. Turns out she hadn't quite gone to bed yet, anyway. "I'll take first shift."
"Deci, you n—" Zoe began, but Deci didn't let her finish.
" I'll be fine, don't worry about me. You all need sleep, though. You've been awake longer than I have." Deci said, fastening her new sword to her belt. "Besides, if the Players see me, they might just leave the cave alone."
The mobs looked at each other, and despite their instincts nagging at them, they decided this was probably a good course of action.
Deci went out to patrol the cave alone, unknowing what kind of adventures were about to befall her…