I shot up in bed, sweat running down my forehead, my eyes closed. "Jeez… what a wild dream. That's the last time that I-" I opened my eyes, blinking once or twice in an attempt to accurately register what sat in front of me.

There were the same old planks that I had seen before I passed out. The chest next to my bed looked familiar, and even the bed that I was on seemed all-too square for this to be my home. My head hit the wall as I inhaled deeply, trying to clear my mind. "Alright… so I'm still in this weird place, I guess. I suppose the next step… is to figure out how to get home." I swung my legs over the side of the bed, rummaging through my pockets momentarily.

"Ah… nice to see that you're up." I heard a voice coming through the door. It was the same cube-person that I had seen before I passed out last night. "For a while there, we were beginning to wonder just how long you would sleep- it has been a day now, after all."

I saw the sun streaming in through the windows, causing me to squint as I turned my gaze to the floor, resting my elbows on my knees. "Minecraftia, huh?" I whispered, my eyes meeting his. "That's the name of this place, right?"

"Y-Yes, that's correct." He nodded once, pointing to the chest that sat next to the bed. "I put all of your things in there, in case you need them. Minecraftia is far from a safe place- you'd be hard-pressed to find something that's not out to kill you." He grimaced, walking further into the house and sitting on a chair across the room. "Now, that aside… do you have any questions?"
"Nah… I think the only thing that I really need to know is how to get better weapons… this sharp stick…" I took my wooden sword from the chest, shaking my head in disapproval. "...won't hold up for long, I imagine."

"Well, you're in luck. It just so happens that it's the third day of the week- that's when we send a mining party out to get materials for the town. You can join them, if you like." I took a deep breath, taking my guidebook from the chest.

"The next step IS cobblestone, isn't it?" I asked, looking at the 3rd chapter, simply labelled: "Getting an Upgrade." Apparently, cobblestone was needed in order to progress any further, so I suppose it couldn't hurt. "Alright, then let's take a swing at it." I smiled, turning around and looking at the villager. "I'm Brad del Riccio. Thanks for taking me in, and it's nice to meet you."

After exchanging pleasantries (the villager's name happened to be Adam), and grabbing all of the things inside of the chest, he led me out of his home, directing me towards a group of villagers that all sat around, men and women alike as they joked with one another- I'm guessing that they were ready to go to the mines, given their tools at their side.

"Alright, guys! Settle down, we're heading out!" Adam yelled, reining in the entire group as they gave him their attention. The entire group began to move in tandem, walking towards some location that was unknown to me. I just decided to follow the group.

I took my pick out of my pocket, looking it up and down. "You really are a sorry sight, aren't you?" I chuckled under my breath, holding it at my side.

We reached the mine in about an hour, my ears deciding to jump into random conversations, hearing about some local gossip, or even learning some things about the world itself. Apparently, the reason that the monsters die during the day is because the sun burns them away, and in the case of spiders, they lose their hostility during the day. It seems the sun was my closest friend as of right now.

We descended some crude stairs into the lit cavern, the villagers falling deathly quiet. Their eyes seemed to scan the walls with their picks at their side. I followed behind them, observant. I didn't have the first clue about what I was doing down here, and call me a pessimist, I really didn't expect them to help me. I produced the small guidebook from my pocket, turning to Chapter 3: "Getting an Upgrade."

"Wood is only going to be functional for so long. It doesn't hit very hard and has a very limited selection of blocks and ores that it's capable of mining. On top of that, the durability is very low, so the chances of it breaking are much higher. That said, it is useful for one thing—and that's mining cobblestone. Cobblestone is the next tier up, so upgrade to it as soon as possible." I whispered to myself, sighing quietly.

I calmly slipped my guidebook back into my pocket and brought my pick out once more. I was surrounded by stone to mine, so it's not like there wasn't an abundance… I sighed once more, approaching one of the walls, drawing the attention of a few villagers due to my sudden movement.

I swung at the wall a few times, watching as a small stone block broke off of it. I did this several more times, watching as more and more villagers looked at me. I finished that, placing a crafting table on the ground and forming the correct formation with the new-found cobblestone and sticks. I even had enough to make myself a sword and a shovel.

"Alright… looking nice." I said to no one in particular, lightly moving my new stone sword through the air. "I guess I'm not completely helpless after all!" I smiled, watching as the villager party nodded solemnly and began walking down the stairs once more. I followed, and after several minutes, we arrived at a mine shaft. There were wooden structures holding the ceiling in place… otherwise the entire place might cave in.

I momentarily shuttered at the thought and continued following the villagers until we came to a fork. They all stopped dead in their tracks, looking towards the center of their moving mass in order to figure out what was happening.

Adam nodded once, opening his mouth to speak. "Alright, guys, make sure that you're on the lookout for iron. Weapon and tool supplies is running low, and our troop count in the way of juggernauts isn't looking too hot. That means that we're gonna need iron for tools and armor, do you understand?" Everyone nodded, and scattered off. I approached Adam afterwards, holding my pick at my side.

"Hey, do you mind if I ask… what does iron look like?" He nodded once, volunteering to take me through the mine himself. I agreed, following close behind as he began on his trek through the mines. "Thanks, by the way… I feel like if I hadn't discovered your village, I'd probably be taking a dirt nap!" I laughed, earning a wave of the hand that almost said "don't mention it."

"Nah, we kind of felt an obligation to help you on this one. We've seen a few 'non-cube' humans drop into Minecraftia completely unannounced. We didn't exactly get the chance to help them, so the least that we can do is help you out." He smiled and began laughing heartily, completely stopping in his tracks. I began to laugh along with him, the laughter dissolving in a matter of around 30 seconds.

He began walking again, his fingers clenching around his pick. "…Are you alright? You seem… tense." I whispered, earning a surprised look from him. "I mean, sorry to pry, I just—"

"No… you're right, there's something off. Like a very powerful mob is coming towards us. Or worse yet…" His eyes widened in shock, and he instantly grabbed my hand. "No, we're not going to go that way. Come on, Brad." He pulled me back the direction we came in only to stop immediately.

"Hey there, sweethearts." A feminine voice asked, drawing my eyes up to the source of the voice. I heard a scuttling noise, my eyes beginning to dart around the mineshaft. This particular part opened up into another cave system, so it was no surprise that something might attack… but what had Adam spooked this badly?

Two projectiles flew at us, and Adam reacted quick enough to get us both out of the way, allowing them to splat loudly (yet harmlessly) on the ground. "Ooh… that's cute, truly… The way that you think you stand a chance. The way that you're going to keep fighting…" I saw two red eyes looking at us through the dark, and watched as they ascended the wall.

"What the hell… is that?" I asked, drawing my stone sword, brandishing it for the monster to see.

"Brad, you can't fight this thing, we need to find a way out!" Adam said, turning and nearly yelling at me. "Come on…" He looked to the direction that we were walking, and a large web seemingly barred our escape in that direction. "Then we'll go this way!" He yelled, gripping my arm and pulling me down the mineshaft.

I looked behind us as the red eyes—now upside down—crawled behind us on the ceiling, moving closer and closer. "Adam, that thing is closing in on us!" Adam simply shook his head, quickening his pace even more. He released my arm, allowing me to run on my own.

"Brad… this mineshaft loops around, I'm sure that we can make it to the others. We probably won't be able to kill her, but we can drive her away!" I cocked my head to one side, watching as the thing behind us crossed into the torchlight.

What I saw was… what looked like a human girl with a short, petite frame crawling along the ceiling. Her somewhat short, purple hair was pulled to two sides, and seemed spiked on both sides, with small red beads holding them in place. She wore a blue hoodie over her body that seemed to fall to her mid-thigh, where one could just manage to see her shorts. She was cute, to say the least—but with how Adam was reacting, I expected that whoever this was… was the last person in Minecraftia that I wanted to be messing with.

"Come on, this way!" Adam pulled me out of my own thoughts, and pulled me into a different direction. The spider-like girl took a moment to readjust herself, making her lose some ground. She laughed, her high-pitched giggle reverberating off of the walls and shooting around in my skull.

"Come on, I promise that I won't bite… too hard…" She giggled once more, and I watched as Adam began to panic. I looked ahead and realized why. In front of us, covering the entirety of the corridor, was a giant spider web.

There was no way out; we were trapped… like flies in this spider's twisted web.

This wasn't exactly a short chapter, so thank you for reading to the end, once more. I want to thank you guys for all of your feedback, if you're willing to give it- reviews are the best way to let someone know how they can improve as a writer, so I hope you guys will tell me how I can get better! Thanks again, I'll see you in the next chapter, and I hope that you're having a fantastic day.