Hi everyone! In this chapter, we finally see a little plot progression. I'm also using an honest-to-goodness word processor now, not TextEdit, so I should be able to put in actual line breaks. I can't think of any more note stuff to add, so let's get rolling in 3...2...1...

EDIT: Never mind, line breaks don't work after all. Whatevs. I'll work on it...

Chapter 6

The End of the Beginning

I whirl around to confront whatever stands behind me.

At eye level, I see a jet black, scaly torso. It seems to glow, but not with light. It's impossible to describe, but it seems to shine with darkness itself.

Looking down, I see oddly elongated legs, long, skinny, and as dark as the main body.

Then I look up.

The creature's face is lost to me. I can't see what its mouth looks like, or if it has ears or a nose.

All I see is the eyes.

Glowing, purple, hypnotic discs stare at me from out of this apparition. The intense glare roots me to the spot, unable to move. The eyes seem to swirl, disorienting me and throwing me off balance.

I hear screams of agony echoing through my head, wails of sorrow, laments of ultimate misery.

The sensations threaten to overwhelm me, to wash me away, to destroy me utterly.

I stand there for hours, days, years, imprisoned by the creature's stare. I can no longer tell if the screams are inside my head, or if they are my own.

I am dimly aware of my friends shouting at me as the centuries go by. I make no response. They can't help me now, I think. There's only one way out. I can't win this battle.

I take a halting step toward the jet-black form.

Suddenly, a blur of pink smashes into me from the side, knocking me to the ground and breaking the connection between myself and the mysterious figure. I curl into a ball in the dirt, struggling to block out the haunting noises that still echo through my head.

I dare to look up again. The creature is gone. The screams are fading. Bacon lies atop me, oinking with glee. Stupid porkchop, I think. Now I owe you one.

I take a shuddering breath and turn to Niegel. "I was standing there for ages! Why couldn't you help me?"

He eyes me nervously. "Will, you were looking at that thing for maybe two seconds."

Bellove's sobs are only just now decreasing. "That guy wasn't nice at all! I called out to him in the forest, just trying to be friendly, and he chased me all the way out! I hate things like that... really... hate..."

The crying stops abruptly. Bellove straightens up, her expression hardening, and I know that her mind has switched back to Belligerence mode.

"So anyway, what was that?" I ask Niegel.

He sighs. "That was none other than an Enderman. They're the creatures we need to defeat if we want to reach the End and shut down the program."

In the white laboratory, the scientists sit or stand in various stages of shock.

One points a shaking finger at the screen. "Did... you see... those e-eyes?"

The scientist with no name tag nods. "Another effect of our mysterious 'bug', it would appear."

Another shakes his head. "Will needs to be careful. If he's stuck in there, and something like that gets to him... it won't be pretty."

Just then, there is a knock on the door.

"Oh no!" says one scientist. "I completely forgot! The Mojang rep was coming today!"

The unnamed scientist rubs his eyes. "Great. Just great. How do we sell our software with some sort of deadly glitch, and a teenaged kid trapped inside?"

The scientist who got up to answer the door makes a calming motion with his hands. "Just play it cool. This could be the deal of a lifetime!"

One of the scientists quickly drags the chair holding Will into a closet.

The door opens.

A man walks in.

"Hello!" he says. "I suppose you were expecting me? I'm from Mojang. My name is Notch."

I stare at Niegel with panic.

"I can't... I can't face that again," I say hurriedly. "I just can't do it."

Niegel punches me on the shoulder. "So what will you do? Stay in the village forever, sealed away from your real world, harried by zombies every day? It's no coincidence that we ran into that Enderman. They know you're here, and they know you might destroy them. The only way to win is to do it."

Belligerence winks. I'm not sure if this in agreement, or if it's her way of saying, "Go ahead, I'll stand here and laugh while you get killed by a giant purple-eyed monster." I hope it's the former.

I take a deep breath. They're right. I have to do this. It's my only way out. I feel like I'm trapped in a maze, running around, going in circles... circles... the Enderman's eyes come to mind, and I quickly block out the thought.

I turn to Niegel. "So what's the first step?"

He's evasive. "You might not want to do it if I told you."

"Just get it over with!"

"Fine. The earth beneath our feet is riddled with a network of tunnels and caves. The first step to the End is to go spelunking and mine obsidian."

My head is spinning. "And we need that for...?"

"I'll tell you when we get it."

I gulp. "Okay," I say. "Which way to the mine?"

Back in the laboratory, the group of scientists show Notch around the facility.

"So over here," says the scientist with no name tag, "this screen is running a demo of our simulator."

"Okay, okay," says Notch. "Why don't you show me how your game plays?"

Everybody freezes.

"Erm," says the unnamed scientist, well, it's not actually a game, it's more of a-"

"Yes, yes, good ones do seem like that, don't they?" says Notch, cutting him off.

"He thinks it's a game?" whispers one scientist to a colleague.

"We can't sell his company this powerful technology and have him thinking it's a computer game!" he whispers back.

The unnamed scientist points out the features of the simulator, including the random terrain generator and AI codes.

Pointing to the images of Will, Niegel, and Belligerence, and deciding to play along with Notch for now, stammers, "These are- ah- beta testers."

Notch examines the screen. "They're just trying to survive, you say? Are there any animals or monsters anything?"

"Yes," responds the scientist. "We have sheep, cows, pigs, and chickens, which are benign, and zombies, which attempt to kill the player."

"Hmmm... zombies," Notch mutters. "Those are somewhat bland. Have you considered something like... this?"

He reaches for a keyboard and begins typing rapidly. A spinning picture of a green creature, with four hooked legs and no arms, and a miserable facial expression to top it all off, appears on the screen. "It's my own invention... the Creeper!"

I stare into the pitch darkness, entirely unwilling to descend into the bowels of the earth.

"Come on," Niegel says. "It'll be fun!" He lights up a torch, which I had successfully crafted from a stick and a smoldering coal, and strides into the mine.

Belligerence nods to me, takes up her own torch, and follows Niegel.

Even Bacon oinks insultingly at me, and waddles after the other two.

What choice do I have now?

Catching up to Niegel, I ask, "So, what does this obsidian stuff look like?"

He considers it. "Well, it's dark. Very hard. It will usually occur around lava, sometimes even beneath it."

As we travel through the tunnel, we encounter various veins of iron and coal, which we carefully extract from the walls with our pickaxes. "We'll need to smelt this iron later," says Niegel, puffing with exertion, "but it'll be worth it. We can make strong armor, to help protect us from the zombies."

Inwardly, I think, Yes, but can armor protect us from an Enderman's eyes?

A flickering light emits from the tunnel in front of us.

"That must be lava!" exclaims Niegel. "Come on!" Belligerence grins wickedly and follows.

I look at Bacon. "You first."

He actually seems to shake his head, and makes his way into the next chamber.

A hissing sound echoes out of the darkness.

I tilt my head, listening for it, but disregard it as the sounds of the lava. I follow the rest of the group.

Back in the network of tunnels, the Creeper stalks the band of adventurers, waiting for the perfect moment to do what it was created to do.

And that's Chapter 6.

For all you mine-heads out there, I know you can't mine obsidian without a diamond pickaxe, but I'm going to have to ask you to suspend your disbelief for a chapter or two. My apologies.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please review!

...or the Creeper will find you.