Fourteen years later.
A chill from the stone cave crawled up the Boy's spine. He was carving a stick with a broken iron sword blade he received from a Zombie. Granted, the Boy couldn't see what he was carving since he only saw black, so it was more like he was sharpening it. At least it was passing the time as he was waiting for Alabur.
Alabur: the greatest friend a monster could ask for. The Boy always felt small as a normal-sized mushroom whenever he stood next to him. He was, after all, part of a race were being extremely tall is a common trait. And yet, Alabur treated him like the most important person who ever lived. The Boy could remember times when his friend would take him to "see" large cave systems and fortresses in the Nether. Very rarely, however, did he ever go visit Alabur's home dimension. "How come we never go to the End?" the Boy remember asking when he was only eight. There was a pause before his friend answered with "I'm not exactly welcome there."
That was another thing about Alabur: he was mysterious. The Boy knew his friend for all his life, but yet, in a way, he knew nothing about him. Alabur never told him about his life before he left the End, which only made him wonder what he did all those years ago. He never brought up the subject though, as he would hear the uncomfortable tone in his friend's voice every time he mentioned anything about the End.
The Boy continued to sit on the cold, stone cave floor, sharpening his stick and waiting. The simple movement of the easy-to-do pastime made the situation not so tense. Silth, an old friend of the Boy and Alabur, was very sick. They had only gotten the news that morning from a Silverfish, who felt something was wrong when he passed Silth's sleeping quarters. They teleported outside her place immediately, but Alabur refused to let the Boy inside. "It's best if you stay out here," he recalled his friend saying. Patiently, the Boy waited.
But the longer he waited, the more worried he become.
After what seemed to be an eternity, the Boy finally heard Alabur walk out of Silth's quarters. He couldn't see his friend's face, but he heard what seemed to be quiet sobs. The Boy then heard the noise of flesh against stone and flesh sliding down the wall until reaching the floor. He had a horrible feeling inside.
"Is…i-is Silth going to be ok…Alabur?" the Boy asked cautiously. Alabur didn't reply right away. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, the Enderman delivered the grave news.
"Silth died," he whispered, trying his best to keep his voice from cracking. The Boy's mind crashed as he didn't know how to respond. Silth was alive yesterday, and today she was dead. He will never hear her voice or the sound of her creaking joints. Nor will he ever touch her exoskeleton or feel her sticky yet soft Spider silk. She will no longer be part of the Boy's life.
She was gone forever.
Overwhelmed with emotion and sorrow he never felt before in his life, he embraced his friend, who was hugging his legs. The Boy felt Alabur stiffen up for a moment, then loosing up again.
The Boy never wanted to have this feeling ever again.
Three weeks later
An Enderman and his boy were walking along a bridge of a Nether fortress. The soft clunking sound of the Nether brick silently echoed along with the cracks and pops of the surrounding fires, the squeals of the Zombie Pigmen and the cries of the Ghasts.
Alabur had gotten over his grief for Silth, but it took longer for the Boy to recover. It occurred to the Enderman that hiss was the Boy's first actual lost. A lot of tears were shed and a lot of comfort was given before he could finally move on.
Their little trip in the Nether was about over, and the two friends were making their way back to the portal they've went through man times in the past. But before they could walk through, the Boy had something to say.
"Um…Alabur?"
"Yes, Boy?"
"There's something I wanted to ask you to a while now…"
"What is it you wanted to tell me?"
"Can I…um…do you think I could go out into…"
"Into what?"
"…the Overworld…?"
Alabur froze in his tracks and turned to face the Boy. He looked nervous, almost if he was mad at him.
The Boy was serious!
The Enderman was not expecting this. Never! The Boy spent all of his life hidden in the darkness of caves unexplored by humans, as Alabur feared what would happen if another human found him. Never once did Alabur mention the Overworld. Now that he thought about it, he didn't even say its name!
"Why?!" he asked in return, and probably a bit too forcefully.
"I've heard stories about the Overworld from the other monsters. How come you never showed me it?"
Of course, Alabur should have known the other monsters would tell the Boy about it. The Enderman thought very hard about what he should say before he finally answered.
"It's dangerous up there," he explained, as he walked through the portal. "There are many ways you could get yourself killed and its inhabitants aren't friendly."
"I wouldn't go alone," the Boy remarked, following his tall friend close beside him. "You'll be with me." The silence that followed wasn't very promising to the Boy's ears. "You would come along with me, right?" The Boy's child-like personality made the question even more painful to answer.
"I…I'm sorry Boy," Alabur answered. "My last experience in the Overworld wasn't…a very pleasant one. I have no desire to return there…" The Enderman spoke the truth. His last visit aboveground was fourteen years ago. After his private meeting with the other monsters, something wasn't settling in well inside him. So he went to Little One's village at night and began to sabotage it. He probably destroyed some buildings and maybe killed a human or two, but he couldn't remember the whole ordeal. Afterwards, when he returned to his quarters, he realized what he did and it made him feel ashamed, He knew better than to let his anger get the best of him like that. It took a few visits from Silth to not make him feel guilty over his outburst.
"I would go with him," a voice piped up. The two good friends turned to the source and saw a Creeper named Mik. The abrupt statement caught Alabur off guard. "Uh, pardon?" he asked, sounding a bit stupid. "I will go with the Boy to the Overworld," Mik repeated, being more specific this time. The Enderman stared at the Creeper, and then turned his gaze to the Boy who had a pleading look on his face.
"Alright Boy," the Enderman sighed. He knelt beside the Boy and continued "You can go. But only at nightfall and you must do everything Mik tells you to do. Understood?" "Don't worry about me, Alabur!" the Boy answered, with a joking tone to his voice. "When have I ever caused any trouble?"
Alabur didn't answer, for his remark was extremely ironic.
Once sunset was over, Mik came for the Boy and the two headed to the cave entrance. Alabur watched them leave with a worried look on his face.
Please be safe, he thought.
They hadn't left the cave yet and already the Boy was afraid. Everything was beginning to get warmer, and he knew these caves well enough to know they were nowhere near a lava pool. "Um Mik? Why is everything getting…warmer…?" the Boy asked his Creeper companion. "The biome the entrance is located is not as cold than it is in the caves," Mik explained. The Boy only nodded in response.
After what seemed like hours, they finally reached the mouth of the cave. Once arriving, the Boy immediately hid behind Mik terrified. "What is that?!" the Boy asked, almost screaming. "What's moving around us?!" Mik rolled his black, hollow eyes on his moaning face. "It's just the wind!" he remarked, in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. The Boy peered behind the Creeper by a few inches. "…wind?" he asked quietly this time. "Moving air," Mik explained.
The Boy slowly made his way from behind Mik. He wasn't all that comfortable with the idea of air moving on its own, but it was slightly chilly like the stone of the caves. He cautiously began walking out into this new world with the Creeper close behind him. But ten steps in, he encountered something new. It was very hard to determine what it was, due to the fact it seemed to be short yet tall at the same time. It felt ruff at first, but not was much the more the Boy touched it.
"What is this?" he asked Mik. "Grass," the Creeper answered, sounding slightly bored.
Grass…
Intrigued by the name, the Boy said it to himself once or twice before he continued walking, stroking though it as he did so.
Everything seemed to be very quiet in this Overworld. The Boy hardly heard anything stirring other than himself and Mik. The wind brought chills up his spine, giving him the familiar presence of the caves. Everything seemed so open as well. There weren't any walls of stone or Nether Rack as far as the Boy could feel. It seemed like this place could go on forever and beyond! The Boy felt…free.
So this is what it's like, the Boy thought to himself.
All was calm in the Overworld.
But not for long…
It was late at night, and she knew that. But her work was almost complete. It wouldn't take much longer.
Naria squeezed the last drop of milk from one of her cows. Her shoulder-length, dark Burnette hair partially covered her emerald green eyes. Her brown t-shirt, gray pants, and brown-dyed, leather boots were covered in hay and dirt. But she didn't care. All of her chores for the day were finally complete, and that's all she cared about.
Placing the bucket of milk into her inventory, Naria got up, left her brick barn, and began walking back to her house, which was a plains village near a forest biome. Naria was a bit different from the other villagers, due to the fact she's not always paranoid about monsters. If anything, she saw them more as an annoyance than an actual threat. She also wasn't afraid to roam around at night, as she thought it was rather peaceful and the starry sky was a sight to behold. However, there was the problem that she had to watch her back for zombies.
Speaking of which, as Naria was keeping a lookout for any approaching monsters, she saw something in the corner of her eye. Turning to see what it was, she saw what she assumed to be a human being. It certainly looked like a person, but something was off about him. Not only that, but there was a creeper sneaking up behind him. Alarms went off in Naria's head, as she knew it would be the end of him if she just let the creeper go. Tapping into her inventory, she grabbed her iron sword and began running toward the green monster.
"Freeze!" Mik hissed under his breath. The Boy obeyed immediately and stood still. "What? What is it?" he asked, curious yet panicked. Then he heard it. Footsteps.
He felt Mik run in front of him. "Run back to the cave!" the Creeper ordered. "And whatever you do, don't stop running!" "But what about you?" The Boy asked quietly, unsure about his companion's safety. "RUN!" Mik barked back, and the Boy ran, terrified and worried.
As Naria got closer to the creeper, it stood in an attack pose and began flashing white while giving a long hiss. Before she could react, an explosion went off, causing her to fly in the air and land with a thud unto the cold, dewy ground.
She was alive!
Despite the wind knocked out of her, she was fine. "Boy!" she said to herself. "I was lucky! One step closer and I might have been a goner!" Then something crossed her mind. "Wait. Where is he?!"
Naria frantically looked around, hoping he didn't die from the blast. Then she saw him in the distance running, endangering himself even more than when he started.
"WAIT!" Naria called out, running after him. "COME BACK!"
The Boy felt horrible inside the moment he heard Mik explode. Exploding is the only defense Creepers have against their enemies; therefore they don't see life as something precious and are always depressed. But the Boy still felt like he could've done something.
But that feeling didn't last long when he heard something calling behind him. The thing! The thing responsible for Mik's death! Terrified, the Boy ran as fast as his twisted legs and weak strength allowed. If felt like a thousand years passed until everything around him was cold and restricted.
He miraculously found his way back.
At a moment's notice, monsters from Silverfish to Endermen surrounded the Boy, wanting to know what caused him to be afraid. But Alabur was the first to be at his side.
"Boy!" he said, worry clearly heard in his voice. "What happened?! Where's Mik?!" "Something came after us!" the Boy explained. "It was following me! I heard it call out! It…Mik…" Even the Zombies knew that the Creeper did a noble sacrifice and that the "thing" was a human.
I knew this would happen! Alabur thought. A human would find out about the Boy and he would be endangered. I should've said no… "I'll hide the Boy somewhere," Alabur said, loud enough so he could be heard above the commotion. There was seriousness in his voice. "Everyone else, try your best to get rid of it!" All the monsters nodded their heads in sync, understanding perfectly. As they began to prepare hiding spots within the shadows, Alabur picked the Boy up and teleported to a well hidden spot in the cave.
"Now stay here and don't make a sound," Alabur said sternly, laying the Boy down into the hiding place. At that moment, the Enderman noticed the look of guilt on the Boy's face. "It wasn't your fault," Alabur reassured. With that in mind, Alabur teleported away, leaving the Boy alone with his thoughts.
The moment Naria saw him run into the cave, she stopped in disbelief. Why in all humanity would he go in there?! As far as she knew, he didn't have any weapons on him, and the cave didn't look altered in anyway by people. He was going to die! Tightening her grip of the handle of her sword, she ran in after him.
It was extremely dark, and it was unfortunate for Naria that she didn't have any torches on her. A sane person would call this suicide. All of a sudden, she heard growls and moans behind her. As fast as lightening, she sliced down three zombies. As least, it sounded like three. But after that, it was a blur of noise, slicing, and close calls. Naria started to wonder if he was even alive anymore. When things became too overwhelming, she started to run, striking down anything that came too close for comfort. Naria had only one option left.
Hide.
Once she felt like she was far enough ahead of the monsters, she saw a block-sized hole in the floor and jumped through. There, she found herself in a deeper part of the cave with a lava pool nearby. Fortunately, the drop wasn't too far and Naria didn't have any injuries. Quickly, she hid behind a rock the moment she heard the monsters.
None of them thought twice when they passed the hole.
Relieved, Naria took a deep breath. That was hectic! She thought. I wonder if he found that same hole… Curious now, she began to cautiously search for both him and the exit.
The Boy sat completely still. He dared not to move. He dared not breathe. The Boy was scared out of his mind of the thing. It was after him. But why him?!
He froze all over.
He heard footsteps.
He heard breathing.
He heard its voice!
Naria's eyes widened when she saw him up close. It wasn't very bright where she was but it was light enough to see. His eyes were extremely glassy. His limbs where twisted up. She could see his veins through his completely pale skin. He looked dead!
She felt sorry for him.
"S-s-sir?" she asked quietly. "Are…are you ok? Sir…?
The noise it made was disturbing. He was petrified. Please go away! He thought. Leave me alone!
He was scared, but who wouldn't be? They were in a cave infested with monsters after all. Why were there so many of them anyways? "Please sir," she coasted. "We've got to get out of here."
It was making nose again. "Leave me alone!" he said in Zombie. Trying to sound threatening but failing miserably.
He growled at her! Like a zombie! Something wasn't right. "Sir! Listen to me! You're not safe here! Only a mad man would stay in this place!"
It sounded aggravated. "Go away!" he yelled in Enderman.
He growled again. This time in a different manner. It was very unfamiliar. Naria didn't have the patience to wait any longer and reached for his wrist. It was so cold she let go and held her hand close to her chest. How is he still alive?! She thought.
It touched him! It touched him! He couldn't take it anymore. He needed Alabur. "ALAUBR!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "AAALAAABUUURRR!"
The monsters searched frantically in the darkness. They lost her! How could they lose sight of the human?! Alabur was the most worried out of all of them. She could be anywhere! If she found the Boy…
"AAALAAABUUURRR!" screamed an all too familiar voice.
Something inside the Enderman snapped.
I don't think so, he thought.
In a blink of an eye, he was gone.
Naria could only stare in horror as he screamed for the entire cave to hear. Most of these monsters weren't idiots and they would track them down using his voice. "No! Ssssshhhhh! They'll hear us!" she whispered, pleading.
But it was already too late.
Something was behind her.
Frightened, she slowly turned around.
Her eyes grew wider than her eye sockets and her mouth went dry.
Naria was able to make out what exactly was in front of her, due to her time in the dark, but it was nothing she had ever seen before. This creature before her was tall. Extremely tall. She probably seemed no more than a child in its eyes. It was as dark as darkness itself and its eyes were large and glowed a dark purple. They were filled with such rage that made Naria wish it wouldn't kill her.
To say Alabur was angry at the human for trying hurt the Boy would be an understatement.
He was furious.
All his life he raised the Boy and loved him like a father. He would not let any harm come to him. And he would start by ridding of her.
But he couldn't bring himself to kill her.
Something about the idea felt wrong for some reason. Alabur didn't know why, but the thought of ending her life seemed like he would betray the Boy. So he did the alternative. The Enderman struck the human, knocking her into the cave wall and causing her to fall unconscious.
Silence fell into the cave.
Returning his attention back to the Boy, Alabur went up to him and comforted him, as he seemed to be on the verge of tears, "Is it dead?" the Boy whispered, his arms around the Enderman's neck. "Did you kill it, Alabur?" "No Boy," Alabur softly replied, stroking through the Boy's messy, uncombed hair. "I merely knocked it unconscious. Hopefully, when it wakes up, it will think it was all a dream." The Boy didn't seem satisfied that the human was still alive, but was relieved by the fact it could no longer harm him.
The Boy never felt so useless in his life. If he hadn't called for Alabur, he would've been done for! He should've been able to fight off the thing, let alone protect himself.
He could've saved Mik as well.
The Boy felt something inside him he never felt before. He was never going to be helpless, and he was never going to let those things terrify him again.
"Alabur?" the Boy asked, his voice not as shaky.
"Yes, Boy?"
"Can you teach me how to kill those monsters?"
The way the Boy said the word "monsters" caught Alabur completely off guard. He didn't say it like the other monsters did. He said it like the humans did. That made him uncomfortable. But then he remembered a certain Spider's words a long time ago.
"If we raise him, we can train him to be a warrior of monsters and send him out into the Overworld. The humans won't expect their own kind to betray them! He'll literally give us the Overworld from his very hands!"
That was the original plan.
That was the idea all along.
"We will all train you to destroy them, Boy," Alabur said. An unsettling silence dominated the cave. "I hate them," the Boy whispered, mostly to himself.
Why does this feel so wrong? Alabur thought.
The first thing Naria felt was a major headache.
The second thing she felt was the sunlight on her skin.
Hold on! She thought. I'm in a cave!
Naria's eyes shot open the moment she realized that. But she wasn't in that hectic cave anymore. Instead, she was lying under a tree next to the village at sunrise.
How did I end up here? What was that creature with the glowing eyes? I sure hope that man is alright…
Naria lied there in silence, knowing the painful truth.
I DEEPLY apologize for not uploading in a while. This is what went through my head the entire week: I haven't uploaded in a week. Great! Another writer's block! School's a mess! IT'S ALMOST THE END OF OCTOBER! I NEED TO FINISH THIS AND MY SURPRISE! PANIC MODE!
So yeah. Near the end of this chapter isn't my greatest writing. Hopefully I'll do better in the next chapter. :)
And incase my surprise doesn't upload on time, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!