[Chapter V]

[Recovery]

Head throbbing as the blinding light that came in through the window right above the bed he was lying in ached his closed eyes, Steve groaned while rolling over onto his back gently, pushing the heavy blanket off his body in the process. After a few long seconds of regaining himself, his eyes fluttered open, dazed violet gaze scanning the room blearily. Body aching and mind confused, alarm began filling him as he took in the unfamiliar surroundings.

It was a small room, almost like a bedroom. On either side of the bed he was in were chairs and a stool. Paintings hung on the walls and a barely lit torch clung to the wall opposite the bed he awoke in.

Bookshelves served as nightstands on either side of the bed as well, and on top of them sat clay flower pots holding what looked like ferns that helped add a splash of color to the otherwise bland room.

The walls and ceiling looked to be made out of the same sandstone that Melz's Inn was constructed out of, vaguely making him wander if here were back in Sanderlorum. However, the flooring was made of fine birch wood planks, making him rethink someone else living out in the dessert had found him and brought him to their place.

Pushing himself up with much difficulty, he paused upon hearing voices filtering in through the closed wooden door to the far right and against the wall with the torch that was in front of him. He couldn't recognize them, causing his nerves to quickly kick into overdrive as he looked around the room for something he could use to defend himself with.

His heart sank as nothing came into view immediately.

His next option was to try and escape through the window above his bed, hoping that once outside, he would recognize the area and possibly find his way back to Sanderlorum and seek out Melz. He knew he would be safe to recover and heal within his Inn. Biting his lower lip to stifle his sounds of pain, he pushed himself up completely before sliding his legs over the edge of the soft bed, bare feet slightly chilled against the wooden flooring. He took a few seconds to wait and see if his head would stop spinning and the nausea would pass, also taking the time to look himself over.

Someone had been taking rather good care of him by the looks of it. All his wounds were cleaned and dressed properly and left little to no chance of infection. An awkward thought then crossed his mind as he also took note of his lack of clothing. Shirtless and pantsless, he was left only clad in beige colored shorts that he knew for a fact were not his.

Taking in deep breaths in an attempt to keep himself calm as pain began shooting up and down his entire being, he grasped the stool that was sitting by the bedside, using the small piece of furniture as leverage to support himself while standing to his feet.

His body still weakened by both the injuries brought on by the Mobs and the lack of decent nutrients as his stomach ached, his knees buckled before giving out underneath his weight, a cry mixed with both surprise and pain alerting those in the other room, as well as the dull sound of his body crumpling to the floor.

Quickly trying to recover as hurried footsteps reached his ears followed by the sudden bang of the door being thrown open and hitting the wall, Steve attempted to swing his arm around in self-defense as someone fell by his side, gently placing their hands to his shoulders and struggling to still his actions.

"Steve! You're awake! Good heavens, what happened? Why are you out of bed, dear?"

The voice hit home, instantly causing Steve to cease all motions and allowing his body to relax against Glorenda's tender grasp. Soon, the presences of two others were upon him, eyes dilated from pain and fear skimming over the worried faces of Hugo and Kelsa. He tried to speak, but his tongue felt heavy and numb within his mouth.

"Come. Come. You are not well enough to walk yet. Kids, help me get him back into bed please…" she asked softly.

Both Hugo and Kelsa nodded and anxiously aided her. Within moments, Steve was safely back in bed, tucked under the thick and warm blanket once again.

Kelsa climbed on the bed and sat next to Steve to his right, while Hugo sat on the edge of the mattress to his left and by his feet. Glorenda took a seat on the wooden stool that was also to his left after picking it up from where it had fallen over when Steve fell.

Nothing was said at first until Steve managed to swallow the thick lump in his throat, voice horse and painful to speak. "W-what happened?"

Glorenda smiled sweetly while brushing a few stray strands of sweaty brunette hair from Steve's forehead, the young miner flinching away automatically at the touches. "You were a foolish man… trying to lure the Mobs away while injured so badly." Though true, no real harshness could be heard in her tone. And her smile remained while she leaned back. "Melz and Hugo went out looking for you after you had left. When they found you, you had been cornered by the Mobs, weak and confused, barely conscious and aware of your surroundings. Just before the monsters were able to get to you, they managed to beat them back and save you, bringing you back here to be treated. You passed out on the return… scaring the life out of all of us as you looked no more alive than some of those Mobs out there." she explained softly. "Our Village Elder tended to all of your wounds. Melz continued maintaining his stand and the Inn while Hugo, Kelsa and I stayed here and helped our Elder out, each of us taking turns covering different shifts so that there was always someone watching over you while you slept."

Steve remained silent while taking in what she was saying, his gaze glancing down towards Hugo at the mentioning of him helping save him. The teen looked away almost instantly, as if ashamed for some reason.

Shrugging it off with a forced indifferent expression, Steve looked back up at Glorenda, testing his voice once more, "H-how long…?" he tried asking, wincing at the burning sensation that scratched his throat.

"That you have been sleeping? Our Village Elder thought you would only be resting for a full two days… but the stress of your wounds and exhaustion from your journey to our village forced you to be asleep for nearly four days."

His eyes opened wide at this news. 'F-four days? I've been asleep for four whole days?' he thought to himself while turning his attention to his right hand as it began toying with a loose thread of wool from the blanket.

Before he was able to ask anything else, Glorenda turned to Kelsa, asking her to bring a cup of water for Steve from the kitchen, before facing Hugo and smiling to him, "Hugo. Be a dear please and go inform both Melz and the Elder that Steve has awakened, would you?" she asked the teen nicely.

"Yes, ma'am." Hugo said while slipping off the mattress and quickly heading out the door, followed by his sister.

Steve watched him leave before sighing, "Bet he's happy I'm awake…" he whispered, finding that by speaking softly it spared his throat from much of the pain.

Glorenda blinked and looked to him surprised by his almost emotionless tone, "Well of course he is. We all are!" However, the shake of his head had her raising a brow. "What do you mean then, Steve?"

Brows furrowing together in discomfort at talking, he hesitated while waiting for the girl to return with the water. Once she reentered the room, Steve released a grateful noise while taking the cup after propping himself up with Glorenda's help, downing its contents and enjoying the coolness coating his throat.

After thanking Kelsa and setting the now empty clay cup down, he looked over at Glorenda. "If I was brought back to Sanderlorum, then I'm sure he was put here against his will by Melz." he smiled sadly before looking away. "That boy hates me. There's no mistaking it now… I'm certain Melz had him here to watch over me as punishment or something for the way he treated me. I just… I just wish I knew what I had done to earn such loathing from someone so young."

Glorenda sighed, her smile filled with sadness of a different reason. She placed her hand atop Kelsa's head while speaking to her, "Kelsa, dear… Go play outside sweetheart. You've been in here looking after Steve for so long, you've earned a break. Go get some fresh air, sweetie."

Kelsa nodded while slipping out from under her hand, "Yes, ma'am." Her tone was almost emotionless. Despite her age, she was very bright and knew the real reasoning behind her dismissal.

Waiting until the front door was heard, Glorenda turned all her attention towards the miner now, "Steve-Hugo doesn't hate you. This village… it used to be much larger than what you see today. " she began, taking note that she had the young man's full attention. "We all used to be so welcoming of strangers and travelers. Always having an array of new faces coming and going, it used to be so busy and lively here." Her smile seemed happy while reminiscing the past. However, as she continued, her smile faded all together and was replaced with a scowl, anger flickering in her green eyes. "But then one day, a man came. He was so nice to everyone… he told great tales and gave the children gifts from other biomes. His kindness was similar to yours in fact." she chanced a glance at him, seeing the surprise in his violet eyes. She continued. "But then that night… a horrible attack befell our village. The Mobs were more in numbers and hostility than normal. We thought that that was going to be the end of our village… until the stranger came from our Inn he was staying at. Wielding a sword made of the purest material this land hides deeply underground."

Steve's eyes widened even more, knowing what material she was referring to—

Diamond.

Glorenda shuddered as she continued; the pain of remembering that night evident in her eyes. "We thought… he came out to fight against the beasts. H-he ran at a zombie that was attacking a man that was a good friend of ours, b-but instead of driving his blade into the Mob… h-he instead slayed Germarald. He then began laughing madly as he took his blade back, striking out and killing as many people as he could. It was almost as if he and the Mobs were in a killing contest. All the homes and buildings that he came close enough to, he set ablaze with the torch he was carrying in his spare hand." Her eyes grew glassy before she wiped at them, sniffling quietly before continuing. "I am sure you are able to by now piece two and two together…"

Steve remained silent, his eyes no longer on the middle-aged woman but instead focusing on his hands that were resting in his lap. After a few seconds he hummed with a single nod of his head. "Hugo and Kelsa… their parents were killed by this man. Weren't they?"

"Yes. Ten years ago. Ever since that night… this village has secluded itself from the rest of the land. The villagers here have shut out any and all visitors who pass through our small settlement. This is why… you received the harsh welcome from all that you did. It is nothing you did to us. So please Steve, do not think it was your cause." she reassured him with a sad smile.

Her reassurance did little to ease the guilt that was still finding its way inside him however.

An uncomfortable silence soon settled between them, the air thick with tension as the story echoed in his mind. He was so lost within his thoughts that when the door to the house burst open, he jumped so badly he nearly fell out of the bed had Glorenda not caught him.

"Steve!? You're awake!?" Melz could be heard shouting before the man was even seen.

Sighing while trying to get his nerves to calm, a weak smile was forced onto Steve's face as both Melz and a man much older than the vender that had him guessing was the Village Elder entered the room he was being kept in, "Hey, Melz…"

"Great Notch! You had us all so worried! We were beginning to think you would never wake up!" Melz approached the bed and looked Steve over, nodding in approval at seeing none of the bandages needing to be replaced just yet.

Chuckling almost nervously, Steve lowered his gaze to the blanket, feeling very uncomfortable.

He was not used to all this attention being focused on him. Even while injured.

Melz was about to ask the miner a question when the Village Elder approached with a warm smile nearly hidden behind his braided beard, "Steve, how are you feeling? Does anything hurt too greatly?"

The roughness and age to the man's voice had Steve coming to the conclusion almost instantly that this man was in fact this 'Village Elder' that Glorenda spoke of. Looking up to meet eyes with the man, Steve tried to mask his pain behind a convincing smile. "I'm feeling great actually. Just a little sore here and there… but nothing too substantial. I'll be up and out of your way within the hour, so you don't need to—"

"Nonsense." the Elder interrupted surprisingly sternly despite the kind smile still on his features while taking a seat next to the bed to Steve's right. "Your smile may be able to fool the younger people of this village, young man. But I have many more years of experience. It will take more than that to trick me. I can see it just in your eyes alone that you are still in great pain. Here, drink this. It will help ease some of it." He then held out a wooden bowl about half full of a pink liquid.

Steve blinked and looked down at it, recognizing the color almost instantly as a healing potion. Thanking him quietly, a pink blush faintly tinged his cheeks out of embarrassment as when he tried to reach up for the bowl; he pulled on the stitches from the arrowhead that had hit near his collar bone, causing a low hiss of pain to slip from him as he flinched slightly.

Both Glorenda and Melz gave each other worried glances while the Elder simply chuckled sadly, "You see? You are even unable to lift a hand to take a barely full wooden bowl from an old man like myself. You are young, Steve. But not invincible. You received a lot of damage from those Mobs… and so you must rest to recover and heal from your injuries."

Steve looked down and away to the left, eyes narrowed in a weak glare while a frown pulled at his lips. "I'll be fine. This isn't the first time I've been injured like this…"

"I saw."

Blinking, Steve turned back to face the Elder once again, one brow raised in confusion. "W-what do you mean by that?"

"I had to remove your clothing the night of the attack so that I was able to see you wounds clearly in order to clean and dress them properly. You have many scars."

Embarrassed, Steve looked away once again. "Oh…" Though the knowledge that it was the village Elder that had removed his ruined clothing eased some of his nerves.

Questions were bounced back and forth as the Elder, with Melz's help, checked over Steve's injuries and changed what bandages needed to be.

It wasn't for another two whole days until Steve had regained enough strength to be able to leave the bed and walk around the Elder's home.

It was considerably larger than the other homes looked. Leaving the room he was in opened out into a large living space. To the right was the front door, ahead of him was an opening that looked like it lead into the kitchen and right outside it was a large table with chairs and benches that looked like it could sit about six comfortably.

To the far left was a hallway that split off to the right and left.

To the right was a room barely a fourth the size of the room he had woken up in and simply held a bed, a small table and one chair and one small window that was the only source of light. He later found out that the small and basic room was the Elder's room.

To the left was a long hallway that stretched down the entire length of the house, and lining it's walls were tall bookshelves crammed full of many different books about potions and illnesses. About Mobs and treasures. Even a decent section pertaining to many of the myths and legends he had heard about. Everything was neatly organized and very easy to navigate.

On the evening of his third day since leaving his bed, Steve brought a candle over to skim over the book titles upon receiving permission to do so. After finding a good handful on the topic of choice, he gathered his materials up and brought them all over towards the table.

He spent well into the night reading about different facts and fictions about The End and the Ender Dragon that supposedly was sealed within, taking down notes of new things he hadn't heard about before.

Stifling what he felt like was his hundredth yawn, Steve closed the last dusty book and gathered everything up, taking them all back over and returning them to their proper places.

Just about ready to turn in for the night, the spine of a book caught his eye suddenly. Bringing the light of the fading candle up close, he saw it was a black book bound by warn-out red leather lace.

The words engraved in the spine were written in a language he was unfamiliar with. Curiosity getting the better of him, he gently began pulling the book out, able to read what the front of it said. It was clearly a book about a myth he had never heard of before, a brow rising in confusion as he flipped through some of its yellowing pages and reading the contents.

Slamming the dusty book shut as it held very little interest to him now that he found out it was nothing more than a ghost story more or less, he shrugged while carefully putting the aging book back in its correct place. "Sorry… but I think the legend of the Ender Dragon is really the only myth I'm curious about for the time being. Certainly nothing about this ghost by the name of Herobrine." he chuckled to himself while turning his back to the books and heading back towards his 'room'.

A sudden cold chill ran up his spine when he had said that name however, causing him to whip around as he was startled, getting a strange feeling like he wasn't alone at first before simply shrugging it off and blaming it on being overly tired.

Time passed and his wounds continued to heal. His presence in Sanderlorum was no longer hated nor feared but rather welcomed and enjoyed.

As he began earning the trust of the people, he started sharing his secrets to the two older miners that lived there, as well as teaching them his crafting tricks and techniques, and before too long trading some of his own items with emeralds from the miners.

Tey, one of the two miners, had suggested that once Steve's wounds were one hundred percent healed, he and Faen should take him to the mines not far from outside of town, and that the three of them should all go mining together.

Steve was excited by this and hoped his wounds would be fully healed soon.

As more time passed on, Steve slowly began losing his interest in the myths as he found himself becoming more and more at home around the people of Sanderlorum and the village herself.

He even began helping with repairs to the aging buildings and dug out a new well that wasn't dried out, bringing fresh clean water back to the village.

Between Tey, Faen and Steve, resources began growing as well as the village itself, slowly bringing renewed life back into the village and returning it back to the way it was a decade ago.

With the help of a few of the village children including Kelsa and Hugo, a small flock of sheep were gathered as well as a herd of cows that unfortunately only consisted of two. Luck was on their side however as the two caught were a male and female and were already expecting a calf.

Before long, a few pigs were eventually caught from the same plains biome nearby and brought back to the village to breed and grow in numbers.

Wooden fences were built long before the animals were caught and now as their numbers continued to multiply, Tey, Faen and Steve worked together to build shelters from the sun for the animals.

Just when the village reached a truly flourished point, nearly the entire village came before Steve one morning.

The Village Elder walked up to him with a slight limp due to his age, his kind smile ever present as he cleared his throat to silence those that were speaking a little too loudly, "Steve. We all wish to thank you for helping bring back our tiny home. You have done so much for us and have asked little to nothing in return. So… as a thank you from all of Sanderlorum; we welcome you to stay. For as long as you wish." He paused and waited for a moment before adding with a wide grin, "We offer our village to become your new home, Steve."

Steve stared at him, taken aback by the offer. He had been planning on leaving soon… but he could never really bring himself to ever actually leave. He found he was enjoying his time here far too much and was becoming too attached to all the people here, and had in fact been purposely stalling so he wouldn't have to leave.

But now they were offering him to stay here. To live here with them! To make this village his new permanent home! He wouldn't have to wander around aimlessly anymore! Never have to worry about building a shelter sturdy enough to survive an entire night of Mob attacks against it, barely getting any sleep as the fret if the stronghold would hold up against the beatings or fall to them and have a fight on his hands would keep him from rest.

He wouldn't be cold anymore on the nights he did manage to find enough peace to sleep.

So it went without saying that a wide almost goofy grin spread across the young miner's face as he nodded his head quickly, pure joy filling his chest to the point of feeling about ready to burst. "R-really? A-are you guys sure?"

The people that have all gathered around him began chuckling while nodding their heads, small chatter soon broke out the instant Steve agreed to stay, everyone soon cheering and scoping out a piece of property of Steve's liking to all work together and begin building the young man a home to call his own.

For the first time since Steve could remember, pain, sorrow and grief were not on his mind or dragging his heart down. Joy, happiness and peace filled him as he chose a perfect spot that was practically right behind the larger Inn, Melz and Glorenda both deciding on adding a sort of backdoor that would lead straight out to where Steve's home would be for the miner to have easy and quick access into the Inn without having to go through the stable should he ever need it.

His life seemed to have reached a perfect point. He had new friends and new family, his dark past could possibly leave him now that he had a bright future.

Steve should have been wise enough to know that all great things—

—must eventually come to an end.

To Be Continued…

*Again a huge special thanks to slingading for the fantastic cover art for this story! Thank you so much and much love to you!*