7. A BAD OMEN

Baby Allium remained a point of celebration for the weeks to come. The other children: little Everard, Gweneth and Tobias were let indoors to see her. The difference in their ages meant that by the time Allium wanted to play the others probably wouldn't want to involve her in games, but there may be more babies to come. Who could say? Meliora took Allium outside and many villagers wandered over to get a look at her. Even Nicolai, though he wasn't allowed to hold her. Meliora didn't want many people holding her baby, so Violet was surprised when she was given the offer. Feeling she shouldn't say no, Violet held her arms out. She knew it was important to support the head, which was big compared to the undeveloped neck, but babies were still strange and unfamiliar to her.

Then Allium was in a warm bundle against Violet's chest, she was sleeping and suckling her thumb. The skin was a bit lighter than tan, with a fleshy nose and larger forehead. Even with the unfamiliarity Violet had to admit she was cute, and it brought about more pondering on life, family and cultural differences. After a while of staring and rocking her gently, Violet then gave her back to her mother.

That had marked the end of Violet's first month, and all throughout the second she didn't get much reading done. She should've expected the library would no longer be a quiet place. Between the crying and bad smells she was able to finish her book on military tactics, but all the way through she couldn't help thinking she'd never have a use for this information. It had simply been a routine she'd fallen into: sitting with Meliora after a hard day's work and relaxing her body while utilising her mind. Seeing that Violet could no longer lose herself in the quiet, she set out doing other tasks instead. That being mining and the preparations for a second journey.

The mangroves wouldn't grow. Violet wasn't about to give up, she just needed enough emeralds to start trading for bone meal, which was magical fertiliser. The potatoes grew aplenty and were loved by the villagers, as expected.

Violet built the entrance to her mine first, as well as sandstone fencing that would support the perimeter of the hole. She didn't bother with a roof and relocated the crafting bench she was gifted by the villagers that went along with her new house. Violet dug downwards with her iron shovel and made a two metre wide pit, bracing the edges with the sandstone and vanishing the excess sand into her inventory. It was a few metres of tiresome work before she hit natural sandstone, then she switched to her pickaxe to clear through multiple layers of that before reaching the standard grey of natural stone. Violet mined further, her pace slow but steady, the stone plinking, chipping and then cracking apart against her swings. It was notably harder than the sandstone. She was sweaty and dirt-stained, and every now and again she stopped to wipe her face and neck with a cloth. She was not a fast miner, but she was patient and determined. Before it could get too dark to see she had her first find: coal. She'd be able to set up torches and not have to worry about monsters hiding in here when she returned tomorrow.

The room and the shaft was soon aglow with torchlight. Violet checked her clock, something she'd been finicky about and doing every half-hour. It was nearing sunset and she'd been at work all day with a few breaks in-between. The result was a pit ten metres deep and two metres wide, with a spiralling ledge she used to climb up and down. It had been a satisfying but tiring day's work, she retired back to her village house.

In the days that followed Violet mined. She would've liked to spend a full week gathering minerals but her arms, shoulders and back started aching from the repetitive work. She was also nervous about digging too far down, so instead Violet did trades and made other plans for the rest of that week. The villagers all seemed impressed with her mining. She'd finally found materials for trade, mostly it was stones for Ansel. Instead of trading them raw, she worked to polish her andesite and granite first. Admittedly, Ansel was better at this than her and helped. Then they traded and Violet was awarded three emeralds. Dunstan traded her an emerald for some coal, and so at the end of that week she had four jewels and finally felt like an official party in the village's economy.

In the next week Violet started setting her plan into motion. She'd mined enough iron ore for four ingots, so she traded with Dunstan for two more. Then she crafted two buckets that would be able to carry source cubes of water. She checked that off her list.

Her next and most damnable to-do item was a conversation with Petra. Violet was suddenly immensely grateful for the cartographer's dismissive attitude. She felt quite sure she'd be able to get the information she wanted without too many questions asked. Violet waited for gathering time one day and instead of following the others, she went into Petra's workstation and started cleaning. She didn't want to go through Petra's maps because she might notice, but when she did return to her shop thoroughly cleaned again she was willing enough to answer some pertinent questions.

"There be an ocean south," Petra mumbled while also getting straight back into her work, "Another village is a day's travel from the masterless village thee went to. The beach is then a half day's travel further south from there."

Thank you, Violet thought but didn't say. Instead she nodded, then left. She'd farmed more and harvested the last of it then, now having enough food for a week. So she crossed the last two items off her list.

Violet hadn't told anyone she was leaving on another expedition. She didn't want villagers accompanying her, not only because they'd slow her down but then Violet would be worrying about them, despite Herkel's belief they were there to help her. Even adult villagers could be as hapless as children - outside of their chosen professions most didn't have a lot of common sense. The violent sub-species of illagers were different. Still a bit less competent than humans, but they were infused with dark energy that resulted in them sporting a greyish tone like witches. Illagers were warmongering and about as strong as any human, aberrations of their peaceful counterparts.

Violet's plan was to write a letter and disappear, then return days later to face the chief's disgruntlement. She was sure to be forgiven after returning with more wares. But that wasn't the only reason Violet felt she had to go exploring on her own: She needed to find out more about the 'certain wicked presence' in this world that the chief had spoken of. She also wanted to see if the village beyond the abandoned one was still there, or if it was being extorted by illagers.

Before leaving Violet visited all the villagers she was fond of and nobody suspected anything. The last visit was Meliora and baby Allium in the library. Then at midday Violet left her letter on her desk for them to find. She fetched the leftover invisibility potion that would last only a few hours, and she pocketed her crystal ball too. Violet snuck out and left her door ajar. She then went around the buildings and appeared her brown cloak to shield her from the sun, then she started walking. She peered back a few times before the village was out of view. The only one who noticed her was Nickolai, but when she checked again he'd simply turned over on the haystack he was sleeping on and thought nothing of her wandering. Violet followed her compass south-south-west.

The walk was done in three hours and Violet was surprised to reach the abandoned village again so soon. It was much easier when done alone. She'd not passed a single monster, only stick bushes and cacti across the flat terrain. The first thing Violet did was bring out her shovel and start digging a two-by-two space in the sand. Then using her two iron buckets she filled in opposite corners with the sapphire source cubes. Then she filled her water pouch and tankard, sculling water gratefully from her makeshift well. She then vanished her buckets and looked up at the sky, judging that she had less than two hours before nightfall.

Violet found the building in the least disrepair and covered the holes up with sandstone fencing. Then she waved her hand and her bed was ejected from her inventory, planting itself on the floor. Violet ejected her crafting table as well then sat down, the bed creaked under her. She now had maybe twenty minutes until sundown, so she appeared her beetroot stew and ate it with bread from off the corner of her crafting table and drank heartily from her tankard. The torch in the corner of the room crackled and seemed to get brighter as everything else became darker.

It was spooky to take up residence in a place that'd suffered such an awful recent history. Violet hated it but tried not to dwell on it. This building had been cleared of its contents, but going off its design it may have belonged to a stone mason. Violet was just glad there was no blood marking the walls in here, but she also found herself not looking too closely in case she'd notice some splatter or a tooth or something else ghastly. The fact there hadn't been bodies might suggest they'd been zombified, or were gathered together in a pile and burned.

Violet hadn't walked too much and spent a fair portion of this day idle, but that was just how it was. This outpost was here and the next one was further. Tomorrow she would spend the whole day walking before reaching what hopefully wasn't another ghost town. If it was, Violet had enough food to last her anyway and only needed to make enough repairs to monster-proof one of the buildings. If the next village wasn't abandoned, she might finally get a better understanding of what was going on in this world.

Violet could hear monsters outside: the scuttling of a spider and distant groans of a zombie. She lay back and pulled the blankets up, feeling sleep swiftly incoming. Her tiredness from working under the sun was enough to stave off the fear of being a woman alone, especially since the nights cooled so rapidly. Her thoughts fading, she wondered how the villagers were reacting to her absence. Then a part of her wondered if the ghosts of the slaughtered villagers were still here. They were always so attached to the land in life, would that change much in death? Violet could almost see them around her, sitting and standing silently, pale as the faint moon. She went under.

Her crystal ball vibrated against her thigh and she awoke to dawn light, feeling well-rested. Violet sat up and stretched, hearing a distant zombie snarling against the catching fire. She didn't want to waste any time, so she vanished her bed without making it, then did the same to her crafting table and torch. It was still cool for the moment, but the day was quickly heating up. Before stepping out she armoured herself with her chainmail and wielded her sword. These items had been left in the sand and Violet had retrieved them the day after she'd rescued Tobias. She hesitated before swinging open the door.

Violet's eyes swept the path and neighbouring houses. No skeletons or creepers. She cautiously exited, then made her way around to her makeshift well. She stepped out past the buildings and could see distant creepers and spiders wandering apart. Thinking it was safe, she vanished her sword and pulled out her buckets. They scooped up the source cubes and now Violet was ready to leave. She'd made good time, shifting her course a bit east and continuing south for the next village.

Walking for so long was as boring as it was exhausting. Violet went back to thinking about life to preoccupy herself. Specifically her life, and a train of thought she'd entertained many times before. Players of minecraft were often fierce about fighting monsters, and it all came down to having no fear of death. Respawning, and 'logging out', these were methods of escaping permanent death that most monster hunters had at their disposal. Testificates simply died for real when they were killed, and Violet would be the same. She might be human, but at the same time, she wasn't really.

That was because she was conceived in-game. She didn't have a biological body on Earth. That made her a non-player, as artificial as many of the lifeforms one would expect to come across on worlds like these. But her mother's pregnancy and Violet's childhood was described as being identical to human ones on Earth, which gave credence to the realism of her parents' avatars. Violet would never see Earth but she was to herself perfectly human. Perhaps more so since death to her would be as permanent as if she were on Earth. She wondered if being not completely human coupled with the fact she was unplanned was the reason why her mother never liked her. The reason Violet formed strong bonds with teachers and peers instead, like Professor Castellan and Augustus.

It would have to be the reason. But why was she feeling morose about such a dumb and distant thing now? A wind was picking up, grains lashed at her coat and stung her eyes.

She took many brief stops and then at late evening the next village appeared to her. Violet adjusted course and soon discovered that its inhabitants looked alive and well. She encroached on the main path with less than an hour before nightfall.

As always Violet went to the well first. The villagers stared at her, and she waved and nodded to show she was friendly. After refilling her tankard she turned away and allowed her legs to give out. She sat on the sandstone floor of another meeting place, with its own unique pattern of carvings and terracotta laid in. She started massaging her leg muscles. A villager went by, side-eying her. Violet called out to him and he walked faster away. So she stayed where she was, working out any potential cramps until another fellow came close to get water.

"Excuse me, could you direct me to your chief?"

He ignored Violet's question even though she was just a few feet away. He refilled then hurried off. Definitely strange.

Just as Violet was getting back on her feet, another villager approached with a smile.

"Good day, traveller. I am Omar. Whom doth I hast the pleasure of speaking to?"

"Hi, Omar. I'm Violet."

He seemed much nicer, "Hast thou travelled far?"

"In a manner of speaking, yeah."

"From where?"

"Quite north of here. I was wondering if I could pay for a night's stay, and also trade with the villagers."

"That should'st be most well."

"Also, could I speak to your chief?"

"I be afeard he's busy right now. Haply later."

It all felt a bit strange but Violet just nodded to him, "I hope so."

Word seemed to spread about her, because now everyone in their workstations had big smiles and were eager to trade. Perhaps the first two villagers who ignored her were simply afraid she was allied with illagers. These people had clearly made some kind of contact with them, and Violet supposed she should be feeling vindicated in her concern, and yet all she felt was a bad omen. Perhaps regret that she'd come here at all….

"I came from very far north," Violet answered and it was the third time she'd been asked this same question, and it was always one of the first they asked her.

She was emphasising the 'very far' now to throw them off, unsure she wanted them knowing where exactly she'd come from. Also, where was their chief and why was he busy? Just as it was getting on the verge of becoming too dark he finally approached her. He was older than Herkel and wore a monocle.

"Good day, traveller. I am Garth, chief of this village," he was the same kind of friendly that seemed to be hiding something.

"Hi. Violet," her greeting smile was brief and she decided to ask him outright, "Listen, I heard a rumour about illager tribes extorting villages in these lands. Have you heard anything about that?"

He dug a finger into his ear, "Pardon?"

"The village north-west of here was pillaged and abandoned. Do you know about that?"

Somehow he still hadn't heard her, leaning his head closer, "Pardon?"

Violet was about to raise her voice but noticed the villagers who'd been walking by behind her. They'd stopped and were staring at her. Violet caught a bad wind and said nothing.

"Join now, traveller Violet. I shall walk thee to thy keep," the chief started leading her.

It was on the way across their settlement that she realised she'd not heard the thumping of iron golems. He led a now nervous Violet into a single-room house and raised his palm, she pressed an emerald into it. Violet wandered over to the bed then turned to see Garth lingering.

"How long doth thou resolve to keep?"

"I'm not sure," Violet lied, then before she could come up with a better one he finally lowered his mask and revealed a frightened honesty.

"It would be well for thee to not be hither on Foursday."

It must be when the illagers came by to collect. Violet nodded and he left her.

She sat on the bed in the torchlight, thinking.

Everyone in this village was acting. She assumed the reason was the same extortion Herkel had mentioned, that was also mentioned in the dead lord's journal. The illagers must not want them getting any kind of help from outsiders. Again Violet found herself squeezing the crystal ball through her pocket. It had been one month and a half already. Her village hadn't been found in a year. Due to their openness and gratitude toward Violet, she felt sure this could be one of her quicker expatriations. She might finish in the earlier four months, which meant she was almost halfway done here. She was close to her questioning stage, where she'd admit to the chief that she needed to fill her volumes with information about them and start writing every little thing down.

Violet had come here, she'd got her answer. Now she needed to keep her head down and take no more journeys after this one.

Violet wasn't hungry and went to bed without supper. It took her an hour longer than usual before she could sleep.

The heat woke her next morning, like normal. Violet stretched, untangled the sheet from her legs, smoothed out her hair. Then she got up and started making the bed. Foursday was three days away, and while she'd been wondering if she should leave immediately it seemed it would be fine for her to stick to her original plan: she was going to walk to the ocean, enjoy it for a bit, then walk back and sleep again. It'd give her legs a bit of a rest before she took another full day's walking back to the abandoned village.

When Violet exited and saw villagers go by, she received no nods or smiles. They ignored her.

Violet followed her compass south and once she was far enough from the village to look back at its total length she confirmed there were no iron golems. Their cleric may have been killed, or was being held prisoner. The thought made her pick up her stride. She pitied them.

After an hour there were dunes. Violet followed the depressions between them, staying flat where possible and mostly south. She could smell the salty air first, and then detect a wonderfully cooler breeze. A couple hours more and she finally saw the ocean in all its wide blue glory. The surf crashed rhythmically, bottle-green and gatorade-blue. It wasn't the purified water of source cubes but it was teeming with life. Violet stepped onto wet sand and let the cool water wash over her ankles, closing her eyes in bliss. This was the edge of the unmapped continent. A world that was populated by just testificates, while the sun was up.

Violet finished savouring, she opened her eyes and waded into the cool to relieve her skin.

After a bit of that she got out and started walking along the shore. She kept her eyes out for sea pickles, knowing that desert villagers liked them for their ability to store water. She spied only underwater seaweed and washed up stick bushes that were bleached white. Before spotting any pickles she frowned inland instead, at something sticking diagonally from a dune. Violet walked quickly over and saw it was a shipwreck. How neat! She rushed over to investigate.

It was half-buried in the sand and looked decades old. Violet mentally scanned for a way up and then stuck her foot in a circular window, pushing up to grab the stern of the ship and pull herself up onto its sloping deck. It was missing much of its bow, a chunk from its mast and had a gaping hole to the level below. The detailing was jungle and spruce wood. Violet saw a chest below and carefully lowered herself between the broken planks, landing and then checking the storage. She found paper, a poisonous potato, old leather boots and bamboo. She looked around at the hammocks and rusted fixtures, imagining what the ship was like in its prime, before she spied another chest through a doorway. Violet stepped over, grabbing onto fittings to not topple sideways. She entered what could've been the captain's quarters and jackpot: twelve gold nuggets, three bits of lapis and six emeralds. Violet started pocketing them quickly.

She heard a noise and froze. Somebody else was climbing onto the ship. How was that possible? Violet looked around quickly before seeing a trapdoor. She prized it open and slipped below. There was a lot of sand down there but she could easily see through the gaps in the planks above, something she hadn't realised. The intruder landed, his boots thudding heavily. Violet covered her mouth and stayed very still, watching as whoever it was simply stood there for a moment before he started walking around, looking for her. When he stepped above her she saw his grey skin: an illager. He must've been at the village and followed her, and she'd not even noticed. Violet thought of her potion suddenly, but she was in darkness down there and its glow could alert him. Instead she waited and the fellow seemed to search for a few minutes, but he never found the trapdoor and soon enough he climbed out and walked away from the ship.

In time Violet's heartbeat slowed and she started to think about what she should do next.

It was midday. If she trekked to the abandoned village now even the potion of invisibility wouldn't last long enough to cover the portion of the night she'd be travelling. And she'd still have to get around the closest village too, unless she wanted to take a longer route by curving around it. As much as she hated it, she had no other option: she had to go back. The alternative was sealing up this level of the boat, planting her torch and staying here, and hoping the illager wouldn't come back. Chief Garth had said she should be alright until Foursday. It took her many more minutes before she had the courage to climb out, and then feeling ridiculous for keeping up this façade of normalcy, she traversed north over the dunes to return to the oppressed village once more.

She never saw the illager on her way back, though she kept out an eye for him and failed to be subtle about it. She returned in the evening, and knew that offering to work or clean for these people would be a bad idea. She wasn't supposed to look like outside help, and most likely that illager was living in one of the buildings, keeping an eye on everyone. Violet needed to look like an ordinary wandering trader, and since she now had more emeralds she traded more in the hopes that's all she'd look like. There were no apples, but she paid full price for an oak sapling and a few bone meal fertilisers. She also bought food she didn't need and ate it. Nobody troubled her, and Violet paid for accommodation once more, and as she nestled into her rented bed she couldn't help wondering if that illager would follow her north to the abandoned village as well. Maybe not, since she'd set her crystal ball to wake her at the crack of dawn again.

She was awake when the indigo sky was getting streaked through with violet, pink and orange. Violet tried not to be noticed as she left, and spotted nobody. That next full day's journey she was routinely looking over her shoulder but saw no one. She reached the abandoned village in the expected amount of time and set up her temporary quarters again in the same house, and built the same artificial well out of source cubes. She had one final sleep away before morning came again, and there was no rush to leave. She had breakfast and waited for any nearby monsters to wander off before packing up and walking the few hours that'd take her back.

Before midday she saw her village and its residents moving about. The journey had taken five days. As expected it had been monumentally easier by herself and she'd not needed to rely on the leftover potion either. She'd given that illager who trailed her the slip.

She'd also received her answers: yes, there were pillagers on this world extorting villages. No, they weren't yet aware that a vanishing village had been rebuilt in formerly empty desert. Yes, these pillagers were happy to slaughter entire villages, supposedly because they'd resisted.

So why did Violet feel so awful about knowing for sure? Why did she feel like she'd ought not to have rocked the boat?

。。。

【AN: I've not updated in some days, in fact it's been a week exactly! I got a new computer to play Minecraft on and even started a free trial for a realm with friends. Yep... does that count as story research?】