"All right! Beta test complete. I'm opening alpha version now. World Wide Net, here we come!" Notch with excitement pressed the button. The Alpha version of the game opened up to world audience on his servers…

… He woke up from a slumber in the woods, where he sat in the shade of the trees for cool comfort of the night. The sun has been hurting his eyes of late, ever since the scary encounter with the bipedal creatures so much like himself, so he now avoided leaving the caves during the bright daylight, preferring overcast days and clear, starry nights like this one.

He could feel something, a Change, shifting the world around him. Something was happening. Startled, he cast the dark heavens a confused, wary look. The world trembled as strange lines of codes ran through its entirety, making the place somehow feel a whole lot bigger and wider.

Not all similar changes had proved to be a pleasant experience, he had already discovered. Concerned, he tensed and waited. But nothing seemed to happen. Not yet…

Two weeks later.

Jon was building a living place. So far, the new immersion game he decided to try out seemed very realistic, yet also simplified for the sake of convenience. For one, time passed much faster here. An entire day usually passed within two hours or so. And many actions, such as farming and growing food, which should have taken days, could be done instantly or within a few minutes or hours.

Most of all, Jon enjoyed building. With satisfaction, he glanced back at his solid wood cabin and barn that he just finished. It only took him about an hour to do all this and he couldn't help but feel some pride at the result.

A group of geared-up players appearing at the edge of his chosen lot got his attention. Tensing, Jon looked at them, hoping they were not here for PvP. He was not really ready for that. Prepared to log off at the first sign of aggression, yet disappointed to live his build to be plundered, Jon waited for them to make the first move.

Seeing him, the group stopped. One of them nodded to him.

"Hey, we're gonna go look for monsters. Wanna come?" They invited. He shook his head with a smile as relief washed through him.

"Thanks!... I am good here." He said, making sure to grin slightly to show that he appreciated their invitation. At least, they were not here to plunder other players' builds as some other players were. He had purposefully chosen to go very far from start to avoid players like that, but of course, running into them was inevitable in a game such as this one.

"All right, then. See ya." The lead player from the group nodded and turned away, losing interest. The entire group moved on into the surrounding woods, chuckling to themselves about something.

Relaxing, Jon watched the spot where they disappeared and then turned to his cabin and barn, again admiring them. He then moved to the fields, where he had already stocked up blocks of wood, ready to build a fence. He still had a lot to do today. A shelter for his tamed animals, for now crowded into the barn. Wheat and vegetables planted in his fields. And, he needed to stock up on more wood, since his previous night in the game proved uncomfortably cold, according to his character stats.

Jon moved merrily toward the wood and began building his fence…

… The group of Players meanwhile kept going deeper into the woods. One of them stepped into the mud, which he then dragged out stuck to his boot with distaste.

"Well, I think this game is too realistic." He complained. "They didn't have to go into such detail. I can even smell this boggy stuff. Gross." He wrinkled his nose.

"I don't know. I mean, it has its rustic charm. It's almost like the real world, only faster…"

"I'm going to send a few suggestions to developers. They really need to add more animals here. Like… a variety. All I have seen so far were horses, pigs, and cows."

"Well, I saw chickens. And some really weird green mobs with tiny legs."

"Be careful! Those guys explode." Another player warned with enthusiasm of someone sharing a new discovery.

"Anyways, it's a little boring. We've been going through these woods for almost half an hour. Where is that location you said where there will be monsters?"

The other player in the group pulled up a transparent map.

"Not far. We're almost there. Javern Cliffs. There are plenty of mobs here. Especially in caves."

Just then, they came out of the woods to the edge and saw gaping caverns within the line of the cliffs that led up to higher mountains.

"There! Let's try that one!" The players cheerfully headed to the cave closest to them.

To their satisfaction, they heard a low growl coming from up ahead. And, they saw red, dully-glowing eyes beginn to open as the monsters sensed their arrival.

"Finally! Some action!"

… He heard the sounds in the distance and could not keep his curiosity bound, coming closer to the cave labyrinth from which the sounds came. Hiding behind a pillar, he peeked out and once again saw the same bipedal creatures as he did previously. He eyed them, his memory of previous encounter already somewhat dimmed.

They looked so much like him. What did that mean?

As he watched, the figures lunged at the spiders, which for some reason came aggressively toward them and began to attack them, furiously hissing.

"Yeah!"

"Let's go!"

The players triumphantly yelled, making him slightly flinch as he watched them ruthlessly slay the strange multi-legged creatures that he shared his home with.

More and more spiders came charging from the depths of the cave, some even scuttling right by him, ignoring him. He wondered how did the creatures know that they were supposed to attack these strange newcomers. When he had passed them by earlier, they barely stirred at all, only lazily opening their red eyes before going back into hibernation. So, he completely discounted them as any sort of danger, while he wandered the passages beneath the ground, exploring where they led.

He now carefully avoided any red-colored hot pools which caused him such pain as they did before.

Overall, he liked the caves a lot. He had even decided that these dark areas would make a nice, safe place for him to rest during the day, when the sun appeared and shone too brightly upon the world. It nearly blinded him now when he looked at it, making his vision blurry.

He flinched as one of the strangers viciously cut off the head from one of the spiders, its body continuing to attack them until they pierced its belly. Then, the creature curled in on itself, its legs twitching, and lay still, its body vanishing into dust.

At yet another aggressive yell from their direction, he took a cautious step back. Feeling oddly discomforted, he backed off completely, making sure that the dark shadows of surrounding rocks hid him from view. Even his eyes dimmed to hide his presence. He didn't want these strangers to find him. He simply wasn't sure how they would react.

The players, meanwhile, satisfied by their victories, kicked at the bodies of the monsters with a few exhilarated laughs. Then, they withdrew back the way they came.

He watched after them silently. After making sure that they were well and gone, he lightly jumped down into the main cave and looked at the remains of monsters on the ground. The bodies were continuing to dissolve away, lifting in fine black mist of ash that swirled under his feet before vanishing completely. The blood-smears and stains also vanished as the cave began to restore its original look before the fight.

He heard a sound in the caves and looked there, curiously. With his other sense, which he had during the night when the sun wasn't flooding the earth with its powerful rays, he could feel the monsters respawning in the caverns. The alarm he felt earlier began to quiet, getting replaced with relief. The furry, large, eight legged creatures he had shared his home with were not permanently harmed.

Perhaps that meant that he, too, would reappear if he was harmed again? Did that already happen to him before after he fell into that red pool?

Reassured, he cast a curious, cautious look in the direction where the strange hunters had gone and hesitated. He saw no reason to deny his curiosity. He decided to follow the strange hunters at a safe distance.

Cautiously, he followed the trail of their glimmering warm footprints leading out of the cave and into the woods. Ten minutes later, he stopped still before a familiar field, when something else distracted him.

The field, formerly empty, was not empty anymore as he remembered it last time he ventured in this direction.

Surprised, he blinked at a large structure, which towered there now. Bleating of animals came from a smaller structure built nearby.

He drew closer when his foot hit something. Glancing down, he curiously stared at a tool.

Bending, he picked up a pickaxe and studied it, ignoring the morning fog crawling thickly around him, covering the field grass with dew.

Suddenly, he became aware of a gasp. Shifting focus from the pickaxe to the structure, he saw another of those strange creatures, standing there. Uneasy, he froze still, not sure what to do. The other being also held still, staring at him.

Unlike those who came to slay the spiders or those he had seen before, this being didn't make noises or charge at him. At least, at first it didn't.

Suddenly, it began to back away from him, only to stumble over a rock and fall awkwardly on his rear, dropping all the wood it carried directly on its feet. It yelped, startling him. As soon as the being glanced away to its dropped wood, he immediately withdrew to the woods, unnerved by the whole encounter…

…

Sitting on his butt, Jon blinked as he looked out to the line of mist with disbelief. The ghostly figure he just saw a moment ago was now gone. And, he wasn't even sure if he didn't imagine it.

"What?..." He whispered.

The glowing eyes, which held on Jon from afar, had literally frozen him in place. And, as they continued to watch him, he felt his hackles rising. There had been no player nickname above the head of that eerie figure, either.

Chills crept up his back. Forgetting that it was just a game, Jon scrambled back to the house and quickly shut the door, where he stood leaning against the sturdy wood, trying to make sense of things. Then, he shook his head and lightly laughed at his own nervousness.

"It's just a game… I'm so dumb." He told himself ruefully, as instead of anxiety, now excitement flooded his heart. He opened the window to the forum and typed in first words, which would soon change everything.

"Hey, guys, you won't believe what I just saw." He posted the snapshot from the recording that his gaming camera made of the encounter, proving that it wasn't just him imagining things...

…

He hid behind a tree, his heart beating faster. When that stranger saw him, he felt trapped by its gaze and stood frozen, not sure what to do. When it moved, he didn't wait any longer, but fled back into the forest.

With an uneasy glance back, he retreated further into the shade of the trees. Open spaces made him feel… vulnerable. And he still didn't know what those creatures were. Something about them was very strange.

Only then he realized that he still held the strange tool in his hand – the pickaxe. Unwillingly, he reached his hand to his chest, where he felt his heart pounding in anxiety. Doubtlessly, it belonged to that creature, since it seemed as strange as he was. He should probably return it? Maybe then he could see what it was used for.

Still, he felt too nervous to go back right now. Deciding that he had enough adventures for today and resolving to return to that place a little later, he headed back to the familiar caves in the woods…