[Chapter 1: Create New World]

"GOD DAMMMMMIIIITTTT!!!" John yelled as he ran for his life, through the forest full of cuts and bruises. The click-clacks of the skeletons and the guttural groans of the zombies all around closing in on him like some low budget horror movie. With his heart beating like a drum and legs burning like they're on fire, only one thing was running through his mind. "THIS ISN'T HOW MINECRAFT IS SUPPOSED TO BE!!!"

Pause.

Yeah we're doing this. The good ol' reliable. The 'You're probably wondering how I got in this situation' cliche. Unless you've read the Not-A-Prologue Prologue—aka chapter 0–or you somehow missed the title and summary, here's a quick rundown of what's happening.

SIKE!

Did you really think I was going to give you a neat little, concise synopsis? Did you really think I'll repeat myself again (ok I may ocasiaonly do that but not in this case!)? Go back and read chapter 0. It's literally there in the previous chapter for Christ sake!

Alright, enough dilly dallying to boost the word count, let's rewind time and start from the beginning.

"Congratulations Mrs Johnson! It's a boy!"

No wait no! That's not what I meant when I said 'the beginning'! That's too far! Fast forward a bit.

"Happy birthday son! Go check on your laptop. I may or may not have downloaded a certain game you've been nagging me about." John's father winked proudly.

Again! No! I mean it's related to the story and we're getting closer…but that's still too far! Think about right before John's life changed, for worse or for even worse.

"You actually don't know how to apply for a job…do you?"

Those words hit John harder than the time he tried to mine diamond with a stone pickaxe all those years back. It sank deep, hurting him more than just a physical and mental level…emotional? Yeah let's go with that.

Meet Johnathan "John" Johnson. Fresh out of college, drowning in so much student debt you'd need a diving suit, and working retail at a Walmart that smells like old carpets and cashew nuts. What a wonderful life to live! At the young age of 22 years old with a body that's already on the verge of a total meltdown, John is the textbook example of a protagonist (don't question me on that).

John isn't special—both literally and mentally. He isn't chosen by god, he didn't win the genetic lottery, nor does he even have a cool birthmark (his name may be Jojo but he sure as hell doesn't have a star birthmark).

Yeah, he's got none of that.

In fact, if you dressed him in bright neon green clothing and dropped him in the middle of New York—rush hour, of course—I doubt you'd even find him. It's just…something about him that makes him…a guy? Like the most average guy (Wouldn't that make him unique then? Cause like he's relatable.).

Actually no, the most average guy would go to the 28 year old, Chinese man named Han from that Nat Geo study in 2011…but you get the point.

John, like many others, enjoys gaming. It's one of the few things he actually looks forward to doing whether that's at the end of a long exhausting day at college or the end of a stressful work week. Minecraft, in particular, is his favorite. There's just some magical feel about it that really makes him chillax—wait…do people even still use this word? Nah, it doesn't matter.

Maybe it's the nostalgia from playing it after school when he was young, reminiscing on the times when life was just fun and games, or maybe it's the soothing music, masterfully composed by C418, that just hits the brain in the right spots.

Anyways…where were we? Oh yeah! Something about applying for a job.

"Hey! John! Are you with me?" Tom called out from the other end of the line, snapping his fingers to get his friends' attention—actually, they're more like companions. Not a friend-friend per se.

John blinked as he was suddenly yanked back into reality. "U-Um, What? Where? Huh?"

"Goddamit John! Were you even listening to what I've been saying? You need to get a job A-S-A-P! It's already been half a year and you're still stuck in that dead end retail job at Walmart."

Ah yes…Walmart…Tom wasn't wrong. John did NEED a better job. But there were two problems: one John didn't know how to apply for a job. He wouldn't even be working at Walmart if it weren't for the help of his friend. And two, well…he's stuck working at Walmart, unable to move up in the corporate ladder. It just comes with being…some guy.

"John. Listen to me. I know you've got potential. Use that engineering degree of yours to get a job as a…a…architect or something."

John groaned. At least he had something going for him. He barely graduated out of an engineering school—barely. He sighed. "For the last time Tom, I'm a mechanical engineer. I wanted to do mechanics, not design buildings or whatever architects do."

"Yeah yeah, fine…but seriously, you need to get a well paying job. Retail is fine for now but you don't want to work retail your entire life do you? You've got potential. So use it."

And with that, John was left alone, holding his phone as the call ended. The home screen shut off with a click as he let out a sigh. I'll do some job hunting tomorrow. God am I tired today. John thought.

Walking over to his setup—just a low-end gaming laptop plus he got as a birthday gift all those years ago and some crappy mouse from Best Buy—John collapsed against his office chair…which he conveniently found thrown away behind the Walmart he worked at. Don't judge. It's free. Ok, might have a few scratches and some questionable stains but it's fine…for the most part. Alright, FINE. It's also missing a wheel but he easily substituted it with a wooden block he found on the road.

[Insert windows startup sound followed by a couple clicks as John boots up Minecraft]

John smiles warmly as he enters the creative world he's been using to build whatever structure or strange redstone contraption his mind can conceive for the past year and a half.

"Maybe it's time to try hardcore Minecraft." John muttered.

He wasn't a pro at Minecraft, but he did possess his fair share of knowledge about the game—at least enough to survive and defeat the ender dragon.

Exiting back to the main menu John takes a quick glance at an unusual splash text, one that he doesn't recognize.

[Are you ready to start a new world?]

Smiling, John chuckled a bit. "I wonder if the game knows…maybe my personal FBI monitoring agent is trying to mess with me." He joked to himself.

John moves his mouse over, clicking [single player, then [Create new world]. Now for a name…John was never good with names or naming, and neither was his parents as shown with his legal name Johnathan Johnson. So without much thought, he typed in: 'Minecraft Hardcore World'.

Create new world.

John stared at his screen as the world loading buffer icon (I don't know what the technical name is) slowly fills up the square as a representation of his world generating itself, breathing life into the blocky realm that is Minecraft.

Then, the music hits. Sweden, by C418. The gentle, slow paced piano tickles his brain, soothing his aching muscles as John leans back in his chair as the world loads around his character…except it didn't.

John waited.

And waited…

And waited…

Nothing.

John blinks blankly at the screen, which it too is blank. Nothing but a vast empty void of white. No terrain, no UI, no anything. Just the music. Was his laptop finally computing its last bits? Maybe. Was it a problem with his internet? Definitely not, it's a single player world. Did by some miracle, a solar flare was shot out and somehow hit his laptop, flipping a single bit which caused the world generation error (like that one Mario 64 speed run)? Highly unlikely but it'd be a good story to tell.

The music was still playing so maybe it's not the program that's the problem. But then what could it be? Even after turning his laptop off and on, the world generation error still persisted. Now it's even worse as the other worlds he opened all had the same issue.

"JUST LOAD ALREADY! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO RELAX ME NOT MAKE ME ANGRY!" John yelled at his computer. He was seconds from putting his fist through the screen when his rational mind stopped him. He couldn't afford repairs to his laptop let alone a new one.

[Are you ready to start a new world?]

"Huh?" John stared confusingly at the screen. There it is again, that strange text splash, but this time there's two buttons that appeared underneath it.

[Yes] and [No].

John froze, unable to move, clearly in shock at this occurrence. "Um…this is definitely not normal…"

[I will not repeat myself a third time. Are you ready to start a new world?]

This snapped John out of his frozen, stun-locked, state. Did he unknowingly install a mod or some virus? Well his computer was old so the hardware isn't top notch…but this should be a problem with the software. Hesitantly, he reached out for his mouse mustered up the strength to move the cursor, clicking the yes option.

[Excellent choice. I knew you'd pick yes.]

"Huh?! …Excuse me?!"

[Welcome John. It's finally time to meet you.]

John yelled in shock and fear, only managing to get out a quick "AW HELL NAH—" before he collapsed to the floor, his vision going bright white…the music somehow still playing in his ears, now as clear and loud as ever.

Then…silence.

John groaned. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in…some sort of white void. It was very white, like someone upped the gamma to 200%. It was like flowing through a sensory deprivation chamber, like there was a numbness in his limbs, as if his body wasn't his own yet he's still able to control his movements. He couldn't tell up from down, forward and back.

"Greetings John." A voice echoed out from everywhere, startling John.

John panicked, saying whatever came to his mind. "W-Who said that? W-Who are you? W-Where am I? W-Why am I here? Is this what the pearly white gates look like? Did I have a stroke and die?"

"Now that's what I want! None of these typical who, where, why questions. You're still missing the what, when, and how but it's not like those are any better either."

A man spontaneously appeared in front of John, startling him even more and leaving him even more confused.

The man was…well…he was something. His age is hard to tell, probably in his mid thirties or forties. Bald. Beige skin. Scraggy black beard. A brown unkempt shirt, long grey pants—maybe sweatpants—and some black shoes. To be honest (and no offense), he kinda looks like a homeless person.

"Come on. Say something. Don't leave me hanging." The figure speaks up, this time snapping his fingers in front of John's face.

John blinks, stammering as he comes back to his senses. "U-Uh…um…wait…Notch?" He says in a confused state.

"Ah! So you DO know who I am!" The man says excitedly, his grin widened.

"N-No like…you look like Notch, the Minecraft skin. Not Notch as a person, isn't he a multi-millionaire Swedish game developer?"

"No no no dear John. I (emphasis on I) am not Markus Persson. I am not the Swedish Notch nor am I the Minecraft player Notch but rather the god of Minecraft Notch. Entirely different entity. Do you understand the distinction?"

"W-Wait…" John stutters, trying to comprehend this bizarre situation he's in. "I-I understand…maybe? Hold up. So are you saying I'm in Minecraft? Like I got isekaied?!"

Notch's mouth curls up into a smirk. "You're a quick learner aren't you."

He raises his hand up in the air in an exaggerated motion and snaps his fingers. A blinding white flash erupts from behind him followed by a menagerie of overly saturated colors that part ways like curtains, revealing a lush, vibrant landscape of plains, forests, hills, and mountains…all strangely real…and not pixelated.

Notch throws his arms up as he takes a bow. "WELCOME...TO MINECRAFT!!!"