The World of MINECRAFT (Being the First Volume of the Minecraft Trilogy)

The Band Travels East

Steve and his warriors set out late in the afternoon in the middle of August. The entire village stood at the gates to see them off.

"Safe travels," Jameson bid them. Then they were off. Travel was easy that first afternoon. They mainly stuck to the plains. The terrain was flat and docile. Occasionally, they passed a herd of cows or pigs. As twilight fell, the band neared a stretch of flat highland. They set up tents on the ground and burned a fire. Lucas checked his compass.

"Still heading east?" inquired Steve.

"Yep," replied Lucas. "Still heading east."

"So, what is our goal in this?" asked Jack, walking up to the two friends.

"There's an old road that leads into the northern lands. It's not been taken care of for centuries, but it'll be easier than just turning north and hiking through giant pine forests," Steve explained. "Hopefully, once we're there, we can find one of the old northern fortresses. It's believed that the Endermen's mode of crossing between worlds is located in them."

"Whoa," exclaimed Jack. "Where'd you learn that much about the dragon's realm so quickly?"

"A friend of Jameson's. His name is Theos."

"Oh yeah! Theos!" cried Jack. "Great guy." The three of them sat down with the rest of the men around the fire. Old Amos cooked some chicken on a spit.

"I heard the plan," he told them as they got settled. "I suppose the odds of stumbling upon one of these fortresses are in our favor?"

"Theos did tell me there is another way to find an 'End Stronghold', as he calls them. The Endermen carry a special charm commonly called an Ender Pearl, which gives them the ability to teleport. Supposedly, if one puts fire powder on it, a map of the area surrounding the nearest stronghold appears."

"Fire powder?" asked Lucas.

"An old fabled ingredient in some witches' brews. They created it from grinding up heat rods, an ancient weapon of the pigmen," interjected Jack.

"Unfortunately, since the pigmen disappeared millennia ago, heat rods no longer exist," sighed Steve. "So unless we come upon one that's been lost to the mists of time, we'd better stick to plan A."

They sat in silence for the rest of the time the food cooked. After having some delicious chicken and a side of minced carrots and potatoes, the group began to split up as some went to bed and others had some small talk. For the rest, Steve and Jack entertained them with tales.

After a particular entertaining story from Steve about some crazed chickens, Lucas nudged Jack.

"Jack," he said, barely keeping a straight face, "tell Steve about the boxes."

"Boxes?" wondered an intrigued Steve.

"Oh yeah," chortled Jack. "The boxes. There's one story about how Notch thought our world looked before he came here. People say that when he first discovered Minecraft, he saw it through some sort of screen. It was like a portal between our worlds, but he could only see our world, not interact with it. From his eyes, in his body formatted to his world, our world looked like it was made out of boxes." Everyone burst out laughing.

"Boxes!" exclaimed Steve.

"Imagine," laughed Jack, "all the animals' heads were square! All of the mountains looked like they were built out of bricks! But once Notch got here, he realized that from our perspectives, this world looked just like his. And now that he's gone back to his world, whenever he looks down on us, we all look like a bunch of," and then he could hardly talk, "blockheads!"

As everyone laughed, Steve pondered this. The thing about the boxes had rung a bell deep inside him.

The next morning, after a pleasant sleep, the men got to traveling again. They were not met with much trouble the second day, either. The most exciting thing that happened was seeing a pack of wolves running in the distance.

In the following days, the men slowly made their way over a range of mild mountains. They carefully followed a worn path cut through the sides of the looming stone cliffs. At noon of the fifth day, they reached the peak of the tallest mountain. Steve stopped to look at the large stretch of Minecraft spread out under them. In one direction, he spotted gargantuan mushrooms. In another place, he saw towering jungle trees and exotic creatures.

"It's quite a world we live in," remarked Lucas.

"Sure thing," replied Steve.

The next day, they hiked over the last peak. As darkness again began to fall, the group set up camp once again. Steve spied some lights in the distance.

"We can't be too far from a town," said Lucas, eying his compass. "Maybe, tomorrow, we can stop at one and stock up on supplies."

Steve watched the lights. They looked almost like fires. No, he told himself. It's just torches being lit for the night.

"Well, g'night, friend," said Lucas, heading to his tent. Steve murmured goodnight, but kept his eyes in the lights. Even when he went to his bed, he watched them.

And something watched him.