A New Kind Of Game

Waking Up

Pain. That was the first thing I felt when I woke up. Nothing severe, just a light ache in my head. I felt something hot and bright shine against my face. I groaned. Why did it have to be morning already? It was Monday and I was really dreading going to school today. We had a Calculus test today. I rolled over, hoping for at least another five minutes.
My eyes snapped open. This wasn’t my bed. I stared at the impossible flat, low-cut, grass inches away from my face. This definitely wasn’t my bed. Or my room. I jerked my head up and was absolutely astonished. I seemed to be in some sort of clearing, with small trees surrounding me and a pond off to my left. The environment wasn’t what took me back though.

I could have dealt with being mysteriously thrown into a forest. That didn’t bother me. What did bother me was that the forest I was in was completely made out of…BLOCKS! I looked around, stunned and speechless. To be completely honest, I even slapped myself one good time. The sting from the slap was too life-like to make me think I was in a dream.

So, ok. I’m in minecraft. Weird and a little…terrifying, but ok. I got up and looked over myself while I calmed down. I was wearing black cargo plants accompanied with my favorite plain light blue t-shirt. I had on my regular black sneakers and I even spotted my favorite black fedora on the grass next to me. I picked it up, dusting it off briefly before putting it on. How did I end up with these clothes? There were mine, but I certainly didn’t remember putting any of this on before bed, but I guess I couldn’t complain. Showing up in my boxers would have been a bit weirder…and colder.

I ran a hand through my short, brown hair. It was warm from the sun’s rays. I wonder how long I’d been laying there. I started to walk, when I felt a few things bump against my leg from my from inside my pocket. I checked them and was surprised to find quite a few of my belongings. My ipod touch, fully equipped with a full battery and headphones, my silver cross necklace, and my watch. Again, I wondered how these items got into my pockets, considering I’d taken them all off before bed and placed my ipod back on the charger. But, taking into account the clothes I was wearing before that I wasn’t supposed to have, I just shrugged it off.

I checked my watch. It was just after half past four. That wasn’t exactly encouraging. As a player, I knew of the many dangers that lurked through the night. I took my best guess and concluded that I probably had a couple hours until night. I’d have to either make myself a shelter before then or find a village. The latter would probably take longer than just building myself a temporary shelter.

I walked up to the nearest tree. It was exactly textured like it would have been if I’d been playing with my avatar. I placed my hand against the light oak wood. It felt real, just like any other tree on earth would have. I gave it a light tap with my fist. No crack appeared. I slapped myself mentally. Or course it wouldn’t be that easy like in the game. I drew my hand back to my waist like I would in tae kwon do training. I focused on my target and threw a hard punch right into the middle block of the tree. Fresh pain rippled across my knuckles as I pulled my hand away with a suppressed gasp. That had hurt, a lot. To make it worse, a tiny crack appeared for a second, but then disappeared. It was like the game was taunting me.

“Ha ha.” I said to myself bitterly, rubbing my hand over the red spots that dotted my knuckles. “Guess that leaves trying to find a village.”
I knew villages were scarce when you spawned in the game. You were lucky if you could find one within a few hundred blocks. The odds weren’t exactly in my favor, but I didn’t really have another choice. All I could do was pick a direction and pray for the best. Which, is exactly what I did. I picked what I thought was west and started moving at a jog. I kept jogging and looking around at my surroundings as I passed by tree after tree. Every so often I could spot a cow or a sheep roaming around. They would often turn their square heads at me and look at me with their rectangular eyes before going back to roaming or eating some tall grass.

I would take short breaks every half hour or so. I started looking in the trees during that time to see if I could find some apples. I was successful in spotting some, but not very good at getting them down. It took me a couple of precious minutes just to get one down. It was interesting to say the least. The entire thing was like a three-dimensional lego without the connecting pieces or holes. It was very bumpy and looked as solid as the wood on the trees.
I took a bite and was surprised at how rich it tasted. It had to have been the best apple I’d ever tasted! However, a weird thing about eating it was that every time I took a bite, it would come out as a perfect square before I chomped it down. I actually almost choked on the first bite. Nonetheless, I learned to take smaller ones as I continued on through the forest.

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I’d been jogging and walking for a while now and the sun was about halfway through its trip to the ground. I looked at my watch to see the time was now half past six. It turned out that I had a little more time than I’d guessed, but I still hadn’t found a village or any other good means of shelter. Slowly, but sure, the sun completed its descent and night washed over the forest. I began hearing strange noises of the mobs spawning out in the forest. Let me tell you something, there’s nothing worse than being lost in a dark forest, hearing the clanking of bones, moans of zombies, and slurps of spiders all without any means to defend yourself. It was very frightening to say the least. As much as I wanted to run for my life, I forced myself to walk, opening up my sense of hearing and sight. Running and making noise would only attract the mobs to me. It would have to be saved as a last resort.

I was doing ok for about the first ten minutes into the night. But, my luck didn’t hold out any longer than that. All of a sudden, I heard a loud screech. I looked up just in time to move out of the way of a spider that would have probably crushed me if I’d stayed a second longer on the spot I’d been on. Now, I’ve never really had a fear of spiders, but let me tell you. This spider made me afraid of spiders! It was huge! About half the size of your average car! And that wasn’t the end of it. It had eight glowing red eyes, all fixed on me. Saliva from two very large fangs dripped on the grass floor as it’s six hairy, blocky, legs pounded the ground. It let out another ear-popping screech that snapped me back to reality. I turned tail and ran!

The ground trembled slightly as the six legged beast ran in pursuit. I whizzed by tree after tree and tried to keep my path as narrow as I could, trying to get as many trees between me and the spider to slow down my attacker. It worked somewhat, but I was never going to lose it this way. Suddenly, an arrow whizzed right in front of my face and struck a tree I’d just passed. Shocked, but still moving, I turned my head to see a skeleton loading another arrow into his boy with his thin, blocky, fingers. His eye sockets glowed red as well, as he tracked my path. It was like something out of a bad horror movie. I ran faster.

The trees were getting denser, much to my relief. My arachnid foe was starting to fall behind. I kept going, my breathing coming in and out rapidly. I heard an angry screech come from behind me. It knew it was falling behind. I smiled as I burst through a heavy section of trees, hoping to finally lose the monster. My heart sank. The forest abruptly ended, almost cruelly. I had burst into a small extreme hills biome, it seemed. The land continued on until it became a steep downward drop. I stopped at the edge and looked down. It was a decent drop to the flat ground of what looked like a meadows biome below. And I nearly cried when I looked onward. A small village lit by torches lay just a little ways out in the meadow. I was exhausted and my feet were aching, but seeing that village gave me strength. I was nearly safe. I just had to figure out an easy way down.

I heard something burst through the trees behind me. I turned back in terror to see the same terrible spider from before, slowly inching its way over to me. I looked straight into its huge red eyes, then back at the cliff. It knew it had me. Even if I could get down, the spider was faster than me. I’d never make it to the village before it caught me. Crap!

Then, I heard it. A tiny hissing noise coming up from my side. I turned to see a horrendous sight. A green creeper with no arms, four stubby legs, and a merciless frown was hissing and running at me at full force, hissing angrily. A crazy, last ditch idea popped in my head. If it worked, then there was at least a chance I’d survive. If it didn’t I was definitely not going to survive, but considering my circumstances, it looked like I was dead if I didn’t do something!

The creeper started in inflating as it got closer and I charged at it. It looked surprised as I closed the distance. I wrapped my arms around the nearly inflated creeper, spun, and threw it at the spider with all the strength I could muster. The spider let out a surprised screech right before the creeper detonated. The explosion was tiny compared to the same ones we could make on earth with plastic explosives, but the shock wave from it was a lot bigger than expected! I watched as the spider and the creeper were enveloped in a mixture of red and orange before I was thrown off my feet and down the cliff.

Instinctively, I put all my weight on my back to flip me over onto my feet to brace for impact. Just in time too. My feet hit the ground at a substantial speed. I bent my knees to help absorb the shock and rolled over my shoulder as best I could. The impact was hard on my legs and hurt quite a bit, but I didn’t hear or feel any bones snap. That was a miracle in and of itself.

I laid there for a couple minutes or so, clutching my knees and waiting for the throbbing to go down. I was alive! Hah! I don’t think I’d ever felt so happy to be alive since my unlucky car accident when I was five. I looked on toward the glow of the village that would offer me sanctuary from the gruesome mobs of the night. I got to my feet, painfully, and began to walk just a little farther. Once I reached the village, I could rest.

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When I finally made it, the gravel street and the standard villager huts were the most welcoming of sights. The light from the makeshift street lights made from wool and torches helped keep the mobs from spawning around the village, making this the safest spot in the foreseeable area. I sighed in relief, glad to finally be safe.

Woop! I thought too soon.

Out of nowhere, an enderman spawned directly in front of me. It was tall, jet black, and its rectangular purple eyes were looking down…right at mine! It let out a terrifying screech that put the spider’s to shame. Then, it disappeared just as quickly as it had come. But I knew better. I groaned and readied my aching body into a rigid riding horse stance. I was shaking from head to toe, scared and anxious for the enderman to reappear. I heard another loud Woop from behind me. Instantly, I pulled my arm back into a devastating elbow strike. Or at least, it was supposed to be devastating.

My elbow throbbed in pain once it made contact with the enderman’s stomach. It was like elbowing a wall! However, the enderman let out a pained shriek too, so at least I was able to hurt him as well. I gritted my teeth and turned to give him another strike with my fist. It struck nothing but air, as the enderman teleported to the side. Before I could reposition myself to block, I felt a long black fist strike the side of my face. I cried and as I was actually lifted off the ground and thrown down into the dirt. My cheek burned as I clutched it with my left hand.

The enderman teleported in front of me, reaching for me. I quickly sent a kick to what I thought was its kneecap. I cried out again and its leg buckled, allowing me to send another kick straight to its ugly black face. It was a pretty hard kick and the enderman stumbled back in pain, hands clutching where its nose would have been. I rose to my feet quickly and sent another punch to its midsection, then spun around for an elbow jab to its side. I never let up, constantly attacking it with jabs, crosses, and kicks. My knuckles were bleeding and my feet ached with each kick, but I didn’t care. This was about survival. A fight to the death!

I stopped for a second, readying myself to finish it off. I twisted my body, putting all of my weight on my left foot, picking up speed as I brought up my right foot for a straight shot to its chin. It should have ended the fight right then and there. But, luck wasn’t on my side this time. My foot swept across the empty air and I barely had time to re-steady myself before the enderman appeared in front of me again. I didn’t have the time to block as it brought its block knee right up to my stomach. I gasped in pain as all the air left my lungs and I crumpled to the ground in agony. That hit felt like I was smacked with an aluminum baseball bat rather than a fist!

I tried to get up, but the enderman was already on me. It grabbed the sleeve of my shirt and with astonishing power, lifted me off the ground! It spun around and threw me against a neighboring villager house. I crashed into the wall with a heavy thud, pain splintering out from my spine all across my back. I didn’t even have the strength to shout out.
I actually stayed there for a fraction of a second, before gravity decided to work again. I fell face-first onto the hard dirt. I felt defeated. My body ached horridly, more than I’d ever experienced before. Every movement caused pain. Breathing stung as I tried once again to get up. I wasn’t given that kind of mercy. A second later, I felt cold, black, blocky, fingers wrap themselves tightly around my throat. The enderman lifted me up until our eyes met. I couldn’t breathe! I gasped and flailed wildly, desperate to fill my lungs with air. I scratched and clawed at his arms to no avail. All the while he just stared at me. A cold, murderous, blood chilling stare.

He opened his mouth wide and screeched at me in anger. And that’s when I saw it. A single, dark orb. His enderpearl! Dark spots began to cloud my vision and if I didn’t do something soon, I really was going to die. I dropped one hand from his arm and thrust it into its mouth. I grabbed at the pearl inside as it gagged and sunk its black teeth into my skin. I wanted to cry out, but had no air to do so. With a last feet of strength, I pulled as hard as I could and dislodged the pearl.

I was dropped instantly, gasping and gagging from my throat being squeezed. I looked up at the enderman. He was grasping at his neck as black sludge, which I could only assume to be his blood, oozed from inside his mouth. He made loud gurgling noises as he tried to scream. I had to stop myself from being sick. He was drowning in his own blood. Eventually, he couldn’t breathe anymore. I saw his form collapse to the ground, lifeless and unmoving. I didn’t move either. I just laid there on the ground, body in pieces or so it felt like, grasping the one thing that had saved my life. The small orb was a perfect sphere, almost uncommon in minecraft. It was tinted in a dark green and purple, tiny particles floating around on the inside. It actually almost looked pretty in a mesmerizing sort of way.

After some time, I was somehow able to get back on my feet. I slipped the pearl into my pocket and half walked, half stumbled into the nearest villager’s house. The fact that no villagers had come out to see what all the commotion was about told me that it had to have been abandoned. It didn’t help that I couldn’t hear any of the distinctive “hmmrfphs” a villager made. I was too tired to wonder why the village had been abandoned and frankly, I didn’t care. All I wanted to do was rest. For peats sake, all I wanted was a safe place to sleep! I collapsed onto the bed inside an unknown villager’s home, not even bothering to cover myself with the covers. I don’t think I even lasted a whole minute after my head hit the pillow.