MOONLIGHT

Xx_FireFoxx_xX

Everything was dark for him.

He couldn’t see anything. Presumably his eyes were closed.

Opening them the smallest amount, he slowly came to see the world around him.

Light leaked through the opening.

Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes, no idea of what was happening, and no memory of his past. The sun, square in the sky, shone radiantly. He knew somehow this world, the mobs of the dark, how to manipulate the terrain, but nothing of his past.

What is going on? His mind was blank.

Everything quickly came into sharp focus.

Zach stared in awe at his unfamiliar environment. The sky was blue, clouds drifting about, and sun shining square, and a chest nearby. The bright green grass was being blown slightly in the wind. The sun casted shadows of trees and plants on the ground. This world was strange yet beautiful. He didn’t know why he was even here. Checking his hands, legs, body, he noticed they were just like everything around him – blocky and squared. He looked into the water of a nearby random pond. Somehow, his appearance was just about familiar. Dark hair, light skin, and the simple outfit he seemed to remember. Just jeans and a black shirt. Looking at the nearby trees, he scanned his surroundings again.
There was nothing but animals that moved out in the land. And the chest, which he crept over to and opened. There was a book and some other items.  The title of the book was Information for Newcomers. Besides it, he found some bread and a map. Closing the chest again, he flipped open the book.

Welcome!

This book is to guide you through the obstacles you may face of being new. Difficulties lie ahead. Your first task? Make it to the nearby town. The combat training and other is vital for your survival. Using the map, you should be able to find your way there. This book is also a guide of mobs, biomes, and much more. Use it in any need. It’ll always be with you as long as you don’t throw it into lava! Do be warned: there are more players here than just you!

Zach could see that was the simple end of the introduction. Pulling his glance away, he headed towards a nearby tree to start his survival task. For some reason, a nagging voice inside his head told him to gather wood before nightfall. He wondered what that would have to do with anything, besides protection in a shelter. The sun was almost full ahead. Lifting his hand, he decided to resort with what he already had. It was far more difficult than having to gather dirt, but more sturdy probably. One section popped off after two seconds or so of punching. It took a while. It slightly hurt, too.
“Why…does…this…take…so…long…” The words came out with long pauses through grit teeth. By the time Zach had finished off three trees, the sun was at its highest point. He opened the book to the page after, and found the crafting section. He already knew the basics, though. Pulling out a piece of wood, he broke it into planks and worked with the crafting table he had. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw movement less than ten feet away. It’s probably just an animal, he tried to convince himself. But Zach couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. With the simple wooden axe he had, he crept behind the tree, and waited for whatever was going to happen.
Just when tension was at its peak, a figure burst out of nowhere, looking just as lost as Zach in thought. I knew it! He kept watch for some more time, until unexpectedly the figure disappeared from sight. What the-! His thoughts were interrupted when someone slammed into his back, knocking the wind out of him. He was thrown to the floor. Looking up, he could see the person was just as confused as he was. “What the-? What? What happened?” The confused figure looked around, dazed. Zach stood up shocked silence for a few moments. “I, uh-”  Another short pause. “I’m Dan…” That seemed to be the only thing he could say for some time. “Sorry for crashing into you like that. I thought I saw some creepers in the woods.” He pointed into the thick trees from which he had apparently come from.
Zach viewed over the complete stranger. He looked like he had been out there for weeks. His shirt was torn a little. Did he say his name was Dan? Zach looked at the sun again, which was already starting to sink towards the horizon. “Gonna be dark soon, ya know.” Dan looked at him in an almost weird way. “D’ you have a shelter? Been running wild for weeks.” Zach spoke to him for the first time. “Nope, not really.” he said. “Said your name was Dan? Sure, you can tag along. Wasn’t looking forward to running around alone out there.” Dan gave a slight smile. He noticed the book in Zach’s hand. “Can I see that?” He looked at the inside for a minute. “Hm. Might be useful.” Dan started crafting something out of wood. Meanwhile, Zach, who was feeling as though he was less prepared, eventually asked Dan for help towards gathering blocks. Dan set to gathering dirt. Zach (again) was stuck with the trees. At least I have an axe, he thought. He handed the blocks over to Dan, who worked some more on a crude shelter.
Suddenly, a hiss made Zach jump. He drew the axe again. What the? He spun around. A green mottled body, covered in sheets of glowing blue electricity, was running along towards him on four legs. He scrambled to his senses. No, no, no, no, no! His mind was filled with panic. The creeper was still coming closer, and that was when he realized if he ran he’d die anyway. Seriously? I just came here! He was backed against a tree at the edge of the forest. All he could do now was cover his head with his arms and hope for the best.
An explosion threw Zach backwards and destroyed the tree, followed by a bright flash of green light. At first he thought it was the creeper, but crackling noises still flitted around a deep crater. A pile of gunpowder was at the bottom of the crater. No doubt it was gone, but creepers were not supposed to drop gunpowder upon explosion. Examining the crater more, he could see the ground was slightly charred and burned. Tiny green tendrils of electricity danced around the edge. Hmm? Charged creepers don’t leave behind green electricity… He peered closer and remembered the green light. Could it somehow be connected? His mind overflowed with questions, but he ran back towards Dan, who was warding off a group of spiders.
Bringing up his axe, he struck the spiders out of the air when the giant bugs flew overhead in their form of attack. Spider bodies, string, and spider eyes littered the area. “Thanks for coming, where were you?” Dan asked him in a sort of panicked gasp. “Had a little creeper problem, but I think I’m all good.” Zach didn’t tell him about the green light part. Eventually, the two players managed to kill off the arachnids before daybreak. Exhaust covered Dan’s face. “Could’ve been a better night.” Zach grinned. “Oh, shut up, it was bad enough.” Looking at the map, he realized they’d trekked quite a distance. “Halfway left to go ‘till the base village. Combat training and all.” Dan nodded, too tired to respond. Continuing soon enough on their trail, they made way to the world ahead.
“Did I hear something?” Dan suddenly broke the silence with a worried tone of voice. “I don’t know,” Zach said, suddenly alert. “Where’d the noise come from?” He inspected the area around them. “I don’t know. Somewhere in the trees?” Zach shrugged. “Might’ve been an animal.” He remembered the last time that he’d said that, it wasn’t an animal at all. “Meh. Let’s go.” Dan peered over Zach’s shoulder to see the map. “Nearly there?” Zach shook his head. “I wouldn’t say, we’ve got three fifths of the way there so far. Do you think –” His sentence was cut short when he turned to see a blond-haired girl pointing a blade at his chest.

*****

“What do you think you’re doing?” She said. Zach pulled himself away from the girl. “What am I doing?! You’re the one who scared the crap out of us!” She stared for a second. “You wouldn’t have anything on you anyway. You look like noobs.” Zach hardened his gaze, staring at her sharply. “Anyway, you don’t have the right to –”  He stopped himself short for some reason. With a sigh, he regained himself. “Okay. What are you doing? We are new here. Don’t know what’s going on. You have any idea?” The girl returned his looks. “Nope,” she said. “I used to be on another server b’fore some crappy admin banned me for no reason. Had to kill someone to get their stuff.” She retracted the blade. “D’ you think you can help us?” Dan’s voice broke the brief silence. “I really don’t have anything going on. What are you doing?” The girl asked as if she was suspicious. “To the base village. Don’t have much else of a choice if we don’t want to die.” Zach offered. “It’s been literally just a day since we came here. The girl sighed. “Fine,” she said. “But once we get there, I’m dumping you off.”
Some of the time was mostly the girl mining into a cliff face, searching for ores and whatnot. She spotted some light metallic ore and mined it with the stone pick she already had. Iron, though Zach, having read in the book. And where’s Da– his thought was cut again by a loud explosion. Dan came running out of a tunnel, covered in rock dust. “What the hell were you doing?!” Dan looked at the ground. “Um…I went into the tunnel…because I wanted to – uh, mine…” Zach rolled his eyes. “I heard the creeper. Spill it.” With a sigh, Dan grudgingly told him that he’d wandered into the tunnel to find a creeper. “Well, that’s stupid,” Zach turned to the girl, who had come out of the cave. “Better get going. Sun’s low.”
“Who are you, anyway?” Zach said in the middle of the remaining trek. “Why would you ask?” came the reply. “You wouldn’t know anyway. Whatever. My name is Faye. Who’re you two?” She pointed at them in return. “Dan,” Dan said simply, “And Zach.” he replied, pointing at Zach. Zach wasn’t too worried about anything that could go wrong. Faye took the book from Zach and studied through it for so long, Zach decided that she’d be fine with keeping it and being their informationist. The constant flipping of pages was heard after that. “Hey, Zach.” Dan was tapping him on the shoulder. “Look.” Buildings were starting to become visible in the distance. Faye was looking up as well. “Made it,” she said before closing the book. “Let’s go.” The trio broke into a sprint for the last distance. When they got close enough, they could see the many players that walked about on the street, or a distant farm, which was the only building that was visible in detail so far. The gate suddenly opened. “They’re here, Adair.” Someone  beckoned to a taller girl. “Thanks, Stryze. You can go back for now. Follow me.” By pure thought and consideration, the three of them decided to trust her, as the book had instructed them to go to that location.
The town was remarkably large. Streets, and lots of buildings and players. The larger one in the center, probably the town hall, was the one the woman led them into. “You’re new here, am I right? Well, welcome. You’ll be training in combat tomorrow, so do get ready for that. My name is Adair.” She sat down in the farthest chair and signaled for them to do the same. Dan, Zach, and Faye looked at each other for a moment before sitting down. Not a word was spoken. “The purpose of this place,” she continued, “Is to ensure your survival. I am the leader of this town. If you have any questions, you can ask Stryze, who will be waiting at the place for you, I think.” She pointed out the door and smiled. “Stay safe!” Adair reached over and pulled the unnoticed lever, and in an instant, they were somehow in a different location.
Stryze saw their arrival. “Oh hey! You’re here.” He took them through the doors of the building. “Stay safe is really important, y’know. There’s that Entity303 – wants control of this server. Don’t even know why, there are those piles of cow crap that think they’re so great. Don’t go out randomly.” Stryze stood with them on a piston elevator, and pressed a button marked “19”. When they got out of the sliding piston doors, Zach could hear noise coming from the other rooms. Stryze gave him a key. “Don’t lose that, it’s access to your room. No one else besides you and your two friends’ll be able to go in without permission.” Zach processed it for a moment. “What if the staff want to come in for whatever reason?” Stryze shrugged. “Then we have to just knock, or if there’s no answer….” He pointed at the iron axe strapped to his belt. Zach could tell he wasn’t joking. “You can read the signs on the other doors with your hallmates, they’ve been here for a while now.” There were three other rooms. “Look around. I’ve got some work to do, but there’s a button in your room if you need me.” Zach went inside their room first. There was a door in the wall connecting their room to the one next door. He hoped it wouldn’t allow too much noise.
Leaving Dan and Faye inside, he quietly walked out to the hall and saw the names on the doors. One read “Josh,  Electric, 2”. The next on the other side read “Fire, Arix, Hunter, 3”. Another read “Detari, Deadfall, Faryn, 4”. Then the last door read “Steve, Launa, 5”. Without warning, a door swung open, making him freeze. From a door across the hall. Before whoever it was came out, Zach backed against his door. He could still see around the corner of the door frame. A girl with fire particles swirling around her feet walked past into the elevator. The cape that flowed out behind her looked like lava. Zach wasn’t good with names, but he knew that girl was Fire – he’d already forgotten the whole name. Ugh. Stryze had told him names and descriptions of everyone in the hallway as well. Spinning around and into his room, he sat down on a bed and took the book from the table where Faye had left it.
“What’s that again…? Skeleton. Right. I knew that.” Random comments from Dan made it a little hard to read. “How’d you not know that?” Zach joked, poking his arm. “Seriously, though.” Dan shrugged it off and sent no reply. Looking at the clock on the wall, he could see that it was nighttime. The inky sky was already dotted with stars. Closing the book, he yawned. Combat training, he remembered. Better crash now. He drifted off to sleep.

*****

Zach was woken up to the sound of  “Hello, morons! I shall kill you!!” At that, he sat bolt upright in bed. Faye started swinging her sword around, screaming, and Dan just had a stupid look on his face. Detari, who had been yelling the false threat, collapsed off the crafting table in fits of laughter. Stryze had told Zach that Detari was the one who always wore armor. That part was proven. Zach was surprised that he hadn’t heard him coming into the room through the connecting door. “You…guys…should’ve…seen…the looks…on…your faces…” Deadfall was grinning like a maniac. Everyone from the hallway was in our room. Electric shrugged. “Stryze told us to come here. Not the prank.” he simply said. “Oh, wow, Det. Don’t be an idiot. They’re just newbies.” Faryn was trying hard still not to laugh.
“But your reactions!” Detari was still laughing. “Especially Faye!” Fire, at the other side of the room, smirked. “Ah, shut up,” she said. “Faye’s just being careful.” Deadfall opened the door. “We gotta get out already, training’s gonna start soon.”  This all seems too weird, Zach thought just to himself. He shook the feeling and munched on some bread before going down again to the combat training areas. “What’re we doing? Kinda new here, y’ know.” Zach wasn’t talking to anyone in particular, he just wanted answers. Josh was the one who replied first. “Today? Eh, pick fighting, I think. You never know what you could run into down there.”
Following the others, Zach could see the buildings getting closer. He was getting more and more nervous about what was going on. “Who owns this…server?” He whispered to whoever was closest, in which this case was Arix. “No one in particular…there are those who want to. Big thickheads like Entity303. I mean, the purpose of the game is not to have “full power” and the “I’m so great” stuff and all!” He stopped for a minute before moving on. “There was an owner long ago, to be honest, but he got all paranoid about being overthrown by his partners. Don’t know what his name was, really. The first one he tried to overthrow was WebGlitch – this was a long time ago…” Zach interrupted for a second. “How do you know all this?” he asked, curious. “Pfft…someone told me. They probably learned it from a book.” came the reply. “Anyway, the owner eventually managed to overthrow WebGlitch.”
“How?” Zach asked. “Couldn’t he have banned him?” A strange look crossed Arix’s face. “No, he had operating powers too. If you die, you get kicked off – it’s hardcore. Just a warning. And yeah. I heard he came back one day, but no more than that.” Arix finished quietly. “The owner was eventually overthrown, too, but none of his partners survived.” Zach stared at the woods beside them. “Aren’t there any dangers besides mobs and…Entity303?” Arix nodded. “Griefers,” he replied. “Watch out for them. Anyway, stop the talk. We’re here.”
Inside, several suits of enchanted diamond armor hung on the walls along with various weapons. “Oh, and.” Detari said through the silence. “Sane is doing this with you today. She’s combat trainer.” He pointed to a girl who had just noticed their arrival. She had dark hair, green eyes, a black shirt, and jean shorts. She spun a diamond pick by its handle and sent it spinning into a practice dummy. It recoiled, bounced off, and spun back into Sane’s hand. “Hey, you’re here. Put those on.” She pointed to the suits of diamond armor. “I’ll be doing this with…Zach, Dan, Faye.” She tucked the list away again. “Detari, you handle another group, then give Seerve the last bunch.” Sane hopped up on a chair. “Right, we’re ready! They’re enchanted with protection to prevent injury, and three hits you’re out for the practice!”
“First, technique.” Sane spun the pick again, and tossed the trio some iron ones. “You can head-on strike –” She swung it onto an armor stand, shattering it. “Or – you can spin.” She spun it by the handle and threw it like a boomerang, destroying another armor stand. Zach tried the on-strike. It felt wrong, though, and he clumsily let it slip from his grip and it skittered away on the floor. Faye was doing the same. She couldn’t get the edge of the pick to do any damage. She struck wrong and it recoiled, making her curse. Dan, however, seemed to be born doing it. Spinning it like Sane had shown, it took the head off a training dummy. It did seem to be a boomerang: it spun back and Dan caught it by the handle like he had been doing so all his life.
“Well, looks like we’ve found the match for you, Dan.” Sane grinned. “Keep the pick, it’ll do you good. Zach, Faye, you still have blades and axes to discover. Practice!” She put Zach with Dan first. It almost seemed wrong to fight his friend, but remembering it was for practice, he swung in an arc. “Three hits!” Sane reminded them. Dan dodged and brought it down on Zach’s helmet. Sparks flew off the surface and it rang like a gong. “Dan, three hits left. Zach, two! Go!” Sane jumped onto the chair again. As if by luck, Zach managed to catch Dan’s leg with the pick blade, making the armor ring. In the end, Dan landed his remaining two hits onto Zach. Faye lost as well, with Dan having three hits left anyway. “Sword fighting tomorrow, guys! Remember!” Sane waved as they left.
“I suck with picks. Who did good?” Josh waved towards the group. “Dan, yep. Arix. And Faryn. I didn’t think it would be easy, anyway.” The group was silent otherwise on the walk and elevator ride. “Oh, and, d’you think you can get some wood from the tree farm? Think we’ll need it for tomorrow.” Zach took Faye and Dan, but had no idea why Josh would need any wood. Trekking out yet again, he set his pace to a jog out to the street.
It was quiet for a while. But a bush seemed to move the slightest bit halfway through the walk. Carefully, Zach walked over. Yep, there’s someone there, he thought as three arrows flew out of the bush. They managed to dodge in time, before the figure sprung out. “HEY!” Zach yelled at the top of his lungs. “You have no right to do that!” Faye grabbed the stranger. “Who are you? What are you doing here? And why the hell would you come out of the woods?” The guy rolled his eyes. “I could be better! That pile of crap banned me for no rea –” Dan cut him off. “We could care less about your stupid tale of misery.” The player didn’t answer. He just shot more arrows until Dan fended him off with his pick.
The player aimed for something far in the distance, while running off. A loud yelp was heard. Crap! Zach thought. Wolves attack the nearest target…he waited for nothing in particular. Dying, maybe? It was too fast for him. The growling wolf kept advancing, the glowing red eyes somehow intimidating. The wolf knocked Zach to the dirt. He hit his head hard on the cobble road. The wolf suddenly changed direction. Out of the corner of his blurred vision, he saw Faye striking downwards. A few yelps, then Dan yanked him up.
“Ya know, you gotta thank me for that.” Faye grinned. “I couldn’t just watch.” Dan held back noticeable laughter. Zach shook himself, then smiled. “Okay…thanks. Now let’s get back before nightfall.”

*****
A hissing noise woke Zach up.

“What the cra…”

He spun to see the creeper already hissing and swelling. He could only yell, at which point Detari burst through the door and fired three quick shots at the creeper. It left a pile of gunpowder and typically confusion. Dan and Faye stared at Detari with his bow, and the pile of gunpowder. “Where the hell are all the torches?” Detari inspected the walls. “And the door?” It floated on the ground as an item. Zach didn’t think it was from Stryze using the staff key, though. “Well, thanks for saving my butt back there. Where did that come from?” Zach scratched his head while picking up the gunpowder. “Must’ve spawned. I don’t know where are the torches went.”
“And you guys should actually leave now. Combat training. Seerve is with you.” Detari walked out into the elevator doors and waved as he went down. This time, Zach just went with Dan and Faye. The rest of everyone else would leave a little later. The training room for swordfights looked slightly different, but had the training dummies and the armor. Zach saw Sane wave at him from the other side with her diamond pick strapped to her hip. “I’m just helping out,” she said, grinning. “All worth it, though!” Seerve stood up from the chair he was sitting at. Smoothing his black leather jacket, he showed them a chest. “Swords,” he said. He thought for a moment. “Get the training suits on. I have an idea for you guys. Faye, Dan, get some stone swords. Zach, get an iron.” They did as told. The training suits were uncomfortable when worn for a while. “I’ve got a plan got practice,” Seerve grinned. “Ready.”
Sane overviewed the whole thing. Sword technique turned out to be a bit light pickaxe skills. But slashes and blocks made the whole thing harder. The sword to Zach seemed as if the weight was too spread, and he swung it around with zero control. Dan had difficulty in moving quickly with it – it seemed overweight for him. “Guess it’s just not your talent,” Seerve said. “You’ll find it, don’t worry. Your friend Faye has just the power for this.” Sure enough, Faye’s slashes made it look much easier. She could spin with it in hand without cutting off her own head, which would be an achievement to Zach. “Double wielding is harder.” Seerve noted, drawing another blade besides his regular iron. The blade was diamond, but heavy enchantment gave it a dark purple-blue color. “Power is an important aspect…” Seerve said. Zach noticed a slightly increasing bend in his knees. “Let the sword control you and the power you have should be focused on it.”
“And sometime, with enough practice…” Zach could see the bend retract a little. “You can become pretty good at it.” Without warning, Seerve jumped higher than possibly thought, spinning in the air with a blade in each hand as if he had Jump Boost level 5. His spin slowed as he rose both blades above his head in a graceful arc, and landed with blades pointing down onto a training dummy. Splinters of wood flew everywhere. Dust from the floor rose up in a cloud. Seerve waved it away as a soft thud signified his landing. “Be invisible to your enemies. Really important. If they can’t see you, you’re basically unstoppable.” Zach shared the awestruck expression with Faye and Dan. “How did you – ?” Seerve put up a hand to silence him. “Power’s the key.” he said, smiling.
“Faye’s probably the best out of you, but that doesn’t change my mind.” Seerve handed back the iron sword to Zach, and the stone ones to Faye and Dan. Zach saw where this is going. “Can’t I have an advantage, like I have six hits or something?” Seerve shrugged. “I gave you an iron one. Good enough. You each have three hits! Go!” Zach couldn’t do much, but bolt aside when they attacked. Zach evaded Dan’s attack, spinning like a whirlwind, but Faye came from behind and slammed the blade’s flat edge into Zach’s side. Jumping back, he could just about hear Seerve’s voice say “Faye, three. Dan, three. Zach, two.” This time he tried another approach. Dodging for the first few moves, Zach sprinted in a weaving pattern while parrying Faye’s slash from behind. Sharply turning, he slashed the front of her chestplate. Seerve’s alerting voice was heard again. But two of them against him was hard to perceive. Faye got another strike to his head. Sane suddenly leaned closer to Zach. “Remember, be unexpecting.” She had a glint in her eyes, which now looked like twin emeralds in the sunlight. That was all he needed. Running is the zigzag pattern again, Zach got himself between Dan and Faye. She brought it down towards his head as expected.
He shot out of the way at the last second. Faye brought down the blade on Dan’s head. The helmet flew off. Dan fell to the ground through a few moments of shocked silence. Sane yanked off Dan’s helmet. The way the blade had come sideways left a short slash on Dan’s face. “Dan!” Faye stood, dumbstruck, with a look that clearly said, “oh, crap…”. Zach slipped off his armor and went to Sane, who was inspecting the helmet. “I guess it’s too damaged to use again. We don’t have unbreaking on these.” She threw the helmet into a discarding chest. “Well, that’s the end of that.” Seerve walked out of the room to get a potion.
“Sorry, Faye. It was my fault. I should’ve acted better for it.” Zach shiftily looked at the ground. “It’s alright,” she replied. “You didn’t know that would happen.” She was holding Dan in her arms. Seerve walked in and handed a bright red potion to her. After a few moments, Dan seemed to be okay again. “The sheer amount of force it must have taken to slam that off his head! Faye, I’d say that’s definitely your weapon choice!” Sane smiled at her in admiration. “Was kinda stupid of me, though.” Faye muttered. “Stryze will be with you tomorrow, and I’m warning you, he’s good with an axe!” Seerve waved goodbye as they headed out of the building.
Zach was glad the next morning that he didn’t wake up to some weird noise. Just the sunlight streaming from the window. He’d gone through a lot of strange experience in the last few days, and it just made him tired. He got up anyway, knowing he couldn’t afford to miss axe fighting: it could be the only weapon he’d be able to use properly. He wasn’t sure if Dan would be able to come due to yesterday’s incident, but he seemed fine. At the arena, Stryze was only there. He had an axe in hand. “You’re early!” he said to them, handing out axes. Zach nodded. “What about the others?” Stryze scratched his head. “They’re with other people. I don’t know who exactly. Anyway, let’s get started on this.”
Zach watched as Stryze took out white blocks that looked like snow, and a pumpkin. He stacked two snow blocks on top of each other, then proceeded to put the pumpkin on top. “Are you sure whatever the Nether you’re doing is safe?” Dan stared in a weird way at him. The others seemed to agree.
“Jeez, calm down. The snowballs don’t kill you. Snow golems can only knock you back. Get out your axes.” Stryze drew his own. “For emergencies,” he added. “I have to keep this.” Stacking the pumpkin on, he assigned Faye to the first match. She seemed to have a hard time: The top part of the axe was where all the weight was, and she could hardly move it around in the air. She struggled with the situation until Stryze spun his axe handle, taking the pumpkin off the snow. Snowballs and the pumpkin dropped to the floor. “Too heavy, nope.” she said. Dan stood up after her. Like Faye, he soon realized that it was much heavier than he anticipated, and Stryze had to step in again. “At least try to land hits, not just dodge.” he said, kicking away the snowballs. “Zach, you try.”
All Zach could do is pray not to fail, or he’d have no weapon to properly use in battle. Drawing the iron axe, he lifted it in his hands. For some reason, the weight at the end seemed to increase his strength and agility. He could swing it around perfectly. Being assaulted by snowballs was fine, too. After running in a zigzag pattern, he could easily bring the axe down on its pumpkin head. Snowballs littered the ground, as did pumpkin seeds and pulp. Zach stood with his mouth open. “How did you do that?” Stryze asked, a hint of surprise in his voice. “You’ve never been taught.” Zach gave him the honest answer. “I…don’t know?” He was just as confused as Stryze. “Well, it’s a good thing,” Stryze said finally. “You have a weapon to use out there.”
The actual training went well for Zach – dominating everyone, even Stryze, who admittedly was a little jealous of his skill. A new girl also showed up in the training area to help: Exe. “Uncommon name, isn’t it?” Stryze casually asked her. “So? Do you have a problem with it?” she sighed. To go with that attitude, she had blond hair that was almost gold, a black motorcycle jacket with matching leather pants, a white shirt, and those same black gloves made out of an unrecognizable material. The strangest thing was her wristbands: pure blue diamond, with glowing enchantment waves flowing all over them. She looks like someone out of an action movie, Zach thought.
Exe was skilled in axe fighting like Zach. “You’re not new, I’m guessing?” Zach half asked her on their way out. “Nope,” she said. He hadn’t been expecting an answer with her personality and all, but didn’t care anyway. “And Stryze meant to give you these.” she handed Zach (for some reason just him) a set of glowing iron armor. “It should last long enough. Will serve you well out there when you’re fighting – unlikely with that skill of yours.” Exe smiled for the first time since Zach had met her. “See you tomorrow at the archery range, I don’t know who’ll be teaching you, but I will be helping.”
“Nice, you got armor?” a few of Zach’s hallmates asked him about that. At one particular time when they were outside trekking on the way back, Dan asked him first about the armor. “Where’d you get it?” Dan asked, curious as well. “Stryze,” Zach said simply. “I don’t know why. It’s pretty sturdy –” At that moment, Zach knocked on the armor a few times a little too hard to prove its stability. His talk was cut off by the huge shockwave-like “explosion” that spread out from his fist hitting the armor, quite visibly. Even the shockwave was visible – taken the appearance of smoking, electrical green light. The road was destroyed. Lamps shattered. Bricks loosened from nearby buildings and flew everywhere. His teammates were thrown back, lucky to be behind him.
Zach stared first at his friends slowly getting up, then himself (unaffected), then his still closed fist, then his slightly less durable iron chestplate. He had no words. Nothing at all came out from anyone’s open mouth. Just long silence for a while. “Um,” Zach said finally. “What just happened?” I’m pretty sure hitting your armor isn’t supposed to create a supersonic shockwave explosion. No one gave any answers. They were relatively quiet on the way back. Are there answers somewhere out there? Zach stared out at the pink sky, now glowing orange in the sunset and the few stars beginning to appear. He followed the others, and continued to trek back.
“Hey.”
It wasn’t morning. There was no sunlight coming through the windows. Zach sat up. “What? Who’s there?” It was quiet for a few moments, then he heard footsteps.
“Sorry to wake you up. I didn’t feel like showing this to the others.”
Zach walked over to the source of the voice, and found Launa, standing in the hallway.
“Do you trust me?”
“Um…yes?”
“Then pay close attention.”
Launa took hold of his upper arm. “Look,” she said, no expression clear on her face. “You’re not like the others. Me. Firefox. Steve. We’re all different in some strange way. Anything’s possible on this seemingly infinite server. The same goes for you.” She held Zach’s hand up. “You know the shockwave – ? The creeper explosion?” Zach didn’t know how she knew about that. “All related, to your true powers. I’m not kidding. I’m not sure exactly why us few people get them. But it’s there.” She put Zach’s hand down again. “All you have to do is think about it.” Sure enough, green electricity came to life, weaving through his hand and fingers. So that’s been it all along…he still didn’t understand how hitting the armor that hard hadn’t felt like anything. “Remember.” She said again. “Control’s important. I’m not gonna go into the stupid ‘blah, blah, blah,’ lecture thing and all.”
Zach touched the axe that Stryze had also given him. The weapon glowed slightly green when he put his mind to it. He didn’t know in the least when he would have to use it in battle. Or when he would be in battle at all. He didn’t tell anyone – they’d have to find out sooner or later. Dan and Faye’s quiet forms lay on their beds. It was almost morning anyway, and he decided to stay awake. Once Dan and Faye woke up, he found records of the combat skills of the group by Josh, and read it on the way to the shooting range. Most of us are good with swords, he noted. It seemed to be most people’s weapon choice.
“Hey, guys! No one told me I’m with ya, didn’t they?” Detari waved from the stands and jumped down. “No sparring practice, duh. But try to hit the buttons on the lamps and make ‘em light up.” He tossed them some bows. “Get arrows, then pull back like this –” Detari didn’t take long to show all the important tactics. Some of the group was already skilled in shooting, like Hunter. Her arrows also had the sheer power, even without using her enchanted bow, and went through the buttons and broke some lamps. Even with the skill, they seemed to be forgetting safety rules. Zach would have probably been better if it were to be the other way around. Lamp shards flew everywhere. Faye was obviously not very good with bows. Her arrow hit the wall, somehow bounced off, flew in the other direction, and hit Dan in the chest. His training suit was on, so he’d be fine. He was still knocked off his feet, but the arrow he had just shot went in the completely wrong direction and recoiled the same, at which Detari proceeded to slap his own face.
“Are you serious? Guys, stop!” Arrows flew everywhere. Detari had to try his best to get them calmed down. Three people each shot at one target too, and that made it even more difficult. Exe was also shooting sometimes, pinpointing the buttons and shooting her own arrows. Zach wasn’t the best with a bow either. Luckily, the ones who knew of doing it right were still willing to help. Exe, who was helping as well as shooting, had to either dodge arrows or deflect them with her diamond wristbands whenever she went to collect them. “Aim above the actual arrows, guys.” Detari adjusted the position of Zach’s bow, so the button was above the arrow’s aim. It worked. More lamps lit up with the help.
The recoil of the bows was something Zach would have to get used to. He flew backwards at one point, knocking over some chairs behind him. Exe looked over to his position. “Did the chairs offend you?” she asked. Zach could almost see the smirk in her dark eyes. She kicked the chairs back onto their legs without looking. “You have to get better at this. You know the forces of darkness can attack any time. Literally.” He saw something in Exe’s eyes that was not the smirk, but a mix of rage and worry. Turning away again, he continued shooting. Managing to hit the button a few times out of thirty wasn’t really an accomplishment, but improvement showed surely and slowly. The others had different skill levels, so improvement also depended on them.
A feeling of worry, slightly fear, seemed to wash over Zach suddenly. If Exe is right, if darkness is really out there…disguising itself…we might not be ready. I don’t know who Entity303 is, but what about…what about the other “beings” related to him? Like…H- “Zach!” In his confusion and daydreaming, Zach realized slowly he’d spun off aim so that his bow was shooting at Sane. She rolled her eyes, then laughed. “Try not to do that, noob.” Zach smiled and turned back to his target. You know, if there is really evil, don’t we have to do something about it? Then again, danger was another thing. He turned to a window. The sun lit up the area, flooding the inside of the building and shining on Exe’s wristbands. It was already beginning to sink below the horizon.
“Bye, noob! See ya!” Sane waved from the building door. Stryze was waiting at their destination. “What’re we all together for?” Zach had the verge to ask. “You won’t see them often, unless in battle.” Stryze started. “They are just on your floor. And you never know if you will see them.” He took Zach up to the right floor, like he had for the past four days. “And it’s not just mobs in the enemy, by the way. Some weird players who have probably been brainwashed. See ya.” He shut the door, leaving Zach with Dan and Faye in the room alone. “Stick to a pick, Dan, only bows when you really gotta. Same with you, Faye. All of us.” Zach nodded towards them. “I don’t know where we’re gonna be tomorrow. So get ready for that, too.” He sank back into sleep.

He heard zombies burning the next morning.

Looking out the window, he could see distant zombies and skeletons burning in the broad daylight. Swinging his legs off the bed, he stood and stared at the axe hanging on the wall. He didn’t know how long it would last: just hoping. Stryze burst through his door, making him jump. The book went flying and hit Dan (asleep), who woke up and started cursing. Without a word, Stryze grabbed his hand and dragged him outside. Arrows flew from the woods beyond. “Happens sometimes.” He said, shaking his head. “Those people are not bad, they’re lost. But there’s nothing we can do but defend ourselves. Go. Try something.” Suddenly, a double-bladed diamond axe flew, end over end, seemingly slow motion, from the trees. The figure they had met a few days ago still had his hand in the throw position. It flew through the air, through the crowd, and gave Zach no time to react. Like a hammer, it slammed into Adair, standing at the path’s edge, and felled her like nothing, a pile of items floating on the ground where she had once stood.
Zach was too shocked to do anything. Just like that, she was gone. Unbelievably. He had the courage to wrap his hand around the axe’s handle. And send it spinning back into the wood where it had come from. Felling three enemies, and finally away from him. He had nothing to say. The people around him wore his expression. A mocking sign at the edge of the path, signed ‘W’, was the only remaining trace the enemy had ever been there. That was only when he saw the flames, started by the enemy. Not wanting to be any part of it anymore, Zach took one last look at Adair’s body on the trail, not able to feel anything, and turned on tail and ran all the way back to where he was supposed to be, with Dan, and Faye.
“Adair’s gone. They got her. I can’t believe…” Nothing showed on Zach’s face as he told them her fate. “Like nothing. And for no reason.” He had already told Dan and Faye who the figure, supposedly W, was. They seemed to have no words to say, just staying in shock. “They’re the enemy. They’re burning the area…” Zach struggled to say any more. “It’s too much, and I’m done. We’re going. If you two will agree.” He didn’t know what his face played out, but they both agreed to his request. “I don’t know what we’re gonna do. But we will make this right.” Strapping the axe Stryze had given him what seemed like forever ago, he looked out the window. “Sane, Stryze, the others…they know how to care for themselves.” Zach reassured them. “They’ll be fine without us.” Faye had a sword strapped to her back, blue diamond, glowing like enchanted ice. Dan lifted his similar-looking pickaxe. “Stryze gave ‘em.” Dan nodded, as if on cue. He took a deep breath, and left the world he’d known so well behind him.
Even though Zach knew it was something to lose, he couldn’t feel anything as he walked out of the now burning area. It felt so wrong to him for some reason. The tall trees and thick wood that lay ahead of them intrigued him. What would be beyond that darkness was a surprise for now. The lone iron axe, now glowing green, was the only memory he had of the place. He hoped the others would be okay. Zach could still hear the footsteps of the people rushing to put out any damage, leading to futile attempts. It was almost terrifying that he had only known the place for a few days, before it had fallen into oblivion. And how he probably would never know about the others again.