Chapter 1: A Journey Begins

Stephan_ gripped a stack of white, pristine snowballs in one hand, and a bright green slimeball in the other. He was back on his favorite server, the Gameknight999 Network. Leaning against the cool, wood plank wall of a church building, His heart raced: He could hear the frantic, quick-paced footsteps of another player trodding on gravel. His grip tightened on the snowballs.

Suddenly, the enemy player, clad in deep blue dyed leather armor, skidded around the corner, snowballs in his hand as well. Stephan jumped out from his hiding place and let loose a barrage of snowballs, hitting the player square in the chest. His assailant’s face barely was able to register shock before he disappeared, sent back to his spawn with one less life. Amongst the other players in chat, Stephan_ fragged ExTra appeared, confirming his kill.

Stephan grinned to himself before typing in chat, Gotcha ExTra! ExTra was Stephan’s friend, and they always competed against eachother. I’ll get you back for that! His friend typed back, then added, Your always doing those sneak attacks, LOL. Stephan laughed, but his face soon changed back the look of grim determination and concentration he had on when he had attacked his enemy, and his mind soon set back in battle mode. He pushed some of his dark brown hair that was poking out from underneath his red leather helmet, and, sprinting forwards, he covered the gravel path past the church as fast as he could. He reached the small wooden bridge that spanned the wide river that split the large paintball arena in half. Stopping, he threw the slimeball he had on him up and over the bridge on the other side, checking to make sure an enemy player wasn’t about to snipe him from the large cobblestone tower on the other side of the bridge.

BOOM! The grenade-slimeball detonated, and a cloud of smoke appeared behind the bridge. Stephan grinned again as two more kills registered in chat, but his celebration was quick. On the other side of the arena, an enemy player he did not see sent a snowball hurtling at him from the large cobblestone watch tower he had checked earlier.

Stephan respawned back at his home base, surprised. He had eyed that tower before he threw the grenade. How could a player get up there so fast??? He wondered. Hey, did you see that player in the tower? ExTra typed in chat. I eyed that tower before I threw my grenade, Stephan replied, and nobody was in it, He added. I hope it wasn’t a hacker. Stephan was nervous; hackers could ruin your life in Minecraft.
I think it was, I watched him teleport up there! ExTra proved. Let’s just go to another game. KitPvP? He suggested. Sure! Stephan typed back. Utilizing the /hub command, his screen filled with black for a split second, and he appeared in the main hub of the server. Right clicking on the compass which appeared his hotbar, it opened up a menu of all the different minigames.. He moused over the icon for KitPvP, and clicked. Again, he was treated to the split-second blackness, and he appeared in the KitPvP lobby. Multiple stone brick paths led off to different Nether portals, with holographic white font hovering over the entrance to each. They displayed what type of map was, and how many players were on it. In the chat, he could see his friend ExTra had joined the game just after he had. Lets go to the Factory map! Stephan said to his friend. ExTra obliged, and they both picked kits by clicking on one of the signs that sat before them. ExTra chose the Digger kit, and Stephan chose the Crafter kit. They both sprinted towards the purple Nether portal that was to teleport them to the map. It loomed ominously over them, making strange, scary noises. Purple teleportation particles danced around the pulsating, swirling field of teleportation that was encased in a ring of dark purple obsidian. The pair reached the Nether portal, and, Stephan gripping his sword tight, Extra pulling out his pickaxe, they jumped into the portal. However, instead of the regular dizzying teleportation sequence, Stephan’s screen filled with black and strange letters of code danced across his screen. He couldn’t move or scream, but he caught a few words from ExTra before he was tugged into unconsciousness: The portal was rigged!

Chapter 2: A Deadly Surprise

Instead of the gray, monotone colors and tall, looming buildings of the Factory map, Stephan was treated with pitch black darkness. He wasn’t dead, or in the void; he could feel his body, and he was lying face down. Something was wrong.

Standing up, Stephan felt as if he had been delivered a blow to the face. His whole body swayed, and his vision began to clear. He wasn’t in the Factory map; instead, he was on the edge of a large forest, a large grassy plains biome stretching out into the render distance, flowers dotting its surface. He shook his head as he thought, This can’t be happening. His mind was the next to clear, and he remembered what ExTra had said to him. The hacker he saw must’ve rigged the portal to teleport them to… wherever here was.

Wait a minute… where is ExTra? He thought, concerned. He slowly began to walk, his rectangular limbs stiff-he must’ve layed there for a while. Searching the ground, he saw his friend, laying down as well, the bright green jacket on his skin giving him away. For some reason, he noted, everything was more vivid and real. The leaves on the trees actually seemed to have branches and sway, and the grass bent under his feet. He tapped his friend with his foot.

ExTra groaned, and with great effort, got to his feet. Shocked, he asked; “Where are we?” His voice was bordering medium and high pitched, and was full of concern. He paused, realizing he could talk. Stephan couldn’t speak. He’d never heard his friend actually talk before either. “Ex, dude, how are we speaking to each other?” He stuttered. His own voice sounded a bit deeper than ExTra’s, as if he was slightly older. ExTra stood up and took in the scenery, as amazed as Stephan was at the graphics. “We don’t have any mics, so I don’t understand how we’re communi-“. He was cut off by ExTra. “Shhh, someone is coming!” His friend whispered.  The pair ran into the forest and ducked behind a tree, fighting for space. They both soon quieted down, however, as they heard voices and the crunch of grass against feet.

“I swear, Slasher, I saw two players, right here!” a player yelled, his voice deep and angry. “Listen, you were wrong Stixy,” Another player said, his voice not as deep, and he sounded as if he were trying to control the situation. “Just get over it. Weill move on and find a place to make a base. That is our goal right now.” The mystery player said. Suddenly, Stephan felt eyes on him. “Well, I guess you were right Stixy” came the voice of the player. The duo spun around, and were face to face with an iron sword pointed at their necks.