Rise of the Creepers
By Ally

Prologue

The NPC’s all heard and recognized the sound – zombies moaning. Immediately, they made preparations, running to the crafting chamber, pulling out weapons, getting ready to fight the hoardes of zombies.

“Who’s out there?” shouted out red-haired Hunter, notching an arrow to her bow.

“Does the NPC villagers not recall my name?” a loud voice shouted out. The second they heard it, everyone knew who it was.

“Very well. This zombie is called Xa-Tul,” Xa-Tul said, riding on his zombie horse. “Xa-Tul is leading these zombies to victory against this village.”

Hunter growled.

“No one’s going to let that happen!” shouted Topper, who had joined the commotion on the wall.

“Right!” Filler added.

Xa-Tul narrowed his glowing, red eyes at them. “I have brought creepers with me to destroy this wall. My zombies may die tonight, but NPC’s shall perish as well.”

He then turned to his troops. “Creepers, destroy the wall!”

The creepers all nodded, but over the zombie moaning, no one heard one of them say, “Is this our only purpose?”

From a server plane, up where no users could go, a certain person was watching the battle, how creepers were blowing themselves up. And for what? he thought. Zombies? Why zombies? More importantly, why the Zombie King? I know I shouldn’t defy our Maker, but…

He headed towards a cave to find some creepers.

Once he did, he pulled out a sword and struck at each creeper until they were all barely alive.

“Who-“ one of the creepers struggled to say, but the strange person cut it off.

“I’m Creeperbrine, the one who works to improve creepers. I have watched many battles where my species is only used to blow things up, nothing more. The Maker must believe that is our only purpose. Well, let me tell you one thing – THAT’S NOT FAIR! Creepers deserve attention, and what I am about to craft will serve the species justice, and show monsters and NPC’s alike no mercy.”

With that, the shadow-crafter began work, his hands a blur as he worked on the new creature.

The Maker failed because he created the Four HorseMEN, Creeperbrine thought. So…

He quickly started changing things up a bit, creating seemingly a creeper girl, nothing more than that. But Creeperbrine wasn’t finished just yet. Grabbing a green carpet and some white wool, he made sort of a cape. And then, he grabbed some gold and emerald to make the new creeper queen’s crown. After crafting for a while, he stepped back to admire his handiwork.

A small creeper, only a block tall, stood before him, wearing the crown and cape. At first glance, she seemed relatively harmless, but there was something about her that made you feel uneasy. It was simply her expression – one of sheer power, confidence, determination, but the eyes holding the compassion she had for other creepers within her.

Creeperbrine smirked. “The Maker would’ve never wanted this, but I doubt he’ll ever be able to object,” he said. He picked up the strange crystal that he had found earlier. It had been one of many scattered across their workplace after the Maker had seemingly vanished. The strange thing was, this crystal seemed to speak to him. It was almost like the beautiful, purple, evil gem had some sort of past connection with creepers. Maybe they were the shadow-crafters from pre-alpha. Strange…

Still, there was no time to think. He took the crystal and held it to the new creeper. Black and purple flashes of light erupted from it, nearly blinding the shadow-crafter. When he opened his eyes, he gasped, not in horror, but in amazement.

The creeper hadn’t changed much in general, but there was a strange black and purple aura surrounding her…as though the crystal had made her stronger. An evil, toothy smile painted on his face, Creeperbrine led the queen to a cavern, then let out a loud hissing noise.

Immediately, creepers from far and wide came to the open cavern, seeing their new queen and bowing their heads. They recognized the crown – it was the helm of every beast, what they wore atop their heads to say, “I have a higher authority over all of you, so listen to me.”

“Creepers, you have been stepped on by the other monsters for far too long,” Creeperbrine said.

The mottled green monsters all hissed at the mention of how the others had seemed more useful, not just to the Four Horsemen, but to the Maker.

“The NPC’s have walked all over you as well. Both species have been cruel to your kind. But not for long. Your new queen will lead you in not just overrunning the NPC’s, but the other monsters. Soon, all that shall walk the server planes will be creepers.”

The creepers cheered.

The shadow-crafter for the creatures smiled. It was only a half-smile, but he didn’t want to show too much jubilation himself. He wanted the creepers to enjoy their moment.

The queen then turned up her head towards her creator. “Um, excuse me?” she asked in a soft voice. “What-what is my name?”

“Creepaline,” Creeperbrine said. “Now, you need to do your job – leave no NPC or monster standing, unless it’s a creeper. And I am certain I know the perfect village to destroy first – the pathetic home of the User-that-is-not-a-user’s friends.”

With that, the vile shadow-crafter laughed a maniacal laugh that made the bats flittering around in the cavern cringe in fear, and passed through all the server planes as a warning that the creepers were about to destroy everything, and not even the User-that-is-not-a-user could stop their rampage.