She had finally done it. Her new computer was set up in the conservatory, ready for her college work to begin. She had even managed to get Minecraft, Java edition, so she could do designs for her gaming course. As PinkDiamond050 logged into her Minecraft account, she wondered what she should do that day. She could have done anything really; design a level for her game, do some creative builds, play on one of the set templates and learn about Ancient Greece, or how to stay safe online. She decided to try something else. She was going to play a multiplayer survival game. As she logged into the bottom world, she felt a sudden dryness in her throat. She grabbed the bottle of soda that she had been drinking all morning and downed the rest of it. She then threw it towards the bin and hit the machine that her dad had been working on for her.

 

The machine was called a digitiser ray, and PinkDiamond often used it to draw her games characters, settings, items, etc. and put them into the software she used to neaten certain details. It was really useful, except for when it gets hit by a plastic bottle. The bottle hit the power button, and PinkDiamond was enveloped in bright white light. Just as she passed out, she could hear farmyard animals, sheep, pigs, cows and chickens. What’s happening?

 

=+#***;-;***#+=

 

When PinkDiamond opened her eyes, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The world around her had changed completely. The sun was a square in the sky, and the clouds were also made of geometrical formations of squares and rectangles. She then looked at the world around her. There were trees, sheep, a couple of pigs, a cow and some chickens, all made of blocks. She knew she wasn’t in her conservatory anymore. The sun shone bright, the heat on her skin: real. The nearby river, also made of cubes,that coated her skin in a thin layer of moisture: real. The chicken that had just snuck up behind her and jump scared her: very real. She figured that it would be a good idea to find an NPC (Non-Player Character) village to shelter in for a few days while she found her feet. She had no items, but the sun had just risen over the horizon, so she had plenty of time; usually, there was one village in a certain area of the world (what was it called? A chunk?). 

 

PinkDiamond approached the nearest tree, gaining five blocks of oak, all of which she crafted into oak planks. She used those planks to create a crafting table, and then made a couple of wooden tools, a sword, a pick, and an axe. She picked up the crafting table and headed forward, completely unsure of where she was going. After about half the day, she found one. It was a hive of activity, many villagers were walking around, going about their day-to-day lives. 

 

They looked a lot more detailed than she had seen on her IPad and Nintendo Switch. Each villager had hair for one. There were many more skins than I had seen when playing the latest version of the game; there are over 103 different villager skins. This village didn’t have the more detailed outfits, just the basic ones from before the pillage and village update. The villager who stood out the most to her was a young child, who wore a black robe with a dark grey stripe down the middle. He had shoulder-length sandy blonde hair and unnerving blue eyes. Standing next to him was another player, he had brown hair, black eyes, and wore a blue tunic with green trousers and blue trainers. He seemed familiar from somewhere, but PinkDiamond wasn’t sure where. 

 

=+#***;-;***#+=

 

“Hello,” he said, rather than seeing the in-game chat, she could actually hear his voice. He sounded quite young, thirteen, fourteen. Above his head was his username: Gameknight999.

“Hi Gameknight,” PinkDiamond replied, “Umm, what is going on?”

“Not sure, but I think we are in the same situation,” he shrugged, looking to the young villager.

“How is that possible?” The small villager asked, “how are there two users-that-are-not-users? I thought there was only you, Gameknight!”

“You can talk?” She exclaimed, “I mean, obviously you can talk, but usually it’s just villager gobbledygook! When were you updated to speak English?”

“We have always been able to talk, but it is forbidden,” the villager replied.

 

“So, how did you get here PinkDiamond050?” Asked Gameknight.

“I was about to try my first survival multiplayer, but I threw my bottle at the digitiser ray my father made for me to use for my gaming course,” she explained, “but how? Are you in Minecraft too?”

“The same thing happened to me the first time I entered the game too, except I had a soda can. I’m not even supposed to touch my father’s stuff or be in the basement, playing Minecraft on his computer, but it works so much better down there! I can’t believe that your father built a digitiser for you! That is wicked!”

“I use it for character design, I draw them, scan them into the laptop with the digitiser, and fix anything that needs to be fixed. It is pretty cool – ”

 

“Users-that-are-not-users, we need to focus!” Said the small villager, “so please stop nerding out!”

“Sorry,” Gameknight muttered, “PinkDiamond, this is my friend Crafter, he is the leader of this village. If you would like, we can give you a place to stay the night.”

“Could I have an explanation first,” She enquired, ”what am I doing here? How did I get here? Why do you keep calling Gameknight and I Users-that-are-not-users? How come you are forbidden to talk to players?”

 

“It’s part of our program,” Crafter began, ”Minecraft was created with an AI program, that allowed the world to update automatically. As the sophistication increased within Minecraft, the operating systems developed quirks and peculiarities unknown to the programmers and developers, we became self-aware, sentient and developed feelings. We are alive, just existing electronically.”

 

“That makes sense, Minecraft is a very complex system,” PinkDiamond nodded, ”but what about me? How am I here?”

“I think I can explain this one Crafter,” Gameknight interrupted, “when we get zapped by a digitiser ray, it physically puts us in the game. This means that we become a part of the game, but we are still separate from the world simultaneously. We still have our gamer tag, but we don’t have a thread, which looks like a really thin strip of light that connects each user to this world. Because we are partially part of the game we can see others threads, but other players can’t see them.”

“As confusing as that sounds when I hear it, that makes sense,” she replied.

 

That night, she went to bed her head slightly clearer, but she was still unsure about how she was in Minecraft. It was thrilling, terrific and terrifying at the same time. She did have her combat handbook, but she could never remember the details of all of the mobs. She spent most of her survival single-player worlds in peaceful mode. Ever since that incident with “Herobrine” (aka stupid, bully foster siblings trying to ruin her fun), when she got blown up by about fifty charged creepers, she avoided mobs whenever she could. Now, she had no option. She would have to face the mobs or die trying.

 

She opened the door of her small dwelling and went to look for Gameknight999. Fortunately, his name tag was visible through the walls, so it wasn’t a difficult task. He was on a farm, helping one of the villagers to harvest their wheat and carrots. The villager nodded in gratitude, then went to go and find the baker to trade with.

 

“Hey PinkDiamond,” Gameknight said happily, “you sleep ok?”

“Like a rock thanks,” she replied, “I came to ask you a favour.”

“Sure, name it!” He smiled.

“Really? You mean it?”

“Yes, I mean it! What’s on your mind?”

“I would like you to teach me how to fight.”

“Really?” His smile faltered, “you want me?” 

 

“I feel like you have great skill at combat, but I’ve rarely even played survival mode out of peaceful. Not since my foster siblings somehow got operating powers on my XBOX game and blew me up with a bunch of creepers, destroying everything I had worked for. I tried to attempt it again, but every time I saw a monster I was paralysed with fear. I have a feeling that you have had a similar experience.”

 

“I don’t see why you would want me to teach you how to play. I have a friend, Mason, he could probably teach you everything about this world. You aren’t wrong though. The mobs used to terrify me too. The first world I entered was Crafter’s original server. There, to protect that world, I had to activate some TNT trap manually, the Redstone had been damaged by an enderman. I fell into a hole, and all the mobs fell on top of me, clawing me with their nails and talons, hitting me with their hard fists, and attacking me with their weapons. I was pretty messed up after that, always afraid, always hiding. It was then that Crafter told me something, something that helped me face my fear and save Minecraft…”

 

“Wait, you saved Minecraft? What was wrong with it?” PinkDiamond interrupted.

“Yeah,” Gameknight nodded, “the mobs were trying to use my digitiser to enter the physical world. It was prophesied that the User-that-is-not-a-user would save Minecraft and defeat the mobs. This one enderman, Erebus,” he shuddered at the name, “let’s just say I’m glad that he was on the other end of the sword. He was terrifying, tall red body the colour of dried blood, flame red eyes full of pure evil. He tried to kill me multiple times, and I was too scared to even fight to save the villagers. But then Crafter reminded me that deeds don’t make a hero, how they overcome their fear does.”

 

“I think that bravery isn’t the absence of fear, but being able to do what needs to be done despite the fear,” PinkDiamond recited, unsure where the phrase had come from, ”If people were fearless, they would always be doing stupid things, like jumping off buildings and trying to pet lions and tigers. Fear keeps you from getting killed. You could also use your fear to better yourself. Fear can hold you back, or push you forward.”

 

“Well look at that,” he laughed, “you came to get me to teach you, but you ended up teaching me something too!”

“Yeah, I do tend to overthink things, and read too much, but it’s my escapism when I get upset.”

“Oh, come on! I’ll teach you how to fight the mobs,” he sighed reluctantly.

She raced over to embrace him, “thank you Gameknight! Thank you!”

 

The two Users-that-are-not-users stood on a flat area that had been cleared specifically for combat training. There was a tall roof made of bricks to prevent the mobs from burning, and a ring of water to prevent endermen from teleporting away. PinkDiamond stood opposite an armour stand with a creeper’s head on the top. Gameknight was to the side. In her hand was a stone sword. She approached the statue and hit it with her best shots. A couple of cracks appeared on the surface, but nothing too extraordinary. Certainly, nothing that would cause a lot of damage. She tried again, but the same result.

 

“Woah,” Gameknight said, putting himself between her and the armour stand, “If you just keep hitting it with all your strength, it isn’t going to do any high amount of damage. If you have to pick a weak spot, go for the head. If you plan to immobilise the monster first, go for the legs.”

She nodded, returning to her starting position. She raced towards the armour stand and decapitated the creeper’s head. She smiled, happy that she had figured out the basics, but there were still the specifics of each mob. That day, she would fight a zombie, a skeleton, an enderman and a creeper.

 

First, the zombie. They were the easiest mob to defeat, and PinkDiamond didn’t have too much trouble beating it. It had mottled green skin, covered in bleeding, puss-filled scars. It’s dark eyes were like a direct path to the void, the infinite space under the world of Minecraft. It’s moans were full of sorrow and anger towards the living. It’s sharp nails cut into her skin painfully. After pushing it away, she was able to decapitate it easily.

 

Second, the skeleton. She was rather adept at blocking the almost constant stream of arrows when she was at a distance, but she struggled when she was closer, the arrows had a higher velocity. The skeleton’s hard, white bones clicked when it walked. It’s eye sockets were dark empty holes, like a passage to the evilest parts of the soul. PinkDiamond managed to avoid enough arrows to stab it’s empty rib cage, then, realising it had done no damage, removed its bow arm before beating the hard skull of the beast.

 

Next was the creeper, which looked a lot weird in real life. It’s four short stubby legs moved rather quickly. It’s skin wasn’t undead like that of the zombie, but rather, like light seeping through the leaves in the forest, a multitude of shades of green and white. PinkDiamond used a hit-and-run technique on this mob, knowing that staying too close to the messed-up-pig-man would trigger it to explode. It worked well enough, the creeper was killed in a few hits.

 

Finally was the worst monster, the enderman. The thing kept teleporting behind her and hitting her. It’s long black limbs were long and gangly. It’s purple eyes glowed under the shadow of the sun cover. It’s jaw was unhinged, almost touching it’s torso. It raised it’s arms above her head and prepared to bring all of it’s available force down on her. She managed to hit it a couple of times, but it was Gameknight who defeated it.

 

“You’ve done great today PinkDiamond050,” he said, as the Users-that-are-not-users walked back towards the village for some food, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone make that much progress on their first day.”

“Thanks, Gameknight999, I’m glad you think so,” she replied.

“What do you mean? You were brilliant!”

“I just feel like I could have tried harder with that enderman. Those things are the worst!”

“How do you think I felt, fighting the most powerful of those guys?”

She shrugged, “Fair argument.”

 

When they arrived at the village, Gameknight lead PinkDiamond to his house. It was a really cool mansion, built of stone, with sandstone and red sandstone to decorate. Inside were many rooms: a kitchen with many barrels of food, and smokers for cooking. There was also a cauldron, a brewing stand, and a couple of chests full of ingredients. He also had a living room, and a room full of cats, dogs and parrots. 

 

Upstairs was his room and a guest suite. He lead her to the guest room, where they sat and ate a couple of steaks and a slice of cake each. The room was nice; large stained glass windows, a seating area, chests for personal belongings, and an armour stand like the one they had used for combat practice. The walls were decorated with paintings, a creeper, and even a large one of a game of Donkey Kong. The double bed in the room had white sheets.

 

“So do you like this room then?” He asked.

“Yeah, it’s not bad. It’s incredibly roomy,” she replied, “how did you have time to build it?”

“I built it outside the game, as a user in the physical world,” he answered, “I’m glad you like it, it’s yours.”

“Wait, what do you mean it’s mine?”

“I mean you can have it, as long as you’re in Minecraft, you can stay here rather than in that small villager house. I also have this.”

 

He pulled a chord out of his pocket, with an amethyst shard attached to it. It sparked in the light, no, glowed with it’s own light, strange particles coming off the crystal. Gameknight walked behind her and attached the necklace around her neck.

“I made this when amethysts were first introduced in the game, I kept the ender pearl that I got when I defeated Erebus, and I merged the two together. This gem contains the powers of the king of the endermen. I’m not entirely sure if these powers can be used, but I’m sure they must have some purpose, or they would have been unable to be crafted together.”

“That is pretty cool Gameknight, thank you,” PinkDiamond replied.

“It’s no problem,” he smiled.

 

=+#***;-;***#+=

 

That night was not as restful as the previous one. PinkDiamond was stood in a cave, silver mist floating around her. She noticed that there was a large eight by twenty-two ring of reinforced deepslate, overcome by some sort of plant material. The plants grew in solid blocks, like wood, or leaves, but this wasn’t anything that felt natural. They also grew as organisms, living organisms. These were the catalysts, shriekers and sensors. They all were used to help him.

 

He was three and a half blocks tall, taller than an enderman. The plants seemed to grow out over every part of his being. He had no eyes, but a large mouth, open in a frown as if he was about to start wailing. His long arms were like those of an iron golem, hanging limp at his sides, thick with muscle and strength. Emerging from his chest, was a bone-like structure that resembled a ribcage, and several small lights that screamed quietly, as if oppressed by this titanic monster. His arms were patterned with these bone structures too.

 

“Well I’ll be,” he snarled, his voice almost unintelligible, “if it isn’t PinkDiamond050, the User-that-is-not-a-user. I never thought I’d meet you.”

“What is this place? Who are you?” She asked, trying to sound brave, but her demands came out more like whimpers.

“The Deep Dark, the place in which I reside, along with the sculk, which gave me my name: Sculkan, King of the Caves!”

“Is that what this weird plant stuff is?” She reached for one of the plants.

 

“NO!” Sculkan growled, almost screaming in her face, making the ground beneath her feet shake, “you don’t understand little one. If you touch the sculk, it will not be happy, and call my brethren to join the battle. I need you alive. For now. My kind may be unable to see, but our other senses are heightened. Which brings us to why you are here.” 

He lifted PinkDiamond up with a single finger, seemingly possessed by the plant. Her focus was brought back to the deepslate ring.

“You see, us wardens were one a great tribe, made by the users to defend themselves. However, some users hunted us for the resources that they used to make us from. At one point there was a glitch in the game, and every time one of us died, we would sink through the earth, and be trapped in the deep of Minecraft. The sculk began to grow, thriving under the pressure of being so deep, taking over the minds and souls. There was a chemical in the plants that damaged our eyes, but we became so much stronger in the process.”

 

“Besides, what’s the point of having eyes if you can’t see in the dark anyway? Now, this portal will allow us to travel to the physical world, and exact our revenge on them for our maltreatment! Then we will dig deep, so deep that the world will collapse, the crust torn apart, the streets flooded with magma! The other mobs can come with us too I suppose, they can attack in every single way they want. And we will start with your and your precious friend, Gameknight’s families until we have destroyed them all! And then finally, we can lay to rest!”

 

He took a deep breath and screamed. Low and rumbling, shaking the ceiling, sending shockwaves at PinkDiamond that sent her slamming into the wall of one of the other buildings. Then, darkness claimed her.

 

=+#***;-;***#+=

 

“PinkDiamond! Are you ok?” Gameknight said as he shook her awake. She leapt up from the bed, her sword in her hand.

“He’s coming for us,” she whimpered, shaking with fear. She was unnerved by the seeming reality behind the dream she had just had. 

“Hey, who’s coming for us?” He asked, confused.

“Sculkan, the King of the Caves,” she said bursting into tears.

 

She cried in his arms, traumatised by the thought of the mobs destroying her home. Once she had calmed down a little, she explained what had happened in her nightmares; the dark creature, that absorbed souls to grow and multiply, his inevitable attempt to enter the real world and threaten her to kill her’s and Gameknight’s families, right in front of them. Gameknight sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Great,” he muttered, sarcasm creeping into his voice,” yet another horrible Minecraft beast that wants to destroy our world.”

He then explained what had happened to PinkDiamond.

 

“Last night, in your dream, was there any mist around you?” He asked her.

“Umm, yeah, thick and silvery, but it faded when I got into the cave,” she nodded.

“I think I know where you were, what you are. You’re like me: a dream walker. You were in a layer of Minecraft’s reality called the Land of Dreams, which is mostly ruled and controlled by the monsters. You have to be more careful PinkDiamond, or you could be killed. I was almost killed by both Erebus and Malacoda. The first few times I found myself in the Land of Dreams, I was absolutely terrified. But once I learned that anything I imagine can happen there, well, that boosted my bravery, and allowed me to defeat that wretched enderman.”

 

PinkDiamond nodded, as Gameknight finished his tale. She realised what she had to do.

 

Over the next few days, she and Gameknight worked on her fighting skills, learning more about each mob every day. At night, he joined her in her dreams and helped to fight off the nightmares. She knew that it would be really hard to defeat him, wardens are so strong that they can defeat the wither and still have health points to spare. She remembered that she had timed the spectacle once and it had taken one minute and sixteen seconds. It can kill an iron golem in four hits, and it would take six of them to defeat one normal warden (five fatalities, one serious injury). She knew that the army that the two were taking to fight the demon would be more than adequate to defeat him, but at what cost? 

 

Fortunately, Gameknight had faced the end of Minecraft before, and he was a saviour, so when he asked Crafter to put out a call for help, many villagers were willing to be of aid. A couple of his friends, who lived in the village near his home, came to join the army against Sculkan. They were sisters, both with curly red hair like flames, and soft brown eyes. Their names were Hunter and Sticher, and they were two of the fiercest bow fighters in Minecraft. There was also Mason, a large beefy NPC with leaf-green eyes. Gameknight told PinkDiamond that he was one of the generals in his previous army in the battle for Minecraft.

 

They even managed to get a couple of users to help. Gameknight contacted his friend, Shawny, who was a master strategist and PvP fighter. Gameknight also taught PinkDiamond how to message her Minecraft friends too. 

FirePaw? Labradorite? Can you hear me? She thought, imagining typing it in the chat.

No reply.

FirePaw!? Labradorite!? Please teleport to me! She tried again.

Still no reply.

ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME!? WE HAVE A CRISIS ON OUR HANDS AND I NEED YOUR HELP! She could feel a single HP point removed from her health bar.

Ok, we’re coming, she heard from FirePaw.

Just hold your horses! She heard Labradorite say.

 

Suddenly, stood in front of her were two of her best friends. FirePaw206 had a fire-limbed enderman skin with a red pearl in the centre of his chest, and red/yellow eyes he looked around in wonder, having not played a lot of SMP games. PinkDiamond went to FirePaw’s house every week, and the two went ice skating each weekend. Labradorite44 had a black skin etched with blue patterns. His blue eyes glittered with concern for his friend. Labradorite was one of the players that PinkDiamond spent the most time with when playing. Each player had a thin silver thread that extended up into the infinite sky. The server thread, she thought.

 

“Guys!” She exclaimed, happily embracing her friends, “we have a big problem.”

“Are you in the game again Gameknight?” Asked Shawny, worried.

“Yeah,” he said, “and so is PinkDiamond here. Unfortunately, she is a bit of a noob.”

“Really, a noob?” Asked Labradorite, “she’s usually quite an adequate player. We’ve even managed to win a couple of PvP games together!”

“What do you mean ‘in the game’? That’s impossible right?” Asked FirePaw.

“No, it’s not At- I mean FirePaw,” PinkDiamond answered, being careful not to use his real name, 

 

“Remember that thing that Technology Guy made for me to use for games at college?”

“What, the digitiser?” Answered Labradorite.

“Well, there was a malfunction, and it scanned me into the game.” She stated.

“What!? That’s crazy talk!” Exclaimed FirePaw, eyes wide with shock.

“That’s impossible right!?” Asked Labradorite.

“Actually, it’s not,” Gameknight interjected, “because I’m in the game too. I have been, twice. But at the minute, it isn’t important. We need to save Minecraft. Again. Why me?”

“Chill Gameknight,” said Shawny, rolling his eyes, “are either of you skilled survivalists?”

“I am,” Labradorite nodded, “but FirePaw doesn’t play that often.”

“Ok,” Shawny began to assemble the plan in his mind, “here’s the plan…”

 

=+#***;-;***#+=

 

A more warfare style was adapted than PinkDiamond had initially thought. There were five cohorts in the army, led by Gameknight, PinkDiamond, Mason, Crafter and Labradorite. Each cohort had about a hundred and fifty members and a different job; Gameknight, along with Shawny and a couple of other users that he had called to his aid, were to take care of the endermen and creepers; Labradorite and FirePaw to fight the zombies and skeletons; Crafter was to take out the spiders and cave spiders; Mason, Stitcher and Hunter were to kill any nether monsters their cohort saw, and PinkDiamond050 was to face Sculkan and any other Wardens that they were to face.

 

In the weeks leading up to the battle, PinkDiamond trained with Gameknight to prepare herself for the fight. They found something rather odd about the amethyst. They were just sparing, but she was getting ferocious in the mock battles they had been staging. As her anger flared, her body became enveloped in pink flame, and purple particles emitted from every pore of her being. Gameknight froze, and she remembered, this was a mock battle. She too froze, but the flames remained.

“Ummm, PinkDiamond? You’re burning. Are you okay?” He asked his friend.

“Erm, I’m on fire. I’m not burning though. Otherwise, I’d be taking damage. This is so weird!” She then disappeared in a flash of purple teleportation particles. She had only reappeared a few meters away, but it was enough. She had full access to the power of the King of the endermen.

 

“But what about the flames?” Gameknight inquired, “how did that happen? I don’t think Erebus had fire powers!”

“Didn’t you say that you had to fight a ghast too? What was his name? Macaloda?”

“Malacoda, but what does that have to with anything?”

“His ghast tear must have somehow gotten into the recipe. That must mean that I have fire resistance, and…”

She paused for a minute, considering. She jumped off the floor and was held in place by an unseen force. She flew up, ascending into the air, whooping with joy. She could fly!

 

The village shrunk, becoming more like the model village she had as a kid. She could see all of her friends; Gameknight, Shawny, Crafter, Hunter, Stitcher, Labradorite, FirePaw and the other users. She spun in the air, feeling strong, unbreakable. She saw that Labradorite and FirePaw were in the middle of a heated conversation. She fell in the middle of the two, jump scaring them both.

 

“Jeez, where did you come from!” Shouted FirePaw, breathing heavily.

“The skies,” replied PinkDiamond, “where else would I have fallen from, there’s nowhere high up around here!”

“But how?” Labradorite asked, “where did you learn to fly?”

“Sorry boys,” she said flirtatiously, “but that is a secret between me and Gameknight!”

 

She then soared over to Gameknight, returning to his side. She then said two words, and whispered in his ear.

 

“I’m ready!”

 

=+#***;-;***#+=

 

As each cohort prepped for battle, PinkDiamond conferred with her team, ensuring that they knew the plan. They’d managed to gather enough iron to create enough armour for the entire group; with this group being prioritised as they were facing the most deadly of the Minecraft mobs to date. She had also discovered that she could summon building materials from thin air, so she had planned on using this to her advantage. She also planned on being a complete and total embarrassment and singing through the entire battle: she had her own mental playlist that she was going to sing, and if it even annoyed Sculkan slightly, then she knew in her heart that she had won. 

 

She had even prepared the playlist and made the backing tracks on a music disc to place in a jukebox so her voice wasn’t just a capella. The jukebox was placed high above the village, and was loud enough to hear, even over the sounds of the fight. She had been practising on the mobs around the village. She would play the disc (entitled PinkDiamond050’s Battle playlist) and sing at the top of her lungs. This had definitely done damage to the mobs ranks, but not in the way she had expected. The mobs were so in awe of her beautiful voice that they were frozen in place, she could just walk up to them and slaughter them.

 

In the Land of Dreams, she had got more adept at facing her fears, not being afraid to use her powers to face the mobs. Gameknight and Hunter, who was also a dream walker, helped her fight off the almost infinite nightmares. However, she was aware to not use her powers in front of her main enemy, she didn’t want to reveal the nature of her fighting to Sculkan. This would give her a tactical advantage, although the singing might cause some problems with one of the main senses of the warden being sound and hearing. She knew this was where her strengths were. 

 

She knew the night of the battle was upon her, as the mobs were surrounding the tall cobblestone walls that surrounded the village. Even in the daytime, creepers, endermen, ghasts, blazes, zombie Piglins (as they were now called) and Zoglins were awaiting the night so the zombies and skeletons could join the ranks. She floated above the village, scouting for the weak points in their defence. She then flew back down, where she informed the generals.

 

“The mobs appear to be waiting for the sunset to initiate their attack,” she stated, “they are everywhere, as far as I can see. But I think we have a chance, Shawny?”

“All the traps are set, and ready,” he nodded, “hopefully none of the endermen will destroy the circuitry this time.”

“Good, are all of you ready for battle? Is everyone briefed on what they need to do?” Asked Gameknight.

All of the leaders nodded.

“Great, now remember, amid chaos, there is opportunity, ” Mason added.

 

“FOR MINECRAFT!” The cheer was so loud that it shook the entire village. All members of the army scrambled to get to there positions. She hovered over the villagers, nodding to them to try and keep them confident and calm. She then landed in front of her cohort. She watched as the sun slowly sunk below the horizon, the time for battle upon them. When dark finally hit, the soldiers charged, racing forward to meet the foes.

 

He wasn’t hard to spot in the crowd of monsters, he was easily the tallest there. Sculk grew out of every part of his body. His large mouth was open in a despaired frown. His hulking form stood, parts of the plant glowing. There were also three souls trapped in his chest. This was the warden – Sculkan.

 

“Hello, User-that-is-not-a-user,” he snarled, “I see that you are prepared for your demise?”

“We will never give in to you, but I will give you a choice,” PinkDiamond said, holding her hand out, “you could help us rather than fight, the villagers could use your help to defeat other mobs that keep trying to escape the game. I’m sure that the users would appreciate you and stop being horrible to both you and your kind.”

“Or?” He growled.

“Or, I will fight you. I have many weapons in my arsenal that you haven’t seen. I will fight with every part of my being if it means keeping Minecraft safe. So, what do you say?”

 

He paused for a moment, perhaps considering. He then hit her hand away, and ran back into his army, shouting at them to charge. In this time, she pulled out a music disc that glowed pink, with purple and magenta in the middle.

“You wanna dance Sculkan?” She asked, snarkily, just as Gameknight taught her, “them let’s dance!”

 

She threw the music disc behind her with all her might, her aim true, it landed in the jukebox. The first song on her battle playlist was Take Me Down, a Minecraft song by Abtmelody, a popular Minecraft parodist, whose songs were some of PinkDiamond’s favourite. She sang at the top of her lungs, the narrative of the song being that people were trying to kill Herobrine, a glitch in the game who had unlimited access to items, health and could fight like a professional Minecrafter. The louder she sung, the more confused Sculkan seemed, the plant no longer bioluminescent in the dark of the night. She got a few powerful hits in at him, although the rest of her cohort were preoccupied by the rest of the wardens that the King of the Caves had summoned.

 

When the next song came on, an all time favourite of hers, she shut her eyes, a solid picture of what she needed in her head. Moments later, an army of T-shaped iron frames materialized.

“Pumpkins! Now!” She heard Mason shout, “it’s time to take things up a notch!”

PinkDiamond briefly wondered why he had used those specific words, and why Gameknight was rolling his eyes, she then heard her cue, and began to sing again, this song was La La La by Sam Smith and Naughty Boy. She chose this song, as it felt relevant to the situation, ignoring cyber bullies and being able to continue with your own lives.

 

The iron golems that had now spawned were taking on the wardens, roughly six of them to every monster. The wardens began to vanish, the strength of the golems more than that of the users. PinkDiamond signaled to Shawny, and he nodded back to her: the monster traps were operational. She saw the traps swallowing creepers, zombie and skeletons. She then focused on phase two of her personal fight. 

 

She charged Sculkan, grabbing him with all her strength, and soaring into the big blue unknown. He struggled in her grip, and the sculk began to crawl up her arm. She dropped the beast, and shot a column of fire at her hand, burning the plant right off. She then raced after him, her body cloaked in purple flames. PinkDiamond continued to throw fireballs at the King of the Caves, damaging his sculk armour. As she launched into the next song, Fight Song, by Rachel Platten, she could feel her eyes growing moist, cubic tears falling down her cheeks.

 

She wasn’t entirely sure why she had put the song in the playlist, but it brought her to a standstill. In the midst of the battle, this wasn’t a good idea. She momentarily retreated to the skies, thinking. This was a song she had sung with her sister, before began to be shaped into an evil, selfish, narcissistic girl, who would constantly bully and harass her, to the point where she couldn’t live with her anymore. This had been a major blow to PinkDiamond’s mental health. She was increasingly worried that her sister would do something bad, causing so much stress and anxiety in her life, that, recently, she had to stop seeing her. She hadn’t seen her in a long time, but it didn’t hurt any less.

 

She had to push on, through the pain. She belted the song at the top of her lungs, trying to get all of that hurt and all of that hate out. She dived, her body alight with purple fire. Her diamond sword glowed with enchantment and heat, the high temperature of the flames being absorbed by the blade. She saw the hulking dark form, and went at him, all of her strength going into the fight. But it wasn’t enough. With the next attack, the entire world melted around them, taking them into the Deep Dark.

 

They were trapped.

 

The dark cave was full of people, mostly NPCs and zombies. As the battle continued fiercely, the sculk soaked up the XP of the dead, prospering over the frame of the the massive portal, the centre beginning to glow turquoise. As more people fell, the plant continued to thrive. There was a loud bang, the exit was active, blue swirling light, like that of the nether portal. All of the monsters began to amass, heading through the gateway. And with that, the army was alone. She could see the defeat in the eyes of every single member of their military.

 

“What are we going to do?” asked a small child with a stone sword, her eyes full of tears. 

“I… Umm… I don’t…” PinkDiamond struggled for an answer.

Gameknight gazed at her sympathetically, then raised his open hand into the air, squeezing it tightly into a fist. Others around did the same, muttering the names of those lost in the battle. She copied, unaware that this was an NPC tradition as old as Minecraft itself; a salute to the dead.

“It’s ok,” Mason came over to her, “although we have lost the battle, we can still win the war. But, the Users-that-are-not-users need to work together. Sticher and Hunter can lead for you PinkDiamond, and Shawny will sort your troops Gameknight.”

 

“Not- Mason, what are you talking about!” Gameknight asked the villager.

“You can defeat them, you just have to believe,” he said cryptically.

“If you start quoting the Lego Movie, I’m gonna barf,” PinkDiamond stated.

“You already have the weapon, the power is inside you,” the big NPC’s green eyed gaze shifted to the crystal around her neck.

“But, we can’t both use it!” she cried.

“Amethysts are a good magical conductor,” Mason remarked.

“What does that have to do with anything!” exclaimed Gameknight, now frustrated.

 

Mason simply pulled an amethyst shard from his inventory, and touched it to the one that hung at PinkDiamond’s chest. There was a small spark, and both gems seemed to have the same slight glow. He then grabbed Gameknight’s sword, and forced the stone into the blade, the enchanted sword glowing brighter. The NPC then tossed the weapon back to it’s owner. The User-that-is-not-a-user caught it, and began to be enveloped in diamond coloured flames. PinkDiamond also lit up like a beacon of hope in this darkness. The pair looked at each other, one thought going through both of their heads; let’s finish this.

 

“Everyone, to the portal! Go through and defeat every monster you can! FOR MINECRAFT!” Gameknight shouted jubilantly.

“FOR MINECRAFT!” the answering cry shook the caves of the Deep Dark. The wave of warriors surged through the portal, being teleported straight to the Source.

 

=+#***;-;***#+=

 

The world they emerged into was an infinite landscape of bedrock, dark beacons shooting up into the darkness. The sky was like that in the End, a charged static atmosphere. PinkDiamond floated in the air, knowing what was coming. She watched as her militia, her friends, battled the army of demons. Gameknight fought some of the monsters nearby, blasting them with blue flame, but PinkDiamond knew she had another task. Mason ran after her, evidently wanting to help the User-that-is-not-a-user. She flew down, grabbed his hand, and raced off at top speed, towards the brightest beacon. 

 

The Source beacon seemed to flash many colours, like a rainbow disco light. Mason looked around warily, checking to see if any of the faster mobs had followed. The area was desolate, free of corruption. She dropped him just above the ground, then landed next to the beam of light.

“This is the Source, the stream of code and data that is sent out to all servers in Minecraft. If you go into it, you will need to focus really hard, or parts of you will get broken up,” to prove his point, he picked up a bone, and threw it to the light. It evaporated into ones and zeros, the binary code that all computer systems ran on, “are you ready?”

“I don’t think I have a choice Mason,” she said, grabbing his hand and striding into the beacon.

 

The experience of having your body ripped apart, and sent to other servers wasn’t a great one for PinkDiamond, but she knew she had to keep the door open. If she didn’t, then Minecraft, a world that millions of players relied on for escapism and enjoyment, would perish, and the real world with it. She thought the message clearly in her mind, picturing it clearly, imagining it on the screen of every Minecraft player. She felt the strength sapping out of her, the energy draining from her soul and her HP. As the pain increased, she stepped out of the beam, and passed out.

 

“PinkDiamond?” Mason asked, “are you alright?”

She grogily sat up, and noticed that it had worked, she had managed to bring more users to the Source! All around her we’re some recognisable skins, some of her favourite Minecraft YouTubers, MatPat, Dream, GeorgeNotFound, Sapnap, LDShadowLady, even StampyLongnose and IBallisticSquid. She was completely in astonishment that her heroes had come to help. She knew it was because of their love of this world though, she had just put out the call to protect it.

 

“So what’s going on?” asked Stampy, studying his surroundings, “this isn’t my house!”

“Stampy, chill,” stated IBallisticSquid, “and if you say one thing about ‘googlies’ I am literally going to kill you! You don’t need to act like an idiot!”

“I’m with Squid, if you decide to act like an idiot just to keep your Minecraft persona intact, then Minecraft is doomed, so buck up!” Agreed PinkDiamond.

“So, what is going on?” Asked Dream, “is Minecraft broken?”

“The mobs are trying to have an uprising,” PinkDiamond explained, “and they want to break into the real world. If that happens we’re all screwed.”

 

“Wait,” interjected Dan TDM, Grimm the skeleton dog at his feet. He was PinkDiamond’s favourite Minecrafter ever, “so you’re saying that all the creepers and zombies and endermen and stuff, they’re all coming here!”

“Hrem,” said a voice behind him, a villager stepping into view. He wore a white lab coat with a thin grey striped, his hands over his chest. He looked like a typical villager, no quirks; green eyes, long unibrow, bald head.

“Yes, Trayaurus, but where are we?” He retorted, turning angry.

“Umm, Doctor Trayaurus?” PinkDiamond interupted, “we’re in a bit of a crisis. We kinda need you to talk properly, please.” He looked at Mason, who nodded kindly.

 

“Hello,” he muttered, his regular voice sounding much like his villagese. The other users reeled with shock, not knowing that the villagers were sentient beings.

“You’ve been able to talk normally this entire time!” Dan shouted at the NPC’s face, “I thought you were my friend Tray!”

“DAN! Chill out!” She replied, “It’s forbidden for the villagers to speak to the users, and we have bigger problems on our hands right now!”

 

She threw a crafting table on the floor, and gave some materials to Trayaurus.

“Please could you craft me an iron sword?” She asked him.

“THEY CAN CRAFT TOO!!??” He screamed. 

He started placing the materials on the table, and as his hands separated, she brought an iron axe down on the table. It showered the users in splinters, but the doctor’s hands remained separated.

 

“Look guys,” PinkDiamond tried to rally the troops, they were the last hope, “we need to win this battle. I know that you are probably terrified about the mobs coming to the real world. But, if we stop them, in this world, then you won’t have to see the real world blown up by creepers, or burnt by blazes and ghasts. If we don’t fight, that means we’ve already given up. If we loose hope, then Sculkan has already won.”

 

“Hold up?” MatPat interrupted, “Sculkan? Who’s that?”

“Please, MatPat,” Dream rolled his eyes, “who do you seriously think ‘Sculkan’ is? ”

“He’s the warden,” Mason explained, his green eyes burning with anger, “King of the Caves. We don’t have time for this bickering and nonsense. If we don’t save Minecraft, billions of billions of people will die! ALL SERVERS, WILL BE DESTROYED! I am going to go and save my game, and if you don’t come with me, the your lives, your physical lives will be over. Sculkan takes no survivors, so BUCK UP AND HELP ME SAVE MY WORLD!”

 

The army of YouTubers looked at each other, then the villager, storming back to the war.

“Well, I suppose we better fight then,” Stampy stated halfheartedly.

“That villager is right,” Dan hung his head in shame, “Doctor Trayaurus, I’m sorry. That was very rude of me. Will you forgive me?”

“Of course I forgive you Dan, you’re my best friend,” Trayaurus smiled, hugging the player, “if I’d never met you, I would have become lost, unable to feel like part of a community. You are my community.”

“Not that this isn’t adorable,” GeorgeNotFound said “we better get moving if we want to survive the next twenty four hours!”

 

“Right, leader face, Pinky,” she muttered to her self before initiating the battle cry they had used so often in this war, “FOR MINECRAFT!!!”

“FOR MINECRAFT!!!” The land around the Source shook, the cry of the users rattling the floor.

 

=+#***;-;***#+=

 

The massive wave of users rushed to fight the mobs, pulling armour out of their inventories and putting it on. The quality of armour ranged from gold to diamond. They also pulled weapons, and raced to get to the mobs, as Gameknight and his friends cheered with jubilation. With the troops’ hope renewed, they pressed their attack. Gameknight flew over to PinkDiamond as she launched herself up.

 

“How?” He asked her, “I thought we had got all of the users to help!”

“Yeah,” she shrugged, “but you forgot, there are millions of Minecraft users in the world. Surely you didn’t think that your group of about a hundred users is every user ever!?”

“Uhh, yes I kinda did,” he said blushing, “but don’t we have a warden to kill?”

“Yeah, c’mon, let’s teach these morons how to dance!”

 

It wasn’t hard for the Users-that-are-not-users to find him. They had managed to take all of the other wardens out, with their iron golems back in the Overworld. Their bodies burst into flames, the blue and pink complimenting each other nicely. Energy coursed through their veins, making them stronger. They were mentally enforced too, the powers of the amethyst shards helping to nullify the effects of their fears. Oh, they were still scared, terrified even, but the powers helped them to face themselves. They shot waves of fire at the beast, hoping to cause some damage.

 

“Aww, the User-that-is-not-a-user can’t face me alone!” Sculkan guffawed, which was more terrifying than his horrific scream, “she’s a coward! She couldn’t save this pathetic game if she was actually trying!”

“What did you just say about me?” PinkDiamond whistled, almost inaudible. But he heard.

“You heard! You are weak! Pathetic! Stupid!” He howled with laughter.

 

And that is when she snapped.

 

“I am anything but stupid Sculkan. I may have problems, I have got ASD, but that doesn’t make me weak. It has given me strength, strength to face you! You’re cocky! You think that you can do anything and that everyone is under your command. Well, that is where you are wrong. Whilst I have friends, who will stand by my side to protect this world, you stand alone. I offered you a chance to make things right, to stop being the bully. You chose the wrong path. And I am not stupid! And I have one who is willing to fight at my side,” she took Gameknight’s hand, feeling the alternating current flow through both of them, “I will not stand by and let you destroy any more lives! You wanna dance with danger?”

 

“THEN LET’S DANCE!!!” The Users-that-are-not-users shouted in unison.

 

They flew towards the warden, the fire enveloping them slowly turning from blue and pink to brilliant gold. The King of the Caves shrieked in pain, the sound echoing across the Source. The flames enveloped him, as he flashed red, the flames damaging his organic armour. As the last of his HP ebbed away, his scream rattled the bedrock world. In his place was a single block, a sculk catalyst. As PinkDiamond threw it into the air, Gameknight shot a ball of flame at the block, destroying it instantly.

 

=+#***;-;***#+=

 

The fight was over. The mobs continued to attack the users and NPCs, until the Users-that-are-not-users flew over, blasting everything with flame, the golden light having no effect on the light fighters. All of the members of the militia swarmed towards the Source beacon. PinkDiamond was happy to find that all of her new villager friends had survived; Hunter, Crafter, Stitcher, Herder, Mason and Doctor Trayaurus. Most of the users had managed to survive too, a few of them being banned from Minecraft permanently, due to the fact that the monsters had corrupted the code of the game, but there were very few villagers left. The few that survived raised their hands, their hands flat at first, then clenched into a fist. The users were unsure about what to make of this strange salute, but they did the same, respecting the NPC’s method of honouring the dead.

 

“So, what now?” Asked IBallisticSquid, a tear in his eye. Stampy was one of the users never to return and Squid’s best friend.

“We need to get all of the villagers home,” PinkDiamond stated, “Didn’t you say that you’ve done this before Gameknight?”

“Yes,” he nodded, “All of the villagers need to find their worlds amongst the beacons, then the users can just log off.”

 

Gameknight’s villager friends all went off to one of the nearby beacons, and walked in, and disappeared in a stream of ones and zeros. Other villagers did the same, finding their servers amongst the many towers of light. Trayaurus, however, stayed by DanTDM’s side, not wanting to be separated.

 

“I need to talk with you PinkDiamond050,” Dan requested, “I want to say thank you, for everybody here.”

“Why?” She asked, slightly confused, “you guys are the ones who were fighting.”

“Yes, but we wouldn’t have done anything if you hadn’t almost died to get us here,” agreed Dream, his friends George and Sapnap nodding vigorously.

“But-” she was immediately interrupted.

“Look around you PinkDiamond,” Dan commanded, “all of these users are here because of you. They fought for this game because of you. They know that it was you that defeated, what’s his name- Sculkan. And you are a hero, so many adults and kids rely on this game for their escapism and freedom from the trials of the real world. We owe you everything.”

 

All of the users nodded, eyes full of gratitude and respect for PinkDiamond. They all saluted her, by crouching with their swords in their hands. She felt a single tear rolling down her cheek. 

“Thank you,” she said, “stay in touch?”

“Feel free to join me on my world any time!” Dan exclaimed, laughing.

 

And with that all of the users disappeared and all but three people remained at the Source.

 

=+#***;-;***#+=

 

“So, how do we get home Gameknight?” She asked.

“Hey, Notch,” he said to Mason, who was still with them, “we should probably tell her.”

A sense of confusion washed over her as Mason froze, as if AFK (away from keyboard) his green eyes glittering with humour. In the short time his skin had changed. He wore a black suit, and a fedora, and the letters over his head spelling  the name of the most famous Minecrafter in history, N-O-T-C-H.

“What. The Notch? You were here the entire time!” She was almost lost for words.

“Sorry PinkDiamond050,” he said, smiling at the Users-that-are-not-users “but it was necessary to disguise myself as a villager, otherwise they would freak out, unable to function properly.”

 

“That’s fair, they do think of you as ‘The Almighty Notch’. But seriously, can we go home now? As much as I’ve loved being immersed in this wonderful, terrifying world, I would like to sleep in my own bed, and not have to deal with the monsters every night.”

“I needed to talk to you, both of you,” his face was serious now. “This is the second time that Minecraft has been threatened by the monsters. It has come to my attention that we need to sort out this issue at the roots. If they keep threatening to break into the physical world, we might have to face them yet.”

 

“So what do you suggest?” PinkDiamond replied, “what are we supposed to do? We can’t be fighting all the time! We’d die of exhaustion!”

“I’m with Pinky here,” agreed Gameknight, adopting her personal nickname, “nobody can stay up all the time, just to kill mobs to avoid them killing us! I think we might have to destroy the game Notch.”

 

“Woah, Gameknight, thanks for agreeing that we can’t be fighting all the time, but destroying it? That would upset millions of users! and besides, you know more than anyone else in the world that the villagers are sentient beings! Your friends would die! But, I have a solution. You know how there are different time zones around the world? Well, maybe you could ask a few people from each time zone to help kill the mobs and keep them to a minimum number, ensuring there aren’t any more uprisings. That way, Minecraft has around the clock care, and there isn’t a chance of the mobs trying to escape!”

 

“That’s… actually a pretty good plan!” Notch exclaimed, “how old are you?”

“Sixteen,” she muttered.

“Well, if you’re ever looking for a job, you can come and work at Mojang.”

“Thanks, I’ll consider it,” she then laughed, “if I ever get home!”

“Oh, that’s easy, just walk into the source beam. But you will need to hold yourself together if you are to survive the journey. But Gameknight has done it before, I’m sure he has adequate instruction to help. I’ve got to go, but I will see you soon.” 

 

And with a pop he disappeared.

 

“Hey,” Gameknight said from behind her, “you were amazing back there, but I have one question; what’s ASD?”

“Oh,” she had completely forgotten she’d said that, “ASD is short for Autism Spectrum Disorder.”

“Wait, you’re autistic? That’s…” he paused.

 

“I know, I’m a weirdo and a freak. I can’t seem to find anyone who wants to be my friend for me. Everyone thinks that because I’m kind, and gullible that they can take advantage of me. I hate the way my ‘friends’ treat me, they make me feel like these differences that I have make me an abomination or something. I didn’t have a very good support network at school either, I’ve always felt isolated, always spending more time with adults than people my age. So I’m sorry if I’ve let you down Gameknight,” PinkDiamond looked at he floor in dismay.

 

“Don’t be sorry Pinky!” He exclaimed, hugging her, “I was going to say exceptional. It’s just really cool that you have problems, and you are able to overcome them, and you have a different way of thinking, that’s how you came up with the Guardians of Minecraft thing. You are a role model to all people who have autism, you show those people that they can do anything. It also helps you to empathise with those going through the same thing! Who wouldn’t want to be your friend!”

 

She sniffed, tears in her eyes, “You really think so GK?”

“I know so,” he smiled, “I’ll be your friend, I haven’t had the best experience with people either.”

“Thank you Gameknight,” she smiled, “you wanna exchange numbers when we get back? I think that we could have a lot of fun together, tear up the town, blow stuff up, kill all these noobs…”

“NO!” He screamed, and then composed himself, “I mean, umm, I think I’ve, umm, put my griefer days behind me.”

“HAHAHAHA,” PinkDiamond laughed, “Gotcha!”

He playfully punched her, but the two exchanged cell phone numbers.

 

“So, we walk into that beam, and we mentally hold ourselves together?” She asked her new friend.

“Yeah” he nodded “I suppose so, I hope we can play together again soon.”

He smiled, as the two stepped into the beam, bright light all around them. To PinkDiamond, with her eyes shut, it felt as if all the flames she had used in battle were now having an effect on her, the hot burning sensation covering her whole body. She could feel herself being disassembled by the beam.

 

No, she thought, I won’t fall apart just because the code of Minecraft says I should!

The fire burned even brighter, the pain of being in the beam of light almost too much. She opened her eyes, and she could see the faintest glimpse of a smile, his smile.

NO! I will go home! I will see my family! I want to go home!

 

And the darkness claimed her.

 

=+#***;-;***#+=

 

Her eyes slowly opened, her eyes adapted to the world around her. She looked up, and realised where she was: large glass windows, a keyboard, a tv with various consoles and a laptop with Minecraft Java loaded on it. She was home! She looked down at herself, her thick child like fingers, and curved arms in front of her, her body no longer solid and blocky. She noticed that around her neck was a purple crystal that glittered in the light. As she grabbed it, she felt a hum flow through her entire being. That’s when she knew. It hadn’t been a dream, it was all real.

 

On the back of her hand was a phone number. It had certainly not been there before. She typed it into her phone.

She placed a hand on her necklace, concentrating on an unknown goal, purple sparks forming around her. The conservatory melted around her, her bedroom replacing the open space. Her teddies were in a messy pile on her bed. Her book shelf was full of various books that she read; The Elementia Chronicles, the (almost) Complete Rick Riordan Collection, Valkyrie, and Twilight. But that wasn’t what she was interested in now. The necklace worked in this world too.

 

I wonder… she thought of a different location; the Minecraft house that Gameknight had let her stay in. She closed her eyes, and reappeared, standing inside Minecraft, in a blocky body. She teleported back to her home in the physical world and smiled. She couldn’t wait to face her next Minecraft adventure.