A Minecraft-themed story based on an SMP I’m(@tabbylabs) in.
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Chapter 2: The Pale Garden
Vinegar was awakened by a thunderous boom, then a crack. She looked up to find it was still night, maybe an hour past midnight, sprinkling lightly. Confused, she stood up to survey the surroundings, stumbling to get to her feet properly. In the sprinkles of rain she saw a village, though not one she’d ever seen before. The wood used to build the houses was pale, greyscale. The forest it was positioned near was just as pale as it was. It was like a roofed forest was bleached. The oddity of it didn’t phase Vinegar however. She was too tired and desperate for shelter to really think too hardly of it. Besides, maybe surrounding herself with more villagers will get her mind off of the horror that she witnessed last night.
In the pale village there was murmuring all over. The village was lively yet quiet and everyone gossiped to each other regarding something in the woods. Vinegar didn’t notice it. It wasn’t until she walked into a temple when the gossip reached her.
Approaching her was a mason, apron covered in dust and particles. He approached her when she went to take a seat.
“Hey, you hear?”
“Hm?” Vinegar replied, not really paying attention.
“Oh, you must be new. Word has spread about a strange figure walking around the Pale Gardens.” He seemed to be very excited.
“Pale… Gardens?” Vinegar tried to raise her antenna to hear better.
“Yeah, the Pale Gardens. That’s what we call that forest over there. Nobody walks in there at night, that’s when The Creaking come out.”
Vinegar stared at him with an over-focused expression. “Look, I’m sorry if I’m being rude but I really don’t want to talk to anyone right now.”
“Oh, got it.” The mason replied. “Name’s Jerry by the way.” He said before walking out of the temple.
“Okay, Jesse…” Vinegar tilted her head back, staring into the various glass murals in the temple, depicting the resurrection of life and the consequences of pride, leading a group to flee into purgatory. She noticed a figure at the back of the group who held a long weapon, almost childlike in stature. After a while of staring at these murals she began to doze off again, beginning to slouch over on the pew. Another thunderous boom. She rose to her feet, looking around frantically. The other villagers were also attentive, standing by the door huddled like a family of wolves. Vinegar stumbled to the door as well just as there was another boom. She saw for an instant a bolt of lightning strike into the forest as if directed.
A shepherd turned to her after the strike. “We haven’t had this many thunderstorms until now, ever since that figure showed up.”
Vinegar blinked. “Really?” She was blinded by another lightning bolt, a flash strong enough to wake her up.
The shepherd shook the water off of her sleeves, “Now I don’t want to point fingers but I think the lighting is coming from that mysterious figure.”
“...yeah?”
She turned to Vinegar, seeing the swords on her back. “You look new. You new?”
“Yeah.”
“Wanna work for some shelter?”
Vinegar hesitated for a moment. “Sure, what’s the job?”
The shepherd took Vinegar by the wrist and brought her outside. The two didn’t walk long before they arrived at a small house connected to a stable of sheep. The two took shelter inside the house, drying off quickly. The shepherd brought out a blanket and some bread for Vinegar before sitting down in front of her with her hands clasped.
Vinegar split the bread in half and gave the other half to the shepherd. “So, what do I do?”
“Simple, I hope.” She looked in the direction where the stable would be. “I tried to round up my sheep before nightfall, for that's when the creatures of the pale garden come out, but one of my sheep was deeper in the forest than the rest. I tried to look for them but night was already close.” She looked at Vinegar’s swords again. “You look tough, think you can handle going out there, braving the monsters to retrieve my sheep?” The shepherd looked at Vinegar with desperation.
Vinegar thought for a moment, trying to think about what was in the forest. She thought she heard about the monsters in it sometime earlier but couldn’t remember well. “I can do it.” She stood up, reaching under her mask to take a bite of the bread and storing the bread away in a bundle. “I’ll try not to take long.” She grabbed a handful of wheat and walked out of the house, walking to the edge of the village where the forest started.
Vinegar could hear an ominous creaking sound in the forest as the trees swayed. There was another crack, then boom coming from the forest, deep inside. Vinegar drew her swords and walked in.
Deep into the forest, Vinegar was walking carefully, high alert for any small sounds. The most mild stick snap diverted her attention to it. Sneaking carefully through the forest she heard a rustle to her left. She turned, seeing nothing but a hill infested with trees. She was about to step toward it when she heard a bleat from behind. She turned quickly and saw a little lamb emerge from behind a log. She knelt down and coerced it over, holding out the wheat. It stumbled over, eventually into Vinegar’s hands. She lifted the lamb and gave it a nose nuzzle, getting into proper lamb-holding position, preparing to leave the forest with it in hand. She turned to walk out of the forest when she heard another rustling sound, combined with a creak. She turned to the sound again, seeing nothing but wood. Continuing on her way she heard it again. She turned again and thought she noticed some of the thinner trees moving. She walked backwards, keeping an eye on the area, only diverting her gaze when she had to blink. When she did blink she saw what she thought were thin trees walking towards her. She kept walking backwards, antennae primed for any new sounds. As her eyes focused on the strange trees, she saw as faint orange light began to bleed from the tops of them. Before she knew it she was surrounded by orange eyes, all staring at her as she stared back.
Vinegar maintained as much eye contact as possible. Carefully, she dug a ditch deep enough for the lamb to rest in. She gently placed the lamb in, giving it a quick pat for good luck, and slowly drew her swords from her back. The creatures barely moved, still waiting for Vinegar’s sight to move from them. Vinegar blinked. As three of the creatures trudged closer they were shredded by Vinegar’s blades. Vinegar looked back at the three she slashed but noticed they still stood. Not only that, they still moved, approaching while her back was turned. Vinegar tried again, again, again. They still stood. Vinegar kept trying and trying to inflict any mortal wounds she could, until she noticed the dust that came out of them. No matter their position to the wind, the dust seemed to move towards a certain point. Vinegar bum rushed through a wall of the monsters and ran to the target of the dust, facing the creatures and shredding more dust out of them. She ran, until the dust led to a tree.
The tree was mundane, not unlike the others. Vinegar looked at it dumbfounded. She looked around to the surrounding trees, seeing more orange eyes surrounding her. She backed into the tree, swords ready. The creaking sounds grew louder, more plentiful as the creatures inched closer. Vinegar blinked for just a moment. Before they had their chance to move lightning struck the tree Vinegar was by, sending her to the ground. She was laying there prone, wearily raising her head from the dirt. Around her were the crumbled corpses of the monsters, nothing but bark left over. She looked to the tree which had been obliterated by the lightning. Standing in its remains was a strange figure, heavily armored in thick animal-skin boots. He wore a purple mask with three eyes, one of them over the right eye. In their hands was a large mallet with a trident at the other end. Vinegar noticed his antennae and silvery gill-like tufts on his cheeks.
He sighed. “To imagio onve illa onve(I was wondering where that was).” He spoke in a gruff voice. He looked at Vinegar and froze.
Vinegar stepped back and held out her arms peacefully. “To on arpes, to on arpes(I’m an arpes, I’m an arpes).” Carefully she removed her mask and looked back at the figure.
He stood there shocked, approaching carefully and slowly, with disbelief in his eyes. “Magia?”
#fiction#story#narrative#writing#minecraft#minecraft fanfiction#the pale garden#the creaking#silverfish#chapter 2
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Chapter 1: Homesick
In a village, under the light of a torch, a masked humanoid was writing in a book. The mask was cyan with the smile of a comedy mask, a line reaching down from the right eye and another reaching up on the other eye. Her cheeks looked like silvery gills and the top of her head held antennae that twitched and twisted every so often. She finished writing a chapter and sighed, resting her quill in an inkwell and stretching her fingers. She lifted her mask slightly and gently blew, drying the ink. She opened a drawer full of notes and reached in to grab one but she closed it quickly when she heard the door open.
Coming through the door was one of the villagers, this one wearing a book-like hat and had bifocal glasses. She walked to the writer’s side and smiled, reading the words that had been written. “Hey Vinegar, how’s the book coming along?” She asked.
“Well, Cyne, very well.” She responded. “It’s been a while since I have ever written something of this, how you say, type.” Her antennae twisted around each other as she tried to think of the most decent word. “A month since.”
“Have you thought of a name yet?”
Vinegar thought for a bit. “I’m thinking of L Ama Ioa. It’s in my native tongue, Arpesliga.”
“Reminds me of a book I read, L Ama Iuri. Were you inspired by that?”
Vinegar hesitated. “Yes. Strongly.”
“That’s cool.” Cyne paced around the room. “Why do you think the author wrote everything but the name in English?”
“Honestly, now that I think about it, she should’ve translated the name into English too.” She chuckled and kicked up her feet onto the desk. “I mean, I don’t know many people around here being repulsed by girls kissing, among other things.” She chuckled again and Cyne joined in.
“Yeah.” Cyne turned to the door but paused halfway, she turned back to Vinegar. “By the way,” she asked, “What actually brought you here?”
“Oh, the story’s long so, well, here, stay hydrated.” Vinegar grabbed a cup of water she had on her desk and turned to give it to Cyne. “Regardless,”
“Tuesday. In a deep stronghold in which I and other Arpes resided, I had finished preparing a soup to give to our latest sniffer mother. The soup encouraged healing and regeneration which would help the mother stay healthy to raise the child. I was halfway to the pen when I heard a booming sound from a nearby room. The Portal Room. Since our ancestors arrived at the stronghold, we had no idea what it was for, so we did not think of it much. That day, however, we saw what was on the other side. Endermen. Leading the army of them was an enderman in robes called Conquisteu, who held a purple clam-like thing. Whatever it was, horrible spells would come from it whenever Conquisteu commanded. It was a slaughter, and it soon fell to five against one; us against Conquisteu. Then… someone made a move. She tackled the purple thing out of Conquisteu’s hand. We almost cheered for her. But when she landed, the ceiling fell on her, crushing her. Of course, without his magical crutch, Conquisteu was easy to push back into the portal. But now there were only four of us left; we had little hope. We left the stronghold through a twisting cave we dug long ago, a journey that took hours, and when we reached the surface we decided to split up, live our lives how we want knowing that when we die, our race may be extinct. So I am here, writing in a village that loves like the people I knew back home. It’s nostalgic.”
“Woah.” Cyne reacted, shocked. “Sorry your home was…”
Vinegar pat Cyne on the head. “Don’t be, I’m happy to be welcomed here. Sometimes, however, I wish I could see my home again, one last time.”
Cyne sat there looking at Vinegar. She looked into the eyes of her mask and pondered, then smiled. “There’s a stronghold under our village, if you want to look.”
Vinegar’s antennae perked up. “Here?” Vinegar stood up from her seat. “Where?”
Cyn also stood up, grabbing Vinegar by the hand and leading her outside. The breeze blew cold, getting Vinegar to wrap more of her scarf around herself. After a few steps the two came across a massive hole that went deep underground. “This is it.”
Vinegar looked down into the deep hole. “Wow, it’s massive. Never seen a hole this big.” She turned to Cyne. “Who did this?”
“A big, fluffy monster that came by. He looked like a DILF but that’s beside the point. Come, down his hole.” Cyne guided Vinegar down the stairs of the hole, being careful not to fall. Vinegar’s grasp on Cyne’s hand tightened as the two descended.
“Smells like my own stronghold.” Vinegar mentioned, Cyne giggling a bit at the idea. Vinegar looked around, taking in all the sights, smells and lack of sounds other than her and Cyne’s own footsteps. As the two reached the bottom, Vinegar rushed forward. As Vinegar saw the structures of the stronghold she paused, heart beating faster and antennae perking up. “This… This is… MY home…” Her voice started to break and tears dripped from her chin. She rushed for Cyne and hugged her, spinning around in the air. “Thank you, thank you!! It’s my home!!!” She got off and grabbed Cyne. “I didn’t know this village was above my home! Let’s look around!”
The two explored the stronghold, finding rooms collapsed and halls blocked by rubble Vinegar tried to break through. One hallway, Vinegar was excited to show off. “Villagers have their houses. The Arpes live in rooms. This is mine.” She pointed to a room full of rubble. “Or what’s left of it.” She went in and dug through the rubble, expecting to find something. “Huh, I thought my… It’s fine, let’s check out the rest.” Vinegar grabbed Cyne by the hand and brought her to the main room again, bringing her up some stairs and into another hallway. The excitement could be heard in her breath as she pulled Cyne around the stronghold. However, passing by one room she heard a low sound that turned her excitement into fear. She froze in front of the large room and slowly turned, seeing the end portal in the center of the room before her.
“What’s wrong?” Cyne looked into the room and realized. “Oh, oh no…”
“It’s… how… when…” Vinegar stood staring at the portal. She was about to turn back to the entrance when she noticed a long, gangly, black arm reach from the portal. It grabbed the side of the portal as another came out to do the same, pulling out to reveal the full figure. It was an enderman in purple robes with a large purple wizard’s hat. On his back was a large double-ended spear. He hopped out of the portal and stared at Vinegar, recognizing the fact she was an Arpes.
He smiled. “I thought I killed you all.” He pulled out his spear. “So which of the four are you? The ones that pushed me back to the purgatorius End!”
Vinegar drew two swords stored away in her back. The swords had guards like rapiers and blades like katanas, though their blades were serrated. “Conquisteu!” She looked to Cyne and motioned her to run. Vinegar approached Conquisteu and looked at him in his glowing purple eyes. “I don’t know who lit this portal, I don’t know how you came back, but I will undo this, no, I’ll do you better; I’ll send you to hell!!” Vinegar made the first strike, shredding Conquisteu’s sleeve and skin, covering the blade in shimmering, purple blood.
Conquisteu retaliated with a spear stab, barely missing Vinegar. When he pulled back the barbed end of the spear tore at her scarf. He tried to stab again but Vinegar parried and began slashing away, landing most of her hits.
“Remember your little friend?” Conquisteu shouted. “The one who sacrificed her life for your lives!?” Conquisteu knocked Vinegar away with his spear, getting her on her back for a second before she got up. “And for what, the prosperity of your race?” He went in to stab Vinegar, but was parried. Vinegar swung back, shredding up Conquisteu’s chest. “Four can’t bring them back, no matter how hard you try, you bugs will never recover!” Conquisteu stepped back, throwing his spear into Vinegar’s arm.
“Do you think I don’t know that!?” Vinegar watched as Conquisteu ran back into the portal room, grabbing a rock on the way. She grabbed Conquisteu’s spear and snapped it in half, allowing her to pull it out while reducing the damage. She grabbed a bottle of water from her belt and poured it on the wound before grabbing some of the gauze around her arm to wrap up the wound. When she finished she rushed into the portal room, sword in hand. Stepping into its doorway her expression turned grim. Before her stood a flood of endermen coming through the portal as Conquisteu looked at her, smiling. “BARASTRO!” She threw a bottle of water into the room, most of the endermen teleporting away while Conquisteu stood his ground.
Conquisteu looked to another enderman coming out of the portal, grabbing the spare spear on their back and rushing to Vinegar for a second round.
The sounds of metal clashing echoed through the stronghold as the two fought, Conquisteu managing to throw Vinegar through some rubble, revealing a dirt room with various skeletons of six-legged cow-like animals. Conquisteu walked in, stepping on a skull and crushing it under his mutated foot. Before he knew it, Vinegar was cutting and slashing at him with great ferocity. Cloth torn, skin shredded, blood spilled. Before she could do enough damage, Vinegar was slapped off by Conquisteu’s spear, Conquisteu himself teleporting away.
“Corbare(Coward)!” Vinegar ran through the stronghold to the hole’s entrance. She climbed the stairs, her heart beating and her breath heavy. Her legs had started to tire but she kept climbing. As she approached the surface she noticed a purple glow bleeding into the hole. Her heart dropped and she climbed faster, fearing the worst. When she reached the surface she saw as the village was set aflame. Purple fire engulfed every other house, the temple was invaded by endermen crawling through the windows like desperate damned souls, upon stakes and stuck onto houses were limbless bodies vandalized with shimmering purple blood for ink. In the center of it all was Vinegar who looked on in horror as her new home was destroyed in mere minutes. She took a step back into the stronghold when she heard a horrible sound from below, like a bird trying to roar like a tiger.
She looked down the stairs to find a horrible disfigurement of an enderman. Its eyes were orange and pus-filled, its mouth locked open, its hands like talons that swelled to be paws. Its legs bent backwards, its chest was depressed, and its back glowed orange as cracks on its skin crept from the back to the chest and belly.
Vinegar ran back up, trying to avoid every enderman in the area. She heard the piercing scream again, followed by the sound of hissing fireworks and an organic pop. She saw as orange fluid landed on the ground, burning and killing the grass it landed on. Vinegar looked back and saw the beast bounding toward her like a snake with legs. She ran faster, spotting a river just within reach. She jumped. She looked up to see the silhouette of the disfigured enderman staring into the deep lake, turning back when it realized it couldn't do anything.
Vinegar swam to the opposite riverbank and looked back at the village, now in ruin, claimed by endermen. The sight soon seemed too much for Vinegar, who walked away defeated, only resting when her legs gave out at dawn, crying herself to sleep.
Next chapter: The Pale Garden
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Hello, @tabbylabs here, I’m going to be posting the chapters for a story I’m writing here. Seemed like a reasonable thing to do.
Anyways, have some art of the main character while y’all wait for the first chapter
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