The Eyeless, Book 1: Saving Alex



  The Eyeless, Book 1: Saving Alex

  Copyright 2016 Mark Mulle

  Author’s Note

  This short story is for your reading pleasure. The characters in this "Minecraft Adventure Series" such as Steve, Endermen or Herobrine...etc are based on the Minecraft Game coming from Minecraft ®/TM & © 2009-2013 Mojang / Notch

  Table of Contents

  Day 1

  Day 2

  Day 3

  About the Author

  Other books by this Author

  Day 1:

  It’s a grueling task, mining. The caves are dark, the falls are steep and the mobs are relentless. But that was the only life that I really know. And though the mining may be tough, what came after was my greatest salvation. Crafting under the warm glow of Glowstone made me feel more alive than ever. And I am lucky to be able to share all this with Alex.

  Alex is my best friend. She was very new to my world and still has a lot to learn about mining, crafting and combat, but she’s an eager student.

  While I live in a cozy little jungle-wood-and-brick house that I made myself, Alex had moved into the village in the adjacent desert biome a few years ago. We live merely a few chunks away from each other and make it a point to meet every day. We would venture off into forests and caves and temples, me equipped with my trusty diamond pickaxe and sword while Alex brought along gear of iron. She also always carried her bow and a single arrow, owing to how the village priest had enchanted her bow with Infinity. Together, with she dressed in iron and me in diamond, we are invincible.

  Today there were heavy showers, and I went to the brewery I have set up and started a batch of Potions of Regeneration. I love how it tastes: sweet and warm, and how it tingled my mind a little, making me more aware of everything going on around me. Regeneration was no doubt my favorite drink - a preference I share with Alex.

  As I sat on an oaken bench, drink in hand, Alex walked into the brewery, knowing that she would find me there. She was wet from the rain so she walked straight towards the crackling flames of netherack in the fireplace while I was sipping this drink merrily.

  “Good morning,” I said.

  “What’s so good about it?” Alex shot back, sounding annoyed.

  “Whoa! You seem to be in a mood today!” I said. “Sit down, have a regen and tell me what’s wrong.” 

  Alex shook her red hair over the fire and the flames hissed painfully as droplets of water fell on the netherack. She huffed, walked over to the table and sat on the bench across from me. 

  “Nothing is going right! Ever since I woke up I’ve just been messing things up. I burned my breakfast, ruined a whole bunch of the villagers’ crop, and dropped a bucket of water on the blacksmith’s lava! I’m a mess.” She took a sip from her potion and set the bottle so close to the edge of the table that it fell off and shattered into a million pieces. “What is wrong with me!?” Alex yelled. 

  “That’s okay - it’s okay,” I said as I got up and brought a mop from the corner of the room. I swept up the glass and offered Alex another bottle of regen. She held the bottle tightly in both hands, not wanting to cause me any more losses. After a moment of silence, I began, “Hey listen, I found a cave out by the Extreme Hills. I’ve never been there before and I was thinking we could go check it out once the rain stops. What do you say?”

  Alex looked a little troubled. “I don’t know, Steve,” she began. “I’ve just been messing everything up all day. Maybe I should sit this one out?”

  “Nonsense! I can’t go exploring without you! We need to watch each other’s backs out there. And think about it, what if we hit diamonds?”

  Alex was saving up diamonds to make her own diamond armor. She was only one diamond away from a diamond helmet and she didn’t want to miss out on the chance that would start her diamond armor collection. She wanted to mine it out on her own. So she agreed to go with me once the weather was better. So we left for our homes to prepare for the trip.

  Hours later, the rain had stopped but clouds still hung over the Overworld. I was wearing a diamond chest plate and leggings and was carrying my diamond pickaxe and sword, an iron shovel, a 64 set of cooked chicken, 128 torches, and a flint and steel. I met Alex by her house in the village, where she was ready with her full set of iron armor, iron pickaxe, sword and shovel, her infinity bow and one arrow, and 32 cooked pork chops. Both of us felt satisfied with what we had, and set off eastward (towards positive X) and made our way for the Extreme Hills.

  As we walked, Alex kept falling. Seeing Alex like this - constantly tripping, slipping, sliding and falling - worried me. I began to wonder if she would be able to handle herself in the cave. But I didn’t get too much time to think about it.

  From out of nowhere, a swarm of zombies appeared. They advanced towards the both of us, protected from the sun by the clouds. I saw them and told Alex to run, but she only ended up tripping and falling once more. The zombies kept moving, paying no attention to the herd of pigs obstructing their path. In no time, these Zombies would have caught up with us two, and their numbers were too great to battle. I pulled Alex up and began to run again. 

  Alex kept her balance and the zombies were falling behind: it seemed like we would get away. But just then a Creeper showed up a chunk or two in front of us. We tried to turn, but we had already gotten too close.

  BOOM! The Creeper exploded, knocking both me and Alex to the ground. We both had lost two hearts of health. Before either of us could gather our wits and attempt to run again, the zombies had caught up. The monsters encircled us and so we both drew our swords, trying our hardest to fend off the beasts while still on the ground. 

  I was swinging my sword back and forth, trying to make a clearing enough so that I could stand up and help defend Alex, but the zombies were overpowering me. Never in my life had we seen a swarm this powerful. I didn’t know whether I would survive.

  Just as my hunger dropped so low that I could no longer lift my sword, the zombies turned and ran off. I didn’t know what had caused the zombies to flee, nor did I care; I was just glad they were gone. I lay on the ground panting a while, then I turned around to check on Alex.

  To my horror, I found that Alex was nowhere to be seen, and in her place there was a shining bow and a cracked arrow. I stood up as fast as I could, walked over to pick up Alex’s things, and looked in every direction to try and find her. But I could barely see a few chunks away from myself, owing to a thick fog that had suddenly descended. It was as if the render distance had been reduced to the minimum, and no matter how hard I tried to look further, I couldn’t. I called out to Alex, hoping she had managed to run from the zombies and was safe, but my yelling and screaming didn’t help me at all in finding her. But I kept straining my vision hoping to catch a glimpse of my missing friend. And that is when I saw the most peculiar thing.

  There at the edge of the fog I saw a figure. I thought it might be Alex, but realized quickly that the person looked nothing like her. I called out to the person, but he did not reply. I took a few steps in the strange man’s direction, but the man seemed to be looming at the edge of the fog forever. I struggled for a better look, and that’s when I saw that the man looked almost exactly like me, except this man seemed to have no eyes. I wondered if I was hallucinating when this odd creature placed something on the ground and vanished behind it. 

  I cautiously made my way to where I had seen the man place down something, and found it to be a sign placed next to the herd of pigs. The man himself had vanished into thin air. 

  The sign read: “She is gone.”

  Upon reading this, I felt an array of emotions: anger, grief, ang
uish, rage… my head was spinning and I could see flashes. But these flashes were bolts of lightning in the clouds. And one such bolt came crashing down behind me.

  I could hear it behind me. I had heard in tales what would happen if a pig was struck by lightning, but I had hoped I would never have to witness it. I turned and saw a Zombie Pigman staring into the fog, a golden sword resting on the ground next to it. The Pigman seemed to not have a care in the world and that comforted me, but then suddenly an arrow came from within the fog, flying over my shoulder and hitting the Pigman in the arm. The Pigman squealed in pain and then turned to see me holding Alex’s bow. The monster reached down and grabbed the golden sword.

  I was not afraid of a single Pigman. I could easily destroy the monster. As I drew my diamond sword, a dozen more bolts of lightning landed close by, all hitting the pigs in the area. Suddenly, the air seemed thick with the distinct oinks and squeals of Zombie Pigmen. These new members to the group quickly saw that one of their own was armed and ready to attack me, and so they too drew up their arms.

  The sky lit up with another flash of lightning just as the Pigmen began to advance. I fended off the one closest to me and then broke into a run, trying to get back home. With a clap of thunder, it began to rain once again.

  The Pigmen were more agile than they appeared. Though they remained behind me for the entire chase, they would, from time to time, manage to get close enough to deliver a strong blow to me from their swords. It was a long distance to home and I was taking damage fast. Every now and then I would turn around and strike them with my own sword, but I knew I was nowhere near to beating a single one of them.

  With a loud oink, one Pigman jumped towards me and struck me on the shoulder, dealing a critical hit. The Pigman fell to the ground after its jump and all of his comrades stumbled over him and fell, giving me a good lead on them. I was down to half a heart now, so I kept running - I needed to escape!

  Using my lead to my advantage, I built up a 1x1 pillar of dirt blocks, jumping to keep myself on top of it, and used this to climb onto a tree. When the Pigmen finally caught up, they were unable to reach me, though they kept their eyes fixed on the branches. I was safe for now. I pulled out a few of the cooked chickens I had in my inventory and began to eat. Soon, I was no longer hungry, and I could feel my health returning. 

  Once full on health, I began to plot how I could evade the Nether demons now surrounding my arboreal shelter. I was trying my hardest to think, but a quick-moving, flashing red distracted me. This flashing red was obviously something that is taking damage, and this creature was revealed to me when, with a swoosh, the Enderman teleported onto the same tree where I was. Drops of water were trickling down the leaves and landing on the Enderman, causing it damage. Before it had the chance to teleport once more, a drop landed straight into its glowing purple eye, it flashed red one last time and died. What I found in the branches where the Enderman had died brought me great relief. There, tangled in the leaves, was a single, blue-green Ender Pearl.

  I reached for the gem, and climbed to the highest point of the tree with it. I could still hear the Pigmen’s aggressive calls beneath and was glad for my luck. Facing the direction of my home, I threw the pearl as hard as I could. Any minute now I would be teleported away from here and to safety.

  ZORP! In a flash of purple, I whiplashed through the air and landed painfully on my feet where the Ender Pearl had landed. I rolled as I hit the ground again and lied on the floor for a while. I could no longer hear the Pigmen. I was safe. Or so I thought.

  The rain had stopped and the clouds had rolled away. The place was silent save for a sharp chirp, and I knew exactly what was making that noise. My teleportation had spawned an Endermite. With no time to draw my sword, I began to attack the insect with my fists. The bug would bite as I struck. Its large mandibles struck like blades against my skin, leaving small cuts wherever they touched. Eventually, I was low on health once more. I kept attacking the Endermite, but the creature had a strong shell of an armor. My punches were as forceful as I could manage but it was as if I was punching a rock. With one punch I was able to knock the beast far enough to draw Alex’s bow. The insect lurched towards me but just in the nick of time I let an arrow fly. The tip of the arrow collided against its armor and sounded almost like the clank of metal on metal, but the Endermite died, and I had 3 hearts left. I sat down, let my health regenerate, then ran for home. 

  Day 2:

  I finally made it, but unlike all the times in the past, being home didn’t wash away all the worries and troubles of the day. I had no idea what my next move was, I just knew I had to find Alex. I began pacing, trying to think of likely places the zombies would have taken her, but nothing came to mind. Then I heard a loud crash. From my window I saw that the buildings in the village were on fire. I ran to my armory and donned my complete diamond armor, and grabbed a diamond sword enchanted with Sharpness V.

  I ran out and made my way to the village only to find it under siege by zombies. The Iron Golem was trying its hardest to protect the villagers, but there was only so much it could do. I knew I had to find Alex, but I couldn’t abandon the village when they needed me. So I crossed over to the desert biome and slashed away at the monsters. They would die instantly at the touch of my cold blade. I kept fighting and zombies kept dropping, but more came in to take their place. Soon I was taking damage again, but my armor held and my health dropped slowly. The numbers of zombies kept on rising, but luck was on my side: the night began to fade and the sun was rising, and soon the sunlight was shining once again on the Overworld. In no time, the majority of the zombies caught on fire were burnt to a crisp, but there were still the few that had helmets on, and so were protected from the sun. The Golem and I kept fighting and soon there was only one zombie left.

  I was suddenly struck with an idea I didn’t think would work, but I was desperate. I made my way to the zombie wearing an iron helmet and put my sword to its neck. 

  “Where did you take her!?” I asked angrily. The zombie just hisses and grunted. “WHERE IS SHE!?” I yelled. 

  The zombie didn’t respond. I wasn’t even sure if it could. Enraged but disheartened, I took off the zombie’s helmet and kicked the beast. It fell to the ground.

  “I’ll tell! I’ll tell you!” The zombie screamed!  

  I was kind of amazed. I had never known zombie could talk, but right now I was glad they could. “Where is she?” I asked again.

  “My helmet! Gimme it!”

  “If you want this, you’ll tell me where you took my friend!”

  The zombie screamed in pain. “King has her. King Zombie!”

  I didn’t know who this king zombie was. “Where do I find him?” I demanded.

  “The Pigmens. They have maps. My helmet, now gimme!” The zombie had told me everything I needed to know. I tossed the helmet onto the sand and the zombie reached down and grabbed it, but before it could put it on to douse the flames, it flashed red and died.

  I doubted that a dying zombie would lie to me, but I did not at all feel comfortable with the idea of having to face 13 aggravated Pigmen. I knew I had no other choice. I needed to prepare to fight some very intense battles if I wanted to save Alex. I went to my brewery. 

  Back in the brewery, I cooked up batches of many different potions. As I left, I carried four Potions of Swiftness - Extended, two Potions of Strength and two of Strength II, two Potions of Fire Resistance and four Potions of Regeneration. I also grabbed a single enchanted Golden Apple. I set off towards positive X once more.

  As I reached the tree I had teleported out of, I found that the Pigmen had calmed down. But of course, that couldn’t last. I gulped down the strong-tasting Potion of Strength, drew Alex’s bow and shot a single arrow at a Pigman’s head. Critical hit!

  The Pigmen engaged immediately, but this time I was ready. I unsheathed my diamond sword and waited for the demons to get close. An intense ba
ttle ensued. Swords clanked as they hit one another, the Pigmen squealed as they took damage from my fine blade, and I grunted as the Pigmen landed blow upon blow on me. It seemed like forever before the first Pigman fell, but once that happened, I felt rejuvenated, and fought with new-found vigor. Another slash, and another Pigman fell. But they were forcing me back now, though their number had been reduced. They backed me into a tree, but in that moment, when escape was no longer an option did I truly discover how well I could fight. 

  I swung my blade, I ducked and dodged their attacks, I rolled and maneuvered away, I kicked and knocked the demons off their feet and I stabbed until, finally, there were no more monsters standing. I was huffing and panting, and had been brought down to half a heart by the Nether beasts once more. I took out one of the regeneration potions I had bought and drank it one gulp. The way its warmth spread through my body calmed him, and I could feel my wounds healing. It was nearly sundown now.

  The map the zombie had promised had indeed been dropped; I could see it lying on the floor. I collected it and began to study its every detail. It was leading far beyond the desert and marked a water body within a further off Extreme Hills biome. I set off immediately.

  Day 3:

  It took me a very long time to pass through the desert, owing partly to its enormity, and partly to the large number of monsters that began to spawn as the sun went down. It was no challenge to defeat them, but the whole endeavor drained my hunger quite a lot. My supply of cooked chicken was slowly reducing.

  As I reached this new biome, I began to feel that something was terribly wrong. Apart from the vegetation, there were no signs of life in the place: no animals, no monsters. The silence worried me, but I kept on course with the map. Soon I came to a large lake fed by a huge waterfall. I knew I was not mistaken when I thought the waterfall was glowing. As I stepped closer I noticed swirling spiral patterns in the water. I understood immediately: there was a nether portal behind the waterfall. I stepped behind the curtain of liquid and saw that the portal was carved into the face of a cliff and was at least 50 blocks wide and a 100 block tall. This portal was made for something big. Seeing how the map ended at the lake, I knew I had to go through the portal. I stepped in. While I was still inside the portal, looking out through the waterfall, I saw the man with no eyes staring at me from inside the fog.

  With a rush, I was teleported between dimensions. When I arrived in the nether my head was spinning but it got better quickly. As I stepped out of the portal, I noticed that there was another portal in a straight line from here, many chunks away. I began to move towards it when, with a crying sound, there came a Fire Charge that landed and exploded behind me, knocking me off my feet.

  There were two Ghasts in the area, and they were ready to attack. Just as I stood up, another Fire Charge came flying my way. I jumped away, but the explosion still caused me some damage. The Ghasts kept hurling their Fire Charges towards me and I kept attempting to dodge, but I would still take small amounts of damage. I drew Alex’s bow and, still running towards the portal on the far side, I began to shoot towards the Ghasts. My aim was nowhere as good as Alex’s and I seemed to be missing more shots than I was landing. But this wasn’t going to matter for long because I was very close to the portal and I would soon be out of this place.

  This second portal was just as big as the one I’d seen back in the Overworld. Just as it seemed within reach, a Fire Charge swooped past me, barely missing my shoulder, and hit the portal, shutting it off.

  With escape no longer an option, I was forced to turn and face the beasts. I knew of one sure-fire way to kill them, so I took out one of the fire resistance potions I had and drank it. I stood in place waiting for the Ghasts to attack.

  As the next fire charge came towards me, I tried to attack it with his sword. But I missed and the charge crashed straight onto my chest and exploded. I might be immune to fire, but the explosion was still damaging. I did this again, and again and once more, each time a failure. I was down to two hearts. I put away the sword and took out the bow once more. A Ghast shot a charge, and I let an arrow fly.

  Both projectiles met midair, but my arrow returned the charge back to its sender. As the Charge exploded, the Ghast let out the most agonizing screech and dropped a single tear before it died. The other Ghast, upon seeing the fate of its partner, simply fled the scene.

  I drank another regeneration potion as the effects of fire resistance wore off. As my health bar replenished, I took the flint and steel I had in my inventory and relit the nether portal. As I stepped through, I found himself existing into a Stronghold. 

  I had been to a Stronghold before, so I knew what to expect. I looked around for a while going through different room, such as the dungeons, and the library, and then I stumbled upon the End Portal room. But in this room, the End Portal had been destroyed. And the room itself had been made massive. It was full of zombies, all appearing to gravitate towards the far end of the room. It was around there that I saw her. Alex. Locked in a cage of netherbrick fences, suspended over a pool of lava. But what I saw next to her terrified me.

  There was no doubt this room had been converted into a throne room for the King Zombie, and there was no mistaking the King for anything else. The King Zombie was at least 80 blocks tall and 30 blocks wide. Those nether portals had been made to accommodate him. In the Overworld, creatures like this, believed to be extinct, were called Giants. The symbol of this Giant’s royalty was a gigantic gold crown he wore on his head. I knew that to save Alex, I’d have to take down the Giant.

  I drank another Potion of Strength II and stormed into the throne room. I slashed and killed any and all unsuspecting zombies that came my way. But it wasn’t long until they became aware of what was happening. They turned and took on the defensive. It seemed they wanted to protect the king. This new stance only helped me in reducing their number, and they soon disbanded and switched to offense. I was no longer thinking. The only thing on my mind was Alex. I could almost reach her, if only these silly zombies would get out of the way. I kept pushing through, attacking and killing the zombies, disregarding the large amount of damage I was taking. I was so close to Alex now…

  I tossed my pickaxe towards the cage and the point dug into the brick, suspending the pickaxe on the cage. It was the sight of the pickaxe that made Alex realize that all this commotion was because I had come to save her. She was instantly filled with hope. She pulled the pickaxe into the cage, and began to mine it out. But she was weak, and it seemed to not be working.

  My aggression had dropped every zombie, and now the throne room floor was littered with rotten flesh. It was at the sight of his last minion dropping that the King decided to stand up. I drew the bow and loaded the arrow, but with a single swipe of his hand, the King knocked me far away, the bow and arrow slid across the room and stopped at the edge of the lava pool. I knew I didn’t have the ability to challenge such an enormous foe, but I knew of one way I could even out the playing field. I took the enchanted Golden Apple from my inventory and took a bite out of it. I could feel the power rush through him. I charged the king and struck with my sword. The king moaned and took a step back; I had actually dealt him damage. What followed was the most intense battle that I had ever partaken in. The king would swipe his arms and send me flying across the room, and I would swing my diamond sword, causing the king to scream out in pain. The Golden Apple was truly helping me, and the King’s health was dropping, but Golden Apples only last so long, so eventually, even I was losing health. 

  I was now starving, and my health was also low. The King seemed to be one critical strike away from death, so I mustered up all my strength to try and deliver such a blow. But I could barely run or hold my sword up. Just as I got within range of my enemy, the king punched down on the ground where I stood. I was crushed to the ground and with only half a heart left. The Zombie King was laughing, sure of his triumph over the great Steve of the Overworld.
The king readied himself to deliver the coup de grace, and raised his hands in the air…

  Swoosh! An arrow came flying at the king’s head. Critical hit. Alex was standing at the edge of the lava pool, bow in hand, while there was a huge hole in her cage. As she lowered her bow, the king began to fall. The large body crashed onto the ground so hard, it made the floor shake.

  Alex ran towards me and helped me sit up. “Oh Steve,” She began. “I knew you’d come to save me, I just knew it! Thank you, thank you so much!” She wrapped me in a warm embrace. As she hugged me, I let out a scream of pain. “I’m sorry!” Alex said. “I’m so sorry! You’re hurt! What can I do? How can I help?” She asked.

  “You don’t have to do anything,” I said as I reached into my inventory. “I’ll be just fine.” I pulled out two bottles of potions of regeneration and handed her one with a smile. She accepted her favorite drink happily, and we both drank together. Once Alex and I were up to full health, we got up to leave for home. For a split second I thought I saw the eye-less man in the fog at the other end of the room, but I blinked, and the man was gone. I was still puzzling on this when words from Alex brought me back to earth.

  “I can’t wait to get back home.” She said.

  “Neither can I.” I replied.

  We both made our way back together and we had no trouble at all dealing with any obstacles in the way. Owing to some potions of swiftness, we were back home in no time, and I finally felt the familiar relief I always did when I was at home.