The Player

Chapter 4

I awake in the morning with a slash on my arm from something. I don't remember anything from the night before. Did I fall asleep? No, I couldn't have, and Jerry was right beside me, so...wait.

I glance beside me both ways and see Jerry is nowhere in sight. White dust is scattered around me in a big pile from the cut in my arm.

"Jerry?!" I call as loud as I can. "Jerry, this isn't funny! Where are you?"

Nothing comes back in a return other than my own voice. Jerry is gone, I'm injured, its morning, and I have absolutely no memory of last night. I have to get some answers even if it's the last thing I do. I slowly stand up and wince at the pain I experience doing it, but eventually after I recover I can see clearly. I have to find Jerry. If the Lord finds out I lost Jerry he would be...well, actually quite happy actually. I wouldn't however, I would just feel guilty. I made my decision. I have to find that figure I saw two nights ago. I have a feeling he can give me the answers I need.

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I've been walking and calling Jerry's name for almost two hours now and nothing has been found. My arm is beginning to rot, so I have to find water soon to purify it. Just then, I see something staring at me from the trees. It looks to be green. Jerry, I whisper to myself.

"Jerry!" I hug him tight. "What are you doing out here? I've been calling you!"

He doesn't respond and stares straight ahead. I see a little tab in the corner of my vision that says "server loading."

"Server loading?" I ask to myself. "Jerry, what's going on with this world?"

I let go of him and he turns and walks away. I grab his foot making him trip and fall, then hiss and pain. "Jerry, stop moving." I say harshly. I kneel down and look around me to see a field in the distance with a thing moving in the background. I look back at Jerry, who gets up and walks toward the thing. I begin to run after him, but he walks right into an open field and I end up beginning to burn. I curse and stay in the shade of the trees.

"Jerry!" I shout. "Don't go far! I'll be there!"

"He won't listen you know." A voice says from the tree beside me.

I look beside me and see a being wearing the similar things I am, only his shirt has a hood. He grins and removes his hood. I am shocked to see white eyes glaring at me from his face. I begin to breathe heavily and back up. "You..." I say. I begin running, but it was too late from the start. He knows I'm here, and he can teleport, so before I know it I'm tied up on the ground with a lead and a piece of paper is put over my mouth. I can barely breathe, but his stare is just making it worse.

"The universe will be very proud of you..." He says as he heaves me up onto his shoulders.

"The who?" I ask in a muffled voice.

He laughs and teleports with me on him, deleting any chance of me finding a player, but if Jerry comes to his senses, maybe he can let me know.

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I am on the floor in a very dark room. A small light flickers above me. It is cold in here, which means the end portal is very close. If I can reach that, I can call to the Lord that Jerry has changed and I'm captive. He can come out of the End, right?

"You know..." The being that kidnapped me enters the room, "when I saw you take off in the forest that one night, I didn't think you, being a monster, had much capability."

I slump down on the ground. "That's what they all say."

"And do you listen to them?" He asks. "No. I don't." I reply.

"You go out there risking your life, but for what? Once you find a player, what is your goal?" He smiles, because he knows I don't have an answer. I grin at him. "To let the Lord know that players exist so that all monsters can live on earth equally."

"Well then if you have a plan, I can tell you something." He slashes the ropes from my arms and helps me up. "I too am a player."

I look surprised since I thought he would say something different, but I glare at him and see the pixels leaving his body. "You're lying."

"What did you just say?" He says and pulls out his diamond sword. "I said..." I get really close to him. "You're lying."

He pulls down a screen or a projector from the ceiling and turns it on. There is a house, fully built and lit. There is a creeper and a zombie trying to break the house open. I recognize the event and the people instantly. Jeff and I are breaking into a player's home.

"This is your fault, isn't it?" I mumble. "You made me do this. All of this. That is why I forget everything that happened last night."

"It's actually your fault." He chuckles and pulls me to his face. "None of this would have happened if you hadn't even shown up to this pathetic earth."

I push him away. I'll never believe anything he says, not to the world, but the tape shows the truth, and if that is truly what happened last night, there are only two people to blame.

This man and the universe. "You are not a player. You are a monster at heart."

He smiles and nods. "You do not have to believe me." To prove he is a player, he thrusts his right arm toward the wall and the entire blocks break revealing an End portal. I still glare at him when it's done, the light from the portal glowing on both of our faces. "That isn't building, nor breaking." I say, "It's hacking."

"Your existence on this earth is a hack. The universe made the Enderdragon agree to send you here. The universe agreed to let me live as a half being on this earth." He snaps. He then holds up a piece of my skin with the marking on it of the dragon. He cut out the tattoo. He cut out my identity. Without thinking I grab his sword and slash his back when he's not looking. He screams in pain and takes the sword from me. He holds me against the wall with the sword against my neck. White dust does not come out from his wound, but instead red liquid drops to the floor. I struggle to escape his grasp, but I feel the cold of the metal touching my neck so even if I could move, I'm losing my head.

"You're just like him!" He shouts. "The Enderdragon and you have so much in common!"

He then takes off his hoodie to reveal a shirt of the same colour, but a big slash is permanently scarred into his texture. "Right before the supposed last players were killed and the world was empty with me on it, he and I got in a fight. He won and banished me to the over world." He comes closer. "I will give you three nights and three nights only with your will. You will get to see the players, but if you tell of my existence..." He drives his finger across his neck.

I push him away from me and he falls on the floor and coughs. I begin to run away, but he puts an arm around my neck and holds me down until I can't breathe. Then I bite his arm and it begins turning green.

"Oh hell!" He shouts and cuts off his arm. I gasp, but a new one grows back instantly. He has regeneration. Oh hell is right. He falls on the floor, weak and breathless, but the last thing he says before he disappears is "If I am banished to the over world for standing up against the Enderdragon, then you should be too."

With that, one more face was added to the pillar.