A Nether-Ending Story

Chapter I

Munch munch munch.

Steve was running low on food. It had been weeks since he last settled down and built a farm, and now he was paying the price for it in hunger. His family and friends had advised against this spur-of-the-moment decision to journey to the mythic Farlands.

He cursed to himself, he had wanted to be back home by the next harvest season, but he wasn't even sure he'd survive the quest he set out to do a dozen fortnights ago. But now, he decided, it was better to return home alive than in a casket. He looked around at the dense, dark-oak wood around him, hoping in vain that he would spot a village in which he could stay the night. Disappointed, he settled for a large tree with a large sort of indent that he could hopefully catch a couple hours rest in.

He wasn't too put down by the lack of a stiff bed in the company of murmuring villagers, for Steve wasn't too fond of those big nosed traders. He thought they were dim-witted, slow, and all around useless. Steve valued those who were quick acting, speedy, and didn't think too much about the impact of actions. He figured that's why he went on this inane mission in the first place.

After he made his bedding, and smelt up the last of his provisions, he lay there, as always, staring up at the stars. For someone who didn't like things that kept still, the stars were a definite exception. They, throughout what little of his journey he had embarked on, were like an old, constant friend. Something he could look up at when he was feeling most alone. The stars had a peculiar ability to soothe Steve, and even at these most hungry times, he looked up, just gazing up at the endless void, littered with the tiniest of pinpricks.

This time, however, the sky wasn't the velvety black he'd grown accustomed to. Something large, something of a deeper, more pure black was streaking across the night sky, blocking out the stars for a tenth of a second before disappearing behind the trees again. Once, twice, three times it swept past the stars before Steve quickly dove into the brambles surrounding his sleeping tree, hiding from this new perceived danger.

A deafening crash marked the landing of the beast. And though Steve still wasn't sure what this monster was, he had ideas. Terrifying ideas. He'd heard stories of adventurers being lost in this part of the world, never to be seen again. He should have anticipated this, he should have been prepared. But this was no time to berate his past decisions, right now there was only one goal in his head. Survive.

The thing, whatever it was, blundered about, each step of it's titanic feet shook the very tree that Steve took shelter. He risked a glance, but immediately regretted it. There, mere yards away from him, stood the beast of legend. The thing that they say was slain by The Great Steve of Yor millennia ago, after whom our own hero Steve was named after. Creeping through the dark night beneath the trees, was the Ender Dragon. Long and mean she stood, seemingly waiting. The dread wyrm looked around, searching for something, Steve knew not what. Finally, she raised her great, scaly head and sniffed the air. Terrified, Steve crawled as far as he could back into the tree, trying to avoid her piercing gaze.

The Ender Dragon spoke, "I know your presence, human. No means of concealment can hide you from me. Not even... invisibility potion," she hissed, though with an unmistakable feminine quality.

And at that, the dragon roared in the direction of a nearby tree to Steve, and with it, came the acidic spray foretold in legend, drenching the tree, a dreadful smell of rot issuing immediately from it.

But from the tree, just before the Dragon's Breath hit, another, much smaller figure streaked across the sky, it's wings blotting out stars as it landed, not 10 feet from Steve's hiding place. He watched as a woman, young by her looks, landed gracefully beside the dragon, her wings forming back together smoothly. The mist of the faded potion still hung around her like an aura. To Steve, she looked angelic.

Wings? thought Steve, That's impossible, the Elytra were all destroyed during Herobrine's Reign. And they can only be found in The End!

Steve's thoughts were cut short when, as if from nowhere, the woman unsheathed a long, glowing, diamond sword.

The dragon, clearly not expecting something so brash, stumbled backwards, half a dozen trees falling in her wake. She spoke into the crisp night air, her voice sounding as though it could carry on for miles.

"You dare use the weapon of your lover, does your cruelty know no bounds? I thought humans knew love."

"Don't you dare speak of him, it was your vile spray that took him from me." She spoke with fierce hatred, a lifetime of misery was clearly held within her voice. "And you know nothing of the cruelty I can inflict, but you will soon."

And with that, she reached behind her with her free hand, bringing forth yet another glowing weapon of some kind, like a magnificent shining pitchfork. The dragon, for reasons unknown to Steve, cowered at the sight of this overdramatic fork, her inky-black scales turning a shade of deep-purple, her eyes wide, terrified of this new development.

"Impossible, " rasped the creature, "that Trident was taken from The Shadows, long ago by -"

"A thief?" finished the beautiful warrior. "How naive can one overgrown lizard be? Who else, besides me, could have penetrated the barrier between this world and your own? Who else could have known where you hoard your stolen treasures?" She sighed in mock-disappointment. "'The Ender Dragon'. Such a grand name, pity it was given to you."

As she uttered the words, she shot both the Trident and the great sword at the petrified creature. Both piercing the armored hide of the beast, sounds of thunder rang through the air as bright patches of light spotted themselves across the body of the dying wyrm, now slowly rising up, before suddenly bursting into a white vapor that trailed beyond the dark sheet of black sky. The Ender Dragon knew no more.

Steve was stunned. So stunned, in fact, that he didn't realize that the girl who had just slain a dragon in front of him was now staring down at him, cowering beneath the underbrush. He didn't even see her pull the sword out of the dead carcass' chest. With a flash, she brought the purple-bloodstained diamond sword against his neck. Steve could feel the still-warm dragon's blood trickling down, staining his clothes.

"Who are you?" there was no mistaking the menace in her tone.

"M'sorry, I was just walking by when the d-d-dragon landed right next to me. P-p-please don't k-kill me," as he said this he tried to scramble out of the tree to his feet, but the point of the blade was unyielding, he could not get up.

"Just passing through? Do you take me for a fool? You've come to the only place where the nearest village is a thousand blocks in every direction. Now, I ask you once more, and do not lie to me or a lie will be the last thing you speak; Who are you and why are you here?" She brought the blade closer to his neck, finally breaking skin, a small trickle of his blood mixing with the dragon's.

Steve had no idea what to say, each way he saw this ending was with his head an unusually long distance from his neck.

"Okay, please, just listen. I'm from Mid-City, and I was just wanting to go to the Farlands, especially ever since my mother named me after the great hero Steve." He had brought himself up now, the reminder of his name's origin had given him newfound courage.

The woman stepped back, slowly lowered her sword, and spoke in a soft whisper,

"Your name is Steve? That... that can't be a coincidence... it just can't be."

Steve was taken aback by this sudden change in demeanor.

"Wait what? What do you mean 'it can't be a coincidence'?

"Do you... do you not know who I am?" her voice was still soft, and it soothed Steve to no end, driving him mad with infatuation.

"Well... no. But whoever you are, I don't think someone like me would do much good for you," and while it pained him to say it, he knew it was true.

To be continued...