Humans

"It's you again!"

"Didn't we tell you not to come back here?"

"No one wants you here, Herobrine!"

A group of eleven children of mixed ages stood on the road leading to the village and glared at a lone small figure in front of them. The boy, dressed in ragged dark blue trousers and an equally worn cyan shirt, with one arm clasped to his chest a large, intricately woven basket filled with mushrooms. His body tense and alert, he frowned at the group blocking his way, his white eyes narrowed.

"Yeah. No one wants you here. Go away!" Another of the children exclaimed. "O-or we will... We will..."

The boy's frown deepened.

"Or what?" He challenged quietly, his free hand unwillingly tightening into a fist.

The oldest among the children, a tall teen in a brown cloak with green sash, frowned and summoned a stone to his hand. Looking at him, the other children gained courage and followed his example, each of them tightly grasping stones.

"Or we will make you leave." The oldest boy promised firmly.

Hero's eyes widened a bit with surprise, before narrowing again. He knew that the villagers disliked him coming and goaded their children to show it as much as they dared without directly disobeying the rules of their elders. It was getting worse each time he came, but this... He didn't expect this.

Seeing them standing there, glaring at him and grasping rocks, instantly brought back the worst of memories. That helpless feeling appeared that he hated, of being small and weak while facing an angry crowd approaching with threatening yells and stones flying after him while he ran, stumbling and crying.

Did... Margol and Tnul tell them what happened, when the villagers of their home village chased him out? Is that why these children took up these rocks? Did they really mean it or were they just trying to scare him??

Hero scowled and didn't even notice when flames flared up both his tanned arms to his scuffed, dirty elbows, until he heard the children gasp. He looked up and saw them backing away a step. The youngest darted and tried to hide behind the two oldest, forgetting about the rocks they held.

Noting their unease, Hero's scowl turned to a smirk. These dumb little children couldn't really hurt him. They and their parents didn't know just how strong he was now. The only reason he still bothered to follow their rules was in memory of Grandpa Grake, not because he was scared of what they might do. He didn't even need to come to their villages anymore, since he could survive without trading if he had to.

Maybe it was time to show them that they shouldn't push him around. Hero decided to stand his ground, allowing his magic to openly burn rather than suppress it as he usually did.

"... You're not supposed to use your magic in the village." One child frowned.

"We'll te-e-ell!" Another complained, making a face.

Hero shrugged with exaggerated indifference. It didn't matter what they said to anyone, since it looked like they wouldn't let him come anyway. Although, weren't they breaking the rules, too? Leaving the village? Ganging up against him like this where their grown ups could not see what they were doing?

"... But I am not IN your village... Yet..." He scoffed and nodded toward the Boundary that lay a few steps behind their backs. The children threw back lost looks.

"You cannot scare us..." The oldest child said, not appearing too sure. Still, he stuck his chin forward and firmly met Hero's eerie gaze despite his unease.

"We won't let you in this time. It's not right. You are a Monster and a Monster should not be allowed to come and trade. Even though the elders said that you can come, it's not right. They made a mistake, because they were not sure about you. But now everyone knows that you are a Monster. When my father becomes the new elder he will fix this. Then, you won't be able to come here anymore. To this village or any village."

"You are a Monster, so you should go away and live in the woods!" The teen's younger friend readily supplied.

"Leave!"

"Monster!"

"White Eyes!"

The other children picked up, their voices ringing with renewing confidence. Hero's smirk slowly fell as his eyes tested their faces and saw their determination. They really believed that they were doing the right thing and protecting their village.

His flames continued to burn, but he already knew that he lost this stand-off. Even if they attacked him, he could not hurt them back, or he would really be in trouble, because they were only children and he was older. This was so unfair, though... Unfair!

Hero scowled, his fists drawing tighter. The flame around his hands flared, rising higher to his shoulders. Alarmed, the children drew another step back, but he could not see that out of anger blurring his vision.

"... If you try to hurt us, we'll call for help!" A fearful exclamation brought Hero's attention back and he found all the children staring at him wide-eyed.

"We're gonna tell our parents and they will pay Humans to go after you!"

"Yeah, Humans!" A younger child piped in.

"Because Humans love to hunt monsters like you!" Another said angrily.

"Yeah, they're here and they're gonna come after you!"

Startled, Hero blinked at them, the angry flames around him half flickering out.

"What?"

"You didn't know? Humans came here last night. They're building a camp right on the other side of our village." The older villager boy said calmly at seeing Hero's confusion.

"Yeah, they're right over there!" Another child readily pointed back toward their cozy little village.

Hero's gaze turned to the village and noted again the increased activity and agitation. From this close, he could hear excited voices, calling out their wares with much more enthusiasm than usual. Now he knew the reason.

"Humans?" He asked quietly, disbelieving, his expression filling with uncertainty, which the children immediately noted. They perked up, their chins lifting higher and glares turning bolder. The younger ones stopped hiding and stepped forward. The oldest boy dropped the rock he held. He didn't need it anymore, having found a far more effective threat. Hero didn't even notice.

"Yeah! The Humans came!"

"And we already told them all about you and how bad you are!"

"We told them that you are a monster!"

Hero blinked as a sickening feeling appeared in his stomach, making his arms and legs strangely weak. He looked back at the children, shifting his lost gaze from one face to another, trying hard to make his face expressionless like his older double's so as not to show how their words affected him.

"And if you hurt us, they will come after you!"

"They will find you, and trap you, and put you in a cage, and send you away." "Or kill you!"

"Yeah! So go away before we call them!" One of them threatened and made a step closer. This time it was Hero, who drew back a little.

He held a mistrustful glare at them all a moment longer and then abruptly extinguished the flames, turned and began walking back in the direction from which he came. The safety of thick, shaded woods loomed just a few blocks away, encouraging him. He didn't run, forcing his step to be casual, though his entire body tensed with the anxiety that surged through him.

The children behind him cheered.

"That's right, walk away!"

"Keep walking!"

"And don't come back!"

The younger children called out, while the oldest simply frowned thoughtfully as he watched the unwelcome intruder leave.

Hero scowled again, trying to ignore them.

Humans? Here? The news stunned him, though he struggled not to let it show before these dumb young villagers.

...

Hastily, Hero climbed up the rocky outline of the cliff where numerous trees and shrubs hid his small, scrawny figure from view. Tiny rocks skidded under his hands and feet and occasionally he stumbled and slipped, getting new scratches and bleeding scuff-marks on his skin, which immediately began to heal into tiny scars, which then faded and vanished. He didn't pay heed, his thoughts consumed by worry and anxiety.

Reaching the top of the familiar small plateau, he lightly hopped across several large breaks before his eyes held on the edge he usually used as his outlook point over the Valley. Reaching it, he lowered himself to his knees and crawled forward. With held breath he cautiously peeked over the edge and his eyes widened.

New structures stood in a large area cleared of trees, right next to the little village and nearly engulfing it on the entire side opposite the mountain! Trees lay stocked into enormous bundles, where dozens of small figures busily came to and fro, getting their supplies for building houses. All of them were different. Some tall and thin, others stocky and short, they moved with strange, jerky movements, widely swinging their arms unless they carried heavy loads. They wore different styles of unfamiliar to Hero clothing, by which he could not tell their profession or skills. Nearly all of them carried weapons, swords sheathed at their waist or back, sharply gleaming axes, and bows. And they all had hair like Hero did, except of different colors and length, open to the air like his or concealed beneath various head garments.

They looked exactly like the figures he glimpsed in the desert village in last night's dream.

"... Humans." Hero whispered.

When did they even get here? They were not here last night, at least not before sunset when he left this look out. They must have come during the night, then. And they built all this already? An entire settlement?

As Hero watched with amazement and disbelief mixed, he noticed a small group slowly moving backward across the middle of the growing settlement. A gray cobble-stone path grew where they passed, connecting with the porches of newly finished houses and with the places where the houses were still only rising frames or not yet started at all, but marked out with bright red and yellow string tied to beaten in spikes.

"...Earth magic?"

Fascination and an uneasy sense of rising foreboding made Hero's gaze freeze on that group, particularly on one figure among them. That Human did not seem visibly different from the others. Like most of them, he wore a short, dark cape over a brown jacket and dark trousers tucked in dark boots. Still, Hero knew at once that he was a Magic User. He felt the magic he used to shape the ground into a more compact shape.

And then the human turned and looked up toward him.

Even though he was really far, his breath anxiously caught and Hero hastily leaned away from the edge so he was no longer in view. His ears buzzing as the sounds of the surrounding world retreated, becoming strangely dim, Hero scuttled back until his back hit the rocky wall. There, he tried to catch his breath.

That Magic User felt him! Hero held his gaze at the edge, barely managing to keep himself from giving in to the overwhelming want to run and hide. His heart thumped loudly in his chest and panic tried to rise. He didn't understand why he felt like this.

He had done nothing wrong! Whatever the villagers said, it was only stories, and the elders would confirm that if only the Humans talked to them. Surely, they would talk to them? Humans were smart and curious. They would first find out what was going on, not just go out and start hunting after him like those dumb children said!

But even if they did, he could move fast and he had his magic that he knew how to use pretty well, because he practiced a lot. He would easily run away from them. He also knew every nook and cranny in this Valley, so he could always hide. They would not be able to catch him even if they came after him. If needed, he would leave the Valley completely.

Hero closed his eyes and took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down. He was safe. He had to repeat that to himself several times before the panicked feeling finally eased. Another feeling immediately rose up to take its place, though, and it wasn't much better.

"... Not fair." Hero whispered, hurt and frustration welling up in his heart. He dreamed of finding and meeting Humans for so long! And now that they were here, he couldn't even come close?

"Not fair!" Hero exclaimed, clenching his fists and blinking away angry tears.

"Rrrurp." Albert confirmed. Hero threw up his gaze at the monster, who loyally followed him up here and now stood close to the edge, curiously looking down in direction of the Human camp. Hero's eyes widened.

"Albert, no!... Humans are here. They... They hunt monsters." Hero muttered, worriedly eyeing the tall mob while he remembered everything he once heard in stories villagers said, or read in books... And seen in those strange dreams of his... If they were dreams at all...

"... You are not safe here. You should go. Go someplace where you'll be safe." The mob only looked confused.

"Go!" Frustrated Hero ordered.

The Enderman gave Hero a strange look, its body starting to shake slightly as he tried to resist the unexpected command, but Hero lowered his head and willed for the dumb mob to listen. A moment later his friend disappeared, leaving floating purple bits of his magic behind, and Hero blinked at it, a new sense of loss gaping emptily in his heart.

He had sent his only friend away. And he felt bad because he knew that he made him obey, just as his older double did with those mobs he claimed as his servants. Albert wasn't his servant, he was his friend, but Hero couldn't explain to him why he had to leave. Albert would be better off if he left this place for a while, because of the Humans. Hero didn't want Albert to get hurt.

But now he would be alone. And those villagers were telling the Humans that he was some kind of dangerous monster! What was he supposed to do?

"... I need to talk to Uncle Rangil." Hero decided.

...

Below, in the building settlement, the human Mage held his gaze in the direction of the mountain, frowning slightly as he searched the distance for the source of the strange feeling he had a moment ago.

The feeling of being... watched.

"What is it?" The man next to him questioned. The entire group of his friends and co-workers waited for him, while he thoughtfully scanned the trees, protruding rocks, and the numerous gaping cracks. The feeling had already begun to dissipate as whoever it was seemed to have abruptly withdrawn his attention, doubtlessly aware that it was noticed.

The man next to him began to frown, "Shander?"

"Someone was watching us." The Mage explained and narrowed his eyes, where faint blue light sparkled, indicating that he was using Light magic to enhance his senses, his intuition finally drawing his gaze to one spot above the prominent rock protruding over a vertical face of the mountain a quarter of the way up. The place was now empty, as whoever was there a moment ago had already left. The blue sparkles in Shander's eyes dimmed. He held his gaze on that rock a little bit longer.

"... Hmm. It's gone now..."

"It?" The man's calm, brown eyes reflected amused curiosity.

"I don't know. It was using World magic." Shander noted and turned away. At that observation, the leader of the settler group frowned, his expression hardening.

"A Hostile? The locals did mention something about some monster that settled in these parts, who could wield Jaio magic. White Eyes they called him. Could that be him? Should we dispatch a team to track it?"

"I don't know, Jenar. Maybe later? I don't think it's an immediate concern. I didn't sense any malicious intent. I didn't sense anything. But it couldn't be that strong, or else our devices would have detected it this close to the site. Maybe Class J, then. No higher."

"Are you sure? The locals said that it burnt down several of their villages. Only, it used the power of other monsters that it could control, rather than its own. Mostly Creepers and sometimes Endermen."

"Hmmm. Then its a Class M. Special case. Even a weak Monster with Mental Mastery can become quite dangerous... But that depends on its level. How many creatures can it control? If it's just two or three, then it's not that bad. But if its more? Then, it's definitely a concern... You should send some men and ask the locals more about this. We need to know for sure what we face before deciding how we should handle this. If it's a Neutral or a NUP, neutral until provoked, then the best approach would be to simply leave it alone. But if it is aggressive, then we might have to take the necessary precautions. Have your teams already finished mapping?"

"They are still working on that. But they already sent back some reports. There are anomalies in the area. Some of them are quite close to our settlement. Unusual flows of magic and traces of magic use. Mostly Earth Magic. But also Life... And it is too quiet. So far, we barely seen any monsters at all, only Creepers, and even they did not attack. Usually when we get to a new place, the World responds by sending monsters. This time, nothing... So maybe its true? What the locals say? And there is one monster that controls them all?"

"A monster who can control all creatures within the Valley? Then its no longer just a class M. That's something more. I don't even know what kind of monster could do that... But I'm also not sure if the tales of locals can be believed. You know how they are, Jendar."

"Yes, I know." The young leader smirked.

"Just tell your teams to be careful. And don't confront anything unless it attacks them, first."

"Of course. I already did. And all of them know what they should and should not do. I did not hire novices for this expedition."

"Good, good. I will definitely go and take a look... at those anomalies... But allow me to first finish this task." The Mage looked back at the ground, where the half-finished path lay.

"Very well. Do that. You didn't discern anything dangerous now, then?" The leader verified.

The Mage shook his head, distracted. Jenar immediately calmed. Even though Shander was only an Earth Mage, he had a reliable sense for danger, so if he didn't seem that concerned, then there was probably no need for immediate action. Judging by his current reaction, Jenar could assume that the threat was low, at least for the time-being. Of course, he couldn't ignore the local tales completely, but from the wildly different descriptions of the White Eyed monster himself and the events that involved him, it was obvious that the stories contained more rumors than facts.

Their Mage was right. Jenar needed his people to talk more to the locals to gather more facts before he could make some sort of decision. Although talking to these non-human natives was always difficult, since it was nearly impossible to understand them clearly. Due to the incompatible magic, the artifacts just didn't translate their speech correctly, even if they seemed to understand Human speech just fine.

The Mage once again lifted his arms, closed his eyes, and concentrated. Reopening his eyes, now lightened with amber sparkles of magic, he gestured and the ground once again began to move. Clumpy, clayish soil leveled, changing at his command to a hardened stone pavement that would make the main road in their growing settlement. The watching on-lookers cheered, many of them grinning at each other in excitement as they paused their work.

"We are doing well. We've almost completed half of the settlement. The rest of the houses will be ready by tomorrow at the latest." Another settler spoke up next to Jenar.

"Good." The leader of the settlers approved. "Try to make sure that we have at least twenty houses set aside for the Miners. No, make that thirty just in case. Both of their groups should arrive tonight." He reminded and the other man nodded.

"And pick a team for tracking. They will go with Master Shander tonight and explore around this place."

The other man grinned. "To look for that White Eyed monster? That certainly seems to hold the locals spooked. Sounds like some sort of ghost."

"There is no such thing as ghosts. Only monsters with power to create illusions and affect matter, so they appear insubstantial and do other kinds of tricks to scare people away. The villagers are gullible and very superstitious, you know that Kalin. Even if it is some sort of creature with power, you heard what our Expert here said. It was not hostile. And it was intelligent. So there is no need to act rashly. Maybe if we leave it alone, it will leave us alone." The leading human dismissed.

The man grinned and tipped his head a little. "Whatever you say, Boss."

At the younger man's irritated glance, he only chuckled and strode away, already calling out directions to the other settlers in the camp. Jenar remained standing next to the Mage, fully consumed in his work as he slowly walked backward with two helpers guiding him in the right direction.

Casting another glance at the nicely forming settlement, the young leader nodded with satisfaction and headed to the already constructed town hall building across the newly built central street.

"Kaire! Jan!" His assistant whistled to two youths, who immediately ran up to join them.

"Dinner!" He declared. "Is it getting ready?"

One of the youths made an indignant face and stuck her fists at her hips, her green eyes flashing angrily amid the bright freckles on a ruddy, sun-burnt face. With her sandy hair tucked away beneath a shaded cap, she looked boyish, just like her friend, an even smaller girl with dark olive skin and shortly cropped curly dark hair adorned with a simple, red band. Both wore working green overalls with numerous pockets filled with tools and useful gadgets.

"It is. Stop fretting, Hanz! It's getting done. There will be enough for all, including the Miners."

"Well, just making sure. You know them Miners. They sure can eat!" The man disarmingly grinned. Both girls relaxed and smiled.

"Well, we have it all set! So stop worrying." The girls exchanged an amused look. Noticing their leader leaving, lost in his planning thoughts, they waved their hands at the older man.

"You go on, go on! Go help the Boss. Or go bother the carpenters! Look at them over there just chatting instead of working." The blonde girl glanced critically at the group of strong young men, who stood idly by the half-constructed frame of the building and gazed with foolish grins at a group of young girls cooking dinner. The girls cast them looks in turn, occasionally turning to each other and laughing at some joke they shared between them. The older woman with them only shook her head at the young settlers and grumbled, stirring an enormous pot hung over the fire where something thickly bubbled, emitting rich, nutritious aroma.

The leader's assistant, however, smelled it and wrinkled his nose.

"Yes, Hanz." The dark-haired girl grinned mischievously. "If they don't build us the proper kitchens, then it will be beef and mushroom stew for everyone again."

"For the fifth day in a row." Her friend vengefully pointed out.

The older man with them startled and glared at the group of idle builders, frowning as he strode toward them with a scowl on his face. The young men didn't notice until they saw him a few steps away and immediately jumped, hectically scattering to their work. He called them back. Guiltily, they sheepishly stood and listened to him berate them, shaking his finger. One of them even began to shuffle the dirt with the toe of his boot like a little child. The others dutifully nodded.

The girls at the cooking fire stifled giggles.

"Ha. Serves them right." The dark skinned girl grinned with satisfaction.

"Why, Kaire? It's Serge again, right?" Jan said with sympathy.

"Yup. Him." Kaire sent a jealous glare to the tallest, well-built young Builder with an unkept mob of light brown hair on his head and dark blue eyes.

"Still looking at all those girls." Her friend shook her head. "After bringing you flowers? White lillies? And giving you a red band?... That easy-going... Muscle-flexing... Selfish Creeper!"

The other girl snorted. "Creeper? Why a Creeper?"

"Well, I couldn't call him a zombie. He's... too good-looking for that." Jan made dreamy googly eyes.

"Oh, stop it. That's silly. Creepers are not better than zombies. They are both green!"

"They are! At least they can sing!"

Both girls laughed, walking off together toward the cooking group, who merrily waived to greet them.