‘Minecraft Comes to Life’ First Chapter ‘Annabelle’s Story’

S.S Explorer

Siren's Cove, OverWorld

"Annabelle sweetheart," Will, her father, said as he got down onto his knees. He placed his hands on her arms, rubbing them both up and down. Tears were starting to run down his cheeks as he sighed heavily.

Annabelle, one of the youngest children aboard, was twirling back and forth, looking over at her papa. She had her pink backpack on, with both straps over her shoulders. She wore short tan shorts, a light blue shirt, and white shoes with blue bowties on them. She had long, light brown hair and brown eyes.

"Your brother and I need you to listen closely, alright?" Will told her. He then turned to the left slightly, looking up at Austin, her older brother.

S.S. Explorer is one of three ships seized from the Pirates long ago. It was their only means of fleeing from the mainland; the end goal is to find somewhere else to live that was safer. With that being said, they had no set destination in mind. This would come back to bite them in the tush later.

There are two teams of four blockheads rotating out every morning and every night. A little before the accident, the day crew had rotated out with the night crew. Woodrow, Martha, Stewart, and Torrance made up the night crew. As for the day crew, they consisted of Fiona, Ala, Garrett, and Sophia.

Everyone had a job to do, and tasks to complete. All were necessary to keep the ship in tip-top shape. They all had their jobs to do:

–| S.S Explorer Night Crew |-

Woodrow

Martha

Stewart

Torrance

-| S.S Explorer Day Crew |-

Fiona

Ala

Garrett

Sophia

If it weren't for those darn Sirens, they wouldn't be in the predicament they're in now. Minutes earlier, the ship had collided with a massive object of some sort. It was too foggy to make out what they had struck, but it proved to be deadly and destructive to the ship.

As of now, about an hour into the night crew's shift, they're faced with the burden of getting everyone off the ship safely. But even that was proving more difficult than assumed.

The S.S Explorer was sinking. As she settled lower and lower into the water, she began listing to the left. She creaked and groaned. Below deck, you could hear things falling, breaking, and glass breaking. Everyone aboard was in a state of panic.

Waiting in the water at the surface, were many anxious Sirens. They were the ones who led the ship into the cove, causing it to collide with one of many boulders sticking out of the water. They've been known to use their singing tactics to lure blockheads to their fate; well male blockheads that is. Female blockheads are immune to their singing lure.

Their eyes were glowing yellow, and their white fangs poked out of their mouths. Their long pointy tongues, which resembled the tongues of snakes have hung out of their mouths.

From their point of view, the ship's right side was almost underwater. Every second that passed, the closer the water crept up towards the boat deck. It was on the verge of capsizing. The two masts were starting to bend under stress, bending further. The forwardmost mast was starting to crack; small pieces of wood breaking off.

"You and your brother are going to get on a boat together, okay?" Will told Annabelle.

"What about you and mom?" Annabelle asked as she wiped a tear off her cheek with her hand. "You're coming too, right?"

Will sighed and lowered his head. He sniffled and shook his head. When he looked back up at her, another tear ran down his cheek. His lips were quivering. Holding back his emotions was difficult, especially when he had to tell her that she and Austin needed to get on a boat together.

"What have I always said in situations like this?" Will asked.

She looked down at her feet, kicking her right foot back and forth. Austin walked over to her, standing alongside her. She grabbed his hand, holding it tight.

"William!" Martha shouted, "It's Ala!"

He stood up, looking over to his right at Martha. She was standing over by the hatchway leading down into the lower decks of the ship. She was out of breath and soaking and dripping wet.

"What's happened?" William asked in a frantic, panicked tone of voice. "Where is she?"

"She's trapped under a bookshelf and can't get out. I tried, but it wouldn't budge."

William turned around to look back at Annabelle and Austin. She was still holding his hand.

"Don't leave her side, you hear me?" Will told Austin, "wait for me. I won't be long. If I'm not back soon, get on a boat and get as far away from the ship as possible, you hear me?"

"Just hurry up daddy," Annabelle said, "hurry!"

Woodlands Village, OverWorld

11 Days Earlier…

A little girl, named Annabelle, was outside playing with other children in the village. It was a calm morning. Clear skies and lots of sunshine. There's nothing that could ruin a calm and peaceful day like this…just nothing.

She chased her friends around, playing a good old game of tag. "Fine," her friend Jayla said, "one game of tag. Then I wanna play hide and seek."

What Jayla had told the others was forgotten about. Since they've played many rounds of tag. They were all distracted by all the fun they were having.

The parents, however, were holding a meeting. Discussing options and ideas for what to do when about the current predicament the OverWord is in.

"The Crystal of Life was stolen," Ala, Annabelle's mother, brought up. "Do I dare mention their names? We have to protect the children…at all costs."

The meeting was being held at the library near the village's center. Mineaggedon was upon the OverWorld. The only way it could be stopped was if the crystal was returned to its rightful place underground.

The parents knew this but couldn't act on rectifying the problem themselves. The crystal was in EnderBrine's possession. A powerful demi-god who lives to create fear and destruction. Little did anyone know, probably because the word didn't travel fast around the OverWorld, was that there were in fact heroes fighting to save the day.

With little known about the problems unfolding around them, they also had the slightest idea of what was coming their way. The skies in the Woodlands Biome hadn't begun turning the reddish-pink colors yet. They remained blue and clear for the most part. But with how fast Mineaggedon is wreaking havoc around the OverWorld, it wouldn't be too much longer until danger began setting in.

As the adults were talking, the ground faintly rumbled and shook. But it went largely unnoticed by some but was felt by others. The children playing outside surely noticed it. We'll get back to them in a minute.

"I just returned home late last night from my ventures to the Plains…," Stewart, a wandering trading Villager, began saying as he stood up from his seat. Fiona, Jacob's mom, turned around in her chair, looking up at him. She was curious as to what he was going to say next. There was something about the tone of his voice that captured many others' attention, including Woodrow's. "As you know, we had an established trade with the Plains biome Village, but upon arriving…"

As he was telling everyone about his findings, a librarian had placed a map into an item frame on the wall in between two windows. When she did that, the full size of the map exceeded the tiny item frame size. The map was so big, that it spanned from the floor to the ceiling. That's big!

"Holy bananas, that's BIG!" Martha shouted in awe.

Woodrow is an older blockhead. He inherited the leadership role from his father, his father from his great grandfather, and so on. There have been times when he wanted to hand down that role to someone else. Someone else who wasn't a part of his family.

If you were to meet him, you'd surely notice his fond attentiveness to detail. Everything is in its place, neat, and in order. He has a strange fascination with the color red. Why? No one's ever asked him that before. Hunting and going on fun adventures were what drove his imagination wild when he was young. His father taught him well; the ins and outs of being a noble, worthy leader.

"Get on with it Stewart," Woodrow asked politely. "You were saying?"

"My apologies," he responded, then began to finish what he had started explaining a moment earlier.

With a faint smile and a nod, Woodrow responded in his gentle somber voice: "that's quite alright. No apology necessary."

"Where was I again?" He mumbled as he began tapping his chin with his hand, looking away in a different direction while thinking mentally to himself. The room fell silent as everyone waited. Then, he raised his hand.

"Aha, I remember now," he told them, "when I arrived at our neighboring Village, there was nothing left. Everyone and everything was gone. The skies were a dark red, lightning bolts striking the ground all around me. Lucy and Willow got so spooked, they began jumping around and kicking their legs."

"Oh my…," Martha said with a gasp. She looked away and glanced around the room at the others. They were all turning their heads in shock and fear.

The librarian who had put the map up on the wall approached Woodrow from behind. She tapped him on the shoulder. Without turning his head too much, he leaned back slightly to listen to what she had to say.

"The map," she whispered into his ear, "its…uh…just turn around and look."

He did just that, his back now facing the worried Villagers. Upon laying eyes on the map, his reaction was subtle enough to where it wouldn't cause any alarms. The map painted a perfect picture of the entire OverWorld. From the sandy deserts to the Jungle Biomes, this map showed it all. What struck Woodrow, was a large portion of the map was black. What did that mean?

"It has something to do with Mineaggedon, I'm sure," the librarian whispered as she leaned in closer to him. The two of them continued to chat quietly as Stewart continued explaining his findings.

"What happened to the Village?" Torrance, a blacksmith, questioned in a loud and confused tone of voice. "Henry? Daniel? Petra? What happened to them?" Stewart shrugged and tilted his head slightly to the right.

"If I knew, I'd answer," he told Torrance as he made direct eye contact with him, "now don't go assuming the worst. There's a possibility they're out there somewhere. Let's hope that's true."

"Ahem," Woodrow said. Everyone turned around in their seats, Stewart looked up and straight ahead. Once he had their attention, he sighed a heavy sigh. This wasn't a good sign; not one bit.

"I'm afraid we have some bad news," Laura, the librarian stated.

Woodrow turned his head to the right, looking over at her briefly before looking back towards the others. A heavy sigh was a sign that something was wrong. All present recognized this behavior. But it was also very uncommon for Woodrow to act like he is now.

Strang, everyone thought to themselves.

"What the hay?" Martha said.

"What the hay what?" Torrance asked.

"The map," she answered in a shaky, frightened tone of voice.

Woodrow and Laura stepped out of the way, revealing the ever-changing map behind them. As mentioned before, a decent portion of the map was blacked out. There was a moment of silence as they all examined the map. Questions arose as to why it was like that.

"Where's the desert biome? Or the jungle biome? It's like…it's like they never existed," Torrance questioned.

"There's a strong possibility they're still there, but have covered up by this black stuff," Woodrow suggested and theorized.

The black blanketed cover was moving closer to the Woodlands biome, or in other words their home. Time, as it appeared, was running out. It was spreading at a steady rate. Maybe there was still time to escape or make a run for it?

But in doing that, would they be able to return home once Mineaggedon was stopped and the Brine Family defeated? Would there be a home to even return to? As of now, it was uncertain. But one thing was made very clear—they needed to evacuate… and fast.

"I've been monitoring the rumbling and shaking these past three days," Lori, an adventurist, said. "I've found that the rumbling is increasing in power and scale, with each time growing more powerful than the last."

"Has anyone noticed the changing skies?" Laura questioned as she looked out at everyone. She put her hands behind her back as she waited for possible response or answer from them.

"The sky changing?" Martha questioned, "how? What?"

Outside, Annabelle and her friends continued chasing each other around. Giggling and laughing and shouting playfully at each other. Purely focused on the fun game of tag, they hadn't noticed the incoming reddish-black clouds.

The sunlight was slowly being blocked out by the clouds, their shadow being cast onto the ground as they moved closer to the Village. It wasn't until the clouds were directly overhead that the children stopped to take notice of them. When they did, Annabelle scratched her head. She nor any of the others knew what was happening. The whole Mineaggedon debacle was kept from them for obvious reasons. But hiding that from the children wouldn't last forever. Surely, they knew the time would come when the kids would find out, right?

Thunder cracked and lightning struck. Annabelle, Jayla, Martin, and Robyn all watched in horror and fright. Every bolt of lightning that struck, was followed by a loud thunderous boom or sudden thunder crack. Everything around them began shaking; the ground rumbling again.

Far above the lands of the OverWorld, in the Heavens, two female Goddesses were keeping a keen eye on what was happening below. Their names are Victoria and Gazelle.

"This isn't good," Gazelle stated to Victoria, "they're running out of time."

"Don't assume what I think you're assuming," Victoria responded.

"Assuming what?"

"That they're going to lose," Victoria answered, "you have to remain optimistic. Gods and Goddesses should never assume the worst. How different would the Heavens be if we had? Or would there even be a Heaven?"

"Thanks teach," Gazelle responded.

They were standing around a round table. A holographic OverWorld floated up and down as it rotated around in a circle. Unlike maps, this was more detailed and bigger. This enables them to examine the planets' health and pinpoint an exact location of their choosing.

"No problem," Victoria joked with a smiling grin. "Anytime."

"HELP!" a young blockhead's voice echoed. They froze and fell silent. Did they hear the same thing? A child's voice calling out for help? They both heard it, but where was it coming from? Walking over to the edge of the cloud they were on, she turned around one last time to face Victoria. She wave her hand to signal that she wanted Victoria to come with her.

"The OverWorld is in a crisis," Gazelle reminded Victoria, "they need our help."

"Who needs our help?" Wynter, the leader of the Gods and Goddesses, said after appearing out of nowhere. She looked over at Victoria and then over at Gazelle.

Wynter was the first Goddess ever to step foot in the Heavens. She was the one behind the OverWorld's creation. From the Plains to the Sahara biomes, she created it all. As time went on, she became overwhelmed and needed help with managing the final phases of creation.

She had long, dark brown hair and blue eyes. Wore a white loose-fitting dress with a blue orchids pattern. One feature the Goddesses all had in common was the glowing halo's over their heads. Their color palette was bland. The only color they wore was white.

"A child," Gazelle answered, "we can't just stand back and watch."

"Understandable," Wynter said, "but it's against our code."

"Code 17-A: Gods and Goddesses are to not interfere with any conflicts with the living," Victoria read aloud from memory.

Gazelle scoffed and rolled her eyes. That code was dumb and meaningless. If they wanted blockheads to believe in them, then they needed to show them that they are real and not an old myth.

"If you won't help, I'll do it myself," Gazelle said.

"You'll violate the code," Wynter warned.

Gazelle rolled her eyes again as she took three steps back towards the edge. She stopped just before the border, giving Victoria and Wynter one last long look.

"You do this, and you won't be able to return," Wynter mentioned, "they must resolve conflicts on their own without our assistance."

"If being banished is what it takes to help those in need… so be it," Gazelle said as she jumped off the cloud and was now freefalling. The wind whistled and blew through her hair. She had both arms out straight to create drag to slow her descent.

Her eyes remained closed because of the wind blowing in her face. She wouldn't notice this until she landed but her halo fizzled away. The white dress she was wearing unwove itself. She is now wearing a bright red shirt with a brown leather vest over it. Black shoes appeared on her feet, and blue pants now covered her legs. No longer would she be a Goddess, no.

Wynter had warned her, but she refused to stay loyal to the code. Why would God just sit back and watch what's happening down below? If that is how the others were, she wanted no part in it.

A short distance above the ground, she could just barely hear the low-sounding rumblings of thunder, and the cracking noises the lightning strikes caused. Just as she was due to enter the reddish-black clouds, she opened her eyes.

Putting her arms down to her sides, she began descending faster. The quicker she got through the blanketed cloud cover, she would arrive safely on the ground below. Hopefully, she would land nearby the area where the cry for help was heard. Coincidentally, she did land close.

Everybody who attended the meeting at the library stormed out in a panicking state. Worried for their children, they rushed over to them. But then this happened. Thunderous cracking sounds were heard, coming from the North.

One giant crack ripped through the ground like ripping paper in half. It traveled and grew wider. Smaller cracks branched off in various directions. As for the main crack, it went straight through the Village, stranding the children on one side and their parents on the other side. Uh-oh!

Gazelle took notice of her new outfit but refocused herself on assisting the children and their parents. She was against that code 17-A ever since she became a Goddess. But none of that mattered now. Is it too late to reconsider her options?