I watch as the enormous enderwoman explores the cabin. It is a big space, big enough to house ten full bedrooms, each of which has a modern and luxurious bathroom, so it’s more than big enough to house even the truly gigantic maiden.
“This space is all yours?” She asks, as she wanders from room to room. I chuckle and tell her that that is correct. As I say this I feel the effects of “Confession” activate again, since it is the truth and I do want her to believe me.
“That’s amazing! This is so much more space than I have… had. I guess I should get used to the idea of being on the run.” She says, before suddenly pausing and realizing that she’s said something she can’t take back.
“I shouldn’t have said that.” She says, her back turned to me. I pause for a second and then speak.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?” I ask, looking at her back still. As I speak, I realize that a pair of perks are subtly going off in my head. One is named “Loyalty” and it has the curious effect of increasing the impact of my actions on others and making them quicker to trust me, as well as deepening the loyalty they feel towards me. The other is named “Sponsors and Allies”, and it has the effect of attracting powerful potential partners and quickly allowing me to make deals with them.
I half-wonder what sort of an impact they are having on Eliza. I then realize I’m about to find out… The woman doesn’t respond right away, but eventually she nods, so slightly that I almost don’t notice.
“I… I should. You saved me. The least I owe you is an explanation. And it’s all I can offer you, really.” She says, before turning and looking at me.
“You already know my name. I don’t know what else you know.” She says as she studies me. I chuckle and scratch the back of my head.
“Uhh.. there actually isn’t much else I know. I know that the assassins came from a city not extremely far away, and that they get their orders from some sort of… unnatural-looking shrubbery.” I quip, mixing truth and falsehoods. She nods as she hears my remarks.
“Ah, so you’ve… ‘Seen’ the sculk. Nasty stuff isn’t it?” She asks, and I nod darkly at her. My nodding makes me laugh lightly.
“Okay… So that makes parts of this easier, I guess.” She begins, before walking over to the living room and sitting on the couch.
“I’m an enderperson. Males of my species were sometimes referred too as ‘Endermen’ whenever we encounter natives of this world, some of whom are humans like you. I… I think. You LOOK human, at least, but I’ve never seen a human do what you do.” She says, and her eyes narrow as she studies me. Eventually she sighs and closes her eyes before beginning to speak again.
“I’m being hunted because I know ancient secrets about my people’s home dimension. Secrets that the creature that has taken over the ouroboros, the place I’m from, would rather no one remember.” She reveals, her voice almost breaking as emotion fills it.
“I come from a place known to the people of this world as ‘The End’, but once my people called it an ‘Ouroboros’. Long ago an ancient civilization, one with a potent mastery over eldritch sciences, constructed a continent-sized settlement in a… time-loop.” She begins, looking at me, and trying to make sure I am keeping up with her.
“Wait… like a settlement was placed inside of a break in space and time that would repeat itself at certain intervals?” I ask, my enhanced mind immediately picking up on what she’s saying, though I myself was hardly a science, or science-fiction, fan growing up. Her eyes brighten when I ask this.
“Yes! Exactly! Eons ago, possibly even millions of years ago, the same civilization that built portals to ‘The Nether’ and constructed curious underwater settlements, experimented with time travel and time manipulation. They hired some sage, my grandfather, to construct their settlement and they gave him a budget and futuristic materials with which to do his job. He successfully constructed a settlement to their specifications, and for countless eons he lived there. It was there where he met my grandmother.” She says, a smile on her face.
“The two of them had a child, my mother, who met my father when the people of the Ouroboros reached out to the inhabitants of this world looking to recruit new residents. I was born outside of the Ouroboros, and I was quickly brought into it. When I and a few other children like me were brought into the Ouroboros we… mutated. Something about our nature makes us bizarrely compatible with entropic forces. That’s why we are vulnerable to holy and life-giving things like water. We became the first enderpeople. And our energies began to cause the place to malfunction, occasionally bringing us to new worlds for minutes, or even hours at a time. And our mutations spread.” She explains, neon pink tear-like orbs filling her eyes.
“A few months ago our contagious mutations infected the last original inhabitants of the time loop. But at that point many of us had already spread to this world, and done things like made contact with the sculk, who somehow managed to persuade some of the other enderpeople to serve them, as mercenaries at best and as little more than slaves at worst. Still, the worst was yet to come.” She says, her voice softening.
“A month ago my home was invaded by an extraterrestrial monster. It found our home when the Ouroboros glitched out and arrived in the skies above a strange world. The creature saw us and invaded, quickly killing our bravest warriors and proving resistant to our technologies. Somehow it even began to use our technologies, even before our home vanished. When our mini-world vanished from the planet we found the monster on, the monster came with us. It began to hunt and kill all of the endermen who could remember things, as not all of us could. Some ancient rule about the Ouroboros made it so that some people would have their memories wiped every cycle. Some of the people who could remember were my grandparents and parents…” The woman explains.
“I was forced into hidding and when we appeared on this world again, our home malfunctioning again, I fled. I wandered for a long time, meeting other endermen and almost meeting an inglorious fate at the hands of the sculk before I reached the cave you found me in. I just went deeper into it then you did, but I also covered my tracks. The dragon must have made contact with one of the sculk’s cities and placed a bounty on my head.” She exclaims, before nodding and seemingly agreeing with her own assessment of the situation.
“The time-loop still works. Which is… unfortunate, for the victims of the monster. The… ‘enderdragon’ as some of its victims have taken to calling it. It has somehow become the new lord of the loop, and it resets the loop every week, resurrecting fallen enderpeople and prolonging their suffering, normally after selectively tampering with their memories. The only people it doesn’t dare resurrect seem to be my relatives, for reasons unknown to me, though I wonder if it’s somehow afraid of them?” She asks, as the tears that bubbled in her eyes now begin to stream down her cheeks.
Her words just now matter. So in this world “The End” is a broken, or at least glitching time-loop, and the enderpeople are a race of mutant humans now enslaved to the dragon, itself a creature from some other world altogether, or the sculk… This is much more involved lore than the actual game, but it’s also interesting. In almost every bit of context Eliza gave me, she dropped more and more tantalizing information. One bit of information she revealed was that her people, enderpeople, have access to some esoteric technologies and futuristic materials. If she knows how to use even a tiny handful of that technology, and can share it with me…
“Hey… It’s okay, you’re alive. As long as you’re alive, there’s a chance.” I tell her, causing her eyes to soften and for her to sniffle quietly.
“A chance?” She asks, looking at me curiously. I chuckle and smile at her.
“Yes. A chance. Every minute you’re alive you have a chance to rise up against that dragon. To… do something against it. To avenge yourself and your family. And all of its victims. You just need to choose to do so.” I say, almost whispering as I look at her. I look at her lips, but I don’t directly look into her eyes. Her lips turn upward in a smile.
“Ha. Hahahaha. Fighting against that beast… I can’t even dream of it.” She says, and I can hear the honesty and the defeat in her voice. That monster left a tremendous impression on her, psychologically.
“Well… Did you ever imagine that you’d be able to survive the encounter you just lived through? Or that a human, one like me at least, could do what I did?” I ask, causing her eyes to widen as she considers my question.
“Huh… You know what? I would not have. I could not have imagined surviving water-poisoning and enduring the assault of a squad of ender assassins.” She remarks, honestly. Her eyes relax as she looks at me and I can feel her want to be brave. I can somehow read it in her body language, in the way that she looks at me, and in the way that her body moves closer to me ever so slightly.
“Would you… I know I’ve already imposed on you, but would you mind if I stayed here for a while? If nothing else, I promise I won’t get in your way I just… I need a place to think, and I’m safer with you and your friends than I am on my own.” She remarks, humbly. I feign consideration of the question, pausing and seeming to deliberate over it for a while. When I answer I begin to smile at her.
“You’re more than welcome to stay here. I have no problem with you considering my home… Our home.” I tell her, causing her eyes to widen, and I bravely look her in the eyes for a second, which causes her skin to flush and she quickly looks away but she doesn’t fly into a rage or attack me.
“Okay… I have a home.” She says, as she looks away. Her eyes quickly dart back to me, and I smile at her, brightly and happily.
“I had kind of forgotten this feeling.” She admits, as she allows herself to relax.
When the conversation wraps up I offer to feed Eliza. She is quick to take me up on my offer, and I begin to make the two of us dinner. I slowly reveal bits and pieces of the curious array of powers I possess to Eliza as I cook dinner. I lightly tease the nature of my inventory, plucking ingredients from it and eventually calling forth the rest of my retinue, sans Rebis, so we can all grow while we eat.
Eliza, politely, does not attempt to discover the precise mechanics of my powers, or to figure out the truth behind my allies. I don’t volunteer the information, but I do show her what I am cooking, and even offer to show her how to use the cooking technology I own.
Eventually dinner is prepared, eaten, and then Eliza and I go to bed. She is a polite guest, though I can tell she is trying, and failing, to view herself as a true house-mate, and when I wake up, again feeling like I’m waiting up instantly after going to sleep, I get out of bed and leave my room only to find her in the kitchen trying to make breakfast for the two of us.
The unlikely duo are quick to make breakfast after Joaquin asks to help show her the ropes. Unbeknownst to the two of them this will mark the beginning of a pattern for the two of them: a tradition of working together.
After making breakfast the two of them go out of the cabin and begin the day in full by tending to the flock of animals that Joaquin has tamed and begun to boost the intelligence of. They feed the animals, and gather a range of supplies from them, such as milk from cows, and wool from sheep. Doing so is quick, especially once the two of them fall into a rhythm.
The rhythm is not super consistent the day after they meet, as each time Joaquin suggests they do something new Eliza needs a beat to adjust. Still, the enderwoman is eager to help out, and so she throws herself into every one of the daily tasks that Joaquin seeks to complete. Partway through the day she asks if he wants to go back to the canyon, and he informs her that he does, but he is willing to slow down, work with her, and adjust to the intricacies of having a new person, a “Real” person, verbiage she notices but doesn’t comment on, before he goes back.
Their first day together is a bit of an awkward, if earnest, affair. Eliza gets to see as Joaquin’s mannequins, his guardian, and Rebis, all collaborate with him and she joins in the efforts to clear through some land and to go and round up animals they discover during their forceful, unsubtle terraforming campaign.
She even gets to see him do some actual farming, at least the Minecraft version of it, which involves him planting some crops near the ocean. When the sun begins to set Joaquin directs them all back home, and again the group does not brave the dangers in the dark.
The day ends with Joaquin and Eliza cooking dinner together. When the meal is ready the two of them share it with the rest of their companions, and Joaquin drops a tiny morsel of knowledge by explaining that food he makes is just made different, made better, by his involvement. He even hints that eating his food can result in demonstrable changes, improvements, in those lucky enough to eat what he makes. Eliza should be skeptical of this, but “Confession” activates again, and she finds herself feeling that somehow Joaquin’s words are true… Because they are.
After dinner Joaquin tests out another part of the fuller scope of his powers and uses his singing and improvisational skills to entertain Rebis, Eliza, and the mannequins and the guardian. He finds that perks related to his skills as an entertainer are every bit as accurate as other perks he possesses. This is also destined to become a part of their daily routine.
The two go to bed again, and then the next day they wake up and find that they are much smoother now. They begin to work together without hesitation and without the endearing awkwardness they felt the day before. Partway through this day, Joaquin summons Rebis and asks her to teach Eliza how to fight using weapons and he has the curious being play with Eliza and have a mock-battle with her. When Eliza asks him about this he remarks that he wants her to come with them to the canyon, but for him to feel comfortable with her there then he needs to know she can defend herself.
This day also marks the first time that Rebis stays manifested for over two hours, due to the powerful cocktail of perks amplifying Joaquin’s speed of acclimation when it comes to his perks. Telepathically, the two of them share delighted thoughts and reactions to this fascinating development.
This slight deviation, Rebis and Eliza sparring and in so doing Rebis teaching Eliza how to defend herself, becomes one of the only slight variations in the daily day-time routine of the group for a week. Every other day Rebis and Eliza work together and Eliza finds herself training with a range of weapons, from her fists to swords, to other equipment given to her by Rebis for the sake of ensuring she can defend herself in nearly any situation. On her sixth full day with Joaquin and Rebis, Eliza has trained three times.
On the early morning of the group’s seventh day Joaquin surprises everyone by declaring that this’ll mark their first day where they aren’t developing things horizontally. When one of the mannequins, which are beginning to gain true personalities at this point, asks if this means there’ll be no terraforming, Joaquin chuckles and tells them they are going underground. This surprises everyone other than Rebis, but Joaquin is quick to assuage their fears by saying that they aren’t going far, he just wants to set up a workshop so he can start to enchant everyone’s gear and create more unique inventions.
They select a bit of cleared out space in the forest biome almost directly beside the pens where the animals are kept and end up digging a slowly sloping tunnel that leads a few blocks down as the site of the workshop. The group is able to do as Joaquin both commands and shows them how to do it pretty easily, especially by taking advantage of the wonky physics of Minecraft.
In hours they are actually inside of the workshop, having set up a wall and then cleared out an area beyond it using their numbers and a nifty perk Joaquin possesses dubbed “Work Crew” which helps them work together at a greatly enhanced rate. Joaquin is quick to light the place up, and thus ensure it won't become the home of some monsters.
Over the course of the next two weeks after this Joaquin is quick to get to work using the workshop. The group does end up digging out a small mine adjacent to the workshop, finding neat ores and minerals thanks to “Treasure Sense” , a perk Joaquin possesses as a merchant. They do not find anything as exciting as redstone or diamond, though.
They even construct a number of bed chambers, filled with beds that Joaquin himself makes by combining various perks in his possession. During this time Joaquin manages to unlock the second perk in the “Crafter” origin, by crafting a full suit of custom-made armor for Eliza. More days pass by, and the group continues to grow closer to each other, and more familiar with their gear.
When Joaquin has been in some bizarre version of Minecraft for a full month, the day comes and goes without pomp and circumstance. In fact, the lad will have been in the version of Minecraft his apotheosis shunted him too for thirty five days when the figure and his ender friend wake up and leave their rooms to go and make breakfast only to find a stranger waiting for them outside of their home.
The figure is a short man dressed in a bright blue outfit, accompanied by a friendly looking llama wearing a saddle outfitted with filled pockets. Joaquin, armed with the ever handy gift of meta-knowledge, recognizes this man immediately and he invites the wandering trader into his home with a smile. Eliza, not armed with meta-knowledge, is made curious by her friend’s excitement, and watches as the trader who has come to bargain steps into the living room of the pleasant cabin she has spent most of the past few nights in.
Johnwolfie435· Oct 15, 2023
