Survivor

NPCArchsenatorGarmany based this fanfiction on his The Book of Notch.

Chapter One: Welcome to Life
I wake up. I can't remember anything, but somehow I understand what I must do. An image forms in my mind of my target: a man, someone tall and young-looking. He wears long, flowing robes and a crown, and he wields a scepter in one hand and a long, dark sword in another. He looks furious, as if he will destroy all that stands in his way of...what? But his most fearsome characteristic is his eyes: they glow. Not like a torch, warm and low. Instead, his glowing eyes are harsh, the light piercing through my body and soul. Then I open my eyes to se a wide expanse of grass. I suddenly think plains. How do I come up with these words. I certianly have never seen anything like it. In fact, I have not experienced anything before my waking up here. But I still think plains, and my mind thinks of the man again, and I say...

"Herobrine..."

It doesn't sound like a real word. It sounds weird and unnatural and like a bundle of sounds slapped together. But I still think of this word, Herobrine, and I know it is this man's name. What is the importance of this man or his name? Why am I here? What is going on?

Then I see a tree and, before my mind catches up with my instincts, I am tearing it down, block by block. I find that each block disappears into my body once it comes close to me, but I sense that it still exists, as some sort of energy. I finally give up on being confused about the nature of this world and my instincts rush over my mind.

Turns out that I do pretty well when I just go with my gut. By midday (I use the sun's position to decide how long the day will last) I have collected enough wood to build a small shack. When I want to use the wood, I suddenly imagine a grid in which my wood takes up one tile. I see another, smaller grid in the top-right of my vision and I I set myself to building the shack, laying down logs, block by block. I leave a small opening in one side in order to get in at night. I then will some of the wood to enter a tile in this small grid. Suddenly, a small pile of planks appear in my hands. I see that these planks are more useful for building a house than logs, and continue to will logs into the grid until I have enough planks to build a satisfactory shack.

I build four walls and a roof, but I can't say that it looks pretty. I don't even figure out how to make a door for several more days, during which I have to seal off the entrance at night and wait until morning to come out. After my first night, I find myself hungry, but I continue to look for resources. After some hours of experimenting, I finally craft an abomination of wood in the shape of a pick. I use it to mine some stone, but it falls apart quickly. However, I have stone and I manage to build a better pickaxe, and I venture out to find more stone. I enter a promising cave and I start to mine. I find stone as well as some black rocks embedded within some of the stone. Coal, I think. I begin to get used to the fact that I know what everything is without having any memories.

Then I see it. It is green and wears torn clothes, but otherwise looks like me. I look closely at its face and see that its eyes are dark. As if something has snuffed out the fire of life. It looks at me, and it comes at me. I am puzzled, but as it approaches me, horrible images flash before my mind: of creatures, much like me, dying before a sea of these green...monsters. I see the creature foaming at the mouth and moving faster as it approaches me, and, out of instinct, I swing my axe forward into its skull. It stops. I stare into its eyes and it stares into mine. Then the creature becomes heavy and collapses in front of me. I stagger backwards and press my back against the cold rock wall. I become hysterical and I lose my composure. I collapse next to the cave wall in tears, slowly descending into darkness...

I wake up. The corpse of the green creature is still there, although it looks paler. My pick has fallen out of its head, and I quickly grab the pick and run back to my house.

It is nighttime. For some reason, this makes me nervous. I have nothing to fear from the night, but the images of monsters...no...zombies, I call them, continue to dance through my mind. I run as fast as I can despite my growing hunger. My vision becomes blurry and time slows down as I try to cross the 50-meter gap between me and my shack. I feel weak, and my shack and everything around it appear to move farther away from me. I stumble along, but eventually I just drop my pick and everything goes dark.

Chapter Two: The People
Good Lord this hurts, I think, as I wake up. I think it is daytime. There is certianly enough light around me for it to be daytime. Everything is blurry in the intense white light. I sense the prescence of some creature, but I am too weak to worry about it. The blurry figure moves around me, and I begin to make out other shapes: a dark cube here, a light square there. My vision adjusts to the daylight and I see that I am in some sort of building.

It is much larger than my house, and has several windows and a door. Its...comfortable. I am sitting on a wooden chair. Then I look at the figure in the room. It looks exactly like those creatures that the...I struggle to accept the word "zombies"...devoured in my visions. It makes noises, but my hearing continues to be blurry. The creature picks up a roundish object and comes over to me. It makes the noises again, but even though my hearing gets better I still don't understand the noises. I think it is trying to communicate with me, but despite my best efforts I cannot decipher its elaborite system of sounds.

Finally, it points to the object in its hand and then to its mouth. Then it points to me and motions for me to eat it. I assume that it wants me to eat. I feared the zombie, but this creature is different. I think that it may have saved me. In any case, I am too hungry to refuse the food and I grab it, almost eating it whole.

The creature stares at me, walks over to a...table, and grabs another piece of food. It brings the...no, I can't think of any word to describe this item...the food thing over to me and I eat it, more slowly than the last time. The creature gives me a satisfied look and walks away, disappearing behind a wall. It returns with a pickaxe, and my mind floods itself with images: of a band of these creatures, huddling around a fire in the snow, of them building houses in the forests and deserts, of them exploring the world and establishing new settlements, of them conquering the world and utilizing its resources for their benefit.

I see death too. Death to an invisible force that captures its victim and causes a slow, painful death. Death in battle, in which these creatures kill each other in a desperate struggle for power. Sudden death, in which the lives of the creatures end abruptly: mining accidents, fires, floods.

I see death again, but it is not unhappy. I see one of the creatures on a...bed, murmuring its sounds to other creatures of its kind. Some of the creatures are small, and they cry, anticipating the death of the creature on the bed. But the creature smiles, tries to comfort the others with its sounds, assuring them that this is the best way to leave this world.

"Humans..." I say aloud, and the creature looks at me, puzzled, but then shrugs and walks out the door with its pick.

"Humans..." I say again. I think of the creature's sounds and realize that this word uses the same sounds. I am speaking their...language.

Humans, I think. I remember the zombie in the cave, how I killed it because I saw its kind destroying masses of humans. I think hard, and finally decide that this must be my purpose: to protect the humans and destroy their enemies.

I think of the man in my first vision, and although he looks like me, I want to destroy him too. I connect him with the zombies, hating him for...for what? Why do I hate him? Why do I connect him with the monster? Why do I protect the humans and destroy the zombies?

I want to answer these questions but I am still hungry and tired, and I fall into a restless sleep, dreaming about humans and zombies and...Herobrine...

Chapter Three: The Village
I wake back up. It is early morning. I am still sitting down in the chair, facing the door. I get up, feeling stronger than before, and I walk around the house. Inside, it is mostly a rectangular shape about 5 meters wide and 9 meters long. There are many objects on the floor and walls. I turn around and see my pickaxe next to the chair. I pick it up and shuffle over to the door. The outside light blinds me, and I squint until the light subsides and I see that I am in some sort of settlement. There are numerous buildings, all similar to the house I was in in style, but their sizes vary very much. I see humans passing between buildings, greeting each other, engaging in conversation.

Then I look beyond the settlement. I see that a high wall of cobblestone surrounds the entire settlement. There are several humans on top of the wall, staring down both beyond the wall and at the settlement.

I step outside, nearly dragging my stone pick behind me. I am still very hungry, and my strength has not all come back to me. But I have the strength to wander around the settlement, walking down paths with buildings on both sides. I don't see any humans for a few minutes, as they seem to congregate around a large building near the center of the village. However, I walk around the corner of a building onto another street and come face-to-face with a small human, a child. I nod at it and proceed to walk past it, but then I see that it is absorbed with fear. I stare at it, puzzled. Why would the human be afraid of me?

Then it screams and runs away. I am too tired, hungry, and confused in order to find out what is going on, but as soon as the child runs around the next street corner, a stick suddenly embeds itself into the earth. I look up and behind me, from where the arrow came, and I see a human on the wall carrying a strange object. Then it launches another stick at me and I instinctively dodge out of its way. The stick passes right through the space my head occupied just a couple seconds ago. Suddenly I am back among the humans in my visions as zombies storm over them. I see humans carrying various objects. The humans stick these tools into the zombies or launch the sticks that I saw earlier at the monsters. Upon contact with these objects, I see many of the zombies fall down. They do not get up. Weapons, I think, and I remember the visions of other battles I saw.

My vision ends and I realize what the human on the wall is doing. It is trying to kill me. I run away from the wall, back towards the building I came from. As I approach it, the human that tended to me bursts out of the door with a nervous look in its eyes. It sees me and runs over to me. It grabs me, shouting its sounds at me, but I cannot understand it. It groans in exasperation and pulls me into his building. It pushes me into the chair and shouts more noises, motioning for me to stay in the chair. Confused, I comply, and the human leaves, running towards the wall where the human shot at me.

I stare at the door for what feels like all day, but the human eventually comes back, looking tired and defeated. It closes its eyes and sighs, releasing a few more sounds as it does so. I catch on one...Notch, and I expect for visions to once again bombard my mind. But they don't. Instead, I feel like my hearing suddenly becomes clearer, even though nothing I hear seems to change.

Then the human makes more sounds, and I understand it. I make the connection. These sounds are words. Thoughts. It can communicate with me and I think I can communicate with it. It says:

"What am I going to do with you?"

Chapter Four: The Sounds of Humans
I sit there, speechless, as I take in this recent development. I understand it! I want to ask it so much, but I can't think of what to ask first. Instead, I weakly say, "What do you mean?"

The human opens its eyes and snaps its head at me. It stares carefully and says, "Say that again."

A long silence fills the room and I say, "What do you mean?"

Another pause in our conversation. "What do I mean when I say, 'What am I going to do with you?'" it says.

I nod my head. It places its hands firmly at its waist and sighs. "You didn't start off so well.  I was going to tell everyone about you at the town meeting today.  You see...nobody in this settlement has seen someone like you since the start of the war.  Everyone thought that Indevians either fought for Herobrine or hid in the capital.  So when I found you...I had no idea what to think.  That kid you scared thought..." He pauses. "He thought that you were a zombie.  You certianly look like one.  You're the same size as one and your clothes are torn.  You're sick too, and so your skin looks a little green.  Then that guard shot at you, thinking you were a zombie too.  It's a wonder you're still alive..."

The war? Indevians? The capital? What is it talking about?

I say, "I don't understand.  What war?  What is going on?"

"You don't know?  How don't you know about the war?  The last broadcasts were about the war!"

Still puzzled, I say, "I can't remember anything since before I woke up a couple days ago out in the plains."

It ponders over the subject and opens its mouth to speak, but then it closes it and continues to think, as if it is wondering whether it should speak or remain silent. It speaks, "I shouldn't tell you about it, but I can take you to the Elder.  He knows best whether you should learn of what has transpired...or if we should just kill you..."

This worries me. Why would they kill me? I want to protect humans! I think of making a break for it to the wall, where I saw an opening through which some humans occassionally passed, but before I know it, I am in front of the large, central building in the settlement. There is an elaborate image of several humans on the front of the building...no, they are not humans. They look just like me. They don't have large heads and noses like the humans, but instead have square heads and appear much taller compared to some humans depicted in the image. I ask the human with me about this image and the people in it.

"You really don't know anything, do you?" is his only response.

I shrug, and we walk through the archway into the building and pass through two large, wooden doors.

Inside the building is a single, massive room. There are rows of seats on each side that end near the middle in order to provide a walkway up to the end of the room. There are windows high up on the walls, letting in a gloomy shade of light. These windows have images on them similar to that on the front of the building. I look down at the end of the room and see that the floor rises at the end and that three columns of stone rise about 2 meters from this elevated area.

The human guides me to the platform at the far end of the building and I see that another human is sitting in front of one of the pillars with its eyes closed. It looks calm and greets us warmly when we stop in front of it, even though it does not see us.

"Good afternoon, Joseph" the first human says.

"Hello, Alex" the sitting human, Joseph, replies. It does not open its eyes.

"I have...a visitor, Joseph."

Joseph opens its eyes and looks up at me. It remains calm and says, "You are not human."

I feel uncomfortable now. I hear an undertone of detestment in his voice, as if my not being human is a crime against nature. The first human, Alex, breaks the silence in the large room. "It doesn't seem to remember anything.  I found it while I was outside hunting the monsters.  It nearly died from starvation." Alex stops talking, but decides to add in another comment. "I don't think it serves...you know...him."

Joseph closes its eyes and thinks. It then opens its eyes and says, "If you think so, I believe you.  You have always known how to judge a good person from a bad one.  I just...I just wish that we knew what this creature is.  It looks like an Indevian, obviously.  The shape of its body is identical.  But it is shorter than most Indevians...perhaps it is a child?"

Silence once again fills the room as Alex thinks this over. "That would explain its stupidity."

Anger fills my mind as I take in this insult. The two humans seem to realize this and they back away.

"I'm only being honest!" Alex nervously implores.

"Shut up!" Joseph shouts.

I calm down and they realize that I have no intention on attacking them. "Sorry," Alex murmurs.

"No...I understand," I say. "But why do you take me for an idiot?  I don't understand what is going on, but I can't say that I have been doing horribly in the past few days.  I built a house in the wilderness all by myself on my first day!"

Joseph speaks. "Yes, but you don't know what is going on around you...you don't remember anything.  Without a memory, I'm afraid you are at a disadvantage."

I think about this. "Then why don't you tell me what is happening?"

The humans look at each other, nervously. Joseph turns back to me and says grimly, "You won't like what I have to say..."

Chapter Five: The Book
Joseph and Alex take me outside and into another building. It is higher than Alex's house, but much smaller than the large building that I met Joseph in, the one with the window pictures. I have a feeling that this is Joseph's house, and as we enter another human warmly embraces Joseph.

"Glad to see you again," the new human says. It is slightly shorter than Joseph and has hair, like me.

"You too, Honey," Joseph says.

Eager to make friends, I say, "Hello, Honey."

Honey looks at me strangely. So do Joseph and Alex. "Excuse me?" Honey says.

"Well, that is your name, isn't it?" I respond.

A silence fills the room. I do not enjoy these silences. They always make me feel awkward.

"He really is out of the loop, isn't he?" Alex says, to which Joseph nods. Joseph than gently pulls Honey into another room and starts to whisper to her.

"Her name isn't Honey," Alex says. "She is Jennifer, Joseph's wife."

I understand this just as I understand everything: like some dumb creature noding as it takes in information but doesn't really apply it to anything.

"Oh well, I guess I'll take you to the study," Alex says.

We weave through hallways until we come to an inconspicuous room. Alex opens the door, enters, and beckons to me to come inside. As I step inside, I see that the far wall is covered with...books. Once again, I have no idea where this word comes from, nor how I think of it, but by now I have given up on wondering what is going on with my mind. Visions flash through my mind as I think of these books. I see humans pressing sticks against the insides of these books, leaving marks. I see others looking at these marks intently. I see humans gathering books into massive collections, similar to this group but much larger. A library, I think.

Alex pulls a massive book from the center of this wall and heaves it onto the table in the middle of the room. Both of us sit down in a chair, and Alex spins the book so that it faces me. On the surface of the book, golden markings, similar to those in my visions, stare at me. As with my sudden understanding of the language of the humans, I suddenly learn how to read. I stare at this book, at its elegant binding and its smooth leather surface. The golden markings are etched into the surface of the leather and I stare at them intently, just like the human in my vision. I read the title.

It reads, The Book of Notch.