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Back when the land was just a void, there were beings that they liked to call ‘The First One’s.’
Gods of the void. The universe incarnate. They had immense power yet nothing to use it on. They tested the waters, to create more outside of this lonely void.
They created beings that they called ‘Divine Architects.’
These beings would be given reincarnated versions of the First Ones powers. Being second to the First Ones themselves, they were given permission to use their powers to create.
And create they did.
The Divine Architects had created every corner of the universe. Every star in the sky, every planet amongst the cosmos. They split up to cover every idea they had. Eventually, they created a new planet directly above the void. A land filled with color, something the void had never seen before.
When they crafted a sun to bring light into the ethereal dark plain, it gave way to a night and day cycle. Something the void had also never seen before.
Some wanted to take the materials of the sun and create a realm out of it. They used their powers to manifest a portal and create a realm they later dubbed ‘The Nether.’
Others missed the coldness of the void and wished to create a realm that was surrounded by the darkness of their home. Creating their own portal, they dubbed the realm ‘The Home.’ Although later down the line players had renamed it to ‘The End.’ Which seemed much more fitting.
As for the starting realm right above the void? The Divine Architects dubbed it ‘The Overworld.’ This seemed to be the world the Architects worked hard on and Ethoslab couldn’t blame them.
Ethoslab was one of the first Divine Architects created. He’d seen all of the First Ones and got to know them personally before their job had been given to them.
Ethoslab originally didn’t have a name. Names just weren’t a thing back in his time, the architects just referred to themselves as simply ‘The Architects.’
The creation continued with every architect in their respective realm. The ones in the Overworld gave the land beautiful trees each with different colors and leaves. They expanded on that, creating simple things such as convenient places to sit down and relax.
The architects decided to put in the power that was used to create them as well. They had formed and sculpted different types of creatures that they dubbed ‘animals.’
After looking over the top of the land, some architects wanted to explore the worlds closer to their home. They created caves and caverns filled with cold stone and beautiful ore.
The ore is what captivated Etho the most. The beautiful shiny gleam of the diamonds, the entrancing feel of the gold, the majestic reflection that could be seen on every piece of iron. It made Etho slightly jealous he hadn’t thought of it sooner.
One specific architect made a joke about imbuing a table with their power to see what would happen. The others dared them too and Etho partook in this peer pressure.
They caved and gave a table a burst of their power only to find out that their power to create was stronger than they thought.
The boring oak wooden table had been transformed to a wood that none of them had created. It had special markings to show nine slots and upon further investigations, they discovered they could use this to create almost anything they wanted.
One architect looked at the vast oceans and lakes and created something that could float and guide through the rough waters. They had no names for this so Etho stepped up and called it a boat. The others loved the name and kept it.
Etho watched as this architect struggled with carrying the boat to the nearest river and just like that, an idea popped into his head. Wouldn’t it be so much more convenient if you could magically summon a boat to the water?
Maybe it didn’t need to be summoned. Maybe with a flick of the wrist or a simple movement, something could help the boat move automatically to the water. Wouldn’t it be nice? To have something there to do the work for you? That was when Etho first got the idea.
He decided to create an entirely new ore named ‘redstone.’ Along with it came many other contraptions with different types of features. Automations, farms where you never had to do manual work, it was beautiful. To him at least.
Eventually the idea for the redstone was short lived as another architect made bracelets that they liked to call ‘inventories.’
“Wouldn’t it be so much easier if you could shrink these items and keep them on hand? It would be easier than shoving them in your bag and having to quickly whip out a specific item.”
Despite that blunder of the heavy boat issue, redstone stuck with all the other architects and it was added into the world.
Soon the other two groups had finished their creations within their own realms.
The Nether. A world of fire and instead of water that’s cold, it was filled with a liquid that was burning. They called it lava.
What was the point of a world of fire? They loved the idea of the sun and wanted to create a world out of it. There was no harm done either way. They had even created different buildings named Fortresses for beings to keep their valuables and to grow some of their own Nether plants named Nether wart.
The Home (though Etho will call it The End for convenience sake.) was a barren world. It was filled with a material they called dune stone (the name never stuck, being renamed with the realm to be end stone.)
There were specific pillars with special crystals that were only there because “it looked cool.”
And as the name of the realm suggested, it was just an island surrounded by the void. It was cold, no warmth to speak of at all. It was just like the abyss they all had been created in.
Speaking of the void, the First Ones were busy creating on their own. They created two types of beings. One was called a Voidwalker.
Beings of incredible power, though only just below Divine Architects when it came to power and rank. They lived and breathed the void with special powers to break and bend the world to their whim. However they could not create anything like the architects could.
The other group was an attempted collaboration between multiple members of the First Ones. Though none of the beings could decide what they wanted in the shared creation outside of the ability just to create life, something that neither divine architects nor Voidwalkers could do, so that left what was unfortunately dubbed as abominations there to rot with no thoughts of their own.
That’s what they thought at least.
The more these supposedly mindless beings observed the Voidwalkers and the First Ones, the more they learned. They learned friendship, emotion, thoughts, yet could only put into practice one of those three things.
Thought came easy to these beings. They thought and thought hard, why were they seemingly more insignificant to the Voidwalkers? By the terms of their creation they should’ve been higher in power then the Voidwalkers. Maybe even higher than the Divine Architects!
Positive emotions were foreign to them but the beings felt bitter. The First Ones never even looked their way or acknowledged them, spending too much time adoring their Voidwalkers and the worlds the Architects had created by hand.
Every world needed a final touch. Something to bring life and sound to the quiet lands.
The First Ones took their power to give life and infused it into the ground of all three worlds.
The Nether got majestic beings. ‘Striders’ they called them. Beings who could walk in lava and loved nothing more than a good snack on a blue fungus mushroom. They also had beings named Piglins. Humanoid versions of their animal counterpart who also adored the gold that Etho admired so much. They had also gotten an addition with beings named ‘Hoglins.’ They operated as pets and food for the Piglins to use as they saw fit. The architects that had worked on the Nether also created many buildings for the Piglins. Bastions, they called them.
They’d even created floating beings named ‘Ghasts’. Very cute creatures who could hover using their tentacles and the ashy air of the burning realm with a heart burning inside of it to keep it protected from the fire and lava.
They even created large beings called dinosaurs. Unfortunately for the architects, they hadn't designed those beings to withstand the conditions and burned within the realm. Their bones made for really cool decorations in a Nether biome though.
The Overworld had gotten way more sentient beings. They were dubbed as ‘villagers.’ Beings similar to the architects yet all looked the same and had no power.
Since the Overworld was more expansive and had tons of biomes, they got more creatures to work with. Combination of snow and a carved pumpkin could give life to Snow Golems, or Snow men, by the villagers.
The architects adored these creatures and had even dedicated their time into sculpting perfect homes for the villagers to protect them from the rain that would be caused by the sun beaming down onto the lakes and oceans. Things seemed perfect.
However as The First Ones went to finalize The End, the abominations had acted on their grudge.
They scattered throughout the three worlds and unleashed their unstable power, bringing what players now call hostile mobs in.
Within the Nether, some Piglins were physically affected. Their skin rotted and they became nothing but undead beasts, not quite passing on to let their soul rest. Their appearance scared the unaffected Piglins.
Although the ‘unaffected’ Piglins had been affected mentally. They now became obsessed with gold, no longer the simple appreciation for it. This obsession was so bad that they’d attack anyone on sight who wasn’t wearing any piece of gold, even the architects.
The Nether also got undead bones named Wither Skeletons. Their bones being burnt by the Nether causing them great pain despite having no nerves to speak of. Beings controlled by a specific abomination with a terrible effect once they attack. A withering effect.
Once you make contact with a wither skeleton, your skin immediately starts to wither away as well. It burns and there’s nothing you can do as your body paralyzes with its nerves being destroyed from the inside out.
There were many other hostile mobs within the Nether. Blazes were well-known ones. They only lived in fortresses but they were made of complete fire and tended to shoot multiple fireballs out at any suspecting passerby.
The Ghasts were affected as well. The fire inside of them manifests as their very own fireball. They became hostile and territorial, firing at anyone who came close to their world.
As a final touch, to rule over the Nether, they had made a boss they simply deemed ‘The Wither.’ A three headed beast whose only goal was to destroy.
The Overworld suffered similar tragedies. Spiders that once were deemed as adorable became large and hostile within the darkness.
Villagers dying due to illness or injury and coming alive to devour the living. Those who had already fully decayed came alive as nothing but pure bones.
With no stomach to speak of, the skeletons of the formerly living had grown a desire to hurt yet not be touched in the process. They took the string of deceased spiders and attached it to carved sticks and created a bow. Using a special powder named flint, another stick, and a feather from a chicken, they created arrows to fire at the living.
The ground itself manifested where grass and sand met. It created beings named creepers. They had the skin of the grass they half mutated from and the power to explode given by the sand’s potential to make something called gunpowder that was supposed to be used for fireworks.
It’s not like the architects didn’t try to stop this. Cross Etho’s heart, they tried!
They gave the undead weaknesses. They’d burn within the light of the sun and not bother the villagers during their waking hours. But there was only so much they could do since they didn’t have the power to create life.
When mobs attacked them in the night, they created a stronger version of a snow golem they dubbed iron golem. Taking the iron ore that Etho adored so much and the body of a snow golem, they made a strong defender for the weak.
They made it so that materials could knock back the ghast’s attacks. They crafted shields to defend against the piercing arrows. They intensified Piglins obsession with gold so that they’d drop everything just to hold a piece of it.
The End had mutated the most. The once peaceful, calm, cold realm had nearly crumbled within its mutation. Using the material made from the pillars holding the crystals and the void itself, they created tall beings known as Endermen.
The abominations had crafted the endermen specifically to reign terror on all the realms. They gifted the endermen special eyes connected to a special mind with a natural instinct to hate. To avenge. To attack.
One of the architects who helped the most in the end had seen the abominations create Endermen and immediately interfered. They had interrupted the precious sculpting and had created something known as a neutral mob.
A mob that wasn’t exactly hostile but would attack if provoked. They did not like that and immediately tried to counter the architects job with barely any luck. They had completely rid the being of it’s immediate reaction to attack but they could work with this.
The abominations put all this hate into the endermen’s eyes. Making it so anyone who looked into the creature's eyes would ignite the full fury of the abominations hate against the First Ones. Against the Voidwalkers. Against the architects.
The abominations final touch on the being was giving them incredibly bright purple eyes. One thing all of the abominations had were tons of bright purple eyes all across their faces.
Their hate was so strong, they had even unintentionally created a huge sentient being within the end to rule over and cause more hate. This being named itself the Ender Dragon and given itself the task to instill more hate into the endermen by overseeing and oppressing them.
With the chaos unleashed, the abominations retreated into their very own pocket dimension. A way to observe the world without being spotted. They no longer had any intention to interfere now that their wrath had been unleashed. They sat back and watched the disaster their actions brought.
The Abominations hated the name. In one final act amongst themselves, they changed themselves from ‘the abominations’ to ‘the watchers.’
With all their negativity burnt out, they grieved over the feeling. They longed to feel it again but with nothing to do, they had no reason to seek it out. So they decided to go after the Architects greatest creation of all, the players.
After the watchers had corrupted the world, the architects, the Voidwalkers, and the first ones all agreed they needed someone to straighten this out. The Watchers' powers directly countered against their own leaving them helpless to undo any of the damage without making things worse and risk ripping the world in half.
That’s when they created the first ever player. They named him TinFoilChef.
Someone to fight back against the undead during the night. To defend against the hostile and unforgiving nature of the Nether. Eventually, someone to take down the Ender dragon and free the endermen from its overwhelming (hypothetical) thumb.
Seeking out the feeling of negative emotion, the watchers began to devour the emotion of TFC. That’s when all The Architects agreed that a fight was inevitable and they might as well be the ones to initiate it.
The Architects tried to find The Watchers and make them return their worlds to normal. The First Ones had abandoned the world and opted for the coldness of the void with the Voidwalkers going down to be with their creators.
They made it so they had a portal in the deepest parts of the caves. The Watchers had hoarded themselves within the pocket dimension as close to the void as they could.
The Watchers were displeased at their attempts and decided to counter one final time.
They created something called The Warden.
A being so powerful that all of the other monsters feared it. Its skin was so tough that it was unmatched. It’s screech so powerful it could blow someone’s brains out if they were simply 40 blocks within its reach. With 250 hearts to spare and use against anyone foolish enough to test its strength.
They made it so that it could block out the architect's attempts. Guard against their advances as they tried to get closer to The Watchers.
Before they fled from the underground city now known as ‘The Deep Dark’, Etho had been scarred in his attempt to get away from the warden’s screams. He cut open his left eye and now has a permanent scar that he can’t even use his powers to remove. This enraged Etho so much that he had unintentionally blinded the Warden. Forcing it to rely on smells and sounds.
This shocked the watchers, who had to put extra security within the deep dark as a precaution due to their now handicapped beast.
They created the Warden out of a substance known as skulk. It fed off the death of those around it and spread its controlling influence. That’s what The Watchers liked, control. They had no control over their own lives, their creation, their access to their own power.
They had created skulk shriekers to inform the Warden when someone was in its territory. Skulk sensors that would pick up any movement and alert the nearest shrieker to the intruder. Skulk catalysts to spread the influence of the skulk whenever something died near it.
The Watchers had collectively agreed that every realm should have a ‘boss.’ A sentient being to cause more and more chaos and destruction within their worlds with one overlapping goal amongst all the others.
To take the Architects powers. The only exception being the Ender Dragon that was unintentional but well appreciated and the dragon was more than happy to take their power anyway.
Now don’t get Etho wrong, the Architects were strong. They could travel between worlds without the use of a portal, they could fire beams of pure void out at someone, they could float, they could phase through blocks, they could do almost anything.
The Watchers' powers only involved creation of life, one of the only things that the architects could not do but that didn’t mean they were insignificant. They were far stronger than the Watchers in power alone.
Because of that, the watchers had made it so each boss could steal their power and deliver it to them. The Architects had hidden away, it was all they could do.
One by one, each architect died out. To try and preserve their power and memory, they created Gods and Saints to overlook each part of the worlds. It was their final and finest creation.
Etho suspected the reason why he had outlived his fellow architects was due to his utter disdain for hiding completely. He openly went out to their crafted world and socialized with the beings they created. More and more players were created by the assigned gods and Etho always made it a point to chat with every player he came across.
Some had even been crafted with beautiful attributes. Hybrids, they called them.
Some had the wings of a bird and could take flight within the skies. Others had the fins of a dolphin and could swim as fast as they could underwater.
Some had even taken on attributes for mobs but Etho hadn’t held a grudge against those hybrids either.
Apparently not even the watchers had known who Etho was. Even though he still had that scar on his left eye from his encounter with the Warden. Etho made himself right at home in this whole universe called Minecraft.
He watched as the players grew and learned. They could even separate themselves into sub-worlds called servers!
Voidwalkers had even come up from the void to see this magical change and had given some players their power to bend the world as they liked. Now these players are called admins. Before the Voidwalkers had died out, they even made an amazing feature known as ‘respawning.’ Although if the admins wished, this feature could be removed. Just as a precaution even if it was removed, the player wouldn’t completely disappear. They’d become a ghost and had the ability to transfer to another server where they could respawn. This precaution was given the name ‘Hardcore mode’
Etho watched the players take the world around them and create.
They used the ore within the caves to make tons of beautiful blocks and builds. Some had even taken his redstone to make amazing contraptions just as he hoped!
Some players had created weapons to at first fight against the monsters before using them to battle against each other in friendly competition due to the respawning mechanic.
Etho joined some servers just to test the waters. He’d even created a server of his own that he recorded and broadcasted to all he could. Millions of players loved the builds he created and the contraptions he had conspired. It was perfect. By this point, The Watchers had completely left Etho’s mind. He forgot about them and they forgot about him.
One day, there was a server named Hermitcraft. A server where builders, redstoners , and PVPers alike could join and create. Etho watched as the players hopped from server to server with them gaining a new admin after the old one had abandoned the server.
Etho was shocked to discover this new admin was one of the only surviving Voidwalkers. He came into contact with him on a public server but the Voidwalker hadn’t recognized him at all. Etho didn’t take offense though.
After a server he had previously been in, Mindcrack, had gone into chaos and ruin, he traveled to see what other servers he could explore.
That’s when he first got the invite from Xisumavoid, the last remaining Voidwalker.
A player who had been in Mindcrack with him named BDoubleO100 was apart of Hermitcraft since Season 1. When Mindcrack ended and he found out that three of his friends had nowhere to go, he convinced Xisuma to invite them to join Hermitcraft.
So Ethoslab and another player named Docm77 had joined Hermitcraft together. Their friend, VintageBeef, joined a season after.
Docm77 was so interesting to Etho. He constantly found different ways to break and bend the game even when he wasn’t an admin and had no power whatsoever. He jokingly deemed himself a follower of the God of Redstone.
His habits of breaking the game got so bad that one of the Gods named Dinnerbone had hunted him down on his own survival server and had taken away one of his arms to stop him but that only stalled the man’s determination. He crafted his very own prosthetic arm and personally looked ten times cooler than before after it.
Etho spent the next few years in Hermitcraft with his friends. Both old and new. The first ever player TinFoilChef was even on the server! By Season 5, Etho has completely forgotten about the creation of the world. That there was once a time where there were more of his kind. That there were no mobs to attack them.
However by Season 6, reality gave him a swift check.
Someone new had joined the server. A mischievous Elytrian hybrid whose wings were that of a parrot. He was short and seemed to have come out of nowhere.
There was something about him that seemed familiar to Etho but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Afterall, he never interacted with Grian until a short meeting at his ice shop where he ended up scaring Grian half to death.
It wasn’t until it was too late that Etho realized what was so familiar about him.
Season 7 was coming to an end and as Xisumavoid was making the final preparations for their move, a few hermits were swiped right out from the server. Ethoslab was one of those people.
They were put into a server with an incredibly small border. They were each given three lives and were forced to fight to the death. There were some familiar faces but there were also some he had never seen.
By the end when his last life was taken by ImpulseSV did he finally realize what that game truly was.
The Watchers had come back. They grabbed all of them and pitted them against each other to get a taste of those negative feelings that they used to hold so strongly. The worst realization? That Grian was one of them. But did they even recognize Ethoslab as a Divine Architect or did they truly forget?
Did it matter? Now he’s stuck in an endless loop of various death games. He couldn’t risk anything if they truly didn’t know. If The Watchers found out that there was still a Divine Architect alive, they’d most certainly come for him.
It wasn’t helping that a particular brunette was staring at him for long periods of time when he got to breathe between death games in Hermitcraft. How much did he truly know?