Chapter Text
"Humans are inherently solitary creatures. It is in their design to mine, build, craft and fight all for their own benefit in a world where they alone are at the top, borderline unstoppable when skilled enough.
Their ability to return even after their demise makes them not fear death, a weakness ever so ripe for exploitation.
And as their soul frays more and more from every careless mistake they make in quick succession, soon the damage sticks around. Once that happens, the unkillable become no different than the various species they preyed upon. Afraid."
- The Onlooker
------ [OVERWORLD - NOON, 6 HOURS UNTIL SUNSET] ------
Rynak stirred from his slumber, the flickering of the torches on the walls of his bedroom hard to ignore in the rather empty home.
As he sat up in his bed, he shook his head, still trying to shake off the grogginess from his prior reawakening.
"Feels like I didn't sleep a wink last night. What time is..." his groggy gaze lazily glides over to the clock present in the Item Frame above the doorway.
"Wha- nearly sundown? Son of a- of all the times to get up... what a pain,"
He eases himself out of bed and onto his feet.
"Guess I should get suited up and set out to..." he pauses.
"Set out to..." a sense of uncertainty crossed Rynak's mind. What exactly was it that he wanted to spend today doing?
Rynak eyes flick over to the armor stand in the corner, the Iron Armor on it having a sense of alure to it.
"Hm... can't really say that going mining is all that enticing right about now, but building isn't my strong suit either," he contemplated aloud.
"Could go and find a desert and dig up a buncha sand... yeah! Then I can use that time to figure out what to do tomorrow!" Having come to a decision, Rynak gets out of bed, grabs the Iron Armor from the Stand and puts the articles of armor on.
Yet despite his resolve there was something that was eating away at him.
A sense of longing, unfulfillment, maybe even loneliness.
To the others, Rynak was something of a recluse. Other humans bothering him was something he wasn't all that fond of.
There was only one real exception to that: His sister, the only company he had this far out from spawn; though, the less said about her the better.
Yet, even with that desire to not be reminded of her, he still did what he could to not forget her as he went about researching the world around him.
A lingering sense of regret weighing on his conscious, he let out a sigh.
("What I would give to have someone else to talk to right about now.")
------ [OVERWORLD - NOON, 4 HOURS UNTIL SUNSET] ------
The air was as empty as the sprawling Desert itself, save for the occasional rabbit and residual monsters from the night prior.
The light of the Overworld's sun shined upon Rynak's face. His dark brown hair obscured by his Helmet, casting much needed shade onto his face.
"Perhaps another approach is needed?" he thought aloud, Iron Shovel in hand.
The Iron-clad human dug sand block after sand block as he continued to talk to himself.
"There's always Lodestone-bound Compasses, but I can't be certain about their reliability in a place such as that unless I go back in there. Could still explode for all I know."
The Human with a striking resemblance to Steve speaking aloud to nobody in particular did not go unnoticed by a creature on the prowl.
The creature trotted on up to the distracted Human and waited for him to notice them.
"...but what other option would I have? Unbound Compasses and even Clocks explode if I keep my hands on them for too long in that hellish place," He occasionally looked up to get an idea of his current surroundings before returning his attention to digging away.
The creature continued to wait behind him, peering from behind the Human with a sense of worry.
Over the course of the next hour, the creature slowly becomes increasingly baffled at Rynak's lack of awareness of his surroundings,
"...is it even worth the risk just to get her back, though? The first time was rough on my headspace already and seeing as I'm not exactly the social type that's especially bad."
For several minutes more, Rynak shoveled away.
Only the breaking of his Iron Shovel would be what snaps him out of his funk. "Damn. Got trapped in my own thoughts again. Guess I should head ba-"
As he turned around, he was met with the distinct visage of a Creeper. After a brief pause, Rynak swiftly pushes the Creeper away from him and pulls out his Diamond Sword.
His next move would need to be quick and efficient, as Creepers normally only need 2 seconds to dish out usually fatal damage. Fast thinking was of the essence.
The Creeper seemed to be caught off guard by this and vigorously shakes its head, a gesture that would be ignored by Rynak as he dashed in and slashes the Creeper.
Frightened and fueled by the pain, the monster turns tail and flees from the scene. A small amount of a green and glowing fluid trailed behind them, no doubt from their wound.
Creepers are usually very... persistent creatures. Whenever they catch wind of a human being nearby, they devote a considerable amount of effort to getting the jump on them.
Unfortunately for them, such opportunities aren't always afforded to them. As the element of surprise is not always on their side, this tends to result in them having to charge a Human head-on.
However, one fleeing from a human, as if out of a sense of fear and self-preservation? Very unusual, but hardly the only unusual thing about this one's behavior.
"What? That's not what..." - at a moment's notice, he breaks off into a sprint in pursuit of the frightened Creeper with a new sense of curiosity in his eyes. - "Come to think of it..." he begins to wonder, before focusing on the chase.
Through the arid sands, the human pursued the frightened and wounded Creeper.
Not to finish it off, but to instead hopefully get some answers to the questions he now had.
As the Creeper fled, they run into a Cactus in their haste and flinch from the impact of the ever-so familiar desert plant's spines. Once it recovers, it sidesteps the cacti and continues to flee. Rynak slows down somewhat, swiftly slashes the Cactus with his blade and snatches the dropped blocks before picking back up his pace.
Hatching an idea, Rynak pulls out an Ender Pearl. "Throwing this while on the move isn't all that wise, but it might just get me far enough to cut them off!"
The pearl was capable of relocating the user to wherever it lands, at the cost of the chance of spawning an Endermite and some recoil damage to the teleportee; instantaneous movement just might be what he needs to cut the Creeper off!
He aimed carefully before letting the pearl fly, soaring above and landing a little way in front of the Creeper. Upon teleporting in front of them, they immediately pivoted and ran in another direction.
"Oh, come on...!"
After sustaining the dull aches of the recoil damage from the Ender Pearl's teleportation, Rynak scrambles to his feet and picks back up on the chase.
Along the way, Rynak bumps into a Spider that was napping on the sand. A slight such as this manages to aggravate the Spider enough to make it begin scuttling after its aggressor, the annoyed Arachnid letting out a shrill hiss.
Rynak soon comes to a pause, greeted by the sight of a river and the Creeper having already managed to swim across and onto the shore ahead to continue fleeing. He quickly pulls out some dirt and bridges his way to the other side as fast as he can.
However, before he can pick back up his pursuit of the Creeper, the Spider catches up to him and knocks him over. Now with a face full of the Spider's hardy sternum, Rynak shoves the eight-legged creature off of him and quickly gets back to his feet. The alert Arachnid poised itself, crouching in preparation to counter with another pounce.
With a mighty leap, the Spider launches itself at Rynak, who barely manages to evade. Using the brief window he now has, he pulls out his Sword.
The Spider readies another pounce, only to be met with the Human's well-timed strike.
With the Spider rendered immobile from the attack, Rynak landed two more strikes on it before it ceased moving and disappeared with a puff of white mist. He swiftly absorbed the dropped Experience orbs and swiped up the dropped string before he took off to resume his pursuit of the frightened Creeper.
--- An hour later ---
The Creeper screeches to a halt at the outer lip of a Ravine, looking over the ledge in horror.
They look to the left and right, coming to the grim realization that going around the Ravine would take too much time with how on their tail the Human was, meaning this was the end of the line for them.
As Rynak catches up, he finds the Creeper lying on the ground, trembling in fear.
The poor creature had given up its escape, surrendering to its inevitable demise.
It was almost... sad? Pathetic? Something about it felt wrong, that much he was certain.
His eyebrows lowered as he observed the explosive plant creature's behavior, slowly approaching the Creeper.
Something here didn't add up to him.
("Wait a minute... just how long was that thing behind me? Had to have been plenty long enough for it to go off, right?")
Rynak ceases his approach and crouches, trying to lower himself to the Creeper's level.
"You had all the opportunity in the world to blast me into next week, but you didn't. You never had the intention to hurt me, did you Greenie?"
The Creeper turns to look at Rynak and nods wearily to his observation.
("I have to play this very carefully; poor thing is shaking like a leaf. If I cause it too much stress, it may not end well for them. Need to deescalate things.")
"Look. I'm... really sorry for earlier; you scared me, and instincts kicked in. I think you should get away from that ledge before it gives out and sends you plummeting tens of blocks down at minimum." Rynak slowly takes off his Iron Helmet, attempting show the Creeper that he was showing a sense of trust to them as he continued to survey their body language.
"Put simply, I think we got off on the wrong foot here; I can heal your wounds to make it up to you and we can start over. Does that sound good?" Without skipping a beat, the Creeper rolls back right side up, slowly gets back onto its hooves and trots over to Rynak, cocking its head to the left.
Rynak rummages around his inventory and pulls out a Potion of Healing 2.
Normally a splash potion would be sufficient, but if the Creeper isn't going to detonate itself the moment either he or it got close, drinkables were also an option.
Now, if only it were that easy with Zombified Villagers.
"You're going to need to drink this," He uncorks the bottle. The Creeper is unsettled by the mysterious liquid, backpedaling ever so slightly out of its uncertainty.
"Relax. I drink this stuff all the time, it keeps me going when fights get tough; and those tend to be the best ones!"
The Creeper gets closer and opens its maw, as if it was showing trust to the Human.
Its teeth were sharp and as black as the darkest void. Being close enough to actually discern them from the inside of the Creeper's mouth and live was normally an impossible task.
The human is then unsettled by the Creeper opening its maw, distorting its usual frowning expression ever so slightly.
"R-right then, d-down the hatch it goes!" He struggled to hide how unsettled he was with the fear audibly encroaching his voice ever so slightly.
The potion's contents are poured into the maw of the Creeper, the Human placing a hand on the creature to keep his other hand steady. Before he knows it, the bottle runs empty.
"There we go, now it'll just need a moment..."
After a couple seconds, the Creeper finds itself feeling much better and promptly pounces on Rynak, rubbing its face on him. ("Is it... nuzzling me as a way of expressing its gratitude? That's... adorable, I guess?")
It felt like Rynak was lying beneath shrubbery of some kind, the face of the Creeper having an unexpected degree of softness to it.
"Ugh... Yeah, yeah. I can see what I did was nice. C-could you get off, please?"
The Creeper took its weight off of the Human and got back onto its hooves. Rynak followed suit, putting his Iron Helmet back on.
"I don't suppose you got bored and decided to just scare the pants off of a human for the fun of it, did you?"
The Creeper shook their head, and began to move its maw, as if it were trying to speak.
The frequency of which it usually spoke words doesn't seem to be one that humans can understand.
Rynak could see their maw moving, but the words they spoke were not audible to the human.
He shook his head. "I can't understand what you're trying to say, how very troubling."
The Creeper looked downwards, seemingly saddened by this revelation.
Rynak smiles warmly, "I wouldn't worry about it too much, I'm sure we can figure something out, y'know? I'd wager I might be able to come up with something once I get home."
Creeper lit up at the Human's suggestion, hopping in place in its excitement.
"Somebody certainly seems eager! C'mon, I can take you there."
With that, the two unlikely allies left the destitute Desert, thus beginning an exploration into new fields for monsters and humans alike.