A Tale of Two Brothers

Written by Timothy Glassten

War. It was an event that did more bad than good. Unfortunately, that was all that was on people's minds in the village of Toffblock. For the past several days, illagers had encircled their village, and the citizens had seen no reinforcements arrive from their patron city, Red City. Many feared the worst, but hope was high that help would arrive. People went on about their days, trying not to let the impending threat disrupt them. This tale follows a seventeen year old boy named Timothy, who lives alone with his eight year old brother, Max.

Tim's POV
I awoke from my sleep with the sun shining in my eyes. It was flashing really bright, so I sat up and rubbed my eyes for a moment before stretching. I took a look at my little brother, who was sleeping away in his blue bed on the other side of the room still. Then, I steadily got on my feet as I let my body ready itself to walk. As soon as I was ready, I walked out into the living room, then into the food room, where I had my furnaces and food chest. I went through the food chest and pulled out some wheat and two empty buckets, as well as a cookie for my brother when he woke up. Then, I got to work, crafting six wheat into two bread. Then, I headed outside where we had our own cow and took a moment to milk the cow, filling both buckets at a good pace.
While I was out, I looked out at the great landscape beyond our home. We were in a plains biome with a nearby oak forest and mountain biome. In the far distance, I could barely see figures walking around and scowled. It must've been the pillagers that had surrounded our village. They had not attacked yet, but I had a terrible feeling they were planning something.
Once I had filled up both buckets, I went back inside just in time to see my brother walking into the living room, still rubbing his eyes.
"Good morning Max." I said to him with a slight smile.
"Morning... brother..." he replied tiredly. I went over to him, holding breakfast.
"Here you go, some bread, a bucket of milk, and once you finish you get a cookie you can save for later." I told him as I handed him each of the items.
"Thanks." he said, taking them as he went to sit on the wooden chair blocks. I went to work on my own breakfast, practically devouring the bread in moments before topping it off with the milk. Then I stayed standing, thinking to myself. I would have to work once again at catching fish today, although with the pillagers around I wasn't sure if that was a good idea. But the mayor had said it was safe for fishers still, so maybe I shouldn't be so worried. Surely, he was aware of everything that was going on.
I looked back at Max. As soon as the babysitter arrived, then I would head out. Toffblock village was still one of the only villages that didn't have any sort of school, despite being in Red City's faction. I was still surprised by that considering how Red City claimed to have more village schools than any of the other factions in the world.
"So, kid, you excited to see Ashley again?" I asked. He looked up at me with the cookie lodged in his mouth. I rolled my eyes, I figured he'd eat it right away. He took the cookie out and replied.
"Uh, yeah." he said.
"Are you going to craft anything new?" I continued, and his eyes lit up.
"Oh, yeah! She's gonna teach me how to craft a compass today." he replied. My eyes widened.
"Really now? That's a pretty complicated recipe, you sure you can handle it?"
"Totally! I can do it!" he exclaimed.
"I dunno, you said that about the tripwire hook the other day, you sure you can?" I said with a slight smile, teasing him. He frowned.
"Yes, I can! I'll show you." he promised.
"Okay, I believe you." I assured him. "Remember, trial and error. If you don't get it right away, don't get frustrated. Just ask for help."
"Okay, I got it." Just then, I heard a loud knock on the door.
"Oh, I think that's her." I said as I rushed over to the door and opened it. Standing in front of the door was Ashley, a young blond woman who looked just about my age, though maybe a little bit older. I tried not to blush as she greeted me.
"Good morning Tim, I'm here to take care of Max again." she said. I nodded and invited her in. Max saw her and smiled deeply.
"Hi Ashley!" he exclaimed. She bent down to him.
"Hey there, kid! How have you been? I haven't seen you in a few days." she replied.
"I've been good! I want to learn to craft a compass."
"Before I go-" I said, catching her attention. She stood back up straight and gestured for him to wait. I guided her outside of the house, closing the door so Max couldn't hear us. "I don't want him to know about the pillagers, so if he ever asks anything related to that, please don't tell him." she nodded.
"Got it. I can do that." she assured.
"Okay, good, take care." I told her as I turned to head off, waving goodbye.
I hoped I hadn't seemed too nervous around her. I had a crush on Ashley, and the last thing I wanted was for her to think I was weird. I continued to make my way towards the fishing docks.
As I made my way towards the fishing docks, I thought about the schedule for the day. I was still a bit tired, but I still needed to work hard to get my emeralds for the day. In order to get to the fishing docks, I would have to leave the village and arrive right at Lake Bolblock, which was a good seven chunks from the border of town.
Once I arrived right at the lake, I pulled out my fishing rod and tossed the line out onto Lake Bolblock's pristine blue waters. Then I waited. And waited. And waited. Until finally I noticed a trail of watery particles streaming right towards my bobber. My body tensed up, and right as the bobber was pulled under, I yanked the line out of the water, instantly causing a cod to fly out. Then, I caught it in my hand and tossed it into my inventory. I cast the line back out again and waited some more. Then, another stream of water particles surged towards the bobber and pulled it down. I yanked the line out again and caught a salmon, placing it into my inventory. I did the same thing over and over again until by the end of the day, I had caught five salmon, six cod, a string, a fishing rod(ironic, I know), a lily pad, and two rotten flesh. Other than a few fishermen talking about the pillagers, nothing of interest really happened. I mostly kept to myself whenever one of them spoke to me.
I didn't really like to talk to other people in person. I was pretty introverted, which made it pretty difficult to find reasons to talk to people that weren't close friends or family. It also made it pretty tough to make friends, so I didn't have any. Even Ashley was just someone I paid to watch over my younger brother while I was at work, she and I didn't really talk, although I always tried to give her an additional emerald outside of our pay agreement to make her happy. I guess that was why I enjoyed fishing so much. It gave me a ton of time to think to myself.
When the sun was beginning to sink towards the surface, I put away my fishing rod and headed over to the man at the fishing shack. He was Mr. Sandhand, a man in his thirties who would give us fishermen our earnings at the end of each day. I took everything I had caught out and laid it all out for him to examine.
"Ah, Timothy, good evening. What have we here?" he said as he looked across my items. "You can keep all the items that aren't fish. I'm not interested in that." he added, and I pocketed away the string, fishing rod, lily pad, and rotten flesh. "Let's see, we have five salmon and six cod. For those, you will have earned... about six emeralds." he concluded.
"Six emeralds? That's not nearly enough to get us through the day!" I stammered. He shrugged.
"I'm sorry kid, but you know we have a very specific system." I bit my lip. I would need at least eight emeralds to get the food ingredients for dinner, breakfast, and lunch tomorrow.
"Mr. Sandhand, please. There's gotta be something I can do to get two more emeralds." I pleaded with him. He looked at me with a hint of sympathy.
"Look kid, just this once, I'll give you extra. But you'll need to arrive extra early in the morning to work it off." he insisted. I felt a smile form across my face as I nodded.
"Thank you sir!" I told him as he took the fish and handed me the eight emeralds.
"Now, get! I expect to see you as early as the sun rises tomorrow morning." he ordered. I put the emeralds away into my inventory and rushed back into the village.
As the sun was beginning to set, I hurried to the local market and picked out two raw chickens, two raw porkchops, and four bread from their respective chests. Then, I brought them to the clerk, who went over the prices.
"Two raw chickens and two raw porkchops are both three emeralds each. The four bread will be worth two emeralds." I nodded and took out all the emeralds I had gotten. Then, I handed them over to the clerk, and placed the food into my inventory.
"Have a good night." he said and I paused.
"Uh, thanks. You too!" I replied, then rushed out and practically ran for my house. The sun was just about to touch the surface, and I didn't want to delay for even a second.
By the time I was heading to the house, I could see Ashley sitting by the window, looking out once every moment, then she noticed me and left. I opened the door and Max jumped onto me.
"Hi brother!" he shouted happily. "I did it! I crafted a compass!" He was waving a compass around in his hands. My eyes widened with joy.
"Wow, I knew you could do it!" I said, feeling proud of him. Then, I turned to Ashley. "Sorry for the wait. I tried to hurry back."
"Oh, no problem. I understand. We had a good day today. It took us half the day before he got it, and the other half was him jumping around swinging the compass and looking at the needle." she said with a smile on her face.
"I wish I could've been there to see that." I replied. "Give me a moment, I'll come back with your pay." I told her and quickly ran into my room. Then, I broke apart one wooden block in the floor and found the chest that had my personal savings. I took out two emeralds and closed the chest, then sealed it back up with the block of wood. I ran back out to her and handed her the emeralds. "Take care out there, mobs will start coming out soon."
"Thanks, I'll be fine. Have a good night." she responded as she said one last goodbye to Max before leaving, closing the door behind her.
"Tell you what, I'm going to make us some supper. Then you can tell me all about your day." I said to him.
"Okay!" he said as he swung his compass and watched the flailing needle.
I got to work and entered the food room, setting the two raw porkchops into the furnace with coal. Instantly, the coal began smelting the porkchops, and soon a delicious smell of meat filled the air. I felt my stomach growling pretty quickly. To distract myself from my hunger, I talked with Max.
"So, how was learning to craft a compass?" I asked and as I listened to him talk about the whole thing I moved around, putting the different things I had acquired throughout the day into the chests they belonged to.
"It took forever. It was annoying for a while, but then I finally did it!" he said as he continued swinging it, too distracted by the needle to talk more.
By the time I had put everything away, I returned to the furnace and peeked inside to find two fully cooked porkchops and carefully pulled them out so I wouldn't end up burning my hands.
"Dinner's ready." I announced, holding up the hot porkchops. Max came into the food room and grabbed one of them, then returned to the living room. I stayed in the food room and chomped away at my porkchop, savoring the succulent flavor of the juicy meat. In a moment, I thought about the pillagers beyond our village borders and worried about what would happen if they tried to raid, causing me to shudder. I immediately pushed the thought out of my head. No, Red City will send some knights to fight them off. There's no way they would let one of their villages be destroyed, I thought. But deep down, I was worried about the possibility of them not doing anything, and what would happen to us.
I had been so deep in my thoughts, I hadn't noticed that Max had finished his dinner and was already heading into our room, taking his compass with him as he yawned. I immediately finished off my porkchop and followed him into the room.
"Hey, Max, remember. You need to put that compass away since it'll distract you." I reminded him. He groaned.
"Fine..." he replied as he stuffed the compass away into his toy chest. Then, we both jumped into our own beds. He was out almost immediately, I guess trying to figure out the recipe for the compass had taken a lot out of him, not to mention constantly swinging it around and running all over the place.
I laid my head on the pillows and closed my eyes, pushing all my worries away. It took a good moment, but I eventually fell asleep.


Six Days Left


As I awoke, I noticed the room was very dark aside from the light from the redstone torch. I could see my brother in his bed, snoring away. Tiredly, I got up and went out to the kitchen to make breakfast. I pulled out some bread from the food chest and took a bite out of it as I searched for an empty bucket. When I pulled one out, I realized that I shouldn't head out to milk the cow this early. Mobs were likely still out. Instead, I settled for a water bottle to drink with my bread.
Once I had finished my breakfast, I made sure I had my stone sword with me before I headed out. Hopefully I wouldn't need it. I wasn't a really good fighter. Then, I took out a book from my inventory and opened it with my quill in hand. I began writing in it.
By the time I had finished I closed the book. I had written a note for Max that I had left early and that he needed to take care of himself until Ashley arrived in the late morning. With my weapon in mind, I proceeded to head out the door and into the semi-dark landscape.
It was still dark, and I kept a watchful eye on my surroundings. Skeletons and zombies were easy enough to hear, but spiders and creepers tend to be a lot quieter so they could ambush people. Fortunately, around this time the monsters of the night would either be retreating or burning in the day.
By the time I had made it to the fishing lake, I had been lucky enough not to run into any monsters. I waved to my boss and he waved back as I brought out my fishing rod and readied myself. It was this early in the morning that I had the best chance to catch fish. I raised my fishing rod and tossed it out to the blue waters. And then I waited. And waited. And waited some more. Then finally, I spotted a trail of water particles skimming towards my bobber and I immediately readied myself.
When the time came as the bobber dipped, I launched the fishing rod high up in the air and caught a cod in my hand. Smiling, I pocketed the fish away into my inventory and recast my line onto the lake. After I caught(and threw away) a tropical fish, I began to notice some of the other fishermen arriving and scowled. It was gonna get tougher to catch fish from here on out-the chance of reeling in junk increased the more people were fishing.
By the time it was lunch time, I had caught four salmon, three cod, and a pair of leather boots. I pulled out a cooked chicken and savored it. I was a huge fan of meaty food. As I ate, I listened in on a conversation some of the other fishermen were having.
"Ya know, I hear them pillagers are gettin' closer to the town. Might be tryna wait for a chance to invade." one of the said.
"Ah, that's blasphemy. Them pillagers ain't nothin. Let 'em come, they'll taste my iron fist." another replied.
"If they think they's gonna raid my home, they's got another thing coming." a third added. "Pillagers're like stray cats, they'll run off if you show them some real muscle." I stopped listening to them after I had finished eating my chicken. I had regretted listening to the fishermen.
I threw my line back out onto the water. The pillagers are getting closer? I thought, What if Red City doesn't send help? What if the pillagers raid our town? What will happen? Will our home be able to survive? My thoughts were quickly interrupted by the sound of my hook being pulled underwater. I immediately raised the line up, but it was too late. The culprit had gotten away. I sighed and took a deep breath to calm myself.
"Don't worry Tim, Red City will protect us. There's no way they would let a raid happen." I said. Breathing worked, and I resumed my work.
By the end of the day, I had caught eight salmon, eight cod, a pufferfish, a pair of leather boots, two bones, and an empty bottle. I pocketed them all away and went to Mr. Sandhand to present him my collection.
"Here we go." he said as he counted the fish. "Eight salmon, eight cod. That'll get you eight emeralds, how fitting." he said as he handed me the currency. I took them and waved him goodbye as I made my way for the store.
By the time I had arrive at the store, the sun was veering close to the sky. I had more time than yesterday, but not much. I went inside and made my way for the fruit aisle in search for apples and watermelons, only to discover that both of which were sold out. I looked around the store, and saw that many different foods and food ingredients were out of stock as well. I approached the man behind the counter.
"Um, a lot of food seems to be sold out." I said.
"Yeah. The pillagers outside the village seem to be scaring off deliveries, so we haven't got food from outside the village. Unfortunately, until Red City does something about it, we probably won't be getting imports for a while." he explained.
"Oh, okay…" I said, my heart sinking. Max loved watermelons more than any other food. I went over to the meat aisle and picked out two raw rabbit meat and two raw beef. After that, I went to the manufactured food aisle and picked out four bread. Then, I brought them to the clerk for him to count.
"Two rabbits and two beef will be three emeralds. Four bread will be two." he informed as I brought out all the emeralds I had gotten and handed them to him. "Have a nice day." He said and I paused.
"Uh, you too." I replied before heading out.
As I made my way back to my home, I thought about Ashley. I really did like her, but it was so difficult to be able to talk to her personally. It was somewhat easy when it was about business, but when I wanted to talk to her outside of that, I couldn't do it. But I had to this time. Even if it was a simple question. I wanted to ask her out.
Once I had arrived to my home, I found Ashley and Max both waiting for me.
"Big brother!" my brother exclaimed as he held out his newly-crafted item, "I made a clock!"
"I'm so proud of you! That's really good." I said, beaming with pride.
"Yeah, he was really patient and got it once he started focusing." Ashley informed.
"See, I knew you could do it." I told him. I noticed the sun was setting and I could see the moon beginning to rise. "Hey, how about you get ready for dinner? I need to talk with Ashley."
"Okay!" he said and ran back into the house. I closed the door behind him and looked at Ashley. She had a cute smile on her face. The way she looked in the moonlight with her blond hair was gorgeous. She spoke while I brought out two emeralds for her to take.
"Tim, there's something I need to let you know about." she said.
"I need to tell you something too." I said, but as I was about to say, she interrupted.
"I'm not going to be able to look after Max tomorrow." she revealed, causing me to pause.
"Huh? Why not?"
"My family and I are going to leave the town tonight." I blinked in surprise.
"Um, what? But it's nighttime. Monsters are all around, and I'm sure those pillagers won't let anyone leave the village." I explained.
"We're going to be fleeing underground. You don't know? A bunch of miners are digging through the ground, making a tunnel that will lead out past the pillagers." she informed.
"Wait, really? But underground is where the monsters reside. Going into their territory is asking for trouble." I pointed out. She had a sad look in her eyes.
"It's better to be there then here if Red City doesn't protect us. By tomorrow, we're going to be gone." she finished. I was stunned.
"Now what did you want to say?" Ashley asked.
"I… uh…" I struggled to form coherent words. My mind was a war zone. "I wanted… to say…"
"Tim, I need to go now, the moon is rising." she said.
"I… Nevermind…" I replied. "Just… take care…"
"Okay, you too." she said as she started to walk off, before she paused and looked back at me. "I really do care about Max. Please do what's right for him." she said before she continued to head back to her home. I stood there, deep in thought, before I remembered it was nighttime and headed inside.
I didn't see Max in the living room or kitchen, so he was probably in our room playing with toys. I went straight into the kitchen and set the two raw beef into the furnace and waited for them to cook. As I waited, I thought to myself.
I was angry at myself for not having the blocks to talk to Ashley. Once again, I had missed a huge opportunity to have some sort of relationship with another person because of my inability to talk to people. I hated the way I was so much. But what she said stuck with me. There was an underground tunnel being dug under the pillagers. Maybe, just maybe, we didn't need Red City after all. But it would be very risky still. Monsters thrived underground, it was their home. And we would be risking everything if we went. But at the same time, if we went, then our home would likely be looted by desperate people. And if that happened, then we would be left with nothing. So, our options were to stay and pray to Notch that Red City would save us or to take our chances underground and likely be forced to live in the wilderness. I needed more time to think. I decided I would make my choice tomorrow.
I noticed that the steaks had been ready and immediately pulled them out.
"Dinner's ready!" I called out. Soon, Max came out of our room and hurried over to me.
"Oh boy." he said as I handed him one of the steaks. Then, he chomped down loudly on it with a clear chonk! I bit down on mine loudly as well and he noticed and smiled. Then, he bit down on his even harder, creating a louder sound effect. I chuckled and did the same even louder. We continued and it ended when he chomped viciously on the remainder of his steak, then let out a surprisingly loud belch. I was genuinely startled at the sound and looked around.
"What was that?" I stammered, my widened eyes causing him to giggle. "Is my little brother a zombie?"
"Yes, I'm a zombie! I want to eat your brains!" Max exclaimed as he began to groan and shuffle forwards with his arms raised.
"Ah! Somebody help! My little brother is a zombie!" I cried out, then ran out of the kitchen. Max followed me, moaning like a baby zombie until he caught me by the window in the living room. We both laughed until our bellies hurt. Then, I realized it was time we got sleep.
"That was really fun Max. But now it's time to go to bed." I told him.
"Aw! I don't want to right now!" he protested.
"How about this? You've been wanting to prove to me that you're a strong person, right? Well, tomorrow I'll take you with me to work and you can prove you're a tough lil man. How does that sound?" I told him. He perked up.
"That sounds nice! Okay, we can go to bed now." he said, causing me a chuckle.
"Well, you're the boss." I replied as I followed him into our room. I waited until he jumped into his bed before I hopped onto mine.
I tried to go to sleep on a happy note, but I seriously couldn't help but worry about the pillagers. I didn't want to leave our home. I was born here. I was raised here. My brother was too. If we were to leave, it would be like leaving a huge part of ourselves behind. But this underground tunnel sounded really tempting. If Red City didn't come through… no, they would. They had to.
Pushing all the thoughts away, I soon fell asleep.


Five Days Left


I had dreamed that I was a sheep wandering around a plain field. I was hungry, so I fed on the grass on the ground, tasting the tasty green plants in my mouth as they turned into energy. Right by me was a baby sheep. It had lost its parents when a group of humans came by at one point and killed them for their meat, so I had decided to take care of it. We ate together, we slept by each other, we wandered together. I knew the day would eventually come when the little sheep would grow old and decide to separate, but I didn't mind. That was life.

As I continued to feed, I noticed the little sheep wandering off towards the forest. The forest was where the tastier grass grew. But it was also where the bad animals lived. The dangerous white wolves. I would constantly tell the little sheep not to go to the forest, but each time he tried to see how close he could get. I noticed he was getting way too close to the woods, and called for him, but he ignored me. So, lifting myself from the ground, I hurried towards him. I was scared of the wolves coming for the little sheep.

Once I arrived, I told him to get away from the forest. He told me that there wasn't anything to worry about, and that the grass tasted delicious. I told him to come back to the plains with the rest of the herd where it was safe, but he didn't want to come. He had gotten a taste of the forest grass and didn't want to go. I warned him about the danger and that it wasn't safe. He ignored me and continued to eat. I told him that there were wolves that wanted to eat him. He continued to eat. I told him I wanted to protect him, and that we needed to leave before it was too late. He kept eating.

Suddenly, I heard a snarl from our side. I looked towards the source of the sound with eyes wide open to see something in the tall grass slowly approaching. It poked its white head through and had glowing red eyes. Wolf! I cried out to the little sheep and he saw the creature stalking us. Immediately, we ran in different directions in a panic as the wolf sprinted forward. I ran straight for the plains because I knew I would be safer there.

Once I had made it, I turned around to see the little sheep crying out in terror as the wolf caught up to him and trapped him. Upon seeing this, I wanted to protect the little sheep, and I ran as fast as I could at the wolf. Before it could start biting him, I yelled at the wolf and hit it with one of my legs. It cried out in pain, but then I saw two more wolves appear from the tall grass. I told the little sheep to run for the plains, that he would be safe there, and he took off, sprinting towards the rest of the herd. The herd watched helplessly as the wolves surrounded me. I cried for help, but none of the sheep were brave enough to try to stop three wolves.

I tried to run at one of them, but it quickly ran back as another ran at me and bit into my woolly hide. Pain filled my body, and I made one last effort to attack one of the wolves, but it jumped out of the way. I felt the sharp pain of vicious teeth sinking into my neck and fell to the ground, defeated, as the beasts began tearing into my body. I didn't want to die, but at least the little sheep was going to be okay. Then, the dream vanished.
I awoke to see the sun slowly rising up from our window. With it came a sense of unease as a shudder went through my body, but I shrugged it off. I got up to go make breakfast for me and Max.
Once in the kitchen, I went through the food chest to pull out two bread and two empty buckets, then headed into the backyard to go milk the cow. As I was filling the buckets, I tried to think about the dream I knew I had last night.
I wasn't good at remembering dreams I had, so I could only recall a tiny bit. I remember seeing some sort of terrifying white creature with red eyes, and for some reason the grass was looking really appetizing. I shrugged off the thought as I finished milking and resupplied the cow with another hay block to munch on as I returned inside.
I went back into our room and woke Max up. It took a moment since he was a heavy sleeper. Then, the two of us went out into the living room.
"Guess what Max." I said to him as I handed him his breakfast. "Today, you're going to get to go fishing with me." That caught his attention.
"That's awesome. I don't think I've ever done that before." he said. "Is Ashley going to come with us?" My smile lessened.
"Um, no bud. Ashley had to go out of town because of something important." I told him.
"Aw man. I hope she comes back." he said.
"You and me both, bud." I replied as I finished off my bread, then took a long swig from the milk bucket.
"It's probably gonna be tough for you to get ahold of. Fishing, I mean." I informed him. "It took me a while before I could catch fish. Don't worry, it'll be fine."
"I hope so." was all he said as he finished off his own breakfast. He had a strange look on his face. I couldn't tell what was going on in his mind.
"Alright, you ready to head out?" I asked him.
"Yeah!" he said happily. The two of us headed out the door and made our way to the fishing shack.
As soon as we arrived at the fishing shack, I brought my little brother over to my boss.
"Hey Mr. Sandhand, I wanted to take my brother out fishing today. Could you lend us an extra fishing rod?" I requested. He looked at me.
"Why, sure. Just be sure to catch a good fifteen or more today." he said as he pulled out a fishing rod for me to take. I grabbed onto it and handed it down to Max.
"Thanks." I said to him and then guided Max over to the lake. Then, I pulled out my fishing rod.
"Okay, so what you're going to want to do is raise your fishing rod high up like this-" I aimed the rod high up, and the line dangled from it. I waited for my brother to do the same. He slowly raised his fishing rod up.
"Now, you want to fling it towards the water in one smooth but fast motion. Don't jerk it otherwise the line will get tangled." I informed him as I cast my line out onto the lakebed. He swung his with great force and ended up getting the line tangled up in the process.
"Uh, oops." he said. I held out my hands to grab it and left my own fishing rod on the ground, buried slightly in the dirt block in case it got a bite so it wouldn't get yanked into the water.
"Bring it here." I told him and he handed the fishing rod off to me. I got to work untangling the line from around the pole. "It's okay to mess up. This is the first time you've done this. Just try to learn from each time you make a mistake."
"Okay, I understand brother." he said as I fully untangled the line and handed it back to him. I grabbed my own fishing rod and pulled the line back in.
"Don't worry about the line being too short, when you cast, it stretches out until it hits the water." I explained. "Take the fishing rod, raise it up like this-" I waited for him to raise his. Once he did, I cast my line out, but I had done so too roughly, and my line flailed around, not stretching. "Oh, ignore that." I said as I waited for the line to stop moving.
"Now you made a mistake!" he pointed out. I slightly smiled.
"Yep, even experienced fishermen like me make mistakes. Now, do it like this-" I said as I raised it above my head, then swung the line out to the lake in a single motion. He looked back at his line nervously before he swung his fishing rod and cast the line out successfully. It landed six blocks from us. He looked back at me with a smile.
"I did it!" he exclaimed.
"You sure did! Good, now you need to wait until something comes along and bites it. You'll see a stream of water particles moving towards your bobber-that's the white and red thing at the end of your line-and once it bites on your hook and pulls the bobber under, that's when you lift the fishing rod up as fast and powerfully as you can." I told him. I noticed a stream of water particles moving towards my bobber and tapped on my brother's shoulder, drawing his attention to the stream.
"You need to do it... like this!" I said just as the bobber went underwater. I shot my fishing rod up and pulled a cod out of the water. The cod landed on the ground right next to me and I picked it up.
"Basically, the moment your bobber goes underwater, lift the line out." I told him. "You think you can do it?" Max nodded and waited, staring at the water, until a stream of water surged towards his bobber. He noticed it and right as the bobber went down, he pulled up on it, pulling a clownfish out of the water. It landed on the ground right in front of him and his face was full of joy.
"I caught one!" he practically yelled. A big smile spread across my face as I pat him on the shoulder.
"You just caught your first fish! I knew you could do it." I said, full of pride. "Let me take the fish, and we'll mount it on the wall when we get home." I said as I put the clownfish away in my inventory. "Now, let's keep fishing and see who can get the most fish by the end of the day." We continued to fish for several long moments.
Halfway into the day, I started to hear some commotion and turned to the source to see a few grey-skinned people with crossbows emerging from the woods on the other side of the lake. One of them was riding what appeared to be a massive hulking grey creature that only vaguely resembled a cow with a vicious jawline and horns. He was holding onto a banner with the illager face on it. My smile went away as I realized with unnerving certainty that they had to be the pillagers. No, no, it can't be now! I thought as fear ran across my body and invaded my mind. The other fishermen quickly noticed and I could see fear across many of their faces, while others were filled with anger. I immediately dropped my fishing rod and clutched Max, trying hard not to let my fear show. Unfortunately, I don't think I was doing a good job. He looked nervous upon seeing my face.
"What's wrong, big brother?" he asked me.
"N-nothing, Max. Just stay right next to me." I told him. We continued to stare at the pillagers as they made their way around the lake. As they got closer, a couple of the fishermen began to run off, but the pillagers spoke up.
"Freeze! We will not kill you unless you disobey!" one of them said, causing the fishermen to stop. I noticed our boss appearing from shack. He had an angry look on his face.
"What the hell are you doing here? This is our lake!" Mr. Sandhand said angrily.
"Not anymore. The illagers claim this land now." the pillager on the beast declared, an huge scowl on his face.
"Like hell you do. You can't just come in and-" Suddenly, arrows penetrated his body and he fell to the ground, a pained look on his face as he instantly bursting into smoke. Many of us gasped in horror at the brutality of the cold-coded murder.
"Begone from this lake at once or face death." the pillager ordered. Immediately, I covered Max's eyes with my hand and guided him away from Lake Bolblock, back towards our home. Many of the fishermen followed close behind me and the ones that didn't were immediately killed.
"What's going to happen to us?" Max whimpered as I undercovered his eyes. I didn't respond. I tried so hard to keep him from finding out, and this was truly the worst possible way he could have found out about the pillagers.
"Just keep walking." I told him.
We were all rounded up in the center of town. There were many more pillagers that had appeared, and we all had to listen or be killed. The pillager on the beast came and shouted.
"Last night!" His voice silenced everyone's worried murmurs. "We discovered the existence of a tunnel being dug. Many of your people were trying to flee underground. As much as I would've liked to made an example of them and had them all beheaded, we had much more fun with them. It was like dropping a block of tnt into a pit of silverfish. Now, they're all dead." I heard dozens of people all gasping in horror. The thought that Ashley was dead horrified me. I looked down at the ground, feeling disgusted.
"You damn mucks really thought you could outsmart us pillagers? We immediately noticed when your population was decreasing. This very act has made my leader very displeased, and so he has changed the date of attack. I would say to pray to your god, but your god wants us to destroy you. And now, you have five days left. Make peace with your deaths, because no faction will protect you." And with that, he and all the other pillagers ran off back to their camps.
Everyone was murmuring to each other and crying. The tension in the air was high as we all were terrified of the prospect of an attack so soon. I immediately took my little brother back to our house, away from all the misery.
"Tim... are we going to die?" Max asked, his face full of fear and sadness. I didn't know how I could respond. Upon noticing my lack of an answer and my troubled face, he began to cry.
"Oh no no, it's going to be okay!" I told him, trying to get him to stop and I went down to his level and put my hands on his shoulders. "They were just trying to sound scary. I'm sure they won't do anything." I lied. He rubbed the tear particles in his eyes.
"But-but... they killed people..." he sobbed.
"No, no. They just... sent them to a better place." I explained. He stopped sobbing for the moment.
"They did?" he asked.
"Oh yeah. Mr. Sandhand and the others are happy now. They get to be with their loved ones in the Aether." I told him. I wasn't a religious person by any means and didn't believe in an afterlife, but it hurt to see my brother crying, especially when there wasn't much I could do about it. I needed him to believe that there was a place beyond Minecraftia where one lives after they die so it wouldn't seem as bad as it was.
"But what if you die?" he asked. "Will you go to the Aether?" I put a smile on my face as my hand rested on his knee.
"Of course. And you would join me if it happened to you. But I'll do everything I can to make sure you get to live a nice long life before that." I promised him. His tears stopped forming.
"Tell you what. I'll make us some supper and then after we can play for the rest of the day. How's that sound?" He nodded slowly.
"Okay." he responded.
"Great!" I said and quickly ran into the kitchen to get started on dinner. I pulled out some raw beef and set them in the furnace to began cooking.
My smile had faded as I put my hand to my forehead and felt tears lightly begin to form. My entire world had been shaken up. This wasn't a problem that was going to fix itself. This was real. We were in real mortal danger. And now, going underground wasn't even an option. Thinking on it, I was glad I had decided to wait to make my decision instead of leaving last night. If we had gone last night, we would have been killed. Just like Ashley was...
The tears fell to the ground. This situation was just fucked. Was Red City ever going to come? Was there any hope of escape? Of survival? I looked out of the kitchen and at my younger brother, who was busy playing with some of his toys. I felt anger boil in my chest. Those damn pillagers, would they really be so coldhearted as to kill children?
The furnace flared down and I went back to it, pulling out supper and letting them cool off on the cobblestone counter as I went through the food chest once more. I decided what else could lighten the mood than some delicious honey? I pulled out two bottles of honey and then grabbed the two steaks and brought them out to the living room.
"Hey, guess what kiddo." I said as I put on a smile and held out the honey. "I decided why not have some honey with our supper?" He noticed the honey and immediately smiled.
"I love honey!" he exclaimed as I handed him his dinner. He immediately wanted to start with the honey first, but I insisted that the honey was for after the steak. I chowed down on my steak and savored the flavor while trying to push down all negative thoughts.
Once we both finished the meat, we moved on to the honey. I had gotten the honey way before the pillagers arrived, and it was quite expensive, being a gourmet delicacy, so I was pretty excited to taste it.
As I ingested the honey, my mouth exploded with delicious sweetness and filled me with energy. It also dried my throat a bit, but it tasted much better than I had remembered. I looked over at Max and could see he was loving his bottle of honey. His face was full of joy, there was none of the sadness there had been a moment ago. Then once he was finished, he looked at me with happiness on his face.
"Can we play now!" he asked excitedly. That honey had clearly filled him with energy. I smiled and we played games for the rest of the day.
By the time night came, we both turned in. I tried to get sleep, but knowing what was to come made it really hard. After several long moments, I finally managed to pass out.


Four Days Left


When I opened my eyes, I could see my brother looking down at me from my bed. He looked happy.
"Good morning Tim!" he said. I groaned and sat up, rubbing my eyes.
"Morning bud, you're up early." I said as I noted the sun was just rising on the horizon.
"We never mounted the fish on the wall like you promised." he pointed out. I took a moment before responding.
"Oh shoot, that's right. Yeah, give me a moment bud, we'll do that right away."
"Okay." he responded as he climbed off my bed. I reached my arms out to stretch them, hearing the bones crackle as they became ready for use. Then, I got out of my bed and stretched my legs until they no longer felt stiff.
"Alright, let's do this." I said and left our room. Max followed close behind as I approached the item chest in the living room. Once I opened it, I pulled out the essential materials needed to make an item frame-eight sticks and one leather. Then, I put them on the crafting table and placed them correctly. Within a quick moment, they shot together and formed an item frame. Heading to the wall in front of the wooden coach, I placed the frame onto the wall, then brought out the clownfish, the same one Max had caught yesterday. Then, I placed the fish within the item frame, making sure it was securely placed before letting go. I backed up so he could see it, then lowered to rub his back.
"There we go. That's the first fish you've ever caught!" I told him, my face beaming with pride.
"I'm going to be an even better fisher than you one day!" he said with a fierce grin plastered on his face. I wondered if he had already forgotten about the pillagers. I hoped so.
Despite the disaster that had happened yesterday, I was really glad I could share this moment with my little brother. I remembered when I was in his shoes, and Dad had been the one teaching me. Things were so different back then.
I realized we still hadn't had breakfast yet.
"Oh, hold on dude, I still gotta make us some breakfast." I told him as I quickly made my way to the kitchen.
I opened up the food chest and pulled out some bread and two empty buckets. Then, I went out back to milk the cow. As I did so, I thought about what to do.
If the pillagers had claimed Lake Bolblock, then how was I supposed to work? I hadn't heard anything from the mayor at all. What was he doing? Even more concerning was our financial situation. I had struggled to make ends meet even before the pillagers surrounded the village. I didn't have much money in my personal savings, only thirteen emeralds. That was maybe enough for two days. It would be tough-really tough-over the coming days. We really had no choice but to skip lunch from here on.
I remember the pillagers' warning to us. They had said they would kill all of us in five days. That was yesterday, so there were only four days left. My mouth went dry at the realization.
"Fuck... Please Red City, we need you." I caught myself saying out loud. The cow just looked over at me and mooed as it chewed on the hay from the hay block. I straightened myself.
If... if the worst case scenerio happened, then I want Max to be as happy as he can be before it happens, I thought to myself before becoming angry. A kid like him deserves to have a good life, not be killed at the hands of such evil creatures!
I hadn't realized I was finished until I heard the cow let out a pained moo. Then I looked down and noticed the buckets were completely filled. I picked them up and gave the cow a pat on the back before heading back inside, making sure I was calm before I went in. Then, I went into the living room and handed Max his breakfast as I started on mine.
"Guess what bud? I was thinking maybe we should spend the entire day messing around and playing. Would you like that?" I asked him before taking a bite out of my bread.
"I would, but... what about those bad people? I want to stay away from them..." he replied. I shrugged his concern off.
"Ah, you don't need to worry about them. They won't bother us as long as we don't bother them. As for some games, I have a few in mind. Let's talk about it after we eat." I told him as we continued on our breakfast.
Once we finished, I guided Max outside and we headed to our backyard. I made sure I had everything I had planned to use for our games.
"Alright bud, so how about we play Potato Toss?" I suggested as I brought out a raw potato I had gotten from one of the farmers' composters a while ago. "Rules are pretty self-explanatory-toss the potato back and forth until one of us drops it. The one who doesn't is the winner." I told him.
"Okay! I'm gonna pound you!" he said with a competitive smile. I smirked back confidently.
"We'll see." I tossed the potato at him. He managed to catch it, then he threw it back really hard. I caught it before it hit my chest.
"Hey bud, remember to play nice. I don't want to get injured." I told him. He nodded in understanding. I tossed the potato back at him and he grabbed it just before it could pass his side. Then, he threw it back and I caught it, but my grip wasn't strong enough and it fell to the ground. I heard Max let out a triumphant chuckle as I picked it back up.
"Good job bro! But you haven't seen me get serious yet." I said, tossing the potato up and down before I threw it over back at him. He tried to grab it, but his reach wasn't far enough and the potato flew past him, landed on the ground two blocks away.
"Darn it." he said as I cheered at my victory. He retrieved the potato and we played a few more rounds of Potato Toss.
In the end, the winner was myself, but I made sure it was close to keep him from getting too frustrated. We decided to try a new game.
"Alright, so this game is what I call..." I came up with a simple-sounding name on the fly, "Spleef! So basically, you and I have shovels, and we gotta try to get each other to fall into a hole." I said as I switched out the potato for two stone shovels and handed one of them to Max. "We run around each other and try to avoid the holes we dug while trying to get the other to fall into them." Spleef was a game I had spent a couple weeks trying to come up with. I never really came up with the name of it until now, but I wanted to give it a name tons of people wouldn't have a problem remembering. Fortunately, our backyard was the perfect flat area to play it. "Remember not to swing your shovel at me. That's against the rules and isn't okay."
"I know not to do that." he protested. I nodded.
"Just making sure you understand. Alright, let's start!" I said as I started moving around, keeping my eyes on him.
Max ran straight towards me and shoveled the block I was on, and I quickly jumped away and shoveled the block he was on. He quickly fell through.
"Dang it!" he said as I held my hand for him to take and lifted him out.
"Let's do it again. Don't get too cocky." I told him. Then, I ran straight for him and dug my shovel into the dirt block he was on. He was quick to jump away just as I broke the block and I quickly backed up, keeping my eyes on him.
Max charged forwards and dug at the block I was on, and I quickly moved to another block that he tried to dig up. I jumped away again and tried to shovel his block, but he lunged away. He was determined not to get tricked the same way twice.
We continued strafing around each other and digging until I accidentally misstepped and fell into a dirt pit, eating dirt. I heard him cheer as he won. I quickly spat out the dirt particles that were in my mouth.
"Darn it, I lost." I said and looked up at the sun to see what time it was. The sun was veering close to the horizon. It was starting to set. I looked over at him.
"Alright bud, that was really fun. We gotta play again some time. But now, it's time for supper." I told him. He initially groaned, but followed me as we headed inside.
I made my way to the kitchen and went through the food chest, pulling out some raw porkchops and stuffing them into the furnace to start cooking. Then, I thought about how much fun we had today. Sure, I was mostly doing this for Max's sake, but I was genuinely glad I had a reason to spend time with my little brother instead of fishing. Not having to work anymore was bad, but at least for the moment, we were happy.
Once the porkchops were done cooking, I carefully brought them into the living room and let them cool down before handing one to Max. He devoured it with gusto while I chowed down on mine. After the day we had, we were exhausted.
When we finished our dinner, I told him it was time to go to bed.
"Will we get to play again?" he asked. I nodded with a smile.
"Of course." I assured him before we headed off to bed.
I waited for him to fall asleep before I was able to slip off to sleep.
I dreamed of explosions. I dreamed of people screaming in pain and terror as giant grey beasts roared and trampled through homes. I dreamed of my home going up in flames. I dreamed of monsters roaming through the chaos, feasting on people that couldn't get away. I dreamed of the laughter of the evil illagers as they murdered people in cold code. I dreamed of Max, my brother Max, trapped under rubble as an illager wielding an iron axe grunted smuggly at the sight before raising his axe. Then suddenly, a blinding light flashed, drawing the attention of the illager. At the center of the light, a child stepped out, wearing a worn expression on his face. He couldn't have been any older than fifteen, but yet it looked like he had been through more than I could ever imagine.
Once the child stepped out of the light, all the illagers disappeared. All of the monsters vanished. The fires went out. The destruction remained, and all of the people were gone, including Max. The child looked across the destroyed town, the absence of life, and looked horrified and saddened, but determined as well. The dream vanished...


Three Days Left


When I awoke, I could see my little brother was still snoring away in his bed. I gazed at the sun and could see it peeking from the horizon. I was still tired and tried to fall back asleep, but a moment later Max woke up and shook me until I opened my eyes.
"Good morning Tim." he said. I gave a half-smile.
"Good morning bud." I replied as I slowly got out of bed. I wanted to sleep in all day, but I had to stay strong for him.
"Alright, let's make some breakfast before we start playing around." I told him and made my way to the kitchen. I got to work, making bread before heading out to milk the cow.
I didn't know why I was so out of energy today. But for some reason, I wasn't looking forwards to playing with my brother.
Once I finished milking the cow, I went back into the living room and handed Max one bread and bucket of milk. I wasn't hungry, so I just had a bucket of milk. Better to save food for when we needed it.
Once he finished his breakfast, we headed out into the backyard with the tools for our games. We played Potato Toss for several long moments before he wanted to move onto Spleef. After placing down the dirt blocks we had dug up yesterday, we played until the sun was starting to veer towards the horizon. I was glad that Max had a lot of fun, but I couldn't really say I felt the same.
"That was a pretty fun time, bro." I said with a smile. "Hey listen, it's getting late, so I want you to go into the house and wait. Pretty soon, I'll be back and I'll make us some supper. Alright?" I suggested.
"Okay!" he said as he ran into the house. I made my way deeper into town. I had plenty of time to think while we played, and I had made up my mind what to do.
I found myself approaching the local pub. Normally, they wouldn't serve people as young as me, but I really needed something to help me get over this undying feeling of emptiness in my stomach. I was prepared to beg if I needed to. Once I entered the building, I could see there were a ton of people sitting in booths. Many of them were passed out. I went up to the counter and called the attention of the bartender. I didn't know his name, but he looked like he was ready to fight someone if the situation demanded it.
"Hello there, youngster. Coming in to get away from the reality of life?" he asked. I nodded. "Normally, we don't serve minors, but since everything with the pillagers, I'm making exceptions." he informed. "Bad news is that since we haven't been getting deliveries lately, we're beginning to run low on our supply, so I'm afraid I can only give out one potion per customer now." he revealed.
"What's the best thing to make me feel better?" I asked. He fixed me with a stare.
"Kid, that's not how these potions work. They don't fix problems, only take away your concerns. But if you want something that'll help, try the weakness potion. It's very bitter, but it makes you feel like you have nothing to worry about, if only for a night or so." he explained.
"Hm... Yeah, I guess I'll take that one." I decided. He got to work brewing the potion as I looked over at the person right next to me holding on to his drink and immediately recognized him. It was Dr. Woodward, the village's top medical doctor. I could tell by the doctor's outfit he wore and his glasses. He looked back at me with a hint of surprise. I could tell he was depressed and drunk.
"Hey Dr. Woodward." I said to him.
"Hello Tim. I wasn't expecting to see you here. Although I guess I can understand why." he replied.
"How's everything?" I asked him and he looked forward.
"Stressful... You know, with all the things going on right now, lots of people are scared. And when they're scared, some of them do dangerous things. Like that tunnel." he said. I could see sadness in his eyes.
"My uh... my wife. She was distraught." he said, looking straight ahead. "I tried to talk her down, but she didn't want to... not by those monsters... It's... It's very hard to live." he said, his voice weak. I was stunned once I realized what he was saying.
"Dr. Woodward, I'm so sorry! That's horrible!" I stammered.
"Yeah well, that's why I'm here. Hoping to forget everything that happened. I assume the same for you?"
"Well, I've just been feeling very, well, I'm not sure how to describe it. Kind of like an emptiness in my chest. And I've been out of energy." I told him. He had another drink and spoke up.
"Sounds like you've been struck with depression. It's been happening all over town. Lots of people, they're scared to die. But they're accepting it as inevitable. And that makes it all the more terrifying." Hearing his words, I felt tears beginning to form. But I tried to keep from crying while I was out in public. He finished his drink.
"I've always-I've always wondered what's beyond. Whether you end up gone forever or in an everlasting heavenly world, or are reborn again. Throughout my life, I never could make up my mind what I believed. Guess we'll be finding that out. Where my wife went." he said, his voice sounding fragile. I watched as the bartender came over with my potion.
"Here you go. This is the only potion you'll get. Potion of weakness brewed to last for a good half a day. Enjoy." he said as he handed me the potion. I took it and opened the lid.
"You have a little brother, Tim." Dr. Woodward pointed out. "I would suggest that, well, maybe you hold off and wait for the day when it happens. It might be the best way to make sure he doesn't feel a thing." I stopped and looked at him before I looked back at the potion. Give my little brother a potion of weakness? How could I do that to him? I thought to myself. But then again, he might not have to suffer. He probably wouldn't feel pain or even know what was happening...
"It's a tough decision, I understand." he added upon noticing my troubled face. "But it's the decision that you, as the caretaker of the boy, must make." I lowered the bottle.
"Al-alright... I've m-made my decision." I said as I pocketed the potion away into my inventory. I brought the bartender back over.
"I want to keep the potion you gave me for my little brother. Could you give me another?" I asked him. He shook his head.
"Sorry, as I said, our supply is low. Only one potion per person. If you want to give it to your brother, I'd advise having him take it in the afternoon. The potion's effects will increase throughout the day, so keep an eye on him later on. It will have worn off the next day." he informed. "I'm sorry, but I can't give you anything else."
"Alright..." I muttered as I got up from the seat and left the pub, making my way back home. It was nighttime, and monsters could appear, but I didn't care anymore. I was struggling to keep from becoming a sobbing mess.
By the time I made it home, my brother greeted me at the door.
"Tim, you took a long time." he pointed out. I put on my smiling facade again.
"I know bud, I had to go somewhere first. Now, let's have supper." I assured him as I closed the door and made my way into the kitchen. I set raw steak in the furnace and listened to it cook. I put my hand on my forehead, then began to silently sob.
I was a mess. I could barely keep myself together. I knew deep in my heart that help was not going to arrive. We were doomed. There wasn't any hope for us. We were all going to die in a few days. And I was scared. The only thing I could do was try as hard as I could to keep the illusion of happiness for Max before it all ended. He was the only reason I was still here, the only reason I was still pushing. I needed to make sure he was as happy as he could be before the end.
Once the steaks had finished cooking, I pulled them out and let them cool before taking them into the living room, putting back on the facade.
"Here you go bud." I said as I handed him his steak.
"Thanks Tim." he replied as he began tearing into his meal. I looked at my steak. I still wasn't hungry, but I had to force myself to eat.
Once we were finished, we went into our room and went to sleep. I struggled for several long moments because I wasn't very tired. But eventually, I managed to fall asleep.


Two Days Left


I woke up to see the sun shining in the window. I felt very tired and went back to sleep.
I woke back up to feel my brother tugging on my arm. I brushed him off and insisted he let me sleep more. He said he wanted breakfast, so I told him to help himself to anything that was in the food chest. He left and I went back to sleep.
I woke up to feel my brother tugging on me again. He said he wanted to played. I told him to play with his toys, that I wasn't feeling ready to get up. He kept trying to get me to get out of bed, but he eventually gave up. I soon fell back asleep.
I dreamed that I was a fox, being chased by vicious wolves. I darted from tree to tree, but the wolves always found me. I tried to hide in a cave, but I could hear their snarling as they investigated. The moment the three of them passed back, I booked it right past them and fled out of the cavern, but they had heard me and gave chase once again.

I was tired of running. I had been running all day and I wanted to give up. But I didn't want to die. I didn't want to die. I desperately wanted to escape. I didn't care if I ran past chickens or tasty berry bushes, if I stopped for even a moment I would be torn apart by the vicious wolves.

I found myself coming upon a large stone cliff wall and turned around to see the wolves closing in from the three sides, their red eyes filled with a primal hunger. I barked at them as my body shook with terror. I didn't want to die! I didn't want to die!

Right as the wolves ran at me with their teeth bared, the dream faded away.
I woke up to feel my brother pleading for me to get out of bed. I told him I was tired and he told me I had been sleeping all day and he just wanted to see me get up. I told him I would play with him tomorrow and he asked me why I was being this way. I ignored him. And I went back to sleep.


One Day Left


I had a dream that I was in a dark void. I didn't know what was happening or where I was. But I heard a voice. I wasn't sure who it belonged to.

"Sometimes, when faced with impending danger, we become blind to the needs of our loved ones. Then, when something bad happens, we regret not being there for them."

"It's okay to be afraid. But take solace in knowing that you aren't alone. Be the person your brother needs you to be."
I woke up to see my brother standing on my bed looking down at me. He looked upset.
"Hey bud." I said to him.
"Tim, please wake up." he pleaded. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
"I'm up. Sorry about yesterday, I was just really tired." I told him. His face filled with relief.
"Are you going to play with me?" he asked. I nodded.
"Yeah, I just... Let me make breakfast." I said as I got off the bed with him.
"Why are you crying?" he asked as we were heading towards the living room. I was confused until I put my hand on my cheek and felt tear particles.
"Oh, um, it's nothing." I replied.
"Did you dream about the bad people too?" he asked. I looked down at him.
"Did you have a dream about them?" I questioned. He nodded. His face was sad.
"I dreamed they hurt us and a lot of other people. I don't want them to hurt us." he said. I put on a smile.
"There's no need to worry about that." I said as I peeked at the clock. It was midday. I must've really slept in today.
Suddenly, I heard a pained grunt and became alarmed.
"Stay here." I told him as I approached the kitchen. I heard it again, it came from outside. Drawing my stone sword, I opened the door outside and saw two people wearing full coats of black leather armor attacking our cow. The cow fell over and burst into smoke. I immediately was filled with rage.
"Hey! Get the hell out of here!" I roared as I held my sword out. The two looters immediately took the meat and leather from the cow and sprinted off before I could chase them.
"Dammit!" I hissed. Our cow was now gone. I felt like I had lost a friend.
I went back inside to see Max in the living room with a worried look on his face.
"What happened?" he asked. I closed the door behind me so he wouldn't see that the cow was gone.
"Nothing bud. Just some animals wandering around where they weren't supposed to." I lied. His face held an expression as though he was doubting what I had said and I ignored it, going through the food chest, but there was no more food left. I frowned. Looks like that's it... I thought to myself, This is truly it. I went back out into the living room.
"Hey bud. Looks like we're all out of food right now, but that's alright, cuz I have something I think you'll like." I told him. He looked curious as I reached into my inventory. I paused for a moment and tried not to let my hesistence show as I pulled out the potion of weakness.
"You see, this is a drink that adults get to drink. It makes you feel really good." I informed him, making sure my smiling facade was on tight.
"Oh really?" he replied as he gazed at the glowing bluish liquid. I nodded.
"You proved to me that you're a real man when you caught that fish, so I want to give you a reward. I'm acknowledging you as an adult now." I told him as I handed it to him. He smiled at me.
"Thanks bro!" he exclaimed as he began to drink from it. His face instantly became disgusted. "Gross, it tastes terrible!"
"Yeah, it's very bitter. But I also have something that'll make it go down much better." I told him as I brought out a bottle of honey I had been holding on to for this very day. I handed the honey to him and as he started to consume both of them at once, I felt a tear forming in the corner of my eye.
Once he was finished, he had a huge grin on his face.
"That was delicious! The honey made it taste very good. Thanks!" he said. I nodded and looked for any change.
"Do you feel any different?" I asked him.
"Just warm in my chest. It's kinda nice." he informed me. For a brief moment, I envied him being able to have his first drink before me, but felt ashamed for feeling that way. I'm getting my little brother drunk. I thought to myself. This is absolutely horrible... But I reminded myself that it was much better for him to be this way so that when the raid happened, he wouldn't even notice.
"Hey bud, how about we stay inside today? Today might not be the best time to be outside." I suggested.
"Okay! We can play with my toys." he pointed out.
"That sounds like fun, why don't you bring them in?" I requested and he nodded, quickly making his way to his room.
After a couple moments, he returned with a bunch of his toys in his hands and dumped them on the floor. Scattered among the mess were many items such as his compass, a clock, a lead, a slimeball, a lump of coal, a creeper and skeleton head, and a loose painting.
"How about we place the painting?" I suggested to him. He nodded a bit slowly and picked up the painting, and brought it over to the wall by me and placed it. It instantly transformed into a two-by-one with a creeper head peeking over a ledge.
"Ooo, that's pretty scary." I said with a smile. "Imagine that thing looking at you from the woods. I know I wouldn't want to meet that guy in an alley."
"Yeah." was all he replied with as he punched the painting, knocking it off. Then, he placed it back on, and the painting morphed into a one-by-two painting of a really tall faceless man in a black suit. There was something a bit unsettling about the painting and I broke it down and placed it back on. It turned into a one-by-one painting of an empty yellow wasteland.
"Alright, enough of this thing." I said as I broke the painting again and looked back at Max. He looked like he was having trouble concentrating. I knew that had to be the potion of weakness at work and felt guilty.
"How about we pretend to be monsters?" I asked him as I put on the skeleton head.
"Sure." he said, putting on the creeper mask. I pulled out my bow and pretended to shoot at him while he hissed and pretended to blow up everytime he got near me.
We played for several moments until he wanted to stop.
"Um, brother. I don't feel very good." he said. He was stumbling and was no longer making eye contact with me. I was growing worried. I took both our masks off and put my head against his chest to hear his heart. It was beating with a slight delay, but still going strong. I looked at the clock and noticed that it was nighttime.
"Alright, how about we stop playing for now?" I suggested. "I think... I think it's time we both go to bed." He slumped forwards against me.
"Can we play again in the morning?" His words made me tear up as I wrapped my arms around him.
"Sure bud. I promise." I told him as I lifted him up and brought him back into our room.
"Hey Max, could you sleep right by me tonight?" I asked him, feeling tears beginning to fall down my face.
"Uh... sure..." he said in a daze. I sat down on my bed, with my brother in my arms. I hoped he couldn't see my face, because I had tears streaming down my face. My brother didn't deserve this. He deserved to live a happy life, like every other kid. When I had woke up this morning, I thought I would be able to be strong for him, but I couldn't even stop myself from crying. What did we ever do to deserve this?
I laid him down right beside me and wrapped him up in the bed covers, keeping my arm around him. Not just so he could feel comforted, but so I could feel him with me during this. I didn't know if we were going to wake up to the sun or to the sound of the invasion, but I wanted him with me.
I hugged him tightly as I listened to his soft breaths. He was asleep. Good, because I couldn't keep it in anymore. I sobbed loudly. I had my whole life ahead of me as well as Max. There were things I wanted to do that I'd never get to. My life would end within several moments. I could only hope that I had made Max's special.
I wished the best for everyone else still alive in the village. If there were any survivors, I hoped they would tell people what would happen here. I hoped people would know about the tragedy that took place here. The tragedy of Toffblock Village.
"I love you Max..." I said through the tears as I heard a sudden toll of the bells. That only meant one thing-that this was it. I closed my eyes and held my brother close to me as I accepted that this was the end. I didn't want to die. But in the end...
At least he was okay.









Three years later
Narration
It had been three years since the destruction of Toffblock Village. Two individuals and an allay, who had been traveling the world together, had made their way to the remains of the settlement. One of them was a young teenaged boy, named David.

David's POV
We arrived at the ruins of a village. The sun was still high in the sky, so we had plenty of time to look around. I took in the sight. There was almost nothing left of the town. None of the buildings were standing and there were only a few walls. The rest was just rubble. The sight was saddening to see.
"It's wild, isn't it?" Natalia said as she put her arm around me. "How a faction of people could do something so horrible?"
"The illagers weren't people. They were monsters." I replied. She nodded.
"I think I heard somewhere that a few people survived what happened here, but it's still very tragic." she said, a sad expression on her face. We both went to look through the rubble. Maybe there would be something to hold on to? We were running low on resources, so if we could find something, anything, we needed to bring it.
After several long moments of searching, I had found a chest that contained some bread and apples, but not much else. I pocketed them away and kept searching.
I eventually ended up finding another chest in what looked like it might've been a bedroom of a house. It was hard to tell though. I opened the chest up and found a map-type page with a drawing on it. It looked like a drawing of a kid and an older person and colored in with various dyes, scribbled pretty messily that indicated that it was drawn by a child. The page was titled, "Me and the best brother in the world." with a smiley face at the end. My allay let out a low whimper at the sight and I frowned as I looked at the picture. I couldn't imagine how many people must've been killed so many years back, and how many people had died afterwards during the Purge War. How many different stories had been brought to abrupt ends.
Out of respect, I put the drawing back in its chest. I hoped that all the people who had died here were at peace.
As I turned to leave, I also noticed an item frame mounted on the wall with a clownfish in it, but left it alone. Clownfish weren't worth the inventory space they used up. The sun was starting to approach the horizon, so my allay and I made our way back to my sister. It was getting late, and I didn't want to be in a ghost town during the night.
As we left the village on our horses, I turned to look back at the ruins one more time. It was sad to see what was once a town of people now reduced to almost nothing. I remembered hearing people referring to what happened to this village in particular as a tragedy. They called it the Tragedy of Toffblock.