So hey guys, welcome to my contest entry. Please diamond it if you like it, to help it get to the finals. And yes, it is very long. Skip to the end for the most action packed part of the story. But other than that, enjoy!

                                                                    Mizu

 Steve wandered through the bright forest, the sun twinkling on the small patches of water scattered around the area. Sweat is glistening on his face as he grabs his axe and begins to chop down a nearby tree, pocketing the useful wood after he finished chopping it down. He picked up a shining scarlet apple and munched on it, relaxing in the sun. The taste and feeling of the apple was nice and cooling, it refreshed him after another hard day’s work of improving his house to protect him better from the horrors of the night. Steve had been alone for as long as he could remember.


 


He had awoken on a beach with white sands, confused and lost. Cows, pigs and frail chickens passed him as he sat, wondering what had happened. He had got up and wandered off the beach and into a nearby forest. He had yelled into the wilderness for days, hoping to find something to tell him where he was, and who he was. The only thing he could remember wad that his name was Steve, and the only other one like him he remembered was a screaming face before everything went black. Steve had been alone for years.


 


But once, there were many.


 


They lived everywhere, from the tips of the cold mountains to the lush depths of the jungle. From the barren ice plains to the dry desert. Other humans. Steve was one of these humans. For most of eternity, the humans lived in peace; the horrors of the night were simply a burden. The monsters were stupid and could easily be struck down with one blow of a sharpened blade, or one shot from a silver flying arrow. The humans were at peace with the nature around them. But there was one thing that the humans always feared above all others. The creeper.


 


The creeper would stalk the humans, until finally coming into contact. There was no escape from the blast that killed so many. The creepers got smarter, and learnt to hide in the houses of people foolish enough to leave doors open before setting out to mine for sparkling diamonds and glowing redstone. The creepers had no fear. They lived everywhere, in every biome. Every biome, except one. The ocean. Creepers would drown in the ocean, they had no arms to swim. The population of humans was slowly declining, while the population of creepers was rapidly rising, beyond control, beyond comprehension.


 


Then some humans who were living in the plains of the world were at the beach, gathering some cocoa from a strip of jungle that lined the long coast. They were picking some Cocoa pods of the ground, when a creeper spotted them. They were distracted. Easy victims for the creeper’s wrath. The creeper burst from the foliage, but went too far, and tumbled off the sand and into the clear waters. There was thrashing, the creeper surfaced and then sank over and over, and then the water was calm and silent. The humans sprinted back to their homes, ideas fresh in the mind.


 


When the two humans reached their homes, they went straight to the leader of their town. They explained the idea, how the creeper had died, and how the water only had squids to worry about. They had a plan. A bold idea. A bold idea to create a city. A city, under the sea. Built with strong glass, it would be big enough to hold the human race forever. The leader called it nonsense, but that night, he pondered over the thought. Could it work? Would it really stop creepers? In the morning, the town mayor had his choice. Yes. He had given it lots of thought, and decided it was reasonable, and it was the only hope humanity had left of survival.


 


The mayor sent out a flare, a message of sorts, sent on horses, bats and even some wolves and dogs. This message was going to every human civilisation on the continent. The message read:


“I am speaking to you from the mild grasslands, to propose an idea to save our race. If you agree with the idea, we would like you to send glass and your best builders. We are going to build a city in the ocean, free from the wrath of creepers. Also, if you agree, we would like proposals for a name for this city. Reply as quickly as you can.


-Lucius Gramen, mayor of Pratum town, the plains.”


To Lucius’s surprise, he woke up one morning to see something coming on the horizon. It was thousands and thousands of experienced builders, and behind them were thousands upon thousands of horses, each carrying several tons of glass. All in all, there was about 11,000 tons of glass to build the city. Just enough to complete it.


 


The building work began. The builders lived in small waterproof shacks while they were building, they took fences with them at all times; the building site was littered with fences for breathing. They followed the design that Mayor Gramen lay down for the city: a dome, simply, with small domes coming of the sides. It took 3 years, and the population of humans lessened even more, but it was finally finished. Humanity had hope.


 


There was a mass migration. Ninety seven percent of humanity packed up and migrated to the coast. The 3 percent that were left, the ones too scared to leave, were quickly wiped out by the creepers. After a few months, humanity was in the dome, then it was sealed.


 


For many years, humanity lived in complete peace. They had farms underneath the domes, they had leisure areas, they even had swimming pools dotted around the houses. It was a leap for humanity that had never been reached once before. Everything was safe, and everything was secure. The creeper’s population lessened without the humans to kill, but they survived, only just by feeding off of cows, pigs and chickens. The land was abandoned, almost a ghost world. Humanity was saved.


 


Until the guardians came. And this is where our story gets back to Steve.


 


Steve was wandering through the quiet streets. There was a dull blue glow everywhere. It was night time. Steve had just finished up shop in the local blacksmiths. He was ready to go back to his house and fall to sleep in his comfy bed, all feelings of worry about the business lost. Just pure, peaceful rest. It was the thing that Steve looked forward to all day. But little did he know, just outside the dome some things were gliding overhead, staring into the dome with one, large eye, bloodshot and almost angry. Angry at the things that had taken over their home.


 


Outside, a larger one came out of the distance. It was covered in spikes like the rest, but these spikes were sharper, like daggers. It seemed to turn to the other Guardians, and nod. Then every single one of these monsters shot a beam out of its eye, made of electricity. It made the water sparkle and frizzle, it made the water vibrate. As soon as the beams hit the dome, pieces of glass begun to break off. The beam was drilling a hole in the glass.


 


Steve looked up. Dark shapes were swimming outside the glass. There was blinding beams of light. Steve watched, eyes narrowed, as the glass got thinner and thinner. Then the beams cut through all the way, and water flooded in through the deep holes. Steve took the hint and run, away, hoping to find some way to escape the waters.


 


All across the dome, people were coming out of their houses, wondering what all the commotion was. When they saw the water pouring in, the either screamed and ran, or stood silent and shocked. Through all the chaos, Steve reached the end of the dome. Then Steve realised. There was no way out. That was the one flaw in the plan. There was no escape route in case of an emergency.


 


A chain reaction began. The dome began collapsing. Glass and water fell everywhere, and gangs of Guardians flooded in with the water, shooting the beams at anyone they could find. Steve stood pressed against the far corner, and suddenly was met by a barrage of screaming people. All of them pressed up against the glass like Steve, saying goodbye to their families and trying to block out the awful sight. The sight of a great nation crumbling. Then the glass broke above their heads and water fell down like a bomb. Steve saw a screaming face before everything went black.


 


Steve’s unconscious form floated up above the doomed city, like an angel rising from Earth. He surfaced, and the current drifted him to a sandy beach.


 


He awoke eyes heavy and drenching. He stood up, confused, and looked around at his surroundings. The golden sun beat down on his head, and he shielded his eyes. A new world. Or a world left to rot.