Blind's eyes slowly open to a blue sky above him, and air rushed into his lungs for the first time. He lifted his head up to view his surroundings. To his left, there was a forest; and to his right, there was a plain. Blind slowly got up for the first of many times as his eyes get accustomed to the light of the bright and warm sun, and he surveyed his surroundings in greater detail. In the forest, a skeleton waited underneath a tree for something to come within range, and in the plains there was a cobblestone path. I wonder whether I should follow the path or collect some materials first. He thought. Probably should get some materials first. Wouldn't want to be caught unprepared in case something unforeseen happens.

Blind walked towards the woods, taking care stay out of the skeletons range. After punching several trees into a pulp, Blind made a crafting table, then crafted a wooden pickaxe. Then he dug out 24 cobblestone, then crafted a stone sword, pickaxe, shovel, and axe. No point in keeping this wooden pickaxe if I have a better one with me, Blind decided, and threw the wooden pick into the hole he just dug.

Blind began to walk towards the path he had seen earlier, when an arrow struck a tree just in front of his face. Holy crap! He looked in the direction the arrow had come from. The skeleton was standing there, preparing another arrow to fire. I should have been a bit more careful with that skeleton creeping around... He turns to the skeleton and prepares to attack. The skeleton fires another arrow, but this time Blind is ready. He hits the arrow with the flat side of his sword, and the arrow is thrown off course. The skeleton starts to get yet another arrow as Blind charges, but by the time it was ready to shoot again, Blind was already on it. With one smooth motion, Blind wrenched the bow out of the skeletons hand and thrust his sword into the skeletons skull. The skeleton collapsed into a bony heap, and Blind reaches down to loot a bone and two arrows.

The skeleton defeated, Blind began to walk toward the path. If that is as hard as the enemies in this world can get, I'm in for an easy life! Blind thought to himself. Oh, how wrong he was.

Blind walked slowly down the path in the plains towards an unknown destination. His stomach groaned in complaint of the long walk without food. I really should have waited to see if any of those trees dropped any apples... Blind realized. But it was too late to turn back. He had been walking for several hours, and the sun was beginning to set. I need to find shelter. But I don't have enough wood to build a house, and there are no trees around here to fix that. Blind stopped walking to look around. His stomach groaned again, but this time even louder. Oh, stop complaining, He thought. I will eat as soon as I find food. Finding nothing near the path, Blind ventured to his right in hopes of finding a cave or some animals.

Blind walked for a few minutes until the sun set entirely, then stopped to survey his surroundings again. Nothing looked promising. But something was near him, silently sneaking up behind him as he turned around again to head back towards the path. Suddenly, Blind hears the footsteps behind him, and he spun around as fast as he could. Directly in front of him stands a green creature that looks not unlike him, but it has four legs and no arms. As it moved closer it began to hiss, and Blind is frozen with fear. He only had enough time for a single word to go through his head before the inevitable happened. Crap... The creeper exploded, and pain erupted all over Blind's body, and he was catapulted backwards. More pain shot down his spine as he landed and slid across the tall, course grass, which as if it was tearing the flesh off of his back. Gah! This really hurts... Then his mind went blank. He found himself staring straight up and losing his notion of time. Then, he blacked out.


A time later, Blind suddenly woke up. For a moment, he didn’t remember why he was lying on the course grass of the plains, and why the dirt seemed so damp, as there was no water nearby. As he sat up, he was horrified at the scene in front of him. Where the creeper exploded there was a large hole in the ground, and the entire area around him was completely soaked in blood. As if that wasn't enough, he looked at his left shin and saw his bone, but the really frightening part was what the flesh looked like. It was utterly shredded. Should...have...stayed...on...the path! He mentally berated himself. In agony, Blind rolled over and began dragging himself towards the torch-lit path. Pain screamed in his skull, spine, and especially his leg as he hauled himself through tall grass and elevation changes.

After what seemed like hours, Blind finally made it back to the path, and rolled onto his back. He took out the bow and the few arrows he had taken from the skeleton he had killed previously. I sure hope I don't have to use these... He thinks. He tries to stay alert, but he had lost so much blood, he could not help but feel woozy. NO! He mentally yells at himself. If I pass out again, I will DIE! This mental shout of determination helped, but ultimately, his efforts were in vain. He could not prevent himself from passing out again, both from blood loss and exhaustion


Blind woke in the morning with a start. Dangit! I fell asleep. Well, at least I made it through the night. He tried to stand up, but a severe jolt of pain caused him to fall down again, causing a secondary shock of pain to go up his spine.


“Augh!” Blind shouted. “Can’t walk yet…” He will later realize that the first thing he ever audibly said was a cry of pain.


Blind grabbed his bow and cut the string, and the curve of the bow sprung out, and it was now little more than a semi-curved stick. Perfect. Blind thought to himself, then began to use the bowstring to painfully tie what used to be his bow onto what used to be his left knee. Again, he tried to stand, putting his weight primarily on his ‘good’ leg and on the stick. This time he was able to stand, but it was excruciating.


“Gah! This is really going to suck!”


Blind began walking again at a much slower pace than before. As he walked he would fall over now and again, and pain would tear through his entire body, but he would always manage to get up and continue walking. After four hours of this excruciating torture, a small group of people become visible in the distance. Finally! I'm saved! This is finally over! Blind thought to himself, overjoyed. For the moment it was. The battle was won, but the war of his life is far from over.

Blind sat in a dark and damp dungeon. In the distance, the moaning of another prisoner could be heard.


…Sometimes, life really sucks. He thought.


Blind heard a piston go off, then four pieces of bread fell onto the floor from a hole the ceiling. Blind turned around just in time as the piston went off again, and he saw the hole vanish. He got up and walked over to inspect the bread that had fallen in.


Terrific. Stale, wet, moldy bread. They are treating me like a king. Blind thought darkly, as he rolled his eyes.


Why did they even put me in here? What did I ever do? Blind thought back to when he was rescued.









"Hey! Help me!" Blind shouted, frantically waving his arms around, trying to get the attention of the group in front of him. He would have jumped for joy when they changed directions and began walking towards him if it wasn't for his shredded left leg. Suddenly, a tearing pain erupted in his leg, and he fell to the ground.


“Augh! What the...”. Blind looked around him, but there was nothing that could have just attacked him, so looked at his leg. The bowstring he had used to tie the bow to his leg had just cut deep through the skin.


Thank goodness this didn't happen earlier. He thought.


The group approached him, and the nearest one to him said, "Holy crap man! What happened to you?”


Blind only replied with a single word. “Creeper.”


One of the people at the back of the group mumbled into the ear of the guy next to him, then they both snickered.


“What’s so funny?”


The one who had told the joke to the other looked at Blind as if he had two heads. “What, are you stupid?”


“No… Inexperienced… I spawned just yesterday.”


The person closed to Blind reached a hand down to help him up, and Blind accepted. With difficulty, he pulled him up, and Blind put nearly all of his weight on his good leg. The one who helped him up spoke next.


“You are a creeper man, my friend. You are basically the human form of a creeper. That’s what they were laughing about.”


Blind nodded, then frowned at the two in the back, although they couldn’t tell. Creeper men were always frowning.


The one who had helped him up handed Blind an apple and two steaks. “Eat these, you look like you need them.”


Blind took them and devoured, mumbling a ‘thanks’ through his loud chewing.


No problem. My name is Highrise by the way, but my friends call me Rise."


Blind stopped eating so he could properly reply. “Nice to meet you, Rise. I’m Blind.” That set off another round of snickers from the same two people, and Blind replied with a glare, then resumed eating.


“Nice to meet you too. Well, I should probably introduce the other three guys to you as well." He puts his hand on the shoulder of the just behind him "This is Nmophj. Don't even try to pronounce that." He moved on to the two in the back, and gestured towards the one who had whispered. "This is Bernard," then he gestured towards the last person. "…and this is Solja."



Blind finished eating, then glanced downwards. He was amazed, as he saw his leg slowly healing before his very eyes. Rise chuckled good-naturedly.


“Always nice to see the amazement of a new spawn over such a thing so common.”


Nmophj spoke up. "We have been out on a scouting mission for a few days, but we could get back to the castle in just under a day if we walk straight back. You willing to come with us? If that’s okay with everyone else, of course.”


Rise smiled and nodded, Solja thought for a moment, then nodded, and Bernard frowned and crossed his arms. "Three out of four." Bernard mumbled and turned around. He clearly doesn't like me. I wonder why? Blind thought.


“So are you coming with us or not?" Solja said.


"Sure. Where else would I go?" Blind replied. Blind leg had healed enough to be able to walk properly again, so they began their trip back to the castle.









After about an hour of walking, Rise eventually spoke up. "You know Blind, it probably would have been easier for you if that creeper had just straight up killed you."


“What? How would that be? Then I would have been dead!" Blind exclaimed.


Rise stopped walking and looked at blind as if he had two heads. Then he appeared to have remembered something, judging by the ‘aha’ reaction he had after a moment.


“Death doesn’t mean much here, more of an inconvenience than anything else. If it had killed you, you would have reappeared back where you spawned. Without all of the stuff you had on you, of course.”



“Oh.” Blind said.








After more than a few hours of traveling, the castle became visible in the distance.


"Here we are!" Rise said, exited. He gestured towards Solja, Bernard, and Nmophj. "Go on ahead, Blind and I will catch up." After they went in, Rise turned to Blind and said, "Before we go in, I must warn you. The people around here are not accustomed to people like you. I cannot guarantee you will be treated fairly."


Blind shrugged. "Anything is better than being out there by myself, right?"


“You’re right… probably." Rise said, nodding. However, he still seemed unsure of himself.


Probably? Blind asked himself, but he dismissed it moments later. They entered the castle, Blind following Rise. As he walked, Blind noticed one thing right away. Everyone was staring at him. He could hear murmurings from passersby saying things like, "What is he doing here?", and “He has got some nerve to walk around here so boldly,” among other things.


"I am heading to the King’s hall to tell him about what we found on the scouting mission, which wasn’t much, but its regulation. Well, we didn’t find much other than you, but because we did, you should probably come with me." Blind nodded.


“Besides… all new residents need to get permission from him to live here.” Blind nodded, although he was now paying more attention to his surroundings than to Rise.


Why does just about everyone look like they are waiting for me to make a wrong move so they can attack me? Blind thought. He wanted to try to force this thought out of his head, but could not.


For Blind, they could not have entered the King's hall soon enough. Surely, he would not be as prejudiced as everyone else seemed to be.


Solja, Bernard, and Nmophj were already there, relating their findings to the King. The King looked up to see Rise and Blind walk up, and he was enraged. "YOU DARE BRING THIS BEAST INTO MY PRESCENCE!?" He shouted. Blind took a few steps back, surprised by the sudden outburst.


Rise immediately realized that this was a horrible idea. "He was injured when we found him, and he called out for help! What was I supposed to do?”


“Leave him be! Go the other way!" The King yelled back. "You know how badly they want a spy in our ranks! This is exactly how they would do it! Guards! Apprehend that abomination and throw him in the dungeon!"


Rise took a breath as if he was to protest, but he stopped when the King glared at him. Instead, he turned to Blind. The expression on his face said all that needed to be said.


He can’t do anything to help me anymore.


Blind was about to say, "It’s okay,” but the guards were on him sooner than expected. They grabbed his arms and punched him in the chest. They began to drag him towards the dungeon, and he gave one last look towards the Nmophj, Rise, Solja, and Bernard. Rise, understandably, was sad. Nmophj was too, though not as much. Solja wasn't even paying attention. Worst of all, though, Bernard had a smile on his face.

Blind sat in the dark dungeon, staring at the stale, damp, and moldy bread given to him.


If only I could break out! He thought. He knew better though. The walls were made of obsidian, and he had been told that each cell is rigged for primed TNT to fall into the room if even a single block were punched out of the wall, the ceiling, or floor.


He looked towards the front of the cell. There was no way the iron bars or door in front of him could be rigged to blow, but he had noticed a tripwire just outside of the cell that would be unavoidable if he attempted to escape. He sat down on the bed in his cell and took a bite from the bread he held. It was cold, damp, and disgusting. He set it down and looked at the other three pieces he had. One of them was less moldy than the others, so he grabbed that one and began to eat it.


This one isn't too bad. Still dreadful, but not gut-wrenching. He was slowly munching on the bread when he heard a distant moan reverberate through the hallway. Poor guy. He thought. They are probably doing to him what they did to me.


Blind shuddered at the thought of the 'interrogation' machine they had used on him earlier. It stretches its victim's arms and legs out to unnatural and painful amounts while the interrogators question said prisoner. And by question, I mean ask four questions and then torture for ten minutes, which feels like an hour, then ask the same four questions. Blind shoved the thought of the machine out of his head, and continued to chew on the stale bread. Suddenly, his teeth hit something hard. What the heck? What is this? He pulled a lever out of the bread.


Whoa… what?! Blind smiled. It looks like someone wants me to escape!


He hastily put the lever in his inventory just in time. A guard suddenly walked out in front of his cell. Should I make a break for it now? Or should I wait? Blind poked his head out of the bars and looked down the hallway towards a window. It was clearly daytime, but it was impossible to say what time it was, exactly. I should probably wait for nighttime before trying to escape. He looked at the bread again. There appeared to be a piece of paper inside where the lever was. Someone IS trying to help me! He looked at the paper. It read:





Blind. What they are doing to you isn't right. At midnight, meet me by the gates. Don't worry about the tripwire. It will be taken care of. -A friend


Blind smiled. The strange smile of a creeper man looked to many more like a frown than a grin, except to those who know better. He looked out the window again, and was just barely able to see that the sun was setting. How am I going to be able to wait 6 hours in here? Blind thought as he finished the bread. He put the rest in his inventory, alongside the lever.


As disgusting as this bread is, I might need it. Blind sat down on the bed and waited, Every now and then he looked out the window to get an idea of what time it is. As always, when you are waiting for something, time seems to move much slower, especially when you have nothing to do. For Blind, those six hours felt like an entire day.


A bell tolled, shaking Blind out of a daze. Time to go. Blind used the lever to open the iron door used to lock him inside and he looked at the tripwire in front of him. The moment of truth. He stepped forward. As his foot went down on the stone below him, he listened for an alarm of any sort. Nothing. Complete silence. He looked upwards. Thank you! Then he stealthily ran down the prison halls.


Suddenly, he heard footsteps from around a corner not far ahead of him. A guard! Blind looked around. There was only one place he could hide, in the room where the interrogation machine resides. I really hoped I would never have to go in THERE again! Blind dived into the room. He listened for a suspicious stop or slow in the guards pace, but there was none. Blind cowered next to the wall as the guard walked away, and breathed a sigh of relief when he no longer heard his footsteps. Phew! Close one. He stood up. To his horror, someone else was already in the room, looking directly at him. Crap! This is bad, this is bad, this is VERY bad!

Crap... Blind looked at the man across the room. All this guy has to do is call out and I'm caught! He looked around the room for anything he can use as a weapon. Not a single thing, so there was only one thing he could do. Blind ran as fast as he could towards the man across the room, hoping he could reach him before the man called a guard. He vaulted over the 'interrogation' device and slammed his feet into the chest of his opponent, both knocking him backwards and knocking the wind out of him. Blind stood up and waited. The other man slowly climbed onto his feet, pulling a knife out of his pocket. Crap. He has a weapon! He studied the blade. It was three inches long and about a half inch wide. The opponent opened his mouth and said with a sly voice, "You see this knife freak? This knife is going to slit your throat!"


"I don't think so." Blind wryly replied. His opponent lunged, Blind dodged. When the man's arm was fully extended in front of Blind, Blind grabbed the man's wrist with his left hand and tried to break his opponents elbow with his right. The man punched Blind on the side of the head before he could accomplish this; however. I don’t know how to fight! How can I possible beat him? His opponent lunged again. This time Blind was unable to dodge correctly. The cold knife plunged into his left shoulder with a sharp pain, and blood began to flow out all over his already tattered and stained prison shirt. Blind took a few steps back in pain and surprise.


"Ha ha! I got you now!" His opponent said. The man leaped forward, aiming his knife at Blind's throat. Suddenly, time seemed to slow. As the knife was hurtling towards Blind, he reached out and grabbed his opponent's arm and did a 180-spin, flinging his opponent to the ground. Blind lifted up his left arm and let loose on his downed opponent, smashing the man’s face to the point of him being unrecognizable. When he stopped, Blind had second thoughts. Let’s hope he is just out and not dead. If he is dead, he will just respawn and raise the alarm!


Blind began quickly walking towards the exit. Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him, then a sharp pain in his back. "You think you know pain?" He heard his new opponent say. "Well you will when I'm done with you!" The knife in his back was twisted, and his back screamed in protest. Blind fell forward onto his knees, but instead of a shout of pain, it was more of dark laughter.


"I've been through worse!" Blind jumped up and spun around despite an even bigger spike of pain, and punched his opponent in the face harder than he thought he was capable of. Painfully, he wrenched the knife out of his back and walked up to his downed opponent.


"I know pain probably better than you ever will!" Blind lifted up his foot and smashed it onto his attackers forehead, cracking the skull open. Blind took a step back, nearly dropping the knife. Suddenly aware of the raw brutality he had just dished out against his previous two opponents. He dropped his knife and fell onto his knees, and began talking to himself.


“Don’t become like them… don’t become like them…” He repeated this to himself several times, and because of that, didn’t hear a guard come up behind him. The guard stopped and drew his sword.


“Put your hands up, or I’ll cut your head off!” The guard said.


Blind reached down as if he were going to push himself up, picking the knife up in the process. He stood with his back to the guard, then turned around.


“You!” The guard exclaimed, more out of disgust than surprise or fear.


“…Yes… me." Blind said, holding the knife out in plain sight.


The guard saw the knife and charged straight at Blind, but Blind was ready. As the guard came near, Blind ducked and plowed his injured left shoulder into the charging guard's armored chest. Blind immediately regretted his, as his shoulder erupted in pain. The guard stumbled back from the impact, and Blind dropped the knife as he fell on his back. They both recovered from their daze at the same time, but Blind was still on the ground. The guard charged again. Blind rolled to the side, and as the guard was running by, Blind tripped him, and he faceplanted into the ground. Blind quickly jumped up to the guard’s head, lifted it up, and smashed his forehead against the ground repeatedly, each hit harder than the last. After only several hits, there was a fairly-sized pool of blood on the ground. Blind picked up the guards dropped iron sword putting it in his inventory in place of the knife. The guard laid still in a growing pool of blood. Blind looked down at his empty hands, which had blood all over them. …Who am I becoming?


Blind looked into the downed guard's inventory and found a half-used-up bow, 10 arrows, and five pieces of fresh bread. He would have been elated to find the bread, if it were not that he just brutally attacked three people, but he took it regardless. In fact, as he walked to the exit, he ate one piece of the bread while walking so his wounds would heal. You know what? I probably should have taken his armor as well. He thought about going back to get it, but he quickly dismissed the idea. It would take too long.


After several minutes of walking, Blind finally found the exit. By then, the only thing suggesting he was injured in the first place was the blood and holes in his shirt. He looked out of the holes of the iron door. There were people in balconies, on the street, and no doubt some inside houses, looking out their windows. How am I ever going to get past this!?

Blind stared out of the prison exit, felling hopeless. He looked around. Nothing that would serve as a disguise that I can see.


Then suddenly, he realized something. The guard! The guard he had just fought had iron armor. It doesn’t cover up his face, but at a distance, he would look like a guard on patrol.


Blind really wished he could come up with a better plan, but he knew that this was as good as he could get, so he walked back to the unconscious guard he had pommeled, and took his armor.


I should still stick to the shadows, I’d be obvious in the light. Blind decided. After donning the armor, he walked back to the exit.


Well, here goes nothing... I hope. Blind thought nervously.


Blind boldly walked out of the entrance at a casual pace towards a shadowy dark alley between two buildings. When he got there, he quickly ducked down and searched to see if anybody was there. Nothing, it not even any mobs.


Blind suddenly found himself thankful that he knew the way to the gate. If they had covered my head with a bag, I would have no idea what to do now. Blind quickly walked down to the other side of the alley, and inspected the area just outside. Just on the other side of a street, there was a large wheat farm that looked about ready to harvest. I might be able to sneak though the wheat, but not with this armor on. It would reflect the light from those lamps lighting it up.


He hated having to take his armor off. He felt exposed without it on, even though he had only worn it for a few moments, not to mention that he was now without a disguise. He was going to put it in his inventory, but hesitated.


Wait, carrying this crap around will only weigh me down. As much as I’d like to carry this with me now, that’s the last thing I need. Blind put the armor down on the side of the alley, by a wall.


What if they find it? Oh, who cares? I’d probably be long gone by the time they do. Now stop stalling!


Blind stared at the wheat farm across the street, psyching himself up to run to it. He looked to the left and right, the street was clear. GO! He mentally shouted at himself, and he sprinted across the street, then dove into the wheat. He soon took to crawling through the wheat, and was now happy he had left his armor behind.


I would be sticking out like a sore thumb if I had kept the armor o, and if I had it in my inventory, that would just make it harder to crawl. Blind crawled through the muddy ground, trying not to knock over any stalks of wheat, and therefore draw attention to himself. Before he knew it, he reached the end of the field.


Crap… maybe I should have kept the armor with me… Blind glanced back the way he came, but it was too late to go back. He looked back ahead, there were several houses, ahead, and nothing he could use to conceal himself.


What can I use… What can I use… WHAT CAN I USE!? Blind mentally shouted, beginning to panic, then he looked down. The mud. It wasn’t the best plan, but it was the only option. He had to cover himself with mud.


Not suspicious at all… He thought darkly. I’ll just tell anyone who asks I’ve had a long day farming.


Blind quickly covered his face, arms, hands, legs, and clothes with mud, making sure that it was as hard as possible to recognize his creeper-like skin, or prisoner clothes. He stood up and walked onto the empty street, and started to feel safe again, when a voice called out behind him.


“What are you doing out here?” The man said in a gruff voice.


Blind froze. I’m caught!


"…And why are you covered with soil? If you are trying to work longer to get some extra pay, then you chose the wrong job! Go home and wash up for cripes sake! Paying hours ended at sundown!”


Blind sighed a sigh of relief. "Yes sir."



As Blind turned to leave heard the man mumble to himself, "New guys... Always up to their tricks." Blind smiled the odd smile only his kind were capable of. It looks like my disguise works! Blind walked towards the castle entrance down the darker roads with no further incidents minus the funny looks and scrunched noses of people he walked past.








Blind stood crouched behind a bush, looking directly at the castle gates. Guards were on top of the walls, no doubt looking for any activity outside. Fortunately, the gates were open.


Whoever helped me escape must be nearby. Blind looked around, and didn’t see anyone other than those on the walls. He might have given up as well… He looked at the moon to see what time it was, and it appeared to be at least a half hour past midnight, if not an hour past. He might have given up...


Blind shook the thought from his head. Either way, he had to get out, so he leaped over the bush and ran behind a different one closer to the gates. Just then, he saw movement in the shadows. Someone else was trying to remain undetected.


That must be him! Blind thought. He more closely inspected the shadow until he saw a black form in the darkness who appeared to be making a gesture, but it was impossible to tell what he was trying to say. It looks like he saw me move between the bushes.


Blind stood up just enough for the other person to see him without making himself obvious to any guard who might casually look back into the castle.


No use trying to communicate with him like his, we can barely see each other. Blind quickly vaulted over the bush in front of him and sprinted across the open courtyard to the next hiding place as silently as he could, which wasn’t hard because he was barefoot. He glanced up onto the wall, hoping he wasn’t seen. He wasn’t, so he breathed a sigh of relief.. They didn't see me. He thought with a happy note.


Blind had lost track of where the other person was standing, so he jumped when he spoke.


"Hello. Glad to see you could make it." The voice sounded familiar to Blind.


"So am I, Rise. Thanks for helping me" Blind replied.


Rise didn’t waste any time explaining his plan. "Best I can come up with, we just run as fast as we can towards the woods, hoping we don’t get shot.”


“The guards will shoot us even if we run out from inside the castle?”


Rise was about to respond, but instead scrunched his nose. “Wait, why do you smell so bad?”


“…Is it really that important to know right now? Ah, whatever. I had to cover myself with mud from a wheat farm to avoid detection.”


"Okay, if you had to, I guess…”


“So… my question?”


“Right, they would probably assume on seeing us run out that it’s a prison break or something. If we were to walk, they would just direct us back in, we aren’t allowed to exit the walls at night.”


“Then why are the gates open?”


“They have a night patrol mission going on, so they are leaving the gate open in the case they need to make a speedy return. That’s why I chose to spring you out tonight, rather than earlier.”


"Allright." Blind said, nodding.


“Anyways, on the count of three, we go, got it?”


Blind nodded again.


"One." Blind's heart began to race.


"Two." Blind's felt an adrenaline surge. All of their combined efforts are coming down to this one moment.


"Three!" Both Rise and Blind charged out of their hiding spot and ran out of the gates and towards the woods, about a hundred blocks away. Only moments after they exited the gates, arrows began hitting the soil around them.


“*Bleep*, was hoping we would have a little more time before we got shot at!”


Suddenly, there was a stabbing pain in Blind’s calf. He stumbled, and saw the distinct point of an arrow protruding from his leg, but he didn’t fall down. Rise started to slow down, but Blind shouted to him, "No! Keep running! I can make it!" Rise didn’t need to be told twice, and sped back up. Despite the shocks of pain every time he stepped down with his right leg, Blind managed to increase his pace again, and thanks to another adrenaline surge, move even faster than he did before he got shot. Soon, he barely even felt the arrow in his thigh due to the adrenaline.


Before long, and thankfully before anyone got shot again, they made it to the woods, and were safe from the arrows. Blind suddenly felt exhausted, and fell down into a seated position behind a tree. His exhaustion, however, didn’t dampen his enthusiasm.


“We made it!” He shouted.


“Not yet, rest up quickly, they will undoubtedly follow us.” Rise said, remaining on his feet and looking back at the castle.”


“Yes the will, and I’ll make sure they catch you!” A voice said from behind them, away from the castle. Blind turned his head, and Rise whipped around.”


An armored form appeared from behind a particularly large tree, carrying a sword. “You are the traitor I always expected you to become, Rise! You always held too much sympathy for these freaks of nature!”


Rise held up an iron sword. “Do I, Bernard? Or are you just a cold-hearted psychopath!?”


Bernard smiled. “You will regret saying that.” He drew a diamond sword, and it gleamed next to his sadistic smile.


Blind gulped, he didn’t have enough energy to fight, and Rise certainly wasn’t fairing much better. He glanced back to see a group of five soldiers both armed and armored with iron heading their way.

Blind forcibly pushed himself off of the ground, drawing the iron sword he had taken while escaping. Rise seemed comforted by the fact that Blind had a weapon.


:I got wind of that stupid note you wrote and hid inside the bread so Blind would find it." Bernard said. He took a menacing step towards both of them. "You two are going to rot in a cell until the end of time for this!"


Blind pulled the arrow out of his thigh and blood poured out of his leg. The wound didn’t heal either. He just noticed how hungry he had gotten in such a short time, but now was no time to eat, even if that would help him fight. Nevertheless, he maintained an air of confidence. "Not if I can help it!"


Bernard looked at Blind. "You actually think you stand a chance against me?” Bernard laughed. “You are injured!" He turned to Rise. "And I ranked on top of our class, when you ranked fifth.”


“Still good enough to beat you, there were fifty of us in that class!”


"Two against one, Bernard. And you saw what I went through, pain is of little consequence to me.”


Bernard chuckled. “We will see about that!”


"You sure you want to try this?" Rise said, "You surely can't beat the two of us, even if you are better with a blade than I am!”


"Less talk, more fight!” Bernard charged at the two of them, and Rise ran out to meet him. Blind glanced back, the group of soldiers was just over halfway to them. Fortunately, they were only walking, and their armor probably slowed them down. Still, they have one, maybe two minutes at the very best until they arrived.


As Blind was looking away, Bernard skipped around Rise to get to him. Blind heard him coming, turned around, and managed to lift his sword just in time to block the first attack. Bernard’s side was now exposed for a strike, but there wasn't enough time for Blind to swing his sword. Instead, he just give him a hard kick, knocking him back towards Rise. Bernard stumbled backwards, but quickly recovered. Rise swung his sword in a circle, as he approached, then went for a decapitating blow, but Bernard intentionally fell down under the blow before it could land. Rise, unable to stop his momentum, tripped over Bernard’s crouched body, and was in the perfect position for Bernard to finish him off with little effort.


“No!” Blind shouted, leaping forward despite the protests from his injured leg. He landed a few feet from Bernard, who was just about to attack Rise. Blind took a few more steps to get within attacking distance, and fortunately, Bernard thought it better to prepare to defend himself than to finish Rise off. Blind lunged with his whole body, aiming for Bernard's chest, but Bernard parried the blow, and his momentum sent him past careening past Bernard. As he was moving forward, Bernard made a late swing at Blind, but it was successful. It hit his left arm, which was trailing behind his torso for balance, and cut it clean off from just above the elbow.


"AUGH!" Blind shouted, flying onto the ground, dropping his sword, and grabbing his arm. Blood shot out of his severed arm and began to soak the grass around him. He heard Bernard laugh.


Fortunately, Rise was able to take up Bernard’s attention before he could finish Blind off, but he was in too much pain to notice what was going on. He didn’t care about anything, the pain was even worse than when the creeper exploded, because that at least clouded his mind and nerves with the sudden blast, but this was just straight up pain. Blind mind began to cloud up again, and his vision started to darken, he was passing out. No… He thought, as he drifted out of consciousness.


But, just before he passed out. Another thought crossed his mind. No. He thought. No, I’m not going to die here, I am NOT going back to that prison!


Just like that, Blind’s mind cleared, and his vision came back. Bernard and Rise had their swords locked, and Bernard was pushing Rise against a tree, having the obvious advantage. He awsn’t paying any attention to Blind. Of course he doesn’t, he just cut my arm off, he doesn’t think I’m a threat!


Blind jumped to his feet. His sword was out of reach, but he didn’t care. He didn’t need it. He ran to Bernard and plowed into him, knocking him onto the ground, and away from Rise. Blind lifted himself up off of Bernard with his half of an arm, getting blood all over Bernard’s chest plate, and no doubt soaking into his clothes below. The sheer look of determination on Blind’s face must have been terrifying, because Bernard looked terrified.


Blind raised an arm to attack, as he had done before. “YOU…”


Blind bashed Bernard in the face. “WILL…”


Blind lifted up his hand, and bashed Bernard again. “NOT…”


Blind tore Bernard’s helmet off of his head, then raised a fist again. “DEFEAT ME!”


Blind let down another bash with more strength than he thought he had at his command. His fist sunk into Bernard’s already mutilated face, smashing through the skull, and even causing bits of bloody brain to scatter. Blind grabbed a handful of whatever he could, stood up, and threw it onto Bernard’s chestplate.


Rise looked at the bloody, one-armed creeper man who had just brutally slaughtered Bernard with his bare hands just before his eyes. He was surprised of what Blind was capable of, and was afraid.


Blind picked up on Rise’s fear, and glanced at the incoming soldiers. They had arrived at the woods, but were staring in horror at the gruesome scene before them. Blind gestured to Rise, and Rise nodded quickly. He picked up Bernard’s diamond sword, and made a wide circle around Blind and Bernard’s corpse, then started running past.


Blind looked at the soldiers staring at him. He looked down, his entire chest was covered with blood, bits of Bernard’s brain, and skull fragments. No doubt his face was covered with blood as well. His hand looked entirely red, aside from the dense packing of brain and skull fragments. In combination with the blood still pouring from his severed arm, he was a terrifying sight to behold. He looked at the soldiers again, an angry smile growing on his face.


“GEEAAAAAAHHHHH!” Blind shouted, and tore off running at the soldiers. They screamed, dropped everything they were holding, and ran back to the castle as fast as their legs could carry them. Blind quickly stopped running, and smiled as they ran. Without even thinking of picking up anything they dropped, he turned and ran to follow Rise. He eventually caught up, and they continued to run. They stopped for nothing. Not to eat, not to defend themselves from mobs, or even a safe-looking cave. The only thing on both of their minds was to get as far away as possible.


When they finally stopped running, the sun was rising and they were on the edge of a jungle. They were both ravenous and utterly exhausted. They slumped down next to a tall tree to catch their breath.


“So… did you… manage to… get any… food?” Blind asked between deep breaths.


“…not much… only a… little bit of… bread.”


“Same… most of it is… still the crappy… prison bread.”


Silence ensued. Blind looked down at himself. The blood was all dried, and most of the fragments of brain and skull have fallen off. Most of them. He thought about what he did in order to escape as he caught is breath.


“I’m a monster.” He said. Rise looked at him, then placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.


“No you are not, you did what you had to do to escape. You saved me, and I’m grateful for that.”


“Yes I am. I did similar things to two other people as I was getting out of the prison. It was too much, I didn’t need to be so brutal with them.”


Silence ensued once again as Rise tried to think of a response, but could not. The two of them only sat in silence for a time, neither one saying anything.


Blind was still a very recent spawn, only a week or so old, in fact. But he had been through more than most go through in their entire first year of life. He thought back to one of his first impressions of life. How it would be ‘easy’. He inwardly chuckled. It was just the calm before the storm…

I also don't know why this last part ended up the way it did... neither do I feel like fixing it, because lol.