8 preparations

I chatted with the elder, who politely refused to tell me his name whenever I asked, preferring to simply go by his title of 'High Elder'. I let him have this little quirk of his, shrugging it off as him getting senile - or maybe his name is embarrassing, who knows - as people over five hundred years old probably get. He and I chatted, him asking about my world once in a while, with me mainly doing the asking. Oh did I ask questions, I practically never took a breath I spoke so quickly. However he did refuse to ask a few questions - sometimes he didn't know is why -, saying that I couldn't get too much of a push in the right direction, only enough to let me know where to go. He mostly told me about the various mobs I had found, ones I hadn't found yet, and things like that.

First, the zombies. That is in fact what they are called, and he didn't teach me much. Four hits from wood sword to kill, doesn't hurt too much to get hit but can infect you if you have immune system problems - I figured that out on my own -, are very slow, and the strongest can break a wooden door. It takes ages though, long enough for people to barricade the door or, in my case, just place a block in front, doesn't matter what kind.

Second, the skeleton. They come in a few variants, the first being the archer skeleton. It's pretty self explanatory, its about as sturdy as a zombie, the main difference being that it has a bow with infinite arrows, although this effect can only be utilized by said skeleton. Then the warrior skeleton, just a skeleton that moves a little faster and has a sword. The stray however... its stronger and sturdier than the others, and it shoots arrows from a bow that make you slower from some sort of neurological poison tipped on them - the Elder called it a potion of slowness -.

Third, the creeper. It's that weird plant monster I found that glowed, its a tall pillar of sorts, about half a head shorter than me, with four, almost pig like feet. It has no arms, no weapons, no armour. It's only redeeming feature is that it can sense you from quite a ways, is very hostile, and... it explodes when it gets close to you. The glowing I saw was it preparing to explode.

Fourth, the phantom. These come at night, burn in day, and come specifically to hunt people who have not slept in three days. Dying - for me only of course -, sleeping anywhere, or being unconcious, all of those reset the clock. The phantoms are very scary, being able to do about four of the hearts that are my health in one hit. When I have full 'diamond' armour, which is one of the best you can get before getting void equipment. It is the fourth best, behind 'netherite', a material found in another dimension - still originates from here though -, the obsidian variants - normal and true -, and bedrock itself.

Fifth, the enderman. I already know most of the stuff about it, the main new thing being that there are rumors of them being sentient and some being peaceful and having founded a village or town somewhere alone.

Sixth, spiders and slimes. Spiders are all basically giant jumping spiders, with cave spiders being wolf spiders with potent venom. Slimes are... giant blobs of bouncing slime that are slightly corrosive. This effect is harmless even to bare skin in their smallest form, but in their biggest form it's rather condensed and harmful.

Seventh, the dragons. There are only a few ever discovered, and while it's unlikely there are any in this dimension, which is called the 'Overworld' (A/N: that's the DIMENSION name, not the WORLD name.), but the known dragons are one, the Ender Dragon. It resides in a dimension called the end, has black scales, purple eyes, and spits corrosive fireballs at you. It's basically a western black dragon from Earth legends. He doesn't know anything other than the 'name' of the other dragons, but some are rumored to be friendly, or at least neutral. He never did mention what they are...

Anyways, after he finished telling me all of this in way more extravagant words and all of that, he simply guided me over to a smithy/armoury combination of a building, and guided me to a back room. Once inside he pulled a lever, which I learned to be connected to redstone, and this turned on the lights. I then saw an armour rack holding a full suit of semi fancy armour. It was actually pretty beautiful. Titanium - which I figured out a minute latter, at first I thought it was steel - base, with diamond braces and stones that I thought were obsidian 'gems', but were actually what are called 'mana stones', which automatically harvest mana. These ones were attuned to void mana. The helmet was the most advanced I had seen yet in this world, with a capital T almost for the 'eye holes', it had a tiny extra bit on top, almost like part of a cross had been chopped off. It also had diagnal lines coming from the lower corners (A/N: Think of a T + and an X with the upper half of the X cut off combined.). It also had a reinforced one way mirror filling the 'eye holes(?)' in.

He then said "Go on, put it on. It doesn't bite." I stepped forward slowly, and just before I touched the armour, I heard a horn in the distance.The Elder then simply looked towards it, saying "Ah, it appears a raid from a nearby Terran city has begun. Carry on, they have yet to damage our walls." I then grabbed the armour, taking my old iron armour off and setting it aside. As I put it on, I swear I felt a... tingle, across my whole body... When I finished putting it on, I asked the Elder about it, who told me it was enchantments taking effect. For example, Protection V (Five), which is supposed to make me take only a fifth of the damage done to me, after it is reduced by the 'armour points' that I have. In short, it is incredibly powerful where I am now. Then Thorns II (Two), which just takes a small about of damage, and deals the same amount of damage to any melee attackers. There was also what is called Mending II (Two), which is actually nearly impossible to get without going to the Void. It basically repairs the armour over time, even if it is being used.

The armour also did something amazing to the 'armour points' in my 'bars'. It filled all of them up, and filled the leftmost two with copper colored armour instead of the normal white. He then handed me an enchanted diamond sword, with Sharpness I (One), Fire Aspect I (One), and Slashing I (One). It was only just a bit better than a normal sword - a diamond sword of course -. All in all, I just got some decent combat gear. I then followed the Elder out to the wall, and once on it I saw falling trees, rare glimpses of banners, and the sound of horns. As this 'Raid' got closer, I started hearing drums, and then hundreds of footsteps. The human army then stopped, just outside of bow range. They then spread out, cutting down trees, putting up barricades to block arrows - probably -, and making an expanding zone for them to charge through.

Once they were done - at least, I think they were - they started walking forward, and to my surprise they were using Roman tactics, which are rather advanced for their time, and these guys certainly weren't Roman. They first marched forward in a standard Roman phalanx - a moving, prickly shield wall with their spears sticking out of the gaps for you people who don't know what it is -, stopping about ten meters(?) from the wall. Both sides were practically humming from the tension in the air. Suddenly I heard a yell, seeing a disturbance in the human lines. Just as suddenly, a single person with just light armour and a sword popped out, sword raised as he screamed a war cry. I just picked up a rock and threw it at him vaguely, causing him to trip - to my surprise, to this day I have yet to do it again - and skid on the ground, falling silent. He then sat up, and... threw his sword down? He rubbed his face with both hands, picked his sword up again, and charged again. This time the rest of the army charged too. I shrugged, grabbing a bow and generally firing as best as I could for legs and arms. The elves also started firing bows or hopping down and crossing swords with the humans. I still just sat there, randomly firing a bow with my absolutely terrible skills - I got better, kind of -, only vaguely hoping to hit anything, let alone disable anyone. I still didn't want to kill, as I didn't know their motives. They looked too well and generally equipped to be a bandit 'tribe' or 'clan' so they must be from a kingdom, empire, or nation.

Suddenly, I... felt someone behind me. I turned around, and the Elder was there, an item in his hand outstretched to me. He opened my hands, placing the item in them. He then said "Use it when you feel the time is right. And remember, mana, void mana in particular, is chaotic, wants to be free from our bodies. It is up to you how to use it. Feel inside yourself, and you will access it. Try not to burn down the world." as I sat there wondering what exactly he meant and what the item was, the Elder simply... vanished. It almost looked like he fell into a black hole, slowly stretching out and fading away. The only difference being instead of him going red, he started going white. He suddenly disappeared into a cloud of white fog that almost instantly dissipated. Suddenly, the sounds of the fight came back, which surprised me as I hadn't noticed it go away.

I then heard the sounds die down, and when I turned around, I saw... a knight? Approaching the wall was a knight in fancy armour, approaching on a horse - that also had armour - with a confident feel to him. He then called out "Your cursed mage is dead. I have sensed his life fade, even if his tainted mana remains. You have failed to bring back your false god." one of the older elves then called out "So? His legacy remains, and we serve no 'god', but rather wish to commune with the spirits of the great wizards and mages that banished Him, in order to learn what they knew, and to prepare for his escape. You are the ones who are serving a false god." I was sitting here, very confused of course, but I pulled out the item again, and as I examined it, I swear I felt a... tingle... a faint surge of something. Almost like weak pins and needles, spreading across my body. Suddenly, it stopped, and the center most Void Gem on my chestplate... lit up? I still can't explain it, but it went from being 'normal' in appearance to being... more 'pure' and 'condensed' in appearance, like a charged battery almost.

I then stood up, suddenly hearing the knight yell "How can you believe yourselves to be correct!? You carry a Void user among you right now! I sensed them!" the same elf then called out "We don't expect a thick-headed Terran knight of all things, let alone a 'Knight of the Holy Testament', to understand anything we do." I then walked to the edge, and the knight then turned his head to face me. Suddenly, he grabbed a sword from a nearby soldier, quickly pulling his arm back and throwing it at me. I naturally went and ducked under it, leaping off the wall and coming up smoothly in a roll. He then charged at me with his horse, uncaring of who got in his way. I simply raised my shield, presenting myself as a ramp for the horse, who complied and simply stepped on my shield with one foot and leaped across, hurting me a bit, but then again, surely it would have hurt more to get ran over, right?

The knight leaped from his horse as it leaped as well, landing on his feet and skidding to a stop. I got up, dusting myself off before turning to face him again. I then simply said "Why are you trying to kill me? What did I do to you? Why is it everyone wants to hurt or kill me except for these neat people your forces have been attacking? Is my mere existence angering?" he paused, before saying "Do not try to fool me, foul servant of the Void. I will not be corrupted by your black tongue." he then charged at me, holding his greatsword - I mentioned that before, right? - in both hands, with it poised just enough to be swung with deadly force. I raised my shield in my left hand, sword in my right, and when he swung at me I de-equipped my shield and rolled to the left, kicking his feet from under him when I came up to his right. He then, from the combination of me kicking his feet out and swinging with all his might, crashed very loudly down on his back. He rolled to the side, reaching for his dropped sword, when I stabbed my sword down on his hand. He screamed in pain, as my diamond sword easily pierced through his armour, instantly breaking bones, severing tendons, and damaging nerves on one savage movement, leaving him ineffectively clutching his hand and trying to pull my sword out. I sat there, shocked at both what this sword could do, and what I could do with it.

He then stared at me before starting to mumble... something. I started to feel uneasy, feeling what almost felt like an electric charge in the air. Just as I was going to leave him, he shouted, somehow sending an explosion out from himself and throwing me through the air, before painfully tumbling to a stop. Just as I looked up, he charged forward, almost as if propelled by something, before clashing with my arms outstretched to block him. We sat there grappling with each other, each of us trying to force the other down. I then kicked him savagely in the chest, crumpling his chestplate in before kicking him in the knee, forcing him to kneel on one leg. I then used my leg to grasp his wounded arm, slowly pushing it with my leg in a way no arm should go. Just as it looked like he was about to get back up, I heard a sickening snap and he howled in pain, letting go of me with that arm, leaving it to dangle limply. I could tell I had broken it in ways that even modern medicine can't fix, meaning I could effectively count that arm out.

I then grabbed his other arm and started to break his fingers. At this point rage, pent up stress, and a whole other amount of emotions were coursing through my body, basically controlling me. I then chopped down on his arm, making him recoil and let go of me in fear of me breaking it too. I then kicked out his other leg, sending him crashing on his side again. At this point, everyone else is silent, watching. I then shoved him over, as he just sat there, clutching his broken arm and trying to be as small a target as possible. I then leaned over him, pulling his helmet off. His face was somewhat bland, normal blue eyes, blond hair, light, caucasian skin, overall, a normal person. He did have a few notable features. First, he had a nasty scar down his left cheek, having seemingly come from a claw. Then, he had blood on his face from around his temple. His eyes were also partially unfocused, meaning he at least had a minor concussion. I then leaned down to his face, saying so everyone could here "I don't know who you are, why you want me dead, or even what I have done that's so evil in your eyes that I deserve death, but let me tell you. I have done nothing to this world, I am not even from it, I have only been here for a few months, or moons for you, and all I know is this one truth.

"I. Do. Not. Fear. Death."