Author's Note: Here's Chapter 7 of Life As We Know It. Hope you guys enjoy! Read and Review Please!

Disclaimer: I own nothing in Minecraft nor do I own Minecraft but I do own my original characters (Raina, Matt, etc)

Eli's POV

I stop my horse in front of the pond and get out my empty glass bottle. For the past few days I've been doing nothing but blindly following a stupid piece of paper through a never ending half-desert half-forest. The sun has been relentless and this small piece of water may be my only hope.

Sighing, I bend down next to the water and can't help but stare at my reflection. I remember once, a long time ago, after my dad had taught me how to fight, he had allowed me to wash up at the spring. That was years ago, and since then I've never really studied my appearance. We looked nothing alike, with me having silvery blond hair that looks scraggly and full of dirt, bluish-gray eyes that makes my face seem even more cold, and a sunburn from being outside too much. He said that I looked more like my mom, but I never met her so I wouldn't know.

After I take a sip of water I put the bottle away and start to make a fire. Just because it's more than 100 degrees I need to cook some food, plus it's almost dusk and I really don't want to run into any monsters tonight. On any other normal day I would just hide in the trees but since I'm in the middle of nowhere, there's no one to hide from.

I take out the flint and steel and try to get a flare going, but my hands are too tired and I can feel my eyes slipping downwards. Sleep hasn't been part of my schedule, as I've had to pass through dangerous territory. Hah! Dangerous territory sounds so weird to describe this place. There's a reason why I started doing business here, it's empty, vast, but also free from Herobrine's extending forces. Last time I heard he was trying to take over the South, but for what reason? There's nothing but sand and scattered little towns with tight-knit communities. Maybe Robertson was right and he has gone mad in his little castle of his.

Maybe you should just go to sleep, my sub-conscience tells me. But I can't go to sleep, not with knowing I could end up getting shot to death by a skeleton or devoured by a zombie. So with one last weak try I rub the flint and steel together. A small, but very much alive flame appears and I shove it into the pile of wood I've scavenged. I put some raw beef on the spit, but before I can fully cook it exhaustion takes over and I fall asleep.

–

"Tie 'em up!" The voice is faint and coming from my left, but it's enough to get me up. My eyes snap open and I push myself up off the ground. Mind groggy I hear another command, "Make sure to grab the girl!"

The girl? I rub my eyes and yawn, then shut my mouth. There are people here. Like actual, real life people that could kill me. I grab my ruby sword and smash the man-made firepit under my boot, making sure to extinguish any ember left. The meat is burnt and I toss it aside.

"Mom!" I hear a girl shriek, her voice sounding oddly familiar, "Please let go!" I raise my sword and listen for more voices.

"Calm, down, Mrs," The voice from before says again, "We just want your things and then we'll be on our way." I creep through the night towards the noise, my breathing shallow. One of the voices has a torch, making the scene easier to see. I hide behind the tree and watch.

There are five men, all tall and brooding, with swords hanging at their belts. The tallest, and the one most likely in charge, is holding a woman with dark brown hair and blue eyes by the throat with his dagger.

Bandits, my mind, now clear of any sleepiness, states. Bandits for sure, I know the South has some but it's the middle of nowhere! The woman is wearing a fancy green dress with a red robe on and I can tell by her fearful expression that something else is wrong.

"Let me go!" Another voice yells out, and my head turns to see a girl with blond hair and green eyes fight against the man holding her. She doesn't look a bit angry, only scared, and her lip quivers a bit.

She looks to be fifteen or fourteen, and her face is red, making her pale freckles stand out. I inch closer from behind the tree and watch as the other men begin to take some chests from the carriage.

"Royalty," I breathe out. Why the nether would royalty be traveling here, of all places? The men load the chests on a rickety cart and the tallest man laughs.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" He asks, and his face goes next to the woman. I notice her nose crinkle as she takes in his bad breath. The dagger rubs against her skin, "Now, the matter of what to do with ya
"I suggest keeping them," One of the other men says, and strokes the blond hair girl's face. She closes her eyes and looks like she's going to cry. My grip tightens on my sword but I don't dare to move, "Ya know, for a little...entertainment." She lets out a sob and I see the older woman yell for him to stop.

"I'll give you anything, just don't hurt her," She says sternly, "Emily, listen to me, you're going to be alright."

Emily, so that's her name. I watch as Emily nods shakily at her supposed mother's words. The older woman turns to the man holding her hostage and says, "What do you want with me?"
"Oh, I don't know," The tall man teases, his black eyes glinting in the moonlight like two onyxs, "Maybe a night or two with me? A little something with some others?" A disgusting feeling fills my stomach, or maybe that's because I haven't eaten anything for a while.
The woman gulps, then looks at the girl and nods slowly. The girl's eyes widen and she fights back against her captor.

"Let me go, please!" She yells hopelessly, and the man growls. I watch as he moves his hand up her arm to her neck...

"HEY!" I shout. Oh, dear Notch what the nether am I doing? All the mens' repugnant faces turn towards me and I glare at them, "What do you think your doing?" What the hell am I doing?

The leader gives a cold laugh, and pushes the mother into the arms of another man. He then sticks out his dagger and starts to walk towards me. I hold out my own weapon and walk forwards as well.

"Well," I say, "I'm still waiting for an answer." His black eyes trail down to my sword.

"We're just having a little fun," He says, and waves his dagger at the two captives, "You want to join."
I look at Emily and scowl, "In your dreams, pretty boy." This makes his face go red and he starts to advance, "Let them go, now."
"And why do you care?" He asks. I take a step back and study the way he walks. Left right first, then right, left, then right. His main fighting arm is his right, mine is left. He uses his left to physically fight, then. I'm not very strong, I admit, and that could be a problem.

"Because," I say, still studying his posture. He walks upright and his back doesn't hunch one bit, meaning that he can be prideful about the way he looks, "What your doing is wrong."

"And what would know about that?" He says. I glance at the girl whose face is a mix between relief and surprise. I then look at the mother. She still seems so familiar...

Eli! Dude with dagger coming at you! My mind screams. I focus on the man again and watch as he comes closer.

"So," I say, "What's your backstory? Everyone has one.

"But they're all the same," The man says. He's right; death, killing, avenging someone. I've heard them all. But that's what makes me special, I'm not like the rest.

"You wanna hear mine?" I ask. The man nods.

"Surprise me," He says lightly.

"I was raised by a single father, who taught his son to be a killing machine. I fight for my life everyday and yet no one seems to care who I really am. He's dead, but from sickness and we were never really close. And right now I am searching for the Crown of Everus." I'm only a few yards away and our gaze isn't breaking any time soon, "So, there." My hand tips slightly and I watch as the moonlight causes his eyes to squint. He glares at me and points his sword upwards.

"Your about to get into a fight ya can't win," He says. I only nod and out the corner of my vision the girl gulps. I feel like gulping now. We circle one another for a few seconds before I realize that if I don't do something soon somethings going to happen to Emily.

However before I can make my next move the man lunges at me. I instantly back away and before any of us know it we're engaging in a fight. He swings his sword at my leg and I block it swiftly before he takes another jab. Using my fast reflexes I swing my sword to his left, making him go right, and then put out right leg and kick him in the arm. He backs down and to my worry, the two men that are free of royalty start to advance.

"Don't," The leader orders, and they stop. He then proceeds to attack and I barely dodge his lightening fast sword. The two weapons make a loud clang as they hit and I put pressure on my side. With my heels dug in to the ground I bring back my sword and he takes this moment to give me a good cut to the leg. I bite my lip and watch as he swings again. Moving to the right I ignore the pain and step on his foot and watch with satisfaction as he scowls. His sword moves to cut off my ankle but I bring down my sword and block his path.

"Who are you?" He asks, "Your just a boy and your fighting like a man." I take this time to use my left leg to kick him in the behind. He stumbles forwards and I hit his arm with my sword, making a clean gash across his shoulder. Rage floods his face and he jumps at me, sword up. I raise my sword horizontally and his sword pushes mine down slightly. He leans towards me, and seeing that I'm going down he grins.

"Your Eli Brown," He realizes, and his voice goes quiet "This'll be one hell of a story to tell to my friends. Rodan Emeul killed the famous Eli Brown."
"Nope, uh, sorry," I say jokingly, but in reality my arms feel like their breaking from the stress of having a 300 pound guy leaning on them.
"Huh?" He says, and I purposely lean back more.

"If your going to tell a story, make sure to get the facts right. I'm not famous, I'm infamous," I say, and before he knows it I buckles under his pressure and fall to the ground. In a split second before he can raise his sword to deliver the death blow I roll over to my right, raise my sword, and swing at his head. The blade enters his neck in a swift manner and I can hear Emily gasp. Roden's eyes glaze over and I don't even look at his head falls to the ground.

Instead, I turn to the men holding the woman and hold up my sword, blood making the ruby shine even more, "Who's next, unless you all will kindly care to leave." My emphasis on "leave" makes them roughly let go of the royals and run away in the black night. With no more threats I turn my attention to the bleeding wound on my leg and frown; this will affect my journey more than I expected.

"Are you alright?" I turn to the owner of the voice and find the girl named Emily standing there, a look of sympathy on her face instead of fear now. I scowl and ignore her, but she comes closer and studies the wound, "Ouch, that must hurt."
No shit it hurts, I think. I take out a some rags from my inventory and wrap them around the cut, then flick my sword casually to get the blood off. Out of the corner of my eye I see Emily grimace at the sight.

"Mother!" She yells and her mother scrambles over to me. Great, now how am I going to get our of here? The mom gasps at my injury and tries to touch it but I move back.

"No, I'm fine, really," I stammer, "I just need to go."
"I know you," The woman says, eyes wide, "I know you."
Uh. I back away some more and say, "Sorry, uh, but I don't know...you."
Emily looks at her mother in confusion, "Mother, what are you talking about?"
"Yeah, uh, listen I have to go," I say, but the woman grabs my wrist.

"What's your name?" She asks.

Don't tell her. Don't tell her. "Eli...Elijah actually. Eli...Brown."
The woman lets go of my hand and I put it behind my back; Who is this person?

"I'm Elizabeth Treon," The woman says, "Sixteen years ago, in me and my husbands home, our son was stolen from us by a man named Montgomery Reed."

An icy feeling crawls goes through my veins and I close my eyes, "Montgmery Reed was the name of my father." The words feel so weird on my tongue.

"He...was your father?" The woman says in disbelief, "How old are you?"
"Seventeen." I answer, "I'm turning eighteen on-"

"The sixteenth of the tenth month," She finishes. I tilt the sword more towards her but she doesn't notice.

"How do you know that," I say, my voice surprisingly calm, my feet making me back away.

"Because our son was your age when he was taken. He was born on your birthday," Her voice becomes excited, becomes...happy.

"You must me mistaken," I say, and she shakes her head, "I'm no royal."
But the woman is oblivious to my words and grabs Emily's arm. She moves the girl more towards me and says, "This is Emily. Emily, this is your brother, Eli Brown, well, his real name isn't that but we'll get to that later." The girl looks at me, her hair shielding her from her mothers' gaze, but I can tell what she's thinking, it's what every person has on their face when they meet me. When they know who I am.

"You're Eli Brown," Roden said. He said it loud enough for Emily to hear.

And now she knows she's the brother of me, Eli Brown, a wanted criminal.

Thnx for reading!

-Ender