Author Note:

It's the first chapter so I'll keep it short.

This will be my second Minecraft fan fiction. Feel free to check out the first one, Endergirl, which as you may have guessed, is a mob talker. But for now, lets focus on this story. This is a pretty lame way to start a book, but I'd just like to assure you that the Notchcraft server presented here is in no way related to the actual Notchcraft server which I discovered a few minutes ago.

Now that all of the boring stuff is out of the way, on with the story!

Enjoy.

A Fool's Conviction

To be honest, the club president was a bit of a dick.

"Again!" He yelled, for the umpteenth time that cold winter's afternoon.

The dimly lit classroom that had been designated to our Judo club, did nothing to keep out the harsh wind that whipped around the building. It was relentless, howling at the top of its lungs, trying to interrupt our practice. If only it were strong enough to do just that.

"Again!" The white clad figure before me repeated, growing agitated at my hesitation.

Blake, the Judo club president. One of the toughest, most popular and well-built guys in the grade. His arms were the size of cannons, ripped and true. He never needed to try and show off his masculinity, as anyone who couldn't see it had obviously already discovered the vision impairment that accompanied his right hook.

Judo, founded in Japan during the early eighteen eighties, roughly translated to 'gentle way'. What Blake demonstrated was anything but gentle. Why the fuck was there a judo club at my high school? Well, we used to have a boxing club, but apparently it was too much of a 'vicious' sport. And thus, the judo club was formed.

'Join the judo club!' they said. 'It'll be fun!' they said. 'Nobody will beat you up!'

No. All it did was provide a bunch of blood thirsty teenagers with another opportunity to throw the pathetic white kid to the floor. That's right. I was the punching bag.

Sensing that the president's patience was wearing thin, I took a step forwards, bracing myself. His eyes lit up with a familiarly terrifying glow. Without so much as a second's hesitation, he pounced. My mind couldn't analyse his movements quick enough to respond. With a brutish precision, he grabbed hold of my wrist, kicking in my leg and rotating me through the air. The room spun around me as I descended towards the floor with an astronomical amount of force.

I groaned as my back hit the wooden floorboards with a devastating vigour. I writhed on the ground, tossing this way and that as I tried to suck the expelled breath back into me.

"Stop bitching around and get to your feet."

I struggled to stand up, ignoring the sarcastic comments and gazes that the other members exchanged between each other. The adrenaline fuelled asshole that stood across from me fell into his usual stance.

"Again!"

The cold water from the sink in front of me lashed against my skin. I winced as I reluctantly cupped another handful and tried once more to rid myself of the specks of blood that dotted my injuries. The bathroom was deserted at this time of the day, the small slice of calm that existed between late afternoon and dusk. It was for the better. Things would only become more complicated if I was seen like this.

I gazed at the bruises that covered my shoulders, arms and sides. The mirror did nothing to render out the meshed blue surface, seeing anything other than pain was a mirage. I grimaced as I traced the newly formed dints and ridges with my fingertips. It was familiar. Pain was familiar. Sure, a year or two ago I would have shed a few tears, whined. But there was no point anymore, after all this time I had learnt at least one thing.

Nobody could save you from your own stupid decisions.

I sighed, as I slid out of my tattered Judogi, dropping it onto the backpack that lay by my feat. Or at least trying to. The crumpled uniform unfolded itself halfway through its descent and sailed off across the room.

Honestly.

I looked back to the mirror once more. Spiky jet black hair soaked with sweat, it hung across my face in a surprisingly neat manor for the torment the rest of my body had endured. Forest green eyes, veiled with their usual drab loneliness. What I suppose could be considered an angular face, its features well defined. An athletic build, not fit, but not exactly chubby either.

Essentially, I was a blank slate. In every way, shape and form.

Not horrible at anything, but not good at much either. Somewhere along the line I fell into the gap that separated the various cliques and social groups. As a result, I was that kid who sat by himself in the cafeteria, the one who spent his free periods gazing at the sky and the one who possessed the uncanny ability to push people away.

The school loner.

Giving up on my self-analysis, I rummaged through my bag for a shirt. I pulled out the dark red V-neck with only a minor struggle, and slipped it over my shoulders. The soft fabric felt like sandpaper against my tortured muscles, but I ignored the irritation as I retrieved my Judo uniform and stuffed it into my luggage. Lifting it with a practiced grace, I hung the backpack delicately from my least damaged shoulder, and proceeded out the door.

My eyes strained to readjust as the sun directed its scrutiny towards them, despite the wearily overcast sky. It would be dark soon, the shadows that clung to the surrounding buildings promised that. The architect of the school, whoever he was, did not have a sense for the importance of greenery. Concrete however, he understood, as the entirety of the hopelessly boring campus was constructed from the solid resource. But only the brave tuff of grass that emerged from cracks in the pavement could contrast to the consistently grey stone. In other words, there was not a tree or shrub in sight.

The walk home was usually short enough, but today I spanned the distance in half the time. I had something to look forward to… I crossed the road, took the shortcut through the depressingly empty park and finally ascended the small incline up the driveway. The garage was open, as it usually was. My father hunted amongst the mess of tools and parts that littered the floor for some specific puzzle piece.

He looked up as I entered, sparking his face with the same joyful expression as it did every afternoon. It was difficult to maintain a straight face around him. 'Identical.' Was a word commonly used to describe our appearances, I couldn't exactly call the term a lie. His hair, although containing a subtle spice of grey, was the same colour and sharpness as mine. His build was athletic, only slightly taller than me at the moment, but there was no doubt that I would eventually overtake him. The only noteworthy differences were the tanned skin and the way his eyes sparkled with excitement, rather than appear bottomless.

"How was training?" He asked, giving me his full attention.

"Good." I lied, it had become habit by this point. "How's the Ducati?"

His gaze shifted to the battered up road bike that stood between us. It was a pet project of his, always fixing it up in his spare time. A Ducati Sports Classic One Thousand, It had been part of the family for as long as I could remember.

"I need the socket wrench."

Smirking, I started inside. "It's next to your foot."

I dropped my bag onto the wooden floorboards and slipped off my shoes, quickly skidding into the next room on my socks. I hurriedly opened the fridge and grabbed a drink. I was going to be late. Rushing up the creaking stairs, I followed the cramped hallway to its end, pushing through the last wooden door. Our house wasn't exactly luxurious, it was cramped, dysfunctional and often complained loudly, but it held itself up well enough. We had gotten it for a bargain after all, which kind of put criticising it out of the question.

My room sat at its corner, the farthest away you could get from any other room. It didn't hold much, just an unmade single bed and a scratched wooden desk. But the desk held my most important possessions. Two sleek computer monitors sat behind a high performance keyboard and gaming mouse, glowing brightly to display my background. I had built the tower, which sat underneath the wooden surface, myself. I saved and spent the entirety of my money on collecting the parts that I needed to create the perfect build.

I suppose it was my Ducati.

If anyone ever asked, I just played first person shooters and high fantasy games, but that wasn't necessarily the truth… I set my drink down and sunk into the comfortable office chair as I did every afternoon. It was amazing how quickly I could forget about the hardships of my life when I was connected to the rest of the world. Maybe that was why I had started gaming in the first place.

I checked the time at the bottom of the screen. 5:26, I had just made it. Sliding my mouse across its pad, I double clicked. The familiar launcher appeared, spamming code for a few seconds before opening up to the latest news.

Minecraft.

I had become addicted to the game almost as soon as I had discovered it a few years back. I would play for hours, mining, building and fighting. I wasn't the best, but I was nowhere near being a complete noob. There was something about the game that just wouldn't let me put it down… Pushing back the moment of nostalgia, I started reading over the newest entry on the newsfeed.

The final update:

With the launch of the world wide Notchcraft server, Mojang will cease development of project Minecraft. It has been a pleasure playing with you. Remember, the following updates will only effect your game if you join the Notchcraft server. Furthermore, if you wish to reserve a spot on the whitelist, you must join before 5:30 PM PST.

+ Added new types of weapons
+ Added more food variants
+ Added more dungeons
+ Added a wider number of bosses
+ Added heaps of new items
+ Added varying types of mobs
* Major changes to weapon crafting
* Changes in how EXP levels are used
* Building has been made a little more difficult

The list extended further than I thought possible. As much as I wanted to read through its entirety, I didn't have the time. I scrolled to the bottom hurriedly, just checking for anything important.

* Changes to how players log out
* DRASTIC improvements to graphics
- Removed Herobrine

Be warned, the Notchcraft server is not for the light hearted.

As I clicked the login button and the game began updating, I couldn't help but wonder at the message. Everything about the update note seemed… Vague. Sure, they had mentioned new items and mobs, changes had been made here and there, but they didn't exactly go into specifics… I shrugged, resolving to just check the Minecraft Wiki later.

The clock ticked down to 5:29 as the home screen finally flashed into sight, the download completed successfully. Thank god for my excessively high internet speed. A new button presented itself, placed above singleplayer. I didn't need to study it to know where it lead. Clicking with haste, I was surprised when the screen plummeted into darkness.

A mess of white writing appeared on the black background.

Notchcraft Terms and Conditions

What followed was text smaller than I thought possible, creating what would have been a fifty page document. Two choices awaited me at the bottom of the screen.

Accept. Back to title.

I glanced at the time. "Fuck it." And pressed down on the accept button.

The writing disappeared, leaving a bottomless black in its wake. I waited patiently. Nothing happened. A glitch? I guess with such a huge update they were bound to hap-

The void contained within my monitor shimmered. At first I thought I had imagined it, put once it happened again, there was no denying. A single stream of black liquid rolled from the screen, teetering on the edge, and dropping with a small plop to the surface of my desk. I peered at the tiny droplet…

Another of the darkened orbs hit the wooden desktop, snapping my gaze to it. And another, and another. Before long it had turned into a haphazard rain, flooding from the monitor. What the hell was going on?

Sensing the danger of the situation, I pushed backwards a little in my chair, the wheels rolling across the wooden floorboards. The oozing substance froze. Despite its lack of eyes I could feel the intimidating gaze fall upon me, it watched my every movement, my every breath.

It was a standoff.

For some reason, I was scared. Fear coursed through my veins, locking my thoughts in place. What was happening to me? I had to do something, I couldn't stay rooted to my chair forever. We both knew this. Coming to a decision, I took a deep breath…

I jolted out of my chair, flinging it behind me. The void reacted by hurling itself over the edge, landing with a small splotch on the floor. Panicking, I made for the door, crossing the room in a few long strides. I reached for the door knob, but my grip fell short as I tripped over something. The ground greeted me with a dull thud. I stared down at my attacker, now coiled around my leg.

It accelerated at a supernatural speed, wrapping around my entire torso before I had time to react. I struggled and thrashed but my movements simply made it easier to be completely enveloped by the demonic slime. I let out a yell of terror and frustration as the liquid began to morph into a dark purple before quickly clambering across my face, sealing me off from the outside world.

A flash of white burnt lightning across my irises, and before I knew it, I was falling.

Falling through a sky I did not recognise, tumbling past clouds that weren't quite normal. It took all of my strength to balance myself as the wind tore at my skin, lashing my hair and clothes in every direction. I gasped at the landscape that spread out before me.

Gigantic mountain peaks higher than anything I had ever seen, thick forests spanning miles in length, and a raging ocean that created a sandy shoreline. Adjusting my vision I noticed something truly amazing out of the corner of my eye. Floating islands… Suspended high above the ground, covered in a white misty haze.

The scenery may have been stunning, but it did nothing to slow my perilous descent. I panicked as the ground neared, it seemed like a distant object at the moment, but my understanding of basic physics reminded me of how quickly that would change.

A voice drifted across the wind, surprisingly, it was clear and easy to understand. "Fashionably late I see."

I twisted to discover an unmistakeable individual floating in the air next to me. He was thinner than he was in the photos I had seen, in fact he almost seemed masculine. But the black fedora and trench coat, accompanied by a rather magnificent beard… Well, it couldn't be anybody else.

Notch.

"What the fuck is going on!?" I yelled above the torrent of wind.

He laughed as he twirled in the air, by some miracle managing to keep the fedora on his head. "You're plummeting towards the ground at just a little under a hundred and twenty miles per hour!"

"Could you be more specific!?"

He spun around me, twirling his arms in the air. "Welcome to Notchcraft."

Notchcraft… The update… When they said drastic improvements to graphics, they weren't kidding. I groaned. "You've got to be joking."

"Hey, I put a lot of time into this. Sound a bit more enthusiastic." He sulked.

I glared at him. "What's going on?"

"You'll see. I just wanted to greet the last player to join before we started." He spun away from me, fading into the distance. "Good luck."

Good luck? I was plummeting to my death! The ground was nearing closer and closer. By this point I could see the dots of people the crowded the massive clearing below me. There were thousands of them, wandering around and taking in the new world. Other players…

I curled up into a ball as I neared the ground, hearing the faint shouts of the crowd below. After what seemed like an eternity of expectation my bones splintered and throbbed, my muscles snapped and complained, the breath completely knocked out of me as I fell against the grass with an ear shattering crack. The pain was excruciating, tearing its way through each and every nerve ending, creating a new type of agony.

But then it was gone.

Air flowed back into my lungs, my muscles resumed response to my commands, my thoughts became clear once more. Once my ears began to register something other than a high pitched ringing, and my eyes refocused themselves from their wavering state, I began to recognise the ambiance surrounding me.

Shallow laughter, from the small audience that had gathered around me. Each person was different. Assortments of kids, teenagers and the occasional young adult. They all wore something different, from shorts to bathrobes, aprons to hoodies. They must have been kidnapped through their computers the same way I had been.

As I stared up into the faces of the strangers, somebody spoke in a language I did not recognise. I looked around, confused. Another voice, from a young Asian girl, the language unrecognisable yet again.

"English?" Somebody asked.

My gaze snapped to the speaker, a teenager, probably just a year or two older than myself. The tall figure wore a simple black jacket over a blue T-shirt, denim jeans to match. I took his hand as he held it out to me, pulling me up soon afterwards. As I examined him further, I couldn't help but notice the wavy blond hair and powerful brown eyes that defined his features. He was like something out of a magazine. Broad shoulders, powerful arms, all he was missing was a tan.

"Thanks." I muttered, brushing myself off.

He nodded. "Don't mention it. Name's Jake."

"Eli." I replied.

The conversation paused for a moment once the introductions had been concluded. We both gazed around at the masses of people surrounding us. There was still enough space to move between the crowds easily, but that was only thanks to the size of the clearing we had been placed in.

"Any idea where we are?"

I rubbed my forehead in annoyance, I could feel the beginning of a headache coming on. "Notchcraft."

He furrowed his brow at my words. "You don't mea-"

"Woah! Yes, hello! Over here! The amazingly attractive god in the sky. Can I have your attention please?" A voice boomed, cutting the boy off. The clearing fell silent as every pair of eyes were directed towards the suspended figure, hovering high above us. "Welcome to Notchcraft!" He declared blatantly.

It took a few seconds for people to comprehend his words, but once they had… A series of angry voices rang out above the now agitated gossip that ran rampant through the audience. One voice ragged particularly louder than the rest. "What the fuck do you mean, welcome to Notchcraft!? This isn't what we signed up for!"

Notch grinned and motioned his hand across his throat. The noise dropped to zero in an instant, the furious spectators seeming to lose their voices halfway through their outburst. "Well actually, it is." He gazed around the clearing. "Hands up, who read the fine print in terms and conditions?"

The crowd remained still, seething at the man. Of course none of us had read it. We were gamers, we didn't read the fine print, we just scrolled to the bottom and hit accept. Which was exactly what I had done. I mentally kicked myself for being so ignorant.

The god like being continued. "So, here we are. Let me explain the basics." He splayed his fingers, crossing them into each other. "This server contains over two million players from all over the globe. The population has been divided up into sets of ten thousand, which is the exact number of people in this here clearing, excluding myself. These sets I have dubbed as nations, but I'll come back to that later." He paused momentarily to see if we were following.

The overload of information continued. "Now this is the fun part. All the basic rules of Minecraft, apply here, but keep in mind that a lot has been changed through the last update. For example, I've already witnessed someone breaking their fingers while attempting to punch down a tree, it was hilarious. The point is, physics here are almost the same as they are on Earth."

He rubbed at his neck, as if trying to remember something miscellaneous. "Oh, if you die here don't expect to respawn. Furthermore, don't expect to wake up in front of your computer, suicide is not the answer."

"Then how do we get out of here?" I asked over the silence.

Notch looked down at me, somewhat confused. "You… Shouldn't be able to talk…" It was obvious that his curiosity was piqued, but he answered my question regardless. "There are two different options. One, kill me, which I'm sure the majority of you are already plotting. Or two, be the last nation remaining.

"Does that mean we have to…" My query trailed off as I began to regret uttering it.

"Yes. That means you have to strike down every other person, one by one, until the people around you are the only ones that remain."

Silence.

The only response his statement received was the subtle breeze that swayed the grass beneath our feet. Notch, the man I once looked up to as a brilliant programmer and a visionary… Was a cold blooded sadist. The thought of taking someone's life made me sick, there was no way I could bring myself to do it…

I stared up at him, the one who played god. Asking the only question that really mattered. "Why?"

He smiled, a grim and catastrophic smile. "For fun."

And with that, he was gone.

Author Note:

Damn, that cliff hanger though. So, what'd you think? Terrible? Brilliant? Something else entirely? Regardless, let me know.

I'll write the next few chapters, but if there isn't much interest after that then I'll just kill everyone off and declare the end. Quite honestly, at this point I'm not sure how often I'll update as I don't want to let down my followers on Endergirl, but I'll be sure to upload as soon as possible.

'Till next time.

- Sylent