The morning came along with the cries of sheep. Steve opened his eyes to the sight of Alex rummaging through her chest of supplies, humming a solemn tune. Its calm and repetitive nature quickly got stuck in Steve’s head while he tried his best to rise from beneath his sheets.

As soon as Alex noticed him, she stopped and turned to him with a smile.

“Good morning, sleepy head!” She shouted with a laugh. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah.” Sitting on his bed, he smiled back. “Yesterday was so crazy, I slept like a sheep!” Raising his hands, Steve stretched with a grunt. Various bones in his body cracked and strained his muscles, if only for a moment.

“That was two days ago, Steve.” Alex replied. Steve suddenly dropped his arms and looked at her. After a giggle, she continued, “You slept like a log!”

“And you didn’t wake me up?!”

“I tried!” Shrugging it off, she stood up from the chest with a book cased in leather now in hand. “While you were out, I went back to the village to find some old books.” She tossed him the book. “Dad always read from them. If you can understand it, you could learn some things.”

The book itself was blank, with its casing and a red cloth being its only characteristics. Steve flipped to the first page and was greeted by a bunch of symbols he could not understand. With a raised brow, he looked at Alex, then back to the book.

“Do you understand it?” He asked.

“Nope…” Alex glanced to the grown before continuing. “Dad always read them to me.”

Alex walked up to Steve and sat beside him, almost resting her cheek on his shoulder so she could look at the book with him.

Alex continued, “He was the only one in the village that could read. I was sorta hoping you knew a thing or two about it.”

“I wish I did.” Steve replied. He continued to flip through the pages, looking for anything he could recognize. Not a single drawing or image in sight. “It’s all gibberish.” He closed the book and handed it back to Alex. “Did you find anything else in the village?”

“Everything was either burnt or unusable.” She answered. “I planned on giving dad a proper burial later today... if you want to chip in.” Alex refrained from giving Steve any proper attention, she constantly kept her head down and averted her eyes when she noticed Steve looking. “Carrying him here will be tough on my own-” Steve placed a palm on Alex’s shoulder and smiled softly.

“Of course, I will.” He answered, his deep voice somber like the wind.

Finally locking eyes, Alex could feel her tears building up.

“Thanks.” She smiled.

With a wipe of her tears, she stood up and reached back into the chest, throwing the book in along with her arm.

“Anyway, I noticed you didn’t put any diamonds in the chest.”

Pressing on his chest, Steve took a look at his inventory. “Yeah,” he answered. “Did you need them for something?”

“I wanted to make us some armor.” She rose her head from the chest and turned to Steve. “13 diamonds should knack us a pair of helmets with more to spare.”

Narrowing his eyes, Steve replied. “Would two helmets be very useful?”

“Better safe than sorry, no?”

“I say it’s better to keep them in case of emergency. Maybe we should hold onto them until we get more.”

“Well then,” Alex pulled out a helmet from the chest and slid it over her orange hair. “guess you’ll be less protected.”

“You have to be kidding me.” Steve chuckled.

“What? It looks beautiful and feels amazing on my head!” She crossed her arms and pouted. Steve couldn’t help but start to laugh at her childish demeanor. “What’s funny?! If we want to kill the Illagers, we’re going to need good armor!”

“Yeah, but a helmet is definitely the last thing to be worried about!” With his hands on his stomach and his deep voice echoing in the small home, Steve couldn’t stop himself from laughing. “We’re better off with an iron helmet right now.”

“Well, too bad.” Alex stood up and the blue diamond glistened with the light. “I’m going to scout some land with Beverly while you get ready.”

“Is that safe?” As he asked, Alex pulled a bow out of her inventory and nodded.

“I’ve got plenty of food and arrows, in case anything goes wrong.” Alex puts the bowstring over her shoulder and lets the wood hang on her back. “If I’m not back by sundown, follow the torch trail.”

“So, we’re having the burial at sundown, I assume.”

“Yeah…” Alex softly smiles, slightly lowering her head and playing with her fingers. “if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

The two walk outside and Steve watches Alex get Beverly from the stable. After a wave, the two take off toward the rising sun, leaving Steve alone on the small island. The cries of the sheep grow louder as many of the baby sheep age and the winds blow softly on his hair.

As soon as Alex and Beverly get out of sight, Steve opens his inventory and pulls out the Axolotl he captured not too long ago. Even in captivity, the creature smiled his way, its little tentacles frolicking with the wind.

He holds onto it this time, walking into the house and placing it beside the crafting bench.

“Okay,” With a sigh, he looked at the axolotl. “Where can I put you?”

The creature let out a blup and bobbed its head.

“I can’t understand a thing you say.” Steve chuckled.

The creature let out another blup. He was beginning to smile and notice the cuteness of the pink axolotl. Its little dances paired with the cute sounds it produced left a gentle smile on Steve’s face, an emotion he never expected to experience with the creature.

“I’ll name you Blup.” The axolotl cheered with quicker head bobs. “Ms. Blup.” As he went in to pet its chin, Blup pulled back and stopped celebrating. “Are you a guy?” Blup nodded. “Woah… that’s freaky. Okay, then, Mr. Blup.”

For the next few hours, Steve and Mr. Blup went around the small island looking for an appropriate place to build a little pond for the small axolotl. At first, the builder thought that he could put Blup by the sheep, but a little whimper from him made Steve change his mind.

They ultimately went with a little spot beside Beverly’s stable, even considering building a fish tank for him, but Steve’s inexperience with crafting limited their creative minds. Steve decided to make a small hole in the ground and let Mr. Blup catch his bearings.

Blup’s ecstatic swimming in the hole mesmerized the builder. He found himself watching the creature enjoy itself for several hours before noticing the time.

From sunrise to afternoon, he hadn’t done much. With a wave to Mr. Blup, Steve walked back into the house and pulled out his six diamonds.

“Okay, I need to do something with these.” He threw them all on the crafting bench and stepped back. “Armor doesn’t sound very useful right now. Alex could only manage to make a helmet, which means she only has two diamonds left.”

Steve pulled the diamonds back and threw a stack of iron ingots on the bench.

“If iron and diamond tools cost the same amount, and share the same properties, making a weapon with my diamonds sounds like the only viable option right now.” Steve put the iron ingots on one corner of the grid and two sticks on the bottom and in the middle. “If what Alex told me is true,”

-

Steve thought back to the time he was in small caves with Alex, collecting their first batch of iron ore. They barely made a dent in the cave they found and were in the middle of upgrading their tools for the first time.

“Axes deal more damage per swing but take a long time to charge up for that second attack.” Alex said while she was mining some coal. “Dad’s friend always recommended I use a sword for faster attacks and more capability long term.”

“What does that mean?” Steve asked.

“Well, you don’t use a sword for anything other than fighting, so durability, I guess,” Alex answered, shrugging her shoulders before getting back to the coal.

-

“A diamond sword would be best for our scenario,” Steve said, returning to reality.

He got two of his diamonds back and moved the iron ingots out of the way. Putting the diamonds in the shape of a sword, he saw the icon of the weapon hover over the bench and glow with the rays of light.

He gently grabbed it by the handle and watched it grow in his palm. Its glistening, mesmerizing coat was unlike anything he’d seen before. Even a fresh pair of iron tools didn’t look like this. His diamonds were consumed, and he was left with four diamonds waiting to be used.

Steve ran out of the building and went to a clearing where he could see Mr. Blup’s pond, and the torches Alex left behind.

With the wooden handle of the diamond sword between his palms, he practiced swinging the sword about. Passionate swings left and right, his muscles tightening before every thrust. The weapon was surprisingly lighter than the iron sword, allowing him to be more flexible with his strikes.

Mr. Blup watched Steve from a distance, hovering on the water like he was lying flat. Time flew by like seconds. Before Steve knew it, the sun was beginning to set, and the blue sky was turning orange. His face now full of his own sweat, he turned to Mr. Blup and smiled.

“How did I do?” He asked cheerfully, slipping his sword into his inventory.

“BLUP!” Mr. Blup’s excitement carried on to Steve. With a laugh, Steve patted Mr. Blup’s head.

“This is nice, isn’t it? A day off for once. Without any crazy things happening. It’s kind of quiet without Alex around, too.” Steve looked to where he watched Alex ride off and lost his smile. “I can’t wait until she sees you.”

Several minutes went by of Steve watching Mr. Blup before he suddenly heard a thumping coming from the forest. He raised his head to see Alex walking out and holding Beverly on a lead, waving her hand with a gleeful smile.

The closer Alex got, the more she could see the scene. The pink dot in the small pond became clear, and she gasped as soon as she noticed. Dropping the lead and rushing to the pond, Alex got down to her knees and squealed.

Steve felt his heart racing, but unlike the last time with the Enderman, he was happy. He laughed and enjoyed his time with Alex.

“What’s its name?!” Alex asked, petting the axolotl.

“Blup!” Mr. Blup replied, making Alex more blissfully entranced.

“How are you, Blup? Did Steve treat you well? You didn’t have a bad day, did you?” Talking to it in a high-pitched voice, she couldn’t stop herself from petting the small creature.

Steve flinched back from her insult. “What do you mean?” He shouted. “I’m more than capable of watching this little guy!”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I remember you hated it down in the caves.” With a smirk under her joy, Alex felt the need to tease him.

“He…” Steve stuttered and turned his cheek. Continuing under his breath he said, “He grew on me.”

The sun continued to set, and the two decided to move on to the burial. Steve and Beverly returned from the forest with Alex’s dad’s corpse, while she finished digging out a spot in front of the river.

The night had come, and the torches illuminated the plains. The orange light from the flames was enough to keep the monsters from approaching and gave them the space to initiate the burial ceremony.

As Steve gently dropped the villager into the hole, Alex silently sobbed in the back, wrapping her hands around Beverly, who lowered her head to hug back. Steve watched the two cry together, unable to look at the body that was set in the grave.

Even though she had seen it earlier, watching the person that raised her be put in the ground hit her where she didn’t expect. The memories they shared flooded her in waves of sorrow. The happy moments like the first time she tamed Beverly and celebrated with fireworks. Even the moments of sadness came back. The death of her first pet, the loss of a friend, and the death of her favorite golem. Every moment she spent with the villager was one worth remembering, and it brought her to tears.

Now bawling her eyes out, Steve watched unsure of what to do. He wanted to give her some comfort, but he also felt this was something she needed. Ever since they found the village torn apart, they’ve been working nonstop to get their revenge… Alex’s revenge.

Steve turned back to the grave and closed his eyes.

With her face covered in snot and tears, Alex walked up to the grave and got down to her knees. Still sobbing, she opened her mouth with a sharp inhale.

“Hey dad,” She said with a sniff. “You must be looking at me with shame, watching your daughter cry like this. You always hated it when I cried, but you always did whatever--” She paused. “I might not have made it obvious, but I always did love you. You never looked at me like some sort of monster, regardless of the crazy stuff I did, and you never hesitated to treat me with respect. I love you, I always have, and I know you did too.”

Alex turned to Steve, revealing her dirty face, and smiled cheerfully.

“I made a friend, dad.” She continued and turned back. “His name is Steve, and you wouldn’t believe what he looks like. Someone that isn’t a villager, can you believe it? We thought I was the only one, but it’s like you read from the stories. He doesn’t remember anything about himself, which makes things pretty difficult, but he is a good guy, nonetheless. He’s always looking out for me, like you used to. Sometimes I wish the two of you could meet, but I’m sure the other people in the village would give him a weird eye, too.” She paused for a moment and felt her tears caress down her cheek and drop onto the back of her hand.

“I miss you, dad!” She couldn’t contain her tears anymore. “I miss you so much!” She continued to cry into the night, unable to hold back and screaming to the sky. Beverly passed by Steve and stood beside Alex, allowing her to cry on her shoulder.

Steve watched them from a distance, tearing up on his own with no connection to the village. He felt their grief, and at that moment he knew what he had to do.

The fire that ruined Alex’s life forever had fueled her reignited, and engulfed Steve in the flames. They were going to get revenge on the Illagers, no matter the cost.