//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Just a Dream // Story: The Lost Crafter // by Jeffrey1000 //------------------------------// Steve made it home with ease. Nothing challenged him even late in late. He lazily pushed his door open. Oh he was being honest, he was tired. Steve hadn’t felt this tired in a long time. “Finally,” he said to himself, “I can go to sleep.” He threw himself onto his bed, and dozed off. Steve took a look around. He was asleep, but for some reason he felt as if he was actually there. The place was familiar, but he wanted to be anywhere but here. It was his home town. Or it was before the monsters attacked. He looked around and saw some familiar faces. His friends were all there. Mitch on his acoustic guitar like usual. Alex at the shooting range. Gareth and Carlos playing soccer like usual. His friend Lilly hanging out with her other friends, of which Steve didn’t know. Robert working on his redstone contraptions. He smiled at the memory. Just when everything was looking good, the sky turned dark. Steve was knocked off his feet by an explosion behind him. He looked up to see his home town burning, and his friends were nowhere to be found, meaning they were probably dead. Steve ran into the burning town to see if he could save anyone. He peered around a corner to see his friend Mitch, crawling up to him. “Steve!” He shouted to get Steve’s attention. “Mitch?” Steve responded, but then it hit him. It was the night of the attack. He looked behind Mitch. To his horror, there stood a witch. He ran forward to try to do something. Anything to save his friend whether it was moving him, or taking a hit. Right before Steve got to him, the splash potion made contact with Mitch, and his body disappeared, and he joined Steve’s other friends. Steve looked around, at all the monsters and the burning town. “This is just a dream.” He told himself. “It’s not real. It’s just a dream. Just a dream. It’s just a dream.” He heard what sounded like a flash of lightning. He looked at the source in horror. “Nightmare Moon.” He said under his breath. The deity looked around at the burning town. “Tis quite the nightmare.” She whispered under her breath. “What are you doing here?” She heard someone say. She turned to the direction of the voice. There stood a bipedal, bipedal with a light blue shirts do a blue pair of pants. She then realized who it was. The monster that Twilight and her friends saw. “Hey, I asked a fucking question.” Steve said again. “What are you doing here, Nightmare Moon?” Nightmare Moon? Luna thought to herself. Why does he think I’m Nightmare Moon? “We are not Nightmare Moon.” She said. “We-“ “Well, you look a hell a lot like her, so forgive me if I mistook you.” She glared at him. “We-“ “Are you guys like sisters or something?” Steve said, interrupting her again. “Was she your doppelgänger?” Luna held her glare at Steve. “We-“ “Or perhaps-.” Steve started. “We’re trying to explain it to thee! Please refrain from interrupting!” She shouted at him. “Alright, you could have just said so.” Steve said, letting out a small chuckle. “We once were Nightmare Moon, but, thanks to the efforts of Twilight and her friends, we were freed from the nightmare.” She explained. “Now we are back to our old self, Luna. And it’s our job to protect our citizens from nightmares.” “Thanks for the history lesson.” Steve said. “But this nightmare is gone, so get the fuck out.” Luna was shocked by his vulgarity. “Fix your tone, creature. Have some respect.” “Respect is earned.” Steve responded. “And you haven’t earned it yet.” “But we didn’t do anything for you to disrespect us.” “Well, you are a ruler, correct?” Steve questioned. “Yes.” Luna answered. “And you control the army, correct?” “Yes.” “So you’re one of the reasons why the armies on my ass, correct?” “Well,” Luna paused realizing where he was going. She sighed, “yes.” “There’s a reason.” Steve stated. Luna realized something. The guard was after him for a reason. She powered up her horn. “What are you doing?” Steve inquired at the sudden sight. “Making the guards’ job easier.” She responded. Steve quickly dodged the beam of magic. He jumped into a nearby house. She quickly pursued him. He shoved as much wreckage as he could in front of the door. Looking for a weapon, he spotted something familiar. It was a photo. It was a picture of his friends, with him. They all had wide smiles on their faces. Steve quickly realized who’s house this was. It was his old house. He then remembered something. Quickly running over to the rug, he broke it with his fist. Underneath it, laid a chest. Opening up the chest, he found just what he hoped for, his emergency stash. Inside was an iron sword, axe, and pickaxe. There was also a stack of torches and steak, and a shield. Unfortunately, he had no armor still. Just then, the barrier he made between him and the dreamwalker was blown away, and in stepped Luna. “Creature,” she said, “thou hast no defenses. Give up now.” “Not on your life, bitch.” Steve responded. Luna shot a bolt at magic to which Steve easily deflected. He dodged another shot, which missed narrowly to the right. Luna attacked again, this time trying to hit him with her forehooves. Steve was caught off guard by the melee attack and was kicked back, into a wall. He had taken 3 hearts of damage. Luna shot another bolt at him while he was getting up, but Steve dodged the attack and countered by hitting her with his other hand. She was knocked back, but maintained her ground. She fired a bolt of magic at him, but it was absorbed by his shield. Steve held his ground while she pelted his shield with shots. There was a sudden flash, and the shots stopped coming. He peered above his shield to see she was gone. There was another flash and he had felt something strike him in the back, doing 5 hearts of damage and knocking him over. “Ow, fuck!” He cried in pain. He turned around to look at Luna. “Cheap shot, bitch.” “Thou should have stopped when given the chance.” She said. “I’m not surrendering tonight, or ever.” Steve responded, gritting his teeth. “Very well, then.” She said as she charged up her horn. Steve realized what was about to happen. He quickly came up with a plan to end this dream once and for all. “Notch, please work.” He said under his breath while he raised his sword. Steve quickly brought it down on his chest. Right before the tip could make contact with him, he shot up out of his bed. He was breathing heavily. The sun’s warm light shone down on his face. “It worked.” That was all he could say. He didn’t exactly have a plan for today. Then again it was like Mitch said. You can’t plan life, only prepare yourself for what it will throw in your direction. So he didn’t have a plan. All he knew he was going to do was read those books he “borrowed” from the library. After that, he’d just have to be ready for whatever curveballs life threw at him.