Once, many hundreds of years ago (some say thousands), the world came into being.
It was a rich and verdant world. The Sun shone down, bringing life to all. Plants and trees grew easily in the soil, and animals roamed the land. A person could live easily from the fruits of their labour, tilling the land and herding the animals. It was a life of contented peace for all.
In time, people became drawn together, creating communities. Small villages prospered and traded. They learned how to create tools and houses using the abundant materials around them, and life was good. Some even discovered how to mine below the soil for metals and minerals, improving their quality of life further. Was there nothing that we couldn’t achieve?
This idyllic time lasted for many centuries, but then something happened. Almost no written record of those times survives, but I’ve painstakingly pieced together the events that led the world to be as it is today. Much of this is conjecture, but it’s the best we’ve got.
Something Happened.
I call it the Cataclysm.
While we started off as individuals, farmers and herders, when we developed villages, we created new professions. Traders and miners prospered, crafters developed new recipes and items, but on top of that there was a ruling class of eldermen. Priests started to commit our knowledge to memory, and eventually to paper. Mages learned to create enchantments, magical improvements to tools. Scientists developed new items and mechanisms, and studied the world and the heavens to discern its motions and nature. Instructing others, they built bigger and better, but their thirst for knowledge got the better of them. Got the better of us all.
Deep in the ground, said the scientists. Dig deeper, and we can learn the secrets of reality.
The miners worked, and they worked. Dug deeper. Dug too deep. Under the ground, in the dark places where no living thing has any business going, there was an accident, or perhaps many accidents. Miners died, but some of them did not stay dead. Those that returned were changed, no longer alive but neither properly dead. Since then, the undead attack every night, with no desire but to kill all those who remain alive. The tragedy continues to this day.
But were our leaders filled with hubris? Nay; they chose to continue with renewed zeal. Believing that they could restore the world if they only obtained more knowledge, dig deeper said the eldermen. Always deeper. And so the miners dug. But where once a miner was faced with little more than the risk of falling and the concerns of air and fire, now they had to contend with the restless dead. Miners died more frequently, and with each death, another was born into unlife.
Deep below, at the bottom of the world, they found only lava and impenetrable rock. But still came the insistence, dig deeper. The priests believed this was not all in the world; the mages told that their magic came from elsewhere; and the scientists longed to increase their knowledge. Together, they built a gate.
A gate to Hell.
And thus began the second part of the Cataclysm. I believe this is where the Creepers came from, an invasion of demons intent on nothing more than death and carnage, holding their own lives as nothing in pursuit of the destruction of us and our achievements. And did our eldermen at least cease their foolish dreams?
Dig deeper. Dig deeper. Two words, endlessly repeated. They had sullied the earth, opened the gates of Hell, and brought forth legions of dead and demons. Would they stop only when they had brought forth the end of the world?
In a way, yes.
Earth and Hell were opened to us. What about Heaven? Dig deeper, they said. Dig deeper, and we can reach Heaven.
It took a long time, many centuries perhaps. Generations were born into a world at seige. Many became warriors, and died defending the rest of us. Some believed the eldermen could save us, but many believed they must stop. As I have said, written records of this era are hard to come by, but I believe there may have been wars; there is certainly evidence of this. But perhaps it was simply the continued fight against the undead that caused our losses. Over time the elders increased their knowledge and power, while the knowledge of our villagers and workers dimmed. The eldermen retreated into towering cities and spires, leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves. Doubtless they believed they were doing the best, preserving their knowledge so that they could reach Heaven and restore the world.
They were wrong.
At the culmination of their research, the eldermen developed their portal to Heaven, but for some time were unable to open it. Delving into Hell brought them most of the material, but they could not power the portal. How could you wrest open the gates to Heaven?
Depraved as they had become, the horrific answer did not stop them. They consumed the souls of each other. Their very eyes, the windows to their souls, would create the door to Heaven.
The third event of the Cataclysm followed. The portal opened, but this was not just a two-way door. The homes of the eldermen, their cities and spires, all were taken; they disappeared from the earth in an instant, taking the eldermen and their knowledge with them.
But they did not find Heaven. The eldermen were trapped in the void at the End of the world. Consumed with the realisation of what they had done, and alone in an empty world for eternity, their minds and bodies became warped and twisted; they became the Endermen, insane remnants with no humanity left. They remember nothing of their former lives, but are consumed by hatred, without knowing why. Those few who somehow manage to return to the earth are not restored, but simply wander, aimlessly trying to recreate what they no longer know. They have only one dim recollection of their prior lives – that the eyes are the cause of their misery. This is why our parents tell us: look not at the Endermen, for if they see your eyes, they will pursue you endlessly until you are dead.
Perhaps there is a Heaven. Perhaps somehow, someday, we could restore our world. But if one day, somebody should tell you this, ask them one question: is it worth it? Because whatever people might tell you, it can get worse.
Once, many hundreds of years ago (some say thousands), the world came into being.
It was a rich and verdant world. The Sun shone down, bringing life to all. Plants and trees grew easily in the soil, and animals roamed the land. A person could live easily from the fruits of their labour, tilling the land and herding the animals. It was a life of contented peace for all.
In time, people became drawn together, creating communities. Small villages prospered and traded. They learned how to create tools and houses using the abundant materials around them, and life was good. Some even discovered how to mine below the soil for metals and minerals, improving their quality of life further. Was there nothing that we couldn’t achieve?
This idyllic time lasted for many centuries, but then something happened. Almost no written record of those times survives, but I’ve painstakingly pieced together the events that led the world to be as it is today. Much of this is conjecture, but it’s the best we’ve got.
Something Happened.
I call it the Cataclysm.
While we started off as individuals, farmers and herders, when we developed villages, we created new professions. Traders and miners prospered, crafters developed new recipes and items, but on top of that there was a ruling class of eldermen. Priests started to commit our knowledge to memory, and eventually to paper. Mages learned to create enchantments, magical improvements to tools. Scientists developed new items and mechanisms, and studied the world and the heavens to discern its motions and nature. Instructing others, they built bigger and better, but their thirst for knowledge got the better of them. Got the better of us all.
Deep in the ground, said the scientists. Dig deeper, and we can learn the secrets of reality.
The miners worked, and they worked. Dug deeper. Dug too deep. Under the ground, in the dark places where no living thing has any business going, there was an accident, or perhaps many accidents. Miners died, but some of them did not stay dead. Those that returned were changed, no longer alive but neither properly dead. Since then, the undead attack every night, with no desire but to kill all those who remain alive. The tragedy continues to this day.
But were our leaders filled with hubris? Nay; they chose to continue with renewed zeal. Believing that they could restore the world if they only obtained more knowledge, dig deeper said the eldermen. Always deeper. And so the miners dug. But where once a miner was faced with little more than the risk of falling and the concerns of air and fire, now they had to contend with the restless dead. Miners died more frequently, and with each death, another was born into unlife.
Deep below, at the bottom of the world, they found only lava and impenetrable rock. But still came the insistence, dig deeper. The priests believed this was not all in the world; the mages told that their magic came from elsewhere; and the scientists longed to increase their knowledge. Together, they built a gate.
A gate to Hell.
And thus began the second part of the Cataclysm. I believe this is where the Creepers came from, an invasion of demons intent on nothing more than death and carnage, holding their own lives as nothing in pursuit of the destruction of us and our achievements. And did our eldermen at least cease their foolish dreams?
Dig deeper. Dig deeper. Two words, endlessly repeated. They had sullied the earth, opened the gates of Hell, and brought forth legions of dead and demons. Would they stop only when they had brought forth the end of the world?
In a way, yes.
Earth and Hell were opened to us. What about Heaven? Dig deeper, they said. Dig deeper, and we can reach Heaven.
It took a long time, many centuries perhaps. Generations were born into a world at seige. Many became warriors, and died defending the rest of us. Some believed the eldermen could save us, but many believed they must stop. As I have said, written records of this era are hard to come by, but I believe there may have been wars; there is certainly evidence of this. But perhaps it was simply the continued fight against the undead that caused our losses. Over time the elders increased their knowledge and power, while the knowledge of our villagers and workers dimmed. The eldermen retreated into towering cities and spires, leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves. Doubtless they believed they were doing the best, preserving their knowledge so that they could reach Heaven and restore the world.
They were wrong.
At the culmination of their research, the eldermen developed their portal to Heaven, but for some time were unable to open it. Delving into Hell brought them most of the material, but they could not power the portal. How could you wrest open the gates to Heaven?
Depraved as they had become, the horrific answer did not stop them. They consumed the souls of each other. Their very eyes, the windows to their souls, would create the door to Heaven.
The third event of the Cataclysm followed. The portal opened, but this was not just a two-way door. The homes of the eldermen, their cities and spires, all were taken; they disappeared from the earth in an instant, taking the eldermen and their knowledge with them.
But they did not find Heaven. The eldermen were trapped in the void at the End of the world. Consumed with the realisation of what they had done, and alone in an empty world for eternity, their minds and bodies became warped and twisted; they became the Endermen, insane remnants with no humanity left. They remember nothing of their former lives, but are consumed by hatred, without knowing why. Those few who somehow manage to return to the earth are not restored, but simply wander, aimlessly trying to recreate what they no longer know. They have only one dim recollection of their prior lives – that the eyes are the cause of their misery. This is why our parents tell us: look not at the Endermen, for if they see your eyes, they will pursue you endlessly until you are dead.
Perhaps there is a Heaven. Perhaps somehow, someday, we could restore our world. But if one day, somebody should tell you this, ask them one question: is it worth it? Because whatever people might tell you, it can get worse.
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