Scroll down to Preview the first few chapters!
Shortcut Links:
B01 – Season 1, Episode 1 – My First Journal
B02 – Season 1, Episode 2 – Trying to Remember
B03 – Season 1, Episode 3 – The Mountain of Wisdom
B04 – Season 1, Episode 4 – The Mysterious Tower
B05 – Season 1, Episode 5 – Into the Nether!
B06 – Season 1, Episode 6 – Invasion in the Rain!
B07 – Season 2, Episode 1 – Hunting the Golden Apple
B08 – Season 2, Episode 2 – Assault on the Ocean Monument
B09 – Season 2, Episode 3 – All Gold that Glitters…
B10 – Season 2, Episode 4 – My Minecraftian Life
B11 – Season 2, Episode 5 – Introducing the Steve
B12 – Season 2, Episode 6 – The Doomstreak Clan
B13 – Season 3, Episode 1 – The Glitch
B14 – Season 3, Episode 2 – The Sleeping City
B15 – Season 3, Episode 3 – Survival Island
B16 – Season 3, Episode 4 – Clearing the Caves
B17 – Season 3, Episode 5 – Silverfish Problems
B18 – Season 3, Episode 6 – The Spider Mines
B19 – Season 4, Episode 1 – The Search for Home
B20 – Season 4, Episode 2 – A Troubled Teenage Zombie Villager
B21 – Season 4, Episode 3 – The Missing Name
B22 – Season 4, Episode 4 – An Old Friend and a Brave Chicken
B23 – Season 4, Episode 5 – The Slime Witch
B24 – Season 4, Episode 6 – A Villager Returned Home
B25 – Season 5, Episode 1 – Welcome to Angel Valley
B26 – Season 5, Episode 2 – The Hellfire Gang
B27 – Season 5, Episode 3 – Monster Hunting with Minecraftians
B28 – Season 5, Episode 4 – Once Again into the Nether
B29 – Season 5, Episode 5 – Journey with the Mantis
B30 – Season 5, Episode 6 – The Staff of Banishing
B31 – Season 6, Episode 1 – Cth’ka the Creeper
B32 – Season 6, Episode 2 – The Witch’s Quest
B33 – Season 6, Episode 3 – Playing with Lava
B34 – Season 6, Episode 4 – The Lady of the Ice Spire
B35 – Season 6, Episode 5 – The Seige of the Steve
B36 – Season 6, Episode 6 – Deliverance from Darkness
Skeleton Steve writes with such a sense of adventure and danger!
“More great stuff from SS! I love this new series. Looking forward to seeing more from the eyes of the character that’s always supporting the other characters I like (the creeper king,
etc.). Looks like this will be a long running series, too! Seasons??? Awesome! And Zebulon from the chicken book is in here as a noob zombie knight. Cool! I’ve been following Skeleton Steve’s books since I found them last year and started reading them for my kid, but this author is GREAT, and I’m just as excited to see what comes out next myself.”
– An Amazon Customer
S1E1 – My First Journal
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 17,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
This high-quality fan fiction fantasy diary book is for kids, teens, and nerdy grown-ups who love to read epic stories about their favorite game!
The very first diary of Skeleton Steve himself!!
Welcome to a new adventure. Follow along the ‘The Noob Years‘ of Skeleton Steve, Minecraft writer and adventurer, back when he first started his travels on Diamodia! Fresh out of the “Enderman Ninja” series, Skeleton Steve and Elias the Enderman Ninja are traveling east to explore a distant village on the Enderman’s map. The village’s library is a great place to find an empty journal for Skeleton Steve’s first diary, right??
But when the village turns out to be a zombie village, what manner of trouble will the two adventurers run into? And when a mysterious baby zombie offers to give Skeleton Steve the library’s last empty book in exchange for finding his missing tome about his “Knight’s Code“, will Elias and the memory-challenged skeleton be up to the task?
Love Minecraft adventure??
Read Season 1, Episode 1 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S1E2 – Trying to Remember
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 15,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
This high-quality fan fiction fantasy diary book is for kids, teens, and nerdy grown-ups who love to read epic stories about their favorite game!
Trying to remember … and Skeleton Steve gets a bow!
After discovering a dangerous disturbance in the energy of the world, Elias must return to his master in The End to report the situation. But first, Skeleton Steve and the Enderman explore Zombietown to see what his amnesiac mind remembers about Minecraft life!
Before leaving the Overworld, Elias finally gives Skeleton Steve a bow, and it’s a good thing, too! Those strange Minecraftians outside town look like they’re going to assault the village! Will Skeleton Steve and Zebulon the little zombie knight be able to defend Zombietown without the help of the powerful Enderman ninja?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
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S1E3 – The Mountain of Wisdom
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 16,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
This high-quality fan fiction fantasy diary book is for kids, teens, and nerdy grown-ups who love to read epic stories about their favorite game!
Skeleton Steve and the Mountain of Wisdom!!
Our amnesiac hero and his Enderman ninja friend are following their first real lead to recovering Skeleton Steve’s memories–a local zombie who supposedly revived his mind at a magical mountain shrine! But … they can’t find the guy! When the duo delves into the dark undercity of Zombietown, will they finally find the answers?
And if they discover the way to the fabled Mountain of Wisdom, they’ll still need to go on a dangerous journey to reach its peak! What challenges stand in the way of Skeleton Steve remembering who he is?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
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S1E4 – The Mysterious Tower
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 17,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
Skeleton Steve and the Mysterious Tower…
Disappointed with what they found on the top of the Mountain of Wisdom, Skeleton Steve, Elias the Enderman ninja, and their new friend, Slinger the spider, travel across to the next peak over, where Skeleton Steve saw a mysterious stone tower, standing all alone on the top of the mountain.
But when the strange and abandoned fortress turns out to be something different than they expected, and the three of them end up lost and separated in a vast, old mineshaft underneath, will exploring the ancient Minecraftian place turn out to be more than the odd trio of adventurers can handle? And what’s that strange, moaning sound, deep, deep underground??
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 1, Episode 4 of The Noob Years – NOW!
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S1E5 – Into the Nether!
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 18,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
Skeleton Steve and the Nether Portal!
While exploring the abandoned Mineshaft under the Mysterious Tower in the last episode, Skeleton Steve and his friends found an imposing Nether Portal, left behind by the tower’s previous owner! When Elias the Enderman ninja convinces our hero to visit the Nether to see if it will bring back memories, it seems like a good idea at the time, right?
But when the portal is snuffed out by a Wither’s FIREBALL in the hellish dimension, how will the trio of adventurers manage to get home? A Magma Cube with a problem offers a solution, but will Skeleton Steve’s Nether Adventure prove too much for him and his friends to handle?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
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S1E6 – Invasion in the Rain – SEASON ONE FINALE!!
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 19,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
Invasion in the Rain!
Still stuck in the Nether, Skeleton Steve, Elias the Enderman Ninja, and Slinger the Spider struggle to reactivate the dead portal to get back home. But when they do, they’re surprised to find Zombietown under full assault! The Minecraftian Noobs are trying to take over and wipe out all of the undead mobs!
And to make matters worse, when the trio of heroes joins the fight, it starts to rain, so the powerful Enderman Ninja is forced to stay out of the battle! Will Skeleton Steve and Slinger be able to save the village? And how will they stop a small army of Minecraftian Noobs that just keep coming??
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 1, Episode 6 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
THIS SEASON HAS A BOX SET!
(Books 1-6)
**Over 86,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
This high-quality fan fiction fantasy diary book BOX SET is for kids, teens, and nerdy grown-ups who love to read epic stories about their favorite game!
Books 1-6 of the “Noob Years” Minecraft Diary Book Series in ONE!!!
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Love Saving Money??
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S2E1 – Hunting the Golden Apple
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 20,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
Skeleton Steve, Elias the Enderman Ninja, and Slinger the Spider are back for more, heading west from Zombietown in search of a golden apple, hoping that it will revive our hero’s memory like it did for the mysterious enlightened zombie, Zenon. But as they travel to the castle of Elias’s Minecraftian friends, stopping to see new sights on the way, they have no idea that they aren’t alone…
And to make matters worse, when they reach the castle, no one’s home! A dark and intense attack late in the night by the evil and terrifying Doomstreak Clan reminds Skeleton Steve and his friends that something dreadful is creeping in Diamodia, and Skeleton Steve is directly involved! Will our heroes be able to survive the evil Endermen ninja clan? Will Skeleton Steve get his bony hands on that golden apple?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 2, Episode 1 of The Noob Years – NOW!
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S2E2 – Assault on the Ocean Monument
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 21,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
Assault on the Ocean Monument
When Elias’s Minecraftian friends finally return home, our heroes are surprised to see that one of them is missing! LuckyMist the Minecraftian has been left behind, trapped deep in an ocean monument by an Elder Guardian, and her friends just came home to resupply! As Elias’s good friends, they’re happy to give Skeleton Steve a golden apple, but there’s one problem–the Minecraftians used them all up trying to rescue LuckyMist!
Skeleton Steve offers to help save the trapped girl in exchange for a golden apple after everyone is safe and sound, but is assaulting an ocean monument full of deadly mobs he hasn’t seen before going to be more than he can handle?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 2, Episode 2 of The Noob Years – NOW!
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S2E3 – All Gold that Glitters…
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 18,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
All Gold That Glitters…
When the result of Skeleton Steve eating the golden apple wasn’t all that our hero and his friends expected–and eating eight more of them didn’t really help much either–the Minecraftians wonder … what would happen if they made an ENCHANTED golden apple??
It’s a worthy plan, but there’s only one problem–WolfBroJake used up all of the gold from the ocean monument crafting the nine normal golden apples!
So it’s down to the mines for Skeleton Steve and his friends! Gold! Need more gold! Lots of gold! But when another encounter with the Doomstreak Clan ninjas turns dangerous, deep down in the dark depths of the world, will Skeleton Steve’s friends be able to keep him safe? And when Elias announces that he’s returning to the End to gather reinforcements, how will our heroes survive without the powerful Enderman ninja?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 2, Episode 3 of The Noob Years – NOW!
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S2E4 – My Minecraftian Life
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 22,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
My Minecraftian Life
When Elias the Enderman ninja leaves to report to his Order on the ‘Doomstreak Clan‘ situation back on the End, Skeleton Steve is left under the protection of the three Minecraftians–WolfBroJake, LuckyMist, and Xenocide99–to keep him safe in case the evil ninjas return while he’s gone! But just because the mood is dark and heavy after the last attack by the terrifying red-eyed Endermen, it doesn’t mean that they can’t have fun while they’re at it, right??
But as Skeleton Steve gets to experience the Minecraftian Life–more mining, horseback riding, farming, fishing–do the Minecraftians really have what it takes to protect our hero when the evil Doomstreak Clan teleports back in for another strike in the middle of the night?? And when will Elias be back?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 2, Episode 4 of The Noob Years – NOW!
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S2E5 – Introducing the Steve
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 20,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
Introducing the Steve
Our heroes are excited after they manage to kill one of the Doomstreak Clan ninjas during the night’s attack! It’s even more impressive that they took down one of the terrifying evil Endermen while Elias was gone! But when Elias the Enderman ninja returns with reinforcements from the End, everyone is so distracted by the Doomstreak situation that they don’t pay attention to a very confused and very dangerous visitor: the Steve of Diamodia!
That’s right! Minecraft Steve! And he’s very perplexed about why a bunch of strange mobs have taken up residence in his tower! And when our hero tries to communicate with the Steve to smooth things over, it seems that everything he tries only makes things worse! As Skeleton Steve and his friends prepare for battle with the increasing number of evil Doomstreak Clan ninjas, will they be ready for the Steve’s eventual assault to take back his home??
Love Minecraft Adventure??
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S2E6 – The Doomstreak Clan – SEASON TWO FINALE!!
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 20,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
The Doomstreak Clan
Everyone seems ready for what promises to be a hardcore battle between Elias and his fellow ninjas from the Order of the Warping Fist and the evil, red-eyed Endermen ninjas from the Doomstreak Clan that have it out for Skeleton Steve and intend to destroy all of Diamodia!! Meanwhile, the Steve sits in his bunker down the mountain from the Mysterious Tower, glaring up at our heroes while preparing for war!!
Skeleton Steve is struggling to hold everything together, and worries about making a permanent enemy out of the ‘immortal guardian‘ of Diamodia–the Steve! And when the eventual fight between everyone turns chaotic and nasty, will our heroes come out on top of everything?? Will the Steve take back his tower and hate Skeleton Steve and his friends forever??
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 2, Episode 6 of The Noob Years – NOW!
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THIS SEASON HAS A BOX SET!
(Books 7-12)
**Over 100,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
This high-quality fan fiction fantasy diary book BOX SET is for kids, teens, and nerdy grown-ups who love to read epic stories about their favorite game!
Books 7-12 of the “Noob Years” Minecraft Diary Book Series in ONE!!!
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Love Saving Money??
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S3E1 – The Glitch
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 16,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
The Glitch
We are the Glitch…
We are the Glitch…
Waking up alone in the dark, at the bottom of the world, Skeleton Steve is confounded to still be alive. And where the heck is he?! But after finding a strange and dreadful red portal, covered with dirt blocks, our hero finds that he has a lot more to worry about than being lost far underground! The dark and narrow tunnels he finds himself trapped in are full of killer mobs infected with the Glitch virus–and Skeleton Steve is helpless and unarmed!
Even if our hero manages to stay ahead of the afflicted monsters, how will he manage to get out of this dark and terrifying maze of stone corridors alive? And with murderous Glitch mobs of all sorts hot on his bony heels, without any tools or weapons, how can Skeleton Steve ever hope to get back to the surface and find his friends??
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 3, Episode 1 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S3E2 – The Sleeping City
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 17,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
The Sleeping City
Skeleton Steve barely managed to escape the maze of dark and nightmarish tunnels full of Glitch mobs, only to find a mysterious and quiet city of stone, sitting silently in a vast underground cavern! How on Diamodia did this strange city get here? And who built it? And worse yet–the Sleeping City seems to be inhabited only by broken and confused iron golems intent on attacking our hero on sight!
But when Skeleton Steve comes across a lone skeleton warrior named Skonathan, and the odd swordsman refers to our hero as the Skeleton King, the plot thickens! What strange things will Skeleton Steve find in the Sleeping City, and what will he learn about his past and his connection to the mysterious place? And will Skonathan help our hero find what he needs to get back to the surface of Diamodia?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 3, Episode 2 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S3E3 – Survival Island
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 22,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
Survival Island
Skeleton Steve knows now that he’ll need to find some wood to make a pick axe so that he can get back to the surface, but raiding the Sleeping City’s fortress and storage compound with Skonathan didn’t work out! Just when our hero is out of ideas, his skeleton warrior companion leads him to a great underground lake where a Minecraftian hermit has been living alone on an island ever since he was separated from his adventuring party–a fellow named UltimateSword5!
The lonely Minecraftian, trapped underground for a long time and surviving on mushrooms with diminishing equipment, is more than happy to help Skeleton Steve and Skonathan search for wood! But can the three of them together manage to take on the iron golems guarding the Sleeping City’s storage compound? And even if they manage to defeat the maddened golems without being killed in the process, will Skeleton Steve and his new friends find the wood they need to escape the underworld??
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 3, Episode 3 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S3E4 – Clearing the Caves
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 25,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
Clearing the Caves
It’s the simple things in life that you never think about that you take for granted. Like, for normal folks living up on the surface–up with the trees and grass and animals in the sunshine–you never think about desperately needing wood, right?
Suffering bad luck at every turn, Skeleton Steve and his friends are desperate, deep underground in a world of stone and gravel, to find some wood so that our hero can make a pick axe and get back to the land of daylight! Instead, their last efforts found nothing more than chests of stone, and another battle with the Glitch!
But when UltimateSword5 comes up with a new idea for finding wood, Skeleton Steve is suddenly pressed by the idea that they need to seal up those dreadful Glitch mobs–to entomb the area (and the mobs themselves) with stone to keep the infected monsters from wandering up and infecting the rest of Diamodia! Can they block off those terrible tunnels and infected mobs without meeting their doom in the deep, dark corridors of the evil, red portal??
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 3, Episode 4 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S3E5 – Silverfish Problems
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 21,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
Silverfish Problems
At long last, wounded and ragged, Skeleton Steve, Skonathan, and UltimateSword5 manage to escape the Sleeping City and are on their way back to the surface world–back to normal life! The one last stop? They’re traveling through tunnels and ravines to an old abandoned mine shaft, so they can find some wood, finally make some pick axes, and get the heck outta there!
But having a Minecraftian with them in an underground world of mobs isn’t easy, since every mob they encounter wants to eat poor Ulti. And when the three heroes are waylaid by a desperate clan of silverfish on their way to the mines through an area of lava pools, will Skeleton Steve fight his way through to his ultimate goal with his friends unharmed? Or will he stop to help the silverfish with their Glitchy problem…?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 3, Episode 5 of The Noob Years – NOW!
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S3E6 – The Spider Mines – SEASON THREE FINALE!!
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 21,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
The Spider Mines
When Skeleton Steve refuses to hand UltimateSword5 (the Minecraftian) over to the hungry cave spiders, he makes an enemy out of ‘the swarm‘. All they need is a little bit of wood to make pick axes, then they can get up to the surface–is that really too much to ask?!
But as the trio makes their way through the mines infested with ravenous cave spiders to get to some wood, the stakes are high, and they’re risking it all to finally escape the deep, dark underground world of the Sleeping City. Will they survive? Will they make it to the surface of Diamodia together?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 3, Episode 6 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
THIS SEASON HAS A BOX SET!
(Books 13-18)
**Almost 100,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
This high-quality fan fiction fantasy diary book BOX SET is for kids, teens, and nerdy grown-ups who love to read epic stories about their favorite game!
Books 13-18 of the “Noob Years” Minecraft Diary Book Series in ONE!!!
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Love Saving Money??
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S4E1 – The Search for Home
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 19,000 words of kid-friendly fun!****
The Search for Home
Dying sometimes makes you forget stuff. Or, at least it did for Skeleton Steve. As our hero finally emerges from the underworld to the surface, sad about losing his friends and longing to get home, he is suddenly reminded the hard way that skeletons can’t just walk out into the sunshine!
Alone with no idea of where he is, our hero sees the Steve in the distance–the man who killed him–and goes after the immortal guardian of Diamodia in pursuit of a truce! After all, if he can catch up, the Minecraftian would be able to tell him the way home! But will Skeleton Steve even be able to catch up to the Steve in the wolf-infested mountains ahead? Watch out for the sun!
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 4, Episode 1 of The Noob Years – Now!
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S4E2 – A Troubled Teenage Zombie Villager
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 18,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
A Troubled Teenage Zombie Villager
Skeleton Steve spends the day hiding from the sun inside the ruins of a sandstone house in an abandoned village with a very interesting companion … a young zombie villager obsessed with a deep need to remember who he is! Sound familiar? Our hero can relate. Well, Skeleton Steve gives the zombie a journal to help him regain his memory, and offers to help and take him along with him. Maybe they can both find their homes! But there’s one problem: the next night, the village is attacked by Minecraftians and the two of them are separated!
Unable to find the nameless teenage zombie villager, Skeleton Steve is determined to find his way home or to Angel Valley, and pursues the Minecraftians into the distant snowy mountains. Will he meet up with the teenage zombie villager again? Or perhaps finally run into the Steve? Will our hero EVER find his way home??
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 4, Episode 2 of The Noob Years – Now!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S4E3 – The Missing Name
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 22,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
The Missing Name
Skeleton Steve is recovering from a harrowing night of a brutal zombie assault on a small mountain village, and he’s desperate to find his way home to his friends. When he feels out of luck and totally lost, Skeleton Steve suddenly runs into the teenage zombie villager that he lost back in the desert village!
Now, vowing to help the poor young zombie recover his memories before heading home to Zombietown and his tower, Skeleton Steve is swept into a new adventure that he’s not expecting! When our hero and the young zombie (and his cat, Mr. Whiskers) encounter a frightful and dangerous witch named Worla, they learn the zombie’s NAME and where he came from! However, the whereabouts of the young zombie’s home comes with a price–performing a small job for the wicked witch. But nothing bad could come from making a deal with Worla the witch, right?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 4, Episode 3 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S4E4 – An Old Friend and a Brave Chicken
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 29,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
An Old Friend and a Brave Chicken
Skeleton Steve finds himself torn between finding his way back home to his friends and helping Devdan the Teenage Zombie Villager get his life back. When he and the young zombie make their way into Lurkmire Swamp to get the help of Worla the Witch, it makes matters worse when she sends them to the Steve’s castle to perform a sneaky task for her. But Skeleton Steve wants to make friends with the Minecraftian so that he can get home, so why is he skulking around the guy’s castle for the witch?!
To make matter worse (and better), one of Skeleton Steve’s best friends suddenly shows up out of the blue looking for him, and now Skeleton Steve must fight the immortal guardian of Diamodia … again! And when he and Devdan help Worla deal with another witch in the area, will that finally be enough to help the teenage zombie cure his ‘zombie problem’ so that Skeleton Steve can go home?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 4, Episode 4 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S4E5 – The Slime Witch
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 25,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
The Slime Witch
Skeleton Steve can’t believe that after all of this time being lost and far from home, his good friend Sir Zebulon managed to FIND him! But compelled by a deep, personal need to help Devdan the teenage zombie villager return to his old life and family, our hero decides to stay and help the kid finish his quest before returning home.
What’s worse is that the only way to return Devdan to life is to work with the evil and manipulative Worla the witch. Skeleton Steve has no idea whether she’s jerking them around and just using them, or truly intends to help poor Devdan. And when Worla sends Skeleton Steve and Devdan (and Mr. Whiskers!) into a nearby jungle to gather some things involving Devdan’s quest–which includes dealing with another rival witch–will things turn out okay or will their journey suffer a slimy end?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 4, Episode 5 of The Noob Years – Now!
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S4E6 – A Villager Returned Home – SEASON FOUR FINALE!!
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 29,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
A Villager Returned Home
The Season FOUR Finale!!
Devastated by Worla’s refusal to complete the ritual that would return Devdan to life, Skeleton Steve and the teenage zombie villager head west. All they can do now is try to appeal to the Steve for help, but the Minecraftian immortal guardian of the world is likely to just kill them on sight!
The situation is grim. And when our heroes continue to the village, they learn that Devdan’s father has been kidnapped and taken into a black, corrupted forest–probably into the nether! But why?! And what is Worla’s involvement in the evil plot? Will the two of them (along with Mr. Whiskers the cat) be able to rescue Devdan’s father? And will Skeleton Steve be able to help the teenage zombie villager finally return to his old life?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 4, Episode 6 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and Paperback
THIS SEASON HAS A BOX SET!
(Books 19-24)
**Over 113,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
This high-quality fan fiction fantasy diary book BOX SET is for kids, teens, and nerdy grown-ups who love to read epic stories about their favorite game!
Books 19-24 of the “Noob Years” Minecraft Diary Book Series in ONE!!!
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Love Saving Money??
Read the Books 19-24 SEASON FOUR BOX SET of The Noob Years – Now!
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S5E1 – Welcome to Angel Valley
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 30,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
Welcome to Angel Valley
Lost and alone without his memory, Skeleton Steve awakens to darkness and confusion at the bottom of the world once again. He can’t even remember who he is! Then, when he’s quickly captured by several powerful Minecraftians, he’s even more confused! It turns out that the expedition force is led by UltimateSword5, Skeleton Steve’s friend from back when he was stuck in the Sleeping City the last time, and the Minecraftians are down there looking for him! What luck!
But with his mind wiped by the Wither Lord in the nether, Skeleton Steve struggles to reclaim his identity, even in the safety and prosperity of the beautiful and hidden Angel Valley. And as he meets many new Minecraftian friends and gets involved in their lives, will this new sanctuary be enough to help our hero remember who he is and what he was doing before he was killed? Skeleton Steve once helped UltimateSword5 escape the depths. Now, will Ulti be able to help him in turn?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 5, Episode 1 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S5E2 – The Hellfire Gang
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 22,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
The Hellfire Gang
After proving his worth by helping to defend Angel Valley from a sudden phantom attack, Skeleton Steve is granted permission to stay in town with Ulti as he recovers his lost memory. And even though he was initially met with suspicion by many of the Minecraftians in the village, he’s starting to feel a little more accepted!
But on a pretty easy-going day hanging out with Ulti’s friend Astro on the village farm, Skeleton Steve learns of a gloomy prophecy involving the terrible monsters known as the Glitch. And when an invading Minecraftian force calling themselves the Hellfire Gang suddenly raids the village at sundown, he and Astro are right in the line of fire! As Angel Valley begins to burn, will Skeleton Steve and Astro survive the skirmish? And what will they do when the Hellfire Gang returns?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 5, Episode 2 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S5E3 – Monster Hunting with Minecraftians
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 26,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
Monster Hunting with Minecraftians
After a very fiery surprise-attack on Angel Valley led by the mysterious EnderNic and his Hellfire Gang, the Minecraftians around Skeleton Steve are in a panic. Several of his new friends are now homeless and without beds, and the village’s storage complex has been burned to the ground. The town’s leaders want to send a special expedition out into the wilderness to hunt mobs and gather supplies, and Skeleton Steve’s on the team!
As Angel Valley struggles to rebuild and fortify the town’s defenses, Skeleton Steve helps his new friends as he still struggles to regain his memories. But will monster hunting be enough to replenish the supplies that were lost in the invasion? And what if the Hellfire Gang attacks again while several of the warriors are gone?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
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— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S5E4 – Once Again into the Nether
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 24,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
Once Again Into the Nether
While killing a little time before an important mission, Skeleton Steve learns about his part in a coming prophecy about a witch, a creeper, and a world swallowed by crimson. The news definitely puts a dampener on his fun of fishing with his friends! Then, it’s back into the nether again, but our forgetful hero doesn’t realize that he’s been there before.
To make matters worse, what’s supposed to be a fairly easy mission to harvest supplies for the town’s defenses takes a dark turn when Skeleton Steve and the Minecraftians discover something wrong with the fiery underworld; something red and … Glitchy. Worse still, the problem seems to be spreading out of control…
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— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S4E5 – Journey with the Mantis
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 24,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
Journey with the Mantis
Tensions are high in Angel Valley. The Hellfire Gang has attacked the town twice, and every mission that Skeleton Steve and his new friends have attempted to gather needed supplies have ended up unsuccessful. What’s worse is that the last mission to the Nether has revealed an infection of The Glitch spreading near Angel Valley’s nether portal!
Now, Skeleton Steve and UltimateSword5 are tasked with traveling to the south to try trading with a witch for potion ingredients that they need—a witch named Worla. The name ‘Worla’ seems very familiar to Skeleton Steve and he doesn’t know why. But when a mysterious assassin shows up with deadly intentions, will Skeleton Steve and Ulti survive? And will they get the stuff that Angel Valley needs?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
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— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S5E6 – The Staff of Banishing – SEASON FIVE FINALE!!
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 32,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
The Staff of Banishing
The Season FIVE Finale!!
Skeleton Steve, UltimateSword5, and LegoWarrior70 have made it back to Angel Valley just in time to help defend the town from a full-scale invasion. The battle is fierce and everyone is put to the test! Who will win? Skeleton Steve and his powerful Minecraftian friends? Or the fearsome and determined lava-slinging, fire-wielding raider army known as the Hellfire Gang?
When an opportunity presents itself to counter-attack the Hellfire Gang’s secret base directly, will Skeleton Steve and his new friends survive the deadly mission? How does Astro’s prophecy involve our hero? And what’s going on with the Glitch showing up in Diamodia again?! Where will Skeleton Steve go from here?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 5, Episode 6 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and Paperback
THIS SEASON HAS A BOX SET!
(Books 25-30)
**Almost 100,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
This high-quality fan fiction fantasy diary book BOX SET is for kids, teens, and nerdy grown-ups who love to read epic stories about their favorite game!
Books 25-30 of the “Noob Years” Minecraft Diary Book Series in ONE!!!
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Love Saving Money??
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— Available on Kindle and Paperback
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S6E1 – Cth’ka the Creeper
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 25,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
This high-quality fan fiction fantasy diary book is for kids, teens, and nerdy grown-ups who love to read epic stories about their favorite game!
Cth’ka the Creeper
Right after the battle in Angel Valley against the terrible Hellfire Gang, Skeleton Steve is forced by a prophecy to leave all of his new Minecraftian friends behind. Sad to be alone again, he heads south to find a special creeper that will supposedly soon be involved in a fight to save the world.
After several dangerous encounters, when Skeleton Steve finally reaches the dark oak forest of Astro’s dreams, he meets a strange, young creeper that claims to have met him before. Is this creeper, Cth’ka, the ‘chosen one’ that Skeleton Steve is looking for? And if so, then what on Diamodia is he supposed to do now that he’s found him?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 6, Episode 1 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S6E2 – The Witch’s Quest
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 31,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
This high-quality fan fiction fantasy diary book is for kids, teens, and nerdy grown-ups who love to read epic stories about their favorite game!
The Witch’s Quest
Destiny can be a crazy thing. After talking to Worla the Witch, Skeleton Steve and Cth’ka are sent off on a quest to find a magical artifact, and now Skeleton Steve knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that little Cth’ka is the creeper that he’s supposed to protect. After all, the artifact they seek fits into the dreams of the prophecy perfectly!
But the journey is long and full of peril, and after trying to survive another attack by the Steve, it’s not helping that their destination–an ancient, underground stronghold–is full of mobs that are determined to kill all trespassers, even other mobs! And when Skeleton Steve’s memory problems start getting in the way, how will he be able to keep Cth’ka safe? Or will Cth’ka the creeper become the one to protect Skeleton Steve?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 6, Episode 2 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S6E3 – Playing with Lava
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 28,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
This high-quality fan fiction fantasy diary book is for kids, teens, and nerdy grown-ups who love to read epic stories about their favorite game!
Playing with Lava
After battling through a faraway stronghold and finding the Crown of Ender, Skeleton Steve is starting to believe that the prophecy must be real after all! Now, as Cth’ka starts to pay off his debt to Worla the Witch, Skeleton Steve feels dedicated to his part in saving the world and his friends from the ‘crimson unleashed’ in the near future.
But as Cth’ka struggles to overcome the witch’s first task, Skeleton Steve is having his own problems. Confusing and broken memories continue surfacing in his tired, traumatized mind. And while Cth’ka’s new powers and abilities are truly amazing to behold, the young creeper’s difficulties in completing his goal leads them to a distant castle and a dangerous confrontation with an iron-clad death dealer…
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 6, Episode 3 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S6E4 – The Lady of the Ice Spire
Love MINECRAFT? **Over 31,000 words of kid-friendly fun!**
The Lady of the Ice Spire
As Skeleton Steve continues to protect Cth’ka the Creeper King during his three tasks for Worla the witch, things take a chilling turn as they’re sent to the ice spire mountains to assassinate a fellow witch. The mission is easy enough to accept, after all, because this ice witch turned out to be the very villain that blew up Cth’ka’s house and killed his friends! But their target, the silver-tongued Witherynn, is a clever master of her frozen domain, and doing Worla’s dirty work won’t be as clear-cut as it seemed.
Cth’ka’s powers are growing, and the young creeper will need every bit of his crown’s magic to best Witherynn. But the closer Skeleton Steve and Cth’ka grow to the truth, the more confusing and uncertain Worla’s motivations and scheming becomes. Working in the world of witches is murky business. Will Skeleton Steve be able to protect the creeper of the prophecy and see him through this task without them becoming bad guys along the way?
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 6, Episode 4 of The Noob Years – NOW!
— Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S6E5 – The Seige of the Steve
Love MINECRAFT? **Coming Soon**
The Seige of the Steve
Description coming soon. Check back again, or join the Skeleton Steve Club to receive an update when this book is published!
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 6, Episode 5 of The Noob Years – SOON!
— Will be Available on Kindle and in Paperback
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S6E6 – Deliverance from Darkness – SEASON SIX FINALE!!
Love MINECRAFT? **Coming Soon**
Deliverance from Darkness
Description coming soon. Check back again, or join the Skeleton Steve Club to receive an update when this book is published!
Love Minecraft Adventure??
Read Season 6, Episode 6 of The Noob Years – SOON!
— Will be Available on Kindle and in Paperback
THIS SEASON HAS A BOX SET!
(Books 31-36)
**Coming Soon**
This high-quality fan fiction fantasy diary book BOX SET is for kids, teens, and nerdy grown-ups who love to read epic stories about their favorite game!
Books 31-36 of the “Noob Years” Minecraft Diary Book Series in ONE!!!
Love Minecraft Adventure??
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Read the Books 31-36 SEASON ONE BOX SET of The Noob Years – SOON!
— Will be Available on Kindle and Paperback
Book One Preview
1 – Beginnings
Where to begin?
Right now I’m sitting on the roof of the watchtower in Zombietown, writing in this nice, new journal!
How did I even learn how to write? How do I understand these words? What unknown memories in my undead brain guide my bony fingers to move the quill and ink over these pages?
My name is Skeleton Steve.
Or, at least, that’s the name they gave me.
I don’t know who I am.
I guess a good place to start with would be back when Elias and I were on the road heading to Zombietown. I didn’t know it was called ‘Zombietown’ back then—we gave this place that name later. We just sort of … started calling it Zombietown. But at the time, it was a Tuesday morning, the square sun was high in the sky, and the forest was bright and beautiful around us.
“So where are we going, again?” I asked.
The tall, black-skinned Enderman walked along beside me, moving in graceful, easy strides. The tails of his blue ninja headband fluttered in the breeze, and the sun glinted on the white symbol over in its center, the symbol of his ninja order.
He looked down at me with an unreadable face. His purple eyes glowed.
“To the east,” Elias said, his voice inside my head, “there’s a village on the map.”
It was still very strange to me—communicating with this Enderman via telepathy—speaking inside our heads. The ninja never made a sound otherwise. Never a word, never a grunt. The only times he spoke to me was with my thoughts, like I was thinking those words myself, in my own voice.
But it wasn’t my voice. It was his.
“Oh,” I responded. “Oh yeah…”
Elias stopped and cocked his head, blocking out the sun for a moment. “Are you okay? How’s your memory?”
“What a funny question,” I replied out loud. The Enderman spoke inside my head, but I’d speak out loud. If anyone else was ever watching our conversations, it would look like Elias was staring at me, and I was talking to myself! “How’s your memory?” I repeated. “If my memory was acting funny, would I have any idea?”
We moved on.
“Valid point, Skeleton Steve,” he said.
I looked down at my skeletal hands as we walked. Flexed my fingers—watched them open and close.
Who am I? I thought. Who was I?
My slender, bony feet crunched through the dirt and grass, and my pack flopped against my hip-bones as I walked. We’d been traveling all morning, following Elias’s direction.
Sometimes, the Enderman ninja would stop, and pull his compass out of thin air (he called it his dimensional pocket), look at the instrument for a moment, glance up at the sun, look up ahead, then, we’d move on…
I realized that this must be very slow for the powerful creature—walking with me like this. I’ve seen him jump around like magic, zipping around using his … teleportation power. Elias could really cover a lot of ground in a hurry like that!
But … he wanted to be with me.
To walk with me.
And I appreciated him for it.
Was Elias my friend? I don’t know—I didn’t even know who I was. Or who I used to be. The Enderman claimed that he wanted me to travel with him. He said he wanted to help me get my memories back.
I guess he was my friend…
“So what’s gonna happen when we find this village?” I asked. “Won’t the villagers freak out and not want anything to do with us?”
“That seems likely,” Elias replied.
“So … what’s the point??”
“One reason to go there is to find you a journal, remember?”
“Well,” I said, “wouldn’t it make more sense to just go back to the village where you’re already a hero, and get one there?”
The Enderman looked at me for a moment. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking or feeling—not like with the Minecraftians. Those creatures were pretty easy to read. Elias’s face however, was just … blank. Black and smooth and blank. With glowing purple eyes that mostly just looked … gentle and uninterested.
What was going on behind those passive purple eyes? An Enderman sigh?
“I have picked up many Ender seeds in the area of the last village already,” Elias responded. “It is good to explore, to cover new ground.”
“Your Seed Stride?” I asked. “That’s why?”
“That is one of many reasons, Skeleton King,” he said. I winced at the name. “There is also a compelling reason to seek out new villages, and new areas—to become more familiar with this map.”
The Skeleton King.
Who was the man—the skeleton—that existed before the Skeleton King??
My memories from being the monster were almost gone now—just hazy shadows in the back of my mind. At times, when I stayed quiet for too long, I started looking through this bright, sunlit world, and caught flashes of an army of skeletal archers; brief glimpses of clashing with this Enderman ninja in mortal battle; quick memories of … red…
The Enderman put a slender, black hand on my shoulder.
“I apologize, Skeleton Steve,” he said. “I did not mean to use that name...”
Had I stopped?
Did I stop walking and go into some sort of weird flashback again??
We started moving again.
“It’s okay, Elias,” I said. “I’m … sorry too.” I shook my skull. “How far do you think the village is?”
“Well,” the Enderman said, “From the last time I looked at the map, judging by the time of day, and the plains to the south…” He pointed to our right and, through the trees, I could see a bright, open area of green grass peppered with yellow and red flowers. “I surmise that we will be walking for today, and tomorrow, then should reach the unknown village.”
“Not bad,” I said. “You know what?” I looked up at him and smiled.
“No, I do not,” he responded blankly.
I smirked. Elias was a weird guy. He definitely didn’t understand that expression. But, how did I??
At every turn, thinking about the mechanics of this … amnesia … seriously boggled my mind. How did I know some things and not others? How did I know how to speak? Or how to use expressions like, you know what?
“Err … know what? I kind of like this traveling like this,” I said.
“That is good, Skeleton Steve,” Elias responded. “This world of Diamodia is immense. It is good to see much of it—to learn much of this place. I have come to understand, from my Seed Stride and my first mission for my order, that there is much self-improvement and growth to be had in journey and adventure…”
“Journey and adventure, huh?” I asked. “Yeah, I like that.”
“Take this creeper for example,” Elias said, waving a hand off to our left.
Creeper??
I looked, and didn’t see anything. Green. Trees.
And suddenly, a freaking creeper stepped out from the woods! Right next to us! Its skin was green like the leaves, and crackly, with four stubby, green legs, and a frowny face with deep, sad eyes like black holes in a dense bush…
“Whoa!” I exclaimed. “Where’d you come from?”
“Ssss,” the creeper replied. Its voice was dry and scratchy. “I walk through the treesss, ssskeleton!” It approached us and stopped.
“What could you learn from this creature?” Elias went on, in my mind. I had no idea if only I heard his mind voice, or if the creeper was hearing it too. “This creeper may just be another mob, but he has a name, and has been here longer than you have. All of these beings of Diamodia have their own stories—their own lives.”
The creeper stared at us blankly.
“Uh … hi there, creeper!” I said, turning to it. It didn’t respond. “What’s your name?”
“Cho’thosss,” the creeper responded. “Why’sss a ssskeleton want to know?”
“Just curious, I guess,” I said.
Elias stood by like a silent sentinel, watching our interaction.
This felt weird. What was the Enderman trying to do? Make me have a conversation with the creeper?
The creeper suddenly looked up at Elias, and watched his face for a while.
“Yesss, Ender,” the creeper said. “There’sss a cassstle to the wessst. What’sss with hisss eyesss? They glow red!” It glanced at me with its sad, deep eyes, then turned back to Elias.
They looked at each other’s faces for a while longer. Elias must have been talking to the creeper with his mind voice, and I wasn’t a part of the conversation…
“Not that I know of,” Cho’thos responded, its voice like leaves and gravel. “I have not gone much farther eassst…”
The Enderman ninja gave the creeper a small nod.
“Good travelsss,” the creeper said to both of us, then walked around us, continuing to the south.
“Uh … nice to meet you, Cho’thos!” I said after him. I looked at Elias. “What was that about? Asking him about the village?”
“Yes,” my companion replied. “He’s familiar with this area, and the Minecraftians’ castle, but hasn’t been much further east than we are now.”
“Yeah, I got some of that,” I said, and we walked on for a while.
When the sun went down and the world became dark, Elias insisted that we stop for the night. Neither of us needed to sleep, but the Enderman preferred to stop at night to meditate and recharge his Chi—whatever that was.
We both sat in a small clearing between tall oak trees, and I watched the Enderman as he sat straight, crossed his legs, and put a slender hand on each knee. Appearing very serene, Elias closed his eyes, and stayed like that for the rest of the night. Only the blue tails of his ninja headband moved, drifting up and down in the night breeze.
I sat in the dark, watching and listening to the strange world around me, wondering if those zombies and spiders I heard and saw in the distance ever had a taste for bones…
2 – On the Road
When the square moon set, and the sun brightened the day again, we continued our journey.
Elias stopped every once and a while to do his weird Enderman stuff.
His Seed Stride.
Sometimes, gliding along like the long and limber creature from another world he was, Elias would stop, close his eyes, then head off of our path a bit, holding his hands out in front of him. With those powerful and lean arms, he’d dig his fingers into the dirt, and pull up a block or two. Occasionally, he’d have to dig and set aside block after block until he found the dirt block he was looking for…
They all looked the same to me.
But Elias sure acted funny about those blocks, treating some of them like they were nothing interesting at all (they weren’t interesting of course—just dirt), and others like they were full of diamonds or something! His eyes would flare, and he’d look over those ‘special’ dirt blocks like they were the coolest things he’d ever seen. And then, he’d slip them away into nothing—into his dimensional pocket.
“What do you see in those?” I asked, eventually.
The Enderman was regarding one of those ‘special’ blocks. He held it up for me to see, treating it with gentle care.
“Behold,” Elias said. “What do you see?”
Dirt.
It was a block of dirt.
“Just looks like dirt,” I said.
“Inside this dirt,” he replied, “is an ‘Ender Seed’—something sacred to my people.”
“Like, some kind of … egg?” I asked.
“Not exactly,” Elias said. “Each of us Ender has an Ender Pearl inside, which is an amplifier for our Chi, and allows us to channel much of our power into the techniques you have seen me use—my ability to warp, my mind voice, and other, more subtle things.”
“And they come from dirt?”
“This world, Diamodia, has three connected planes. Do you know of them?”
“What are planes?”
“The End, which is my home, the Nether, and this world—the Overworld. All are planes, like worlds within a world.”
“What’s that have to do with the dirt??”
“All planes are connected, and are vital to each other. We Ender, who live in The End, rely on the Overworld to produce the Ender Seeds, which grow naturally in the soil of the world. When my people go on our Seed Strides, we collect the seeds to bring back to the dragon’s island, where they will grow into new pearls for Ender younglings.”
Dragon??
“Um … dragon island? Is there a dragon??”
“The Ender Dragon,” Elias replied. “The ancient beast bound to my people’s civilization that grows the pearls.”
“Can I see the dragon?” I asked.
“Perhaps, one day, I will lead you to The End. But, for an Overworld-dweller like yourself, that would be a very involved adventure. You cannot reach The End as easily as I can.”
“Can’t you just teleport us there?”
Elias seemed to smile. “I can return there at will,” he said. “But I cannot take you with me.”
As we walked, I listened to spiders hissing and climbing around in the trees around us. Looking up, I watched their multiple, glowing red eyes regard us from the shadows.
“Um … Elias?” I asked.
“I sense that you are distressed about the mobs around us,” he said in my mind. “You do not need to fear.”
“Do you think I could at least … have a weapon?? A bow or something? I mean—I know the Minecraftians didn’t want me to have one, but they’re long behind us now, you know?”
The memory echoed in my head:
“Do you think I could have a bow?” I asked. “Just in case … uh … I dunno … we run into trouble??”
“No way,” Xenocide99 said.
“Not a chance,” said WolfBroJake. “You might be a wimpy skeleton now, but yesterday you were the Skeleton King!”
My first memories of transforming into a normal skeleton after being … that monster … were kind of hazy, but I could still remember the Minecraftians and Elias standing around me, as I waited in my cage for them to decide on my fate…
I was truly grateful that this Enderman spoke up and didn’t allow the Minecraftians to execute me. They sure had every right to…
“Why do you feel the need to have a weapon?” Elias asked.
“What if those spiders attack?”
Elias shook his head, and looked up into the trees. He stared at the individual arachnids handing out in the upper branches as we walked on. After a while, he looked down at me again, then pointed at one of them. The spider’s glowing red eyes glared down at me.
“That spider’s name is Sidney. He’s up there because he likes to spend the day in the sunshine at the top of the trees. He feels happy and warm.” Elias pointed to another. “That one’s name is Sophia. Sidney’s her best friend, so she hangs out with him a lot, and is hoping they’re going to go explore a certain cave nearby after lunch.”
“Okay … what about that one?” I asked, pointing at a third.
“What about me?!” the spider called down from above with a hissing voice.
“That’s Seth,” Elias said. “He just wanted to see what the other two were doing up there.”
I felt a bit silly.
“Oh, nothing … Seth. Have a nice day!”
“You too, bones!” Seth replied.
“Hey, you guys!” the spider named Sophia cried out in a spidery voice. “Watch out for the Minecraftians! There are a bunch of them living nearby!”
She must have meant the Minecraftians in the castle behind us.
“Thanks!” I said, and we walked on.
“You don’t have much to fear from other mobs here, Skeleton Steve,” Elias said. “Don’t forget—you are one of them, yourself!”
“Still,” I said. “I’d like to have a weapon. If something bad happens, what am I gonna do? You have your awesome ninja skills, but I’m just … I’m just a bunch of bones.”
“Soon,” the Enderman replied. “Be patient, Skeleton Steve. You are still recovering from being … the other. We must make sure that … your state of mind is safe.”
We walked in silence for a while.
“What was I, Elias?” I asked. “What was the Skeleton King? Who am I now? Was I always the Skeleton King before?”
Elias shook his head. “I do not believe you were always the Skeleton King, Skeleton Steve,” he said. “From what I could tell, you were … distorted … by a magical artifact—an evil magical item that is no longer on this plane. I feel rather certain that you were something else, or someone else, before the artifact made you into the Skeleton King.”
“Can you show me?” I asked.
“Show you what?”
“With your mind power. Can you make me see myself, as the Skeleton King, from your own memories, maybe?”
“That is an odd request, Skeleton Steve,” Elias responded. “Why would you want to remember being the Skeleton King? That’s not who you are now…”
“Maybe it’ll help me remember who I was—you know—before!”
“Are you sure?” the Enderman said. “I could send you … images, short memories, I suppose. But will it really help you? It will likely cause you pain.”
“Please,” I said. “I want to see.”
Elias stopped, and we stood in tall grass.
The monster stood in the room directing his skeleton minions as they carried more of the heavy metal blocks over from a corner of the room. In the shadows, spared from the red light, I caught a glint of steel.
Were the blocks made of solid iron?
My eyes darted back to the Skeleton King.
The abomination stood twice as tall as the skeletons around him—taller than me. And he was thick and wide, with heavy ribs and dense limbs. The Skeleton King’s bones were overall more massive than normal skeleton bones, and he had a broad lower jaw that made him appear even more menacing. As I expected, his eyes held the same fierce, red pinpricks of glowing light as the other skeletons. The monster’s shoulders were armored, and he held a huge, black bow in one chunky bone hand.
No … not in his hand. On his hand!
The Skeleton King was armed with a great, black bow that was bolted sideways onto a bracer of some kind that was attached to his right arm.
“Move it!” he yelled, his voice like thunder. “Get those blocks in there!”
The skeletal minions struggled with the heavy blocks to finish their work on the pyramid.
I shook my head.
That was weird. I was suddenly aware of the tall grass around me again. Elias stood before me, regarding me with a passive, smooth face and glowing purple eyes. I looked up at the blue sky above me and felt the sunshine on my face.
“Are you alright?” Elias asked. “Did you see?”
“I…” Pausing, I tried to collect my thoughts. “That was weird. I was suddenly … in a castle? The Minecraftians’ castle??”
“Did that … stir any memories?” Elias asked. “Did the monster feel like you?”
Nothing.
“No, not really. I was just seeing the Skeleton King from your eyes. It didn’t feel like me. Can you do it again, maybe a … stronger memory??”
Elias pressed his hands together. He seemed resistant to the idea, although I couldn’t read his strange, Enderman face for the life of me…
“Very well,” he said, and my mind was swooped away into a … flying kick!
Flying through the air, I visualized my kick hitting the Skeleton King in the center of his chest. Then, just as my foot was about to connect, I was shocked when the Skeleton King’s massive ribcage split apart up the center and opened up like a sideways chest—like a great clam-shell trap—and my body crumpled inside of it!
The ribcage trap slammed shut on me, crushing me inside the abomination’s body.
Pain…
I cried out, and roared in agony!
The Skeleton King’s chest was large enough that such an attack would have totally swallowed up a Minecraftian. But I, as an Enderman, was too big to be completely enclosed, so I was tangled up in a deathtrap of bones, crushed, stuck…
Then, the ribcage opened up and spat me back out onto the ground.
I landed in the dirt, feeling broken.
Trying to get to my feet, I barely noticed the Skeleton King raise his bow to me again.
Zip.
I teleported just a few feet away as he fired, the black arrow hitting the ground where I was.
When I appeared, I collapsed onto the ground again.
Clunk clunk clunk clunk clunk clunk clunk. The skeleton army around us beat their bones in a constant rhythm song of hand-to-hand combat…
I was exhausted and broken.
The Skeleton King turned, and raised his bow again.
Fired.
The black arrow pierced my chest and almost pinned me to the ground! The pain was unbelievable…
“Give me the beacon!” the Skeleton King roared.
I could barely see.
Clunk clunk clunk clunk clunk clunk clunk.
Looking up at him, I tried to get to my feet, then fell again.
“Give me the beacon or DIE!!” the abomination bellowed.
I heard the voice repeating in my head…
Die…
Die…
Die…
When I came to, Elias was trying to help me stand from the ground. I was sprawled out in the grass, holding my chest. The huge, black arrow that pinned me to the ground was…
Wait.
There was no black arrow…
That was from a memory that wasn’t mine.
And that’s all it was.
The Skeleton King was a terrible monster, but he wasn’t me at all!
Seeing the abomination wiping the floor with Elias, from the ninja’s point of view, was horrifying, but it didn’t remind me of anything. Seeing that massive, menacing creature was no different than … if he was standing in front of me as … something else…
It was all very confusing, but it didn’t help at all.
“Oh … that’s … oh my—” I stammered as the Enderman helped me to my feet.
“Are you okay, Skeleton Steve?” he asked, his mind voice serious and concerned.
“Elias … I’m … are you?? That was terrible! How did you … I’m so sorry!”
“I am okay now,” Elias replied. “I will always have the scars from my battles with your other form, but the Skeleton King was also a great mentor to me, in its way, and helped me grow as a ninja.”
“I’m sorry, Elias,” I said. “The … weapons … never mind. I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’ve got you, after all. Just … whenever you think I’m ready? A bow or something?”
Not much later, just as the sun was setting in the western sky behind us, we saw the distant lights of torches across a darkening plateau.
The village…
“Skeleton Steve,” Elias said. “We will rest here, and approach in the morning, after I have recharged my Chi…”
“Okay, Elias,” I said, my thoughts still on the terrible memories from the Enderman’s mind.
So, my memories of being the Skeleton King probably won’t help me. I had to remember who I was before I became the monster! But, since the moment I became a normal skeleton again, I couldn’t remember anything from before!
Who was I before?? Just a random skeleton?
Hopefully starting a journal would help me to remember…
3 – Zombietown
We approached the village in the morning with caution.
After all, the villagers wouldn’t know us from any other random skeletons and Endermen out there. They wouldn’t know that Elias was a hero, an ally to Balder’s village—Balder was the blacksmith who gave the ninja his map. They wouldn’t realize that he was a friend of the Minecraftians—the hero Enderman ninja who saved the village from … well … from me…
Elias figured that we should scout out the village real quiet-like. There was also the possibility that some other Minecraftians lived here, and they probably wouldn’t be friendly.
“I’m not sensing any villager energy,” the Enderman said in my mind. “Nothing Minecraftian, either.”
“So what’s out there? What’s going on?” I asked.
“Let’s find out,” my companion replied.
The closer we came to the village, the stranger it seemed. Even though it looked like a normal village, there was something … off about it.
…
Think your Minecraft buddies would like my books?
