Tell Us

Tell me what you saw.

You do remember, don't you?

The cave, in the hill far from your home.

You remember going inside of it, don't you? You wanted something from it.

Do you remember what that something was? No? Maybe a vein of iron, or a handful of coal?

Whatever it was that you wanted, you went in.

Do you remember it? The black, unending darkness? The freezing cold that made you shiver?

Your friend, armed to the teeth, watching your back;

His heavy iron boots clanging as they hit the stone floor?

Good, good.

Go on. Tell us what you saw. A good bedtime story.

__________

I... We. My friend and I.

We were going into the cave to pick up some fresh coal for our torches, maybe even a few iron ore if we were lucky. We rarely ever were, but it was a good motivator for us. Anything to make us look flashier than the crowd.

I, of course, was a new guy. I was invited in by my friend, and I started playing about an hour before we went off into the cave to go mining. When I got there, my friend was already decked out with a nice, big house with good gear. Compared to me, a lowly newcomer, he was a king. He was nice about it, though; he helped me finish my house, gave me some starter's equipment. He was a good friend like that.

His generosity didn't stop there; when we were getting ready to go mining, I asked why he bothered to come along with me. He said that he was going to make sure I made it out of the cave in one piece. That, and he needed materials to repair some of his stuff, also adding in something about a minecart transportation system.

I think he just needed a reason to watch over me. God, I swear he was like an older brother at times.

Anyways, he pointed towards an unexplored cave that he found while making his way towards where I first spawned. It wasn't too long a distance, but he decided to take some extra food with us just in case. Seeing as he had chests full of the stuff, I don't think it really mattered if he took a two stacks of cooked pork out of his stash.

When we walked back outside, he flung one of the stacks of food at me, in addition to a slightly damaged leather cuirass. Seeing as how something was better than nothing, I put it on, noticing the tight fit; after that, I ate a few slices of the pork. I was ready to go.

He gave me a quick checkup, seeing if my stats were acceptable and whatnot. Somewhat annoyed, I tried to hurry through so we could start walking towards the mine already. Still, he was thorough enough that we just stood there, talking, for at least three minutes. By the time we were done, morning had passed and the bright sun was now high in the sky.

When I made my annoyance known, he shrugged and said that we could never be too careful. He said that there were some things that you could never prepare for. Looking back, I think he was right.

It was a ten minute walk to the cave. My friend swore that the walk would be worth it, that the cave was just filled to the brim with valuable ore. Seeing as how he helped me so much this far, I had no reason to question him; after all, he was the expert here. More experienced than me, at least.

We soon found ourselves at the mouth of the cave. It was set against the side of the hill, a gaping, dark hole in an otherwise perfect setting. It was kind of hard to find, since it was covered up by dead trees and withering vines. It was a miracle that my friend spotted this in the first place.

After cutting the vines down, we stopped and stared into the cave. It was dark. Very dark. Almost like light was being sucked in, chewed up, and snuffed out. I started to have second thoughts. Then it all went away. In the time it took for someone to snap, it was gone. Every negative feeling I had about this place, every fear, every conflict; whisked away. I don't know how it happened. It scares me, now that I think about it; how could something be so powerful as to change the thoughts and feelings of another in a split second?

I glanced at him, and it looked like he was thinking the same thing. He cracked a wide, toothy smile, barely visible through his helmet, and he led the way inside.

What was it like, you ask?

Well. It was dark, of course. Very dark. And very cold.

We were well inside the cave when we ran out of torches. My friend was leading the way, mumbling about being unprepared. To be fair, it wasn't his fault; there was something in the air, a certain... effect. Almost like bedrock fog. The torches barely gave off enough light to pierce through it, and and we were forced to use more as a result.

It was at this point where we started hearing... voices.

Small, child-like voices; whispers. Beckoning us, calling for us to follow them. My friend turned in their direction, as if he heard them too.

I wanted to turn around, follow our torch trail and get the hell out of there. But when I turned around, no torches were visible; the only source of light we had now was the one burning at our feet. My friend picked it up, as my hands were too shaky too hold anything. He waved it around, trying to find our trail; to no avail. My friend faced me again, a stoic expression he wore every time he was afraid.

Seeing no other choice, we started walking forward. More specifically, towards the voices, whose whispers became louder, more excited with each and every step.

I swear. I still hear their voices now. Come here, they said. Closer, they said.

Why did we have to follow the voices? Why didn't we turn around?

The voices still grew louder, and as we reached a set of iron doors, they were almost deafening. We tried to peer through the holes, but the other side was pitch black: my friend even put the torch right up against the door's openings. The whispers I felt it: whatever was on the other side of that door- for I knew there was something -wanted to get out.

My friend suddenly went rigid. He dropped the torch, and it bounced against the ground, slowly rolling away into the mist. I was too stunned to care about it; my eyes were glued to the doors.

Dozens of glowing eyes materialized behind the door, willing us to open it. They started to pound on the door, shaking the ground underneath us. I didn't know what to do. There was just so much going on. I could... I could only focus on the eyes. Nothing else. They just drew me in, demanded my attention. All the while, the whispers were getting louder and louder. Almost screams now.

Suddenly, my friend reached out and pulled on the door handle. The whispers stopped.

My friend said one word to me. He turned around, smiled, and said:

"Run."

He tossed me his diamond pickaxe, and, seemingly against his will, he let go of the door handle. The doors came flying open. My friend was swallowed up in a swarm of pitch black, white-eyed children, who bared their fangs, hissed, and started running towards me on all fours.

I scooped up the pick and started sprinting into the dark, distancing myself further and further away from those... nightmares. I don't know how I got out of there.

Actually, now that I think of it.

How did I even get here? _________ Thank you for sharing.

What are you doing?

This story will satisfy us, at least until we find another.

Another wha-

It's okay.

...It's okay.

You just have to embrace it.

''Embrace... us?''

The children of the dark.

''I dunno about this one. We'll see.''