Drown

The thing about Minecraft is that my world is always changing. Sometimes I'll see new creatures that I had never seen before wandering the land as though they had always been there. Sometimes it's in the way my world looks- some landscape will have slightly different colors or a different texture than I remembered. It's usually nice, I can appreciate the variety and surprise factor. But then there are changes that I wish could be taken back- dangerous additions to my otherwise peaceful world that disrupt my quiet life while I fight to adapt.

I noticed there was something different in my world as soon as I woke up in my beachside house.

Good different, but different nonetheless.

Something about the sea outside my home had changed. It looked lighter. Maybe it was just from seeing it through the glass. Wait. Not only was it lighter, some of the water looked almost green. That was definitely new. I grabbed my sword and walked through my door onto the shore.

I was right. The water looked clearer, and I could see something underneath the surface. It looked like tall grass, but it was even taller than that, and looked to be swaying in a soft current. Kelp, is that kelp? I didn't think that was possible. It looked oddly beautiful in front of the morning sun, rising slowly over the horizon.

I noticed something moving among the kelp- something that looked vaguely familiar. Is that- it looks like salmon. But the salmon was real. It had a body. I could see it swimming through water and disappearing into the forest of kelp that I still was wrapping my head around.

I felt myself smiling. This was a beautiful new version of my world that I had woken up in. Hell did I love my world- I felt safe in it. I loved being able to explore its new editions and live my quiet life in comfort.

The salmon resurfaced farther out in the sea, where the greener water was. Beside it another fish rose to the surface- but it didn't look like any I had seen before. Were there more fish to discover? Were there more creatures hidden beneath the water? Curiosity and excitement led me into my boat.

With another glance at the sun, still in the early stages of rising, I took off towards the greener part of the sea and stopped in the center of the colored patch. Beneath me was a forest of kelp that continued so far under the surface that I couldn't see where it ended. I could see farther than I used to, though, as the water was clearer and sunlight actually seemed to light it. There was a school of smaller fish to my right, yellow and white with black eyes. Noticing my boat they disappeared into the depths of the kelp, leaving me alone at the surface. This new version of my world seemed so peaceful.

I wondered if there were more creatures on the sea floor. Maybe there were structures, too, that I could explore. Ahead of me I saw an island, so I sailed to it and got out of my boat to start planning my new adventure. I scanned the shore of the island. To the left I saw something glowing in the water. Intrigued, I took a mental note of where I left my boat and made my way towards the glow. As I neared it, I realized it was magma that was glowing- magma under the water? How did it get there? The water over it was bubbling.

I was more than interested now. Behind the magma I could see what looked like a small stone structure similar to the sandstone wells I had found in the desert. It looked close enough to the surface to be able to investigate without running out of air. I began to swim towards the structure.

Nearing it, I noticed a few other buildings almost identical, but out of smooth granite and sandstone. The buildings looked old and broken down. There were holes in the walls that could have once been windows, and spaces in the roofs that I assumed had once been whole. The broken buildings unnerved me, but I couldn't place why. I felt a shiver crawl up my spine, but I blamed it on the water.

I dove under the surface when I had reached the first structure. Sand and gravel lined the floor, piling against one wall. Against the other- is that a chest? I opened it excitedly and grabbed the contents without looking before returning to the surface. Breathing in deeply at the surface, I surveyed what loot I had found.

Oh.

There five objects in my hands. One was an iron ingot. The rest were bones.

I realized why seeing the decrepit buildings had bothered me.

Someone had to have built them.

A lot of someones had to have built them. The buildings looked abandoned, and they were underwater.

Had there been people in my world before me? I dropped the bones and watched them sink back into the structure. Still treading water at the surface, my thoughts began racing. I thought I was alone in this world. If there had been other people in this world, where had they gone? What had caused them to leave their homes? How long ago were they here? How old was this underwater town? What had happened to the people-

I felt a sharp pain run shoot through my leg, bringing me reeling back into reality. I look down. There's a person below me.

A person.

But they don't look alive. Their eyes are almost glowing blue. Their skin is mottled green and, in places, falling off. Their clothes were ragged and hanging off their body loosely. Fear filled my head as I put it together.

I had my answer. The people who used to live here. They never left. They died here. And I had walked into their grave. I realized if I didn't move soon it would become mine, too.

Adrenaline coursed through my system as I started thrashing away from the inhuman being below me. I started swimming away from it, not caring where as long as it was away.

I stopped a few structures away, vaguely registering that I had been swimming farther away from shore. I was shaking uncontrollably, panic still clouding my brain. I forced myself to think coherent thoughts: I was still in the water with that thing, but I couldn't see it so I should be fine, right? Just have to get back to sho-

Another pain in my leg. Shrieking involuntarily I start swimming back to shore. I'm farther out than I thought, but I can't focus on that now. Looking behind me, I see several more of those wretched creatures following me. Oh, god, they're fast. They're almost faster than me, but that could be the fear talking. Please just let it be fear.

Unable to take my eyes off of the horde growing behind me, I continue swimming blindly towards the island. I seem to be losing them, slowly putting more and more distance between us. Oh, thank god, please just let me get there saf-

I don't get the chance to finish my thought before my eyes are burning and my lungs are filling with water. I gasp in my panic, feeling more salt water rush into my mouth and down my throat. Above me the surface is getting farther and farther away and I'm surrounded by bubbles- why are there so many bubbles? I look below me.

Underneath me is magma. Not a lot, only about a block of it, but it's there. And it's sucking my flailing body down towards it. I scream in spite of myself. Looking up again I see the horde of the undead sinking towards me. This is it, isn't it? If I don't drown before burning in the magma below me, I'll be killed god-only-knows-how by these creatures crowding above me.

My vision begins to black out.

I stop screaming. I can't anymore.

I close my eyes. I don't want to die staring at the beings that are going to kill me.

This world was supposed to be safe, I was supposed to be safe, I thought I would be safe.

I guess that's what the drowned thought, too, when they were alive.

I just pray I can respawn. I beg whatever deity I can think of to let me start over after this. To not let me end up like these poor, disgusting, drowned that met my same fate. I feel my breathe leave my body. And my world stops.