The Ongoing Adventures of Inkscale- A Memoir

geckosquid · (This post was last modified: 05-25-2012, 07:40 by geckosquid.)

((Note: Before reading this, I highly recommend reading the background story I provided in my whitelist application, found here: http://kiwike.se/forum/showthread.php?tid=2701))
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A sharp leather boot planted itself in my back, sending me careening to the floor.
"Useless scaleskin..." muttered the shopkeeper as he returned to his usual business. "Look, we know your type, and you're nothing but trouble. Always prying into matters that don't concern you. Do this village a favor and get out. If we catch you around here again... I hear lizard tails make a delicious soup." A greasy grin spread across the man’s face as support from the other residents of the village reached him.
I had never liked crowds. I can take out the shopkeeper and run... I thought, reaching for my daggers. However, much to my dismay, neither were in their sheathes. I must have dropped them in the hurry to leave my homeland. It was probably for the best, as I didn't want to add to my already horrible reputation. Reinforcing stereotypes wasn't high on my list, either, so I decided to comply with the village’s demands and hit the road. To think that I was denied food and shelter simply because I had scales... I sincerely hoped that this village was an oddity in Kiwike. Otherwise, I would never be able to recruit a skilled group of individuals worthy of taking down Enderscale.

After a few minutes’ worth of walking, I could not shake the feeling that I was being followed. Some rustling in bushes on either side of me confirmed this suspicion, and I went into a state of high alert. Soon, my tails showed themselves in what they seemed to think of as an ambush. Although prepared for the trap, there were more of them than I expected. It seemed as if the whole village had followed me there. In a frustratingly familiar moment, I ran.
As I sprinted through the field, dull rocks pelted me, bruising my sensitive skin beneath the layer of scales. I could hear shouting behind me, most of which went along the lines of, "Death to the scaleskin! Lynch the scoundrel! Get his pelt!"
What caused them to change their minds, I don't know. I suppose this was all some sort of sick game to them. They must not have known that behind these slitted eyes lies something extraordinary. Fools.
Eventually, I came to a skidding halt as pebbles kicked by my feet plummeted down a massive cliff face. There must have been another way.

I was enough ahead of the pack of hunters to be able to set up a trap of my own. I dragged tree branches in front of the ledge, so as to disguise the sudden drop. I tethered my tail to a vine and attached the other end to a tree to break my hopefully short-lived fall. Finally, I stood amidst the branches and pretended to be caught in one of them.
When the group came, they kept charging. Stones glanced off my face, bringing about a wince each time. Finally, the villagers reached me.
The looks on their faces were of total despair as they became temporarily airborne, courtesy of the cliff. I was pushed off the ledge as well, but felt safe because of the vine tether. As I dangled precariously against the cliff face, I noticed that the ground was much further away than I originally deemed it to be. Shrugging this off, I began to climb the vine tethering me to the aforementioned tree. My heart sank and my pulse quickened, though, when I saw movement at the top of the cliff. A single villager seemed to have possessed the intellectual aptitude required to look before he leapt. Tears were streaming down his face; he looked at me like I was some kind of monster. A knife shining with the glint of the sun rested in his hand, ready to sever my only remaining connection with this world.
"Why did you do this?", the boy questioned between sobs. "You killed my family just to save your own hide... You’re evil!"
At that last word, something changed within me. I spoke, slowly inching my way up the vine, hoping that the boy wouldn't notice my progress. "You and your family were trying to kill me simply because of the texture of my skin," I reasoned, doing my best to stall long enough for me to reach the top.
"We may have been wrong," said the boy, still weeping rivers, "but now they will never learn their lesson. Now I will never have someone to kiss me good night, or hug me when times are rough, or even call me ’son’. You took that from me."
I began to feel a great deal of compassion for this young boy. However, I did not fully understand the weight of his words, for family was a foreign concept to me.
"Be that as it may," I said, still inching up the vine, "if you cut that rope, I won't be taught a lesson, either."
I was almost to the top. Soon, I could be on solid earth once again.
The boy sniffled. "You killed everyone I love. You have to pay for that. I want my revenge, and I want it now. I hope you have time to pray to whatever demented god you worship on the way down."
For the first time in my existence, pure terror filled me. I scrambled to reach the top of the vine, screaming for him to stop.

The sun glinted once more off the knife in the boy’s hand, as revenge glinted in his eye. Both were then brought down with a raging fury. The vine snapped. A scream escaped my throat.

And I fell.

When I awoke, sunlight dappled my surroundings. I seemed to be in some sort of ruin; whoever inhabited it must have been a few thousand years gone. Vines lay all around me, and as I stared upwards, I could see the path I had carved through the jungle trees as I fell. Had the vines not broken my fall, I would undoubtedly have been a smear on the jungle floor. My pursuers weren't so lucky. A sword and sheath were within my reach; remembering that I had lost my weapons, I grabbed the gear. I attempted to stand up, but I could tell I had sustained heavy injuries. I needed food badly; us Shimmerscales have regenerative properties when on a full stomach.
I stumbled through the jungle, whacking vines out of my face. The chirping of birds filled the air, and I spotted an ocelot or two eyeing me before darting into the underbrush. Finally, I heard the snorting of a pig. It must have wandered stupidly into the jungle looking for fungi to feast upon.
The animal had a vine wrapped around one of its legs, unable to move as a consequence. A mushroom lay just out of its reach.
A wave of pity that seemed to come from nowhere washed over me. I was close to starvation, but I simply could not bring myself to slaughter the poor creature that lay trapped before me. It strained against its bonds for the mushroom, and I was almost certain that I could see a single tear roll down its pink, pitifully gaunt cheek. I had had enough. Leaning over, I whipped out my sword and cut the animal free. It squealed with pleasure and quickly gobbled down the fungus it had wanted so badly. I smiled and reached over to scratch its head.
Suddenly, a blur of fur and claws leaped out of the brush, tackling the swine and slashing it violently with its knife-sharp claws. I let out a cry of dismay and lunged at the feline, pinning it to the forest floor. I showed no mercy as I plunged my recently acquired sword repeatedly into the creature. Blood spattered the jungle floor, the bright red a sharp contrast to the ground’s usual shade of lush green. When I deemed the cat dead, I crawled over to the pig. It was breathing heavily; huge gash wounds ran down its sides. Although too weak to move its head, the animal looked at me, pleading for me to end its pain. I nodded with understanding and drew my sword once again. Pressing the blade against the creature’s neck, I whispered, "I'm sorry..."
A tear escaped my right eye, and it seemed to hit the floor of the jungle with the force of a falling anvil. I looked once more into the helpless creature’s eyes...
And brought my sword down on a patch of nearby vines. Quickly weaving them together, I created a sling for the pig. I rolled the animal over onto the makeshift mat, tied the top to prevent the pig from rolling off, and tied two more vines onto it so that I could wear it on my back, with a vine wrapped around each of my arms to keep the sling from falling. As I stumbled through the forest, my vision began to blur. I managed to make it into a nearby cave before fainting from dehydration, hunger, and exhaustion.

I awoke to the aroma of freshly harvested fungi. With effort, I managed to crack open my eyes and tilt my head toward the scent. Lying on the ground next to me was a pile of mushrooms. Behind the heap of fungi, a pig stood there expectantly. Bending down, the creature nudged a few of the morsels in my direction. Smiling faintly, I reached over with all the strength I could muster and shoved them into my mouth. The taste was slightly disagreeable, but I was in no position to be picky regarding consumables. Some of my strength returned, I left the cave and used my sword to carve a rough bowl from the wood in a nearby tree. I rubbed a stick against my tail until a spark lit the instrument ablaze, then tossed it into a pile of similar pieces of wood. While the fire grew within the cave, I ground up the mushrooms to the best of my abilities until they were a fine powder, then added water from a small spring that ran through the cave after drinking heavily from the source. Once the fire was at a good height, I used the heat resistance granted by my scales to hold the bowl above the fire until the water boiled. Quickly pulling the bowl away from the fire before the bowl itself could burst into flames, I drank the soup slowly, content with my handiwork. Before I had finished, I heard the clicking of trotters on the cave floor approaching me. Scratching the pig on the head, I let him drink the rest of my soup. We would both need our full strength for the journey ahead.
For the next few weeks, I made the cave my home, stocking up on materials so as to be fully prepared for heading back out into the wilds of Kiwike. The pig continued to bring back food daily, and I honed my mining skills once I figured out how to fashion a pickaxe and smelt ores. Finally, once I had equipment made of iron, I decided it was time that we left our temporary home. Nodding once to my companion, I set out into the jungle once more, prepared for whatever fate would throw at me next.
To pass away the long hours, I planned my revenge on Enderscale. First, I thought, I needed to gain a reputation. I had already done successful enough of a job within that one village, but most of them were dead now, so it no longer mattered. I flashed back momentarily to the boy whose family I had led to their deaths, but instantly blocked the image out of my mind. Such thoughts were counterproductive to my goal. To get my mind off the matter, I thought of a name for my pig. I found the animal in the first place because he had somehow wandered deep into the jungle, considering how far he deviated from a pig's usual habitat. Turning to the animal trotting beside me, I said, "I think I'll name you... Deviant." The creature oinked once; I took this as acceptance of the title and smiled. Pleased with myself, I continued onwards.
A few days after leaving the cave, the jungle was finally behind us. Vast plains gave way to desert, and desert to sparse forest. Eventually, we came to a great lake that separated two land masses. "Well, Dev," I said to the pig, "Looks like we're going to have to swim." Dipping a trotter in the water, then pig squealed and leaned into my legs. I furrowed my brow, thinking of an alternative.
The trees nearby had surprisingly sturdy wood. As I tied the final vine around our crude raft, I once again smiled at my innovation.
My tail made a fine rudder. As we made our way across the lake, I was constantly preoccupied with the hope that no marine predators lurked beneath our flimsily thrown together mode of transportation. About halfway across the lake, I noticed something beneath the surface moving very quickly towards our raft. Panicking, I started to use my hands to propel us forward. Suddenly, something bumped the raft from beneath, sending Deviant into the icy lake. I gasped and prepared myself to jump in after him; he was just barely able to keep himself afloat. Before I could leap from the raft, though, a massive shark at least twice as large as the raft propelled itself out of the water, its mouth racing towards Deviant. I collected myself, drew my sword, and, with a battle cry, sprung myself into the air. My sword caught the shark directly in its nose. A bellow escaped its cavernous throat, and it thrashed about wildly. Its tail smacked Deviant in the side, sending the pig into the frigid depths below. "DEVIANT, NO!" I cried, but there was nothing I could do. I was being dragged along with the shark; the sword seemed to be lodged in its nose cavity. I managed to get a purchase in the shark's gills with my feet and pushed with all my might. The sword finally gave way, sending a stream of blood into the water and provoking another wail from the creature upon which I stood. I careened backwards, tumbling along the predator's back. My sword caught a hold in the shark's spine, sending waves of shock through my arms. I gripped the handle tightly in an act of pure self-preservation. Finally, the shark headed underwater.
My mouth and nose immediately filled with cold liquid, and I silently screamed. Bubbles streamed out from underneath my scales. I prepared myself to drown.
To my disbelief, long appendages wrapped themselves around my body, and I was pulled away from the shark. The beast turned around and swam at me, mouth open, ready to feast upon my flesh. Before it could reach me, though, black blurs zoomed through the water and attached themselves to the predator. It thrashed about in an attempt to shake them off, but more and more of them secured themselves to the shark until it was completely covered with the things. I was left with that image as I was pulled out of the water and pulled to shore. Gasping for air, I heaved out the water that had been accumulating in my lungs and caught my breath. I turned to look at my savior.
Floating in the water before me was an ink-black squid. It looked up at me with its huge eyes, and I whispered, "Thank you..." It raised a tentacle out of the water towards me. It hung there, seemingly expecting something. I reached out my hand and placed my palm upon the flat of the tentacle, and I felt something stir within me. I held my hand there for a moment, noticing the sun set behind the cephalopod with which I was connected. Finally, it let its tentacle drop back into the water.
A wave of sadness washed over me as I realized that Deviant had been lost in the depths of the lake. Tears began to well up in my eyes, and I look towards the sky, letting out a long sigh.
I heard splashing in the distance. Another squid seemed to be heading my direction through the water, but this one was carrying something. Wrapped within its tentacles, I saw pink.
The pig was dropped on the ground before me. I knelt down to get a better look at my companion. He was breathing. Relief coursed through my veins, and I began to laugh as Deviant spit out water and turned himself upright. I took the animal in my arms and embraced it. Over the pig's shoulder, I smiled at the squid who had saved his life. The creature simply looked at me for a moment and then disappeared into the lake.
Setting Deviant down beside me, I turned toward the setting sun. It was time to find shelter.

We ran. Rain pelted Deviant and I as we searched in vain for a place to take cover. Nearby moans alerted me to the presence of monsters amid the torrential storm that was brewing. My blade sliced blindly through the air. I heard a great roar behind me, and turned about to see a massive hurricane tearing through the lake I had just crossed. Squid were flung from the body of water by the sheer force of the hurricane, landing helplessly upon the surrounding land. I knew we would die if shelter could not be found. Through the mist, I saw a gaping blackness. Out of pure desperation, I ran towards it. Deviant was lagging behind, so I took him in my arms and ran. Icy water droplets glanced off my face, forcing me to squint. With blurred vision, I tripped over a protruding tree root, sending Deviant flying into the maw of darkness. Struggling to pick myself up from the muddy soil, I heard a hiss that seemed to be coming from somewhere within my direct proximity. I turned around to find myself staring into the eyes of what my people called the Krö-Brün; Creeper.
A great explosion hurled me backwards with unbelievable force. I could do nothing as I tumbled into the mouth of a huge cave.
I rolled over ledge after ledge, unable to lose the momentum gained by the explosion. The cave was extremely deep, but I finally skidded to a halt. With great effort, I managed to stand, surveying my surroundings. I could see nothing. Fumbling around, I fished a torch out of my knapsack and struck it against a wall, lighting it ablaze. I stepped back in shock at what I saw.
Before me was a great ravine that must have been hundreds of feet tall and a quarter as wide. It seemed that this had once been a mine, but it was abandoned long ago for reasons that were not abundantly clear.
From below, I heard a squeal. Turning my head to the source of the noise, I saw Deviant cowering at the bottom of the trench. Worried immensely, I leaped off the ledge on which I had been standing and landed with a thud upon some tracks that likely were once used for minecart transport. Turning a corner, I saw Deviant standing confidently next to a large chest, licking his chops. I patted his head and opened the container. Inside of it was a mattress made of wool and feathers, as well as a few seeds and gold nuggets. I pocketed the seeds and nuggets, knowing that they would prove to be useful one day. I laid down the mattress a few feet away from the edge of the ravine and stored a couple of tools in the chest before nodding off.
I was awoken by Deviant. He was making some sort of guttural sound whilst slowly backing away from something. Equally disturbing were the sounds coming from around the corner where he was looking. I drew my sword and pressed my back against the wall, slowly edging myself towards the corner. I pointed the blade forward and revolved on one foot around the wall of the cave, slicing my weapon in the direction of the threat. Unexpectedly, I was only met with a few purple-tinged particles that danced through the stagnant air. I heard a thump behind me. Whipping around, I found myself staring up into the eyes of an Enderman. I swore under my breath and widened my eyes. If I looked away now, it would attack, and there was no way I could take on an Enderman. There was nothing I could do, though, but fight; my eyes could not go without moisture for very long.
Keeping my eyes trained on the creature, I made my way over to the chest. Opening it without so much as a glance in the container’s direction, I felt around until I clasped my fingers around an iron pickaxe. Before I could take it from the chest, though, something thudded into the underside of the open lid. I turned to find that the object was an arrow, and realized my grave mistake. I froze for a moment, then turned to see the Enderman speeding towards me. Its mouth gaped open to reveal huge, incredibly sharp fangs meant for the quick and efficient tearing of flesh.
I deftly sprung out of the way and stood deathly still as the figure disappeared. A sizzling droplet of lava dripped through a crack in the ceiling. I smiled as a plan hatched in my head. Suddenly, the Enderman materialized and snatched my sword, flinging it into the depths of the ravine. I swore under my breath and decided to carry out my backup plan. I sidestepped and flung the iron pickaxe into the crack in the ceiling. Almost instantly, the rock shattered, sending lava pouring down towards the Enderman. It teleported, however, before the scalding liquid could reach it. The furious creature of the void began to tear chunks of rock out of the cave's roof, causing columns of lava to cascade down into the cave. I found myself standing on a small island of bare rock, with lava surrounding me completely. Without warning, an arrow sailed through a lava column, causing the tip to become white-hot. I had a plan.
The target of the bow-equipped skeleton came crashing down upon it and brought a nearby rock repeatedly downwards onto its skull, bashing it in. Once the skinless creature ceased to move, I snatched its bow and sling containing five arrows. Immediately, I was flung into the wall of the cave by the Enderman. It screeched at me, fangs bared, and charged. I made a mad dash for the lava, the Enderman practically biting my heels. I had a plan, but it had to be executed perfectly in order to work. I whipped around and smacked the Enderman in the face with my bow, stunning it. I then dove behind a lavafall, putting the column of heat in between me and the creature of the void. I notched an arrow on the bowstring and pulled it back. When I released the projectile, it shot straight through the column of lava and into the Enderman’s chest before it could recover from being hit by the bow. It let out a bloodcurdling scream as fire ate it from the inside out. It teleported away from the arrow, but the fire still spread. Soon, the creature had been reclaimed by the Void. I wondered if Enderscale had played any part in this.
My thoughts were interrupted by a cracking sound from above, followed by a deep rumbling. Suddenly, a huge crack spread across the ceiling, and lava began to flow through. I had to get the hell out of there.
"Deviant!" I screamed. "Deviant!"
A squeal echoed from the other side of the cave. I turned to see the animal pacing frantically on the opposite side of the lake of lava that was forming. His black, beady eyes were staring at me, as if to plead for his life. Looking up, I saw another crack forming directly above his head. "Deviant, RUN!" I screamed. The last thing I saw was the animal dodging pillars of lava as it cascaded down around him.
That was when the ceiling gave way. A giant mass of lava poured into the cave. Tears streamed down my face as I ran down the passage behind me. A huge wave of lava raced after me. The glow of the substance bounced off the walls, casting shadows off of everything. Soon, I saw water. I leapt to the other side of the aquifer and hugged the wall. Steam filled the cavern as lava met water. Once the sizzling had subsided, I turned around to see a rough stone sheen covering the ground. Somewhat satisfied, I turned my focus to going back to rescue Deviant, assuming he had survived the disastrous events of the past hour. When I looked up, though, what I saw sucked every last bit of remaining hope out of me. At least a dozen Endermen stood at the entrance to the cave, and I had just looked at all of them. I heard the whistling of wind coming from behind a nearby wall. I turned away from the figures and frantically hacked at the stone. It gave way, and I stumbled through just as the multitude of void spawn reached me. I swung my pickaxe at them in desperation, catching a few in the jaw. Sunlight streamed into the passage from above, and I ran towards it. Endermen were appearing all around me. I dropped the pick and focused all of my energy on running. I finally made it out of the cave and found myself in the middle of a field. Fresh air filled my lungs, giving me a new burst of energy. I sprinted through the tall grass, knowing full well that my attackers were still in pursuit. A jungle lay dead ahead. Gritting my teeth, I dove head-first into the vine-infested undergrowth. Branches, vines, and colorful creatures whipped into my face as I made my way between the towering trees. Suddenly, I found myself colliding head-on with something that yelled out upon contact. I clamped my hand over its mouth and pinned it to the jungle floor. It looked different from anything I had seen before, but I had seen sketches in books. It was a human.
"What is your name, human?" I hissed in a hushed tone.
"Cell," he replied as I lifted my hand from his mouth. "Now, would you mind letting me go?"
"Oh, right," I said, releasing him from my grip.
Brushing himself off, he asked, "So, what’s the hurry, uh..."
"Inkscale," I replied. "And I am being followed. The jungle will slow them down, but they could be here any time. I should be going."
Before I could sprint away, the man stopped me.
"Do you have anywhere to go to?" he inquired.
"What do you mean? I really must-"
"Like, a home or something. You know. Friends? Family?"
I swallowed back an onrush of tears. He noticed and continued.
"You could stay with me, at least until you have a sword, food, and some clothes."
I looked down and noticed that I had none of the listed items. Desperate, I accepted his offer.
"All right," he said with a smile. "Follow me."
Although slow to trust, I had no choice but to follow the human into the depths of the jungle. This land was becoming more interesting by the minute.

The humidity of the moss underfoot seeped through my scales as I trudged through the dense jungle with the mysterious man called Cell. If I had a dagger on me, I would have had my hand on it. Instead, I flexed my fingers, arched my feet, and kept my knees bent in case the man changed his mind about providing me hospitality. We eventually came to a small island. Cell parted a few vines on the ground, revealing a hidden entrance to what must have been his dwelling. Closing the vines behind us, he said, "It isn't much, I know, but I didn't reach this land until just a small while ago." He gestured to various chests embedded in the walls. "Food, tools, minerals, and monster remains. Help yourself." He opened the chest containing minerals. Batting at the dust rising out of the container with his hands, he said between coughs, "I haven't managed to find any diamond beyond what I needed for a pickaxe." He handed me an iron pick. "Good luck."
I got the message. "Cell, I haven't exactly mined before. The servants did the dirty work."
He looked at me sideways, smiled, and shook his head while letting out a small chuckle. "Get used to it, 'Sir Inkscale'. You won't be getting the same treatment in Kiwike." He turned to the chest again, and saw that I hadn't moved.
"The mine’s down the ladder and to the left. It’s an old mineshaft, so be careful. Those cave spiders don't give mercy."
Before I could leave, he spoke up once more.
"Hey, what were you running from, anyways?"
I didn't turn my head when I replied. "Don't worry about it."

In the mines, time is no object. There is only the pick and the rock through which one is tunneling. Eventually, I found myself in a huge underground ravine. I heard a chorus of moaning from around a corner. It was then when I realized that I had forgotten to bring a sword with me. I took a bite out of a steak, held a torch in the hand not occupied by a pick, and peeked around the corner.
About half a dozen zombies were idly stumbling about. Bones littered the floor, along with a few suspicious red stains. The horde of undead seemed to be blocking the beginning of a cave. I quickly decided on a course of action.
I cast the torch into the midst of the assemblage of zombies. I then darted into the shadows created by the new source of light, constantly moving so as to avoid detection. I finished the monsters off one by one, driving my pickaxe into the backs of their heads and disappearing in a cloud of ink-black smoke. Soon, only one remained. For dramatic effect, I ran up a nearby wall, did a backflip, and landed the pick square in the center of the zombie’s head. Satisfied with my work, I continued down the passage.
Soon, I saw something shining in the ground by the light of my torch. Upon closer inspection, I found that it was gold. I immediately started mining, aware that I was about to become relatively wealthy, if the currency here was at all similar to what was used back in my homeland. I broke through the stone surrounding the gold...
And the ground was no longer present.
The stone floor of a deeper cavern halted my fall. A glance around told me that I was surrounded by large webs. "Fantastic," I muttered to myself. Suddenly, I heard a hissing from behind me. "Not again!" I screamed, and braced myself for an explosion.
No explosion came, though; only a sharp stabbing sensation in my left arm. I cried out in pain and faced my assailant: a huge, blue-tinged spider. Head swimming from its venom, I impaled its thorax with my pick. I stumbled around a bit and sat down on something that seemed to resemble a box. My vision was too blurred from the venom, though, to identify my seat. I stared at it for a minute until my vision suddenly became clear. The object was a cage with a small, flaming spider imprisoned within it. I jumped back and gasped. This was a magical device that could spawn spiders out of thin air. I had to destroy it before it created more eight-legged freaks. Hacking away at it with my pick, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. I looked up to confirm my theory and saw hundreds of beady red eyes looking back at me. The spawner broke, and silence settled over the cave. I carefully inched over to the nearest exit, hoping not to provoke the multitude of arachnids any further. I was about to leave when I heard a thud. A single spider had dropped to the floor. Another two followed. More followed them, until there were too many to fit on the floor. That was when they attacked.
I sprinted down the nearest arm of the cave, with dozens of spiders swarming after me. They did not seem to be individual creatures; rather, they moved as one, a wave of legs, hair, and gnashing mandibles, eager to feast upon my flesh. I ducked into a crevice as soon as I saw one and tried to squeeze through. My pick, though, was having difficulty fitting through the narrow space, which was a problem considering the army of angry arachnids that pursued me. I felt hairy legs brushing against me as I desperately wriggled, hoping for a way through. Finally, I dropped into the crevice. As I fell, I could hear the screeching of hungry arachnids lamenting my escape.
I landed face-first next to a lava pool. My vision was blurred, but I could see that before me lay diamond, embedded in the wall. My eyes widened and a smile crept across my face. I began to mine, ignoring the holes in my left arm.
As I swung my pickaxe, I felt heat rising up my back. Pick in rock, I slowly turned to see the source of the increase in heat intensity. I instantly inhaled. Before me was a huge molten tendril of lava and rock. The creature had three rifts which appeared to be eyes that stared directly at my head. I quickly freed the diamonds from their stone prison and disappeared around the corner.
As I ran, I could feel the thing coming after me. The ground gave way around me, making room for lava to cascade in. Soon, two surging waves of lava were converging on me, with the creature riding atop the center. I knew that it must have been a creature of the void, but my focus was trained on escaping with my precious cargo. To my dismay, I saw that I was quickly approaching a ledge that lead to a huge lake of lava. From the center of the lake protruded a small outcropping of rock. I had no choice but to prepare myself for the deadliest leap of my life.
It was about a twenty-foot drop from the ledge. The rock outcropping was halfway across the lake below the ledge. I had to be going at a speed of approximately two strides per second to reach the rock.
All of this raced through my head in under two seconds. I bent my knees more as I ran and used the tips of my toes to spring myself forward with each stride.
The next few seconds went even more slowly than the last.
The stone beneath my feet ended. I curled the toes of my left foot around the top of the ledge and pushed off using the side to gain momentum. For balance, I thrust my left arm forward and down and my right arm backward and up. I moved my tail to run parallel to the diagonal created by my arms. The heat glanced off of my scales. The roar of the void spawn chasing me echoed through the cavern. Lava shifted beneath me, an inviting, warm blanket of red velvet, as swaths of it crashed down behind me...
I was met with hard rock. I opened my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Looking down, I saw my reflection in the glassy surface upon which I rested. This was no ordinary rock; something in the back of my head told me that the formation was called obsidian. I rolled onto my back and rested for a bit. My solitude was interrupted, though, by a wretched snarl. I sat up slowly and saw a tall form floating over me. Its three eyes were familiar, but its form was not. Its frame was long and lanky, much like an Enderman, but it seemed to be composed of void itself. This thing was clearly not of this world. It simply floated above me as I lay dumbfounded upon the sleek crag of obsidian. I was stranded in the middle of a lake of lava, so escape was not an option, for once. Then, it swooped towards me, and blackness reigned.

When I awoke, there was nothing but a figure amongst light. I can't have awoken, I thought to myself. This is far too... Surreal.
The figure approached me. Suddenly, its face was inches from mine, and it had a hand clasped around my throat. Snarling, it turned my head away from itself, and Cell appeared amongst the haze. "I see you found diamonds! Not that it makes much of a difference... We’ve been stolen from! They must have come through our nether portal..." Tuning out, I nodded, wondering how reality could meld with this plane in which I rested. "I am going to go on an adventure," I thought subconsciously, yet the words were vocalized nonetheless. My vision twisted outwards and above ground. It zoomed over a sweeping landscape. The terrain raced faster and faster underneath me. Suddenly, I was completely present within the vision, and the figure turned me towards it once again as the ground ran beneath me, an ever-changing landscape. "Listen to me and listen well, Inkscale. I have claimed our homeland as my own. If you so much as set foot in my domain, I will see to it that you suffer a very slow and excruciatingly painful death. I hope we have reached an understanding. You can wake up, now. Time to stop sleepwalking..."
Dark laughter echoed through my head as I felt grass fresh with morning dew beneath my feet. Strangely enough, I was standing, and facing a large structure. Upon entering, I found that it was some sort of inn. The bartender inquired about my business, and, reminded of my diamonds, I asked where I could find a blacksmith. Fortunately, a forge stood close by, and its owner let me use it free of charge. Perhaps the denizens of this land weren't so bad after all.
Time zoomed by. I joined a blooming nation and built a house. I mined, I built, I mined, I built... But then, I grew bored. I needed excitement.
Opportunity came in the form of a stout, bearded dwarf who called himself Ronguor. He and his brothers, Ari and Skuld, wanted to create a nation, and had a habit of raiding. This was not a strange concept to me. The first raiding target was an upcoming nation called the Vermillion Dominion.
It was sunset. We lay in waiting just outside the town. A single man walked about, attending to this and that. It was time to strike.
I crept up behind him with a dagger in each hand. I had not killed in a long time.
The kill was executed in seconds. The first dagger sliced the man’s vocal chords. He was now unable to scream. I flipped him onto his back, made a dozen lacerations all over his body, and carved out his throat to release as much blood as possible. My mark had been made. Upon finding his body, they would marvel at my prowess. They would cower at my lack of mercy. They would hide from my ferocity.
The last raid was the most memorable. I was attacking their capital, which had many inhabitants. In order to remain undetected, I had to dig under them. Using my claws, I created a tunnel system under their town. Above me, I could hear them. One was more attentive than the others; he remarked that he heard something below and would dig downwards to find the source of the noise.
I immediately darted around the corner, drew my daggers, and waited. I heard falling dirt, and a beam of sunlight shot through the tunnel. A thud was heard, and I could see the shadow coming closer. The man called out. "Who’s the-" I stopped him mid-sentence by burying my dagger up to the hilt in his throat, then dragged his body around the corner. The thrill of the kill coursed through my veins. I needed more.
I dipped the dead man’s helmet in his blood and threw it underneath the opening he had dug from the surface to the tunnel. I heard a gasp and another thud, followed by a stretching sound that could only be an arrow notched in a bow being pulled back. "I'm not afraid of you!" the living man said, his voice trembling. It seemed that he was trying to persuade himself more than I. He whipped around the corner and trained the arrow at my head. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded to know of me. "Nothing but an illusion," I replied. He released the arrow, but the projectile only disturbed a cloud of inky mist. I cut the quiver of arrows off the man’s back. "I think you'll find," I said, "that illusions can be quite deadly." With that, I embedded my dagger in the back of his head and pushed his body away with my right foot. That was when I heard the clinking of armor against armor resonating through the tunnel from behind me. Turning, I saw a man holding a flaming sword of diamond. It would melt my iron daggers easily upon contact. There was never, however, a challenge that I could refuse.
Brandishing the sword, he charged at me. I immediately darted down another tunnel, but as I turned, I saw a bucket attached to his belt with heat rising out of it.
A bucket of lava.
When he came around the corner, I was standing at the end of the hallway. With a hiss, I sprinted towards him. Unable to decide what to do, the man simply pointed the sword straight towards me. I skidded to a halt and slid, just missing the flaming blade. I sprung up, and the blade danced around me. I swerved and jumped, ducked and swiveled, as the flaming sword tried to find a weak point upon which to land. Fire flew through my vision. Finally, I delivered a swift chop to his wrist with the side of my hand, stunning the man’s sword-wielding arm. In the small time I had before he recovered, I pushed his helmet off. He then swung at me again. This time, though, I grabbed his shoulders, swung over him in a front flip, grabbed the lava bucket off his belt, and emptied it on his exposed head. He only screamed for a few seconds before crumpling to the ground, his head a pile of ashes.
Needless to say, I was not met with any more opposition.

Soon after this raid, I moved in once more with the man called Cell, who had built another well-hidden underground base. He aided in our raiding, and we eventually joined forces with the residents of a town called Solitude. It was dusk. The Southern Coalition, a conglomeration of bloodthirsty individuals including myself, stood victorious over the corpses of the members of the Vermillion Dominion. Through endless fighting, we could accomplish anything.
This mentality, though, was taken too far. I write this from a parapet in Solitude itself, awaiting a peace conference between the town’s members and various other rising nations. I fear the worst. Time will tell if-

The journal seems to abruptly stop at this point.