[3rd POV]

Aria quickly takes control of the situation as everyone slowly comes to a very unsettling realization.

This wasn't just a game anymore.

"We need to make a shelter, fast. If I remember correctly, Minecraft days usually last about ten minutes, and the nights the same." Aria turns her eyes to the sky, spotting the sun directly above the group now. Her face is set, and a soft purple glow shows slightly underneath her bangs. "We have about five minutes left before the sun sets, and we have no way of protecting ourselves from the mobs....." She turns to the group, and her blocky hand slightly raises to her face, rubbing a slash that was half-hidden by her hair. The scar on her face partially shows, but her hood keeps her hair in place, covering the rest. Her character, dark-clad with blue trim on the legs and sleeves, wields a sword on her back. Anthony notices this, and he tilts his head.

"Aria?" He asks, and she turns to him. He gestures behind her and continues. "Your sword.... is actually real, I think?" He finishes it with a slight question, and Aria's eye widens. She reaches behind with her right hand and feels a cool, blocky object meet her skin. Carefully, she grips it and pulls. She feels the blade slide along the leather strung on her back until it is free.

"Woah..." Mobius comments, his own eyes wide in awe. Aria just stares in shock at the blade. It was nothing like the swords in the Minecraft world. It was eight-bit, like everything else in this world, but it wasn't like the iron or diamond swords. This one was thinner, but it didn't feel weaker. Its handle was wrapped in leather, and the blade was a light blue, shimmering with an enchantment. What caught Aria's eye the most though was the 'ball' at the end of the handle.

It was an Eye of Ender.

"I... I thought this was just part of my skin!" She stutters out, gazing at it in wonder as she lifts it more. Alexa shakes her head. "Well, at least one of us was smart enough to put weapons on our skins! Guess we do have some defense now...." Her tone slightly drops, shaking Aria out of her stupor. "You're right. This will help, but we need a home. Let's get punching." Everyone nods, but the wonder of the sword was still in their minds.

And Aria knew something was off about it.

However, that could be figured out later. Swiftly, each person heads towards the forest and begins the usual task of gathering wood the first day. Fists slam against trees, and the group all have their own sense of shock at the lack of pain it causes. Shaking it off, Aria makes a crafting table and sets it a few blocks behind her. "Table up!" She shouts, and soon everyone is there crafting an axe, except Anthony. He makes a pickaxe, and quickly mines into the ground, getting stone. 

As the sky begins to grow dark, Aria turns back, having accumulated nearly a whole stack of logs. "I have 54 oak, starting on base!" She says, and she hears Alexa shout a reply. "Finishing up the last tree!" Within moments, Alexa is next to Aria, who already has a nine-by-nine flooring finished. She left a hole open where Anthony had begun to dig down. Alexa begins building the walls, and Mobius quickly jumps over one wall and slams his hand on the crafting table. Suddenly, a screen appears before him and he swiftly crafts his logs into planks, then half of them into sticks. Finally, he crafts some stairs and throws them down to Anthony. "Incoming!" As Mobius begins to turn away, a solid thunk followed by a pained shout echoes from above. Everyone up top turns and gazes down the hole, spotting Anthony gazing up with one hand rubbing his head in pain. The ladders were on the ground next to him, and Mobius rubs the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry. I thought they'd just fall into your inventory like normal..." Anthony huffs, but picks up the ladders and moves them behind himself, where they suddenly shrink and disappear. They had figured out that, like in most comics and television shows they had seen, the items seem to vanish into their inventory when slipped behind their backs. Not only that, but to open the inventory, you only needed to swipe from your right shoulder outward intentionally, and it would appear before you, similar to a movie they had all seen.

It was based on virtual reality with video games coming to life.

Everyone quickly returns to work, and just as Aria starts finishing the wall, she hears a spine-chilling noise and quickly ducks just as an arrow flashes over her head. She swiftly stands again, though, slightly losing her balance on her double stacked wooden planks. Turning to gaze over her wall, Aria spots the skeleton, and she feels her blood run cold. 

It was moving just like they were, not like in the game.

It reaches behind it to a quiver of arrows, and then places the arrow on its bow, drawing it taught and aiming it straight at the girl. It moves so fast, that Aria doesn't have time to move like before, and when the arrow is released, it plants itself in her shoulder and she falls backward into the makeshift hut. Alexa shouts, "Aria!" and rushes over, helping her friend sit up carefully. Aria huffs in pain, feeling her arm starting to go numb and she spots red oozing from the wound. Mobius is quick to finish the wall, hearing a 'thunk' as another arrow slams into it just as it goes up.

Anthony is up from the mine before anyone can react, an iron sword in his hand. His gaze turns to Alexa and Aria, but Aria's visible eye was closed and she was clenching her teeth in pain. Alexa was trying to move her against the other wall, without causing the girl pain. Anthony narrows his eyes, then reaches behind him and reveals a shield. "Stay here." That is all he says before barreling out of the door that Mobius had just put up. 

"Anthony!" Mobius cries, but he doesn't follow. A spider had made its way onto the roof, and he needed to fill the last hole to make sure it wouldn't squeeze through. 

He, too, had noticed that the mobs were acting more 'lifelike' than normal, which meant any two-by-one hole was easy for a spider to maneuver through. As he finishes, he hears grunts and slashes outside, and Aria opens her eye. "Alexa..." She mutters, and the penguin turns to her friend in worry. Aria gazes at her, her eye full of confidence...

And no fear.

"Rip it out..."

Alexa visibly flinches back. "What?! We don't have anything to cover it! You'll bleed o-" 

"Alexa! We don't have time! Rip it out then get me food!" 

Alexa sits there for a moment, wide-eyed and dumbfounded until the light bulb clicks.

This is Minecraft.

You heal faster when you eat.

Alexa tilts her head and gently reaches over, tapping Aria's left shoulder slightly and moving her arm out. The health bar for the black-clad woman appears, and she's only missing two and a half hearts, and she also notices the bleeding had stopped...

Which meant the wound was healing.

Around the arrowhead.

Alexa's suspicion is confirmed when half a heart reappears on Aria's health bar, and the girl hisses in pain. "Okay, Aria? This is really going to hurt...." Alexa grabs the shaft of the arrow, and Aria slightly glares at her. "Oh really? Thought it'd feel like a hu-UUUAAAGGGH!" Aria cries out the last part as Alexa pulls the arrow out with all her strength. Aria huffs in pain, head facing up and eye closed. She can still hear fighting outside, and Alexa looks around, just now noticing Mobius was gone now that the house was complete.

However, as if hearing her thoughts, the two suddenly burst through the door and slammed it shut behind them. Anthony leans against one half of it and Mobius the other, and both are gasping for air. The shield on Anthony's arm is riddled with arrows, and Mobius holds many small cuts. The only injury on Anthony is a slice on his face, where an arrow slipped through his defense.

At the sight of Aria and Alexa, however, they both calm down and move to the two girls. They say nothing but kneel next to them. They all share a look as Aria's wound slowly closes before them, and she regains another half heart. Alexa reaches behind her and pulls out an apple, and offers it to her, and Aria takes it but doesn't eat it at first.

They all sit in silence for a moment, waiting for a certain sound, praying for it to come soon.

A skeleton clacks in pain, and sizzling echoes through the holes in the oak door. Zombies grunt in agony and the smell of burning rotten flesh hits their noses. 

The sun was finally rising, which meant it was almost safe to go outside...

Almost.

Aria is the first to move, slowly pushing herself up with the wall as her support. Alexa is quick to follow, stepping closer in case her friend lost balance. However, her health bar was full now, and she pockets the apple. "Roof first. I assume you guys ran in here because of creepers?" Aria asks, looking at the two guys as they stand as well. Each nod and Anthony quickly moves to the crafting table. He taps it, then takes some cobblestone from his inventory and crafts a set of four stairs. Mobius moves to the wall furthest from them and removes a few parts of the roof. No one had heard the sound of a spider since the one earlier that night, which they dispatched during their fight.

Once the stairs are placed, the crew slowly make their way up into the blinding morning light. Aria holds her arm slightly, the pain lingering despite the wound being healed. Alexa notices this and sees how her friend tries to hide the pain. She shakes her head and walks over, gently helping Aria despite the girl giving her a soft glare. "Don't!" Is all Alexa has to say.

Aria stays quiet.

Soon, they are all on the roof, and Aria steps forward in front of the group, gazing around them with a wide eye. 

Skeletons and zombies were everywhere, burning to death, and a few creepers were here and there, but that wasn't what caught their attention. It was the scenery. Despite all the terror of the night before, it was quickly a beautiful sunrise. They were facing the plains biome with the forest on their right, and the sun was rising before them. Many passive mobs were moving about, and Aria's eyes fall on a pitch-black horse that seems to also be gazing directly at her as well.

A shiver runs down her spine as the horse blinks. 

Something was different...

Before she can question it more, a hand rests on Aria's good shoulder, making her snap out of the staring contest. Anthony was now next to her, gazing at the scene before them all. "I... I think I know how we escape....." They all look to him, already anticipating the answer.

"We need to beat the game..... We need to slay the Enderdragon...."