~~~~~
[ Song for better effect | Music 1: https://youtu.be/jcV4220T484 ]

Everything was white... blank as a bleached sheet and paler than the roundest moon in the clearest sky. Only later did the euphoric sounds of birds chirping, water trickling down a mountainside and the soft swaying of oak trees slowly entered my ears.

I felt my eyes fluttering open to reveal the bright but overcast skies above - a single blue butterfly landing on the tip of my nose.
The feeling of warmth rushed to my limbs and I was able to feel the soft, cold soil underneath my palms. Putting a little pressure on the ground, I forced myself upwards, where the rest of the world came into my limited view.

The sight of a mountain range... molten lava trickling down the left whilst a small waterfall resides not a stone's throw away. My neck hurt, but I turned to see a little cave system entering what can only be described as an underground tunnel entrance.

...and before it lay six bodies, each in different shapes and sizes. My friends were still out of it - on the floor sleeping like babies.

~~~~~~
[Austin POV]

Jeff was the one closest to the cave entrance, rolling around soundlessly.
Jared was stirring, eyes twitching occasionally and arm jerking around.
McJones seemed to be already at it, grasping the grass underneath his fingers.
Dean suckled on his thumb, making me snort discretely despite the lack of other others' presence.
A new face among us... Chad sat up with a emotionless look behind his dull eyes.
Another followed, Dodger smiled at me after shaking her head violently.

[Song 1 End]

Before I opened my mouth to greet the new people, a loud thump was heard and then followed by shrill screeching.

Jeff had fallen into the little cave entrance...
"GACK! My ribs!" He screeched through fast breaths.

Dean shot up like a rocket and accidentally tripped over McJones, who instantly snapped awake and began rolling around like an idiot. Dean fell down again due to the rapid movements of McJones and began screaming at the top of his lungs.
Jared was already up and steering clear away from the chaos happening in the centre, hands thrown up and backing away with a disgusted look.

Dodger looked at me with a confused look and Chad simply raised his brow, in which I responded with laughter. My hearty laugh seemed to have stopped the chaos, creating a great opportunitousp moment of silence.

I stopped, threw my arms out in a grandeur fashion,
"My friends, welcome to MineCraft HardCore Season Six!" I shouted, echoing through the mountains subtly.

[Music 2 : https://youtu.be/h9VepjBPVh4 ]

Jeff cheered wholeheartedly, whilst McJones clapped politely. The rest followed with similar responses, putting a smile on my face that went from ear to ear.

"Alright McJones ~ take the floor!" I exclaimed, shoving my pointing finger towards McJones, who stumbled backwards a little.

With one hand, he pushed my finger back an inch.
"Oooookay.... anyway time for our objective. Jeff?" He begun, pulling out a brown suitcase seemingly out of nowhere.

Jeff began singing (screaming) the jeopardy song loudly.

McJones opened the suitcase, fastened an old fashioned brown tie and pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose.
"It's time. This time our objective is simple, to gather Wither heads from the nether, so that we can."

"Kill the thingie!" I bursted out, unsure of what I said myself.
"The... the thing that... uh..."

"...yes Austin, the thingie. We kill the thingie to retrieve the beacon, which will signify our victory." McJones concluded, taking the tie off and storing it snugly back into the suitcase before hurling it into a pit of lava.
"Okay! Now for the gathering jobs ~ Austin, Dodger and Jared are responsible for gathering food, Dean and Chad will gather wood whilst Jeff and I will attempt to catch a chicken so that we can make a farm. All of you be on the constant lookout for creepers as I don't want you to die in the first hour!"

The warmth of my face slowly drained away,
"I swear to smiley man if I see a pink sheep I'm getting the heck out of here..." I exclaimed hurriedly.

Jeff laughed enthusiastically, before nodding with a smile.
Dodger stared at me with a confused look before shaking her head slightly and wandering away. 

"Alright... let's do this!" I shouted, drawing the wooden sword I built during McJones' debriefing and raising it high into the air.
[Pause Music 2]
~~~~~~~~~~
[ Music 3 : https://youtu.be/26BfGXRVOZM ]

*peaceful music plays while Jared punches the heck out of all donkeys, Dodger questions the morality of wiping out a ecosystem of sheep and Austin swings his sword in a bloody haze of sheep wool and beef*

[End Music 3]

*please stand by*
~~~~~~~~~~
After wiping the sweat off my forehead and feeling good about the pile of meat that I had collected during our adventurous plight through the meadows, I smiled at my group.

"Done." I declared confidently, wiping my hands on the grassy floor.

McJones stared at me (I was probably looking sinister as ever), and then to Jared, who was on a donkey's back trying not to get bucked off. Dodger raised her hands with widened eyes,
"Not part of this, mate."

"Well... I somehow managed to get this chicken in the fence and the others managed to clear the area of trees, so I guess we're done." McJones stated clearly, eyes narrowing at me.

Without explanation, he raised his arm at me,
"Uhh... you got a little pink..." he said, pointing at my left shoulder.

On my left shoulder was a tiny piece of pink sheep wool that latched onto the stitches of my shirt. Immediately flashbacks flooded back into my head and I screeched, causing Chad to drop a pile of firewood.
Jeff came over and flicked the piece of demonic omen off my shoulder, allowing me to breathe easy. McJones rolled his eyes and Dean sniggered in the background.

I took a deep breath,
"Okay! Now it's time to build our shelter." I said loudly and clearly, shooting everyone a glance to make sure they heard.

Dean scoffed as he slid down from a pine tree (rather painfully),
"Who even needs a shelter?" He asked in his usual snarky voice.

McJones opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly a crack of lightning shot down onto the tree beside Dean's and caused it to burst into flames.
Before we had time to process any of this, as if an aggressive sign from the HardCore gods, rain started to hail down rapidly onto our heads.

McJones glared at Dean angrily.
"Oh, you just had to say that!" He yelled angrily, scrambling away.

Chad waved at us,
"Over here!" He shouted.

We madly sprinted towards him, where we discovered he was taking shelter under a little cave entrance with a pile of wood. Jeff was the first to slide in alongside Dean, Dodger did this cool parkour roll thing whilst McJones, Jared and I just causally wandered in.
The rain grew heavier and thunder echoed through the valleys, illuminating the dark skies with an occasional flash of lighting.

I looked at Jeff uneasily, who looked strangely determined.

McJones stepped into the cave, looking just as if not more determined than Jeff.
"We need to start building our shelter, light some torches to insure our safety." He exclaimed after heaving a long breath.

Jeff nodded and began placing blocks by the entrance in a linear fashion. What is up with these two?
I shrugged off the abnormalities and began helping. Laying blocks that connected to theirs, slowly but surely the house started taking a shape...

Dodger suddenly grasped my arm,
"Dude, stop." She said, looking like laughter was about to explode out.
"You're making the house look like a strangled bush."

McJones sat down and firmly planted his face in his palms. Jeff took a minute to look at my side of the room and then shortly burst out laughing.
"Dude it's a different wood colour! And the shape... THE SHAPE!" He laughed, falling onto the floor clutching his stomach.

I looked bewildered.
"It's art!" I exclaimed, shoving my hand in the direction of my masterpiece, which made McJones slowly sob and Jeff laugh harder.

"I'm hungry." Jared muttered behind us, sitting by the corner with a blank expression.

I smiled. Luckily I had the perfect thing for Jared in my satchel. Slinging it over my shoulder and digging around for the mountain of delicious mutton, I found nothing but a stick and two rocks.
Then suddenly the image of a pile of meat lying in the grassy meadows accompanied by rain, being left behind by a group of survivors avoiding the rain flashed in my mind.

"Oh shoot..." I muttered, looking at Jared with widened eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Don't do anything stupid ya hear?" McJones angrily exclaimed, handing me a stone sword.

"Nothing stupid! I'll just grab the meat and run back okay?"

McJones eyed me suspiciously, which made me feel frightened for some unexplained reason.
"I'll just... go now." I said, hopping out of the newly created hole.
"By the way work on a door ~ continuously breaking and building is not fun!"

I began a small jog towards the meadows, rain motivating me to increase my pace.  I passed by the oh so familiar mountain-range, waterfall and eventually lava stream, feeling better as I continued.
My heart skipped happily when I saw the pile of fresh mutton laying in the grass, unscathed and well. Without a single worry in the world, I began packing the meat into my satchel. Believe it or not it was insanely boring storing handfuls of squishy meat into a leather bag - so I began humming a tune.

Humming a song that I don't quite remember the lyrics to in the rain improved my mood tremendously. My smile widened on my face ~

A soft hiss came from behind me. I immediately went dead silent and snapped around to allocate the source of the noise.
Nothing.

"Strange..." I muttered softly to myself.

Shrugging it off like most potentially threatening things I ignore, I began humming and stuffing the remainder of the mutton into the bag. As the last of the meat disappeared into the bag, I lifted up the hefty bag, slinging over my back. The moment I stood up, I was mesmerized by the glowing embers emanating from the constant stream of molten lava.

That's when I was thrown back from the explosion of a unsuspecting creeper.

~~~~~~~~
[Jared Knabenbauer]

"Guys I think we should let him out he's singing Barney." I suggested.

As Austin left we created a massive array of doors that stuck to the floors near the entrance, creating a mess of wood and glass.
Somehow during our silly construction, Jeff got locked between two doors and got stuck. Dean thought it was funny he got stuck so we essentially left him there.

Now Jeff is on the floor, curled up in a tiny ball and singing through tears.
" I love you... you love me... we are all a family..."
The others found this amusing, and don't get me wrong I found this equally amusing, but he then started suckling his thumb, so I decided to put my foot down.

"Yeah, he does seem like he's going crazy... How bout you sing McJones?" Dean suggested with somewhat of a sneaky smirk.

"Why me? I barely sing at all of anyone sings it should be Austi-"

A flash of lightning shot across the sky, flooding light through the small fenced off areas where we can observe daylight. We all went dead silent as thunder clapped a moment later, echoing loudly through the night skies.

In front of our door stood a man, coated in a blue coat and dawning a droopy straw hat that scraped against the roof of our make-do house. Immediately we all drew our stone swords and looked upon him with weary eyes.

"Woah, easy there. I mean no harm to anyone..." he explained, raising his open palms and nodding his head slightly.

"But may I ask, is there a Mr. Jared in this residence?"

Something in me flickered strangely.
Who was this man? Why was he here? How did he break into somewhere otherwise so secluded...?
I gulped, looking upon my friends with anxiety, who also looked a slight bit pale. This has never happened to us before...

Nobody did so as move an inch, Jeff is the only one who shook slightly.

"I'm here. But what do you wan-"

My vision shook rapidly and suddenly a screen of black took over.

The very next instant, I was on a cold, smooth surface, head aching and body outstretched as if fallen.
I slowly forced myself off the ground, adjusting my vision to the soft glow of my surroundings.

As my vision slowly and shakily cleared, I fell backwards in utter shock.

I was surrounded by molten lava, on a fenced off iron platform. My hands began to shake and my vision threatened to fade again... why did it have to be lava...?
I felt something shatter across my back a relaxing cool liquid oozed across my back. I snapped around with my sword drawn and eyes wide with terror...

The mysterious blue cloaked man stood  by a structure, hands still extended from what seemed to be a throw.

[ Music 5: https://youtu.be/T3i3RCKKalE ]

"Hello there Jared." The figure said with a smile that felt warming despite his mysterious background.

"Welcome to the tower."

I looked around.

He was stand by what was unmistakably a large steel and obsidian gate, leading to a small, iron, arch-shaped bridge. At the end of the bridge was a massive circular platform, resting peacefully above the raging fires of the molten lava. On the centre piece of the massive platform there lay a impressively tall iron tower with shining windows, vines growing from every crevasse and softly glowing torches.

"Wh...who are you?" I muttered, sword lowering out of relaxation.
"...and what is this place?"

The stranger's smile widened to a toothed grin.
"I am Todd the Editor!... er I mean the wizard!" He exclaimed with his arms swung out grandly.
"I overlook the land of HardCore - I am responsible to monitor and collect your stories, polish them and then present them to the world."

I looked at him blankly, digesting these facts. It made sense of course... but there was still one question lingering in my mind that wouldn't let go.
"Why are you here then?" I asked.

He closed his eyes gently,
"Yes. That's why I brought you here Jared." He explained softly,
"You see, I watched your adventures with the group. All the times you or one of your friends... managed to dissipate from the world indefinitely, it made me feel uneasy. The previous three attempts at these HardCore challenges were failures (not counting Terraria, where they won, but everyone managed to die anyway), which made for good drama, but a bad ending to a wondrous series..."

"Yeah... Jeff's death in the last season was very dramatic, but I can't help but feel empty inside..." I murmured my agreement.

"That is why I decided to put my hat in the ring and give you a little nudge in the right direction-"

Suddenly a zombie appeared behind me and bit me in the neck. I screeched out of more shock rather than pain.
Todd raised a bow out of seemingly nowhere and shot an arrow at my attacker, sending it rocketing backwards into the pit of lava. My neck ached but it wasn't anything that heavily detriments me.

"Ehhh you'll be fine..." Todd shrugged.
"Anyway I want you to have-"

Another zombie came at me, this time I dodged to the side and narrowly avoided its snapping jaws.

"WILL YOU JUST QUIT FOR ONE MINUTE?!" Todd yelled, raising his right hand whilst holding a small book in his left and eyes beginning to glow crimson red.

A bolt of thunder struck down the zombie and left a radius of fire, smouldering. I fell backwards onto my backside, air leaving my lungs.

"They... don't seem to listen to you..." I said through gasps of air and laughter.

Todd rolled his eyes, snapping the small leather book shut and storing it into his long sleeves
"Yeah, I'd figured they would since I'm an omnipotent being of... uh... wizard magic... but alas." He said with a friendly smile.

He rushed towards me and gave me a potion to drink, which made me feel better in a mere instant.

"...anyway, as I was saying." Todd said, rising up and helping me onto my feet.

"I want you to take this book."

This time, he slid a leather book from the right sleeve of his robes and handed it to me. It was out and musty, bound together by a leather belt.

"Woah... this thing must be ancient." I said as I accepted it into my hands.

"Nah, just bought that book from Walmart. The notes are the things you wanna look at..." he said, pointing at the book.
"I researched the land of HardCore very extensively and came up with this incantation... it allows for something never seen before by HardCore adventurers."

I looked up from book at him very intently, in my gut I knew this was a game changer. This book came from a man that can shoot thunder from the skies and materialize golden graves from nothing, it had to be important.

"This incantation, alongside a wooden totem, can revive one person from the dead to fight alongside you once more." He explained simply, he smile turned into a cocky grin, as if expecting me to be surprised.

I was silent.

"What...? Not good enough for you?"

I shook my head. I just needed time to process things...

Todd sighed
"In any case... Just find a totem and you'll be able to save someone from the cold grasps of the dimension of reality." He explained calmly.

I gulped and looked at him, determined to find out more. Though admittedly the first question that entered my head was quite idiotic.
"Do they need to pure of heart?" I asked, flipping through the pages and looking at the numerous procedures.

Todd laughed into the skies,
"Nah, those don't exist anymore. Greedy adventurers will have to do..." he said with a sly grin.

I nodded.
I didn't know whether or not to feel insulted or relieved...

"Alright that's all you need to know... I'll be heading off now. Exit is just by the gates..." he said, turning around and waving me goodbye.

"Okay... one last question though-" I exclaimed.

Todd turned to look at me tiredly, but ready and alert.
"Go on."

"Why did you drag me here? Why not Austin or McJones...?" I asked.

His smile returned to his weary face,
"Because, simply put, you tend to get into accidents involving explosions the most. I thought it'd motivate you to be less cautious... people love that." He said with a cocky grin.

It was hard to tell if he was sarcastic or not, but I smiled back and turned to leave for the gates.

I can't wait to give everyone the news.

[End Music 5]