Bang! Bang! Bang!

     Kao and I both jerked up at the same time. There was little space in the small cabin of mine, but the two of us managed to sleep well enough on our own sides of the room. Kao was closest to the rattled wooden door, so he frantically rolled away from it, nearly onto the pile of sleepy chickens.

     It was still fairly dark outside. Early dawn light crept in through the holes in my wooden door. My head whipped side to side frantically, realizing again just how helpless I was. If these were mobs...then that door and Kao were the only things protecting me. I wouldn't consider myself exceptionally sturdy.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

     The hard knocking continued. Kao was trembling too terribly to even manage standing on his own feet.

     "Hurr hur?!" A worried cry sounded from the other side of the door, followed by another series of demanding knocks.

     "H-h-huurr!" Kao responded. Both of us sighed in relief. There was more speaking behind the door, as if an entire conversation was going on between at least three members. As they spoke, Kao dug away at the wall of mud at the base of the door. In trickled a little stream of water. ...Aw darn...

     Kao opened the door and in barged a party of four villagers. The chickens flew out of the way, running up to me and squawking wildly. There was hardly enough space for all of the intruders to fit, so most of them were squished in the doorway. I stared up at the four intruders as they scanned the hut with stern glares. When all their eyes landed on me, they all froze in place as if stunned. The villager standing in front of the rest wore a full purple apron. In one hand was a potion of weakness and the other a golden apple. ...Oh wow. So these guys were really prepared, huh? Behind him were just a couple toolsmiths and a fletcher.

     The cleric -- purple apron -- sounded a soft question to Kao, who had been forced to jump onto the crafting table to make space. Kao glanced at me, then very carefully responded. Of all the times I wished I could understand these guys, this was when I wished it the hardest! After they had all had a good look at me, all four of the newcomers whispered harshly to one another. After a little bit of that, the four exited quickly, dragging Kao out with them. The door was shut and I was essentially locked inside by the two who remained standing just outside of it. More conversation happened, now muffled. I was too shaken to try to relax. As were my birds. They all sat around me. Even Butter with his one eye and sluggy state made his way over to me and plopped down on my lap. I gently pet all of them as I waited for some kind of explanation. From what I could pick up, it seemed the four were only here for Kao and merely shocked by my strange appearance.

     After what felt like an hour of the five villagers just talking outside, the four wandered off through the marshy grass. Kao opened the door, his socks sopping wet now. I couldn't tell whether he was happy or sad as he looked at me. I just hoped everything had been sorted out between them.

-----

     As we sat outside, eating our lunches and watching over the birds, Kao finally had the time to explain what happened. He'd been especially antsy that morning and in a rush to get everything done, so I was worried what went down.

     " 'I had to admit a few things to them.' " Kao held out his journal. " 'I was lying to the entire village about you...until now.' " I nodded a bit and sighed. I had been the one who wanted him to keep my presence a secret. However, I could see how this was a pretty big deal for him. He had just gained their respect, but lost their trust.

     I huffed a faint laugh and placed my hand on the villager's shoulder. "Villagers are pretty forgiving, as I've come to learn. I'm sure if you just keep being a good person, they'll get over it in time." I hoped, at the very least, that my words would be encouraging. Kao smiled faintly before shoving the last bite of bread into his mouth. He 'hurr'ed something in response as he stood up and grabbed his ax again. "Need me to sharpen it?" I offered. While there wasn't much else I could do, seeing how blunt the iron tool had grown reminded me of how easy it would be to sharpen it without too much trouble. Kao glanced down at his blade, sighed, and handed it over to me. I was delighted to have at least a little bit of work that I could actually do. Kao grabbed a pickax as I grabbed a stone. He left me with the chickens, only briefly waving in my general direction.

     Clearly, he still had a lot on his mind.

-----

     A few hours later, Kao returned with a wide grin on his face. I had finished sharpening his ax only an hour before. Took a lot longer than I had estimated even counting my injuries. Kao waved a shiny rock over his head as he jogged up to me. Once right in front of me, the villager excitedly emptied an entire bag full of shiny copper ore chunks. They all clanked against each other and fell into a messy pile. I chuckled and faked a smile the best I could.

     " 'What can we make with this new stuff?!' " Kao excitedly wrote. My eyes dropped again to the pile of clay-like ore and sighed. There.. really wasn't much I could think of... Nothing but to lay it out in block form and use as some kind of calendar I guess. Once did something like that myself  to calculate how old I was.

     "I uh, ..I don't really know." I admitted with a shrug. This got Kao's wheels turning. I saw his eyes widen as the excitement built.

     " 'Do you know how I can change the shape??' " He asked. I sighed and pushed myself to my feet using the wall. I could admire that smile, though. Reminded me of myself when I was younger. I used to try out literally everything. No new form of matter was safe from being burnt, frozen, crushed, or even exploded. So, instead of being the joy killer I had grown into, I decided to help. Who knows? We might just find a use for this useless ore?

     I led him through the process of heating the furnace, forming a mold with clay, and smelting the copper without injury. Like a parent, I was very cautious. So much so that Kao had to remind me that he was in his twenties. In the end, Kao made two separate copper molds and I helped him glue them together. As one, they formed a simplistic bronze donkey...or something.

     "Interesting..." I scratched my chin. I would have tried to make something more practical, but I guess this was alright for a start. Kao was so proud of his little metal figurine. He wanted to make more of them!

     I merely watched over his progress the second and third time. He improved with every smelt. Next came from the furnace a bronze chicken and a bronze cat! And he enjoyed the process even on the third try. I taught him a few final tricks before wandering off to make some things for myself. The sun would be setting soon, so I couldn't actually leave the premises.

     Since the spirit of creativity was about this place, I thought up an idea that might help me a little bit. It was a problem that was hard to explain, but I'd always had this problem from time to time as far back as I could remember. When I was overwhelmed, my brain would stop functioning properly and I would have a hard time breathing. Over the years, I found out pressing myself into a tight corner seemed to help, but problem is that would leave me terribly vulnerable. Wearing armor helped in the past as well, specifically a chest plate, but that was really heavy to wear all the time and I always got weird looks when wearing battle armor around casually.

     Solution: the vest. I sewed strips of leather left around my house into one big piece of fabric, then cut arm holes. And finally, I tied it around my waist nice and snug with rope. Instantly, I knew I had succeeded. It was like one big hug but without the downside of actually having to touch someone. Ah yes... I would be wearing this around a lot, especially when I was feeling uneasy.

     Kao said I looked stylish. I thought I looked protected.

     By the end of the day, Kao had painted all three of his copper statues. He sat down in my house by the furnace as the sun set outside. I was adding some final touchups to my vest a little further away. Though I would have preferred to do the smaller details later, I noticed I was losing feeling in my finger tips and so wanted to get this done as soon as possible. Kao was painting the tip of the cat's nose pink when he looked up from what he was doing and asked me something aloud. I obviously didn't understand him, but put down the sewing needle and leather thread to give him my attention.

     Kao got paint all over his journal trying to write in it with such messy hands.

     " 'I've been thinking... The stuff on your hand is purple.. and, so is the egg. Is it the egg's fault?' "

     I glanced at the egg resting atop the furnace and sighed. "...Yup..." His eyes widened, probably wondering why I didn't tell him despite knowing all this time. "It's useless trying to kill, though..." I sighed. "All we can really do is just keep it warm on that furnace and leave it alone..." I continued sewing. It really was annoying losing feeling in my fingertips, the only positive being that I could poke myself and not feel much. Kao thought as I continued.

     He scribbled again and my eyes rose to read when he was done. " 'What would happen if we put the egg in the fire?' "

     I had...for some reason...never tried that before. "I...don't know... Maybe we should."

     So we both put down what we were doing and headed outside, together we formed a large pile of sticks and I helped Kao lite it. Not long later, the flames were roaring, thin tendrils of heat stretching up to the sky. Kao carried the egg over and threw the egg in. We stood for a moment and waited for something to change.

     I sighed in defeat. Squeezing my hands into tight fists, I accepted that there was nothing-- hold up a second... My fingers... I could.. I could feel them! 

     "Kao!" I exclaimed, startling the other so badly he jumped away from me. "I can feel my fingers again!" I showed him my hands, which were torn up pretty badly from all the accidental needle pricking. The villager's mouth opened wide into a smile. He too exclaimed as I did. Hopeful now, I walked Kao through every process I knew to make the fire even hotter than before. It was blazing, lighting up the dark forest around us. I was so excited that I danced by the flame. The pain in my hands and feet were fading away with every increased degree of heat.

     The egg sat happily in the center of the fire. At last, we were getting it. After all these months of struggle, I understood. Whatever was inside was a being of heat. The hotter, the better. Next would just be to find a way to keep the egg in a constant state of maximum heat. Somewhere or something that would never go out even if I were to forget about it. Preferably somewhere so hot that my hands and feet would go completely back to normal.

     I stopped my celebratory dance and turned to Kao, a smile still on my face as I shared the perfect idea. "Ever heard about the Nether, Kao?!" He gave me a look of shock and nodded. "Well, all we have to do is make a portal there..and then all our problems will be solved!!" He cheered.

     Finally... My life was no longer one slow track of doom and gloom.

     I actually had a fighting chance.