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Welcome back everybody to the 
Minecraft Short Stories podcast 

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in this episode today. 
This episode is episode 71. 

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I will be reading the Part 2 for
the Players Not Alone, which is 

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my newest story, and you can 
listen to part one. 

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It was the previous episode, 
episode 70, So quickly listen to

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that. 
And if you've already listened 

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to that but kind of forget 
what's happening, there'll be a 

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short recap. 
So this is Part 2. 

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And then this story is quite 
long. 

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It's 2000 plus words, one of the
longest stories ever read on 

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this podcast, which I seem to be
constantly breaking that record 

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every episode now, which I don't
know why that is. 

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I guess the stories have 
progressively gone longer for 

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some reason. 
Anyways, this is the Part 2 and 

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there will be more parts after 
this. 

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I cannot quite promise that I 
will write those parts, but this

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story is not the conclusion to 
the overall story. 

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And then also, I'm going on a 
vacation tomorrow as of 

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recording this, so there will 
not be an episode for a little 

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while longer. 
It's a 10 day vacation, so it's 

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going to be a little bit before 
I get an episode out. 

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For the same reason, there will 
not be a prologue episode quite 

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yet. 
I'll make that when I get home. 

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But in the last few days, I 
released another prologue 

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episode over. 
I converted Aesop's Fables into 

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Minecraft, so I go over all of 
those. 

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It's a pretty funny episode. 
I think that you should check 

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that one out. 
The link to the Patreon is down 

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below. 
And with no further ado, let's 

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get right into it. 
So I'll just summarize this 

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really quickly. 
A player spawns into a new 

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world, and as they gather 
materials such as wood and 

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stone, they experience random 
lag surges for no reason as 

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you're doing this. 
And then after they cross the 

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desert in which they spawned, 
they find a good place to begin 

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making their house. 
But suddenly, the entire forest 

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erupts into flames around them. 
And within this forest fire, the

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player can see trees without 
trunks and other such strange 

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things. 
This is Part 2 of the players 

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not alone by me, Kalmelas. 
I had no way forward in 

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Minecraft, a game famous for its
infinite possibilities. 

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I could do nothing. 
The forest was still burning, 

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sending multitudes of grey, 
opaque smoke into the sky. 

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My game was still frozen, my 
vision locked onto the side of 

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the flames consuming the blocky 
landscape. 

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The forest was almost gone, and 
along with it, any semblance of 

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normalcy this world once held. 
I try not to jump to 

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conclusions, but there's nothing
native to Minecraft that could 

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have caused this. 
Something or someone was at 

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work. 
As the forest continued to burn,

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I reflected upon what I had 
experienced. 

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An inconceivable spawn, 
unaccounted for lag, and a 

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forest fire that had erupted 
into existence. 

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These mysteries were like 
mismatched puzzle pieces. 

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Even if you fit them together, 
the resulting image wouldn't 

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make any sense. 
I didn't know what to believe. 

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The lag could have been my 
computer's fault. 

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It isn't exactly new. 
The fire could have resulted 

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from the lava pit I left 
unattended, and the trunkless 

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trees could have been a flute 
caused by the fire. 

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It seems silly to think that was
some entity that had an interest

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in me. 
Even if this was an entity, I 

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didn't have to stay in this 
world. 

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I could have closed Minecraft, 
or worked on the homework I'd 

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been putting off. 
These were options, but I wanted

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to get to the bottom of this 
mystery. 

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The force gave off the sense of 
ominous anticipation, and I felt

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that if I took my eyes off it 
for a second, something would 

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happen. 
I wasn't scared. 

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Even in the midst of these 
unrelenting questions, sitting 

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in the chair in front of my 
desk, I was detached from the 

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Minecraft world. 
I knew I could close Minecraft 

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at any time or take a screenshot
with a click of F2 That reminded

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me. 
Ha. 

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I said rather half heartedly as 
I started a screen recording of 

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Minecraft. 
It had always bothered me when 

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these people online who had 
apparently witnessed an 

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inconceivable entity in 
Minecraft never bothered to tape

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it. 
Now at least I could have a 

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record if anything similar 
happened to me. 

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For my world, what stirred the 
most anxiety in me was the signs

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of life. 
The missing trunks of the trees 

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made me uncomfortable and I 
couldn't shake the feeling of 

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being watched. 
Missing wood from trees seemed 

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to always be the first sign of 
habitation for entities such as 

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Herobrine or Nall. 
Entity or not, spending the 

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night roaming this forest with 
the chance of one of those 

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things in my world was 
impossible. 

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I needed to find shelter. 
I was exposed as I stood 

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motionless on the hilltop where 
I was originally paralyzed with 

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lag. 
The spots where I stood offered 

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no protection from searching 
eyes, and I could easily imagine

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something lurking in the woods 
watching me. 

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I had a bed in my inventory and 
would place it once I'd 

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confirmed to the best of my 
ability that no entity's gaze 

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was upon me. 
I would place the bed once the 

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sun had set. 
As the dying light from the sun 

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treaded the smoking remains of 
my forest in darkness, my eyes 

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caught a motion different from 
the dying flames. 

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I automatically flicked my eyes 
over to it and caught sight of 

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what could only be a figure 
obscured by darkness. 

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Ducking out of view behind a 
tree, my heart immediately 

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started to beat faster. 
I burst into motion, running as 

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fast as I could to try and 
confront the spectator. 

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This can't be happening. 
I yelled inwardly. 

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Almost all of my fear was 
replaced with thrill as I raced 

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towards the results of my 
anticipation. 

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My flights haphazardness did me 
more harm than good though. 50 

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blocks from the wildfires 
wreckage, I plummeted into one 

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of the deep sinkholes that I 
occasionally mar Minecraft's 

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landscape. 
Almost frantically, I began 

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trying to tower back up the 
walls, but my quick pace 

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continued to do me harm the 
entire climb upwards. 

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My spirits sank lower. 
It was a full half minute before

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I reached the surface. 
I continued my Sprint to the oak

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tree where the spectre had 
vanished and began searching for

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any sign of what I knew I had 
seen. 

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Nothing revealed itself, the 
entity had escaped and left 

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nothing except a forest fire. 
I assumed the creature had 

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started the fire, some missing 
trunks and a very confused 

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player. 
Even my second more in depth 

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search yielded nothing. 
The sun was completely down, and

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I knew finding any evidence was 
hopeless. 

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After searching farther in the 
dark woods for another minute or

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two, I set my bed down, resigned
but oddly satisfied, and entered

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it. 
The woods were dark, and 

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Minecraft's lack of friendly 
ambience was ominous as my 

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screen darkened. 
I was on edge from this day's 

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experience, and the silence was 
sinister. 

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I fully expected to drift to 
sleep and suddenly see the face 

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of a mysterious figure appear, 
looking down at me. 

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My finger stayed taut on the 
mouse, the cursor hovering over 

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the leave bed button until it 
disappeared. 

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Luckily for my heart, future 
enjoyment of the game and real 

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life sleep, nothing appeared. 
I don't know what I would have 

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done if something had shown up. 
I like to think I would have 

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pursued the entity and gone 
bulletproof evidence of its 

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existence, but more likely I 
would have just fallen over 

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backwards in my chair. 
After the handful of seconds it 

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took for the Minecraft night to 
pass, I woke up. 

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My longing for ambient sounds in
the game. 

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Sisters, rustling leaves, the 
chirping of birds, maybe even 

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the howling of wolves at night. 
It's only heightened by waking 

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up the dead silence. 
I mined my bed and prepared to 

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spend the entire day searching. 
A couple of hapless chickens met

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the reign by the blade of my 
sword. 

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I felt a little bad as I ate my 
cooked chicken. 

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I had noticed, coincidentally, 
that chicken was the only food I

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was consuming. 
The chickens probably thought of

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me as some kind of serial 
killer. 

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Anyways, with my player now 
having a full hunger bar, 

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worryingly, I still had no 
armor. 

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I began my search. 
I'd planned to 1st investigate 

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the land around and underneath 
the oak tree, then slowly work 

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my way farther into the woods, 
making sure to miss nothing. 

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I began. 
After 15 minutes of searching, I

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knew it was hopeless. 
All I uncovered were a few more 

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trunk deprived trees and no 
entities. 

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This thing must need a lot of 
wood, I noted aloud after 

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finding another eviscerated 
tree. 

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Whether this creature needed the
wood, or whether it only took it

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to terrify me was an important 
question. 

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I have a lot of important 
questions right now. 

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I stopped my search momentarily 
to tell it my total of destroyed

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trees found. 
I'd found 9 oak and four Birch. 

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For future reference, I wrote 
down the number. 

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Unfortunately, there appeared to
be no connection between wood 

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types and deforestation. 
My doubt reappeared and I 

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regretted ever letting it 
disappear. 

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What are you thinking? 
I asked myself. 

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This figure I'd seen could have 
just been a zombie. 

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I thought back from the brief 
glimpse I'd caught. 

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The figure's shirt was blue, the
same shade as Minecraft's water,

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and it was a very different 
shade from the colour of a 

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zombie shirt. 
A thought popped into my head. 

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I jumped on it. 
What if this was only a mods 

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doing? 
I checked my Minecraft mods 

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folder. 
Opening it up, I realized a 

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fatal flaw in my theory. 
I wasn't playing a modded 

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installation. 
It wouldn't matter if a mod was 

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present, because the game 
wouldn't have loaded it tricking

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anyway. 
I found no mods present in the 

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folder. 
I made the difficult decision to

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close Minecraft for a time. 
I need to sort out what was 

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happening, and I didn't want to 
reenact why I'd read so many 

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times. 
Almost every encounter goes as 

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follows. 
A player finds a mysterious 

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entity, falls for a lame trap, 
or gets inexplicably insta 

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killed, and then of course, the 
world is deleted. 

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I needed to gather. 
I needed to gather information 

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and they can pose a plan from 
what I learned, making sure to 

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avoid all the common pitfalls. 
A lot of work for a 7th grader. 

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I started as all great plan 
makers begin by grabbing a blank

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sheet of paper. 
I split it into three sections. 

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What other players do, what I 
should do and what has already 

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happened. 
Dramatically cracking my 

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knuckles, I opened up Google 
Chrome and started on the 1st 

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category. 
Reading Minecraft players posts 

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on the Internet can be gruelling
work. 

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The amount of labour required 
goes up as the use of grammar 

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goes down, but it is also a gold
mine for Minecraft entity 

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encounters. 
After a bit of searching I found

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a couple. 1 user reported an 
encounter with a player shaped 

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entity that had all black skin 
except for minimal purple 

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highlights. 
They didn't provide any 

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screenshots, but from what they 
described the creature looked 

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like an armored alien. 
This player's story began with a

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normal spawn. 
They then did normal Minecraft 

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things. 
Drop down trees, find oars, 

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build a house out of planks, 
etcetera. 

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The point of this post was 
realized when after having been 

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away from their house gathering 
resources, they came back to 

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discover the wooden house was on
fire and all their stored items 

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gone. 
Took my eyes off the screen to 

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write down no flammable houses. 
Searching the wreckage, all this

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Minecraft player found was a 
sign sitting in the centre of 

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their house. 
On its was written Hope is no 

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more surrender. 
This user spent a long time 

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staring at the sign and 
wondering what it meant. 

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Suddenly, an entity of all black
and purple came up behind them 

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and they were instantly slain. 
The last they saw of that world 

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was the black and purple figure 
standing over them. 

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Their world was deleted. 
With the story completed, I 

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turned to my paper and added the
notes, Don't stare at signs too 

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long and backup world. 
I found another story and dove 

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into it. 
This one told the tale of the 

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player who found more than they 
desired while looting an ocean 

228
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monument. 
Their narrative began with an 

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00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:54,800
account of their continued 
search for this rare temple. 

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After finally finding one, they 
downed a water breathing potion 

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and began the dangerous swim 
towards the monument. 

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00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,400
They had to dodge the lasers 
shot by the ocean monument's 

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00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,200
guardians and suffer through the
mining fatigue effect. 

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After much struggle, the player 
reached the vast underwater 

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labyrinth. 
This user searched the structure

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00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:15,600
until they started hearing a 
strange wailing, growling sound.

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00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:19,000
After following the sound for a 
few minutes and consuming 

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00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:22,360
another water breathing potion, 
they came to a room shrouded in 

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00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:25,120
darkness. 
This darkness was completely 

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unnatural. 
The underwater lanterns lit all 

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00:12:27,680 --> 00:12:30,720
the other corridors, but the 
illumination could not Pierce 

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this. 
Making their way in, they 

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00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:36,040
couldn't see anything. 
Suddenly, the players start 

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00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:38,480
taking damage. 
Their hearts were quick, their 

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00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:41,200
hearts were quickly depleted, 
and they died without ever 

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00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:43,200
finding out what was hiding in 
the darkness. 

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I wrote down bringing a light 
source. 

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Don't follow strange noises and 
don't go into strange places. 

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Without preparation, I finished 
writing down these points and 

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00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:56,640
dropped my pencil onto my desk. 
I scanned why I'd gathered. 

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00:12:57,240 --> 00:12:59,480
After reading through it a few 
times and trying to tackle the 

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00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,520
problem from multiple different 
angles, I was getting nowhere. 

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00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:06,640
I was excited to begin composing
a plan, but I forced myself to 

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00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:09,200
first note down all of the 
relevant information regarding 

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00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:13,040
my world's irregularities. 
Writing it out, I slowly began 

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00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:16,600
to realize something. 
The lag hadn't been random. 

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00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:19,800
The lag had only occurred while 
I've been doing something. 

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00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:23,520
The game ran perfectly fine. 
In any other instance, there had

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00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:26,920
to be a connection. 
My first thought was, what if 

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00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:28,600
this lag is the fault of my 
computer? 

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00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:31,280
Perhaps Minecraft is demanding 
enough that if I do anything 

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even slightly more intensive, 
the computer can't handle it. 

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00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:37,960
And the forest fire causing so 
much slowdown was explained by 

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00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:40,400
this. 
What I couldn't get past was 

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00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:42,320
that this had never happened to 
me before. 

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In every other Minecraft 
playthrough, my game ran 

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completely fine. 
Perhaps this was the entity he's

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doing. 
I finished my recap and put down

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00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:53,480
my pencil. 
Before me, I had two sets of 

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00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:55,680
data. 
One was all the information I 

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had. 
Another was the information 

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00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:00,000
other said. 
It seemed like I could almost 

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00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:01,840
combine them and know what to 
do. 

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00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,200
Staring at my sheet of paper 
trying to fit them together, I 

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00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:08,320
suddenly realized I was growing 
tired of this game. 

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00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:11,760
Not Minecraft, of course, but 
whatever game this entity had 

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involved me in. 
I'd restarted my Minecraft 

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playthrough to begin anew, and 
this creature was rehashing why 

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00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:19,320
I'd already read so many times 
before. 

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00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:22,200
It would follow the same 
timeline as all the others. 

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00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:26,320
First some sightings, then some 
griefings, and finally my player

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00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:28,200
would be killed in the world. 
Deleted. 

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00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:31,920
Catching it on video or finding 
out what it wanted never stopped

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00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:34,240
it. 
The feeling that was almost like

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00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:36,600
electricity in my veins. 
I remembered something. 

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00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:39,520
I had been taking a screen 
recording when I saw the 

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00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:41,800
creature in my world. 
I had it. 

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00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,960
I had proof whether this was a 
zombie, my imagination, or my 

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00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:48,280
computer. 
Returning to my computer, I 

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00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:50,360
located the file where the 
recording was stored. 

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00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:53,320
Opening up the folder, I found 
it empty. 

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00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:57,040
I started to panic a little bit.
Had the entity somehow infected 

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00:14:57,040 --> 00:14:59,720
my computer? 
Another second later, I 

294
00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:02,000
remembered that the screen 
recording had to be finished for

295
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,920
it to be accessible. 
Pressing the necessary keys to 

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00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:08,240
stop the tape, I watched 
relieved as the screen recording

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00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:11,000
popped into the folder. 
I opened it up before I could 

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00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:13,240
start worrying once more about 
corrupted files. 

299
00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,440
I'd start the recording as the 
force was still flame so I 

300
00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,840
wouldn't have to wait too long. 
Thinking ahead, I opened it up 

301
00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:23,560
inside a video editor so I could
slow down the recording and 

302
00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:25,760
reverse it. 
I clicked play. 

303
00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,640
It was all I had seen before. 
The real revelation was when the

304
00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:33,960
figure appeared the second I saw
the blue clothed entity. 

305
00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:37,200
I paused the video. 
With the thing now on mobile on 

306
00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:39,440
my screen, I could gather more 
details. 

307
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:43,120
It was the exact shape of the 
player, and I got the impression

308
00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:45,080
that the arms were the thicker 
ones of Steve. 

309
00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:48,840
This player was 30 plus blocks 
away, so I couldn't make out any

310
00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,200
more details besides that. 
Looking at the figure watching 

311
00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:54,440
me, I got a strong sense of an 
ease. 

312
00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:58,720
Something about this felt wrong.
Zooming in on the frame, I 

313
00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:01,480
immediately learned why. 
It was me. 

314
00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:05,840
My player's skin, my tools, my 
leather helmet. 

315
00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:13,480
It was me, end of Part 2. 
Bum bum bum. 

316
00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:21,840
Thank you all for listening to 
Part 2 of the Players Not alone,

317
00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:24,920
part three or four may be coming
out soon. 

318
00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:29,360
If four, then this means that 
this would be the first story to

319
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:31,640
ever get more than three parts 
on the podcast. 

320
00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:34,880
And the story definitely does 
look like it's shaping up to be 

321
00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,320
a three plus part story. 
So I'm planning on writing 

322
00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:40,640
those. 
And then also just a quick 

323
00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,680
update about the Patreon. 
Add a new perk to all the tiers 

324
00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:46,680
above the base tier. 
And the optional perk is that 

325
00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:48,320
you can just contact me on 
Patreon. 

326
00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:50,520
You can just use this to maybe 
get some feedback for your 

327
00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:54,480
stories, ask questions or give 
me story ideas. 

328
00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:56,920
I'm always willing to hear you 
guys's story ideas. 

329
00:16:57,680 --> 00:17:00,600
So anyway, just wanted to let 
you know if I didn't say before,

330
00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:04,040
links in the description for the
YouTube channel, the websites, 

331
00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:06,319
the Patreon, the that's about 
it. 

332
00:17:07,319 --> 00:17:11,160
Anyways, I do hope you guys 
enjoyed this episode, Hope 

333
00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:14,680
you'll join me for the next one 
and I'll see you guys inside the

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00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:15,640
next episode.