Chapter 1: Respawn in the Unknown
The sound of birds chirping was not what Tanvin Khan expected when he opened his eyes.
The morning breeze felt far too real. Cool, fresh air brushed against his skin, and the scent of grass and dirt was stronger than anything he'd ever experienced before. Blinking against the sunlight, Tanvin sat up slowly, his eyes widening as he looked around.
It was a forest. But not just any forest.
It was made of blocks.
Trees with pixelated leaves, a perfectly square trunk, and cubic shadows. Grass that stretched evenly in squares. A sky that looked like the one he knew from "Minecraft", cloud patterns drifting above in rectangular streaks. And when he looked at his hands—
They were blocky.
"What the—?"
Tanvin stood up in a rush, heart pounding in his chest. He wore a plain shirt and jeans, just like what his Minecraft skin wore. But it wasn't a game. There was no keyboard, no mouse. No screen. He could feel the soft crunch of the dirt beneath his shoes. He could feel wind brushing against his face. The trees rustled with sound, and somewhere in the distance, a cow mooed.
"This is… Minecraft?" he whispered.
[System Activated: Survival Mode]
[Welcome, Tanvin Khan. You have entered the world of Minecraft.]
[Difficulty: Hard]
[Objective: Survive.]
[Secondary Objective: Unknown]
The messages popped up in his vision—no HUD, just floating words in front of him for a few seconds before fading away.
"What the hell is going on? Am I dreaming?" he muttered, reaching out to touch a nearby tree. His hand smacked against it with a dull thunk. Pain buzzed in his knuckles.
No. This wasn't a dream.
He stumbled back, panic crawling up his spine. The last thing he remembered was logging off after a long gaming session. He had completed a new iron farm design and beaten the Ender Dragon for the twentieth time. He had closed the laptop, flopped onto bed—and now he was here.
"How is this even possible?" he breathed. "This place is… real."
His survival instincts kicked in. If this was really Minecraft and the system message said he was on Hard mode, then nightfall would bring death. Zombies, skeletons, spiders. And he had nothing—no tools, no shelter, no food.
He took a deep breath and calmed himself.
"I've played this game for years. If anyone can survive, it's me."
He clenched his fists and turned back to the tree. Without hesitation, he began punching it. The pain was real, but manageable—like getting smacked by a wooden ruler. After several punches, a piece of wood broke off and floated mid-air.
[+1 Oak Log]
He touched it, and it instantly vanished into his inventory. Or at least, what felt like his inventory. He could "feel" it in a space behind his mind, like a mental backpack.
"Okay," he muttered, rubbing his hands. "I can work with this."
He gathered more wood, broke down the logs into planks, then crafted a workbench by placing four planks in his invisible crafting grid.
[+1 Crafting Table]
He placed it on the ground. The familiar thud sound reassured him.
"Tools next."
He quickly made a wooden pickaxe, then dug into the side of a nearby hill to collect cobblestone. Once he had enough, he upgraded his tools to stone and started crafting a furnace.
[+1 Stone Pickaxe]
[+1 Furnace]
Hours passed—or maybe minutes. Time felt different here. By mid-afternoon, Tanvin had gathered enough wood and stone to build a small hut. It wasn't much—just four walls, a door, and a roof made of dirt blocks—but it would keep him safe through the night.
The sound of his stomach rumbling reminded him of a critical need.
"Hunger," he groaned. "Of course."
He looked around and spotted a group of pigs nearby. His heart twisted slightly. He'd killed thousands of mobs in-game, but now the idea of killing one felt… weird. Still, survival came first.
"Sorry, buddy," he whispered to a pig as he approached with his stone sword. "Blame Notch."
He took down two pigs and cooked their meat in the furnace using leftover wood.
[+2 Cooked Porkchop]
As the sun dipped below the blocky horizon, the world turned golden. The shadows grew long, and an eerie silence fell across the land.
Then came the groans.
Far off, deep in the woods, a low growl echoed. Tanvin froze. Then came the sound of bones clattering, followed by the hiss of a spider and—
"Creeper," he muttered.
A green figure emerged from the trees, its body pulsing softly.
He slammed the door to his hut and backed away, breathing heavily.
[Nightfall Detected: Monster Spawn Active]
His heart thudded in his chest, sweat dripping down his back. He sat by the wall of his tiny hut, sword in hand, furnace crackling nearby. The sounds outside were terrifyingly real—the moans of zombies, the hiss of spiders, the sharp *twang* of skeleton arrows being fired.
No respawns. No safe mode. No second chances.
He was in the real Minecraft world now.
And he had to survive.
The night dragged on. He didn't sleep. Instead, he crafted torches from charcoal and wood, lit up the hut's interior, and reinforced the door with extra planks. He kept checking the small windows he'd made from trapdoors, watching the shadows outside for movement.
A creeper wandered too close and exploded—but his walls held.
Finally, light crept back into the sky. The first rays of morning sunlight washed over the land, and the groans faded as zombies and skeletons burned away.
[Day 2: Begin]
Tanvin stepped outside, blinking into the sunlight. His hut had a scorch mark from the creeper, but it was still standing. The world looked peaceful again—birds chirped, cows grazed.
But he knew better now.
"This world's not a game," he muttered. "It's a challenge."
He looked up at the sky, then down at his callused hands. Somewhere in this world, there might be a way home. A stronghold. A command block. A mysterious entity.
Or maybe there wasn't.
But Tanvin wasn't going to wait for rescue. He had knowledge. He had skill. He had years of playing this game.
"I'll build. I'll explore. I'll survive," he whispered to himself. "And one day, I'll create my own city here. A safe place. Just like I always dreamed."
With sword in hand and determination burning in his chest, Tanvin set off into the unknown world of blocks, monsters, and endless possibilities.