On this day many moons ago, there was a raid—the worst this village has ever seen. Pillagers, Ravagers, hundreds of them everywhere, fire burning down buildings. Our great protector, the Iron Golem, sadly died while defending the village. Only 15 villagers survived. Well, at least that's what my grandpa told me.

  A lot of people are still kind of nervous when someone mentions pillagers. I don't know why; that's ancient history.

  "He is here! He is here!" shouted villagers everywhere.

  "Who's here? Who's here?" I yelled.

  "The Player! The Player is here!" said my best friend, Isaac.

  I yelled, "Steve! Steve, over here!" but Steve looked stressed as he ran to the priest. He leaned over and whispered something to him, and then the priest looked terrified.

  Everyone went into their houses as night fell over the village. I didn't sleep much that night, thinking about what Steve had said to the priest. I made up my mind: I was going to confront Steve and ask him.

  As the night passed and the stars faded while the birds began singing, I woke up, looked at my fletching table, and remembered what I had to do. I got up, put on my clothes, walked outside, and went to find Steve.

  I finally found him at the baker's house. I walked in and said, "Steve, hey."

  Steve turned around and said, "Hey, Dan."

  I was thinking about how to phrase my question so that I wouldn't come off as rude. I finally asked, "Did you find anything on your travels?"

  His eyes shifted around, and then he turned to the baker and said, "One minute."

  Murray, the baker, nodded. Steve grabbed my arm, and we walked to his house. I knew what was about to happen. He was going to tell me what he said to the priest and who knows who else.

  We sat at his table, and he offered me a water bottle. I declined. Then he finally started to talk.

  "Okay, you can't tell a soul about this. I don't want to cause a panic."

  I nodded.

  "I was traveling through the many biomes Minecraftia has, and I saw a pillager outpost."

  My heart dropped at the mention of pillagers.

  "I overheard two pillagers talking about the raid that happened many moons ago, and they were saying they were excited to do THAT again in 20 moons—now 19."

  I immediately stood up and yelled, "What are we going to do about this?!"

  Steve said, "Lower your voice! I don't know. The priest and I are leaning toward evacuating the village."

  "No! I will not! I will stay and fight! I don't care if you guys run away like cowards. I'm staying!"

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  "No, you can't," Steve said. "You will die."

  "Well, at least I'll die trying!" I said, losing my temper.

  I stormed out of his house, full of anger that we were just running away like animals in a forest fire. But then I thought, like animals in a forest fire, are we truly helpless? Or are we?

  I ran back into Steve's house and told him, "You will teach me how to fight."

  Steve looked at me and said, "Only if I can help fight and you find villagers to help."

  "Okay," I said.

  I ran out and immediately told Isaac everything. He hesitated, then said, "Yes, I will stand beside you in the line of battle."

  I smiled and went back to start recruiting people to help.

  Murray, the baker, initially said no, but he agreed to supply our army with food, for which I was grateful.

  I went to David, the clerk. He said yes and promised to make plenty of potions.

  I visited the blacksmith and told him everything. He said with his raspy voice, "Yes. I wanted to do the exact same thing that night of the last raid, but I didn't. I won't make that mistake again."

  I nodded. "Can you make weapons?"

  "Of course," said the blacksmith.

  I went to the cartographer and asked if he would join us in the fight. He said, "Yes."

  I sprinted back to Steve and told him everyone who wanted to join. He told me to tell everyone to meet at his house the next day.

  I woke up around 6 a.m. and started getting ready. I also brought a couple of bows and a few stacks of arrows. As I walked to Steve's house, I saw Isaac walking too, so I joined him. We started talking about what we would do. We both knew Steve was an amazing fighter.

  As we walked in, we saw the blacksmith with the weapons and armor, the clerk with potions, and the cartographer with maps of the outpost. The baker was also there with bread, steak, and other foods, but he seemed hesitant. Finally, he walked up to me and said, "Can I please join the fight? I want to help now."

  I nodded.

  I went over to the pile of supplies and added my bows and arrows.

  "Okay, is everyone here?" Steve asked.

  "Yes!" we all responded.

  "Alright, we all know why we are here—to fight off the pillagers in their upcoming raid against the village. I have already spoken with the priest about our plan, and he agrees that it must be done. He will lead all the women and children to the emergency bunker."

  "First, we need to learn how to hold and use a sword."

  We trained every day for 10 moons. Then, with 8 moons left until the fight, we began practicing with bows. I was, of course, the best, since that was my job. Everyone did really well.

  With 7 moons left, we started building barricades out of stone bricks. Steve helped us build. Come to think of it, I had seen his maps before—one of them was of his mansion, which was huge.

  With 4 moons left until the raid, the barricade was finished. All that was left to do was—

  Just then, hundreds of fire arrows flew through the sky.

  "The raid is already starting!" yelled the clerk.

  "Everyone who isn't fighting, follow me!" said the priest.

  "Everyone who is fighting, come to me!" said Steve. "Put on your armor and grab a sword, a bow, a stack of arrows, and a healing potion!"

  Everyone ran out to fight. The archers took to the towers, and the swordsmen formed ranks along the wall. I made sure everyone was out of the buildings. Then, I opened a door and saw a pillager with an axe standing over a child. I leaped inside, slayed the pillager, and guided the child to the priest just before he left.

  I saw Steve constructing something with iron blocks. Then, he placed a pumpkin on top—BANG! An Iron Golem formed. He didn't just make two, four, or even five. He made ten golems to fight alongside us.

  We were actually winning, but fire was everywhere. Then the Ravagers appeared.

  A Ravager was about to strike Steve, but the blacksmith jumped in front of him and took the hit, flying backward. He landed near me and wouldn't get up.

  "Blacksmith, get up! Get up!" I cried.

  Just then, I was engulfed in rage. I shot the Ravager with my bow, and it charged at me. At the last second, I dodged, and the Ravager ran off a cliff.

  I looked around—the pillagers were gone.

  Then, I saw in the distance—Isaac was being dragged away by a pillager riding a Ravager. I only had one arrow left. I took aim, fired, and hit one of the pillagers accompanying Isaac's captor.

  I will rescue him.