I originally wrote Escape the Past as a one-off for a competition, but it has gotten on the popular reel, so I'm doing a second part from where we left off! Enjoy, and leave a diamond if you would like more of these!

Now that Melon is gone, things are lighthearted, almost perfect, even. The wheat grew back fast, thanks to the rain. It was fairly easy to repair the damage to my house, and Jodie's too. I check on the lava pool nearly every day, but nothing emerges from it's depths. We are finally free to live our lives, to make a new past for ourselves.

As I walk into the town, everyone is buzzing with excitement. Today is the day of the long-awaited 1.19 update, and no one is more excited than Jodie. I have barely walked ten steps before Jodie runs up to me, having traded their signature hoodie and crown for an 'I <3 Mangroves' shirt and frog headband. "Today's the day!" Jodie announces with glee, practically vibrating with joy. "There is going to be mangroves, and mud, and frogs, and-" I turn to face them, and say, "Chill out, it's only an update, not a festival." Jodie yells, "But I haven't told you the important bit! We are going to get Ward-" The mayor comes up to a temporary stage erected on the edge of the square, and starts the proceedings. "Hello everyone, we are proud to announce that the new world update is now available! It will be added at midnight tonight, to create as minimal impact as possible on our everyday lives. We will have a massive swamp overhaul, and a minor update to the local caves. There will be festivities throughout all of today to celebrate as well! Have fun everyone, and good luck!" The village erupted into a chorus of cheers, and someone put a music disc in a jukebox. Pigstep by Lena Raine plays in the town square, and celebrations are in full swing. Jodie laughs and pulls me towards the edge of the crowd, saying that they want me to meet someone. "Ivory, meet Panda, Panda, meet Ivory." Jodie says, as we pull to a stop. I see a young woman in a colourful hoodie, Panda, who owns a pumpkin farm. "Nice to meet you, Ivory! I'm Panda." she says, and shakes my hand. According to Jodie, Panda is one of the more prominent figures in town, by making money off her pumpkins. She talks a lot about her business, and mentions some weird phenomena around her farm."Yeah, a few days back my farm kept getting attacked by pests. Never seen insects that set pumpkins on fire before though." Panda says as we all walk through the town square. "Pumpkins? That's and interesting choice." I say as the sun begins to set over the mountains. "Yeah, but it's great to sell around Halloween. By the way, I'm planning on going down in the caves tomorrow, you two wanna come along?" Jodie glances around anxiously, but agrees. As we all go our separate ways towards our homes, I think about how Jodie was acting. They were really on edge when Panda mentioned they wanted to go caving, but I don't know why. Maybe they know more about the update than a "minor update to the caves"? But to be honest, who knows? There will still be all the regular cave monsters though, so I will bring netherite gear, it never hurts to be prepared.

I wake up early in the morning, and gear up for our cave adventure. Full enchanted netherite, and a good weapon to go with my pickaxe, because you never know if you will strike diamonds. I leave the house and go to our meeting spot, the notice board next to the town hall. Normally it is covered in advertisements for the local shops, but all of that has been removed and replaced with information about the update. I start skimming through, but I am interrupted by Panda and Jodie, who have finally arrived. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Panda says, and we start running towards the caves. This cave goes deep, and we all keep our pickaxes handy in case we find diamonds. We stumble across a few ravines, but nothing too interesting. Panda, however, is determined to keep going, even though we have been down here for hours. Jodie is very nervous, and walks carefully through the caves, axe already in hand. Suddenly, the gravel we are walking on falls from underneath us, and we fall deeper into the cave.

At the bottom, we find a puddle of water to land in. This cave looks like all the others, except covered in a strange blue-black substance. We stand up and walk around, debating whether we should explore down here, or try get back to where we fell. "Why did this happen?!" yells Jodie, but they go silent in a flash, as we hear something make a high pitched noise in the distance. We carefully approach whatever is making the noise, to find it is a strange new block, unlike anything I have seen before. It emits another shriek, and we hear a mighty roar from behind us. Jodie yells "It's the Warden! Run!" and starts running towards a bend in the tunnels, absolutely terrified. With neither Panda or me knowing what to do, we follow.

Jodie runs deeper into the cave, and so do we. The Warden, as Jodie calls it, is blind, but has excellent hearing. We are as quiet as we can be when we run, but there is still the occasional sound of a piece of gravel flying, or one of us nearly slipping on a stone. I take a brief look back, and see the Warden take out a zombie with enchanted armour in a single blow, still thundering towards us. As we run, Jodie explains what the Warden is, and why we need to get out of here. The Warden is a terrifying new beast that was added in the update, which has double the hearts of the Ender Dragon, and is capable of killing a player in full Protection IV netherite in a single blow. We whip around a corner, and I remember I had a few end crystals in my pocket, and detonate one behind us. The Warden lets out a shriek, and my plan is put into action. "Jodie! Keep taking the corners!" I holler, and Jodie takes the next left. The exploding crystals hit the Warden with full force every time, and we only take a few hearts of damage. Eventually, after I explode the last crystal, the warden lets out one last shriek, and the beast is finally vanquished.

We locate a ravine nearby, one that leads up to the surface. We swim up the waterfall, stuffing ourselves with golden apples and potions of regeneration. I tried my best to detonate the crystals when we were around the corner, but we still all took a far amount of damage. Panda wouldn't be swimming beside me right now, if it wasn't for the Totem of Undying she had in her other hand. We reach the top of the ravine, and surface mere blocks away from Panda's pumpkin patch. Thankfully, Panda lives near town, and we get there in the early afternoon. People stare at us, astonished at how dirt-covered we are. Panda reads the notice board, and facepalms. "Seriously?! All the information on the Warden was just sitting her, THIS WHOLE TIME?!" Panda yells. Jodie rolls their eyes, and laughs. We say our farewells, and set towards our respective homes. I get home, and place the Warden's head on the wall, as a memory of this adventure.

Disclaimers:

• Link to Ivory's warden video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40aO3h5S1tk
• Jodie's skin: https://www.minecraftskins.com/skin/20680333/my-new-persona-/
• Panda's skin: https://www.minecraftskins.com/skin/20745471/skin-for-thepanpanda/
• Prequel: https://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/my-first-fanfic-escape-the-past/