May laid on her back, staring up at the ceiling of her room. The all too familiar purpur blocks stared back at her, unmoving. Unchanging. There was nothing mysterious about them, and she hated it. May had already scoured her entire dimension up and down, left and right, but to no avail. She had figured out everything about almost everything here: The endstone could be used to make endbricks, and the purpur was made from the stalks of the chorus plants that May had eaten Every. Single. Day. Of her entire life. And then there was the occasional bit of flora and fauna in the form of the grass that May always tried to keep a pretty shade of orange and the pesky endermites that she always had to drive out of her crops. And on other floating islands, there were shulkers, weird little critters that liked to make their shells out of purpur, mutants that other endermen tend to stay away from, and so many different kinds of flowers and bushes that May had lost track of them all.
She was bored.
The enderman sat up on her bed, made out of the chorus leaves that she had gathered over the years. She looked around, eventually spotting one of the few things that she hadn't figured out yet: A small, brown container that May had found in one of those abandoned airships on another island. It was so simple, yet so complex at the same time. The thing was made out of a substance May had never seen before, which felt like a harder version of a chorus stalk. She teleported to it and knelt down. While opening the brown thing, May was particularly careful, as it usually felt like it could break at any moment.
Inside was a wealth of unidentified items that May had collected over the years. In one corner there were some bars of yellow and gray substances that didn't seem very useful. Another corner contained a large pile of what May assumed were seeds, but all of her attempts at planting them had failed. Neatly wedged in between those two piles was a brown square that seemed like it was made out of the same substance that the container was made out of. In front of those things, to the left a little, was some freaky, plant-like contraption that looked like it was made of the same stuff the gray bars were in some parts.
However, May's favorite thing inside of the container was located on top of all those things: a brown rod of the same substance as the container with a glowing blue attachment on the end, which had a curved and very sharp edge. May had found that this thing was very useful at crushing pesky endermites that tried to invade her chorus farm, and had started carrying it around wherever she went. After a while, she had dubbed it "Chopper" with how much she used it that way.
May grabbed Chopper, and skillfully swung it over her shoulder. She then closed the brown container and grabbed it too, for safekeeping against possible thieves. Quickly putting it into her inventory, May teleported outside of her bedroom and took a gander around her island. Her house was one of the smaller ones in her clump of islands, only being around 30 blocks tall. Her chorus garden was located on the north side, and a little further to the east was where May liked to build random things with the purpur and endstone blocks.
However, today May was going to the Main Island, a large floating island that served as a bit of a trade hub for the endermen, as long as the Dragon wasn't around. She was looking to trade some of those weird seeds and bars for something new for once, or at least mess around with those big black pillars. May knew that she had seen some weird shiny purple things on top of them giving the dragon energy, and even some gray objects surrounding those on a few of the towers as well.
And then there was that strange, unmovable structure in the middle of the island. Other endermen told her that it was made of an unbreakable block called "Bedrock" that normally was a sort of support for a supposed other dimension, and they said to never mess with it. This just made May even more curious about it; how did such an unbreakable substance end up here? Were there intelligent creatures in this other dimension? Did they make all of the strange stuff that she had been collecting? Where did they go?
Those were the thoughts that ran through May's mind as she teleported across the islands towards the Main Island; the flora blazing past her in the blink of an eye. She stopped only to say hi to a few of her neighbors before going off again, her current goal only being to get to her destination.
Eventually, May reached the Main Island. The twelve large towers loomed overhead while the gentle hum of conversation welcomed her in. Endermen teleported around, chatting and trading frequently all throughout the island. Some were setting up their trading posts while others were browsing their wares. It was a happy place whenever the dragon wasn't around.
May took a deep breath as she strolled into the thick of the hub. She fished her container out of her inventory, gently setting it down on the ground to set up her little 'Trade Stall'. I hope today won't be boring as usual, she thought, but it probably will. Best not get my hopes up.
A few hours passed without any luck, making May think that this was going to be yet another boring day. That was, until a slightly older looking enderman with piercing eyes covered in a strange, hard brownish-black substance all over him finally came up to May, clearly interested in what she was doing.
"Greetings." The endeman bowed a little. "Mind if I ask what you have in that chest of yours?"
May looked at the enderman in confusion for a few seconds before figuring out what he was talking about. "Oh! You mean my container, right?" She pulled the 'chest' up and opened it, "I have a bunch of random things in here, like these yellow and gray bars, and those weird seeds. I'm hoping for something new and unusual."
"Hm! You must've found these items in one of those abandoned airships." May nodded as the older enderman started rummaging around inside while saying things that didn't really make any sense to her. "Hmm, I've got plenty of iron right now, but that gold can be traded to the piglins for more valuable items. Beetroot seeds can't grow in the Nether as much as I wish they could, and- ooo is that a brewing stand?" He picked up the plant-like contraption. "Those dumb ghasts destroyed my other one, so this'll be very helpful."
He must've noticed May's confused look as he rambled, as the next thing he did was chuckle. "Ah, you're one of those endbound, like most everyone here. You probably don't have a clue what I'm talking about." The enderman pocketed the 'brewing stand'. "Why, forgive my manners, but I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Helidor."
"I'm May, nice to meet you!" May watched Helidor continue to rummage through the chest, pocketing the 'gold' as well. "I like to collect weird things so that I can try to figure them out."
"Well, you seem like the adventuring type. Could make a good portal-hopper." Helidor stood up and looked May up and down before chuckling to himself. "Heh, silly me. I almost forgot to pay for the brewing stand and gold!" He rustled through his inventory before pulling a trio of items. They all looked like they were made out of the same hard substance as Chopper, but in the shape of the hard stuff covering Helidor. They also didn't have the soft, purple glow that Chopper had for some reason. May's interest was immediately piqued.
"These are some diamond armor pieces I replaced with netherite, so I don't need them anymore." Helidor explained as he handed what was apparently armor to May. "There's no leggings though, because they don't usually fit endermen."
May had to cover her mouth to keep from squealing. This random enderman was just giving her some of the coolest things she had ever seen in her life! May had to forcefully keep herself from rudely yanking on the armor as she lifted them from Helidor's hands. They were a little heavy, but May quickly put them on anyway.
"Say, you look good in blue!" Helidor gave May a compliment once she finished putting the armor on. She spun around, admiring her new look. Suddenly, Helidor quickly turned away, seemingly searching for something before looking back at May. "Unfortunately, I have to go now. May we see each other again one day!"
"Bye!" May waved as Helidor teleported off. As soon as she lost track of him, which was literally the first teleport, May let out a little squeal of joy. This was the most excitement she had gotten in months! Slowly, their conversation sank in, and May started going over what Helidor was talking about in her head. The gray bars were iron, which had a ton of uses. The yellow ones were gold, and apparently were used to trade with whoever the piglins were. Those were seeds, but they couldn't be grown here or in some place called the Nether. And this armor, and subsequently Chopper, was made out of something called "diamond". Her head spinning from information overload, May decided to finally mess around with those big, black pillars. She scooped up her chest and easily teleported over to the nearest pillar since there weren't as many enderman in the way; most of them had already gone home by now.
May stared up at the towering pillar. It was supposedly around 90 blocks tall, but everyone was too lazy to count and confirm. On top was the strange shiny purple thing that piqued May's interest, but Endermen can't teleport more than 30 blocks, so it was impossible to get up there unless someone took the time to build a massive staircase. May had thought about getting up there herself and getting a good look at the purple shiny thing, but truthfully, she was also a little lazy herself when it came to stacking blocks over and over again.
May grabbed one of the blocks and pulled, but it didn't budge. A little disgruntled, May pulled on it again, and with all her strength this time. Suddenly, the black block popped out of the pillar, sending May flying backwards a little. She regained her balance, catching her breath before giving the block a closer look. It was hard and heavy, but had a pretty shine when faced at certain angles. Getting an idea, May placed the block down a little ways away from the pillar and went back for another.
Around fifteen minutes later, May had ripped five more blocks out of the pillar, leaving a two-by-three space that could fit two endermen in it. She had used these blocks to form a crude heart shape; one on the bottom, three in the middle and two on top. May looked over her handiwork, admiring how the blocks shined. However, her admiration was cut short when a few screams sounded from behind her. May swiveled around instinctively to see what was going on. Behind her, a bunch of endermen were teleporting away from the incoming danger, and May froze in terror as she finally saw what all the hustle was about.
The Ender Dragon was awake.
As the Dragon swooped towards her, May forgot how to teleport out of fear. She stood there petrified, quivering like grass in the wind. The dragon meanwhile was racing towards her, charging up its flaming breath for a deadly attack. Just as the Dragon released its breath, May broke out of her petrified state and quickly teleported out of the way, making it so that the Dragon merely hit the pillar.
May didn't have any time to breathe as the Dragon looped back around, flying right back at her with a roar. Thinking quickly, she teleported out of the way of another swoop before whacking the side of the Ender Dragon with Chopper, actually penetrating its scales. This didn't do much however, as the flying reptile circled the nearest pillar, the shiny purple thing shooting out a white beam to it. When the Dragon came back around, May could see that the gash she had made with Chopper had magically healed over.
"Those things HEAL it?!" May blurted out, not caring that she was stating the obvious, or that nobody was around. There was absolutely no way she could fight this thing, not with how she was right now. So May teleported away and hid behind a different pillar to wait for the Dragon to leave.
May's heart beat hard in her chest as she watched the dragon fly back up into the sky, off to wherever its burrow was. Her legs buckled underneath her and she fell to the ground, scraping her knees. May made sure to lean on her hands for support, dropping Chopper in the process, but it wasn't enough to stop her shaking. She could've died right there. Actually, honestly died. May quivered at that thought. She had just had a brush with death itself, and there was no way to do anything about it.
Something about the pillar she had pulled the blocks from suddenly caught May's eye, distracting her from what could've possibly just been her demise. The hole that she had made was now filled up with a soft, purple light, not unlike the glow Chopper had. Grabbing the aforementioned tool, May teleported in front of the glow. She could see that the light was swirling around, making pretty and abstract patterns within. Curiosity grabbing ahold of her, May slowly reached towards the light. As soon as she touched it, she felt a nauseous sensation inside of her that pulled her into it fully, causing the armored enderman to disappear in a swirl of purple mist.
May didn't know it yet, but her true adventures were just about to begin.