Diary of a Strider Trilogy: Book 1 to 3

By Mark Mulle

A compilation of the Diary of Strider Series: Books 1 to 3

Diary of a Strider Book 1: Doom Mountain

Have you ever seen a Strider before?

Discover the answers and more and start a new thrilling series featuring one of the newest mobs of the Nether

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mark Mulle
• Release date: Jan 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9798869101945

Book preview

Diary of a Strider                    Book 1: Doom Mountain

Day 1

Have you ever heard of a Strider before? Have you seen, met, or even talked to a Strider in your life? No? Well, I’ve got fantastic news for you! My name is Morgan, and I am a Strider. I decided to write this to educate others about the existence of Striders, our culture, our behavior and other interesting details about our lives.

First of all, I have realized that not many creatures know much about the Striders. Granted, we are kind of slow when we are not walking on lava, but it doesn’t mean that other creatures should remain ignorant about our existence.

The very few friends that we make around here are those pesky Magma Cubes, who come and hop around every once in a while. There are also the local Hoglins, who live in a cave nearby, but we don’t talk to them often because those poor things can’t walk on lava like the rest of us.

Ah! You must be wondering, who are ‘us’ that I keep talking about? Yes, yes. How rude of me! I totally forgot to tell you more about me and my friends. I have already introduced myself, so it’s time to talk about the Striders who live with me.

Other than me there is Zack, Nora and Tom. Together, the four of us are also known as the Striders of Heat Lake!

I suppose not many creatures know about us here, honestly. It’s also one of the reasons why I decided to start writing about my life and the lives of my friends in Heat Lake. Speaking of which, Heat Lake is the lava lake where we live, in case that wasn’t clear enough from the beginning. Yes, I know! What a creative name, right?

We all came up with the name together. Tom wanted to call it Lake of Fury, but I thought it sounded so lame. In the end, Heat Lake was the preferred option for most of our group or at least three members of it. It has become the official name of our home and that’s what we call it, except for Tom. He insists on Lake of Fury to this day, and it has been over a year since we voted on the name. Just let it go already, Tom!

Anyway, back to the topic of Striders. Sorry about that. I digress a lot. It’s one of my problems, and my friends tell me I talk too much. Sometimes I’m talking about something and then I’ll get distracted midway and start discussing another subject without completing my previous sentence, and then… oops, I did it again.

Focus, Morgan. Focus. Ahem. Striders are known for being one of the very few creatures in the Nether which can walk on lava. Actually, we are the only creatures who can do so. The Magma Cubes can swim in lava, but that’s a totally different story! They cannot brag about being able to freely walk above it, like we do.

How can Striders walk on lava, you might be asking yourself? Well… Good question, once again. I guess I should have done my research before starting this diary… Ah, I guess it won’t be an issue. Now, Striders don’t get burned by lava and they actually thrive when near a lava source.

Once you take a Strider out of lava, they get cold, weak, and slow, believe it or not.Once we leave lava, we start shivering like crazy. Even the Nether weather isn’t hot enough for us Striders. We must be near lava at all times.

I know this may sound strange for the land creatures like you, who are reading this book. You are all so used to walking everywhere that you can’t even fathom the idea of living your life over a lava lake.

To us however, living over lava is a delight. The warm fuzzy feeling of walking on lava is unlike anything else in this world. I know it, because I can also walk on land and let me tell you, buddy – walking on lava is so much better!

By the way, we are known for taking long

steps on lava, or in other words, striding; that’s how we got our name! Who gave us this name? No idea. Maybe I’ll meet that creature one day, who knows? One can dream.

Anyway, I have talked way too much about myself. I suppose this bookwill be boring to read unless something interesting happens. Maybe if I start telling you more about my daily life, then it will get better.

Yes, that’s exactly what I will do. From now on, I shall write down everything that happens in my life. I’ll let you know what happens in Heat Lake, about my life with the other three Striders, and how we get around here.

Perhaps other creatures will be more interested and eager to learn about the Striders, and we might make some new friends. I have always wanted to make new friends. Not that I don’t like the ones I have here, but I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t bored of looking at the same faces over and over again.

It has been what now? Six years? Or was it seven? Ah, I can’t keep track of time. I have been living in Heat Lake for so long, always with Zack, Tom and Nora by my side that I don’t even know what year it is. All I know is that we have never left this place, and we don’t know what lies beyond our beloved lake.

Maybe it’s better that way. Maybe it’s safer. Who knows what could be waiting for us outside of this lake? I know one thing for sure; I won’t leave this lake unless I find another hot spot to lie on.

Day 2

Another day, another adventure, because living over a hot lava lake is an adventure on its own, as I like to say. Where was I yesterday before I signed off from my diaryand went away to rest? Oh, yes!I was talking – or rather, writing – about the life of a Strider. There isn’t much to tell about that, you know? First things first, we Striders spawn in this world of Minecraft for a simple reason – we are here to tame the lava. We are fierce, we are bold, and most importantly, we do not fear the scorching lava under our feet!

My friends tell me that I am a bit silly when I speak like that, but it’s the truth. Striders have but one main purpose in life, which is to tame lava. I keep telling them that, but they say I am exaggerating. They tell me I should stop dreaming so much but let me tell you, my diary, they will learn about the truth one day.

One of these days they will wake up to the realization that Striders are the bravest creatures to ever set foot in the Nether! No wonder we can step on lava and walk freely over this hot block. I have seen other creatures try and get scorched up, de-spawning in the process,except for the Magma Cubes, of course. Those don’t count. They catch on fire, but they don’t take any damage.

Anyway, as I was saying, my friends aren’t bad creatures, they just don’t believe enough in themselves. I keep telling them to be more courageous, but they say we are not like those Piglin Brutes, and we should not be engaging in extreme activities out there. Maybe one day we will, my friend but for now it’s better to be ready at all times.

Rightnow, my friends are out there probably talking about the amount of food we have in stock. They might be wondering who’s going to pick up Warped Fungi next. Meanwhile, here I am writing in this diary and coming up with the craziest ideas.

Will anyone ever read this diaryat all? Will it be good or interesting enough? As much as I love to share about my life and learn from new experiences, I am not sure if this diary will serve its purpose, that is tell the true story of a Strider’s life from our perspective.

I can only try, I guess! I was thinking of asking my friends for help with the book, but I am afraid of their reaction. They certainly know I have been writing a lot recently, but they are not sure what exactly I am doing.

Zack and Tom would probably make fun of me. They are jesters by nature, I’ve known those two ever since we were baby Striders! And Nora, well… Nora is the sweetest Strider in the world. She is always so gentle and nice. I really have feelings towards her, but I am too shy to ever open up about something so special like th–

What are you writing about, Morgan? I heard Nora’s voice from behind me.

Gahhh! I was writing about uh… I was writing about Netherrack! Yes! I looooooveNetherrack, you know? I replied, immediately closing my diary.

Hah, okay. It sounds interesting. Perhaps one day you could read it to me. I love stories. Nora said.

Uh… Sure. Yes, why not? I’ll certainly read it to you one day, once I have finished my diary which I’m going to turn into a book!

Right! Anyway, we are about to eatWarped Fungi. Will you join us? Nora called me for dinner.

Not right now, thanks. I am not really hungry. I’ll be there in a few minutes, though.

Alright then, suit yourself. See you later.

Nora left me with my diary and went to have dinner. That was close. She could have sneaked up from behind and read what I had written about her. I should be more careful when writing about my feelings in mydiary… Perhaps this diary is not the best place to keep them in.

One day, I might be brave to tell Nora the truth. Maybe one day…

I have courage to do so many things, but speaking to Nora is definitely not one of them. Why is speaking to girls so hard? I wish I had someone with experience in Strider girls to lend me a hand.

I should keep this diary hidden away in a secret place. If any of the other boys find out and read what I have written here, they’ll make fun of me for the rest of my life. I’ll be their punching bag for eternity. I certainly don’t want any of that.

And if Nora finds out, well…then I will be even more embarrassed. I am not sure how she would react. Most likely, she would be equally as shy as me, and she would run away.

Gosh, how did this diary turn into a romance so fast? I was supposed to write about the life of a Strider, not about my feelings. Argh, I should get back on track before I spend another one of my days writing about this stuff…

I will still keep my promise, though. Tomorrow, I’ll write about my real daily life. My regular schedule. I shall write about what I do in Heat Lake with my other friends.

I’ll write about what we eat, what we discuss on a daily basis, how we handle the group dynamic and all of those interesting tidbits of a regular life. There, no more romantic silliness for once.

Day 3

Here we go, my dear reader. Whoever you are, wherever you are reading this, get ready to enter into the life of a Strider. Finally, you will get a onetime opportunity to peak into the Strider experience and take a ride into our wild routine.

Well, maybe I’m overselling this… there isn’t anything wild, to be fair. So, don’t expect too much, alright? It will be fun and somewhat interesting, but… I digress again. Let’s go to the facts, shall we?

First things first, I started my day off by waking up. Truly inspiring isn’t it? Oh, you might be wondering where and how do Striders sleep? Great question, my dear reader. Simple answer: we pick a spot within the vast Heat Lake and we lie on it. The warm lava is all we need for a good night’s sleep.

As a matter of fact, our group has a sleeping spot. It’s where we always sleep, every single night. We started doing it for safety reasons, so no creature can reach us on lava.Our spot is right in the middle of the Lake. Heat Lake, in case I haven’t mentioned yet, is fairly big. Last time I checked it was 50x45 blocks big, so there’s plenty of space for a group of only four Striders.

I was the first one to wake up today, as usual. Let me tell you, those other Striders are a bunch of lazy bags. They always sleep in late! The first thing I do after getting up is have breakfast. I eat two Warped Fungi in the morning, and then I stretch my legs around the Lake. I circle it a couple times to exercise a bit.

By the time I complete striding around Heat Lake, the other Striders are up. This morning, Zack was the second one to wake up.

Good morning, sunshine. I joked with him.

Don’t you get tired of waking up so early every morning, Morgan?

Nobut you guys should get tired of sleeping so much!

I guess we should start calling you ‘Morningan’ because you like mornings and you are called Morgan. Great nickname, isn’t it?

It’s horrible, Zack. I replied.

Yeah, well… if you don’t like it, then it means it’s good!

Tom and Nora woke up moments later and joined Zack for breakfast.

Morning everyone, Tom said.

Morning, we replied.

So, I see Morgan has woken up early as usual. Tom said.

I know! By the way Tom, I just came up with a nickname for him! Hear me out: ‘Morningan’! Isn’t it brilliant?

What does that even mean?

It’s ‘Morgan’ which is his name, and…

It’s the lamest nickname ever. I interrupted. You certainly can come up with something better.

I mean, Morgan is right. Sounds lame. Tom replied.

What? You two don’t understand the true art of creating nicknames. In fact, you guys are horrible at coming up with good names! No wonder you two refused to call this place ‘Lake of Fury’. It sounds so much better than ‘Heat Lake’.

Oh no, not this conversation again, Tom said. I laughed in return.

It’s true, though. Lake of Fury is cooler, and it could potentially keep any intruders away from our place. If we ever come across any enemies, we just tell them that we live by Lake of Fury and they’ll be like ‘What? I’m never going near that place.’ So, you’re welcome, I saved you because I’ve named this place Lake of Fury.

First of all, how are we supposed to run into enemies if we never leave the lake? Secondly, if we don’t leave the lake, it means the enemies will find us right here. Once they have found us, what is the point of telling them that the Lake is called ‘Lake of Fury’? They’ll realize it’s just a silly name because this lake is peaceful and not violent at all.

Oh, poor Tom, you lack creativity in that feeble mind of yours, my friend. Zack replied.

No, I think you are too creative for your own good, Zack. I told him.

What do you think about all this, Nora? Tom asked her. Nora was having some Warped Fungi for breakfast.

I say we call it Heat Lake because it’s the best name, and leave it at that. I don’t want to live in a place called ‘Lake of Fury’… sounds dangerous.

"That’s the point! We want it to sound dangerous." Zack said.

Nah, it’s not going to work at all, buddy. I told him.

Eventually, Zack gave up trying to convince us to change the lake’s name to ‘Lake of Fury’ for the tenth time this week. Seriously, this guy won’t ever give up.

In the afternoon, we had lunch and we ate – guess what? – Warped Fungi again. Later, we discussed what was on the other side of the mountain and we also had a short conversation about our Warped Fungi supply.

It has come to our attention that our Warped Fungi supply is running low. Soon, we will have to leave the lake and collect some more for the group. Here is the tricky partthough, we always send only one Strider to collect the fungi while the others wait for their return.

We do it this way because it is safer to keep the majority of the Striders on the lake rather thanrisking putting all of us in danger, since weare slow and weak when not on lava.

Noracollected the Warped Fungi last week, so she cannot go this time.It is between me, Zack, and Tom and we are arguing about who will go next.

I know we all must pull our weight and help  out as much as needed but hear me out; I have doneit way more than anyone else. I believe Zack is the one who hasn’t helped us enough and he should be next! But I know exactly what he  will do. He’ll talk to Tom and he will try to convince him to vote for me.

I don’t want to go collect Warped Fungi again… but if I do, I’ll keep you posted.

Day 4

Another day, another adventure.

This time I might be sent on an adventure that I do not want to take part in. As I was telling you yesterday, my dear reader, our Warped Fungi stock is running low. We woke up today to a Warped Fungi shortage and we could only eat one per Strider.

Only one each? Zack asked.

Yes, only one. Nora replied. She’s usually the one who keeps track of the Warped Fungi stock and shares them accordingly when we are low on food.

I can’t live on one Warped Fungi. I eat two every morning.

We need to send someone to collect more for the group. Nora said.

The time has come again, then. Zack replied.

Yep, it’s time. Tom agreed. One of us must leave the lake and head over to the Warped Forest to grab some of those fresh, delicious, fungi for our survival. Who is it going to be? Do we have any volunteers today?

No one said a thing. I’ll be surprised the day someone happily volunteers to do it. I guess no one likes to venture into the Warped Forest

Who would want to go there? I replied. I love adventures and such, but walking on land is such a misery. It’s cold and hard on our feet. There is nothing fun or exciting about that.

Collecting food doesn’t have to be fun and exciting. Our survival is at stake, so of course it’s a hard task. Tom replied.

Sure, and you are free to volunteer as much as we are.

I’m just asking if we have any volunteers.

Since we don’t have any volunteers, then we will have to vote for who should go next. Zack announced.

I won’t go this time. I went there to collect fungi last week, so you guys decide who should do it now. Nora replied.

Nora is out of question here. It’s between the three of us.

I vote for Morgan. Zack said.

Wait, what? I didn’t know we would start voting so fast.

Well, I vote for Morgan, too. Tom replied.

But–

Sorry pal, it seems you have been chosen by the majority to go to the Warped Forest. Zack laughed.

But, but… Nora, what do you say?

Sorry Morgan, but I cannot vote today since I am not going to be sent out to collects the fungi. Unfortunately, it has to be you now… Nora said.

I guess I can’t go against the majority then.

You can’t. Anyway, have fun out there, Morgan. Don’t forget to collect the greener Warped Fungi, please. They are delicious.

Yeah, yeah… I might just do that. I replied.

Collecting Warped Fungi is the worst task when you are a Strider. The thing about Warped Fungi is that they only grow in a biome called ‘Warped Forest’. There is a Warped Forest near Heat Lake where we usually resort to going when we start running out of food. Still, leaving the hot lava and traversing the Warped Forest is a complicated task for us Striders. It takes way too much time, and it’s somewhat dangerous. Not that Striders have any enemies in the Nether, but we are at our weakest point when away from lava. Anything could happen… thus, it’s always a big challenge when we have to go out there and collect some.

Before leaving Heat Lake, Nora came to speak to me.

Morgan, before you go…

Yes?

Please take care. I know these trips are usually safe but keep an eye out. I am sure you will be fine. Nora replied.

Thanks. I will be very careful, and I will be back as soon as possible. It’s just that… ah, nothing.

What is it? What’s bothering you? Nora asked.

I am pretty sure Zack convinced Tom to vote for me. Those two are always helping each other out and voting for us. We have collected more fungi than them.It is not fair.

Maybe you are right. Perhaps, for future gatherings, we could change the method of choosing the next Strider to pick up the Fungi. Nora said.

It’s definitely not a bad idea. We should look into that for sure. But now, I must go at once because I cannot change the decision. I will be back as soon as I can.

Nora kissed me on the cheek and wished me good luck.

Stay safe out there. We will be right here when you return.

Yes… Sure. I replied.

I left Heat Lake with my head in the clouds. Nora had given me a kiss on the cheek, and it was like a dream coming true. I didn’t even care about leaving anymore. She had given me enough strength to keep going!

After stepping out of Heat Lake, my body immediately changed from bright red to light purple. I started shaking uncontrollably from the cold. I had to continue on at half my regular speed and hope for the best.

Day 5

I headed to the Warped Forest since I had lost the vote. Thinking on the bright side, now I will have more content for my book.My readers don’t want to read about how many times a day I walk around Heat Lake. Do they?

Anyway, back to work. First of all, I entered Warped Forest by the main entrance, to the south of Heat Lake. Walking on land is always a painful activity for Striders, but I had to overcome all challenges and complete my objective.

The Warped Forest is quite an interesting biome if I may say so. Not that I have much experience with other biomes, but the way I see it, the Warped Forest doesn’t have many different mobs.

Mostcreatures living in the Warped Forest are Endermen, the black, tall creatures who can freely teleport across space. I wish I had that same skill. It would make my task much easier.

Sometimes, you may also find some lost Magma Cubes wandering around, but it’s quite rare. The Warped Forest is dense and it is surrounded in a thick fog, making it even harder to cross through the trees.

The ground is covered in a type of grass called nylium, unique to this biome,and it’s what makes it possible for our favorite food item to grow. Warped Fungi only grows in nylium, and it’s only found within the Warped Forest in the Nether.

Luckily, Warped Fungi grows quite fast, and we don’t have to wait long beforewe can come back to collect some more. That way, we never have to walk too far or too deep into the Warped Forest to find the Warped Fungi that we need.

We usually go to the same spot each time, and we even gave it a name – it’s called the ‘Fungi Spot’. Yes, yes. I know so original, right?Just like the name of our lake. I suppose the art of giving names is not our forte.

I walked up to the usual spot and found some growing Warped Fungi in the area. It was more than enough for a week or so of supplies for our group of four Striders.

Nice. This should do it. I picked up the Warped Fungi, always keeping an eye out for any enemies in the area. But like I said, the Warped Forest doesn’t have anything but Endermen. From time to time, those tall creatures will teleport nearby and simply stare at us, not moving an inch.

If I could, I would change their name to ‘Creeper’ because they are the real creepers in this world! Always creeping up on others and staring at them with those dead eyes… It’s chilling, to say the least.

Anyway, after collecting the much needed Warped Fungi, I leave the spot and make my way to Heat Lake. The nylium will grow new Warped Fungi in no time,