Chapter 1[]
Zetta is seen hiding behind a cactus in the town square of Sienna Dunes, waiting for the last townspeople to head back into their homes for supper. As the sun sets, she runs over to the well and carefully pulls out a glass bottle. Just as Zetta uncorks it and begins to fill it, she quickly puts it back in her pocket as she notices Mayor Maxine walking toward her. Mayor Maxine commends Zetta for her work down in the terracotta mines for a wall around town. Although Zetta was able to earn some emeralds from the work to buy a brewing stand, the wall feels like an eyesore to her. Mayor Maxine then scurries off, allowing Zetta to resume filling her glass bottles. She is through filling one when her father touches her on the shoulder. Zetta makes up an excuse by saying that she was about to check how much an iron pickaxe would cost, even though she didn’t have enough for one. Zetta’s father is proud, saying that she would finally be getting serious about mining. Though it was true that Zetta’s father was a mining foreman, Zetta usually kept mining as the last thing on her mind. She quickly ducks into the blacksmith’s shop, pretending to browse the iron pickaxes that she obviously couldn’t afford. As her father gets caught up in a conversation with Mayor Maxine, Zetta sprints toward the south end of town, home to her grandparents' farm. The farm is like an oasis to Zeta, complete with heaps of sugarcane, wheat, potatoes, and a chicken coop. She notices her cousin Ashton swiping a stone hoe at the wheat shafts before replanting the seeds and bringing some over to the chicken coop. Zetta sneaks over to the wheat field and tiptoes through the wheat to fill her glass bottles from the water stream, hoping she’d have some luck in creating a potion of swiftness. She had previously made a potion of invisibility, but never drank it under the assumption that the netherwart used for it had gone bad.
The sugarcane that Zetta needed was across from the wheat field, but Ashton was right in her way, feeding chickens seeds and singing to them. Out of curiosity, she decides to drink the invisibility potion she made, which appears to work at first. Zetta tries to sneak past Ashton, but he soon notices her head as if it was floating. Ashton promises not to tell Zeta’s grandparents about it if he is allowed to go on a mob hunt with her. She hesitates at first, still thinking that Ashton would be too young to do so, but says to Ashton that she’ll talk to her friends, the twins, Rift and Rayne, about having him join. Ashton accepts and gives Zetta a bucket of milk from Ginger, the town’s only cow. She drinks it, making her whole body visible again. Just then, Rift and Rayne greet Zetta, having just come back from a day out on a mob hunt. They give some bones to Ashton to turn into bonemeal for the crops. Zetta then mentions to Ashton that some torches appear to be out over by the silo. He is suspicious at first, thinking that she is trying to get rid of him. Rift intervenes, saying that Zetta shouldn’t let Ashton out there by himself, but Ashton mentions that he goes out there by himself all the time. As he leaves to check on the torches, Zetta whispers to the twins that he wants to go on a mob hunt with them. The two seem interested, but Zetta brings up about what happened with Ashton’s parents. The two had went on a trip toward the Great Rift, a canyon that had exposed veins of gold, iron, and diamonds, but never came back. As Ashton comes back from the silo, Zetta tells him that he’s still too young to go out on a mob hunt, but also says that he’ll be able to do so "really soon". Although disappointed, Ashton knew that he’d be safe on the farm. Zetta and the twins then leave to prepare for the mob hunt.
Chapter 2[]
Zeta and the twins, Rift and Rayne, hop over the terracotta wall and skim past the sign which warns people about hostile mobs in the area. Rayne has a bow, while Rift and Zetta have stone swords. The latter two get in a tussle with a spider; Rift kills it as Zetta misses, hitting Rift in the shin. As Rayne checks up on them, a creeper suddenly appears. Just as its about to blow up, Rayne kills it with two arrow shots. He offers Zetta the gunpowder that dropped, who accepts, yet also apologizes for nearly killing them. The twins shrug it off as Rayne asks her if she has her brewing stand. Zetta nods, patting the leather pack she always has with her. The twins decide to head to an area further away from town to test some splash potions, steering clear of several husks. About an hour later, the three arrive at the Great Rift, with a desert pyramid jutting out from a wall, almost buried in the sand. Zetta notices a vein of diamond ore, but the three instead take shelter at an outcropping on the edge of the rift. Coincidentally, Rift was named after this very landmark. He builds a sandstone wall to avoid any further interaction with hostile mobs, while also crafting a campfire to cook some food. Rayne tosses some raw rabbit by the fire, with Zetta’s mouth watering from the smell of it being cooked. She sets up her brewing stand, with her leather pack also containing some fermented spider eyes, a spider eye from the spider that was killed earlier, a carrot, a gold ingot, a heap of netherwart, and some gunpowder from the creeper that was killed earlier. Rayne offers Zetta a rabbit’s foot for a potion of leaping, but she politely refuses, saying that using one on the edge of a ravine was probably a bad idea. She considers making some splash potions of poison to combat hostile mobs, while Rift suggests a splash potion of invisibility, thinking back to the pranks that he and Rayne would usually pull off in town.
Zetta decides to do invisibility, with Rift giving her some redstone to use. She goes to work, first using some netherwart on the water bottles to make awkward potions, followed by a golden carrot to turn them into potions of night vision, followed by a fermented spider eye to turn them into potions of invisibility, followed by redstone to extend the amount of time the potion lasted, and then followed by gunpowder to turn them into splash potions. The three then eat some cooked rabbit. As Zetta eats, she thinks back to all the feasts that the townspeople of Sienna Dunes would have, whether it was birthdays, weddings, or holidays such as the Eve of Hostile Mobs. Unsurprisingly, she forgets about the potions, which had turned from a purple hue to more of a grayish color. Nevertheless, she is ready to experiment. Just as she is about to toss one, arrows whip by the three. The first one misses, while the second hits Rift.
Chapter 3[]
Zetta and the twins, Rift and Rayne, crouch behind the crafting table, avoiding the skeletons that had come to attack them. One of the skeletons has an enchanted bow, which was frowned upon by the people of Sienna Dunes. Rift considers using the splash potions of invisibility, but Zetta blurts out that she isn’t good at making potions. As Rayne defends his twin brother and Zetta by firing arrows at the skeletons, she decides to distract them by leading them away from the twins. Zetta digs underneath the outcropping and then digs up to the surface where the skeletons were standing. They soon notice her and begin walking away from the outcropping. Zetta zigzags to avoid being shot, and soon, one skeleton shoots the other with an arrow, causing them to fire arrows at each other. Eventually, they both die, and Zetta heads back to check on the twins, propping up Rift under her shoulder before beginning to head back to Sienna Dunes. As the sun rises, the three notice the bell tower above the wall. It begins to ring, making them realize that the town is in trouble.
Chapter 4[]
The three (Zetta, and the twins, Rift and Rayne) hurry back to Sienna Dunes. Zetta is worried about Ashton and her father, but Rift believes that it is just a pillager patrol, and that Captain Zayden will take care of it. Mayor Maxine had recruited Captain Zayden from another town a few years ago, leading a group of volunteer fighters that were capable of dealing with pillagers. Upon heading back to the wall, the three notice the townspeople rushing to fill in the gaps in the wall with whatever blocks they had with them; a few even took blocks from their own houses. Rayne asks Captain Zayden as to what they can do to help. He mentions to Rayden that a lot of illagers were seen coming from the east; he also says that the three should help with gaps in the wall, and then grab a weapon. Rift starts taking out some sandstone to work on the wall, but Rayne says that they need to focus on weapons. He asks Zetta to fetch some chicken feathers from her grandparents' farm, but she refuses, saying that she needs some blaze rods to brew strength potions. Zetta storms off to the town hall, noticing Mayor Maxine urging the townspeople who weren’t fighting to head inside the town vault. She is about to ask her for some blaze rods, but her father comes up to her almost immediately, giving her a stack of terracotta to fill up the east end of the wall. Zetta confesses to her father that she had been experimenting with potions, but he says to focus on the wall and that they have no time for "magical nonsense". Zetta pleads with Mayor Maxine for some blaze rods, but she refuses, saying that Zetta has her orders. Enraged, Zetta quickly heads over to the east end of the wall, working as fast as she can to fill it. Scrambling to the top of the wall, Zetta notices a huge raid off in the distance; at least twenty illagers with a few witches and "an enormous four-legged beast with a thick ash gray hide, chained armor, and horns". Finishing the wall, Zetta runs back to Mayor Maxine and asks her to reconsider using the brewing stand, but she says to Zetta that the wall will hold, and she should ask her father as to why no one would consider using magic.
Just then, the wall is breached by the illager raid, with the townspeople running in all directions to avoid the rubble. One of the illagers rushes toward Zetta, but is killed with two arrows to the chest, courtesy of Rayne, who was firing from the bell tower. Zetta, knowing that she could help in some way, runs around town, picking up any missed arrows and giving them back to him. On her second trip, she comes face-to-face with Captain Zayden, who complements Rayne on his shooting skills, while also giving Zetta a bow enchanted with infinity and punch, much to her surprise. She then starts heading back to the bell tower, but then notices the "armored beast" charging toward the farm. Zetta quickly fires an arrow at the beast, which gets lodged into its forehead. The beast charges toward her, with a hoof stomping out the enchanted bow she just got. Zetta began running toward the town square as fast as she could, plowing into Mayor Maxine, who quickly gets up and runs off. The beast then begins charging toward her, with Zetta realizing that the mayor isn’t fast enough to outrun the beast. Acting quickly, Zetta throws a splash potion of invisibility, hitting Mayor Maxine in the shoulder, causing her body to become invisible, except for her top half, although the head became invisible. Spooked, the beast runs off through the hole in the wall as the remaining Illagers are killed by the townspeople. Mayor Maxine yells at Zetta, asking what she did to her. Zetta says that she can fix it, and runs over to her grandparents' farm to get milk from Ginger, the town’s only cow. Unbeknownst to her, Ginger died while the raid had occurred, so Mayor Maxine was stuck with the effect until it wore off. Zetta’s father, although happy that she was okay, was also angry at her for using a potion, saying that they "have no place in Sienna Dunes", bringing up his sister, Meryl (Zetta’s aunt), who got so obsessed with potions that she secluded herself in a mountain. He orders Zetta to give him her brewing stand, who reluctantly does so. The townspeople start cleaning up as Zetta heads back to her house. However, she doesn’t feel like giving up on her town, vowing to protect it the best she could. Zetta has a flashback to when Meryl left town shortly after Zetta’s mother had died from the wither effect, and insists on getting advice from Meryl. She scribbles a note to her father, packs away a notebook, puts on some leather boots, and heads off toward the mountain.
Chapter 5[]
Zetta is seen climbing up the mountain, which is completely covered in lush, green grass. She stumbles upon a flower field, noticing some bees. Zetta then attempts to collect some honey from the beehive, but two bees end up stinging her. She tries to soothe the pain from the stings in a nearby stream, but a drowned soon attacks her. Zetta swims back to shore as quickly as possible, and, although stung and bruised, continues to scour the mountain. Eventually, she realizes that she might not be able to find Aunt Meryl, and starts to cry. Coincidentally, it begins to rain. Zetta then twirls around on her feet, collecting raindrops with her tongue. Eventually, the rain stops and the sun peeks through the clouds, giving Zetta a glimpse of a house, believed to belong to Aunt Meryl. It was a small house made of dark wood and cobblestone, complete with flower pots adorning the windows, a small garden with melons, carrots, and sugarcane, a few rabbits, and a netherwart farm under a raised porch. Zetta rushes toward the door, mentioning that she is the daughter of Carl, and notices some brewing stands in the window. She then tries to reach into her pack for the notebook, but Aunt Meryl slams her hand down on her shoulder, turning her around with great force. Aunt Meryl tries to dismiss Zetta at first, but Zetta mentions the illager attack in town, as well as how she used a potion to save Mayor Maxine from being trampled by a "huge beast with horns". Aunt Meryl corrects Zetta, saying that the huge beast is a ravager, and also says that unless Carl had a change of heart about potions, that he would never be okay with using them. Aunt Meryl assumes that Carl doesn’t know that Zetta is here. Zetta then mentions that she left a note back at home, saying that she would come back when she was ready to help her town. Aunt Meryl then says that Carl will find out eventually that Zetta was here, but allows her to stay for one night. She also says to Zetta that she will not teach her about potions, but give some to her instead, and if her father asks where they came from to say that she had made them herself.
Zetta then enters Aunt Meryl’s house. The corners are stacked with chests, and it smelled like fermented spider eyes. Everything in the house was a different color of the rainbow, from the wood planks being blue, to the workbenches being lavender. Aunt Meryl opens a chest to the left as a golden light from it fills out the room. It was filled with blaze powder. She carefully scoops a big batch and places them on the workbench, followed by scoops of sugar, glistering melons, and ghast tears. Aunt Meryl begins to brew potions of strength, swiftness, healing, and regeneration. Zetta starts jotting down some notes, estimating measurements and timings. She asks Aunt Meryl as to how she knew how to do this, and she says that it was out of curiosity, observation, and patience. Zetta then asks as to why Carl distrusts magic a lot, but Aunt Meryl has Zetta mention how she used her splash potion to save the mayor of her town. Zetta recaps the entire event in detail, even mentioning that she left the potion on the brewing stand for too long. Aunt Meryl then says to her that alchemy is an art and a science that requires creativity and rigor. She also says that distractions are something that Zetta can’t be, as perfect potions can become disastrous in mere seconds. Aunt Meryl also says that potion recipes aren’t something that need to be written down as they can change over time, just like the entire world, and that people need to learn and adapt, and to find the magic that is waiting for them. Zetta asks as to how she can learn the art, and Aunt Meryl brings up an apprenticeship. Zetta thinks she will learn about potions, but Aunt Meryl says that she can’t do that, instead insisting on whispering info on alchemy around the house. Zetta agrees, and Aunt Meryl says that it’ll take a couple days to get her pointed in the right direction.
The next morning, the two have suspicious stew for breakfast, but Zetta asks for something else to eat. Aunt Meryl reluctantly gives her a slice of pumpkin pie. After eating, the two head out to the garden, with Aunt Meryl gathering the ingredients for brewing and explaining to Zetta some information about carrots, fermented spider eyes, and netherwart farms. Zetta also asks if the rabbits have names, but Aunt Meryl suggests to not get too attached to them, as they could be used for potions of leaping. As she finishes up gathering the ingredients for brewing, Zetta tries to enter the house, but Aunt Meryl says to Zetta that she needs to gather her own ingredients. Zetta reluctantly grabs some netherwart, melons, and carrots, but soon notices that one of the rabbits that she had given a carrot to had bolted out of the garden. She runs over to it, carefully crouching by a spruce tree and offering it a carrot. Zetta gets distracted, however, as she notices some mushrooms on the podzol beside her. She picks some up to put in her pack, but when she refocuses on the rabbit, it had already darted underneath the porch.
Chapter 6[]
Zetta gets down on her hands and knees, peeking under the porch. Although she is able to find the rabbit, a voice whispers at her, asking her to build a scarecrow out of four blocks of soul sand and three skulls; the latter were buried in a chest behind the house. Zetta never questioned the voice as she took some soul sand from under the porch and placed it in a T-shape; she also gathered the three skulls, which were black in color, and began to place them. Just as Zetta was about to place down the third one on the left side, Aunt Meryl bursts out the door, pleading with her to not place it. The voice whispers to Zetta to place the skull down; she is mere inches away as Aunt Meryl tackles her to the ground, making the skull land in an area filled with daisies. Aunt Meryl exclaims to Zetta that she isn’t ready, and that she almost created something; she bites her tongue to prevent saying the name of the mob. Aunt Meryl says that she’ll pack some pies and potions for her to bring home, and that she wouldn’t get a lesson on brewing. Zetta asks Aunt Meryl as to why she ignored her questions about Carl. Aunt Meryl heads to the back of the property, overlooking a view of the Overworld beyond the mountain. Zetta follows close behind. Aunt Meryl then explains to Zetta about her mother, who would think of several ways to fix a problem. The two had also watched over Zetta after she was born. Aunt Meryl was into magic, while Zetta’s mother was into inventions. The former had made potions of swiftness for the miners, while the latter made a automated sugarcane farm to keep up with demand. Back then, the townspeople of Sienna Dunes had embraced magic, despite it still being new to them. Aunt Meryl and Zetta’s mother further researched ways to increase mining efficiency, until they stumbled upon a book which contained info on beacons, which needed a nether star to craft them. Aunt Meryl already had soul sand from her netherwart farm, so she traded some valuables for the wither skulls, creating the wither. Zetta’s mother invented a machine that would fire arrows and throw splash potions at it. Fortunately, the invention worked, with the wither only firing one skull at a nearby chicken. However, Zetta’s mother also picked up a black rose from where the chicken died, and when she planted it back at home as a commemoration, she was thrown back, and let out a cry of pain.
Zetta’s mother had been inflicted with the wither effect. Back then, Sienna Dunes had no cow, so Aunt Meryl tried to give her potions of healing to no avail. Zetta’s mother had withered away within a few hours of getting the effect, which devastated Carl. He tossed away the nether star and said that there would be no more magic in their house, or even the whole town. Aunt Meryl left Sienna Dunes six months later. She then says to Zetta that magic is unpredictable, but she’ll know who’s in charge once she becomes comfortable with it. Aunt Meryl then realizes that Zetta is wearing her mother’s old tunic, saying that she would have loved to see her own daughter pursing her dreams and passions. Aunt Meryl decides to give Zetta a brewing lesson, and so, the two head back inside the house to begin. Zetta jots down notes in her notebook as Aunt Meryl explains to her on how to make potions of swiftness, strength, and healing, as well as splash potions, potions which last longer, and potions which are more potent. For her swiftness potion, Zetta, at first, believes that she didn’t make it properly, but Aunt Meryl blames the specific brewing stand that was used for it on clogged feeding tubes, promising that she would clean it up. For her healing potion turning into a splash potion of healing, Zetta carefully levels off the scoop of gun powder and dumps it into the glass bottle, which violently sparks and fizzles. Acting quickly, she carefully removes the blaze powder, emptying it on the workbench beside her. The pile of blaze powder sets off a spark which arches toward an open chest of blaze powder. Zetta tries to close the chest before it could reach the powder inside, but it was too late. The chest explodes, launching her across the house, and destroying much of the alchemy room in the process.
Chapter 7[]
Aunt Meryl rushes into the alchemy room, using a bucket to scoop out water from a nearby cauldron to extinguish the small fires throughout, as well as douse the chest that started it. Zetta apologizes to her for what happened, but Aunt Meryl appears to shrug it off, saying that she and Zetta’s mom had their share of disasters when beginning to work on alchemy, such as the scorch mark on Zetta’s grandparents' farm being caused by a botched fire resistance potion that Aunt Meryl had brewed, which caused her to burn any block within five blocks of herself. Aunt Meryl then has Zetta in charge of cleaning the house, looking after the animals, and tending to the garden, as she herself plans to be in the Nether for a week or two to fetch some blaze powder and ghast tears. Donning a cape, a netherite sword, an enchanted bow, and tipped arrows, Aunt Meryl departs for the Nether. Zetta notices that a strength potion had survived the explosion, deciding to keep it for later. She then takes it upon herself to clean up the mess she had made, doing so in about two days. Zetta decides to make some glass bottles to replace the ones that were broken, so she turns on a furnace. As it heats up, she notices an egg buried underneath several cobwebs in a dark corner of the room, described as the "most beautiful black, with specks of purple all over" and about half as tall as her. Zetta decides to dust around the edges so more of the egg was visible. Her mind tries to tell her to get to work on the glass, but she decides to poke the egg out of curiosity, which teleports behind her, and then to the brewing counter, and then by the front door of the house. Zetta begins to panic, knowing that physically touching it wouldn’t work. Using a stick doesn’t work either, so she decides to use a piston instead, crafting that, as well as a lever to control it. After testing it, Zetta faces the piston toward the egg, but this time, it doesn’t budge. She decides to use the strength potion that had survived the explosion instead, gulping it down, and immediately feeling stronger and larger. Acting quickly, Zetta pulls the lever will all her might, making the piston extend with tremendous force that the egg began to crack, and she also notices something moving inside of it.
Chapter 8[]
More of the egg began to crumble, revealing the creature that was moving inside of it, described as having "four legs, a long, scaly tail, and flappy wings that looked way too large for its body", as well as "purple eyes similar to those of endermen". The creature takes a few steps toward Zetta, nuzzling her waist. She takes a few steps back, putting a stone hoe between herself and the creature, who bites it and plays with it until it breaks. Zetta has a flashback to when Ashton was really into the Eve of Hostile Mobs, dreaming about ender dragons. She thinks it is one at first, but shrugs it off, saying to herself that it was "some sort of oversized bat". The creature jumps at Zetta, but she catches it with ease as it nuzzled her neck. Suddenly, the strength potion wears off, causing her to lose grip of the creature, who begins to gallop around the house, knocking over bottles and chests. After packing a few pies for the trip back to Sienna Dunes, Zetta then lures the creature out of the house with a wooden shovel, eventually finding a nearby cave on the side of the mountain. She throws the shovel into it, with the creature going after it, but she also places a few blocks of cobblestone down at the cave entrance for each throw. After faking a throw, the creature looks for the shovel, but by then, Zetta had already closed off the entrance to the cave, except for a small opening for fresh air. She adds two layers of cobblestone to the entrance to be sure the creature won’t escape, and then heads back to Sienna Dunes.