Chapter one: Stranded.
The waves lapped softly at the beach shore. The ragged man stood, dazed, but unhurt. With blurry vision, he surveyed his surroundings. All was normal, yet not normal at the same time. Trees, grass, the sky with a bright glowing sun, but something was off. He rubbed his eyes to clear his vision, and when he opened them, the scene had changed. The abnormality was clear now. Everything was square, cubical. Everything measured with perfect accuracy to create a landscape of poorly textured boxes. He climbed a small rise, and the landscape revealed itself. It was beautiful, yet strange. He felt haunted by its emptiness. It seemed almost completely barren, and void of life.
How had he gotten here? What was he doing in this strange land? He searched his memory. He was in a ship, small and lonely, sailing alone in the endless sea. The crew was asleep. All the water, so frigid and painful as it covered him. He was sinking, falling, freezing. Drowning. He let the thought go. Thinking was giving him a headache. He bent to the ground and cupped some of the water in his hand. It moved strangely. Almost like a solid mass. He drank several handfuls before standing to look around. There was a figure lying on the beach behind him.
He ran to the figure. Was he injured? He searched his brain. What should he do? He bent over to feel for a pulse. It was very strong. Then the figure snored. He was asleep. The man rolled him over and a memory flashed through his mind. The sleeping man was dressed as a dwarf. What was his name? Honeydew! He had been a passenger on the same ship. He must have floated ashore. The man wound up to smack him when the dwarf opened his eyes.
"Oh hello Exephos, I don't suppose we've arrived at our destination yet?" The dwarf asked him. Exephos? Who was Exephos? He was Exephos. Wasn't he?
"We've arrived somewhere," He replied. "The question is, where?"
The dwarf sat up and looked around. He seemed confused for a moment, and then his eyes lit with recognition. "I've heard of this place! It's called, Minecraftia."
"Minecraftia?" asked Exephos. He had never heard such a strange name for a place in all his years. He turned to Honeydew with a questioning look that was quickly increased as Honeydew stood and punched a block of dirt. It popped like a balloon and a much smaller version landed on the ground, before flying to Honeydew's hand. Honeydew then walked a few feet, and placed it, causing it to return to its original size. Exephos was puzzled.
"Doesn't this give you an idea?" asked Honeydew. "We could build a shelter!" At that moment Exephos finally caught on. He looked to the sky. The cubical sun was at about midday. "We've got to build a shelter before night." Honeydew continued.
"Why before night?" asked Exephos.
"Well," replied Honeydew, "at night, bad things happen." Exephos left it at that and strolled up to a tree. He punched at it for a moment and sure enough, a smaller log burst out. "Now," said Honeydew, "You pull it apart!" He then grabbed the log from Exephos' hand and began to struggle with it. In a second it had burst into four blocks of wood planks.
"Amazing," replied Exephos. He was baffled by Honeydew's knowledge of this strange world. "How do you know all this?"
"My grandfather explored this land when he was young like me." Honeydew seemed okay to Exephos. He was almost constantly in good spirits and was even now grinning and laughing, even though he was stranded in some unknown land. For the next solid hour they punched trees, and broke the logs into planks. It was easy work, if not fun. After a short while they had built themselves a small shack. And just in time, for even now the sun was setting over the horizon. Suddenly Honeydew became serious. "Inside, now!" he commanded. They rushed inside and honeydew quickly forced some planks into a door. He placed it down in the doorway, then pulled some fluffy white material from his pocket and built it with more planks into a cozy looking bed. He placed it before building another and placing it across the room from his.
"What was that white stuff?" asked Exephos.
"Wool." replied Honeydew. "I got it from some sheep, and that's what she said" He then lay down in his bed. "Better get some sleep. The sooner its morning the sooner we can build a bigger house. He then closed his eyes and began to snore. Exephos lay down in his bed too, but couldn't seem to doze off. He kept thinking he heard noises outside. Strange moans and clattering noises. He lay up until midnight, silently listening to the sounds, and finally, just as he began to think he would never get to sleep, he did.
The morning came too soon and Exephos awoke with sleep in his eyes, and sweat on his brow. Honeydew was still asleep and Exephos decided to leave him that way. He exited the house and remembered his dream. He had dreamed that he was being chased by a pale man in a suit. It had been strange. He began to punch a tree when his eye caught a strange creature beside the shore. It was tall and green with no arms and four stubby legs. It stared at him with a scowl seemingly set into its face. It then began to move toward him with a growing hiss and cruel look increasing with every second. The hiss had reached almost unbearable volume when Honeydew leaped out of nowhere and punched the beast into the water where it exploded violently. Exephos' eyes widened and the realization of what had almost happened to him finally dawned. "What was that thing?" he asked weakly.
"It's called a creeper." Replied Honeydew, wheezing and out of breath, "And it's very dangerous! Now go punch some trees and try not to die." Exephos obeyed. Honeydew had saved his life and he was in no argumentative mood after that experience. He worked his way up the hill, chopping down trees as he went. He finished one tree and as he turned to cut another, he saw Honeydew, chopping quickly through the plant with a wooden axe.
"Nice axe. Do you have another?" asked Exephos.
"Sure, here" Replied honeydew, handing him one. With his axe in hand he again began to chop trees with speed much greater than before. In a short while, all the trees on the hillside had been removed, and they moved toward the peak. Over the small hill they both saw how extensive this land truly was. The mountains and plains, lakes and trees, all stretched away until they disappeared into the fog.
"Look over there!" Exephos exclaimed. Honeydew looked and saw an unusual cave, unlike any that would exist near a field in the real world. It was small, with a slightly low roof, perfect for renovating into a large house. The two castaways stepped inside to see a large open ended cavern with an expansive skylight in the top, protruding from the top of the mountain.
"It will do perfectly!" said Honeydew with almost childish delight. "Let's prepare our things. We will begin building tomorrow! For now, we need to return to the house. It's getting dark again. Come along friend!" Honeydew then strolled off in the direction of the house. He really was a pleasant dwarf. Friendly and good hearted. He seemingly wanted to be friends with everyone. Exephos followed him. He reached the door just as the sun disappeared over the horizon. He latched it shut, then turned to Honeydew. He looked horribly frightened.
"What is it friend? It's just me." Then he heard it. A loud, threatening hiss filled the room. He grabbed some wood from his pocket and quickly built a wall, dividing the room in half. The explosion was only half blocked by the wall, and the two were rocketed through the back of their hut. The impact on the dirt was painful. The two pulled themselves from the ground and dug a small hole into the hill. They pressed their backs against the wall and began to devise a simple strategy. Run like hell to the cave and hope not to die.
"Alright," Honeydew grunted, "on three. One." Exephos tensed. "Two." He closed his eyes tightly. "Three!" The two broke cover and sprinted off in the direction of the cave. As they ran, Exephos saw the very horrors that Honeydew had warned him of the previous day. The walking dead. Blood covered zombies, Bow wielding skeletons, and horrifically large spiders, all chasing them. Also, the occasional creeper was seen amongst the fray of carnage. The monstrosities piled over one another to reach the pair. They dashed into the cave and quickly filled both entrances with planks. They were safe. Suddenly a violent crack filled the room. A skeleton had leaped down the hole above and crashed to its death on the stone floor. The two retreated to a section of the cave with a roof. They had made it. With giddy excitement, the two laughed, long and loud. The relief of surviving the horde was almost heart stopping. They had taken on the beasts of the night, and won. Then Exephos felt the pain. He turned to see an arrow protruding from his lower back. He fell to the ground, sweating profusely. He felt a numbness filling his body.
"Oh god!" exclaimed Honeydew, "You've been shot! I'll be back in a moment. He opened a small hole in the planks, and disappeared. Exephos lay still. The pain was excruciating. He tried to move his legs and discovered that, although the wound was bad, his spine wasn't shattered. The damage wasn't permanent. He reached back and pulled on the arrow. It burned like fire, but eventually, the shot came loose. He laid it beside himself and returned his head to the ground. Suddenly he noticed the blood on his hand. It was a large amount. Thick and red. He chuckled. He didn't know why, but he chuckled. The chuckle became a mad laugh. He was laughing insanely when the darkness overcame him and he passed out.
"Hello! Exephos! Wake up friend!" Exephos awoke with a start and shot up into a sitting position. "Whoa!" exclaimed Honeydew. "Calm down man! You've had a bad shock. You're going to be fine. Exephos remembered the wound and turned to look. No bandage or stitches. The wound was just, gone.
"What happened?" asked Exephos.
"You passed out from blood loss. Don't you know never to pull out a sharp object from the wound? You'll lose blood!"
"Well friend, I wasn't exactly able to think straight under the circumstances. I kind of lost it. So where did the wound go?"
"I fixed it with pork!" After this comment there was a long awkward silence before Exephos burst out laughing.
"You fixed it with what?" he asked between giggles.
"I'm not kidding man!" Honeydew choked out. For now he was laughing too. "In this place, eating heals wounds. Now, you're better and its morning, so get up and let's start building.
Exephos stood from the bed, probably built by Honeydew and looked around. He had been busy while Exephos was out in shock. The roof was filled with planks and there was a door. In the walls there was a furnace, a workbench, and a couple chests. The room was lit by torches, strongly aflame. Exephos stood and looked in the chests. They contained tools, coal, wood, and cobble stone. The large house was packed to the brim with necessities. A large, cobblestone tower rose into the sky above them, an edited version of the skylight that had naturally occurred in the cave before renovation. The smell of cooking pork filled the room with a feeling of home.
"What's left to do friend?" asked Exephos.
"I don't know." Honeydew replied.
"Yes friend, It appears you know what you're doing here." Exephos said in awe Exephos.
"Well, my dwarven ancestors explored this land many years ago. My grandfather taught me a thing or two about building." Honeydew boasted.
"He taught you well friend. What now?" questioned Exephos once again.
"Well," Stated Honeydew matter-of-factly, "it seems we will be living the good life for a while."