Author's Note: Hiya everyone! Wow it's been a while since I've posted anything. But I decided to do some writing for one of my obsessions- *cough* I mean one of my favorite games. I hope you enjoy this story, thanks for reading!
Just a small disclaimer, this story will contain spoilers for all the episodes, so I'd recommend turning back now if you don't wish to be spoiled. Other than that, I hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading.
A cool air came over the young architect as he stumbled out from the portal back into the hallway. The hall itself was never cold per se, but compared to the world he had just been to? You could call this place a snow biome. The young man let out a cough and a small cloud of ash exited his body. It didn't phase him much as he happily pulled out a journal with a feather quill, opening the book to his most recent page. He was thankful that none of the paper was scorched on his latest adventure. The builder tapped the tip of his quill on his bearded chin as he began to think. What would he name this world? The redhead glanced over his shoulder at the portal he had exited from, its frame of Netherrack and the bright orange portal only seemed to bring back the feeling of intense heat from the lake of fire he had narrowly escaped.
Fire World? No, too simple.
The Fire Lake Dimension? Too long.
Flame Land? Too short.
The Inferno Ocean World?
Perfect.
He grinned as he scribbled the genius name at the top of the page covered in notes he had taken while in that world. For one thing, apparently that Netherrack block burns forever.
"Now, where to next?" The architect pondered aloud, closing his journal as he began to pace around the hallway. How long had it been since he first came across this hall? Days? Weeks? Months? Time seemed to fly so fast here. He had already filled two journals up with his notes on the various worlds, normal and strange alike, and was already halfway through the third. True, he had experienced some close calls on his journeys, but that didn't stop him. This adventure of excitement, looking through every cranny and nook to find something new everyday, it was unlike anything one had witnessed before! Much more fulfilling than his old life, constantly building small cube-shaped houses out of the same old oak wood every single day. Now, his pockets were stuffed with materials he hadn't even heard of before. His eyes always seemed to gleam as he imagined all the things he could build with what he found. All thanks to his luck on that fateful day, the day he had been mining for coal and stumbled upon a lit up portal, then wandering in the hall until he had spotted a small object lying on the floor. It was a flint and steel, but it was unlike any other. This flint and steel was glowing a bright red, even a small flick of it could make a tower of blazing red flames. Of course, the best part was the object's ability to activate any portal he found. The question of why somebody would leave such an amazing tool lying on the floor of this empty hallway had popped up in his mind, but his curiosity had joyfully taken the command position in his head.
The man shook his head, what was he doing thinking about that? He had another portal to pick. Hopefully the next one wouldn't be as...hazardous as the Inferno Ocean World (He praised himself again for that brilliant name) had been. His dark eyes began to drift towards a blue portal with a frame made out of lapis. He grinned and started to step forward, until a sudden sound made him jump. It was a loud, grinding rumble, the sound of stone being dragged against something. The builder frantically looked around when he saw the source of the sound. A portal, with a light cyan glow and a frame made out of gold and sea lanterns, was sinking right into the floor! The man slowly turned; that was new.
When the portal had completely vanished into the stone floor, it revealed a steep staircase made of quartz steps. He crept forward to get a better look, and he noticed that he couldn't even see the top of wherever those stairs led. Before he could even think of traversing up the newly revealed staircase, he began to hear faint echoes of voices followed by thudding footsteps.
"-Grab as much sand as you can. These walls will need to be at least forty blocks high." The voice of a man ordered, much confidence and sternness in his tone.
"We know, heard it the first twenty times," came the voice of a woman, it was calm, yet a small hint of irritation could be heard.
Another man's voice piped in, his was much more gentle and enthusiastic than the other man's voice, "I must say, I'm enjoying coming up with these games. They make me almost want to try them out for myself."
"Really Otto," scoffed the voice of a different woman, "don't take too much offense to this, but you're not exactly the sporty type."
"And you are, Mevia?" questioned yet another woman's voice with a mocking tone.
The builder felt panic sucking away his breath. This had been the first time he had even caught a glimpse of people in the hallway. At that moment, he realized that his secret adventure hallway wasn't as abandoned as he once thought. And if there were people here, odds were that they wouldn't take kindly to a stranger wandering around this place. He gripped the red-glowing flint and steel tightly as he tried to force himself to pick a portal to hide in. The builder's conscious screamed at him to run now, but his trembling legs were planted to the ground. It was too late anyway, the bickering voices and footsteps only grew louder as five figures came down the steps.
The first to notice him was a man wearing a purple suit covering a yellow buttoned blouse with a white ruffle. He had red hair, almost the same shade as the builder's own hair, that was combed neatly in a suave fashion. His eyes now widening at the builder were covered by grey glasses.
"What do we have here?" He said, placing gloved hands at his sides.
"Hadrian, what are you going on about-," muttered a woman who stopped next to him, pausing when she saw the sight as well. She had bright cyan hair that passed her shoulders, and wore a long red and black dress. A smile then curved on her lips. The builder couldn't tell if he should feel relief or even more panic with it. Soon she spoke in a seemingly mocking tone, "My, my, lookie here! A wittle lost traveller."
The builder gulped. Why weren't his legs cooperating with him? The sinking feeling in his gut was telling him that The Inferno Ocean Wor—oh forget it, he was calling it Fire World—would be safer than this place. Three more people came down the steps, all with suspicious glances that turned into surprise when they saw him.
A man wearing green and yellow robes rose an eyebrow at him, "Well, that's certainly something you don't see everyday."
"Aha!" suddenly a girl with blood-red hair and green eyes covered with glasses exclaimed. "See? I told you all that someone swiped my flint and steel!"
"Cassie," interjected a woman wearing a yellow jumpsuit-like dress with a brown hood, her black braided hair poking out of the hood, "we literally have fortresses full of those things."
The builder's eyes darted down to the glowing red flint and steel still clenched tightly in his grip. His heart skipped a beat when it clicked in his mind. That was who would leave such an amazing tool lying on the floor.
"Still, I don't like thieves." Cassie retorted.
The girl wasted no time, as she seemed to materialize an enchanted diamond axe with a simple flick of her wrist, a bloodthirsty grin growing as she slowly stepped downwards toward him. He was prepared to turn and take off into the first portal he was closest to, until the dark-haired woman swiftly grabbed her by the back of Cassie's shirt and pulled her back. The axe-wielding girl glared and seemed to mutter words the builder would rather not repeat.
She shook her head, "Cool it, Cassie."
Despite his would-be attacker being restrained, the builder wasn't taking anymore chances as he lightly tossed the flint and steel on the floor right by the bottom step, "Here! Y-You may have it back, I apologize for taking it! I simply found it on the floor when I came here, I swear I had no knowledge that it belonged to you-,"
"Quit the yapping," The man known as Hadrian cut him off. "You're off the hook this time. Just keep in mind that we don't take stealing kindly, bucko."
"Next time, we might send the gladiators after you," taunted who he assumed was the one called Mevia, "and you wouldn't want that, would you?"
The builder gulped.
The woman who had practically saved his life from a horrible death just a few moments ago released Cassie and said as she stepped down, "Would you all stop? He's just scared."
As the much less scary woman made her way over, the builder spotted Cassie scooping up the flint and steel and folding her arms, still glaring at him. His attention turned to the dark-haired woman as she placed a hand on his shoulder and gave a calm smile.
"Sorry about my friends, we don't get too many travelers in the Network often, and well, they love picking on new people. Don't let them get to you." She tried to assure him. Though that didn't stop his trembling. The woman quickly tried to lighten the mood again as she took her hand off his shoulder, "You can call me, Harper. Pleasure to meet you."
"Ah, yes, thank you," the builder stuttered, calming slightly at Harper's more friendly demeanor. "Again, terribly sorry for taking that flint and steel. If I had known, I would've returned it right away."
"Oh stop worrying about that," Harper laughed, "no harm done."
"Speak for yourself," muttered Cassie. Harper shot an annoyed glare at her before rolling her eyes and turning back to him.
"Although, if you don't mind me asking," She began, "Cassie's been complaining about that flint and steel for about three months now. How long have you been using our Portal Network for exactly?"
His fingers fiddled as began to explain, "Well, I never really kept track of the days...b-but it has been a while since I found that portal. Ah...here!"
The builder pulled out his first completed journal, turning it over so that Harper could see the cover, "You see I've been documenting my travels, writing down notes on the things I've found."
"May I see it?" the man in the green robes spoke up, his eyes seemed to be wide with intrigue.
The builder glanced at Harper with a look that read 'he-won't-burn-it-right?' all over it.
She nodded, "Relax, you can trust Otto. He loves his reading."
Hesitantly, the builder handed over his journal to the curious man. Otto began flipping through the pages, a small grin came to his face.
As the friendly man began to flip through his journal more, he gave a small chuckle, "These are...interesting names you gave these worlds. 'Deep Blue Paradise', 'Mushroom Country', 'Gold City'..."
The builder anxiously stood still, glancing back at Harper who gave an encouraging smile. However he heard some snickers come from the other three strangers.
"Fascinating, I had no idea there was a quartz cavern in that world with all the islands!" Otto said in awe when he paused on a certain page. The mention of the quartz suddenly peaked the interest of Hadrian and Mevia, who moved slightly closer to catch a glimpse of his journal. Cassie stayed back, leaning against the wall as she rolled her eyes.
The builder began to smile back as he replied, "Y-Yes! It was enormous, turns out you have to dig underground on the smallest island to find it."
"Incredible," Otto said, shutting the journal and handing it back to the journal, "if it's not too much of a bother, I would certainly love to hear more about your travels."
"So would I," Hadrian suddenly spoke up, a sudden smile on his face, "seems you've seen some very fascinating things. Care to share?"
The builder found relief in this shift of mood as he answered, "Well...I do have two more journals of my journeys."
"Wonderful," Hadrian said, moving next to him and giving the builder a pat on the back as if they were old friends, "why don't you come up to our palace and you can go into more detail?"
"What?" deadpanned Cassie.
Hadrian knitted his brows at her, this caused the girl to drop her confidence for a split moment and glance away, staring down at the floor.
"Now," he continued, the friendly face returning, "you must be starving, correct? We'll have the chefs prepare one heck of a dinner."
The builder let all of his doubt drop at the promise of food. Sure he always grabbed anything edible he could find in the many worlds he had journeyed to, but he had been eating mostly apples and mushrooms for weeks now, to eat something that was cooked would be a wonderful change of pace. His growling stomach seemed to agree.
The builder nodded excitedly, "Of course, thank you very much! I'll tell as much as I can."
"Glad to hear it," Hadrian said as began to lead the builder back up the steps. The others soon followed behind. As they walked up higher and higher, the world only seemed to become more impressive to the builder as he glanced around at the magenta starry sky and floating quartz blocks.
Harper soon caught up, walking next to the builder as she asked, "So new guy, I don't think we ever caught your name."
He beamed, grinning ear to ear, "Soren."