Terry's Terraria Adventure: Hardcore
Chapter 1 - The Return
I woke up and stretched my arms out. I looked towards my calendar. It had been a month since I had defeated the Wall of Flesh and Luke had... But today was the day that the new guide should be here. I spent that cleaning up Luke's room, and moving his things to a safer location. I heard a knocking at my bedroom door and got up to see who it was. I opened the door to see Xylia standing before me.
"Today's the day, Terry. He should be here soon... Are we ready for him?" She asked me.
"Luke's room is ready, he can sleep in there..." I responded.
"I see... Are you ready?"
"I... I'm ready. It's been three months of nothing. It's time to continue."
"Terry, it's okay if..." She began, but was cut off by knocking at the door downstairs.
"Looks like he's here. We should greet our new friend." I said, walking downstairs. I opened the door and saw a man standing there with light brown hair, carrying a large book.
"Hi, is this ShadowDragon Cove?" He asked.
"Yes it is. You must be the new guide...?" I responded.
"That's me. My name is Seth."
"You're name sounds familiar..."
"It's a very common name. Or so I've been told."
"Fair enough." I said, turning to Xylia.
"Xylia, would you be kind enough to show Seth to where he'll be staying?" I asked. She nodded and motioned for Seth to follow her upstairs. I closed the door and just stood in the hallway. He looked exactly like Luke, with a few minor alterations... I actually almost thought it was Luke, back to life... This might be more difficult than I thought.
I sighed. I'd have to learn to deal with this sooner or later but... Luke was my first ally in this world, I just needed a little more time. But, I had work to do. Xylia wanted me to investigate The Hallow, and The Corruption. The Hallow was new and she wanted me to see it, and she sensed an irregularity coming from The Corruption. I figured if The Corruption was doing something noteworthy, I should check it out. So I took off in the direction of The Corruption.
A few minutes later, I saw where the corruption began... But it seemed closer...? I landed and examined the ground where the corruption merged with the normal grass. I looked very carefully and noticed that the corruption was overtaking the grass. It was barely noticeable and incredibly slow, but concerning nonetheless.
"That's not good... I should report this to Xylia, but I should mark where the grass is now..." I said to myself, looking around for something to use as a marker. I found a sunflower and planted it in the grass. I took off back to my home. I entered and found Xylia, informing her of the discovery.
"That's honestly what I thought was going on. Both the Hallow and the Corruption spread very, very slowly. They can be halted by planting sunflowers. They won't go past a sunflower." She said to me.
"Huh. I actually planted one, to mark where it was so I could compare it when I got back." I said.
"Oh. Well good job, you've halted the spread. You should probably do the same with the Hallow, once you arrive their."
"Noted. Oh! How's Seth settling in?"
"He's doing okay. He quizzed me on what we had already done, so he knows where to start reading."
"Reading?"
"Yeah, the big book has all the adventures you'll be going on. He says nobody except a guide may lay eyes on it, so don't bother."
"Interesting... Well, I'm going to make my way to The Hallow now." I said, turning to leave.
"See you when you get back."
I walked out the door and towards The Hallow. Within a few minutes I had reached it. I looked around at the landscape. The grass had turned a light blue colour, and the leaves had done the same.
"This place looks really nice... Ah, but I should be careful to not let my guard down. I was warned about..." I began, but trailed off when a glowing ball of light appeared in front of me. Upon further inspection, I realized it wasn't light, it was sort of a fluffy winged creature.
"Huh, you're new... I assume you inhabit this area?" I asked the creature. It just floated silently in front of me, as if staring at me. I frowned, "Do you speak? Are you hostile? What are you?" I asked, still getting no answer from the creature. Well, not a verbal response. Suddenly the creature lunged at me, catching me off guard and throwing me back. It had hit me in the shoulder, leaving a burn mark. I quickly jumped to my feet and took my battle stance. That was as good an answer as any. I looked around, waiting for the creature to reappear. I saw it flying towards me and I put my sword up and cut it in half. That was one less enemy in the world, I suppose. It had dropped some grains of glowing yellow dust. I placed some in a glass bottle I had on me, in case I could use it later. I remembered the corruption and looked down to see that the hallow grass was very slowly spreading. I placed a flower at the edge and rocketed back home to tell Xylia of my discoveries.
"Well, the gold can be used to make wings, with the right know-how." She told me. I looked at the dust and back to her with a questioning look on my face.
"Yes I know, but trust me. They'll work... Once we know what else we need."
"Okay. After that absolutely stunning day of things, whats next?" I asked.
"That is where the new kid comes in. But not today. You go rest. Tomorrow's just a state of unconsciousness away."
I looked at her, confused by the wording of that. But I went upstairs before I could question it.