An old past and a new world

It was a fine, clear morning, and the shadows retreat across the wide plains as the sun rises and banishes them. Some pigs, cows and other forms of life stirred in the glistening rays of the sun. Flowers opened and sparkled as the sunlight turned dew into minute stars. And sharing this wonderful morning were two men. One man had a goatee and warm eyes, whilst the other had a grey, calculating face. Both men wore defined spacesuits, which were white and made of materials of a high standard, but they did not wear helmets. The first man with the goatee had on his spacesuit a square on the torso of the suit, and on the spacesuit were orange lines which bordered his sleeves. Similarly, the other man with grey skin had a grey square logo on the torso of the suit, with blue lines also bordering his sleeves. The first man walked forward and gracefully lifted his arms out, as if embracing the rays of the sun.

"Ah, it's a wonderful new world with lush, green grass, flowers, animals and all sorts of life. Isn't it wonderful, Sips?" asked the man with the orange spacesuit.

"Yeah…" Sips replied, and sighed. "A new world, a new beginning… though I have to admit, Sjin, it's pretty boring so far."

Sjin turned around in disbelief, and exclaimed, "What? What do you mean? Look at this place; it's the perfect picture of undisturbed nature! And since we're the only ones here, we rule this place!"

"Ah…" Sips showed his understanding. "I see what you're getting on."

"You do?"

"Yeah," confirmed Sips. "We can build Sipsco right here, make ourselves some fine dirt, and when people show up, we can sell it and make shit tonnes of money! And no one can stop us!"

"Well…" Sjin's face fell. Sometimes it was hard to get Sips to see the wonders of nature. "That's one thing we could do… I wanted to build a farm, or a town, for others to come and live in." said Sjin.

"Well screw you, that's boring! What can we gain from building an old town?" Sips began pacing the field, observing the ground. "We're the largest exporter of dirt! Sipsco refined quality dirt!"

Sjin rolled his eyes in irritation, and then sighed. "Well, here we go again…"

"Look at this! Look at all this crappy dirt around us! It's not moist enough and it crumbles in my hands," Sips bent down and clawed some dirt from the ground, and pinched it, as if demonstrating to Sjin, who had lost interest in Sips. "… This is even worse! It's wet and clumpy from the condensation, and there's poop in it! What the hell!"

Sips cried in frustration, and threw the dirt into the ground. He walked over to Sjin, who paid no real attention to the current subject. His mind was on other matters, matters which affected their current status.

"Fine, whatever… But we need to put those dreams aside and find some wood, because we need to survive the first night." Sjin said to Sips, who seemed to have stopped his ranting and paid some attention to what Sjin had to say.

"Kay. We'll find some wood and make some tools." Sips said, defeated. Surviving the first night was always the first priority of coming to any new world.

"We'll find some shelter, and then we'll think about our long – term goals." Sjin concluded,

"Kay, we got a plan sorted, let's find some wood!"

And off they went in search for a forest to find some wood. They headed in the direction of the rising sun, hoping for the best. Sjin ran on ahead, while Sips strolled on at a leisurely pace admiring the surrounding scenery. He took in the sight of the plains which stretched across the horizon, as far as the eye could see. Well, he thought, I guess Sjin might be right. This place is something to admire, though I shouldn't tell him that, it'll make him feel big – headed. Meanwhile, Sjin seems to have spotted something in the horizon. He called back, "Sips! I think I see something!" But Sips wasn't interested.

"Yeah, I think I see it too, it's your big face which is in my way" laughed Sips, who enjoys making jokes that are slightly rude at times.

"Sips!" Sjin watched as Sips gave way to the wave of laughter that ensued for the next half minute or so. He approached Sjin and stared at him questioningly. "Yeah? What am I supposed to be looking at?"

Sjin pointed to the distance, where the faint outline of a structure can be made out. "I think I see a building. Wanna check it out?"

Sips thought for a moment, considering the possible outcomes of this side quest. "… well, we'll check it out then. But you go in and investigate first. If we find trouble, I'll find a branch and it'll go up your –"

"Enough said, Let's go!" And without any objections, Sjin rushed towards the distant edifice, humming a tune along the way. Sips, however, was keen on taking his time simply because he could. As the CEO of Sipsco, who could stop him? So he strolled along pompously, demonstrating no care to the world. That branch will go right up your fat ass if you get us into trouble, he thought. Not long after he finished that though had he tripped over a rogue branch and landed face first into the soil with a thump. The pain was immediate, and when he got up to his knees, he exclaimed, "Aw shit!"

…

"Well, here we are Sips. Check it out," Sjin took in the sight before him. By the time they had arrived, the sun has just begun to set and the clouds were outlined with yellow – orange. Sips was still brushing off dirt from his body, but he had missed a large smear on his chin.

The old building was a ruin situated on the top of a small hill surrounded by a small forest, and because of its round, circular base and what remained of the walls, it must have been an old guard tower from long ago. The stone bricks were cracked and mossy, and there was rubble and debris which littered the surrounding area. Large sections of walls were protruding out of the ground, as if it had been thrown outwards by an explosion. The setting sun cast dark shadows across the landscape, adding to the eerie effect. A fair size and derelict, it provided suitable shelter for the duo as a temporary base.

"What do you think, Sips?" asked Sjin. Before moving into the old tower, he wanted Sips' approval. "Is this a good place to take shelter from the night?"

Sips sighed, and replied, "Well, we're here already and it is nightfall, so I don't really have a choice. But, this place can be pimped up, so I don't have any disagreements" Sips concluded, and nodded to confirm his decision. Sjin nodded in reply, and carefully slipped past a large crack in the wall. Sips followed suit, and examined the interior of the old tower. It was very open, and there was no evidence of separate rooms at all; or at least, no obvious evidence, because time had destroyed most clues. The tower had a simple spiral staircase made of stone slabs which were built into the sides of the circular wall, but some slabs had fallen down, hence one had to leap across some sections of the staircase. The tower was cone shaped, it slowly bent inwards as if the walls were to meet at the top, but about five storeys in height it ended with a stone roof, supported by wooden support struts. The walls themselves were also braced with wood, though most of it had rotted away. The building kept out the worst of the wind but it looked like rain has found its way in.

"Here's where we're gonna rest for the night" Sjin said to Sips, who was looking through his inventory and attempted to organise it in a messy heap on the floor. "When morning comes, we should get some wood to make ourselves some basic tools. We'll dig up some cobblestone to get some stone tools afterwards" Sjin said, and sat down on the floor, observing Sips. "You need help?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm fine Sjin. I'm just trying to sort out all this crap that I have. Hey," Sips pointed to a large pile of dirt and faced Sjin. "I got a whole bunch of dirt on the way here, we could use it to fill up the holes in the walls" he said.

"Hey, that's a great idea! Let's to that, we can keep out the weather" Sjin said in agreement.

Sips added, "We wouldn't want any nasty bad guys creeping up on us whilst we sleep anyways". Sips gave half his dirt to Sjin and the two got up and began fixing the walls, but left some holes to act as windows. The sun has set and the sky was dark. In the distance, malevolent shadows moved with the wind and strange groans can be faintly heard from the howling wind. The air was getting cooler, too, and it was dark inside.

When the two were almost finished with filling up the gaps with dirt, Sips decided to break the silence and started a conversation. He asked, "Hey Sjin, it's been many years now, but I don't think I ever asked you this," he began.

"Yes Sips?"

"What's your favourite colour?" Asked Sips.

Sjin paused, then chuckled, saying, "Wow, I thought this would have been an important question about, I dunno… the past or, our plans, something like that, based on the tension in the atmosphere".

Sips looked surprised, and replied, "Really? It must be just you then, because I feel fine."

"I dunno, it feels that way for me. It isn't because of you, though"

"What do you mean?"

"… It's nothing. I just saw some shadows outside and heard some noises" Sjin told Sips, whilst finishing up his section of the walls. He put down the leftover dirt in a corner, and then sat down on the floor opposite where he was working, with Sips.

"Yeah, I think I saw some skinny guys outside. They shouldn't be able to get in once I finish my part of the wall, though" Sips said, and shoved a pile of dirt into the last hole in the walls. They left small holes to act as windows and to let in some light. Sips walked over to Sjin and sat down next to him. "There we go, job done. They can't get in and find us now"

"Hmm…" Sjin was silent for a while, thoughtful. He stared into empty space and the two sat in silence. Outside, the gentle whistling of the wind can be heard through the walls, and the otherworldly sounds of the nocturnal creatures outside were close. After a while, Sjin turned to Sips, and said, "Isn't it great to start off fresh again? The thrill of carrying out tasks that would affect our survival and the challenges presented to us because we have no equipment?"

"I guess… to be honest, I feel the opposite. I miss the old compound, all the stuff that we accomplished there… the first one, I mean. I remember it well. One of the highlights of the compound was the geothermal facility. You remember that, don't you? It was just belching out power for us and we broadcast it throughout the whole compound. We were the global powerhouse there"

"Well, we never got to finish the actual dirt factory itself, did we? We never produced any dirt. Lewis, Simon and Duncan managed to make some Jaffas from their factory though"

"Yeah, but only because we helped them out with most of the technical shizzle wizzle. Damn, we didn't even get paid!"

They talked about their past for longer, but soon the hoot of an owl signalled that it was late night. It was time for rest. Sips and Sjin said goodnights to each other, then went to separate corners of the old tower and slept.

…

Outside the old tower, sinister clouds were spread across the night sky, and the weak wind rustled the grass and the silent footsteps of nocturnal creatures could be faintly heard. Some patches of grass would conceal eight malevolent, blood – red eyes. However, an ethereal presence was in the cold air, and if felt as though it would cause the toughest of mobs from the Overworld to flee in terror. As the clouds parted to reveal the curtain of silver light from the full Moon, the silhouette of an imposing figure stood atop a hill some distance away from the tower. It appeared to stare in that direction for a while. The wind suddenly picked up and the figure vanished.

Hello! I hope you enjoyed reading the first chapter, I hope that I'm able to net some time to continue working on it. If you find any grammatical errors or if you have any suggestions or just a thought, feel free to tell me in the reviews section! Constructive criticism is always welcome, as this is my first story. Please leave a comment and I'll see you soon!

I recently changed my pen name to Wanchester, so the story will continue there. To be honest, I've no idea how anything works. Does changing your pen name act like making separate Youtube accounts?