A/N: Welcome back! This is the real first chapter of the story, now that all the origin stuff is out of the way. I don't really know what else to say here, sooo...yeah, enjoy.

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Imagination is king: You know, this review is only three very small words long, but it still gives me a nice sense of validation. TwT

Night-Waker: THANKS.

Chapter 1: Home, Sweet Home

10 Years Later...

An afternoon wind blew across the hills, gently rustling the grass as it went. The area was mostly flat, with only a couple of short, wide lumps- like flattened hills. Several trees stood like pillars against the wind, ever sturdy. It was a perfect little area for someone to live, maybe build a house...

That was exactly what two people came here to do. One of them, a girl with black hair pulled into a short ponytail, ran ahead of her companion. She came to a stop at a spot that wasn't too populated with trees- there were even a few sunflowers bunched together nearby. She turned to where she had come from and called out, "Hey, Andrew! Is this a good enough spot?"

Andrew the Guide walked over, his hair having gained several gray strands over the years- but at least his hat still looked like new. He surveyed the area, before responding, "Well, it's nice and flat, so not much landscaping will have to be done, and there are a good amount of trees...yes, this area will do nicely. Good work, Zia."

"Thanks!" Zia replied with a smile. "...Now will you tell me why we came all the way out here?"

"Well, because you're going to build a house," Andrew explained, wandering over to the sunflowers. "It'll be night soon, so we'll need a shelter if we want to survive."

"Got it, I'll- wait, you're not gonna help?" Zia asked, frowning.

"Zia, it's just one house, nothing too complex- you can handle that," Andrew said to her, crossing his arms. "Besides, I'm getting too old for construction work."

"48 really isn't that old," Zia stated as she fumbled around for her axe.

"Oh, I'm flattered," Andrew replied, putting a hand over his heart for a moment. "Now go gather wood."

The girl nodded and, after finding her Copper Axe, walked off to one of the taller trees. She wasted no time swinging the axe at the stump of the tree- Andrew had told her that she'd need to clear out the stump anyways, so it was recommended that she take that part out rather than some other part of the tree, thereby saving time. The tree itself took several strikes from the axe before it finally fell, and acorns and pieces of wood came raining down. Zia knew Copper Axes weren't the most efficient of tree topplers, but this one in particular seemed pretty weak. Oh well, she'd have to make do.

The girl remembered to plant an acorn in the spot she had felled the tree- you never know when you'd need more wood, so it was good to keep a supply close by your home. Zia repeated the process- chop the stump, grab the wood, plant an acorn- for several more trees. It was mind-numbing work, but by the end of it Zia had more than enough wood to build a house. She walked over to the spot Andrew had approved earlier, pulling out some wood. After a few moments of thought, she had an idea for a perfect home.

The house itself was a rectangle, eight by fifteen to be exact. She remembered to make a Work Bench, so that way she could make walls (and she needed a lot of them) and a pair of doors, one for each side of the rectangle house. Once that was done, she made a table and a pair of chairs, putting them towards the center of the room.

Zia then crafted several wood platforms and took out a portion of the ceiling, replacing it with platforms. She put more platforms along the wall in a diagonal path, then made a Wood Hammer and made those platforms into stairs. Finally, she created another rectangle on top of the first one, the same size as that one, and added more walls. As a result the house now had a second floor.

Once all the construction was done, Zia sat down in a chair with a relieved sigh. She heard one of the doors open, and Andrew poked his head in. "I take it that the fact you're relaxing in the chair that you're done?"

"Yup! I put in all the important house stuff and even made a whole second floor!" Zia replied, nodding confidently. "You know, for more space."

"Very good," Andrew replied with a nod...then furrowed his brow. "...Zia, did you put in a light source?"

At first, Zia brushed off his question...before jumping up out of her seat. "Oh man, I knew I forgot something!"

"Lucky for you, I thought I saw some some Slimes over there," Andrew said, gesturing to the door he entered in.

"Got it thanks!" Zia quickly said, running out the door with her Copper Shortsword out.

Once outside, the girl scanned the area for any sign of monsters...before spotting something. Two round blobs of green ooze were hopping their way towards her. Narrowing her eyes, Zia ran at the Green Slimes and thrust the short blade into the closest one. The Slime was knocked back, but not dead, allowing the other Green Slime to jump onto Zia. She grunted from the hit, jumping back, then retaliated with another jab. This strike seemed to do more damage and threw this Slime back as well. The first Green Slime came back for another jump at Zia, but was quickly dispatched by her blade. The second Slime soon met a similar fate.

Yes! My first kills out here! Zia thought triumphantly as she collected the coins and Gel the Slimes had dropped. She had three pieces of Gel- more than enough for Torches. As she made her way back to the house, she added the flammable ooze to some wood and made a total of nine Torches.

"I got light!" Zia announced as she reentered the house, going to put them down somewhere.

"Good, put those up and come sit down," Andrew instructed her. "It'll be night soon. Plus, I found some mushrooms, so...we've got dinner!"

The girl nodded, before going to put up three Torches on each floor, deciding to save the other three for another time. She then sat at the other end of the table from Andrew.

"Sooo- you like the house?" Zia asked him.

"Yes, you did a fine job," the Guide replied with a reassuring nod. "It was good thinking, making a second floor. That will definitely come in handy in the long run."

"Thanks, Andrew," Zia replied with a smile. "So...now that we have a house..."

"Yes...?" Andrew began, motioning for her to go on.

"Well- we've got shelter, and we're all the way out here..." Zia continued. "I think it's finally time for me to go out on an adventure."

Andrew blinked in surprise. "You want to go out on an excursion?"

"Yes!" Zia insisted. "Andrew, I'm 16. You've shown me how to use, like, every kind of weapon!"

"Well, I mean, I didn't get to go exploring until I was 18, so..." Andrew stated, shrugging. "Look, I know you're eager to go out and see things, but some of the creatures out there extremely volatile."

"C'mon, isn't this what you've been training me for these past few years?" Zia asked, her eyes pleading. "How can I get better equipment to survive if I can't even go out and look?"

"Well...you do make a good point," Andrew mused...before saying, "Well, there is a small pit that leads to a cave I saw earlier. Perhaps that would be a good place to start?"

"Alright!" Zia said, standing. "I'll go out there, and I'll-"

"Hold on there, speedster," Andrew said, holding up a hand as a gesture for her to stop. "It's nearly dark, and it's dangerous to go out at night. You can wait until morning, I'm sure."

"Well...I guess," Zia replied. "...Can I at least go out and kill some Zombies? They'll be clawing at our door all night otherwise."

"Well, I could certainly sleep better without the sound of the undead outside," Andrew said with a little chuckle. "Fine. Just make sure you don't wander too far. Also, watch out for Demon Eyes- your shortsword isn't very suited for flying enemies."

"I'll be careful," Zia assured the Guide with a nod. "Besides, I'll just use my axe or pickaxe if something tries to fly at me."

"Good thinking," Andrew replied.

With that, Zia opened up the door and headed out into the night.

The moon was already visible over the horizon, the sky having gone from it's bright blue to a deep indigo, speckled with stars. Zia walked west, past the spot where she had chopped down all those trees earlier that day. Most of the saplings had already grown into short trees, but some of them remained little sprouts. Perhaps, with time, they too would grow.

Okay, you rotted losers...where are you? the girl thought to herself as she surveyed the area for any signs of monsters. Sure, the sunflowers around the area had this effect on monsters that kept them away, but they weren't that repellent, were they?

Well, looks like I'm gonna have to go farther... Zia thought as she kept walking. She came to a hill with a few trees growing on top, and near the top she saw a pair of humanoid figures lumbering towards her. Aha! There you are!

Zombies- two of them, kind of short. They had the trademark pale green skin and red eyes that the undead usually had, as well as patches of skin rotting off and tattered brown clothing. One of the zombies had its entire brain exposed at the top of its head, making it look bald. The other had normal, disheveled black hair. Both had their arms out, as though hoping to grab at the living being before them.

"Yeah, well- it's time to die a second time!" Zia shouted at them, drawing her sword. My god, that sounded way cooler in my head...

Shaking her head, she ran at the Zombies and jabbed at them with the copper blade. To her, Zombies were easier to deal with than Slimes, in a way, because all they did was walk at her. She rarely had to worry about jumping, so all she had to do was just keep stabbing and let the monsters walk right into the attack.

Eventually, the two Zombies were dead on the ground, allowing Zia to continue her trek. Once she passed the hill, she came across another Zombie, this one with a blob of blue slime enveloping its entire head. Once Zia slayed that one, she made sure to take the Gel off its body, since she'd like to make more Torches and there didn't seem to be any Slimes out tonight.

Eventually, Zia came to large opening in the ground, too large to jump over. It seemed to open up to a large pit, with a few weak vines hanging from the overhanging ledge. There didn't appear to be any kind of cave entrance, but it would certainly be a long and painful drop. The girl frowned and said to herself, "I really ought to put a bridge there or something- maybe when I have more wood or dirt, I'll do it."

Nodding, she turned to head back to the house...only to be met with yet another Zombie shuffling towards her. This one was different, however, in that it was carrying something. It appeared to be an...arm, one from a Zombie. Not one of its own arms, no- it just carried some other Zombie's arm for some reason. Zia decided against thinking about it too much and charged at the monster. She was a bit slow on the attack, however, allowing the Zombie to swing the arm at her, striking her in the side.

"Ah!" Zia yelped as she was struck, getting knocked back a bit. "Wow, that thing is stronger than it looks. Fine, if you want to play it like that, then here!"

With a shout, the girl jumped up and jabbed the Zombie in the chest before it could attack again. The monster swung the arm once more, but this time Zia jumped out of its reach and went in for two more stabs. These two blows killed the monster, and it dropped the Zombie Arm on the ground as it died. Immediately, Zia went and picked up the item, examining it. Weird...this thing is stronger than it looks...can I use this as a weapon? Looks like it could make a good broadsword, if I could.

"Heh- thanks for the new weapon, buddy!" Zia said cheerfully to the Zombie's disintegrating body before walking off. "So, now all I gotta do is get home and-"

She was interrupted when a shadow passed over her. Then a second one. She looked up to see where the shadows came from...then froze. Oh no.

A pair of flying eyeballs were circling her, their blue irises visible in the moonlight. One had thick red threads of tissue trailing behind it as it flew, while the other had yellowish-green threads. These were none other than Demon Eyes- and Zia hated them. They bounced around, never stopped moving, and could get flung back pretty far, making follow-up attacks hard.

Instinctively, she reached for her Copper Pickaxe or Axe...but stopped. Wait, I have that Zombie Arm! Can I fight with it...? Well, time to find out.

Zia pulled out the arm and waited for the two Eyes to get close. The moment they were near enough, the girl swung the Zombie Arm at them. The creatures were knocked back hard and, while they weren't dead, seemed to have taken quite a bit of damage. They flew at her again, but Zia was ready. The red Demon Eye only needed one more hit from the weapon to die, but the green Eye needed two. Soon, though, the two were dead. Zia picked up the coins they had dropped, as well as a Lens one of them had left before, then proceeded home.

Zombie Arm, as of right now, you are my new favorite weapon. Zia thought cheerfully.

By the time she made it home, Andrew had already fallen asleep on one of the chairs. Zia was a little disappointed, as she had hoped to show him the Zombie Arm. Deciding to show him tomorrow, Zia lied down on the floor (she thought sleeping in those chairs was too uncomfortable, and wondered how Andrew could do it so easily) to sleep.

...However, she had a hard time falling asleep. Zia couldn't keep thought out of her mind that tomorrow, tomorrow, would be the day of her very first solo adventure! It seemed almost too good to be true. At last, she could start doing what her parents did so well...could she become even better? No, no, let's not get ahead of ourselves. For now, Zia dreamed of what she'd see in that cavern, what treasures she'd find, what monsters she'd fight...

The girl was so excited, she almost didn't even sleep that night.

A/N: And that's that! A chapter full of house building, Slime slaying, and night hunting! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!?

Anyways, while it may seem pretty weird, Zombie Arms actually are pretty good weapons to get early on. They do good damage compared to the Copper stuff you start out with, even though their range could be better. Also, just like Zia hates Demon Eyes, I too detest those things for all the times they killed me when I first started Terraria. CURSE YOU, SHORTSWORDS!

Now, don't fret if you found this chapter boring. Next chapter is where the real fun begins! Join us next time for Zia's first spelunking trip! Yaaaaay!