Chapter 3 - Moon of Blood

I raised my eyebrow inquisitively at Jacob, wondering how I was to build an entire house in less than half a day. Then again, with chopping down a sky-high tree in about a minute, then having it explode into already-refined wood, it might be possible. "So, where do I start?" I asked Jacob, starting to trust him.

He looked at me, a single eyebrow raised, as if he couldn't believe that I didn't know how to build a house, and it should be basic knowledge for everyone. "First, you open your pouch." He began in a drawn-out voice that you'd use to teach toddlers, dripping with sarcasm.

I rolled my eyes, and opened my pouch that seemed to be able to hold anything, despite its size. "Next, you put your hand inside the pouch and pull out the wood." Jacob told me in the same tone of voice, going to sit on his rock. I stuck my hand in the simple pouch, taking out wood, and stormed to the clearing, slamming down the wood, one "block" at a time, until I had the structure of a house.

It wasn't until I was complete that I realized that I just made a house that, if I could add a door, a floor, and some furniture, could work. How long did it take? It felt like only a few minutes. I could only stare at it, my jaw dropped in awe. In the corner of my eye, I could see Jacob was impressed, despite being unbelievably obnoxious just a few minutes ago.

The house stood tall, the sun shining against the wood planks, which were apparently oak. How I knew that, I didn't really know, but I waved it off, not really noticing it in the first place. A small place in the front of the house, about the size of a person, was empty, empty of a door. Inside was just shadow, since I haven't made any light sources yet.

I stuck my hand in my pouch and pulled out what looked like a pickaxe. Hey, I guess I'm starting to get the hang of this! It seemed to be the only tool for digging (besides my bare hands, of course) that I could use. Still holding the pickaxe in my right hand, and wood in my left, I stepped over to the inside of my soon-to-be house, and started digging away at the dirt with my pickaxe. Light streamed in through the doorway, lighting up the otherwise dark home. Shadows danced around me, and I wondered, how the heck do I make a torch?

Soon enough, I had cleared out a layer of dirt all under the roof of my house. I started placing the wood across to make a floor, similar to how I made the rest of the house. Only a minute or so later, I had made a floor to cover the chocolate-colored dirt. Of course, the house still had no windows, doors, or any type of furnishing.

I turned to the empty doorway, finding Jacob standing there, and I smirked smugly at him. I quickly cleared it from my face, however, after I realized I still needed to ask him how I made a torch and door, and I didn't really want him to be too mad at me to answer my questions, even if he was "the Guide."

"How should I make a door, then?" I squinted my eyes at Jacob, the sun starting to shine through the empty doorway, and decided that my eyes were a great place to hang out. "When you have enough wood, create a workbench. This will allow you to create more complicated things, such as a door." He replied, taking a book seemingly out of nowhere, opened it, and started reading, heading inside the house and sitting down in a corner, apparently reading fine despite the lack of light.

I sighed, put my pickaxe into the pouch, and put all but ten of my wood into my pouch. I smashed the wood that was still in my hands together, hoping that would work. I could see Jacob trying not to laugh at me from the corner of my eye, and decided that I was probably doing it wrong. I groaned, but refused to ask for help, deciding that Jacob would probably give the same vague answer as before.

I separated my hands, and the craziest thing happened. It seemed that I actually did make a workbench, seeing as an object that wasn't all my wood fell to the floor. It was clearly made of wood, but it had short legs, with a line of wood connecting those. It had a flat surface on top, and looking at it made me feel like I could make anything, however complex. I looked at Jacob, and smirked, this time not trying to hide it.

I crouched down to the workbench, since it only was as high as my knees, and pulled out a single piece of wood, along with my only gel. I tried doing the same thing, smashing them together, but then I immediately regretted it. I burning sensation was felt between the palms of my hands, and I cried out in pain, separating my hands as a lit torch fell to the floor. My palms were slightly burnt, and I felt pain flaring out of the burn. It was probably more severe than it looked

Jacob rushed over, picked up the torch before it hit to floor (probably so the house didn't burn down), and looked at my palms, abandoning his book, which I realized was a dictionary. I stood up, still focusing on my palms. "Is that how you make everything? Smash it together?" I asked Jacob through clenched teeth. He shrugged, and reached into his pouch (how many magic pouches does he even have?), replying, "Only workbenches." Jacob then pulled out a glass bottle that was sealed off with a cork, filled with a red liquid.

I looked at the bottle, wondering what it was, but Jacob must've read my expression. "It's a minor healing potion. It heals small wounds." He explained for me. I nodded, quickly grabbed it out of his hands, and drank it. I immediately felt my hands feel less painful, and watch as my skin basically sewed itself back together.

I nodded my thanks to Jacob and handed him back the (now empty) bottle. The only bad part is that I felt sick, like I would vomit any second, and I couldn't handle drinking another potion. I raised my eyebrow at Jacob, in doing so triggered a quick answer from him. "Potion sickness. It only lasts a couple of minutes, don't worry." He apparently loved answering any questions.

I nodded as he handed me the torch, which I placed the bottom on the wall. It stuck perfectly, which I wasn't expecting. Jacob went back to his corner to continue reading his dictionary (why he's reading a dictionary for fun, I'll probably never know), and I stepped over back to the workbench. By now, the sun was already starting to sink on the horizon. Probably should get a door done quickly.

I took out a handful of wood (why they were so tiny, I'll never know that, either), and spread them out across the bench. I started thinking the word, door, while staring intently at the wood pieces. I probably looked ridiculous, but it's better than smashing them together. Suddenly, the wood started shaking. I widened my eyes and stepped back, but Jacob didn't notice a thing, or was expecting it.

The pieces of wood started floating and coming together, stacking on top of each other in a door-like form. No sooner than they had started shaking, there was a door right on the bench, perfectly fitting the empty doorway. I took a single step forward, and picked up the door by its edges. It was surprisingly lightweight. I carried it over to the doorframe, and placed it. It looked flimsy and weak, but it was better than nothing. The potion sickness suddenly wore off, and I felt better, luckily.

I only had a few pieces of wood left, but with the remaining wood pieces, I used the same procedure I did to make a door, but this time for a chair. Why a chair, I didn't know, but I placed it in the corner opposite from Jacob. By now, however, the sun was disappearing down the horizon, turning the sky blood red.

Suddenly, I heard a whisper in my head as the sun went away. "The Blood Moon is rising…" I saw through a crack in the door that everything was bathed in red. Even though nothing happened yet, I started filling up with fear, and I could see Jacob slam closed his dictionary (which had a bookmark on his current page) and shouted, "Block the door!" I only had a single piece of wood, and with that I covered the door. Right after I did, I finally knew what Jacob meant earlier by "monsters."

A humanoid form started pounding on the door, but it wasn't human. It had sickly green skin, parts of it torn off and revealing rotting tissue beneath. One of its eyes was out of its' socket, barely attached to the head by a few veins. It had ragged and torn clothes, but the hair was still on its head, even if part of that was torn off. An arrow was right in the middle of its forehead, and its jaw was visible, the skin torn off.

I nearly vomited at the sight, even if the potion sickness faded. Many similar sights started appearing out of nowhere, going to join it in pounding on the door. In the sky, there were floating eyeballs, veins trailing behind them. I decided right then that tonight would be a sleepless night, as if I could fall asleep from behind so anxious, anyway.

I stepped away from the door, and looked at Jacob, hoping he could explain what was going on. He looked back, and I noticed that this was the first time that he wasn't smiling. "You can tell a Blood Moon is out when the sky turns red. There's something about it that causes monsters to swarm." He explained. "But it shouldn't be happening so soon…" He continued, fading off and looked like he was thinking hard about something.

I sighed, and lay down on the hard, wooden floor. I closed my eyes, hoping to get as much sleep as I could, even though I had a nagging sense in the back on my mind that the door was too weak to keep out the zombies. At least, I could only think they were zombies. Eventually, I heard Jacob go to sit on the chair I had made, and I could tell he fell asleep.

Soon, however, the pounding on the door started overlapping, and I could feel the grip of sleep. As my hold on reality faded, and everything started going numb, I thought that maybe I could have a good dream.

Sadly, my hopes were wrong.

((I decided to make this chapter longer than normal, and have more action than just stabbing a slime. Sorry for Chapter 2 being super short, but I hope this makes up for it. Thank you to all who take the time out of their day/night to read this, and, as always, constructive criticism (and just reviews in general) is always appreciated!))