Interlude: A Lover's Dilemma
The road to Sweet Village, Age 108
A few hours after their departure, Zeph and his party consisting of four had found a cave to spend the night in. Both T.K., who wanted to accompany Zeph and the others on their journeys, and Toonspider, who decided to tag along for reasons unknown, volunteered to secure the cave by blocking the cave entrance with whatever materials that they had obtained in their travel. Eve made a campfire while Zeph helped to set up the beds. Mod helped out by preparing their dinner, which consisted of mushroom soup and leftover meaty bits from their earlier meal.
Occasionally, the party would hear sounds coming from the deeper parts of the cave and after a few incidents involving spiders appearing out of nowhere and attacking them, they all decided to take turns in keeping watch while the rest would sleep. Seeing the others all battered and worn-out, Toonspider volunteered to take the first shift. And so the nightly hours went by without any problems, with the exception of a skeleton that happened to wander dangerously close to the cave. As his shift was about to end, an distant memory from his past suddenly came to his mind. He then took a glance at the large hole in the ceiling to find a beautiful full moon staring back at him. Smiling at the sight, he let himself enter the memory engraved into his mind.
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Beacon City, Age 98
Many years after the battle against Anu, the world of Minecraft was at peace. The six legendary warriors and their descendants continued to preserve the peace of the world. Many villages and cities were rebuilt, each governed by a leader that the six had deemed worthy of their roles. Each area had been given their own defenses which they used to protect themselves. As the years went by, the villages slowly began to come under the rule of the cities. The leaders of the cities began to gather themselves some support and eventually, they became power-hungry. Many chose to abuse their power and began to fight against other cities. As the battles continued, the descendants of the six began to take matters into their own hands and chose to fight off the corrupt leaders through warfare. While many of the corrupt cities surrendered to the vicious attacks of the alliance formed by the descendants, only one city proved to be a difficult opponent. In the midst of the chaos, a new romance bloomed.
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Toonspider had once been known as Seth Toondale before his becoming a powerful magician of the stones. He lived a life where he had to fight to survive. Due to the numerous casualties resulting from various thieveries, he had decided to hunt his own food. Because of the tough security measures of the city, he was forced to seek other ways to exit the area. After numerous days of finding new passages to sneak away into, he discovered a hidden room one summer morning. At first, he thought that the books located in the room were useless piles of junk. However, after he had taken a glimpse at one of the books, his life took a turn for the better. The books were in fact manuals on operating mystical stones that contained powers that were hidden during the battle against Anu. The stones were said to be powerful and to keep it away from power-hungry maniacs, they were stored into the room that Seth had discovered.
He continued to visit the ancient library to learn more about the mystical stones each day and after a month, he was able to master their powers. One fateful day, he ventured out into the city and found some guards who were bullying a young lady. Deciding to help her out, he provoked the guards into a fight. Thinking that he was small fry, the guards came at him baring their swords. However, they soon learnt their mistakes the hard way when he summoned a strong gust of wind to knock them towards the nearby buildings. He then summoned a torrent of water which he sent towards the fallen guards, which carried them all the way onto the city sewers. Seeing her aggressors beaten and her savior shining in glory, she thanked him with a kiss on his lips, which caused him to blush. The young lady introduced herself as Alicia Haze, a doctor's apprentice who had come to the city to find a job. She bid him farewell and left him with a card that had the image of a spider, which caused him to think about her as a mysterious lady.
Days after the incident, he saw her again when he was about to enter the ancient library. As he approached her, she slowly turned towards his direction and called out to her hero. He responded with a smile and it was that moment that the pair had realized that they had suddenly developed feelings towards each other. And so, the months went by without incident and the pair took each other out to other places while taking the time to learn about each other. Their relationship bloomed to a point that after a year, they were ready to take their relationship to the next level.
One fateful day, while taking a stroll on the park, Seth led her to a certain spot where he suddenly knelt down and showed her a ring with pieces of ruby attached to it. He then asked for her hand in marriage and not long after, she replied with a yes before giving him a passionate kiss on the lips. They had then become engaged. However, not long after that, a tragic event took place in Beacon City.
Weeks after his proposal, Seth had been making preparations for his wedding and was heading for the church when sudden explosions occurred from a distance, prompting him to head towards the direction and investigate. Upon arriving at the scene, he found his betrothed lying on the ground with a strange mark on her face that was spreading all over her. Angered at the sight, he scooped her up into his hands and carried her all the way to a nearby hospital. Learning that she was stuck in a comatose state and that she was slowly withering away, he decided to lash out in anger at her oppressors. He found them standing as an army outside the mayor's office building. Enraged by what they had done onto his loved one, he unleashed the Nether onto every single one of them. Fire rained down from the sky, completely obliterating every single one of them. He then sought after those who had seen their comrades fall. Seeing the threat that loomed behind them, they threw whatever weapons they had at him only to get them deflected back with his sudden burst of energy. Without a show of mercy, Seth unleashed his wrath onto the oppressors by showering them with large icicles, killing them all instantly and creating a new monument inside the city. The monument was later called the "Death Crystal". He soon fell exhausted and collapsed onto the ground below.
After waking up the next day, Seth was praised a hero and was carried before the mayor of the city. However, in an act of defiance, he approached the mayor and punched him on the face. He then rebuked him for being a bad example to his people and blamed him for Alicia's fate. Before Seth would be taken away by the Guild guards, the mayor had a change of heart and had declared that from that day onwards, the city was now under the leadership of Seth and that the ex-mayor declared himself exiled in retribution for his past crimes. Shocked at the sudden turn of events, Seth would become the new leader of the city and would help out those who were in need. While he wasn't busy doing anything, he would visit Alicia and watch her slowly fade away with each passing day. Fearing that she would soon disappear, he gave control of the city to the Guild in his absence and set out on a journey to find the cure for Alicia's ailment.
Ten years later, he received a vision from one of the gods of Minecraft, Jeb. He was instructed to locate The Crying Obsidian, an object that had once been an instrument of healing. Taking pride in his new task and fueled by the power of love, Seth took on the name 'Toonspider' and set out to locate the whereabouts of The Crying Obsidian, his beloved Alicia in his mind. His first step was to locate the key to finding the mythical object, the next Hero who would be Zeph.
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"Toonspider?" called out T.K., snapping the man awake. He turned around to find T.K. walking towards his direction.
"You called?" asked Toonspider, who stepped out of his brief resting place.
"Yes. I came here to tell you that I'll be taking on my shift now," said the man with his right hand clutching his hoe in case a mob would appear out of nowhere.
"Okay," replied Toonspider who proceeded to head towards the deeper part of the cave where the beds were located. As he exited the scene, T.K. looked up at the full moon and smiled.
"A full moon, huh? Isn't it a perfect night to go insane?" he said to himself, chuckling while doing so.
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A/N: Sorry that this interlude took long to publish! There were a few things I needed to do that involved the preparation for this "chapter". My school may start again soon so my publishing date may not be so consistent. Hopefully, I may publish a new chapter every week but until then, hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see ya next time! Oh, there wasn't a single person who managed to hand me an answer in my question last week. I did realize that my "references" might not have been too clear. I'll be back with a new question next week or so! Please relax and enjoy the story!