"Come on Doctor, where is she?" Dragon reborn9 said as the two chipped away at a section of the ravine's wall. Putting his pickaxe away, the Time Lord pulled out his screwdriver and ran a final scan over the area. Once he read the results, he replied, "Fifteen feet to your right and roughly…" His face fell as he read the rest of the analysis. "Thirty-four miles ahead." He sighed and leaned against the wall in temporary despair. This is going to take ages. It'll take days at this rate for us to dig there. He thought.
The gamer beside him stopped his mining briefly to look at the disheveled and nearly defeated form before him. Feeling a pang of sympathy for the peculiar 'player', Dragon reborn9 walked over and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Hey. We'll get there soon. If she were in danger, we'd know."
The Doctor kept his gaze fixed on the stone floor below and stated more to himself than to the gamer, "The fact that she may not know she's in danger is what worries me."
Having nothing else to say in response, Dragon went back to chipping at the wall, but soon managed to break the quiet tension, saying, "Well moping around won't do us any good. Here, why don't you help me out."
Taking his words to heart (or hearts), the Doctor picked up the axe once again and began digging with a newfound purpose.
A thick silence enveloped the two that was only broken by the clangs of metal on rock and the crumbling away of stone. Dragon reborn9's thoughts were overwhelmed with boiling curiosity for who this player really was. Why was the Doctor so anxious? Could his friend be in any real danger? Like there is any in Minecraft…but then again, was it possible that there was something dangerous here?
The Doctor however, was overcome with determination to find Clara alive and well, plus finding a way out of the game. Who possessed the power that brought them to an entirely different reality? And was this power easy to come by here? And who could be with Clara if she's in danger?
Several hours had passed for the Doctor while mere minutes passed for the player who continued to break the walls of earth and stone away with the same strength as when they had started. Beads of sweat drenched the Doctor's face and neck as he continued to work as the lack of airflow and the rising temperature made the area almost suffocatingly stuffy. The tunnel behind them seemed to go on forever and they still had miles to go. No fresh air, no water, and only meager torchlight waited for them on the way to Clara's location. At the very thought, the Doctor's strength weakened almost instantly.
Taking a moment to catch his breath, he stopped berating the wall and looked back once again into the endless tunnel they had dug, the walls lined with torches. His breath caught painfully in his throat however when a flash of movement flitted across his vision. He shifted over to peer around a far corner to eventually see several mobs turn it and come forward. Skeletons clattered and creaked in their gloomy strut, holding battle-worn bows in their flesh-stripped hands; zombies and spiders followed close behind, groaning and snapping at their prey in anticipation of bloodshed; and finally creepers brought up the rear, silent but deadly as almost tangible hate burned in their black eyes. The grouping of monsters were a mere twenty feet away from them as they crept slowly towards the workers.
Pulling out his sword, he warned Dragon reborn to stop. "Get ready." He said.
The gamer turned, seeing the mass of skeletons, zombies, spiders, and creepers. Dragon's eyes widened in surprise and he drew out his bow. Setting up to fire at the first in the group.
"Wait, wait, wait. I have an idea." The Doctor put a wavering hand over the gamer's bow, lowering it as he explained. "If we let them get close enough, we could set off one of the creepers and blow a hole in the wall as well as their defenses."
Dragon quirked an eyebrow and looked at him as if the traveler sprouted another head. "That's suicide, though."
"Maybe not. It would take care of the problem faster and speed up our work if we're careful enough."
"We just free-climbed our way down into a mob infested ravine and dug a tunnel under the Wither Clan's base for the sake of time. Are you really sure you want to throw caution to the wind again?"
The time traveler didn't respond as his friend's words sunk in. Had he really lost it? He'd really be willingly to throw himself at a potentially combustible mob for the sake of an additional few minutes to their journey? Was the game really getting to him this quickly? I'm better than this…right?
Dragon reborn9 notched the arrow back into his bow, saying, "I'm not going to wait any longer. You want to kill yourself? That's all you." With that, he began firing into the swarm and pulled out his sword, charging into the mass.
"Wait!" The Doctor's warning fell on deaf ears and he ran after the gamer, hesitantly joining in the fray.
The skeletons began firing an assault of arrows on them, the projectile daggers piercing the air. Dragon reborn9 dodged them nimbly and fired a return shot at the closest one, landing his arrow strait into its skull, pushing it back against the tirade in the process, but not killing it. The Doctor seized the opportunity and swung at the monster as it almost instantaneously disintegrated from the blow of his diamond sword. Encouraged by the easy dispatch, he dove at the next one and shoved it into the side of the wall, knocking it off balance. The undead frame snarled in defiance and ducked at the Doctor's next swing and swiped the Time Lord's legs out from under him. Hitting the ground harder than he would've liked on his stomach, the Doctor quickly rolled to the side on his back, and narrowly avoided a deadly strike from the skeleton's bow.
"Doctor!" Dragon's voice rang out and was soon accompanied with the dying growls of a zombie near him.
Taking the cue, the Doctor grappled for his sword while the skeleton advanced on him once more. At the last second, he grasped the diamond blade and swung it at the creature, slicing it cleanly in half and reducing it to dust.
Before having a second to recover, he was violently yanked off of the ground by a cold decaying hand that wrapped around his throat. Being lifted off of his feet, the Doctor choked for air as he quickly looked into a zombie's cold eyes. Not hesitating another second as he felt the blood rushing to his head and his windpipe getting crushed, he thrust his sword into the corpse, sending it backward, thus dropping the Doctor to the ground in a heap. The creature howled in pain with the blade still embedded in its abdomen. The Doctor scrabbled to his feet, gripped the hilt of his sword, and kicked the monster back. The quick motion ripped the weapon out of the zombie and the mob disintegrated upon impact with the ground.
The low sound of a guttural growl alerted the Time Lord's ears behind him and he whipped around to see another undead corpse bringing down a stone sword in a swift striking motion. Quickly, he brought up his sword in a defense, but the zombie stopped abruptly, its black eyes glazing over. A heart-stopping second passed before it fell to the floor with an arrow protruding from its skull, slowly being reduced to dust.
The Doctor looked around in perplexity until his gaze rested on Dragon reborn9 holding his bow once again wearing a friendly smirk as he said, "You got to keep up, come on!" The gamer then turned and knocked a spider off of its feet with a crushing blow from his bow and sunk an arrow into the creature's underbelly, which earned the gamer a loud screech of pain from his adversary.
Taking the encouragement, the Doctor braced himself and set his sights on the next foe that came his way. A creeper was charging towards him and hissed viciously in defiance. "Come on!" The Doctor shouted in an almost taunting fashion. The mob hissed again and came within a few feet before pulsating with an ethereal bright green.
Having dealt with these before, the Doctor had timed the detonation from the previous encounter.
Five seconds. He stood his ground, the creeper coming closer with each moment. Don't move, four seconds…three…two…. At the last moment he ducked and rolled to the opposite side a few feet from the creature just before the detonation. The explosion decimated a large grouping of skeletons and spiders in the vicinity of the blast, but the shock wave sent him a few feet further than he anticipated and back into the opposite wall. He could painfully feel pebble shrapnel tear into his back and his head suddenly felt like someone had filled it with liquid lead. A loud ringing filled the noise of battle around the Doctor as it and a numbness enveloped his senses.
He lay in a daze facing the brawl before him. Dragon reborn9 was fighting off another zombie with his sword and kicked back at a spider behind him. Finishing off the zombie with a decapitating blow, the gamer noticed another creeper emerge from behind and come forward. Looking back to see the spider launch itself at him again, Dragon ducked and pushed the spider overhead into the creeper just before detonation. Being far enough from the blast zone, Dragon remained mostly unscathed and turned his attention to a large horde of zombies.
You have to get up. A little voice at the back of the Doctor's head told him, Dragon reborn9 may be fast and strong, but he can't face all of the rest alone. You lay here any longer, you'll be dead too.
Slowly and reluctantly, the Doctor shook his head to clear away the fogginess and propped himself up on his elbow, painfully lifting his form off of the cold earth. One of the zombies coming after Dragon caught sight of the no longer lifeless body and began lumbering after it.
Grabbing for his diamond sword once more, the Doctor limped heavily but determinedly over to the undead. It growled and groaned at his approach and swung a lazy arm at him in an attack. Seizing the opportunity, the Doctor grabbed the arm and pulled the zombie towards him, catching it off balance and thrusting his sword right through it, the corpse going limp before turning to dust.
Feeling like his movement was on automatic, but his mind elsewhere, the Doctor increased his speed and agility in his motions as he used the momentum of attacks to his advantage. Dragon reborn9 was fighting for his life now as the horde closed in on him. The Doctor charged and kicked one of the zombie's legs out from under it and stabbed its falling form in the back, killing it instantly. Using the gained momentum, he threw his body at another decrepit form into the wall, smashing its head in as it crumpled to the floor. The advancing zombies remaining looked slightly more reluctant in their persistent attack.
Taking the advantage of the distraction, Dragon reborn9 stabbed at one with his sword and kicked its sprawling form in the side, sending it into its lumbering comrades. The Doctor slashed at another in a swift and deft stroke, finishing the zombie off before it hit the stone floor. The few remaining fell prey to Dragon's blade and were killed on the spot, falling to the earth in a crumpled heap.
A silence enveloped the battle ground as the final corpses hit the floor and disintegrated. Snapping his gaze back and forth in search for more hostiles, but finding none, the Doctor's new strength and adrenaline immediately drained from his body as fast as it had come. His eyelids grew heavy and he faintly heard the clattering of his sword hit the ground as his legs buckled beneath him and his vision was filled with darkness before he hit the tunnel floor.
"Doctor, Doctor, wake up." The voice was distant and filled with anxiety. The Doctor groaned as his mind slipped away from the comforting lulls of unconsciousness and became more present in his painful reality. A headache was beginning a slow build to the forefront of his skull where its pounding grew in strength. Reluctantly opening his eyes, the time traveler's vision was blurry and all he could see was the faint outline of Dragon reborn9 and warm torchlight. Letting a few seconds pass for his eyes to focus, he grunted a short response to the player to let him know he was alive.
The gamer breathed out a heavy sigh of relief. "Are you okay?" Shutting his eyes once more to make the headache subside, the Doctor suddenly felt a wave of pain sweep his back and a sharp sting erupt from his ribs. The acute pain sent him sitting up quickly, eyes flying open in the shock which made his head swim and nausea course through his senses. He groaned at the pain and hissed as his side burned angrily in retaliation once more. Looking now at Dragon reborn's puzzled expression, he somewhat regained his composure and leaned back against the wall again.
"How long…was I out." He managed to croak out. His voice sounded terrible, as if he'd spent his time gargling gasoline and smoking three packs of cigarettes a day for the past twenty years.
"About five minutes. Here, don't move."
The Doctor didn't need to be told twice and stayed perfectly still. Five minutes? It felt like he'd been unconscious for much longer than that. Maybe the player was answering from his perspective. If he was out for five minutes to the gamer, then he must have been out for at least an hour here in the Doctor's view of time.
The Doctor pushed the thought to the back of his mind and watched Dragon reborn9 pull out a glass bottle filled with a red syrup-y substance with the consistency of coagulating blood. Eyeing it carefully, the Doctor looked back to the gamer, asking, "What's that-?" A coughing fit racked his frame momentarily and he covered his mouth to keep from yelling in pain from ribs. Withdrawing his hand once the fit subsided, he was met with an array crimson specks.
Dragon waited patiently for the Doctor to recover until saying, "It's a potion of healing. Not as good as regeneration, but I think we'll wait until a more desperate time. Here." He handed the Time Lord the bottle who accepted it reluctantly.
Pulling out the cork, a sour smell of rotting fruit and sulfuric fumes assaulted his nose and he recoiled from the stench.
"Oh, don't be such a wuss, just drink it." The gamer said impatiently.
Not taking another moment to examine the beverage any further, the Doctor guzzled the healing tonic and was pleasantly surprised to find that he tasted sweet summer watermelon rather than the bitter liquid form of what he had smelled.
"Not that terrible." He managed to chuckle out without regressing back into another coughing fit. Dragon reborn9 simply smiled and took the empty glass back. "Come on," The player said, getting up and walking over to the tunnel they were digging before the attack. "Let's get back to work."
Before the Doctor could protest, a sudden warm feeling enveloped him as if someone had thrown a big electric blanket over his huddled form. He could feel his broken ribs being restored to their natural states and the faint clicks and patters of pebbles came to his ears behind him. Craning his neck over to his shoulder, he glimpsed the remainder of shrapnel fall out of his back that healed over with new skin. Once some extra minor injuries were healed, the warmth subsided leaving a renewed strength and vigor in the Time Lord.
He got up eagerly from the stone floor and shook out any last traces of fatigue and looked around the tunnel. Catching sight of his diamond sword laying on the ground beside him, he picked it up and sent it back to his inventory. Sighing in short content at the strength and energy in his limbs, he summoned his pickaxe and made his way over to the wall where Dragon reborn was once again chipping away the rock. The two dug in silence for a few minutes, only letting the sound of crumbling rock and clanging of iron fill the tunnel.
Looking out of the corner of his eye, the Doctor noticed that Dragon was stealing glances in his direction over the course of their digging. Finally, after this happened for the eighth time, the Doctor stopped digging abruptly and faced the gamer, saying, "Alright, what is it?"
The player continued hacking away at the wall but said in slight surprise, "What? Nothing."
"You've been looking at me for the past twenty minutes, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing. I was just…concerned, you know? You were offline for minutes and you didn't say a word or anything. Then all of a sudden your back and you sounded shaky. So yeah, you kind of weirded me out."
The Doctor realized at that moment that this wasn't necessarily a true human being he was talking to. This was likely some young adult talking to him through an audio message in a whole other plane of reality. The man of flesh and blood he was talking to now wasn't even technically real, just the result of graphics, programming, and his placement in the game.
An awkward silence that was only broken by Dragon's digging enveloped the moment until the gamer said, "By the way, thanks for helping me back there."
The Doctor smiled, relieved for a break in the tension and a side subject, and said, "You're welcome."
As soon as the words left his lips, Dragon reborn9 had broken away a small section of rock that revealed rays of light that poured out from the opening, momentarily shocking both of them in a stunned silence.
Dragon reborn9 and the Doctor shared a look of surprise before the two started digging fervently around the opening, creating a large whole big enough for them to fit through. Once the dust settled, the Doctor stepped forward into a brightly lit room with clean white quartz tiling and white walls dappled with blocks of emerald and diamond. Small decorative trees were placed in the corners of the room with wooden benches and tables for comfortable decor. But at the center of the room sat an elegant fountain that poured out water into its basin making quaint music with the pitter-patters of trickling water.
Taking only mere seconds for the Doctor to absorb, he rushed over to the fountain and tested the water's drinkability before accepting it gratefully. Behind him he heard Dragon's awed, "Holy crap…" as the gamer entered the area. After taking his drink, the Doctor turned and saw Dragon reborn making his way over to one of the diamond blocks that sat in the frame of the wall. The gamer pulled out his ax and nearly swung at it before the Doctor shouted, "No! I wouldn't touch it. This could be someone's place for all we know."
The gamer paused and turned his attention to the Doctor. "That's what I'm counting on. Technically, it's their fault, they just left this here."
"That's probably why they live nine miles underground, so no one can take it."
"Doc, people live down underground in pvp servers mostly just so they can live filthy rich lives on the survival for a challenge. Trust me, they'll be fine if I take just one part of their wall out."
"You said you don't even like expensive things."
"I said I don't like showing off elitist weaponry. Doesn't mean that I still can't get a ton of extra supplies with this one block." Dragon shrugged with his pickaxe and waited for another objection from the Doctor who just stood there mulling over whether or not the argument would be worth fighting for. Waving the gamer off in resolution, the Doctor said, "Oh fine, but just the one. We don't want any more upset players chasing our tails." Dragon nodded in appreciation and said before going to his prize, "There's a door by the side wall. Why don't you go scout ahead for players or traps and I'll be there in a minute?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes and nodded, walking over to the back of the pristine room and arrived at a birch door, opening it to reveal another enormous chamber. The room had a high cobblestone ceiling, oak wood flooring, and brick walls that were covered with paintings. Tables and chairs crowded the vicinity of the room and booths lined the walls. A bar sat at the far end of the room and held furnaces, chests, and brewing stations ready to be used. The room smelled like a musty, but somewhat home-y, country diner.
The restaurant environment painfully reminded him how long he'd gone without food and his growling stomach was only an irksome reminder. I might as well look…He told himself, I don't know how much longer I'll have to go with the provisions I have and I'd rather not waste them while I have an entire kitchen at my disposal. Besides, I don't think the owner would notice if a few bits of food went missing…. I'll just leave him a note.
He walked over behind the bar and opened one of the chests, his jaw dropping at the sight before him. The chest was, for lack of a better expression, bigger on the inside. The bottom was at least a full arm's length down (with an extra stretch) and the sides were covered in organized shelves, containers, and compartments for adequate food storage. Laughing at his luck, the Doctor rummaged through the box finding all the necessaries as well as cake, pumpkin pie, cookies, golden apples, smoked salmon, and even lamb chops. Choosing a few selections and making sure that there was enough left over, he went over to one of the booths and dug in. Although he would have in better circumstances cooked an elaborate dish using his culinary talents, he was too exhausted and hungry to muster up the inspiration. Besides, he wasn't trying to impress anyone and all he really needed were a few morsels.
A few minutes later, Dragon reborn9 entered the diner and took in the surroundings with newfound glee. Once his gaze landed on the Doctor who sat at one of the tables enjoying a meal, he snorted in short contempt, saying, "Oh yeah, and I could only take one diamond block while you raid the whole kitchen."
"Oy," The time traveler said in a defense, "I didn't take any of the good stuff, just some of the common essentials."
Dragon made his way over to the seat on the opposite side of the table where the Doctor sat. "So I suppose we're going to be justifying all the reasons why we're taking stuff from now on, huh?"
"Probably." As much as he didn't want to admit, he really wanted to take advantage of the new atmosphere. There was no way of telling when they'd get another heaven-sent opportunity like this again. As long as they were careful of not looting the entire place and to leave it as clean as they had found it, they would have less of a risk of being caught by whoever lived here. Just don't try justifying everything you do. It could lead to a bad habit of taking lots of things you don't need. Plus, you need to get to Clara. The annoying little voice at the back of his mind reminded him.
Once he had finished eating his fill, he got up and said, "I'm going to explore this place. Just seeing how big it is. If we're lucky, this could just be our ticket to finding Clara."
Dragon looked up, "What makes you say that?"
"This place could be enormous for all we know. If it stretches on in the right direction, we might have less digging to do."
Dragon reborn9 got up at this and said, "Well, I'll come with you. We better stick together if you're suggesting this place is as big as you say. Besides, I might find some more supplies along the way."
The Doctor rolled his eyes, "I thought you were all set."
The gamer shrugged. "Doesn't mean I can't use more. Now come on!" Dragon bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet and rushed toward the door that would lead them deeper into the underground home.
The Doctor paused before going after him, a broad smile coming to his features before he followed the gamer. Maybe we're catching a big break after all… He thought. Come on, a giant underground sanctuary that could lead us strait to Clara days ahead of schedule? What's not to celebrate a little?