Terrarium

Chapter 1

Where am I? Dusty wondered to himself. He tried to get up but he couldn't move. His entire body was paralyzed. But soon he regained movement of his hand. Then his arm, chest, and legs. He got up and looked around. Then he realised that his arm was severely injured. The skin was rubbed off like a giant rug burn. "I've got to fix that." He ripped off a part of his shirt and tied it around it. It stung horribly but it kept any more dirt from getting in. Soon, he started walking and surveying. Soon, a gravel road slowly revealed itself. "Is that a path?"Dusty wondered.

"One way to find out. Surely I'll find a town or village." But as he said this the bushes behind him rustled.

"Huh?" He said. Then a figure walked out of the bushes. She was wearing a Dave Matthews Band shirt and jeans but there was a large cut on her shoulder.

"Who are you?" Asked Dusty.

"My name-." She started but then doubled over in pain.

"Is your shoulder okay?"

"Well, It's just a little cut."

"Hold on a sec." Said Dusty. He pulled off another part of his shirt and wrapped it around her shoulder. Then he secured the knot by pulling on both ends.

"Thanks." She said. "My name is Alex, What's yours?"

For a second he wondered what to do. Then he came to my senses and told her my name as well. "Anyway, Do you know where we are?"

"No idea."

"Well, maybe we should climb a tree and look around."

"Good Idea."

Then the two walked into a forest and climbed to the top of a tree. "I think I can see a road." Said Dusty "Hopefully, we can find civilization." The duo climbed down from the tree and walked to the path. "It looks like some sort of gravel road." Remarked Dusty. "I wonder where it goes." As the two friends walked down the path the birds sang in the trees, The sun was shining, and the leaves on the trees were red and yellow showing signs of fall. I just realised that I wrote the word "Tree" like, a million times. Sorry.

Anyway… *crunch crunch crunch* The gravel crunched beneath their feet. "Can I ask you something, Alex?"

"Sure."

"Have you ever- *CRASH* "What was that?!" exclaimed Alex

"I don't know, but I don't want to find out. RUN!" Then Dusty spirited away down the path with Alex on his heels. Soon the thing that they heard burst out of the bushes. "Oh." It's just a little green blob." Said Alex. Then the two sighed with relief. But as they sat down the blob lept toward Dusty and caught him off guard. It collided into him with stunning force and sent him flying into Alex. They both slammed into the ground with a thud. Dusty jumped up and a sword materialised in his hand. He leapt at the slime and swung his sword down on the little green blob, Killing it instantly. When it died it dropped a little bit of blue slime.

"How did you do that, Dusty?" Asked Alex

"I don't know." Replied Dusty. "Either way, we should find shelter fast."

"OK"

LATER….

As they were walking the path it started to rain. "Dang it, my clothes are getting wet." Said Alex.

"Look!" yelled Dusty,"A cave."

"Finally, somewhere dry."

And the two of them went to sleep.

"Where am I?" thought Dusty

"It has been a very long time, Dussssssty."

"Who are you, show yourself!"

"Ha, fine."

Then a 'snake like figure appeared through the fog.

"Coromon. How dare you show your face in my dream."

"*sigh* Dussssssssssty" Hissed Coromon. "I have replenissssssssshhhhhhhhed my power. And now I can finally haunt your dreamsssssssss once more."

"I killed you once, I can do it again."

"Not in MY dream you can't"

"Who said it was your dream."

"I jussssssssssstt did. And now I can finally kill you while you cannot harm me the ssssssssssslightest bit. Now feel the pain you put me through ten yearssssssssss ago!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Dusty! DUSTY!"

"Wha-What? Alex?"

"You were screaming so I tried to wake you up."

"Oh thanks"

"What were you dreaming about?"

"Oh, an old dream that I had a while ago."

"OK. Well I also came to tell you that I found two other people while I was walking through the forest looking for firewood. LEO, SAMANTHA COME OUT!" Then a guy about Dusty's age walked out of the bushes next to a girl who looked to mybie be a year younger than him. Leo had on a Rolling Stones T-shirt with black sweatpants while Samantha had on a red T-shirt with jeans as well. "Wait a second, Is that you Leo?"

"Dusty?"

"You two know each other?" asked Alex

"Of course we do!" Dusty and Leo shouted in unison.

"Dusty is like, my best friend."

"If I may," Said Samantha "I think we should probably build a house before dark."

"OK, let's get started."

"How about Dusty and Alex go get wood. And me and Samantha will explore for chests."

"OK, Come on Dusty."

"OK."

Then Dusty and Alex went to gather wood while Alex was whistling a merry tune. "I love all of the silence."

"I do too." replied Dusty "It's almost like nothing is here except you, me and Kate."

"Speaking of Kate, What exactly is she?"

"Oh something that Leo created. Like a little digital servant or something. I don't know."

"Cool."

Then the silence between them continued.

Later…(again)

"Well this looks like a good spot to start. Do you want to help?"

"What do you mean, of course!"

*CHOP CHOP CHOP*"TIMBERRRRRR" Yelled Alex. Dusty jumped out of the way just in time and the tree slammed into the ground right where he was a second ago. Stunned Dusty stumbled farther away from the tree. "That almost killed me!"

"Sorry."Said Alex. Her face warming up. "Let's collect it."

"Just like you to just change the subject. Fine."Said Dusty in a sarcastic tone

Dusty grabbed his axe and started cutting the tree into smaller pieces. Strangely enough, the axe cut through the tree like butter. Almost as if it had something to do with magic. "I never knew that an axe could cut through wood this easily. It almost makes the wood feel like butter." "I know." replied Alex "I think I may know why."Chimed in Kate. We are in Terraria so the programmers made it easier than normal life incase this ever did happen. So you have them to thank so that it doesn't take you five days to cut down one tree."

"Thanks for the praise Kate." Dusty said sarcastically. Then the two friends continued cutting down trees.

While they were doing that Leo and Samantha were exploring the world to cover more space on their map and to look for caves and chests. "I feel like I know you." Said Leo. "I do too." Replied Samantha.

"Oh I remember!"Said Samantha. "You were the boy I was good friends with in like third grade."

"Oh yea! Remember that time we took the bolt out of the teachers chair and it totally fell apart."

"That was great! I remember when we skipped school with Dusty and played Minecraft all day."

"Yea, Those were the days."

"We should still be friends."

"What do you mean? Aren't we already friends?"

"I mean, like."

"Like what?"

"Never mind."

"Hey if there is anything you want to tell me you can tell me I won't judge."

*crunch crunch* It was evidently fall with all of trees covered in red and orange leaves. "Apparently terraria has seasons. I never noticed it."

"Well, Terraria has had an update since you last played it." Said Kate.

"Oh, that makes sense." said Samantha.

"Look! A chest!" Exclaimed Leo.

"Let's check it out!"

Then the two hustled over to the chest and opened it. "Awesome! Climbing claws, iron, and iron skin potion."Shouted Samantha.

"LOOK OUT!" Screamed Kate. Leo instinctively leapt to the side just as a disgusting creature crashed into the ground where he was just seconds before. "WHAT IS THAT!?" screamed Samantha.

"That's a crinmeria, a creature made of magic and very destructive. It is native to the crimson. I advise you run." replied Kate.

"RUN THEN." Yelled Leo. Just as he said this the crinmeria had recovered from it's failed attack and was flying straight at Samantha. "NO!" Yelled Leo and he drew his sword and slashed the crinmeria strait across the face. It let out a terrifying screech as orange liquid oozed out of the enormous gash. " Take that!" But the crinmeria was upon him in seconds and had driven him into the ground. Leo immediately felt a shock of pain and instinctively impaled its eye. The crinmeria then gilded out of the divot that it had driven Leo into and charged at Samantha. Leo started to get out of the hole but he couldn't feel his hand. As he looked at it he saw that it wasn't there. He saw wisps of light blue were climbing up his arm and were dissolving him. He ran at the crinmeria and slashed at it once again this time with his left arm because his right arm aws no longer there. The crinmeria let out a horrid screech. And then it dissolved much faster than Leo was but it was red instead of blue. Samantha ran over to him and asked if he was okay.

"Do I look like I'm okay?"

"Listen," Said Kate "You need to eat a mushroom to restore your HP."

Good, I have some in my bag." Replied Samantha "Hold on." Then Samantha

produced an orange and tan spotted mushroom. Leo thanked her and bit into the mushroom. It tasted like cardboard, but he managed it down. "I think that's enough exploring for one day." Said Leo.

"I Agree." agreed Samantha.

As the friends gradually came back the sun slowly crept across the sky until it was almost night. " How was your trip?" asked Dusty. "Not so good." replied Leo," I almost died but Kate told us about restoring health.

"Yes I did, but still, you need a house and I don't think they build themselves." commented Kate, boasting a little bit.

"Fine, fine." Said Leo. "Dusty, You get the walls and anvil. Samantha, Work on doors, the crafting table, and torches. Alex, get better swords and armor with the wood we have left. I'll keep a lookout for any monsters and I'll try to shoot them with my bow and arrows. Now, let's get to work!"

"All right!" sad everybody except Leo.

"I already made everybody a wooden broadsword so I'll start on the armor." Said Alex,"But keep your copper short swords so we can sell them when we get a merchant." "Good thinking Alex." Said Dusty. Soon the crew had finished the house with 3 rooms. One for Dusty and Leo, one for Alex and Samantha, and one for Scott, the guide.

"The guide?" asked Alex.

"They say there is a person in this land that will help you survive. Oh wait, that's me."

"What?" said Samantha "Who said that?"

"Me, of course." Then a hooded figure jumped down from a tree and landed right next to Alex.

"W-who are y-you?" She stuttered.

"My name is Scott." He said "And I met your friend Leo while he was on the lookout."

"I would have told you sooner but you were all busy so I thought that I would tell you when you were done. Is that cool?"

"Yea I guess so." Said Samantha

"Yeh sure."Agreed Dusty and Alex.

"Grooooaaaaannn."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Screamed Alex and Samantha.

"It was just a zombie." Said Dusty casually

"A ZOMBIE!?" They screamed again.

"Wow, they really can't adapt to anything at all."

"You are definitely right there."

"BUT AREN'T ZOMBIES SUPPOSED TO BE IN MOVIES!" Yelled Alex

"We are in a video game."

"Can you just kill them please?" Whined Samantha

"Fine, But I'll still have fun!"

After saying this, Dusty unsheathed his wooden broadsword and put on his wooden boots and chestplate. Leo copied him and Scott drew his bow and arrows. "I sure hope this goes well."thought Dusty "On three."He said. "One… Two… THREE!" Then they opened the door and rushed out. A zombie lumbered toward Dusty and he swung his sword and slashed open it's chest. He looked over to see how Leo was doing and saw that he was struggling against a pack of zombies and an eye thingy. Dusty rushed over and lopped off three zombies heads. Then Leo stabbed another zombie and killed it while Scott was keeping the eyes at bay with his bow. Soon all of the monsters had been disposed of and the trio walked back inside. "Are they gone?" Asked a very frightened Alex.

"Yes." Replied Dusty "And I got you a souvenir." And he held up one of the dead eyes. "AHHHHHHHHHH!" Screamed both of the girls and they fled to their room and jumped under the blanket and stayed there shuddering for several minutes. Amusement glittered in Dusty's eyes and he burst into laughter. "Will they ever stop being such scaredy cats?" Asked Dusty.

"I don't think so!" Replied Leo.

"Heyyyyyyyyyy!"Whined Samantha "Thought it was still alive."

"But how could it be alive when it was a zombie?"

"W-wh-never mind!" Said Samantha.

"Can we just go to sleep?" "OK"Agreed Dusty, Scott and Leo.

"You again."

"I grow ssstronger every day, you know. Ssssssssoon I shall be able to enter into the real world and reshape it in my own image!" Then the zombies and demon eyes the he had killed earlier appeared in a circle around him.

"A couple of zombies won't stop me you know!"

Then he launched himself at the nearest zombie and swung his sword but to his surprise his sword passed through the enemy as though it were made of air. "H-how?"

"In a dream you can't attack them. You can't even touch them! HAHAHA! Now my ssslaves, ATTACK!" Then the monsters all lunges at him and he jumped to the side just in time, but an eye was upon him before he could think and charged him in the chest and sent him sprawling even though he couldn't touch it. He collected himself just in time to dodge yet another eye and ran as fast as he could. But he stopped dead in his tracks as a forty foot drop blocked his path. "There issssss no essssscape for you!" Hissed Coromon"Jussssssst give up!"

"Never!" he replied and jumped. He felt air whistling in his hair and felt a surge of adrenaline.

"GET HIM!" Screamed Coromon. To his surprise, he landed without any pain at all. As if he were as light as a feather. Then he took off running again as fast as his legs could carry him. He heard Coromon yelling orders to his monsters in the distance and the groaning and hissing of the zombies and demon eyes. Soon he could hear the trampling of their feet getting closer and his energy slowly giving way.

"No! I can't stop! I know, I'll drink a speed potion!" He reached into his inventory and pulled out a speed potion and popped off the lid. Then he slowly drank the bitter, green liquid until it was all gone. But something was wrong! Instead of feeling a sudden burst of energy he felt a dull, nothing.

"NoNoNO! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

Then bright sunlight filtered into his eyes and the horrible dream was gone. "That was worse than last time." He stood up and took in his surroundings. Everything was normal. "Good. Last time I had a dream as bad as that one I was trapped in a prison cell." "BREAKFAST!" Yelled a familiar voice. "Coming!" Dusty replied. It was good to hear the comforting voice of Samantha, after such a terrifying dream. He quickly threw on a t-shirt and some pants and walked into the kitchen(A room that they added after the fight but before they went to sleep) The sweet aroma of pancakes wafted into his nose and he rushed over to the table as Samantha set down a plate. He took his fork and cut a small piece off. Then he lifted the delicious morsel into his mouth and bit down. "Wow! These are great! I never knew you were such a good cook!"

"Yea! These are delicious." Agreed Leo.

"Where is Alex?"

"Oh, she's still asleep. I thought I would let her sleep in."

"Good idea. She can get seriously cranky when she doesn't sleep in." Chimed Leo. *Squeeeeaaaak*

"Look whos awake. Miss sleepy head finally woke up." Annoyance flashed in Alex's eyes.

"Oh shut up."

"We got pancakes." Said Dusty

"PANCAKES!" Then Alex sprinted to the table and tucked into her pancakes. "YUMMY!"

"Um Alex."

"What?"

"The pancakes are all gone."

"What?! How?"

"You ate them."

"Awwwwww…"

"Oh stop whining."Said Scott

"Anyway, let's get going, we have a big day ahead of us."

"Agreed." And so the group collected their supplies for the day. Completely oblivious to the danger that they would encounter on the long twisted road ahead.

"So, what should we do today?" Asked Alex.

"We should look for lead, iron and tin."

"Yea, we should split up as well."

They ended up deciding that Dusty would go with Leo and Scott. And Samantha would go with Alex.

"See you guys later."

"Bye."

Then the groups parted. I wonder what we'll encounter this time? Should I tell Scott and Leo about the crinmeria?"

"Good question, I think you should tell him." Thanks Kate. I guess it wouldn't hurt. "Hey guys…"

"Look! iron!"

"Good find Leo." Replied Scott

"Let's dig it up!"

"All right!"

I guess I could tell them later…

"Hey, come on and help us Dusty."

"OK" Dusty moved over and pulled out his pickaxe. Then he started to mine the iron. The methodical *tink tink tink tink* Of the copper pickaxe slowly eating away at the dirt while just barely hitting the precious metal to make the smallest sound. Soon enough, hit after hit, the team had hacked away enough dirt to dislodge the iron. "This should be enough to make at least two swords."

"Good."

Alex and Samantha were walking in the forest while talking…

"Alex, can I ask you something?"

"Shure."

"Do you like Dusty?"

"N-no." Though the fact that her face was turning bright pink told a different story."Why do you need to know?"

"Oh, no reason. But if you do anything like praking me, I will tell him."

"Fine. Let's get to work."

Later...

"Did you get any metal? Cause we did."

"We got like, ten pieces of ore."

Leo let out a long sigh. "Well at least we have a good amount. Do we have a furnace?"

"No but we should all have enough stuff. Right? I have fifteen stone and three wood."

"I have five stone, three torches, and seven wood."Said Dusty

"I don't have anything because I'm an NPC and don't have an inventory."Said Scott.

"I have two torches and ten wood."Said Alex

"I have three stone, two torches, and one wood."

"Then we should have enough. I'll craft it." Then he collected the ites for his friends and Dusty set them on the workbench. Then, almost by majik. They started to glow. And glowed brighter and brighter until they had to look away and when they looked back. There was a miniature furnace. Dusty picked it up and set it on the ground next to the workbench and it almost instantly grew to the size of a real furnace. Strangely though, even though it was glowing brightly, it was not giving off any heat at all. "Now we can melt the ore into bars and make more stuff."

The next morning, the friends decided to go exploring. "We should stick together this time. In case anything happens." late last night, they had crafted an iron sword for Dusty and an iron chestplate for Leo. The rest except for Leo, had bows and wooden swords. They decided to keep their old stuff in case they could sell it to any other NPCs. "Well we better get a move on so we can do some good before it gets dark."Said Dusty

"Yea, I don't want to see anymore stupid, ugly, no good, turdface…"

Leo let out a long sigh. "We won't see any zombies if you stop complaining and get ready."

"Good."

Then the group set out to explore.

"This is not a bad as I thought." Said Alex and as she said this a slime hopped out of a bush. "AAAAHHHHH!" Screamed Alex and Samantha and they ran away.

"Seriously? HEY ALEX AND SAMANTHA! COME BACK! IT WON'T HURT YOU!" Yelled Leo

"But it will." Said Dusty. "It's an enemy after all." Slowly, Alex and Samantha crept back.

"Is it g-gone?"Asked Alex.

"Of course not! It's right there."Said Scott.

"WHAAAAT!? WHY DID YOU CALL US BACK WHEN IT WAS STILL HERE!"Yelled Samantha

"Watch this."Said Leo and he poked the slime lightly and it instantly died.

"How are you scared of that?"

"W-well." The girls pondered this for a moment before giving up. "Fine." Said Alex with a dry tone. "It wasn't that scary. I guess it was just a little blob." As she said this a throwing knife thunked into the ground where the slime was.

"What's this?" Asked Dusty

"I think it's a throwing knife."

"No dip sherlock. But where did it come from?"

"Where do you think?" Said a rumbly voice. Then an old man stepped into the clearing. "My name is Matt. Nice to meet you."

"What a way to greet somebody. Just toss a knife at them." Said Samantha under her breath. Surprisingly, though he was old, Matt's hearing was exceptional and he captured every word of it.

"Mind you, Miss snoopy pants but I was throwing it at the slime not you." "Aaaaannyway. What do you do?" Asked Leo

"I can sell you stuff like an anvil or healing potions or you can sell me stuff that you don't need. You should have some coins from killing that slime so why don't you buy something?"

"Well, How much money do we have all together?" In the end, they had two silver coins and seven copper coins.

"What can we buy with this?"Asked Alex.

"Well, I can give you four healing potions and you will have about… seven copper left over."

"Thanks."Said Dusty "Now if your ever being attacked by a zombie and are low on health you can drink this and it will restore some of your health."

"I'm going to be attacked by a zombie!?"

And the girls ran off again. Dusty's eyes glittered with amusement and he chuckled under his breath. The girls ran all the way back to the house then ran into their room. There they stayed for about ten minutes before poking their heads out the door.

Meanwhile, in the depths of the world. An evil was planning to strikeout at them.

"They have not gotten very far." Said a rumbly voice. It sounded like rusty gears grinding out words. "We must eliminate them quickly before they can advance too far." "Very well sir."

That night, Dusty had a strange feeling. Like something was watching him. He got out of bed and walked into the kitchen. To his surprise, Alex was there too. "Guess you couldn't sleep either huh."

"Nah. I almost feel like something is watching me."

"Me too."

The silence between them continued only to be broken by the wind blowing against the house and the trees dancing upon a starlit night. "I'm glad that we get some calm time set apart from all the killing zombies and mining."

"I agree."

The silence was broken by the floorboards creaking and footsteps walking toward them. Soon, Samantha appeared from the darkness. "Oh, sorry. Did I interrupt a couple lovebirds?"

"No!"

"Whatever." Said Samantha dismissively. "Do you guys get the feeling that your being watched by something?"

"Totally." Replied Dusty

Then an ear splitting roar cut through the quiet night like a knife through butter. "The Eye Of Cthulhu has awakened!"Yelled Kate

Leo, Scott, and Matt came sprinting into the room like lightning.

"It's The Eye Of Cthulhu!"Yelled Dusty. The wind was howling outside.

"Get your stuff!" Leo screamed over the wind. "We need to kill it!"

"What do we do?" Alex asked in a desperate tone.

"Fight it! Let's Go!"

Then they rushed out and faced their fate. The Main boss was surrounded by lots of smaller eyes that were rushing at them. Dusty jumped forward and slashed at the smaller eye and it turned into little blue particles. Then he sidestepped another eye and cut through three more into blue bits. He nodded to Leo, Alex, and Samantha and they launched themselves at the big eye and slashed at it as many times that they could. When Dusty turned around the eye was charging at him. He tried to jump in time, but the eye caught him and drove him into the ground. "DUSTY!" Yelled Alex then she unleashed a flurry of arrows at the eye. It floated up and started to spin around. Alex rushed over to Dusty as he got out of the hole the eye had driven him into. "Are you OK Dusty?" Asked Alex.

"Yea, I'm fine." replied Dusty, though his body did not agree. He coughed up blood and heaved. "I-I'm ok. Don't let me slow you down."

"Look out!" Said Kate. The eye bulged, and exploded in a blood filled explosion. It had also gone through a transformation. It had teeth where the pupil had been and you could see the dried blood of its earlier victims on its yellow fangs. It charged at Leo and drove him into the ground it then passed into the ground and disappeared from sight. Leo's forehead was plastered with blood. "Where did it go?" Asked Dusty. As he said this the eye exploded out of the grassy terrain, dirt showered the group. Alex leapt forward and stabbed it several times before it shook her off. Thick red blood oozed out of the cut marks. Dusty drew his bow and shot an arrow at it. In mid flight, the missile burst into flame. The fire arrow struck the eye and it burst into flame. It let out an ear piercing screech and shot at Dusty. He jumped out of the way just it time to see the eye slam into the ground where he was only seconds before. Then he swung his sword at it and severed a long cut. Deep maroon blood exploded onto his face. He coughed out the bronze tasting liquid and swung again. His sword stuck deep into the creature. He pulled it out just in time before it flew up into the air and took his sword with it. It slowly lost its mass. THen, it disappeared into a small trail of black mist. "What happened to it?" Dusty croaked out. Then he saw the bright sun shining across the mist.

"The su-un."

"Is everybody OK?" Asked Alex.

"I hit my head and cut my hand." Said Leo.

"I have a nasty cut on my stomach and a scratch on my arm." Said Alex.

"I got a stab in my leg." Said Samantha.

"Where's Dusty?" asked Alex.

"I'm fine." Dusty said. He was visabally hurt, though, having many scratches and bruises. So Alex gave him a healing potion.

"Hi." Says a high pitched voice.

"Wa-" The group turned around and saw a very peculiar person.

"Im the dryad." Said the girl. She looked like my grammy, except minus the old looking stuff. And all of the dirt and leaves. She was literally wearing a shirt that had different types of leaves sewn onto it.

"I can sell you stuff like dirt." She said. Then she giggled at Leo's confused expression. "And I can buy acorns at a higher price, give you things like purity dust and leaf wands, and yea. Lots of cool stuff."

"Ohhhhhh, That makes more sense." Said Leo. "But why and how did you get here?"

"Oh, well I got here because you defeated your first boss and as for the last question, I don't know. I guess I just sort appeared here." Replied the dryad.

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, But I AM TIRED!" Yelled a grumpy Alex.

"Jeez OK ok." Said Leo, "Calm down. I guess it is sort of late though. We should get to bed." "Agreed." Said all the other friends in unison.

"But where should the guide and dryad sleep?" Asked Samantha.

"Why can't Scott and Matt sleep with the boys and the dryad sleep with us?" Suggested Alex.

"That sounds wonderful except for one thing."Said the Dryad.

"What?"

"We don't need to sleep."

"What? Why not?"

"Were entities." Said Scott

"Oh."

The next morning, Dusty woke up and felt a slight numbness in his arm.

I must have slept on it strangely. He slowly trudged into the kitchen.

"Hey." Said Dusty.

"Morning." Replied Leo.

"What day is it?"

"I dunno."

The floor creaked behind them and Samantha turned the corner

"Good morning!" She chirped.

"How are you so full of energy in the morning."

"Well excuse me."

Dusty sat down at the kitchen counter and grabbed an apple.

"We should have a sort or routine." Said Alex. Who was behind Dusty. She walked up to the table and leaned in towards everybody. "So we have some sort of structure to the day.

"Well, what should we do first?"

"We need to increase our armor defence. So I would suggest we mine in the caves until we can fight another boss.

"Ok, let's go!"

Leo, Scott and Matt set out in search of caves. First, they climbed a hill that lead down into a valley with a surface cave.

"Nice, I'll get the torches." Said Scott.

"Don't worry, I got your back with throwing knives."

Leo leapt down into the cave first, but right after he hit the ground, something almost invisible slammed into him and sent him flying off his feet. He rolled out of the way just in time to miss the second attack. He stood up and surveyed his surroundings, then ducked his head to avoid the unseeable assailant. He was about to unsheathe his sword and confront his foe, when his foot slipped and sent him falling down a crevice. Adrenaline shot through him like a flood through a swamp. His head started spinning and his eyes flashed colors. He felt air rushing around him and tried to grab on to the wall, but he was falling too fast and the rocks crumbled as his hand came into contact with them. Suddenly, he felt coolness. He opened his squinted eyes and looked around. He had landed in a pool of fresh, blue water lit by the blue glow of the room. He saw blue mushrooms lining the walls and on shelves. He picked one up and examined it. He noticed a scratch on his arm from moments before, and he watched in amazement as the mushroom released some sopres towards his arm. The scratch disappeared as though it were never there.

"Are you OK!" Yelled Dusty

"Yea, I'm fine! I fell in an underground lake!"

"A what?"

"AN UNDERGROUND LAKE!" Shouted Leo at the top of his lungs.

"I'm coming down!"

"OK!"

Scott leapt down with a large splash, Matt soon followed. They explored the small cavern, picking up mushrooms along the way. Soon, they came to a large chunk of a yellow shimmering material.

"What's that?"

"I don't know."

They walked over to the yellow blob and inspected it.

"It's GOLD!"

"AWESOME!"

They immediately began swinging their pickaxes at the lump of shiny metal. They chiseled small pieces out of the gold until it was all in their inventory.

"How many pieces did we get?" Asked Matt

They emptied out their inventory of the gold and piled it all up.

"Twenty three. Nice!"

They put the gold into Leo's inventory and continued to explore the small cave. But to their surprise, there was nothing left. They decided to dig further into the ground. Getting further with every swing of their pickaxes.

"So, how do you think we could get out of here?" Asked Leo

"There was a legend that my mother told my when I was a child. The legend described the sun and the moon. She said that the two brothers, sun and moon, were the descendants of time. One day, moon grew weary of his normal life, so he went to the surface. It was so dull down here. It was always raining on the brown, lifeless world. He picked up some of the mud at his feet and began playing with it. He sculpted a little person like himself, and placed it at his side. The figure blinked and looked up at moon. He squeaked at him and touched his bare toe. The moon began to make hundreds of these little creatures. Soon, there were too many of the to count. He tried to organize them, but they kept killing each other. Moon decided he would have to be able to see all of them at all times, so he cupped some of the falling rain in his hands. He rolled the rain in his hands until it was close to that of an eyeball. He blessed it with eternal seeing, and placed it into his forehead. As soon as he did this, the sky grew dark. He felt the energy surge within him and he let out a blood curdling scream. The people ran from him and his brother, sun, came down to him and told him to stop.

"NO! I AM ALL-POWERFUL!"

The world began to crack and groan. Sun was pressed for things to stop his brother from destroying the world. He reached to his side for his sword and cleaved moon across his side. Just missing his heart. Moon fell to the ground and the sky brightened again. Moon was sealed away into the depths of the world, never to be seen again. Or so we thought. There was a group of cultists called the lunatic cultists. They worshiped the moon lord. They have been trying to break the seal that was keeping the moon lord inside his chamber. When they do this, the next night a lunar event will happen and at the end of it, the moon lord will come back and take revenge on his brother for stealing his creation. It is said that if he is defeated, there will be a gateway opened that will lead back to wherever the bearer of the Last Prism wants to."

Leo stood there motionless for a full ten seconds. "Wow." He said. "What was a LOT to take in. I guess It's our only chance at getting out of here."

"Yes, it may be our only chance, but that legend is more of a myth."

"Oh, well, we might as well hope it's true. For all of our sakes."

They continued mining until Matts pickaxe hit something solid. They brushed the dirt away to uncover a piece of wood.

"A chest?"

"Leo took out his axe and hacked away at the wood. He was surprised to find a small room that looked like an old living room. He was also startled when a slime attacked him. This slime was red, unlike the slimes that were green and blue. Leo leapt down and stabbed the slime, killing it instantly.

"Nice." Said Matt

"Look, there's a chest." Said Scott

Leo walked over to it while Matt and Scott dropped into the room. Leo reached into the brown box and pulled out a healing potion, a mirror, and a pair of boots.

"What are those?" Asked Scott.

"I don't know."

Leo gazed into the mirror and suddenly, he was back in his bed.

"Wh-what? How did I get here?"

"Hello?" Asked a voice.

"It's Leo."

"Oh, I didn't think you would get back so soon." And the dryad walked into his room, holding a plate she had been scrubbing. "Where's everybody else?"

"I think their back in the cave. I just got teleported here by a magic mirror."

"Oh-ok."

"And, you just don't seem to care?"

"Well, those magic mirrors are spread everywhere in the world, I wasn't surprised when you found one."

"Oh. I guess I'll wait here."

"Think you could help me with the dishes?"

"Yea, sure I guess."

Back in the cave, Matt and Scott were very confused.

"Where did he go!?" Yelled Scott

"I don't know."

"Maybe it had something to do with that mirror."

Matt walked over to the mirror and picked it up. Covering the shiny surface.

"It looks like a normal mirror." Then he noticed that there were blue particles floating around the object.

Matt placed the item into his backpack he was wearing. They continued walking down the cave. Scott was climbing further into the ground down a shaft when he heard a voice.

Come… to me…

He lost his grip on the stone wall and tumbled down the shaft. He saw the stone flashing by at he fell farther, and farther. He felt his body grow hot and he turned his head. The ground was yards away from him. He closed his eyes and waited for the bone-crushing surface of the underground floor for obliterate him, but it never did. The ground melted below him and covered him up as he fell. After what he thought was an eternity, the floor opened up again and he fell towards a lake of lava. He screamed and tried to move, but he couldn't. When he plunged into the lava, the heat felt like it would rip him apart. The pain was over soon, though, and he fell into an abyss. He stopped, and floated above an eternal blankness. He turned around and saw a figure. It was extremely pale from being underground for what looked like an eternity. If was only the torso of a man, with blue organs and blood falling out of him. He had eyes in the middle of both of his hands, four eyes on the from of his face, and one on his forehead. He had a hole in the middle of his chest which exposed most of his heart. Overall, he was a disgusting creature. After awhile, he spoke.

"I am what you may know as The Moon Lord."

"What!?"

"I said that I am The Moon Lord. I will spare your life if you will kill those stupid friends of yours."

"No way! Those are your friends!"

"Maybe I should sweeten the deal." He waved his hand, and a hole opened up. It exposed miles and miles of gold. "This can all be yours if you oblige."

Matt was amazed by this amazing mass of gold in front of him, so he agreed to the deal. The endless black landscape disappeared from Matt's vision and he was suddenly standing next to Scott.

"MATT!" Yelled Scott

"I'm right here."

"What, how did you get there?"

"Have fun in hell."

"What!?"

Then Matt stabbed him with his sword. Scott coughed and struggled. But he soon gave up. Matt ripped his backpack off of him, and took all of the things. He then kicked Scott's body off the edge and looked up.

Good, good.

"Thank you."

He looked into the mirror, and closed his eyes.

Meanwhile… Dusty, Alex, and Samantha were walking in a densely wooded area. A smooth surface with a harsh glint shimmered in the distance.

"What's that?"

"It looks like a sort of metal."

They jogged over to the shiny lump and inspected it.

"I think it's iron."

"At the surface?"

Alex heaved up her pickaxe and swung down. The pickaxe glanced off of the iron and slammed into Dusty's stomach. He stepped back and fell to the ground. Alex dropped her pickaxe to the ground and stared at him with a horrified face. Dusty pulled a healing potion out of his inventory. He swallowed the bitter liquid and gasped. The hole slowly disappeared and he stood up.

"Don't worry. It was a mistake."

Alex's face had grown very pale and she looked like she hadn't seen light in months. She wobbled and Dusty leaped forward. And caught her before she hit the ground.

"We should take her back to the house." Said Samantha.

"Hold on." Dusty said and opened her mouth. He grabbed a strange plant he had found earlier and cut the stem with his sword. He spilled a bit on his hand in the process. Strangely, the liquid seeped into his skin. He dropped the sap into her mouth and waited. She opened her eyes slowly and lifted her hand to block out the sun.

"H-hi Du-usty." She stammered.

"Hey, are you ok?"

"Y-yea. I-I'm fine."

"Can you stand up?"

"I don-n't think s-so."

"We should take her home." Said Samantha.

"I agree." Said Dusty,"OK, on three. One, two, three!"

And Dusty and Samantha pulled Alex up by her legs and back. Dusty walked forward and while Samantha walked backwards. Alex closed her eyes and they trudged for a while.

"Hold on, my arms are getting tired." Said Samantha. She set Alex on the ground and they rested for awhile.

"Dusty. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, fire away."

"So, before all this happened, I sort of, didn't have any friends. I would always see you hanging out with your friends, and I felt jealous. I was always sitting by myself at lunch. I never thought you might not think I was stupid."

"Why would I think you were stupid?"

"Well, because I wasn't part of your friend group. Then when you let me join your group and didn't cast me out. It really touched my heart."

"Don't say that. Your embarrassing me." Dusty cheeks grew red.

"I mean it. I was fully prepared to have to survive on my own."

"Well, thanks. I guess."

The sun was dipping down toward the edge of the horizon and alex yawned.

"We should get going again." Said Samantha.

"Ok." Dusty pushed his arms under Alex's back and heaved her up. The three continued on for awhile. Soon, Alex was asleep.

"I don't remember going this far from home."

"Me too."

"Me thr-ree." Mumbled Alex in her sleep.

"We might have to set up camp and wait for the morning."

"That sounds like a good idea. Based on what happened last night."

They set down Alex and sat on the ground.

"I left my blocks in the chest." Said Dusty.

"Alex, do you have anything?" Asked Samantha.

"I-I think so. But I can't think straight enough to open my inventory. Could one of yo-ou d-d-do it-t?" And she fell into Dusty's lap and went back to sleep.

"We don't have much time, so we need to act fast. I don't think there is any way to access someone else's inventory."

"I think there is a way, but it would be better for Samantha to do it."

"Kate?"

"I entered back into your consciousness while you were asleep."

"Oh, so how could we do it then?"

"You need to be good friends with the person. And have a long lasting relationship with the target. You then place your hand onto the person's forehead and close your eyes. You need to think about all your memories with that person. Then, their inventory will open, and you can take their items."

"Ok, Samantha. Fire away. I'll watch your back."

Dusty assumed a defensive position and scanned the area for monsters. A zombie slowly trudged toward him out from behind a tree. Dusty lunged at the creature and lashed at it. It fell to the ground, but the zombie kept advancing toward him. He stabbed it in the stomach, but it still didn't die. He finally lopped off it's head and reduced it to blue misty particles.

"I never thought they were hard to beat. I thought I could kill them easier last night."

He looked up at the sky to see the moon, but all he saw was a big red circle. Not the comforting white sphere he was used to. It took him a movement to realise what was happening. His stomach dropped. He knew a blood moon was occuring.

"We need to go now!"

"What? You can handle a couple of zombies."

"It's a blood moon, that means there will be dribblers, blood zombies, corrupt bunnies, zombies, demon eyes. So I think we should definitely get out of here!"

Dusty grabbed Alex and held her in the princess fashion. Then he drank a swiftness potion and got the hell out of there. They ran until they saw the house in the distance. Dusty slowed his pace and let Samantha catch up to him. They turned around and saw a blood zombie coming right at them. Instead of walking though, this creature ran towards them. Dusty pulled out his sword and slashed at the enemy, but it lunged at him in seconds. He closed his mouth as to not taste the metallic blood. He stabbed again with his sword. The creature picked him up and slammed him to the ground. He rolled to the side to avoid the second blow. He stood up and kicked it to the ground. He kneeled next to it, holding it down. He repeatedly stabbed the creature, but it wouldn't die. It blew him back with it's arm and clawed at his throat. Blood started to spray from his chest and neck. He scrambled away from the zombie, but it kept coming. He grabbed his bow and started sending arrows at it. The zombie ran through the arrows as if they weren't there. Dusty ran towards the house, following Samantha who was now holding Alex. He pumped his legs, and he barely made it to the house before the zombie crashed into the door right as he closed it. Dusty staggered away from the door, that was bulging and banging from the blows from the zombie. In a couple moments, however, the door burst open and slammed into Dusty. Knocking him to the ground. Leo ran over to see what was going on, with Sara right behind him. Leo pulled out his bow and released an arrow at a zombie that was nearing closer to him. Dusty pushed the door off of him. He stumbled back behind Leo and fell to the floor. Sara grabbed the door and jammed back into place. She pushed against the onslaught of zombies. Leo barred the door shut with two wood planks.

"how did it break the door?" Asked Samantha.

"I t-told you. It's a b-blood moon." Stammered Dusty.

"Hold on, if they can break down doors, why can't they smash a hole in the wall?"

"Maybe we should double up the wall to prevent that."

"Sounds like a good idea. "

They emptied out their inventories of wood, but only had enough wood to cover one wall. With the banging on the walls, Alex was starting to wake up. After awhile, Dusty had recovered.

"Where is everybody?" Asked Alex.

"They went out to get more wood, so we can double up the walls to protect against the zombies and other creatures. They told me to wait back and watch you and hold the door shut."

"Oh, sorry."

"About what?"

"If I made it harder for you to get back to the house or anything."

"No, don't worry about it."

Outside…

Leo leapt forward and slashed at a zombie. He kicked it to the ground and stabbed it in the chest. I died and dropped a pair of broken handcuffs. Leo grabben them and they teleported onto his hands. Strangely, he could not feel the cool metal on his wrists.

"Hey Guys! Look what I found!"

He ran over to the rest of them and showed them the hunks of metal. He unequipped them and placed them in his hand. Words hovered over the cuffs saying,

Arcane Shackles,

+1 defense,

+20 mana.

"If I put them on, I get those effects!"

"Awesome, where did you find them?"

"A zombie dropped them."

"Wow, that's pretty lucky."

He placed them on and instantly felt safer. He glanced over and saw Samantha struggling with a group of demon eyes. He leapt forward and stabbed the first. The rest, noticing they were outmatched, tried to glide away, but alex leaped up and cut the three of them in half, bringing them to the ground. All three dropping a lense. But one of them was tinted with a black coloring. She grabbed all three, and broke out in a sprint for the nearest tree. She unsheathe her axe and slammed it into a tree. Splinters shot from the tree and she shielded her eyes with her arm. She skidded to a halt and tried to jam the axe out of the tree. The axe came loose after a few tugs, but as she swung back for a second strike, her axe was caught by a zombie. She turned around in time to see the zombie preparing to claw her to death.

"This is it. This is how I die."

She braced for the blow, but it never came. What did come was a hand, pulling her up. She gripped the hand and opened her eyes to see who it was.

"Dusty?"

"Thats me."

"But I thought you were with Alex, I thought you were hurt."

"She was, but she got better." As he said this, Alex stepped out from behind him and waved her hand.

"How?"

"I have absolutely no idea."

"OK?"

"Come on, we need to hurry, gather as much wood as you can. And don't worry, we got your backs."

Samantha nodded to them, and as Leo caught up to them, she took another large swing at the tree. Again with the same result. Again and again she swung, but with little progress. As she was doing this, Dusty and Alex, hacked away at the constantly approaching enemies. Finally, Alex cut the tree, and pushed it to the ground. Alex leapt forward and slammed her axe into the wood, cutting it into smaller pieces. She slid forward, collecting the wood, but as she got up, she was thrown forward, and face planted on the ground. She heard the blood pumping in her ears. She immediately jumped up, and spun around to meet her foe. She was surprised to find a clown rolling around on a colored ball, with a round yellow sphere in its hand looking her directly in the eye. It let out a sharp giggle and tossed the sphere at her. She caught it, and turning it upside-down, she saw a burning fuse attached to the bottom. She cried out and tossed the projectile away, but it was too late. The bomb exploded in front of her, blasting her away and sending her further into the dirt. She gasped for breath and tried to scramble away. She eventually jumped up to her feet just as another bomb flew at her head. She ducked and felt a wave of heat press against her back as the ordinance released its destructive power. She drew her bow and shot an arrow at the ball, popping it. The clown fell to the ground, and let out a loud sharp cry, before it disappeared in a cloud of red mist. Suddenly, the sound of stone grinding on stone and turned her head to see what was happening. Just as she did this, Dusty slammed into her, pushing her to the ground.

"What the hell!?" Yelled Alex.

Right then, a large portion of stone crumbled and dislodged itself from the rock face. It came crashing down, and sunk into the earth right where Alex had been standing only seconds before.

"That's what." Dusty cooley said.

He spun around and shot an arrow at an approaching demon eye. He shot another arrow, knocking it back. He finally loaded his bow with a flaming arrow, and sent the demon eye to the ground in flames.

"How much wood do we have?"

"I would say, about one hundred thirty."

"Sounds like enough, we should go."

Dusty called the team to rally, and go back to the house. He rushed at a zombie, hitting it with his sword. The zombie fell back, out of his way. He dashed forward and ran for the door. He opened the door and stumbled inside. He waited for everyone to get inside before he slammed the door shut.

"Quick, I need some wood!"

Alex tosses him sime planks and he pushed them against the door, barring it closed. He fell back and sat on the ground, looking extremely tired. BUt the noise coming from the sides of the walls brought him back to reality. He pulled out some wood from his inventory and began to place them against the walls. Block by block by block the finished covering the walls in protective shell of wood. Afterwords, Dusty trudged sleepily to his room. Leo walked in looking just as tired. Dusty fell down onto his bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

Chapter Two

Dusty slowly opened his eyes to see the sunlight shining through the window. He yawned and stretched out his arms, and, glancing over to the bed next to him and saw that Leo had already gotten up. He swung his legs out and over the bed and hopped down. The floor creaked under his feet as he walked to the kitchen. Leo glanced his way as he sat at the counter and walked over to sit next to him.

"So, how'd you sleep?" Dusty asked.

"Ehh, it was sorta on and off." Replied Alex.

"Well I slept great!" Exclaimed Samantha.

"Doesn't surprise me with how late it was when we did go to sleep." said Leo.

Dusty continued to eat ad the others talked with each other. He spoke mininaly, due to the fact he was still exhausted. he walked to the bathroom, clutching his stomach. He gagged and coughed. Tasting bile slowly rising up his throat. Sweat began to form in small droplets on his forehead. He knelt beside the toilet and vomited. He fell to rest his head on the ground. he lay there for a few moments, unconscious. Before his friends began to start calling him.

"Hey, Dusty, you ok?" Yelled Leo.

Dusty gave a half-hearted groan in return. Samantha got up from the table and walked over to the bathroom. She opened the door to see Dusty lying on the floor. Vomit on the floor next to him.

"Oh my god!"

"What, what is it?" Asked alex as she walked over to the bathroom.

"His body is experiencing Post-Traumatic stress." Said Kate.

Alex helped him wash his face and led him to bed. But peeled off his shirt and noticed his chest was covered with sweat.

"He seems pretty bad." Said Alex.

"I mean, if he really is sick, we won't be able to take care of him. We don't have any kind of medicine."

"We can probably leave him with the NPCs while we go out. Right?"

"Uhh, I think I'll stay back, just to make sure that if anything happens, he'll be safe." Said Alex

"Sounds like a great idea, Me and Samantha can explore by ourselves."

"Don't forget to bring that mirror with you incase you need a quick escape!" Yelled Alex as they left the house.

"Already one step ahead of you." Replied Samantha, holding up the mirror as she closed the door.

They began to walk over the hill surrounding their house and down a dirt path.

The leaves golden leaves crunched under their feet. With the trees more barren now, the once happy world seemed a bit more sad. Leo was surprised with how fast the leaves had fallen from when they joined, to today. He guessed it must have been a strong winded day to have so many trees lose their leaves so quickly. As they continued to walk and sketch out the geography on their map, the air got chilier. Samantha noticed little white flecks floating in the air. She shuddered at the sudden coldness, and pushed her hands into her pockets. Her teeth chattered and her lips turned blue. Soon, they saw a mound of white up ahead.

"W-what is t-that?" Samantha asked between clenched teeth.

"I don't k-know."

They continue walking ahead until they see a sleek creature next to them.

"That c-can't be a p-penguin." Said Leo

The penguin walked up to them, pecked at their feet. Then walked away. Soon enough, the forest was disappearing behind them, and an open snowy field opened up to them. As they walked further, an almighty mountain came into their view. They stopped to rest for a moment, and heard a crunching sound behind them. Leo turned to see a small icy blob bouncing towards them. He stood up and stepped forward. He sliced at the blob twice, but the slime was not fazed. He hopped back and tossed a torch at it, meting off it's icy shield, turning it into a normal blue slime. He leaped forward, slicing once at it. It dissipated into a tiny blob of gel and a few copper coins. Soon, the sun began to shrink behind the mountains in a wonderful display of color. They gathered together some snow. Leo began placing it along the ground as Samantha began to make a fire, striking flint against steel they had found in a cave. Leo began to fall asleep as he was building the shelter. His eyes closed, but then opened them as he heard a loud boom and the ground shook.

He ran towards the sound of a scream until he came across the mouth of a cave. He leapt inside and slid by a yellow slime, to reach a drop-off. It looked like a perfect circle had been dug out of the cave. And at the bottom, lay Samantha. She was leaning against the wall of the cave as Leo sliced at the yellow slime.