I squatted down, grabbing twig from the ground. Pretending to draw things but my thoughts keep getting interrupted by what happened eariler. Getting a bit shaken, i fell backwards, giving me a little bit of shock. I heard of stories about Terrarians ending up in new, undiscovered worlds, with their lives ending on monstrosities or in victory and maybe built a town that most likely grew.
I shook my head, those cities were the key to Yharim's rise I guess... wait
I remembered something. The stories included a man in casual clothing with orange hair, a man of great knowledge, though as powerful as he sounds, he can barely hit any shots with a wooden bow. But these kind of person was never seen. The grass land i landed in in a new world is soulless.
Wait... How long have I been here?
Just then, it seemed like the space beside me stopped moving. Then, a tear and out came... Omni! I had a flash of hope of him bringing me back, but what he said devastated me.
"Well well, what happened here?" Omni asked in his always annoying all knowing tone.
"Shut up... can we go back now?" I hastily asked.
Omni merely shrugged and denied. With a simple reasoning of being easy to track down. I guess that is that is reasonable, after all, no one is left alive in Yharim's massacres.
"This world is interesting. No Guide here to help, and the generation is not up to standard, and odd... hence the absence of a Guide." He remarked with smile."Have you explored it yet?"
I shook my head. He stared at me for a few seconds before turning away, I assume confused about my desicion.
"It's fine..." Omni sighed.
We started walking towards some trees in the forest. Unbeknownst to me, the air around was getting colder, although little by little. Shoving my hands into my pockets to warm myself a little, up ahead was a tundra. No wonder I was getting the shivers...
Stepping into the perpetual winter forest, Omni materialised a scarf. I was about to make a sarcastic remark, but then again, he can withdraw the scarf. Read my mind even. As soon as I thought about, I relinquished the thought... huh? Where did he go?
Further up ahead, I found him waiting by what looks to be a naturally formed shelter made of snow and stone. Brisk walking towards the shelter was a good idea, as I entered the shelter, warmth to effect instantly. I looked at Omni. He merely pointed behind him, which to my confusion, was a hole. Instantly knowing what it was, I backed off.
"A snowstorm is gonna start soon. So unless you want to get frostbite or be frozen, best it to find recall potions." Omni firmly stated.
Not being able to withstand the cold, we descended. My first experience in a cave was not what I expected to be. I always thought it would be completely dark and lacking in resources. Instead, it wasn't as dark, just... the sounds of water dripping does not make it better.
I heard Omni behind me saying something. I turn towards him, to see him attract all the gold ore vein in one side of the wall. He pointed towards the ground, where a copper pickaxe and axe laid, alongside with a couple of torches. Hesitantly picking the tools, I ventured deeper into the cave. While carefully making my way down, I tripped on a pebble. Before being able to react to it, I realised I was falling.
Hitting the ground, I grunted. A bit of a bloody mess, but when I looked around, I was in awe. A large cave system with many entrances, as if there was an underground city that has been destroyed here. However, that would be true if not for the about of precious ore stuck in the walls, waiting to be harvested. Omni landed behind me with little sound, pointing towards a direction.
Heading towards where he pointed, I trudged on. The frost was for some reason, bearable. I thought it'd be colder down here. I stopped. In front of me was a boreal door. Confused, I tried opening it. No luck. Guess this door has been here for quite sometime. By putting in some effort, the door open
swung easily. The wood had sort of fused with the snow and stone, cobwebs were everywhere on the ceiling and the chandelier burnt out. There was a loom and an ice chest. I marveled at the sight of the ice, my heart was pounding, and I could not wait to know what was going to be my first treasure found underground.
Opening the chest, I saw a few gold coins and a bundle of somehow useable glowsticks. A stick of dynamite, tempted to throw it, but I had no sources of fire. Shelving that crave of destruction for later, I dug further into the chest. A sparkle of light attracted my attention amidst the dust, and I picked it up. An ice mirror? At least I can return up easily. About to leave, another item caught my sight. A grotesque eye. Although disgusting, I felt like it was important. Picking it up with 2 fingers, I gathered what I thought would be useful and looked into the white, icey framed mirror and saw the grassland.
Warmth never felt so comforting before as I found myself looking around. I'm... back in the forest. Amidst the somewhat treeless forest, Omni was standing under a tree, reading what looks to be a digital screen. Seeing me, he smiled and closed the screen. He did say something I couldn't quite catch, but I followed him as we walked along. I looked up, watching the early sunsets orange rays shining the dark blue sky. We stopped in front of a large hill. I groaned at the thought of climbing it, but Omni instead stopped at a cave entrance. Being exhausted, I was about to shake my head but I narrowed my eyes. It was like a plain shelter in the hill. I looked at Omni.
"You have to get wood. I'm not spoon feeding you, mate." He remarked with a smile.
I sagged. Taking out the copper axe he gave me earlier, I went up to the nearest tree and started hitting the sharp blade at the side of the trunk. Surprisingly, the tree did not fall. Instead, it was already bundled into useable wood. Instant timber I guess. After harvesting food from several nearby trees, I heard my name called.
"Echo," Omni shouted. I turned and saw the sun setting quick. Assuming what he meant, I practically ran back into the shelter. Upon arriving at the entrance, I panted for oxygen. Rising my head up, I saw the shelter refurbish into some sort of urban cave home. It was spacious and clean, but empty. Seeing the wood crafting bench that I definitely did not remember making and putting down, I started crafting furniture.
A few hours later, the room was split into a few rooms and a hall way. Sure, they may not be as big, but it will suffice. The furniture has been set down and as I was about to store my loot in the ice chest I took, I took out the eye. It looked like trouble, more so than usually. Dropping it in the chest, I shut it quickly to ignore it. Shook the chest a bit, for good measure. Out of sight, out of mind.
Looking towards Omni, he made a thumbs up and pointed to his side which was a room. Anticipating what kind of nonsense he's going to show me, I opened the door and... was pleasantly surprised. Seems like my personal room. It's a shame I saw 2 chairs by the side, meaning he might be sharing this room. At least there's one bed though, fit for one person, and that's going to be me.
"Sleep well," Omni said before closing the door. As I laid in bed, I let my tiresome body rest, allowing the exhaustion to take over until I don't even feel like moving. Closing my eyes, it felt like everything was ebbing away...
~
The world around me was still dark. It feels like there's something shining down on me. Knowing myself, I knew I was awake. However, I was reluctant to even open my eyes and get up. A sudden jolt when through my body, and I got up immediately. Looking around, there was no source of whatever that woke me up.
"Unless..." I thought. Getting up and almost busting down the door, I saw Omni sitting by the door closest to the exit of the cave house.
"Something woke you up?" He asked. As much as I wanted to suspect it was him who disturb me, he only remarked with a smile and said something about instincts.
Sighing, I sat down on one of the sofas close to me.
"Aren't you gonna shower or something?"
"Do we even have a room for that?"
"Sorry, too sophisticated for you then."
About to lash out my irritation at him, he points to the ice chest I stored stuff yesterday. Opening it, there was some sweet loot that wasn't there before. Looking back at Omni, he merely glanced over. Despite that, I was excited. Putting on the green boots with what looks to be wings and a bottle with white, fluffy clouds in it by my waist, Omni called me.
"Take the gravitation potion inside. I think there's like, 3 of them."
I dug further, ignoring the gruesome, suspicious eye from yesterday. Taking out 3 bottles in a shape of a.. heart? With purple liquid inside.
"Why not go explore the surface a bit? Maybe a bit further into the tundra, the other side of it maybe. I'll take care of the facilities here." He said. Excited, I ran out the door without looking back.
Outside, the air was fresh, wind was blowing from the direction we went to. Walking felt like running, it already feels like without these new boots, it wouldn't feel right. I really like how it fit perfectly as well.
Reaching the snow biome again, I decided to take off the scarf Omni gave me. Besides, it's not like there's another biome that is freezing cold right? Anyway, I carried on. Suddenly, I have an ominous feeling, like something has gone wrong. I looked around to distract myself, but looking down, the snow has not changed but the ice is purple instead of blue. Entering the grassland soon after, the uneasy feeling still lingers... just, stronger. The trees had a different shade compared to the forest. It looks like someone just painted it, but has not tampered with it.
Then, I reached what looks to be a ravine hole. It looks small enough to jump over, but just in case, I laid down a few platforms to cross. Crossing the hole, I tried to calm myself, but there was some noise behind me. Turning around, I see some strange creatures rise from the hole. Realising I do not even possess a weapon. About to ran away, one of the creatures spotted me.
"Is that a mortal that trespasses our grounds?"
"Yes... but there's something about this terrarian..."
"That fleshy hand..."
I took off my right hand's glove. Despite having it for quite sometime, I still jumped a little seeing it.
"You are lucky that you were spared once. You can use our path as a crossing, but harm any of us, we will make you pay..."
With that, the 3 of them flew back in. I think it was because I was part of them, but like, an exception? With that in mind, I carried on.
Me leaving the corruption forest was more than relieving. Without the stench of vile flesh and thorny grass, fresh air once again could be felt. I started to walk slowly to appreciate the flora and fauna. Being a thief in a modern city, I was often surrounded by people with juicy contents waiting to be taken. Now, it feels like a complete change of pace; I had everything, there was nothing to worry about, unless a certain annoying omnipotent tells you to do things. But at least he takes care of most trivial things.
Up ahead was an odd structure though, it looked like a rundown temple, with an old man. Climbing up the stairs, the old man looked more frail than I thought. I wanted to enter the structure, but the old man only left one advice which left me puzzled.
"Come here at night if you wish to enter."
Following his advice, I went around the temple. Better be safe than sorry right? Besides, death is a terrifying and painful experience. Don't want to experience that again...
A while later, my nose stung and I could barely keep my eyes open. Forced to look down, the sand was in an odd colour. The waves crashed, but it was also in another shade of green. Something that screams out danger to my instincts. Slowly, I turned my head up, to see the vast ocean covered in this colour. The waters occasionally burped up a bubble that would pop, seemingly to release something, and there wasn't even a sign of marine life.
"This is the Sulpherous Sea, a product of Yharim's rule," a voice said behind me. Attempting to hide my jumpyness, I turned around. Omni was standing by a tree.
"You forgot this." He said, handing me my ice mirror. I stared back. Thinking that I should return, I turned my stare to the mirror. Seeing home again, my insides warmed up, then my surroundings did.
I was back. I fell onto the bed. I just looked at the ceiling, pondering and piecing together what happened so far. Despite not being tired, I fell asleep quickly...
That night was unpleasant. For unknown reasons, I jumped out of bed. It felt like something was whispering, and what it said was incomprehensible. Leaving my room, Omni was sitting in the same place. Looking around, there was a staircase that wasn't there before. Curiosity got the best of me but Omni had other plans. He points to the table beside him, where a platinum bow and shiny arrows that is infused with some sort of star. There were also some grenades. Picking them up, Omni stood up and went outside.
I'm not sure whether following him was a good idea. Immediately outside, I had a bad feeling... a feeling of being spied on. Not something a thief wants, but worse when this feeling gives me chills and fear. Following that, a giant roar was heard, pretty sure that can be heard world wide...
A giant eye rose out of the ground. My initial thought was what the hell is that. Then it chased me. Not knowing what to do, I went in the other direction. Firing a few shots of jester arrows, the eye seemed to get more enraged. It was faster, more aggressive. Suddenly, my heart was pounding. Never have I had to face these life or death situations. I'm just a petty thief, why am I doing this?
Throwing a few grenades at it, it got even faster. As it flew over me, I saw an opening and ran the other way.
"Dang, used too much grenades at one go..." I thought as I looked at my inventory of weapons left. With no choice, I fired the blue arrows quickly. Then it stopped. I thought it was over, but the eye spun around rapidly. I only saw a flash of what flew before facing the monstrosity's finale form. The pupils were more or less a dry husk. It hid a grotesque mouth. Before feeling disgusted and letting my guard down, I chose to ran the other way and fire arrows.
What seemed to be countless hours later, it started to dash consecutively. I cursed under my breath as I threw a few grenades at the quick dashing eyeball. Then, it happened. I was anticipating it, but never thought it'd be so soon. I used up all the grenades Omni gave me. I stood there, thinking I had more. I was strucked once and flew, hitting a tree. The pain was throbbing, my mind was weak from its sucker punch. As it dashed towards me, I panicked and shot an arrow. With that, a roar followed with an explosion of bloody flesh.
Slowly opening my eyes, the disgusting eyeball laid in pieces as on its bloodied corpse was a bag coloured like it. Looking up, Omni was walking towards me.
"Congrats!" He said.
"Urgh, can you at least helped me up?" I groaned.
"Yknow, out of the bosses that you have defeated so far, you needed me to defeat 50 percent of it." Omni cheerfully replied as he picked me up.
"Shut the fuck up," I muttered. I merely saw him shrug as he effortlessly lifted me into the air with telekinesis. In the surprisingly comforting aura that was holding me up, I saw the hill looking a bit modern. Seems like Omni has beening quite a bit of work. The hill had some foundation for buildings laid out, seems like a city can be built within days.
"Aren't you gonna take a shower?" He asked.
"You're joking right?" I mumbled while I took a piece of pumpkin pie from the table. He pointed at a room down the newly extended corridor. It was somewhat close to my room, luckily. Sloppily, I stood up and opened the door. The room was filled with mostly marble furniture. There was a tub and knew what I wanted to do. With a smirk, I took off my clothes and turned on the water sources. Warm, perfect for a cold night.
Underdressed, I laid on the bed in my room. It wasn't a thrill of a night. A horrible nightmare that has been brought into reality... that sort of feeling. Laid in bed, the familiar feeling of exhaustion overcame me, causing me to fall asleep within minutes.
~
I rubbed my eyes as I got up. Around me was 4 familiar corners. There is... a window... was that there the entire time? Anyway, I still felt extremely fatigued to get up. Out the window, the moon was still shining bright. There was food on a night stand that I never knew was there. Nibbling it bit by bit, it was perfectly cooked. Good food after sometime, reminds me of what I used to have... people that actually cared, who took care of me. Conflict overwhelmed me. I tried to think carefully, but personal opinions keep getting in my way. What can I say? I'm just a simple minded thief. In the end, frustration came to me and to solve it, I turned my pillow over and try to sleep. The cutlery and tray behind me rattled for a bit before hearing them disappear. The light switch clicks a few times before the lights itself flickers and then off.
Before falling asleep, I stared at the ceiling. Before falling asleep, I remembered what my time was like with Omni during the Yharim controlled city. Hopefully I'll reminisce it in my dreams...
Yooo it took me 1 week or so... I definitely will try to make 1 chapter a month... I procrastinate too much. Lucky the intermission are completed quickly tho. Btw, does anyone even reads these?