I've been alone for a long time. Steve began as he munched on a steak. We sat on either side of the three-block-wide stone tunnel that I called a home. With the approaching night, the monsters would be out soon so we had nowhere else to sit and eat that would be safe other than in my cave of a home. I really wasn't much of a builder. Plus, I never thought I would have company that required having some actual seating. It had always just been my pup Sigrid and I. Then she died, then I died, and now Steve was here.
Yep, I died. Something that Steve called a creeper, a very appropriate name, blew me up. The things looked like two-block tall walking piles of leaves. They had four short, stubby little legs, no arms, a gaping black mouth, and two dark holes for eyes. They were completely silent until they exploded with a hiss. Blowing up was not fun. The blast bruised and burned every part of my body that had been unfortunate enough to be facing the monster. After the blast, I could just lay on the floor and wait for death. It came, and yet here I was. Today I learned that death wasn't the end, at least not for people like Steve and me. When we died, we'd just wake up back in our bed. On top of that, the stuff we were carrying fell onto the ground. We could go back and get it, but we had to hurry. It would only stay there for a few minutes before it just up and disappeared.
As if dying and coming back to life wasn't weird enough.
Still, it took off some of the pressure of survival, knowing that I could come back after a bad mistake. Didn't mean I wanted to test it out though. Dying wasn't fun. It was very, very painful and I'd rather avoid it.
I studied the man before me. He'd just showed up today and helped me get my stuff back, but I didn't know much about him. We were built similarly but had our differences. His arms were thicker than mine, I guessed because he'd been around longer than me. Maybe mine would get that big someday. That wasn't the only difference between us. He had short, unruly brown hair and a short, but just as wild beard. I had shoulder-length red hair that I liked to keep in a nice braid. He wore a teal shirt partially tucked into purple pants and a pair of black shoes. I wore a short-sleeved light green top with an emerald belt around my waist. My pants were made of brown leather, and I had gray boots.
Basically, he looked disheveled and wild, while I felt I looked like I was keeping it together. Though I shouldn't judge, he'd been in this world a lot longer than me.
How long is a long time? I asked. I'd been living in this world a little over a month, and that felt like a long time. One day I just appeared on the bank of a river all by myself. At the time, the only thing I knew was that my name was Alex. I'd learned so much since then. I got the feeling that to him, one month wasn't very long at all.
The "talking" was weird, for both of us. We didn't speak like anyone, even ourselves, expected. We moved our lips yes, but no actual sounds came out. Until we'd met, we never knew we couldn't speak, but that didn't mean we couldn't communicate. When we spoke with each other, our voices echoed in the other's mind. His was warm and comfortable yet rough as if he'd been breathing untold amounts of dust. I wondered what mine sounded like to him. Was it soft and lovely like I imagined it, or did it sound like I'd gargled gravel?
He never flinched when I spoke, so I assumed it wasn't horrible.
Steve's eyes wandered around the cave as he thought. I lost track after a while, but it's been at least a few years.
Years? I pulled my back off the wall to lean forward. My arms wrapped around my knees and hugged them to my chest. And you've really never met anyone else?
He chewed his lip and remained quiet. Only you, Alex. He said after a minute.
What about the villagers?
He let out a short breath and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Oh, I've met plenty of villagers. They're not the sharpest tools in the chest.
No, they are not. The people that lived in the desert north of me were not like us. They had giant noses on their faces and communicated with each other through hums and grunts. I didn't fully understand all of it, but if I focused I could understand enough to trade with them. Even though they'd built themselves a nice little village, they honestly seemed incapable of doing much of anything. They didn't farm or use any of the tools I found in their town. They couldn't even traverse their own town because the roads were so poorly constructed.
We ate in silence for a bit. I didn't know what else to say. I hadn't really talked to anyone but a dog in the month since I arrived here. In all that time, I longed for two-sided conversations and now that I had the opportunity for it, I didn't know what to say. Figures.
Steve finished his steak and studied me with piercing violet eyes. I felt myself shrinking up under his gaze. Was he judging me?
So, what are you going to do with those diamonds you found today? He asked.
I blinked. I hadn't expected that. I don't know. I shrugged. Two diamonds simultaneously felt like a lot, and none at all. I've never found diamonds before. Is there something you'd recommend? I hadn't had a chance to sit in front of my crafting table and experiment with them. At the moment, I figured I could make some tools, but I also got the feeling that there were some other uses I wasn't aware of yet.
It would be wrong of me not to ask someone with more experience for advice, right?
He rubbed his bearded chin idly. Well. You've only got two, so your options are sort of limited for the time being. Honestly, I'd hold out until you get a third and can make a pick. Or you could make a diamond hoe.
I tilted my head as I looked at him. Why would I do that? I rarely ever used the hoe I had, so why would I want one made from diamonds? They were pretty hard to get. Was there some use for a hoe that I didn't know of?
He shook his head with a chuckle. I was kidding. Diamond hoes are useless and you should never make one.
That was good to know.
Silence fell over us again. Our dinners were finished and night had fallen. Outside the large opening to my home, beyond my little fenced-in yard, I could see the monsters roaming across the field. It was time to go to bed, but there was still one thought on my mind. I wanted to know his story. It only seemed fair. I'd told him mine as we headed down Morkmun, the cave outside my house, to get my stuff. I'd fallen so easily into telling the tale. It felt so nice to talk to someone who could talk back. He listened and added his own comments as I went. He even made a few jokes at my expense, like when I told him about struggling to plant seeds.
You really tried to plant them in wood? He'd asked.
The question offended me, but looking back, it had been pretty dumb of me. I didn't know what I was doing back then! I said, trying to defend myself.
We shared several laughs along the way and found my stuff spilled across the gravel-covered ground. Some of it had been lost to lava, but my tools were all still there, as well as all the iron I'd gathered. Steve said I was lucky, given the location. He helped me mine the diamonds, which had been terrifying. They were directly over a lake of lava. The heat was intense and, combined with the stress, caused sweat to pour out of me. My only comfort was that it did the same to Steve, though it didn't seem to bother him as much as it did me. He just worked away with a stoic expression, as if he did this all of the time. When I mentioned my fear of the lava, he asked if I had a bucket. I told him no, and then he said something very strange, but I trusted.
A water bucket is your best friend. To prove his point, he poured it out over the lava. The amount of water compared to size of the bucket was shocking. It flooded out and when it came in contact with the lava, it hissed and steamed before turning the burning, liquid rock to shimmering, but solid, obsidian. The stone was still warm to the touch, and the air still rippled with heat, but it became much more manageable. Steve collected his water back in his bucket and we continued on our way.
Then and there, I decided to make a bucket the minute we returned to the surface, and I did just that. Now it sat on my belt filled with water from the pool outside my house.
If Steve knew something as simple and helpful as that, I wanted to know what other tricks he had. So, when are you going to tell me your story?
He shrugged. Well, where would you like me to start?
At the beginning, please.
Okay then, the beginning it is. He leaned back with a small smile on his face. Better get comfortable, my tale is considerably longer than yours.
I did as he instructed and leaned back against the stone wall as my pulse raced and my eyes fixated on this stranger.