Minecraft: The Fallen 1.3
Chapter 1: Taking Inventory
The first thing I felt when I awoke in this world, was a gentle breeze.
As I slowly started to open my eyes, I realized that I was laying beneath a small tree, its shade shielding me from the rays of the rising sun. I could just about make out the bright, blue sky through the gaps between the vibrant green leaves.
Eventually coming to my senses, I got up from my previous position, clutching my head. I felt a slight headache, but it wasn't too distracting and it soon subsided. I took a look around to get acquainted with my surroundings.
The landscape I was in, consisted of a wide meadow filled with red, blue and yellow flowers in the east, and a looming mountain range, with snow on its peak, and a medium sized forest on its foot. In the west, was a vast ocean, that stretched all the way around the horizon, to the north and the south. I couldn't see the other side.
After quietly taking in the immediate area, I felt an odd sense of familiarity swell within me. The fact that all the elements and structures that were present, from the occasional cloud to the distant trees, were shaped by individual blocks, made me feel almost right at home - though I couldn't pinpoint why. That's not to say I felt relaxed though; I was still in a foreign land. But still, for some reason, I found solace in the shape of the materials this world was made out of.
Deciding that I had spent enough time sitting by idly, I started roaming around the landscape. After taking my first few steps in this world, I passively noticed, at the bottom of my vision, two bars that depicted hearts and cooked chicken legs respectively, as well as a completely blank third one.
They were...odd, but it didn't seem like I needed to pay much attention to them. The first two were full, after all. The hearts on the first bar had a somewhat sinister look to them though... It looked like they had squinting eyes.
I started heading toward the meadow to admire the view from a closer distance. I approached a small red flower, but when I tried to touch it, it shattered into pieces, leaving behind only a smaller copy of itself. Once again, I went to pick it up, but it completely vanished.
I looked left and right, completely and utterly confused by the fact that the flower had seemingly exited the physical plane. It wasn't behind me, nor was it in the pockets of my jeans. I closed my eyes trying to make sense of what happened, and there it was, placed in one of the many squares on the grid before me. I directed my focus on it, and its name was revealed; poppy.
Something that grabbed my attention was a reflection of...myself? I had short brown hair, blue eyes, tan skin and wore a light blue t-shirt, my aforementioned dark blue jeans, and dark gray shoes. Above my reflection, my name was displayed: Steve.
…
'What a random name...'
Anyway, after focusing my attention on the poppy, I re-opened my eyes and found it resting in my right palm. It was light and had rubbery feel to it. A message subtly appeared in the upper right corner of my vision that displayed the text: *Achievement get! Taking Inventory*.
So, that weird grid that included my name, reflection and, presumably, my items, was called the inventory. 'Good to know.'
I placed the poppy back down on the grass, and it regained its original size. With that in mind, I decided to get a little bit experimental. I tried touching various blocks, to see if the same thing would happen to those as with the flower. Although it took punches, rather than a simple touch like it did with the flower, the result was still the same: The blocks burst, shrank, and ended up in my inventory.
After closing my eyes and tightening my focus, I opened up the inventory and took a more thorough look at it. In all, I had six oak wood logs, three dirt blocks and a single sand block. As a side note, sand would actually obey gravity when placed down, unlike any other block I had found, which would simply float in place.
Back on topic, I took note of an odd symbol that depicted a book. I shifted my awareness on it and a whole new compartment of my inventory opened up! Turns out, that book was called a recipe book, and it showed all the various objects I could make with some of the materials I had in hand.
Curious, I converted some oak logs into oak planks and then some of those into sticks. One item in particular piqued my interest. It cost four oak planks and was called, the "Crafting Table". Little did I know, that that block would become one of the most important in my journey.
Swiftly placing it down, my mind was blown by the sheer amount of potentially craftable items that was displayed in the recipe book. Everything from beds, boats, and doors, to tools like shovels and pickaxes, even to weapons like swords and bows. It was overwhelming.
I mined the crafting table and started heading towards the forest at the foot of the mountains. Since wood was the most common material used for crafting items, it made sense to get lots of it.
I glanced at the sun and concluded it was around mid-day. The hunger bar at the bottom of my vision had dropped by one unit and I started to feel slightly hungry. Mildly concerning, but hopefully I'd find something edible soon.
While I was making my way through the valley, I encountered the first living creature since I had woken up; a sheep! It had thick white wool and was peacefully munching some grass. And as it would turn out, there were plenty of sheep in the near-by area.
I closed the distance between me and the first sheep I saw. Once it stopped eating, it turned around to look at me, dead-center in the eyes. I felt a little weirded out, but it soon gave up our staring contest and went along its way.
A slightly morbid thought crossed my mind when my stomach grumbled in irritation, as the food bar dropped by yet another unit; I would have to kill animals if I wanted to keep my stomach full, at least for a while. I felt somewhat bad, but I had to do this.
After I awkwardly and clumsily took down that sheep, it disintegrated into a white puff of smoke. What remained of it was some raw mutton, a block of white wool, as well as some green orbs, the purpose of which I didn't understand at the time.
I soon remembered the crafting recipe for a bed, and realized I was two wool blocks short. I didn't like the idea of sleeping under a tree again, especially since it would turn night relatively soon, and it would probably get cold. Shifting my gaze to the near-by flock, I did what I had to do, and started heading towards the forest once again.
When I reached the forest and started punching a birch tree, I realized it would take a while to get a sufficient amount of it. Recalling the wooden axe I had seen in the "tools" department of the crafting grid, I assumed that crafting one would speed up the chopping process.
Indeed, with my wooden axe in hand, I succeeded in collecting 32 birch logs.
I learned from my crafting skill that turning logs into planks would turn out to be pretty useful for construction, since I'd get the quadruple amount of building materials. With two stacks of birch planks, i.e., 128 blocks, I managed to build a serviceable shelter, right as the sun was setting. It looked more like a cube rather than an actual shelter, but it would get the job done for a while.
Inside, I set up the crafting table and made a red bed, using red dye from that poppy I collected in the morning. Before I went to bed, the events of the day flashed by in my head. I didn't know what this world had in store for me, nor did I know where I was before I ended up in it. But despite that, I felt rather optimistic about this whole thing.
I managed to build a shelter relatively easily – sure, it took me all day, but still! It felt like there was no limit to what I could do! Nothing was stopping me from building a better shelter, or experimenting with other tools and materials. A rush of excitement whirled up inside me, as I thought of all the potential builds I could build, and adventures I could have.
I started getting exhausted though and went to bed, completely oblivious to all the monsters that were spawning outside my abode.