The color blue was painted across the sky, shades of white scattered across the emptiness above.
Down below, a colorful plethora of trees and birds and squirrels gave life to what looked like a peaceful forest.
Everything seemed well - nature itself was singing in harmony, with the aid of the cool breeze spreading peace throughout the land.
And one such traveler was admiring the view.
The man, his hair a dark shade of yellow-orange and spiked, was a traveler who had been, well, traveling the world for some time now.
Life was a mysterious thing: it exists in so many shapes and forms, painting places with the beauty of life, the horrors of carnage, the mysteries of unknowing... and because of such environments fostered by life itself, there were so limitless sights to see, to witness, to experience. That was something the man loved about the world - he could never get enough of exploring.
Then, behind the man, was the unconscious body of a mysterious girl.
"...?" The man turned around and nearly jumped. Indeed, there was a mysterious girl lying on the ground behind him, unconscious, unharmed. "Whoa! What in the world...?" he rasped, before rushing to her side, kneeling on one, eh, knee. "Hey. Hey, excuse me?"
"Mrrnhhh... lemmm... lhemrow..." the girl muttered in her sleep.
Confused, he paused to raise an eyebrow. Le... Lhemrow...? the man thought. What the heck is that? And... who is this girl? Looking up, he wondered here she even appeared from. Seconds prior, he walked to where he was without encountering any unconscious bodies on the forest ground. Did she fall from the sky...?
For a moment, the man pondered some more before he came to a conclusion.
I see. She must be a player, he thought. So the time has finally come. Sighing, the man began nudging her again. "Hey. Excuse me, um... miss. Wake up."
Slowly, the girl's eyes opened groggily, and she pushed herself upwards, still in a daze. "Uhhuhhrhh... whuh, huh...? What's... whuh?" Her vision gradually sharpening, the girl soon made the observation that she was in a forest.
A forest she wasn't familiar with, for obvious, natural reasons.
"Where... where the hell is this?" she asked. Then, looking around, she noticed all sorts of trees scattered around the forest. "...where the hell am I? What sort of trippy shit is this place?"
"Oh, finally. You're awake," the man said.
She sharply whipped her head to him, surprised. "Whoa! Uh, geez! Who the hell are you!?"
"...right. You must be new to our world I will explain soon enough." Clearing his throat, the man offered a hand to the girl. "Can you get up?"
"...yeah, sure, whatever." Without grabbing his hand, she got on her feet and looked around. "...seriously, this is a weird forest. You sure I'm not on drugs?"
"...no, be assured, you aren't. ...I hope." The man cleared his throat again. "My name's Andrew. I'm the Guide, your first comrade, and the basic book of knowledge that will help you through your experiences in this world. Is this your first time playing?"
"Hm. Andrew, Guide, knowledge... pl, playing?" the girl asked, recoiling in confusion. "The heck's that mean?"
"Am I wrong?" Andrew asked. "Certainly, you're one of life's 'players' who came to this world to experience what you consider a game, am I right?"
The girl raised an eyebrow. "Uh, friend, I'm starting to think you're the one on drugs."
Andrew frowned. "Hm. This is perplexing. I could've sworn your sudden appearance meant it's our world's time to... no, that asides," he said and glanced up at the sky. "For a while now, things haven't been quite the same right before you appeared."
"...is this going to be some sort of 'Chosen One' prophecy?" the girl asked. "Please don't say that it will be, because honestly, I'm not interested in all that stuff."
"Although I've never heard of anything like this happening..." Andrew mused. "A strange voice and a mysterious girl showing up in our world, who isn't a player... who might you be?" he asked.
"Me? Uh... I'm just as lost as you are on the situation, but..." The girl cleared her throat and smiled. With her red hair and five flowing ends, two heart-shaped hair accessories of blue and pink on her head, and a hand-sized cowlick, she grinned and pointed to herself. "I'm Mikan, from the Hatsumi family!"
"Hatsumi... family?" Andrew asked. "I take it they're not a family of... players, are they?"
Mikan shook her head. "No, it's not an actual family, it's more like... hm. It's complicated, I guess," she said. "But uh, basically, I'm part of a 'family' of sorts and... uh... well, actually, I'm not sure what I want to say."
"...you are a peculiar girl, you know that?" Andrew asked. "Anyways, I suppose we can figure things out later. For now, welcome to our world," he said. "For players, I hear they refer to our worlds as 'Terraria'. Although I am not sure about the exact reason, I assume the reason behind the naming is based on the word 'terrarium', as in the fact that this world is observable to them like an animal in a terrarium."
The red haired girl blinked. "Uh... sure, maybe, I guess." Terraria... that sounds familiar. "I feel like I know that name, Terraria, from somewhere. But... I'm only drawing blanks right now."
"Strange. Quite strange indeed," Andrew mused. "Perhaps you are a player, but with amnesia? Partial amnesia, maybe."
"...maybe." The girl stared at some trees in the distant. Not sure how I feel about that though. "Well, anyways. Why are we standing around in the forest?" she asked.
Andrew shrugged. "I was traveling around, relaxing in the forest. You, however, just appeared out of nowhere."
"I mean, sure, okay... do you know any place we could relax?" Mikan asked. "Or at least, where I can sit. Legs getting a bit tired."
"...sorry, there aren't any such places here," the guide replied.
She frowned. "...what, what do you mean?" she asked. "Like... house. A house. You have a house, don't you?"
"I'm afraid not," Andrew replied.
"...what?" Mikan asked, burrowing her eyes in both frustration and confusion.
"Other than the possible rooms of ancient ones deep underneath us," Andrew explained, "there are most likely no houses in existence within this world."
"What... but... the hell?" the girl said, incredulous. "That's... that's stupid. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Where do you sleep then!?"
"I can make do on a tree branch strong enough to support my weight," the Guide explained. "I can also hide behind anything big enough to conceal my presence. That way, Demon Eyes and Zombies aren't able to ambush me and take my life."
"I... what?" The girl blinked and stayed silent for a few seconds, before shaking her head. Okay, wait, I think I remember. Terraria's... a building game like that Minecraft thing, isn't it...? She put her hands together. "Right! What about building your own house?" she asked.
Andrew shook his head. "I'm afraid I also cannot do that."
"Wh... why not?"
He sighed. "Worlds like ours have what we call the Law of the World," the man explained. "While certainly, construction is extremely easy for players thanks to the Law of the World allowing so, most convenient possibilities are restricted solely to players," he said. "In simple terms, the Law of the World dictates that... only players can build and craft with ease."
"...seriously?" Mikan said. "You, you've got to be kidding me, right? ...right?"
Andrew chuckled. "Rest assured, while others cannot build like players do, we can help out with manual labor if ever needed, provided they aren't unrealistic in terms of actual construction."
"...so, like, what? Only I can do all the building, and you can only do the carrying and shit?"
"Essentially, yes," the guide replied. "But truthfully, my purpose is more to serve as an information resource for your crafts for this world, so... it's most likely I won't be of much assistance at all," he said.
Mikan grimaced. "Ugh... alright..."
"Incidentally, you should begin by building two rooms that we can each reside in, for protection during the night," Andrew said and smiled. "I wish you good luck, Mikan."
The girl rolled her eyes. I already don't like this guy, she thought.