"How the hell did I finish that in less than a day?"
Red was alone in the clearing as he looked up at his grand finished creation, hands on his hips; the log house stood tall and sturdy in the middle of the clearing he'd eked out over the hours. Somehow, the tree stumps had seemed to uproot themselves with the rest of the tree as he'd cut them, and the dirt beneath seemed packed as though the tree had never been rooted there at all. True to the Guide's word, the work had been far easier than he'd expected - the axe tore through the wood with no more than a dozen swings, and he found himself able to push and lift the fallen trees with far less effort than he'd anticipated. With further assistance from his Guide, the wood had been broken and within the span of a few hours arranged into a functioning house. As he'd placed individual pieces next to each other, they had fastened together just as the tree had unfastened itself from the ground - he didn't understand entirely what was happening, but assumed the two processes were not too different. Despite that he'd used nothing in its creation but the wood he'd just logged, the shelter appeared staunch and stolid, as though it had already endured time's test for years. At Dustin's instruction it had even been lightly furnished with a workbench and chairs inside, barely visible in the dark through small holes in the door. No windows, but he'd been told that was for the better.
The sun was still shining far overhead.
"What, you were still expecting it to take longer?" Dustin looked slightly confused at Red's question, but elaborated. "I told ya, Terraria's a strange place. I dunno what it's like wherever you come from, but destruction and creation alike go fast here. I bet ya could bring that back down to little blocks in a couple of minutes. I should say, though, don't – don't actually do it, we need that standing pretty badly."
Red furrowed his brows. "Is it really that bad at night?"
"Depends. You like your head attached, right?"
"But how will just logs keep... well, anything out?"
He chuckled in response. "Take it from the guy with experience, it will. Here, lunch, like I said - mushrooms."
"Mushrooms?" Red looked down to the Guide's outstretched hand, several plain brown mushrooms with stalks still attached resting on his palm.
"Yep. Good for you. Keep you going through thick and thin, these little buggers will, so keep an eye out for them whenever you're out. Taste pretty average, unfortunately, but you can work something out with 'em in less dire circumstances, huh?"
Red slowly reached his own hand out and took one. His Guide plucked one of the remaining ones from his hand and shoved it into his mouth, stalk and all. Red waited for him to swallow his before he started, still hesitant and seeking reassurance that he wasn't about to be poisoned - he also stood amazed that the man in front of him managed to make chewing an entire mushroom look relaxing as opposed to laborious.
"Yep, still tastes like rubber," he said easily as he finished. "Better than starvin' though, right? And we can fix it up when there's less pressing matters, like I say. You want any more, or should I just drop 'em near the door or something?"
"I'll just start with the one, I think," Red replied and set about eating the one he'd taken.
Several minutes passed quietly. Red sat down in the shade on the grassy dirt near the door and slowly chewed through his spongy excuse for a meal. The Guide wandered around the outside of the house, looking it up and down appraisingly. Red finished his first within short order and reached for another mushroom, sitting quietly and chewing through the rubbery fungus.
He set his mind to work as he rested his body, taking stock of his situation. He was out in a strange wilderness that didn't seem to obey the laws of reality that he could vaguely remember, his only company was an overbearing guy who declared himself to be his Guide, and he had no idea how to get home, or even what or where his home was. His thoughts turned to the shelter, more specifically how quickly it had been built and how solid it looked for such a rushed job.
Dustin rounded the corner again, and Red quickly took the opportunity to speak up. "Hey, how come you were hurrying me if you knew it would only take... how long was it, a few hours?"
"Yeah, a few. Looks like a little after midday, I reckon." Dustin looked upwards at the sun's position, shielding his eyes from the glare. "It never hurts to be safe as opposed to sorry, huh? Anyway, we've still got more whats and hows to focus on before the moon comes up."
Red sighed resignedly at this; so he still wasn't planning on giving up any answers. He seemed to be able to read his charge's expression pretty easily, and launched into what was probably to be a rousing speech.
"Hey, remember I said I'll tell you the whys of Terraria tomorrow. Come on, chin up! Got something neat to show you." He unclasped the small pouch from his belt and extended it towards Red. "Check it out. You won't see very many of these! Only one, I think – and it's yours now.
"What is it?" Red asked, reaching his hand up slowly.
"Well, it's a pouch," he answered with the biggest shit-eating grin he could put on. "Ya put things in it."
"I gathered that, thanks," Red snapped. "How come I'll only see one of it? People don't like pouches here?"
"Oh, you'll probably see a few pouches, but only one of those! Put anything in it, and it'll fit. Easy." Dustin accented his speech with an exaggerated gesture, swinging his arm toward the trees on the edge of the clearing. "See that tree? Knock it down, cut it up and I bet you all the wood will fit in there."
Red looked down at the completely ordinary-looking, unassuming pouch. "This will really hold an entire tree?"
"And much more. Cut down half the trees in the forest, they'll all fit easy peasy. There's limits, of course, but you'll be able to carry a crap-ton!" Dustin smiled.
"And I won't be weighed down carrying half the forest in this pouch?" Red's gaze left the pouch to meet Dustin's.
"Shouldn't do. Tell me if you do though, that'd sure make life a lot harder for us."
"Right. How will I even get a tree in there, anyway?"
"Pretty easy. Just pick it up yourself - or little bits of it that you can actually pick up - hold it near the bag and it'll take it in of its own accord."
Red looked back at him, confused slightly but clearly doing his best to go along with it. "And then how do I get it back out?"
"Stick your hand in the bag, and you'll know what's in there. You just will, I still don't fully understand it myself, before you ask. Anyway, hand in the bag, feel around for what you want, grab it and pull it out. Easy peasy."
"And how does this work exactly? How can it hold... half a forest, or whatever?" Red's scepticism continued to shine through in his voice as he asked.
"No idea, like I say. I thought at one point it might be like a little portal or something to some unused space somewhere or something - a little portable hole or somesuch, you know. I don't know though - never been able to find out either way. Pretty much all I know of it is what I told you. Damn handy thing though, you know - storage power like that has its perks."
"I'll bet," Red mumbled under his breath. He turned the pouch over in his hands a few times, then slipped it into his pocket. "Thanks, then. So what do you want me to do now?"
"Well, there should be a few little crappy little swords in there. Grab 'em out - like I said, just stick your hand in and you'll feel 'em even if you can't see 'em. I'll show you the most vital thing: The sword and how to swing it." Dustin's grin returned to his face as he clapped his hands together and stepped toward his charge.