Got a few good responses to the second chapter, so I decided to make the third one. This is also the last part of the story.
Minecraft (c) Mojang
Daniel slowly opened his eyes as daylight shone through the house. After his arrival in this world, he'd gone from mildly-restless-sleeper to full-blown insomniac, often struggling to get even an hour of sleep. Last night seemed to have had a positive effect on the young human, as it was the first night in months where he felt perfectly rested. Just as he was about to get up and grab something to eat, he noticed his arms were wrapped around Cupa's sleeping form, and vice versa.
Not wanting to disturb the sleeping girl, Daniel slowly and carefully removed himself from her grasp and got out of bed. Making sure to put his glasses back on, Daniel grabbed two pork chops from his food storage and took a handful of coal from another chest, intricately arranging them in a small furnace.
"I hope I'm doing this right.", Daniel mumbled as he lit the coal and watched the fire slowly crackle to life.
Cupa woke up with a small yawn and rubbed her eyes. After noticing Daniel wasn't beside her, she got up and noticed him sitting down next to the furnace. Smiling, she got out of bed and sat next to him.
"Morning Daniel.", Cupa greeted him in her usual cheery manner.
"Hey Cupa. Did you sleep well?", Daniel asked, returning her smile.
"Yep. Best night's sleep I've ever had!", she replied.
"Glad to hear it.", Daniel said as he turned his attention back to the furnace. "Ah, breakfast's ready."
Taking care not to burn himself, Daniel blew out the remaining embers of the used coal before handing one pork chop to Cupa and retrieving the other for himself.
"So what are we gonna do today?", Cupa asked while munching down her food.
"I was thinking of checking out a cave opening I spotted in the forest a few days ago. Wanna come along?", Daniel asked, earning a rapid nod in response.
"Alright, but it'll be pretty dark in there. I think I've got a torch lying around here though.", he said as he finished his pork chop. Getting back to his feet, Daniel searched through a storage chest for the torch and flint to light it. He also picked up the iron sword he kept by his bed for emergencies. Cupa noticed this and shot him a puzzled look.
"Okay, I understand why we need the torch, but what's the sword for?", she asked.
"If there's one thing I know about the caves here, it's that they're dangerous as well as dark. I'd rather not have one of us getting hurt in there.", he replied while putting his jacket on.
The pair walked through the forest to the location of the cave entrance. Daniel lit the torch using some flint and passed it to Cupa.
"Just stick close to me and we'll be fine.", he said before raising his sword and entering the cave with his companion in tow.
The small opening led underground for a few meters before opening up into a spacious cavern. Rocky outcrops dotted the walls, some mineral ore veins were visible and darkness loomed around the duo. Wind blowing from the entrance provided an eerie breezing sound that completed the creepy atmosphere. Daniel did his best to look brave, but Cupa was visibly starting to shake. She moved closer to Daniel and held his hand whilst looking around nervously.
"Don't worry. I'll keep us safe.", Daniel whispered to her, indicating that he knew she was worried something would happen.
The stone tunnels lead the pair to an expansive ravine. The chasm stretched out into the darkness and the bottom was impossible to make out. Daniel picked up a small pebble and dropped it into the abyss. A few seconds later, the stone hit the bottom of the ravine, the echo informing them that it was a very long way down. With no other paths available, it was a dead end.
"Guess we're not going this way.", Daniel muttered as he peered over the edge of the steep drop. Cupa looked into the ravine with him.
"I think I can see water down there.", she said, pointing to a small part of the chasm.
"Yeah I see it too. Looks like it could be a river.", Daniel replied as he examined the ravine further.
A low groaning sound was enough to snap the pair out of their observations and draw their attention back to the cave tunnels. Daniel's eyes darted about, searching for the source of the noise.
"Maybe we should start heading back.", he said, his voice sounding almost afraid of what could be in the depths with them.. The two began to walk back through the caves, slowly retracing their steps and listening for the noise again.
Another groan was heard, louder than the first one. Cupa froze with fear. She knew it couldn't be the wind. Something was in the cavern with them. Daniel stopped and gave her a concerned look. She was clearly shaking and looked on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Daniel placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes.
"Nothing is going to happen to you. When I said I'd never let anything hurt you yesterday, I meant it.", he softly told her before taking her hand in his. Cupa allowed a small smile to mark her features as he beckoned her to follow him again.
Daniel and Cupa carefully made their way back to the first cave. The entrance wasn't far away. Before a sense of relief could take them over, the groaning sound returned, much louder than before. Daniel brought his sword up in a combat stance and looked around. The source of the hellish sound was in the cave with them somewhere. Just as he was about to relax, something came into his view.
The creature had sickly green skin and wore tattered shreds of what looked like a shirt and trousers. It's clawed arms were outstretched as it shambled towards Daniel. Possibly the most unnerving part of it's appearance was it's lack of eyes, with only empty sockets remaining. The thing had followed them through the tunnels at a slow pace.
Daniel brought his sword up and struck the zombie, easily severing it's head from it's decaying body. The zombie's body fell limp and Daniel breathed a small sigh.
"Well that was monumentally easy.", he said whilst rejoining Cupa near the tunnel heading to the surface. As he walked back to her, he felt a sudden sharp pain in his shoulder, causing him to nearly drop his sword. Daniel grabbed at his shoulder with his free hand only to find an arrow lodged in his upper arm. Looking frantically around the cave again, he spotted a skeleton wielding a bow walking slowly towards him, drawing another arrow from a quiver on it's back. Daniel's eyes widened as he ran towards Cupa.
"Go! Hurry!", he nearly yelled as he rushed the two of them up through the tunnel and out to the surface. Another arrow was fired, barely missing the pair. Daniel struggled to remove the one stuck in his arm, gritting his teeth as he gave one last pull that extracted it.
The two quickly scrambled up the last rock formations and dashed into the forest. Looking back, the skeleton was nowhere to be seen, presumably unable to climb up the rocks. Cupa checked Daniel's shoulder, her expression changing to one of worry.
"Daniel, your arm is bleeding!", she told him causing him to glance at his wounded shoulder and replace his hand over it hurriedly.
"I've got something at the house that can take care of this. Come on.", he said as he took the lead through the dense forest.
"While I was exploring a few months ago, I came across what looked like a mineshaft. The place was deserted, but I found a few useful things among some storage chests.", Daniel said to Cupa as he searched through his belongings. Cupa still looked anxious. Seeing her friend get shot nearly scared her to death.
"Ah! Got it.", Daniel smiled as he took hold of a glass bottle containing a bright red liquid. A label wrapped around the bottle merely read 'Restoration Elixir'. Daniel removed the cork and drank a small amount of the stuff before placing it back into storage. Cupa let out a small gasp as the arrow wound on Daniel's shoulder miraculously disappeared in front of her eyes.
"I'm glad you're okay. I got really scared back there.", she admitted.
"Don't worry. There are a few things about this place that still make me feel a bit scared too.", Daniel responded with a small laugh. He took off his jacket and frowned at the new hole in the shoulder. Cupa smiled at him and twiddled her fingers.
"Hey Daniel? What made you want to kiss me last night?", she asked with an innocent smirk. Daniel stopped examining his jacket and stood completely still, enabling a massive build-up of heat to turn most of his face red with embarrassment.
"Uh, I have no idea what you're talking about.", he quickly replied. Cupa giggled and stalked over to him.
"Oh? Then why are you blushing?", she smiled coyly at him. Daniel sighed. After what had happened today, he figured he may as well tell her the truth.
"Well, at first I was a bit cautious about trusting a creeper to be my friend. After we got talking though, I guess I learned to open up to you a bit more.", Daniel said as he turned to face Cupa, who had dropped the teasing smile and now looked a little more wide-eyed as she took in everything he was saying.
"Then yesterday I found you in trouble and helped you out. By then I was starting to feel something different."
Daniel took Cupa's hands in his and gazed into her beautiful amber eyes. She returned the stare, getting lost in his chocolate brown eyes.
"Are you saying what I think you are?", Cupa asked, her voice almost whispering. Daniel replied with a small nod of his head.
"I love you Cupa. I love you with all my heart."
"I-I love you too Daniel!"
The two pulled each other into a gentle but loving kiss, losing their grip on the world as they felt nothing but pure bliss take over them.
Breaking the kiss for some much needed air, they decided to get some sleep. It had been a busy day and they were both tired. Climbing into bed, Daniel and Cupa shared a quick kiss before cuddling up and falling asleep in each other's arms.
'Maybe I was wrong to think of coming to this world as a bad thing. I think I'm going to like it here now that I have someone to share it with.'
I know normally I get a bit nervous about what people think of this stuff, but I don't care if that ending seemed a bit cheesy. I felt that it fit in with the story, that's all that matters.
This is also the longest of the three chapters at over 1,900 words.
I've got a vague idea for another story, but I'll wait and see what people think of this first before going any further with it.
I also want to thank everyone who reviewed the last few chapters. You guys gave me the confidence boost to actually see me through this.