Chapter 2: New World
The first thing I was aware of was the sharp throb in my skull. It pulsated throughout my body in a peculiar way, almost as if it flowed through my veins. The harsh sunlight that tried to force its way through my eyelids didn't help, so I brought my hand to my face. It seemed to help, and the pain gradually lifted. My mind felt like it was returning, and I was regaining my ability to think. Something in the back of my head urged me to open my eyes, but my sluggish thoughts told me otherwise. Instead, I felt the cool, dewy grass that slipped through my fingers. It was soft, like the grass in my backyard. Was I in my backyard? I thought.
No, I had been with Emmy and Tanner. We had been playing Minecraft, and then…
I gasped and bolted upright as I remembered what had just happened. We had gone through the Nether portal after it had appeared on my TV screen. There had been swirls of purple, and then pain. What had happened? But the most important question was where was I?
I surveyed the area around me, taking in the sites. I was in a grassy plain filled with early morning dew and bright yellow dandelions. The sunrise turned everything golden, including the birch trees that dotted the edge of the plains. A large ocean placidly rolled its waves to the left of me, seeming like a blazing body of orange. However, the land was so strange. A laugh bubbled to my lips as I thought that surely, I must be dreaming. There was no way this was real.
The land was made of cubes, exactly like Minecraft. Rectangular features were found all across the plains, all of them containing grass blocks. Now that I looked more intently towards the forest, I could distinguish the blocky shape of the trees and the leaves. Even the ocean rolled in a square formation. I turned my gaze to the sun, which was a square as well. I had to be dreaming.
However, as a warm breeze drifted through my hair and I felt the hardness of the ground beneath me, I realized that this was too real to be a dream. I was in Minecraft.
I was in Minecraft.
I was in freaking Minecraft!
The panic in my chest was hard to control. I began to feel the beginning of a panic attack. Minecraft. Out of all the things it could be, it was Minecraft. I had always dreamed about waking up in Minecraft, but this was too much. This was dangerous. This was wrong. This was bad. This was so amazing.
A hysterical laugh escaped my mouth. I was trying so hard to not completely lose control. I wasn't sure if this was good or not. With its Creepers and Endermen, Minecraft wasn't exactly the safest place. However, to be trapped in one of your favorite video games was astounding. This was absolutely incredible.
I stood, my legs a bit shaky. I breathed deeply for a second, hoping to release some built up anxiety. The air was crisp and slightly cool, and smelled of grass and salt. A grin broke across my face as I imagined the vastness of the beautiful land. 'Emmy would love this', I thought. Emmy…
Remembering that my friends had gone through the portal as well, I turned my head sharply around. My eyes scoured the land in search of Emmy and Tanner. I felt my legs move as the landscape flew past my vision. Desperation crept its way into my throat as I looked around the landscape for any disturbances as I raced on. I found nothing out of the ordinary, just poppies and dandelions. I tried shouting their names, but my voice was hoarse.
"EMMY!" I screamed, my voice sounding strange. "TANNER!"
A short ways away from me, I heard a groaning noise. Smiling, I jogged over to the source of the noise. A yellow clad girl lay on the ground, her blonde hair fanning out around her. She wore khaki shorts and a red bowtie. Her boots came up to her knees, and she had yellow and green headphones wrapped around her neck. It was undeniably Emmy, yet she was wearing what her Minecraft character often wore. Strange.
"Emmy," I whispered roughly, shaking her, "C'mon Emmy, wake up."
She groaned more, but she sounded closer to consciousness. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she squinted at me.
"Samantha?"
I growled under my breath. "Yeah," I said without the growl, "It's me. But please never call me that again."
She smiled, and her eyes fully opened. "Wouldn't dream of it Samus."
I returned her smile.
"So," she questioned, "Where are we? Is Tanner arou-"
She stopped speaking as soon as she glanced at the area around us. Her mouth stayed open, almost as if she were too surprised to move it. Her head turned around, and she let out a strangled sort of noise. I saw panic and fear reach her face and eyes.
"Where are we?!" She shrieked hysterically. Her chest moved up and down rapidly.
"We, well, we're in Minecraft." I responded as calmly as I could, trying to mask my fear as well.
"What?" She breathed with a hysterical edge to her voice.
"We are in Minecraft." I told her firmly, controlling my emotions. "The portal dropped us off here, in a plains biome it looks like. Tanner should be around here somewhere. I awoke in a place pretty close to here."
Emmy pulled her legs to her chest and looked me in the eyes. "We're in Minecraft."
I nodded and swallowed, looking away. "Yeah."
I could hear her heavy breathing as she started to freak out. I wrapped my arms around her, and she clung to me. I kept murmuring that it would be okay, that we would be fine. I was telling myself that as well. It was a few minutes before she pulled away. She nodded at me in thanks, and she stood. It looked like it took effort, but that was probably because she was still frightened. I didn't blame her. So was I.
"So," she said, clearing her throat, "We should find Tanner. Who knows where he is."
I smirked, glad Emmy was returning to normal. I stood up and walked across the fields with Emmy until we happened to see a purple figure laying in the grass. We raced over to it, hoping that it was Tanner.
When we reached the figure, we instantly knew it was Tanner. He was wearing his bright purple Hawkeye skin, with a mask that covered his face and a blue belt wrapped around his waist. We shook him and whispered "Tanner" until he eventually stirred.
"Five more minutes guys." He murmured sleepily, his eyes squeezing shut.
"We don't have five more minutes Tanner." I said. "Now get up!"
Groaning, Tanner sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Emmy and I sat warily on each side of him, unsure of how he would react in such a strange land. When he finally got his bearings, stunned astonishment crossed his face. His muscles tensed as he sat rigid on the blocky ground. Tanner made several attempts at speaking until he closed his mouth. Emmy reached out a comforting hand to Tanner, but he was gone in a flash. A purple blur crossed my vision as Tanner ran straight towards the ocean.
"Is he…" Emmy started.
"Yep." I grunted as I got up and chased after him.
Pain was still radiating through my body, but it wasn't as severe as before. My leg muscles strained against the force of running, and my lungs burned. I was never good at running, and Tanner was on our school's cross-country team. How was I going to catch up to him in my condition?
However, Tanner must have been feeling the effects of the portal as well, for he was slowing down and panting. Right now, I was in better condition than he was, which meant I could catch up to him. Awesome.
I managed to close in on Tanner, and my body slammed into his. I could feel the ocean spray on my face, which only seemed to fuel my anger. Pinning Tanner down to the ground, I glared at him with all of might. It took a lot, since I was still pretty shaken.
"What the hell were you thinking!?" I asked him.
"We're in Minecraft!" Tanner screamed. "We are in bloody Minecraft!"
"That is no excuse to run to your…" I stopped, swallowing the lump in my throat and closing my eyes. Collecting myself, I fixed my gaze on him once again.
"Right now, we need each other. We can't lose each other. Who knows if we'll respawn."
My words seemed to have an effect. Tanner's eyes changed from crazed to their normal intelligent look. He took a deep breath and glanced up at me.
"Sorry," He said, "I was just frightened. Are we really in Minecraft?"
I nodded, getting off of him. A slight blush blazed on my cheeks. He may have been like a brother to me, but we had been pretty close. "Sorry," I mumbled as I stood. I offered him my hand, and he took it. He took me in, smirking as he did so.
"What are you smirking about?" I scowled.
Laughing a bit, he replied, "Nothing. It's just they got your Minecraft skin down perfectly."
Raising my eyebrows, I looked down at my appearance. Large black headphones hung from my neck, glowing a slight teal color. I had on a navy shirt with a Metroid on the middle, and a music jacket with teal notes on the sleeves. I was clad with dark jeans and teal sneakers, making me look exactly like my Minecraft avatar.
"Now that's just creepy," I muttered.
I looked back at Tanner. "What about you, Mr. Purple Bird? I'd say you look just like Hawkeye."
A stricken look ran across his features. "What?" He squeaked.
Emmy strode over towards us, looking strangely calm. My nerves bristled, detecting the danger rolling off of her. She paid me no mind as she walked promptly over to Tanner. Just as Tanner was about to apologize, he was silenced as a loud crack sounded in the air. Emmy had slapped Tanner forcefully. I stood warily, hoping I wouldn't get a slap as well.
Tanner was hunched over on the ground as Emmy towered over him, hands on her hips.
"Don't you ever do that again." Emmy warned darkly.
All Tanner could do was nod weakly. Emmy turned to me, and I recoiled a bit. She smirked and crossed her arms.
"So, what's the plan?"
My eyes widened. Was she asking me? Tanner got to his feet and glanced at me too. They were waiting for me to say something, to start the beginnings of a plan. A horrible feeling made its way into my head. I couldn't be the leader. I wasn't good at that. But as I looked into the faces of my fearful friends, I realized that I could do this. I had to, for them.
I racked my brain, trying to remember the basics of Minecraft. We would need shelter, tools, and food. Most important, however, was shelter.
"Alright." I said, forcing confidence into my voice. "We need to collect as much wood as we can. Our first step is to make a shelter for the night. There's a forest over there." I pointed. "We can each collect wood. By midday, we'll start work on the shelter. We need to make sure we finish by sundown, or else we'll find out the hard way if there're mobs or not."
"Sounds like a plan." Tanner smiled.
"Yeah," Emmy added, "We should get started."
We made our way towards the forest, Emmy and Tanner easily making jokes. My brain disconnected from the world, trying to make sense of the situation. Somehow, my TV had become a portal to the world of Minecraft. My mind focused on the question Why us? It had said Come adventurers, meaning whoever was controlling this had chosen us. Why though? What was their plan?
"Samus?" Emmy asked.
"Hmm?" I glanced at her, pulled out of my musings.
"We're here." She nodded towards the trees, which were right in front of us. We were in a marvelous birch tree forest, with countless trees spanning the area. Leaves rustled overhead, creating a dark green canopy. This was the perfect place to gather materials for our shelter. However, another thought struck me as I approached a tree.
"Umm, do we just punch it, or…" I ventured uncertainly.
"Not sure." Emmy shrugged. "Let's just punch it."
Turning towards the birch, I drew back my fist. When it connected, I expected it to hurt. However, a crack had formed in a square of the trunk, and my hand felt like I had punched a pillow.
"Go on." I urged my friends. "It doesn't hurt."
I continued to punch my tree as my friends found birches of their own. The crack became more prominent as the hits continued. Eventually, the trunk broke, and a miniature block floated in the air. Hesitantly, I reached out to touch it. It felt like wood, however I only felt it for an instant. I felt it absorb into my body, and my vision changed. I could see the item bar on the bottom of my vision, which showed one birch wood in the inventory. Curious, I attempted to access what was normally the crafting menu. Sure enough, the main inventory/crafting menu was displayed. Concentrating once again, I forced it to vanish.
Smiling to myself, I continued with my task. We worked for what felt like hours. By the time the sun hung in the middle of the sky, we had collectively gathered three stacks of birch wood. Using our concentration, we managed to create enough planks to start building our shelter. Silently, we made our way to the plains. When we were in the middle of the field, Emmy stopped.
"This seems good." She said. "Let's start."
With planks in our hands, we gingerly laid the small wooden blocks on the ground. They expanded into full sized blocks, much to my astonishment.
"This really is Minecraft." I muttered as I lay down another layer of wood.
Eventually, we had created a suitable shelter that could accommodate all of us for the night. Inside, we placed a crafted table. Using the table, we created a door so we could tell when night was over. Once our hard work was completed, the sun hung dangerously close to the horizon. The sky was steeped with golden hues, stars speckling the darker parts. It was beautiful, but the beauty came with a price. Mobs would be coming soon.
"C'mon guys." I urged with a tone of regret. "We should head in."
As we walked into the threshold, I threw a glance behind my shoulder. The world was glorious at night, but I could almost taste the peril in the air. I moved to turn my head back, my eyes caught something. It was a lone figure, standing threateningly in the field. Its tattered blue shirt swayed in the wind, and its head bowed. As it drew itself to its full height, I saw its eyes. They were pure glowing white, causing a dagger of distress to pierce my chest. Our eyes locked, and I could feel the malice between us. However, he quickly vanished. I stood transfixed, staring unbelievingly at the spot it had been standing on.
"Sam," Tanner started, "What are you-"
Tanner was interrupted by a whizzing sound and a strange, thin blur. That's when the pain exploded in my leg.
A/N Thank you all for the reviews and support! Sorry for the late update, school finals were grueling. Now winter break has come, and I can update to my heart's content!
Angel, thank you so much for the review. I'm glad you're interested, and thank you for the help!
Emmy, thanks! I hope you liked this chapter!
TheRedZelda, thanks for the reviews. Chapter 3 will be out shortly!