Ike() Greetings, readers from near and far! Welcome to my humble Terraria fic, where just about anything can happen. Are you ready for this? Cause I'm not.

Chapter I: New World

Terraria had been a cruel mistress. Ak'Zul had been ripped from his miserable life on Earth and violently cast into an unfamiliar landscape, which was as deadly as it was beautiful. It was only thanks to the guidance of Cody that he had survived his first night. And his second and his third, if he was being honest. Whether by his own natural talent, luck, fate, the will of the Divines, or some other higher power, Ak'Zul had adapted and thrived in this world. But no matter how dangerous things had gotten, he had always taken comfort in the surety of waking up exactly where he wanted to be. He had been content here, despite the constant life-threatening dangers. And now he was leaving, probably for good. Ak'Zul had realized some time ago that Terraria wasn't where he wanted to be anymore. Was he being selfish by leaving? Maybe. But as Calista took his hand decisively and approached the World Gate at his side, Ak'Zul realized that he didn't care if he was being selfish. After all, with everything he had done for Terraria, wasn't he entitled to a little bit of selfishness?

Calista stopped inches short of the portal, reaching a hand out experimentally to touch the puddle-like surface of the wormhole. The moment she touched it her hand sent a ripple expanding outwards towards the edges of the portal, and a cold chill ran up her arm, making her shiver involuntarily. She pulled her hand back apprehensively and looked to Ak'Zul. It had occurred to her that they had no real way of knowing what they were going to experience when they entered the portal, and it gave her pause.

"What will it be like? Travelling through the portal, I mean," Calista asked. Ak'Zul hummed thoughtfully in response, thinking for a moment before saying anything.

"...I haven't the slightest clue. Let's find out together, shall we?" Ak'Zul declared excitedly. Suddenly and without warning he took a big step forward, disappearing into the portal and dragging Calista along with him before she had a chance to protest. As soon as they entered the portal they felt the familiar feeling of vertigo caused by teleportation, followed by the not-so-familiar feeling of their entire bodies vibrating and the sensation of being warm and cold at the same time. Everything twisted and swirled around them, turning into a blurry menagerie of colours and strange sensations. Ak'Zul felt as if he was falling and being spun around a hundred times a second, followed by the feeling of moving a thousand directions at once, followed by a still weightlessness as if he were floating in space. Then as quickly as it had started, the two of them were unceremoniously spat out faster than they had entered. Ak'Zul's first steps faltered, and he nearly stumbled before he managed to regain his bearings and balance himself. He spun around urgently, catching Calista as she came out behind him in a blur of green hair. Calista took a moment to balance herself, and then lightly slapped Ak'Zul on the arm.

"Don't do that! You startled me," Calista scolded, drawing a laugh from Ak'Zul's lips.

"Sorry. It's just that I thought it would be best to get the trip over with, rather than to stand around making guesses at what might happen," Ak'Zul admitted.

"Hmph, I suppose that makes sense. Just give me a warning before you do rash things like that," Calista compromised, turning her gaze to their surroundings.

As she did, Ak'Zul suddenly realized just how close they were, their bodies flush with each other and their faces inches apart. It didn't seem to bother Calista, so Ak'Zul tried his best not to let it bother him. He gently returned his arms to his sides and allowed Calista to stand on her own. But before he himself could get a look at their surroundings, the faint hum of the portal cut out and the translucent purple portal dissipated, leaving the two of them alone. In the dark. Still slightly disoriented, Ak'Zul muttered a complaint under his breath and activated his Jewel Of Light. A small ethereal faery (which looked uncomfortably similar to the Empress Of Light) blinked into existence, and everything in a large area around them became visible under the bright aura that the faery gave off. Smooth white rock with strange designs chiselled in became visible all around them, carved into pillars and archways which made up most of what was visible. The portal seemed to stand on a large pedestal in the centre of the room, with stone pews lined up in each direction. Chunks of damaged and destroyed rock littered the room, and piles of rubble and dust covered the floors. Ak'Zul narrowed his eyes at one corner of the room in particular, almost positive that he could see a skeleton with spikes protruding from between its ribs. How quaint.

Ak'Zul stepped forward with Calista in tow behind him. The miniature faery hovered over his shoulder while continuing to illuminate the area around them, eventually revealing a large stone statue in front of them. It was nearly seven feet tall and depicted a humanoid with a grotesque giant eyeball for a head, wearing ceremonial robes and reaching out with both hands. In the outstretched palm of one hand, it held a faintly glowing blue object that somewhat resembled a mana star. The other hand was clasped tightly around an indigo staff with a red pentagram hovering in the centre of a hoop on top. A faded bronze plaque stood before it, with something inscribed in Galactic Dialect. The two hastily made their way to the statue and Ak'Zul immediately approached the plaque, going straight into research mode and starting his translation.

"'The day of the Overlord will come, such power has he that all shall succumb. The ancient forces of Light and Dark will encroach while from afar a Great Calamity shall approach. Henceforth, with the arrival of he whom has vanquished the master of the moon, eternity shall fall and Revengeance shall bring death to all.' Great, another doom and gloom prophecy..." Ak'Zul muttered dejectedly after finishing his translation. Calista resisted the urge to scoff.

"If I recall there was a prophecy about you in Terraria, and even before you disproved it, it was never any cause of concern for you," Calista reminded him. Ak'Zul rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I know, I'm super special because I didn't perish in my final battle with cunt'hulu-"

"-Cthulhu," Calista corrected with a poorly disguised smirk.

"Whatever. Point is, the Moonlord is dead and I'm not, prophecy was wrong and I knew it from the start. I'm just getting a really bad vibe from this statue, is all," Ak'Zul explained dismissively. Calista hummed in agreement. She had to admit, although she could sense nothing dark from within the statue, it was making her uneasy. Quite a feat considering all she had seen and done throughout her five centuries of life.

Ak'Zul crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes as he gazed up at the statue and the relics it held. He scrutinized every little detail looking for traps or signs of magical shenanigans and found none, besides the objects held aloft in its stony hands. He huffed in frustration and turned his attention back to the plaque, rereading the vague and yet oddly specific inscription once more. It almost seemed like it was referring to him when it said 'vanquisher of the master of the moon', but that couldn't be. Not only was this temple ancient and laying in ruins, but it was in another world. Surely, if the Moonlord of this world had been sealed away before he arrived, someone else ought to have put him there? Maybe then the plaque was indeed talking about the original hero who sealed away the Moonlord. Or more likely, it referred to something else entirely. Of course, the thought still didn't make Ak'Zul feel any better. Something occurred to him, and a wry grin spread across his face.

"Calista," Ak'Zul began absently, eyes fixed on the statue. Calista immediately knew she wasn't going to like whatever came next, but humored her friend anyways.

"Yes?"

"I'm going to do something rash," Ak'Zul declared, and before Calista could stop him, his hands shot forward with purpose.

With his left hand he grasped the purple and red staff tightly and wrenched it from the statues grasp, and with his right he swiped the blue artifact from the statue's open palm. The hoop of the staff burst into purple flames and the red glow of the pentagram became much more intense, while the blue artifact started humming with energy. Fire sconces burst to life around the room, illuminating the stone chamber completely with the same purple glow that the staff now radiated. The chamber had grand stone arches in the ceiling, keeping the spherical structure standing, and large rectangular slabs were secured to the outside walls. Calista looked at him incredulously, but before she could berate him for acting recklessly, there was a low metallic groan. The stone slabs, which Ak'Zul could now identify as sarcophagus covers, popped open and fell over with a crash. From within, hulking forms stepped out menacingly. Decayed and mummified corpses, two meters tall with crooked and hunched postures. Their eye sockets, though empty, glowed red. Each creature (for surely these could not be human) was clad in heavy ebony plate armour with red bloodlines, their helmets adorned with jagged demonic horns and intimidating spikes and thorns dotting their armour. Their swords were rippled and serrated and had a dull sheen to them, while huge shields like solid metal walls were carried on their left arms. A thick red and black fog coated and flowed from the gaps in their armour, and for a reason that Ak'Zul couldn't quite discern, it severely agitated him.

Ak'Zul muttered the incantation for an informative spell under his breath, one that Merlyn had taught him, and a small portion of knowledge about these enemies filled his being. These were Deathknights, a form of undead not unlike possessed armour but so much more powerful. Necromantic magic and killing intent rolled off of them in waves, but as menacing and grotesque as they were, Ak'Zul found himself calmly crossing his arms and standing still as he and Calista were surrounded. He had seen much worse. These guys didn't even make it into the top twenty scariest or weirdest. Calista's nose scrunched up in disgust, and she momentarily averted her gaze. She could feel a growing urge to attack the undead abominations, to utterly destroy them, but restrained herself to the best of her abilities. With this situation, Ak'Zul had much more experience, and so she would wait for his decision. The Deathknights were advancing now, and Ak'Zul finally made a decision.

"Can you cast [Nature's Blessing]?" Ak'Zul asked.

"Of course," Calista Responded, immediately closing her eyes and shifting her focus. Her connection to Terraria may have been severed, but as she called upon the forces of nature in this new world they responded in full. The status of the world was worrying, to put it lightly, but that was not important at the moment.

Calista delved deeply into her mana reserves, and cast [Nature's Blessing]. A sphere of green aura enveloped her and Ak'Zul, and expanded into the rest of the room. A deep screech pierced the air as the purifying magic passed over the Death Knights, and they suddenly began to charge from every direction at breakneck speeds. Evidently, they didn't like purification magic. Ak'Zul's hands were in motion before they could begin their charge, however, channeling his mana into his Mythical [Nebula Arcanum]. The magical artifact began to glow, and from the palm of his outstretched hand a mass of astral energy began to form, swirling around chaotically and threatening to tear the fabric of reality apart. It quickly grew in size and power, and after wrapping an arm around a bewildered Calista, Ak'Zul flew quickly upwards while casting the mass of nebula magic forward. The Deathknights were too close to slow their charge now, colliding with the destructive magic in a grand explosion that filled the room with a cloud of dust. Ak'Zul and Calista landed safely several yards away, and Ak'Zul cast [Gust] to clear the dust from the area. The room cleared to reveal the Deathknights were still standing, despite having been torn asunder. Their armour was a wreck, torn away in some places and partially melted in others, while their shields could hardly be considered shields anymore.

'That really wasn't enough to kill them? At the very least, it seems I've rendered them incapable of posing a threat,' Ak'Zul thought to himself as he observed the menacing creatures, 'and yet still they persist.'

Sure enough, despite having taken the full brunt of one of Ak'Zul's most powerful offensive spells, the Deathknights started towards the dryad and the mage again. Ak'Zul hummed thoughtfully and summoned a [Magic Missile] staff to his hand from his inventory. Calista rose a brow.

"You expect to fell these foul creatures with such a low-level spell?" Calista questioned. Ak'Zul shrugged.

"They're practically falling apart, no sense wasting a great deal of mana on them," Ak'Zul explained, and with that, he cast an array of blue bolts that streaked through the air as they shot towards their targets. The bolts exploded brilliantly in a shower of blue plasma, utterly destroying what remained of the undead. Ak'Zul smirked.

"...You're still a fool for taking the artifacts," Calista said after a moment, giving the man a sidelong glance.

"Why? It's only been beneficial to us so far. We can see properly now and it probably opened a door somewhere,"

"They could be cursed!"

"Probably are," Ak'Zul mumbled thoughtfully. Calista furrowed her brow at him. Seemingly thinking little of it, Ak'Zul started walking towards the far end of the room. Low throaty moans greeted him as he came near, and he smirked. Thinking against continuing with [Magic Missile], since he could inadvertently collapse the hallways with the force of the magic in close quarters, Ak'Zul summoned his Mythical [Golden Shower] tome in his right hand and the Legendary Arkhalis in his left, while Calista frantically unsheathed the Seedler. The two dashed forward down the hallway, and the slaughter began. The first undead came in a group of three, screeching loudly as they were sprayed with golden ichor, before Arkhalis was tearing into them at blinding speeds like a wood chipper. Calista deftly dodged the flying bits of flesh and metal and her seedler flashed, decapitating one undead warrior and throwing an explosive seed into the next doorway where it obliterated four more armour-clad zombies. The Nebula energy in Ak'Zul's clothes absorbed the lifeforce from the fallen foes and empowered him, and the zombies waiting around the next corner fell quickly to streams of ichor that flowed through the air like golden serpents. Calista's Seedler danced as she fought against the undead that gave chase behind them. Another corner turned, six more undead slain by the blade. A staircase climbed, eight zombies liquefied by magic. Arkhalis flashed, Seedler danced, ichor surged, and before long an hour had passed.

"Having fun yet?" Ak'Zul cried as he tore into his current opponent. Calista spared him an incredulous glance before she parried a sword and impaled her own opponent.

"Is this -UGH- really the time for idle -YAH- chatter?" Calista cried back between swings of her sword. Ak'Zul laughed as he sprayed ichor at a large group of zombies, each of them falling to the floor as melted, disfigured corpses.

"I know we haven't fought together since Etheria, but this hardly seems a challenge for you and I! Don't tell me you've gotten slow?" Ak'Zul teased. Calista took exception to that.

Ak'Zul let out a noise of surprise as he was distracted from his opponent by the seedler narrowly missing his face. Ak'Zul ducked under the next swing, deflected the next while killing a zombie with his [Golden Shower, and wrenched his body to the side to dodge the third. An explosive seed flew over Ak'Zul's head and took care of the approaching zombies, while a spray of ichor that passed over Calista's shoulder melted the group pursuing. The two traded lighting quick blows several times more before briefly parting to dispatch zombies, and then they returned to their competition. Both of them wore smiles, despite the blades that threatened to tear each other apart.

"Still too slow for you, Ak'Zul? Or is your youthful vigor no match for experience?" Calista shot playfully, while Ak'Zul multitasked between fending off her strikes and melting a zombie with ichor.

"I suppose I may work up a sweat, if only you'd stop attacking with so little technique!" Ak'Zul retorted, while an overhead strike that he dodged cleaved apart an unfortunate zombie behind him. While Calista was fully aware that she'd had Ak'Zul on the defensive the entire time, it had also crossed her mind that he only used one hand to fight her. So she increased the ferocity of her attacks, hoping to at least force him to use both hands. Meanwhile, while Ak'Zul had been more than comfortable in their friendly spat, he was quite certain that the only reason he was keeping up with Calista was the inherent speed of the Arkhalis. And so he doubled his efforts and went on the offensive. And that is how the two combatants came to disarm each other by accident. As the blades clattered to the ground, Calista blinked in confusion. She hadn't meant to do that. Ak'Zul, on the other hand, smiled even wider and materialized the Legendary Starlight. Before Calista could so much as sigh in defeat, five zombies had been impaled through the skull in an instant and the tip of the iridescent rapier rested below her chin.

"I win," Ak'Zul said smugly.

"I'd hardly call defeating an exhausted lady in a fight a victory," Calista commented dryly, despite the grin on her face. Ak'Zul shrugged and lowered his rapier, while behind them, the lid of a sarcophagus slowly opened.

"I'd hardly call it a fight," Ak'Zul teased, as a rotting corpse adorned with bandages and golden ceremonial armour stumbled out from its final resting place. Calista's brow rose and her mouth parted as she gasped at the comment.

"Why you little... give me a weapon on par with yours, and we shall see what kind of a 'fight' I can put up," Calista challenged. The smirk on Ak'Zul's lips grew, and he began to summon a weapon in his free han-

"WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER?" A gravelly voice echoed from behind. Ak'Zul's face twisted in annoyance, and he spun around.

"Excuse you? Didn't anyone ever teach you not to interrupt people? The audacity!" Ak'Zul cried at the charging lich. A brilliant silver gauntlet materialized on Ak'Zul's hand, with large glowing gems embedded into it. His fingers lifted, and a blast of blue plasma melted the lich into ash. Calista rose a brow.

"Was that really necessary?" Calista asked coyly. Ak'Zul sighed as his Nebula Blaze dematerialized.

"It ruined the moment," Ak'Zul said sourly. Calista shook her head at him and laughed softly.

"In any case, it seems that was the foul creature responsible for all the undead. They've all returned to corpses," Calista observed, looking around the chamber filled with coffins and sarcophagus. Although, it was hard to tell what the two of them had killed from the undead that had been released from the lich's grip.

"It would seem so. Shall we carry on, then?" Ak'Zul asked, hints of his annoyance still present in his tone. Calista nodded and led the way, humming a tune to herself. Ak'Zul couldn't help but feel his perturbance melt away at Calista's upbeat mood. He sighed, and quickly followed the sound of feet padding across dungeon tiles.

Ike() A shorty, I'm sorry to say, but I hope you found it enjoyable all the same. Can anyone guess which world they're in yet?

Ike() Now, I'm not writing for this project full time yet, nor do I have the first story arc fully fleshed out yet. I still have IR to focus on, after all. But I tell you what, when (if) I finish IR and make Requiem my main project, I'll promise the following: Longer chapters (15k), certain popular Terraria mods may become involved, and eventually I will cross-over the story with more worlds than just the one I've chosen (Probably in order of popularity). Sound like a deal?

Ike() Anyway, enough of my rambling. If you enjoyed please consider a fav/follow, and if you didn't enjoy please consider leaving a (constructive) review to let me know how I can improve! This writing machine runs on feedback, as we say. Have a good one, all!

Ike() Oh, and special thanks to Gizmo for beta / editing / moral support. You give me the confidence to spill my gorilla-brain on a page and upload.