Chapter 4: Names, Strangers, and Mining
A peaceful awakening? Not so much...
Someone was sliding against his door that morning.
He had heard the dreadful noise a few moments after waking up. He had a good sleep, too! Then, the ear-splitting skraaaaaaaaaaaa… suddenly decided to greet his door, promptly followed by a rather worrisome THUD. He looked out the window to make sure it wasn't a creeper or a spider. Instead, he found something COMPLETELY different. Even though his vision from the window was limited, he could tell that whatever it was, it wasn't hostile. At least, not yet. But he couldn't just leave it out there, anyway! The poor thing would be left at the mercy (or lack thereof) of the creepers and spiders. Cautiously, he approached the door, a stone sword in hand. He swung it open, and pointed his sword at whatever thing may have tried to enter his house. Except, it was unconscious…
...and it was a girl.
He griped his head in pain, once again suffering the burden of possessing knowledge from who-knows-where. But he could tell this was a girl. Her hair was a beautiful shade of silver, and it slid down to her waist. She wore an emerald-shaded ensemble of a short-sleeve shirt and jeans, with gold sprinkled delicately throughout. She was wearing sandals the color of lapis lazuli, all of which clashed beautifully with her fair skin. She looked just as old as him, too. Of course, he wasn't paying attention to any of that. He was too busy looking at the burn marks.
They. Were. EVERYWHERE.
Across her face, her arms, her legs. He could also spot several bruises here and there, as well as some tears in her clothing. He managed to pry himself from her questionable appearance, and unfortunately noticed a nearby structure. It was a wall of obsidian blocks, with a rather large hole in the middle. There wasn't any obsidian in the corners either, and it looked like an obsidian block was… missing. It didn't help that the entire thing as a whole simply reeked DOOM AND DESPAIR. He rapidly shook his head to clear his thoughts. Taking care of the girl came first, questions came later.
The next few minutes were spent awkwardly dragging her into the house and putting her on his bed.
He suddenly realized if he was going to take care of this girl, he was going to need to get more resources. But first, he needed to do some more crafting. He took out his three remaining iron ingots (for now), his 4 pieces of flint, his three pieces of string, six sticks, and three feathers. He started by placing two iron ingots diagonally on his crafting table. They turned into shears. That could come in handy if he needed to make another bed. Then he took a piece of flint and his last iron ingot. They turned into a flint and steel. Maybe he could light a fire? He stacked a piece of flint, a stick, and a feather vertically from top to bottom. They created four arrows. He did this another two times. But how was he going to fire those arrows? He place a sticks in the top center, middle right, and bottom center. He put his pieces of string on the entire left column.
Henceforth, he created his first ever bow.
Now that he had gotten his experimenting out of the way, he made sure to bring a few torches, two stone swords, a pickaxe, an axe, and a shovel, as well as some food. He was going to be gathering A LOT today. He looked back at the girl. She was still a bit unconscious, tossing and turning on his bed. He really hoped he could find some wool. While walking out of his beautiful home, he saw the obsidian structure again. Instinctively, he went in the direction clear from the structure.
Then he saw a sheep, and sheared off three wool blocks for another bed.
He continued until he found a part of the forest practically FILLED with oak trees. He quickly grabbed his stone axe, and began hacking away at the trees. While the wood was an added bonus, he really just needed the apples. He started to head off to the cave in the canyon side, when he came across a herd of cows. His stone sword begged him to use it. And he did. While he didn't get much raw beef from the cows he slaughtered (other than the mental kind), he did somehow acquire 24 pieces of leather. He'd save it for later. Right now he needed to get to the cave. He had a very good feeling…
The only "good feeling" he had at the beginning was slaughtering some zombies who snuck in.
Even so, he decided to torch the place so that he wouldn't have to worry about being jumpscared by such creatures. He started mining as usual, found PLENTY of cobblestone, coal, and iron, but then he found gold. Literally. Staring at him in the face was honest to goodness gold ore. He had to get it! He was about to strike it with his stone pickaxe, but froze. He remembered the first time he tried mining iron ore…
…
…
Okay, he needed to bring out his iron pickaxe.
He struck the gold, and the ore flew into his hands. But there was more. He got a second. A third. A fourth! When he was finished, he had 9 golden ores in his inventory. He looked outside. Darkness was about to envelop the land. He ran out of the cave. He swam up the waterfall. The monsters were starting to show up. The creepers and zombies wandered about aimlessly. Then there were those weird white things. The were holding bows, too. They were thinner than zombies. But they seemed to be more… capable.
Needless to say, he did his best to avoid the skeletons.
Miraculously, he had made it back to the house. He shut the door as fast as he had opened it, and collapsed from relief. Then he noticed his bed was empty. And someone was in his "Working Room." The girl was awake, and it seemed like she was trying to craft something. "Let's see here…" she muttered to herself. "I got the cobblestone, and some blaze powder, but where the heck did I put the rod!?" She was fumbling through her pockets; she looked stressed. "Where are the iron ingots? Ughhhh, did I forget my flint and steel, too!? Darn, I wish I didn't leave them back at the base!" She continued muttering, while he was wondering what was going on in her head. What the heck was blaze powder, or a blaze rod? Why did she need cobblestone and iron? Suddenly, he stepped on the wooden floor. Creaaak…
The girl swiveled around and drew her iron sword. Her eyes showed and icy shade of diamond blue on the right and emerald green on the left.
He was terrified. He had already brought the girl home, uneasy as he already was, and now here she was threatening his life. That wasn't exactly the best way one wanted to go out. The two didn't break eye contact for a long time. She tried pulling a sword swing. He managed to dodge, and pulled out the first thing that came to mind from his inventory: a stone pickaxe. Not the best weapon, but good enough. The girl slashed again, but he blocked her with the pickaxe, nullifying any potential damage. The girl muttered under her breath, and he pushed her aside, knocking her into the bed. The girl groaned, as he pulled out his iron pickaxe instead. He held it up against her chest. He could've ended this right here and now.
… of course he didn't.
He put away the iron pickaxe. The girl sat up confused. She was about to slash the jerk who pinned her on the bed of all places, but then she saw him at the "Working Room." He was putting some meat to cook in the furnace, and he took out some wool and wood blocks. After a bit of crafting, he walked over to his "Bedroom," and placed the new bed next to his own. Then he put some gold to smelt in the second furnace. She looked at him, stunned. Why was he doing this? She was about to kill him! The meat finished cooking, and he offered the girl a steak. She was taken aback. She wanted to refuse, but...grumble… she hadn't eaten anything. She reluctantly took the steak, and began to bite it. While she was doing that, he was taking the gold out of the second furnace.
The next few moments were spent in silence.
Finally, she spoke up. "S...sorry…" she whispered. He stopped eating his apple, and looked at her. He held out his hand, as an attempt at truce. She looked at him. Her face was flustered, his face was soft and… friendly. Something she wished she could see more often. With a little giggle, she happily accepted the hand. "My name's Jewel. What's yours?" the girl asked. He was taken by surprise. Name? He didn't think he had one. It wasn't something he thought of as of late. But he did like the name "Jewel." It was fitting for a girl like her.
"Hello, hello? This is reality contacting miner, miner do you copy?"
Jewel's voice snapped him out of his daydream. What was she asking him again? Oh right, a name. He shook his head with a shrug. He didn't have a name, as far as he knew. Jewel rubbed her chin. "You don't have a name? Hmmm…" Suddenly, she snapped her fingers. "Pickaxe," she declared. He stared at her blankly. What about a pickaxe? "That's your name, silly! Pickaxe," Jewel explained. He stared at her, then at the ceiling. He pondered with his pickaxe for a while. "You don't like it?" Jewel asked.
Pickaxe laughed a little bit, and shook his head. "Nah, I don't like it. I love it."