Kyle and Alfred were waiting for me at the front door. "You're all right!" exclaimed Kyle as I stumbled inside. "I heard you shouting last night. I was sure you were a goner."

"Tell that to the other guys," I managed to say before collapsing in a chair. Somehow, I had survived the night on my own. This was good, because it meant I could do this; I was more than just fodder.

A pouch of coins clinked down on the table next to me. "As I promised, one for every monster killed," said Alfred, sounding a bit irritated. "Stone floors are hard on the back, boy..." He adjusted his hat and strode outside.

I stared at the coins. Briefly, I remembered the figure in the white hood. The figure was real; I'd seen him last night. But who was he? And why did I keep seeing him in my dreams?

Later, I went down into the basement and listened to the growling monsters wandering in my mine-tunnels. I had ignored them before, fearing their strength; but surely, I could handle them now.

I put up a door to close off the basement, in case Jack or Alfred came down, then dropped down into the tunnels, which curved under the basement, reaching somewhere below the front entrance.

There they were, still stumbling in the dark, unable to find the way out. It felt good to plunge my spear into the zombie's head, the slimes bursting as I pierced their membranes.

Torch in hand, I scanned the tunnels for ore. Nature was my enemy, I told myself. I couldn't afford to preserve nature's beauty. Even so, I cringed at the ugly gashes into the soil that my pickaxe left.

With Kyle's help, I smelted the ores into tin and lead at the furnace. I had just enough lead to build an anvil. "I noticed you have a short-sword," said the guide as I hammered the metal at my anvil. "You'll want a broadsword, though. They're better for slashing."

When I was done, I had a full set of tin armor and a thick, heavy sword. I felt as if I could barely move.

There was a chunk of land that floated between the original grass-cave hill and my tower. It hovered above my front entrance, with a zigzag-shaped gap between it and the tower.

I decided to build a new house for Alfred on that chunk of floating land. I didn't know why he'd chosen to settle in Corundia, but I was grateful, nonetheless.

When I was done, I built some stairs so that Alfred could wander on top of the grass-cave hill or descend to ground level as he pleased.

Since I was remodeling, I decided to remove the stone walls at the back of my tower and restore the back door. I had the feeling I would be doing a lot of exploring in that direction, in the future.

Today, though, I descended into the tunnels beneath the west hill once more. I tried to be more careful this time, lowering myself down into the cavern with ropes, keeping an eye out for the giant yellow slime.

Drawing my sword, I swung as soon as the slime lunged at me, landing a slice between its tiny eyes. The giant blob grazed my left shoulder in mid-leap, sending me reeling back.

Boots sloshing in the water, I slashed again; it landed behind me. I whirled around for another slash; it slammed into me directly. Slash, slash; I lost track of the movements, but at some point, I managed to land a final blow, and the yellow slime collapsed into jelly in the water.

Floating in the pool, I removed my helmet until the throbbing pain in my head subsided. Slowly, I stared around the cave, setting a torch on the edge of the pool.

All around me, I saw rock walls thick with purple, springy moss; I saw a curtain of green vines descending from the ceiling.

I saw the glint of lead. Emerging from the pool, I took out my pickaxe and began to mine. But as I dug, each swing cut down the soft vines, ripped the purple moss from its stone, leaving it fbarren.

To my left, a cavern passage led further down into the earth. When I was done mining, I headed into the tunnel.

Down, down, further down. The tunnel widened into a large, deep cavern whose bottom I couldn't see. I didn't know, back then, just how deep the world was; I thought that I'd surely found some bottom layer of the earth, not knowing that I'd only scratched the surface.

I heard a faint sound like crystalline notes, rising and falling. Blinking, I scanned the great cavern and saw pots and gem-studded rocks, thick purple growths of moss, but could not see the source of the music.

Without warning, a pair of screehing blue bats swooped down into my face, startling me so badly that I lost my grip on the rope. Horrified, I tumbled down the cavern, landing with a splash in another pool of water.

The water was far deeper than the previous one; I sank like a stone, falling away from the cavern, down the underwater tunnel. Where was I? I couldn't see anyone or anything; it was impossible to light a torch underwater, after all.

Air. I needed to find air! I clawed at the underwater tunnel frantically, searching for some air pocket. Nothing. My thrashing grew slower, sluggish. No, I thought frustratedly, weakly. I couldn't die here! Not after I'd come so far.

My lungs were about to burst, my head burning with pain. I couldn't hold it any longer. I felt the last of strength float from me; then, darkness enveloped me.

Flash. I was in a tunnel of dull, murky stone and rotting vegetation, surrounded by strange growls and odd hisses. staring up at a mysterious orb that pulsated with a sinister aura that made my blood writhe...

Flash. I was standing in the violet, fetid grass again. Overhead, I saw hairy, legless monsters with half-decayed skin. The eyes on their backs were fixated on me; their mandibles twitching as they dove at me...

I woke up in the grass-cave again, at the foot of Alfred's stairs. "You went down into the tunnel again, didn't you," said the merchant disdainfully as I sat upright, gasping for breath.

"I can do this," I mumbled. The same grass-cave. Had it been a dream? It had felt so real, so vivid, the water pressing down on my armor, my lungs burning with desperation...

The merchant handed me another coin-pouch, this one larger and made of thicker fabric. "Here," said Alfred gruffly. "It's enchanted; I can now send you money directly for each kill."

It took a while to recuperate; but as night fell, I donned my armor again and descended into the tunnels once again. There was no giant slime to greet me this time, and I soon reached the deep cavern.

More bats coming! Glaring down at the water, I sprang for the rock wall, tin armor crashing against the rough stone. Grunting, I pulled myself up onto the rock ledge and collapsed, growing tired.

My respite was short-lived; the bats were approaching again. Drawing my sword, I swung at the bats furiously, driving them back. And still screeching, even bleeding, they flew at me again and again, unrelenting, until they tumbled to the floor in bloody bits of wings and fur.

Taking off my helmet, I hung torches on the rock walls. I could hear the crystal notes again, rising and falling in pitch. Digging toward the mysterious melody, I piled a wall of stone and dirt behind me to keep out the bats. The music was growing louder...

Stone crumbled beneath my pickaxe, leaving a small hole no larger than my head. I found myself staring into a cavern with a glittering pink heart-shaped crystal.

I was about to widen the hole when I caught sight of several bats and a giant, rippling slime of black gel. This one was even larger than the yellow slime!

Okay, I thought to myself. I have to do this carefully. Sticking a torch in the hole, I took out my spear, watching the monsters through the peephole.

As soon as the bats approached, I thrust my spear through the hole, striking them directly. Again and again, I stabbed them, until they dropped to the floor.

Automatically, I felt my new coin-pouch grow heavy.

Now for the jelly. I watched as the giant slime sprang at me, squishing against the rock wall. At once, I shoved my spear through the hole and into its gelatinous body, stabbing it until it burst. Relieved, I widened the hole and entered.

I felt something wetgrab my leg. I felt something else crash into my chestplate, a third striking my shoulder. Striking a torch, I saw three tiny black slimes bouncing around me, like miniature versions of the giant black slime.

Yelling, I drew my sword and slashed at them wildly, the force of my swings flinging their tiny bodies around the cavern; but their bodies were tougher, faster. By the time I killed them I was exhausted again.

I sat down on the gel-splattered floor next to the heart-shaped crystal, which hummed and pulsated with elegant notes.

I casually gave the crystal a push with my pickaxe, accidentally dislodging it. Startled, I reached out to steady it.

The moment I touched the crystal, it began to glow bright, brimming with power, and my arm instinctively tensed up. I could feel an outside force that pressed back at my palm, as if trying to seep through my skin.

I took a deep breath and let my arm relax. Flashing rapidly, the light flowed up my fingers, up my arm, into my veins. I felt the light spread through my body like cool steel, every sense flaring, intensifying.

Beneath my hand, the crystal's ligjt dimmed away; then, abruptly, it crumbled into dust.

I took a deep breath.. My lungs felt stronger, my arms and legs sturdier. I felt more mobile in my armor now, my sword easier to swing. Was this the power of the heart-shaped crystal's light?

One way or another, it was time to go back up.

The sun was rising as I emerged from the tunnels, the last of the dawn's mist evaporating.

Crossing through the grass-caves, I caught sight of Kyle talking to an unfamiliar woman in a white uniform. Overhead, Alfred was gazing from his front porch out over the hills.

"Welcome back," greeted Kyle, eyes lighting up as I approached. He looked to the woman. "This is the adventurer I was telling you about about. Scheil, this is Caitlin, a nurse."

I stared at Caitlin. I was pretty sure I hadn't heard or seen anyone in the area. "It's nice to meet you," I said after a moment, reaching out to shake her hand.

The nurse smiled. "Likewise," she told me cheerfully. "As Kyle here said, I'm Nurse Caitlin, a graduate from the Medical Institute in Kuiz. I arrived here only this morning."

I got Caitlin and her medical supplies settled into the first floor apartment. I was loathe to give it up, but all things considered, she would likely have more use for it than me.

Still, where did she come from? Outside, I searched the ground, but couldn't find Caitlin's footprints. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen Alfred's or Kyle's footprints when they arrived, either...

"So, Scheil, what'd you find underground last night?" asked Kyle from the grass-cave's entrance. He had a small, knowing smile.

We strode through the grass-cave as I told him about the heart-shaped crystal. "Thought so," he said nodding. "The medical centers don't like to send out nurses until a hero's survived long enough to find a Life Crystal."

"Life Crystal?" I echoed.

"Yep. Shaped like a heart, you said? And you felt stronger afterwards, even though you'd just fought against some of your toughest enemies so far."

We emerged from the west exit and began to climb the hill. The morning sky was a clear, radiant blue. "Just what are Life Crystals, anyway?" I asked.

"Life Crystals form as a by-product of Terraria's power," explained Kyle. "When a new world is born, a tremendous wave of energy is released across the new world, forming grass and trees and other vegetation. The remnants of that energy, so to speak, eventually flows underground and condenses into Life Crystals."

I thought of the soft pink light of the Life Crystal, mysterious and alluring. The light had flowed into me, strengthening me. And to think that it was not just any power, but the life-giving power that flowed through Terraria itself!

"I guess I should keep an eye out for more Life Crystals down there..." At that moment, I remembered my dreams, and a thought occured to me. "You mean that every part of Terraria is alive?"

"Hm?"

I hesitated. "I've been having dreams..."

Kyle looked at me, alarmed. "What sort of dreams?" said the guide sharply.

Feeling uneasy, I tried to describe the fetid purple grass, the murky rotting chasms. Gradually, Kyle's face darkened. "But they were just dreams, right?" I said quickly.

"Dreams in Terraria are never just dreams," he told me, very sternly. "What other dreams have you been having?"

It took a while, but I managed to recount most of my dreams, starting from the first dream of my sister, up until the visions of the wasteland.

"That's a bad omen," muttered the guide, shaking his head. "If you saw that place, of all places..."

I stared at him. "You mean that place exists? It's real?"

"It's called the Corruption," said the guide heavily. "It is the twisted, deteriorated form of Terraria's power."

He gestured around to the sun and the vibrant grass, flowers and tree-branches swaying in the wind. "The forces of nature in Terraria are constructive. Life propogates life. Forest, desert, tundra, jungle, beach; it doesn't matter. Even when we die, mushrooms return our nutrients to the earth, replenishing it for future generations."

"What about the Corruption?"

He nodded. "In contrast, the Corruption is a destructive force," continued Kyle. "Grass is the foundation of life in Terraria, but the purple grass- corrupt grass-that you saw spreads only death. It invades surrounding forests and chokes out other plants, sapping life from both living and dead vegetation. Even the trees are not fully unscathed."

I frowned. Something wasn't right here. "I saw other plants than just grass and trees."

He nodded. "Corrupt grass leaves an abundance of rotting vegetation that organisms which would normally die off quickly are able to survive. Vile mushrooms, the eater-of-souls, deathweed, and so on and so forth. In turn, these organisms prey on most many herbivores, protecting the corrupt grass."

The Corruption was hideous, a blight. And yet- perhaps because I wasn't in the Corruption right now- it didn't seem so terrifying right now. Didn't any plant have to choke out life, in order to grow? Yes, the corrupt grass transformed beautiful landscapes into nightmares, but that was just part of the natural desire to propogate, right?

I tried to picture the Corruption from my dreams again, but could only conjure half-images. "I guess I won't go there very often," I said finally. "But is it really that bad?"

"It's not about the-" He broke off and shook his head. "Don't worry about it for now. As long as you stay out of thd Corruption, you'll be fine."

He started to head back down, then glanced back up at me. "You should take a rest, though. You'll wear yourself out if you spent all your time down in the tunnels."