Far From Home
A Terraria Story
Pt. 1: Dark Tidings
Andrew rushed into the house and slammed the door behind him, his chest heaving with heavy breaths and his forehead blanketed in sweat. Suddenly, the door erupted into violent shakes as the zombies rigorously pounded on the door, their groans and screams numerous and boisterous. Night had crept up on him while he was wandering through the forest. He had sat down to rest and allowed sleep to take him. When he awoke, it was in a groggy state, but he snapped to attention when he looked up at the sky. The sun was beginning to go down and he was a good distance from the house. By the time he had gotten halfway to the house, night was fully upon him and zombies began bursting from the ground, their screeches the stuff of nightmares.
Across from Andrew was his younger brother, Andas, who sat at a wooden table, eating cooked fish. He stopped and looked up with worried eyes as soon as Andrew rushed in.
"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?," questioned Andas.
"No, no, I'm fine. I managed to down a couple of them, but there was just too many."
Andrew stopped to steady himself and took a few deep breaths. He sat down across from Andas and said, "There's no need to worry though, they won't be breaking through anytime soon. Come morning they'll be gone."
Andrew gave Andas a confident smile, but only received a still worried look in return.
"Look Andas, I know what you're thinking, I've noticed it too. Montsers seem to be attacking in greater numbers ever since we came to Terraria, but as long as we can protect ourselves we'll be fine. I doubt that there's much we can do about it anyway."
"Well we have to do something!," Andas exclaimed, pointing his hand towards the still shaking door for emphasis. "We've only been here a few months and we already have to face the possibility of leaving our home again!"
"Please Andas, calm down. We won't have to leave our home. We'll just have to get stronger so we can keep it."
"What do you mean?," asked Andas.
"You are right Andas. We have to do something. It seems like the world isn't keen on letting us have it easy. There isn't much we can do to change what's going on, but we can prepare for it." He looked to his brother with a mixed look of exhaustion and seriousness. "I know you've never been much of a scholar Andas, but you're a damn good blacksmith. Unfortunately that won't be enough so I think it's time you learned more about the world and the things in it so you'll be prepared."
"Finally," Andas sighed in relief, both at Andas's answer and that the zombies had given up on trying to get inside. "Now you're making sense. Where do we begin?"
Andrew stood up and walked over to Andas. He grabbed him by the shoulders, their eyes meeting. "We begin with a promise, Andas. You have to promise me that you'll do everything I say, when I say it."
"Yes, I promise."
"Repeat it back to me."
"What?"
"Repeat it back to me."
"Why?"
"Because this world is a dangerous place, more than you could ever know. You have to promise me that you'll follow my instructions completely."
Andas's smile quickly faded. In this moment Andrew seemed more serious than he had ever been. "Yes, I promise to do what you say, when you say it."
"Good. Now get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow," Andrew said while giving a weak smile.
Beginning the next day, Andrew put Andas through different tests in order to prepare him for the future. He aught him how to use the environment around him to his advantage through the use of crafting. Andrew taught his brother how to make a crafting table and a furnace for his blacksmithing. Through this he taught him to make torches, potions, ropes, and much more. With a couple of old pickaxes, they extracted different ores from within the earth and with it, Andrew was taught to make even more. A cooking pot to make more meals, a sawmill to create more complex wooden constructions, a loom to make cloth, and an anvil to craft weapons and armor. The combination of a new set of gold armor and his grandfather's platinum sword that was passed down to him, allowed Andas to more competently fight off the zombies that plagued them at night and the slimes that attacked in the day. Andrew himself helped with his revolver that he always kept on himself. Soon however, Andrew deemed that Andas was due for a tougher challenge. Together they would venture underground and look for a specific crystal that would greatly help his brother survive. Together they would look for a life crystal.
…
Andas stood at the edge of the underground cliff face. He peered into the dark abyss below him. He kicked off a nearby pebble, watching as it was quickly swallowed by the darkness. Andas waited and waited for some kind of confirmation that the pebble had reached the bottom, but he received nothing of the sort.
"Andas get away from the edge before you kill yourself," said Andrew.
Andas ignored his request and instead asked, "What are we looking for down here? More ore?"
"Come over here and I'll tell you."
Andrew complied and strode over to Andrew, who sat next to a campfire he had built. Andas sat across from him, patiently waiting for his response.
"What we're looking for is a life crystal. It should help us."
"A life crystal, what's that?"
"It's a heart shaped crystal that should help increase your vigor, your overall lifeforce. They can be found underground."
"They should increase our vigor? You don't sound too sure about that."
"That's because I've never had one myself. They kept them stored in glass cases back when I attended university. If we can find one or more, they should help us greatly."
"Not unless we deal with that cliff face first. Did you bring the rope?"
"No. I brought something better?"
Andas quickly grew confused at his brother's remark. "You have something better than rope to get us down there?"
"Indeed I do," Andrew answered confidently.
Andrew grabbed the purple bag that he had brought with him and walked over to the edge. Andas eyes the bad curiously. It was nothing like he had ever seen before. It sparked like the night sky in the darkness. The bag was quite small, leading Andas to wonder what his brother had in mind.
"What are you doing?," asked Andas.
Andas didn't respond and instead peered into the darkness inquisitively. After a minute or two he rustled through his bag and pulled out two red striped umbrellas.
Andas's jaw dropped and his confusion skyrocketed at what he had just witnessed.
"What? How'd you-."
"Don't worry about it. Just come over here."
Andrew handed an umbrella to Andas without looking, his gaze focused on the darkness below. Andas in turn grabbed it while still peering at the purple bag at Andrew's hip.
"Did you remember to bring your sword?," asked Andrew.
"Of course I did. I bring it everywhere I go," said a slightly offended Andas who patted the sheathed sword at his side.
"Good," said Andrew as he pulled out his flintlock pistol from his bag and attached it to his hip. "Open your parachute. We're jumping."
Andas flipped and turned the umbrella in his hands. He looked to his brother who already had his open. "Are you serious?," he asked.
Andrew looked back at him and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. They'll slow your fall. Trust me."
Once more Andas looked over the umbrella then looked to Andrew and asked, "You serious?"
"Yep," Andrew replied simply before he leapt off the edge.
"Andrew!," Andeas gasped as he ran to the edge. He quickly peered over and saw Andrew slowly floating down. Andrew looked up at him with a grin. He waved the torch in his hand at him mockingly. Both amazed and annoyed, Andas opened up the umbrella and peered over the edge once more. He looked down at the light that was his brother slowly fading from view. He took a few deep breaths and then followed suit.
Andas's anxiety began to dissipate after his brother's light reappeared beneath him. Once his feet touched the ground again he found his brother standing there waiting for him.
"Are you all right?," he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Andas immediately followed by slugging Andrew in the shoulder and saying, "How about warning me next time!"
Andrew laughed while rubbing his arm. He then led Andas deeper into the cave through a large pathway that went down diagonally. As they descended, a thought came to Andas suddenly. "How are we gonna get back home?," he asked.
"Don't worry, I've got that covered."
"Another of your little tricks I assume?"
"Yep. It's been a while since I've been able to use them so I'm taking every opportunity to do so," Andrew answered happily.
They followed the path downwards for a half hour until the ground evened out beneath them and they came to a large open cavern. In the center looked to be an abandoned log cabin. Cobwebs could be seen dotting it all over along with a few small holes along the walls. Patches of moss could also be seen on some of the logs, as if nature was trying to claim it for herself. In this instance, she'd have no competition.
"Someone lived down here?," asked Andas.
"A long time ago probably. Definitely before our time," Andrew answered.
They walked up to and entered the cabin, Andrew leading the way with his torch held out in front of him. The torch illuminated the run down inside with a table and chair covered in cobwebs and dust. A piano and a grandfather sat in the back corner sitting opposite each other with a golden chest resting in between them, its luster long since gone from dust and grime. There was something sitting on the table that immediately caught Andrew's eye. It was what he was looking for, a life crystal. It gave off a faint red glow and pulsed with life and looked just like the ones he had seen during his time at his university. He quickly grabbed it in his hands and stared at it with awe. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He was so entranced by it that he didn't even notice Andas walk up next to him.
'Um, Andrew?," said Andas as he tapped his brother on the shoulder.
"Oh, what? Oh, sorry ha-ha. Here, take this and place it against your heart" Andrew said sheepishly as he handed the crystal to Andas.
The crystal heart felt warm in his hand. Andas inspected it and found that as it pulsed a dull heartbeat could be heard.
"Wow…this is amazing! I've never seen anything like it." Said Andas.
Andas then did as his brother instructed and held it against his chest, right above his heart. Suddenly, the dim light grew bright and the color began draining from it. It flowed out in the form of red energy and went into Andas, who was startled by the sudden event. After a couple more seconds, the light dissipated and the once red heart was now gray and cold. Andas himself felt warmer, more relaxed, and that he had more energy than ever before.
"How do you feel?"
"I…I feel amazing! That was great. We HAVE to find more of those!"
"In due time. Let's just open that chest and head home. We've ben down here a while and I'm starting to get hungry."
The chest creaked as they opened it. The lid banged against the wall, throwing more dust into the already occupied air. Andas reached into the chest and pulled out a single pair of green boots with what looked like a feather attached to both sides of the shoes.
"Just boots? That's lame," said Andas in a disappointed tone. Andas held them up for Andrew, who had been standing behind him, to see. Andrew instantly noticed that, by the design alone, these were Hermes Boots. However, he had only seen them in the magical artifacts section of his university and didn't know what was so special about them. He didn't even know who this 'Hermes' person was. He gave Andas a shrug and said, "Take them anyway. You might need a replacement pair someday." Andas agreed with him and gave his brother the boots to be stored away in his purple bag.
Just as they were about to leave, the door behind them suddenly erupted into violent shakes as something pounded on it. Andrew and Andas immediately snapped to attention, their weapons drawn.
"Zombies!? How'd they get down here?," Exclaimed Andas.
"No, these aren't zombies. They don't come down this far," said Andrew.
After a couple more minutes, the door burst open to reveal two pale white skeletons. Scraps of cloths hung from their body.
"Skelet—
One of the skeletons immediately charged at Andas with reckless abandon before he got to finish what he was saying. The other charged at Andrew in the same manner. Andrew fired off a shot that went straight through the skeleton's skull, sending shards of bone flying everywhere. He wasn't able to get off a second one before he was knocked to the ground. The skeleton that had rushed Andas swung at him multiple times, each one missing, before he managed to land one on Andas's chest, sending him flying into the wall. Another punch was thrown immediately after, but was swiftly dodged. With a single swing he severed the skeleton's arm. The other skeleton immediately threw another punch at Andrew while he was on the ground. Andrew narrowly dodged it and managed to grab his gun. He fired two shots into the skeleton's head before dodging another and firing once more, causing the skeleton to crumple to the ground. Andrew watched as his attacker quickly moved to reattach its lost arm. Andas seized the opportunity and with a single sword swing he severed the skeleton's head from its shoulders, causing it to collapse in the same way.
Andrew slowly got up and looked over to Andas who was sitting against the wall taking a breather. He helped him up and then asked, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah…I'll be fine. Just need to rest for a bit," Andas replied.
Andrew reached into his bag and pulled out a pyramid shaped bottle with a red liquid in it. "Here, drink this. It'll help with the pain."
Andas grabbed it and immediately popped off the cork. As soon as the drink hit his lips he tasted mushrooms. He had half a mind to spit it out, but he forced himself to down the drink. Quickly, relief began to fill his body as the pain left it.
"Thanks," Andas said as he handed Andrew the empty bottle. He stood there for a few seconds, taking deep breaths.
"You ready to go home?," asked Andrew.
"Do you even need to ask that?"
"I guess not," Andrew chuckled.
He then handed him another bottle, but this one had a light blue liquid instead. Andrew then pulled out one for himself.
"Cheers," Andrew said jokingly.
They dinked their bottles then downed the liquid. Andas found it to taste worse than before, this one tasting of raw dayblooms. But when he finished it the world began to blur together around him. It then began to spin faster and faster. Dizziness struck, causing him to lose balance and fall on the floor. When it all came to a sudden halt he found himself back in his house with Andrew standing next to him. Immediately, he rose to his knees and vomited from the intense spinning and dizziness.
"What the hell…was that!," exclaimed Andas.
"Hey, I said I could get us home, but I never said it'd be easy."
…
Over the next few months, it was the same routine. Andrew and Andas delved into the earth, looking for more life crystals as well was other ores and goodies that they could find. Over time, Andas perfected his blacksmithing, and Andrew his proficiency with his flintlock pistol. Whenever the chance arose, Andrew taught Andas about the world around them. From plants and animals to monsters and the more magical and mystical. He taught him how to fish, mine, and craft. However, as time went on, things continued to get worse and worse. Monsters began appearing more frequently at night. When it rained, vicious fish flew, and during windy days dandelions came to life and attacked.
One day, however, a new kind of threat arrived on their doorstep. It was mid afternoon when Andas stepped outside to gather firewood. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a mass of blue gelatin hit the ground in front of him with a 'PLOP!', startling him. He looked at it curiously and even poked it with his foot. Without warning, the slime lunged at him and latched onto his face. Andas flailed frantically, desperately trying to remove the monster. Eventually, he was able to grab onto and rip the slime off his face. Before it could try again, he cut the thing in two, causing it to melt away and die. He stood there slightly gasping for air until two more slimes plopped down in front of him. Andas, greatly confused, looked into the sky and audibly gasped at what he saw. Hovering over the house was a massive blue cloud, and from it rained countless slimes.