BRIDGE ACROSS SPACE
Space, such a fickle thing, isn't it? Normal people almost always confuse space with void, thinking of it as something that can be filled, or as that empty place that surrounds their planets. both of these assumptions are technically true and false at the same time, because in reality space is so much more.
Space is the tissue that makes up all that has existed, exists now and will exist later. Space is also a flow of countless calm, multicolored treads that make up strange bridges, which link and make up all universes, but most importantly it is the core essence of everything. An essence that can be manipulated to create anything.
And there are several beings that are capable of, or even masters in doing just that.
Exiting the waves of Space, alternating between waves of blue, green, red, yellow, pink and so many more colors and whose treads move both like water and slow-spasming tendrils, there's the Void. It is the true, blank emptiness that may never be filled and few beings can survive inside of it, but it is extremely useful to locate universes which one may want to observe.
The attention is on two particular universes: the first one has a blocky, rather simplistic physique while the second one is much more detailed. Both of these universes are geared towards survival and populated by fearsome creatures. Despite all of this, however, humanity still manages to find a way to thrive in such places and has even built great civilizations…which unfortunately couldn't stand the test of time.
But something is going on between these universes...
The flow of Space, normally calm, is becoming more restless every passing moment as its treads are forcing their way into the crystalline spheres that encase the universes, not only connecting them more than they should be allowed, but also creating an unimaginably powerful and rare resource known as Reality Shards.
Thus travel between these dimensions was made possible for beings and raw energies alike, for better or for worse. A phenomenon so alien in nature yet always going unnoticed by nearly anyone but the most magically gifted beings.
In a large manor, located deep in a dark forest, an old grey-skinned humanoid awakens abruptly with wide eyes and runs to his chief with the urgency to spread his prophetic dream.
In the hidden depths of an underground castle, a humanoid shrouded by a dark-blue robe and a long chalk-white mask raises his head and communicates to his fellows that their ritual must be delayed due to unforeseen events.
In a seemingly random hut in the middle of a fetid swamp, a big-nosed woman with a pointed hat runs outside her ruinous abode in sheer panic as pink blobs of sentient slime rush to her aid.
In a tall building which housed the last remnants of a fallen civilization, and the hope to push back against the evils of the world, an old woman draped in the colors of nature shudders in her sleep as she feels energies alien to her world creeping across her realm.
In a massive grim fortress located in another dimension, made of seas of lava and horrid landscapes, a humanoid being with blank, shining eyes is currently surrounded by his undead servants, feeling confused about this sudden unknown feeling.
And inside the glowing white satellite, an ancient, eldritch being is patently watching the beginning of the chaos of his own making, beings of both universes accidentally tumbling into these rifts and radically mutating as a result, forcing the players of both world to adapt to this sudden turn of events...
X X X
It was late morning in a plain surrounded by forests and near a tall, snow-capped mountain. The warm, blocky sun was up in the sky, shining peacefully as the white, polygon-shaped clouds lazily drifted to places both known and unknown. The only thing disrupting this natural spectacle was a rectangular beam of light shooting from a strange cubic device on top of a pyramid of diamond blocks, which itself was on top of a large building down below.
In the middle of a verdant plain with many pockets of flowers and trees stood a six-block tall wall, made out of wooden planks and topped with stone slabs and fences of stone bricks, separated a large house and the ample spaces around it from the surrounding wilderness. One could use the ladders on the other side to get up the wall, but the main entrance is blocked by six blocks of obsidian which can be moved by activating simple redstone mechanisms through the levers on either side.
The house in question was cubic in shape, each side fifteen blocks, and was twelve blocks tall; therefore each floor was four blocks tall. It was made mostly with wooden planks, the four angles were made with oak logs and the ceiling with blocks and slabs of stone bricks; on each side of the floors there were also four-block wide and two-block tall glass panes to have a clear look outside.
Around the house there were small houses for the owners' horses, Olebard and Ulenard, and the cattle consisting of cows, pigs and chickens; there were also a rich, well-kept flower garden and a large wheat farm. Tending to it was a woman with dark-green eyes and bright orange hair, her clothing consisting of a short-sleeved bright green shirt and long dark-brown pants.
Her blocky appearance betrayed her actual age, being 26 years old.
The woman, named Alex, was reaping the wheat out of the ground and planting new seeds as she went, crouched down as to avoid ruining the newly-planted seeds and tumbling into the water used to help them grow. She finished reaping whatever wheat finished growing and planting the seeds in the third column. With only two more remaining, the woman stopped to look up at the sky.
'I can't believe Steve went mining this early in the morning and left me alone in the farm again!' Alex fumed in her mind 'If he had remained here to help me out, we would have finished harvesting this wheat AND fed the animals by now!'.
In their years of living together Alex and Steve excelled in separate areas, as Steve was good at building, mining and close combat while Alex was good at farming, managing inventory and long ranged combat. Even so, the two always did tasks together so they could get them done faster and better, thanks to their differing outlooks as Steve was more focused on efficiency while Alex gravitated towards creativity.
Lately however her companion always went into the mines during early morning and resurfaced during mid-afternoon, or worse at the beginning of the evening.
At first Alex didn't think much of it because Steve always brought plenty of resources and status reports on the numbers of hostile mobs in the underground, but after three consecutive weeks of this behavior she was beginning to lose her patience.
Alex stopped fuming for a moment and pondered on his companion's state of mind: she knew Steve ever since she was 14 years old and he was always this serious, curious guy who didn't talk much. Lately though he had been rather down and always stayed in the mines for a lot of time, even days during a few occasions (to her annoyance, even though there were good reasons for that lately).
Alex pondered about why was this the case, and thought that maybe it was because they had explored the entire continent, a feat the achieved after 6 years of thorough exploration. The surrounding sea was also a risky endeavor, considering their lack of diving equipment and the headache of allocating the necessary resources to create self-sufficient bases of operations, not to mention the dangerous monsters that roamed the seas, against which the pair did not possess effective weapons to fight against.
The longer she thought about it the more it made sense, since at the time he seemed happy at every discovery they made and at every note they took. 'Now it's just manage the house, go gather resources, inspect the village and keep an eye on what the Illagers are doing…if even that, considering that we've cleared out all of their outposts years ago' Alex thought 'and it's not like we can go back to the End. That place is way too deadly for us. If it wasn't for all those diamonds and spare weaponry we accumulated over the years, then we would have had a hard time building ourselves back to our strength'
The redhead wiped her flat forehead and looked up to the sky. Seeing that it was getting late, Alex hurried back to work, hoping to finish in time to relax for most of the afternoon.
She would still give Steve a piece of her mind for leaving her to do the chores all alone though.
Meanwhile, in the forest overlooking the plain, a flock of white sheep calmly munched on the grass. The leader of the flock, named Rough Wool, couldn't believe that this week had been so peaceful! No hungry pack of wolves chasing them, no moaning zombies waking them up in the middle of the night, no spiders appropriating their sleeping spots and no creepy phantoms hunting down the flock-mates that just couldn't sleep due to the previous reasons.
And then it wasn't anymore.
A quiet thunder ominously played in their vicinity and then the leader saw the air splitting apart to reveal some sort of passage: its shape was strange, so much so that Rough Wool couldn't find the words to describe it, but he could at least say that this "hole" was large enough for two zombies to pass through it at the same time and it was a mess of swirling colors and weird textures.
The leader's eyes hurt just by looking at it and all of his senses bleated loudly at him to get away. He turned to his fellow sheep to warn them, but they also noticed the strange thing and were paralyzed in terror.
Just as Rough Wool thought that this couldn't get any worse, the rift produced a powerful vacuum, sucking them all in.
In the swirling mess of colors and tendrils, all that the flock experienced was an alien, wholly unpleasant feeling as their bodies seemingly changed into similar yet radically different forms.
At the end of this endless, painstaking process, the flock of sheep was unceremoniously dumped in a new, completely different world.
X X X
The underground of Minecraft is vast in size and comes in a variety of biomes: ravines, abandoned mines...from the bland-yet-enticing caves to the tunnels rich of wondrous minerals and flora, it never fails to surprise whoever wants to wander inside of it, either searching for valuable ores or fearsome monsters to battle with. Steve, however, claimed to have seen it all.
The man, who had dark blue eyes and black hair, walked the downward tunnel with confident (albeit bored) calm, occasionally putting torches on the walls to push back the darkness and keeping his wooden shield up when passing near alternate paths, so he would be prepared if some monsters wanted to pull a sneak attack, but his enchanted diamond armor offered him plenty of protection that blocked most of the damage from nearly any attack. Under it he wore a short-sleeved cyan shirt and long blue pants.
Steve placed another torch and a small vein of iron ore was revealed, so he promptly switched to an iron pickaxe and started hammering at them. A few seconds later the miner had four blocks of iron ore, thus completing a third stack of them, but as he mined the last one his iron pickaxes broke. Unfazed by this, Steve took his crafting table and immediately created three more of them, thinking that he was going to remain underground until late evening to gather even more materials for any construction work they or the villagers may want to do.
As he finished crafting, Steve felt his stomach rumble and so he took some bread from his inventory. He continued to munch at the food as he checked what else he had: two crafting tables, two furnaces, an anvil (Steve forgot why was he carrying it in the first place), two stacks of iron ore, one stack of copper, about half a stack of gold ore, a few amethysts he found prior to entering this specific tunnel, some iron bars, one stack of torches, various stacks of cobblestone, plenty of wood planks and his enchanted diamond sword named "Tie-Breaker".
Steve looked at it as memories of last month resurfaced: their first trip to the End, their first death in six years at the hands of hordes of Enderlings the size of which neither himself or Alex could have imagined…and how they had to rebuild their armories and enchantments. 'No matter what Alex says, I'm still not comfortable while using this sword' Steve thought to what Alex told him it was "the spiritual successor of Tie-Breaker".
Steve finished eating the bread and stood up as he progressed into the tunnel. After twenty minutes of mining nothing but coal, iron and the increasingly rare amethysts, Steve finally arrived at a clearing. He could roughly see what was in it: the clearing was set alight by some lava pools at the edges (though there was also one near the center) and "decorated" by various dripstones, which had growing stalagmites and stalactites form some sort of deadly maze.
This clearing was also populated by monsters, as Steve could see various groups of zombies shambling around (some even having leather equipment, iron equipment or both), skeletons with loaded bows rattling their bones as they marched around, creepers slowly walking on their four stubby legs as they observed the surroundings with their glowing red eyes and spiders crawling around the ceiling and the sharp pillars of humid rock.
As he looked around more, Steve swore to have seen a spider jockey crawling around and a few endermen teleporting in and out of the clearing, but he wasn't too sure about that. But what Steve was sure he saw were two lone wraiths floating in the far distance, their ghostly cerulean flames unmistakable by the seasoned warrior.
'Undead like that so close to our base and the Village? I'll have to tell Alex and the council about this, but by now we have the experience and resources to easily deal with those specters, along even a necromancer or two' Steve thought as he backed down, worry and confidence clashing in his mind as he debated his next course of action.
'This could get ugly if those monsters spot me, I better be careful' Steve thought as he went back in his inventory and took out his stacks of cobblestone, along with a shield should he need to block incoming arrows and (but hopefully not) icy fire breaths. He crouched and began placing cobblestone blocks to create a bridge of three blocks wide with simple walls two blocks tall at the sides, then he started placing torches along the walls he completed in a pattern that didn't deplete his supplies but made the bridge's interior well-lit.
'This part of the cave is new to me, so I'll call Alex to explore it more thoroughly along with her' Steve thought as his bridge was halfway through the ravine, then he frowned as he thought with some guilt '…Maybe I should have stayed and helped her with the farm'. Ever since the complete exploration of the continent and that defeat at the End, there were less and less interesting things to see or do around, even with rumors about many monsters they defeated in the past being roused from their deathly slumbers. But every time he and Alex came to investigate nothing of note ever happened, aside from maybe one or two skirmishes.
Even the once mighty Illagers didn't seem able to do anything anymore, after the two adventurers crushed their outposts and laid waste to their mansions in the dark forests.
And it's not like they could go adventuring at sea either. Aside from the obvious dangers of roaming the seas, posed by drowned, barnacles and their lack of gear specialized for diving (Steve was still frustrated by his inability to craft brand new gear, a feeling which Alex shared), such expeditions would obviously require the creation of outposts in which to rest between travels and place helpful resources to carry out any kind of project useful for strengthening their hold on the new regions.
Resources weren't even a problem for them, with all of their farms and material support from the villagers across the continent, and the two adventurers had the knowledge to build underwater bases, proof of this being the interconnected underwater observatories in the depths of the Sun Mirror Lakes, still operational to this day as fishing facilities and exploration of the western cave systems which were partially flooded, but it was also claimed by the Hive Hills Village for reasons concerning security.
However the biggest problem always revolved on their roles as protectors of civilizations, which meant that the two adventurers would always have to watch over the villages lest a threat they cannot handle alone shows up to destroy them. It already happened three years ago, when they excursion to completely map out the mountainous cluster of Chill Cloud Peaks and their absence caused the nearby Ancient Basin Village to be completely destroyed a combined horde of undead riders and phantoms, seemingly without any kind of leadership from a higher monster.
Now that the two were responsible for a much larger territory and with the knowledge of more threats possibly lying in wait, they couldn't afford to go around the wider world and risk more lives being lost.
But despite all of this, he didn't like long-standing routines one bit and wanted to fully explore the world around him, especially the Underground, so full of creatures and biomes so different from what could be found on the Overworld. It wasn't his fault that Alex was didn't share his passion and interest in the biome.
'...She's still going to chastise me for leaving her all alone' Steve somberly thought, but that was a normal occurrence between them, especially when they were younger and much less organized. Besides, this time he DID deserve it.
As he kept building while reminiscing about the relationship with his friend, his danger senses tingled which prompted Steve to raise his shield to his right, managing to block three arrows. To his surprise however, the third one had much more power behind it, not to mention that it was on fire, which caused the shield to take more damage than normal.
Worried about his position, Steve kept building faster while focusing more on the walls than the lighting of the bridge, the odd properties of that arrow still lingering in his mind as he thought 'Maybe there's a skeleton with an enchanted bow? That's strange, I would've been able to notice something like that…though with all those obstacles in the way I just didn't…maybe Alex would've noticed that, she always had a keener eye than mine…'
After a few more minutes of work, Steve placed the last blocks of cobblestone into the other side of the clearing, but he had no time to rest as drawn-out moans came from the darkness ahead and five zombies trudged forth. The adventurer wasn't scared in the slightest, having dealt with larger numbers in worse situations, and drew out Tie-Breaker as he charged forth, each slash of the enchanted blade dealing massive damage to the monsters as they were thrown back and set on fire.
A few more seconds passed and the zombies turned into smoking ash as they dropped small green orbs which floated and glowed about, called experience points, along with rotten flesh on the ground. Steve absorbed the green orbs and ignored their drops as he walked forward, setting torches along the way to drive out the darkness.
But unbeknownst to him, a skeleton on top of its loyal spider heard the sounds of fighting and climbed up to try and ambush the adventurer, but it was disappointed in finding out that he was nowhere to be found, so the skeleton and its mount settled on following the path of torches the adventurer left behind.
X X X
Meanwhile, in a new strange world, Rough Wool began waking up as his eyes struggled to take in the sun's light after the psychedelic trip he and his herd were put through. Eventually he managed to stabilize his sight and tried getting up.
While his legs felt strange and heavy, soon Rough Wool was able to get up and stretched his body to make himself more awake. Then he looked at his surroundings and his mind went blank.
The place he were in looked like a forest, but everything about it felt so wrong. The grass was different, made of a few long polygons instead of the bushy triangles he always took for granted. The trees were impossibly tall and the trunks' shape was rougher than he felt comfortable with. There were strange rock formations on the surface and the sky.
Oh the sky. Rough Wool could see small creatures with little wings fly gracefully in the blue sky, wondering if they too had to fear for Phantoms every night, and the clouds were of many shapes and sizes. Yet none of them blocky like he was used to.
Rough Wool shook his head and closed his eyes in order to calm down, then took deep breaths like his parents taught him, when zombies or spiders went too close to the trees they slept under. As the leader sheep managed to calm, he decided to look for the rest of his herd, though the first problem he faced was taking a direction.
He looked around and opted to go to the right, sneaking around trees in order to avoid any would-be threats. Rough Wool eventually arrived in what seemed to be an outer part of the forest with flowers twice his height and a small lake, which he approached since the leader sheep was starting to feel thirsty. Then upon seeing his reflection he almost passed out.
His once-flat snout was now much longer, his wool coat looked fluffier and he even had a pair of strange things on the sides of his head (which he now found out could also wiggle if he tried hard enough). Rough Wool quickly drank some water and proceeded to keep going, the anxiety of his herd's fate overriding that of this "new" body.
While he was walking he also encountered a trio of small brown creatures with large tails, who looked as surprised to see him as he was. Rough Wool just ignored them and went on his way, later on getting spooked by a four-legged green creature which happened to jump right into his snout. This one was even smaller than those brown rabbit-like creatures, with abnormally large eyes, antennas and its body seemingly encased in some sort of armor.
Rough Wool then decided to not get distracted by those weird creatures and to continue his search for the rest of this herd, leading to him eventually leaving the forest and standing on a hill (walking on those slopes felt rather weird, especially with such sharp feet) to get a clearer view of the place he was in.
But the leader sheep was not ready for what he saw next.
A giant expansive plateau laid in front of him, dotted with trees, hills, cave entrances and even a giant ravine in the east; in the far west he saw the far silhouette of the tallest wall he had ever seen, with the sky getting slightly darker over there. And the less Rough Wool looked at the floating landmass above with swirling movements around it, the better.
The leader sheep was now panicking, as searching the entire place would take a long time, especially if any kind of dangers were lurking nearby. Having been in this strange world for only a few minutes, Rough Wool couldn't even imagine what kind of monsters roamed these lands (or these skies, for that matter).
Eventually he shook his head and went down the hill, or rather tumbled down due to him not yet understanding how movement exactly worked in this place. Rough Wool decided to just search around, both because there could be a possibility some of the members of his herd were around here and because there seemingly wasn't a way back to his world. He would have to adapt to this place if he wanted to survive.
So the sheep leader righted himself back up and looked around, but before he could do anything he heard the tall grass a few ways away from him rustling. He tensed, not knowing who or what would jump out of the vegetation, but he immediately calmed down when three small creatures jumped out of the grass, seemingly panting. They looked like rabbits, but were smaller, fluffier and their fur was fully white.
The three bunnies, meanwhile, thought they had escaped the slimes pursuing them and thus stopped to regain their breath, but were now frozen as soon as they saw the much larger creature in front of them. The two larger ones had no idea if this creature was hostile, but the third smaller one was curious and slowly hopped towards the wooly giant, who also extended its snout to better observe the familiarly unfamiliar creature.
The two bunnies were worried about their smaller sister and so moved to drag her away from the unknown giant, however the blue slime still pursuing them was faster and their lives were ended swiftly.
Returning to the sheep leader, Rough Wool saw the smaller rabbit-like creature slowly approaching him and became curious, so he bent down to the critter and sniffed it…or her, as he quickly found out. She seemed startled by such an action, and more so were the two other rabbit-like creatures behind her, but then happily hopped closer to sniff him as well.
Then, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a blue bur jump from the bush the three rabbit-like creatures came out of and descend on the two behind, who were actually moving towards their sister(?).
What happened next shocked him to the core as the blue blur descended on the two rabbit-like creatures, which then exploded in puddles of red stuff and disembodied parts. The sheep leader stood petrified in front of such gory spectacle as the blue thing began absorbing the bloody body parts into itself, and the same could be said for small rabbit-like creature in front of him, but his years of acquired instincts fortunately remained unchanged.
So Rough Wool grabbed the small creature by the scruff of her neck with his mouth, roughly placed her on his back and ran like a ravager was trying to swallow him whole. The faceless blue slime, while intimidating in its own right, wasn't as large as the slimes of the southern swamps he had heard about back in his world, and wasn't very fast anyway.
Rough Wool could however imagine how persistent it could be, and began running even faster as his little new friend held onto his back for dear life.
As he ran across the plains in a desperate attempt to escape that slime, the sheep leader had the opportunity to take in many strange sights. Tiny creatures with multicolored wings slowly flying around, without a care in the world. Strange-looking pigs looking confused yet seemingly adjusting to their new life. A large brown-furred pig with a pair of fearsome tusks feeding on the remains of what he assumed to be a green slime. A slightly larger type of blue bird flying to a tall branch to take some rest.
Rough Wool did his best to ignore the faceless purple slime, slightly larger than himself, gorging on the bloody remains of two sheep. He dearly hoped those were just some random sheep who tumbled into this world and not his herdmates, not that he could recognize them given the speed the monster was gorging itself upon the bodies.
Eventually the sheep leader ran out of breath and had to stop, so he chose to rest in a small spot surrounded by trees and promptly collapsed. The last thing he saw before drifting into sleep was the rabbit-like creature nuzzling up to him.
X X X
The more he explored this abandoned mineshaft, the more Steve was getting disappointed. The loot was mediocre at best, about a third of the place was submerged in gravel and the only monsters found here, aside from the occasional glares and rascals, were the ones he hated the most.
Cave spiders and creepers, the former made him have to deal with poison and the latter were the culprits of many humiliations back when his and Alex's adventure was just getting started. Thinking back to his companion did make him feel guilty of having left her to do all the chores around the house, which made Steve stop in his tracks, place cobblestone blocks around oak log pillars and find a way to make it up to her.
'Maybe I could show her this mineshaft I found and suggesting hooking this one up with the rest of the Village's mining area?' Steve thought immediately, but then remembered his frustration with this area 'No, its state is deeply ruined, besides there are too many hostile mobs and cobwebs around. Alex wouldn't dare come near this place even if her life depended on it'
Then Steve had an idea. He possessed many stacks of wooden planks and cobblestone, plus the place was already well-lit and he had killed many hostile mobs while doing so. 'I can also craft an iron shovel to deal with the gravel faster, so this won't take any time at all!' Steve thought with some enthusiasm and placed down a crafting table.
From that, the adventurer began the long process of rebuilding the ruined mineshaft, clearing out clusters of gravel and monsters alike.
The latter part was easier said than done, because while the creepers were manageable enough for Steve even without a ranged weapon, the cave spiders were another matter altogether. Especially if their spawners were taken into account.
Steve recanted that as he used Tie-Breaker to first cut the cobwebs in his way, which prompted two cave spiders to get out to investigate the sudden increase in activity outside their little nest. Steve reacted by backing down and slashing the nearest monster, sending it shrieking back in agony as flames consumed its body, but allowing the one in the back to get close enough to Steve.
He blocked its fangs with his shield and struck it with his sword, then moved closer to finish it off. But while flaying wildly the cave spider actually managed to bite Steve in the arm, before succumbing to a second slash and turning into a puff of smoke and ash along with a few experience points.
Steve pocketed the blocks and grimaced as he felt the poison do its job, thinking 'I should have brought a bucket of milk for situations like these…'
He shook his head and continued to cut away cobwebs, pocketing the drops of the first cave spider, and eventually arrived in front of the mob spawner, with another cave spider fiercely guarding it. Steve made short work of the small monster and took out his iron pickaxe to break the accursed block, which then dissolved in a small cloud of bizarre metal and foul flames while also giving out a lot of experience points.
Steve then took out a steak and ate it to restore both his hunger and his health, now that the poison effect finally ended, and proceeded forward with his cleaning project of the mineshaft.
But as he approached an intersection he had lit up halfway through a few minutes ago, Steve saw three skeletons up ahead. While the two in the back were normal ones with bows, the third one was odd as it had bones of a darker grey color, was armed with a strange pickaxe and wore an almost full set (minus the boots) of an odd armor he couldn't recognize, especially the yellow helmet with a small white cube on its front. He knew that skeletons could use other weapons aside from bows, but the sight still felt weird to him
And the distant yet present alien sound coming from the walls, strangely similar to frantic digging, only added to his confusion.
Thus Steve approached this situation like he did with all others, by charging in sword drawn and shield ready, blocking two arrows fired at his way as the odd skeleton charged him head on with his pickaxe swinging wildly.
Steve met the odd skeleton head-on and the two traded blows, with the monster being sent back with its body on fire. Undeterred, it was about to retaliate when two arrows hit it in the back, but instead of running back to the offending monsters like Steve expected, the odd skeleton instead ignored this instance of friendly fire and ran towards him once more.
The adventurer blocked its pickaxe and easily cut it down, leaving only a dissipating cloud of ash and experience points along with its drops on the ground, a bone and its strange helmet.
'Maybe I could give this helmet to Alex as an apology…' Steve picked them up as he ran towards the two skeletons, when suddenly he was hit from behind by an arrow. The adventurer spared no time looking back to see this new attacker and instead focused on the two skeletons, raising his shield to block two more arrows.
Steve stopped in front of them as he took out his sword and slashed at the two monsters, quickly cutting them down, and then turned behind to see who attacked him. The new foe turned out to be a spider jockey and Steve raised his shield to block yet another arrow aimed at him.
The adventurer however still kept his shield up as the alien digging sound reached a crescendo, until it stopped with the sound of a stone block breaking. Steve turned around to meet the unknown attacker head-on, but it was faster as it knocked him to the side and burrowed back into the stone.
The creature's utterly alien look paralyzed Steve to the core, making him remember how he felt the first time he encountered a Barnacle, the deep horror snatching a 19 year-old Steve from his boat without warning. The monstrosity was long, wide as a villager's body, brown in color and it had an eyeless head with a circular mouth full of teeth.
'What in the Nether is that? Its looks are unusual, even when compared to the other creatures of the Underground' Steve thought in disgust as he sprinted over to the spider jockey and easily finished it off. Now the adventurer turned his attention on the alien threat, hearing its frantic digging all around him, as if circling its prey to find a possible blind spot to exploit.
Steve then focused on the sounds around him as when the they got near him the adventurer sidestepped the emerging monstrosity and relentlessly slashed at it. After three attacks the fire damage did its things, causing the monstrosity to fall to the ground and dissolve in a large cloud of ash, letting out a lot of experience points and leaving two drops which Steve took.
One was simply leather while the second one left Steve perplexed, as it was something called Raw Worm Meat.
Even thought he was admittedly a glutton, the adventurer felt disgust welling up in him at the thought of eating this food, whether cooked or raw. There was also no telling if it had bad side-effects, something he learned could be a possibility when he ate raw chicken when he was 14 years old.
'This… can be a serious problem. Better tell Alex about these new monsters and prepare the Village if there are more of them. I have a bad feeling about all of this' Steve thought as he took out two pieces of bread, then he created a pillar of cobblestone under himself and started digging upwards.
X X X
Even when compared to the expansive underground networks of Minecraft, the underground of Terraria was a place full of wonders…and dangers. From its alien ecosystem to rampant magics bringing to a facsimile of life both the past and the arcane, this place had always been the first destination of every Terrarian adventurer, either for its resources, thrilling battles or just uncanny sceneries.
Lucia could attest to that, having trekked down those tunnels and chasms ever since she was 13 years old.
Back then, it was a terrifying place where she dared to go only when accompanied by her close friend Jake or any of the residents of Bastion, and even then she wouldn't stop trembling in the unfamiliar environment, jumping at the slightest of sounds or firing haphazardly at whatever monster suddenly showed itself…but that was back then.
With the progress of their adventure, her more powerful gear, the experiences she made fighting all sorts of terrible foes and especially the support from all of her friends, the young girl who was now 16 years old could now confidently say that she had conquered her fear of the Underground, even as it became more dangerous over time.
Using her Spectre Wings, she fluttered her way into the winding caverns and mined every cluster of crystal shards she could find, as their surfaces reflected the enchanting glow of the surrounding pearlstone. Lucia used the hallowed mining tool known as the Drax, an ancient creation easy to use thanks to the enchanted alloys used in its manufacture, making it more lightweight than it should have any right to. A tool the girl liked very much due to her aversion for heavy manual labor.
But such a mundane endeavor was certainly not peaceful, as from time to time various monsters would come to bother her.
Feeling the muffled yet reverberating sounds of flapping wings and footsteps, Lucia raised her head and withdrew her Drax for her Razorblade Typhoon to meet her incoming foes, being six illuminant bats and two chaos elementals.
Thus the young girl opened the spell book and recited the ancient words held within, causing it to a strong teal light. While keeping the magical book in her left hand she extended her right one, and as her voice reached a crescendo and two great discs spawned forth. The group of monsters had gotten very close to the mage, but they were easily torn apart by the sharp attacks and their bodies soon dissipated into drifting bright pink energy as they let their last breaths.
At the same time, small white orbs emerged from the monsters' disintegrating carcasses and floated towards the girl, infusing her with healing magic once they made contact with her Spectre Armor.
Lucia silently pocketed their drops and coins as she brought back out her mining tool and flew away to continue her gathering operation, and after what felt like hours of mining crystals and slaying whatever monsters she came across, Lucia looked into her inventory to see if she had reached the necessary quantity of materials required make sufficient ammunition for Jake's Chain Gun.
'Hopefully he learns to fire that gun less wildly this time…though it's really funny watching him get all worked up' Lucia thought to herself while giggling, a satisfied look on her face as she closed her inventory and flexed her Spectre Wings as she prepared to take flight.
As she flew across the wondrous caverns, however, the young girl was hesitant to return home as the conversation between herself, Jake, Andrew and Faye emerged from her mind and made her shudder with discomfort.
'Threats beyond our world, the natural order of things soon to be desecrated…what could Faye mean by saying all of this? So far all we fought were remnants of the Age of Chaos, killing monsters and demons who were upsetting the balance of Terraria…but something outside of this world, trying to get in? Such a thing seems far worse than what the corpse of Cthulhu could ever cause…and yet the tomes at my disposal bear no kind of information about whatever may be lurking outside of Terraria-' Lucia thought long about it, until suddenly she felt a sharp pain erupting from her left side, causing her to spiral out of control and slam into a glittering rock wall.
Lucia recovered immediately and analyzed her opponent as she took out her magic weapon. It was a gilded broadsword twice her size, embroiled with hallowed metal and wreathed in an ethereal light blue glow. Once the sight of an Enchanted Sword absolutely amazed her, which almost ended up with her getting her head cleaved in half, and as such the girl opened the tome and produced two bladed discs of magic, splitting the magical construct into three pieces.
As the Enchanted Sword and the coins it dropped fell into the cheery chasms from where it came from the animated tool left out a dying breath, leaving behind an orb of white light which floated to her, Lucia couldn't help but frown at the destruction of such a great artifact of humanity's past.
She resumed her flight as her mind was once more immersed in her thoughts 'And to think that before the Disaster people could make things as awesome as these…I know that right now we have to focus on vanquishing the horrors left in the wake of those past catastrophes, but then how are we supposed to return humanity to its past heights? Are we really destined to wander in the ruins of our ancestors even after we killed the same horrors that fell them?'
Lucia's frown deepened and before she knew it she started trembling. It wouldn't be long until she started crying, so she quickly shook her head and thought in frustration 'I can't keep crying for every single thing, the past is the past and no amount of tears will change that, and the future where I'll have to worry about that without some eldritch horror thirsting for the heads of my friends is still far…I think I have to be more like Jake when it comes to these things'
The girl continued her trip out of the hallowed caverns with her guard up, resulting in no more embarrassing ambushes by foes no longer dangerous to her, but as she turned around a corner Lucia saw something which seemed strange.
Guarding the cave which would lead her into the underground there were two skeletons, each one with an iron helmet, what looked to be an iron chest plate, a knee-length leather wig, strange shields and admittedly simple glaives. Even with their lighter grey bones, as far as skeletons went they didn't exactly stand out among others she and Jake had encountered…but still her mind couldn't shake off the strange feeling she felt upon seeing them.
'Well, I have to pass anyway…' Lucia thought as she readied her Razorblade Typhoon and strode to the two armed skeletons. The monster sensed her approaching and drew their weapons as she began chanting and roused her magical tome into awakening, causing two large bladed circles to speed up towards her enemies, but then something unexpected happened.
The two skeletons raised their shields in an attempt to defend themselves, and while the right one was obliterated by one of her spells which passed above its shield, the other spell struck the other skeleton's shield and bounced back as it shattered in cyan specks of light. Lucia was stunned by the display and the remaining skeleton took advantage of her surprise by lunging at her with its glaive, the weapon striking her chest dead center.
And yet Lucia felt little to no damage from the attack as she hurriedly obliterated the monster with her tome.
'What…happened just then?' Lucia thought with a troubled mind as two white orbs floated into her 'I fought so many kinds of foes…and yet none have managed to block my attacks like that, not even the paladins with their hallowed shields…'
She pocketed the strange skeletons' drops, three silver coins each and two Healthy Bones, and while drops themselves didn't seem out of place the girl still felt a weird sensation each time she looked at them.
'I have to hurry back to the Bastion and warn everyone about these new monsters, I have a really bad feeling about all of this…or that is what I would say, but its attack didn't actually hurt all that much' Lucia thought with determination and slight confusion as her Spectre Wings flexed to their full width, and then the girl soared through the opening, dodging any enemies in her path as they would only slow her down.
She immediately burst through a hole connecting the Caverns and the Underground, but then she stopped as she focused her hearing. While these places always had its many ambient sounds, from the dripping of water to the noises of its wild inhabitants, this time there were many more than normal and most of all, they were unfamiliar to her.
Mimics springing abruptly as their jaws snapped in surprise, moans of the undead echoing from far away around her, the crawling of arthropods whose size seemingly didn't make sense, a strange wind ominously coming from the caverns below and many other noises joined in this unexplainable chorus. Lucia was confident that she could handle whatever was making these noises, even without Jake…but she was still getting slightly worried about all this.
'Maybe I should summon you, for precaution?' Lucia thought as she took out an ornate staff with golden rings around it, but then she shook her head and looked at the magical weapon softly '…No, I don't think the that dire for you to come out. I promise this night you'll get your chance to shine'
Putting the staff away, Lucia began walking towards the exit of this cave. This was the first one her and Jake explored three years ago, when they were just then starting out their journey with the Guide telling them how to do everything, from building shelters to crafting their gear.
It brought much nostalgia to her mind, back when she couldn't stop trembling in front of every single enemy and Jake only had whatever bravado he could muster at any given situation to fight back against them. Another flaw she had at the time was her unrestrained curiosity, causing her to forget the meaning of caution and self-preservation instincts.
This same flaw manifested itself halfway through her walk, almost causing her to fall into one of this cave's many pits while immersed in her thoughts. Stopping herself with a yelp and frantically flailing her arms to maintain her balance, Lucia sighed at her distraction and thought 'Ugh, I really have to stop wandering in my mind while walking. One of these days something will take advantage of-'
Her train of thought was cut off by a loud hissing sound and Lucia immediately turned around in alarm, only to find a monster she had never seen before emanating bright light as its form blinked rapidly. It was seemingly plant-like in nature, slightly taller than the young girl, and stood erect on four stubby legs, but the most unsettling detail was the cubic head sitting atop its slender body, sporting a fake black mouth contorted in a grimace and two hollow holes with searing red lights.
The creature immediately exploded in a shower of power and gore, destroying the terrain they were standing on and sending her to the pit's bottom, but despite her shock Lucia managed to will her body to stabilize itself and her wings to slow her descent into the lower platform. As the young girl safely landed on the stone at the bottom of the admittedly-shallow pit, she was surprised once more by the monsters sharing this hole.
There were five creatures in total. Two zombies with dark green skin, long blue pants and torn light blue shirts suddenly twisted their heads in her direction with vacant stares and began shuffling towards Lucia. A bleached white skeleton rattled its bones as it aimed its simple bow at her, while another of those plant-like monsters made a sound akin to coughing and sped up to her. The fifth one was a black spider noticeably smaller than other arachnid enemies she had fought in the past, but as it looked her with its red eyes the creature made no movement to attack her.
Lucia was extremely quick it drawing her spellbook and making short work of these foes, but she was actually confused by the speed her spells annihilated these strange monsters, including the neutral spider as they arced towards it. White orbs rose from their carcasses and into the half-stunned young girl.
'It's true that the Razorblade Typhoon is a formidable weapon…but aren't these enemies too weak compared to what me and Jake fight regularly?' Lucia thought as she moved to recover these monsters' drops. The zombies dropped dark orange Rotten Flesh, the skeleton dropped a single Healthy Bone, the smaller spider dropped two pieces of string and one Spider Eye and the green monster dropped two pieces of Gunpowder of all things. As for money, the two zombies dropped 50 copper coins each, the skeleton dropped one silver coin, the plant-like monster dropped one silver coin and 75 copper ones and the small black spider only 20 copper coins.
The young girl stared at these strange items and flew out of the pit to warn the others about the appearance of these new monsters. 'At last Robyn will have fun making new entries for the Bestiary…' Lucia thought to herself.
X X X
Terraria is an expansive world, each nook and cranny filled with mystery, wonders and dangers waiting for any and all explorers to come behold all of them. This can be especially seen in its skies, seemingly empty at a glance until one braves them, either through the creation of incredibly tall structures or mystical wings.
Ever since he raised his axe to chop down the first tree Jake always dreamed to soar into the skies, initially just to capture birds, but as time went on and the group of Residents expanded (alongside Bastion itself), he would start to see glimpses of trees on the clouds. Lucia was equally intrigued by his words and so, without the knowledge of their caretakers, they took two Gravitation Potions from the alchemy chest and drank them under one of the clouds Jake said was different than the others.
The surprise both teens felt when they didn't pass through the cloud but were instead softly stopped couldn't be explained in mere words. Jake would come to relish the feeling of being on a sky island since then and he even tried to convince Lucia to join him in asking Andrew and Faye to move the Bastion to the new location.
It hadn't worked of course, but it was still worth a try in Jake's mind.
Now the boy was back to that same island, but not for sightseeing as a roar shook the clouds holding it in the sky. Jake's draconic wings flexed and beat as he narrowly dodged the white serpentine monster's jaws.
The wyvern reared for another attack, yet a hail of silver bullets made it hiss in frustration as it was forced on the defensive. Jake mirrored the gesture but it wasn't because he was hurt, as his Beetle Armor made attacks from foes like this one pretty trivial, but it was because he was barred from using crystal bullets.
'Jeez, if I had access to those bad boys this thing would have died long ago!' Jake thought in annoyance as he was forced to be airborne once more, now that the wyvern broke through the pain and charged him again 'I know that they always finish too fast, but couldn't I have followed Lucia into the caves instead of being sent to the side of the world?'
After dodging yet another bite from the flying furry snake, Jake got sick of using his Chain Gun since he didn't have fun ammunition with him, and instead took out a strange sword glimmering with lightning. He slashed the Influx Waver seemingly at empty air, but the action causing replicas of the weapon to materialize and attack the monster.
The superb power of the alien sword coupled with the injuries already sustained proved too much for the wyvern to bear as it was shredded and dissolved into wisps of white magic, leaving behind a handful of coins and some spherical objects emanating an ethereal cerulean glow. Jake moved to grab the drops and then sat over the island's edge, overlooking the landscape below.
"Can't believe that this is the highlight of today's adventure…" Jake mumbled as he reflected this morning's events.
It all started normally, waking up and coaxing a sleepy Lucia into fully awakening by gently squishing her cheeks, her pouty reaction always brightening his day. Besides, the girl clearly enjoyed it according to Jake, or else she would made a conscious effort to stop him every time he did that.
Anyway, the two adventurers equipped their gear and rose into Bastion proper to have breakfast and then talk to the two adults who ran the whole thing. Faye the Dryad and Andrew the Guide, who would always instruct Jake and Lucia on the next steps to take in their quest, today gave them what Jake at first thought to be an especially exciting mission.
Something ancient and unknowable has begun stirring ever since the adventuring duo had slain the Golem, and Andrew wanted them to investigate the Dungeon and report back to the adults about their findings. Faye had additionally given the mission to report about any oddities they may or may not find throughout the world.
Investigate about the awakening of an ancient evil in the most dangerous location of the world AND the possibility of new enemies rising to challenge them, all the while he and Lucia would travel across a world that may even have changed? Jake couldn't contain his excitement as he picked up his friend and made a mad dash to the front door. But the boy stopped as soon as he heard from Andrew that the two of them would split up in order to cover more ground.
Jake's enthusiasm drained very quickly and he complained A LOT about his decision, calling "dumb" and "lame", but Faye wasted no time silencing her adopted son's misgivings. She did placate him by giving him the west as his assigned area, where the Dungeon was located, though Jake wanted that area so that Lucia wouldn't have to go through it as he knew just how much she hated the place.
And Lucia was the one always getting him out of traps, which according to Jake said something.
With that, the youths set off to their respective directions. He found the trip very boring as he found none of these supposed changes, but the Dungeon was by far the worst part as it was completely the same as before, from the overall structure down to every single enemy found in there.
After a few hours of furious searching, Jake gave up and made the trip back home, which brought him north-west where a vast expanse of Sky Islands could be found. The boy smiled as he remembered all the fun he and Lucia had exploring this place with their new wings, crafted after destroying the Wall of Flesh.
Jake eventually slammed his armored legs on the ledge and stood up, ready to return to the Bastion and report his lack of findings. 'Though' he mused to himself 'The world of Terraria is pretty big and I haven't explored that much during my trip to the Dungeon. Maybe if I wait enough, something cool may happen…'
Lucia's advice made him smile somewhat and Jake flapped his draconic wings as he made his way back home.
X
NEW BESTIARY ENTRIES!
Cave Zombie: These shambling brain eaters originate deep within caves and enter homes regardless if the doors are locked or not, but their lifestyle makes them very weak to sunlight
Bleached Skeleton: Even with the lack of armor and blazing arrows, these bony archers still have keen eyes…despite their lack of actual eyes.
Dark Crawler: They have eight legs and eight eyes, but their smaller size and neutral behavior leave researchers guessing as to the ways they have to cocoon and feast on an unsuspecting victim.
Skeleton Vanguard: Further proof that flesh doesn't determine the danger of an opponent. With their glaives and shields, these skeletons fight and parry any attack with practiced precision.
Stalker: A creature not native to this world. It is a mystery whether it is a plant or an animal, but what is undeniable is its explosive prowess.
Finally. I still can't believe I managed to publish this story, with everything that's happened around it. I like to think I came a long way since then, one or two years ago (can't really remember now).
I was actually pretty surprise by the sheer lack of crossovers between these two games, considering the history between the two communities and even the games themselves acknowledging each other (in a positive way).
Anyway, this story. From what you've seen a big thing of this fanfic are going to be the new mobs appearing as a result of that extradimensional mishap, though I can assure that there's so much in store for the readers of this story (though I'm not going to spoil).
Lastly, this story was supposed to have an entire segment dedicated to the monsters' lives and how they changed, but I ultimately decided to scrap that because I felt it was too different from the new additions I was making for this story (Rough Wool's segment is actually a remnant of that).
Anyway, I'll see you next time!