Neoshadow Ω
Steampunker
... so this is it. This is what the end looks like. I've barely made a scratch on this... monstrosity. She... She's gone. I haven't seen Her since all of this happened... I know this thing has something to do with it. It ALL does. But... I'm not sure I'll be able to see Her again. I can't be sure about anything anymore. This... all I've done until this point... it's...
It's been for Her.
All of it. I just...
Alright. Things may not have been the same since that first day, but... ever since I met Her, things made a sudden turn. I felt... comfortable. Happy. Glad to be where I was. But now that's gone... with Her.
Let me start from the beginning.
Back from where this all started.
It's been for Her.
All of it. I just...
Alright. Things may not have been the same since that first day, but... ever since I met Her, things made a sudden turn. I felt... comfortable. Happy. Glad to be where I was. But now that's gone... with Her.
Let me start from the beginning.
Back from where this all started.
"I'll see ya again some other time, yeah?"
That's what Brent, the barkeep, always says after I finish my ale and get up to leave. "Yeah, I'll see ya around," I reply. Setting down 5 silver for the drink, I turn towards the door and push it open.
Stepping out onto the boardwalk, the town of Morri Bay is looking drab as ever. These people aren't exactly the brightest humans I've met, either. Just the other day, some guy tried to mug me with nothing but a nail. But hey, it's got its perks. For example, the ale at the Braves and Bolds is better than any ale they've got over at my town.
Welp, time to head back home, I think to myself. Looking around to make sure the coast is clear, I head into the nearest alleyway. Doublechecking to make sure nobody sees me, I sprout my wings and fly up on a roof. I can't just fly straight to my place, otherwise people will see me. Instead, I jump across rooftops until I make it to the outskirts of town, where I head to the other side of the hill I usually use as cover. From there, I take off on my wings of flame.
The wind in my feathers. The whispy whistling of rushing air in my ears. The sunset's orange-red glow set in the sky. Nothing beats the feeling of flying in the afternoon.
Today, nothing's different. Just heading back to my home in the West Islands after a spending some time -- and money -- over at the town on the Coast a couple miles off.
Wait... it's... quieter than normal. There's usually one or two Gulls flying by every once in a while, or sometimes a couple of Dolphins splashing the water below me. But not today. What's going on...
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge roar. Like something out of a Godzilla movie. I slow myself to a stop and keep myself in the air. Where the hell did that come from? I think to myself.
Swishing and gurgling from the water below me. I look down, to see some kind of whirlpool. I wouldn't be too concerned about this, as it isn't big enough to affect the West Islands or the Coast...
... except it's pulling me in somehow.
Some invisible force, like a vacuum, is sucking me closer and closer the the inky black of the water in the whirlpool. I struggle to fight it, but it's too strong. Water is being splashed all around. Whatever is causing this wants me in that abyss desperately, and I can't do anything to prevent it. My strength gives out, and I feel myself falling. Finally I hit the water. I try to swim up, but I can't. I slowly start to lose my vision, until I finally lose consciousness.
My head is pounding. My wings are put out and now I can't use them for long periods of time. Once, I fell in the water when I wasn't careful, and I could only fly for about 50 meters before I fell back into the water. Anyway, back to now. Strangely, every other part of me is dry. On my back, there's... a backpack? I check what's inside it. There's an old pickaxe and a small copper dagger inside. What's going on? I try to get up, but I fall over again, landing on my face. Looking up a little I see a pair of shoes directly in front of me. My heart's pounding. I slowly follow the shoes up, then pants, then a shirt. Finally, my eyes come to rest on a face. The rugged, dirty face of a man who looks like he's been lost for a while. His expression is firm. He kneels down to meet me eye-to-eye. We sit staring at each other for a moment, and he suddenly starts smiling. He sticks out his hand. I reluctantly shake it.
"Hi! I'm Andrew. I'm gonna be your guide."
"Guide?" I reply. "Guide to what?"
"Your guide to survival here in Terraria."
That's what Brent, the barkeep, always says after I finish my ale and get up to leave. "Yeah, I'll see ya around," I reply. Setting down 5 silver for the drink, I turn towards the door and push it open.
Stepping out onto the boardwalk, the town of Morri Bay is looking drab as ever. These people aren't exactly the brightest humans I've met, either. Just the other day, some guy tried to mug me with nothing but a nail. But hey, it's got its perks. For example, the ale at the Braves and Bolds is better than any ale they've got over at my town.
Welp, time to head back home, I think to myself. Looking around to make sure the coast is clear, I head into the nearest alleyway. Doublechecking to make sure nobody sees me, I sprout my wings and fly up on a roof. I can't just fly straight to my place, otherwise people will see me. Instead, I jump across rooftops until I make it to the outskirts of town, where I head to the other side of the hill I usually use as cover. From there, I take off on my wings of flame.
The wind in my feathers. The whispy whistling of rushing air in my ears. The sunset's orange-red glow set in the sky. Nothing beats the feeling of flying in the afternoon.
Today, nothing's different. Just heading back to my home in the West Islands after a spending some time -- and money -- over at the town on the Coast a couple miles off.
Wait... it's... quieter than normal. There's usually one or two Gulls flying by every once in a while, or sometimes a couple of Dolphins splashing the water below me. But not today. What's going on...
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge roar. Like something out of a Godzilla movie. I slow myself to a stop and keep myself in the air. Where the hell did that come from? I think to myself.
Swishing and gurgling from the water below me. I look down, to see some kind of whirlpool. I wouldn't be too concerned about this, as it isn't big enough to affect the West Islands or the Coast...
... except it's pulling me in somehow.
Some invisible force, like a vacuum, is sucking me closer and closer the the inky black of the water in the whirlpool. I struggle to fight it, but it's too strong. Water is being splashed all around. Whatever is causing this wants me in that abyss desperately, and I can't do anything to prevent it. My strength gives out, and I feel myself falling. Finally I hit the water. I try to swim up, but I can't. I slowly start to lose my vision, until I finally lose consciousness.
...
I'm starting to wake up... coughing up water and a bit of blood. I try to prop myself up on my arm. Suddenly, I feel a searing pain in my chest. I may have broken a rib, but how...? I don't remember anything...
My head is pounding. My wings are put out and now I can't use them for long periods of time. Once, I fell in the water when I wasn't careful, and I could only fly for about 50 meters before I fell back into the water. Anyway, back to now. Strangely, every other part of me is dry. On my back, there's... a backpack? I check what's inside it. There's an old pickaxe and a small copper dagger inside. What's going on? I try to get up, but I fall over again, landing on my face. Looking up a little I see a pair of shoes directly in front of me. My heart's pounding. I slowly follow the shoes up, then pants, then a shirt. Finally, my eyes come to rest on a face. The rugged, dirty face of a man who looks like he's been lost for a while. His expression is firm. He kneels down to meet me eye-to-eye. We sit staring at each other for a moment, and he suddenly starts smiling. He sticks out his hand. I reluctantly shake it.
"Hi! I'm Andrew. I'm gonna be your guide."
"Guide?" I reply. "Guide to what?"
"Your guide to survival here in Terraria."
"Wait, wait, wait. Where am I exactly? What's 'Terraria'? And why are you here?" I ask, with a confused, yet worried tone.
"Calm down, please!" Andrew replies, ignoring my questions. "You never even told me your name yet."
I sigh, then tell him, "The name's Gekko."
"Gekko. That's a... unique name, to say the least."
"Heheh, yeah, it is, isn't it?" I say, hoping he doesn't catch on to the fact that I'm not human. "So... can you tell me where I am?"
"Right now, you're in an unnamed island -- I'll let YOU name it -- in a place called Terraria."
"Where?"
"Look, I told you where you are. Now can you just let it go already? It's almost nighttime."
Sure enough, it's almost nightfall. "Why are you worried? Ya scared of the dark or something?"
"No. Come nightfall, horrible creatures will begin to attack. Zombies, flying eyeballs, and... actually, it's just zombies and flying eyeballs."
"Ok, first off, zombies don't exist. Second off, flying eyeballs? Really? You couldn't have thought of something better, like--"
"Just listen to me! If you stay out here in the open, you will die!"
"Ok, ok! What do I do to keep the totally-not-made-up nighttime threats away?"
"Ok, check your backpack."
I open the backpack to find the pickaxe and dagger again. "There's only a pickaxe and a short copper dagger in here."
"Really? I could've sworn I included an axe in there..."
"What?"
"Nothing. Here, take this." He hands me a copper axe. "Use that to cut down that tree over there." He points at a fairly tall tree a couple of meters away.
Axe in hand, I walk over to the tree. I swing my axe at it. It cuts through, at least. Jokingly, I yell out, "Timber!" when I cut through it completely, but the tree doesn't fall -- instead it immediately breaks into... planks?
"Uh... that's not normal." I say.
"Just take the wood, you're going to have to make a house with it."
"I'm going to have to WHAT?" I ask, dumbfounded.
"Take the wood you just harvested. Make a crafting bench out of it."
"O... k." Somehow, I made a crude table out of the wood I had.
"Right, now make a door."
Again, I miraculously make a door using the table and the wood.
"Excellent. Now use the wood to put a house together, and add the door in the front."
I sigh, and then begin to put together a house. it's a lot easier than I thought -- The planks I place can just... hover in midair. Lastly, I place the door.
"Is that good enough? Can you move in?"
"Nope."
"Ha! That's what I-- wait. What?"
"I need a table and a chair."
"Why?"
"JUST MAKE A DAMN TABLE AND CHAIR!"
"Ok, geez!" I make a chair and a table easily and place them in the house. "How about NOW?"
"It's missing a light source."
"Oh, come ON! Why am I even doing this for you? this house is already good enough for ME to live in!"
"Really? Why don't you try it out?"
I step inside the house and shut the door. I walk right into the table, and I stub my toe on the chair.
"Ok, how do I make a light source?" I ask as I step out, defeated.
"You see that?" He says, pointing at a strange blue glob. "That's a slime. Kill it."
"Are you kidding? That thing's not ali--" I start, but then the blue glob hops toward me one time. I take a step back. It hops again. I quickly take the dagger out of my bag. When it hops towards me again, I stab it. It barely does anything. I stab it again, and again. And again and again and again. Finally, it splatters all over the place, and it drops a bit of goo. Andrew picks it up.
"This is gel. You can use it to make torches with wood."
"Torches? Won't that burn the house?"
"No. Just take the gel and make a torch."
I snatch the gel from Andrew and pick up some of my wood. I spread the gel on the tip, and then Andrew lights it with a match. I'm about to ask him why he couldn't just use the match as a light source, but I stop myself and decide to go with it. I put the torch inside the house, just as it reaches nightfall. "Is that good enough for you?"
"Yes. Now hurry, get inside. I can hear--" he starts, and then a gurgly groaning can be heard a short distance away. Then a moaning. I make another torch, and am horrified. Andrew wasn't lying; there are zombies and disembodied eyeballs coming towards us. The zombies are horrific; parts of their faces are missing, they're missing limbs, they're dripping with blood. The eyeballs are a little less horrifying. Me and Andrew hurry inside the house, but not before I stab at some eyes and undead that got too close. We slam the door. The zombies bang and thump on the door, but it holds. It only took about 9 hours, but it felt to me like 9 days before they were gone. I slowly opened the door, dagger in hand, to see if they were truly gone, and sure enough, they were.
"Congratulations, Gekko."
"Congratulations? On what?"
"You've learned the basics and survived the first night."
"First night? How many other nights will be like this?"
"Hm... I'd say about...
... all of them."
"Calm down, please!" Andrew replies, ignoring my questions. "You never even told me your name yet."
I sigh, then tell him, "The name's Gekko."
"Gekko. That's a... unique name, to say the least."
"Heheh, yeah, it is, isn't it?" I say, hoping he doesn't catch on to the fact that I'm not human. "So... can you tell me where I am?"
"Right now, you're in an unnamed island -- I'll let YOU name it -- in a place called Terraria."
"Where?"
"Look, I told you where you are. Now can you just let it go already? It's almost nighttime."
Sure enough, it's almost nightfall. "Why are you worried? Ya scared of the dark or something?"
"No. Come nightfall, horrible creatures will begin to attack. Zombies, flying eyeballs, and... actually, it's just zombies and flying eyeballs."
"Ok, first off, zombies don't exist. Second off, flying eyeballs? Really? You couldn't have thought of something better, like--"
"Just listen to me! If you stay out here in the open, you will die!"
"Ok, ok! What do I do to keep the totally-not-made-up nighttime threats away?"
"Ok, check your backpack."
I open the backpack to find the pickaxe and dagger again. "There's only a pickaxe and a short copper dagger in here."
"Really? I could've sworn I included an axe in there..."
"What?"
"Nothing. Here, take this." He hands me a copper axe. "Use that to cut down that tree over there." He points at a fairly tall tree a couple of meters away.
Axe in hand, I walk over to the tree. I swing my axe at it. It cuts through, at least. Jokingly, I yell out, "Timber!" when I cut through it completely, but the tree doesn't fall -- instead it immediately breaks into... planks?
"Uh... that's not normal." I say.
"Just take the wood, you're going to have to make a house with it."
"I'm going to have to WHAT?" I ask, dumbfounded.
"Take the wood you just harvested. Make a crafting bench out of it."
"O... k." Somehow, I made a crude table out of the wood I had.
"Right, now make a door."
Again, I miraculously make a door using the table and the wood.
"Excellent. Now use the wood to put a house together, and add the door in the front."
I sigh, and then begin to put together a house. it's a lot easier than I thought -- The planks I place can just... hover in midair. Lastly, I place the door.
"Is that good enough? Can you move in?"
"Nope."
"Ha! That's what I-- wait. What?"
"I need a table and a chair."
"Why?"
"JUST MAKE A DAMN TABLE AND CHAIR!"
"Ok, geez!" I make a chair and a table easily and place them in the house. "How about NOW?"
"It's missing a light source."
"Oh, come ON! Why am I even doing this for you? this house is already good enough for ME to live in!"
"Really? Why don't you try it out?"
I step inside the house and shut the door. I walk right into the table, and I stub my toe on the chair.
"Ok, how do I make a light source?" I ask as I step out, defeated.
"You see that?" He says, pointing at a strange blue glob. "That's a slime. Kill it."
"Are you kidding? That thing's not ali--" I start, but then the blue glob hops toward me one time. I take a step back. It hops again. I quickly take the dagger out of my bag. When it hops towards me again, I stab it. It barely does anything. I stab it again, and again. And again and again and again. Finally, it splatters all over the place, and it drops a bit of goo. Andrew picks it up.
"This is gel. You can use it to make torches with wood."
"Torches? Won't that burn the house?"
"No. Just take the gel and make a torch."
I snatch the gel from Andrew and pick up some of my wood. I spread the gel on the tip, and then Andrew lights it with a match. I'm about to ask him why he couldn't just use the match as a light source, but I stop myself and decide to go with it. I put the torch inside the house, just as it reaches nightfall. "Is that good enough for you?"
"Yes. Now hurry, get inside. I can hear--" he starts, and then a gurgly groaning can be heard a short distance away. Then a moaning. I make another torch, and am horrified. Andrew wasn't lying; there are zombies and disembodied eyeballs coming towards us. The zombies are horrific; parts of their faces are missing, they're missing limbs, they're dripping with blood. The eyeballs are a little less horrifying. Me and Andrew hurry inside the house, but not before I stab at some eyes and undead that got too close. We slam the door. The zombies bang and thump on the door, but it holds. It only took about 9 hours, but it felt to me like 9 days before they were gone. I slowly opened the door, dagger in hand, to see if they were truly gone, and sure enough, they were.
"Congratulations, Gekko."
"Congratulations? On what?"
"You've learned the basics and survived the first night."
"First night? How many other nights will be like this?"
"Hm... I'd say about...
... all of them."
"Howdy!" says the bearded man with the brown trenchcoat.
It's my fourth day in Terraria. Yesterday, I decided I'd name the island "グリーンムーア".
... If you don't speak Japanese, that's "Green Moore".
Earlier today, I was mining for some copper for armor, when a skeleton decided it was a good idea to try and rip my face off. I wasn't seriously injured, but I got a bit roughed up.
I've been noticing strange things going on with Andrew. His voice can go really low, almost demonic, without him meaning to -- and then he'll immediately "correct" it if it does that. Also, sometimes, his shoulder or his hair or something would just... catch fire out of nowhere. I don't get what's up. When I ask him about it, though, he completely evades the question. Weird.
I've also been able to make an actual sword and armor out of some copper I mined. It's not that good, but it's better than nothing.
Anyways, yesterday Andrew told me about a merchant who wanders around, looking for someone with some decent cash. He sells some pretty useful stuff. Andrew told me monsters can drop money -- which is weird, but I won't question it. I starting hunting for slimes and such, and soon enough, I had a pretty decent amount of money. I went to bed, and woke up to get some more cash. At around 7:06 pm today, the Merchant came by -- that guy who said "Howdy" who I mentioned earlier. Which brings us to now.
"Hey there!" I say with a cheery tone.
"Word has it you've got some mon-- er, you're a good fighter!"
"I know what you were going to say."
"Oh. Is it true?"
"Yep."
"Great! The name's Edmund."
Taking off my helmet, I shake his hand. "Gekko."
"Huh. That's a strange na-- WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR EYES?"
"What are you talking abou--" I suddenly stop, remembering that my eyes are black instead of white, with red irises and slit-shaped pupils. "Oh, right." I say, chuckling lightly.
"Who... WHAT... are you?" He asks, leaning in a bit and slightly squinting his eyes in an interrogative way.
"I admit I'm not human, I'll give you that," and I sprout my wings to show him. I'm not afraid of Andrew seeing. He caught on about 2 days ago that I wasn't your ordinary Joe.
His eyes grow wide and his jaw drops a bit. "Son of a gun..."
I hide my wings again, and then show him to a house I made for him before he got here. Andrew told me anyone who comes by will need a house to stay in, save for another, erm... special merchant.
"Cosy," he says as he sits in the chair. "So, anything you wanna buy?"
"Maybe some other time, I wanna get to bed."
"Alright, but be careful out there. Rumor has it there's a giant eye that roams around at night. I think it was called... Chulu? No, Cthulhu. Yeah, that was it."
"Eh, it's fine. I'm sure things can go well for a couple more days before--"
Suddenly, a blood-curdling screech comes from outside in the forest. I fling the door open, Edmund following.
"Speak o' the devil..." he says.
There, staring back at me, is a giant, grotesque, disembodied floating eye.
It's my fourth day in Terraria. Yesterday, I decided I'd name the island "グリーンムーア".
... If you don't speak Japanese, that's "Green Moore".
Earlier today, I was mining for some copper for armor, when a skeleton decided it was a good idea to try and rip my face off. I wasn't seriously injured, but I got a bit roughed up.
I've been noticing strange things going on with Andrew. His voice can go really low, almost demonic, without him meaning to -- and then he'll immediately "correct" it if it does that. Also, sometimes, his shoulder or his hair or something would just... catch fire out of nowhere. I don't get what's up. When I ask him about it, though, he completely evades the question. Weird.
I've also been able to make an actual sword and armor out of some copper I mined. It's not that good, but it's better than nothing.
Anyways, yesterday Andrew told me about a merchant who wanders around, looking for someone with some decent cash. He sells some pretty useful stuff. Andrew told me monsters can drop money -- which is weird, but I won't question it. I starting hunting for slimes and such, and soon enough, I had a pretty decent amount of money. I went to bed, and woke up to get some more cash. At around 7:06 pm today, the Merchant came by -- that guy who said "Howdy" who I mentioned earlier. Which brings us to now.
"Hey there!" I say with a cheery tone.
"Word has it you've got some mon-- er, you're a good fighter!"
"I know what you were going to say."
"Oh. Is it true?"
"Yep."
"Great! The name's Edmund."
Taking off my helmet, I shake his hand. "Gekko."
"Huh. That's a strange na-- WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR EYES?"
"What are you talking abou--" I suddenly stop, remembering that my eyes are black instead of white, with red irises and slit-shaped pupils. "Oh, right." I say, chuckling lightly.
"Who... WHAT... are you?" He asks, leaning in a bit and slightly squinting his eyes in an interrogative way.
"I admit I'm not human, I'll give you that," and I sprout my wings to show him. I'm not afraid of Andrew seeing. He caught on about 2 days ago that I wasn't your ordinary Joe.
His eyes grow wide and his jaw drops a bit. "Son of a gun..."
I hide my wings again, and then show him to a house I made for him before he got here. Andrew told me anyone who comes by will need a house to stay in, save for another, erm... special merchant.
"Cosy," he says as he sits in the chair. "So, anything you wanna buy?"
"Maybe some other time, I wanna get to bed."
"Alright, but be careful out there. Rumor has it there's a giant eye that roams around at night. I think it was called... Chulu? No, Cthulhu. Yeah, that was it."
"Eh, it's fine. I'm sure things can go well for a couple more days before--"
Suddenly, a blood-curdling screech comes from outside in the forest. I fling the door open, Edmund following.
"Speak o' the devil..." he says.
There, staring back at me, is a giant, grotesque, disembodied floating eye.
"What the hell is that thing!?" I shout, knowing that I won't get an answer besides:
"That's it! That's Cthulhu!" Edmund says, terrified by what he sees.
I immediately pull a Copper Bow I made the other day out of my pack, along with a few dozen arrows I pulled out of some zombies for the past couple of nights. I know I don't have much time to aim, but to make matters worse, the Big Eye starts to try and ram into me. I dodge it easily, but have to take aim once more. I fire at it. The arrows sticks into it, and it lets out its mouthless shriek once more. It turns to face me, and out of its pupil, it...
... spawns more eyes. Gross, but not the most repulsive thing I've seen recently. The eyes are weak, but they slowly start to swarm. After about 5 seconds, the Big one stops producing them, but they've already made a horde. they start to mob me, but I instinctively take my sword out and slash at them. I manage to get most of them before they attack me, but two or three headbutted me.
This thing is relentless. It attempts to ram me again, actually hitting me this time. I feel a searing pain in my chest. I think it broke another of my ribs. I try to recover from the blow, and aim about 5 other shots directly at the Eye's pupil. It was in the middle of spawning more of its Servants (as I, at this point, decided to call them), but It stopped after 3. I must have hit something inside it that releases them. It trys to ram me once more, and I narrowly dodge it this time. I swing my sword at it as it passes.
It suddenly lets out an ear-splitting screech, begins to twitch, then spin uncontrollably. I watch as its retina and pupil tear away to reveal a toothy maw. It instantly speeds towards me, and I barely have time to react. I dodge it just in time, but one of its teeth cuts my face over my eye, and I start bleeding. Clutching my face where it had been cut, I prop myself up on my sword. The Mouth rears, and it zooms toward me. I know I can't dodge it. I prepare for the impact...
... when suddenly, a divine figure leaps over me, with a small, floating blue orb trailing shortly behind. She lands gracefully in front of me, and takes out a curved, pink sword with jagged edges and a star between the blade and hilt. She points the blade to the sky, while the orb shoots smaller orbs at the Eye. From the clouds, pink stars come plummeting down to the ground, disintegrating the gaping maw speeding towards us. As the dust settles, the figure turns her head.
"You alright?" she asks, in what is possibly the most angelic voice I have ever heard.
Astounded, I manage out the words, "Y-yeah... I'm... I'm fine."
"Great." she says. Holding out her hand to help me up.
"I'm Luna."
"That's it! That's Cthulhu!" Edmund says, terrified by what he sees.
I immediately pull a Copper Bow I made the other day out of my pack, along with a few dozen arrows I pulled out of some zombies for the past couple of nights. I know I don't have much time to aim, but to make matters worse, the Big Eye starts to try and ram into me. I dodge it easily, but have to take aim once more. I fire at it. The arrows sticks into it, and it lets out its mouthless shriek once more. It turns to face me, and out of its pupil, it...
... spawns more eyes. Gross, but not the most repulsive thing I've seen recently. The eyes are weak, but they slowly start to swarm. After about 5 seconds, the Big one stops producing them, but they've already made a horde. they start to mob me, but I instinctively take my sword out and slash at them. I manage to get most of them before they attack me, but two or three headbutted me.
This thing is relentless. It attempts to ram me again, actually hitting me this time. I feel a searing pain in my chest. I think it broke another of my ribs. I try to recover from the blow, and aim about 5 other shots directly at the Eye's pupil. It was in the middle of spawning more of its Servants (as I, at this point, decided to call them), but It stopped after 3. I must have hit something inside it that releases them. It trys to ram me once more, and I narrowly dodge it this time. I swing my sword at it as it passes.
It suddenly lets out an ear-splitting screech, begins to twitch, then spin uncontrollably. I watch as its retina and pupil tear away to reveal a toothy maw. It instantly speeds towards me, and I barely have time to react. I dodge it just in time, but one of its teeth cuts my face over my eye, and I start bleeding. Clutching my face where it had been cut, I prop myself up on my sword. The Mouth rears, and it zooms toward me. I know I can't dodge it. I prepare for the impact...
... when suddenly, a divine figure leaps over me, with a small, floating blue orb trailing shortly behind. She lands gracefully in front of me, and takes out a curved, pink sword with jagged edges and a star between the blade and hilt. She points the blade to the sky, while the orb shoots smaller orbs at the Eye. From the clouds, pink stars come plummeting down to the ground, disintegrating the gaping maw speeding towards us. As the dust settles, the figure turns her head.
"You alright?" she asks, in what is possibly the most angelic voice I have ever heard.
Astounded, I manage out the words, "Y-yeah... I'm... I'm fine."
"Great." she says. Holding out her hand to help me up.
"I'm Luna."
"Hey."
"..."
"Hey! Come on now, don't tell me a little stratch on your face is going to kill you."
"Wh... what...? Huh?"
I wake up in a house. Not like the houses I made, which are literally a single room.
I mean an ACTUAL house. Like, a bed, a dresser, and multiple rooms, I'd imagine.
"What the hell? Where am..."
I trail off, after finding the source of that familiar, majestic voice. I nearly faint again.
"This is my house. I brought you here when you fainted after I saved your life from that oversized peeper," Luna says, chuckling a bit. "You looked like you'd seen a ghost."
"Or an angel," I whisper under my breath.
"What was that?" She asks.
"N-nothing!" I quickly say. I feel my face burning a slight bit.
"So..." I begin, eager to change the subject, "... nice place you got here."
"You think so? I built it myself. I always thought it could use a little work," Luna replies.
"Really?" I ask, chuckling a little and shifting myself so I'm now sitting on the bed, facing her. "I guess you didn't notice the houses I made, huh?"
She stifles a laugh. "Those were houses?"
"Hey now, I've only been here for 5 days! It's not like someone can become an architect in that time!" I say, laughing.
We laugh for a bit, and then she gets up. "C'mon," she tells me, "I'll show you around."
I get up and follow her. We leave the room and enter a small hallway with two doors at the end and a staircase leading up.
"Wait... what's with the--"
"Staircase? We're underground right now. These rooms," she says, pointing at the rooms at the end of the hall and the room we just exited, "are for waiting out Blood Moons. Also, that room we were just in is my bedroom."
"Wait. Waiting out what Moons?"
"You don't need to worry about that for now. Follow me upstairs."
"... alright."
We go up the stairs into a living room space. There is a table and chair, along with a fireplace and a couple of bookshelves. I keep following Luna to the next rooms; a kitchen space, then a dining room, then a storage room, and lastly, a bathroom. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I've got a big scar on my face over my eye now. Damn, I look hardcore, I think to myself. Then she takes me outside to show where we are.
"So, funny thing. You managed to set up camp near where my house is, and never even noticed..." she says.
Sure enough, I look off and see my sorry excuses for houses not too far off in the distance. "Huh. Lucky me, right?" I say, jokingly.
I look around a bit more. There's a white house a bit off the other side of the house.
"What's that?" I ask.
"Oh, that's where Kate lives."
"O... k. Who's Kate?"
"She's the Nurse. She helped heal you up."
"Huh. Cool," I reply.
"So. Do you mind telling me how you got here?" Luna asks.
We're having dinner. She made some salmon that she caught the other day. It's pretty good.
"Well..."
I tell her the story. How I left the town, how the crazy noises started, how I got sucked into the ocean...
... and how I ended up here.
"Wow. That's nowhere near how I got here," she replies.
"Really? How DID you get here?" I ask, intrigued.
"... I'd... I'd rather not talk about it," she says after a little while.
"Oh," I reply, feeling like I may have crossed a line. I feel my face getting red. "I, uh, didn't mean to... upset you."
"No no, it's fine. It's just... " she trails off.
"... you know what, forget it," she says, getting up from her seat. "It's getting late, we'd better get to sleep. I prepared a room for you near mine."
"Wait, what about the zombies? And the eyeballs?" I ask.
"Don't worry, they don't know how to open doors. We'll be fine," Luna replies.
She heads back down the stairs. I follow her.
Pointing at one of the doors at the end of the hall, she says, "That one'll be your room."
"Alright," I answer.
"Holler if you need anything."
"Got it."
"Alright, well, good night."
"Good night."
She heads into her room, and I slip into mine. I take off my coat and scarf, and take a look around the room. What was she talking about? This room is great! I think to myself. It's got a dresser, a bed, a lamp on the dresser, and a desk with a chair. I take off my shoes, and get into the bed. Comfy. I'm about to doze off...
... when something catches my eye. The dresser is slightly open, and a slight green gleam of light is coming out of it. I get out of the bed, and open the drawer. Inside is a small, green yoyo with a black center. Huh. I used to play with these things as a kid.
I pick it up, thinking, maybe a few throws couldn't hurt. I throw the yoyo...
... and I immediately regret my decision.
"..."
"Hey! Come on now, don't tell me a little stratch on your face is going to kill you."
"Wh... what...? Huh?"
I wake up in a house. Not like the houses I made, which are literally a single room.
I mean an ACTUAL house. Like, a bed, a dresser, and multiple rooms, I'd imagine.
"What the hell? Where am..."
I trail off, after finding the source of that familiar, majestic voice. I nearly faint again.
"This is my house. I brought you here when you fainted after I saved your life from that oversized peeper," Luna says, chuckling a bit. "You looked like you'd seen a ghost."
"Or an angel," I whisper under my breath.
"What was that?" She asks.
"N-nothing!" I quickly say. I feel my face burning a slight bit.
"So..." I begin, eager to change the subject, "... nice place you got here."
"You think so? I built it myself. I always thought it could use a little work," Luna replies.
"Really?" I ask, chuckling a little and shifting myself so I'm now sitting on the bed, facing her. "I guess you didn't notice the houses I made, huh?"
She stifles a laugh. "Those were houses?"
"Hey now, I've only been here for 5 days! It's not like someone can become an architect in that time!" I say, laughing.
We laugh for a bit, and then she gets up. "C'mon," she tells me, "I'll show you around."
I get up and follow her. We leave the room and enter a small hallway with two doors at the end and a staircase leading up.
"Wait... what's with the--"
"Staircase? We're underground right now. These rooms," she says, pointing at the rooms at the end of the hall and the room we just exited, "are for waiting out Blood Moons. Also, that room we were just in is my bedroom."
"Wait. Waiting out what Moons?"
"You don't need to worry about that for now. Follow me upstairs."
"... alright."
We go up the stairs into a living room space. There is a table and chair, along with a fireplace and a couple of bookshelves. I keep following Luna to the next rooms; a kitchen space, then a dining room, then a storage room, and lastly, a bathroom. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I've got a big scar on my face over my eye now. Damn, I look hardcore, I think to myself. Then she takes me outside to show where we are.
"So, funny thing. You managed to set up camp near where my house is, and never even noticed..." she says.
Sure enough, I look off and see my sorry excuses for houses not too far off in the distance. "Huh. Lucky me, right?" I say, jokingly.
I look around a bit more. There's a white house a bit off the other side of the house.
"What's that?" I ask.
"Oh, that's where Kate lives."
"O... k. Who's Kate?"
"She's the Nurse. She helped heal you up."
"Huh. Cool," I reply.
...
"So. Do you mind telling me how you got here?" Luna asks.
We're having dinner. She made some salmon that she caught the other day. It's pretty good.
"Well..."
I tell her the story. How I left the town, how the crazy noises started, how I got sucked into the ocean...
... and how I ended up here.
"Wow. That's nowhere near how I got here," she replies.
"Really? How DID you get here?" I ask, intrigued.
"... I'd... I'd rather not talk about it," she says after a little while.
"Oh," I reply, feeling like I may have crossed a line. I feel my face getting red. "I, uh, didn't mean to... upset you."
"No no, it's fine. It's just... " she trails off.
"... you know what, forget it," she says, getting up from her seat. "It's getting late, we'd better get to sleep. I prepared a room for you near mine."
"Wait, what about the zombies? And the eyeballs?" I ask.
"Don't worry, they don't know how to open doors. We'll be fine," Luna replies.
She heads back down the stairs. I follow her.
Pointing at one of the doors at the end of the hall, she says, "That one'll be your room."
"Alright," I answer.
"Holler if you need anything."
"Got it."
"Alright, well, good night."
"Good night."
She heads into her room, and I slip into mine. I take off my coat and scarf, and take a look around the room. What was she talking about? This room is great! I think to myself. It's got a dresser, a bed, a lamp on the dresser, and a desk with a chair. I take off my shoes, and get into the bed. Comfy. I'm about to doze off...
... when something catches my eye. The dresser is slightly open, and a slight green gleam of light is coming out of it. I get out of the bed, and open the drawer. Inside is a small, green yoyo with a black center. Huh. I used to play with these things as a kid.
I pick it up, thinking, maybe a few throws couldn't hurt. I throw the yoyo...
... and I immediately regret my decision.
"Holler! HOLLER! JESUS CHRIST!"
Luna nearly bashes the door off its hinges when she comes in. When she sees me huddled behind my bed, holding the string of the green yoyo, which is spazzing all over the room, shooting out green laser-balls, she looks...
... disappointed.
"Really, Gekko?" she says, completely ignoring the obvious danger I am in.
"What?" I reply, confused.
"I should have told you about this thing..." she says, walking towards me and holding out her hand to take the string from me.
"Well that's not my fault, now, is it?" I ask while handing over the yoyo string.
With a flick of the wrist, she essentially wills the yoyo back to her. She hands it to me, looking like she really doesn't want to.
"You should be more careful with this weapon. It could really hurt you."
"Oh, you don't sa-- wait. I'm sorry, WHAT?"
"I said you need to be more careful with this thing," Luna replies.
"No, no... you called this a WEAPON."
"I know. It IS a weapon."
"No, it's not! This thing's a toy!"
"Really?" she asks, "A toy that shoots lasers that disintegrate all organic matter they touch?"
"Well, when you put it that way..."
"Okay, listen up. This thing, " she says, taking the yoyo from me and holding it up for me to see, "is called the Terrarian. It's really powerful."
"The Terrarian? So, it's named after this place? What, is it, like, a legendary weapon or something?"
"Pretty much," Luna says, tossing it back to me. "I'll show you how to properly handle it tomorrow."
"Hold on, you'll what?" I ask, part of me excited, and the other part scared for my life.
"Look, just go back to sleep. Please," she adds, rubbing her eyes.
"Alright," I sigh, then head back to my overturned bed. I fix it to where it was before, then lay down as Luna leaves the room. Admiring the Terrarian in my hand, I toss it back into the dresser and doze off.
Luna nearly bashes the door off its hinges when she comes in. When she sees me huddled behind my bed, holding the string of the green yoyo, which is spazzing all over the room, shooting out green laser-balls, she looks...
... disappointed.
"Really, Gekko?" she says, completely ignoring the obvious danger I am in.
"What?" I reply, confused.
"I should have told you about this thing..." she says, walking towards me and holding out her hand to take the string from me.
"Well that's not my fault, now, is it?" I ask while handing over the yoyo string.
With a flick of the wrist, she essentially wills the yoyo back to her. She hands it to me, looking like she really doesn't want to.
"You should be more careful with this weapon. It could really hurt you."
"Oh, you don't sa-- wait. I'm sorry, WHAT?"
"I said you need to be more careful with this thing," Luna replies.
"No, no... you called this a WEAPON."
"I know. It IS a weapon."
"No, it's not! This thing's a toy!"
"Really?" she asks, "A toy that shoots lasers that disintegrate all organic matter they touch?"
"Well, when you put it that way..."
"Okay, listen up. This thing, " she says, taking the yoyo from me and holding it up for me to see, "is called the Terrarian. It's really powerful."
"The Terrarian? So, it's named after this place? What, is it, like, a legendary weapon or something?"
"Pretty much," Luna says, tossing it back to me. "I'll show you how to properly handle it tomorrow."
"Hold on, you'll what?" I ask, part of me excited, and the other part scared for my life.
"Look, just go back to sleep. Please," she adds, rubbing her eyes.
"Alright," I sigh, then head back to my overturned bed. I fix it to where it was before, then lay down as Luna leaves the room. Admiring the Terrarian in my hand, I toss it back into the dresser and doze off.
I think now's a good time to leave the story off for a bit of time. Right now, I'm finding it hard to remember the rest. It's all a bit blurry, probably cause the giant monster that appeared just knocked me into a pile of rocks.
I still don't even understand what's happened here. I don't know how this world works. I only know one thing:
The key is to remember.
It's like that thing philosophers say: we have to look into the past to understand our present and future.
Screw those guys.
Screw this world.
Screw everything I've had to do to get to this point.
I just want to things to go back to normal.
I just want to see Her again, even if it's only in my mind.
Right now,
I have to kill this thing.
And oh, lucky me. It just knocked me into the rocks again. But this time it helped my memory.
Let's continue with the story, shall we?
I still don't even understand what's happened here. I don't know how this world works. I only know one thing:
The key is to remember.
It's like that thing philosophers say: we have to look into the past to understand our present and future.
Screw those guys.
Screw this world.
Screw everything I've had to do to get to this point.
I just want to things to go back to normal.
I just want to see Her again, even if it's only in my mind.
Right now,
I have to kill this thing.
And oh, lucky me. It just knocked me into the rocks again. But this time it helped my memory.
Let's continue with the story, shall we?
"Come on, now! You can't be afraid of this thing if you're going to use it!"
"Whose idea was it to try and train me to use it after you specifically saw that i didn't know how to handle it AND you told me it could disintegrate organic matter?"
Luna and I are out in the forest -- she didn't feel comfortable training me in the house after seeing my traumatic episode. We're a ways from the house, but I can still see it off in the distance.
"Hold on, let me help you..."
"No, no, wait, I think I've got it..."
I manage to throw the Terrarian out in front of me and guide it through the air for a bit. It's lasers are still making me as paranoid as ever, but I have the hang of moving it around, at least.
"Nice. Now we'll get to how you can make the lasers not kill you."
Luna goes through this shpiel about how there's a connection between the user and the Terrarian having to do with courage and hope, but I'm not really paying attention. A weird, purpley-brown flying thing has caught my eye.
"... so basically, you just have to believe that it won't hurt you," she finishes. "Gekko?" she asks, seeing that I'm looking somewhere else.
Looking in the same direction I'm looking, she see the same thing.
"What's that thing?" I ask.
"It's nothing, just don't stare at it or it'll--"
Suddenly, the creature starts to zoom towards me, heading straight for my head. I react quickly, shooting the yoyo from my hand. It hits the creature square on the head -- or body, seeing as has eyes and teeth all over it -- obliterating it instantly. It breaks into chunks with green blood all over them.
"Ok, seriously, what was that thing?" I ask as I pull the Terrarian back to me.
"That was a thing I like to call an Eater of Souls."
"Oh. Joyous. Where'd it come from?" I ask.
"You sure you want to know?"
"Yeah, sure. Why not."
"Alright, follow me," she motions to me.
She leads me to the small hill above which the creature was hovering. As we reach the top, I am horrified by what I see.
Where there was probably once green, everything is a dark, eerie purple with teeth coming out of the grass. there are giant stone pits and chasms, lined with more teeth, and the trees have turned the color of purple-tinted charcoal. About fifty of the Eaters are roaming around the fields, along with purple slimes, purple slimes with WINGS, and big worms with eyes digging up and out of the ground, only to fall back in and dig some more.
"It's called the Corruption," Luna says, breaking the silence.
"It's... all gone," I say, astounded.
Just then, one of the Eaters sees us on the hill. It makes a mixture of a screech and a hiss, and it and the other Eaters, slimes, and worms turn their attention towards us. About 5 seconds later, we've got the screeching, hissing, roaring stuff of nightmares practically stampeding towards us.
"Whose idea was it to try and train me to use it after you specifically saw that i didn't know how to handle it AND you told me it could disintegrate organic matter?"
Luna and I are out in the forest -- she didn't feel comfortable training me in the house after seeing my traumatic episode. We're a ways from the house, but I can still see it off in the distance.
"Hold on, let me help you..."
"No, no, wait, I think I've got it..."
I manage to throw the Terrarian out in front of me and guide it through the air for a bit. It's lasers are still making me as paranoid as ever, but I have the hang of moving it around, at least.
"Nice. Now we'll get to how you can make the lasers not kill you."
Luna goes through this shpiel about how there's a connection between the user and the Terrarian having to do with courage and hope, but I'm not really paying attention. A weird, purpley-brown flying thing has caught my eye.
"... so basically, you just have to believe that it won't hurt you," she finishes. "Gekko?" she asks, seeing that I'm looking somewhere else.
Looking in the same direction I'm looking, she see the same thing.
"What's that thing?" I ask.
"It's nothing, just don't stare at it or it'll--"
Suddenly, the creature starts to zoom towards me, heading straight for my head. I react quickly, shooting the yoyo from my hand. It hits the creature square on the head -- or body, seeing as has eyes and teeth all over it -- obliterating it instantly. It breaks into chunks with green blood all over them.
"Ok, seriously, what was that thing?" I ask as I pull the Terrarian back to me.
"That was a thing I like to call an Eater of Souls."
"Oh. Joyous. Where'd it come from?" I ask.
"You sure you want to know?"
"Yeah, sure. Why not."
"Alright, follow me," she motions to me.
She leads me to the small hill above which the creature was hovering. As we reach the top, I am horrified by what I see.
Where there was probably once green, everything is a dark, eerie purple with teeth coming out of the grass. there are giant stone pits and chasms, lined with more teeth, and the trees have turned the color of purple-tinted charcoal. About fifty of the Eaters are roaming around the fields, along with purple slimes, purple slimes with WINGS, and big worms with eyes digging up and out of the ground, only to fall back in and dig some more.
"It's called the Corruption," Luna says, breaking the silence.
"It's... all gone," I say, astounded.
Just then, one of the Eaters sees us on the hill. It makes a mixture of a screech and a hiss, and it and the other Eaters, slimes, and worms turn their attention towards us. About 5 seconds later, we've got the screeching, hissing, roaring stuff of nightmares practically stampeding towards us.
"Duck!" Luna shouts.
What she calls a Devourer -- one of the giant worms -- nearly just bit my head off. These things have zero chill. The slimes are trying to get ahold of us, the Eaters keep trying to latch onto our heads like some sort of Half-Life Headcrab reject, and the Devourers -- like I said before -- are, simply put, trying to tear out chunks of us.
I manage to bat some of them away with my Terrarian, but there's too many. Luna left her pink sword at the house, so she can't use that.
We're running out of places to go. Everywhere around here we run to, they keep coming. They won't stop following us.
That's it.
This is where I die.
This is where She dies.
We're backed into a corner -- well, at least, out to the edge of one of the chasms. Oh boy, it's a Choose Your Own Death book; torn to shreds by the hellish, nightmare-inducing horrors surrounding us, or fall down a dark pit to our demise.
I steal a glance at Luna. She looks...
... afraid. Terrified, really. I'd never seen her like this. I don't blame her, though. They're almost upon us.
But then I remember something.
I grab her hand. She gasps, then looks at me.
"W-What are you doing?' she whimpers.
"I have a plan, but I need you to trust me. Can you do that?" I ask. She nods.
"Ok. On three, hold onto me as tightly as you can."
"Wait. What are you..."
"One."
"Gekko...?"
"Two."
"Gekko, no!"
"THREE!"
She suddenly grasps onto me tightly, and I dive, bringing her with me, into the chasm.
"G-Gekko, you idiot! What are you d-doing?" she screams, still terrified.
"Getting us out of this mess," I reply. I sprout my wings from my back, and begin to flap them. We stop falling, and start rising.
We practically shoot back out of the chasm. Luna gripping me even tighter. I never told her about my wings yet.
She looks right into my eyes. "What the--"
"Shh..." I say. "We're..." I stop myself. We literally just landed right behind the monsters we just escaped.
"Nice plan, g-genius," Luna says, frightened again.
"Quick, grab on--" I start, but before I can finish, they're upon us.
They form some sort of dogpile on us, and we can't escape. We're getting beaten, scratched, and bitten. I can hear Luna screaming.
No... we can't go out now... I think to myself. Luna's screaming is still ringing inside my head. I feel my eyes burning. My body is getting hot. Hotter.
All of a sudden, a giant flash of light, coming from...
... me.
I open my eyes. I'm in the air, and all the creatures are laying around us. I look around, panting like a mad dog, and see Luna staring at me.
"Gekko..." she says, "... you're... on fire!"
I look at my hands. I have on some sort of armor, and yes, it's on fire. But I don't feel it.
"What... the... absolute hell?" I say.
The Eaters and whatnot are getting back up. I prepare myself to fight them.
I hear some sort of crackle of fire, and feel each of my hands wrap around something. Bringing my hands to where I can see them again, I find a sword not unlike Luna's, but orange and on fire, and in the other, a shield that is -- what else? -- engulfed in flames, as well.
"Whoa..." I say.
I swing the sword, and MUCH like Luna's, a celestial body plummets down from the sky. It's not a star, though, but an orange comet.
"Alright, let's lay waste to this wasteland." I say coolly.
I hear Luna doing a slow clap of disappointment after my cheesy line, but I'll get to her about that later.
I start zipping around, cutting open some of the creatures with my blade and disintegrating the others with its comets. Others still are subject to my shield; I bash in their heads and blow them apart with some sort of superdash. One Eater gets in my way, but I simply cut it into ribbons. A Devourer tries to rip off my head again, but I just grab it by a tooth and slice off its head. This is insane. But it's also awesome.
It's not long until everything that just tried to kill us is obliterated. I look around at the bodies and chunks as they dissolve into nothingness.
I slowly land back on the ground, and as I do so, another flash occurs and I'm back in my sweater, scarf, and jeans.
"How did you..." Luna says, astounded.
"I have no idea," I reply.
What she calls a Devourer -- one of the giant worms -- nearly just bit my head off. These things have zero chill. The slimes are trying to get ahold of us, the Eaters keep trying to latch onto our heads like some sort of Half-Life Headcrab reject, and the Devourers -- like I said before -- are, simply put, trying to tear out chunks of us.
I manage to bat some of them away with my Terrarian, but there's too many. Luna left her pink sword at the house, so she can't use that.
We're running out of places to go. Everywhere around here we run to, they keep coming. They won't stop following us.
That's it.
This is where I die.
This is where She dies.
We're backed into a corner -- well, at least, out to the edge of one of the chasms. Oh boy, it's a Choose Your Own Death book; torn to shreds by the hellish, nightmare-inducing horrors surrounding us, or fall down a dark pit to our demise.
I steal a glance at Luna. She looks...
... afraid. Terrified, really. I'd never seen her like this. I don't blame her, though. They're almost upon us.
But then I remember something.
I grab her hand. She gasps, then looks at me.
"W-What are you doing?' she whimpers.
"I have a plan, but I need you to trust me. Can you do that?" I ask. She nods.
"Ok. On three, hold onto me as tightly as you can."
"Wait. What are you..."
"One."
"Gekko...?"
"Two."
"Gekko, no!"
"THREE!"
She suddenly grasps onto me tightly, and I dive, bringing her with me, into the chasm.
"G-Gekko, you idiot! What are you d-doing?" she screams, still terrified.
"Getting us out of this mess," I reply. I sprout my wings from my back, and begin to flap them. We stop falling, and start rising.
We practically shoot back out of the chasm. Luna gripping me even tighter. I never told her about my wings yet.
She looks right into my eyes. "What the--"
"Shh..." I say. "We're..." I stop myself. We literally just landed right behind the monsters we just escaped.
"Nice plan, g-genius," Luna says, frightened again.
"Quick, grab on--" I start, but before I can finish, they're upon us.
They form some sort of dogpile on us, and we can't escape. We're getting beaten, scratched, and bitten. I can hear Luna screaming.
No... we can't go out now... I think to myself. Luna's screaming is still ringing inside my head. I feel my eyes burning. My body is getting hot. Hotter.
All of a sudden, a giant flash of light, coming from...
... me.
I open my eyes. I'm in the air, and all the creatures are laying around us. I look around, panting like a mad dog, and see Luna staring at me.
"Gekko..." she says, "... you're... on fire!"
I look at my hands. I have on some sort of armor, and yes, it's on fire. But I don't feel it.
"What... the... absolute hell?" I say.
The Eaters and whatnot are getting back up. I prepare myself to fight them.
I hear some sort of crackle of fire, and feel each of my hands wrap around something. Bringing my hands to where I can see them again, I find a sword not unlike Luna's, but orange and on fire, and in the other, a shield that is -- what else? -- engulfed in flames, as well.
"Whoa..." I say.
I swing the sword, and MUCH like Luna's, a celestial body plummets down from the sky. It's not a star, though, but an orange comet.
"Alright, let's lay waste to this wasteland." I say coolly.
I hear Luna doing a slow clap of disappointment after my cheesy line, but I'll get to her about that later.
I start zipping around, cutting open some of the creatures with my blade and disintegrating the others with its comets. Others still are subject to my shield; I bash in their heads and blow them apart with some sort of superdash. One Eater gets in my way, but I simply cut it into ribbons. A Devourer tries to rip off my head again, but I just grab it by a tooth and slice off its head. This is insane. But it's also awesome.
It's not long until everything that just tried to kill us is obliterated. I look around at the bodies and chunks as they dissolve into nothingness.
I slowly land back on the ground, and as I do so, another flash occurs and I'm back in my sweater, scarf, and jeans.
"How did you..." Luna says, astounded.
"I have no idea," I reply.
Ever since that near-death experience, things have been going well. Our town's grown -- now a painter named Marco, an arms dealer named DeShawn, and a girl whose sole purpose in life is to party (her name's Trixy) are living in our town. I've gotten better at building. I practically built myself a mansion -- it's just missing furniture.
I still don't have the hang of that whole armor thing. It's got something to do with emotion, but I don't know exactly what. Me and Luna have been trying to see if there's any way to do it again, but we've got nothing. Oh, and I decided to explain the whole "wings" situation with her, too. She still doesn't understand, but she kinda gets it. She has wings, too, but they're not real, they're actually mechanized.
Anyway, I was building myself some furniture when I heard a knock at my door. Upon opening it, I found that there was nobody there -- just a small, wooden crate. I looked around, then brought the crate inside.
Or... at least, I would have if it wasn't
SO
DAMN
HEAVY.
How the hell could something this small weigh as much as it did? No matter where I gripped it, I couldn't get it off the ground -- I couldn't even PUSH it inside. At this point, I figured it was best to open it outside. But it wouldn't open.
I went inside and brought out my axe. If this thing won't open normally, I thought, I may as well hack at it until it BREAKS open. I began chopping at it, and eventually it did snap in half. The thing was...
... it was empty.
Yep, a big chunk of nothing in that crate. However, the planks that were on the bottom of the crate were still stuck where they were previously. It's as if they were glued to the...
... oh my god.
Did I just hear somebody snickering?
"Who's there? What the hell kind of prank is this?" I asked angrily, getting no reply except for stifled laughter from around a corner outside of my house.
Walking toward where I heard the laughter, I begin a rant. "What the hell is wrong with you? You straight-up GLUED a crate to the floor? You can't just --"
I stop there, after turning the corner. On the ground, laughing, is two people. One is a boy looking to be about a year or two younger than me, with brown, short hair and normal, brown eyes. (When I say normal, I mean human eyes.) The other is a girl, about the same age as the first, with light-sky-blue hair tied back in big pigtails and large, greenish-blue eyes, which have white corneas like the former's eyes, but with slitted pupils like mine.
"Oh man," the boy says, wiping a tear out of his eye with a finger. "That's rich."
The girl snickers for a bit longer, but then she looks at me. Weirdly. Like she's... admiring me.
She starts to blush, then looks away. What's THAT about?
Anyway, the kids -- remember, they're younger than me -- get up off the floor. The boy sticks out a hand and introduces himself. "Hi! I'm Kirby." I reluctantly shake his hand, making sure he doesn't have on a joy buzzer or something. He just seems like the kind of guy who would. The girl on the other hand, seems to be kind of shy. She slowly and cautiously lifts up her hand, as though I was some kind of animal who was unidentified as friendly or hostile. I firmly grab her hand and shake it. "The name's Gekko. And you are?"
But the girl doesn't say anything at first. Her face is super red, and after a couple of seconds, she says, "Yukki", in a -- yes, I admit -- pretty adorable voice.
I let go of her hand and change the subject to what happened 5 seconds ago. "So... why the hell did you guys prank me, exactly?"
Kirby replies immediately. "That's just something we like to do. It's especially funny with strangers, because they don't know us and, therefore, wouldn't know who did it, which makes their reactions funnier."
"Huh. sounds like you've got pranks down to a science, huh?" I ask. "Yep," he replies.
"Um..." Yukki spoke softly, "M-Mr. Gekko?" she said, starting to blush again.
"Yeah?"
"U-uh... areyousingle?"
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing!"
"Jeez, Yukki," Kirby whispers. "You've really got a thing for older guys, huh?" I kind of snicker, and Yukki gives a little one-handed shove to Kirby, probably because he wasn't supposed to say that. "Kirby!" she says.
"A-anyway, it's... it's nice to meet you, Mr. Gekko," she says.
"Please, just call me Gekko."
"Oh, ok."
"Now if you guys will excuse me," I say, "I need to get back to work on my furniture. These things are about as confusing as putting together stuff from Ikea."
I turn around, heading back to my house. I forgot the crate used to be there, so I head inside, grab my sword, and pry the planks off the ground, deciding that I can use them for firewood or something. But before I go back inside, I turn around. "Oh, one more thing. If you prank me again, I will personally get you guys back in a manner that is WAY worse," I say, and I close the door. Outside, I hear Yukki telling Kirby it's his fault for choosing to prank me, to which Kirby replies that she should consider herself lucky, because if it wasn't for him she wouldn't have met me. The last thing I hear from out there is Yukki doing some sort of frustrated, but flustered, groan.
I just chuckle again and get back to my furniture.
I still don't have the hang of that whole armor thing. It's got something to do with emotion, but I don't know exactly what. Me and Luna have been trying to see if there's any way to do it again, but we've got nothing. Oh, and I decided to explain the whole "wings" situation with her, too. She still doesn't understand, but she kinda gets it. She has wings, too, but they're not real, they're actually mechanized.
Anyway, I was building myself some furniture when I heard a knock at my door. Upon opening it, I found that there was nobody there -- just a small, wooden crate. I looked around, then brought the crate inside.
Or... at least, I would have if it wasn't
SO
DAMN
HEAVY.
How the hell could something this small weigh as much as it did? No matter where I gripped it, I couldn't get it off the ground -- I couldn't even PUSH it inside. At this point, I figured it was best to open it outside. But it wouldn't open.
I went inside and brought out my axe. If this thing won't open normally, I thought, I may as well hack at it until it BREAKS open. I began chopping at it, and eventually it did snap in half. The thing was...
... it was empty.
Yep, a big chunk of nothing in that crate. However, the planks that were on the bottom of the crate were still stuck where they were previously. It's as if they were glued to the...
... oh my god.
Did I just hear somebody snickering?
"Who's there? What the hell kind of prank is this?" I asked angrily, getting no reply except for stifled laughter from around a corner outside of my house.
Walking toward where I heard the laughter, I begin a rant. "What the hell is wrong with you? You straight-up GLUED a crate to the floor? You can't just --"
I stop there, after turning the corner. On the ground, laughing, is two people. One is a boy looking to be about a year or two younger than me, with brown, short hair and normal, brown eyes. (When I say normal, I mean human eyes.) The other is a girl, about the same age as the first, with light-sky-blue hair tied back in big pigtails and large, greenish-blue eyes, which have white corneas like the former's eyes, but with slitted pupils like mine.
"Oh man," the boy says, wiping a tear out of his eye with a finger. "That's rich."
The girl snickers for a bit longer, but then she looks at me. Weirdly. Like she's... admiring me.
She starts to blush, then looks away. What's THAT about?
Anyway, the kids -- remember, they're younger than me -- get up off the floor. The boy sticks out a hand and introduces himself. "Hi! I'm Kirby." I reluctantly shake his hand, making sure he doesn't have on a joy buzzer or something. He just seems like the kind of guy who would. The girl on the other hand, seems to be kind of shy. She slowly and cautiously lifts up her hand, as though I was some kind of animal who was unidentified as friendly or hostile. I firmly grab her hand and shake it. "The name's Gekko. And you are?"
But the girl doesn't say anything at first. Her face is super red, and after a couple of seconds, she says, "Yukki", in a -- yes, I admit -- pretty adorable voice.
I let go of her hand and change the subject to what happened 5 seconds ago. "So... why the hell did you guys prank me, exactly?"
Kirby replies immediately. "That's just something we like to do. It's especially funny with strangers, because they don't know us and, therefore, wouldn't know who did it, which makes their reactions funnier."
"Huh. sounds like you've got pranks down to a science, huh?" I ask. "Yep," he replies.
"Um..." Yukki spoke softly, "M-Mr. Gekko?" she said, starting to blush again.
"Yeah?"
"U-uh... areyousingle?"
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing!"
"Jeez, Yukki," Kirby whispers. "You've really got a thing for older guys, huh?" I kind of snicker, and Yukki gives a little one-handed shove to Kirby, probably because he wasn't supposed to say that. "Kirby!" she says.
"A-anyway, it's... it's nice to meet you, Mr. Gekko," she says.
"Please, just call me Gekko."
"Oh, ok."
"Now if you guys will excuse me," I say, "I need to get back to work on my furniture. These things are about as confusing as putting together stuff from Ikea."
I turn around, heading back to my house. I forgot the crate used to be there, so I head inside, grab my sword, and pry the planks off the ground, deciding that I can use them for firewood or something. But before I go back inside, I turn around. "Oh, one more thing. If you prank me again, I will personally get you guys back in a manner that is WAY worse," I say, and I close the door. Outside, I hear Yukki telling Kirby it's his fault for choosing to prank me, to which Kirby replies that she should consider herself lucky, because if it wasn't for him she wouldn't have met me. The last thing I hear from out there is Yukki doing some sort of frustrated, but flustered, groan.
I just chuckle again and get back to my furniture.
So, looks like this'll be a regular thing, I guess.
You remember those two I told you about in the last chapter? Yeah, one of them is back, and he's got a hell of a lot more pranks in store for me today.
First, Kirby greeted me with a handshake. Of course, being the kind of kid he was, he had hid a whoopie cushion in his hand. So, I'm sure you know what happened there.
At around lunch time, I found out that he figured out a way to get into my house without me knowing. much to my dismay, he used this newfound skill to put a whoopie cushion on my chair.
Then when I was out for a stroll, he had trailed a bit behind me. But I didn't notice him, and kept walking. After around two or three minutes, he had managed to throw a whoopie cushion with such accuracy that it landed right underneath my foot. And so I stepped on it.
"Real original, Kirby," I say, a tad annoyed with his lack of any humor other than whoopie cushions. "Why not try these tricks on your sister?"
"Who, Yukki? You can't be serious. You actually thought she was my sister?"
"Well..." I start, but Kirby cuts me off.
"Hey, I'm just yanking your chain. Yeah, we're siblings. But she takes pranks a bit... erm... to heart. One time, I scared her with a fake spider, and she wouldn't talk to me for a month."
"Wow. Alrighty then-- whoa." I stop dead in my tracks.
"What? What's the--" and so does Kirby.
You remember the Corruption? That purple place where everything looks like some mutated amalgam of teeth and eyeballs? Yeah. Imagine that, but bloody and red instead of purple. That's what we see.
"What in the fu-" I start, before being completely blindsided by something I barely even have the heart to describe.
It's like... almost like a human, but... the top of its head is ripped clean off, revealing its brain. Its eyes are bloodshot, but milky white at the same time. And it's got this gigantic, gaping mouth at could probably fit Kirby in it standing up.
It's got me pinned to the ground, and it's right in my face. It seemed like it was about to eat me, but just then, Kirby throws... a whoopie cushion at it. It makes a fart noise on impact, which I admit is kinda funny.
"Hey! Get off that guy!" he yells.
The monster gets up and starts charging towards Kirby, but I throw my Terrarian at it and it disintegrates. Goody.
"Jesus," I say, smiling a small bit. "What was that thing?"
"That, my friend, was a Face Monster," Kirby replies.
"Hm. Fitting name."
Then I hear some squishing noise. I look back towards the red fields, and I see a spider coming towards us. But it's not your average spider. Nope, it's a spider the size of a German Shepherd, and it looks hungry. Now, this wouldn't be an issue under normal circumstances. Unfortunately,
I've got major arachnophobia.
And so, I literally froze. With a giant spider coming towards us. One that probably plans on eating our flesh.
But then, once again, Kirby saves the day. Not with a whoopie cushion, but with a banana peel. He lightly tosses it under one of the spider's feet, and the spider simply slides around for a bit, flips over, and impales itself on one of the teeth sticking out of the ground.
And then we both burst out laughing.
Okay, forget asking what the hell that place was, we just sit there on the floor, laughing. After a bit, we get up, and agree to head back home. Honestly, what I don't need is a repeat of what happened in the Corruption, so we head on out of there before anything else spots us.
And it's only just now that I realize just how ironic the name "Green Moore" is.
You remember those two I told you about in the last chapter? Yeah, one of them is back, and he's got a hell of a lot more pranks in store for me today.
First, Kirby greeted me with a handshake. Of course, being the kind of kid he was, he had hid a whoopie cushion in his hand. So, I'm sure you know what happened there.
At around lunch time, I found out that he figured out a way to get into my house without me knowing. much to my dismay, he used this newfound skill to put a whoopie cushion on my chair.
Then when I was out for a stroll, he had trailed a bit behind me. But I didn't notice him, and kept walking. After around two or three minutes, he had managed to throw a whoopie cushion with such accuracy that it landed right underneath my foot. And so I stepped on it.
"Real original, Kirby," I say, a tad annoyed with his lack of any humor other than whoopie cushions. "Why not try these tricks on your sister?"
"Who, Yukki? You can't be serious. You actually thought she was my sister?"
"Well..." I start, but Kirby cuts me off.
"Hey, I'm just yanking your chain. Yeah, we're siblings. But she takes pranks a bit... erm... to heart. One time, I scared her with a fake spider, and she wouldn't talk to me for a month."
"Wow. Alrighty then-- whoa." I stop dead in my tracks.
"What? What's the--" and so does Kirby.
You remember the Corruption? That purple place where everything looks like some mutated amalgam of teeth and eyeballs? Yeah. Imagine that, but bloody and red instead of purple. That's what we see.
"What in the fu-" I start, before being completely blindsided by something I barely even have the heart to describe.
It's like... almost like a human, but... the top of its head is ripped clean off, revealing its brain. Its eyes are bloodshot, but milky white at the same time. And it's got this gigantic, gaping mouth at could probably fit Kirby in it standing up.
It's got me pinned to the ground, and it's right in my face. It seemed like it was about to eat me, but just then, Kirby throws... a whoopie cushion at it. It makes a fart noise on impact, which I admit is kinda funny.
"Hey! Get off that guy!" he yells.
The monster gets up and starts charging towards Kirby, but I throw my Terrarian at it and it disintegrates. Goody.
"Jesus," I say, smiling a small bit. "What was that thing?"
"That, my friend, was a Face Monster," Kirby replies.
"Hm. Fitting name."
Then I hear some squishing noise. I look back towards the red fields, and I see a spider coming towards us. But it's not your average spider. Nope, it's a spider the size of a German Shepherd, and it looks hungry. Now, this wouldn't be an issue under normal circumstances. Unfortunately,
I've got major arachnophobia.
And so, I literally froze. With a giant spider coming towards us. One that probably plans on eating our flesh.
But then, once again, Kirby saves the day. Not with a whoopie cushion, but with a banana peel. He lightly tosses it under one of the spider's feet, and the spider simply slides around for a bit, flips over, and impales itself on one of the teeth sticking out of the ground.
And then we both burst out laughing.
Okay, forget asking what the hell that place was, we just sit there on the floor, laughing. After a bit, we get up, and agree to head back home. Honestly, what I don't need is a repeat of what happened in the Corruption, so we head on out of there before anything else spots us.
And it's only just now that I realize just how ironic the name "Green Moore" is.
New Chapters coming soon!
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