Story The Long Battle

Stock-pile chapters?

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Since the second chapter is looking to be long, should I just post chapters when they're finished and not wait until the next chapter is done?
 
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WOOP WOOP!
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'Where am I?' That's the first thing that popped into my head when I woke up in a strange place, with no recollection of how I got there… or who I was. Strangely, I felt peace and contentment rather than panic. The grass tickled my arms and the warm sun soothed my aching body. I gave a nice sigh of contentment. The next moment I jumped up with fright, though. Something had landed on my stomach. It wasn't heavy, just surprising. The next moment I saw what it was. A rabbit. A small, innocent rabbit. It gave me a dirty look. How sassy. Who knew animals could be so… intelligent? It hopped away with a very stuffy attitude. She just passed it off, though, and continued to bask in the sunlight.

Just laying there was so relaxing… thethe warm sun kissing her face, the cool grass against her back… she almost dozed off. But a rude interruption came and butchered her day-dreaming.

“Hey, are you just going to lay around all day and do nothing?”

She leaped to her feet.

“What? Huh? Who? Where?!” She shouted, blatantly confused.

“Ha! You are an odd one, aren't you? To answer your questions, my name is Maxwell the Guide and I'm ten feet in front of you. You are so unaware of you're surroundings that you didn't notice me having a nice lunch of cooked fish. Also, I brought you some stuff that will be useful.”

She saw, with embarrassment, that there was the remnants of a fish with some books laying around it. And, the tools that were mentioned. A copper shortsword, pickax and ax.

“Oh, well, I wish I could present you with similar information, but I can't seem to figure out where or who I am. Maybe you could help me out with that?” She added.

“Well, the part about what the world is a long story and telling you who you are relates to the story. Plus, I don't think you're ready to face who you are yet, as you have just come into this world.”

“Oh. Well, aren't you useful, “Mr. Maxwell The Guide?”

“Woah, rude much? You might as well treat me with more respect as I am the only one here who knows anything about the world, how to survive in it and who you are. I could just decide to not tell you anything and leave you to the zombies.”

“Ok, ok, fine.What do I do first?”

“First, you should cut down some trees to get wood. Once you get enough wood, make a sword to kill slimes. Then you can combine wood and gel to make torches.”

“Cool. So should I go do that?”

“Duh-Doy.”

“Jeez! Aren't you going to tell be how to fight the flesh-dissolving slimes or whatever?”

“Yes. You poke the scawy wittle swimes with your teeny weeny wittle sword.”

“Fine! And you told me to treat you with more respect!”

She stormed out into the forest after collecting the tools.

'What a jerk! Do I really have to put up with him?! Jeez, he's the guy that's supposed to help me, so why can't he be nice to me?'

After fuming and stomping on grasshoppers, she finally cooled off and cut down some trees.

The day was getting late, and she had a cord of wood stacked, so she called for the Guide.

“Yo! Useless guy! Maxwell! Get over here and show me where to put all this wood!”

He waltzed out of the woods a minute later, eating an apple.

“What do you want, noob?”

“Ugh. I need you to tell me where to put all this wood.”

“You can put it next to my hobo shack. It's right over there,” he said, pointing to a couple boards of wood.

“Woah, you live there?”


“Yeah, duh.”

“Wow. I need to build myself a house. I am not sleeping there.”

“Well, that's good because I was going to make you sleep outside.”

“Pfft, not like it would make much of a difference from sleeping in that poor excuse of a shack.”

“Oh wow, what a good insult!” Said the guide

“Well that was the most original comeback I have ever heard!”

“This argument is stupid!”

“You're stupid!” She said.

“Uh-huh. Well, it's getting dark. Are you going to build the house or not?”

“Fine! I'll build it! That was my original intention before this stupid argument!”

Building the house proved to be very easy. At twilight they had a nice home to stay in. It was perfectly suitable with torches for lighting, a work table, and chairs. Though a little empty, it was sufficient.

“Well, it's not as awful as I expected, but it's also not great.”

“Ha! You're just angry that I didn't mess up because now you can't make fun of me.”

“Maybe...”

They were silent for awhile. They just glared at each-other.

“I don't suppose you could tell me about the world I was put into?”

“Who do you think I am? Of course I can!”

A minute went by.

“Well, are you going to tell me?”

“Duh! I just need to figure out where to start.”

Another minute went by before he started again.

“It is said that hundreds and hundreds of years ago, maybe even thousands, spirits of extreme light and dark were in the world. The darkness took over, and light had to leech out all of the purity to stop the darkness from spreading further. A never-ending war began, light and dark constantly killing and battling. Something had to be done, so a powerful Dryad sealed the spirits. She created a monster, one that held the spirits within it. But not all of the death had left the world, a small seed sprouted and hatched, spreading through the world slowly, but surely. Hundreds of years passed, and the spreading death continued to eat away at the world. It had sprouted out in new places, killing whatever it touched there, too. But a hero came, one who was said to be able to kill the doom that had cursed the world's existence. The hero rose up, and slew many beasts. Finally, he killed the beast that held the spirits of light and dark within it. They were released upon the world, and the extreme light came upon the world, turning the purity into light. But the darkness was stronger than ever. It ravaged the planet fiercely. But the hero managed to contain both light and dark after slaying the watchers of the sky. The hero destroyed the keeper of the jungle, then the false idol of the temple. Then, finally the hero met his demise at the doom which had terrorized the world up until that point. But his body was never found by the sole surviver, the daughter of the powerful Dryad. She speculated that maybe… just maybe, the hero had become the doom's most powerful worshiper. The Dryad had to seal the light and dark once more, just as her mother did, into a monster. A different one, though. She made a keeper of the underworld. Then she devoted the rest of her days to teaching her only daughter everything she knew, then wrote down all her knowledge into books. The books were sealed in a chest so that they wouldn't be damaged by the rain and snow. Her daughter was said to be hiding in the jungle, a place where she could decipher what her mother had told her. Three hundred years past. A new human came to the world, with no recollection of who she was, where she was, or how she got there.”

There was a moment of silence where she had to just comprehend what she had just heard.

“So I'm the one that you just mentioned?”

“Yes. Now, it's very late. We should get some rest so we can discuss this more tomorrow. You have a lot to do.”


“Right.”

She hadn't realized how late it was. The story had taken a long time to tell. They went to separate corners of the house and curled up to keep warm. It wasn't comfortable, but it would have to do.


“Yo! Wake up! You're gunna sleep the day away, stupid!”

She had woken up to being poked by the end of the Guides bow.

“Hey! Stop it! I was going to get up eventually!”

“Yeah, that wasn't soon enough. It's, like, 8 am! You've slept through four hours of the day!”

She got up, grumbling. Why did he have to be such a jerk? He seemed to be nice last night, when he was telling the story of the world. He almost had seemed… sad… She shook her head to get the image out of her head.

“Hey, are we going to do stuff or not?” Demanded Maxwell.

“Of course we are! But, in case you had forgotten, I just woke up!”

“I didn't forget, but you have to be prepared for anything to happen at any time in this place!”

“Oh. Well, that makes sense.”

The rest of the day was devoted to exploring. She headed off into the forest, exploring every crevice and cave. There were half-buried chests under overhangs, filled with things like bags of herbs, potions, and even some weapons like shurikens, blowpipes, spears, and, once or twice, a wand. She decided to stick with some shurikens, a blowpipe and a spear. There were also pots scattered around containing things like torches, ropes and coins, which Maxwell said could be traded for items that some other denizens of the past towns sold. She even found a book that told the reader how to turn vines into a special type of rope. It was practically worthless, though, so she threw it out. It was the only logical thing to do.

At noon, she found something horrific. The air was silent. It was strangely hot and humid. The air was so damp that her clothes were almost soaked with sweat. A stench of rotten meat meat grew stronger as she continued to walk. A strange reddish fog crept in, and the grass grew more and more red with ever step. Her foot landed on wet, sticky ground. A trail of blood showed her to a bunny… but it was not natural… it was red, maimed, missing it's jaw… it had no skin, it's eyes were yellow, and instead of two eyes it had four. She screamed and leaped backward, then tripped on a rock. Something moved it the fog, which was so thick now that she could hardly see ten feet in front of her. Once again, she saw something moving in the red fog. She quickly got up and readied her spear. This was going to be bad. A shiver went down her spine. Next thing she knew, something bite her so fiercely that it almost went straight through her arm. She let out a blood-curdling scream, then whipped around and saw a huge, bloody spider retracting, preparing to strike again. She was fast to act, though, and stabbed it right through the front of the face. She felt, with disgust, the spear plunge right through it's soft skull and drag down some of the spine. It gave a couple of eerie twitches, then stopped moving. She pulled back the spear, and saw the blood covering was crimson, with yellow pus mixed in. The spear had plunged in so deep that it left of five inches of the spear clean. That had to be it. There couldn't be any more giant spiders or maimed bunnies, right? Looking down at the spider, she realized just how big the spider was. It was four feet long, three feet wide and two feet tall. Just then she looked at her right arm, the one that had been bitten, and saw how bad it was. Her flesh and been snipped open, showing her muscle. She could see two holes in the muscle where the spider had plunged it's legs. Around the wound was covered in pus-filled boils. She made a note to not let any monster she found in this place touch her, not even the adorable skinless mutated and amputated bunnies. Then she realized something, she could use one of the potions she found, so she rummaged through the bag that the Guide had given her to hold stuff in. It was pretty big, but very light. It was where she had been keeping her shurikens and her blowgun. It had lots of different pockets. She remembered the pocket that she put the potions in, and grabbed one of the small jars, then chugged it. It restored some of her strength, the boils


around her wound had gotten significantly smaller, and her muscle was healing itself. It only lasted about fifteen seconds, though. Her arm was significantly more useful now, a very good thing indeed. It was stupid of her to stay in that place as long as she had. She continued to walk through the disgusting land for about five minutes before another attack. This time, she was even less prepared. There was a rustling behind her, apparently from a patch of bloody thorns that she had just gone around. The fog was still thick. She turned around, shuriken in hand, and saw a horrendous beast emerge from the fog. It almost looked human, it was standing upright, it had hair and eyes, but it wasn't human… not one bit. The hair was matted to it's ugly head, it was completely filled with dried and caked blood. It's eyes were disturbingly large, about a big as her fist, they had no pupils and they were red with a whitish tint. What really got her, though, was it's mouth. The mouth extended all the way to it's stomach, which was a horrendous sight as it was eight feet tall. The mouth was a third of it's size. It had awful, long, thick meaty legs. The monster stood still a moment, giving her time to see it's intestines dangling out from it's awful, deformed ribs. It's jaw seemed to be a part of it's chest, though she could see that it could still be moved, and it's teeth were truly horrible. They were bent and curved, going every-which-way. It's tongue,which was as long as the mouth, had spikes on it. She had stalled to long, and it lunged for her, trying to pull her in towards it's mouth. She took her shuriken and threw it at it's guts, then stabbed it's arm. It made an awful, low guttural growling noise. She stumbled backwards, only to be pushed forward again by some sort of flying creature. Distracted, she looked over her shoulder. It was a flying creature, one with no wings. It appeared to swim through the air, with nothing holding it up. It had no eyes or legs or anything like that, just a circular hole for a mouth that had teeth lining it. There were two pincers on the sides of it's mouth. They appeared to hold it's victim still while it sucked it's blood. There were things that resembled fins on it's side, and a fish-like tail on it's end. She whipped back around when she felt a hand grab her arm. She had to act quickly, so she grabbed a shuriken from her bag and cut through all of it's fingers with it, then stabbed it through it's eye. The spear pierced through it's head. She pulled it back, the monster fell to the ground. Then she turned around to face the other mutated beast. She pulled another shuriken from her bag as it plunged towards her. She threw it with deadly accuracy into it's mouth. The creatures muscles pulled the shuriken back into it's body, tearing it up from the inside. It let out a loud shrill screech and fell to the ground with a sickening thump. Afraid it would attract more monsters, she worked her way back through the land filled with crimson and got to the purity. It was such a relief when she got to the green grass and left the red fog behind. But the sun was setting, and she wasn't anywhere near the house she built. Getting a little scared, she started to run through the forest. It was getting darker by the second, and she still wasn't near the house. It was nearly night. She had heard the Guide tell her of what horrible creatures lurk in the dark. Eyes the size of your head that are possessed by demons, making them fly and lunge themselves at exposed skin. Zombies that use their own arms as a club to beat you down. A shiver ran down her spine. The sun had set. Something hit her spine. It was a soft, squishy feeling. She looked up to see an eye. Maxwell hadn't been kidding. The eye lunged at her right arm, the one that had been hurt. She had had the time to drink another potion before, so her arm was completely healed except for a very large and tender bruise. Of course the eye had to hit that spot. They must detect weak flesh and try to break into it. The skin ripped open and blood started to trickle out. Didn't hurt too much, it was just a constant sting. The eye should be easy to take out. She stabbed it through the pupil when it lunged at her again. It got impaled on the spear. She shook it off. It hit the ground with a a soft plump, then grass started to grow over it. She had seen this happen to other creatures, she guessed it was the way the world took back what was rightfully in it's possession. It always left behind something, though. Like copper or silver coins. This time it left something else, though. A lens. She picked it up and plopped it in her bag, along with the coins it left. Picking up a torch from her bag and lighting it, she continued on through the forest, trying to make it back to the house before she got killed by zombies.

She heard a growling noise behind her, but it wasn't deep and guttural like the monster in the land of


crimson. It sounded dead, though. She ran ahead as quickly as she could without her torch going out. Careful, but not careful enough, and scared out of her wits, she managed to came face-to-face with a zombie, holding one of it's arms like a club. She backed up quickly, and dodged just as the zombie swung it's arm-club at her. She grabbed her shurikens and began throwing them at the zombie. They weren't too effective, but they were doing something. The zombie dropped it's arm and groped for her with it's one remaining arm. Evidently, it couldn't see well at all. She used this to her advantage by grabbing her blowgun and shooting seeds at it, while the zombie blundered around, guided only by where the seed was coming from. But it was getting angry, so it started to move faster. It almost got her a few times. Afraid of getting caught by more zombies, she switched to her spear and stabbed it's throat. It had been sufficiently weakened by her other attacks, so the head fell right off. She continued walking through the woods with her torch. Soon she saw a faint light in the distance. Either she was going crazy or her house was just up ahead. The light got brighter. It must be the house. Within a minute, she was at the door. She reached for the handle and turned it, but Maxwell had obviously barricaded it.

“Open the door, idiot!” She yelled.

There was a rustling and a few thumps, then the door opened.

“Where were you?! If you had died, I would have starved and faced countless nights alone and unprotected for nothing! The Dryad would have used practically all her power to seal in the Ancient Spirits for nothing!”

“Woah, slow down jerk! You have some explaining to do.”

“Fine! Sit down, dumb-dumb, and I'll explain away.”

They sat down across from each other at the workbench. Both of them were rather disgruntled.

“Can you explain exactly what that awful, bloody place is?”

“Yes. Crimson. Darkness. Evil. Call it what you want, it is a place that is pure evil, concentrated to the nth power. The place that Dryads have fought against since the world was cursed with it. It won't go away. It curses and kills and mutates and maims everything that dares touch it's blood-stained soil. The monsters in it are pure evil, wanting nothing more than to kill and spread they're death throughout the world. It is the darkness, the Ancient Spirit of Darkness.”

“But I thought you said that the Dryad had sealed away the Ancient Spirits in the monster, the Keeper Of The Underworld?”

“Yes. But, some of it escaped. And there had to be a way to awaken the monster… and that way is me. The Dryad took me and put a small amount of the Spirit Of Darkness into my soul. She had to, for the beast to be able to be awoken. The darkness is still in the world because of me.”

Longer or shorter chapters?
 
It's good all right. Really good.
Just try to put the story in spoilers so people on mobile/with small browsers don't have to scroll down so far.
I look forward to seeing more.
 
It's good all right. Really good.
Just try to put the story in spoilers so people on mobile/with small browsers don't have to scroll down so far.
I look forward to seeing more.
Thanks for mentioning that! I'll keep that in mind when I post chapter two ;)
That's good to hear ^.^
 
I'm on a bit of a pixel art kick, so it may be a week or more until I upload the second chapter. Until then, you can look at the flood of pixels in my art thread. Have an amazing week!
 
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Okay, so chapter two is being written more slowly than I expected. Since I opened requests a couple days ago, I have gotten six! I had no idea that my art was actually good and that people wanted me to draw things that much. Thanks so much for that! But the problem is that they have all been traditional requests, and traditional takes awhile. Also, I don't want to make people wait for too long to get their requested drawing finished. Plus, one of the requests is a four page long comic and I only have three pages left in my sketch book and I have three requests to do and I need to make a gift for a friend and I still have some original traditional work, I need to make another ref sheet for my OC, I need to do pixels for the Thrower Revamp suggestion.... ugh, it's all so crowded!
Anywho, long story short, I have a lot to do and draw and I still need some free time and need to learn stuff, so chapter two and maybe three will take a little longer.
Sorry for the delay, and I hope you enjoy all the art that I'll be throwing at your faces!
Have a great Wednesday.
 
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Hey, everyone! It's been awhile since I updated this and I would like you all to know that the second chapter is on it's way! This one is looking to be a little longer than the last one. If you want to know what the delay was all about, then let me tell you; I opened requests. I immediately got two requests on DA and then I just kept on getting more and more! It takes time to do traditional and it tends to drain me, so I wasn't able to write much. But that will no longer be a problem! I'm keeping requests open, but I have a limit to how many requests I get a a time so there'll be less chaos ;)
That's all, have an amazing day! :D
 
Sorry, but I have some badish news, my headphones broke. Without music, I don't feel inspired to write. Simple as that. But, I ordered a new pair that should last for awhile. They'll be here soon. That's all for that, now onto other stuff!!
Chapter two is looking to be long. It may take a little while to finish it. Currently I have 4,600 words in the chapter, and I don't see an end anywhere in sight. So, I have a question to ask. What would you like to see in the upcoming chapters? More lore, mining, exploration, crafting, Maxwell... Whatever! I'll make a poll, but if you want something that's not listed in the poll reply to this update.
Thanks for reading!
 
I thought that there wasn't an end in sight, then I found a good cliffhanger!
What?” I didn't believe him. For someone so like him, it couldn't be him.

“You heard me. The Dryad sealed a small portion of the Ancient Spirit Of Darkness in me. It was the only way to be able to awaken the beast. That means I must be killed eventually.”

“No. That's not true. I know it's not. There must be another way, right?”

“No, there isn't. It's the only way.”

There was stunned silence. Although he was a jerk, she liked Maxwell. He was steadfast. Stalwart.

“You don't have a name yet, do you?”

She hadn't thought of that before.

“No, I don't.”

The Guide examined her for a moment. She had purple hair, a red tank-top, gray pants and black shoes. The hair was long. It covered her shoulders and went down to her waist. She had deep yet bright brown eyes that shone with intelligence and slightly darker skin. She was a tall, thin build. Her arms were strong and wiry, and her fingers were long and elegant like her legs.

“How about Nia?” He said.

“That sounds good.”

Silence.

“Could you explain the values of different coins?” Nia asked.

“Of course. One silver coin is worth one hundred copper coins, one gold coin is worth one hundred silver coins and one platinum coin is worth one hundred gold coins. The more valuable the product, the more copper, silver, gold or platinum it costs.”

“Wow, the platinum coin sounds really hard to get. What even would you use it for?”

“Some things are very valuable.”

Then she heard something. She looked at the door, and saw it was open. A zombie was barging into the house, that was what the noise was.

What?!”

She charged at the zombie with her spear. She aimed for it's neck but missed and hit it's shoulder instead. Maxwell shot his wooden bow at it and managed to hit it's head. Didn't do much, but the zombie was weakened. Using the technique she had with the Crimson monster, she grabbed a shuriken from her bag and sliced it throat, then plunged the spear into the further torn flesh, critically damaging it and making it stumbled backwards. Maxwell shot a perfectly aimed arrow at it's open wound. With one last stab from the spear, the zombie was dead. It fell onto the grass and the ground began pulling it back into it. She collected the coins and arrows it left.

“How, exactly, did it get in?” she demanded, slamming the door and turning to Maxwell.

“I may or may not have forgotten to close the door.”

What?!? Idiot! Why did you leave it open?! We could've gotten killed!”

“I know that! I'm just not used to having doors!”

“That's no excuse! And it had better not happen again!”

“Fine! Whatever! I don't need to listen to you!”

Awkward pause. They angrily stared at each other, which was becoming rather common in the past two days.

“What are the names of the monsters in the Crimson?”

“The spiders are Blood Crawlers. They give nasty bites. The pus can be fatal if not dealt with. The zombie-like creatures with giant mouths are Face Monsters. They'll grind you up if you're not careful. The flying things are Crimeras. They knock you into other creatures, hold you still while other creatures and themselves try to eat you. They can sneak up on you really easily.”


“Thanks for telling me the names, but I already knew what they do. I ventured into the Crimson earlier. That's how I got caught in the dark. I got bitten by a Blood Crawler, almost ground up by a Face Monster and knocked around by a Crimera.”
“How did you get out of there alive?”

“I don't know. Killed them all. Drank a potion that healed my bite.” She lifted up her right arm, which was bloody and bruised.

The Guide whispered something inaudible.

“Are you impressed for once?”

“Yes. Yes I am.”

That was unusual. Usually he's really salty.

“I think we should go to bed,” Maxwell said.

“Yeah. Probably.”


The next day was foggy and rainy. Nia didn't like it one bit, she loved warmth. Plus, Maxwell woke her up at dawn, 4:30 am.

“Hey, you should go mining. You can find amazing things deep underground!”

“Sure, anything to get out of the rain. Just one question, how do I mine?”

“Use your pickax, dummy. You'll know how the moment you start digging, trust me. There are caves and caverns, so you don't have to worry about wading through dirt and mud. Keep a look out for ores and abandoned mining houses. They have good loot in them. Don't forget to smash any pot you can find. Also, there are skeletons that sometimes carry hooks which you can use for grappling hooks. You can make grappling hooks with gems, too, so keep and eye out for them also. Watch out for traps. Don't go too deep. When you see lava, go up and explore a new place.”

“Okay, nerd. I'm going now.”

Digging in the rain proved to be excessively hard. The ground was starting to get soaked and the grass was wet and tough. The rain got harder, and fish that flew through the air began annoying her. But finally, she managed to get a tunnel going. The sound of rain and thunder grew muffled and the dirt began to get dryer. Soon, she was digging at stone with her weak pickax, but the Guide was right, she could dig easily, yet slowly. She knew what she needed to do.

After an hour of digging the earth completely crumbled underneath Nia's feet. She fell with a thump onto wood. She coughed. Dust filled the air. It was so dark that she could hardly see, even with her good vision. Nia reached into her dirty bag and grabbed a torch, then lit it. The torch showed that she was in a cave, standing atop a small mining shack. She leaped off of the roof, planning to find the door. It was a wooden door, matching the rest of the shack. It was difficult to open. When she walked in, she was greeted by something brushing her head. She panicked and brushed her head off, only to find out that it was just a bunch of cobwebs. They were all over the roof and corners. She used her ax to get them down, then collected them. The would be useful later on. She looked around and saw a rough statue of a skeleton, a pressure plate, an old rotten chest and… bingo! A golden chest. It wasn't greed that brought her to the chest, it was the urge to explore. There was a mysterious mirror, shurikens, coins, boots with wings on them, iron bars, ropes, and bombs. She looted all of it, and equipped the boots and spikes. There were stairs, but she didn't go down them. They looked creepy and unstable.

She left the shack, thoroughly satisfied with her finds.

With a torch in her hand, she explored the cave. She found a small vein of iron ore. It wasn't a very yielding area, but it was the first cave she had explored. She guessed that if she went deeper down, she'd find better loot. There was a small passageway, undoubtedly left by a past denizen. It was small and slightly collapsed, so she dug it out. The copper pickax was very dull. She could hardly dig out stone with it. But it was all worth it. Two hours later, she found a cave that was much larger. It had ore, cobwebs, bats, and some kind of oddly shaped crystal that she couldn't clearly make out. She focused on the bats first. There were only three, but they were very annoying. It took two hits from her spear to knock one of them out, but she preferred to take them out from a distance so she used her blowgun and shurikens when she ran out of seeds. They were taken out in no time. Now, on to the mining. There was iron, which took forever to mine, silver and gold. She gave up on the silver and gold soon after she had started to mine them, the pickax would break if she stressed it too much. There were several veins of iron, and soon her bag was filled with blood-red roots, roots of blinking flowers, stone and iron. Finally, she checked out the corner of the cave that held the mysterious crystal. It was a rather odd crystal. It was shaped like a heart. It was old and cracked, but shone proudly in the light of her torch. Nia set her torch down and picked the crystal up. It crumbled into dust. The dust didn't fall everywhere, but stayed in her hands. In was a beautiful red, like dried, ground up raspberries and strawberries. She felt as though it was important, so she carefully poured the dust into a pocket of her bag that didn't hold anything.

There was a squeak somewhere to her right. Then she heard fluttering. 'Darn bats…' There was indeed a bat, eating a mouse. 'strange, I thought that bats were insectivores.' She took a shuriken and threw it at the bats head. It died. She must've hit a weak point. Suddenly she realized how tired and achy she was. Deciding it would be best to call quits for now, she picked up her pickax and made he way to the tunnel she had come out of. She met a problem, though. Her bag was really full, like, really full. She couldn't get through the tunnel because her bag was so full. Either she'd have to dump something or make the tunnel wider. 'Aha! I'll do both! Don't try to tell me what to do, random writer! I have more of a life than you.' Pfft, and she thought that Maxwell was a jerk.

Nia dumped the stone and made the tunnel wider, this way she could go back home, dump some of her stuff of and then go back and get the stone. She had a plan for it.

Widening the tunnel was very hard with a dull pickax. She also didn't want it to cave in, so that was a downside. It took about an hour to widen the tunnel. There were slabs of stone everywhere that could be a serious threat to life. At least she was smart enough to put supports up. She used some of the stone and made unstable supports for the tunnel, which was now six feet wide. It was a hard climb, as the tunnel sloped upward. She put stairs into the tunnel, which took another half hour. It would've taken fifteen minutes if she had a better pickax, of course. The stairway was worth it and she was in the first cave soon after she made them. But there was still one more problem; she couldn't get up the hole she had dug. Also, it appeared to be getting dark outside. She had spent more time underground than she had intended, but it was really fun to mine.

The rain was still pouring down outside, and it was cold in the cave. She tied together her rope to make coils of it. It took awhile, and eventually she had sixty feet of coiled up rope. She looked up the hole that led to the surface. The rope probably would reach the top. She grabbed one end and threw it as hard as she could. Luckily, it ended up getting caught on a rock at the surface. The rest of the rope fell down a foot above the ground. Some rain fell on her face. She took hold of the rope and began climbing. It was very hard climbing it since it went straight up. She'd have to make some kind of harness to use while climbing rope later on. Then she remembered the spikes she had on her feet. As the rope was right next to dirt and stone, she would be able to dig the spikes into the wall and use the rope to hoist herself higher. She hung thirty feet above the ground and let her legs go limp so she was only holding on by her hands onto an old rope that might break. Her heart almost stopped when she saw the rope quickly fraying and tearing. She shoved her spikes into the wall and crammed her fingers into rocky dirt. She felt parts of her fingers tear when they scraped against stone and felt pebbles embed themselves into the open wounds. The rope tore off and fell… fell… fell down into the cave. If she had stalled a second longer, she would've fell down with it and hit the cold, hard stone. The rock was getting slippery with rain. She still had thirty feet to climb, and all she had was her hands and shoe spikes. Pulling a hand out of the rock was painful, but she couldn't stay there all night. She pulled a hand out, then lifted one foot and stuck it into another crevice and did the same with her right hand and foot. It was a slow, painful process, but after an hour she was at the top. Her hands were bloody, her feet were sore and every muscle in her body screamed with pain. There was the faint flickering of the torch in her house in the distance. There was a growl somewhere behind her…. 'no… not now…' she tried to run, but with every step she grew weaker. It was still raining so her clothes were soaked and heavy. Her muscles weren't obeying her brain… she wasn't able to move properly. Her joints were stiff with the cold… she couldn't do it. The house was only ten feet away… so close… but she just couldn't. The zombie sounded another growl, right behind her. A rotten hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her towards it. She couldn't fight, she was too weak. Teeth sank into her shoulder blade, she cried out… someone would hear her. They had to. Everything was getting dim and blurry. A loud sound came from the house, and she briefly saw Maxwell with his bow standing in the doorway. Then she collapsed from pain and exhaustion.


Nia woke up hours later. It was light, and she had cloth bandages on her back. She was laying on her stomach. Every muscle in her body ached… The ground she was laying on was uncomfortable. Of course, it was wood. She opened her eyes and blinked to focus them. She could feel that part of the back of her shirt was ripped open at the top, that was where the bandages were. Her back felt fine now, just extremely sore, more sore than the rest. She must've been given a healing potion at some time. She moved a bit and tried to get up. It was a good day out, she could tell. There were birds singing and leaves rustling. She managed a sitting position. Sitting in the sun would help for sure. Looking around the house, she saw that Maxwell wasn't there… he must've been doing weird Guide things outside.

The door creaked open, and Nia jumped up.

“Relax, it's just me. I'm glad you're awake, it's getting late. You've wasted valuable time.”

“Well thanks for the consideration. I totally just got bitten by a zombie to sleep in and spite you, because that's a normal thing to do.”

“You should be more grateful, I did kill that zombie and save your life.”

“I could've lived without you!”

“Right. An open, swelling, bleeding infected wound created by a murderous zombie is nothing to worry about. It probably just wanted a small nibble of your entrails, then it would've left you alone.”

“I guess you're right. But did you have to ruin my shirt?”

“You can fix it if you use the cobwebs you collected and turn then into cloth. You'll need a loom, though.”

“How do I get a loom?”

“I'll leave that for you to figure out. I'm going for a walk, but I'm not going to be stupid and wander into the Crimson or go on dangerous mining expeditions.”

With that, Maxwell strutted out of the house with an air of arrogance.

'Great, now I have to figure out how to craft a ton of things by myself just to fix my shirt.'

First, she decided to sit outside in the sun and let her muscles relax. The warmth felt great on her skin, and the grass was slightly damp and warm from yesterdays rain. The squirrels and bunnies were friendly and adorably fluffy, the birds were shy and elegant and they flew across the sky. Butterflies flitted about while worms crawled along the ground and grasshoppers nibbled on leaves and grass. Her muscles relaxed. The sun was really healing in this world… she let out a sigh of contentment and petted a nearby bunny. It was so soft… so cute. It hopped towards her, then hopped on her. It must've been all fluff as it was light as a feather. So warm. So happy. The air smelled fresher than ever before. It was completely untainted. Warm and damp, filled with flowers and the twittering of birds.

Nia sat there for over forty minutes, soaking up the sun and cuddling squirrels and rabbits. She felt rejuvenated. Her muscles weren't sore and instead felt filled with strength. What a wonderful feeling. It was time to go down to the mine and get stone after she dumped out her bag, though. A though struck her… she could take that chest! One problem, though… the rope. 'no problem! I'll make rope with cobweb! Because it's a good idea and it's totally safe.' Uh-huh, Nia… keep on thinking that.
The cobweb rope proved to be very strong, and all she had to do was weave together the webs tightly. Making it worked best at the crafting table she had made. 'Told ya so!'

Nia tied the beginning of the rope on a tree and fed it down the mine shaft. She had to get the stone and the chest. It was necessary. The rope was sturdy. She was good at making stuff. Her heart beat a little faster as she climbed down. She couldn't help but remember last night's disaster. She reached the bottom safe and sound fortunately. She grabbed a torch and lit it, the cave was dark. Hopping down and making her way to the door of the shack was easy, though. There weren't any cobwebs, thankfully. The chest was heavy, even without stuff in it. That was a real problem as she wouldn't be able to climb the rope without her hands. But the mirror… that might be something she could use. It was still in her bag. Rearranging herself so she could grab it without letting go of the chest was hard, but not impossible. Finally managing to get it in an awkward pose, she gazed into it… it showed the place that she first woke up in. Suddenly the cold cave air vanished with an odd feeling. Now she was in the exact spot she had woken up in three days ago. Huh. That mirror would be useful for getting out of bad situations.

Nia's house was in sight, so it wouldn't be too hard to drag the chest over there. She set the chest down and stuck the mirror in her bag. It was much easier to carry it than she thought. All she had to do was grip it right. It was a short walk to the house, only about two minutes. Soon she was back gathering all the loose stone that she had left behind the previous day. It was more than she thought, but that was perfect. Soon she was gazing into the mirror with a bag full of stone. That was her third trip back. I giant pile of it looked ugly outside the house so she build a nice shed for it and also put the chest in there. Nina guessed that she had gathered about 500 square feet of stone. It was no problem storing it though. Going back and forth was easy. Those boots made her run fast.

'hahaha, now I can get to crafting! My evil plan is unfolding!' Oh don't be so dramatic, Nia. 'shut up'

She had found nearly enough iron bars in that chest to make an anvil. It would take several since she needed ample space to make armors, weapons and other tools. The shed was quite nice, and near to the house and mine. Not even a minute away. So, after unloading all the stone except for enough to craft something, she headed back to the house. By now it was getting darker. It must've been around five or six. Orange was starting to splash over the land but it was still warm and bright out. The sun would set in about three hours, she guessed.

Nia was now back at the house. Maxwell was back.

“Oh hi. Back from your stroll, I see. Would you mind staying out of my hair while I work?” Nina asked.

“Jeez, rude much? Can't a guy sort through your junk in peace?”

Sure enough, there were roots and rocks and ore on the workbench.

“Hey! Get out of my stuff!”

“I was just seeing what you collected. Now I can tell you what you can make. With these Blinkroots you can make a wide array of useful potions, including one that reduces the amount of damage you take. And with this iron you can make bars and a potion that increases your armors defense. With that bloodroot you can make red dye, and with those iron bars you can make an iron anvil. You'll need two more, though.”

“I already figured most of that out! But how do you create those potions?”

“For the Endurance, the one that decreases the damage you take, you need Armored Cavefish, Blinkroot and bottled water and a bottle or another Alchemy station.”

“Thanks. Now don't talk to me while I make stuff, alright?”

“I wasn't going to. I was going to read a book and go to sleep. You being around here has taken it's toll on my sleep schedule.”

Nia gathered her things and got to work at the workbench. First she smoothed out the stone. It took a lot of stone since it all needed to be smooth. It was worth it. After thirty minute's work she had a sufficient amount a smooth stone, ready to be made into a stone forge. The only problem was how to get the stone to stick together. 'Yes, that's it! Clay and cobwebs!' Showoff.

Thankfully, Maxwell had been quite the whole time. He was entirely immersed in his book. So, in the complete silence she slathered sticky clay and cobwebs on the stone, making it stick together. The furnace was soon done and the clay was drying. By now the sun had started to really set and the floor was covered in clay, cobwebs and stone dust. She sneezed.

There really wasn't anything to do while she waited for the clay to dry, so Nia just sat around, cleaned up the house and messed with some more crafting. She found out how to make pots. They would be useful for growing herbs. Maxwell was so caught up in his books that he didn't notice her take one.

This book was very interesting aside from the elegant cover and beautiful handwriting, the contents held everything you needed to know about crafting. This one appeared to be part of a series. The volume was focused on brewing potions.

Regeneration potion; take one dried, ground mushroom and soak in a bottle of water for approx. one hour, then add dust of Daybloom. Stir clockwise twice with living wood. Let soak for fifteen minutes and pour into small vile. Should be a lush red. Effect: Heal rapidly.


Ironskin potion: one chopped blinkroot, liquid of one iron nugget. Pour both into a bottle of water. Stir rapidly with living wood ten time clockwise. Pour into small vile. Should be yellow. Effect: Increased efficiency of armor.



Swiftness potion: powder of one dried blinkroot mixed with pulp of cacti. Stir counter-clockwise until mixed. Let soak for one hour, then pour into small vile. Should be green. Effect: Walk much faster.”

It was all so fascinating! All the ingredients and different effects… these would be so fun to make! It sounded like the things would be fairly difficult to collect, but once she got some seeds and a garden going, it would be fine. It took awhile to read the ingredient lists since the writing was getting pretty faded. Plus, she wanted to memorize everything. Time flew by as she checked out the other books. By now Maxwell was asleep with his face planted in the book he had been reading, the sun had set and the clay finished drying. All was well, and outside the zombies were open. She glanced at the door to make sure Maxwell hadn't left it open. It was safely closed. Books were strewn over the floor. Those were soon picked up.

Nia made herself comfortable in the corner and snoozed off. This would be her first time getting a good night's rest in awhile. Off to sleep… the sweet velvety darkness clothed her. It was so warm… But her sleep was disturbed by dreams. She dreamed of exploring underground. She went deeper and deeper underground, unable to control her hunger to explore. There were pools of lava. As she went deeper the pools got bigger and more frequent, but there was too much loot. She couldn't leave all of this to rot. Something was wrong, though. Terribly wrong… 'no… I'm not prepared. I can't go any further! Maxwell said I shouldn't. He said that his life depended on it!' But a voice called her down. It pulled her deeper. She moved against her will. Stone turned into ash. It got so hot it was almost unbearable, but she kept going. The ground gave out beneath her feet and she fell… fell… a pool of lava was right under her! 'Nooo! Not now! I can't die!' she was about to touch the lava… this was it…

“Nia! Nia! Wake up! Are you ok!”

Nia was in a cold sweat, her heart was beating and her hands were trembling. There were hands on her shoulders. Everything was shaking… blurry… she could hear a distorted voice.

“Nia! Nia, stay with me!”

Everything went black.


Everything was blurry. She was being shaken. Her head hurt… the dream flashed back into her mind. She yelled and sat bolt straight. Her breathing was fast. She was sweating. Her heart beat quickly.

“Nia! Finally!”

“M-Maxwell? What happened?”

“I was relying on you to tell me that. You randomly started screaming in the middle of the night, like you were dying. I ran over to you and you were sweating and breathing really quickly. Your eyes were really wide and frightened. You mumbled something about 'It' coming after you. I have no idea what you meant, though.”

“I-I… oh…. Um, it was nothing.”

“Nothing?! You call that nothing?! It looked like you were having a seizure! Like a demon was possessing you!”

“I know… but let's just leave it, okay?! I have work to do.”

Maxwell didn't say anything further, but he looked really worried.

Nia was quiet the entire day. Her thoughts were troubled by that horrible voice that had called her down into the depths. She had to get stronger to block out that voice because it was obvious that it would show up again… but in the flesh.
So, what do you think? Oh yeah, don't forget to answer my poll!
 
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It has been awhile since I've done an update! The third chapter is taking awhile. Mainly because I haven't worked on it in weeks. But, I can fix this! Last night I got the (un)original idea of stockpiling chapters then posting them regularly. This way it will be easier for everyone. Also, I want to spend 30 minutes writing everyday. So I can get the chapters stock-piled quickly and then get a chapter out every week! sound good? I'll put a poll up. Polls are fun.
Have a super-duper amazing day! :D
EDIT: Hmm.. The poll isn't giving me the option of changing the question or answers. :P
 
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