The Happenings of Her
She sat upon her bed and opened her journal reading over it and her past month in this new realm. Her mind rambled over how she had come to be here in this moment. The journal she held was made from her own reed garden. It's bindings made from some of the first leather she had found and kept for something special. Her pencil was made from the graphite from the mine her makeshift base was a part of. She also made pictures in it with the few dyes she made from the few flowers she found growing on the surface of her world.
She seemed to write a lot lately. She had much to say, wanting to document this world and its days somehow. It was the only thing that seemed to keep her from madness. If there really was such a thing as madness; the sanity of insanity. A catch-22 of sorts. Thinking over her first day was not only frightening, but also somehow relaxing. She knew she made it past that moment because of where she is now.
She began reading and remembering her first day in this new realm:
On her first day, she had woken up in a haze amidst a carpet of lush grass. She kept her eyes closed but she could feel the warmth of the day and the cool chill the shadows of what could be called trees. Off in the distance she could hear the trickle of a brook and a waterfall. Fauna also could be heard. Cows moo'ing, chewing there cud. The ruffles of chicken feathers and the ruffling of hogs, one sounded very close in-fact.
When she opened her eyes, she was right. The pig was only about 3 feet from where she was laying. She watched it, it was normal enough. Pink, with dry patches of dirt on its skin. The pig turned and looked at her like it was thinking. But she knew its head was mostly empty with only trivial thoughts. It scuffled towards her and sniffed her face. Wet nose slobbering all over her and she stood up in a huff.
"Oh you, scoot! Shoo now! Off you go!" The pig just stared at her with an empty head as she had waved her arms to startle it to move. "SCOOT!" She shouted, reverberating off the trees, scaring the chickens in the distance. Yet the pig just stood there. So she gave up and wiped her face of his (for she noticed it was a male pig) snot. Looking up again she took in her surroundings. To her left was a large tall cliff-face, as well as the brook and waterfall she heard earlier. They were as blue as something could get besides the sky she though. Looking around her, she noticed she was in an outcropping of trees, the trunks were dark rustic brown and the leaves were a bright green. As she breathed in, the smell of a forest came to her nose and she relaxed. She wasn't sure where she was but it was peaceful for now.
Her eyes squinted up at the sky and the sun was inching across its clean, cloudless slate. If her ideas were correct, it would be night soon. It may be peaceful during the day, but who knows what this world may hold during its dark hours. So she set to work.
Just when the sun was setting, she had fitted the door to her shack in the cliff wall. She opened the door and gently tucked a torch in its holder she had fitted earlier. She turned, locking the door behind her with a latch. She sat on a rock that she had left jutting from the wall and opened the small chest she had put together earlier. She had some wooden tools and ones made of the stone that used to be where shes in now. She also had many sticks and wood from her little bit of harvesting she had done. She took out an armful of leaves she had piled in the chest and stood up to spread them over where she sat. The bench was hard and cold, but some heat emitted from the two torches around it. The leaves would serve as something to cushion her aching bones from the long days work.Just digging this hovel out of the cliff-face was enough work for ten men, let alone just herself.
She laid down again, and examined her handy-work. The walls had tool etchings all over them; for she had struggled using the tools she made. One day, this will be a nicer hovel. But for now it was only a shelter for her... She turned her head to clicks coming from the corner. The pig was there, he wouldn't leave her alone all day. So, a shelter for her and him. She needed a name for him, but she was to tired to think of one just now. Just so tired. The pig in the corner was just turning around to get comfortable again. As she contented in watching him. She had fallen asleep.
She closed her journal and looked around her room now. She wasn't in the same space anymore. But her old hovel is now as comfortable as this. A lot has changed since then, and she has a lot more luxuries then she used to. She had hardened in time. Being able to do more everyday. Looking outside an open hole to the outside world, she saw Maxwell by her boat dock. Playing with a red-capped mushroom and she couldn't help but laugh. That stupid pig.
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This next day she decided was for mining, if she was lucky she would find more mushrooms for Maxwell and maybe some more coal for the torches she was going to need later on. She got up from bed and adorned her leather armor she had made earlier in the week then slid her sword into her belt along with several stone picks and a single iron one that she only used for only detailed work. Packing a few torches from her supply room as well as a few loaves of bread she headed to her mineshaft with Maxwell at her heels.
"Oh.. No Maxwell not today buddy." She said and he snorted in response but eventually turned and went out the door she made just for him to come and go as he pleased. Walking through the door she locked it behind her and started down the ladder into her mine.
It was a long way down, she ended up hitting lava in this mine which she was rather proud of. So much so that she made a Lava-fall out front using some of what she was able to carry up from her mine. As she went deeper down she could hear the emptiness of the downward tunnel, her feet clunking down the wooden rungs, pebbles becoming loose then falling into the abyss below. There was enough light to move around down here, but it didn't make the passage any less unnerving. The fumes of sulfur and heat were pungent as she finally started nearing the bottom of the mineshaft, stepping onto a small path she had made. She walked along it careful as to not to fall into the lava on the right, or the water on the left. An odd coincidence that had caused her to almost die on one occasion.
She crept through the small passage emerging into the grandeur of her mine. A series of doors stood behind two large lava columns that she had encased in glass. To her left a larger lake of lava flowed, crackled and hissed against the stale air. There was obsidian around the lava that he hadn't dared to mine out yet; the glassy surface was nice against the solemn grays of the mine as well though.
Trudging along, she approached the last mineshaft and opened the door locking it behind her. Now she had to make the walk to the end. Deep in these mines, she always seemed to recant the things in this world that cause harm to everything she had built to achieve.She remembered that it was only one night later after coming to this world that she had encounter her first threat. Somehow, she knew that the peace wouldn't be able to last.
She had been outside, collecting wood for more storage chests to contain more of the materials that she had been gathering. Fumbling amongst the upper boughs of an unusually large tree, she had lost track of the time. She climbed down and the cool night air blew her hair and chilled her to the bone. The silly pig was nosing around the base of the tree but he had started to wonder off. For some odd reason she had grown attached to this weird pink thing so she followed him. He stopped about 5 yards from the entrance to her hovel and out of the corner of her eye she caught movement. There was something shuffling amongst the shadows of the trees. It was taller in shape. Possibly the same size as herself, but it was getting closer to her at an alarming pace. She backed into the lights range of her torch as it came even closer yet. It seemed to be rushing her. All she could see was green. Then she heard hissing, it was loud and her mind was in chaos. Tripping she fell into the deep brook by her house. She heard a loud bang beneath the water and a small shake after she broke the surface.
When she came up for breath, she stayed half hidden scanning the area. Nothing but Maxwell in the hovel was making noise. Creeping out of the water she scanned the area again now seeing a huge hole where part of the cobblestone path leading into her house used to be. She remembered how long she had spent on that earlier during the day and she was upset but then the depth of her nearly losing the life had set in and she rushed inside her hovel, locking the door behind her.
Yes, that wasn't the only encounter she has ever had. She found this world had rather large spiders. Black as the night they came from. There were dead that walked the surface and the open caves of the outside world. She had learned quickly that night was not the time to wonder this world. Her hand brushed the sword at her belt as she was nearing the tunnels end. With the little iron that she had mined she made this sword that she called Unmei. It had protected her from the dead, and the spiders.
Finally, she was at the end of the tunnel and she drew her pick and set to work. It took her about three hours but she managed to make a bigger area in-front of her, setting only one torch. She heard water trickling some somewhere around her and she was trying to find the source with no luck. Returning to the tunnel she sat down to eat some of the bread she had brought with her. It was fresh, she had just baked it that morning. The smell was alluring and the taste was crisp and nourishing. Looking back to the room she had just cleared she realized how dark it was. The torch she had set was barely making a dent this deep beneath the ground. The darkness here was like walking through mud. It encircled you and held you down.
Putting her bread down she stood back up to go back in the room to light another torch. Her footsteps clicked through the space but it seemed just too tight of a sound. She glanced around hesitantly, she never saw anything enter the area. Pulling out another torch she placed it on the other wall after chipping it with her pick and she stood back surveying the room. Her eyes grazed and unknown shape.
Jumping back, she identified it as another one of the green beings and it acted the same way as she had remembered. It started at her as before with the same hiss. All she could do was turn foot and run. Passing the entryway and her bread she ran until she heard the ultimate boom again behind her in the room. The blast pushed her down as debris hit her from all directions. Staggering up she fell back down again, there was a large scratch on her arm and it looked like the rubble damaged her armor. Laying there a moment and gathering her strength she finally stood up again, brushing herself off laboriously and she glanced back at the room.
She wasn't sure she should go back in there, but surely the green being was gone. Like all the others that had blown up before this one. Edging her way back into the room again examining the interior. The other torch she placed was still there, so it was much brighter now. The explosion seemed to have opened up something in the wall. It was a rather large area. She could hear her footsteps echo and echo and echo. The outburst opened up a large cavernous tunnel.
Her breath was shaky from astonishment. The cavern was huge and the tunnel went into the blackness as far as she could see. It was truly immaculate. The walls were smooth to the touch, could this really be natural? It didn't seem like it could be to her, it was just that awesome. As her hand smoothed over the walls they traveled over a rough spot and she stopped tracing over the crags again. She had no light so she placed a torch near it. With a few hits of her pick, it was placed. The marking was a glyph of some sort. Something she had never seen in this world yet. The etching wasn't that large but she committed it to memory, she didn't happen to have her journal on herself. Looking from the reddish colored symbol on the wall to the cavern around her she knew she couldn't do anymore exploring today. She didn't have the tools, nor the torches. Casting another look at the earmark of her journey today, she ran her hand across it again then started her hike back to the surface. She needed to write this in her journal.
She seemed to write a lot lately. She had much to say, wanting to document this world and its days somehow. It was the only thing that seemed to keep her from madness. If there really was such a thing as madness; the sanity of insanity. A catch-22 of sorts. Thinking over her first day was not only frightening, but also somehow relaxing. She knew she made it past that moment because of where she is now.
She began reading and remembering her first day in this new realm:
On her first day, she had woken up in a haze amidst a carpet of lush grass. She kept her eyes closed but she could feel the warmth of the day and the cool chill the shadows of what could be called trees. Off in the distance she could hear the trickle of a brook and a waterfall. Fauna also could be heard. Cows moo'ing, chewing there cud. The ruffles of chicken feathers and the ruffling of hogs, one sounded very close in-fact.
When she opened her eyes, she was right. The pig was only about 3 feet from where she was laying. She watched it, it was normal enough. Pink, with dry patches of dirt on its skin. The pig turned and looked at her like it was thinking. But she knew its head was mostly empty with only trivial thoughts. It scuffled towards her and sniffed her face. Wet nose slobbering all over her and she stood up in a huff.
"Oh you, scoot! Shoo now! Off you go!" The pig just stared at her with an empty head as she had waved her arms to startle it to move. "SCOOT!" She shouted, reverberating off the trees, scaring the chickens in the distance. Yet the pig just stood there. So she gave up and wiped her face of his (for she noticed it was a male pig) snot. Looking up again she took in her surroundings. To her left was a large tall cliff-face, as well as the brook and waterfall she heard earlier. They were as blue as something could get besides the sky she though. Looking around her, she noticed she was in an outcropping of trees, the trunks were dark rustic brown and the leaves were a bright green. As she breathed in, the smell of a forest came to her nose and she relaxed. She wasn't sure where she was but it was peaceful for now.
Her eyes squinted up at the sky and the sun was inching across its clean, cloudless slate. If her ideas were correct, it would be night soon. It may be peaceful during the day, but who knows what this world may hold during its dark hours. So she set to work.
Just when the sun was setting, she had fitted the door to her shack in the cliff wall. She opened the door and gently tucked a torch in its holder she had fitted earlier. She turned, locking the door behind her with a latch. She sat on a rock that she had left jutting from the wall and opened the small chest she had put together earlier. She had some wooden tools and ones made of the stone that used to be where shes in now. She also had many sticks and wood from her little bit of harvesting she had done. She took out an armful of leaves she had piled in the chest and stood up to spread them over where she sat. The bench was hard and cold, but some heat emitted from the two torches around it. The leaves would serve as something to cushion her aching bones from the long days work.Just digging this hovel out of the cliff-face was enough work for ten men, let alone just herself.
She laid down again, and examined her handy-work. The walls had tool etchings all over them; for she had struggled using the tools she made. One day, this will be a nicer hovel. But for now it was only a shelter for her... She turned her head to clicks coming from the corner. The pig was there, he wouldn't leave her alone all day. So, a shelter for her and him. She needed a name for him, but she was to tired to think of one just now. Just so tired. The pig in the corner was just turning around to get comfortable again. As she contented in watching him. She had fallen asleep.
She closed her journal and looked around her room now. She wasn't in the same space anymore. But her old hovel is now as comfortable as this. A lot has changed since then, and she has a lot more luxuries then she used to. She had hardened in time. Being able to do more everyday. Looking outside an open hole to the outside world, she saw Maxwell by her boat dock. Playing with a red-capped mushroom and she couldn't help but laugh. That stupid pig.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
This next day she decided was for mining, if she was lucky she would find more mushrooms for Maxwell and maybe some more coal for the torches she was going to need later on. She got up from bed and adorned her leather armor she had made earlier in the week then slid her sword into her belt along with several stone picks and a single iron one that she only used for only detailed work. Packing a few torches from her supply room as well as a few loaves of bread she headed to her mineshaft with Maxwell at her heels.
"Oh.. No Maxwell not today buddy." She said and he snorted in response but eventually turned and went out the door she made just for him to come and go as he pleased. Walking through the door she locked it behind her and started down the ladder into her mine.
It was a long way down, she ended up hitting lava in this mine which she was rather proud of. So much so that she made a Lava-fall out front using some of what she was able to carry up from her mine. As she went deeper down she could hear the emptiness of the downward tunnel, her feet clunking down the wooden rungs, pebbles becoming loose then falling into the abyss below. There was enough light to move around down here, but it didn't make the passage any less unnerving. The fumes of sulfur and heat were pungent as she finally started nearing the bottom of the mineshaft, stepping onto a small path she had made. She walked along it careful as to not to fall into the lava on the right, or the water on the left. An odd coincidence that had caused her to almost die on one occasion.
She crept through the small passage emerging into the grandeur of her mine. A series of doors stood behind two large lava columns that she had encased in glass. To her left a larger lake of lava flowed, crackled and hissed against the stale air. There was obsidian around the lava that he hadn't dared to mine out yet; the glassy surface was nice against the solemn grays of the mine as well though.
Trudging along, she approached the last mineshaft and opened the door locking it behind her. Now she had to make the walk to the end. Deep in these mines, she always seemed to recant the things in this world that cause harm to everything she had built to achieve.She remembered that it was only one night later after coming to this world that she had encounter her first threat. Somehow, she knew that the peace wouldn't be able to last.
She had been outside, collecting wood for more storage chests to contain more of the materials that she had been gathering. Fumbling amongst the upper boughs of an unusually large tree, she had lost track of the time. She climbed down and the cool night air blew her hair and chilled her to the bone. The silly pig was nosing around the base of the tree but he had started to wonder off. For some odd reason she had grown attached to this weird pink thing so she followed him. He stopped about 5 yards from the entrance to her hovel and out of the corner of her eye she caught movement. There was something shuffling amongst the shadows of the trees. It was taller in shape. Possibly the same size as herself, but it was getting closer to her at an alarming pace. She backed into the lights range of her torch as it came even closer yet. It seemed to be rushing her. All she could see was green. Then she heard hissing, it was loud and her mind was in chaos. Tripping she fell into the deep brook by her house. She heard a loud bang beneath the water and a small shake after she broke the surface.
When she came up for breath, she stayed half hidden scanning the area. Nothing but Maxwell in the hovel was making noise. Creeping out of the water she scanned the area again now seeing a huge hole where part of the cobblestone path leading into her house used to be. She remembered how long she had spent on that earlier during the day and she was upset but then the depth of her nearly losing the life had set in and she rushed inside her hovel, locking the door behind her.
Yes, that wasn't the only encounter she has ever had. She found this world had rather large spiders. Black as the night they came from. There were dead that walked the surface and the open caves of the outside world. She had learned quickly that night was not the time to wonder this world. Her hand brushed the sword at her belt as she was nearing the tunnels end. With the little iron that she had mined she made this sword that she called Unmei. It had protected her from the dead, and the spiders.
Finally, she was at the end of the tunnel and she drew her pick and set to work. It took her about three hours but she managed to make a bigger area in-front of her, setting only one torch. She heard water trickling some somewhere around her and she was trying to find the source with no luck. Returning to the tunnel she sat down to eat some of the bread she had brought with her. It was fresh, she had just baked it that morning. The smell was alluring and the taste was crisp and nourishing. Looking back to the room she had just cleared she realized how dark it was. The torch she had set was barely making a dent this deep beneath the ground. The darkness here was like walking through mud. It encircled you and held you down.
Putting her bread down she stood back up to go back in the room to light another torch. Her footsteps clicked through the space but it seemed just too tight of a sound. She glanced around hesitantly, she never saw anything enter the area. Pulling out another torch she placed it on the other wall after chipping it with her pick and she stood back surveying the room. Her eyes grazed and unknown shape.
Jumping back, she identified it as another one of the green beings and it acted the same way as she had remembered. It started at her as before with the same hiss. All she could do was turn foot and run. Passing the entryway and her bread she ran until she heard the ultimate boom again behind her in the room. The blast pushed her down as debris hit her from all directions. Staggering up she fell back down again, there was a large scratch on her arm and it looked like the rubble damaged her armor. Laying there a moment and gathering her strength she finally stood up again, brushing herself off laboriously and she glanced back at the room.
She wasn't sure she should go back in there, but surely the green being was gone. Like all the others that had blown up before this one. Edging her way back into the room again examining the interior. The other torch she placed was still there, so it was much brighter now. The explosion seemed to have opened up something in the wall. It was a rather large area. She could hear her footsteps echo and echo and echo. The outburst opened up a large cavernous tunnel.
Her breath was shaky from astonishment. The cavern was huge and the tunnel went into the blackness as far as she could see. It was truly immaculate. The walls were smooth to the touch, could this really be natural? It didn't seem like it could be to her, it was just that awesome. As her hand smoothed over the walls they traveled over a rough spot and she stopped tracing over the crags again. She had no light so she placed a torch near it. With a few hits of her pick, it was placed. The marking was a glyph of some sort. Something she had never seen in this world yet. The etching wasn't that large but she committed it to memory, she didn't happen to have her journal on herself. Looking from the reddish colored symbol on the wall to the cavern around her she knew she couldn't do anymore exploring today. She didn't have the tools, nor the torches. Casting another look at the earmark of her journey today, she ran her hand across it again then started her hike back to the surface. She needed to write this in her journal.
