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The purple crystal sat upon a golden pedestal, four claws holding it in place above the stand. Some distance away, to the east and west, were two mysterious portals, both ovular in shape, ringed with flaming magenta energy.
Sid wiped some sweat off his brow as the portals began summoning forth goblins and a bunch of other reptilian creatures, invaders stepping in from another world. The one that Paddy the Tavernkeep sometimes mentioned having come from.
His Stardust Dragon summon, glowing bright blue and gold and with a length of maybe forty blocks, decimated the invaders from one portal while his Stardust Guardian, a hulking celestial being, pummelled the army coming from the other direction with the assistance of a couple of Terraprisma blades.
But despite the size of the forces... it felt too easy. He'd fought through six waves of the army, his summons slaughtering every single enemy so far.
He looked to the glowing Eternia crystal, just as the timer above it ticked down to 0. The next wave was on its way...
...right as a massive red dragon slammed into him.
He was knocked back quite a distance, losing about 80 of his health, but wasn't fazed. If anything, he was excited. Something like this was just what he wanted to fight.
Bring it on, dragon! Though Betsy is kind of a dumb name for a dragon...
Almost as though she had read his thoughts, Betsy the dragon roared and charged forward across the sky, breathing a stream of fire downwards, aiming to scorch Sid. But he dashed to the side, an ability he had thanks to his Master Ninja Gear. Sid got out his Kaleidoscope whip for the first time since the army had started attacking and lashed out at the dragon. His glowing prismatic whip snapped against Betsy's hide, calling both of his summons back to start tearing into her.
He noticed her fire-breath attack had actually dealt damage to the crystal. But it had 5000 health, and had only lost about 200. And Betsy herself had gone from 75,000 health to 65,000 already.
There was no way he could lose. He kept on dashing and flying about, continuing to snap his whip. Their duel took them higher and higher into the sky. She flew in a large loop, seemingly trying to shake Sid's own Stardust Dragon, before charging straight at him. But he just dashed again to the right.
That was when he cast a look downwards and to his horror spotted enemies were beginning to swarm the crystal! Red-scaled Etherian Wyverns were swooping into it and raking their claws across its surface. Those purple dinosaurs that shot fireballs out of their mouths were blasting it. And a horde of goblins that wielded everything from hatchets to javelins were surrounding it.
He dropped down, snapping his whip in an attempt to clear away the horde, but it was no use. There were too many of them, and they had already dealt too much damage to the crystal, causing noticeable cracks to form along its surface. Before too long it burst open. The world around him suddenly turned bright magenta, as though the sun had decided to change colours for the day. A glowing eye symbol rose up from the shattered crystal, seeming to stare at him. For a brief moment, Sid began to panic. What had he done? Was the world about to end?
His vision suddenly blinked, and the world was back to normal. The entire army was gone, as were the portals they had emerged from and the dragon Betsy.
He landed on the ground, staring at the now-empty crystal stand, and began to chuckle.
Okay, so you guys bested me. Guess it's time for round tw–
"What did you just do?"
He turned to find Meg standing atop a nearby hill.
"Was just fighting some bad guys from Paddy's world," Sid said, starting to walk towards her. "Probably should've asked you to come help me but I couldn't resist." He stopped for a moment. "Hey, we should get William and Robyn here! The four of us will have no problem dealing with Betsy the dragon once we –"
"What were you thinking?!" Meg exclaimed, cutting him off. "What if that army had been too strong for us and tried to take over the world? What if you'd died fighting them?"
"We've beaten Cthulhu, a literal god. I'm pretty sure nothing can touch us. It was just a little fun, that's all."
"I'm not sure if Cthulhu was technically a god, but whatever," Meg muttered. "Look, we fought for peace, and we earnt that peace. We don't need to go around looking for more battles when we don't need to fight any."
Sid groaned.
"Maybe you're right. But I've just been so... so bored lately."
"Uugh, you're such a child."
A child? Did she seriously just use that word?
"There's more to do than fighting," Meg said. "If you keep on doing that, one day, it will be the last thing you do."
She walked away, leaving him unsure of what to say.
Her words were correct.
But he felt correct about his own words too.
Sid had been starving for a new adventure ever since the defeat of Cthulhu had largely brought peace upon the land. The world was finite, with invisible walls along all the oceans, a finite amount of height they could soar into the sky, and at the bottom of the world was just... nothing.
There'd just been nothing to do. Sure, hanging out with the citizens was cool, but after the months since Cthulhu's defeat, it had just gotten... mundane. He wanted something new to explore.
Then he'd come across what the Tavernkeep sold in his shop – the Eternia Crystal and his stand. Paddy had told him that placing them down would attract an army, which surely meant sweet loot, but that wasn't the only reason why he'd taken him up on the quest.
He needed adventure.
***
"No peeking," Robyn said as William continued to put his feet forward.
"How much longer are your hands going to be over my eyes like this?" he asked with a chuckle in his voice.
"Almost there." He felt his feet going up a small hill. "Okay, you ready?"
"Ready."
She lifted her fingers.
There, in front of him, was what looked like a small platform of hay blocks painted in different colours. A small table sat in the middle, some plates and cups placed upon it.
"It's a picnic!" she exclaimed.
"Wow," William said, taking a look around. No wonder the blind walk out here had been so long – they looked to be far from any village, out in a large field, all around them rolling green hills covered with flowers that blew in the cool wind. The perfect aesthetic for a picnic.
She'd even built something that looked like a blocky parasol. Under which sat a barrel, which she began getting items out from. "There's only seafood in here, since that's all I know how to catch..."
"It's okay," William said as he stepped over to give Robyn a kiss on the cheek, which caused her cheeks to turn a faint red. Which always happened whenever he kissed her when she wasn't expecting it, something he'd come to find sweet.
They sat down on the hay blocks, the material feeling nice and soft beneath William's legs – he suspected this was why she'd chosen this block. She began placing food onto the plates, and in minutes the two of them were chowing down on cooked fish and sashimi. In this world food was eaten instantly, only a brief sensation of taste appearing in their mouths as they consumed a food item, so in order to keep the taste going for as long as possible, like how it would work with food in the real world, Robyn had cooked quite a substantial quantity of food items.
Once they'd run out, both of their tummies exquisitely stuffed, Robyn got onto her knees, crawling around the table, and rubbed her head on William's shoulder. He put an arm around her, causing her to lean her whole body against his. They lay down on the hay mat, her head in his chest.
As they lay there, their arms around each other, William looked up at the sun. In the real world, doing so would hurt his eyes, but not here. Just another difference between the two planes of existence. From the very beginning, William had wondered how they had gone from living in the real world to... this place. He'd hoped that once they'd risen above surviving to thriving that they would have been able to find some answers. The world had kept on throwing new challenges at them. The Wall of Flesh, the world changing, the Cultists, and finally Cthulhu.
But after all that, there'd been nothing else. Which he had been grateful for, as they no longer had to be constantly fighting for their lives. They had become the Guardians of this world, and peace now stayed constant across the lands. But it would have been nice to have found at least some way out.
What if there is no real world? he wondered. What if there's just this? But no. There had to be a real world. He couldn't think of any other reason why he and his friends had memories of the real world in their heads.
It was as he was thinking this that he looked back up at the sun.
He blinked in a sudden, searing pain, instinctively raising a hand to shield his eyes.
He sat up, rubbing his eyes, just as the buzzing sound of some sort of bug began entering his ears. He waved his hand at a small erratic black dot, causing it to fly away out of his vision.
He could hear birds calling. But unlike none he'd heard before. Of a far different quality to what he was used to. Not as repetitive. More like... a song. More ambient.
More immersive.
He suddenly noticed the trees around him weren't all straight and pixelated. They actually looked like trees. Branching in several directions as they went upwards, all coalescing into large canopies of leaves that swayed in the breeze.
Is this... the real world?
He looked down at his hand, noticing for the first time his five real fingers. He splayed them, stretched them, wiggled them. They were all his.
He laughed, but then looked down at the form his other hand was wrapped around.
A person. Robyn?
He only got a fleeting glimpse before he suddenly snapped awake.
He was back in the world of Terraria. Just as bright, serene and peaceful.
But not as real.
***
I just want to beat the dragon, Sid thought. Just want to beat up Betsy. Then, no more. I'll take Meg's advice. What could I do? Try to go fishing? No, that's Robyn's hobby. Maybe I could build a rollercoaster? But I suck at building, William would be able to do it better than me...
He was about to place another purple crystal on the stand, but noticed a portal had already appeared on the plain some distance away.
This one was red.
He tilted his head, putting the crystal back in his inventory.
What the...?
He stared hard at the portal, summoning his Stardust Dragon into existence, the creature growing longer and longer each time he swung his staff. His Stardust Guardian, a muscular, hulking celestial being, also floated by his side, ready to pummel any horde of wicked monsters that came rushing through.
He was not expecting just a solitary figure to stride through.
"Hello, Sid."
Sid stared, surprised at the figure's voice. Male, from its tone. He was wearing a helmet that covered their entire face. A vertical cyan slit ran down the middle of the helmet, and behind a mane of flowing red hair popped out, going down to his waist and blowing slightly in the wind. His golden armour was clothed in a royal purple robe, the armour itself looking more sci-fi in its design than fantasy, like a robot or astronaut or something.
Sid wasn't too surprised at this person knowing his name. He must've read his label. Of course, Sid too could read this person's name, so he could at least address him.
"Greetings, Yharim," Sid said. "I was expecting goblins. Why are you here?"
Yharim simply unveiled his cloak, fully revealing his armour.
"I am here for you, the Guardians."
This story is broken up into 'Episodes' of 3 or 4 parts each. An individual episode comprises a distinct segment of the story similar to what you might see in a serialised TV show.
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