[Jesse's POV]
When the world around me finally comes into view, I'm immediately met with a bat that flies into my face. I wanted to scream, but thanks to the bat, it only came out muffled. A split second later, I suddenly hit the ground. "OOF."
The fall disoriented me for a second until I remembered the bat on my face, which caused me to jolt up, frantically trying to brush it off again. Eventually, I managed to knock it off for good this time. I sigh in relief now that the bat is finally gone. Unfortunately, that relief immediately vanished once I realized where I had landed. I wasn't back in the jungle temple or any other place I knew.
A second later, Petra, Lukas, and Ivor appeared in thin air above me, crashing into the ground as well. It was then that I realized the bat wasn't the one that flew into my face, but me who fell into it. Well, that didn't make me feel any better. I walked over and helped the three disoriented people stand up.
Lukas: "Did we... end up back home...?"
Jesse: "As much as I hate to admit it, no... we didn't..." Everyone sighed, frustrated. "See? This is exactly why we shouldn't have chosen randomly! Who knows where we ended up now?"
Ivor: "Oh, don't be pissed! NONE of those portals were labeled or anything like that! Sure, they were all different colors and had different frames, but that didn't tell us anything! No matter which one we picked, they all had the same chances of being the right portal!" I crossed my arms.
Lukas: "Okay, let's not immediately lose hope. Maybe we did end up in the right world, but the portal just brought us to a random location?" We looked around. We were standing inside some kind of graveyard, and outside of it was a swamp biome that stretched so long we couldn't see where it ended. To top it all off, it had to be nighttime as well.
Jesse: "Well, I'm seeing grass, forests, lots of ground in all directions... it certainly looks more similar to our world than that sky dimension. That's a good sign, right?"
Ivor: "Ahem!" Ivor pointed to the sky. Huh? There are... 2 moons...?
Jesse: "Aha..."
Petra: "Verdict says? Definitely not our world. You owe me two iron, Lukas. Pay up."
Lukas: "Okay, okay! Here..." Lukas hands over the iron with a sour face.
Ivor: "Told you it was a dumb bet..."
Jesse: "Okay, since we already confirmed this isn't our world, we can just go straight back to that weird hallway again, right?"
Ivor: "Yes... that's a great idea! If we knew where the portal going back is."
Jesse: "From what we know from the world we already visited, there seems to always be one that gets us in and one that gets us out. In other words, an entrance and an exit. We know it's somewhere, so sooner or later, we'd have to stumble upon it, right?"
Ivor: "Are you kidding me?! You're telling me we have to search this ENTIRE WORLD, maybe even DIG UP THE ENTIRE PLACE JUST TO FIND THAT STUPID PORTAL?!"
Petra: "Okay, let's NOT go that route. Last world, we encountered a whole new civilization no one has ever stumbled upon. Maybe we can try searching for any people who might be living here. Who knows? Maybe they know this place better than we do. At the very least, it's better than blindly digging in random spots until we find it."
Jesse: "Okay, c'mon guys! We've surely been through scarier places. Whatever this place throws at us, it'll be no problem!"
Lukas: "Yeah... I hope you're right..." Lukas leaned on one of the nearby graves, clearly feeling down. We looked at him, worried.
Jesse: "Lukas? Everything alright?" Lukas sighed.
Lukas: "I was just... ugh. I'm just worried about Axel and Olivia..."
Petra: "What? Why?"
Lukas: "Well, if they followed us back to that Old Builder temple and went through the portal..."Oh...
We came to the conclusion before Lukas gathered the courage to say it himself.
Ivor: "They would arrive in Sky City... to find it overflowing with monsters..."
Lukas: "Yeah..."
Jesse: "Oh man... I hadn't even thought about that. If they followed us... they could be in trouble..."
Petra: "Well, at least we already built them the bridge?"
Ivor: "Well, that is more than we started with."
Jesse: "Okay, let's not jump to conclusions immediately. It hasn't been that many days since we left, maybe Olivia and Axel just think we're on vacation... or we went on another adventure. Remember how long it took us to get to the Farlands?
Plus, even if they did end up going through that portal, a day has already passed since Sky City first got overrun by monsters, so a good majority of the mobs probably burned to death during the day already. Even if they do run into the mobs, it would be way less dangerous than when we encountered them."
Lukas: "Yeah... I hope you're right..."
Petra: "Hey, maybe next time we're in the portal hall, we can leave a sign or something. Tell them which one we're going through... you know... in case they did end up going after us."
Lukas: "You know what? I like that idea."
Jesse: "Okay, but we have to somehow find our way back to that place first. As long as we're stuck in this world, we can't help or contact anyone we know. No matter how you look at it, we can't really do anything before we escape from here."
Ivor: "Well, I for one vote that we not be so hasty to try and get out of here. Who knows what sorts of treasures this new world could hold?"
Petra: "Really, Ivor? That's your priority right now?"
Ivor: "What? Since we're already here, we might as well make the most of it. Besides, unless the next portal is disguised as a tombstone, I'm not seeing it anywhere near here. We would have to go exploring either way, aren't I correct?" I sigh.
Jesse: "Let's just go take a look around." We started looking around. Since we were talking the entire time since we arrived, we didn't get the chance to fully take in what was around us yet. The graveyard wasn't really big. There were only a few gravestones around us, and there was a small, deteriorated stone fence outlining the small graveyard.
The only notable thing here was some sort of gate structure on one side that led us to another part of the graveyard. There wasn't really anything special there either... except for a small pillar on the far end with some sort of item sitting on top of it.
Jesse: "You guys see some sort of... shape over there?"
Petra: "Yeah, what is that?"
Jesse: "Let's find out." We walked over there to investigate. The item I saw in the distance ended up being a book.
Lukas: "That's... a weird place for a book to be in?"
Ivor: "What's written inside?" I took a step forward and grabbed the book from the block it was sitting on. I looked at the cover.
Jesse: "It says 'Invitation.' and then 'Read immediately; your life depends on it!'"
Petra: "Uh, what?" I curiously opened its contents.
Jesse: "Ahem, 'Greetings Traveller--'" I'm immediately interrupted by distant growling sounds coming from behind us. We turned around, only to see a crowd of zombies heading our way.
Lukas: "Yeah, that seems about right..." Petra pulled out her sword and immediately took a defensive stance before slicing apart the first zombie that closed in on us.
Petra: "Keep reading, Jesse! We've got your back!" I nodded back, while Lukas and Ivor took out their weapons as well.
Jesse: "'I humbly invite you to my mansion for an evening of food and festivity with your fellow adventurers.'" While I finished my sentence, I was forced to retreat after one of the zombies managed to slip through, now coming towards me. I jump onto the pillar and kick the mob away. Since I'm still holding the book, I wasn't able to pull out my sword and use it. Thankfully, Lukas, who noticed the zombie, swooped in to take care of it.
Lukas: "That's... odd?"
Jesse: "Yeah. Weird, right--? Whoa!" Before I could take a break, I'm jumpscared by another zombie, who somehow managed to slip through again. In a panic, I use the book to knock the zombie away. It was then that I realized that the zombies were also slipping through the cracks in the fence from my side, meaning we're getting swarmed from all directions.
Petra: "Quick! Toss it here!" Peta finishes off another zombie and looks at me. I quickly threw the book at her. Now that my hands are free, I'm finally able to draw my sword and finish off the zombie that almost got me earlier. I sliced at its legs, and when it fell to the ground, I drove the sword through its skull, killing it.
Ivor: "Petra! Anytime now!? You can read, right?!" Ivor complained while trying to hold his ground himself a few blocks away, currently dealing with his own flock of zombies trying to climb up the gravestone he's standing on. Petra murders another undead mob, still holding the book closed with her left hand.
Petra: "Hang on, hang on, need to find Jesse's place...!" Currently dealing with her own zombies, she's unable to read and defend herself at the same time. I realized that was my cue to cover her back. I gave back a hand gesture as I ran towards Petra. She nodded and ducked, allowing me to jump over her and kill the zombies for her. "Got it!" While I took charge of killing the zombies, Petra put back her weapon and opened the book. "'Come to my home on the hill, just follow the path. Please look out for zombies. Sincerely, The Host.'"
Lukas: "Nice warning..." Lukas remarks sarcastically.
Jesse: "Okay, let's head to the mansion. I don't think these waves of zombies will ever end so--"
Petra: "Look out!" Before I get to react, Petra pushes me aside and slays a zombie that had been sneaking up on me. I stand up again, wanting to thank Petra, but she interrupted me before I got the chance to say it. "No time! Where's the path?!" I look around. Sure enough, right beside the graveyard, almost blended in, was a path leading through the swamp.
Jesse: "There! Let's bail!" The four of us pushed the zombies away and climbed the fence. After reaching the path, we started sprinting down it as fast as we could.
Ivor: "I must say, this is the highest concentration of zombies I've ever seen in one place!"
Jesse: "You know, after what we've been through already, that doesn't sound that much worse..."
Lukas: "You think this 'Host' is going to be legit, Jesse? I just ask, well, because this place hasn't exactly been friendly so far..."
Jesse: "Well, where else can we go? I just hope we can escape the sea of zombies once we reach this 'Mansion.'"
Lukas: "Okay... let's just hope it isn't too far away!" Sprinting further down the path, we eventually see a hill slowly popping out of the horizon. And you know it -- there was a giant mansion sitting on top of that hill.
Ivor: "I'm going to go out on a limb and say... that's the place we're looking for!"
Petra: "Race you guys there!" Petra smiles back at us confidently, acting like this is just another fun adventure.
Ivor: "Oooh... yeah... I don't race so much anymore... Bad, heh, bad knees..."
Jesse: "Hey, just try not to die, okay? I'm trying to keep everyone together here!" Petra rolls her eyes.
Petra: "Sure, sure, that's fine. But you gotta catch me first!" And just like that, Petra sprints away at full speed.
Jesse: "H-Hey! Just because Axel isn't here doesn't mean you have to take his place!" Ugh... She's too into it now to hear me anymore...
Ivor: "Hey! Wait up! I can't keep up!" I slowed down, realizing Ivor was falling behind. Great. Why even bother keeping the group together?
Jesse: "Lukas, follow Petra, make sure she doesn't get in trouble, okay? I'll stay behind to help Ivor."
Lukas: "Got it!" Lukas proceeds to chase after Petra while I and Ivor continue sprinting after them at a slower pace. You know, I would've liked running through this world a lot more if it weren't for the countless zombies coming from all directions.
We passed by more graveyards, while we had to constantly avoid bumping into the zombies approaching from all around us. It looked like all was going well... until Ivor accidentally tripped on a gravestone while he wasn't looking. To make matters worse, when he tried to stand up, he was met by a fresh zombie climbing out of the gravestone he tripped over.
Jesse: "Ivor!" I drew my sword and jumped over the grave, slicing at the zombie as I landed in front of Ivor. No chance for a break, though, as I had to immediately impale another one closing in on us. After frantically pulling my sword out of the dead mob, I take Ivor's hand and make a run for it.
By this time, Petra and Lukas were already far away, having decided to take another route, and were now climbing up and running on top of a nearby small hill. It looked like they had everything under control. Good, at least now I only have to look after myself and Ivor. We were still running along the path, dodging more gravestones in the process.
The route seemed clear until I was met with another obstacle. I frantically braked to stop just before I fell into a river coming ahead. Unfortunately, my attempt goes to waste as Ivor, who was unaware of what's coming, bumps into me, causing the both of us to fall in. To make matters even worse, the river was now carrying us away from the path! Shit!
I tried to reach the nearest shore, but that proved difficult when these freaking zombies are everywhere! Still holding my sword, I sliced through any that came too close to me. Good thing I can one-shot all these annoying mobs... otherwise, this would've been a nightmare to deal with. The river passes a nearby tree, and looking down from there, was a spider trying to pick a fight. Ugh. When will this parade of useless mobs end?!
I dive into the water to avoid the spider jumping at me. However, right when I resurface again, another spider appears and jumps onto my face, causing us to engage in a struggle as I'm pulled underwater again. The next time we resurface, I fortunately manage to stab the ugly thing before it can do anything else, killing the spider as I push its corpse away.
Having had enough, I try to steer away from all the mobs. Unfortunately, the next threat was something completely different.
Ivor: "You hear that too, right? Almost sounds like a..." Approaching ahead... was a... "...waterfall!"
Shit! I attempt to swim to shore before it's too late, but at the last moment... a zombie suddenly bumps into me... causing both of us to go over the edge.
As I scream for my life, I desperately try to find something to cling onto. And at the last moment, when I was already going over the edge, I spotted some vines dangling from the rocks that were on the edge. I reach out and barely manage to grab it as the zombies fall down all around me.
Jesse: "Ugh... you still there, Ivor?" Ivor responds with a grunt from a few blocks away, dangling from another set of vines. We hastily climb them back up before hopping over the rocks to get to shore again. The river brought us a little off course, but we could still see the mansion ahead. Although we weren't on the path anymore, as long as there's still a way to reach it, we're taking that route.
We were now entering a valley, with the mansion sitting just ahead of it. Unfortunately, the path through the valley can't be straightforward because of course there has to be a bunch of zombies falling down the sides of the valley, quickly filling up our path with more annoyances...
Jesse: "Oh my god! I'm actually gonna turn sick from all these fucking mobs!"
Ivor: "Just plow through! We're almost there!" Sprinting across with our swords drawn, we dodge most of the zombies heading our way, and killing the ones that aren't polite enough to move out of the way. However, since the universe apparently hates us, a bunch of skeletons start shooting at us from an overpass going over the valley.
In a chaotic scene, we're forced to dodge all of the flying arrows as they impact the ground all around us, even killing off some of the zombies besides us. Fortunately, Petra and Lukas appear running across the overpass and start plowing through the skeletons, causing them to all fall down towards us.
Seeing the opportunity, I sprint towards the flying skeletons, and after using a zombie as a trampoline, I jump up, and in an attempt to mimic Petra's move from back at the temple, I draw my sword and spin myself through the air, plowing through all the flying mobs, before landing on the other side.
Wow. That actually worked? I thought I might mess it up, but I actually pulled it off. Huh... Now that I'm here... it actually turned out to be fun. I still hate the endless waves of zombies this stupid world has to offer, but I guess I can kind of understand Petra's idea of fun now. We continue sprinting before being stopped by one last obstacle, a wall we still need to climb out of to exit the valley.
Jesse: "Execute Maneuver 66!" Ivor nods and pulls out a stack of dirt blocks. "Stairs!" While the skeletons are still recovering and the zombies slowly making their way over here, we start building a flight of stairs along the wall. After a while, we finally reach the top, successfully making it out of the valley.
Since zombies are dumb, they struggle to climb up the stairs as they keep pushing each other off the thin staircase, halting the wave of zombies behind us for the time being. With all the obstacles out of the way, we make a run for the mansion, which is only around 50 blocks away now. Not long after, we spot a brick path leading to some sort of front yard.
As we reached the path, we heard panting coming from behind us. Petra and Lukas catch up to us.
Jesse: "What? How did you fall behind? I wasn't even concentrating on the race!"
Petra: "Shush! All because Lukas wanted to take the safer route!" Lukas shrugs his arms. "Okay, okay, you won THAT one, Jesse..."
Ivor: "Okay, let's maybe... get inside the mansion before we pat ourselves on the back too much, shall we!?" We glanced at each other before shrugging our arms. We started walking towards the mansion. We reach some sort of fountain right before the front door, but stop ourselves from going any further once we realize the area around the door is swarmed by zombies.
Petra: "That front door's definitely a no-go..."
Jesse: "Then let's just find another way in!" The conversation gets interrupted once the zombies notice us. "Stick with me, guys!" We started running along the mansion, searching for another entrance while still avoiding all these dang zombies. Sprinting further along the mansion walls, I encounter a pond blocking the way, with a bunch of zombies already swimming around.
Taking the best course of action, I decide to jump on top of the zombies' heads to safely make it across.
Petra: "Okay, that was just extra..." The other three follow me, maneuvering around the pond.
Jesse: "Oh, don't be like that. It's not like you've been doing the same thing too." Petra rolls her eyes while I go back to searching for any back doors.
Right then... something caught my eye. Behind one of the windows... I saw a figure there... wearing a... White Pumpkin...? However, after making brief eye contact, the figure retreats back into the darkness.
Jesse: "The heck--?"
Petra: "What? What'd you see? You just... gasped. Like, like you'd seen something."
Jesse: "Uh... I just saw some creepy guy in the window. It looked like he had a white pumpkin for a head."
Ivor: "Hah? White Pumpkin? There's no such thing... as White Pumpkins!"
Lukas: "Let's save the agricultural discussions for inside, okay?" We tried to search for a back door... or any kind of entrance... but no matter how long we ran along the mansion wall... we couldn't find anything.
Ivor: "Great! There's no door back here! How are we supposed to get in?!"
Jesse: "Argh!" I desperately looked around, but the only thing I found were windows on the second floor. I guess we have no choice... "There! We should be able to build up and break in through there!"
Ivor: "With what?! We wasted our last dirt blocks building that staircase!"
Jesse: "The trees! Petra and I will cut them down while you two cover for us, okay?" Ivor and Lukas nod, and we get right to work. After quickly cutting down enough trees, and fighting against the zombies one more time, I group everyone up again, and we start building up to the window. To make sure the zombies didn't follow us, Lukas went ahead and destroyed the bottom of the stairs. We sighed in relief, seeing as we're finally out of danger now.
Petra: "Annnd now my inventory's full of wood blocks..."
Jesse: "Hey, you never know when those'll come in handy." The air outside was starting to feel cold, so we hurried to finally get inside. I looked through the window. "Looks like some kind of kitchen in there."
Ivor: "Then break the window and get us into the blasted place already!"
Jesse: "Okay, hope the Host won't mind us breaking their window..."
Petra: "I'm sure he'll find it in his heart to forgive us." I nod and smash the window, and we finally enter the building.
To be continued...