Worlds Apart (Techza)

#1~Prepare For Adventure~

"Here, I have an extra."

I gratefully accept the diamond pickaxe and brush away the broken shards of my last one. Wilbur resumes his strip-mine, while I focus my attention back on the lapis lazuli I had started excavating.

Me and my friends have been preparing awhile now for the treacherous journey to the Nether dimension. If all goes well we'll have collected a bunch of new materials to upgrade our current strength.

But, of course, the first step is to make the portal of obsidian. We only really need ten obsidian blocks, because the corners are not necessary for the purple gateway to work.

"Phil! Philza!" An obnoxiously loud voice yells out from somewhere behind me. "Look what I found!"

I turn around to see a young boy with short, dirty-blond locks and pale blue eyes quickly emerge from a narrow, dimly lit tunnel. His white and red t-shirt is smudged with grime and the bottom of his jeans are slightly ripped from underground labour. Though his physical appearance isn't much of a sight to behold, his large grin and sparkling eyes surely make up for it.

I smile softly and chuckle. "Tommy, what is it that's got you so excited, mate?"

The british teenager pauses for a moment to dramatically wheeze for air with his hands on his knees, as if he's ran a marathon.

"Phil! Phil, I-" Tommy interrupts himself with a short bark of laughter.
"Just- Look!" A book shimmering with neon purple materializes in his outstretched hand.

"An enchantment book? What's the enchantment?" I curiously lean over to read the label, but he pulls away sharply to continue the growing suspense.

"I found it in an abandoned mineshaft! I put my blood, sweat and tears into protecting this book from the ugly creepers that were eyeing me hungrily from the shadows!" The boy was obviously exaggerating the experience, but I found it amusing, so I patiently wait for the big reveal.

"They thought I was weak. They thought! But you know what I did, Phil? You know what I did to those beasts!?"

"What'd you do, Tommy?" I sigh with a giggle.

"I ran as fast as I could! They didn't see it coming! I ran and ran and ran, but I had to stop to eat some food so I didn't die of hunger-" I laugh at that, and Tommy barks a laugh as well before continuing his rant.

"-and I ran some more, and now I'm here!" The child spread his arms wide as he finished his tale. "Phil, hey Phil, do you want to know what the enchantment is on this book that I risked my life for?"

"Yeah," I reply simply, the anticipation killing me.

...

"Knockback."

I give him a blank, unimpressed stare and he absolutely looses it. I sigh deeply and rub my temple, but unfortunately it was sort of funny, and I find myself chuckling despite being completely fooled.

"Uh, did I miss something?" Another british boy pops his fluffy head from around the corner of his tunnel. Brown curls curtain his eyes and he swings his head sharply to the side in an attempt to move them from his view, but fails and gives up.

"Hey, Wilbur."

"Hey, Wil."

We both greet the yellow fellow, while I gave a small wave.

"How'd your strip-mining go? Anything good?" I ask.

"While, actually, I found a large lava pool a few hundred blocks from here, but uh.." Wilbur shuffles his feet in slight embarrassment.