Worlds Apart (Techza)

#2~The Journal~

An undescribable sound that could possibly relate to that of a distorted, game "victory" chime blares noisily around me. The purple fades as I stumble forward onto my knees on crimson ground, and I can hear one or two gasps of the others following suit.

"Whoa!" Tommy shouts right beside me. Wilbur and I wince at the sudden noise.

"Aye, mate, keep it down would'ya?"

"...Beautiful.." Tubbo whispers in awe.

I slowly stand up straight to better look at our surroundings and my body stiffens in shock. The four us stare in wonder at the vast world we had come to at last.

The Nether is nothing I imagined it to be. Yes, the air is stifling hot and smells of ash, and there is a dangerously large amount of lava, but there's also so much life!

Straight ahead north, the ground drops for what seems like several thousand blocks. Deep below, a wide river of lava flows through at a slow pace. Across the gaping chasm are two large balconies growing strange, red trees. Their unnatural colour a fitting addition to the already very red Nether world.

To the East, a field of "soul sand" as it's called, spreads for miles into the hazy distance. South and West are blocked by sturdy walls of "netherrack" that ascend to the uncomfortably close ceiling.

The only reason I know the names of these unfamiliar blocks, is due to the many books stored in a village library we came across weeks ago. Apparently, Players before us wrote of their adventures into the Nether and left them behind for future people. People like us.

Speaking of which...

"Ah, crap!" I raise and lower my hands in annoyance.

"What is it, Phil?" Tubbo questions.

"We forgot to bring one of those Nether journals with us! UGH!"

"Aye, don't worry, old man. I'll go get 'em!" Tommy twirls around, but is stopped by Wilbur's hand on his shoulder.

"No need, pal." A crusty, musty book materializes in his "sooty" hands as he smirks.

"This is why you're my favourite, Wil!" I exclaim cheerfully and snag the journal from him.

"HEY!" both younglings holler with a feeling of betrayal.

Hmm, lets see.

I flip through the aged pages as the two attack Wilbur to "reclaim their honour" - whatever that means. Carefully, I skim over the words in search of what this weird forest is, and whether or not I should be cautious entering it. Who knows what monsters lurk inside!

As I scan and store bits of seemingly important information, a certain page catches my eye.

"Inhabitants of the Nether"

Interesting.

I begin reading.

"It seems am I not as alone as I initially thought. A strange race of pigs live in the area that have shown small signs of intelligence; much more than the common pigs we slaughter for food back home.
They walk upright like us Players and many other hostile mobs I know very well, as well as speak a foreign language I can not interpret. They also have proved to be impervious to fire and lava.
Currently, I know of only three variants of this species and have named them accordingly:

Piglin - Tusked pigs wearing tattered cloths and a gold embellished belt.
They carry a gold sword or a crossbow, possibly for the herds of hoglin {see next page} that roam the fungi forests, and sometimes wear normal or enchanted pieces of armour.
They attack any Player within close range - believe me, I know - but not if you wear gold armour, because these things are obsessed with gold.
The key example where this "intelligence" comes from that I speak of, is the fact you can barter with these beasts. Just hand over a gold ingot and they throw something back. The most rare trade I have been fortunate enough to obtain was four ender pearls.

Zombified Piglin - Unlike their counterparts, these creatures I have deemed to be passive. As the name describes, this varient of piglin is a mix of pig and zombie with the right side of their face exposed down to the bone, and only wear a cloth around the waist. Like their counterparts, they too carry gold swords. You can not barter with zombified Piglin.

Piglin Brute  - This piglin type wears similar but black cloths with a large gold armour piece on the left arm, and wears a belt decorated with larger pieces of gold than the average piglin. Instead of a sword, piglin brutes carry gold axes that deal quite a lot of damage. They are very hostile and should be avoided at all costs. From what I have gathered, they only are found in large, dark structures a close friend of mine has named a, "Bastion Remnant." I have no idea what sparked a name such as that, but nonetheless it's fitting."

Unfortunately, that seems to be the end of that chapter, though I don't know what else I was hoping to read. The information in this journal is and will be very useful for us, so I'm glad we decided to "borrow" a few from that library. I flip through a bit more and finally come across the chapter about the "Crimson Forest." I skim through and find nothing useful, besides the mention of piglins and those hoglins.

"You done reading like a boring person, Philza? I wanna go now!" Tommy whines nearby. My friends have stopped fighting eachother and are now peering curiously down the cliff in front of the portal.

"Be careful, I don't want any of you slipping and falling." I warn cautiously, ignoring Tommy.

"Okay, Dad," Tubbo replies sassily. I sigh and chuckle a bit at these children I practically babysit. I slam closed the book and pop it into my weightless inventory.

"Alright, we can go now. Where to, boys?" I ask.

"Well," Wilbur begins, "I'd rather stick to the trees than go right into an open field of slow sand and skeletons."

"It's pronounced, "soul" sand," the youngest, british boy corrected.

"I know." The brunette glares daggers at the child, who backs up with his hands in the air and a mock submissive look of surrender.

"Lets go left," Tubbo loudly remarks, pointing, well, left.

"There is nothing left. Just wall," yellow boy-o exasperates.

I take a closer look to the west wall by moving in front of a crimson tree. As soon as I'm clear of the vines, I notice an obvious, thick ledge jutting out of the wall. Diagonally right of this, close to me, is another platform that this time comes up from the far ground. Lastly, diagonally left of this, going back towards the wall, is a larger space dug into the netherrack cliff, that looks to have a narrow path leading to the forest on the other side of the chasm.

"Over here!" I call to the other three. They wander over past the lone tree and look to where I'm pointing.

"All we need is to build a few bridges and we're all set!" Wilbur informs. An, hopefully, easy path to the forest we so desperately want to explore.

"HEY! What's that!?"

"Tubbo?"

"Look!"

We all rush back over to the cliffside and peer down.

"Is that?.."

"What? What is it?"

"There's no way we're that lucky."

"What. Is. It!?"

"How could I be so blind!?"

"WHAT IS IT!?" Wilbur whacks Tommy on the top of the head for being annoying. No words used, no words needed.

What we all stare at is none other than the infamous Nether fortress we've heard so much about, laying dormant far below and beside the second balcony of crimson trees. So close, yet so very far.

"All the more reason to get to the other side." I state factually. The other three nod in agreement. A great start to our adventure in the treacherous Nether dimension.