Don't Mine At Night

Save File 6 - Here We Go Again

     Onyx awoke to the sounds of a fire and the smell of cooking chicken. She opened her eyes and looked up. White, cube clouds, floated far above her. Rolling to her side she saw the landscape she'd seen yesterday. Suddenly she remembered where she was and how she'd gotten there. That was all the motivation she needed to want to stay in bed as long as possible.

"Morning sleepyhead. Man, for a gem who doesn't sleep, you were out last night." Peri walked over and offered Onyx a cooked chicken. It was cubey. Like everything else.

"I'm not hungry." Before Peri had the chance to say anything, her stomach growled loudly. "How is this even possible!?"

"Reality is sort of warped here, remember?" Peri still offered up the chicken with a joyful smile.

With a sigh, Onyx looked at her shoulder. Miraculously, it was healed. "I'm suddenly remembering that this wasn't all just a horrible nightmare."

"The skeleton, dead zombie thing and spider were all very much real."

"I wish they weren't." Peri sat on the edge of her bed and sighed. This prompted Onyx to continue, "What's wrong Per? I thought yesterday this was the adventure of all adventures? Today? You don't look so convinced."

"You seem so grumpy about it."

The words cut deeper than Onyx wanted to admit they did. Sure, she knew she hadn't been the happiest about this whole situation, but she didn't mean for that to wear off on Peri. The idea of an apology didn't exactly settle well either. Her actions surely were justified, right? In turn, they simply stared at one another. Peri was the one to break the stare and she got up and walked to the edge of their cave. She looked out over the landscape and sighed heavily.

It wasn't her place to stop Peri. The gem had almost always been adventurous. When she was younger she stayed close to Lavender, her "mother", and never strayed far. After Lavender was shattered, Peri learned to be more confident, and in turn her adventurous spirit began to grow. She longed to go to Earth, to venture to every corner of Homeworld, to visit planets beyond their own. Everywhere she could go she wanted to.

Onyx picked up and axe and walked to Peri. She slipped the tool into her friend's hand. "So go adventure."

"What?"

"Go. Adventure. See the world and explore what you can. I'd like to think we won't be trapped here forever so go see what you can while you can."

"Without you?"

Onyx hesitated for only a brief moment. "No. I'll be there. I'll follow you wherever you go."

Without another word, Peri threw her arms around Onyx and hugged her tightly. "You mean it?"

With a chuckle she answered, "I don't have much of a choice, do I? Someone's gotta keep you out of trouble."

Turning back to their camp, Peri started scheming up all kinds of adventures. "Then go eat, I'll build us a few more tools, and then we'll go mine! I want to try finding some diamonds!"

Onyx shook her head and laughed to herself. However she'd wound up here, she wasn't thrilled, but Peri always made things a little bit more manageable. Before she knew it they were ready for an adventure. Peri gave Onyx a few torches, a wooden sword, and a cube of dirt. Apparently, all "necessary" items for adventuring.

They started into the cave with high hopes. At least, Peri did. She taught Onyx what little she'd gleaned from Snowflake in the brief time she'd talked to her the previous day. She taught her friend how to place torches which came in handy since daylight from the cave entrance was fleeting. The cave opened up into a spacious area, at least it seemed that way for what tiny about Peri and Onyx could actually see, and Peri placed some torches then grabbed her pickaxe.

"Let's start here. I think if we can find some iron we can make iron swords and axes and things like that."

"About that," Onyx took her wooden sword and inspected it by the torch's dim glow. It was still as unimpressive now as it had been earlier. "How come your sword and axe weren't made of wood?"

"I did some mining yesterday but ran out of materials to make you anything more than wooden things." She had only mined a few blocks of cobblestone before the silence from the other gem felt threatening. Turning back she saw the sour scowl on Onyx's face. "B-but we'll gather up some materials and make you nicer ones. We just need some stone."

Onyx frowned and went to edge of the dark and kept watch. Something moved in the distance. She could hear it. Edging closer she tried to figure out if it was the natural noises of the cave or if something was down there with them. One misstep and she fell several feet into the dark with a loud "oof".

"You alright Nyx?" Peri asked but didn't move from where she was mining.

"Peachy."

Glowing red eyes appeared. Then more. Then more. And more.

"Not this again." Onyx groaned.