Hidden Powers

Mission

Rubbing his head, Wels looked up from where he had landed. Well, landed was an overstatement. More like fell very ungracefully.

The world Wels had plopped down in was unfamiliar, even though it was where he used to live. A flattened island stretched for a few yards before it hit an expanse of ocean, for which there seemed to be no end. The only object of interest was the glowing purple portal in the center of the island.

How am I supposed to find the other stones if I can't even find one person? Wels glanced back at where he had came from, wishing he had had the wits to bring himself an elytra. Shrugging his shoulders, Wels stepped through the portal.

The portal was an interdimensional gateway, to get from one point to the other quickly. When a portal was created, it created a tiny path through the actual dimension, leaving the rest of it untouched. This was a nether portal, which meant that it only scraped the tiniest bit off of the expanse of the hellish Nether. The same went for the End, though no one knew why there was always a dragon there.

Is this it? A tiny room surrounded the Nether portal, the walls made of the warm netherack. A single pathway went as far as the eye could see, the red mist clouding the distance. Had everyone deserted this world?

A man of his word, Wels started the long trek through the suffocating heat of the Nether, pausing once to stay hydrated. He didn't know how long this tunnel was, but it was of the most importance that he find the end of it. Otherwise, he didn't know what would happen.

Sweat trickled down his forehead, making him wish that he had brought ice. The Nether was very unforgiving to those who didn't live there, or those without a heat tolerance. Tango, Wels' old friend, was from the Nether and could live without water or cool weather. In fact, Tango had to build a base with tons of heat because the cooler weather of the Overworld dimension hurt him.

The walls started to swim together as Wels continued to lose moisture. There looked like there was water on the floor, but Wels knew better. He was hallucinating, and he wasn't going to race to find that there was no water at all. However, the water continued to get closer and closer, a very rich blue. Hallucinations didn't get closer or deeper in color.

Wels tossed aside all common sense, water couldn't be in the Nether, and ran towards it. Sadly, no water greeted him, but a sign of civilization did. A massive map lay in front of him, each block corresponding with its dimensional counterpart, but on a smaller scale. Various portals were scattered across the area, labeled respectively.

Where was the best place to start? One of the Hermit's bases, or one of the main areas? Wels deduced that the most activity would be in the shopping district, and at the very least he could get an elytra.

The shopping district portal was slightly larger than the others, and it had strange engravings in it. Protection engravings. Clearly they were trying to keep something out. Or someone. The engravings weren't meant to keep Wels out, because a moment later he was back in the cool Overworld.

A small stream trickled past and Wels leaped to it, splashing himself and drinking the precious liquid. He had forgotten how deadly Nether travel was when one was unequipped.

"Well, I haven't seen you in a while."

Wels look up suddenly to see False standing before him. She hadn't changed much, still preferring the function over fashion look. Her goggles lay on her head, waiting to be used. As Wels remembered the days back when he lived here, he noticed False's look of impatience, reminding him that patience wasn't her deal.

"I've been busy." He smoothed back his shaggy hair as he stood up to his full height, about five inches taller than False.

"I can tell."