Author's Note: After 20+ chapters, or nearly 30 chapters into this fanfic, we finally arrive to a special chapter. Keep reading on to discover more!
=====[DW:NG]=====
As the clock struck midnight and time ticked over into the first hour of 2006, Luke immediately received a System notification.
[Congratulations, Host! You are now six years old!]
[In the past five years of your existence in this new life of yours, you have already begun to set the foundations for your own adventures. From recreating the universe of RuneScape in the Whoniverse to getting involved with the Doctor from their tenth incarnation onward, you have done well for starting your own life. However, things will soon begin to get rougher for you from here.]
[For the first five years of your life, you were granted the ability to live in peace with your new family by the Primal Powers. This, naturally, prevented native forces in the universe from interfering with you unless you wished to get involved with them yourself. Forces like UNIT, Torchwood, and other agencies connected to the plot of Doctor Who were unable to get a hold of you directly or indirectly. This blessing was not meant to last indefinitely.]
[Upon reaching a natural age of six years old, most blessings pertaining to keeping you safe from forces that would mean to do you harm (excluding forces that you would willingly involve yourself with like the Sycorax Leader) would enter into a passive degradation state. These blessings would fully expire upon reaching thirteen years old.]
[In compensation for the loss of these blessings, you have been granted access to two new dimensions and any relevant sub-dimensions they may have. These dimensions have been pre-selected and cannot be refunded.]
[Happy Sixth Birthday, Luke Stryker!]
Luke was surprised to read through all of these notifications, but wasn't too surprised to find out that the reason why UNIT and Torchwood haven't been able to find him yet was because of these blessings. He was still unaware of the fact that the blessings worked in tandem with his family's connections to both organizations. It was only when he got to the part about how he got access to two new dimensions that he decided to focus more on that.
When he looked in the [Gift Inbox], Luke noticed two distinct icons. Both of them were somewhat recognizable to Luke and Michael, who had decided to look it over with him too, but it was only one of them that sent a literal chill down Luke's spine.
===÷[GIFT INBOX]÷===
> World: Minecraft (Icon of a flat grass block) <
- Rarity: Unique
– This one-time use item will enable the Host to travel into a pre-generated version of the Minecraft Universe. This contains the ability to link up to other worlds through the use of the Multiverse-Core plugin and comes equipped with mods that must be enabled through progression. Some modded items (ex: items that can create plagues, items that can mutate living organisms into eldritch horrors, etc) cannot be taken from this world into other realities.
– Accept gift? [Y/N]
> World: Warhammer 40,000 (Icon of the Warhammer logo) <
- Rarity: Unique - Hell
– Set ten millennia after the Horus Heresy, this world is a grimdark universe where humanity is pushed to the brink of sanity. The Emperor of Mankind sits eternally on the Golden Throne and various Imperial factions have taken root amidst the onslaught of the Four Chaos Gods. As this world is set in the far future, technology from this universe is not allowed to traverse into other realities.
— RESTRICTION: Until you are eighteen (18) years old, you will be prevented from entering this universe. You can still use this item to unlock the ability to travel, but all attempts to go into this universe will be blocked by the System.
– Accept gift? [Y/N]
===÷[]÷===
"Thank the Primal Powers for that restriction," Luke mentally said as he breathed a sigh of relief as his heart sounded in his chest. "I doubt that if they hadn't put that restriction on it, that man wouldn't take the opportunity to summon me to Holy Terra on the spot. I am only six years old and the Emperor must be desperate to get his hands on me."
He knew that accepting that gift now was nearly tantamount to suicide and Luke wasn't sure if Tzeench or Khorne might try something suspicious to get a hold of him when he went to revive. This was best left for the far future, so Luke decided to put it into his [Inventory] for now and revisit it much, much later.
Preferably when he was a tad older than 18.
With that out of the way, he returned back to the Minecraft icon and immediately accepted it. Even back in his previous life, he knew about this game and its infinite sandbox potential. Despite the fact the base game held minimal progression from first spawn to defeating the Ender Dragon, it captured a lot of people's imaginations on what could be made or done in a nearly-infinite world. People speedran the game to under ten minutes, depending on seed generation, and constructed entire landscapes that were beyond imagination. This usually went from simple terrain builds to megastructures that contained all of their facilities.
In the base edition alone, the game had three main dimensions. These were, in order, the Overworld, the Nether, and The End. The Overworld was where you could explore different biomes and build bases with a strict linear day/night cycle that lasted roughly twenty minutes overall. In the Nether, it was a hellscape with various beasts that could kill you in packs or fling fireballs at you depending on where you were. In the End dimension, you were literally dealing with floating islands flying above the open Void and three meter tall Endermen that would kill you if you looked at them in the eyes.
Luke was sure that this world was going to be useful for him in the future as having access to a dimension that can expand infinitely in all directions (except downward) will grant him near-infinite resources. What worried him a little bit was that one tale that stuck around from the very beginning of Minecraft...
===[DW:NG]===
Meanwhile...
The Emperor was relieved. His attempt had been met with some success. He knew that the soul would come in due time and would aid the Imperium in a time of great crisis, but He had no idea when the soul would come.
Nor any idea what else He had unintentionally invited.
===[DW:NG]===
The man didn't know what happened. He spawned in this place, laying down in the grassy meadow near a village, with little knowledge of who he was. He knew his name, Steve, and the basics of his life. He knew he wasn't able to stay dead in this world and that he was freshly spawned in this strange world, but there was two things that were crystal clear to him.
One was a spooky ghost tale of a man with glowing white eyes and the other was a fairy tale.
About someone called the Lord of Anima.
===[DW:NG]===
Continued in: Passing Time.