POV Rio
As the explosion went off, I only saw white, and then everything went dark. I wasn't sure what happened after that, but I felt as if I was floating in an empty void.
After a while, I had forgotten why I was there.
'What is here?'
I thought to myself.
'Myself? What's that?'
I felt confused, like everything was a blurry dream. I felt like I was supposed to remember something, but I could remember why I needed to remember.
'Is remembering the remembered memory needed?'
"Wake up..."
'I hear a voice?'
Time passed as is the nature of time. And after that time passed, I started to become more lucid. My memories were still blurry, but my mind wasn't so muddled. Things felt less like a dream and more like a physical place. I did have very strange dreams in this state. They were strange because I felt like they weren't mine. Each dream had different beings doing different things. Some of those beings looked familiar, but I couldn't place where I had seen them. I knew I was forgetting something... Something important.
'No... Someone important? People? No... Friends... Yes, I have friends. But who are they? Why can't I remember them?'
"Wake up..."
I hear the voice again.
Before I could focus on the voice, I was distracted by a green sphere. From the sphere came strange words. Something about power and servants: I felt like I recognized the voice, but I wasn't sure where I had heard it before. As I was lost in thought about this strange voice, I started to feel like I was being pulled towards the portal. I didn't know where this thing was trying to take me, but I didn't want to find out.
I tried to resist the pull, but with no body to speak of, I couldn't do a whole lot to resist. Eventually, I am pulled into the sphere, and I feel like I fall into a massive void. I look down and see small lights and massive blocky pillars rising out of an endless void. It was as I was falling that I was able to see the lights more clearly. They had... people in them. Or I guess creatures. There was a Griffon with a crown playing chess. A man with nine tails sitting in a futuristic chair. A Keldeo, I think, playing with a box. A man in armor looking over maps of Europe. I felt a connection to each one. But as I was pondering this feeling, I saw the brightest light. Inside was a creature with large wings, and his eyes... His eyes were the most beautiful jewels I had ever seen. And unlike the others, this creature looked back. He then seemed to raise an eyebrow.
"You're not supposed to be here. Let me fix that," the voice says, and with a wave of his hand, I am sent hurtling through this void and out of this space and into a place that looks empty but feels different.
After a while of flying through this void, I finally spot something. They were doors. Each one looked different than the other. They differed in sometimes very odd ways. Like one looked like it was made of pixels, and another looked like it was made of pixelated blocks. It was at this point that I was able to feel a faux floor of some kind. I called it faux, as I still don't have legs or any body to speak of. And yet I can feel I am standing on something.
The area was seemingly endless. There were doors as far as they eye could see, and I had no idea what to do from here.
'I can walk, but my memories are still a little blurry.'
After arriving here, I felt like I was slowly remembering things. It wasn't perfect, but I could now recall things like my first life. Which made me realize I had a second life. The second life was still a bit blurry, but I feel like it was good. The question I was wondering is if I had more than just 2 lives. Regardless, I figured sitting here and doing nothing wasn't a good idea, so I decided to check the nearest door. It was one made of pixelated blocks with a crown made of gold and emeralds or some other green gem.
'Well, guess I should open it.'
I grabbed the very angular doorknob and twisted it. With a loud click, the door unlocks, and I pause for a moment to see if anything else happens. When nothing happens, I open the door. My vision instantly goes white, and I feel woozy for a moment before my vision returns, and I find myself on a grassy hill overlooking a massive city made of blocks, with a particularly impressive-looking castle on a hill above it.
[Image Here]
'Now what do I do?'
I figured I should take a look. I went to walk when I realized I had a body again. But it was a really weird body. I was made of blocks. I had navy blue pants, a teal shirt, and brownish black shoes.
"Well, this is weird," I comment.
It was at this point that I felt a sudden click and everything snapped into place. I knew exactly where I was, and that wasn't necessarily a good thing.
'Oh poop.'
"Well, on the bright side, based on the looks of the castle, I am either before or after the story. Let's just hope it's after," I state.
I estimated the distance from the castle and correlated it with the sun, and figured I wouldn't arrive in time, so I moved to get some gear first. With my memories of this place, I was more than capable of speedrunning higher-level gear. At least Iron level. The only troubling part was that I still didn't remember what my second life contained. But I could focus on other things first.
Several Hours Later...
"Well, it's not perfect, but given that I am in the game and not using a keyboard and mouse, I will accept the time it took. I also misjudged the time system of this world," I commented.
I had gotten a full Iron Gear with tools and had even managed to get a diamond sword. The most difficult to obtain was a bow and arrows. But I managed to get two stacks of arrows, so I was satisfied. What really helped was the strange fact that I didn't need food. It was odd but very helpful. Now that I had all the gear I needed, I decided it wouldn't be a terrible idea to attempt to get to the castle tonight, as from what I could tell, it seemed like the days were a standard 24-hour day. And I estimated it was at most a 3-hour trip on land to the castle. And that's if I didn't rush.
I closed the door to my small shelter and started making my way towards the castle. I didn't run the whole way as I wanted to take the time to sightsee a bit. This world was very beautiful in its own blocky way. Due to my slightly slower walk, I arrived just a bit before dusk. The guards at the gate were a bit suspicious of me as I was a man showing up in full armor, but I was unarmed, so they didn't panic. It was another perk I had noticed. I had a possibly endless inventory. I hadn't found an end to it so far, and as such, I was carrying a massive amount of blocks on me. Not that they would be able to tell.
"What brings you here, stranger?" the guard asks.
"I am lost and trying to find a place to stay for the night. The night is long and full of terrors," I reply.
"Hmm, very well. You may enter, but if you don't have coin, you will have to sell some of that armor to pay or sleep on the streets," the guard replied.
I nod and enter the city. It was quite the novel experience. I didn't just sightsee, I also listened to what everyone was saying. And when that didn't get me what I wanted, I asked some questions. Because of that, I was able to tell I was in the place I didn't want to be in. Before the kingdom fell. By the time had learned all that, it was already nighttime.
'Sigh. Just my luck. Well, hopefully I can prevent everyone from dying.'
Just as I said, I heard a distant explosion and ran towards it. What I saw made me go pale. An angry mob of enemy mobs. And they were all heading towards the city proper. I pulled out my sword and bow and took a deep breath. At the very least, everyone in this world, including the hostile mobs were easy to kill.
"Oh, boy, here I go killin' again," I joke to lighten my mood, and then start shooting at the creepers to thin out the numbers and because they were the most dangerous.
As I kill more and more mobs, they start to focus on me instead of attacking the city. Thankfully, the prison that held all these mobs didn't have that many residents. It was also thanks to my stalling that the guards were able to react more effectively. Several even came to help me, but I told them I would hold off the mobs and that there was more to this attack, and that they needed to evacuate the citizens or at least defend them first. A captain or leader of the guard was the one to agree to me holding them off.
After I had just about run out of arrows, I had to switch to my sword, but honestly, that was super easy. The sword cut through them like a hot knife through butter. I took several hits still, but they surprisingly didn't hurt that much. By the time only a few mobs remained, they were scared of me and trying to run away. I didn't let them escape, and once the last one was dead, I could focus back on the city. It didn't look so good. Parts were on fire, and several dozen nether portals had opened, spilling out more mobs.
I ran to the city, but honestly, even with my skills, I wasn't very confident in clearing out all the enemies. But on the bright side, I was causing so much damage that the enemy mobs started ignoring the citizens and focused on taking me out. That was all I needed as I was stalling for time to ensure the citizens escaped. Thankfully, it seemed the guard captain had taken my words seriously, and not many people remained in the city.
"Stranger! Get over here! We're closing the castle gates!" the guard captain yelled.
"Leave me! I can't get to you in time!" I yell back.
I couldn't even see where they were as I was too focused on the enemy surrounding me. I had already slain hundreds, and those that still had intelligence were all too scared to approach me. It was at this time that I finally saw something out of the corner of my eye that made me scared. It was Herobrine, and he was building something.
I didn't hesitate and ran in the opposite direction right as the third head had been placed on the statue. With a flash of blue light, an explosion goes off, killing most of the mobs nearby and creating a Wither.
"Well, bugger me sideways with a teabag," I comment as the Wither starts to kill everything near it.
There was no such thing as a friend or foe with a Wither. They were creatures of destruction and nothing else. I couldn't let it destroy everything, so I drew its attention by shooting it. When the arrow hit, all three heads snapped in my direction, and I could tell they were mad.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!
The Wither screamed and launched several heads at me. I used the nearby fleeing mobs as meat shields while occasionally shooting whenever I had the chance. This worked until I hit the half-health mark, and it entered phase two. At that point, I pulled out a Notch Apple and ate it while charging it.
"For Narnia!" I screamed.
It was a bloody battle in the sense that I got hit a lot, but in terms of difficultly it wasn't that hard; it was just painful. There wasn't much need for a strategy when the Notch Apple made me stupidly powerful and darn near impossible to kill for a bit. When I had finally managed to kill the Wither, I saw the Nether Star drop, but before anyone could see it, I stored it in my inventory. It was at this point that I looked around and saw what little remained of the area. The damage was bad. Like really bad. With the exception of the castle, the area was utterly destroyed, with large pits all over the place.
The Castle had also taken a little bit of damage, but not much. As for the Nether Portals, most had closed or been broken. I didn't see any hostile mobs, so I took a seat and took a breather. I also took this chance to eat some food and regenerate from the damage I had taken. Some guards started to come out of the palace and secure the area. A few thanked me or gave me nods and went on their way. One came over and told me their king wanted to speak to me.
'Well, guess time to meet the nameless king.'