I felt fear flood my veins as the roars, chatters, and screeches of various creatures rang out above ground, above the very small space I managed to dig out for my safety after waking up in this rotten world.
And it was a seriously close thing as a group of strange-looking Zombies of all things tried to kill me right after nightfall.
In a situation like this, my heart should be pounding like crazy, even on the verge of stopping out of sheer fear. And yet, I could feel no such thing.
It felt like I injected sheer apathy within my very bloodstream as I felt like everything was fine, as if my life was not in danger, and my mind was simply overreacting.
But I knew that it was not the case. Because I knew instinctively that the zombies were dangerous, just like how instinctively to use my new body and its energies to cut the ground below me into a perfect cube which then shrunk into a form that is more easily to move and then expanded back to perfectly fill the area up again once I got deep enough, even going as far as seemlessly merging back to its previous location with the help of the eldritch energies that flowed through my body.
I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I wanted to let out all of my emotions to the best of my abilities. But all I could do was remain silent, listening to the noises above ground, while my brain continued to run as if it were an entire continent of supercomputers combined.
That was how I spent this first night. The night when I realized that this strange world was real and not a comatose dream of an air crash victim.
That, somehow, I have been given a new chance at life.
That my new life was just as bad, maybe even worse, than my previous one.
Because now, I had to live by the rules of what I once thought was nothing more than a game.
Because now, I had to live within the world of Minecraft.
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Remnant. Somewhere in the frontiers of Mistral.
Within the crater that had formed deep inside the forests of Mistral, the man with brown hair and a beard slowly opened his eyes, revealing blue squares that quickly turned back to regular-looking eyes as he groaned in discomfort.
"What the hell happened? And what were those voices?"
"You awake? That was some damage we took."
Steve looked at his Wife, who was already messing with something on the Smoker, probably making some food for them.
"When did you wake up?"
"Just a few minutes ago. Figured you might want some food when you woke up. We did take a lot of damage after whatever happened. I feel very exhausted and on the verge of getting a respawn. How are you feeling?"
Steve closed his eyes at her words and felt deep within himself, searching for his soul and feeling his lifeforce.
As expected, he too had been injured quite deeply and was on the verge of dying.
"Same. What's for breakfast?"
Alex grinned at her husband's words.
"Baked Potatoes."
"Ohh~Nice!"
Before Steve met his wife, he had spent a few years on his own in the Overworld and had eaten Baked Potatoes many times. In fact, he had tried all kinds of food on his own.
And yet, there was something about Alex's cooking that was in a league of its own. Even something as simple as Baked Potatoes tasted heavenly when she made them.
Steve always suspected that she kept some kind of secret spice within her storage, even though she always denied it.
Watching his wife smile and work the smoker, Steve could not help but smile warmly, forgetting all about their current situation.
'I don't care where we are. As long as you are by my side, nothing is impossible.'
Shaking his head to get rid of those thoughts, Steve walked towards his wife and sat beside her, allowing her to lean on his shoulder.
Within a few minutes, the potatoes were done, allowing the couple to scarf them down and heal from their injuries near instantly.
"So, what now?"
"Well. First things first, we need to know where we are."
Steve nodded his head at Alex's words.
"I think I saw a village when we were falling. I am not sure if I am right, but it is worth a shot."
Alex hummed at his words.
"Alright. You go and scout out that village. Meanwhile, I'll build a temporary shelter for us here."
Steve looked at his wife worriedly as she smacked his shoulder at the look.
"Hey! Don't give me that look. I am not as absentminded as I was back then. I'll keep an eye on the surroundings and won't be caught off guard."
"Still..."
"Steve. You know me. I won't drop my guard unless you are by my side."
Reluctantly, Steve nodded his head, making his wife beam at him happily as they stood up.
Stretching a little bit, Alex brought out her Netherite Pickaxe as Steve did the same.
However, as they slowly started to whittle away at the Obsidian, Alex could not help but glare at her husband.
"Could you not have used something easier to break as an emergency shelter?"
"Hey! I was not thinking straight at that moment. All I cared about was protecting you, and Obsidian was the first thing that came to mind."
Alex simply grumbled but shook her head with exasperation and fondness, knowing that she would probably do the same if she were in his place, maybe even worse, given how protective she was of her husband.
One only needed to ask the Villaiger women in the Overworld near their former home.
The thrashing that Alex gave that particular Villager girl for trying to seduce Steve was legendary among their population.
Not like it would work anyways.
As the last remnants of an ancient race, Steve and Alex were unique in every way possible, so it was simply wishful thinking on the Villagers' part to think that they could bend this couple to their whims by using something as barbaric as a honeypot trap.
"You are brooding again."
"I do not brood!"
Steve simply chuckled at his wife's glare after being called out like that. But he understood where she was coming from.
In fact, he knew that he would be worse than Alex should someone try to seduce her, like what happened at the Village all those centuries ago with that Villager girl.
Because, unlike Alex, who only gave a beating to that girl, Steve would straight up shank any fool who tried to make an advance on his wife.
Any normal person would straight away call these overprotective and possessive feelings that the couple held for each other unhealthy. Steve knew that.
And yet, he could not care less about it. After all, they had long since come to terms with the fact that they were insane in every definition of the word.
Being stranded in a world like the Overworld for countless centuries would do that to any person.
The only solace they had was that they had each other to rely on. If not, who knows how they would have turned out?
Soon, all the Obsidian blocks had been cleared out and stored in their storage, revealing a large, charred clearing within the forest.
"Alright. I think the town is to the East. You sure you don't need any help? I could spawn a few Golems?"
Alex rolled her eyes at her husband's words and pushed him eastwards.
"Forget about me, go and scout out the place. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I have the same stuff with me in the inventory, remember? Besides, I still have thousands of Totems of Undying with me."
"...That does not fill me with confidence. Build a few Iron Golems for protection. Maybe even those Stone Golems and the Mossy Golems-"
"Yes, yes, I know. Now, get going!"
"Fine. Be Careful-"
"STEVE!"
"Alright! I'm going!"
At Alex's annoyed shout, he finally took off, heading eastwards towards the town while grumbling, missing how Alex smiled warmly at his back before turning around.
"Alright. Time for some good ol' Alex's infrastructure magic."
With that, the female builder placed down her first block, and the world changed forevermore.
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Author notes: Read 10 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Tiranus2