World 101/Chapter 3 - Where Do I Go?

World 101
A Short Story By: Jennie Bean

-continued-
Chapter 3 - Where Do I Go?

"Really?"  I just realize I have to dig down to find the next blue brochure.  I create and stock up on more ladders to be able to return to the surface.  I scout out an initial digging location close to where the arrow points straight down.

I dig down and place ladders against the dirt and sand as I go down.  Down about fifty feet deep, my wood axe disappears.  I grab another one in my bag to continue digging, but start to wonder if there will ever be a clearing.  I arrive at a block of material that is grayer in color that resembles clay.  As I keep my eye on my watch, the blue arrow rotates towards my left side, but is still a few feet lower.  As the arrow levels out, I turn to my left and dig in front of me.  I have to clear out more sand to gain distance this way.   Darkness surrounds me, and I feel very lost.  As soon as I think I am doomed to be digging forever, I see it: a clearing.

Blocks of an unknown rock formation fills the outer walls of the clearing.  There is a torch on the ground revealing a cave before me.  A green tint, which must be a cool mineral, glows from the wall on my right.  There is a tunnel sloping downward with scattered light reflecting off the walls.

Music fills the cave just then.  It reminds me of a Middle Earth adventure tune, and it seems to echo all around me, though I do not know where the source resides.

Excitedly, I run down into the cave tunnel.  Luckily, there are torches placed on the ground so I can find my way.  Who put the torches down?  The survivor must have gone this way.  The arrow soon guides me to the blue brochure: iron axe instructions.  I could really use this because this wood axe takes too much effort to break through the harder rock formations.

I turn around and spy a yellow slip that reads:

'Wisdom: Antidisestablishmentarianism was a plague upon the nations; forsooth it is better to seek scrolls of gnomic wisdom than to disintegrate the building blocks of minor countries.'

Since there are no iron minerals in site, I decide to return to my home base to see if I can now buy the iron axe by trading in all of my clay.  Before I go up the ladder and despite my recent wisdom scroll, I hit the green shiny mineral, hoping to take it with me.  Wow, this is way too hard to break, as it disintegrates my wood axe.  I run up the long passage to the surface.

I give in all of my clay to the material computer, and fortunately, I have just enough coins to purchase the iron axe.  Beaming, I take hold of the iron axe and dash down the chute to the cave.  I continue where I left off down into the different cave levels.  Jumping and swerving around huge rock formations, I gain depth towards my next blue brochure.  My watch then stops and goes completely white. 

I tap the face hoping it will spring to life again.  It could be possible that there is a signal making this device work, and I am too far into the ground to connect to it.  I hear a faint tapping, and then a rumbling noise from far away.  Then my bag shakes, rattling my wood axe against my purple glow stone.  The ground shakes relentlessly, and I see something falling from a distance.  I look up and quickly veer away from a block of clay dropping from the cave ceiling.  I dive into a small pathway, and the shaking stops.  The earthquake filled the cave with various blocks of stone and now covers some of the torch light.  Just as I am making my way out of the small pathway, I hear a small boyish voice coming from behind me, “Help!”  My heart leaps into my throat and realize there is someone else here.  

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Stay tuned for Chapter 4 - Who is that?

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Thank you to Total Miner for being the inspiration to my story.  Thank you to the bf who motivates me to actually do things.

World 101 /Chapter 2 - What Do I Do?

World 101
A Short Story By: Jennie Bean

-continued-
Chapter 2 - What Do I Do?

Catchy, upbeat music starts to play.  A flute plays a cheery Irish melody.  Where is that coming from?  I look all around, but cannot find the source of the tune.  It fills the air like surround sound, and I check if speakers are hidden in the long grass, though nothing is there.  After 20 seconds, the music stops.

Puzzled, I walk towards the first clunky computer.  There is a screen with items for sale.  It's a vending machine!  I check my bag and dress pockets, and I have no money.  The products I could purchase range from a raw fish to a steel shovel, just like in the handmade instructions I have!  There are many selections that are blacked out. I wonder what they are.  I spot an advertisement that says 'FREE!'  It is for a wood axe.  I press a green button selecting it.  Nothing happens.  I press it again and again.  It's a scam!  I angrily punch the grass on the ground in front of me.  The whole ground in that area suddenly disappears!  I look down the small hole, and dirt is all around the sides and bottom.  I feel my bag starting to get heavy.  I opened it to see my original purple glow stone, three small wood axes and a square inch amount of dirt.  "Aha!"

I grab one of the wood axes, and it grows to normal size. I use the wood ax on another area of grass, and it disappears similarly to when I punched it.  Well, this hurts less!  I step down into the hole and then jump out.  It's about the same size as the funny looking stone with the purple glow a few feet away that I threw earlier.  I reach down and strike the dirt underneath to make the hole deeper.  There is some sort of sandstone under the dirt here.  I wonder how deep it can go.  Before I try, I really should check out the other computer vending machine.

In walking over, I scratch an itch on my arm, and notice it's just my watch.  My watch?! What time....oh... Instead of a clock face, there is a small blue arrow that is spinning.  I wear my watch all of the time, so I didn't notice this was different.  This arrow looks strangely familiar.  It could be some type of compass.  I move around, and it fixates on a certain direction.  I want to follow it, but first glance over at the second computer screen.  Nothing free here.  Just a bunch of stones.

I run in the direction of the arrow.  The arrow spins faster and faster!  Cautiously, I slowly creep in that direction.  There is a blue speck amongst the purple flowers.  It's another blue brochure!  Duh! The blue arrow emblem on the back matches the arrow on my wrist!  The watch arrow is going crazy now and is pointed straight down at it.  I open the brochure and find that it's another set of instructions for a chest.  I could store some items in there instead of my bag getting heavy.  I look at the materials, and realize I don't have wood planks.  I'd have to chop some trees to get wood.  I pocket the brochure and look down at my watch.

The arrow is now pointing in the opposite direction spinning slower.  Eager to get another set of instructions, I set out to the other side of the islands.  Going in and out of the water to get there, I am thankful for the coolness on my feet.  This blue brochure, close to the outer edge of this plot, is instructions for a ladder.  I will also need wood for this.

I chop at the tree trunks closest to me; they disappear, and go straight into my bag.  Neat trick!  I go back to my home base and set up a workspace.  I construct some ladders and a few chests.  I put all of the material I don't need into the chests and carry my ladders.  I try placing a ladder against a tree, but it is not stable because of the unwieldly branches.  I dig up some dirt and stack them.  I place a few ladder pieces against it and climb up. Curious to see the islands from high in the sky, I keep building the dirt up and up.  'Clunk!'  "AHH, I should have expected that!" I said as I rub my head.  My boundary limit is above too, so I can't go over and out into the ocean.  The clouds are so close but can't quite reach them.  There are still no birds or planes up here. Hmm...

I head back down to my home base, collecting my material as I go. Just remembering the blue brochures, I quickly look down at my watch.  The arrow is pointed straight down.


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Stay tuned for Chapter 3 - Where do I go?

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Thank you to Total Miner for being the inspiration to my story.  Thank you to the bf who motivates me to actually do things.

World 101 /Chapter 1 - Where Am I?

World 101
A Short Story by: Jennie Bean

Chapter 1 - Where Am I?

It feels like I have been asleep for a very long time.   I open my eyes in a panic.  Surrounding me are trees and flowers with bright colors.  I feel like I should be somewhere else now – work, home, at a family gathering?  I cannot remember the last thing that happened before I woke up here.  I have a feeling that I am putting off something important.  When did I last eat?  Did I have lunch today?  It looks mid-day, though I don’t know which direction the sun is.

Why am I in this nature setting?  It is eerily quiet with no one in sight.  There are also no bugs or birds around either.  Having an insectophobia, I am relieved I have no bugs to deal with. I look down and I am wearing a red dress.  I cannot remember ever buying a red dress.  I also have a tan bag around my shoulder with two tiny strange stones inside.  My hair is pulled back with one of those scrunchies I used back in the day.  The temperature is just right with no wind whatsoever.

“Hello?” I call out, “Is anyone there?” There is no answer, so I start walking around, on what seems to be a small island.  The ground is made of very full grass, and I’ve never seen it so green.  As I keep walking I get to some shallow water.  I wade through and reach another small island with a big hill and a tree on top.  I start walking up, so I can have a view of where I am, and see if there is anything else around.  Halfway up, there is a blue brochure lying on the ground.  I pick it up to find it being instructions on how to make an iron shovel from scratch.  I begin to think that these clusters of islands must be deserted and the brochure left here by someone who had to make tools to survive.  So where is that survivor?  I fold the blue instructions and notice an arrow emblem on the opposite side of the paper. I pocket it and continue up the hill.

At the very top, I can see about six islands around me with small lakes in between.  Red and yellow flowers are in bloom everywhere. There is a strange path and hill to my right that looks like it just stops in the middle of the water and then opens to a wide area of water.  An ocean?  I walk down the hill towards this area to check it out.  I walk down the thin path and then up a tiny hill.  I look down and out.   Inching out to the edge of the dirt, an invisible wall knocks my head hard. "Damn-it!" I yell, holding my head.  I put my right hand out in front of me, and there clearly is a barrier.  I now notice it is cut through an island about 100 meters away from me too.  I follow the clear wall, running my hand against it all the way down to that second island by wading in and out of the water.  I keep going past the second island to see if there is an opening out to the ocean.  I could possibly make a boat and sail out...

Thunk! "Oww!" I scream.  There is another barrier perpendicular to the other wall.  I follow that one around and catch myself with my other hand for a third and fourth wall.  Recognizing the weird path and small hill, I find that I am squared in by this weird boundary.

I sadly sigh. Why am I being kept here?  Who is doing this to me?  I travel back to the middle of the square where I woke up. 

In a rage of confusion, I throw one of my strange stones on the ground. It grows instantly to about 4ft x 4ft, and a weird purple glow shoots up from it.  I put my finger on the top edge of the stone, and I feel a tingling sensation.  I get scared and pull my hand from it.  What is this place?

There are two clunky computers stationed here on some very hard stone that I didn’t notice before.  I spot something glistening on the ground to my left, so I head over there, but I remind myself to check out the computers soon after.

The sparkle I saw is a similar scrap of paper to the iron shovel instructions.  It's yellow and a lot smaller with a big 'W' on it. I pick it up and turn it over. It reads: 

'Wisdom: Only you can find a way.'

"Nice," I roll my eyes.
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Stay tuned for Chapter 2 - What do I do?

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Thank you to Total Miner for being the inspiration to my story.  Thank you to the bf who motivates me to actually do things.