The Addicraft Series, Part 4/Finale [Repost]

 

4: New Seasons of Addiction

  I felt the corruption from a distance, but never knew what it was.

  "We always joked about it, but never thought the world we lived in would get corrupted like it did." Churro says during our usual monthly meeting. 

  At least it didn't get to the point of complete corruption. I thought, keeping my hands busy with other story-writing and music collecting. 

  "So, we will have to leave everything behind and go to a new world in March." Ballzz continues from Churro's comment. "We're thinking we will use our usual portal-hopping technique to get to a new world."

  I sigh at the thought of it. The usual portal-hoping technique meant putting everyone but the leaders (Churro, Ballzz, Lost, and Zaring) to sleep while they used whatever magic or sorcery they had to get us there. I never really knew what that was, and never really had to use it, but it was definitely something.

  "Well, in the meantime, we can still play on this world." BT comments as he twiddles his thumbs.

  A few more weeks go by before Ballzz comes up to me and puts me to sleep. It's some leader magic he has, and I've never understood it, so I just went to sleep. I dream of sheep, cows, and plenty of farmland. I dream of hanging out with Rev and Ping, not to mention Churro and BT while they play-fight.

  A few moments later I wake up, staring at... Ame? "Ame?" I ask deliriously.

  "Oh, hey Ani." Ame grins, holding a hand to pick me up off the ground. "I got some farming stuff together. We can start building a farm when you're ready. Mostly got a lot of oak wood and cobblestone."

  I look around. We have two sets of hills, which is fine. I look at the clear space, along with the small house Ame built on two pillars of stone and gravel.

  "Oh, want to go inside? I have stuff ready to go, and Birdy is mining for ores right now."

  "Birdy?" I ask, still confused.

  "Yeah... you know... Birdy... your friend." Ame looks around worriedly, wondering why I asked.

  "Did someone call for me?" I hear a familiar Southern accent coming from the door.

  I look up to see Birdy standing in the doorway, pickaxe in hand, iron armor adorned, looking down at us. He looks at Ame first, then sees me standing there.

  "Ani! You woke up!" Birdy shouts, running down the stairs and grabbing me in a giant hug. My mind takes a little longer to process that he is hugging me, let alone that he is here."I'm so glad you are awake! You have no idea how excited I was that you and Ame and I are working together and I'm going to get you all the best resources for the farm!"

  As he puts me back on the ground, I glance over to Ame, then back at him. I am still confused, but it is starting to come back to me. "What is going on?"

  "We're in the new world, of course!" Birdy chirps happily.

  Ame tilts her head and looks at me. "What did they use to put you to sleep, Ani?"

  I shrug. "Magic and sorcery, for all I know and care." I look around some more. "How did you two get here?"

  "Well, we got an invitation from Ballzz. Said we came recommended by you, and he offered." Birdy smiles, slugging his pickaxe over his shoulder.

  "I thought he would have told you." Ame narrows her eyes at me.

  I shrug. "I don't mind. I'm glad he invited you two." I see a small pie on the ground. I don't remember being able to make pie before... "Where did this come from?"

  "Oh, some guy named Rev came over and asked us to give it to you." Birdy says. I detect a little jealousy in his voice, but I choose to not say anything.

  I pick it up and eat it. It's a nice apple pie, with a flaky crust and sweet apples. I smile and look around in alarm. "Wait, how did he make apple pie?"

  "From the looks of it, this world is a bit different than your last one." Ame answers."It has more things to explore, to gather, and to play with. He gave us all a guide to help us make sense of everything. Yours is in the house. We didn't want it to get wet when the rain hit earlier."

  I tense up for a moment. Rain meant skeleton horses, which meant lightning could strike them and magically spawn the Horsemen of Doom (at least, that's how I remember them). I shudder for a moment as I remember them from the old Abandoned days. Ame sees my shudder, but turns to Birdy instead. "You should probably going mining again. Ani may want some emeralds and diamonds for trading later."

  "Yeah, and I need coal, iron, redstone, and lapiz for later too. Maybe some gold while I'm at it. And obsidian." I watch his mind and gaze trail off for a moment before he goes bouncing to the hill just to my left. "Bye! I'll be back later!"

  "Bye Birdy." Ame calls back. She waits a moment before looking at me. "I don't know why it took you so long to wake up, but I'm glad you're up. I built the house, and I got started on a tiered farm, just how Rev said you used to make them. He seems like a nice guy."

  "He is." I agree. "Glad to know you guys will be here with me this time around. How far away is everyone else?"

  "Well, Rev and some other guy... I think his name is Ping... are just over the hills behind you." Ame points to them. "Then everyone else is a bit more spread out. But it sounds like we were granted some sort of magical powers to have binding powers to three different places at once. I'm not sure how it works, you would have to ask Churro or Ballzz when they pop onto the communicators again. Oh, that's what I was forgetting!"

  Ame runs up to the house and mucks around looking for something. I stand outside and look around. There are already fruit trees planted on the top floor of the farm, and some other plants growing inside it. Ame comes back with a book and a circular pocketwatch for me. "Here is your guide and communicator. We put it in the house so it didn't get wet?"

  "And you didn't put me in there?" I counter, glancing up at her as I take the items.

  "We didn't want to wake you up, and Ballzz said you would be fine down here."

  I glance at the two items. The books is a leatherbound, with gleaming magical stenciling on the front. Mine had different patterns of ribbons on it. The other thing was the communicator. It's outer surface was metallic this time, with the same style of ribbons as my book. The lettering was in white gold and said PTA. Part Time Addicts, if I remember correctly. I open the inside to see a white gold chain fall to the side, and a white gold earpiece in the center. The computer inside lights up the screen above it, and the buttons below flash in reaction. I hear a small British voice from the communicator. "Downloading latest information, scanning for facial confirmation..." At that moment, I hear several clicks. "Addict confirmed. Hello Animus. You have three messages, and there are four Addicts in the General Voice Chat. What would you like to do?"

  "When did this happen?" I asked Ame, putting the earpiece on my ear.

  "Ballzz said it was a new update to the communicator. It has whatever voice you want, and yours was just programmed for a Sherlock Holmes-style British man. Apparently." Ame answers, "Anyway, we all have different ones, and Ballzz said they can either be kept in our pockets or hung around our necks. Just as long as we have it to keep connected while we are all still miles away from each other's bases."

  I shrug. "Fine by me."

  "Pardon me, Animus." The communicator chimes. "I have two requests for you."

  "Okay." I drawl.

  "First, I need a name."

  I think for a moment. "How about Ivri?"

  "Ivri communicator activated!" Ivri chimes. "Secondly, Ping_GG is asking to teleport to your current location. To accept it, press the green button. To deny, press the purple one."

  I glance up at Ame. "When was teleportation allowed?"

  Ame shrugs. "I guess it is one of the little powers the leaders gave us."

  I laugh. "I guess so." I press the green button and watch Ping appear next to me. "Hola, Ping. How's it going?"

  Ping looks around with a pie on his head. "Hi, Ani. Nice place you got going already."

  "Ame made it while I was knocked out." I correct him, nodding my head to Ame.

  Ame smiles. "Come on, I'll show you around."