Sunset cried as she swung her stone sword with all her might, bringing it down on top of the zombie's head once again. The zombie let out one last groan and lurched to the side, dissolving into a puff of smoke. Sunset panted for breath and wiped the sweat off of her forehead.

From what she could tell, it looked like this world had gone through some kind of zombie apocalypse that had wiped out humanity and left nearly no signs of civilization. And either the laws of biology are very different here, or those skeletons we saw were being held together and animated by some kind of magic... At least it looks like we're not dealing with some kind of virus.

Missy peeked out from over her shoulder before letting go of her grip on Sunset and dropping back to the ground.

"I'm sorry, I thought the zombies burned in daylight!" she apologized for the fourth time. Sunset glanced upwards, then pointed at the leaves sheltering them from the sunlight.

"Guess we should avoid any areas with a lot of tree cover, huh?" She paused, watching Missy walk over and give the tree an angry punch. It was still strange to her to see the little duel spirit getting from place to place on foot. "Hey, I don't mean to pry, but... why aren't you flying? I don't think I've ever seen you touch the ground until we got here!"

Missy sighed, her wings drooping with disappointment. "Well, I tried, but after a few seconds, I blacked out! After I woke back up, I had this in my hand!" She reached into her pocket, passing a crumpled-up note to Sunset.

DISCONNECTED FROM SERVER Flying is not enabled on this server

Sunset raised an eyebrow, trying to wrap her head around the logistics of there being a "server" this entire world was existing on.

"I don't wanna think about where I'd wind up if I got banned from the server..." Missy shivered. "So no flying, no card magic, no 'cheats' of any kind!" She placed her hands on her hips with a determined look on her face. "I'm gonna play just as legit as any human!"

Sunset nodded, trying to hide her disappointment that Missy's magic had been essentially locked down. Without it, she's about as good in a fight as any other kid her age... "Well, in that case, the sooner we find Penn, the better! Safety in numbers, right?"

Missy nodded, fluttering her wings slightly as she jumped up and grabbed at the leaves of the tree. With more fluttering and a bit of struggling against gravity, she had climbed up into the branches and was making her way to the top one block at a time. Sunset stepped back, keeping her in sight as she reached the top. She shaded her eyes with one hand as she peered into the distance. She slowly turned in a circle, checking every direction. As she completed her first revolution, she began to spin faster, searching the horizon over and over again. When she finally tried to come to a stop, she wobbled dangerously from side to side, and Sunset could see cartoonish stars swirling above her head. Missy teetered off of the top of the tree, falling past the edge of the leaves.

"H-hey! Look out!" Sunset dropped her grip on her sword, lunging forward to catch her in her arms. After a moment to collect herself, Missy flashed her a smirk.

Sunset rolled her eyes, letting Missy go feet-first back onto the ground. "Did you see anything? Another base, or some campfire smoke, maybe?"

Sunset rubbed at her head, trying to fight the intensifying headache. She hadn't slept a wink the previous night. Apparently, without a specifically crafted bed, sleeping in this world wasn't possible. "It's been a day, how far could Penn have gotten?"

Missy shrugged. "I dunno... But his building style isn't exactly subtle, from what I've seen of his previous bases... maybe we should wait for him to send some kind of signal?"

"Hmm..." Missy hummed to herself before turning on her heel and strutting away into the trees. "I think I saw some sheep this way! We can get wool from them!"

Sunset picked up her sword, following close behind. She took another moment to look down at her waist, silently mourning the loss of her saber. Like the rest of her clothes, it seemed to have merged with her body as part of her "skin," nothing more than a few black pixels on her belt. She and Missy had managed to make a crafting table out of wood and some rudimentary tools overnight while they'd been waiting for the sun to rise, but if she had her saber, Sunset knew these monsters would be a piece of cake to deal with.

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Missy folded her arms and gave Sunset a skeptical look. "Sunset, I'm FINE with leather! Better than fine! I'll upgrade once we've got diamonds!"

Sunset folded her own arms, returning Missy's look. "And you'd be SAFER with iron armor! I've got a full set AND a sword!"

Missy's raised eyebrow raised a little farther. "Sunset... I want you to think hard about what you're offering, here."

"You're offering a fairy-type monster clothes made of iron." She placed one hand on her hip. "You DO know what iron does to fairies, right?"

Missy rolled her eyes. "Think of it like this... Fairies and most magical creatures are allergic to iron. Other metals have a range of severity, but iron's the worst and most well-known."

Sunset blinked, surprised at the new information. "But... what about Isis? You don't have any problem with her drone, and that's made of metal!"

"Alloys and other metals have some... wiggle room." Missy shrugged. "It's magic, Sunset, we both know there are more exceptions than rules! But if you clap a fairy in iron chains they're not going anywhere, and they're going to have a VERY unpleasant time not going there!" She pointed over Sunset's shoulder, where the handle of her sword was resting across her back. "THAT already makes me nervous enough, as it is! A couple careless slashes and I'd be done for!"

Sunset looked down at the pile of iron ingots she'd smelted with their furnace. With a sigh, she dumped them into their storage chest.

"Fine... No iron armor for you, and no iron tools." She gave Missy a glare. "But that means that if you see a monster, you RUN and get behind me, got it?"

Missy chuckled and rubbed at the back of her head. "You don't have to tell me twice, Sunny!"

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Sunset reached over her shoulder, grabbing at her iron sword as she sprinted through the cave in the direction of Missy's voice. To her relief, Missy wasn't under attack. Instead, she was grinning and standing in front of a cave wall with both arms behind her back. Sunset's head swiveled from side to side, searching for the cause of Missy's panic.

"Look what IIIIIIIIII fooooooound!" Missy sang, stepping aside to reveal the blocks behind her. Sunset's breath caught in her throat as she saw the gleaming blue shards reflecting the light of their torches.

Sunset switched to her pickaxe, hardly able to believe her eyes. "So... these diamonds are the rarest and strongest material in the game?"

"They sure are!" Missy rocked back and forth on her heels. "Would you like the honors?"

Sunset smiled and handed the axe to Missy. "Nah. You found them, you should do it."

Missy nodded, raising the axe over her head. She teetered slightly, almost losing her balance from the weight of it before bringing it down onto the ore. She repeated the motion again, and Sunset could see the beginnings of a crack in the stone around the precious gems. Missy swung over and over, slowly but surely breaking through the block. Sunset sat back, leaning against the wall while she waited.

If diamonds are so tough, it makes sense it would take a while to mine it, right?

"ANNND... DONE!" Missy slammed the pickaxe into the diamonds again, finally shattering the block. They both leaned forward, eyes wide as they searched for their prize.

"Maybe... maybe it's only a percentage chance to drop the diamond?" Sunset whispered, making no effort to hide how crestfallen she was.

"Well... we can test that!" Missy pointed up at the wall, revealing a second diamond ore that had been hidden behind the first. She passed the pickaxe back to Sunset. "Here, YOU try it, this time!"

Sunset nodded, firmly gripping the handle and swinging the point into the precious ore. It took her almost as long as it took Missy, this ore was stubborn, but the diamonds finally broke under her assault, shattering exactly as they had for Missy. Missy dove into the wall headfirst, as if worried the diamonds would run away if given the chance. Sunset watched quietly for a moment. When Missy's legs began to frantically kick, Sunset took that to be her signal and grabbed her by the ankle, pulling her back out. Missy gasped for air, eyes wide.

Sunset looked at the now-diamondless hole, then down at the pickaxe in her hand.

Sunset held the tool up a little higher. "Well, it's a little weird that a stone pickaxe could break DIAMOND, isn't it?"

Missy blinked, her eyes widening as she seemed to come to a realization. She buried her face in her hands, then wrapped her wings around both, muting her frustrated scream as best she could. She reached up and removed her leather helmet as she walked back to the wall, resting her forehead against the smooth stone as she bowed her head in shame.

Sunset took several deep breaths, trying to keep her own frustration in check. She walked to the wall beside Missy, joining her in gently headbutting the rock.

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Sunset reached into her pocket, somehow navigating the nonsensically large space of her inventory until she found the last of her cobblestone. She continued creating their pillar upwards, placing the blocks four at a time until she ran out. Below her, she could hear Missy placing ladders on the side of their tower so they could climb back down safely. She grabbed a set of fenceposts, placing them around the edge to prevent them from accidentally falling off. Behind her, she heard Missy climbing up onto the platform alongside her. The two of them looked out over the landscape, seeing over rolling hills and solid canopy of the trees around them. Sunset couldn't help feeling slightly in awe of the view. From this far up, all the hard edges and pixels seemed to fade away and give way to the natural curves and terrain. She could see monolithic mountains and winding rivers in the distance to the north, and a deep blue ocean to the east. Turning to the west, she could see a burning desert, and in the south was a dense-looking jungle, draped in long vines and home to trees as tall or even taller than their new observation tower. All of it was bathed in oranges and reds from the setting sun as the day came to a close.

Sunset resisted the urge to reach out and snatch Missy when she hopped up onto the fence, grabbing hold to take a precarious perch on the edge.

"You know... you might be right. Even if it DOES have a bunch of stupid rules..." She gave her wings an annoyed rustle. "Four days, no flying! We knock the logs out from under a bunch of leaves, and do the laws of gravity apply to THEM? NO!" I'm getting SICK of these arbitrary rules!"

Sunset cringed as she thought back to their lost diamonds. "You won't get an argument from me about THAT."

Sunset's eye was caught by a flickering light far off in the mountains. She squinted, trying to get a better view of it in the light of the setting sun. It looked almost like some kind of shining silver pillar, shooting straight up into the sky.

Sunset strode up beside Missy, making sure her iron chestplate didn't press up against her as she pointed out the strange light. Missy gasped and leaned forward, forcing Sunset to grab the back of her dress to save her from involuntarily jumping off the tower. She raised both hands to her eyes as a pair of makeshift binoculars, re-focusing her vision before whooping with joy and jumping back onto the platform.

"THE BEACON IS LIT! GONDOR CALLS FOR AID!" she shouted, rushing across to the ladder and beginning to clamber downward.

"What? Gondor? Does somebody need help?" Sunset's eyes widened as she worried that some surivors of this world's apocalypse could be in danger. She leaned over the edge, seeing Missy look back up at her with a beaming smile.

"It means that's GOTTA be Penn's signal! Come on, we gotta pack up our stuff so we can get going first thing in the morning!"

The Multiverse in a Nutshell

by Pennington Inkwell

Mine The Diamond