//------------------------------// // Portals, Potions and Pumpkins. // Story: Walker the Enderman. A world without corners. // by Vorki //------------------------------// The End. A bleak and empty place. Devoid of all live. An endless void of darkness...well almost. Somewhere in the void was a large floating island devoid of grass and trees. Instead there are tall black pillars of obsidian tower over the dull life less ground. The ground was dull and lifeless, the sky was black ….. but it always had been. Circling the Island was dragon. An Ender dragon. A mighty monster and protector of this dull hunk of rock. As it passed the towers beacons streamed out energy that reached out and touched the dragon as it flew, renewing it energy. Dotted around the island were puddles of liquid obsidian that glowed like the night sky. They bubbled and hissed every so often. The dragon made another pass through the towers and gave a thundering roar. All the towers beacons lit up and shot a beam into the sky before they released a pulse of energy. The sludge reacted violently and bubbled and hissed more and more but then stopped. A pair of purple eyes broke the surface which was followed by a black square head. A tall body followed, it was thin and black with small purple dots dotted randomly. Two long thin rectangular arms rose out of the pit and placed themselves on the dull stone. The creature pushed itself out of the pit slowly, the thick sludge dripped lazily of its shoulders before it rose to its full body length. The Endermen. Mysterious and dangerous beings who hail from 'The End'. Creatures of darkness, they possess the power of teleportation as they wander aimlessly around the void picking up block of dull stone before placing them randomly somewhere else. They don't stay in the void though oh no they visit a place they call the Overworld. A place blooming with life. Plants, trees, pigs, sheep, cows. But it had its dangers as well. Creatures that come out only at night. The living dead or zombies, crawl out of the dirt to feast on the living. Skeletons. Master archers in their previous life before being cursed by Herobrine- an omnipresent deity of incredible power to forever wither to bone and dust. Spiders crawl out of caves to hunt their next meal before the sun rises again. Last but not least Creepers. Like the Endermen not much is known about the green creatures as they seek out individuals before blowing up and falling unconscious in the crater. A plentiful yet dangerous land too whom may ever call it home. XXX It was sun rise on the Overworld. The land lit up revealing a small settlement beside a large hill. The local Testificate population emerged from their homes. The sky was blue the crops had grown and the smell of burning zombie flesh hanged in the air. But the one who was watching the whole scene unfold was standing on the top of the hill. A tall black slim figure. An Enderman. Called Walker. Walker was just like any Enderman. He was tall, slim with deep purple eyes and a hatred of water. He just watched as the small village came to life. He just observed with blank emotionless face. He sighed and teleported or blinked into the middle of the village. The villages froze at the sight of him and diverted their eyes quickly as not to anger him. One thing you should never do is look an Enderman in the eye. They become incredibly hostile and aggressive and will attack you on sight. They appear calm and peaceful until you make that mistake and your only option is to hide, take up a sword or make a dash for water. Endermen can't fell emotion or so they think they can't, or maybe they don't understand what an emotion is either way Walker couldn't help feeling a burning sensation every time he looked at a villager and they diverted their eyes. It was a concept in which Walker could not understand. Walker sighed making a gurgling noise. He looked down and saw that he had subconsciously picked up a log block from the aqueduct dam it he thought as he turned his head and saw water spilling out of the crops aqueduct. Walker blinked away from the stream of water and looked around. He saw a random spot on the floor and was drawn to it. He placed the block. why The very word had been haunting him his whole life. Why a log block. It was common and uninteresting. Why that spot. It was in the middle of nowhere. Walker didn't know why he did the same thing over and over again. Picking up a block and place it somewhere else. Was this all there was to his life. Walker made another gurgle noise before blinking back to the village. When he materialized he saw that the hole he had been repaired by someone. Steve was in the middle of the street "I assume you did this?" he asked in a rather annoyed voice, diverting his eyes to Walkers feet. "yes I did " Walker replied through a form of telepathy, his voice was wispy and demonic. "Why do you do this?" Steve asked. That word again why "I don't know why I just do" Walker replied. "Then don't" Steve replied angrily. Walker was silent. "Figures" Steve said turning around and closing his eyes. Walker blinked behind Steve and took the log block Steve had replaced and blinked away. "Suppose it doesn't matter just don't-" Steve felt water on his feet. "OH YOU TALL SON OF A-" was all Walker heard before he blinked out of ear shot. *** Feeling a tickling sensation in his chest Walker placed the block down and it snapped into place just like every other time. Walker just stood there, looking at the block. That word etched its way into his mind but he quickly shoved it back. Looking around now there really wasn't much to do. There were some sheep and cows milling around, but other than that not much else. Walker made the gurgle noise again and then remembered something. Steve had a portal to nether, a harsh hellish world. Walker had been to the Nether a few times and had a friend there that he could talk to...or think to. A warm feeling found its way into his chest when he thought about his friend. Not wasting any time Walker blinked to the village again and then to Steve's house. The interior was impressive but Walker had no time to admire it, he had other plans. In the far back room of Steve's house was the nether portal. A 4X5 rectangle of obsidian which when lit will create a portal to the nether. Being careful not to pick up any obsidian Walker stepped inside and felt a dizzy sensation before being thrown onto the red warm nether stone. How Steve puts up with that thing I will never know Picking himself up he looked around the nether to find his friend. The Nether was filled with lava, glowstone and other hellish rewards that Steve had plundered. Walker blinked to a ledge of glow stone near the ceiling to get a good look around. A few Gast’s were floating around and a few groups of Pigmen were scattered around but Walker wasn't looking for a Gast or a Pigman. Walker spotted a black skeletal figure with a focus band tied around his skull. Walker had to blink a several times to avoid a hazardous lava flows before he stood next to his friend. Garren was a wither skeleton. Instead of a bow he wielded a large stone greatsword that he picked up from one of Steve's friends. Garren didn't notice Walkers silent arrival that was followed by a quite voomp noise every time he blinked and continued to look at the endless flow of lava. "Garren it is good to see you again" Walker tried to say softly as not to alarm Garren. Garren jumped a surprising few feet of the ground. "Dude you got to stop sneaking up on me like that you going to make me jump out of my skin" Garren said trying to catch his breath. "Sorry about that but we need to talk again. Oh and you don't have skin....or lungs " Walker replied in a friendly tone. "Oh right. I don't" Garren said, collecting himself "so what do you won't to talk about then?" " did you ever stop to think about why we do the things we do " Walker said as his thoughts became sadder. "Oh dude. Not this again" Garren said, throwing a block of soul sand at the lava. " I mean it though " Walker huffed in his mind " and where did you get that block anyway ?" "You were holding it" Garren pointed out lazily. " you see that's what I mean. I don't mean to do it. It just happens. I asked another Enderman why he did it and do you know what he said ?" Walker cried in his head. "Because I must" Garren droned, after having this conversation around three hundred times before. " Whywhywhywhywhy" Walker repeated over and over again, putting his long arms to his head and shacking it frantically. Garren simply waited until Walker tantrum was over before looking at him. Garren was one of few the types of mobs that could look at an Enderman and not trigger its hostile instinct. Skeletons have no eyes to stare with so Garren can look at Walker freely. Walker after a few minutes calmed down and slumped to a ledge and let his legs hang over. Garren sighed and sat next to him. "Nether wart?" Skarl offered. Walker took the strange looking fungus and unhinged his jaw and downed the thing in one bite making a gulping sound as he did so. Garren was still amazed that an Enderman's jaw could open up so much. "Dude you could swallow a Gast with that mouth" the wither skeleton joked. " No not a gast. A human - maybe " Walker joked back. The two friends laughed or in Walkers case gurgled for a while before talking about what they did in the day’s cycle before Walker stepped through the portal again, only to find that might have not been the best idea. Steve had returned home and was now carefully holding a glass bottle filed with a black liquid marked chemical X. Like always Walkers arrival was silent, he wasn't paying too much attention as well. Steve bumped into Walkers legs and gave a yelp. "HOLY PORK CHOPS" Steve shouted before the glass bottle slipped from his square stub and shattered on Walkers body. Walker let out a blood churning scream his mouth opened wide as the liquid burned his skin. All the glass blocks shattered in the house. Walker flailed in pain before teleporting rapidly and randomly around and out of the house. He landed in the middle of a forest, the liquid still burning his skin. Walker felt his body shift and morph. His arms snapped and grew longer and three digits grew on the end. His legs grew rapidly twice there length causing Walker to lose his balance and thrash about on the floor in pain. He felt a burning pain underneath his arms and saw two new ones had grown with...something on them. Combined with the pain and the discovery of his new limbs Walker passed out. *** "Uhhhhg. What? " Walker woke up feeling slow and heavy. He opened his eyes only to see a blue sky. Walker just lay there, trying to regain his senses but couldn't help but feel different. He leaned up slowly to avoid vertigo and looked around and frowned. "was I always this tall? . He moved his arm to scratch his head but frowned again. He felt three points of contact on his head. He brought he arm to his face and his eyes widened with fear. His arm was not only twice its normal length but it had something on the end. Walker shook his arm in panic trying to get whatever it was off, but to no avail. Walker closed his eyes and breathed, he needed to calm down panicking would get him nowhere. He opened them again and studied his new additions. He saw an odd shaped base and three appendages coming out of his arm. Walker just stared at it and tried to think about what it was for. He felt a strange sensation in his mind and decided to tug at it. One of the things twitched. Walker’s eyes glowed brighter with curiosity. He tried again but harder, one of the lengths moved and curled up. He tried the others. He was soon flexing all three of them and was rotating what seemed to be a palm or so the dragon told him years ago. After some practice Walker could flex and move his new appendages. He also found that he had two more arms that he could grow and retract at will. After much experimentation and freaking out Walker decided that was enough, he stood up finally and was surprised again. He was taller, much taller. His head was on the same level or just below some tree tops. Walker then began to wander in a random direction. He couldn't blink because he hadn't eaten in a while and didn't what to waste his energy so he wandered the landscape. He soon came to a clearing that he recognized and saw the log block he had placed last sun cycle. Looking at his new palm he wondered. He walked up to the block and put his palm on the top and easily griped it. He tugged. Nothing happened but again something clicked in the back of his mind. He felt his physic powers were stronger than before. So he focused his new energy into his palm. The block's bottom glowed and a purple outline of the base flared. The block came willingly this time but when Walker brought the block closer he saw that his palm was glowing as well. His grip slipped but the block floated in the centre of his palm and rotated. Walker’s eyes glowed again. Was this a form of telekinesis? Walker felt his power in his mind flow and grip the block, he let it go and the block fell into his palm. Walker tossed the cube into the air and caught it. He put his other palm on the floor and tried to pick up a grass block. He found that he could! The block's edges glowed and then it gave way leaving a perfect square in the floor. He threw the grass block into the air and caught it with the same arm. Putting the blocks back Walker looked for different blocks to pick up and toss. This new game entertained him for hours and Walker felt a warm pleasing feeling in his chest again and felt the side of his mouth curve up. Walker rushed to a lakeside and looked in, he was...smiling? "Happy" Walker heard a voice say. He looked around, no one was there. "Strange" (!) the voice came again. Walker looked round again, no one. Confused at why the voice was saying what he thought....what he thought! "Is this my voice" Walkers eyes glowed and widened. HE HAD A VOICE. "Hello. My name is Walker" Walker laughed and found it was a laugh not a gurgle noise. Walker then began to experiment. He started with the alphabet, his name, his friend’s name, the name of any block he could see. It was...amazing. Walker had never felt so happy the warmth burned in his chest. He soon worked out to how speak and to think separately so one didn't become the other. He also felt free. He hadn't subconsciously picked up a block in a while now nor did he feel the need to do so. He could think, question and answer things in his head clearly. However his thought were interrupted by hunger pains. Walker pick a few apples of some trees and began to gorge himself. By the end he had only three apples left and on his walk had discovered a means to get back to the 'The End'. An underground fortress. Walker descended the stairs and was soon enveloped by the darkness. His eye's glowed brighter so they acted like a pair of flash lights. Walker soon found it annoying however, due to him being so tall he had to crouch to walk down the stone corridors and prison cell areas. After meeting a strange creeper who went by the name Charlie he found the portal room. But something was wrong. Normally 'The End' portals had great green gates where any non Enderman had to put several eyes of ender into the portals frame. This portal however was blue and the pedestals had different shape slots carved into them. Upon closer inspection Walker saw that three slots had already been filled. One was a trio off balloons, a shape Walker remembered from Steve's birthday party when he stole the leftover cake. The next was an oddly shaped cloud with a rainbow coloured lightning bolt. The last was a trio of butterflies, one of Walkers personal favourite of all animals in the 'Overworld'. Three however did not have their shapes. One was star shaped, other two Walker was having difficulty identifying. While studying one of them he was about to eat another apple when he noticed something. One of the shapes had a stem like top and three slots, Walker looked at his apple and then back to the shape. He put the apple into the slot and found that it fit, he did the same for next slot. After placing the third apple the pedestal lit up and the shape shone and the apples became ruby like. Now for the others. Walker thought about what items could fit into the three remaining slots and star shaped pedestal. The slots looked like a gem would fit. Emeralds? No the slots were too small. Diamonds? That could work, but how could he get some? Walker recalled Steve mining stone and gems the ores popped out after hitting them with a pickaxe. But how would he get hold of a pickaxe? He doubted Steve or any other villager would give him one. He would need a book or something. A book! Walker recalled Steve had a book that contained some basic crafting recipes. After deciding what to do with a firm nod Walker made a mental note of were the fortress was before blinking back to the village. Luckily it was night time so the villagers had gone to bed. Walker blinked outside of Steve's house and peeked in. Steve was asleep on his bed perfect Using his new limbs Walker opened the door as quietly as he could. Teleporting was too much of a risk so Walker quietly crept over to Steve's chest and looked inside. Junk. Would sum up the contents of the chest but Walker did find the book, now all he had to do was sneak out. "OH HEY I REMEMBER YOU" Walker froze and resisted to smack his head. He had left the door open and a creeper had. Crept in. Steve stirred but remained asleep. Walker indicated to be quiet and to his surprise the creeper nodded. Walker got back to the fortress entrance and found that the creeper had followed him. "Can I help you?" Walker asked, it felt strange being able to talk. "I met you down in the fortress remember" the creeper replied, happily running around Walker. "Wow you’re really tall" "Your Charley right" Walker said idly as he flipped open the book and began to read. "Yay you remember me awesome" Charley cheered, racing around Walker. "Why didn't you blow Steve up when you had the chance?" Walker asked, still looking at the book. The creeper seemed to lose all his energy and had a sad look on his face. "I tried to once but he hit me with a pickaxe in the head and I almost died so I stay away from him" he said sadly "But you’re nice. You don't try to hit me. Can you be my friend?" Walker couldn't help but smile at the Charley who had got his energy back and was now running in between his legs. Walker turned his attention back to the book. It said he needed to get some wood by...punching trees? After all that's happened today it didn't surprise him that much. "Right" Walker said flexing his shoulder and walking up to a tree near the fortress entrance. He clenched his palm and hit the tree with force. A few crack appear but they soon faded away. Walker looked at the book again and found that he need to hit the same spot multiple times. "Nice hands" Walker turned to the creeper, making sure he didn't make eye contact. "Hands?" Walker questioned. "The stubs on the end of your arm are called hand or claws, it’s hard to tell but just call them hands for now" Charley said happily. "Good to know but why?" Walker asked before turning his attention to the tree again. "The writer is tired of typing palms all the time" Charley chimed. "Writer? What writer?" Walker asked clearly confused. "Never mind, now punch that tree" "You don't make much sense" "Where's the fun in making sense" Walker decided not to push the conversation any further and clenched his hand into a fist. Giving a grunt he punched the log block with his right fist and then the other before the block popped off. Walker felt another emotion of peace and pride. He felt good, and the tree was still standing up laws of physics be damned . Walker picked up the log block and extended his other two arms. He covered the log block with his main two hands and focused some energy into his palms. Some purple light shone through his fingertips before it faded and four plank blocks now rotated in his right hand. "Cool" Charley whispered, Walker chuckled before looking at the book again another benefit having 4 arms . Taking the four plank blocks Walker cupped them in his hands again and did the same trick but this time he had made a crafting table. Putting the table down, it snapped into place. Looking at the book again Walker punched more of the tree down while Charley cheered and motivated. By now Walker had at least 26 planks and 4 sticks. "The book said I need and iron pickaxe to mine some diamonds. Iron can only be mined with stone before we smelt it" Walker sighted, why does it have to be so complicating "well let’s pack up and find a cave to get this stone" Walker broke the crafting table and cupped it in one of his hands while two others had the planks and sticks. With Charley in tow the two mobs set out to find a cave and found themselves near a snow biome. Something orange caught Walkers eye. Pumpkins, Walker quickly blinked over and picked one up. In 'The End' there had been rumours that when a human puts a pumpkin on their head it stops them from going into their frenzied state. So walker put it on...but forgot to empty it out first. "HAHAHAHHHAaaaaaaa" Charley laughed like a mad man, falling into the snow and rolling over. "HMmhmmHMhm" Walker tried to speak but the pumpkin was blocking his mouth so he couldn't talk properly which only made Charley laugh harder. Walker took off the pumpkin and looked for some gravel. Once he had returned and found that Charley was still laughing his head off, Walker picked up a snow block and threw a snow ball hail at him. Once Charley looked like a snowman Walker took out some flint from the gravel he had found and carved the pumpkin so he could move his mouth. Once he was done and put the orange helmet back on, he looked at some ice and saw that he looked quite intimating. Taking a deep breath he readied himself. "Charley I need you to stare at my eyes. If I start wailing or growling start running for the nearest body of water ok." Charley nodded. Walker looked at Charley properly for the first time. Both pair of eyes bore into each other’s skulls. Walker felt no desire to attack Charley in any way. Overcome by joy Walker blinked and hugged Charley...hard. "HMHMHhmhhm" Charley flailed, desperate to get some air. Walker couldn't hear him though, he as too happy. Walker hugged Charley for a while before he heard a hissing noise. BOOM After Charley exploded Walker was trudging through the snow with Charley slung over his shoulder supporting him with his free hand. After finally coming to a cave entrance Walker put Charley down and started to make a wooden pickaxe. When Charley awoke he saw that Walker had made a backpack and had mined a good deal of the entrance and made a furnace so that he could stand up properly and had an iron pickaxe in his right hand. "Time to find us some diamonds" Walker said happily putting some stone in his backpack for future use. "OK" Charley said happily running around the cave. Walker joined him in the darkness. As they descended into the depths Walkers eyes shone proving him with a light source and saw that Charley had the same except his was red and not purple. Hours. It took them hours of searching to find traces of diamonds but beside a lava pit they found a group of 5. While searching Walker was getting a bit nervous. Most of the mobs they passed by looked and stared at him. Walker felt vulnerable even though he didn't understand that's what he felt. After storing the loot and blinking back to the fortress the two friends found the portal room and put three diamonds into the slots and they fitted perfectly. They only had one more shape to go but his time something happened. The portals entrance shimmers. It was like looking at a foggy mirror at first but it soon focused and shapes emerged...colourful shapes. Walker was confused he couldn't find any trace of edges or corners how is this possible? . Voices began to emerge too. Fuzzy at first but it soon became clearer out. "Students this is an ancient relic found below Canterlot 500 years ago" A voice said, before a group of small... ponies? came into view. They didn't react to Walker or Charley presence so it had to be a one way mirror. "What’s it called?" one of the small ones asked. A bigger pony came into view. "They call it a star gate" she said in a kindly voice. " what are they? " Charley whispered. Walker noticed one of the ponies’ ears twitch and swivel towards them. " they can hear us " Walker said using his telepathy. " you can do mind tricks too. Are you a Jedi? " Charley replied rather frantically. Walker just rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the group. "What does it do?" another asked. "It is said that this gateway can connect to other worlds but no pony has ever activated it. They say that they need another gate in order to pass through" she said in that kind tone again "now if you could all take notes on some other relics here and bring them to me in an hour" The group split up into smaller groups and left the image, except for three. "Can ya believe it, this thing can connect to other worlds" said the yellow happily. "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" Charley shrieked in a defeating voice "THAT'S SO CUTE" The three ponies jumped back in surprise and gulped. "Did you two hear that" said the white one this time. The yellow nodded while the orange one looked in awe and wrote something down with a pencil on some paper in her mouth, crumpled it up the note and threw it at the gate, which then made quiet static sound. ZZZZZZZZT Too Charley's and Walkers disbelief it came through but as it did the page turned into a thin rectangle it read: Did you speak? Walker was impressed with her mouth writing but even more excited that he had discoverer a new world and a form of communication. Walker took the thin rectangle and wrote something down with a stick of coal they acquired on their previous mine: No but my friend did. Walker threw the page back at the gate and it disappeared and returned to the other side. ZZZZZZT . The three small ponies looked at the note and gasped. Walker chuckled he saw them smiled and tiptoed danced in a cute way. Walker covered Charley's mouth again to avoid another earache as the trio wrote down another message and threw it in. ZZZZZZZZZZZt Who are you? Walker took the thin rectangle and wrote on the back like last time and threw it back. ZZZZZZZZT My name is Walker and my other friend is called Charley ZZZZZZZT The one with the bow tied in her mane is Apple Bloom. The White one with the horn is Sweetie Bell and I'm Scootaloo. Walker by this time was ecstatic. His hands were trembling with adrenalin, his eyes wide with excitement as another message came through. ZZZZZZZZT Are you ok? You didn't reply ZZZZZZZT Yes I’m fine this is just a lot to take in but I hope to visit your world soon The three small pony read the message with delight as another page appeared. ZZZZZZZZZZZT Do not tell anyone however I don't like large crowds but I will arrive some time tonight, can we meet in the morning? ZZZZZZZZZT Yes we can meet you in the morning when the museum opens and take you to our privet club house. ZZZZZZZZZZZT I will see you tonight then. Take care little ones With that the trio ran off to finish early to prepare for their mysterious friend. "Are you really going to go?" Charley asked and who had been surprisingly quiet during the message exchange. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME OF COURSE I'M GOING THIS IS AMAZING" Walker shouted but then collected himself "but I need to go alone. No offence but you know what creepers do when they get overwhelmed and I rather not explain why there is a crater in the middle of where the club house used to be" Charley nodded understandingly "Just make sure that you put in a good word for me when you do go". "I will but we still need to find the last piece of the portal and it’s going to get me in a lot of trouble".