Section 13: 

     Gravel crunched beneath his feet. He made it through the old brick tunnels. Moss grew from the cracks in the bricks and occasionally there was some loot hidden away in a chest nestled inside a mine cart for some reason..

     Old torches that needn't be lit were scattered, though slowly dying in the presence of the human. The air was tight on his lungs, filled with moisture and dust.

     He passed through a strange hallway, slowing down to look questionably upon the barred cells that were built into one of the walls. Not one dead body or sign of one inside.. Huh... Wonder what they kept in there..

     It was strange, really, thinking of this structure as one built by those like him. How complex it all was. How oddly creepy it as was, too..

Cough!

     Steve nearly choked on dust as he exited that hall. To both sides of him were two halls, each branching into more and more uncharted pathways. This place was a labyrinth, designed to confuse those who hadn't built it. But...why?

     The eyes didn't help him anymore. Instead, they were satisfied sitting still in his bag. A sigh. He could spend days accidentally getting lost in here... The poor oxygen quality was nearly enough to snuff him back out.

     Determined as he was, Steve turned down more passageways, gliding a gentle hand across the old stone walls as he went. A strange contentment rested on his face. He felt neither overly distraught nor overly excited. It was his determined nature to suffer through the stale air just a little longer that kept him going. For soon, he would find what he was looking for.

     With a bold step, Steve approached a new room, squeezing out of the darkness and into the light. Though he had seen many things before, old and new; grand and unworthy of attention, the human's mouth slid open into a silent awe.

     Recently stifled flames on the ancient torches now smoked. Only the glow of two manmade pools of lava in the two front corners lit the room. A staircase, made from the same cracking bricks as the rest, lead up to nothing if seemed.

     With new found excitement, Steve ran to the top of the stairs, freezing once at the top. He was wrong about there only being two pools of lava. A larger one rested in the very center of the room, surrounded by a wall of stone on all sides. The human turned behind him towards the darkness, then crouched. He didn't want his journey to end here by so stupidly falling into liquid flame.

     Turning from the lava, Steve studied a large frame of strange blocks.. They looked alien to him. He had never seen such sculpting in all his lives. Some bits of the blocks looked to represent stand stone while other parts stuck out to him more as obsidian. Just by looking upon them, he felt a strange pull in his chest. This ancient craftsmanship called to him, telling the man of all the secrets he had yet to discover. All the things he would have to learn. All the things he would unlearn. And all the things that would surely change his life forever.. A new future promised him great things.

     With a smile, Steve carefully set a teal eye into each of the empty slots in the old frame, as shown by a few remaining, identical eyes already snug in their places. The human had gone around the whole frame until there was only one left needed. Standing again on the stairs, Steve carefully knelt down, dropping the last one in.

THOOHHH!

     Steve was pushed back by a blast of air, nearly falling onto his back. An ominous, whispered growl slowly rose from the portal, sending a shiver down the man's eye. Standing straighter, Steve's eyes wandered around the strange sight of the portal. Its many.. swimming eyes stared back. Like a warped version of the sky, empty blackness teaming with odd glowing creatures rested silently, calling the man by a name he never knew...

     His steadily beating heart picked up into a race, his hair standing on end, his lungs hitching in fear. Was the task too great for him...? Steadying his breath...no.

     A smile came to his face, feeling the newly crafted diamond sword waiting patiently at his side. He stared down at the portal. Was he scared?.. Yes. But he had a new life ahead of him. One he wouldn't dare cower away from.

     Holding his left foot over the portal's endless abyss, Steve inhaled a deep, slow breath.

     3..

     2...

     1....

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     He entered..
                            The End...

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Hi. :]

2/16/2022