Alex felt a surge of excitement as she made her way to the old ruins. Steve followed along seeming much less thrilled. The arrived at the ruins and Alex quickly pced the obsidian where they belonged.

  Now the obsidian formed a rge open square!

  ...that did nothing...

  Alex frowned as she looked around the area. Nothing had changed. She tried stepping into the square, but nothing happened. Why wasn't it working?

  Alex ran her hand across the obsidian block, feeling how smooth it was. This ruined clearly meant something, it did something. What was she missing!?

  Alex turned towards Steve but he looked away, pretending to get distracted by something else. Steve could be helpful, he certainly seemed to know more about the world than Alex did. But when it came to this ruin he seemed very much against helping her.

  Alex sat down on the ground, leaning against the smooth obsidian as she pulled out her book. She took a second to reread the cover page, her finger trailing the words.

  For Steve & Alex, to help you in this new world I have created. Here in lie some of the rules that govern it.

  - The Creator

  She still had no idea who the creator was, and the cover page said for Steve & Alex yet she had never seen Steve read the book. She looked up and saw that Steve was running around waving his arms frantically. He seemed panicked for some reason.

  He did this strangely often, sometimes he would duck and cower in fear of an unseen enemy. Or he might grab Alex and tuck her behind his shield as he seemed to fight some invisible threat. Alex paid him no heed though, he would eventually return to normal.

  She flipped through the pages of the book, trying to find anything that might help her. Most of the information in the book was repetitive stuff that she already knew. Some of it were things that she hadn't yet tried. Like brewing potions and enchanting items. But the grand majority of it she had gone through already.

  Alex jumped as she heard a loud explosion. She looked over to where Steve was standing, the area before him was abze with fire. Large chunks of the ground were missing. Had Steve caused an explosion?

  Steve looked around confused, but that was no real indicator that he had nor that he had not caused an explosion. Alex put the book away and walked over to stand next to Steve. He beamed with excitement when he saw her, hugging her tightly as though he hadn't seen her in a long time.

  She often wondered what was wrong with Steve, or rather what the full details surrounding his memory and mental issues were. But Steve never offered any answers about himself and Alex had learned not to pursue those questions, at least not with him. She had no intentions of giving up her pursuit of knowledge.

  Alex watched as the fire spread further away from herself and the once ruined structure. Consuming the trees and bushes. As she watched she considered all that she had learned so far.

  She now understood the names of creatures, which ones were dangerous and which ones were peaceful. She had created farms for food and pens for animals. She had created shelter and mastered the use of redstone.

  She understood how to make and mine obsidian, she knew how to fight and how to travel great distances. For a moment it almost felt as though Alex had tamed the this wild world. For a moment it almost felt as though Alex had come to understand all that she could about it.

  But she knew in her heart of hearts that this was not true. She still questioned her own existence, and that of Steve. Why were they the only two that seemed like each other. They did not look like the vilgers, they did not interact with the world in the same way as any other creature.

  Why had she simply awoken one day with no prior knowledge or memories? For that matter, did it somehow have something to do with Steve and his broken up memories?

  The two stood side by side, watching the spread of the now wild fire. Alex was not certain she could stop or contain the spread. But she wished she could, somehow.

  Steve waved his hand and the sky became dark. Heavy clouds forming all around them as it began to rain. Had Steve caused that!?

  Alex looked at Steve who was simply swatting away at the empty air around him. No, it was likely just a coincidence. He had no more control over the weather than she did. Right?

  But the rain had come suddenly and from seemingly nowhere. Alex took a deep breath, feeling the cold water hitting her skin. Perhaps her may questions was driving her to paranoia. She'd best be careful.

  Alex looked back to the fields of grass that were once on fire. The fires now all extinguished, leaving trees burnt up at awkward angles. Some branches remained floating in the air, something that always astounded Alex.

  As the rain poured down lightening began to fsh across the sky. The lightning seemed to shock Steve, his eyes shifting in hues as he looked around as though trying to see something flying through the sky.

  Alex reached out to try and comfort Steve, his mind clearly lost in another moment. As she touched him his mind came back to this moment and he calmed down. He looked over at Alex, their clothes both drenched in water.

  The water running through her hair, down her soft face. The light produced from the lightening causing her skin to glisten in the midst of the storm. Steve calmed down as he looked at Alex, and Alex felt a sense of comfort looking back at him.

  Then came a sound from the edges of the woods, a monster of some kind no doubt. It just then occurred to Alex that the darkness brought on by the storm would cause monsters to appear. Steve pulled out a sword and rushed into the woods, quick to defend Alex in this moment.

  Alex took a step forward but stopped as she heard lightening crash against the obsidian behind her. Alex fell to the ground, blinded for a moment. She looked back, blinking as she realized something had finally changed.

  In the middle of the open square was now a swirling purple... Something...

  Alex slowly stood up and walked over to the obsidian square. Nether Portal she saw it's name decred. So it was a portal of some kind? Where would it take her? What knew questions might this test answer yield?

  Alex had to know.

  She pced her hand in the portal, it felt warm. Had the lightening activated the portal somehow? Or perhaps it was something else?

  Either way she was intent on moving forward. She stepped into the portal and felt as the world began to shift, her body distorting for a moment, her vision blurring. She heard a strange and soft sound as the portal took her somewhere new, where more questions resided.