Chapter 1: And so, it begins...

Kestodon slowly pushed herself upright, pressing a hand against her forehead. Her head throbbed, and the scorching sun overhead wasn’t helping.

She blinked several times before looking around.

Sand stretched as far as she could see, the dunes shimmering beneath the relentless heat.

But just beyond them, the landscape changed completely.

A dead swamp.

Dark, murky water filled the lowlands, surrounded by withered trees and patches of sickly vegetation. There was no sign of civilization anywhere.

Desert on one side.

Dead swamp on the other.

And the two of them, standing right in the middle.

They stood in silence for a moment.

Something about this place was deeply unsettling. The landscape was strangely familiar, yet everything felt just a little… wrong.

Kestodon looked down at the sand beneath her feet.

It was perfectly square.

She slowly turned toward the swamp.

The trees were blocky. The water was unnaturally still. Even the terrain seemed to follow an invisible grid.

Her expression slowly changed from confusion to realization.

With a plan finally in place, the two headed toward the nearest tree.

There was something oddly comforting about doing something familiar.

Whatever had happened to them, at least they knew how Minecraft worked.

Probably.

Kestodon raised her fist and punched the trunk.

Thump.

A small piece of wood popped free.

She stared at it for a moment.

Just as Kestodon was about to start punching another tree, something caught her eye.

A small book had appeared in her inventory.

She frowned.

She was certain she hadn’t picked it up.

Kestodon pulled the book out and examined the cover.

There was no author, no description, and no indication of where it had come from.

Just two lines of text printed across it.

GT New Horizons

Quest Book

Kestodon opened the book.

Most of the pages were empty.

Only a small section at the beginning contained anything at all. The rest remained locked, as though the book itself was waiting for them to do something.

Kestodon flipped through the available pages again.

Kestodon looked through the available quests.

There was only one.

Beneath the title was a single objective:

Gather 8 Dirt Blocks

Kestodon looked up at the sun.

It was still high in the sky, but neither of them had any idea how long they had been unconscious.

The desert stretched endlessly in one direction, while the dead swamp offered little reassurance in the other.

Kestodon closed the quest book and glanced at the few pieces of wood they had gathered.

A shelter.

Some food.

A few basic tools.

It shouldn’t be too difficult.

After all, they knew Minecraft.

They just didn’t know what kind of Minecraft this was.

Before long, they had cleared the patch of quicksand.

Along the way, they also collected some raw beef from the unfortunate cows that had become trapped in it.

Kestodon turned around.

Her eyes widened.

A giant cube was bouncing toward Shawny, each jump bringing it closer with an unsettling squish.

They looked at their empty hands.

No weapons.

No tools.

Not even a proper stick.

Then Kestodon looked down at the quest book in her hand.

With no better options, the two did the only thing they could think of.

They whacked the giant cube with the quest book.

After a surprisingly long beating, the giant cube finally burst apart.

Kestodon lowered the quest book.

Then the pieces started moving.

The smaller cubes bounced toward them, but they were much easier to handle.

The two chased them down, striking again and again until the last one finally disappeared.

After picking up the drops, Kestodon looked around.

The dead swamp stretched around them, but the river nearby caught her attention.

The terrain was mostly flat, and there was plenty of room to build.

Kestodon paused.

She looked at the lifeless swamp around them.

Shawny glanced toward the river, then back at the swamp.

It wasn’t much of a home.

But it was somewhere to start.

Kestodon and Shawny began clearing the grass and removing dirt blocks to level the ground.

They had barely started when a notification suddenly appeared before their eyes.

Quest Complete

Your First Night

Kestodon scrolled through the newly unlocked quests.

There were quite a few.

Permanent Offhand!

Mushroom Biomes? Why Are There So Many?

Numbers in the Corner?

E_TOO_MANY_KEYS

Backup Your Stuff…

Better Questing?

Loading the Chunks

Sticks ’n Stones

With their tasks decided, Kestodon walked along the river while Shawny continued clearing the land.

Kestodon looked toward the horizon.

The sun was rapidly disappearing, painting the sky in shades of orange and red.

Neither of them had a clock, but they didn’t need one.

Night was coming.

Kestodon looked at the other rewards.

Something else had appeared in her inventory.

Kestodon placed the torch.

Warm light filled their tiny shelter, pushing the darkness back.

It wasn’t much.

Just a cramped hole in the ground with dirt walls and a ceiling barely high enough to stand in.

But it was safe.

For a moment, they simply sat in silence.

Outside, the sun had disappeared completely.

Somewhere in the darkness, something groaned.

Then came another sound.

A faint rattling.

They both looked toward the entrance.

The two fell quiet again.

After a few moments, Shawny spoke.

Kestodon carefully made her way through the darkness, following Shawny’s voice.

After a little searching, she finally spotted another torch-lit hole nearby.