Chapter Text
Edd wakes up to the sound of birds chirping. The weather is perfect. The sun is warm, but a soft breeze keeps Edd cool. The grass is nice and soft.
Wait a second. Why is Edd outside in the middle of nowhere?
"What the hell." Edd hears someone mutter nearby. They sound like they just woke up.
"Where am I?" someone else mutters. Edd looks around and realizes who the voices belong to.
Tom and Matt are here too?
Tom stomps over to Edd, clearly pissed.
"One moment, I'm lying in bed and the next moment, I'm a million kilometers away from society! What the hell did you do?" Tom yells, waving his arms in the air once he's right beside Edd.
"Why are you blaming me?" Edd growls defensively. Edd sits up and faces Tom.
"Well Matt does nothing but stare at himself all day so clearly he didn't magically teleport us into the wilderness!"
"Well what if Matt has some magical mirror that somehow teleported us here?"
"I don't have magical mirrors," Matt says, clearly confused as to what's going on.
"See, Edd? This is clearly your- wait how do you see yourself in the mirror?" Tom cuts himself off, quickly turning to Matt.
"What do you mean?"
"You're a vampire, Matt. Vampires can't see their own reflection."
"I'm a vampire?"
"Yes you- nevermind just, Edd what the hell is happening?!" Tom turns back to Edd, fuming.
"Fine. I'll explain."
FLAAAAAASHBAAAAACK
Edd had been thinking about getting a new game. The problem? Edd had practically no money. Commissions were near nonexistent and animations were barely making him enough to pay his share of the rent. Edd had no money to spend on stuff like a new game. The solution? Piracy! Yes, Edd was planning on pirating a game. Did he care? Not at all. He desperately wanted a new game and he'd do anything to get it.
Edd searched for a game that sounded interesting. Out of the list of popular games, there was one that stood out to him the most. A pixel survival game called Terraria. Edd had heard about it. After all, it is a popular game. He just hadn't had the time to check it out. After picking out a new game to try, Edd got to work on finding a way to get it for free. He spent hours searching for a website that hopefully wouldn't give his computer a virus. After a couple mind numbing hours of scrolling and reading and scrolling and reading, the green hoodied Brit had lost his patience. Edd picked a random site that had Terraria available for download and hoped for the best. If Edd got a virus, he'd have Tom deal with it.
Edd found the link. It was time to download. Edd clicked on the link and the download began. Edd anxiously waited, his leg bouncing. The download counted down. Five, four, three, two, one…
Download complete. Edd proceeded with the installation after clicking off the warning message provided by his computer. Edd continued waiting. The air was tense. After what felt like an eternity…
The installation was complete. Edd let out a sigh of relief, glad that his computer hadn't exploded… yet. Who knows, maybe the virus took time to destroy his computer. Edd clicked on the app and launched the game.
Edd assumed the game was loading normally. Edd had never played Terraria before so if there was a not-so-obvious anti-piracy measure, Edd would have missed it. The Brit clicked on the new character option and made a character that looked like himself. Once he finished, he got to work on a new world. The world was on expert mode because why not and the world would be called "This World of Edd". Now he had to pick a world evil. Edd just went with the random option as he saw no difference between the two evils. Edd hit create world and waited. Edd started to feel extremely dizzy all of sudden. The Brit clutched his head as the world spun around him. It got faster and faster until everything went black.
"Aaaaaand that's probably how we ended up here," Edd finishes. Tom stares at Edd with wide eyes, mouth slightly open.
"So you're telling me we're stuck in a video game?!" Tom shouts incredulously. Matt flinches at the sudden change in volume. Edd only shrugs in response.
"Hey guys! Look what I have!" Now it's Matt's turn to yell and Tom's turn to wince. Matt drops some copper tools on the ground. The blue Brit backs away out of fear that Matt is gonna drop something heavy on his feet.
"Hey I have those, too!" Edd exclaims. The copper tools in question were a shortsword, pickaxe, and axe.
"What do we do with these?" Matt asks curiously as if he had never seen these tools in his life.
"You're gonna want to chop some trees and build a house before nightfall. It's quite dangerous after dark if you aren't prepared." All three boys turn around to face the unfamiliar man who had just spoken. The man had brown hair, a gray shirt, and light blue jeans.
"Who are you?" Tom asks. The blue Brit seems uneasy by the presence of the mysterious man.
"I am here to give you advice on what to do next. It is recommended that you talk with me anytime you get stuck," the man explains.
"Ok but do you have a name?" Tom questions the man.
"Oh, yeah my name's Tanner," the man, Tanner, replies.
"Ok, Tanner, why am I here?" Tom asks demandingly like he's interrogating a hostage.
"That I cannot answer. However, I know how you guys can get out." Tanner turns to face Edd. "You will need to go on a journey. Your goal is to explore this world and collect the 10 swords required to craft the Zenith. Once you have the Zenith, you and your friends will be able to return home."
"That sounds simple enough," Matt chimes in.
"The first sword you will need is the copper shortsword in your inventory. You will want to keep it somewhere safe after you've gotten a better weapon," Tanner adds. Edd pulls out the sword and looks at it with a sparkle in his eyes.
"This is so stupid," Tom grumbles.
"Oh come on I'm sure it can't be that hard!" Matt exclaims in an attempt to cheer Tom up. "We already have one of the swords we need! That means we only need… uh… how many do we need again?"
"We need 9 more," Tom mutters, rolling his eyes (or at least making a sarcastic head motion that symbolizes an eye roll). "I'm too sober for this…"
"So Tanner. What should we do first?" Edd wanted to get Tom and Matt to do something, mainly so Tom would shut up and stop groaning.
"I recommend chopping down some trees and building some houses. You three will need a place to stay before nightfall," Tanner explains.
"Alright then." Edd whips out his axe. "Let's get chopping!"
Before Tom can protest, Edd runs off toward the grove of trees, Matt following close behind. Tom sighs and pulls out his axe, joining the two men in their tree chopping. The gang chops down every tree in the area, gathering enough wood to fill a small warehouse. The three friends gather around the area where they arrived just before sundown.
"So how do we build a house?" Tom inquires.
"Take the wood you have collected and build a workbench," Tanner explains. The guide's sudden appearance startles all three of the guys. "With your workbench, you can make walls, tables, chairs, and a light source. That's what you need to make a house."
"House is done!" Matt announces. Edd and Tom turn around. Their jaws drop. A tall wooden pillar is seen sticking out of the ground.
"How did you do that?" Tom mumbles. The eyeless man approaches the house, putting a hand on the door.
"Building is easy!" Matt stands by Edd, admiring his creation. "Told you I'm not completely useless."
"No one ever said that…" Edd trails off, also staring at Matt's building in awe.
Edd hears the sound of an arrow flying through the air. The brunette whips around and sees Tanner firing arrows at what looks like blue jello. The blob hops towards Tanner who's backing away and firing arrows.
"What the hell is that?" Edd yells in surprise. Tom looks over at Edd and then at the slime.
"Holy flamingo in a bathtub, it's a slime!" the blue Brit shouts in surprise, pointing dramatically at the small creature. Tanner fires one last arrow and the slime explodes, scattering bits of blue gel nearby. Tanner stashes his bow away.
"Gel is a very useful crafting material. You can use it to make torches, among other things," Tanner comments. Edd grabs the gel and examines it. Tom, who is currently peering over Edd's shoulder, grabs some of the gel and shoves it in his mouth. Edd makes a face at Tom but isn't bothered to stop him. Tom has consumed weirder things. Tom simply nods and walks back to the house, Edd following suit.
Today was the first of many days in this strange world. Edd had a feeling they wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, but maybe that isn't a bad thing. Maybe this is the adventure the gang needs. Edd shakes his head and sighs, sitting down on the floor. The housing complex didn't have any beds, so Edd was just gonna sleep on the floor.
This is gonna be a long journey.