Welcome to "The Diary of a Miner"; a blog detailing the adventures and mysteries that I, Syeonyx, embark upon in my quest to further my mining and survival skills! It'll be tough, there will be good times and bad times, but I'll always be alive to post my adventures... probably...

Day 61: "Unfinished business"

     I was hoping that after the recent events over the past couple of days, I would get a respite. After all I had trekked across miles of land to find a stone to destroy a portal, only to return all the way back home, and then go on further to row to an island to destroy the initial portal I found quite a while back! Needless to say, I was pooped! I was intrigued by the effect the stone had on Creepers, and possibly other animals; Chiron seemed to dislike it as much as the Creepers. But I could investigate that at another time... Today was meant to be about me; a day of rest and relaxation, going back to doing the things I wanted to do! At least, just for a little while. But it seems THEROS had other plans...

     I woke up late today, knowing that there was nothing that needed my immediate attention... I could do a whole host of things such as extend the remaining towers on the wall, make a more secure gate at the front entrance - the whole "hidden door under the sand" idea wasn't particularly effective now that I thought about it - or something else! There was bound to be something to do, and if not I could take a more detailed look into the ship that's still parked on my front door! I awoke and changed into the usual day attire and then went downstairs. I was expecting another message from HoN Co. today demanding a reason for the lack of contact, but surprisingly there wasn't... Oh well, I'd only really started ignoring them yesterday... I was going to have to wait longer than that to get a proper response from them. I took out a loaf of bread from the dry storage and opened the front door to let Chiron out. He bounded off onto the porch, whilst I went back into a side room to make some fried fish and toast! After a little while, I heard Chiron barking. Initially I thought it was just his way of trying to get my attention to play a game with him, but when he persisted without coming to find me, I switched into alert mode. Chiron only really barked like that when he had seen something unusual. And since awhile ago, "unusual" could also carry the title of "dangerous"! Not having anything to hand, I took the small knife I was using to cut the bread, and went to the front door, making sure I didn't make too much noise. Chiron continued barking, just out of view on the porch, but as I got closer to him, it wasn't what he was barking at that interested me... On the floor was a piece of paper; it seemed older than the other notes that I had found from THEROS before, which made me think it might not be from them...

     I approached the piece of paper cautiously, not taking any chances! As I approached, I saw the telltale signature of THEROS printed in slightly thicker font at the base of the note... Lowering the knife, I looked towards Chiron, trying to gauge what he was barking at; but whatever it had been was way off in the distance and I couldn't see anything anyway! Calling him back in, we went back in the house where I returned to a badly burnt fish... Taking it off the hob, I sat down and looked at the note... It seemed THEROS had gone back to short and simple messages. Although reading through it, the word "simple" was probably misused! "Return to the portal you destroyed and finish what you started! Search for that, which is hidden in plain sight! THEROS"... What is that supposed to mean? I had destroyed the portal! That was what they had asked of me, and that's exactly what I had done! I had even gone to the length of exploring the land off to the far East just to find something to aid me in helping them! Yes I had found a small hidden cavern behind the portal, but there had only been a lava flow and a few surface holes! I stopped in mid thought as I remembered the lava flow... Even at the time I had thought it was a bit odd for it to be on the surface... Could that be what THEROS was referring to...? "Search for that, which is hidden in plain sight!"... The more I thought about it, the more likely it seemed that there could be something hidden; like in the old films, there was the cliché cavern or tunnel hidden behind a waterfall... Maybe this was the same, but with a lava flow instead! I then remembered I hadn't given the stone enough time to recharge whilst I was there, so if there was another portal nearby, I wouldn't have known about it. Looks like I had something to do today after all! Putting the note down, I went upstairs to pack the essentials... I really needed a portal-hunting equipment bag ready for these sorts of occasions...

     With my bow and quiver slung over my shoulder, and the map and the stone in the small bag I had prepared, I set off down the beach, round the back of the wall to the bay where I had left the boat... I had also put a few torches in there just in case, and a small dagger which I had made awhile back for covert defence! I put the bag into the chest, pushed it out and climbed aboard... This was becoming such a regular trip for me that I didn't need to even look at the map the entire time! If I rowed pretty much due North for the entire journey, I could hit the small beach on the far side with reasonable accuracy. Throughout the entire journey there, I thought about what the message could mean by "... finish what you started!"... Was this referring to another portal...? Or was it something else? Presumably it was another portal, but it didn't make sense for another portal to be so close to the previous one... I'm no inter-dimensional professor or anything, but I would've thought it would be better to spread the portals far and wide to cover a greater distance in a shorter space of time. If you had one portal within a certain area, why put another one within the same area...? Rowing past the small island that was on the way to the beach area, I knew I was about halfway there. Another half hour or so and I would go in search of whatever I left behind that was of so much importance...

     Securing the boat to the shore with a steak in the ground, I set off towards the North to find the pit again... As with the rowing, I had become so accustomed to going back and forth that I could work out where to go based on the surroundings! Within a few minutes of leaving the boat, I was back at the pit. I walked around the edge, making sure that there were no Creepers around, and then I lowered myself into the pit. I readied my bow and took an arrow from the quiver, not knowing what to expect. Looking all around, I tried to imagine what THEROS meant by the strange message...

     I walked towards the hole that was left by the portal, and passed through it, down to the lava pit... There was still nothing there, but I didn't want to take any chances! After securing the area, I put a few torches around the area of lava and then began to search around! As the lava was flowing right from the surface of the wall, I couldn't tell from the side whether it was hiding a cavern or a tunnel. I decided to improvise by blocking the lava flow with gravel, dirt and stone. It took awhile to make sure the lava flow had stopped enough, but after plugging the gap, I found that there was nothing concealed behind it... It had been a waste of time...

     If THEROS was still right about something being hidden, maybe I would have to make use of the other resources available to me. After returning to the pit, I took out the stone and held it slightly in the cover of a overhanging tree to determine if it was emitting any light. After a few moments of squinting at it, I came to the conclusion that whatever was left here wasn't related to a portal; the stone would be shining bright yellow if it did!I put the stone back in the bag, and went into the centre of the pit. It was then that I realised something... The cage... It had still been here yesterday when I pushed the Creepers back, into the portal. But now it was gone... Was it still there after destroying the portal? I don't know, I hadn't checked! I was too concerned about the small lava pit and ensuring I retrieved the stone to care about the cage! Where had it gone? It couldn't simply get up and walk away... Maybe the cage was connected to the portal... Maybe that's where it originated from, and was destroyed by the rift was the portal collapsed! That had to be it! It didn't really matter; I didn't know what they were anyway, just that they appeared in the most random of places... One down in the mines, another in the dig site, and the first a few weeks ago near the forge right on the surface! Pushing it from my mind, I took the note out of my bag and re-read it... "Search for that, which is hidden in plain sight!"... Looking around, I couldn't see anything that could hint at that. I was probably thinking too literally, trying to imagine something literally hidden... That wasn't helping me at all... I looked back at the hole where the portal had been, assuming it was linked to the portal somehow, but I couldn't see anything... The only notable thing was a small patch of cobblestone set into a wall of dirt... Actually... The more I thought about it, the weirder and weirder it seemed... The pit floor was composed of cobblestone, with traces of mossy leading to where the portal had been! But behind the portal it was all dirt... Except for one small area... Approaching it, I noticed it seemed a bit loose, and wasn't set into the wall properly... Setting the bag down, I began tugging at small parts of the cobblestone, with it coming apart in my hands. I continued tugging until I was practically digging it out! Then my fingers went through a hollow patch, and I used it as leverage to pull the rest of the cobblestone free... What was this?

     In a little hole in the wall was a lever... I didn't know what to do; I was a bit weary in case it opened a trap door, or released Creepers or set fire to me or something! Then again, it could be as simple as opening a door... Taking the risk, I grasped the handle and pulled! Flinching slightly, I heard a noise to my right, and then saw a bright light and the dirt that made up the wall parted in the middle to become part of the ceiling and floor! Looking to my right, I saw a small stairway leading down to a cobblestone wall! It was lit up with torches and from below came a gush of cold air!

     Taking the bow in hand, I began to descend the stairs... About halfway down, I become aware of a strange skittering noise... It sounded a little like a Creeper hissing, but it sounded off... Continuing round to the bottom, the corridor veered off to the right and then another right, leading back the way the stairway had come, except on a flat level. In the distance, I could see light; a few torches were visible on a wall... A mossy cobblestone wall... What was this...? The skittering noise grew louder and louder as I advanced, and I took and arrow from the quiver! Pulling it back as far as I could, I inched closer to the edge of the room... I peered inside and what I saw I couldn't believe! Another cage sat in the centre of the room with a small spider placed in the centre, on fire! The walls were all made from cobblestone, and a chest sat against the far left-hand wall! As for the source of the skittering noise, I couldn't tell, but as I was about to enter the room, a black shadow fell from the ceiling! I lunged backwards into the corridor, span around and fired an arrow into the room! I missed the black shadow that had come from above as I heard it hit the wall. But there, sitting next to the cage... Was a giant spider! Just like the one I had seen in the temple! How was this possible?!?!

Syeonyx signing off

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