Chapter 22:
The End was a bleak place. After wandering around for a while, Mark decided he'd had enough. He jumped back through the portal, that weird song echoing in his ears as he felt the familiar weightlessness and dizziness. When he opened his eyes, he was back in his own world.
He let out a long sigh and headed straight home. Time for some serious shut-eye. No Phantoms in this version of Minecraft, so he and Steve had been pulling all-nighters to get things done.
The next morning, the sun crept over the horizon, casting long shadows. Mark woke up, stepped out of his house, and soaked in the warm rays. He guided Steve towards the farm, where they harvested some potatoes and tossed them in the furnace to bake.
Sitting on his doorstep, Mark munched on his breakfast and surveyed his domain. Steve was busy planting wheat in another field, not to eat, but to attract animals for breeding.
The world felt peaceful, frozen in time.
Days blurred into weeks, and Mark lost track of how long he'd been living in this world. He'd expanded his house three times, and his little potato patch had grown into a full-blown farm. Potatoes, wheat, carrots, beetroot, even a special section for nether wart.
He had a whole ranch now, too, with cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens. Pretty much every animal you could find in vanilla Minecraft. Steve had mined out the entire underground, so Mark built a massive warehouse to store all the ores and ingots in chests.
He even had an underground farm of ore berry bushes, a cool thing from the Tinker's Construct mod. These bushes grew metal nuggets in the dark and kept producing after you harvested them.
Among the ore berry bushes, Mark grew a special kind called Essence Berry Bushes. They dropped these little clusters of experience orbs, which gave you XP without filling you up. Not that Steve needed to eat, but the XP was useful for enchanting.
Speaking of which, Mark had made himself a fishing rod with Mending, Lure, and Luck of the Sea. He spent his days chilling by the river, fishing and daydreaming.
For a while, Mark thought this peaceful life would last forever. But one day, Steve came back from a dungeon with a weird item – a strange book page.
Curious, Mark took a closer look. It was a Linking Book Page, part of the Mystcraft mod. He recognized the name right away.
"A Linking Panel?"
He frowned, trying to remember what that thing did. He'd messed around with Mystcraft a little in the past, but he couldn't recall the details.
But that wasn't going to stop him. He had all the time in the world to figure it out.
"Linking Panel," he muttered to himself, casting his fishing line into the river. "Right-clicking doesn't do anything... book page... book page... maybe it's part of a book?"
Something clicked in his mind.
"Linking Panel... linking... book page..."
He stroked his chin. "Linking implies a connection... wait a second, is this a page from a Linking Book?"
Excitement surged through him.
He remembered how Mystcraft worked. There were two kinds of books. The Book of Ages let you travel to different dimensions. He already had one of those, a golden book called "Mrvl Cmcs."
The other kind was the Linking Book. It was like a teleportation scroll, a way to get back to your main world.
He hadn't used the "Mrvl Cmcs" book yet. He was worried about getting lost in the Marvel universe. Getting a Scroll of Return from a Lucky Block was a long shot, and he wasn't taking that risk.
But if he could make a Linking Book, he could travel to the Marvel world and back whenever he wanted. That would be awesome.
After all this time in Minecraft, Mark realized he was more than just Steve. He was a real person, and sometimes, he felt lonely.
He craved connection, something to fill the emptiness inside him.
"Alright, time to face the crafting table," he said, gripping the Linking Panel in his hand. He stared at the crafting table with determination.
His old nemesis. But this time, he had a plan.
He remembered the basic book recipe. You needed leather and paper. He just needed to replace the paper with the Linking Panel.
He quickly took care of some cows for leather, took a deep breath, and crouched in front of the crafting table. Time for some trial and error.
And this time, luck was on his side.
After a bunch of tries, he finally crafted a gray book.
"Yes!"
He laughed, holding the "Unlinked Link Book" in Steve's hand.
He rushed back to his bedroom and had Steve right-click the book.
With a thought, an invisible energy flowed from the book, locking onto his current location. The cover turned green.
Just like that, the "Unlinked Link Book" became a "Linking Book."