"What would you like in exchange?"
The old man smiled at me.
"Tell me about the other world, is it true that it's a paradise?"
"You want me to tell you about the Overworld as payment? "
"I want you to tell me stories about that world, legends, experiences."
That took me by surprise since I didn't expect this kind of exchange.
"What do you know about the other world so I can complete the knowledge you have."
"Take me as someone that doesn't even know another world exists, and try to explain it that way."
I don't know if it was intentional or not but that was a smart way to approach a subject that you don't know about.
If he told me something that I could take the lead from then the information would be very limited, now I don't have something to start from so I'll say a little of everything.
"My world is vastly different from this one, we don't have a ceiling about our heads, instead we have a great void that at night is dark and when day comes the sky is bright with the help of a star we call it the sun."
My introduction already had the attention of the old man as his eyes were big as carrots.
"We have hundreds of different blocks all over the world, just like in this world everything is split into biomes, we have places that are flat and green, we call them plains, in there animals such as sheep, cows, and chickens spawn and live, we also have different kind of forest's like in here, but we have over five different kinds of wood each with their unique system. We have vast oceans with water, where you can swim in without getting hurt, animals live inside as well, we have desserts that are made with golden sand where the heat could rival even the temperatures in here, only at night to be cold enough where you blood freezes, speaking of that, we have mountains that rise above the ground and on top of it there the never melting snow, if you go there unprepared, you could die frozen."
I stopped my explanation to take a break since my mouth was getting dry.
The old man seemed to realize what was the problem as he gave me a wooden bowl with strider's milk.
After I hydrated my throat, I continued my story.
"The day is split into two, the morning where there is light all over the world, where people and animals are living their life, and then there's the night, where the only light comes from the moon and the stars on the sky, but at night monsters appear everywhere where's dark, my world is not like yours, if you build a room you won't be able to see anything, we need torches and lamps to keep the monsters at bay, but fear not, because the night has an end as well, and when the sun comes back again, every monster in its path will die burning away."
I stayed like that for a few moments shocked by my ability of storytelling, I should probably write a children's book or something similar.
Sure there was a lot more I could tell to the old man, like the city, the people, the culture, and much more, but from his expression, I can tell that he is satisfied enough with this.
"Your world sounds very dangerous to live in."
"I wouldn't say that, my world doesn't live so close to lava, food is abundant and I don't have to constantly wear armor so I wouldn't faint from the heat."
"Yes, but we don't have to worry about what creatures live beyond the void, we have the great block protecting us from that, we don't have to worry about living in a dark room or we'll be killed in our sleep, and we don't have to worry about the System limiting us as it does to you."
This old man truly knows a lot, not a lot of people know that people from the Nether don't play by the same rules, only recently was it found out.
As for the other stuff, I could see why the Overworld could be a scary place to live, it's just the fact that we're so used to living in our world that we can't imagine living in someone else's.
And for me, it's even weirder since I'm not from either of those worlds, but I still live and strive.
This shows that humanity truly can adapt to anything if necessary.
"Enough about my world, why don't you tell me more about your world old man, I'm curious how a native of this place would describe his home."
The old man smiled fondly and drank some strider's milk from a wooden bowl.
"I liked the way you presented your world, it put some light on some of my questions and brought more questions that I didn't even know to ask. If it's possible I would like to visit it sometime before my soul joins the souldsand block. I don't know what I should tell you since you've traveled around this world for a while and you must know a fair bit as well, so instead I will tell you the original of the Nether, a story told to every child when their young but forgotten when they get old."
Does he know the origin of this world?
Even I don't know what is it, but at the same time maybe it's just a legend passed down.
-Long ago there was only one world protected by the System, everything was peaceful and perfect, there were no wars and no conflict, and the System helped its people to rise above the stars.
But one day, without any warning the world was attacked, the monsters appeared out of nowhere, everyone was scared and confused and the System decided to fight back, nobody knew where the fight was happening, but monsters started to appear all over the world.
For the first time, humans made weapons to fighting instead of protect, everyday there was a discovery, a better weapon to destroy the monsters.
We were on top of the world once again.
But the unseen battle was over and the results were not expected.
The System has lost, and the world started to get infected.
Nobody knew what to do, no amount of research could topple such a powerful and invisible energy.
The System in a last-ditch attempt ripped the world apart, everything that was infected around it was gathered in one place, sealed with the unbreakable block, and thrown into another dimension.
We were the unlucky ones abandoned by the System, we were the ones who saw the creation of the Nether, it was constant conflict, and struggle for survival until everything got corrupted and became what it is today.
So don't forget forgotten heroes, the protector abandoned you and tossed you to the side.
Cease any fights and gather your strength since one day, a way will be open to get back, and we shall have our ravage.-
The old man finished his story and we sat in silence for a few moments.
I now know a little about the war, it seems that the System lost and a way to minimize the damage is to seal the way the threat came to another dimension.
But I also know from the historical records of the witches that the System struck again once the people's experiments got too bad, could this be because the Nether portals were discovered?
And are the humans in the Nether still preparing for a war against the Overworld even though they can't live in it?
Only one story and I have so many questions to ask, maybe the old man has some answers.
"That's something that I never heard and it amazes me, old man. So are you people still preparing to take over our world."
The old man only chuckled as he took another sip from his wooden bowl.
"We tried in the first few years once your people stopped contact with us. The portals were still working so after we gathered our best warriors, we tried to invade your world. Unfortunately, it was a great slaughter as the air in our old world poisoned us and killed our mightiest warriors. After such tragedy the people split into two, one wanted a peaceful life so they retreated into tribes, who are now known as Piglings, and the others started to build Bastions beside the opened portal. With time we realized that not everyone cut connection with us, but the damage was already done, so your people started to build fortresses so my people couldn't attack them. It was a constant fight between the brutes and the outsiders, but out of nowhere, everything stopped as all the portals were broken. Nobody knew the reason but the once almighty fortresses are now occupied by monsters of the Nether and even we gave up on them."
So there was some conflict between the two worlds, but not everyone wanted to fight, the Piglings decided to trade while the Brutes decided to fight.
Two major things happened from what he told me, an empire or maybe a research organization was destroyed which left a few ports unsupervised so the Brutes saw this as their chance for revenge, but it ended badly for them.
And the second catastrophe made all the portals break leaving everyone confused.
I think that's the incident where the System created the Witches and destroyed its empire.
From what I've talked with Blue Flame, the Stone Kingdoms portal was opened a few years after the disaster which meant that someone knew how to do it.
I wonder if they passed down that information and it's lost or it's it died without being able to pass it further along.
I did not expect a trip to the Nether to give me such results, I've come here only for some quartz, and now I'm talking about the creation of the Nether.
What a day.
"Do you know anything about the End?"
"You mean like the end of the world? I didn't take you to be one of those kinds of people."
"It's not like- never mind. Why are you telling me all this old man, you didn't have to tell me so much about your world, especially the bad things you did."
The old man got off his couch and slowly walked towards a chest.
He opened it and looked at its contents for a few moments before taking out two netherite ingots from there. Then he turned around and walked towards me and placed those ingots on the table.
"You see traveler, I lived a long life and It wasn't all that pleasant. Most of the problems I had, I dealt with them or let them go, but there's one thing that I can't let go no matter how much time has passed."
Suddenly he locked his eyes on me and spoke with a serious voice.
"Kill the Chiefman for me."
I raised my eyebrows in surprise.
"Can I ask why?"
"I had one love of my life in many years that I've walked on this hot hell, she gave me a son but died in a hunt shortly after. Ever since then, I have focused on raising the kid to be the best warrior that ever was. And he grew faster than any red vines, soon he was in the arena amongst the others and won. But the Chiefman was intimidated by his power so he invited him to dinner where he poisoned him and killed him with his axe, then he told the world that my son was an assassin who wanted his position but was too weak to defeat him. And to be sure I wouldn't do anything about this he sent me down here to be a prisoner with my riches."
Anger and hate were intense the more he progressed the story until it all ended leaving a deafening silence m
We sat in silence for a few moments, while I wondered how should feel about this.
Pity, confusion, anger?
This wasn't my battle but the old man was ready to pay any price to get his revenge.
I didn't even know if the story was true, but his emotions were.
"I want to see the chief man before I'm going to make this decision. It's too risky for me and too little information, I need some time for this."
The old man got his composure after he heard my response.
"Very well, the man will appear at the arena in two days, you will see him there. Thank you for listening to this old man."
With tiered steps, he went back to his chair and sat deflated.
I didn't know what to do, so I left his room without taking the Netherite ingots, it didn't feel right to do that now.
I needed to gather some information first