Down off Your Pillar, Back on Your Feet.

I owe you an apology.

I never meant to abandon Towards Dawn. I don't think I ever anticipated just how much effort and time it would take to continue, nor how mind-bogglingly popular it was going to be. Since writing the last day waaaaay back in March, uni got intensely busy and I also started picking up more freelance writing work.

And I would have been content to just let it die, but two things happened. Firstly, to this day, people are still commenting on that final day as well as sending me emails, pleading me to continue with the journey. I don't think I could have ever convinced myself that this was interesting to anyone, regardless of how many page hits I was getting, without these comments. So thanks! Secondly, version 1.8 of Minecraft came out this past week and has rekindled my love of Minecraft something shocking.

So here is my promise to you: come mid-November, when I am no longer plagued with this thesis, I will climb down from my pillar, place a "Day Forty-Two" sign, and continue on my way.

How does that sound? If you can forgive me for abandoning you for so long, I'd like to have you follow me again.

Day Forty-One

After dreaming he traveled across the world to attend GDC and then back to Australia to begin writing a thesis, the nomad woke up as the sun was rising on Day Forty-One. The mountain to his east blocked the view of the sunrise, but it wasn't long before slithers of red light crept along the northern and southern horizons.

Looking south from my pillar.

The only mob I saw all night, waiting for me to come down.

I took care of the creeper with my bow as the sky lightened. I scanned the trees for more creepers or flame-engulfed zombies, but could see nothing. I placed my sign and started the day.

.

Continuing up the mountain.

Snow on the leaves. A sign of things to come?

A little patch of snow powdered the summit of the mountain, but did not continue down the opposite side. A spider watched me from the shade of a tree, but seemed content to let me start my decent.

Spider in the trees.

Not as much snow as I expected...

Starting my decent.

The mountain declined gradually at first, making for a leisurely morning walk. Thought, it wasn't too last. Before long I hit a sheer and sudden drop. Beyond was a tree-filled valley and, beyond that, was the ocean.

Drop ahead.

The path ahead... if I can get to it.

I took a few careful steps onto a tree, thinking I could climb the leaves down to a safe distance. But I missed a gap in the folage and took a tumble. The damage was minimal, though, thanks to my armour.

Ow.

Guess my fall could have been worse (looking up and slightly to the north of where I came down the hill).

Moving on.

I stuck to the base of the valley as it hooked around slightly to the south. I hit the ocean in a small bay and was about to set out my workbench in order to make my boat when I heard zombies. I looked around frantically, but I was not being attacked. The moans were coming from somewhere beneath me. Though, in my vigilant panic, I spied a gathering of brown mushrooms just to the north. I plucked them (all while the disconcerting moans continued) and continued on to the coast.

The eastern bay.

Mushrooms to the north.

Cave entrance near the mushrooms. I kept an eye on it, but saw not a single zombie, but I certainly heard them.

Continuing east, to the north of the bay.

The coast, again.

And off we go.

I sailed out past the small islands and into the open ocean. Though, it wasn't long before another island blocked my path. I decided to try to go around it. My choice was wise; the island turned out to be deceptively small and I was able to sail on for some time.

Island ahead.

I think I will go around...

A good choice.

I kept sailing for some time until another island rose up before me. This one seemed more substantial so I pulled ashore. Snow peppered the waterfront. Perhaps the earlier hilltop snow was a prediction for this day afterall.

New land.

Cows of the new land!

More hills ahead.

I trodded into the snow and over the hills.

Up and over.

X-TREME MOUNTAIN PIG

And down the other side.

Beyond the hill. the snow was intermittent, covering mountaintops and stretching across plains in patches between long stretches of grass.

Spider looming in a cavern at the base of the hill. Think I'll stay out of that one.

Continuing east, through snow and grass.

A large snow plain, stretching off to the south.

And a plain of grass, stretching east. But more snow is on the horizon, atop the hill.

Beneath the foothills of the next mountain was a straggly assortment of caverns. I walked precariously over them and circled around the southern side of the mountain, continuing across the flat land on the far side.

.

I ain't climbing that mountain...

...but sheep always have to do things the hard way.

The flats beyond.

Although I went around the hill, I must have climbed higher than I had realised as before long the ground began to decline again. After a slight decent, I found myself passing one of those bare, stone hills that I see from time to time. Beyond that was a small forest through which I could spy another ocean.

Walking down and east, stone hill to the right.

Looking back west at the stone hill (and the setting sun).

Through the forest...

...to another ocean.

The sun was low in the western sky, but it wasn't that low yet. However, I did not feel much like crafting another boat and heading across the ocean. Tonight I would make camp early. I was further persuaded by a small island just off the shore, to my north.

That looks nice...

I swam out to the island and began making my tower. The sky was still blue when I was finished, but it had been a long day. It was nice to relax and watch the sunset for once, rather than missing it in a frantic race to safety.

An early night.

And up we go, unto tomorrow.

Day Forty

Skeleton watches the sunrise.

My fear that mobs would swim out to my island in the night was unfounded as the sun began to rise. I watched the skeletons and zombies burn on the eastern shore and the few spiders wander off, disinterested, before I climbed off my tower and swam ashore.

Finally!

Desert ahead.

I followed the grass to the south and crossed the small sand-bridge. A mountain rose up before me, blocking my view, but the sandy side hinted at a larger desert beyond.

Crossing the bridge.

Creeper to the south, minding its own business.

Climbing into the desert.

As I crested the mountain, a desert did indeed wait for me. But there was also this:

Uh. What?

Interesting...

.

Beyond the monument, the desert looked like it would stretch off predominately to the south. Eastwards, I crossed it relatively quickly and hit the ocean again. Once again, I had to follow the land around to the south, where I could see a thick forest.

Looking south-east from near the monument.

Pig having an early morning bath, east of the desert.

Only a few steps into the forest, I spied something unusual through the leaves. I couldn’t quite figure out what it was, something white and gray. As I got closer and it came into sight, I was still unsure as to just what I was looking at:

...what?

I was baffled. I have never seen trees like this before. Was this a one-off glitch? Had there been a recent update that I had missed? Was this some new kind of material? Beside the strange trunks, the leaves of the white trees were brownish and dead, while all nearby trees were lush and green. I didn’t understand so I just pushed on. Soon enough, though, I was finding more of the strange trees within the forest.

More strange, white trees. And tree-growing mushrooms!

Deeper in the woods, I was starting to freak out a little bit.

Another ocean. Perhaps this will be the end of these trees.

Perhaps not.

In hindsight, I should have attempted to chop down one of the strange trees to see if they dropped normal wood. I’m not sure why I never did this. Instead, I crafted myself a boat and set out east across the ocean, leaving the trees behind. It was not long before I stumbled across land—another desert.

So long, strange trees.

New lands.

A single-block shaft in the ground, not far into the new continent. Falling down that would have heard.

From a slight rise on the new continent, I looked out east and south. The desert continued in both directions more-or-less to the horizon, but was broken up by a small lake that splayed into a variety of rivers.

.

As I started to walk down towards the water, I could hear the moan of zombies. Not far away, the water was being sucked down into an out-of-sight cave. Looking more closely at the water, I spied the wall of a dungeon just beneath the surface. I decided to leave it alone.

Underwater dungeon.

Looking south-east to greener lands.

But continuing east through harsher lands.

On it goes.

I walked across the sand dunes for some time. Besides the occasional rise and fall of the land, the terrain was unchanging for minutes before a pillar began to come into view on the horizon. Shortly afterwards, the sand dissipated into brownish, dry grass.

The end of the desert.

To the south was a small bay leading out to a southern ocean. While looking at it I almost stumbled into a small lake lurking beneath an overhang of dirt. Usually, this would be no big deal, but this particular lake could have ended my adventure for good:

0_0*

Lava lake!

.

A lake of lava. On the surface! I was bewildered. If I had fallen into that, I would have surely died. I have never, never, seen a lake of lava on the surface before.

Recovering myself, I walked onwards towards the towering mountains I had spied from the desert.

Heading towards the mountains.

Sand and stone monolith to the south-east.

There was no easy path between the two monuments as they joined together in a steep incline directly to my east. Beanth some trees, I started to climb the southern face of the northern-most mountain.

Well. That isn't something you normally see in a tree.

Mountains to the south.

But thankfully flatter ground to the east.

The ground beyond the mountains was flat and easy to cross. I made good ground as the afternoon sun lowered at my back. 

What a lake should consist of.

Mountains to the south.

Dark caverns.

The desert refuses to be left behind.

Sun is starting to set.

Climbing into the clouds as the sky darkens.

The sun started to kiss the horizon as I climbed the mountain. I wanted to make the crest before setting camp, but it was getting too dark. As the earth continued to rise beyond me, I had to make my tower higher than usual to prevent skeletons launching arrows from the higher ground. I used up most of my stone building my tower. By the time I was ready to rest, the sky was nearly black.

Time to sleep.