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Hummer has always been an explorer. Whenever he joins a new world, he ends up traveling out a couple thousand blocks and gathering just enough resources along the way to survive the journey. He never settles for long and leaves multiple bases on servers. So when he spawned nearly 20,000 blocks out in a new world, he was very confused. Did he accidentally boot up an old world? That didn’t explain his 0 levels and empty inventory. Chunks were still loading in around him, revealing a normal oak and birch forest that any player would expect to find at spawn. Maybe his watch was just telling him the wrong coordinates? Hummer fell into his usual early game routine. Trees fell, coal was mined, and furnaces were crafted.
Hummer used a stream of water to descend into a promising cave. He dodged skeletons and placed torches as he explored, illuminating iron ores. A cave spider hissed nearby, and he beheld a mineshaft as he turned the corner. Hummer liked finding mineshafts, a structure left behind by the builders of ancient times. Builders who had found a purpose in life, leaving behind remnants created from both necessity and passion. He blindly navigated through the tunnels and took out spawners covered in cobwebs, as well as found some loot in minecart chests.
After a couple close calls with creepers and a lot of time spent waiting for ore to smelt, Hummer was fully kitted out with iron gear and tools. He was restless to get out of the mines and into a new biome, immediately crafting a boat and running up to the waves of the nearby shore. He got in the boat and rowed out into the ocean, which stretched so far that he couldn’t see any other landmasses. Along the way, he scanned the seafloor for shipwrecks and ruins, but noticed something…interesting. This ocean went really deep. Like, deeper than he had ever seen terrain generate. He felt a pull, he wanted to see what was at the bottom, hundreds of blocks down at the base of the kelp that swayed, where he couldn’t see. Hummer stood up, and jumped into the water.
At first, he couldn’t see anything. Then his sight settled and he saw rays of light dancing in the water. He swam deeper and deeper, pushing his limits. He was running out of breath and hadn’t even reached the bottom. His adrenaline kicked in, he was going to die! Hummer twisted and kicked desperately to get up, water swishing around his anxious form. He barely made it, grasping at the boat and holding onto the sides, gasping for breath. The smell of brine filled his senses, and he coughed. Hummer stumbled into the boat, and quickly sailed back towards his spawn. His brain started to rush with the thoughts of a plan, a way to get back in the very water he had just barely come out of alive. He felt a desire to try again, and keep trying until something new happened.
An entire plot of land was deforested and replanted as his hands mechanically worked to build a ship. His mind remembered a build from another world, made by someone who made basic builds that others could replicate for their own use. Upon completion, Hummer sat on the deck and started to fish. He needed pufferfish for waterbreathing, and the ocean kind of scared him now. In a way, he was afraid that if he went in without water breathing, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from letting the water take him. Also, the ocean rushing below him was icy cold. No pufferfish would ever dare to swim in its waters.
Hummer made a house on the shore to add a bit more life to the world. It was a nice space to keep utilities and look out the balcony at the ocean. He listened to the waves roll off the sand while he brewed 3 water breathing potions. Finally, his plan was nearing completion. He could survive this time. Now all he had to do was follow the pull, calling him to the depths. However, as Hummer made his way back to his ship, he heard thunder roar. It was far off in the distance, but he knew it would come his way eventually. Staying at sea meant a high risk of his ship catching fire, or electrocution if he was close to the surface of the sea. Hummer twisted a curl of his hair. Every minute he might spend waiting out the storm would mean another moment that he wasn't finding the source of the allure he still felt.
Hummer paced a bit. He knew that lightning was carried across the surface of water and didn't go very deep. If Hummer went down deep enough, he would be safe- but it also meant it would not be safe to surface. He could respawn and try again, but he really didn't want to use his potions up just to die. On the other hand, Hummer didn't feel like he could go another second outside of the water, not when he had the water breathing ready in his inventory.
Hummer walked to the edge of the ship, each step bringing him closer to the truth. He just had to believe he would survive.
The sky flashed with lightning as Hummer drank the first of his potions, and jumped. Water surged around him. He wasted no time swimming down, the light on his back fading as he descended. Whether or not he could surface was a problem for future him, because there was something more pressing at the moment. He noticed there were no mobs, not even drowned. Was it because of the terrain? Maybe they couldn’t spawn in deep water like this. He could feel a presence, though, so he looked at his watch. It read 0/3 entities. One was him, one had to have been the boat by his ship… but what was the last entity? He didn’t have any armor stands on his ship, and he used barrels instead of chests. In fact, it was more likely that he was out of range for any surface entities to be tracked. There was something down here with him. While he twisted in the water, trying to see it, he drank his second potion.
Hummer swam through kelp, following his sense of the presence. While grabbing food from his inventory, he accidentally dropped his third potion. It floated in the water, out of his sight. He kept swimming towards the presence, double checking his watch. It still said 0/3 entities. Hummer wanted to believe there was something down here, something that could change his life. He could feel it, there was something there! There was no other explanation for the presence, there had to be a being in these waters! The very nature of this ocean was overwhelming, an abyss without light, pressure that pulled him deeper and deeper down. Hummer didn’t notice his potion’s effect run out. His throat stiffened, and salt filled his nose. He was drowning. Hummer scrambled to grab the third potion from his inventory, but his hands came up empty. He lifted his head to the sky, so far away from him now. He couldn't even see the light of the sun anymore, it no longer graced him. The storm had only added to the darkness. He looked back at his watch as his vision blurred. It read 1/3 entities. He ran out of breath, and his throat tightened, no air left between his lungs.
Hummer opened his eyes. He felt so weak, but he was somehow alive, and he was falling through the air. How? He had felt death as tangible as the first tree he had punched in the world. Hummer somehow no longer felt water around his body, and his vision was filled with shifting shapes of yellow, red, and orange. He fell for so long before landing, landing in front of a castle supported by clouds. Had he gone to some new dimension? This looked nothing like anything he had ever seen in a world before, though. Structures were never this complex. Only a god could have made this kingdom.
“Welcome, Hummer5718.” a voice boomed, coming from a lake by the castle. Hummer ran over to it and looked upon the waters. The lake stretched on and on, taking up most of the courtyard. Inside, scales shifted and gleamed in the sunlight, and a singular golden-orange eye stared back at him.
“I have been waiting for you to come to me as a mortal. Most humans have such a high ego, always resorting to using potions or creative means to defy mortality. It’s disgusting. I sensed that upon your death, you had no water breathing active, and risked your life to find me. You were searching for me, weren’t you?” Hummer was in awe, there really had been a being in the ocean, like he believed.
“Well, yes, I- I was looking for you. But I did use water breathing so I could search for a longer time.” Hummer stuttered.
“Really? I did not sense any more potions you could have used before you drowned. Either way, you are the first to pursue me and drown willingly, during a storm no less! I can tell you would rather have drowned than surface with no findings. You were searching for me and you didn't even know that I existed. You are perfect.”
“Perfect for what, exactly?”
“For making others believe and approach me as mortals. It was nice, staying in my realm with no interruptions for a while, but I’ve grown restless. I want to see the world and gain new followers through a fresh eye- or, well, your eyes.” The being rose up out of the water. As soon as its eye emerged, Hummer became its vessel, trapped in his sight. Hummer could feel the being, the Leviathan as it called itself, taking up residence in his mind. It felt like the pressure of the deep ocean flooded his mind, flowing and filling every corner. Hummer blinked, and the pressure faded to a dull hum. The creature was no longer physically there, and he was left looking at winding quartz stairs in the background.
“This is perfect. From now on, you will only be visible to those capable of believing in me. I have altered your form a bit, I find two eyes a confusing perspective. Fear not, I trust you will resonate with your new look. Hummer, if you find someone who acknowledges you, do everything you can to bring them here. Gain their trust, use potions at first if you must, then make them drown as a mortal. Make them believe.”
Hummer had not consented to the Leviathan living in his mind, but he realized he had always wanted a different sort of life. He buzzed with excitement. Hummer felt physically different, less frail and more solid. He looked back at the water and found in his reflection that he now had a crt tv for a head, and his body was mechanical. The Leviathan was right, he liked having an expressionless screen for a face. It felt right, somehow. How ironic that in his mortality, Hummer had become a metal vessel for a being. His body had already accepted the change.
Hummer was returned to his ship, health full as if he had died and respawned. He sprung into action, setting up bait by sharing a photo of his ocean. He had created a warm ocean biome to put in the photo, a clue for anyone to find who actually has their wits about themself. Hummer added a description of the Leviathan, wording it to leave the reader with an endless urge to follow their curiosity and seek the being, just as he had. He knew the truth they could find if they just believed.
“Now what do we do, Leviathan?" Hummer questioned.
"Now, we wait for a mortal to follow us into the depths of the sea. Call me Levi, by the way. I like hearing the informalities humans use. The others are always so formal, especially Hastur. It's boring.”
"Really? O-Okay, Levi then. You seem like a pretty nice being to serve as a vessel for, with the way you describe some of the others."
“Of course. I am the best. Who wouldn't want to serve a god of faith, of change, of the endless tides and unending curiosity for new experiences?" Levi replied, swishing in the mind of Hummer. Hummer enjoyed the feeling. Meeting Levi filled a hole he hadn't known how to take care of. His ideals lined right up with his beloved god, and he would do anything to help others join him. Hummer imagined dragging strangers into the ocean, tantalizing them with words promising safety and the peace of finding the truth. Of course, he would have to foster faith in any company he formed. He couldn't start by drowning people, he had to make them believe first.
Hummer stood on his balcony, recalling the water breathing potions that had ended up leading him to Levi. He watched the waves, trying to let the calm atmosphere embrace him. He was restless for someone to join already, someone that would be able to believe in Levi.
Wifies joined the world.