(Illustrations don't belong to me)

Steve found himself in an enormous cavern: the ceiling was glittering with golden sparkles as if made of falling glowstone, the ground enchantingly illuminous with a shade of red mixed with the faintest trace of pink, and the walls around him were in light blue, magically calm to look at. He was lying on a comfortable bed, with a soft mattress, accompanied by a satin pillow and a blanket, both in the same brilliant-white color. People were walking outside a window situated at the right of his bedside, all seemingly quite busy with their business. Standing beside him as Steve woke up, was none other than Tom.

"As I've said before, you have arrived at the Residence. This is a temporary shelter, set up and protected by spells, charms, and enchantments... from the war. We bring the injured down here and heal them before assigning them to do the same for others. But as you must have noticed, without the beacon beam to secure peace within the Realms, our efforts to brew Potions of Regeneration and Potions of Healing are effectively worthless in the long run. Now you come in, restore the light, and save all of us," said Tom nonchalantly, much to Steve's bafflement.

"Now, should you get up, walk out the door, turn right, and you will come into the kitchen for breakfast. When you've finished, call my name again, and I shall guide you around the Residence - you know, for you to get used to it - and after that, we start our training."

"Uhm, what sort of training will I have to take?" asked a somewhat bamboozled and nervous Steve, not having spoken a single syllable since his arrival.

"Curiosity kills the cats and rats and mice," said Tom as he marched out of the room. On his way, Tom turned around:

"One last thing. Took you long enough, but better late than never, then." And he disappeared behind the birch door, still leaving traces of golden sparkles.

***

Steve, after five minutes of thinking about the bizarre adventure lying ahead of him, reluctantly decided to have breakfast with a bucket of milk and raw cod (not very tasty, but fulfilling thanks to his hunger). Then, he did as Tom said, and began a short tour around his new, er, shelter?

It was a relatively short one, not because there were hundreds of injured people lying on the ground as well as hundreds of Healing and Fire Resistance Potions to make, but because the Residence itself was quite small. It was constructed somewhat like a fishbone, with a long hallway, illuminated by white candles which floated in midair, reflecting on faces of people going to and fro, and several branches, left, right and centre.

The one Steve found himself in was a bunker made to be a resting area at one end of the hallway; at the other end was the brewery, where but beer was brewed. There, you could find every single type of potion in the game: Slow falling, Turtle Master, Poison, Luck, etc (although as aforementioned, Healing and Regeneration was short on supply). There was a meeting room halfway through the hall on the left, and on the opposite was the Training Room (Steve had yet to find out what happened in there, for while other rooms had no doors, only curved archways, the resting area, and the Training Room was equipped with birch doors - due to privacy and other reasons unknown). That was all the Residence had to offer.

"So. That is the tour, completed. Now we shall talk about your training," said Tom, being a useless tour guide. He did not talk much the whole time, let alone explain the history, the establishment of the Residence, and things like that - stuff a true tour guide would do at museums and historical sites. Nevertheless, Steve was fond of finding out about his training; he had gone quite far for it, and that was a decent accomplishment regarding the fact that even now, he was still suspicious of Tom's fairy tale.

However, his first training session didn't turn out to be what Steve had expected at all.

Steve spent a whole morning studying theories revolving around magical spheres (Tom demonstrated their power way back at Steve's house) and charms and spells unknown to the Minecraft World. Indeed, the Table of Enchanting seemed to be the only entity having acquired such knowledge of the mysterious symbols written in a piece of parchment laid in front of Steve's eyes. After a quick lunch, in the afternoon he was told that the practical training lesson should begin shortly, and Steve was to wait outside the hallway for a bit for Tom, his teacher, and also his instructor, to "err, make some adjustments."

To his surprise, when Steve reopened the birch doors, the classroom was exactly the same as before, with rows of tables and a blackboard full of symbols – somewhat peculiar, considering all the noises Steve heard while waiting in the outside hallway. The only difference was that Tom was now holding a command block.

"Please come in," said Tom, leisurely lending back against his own armchair. He continued again, now in a somewhat dozy voice, as if the sounds had sucked away some of his strength and willingness to teach:

"Laying before your eyes is a command block. Used correctly, it can replicate a chunk of any Minecraft terrain for a limited timeframe. As I have concluded that a room dedicated to studying is not the best environment for our training session, this little fellow of a block can help. Now, shall we begin?"

Before Steve could even nod, Tom smiled faintly.

"Then let's go."

And with a swift movement, another golden sphere appeared in his hand. It pierced the air towards the command block and merged into it.

One second... Two... Three.

Then suddenly, the whole room burst with white light coming from the command block, forcing Steve to shut his eyes. When he finally managed to open them again, they were no longer in the Training Room.

Despite having been warned about the power of the command block, Steve was astonished at its effect: the study had melted away to give way to a desert of sand and cactus, and over the horizon stood a distant village, seemingly uninterrupted with the chaos of the Minecraft Realms, with villagers going about their usual business. Steve started to feel homesick; he missed his farmhouse and his irritatingly noisy yet quite sociable villagers - they had probably died from the brutality of the conflict.

Before he could dwell further on his misery, though, he heard Tom's voice, calling for his name and his attention. The training would begin in seconds now, perhaps Steve would have to fight zombies or skeletons using the magic theories he had just learnt, or maybe even fight against Tom himself.

Nothing like that.

One, two, three, all the way to ten, nothing happened: no spheres, no undead approaching from the distance. Tom was standing there, wearing a faint smile, as if he had expected Steve to prepare for something dramatic. He called out for Steve to come closer to him. When Steve had done just that, Tom motioned his hand, a slight wave to the air. Again, no undead mobs appeared on the horizon. The only difference was that now the thing separating Tom and Steve was - not a dead bush at their feet, but a block of oak wood, presumably used as a small table, and two pressure plates placed around it, for sitting. Perching on the woodblock was two potions.

"Mundane potions," said Tom, now carefully examining the wood patterns on the table. "They have no effects, but they are quite pleasant to drink - at least I made them so. Please sit down, and take a sip." Steve followed the order, now questioning Tom's sanity at transforming the whole classroom into a desert only to drink some potions.

Nevertheless, he didn't bother to question; living with villagers whose noses were exceptionally large and funny had taught Steve how to never put his nose into people's business. He sat down, slowly lift the Mundane potion to his mouth, still pondering whether the whole training part was a not very funny joke.

"It is not," said Tom, disturbing the silence. He seemed to be able to read Steve's mind. "Please be patient. Soon, you shall find out why this is prioritized as our first, not last, lesson."

After a few minutes, Steve's bottle was empty. He didn't feel any difference whatsoever, but he had acquired knowledge of the fact that Mundane potion could be decently enjoyable.

Tom summoned a golden sphere in his hands once more, thrust it into the command block; in seconds and a white blind light they were back, sitting on the floor of the classroom. Steve excused himself to go out of class for dinner and refreshments, shutting the double birch doors behind him and leaving behind a Tom who appeared to have dozed off.

Peculiar. To fight off powerful unknown enemies and restore world peace, who would think of starting with drinking flavored water?

***

Only his first training session was out of the ordinary, and fortunately (unfortunately?) the followings were practical. At first, Steve learnt to summon a magical sphere of its own.

"Every Minecrafter gifted with the ability to work magic has one's sphere. True, they are rather similarly cubed, but each sphere represents the distinct characteristics of its summoner, and thus acquires a respectively different colour," Tom answered Steve's question, about why his sphere was an ocean-like blue with a faint trace of lime, while Tom's was brilliantly pure yellow.

Anyhow, suspending one in midair was not exactly what Steve had pictured, plus power-draining. To summon a sphere, let alone commanding it to work an enchantment, required concentration and a tuneless lullaby crafted from the ancient symbols displayed by the Table Of Enchanting. Above that, the mere act of suspending it in midair was devastatingly tiring – in other words, not exactly as peaceful and effortless as it seemed to his instructor Tom.

To sum up, Steve's first few lessons involved taking notes in the morning, draining his power to keep a useless sphere in the afternoon, and collapsing after a quick dinner at the long table - with nothing more than bread and a bottle of water - in the Dining Hall.

"All the farmhouses are burnt and the farmers have gone out to battle," said Tom, which not only made Steve less resilient to a constantly-depriving hunger bar but also gave him homesickness.

***

After several tiring afternoons, Steve could finally do something more than create useless, purely-for-decoration orbs. Long mornings of poking his eyes out studying ancient symbols had finally paid off: the knowledge granted Steve to chant more tunes, henceforth now he was able to use his sphere of power.

Through the careful guidance of Tom, Steve could do a few simple enchantments himself: not stopping at silencing spell, he might also summon a spring of water, manipulate a chunk of weather, and cast fire on anything around him should it fit his desires.

Last, of all, he could do a few charms of Illusion. With a bit of power, Steve could replicate the image of a poppy on the ground at his feet. He could even touch it, feel it, pick it, and put it in his inventory like a normal flower, but as soon as Steve's sphere vanished, the flower was there no longer.

All of this practice was conducted owing to the command block – it always replicated a different biome each time, allowing Steve to practice his magic skills as well as to adapt to different environments. And, turned out to be quite a bright apprentice, Steve learnt fast. Within months under Tom's gentle hands, he now could cast nearly as many spells as Tom did, and just as effortlessly. His training sessions were exasperating no longer – rather, it was quite fun, practicing magic and having your sphere of power.

Henceforth, his quest must start.

It was after a magic practice one afternoon that Tom confronted Steve with this piece of news. He was to take leave of the Residence the following day, his travel tools packed in a shulker box, his food supplies in another, several potions in the third.

Steve was not thrilled to hear that announcement. He was getting better at magic, his stay was finally comfortable, he was ready to call the Residence, with people bustling to and fro, his home.

And yet, just like his farmhouse where he had departed, his stay in the Residence, no more than 30 Minecraft sun cycles, was coming to an end. His Quest, however reluctant Steve could be, must start. After all, that was the purpose of him coming and staying with Tom being his instructor – to prepare for the perilous Quest that lay ahead of him.