The story begins in a long-lost ancient era known as 1.16. During that era, Mojang was experimenting with lots of new stuff in the Nether. Among the lots of blocks that Mojang made in 1.16, there were three that we're looking at: Basalt, his brother Polished Basalt, and their sister Smooth Basalt.

In the Nether, Smooth Basalt did not get along with any of the other Nether blocks. She had been teased and bullied a lot. She especially could not get along with Blackstone, Basalt's best friend for as long as they could remember, or any of his many brothers and sisters. She spent most of her time staring at Ruined Portals, thinking about what could lie in the Overworld on the other side.

Eventually the teasing and bullying became too much for Smooth Basalt to handle. She started hiding from her peers in the Nether, to the point when 1.16 was released, she was nowhere to be seen, and almost all evidence that she existed was gone. Most players never knew of her existence, and the few that did had completely forgotten about it.

Smooth Basalt started to plan her escape from the Nether while she was hidden. One day, when her brothers were at the Bastion Remnant partying with the Piglins, she came out of hiding in search of a way out of the Nether. She had remembered the Ruined Portals and tried to find a way to complete them, although she didn't know much about Nether Portals.

Unlike most blocks in the Nether, Obsidian did not hate Smooth Basalt. She spent hours looking for as much of her as possible so that she can complete a Ruined Portal. After she found enough Obsidian, she went to the Ruined Portal and tried to complete it with the Obsidian that she found. When she completed it, nothing happened.

She assumed that the Crying Obsidian, which was also on the Ruined Portal, needs to be replaced as well. She took her time to replace the Crying Obsidian on the Portal with the regular Obsidian she found. After all the Crying Obsidian was replaced, still nothing happened. She thought she had done something wrong and prepared to go back hiding. But just then, a Ghast appeared and shot a fireball at the Portal, and it started glowing purple.

Smooth Basalt was delighted and jumped right into the Portal, thinking it worked this time. She arrived in the Overworld on the other side of the Portal. The Overworld side looked the same as the Nether side, with a frame made out of Obsidian and glowing purple. Immediately she started destroying the Portal because she couldn't stand the Nether anymore.

The Overworld was an unfamiliar place to Smooth Basalt, comprised almost entirely of blocks that she had never seen before. The only block she saw here that she knew was Gravel, who she had seen on the edge of the lava oceans back in the Nether. He started introducing Smooth Basalt to the things of the Overworld.

"The green block that you're standing on is called Grass Block," said Gravel. "The brown one is Dirt, and the yellow one right next to me is Sand. The blue stuff that you see next to me and Sand is called Water."

"What about that block over there that looks like you but smoother?" asked Smooth Basalt.

"That's Stone. He's everywhere under the ground," Gravel replied. "There's also Cobblestone, which also looks like me or him, but with cracks."

Smooth Basalt was happy to be out of the Nether, but she wanted to make friends here in the Overworld. Gravel had lots friends here, but most of them didn't seem like good fits for Smooth Basalt. She went down into the caves because she felt like she belonged there.

In the caves she saw many more unfamiliar blocks. Two of them came to her: a white one and a purple one. They introduced themselves as Calcite and Amethyst, respectively. They told her that Mojang created them just a few days ago at the beginning of 1.17. Smooth Basalt did not know that they are in 1.17 now, because when 1.17 started, she was hiding in the Nether thinking of a way to escape it.

Calcite and Amethyst led Smooth Basalt to their home in the Amethyst Geode. She got along very well with them, and soon the three became best friends. Amethyst introduced her to his brother Budding Amethyst who also lives with him and makes Amethyst Clusters, while Calcite told her about the caves and her old friend Tuff who moved deeper underground. Players became aware of Smooth Basalt's existence now, however they think of it as a new block in 1.17.

While Smooth Basalt became friends with Calcite and Amethyst, her brothers have been getting more and more anxious about her absence from the Nether. After searching all across the Nether with no signs of finding Smooth Basalt, they are now planning to enter the Overworld to find her and bring her back to the Nether. But would Mojang let that happen?

To Be Continued?