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He much preferred the nights out here over the days. It was easier to keep the cold at bay than it was to hide from the smothering heat. The monsters weren’t an issue, either; at some point they’d started ignoring him. Maybe they saw him as one of their own. He may as well be.
In fact, the only mobs that paid him any mind anymore were the phantoms. They didn’t attack him, they just… lingered, on sleepless nights. Sometimes he stayed up on purpose just so he wasn’t alone. It was the only companionship he allowed himself.
The village was coming into view now. He never stayed long; he just came to get supplies and then he’d leave again. The villagers were nice- too nice- and he didn’t deserve the hospitality. If they could see the blood on his hands, would they still welcome his visits? He doubted it, and yet… some of them looked at him in a way that made him think that maybe they knew. Like they were sorry for him. They were stupid, if that was the case. He brought this upon himself, he deserved to suffer the consequences.
There was a wandering trader in the village square today. Normally he wouldn’t bother, they mostly carried nonessentials, but one of the merchant’s wares caught his eye.
A poppy.
…he could spare a single emerald.
The sun was beginning to set by time he left, making his way across the rapidly cooling sands. Maybe he was imagining things, but he could almost swear he’d worn a path through the dunes, stretching from the village to the azalea tree. He made the journey as often as he could.
He wondered, sometimes, what became of the other three. Somehow part of him knew they were okay, wherever they ended up. He never tried to find them. Call it the coward’s way out, but he couldn’t bear to face them after everything he’d done.
As he descended below the surface, the sand gave way to mossy stone and amethyst and clay. When he reached the end of the tunnel he paused, peering down at the water that filled the lowest portion of the cavern, and just for a moment he considered falling and letting himself sink to the bottom. Meeting the same fate-
Don’t.
He quickly shook his head and instead reached for the vines to climb down. The hallucinations always got worse down here.
He carefully made his way to the bottom and crossed the dripleaves over to the shore, letting himself sink to his knees in front of a small pile of stones. A faint chill crept along his spine as he placed the poppy and a few glowberries he’d snagged beside the marker.
It wasn’t enough, nothing ever would be, but he felt he had to do something. Slowly, he let his eyes close, letting his weariness take hold. The chill spread to the rest of his body as he settled down (was it always this cold?), figuring he might as well stay a while.
There was nowhere else to go, after all.