Chapter Text
Gem was humming a lovely little tune she heard from the old radio this morning. Annoyingly though, she couldn’t make out some of the lyrics to it. Too much static out here, in the middle of what some players call; nowhere. But this ‘nowhere’ is her home. Every single last square acre of it.
And Gem wouldn’t have it any other way.
Sure, there are some cons Gem could think of off from the top of her mind. One of which was that she was isolated from any sorts of humanity this server could offer. But that didn’t bother her much, she was more of an introvert anyways. Though, it just seemed more of a pro following her sense of mind. No people means more free will for her. Another downside to the forest was that, well, there are no downsides. Isolation was the only bad thing that living in the forest came with. And yet, isolation didn’t even seem that bad.
Some pros Gem could whip up: isolation (oopsies, that's a ‘con’), being able to build anything, do anything and say anything without getting attacked by law, and being surrounded by the one thing that Gem loves the most; Mother Nature in her purest form.
The modern world is undeniably growing, and the resources that they need to constantly expand their technological empire of code and servers are coming from the very thing that faes like Gem thrive off of. If the players destroy too much of the flora around them, then the faes may go extinct. Gem is a fae. Gem’s life source comes deep from the Overworld itself. This means that she can feel its pain. The suffering. And the humans are causing the majority of pain this beautiful world goes through everyday.
The Overworld is the reason why Gem is able to live the peaceful life she lives everyday. So, around 300 years ago, she made an oath. That oath was to promise to protect the Overworld—and its inhabitants (sadly)—until her time comes.
But her ascend from life won't come for a very long time. Not after she shortly ended her era of warfare. She was now nice-fae-who-hates-fighting Gem! Not evil-bloodshed-death-and-killing Gem. Afterall, she left her old self, and its past, behind her a long time ago. She’s recovered. Yup. Totally.
The familiar ring of a sword being unsheathed haunted the back of her mind. An arrow flying right past her. The tears [Le,rpAl..ERae>P?0] shed as they did the final blow on her. Those memories never left her. It never did, and it seemed like it was planning on staying for a very long time.
…
A loud whistle coming from her stewpot got her attention, followed by the sound of aggressive bubbling. Gem shrieked, got up from her spot on the grassy patch outside, rushed into her cottage and waved her hands, green energy pulsing around her appendage. The cooking pot rose up in midair, and with another flick coming from her opposite hand this time, one of her small potted plants on the oak shelf grew longer vines, reaching the stove and frantically turning it off.
The ginger sighed in relief, and slowly lowered her hand. The pot, following wherever her hand went, descended slowly until it was stationed on the wooden top counter. She relaxed her shoulders and approached the stewpot, peeking in to see a simmering golden brown stew with mushrooms and various herbs she grew in her garden out in the back. It smelled delicious.
Now, it was time to feast on her masterpiece of a food. Gem mentally praised herself and then grabbed a bowl from her cabinet. She deserved a well earned meal after a long day of the manual labor she put upon herself.
Nightfall, and Gem was in her cottage that rested on the top of a hill. The fireplace was on, and Gem rested on the armchair that was situated next to it, re-reading a children's book she had kept and treasured for a very long time. The soup she made earlier had tasted like heaven—and that was not an exaggeration. After a few minutes more of stuffing her face in fairy tales and whatnot, Gem stood up and shelved her books on a shelf above the fireplace. With a wave of her hand, the fire snuffed out, leaving nothing but its ashes behind.
The fae stared out at the window. The moon and stars looked especially mesmerizing tonight. Maybe it's because it was a full moon. Full moons just seem so…
‘Maybe I should go out for a quick walk,’ She thought. ‘Nothing too crazy.’
And so Gem grabbed her brown coat off from the coat rack and swiftly put it on. She decided to keep it unzipped, since it wasn’t too cold out. Once Gem stepped out, she tossed her wrist in a fluid motion, summoning a vine out of the ground which closed the oak door shut. The vine turned to her and made a saluting pose, and all Gem did was giggle, her ginger curls falling over her face.
“Thank you, Leafy. I’ll be back, hold down the fort for me. Also, make sure that Wilson and Eva don’t snoop around the chimney again. They got their little bird feet stuck in the overgrown flora up there last time they came by.”
‘Wilson and Eva… the two ravens that are super loud and annoying?’ Leafy telepathically said to Gem.
“They’re not loud and annoying! Only when I don’t give them some of my banana bread crumbs they are.”
‘Your only proving my point.’ The plant playfully barked, until it retreated back into the ground.
With an amused eyeroll, Gem turned around and walked down her little path that was dimly lit up with lanterns. She tripped on the same rocks she always trips on whenever she walks down into the woods. Those silly pebbles are lucky she’s lazy and forgetful. If they do it to her one more time she’ll take them in and draw… things, on them.
The wildlife around her was still and quiet. They were at rest. It was way more peaceful at night compared to the afternoon, when all of the animals are playing around and doing their everyday tasks. The humming birds are silent, the bees hiding away in their hives, the deer huddled up together in who knows where. There was even a family of bears living somewhere down south, and Gem learned the hard way not to approach Mama bear. She still has scars…
Gem continued to aimlessly walk around, the only source of light that guided her path being the stars up above. The only sound that accompanied her ears was the sound of her beat-up gardening boots hitting the crunchy dirt whenever she took a step. It was… dead silent. No sounds of anything, but Gem. Strangely, she couldn't even hear the night critters crawling about.
This was too quiet. And this was coming from someone who enjoyed the silent peace.
“He-hello?” She called out. “Anyone… or anything here?”
A twig snapped in response, making Gem jump in surprise. She put her fists up with a defensive stance, wishing that she didn’t make the choice to go out for a walk.
‘Maybe it was just a deer! Or a bear…? Nothing to worry about, right?’
The bushes in front of Gem started to shake. She took a few steps back, getting ready to defend herself just in case something jumps at her. Her right hand instinctively reached for the hilt of her diamond sword, but then let out a little squeak of what might be embarrassment when she realized that she didn’t have it on her. At this point, her mind was screaming at her to run, scramble back into the safety of her cottage and hide away in her blankets, just retreat away to anywhere. But Gem felt something in her gut. It held her down, telling her to stand her ground.
So she did.
Gem planted her feet in the dirt, raising her shaky fists with a renewed vigor.
And it jumped.
Right at Gem.
Avid was trembling. He couldn’t stop. It was so…
Cold.
He was trapped in this black landscape, with no one else but him and his thoughts.
Ever since he encountered that cow earlier, this entity that was somehow inside of him took over, and went on a hunting spree for food and blood. Avid spent the whole time trying to regain control of his body, but the quiddity wouldn’t let him. And when he would try to communicate with it, it would only respond in incoherent growls and yips.
Suddenly, he felt his body leap at something. A pig? Another cow? How hungry was this thing? His possessor (or whatever was controlling his body right now) was attacking something. And it sure didn’t feel like a normal woodland animal.
It was fighting back.
Avid rubbed his weary eyes open, to find himself in a dirt clearing surrounded by trees. He– wait no, the demon side of him, was on the ground, hissing at a growing shadow that got closer to him. He felt himself jump up, land on all fours, and pounce at whatever was approaching him. A grunt was heard, and Avid couldn’t make out on what was happening.
“Gosh darnit vision! Make yourself useful!” He yelled out in the empty, black mindscape he was trapped in.
The man resorted to squinting at the situation (man, he needed glasses), and all saw a person, a real living person, struggling to get Avid off of them. They had beautiful, curly ginger hair (not as beautiful as Scott’s) and piercing green eyes that stared into his soul.
Did he even have a soul? Whatever, now's not the time.
“Hey-! Get– off of me!”
With one final attempt, the stranger managed to kick Avid in off of them, sending him flying into a spruce tree. Avid winced at that, and he watched with a feeling of fear as the person approached him once again, but this time, the little demon that was controlling him only got into a small ball, fangs and tail sticking straight out and up.
From this view, Avid could get a better look at the person. They were a girl, who seemed to be around his age. Maybe just a tad little older, but it was just an estimate. She was wearing a large coat (oh that looks so comfortable right now), and some beat up jeans with patches that had unique designs on them. Looking at the quality of it, Avid could say it was probably homemade.
The woman tilted her head to the side, carefully examining the creature in front of her. She then got down on one knee and brushed some hair out of Avid’s eye.
“What are you?” She spoke in a soft tone.
That set something off in the entity's mind, because apparently he had the good idea to scratch her hand, letting the blood drip down onto the dirt. She grabbed her hand and looked at it, first with shock, then with a face that was etched with anger. Avid felt himself grinning from cheek to cheek, and all he could do was gag in disgust. But before the ginger could say anything, Avid transformed into a bat and flew away, up and above the canopies of the giant spruce trees.
“Wait! Come back! I didn’t mean to scare you!” Was what Avid heard before the woman got out of sight.
Now, it was silent. The only sound Avid could hear was the noisy flap his long bat wings made. Yet, it was still quiet enough to let him sink into his thoughts and give him time to really think about his situation.
Where… was he really? This forest seems familiar yet so… new and uncanny. Was he still in the forest that surrounded Oakhurst? Where was the town? Where were the townspeople? The vampires?
Shelby? Drift? Scott? Where were they? Did they…
leave him…?
…How long was Avid asleep for in his grave?
Hopefully, he can find the answer to those questions soon. Because once he is able to pull himself together and get control of his body, he’s going straight back to that spot to try and find where that lady lived. She couldn’t have just been wandering around the forest like a hermit, because she certainly didn’t look like one.
…
“Hold on guys,” Avid whispered to himself as he kept flying on and on.
…
“I’ll find you.”