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A moment too late, a second of hesitation had cost him everything. He’d been too slow to react, and he’d been sent over the edge, his feet losing their ground as the void’s mouth gaped underneath him—
— and quickly managed to clutch himself before he fell into the void, quickly switching to his sword and landing a combo on his opponent, whittling down his health to zero. His own health was very low, and he mentally scolded himself. That’d been too close. Avery swapped out his iron sword for an enchanted one, quickly glancing around. With some players having fallen into the void earlier in the game or having been eliminated while looting chests by faster players, a good chunk of the opposing players had been whittled down to 7, including himself. He ate a golden apple to help regain his health before searching for the remaining players.
He hadn’t played Skywars much since the entire…incident that occurred a month ago — which, by the way, had not affected him that much. He hadn’t even known the guy! He needed to move on, that’s all. All he had to do was win this game and that would get his mind off of it long enough for him to forget.
Making his way across the bridge, he sprinted to the center. Usually he’d be one of the first there, grabbing the better armor before other players, but he’d been awfully slow today — he was just warming up, right? Sneaking by two dueling players, he approached the chests and spotted a player in chainmail and iron armor. He caught them by surprise as they were looting one of the center chests, getting a few hits in before they realized what was happening and started attacking in retaliation. Avery managed to eliminate the player, with half of his health depleted — which, at least was better than a heart and a half like earlier. He claimed half a stack of snowballs and a fishing rod, also swapping his armor out quickly.
Briefly checking the neighboring center chests for any loot — they’d unfortunately already been looted earlier in the game, with any remaining loot being utter garbage — he skimmed the area for any players. In the distance he caught sight of a player bridging over to the starting islands, where one of the other remaining players had been camping and was waiting to knock the other player into the void.
Another player was also approaching, probably to finish off whoever survived. Avery could probably knock one of them into the void from this distance. He equipped his bow, drawing back his arrow and aiming it at a player donned in gold and red.
Wait.
His grip on the arrow loosened.
The player was quickly bridging over to the island, his crimson cape draped over his left shoulder as he carefully maneuvered and avoided the opposing player’s snowballs as they tried to knock him off. The way the gold shone against the light seemed horribly familiar, as if he’d seen that sheen a million times, as if—
Was it—
“Derek..?” he murmured, lowering his bow. It couldn’t.
Could it?
He had to get closer — he had to know — and before he could get a better look, someone — presumably the one player he’d forgotten about — attacked him from behind, his health depleting rapidly and the ground beneath his feet vanishing. A moment too late, his reaction too delayed, and the player had sent him pummeling off the island and into the void’s abyss. And once again, he found himself without ground, falling, except this time he had nothing left to lose.
Eliminated from the match, Avery was sent into spectator mode, floating above the map. How could he let himself get distracted! Even if it was D3rlord, what difference would it have made? Why would he care so much about a stranger he barely knew for a day? For all he knows, D3rlord could have been a product of a fatigued mind or maybe just a really bizarre dream about mazes, kings and dazzling knights in gold. Maybe he was never real. Regardless, he couldn’t keep giving himself the excuse that he lost because of some guy who’s probably dead or nonexistent, because the truth is that Avery has an awful skill issue.
The match ended and Avery was sent back to the lobby, along with all of the previous players. Some guy named SumptuousBalls had won. What a stupid name. What does sumptuous even mean? Sighing, he considered joining another game of Skywars, or maybe just switch games. Maybe he could play something like build battle, despite the fact he couldn’t tell you the difference between a slab (and honestly, he preferred fast-paced games. Did he really want to stand around building a toothbrush for 5 minutes only to spend another 5 minutes looking at a bunch of kids’ builds?)
Right before Avery was going to leave, he caught a glimpse of that player donned in gold and garnished with red, a red plume sticking up and over the sea of heads. With a sliver of hope bubbling up within him, a faint grin made its way onto Avery’s face. He knew it! He wasn’t insane!
“Derek?” he called, albeit not loud enough to be heard over the crowd.
Avery dug through the crowd, the scarlet plume a beacon — of what? Was it hope? Relief? Something else he couldn’t quite name? Regardless, he continued digging through the crowd, his smile growing ever so slightly as he got closer. At last, they fully came into view—
“Derek!” he smiled, finally close enough to get a good look. After all of these weeks, after all those nights wondering if he’d done anything wrong, whether he’d messed up, whether D3rlord had been dead, finally he would get answers—
Avery’s smile fell and the hope that had been building up inside him dissipated. It had been someone else. That helmet was nothing like D3r’s, and his armor had been so very brilliant, he doubted he would ever find anything like it. This player, however, did not have a gold helmet that concealed his face, nor did he stand tall and valiantly. This…
“Who?” not D3rlord asked, their confusion palpable on their features.
“Oh, hah, uhm…sorry. I…” Avery trailed off, looking away sheepishly. “I thought you were someone else. My bad.”
The player’s confusion seemed to diminish slightly and they replied with a light “ah" before turning around and doing whatever they were doing earlier.
Avery turned away, covering his face with his hands. Jeez, he really was going insane. Maybe he was just tired. Sighing, Avery left the server and joined his personal world. Maybe after a good night’s rest, everything would go back to normal.
He hadn’t been able to rest well, to no surprise. His sleep had been plagued by flashes of crimson, eyes that pierced the darkness, and golden gates. He’d fall into dreams, ones where massive libraries formed labyrinths, where mountains vanished, where in the darkness he could still hear a voice calling his name—
And he’d wake up. He’d stare at the ceiling for a moment, eyes tracing the lines on the planks that made up the roof before eventually falling again into a restless dream. This would repeat until Avery decided that he might as well start his day if he wasn’t going to sleep. Groggily, Avery climbed out of bed, heading downstairs to where his storage area was.
His house lacked the glamour of the ones found in large servers or the castles built by experienced players, which spanned the horizons. Regardless, he loved it all the same, even if his home didn’t have spires that pierced the skies. The walls weren’t too detailed, having been made from plain cobblestone and oak planks. He made his way downstairs and rummaged through the chests he had aligned against the wall. They were incredibly disorganized, but he would organize it later. Probably. Eventually, he found a piece of raw beef after searching through just about every chest he had. That should be good enough. As he placed the beef inside the furnace, he realized he was completely out of fuel. He checked the chests again. Nothing. He could probably use an oak plank for the meantime but he still needed coal. After cooking his only piece of beef, Avery began to make his way towards his new strip mine, exiting his house and seeing…a blank sign?
Examining the blank sign, Avery came to the conclusion that maybe, for some reason he had placed it there, probably when he was horribly tired. That’s why he didn’t remember putting it there. Yet, inexplicably, he felt a tinge of hope that maybe it had been someone else, which was an incredibly silly thought. Why would he want someone else to be in his house? Sighing, Avery picked up the sign and put it in his inventory before heading out, pickaxe in hand. It was best not to overthink these things. With time, everything would go back to normal, as it had before he found that book.
Approaching the strip mine entrance, Avery hesitated for a moment, reaching out for the door but never quite touching it. He stared at the door for a moment, but couldn’t bring himself to open it for some bizarre reason. It’s fine, he could probably collect wheat from his garden for bread. He didn’t need coal, anyway.
The sun was at its highest when he got to his farm — which was a word that could describe his measly plot of land. Realistically, it was a poor excuse, especially since Avery didn’t know how much water crops needed, so he put a bunch of water sources in random spots. His farm was far from flourishing, but it still provided. He harvested a few bundles of wheat before replanting the seeds. As he finished planting the last seed, he noticed a sign — same material of the previous one he found — propped at the entrance of his garden. He hadn’t done that. This time he was certain of it.
He glanced around. “Who’s there?”
He half expected a response, but wasn’t too worried when he didn’t get one. It could be a glitch. Random signs appearing. That’s a thing that happened right? He approached the sign and right as he was picking it up, he noticed a message on it, printed with neat black text.
Lousy.
“Now that’s just rude,” Avery muttered, obviously not to an inanimate sign. Avery glanced between the sign and his garden. Maybe the inanimate object had a point. “What do you suggest I do?” Avery asked, not expecting a response back.
Lousy.
Avery kicked the sign.
The following day Avery opened the exit door only to find yet another sign, except there were more signs. This time there were five instead of just one. This had to be a joke. There was someone in his world playing a joke on him. Avery quickly checked the server list — there shouldn’t be anyone in the world anyway, it was single-player. As expected, he was the only one. Strangely, that didn’t cure his unease towards the signs.
All of the signs read Beef, which was probably one of the stupidest things you could put on a sign.
Avery picked up all of the signs and put them in his inventory before going out to get more food. He briefly considered playing a round of Skywars but decided against it. He really wasn’t in the mood. Slinging his iron sword over his shoulder, he headed into the forest. He glanced at the strip mine, stopping in his tracks for a moment. Maybe another day. He marched into the forest, scanning the area for any animals. Of course. Not a single one. Exasperatedly, Avery headed further into the forest, stepping over fallen logs and picking a couple mushrooms on the way. The evening sun shone through the canopy, light streaking through oak and birch leaves.
As Avery maneuvered through the forest, he spotted another one of those damned signs.
There
——>
The sign seemed to only point deeper into the forest. He might as well, especially since he didn’t really know where was going. Avery headed in the direction of the sign, shoving off the thought that it could be a trap, but hey, what did he have to lose at this point? Eventually, there was a break in the foliage and a plains biome came into view. It must’ve been a coincidence. If he’d gone in any other direction he would’ve probably found a plains biome eventually. The biome stretched far into the horizon, only being broken by a distant beach and a nearby mountain which towered above the foilage. Underneath the evening sky was a small herd of cows grazing, which Avery thought should be enough to at least last a couple days. After killing a few of them, he started making his way home.
The forest was now illuminated with warm tones, the evening light sifting through the canopy. The light softly reflected on the stream that ran alongside the forest, sugarcane lining its edges. To think that someone spent their last days hidden away from the light…
Nevermind.
He maneuvered through the forest, leaping over streams and over logs, grabbing a couple wildflowers on his way home, stashing them away. Maybe he could use them to make a dye or he could place them around his house for decoration. Eventually, he reached a familiar dirt path and followed it to his house. When his house came into view, Avery groaned. Under the light of the setting sun, a hundred signs stood in front of his house, completely blank. Unbelievable. What kind of joke even was this? Besides, he really didn't want to pick them all up.
“Why don’t you just leave me alone!” Avery snapped. “I don’t know if this is your idea of a joke, or if you’re just trying to mess with me. I know you’re there!” Avery turned to the woods. “Why don’t you stop hiding!” Holding out his sword, Avery glared at the woods. “Come out!”
He waited for a couple minutes, heaving as he scanned the forest. Sighing, Avery checked the server list. Just him. He had been yelling at the air like a complete fool.
“Jeez, I really am going insane,” he sighed defeatedly as he collapsed on the ground among the army of signs. “I’m yelling at a sign, then at a tree, expecting someone to pop out and say it’s all just a joke. But there’s no one. Of course.” He laughed dryly. “It’s not like I deserve anyone.” He paused for a moment, taking in the fact he was venting to a literal sign.
Avery looked at the sign, as if expecting a response, which he certainly wouldn't get.
To his surprise, the sign now read: “Don’t blame yourself.”
Weird sign. Maybe it was a trick of the light. Regardless, he still responded to it. “It’s kind of hard not to — I mean, I’m the reason my…” he paused. “My only friend died. If only I wasn’t such an airhead!” He threw the sword he had been holding at the trees, the sword landing nowhere near his target. “Some days…” he sighed. “I wonder what would’ve happened if I could’ve saved him. If I’d convinced him. Maybe he would’ve been here beside me. I-I don’t know. Maybe he would’ve really liked sparring, or reading, or exploring, or heck, maybe he would’ve rather spend the day building a house.”
“Maybe he was a redstone whiz or something. He seemed like the type to be into that sorta stuff.” Avery fully lied down, staring up at the sky. Dusk had already painted the sky a vibrant orange and gold, the sun settling on the horizon as it met the moon. Despite being opposite forces, they both met for a brief, sweet time before the sun was consumed by the night. Such a short period, yet so beautiful. The stars rolled over the sky as the sun sunk under the horizon, the sky darkening and the color draining, fully replaced by a black abyss. Avery laid there in silence, eyes tracing each distant star. So brilliant, if only he could hold one and savor its light before it vanishes...
“Do you think he would’ve liked the stars? Do you think he got a chance to see them before…” Avery trailed off, glancing away from the stars for a moment, and instead focusing on the sign.
Yes, it read.
Even if it was a meager answer from a sign, it was good enough for now.
I hope he did, Avery thought to himself.
He shut his eyes and for once, dreamed not of winding labyrinths and kings, but of warm afternoons spent with an old friend.