Chapter Text
Excruciating pain.
D3rlord3 was in excruciating pain. He clasped his hands against his temples, failing to find a way to ease the barrage of sharp shocks and groggy sloshes of nerve endings building up. He felt like his brain was about to burst and flood the inside of his skull, the waves of information forcefully filling every last crevice of his memory.
It’d flash in front of his eyes in milliseconds each, hundreds of thousands of flashes for each millisecond that zipped by. With each flash, a new permanent thought. With each flash: a memory that didn’t belong to him now his to bear. The horrors of the world, the joy in the universe, cosmic existence and our intimate humanity. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. And yet, here he was. Collapsed on the floor, letting the pain wash over him again and again and now too tired to even try to fight back. In one brief moment, a thought of his own shone just a little bit brighter than the countless others right then: I would rather die than be tortured like this.
And the universe smiled in response.
“Yo, you gonna wake up or what?”
D3rlord3 slowly opened his eyes, feeling a heaviness on top of his armor. The sun was beaming bright, but not giving off much warmth. As he adjusted to the light around him, he was stumped to see what was in front of him.
A slime. With two legs, two arms, and wearing a horrendous summer attire.
“What in the—” Suddenly, a sharp pain went through his head. D3rlord3 clutched his head, now being brutally reminded of what happened before… wait. Before what?
As he pushed his own question to the front of his mind, hundreds of other thoughts were quick to put themselves in front of it… but these weren’t random thoughts. These were about the slime-person in front of him. His history, his tendencies, even his private life… and his name. Avery.
And just as that final realization made its way into his consciousness, his mind stopped buzzing.
He opened his eyes slowly again, not even realizing he had closed them in the chaos. It was… quiet. For a moment, at least.
“HELLO??” yelled the slime— yelled Avery. “LIKE, AM I LOUD ENOUGH YET?”
D3rlord3 finally turned to look at Avery’s face. Just a minute ago, he had no idea what he was looking at. Now, he knew everything about him. His fighting style, his family (of slimes), his loneline—
“WELL!” Avery exclaimed. “Glad you finally acknowledged the guy who’s been waiting on you for half a day. But like, you can talk too right?”
Ah. right.
“...Yeah.” D3rlord3 said.
Avery grinned. “Wow. You CAN hear me with that giant thing on your head,” pointing to D3rlord3’s knight helmet.
D3rlord3 straightened himself against the rough, wood surface behind him. “Yeah.” he replied. He took the moment to look around him, noticing the blanket covering him and his armor, the giant spruce tree his back was resting on, and… the house behind Avery.
He’s been living there for six months now. He was going out to mine when he came across something, no, someone unexpected. He had thought it was impossible that there could be someone else here, and yet, a literal knight was lying down on the floor of his mine’s entrance—
D3rlord3 shook his head, and the information paused. “Hey, uh, I was just wondering,” started Avery, a concerned look now on his face. “What happened to you? And… how are you here? In my world? My singleplayer world??”
D3rlord3 again turned to Avery. “I…” He paused. If he told Avery the truth, there would be no telling the amount of trouble it could cause for him. He didn’t need someone else to get caught up in all of this, whatever this even was. “I think I should get going.”
Avery’s concerned look turned into desperation. “Wait a– wait A SECOND.” He said, stumbling on his words. Meanwhile, D3rlord3 was already getting up, folding the blanket before he stood. “Here.” D3rlord3 said, stretching his arm with the blanket outwards. “I think this is yours.”
A distressed Avery glanced at the blanket for a second, and then looked back at D3rlord3. “I’m not taking that until you explain yourself.” Avery declared.
Avery does not take no for an answer, a thought popped before D3rlord3’s eyes. He sighed.
“Okay, Avery, I will tell you something.” Noticing the sudden bulging of Avery’s eyes at his name’s mention, he seized the opportunity to hit the gas. “You’ve been living in that house for six months, you love fighting with bows, you love fluffy animals and you despise frogs. You’re now wondering how the hell I possibly know all of this, and you’re either freaked out beyond belief or you’re naive enough to think you can give a rational explanation for this.”
Avery just stood there motionless, frozen in place. D3rlord3 walked up close to him, and put the blanket in his arms as he continued his statue impression. “I’m afraid I have answers to look for myself,” said D3rlord3. “And I don’t think you’re going to be of much help.”
He took a step past the slime. “Goodbye, Avery.”
And while D3rlord3 took a few more steps, he was also whispering to himself a countdown.
“...3, 2, 1.”
“WAIT!” Avery yelled, now having turned around to look at D3rlord3. D3rlord3, feigning surprise, turned back to face him.
“I… I want to come with you.” Avery said, a pleading expression on his face. “Maybe it is a little freaky that you knew all that about me, but if you know all of that, then you… you know why I’m living the way I’m living.” D3rlord3 processed that. You’re an adventurer, too. He nodded.
Avery took a deep breath. “In that case, can’t we just talk about what’s happening as we go?”
D3rlord3 had wanted to find out the truth for himself, by himself. But something about Avery was… different. Once upon a time, he would’ve seen himself in Avery, the spirit of discovery being the one thing that kept him going. He’d seen what Avery had done, what he could do. He knew he was meant for more. It was too familiar to him.
He knew there was no point telling someone who wouldn’t take no for an answer to not come with him. His last-ditch attempt backfired, although he expected that too. However much he might have originally hated the idea of bringing someone else, the knowledge he had been given about Avery had done more than enough to change his mind. But… that’s the problem. Who, or what, gave him the knowledge?
His head started to ache again, but not as seriously as before. No flashes or shocks either. It was more like… something was kicking against the front of his brain, wanting to get out. An answer, maybe.
Trying his best to not show any signs of his new pain, D3rlord3 replied, “Maybe.”
A smile finally returned to Avery’s face. “I think we’re making some progress already.”
Another kick inside D3rlord3’s head.
“Maybe.”
What am I doing bro?
Avery should’ve had no reason to follow this knight he had met only hours ago. Hell, he should’ve had even less of a reason to trust someone that knew this much about him. “Keep your diamonds close to your chest,” his mother would’ve said. That thought brought a slight smile to his face, quickly before it turned into heartburn.
Agh. He pushed the feeling out of him, bringing him back to the matter at hand: The knight. Who the hell is this guy anyways?
Avery knew absolutely nothing about this guy other than his freaky, scarily accurate personal profiling of him… and the absurd amount of migraines it looks like he’s dealing with.
So why, why then, did he feel so compelled to follow him? In the moment he asked to tag along, he had told himself it was because he wanted to go on an adventure, something he had been wanting to do for a while now. He could live “the life of the grind” like his father suggested, but the more he went along with this lifestyle, the more he wanted to get far, far away. But, what would his family think? So, he stayed put. Stayed mining and farming and repeating these mundane tasks to make bare profits day after day. For six entire months, it was all he did.
And then the knight showed up.
It had been so long since anything that noteworthy had happened to him. When Avery found him, an anomaly of golden yellow in the foreground of gray stone, it shocked him so bad he accidentally dropped his hotbar. It just wasn’t possible. This wasn’t his family, and it certainly wasn’t anyone he could remember meeting before. This was his singleplayer world, and nobody just wanders into it without his knowing.
Yes, he was really freaked out… but he was more fascinated than anything. He had never been someone willing to leave questions unanswered. Even when his friends started to leave him when he would obsess over finding answers to questions they’d say “just weren’t worth it,” he never stopped. It wasn’t like he would go out of his way to ask questions, he would just crave answers if something was brought up. After all, that’s how he found himself here in the first place. A world entirely to himself. Away from others. Away from answers.
Stop. The reminder hit him like a brick. His thoughts were wandering again! Avery shuddered. Can’t wander off like that again.
“...So.” Avery looked up at the voice, returning to reality. “You want to know about me?” The knight asked, still walking in front of Avery.
Maybe… maybe I’m doing this for someone else, not me. Avery nodded.
The knight faced forward again. “You can call me D3rlord3.”
Avery blinked. “...D3rlord3? Like, ‘Derplord’?” He asked, a grin slowly emerging.
Derplord wasn’t sharing his mood. “Der-lord. With a 3.”
The grin grew wider. “What kind of name is that? Who names themselves DERPlord?? WITH a 3?? What does that even mean bro?” Avery was laughing between sentences now.
Derplord didn’t flinch. “AveryTheMayo.”
Avery’s smile dropped immediately. Crap. Maybe don’t poke the guy that knows your secrets.
He cleared his throat. “Fair- fair enough. Well, at least you know my real name from the get go. What does ‘D3rlord’ even have to do with your real name?”
D3rlord stopped walking. The stop was so sudden, Avery actually bumped into him before he could stop himself. “Oof!” D3rlord turned his head around, and could’ve sworn Avery was blushing for a second.
After a few silent moments (and Avery trying to cover up his blush), D3rlord spoke.
“I don’t remember.”
Avery moved his hands away from his cheeks, the redness having subsided at the three words. “What… do you mean?” Avery asked.
D3rlord looked away. “I mean I don’t remember my real name.”
The two of them had been walking to Avery’s mine for nearly an hour at this point, which should’ve stumped anyone who would’ve had the simple logic of just starting another mine much, much closer to Avery’s house. Yet, D3rlord3 knew this mine wasn’t like anything else. He knew the answers would be in there, but for all the knowledge he had now – he didn’t have a clue what could be down there.
And on that point, he still didn’t have a clue what his real name was either.
Another kick in his brain. He was getting tired of these interruptions, these moments where he braced for another flood of pain just to be met with a mild but constant irritation knocking against the inside of his head. It was like something was stopping him from finding the pieces of knowledge he desperately needed, but didn’t have.
But what? What is stopping me? For all the weird, supernatural shit I’ve already gone through, I can’t get the one thing I need? D3rlord3 was good at keeping his concerns to himself. In an optimal world, he wouldn’t need to worry about anything other than the goal at hand: find out what or who put all this stuff in his head. But now, the equation had to include a walking, talking slime-person who was also desperate for answers.
Oh sure, D3rlord3 could just give him the answers he needed, the key that would free him from his past. But, he also knew that would be too much for him to handle.
Just a few days ago, D3rlord3 would’ve killed to have the infinite amount of knowledge he had now. But now that he knew everything, it was so… underwhelming. It also hurt like hell, but he was more stuck on the lack of satisfaction. How was it that the very thing he had always wanted felt so… cut and dry?
He wanted to spare Avery of that feeling. Avery had gone through a lot, a lot that he didn’t deserve to experience. D3rlord3 took pity on him. He deserves an escape.
Plus, Avery wasn’t even aware that he was looking for an answer for himself anyway. D3rlord3 was sure of that. But, he also knew that was exactly why he should start talking about himself. Or at least, the things he could remember.
He could remember things clearly up to when he first woke up with Avery yelling at him. Before that, it was bits and pieces of his character that he could recall. He couldn’t remember what was in those mines, couldn’t remember what he was doing before entering the mines, and he couldn’t even remember what “D3rlord3” even stood for. Ugh. He did however know why he was even in the mines in the first place: to go on another adventure. Of course, an adventure! He was born for the thrill of discovery, and he knew it must’ve been the latest of however many he’d gone on before. Hundreds? Thousands, even? He couldn’t even recall one.
As annoying as it was, he knew he couldn’t do anything about it for now. What he could do, is just answer the guaranteed slew of questions Avery would throw his way once he explained the whole “infinite knowledge” thing. That can be arranged.
Another kick in his head.
“...Woah.” was all Avery had at that moment. Here in front of him was a guy that, somehow, had infinite knowledge. Infinite. Knowledge. Like what??
“Wait… like is it actually infinite?” asked Avery. “Of cour– er, not… fully.” D3rlord corrected himself. “I can’t remember parts of my past, or how I ended up in your world.”
Avery let that sit for a second. “So you know everything about me and the world, except for what it has to do with you.”
Underneath the helmet, Avery could’ve sworn D3rlord’s face just showed surprise, almost as if he wasn’t expecting a statement that serious. “Yeah, actually. That’s a pretty good way to put it.”
A smile started forming on Avery’s face. D3rlord3 noticed it instantly. Here we go, he thought, the thought of his prediction coming true embracing him once more.
“Do trees think? How many times have I been wrong in an argument in my life? Is Andy Warhol really dead?”
Well, the questions could’ve been dumber, D3rlord3 thought.
“...and THAT is why parrots are the “king” of their habitat,” D3rlord3 finished. He had thought it’d be over much too soon, and instead he had just spent 10 minutes answering questions for Avery like he was an on-demand Wikipedia… which he kind of was.
Avery, meanwhile, was having much more fun compared to D3rlord. Guess having an answer for everything is pretty neat, Avery thought.
“Well Sir D3rlord,” he announced with a terrible British accent. “I have but one more request for you to answer.”
D3rlord3 looked at him, an irritated look behind his helmet that Avery didn’t know was there. “Last. one.”
Avery, ignoring the bitterness in D3rlord’s tone, proceeded. “Why do you not know things about yourself?”
D3rlord3 blinked. He wasn’t expecting a question this serious to come, let alone it be a question as important as this. “You… you want to know why I can’t remember some things?”
Avery dropped the accent. “Well, yeah. You know all this other stuff, and you know that you’re missing all this important stuff about yourself, but surely you got a way to figure out why that is, right?”
Silence filled the air.
The idea hadn’t even occurred to D3rlord3. Everything he forgot… maybe he can remember why he forgot it in the first place.
As that last thought came in, suddenly—a sharp pain through his head.
D3rlord dropped to his knees. Avery, completely caught off guard by this, froze for a moment, unsure what to do. The thought of GO HELP HIM flashed before his eyes, and he snapped back, running to be in front of the knight.
A gate. A yellow gate. The image burned into his every thought, shown hundreds of thousands of times across his vision in an instant. The pain was unbearable.
He screamed in agony, waiting for an end he knew wouldn’t come.
The yellow gate. He felt his body start to convulse.
The crossroads… His skin felt like it was on fire.
The abandoned city. He swore his hand was peeling off.
The wall in the mines. Oh.
The flames disappeared, the vision swirled away in front of him, his entire world transforming before him into a bright flash of light.
And then, the feeling of something hovering above him. He tilted his head slightly upwards, noticing the humorously-dressed slime-person crouched above his lying-down body.
“Avery?”
The slime-person moved his head to look at D3rlord’s face. A tear was visible on Avery’s own face, but when he heard his name, it could’ve well been a tear of joy in that moment.
“D3RLORD! YOU’RE OKAY!” he yelled, barely resisting an urge to hug him. “I DIDN’T– I tried to help, but you were just- just out cold! You weren’t responding to my screaming, or the water I splashed on your face… I- I didn’t know what to do, you were just shaking and I couldn’t wake you up…” the tears were coming back.
D3rlord3 forced a smile, now also noticing the helmet having been taken off his face and the pool of water around his head. “It’s… it’s okay, Avery. I’m good now.” he said, as comforting a voice as he could manage. “I’m here.”
Avery looked at D3rlord’s smiling, warm face, wiping his own tears away as he tried to respond. “I… I’m sorry I couldn’t help… I– nothing I did was working and I didn’t want you to just, y’know…” he trailed off.
D3rlord3 knew exactly what he was afraid of. This wasn’t the first time Avery’s seen something like this, but D3rlord3 wished he really didn’t have to see that for a second time anyways… hell, he’d rather go through that pain again alone than have Avery helplessly watch him suffer.
Almost as if realizing the weight of what he just said, he quickly buried the thought.
“You don’t have to be sorry.” he said. “I’m just…” he paused, choosing his next words carefully. “Just… glad someone was with me when it happened.” Shit. What the hell’s gotten into me?
Avery, unaware of D3rlord’s mistake, grew a weary smile back. “You… you look really, really tired.”
D3rlord3, remembering all of a sudden his face was exposed, nearly blushed at the remark.
What the hell am I blushing for??
Eager to change the topic, he cleared his throat. “We should… get going. We’re just a few hundred blocks from the mines anyway.” He found his helmet to the right of himself, and slid it back on.
Avery had already stood up by then, still somewhat trying to compose himself. He had almost watched someone die right next to him… his eyes grew wide. Don’t. Think. About. It. He let the intruding thought go.
The good thing was, here D3rlord was, right as rain. He’s fine. He’s completely fine.
Yeah, he wasn’t going to fool himself.
“Hey, D3r?” D3rlord looked at Avery as he got up. “Yeah?”
“What happened just now… That’s not going to- to happen again, right?”
D3rlord3 frowned, the expression now luckily hidden by his helmet. “It won’t.” he replied.
Avery, feeling far more assured by that, let out a deep breath. “That’s- that’s good. That’s really good.” He put a smile back on. “Then… let’s get moving!”
And as D3rlord3 and Avery walked those final hundred blocks in front of the mines, D3rlord3 couldn’t stop thinking to himself.
Surely, it won’t.