Archive of Our Own

Verity's eyes still had that estranged, tired look to them, but even deeper than that they glared at Mob with an intensity that said, "I warned you."

Mob knew he would never, ever be able to get this image out of his head.

He needed to get the FUCK outta there. 

Verity's head was already lowering itself, presumably ready to feast so he had to act quick.

There was screaming flooding his ears, both from the entity and himself- it was very distracting. Despite this he managed to pull out his sword, and with shaking arms he swung it against Verity's left arm as hard as he could. It wasn't exactly a smooth cut- the arm sort of bent around the iron blade before giving up and teared off Verity's body with a sickening crack. The screech that followed was deafening and he's pretty sure some of the thing's blood got on him.

What the hell have I gotten myself into??

Mob scrambled to his feet and quickly destroyed the dirt blocks he used to cover the door (in hindsight, not very smart?) He could hear those unnerving low-pitches screeches from Verity and,, shit. He could hear it clawing it's way after him. Despite the missing limb it was fast.

He made his way down the stairs of his tower, not caring about any damage he took while taking a couple jumps to help outrun the hungry entity. It was a miracle he was even alive right now. 

He ran to his house without looking back. Well, almost. About a quarter there, the screeching behind him started to fade so he glanced over his shoulder and saw Verity just.. standing there. Staring at him. Similar to when he first saw him in this form. And for his arm, he's sure he cut it higher up than that... shit can this thing can regrow limbs? He is soooo cooked.

But he can't worry about that right now. He practically dissociates while running until he finally makes it to the front of his house. He finds that the dirt he placed around the doorway to trap Verity inside is conveniently gone.

He slams the door shut. Besides his panicked breaths, the silence was loud. He quickly walks over to his bed and clicks it just to make sure there's no "Verity is nearby" message. 

Nothing. Phew.

...Did it just,, give up?

He just lingers there for a bit, with many questions going through his mind.

"What the ACTUAL hell man." 

-

A day goes by and Mob hasn't even attempted to do anything remotely close to progressing in this world. He can't really do that when he is afraid to leave his house. All he's done is tear up his floor in order to strip mine stone, which he used to cover his house instead of dirt. Hey, it's an improvement.

He can't stop thinking about the elephant in the room.

Really, what the hell was wrong with Verity?

...Don't get me wrong there were red flags. He was fine at the start, but as time went on, he just got more and more odd. Almost like he was possessed or something. Especially with his face changing and all. Plus the cryptic warnings. Still..

Mob chuckles to himself when he remembers Verity perfectly mimicking a cow.

I want THAT Verity back. The Verity who was just a silly little helper mod. The Verity who's smile wasn't eerily forced. The Verity who doesn't look like he came straight from my nightmares. I didn't ask for this.

Hell, Mob would even go as far as to say Verity was kinda fun to play around with before this all went down. Sure it's goofy to admit but he genuinely liked having him in his pocket, ready to help with anything using his infinite knowledge. Would he say Verity is like a friend? No, probably not. Friends don't normally know off the top of their heads the exact coords to the nearest diamonds or can play a tune by opening their mouth. He doesn't really know a lot about how the mod works, but it's obviously some of kind of AI. Those don't have feelings.

But none of that matters now. It's too early for this, and Mob was still traumatized from that night. He's glad he could skip the night right when it got dark.

He pops some uncooked beef into the furnace.

Realistically, he has no way of knowing if he's any more safe in the day than at night, but the sun brings him comfort anyways. Maybe just good old Minecraft instincts.

Mob knows he should just abandon this world, curse his friend for recommending this weird ahh mod, and move on. But some part of him is... just curious.

That has to be it. It's not like he's captivated by the spectacle of Verity's all-knowing existence nor does he think that this thing that's basically the Minecraft equivalent of ChatGPT is something deeper and more complex than he can ever hope to understand.

He does not feel bad for it.

For God's sake it eats people.

...

Alright, if he's gonna do this, he really needs to upgrade his house, gear, everything really. 

He grabs his now cooked beef and with caution, Mob leaves the "safety" of his home to mine and gather food. Everywhere he goes he feels like he's being watched. He's never felt so paranoid. 

Can't believe I'm this scared of a mod.

As much as he wants to avoid it, he needs to go to a village to trade. He remembers what Verity said: "South! But I would avoid the one to the East. The villagers are gone." Mob now knows with certainty what happened to those villagers. A shiver goes down his spine.

He heads to the southern village. Any movement from distant mobs makes him flinch, like any second the deformed Verity will come chasing after him once more.

When he arrives at his destination he realizes immediately that something is veryyy wrong. No villagers in sight.

It's completely empty. 

Verity... he must've gotten here before me.

He walks around a bit, trying to convince himself that everything's fine. He may as well loot what's left of this village before finding another one. As he digs up some crops and gathers stuff from a few chests, he wonders what would have happened if he hadn't been able to escape that night. He has a weird feeling that he wouldn't just respawn after getting killed by something like that. He would just disappear like the villagers, and like the villagers everything he had built would be left behind and forgotten.

He let's out a stressed sigh and continues down one of the village paths.

"Mob?"

.....

"Mob! I know you're there! I know everything, remember?"

It was coming from inside small house on the edge of the village. The tone of Verity's voice was back to it's cheery self, the way it was before everything went wrong. A sense of false security latches onto Mob.

"I won't hurt you."

He walks towards the house. What am I doing?

He lingers in front of the door for a second or two before opening it. Verity is in the middle of the room, back to his familiar bouncy ball form. There is nothing sinister in his eyes and his smile is back to looking like a cheap Clipart sticker. 

"You found me!" Verity's voice lowered a bit. "Mob...

I'm sorry for my behavior."