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It was the same “day”, or cycle, or whatever they call it in this wormhole. The concept of time is a twisted thing here; it flows without moving, and it barely makes any sense. It never does, anyway. THIRD was striding through a void tunnel again. With the Absorber parrying a catcher void cube and absorbing an orange rock on his way, he made it through the tunnel at an immense speed. There is no limit to how fast you can go.
As the tunnel neared its ending, THIRD started descending on the ground. He grabbed his spear and thrust it downwards, aiming for the edge of the safe zone, but when he was a couple studs above the ground, his leg hit a black stalagmite, making him spin and collapse on his chest on the swirly pattern of the safe zone. The spear, along with Tipealth and Multiband, fell out of his hands, rolling further away from his splattered warped figure.
THIRD groaned when the sharp sensation of pain struck his body. The agonizing movement of his jagged spikes that pierce through his skin made the void explorer bend his spine, as if desperately trying to crawl away, but that only buried them even deeper in the ground. He hissed, raising his body on wobbly arms, and looked up, expecting to find his gear and a brightly glowing pink crystal just a few steps away. But instead, his eyes, or the ring of spikes that replaced them, saw the legs of someone humanoid that stopped right in front of him.
“...Wow, a sentient life form!”
A new voice from above made THIRD jolt. The voice belonged to WANDERER, another dweller of the wormhole who had spikes similar to THIRD’s. He crouched down to see the void explorer closer, trying to figure out if he’s even human or not.
“You don’t look exactly like a human being, do you?” WANDERER continued, slowly reaching out his hand to try and close it around one of THIRD’s spikes, although seeing his defensive posture he quickly pulled it back. “A Voidling, perhaps?”
THIRD raised his head higher and saw a faceless creature with a thick spear and some stuff like Hemati and other. He leaned back and put his hands behind his back, looking for the spear or at least Tipealth, but they were nowhere to be seen now. THIRD braced himself.
[WHO… ARE YOU?]
“Me? I wish I knew, actually. I guess just a bunch of rocks from this place combined into something.” WANDERER replied with clear hesitation in his voice, flinching at the jaggedness of THIRD’s voice while still staring at him closely. It was obvious that this void explorer hasn’t talked in years. “Wanderer. If you want to call me that way.”
The void explorer stared back, his mouth deepened to a frown. The spikes on his legs reflected the light that WANDERER’s spear in his hand seemed to emit. His head throbbed, but he ignored it right now. WANDERER extended his free hand towards THIRD, but the void explorer looked back suspiciously and got up on his feet by himself.
“Your gear is right here. You crafted this spear?”
[…NO. FOUND IN A ROCK.]
WANDERER hummed. “Doesn’t matter, works the same.” He then reached in the bag on his back to pull out a Hemati rock and a brightly glowing Lifeshard, holding them in one hand. “Wanna trade? I got some stuff.”
THIRD shook his head.
“Okay.”
WANDERER started to walk away from the man who went to collect his gear, but soon felt a gaze on his back. Turning around he saw the same guy, now following him curiously. WANDERER took a few steps backwards.
“Don’t stare at me like that.” He quickly blurted out.
[WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?]
He froze, then turned away from THIRD. “From… Somewhere, somewhere flat and rough.” WANDERER lowered his voice to something above a whisper, hands hanging loosely on his waist level. “There were huge striking cubes and rocks, and it was mostly filled with water, too.” He stood silent for a moment, before turning his head up to look at THIRD again. “I was curious to see what that huge blue crack was, and now I’m stuck here. I… I wish I was never that curious. You came here the same way, I suppose?”
THIRD shook his head, putting Multiband on his waist.
[SENT HERE WITH TWO PEOPLE]
“Sent here with two people?” WANDERER repeated him, surprised, leaning back. “Interesting. And where are those two people?”
[I DON’T KNOW. I’M LOOKING FOR THEM]
WANDERER stepped back, then sat on a rock opposite to THIRD. “You think you can find them here? This wormhole is… It’s pretty big, to say the least, maybe even infinite.” He took off his bag and dug inside, searching for something. “I think I have notes left by a different civilization, about some specific wanderers. You look familiar.”
THIRD’s interest immediately flared up. He stepped closer to WANDERER until they were less than a meter away from each other, the void explorer lowered his head to look inside the bag. It was lit up in colorful shades and reflecting materials, emitting a mix of green, purple, and yellow bloom on WANDERER’s head. The man’s hand then stopped suddenly, before pulling a collection of five crumpled notes out of the bag. WANDERER placed the bag behind the rock he’s sitting on and started to examine the notes, unwrapping them to reveal simple drawings with alien text.
The man ran through the text quickly, before stopping on a specific note. It had a drawing of a gray human with nine brightly glowing spikes across his body and limbs, a simple black mouth without eyes to finish the face, a faint black blade piercing through the person’s chest, a faint black coil wrapped around their left arm, and a device strapped to their right hand. WANDERER looked up at THIRD, then down at the drawing, then up at THIRD again, comparing the figures and realizing that this note was written about the void explorer that’s standing right in front of him.
“Oh,” WANDERER muttered, “this one is about you.”
He extended the note towards THIRD in one hand. He grabbed it and started reading body text, which briefly explained how he acts and how to deal with him. “Avoidant,” “Ignore its presence” or “Stay away,” and something like “Possible void dweller.” He was also given a nickname: “Nochro.”
This note was the most personal thing THIRD has received after becoming a part of the wormhole. He pulled it closer to examine the drawing which looked like it was drawn from a low quality picture taken of him from far. THIRD extended it back to WANDERER, the frown on his face only deepened even more.
[NOCHRO?]
His voice sounded more like a growl this time.
“And what do you call yourself?” WANDERER questioned with genuine curiosity as he grabbed the note from his hand.
[THIRD]
The man thought for a moment. “Third. How simple.” WANDERER continued. “Makes sense if you put your friends first.”
A moment of shared silence ran between the two of them, both staring at the floor and rethinking the entire conversation that they had. WANDERER leaned back to put the note with the other four back in the bag, before grabbing its strap to wrap it around his torso, avoiding spikes carefully. There was something between their spikes, glowing slightly brighter, as if reacting to seeing someone of their kind.
[HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HERE?]
“For… A while, if you mean this area. I was just about to leave.” WANDERER hissed, standing up from the rock. “But, if you mean the wormhole… A long time, I guess. It feels like I’ve been stuck in this loop for months now, if only time existed here.”
[IT’S BEEN YEARS FOR ME]
THIRD shifted in his spot, grabbing the spear in two hands, already preparing to leave the safe zone. Although, his curiosity about this guy still was not satisfied enough. WANDERER glared at the Vine flower core in a distance which left bright pink lines on the swirly rock floor beneath them. THIRD looked directly in WANDERER’s face, where eyes are usually located. WANDERER stared back.
[WILL WE MEET AGAIN?]
WANDERER took a moment to think. “Maybe, if you won’t dash away from the safe zones immediately. I take time to catch my breath every fifteen safe zones, or so.” He chuckled. “It’s nice to talk to someone sentient after so long, isn’t it? Well, I feel that way, at least.”
THIRD leaned back. He grabbed his spear with one hand tightly, placing it on the floor like a staff, then looked away to scratch a spike on the back of his neck.
[WHERE IS HOME?]
…
“...I wish I knew.”