Chapter Text
Mob was struggling to think straight.
He thought Twixxel was bluffing. He thought he was on some sort of drug. He laughed with Idaios when Twixxel started talking about this “Creator” thing. He thought that Twixxel was genuinely hallucinating something that wasn’t there when he started talking to thin air.
He said Twixxel was funny. He thought Twixxel was forgetting things quickly, that Twixxel was trying to prank them. That the photo Twixxel sent in the discord group chat was edited.
So who the hell built this house if not Twixxel? Where the hell did Idaios go? Why didn’t he realize that Idaios vanished?
Now, he was in the same house that “Twixxel” built earlier, his camera glued on the crafting table. The UI was completely empty, with his mouse hovering over the iron in his inventory.
He should be crafting a weapon. He should be barricading the windows with cobblestone. But he stayed on the crafting table, and let his hands leave the keyboard and mouse and rambled instead.
“Bro- I’m sorry. We should’ve listened, now Idaios is missing and something is after us! I knew I should’ve just-”
“Mob.”
“Yeah?” Mob gasped out, his hands returning to the keyboard and mouse, before-
Twixxel suddenly screamed. It wasn’t a normal shout. It was an agonizing scream that was so loud the audio clipped into a harsh, distorted screech. It sounded like Twixxel was being violently dragged away from his desk or like something was forcing its way down his throat.
“What the?!-”
Mob flinched violently, his hands jerking so hard he left the crafting table UI and his in-game camera snapped violently toward the ceiling. He tore the headset off one ear, his heart rapidly beating.
He jumped back onto his seat, and snapped his camera to Twixxel.
The head on Twixxel’s avatar was staring at the floor.
“Twixxel?!”
He ran over in front of Twixxel. After a couple of seconds, he hit Alt and Tab, praying that Twixxel disconnected, that him thinking it was true.. It wasn’t.
Twixxel’s mic in discord was entirely grey, and Idaios wasn’t in the call. In fact, Idaios’ avatar was completely blank. The blank that you’d see when someone deleted their account.
He hit Alt Tab again, returning back to the game.
“Twixxel answer me bro!”
He watched for any signs of movement from Twixxel. Nothing.
“Calm down, bro.”
Now, what he was about to say was cringey, but Mob was desperate.
“This isn’t you.”
It’s not until Twixxel equipped a knife, the same one Mob gave to him just prior.
“Oh shit. Twixxel! Fight back! Don’t let it get the better of you! You can do this Twixxel- I know you can!”
He mashed the S key when Twixxel’s head slowly rose back up and stared at him. It felt like it was staring- no- glaring right at him through the screen.
Right- it hated loud audio! He read it before with Idaios.
“Twixxel- Scream at it- scream at it!”
Twixxel twitched towards him, before he swung the knife at him.
Mob jumped out the way, with the knife hitting the wood behind him.
“Twixxel stop! Scream at it as loud as you can!”
He ran to the other room, quickly already cornered. Twixxel ran right in front of him, before abruptly stopping. He stood entirely still.
“SCREAM!”
Twixxel stood there for what felt like hours to Mob. Mob’s body was tense, he was ready to Alt F4 already, his fingers hovering over the 2 keys.
Twixxel suddenly gasped for air and jerked his character away from Mob. He gasped, as if someone just let go of his throat and they were choking him. Twixxel threw the knife onto the ground.
“.. Twix?-”
“Yes yes it’s me.”
He Alt Tabbed again, and saw a green outline Twixxel’s avatar finally lit up.
“Oh god that could’ve ended badly dude.” Twixxel muttered through the call.
Mob’s mouth was agape, before he alt-tabbed back to the game, pushed the W key, and let go when he was a decent distance from Twixxel’s character.
“Dude what the hell?” was all Mob could utter out. His eyes trailed away, before he continued speaking. “Now I know exactly what you meant by the creature.. We have to stop it.”
His throat felt like it was closing and heavy. His friend was just- under some sort of mind control or even possessed by probably the same thing he was just describing to him and Idaios, and Idaios himself is just.. Gone. All he could think was.. No. He couldn’t think of anything.
“Dude, I couldn’t even scream anymore.” Twixxel began. But Mob began talking.
“Let me craft something that I found.. That’ll help us fight against the creature.”
He was about to run for a crafting table, until he saw Twixxel standing in front of a window still again.
“Mob?”
“Yeah?”
“I freaking see it again.”
He turned his camera to where Twixxel was staring, and felt his chest hollow out.
“You can’t see it, I know, but from my vision it’s there.” Twixxel uttered, as if it was still true.
Mob didn’t move. His eyes remained glued to the screen. It was right there. The thing that Twixxel was describing.
“.. Twixxel?” Mob began.
“Yeah?”
“I- see it too.”
“Wait, what did you say?-”
“I see it too! Exactly where you’re staring at!”
The sky outside abruptly snapped to nighttime, causing Twixxel’s character to jerk away.
“Mob stay away from the window right now.”
Mob ignored what Twixxel said out of sheer terror.
“It’s staring at us! And why the hell does it look like that?!”
Was this what made Idaios vanish? Was this what possessed Twixxel?
“Mob I said stay away from the window! Right now! You never know what's its next move!”
Mob turned back to Twixxel for a split second. He turned back to the window, and it was already in front of him. The window shattered open.
“MOB DON’T-”