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Mob walked through the cave, torch in hand. He needed diamonds, and fast. He wasn’t even entirely sure which mods were on the server. He’d just logged on after he was emailed the ip address. He glanced down at the small camera stuck to his shirt. It’ll be a good ass video when it’s done.
He stopped temporarily, mining some iron with his pickaxe. Couldn’t hurt to get a little extra. And then, he heard it. Footsteps. He whipped around, drawing his iron axe. He squinted. White eyes stared back. Mob startled.
“I’m not scared of you,” he declared with false confidence, “come on, come fight me like a man!” The entity ducked behind a wall. “Ouuu shiiittt… it’s one of these entities.” It was an entity that stalks its victim…those were the worst. Mob shuddered. But he had to continue as if nothing happened. He kept walking, through the winding cave. Down, and down. Until he stopped. Listened. And then, he stepped behind a corner. And waited.
Tap, tap, tap. The entity had been following him. Mob lunged out from behind the wall, swinging his axe at the creature. It staggered backwards after being hit, falling onto the ground and scrambling to get up. He heard its claws scratch against the floor as it tried to find purchase in the rock. It nearly got up, but Mob grabbed its tail. It struggled, a humanoid yelp coming from it.
“Hello?” Mob asked suspiciously. If the entity could make that sound, could it speak? It shoved Mob back. Mob let go of its tail instinctively.
“Dude, what the hell!” a heavily accented voice exclaimed.
“Oh are you—?”
“Yes, I’m human!! Well…no I’m not, BUT, I’m half human.” the stranger explained, exasperated.
“My bad bro.” Mob held up his hands apologetically. “Uh, so… who are you?”
“I’m Twixxel. I thought I was alone, until you logged on…” he admitted.
“Mob. Yeah, I thought this was supposed to be my world.” the enderman grumbled. “I don’t know why you’re here.” Twixxel bristled.
“I was here first.” He quickly backtracked. “But, um, I’m glad there’s someone else here. I didn’t like being alone with…it.”
“Riiiighhhttt…and I’m sure you won’t tell me what ‘it’ is?” Mob guessed sarcastically.
“I would, but… I don’t really know,” Twixxel answered apologetically. And, as if on cue, a scream echoed through the cave. Mob tensed. Twixxel instead shut his eyes, leaning on the wall with his hands briefly reaching up before going back to his side, as if suppressing a habit.
Suddenly, an ACTUAL horror entity lumbered into view. Mob took off immediately. He wasn’t risking it. He raced for the cave’s exit, climbing up back the way he came. He didn’t know what happened to Twixxel, but he wasn’t going to stick around to find out. He burst out into the daylight, breathing heavily from the sprint. He was safe now.
He sighed and began walking back to his base. Thinking back on it, Twixxel had looked like nothing he’d ever seen. Black hair, black skin, horns, pure white, pupil-less eyes. Not a fellow enderman, but not anything else he’d ever seen before either. Weird.
He occasionally thought about the other within the next week. But he never saw him. Twixxel never strayed near Mob. The two were in their own separate parts of the world, it seemed. Until Mob realized he needed food. And there was a river conveniently nearby. But he couldn’t go in the water, it was too painful. Maybe…
“Twixxel?” Mob called down into the cave. “Twixxel?” He held the torch cautiously, eyes scanning every little detail.
“Hello?” Mob jumped, spinning around to face the humanoid creature. “Sorry, did I scare you?” he asked apologetically.
“Nah, ‘course not,” Mob insisted, though his heart was beating a little faster from getting startled. “Twixxel, can you help me with something?” Twixxel perked up.
“Oh, yeah, sure,” he agreed right away, “what is it?”
“Uh…follow me.” Mob didn’t feel like explaining the whole “can’t touch water” thing. He led Twixxel to the exit of the cave, walking out. His eyes adjusted to the harsh change of lighting. And then he looked back. Twixxel had hesitated in the exit. “Are you coming bro?”
“Mob…” Twixxel sounded uncertain. “Mob, I can’t…”
“Are you…?” Mob tilted his head. “Can you not go out of the cave?”
“I…can, but…” Twixxel bit his lip. Mob grabbed ahold of his wrist, pulling him out into the sun. Twixxel yelped, covering his eyes.
“Bro, come on, it’s not that far,” Mob told him. Twixxel was quivering. Disbelief filled the enderman. He spotted tears pricking the edges of the other’s eyes. “What's wrong? Twixxel?”
“It’s so bright, I’ve never been in the sun before.” Twixxel’s voice was deathly quiet. Mob hesitated. And then, he pulled off his hood, tying it around Twixxel’s neck and pulling it up over his head. After a moment, Twixxel’s hands slowly moved back from his face, eyes squinting to adjust to the light, but not closed. He met Mob’s gaze. Mob felt awkward. “Your mouth…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mob interrupted. He knew his mouth looked weird to non-endermen. He’d been told a million times. “It’s natural.”
“Okay…that’s good.” Twixxel murmured. “Um, sorry…what did you need me for?”
“Oh,” Mob thought for a moment. “Fish. I need help killing fish. I can’t get to them in the water, it hurts me.”
“I think i read about that once.” Twixxel nodded. “You are… an enderman, right Mob?”
“Yeah, I am,” he admitted. “What are you? You look different from every other hybrid I’ve met.”
Twixxel’s face flushed in embarrassment. “I am a…warden. Don’t ask,” he added quickly.
“Daaaayyyummm, aren’t those things hella strong?” Mob exclaimed.
The warden sighed. “I’m a defective one, I’m not very strong.”
“Oh. Well you aren’t full warden, so that makes sense,” Mob conceded. He then pointed down at the river. “Can you get me 8 of them? I’ll cook them later.”
“Yeah, I can- I can do that.” Twixxel agreed. He poised at the edge of the riverbank, then sprung into the water. Eight murdered fish later, the warden surfaced, gasping for air. “Mob, I got them,” he said triumphantly, climbing out of the water. Mob looked over Twixxel’s soaking wet form.
“Don’t get anywhere near me,” he warned, “I don’t wanna get wet.”
“Ah, right, sorry.” Twixxel took a step back apologetically, holding the fish out in his hands. Mob put the raw fish in his inventory.
“Wanna—“ Mob started, looking up. The warden was gone. “Twixxel?” Mob frowned. “Twixxellll?” he called out. “Where did he go?” He huffed. He just started walking. Whatever.