Armen's Pov
Drake and I with my girlfriend Rose on my back were walking across an old bridge that led to some buildings, I noticed Drake stop halfway across the bridge so I stopped next to him.
"Hey wait," Drake said.
"Hum," I hummed back.
"Armen, how did we get here?" Drake asked me.
"I have no idea," I said.
"Where is here?" Drake asked me.
"I'm not very sure" I said to Drake.
"This place seems strangely familiar? You know what it doesn't matter," Drake said.
"Yeah, your right" I responded, we started to walk again, then stopped at the end of the bridge.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, shouldn't it matter though? Shouldn't it, shouldn't it, you know," Drake asked me.
"Just some random village I guess," I said to Drake.
We start walking again, then stop beside a house, "I don't know, it seems familiar, have we been here before, you know what, um have we?" Drake asked.
I noticed a sword/dagger on the rock next to the house that we stopped next to and walked towards it.
"What is this?" I asked Drake.
"I don't know, what is that?" Drake said.
I stop next to the rock and picked it up, "A dagger," I said.
"That's odd," Drake said.
"We could probably return it to someone in the village," I said.
"I suppose so," Drake said.
I put the dagger on my belt and started walking with Drake behind me, "That is if it is a village or something," I said.
"Let's figure out where we are, it must be important," Drake said.
We stopped in front of what looked like a school, "What does this said?" Drake asked me.
"Ruby Shire," I said to Drake.
"Ruby Shire School, that also sound very, very, very, very familiar, have we been here before?" Drake asked me.
I walked through the gate and stop in front of the school, "Yeah I remember, we have been here" I said.
"We had to been here before," Drake said.
Drake walked through the gate and stopped in front of the sand pit, "I remember all this, but how?" Drake asked me.
Drake walks out through the gate and I walk behind him, we walked right to a bunch of houses, I just sigh, "I don't know," I said.
"I don't see anyone around here, Shouldn't there be people here? There should but I don't see anyone. Wait, what's this?" Drake asked, we walked towards the window and I do the same.
I saw a line of netherrack on top of the celling of the window.
"What is that? Ah, my head what's going on?" Drake asked, holding his head then he vanished.
When I went towards it had the same effect as Drake, I held on tight to Rose on my back just in case, then suddenly I black out.
I woke up and noticed that we were somewhere different, I looked like a nether fortress, I also noticed that Rose wasn't on my back no more, but she was in my lap sleeping soundly.
I stood up and put Rose on my back, I looked around for Drake and saw him on the opposite side of the room, Drake was starting to wake up.
"Ah, my head, what a headache," Drake said, with pain in his voice but he was awake at least.
"Oh whoa, not good," Drake said, almost falling in lava.
Drake started to walk around the lava holes, "Armen, is that you?" Drake asked walking towards me.
"Yeah it's me," I said, walking towards him.
"Dude what is going on?" Drake asked me.
"I don't know," I said to Drake.
"Is this ash in the air?" Drake asked.
"I don't know but let's get out of here," I said.
I walked over to where I saw the dagger was laying and I grab the dagger.
"Oh god, is there another exit besides this, because I don't like dark places," Drake said.
"It is the only way out of this place, so let's go," I said, we started to walk towards the dark tunnel with Drake following behind me.
"Whoa, whoa," I said.
"I can not see much," Drake said.
"Drake, are you there?" I asked him, I kept walking forwards until I saw something in the distance.
"Armen, I think I see you, there's something there," Drake said, but I cut him off.
"What's that?" I asked, walking towards it, when I got close to it started to give me a headache.
"I don't know, there is a lot of smoke around it, that is the only thing I can see I might as well head for it, if you can see it too then you should do it... this is not good, ah my head hurts again," he said, then vanished, then I black out again.
I woke up to notice that we were in a different location, I felt Rose's head on my chest, I got up and put Rose on the bed laying down on her back instead of her side and I put the blanket on her to keep her warm. I heard Drake starting to wake up.
"Drake, wake up," I said, Drake got up and started to panic.
"Drake," I said.
"I can't see, I can't see," Drake yelled.
"Drake, where is something on your face," I said to him.
"Oh," Drake said, he pulled off the sleeping blindfold and put them on the bed.
"Yeah, my bad," Drake said, I laughed.
"I don't know there we are again," he said.
"Different place how many times?" I asked.
"I lost count and what is this? That was right back in, what was called Ruby Shire, it was that same thing, what is that?" Drake asked, we turned towards where the dagger was.
"I have no idea, we should rename it," I said, picking it up.
"It is a dagger or a sword or some sort of knife, I don't think I would name my whatever those things are," Drake said.
"Just keep it for later, I rather keep it for later," I said.
"I don't see why not," Drake said, I put the dagger in my belt and we started to walk towards the door.
I looked behind me one more time at Rose and she was sleeping soundly, I just smiled a small smile at her before we left the room.
"I will go first because I got the weapon," I said, pulled out the dagger and went through the door.
"Okay," Drake said, walking behind me.
"What if someone or something is here?" Drake asked.
"Shhh, there might be," I said to Drake.
"Okay, where are we?" Drake asked.
"Do you think I know, I was thinking the same thing," I said.
"Good point, whatever," Drake said.
When I walked to the end of the corridor and stopped because I saw someone there so I backed up against the wall.
"What, what is it?" Drake asked, he walked around me to see what I saw.
"That is someone," I said.
"A person?" Drake asked.
"Probably, maybe a robot," I said.
"I don't know," Drake said.
We saw the person move and ran backwards a bit, so we wouldn't get spotted, when we saw he was out of site we walked forward.
"Come on this way," I said, moving behind a pillar.
"How do know he is friendly?" Drake asked me.
"I am putting my dagger away," I said, putting the dagger in my belt again.
"Okay," Drake whispered back.
We saw the guy move to the other side of the room and we started to walk forwards again, "That can't be person, was that a helmet?" Drake asked.
"Did you see that he dropped the bowl," I said.
"I don't know," Drake said.
"Is that a backpack?" I asked, walking towards the table.
"It looks like a toolbox," Drake said, when I got to the table I picked up the toolbox and then the man came in.
Grayson's POV
I entered the building. After a tedious night of repairing the oilrig, I was ready to climb under my covers and fall asleep. I was that tired.
One of the bed legs was loose. Of all mornings, why this one? I turned around to retrieve my toolbox just as I hear it.
It has been forever since I have heard a voice besides my own. The yell was muffled by the padded walls, but I understood it enough to determine that it was a young male. Judging by how he was talking, I determined that there was more than one. Intruders.
How did they get in here? No one else but me lives in the immediate area. Besides, I am positive that I locked the door behind me, and as far as I know, that was the only entrance in.
I set the toolbox down on the wooden table. Then, without hesitation, I went into the opposite room for my gun.
One thing I know is that people tend to be more agreeable if they are threatened. In this case, I might be able to figure out how they got in here and then force them to leave. It will be a piece of cake.
The voices got louder, so that means they are moving closer. I took off my helmet and burst out of the room.
Two people were standing terrified in my main living area. The one standing closest to me was a young teenaged boy. He had really dark brown hair that can be considered black unless if there was a bright light. His eyes were cyan coloured. I'd say that he was about sixteen or so.
The other guy was just, well how else can I say it, odd. While the friend appeared to be a normal human being, he wasn't exactly. The man, who'd I would say was about eighteen, had an enderman half on his right side of his body. He had one large purple eye on that side. On the other side, he had a regular human side with a regular, indigo coloured eye. His brown hair was a little messy but short.
I quickly aimed my gun at the two of them. "Who are you?"
Surprised that I was armed, they all three backed up away from me. I saw no visible weapons other than a small dagger slipped into the dark-haired boy's belt. He has clearly made an effort to hide it from me, but I didn't say anything.
The odd enderman guy scratched the back of his neck. "Well, uh, I'm Drake, and this is Armen." He pointed at his companion. "Uh, we just woke up in your infirmary. I think we should thank you for taking care of us?" His uncertain voice trailed off, which made it sound more like a question than a thank you.
I stepped forward, which made the two of them back up into the hall. "I haven't taken care of anyone," I remarked coldly.
The speaker stood up a little straighter in an attempt to make him more intimidating. "Oh, well we just sorta woke up in your infirmary that uh…" his voice cracked. "So you didn't take care of us?"
As I stepped closer to the two he added quickly, "I don't really, um…" The half-enderman lost the willpower to talk.
The dark-haired teenager picked up from where he left off. "Know what happened. At all, any of us."
As I had hoped, they were backing up towards the door. The story about how they got in, however, has taken me aback.
"Pretty suspicious."
"Well, I cannot really remember what happened before I got there." The half-enderman hastily changed the subject. "Where are we exactly?"
With much venom in my voice, I answered, "In the middle of an Arctic."
"Wait, seriously?" Armen commented in disbelief. The two of their confusions were genuine. It couldn't be…
The half-enderman glanced at his friends. "Okay."
The younger of the two men replied to my answer, "An Arctic? What is the name of this…What is the name of this facility?"
They barely understood what was going on, but I can't show any signs of letting my guard down.
I calmly but firmly said, while still holding them at gunpoint, "We're on an oilrig in the middle of the Arctic."
They stepped forward slightly to stand a little closer to me. Drake whispered, "Well, um, that's a bit of a change in pace. Uh, sorry, what's your name?"
I wasn't sure if I could trust any of them. They could just be thieves that were plotting to take over this place for all I knew. Well, the question seemed harmless enough. "Grayson."
Drake politely said, "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Grayson. So if we're out in the Arctic, it's probably freezing."
He paused uncertainly before continuing. "Is there any way that we could stay here for the night? I know that you probably don't trust us, but I honestly don't know how we got here."
If I had wanted to, I could have blasted them in their faces right then and there. Something about that comment, however, started to trigger some old and repressed memories.
I let out a sigh and put my gun away. "Yeah, sure."
I started to walk away towards my room. Drake pointed at the signs with the names of my missing workers. "Are these the people that work with you?"
Armen ran forward towards one of the doors. I looked over my shoulder at Drake. "There's no one else here, just me." Armen mumbled something, but I continued, "I've been here for three years."
He was looking at the door marked "Collin." "But there's a-there's names on the…"
Suddenly they were both interested in the name "Collin." They mouthed the name.
"Well, Collin, that's when it all started."
"Started?" Armen questioned.
"After he went missing…" For the first time today, I didn't know what to say.
"Went missing? Like, disappeared?"
"Yeah," I confirmed, "Then this snowstorm just never stopped for three years."
Drake glanced around the infirmary. I couldn't understand what he was whispering.
It might've been something about the current events, because Armen said loudly, "Straight."
Whatever it was, Drake corrected, "No, no, no, it wasn't anything like that because it is impossible for a snowstorm to go on for three years straight. At least I think it is."
They probably thought that I couldn't hear them, because they continued to whisper back and forth between each other. Armen agreed, "I'm thinking that."
The conversation turned to Collin. "Collin's name sounds familiar."
"Yeah, it does seem familiar."
"But I forget why it does."
Drake's voice got louder after that. Finally I don't have to pretend that I do not hear them. "So, I'm sorry to be a burden, but Grayson, but can we stay in one of these rooms for the night."
I felt like the other two rooms were cursed or something, so I pointed at a door that the labels were etched away long ago. "Sure, you can stay in the empty one."
He must have been worried that I'd kick them out into the snow, so Drake cried out in relief, "Oh, thank you so much."
"There's a bunk bed in there," I spoke over him.
"Thank you for your hospitality."
Armen gave me a small smile. "Thanks Grayson."
I hesitantly returned it. "You're welcome."
As an afterthought, Armen added, "By the way, we have a third friend who is still asleep. She hasn't been awake in a very long time. Anyway, her name is Rose, and she is still in the other room. Just thought that you should know."
"Um, all right. Well, this is good night."
His door shut close. For a moment, I watched them from my doorway before I determined that this wasn't some elaborate prank or anything like that. Then I did the same by closing my door.
This was all very weird for me. Their story was the most insane one I have heard in years, yet it dawned on me that it must be true. There is no getting here without my knowing so, so there was no logical way for the pair of friends to get here.
Something familiar about it startled it. I can't place it, but I felt like I had something like this happen to me before. But what, and when?
What if this was all a big scam? Maybe they somehow broke in without me noticing. I shouldn't trust them this easily. They could be bandits or something. What do I have to gain from trusting them?
What do I have to lose?