Hey ya'll, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new story! 1,442 words this chapter. NOTE: I don't own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.
The Hunter's Memories
Dark grey trees thrust their twisted branches up into the blackened sky, bare of any leaves and riddled with ugly knotholes. A cold wind whistled through the forest, swirling through the pearly white fog that lay thickly over the ground like a heavy blanket. Dark, humanoid shapes drifted through the trees, murmuring faint nothings as they floated a few inches off the ground. They seemed like black spirits, lost and twisted with evil and corruption.
A faint scream drifted through the trees and all the lost spirits halted, staring off in the direction of the scream with blank, hollow eye sockets. Eventually, one after the other, the spirits shrugged and went back to wandering around pointlessly.
A young man who appeared to be half-faded burst out of the trees, panting heavily out of fright. His eyes were wide from terror and his light brown hair was plastered to his forehead by a cold sweat. His dark blue jacket was badly torn, and his orange-and-white striped T-shirt was stained and ragged, splattered with small drops of dark blood.
He collapsed on the gnarled roots of a crooked oak tree, chest heaving as tears streamed down his pale face. The man glanced around, his frail body shaking badly.
"Why?" He croaked, then swallowed nervously. "Why me?"
Some of the lost spirits turned to look at him, and for a second, their eyes flashed a variety of different colours – blue-grey, hazel, brown – and then the colours fell away, leaving nothing but a blank, slate-like stare. The young man froze, shrinking back into the mess of roots as he stared at the lost spirits. His eyes held no relief as they turned away from him and went back to their own business.
The young man reached up, and with a trembling hand, pulled his gold-rimmed goggles down over his eyes. He blinked, and shook his head slowly, taking his goggles off after just a couple more seconds.
"She promised that I would always be able to see hope," He whispered. "But there isn't any here. It just gets darker through the night vision."
A loud hissing noise came from behind him and he yelped, practically throwing himself away from the tree. Another lost spirit emerged from behind the tree, eyes glowing red as it glared at the young man.
"Help!" The man's terrified shriek rose above the dead trees as the world faded into complete darkness.
"User! Wake up! You were having another nightmare!" User's eyes snapped open and he glanced around fearfully, still caught up in the horrible world of his dream.
"They're going to kill me!" User screamed, thrashing around. There were the bare, dead branches of the gnarled oak trees of the forest that User had seen in his nightmare, arched above his head. He felt like he was bound in a thick rope, restraining him from any movement. And there seemed to be a dark spirit next to him, brown eyes glinting in – concern?
Then User blinked and the world returned to normal. There were no twisted trees, or binding ropes, or lost souls. There was only support beams for the roof, and his soft bed sheets, which were tangled around him.
And there was Twisted, staring at User with worried eyes. He was wearing his usual white T-shirt and dark brown leather jacket and his ginger beard was neatly trimmed.
"User? Are you alright?" Twisted asked, tipping his head to one side questioningly. User closed his eyes for a few seconds, taking deep breaths as he tried to calm his frantically beating heart.
"I – I'm fine," User breathed. "Just another nightmare."
"Again?" Twisted sounded surprised. "Same one?"
"Yeah," User sighed, not looking at Twisted. "It's always the same one. Right before you revived me. Right before -" he broke off with a shudder, struggling to keep memories from overwhelming him. He could almost see the smoky hand resting on his shoulder, could hear the lost soul's raspy breath, and could feel his life being drained out of him…
"Hey," Twisted's soft voice pulled User's thoughts away from his horrific memories. "Listen. You're alive now. You're going to stay alive. You're safe from what you saw in the land of the dead."
"Am I really though?" User trembled. "I can't remember the last time I actually slept good for a night because of that bloody nightmare. Actually, the last time I slept well was before I died, and wasn't plagued by these awful dreams."
"There's nothing I can do to help get rid of dreams," Twisted glanced down regretfully. "Believe me, if there was something, then I would do it in a heartbeat."
"I know you would," User half-smiled, though his eyes were filled with sadness. "But you can't change anything about my past – or future."
Twisted was silent for a few seconds, apparently lost deep in the world of thought. Finally, he slammed his closed fist down on User's bedside table, making the wizard jump with fright.
"It's not fair!" Twisted roared, his eyes burning with anger. "You've never done anything to deserve this – this – this absolute shit that's been happening to you! First me going straight up insane and torturing you, then you almost dying to save me, and then committing suicide because of when Dec snapped at you! Then all this crap with the nightmares and it's just…" Twisted voice cracked and he broke off, the fury in his eyes replaced with a broken look. "None of this should have ever happened."
User swallowed, staring at his hands, which were resting on the sheets. One time, not long ago, they would have been constantly moving, running through his hair, adjusting his goggles, or straightening his T-shirt. Now, they were still, all the life-filled energy drained away.
"Nothing in life should happen," User murmured. "But it does anyway. We have to cope with it though because let's be honest – what are we really in the great span of the universe? Insignificant bugs, created by Notch, who ordered the Fates to watch over us, to twist our lives and to break us. Now, we are helpless in the power of Mianite, Dianite, Ianite, and Khione. We're just toys in the hands of the gods. Toys can be ruined, or broken, or destroyed. And we are not so easily repaired."
"Stop," Twisted closed his eyes and shuddered. "Don't think about that. You once told me that if everyone thought like that, then there would be no such thing as hope. We have to believe that things will get better. That's the only way we can live."
"Look at me, Twisted," User choked. "Do I look like I can find hope anymore? I've been to the land of the dead. There was literally no hope there. It was just the worst kind of evil that you can imagine. It was -" User stopped mid-sentence again, not wanting to confess what he had seen there.
Twisted didn't press the matter, but sat down next to User on the bed. User tensed when he felt Twisted put his arm around his shoulders, feeling an irrational pang of fear. He didn't want to be touched anymore – any sort of physical contact brought back more painful memories.
"I'm just trying to help," Twisted pleaded. "I know you said you're broken. So just tell me what I need to do."
"There's nothing you can do for me now," User admitted mournfully.
"Nonsense," Twisted sounded indignant. "Duct tape fixes everything."
User snorted with amusement, the sorrow from his heart lifting for just a few seconds. Duct tape – of course. How could he have forgotten about the most amazing substance in the world, which people called 'duct tape'?
"Hold on, let me grab some," Twisted ordered, then summoned a very large roll of duct tape to his hand. He pulled a little bit of it away and tried to stick it to User's chest.
"Stop!" User laughed, scrambling away from Twisted. Unfortunately, he was still lying in bed, so all he achieved was rolling onto the floor with a painful thump.
"Never!" Twisted grinned and walked around to where User was lying on the floor. He taped the wizard's hands to the floor, and ignoring User's thrashing around, wrapped him up like a duct tape mummy.
"Mmph!" User tried to yell at Twisted, but there was a large bit of duct tape over his mouth. Twisted himself was doubled over laughing, the duct tape still grasped in his hands. "Mmph mmph mmph!"
"What's that?" Twisted asked innocently, knowing full well what User was trying to say. "I couldn't understand you. Could you perhaps speak up?"
"Mm-mmph mmmmmmmmph!"
Ah, duct tape! There really isn't anything it can't fix! XD Also, did anyone watch Twisted's POV for his and User's new Castaways series? I'm not quite sure what was wrong with Twisted... but it was definitely funny! XD
Random Observation: I edited the cover image for this story all the while listening to 'Dragons' - a Minecraft parody by Mineworks Animations. Go listen to it if you never have before - it's really awesome!
(Oh, and Diamond? Remember how I said that you may not be affected by the feels so much if something were to happen to Tom? I think I may be wrong - I finished writing Chapter 7 at almost midnight last night, and I was literally shaking - though from fear or the feels I knew not.)