Darren stood silently at the furnace in the kitchen, his gaze focused on the cuts of meat that slowly roasted inside. The only sounds that disturbed the silence were the crackling of the fire and the pops of cooked fat. As he watched the food, he thought back on what happened.
After fighting off the pillagers from Wickensfield, Darren and Andr climbed down from the roof of the building and were met with cheers. Apparently, their fight had been witnessed by the townsfolk who were still trapped in the courtyard. There were congratulations, pats on the back, and tearful thank-yous given to the two. Once Lucas had arrived with the rest of the guard, he also thanked them for their efforts. Darren barely responded to any of it.
No one seemed to notice, the people who came forward were too caught up in their relief to see, and for that he was thankful. He only gave out halfhearted responses to anyone who approached, his mind far away at the moment. His thoughts went back to the roof.
Flesh parted easily as the sharp metal slipped through armor, a disturbingly bubbly cough shuddered through the hilt, a weight that almost made himtoppletothefloorthedeadman'sfacestaring-
SNAP
A particularly loud pop rang out from the pork chops and started Darren. He shook his head resentfully and thought about after… that. There would be time later to reflect on what he could have done differently. Instead, he thought about the question he asked Andr earlier.
A question that the black-clothed girl still hadn't answered.
In fact, ever since he had asked, Andr hadn't spoken a single word to him, nor had Darren said anything further to her. And ever since then, from leaving the village and arriving back home, there had been a sort of tension between them with neither one moving to speak first. It had led to an uncomfortable gloom while walking through the forest.
Once they had made it back to the cottage, Andr had just about bolted towards the stairs. Darren paid attention to her absentmindedly and heard the click of a door locking before making his way to the kitchen. He figured that some food would do them good after all the recent chaos.
Darren was pulled away from his musings as he quickly checked the meat and put the steaming pork chops onto some plates. Once that was done he took a bowl of chopped potatoes and threw them into the furnace. He waited for a few minutes to make sure they were thoroughly cooked before gathering them. A look over showed that the fat from the meat helped the potatoes become a crispy, golden brown. Perfect.
Extinguishing the flames in the furnace, Darren made his way to the dinner table with food in hand. Andr still hadn't come down.
After a pause of indecision, the displaced camper went up the stairs towards Andr's room. His hand hovered over her door momentarily before he knocked twice.
"There's food downstairs. Whenever you're ready just come on down."
What greeted him was the sound of something rustling on the other side before it fell silent. Darren guessed that was all he was going to get and started to go back down the stairs. Before making it halfway down though, the door opened. Looking up Darren saw Andr step out, her appearance somewhat flustered. They made eye contact.
"Hey," Darren started.
Andr twitched, faintly responding, "H-Hi…"
A beat of awkward silence passed as the two stood there before Darren spoke again. "You hungry?"
The sound of utensils clinking filled the room as they ate. No words were spoken as Darren and Andr sat down at the table to eat.
Darren turned his sights towards Andr only to see her turn away back towards her food. He let out a sigh. The silence was getting on his nerves. Screw it, he thought.
SLAM
Darren's hands met the table with a sudden slam, shocking Andr and himself at the intensity. After a moment the displaced camper moved his food to the side and started Andr straight in the eye while doing his best to not let his own nervousness show.
"Andr," he began, "earlier I asked what you were and after some time to think about it, I realized that I was being insensitive. I want to apologize."
The girl seemed speechless before replying, "Apology accepted."
Darren sank into his seat, relieved. "Good, good. To make things fair, how about we do this? We give a secret for a secret. I tell you about me and in turn, you do the same. Deal?" Andr took a moment to think before agreeing. "Great. I'll go first then. But before I start, earlier you called me a Builder, right?"
Andr's eyes widened and she nodded hesitantly.
"Well let me first tell you that I have absolutely no idea what that means." At Andr's disbelieving stare he continued. "I'm serious. I'm not from around here. In fact, I'm not even from this world. All I know is that I was out camping one day, went to sleep, then all of a sudden I'm stuck in a place I've never seen before in the middle of nowhere. Also, I got chased by some monsters and was shot with an arrow on my first night, but that's not important right now."
Andr's mouth opened and closed repeatedly trying to respond to what Darren said. In the end, she settled with, "But that's impossible."
"The fact I got teleported here or that I don't know what a Builder is?"
"Both!" Andr shot up from her seat, both hands on the table as she glared at Darren. "There's no power in the world that can move people from one place to another and everyone knows who the Builders were. They're pretty much the foundation for… for… everything!"
Darren leaned back as Andr ranted. It was the first time he had seen the girl act so incensed and now he was just waiting it out. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait too long.
Andr sat back down, much calmer than before but still looking somewhat annoyed. "Sorry. I guess the stress of everything today is finally getting to me."
"It's okay. So…" Darren said slowly. "What is a Builder and what made you think I was one?"
Andr took a deep breath to calm herself before saying, "To start, Builders were the first people of this world. Legends say that when they first arrived this land was nothing but an empty canvas for them to work with. Every idea they had led to the creation of this world. Mountains were made to see the horizon better, rivers were made for swimming, life was created so they wouldn't be lonely, and so on and so forth.
"Their powers allowed for incredible feats of progress and destruction to spring forth. Cities would be built and destroyed in a single day. Deserts became forests only to be drowned under waves of water. Wars were waged over the smallest inconvenience only for everything to be blown over later. You could say that the Builders were essentially gods in mortal form. In fact, there's one story in particular that encapsulates all those traits called The First Builder.
"To summarize the story, it's about an unnamed Builder who found himself alone in the world. Through trial and error, he soon created the world we live in and the other Builders to further creation. Then one day he disappeared without a trace. No one is sure what the Builder's name was as it was eventually lost to time, but many seem to believe it was Notch.
"In the end, the story tells how the Builders continued their lives without Notch. It even documented a few abilities they had at their disposal. In fact…" Andr trailed off as she stared at Darren before saying, "Could you show me that wood that you got from Wickensfield?"
Darren blinked before reaching into his pocket. Taking hold of the wooden block he showed it to Andr. The girl stood from her seat and stood next to Darren. She examined the block for a moment. "Can you drop it?" she asked suddenly.
Darren did so.
Instead of falling on its side though, the block levitated while slowly rotating just above the table. Andr became more animated, pushing herself closer towards the block. Darren scooted back as she neared.
He could hear her mumbling under her breath but the words were too muted for him to fully make out. The few words he caught were "Builders", "fairy tales", and "kingdom".
Leaning back from her examination, Andr let out a sigh. "You really have no idea what you're doing, do you?"
"I mean… I've been doing alright so far," Darren weakly defended as he scratched the back of his head. "I just figured that what I could do wasn't very common so I didn't exactly try to advertise it."
"What is it exactly that you can do?"
Darren looked to the side and gathered his thoughts. "Well, I can break things into blocks like you saw earlier and mining is no problem for me as long as I have the tools for it. I've got a lot of space in my backpack, crafting is easy enough, and I heal pretty fast. Oh, and I don't need to sleep."
"And what else? Are you going to tell me that you don't even need to eat?" the girl asked with a deadpan.
"Of course not, that's stupid. I just don't need to drink anything."
Andr stared at the boy in disbelief before she sighed again, this time out of exasperation. "I'm really starting to wonder how you haven't outed yourself to the world already."
"Okay, now that's just mean."
"Seriously though, with what you can do now it isn't impossible to believe that you're a Builder yourself or at least a descendant of them. If anyone in Wickensfield saw your powers they'd probably fall on their knees and start groveling."
Darren cringed at the mental image that brought, uncomfortable at the idea of anyone from the village paying reverence to him. "Yeah, no. It's probably a better idea to keep as many people in the dark about my abilities for as long as possible. Preferably forever."
Andr nodded her assent. "Agreed."
The two fell quiet as they watched the block. Eventually, Andr spoke up.
"I suppose it's my turn then?"
"Huh?" Darren asked smartly.
"It's my turn to tell you a secret, right?"
Darren blinked. He had completely forgotten about that. "Ah, right. And remember, it can be about literally anything I don't know about you."
The girl gave a small, worried smile before taking a seat at the end of the table. She straightened out her clothing and hair before letting out a tense huff. "I'm an Enderman."
Darren froze in his seat. He stared directly into Andr's eyes completely silent for the next minute as the girl squirmed uncomfortably.
His mouth opened only to close again, doing his best impression of a goldfish before leaning back in his seat with a resigned sigh. "Well, that explains a few things."
The monster stood at the open-air window taking in the view before it. Glaring loathingly at the empty darkness that surrounded its prison, it looked down towards the island. Other monsters similar to itself in body moved listlessly and without purpose.
It was disgusted by the sight of these wretched creatures that were once beings of unlimited potential.
It was disgusted to think how its people fell so low.
He was disgusted with himself to be their king.
"My lord."
Dark violet eyes turned towards the voice, the once proud language devolved into a mix of guttural groans and wheezes to better fit their forms. At the throne room doors stood one of his attendants, a tall, black-skinned creature with gangly limbs whose only distinguishing feature was the shine of intelligence in its eyes.
"My lord," the Enderman repeated with an obedient bow. "The scouts have reported back from their mission to the Overworld."
"Have they found her?" the king growled.
A shudder ran down the attendant's spine as he recalled the report. "No, my lord. The scouts have found no trace of her as of yet."
The king's right hand twitched, the only physical sign of his frustration he allowed to be seen. The attendant flinched.
"Send them out again," the king finally said. "Order them not to return until she is found. And tell them to be discreet about it, we can't let our allies catch wind of such weakness."
"Understood, my lord." The attendant bowed once more before teleporting away leaving behind a few amethyst specks.
The king watched until the last speck disappeared before teleporting himself. He reappeared soon on the roof of his castle without needing to reorient himself, a skill born from constant practice.
Walking towards the edge, the king oversaw a platform under construction where his chosen subjects continued to work. Even with their bodies twisted beyond recognition, the powers of their ancestors still flowed through their blood. At least, enough to finish their work.
"I will not let generations of drudgery be undone," he whispered to himself. "We will return to our rightful place and all will bow or fall."
A/N: I've been gone much longer than I thought, but that's probably because I've done nothing but play Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Genshin Impact for the last few months while also attending college.
I regret nothing.