Me, Jamie, and Walter quickly made our way for the forest, Jamie immediately coming to my side.
"How much HP do you have left?" She asked.
"12." I replied. "I did manage to get down to as low as 4, but I grabbed someone's golden apple."
"You dumbass. You need to stop being so reckless." Jamie said, handing me another golden apple.
"You need to stop caring so much." I said, taking the golden apple and eating it.
"You two need to stop arguing like an old married couple." Walter butted in, startling both of us. He laughed at our reactions.
"Nah, I'm kidding with ya." He said, inspecting his diamond sword. "Well, good thing we left when we did, I don't think my sword could have handled much more."
"Well, it's night time, so we still have to be alert for mobs." I started, pulling out one of my iron swords.
"What about the other pumpkin head members?" Jamie asked.
"Well, considering I just killed their leader, I don't think they will be a problem." I replied. As we were walking through the forest, we heard barking.
"Hey, I think there's wolves nearby…" Walter pointed out. "Anyone got bones?"
"I think I do…" I said, searching my inventory. Sure enough, I found the singular bone from that skeleton I killed a while back.
The moon was slightly illuminating the path ahead, as we soon came across the same pond we first escaped from when we found the ravine. Looking in the distance, there were various different players from the village on course for Walter's temple.
"Do you see Erik or Josh in that crowd at all?" I asked.
"Nope." Jamie replied.
"Yeah, no. I can't see that far." Walter added.
Looking around the pond, I spotted a pack of wolves on the other side, near the water.
"Well, I think that's where you heard the barking from…" I said, pointing to the pack.
"You should go and try to tame one…" Walter suggested.
"Yeah, no shit…" I said, approaching the pack of wolves with the bone. As I got closer, all of them tipped their heads to the side lightly in unison.
"So, Which one are you gonna pick?" Jamie asked.
"Uh, let's see…" I said, putting my sword away, covering my eyes and holding the bone out blindly in front of me.
"Wow…" I heard Jamie comment. "The good old blindfold maneuver. Classic."
Eventually, I felt one of the wolves bite on the bone, and I took my hand from my eyes and let the bone go. As the wolf ate the bone, little hearts levitated above it, a red collar magically appearing around its neck. The wolf barked, holding its tongue out. I pet it gently, its head returning to normal.
"Welp, what should we call him?" I asked.
"Sparkles…" Jamie suggested as a joke.
"Eww, hell no." I replied.
"Let's name him Finger…" Walter suggested.
I let out a sigh. "I meant serious names…"
As I took out some of my meat and fed it to the wolf, it's tail stood up higher. It jumped up and licked my face.
"Say, I got an idea…" I said, as the wolf returned to its paws and I stood up.
"What is it?" Jamie replied.
"Let's name him Miles."
"Actually, that's a neat idea…" Jamie replied. "Let's pick up a name tag when we get back to the house and make it official."
"Alright then!" I replied.
We continued walking, following behind the group of players.
"Hmm, maybe telling them all to meet at your temple for the night wasn't a good idea…" Jamie said, pointing out the number of players. "I don't think you can fit 10-ish players in there comfortably."
"No I cannot, which is why I will lead them to the nearby abandoned village." Walter answered. "I think the houses all have beds in them for them all to sleep in."
"There's a village near your temple?" I asked.
"There sure is." Walter replied. "It's one of the naturally generated ones, but someone must've passed by and raided it, then killed all the occupants because it's a ghost town now."
"Huh, wouldn't surprise me if it was a pumpkin head…" I commented.
I heard a skeleton preparing a shot in the distance. Stopping, I held my sword out and looked in the direction I heard the arrow, but Miles was already running towards the imposing threat. As it ran, I could see a skeleton emerge from one of the trees, running in pure terror as Miles caught up with the skeleton and sunk it's teeth deep into it's bony legs.
"Huh…" Jamie commented. "Guess the skeleton repellent is working."
We continued walking casually as Miles mercilessly tore the skeleton to shreds, then returned to me like nothing happened.
"Good dog." I said. Jamie laughed, petting Miles.
Eventually, we left the forest biome and entered a desert biome. There were a few husks in the distance, as well as some creepers.
"Who here has a bow?" I asked. "We should take those mobs out before they pose a threat."
"The players ahead will take care of that." Walter suggested.
"You can never be so sure." I answered.
"Say, I know you said the villagers are going to sleep, but what about us?" Jamie asked.
"Where you did last time, of course." Walter answered. "I don't mind you guys staying the night again."
"Well, much thanks." I replied.
"Don't mention it." Walter added.
As Walter's temple came into view, the other villagers stopped in their tracks, allowing us to catch up. We could see Erik and Josh way up in the front.
"Hey Erik!" I hollered, running up to him. "Is this everyone?"
"Yeah, I think it is…" Erik replied, taking a look at my new pet. "You have a dog now?"
"Yep." I replied. "I named him Miles."
"Oh neat… he's named after the old village leader…" Erik commented.
"Well, that was the idea." I replied. "Speaking of which, Walter said there's an abandoned naturally generated village nearby where these peeps can spend the night."
"Alright fellas, you heard the man…" Erik hollered. "Where is it?" He asked me.
Looking into the distance, I pointed to the village just a little ways behind Walter's sand temple.
"Alright, the village is just past this temple here." Erik announced. "Head over there and get a good night's sleep, you're gonna need it cause tomorrow we're probably gonna be walking a lot."
"Why?" Some random person in the crowd asked.
"We're relocating you…" I explained. "In the meantime, at least. We'll all gather here in the morning to discuss it."
As all the players began to head back towards the village, two players stopped by. Boy and girl.
"Thank you so much for coming back." one of them said. "You risked your lives on our behalf, and we will do anything to repay you."
"Anything." The girl added.
"Oh, it's the least we can do." I said. "You two have a good night."
"Could I know your username?" The guy asked.
"Uh… just call me Mike."
"Mike. Thanks." The player responded. "Yknow, you keep this up, and we may be able to start fighting back against those pumpkin head people."
As Jamie and Walter joined up with us, Josh found us as well.
"Is everyone alright?" Josh asked, looking at Miles. "Ooh, I see you guys tamed a wolf on your way here! Nice!"
"Well, Mike almost died…" Jamie commented.
"Oh yeah…" Erik replied, looking at me. "Hah, Jamie wouldn't shut up about you."
"Huh?" I was confused.
"Well, she wanted to go up to fight with you two, we kept saying no." Josh explained. "Eventually she disappeared, so we figured she went up anyway."
"Yeah, and good thing I did." Jamie replied. "I saved Mike's ass."
"Nah, you didn't." I replied. "I had a totem. I would've been fine."
"YOU HAD A FUCKING TOTEM THAT WHOLE TIME?" Jamie yelled. "I WAS WORRIED FOR NOTHING?"
Erik and Josh laughed, while I raised my hands in shock.
"Woah woah woah, why are you so angry all of a sudden?"
"Mike, I oughta beat your ass with Erik's enchanted wood sword…" Jamie replied.
"Can we cut the chatting short and get inside before we get blown up by the nearby creepers?" Walter said. "Unlike the skeletons, Miles ain't going to scare away any of them."
"Oh yeah, shit…" Erik said, making a way for the temple. We all followed him.
"Same rooms as last time?" Erik said, as Walter approached the piston door to open it.
"I guess so…" Walter said, walking in. "You four have a good night, I guess."
"You too…" we all replied, as Walter made his way into his room.
As Erik and Josh went into their room, I went up the stairs to the top room and opened the door, leaving it open behind me for Jamie, but to my surprise, she didn't follow behind me. Miles walked into the room, and stood in the corner.
"Miles, sit…" I said. Immediately, the dog sat at the corner, barking friendly at me.
Taking all my armor off and placing my inventory into a chest, I walked down the stairs to check on her. She was sitting on the end of the staircase, still wearing her armor.
"It's late." I said, sitting down next to her. "You should try getting some rest."
I got no response.
"Jamie?"
She looked at me.
"Don't scare me like that." She said,
"Okay…" I started. "Look, I'm sorry. I should've told you about the tot–"
"It's not that." Jamie interrupted. "You said you'd be fine. The first thing I see when I come up to the surface is you, on fire, rushing through your inventory in a panic to find a water bucket to put yourself out with. That… that broke me."
"What?"
"Mike, face it. You can't do this alone."
"Well, neither can you."
"That's why I want us to do this together." Jamie said.
"What?"
"Mike, I want to be with you. Not just as a girlfriend, but I want to also be your ally when we're out fighting people. I want to be by your side all the time."
"Well…"
"What?" Jamie said. "You don't want to?"
I took a closer look at Jamie's chestplate. It was cracked to oblivion, with two arrows sticking out the back of it."
"Holy shit… are you good?" I asked, looking at the arrows.
"It's just a scratch." She replied.
"Just a scratch" my ass… there's two arrows sticking out of you and I'm going upstairs to grab you some steak." I said, walking up the stairs.
"Mike, wait…" Jamie said, getting up. My miles will go with you.
As me and Jamie walked into the room, I rummaged through my chest to grab a stack of steak and tossed it to Jamie, as she took her armor off.
"Back to the ally thing…" I said.
"Mike, I don't ever want to split up again." Jamie said, eating the steak and lying on the bed. "You had me worried sick and that stunt of yours with that totem didn't make it any better."
"You'd have me worried sick if you were out there with me."
"That's the whole point of us being together…" Jamie said. "We protect each other. Support each other. Bring each other up."
Jamie pulled the covers over her. "I meant what I said when I said I didn't know what I would do if I lost you, and I almost did tonight."
I sighed. "Jamie, I'm sorry." I said, getting into bed next to her.
"Sorry for what?"
"You're right. I made a stupid decision telling you to go with the others. We should stick together from now on, no matter what."
Jamie smiled. "It wasn't stupid. You just wanted to protect me, that's all." she turned to wrap her arms around me. "Fortunately for you, I can protect myself."
"I think it's my turn for this…"
"What?"
"You've been cuddling me for the past like… 3 nights." I answered. "It's my turn to initiate it."
Jamie took her arms off of me. "Knock yourself out."
I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer, as she wrapped hers around mine. As our limbs entangled, Jamie rested her head on my chest.
"Y'know what, I think I like this position better." Jamie said.
"Yeah, I do too, wanna know why?"
"Why?"
"Cause I can do this…"
I moved Jamie's hair out of the way and kissed her on her forehead, her face glowing bright red. I chuckled a bit.
"You're cute when you get startled."
"Shut up…" Jamie said, closing her eyes and tightening her grip.
"Love you too…" I said, closing my eyes as well and slowly drifting off to sleep.
