Episode 1, Chapter 7: You Aren't Real
They all looked over at Jack, then at the wall behind them. Another keyhole for the Gauntlet… Jess walked over, quietly punching it to open the way, before walking over to Jack quietly.
"He… He can't be…" Jack babbled, unmoving. Petra looked around, then at Jess.
"You stay here with him. I'm gonna get these out of the way." She said, tiptoeing around. She eyed the sponge that gripped at the corners of each water cube, scuttling clockwise to shove sponge into all of the water, absorbing it and killing the guardians.
"Nurm… N-Nurm…" Jack's voice grew more desperate, begging cries ricocheting off of the walls. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" his whimpers turned to sobs, then to wails, filling the room with his shattered heart as he clutched the crumpled hat close to his chest. Petra and Jess shared a look, Jess quietly wrapping their arms around Jack.
He thrashed for a moment, before choking back a sob and letting himself sag, falling backwards and practically melting into Jess' arms.
"Jack… Jack, I'm so sorry-" Jess started, Jack looking away as Petra's attention suddenly shifted towards a box in the corner. Something they'd overlooked - a small room made of bedrock, tucked away in the corner of the room, on the wall they'd entered from.
And someone was pounding on it. Petra ran over, stepping on the pressure plate again - with no Guardians in the room, the rumbling instead opened the bottom of the bedrock cube, and a small woman fell out, springing to her feet.
"Who are you!? Wha- wh… Jack?" Her voice was small, sweet - not unlike a child's, with a faint accent. "Jackie…!"
"N-no… NO!" Jack screamed, jumping to his feet and drawing his sword, Nurm's belongings automatically flying up into Jack's inventory. "YOU GET AWAY FROM ME!"
"Jackie, calm down!" The girl waved her arms, suddenly squealing as Jack grabbed her by the collar with his free hand. "W-Wait! I can-!"
"You. AREN'T! REAL!" He roared, locking eyes with her. "I won't believe it! I-I can't! Nurm d-dying, and then you appearing?! You're a trick! You're just in my head!" his breathing grew panicked and labored, Jess and Petra looking at him with worry. "G-Ghh… T-Tell me something the real you would know."
"You used my bow and Vos' potions to blast a hole in the wall and swim away - I saw the Admin's face, he was furious. He locked me in that box and kept me around like a toy!" She blubbered, brow furrowing in fear. Her brown hair was long, almost to the middle of her back, with lighter highlights along the bangs and bottom half. "J-Jackie, please… Please believe me…"
Jack dropped her, her landing on the floor with a grunt as he backed away. "I… S-Sammy, it's been… it's been so long…"
"I know. I'm… I'm sorry I couldn't find you." She sighed. "You guys being here… Something happened on the surface, didn't it?"
Jess quietly held up the gauntlet, and she froze. "Yeah. Uh… This."
"He chose you…" Her voice wavered. "We… I… Jack… He wore it before you. It's how he-"
"Lost his eye?"
She nodded. "And you have lost the same." She looked around. "But we met… the very first bearer. Long ago."
"The first bearer?"
Sammy nodded. "His name escapes me, these days… but he wrote a book about it. 'Gifts and Curses: A Guide To The Omnidimensional.'" She stood up, pointing towards the wall Jess had opened. "Come on; we oughta make our way out of this dreadful atmosphere."
Jack nodded slowly, following everyone else slowly as they entered the next room - a long hallway, painted on either side with long, brilliant murals. The paintings started simple, depicting five figures, each wearing unique armor, growing in detail as it… told the journey of Jess's adventure… defeating the Witherstorm, the painting showing them driving a shovel through the command block. Underneath it were… strange runes, red paint still dripping.
ᔑ ℸ ̣ ᒷ∷∷╎ʖꖎᒷ !¡ꖎᔑリ.
Sammy walked up to the edge of the walkway, squinting as she leaned forward. "'A terrible plan.' I wonder…"
"Wonder what?"
"I think the Admin wrote that. Commenting on… I guess the storm's heart being so easily defeated."
"EASILY DEFEATED?!" Jess cried out. "If it were easy I wouldn't've lost Reuby!"
Petra put a hand on Jess' shoulder. "The Admin wouldn't know 'easy' if it bit 'im in the nuts, Jess."
They kept walking, stopping and looking at another part of the painting, this part depicting… Harper and Ivor. Holding hands, their painted forms coming together as one entity as the background became the red of PAMA's interior… it sent a chill down Jess' spine.
ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷᓭᒷ ᒷリℸ ̣ ╎ℸ ̣ ╎ᒷᓭ ꖎ╎⍊ᒷ↸, ∴⍑╎ꖎᒷ ℸ ̣ ⍑╎ᓭ ᒷリℸ ̣ ╎ℸ ̣ || ↸╎↸ リ?￢ﾄﾸ ̣.
"'These entities lived, while this one did not.'" Sammy read, raising an eyebrow. "What's the other entity here?"
"PAMA." Jess said flatly. "I ripped its heart out."
"Brutal." She mumbled.
"It doesn't really know much about fighting." Jack snickered. "At least not close-up." He laughed as she sputtered, shoving him onto his rear.
"Fuck off! I was the one who saved your ass in Quis'Xen!" She snarked, rolling her eyes and continuing onward as Petra helped a laughing Jack to his feet.
"Yeah, I know! All four-foot-nine of you managed to climb inside the Mecharacharch's exhaust pipe and blow it up!" Jack rolled his eyes. "And Vos, Vos as he was, decided it was a good idea to reassemble the thing when we got back!"
"Four! Foot! TEN!" She screeched, looking up at the wall again.
This one was different. The background was black, a figure Jess could only figure was Lukas looking unbearably small in the black expanse around him, as he turned around to find himself in front of a giant cyan ball of light, a teal hand underneath him.
ꖎ ꖌᒷ ?￡ﾓﾵᒷꖎᔑℸ ̣ ᓭ ᓵᔑリᔑ∷||, 24 ᓵ||ᓵꖎᒷᓭ ?￪ﾖﾎ↸
∷ᒷᓵᒷリℸ ̣ ꖎꖎᒷ⎓ℸ ̣ ᔑꖎᔑʖᔑᓭℸ ̣ ᒷ∷. ||ᒷℸ ̣ ╎ ᓵᔑリリ?￢ﾄﾸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ᒷꖎꖎ ⍑╎ᓭ !¡ᔑℸ ̣ ⍑ ᒷ⍊ᒷリ ╎リ ?￢ﾚﾍ∷ ᓭ?￪ﾖﾎ?￡ﾓﾭ!¡ᔑᓵᒷ.
ᓵ ∷╎?￢ﾚﾍᓭ. ╎ ᓭ !¡!¡?￡ﾓﾭᒷ ╎ ∴╎ꖎꖎ ꖎᒷᔑ⍊ᒷ ᒲ|| ⊣╎⎓ℸ ̣ ╎リ ↸ ᒷ ℸ ̣ ╎ᒲᒷ.
"Oh boy." Sammy mumbled. "'Luke Ocelatus Canary, 24 cycles old…'"
"'Recently left Alabaster.'" She continued, Jess biting their lip and looking away. "'Yet I cannot tell his path even in our solospace.'" She squinted. "'Curious. I suppose I will leave my gift in due time.'"
Jess looked at their hand. Everyone else did, as well. "Then why did he seek out Petra if he was initially looking at Lukas?"
"Perhaps it was a matter of 'telling her path.'" Sammy shrugged. "What does that other mural look like? If this recounts your tales…"
The group turned around, observing the other mural.
A cyan figure stood in the middle, arms outstretched as beams of light shone from behind it. Various scribbles surrounded it, and multicolored figures were smiling, cheering him on.
ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷリ ╎ ∴╎ꖎꖎ ʖᒷ ᒲ|| ?￢ﾈﾴリ ⎓∷╎ᒷリ↸.
"'Then I will be my own friend.'" Sammy echoed, tilting her head. "Guess the guy didn't really care much for his… original friends?"
"Or they didn't care much for him." Petra mumbled. "Yeesh, no wonder the Gauntlet called to me."
Jess shot her a glare as Sammy continued onward, stopping at a wall.
"Showtime, gaunty." She said, almost mocking them as they sighed, unlocking the wall and watching it crumble. They found themselves in front of a set of stairs, height stretching far above them.
The four of them raced up the stairs, finding themselves in a massive room. Staircases crawled up both sides, converging in front of a massive wall of runes.
"Jack.. Jackie, we did it! We made it!" Sammy's voice broke, gleeful tears streaming down her face as she dashed in, kneeling on the ground… almost in reverence. Sea lanterns decorated the floor, pillars of obsidian and gold holding the higher walkways up - the walls being double helixes of cyan and orange concrete, slicing through the total blackness of the starry void-like blocks that surrounded it.
"This… woah…" Petra gasped. "It's so… different."
"Strange that the hole isn't visible from inside, though…" Jess mumbled. "Maybe Jack got in the gaps between the rooms somehow."
"If only Nurm were here… he'd have been delighted to see all of this."
"I'm… eternally sorry for his fall, Jack." Sammy said, placing a gentle hand on Jack's back. "He walks with the Eynori once more."
"Damn the Eynori." Jack mumbled. "And damn this Dragon-lost temple for taking everyone away."