Jesse kept glancing between Axel and Lukas, who were walking in front of her. Thankfully, neither of them seemed interested in repeating the row from the night before, but the air between them was still so tense that Jesse could practically see it thinning, thinning, until the point where it was threads clinging together about to snap.
Lukas slowly dropped back, and Axel sped up– as if the two of them were attempting to put as much space as possible between each other. Lukas's drastically altered pace made it so that he ended up walking along right next to Jesse, Sebby having changed position from Lukas's pocket to the blonde boy's shoulder. He hadn't said anything all morning, not even using his own high-pitched, squeaky voice.
Jesse decided to change that a little.
"Sorry about... all that last night," she said at last, making a slow gesture to encompass all of the unpleasantness that the previous night's events had brought upon them.
The blonde boy chuckled and let his eyes fall to the ground, blue eyes not meeting Jesse's as he stiffly put his hands in his pockets. "You don't have to be... I'm more embarrassed than anything else," he said softly. Or, well, technically Sebby said softly.
Sheesh, it was amazing that Sebby could imitate Lukas's voice so closely. No wonder Jesse had never realized what exactly was off about Lukas until now.
Automatically, Jesse reached out and patted Sebby on the head a little. Sebby's voice lilted from Lukas's low, patient voice to a musically high-pitched purr. "Ooh, you're really good at this," Sebby squeaked happily, keeping the 'voice' at a relatively controlled level. "I can really see why–"
Lukas reached up with his hand automatically and pinched Sebby's face, making the plushie ocelot get cut off with his squeaky voice deteriorating into a 'mmph!' sound. It didn't sound like he was hurting Sebby or anything, though.
Which made sense, since... Sebby was a plush toy.
Jesse stifled a gentle giggle at that, letting her arm drop back to her side. "Do you do that often?" she asked, green eyes flickering up to meet Lukas's blue ones.
He smiled, the stiffness in his shoulders and face melting, softening until he looked a bit more like the Lukas Jesse actually knew. His arm, which had been bent up to squeeze Sebby's face, dropped back to his side. This was presumably so that Sebby could speak.
"You wouldn't believe how often."
"Hey!"
Jesse's head snapped around to where Olivia was standing on a raised area of land with her tiptoes suspending her a little higher. She was squinting and shading her eyes with one hand as she squinted intensely into the distance. "There's something over there!"
Automatically, the entire group– including Reuben– looked around for the 'something' that Olivia had spoken about. At that moment, they didn't see what Olivia was talking about, until Jesse realized there was a miniature cliff towering over them, enough that it probably blocked whatever Olivia was trying to point out.
Without any further ado, she walked for the cliff, examining the face of the cliff as she approached it. There were dark green plants creeping all over the ground, providing natural handholds, footholds, and crevices and edges on the otherwise quite-smooth cliff– perfect for climbing.
She gave an experimental tug to make sure it'd hold her weight, and when it didn't crumble in her grasp or break easily, she shrugged wordlessly and swung herself up into the net of vines, the springy plants bending slightly under her weight but holding themselves in place. With a grin, she hauled herself higher in a few quick movements, and pushed herself onto the top of the cliff.
And then her eyes widened, glass heart beginning to pick up the pace as she automatically reached up and touched it, absentmindedly trying to calm it down.
Because looming in front of her was a towering building that looked to be partly in ruins. But even with vines crawling over many of the available surfaces, the spiderwebs that were glistening in the light even from twenty yards away, even with some of the walls crumbling to dust, the stained glass emblem practically glowing in the light of the rising sun and the beauty of the building itself gave the structure an almost ethereal aura.
"Whoa... what is this place?" Axel wondered, hopping down from the cliff– which was a lot less steep on this end– and walking slowly towards the building. Jesse trailed after, and Olivia and Lukas trotted after them, carefully shifting their weight to avoid having any part of the ground suddenly giving out beneath them.
"It's the temple of the Order of the Stone," Lukas said, in a hushed, awed whisper.
"Are you sure?" This was Olivia, although even if Jesse hadn't been able to hear her friend's voice, she would've been able to tell it was her anyway– cautiously pessimistic, as usual.
Jesse stared up at the temple for a moment, staring at the glass emblem.
And then it clicked.
"No, he's right!" She rifled through her pockets, finding the amulet seconds later and holding it up. A simple turn of the wrist lined up the design perfectly with what was currently gleaming in the early morning sunlight. "Look."
An awed silence fell over them, before Lukas let out a low whistle, looking duly impressed. Sebby was also staring up at the temple, and even though the plush's expression didn't change, Jesse could tell that he was experiencing the same awe that was currently holding the group under a spell.
"Do you think they're in there?" Axel wondered at last, breaking the amazed silence that had settled like a fine layer of dust over the group.
Olivia reached up and thumbed the corner of her lip thoughtfully, staring at the beautiful, if somewhat-ruined building. She stood there for a moment longer, thinking, thinking...
And then she lowered her arm and gave them a smile.
"Why don't we find out?"
Jesse gently pushed a spiderweb out of the way, looking as if she were holding her breath the whole time. "Let's be... very careful. I don't know how many booby traps the Order might've set in here to deter intruders."
"I like that idea," Olivia agreed, squinting through the dim, almost non-existent light as she tried to keep track of where they were. Unfortunately, with how dark it was in the room, Olivia was basically combing through the air with her hands, accidentally swatting Axel once or twice and nearly knocking Sebby off of Lukas's shoulder altogether at one point.
"And if you spot anything, call it out. We don't have much time," Jesse added, before she was nearly interrupted by Axel.
"Isn't it weird how dispensers are carved to look like spooky little faces?" The burly boy peered intently at a nearby dispenser set in the wall, inactive but still probably loaded. Actually, it was a little unsettling how close he was leaning to it. "What do you dispense, little guy?"
Lukas swallowed, seeming to forget that he and Axel were currently waging the Cold War against each other and, taking ahold of the other boy's sleeve, tugged him over a few steps so that his face wasn't point-blank next to the dispensers. "Here's an idea- let's not try to find out."
"I also like that idea," Olivia added, sliding sideways enough so that she wasn't standing right next to the dispenser.
A loud sound abruptly rang out, making Jesse jump and raise her arm to try to keep the others from just strolling straight in, green eyes darting around. Her glass heart, nestled safely in the pocket, began to beat harder. She took another, slower step in, eyes roving around for the source of the sound, for anything that might've caused that sound-
The creaking of a door suddenly shattered the ominous silence that had fallen, making everyone jump at the sheer volume of it. Reuben, who'd been trembling at her ankle for the past minute, let out an alarmed squeal and bolted forwards.
"Oh-!" Jesse hastily sped up, chasing after the pig, and this seemed to trigger something so that everyone was racing after them-
There was a loud clunk as the floor beneath Jesse's feet dipped a bit, making the girl stagger and catch herself, eyes flickering down to see a pressure plate beneath her shoe, before there was another one seconds later and a gate came hurtling down right as Lukas dashed in, all of them freezing in place as the way out was blocked behind them. Lukas experimentally tapped the gate, but it didn't reopen.
"That's probably not a good thing," Axel said, nervously.
As if to confirm his theory, the dispensers began to make charging noises, a clear indicator that they were about to start dispensing. Jesse listened more closely, trying to figure out exactly what it was that it dispensed, because who knows, maybe they just dispensed like- like potions or something-
And caught this small twanging sound.
Like a bowstring.
"Aw, c'mon, dispenser faces!" the burly boy behind her complained loudly, "I thought we were friends!"
"RUN!" Jesse shrieked, voice finally kicking in, and everyone proceeded to take this excellent piece of advice, bolting forwards just as arrows began to pepper the air, at a speed faster than any skeleton or human could achieve.
Usually, Jesse was very vocal about voicing her complaints about being as short as she was, but right now she was very happy about the fact- a good third of the arrows zipped harmlessly over her head, while the rest were aimed straight across and if she timed her dodges and bursts of speed right, she was doing pretty good at avoiding the arrows. She didn't dare check around because there was the chance that she'd miss something important, trip, and then get an arrow to the head.
Finally, after what felt like hours but what had actually been about ten seconds, Jesse stumbled into a clear area, a crafting table along with all of her friends in the area. Her breathing was a little ragged from the exertion, Lukas's jacket sleeve had just gotten ripped, Olivia looked as if she'd lost a clear half-inch of hair to an arrow, and Axel's hoodie had some new holes in it. Reuben looked less nervous than before, oddly enough- but then again, they at least knew where the threat was coming from since the air was so thick with arrows that you could barely breathe.
Sebby didn't look perturbed at all, but then again Sebby was a plush toy, so he couldn't exactly change his expressions around. Jesse was willing to bet that he'd keep the same expression even if Lukas were to pick him up and throw him off a cliff.
Jesse caught her breath- and then let out a moan as she realized that the hallway of arrows continued in the other direction as well, going for as long as the eye could see.
"No way we're gonna be able to run through all that without turning into a pincushion," she muttered, straightening back up and staring at the arrows.
Lukas's eyes narrowed as he contemplated the hallway for a moment. "We activated the dispensers with those pressure plates over there," and he lifted an arm and pointed at said pressure plate, which was by the still-shut gate. "If we can hit one of those pressure plates again, I bet that will shut them off."
Jesse glanced at the crafting table nearby. "Hmm... alright, guys, what do you have in your pockets? We might be able to craft something to hit the pressure plate." She paused sheepishly, an awkward smile spreading over her face. "Because, uh, I'm not running back over there and whacking the pressure plate again. That was stressful enough the first time."
"No, I'm with you on that," Olivia muttered in agreement, "that- that was annoying."
Lukas reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of sticks, staring at them with a frown. "I've got a few sticks from building the shelter last night," he offered at last, looking up at the others and waving his contribution around.
"Don't look at me, I'm a plush toy. I don't have anything to build with," Sebby added.
There was a short, somewhat awkward silence at that, before Olivia stuck her hands in her pockets and rummaged around for a minute. "All I've got is some flint and... a piece of string." Her contribution looked a little sad, but then again none of them had restocked any supplies the night before.
"All I've got are some feathers I picked up after the chicken machine exploded," Axel added, holding out a small fistful of feathers.
Jesse reached into her own pockets, checking the contents absentmindedly. "Okay, I've got flint and steel, a sword, that amulet... ah, and some string I picked up from fighting a spider in the woods earlier." And she put that string in the small collection of items on the floor.
"String, sticks, flint, and feathers," Olivia mumbled, staring at the items as if willing them to craft themselves into something useful.
Jesse crossed her arms, reaching up with her free hand and tapping her chin thoughtfully. Seconds ticked by... and then she picked up one stick, experimentally making a little bending motion with it. The stick was fairly flexible, bending slightly without breaking.
Sticks like that made good bows... or fishing rods.
"Hmm..." With that, Jesse picked up two more sticks and a couple of pieces of string, regarding the various items, before turning to the crafting table. Placing the sticks down, followed by the two strands of string, the ingredients shivered together and condensed into a fishing rod.
Picking up the fishing rod, Jesse turned back to face the pressure plates, narrowing her eyes and raising the fishing rod before casting out the hook.
The hook sailed across the room before clacking into the gate on the other end and dropping several feet to the floor, falling on one of the pressure plates and quickly depressing it. With a mechanical clunk, all of the dispensers abruptly shut off, leaving the hallway clear for them to walk through. Reuben let out a happy squeal.
"Alright," Lukas said, sounding relieved as he surveyed the now arrow-less hallway.
The entire group continued along the hallway, which actually wasn't as long as it had seemed when the air was thick with arrows, and soon emerged into a room that looked vaguely familiar. Another quick glance confirmed Jesse's suspicions- it looked a little like Ivor's basement.
"This must've been their enchanting room or something," Olivia murmured, running her fingers along a shelf and ending up with a solid centimeter of dust on the pads of her fingers.
"Doesn't this look a little like Ivor's creepy basement?" Axel asked, unknowingly echoing Jesse's thoughts.
Lukas leaned over, peering at the books on the shelves more closely. He was squinting to see through the dimness of the basement. "Huh. Interesting."
"What's interesting?" Jesse asked, trying to lean forward to read the titles of the books herself. It was too dark to properly read the titles of the book, but she was doing her best.
Lukas glanced back at Jesse, blue eyes meeting hers. Their faces were oddly close together at the moment. "Ah- well, there's a lot of history in this room. Order of the Stone and all."
Jesse gave a mild nod, reaching up and tapping the corner of her lip. "Ah, I see."
Sebby started humming a tune. It wasn't very familiar to Jesse, but it was apparently very familiar to Lukas, because he scooted away from Jesse to avoid poking her in the eye and then reached up and pinched Sebby's face, making the humming deteriorate into an incoherent muffled sound. Funnily enough, the ocelot plush didn't attempt to tell him to stop or complain about it.
Jesse stifled a laugh at that. "Sebby, you should really stop making Lukas do that to you."
Lukas released Sebby's face and gave a little huff of laughter. "He's Sebby. He's never going to stop."
Now Jesse just couldn't help but giggle at that, giving Lukas a sympathetic, friendly pat on the back before straightening up and continuing forwards, towards a book set on a small pedestal and practically spotlighted in a golden glow.
She leaned forward, peering at the book more closely because the light was making her eyes start to water after all the dimness. "'The battle was fierce,'" she quoted from the book, slowly reading the calligraphic text within the volume. "'but the Order of the Stone emerged triumphant, saving the land and assuring that peace and prosperity would reign forever."
Lukas let out a huff of laughter, rubbing his fingers over the large rip in his sleeve. "Well," he muttered, "not exactly forever."
Jesse shook her head with slight amusement, rubbing a couple of tears from the light out of her eyes, and continued reading. "'These... five members, five friends, together, would give so much to gain their rightful place... as five heroes,'" and Jesse's eyes widened as she flipped the page to see a picture of someone very familiar, someone wearing different clothes to what he'd originally worn and yet the face was so, so familiar.
"'They would author their own end,'" Jesse said slowly, as she stared at the rendered image of Ivor's face, "'they would slay a dragon.'"
A/N: Yes, Sebby was humming 'Kiss the Girl'.
Whoooo, lots of stuff happened this chapter! Next chapter is the last one of Episode 1, which leaves us on a total of 19 chapters for Episode 1. Somehow. Yay. xD
So, long time no see! The impromptu hiatus that happened was because I ended up spending about a month and a half to develop a Minecraft: Story Mode fangame called 'Trust Fall' for NaNoRenO with Toni42. I hope you guys enjoy it, and please check it out at this link here:
arizaluca . itch . io / trust - fall
(Just get rid of the spaces and the link should work!)
Also, happy birthday to Toni42's little sister!
Responses to reviews!
LunartheMooncake: Ahhh, thank you xD
EllieRose27: Yep x3 / No, Sebby's not alive, he's just a plush toy that is magically allowed to 'live' whenever he's within a certain distance of Lukas. / She's worried about losing her friends; and she's worried that if she tells them about it, they'll think she's too much trouble to deal with and abandon her. / Thank you!
TheAmberShadow: Aaaah. xD / Honestly, I would've just blinked at it and then tried to see if I was hallucinating. / (grins) / Hmm, yeah, basically. / ALL of the curses have variations and changes; it seems Ivor's just making notes about common strands. / (shrugs) Maybe you become extremely picky, or everything you do has to be done three times until it's just right. / Hehehe x3 / It's going xD
Toni42: Haha, yeah, that's fun. x3 / x3
D: (snorts) / Glad you like it!
TheBoiTheBoiYaBoi: ... ahh... you can read Just a Game as substitute...
Dawn3546: (laughs) Well, I'm glad you like it. / (winks)
Destroyer: Yes, I'm doing great. Sorry, I've just been working on a game for about a month. xD
Well, that's all for now! See ya, so long, and g'bye!
x.X. A.L. X.x
