Nighttime was dark in worlds like those. The skies were the darkest black Twixxel had ever laid his eyes upon, and that was saying something. What did those flat-looking planes worlds have against proper lighting anyway?
Twixxel checked the village buildings, looking for his friend Mob. What had Mob been thinking, separating when there was an entity nearby? That was incredibly reckless of him! That fucking dumbass.
They were on the lookout for… honestly, Twixxel wasn’t sure. Mob kept saying that there was a creepy bald guy whistling and watching them. Twixxel himself had seen nothing, he had only heard strange noises. That in itself was a bad sign, so he elected to stay alert anyway.
Honestly, Twixxel was feeling a bit stressed. He almost felt himself being brought back to his previous mental state, numb and almost oblivious to his own suffering. But that wouldn’t help. Twixxel had to stay sane, for his own sake. And Mob wouldn’t want to see his friend in that pitiful state again.
Twixxel groaned in frustration. He had checked every single one of those buildings, except for the church. He wandered outside the aforementioned building for a second, and from the windows, he saw it: there was Mob, his back to the window. Finally!
Twixxel opened the doors to the church — which startled Mob — but the reprimand he had died in his throat as he saw what Mob was holding.
“What is that,” Twixxel pointed to the joint.
Not even attempting to hide what he had in hand, Mob put his hands up in a surrender sign.
“Alright man, listen—”
“No, I won’t listen. How did you even find that?!”
“It was loot,” how? Where? “It was weird, the joint was the only thing in the chest…”
Okay. Alright. Weird items appearing in an entity infested world. It wasn’t that strange. It had happened before. Twixxel could confirm. Cool.
“And you’re smoking indoors? Come up here with me.”
“I don’t see the problem. I’ve smoked indoors before.”
“Just come here.”
They climbed to the highest floor of the church. Twixxel rested his arms on the church’s battlement and looked around, they could see the entire village from there. The entity would not be able to escape Twixxel’s watchful gaze. Mob, meanwhile, was lighting up his joint.
“You want some?” Mob offered the joint to his friend.
“…this is the only one you have, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then no.”
“Whatever you say.”
Mob took a drag of his joint and gave out a satisfied sigh, letting the smoke flow out of his lips.
“Oh yeah, that’s the good shit,” he sounded incredibly pleased. Twixxel lightly rolled his eyes “Reminds me of when I built a weed cartel in a village.”
“You what.”
“Built a weed cartel. Sold a bunch of weed to villagers. Then I went to Villager City and started making meth there. Crazy times.”
“You didn’t try the meth, did you?”
“…I did. It sucked, but I still… think about it…”
It was in moments like those Twixxel questioned what he had gotten himself into. Sometimes it was hard to believe that the pothead beside him was the same guy who brought Twixxel back from the brink of insanity, and the one who convinced him to look for Idaios.
…not that Twixxel himself was much better. He was capable of admitting that.
“You know, I—” Mob gave a small laugh before continuing “I’m so glad you’re not that fucked up anymore, bro. Like, you’re not going after those things yourself, you’re not killing yourself that much anymore, all that shit.”
“…really?”
“Yeah. I wanted you to live a normal life, but I know that’s impossible now. And—I can feel myself going a little crazy from all of this. I don’t blame you for losing it, man. I really don’t.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to get involved in any of this.”
“Stop apologizing. I’m here because I want to be,” Mob took another drag of his joint, coughing a bit “You’re a good person. You don’t deserve whatever the fuck this is.”
Twixxel decided not to answer. But he was touched, for sure. Despite how weird Mob could be, he was a great friend. There was a reason Twixxel had chosen to stay with him despite the danger.
When they first met, Twixxel had been fully intending to leave Mob behind, like he had done with so many others before. Like he had done with Idaios. It was for their safety. Since Mob joined Twixxel on his travels, both have been hunted — with Twixxel himself being the main target, of course.
Thankfully, Mob had proven himself to be quite resilient. Twixxel just hoped no entity would ever have its full focus on him. An obsessive, supernatural stalker was one of the worst things any player could experience.
Twixxel shuddered. He didn’t want to think about it anymore.
“Give that to me,” Twixxel reached out his hand. Mob rolled his eyes and breathed out a half laugh.
“Now you want some? Sure.”
Twixxel took the joint given to him, took a slow, generous drag and exhaled. Immediately, he felt… calm. Slightly euphoric, too. But what was that sudden dizziness? Twixxel turned his back to the village, resting his elbows on the battlement and looked down at the floor. That was better.
“Are you gonna give it back to me, or…?” Mob had his hand reached out in Twixxel’s field of vision.
“Oh, yeah,” Twixxel gave the weed back to his friend “You can keep that.”
Twixxel kept his head low. A part of him wondered what Idaios would think about that. Actually, would Idaios even like Mob? Apparently the enderman was a criminal in at least one world.
“Did the police ever catch you?” Twixxel suddenly said.
“What?”
“You said you built a weed cartel. Did the police ever catch you for that?” was there even police in that world?
“No, I framed a friend of mine. Called him over to ‘sell’ my business to him and then called the police.”
Forget everything Twixxel ever said or thought about Mob being a good friend. Twixxel slid down the wall onto the floor.
“Hey, I promise I won’t do that to you. I quit that life, it didn’t end well for me. And I don’t want to make your life worse.”
“Thanks, I guess…”
Twixxel, once again, wondered what he had gotten himself into when he decided to travel with Mob. The more he found out about the enderman’s past, the more he wondered if it would have been better to leave him behind too. But that was ridiculous. Despite everything, when Twixxel looked at Mob, it was very difficult for him to see anyone other than the person who had saved him.
The thing about entities is that most of them only targeted players once. That was why Twixxel hunted them. It was a way of taking control of the situation he was in. It was only after Twixxel met Mob that he allowed himself to let go of the hunt.
After that, he would land in peaceful or less dangerous worlds more often. Entities still came by — he would never be free — but at least, he had more moments of reprieve. It allowed Twixxel to recover most of his sanity.
Was his gratefulness clouding his judgment? Maybe. But Twixxel still chose to trust Mob. He had earned it.
…so, weed couldn’t stop him from thinking. Cool.
Twixxel stared at Mob. The enderman watched the village while smoking, most likely watching out for the entity Twixxel himself had almost forgotten about. It wasn’t always Mob allowed staring — he definitely knew he was being stared at, if the occasional quick eye glances said anything — and Twixxel always felt flattered any time it happened. Endermen were interesting in the way they showed trust.
Suddenly, Mob’s eyes widened.
“Twixxel! He is right there!”
“Where?!” Twixxel got up quickly, ignoring the worsening dizziness in his head.
“Over there!” Mob pointed to a spot behind a villager house. Twixxel looked at where he was pointing and saw… nothing “It’s right there, staring at us!”
Maybe Mob really was going crazy. Or maybe that entity was only visible to some. It was difficult to guess, that entity — if it existed — was apparently not one to show itself much. And it was a stalker type. Great.
“Mob, I don’t see anything,” Twixxel felt himself going numb. Mob turned his head to face Twixxel, looking indignant and desperate.
“Twixxel, you have to believe me! You know—” Mob looked back at the direction he said the entity was and went silent “It’s gone. But it was right there, I saw it!”
Did it disappear when he looked away? That was even worse. They were definitely going to die.
Twixxel could already tell his friend was losing it. He couldn’t let that happen, he had to stay stable.
“Mob, listen,” Twixxel put on a calm smile, and placed his hands on Mob’s shoulders “Even if I can’t see it, I know you’re telling the truth. I know a few of these entities are invisible to most, except for their targets.”
“You’re saying it’s targeting me?”
“It… looks like it,” Twixxel swallowed nervously “It’s going to be alright. Why don’t we get down and go to sleep?”
“Are you sure it’s safe to sleep while that thing is watching us?” Mob sounded anxious, almost frantic.
“A lot of these entities attack at night, I think they like the darkness. And we still have to finish our house tomorrow. It’s even more dangerous to try to survive without proper shelter,” a half-lie. Many entities had no problem invading player’s homes. The Stalker came to mind as an example “Come on, let’s find a house we can sleep in. We’ll be safer there.”
“…alright,” Mob’s anxiety was subdued. Good.
Twixxel really, really hoped Mob wouldn’t notice how distraught he truly felt. If an entity had targeted Mob, then it wouldn’t be long before other entities started targeting him too…
There was no reason to keep dwelling on such worries, Twixxel had to act. They would face it all together, no matter what it was.
How much more can we take? Can we really survive like this?