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Before Mob met Twixxel, he’d been in many worlds before. Things were fun. He was a free spirit, doing whatever came to mind, whether it be drug cartels or just a regular adventure.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t always lucky. The last world he was in proved that. What a terrible place. He even felt somewhat grateful to the lava trap that killed him and allowed him to move on to another world. All Mob wished after that was somewhere quiet. He spawned in a strange, but otherwise normal-looking world. The enderman thought he was alone, but apparently not.
When Mob met Twixxel, it had been… a surprise. The guy didn’t seem to care when Mob almost killed him. When the guy returned to spawn with the compass, he had acted like nothing happened. He told Mob he hunted “entities”, or whatever those things were.
The more Mob learned about Twixxel, the more he wondered what his ordeal was. Twixxel’s emotions and reactions felt strangely superficial, and even from a distance the enderman could tell that he didn’t have many strong feelings about, well, most things. Usually dangerous things.
He was always smiling, and his smile was as genuine as it could be. But the things he said…
“Something could be lurking in the darkness, watching us. Do you ever think about that?”
“The water is opaque in this world. Sometimes I think something is under it, watching us, and waiting to kill us.”
“I once found rotting player flesh in my inventory. Or was it pig meat? I think the entity was trying to tell me something, but I didn’t live long enough to hear what it was.”
…were incredibly morbid. Twixxel said it all so casually that Mob could almost believe it was an everyday thing. If only he had known.
It was strange, there were moments where Twixxel felt… real. He would tease Mob, joke around and play games like any other player. But when the topic of entities came up, Mob could see Twixxel return to that hollow, cheerfully numb state.
So, Mob tried to avoid the topic of entities for as much as he could. But it was impossible. There was always something, no matter how small it was, that reminded Twixxel of an entity he saw who-knows-where. Nearly all of these entities killed him, or so he says.
Mob didn’t believe in these entities. But he did believe that Twixxel was suffering. Whatever haunted him, entities or whatnot, had affected him enough that he could barely fucking sleep. Nightmares plagued him nearly every night. Mob always noticed when it happened, the night wouldn’t pass as fast when a player was awake.
On one such night that he remembered, Mob was busy organizing the items in his chests. Better use the extra time he had with something useful. The enderman wasn’t sure if his friend wanted company that night. Sometimes, he was receptive. Other times, he would violently drive Mob away, screaming at him to stay away. Thankfully, those didn’t happen often. Twixxel always waved Mob’s concerns off the next day, and refused every single one of Mob’s offers to stay with him throughout the night.
Looking out of his window, he could see Twixxel sitting upright in his bed. Almost completely still.
He won’t kick me out tonight. I think, Mob thought. He left his own home, watching out for any nearby mobs. He knocked on the door to Twixxel’s home and waited. No answer.
“Twixxel?” Mob called.
After a short while, Twixxel opened the door with such caution that it made something within Mob clench.
“…Mob? Is that you?”
“Yes, it’s me. I saw you were awake. Can I come in?”
Twixxel seemed unsure. A very silent, and very awkward pause happened.
“I mean, you don’t have to accept, I can just go back home…” Mob said, already starting to take a few steps back.
“No, no, it’s fine. You can come in,” Twixxel opened the door and stepped aside.
The first thing Mob always asked Twixxel on those nights was if he needed anything. He figured that was the best way to help his friend. Twixxel said that he felt a little hungry. Thankfully, Mob had a couple of food items in his inventory that he could use to cook something. Rabbit stew, somewhat fancy for the standards of some players.
Twixxel was sitting on his bed again, looking out the window. Mob thought the decision of building a window directly next to his bed to be a curious one. Did he like watching the sky? Or was he just paranoid, having to watch out for the entities even in his sleep?
Mob handed the rabbit stew to Twixxel. He gave Mob a grateful smile before taking the meal.
“Thank you, Mob.”
“You’re welcome.”
Mob took an oak log from his inventory and placed it a block away from the bed. He sat on it, watching his friend as he ate.
“You don’t have to check up on me,” Twixxel said “I’m fine.”
“You don’t seem fine to me.”
“I am fine, I promise! They can’t hurt me anymore, so they haunt me in my sleep. And honestly, I kinda prefer it that way. If I want to escape them, all I have to do is… wake up.”
Mob sometimes wondered if he thought his nightmares were actual entity manifestations. If so, then dealing with them would be a lot more difficult than he thought.
Twixxel, having finished eating, placed the empty bowl somewhere in his inventory — sure, he could have it, whatever — and looked out the window again.
“What… did you see in your sleep?” Mob asked.
“All the entities from one of my latest hunts. It was a couple of worlds back, I was looking for the Stalker. And I did find him, but I also found the Evil Hunter, the Maternal Wraith, and a few more…” Twixxel paused suddenly, his face became blank. He stood silent and still.
“…Twixxel?”
Mob’s voice managed to snap Twixxel out of whatever trance he was in. He flinched and smiled again, like nothing had happened.
“Sorry, sorry! Uhh, where was I?”
“Nevermind that. Why don’t you tell me about something else?”
“About what? I don’t have anything in mind.”
“Uhh…” Mob thought for a moment… that could be a good opportunity to learn more about Twixxel, outside that whole entity stuff “…have you met any other players while exploring? Were any of them important to you?”
Twixxel stilled. But it wasn’t like before, he appeared lost in thought. Or maybe lost in a memory.
“…there is a person. Before I truly became a hunter, I met someone. He was a friend of mine, before we had to separate.”
“How was he like?”
“He was a great friend. One of the best people I have ever met. But… no matter how hard I try, I can’t ever remember his face… I always found a way to follow him through the worlds. He always freaked out when he saw me!” Twixxel laughed “We were always together. Traveling, building homes, you know… and it was so… peaceful.”
“And then what happened? Why did you two separate?”
“An entity,” of course “It found me. It had been stalking me for days in the world we wandered in. It wanted to kill me. And it would take him, too. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“So you just… left?”
“I had no choice. I wrote him a goodbye note and led the entity far away from him using a torch. It killed me. I was forced to move on to another world. But I know he was safe.”
Mob wanted to question how he knew that, if he couldn’t check on the guy himself. But who knows what that question could bring on Twixxel?
“Since then,” Twixxel continued “I have had a few companions, a few friends too. But I couldn’t let any of them stick around me. I tend to leave before an entity comes by. If I stay too long, they could become targets,” Twixxel gave Mob a glance.
“You’re not… thinking on leaving, are you?”
“I have to leave at some point, I can’t let you become a target.”
Since that night, Mob made sure to spend as much time as he could with Twixxel. He had to make sure his friend wouldn’t do anything reckless. The excessive deaths were certainly one of the reasons Twixxel had become so uncaring of his own suffering. Mob knew he couldn’t make them escape death forever, Twixxel just needed some time to recover.
Mob never could have imagined Twixxel would try to kill him too. It hurt even more knowing that he didn’t do it out of malice.
Mob felt no resentment towards Twixxel. He knew that Twixxel was a good person underneath all that trauma. All of Mob’s rage was directed at those things, who traumatized his friend enough for him to think the things he went through were normal. He wished those things could die, he would kill them a hundred times over. Just so they could have a taste of what they’ve done.
Mob told Twixxel they would find another way to escape that “void”, so neither of them would have to die. But things were looking bleak. They had been walking for hours, maybe days. It was incredibly hard to tell. They had already run out of food, and their hunger bars were low. They would starve to death soon.
The two eventually decided it was better to rest once more. They looked for a tree they could rest against — those were becoming more scarce the more they walked. When they finally found one, they wasted no time settling down.
The enderman glared at the gigantic entity at the distance. It walked forward, so slowly they could barely notice. Was that thing really responsible for bringing them to that forsaken place? Why? Did it even know they were there?
“I don’t think there is any other way,” Twixxel said “We have been walking for a long time. I don’t think we’ll ever find a way out at this point.”
“No, we can’t stop. There has to be another way.”
“Mob, look around. There is nothing here. We’ll starve to death soon anyway, so why don’t you let me get this over with? Hand me the axe, I’ll make it quick.”
Mob knew Twixxel was right. At that point, he had just been trying to prolong the inevitable. But he couldn’t handle the thought of his friend killing himself. He couldn’t let it happen, he couldn’t.
“Okay, how about this,” Twixxel said after a short pause “When we get out of here, I promise not to do this again. Unless I really have to.”
“…unless you have to?”
“Like I said, death is the only way to escape certain entities. I can’t stop completely, unless I were to be erased.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Sorry. Please, just give me the axe.”
Twixxel reached out his hand. Mob took out the diamond axe of his inventory and stood up, standing right in front of Twixxel.
“I’m not letting you do this.”
“Mob—”
“I’ll do it,” Twixxel’s mouth snapped shut “I’ll kill you, and I’ll kill myself right after.”
“…it doesn’t make much of a difference.”
“Just let me do this for you, okay?”
Twixxel seemed taken aback. He thought about it for a moment, clearly conflicted.
“…are you sure?” Twixxel’s voice was smaller than usual.
“Yes.”
Mob’s hands felt a bit more steady than he felt they should have been. Well, it wasn’t like he hadn’t killed players before. None of these players had been a friend.
It would be easy. Sprint, jump, and aim for the head.
“I’ll wait a while before moving on so I can follow you. I want us to stay together.”
“…alright. I’ll see you.”
Twixxel hung his head. For a moment, Mob thought that he saw a smile on his face. That wasn’t right, it must have been his imagination. The enderman took a couple of steps back, enough for a quick sprint and jump. He gripped the axe as hard as he could and ran forward.
It was quick, of course. He was good with the axe.
What had he done? Had he really made the right choice? Mob felt himself let go of the axe and fall on his knees. He breathed heavily, being unable to think of anything other than what had just happened. He couldn’t move.
…
Twixxel was waiting for him.
With shaking hands, Mob grabbed the axe once more. A deep slit on the throat should do it. Perhaps it would have been easier with a sword, but that wasn’t something either of them had in hand.
Mob pressed the blade against his throat and took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. In his last moments in that “void”, he couldn’t help but think of how much of a failure he had been to his friend. He had failed on the one thing he set out to do — keep him alive. Wasn’t that pathetic? What kind of friend was he?
Mob closed his eyes and sliced his throat. The pain caused his eyes to snap open in agony. It didn’t kill him immediately as he had hoped, but the death was still mercifully quick. In his last moments, Mob wished he and Twixxel would be able to live somewhere calm after all of that. It was what his friend deserved.