Trek- Chapter 4 by Rhi-The-Hybrid on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Credit goes to my good friend WSubwoofer for helping me with the beginning, if it wasn't for her this probably would have never been finished-

Days. Days it felt like, the last time Jesse slept. It had been far too cold to stay still for long, let alone to sleep for eight hours minimum. His eyes grew heavier with every hour, and the world started to spin around him each time he took a step. The weight of the cloth he was cloaked in began to feel heavy and cold around him, and the humidity of the frigid spruce forest didn’t help either. But he always kept reminding himself, Walk or die. Walk, or he wouldn’t get to see any of his friends again. Walk, or the leader of the Order of the Stone will never be seen again.

A raw breeze swept through the forest onto Jesse’s face, making him shiver. It felt like years ago when he walked out of that temple for the first time, not feeling the cold at all. Now, he felt like a living glacier. The deep red of his cloth was now blanketed over completely with snow and frozen blood from days prior. He shook some snow dropped from branches over him from his head, feeling his ears go numb from being exposed to such frigid temperatures for so long. He sniffed and paused his walking to cough violently a few times. He knew he probably should have waited until his sickness had been gone completely, but he would most likely freeze to death if he stopped now.

Jesse started to walk again. His legs were stiff with fatigue and the cold, but he had to keep moving. He needed to find his friends. He needed to get home. He needed to-

Jesse tripped abruptly upon feeling a sharp pain in his leg as something clamped down on it. He let out a silent scream, trying to scramble up and run away from whatever was attacking him. But he only landed face-first into the snow, the pain becoming worse with every tug. As soon as Jesse realized the pain was only coming from one part of his leg, he froze. He turned his body to face his attacker, and he gasped. Clamped around his leg was metal teeth, bloodstained and covered in snow. The teeth were digging deep into Jesse’s lower leg. He yanked on his leg once again, and he felt a sharp pain spread across it. He felt as if his heart had skipped a beat. He had been caught in a trap.

Jesse desperately tried to get his leg free, but there was no way he would be able to without arms. Then, it dawned on him. This was it. This was the end of his journey. He would either freeze to death there or be killed by whoever’s trap this was, and even if he did manage to get himself free, he wouldn’t be able to walk. Jesse sat there, shivering from the cold, occasionally tugging on his leg once to make sure he couldn’t get free, only to have pain shoot up his entire limb. He sighed, looking down at the red stained snow. Why couldn’t have he been more careful? There had to be a town near here. And they could find him. And attack him, torture him, or kill him. Jesse shuddered, just at the thought of it. There was nothing he could do now. He couldn’t escape.

Every second felt like an hour, and Jesse could only stay there, feeling his leg turn numb. The blood leaking from his new injury caked his leg and had begun to freeze, and it held so cold that it felt like it was burning. Jesse kept himself from crying, he had already cried enough on this “adventure”. He wasn’t supposed to cry. He wasn’t supposed to be weak. He was supposed to be strong. The leader everybody needed him to be.

But if he was supposed to be strong, why was he going to die from a mob trap?

Jesse let out a silent whimper, shifting his position, flinching at the pain from his trapped leg. He fought to keep his eyes open. Tiredness began to flood over him again, and he internally panicked. He couldn’t fall asleep now. He’d die. Even though he was going to die anyway. He didn’t want to die unknowingly in his sleep. Jesse kept his neck straight, fighting his own body to keep his eyes opened.

Eventually, time started to seem like a blur. Jesse thought about his friends, Beacontown, his sister, everybody he knew. He wanted to see them again so badly. But it dawned on Jesse that he wouldn’t easily be able to find them if he didn’t even know where he was. And he couldn’t find them at all now.

Jesse’s train of thought was broken by the sound of snow crunching underfoot. He let out a gasp, glancing around. Someone was coming towards him! Jesse tried to stand, but he collapsed again, face going into the red snow, feeling pain in his leg again after it had gone numb. The footsteps paused for a moment but started again more slowly. Jesse was panicking now, acting only by instinct now. He needed to get away. They were going to kill him. He yanked on his trapped leg, only for it to rake the skin on his leg, causing it to bleed again. And the pain only got worse. Jesse bit his tongue. There was no way he could escape from the person. His death had come. Jesse shivered, burying his face into the scarf that was on his neck. He didn’t want to look when the person stabbed him.

Jesse flinched when he heard a yelp, but confusion flooded over him when he realized it sounded like a child’s. He looked up.

It was indeed a child, looking to be no older than twelve, his skin dark, his dark hair littered white with fallen snow. He wore thick-rimmed glasses over dark eyes, one of them swollen and bruised, and wore a coat too large for him. Over his shoulder was a large bag.

The two stared at each other for a second, neither of them moving. But Jesse flinched as soon as the child whimpered and reached into his bag, starting to pull out a stone sword that looked too heavy for him. The kid held it close, backing away from Jesse, his eyes wide with fear. Jesse could sympathize with the kid- a huge, torn monster in front of him? But at the same time, Jesse could feel fear and grief flood his thoughts. This kid was going to scream at the sight of him and run away, tell an adult, which would come and kill him. But the kid only remained frozen, his sword in hand, staring at Jesse.

“W-what..? What are… Where…?” The kid stuttered. He was panting audibly, his eyes darting around, before landing on Jesse again.

His eyes moved down from Jesse’s face to his leg, and he let out a small gasp. Jesse shifted with discomfort as the kid lowered his sword, keeping his eyes on the bloodied trap. He looked back up at Jesse, the look in his eyes turning from fearful to sympathetic.

“Y-you’re… You’re stuck.” He bit his lip.

The child took a step towards him which made Jesse try to back up, only to bring pain to himself. The kid backed up again, hesitating for a few moments. Before starting towards him again. Jesse remained frozen as the child approached him, and after standing over him for a moment to make sure he wouldn’t attack, knelt down at the trap. The child studied to for a second, before digging his gloved hands in between the metal teeth where Jesse’s leg was and attempted to pry them apart. It released pressure on Jesse’s leg, but the kid wasn’t able to pull the trap apart far enough that Jesse would be able to get free.

Slowly allowing the teeth to close again, the kid sighed. He stood there for a moment, sucking his finger where the teeth had cut his hand, staring at the trap once again. Then, his eyes widened for a moment. He picked up the stone sword again, hands trembling with its weight, and he slowly stuck it in between the trap’s teeth, nearly cutting Jesse in the process. Jesse shifted uncomfortably, watching as the kid pushed on the sword, slowly prying the teeth apart. Jesse yanked his leg free as soon as the trap was open enough, dragging it away as the kid let go of the sword, the trap teeth digging into its blade as it fell onto the side.

Jesse tried to stand once again, but fell from the pain in his leg. Jesse looked at the wound once again, and gasped as he saw that the dark skin had been so torn up that the bone was showing.

“A-are… you okay…?”

Jesse looked up at the kid. He was backed away slightly, but still not showing any extreme fear or aggression. Jesse became confused. Why wasn’t this kid scared of him? Why did he help him? Jesse glanced at their surroundings, there was no mob, person or animal in sight besides them. He once again attempted to stand. He stood there, leg screaming to have the weight taken off of it before Jesse fell back against a tree.

“Here, l-let me help.” The child pulled a large clean rag out of his bag, and, taking Jesse’s leg, wrapped it around the wound the best he could. Jesse resisted the urge to pull his leg away. After the kid finished, he pulled his langs away, and Jesse drew back. The blood was starting to leak through the white cloth, but it was better than it being exposed and frozen in the snow.

“W-what... are you?”

Jesse tilted his head. He couldn’t tell the kid what he was. Even if he could talk, he wouldn’t be able to tell him the answer, because he didn’t know himself. Jesse stood up, keeping his weight off of his injured leg. Although it still burned like the Nether, Jesse would have to push himself hard enough to make it home. He knew he couldn’t stay here any longer. The kid had a family. Friends. A home. And Jesse needed to find his own friends, family and home. He started to limp away, only to stumble.

“H-hey, wait! Please don’t leave.” Jesse turned to face the kid as he spoke. “Y-you’re hurt.”

Jesse stared at him. After a moment, he brought up, “I-I can show you a cave you can stay in! Until you get better! D-do you wanna see?”

Jesse thought for a moment. Even though he wanted to deny it, he was exhausted, injured, and worn. Letting out a small sigh, Jesse nodded.

The child’s face lit up as if he had been presented with a gift. “O-okay! Follow me!”

Jesse, who would have usually been several strides in front of anybody while traveling, even with short legs as a human, he found it difficult to keep up with this energetic child. With the combination of his tiredness and his injured leg, the fastest he could go was a sluggish limp. The kid stopped and waited every time he lagged behind, and when they seemed to be drawing closer, the kid had had to support Jesse.

After what seemed like an eternity to Jesse, the child guided him through thick underbrush that tangled around his ankles and low-hanging branches which scratched at his face, he was met with something he didn’t feel for a long time- Warm air. He glanced around. They were now in a cave, a shallow one, but there was a miniature pool of lava in the back, sealed off by a tall metal fence. It warmed the entire cave, and it felt comfortable to Jesse, even making him drowsy.

The kid helped Jesse lay against a smooth part of the wall.

“I-I’ll be back, okay? I-I’ll bring food.” The child said.

Jesse gave him a weak nod, curling up against the stone wall. He didn’t care about anything else at the moment, only the comfort of the warmth he felt for the first time in what felt like lifetimes. He heard the footsteps of the child leaving the cave before Jesse drifted off to sleep.