Section 4:
"Is your bag packed, Tim?" Hokeson called over the grey speckled horse he had claimed as his for the trip. I was still sitting between the human's outside chest, which he keeps next to a stack of furnaces and extra crafting table, making sure absolutely everything I needed was in the little backpack I had been given. I was honestly still surprised Hokeson wasn't worried about me getting hurt on the trip like I was! He seemed a lot more confident than me, that's for sure! I would be riding a slightly smaller fully white horse along the trip. For fun I had named the littler one Snowflake, but that is beside the point! We were finally getting somewhere. The only real questions were, was the human really in the Mesa Biome, and why did he need gold specifically, and so badly to risk his own life for it? "Heloooo.." Hokeson reminded me he had asked a question.
"Oh!- Uh!- Yeah!" My head jerked up, finally closing my bag and the chest along with it, stating I had everything I needed, which consisted of food, water, rope, sticks, flint and steal, dirt, some string, and an iron helmet. Hokeson mostly had weapons such as axes and swords packed along with him, along with several maps and books, and blank paper that he could possibly finally communicate to the human with, were we to actually find him. "Do you think we might need anything else?.." I asked when the two of us stood near our horses. Both of us just stared into blank space for a momenr, thinking.
"Nope." "Not really." We both answered ourselves at the same time. Following that, we climbed on and began riding our horses to the eastern gate. Several villagers stared in awe as we passed by, our riding skills already showing in that we didn't fall off immediately. Several even cheered us on, knowing how dangerous of a trek the two of us would be pulling off going out to find and hopefully save the human.
"Whoo!"
"Yeah!"
"Go Tim!" "Go Hokeson!"
"We'll be praying for your safe return!"
"Kill some zombies on your journey for me!"
"Whoo!"
"Save the human!"
"Wait!!" Upon hearing that even louder voice above the rest, me and Hokeson haulted just outside the eastern gate. "I am coming too!" My smile widened when I saw who was riding after us. Drake! In his hands he held out a fishing rod which tied to the end of it out in front of him was a carrot. Prancing after the carrot was a big, fat pig, which Drake rode on like a horse, saddle and all.
"Hhh, Drake, I am not sure if that is such a good idea." Hokeson rubbed his forehead in irritation, obviously not impressed with the pig. "And exactly how would you manage to keep up, riding a pig?!"
"Hey! Bessie might not be in her prime anymore, but she is as fast as any horse I've ever seen!" Drake responded. "Besides! I can help you guys a lot out there!. Timbo would know! I have packed in here potions, enchanted tools, a compass, uh, some watermelons." He began going through the short list, rummaging through his bag to reveal just how many different potions he had packed, in place of other important things like water and actual food; not just melons. "Well, anyway! I bet you guys don't have any potions! You can't change my mind about it either. And, anyways, someone has to actually look out for Little Timmy." After saying that last part Drake received a hard cold stare from Hokeson.
"..Are you saying I can't be trusted to take care of him?" He asked with a lowered brow.
"Well, not blantly, but-"
"I wasn't the one who let the monsters in, I was the one who fought them off."
"Ah-a-alright!" I decided to quickly interrupt the two right as Drake was about to argue back. "I don't need either of you to take care of me." I told the two, even though deep inside I wished I had a million iron golems with me or something. Both looked a little off-put by my tone, so I shifted quickly. "But, Drake, I definitely want you to come along." I smiled. I could only see Hokeson a little in the corner of my eye, frowning slightly as he gently urged his horse forwards. Drake smiled widely, but stayed silent as he closed the east gate behind the three of us, and followed behind Snowflake and I without a single word being spoken.
Section 5:
The adventure, though hyped up in my head ro be this insanely long and difficult journey, actually turned out to be quite chill. Of course what never ceased to amaze me was just how BIG the world was! I had never really put much thought into it beforw, but now; now I was traveling on horse, to reach a place so far from home: the place I had spent my entire life up to that point! It was truly amazing. When we weren't riding at top speed we were merely trotting, allowing our horses to cool down and occasionally stop for a drink. In those slower times Hokeson would keep himself busy with the journals he had been given, translating and studying whatever was written in there. Occasionally he would spout random bits of information about all kinds of things! Drake and I however kept ourselves busy by playing one of our favorite games, which wasn't really much of a game. Pretty much, I or Drake would start telling a story, and then the other would continue. We would keep going back and forth until eventually the story just ended itself, or all the characters somehow died and we no longer had anyone to tell the story with. I think Hokeson tried to join in one time, but he didn't really know how it worked and turned the game into a way to teach us safety in this new Mesa Biome we would soon be entering. It just isn't as much fun when put that way!
So, the sun was about half-way in the sky, since we had left earlier that day. If we found the human somewhere around two hours 'till sunset, it would be more ideal; but even that means we would be cutting it pretty close time-wise.
We were at full speed again, enjoying the sound of wind rushing past our ears, when, suddenly, we were there. It was so strange. So foreign. Was this even the same planet, and not the moon or something? The dry grass suddenly just, cut off, into dark orange sand. We all stopped right away and jumped off our rides, hearing the sand shuffle under our feet. I knelt down and picked up some of the sand, letting it fall between my fingers. Yep! This place surely was out of this world. And I wasn't sure if I liked it or not just yet.
"Alright everyone. Be on the look out for the human's horse. I heard he had taken a black stallion." Hokeson addressed.
"Uh, horses walk, duh! If the human left his horse or something, it would simply walk off!" Drake spoke up, gaining a mini glare from Hokeson.
"Yeah but not if he tied it up first... Poor thing, would probably be parched by now.." Hokeson semi answered. Everyone from there rode their horses, and pig, a lot slower. The animals couldn't go extremely fast in all the sand anyways. Sometimes the sand would turn to solid clay, and from there crack up. We made sure to be careful around some of those places, since thin crust could be a potential cave-in hazard.
Traveling so slow wasn't all that fun, especially in the terrible desert heat, but at least we were moving. An hour later. No luck. I began to lose hope. Still, we pressed on. There was no sign of any horse, or human. Nothing but dead bushes and layers upon layers of colored clay for miles! I felt as if we had walked ALL around thst desert by the third hour of searching. By then, Drake's face too had lost most it's hope, and I was feeling absolutely miserable! Hokeson, however, searched on with a stern gaze under his brow, determined to not give up just yet. The sun was beginning to set already. My heart began to pick up pace with every minute that the sun came closer and closer to the horizon. Even though I cared about the human still, I also didn't want to die tonight. I also couldn't get the rising question out of my mind that what if simply the human decided to leave our village for good? Maybe that was a common thing for him, that we simply didn't know about: that he would live in a village for some time, fortify it, build stuff that might be helpful, and then simply leave? We wouldn't know! Not unless we were connected to other villages at least. What if he just uppin' left us? ..Though the question was so pestering to me, I dared not voice it, especially around Hokeson, or Billy.. as the human had apparently called him. Heh, what what a silly name.
We weren't allowed to talk, we weren't allowed to play a game, we weren't even allowed to have a snack in that last hour of searching. Hokeson wouldn't let us. He just kept telling us that he knew the human was here. He could feel it. We just had to keep, looking... I was finding nothing. Not even hope. Drake had officially lost his, and was behind Hokeson's back already preparing to head back home. I followed Drake's lead, but it was up to Hokeson when we would head back, which should be as soon as possible, since the sun was already setting. But Hokeson was persistent.
Finally, I said goodbye to the sun, as a wave of cold swept over me, along with fear. In the distance, I could see the monsters rise from the caves within and begin to roam. I watched Drake as he pulled out a pair of enchanted iron swords, handing me the smaller of the two. It was dark. The monsters were out.. I had to break it to Hokeson.
The weapon smith had left his horse some time ago, and climbed up a small hill of dark clay in order to get a little bit of a better view. He stared onwardly out into the now moon lit night, an iron axe in either hand. Slowly, I sank from my saddle and walked up the hill to tell him we needed to go. Drake kept both our horses in place. My steps were quiet, but still Hokeson flinched a little when I came up to his side. I stared out over the open dry land with him for a moment, before finally turning to him with the truth.
"Hokeson... We need to go.."
A tear suddenly fell from the weapon smith's single eye. "Not yet.." He said softly back to me. "..I just, can't, leave him out here... Just like he never left me.. I just.. I just can't..." The villager, though he fought it, spoke tearfully.
I tried placing my hand on my shoulder, however he was too tall, so I settled with placing it on his arm, trying to keep it from sliding. That seemed to help him let go of that built up pain, as the tears really began to flow. His eyes were probably so filled with tears that he could no longer even see, but that didn't stop him from keeping his eyes on the clay mountain horizons. "..Listen, Tim... Your parents and I were such good friends growing up.." He stared suddenly, gaining my attention right away. "They were some of the nicest people I ever knew. And.. um.. before they died... I tried to protect them... but I.. wasn't strong enough. I thought.. for the longest time... that maybe not telling you about, well, anything, you know, involving the outside world and the human.. that I was protecting you... Now, I know you did eventually learn almost everything anyways, but... I wish I had been there, for you, more, when you were growing up.. I wish now, that I could have been there for you... Heh, what am I even saying?.... There.. is still something I think you need to know, though.."
"Hm?"
"...Your parents started the raid."
"Wait a minute, what?!" I was shaken. Surely not?! How, or even why would they do such a thing?!
"But not on purpose!" Hokeson quickly answered my internal breakdown. "They, were.. explorers. Those two were probably the very first in our village to be curious enough about far away places to go see the world for themselves. It was quite inspiring.. until, it wasn't... The two came back having been hit by a tracking arrow, and soon after the Illagers attacked. They only retreated when the human had built enough iron golems to fend them off.. I just didn't want to tell you that when you were younger, because I didn't want you to take it the wrong way, so... there you go.." Hokeson finished. It certainly was a lot to take in.
"...Thank you, for telling me." I sincerely thanked. He half smiled down at me, before returning to watching the dark horizon.
"They were the ones who lead me down the path of trying to understand the human's language in the first place.. Also, one time, when me and your dad were practicing sword fighting together -- I as teaching him a little bit -- he was the one who cut my eye. Hence the eyepatch.. Heh." Hokeson asset with a content little smile, but that all dropped as a cold chill reminded him of exactly when and where we were, and why. "...The human is the last family I've got. I swear.. if- ... wait a minute.." Hokeson's eye suddenly focused on something, and I looked to the left a little where he had turned. Far away dark winged form swept down from the dark sky, banging it's head into the ground for some reason. It seemed to be alone, for now, but that seemed to be all Hokeson needed for his little jumping in place to commence. "Is that? I think that is!" Quickly, he opened up a book, to a page with a bookmark placed in it. On the page was th picture of the illusive phantom. I only ever heard of them once or twice. "It is!" He exclaimed, slamming the book shut and running back for his horse right away.
"A phantom?! What does that mean!?" I asked as I chased after the weapon smith.
"That the human is right there, under the ground; AND HE IS ALIVE!" Hokeson's smile spread from ear to ear. The confused Drake sat on the floor puzzled when suddenly Hokeson stole his reins from him and rode off, me right behind. He quickly jumped on his pig and ran after us.
"What the heck is wrong with you two?! That is where all the monsters are coming from!" He exclaimed, pointing forward at all the mobs just now catching sight of us. My heart sank just as much as it rose with hope.
"We think we found the human!" I shouted back.
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