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Jawsh is no stranger to the Twilight Forest, since he's been dragged on a couple exploration missions there it couldn’t hurt to go on one all by himself. Sure he’s no expert about the realm but he didn’t think it would be that hard. At most a couple of boss monsters but as long as he stayed clear everything should be fine. Right?Is what he hoped for, but after getting into the range of sight for a horde of monsters his wishes were dismissed. He didn’t bring enough gear for the job – mostly to mine materials he needed for future builds. His cruddy armor and weapons were no match, but maybe he could at least cause an opening and make a run for it? As the Boss Zombie creeps up towards him he’s surrounded trying to put a barrier between him and them. Crawling, grasping, hitting, anything to damage Jawsh’s American branded shield, desperately searching for an exit. After a couple of more hits he notices the shield’s waning durability, as if it was about to shatter in pieces. Desperately he tries to shove it in the of multiple zombies just enough to push them back far enough to create some space between him and them.As he does this he watches in terror the shield crumble right before him, leaving him with no defenses – and not enough time to react. An arrow shoots right past him, close enough only to graze him, stinging his arm a bit. Shit . He looks around and notices it, a Boss Skeleton. It was already a handful dealing with the zombie; there's no way he can deal with two at once. After dodging another zombie, he attempts to dash away. It’s the only sure way he could survive this. These undead weren’t like the ones from the Overworld, with these being more monstrous and capable. Being able to keep up to Jawsh, able to tag behind him. Running as fast as he can, the adrenaline coursing through his veins supporting him in this chase. It can only be so long before these ghouls give up on their chase, having better things to hunt. But who knows how long it’ll be till then, not wanting to take any chances Jawsh continues running. Making sure to avoid any difficult terrain, avoided shrubbery or other monsters on the way. Turning around he notices they’re farther away from him than he thought, which should’ve been enough for him to backtrack all the way to the portal.Unluckily for him, he feels his footing falter, falling face first into the ground. The adrenaline rushing through him doesn’t let him stay down for long, picking himself up and rushing towards where the portal should be. His heart pounding in his chest and head, escaping being the only thing on his mind. The more he kept running the more it kept looking unfamiliar, no sign of the portal being nearby. His eyes manage to lock onto an abandoned building, on a whim changing course and rushing towards his only hope for survival. The building, clearly eroded, has some structure to it. Portions of its wall stood strong next to rubble. Meanwhile the roof had gaping holes in it, somehow still providing cover for the decaying build. Not the best thing but it's all he had as he made his way inside, maneuvering his way to a corner where he could hide. Panting as he hides, trying to regulate his breathing while on the lookout for any movement. Holding his breath for a couple of seconds not letting anything he does give away his hiding spot, it feels like eternity. After waiting and hearing nothing, he takes that as his sign to finally calm down - he’s safe.He takes a breath out of relief, his body finally giving out – dropping his sword while slumping in the corner. He can feel the adrenaline drip out of his body, and in return supplying him with a wave of pain. Hissing in pain, he looks down at his leg. It would be a miracle for him to be unscathed, yet judging by the wave of pain his body’s supplying him with, he wasn’t lucky. Pulling up his pant leg he assesses the damage, while clenching his teeth. It didn’t surprise him to see a few scratches and dried blood, probably from the terrain – but what catches his eye is the swollen area near his ankle. Fuck.There were a few scratches and some dried blood from other hazards here - but what catches Jawsh’s eye is the swollen bump near his ankle. Fuck. When he tripped he probably sprained- no rolled- no just whatever happened is causing it to hurt like hell right now. It doesn’t help that he just got done with running for his life,a and it sure didn’t do any favors in alleviating the pain. Jawsh is no genius (as much as he likes to think he is one) but it doesn’t take one to knows he's screwed. Next time, bring more armor. His mind interjects, assuming there would even be a next time. Ignoring the pain (which he can barely do) he rummages through his backpack hoping he could find something – potions, food, maybe even an ender pearl – he’s desperate. His desperation grants him disappointment when he finds only building materials in the bag, mentally face palming himself for not being prepared. He’s taken trips like this before, usually with others, at least then he had someone else to depend on even if he despised the group atmosphere. But here it’s just him in a ‘house’ – if you could even call it that.Trapped in another dimension, forced to wait it out for god knows how long all while trying to stomach the horrible pain shooting throughout his leg there’s no way it can get worse. His endless thoughts halt when he hears footsteps nearby. Panic starts to course through his veins, there’s no way they followed him here right? He thought they can’t follow him for that long- was he wrong? Did they track him down? They can’t be different from the monsters in the Overworld- right? Quickly he grabs his sword – the only thing ensuring his defense right now. There’s no way he could survive if something attacks him, but he’d rather take his chance then die kneeling (or in this case, sitting). All he can do is hope that whatever it is, it goes away.The footsteps come closer and closer to the house, Jawsh holds his breath in anticipation for the worst. Whatever it is, it keeps walking around as if searching for an entrance – which shouldn’t be that hard due to the damage already done to the house. Yet it keeps walking, Jawsh almost thinks he’s in the clear till he hears it, a tapping noise followed by some rubble being moved. The thing is breaking the wall. He can’t deal with this, the anxiety poking and prodding his brain with thought after thought reminding him his death will surely be soon. All while his body refuses to move, leaving him out in the open. This really is the end for him, all he could hope for now is that it would be a quick death-“Jawsh?” A familiar voice rings out, silencing Jawsh’s perturbed brain. He turns his head to the owner and is met with someone way more terrifying than the horde of monsters that chased him earlier.
Berd.
“What are you doing here?” Jawsh spat, all the panic and worry washed away with anger. He doesn’t know why he’s angry – he just is. Watching Berd nonchalantly walk up closer to him, the bird hybrid smiles with the same infuriating grin time and time before. “I was looking for that rare artifact I told you about,” Berd answers, ignoring Jawsh’s hostility. “With the transformation powder and by the way did you see any spawners nearby? I could really- wait, why are you here?” As Berd spins the question around, Jawsh feels his anger bubbling down and being replaced by shame. His emotions are spiraling today, “I was looking for materials, and… I got lost.” He chokes out the last part, berating his mind for being confusing. How pathetic is he? Uselessly adventuring through the forest only to get attacked and unable to head home by himself. And here he is fighting with the only person that could help him. He needs to get his act together.“Lost?” Berd repeats, turning around, turning his head to the side like a lost puppy. Making calculations to himself, Jawsh can hear him silently clicking his tongue as if to focus on whatever answer he’s working towards. He spins back to face Jawsh, “The portal should be about… Not that far, I can lead you to it, come on!” Berd almost skips his way out of the building leaving Jawsh by himself, too astonished to even recognize what’s happening. With the new information to get home Jawsh tries to get up, but the ache rushes up his leg when he puts too much pressure on it. Almost falling over, only able to hold himself up by leaning against the crumbling wall and other miscellaneous trash. “Jawsh?” Berd projects his voice, he can’t see the avian but he can hear the obvious confusion. “You can come out now, there's no reason to hide-”Jawsh grumbles before shouting out, “I can’t move!” Gripping onto the wall, leaning on his uninjured leg for support, as he waits for Berd – again.This time Berd walks back inside, confusion littering his face. It doesn’t stay for long as he sees Jawsh more clearly now, not hidden in the corner. “I tripped while running away from a horde of zombies- or skeletons maybe both, I didn’t get a good look.” He finds himself explaining way too much, Berd didn’t need to know this – it’s embarrassing. Yet he can’t shut his mouth, “I hid here to get away but I think my leg’s fucked.”“Yeah your leg looks fucked.” Berd repeats, even physically pointing out the obvious by gesturing to Jawsh’s leg. Jawsh groans, rolling his eyes. “Thanks for the observation,” he mutters. “If you can make yourself useful, do you have any health potions on you?” “No” Berd replies, “I left them at home besides I didn’t account for you to get stuck here.” Teasing Jawsh at his predicament. “I could rush back home,” he doesn’t let Jawsh reply before he continues his thought, “I don’t think I could leave you here alone…” He continues to mumble to himself, to just rationalize his thought process. Jawsh can barely put in the energy to ‘stand’; he doesn't have enough energy to interpret Berd’s mumbles.The potions wouldn’t have fixed his leg anyways, at most it could’ve numbed and healed it faster. Or at worst, make the pain tolerable enough for Jawsh to make a break for it and run back home.“What if I carried you?” Berd asks, turning his head the other way now, eyeing Jawsh up and down. “What-” Jawsh words tumble out as his mind races. “No. No You are- Are you out of your mind?! You are not carrying me we can just-”He doesn’t get a chance to argue his point when Berd quickly and carefully lifts Jawsh up. He did it so fast and easy it's a bit embarrassing, but not enough to stop Jawsh complaining.“What are you doing!” Jawsh shouts, about to thrash in his grasp, until Berd gives him that stupid smirk stopping all plans for revenge.“Wah Wah don’t carry me-” He imitates Jawsh putting on a whiny voice, “Stop complaining besides this is easier for the both of us! Just trust me.” In a perfect world Jawsh would’ve been able to not accept the offer and walk home. In a perfect world Jawsh would have time to reflect and decide if this really is the best option, or if he was a bit smarter he would’ve asked to contact someone else. But Berd’s voice sounds too sweet – too good to be true. The delivery sweeps Jawsh off his feet just like how Berd picked him up moments ago. So he wraps his arms around Berd’s neck for extra stability, he’ll trust him, for now.Berd carefully makes his way out of the building again, Jawsh in hand. After carefully stepping over some destroyed brick as well as some plantation he heads out to find the portal. Jawsh on the other hand is on the lookout for anything chasing them not wanting to pay any more attention to Berd than he should. Distracting himself from the avian, he observes the realm around them. All previous times he was here he would be distracted whether it be from other people or other creatures, this truly being the one time he can take it all in. There’s a faint buzzing around him, yet he can’t place his finger if it's on some sort of small bug all around them or any other magical means. The glowing orbs (which Jawsh can’t seem to figure out if it's a magical spore or not) surround them as Berd continues to walk his made up path. Berd readjusts his grip on Jawsh making sure to be careful to the injured man – Jawsh feels his heart race.His heart races for a multitude of reasons, usually being through anger or embarrassment, his emotions flaring up to the audience of his victims. And he would think it was from embarrassment, how their travel back home is quieter than Jawsh’s travel inside here. How they encountered barely anything interesting. He would leave it like that and focus on something else to occupy his mind, but he just can’t.He doesn’t give himself much time to think, rather choosing to bombarded his mind with work like finishing builds or gathering materials for said builds. As well as with the people who constantly come over to his home to annoy him he never got a time to think . Berd, the usual culprit for this, is just as silent as ever (Jawsh thinks if he truly paid more attention he could hear Berd quietly humming himself a tune).Normally he would’ve rather died than have someone rescue him, especially if it was Berd. Or just suck it up and limp all the way back home. However, he didn’t get the choice and here he is in Berd’s arms. He never thought of Berd as the type to care that much, though he doesn’t hang out with him as much as he could. Berd is the one who started talking to him, forming this weird friendship, which Jawsh isn’t even sure if he could consider friendship. It feels like a weird form of close acquaintances – or maybe Jawsh can’t fathom the idea of Berd genuinely wanting to be his friend.He’s pushed the avian aside time after time. And every time Berd comes back, over and over again. Does he feel bad about pushing him away? No. Rarely. Maybe. Sometimes. Berd’s been helpful in his weird pesky bird way, especially now rescuing Jawsh. He’ll have to pay Berd back somehow, whenever and whatever that could be in the future. It’s not his problem now, for now he could just relax in the arms of his pesky savior.“See Jawsh! There it is!” Berd’s exclamation snaps Jawsh back to reality and he sees it, the portal he’s been looking for. “Next time, remember to look for the poppies and the dandelions” he explains, “They don’t grow naturally here so if you see any you’re probably close to the portal.”“Thanks Berd. But I don’t think there’s going to be a next time.” Jawsh states. He probably won’t after this or at least by himself. He’s had too much trouble today he would not want to relive it at all.“Aw don’t say that.” Berd pouts, “If you need to go back I can just come with you. It can be an adventure, just the two of us!” Jawsh would think that he was joking, a jab at how inept Jawsh is. But his tone says otherwise, almost excited on the idea of going on a trip here with Jawsh.Jawsh ignores his heart racing at the thought of coming back with Berd.“Just get into the damn portal Berd.” Jawsh demands. Berd snickers at him as he hops inside.