As the sun rose, the title of the stream changed.
[DAY 2]
…
The next morning, Joshua gets up and opens the bunker, breaking the cobblestone block and peeking his head out into the office.
It's trashed.
Even worse than when he originally found it. Everything is covered in these thin, jagged scratches that cut deep into the walls and furniture.
Pulling himself up, he looks around the room with a stunned expression. Even the floor isn't spared, the entire room looks… shredded?
Helping Jophiel up, she sighs in relief as the sunlight coming from the window graces her face.
Wait, the window?
Joshua is shocked.
The window is… untouched?
It's still definitely dipidated, but there's a noticeable difference in the ck of damage compared to around it.
There's a strange invisible ‘radius’ around it that doesn't have any scratches at all. They drag close, but as soon as it reaches the ‘line’ it abruptly halts, like whatever made the scratches pulled back like it accidentally touched a hot stove.
“What?...”
Is it… avoiding the window?
He looks at the windowsill.
No…
Joshua’s eyes widen.
It's avoiding the cross.
…
Joshua wouldn't call himself an intelligent man.
He's never taken an IQ test, and there's only so much you can get from his above average grades back in school.
Does watching a single episode of Rick And Morty make him an intellectual? Something something oooo Rick I-I GOTTA get some ass Rick! He doesn't know.
Despite that, he considers himself okay most of the time.
Which is why it's so frustrating to him that he's struggling so much to decipher Ace's note.
Don't get him wrong, when Ace is coherent the note is fairly straightforward and actually very insightful, as he'd expect for someone more experienced out here in Nightmare Land.
But it's when Ace decides to completely derail important information and mix in their drunken ramblings that makes it difficult to decipher what is and isn't important.
For example, Ace goes into depth on crops; which ones are found where, how to set up a farm that won't get immediately destroyed, and the proper water to field ratio.
But without even skipping a beat, they then go into which crops are preferred as a masturbatory aid. Then they rank them in a crudely drawn tier list.
[“Cucumbers almost killed me, tried them out and made my legs numb, making me a prime asshole-tearing target for the fuckers outside cause I couldn't move all that well when night fell. That being said, easy S TIER, shit was cash. Sad I made out of it was good too”]
“Thanks, very useful”
He hears Jophiel chuckling behind him.
“Do you only read my mind when I'm thinking of some heinous shit?”
“Pony!”
“Bullshit”
But despite the fanfiction levels of delusions they wrote, Ace offered some valuable knowledge.
Some that lead Joshua further north of the hospital, into the mountains. The trek wasn't too bad, despite the ever familiar dead tension in the air.
He isn't even sure about settling in the hospital. Preferably he wants to be somewhere near the ocean, but with his limited view on the Pokenav, that may not be a choice.
But that's not important right now. Joshua is currently experiencing a strange sense of primal nostalgia.
“Ooohh I think that's some over there”
Trekking up the slopes of the gray snow capped mountains, which is odd because they are definitely not high enough to have snow on them (maybe biomes work like the game?), he finds a patch of stone with chunks of a tan mineral embedded in it.
While it looks different from the game, it is definitely iron ore.
With excitement spread on his face, Joshua impatiently walks over and goes to collect it.
But after a moment of his aura doing nothing to the block it enveloped, he narrows his eyes in confusion.
Then he smacks his head.
“Right, I'm stupid”
He equips his stone pickaxe, then it starts breaking.
God, if his younger Minecraft-seasoned self saw that, he'd never hear the end of it.
The iron ore breaks into chunks, just metallic lumps of raw iron.
Holding a piece in his hand and running it across his palm, Joshua wonders if this is what actual iron ore looks like, or if this is just a… weird interpretation from the world he's in.
If that's the case…
Joshua looks over and across the ndscape. Not looking for anything, but having a higher view of the world he's in makes him wonder something that's been on his mind since he's arrived here.
It only got worse when reading Ace's note, who jokingly called this pce a “pocket dimension”
“...am I really in another dimension?”
He…
Joshua looks down at the ore again.
He just wants to go home.
But the cold waves of reality begin to crash into him.
“...Is there even a home to return to?”
Saying it out loud only seems to make the concept heavier.
Can he even return home?
His mind swirls, and his eyes seem to gze over.
His family, his friends, his home, his everything.
Is gone.
“...”
He feels a vibration against his chest, but he can't bother to acknowledge it.
His… life, is gone.
Forever.
It's not fair. Why him? What the hell did he do? Is this Hell? Limbo? Does it even matter?
Nothing here makes sense, a clusterfuck of different bullshit all seemed to combine together into one giant fuck-you sad.
[ Something is… ]
It’s not FUCKING FAIR.
Memories of his family, his friends, even dull moments in school fsh through his head, like a cruel taunt of what he lost.
Joshua grips the ore tightly, his knuckles turning white.
Is this a joke? Some kind of divine joke whose punchline ends with him being miserable?
He falls into his own mind, tuning out the world around him. He hears a noise behind him, but he doesnt care.
That's bullshit.
It's all bullshit.
Sure his life wasn't anything to write home about. Normal family, good grades, ckluster job, normal hobbies, and decent friends.
“po…”
But it was HIS GODDAMMIT!
And whatever brought him just took it away!
Why?!
It's… it's maddening!
Why? WHY?! WHY HIM? WHY NOW?!
“pony!”
He's having to deal with all of this… for what reason? Because some higher power just decided his life wasn't interesting enough for him?
BULLSHIT.
Joshua Abrams wouldn't call himself a spiteful person.
But right now, he's absolutely furio-
A memory.
Joshua remembers this.
(He was 12, getting ready for a baseball game.
His middle school was competing against a rival school, and tensions were high.
He fiddles with his glove in the dining room, waiting for his dad to drive him up there. His mom is nearby, washing the dishes.
“Nervous?”
“Y-Yup…”
“Haha, don't worry, I'm sure you'll do fine”
Joshua had doubts.
He's not even good at baseball, he just joined the team cause one of his friends was in it. He doesn't even care about the game, but he knows that messing up would draw the ire of his whole school.
“I'm just… afraid I'll screw up…”
“You won't”
“Yes I will!”
His mom looks at him, slightly startled at his outburst.
“I-Im not even good! I'll mess up and the entire school will make fun of me! That's… th…”
“Joshua” His mom calls out to him.
“And I can't even leave because the coach s-said we c-”
“Joshua”
“I'll mess something up! I will! I'll mess something up and cost us the ga-”
“Joshua Abrams”
He looks up at his mom's soft look. The silver cross hanging off her neck reflecting in the light, making it look like it's shining.
“Do you know what I do when I'm feeling overwhelmed?”
He just shakes his head.
“I remember one of my mother’s favorite verses- Oh don't give me that look!”
“...Sorry”
“I close my eyes and repeat it. I like to imagine a big wall being pced between me and whatever has me stressed. And when I open them, my mind feels a little tougher!”
Joshua gives her a scrutinizing gnce.
“That's…”
“Dumb?”
“...I didn't say that”
His mother scoffs pyfully. Putting a hand on her hip, she ruffles his hair with the other.
“Just try it out. You'll see. And if it doesn't work, you can just bme me”
“...okay”
His team lost that game.
But it was the only time this season where he hit a home run. He's never felt so sure of himself, so proud, than he has in that moment when the ball left the field.
So despite the loss, it's one of his favorite memories.)
Something stirs within Joshua…
A warm, exhirating feeling. Like a warm current flowing through his veins.
But more importantly, his mind which seemed to cluttered and messy, clears up and reveals one singur path. Like an answer to a problem he desperately needed, it fills him with an indescribable relief.
His lips move on their own, but his voice comes out like an unstoppable force.
And although he can't feel it…
Somewhere…
A Dove fps it's wings.
“And not only so, but we glory in tributions also: knowing that tribution worketh patience;
And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us…
[ AMEN ]”
…
Joshua wakes up in the snow.
His mind is clear, like he was woken up from a bad nightmare.
But…
Why is he on the ground?
Looking around, he freezes.
Jophiel is standing near… a pile of corpses. She's covered in blood, and panting heavily.
Her shovel wobbily floats in her aura, bent and dented beyond repair. Her horn flickers as it's hold weakens. Rotten blood drips off the shovel in thick globs.
“Jophiel!”
She looks over, her exhausted eyes looking at him for a moment, she sighs in relief, before her legs finally give in and she falls to her barrel. Her shovel drops into the snow.
Joshua immediately gets up and races over.
What the hell happened?!
