Kings of Echoes - A Dream SMP Story

VII

Eret awoke in their tent that they and Foolish had pitched a few nights before. Their nose was instantly filled with the smell of perfectly cooked fish. They gracefully rose from their sleeping bag, smoothed out their (unfortunately) bland dressing gown and stepped out into the wilderness. Soft pines and grass prickled and tickled their feet as they waved at Foolish.

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!" exclaimed Foolish as he flipped a fish onto a leaf platter. As Eret sat themself down onto a log, he placed the leaf platter beside them. It was covered with an assortment of foods. "Wanna see something cool?"

"Always some foolish antic to start off the day," they groaned.

"Well, Foolish is my name. Literally."

In the blink of an eye, Foolish picked and chopped up carrots from the platter with a pocket knife and lay them smoothly on a slice of bread. He then lay the leaves of the carrot on top along with the freshly cooked salmon. With another swift chop, dried kelp fell atop the salmon. He finally lay the final piece of bread onto the sandwich and courteously offered the platter to Eret.

"Bon appétit, your majesty," Foolish said while chuckling.

With a smug smile, Eret carefully handled the sandwich. "If this is bad, I'm cooking from now on."

"Then prepare to be amazed."

Eret bit through the sandwich. They expected themself to be met with the taste of saltwater or soil or burnt meat.

They were met with the most delicious sandwich they've ever tasted.

"Holy shit, Foolish!" they exclaimed, the taste basically blessing their taste buds. "This is amazing!"

"I call it 'The Captain's Meal'. Pretty good, huh?" he laughed while doing a mock flip of his hair.

"Fit for a king."

Foolish laughed as he turned to the fire and continued to cook. Eret happily began to eat. Fit for a king, they thought.

It had been a little over six months since the duo left the kingdom. Their days had been filled with adventuring, camping out, and encountering strange creatures. But most importantly, they have been searching for the answer to Eret's lineage. And though it wasn't much, it definitely helped.

Eret ate as they pulled out a small notebook and began to write bullet points. They created another one as they wrote:

Day... something. I stopped keeping track. A little over six months into the trip. The crystal glows more and more, and we found a hieroglyphic of my ancestor. It seemed to respond to that.

They swallowed the last of their fish sandwich as they snapped the notebook shut. The hieroglyphic was found in an abandoned temple, they recalled. It was... a man... or a bird? It was flying... its eyes... glowed like the crystal?

Eret tried to remember other things they found while on their trip. There was an abandoned observatory in a defeated nation... the stars seemed to mark important days... of disaster? A hidden library in the desert... books of gods I think. Books that had pages of a man with my eyes... my ancestor. Then we followed a beast's trail to castle ruins... the damage was not human made.

Their head ached at the bare attempt of trying to remember these events. These events were very memorable, so forgetting them isn't normal. They groaned in annoyance and buried their head in their hands. Why can't they remember? Why were they forgetting? It was only within the past year, so recent, so why...

Was it the cycle beginning its repetition?

Was the end of the circle near?

Were they going to die soon...?