Withering World [MCSM Fanfiction]

ENGULFMENT: Chapter 50

Petra

Each minute is stretched into an hour, an hour into a day, and a day into a year.

I've plugged myself into Lukas's journal too many times that I remember around eighty percent of his entries, soon to be from cover to cover.

My sword is incredibly razor-sharp, not even a tiger's canine can compare because of how much I've filed up its edges.

All of the gifts I got from Stella and her city have been reviewed at least three times.

Back and forth my mind has gone, an infinite amount of times residing in whether to believe Jesse will live or not.

The only activity I haven't accomplished yet is dedicating a sacred time to target and tackle each of my injuries received from the mycelium mission. My only place of residence in this massive chunk of time I can no longer measure was and still is my bed. It's where I do my grieving, relaxing, panicking, and at the moment, wrapping a gauze around my core and waist to bandage up the dissolved guardian strike on my back, the bottom of my shirt stuffed in my mouth to hold it up.

The lighting in my room is now more amber than white, prodding me to yawn as this exhausting day is finally ending. Who knew doing nothing for twenty-something hours was even more tiring than the usual slaying and killing of monsters?

I bind the dressing together and let my shirt fall over the rest of my body, now shifting my attention to the bruising on my neck.

The shrill of the doorbell reawakens. I groan, head rolling back when I figure I have to abandon my task.

With lagging footsteps, I trudge to my door and unlatch the lock, twisting the knob in the process.

Two faces, all smiley and welcoming, greet me, expressions both content and blissful. It's been a while since I've last seen let alone engaged with either of these men.

My face twists in suspicion at the combination too - there's never been a time where the dull, fawn-haired adventurer and brawny griefer in green were ever seen roaming around together. I doubt they even knew each other properly until now, probably with one common goal in mind; surely that's why they both came to see me.

"What are you two doing here?" I ask, not knowing why they're smiling but catching onto their infection of merriment, anyway.

Jack invites himself in, holding the door open for Axel as he stifles a laugh in response. "Just here to check on our valiant, mighty hero."

"Stop," I object, a burning passion to disconnect from the mycelium mission forever strong in me. My grin disappears.

"Oh, come on, Petra. You're cool," Axel says. A mix of sympathy and compassion entwines into his body language from the tip of his head to the soles of his feet. He pats my back twice before returning his hands to himself. "We came here to encourage you, shed some light on this and- stuff."

I only have one rickety chair, so I permit Jack to sit down on that while ushering Axel to use my bed as a seat.

"Come up to the surface. Your boredom is nothing a little fighting can't fix."

"No," I say. I fix a stern gaze on Jack who suggested the idea. "I am not breaking the surface ever again."

"Why not?" Axel asks.

"I can't. Not with what I've seen out there." The author's scream submerged in the dark oceans of my memory bursts to life in my head and I flinch. Both frown but soon begin to comprehend what I'm saying. "Besides, mob population control doesn't matter anymore because the beacon's gone. Those skeletons are dying off by themselves."

The constant clicking noises are coming from Jack, who seems to be wildly invested in the personalized glass lamp someone from Champion City handcrafted for me. He switches it on and off, the stencil of my name in cursive blinking in sync with the flashing pearly lights that illuminate it on my desk. "Then come to the mineshafts with us and Set Two. I'm sure they'd be happy to see you again."

"Yeah!" Axel bangs at his thigh with his fist in utter agreement. "I forgot how fun looting used to be until I started doing it with Jack a few days ago."

My lips purse dubiously. It sounds tempting despite the number of times I told myself to station here and hide away until I've recovered both physically and emotionally. "I dunno, guys."

"You've already missed a whole day of training," Jack says. "You don't wanna lose steps when you fight, do you?"

"Ooh, and I bet you'll have so much fun, it'll kill lots of time." Axel builds on Jack's remark.

"It's getting late." I use up my last statement of defiance, and Jack erupts into a snicker.

"Okay snowflake, as if you never went out fighting at night with the warriors on your birthday. I refuse to let you waste away in your room on your own."

"Petra, don't make us cry. We didn't come here for nothing," Axel pleads, attempting to put on his most ridiculous puppy eyes.

My grin returns.

Screw it. These are my friends, the ones that share my exact desires and interests, the ones that see the joy in chaos, the ones that keep me on the verge of my morals, the very ones that push me to my sanity's limits.

"That's a smile! That's a smile! Have we convinced you?" The griefer's eyebrows shoot up, looking as if they were about to fly right out of his forehead.

I let out a soft, beaten sigh, rolling my eyes. "You've convinced me."

An instant victory celebration orients the entire atmosphere in my room like a merry-go-round. Jack and Axel age down mentally, jeering and galloping towards me and grappling onto my wrists to drag me out after I snatch my sword displayed on my wall.

The stone streets and wooden rope bridges make an appearance as well as the Beacontowners, most of which who wave and greet me.

Before I know it, we make it to the lifts of Sector Central, zooming down to the floor I've only ever visited once.

"I bet I can stack a pile of rotten flesh before you slowpokes," Jack says all of a sudden. "They don't call me the Velvet Tornado for nothing."

We descend past the first floor where some of the miners take a glimpse at the see-through chasm we stand in, their curious eyes following us until we slip off below, past their sight's limits, and into the lowest floor.

"I bet I can do it first!" Axel retorts.

The elevator dings and the glass doors slide open, revealing the wondrous structures of the dimly lit mineshafts. The augmented warmth of the underground shrouds me in a whirlwind. I step out before the other two, drawing my glittering, polished weapon.

"Alright boys, let me show you how it's done."

****

A/N

Woo! I finally got all these Petra chapters done and dusted. I tried to make them short and digestible for you guys.

We'll also be moving on to the final act of this story - Ravagement - so I really hope you're excited! I know I am!

Also, I believe it was a good time to bring Jack and Axel back. They barely got any show time in this story, so here's me doing them justice.

How's everyone's day going? Any other thoughts, theories, or story-writing advice? You're welcome to leave them in the comments.

Jesse will start the next act soon.

See ya then!