Harvey (Team Crafted)

Home Sweet Home

The Guild was more of a little village than a fortress, Harvey noticed. While Sky put all the horses in the stable, he got a chance to look around at everything. The place was overgrown, the buildings falling in, walls coated in vines, but it was still obviously a place that used to be strong and, if it were fixed up, it would look a little more like a fortress again.
    By the time they had arrived, sunset was nearly upon them. The six members of Team Crafted had assembled in a building called the meeting room, which was a cobblestone square built on the second floor of the dark oak storage house. Harvey had been told to remain outside, and he did for awhile, but after a couple minutes passed he grew bored and curious; an awful combination.
    Into the storage house and up the stairs to the meeting room he went. As he went up the stone stairs and heard voices talking, discussing. He recognized them, the voices of his former teammates that he had heard so many times before. The dark wood door at the top of the stairs was just slightly agape, so a long, thin line of flickering torchlight shone on the dark stairway Harvey had gone up. That light was only assisted by the weak light of sunset that shone from the windows that were periodically placed in the stairwell. He very slowly approached the door and peered through the crack, one eye shut so he could see through clearly.
    He saw a long wood table and chairs standing around it. On the right sat Jerome, next to him Husky, and next to the fish, True and an empty chair next to him. Opposite the empty chair sat Deadlox, next to him Sky, who was standing up from his chair, hands on the table like a businessman. Beside him, another empty chair, and lastly, Sundee.
    Sky was currently speaking, seeming as much of a leader as ever. It was funny, Harvey had never thought of Adam as the leader of Team Crafted while they were still together. Nobody really led them at all, but then again, they never suffered any life or death situation unless you counted that time with the pool noodle crisis.
    He was in the middle of explaining the whole situation to the whole team. "He came here by accident, and he needs help to get home."
    "All he needs is protection." Ty said. "So we just keep him out of trouble so he can study his magic and find his own way home."
    "Yeah but... He isn't exactly... I mean this is just some kid." Sundee said. "Why all come together just for him?"
    "He's Seto, he's all we have left of him. Seto was our friend, and so we have to take care of Harvey too. He's confused, defenseless, and just trying to get home. It is our responsibility to protect him, and help him how we can because we would all have died if it would have made Seto safe..." Ty's voice trailed off as he noticed Jerome staring st Mitch's empty chair. Harvey bit his tongue. "...Jerome... I... I'm sure he's okay..." Ty said gently.
    Jerome silently shook his head and Husky patted his shoulder to comfort him.
    "We can do this." Ty said, going back to the subject matter with a sigh. "We just have to deal with each other for a couple months."
    "Fuck that."
    Harvey jumped a little and everyone looked at Sky as he suddenly spoke again. He looked around at all of them almost harshly. "We can do more than just wait on a Sorcerer in training. We're gonna start protecting people okay? It's what we always did best and it would be irresponsible to let people continue to die because we don't get along. We're gonna fix this place up, we're gonna get back to training, and they we're gonna keep doing what we did before Seto died."
    Everyone seemed a little saddened by Sky just coming out and saying what they had all been avoiding. Harvey bit his lip before he nervously pushed on the door. Everyone heard the cream and looked up at him. Ty stood a little bit out of his chair in surprise at his appearance. Harvey looked at them, then looked away nervously. "I-I agree with Sky..." He said. "It's ridiculous that all of you were only be here just to protect me. I will need a lot of help, I don't know this world very well; but that doesn't mean we can't multitask... You can go out a-and save villages and maybe even bring me back books about magic if you f-find any... Maybe... I-I mean if you think it's a good idea..."
    One team member exchanged glances with at least one other while Sky just stared at Harvey. Harvey stared back a little nervously. Sky finally broke the hard stare and looked around. "All in favor... Of reforming Team Crafted." He said.
    No one said anything for awhile. A few whispers were exchanged. Slowly, Husky and Ty both raised their hands. True did too, after a moment, as did Jerome and Sundee. At that point, everyone had raised a hand, all except for Sky. Even Harvey, even though no one was looking, slowly, shyly raised his hand. Sky finally sighed. "Alright... Ty."
    "On it." Ty got up and walked over to Harvey, smiling at him sympathetically. "I'll show you around!"
    Harvey looked behind him as Deadlox pulled him out and just got a glimpse of Sky staring at him before the door was shut. He took a moment to recover as they went down the stairs before looking at Deadlox. "What was all that about...?"
    Ty shrugged, leaving the storage house. "No big deal. Just deciding what to do as a team. It's a big thing, y'know, coming back together. We didn't think we'd ever do it."
    Harvey stopped walking. Deadlox stopped a few feet in front of him, looking back in confusion. "Harvey?"
    Harvey was looking down. "I-If I'm a bother, I can just..." But he couldn't. He couldn't just leave. He couldn't survive on his own. He didn't even know how to hunt, let alone fight off monsters and bandits. He was defenseless.
    Deadlox's gaze softened. He walked back to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, c'mon... Look, we got a saying here, yeah? I don't know if you have it on your Earth, but it's real popular here. 'Choose. Protect. Love. Save.'"
    Harvey smiled half-heartedly. "Sounds kinda like things in my world..."
    "I don't get that, but yeah!" Ty said. "Our team, what we do is help people who need it. You're in need now, Harvey, so we're going to help you whether you like it or not."
    Harvey stared at him with wide eyes a moment, his hands held shyly, nervously in front of his chest. He looked hopeful, but also speechless at what Ty had said. It had just dawned on him how truly lucky he was to have run into Deadlox and Husky. This was a big world as he had already seen and they happened to be in the same place as him and they even risked their lives to save him and then agree to protect him with their lives and even assemble a team to do so...
    Harvey hugged Deadlox tightly, suddenly as he tried not to cry from how just plain overwhelming everything was. "Th-Thank you..."
    Deadlox smiled softly and hugged him back. "No problem, Harv..." He replied gently.
    They stood there for a few seconds, Harvey composing himself and Deadlox just holding him comfortingly, knowing how hard it was to be trapped away from home. Finally, he pulled away and held Harvey excitedly at arm's length. "I'll show you around!"
    Harvey sniffed before he smiled and nodded. "I-I'd like that!"
    And so, Deadlox showed him around the guild. Next to the strange house they came out of was the north entrance to the guild and past that the open desert Harvey remembered walking along the rim of. Past the storage room, behind it, Harvey noticed a blank area nearby Sundee's house that could be home to a new building or something. They walked up the pathway away from the north entrance after Deadlox told Harvey that Husky lived in the river under the little hill the guild was built on. They had an emergency tunnel beside Sky's house that they could use to get to him if they needed him.
    As they came to the first cross in the paths, Harvey saw a massive hole in the ground surrounded by fence to keep people from falling in. Deadlox explained that it w a quarry, which they used to get simple supplies they needed like stone and coal and some iron. Across the path Deadlox and Harvey were on from the quarry was a big treehouse, which Deadlox said had been built by Bajan and Jerome, but now simply belonged to Jerome. Harvey felt bad for the furry. Living alone was really no fun at all, especially when you used to live with someone you really liked. It must be hard, not knowing if your best friend were dead or alive...
    They walked down that path just a couple dozen meters just so Deadlox could show Harvey their farm and the stable full of horses before returning to the main gravel path.
    They walked only a little until there was another cross in the path, but this one Deadlox said they would save for last, so they kept going straight.
    The next time they saw a cross, it went both left and right from the main path. To the left was the blacksmith as well as True and Deadlox's houses which were adjacent to each other. Deadlox made sure to point out that his house was the best in the Guild. At the end of that path was the west entrance, where could be seen some desert and the start of some distant mountains. Harvey asked what was over the mountains. Deadlox said he didn't know.
    At the end of the main path, directly across from the north entrance, was the south entrance. A big hill was behind it, far enough away so enemies couldn't use it to hop over the wall but big enough to make it easy to see over the edge of the wall. Deadlox mentioned that if they could ever find enough obsidian, they would out their nether portal up on top of that hill so it would be hard for animals to reach and accidentally go through.
    There was a path that branched out near the end of the main path and led to the east entrance, which then in turn led to the marshlands. Sky's house was in the fork in the road between the two roads.
    Finally, they walked back to the path Deadlox wanted to save for last. As they walked along it, Harvey saw the farm and stable and the treehouse a little far away to the right. On the left, there was a well filled with clean water, still taken care of apparently by Sundee through the years the place had been abandoned. Sundee had acted as the Guild's caretaker for those three years.
    At the end of the last pathway, they stopped walking and Deadlox smiled, pushing open the door, holding it for Harvey. "In you go!"
    Harvey stared at him a moment, before he smiled and nodded and went into the building. It was dark, and maybe if sunlight were coming in through the windows he would be able to see, but it was dark outside too. He heard the door shut behind him and a small cloud of dust erupted up, making Harvey cough. "Damn, all the torches burned out..."
     There was a moment's hesitation, before light filled the room and Harvey looked at Deadlox to see he was holding a torch. Where it came from, Harvey didn't bother to find out as he looked around. The room was maybe ten feet by ten feet, filled with bookshelves lining the walls and a small table in the center of the room. The place was filled with dust and cobwebs filled the gap between every book. Harvey coughed a little, but he smiled. "I like this place!"
    Deadlox grinned, like that was the exact response he was looking for. "We're not in here for the books." He put the torch on the wall, and it stuck like it had Velcro attached. Then he put his hands on the ladder beside the torch, which Harvey hadn't noticed till then. "Follow me!" He called as he climbed up through a hole in the ceiling and disappeared into a new room so he could light it up before Harvey go there.
    Harvey stared at the ladder for a moment. He looked at the burning torch, then back at the wooden ladder right next to it. "Minecraft physics." He muttered to himself, before he grabbed the rungs of the ladder at eye level and he started up a bit slower and more awkward than Deadlox. When he got to the top, he had to half pull himself out of the hole because the ladder only went up to the top of the hole. He got up and looked around and blinked. He took it in and then his expression filled with something almost like awe.
    The room he was in was lit by two torches that Deadlox had only just put down. The walls had lots of windows, and the tower he was in was tall enough so he could see over the wall in every direction, not to mention there was a skylight above so he could even view the stars above. The room had a bed in it. The sheets were unmade but covered in a thin sheet of dust like everything else in the room. It had a nightstand beside it and a pot with a long-dead flower in it. At the foot of the bed was a double chest. On the other side of the room was a crafting table, furnace, a single chest, a cauldron filled with murky-looking water, and a pile of sticks and cobblestone. Deadlox sighed ass he saw the pile. "Oh no... That was his potion stand..."
    Harvey blinked. "Well... Where did he get the blaze rods? We can just make another, can't we?"
    Deadlox shook his head. "As far as we know, it's impossible to make your own potion stand. The only people who know how are the Sorcerer people, others like Seto."
    Harvey perked up. "Others like - well why don't we find them? Maybe they know how to send me home!"
    "Seto travelled alone there to buy himself a stand... We don't know where they are, or if they've even survived the monster attacks. There's really no point in scouring the world if it's a big possibility they're all dead."
    Harvey sighed. He knew it was too good to be true, anyway.
    Deadlox patted his arm. "Don't worry, we don't need them. You're the only Sorcerer you need. So, we decided you would be staying here while you're with us. It was Seto's studio before, where he did all his magics and such. There might even be some leftover potions in that chest at the end of the bed, if you're lucky." Deadlox smiled sympathetically as he saw Harvey staring out the window. "I'll leave you alone... Goodnight Harv."
     Harvey made a small noise of acknowledgement as Deadlox left down the ladder. He heard the door of the library close below, and knew he was alone. He looked out at the marshes by the east entrance for a moment before looking up at the stars through the skylight.
    Different stars... Different sky... Different world.
    How was he ever going to travel across dimensions...? Well... Harvey looked around. He had done it once, surely he could manage to do it again.
    The Sorcerer's Tower was covered with dust and cobwebs all over, but seeing as the only spiders in the world were two feet long and one foot tall, Harvey could easily tell there were no little ones in here that would bite him in his sleep, so he decided that he would rest for now and start cleaning up in the morning. He'd also take inventory of everything Seto had stored in the tower, and maybe even start forming a plan of action about how to get home.
    Harvey laid down on the dusty bed, sneezing, before he laid on his side, and closed his eyes. It was nice laying on a bed after several days of sleeping on the ground whilst traveling. The bed in Sky's castle last night had been nice though, but all the other stops they made were just uncomfortable. It would have taken Harvey a few minutes to fall asleep because of the light cast by the torches, but thanks to his exhaustion from his long day, he was able to slip off to sleep after mere seconds had passed.