MCSM Stories

Trek (1)

"Jesse..."

A voice echoed in a sea of darkness. Nothing stirred.

"Jesse!"

Just a little more. Just for a little longer.

"Jesse, wake up!"

Jesse woke with a start to the feeling of someone shaking his shoulder, and Petra's voice yelling his name again. His senses came to him, and he suddenly wasn't so comfortable. Who would feel comfortable sleeping on the grass in full armor?

"One second", he murmured, pushing the hand away, pushing himself up to the ground in a sitting position.

He let his eyes adjust to the light for a moment before glancing around. He was in the makeshift shelter he and the other Order members had built to avoid the mobs as the sunset. Olivia was putting out the bonfire by throwing dirt on it, and Lukas was sitting against the wall, writing in his journal. Axel had gotten sick right before they planned on setting out for the temple that Ivor had recently discovered, and Jesse's twin sister, Jess, had caught the sickness as well. Jesse wanted to call off the adventure to let Axel and Jess regain their strength, but the greifer and warrior had urged them to go and get some treasure, and Axel wanted them to get some treasure specifically for him. And, reluctantly, the remaining four set off. What Jesse found weird was that Ivor had left them a note and a map, instead of meeting with the New Order in person.

"You look like you slept well," Petra commented jokingly.

Jesse didn't need a mirror to know that his hair looked like a rat's nest.

"Let's bring sleeping bags next time," Jesse said, standing up and stretching.

"Yeah, definitely." Petra looked over to the other Order members. "We ready?"

"Yeah. I cooked that raw mutton, so we won't have to hunt later." Olivia stood up, wiping the dirt from her gloves.

"This terrain's really weird," Lukas closed his book. "These mountains are so... high. And steep."

"Eh, it makes this place cooler." Jesse shrugged.

"Well, let's get a move on," Olivia said.

"Yeah," Jesse agreed.

The four stepped out of the shelter and into the chilly morning. The tall, steep mountains loomed over them, shading the area. A few flowers were scattered about, giving the area a nice aroma. There were a few lone trees a distance away. Jesse pulled out the map. The temple was east of them, and couldn't be more than a day's walk from where they were. And they had already been traveling for a week, so they were close. They started off.

Minutes turned into hours. And the New Order was still walking. They didn't talk much, and when they did, it was usually small talk. Eventually, the mountains that towered above them turned into steep hills and then rolling hills. A few single trees turned into clusters of trees, and then into a forest. Still, after five hours straight of walking, save for a few breaks, there was still no temple in sight. At this point, everyone was exhausted. So they stopped for a rest.

"We're still not there," Petra sighed, sitting down on the log of a falling tree.

"Maybe we passed it?" Lukas guessed.

"I could've sworn we were just west of it," Jesse was studying the map. He usually wasn't bad with maps. He was pretty sure he was right, but maybe he led the four down a wrong turn. Shielding his eyes, we looked up towards the sun. It was long past noon, and the sun was too the west. They had been going the right way.

"...Maybe it's underground." Jesse stood up. "I'll go look around for it."

Nobody protested. Jesse felt tired himself, but he wasn't ready to let this adventure be for nothing, especially after they spent a week trying to find this temple. Adjusting his armor slightly, Jesse walked away from the group, keeping his eyes open for any sort of building or structure. There was not a single cloud in the sky, allowing every single beam of sunlight to come down from the sky and make the day a lot hotter than it should be. Jesse adjusted his armor uncomfortable. He did love the Redstone Riot, but man, it was horrible in hot weather.