Foxjin and Colder

Colder

He springs up his shield ready as a skeleton shoots arrow after arrow at him. He silently strikes it with his sword, shattering it into a pile of bones. The body lays there for a moment before disappearing and dropping the loot, he sighs to himself.

“That was way too easy,” he says, pulling his mask covering his mouth down. His armor is itchy and it’s warm outside tonight. 

“I can't take it off though” he reminds himself, opening the trapdoor and descending into his base, it’s a small square dug underground, a temporary spot. He lays down on the bed in the corner and lets sleep take him for the night.

He wakes up to the morning quickly, it’s early from what he can hear from outside. He yawns and stretches then he looks at his map.

“I've explored here...” he muses to himself pointing at a mark he had drawn on it, “and here,” 

              “So now I'm over here,” he points at a blank space in the map and smiles slightly under his mask. He’s in this new place because he’d left his group after his battle with a drowned zombie to save another player failed, he had run far away deciding to start fresh without any wars or powerful drownds with lightning tridents, or groups such as the Resistance fighting each other and being ruled by merciless people. He hopes to never go back there.
He looks at the picture on his wall, him and Nico, his best friend from years ago, almost like a brother to him... Nico is sticking out his tongue. He has his arm around Colder who put bunny ears up over Nico's head laughing cheerfully... it seems so long ago now.

“I miss you Nico...” he sighs, “someday I'll find you again,” he knows it's probably not true, but he says it anyway. 

Moving on from his past memories he climbs the ladder opening the trapdoors and walks away from his temporary home holding his sword.
He looks ahead and sees a village; it's been a while since he's talked to a villager... 

Maybe they will be friendly if I am? He wonders, with the revolution and war going on with the villagers and players and other mobs, it's hard to go anywhere without being provoked by something. But as he nears the small non-advanced looking plains village, he sees something else... 

“Ravine!” He yells, running forward avoiding the village completely, his hood flies off his head from the wind. He doesn't realize how close he is to the edge. He skids to a stop, falling backwards into the grass.

“Whew that was a close one” he sighs, “Maybe I should stay away from ravines.”

He stares into the ravine then flashes back as he lays there remembering a conversation with Nico all that time ago, he never wants to forget Nico, especially after not seeing him in so long.

“Colder, danger can be fun and I'm all in for that but... I don't like ravines....” Nico had said, he was standing there next to Colder, they were only 11 at the time... Nico’s hair was short, and he looked much younger than Colder’s recent memories.

“Why?” Colder asks looking over at him.

“Because...” he pauses, “my mom died in one... she got lost in the darkness... My dad told me he searched but she had disappeared.”

Colder remembers feeling a flash of empathy for his friend and Nico gives him a hug.

“Don't worry Nico” Colder tells him “I don't like ravines either, they are tall... I almost fell once.”

“Really?” Nico asks, wide eyed.

“Mhm, while I was alone” he replies. 

Nico punches him softly in the arm.

“Don't die on me, ok?” he says.

“Sure,” Colder grins

The memory ends,

Colder stares down into the ravine, it's not a huge one but it reminds him of course... this is the first time he’s seen a ravine for such a long time. He forgets about the village deciding maybe it's not worth the memories and he doesn't need to get into any more flashbacks. He starts to walk back home lost in thought about Nico.

  Then he stops. 

The back of his neck tingles as he senses someone's presence from behind him,

Someone else is here, they've been watching me...

He makes no sudden moves waiting and deciding what to do. He slowly slides his sword out over his shoulder, the enchanted diamond metal catches the light. This is the first time he may have to use it to fight a player in a while.

He stays turned around but only for a moment longer,

Ok... he readies his shield then spins around to see the person standing behind him.