Unreachable

~(The Real) Chapter Twelve)~

Grian's POV

Present Time

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When Grian woke up, he immediately noticed three weird things:

One, he was dreaming. That wouldn't usually be that odd, but usually he didn't know he was in a dream until after it was over. So, this was a bit of an abnormality.

Two, everything was on fire. It wasn't very hot, as usual for dreams, but it was extraordinarily bright and all in his face. He wasn't exactly a stranger to everything being on fire, but usually he had context for what 'everything' was. Currently, he appeared to just be standing in empty space, devoid of anything but flames.

Three, [PLAYER_ID:NOT_FOUND] was there. Now, Grian had absolutely no idea who that was. Not a single clue, other than the fact that he was standing there, right in front of him, staring at him. Never mind the fact that he was an amorphous blob, or that his voice sounded like the garbled shrieks of a thousand cats screaming at the top of their lungs underwater. This was definitely [PLAYER_ID:NOT_FOUND].

The intangible being in question approached Grian and smiled (can shapeless forms of pure energy smile? He did). "Hello, Grian!" He greeted. Grian didn't know how he could understand the language, given that it was completely incomprehensible. "Been a while, hasn't it? Anyway, could you stop by the Shopping District for me? I just need a couple pieces of string and a grenade. Thanks!"

Then, he disappeared. Grian just stood there, thousands of questions stirring in his mind. Who was [PLAYER_ID:NOT_FOUND]? Where was the Shopping District? What's a grenade? Before he got any of those answers, he was engulfed in flames and subsequently woke up.

When he woke up (for real this time, not in a dream), he was not, in fact, in the little hut he made for himself the previous evening. He blinked away the sleep from his eyes, his dream quickly dissipating into nothingness, and looked around. Oh. He was hundreds of blocks in the air and rapidly increasing in altitude. Following, frantically building up with spare dirt, was Wels, who was apologizing at the speed of an auctioneer. "Ahh, sorry, sorry! Doc was trying to show us how to make a really fast flying machine and it got out of hand!"

Grian's immediate takeaway was, "In my house?"

"Not important, but yeah!" He was panting slightly as he began to start whipping pebbles out of his inventory at an apparent lack of remaining dirt. He was actually managing to gain on the machine, which would have been pretty impressive, Grian thought, if he wasn't a probable accomplice to this situation. "We, ahh, placed a bunch of water at the bottom if you want to just jump off!"

Actually, this was quite funny. Grian sat down on the bed and dangled his legs precariously. "Did Doc cite a reason why he decided to test this on me? If it's because of the villagers, I already said sorry, and a zombie would've gotten them soon enough anyway," he pouted. "And it was like three months ago, so it's past the statute of limitations for him to accost me about it."

Wels, who had managed to catch up, now leaped from his tower of dirt and cobble and landed on the bed. He sat down, crossed his legs, and shook his head. "Actually, it was because the sun has been up for ages, and you were still asleep, so you were ripe for the pranking." He held his hands up innocently. "Don't shoot the messenger. But," he continued with a slight frown, "I'm a bit worried. Are you feeling alright? You went to bed before storytime last night, and you slept for like, half a day! Are you feeling okay?"

Grian shrugged. He hadn't thought about it much, actually. "I think so? I don't think I'd slept in several days," he admitted. Cue a flashback to him being bombarded by skeletal creatures while merely trying to set up shop. "Maybe that's it? Eh, nothing I haven't done before, am I right?"