A few days passed during which it seemed to Archer that he spoke to his friends less and less.
Once, he had noticed that Pip appeared to be feeling a little down and thus, like any good cousin would do, he challenged her to a full-contact sparring match.
By the end of it, she was sitting firmly on top of him with his arm pinned behind his back, but at least she was laughing about it, as one does.
As for Cogs, Archer tried several times to visit with his old friend, but for one reason or another, the blond boy kept making daft excuses. Most of them revolving around someone named Meera.
"You're spending an awful lot of time with this 'Meera'." Archer said one day as he watched Cogs primp and prod at himself in front of a mirror, trying to straighten his curls again.
"And you spent an awful lot of time with your inventions, but I never complained."
"Fair point." Archer replied, grinning sheepishly. "I just thought... maybe you and Pip and I could explore the Abyss together? Just like old times! Why, I hear there's a library not far from here; we could look for books on my mum and da."
Cogs sighed, running his fingers through his golden curls. "I don't know Arch..."
Archer smiled wider and slung his arm over his friend's shoulder. "Come on. We'll have adventures just like we used to--"
"Oh, dear gods, not again."
"--Albeit with less jumping off cliffs and rubbish." Archer amended. "Tell you what, next time I make you jump off a cliff, I'll give you a helmet."
"Knowing your inventions, I'd get better use out of a coffin."
Archer laughed good-naturedly, hoping Cogs would join in.
He didn't.
However, a small smile flickered over his face as he slipped out from under Archer's arm with a mumbled excuse about how he was going to be late. Then he quickly left the room without a backward glance, leaving Archer alone once more.
Sighing glumly, Archer felt his shoulders sag. Why, it was as if he hardly knew his friends any more; Pip was off gods-know-where and Cogs was courting some Abyss girl who Pip seemed to hate for one reason or another.
"Too soft." Pip had sneered when Archer had asked her a day or two prior, "I bet she's never punched anyone in her life."
"That's probably a good thing."
"Blimey, you think Cogs wants someone who's actually civilized? Setting the bar a bit low, isn't he?"
Either way, the two were not getting along and it worried Archer. He cared about their well-being, and friends came first before anything else...
Right. Well. Maybe inventions and spare parts came first, but friends definitely came in for a close second. Or something.
Shaking his head, Archer realized he had been staring at the wall for a good five minutes now and the only reason he knew was because his eyes burned as if he had spilled some sort of chemical in them... which he only knew what THAT felt like from experience.
Grabbing his goggles off his bed, he left the room and made his way through the stone hallways and out into the town, following the trail he remembered to get to Arnold.
The walk was lonlier this time without Galen-- for while Archer really only liked silence while he was working, he enjoyed the king's company on walks such as this. Thus, instead of talking, he contented himself with looking at the strange scenery around him
YOU ARE READING
Enter Abyss
AventuraA battle for the throne, a prophecy, an inventor, and a game of life and death. Enter Mafaria; a world that has outlived its time of castles and knights and has moved to an era of technology powered by steam. Though for all their ingenious invention...
