The Burning ~ Dreamnotfound + Skephalo

Chapter 13: Hidden in the Depths

I'm baaaaaaack!

Hello everyone! I've missed you all! I hope everyone is doing well. I'm so happy to get back to sharing my story with you, but before we get into that, I wanted to thank you all for all of the lovely comments that you left. All of the love and support brought me to tears! I didn't respond to them, but I promise you, I read and appreciated every single one. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful fan base and I don't know what I'd do without you all. With that being said, onto the story!!!

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George's cheek finally stopped bleeding after a few minutes of pressing Dream's hoodie against it. The sleeve was now the same shade of dark red that was found on the netherrack surrounding him. That poor hoodie would never look the same again now that it was covered in stains. George also began to notice that it no longer smelt like Dream. It now smelt like something had crawled on it and died. But George didn't want to take it off. It was the only thing he had left that connected him to his old life. The life he may never get back. For days, George had been ignoring his feelings because he knew if he slipped, he wouldn't be able to come back. He was losing his mind. After some deliberation, George decided to carve his little cave into something that more resembled a home. He wasn't leaving anytime soon.

He started with the main room by the doorway, cutting off parts of the wall with a pickaxe he made from the blue wood to even the place out. The rocks in the wall tumbled down into neat piles as he went, leaving George with an odd satisfied feeling. Then he began carving out a small hallway that would lead to his new bedroom. For a cave home, it wasn't looking half bad. It was nothing compared to the beautiful wooden home he had built before, but it was still cute. He even managed to mine enough gold to make himself a helmet, which made him happy. It was nice and shiny and perfect. George was starting to find that the little things were helping him through this. He'd be alright.

At least, he hoped so.

George mined out the floor and used the last of both the red and blue wood he had to make a checkerboard pattern on the ground. It wasn't the best use of his wood, but it made him happy. That was something Bad had taught him. In situations like these, you have to do whatever it takes to keep yourself stable. Unfortunately, in his attempt to keep himself content, he had used up all of his wood. He grabbed the crossbow and quiver and decided to walk outside, hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with any monsters. A hoard of endermen were all gathered around the blue trees nearest to him, so he decided to walk into the crimson forest instead. While he would have to deal with Piglins, he at least knew to use gold to get rid of them. If he ran into them, he could just throw his helmet and run.

After cutting down a few pieces of wood with his pickaxe, he had enough materials to make a door as well as an axe to allow him to cut the trees down faster. He even stopped to collect a few of the glowing shroom lights tucked away in the corners of the trees. They'd look great in his home. Once his arms were full with his gathered materials, he started to head back. But a familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.

"He's gotta be around here, Sapnap! There's a few broken trees in the area. There's no way that wasn't him!"

"While I do think that he chopped the trees down, I'm not convinced he stuck around this place."

The voices were so quiet that George's breath nearly drowned them out. He shook it off as a hallucination and turned to walk in the opposite direction. But despite believing that it was all in his head, his curiosity was getting the best of him. He turned right back around and started following the voices.

"Dream! Slow down!"

"Keep up, man! I know he's here. I can feel it!"

"You don't have to practically run, though! I'm starving and have literally no energy."