KEEP THE FAITH CH. 22: A CONVERSATION
Scott had toured Joey through the entirety of the Sheep Shack, showing him both the ridiculous amounts of raw product and the beautiful textiles the warehouse produced. Now, the two of them were sitting on the edge of a small hidden ledge, overlooking large fields of crops.
“What’s that crop over there?” Joey asked, pointing to a sprawling field of dark green plants. He had seen even larger fields of the stuff on his way to the city, and he didn’t recognize it in the slightest. Scott’s brow furrowed, as he squinted at the plants.
“I think that’s Rivendellian Mint,” he said slowly. “Yeah, it’s gotta be. My mom used to keep a planter of it in our house.” He paused, then he snorted to himself. “Oh my god, I cannot believe I never put the dots together. Of course I’m from Rivendell. My mom must have been from here, too. I mean, the mountains match her stories perfectly, and her little stag statue and the mint and jewelry…” he trailed off, getting lost in the memories of his childhood. Joey waited patiently.
After a moment, he shook himself out of it, and said, “Well anyways, it’s one of our staple crops. It’s super useful, and it tastes amazing. What about you? Does the Lost Empire have any staple crops?” “I mean, we have a bunch of cocoa beans, but nothing that we really farm. Don’t have a ton of fertile soil. I think our exports are mostly things like wood and stuff.”
Scott nodded to himself. “That sounds like a good trade to me,” he said. “Lumber for wool. I mean, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we don’t exactly have a lot of trees.” “Yeah,” Joey said with a wry smile. “It was a bit odd when I left the jungle. I was getting kind of used to all the greenery. But Rivendell is really pretty too. I like the mint fields. I’m sure it’s really pretty in the winter too, with all the snow you guys must get.” “Me too,” Scott said with a small smile. “Me too.”
The two of them fell into silence for a while, watching the farmers in their fields and letting the cool air seep into their bones. “It’s odd, isn’t it?” Scott said after a while. “Getting dropped into this, I mean. It’s like…” he trailed off, searching for the right words.
“Like finding out that you had this whole secret side to you, and before you could even process that, suddenly you're responsible for dozens of lives?” Joey suggested. He didn’t pull his gaze away from the peaceful fields.
“Yeah,” Scott murmured. “Yeah, exactly like that. How are we even supposed to cope with that? Everyone suddenly expects me to have all the answers, to just know everything. Even my advisors. I mean, thank god for them, but still…they just expect me to know everything, to just act like I’ve been trained for this. But I haven’t been. How do I not break, you know?”
“Right?” Joey said. “I mean, Hade has been nothing but wonderful, and without her I would be drowning. But everyone looks at me with so much respect and-and fear. And I’ve done nothing to earn it. I’m just this guy. If anything, I should be trying to earn their respect, not the other way around!”
“What were you before all of this?” Scott asked. “What was your home server like?” Joey laughed softly to himself. “I was a musician and an actor,” he said with a smile. It was the easiest explanation. He wasn’t sure people like Scott would even know what YouTube was.
“Man, how did I go from something so simple to being an emperor of all things?” he mused. “As for where I was before all of this…well I lived in the desert. Still trying to get used to jungle humidity. How about you?”
“Oh,” Scott said with a shrug. “I helped a friend with running this big championship, MCC. It’s where the best of the best come to compete in like a bunch of games and survival games. It’s fun. It was way warmer there than it is here. Still trying to adjust to how cold it is. Seriously, I feel like I’m just going to freeze by the time winter rolls around.”
“Do you miss it at all?” Joey asked. “MCC, I mean?” There was a moment, but then Scott nodded. “I think I do. It was a lot less responsibility. A bit more care-free. But, honestly, I like being here too. These are my people. It’s…it’s nice to know that this is where I belong, that I have a place carved out for me. What about you? Do you miss your old server?”
Joey turned the question over in his mind. He watched the farmers in their field, happily tending to their crops. They looked so peaceful, so free.
“I don’t know,” he said finally. “My home…there are a lot of people there I care about, people that I’m probably never gonna see again. And I miss them. A lot. But at the same time…this is a fresh start, you know? It’s a hell of a stressful one, but I think I really want it too. It’s nice to not have expectations about what kind of person you’re supposed to be. It’s nice to get the chance to really do some good. Does that make sense?”
Scott laughed good-naturedly. “I think you’re a wiser man than I am, Joey. I’d be honored to form an alliance with you. If you’ll have me, of course.” He extended his hand, and Joey took it eagerly.
“I’ll send the first shipment of wool in a few days, once I get everything arranged,” Scott said. “When can I expect some wood from The Lost Empire?” “Probably in a day or two. I actually have a lot of spare wood right now cause I just finished clearing a giant area of the jungle. If you want, I can also send some other plants and you can see if you can get them to grow here.”
Scott smiled brightly. “That sounds wonderful! Now, do you need any help getting home through the nether?” Joey nodded, and let Scott pull him to his feet. “Follow me!” he said.
Joey climbed gingerly over the ridges, holding the warm stone in a death grip. Scott waited at the bottom of the rock face patiently. His cloak had been removed and folded over his arm and his wings were flapping gently, keeping him cool.
“Stupid wings keeping him cool,” Joey grumbled under his breath. “Stupid wings that mean he can just jump off ledges and be perfectly safe.” Finally, his feet hit the flat stone beneath him, and he pushed away from the cliff.
“You could have just jumped down, you know,” Scott said. “You would have been fine. Wouldn’t have even been that much damage. Honestly, you probably would have only lost one heart at most.”
“Easy for you to say,” Joey retorted, “Mr. ‘I have big giant wings that mean-’” He paused, Scott words registering. “One heart? I only have one heart. I’m pretty sure I'll die if I lose that.” Scott’s brow furrowed slightly. “No, I mean like, your hearts. On your health bar.”
Joey’s confusion deepened. Scott sighed, but his irritation wasn’t directed towards Joey. “Okay,” he said, “Here, open your inventory screen.” He raised his hand, and pushed an invisible button. Joey did the same, and a holographic screen shimmered into existence in front of him.
“Alright, so you see where your armor screen is?” Scott said. Joey’s gaze traveled towards the miniature floating hologram of himself and he nodded. “Good. Now, just to the right of that, right above the slot for your shield, you should see ten little hearts. Those show you how close to dying you are.”
“If you have all ten hearts, that means you’re perfectly healthy,” Scott continued. “The more hearts you lose, the more damage you’ve taken. Once you lose all ten hearts, you die. Now, since we’re players, we’ll just respawn with all of our hearts. But if you want to avoid dying, eating is a really good way to refuel hearts, but sleeping will help you recover all of them. It’s why we never have to worry about getting sick or anything.”
Slowly Joey closed his inventory, and raised his eyebrow. “I’m still not leaping off of cliffs unless I have wings. That’s a habit I’m not particularly eager to be rid of.” He didn’t bother to comment on the remark about illness. That was too much to unpack for today. Scott shrugged. “Suit yourself. Come on, we’re almost halfway there.”
Joey followed Scott along the edge of the plateau, trying not to think of the boiling ocean of lava to his right. Finally, another landmass loomed out of the fog, and a thin bridge hung suspended over the molten rock. It swayed gently, small and rickety. Scott leaped on it without hesitation. Joey paled.
“No,” he muttered. “Hell no. Absolutely not.” Scott rolled his eyes. “It’s perfectly safe. Even without wings. See?” He stomped his foot against the stone to demonstrate.
Joey’s breath caught as he waited for Scott to fall into the lava beneath him. But the bridge held steady. “Perfectly safe!” Scott said enthusiastically. Joey still hesitated, not quite willing to trust the rickety stone. Scott sighed, then, he grabbed Joey by the wrist and yanked him onto the bridge.
Joey yelped in a rather undignified manner, his foot nearly sliding off the edge of the bridge. Scott caught him easily, steadying him until he gained his balance. “Screw you,” Joey muttered, heart pounding in terror. “You asshole.”
“Uh huh,” Scott said, completely unimpressed. “Would you have gotten on the bridge if I didn’t pull you on?” They stared at each other in silence for a minute, but then Joey relented. “No.”
“Then I have no regrets,” Scott said with a smug smile. “You know, you kind of remind me of a guy in MCC. He’s a lot like you, just less polite.” “Oh, really?” Joey grumbled. “Yeah,” Scott laughed. “He is. I think he gets it from his brother. Which is honestly really ironic, cause his brother is one of the most famous PVPers ever, and yet Wilbur is like a pathetic wet rag compared to him.”
“That’s probably why he’s so sarcastic,” Joey said. “Gotta make up for it somehow.” Scott snorted. “Probably. And get this, he looks exactly like this other competitor, even down to the soulless all-knowing eyes. Even their go-to outfit is the same! The only way I can tell them apart is because Wil’s sweater is yellow and he wears his beanie all the time.”
“Really?” Joey asked, disbelieving. “Do they know each other?” Scott shook his head. “Not until they were both in MCC! It was a complete coincidence!”
Joey listened as Scott told him about the competitors in MCC over the years, how each of them had made their mark on the event, how each of them had carved out a name for themselves. Finally, Scott reached the end of his stories, and Joey realized that he was now standing on the other side of the bridge, his feet on solid ground.
“Were you telling me all of that to distract me?” Joey accused. But he didn’t bother to hide his grateful expression. “A magician never reveals his secrets,” Scott said with a wink. “Come on. Your portal’s through here.”
Joey stepped out of the portal, a smile on his face. The jungle was filled with the sound of birdsong and his people. It was beautiful. He paused for a moment, breathing it in. This was his empire. And soon, he knew it would be his home. Then, he began jogging towards town hall. He wanted to tell Hade the good news.