"Fuck!"

An explosion rang out behind him, propelling him forwards and off his feet. The man covered his head as his body hit the floor, another explosion setting off a bit farther away, yet he could still feel the heat blasting from it. For a moment he just laid there, panting and limbs aching from all the running. Arrows hit the ground beside him, reminding him to move, to keep running and never stop, that he was being followed. And run he did.

With a groan, he pushed himself to his feet and continued sprinting over the empty plains. Where, he didn't quite know. Just away from the slowly growing army of monsters that were chasing him down. His arm hurt, where an arrow had hit its target, and has burns littering his skin from the creepers that managed to get too close. There were cuts on his back from an Enderman and he's pretty sure to feel the aching, itching wound of a zombie bite.

He yelped when a handful of zombies spawned in front of him, blocking his way. Empty eyes stare him down as they began walking towards him. He tried dodging to the right, but two Creepers were stalking towards him from that direction. They were surrounding him, coming from all sides, swarming him. He holds his injured arm and frantically looks for a way out, shelter or even just some kind of weapon to defend himself with. This is it. This is how he dies. Alone, lost somewhere out in the wilderness, ripped apart by monsters.

But before the first zombie actually reached him, there was a loud screeching noise and heavy footsteps approaching them quickly. Before he knew it, two zombies in front of him got crushed by large metallic arms, the next thrown to the side. A massive iron golem fought through the hoard, taking the mobs attention away from the man as they began to attack it instead.

"Over here!" Two figures were waving a torch around, not too far away from him. With the golem buying him time, he began to ran towards them, noticing light behind the two people. A village! He was saved! "Hurry! Before more of them show up!" The two people grabbed him by the arms and pulled him along to the safety of their village. Another iron golem was guarding the houses, staring out at the plains to keep dangers away.

"Are you alright? Injured?" The man just nodded, too out of breath and dizzy from blood loss, weakly lifting his injured arm, where the arrow was still stuck in his flesh. He was ushered past the slowly forming crowd and into one of the houses, where he was placed on a soft surface as someone began to clean up his wounds. Before they even finished cleaning the hole in his arm, he blacked out, finally giving in to the tug of unconsciousness.

~~

Sunlight filtered through the curtains of a window, finally waking the man from his nightmare filled rest. He groaned as he tried to turn away from the light, but his entire body ached all over, refusing to move at all. "Fuck...", he cursed under his breath, squinting against the sunlight as he took in his surroundings. A simple room, only having a closet, a small desk with a chest beside it and the bed he was laying in.

Footsteps outside his door lured his attention towards it, watching curiously as it slowly cracked open to reveal a thankfully human face. "You're awake! Thank the gods, we were worried. You slept for almost an entire day." The man tried to reply, but could only cough with his dry throat. "Ah right. I'll fetch you some water and breakfast. Be right back."

He left the door open, giving the man a chance to see the short hallway that seemed to lead to three more rooms. True to his word, the villager came back with a small tray not even five minutes later, smiling as he carefully placed it down on the small nightstand. "Here you go." The man gratefully took the glass of water and downed it instantly, sighing when his aching throat started to feel better.

"Better?" "Yes... thank you...?" "Elfstone." The man smiled and nodded, taking in the appearance of the villager. Black short hair, bright green eyes, simple clothes. Not necessarily what he imagined Villagers to look like, but he'll take anything that is not a mob. "And you?" The man slowly pushed himself up a bit, Elfstone quickly helping him to settle into a sitting position with pillows behind him. He hesitated a bit before answering. "It's... Wilbur. Nice to meet you Elfstone." He grinned and patted Wilbur's shoulder. "Nice to meet you too. You gave us quite the scare with that monster hoard. You're lucky Tubbo spotted you that far out our you would have been dead for sure. Can't believe you survived all those injuries."

Wilbur's heart almost stopped. Tubbo is here too? "Tubbo? Where is he?" Elfstone pointed to the floor right next to the bed. Despite the pain, Wilbur leaned over to look and saw Tubbo sleeping on the floor on a thin mattress, clutching a pillow. "He watched over you the entire time. Said you two were friends. He finally fell asleep a few hours ago." "I didn't know he would be here too..."

Elfstone frowned. "Too?" "Oh. Uh... I mean the last time I saw him was very far away from here so... him being in this village too is a surprise." The villager slowly nodded, not really buying the excuse. "Alright... well I have to open my workshop soon and have some orders to complete. Will you be alright up here? Need me to fetch anything for you before I go?"

Wilbur glanced at the tray of food next to him, then down at himself. His chest was bare, covered in bandages. So were both of his arms. "Clothes maybe? Like... my shirt?" "Oh yeah. I tried to get the blood out of it as best as I can and fixed up some holes in your coat. It's still outside and drying, but I can check on it real quick if you want?" "That would be great, thank you."

He disappeared out the door again, leaving Wilbur by himself, since Tubbo was still sound asleep. Might as well eat breakfast when there is nothing else to do. It was nothing special, some bread and cut apples, but it was more than enough to satisfy his hunger for a while. At some point Elfstone placed the dry clothes on the bed before leaving again, waving goodbye as he walked down a flight of stairs.

Wilbur was left staring out the window after he was done with his breakfast, taking in the sight of the village. Simple houses of cobble and wood, gravel pathways leading to a marketplace he can barely make out down the street. Some people were walking around, all looking very different from each other. Not at all like regular Villagers from the game. Wilbur even managed to spot some hybrids around, seeing different ears and tails here and there, some with scales too. Even a person with small gray wings!

"This place just gets weirder and weirder..."

"Mhm..." Wilbur turned to look at Tubbo, who grumbled and nuzzled more into his pillow. "Tubbo? Toby? Wake up." The older carefully reached down and shook his friend, who whined and pulled the blanket more around himself. "Five more minutes Elf..." The brunette huffed and smacked his pillow down at Tubbo. "I'm not Elfstone." Tubbo yelped and turned away, only to turn back a second later with wide eyes. "Wilbur?" "Good morning to you too."  "Wilbur!" The teen jumped up onto the bed and hugged the older, who just laughed and hugged back. 

"Are you okay? Does it still hurt? Elfstone has golden apples, but we agreed to wait until you are awake for those." "I'm fine. Just a bit sore. How are you doing though? Since you got here I mean." The two got a bit more comfortable in the bed, leaning against the wall and headboard. "Well I woke up near their fields like three days ago? Four days? I don't remember. They were pretty panicked about finding some random kid which honestly, I can't blame them for that. Elfstone decided to take me in, in exchange for helping him in his workshop a bit. Well and then you showed up." 

Wilbur nodded, taking in Tubbo's clothes. He wore the clothes of his early smp character, a simple green shirt and jeans. "And besides me, did you see anyone else?" Tubbo shook his head no. "I'll be honest, I haven't even asked anyone around here if they have seen anyone. A bit overwhelmed with this whole real life Minecraft thing, you know? No wait that's a lie, I did ask Elfstone and the two others with him if they had seen Tommy or Ranboo, described what they looked like or should look like in Minecraft. Didn't see either of them though." 

An uncomfortable silence hung between them. "So... you think other people are out there?" "You and me are here, so there is a high chance others are too. Maybe the Villagers have seen someone else, not Tommy or Ranboo? You only asked specifically for them right?" "Yeah, I couldn't think of anyone else in my panic." Wilbur nodded along, already making a grab for his shirt to pull it on. "We can go ask some people then. Elfstone is busy, so let's try others outside." 

"Wil I don't think that is a good idea. You are hurt, you need to stay in bed." "I'm fine Tubbo, don't worry about me. It's an excuse to stretch my legs and explore the village too. Looks pretty interesting." Tubbo sighs and hands Wilbur his fixed coat when he asked for it, knowing full well that he can be just as stubborn as Tommy. 

Getting out of bed wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Sure, his legs were sore from running and the various wounds still ached, but not as bad as he thought they would. The two slowly walked down the stairs to the workshop area, where Elfstone was bend over an anvil working on a diamond battle axe. "Hey Elstone! I am taking Wilbur on a tour through the village. Want me to fetch anything?" The blacksmith looked up from his work, frowning a bit when seeing Wilbur out of bed. "I don't think this is a good idea..." "I'm fine, thanks to your guys' care. Just a bit sore is all." 

For a moment the trio stared at each other, then Elfstone caved and sighed. "Alright. Be careful and take it easy. And Tubbo, since you asked, can you bring these to Kai? They ordered them a while ago and I finally got around to making them." The brunette nodded and grabbed the two boxes from him, both jingling from metal bits clinking against each other. "What is this?" "Chains and rings to make some ordered wedding jewelry from. Needed me to mend them together so they can start working on the fine details and gems." 

"Alright. I'll tell them you said hi. Let's go Wilbur." They waved goodbye before leaving the shop. Wilbur was more than happy to have his coat now. It was a lot colder outside the blacksmith, the ground wet with leftover rainwater. Tubbo let him through the village, waving hello to a few passing people as they made their way to Kai's shop. Turns out that person with small wings he had seen was Kai, based on Tubbo's description. 

"They don't like showing their wings much, there are still some people out there that would pay a lot of money for avian feathers or whole wings. Not a lot, but poor guy has encountered one of those before, so try not to stare at them for too long or it will make them uncomfortable. Also, as you noticed, they prefer 'they' to address them, so also remember that. And here we are!" Tubbo grinned and pushed the door open, the little bell ringing out to signal an entering visitor. 

"Good morning Kai!" The young avian appeared from behind the counter, a few flower petals and some dirt stuck to them. "Hey Tubbo. You're here early, nothing to do at the workshop?" "There is, but I am free from work for now. I am giving my buddy Wilbur here a tour of the village!" Wilbur gave a small wave, smiling. "Hello. Nice to meet you." Kai waved back, small wings shifting to fully hide behind their back. "Hi." 

"Anyways, I got your order from Elfstone." They perked up at that, gladly taking the two small boxes. "Great! I was worried I would be behind schedule with these. It's not every day I get that much jewelry requested." They brought the boxes back behind the counter into one of the chests for later work. "Well I don't want to keep you from your tour so-" "Actually, we meant to ask you about something." 

Kai leaned against the counter, nodding at them to continue. "Have you seen any travelers pass through this village? Anyone that doesn't actually live here or is some extended family that is visiting?" The avian hummed and stared at the wall in thought. "Only very few. There were those two travelers from a week ago and that small group of four from before that. Other than that nothing recent." "What did they look like? Clothes and all. Both groups." 

Kai frowned, not really getting why Wilbur was so desperate to know. "Well those two that came by recently were an avian woman with huge wings and a human man. Guy had long red hair, brown eyes and a green shirt, a very pretty necklace and a sword at his side. Woman had brown hair and eyes, black shirt, her feathers were white and she also a very pretty necklace. I regret not asking bout their jewelry, should have written down what gems those were." Tubbo and Wilbur looked at each other, quickly deciding that no, they don't recognize either of them by the description. 

"And the group before that?" "They were four guys as far as I could tell. There was this guys with brown hair and a blue shirt. He and one other were really interested in my flowers. The other guy was blonde with blue eyes and wore some weird green robe or something with a black shirt underneath. I think he had a heart crystal at his collarbone? It looked very pretty. Oh and he had a funny striped hat, I remember that. And a bird companion! That guy was really weird, I tell you that much." Wilbur's heart almost skipped a beat. "Was the hat green and white?" "Yeah, I think it was. Why?" 

"That sounds like Phil!" Tubbo grinned up at Wilbur, both their excitement clearly showing. "You know him?" "Yes! He is a friend of ours! We have to go look for him!" "Hold on Tubbo. What did the other two look like?" "Well... the third guy was creepy... he had a green hoodie and this scary mask with a smiley on it. He was silent and just stared at everything in the shop-" "That's definitely Dream." "- and the last guy was actually pretty cool. My favorite of the bunch if you ask me. He was more interested in my jewelry. He had pink hair and red eyes, a very fancy and pretty crown and a cape. Looked like a real king. Gifted him a pair of earrings because he was being really nice and polite." "Oh my god even Techno is here!" 

The two were practically vibrating on the spot. "Do you know where they went?" "Uh... no, I don't. I just know they live near an oak forest, that's all. Maybe Elfstone knows more, they bought some stuff from him and chatted for a while-" "Thanks Kai!" Tubbo grabbed Wilbur by the wrist and pulled him along out the door. "You're welcome?" 

"ELFSTONE!" The blacksmith almost dropped his hammer when the two barged into his workshop. "What? Are you hurt? Did something hap-" "What do you know about the group that came here and bought stuff from you? Guy with striped hat and another with golden crown and pink hair." He blinked, just staring at them for a second. "You mean Philza?" "Yes! Phil! Do you know where he is?" "Vaguely, yes. Why?" "They are our friends! We want to go look for them!" "Oh. You got separated from those guys too? Man that raid on your old village must have been heavy." Tubbo just nodded, bouncing on his heels. 

"Well, I know that they don't live too far from here. Half a day of walking at most. They left following the small trail to the right of the mountain, but that is all I know." "So we should reach it before nightfall then. That's great!" Elfstone smiled, nodding slowly. "You should. I assume you want to head out?" Tubbo hesitated. "If... that's okay?" The blacksmith huffed and ruffled the younger's hair. "Of course. Go find your family. I'm not gonna stop you." Tubbo smiled, then bolted forward and hugged him. "Gonna miss you..." "I'll miss you too. You can always come visit me. Philza knows he gets easy discounts here anyways." Tubbo laughed, grinning up at him. "Thanks for everything."

Elfstone patted his head before gently pushing him away. "But I want you two to take at least an iron chestplate and a weapon. Just for safety. 

And thus, the two headed out of the village, armor, weapons and food in their inventory and a few villagers waving them goodbye, Tubbo more so than Wilbur. They followed the direction given to them by Elfstone, walking over plains and then along the edge of an oak forest. 

And just as the sun was setting and they climbed to the top of a hill, they spotted it. A large lake, with a small river feeding into it and another one leading away, sat a handful of houses, surrounded by a large wall. The shores of the lake were taken up by a large field and further away in the plains was another house and some horses. 

Even from the distance, they could tell the people walking towards the base from the direction of the horses, were theirs.

Tubbo sprinted ahead, quickly followed by Wilbur. Three of the group came running towards them and their joy was immeasurable. 

"TOMMY!"

"TUBBO!"

"WIL!"

"PHIL!"