Oh, d3rlord.
d3rlord…
Derek?
d3rlord.
The guy hadn’t left Avery’s mind the whole day, the whole time he’d spent those 15 hours searching for the guy continuously. He didn’t stop for a break once, not even when his body began to ache & scream at him to stop, not even when his hands grew tired of swinging at blocks & mobs & groping his way through darkened tunnels & endless corridors.
He didn’t know why he was doing this. He figured he owed the guy, this d3rlord, to figure out what had happened to him & where he was. He had met up with the guy face to face not too long ago, & he seemed nice enough… a dark knight with golden armour.
That single encounter with d3rlord seemed to compel Avery to try to search ever more for him.
That letter he’d left behind for Avery, warning him to not turn left at the Crossroads—it was oddly considerate, given the fact that they had never even met each other prior to their little short-lived encounter at the library. d3rlord had seemed a nice enough guy back then; helping him out with the puzzles, reading the books there with him to scourge for clues to help them get further, even helping him get down from high places when he was stuck.
The guy seemed really smart. Too smart. He couldn’t help but wonder if he was some college graduate, or had some degree in masters or something. Avery himself was still in college, but this didn’t matter right now.
What mattered, was finding d3rlord.
Derek.
His true name was Derek, right? The knight had told Avery this himself.
Derek…
Avery finally broke through the ground into what seemed to be a sort of lair.
A large platform, not even half a kilometre wide, was what Avery landed on; his sandals hitting the concrete replica with a dull thud. He looked around for a moment, curious as well as he was frightened, still clutching onto that wooden sword he’d crafted some time ago.
Eyes. Eyes everywhere. Hallowed yellow things, staring down at him & d3rlord.
d3rlord!
Avery’s head whipped round to the knight, who was standing some distance away from him with his back turned. Avery began to sprint towards the man, desperate for some answers.
“Derek! Is that you? What the hell is this place?!”