We were silent in the orchard. We both broke off, picking what we wanted. I filled my inventory until I had three slots left. I really didn’t know what kind of things we’d find as we explored, and I wanted to be prepared.

I ate a few apples to restore my stamina as Theo walked around the orchard, his mind far from here.

“Ready?” I asked after a bit.

He nodded. I wasn’t sure where we’d go, but I knew where the wolf’s lair was. Also where the orchard and the traps were. There was a chance we’d find the base of them, but I wasn’t sure. I didn’t think they really had a base. It more seemed like they came out of the ground, with what I saw with Theo.

We walked toward the darkness, and I made a conscious effort to steer us away from the orchard, the wolf’s lair, and the traps. The silence felt like a physical presence, pressing against us. There were no birds, no bugs chirping in the distance. I was aware that running into the wolf was a real possibility. I should have stopped by the wolf’s lair to give some venison, but I didn’t have enough. I should consider that for next time. Maybe the wolf would be guaranteed to remain in its lair if I placed venison there.

As long as it wasn’t there already.

“How… did you know I didn’t kill myself?” Theo asked.

I glanced over, the silence swallowing Theo’s words so they didn’t travel far. “You said you didn’t, so I believe you,” I said.

“And the other time? After… the memory orb? When I didn’t know for sure. You sounded so certain,” Theo said.

I let out a small sigh. “I checked. With the alien overlords. They wouldn’t have stepped in and set this up if you made a choice like that. They made it sound like if they tried bringing you back after committing suicide it would… break the natural order of things or something.”

Theo grunted. “And you trust them?”

“I am far more likely to believe them when they’re together than when they’re apart. They balance each other out,” I said.

He grunted again, and we walked in the pressing silence for a bit.

“My grandmother’s bedroom,” Theo whispered out of nowhere.

I turned, raising an eyebrow. “Uh, what?”

He let out a sigh, glancing down. “If… the main goal is to get me to the second floor, we need to start with safer places in the house for me to get used to the idea. I’d like to start with my grandmother’s bedroom. On the first floor.”

“Yeah, that’s where I sleep,” I said.

Theo nodded, more distracted than anything. “I was never allowed inside there. My mom and grandma made that a rule, so… I don’t actually know what it looks like. It makes it an easy place to start with. Then I can… decide from there.”

I nodded. “That’s a fantastic idea, Theo. Though you need to acknowledge that you’ve already entered the house. You were pretty content on the back porch.”

“Yeah. I guess that’s true. That changed a lot.”

“The only thing still the same is the floors,” I said.

Theo chuckled. “It’d still be different to me. I don’t think I got a good look at the floors as a child.”

That caused me to smile. I glanced up, trying to see the sky, but the forest was too thick.

“Tonight? Can we… try that tonight?” Theo asked.

I glanced over at him, raising an eyebrow. “If you’d like.”

“Yeah. This ‘game over’ revelation is a bit unsettling. Spring is… still far enough away, but I’ve always been an overachiever with finishing games,” Theo said.

I smiled, brushing my shoulder against his. “Same. We’ll finish this game with plenty of time.”

We were silent again. My eyes darted around for any sort of glowing words that indicated food to gather.

We explored more of the forest. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the more we looked around, the more certain I was that this forest did not have their base. It was somewhere else, if it was anywhere.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The silence broke, and I heard a dull roaring noise. Theo and I both glanced at each other before we moved cautiously through the trees, approaching the sound.

I realized it was the river a few minutes before we came upon it. There was a break in the trees. I approached the river and saw more words starting to glow near the bank of it.

“Oh, this is interesting,” I said, walking down to the bank. It looked like instead of rocks, these were boulders. I could get two, sometimes three stone blocks out of one of these. And the mounds of clay in this river were larger too. They could give me two baked clay instead of one. It seemed like the dangerous trek through the wolf’s lair rewarded me with larger resources, probably for better storage purposes.

“Ah, I wondered if we’d stumble on one of these on your side,” Theo said.

I glanced over and saw Theo taking out a sword and chopping away at some foliage near a rocky bump in the ground. I frowned, approaching it. Words came to my vision.

Discovered!

Cave of resources

Enter at your own risk

I glanced at Theo, who was smiling. “Probably has some metal here, just in case you never found me to trade with.”

I let out a sigh. “I’m glad I found you.”

Warning bells were going off in my mind as I tried to find the opening. I pointed at a small hole, big enough for one person to slide in.

“That’s it? That’s the entrance?” I asked.

“Yeah. It’s usually a tight squeeze at the beginning, but it gets wider the deeper you go into the cave.”

“It doesn’t seem-” I froze as I realized why the warning bells were going off in my head. I glanced up at the wolf timer. Information had been casually gathering as we’d moved along, and I only seriously studied it now. The wolf was near. I grabbed the back of Theo’s shirt.

“Go. Go. Go,” I hissed. “The wolf. It’s near.”

Theo didn’t need to be told twice. Though he did step aside and usher me forward, glancing around the thick forest.

If a terrifying beast wasn’t somewhere near, I would not be shimmying my way into a very dark hole in a place that was a recreation of everything in the horror genre. But I did, because Theo needed to follow soon after me to be protected.

Once I came through the small hole, I moved deeper into the cave, hissing at Theo to follow. The only way I knew he listened is because the only light source was blocked for a moment as he got himself down. It wasn’t much of a light source to begin with. I didn’t dare turn on my flashlight, for fear of alerting the wolf, and Theo didn’t either. We backed away from the entrance, my ears straining for any sound. As soon as my ears heard the wet slobber sniffs, I grabbed Theo’s wrist and backed away further. Both of us remained silent. The only light source again went dark, and I closed my eyes. Not like I could tell. It was completely dark in both directions.

Theo pulled me behind him, no doubt holding his sword out. It wouldn’t matter, but the gesture was nice. We both knew the wolf’s level. Theo couldn’t kill it.

“Is there another exit out of this?” I whispered.

There was a pause, then Theo’s voice came. “Sometimes there is, sometimes there isn’t. Depends on the cave.”

I tried to hold a sigh back. “Let’s see if our luck pays off, then.”

I followed Theo, who was far more experienced with caves. Theo kept a hand on my elbow. “There are some cave monsters on my side of the river who are attracted to light. So don’t turn on the light yet. Let me get set up.”

I nodded before realizing it was still pitch black in here and Theo didn’t see. But by the time I realized my mistake, I didn’t feel like saying it out loud. I listened as Theo got ready, which I assumed meant he pulled out whatever weapons he could.

“Tell me when to turn it on.” My voice echoed in the darkness.

There was another few beats before I heard Theo. “Ready.”

I flipped on my flashlight, and even though I had it pointed toward the ceiling, it was blinding. I blinked, trying to orient myself back into a land of light. I was glad I wasn’t Theo, mentally preparing to fight a monster while blinking away in the light.

After a few moments of silence, I concluded there weren’t creatures here attracted to light. Theo placed his crossbow and sword back into his inventory as I shone the light around the cave.

“Do you often go about killing creatures with a weapon in each hand?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Theo said. “It’s more badass. Especially once I upgraded my crossbow to automatically load after taking a shot. It’s beautiful.”

I smiled, shaking my head as I resumed my search of the cave. Theo turned on his flashlight on his little head tool, too, keeping his sword out.

It was a huge chamber. Above me I could see the roots of the trees snaking down around the wall. I pressed a hand against the cool wall, brushing the dirt aside and touching one of the roots.

Discovered

Wood the wolf will not destroy

I raised an eyebrow, curious.

If left out in an unbuilt state all night, the wolf will eventually destroy it

Therefore you still need to store it inside

But if crafted into something else, the wolf will not touch it

I paused, trying to figure out what this meant, before it hit me at once and I gasped in delight.

“What? What is it? What’s going on?” Theo asked, by my side in a heartbeat.

“Outside furniture! Theo!” I grabbed his arm, tugging it. “I’m going to make furniture that can stay outside!”

Theo blinked, then glanced at the tree roots. “Sorry, what?”

“I don’t know, but I can already feel it getting unlocked in the clipboard. I’m going to build that bench among the lilac bushes and a little table to hold a book and a glass of lemonade! I’ll be able to make a chair or bench to sit on while I cook food by the fireplace! Oh, can you even imagine the swinging bench on the front porch!” I practically screamed before remembering the wolf was at the opening.

Theo continued to stare at me, looking like he had a lot of things to say about this. I gave his arm a gentle thwack with my palm. “Listen, you, I don’t make fun of you for your double wielding sword and crossbow maneuver. Let me have this.”

He chuckled, then glanced around the cave. “Alright. I’ll leave you be.”

“How many slots left do you have in your inventory?” I asked.

“Four?”

“Can I have all of them?” I asked, my logging clothes jumping on as I pulled out an axe.

Theo smiled. “It’s what I’m here for.”