Chapter Text
He doesn’t want to come with me. I suppose that’s fair.
The platform reaches forward, out of the rock, like it wants to take flight. Clear nights like this are perfect for what I’m about to do. I feel like a new person. Things are as they should be; I am the one that hunts and they-
Movement on the rock across. I will my muscles to relax. It’s just a spider. Damn things should not be this fine with the cold.
When you really think about it, this is just like fishing. If you are fishing for overgrown humanoids that can break your neck in four to six seconds. I should tell that to the first one I catch. It doesn’t make me wait long, as I soon spot the first pair of pale eyes scanning the mountainside. ‘The stars are quite beautiful tonight!’ No answer. ‘It looks even better from up here!’ Like talking to a rock. Which… I have been doing a lot. ‘Easy to get lost in the view. Watch your footing!’ As if by accident, it finally looks my way. I brace myself for the challenge. Those eyes are just as easy to get lost in. But I stand on firm ground.
I could swear I feel its focus sharpening; that wicked vision closing in on me. I hold its stare, even if everything in me screams against it. You will not be stronger than me. You were never stronger than me. My jaw is starting to hurt from how much I grit my teeth. Come on, big guy. It reaches its limit and begins to scream. I reach mine as well.
It often takes the Looker a while to figure out the easiest path. Not this time. I know my back is to the wall, but I still try to back up further as it approaches.
Deep breaths. The prolonged scream never gets less chilling.
There is no danger. It shakes in alien anger.
I am safe as long as I stay exactly where I am. The creature hurries up the path to my home and teleports to the platform.
To me.
It runs headfirst into the planks. I don’t even try to contain my glee. ‘Have you tried bending over?’ It keeps shaking, hands grasping for something under the short roof. Me. It is grasping for me. I take an experimental jab with my sword. It stops screaming to catch its breath and I use the momentary silence to taunt it further. ‘This must use up a lot of your energy.’ Upsetting a Looker has two possible outcomes and both involve death. ‘Have you tried calming down?’ Its disgusting limbs keep waving uncomfortably close to my face. My plan was to examine it for body parts that are easy to remove, but I can’t even hear my own thoughts. It is so close and I am so… ‘I don’t need a hand, thank you.’ This is irritating. I am… I am…
I don’t know when I dropped my sword. Blind and foolish, I push all my weight against it, shoving the thing a few steps back before retreating. My palms are itchy, like the scrape I got earlier. It stumbles back on wobbly knees, but doesn’t fall. One of us is heaving hard and the other is cursing. One of us is staring at its torso and the other screams at it to go to the Nether. Both of us walk forward, one grabbing and the other punching. Unsurprisingly, I lose. I struggle to free my wrists for a few wasted gasps of air before the itching is back. My hands are pushed against its chest and I spread my fingers. Cold.
I assume we are both looking at the point where we meet. What do you get when fire and ice collide? Obsidian? Cobblestone? Our breathing synchronizes. Its it much stronger than I am used to hearing and mine is quieter than it should be.
‘Lwhk.’
I almost fell into a trance there. ‘Hm?’
Its fingers weave around mine. The smooth black digits end in sharp claws, but those are not touching me. I could probably pull away with minimal damage. ‘Look.’
‘Look?’ My eyes find the stab wound I just gave it. No blood. Its flesh looks just as inky as the rest of it in the moonlight. I hear a low grumble as it takes ahold of my arms, yanking them up above my head. I should probably be alarmed. ‘Look.’ No. ‘I am not looking at you.’ It lets go, steadying me by the shoulders in the last moment.
I wake up to the sensation of falling. Damn, it’s cold in here. The new platform is still in place when I walk out, though it’s close to sunrise now. It’s hard to believe I wasted a perfectly good night on a nightmare like that. I quickly get some salted cod in my stomach and begin my morning cleaning; this is a great time to farm bones and infected flesh for my village friend. I just need to find my weapon. Which I… somehow misplaced.
Running back out, the sword is right under the platform, lying in the thin grass. Everything else – the cold, the endless void, the mumbling – is gone with the first rays of the sun. One other thing remains and this is what convinces me; the itch.