The sun rose sluggishly on Azad's second day in the wilderness, casting a dim orange glow across the forest as fog clung to the damp earth. He stretched with a groan, muscles still aching from yesterday's creeper encounter. His left arm was bandaged with makeshift cloth from his torn shirt, and his ribs still stung with every deep breath.
"Great start to the day," Azad muttered, pushing himself up from the crude bed of leaves he had crafted overnight. His 3x3 dirt shelter wasn't much, but it had kept him safe. With the new day dawning, he knew he had to improve things—or risk facing another night of terror.
He stepped outside, blinking against the sharp morning light as he surveyed the surroundings. The forest stretched out before him in every direction, trees towering overhead like sentinels. Somewhere nearby, a stream bubbled quietly but the calm didn't soothe the unease in his gut.
"Alright, survival mode, Azad," he whispered, mentally preparing himself. "Stay close. Gather more supplies. Expand the shelter. Don't get blown up by another creeper."
With his priorities set, he grabbed his wooden axe and ventured out cautiously, staying close to the edges of the forest. He chopped down a few trees, gathering as much wood as he could carry. Every time a branch snapped or the wind rustled the leaves, his body tensed, half-expecting another ambush. "Stupid creepers…" he mumbled under his breath. "I swear they have it out for me."
After collecting a decent amount of wood, he turned his attention to gathering stone and, if he was lucky, coal. There were some exposed rocks near the hill where his shelter was, and he struck the stone with his wooden pickaxe, chips of rock flying with each hit. It wasn't long before he spotted some dark veins in the stone.
"Finally, some coal!" he exclaimed triumphantly, chipping away at it with enthusiasm. "At least I won't have to sit in complete darkness tonight." He knew the torches would make a huge difference in keeping monsters at bay. The memory of the creeper's hiss still haunted him.
Back at his shelter, Azad began reinforcing the walls with stone, replacing the fragile dirt with cobblestone. "This should hold up better," he said, wiping sweat from his brow as he worked. "It's not exactly a palace, but it'll do."
His stomach growled, and he remembered his next priority—food. He had already eaten the last of the meat he'd cooked the night before. "Great…"
He decided to explore the area by the stream, hoping to find something edible. As he walked, the babbling water grew louder, and soon he found the small stream cutting through the forest, its surface glimmering in the daylight. Around it, he saw patches of fertile soil.
"Okay, farming. Ellie said I should know how to grow food, right? But this will take 3 days to grow and by then my task will be over," he mused, staring at the ground.
Not wanting to rely on crops just yet, he turned his focus to hunting. After a bit of searching, he found some cows grazing nearby and with a well-placed strike from his wooden sword, managed to bring one down. "Sorry, little guy. But I need this more than you do," he muttered, feeling a pang of guilt as he carried the meat back to camp.
The sun was beginning its slow descent, casting long shadows through the trees. Azad returned to his shelter, now expanded and fortified with stone. He built a small fire pit outside and roasted the pork over the flames, the smoky aroma filling the air and making his stomach growl with anticipation.
"I never thought I'd be so grateful for roasted meat," he said aloud, savoring the taste. "Maybe survival isn't so bad after all."
But as the shadows lengthened, his mood darkened with the sky. The quiet of the forest pressed in on him, and the reality of being utterly alone sank in once again. Without Ellie's taunts or Choco's comforting presence, he felt the weight of isolation. "This sucks," he said, staring at the fire. "I'm not cut out for this…"
He glanced at the dirt-covered bandage on his arm. "How did she do it? Surviving like this... completely on her own.*" He poked the fire with a stick. "Ellie acts all tough, but maybe she had to be. I can't even last two days without feeling like I'm gonna lose my mind."
Azad sighed deeply, leaning back against the stone wall. The sky was darkening now, stars beginning to appear in the dusky blue above. Nightfall was fast approaching. He knew the dangers that lurked in the darkness—the zombies, skeletons, and worst of all, the creepers.
"I should dig deeper," he decided, grabbing his pickaxe. He would use the night to mine, staying underground where it was safer and maybe finding some iron to craft stronger tools.
As he chipped away at the stone beneath his shelter, his mind wandered back to Ellie and Choco. "They're probably sitting by a warm fire, eating real food," he grumbled. "And here I am, digging in the dirt like some kind of mole."
The sound of the pickaxe against stone was rhythmic, almost soothing, but the sense of loneliness crept in again. "I guess this is part of the trial," he thought. "Surviving physically is one thing… but surviving mentally? That's the real challenge."
Azad's shelter, now fortified with stone, was far more secure than before. He had expanded it, digging a deeper tunnel beneath the hill to keep himself busy and safe from the monsters above. He set down his pickaxe, exhausted but feeling a little more accomplished.
He glanced at the bedroll he had fashioned from leaves and scraps. "If only I had wool," he muttered, kicking at the dirt. "A real bed would make this whole ordeal more bearable."
With no wool and no bed to sleep on, Azad knew he was in for another long, restless night. "Just one more night," he whispered to himself, staring into the flickering torchlight. "One more, and I'll be done with this stupid trial. Then it's back to Ellie and Choco… and I'm gonna have some serious words with that woman."
As the sounds of distant mobs echoed in the night, Azad wrapped his arms around himself and tried to focus on the rhythmic crackling of the fire. He couldn't afford to let his mind wander too much. Not when survival was still on the line.