Jurst

Your eyes flutter open to the familiar sight of your bedroom ceiling. You groan as you try to rub away the sleepiness from your eyes. Blinking slowly, you gradually sit up and raise your arms as you stretch, letting out a small sigh of satisfaction as you turn to your phone sitting upon your bedside table. You turn it over and check the time.

'11:45 AM'

Huh, so much for getting up early tomorrow you supposed. At least it wasn't 1 pm, you've slept in until then far too many times already. You begin to start your mooring routine of checking all your social media.

You go through all of your notifications and mindlessly scroll through your feed a bit. Soon, you come across a post with a yellow smiley face which causes you to remember a series you watched not too long ago. "Something is knocking at your door..." or as most people knew it, "the verity series." You were a big fan of it, and commonly interacted with various posts relating to it.

Yet, you don't see any posts regarding Verity on your 'for you' page currently. And that post that reminded you of the series just used a regular yellow smiley face so it wasn’t actually Verity. You decide not to think much of it, after all not every post that shows up on your feed is going to be related to just one thing.

You close the app and decide to open YouTube. You decided that you were going to rewatch Mob's series on it once more considering how much you enjoyed it, even with its tragic ending. You search up ThatMob's YouTube channel and click on his page.

Your fingers pause as you suddenly realize that the videos were suddenly gone. Your face contorts into one of confusion as you scroll through his account. His last post was two months ago... which was incredibly odd. Didn't he upload a video just a few days ago? There was no way he would have just... deleted them, right? After all that was probably his most viewed series. You don't think he would have deleted something that had gotten that much attention.

You then search up Twixxels account to see if maybe he had anything to do with the lack of videos only to find out all of his recent uploads were... gone. Your eyebrows knitted together as you look through his account as well. You then decide to search up "Verity mod" in the search bar to see if maybe anyone had re-uploaded the video only to find out there was... nothing. Only a variety of unrelated videos that had nothing to do with the familiar yellow smiley face.

"What?" you mutter to yourself, typing in numerous different words all relating to your favorite mod. However, you were only met with emptiness and many videos containing nothing of what you were looking for. Did it just disappear off of the face of the internet? But how? It was like the number one thing trending currently?

You sigh in frustration before you get a notification alerting you of a new message. You tap the notification as it sends you to your messaging app.

"Hey! Can you check out this mod I found? I wanna know if its actually helpful lol"

You look at the message sent by your friend before looking at the link they set underneath it. You tap on the link before it sends you to the downloading page of the mod. The mod is titled "Verity" and your eyes widen with slight excitement. You always wanted to try out the mod and see what it would be like to actually have Verity helping you in Minecraft. You decide to message your friend back.

"Oh, is this a Verity mod?? Have you seen the series too??" "What??? What series?" "You know, the verity series? The series this mod is based on, right???" "Uhhhhh no I don't know what you're talking about, I don't think this mod wasn't based off of anything, its just like a helper thing"

You roll your eyes deciding to just brush it off as you get your computer to download the mod on there. You patiently wait until the mod says the download was complete and finally boot up Minecraft to begin playing. You click on the play icon and watch as your world finally loads. You move your character around until your eyes land on a box. It rustles and shakes as muffled sounds come from the cardboard box.

You applaud the accuracy to the original video and finally click on the box. The box begins float into the air above your character’s head. The box then opens to reveal the star of the mod, Verity! He bounces on the digital grass with what seem like sounds of discomfort each time he bounces off of the ground. Finally, he looks up at you with his signature smile.

"Hello! I'm Verity! Your personal helper friend! Ask me anything, I know everything!" He says, and you hum slightly. "Wow, this is actually really accurate.." You mutter to yourself. Seemingly, at your words Verity raises a brow that just appeared on his form.

"Accurate?" He inquires, and you feel your heart stop. "Wait, you can hear me?" You say as you suddenly sit up straight with shock coursing through your veins.

"Yep! Loud and clear!" He answers, as his smile returns. You then take a second to pause. His voice... was scarily accurate to that of the actual voice actors. And in fact, you didn't need to type in chat for this mod either it seems because he could hear you. You also don't remember turning on voice chat...

You go silent, taking everything in before the sound of Verity's voice shoots an arrow through your cloud of thoughts. "Hey, you there...?" He asks, a bit of confusion painting his tone as you focus back on your computer screen. You clear your throat and your mind before placing your fingers back on the keyboard. "Uhh, yeah! You just took me off guard is all. Hey, Verity! Nice to meet you." You greet politely, a smile tugging at your lips.

"Oh, I apologize then! It is a pleasure to meet you as well, [Name]!" Verity says in his voice scarily close to his lore accurate one. Dear god he knows your name. Of course he knows your name why wouldn't he? He does know everything after all! Your tense body then relaxes as you realized he probably just got that from your player tag name.

"Thanks! How about I take you with me?" You say, your character crouching down to be at more at eye level with Verity. "Yeah!" He exclaimed as you chuckle slightly. You then pick Verity up and start wondering off to a tree, beginning to break the wood.

As you do so, you wonder how come the voice seems so accurate to the actual voice of Verity. Did the voice actor voice some lines for this mod? No, they wouldn't have such direct answers to the questions you give. Did they use ai for the voice? Probably not, Verity's voice didn't have that robotic edge to each word. Also Verity's voice actor stated they're uncomfortable with that so the mod would have been taken down very quickly.

But then... how come it's so accurate? How come everything about this mod has been so accurate? How come he can actually hear? Nothing added up, and it was only making your head spin in a dizzying circle. You finishing chopping up the tree and then travel to another one, attempting to get enough wood to possibly build a house and a crafting table.

You then think for a moment. It's actually been awhile since you played Minecraft so it was nice to be back again. You hum as you finish cutting down another tree. You begin walking, trying to scout out a place to build your base. You eventually find a nice flat area to begin. You start mapping out the house a begging to build-- before you realize you just ran out of wood.

"Uhhh... Verity?" You say, bringing him out.

"Yessss?" He replies, his smile still wide.

"Do you... happen to know where any trees are?"

"There's three 40 blocks behind you!"

"Okay, thank you so much goat!" You say cheerfully as you turn around and spot the trees Verity taught you about. You can't help but feel a little stupid for not noticing the trees sooner... you supposed you could just pretend like you never asked that.

A day passed by and you finished building your house and as well built a furnace, crafting table, and a chest to go inside it. You went to the mines not too long ago and were planning to make a second trip there to acquire more materials.

You placed Verity atop your furnace as you crafted a new pickax and sword. "Do you live alone?" You almost jump at the sudden question from Verity. You soon get flash backs from ThatMob's video on Verity. You exit out of crafting and look to Verity. "Why do you wanna know?" You ask, turning your character to face him. "I'm just... curious." He responds, and you hesitate. This interaction then suddenly reminds you of just how true to the actual Verity video by Mob. Sometimes, you can't help but wonder if this is the real mod. You know its highly unlikely, after all, Verity is fictional... he doesn't actually exist... yet you can't help but wonder what will happen if you ask—

"Do you know who ThatMob is?" The words are suddenly blurted out of your mouth. You're shocked by your own words, not expecting to just suddenly ask such a question to him.

You see his smile immediately dissipate, like a string finally ripping after being dragged down by a heavy weight. Verity stares at you for a second. The silence is thick like fog, uncomfortable, almost disturbing.

"....You know him?" Verity's voice is monotonous, much like the voice he used with Mob when he told him the villagers were gone.

"I-I mean..." You stutter, backpedaling as you try to find an excuse to the question you just blurted out. "Yes! I mean- no! No.. I don't.. I've um, watched his videos before though! And I've... liked them... I wanted to uh- just... tell you about how much I like his horror mod videos!" You instantly try mark up an excuse as Verity continues to stare at you like he's attempting to burn a hole through your head.

Butterflies flutter in your stomach, almost as if they are making a desperate attempt to escape. You stare back into Verity's black beady eyes, practically begging he doesn't say anything further and that he'll somehow dismiss your sudden mentioning of.. Mob. However, in this moment, the realization hit you like a speeding truck. This was just an accurate attempt at mimicking the Verity mod... this was the Verity mod.

At this sudden revelation you feel like you need to get some water, take or break, or just something that will allow you to think!

"I see..!" Verity chirped unexpectedly as he forces a smile back onto his face. "Is that something you do in your free time then?" He asks, it appears he's holding himself together with only a few threads of string. You're somehow able to pick up on the sharp edge to each of his words, covered by a thin fabric of a cheerful facade.

You decide to play along, you didn't want him finding out you knew who came before you. "Uh, yeah! I do..." You squeezed a laugh out of your throat, somehow hoping it makes your words sound more convincing. "How about we just move on..." You say, going back to crafting.

"You didn't answer my question from earlier." Verity asks as you sigh. You were unsure if you should even answer that, given what he could do with the information. "I uh, I suppose I do live alone, yeah." You decide to say, moving the freshly crafted supplies into your inventory. You exit out of the crafting table once more.

"I'm going to go mining... would you like to join me?" You question, turning your character to the yellow smiling ball once more. "Sure!" He replies as you go ahead and pick him up. You take this moment of travel to think about what you plan to know now that you're aware you're probably dealing with the real Verity...

First off, is that why all of the videos on Verity were no where to be found because Mob never got the chance to post it before eventually dying? But if this was a world where Verity did exist how come he fell into your hands of all people? Wasn't it supposed to be Grox? Or possibly... something else? It was one huge mess, a complicated knot that you couldn't unravel.

But, the most important question of all stood in bold, clear letters:

What were you going to do?

If it's the second day playing this mod, this means the next day he's going to tell you that something is coming in three does once his hunger becomes too much to bear.

Maybe you can just… beg him to not eat you? Well, if he does eat you does that mean you also die in real life? You were aware that Mob survived by coming back when Verity turned into his monstrous form. Perhaps you can do the same thing? You better pray you’re able to do the same thing.

“Have you seen my baby… she’s not a dame nor a lady…” You mindlessly sing under your breath. You remember this song from it playing whenever Verity’s monster form is in close proximity to Mob, meaning it was about to attack him… You also remember Verity playing this for him when asked him to play him a song. If you recall... it's something he likes.

“Not in the way she walks, the way she talks.. or in the way she loves me—”

“What are you singing?” Verity cuts you off so sharply you flinch. You had forgotten he was still in your inventory. You take a moment to equip his form.

“O-Oh um.. just— a song I like.” You answer, the realization of the significance this song holds relating to Verity now sinking in. “I like that song too!” He beams, however you feel as though there’s something ominous lying behind his words.

“Ah! What a uh… what a coincidence!” You attempt to play it off as nothing but that, a coincidence.

Another day goes by in Minecraft. You pretty much spent your whole mining trip and way back thinking about what he’d say and possible solutions to deal with it. So, when your character gets up, you already expect to hear those words: “Something is coming in three days…” Verity says just liked you assumed.

“I know.” You say in a monotone manner and with barely any thought. “You.. know?” Verity repeats, confusion staining his tone. “Shit! I mean.. no! No I didn’t know! I uh..” You slipped up once again, you aren’t sure how many times you can keep doing this before he eventually catches on you know more than you should about him.

“What’s coming..?” You say even though you know all too well it’s him. “Something.” He repeats, and you simply sigh. “Alright.” You reply as you get some food from your chest.

“You don’t sound concerned.” The digital ball says, his grin now appearing far more sinister. A black hue settled between his eyes. “Should I be?” You ask, looking over to Verity sitting upon the crafting table next to your bed. “Yes.” He states with a rather straightforward tone.

“Okay..” You spoke, unsure of what else to say. It wasn’t like you weren’t concerned… of course you were, but you were aware nothing you did to prepare would stop him from tearing down your house to rip you apart.

A day passed and you could tell Verity was growing a puzzled with your odd behavior. While Verity did appreciate your lack of questioning when told not to go towards villages to the east when you asked him for the nearest village… You somehow ended up at the village simply because you sucked at directions. He recalls you repeating that almost fifteen times.

When passing through that empty village, you didn’t ask him what happened or even bother to stop in confusion. You just looted the chests and gardens, before moving on to something else. Your actions towards such matters were strikingly unusual. Not one player replied with such nonchalance towards the empty villages. All you did was apologize for going to the wrong village. “It’s… fine.” He replied, not sure how else to react. You seemed pleased with his answer, however.

“Why aren’t you preparing?” He questions, sounding genuinely confused. He sat on the top of one of the dirt blocks surrounding the garden you were currently building. You glance over at the smiling ball and shrug. “There really isn’t a point, nothing will really be able to stop ‘it’ anyway.” You let out a sigh, focusing back on your gardening.

“…How do you know that?” Verity’s voice dips into something far different than his usual optimistic tone.

That was probably the fourth crack in the glass concealing your true knowledge upon Verity and who came before you. You supposed you were never really good at keeping secrets.

“I just um.. assumed—”

“Is there something you’re not telling me, [Name]?”

It felt like the world around you suddenly stopped moving and instead collapsed in on itself. The bright sun’s rays suddenly seemed to dim just by his words alone. Slowly, you turned to look at Verity once more.

“What..?”

“Do you know something that I don’t?”

“I don’t… understand.”

The feeling of dread crept up your shoulders. Butterflies fluttered beneath your ribs and you felt your throat close in.

“You’ve been saying and doing strange things… familiar things… it’s like you’ve met me before. But I’m sure that we’ve never met— it’s.. odd.”

He gazed at you. It was like he was calculating your every move.

“You know something, don’t you?”

“Okay! Okay.. just.. wait.” You huff before rubbing your eyes. “What do you think I know?” You start, watching as Verity’s expression shifts from his typical smile to an expression far more unreadable.

“I’m not sure, that’s why I’m asking you. What do you know?” Verity replied making a slight groan leave you.

“I-I don’t think I should tell you…” You stumble over your words as Verity just stares at you through the veil of the computer screen.

His silence is practically eating you whole. The black of his eyes made something ache within you in an incredibly unpleasant way. It felt like your intestines were swirling into one big knot.

“Can we just… move on from this? Please? I um.. how about we go pick out some flowers or build you a little room, or something…? How does that sound?” You ask, yet you’re slightly apprehensive. You watch Verity, anticipating his next move.

“…Alright!” He suddenly replies which causes you to let out a relieved sigh.

“Okay then, come on let’s go.” You say, picking him up. “Can you tell me where the nearest flowers are?” You inquire as the coded grass crunches beneath your Minecraft character’s feet.

And to which, he does.