Chapter Text
TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!!! DEPICTIONS OF BLOOD AND A SMASHED SKULL. PLEASE STAY SAFE!!
Very few people have ever survived a hardcore death. Out of millions of players, the list can be counted on one hand – and all those people had favours with gods. Wemmbu definitely did not have any favours with gods. In fact, he was almost 100% sure that most gods out there wished him dead. Hell, it wasn’t like his own people liked him very much.
In the Unstable Universe, Death is final. There are no re-dos, no extra lives. Once you die, you’re gone forever. So when Wemmbu used up his last totem against the army of law awhile back and now he felt his skull crack from the power of Lettuce’s mace, he’d expected to be dead. His shattered skull separated and sent shrapnel into the soft tissue of his brain. The world went blank – not because he was dead but rather because his own skull severed his optical nerves. He fell. And the fall was what killed him. The fall from that stupid faux-election stage.
But before that, seconds stretched into infinite time in his mind and yet no time at all too. He’d spent so long feeling like he was always running out of time to now be at his death bed and begging for it to stop. As he was falling, he was thinking – or doing some approximation of that as his brain was nothing more than shattered soup now. He thought about Egg first. What would happen to him now that Wemmbu was dead? Sure, Egg was actually a pretty decent fighter when he tried but the End had softened him. Minutetech. He should've been a better friend, visited more often, helped him protect the End. Flame… Jaden… Parrot. What would happen to all of them now that Wemmbu was dead? 4C – why hadn’t the teleport worked? Did 4C betray Egg and Parrot?
Well, it wouldn’t be his problem anymore, which scared him, so Wemmbu would have to let it go. He’d have to let
When Wemmbu finally teleported to 4C and Egg, he’d been dead for no more than a few seconds but he was dead. His skull was caved in, blood poured from his eyes and mouth – spinal fluid leaking from his ears. And for the first time in a long time, Egg saw peace in his friend.
“Wemmbu!” Egg yelled, dropping down to Wemmbu’s side. “Shit!” He shoved a totem into Wemmbu’s hand, squeezed it tight into his grip with his own larger hands covering Wemmbu’s still warm fingers. The little golden totem did nothing. Totems were not used to revive dead players – when a totem popped, it was to prevent death, not bring someone back. Egg let out a weak sound of frustration at the sight and squeezed harder. “Wemmbu! Bro, please! Please, this isn’t how you’re supposed to go! Wake up! Please!”
4C who’d been shocked at the sight of someone’s skull caved in – he was a builder, not a fighter after all, stood back, went pale, and threw up what he’d eaten earlier. Egg looked over at him briefly before all his attention was back on Wemmbu. He brought Wemmbu’s body into his arms and hugged him close to his chest, sobbing. Egg’s wings wrapped around them both as he looked down at his unrecognisable friend.
This was not the end. Egg wouldn’t allow it. With hot vengeance coursing through his veins and a power he’d long since kept hidden reactivating in his body, Egg rose up off the floor, Wemmbu still in his arms. He looked to 4C and asked, “It’ll take me to the Farlands, right?” 4C nodded, unable to muster up any words. Eggchan took out a pearl and readied himself on the spot. He looked back at 4C, “You know the deal, you didn’t see us.” And with that, Egg teleported away, Wemmbu still in his arms.
They landed on the side of a cliff, Wemmbu’s body still slumped in his arms. Egg spread out his wings and with one jump and flap, flew up into the sky. “Don’t worry, Wemmbu, I’m going to save you. I just have to take you home.”
The arena erupted into chaos as Wemmbu’s body disappeared and a death sound echoed. Lettuce stood motionless on the podium as he looked down at the bloody spot where the most powerful player in the Unstable Universe had died. He dropped his mace to the floor, his heart racing and adrenaline rocking through his whole body. Then, through the silence of the podium as Parrot, Purpled, and Boosfer all watched on in horror, Lettuce began to laugh. “How!” He shouted above the noise of the screaming masses, “How?!” He ran a hand through his fur, his sharp teeth gleaming, “How could the most powerful player fall so easily?!” He doubled over with his laughter.
Parrot took a step back, ready to run, when Lettuce snarled and grabbed ahold of the bird’s arm, “And where do you think you’re going, fugitive?” The dog’s teeth suddenly seemed sharper than they usually did.
“I–” Parrot started but was interrupted.
“Really, I should be thanking you for bringing Wemmbu back to me so I could kill him. Now, there’s no one left to stand in my way and I can kill just like I’m going to kill that friend of yours.” Parrot tried to speak again but Lettuce continued, “And no, I don’t mean Wemmbu. Theo is next. Guards!”
No one seemed to ever really question Egg’s appearance. An eyeball wearing a suit, seemingly talking from nothing with giant fucking wings coming from his back? Nah, that shit does not get questioned in the Unstable Universe. It made sense though as the current dictator of their civilization was a talking dog-thing… Maybe he was a cat – Egg didn’t really care. Either way, no one ever wondered about Egg’s origins and that now would be all of their mistake to bear.
When he got far enough away to be sure that no one would be able to find them in the Farlands, Egg lowered down to the ground. He looked at the friend in his arms again and sighed. Wemmbu was pale now and the misshapen part of his head made Egg wish he had a mouth to gag with. Instead, he tenderly set his friend to the grass floor of the crest they were on top of and began to search through his enderchest for what he needed. Always, he kept the materials needed to go home there in his ender chest. Never, did he think he’d have to return there. He dug out the 12 blocks of glowstone and began to build.
The thing is, Egg is not just a random player with an interesting looking build – in another world, he’s an angel… Some might even call him a demigod. And now, he was returning to that world, with Wemmbu, in order to save his greatest friend. He was going to the realm of the Gods – the Aether.
Not just everyone could go to the Aether – many tried. To go to the Aether, you need a bucket of Origin water, something that is almost impossible to come by, especially in such a new world like Unstable. Therefore, as most don’t know that the type of water you need is specific, the Aether has become nothing more than a myth for the general populace. And honestly, the Gods like it that way.
When Egg empties the water into the frame, instantly, the deep blue water swirls into the shape of a glowing portal. A siren song begins to play which sends shivers up Egg’s body and makes his wings rustle – he’s immediately reminded of why he left in the first place.
Egg picks up Wemmbu’s body and with a moment of hesitation, he steps through the portal and back to his home.
***
Instantly, as the song rings out in his ears and he feels the rush of dimension swapping coursing through his very soul, Egg knows he’s home. And just as fast as he teleported, his mood sours.
Don’t get him wrong, the Aether is very lovely… It’s just the people in the Aether that he’s not too fond of, mainly his father. The nice thing about the Aether, however, is that now Egg is at his full strength in his own domain. Instantly he feels lighter and more free and knows that no threats will come to him or Wemmbu as he travels home.
Egg orientates himself in the direction of home, clutches Wemmbu tightly against him and lifts off. He needs to get his hands on some Ambrosia. Now.
Somehow, Parrot isn’t sure really, he manages to escape the guards and lettuce. His mind was reeling from the sight of such a brutal death. Sure, he saw death a lot in his line of work and it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen people die from mace attacks before but this was different. Usually, attacks from maces pulverise players into oblivion. This mace, however, did not do that. The hit directly to Wemmbu’s unguarded head should’ve killed him instantly but it didn’t and Parrot got to see first hand what a weaker mace than Gambit does to a person.
He remembers flashes of people screaming and running and through the chaos he must’ve managed to blend in. Now though, he had nowhere to go. Flame? Maybe? Coin? No. It’s pretty obvious now that Coin sold them out to Law on the way here. Spoke? Definitely not.
Parrot’s wings beat harder and he tried desperately not to burst into tears as he flew off. He had nothing left. No Theo. No Sky. No home. Nothing… Oh no… not nothing… Egg! Suddenly, he banked mid air, enough to set some of his bright green feathers loose and flew off in the direction of 4C and Egg at the newly built ender pearl cannon.