Chapter Text
Swords clashed against each other. The sick metallic scent of blood filled the air around them as they danced between the sharp blades and heavy maces.
They’d been fighting for hours now.
The heavy slam of his former friend’s mace causes another one of his totems to pop, saving his life again. A million thoughts were running through his head; the most prominent one questioned why he betrayed him.
They worked so well together. Guess some people never change.
He dodged over to the left, narrowly avoiding the strike as the mace smashed into the grass instead.
Lucky.
He ran down, through the bamboo and the foliage on the jungle floor as blades narrowly skimmed him. A hiss escaped him as the tip of sharp netherite pierced through his skin. He scrambled onto the top of a tree before the exhaustion finally caught up to him and his legs broke down.
He shut his eyes. The sound of a wind charge by his feet. And then…
He gasped in pain, eyes shooting open wide before shutting again. God damn you, sun. Where was he anyway?
Ruined crop fields, blown up pens… Was this a farm?
What has gone down here?
Obviously a fight, Slush. Get it together.
He got up with a grunt before looking through his inventory; he was missing everything but his diamond chestplate and tools.
Glancing around the very destroyed farm again, he spotted a house on the side and decided to head towards it. Maybe the person who lives there can guide him or something?
He soon approached the house, his netherite sword clutched in his hands as he crouched behind the walls. No name tags, so he continued and walked in. It was a pretty basic layout.
There were chests on the left for storage, with a nice little fireplace too. A small kitchen was formed in the middle with a table in the center. A room was made off in the right corner, presumably as the person's bedroom. A little enchanting station was made next to it with lecterns and stacks of books. A book and quill was placed in the lectern that Slushly would have read if he didn't think it was an invasion of privacy.
Or a waste of time.
He strode to the left, opening up chest after chest. They were quite neatly organized, stocked with various crops and wood. Opening up one on the far right, Slushly spotted something he could very much use right now; a spare diamond armor set, sitting right there, unused.
Slushly glanced left.
Then right.
Then snatched it.
He quickly equipped it; just in time for him to hear footsteps outside.
Three, maybe four people?
He was not winning an outnumbered fight with the low resources he has. Though it seems like he has no other choice but to confront them.
He walks out, calm, collected, and scans around. He spotted one player's enchanted iron boots just barely duck behind the building.
The scrape of boots on a stone roof could be heard. It took barely a second for Slushly to react.
A sharp clang of blade against blade could be heard as his sword parried the bandit's attack.
Based on their stances, they have experience with this kind of work.
The other three bandits emerge from their positions, surrounding Slushly from all sides. Most of them are in half diamond, with only the leader in a full set.
As one of them pushes forward, the others match. Their shields are held in front of them, protecting them from any attacks while also preparing to strike as soon as they are disabled.
Slushly wind charges up, stun slamming the bandit to his left. The others move to attack him, forcing him into a defensive stance as most of their swings hit his shield.
He pushes forward, dodging the sharp blades as each slash inches him closer and closer to death. A particularly hard strike from an axe puts him on one heart. Webs litter the battlefield, and before long, he’s placed himself in a web bubble as he scarfs down golden apples.
“Come on guys,” Slushly finally speaks, “let’s just talk this out, alright?”
He earned a grunt from the leader, but he speaks up as well. “You want to talk, huh?”
His voice is low and rough and something that just sounded fake. A voicechanger. The leader steps forward, earning a small shift in position from Slushly.
“Everything from your inventory. Right now. Then you’re coming with me.”
Sounds… familiar. A little like how Wyll was like back then.
The difference between now and then was the fact that there was only one player. And Slushly wasn’t in crippling debt.
As he’s tossing over his items, prepared to reenact his first lives on Wisp, he hears the sound of hooves on dirt in the distance. Riding over the hills were two people.
He couldn’t see them quite well, but he could see that one was dressed in mostly black and warm colors; the other in mostly yellow and brown. The reddish-orange rays of the sunset behind them framed them both perfectly.
They both ride up to the commotion, dismounting their horses before strolling up.
“Yo, what is happening, bro?” the one with the blindfold asks, a hand gripped on his sword. Next to him, the one with the golden wreath crown locks eyes with him.
“None of your business.” The leader of the bandits doesn’t seem too intimidated, despite his teammates cowering behind him.
“I-It’s the Immortal Demon!” one of the bandits stutters as the two newcomers approach closer.
Slushly could tell that the blindfolded one was a skilled fighter based on the way he carried himself. Posture relaxed, yet ready to move in the case of a battle starting. His grip was steady; not too tense, but not loose enough to easily knock it out of his hand.
“Bro, this is my friend’s farm, bro,” he says, “of course it’s my business."
The leader stares at the blindfolded man for a moment before scoffing and swinging his axe. The latter parries the blow with his sword as he throws three splash potions, starting to fight back.
Slushly’s gaze wanders over to the other three bandits who have already started running the opposite direction.
“Are you okay?” A soft voice startles him, instinctively getting back into battle stance. The guy with the golden wreath stands next to him, hands raised in a placating gesture.
Realizing the man next to him has no intent to harm, Slushly relaxes a little and switches off his sword.
“I’m fine,” he replies, his voice a little gruff from being jumped. “Just a little low.”
“I’m Lomedy,” he introduces as he hands over a couple golden carrots. Slushly takes them and bites into one. “Slushly.”
The bitterness lingered on his tongue, even after the carrot was already gone. It was something he ate every day, yet he was still not used to the taste.
“That’s Flame,” Lomedy continues, pointing over to the blindfolded guy. “One of the best fighters I know, and my best friend.”
Slushy nods as he watches, witnessing the pearls and wind charges thrown around as Flame pursues the bandit. Not long after the fight started, the bandit was killed, a loud sound effect playing as the death message pops up.
M0r3ov3r was slain by FlameFrags using [Fragger]
Soon enough, Flame was in front of him. He could feel his intense gaze glancing over his form, despite the blindfold over his eyes.
“So, what are you doing here, bro?” he asks, his sword by his side cautiously.
Slushy could see the sparks of flames left on his sword. It was a little intimidating, to say the least.
“Okay, this is gonna sound really, really weird.”
Slushly sat on the couch of the same house he had just robbed. Thankfully, this was Lomedy’s house, and not the soon-to-be combat grandmaster’s.
Sizzling came from the small kitchen area in the center of the room. Whatever the farmer was cooking up smelled real good. Maybe because he’s been surviving off of nothing but golden carrots lately.
Flame was outside, fixing what was left of the farm after multiple ‘please’s from Loms.
“So… what happened?” Slushly asks after a long moment of awkward silence.
“To the farm?” Lomedy asks before answering when he sees Slushly’s nod. “It’s a long story. Flame and I had a little falling out because of a large event. Then, this faction called The Law started rising into power and Flame got banished. He came to my farm to gear up before The Law caught up and… well.”
This just left Slushly with a lot more questions than answers, honestly.
“The Law?” he questioned, “what’s that?”
“Not too sure,” Lomedy said, “I wasn’t very involved, actually. All I know is that they were led by someone named LettuceK and that they tried making the server a better place by imprisoning bad guys.”
A moment of silence before Lomedy spoke again. “You can ask Flame about it later. He was much more involved than me.”
The Law… That sounds like a good faction, no? A group that imprisons the bad people would help a lot in a large server. On the other hand, there might have been more to the story. It’s best to not assume.
The door soon swung open. Flame stepped in, heading over to a chest before unloading the extra materials that weren't needed for repairs.
Coincidentally, Lomedy had also finished dinner rabbit stew with a side of baked potato.
The three ate in awkward silence.
“You know,” Flame finally spoke up after a few minutes, “we should probably talk to Parrot about this. This is, like, really serious.”
Slushly blinked.
“Who’s Parrot?” he asked after a second.
“Parrot is our king,” Flame answers. “He was really big on the whole ‘good person’ thing too. You’ll like him. We’re visiting tomorrow for a meeting.”
And suddenly, Slushly was actually looking forward to the next day.