Chapter Text
18 players stood around a circle of flowers. Around them was sprawled a birch forest on top of a hill, the sunlight peeking through the trees. Scattered chatting filled the group, until Grian's voice cut through and grabbed everyone's attention.
"Welcome to Tangled Life. This season will be a lot like Double Life in that we will each have a random soulmate assigned. However, the difference is: each day we play this, new pairs of soulmates will be randomized. We will have the standard three lives, and of course, when you turn red you become hostile. There are a few more twists and turns along the way, but I will explain those when we get to them."
Everyone stood there in silence for a few more moments, as though expecting something else important to be added.
"Alright, that's it! Go go go!"
And with Grian's final addition, everyone began to rush in different directions. After a brief moment of chaotic scrambling at spawn, soon enough everyone had split into smaller groups and begun to punch the trees all around them.
The jumbled voices, along with the sunlight, were soon drowned out as Grian ran into the dark oak forest behind where he'd been standing. He could feel his chest pump up with the excitement of a new series, especially one that brought back one of his favourite mechanics so far in a new and rebranded way. It was only when he felt the slight hurt in his cheeks that he realized how hard he'd been smiling. That, and noticing that Gem had been nearby and looking in his direction the whole time, which made Grian quickly catch himself and turn his face away.
Gem sighed. "Why did we have to pick the same direction? I couldn't have ended up next to anyone else, apparently!"
"Um… Hi, Gem." Grian tried to get back into focus, placing down a crafting table and beginning on making some starter tools. "You're not still mad about last season, right?"
Gem had to pause and formulate her answer for a moment to not sound aggressive. "...I'm trying not to be. But just to be clear, I am not going to be teaming with you again this season!"
Grian gave a small, nervous chuckle. "Yeah, didn't think so. Ooh, wait, what's that over there?"
"Of course…" Gem said to herself as she watched Grian run off. Despite every fiber of her being protesting against it, she still followed him.
"Gem, look!" He pointed to the side. "We've got azalea trees here!"
She walked as she got closer and stopped in front of it. "Oh, so we're on top of a lush cave! Good to know."
"Y'know…" Grian contemplated for a moment, staring at the ground around the tree. "I kinda want to just dig straight down until I reach it. Would that be stupid?"
"Absolutely it would, and I am not joining you for it." Gem turned around and placed down a crafting table, trying to ignore the sounds of digging through rooted dirt that soon started behind her.
"AHH!" A muffled scream from underground caused her to jump slightly. "There's skeletons!"
"Oh my god…" She facepalmed as she approached the hole he'd dug… "Grian!"
"Gem, help!" Grian could be seen through the hole, breathing rapidly as he pillared back up with dirt in a panic.
"You're an idiot!" Gem scolded.
"Oh, man…" Grian finally neared the top again, and propped himself back out as he tried to catch his breath. "I almost just died before soulmates were even assigned!"
"Okay, I'm done with you." Gem got up from a crouching position. She picked her stuff back up and began to walk off in a random direction. "I'm gonna be going this way now! Just, telling you so you don't follow me by accident!"
With Gem having ditched him, Grian was left to sit and take a few moments to try and regain his composure. He had made many mistakes the previous season, but despite it all, he'd still made it quite far. If only he'd just been a little more patient, right at the very end…
Trying to shake those thoughts away, Grian got up again. Any time he spent dwelling on Past Life was time he spent not taking actionable steps to making things better this time around. With that new mindset, he set off to get a proper start on his new season.
On almost the opposite side from spawn, Joel and Lizzie found themselves in the same general vicinity, amidst the open fresh air of the birch forest. Lizzie was breaking a tree and making tools, while Joel, already with a wooden sword in hand, was exploring and looking around for animals to kill.
"Look, Lizzie! Come over here!"
Lizzie's head turned around instinctively at hearing his voice. She walked towards it to see him standing at a scenic clearing around various roshe bushes. "Aww, that looks really nice!"
"Yeah, I know." Joel took a step closer to her. "It's kinda perfect that we found this, since, y'know, they represent love and stuff. Speaking of which, d'you think we'll get to be soulmates this season?"
"That would be nice, wouldn't it?" Lizzie smiled, tilting her head. "Though… I'm probably gonna be safer if not."
"Wow…" Joel huffed, feigning annoyance. "I get it, you don't wanna be soulmates, I'm leaving!"
They both laughed about it as Joel ran on ahead and Lizzie followed. The former stopped soon after upon reaching a grove biome. Slightly hesitant by the sudden change in climate, he stepped only one foot forward at first, feeling it sinking into the snow.
"Oh, look at this, there's some powdered snow!" Joel pointed out when he realized what was happening.
"Yeah… you'd better be careful around that stuff!" Lizzie called out from behind him.
Joel turned towards her. "Wait, just hear me out: we could go in the snow right as the soulmates are announced, just to scare whoever we're paired with, what d'you think?"
"That sounds like a terrible idea." Lizzie wasted no time in shutting him down. "What if we're just paired with each other? Then it'd hurt us twice as fast!"
"It'll be fine, trust me!" Joel took out some planks. "Here, I'll even make an extra shovel for you so we can break out quicker."
Watching him get to work on a crafting bench, Lizzie sighed, realizing soon enough that she wouldn't be able to convince him to stop. "Alright… but only for a little bit."
While some people were playing around and only started getting tools, others had already begun to journey their way into caves. Two of these, namely, were Jimmy and Tango, who had been by each other from the moment they left spawn. It was a shallow part of the cave they were in, and yet they had already found a good enough amount of iron which they were now waiting on to smelt.
Jimmy leaned back against the cavern wall, sitting on top of a furnace. "How cool would it be if you and I, we got to be soulmates again, do you think?"
"Yeah, I mean…" Tango scoffed, not turning around as placed some torches around the area. "If you're fine with me bringing back your curse, I wouldn't mind or whatever."
"No!" Jimmy argued. "Don't say that, dude. You're gonna make it far, trust me."
"I dunno about that…" Tango walked back towards Jimmy. "If last season's anything to go by, then, y'know."
"Right, yeah, but—!" Jimmy struggled for words. "Things were different last season! The game was different! This time you can do better, I know it!"
Your soulmate is…
Tango shrugged. "Welp, here it is!"
3…
"Oh my gosh, it's happening!" Jimmy panicked for a second, then cupped Tango's face. "Look me in the eyes."
2…
Tango yelped. "Okay! If it's us, you can say goodbye to being a green name today."
1…
"No!" Jimmy stared intensely. "If it's us, we stick together, and we'll survive. Alright?"
???
The two paused in silence, still looking deep into each other's eyes.
Jimmy then glanced down for a brief moment, in the direction of the furnace beneath him. He turned back to Tango, and the two gave each other a knowing look.
Jumping down from the furnace, Jimmy stared at it for a beat. Then, slowly and cautiously, he extended his arm forward. No words were exchanged still, as he reached towards the fire and Tango watched in silence.
Then, Jimmy touched the fire, immediately recoiling his arm as a reflex from the sharp sting. He turned towards Tango in anticipation of his reaction.
Tango's shoulders dropped. "Nope. Nothing."
Jimmy sighed. "Dang it, dude! I was really hoping for that!"
[The boogeyman will be announced in 5 minutes.]
[GeminiTay]: oh my god
[Grian]: huh
[Grian]: weird
[GeminiTay]: you're never going to get it
"It's okay." Tango patted Jimmy's back. "It's probably better for you anyway."
"You stop that, alright?" Jimmy pointed at Tango accusingly. "I don't wanna hear any of that anymore!"
"I'm just sayin'. You wouldn't wanna—" Tango was interrupted by a loud 'thud' further down the cave, followed by a blunt pain on the side of his thigh." —ow!"
Then, in the same direction as the thud, there was a voice.
"AAHH!" It was a Bdubs scream. "MY LEG!"
"No… Don't tell me…" Tango turned in the direction of the sound and peeked around the cave tunnel.
Though it was almost pitch black on the other side, he could see Cleo and Scott on top of a ledge looking down at Bdubs, who had seemingly fallen down and was about to be swarmed by mobs.
"OH NO! HELP!" He retreated against one of the walls, and Tango could see that he was wielding only a wooden sword, with no armor or shield.
"RUN!" Tango shouted, trying to hide himself around the turn. "Get outta there!"
"Oh!" Bdubs turned instinctively at the sound of a voice. "Alright, I'm coming!"
Finding an opening, Bdubs took off and ran towards the lit-up area where Tango and Jimmy were. Once he was squarely inside, Jimmy stepped up and covered the path with cobblestone blocks, stopping any mobs from following them in. The safe space allowed for them both to rest while Scott and Cleo soon joined them to help out with giving some of their food as well.
"I got some before coming here, but I can't give you all of it." Scott handed Bdubs a few cooked porkchops. "I'm still keeping some for myself and Cleo."
"I'm getting flashbacks…" Cleo sneezed, their body shivering.
"What, is your soulmate getting hurt already?" Jimmy asked. "When they've just been rolled?"
"Yeah, imagine what that would be like…" Tango side-eyed Bdubs.
"Aww, come on!" Bdubs laughed teasingly. "Don't lie! You love that you got to be with me, don't you?"
"Not hurt," Cleo rerailed the conversation, "but I do feel very cold all of a sudden."
"I have a feeling I know what that's like…" Scott placed a hand on her shoulder in empathy.
The group continued to chat while huddled inside their little corner of the cave, mostly discussing their expectations and plans for the season. With no way of knowing who they might have to be working with in the future, thinking ahead strategically was more vital for this game than ever.
One player who was acutely aware of this was Martyn who, was running over ideas in his mind when he ran into Mumbo and Skizz. They were mining coal in a small cave entrance by a river margin when he swam in and leaned onto the surface ground.
"Eyo!" Martyn pushed his dripping hair out of the way of his face. "You guys got any inkling of who your soulmates might be just yet?"
"Oh my goodness, I didn't see you there!" Mumbo stopped what he was doing and walked close to where Martyn was. "And no, I've got nothing. I mean, it's not like anything's had a chance to happen yet, and so far I've only met- what the—"
His rambling was interrupted by Martyn digging into floating gravel on the cave ceiling above, causing it to fall on top of him and cover him in it.
"Dude! What the heck, man!" Skizz noticed what was happening and went to help, hurriedly trying to dig Mumbo out of it with his hands amidst chokes and sputters from the latter.
"MARTYN!" Mumbo's angry yell when he was finally out was only met with laughter from the culprit.
"Sorry, I had to!" Martyn's laugh trailed off. "Guess you know it's not either of us, now, right?"
"Next time a warning would be nice, mate." Mumbo pulled himself out of the pile and dusted the gravel off of him.
"Listen, would you guys like to do some mining?" Martyn decided to change the topic.
"What does it look like we're up to here?!" Skizz pointed a hand to his pickaxe.
"Sure, yeah, but did you know you're more likely to find ores underwater?" Martyn jumped out of the water towards their crafting table. Taking some birch planks from his inventory, he used them to craft a couple of doors. "I think it's worth a try."
The other two exchanged puzzled looks when he handed out the doors to each of them, but eventually gave in and decided to try it. Hopping back into the river, they dove down deep into an underwater cavern and began their search.
This was about as much as Martyn had managed to accomplish so far after splitting up at spawn with Etho, who was still hanging around the area. Circling around the bay area nearby, he could see Ren and Pearl sitting next to the shore, with the former having a rod cast out to fish. The sight caught his attention, so trudged down the hills to approach them.
"Woah, you guys got a fishing rod already?" Etho pointed out once he was close enough.
"Oh yeah, dude!" Ren turned around at the new presence. "There was a spider that came out of a cave, and Miss Pearl took care of it!"
"We got pretty lucky, I'd say." Pearl added. A moment later, she held a hand to her forehead. "Ow… Why do I feel this pressure all of a sudden?"
"Wait, you too?!" Etho did the exact same motion as her. "No, it couldn't be…"
"Would we really just get a random headache like this, though?" Pearl knew that the game's world had changes it'd make to their bodies, mostly to allow them to focus on the competition aspect. "I don't think that can happen, it's gotta be something else…"
[The boogeyman is about to be announced.]
"Uh oh! It's time!" Ren stopped what he was doing and put down the fishing rod. "Prepare yourselves, everyone!"
You are…
They each pulled out their communicators, turning to tensed-up silence as they watched the numbers count down. Ren, being in the middle of them, instinctively held it close to his body so they wouldn't look over, even though he was considering telling them regardless of the result.
3…
2…
1…
THE BOOGEYMAN.
Pearl sighed in relief. "Not it."
"Dudes…" Ren's face had gone pale. "...It's me."
As with the previous season, the message sent to the boogeyman upon announcement stated that voluntary sacrifices would not cure the curse. The difference this time being that only one boogeyman would be chosen per day, as there were less lives to go around.
After the selection had been made, the server settled into their activities. The same old early-game movements as always, of collecting resources and making plans. At this point, everyone was either in a small group or alone, burrowed into the underground to strip-mine and explore caves. The ones more brave to do the latter tended to be the bigger squads, such as the five formed earlier on when Tango and Jimmy ran into Bdubs' group.
They had spent several minutes deep below, helping each other to collect as much as they could find, and only coming back up thanks to Scott pointing out that they were low on food. Once they made it near the entrance again, however, the sky that opened up in front of them was one that was pouring down rain.
"'Kay… no way am I going out there…" Tango recoiled, his hair flames flickering.
"Right, yeah, makes sense…" Jimmy shared a sympathetic glance. "We don't know how long it's gonna last though! Are you just gonna be here the whole time?"
"I think what we can do," Scott interjected, "is I can go out and scout the area and try to look for a good place to settle. Then I'll let you know when I find it."
"Sounds good." Bdubs answered without even waiting for Tango's input. "And Tango and I can just wait here, and maybe smelt all this iron we got in the meantime!"
"I'm going out as well." Cleo joined in. "I could also run into my soulmate while I'm out there, so…"
Their speech trailed off as they made their way out with Scott. The two split up once outside, being careful not to slip on the wet rocks as they climbed out of the crater-like hole that the cave opened up to, until reaching the higher, grassy ground of the forest around them.
Jimmy watched them leave. "I'm staying in here as well to keep you guys company."
"Nice to have more people." Though appreciative, Tango couldn't help but shift awkwardly when trying to settle against the jagged walls. "If only waiting in here was a bit more comfortable…"
"Oh, we can tidy up the place!" Bdubs pulled out a pickaxe. "Here, let me open it up some more!"
Picking a corner, Bdubs began to mine out the walls in order to create a larger area by the cave entrance. Soon after, the other two joined in, expanding different sides while the furnaces crackled away at their iron. Their flames created a warm ambience, coating their stone surroundings in tones of orange, and filling the no longer cramped space with a soft burnt smell.
"There we go," Tango slacked onto a portion of stone he'd carved out to be made into a seat, huffing from the physical exertion. "Much better."
"Are you tired already?" Bdubs stifled a laugh as he prettied up the place with stairs for seats. "We've barely done anything!"
Tango sighed. "I know, right? Yeah. Not gonna last much longer in the game at this rate."
"Tango…" Jimmy, who was placing torches around the 'room', had to hold back a huff of exasperation. "I don't like seeing you have this attitude. Alright? You need to have a little bit of that fight in you, or else we're gonna have a problem."
"I mean… is it that wrong to say, though?" Tango leaned his head back. "Just pointing it out here, we did almost die to those skeletons earlier down there, and whose fault was that?"
"Not mine!" Bdubs perked up. "I was sitting behind safely like a good boy!"
"Exactly." Tango extended a palm forward.
"But that could've happened to anyone, dude!" Jimmy approached Tango, his tone growing more frustrated. "I still think that you have it in you to do great things in this series!"
"Yeah, sure, of course!" Tango said sarcastically. "One good look at my history will tell you that. I mentioned last season before, so, y'know."
Jimmy stepped in front of Tango and held him by the shoulders, his expression now serious. "Tango, I don't think you realize who you're talking to. If even I, the objectively worst player in this game, managed to reach top 5 last season, I don't think you have the right to look me in the eyes and talk about whether you can or can't accomplish something. So you have to at least try. For me?"
Tango's lips trembled, and he held his breath in that tense, silent stare the two shared for a few more moments as he let those words fully sink in. Finally, he let out the breath with a sigh. "...Alright. Y'know what, whatever. It's not like I have any choice but to try anyways, right? That's what we're here for, to survive as long as possible."
"Yeah!!" Bdubs cheered. "I believe in us, dude!"
"Guess that's something, at the very least…" Jimmy let go of Tango. He still wasn't fully satisfied by the response, but decided to leave it at that.
Stretching his arms above his head, Tango adjusted himself in his seat before staring up wistfully at the cave ceiling.
"Guess we'll just have to see how it goes…"