Chapter Text
Wilbur looked at his friend, then back at the death god.
His friend, Schlatt. That was Schlatt. Hornless, furless, human Schlatt, wearing a blue sweatshirt and brown pants and not a suit. Schlatt, whose eyes reflected his overconfidence, not malicious in the slightest.
"We accept your challenge, death." His friend brashly accepted, before looking back at him.
"Yeah, bring it on, death!" He had shouted, boldened by Schlatt's excitement. The god of death glared at them, inhuman eyes grinning in anticipation.
The world flashed around them, bringing them to the shore of a lake, mountains towering around them. "There will be two rounds. The first with water, the second with lava. Survive both of them? Become a god. If you die I won't revive you."
Of course the death god would challenge them to something so hopeless.
When the god had asked them if they were still okay with it, they had agreed. The challenge had started, them gathering the materials to climb the peaks.
"Hey Schlatt," Wilbur had spoke, mindless chopping as many trees as he could, instinctively planting the saplings that fell. "What will you do once we win?"
Schlatt had glanced back at him with a smirk. "I don't know Wilbur." He continued breaking into the mountainside, gathering stone. "I haven't thought about that yet."
They both kept an eye on the lake, watching the water slowly creep up the shoreline.
"When we win, I'm gonna make a place for myself, live a life much grander than how we are currently living, Schlatt. You could come with!" He laughed.
His friend smiles.
That smile never changed. That smile had given him nightmares after he'd been exiled.
The water was rising faster now, so they started climbing. They soon reached the top, far above the original waterline, but the water had followed them.
"We need to start building up." Wilbur commented, glancing down as the speed of the water clearly got faster. "Now, we need to build now."
They pillared up next to each other, the rush of the water making conversation impossible. And then they both ran out of things to build with.
Schlatt had laughed. He jumped at his friend, pushing him off and breaking some of his tower before adding the materials to his own.
The look in his eyes said it all. Fear, guilt, acceptance.
Was Schlatt afraid of-
Wilbur plunged into the water before the world reset.
The god of death was cackling. "Took you guys long enough. This time it's lava!" He said before disappearing again.
"Schlatt? Why did you-"
Schlatt had already started gathering materials, immediately mining stone when he made a crude pickaxe. "Body language, Wilbur. He will only give one of us the power of a god." He explained, that damn smile still on his face.
Is this where Schlatt had changed? Was this where Schlatt started thinking only for himself?
The lava started rising, much faster than the water had. They were towering as fast as they could, Wilbur as far from Schlatt as he could without sacrificing the advantage of starting from the high ground.
And again, it seemed that they had both run out of blocks.
"Schlatt, are you sure you want to do this. We could wait the god out, make it a tie. We don't have to sacrifice each other!"
The other teen stayed silent, pulling out two buckets.
"Schlatt please!" Wilbur had yelled, watching his friend work his way even higher, taking advantage of the way lava reacts with water.
The lava was rising faster. He could see the death god congratulate Schlatt as the heat of the lava approached him.
"Death, I am this close to taking everything from you, I swear." An unfamiliar voice cut through the air as Wilbur felt the rising temperature make him woozy. He stumbled, not feeling arms catch him, lifting him as the lava engulfed his pillar.
He watched as Schlatt accepted Death's handshake, both of them disappearing. Something dark-gray fluttered in the corners of his fading vision.
Are those Phil's? Did Phil save me?
He opened his eyes with a gasp.