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Grayson gulped as he felt another drop of blood run down his forehead. He raised his arms triumphantly, his right hand holding his blade, and the other grasped the platform builder cubes. He heard the cheering thunder as the barrier between “The Islands” and the stands closed down and disappeared, making the onlookers visible. He saw his team members rush towards him on the thin bridge that he had made, carefully walking from island to island. Hannah was the first to reach him and give the purple clad boy a big hug. She unbuckled her purple hat and Grayson did the same.
“Nice move on that last yellow guy, I might have to steal that move next time, how did you do it?” Hannah had a visibly infected cut on her arm, hopefully it would scar better than her explosion mark on her cheek. All of Grayson’s team had their fair share of wounds.
“It’s not as hard as it looks, I simply placed the barriers with the bridge cube as tall as the yellow fella, than preceded to swing around it and kick them off into the void.” He talked about the murder so nonchanluantly, like it was a weekend hobby. In fact, it was his monthly job, but close enough.
“And to think they stood a chance!” David jumped down from a green skybridge above them.
“They did break our bed towards the end there because SOMEONE wasn’t guarding it.” Rachel limped over to them, glaring at David.
“Astelic is a better defender than you to be fair.” Hannah piped back.
“Well Astelic isn’t here right now, and neither is Tyler, so I’m the best you got.” David surrendered. It was hard to hear the conversation over the cheers of the crowd. They began to chant his player name: “PURPLED! PURPLED!” The occasional “Hannah I love you!!” With the tossing of roses was heard too.
“Another win under our belts, as expected.” The bridges began to fade and the moving metal platform came and picked the winners up from their bridges.
All of them were both exhausted from the lack of sleep, and at the same time they could not help but feel victorious at the win. Grayson, more popularly and commonly known as Purpled, was tried. Yes, he was physically tired from almost dying and fighting for his life on a cluster of floating islands, and from the fact that he hadn’t slept in a matter of days, but he was mental tired most of all. Purpled was tired of having to fight just to live every month. He was tired of not getting to just be a kid, tired of the Islands of Eternal Slumber.
Purpled was congratulated but the roaring crowd as him and his team stepped off of the platform and into the waiting area. Call it what you will, it was a cage. It certainly looked like one. It was entirely made of wood, not the most high tech or secure cage, but it did its job. It definitely had all these years. They waited there as the crowd of interviewers and spectators came and asked questions about their victory.
“HANNAH, ARE YOU AWARE YOU BEAT YOUR KILL RECORD?”
“What? Really?” Sarcasm hung off her words like a dead man on a noose. “I mean I’m not competitive at all, it’s not like I would keep track of anything.” Scattered laughter echoed through the waiting room, even exhausted, Hannah could make someone laugh.
“RACHEL, CAN YOU EXPLAIN HOW YOU SINGLE HANDEDLY KILLED OFF THE BLUE TEAM?”
“To be fair, David had to respawn about four times as a sacrifice for me to break the bed and kick ‘em into the void.” She answered, gesturing to David next to her.
“Ah, you give me too much credit, although being ripped apart in the void and stitched back together piece by piece is no fun.” His eyes darkened a bit at his words.
Purpled knew how much respawning hurt, how insanely painful it was. He hoped he would never know how it was to not get stitched back together. He prayed that he never would understand death. Or whatever laid behind the eternal slumber. Whatever laid behind the void.
“Well I’m not giving you too much credit, you did after all let our bed get broken.” Rachel glared daggers at him.
“The red team was so fast!” He held his hands out in front of him in defense. They continued to bicker until the cameras were no longer focused on them, but now they unfortunately turned to Purpled. He hated the press, the tabloids, all of it.
“PURPLED ARE YOU—“
“What do you want?” He deadpanned.
The media were always surprised when Purpled talked back, bullied them. Even though he did it every time he was interviewed. Whether that was while he was watching his friends fight for their lives, or he had just finished putting people to sleep, forever.
“HOW DID YOU—“
“Quit yelling would you? God it’s annoying.” Purpled interrupted them once again. He smirked but it was concealed by the shadow of his purple hood.
“How did you perform that final move, the one that clutched you the win?” The pressed asked, almost too quiet. Purpled explained.
They answered questions for the next twenty, maybe thirty minutes or so before they were reunited with their two other friends. They used the teleporter to be shot off to the dorm building, the prison. They would have the winners suites as they always did, which was attached to a private recreation room. The rest of the dorms were filled with people who had never fought on the islands. Among them were slaves, criminals, even children. Purpled had once been one of those children. Because you were either victors, or you were dead. As they entered the building their two friends who hadn’t been selected to fight that month were waiting for them.
“Astelic!” Rachel shouted before engulfing the girl in a hug.
“You’re sweaty.” She commented
“Shut up.” They hugged again, Tyler greeted David and Purpled reunited with the both of them. They headed up to their dorms. Whispers of the rookies filled the halls. These were the champions, the only people who had lasted this long at the Islands.
The weeks were spent with mini golf, training, and intimidating the new kids. They as always spent some time thinking about what their lives would’ve been like if they hadn’t been selected for the islands. They knew no other reality besides this one. Where did all of the spectators go? Where did everyone come from. Purpled was the only one among his group who had come to the Islands as a kid. Everyone had no memories of a life before this though. Their purpose was to kill, to entertain, nothing ever more. Purpled new that this group of people was the closest he would get to a family. No, these five people had become his family. Unfortunately for him the family was about to be broken.
When the next month came around, Purpled as his family waited impatiently to see who would be chosen to fight this week. Always two of them were left out to watch, and so far it had never been Purpled.
ORANGE TEAM
-astelic
-rachxo
-krustydavid
-w allibear
Hannah and him were excused from this battle. Purpled felt… useless. He couldn’t protect his friends, he couldn’t save them if they needed him. Hannah seemed to sense his worry.
“They’ll be fine, they’re strong.” She rested a hand on his shoulder for reassurance.
They watched as their friends were teleported to the waiting room. The floating wooden cage above the islands. Purpled and Hannah turned themselves to the screens along with many others. Everyone was dropped onto their own island, which still had the barriers around them. Hannah was muttering something under her breath, Purpled was just focused on his sleeping teammates. Purpled slept little that night on the account of him being worried about his friends, sleeping on the islands, maybe their last sleep they would have before their eternal one.
Purpled rose as soon as the sun did to rush towards the crowd that surrounded the screen. He didn’t have to push his way to the front as the crowd parted like waves, making room for him. Orange was already fighting against blue. Hannah joined Purpled to watch their friends fight for their lives.
Tyler kicked one of the blue team members off the bridge and into the void. He shot an explosion cannon that destroyed the bridge from underneath another member bearing blue. Rachel had a wooden dagger lunged into her leg, she still continued to limp her way through the center island, in the direction of blue’s island. Things were looking fine, until both red and green attacked oranges island at the same time.
David and Astelic fought off two members each. They were back to back, standing on top of the orange bed. It was covered in stone but one of the red members was slowly but surely breaking down their defenses.
Purpled couldn’t help but glance back and forth from the camera angles, watching his friends, his family. They were losing. His breath hitched as Rachel got blasted into the air, only to use a pearl to teleport to near Tyler. She still limped. Purpled look back to the orange island to see his family struggling. David had just respawned, he had taken a red guy down with him into the void. The only difference was that the other guy wasn’t coming back.
Astelic seized the diamond sword and plunged it into the green player, his items dropping at his death. But his death came after he destroyed orange’s respawn bed. Hannah gasped as the roar of a respawn destruction went out through the Islands. They could die, Purpled panicked at the thought.
“No!” He yelled out loud as the bed was broken. There was no point in defense anymore, just survival. Astelic and David went over to the blue base, which Tyler and Rachel had successfully taken over. They destroyed the bridge to the Island and rested. They couldn’t sleep of course, as there was no sun, no time, on the Islands of Eternal Slumber. However, for Grayson and Hannah, they had to go to sleep.
They had spent the day watching their friends. Hannah had fallen asleep on Grayson’s shoulder after orange had gotten to a safe spot. But they could never be too safe, when your bed breaks on the first day, chances of survival are slim. However Purpled still had hope for his family, they were fighters. They could win, but a small voice at the back of his head whispered that there was no chance. Purpled had never been a good listener anyway.
He didn’t sleep that night, nor the next, or the one following. Somehow the orange team was still alive. But that all changed in the fifth day.
“Tyler! Jump!” David screamed as a bomb landed just under him. David was fighting a member of pink, who just kept respawning over and over again. David only had so much health and strength to face them. They fought valiantly and it was at a moment of weakness, when David warned Tyler of the incoming explosion, that he was knocked with a sword into the void. He knew that warning Tyler would give him a moment of blindness, yet he did it anyway. Astelic watched it and screamed. As he fell into the void the roar of the pink being
destroyed by Astelic rang out, and she kicked David’s killer in the back into the void after him. Hannah shrieked and fell to her knees. Purpled didn’t understand what was happening, this couldn’t be happening. No, no, no, they didn’t die they were supposed to live. Why had he respawned, where had to done? He had fallen into eternal slumber was what happened. Grayson put his hand to his mouth and looked away from the screen. David was gone.
“Astelic what’s—“ Rachel came down from her sky bridge to see why Astelic had screamed.
“No- no- no!” Tyler yelled, barely escaping death himself.
She soon found the source and David’s death notification was projection for all to see. She trembled before crying silently. She dropped her sword and held Astelic close. The mourned as the eternal sun beamed down hard. They had lost a family member, but there was no time to mourn as the rest of the pink team hurried towards them. Astelic appeared to be paralyzed with grief. All she could do was stare at the void. Tyler took action. You could see his tears fal with every block of his sword, every throw of one of those teleport pearls. He fought his grief with anger. So did Purpled.
He punched a wal over and over until the white paint had a splatter of red, his knuckles bruised, blood, and tainted with tears. Hannah hugged her knees and grieved so much that she didn’t even water her prized roses. David was the first death in the family, unfortunately there was another the following day.
With only three family members left fighting against teams with up to four members, and with grief ridden and mournful hearts, they did not fight their best. Their actions were rash and without caution or concern.
“You are going to get us all killed Tyler!” Rachel yelled at him as he made another close call before turning around.
“I’m taking necessary risks!” He spit back, a dribble of blood came from the right corner of his
mouth.
“You need to warn us when you’re engaging another team!”
“Look where that got David!” They stopped yelling back and forth. It had not even been twenty fours since his death, his name hung in the air like a ghost. It was as they bickered that Astelic joined David in the void. She hung onto the ledge and screamed. Tyler and Rachel rushed over but couldn’t find themselves capable of reaching her in time. She pearled up onto a bridge only to be shot down by a member of the purple team, an ironic death. Astelic fell into the void faster than a blink of the eye.
Purpled watched as Tyler and Rachel killed off the rest of the players over the course of the next few days. The screens showed their sorrow and projected their tears and screams to all who would watch. They one not by a final kill, but by a suicide from the last of the cyan team. Apparently his brother had been on his team. They all had family lost on the Islands of Eternal Slumber. He saw Rachel restrain Tyler from jumping too. As the platform picked them up the crowds still cheered. They sung the praises of Rachel and Tyler For winning with only two members. A few in the crowd held signs that read: R.I.P. Astelic or David. Oh how cruel this world could be. He watched as Rachel punched one of the interviewers away from herself when they asked about Astelic. Tyler was silent at David’s name.
The family reunion wasn’t right without their two dead members. Yet Purpled didn’t feel their deaths. Purpled felt as if they truly were, just sleeping. Maybe eternally, but they certainly didn’t feel dead. Tyler was silent. Rachel and Hannah cling to each other. Purpled just paced around the dorms. Something wasn’t right.
Left Right Left Right Left Right Left Right Left
His feet moved in pattern. His head was locked on the floor, tracking the movement of his own feet. They couldn’t be dead. It just didn’t feel right. He went to ask Hannah about it.
“So… let me get this straight.” Rachel had fallen asleep and Tyler was still silently twirling this knife in the corner. “You think that when people go into the void, they don’t die?” Purpled nodded.
“That’s absurd, Grayson I know you’re mourning but---”
“No! I’m being dead serious I don’t think that they are dead.”
“You’re in denial, they fell into the void, and they ARE NOT COMING BACK! AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!” Hannah wasn’t one to raise her voice. “And there is nothing you can do about it.” she said again, a barely audible whisper.
Purpled didn’t walk to Hannah until the next month, when the teams were drawn up again.
RED TEAM
-hannahxxrose
-purpled
-w allibear
-rachxo
The family all hugged each other that day. They mourned and cracked jokes in memory of those they lost. They slept on the red island not knowing, maybe not wanting to wake up the next day. However they did, and they fought through it all. Red blood to match their red team colors, they respawned over and over again, their moves more defessive than aggressive. They had become timid little mice, scared of cats who had killed their brothers, and they had lost all their spirit in which they found strength to fight.
“Hannah, pearl up to blue’s bridge and knock the remaining members off, as soon as you get the explosion signal from Tyler, who will send it off as soon as he breaks yellow’s bed.” Hannah tucked away a iron sword into her hilt, and a few extra pearls as well. Tyler slid on his armor, and grabbed a pickaxe. “Rachel and I will defend the bed. We won’t let you guys down.” Rachel hadn’t been herself since the death of David and Astelic, no one had been.
“Are you sure you don’t want to help Hannah Gra-Purpled? On a balanced ledge with three players?” Hannah would probably kill one maybe two before having to respawn, but that was two less people too fight.
“She can handle herself just fine.” They broke off the meeting and carried out everything exactly as expected.
But things took a turn for the worst after what Purpled thought to be a few days. To tell you straight up that Rachel and Hannah died would be the bluntest way to put it. The details? Well, they went a little something like this.
Hannah and Rachel were fighting back to back, like David and her once had done, protecting the respawn point. They were getting slowly overwhelmed and Purpled and Tyler were islands away, collecting gear and doing as much damage as they could while doing so. It was when someone had crawled underneath the fighting and chaos of the battle on the red island that red team’s bed was broken. The roar filled the air, and Purpled’s heart dropped to the floor. Hannah and Rachel had already been engaged in a battle when the bed was broken and they were cornered inside the cave of their island. As Purpled got their in time just to see their deaths on the other side of the island’s bridge, he saw as they grasped hands and and had their last breath’s together. Hannah Rose colored in her favorite shade of red, in the hands of a green member. Rachel had already been tossed into the void. She followed suit and all Purpled saw was the face of the their killer. He had blood on her face, their nose was tainted with a large scar, and rage and grief filled their eyes. What had the islands done? He looked younger than Purpled, and he was killer. Purpled however didn’t hesitate to kick him into the void, falling in after Hannah and Rachel. They would respawn at their base, he would be congratulated on the kills, and she would go on with her remaining team to most likely hunt Purpled and Tyler down. Tyler had followed after Purpled too late to see anything, but soon enough to know what had just happened. Again he was stoic, and once again this was unusual for the humorous person. The two brothers hugged each other and protected one another as teams killed each other off until only them and two other green members remained. That was when the battle really began.
“Tyler! We take out the person on the right last, they were one who killed Hannah and Rachel.” Purpled was angry, he wanted justice, he wanted vengeance, and he wanted blood, Blood the color of his helmet, blood the color of his island, blood the color of Hannah’s roses. He wanted it all.
“She deserves worse than death.” These were the first words Tyler had spoken since they had lost their sisters. Purpled agreed with his statement, however he thought a little adjustment was more true.
“We all do.” They both nodded and sprung into action.
They swung their blades and fought and fought for seemed to draw out for hours and hours until one of a green members died. Tyler had been the one to strike the kill, and he pushed them into the void. He sat their while the other green player, Hannah and Rachel’s killer, fled away to who knows where. Tyler stood up, still on the ledge of the center island.
“Come on Walliebear we need to go.” He didn’t budge. “Tyler we’re going to lose them, she’s fast and he is low on health, come on lets go!” Tyler turned to him.
“It’s really all for nothing now huh? They’re gone.” Purpled didn’t even time have to think or react when Tyler pitched himself, into the void. Purpled just reached out too late, and screamed. He screamed until his throat went dry, he cried until he had no tears. He cried and screamed as he killed the person who had taken the lives of his family. He shouted as the announcers cheered he name. But he was silent when he through himself off of the victors platform and into the void. No crowd cheered that day. Who knew what laid beyond that. Surely not death, just an eternal slumber.