Chapter Text
There's a cloaked figure sitting in an armchair in front of an open flame, a stovetop set to high. Above it you can see what seems to be the remains of a steak dinner. The meat is still raw, though the edges of it are burnt to a crisp. The figure is reading a book, ignoring the flame. They tilt their head upwards, and see you standing in the doorway.
"Ah, welcome to my humble abode. Sit down, I will tell you a story." The figure says, their face covered in shadow. Their voice not quite masculine nor feminine. Androgynous.
Begrudgingly, you sit on the cold, tiled floor of the figure's bathroom. You don't know why they have a stovetop inside here. As soon as you sit, the figure closes their book and says, "This is a tale of trust and bloodlust...so please, let me tell you the tale of the First of Many."
You sit in anticipation of the figure's story. You get yourself comfortable, grabbing a drink and bathroom popcorn.
"So, once upon a time..."
Keep it together, Bdubs. You can't kill Etho. You just- can't. You'll... lose (a friend). You can't beat him. Just keep it together.
"Bdubs! Just found more iron." Etho's voice echoes from deeper in the cave. Bdubs twitches. Instinctively unsheathing his sword. No, no. You have to find someone else.
"I'll be right there!! Save some from me!" He shouts. A small "no promises" comes as a reply. He switches to his pickaxe and goes down.
The mine they've made is only one block wide, pretty claustrophobic. He has half a mind to remember to check his six, he can't be ambushed right now. He needs to get a kill. He gets down into the mine, and for a moment gets a glimpse of Etho's supple and vulnerable back. It's ripe for the picking, if he can just...
No! You can't. Restrain yourself. You can't do that to Etho. He's... (your friend) too strong.
The two mine deeper, eventually finding a cave. As they begin to strip the walls of the cave of coal and iron, they hear voices coming from a nearby cave. Tango and Skizz. Maybe them? Yes, them. Not Etho. They chatter on about who's the boogeyman and accuse each other. Thankfully, they all didn't catch on. He has to make a plan to kill one of them, all four of them are mining, so they must eventually meet up deeper, right? If he tries to go straight for them it will be suspicious. He just has to wait.
He gives Etho a shield. (Why did he do that?).
They find a music disc, No. 13.
The two dig deeper, finding a mineshaft. Bdubs could feel the thrum excitement at finding it. They strip it all of ores and make themselves some armor, for protection of course. (Etho's back is armored.). They go deeper and deeper until they meet deepslate and the voices of the duo from before. This is his moment. He can pick one of them off, he just has to...Dammit both of them have diamond armor already. He's only got an iron sword. He has to find better prey.
The other duo gifts them a diamond each. Etho burns his, Bdubs makes a jukebox. They play the disc, they joke that they will use it when they kill someone. Bdubs's jacket is drenched in sweat.
Hesitantly, he leaves the two alone. Going to find some diamonds, he must have a diamond sword if he wants to compete with any of them. Thankfully, the two find eight diamonds and they each make a pickaxe (Bdubs also makes a sword). He feels his journey is done, so he suggests to Etho that they go topside and set up a base. Their inventories are pretty full after all.
They make the trek back (He doesn't meet Tango or Skizz again.).
He hears a voice from the topside. It's Grian.
(He remembers the arrow that sunk into Grian's chest as he killed him. He tries not to remember that he was ambushed soon after.)
"Surface to caves, are you the boogeyman?" Grian asks. His heart freezes in its place, sweat drips from his brow but as he tries to say something back, Etho pipes up.
"Nope! I can vouch for Bdubs, I did some tests and he didn't fall for any of them!"
Bdubs jumps at his voice and twitches as Etho vouches for him. He has to thank Etho for that later. He shouldn't kill him. Sweat dripping from his face, he says, "Well, uh, are you the boogeyman, Grian?"
"Nope! I did, however, swindle a life from Scar!" Grian says proudly. As the two surface, Grian tells the tale on how he swindled Scar out of his life by lying to him that he'll give it back. When Bdubs sees Grian he notices his iron armor first, the shield second, and the diamond sword third. He has a chance here. He can kill him.
"So how about we go to the enchanter and enchant some stuff?" Grian suggests.
"Yes! That is a good idea, that we should do." Bdubs says. And so the trio went off to spawn and began to enchant their armor. Bdubs borrows some lapis from Etho and enchants his sword first. That's the most important tool he has right now.
He keeps his eye on Grian, he sees him take off his armor. A body unprotected by anything but a red sweater. He can't wait for his sword to sink into Grian's spine. They stand in silence as all three of them enchant their armor. The shiny and wavy flow of their enchantments gleaming off of their iron armor. Magical power sharpening Bdubs's sword.
The trio stand around, not knowing what to do. They chatter about who the boogeyman is. It's surely not any of them right? They don't see Bdubs sweating in his moss hoodie, the clock on his belt ticking and tocking. Urging him to kill.
Bdubs places down his jukebox, Etho sees it and punches in the disc. A clock tower gong echoes in the spawn forest. Etho thinks it's a joke, and if it is, none of them are laughing. In a blur of sound, Bdubs's clock tick like mad and everything turns to chaos. Though many have said that Bdubs is normal. That he is human. A player. They don't understand that he is the Time King. He is perfect. The best. He is almighty and no one can strike him down. In an instant, visions of possible futures blitz through his mind. He searches for one that he wins and he executes it perfectly.
Bdubs swings his sword, and Grian parries, but instead of standing and fighting . Grian runs. Big mistake. Bdubs chases after him, and takes another swing from his sword, slashing Grian's back, the armor only just protects him. Blood sprays from his back and Bdubs takes another swing forward, tripping Grian. For his final attack, he slices at Grian's neck, decapitating the blond man. And after his head fall from his body, bounce on the ground, and rolls for a few seconds, it explodes in a puff of smoke, his items spraying outward from his inventory. His body disappearing along with it.
Bdubs feels the bloodlust leave him. A ghostly red smoke leaves through his eyes, nose and mouth. It forms into a humanoid figure for only a moment before it dissipates in the air. He is cured.
Behind him, Etho stands there in disbelief and only a tiny bit of fear. Beside Etho, Grian respawns with one less life, a new scar encircling his neck. He looks at Bdubs angrily while Bdubs gives him a wonky grin.
"I had to do what I had to do!" Bdubs shouts. Begrudgingly, Grian accepts that as an answer.
"And that was the tale of the First of Many! What did you think?" The figure in the armchair said. You sit on the ground confused and you ask what the moral of the story was.
"Moral? There was no moral. It was just messed up. Jeez, kids these days..." the figure laments, "Come back here again in about a day and I'll tell you another story. Now if you excuse me, I want to finish my dinner."
As you turn to leave the bathroom, you hear the figure start to bite into the charred parts of his steak dinner. You decide that you will not question this for now.