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Ellios is dead and Mikey cannot speak.
It’s not permanent, xe reminds xemself. He’ll be there waiting at home, he’s fine.
But what if they’re not, another voice speaks, unbidden. It sounds like Screeb. Ce misses him. You should kill everyone here for taking him away from you. They were all part of it. They all killed him.
“Shut up,” Mikey mumbles. There’s enough conversation bouncing around the walls of the tower that nobody hears him. If they do, no one says anything.
You’re not strong enough to kill them all anyway, says the voice. You should’ve died instead.
Ve walks home, leading Bones back to give Ellios his stuff back. It’s hard to talk over the shouting voice in his head, so he doesn’t. Bones doesn’t try to break the silence, which Mikey is happy for.
Xe lurks behind Ellios as the items are exchanged, standing a little higher up on the hill so that he’s looking down on the conversation, giving him the vantage. Well, it means bug can easily see what’s happening. Nothing could give you an advantage in this fight.
When Bones leaves, Ellios and Mikey head inside. They need to talk about what happened, they need to meet up with Mattie and Fetsy and talk about what happened, but Mikey is just tired. He’s so tired, his bones ache and his wool feels matted and dirty and the fizzy totem particles that marr his arms are itchy and he wants nothing more than to sleep.
Something in xyr face must show this, as Ellios wraps xem in a hug before heading down the stairs to tend to the wheat. Mikey practically falls into bed, one of the dogs eagerly trotting over to curl up on top of him and beg for attention. The warm weight is comforting, and ce drifts off with cir fingers curled in the dog’s fur.
###
“So you’re telling me there was a tyrannical god, and someone wanted your help to stage a revolution?”
Mikey shrugs. “Basically, yeah. I didn’t actually get involved much though. I was pretty out of the loop.”
“Just like we are now,” the Doctor muses. He’d asked Mikey to call him Cyrus- Cy for short. Doctor Dumb was far too formal. While technically they were scientist and apprentice, they were more like father and son.
“But we’re out of the loop on purpose,” Mikey says.
And it’s true. Windwick is an interesting server, bringing together many people from many different places. Mikey doesn’t know many of them, but he knows Cy. Mikey was the one who invited him here. He also knows Ozzy, as he invited her too, but she’s even more out of the loop then he and Cy. The pair of them live next to each other, Mikey in the mountains and Cy in the swamp. Mikey has built his home in the valley, his lighthouse and his village, encased in safe walls. He’s started construction on his castle as well, a huge sprawling cobblestone monstrosity taking over the entire mountain range. Cy has built a hut in the swamp, but mostly lives out a hole in the ground.
Mikey’s been putting chickens in his base whenever he walks past.
It makes sense that Cy hasn’t built up his area more. He’d joined far later than Mikey, and had spent most of his time underground.
What are they working on underground?
The Lab.
It has a hidden entrance behind the bookcases in Mikey’s enchanting area, mediaeval architecture hiding the sleek, modern design. There’s been strange changes sighted in the nether, weird creatures emerging from the depths, explorers stumbling across new biomes.
They need to understand.
The lab is where they’re sitting now, perched on the edge of one of the middle floors, legs hanging over the edge and watching the tropical fish swimming under the glass floor.
It’s relaxing.
“If I were a god, I think I’d be kind,” Cy muses. Mikey snorts.
“I think you’d go mad with power.”
Cy makes some vague noises of objection, but they both know Mikey’s right.
The mangled white skin on the left side of his body shows the truth. The red eye and the sparks when he yells and the fact that he wasn’t always like this shows the truth.
Doctor Cyrus Dumb is Mikey’s adoptive father, because he feels guilty. It’s his fault that Mikey is like this, his stupid experiment with a ghast that broke up Mikey’s player data, merged them together.
Surprisingly, Mikey doesn’t hold it against him.
They’re family, yes, but they were friends first.
“I wouldn’t want to be a god,” Mikey says eventually. “Too much responsibility.”
###
Windwick crumbles without warning, the world dissolving around them. Mikey is running as fast as he can, stumbling down the steps to his half-complete (never complete) castle. He has to make it to the swamp, he has to get Cy and they need to get Ozzy so they don’t get lost in the void, he doesn’t want to get lost in the void he doesn’t want to lose his friends they need to get out and go to a public server where it’s safe they need to go they need to go they need to go-
He doesn’t make it in time.
###
The void is cold and warm and dark and light and loud and silent.
It is everything and nothing at the same time.
Mikey feels like he’s been dissolved, reduced to particles floating around in deep space.
He feels like he doesn’t exist.
He’s not sure how long he spends floating, but he clings desperately to his consciousness. He remembers a need to get out, a need to run, and need to reach-
Something.
He can’t remember what.
It’s on the tip of his metaphorical tongue, a sense of warm and belonging and home .
Love.
He remembers love. He remembers days spent digging, sharing quips and stories with- with someone, he remembers exploring and running through meadows with someone else, he remembers his friends, he remembers his family.
Cy and Ozzy.
The names spark something inside his brain, granting him strength he didn’t know it was possible to possess, and he grabs the fabric of the void and he pulls.
###
Mikey is a god and he has never felt better.
He wakes up in a clearing, surrounded by dark oak trees and a large mesa biome.
Cy is on the floor beside him, curled up tightly and using his lab coat as a blanket. Ozzy is on his other side. She has sunflowers in her hair.
Mikey stands, leaving the two of them sleeping. He feels energy rippling below his skin, and he looks down at his hands. They look normal, no ghast skin in sight. Cy is free of his debt.
He walks over to the nearest tree, aiming to get started, but when he punches the tree the block vanishes instantly. He opens his inventory to see if he picked it up, and is surprised to find that instead of a single dark oak log, he has every single possible item at his disposal.
The power is dizzying.
###
They name their home the Squid Realm, after a silly little drawing Mikey did while the trio sat around the campfire.
They find more players, inviting those who have nowhere else to go.
Cy builds a windmill atop the mesa next to spawn. Ozzy travels further out, claiming an entire village and building a tall, square wall around it. They find Bungles, a frog hybrid who builds a little witches tower in the swamp. Ozzy’s sister joins, a cryptid who hides far away.
When Teej joins, Mikey can feel their power.
Teej is a wanderer, without a home for a long time.
They spin stories of an axolotl god who blessed Teej with their power. Teej doesn’t have the same godly control that Mikey does, but they were powerful.
They are also older than him, and claim him as a younger sibling.
It’s nice.
He spends a lot of time with Teej, teaching each other many things.
Mikey tells Teej about the world, about the newer items and blocks and places to explore. In turn, Teej teaches Mikey how to handle his power, how to stay in control.
Mikey teaches himself a lot of things too.
So it’s a surprise when his wings sprout.
He wakes up with pain flaring from the top of his back, and when he asks in chat it seems everyone else is suffering the same. They meet at spawn, and compare wings.
Mikey’s are those of a rosy maple moth. It matches the pink of his hoodie, he muses.
###
They take in another group of new players, and suddenly the server feels so alive . Mikey finds himself more often than not hidden away in the jungle, a tall mountain and cove that he’s slowly transforming into his castle. He likes castles. But every time he returns to spawn, something new has popped up. It’s refreshing.
He’s adventuring in the end with Teej when he falls in the void.
And he dies.
For the first time in a long time, Mikey dies.
And it’s terrifying.
He can’t move, can’t breathe, he’s trapped in the nothingness again and he’s falling falling falling, never to land-
But then something catches him.
“ Rest easy, my child ,” A voice speaks, harmonious and discordant and high and low and monophonic and polyphonic. “ You are safe here .”
“Where am I?” Mikey scrambles, looking around trying to find the source of the voice. “Who are you?”
“ I am the Universe, and you are home .”
He shakes his head. “No. I am not home- please let me respawn, I want to go back.”
Stupidly, he feels like crying. The Universe must know, as it shushes him gently.
“ You will respawn soon. But I am here to warn you. Your realm is reaching the end of its life cycle. You are doing well, young one, and you have used your gift well. You will know when it is time to restart, and you will gain another charge. A new friend. An old friend in a new form. It will return to you, and it will need your guidance. But now I will let you go .”
When he respawns, he recalls a conversation from long ago, and he makes a decision.
He doesn’t want to be a god.
###
It’s hard to completely give up godhood, but Mikey tries xyr best.
He separates the parts of himself, gets a new hoodie, green and mossy like the new blocks he loves so much. His wings change too, matching those of an antler moth. It fits xyr new look well.
He reaches into his godly power once more, to restart the realm new and fresh, and then he locks the power away into a little box never to be accessed again unless absolutely necessary.
When they spawn into the new world, there is someone waiting for them.
It introduces itself as Mani, and it has been asleep for a very long time.
Mikey takes it under xyr wing, and together they head to the desert to build their first house.
Mani is fun to talk to and a quick learner, and it asks a lot of questions.
“If you’re a god why are you playing like a regular human?”
Ignoring the fact that Mani itself is not human. It’s a large lizard-type creature, bright pink as it is and bipedal.
“I’m not a god anymore. I love you guys too much, I don’t wanna be an all-powerful being. I just wanna be a player, just hang out and explore and build and have to gather resources myself, y’know?”
“Not really, but I guess a bit of change makes things fun.”
###
Their kingdom rises. Sandford, a bustling town in the desert surrounded by a low wall with a mountain rising in the middle. The castle is built into the mountain, making it a weird and interesting shape. Mikey loves it. He loves building castles.
Other towns rise across the realm, people being more ambitious with their builds. Spawn becomes a hub of shops and community builds, and next to spawn rises Shitsville, Screeb’s deepslate fortress surrounded by lush trees and pleasant houses. Despite the intimidating walls, it’s a lovely place. Even with the fight pit in the middle.
“Your hits are so slow,” Screeb catches Mikey in the ribs with his sword. “You need to move with your weapon, strafe. Don’t wait for me to walk into the blade. I’m not an idiot.”
“I’m trying my best,” Mikey huffs. He manages to get a few hits on Screeb, but none of them are crits. Screeb kills xem in the next slash, and meets xem in the locker room when xe respawns.
Mikey’s exhausted. They’ve been training all day. It’s not unusual for them to spare, sometimes out in the desert in the mini arena they build, sometimes in the fight pit. Screeb is a better swordsman than Mikey.
“I’ll just use a bow. I’m better with a bow anyway.”
Screeb smacks his shoulder with the pommel of his sword. “Your opponent won’t always be far away. They won’t let you fight on your terms. You have to learn different combat styles else you’ll be caught off-guard.”
Despite his words, he sits down beside xem on the bed. “We can take a break if you want. There’s no use in continuing if you’re too frustrated, that leads to silly mistakes which’ll make you feel worse.”
“You’re right,” Mikey sighs, resting his head on Screeb’s shoulder. “It’s not like I’ll need to fight anytime soon anyway. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Exactly, your only opponent here is Worm, and they’re easy to kill.”
Mikey giggles, before yawning.
“Do you wanna go play hide and seek?”
###
“ You have disappointed me, my child. ”
Mikey is back in the void and xe’s tired.
“ I gave you a gift. I saved your life. I saved your friends. And yet you decided you were too good for my gift. You decided you didn’t want it. You decided to give it up. You have upset me, child. ”
“You’re a bitch,” Mikey huffs. “I didn’t even die this time! I haven’t even been to the End! How did you take me?”
“ Petulant youngling ,” The Universe spits. “ You need to learn to be grateful. I have been nothing but kind to you, and all you have shown is insolence. You must learn. ”
“Then teach me!” Mikey yells. “All you did was give me power and I had to learn everything else myself! Godhood didn’t come with an instruction manual!”
“ You will learn ,” an ethereal hand touches xyr cheek. “ You will learn… ”
###
And then Mikey wakes up at the edge of a bedrock circle, surrounded by people ve’s never met before, and ve feels weakness like ve’s never felt before.
###
“Mikey? Mikey are you okay?”
Ce wakes up, for real this time, to Fetsy shaking cir shoulder.
“You were mumbling in your sleep, were you having a bad dream?”
“Sort of,” he mumbles, shuffling into a sitting position. “Just- remembering the past, I guess…”