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ImpulseSV fell from a high place
Martyn’s perched upon the clocktower as he watches Impulse materialize at spawn. Scott runs to spawn as well, his sword dripping with fresh blood and his clothes covered in arrows. They look like ants from where Martyn stood, running around and saying words that he’s too far away to hear.
Curious, Martyn dumps a bucket of water off the side of the tower, watching it waterfall off and make a pool on the stone below. The other two somehow still haven’t noticed him. Martyn jumps off the clocktower and lands in the water below, trying to listen in on their conversation.
His vision feels blurry and he can hear a low pulse from somewhere unidentifiable. Martyn doesn’t feel good. He feels dizzy. He feels powerful. His heart’s beating so loud that even the ghosts above could hear it.
Scott’s laugh dissolves into silence when they notice Martyn.
“Okay, check it out, here’s what’s going to happen,” says Impulse. Impulse drops his bow, not on accident but not in defeat. The sound of wood hitting the stone, the enchanted gleam against the dimly lit night. He looks happy, almost. In a bittersweet way, as if he has nothing to live for anymore–as if he’s left his mark on this world. This game.
“Do it.” Impulse stares into Martyn’s eyes, and he backs away. “Do it, Martyn.”
“Do what?” Martyn asks, already knowing what Impulse expects from him.
“Do it.”
“He’s on eight minutes!” says Scott.
“Oh, eight minutes? ” Martyn pulls out his diamond axe.
“Take it. Take it. And then you take Scott down. How much have you got?”
Martyn looks down at his watch–two hours, twelve minutes, and twenty-nine seconds. His seconds spill away as they speak. The pulsing in his ears gets louder. “Two-twelve.”
Impulse turns to Scott. “How much have you got?”
“Four-eight.”
Martyn found it almost a joke , how much time Scott had. “Four-eight? Ha!” His laugh almost sounded like a cry, or a plea for help. Or a sign of insanity.
“I basically took all of Impulse’s time!” Scott sounds sorry.
Both Martyn and Impulse react with “Oh my gosh…,” but Impulse sounds more annoyed while Martyn sounds surprised. Everything in his peripheral vision is blurry and dark.
“Right, this has gotta happen then.” Martyn dumps a bucket onto Scott’s head, watching him burn to death.
Scott begins to speak. “Impulse, you take me out-”
Smajor1995 was slain by ImpulseSV
They’d set themselves on fire over and over again until the sun climbed over the horizon, overshadowing the light of the last of the stars.
“No armour, no shield…” says Impulse, his eyes fixated on something behind Martyn. “Fists only.”
“Like season one! Like our forefathers, Scar and Grian did!” Scott looks into the sky as if addressing the final two of 3rd Life directly.
“For those that have fallen before us!” says Martyn.
“Die one more time, to put us all to thirty minutes, then we’re just gonna fist fight,” says Scott. He pours lava onto his feet. Martyn walks into the pool first, then Impulse follows.
The three survivors of the cruel games stand in a circle, ready to have a fair fight to the death.
Smajor1995 tried to swim in lava
ImpulseSV tried to swim in lava
InTheLittleWood tried to swim in lava
The pulsing in Martyn’s head was getting louder and louder and he could barely even hear what the others were saying. They tell him to kill. They want him to kill. They want him to betray Scott.
Martyn has a death grip on the wooden handle of his sword. The enchanted glint of his sword is too bright. The sun is too bright. They want him to kill. They need him to kill.
They want a show, huh? Martyn will give them a show.
Dumping lava onto Scott’s clothes, Martyn watches his closest ally engulfed in flames as he stabs Scott in the back.
“Nah, I don’t wanna play this silly game, I wanna do it this way!”
One last strike to his Mean Gill and he’s blinded by a bolt of lightning hitting the ground.
Smajor1995 ran out of time!
“I wanna do it exactly this way!”
Did he though?
Impulse begins to back away from Martyn, his eyes shaking in fear. Impulse turns his back to him and just runs . and Martyn can practically smell the fear and panic from Impulse.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a Mean Gill or a Bad Boy—”
He lands a hit on Impulse’s shoulder, and sticky red blood stains both their clothes. Impulse tries to place lava but Martyn jumps over it, hitting Impulse again.
“—a Neighbour or a Clocker—”
A final stab, and lightning strikes where Impulse once stood.
ImpulseSV ran out of time!
“—you’re all going down!”
Martyn won. Martyn won, he won. He killed them. He killed his Mean Gill. He killed Impulse. He betrayed them. He won.
“None of these niceties! This is a death match for a reason !”
He killed them.
“Ooh, that feels gooood! Time is delicious , hahaha-”
Standing in front of the clocktower, Martyn raises his sword to the sky. He won. He won.
He quite literally sees his life flash before his eyes. Every second he spent on this stupid game. Every death and every kill, every funny moment and every battle. Did it all mean nothing?
InTheLittleWood ran out of time!
No matter what Martyn could have done, the timer would have hit zero. No matter what. There’s no escaping the timer. There’s no escaping the game. He’s out of time.
Martyn opens his eyes, only to be greeted by the all-too-familiar void. Each step he takes ripples onto the pitch-black ground.
“I betrayed them!” cries Martyn. The only response is the deafening silence. “I betrayed them!” Warm tears ran down his cheeks and dissolved into the collar of his shirt.
Doing the only thing he could think to do, Martyn runs. He runs and he runs and everything looks the same. He didn’t know where he was going but he just had to get away.
It’s over.