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"Victory enderpearls." Joel threw several enderpearls into the sky, and watched as they fell. The world zipped by as Joel teleported from one spot to another, each landing chipping away at his health until his death.
Joel's head pounded, with the lingering disorientation of having thrown so many enderpearls. The buzzing echo faded.
He was no longer within the confines of the Wild Life box. Instead he stood on a cold glassy floor, suspended in the void. Around him massive pillars reached to meet the starry roof of what looked like some sort of cosmic cathedral. Before him stood the previous winners — excluding Scar — with blank expressions. In the middle, Grian blinked, as if just waking. The avian had lavender and poppies braided into his blonde sun-bleached hair. Sand clung to his red sweater. It was a stark contrast to the appearance of the grieving ally with gunpowder stained hands he had slain back in his own world.
Grian took a single step forward. "Welcome, Joel Toretto, to the winner's lounge in the watcher's realm. It's good to see a new face."
The other winners began to stir. He recognized every face in the crowd, but like the Grian before him there was something off about each of them — some tell-tale sign that they weren't the same lifer he had laughed with, adapted with, fought with, and killed with.
"The blummin' heck. Why is he here?" Joel gestured toward a star-crowned Scott.
"Ah, see, I won." Scott placed his hand on his hip, his cyan hair sparkling with the movement.
Pearl stepped between them, two scythes clinked at her hip. "I'll introduce everybody. You likely already know our names, having met a version of us in your games. So instead I'll focus on how —."
"How about we introduce ourselves?" Martyn cut in.
"Or, yeah, we could do that," Pearl relented. Each of the winners introduced themselves, with the exception of Scar who Pearl introduced. "Scar never lost his final life, so instead of winding up here, he continues to live in Secret Life."
Grian called everyone's attention. "Is everyone done introducing themselves? I need to induct Joel."
After a murmur of agreement rippled among the winners, Grian continued, "Each of us gets a celestial symbol that represents the role the watchers will have us do doing our time here."
"Which is forever. FYI." Martyn said.
"We don't know that!" Grian retorted.
"I mean it's a reasonable assumption," Cleo said.
"Guys! Let Grian finish!" Pearl said.
"Thank you." Grian exhaled. "As I was saying, each of us gets a symbol. I'm the Sun. I'm in charge of speaking for the watchers. They prefer to influence the world from the background, seeing but unseen. I manage public affairs for them."
"I'm in a similar boat to Grian," Pearl said. "I got the moon. I'm supposed to be in charge of private affairs, like making sure the other winners don't kill each other, which is absolutely bonkers. Who thought that was a good idea."
They each went down the line, explaining their symbol and role.
"Your symbol is Jupiter. As the largest planet in the solar system, it symbolizes expansion. Your role is to expand the watcher's influence, by traveling between worlds."
"And how exactly am I supposed to do that?" Joel asked.
"I'll leave Pearl to introduce you to her. I'm going to visit Scar." For the briefest moment sadness ghosted Grian's face and Joel's heart twisted as he was stuck with how much the winner looked like his Wild Life counterpart. Then Grian vanished. The rest of the winners left soon after leaving only Joel and Pearl.
"Hello?" A new voice rang out. It didn't belong to any of the winners nor from any of the lifers from Wild Life.
A woman with round pink glasses stepped out form the shadows. Pearl said, "Let me introduce you to Squiddo. She got a bit turned around while traveling."
"I was doing a bit of sightseeing, but when I tried to get back to Life Steal, I must have taken a wrong turn because I ended up at the wrong life series." She adjusted her glasses.
"That's weird. Why were you hiding?" Joel asked.
Pearl said, "Squiddo is well versed in traveling between worlds, which is why we've asked her to give you a few tips."
Squiddo showed Joel how she hopped between worlds. He had some trouble copying her, which they soon realized was because each of their world hopping abilities stemmed from different sources.
After Joel successfully managed several world jumps with Squiddo's help, she decided it was time for a break. On a floating island off from where the cathedral stood, they sat on a field of frosted grass. The void pooled below.
"I think we're done!" Squiddo pulled out a notebook. "I'd say you know what you're doing!"
"Well, of course, I know what I'm doing. Why wouldn't I know what I'm doing?"
"I can collect my payment now!" She tapped on a page, which Joel assumed had the agreement between her and the over winners written within.
"Your payment?"
"Yeah!" Squiddo closed her notebook. "I wasn't doing this for free."
After Squiddo left, Joel contemplated where he would world hop to first. He wasn't particularly familiar with any worlds outside of Wild Life. He knew vaguely about the other Life Series worlds, but he already knew there wouldn't be anything for him there. Actually, what he really wanted was to try an find his friends.
Joel world hopped to the first season of Empires.
In this new strange land he met his sister, Gem, except she wasn't his sister. This Gem, that was sitting next to him, was a stranger to him. He knew this. He saw Gem's final death message in Wild Life.
This didn't stop him from looking. She wore a green dress with a purple hood over it and she wore her vibrant orange hair in a braid over her shoulder. There was a shimmer of magic in her green eyes.
She was talking about a demon that had been causing trouble. Joel responded carefully, as he tried to gauge wether this demon was a player or something similar to the wild cards.
"He's scary," She concluded.
Joel agreed.
They continued chatting for what felt like hours. It was nice. It was pleasant. But it wasn't the same.
His sister didn't have magical aspirations. His sister wasn't being haunted by a demon. This Gem was not his sister.
Eventually, Gem had to get going, leaving Joel alone. As he glanced over Gem's magical base, he settled on one last world to visit before returning to his new life.
Joel stood in the middle of the Wild Life server. It was empty of any company. All lingering commotion from the fights had long settled by now.
Wild Life felt different, this time around. Maybe it was just that Joel was no longer high on the rush of winning, but the world felt colder. His sister was gone. His allies were dead.
It seemed a pity only Skizz and Mumbo got a grave — that only their lives and subsequent deaths were worth remembering. Gem should be remembered.
It took less than fifteen minutes to gather the materials he needed. He built her grave at their base. The headstone read: here lies the best sister a Joel Toretto could ask for. After placing some flowers, Joel world hopped back to the Watcher's realm.
Joel Toretto was going to carry the memories of his friends — his family — with him into his new life.