Chapter Text
Eggchan had always seen something at the edge of his vision, like cold smoke settling across the floor, but whenever he snapped his gaze to where he saw it. The smoke had disappeared.
He thought he was going crazy.
Though, the smoke hadn’t stopped there. Whispers and mumbled sentences could be heard if he strained his ears. He wishes he doesn’t listen. Whenever he does, it sounded like metal against metal. Harsh and piercing, like he was damned for hearing a hidden conversation.
But the thing is that Egg can’t do anything about it, just live with it. He couldn’t control it.
The angel hasn’t bothered to tell anyone about it. Slightly afraid of being called ‘crazy’ or ‘half a step behind’.
No no, so he resided to live with these odd occurrences.
Even when he wanders too close to spawn, he gets swarmed with an overload of screams and pleads. A heightened level compared to the whispers that snaked around his head. It pierced his head. Like drip stone stabbing right through his skull.
Even the smoke, which usually stayed at the edges of his vision. Were now constructed into forms of mangled dismembered players, each sharing faces of despair or wrath. Their expressions bending into unnatural frowns, or hollowed faces with drooped eyes. Now maybe Eggchan would be concerned, if not afraid of these faces jumpscaring him, but all of that was shadowed by the active wounds.
Perhaps these smoke-like beings were ghosts. Ghosts that travel to the after world with the wounds they had died with. Whether it’d be a sword to the face, the flesh hanging by threads and rotten flesh being stripped. Leaving blood to travel down chins, or just starvation. Disowning bodies with hollow and bone like features.
Eggchan learned to stray away from spawn, at any cost. The ghastly features of these ‘ghosts’ sometimes haunts him at night. Not allowing him sleep as he twisted and turned till he just stared up at the sky, listening to Wemmbu snore like nothing bothered him in the world.
It was when the sky was clear. Clouds drifting pass casually and the sun high above, shining warmth along the land of unstable.
Wemmbu was walking along him, twisting Gambit while he looked around with a bored frown. His impish tail flickered around. Sometimes brushing the green grass below both their feet.
“I think we should get more gear” Wemmbu said, briefly glancing over to Egg.
The angel blinked in his direction, wings fluttered in the wind as he considered the idea. Even if Wemmbu would probably go rob someone anyway, he still thought about it.
“I thought we just got geared” Egg pointed to the diamond armor and other essentials.
Wemmbu snorted, a smirk crossing his face as he waved the idea off. His demonic horns gleamed slightly in the sun.
“Nah bro, we need netherite. Especially if I need to battle Flamefrags” The imp would protest. He then went off about his plans and personal vendetta against Flame.
Eggchan would nod, offering small comments here and there. He knew the guy, got captured and imprisoned by him. Even fought him once, which wasn’t pretty. All his armor broke and left only his leggings.
The two had stopped as a village, player built, came into view. Oak structures and stone walls filled the area, but no players were seen. Only the whistle of wind blew around the buildings.
They both agreed to explore for a bit and return back after an hour. Eggchan decided to walk around for a better view of what he was doing, noting if any houses looked important.
A well, made of smooth stone and a bell situated on the ceiling, was around the corner.
Eggchan shrugged and made his way towards it.
Water lapped at the bottom. Nothing important here. No secret entrances or anything.
The angel was about to turn back and search houses till a chill made him freeze. It traveled in his veins and settled in his bones.
Mist clouded the edges of his vision, and quiet whispers filled his ears.
Eggchan forced a breath as he stumbled backwards, frantically looking around for the source. The ghost. The things that he learned to detest.
A knot of nervousness filled his stomach as the mist shrouded together into a clump that slowly formed into a torso, then legs and finally a face. Several deep cuts and gashes adorned the ghost’s face, and dried blood coated their definable features- only leaving a gangling jaw to greet Egg.
It was grotesque. A queasy feeling swallowed his being as he stared into its eyes. Dead. Glazed over with frozen fear.
The jaw, barely holding on from how Eggchan saw strands of flesh and nerves piecing together the skin, moved.
Light…
It whispered. Eggchan had to strain his ears to understand. An occurrence like this was rare, especially since these ghosts stayed at the edges of his vision. Only their voices being carried in the wind, but never did they appear directly in front of him.
The ghost moved, twitching a hand towards him. Eggchan flinched and inched backwards to avoid touching it.
“Stop stop- go away” He yelped, wings flaring.
It didn’t stop. Keeping a dead eye on him as it came forward, its fleshy jaw dropping to tumble out more words.
Bring me light! Life! Bring me peace angel!
It yelled. The sound was disorienting, ear splitting as Eggchan’s eye squeezed shut. His hands flew to his ears from any further damage. The words rebounding against his head, echoing and colliding till it left his brain aching.
Only when he peeled his eye open that it was gone.
His angelic wings had snapped shut against his sides, and his back hit the ground while he recovered from the scream.
The fear subsided. His breath evening out from how it heaved moments before.
The thoughts of what and why repeated.
Specifically the ‘bring me peace angel!’ . Had him thinking like Shakespeare over a poem.
Does his ancestry have a part in this? Of this curse to see the dead?
Wemmbu found him staring where he last saw the ghost. Eyes wide and wings tight against his sides. It took the imp a while to get him to stand.
“Dude what happened? I left for like fifteen minutes and I find you doing..” Wemmbu looked at the well “whatever you were doing?”
Eggchan, still confused and shell shocked, looked at him with a lost look. Wemmbu stared back, brows furrowed slightly. Concern laced his features.
“You good?”
The question snapped him out of his haze. Blinking the memory away while he walked past Wemmbu, already ready to look through the abandoned houses. His head still aching.
“Yeah, I just needed to rest. Y’know we’ve been walking for a while n stuff” He lied.
If Wemmbu had known he was lying, he didn’t show it. Only muttering something under his breath while he searched the same house Egg found himself in. Opening chests and checking for hidden entrances.
They of course found not much, well anything useful to them. Only some Gapples and spare meat. Though, Egg did find glazed terracotta- that he stashed.
The two then went back on their journey on foot. Wemmbu joking about dumb stuff and Eggchan adding onto it with chortles and chiming laughs. The attack of the ghost began to be put in the back of Egg’s head, and he didn’t fight it.
—
Wemmbu came back from his battle with Flame, shoulders slouched and gear dented. Even gashes flowing with blood had stained his usual pristine face. But no less, he had a determined glint in his eyes.
Eggchan looked his way as he sorted through some items in chests. “How’d it go?”
“Could’ve been better,” he curtly replied. Pushing past the angel to immediately collapse in his bed. Well, Eggchan’s bed.
His arm hung over the edge. His face burrowed into the soft plush of the bed, tail briefly thumping against the blanket. Egg watched with mild interest. Wings twitching as he realized the imp was sulking.
“Was it bad?”
“Bro, he showed me his base. Like we fought then showed me his base- like dawg!” He complained, flipping over to express his experience. Face contorting into a complex one.
Eggchan huffed out a laugh. “And you let it happen? Some rivalry”
Wemmbu sent a half-assed glare. Straining his neck to narrow his eyes but it fell back onto the pillow after a moment.
Eggchan watched Wemmbu continue to ramble. The words became radio white noise against his ears. The angel saw how blood caked his cheek, and some even dripped down his neck. He was also sure there was hidden wounds elsewhere the imp was repressing.
He turned back to the chest in front of him. Checking for any medical supplies before just deciding to use his own prowess.
Wemmbu was still yapping, his hands flying around to really sell how stupid the whole battle was. Eggchan approached and pointed to the imp.
“You’re bleeding, and I would prefer it if you didn’t bleed all over my bed. Thank you” Egg said with a flutter of his wings.
Wemmbu blinked his way to groan. Rubbing the blood of his cheek with nonchalance. Rolling his eyes playfully as Eggchan joined him.
"At least let me seal them”
Wemmbu complied and sat up.
“Feels weird when you do that..light thing” The imp shared, tilting his head slightly.
Eggchan hummed. Signaling him to continue his words. He let the subtle static of energy travel to his hand, already feeling it clump in his fingertips.
“I dunno if it’s because you're an angel and I’m an imp, but it’s like- like..” He struggled to find the right word “Like warmth on a winter day” he concluded. Removing his armor. Egg saw blood stain his shirt.
Eggchan laughed. “Bro are you turning into a poet or something?”
“Bro I am a poet, Shakespeare”
Wemmbu lifted his shirt to show a gash along his side. Eggchan examined it briefly, taking in the wound. Adjusting his energy so he didn't overload the imp with the energy. Then he reached out and pressed his fingertips against his purple skin, letting energy pour out into the skin, seeing it absorb it without issue.
Wemmbu hissed, brows cinching.
Eggchan then snapped his hand away. Letting the static in his hand fade into a dull heartbeat. His own heart rate quickened with the action, and he felt a wave of tiredness wash over him.
The imp touched the place where the wound last was. Then placed his full palm against it.
“How do you do it?”
Eggchan put the exhaustion aside. Wemmbu raised an arm to show a nasty chunk of skin torn- almost shredded. Some of it charred with blackened flesh. Burn wound.
The angel let the question roll around in his head. Headwings pressed against his cheeks.
“Hm, I think it’s my angel ancestry to be honest- something along the lines of ‘angelic’”
He carefully placed a hand against Wemmbu’s arm, and allowed more energy than before to sprinkle into his hands. Focussing more into his palms than fingertips and pressed it against the burn and charred skin firmly.
Blood cleared and skin re-knitted itself together, veins forming and meeting severed ones. The charred mess ebbed into Wemmbu’s natural skin with no issue.
Then soon enough the air was clear of burnt flesh and the metallic smell of blood.
Wemmbu watched with wide eyes, still so intrigued by the healing process even if Eggchan had done it before many times. He tried to cut back on it as it leaves a physical strain that takes hours of rest to heal, but he felt like it was needed today.
“Thanks bro”
“No prob” He replied and walked off, body running off last bits of energy.
The angel found himself outside and laying down on the soft grass. The wind slowly lapped across the greenery and brushed past the leaves of the trees. The sun even had dipped into the horizon, leaving an orange and pink hue behind.
It was a good place to rest. He was also sure Wemmbu wanted to sleep so he allowed the imp some privacy.
He watched a bird angle its wings to catch a wind current high above, its head whipping around to examine the surroundings.
To think of it, he hasn’t flown in forever. Sure he stretches his wings and such, but never dared to take to the skies. Perhaps he was scared, or skeptical, or even just afraid of heights.
Eggchan tried to not care. The question made his wings buzz in subtle energy, but the rest of his body didn’t share the same sentiment.
Yet his eye still watched the birds dart around. Chirping excitedly as they flapped high into the sky.
A twinge of envy struck him. Unknown to him for why, as he shouldn’t be envious. Egg doesn’t fly, and he knew that he would be clumsy at it. Not graceful like Wemmbu, or purposeful like Parrot. The angel knew that he wasn’t great at much. So why would he try to do something that he couldn’t do without making a fool of himself?
Eggchan sighed heavily. Allowing himself to sink lower in the grass.
“Bro, what are you doing out here?” A familiar imp had said from the entrance of the base.
“Nuthin”
Wemmbu hummed, head tilted slightly from the edge of Egg’s vision. Seemingly thinking.
Then he urged forward and sat beside the angel. Viewing the setting sun while he leaned back, arms supporting from behind him. Eggchan’s wings twitched slightly, tilting his chin to view the imp.
“Thought you would’ve slept” He asked. Egg wasn’t against Wemmbu being alongside him.
Wemmbu shook his head, a smirk etching his lips. “Nah, why would I wanna miss this er” he awkwardly pointed to the sunset. “This wonderful sun”
Eggchan stared for a few seconds, holding back a chuckle.
“Bro, don’t you like - get a horrible sunburn?”
Wemmbu raised a brow. “Sunburn?”
“Yeah, like you get red and stuff”
The imp snorted. “Bro I dunno what you’re talking about”
Eggchan laughed, shoulders shaking. “Seriously dawg? Don’t you remember how red you got if you stayed in the sun long enough?”
Wemmbu briefly flushed, but yet he still cracked a knowing grin. Purple hair brushing his raised cheeks.
“You remember that?”
The angel nodded. “Yeah. You were quite distraught about it”
It was near when they were children. Only the two of them. Back when the server was slightly less chaotic.
He doesn’t know why it stuck with him, but he does remember when Wemmbu got a bad sunburn. His skin tainted red and flakes sticking out. The imp complained the whole time, pouting as he scratched at them.
“Wait, wasn't that close when we met?” Wemmbu asked.
Eggchan’s wings stilled against his back. “Uh, I think. Don’t remember that far back”
The imp continued his train of thought. “Yeah I think it was. Bro, do you know how odd it was when you-”
A bird fell from the sky. Landing only a few feet away from the two with a dull thud. Legs facing the sky as it sprawled out. Dead
Both the imp and angel exchanged a glance, wide eyed as the conversation from before died out. Silence filled the space with only shock filling their guts.
“What the”
“Yo..”
It twitched slightly. Egg cringed.
Wemmbu looked up, eyes narrowed as he examined what caused its sudden descent. Egg followed his gaze, his eye finding the drifting clouds and the melting hue of orange into night. Nothing out of the ordinary..
“Is it dead?” Eggchan asked.
Wemmbu shrugged. Standing up to take a closer look, tail flickering. He squatted down. Poking it before picking it up, analyzing it.
“Yup. Wonder what killed it” He idly said. Placing it back down while he wiped his hand off his pants.
Eggchan hummed. His own eye followed down to the bird. A dove by the looks of it. Soft white plumage was now askew.
His own wings shuffled uneasily for some reason.
Wemmbu clapped his hands. Startling Eggchan out of his thoughts.
“Well I’m going to sleep. Dunno ‘bout you but I’m tired” The imp then bid goodbye and headed inside.
The angel watched him leave. Quietly offering a small ‘bye’ before looking back at the dead bird. He should bury it. Maybe a flower too.
Eggchan got up and started to dig out a small hole.
—
Wemmbu was gone. Off to raid a base for loot, but Egg was sure he got jumped as he hasn’t returned for a week now. He wasn’t afraid for him, as he knew the imp could take care of himself.
So he was doing what any Unstable player would. Fish.
The bobber twitched at times, but no tugs came. It made sense. The fishing rod was unenchanted. He was really only interested simply because it was a long and peaceful task.
He caught some fish, leather and a lily pad. All of them cast aside till he decided to depart.
It was atleast an hour and a half of fishing till he called it quits. Gathering his stuff and loot before heading towards a direction to where the hidden base is. He was honestly surprised a player hadn't found it.
Egg moved the vines out of the way and into the main entrance. Noting if he needed anything. Maybe wood..perhaps some coal.
He hummed to himself while he did so. Sorting the items in his inventory and dumping the stuff he didn’t need in the chests. Which were impeccably sorted, all thanks to Eggchan.
His melody filled the quiet space. Settling into the walls while he worked. It stopped for a second as Egg narrowed his eyes at the enchant table. Pondering if he should make books for bookshelves, but the melody he had hummed moments prior mirrored back.
A bird, or so a dove had flown in. Cooing a distant melody that somewhat echoed his. Eggchan blinked, and it blinked back. Head shooting around but its eyes had kept out in his direction.
“Yo, what are you doing here?” The angel would softly ask.
It cooed again. That’s when he noticed the odd curve of its spine, and wondered if it was injured. The wings seemed slightly skewed too..
Egg walked forward for a better look, but it had fluttered down and dashed for the exit.
“Oh yo wait!” He ran after it.
He swiped the vine entrance away and out into the sun where he saw the dove land on a branch. It looked down to him, chirping a broken melody. Fluttering its wings wildly.
Eggchan watched with an odd look. Could it fly?
The dove then dropped down again, gliding till it stopped at his feet. Looking up with those beady eyes while it flexed its small wings.
Egg furrowed an imaginary brow. It seemed to point its beak at his own pair of angelic wings, and he sputtered. Not believing the implications.
“I am not flying around with you brother”
The dove cooed. Flapping its wings again. Like it was trying to take flight, but couldn’t. Eggchan felt a feeling akin to remorse or pity take place, and he sighed heavily.
He bent down to pick it up, letting its feet rest on his hand as he lifted it up to eye level.
“Dawg I haven’t flown in forever, I doubt I’ll be able to now”
The dove whistled, then bit his finger. Eggchan swore under his breath, nearly deciding to throw the bird. But hadn’t, instead glaring at it.
It looked familiar…
It clicked. “Wait aren’t you that one dead dove from like, a few weeks ago…” The grave wasn’t far from here.
The dove cooed, almost bowing its head. Eggchan tilted his head, pupil dilating. Headwings shuffled closer to his cheek.
“Yeah I remember you.. didn’t know how you died. Didn’t know I could see ghosts of animals” He was surprisingly taking this well. Or perhaps he’s starting to get desensitized to these things.
“Still not gon fly”
The dove squaked, flapping its wings around again. Egg winced and moved his arm away from his face. This continued for several minutes until Eggchan sighed, as it started to scratch him. Didn’t leave any marks so it wasn’t terrible.
He eventually set it down and went back inside. Putting the whole interaction in the back of his head. Ghosts and their weird ways.. doing weird stuff.. he should be documenting this stuff actually.
But the dove followed. Cooing and whistling loudly- which lasted for several minutes. All till Eggchan groaned and decided to comply to this stupid bird’s terms.
Fine! He supposes that he could stretch his wings a bit.
His feet met the grass outside his base. Wind brushing through his wings. Nervousness pooling inside his gut, which was soon accompanied by the chirps of a certain dove.
It rounded his feet, beady eyes eagerly looking up at him.
Eggchan leaned down and let it hop onto his hand. Claws digging into his skin lightly.
“Look, I’ll go up there for a bit. Nothing less and nothing more” the dove dipped his head in understanding.
He flexed his wings, expanding them to their full length. Which was pretty large, almost larger than Parrot’s. It felt weird, but had felt natural too. The angel sighed softly.
Well, stalling won’t do much.
He urged his back muscles to flex as his wings thrusted upwards till his feet lifted off the ground. Concentrating as Egg continued up with strokes of his wings, ignoring the pitter patter of anxiousness against his chest.
He did this till he hovered in the air. Grass being pushed down into the earth from the way his wings manipulated the air. The dove cooed eagerly, happily as it flapped its wings from its perched position on his hand.
Eggchan smiled at the action. The pooling dread being replaced with euphoria. He floated higher up, getting a hang of the flapping action. It felt good actually. Why hasn’t he done this again?
The dove continued its flapping. Egg had to guess it was imagining flying.
The angel urged his wings forward, quickly catching a wind current to drift across the sky. The dove spread its wings, wind brushing through the soft plumage.
“You got it,” he quietly urged.
Then, with a tentative shake of its wings. It launched off his hand, catching the wind current naturally while it stabled its flight. Eggchan watched with admiration for the small creature.
“Yo! You’re doing it!”
It cooed back, twisting its head to his direction. Its dark pooled eyes glittering with gratitude. With a final flap of its pure white plumage, it had disappeared in a blink of an eye. Gold particles disappeared from where it was in the air merely seconds ago.
Eggchan gasped, snapping his head down below to see if it had fallen, but nothing had changed.
He checked his surroundings again. Only fields of sunflowers and the high arc of the sun brushed his warm skin.
What in the heavens had happened?
The dove was with him like only ten seconds ago and then suddenly disappeared in gold glittery flakes? No no ghost dove had disappeared.
Was this a ghost thing?
Do ghosts disappear in gold particles?
Bru.
Eggchan needed to write this down. He didn’t know why he hadn't been writing these things down. Perhaps he could get to understand this odd curse he has had since forever.
A gust of wind hit him in the face harshly, reminding him he was in the skies. Because, he- Eggchan- was flying. What was he afraid of again?
Another gust of wind- this one more violent- hit him again. It nearly disrupted his flight path, needing to adjust his position in the air to avoid toppling downwards.
He blinked several times. Wondering why the weather was suddenly so bad. There weren't any rain clouds or anything.
Then the third gust came. It completely surprised him.
Almost like a whip, or a slap to the face hit Egg’s whole body. Sucking the air out of his chest and leaving him gasping.
His mind whirled with fear, instincts demanding him to save himself. Fly. Yell, anything. But the only thing his body did was fall.
Fall down, down, down till patches upon patches of sunflowers hit him.
A crack sounded from his bones. Loud and clean, which was followed by a raspy breathy scream. It took several delayed seconds before Eggchan realized it was him screaming.
The sun smiled above.
And it asked, “are you ok?”
Eggchan didn’t feel any rejoicing feeling about this.