Chapter Text
The desert outside spawn had always been quiet before a fight. Not peaceful, never peaceful, but tense, like the world itself was holding its breath.
Wemmbu stood across the sand with his sword loose in his hand, eyes locked on the one person who had always been there to meet him.
FlameFrags.
They had been doing this for years. Rivalry, people called it. Battles, arguments, stand-offs in the middle of ruined towns and empty fields. But it had never felt that simple.
Every fight carried something unspoken between them.
Every narrow dodge, every moment where one could have ended it but didn’t.
Neither of them could ever say it out loud so they just kept meeting like this.
Steel clashed again and again, sparks flying but Flame fought sharper this time, faster. Like something had finally pushed him past the line they’d both been pretending wasn’t there.
Wemmbu barely blocked the strike before the blade knocked his mace from his hand and sent him crashing onto the ground.
For a moment neither of them moved.
Flame stepped closer, breathing hard. Wemmbu laughed weakly through the pain, staring up at the sky.
“Guess you finally won,” he muttered.
Flame hesitated. His grip on the sword loosened.
“You’re bleeding,” he said, almost concerned.
Wemmbu didn’t answer.
Flame knelt beside him, panic slipping into his voice. “Stay here, alright? I’ll get something. Potions, food, anything… Just don’t move.”
Wemmbu watched him stand.
Watched him run.
And waited.
The desert grew darker as the sun disappeared behind the mountains. Minutes passed. Then more. The wind picked up, dragging sand across the ground and into his wounds, stinging the already hurting injuries.
Wemmbu laid there, waiting. Has it been minutes? Hours? He doesn’t know…It’s all blurring together now…
By the time footsteps finally echoed across the sand, Wemmbu was barely conscious.
A shadow fell across him.
“Well,” the voice said with a calm purr, amused, “that’s unfortunate.”
Wemmbu forced his eyes open. The figure standing above him was popular to most on the server, but to Wemmbu? His worst enemy.
LettuceK.
He crouched beside him, examining the injuries like they were nothing more than an small issue, despite him bleeding out.
“Left here alone,” LettuceK continued, with mock sympathy. “Your rival runs off the moment you can’t fight anymore. That must hurt, my dear Wemmbu.”
Wemmbu didn’t have the energy to argue.
LettuceK extended a hand.
“Come with me,” he said, smirking slightly. “The server needs order. People willing to enforce it.You can be my enforcer.”
Wemmbu stared at the offered hand for a long moment.
Flame had promised to come back, but the desert was empty.
Slowly, Wemmbu reached out and took LettuceK’s hand.
And when he stood again, the server would know him by a different name.
Law Dog.
Far away from the desert, three figures sat around a dim campfire hidden deep in the forest.
FlameFrags leaned against a log, staring into the flames like he expected them to answer something.
Across from him, ParrotX2 tossed another stick into the fire.
“So,” Parrot said, breaking the silence. “We’re really doing this.”
Spoke nodded once. “The Law’s control is spreading. Someone has to push back.”
Flame didn’t respond.
Parrot glanced at him. “You good?”
Flame forced a shrug. “Yeah. Just thinking.”
None of them noticed the faint glow of firelight reflecting off armor in the distance.
High on a nearby hill, Wemmbu stood silently, cloaked with invisibility.
Below him, LettuceK’s voice echoed in his memory.
“Burn their camp. Doesn’t Flame deserve it? He abandoned you.”
Wemmbu tightened his grip on the lighter and the flames caught quickly.
And somewhere within the chaos, Flame would slowly realize who the Law had sent after him.
But not now.
No…
He needs to get his revenge.
Flame abandoned him.