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“I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”
Stormz stood on the edge of a cliff, hair blowing freely in the wind. He looked down the chasm, wearing only a chestplate to protect him from the powers of nature.
The emerald glowed in the dying light.
“Fighting Dumb already has took such a mental toll on me… and I just don’t know how much longer I can handle it.”
Dumb had stayed by his side for so long. From the moment Stormz had infected him as an alien and gained his loyalty, it had never wavered. Dumb was so good to him, despite everything he did.
And then Stormz betrayed him.
For Dolphin.
He deserved this. He betrayed the one person who actually stood by his side, not for his power, but purely because of him.
He… deserved this.
The thing about being on the Void Team? If he died, he’d be gone for good.
The power of revival locked away. It was supposed to be a balancing mechanism. Something to give the players of the server a chance.
It was never meant to be used by the Void team themselves.
“I have nothing else to pursue. Therefore, I’m done.”
“So… if there’s nothing else to pursue at all, then why would I not just cut it early?”
He looked upon the terrain. The cliff he stood on was easily a lethal height. Just one step forward, and it would be finished for good.
He couldn’t keep fighting against Dumb. He couldn’t.
“It’s taken so much of a toll on me. I- I can’t.”
His voice cracked, genuine grief leaking into the sound.
“Dolphin’s never been a good teammate since I’ve been here, she’s been trying to distill his hope on me, but I don’t want to listen to it! I…”
He looked up, to the sky. In a moment, he closed his eyes.
He apologized. To the server. To his teammates. To Dolphin.
To Dumb.
It’ll be better this way.
He just… couldn’t do it anymore.
He held the wither rose in his hand, ignoring the prickling pain. It was one last reminder of who Dumb was.
With the chestplate he had worn and the rose that felt like Dumb, he would jump off this cliff, ending his life.
He took a deep breath in. His voice was weak, defeat leaking into his sound as he uttered his final words.
“I just miss my best friend.”
His body moved. Distantly, he heard a voice shout his name. He didn’t have time to process the fall.
In an instant, all he felt was pain.
It reminded him of Dumb, in a way. If he was to go out to anyone… he’d want it to be him.
The darkness consumed him. And he smiled.
“Do you know why I wear this chestplate?
“Why, because it reminds you of a good time?”
“I keep it as, in my mind, the only remaining piece of what you were.”
“And I’m going to continue to keep it… until the server is gone, or until you come back.”
“No. No, no, no. Put it back on.”
“I’m willing to trade my life.”
“No, no! Put it back on.”
“Why would I let it break?”
“It’s not going to break if you just die. Just die with it!”
“Careful, or you’ll die.”
“Put the chestplate back on, Dumb. Please.”
“Why do you want me to so badly?”
“Please. I’m not explaining myself. Just put the chestplate back on.”
“I’m sitting here, fighting you…”
“Dumb, I don’t care! Just put the chestplate on. There’s a reason, please. Please.”
“…Or at least just give it to me.”
He reached into his ender chest.
He took the chestplate out.
And dropped it on the ground.
The last remaining piece.
“Stormz!”
The figure fell too fast for Dumb to follow.
In an instant, it was over.
He felt the buzz of his communicator. The confusion and panic of the server at the sudden act.
But Dumb didn’t feel a thing.
“No… no…”
At the bottom of the cavern, he fell to his knees. It… it couldn’t be real. Not Strormz. Not after all this time.
“Stormz… c’mon, wake up. You can’t be dead. You— you can’t be dead. Not before you come back.”
Tears rolled down his cheeks as he openly sobbed above the body of his best friend.
“Stormz, please. Come back.”
Carefully, with shaking hands, he unclasped the chestplate that adorned Stormz’s body. He clutched it to his chest, laughing sorrowly at the irony.
“The last remaining piece. That’s what I said, right? You made it true.”
His voice cracked. “You made it true…”
He felt a thud behind him as someone landed. He didn’t turn, didn’t pause his grief. Didn’t even notice.
A hand landed on his shoulder, startling him out of his delirious state. The face he turned to made his blood boil in rage.
In an instant, he was on his feet, hand around Dolphin’s neck.
“You— you did this.” He growled, raw rage burning in his veins. Dolphin’s eyes widened, whether in surprise or fear, he wasn’t sure.
“You took him. You.. broke him. Dolphin, this is all your fault!” He yelled, squeezing harder. Dolphin made a pathetic choking sound.
For a moment, Dumb was delighted by the sight. To get revenge on the person who had taken everything from him.
He wanted to make Dolphin bleed. Make her pay. Take everything from her, just like she had done to Dumb.
He didn’t know how long he stood there, choking Dolphin in his grief. But, after a while, he snapped out of it and remembered where he was.
Who he was with.
He dropped Dolphin, leaving the player to recover on her own as he turned back to Stormz.
“I’m so sorry. Please. I’ll— I’ll do anything.” He fell once again, lying his head upon his best friend’s chest. “Stormz. Please come back. Take me instead.”
His sobs echoed through the valley. “Oh, just take me instead.”
He grabbed the wither rose Stormz had held, pressing it against his chest. In the end, Stormz remembered him.
But Dumb had been too caught up in his hubris to return the favor.
He heard Hazel arrive. Dumb sobbed against her shoulder as she held him tight. Dolphin stood from above, careful not to get close again.
He cried himself to sleep with only one thought on his mind.
Why couldn’t it have been him?
Time passed. The world continued to spin. The days passed, sun rising and setting as usual.
The world moved on from Stormz’s death.
The world, except for Dumb.
The plans for a war ended with Stormz’s death. Even after so long of fighting, they had never permanently lost someone before.
No one knew how to move on without him. But they did, in the end.
Dolphin repented. The server united once more, no longer separated from power imbalances.
Dumb… Dumb didn’t follow them.
Hazel visited, from time to time. To make sure he was taking care of himself.
He wasn’t. But he didn’t want to disappoint Hazel.
He didn’t want to fail her, like he had Stormz.
So he ate when she visited. And he did his best to act normal.
Nothing was normal.
Normal was Stormz.
And Stormz was gone.
His chest plate was still stained with Stormz’s blood. Dumb didn’t have the heart to clean it, and he refused to let anyone else touch it.
The wither rose rested in his hair. Black veins spread from its touch, but the pain was minute. Unnoticeable.
Nothing really mattered anymore.
Dumb survived, but he no longer lived.
He was a shallow man. A hollow excuse for a player.
He couldn’t even look at a rose without breaking down.
He knew the players were concerned for him. Aside from Hazel, others visited from time to time. Saying words of condolences. Offering support if he needed it.
Dolphin never visited. Dumb was glad.
He wasn’t sure he could handle Dolphin’s presence.
Hazel visited. She began to hold sessions with him, trying to allow him to cope with the loss. Learn to move on.
“Dumb, is this what Stormz would have wanted?”
“What?”
“You’re killing yourself. Stormz didn’t die just for you to join him. Dumb… you have to live. For yourself, and for him.”
Eventually, though, he learned to breathe again.
The world still functioned in black and white, but over time, he learned to return.
Stormz… wouldn’t have wanted him to live like this. Trapped in the past. Trapped in his memory. Hazel helped him realize that.
He would never be the same. He didn’t want to be.
But he could learn to live once again.
Healing was a long process. But Dumb could learn to try.
For Stormz.
Of who you once were.
Of who I will be.
I won’t forget you, friend.
Far away, in a garden, a figure watched on with a smile on his face.
“You’ve still got things to do, Dumb. I’ll be here when you’re ready. I can wait. Just… do what you need.”
The last remaining piece of what I once was?
It lies inside you.
Live on, Dumb. Live on.
I’ll see you again.