Chapter Text
Rejoice had been Wemmbu's best friend for as long as anyone could remember.
Nobody really know how they became friends. One day they were just there, constantly together causing problems.
If someome found a giant hole in the middle of a path, it was their doing. If a bench mysteriously ended upside down, it was definitely theie doing. And if a dengerous like a death sentance, they were already hslfway through it.
Rejoice was fearless in a way that made everybody near him nervous except Wemmbu. He would jump of very tall trees just because he thought it would be funny, he would walk into situations with the confidence of someone who had never experienced concequences.
Wemmbu was supposed to be the responsible one. The problem was that Rejoice always managed to convince him to do stupid stuff.
"Come on." He would say.
"No."
"Aw come on, what's the worst that could happen bro?"
"I don't know maybe we can get scolded again."
"Youre boring." Was the thing that always made the demon agree out of anger. Five minutes later they would both be running from monsters. It was a system that worked well. Until it didn't.
~~~~~~~
The ancient city was discovered by accident.
Someone had mentioned hearing strange noises underground. Someone else had claimed to see skulk spreading throught caves.
Naturally, Rejoice wanted to investigate immediately. Of course Wemmbu followed him like the loyal friend he is.
The city was beautiful in a way that made their skon crawl
Ancient stone structures streched endlessly through the darkness. Blue flames flickered across ruined halls. Eveything felt abandoned and wrong in a sick twisted way.
"Okay." Wemmbu whispered. "We look around for five minutes and then we leave."
"Sure." Said Rejoice.
Whenever he said "sure" like that it meant absolutely the opposit.
They lasted a total of twelve minutes.
Then Rejoice stepped on a shrieker. The sound echoed through the darkness.
Once.
Twice
Then three times.
The cave fell silent. For a moment neither of them moved. Then the blindness came.
~~~~~~~
The panic hit instantly. Wemmbu couldn't see. Couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. The world became shadowe and distant footsteps.
Something moved somewhere in the darkness. Something enormous.
"RUN!" Rejoice screamed on top of his lungs. They ran. Throught tunnels. Past ancient ruins. Across broken bridges and pools of lava. The darkness refused to lift. The footsteps behind them grew louder.
Closer and closer.
The demon's heart hammered against his ribs. He couldn't see where he was going. And then his foot caught something. The ground disappered beneath him. His leg crashed into a stone. Pain exploded throught his leg and blood started flowing out. Before he could stand, anpther sound echoed throught the cave.
The Warden was right behind them.
~~~~~~~
Everything happened top fast Rejoice turned around. Rejoice turned around and sprinted to Wemmbu. He tried to get up but his injured leg gave out. The Warden moved almost catching up. Rejoice looked at him. Not scared. Not panicked. Just determined. And suddenly Wemmbu knew exactly what was about to happed.
"No!"
"Wemmbu-." He cut him off.
"No!"
Please listen to me Wemmbu."
"NO!"
But Rejoice wasn't listwning anymore. He grabbed the demon's arm and pulled him towars a narrow tunnel and shoved him, hard.
"NOW GO."
The last thing Wemmbu saw was Rejoice standing alone on the darkness. All he heard was the roar of The Warden and a quiet scream of pure agony and Rejoice disappared from sight.
Rejoice was obliterated by a sonically-charged shriek whilst trying to escape Warden.
Rejoice left the game.
A few months after all that happened, after the Ancient City and grief and guilt Wemmbu met Eggchan. He hadn't expected to talk with him at all. Actually he hadn't expected to be friends.
~~~~~~~
The beach sat far away from spawn. Most players didn't even bother visiting it. There wasn't anything useful there. No farms, resources or future projects. Just sand, water and endless ocean which was exactly why Wemmbu liked it. It was quiet, nobody expected anything from him there. Nobody asked any questions and dragged him into drama. He could simply exist.
One afternoon he walked towards the dock he always used to sit and he stopped. Someone was already sitting there. A boy or more of more of like an angel was swinging his legs over the edge of the wood, staring at the waves below. Wemmbu frowned.
"Youre sitting in my spot." Said the demon while swinging his tail from annoyance. The angel glances over his shoulder.
"Your spot?"
"Yeah mine."
"Well did you build the dock?" He said with confidence, not usually how he acted.
"No b-but." Responded Wemmbu visually uncomftable.
"Do you own the Great Sea?"
"... No." He answered with his tail frozen.
"Then I think were both allowed to sit here."
Wemmbu stared at him shocked. He stared back. Then they both started laughing and somehow that became a conversation.
The next day he was there again and the day after that and so on. Eventually it became a routine. Wemmbu would arrive and Egg wouls be already waiting. Sometimes they talked for hours, and other times they spend entire afternoons arguing about things that didn't matter. They there were moments they sat in comftable silence watching the suuset.
They build sandcastles and gave them dramatic names, raced paper boats that always sunk and burried books in the sand filled them with stories, secrets, predictions and terrible drawing. Wemmbu always insisted they would read them again years later. Egg on the other hand claimed the books would definitely get ruined. Neither of them stopped writing.
For the first time in a long while, Wemmbu found himself looking forward to tomorrow, because tomorrow meant another afternoon at the beach and the angel would probably be there, waiting like always ready to sit next to his demon friend and comfort him by hugging him with his wings which Wemmbu hated. That's how a new friendship of two twelve-year-olds started.