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Spepticle broke Parrot out of prison, running but also trying not to get caught.
Suddenly-
Parrot's face paled when he felt the sensory loss of his legs.
This is possibly the worst time to get one of the worst symptoms in his forsaken curse!
"Wa-Wait… Spep, hold on!" Parrot whispered, calling for Spep. Parrot tried to force himself to take a step, but he felt a stinging pain instead. He scrunched his eyes slightly, feeling the pain. They need to get out of here fast, but Parrot felt like a liability.
Spep's head turned back, and he saw the crack marks that were slowly growing on Parrot's skin, his legs were shaking.
Spepticle realized that Parrot's legs were paralyzed and hurting, and his hand, which was clinging to his top. Likely because he had chest pains.
Without hesitation, Spepticle pulled out a slimeball and used his two hands to make a prayer hand gesture. The hands grew closer to his face, "God of Magic, I bid thee now and forever. I bid thee for thy help, to guide us to the safe place thou promised, the promised land," He chanted quietly.
"Spep?" Parrot was quite puzzled; he never knew Spep was religious?
Slosh
Swish-swish
Parrot heard it, the sounds of Slime moving, but there aren't any slimes here. He searched where the sounds came from and found it. A small bit of green, or rather, slime bits,… wait, actually not small bits, there are a lot of them crawling from the walls and floor, gathering in one place. Are these remains of slimes that got killed here in the past?
The remains that gathered under one block combined into one medium green slime. Not that big yet not too small, perfect!
Spep opened his inventory panel, took out a saddle, and put it on the slime, then patted it with a smile on his face.
"Who's a good slime?? You are!"
The slime let out some garbled noises, but its tone seemed happy that the summoner was being affectionate with the slime.
"Uh, Spep, why do we need this slime?" Parrot asked, still had no clue what was going on.
Spep stopped patting, realized this is not the time to be affectionate to a random slime, "Oh sorry, I kinda summoned a slime for you to make a makeshift wheelchair— Wait a moment." Spep picked up Parrot bridal style and then made him sit on top of the slime.
"So you used a kind of prayer to summon it, right?"
"Well, actually, I can summon a slime through an air whistle; every slime hybrid can do that. Although it only works in the Overworld, when we are open to nature… in this secluded area? It's kinda hard. Also, people might get us easier if I did whistle, so I used the prayer instead— Besides, my cousin wouldn't mind lending me a hand," Spep sounded proud about what he said at the end, then made the slime drink a potion of swiftness, making the its color go from green to turquoise.
"…What?" Look, Parrot was confused, alright?! What kind of lorebomb is that!
"Oh, I forgot that you don't know… well, you see… my cousin is the god of magic." The moment Spepticle said that. Parrot's eyes darkened for a moment.
Jealous? Not really.
But a god can do this without any consequences, doing this out of whim, which somehow filled him with envy.
A god never does this to him.
Sure, Uncle Grian and Aunt Pearl got rid of the curse by the Watchers because they were interesting to them and manipulated Players like they were entertainment. Or like Tommy —yes that TommyInnit— his cousin that he babysat once, his curse got rid when his abuser gave him an eternal revival, which was another curse since the one who gave him wanted to torture Tommy but he denied the fact that it was another curse since he hate to be seen as weak. The curse activated when the victim died again and got revived. Due to the revival, they suffered a big mental toll for months, feeling numb to anything. If it's continuos; like someone farm killing them, the victim of the curse will be devoid of emotions. Their hair even becoming white permanently, since no single strands survives the change, the white hair is a sign that the victim is already too far gone.
This is also a discovery to rid the Withering curse; you need to exchange it with another curse. But still, Parrot is still envious of them, dying in his 30s just sounds like he has no future at all. He wanted to keep on living after all.
"Anyway, we need to get out of here."
.
.
.
Get out of here, he said.
And then he ended up dead.
Parrot didn't know how to deal with this— he lost someone who looked up to him, and he died!
Parrot couldn't sleep; his chest pains were back. He squirmed around his bed; he couldn't breathe. He writhed his hands, doing a back and forth motion on the bed sheets.
But then, he stopped. Wondering at his sudden loss of anguish.
The pain is no more…
He felt hands softly ruffling his hair, his head wings and eventually touching his head. It was nice, though it also made him a bit drowsy.
He didn't notice he was falling asleep.
Then he woke up in a room of pure white. Nothing but that blinding color.
He slowly moved his head to the left and then right, looking around, "Where… am I?"
"Welcome" Someone said, behind him. Parrot immediately spin backward and faces the person that spoke.
The person was a man wearing a white tee with three hearts on it. a small slime climbing from his left leg to his head, particles started to show and transformed the slime into a green slime halo above his head.
Parrot recognized the design, "…Are you the God of Magic?" Parrot found it quite puzzling that this is the God of Magic. Not wearing any clothes that would resemble a typical holy being. Then again, he heard people say the God always looked more human than godlike.
"Yeah, sorry for the sudden abduction???" He said, sheepishly. He put his finger on his cheek, moving it a little bit like he was ashamed of himself doing this out of nowhere. Still, it made the situation awkward, and then the silence came.
.
.
"What do you need me for? God of Magic," Parrot taunted, breaking the silence. Skeptical of the man, or rather god, in front of him.
"Chill, chill… You can call me Charlie instead, calling me that makes this way too awkward than it should be." Charlie was panicking to the point of shaking his hands. Later, he sighed and calmed himself.
"The point is, I wanted to say… Thank you for spending time with Spepticle on your server"
"…Eh?"
"…I am actually distant from my family, and more distant than ever when I made myself split into two, my mortal self in another server, and my god self. I regretted that I never tried to interact in the first place, 4C and Jevin were already distant and barely interacted with each other despite being twins and were even more distant to Spep. Which made Spep feel so much more alone than ever until… he met you." Charlie exhaled.
'Me?' Parrot thought, there's no way. He was just a friend to Spepticle, nothing else.
"He was considering leaving the server, y'know… the most players in Unstable are nothing but hungry for power, and it disappointed him… You were his inspiration as someone he wanted to be like and also the person who deserved to be the king of the server."
Charlie didn't realize he was crying.
"So I'll say it again, thank you…" He smiled at Parrot, he sensed a tear wet his cheeks, "—Crap-" He wiped them all with his one hand.
Parrot was silenced for a moment. His hands clung to his pants, scrunching it up, "If you are a God, then— Why didn't you save his life!?" His eyes are watery, slowly falling down his cheeks. It hurt to cry if you're already grieving too much.
Charlie was stunned; he didn't expect that reaction from Parrot. Though he resigned himself, because he knew people would be mad at him for having so much power yet never using it to the fullest.
"I— I know I should help, I already regret it and blamed myself for barely interacting with any of my family in the first place. Like 4c and Jevin, but unfortunately, someone, or rather an organization, is draining my powers in another server where my mortal self lived and died. They used it for planned experimentation on the players in there, so I prioritized myself to try to stop the misuse of their authority of the server… It's even worse now that my powers split in half since the rest was in my mortal self, so I'm barely a God now…" He explained quietly.
"I know it's not an excuse, but I will try no matter what. I love humans and cherish them because I was once a human and cherished how lovely humanity is. That's why I always split into two. So my mortal self would get the feeling of it all, again and again." He sighed, "—Besides, Bizly would scold me if I interfered with humans' lives again, since it's not my domain after all," Charlie chuckled softly. Did he just casually mention God of Life's name like that?
Charlie's eyes widened as he suddenly realized something, "Oh—fuck!… We're running out of time here- uh Anyway, as a God of Magic—" His green eyes glowed, and then his voice echoed like he was in fact a God. "—I give you a gift."
White particles generated and gathered, combining, resembling a person. A person that Parrot was grieving. It was.. Spepticle.
"Okay. I'll leave it to you, Spep." Charlie waved a little.
"Thank you, Charlie." Charlie nodded back, a glow emitted from his body which made Parrot and Spep closed their eyes. Then he was gone.
Spep looked back at Parrot, "You've seen better days-"
Parrot, without hesitation, ran towards him and hugged him tightly. "—I- I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-" he muttered fast enough that it sounded like gibberish.
"It's fine…"
"It's not. You deserve a longer life, you didn't deserve an execution because—" Parrot cut himself.
'of me' goes unsaid.
"Parrot.. when I did that for you, I never regretted it. Even if you have the curse that my cousin was talking about, I never regretted it. Because… It's you"
Parrot was at a loss for words for a moment, "I am… not that important—"
"You are!… I know from your eyes, those determined eyes, that you want to save this server. And you fit as the king of Unstable! You are kind, helpful to any single player that gets attacked at spawn, unlike other players that don't even care… You are what the server needs."
Parrot's eyes flood with tears.
Then he saw Spep's body flickering, "Wh-What's happening?!"
"My time is over, huh?—" Spep muttered in disappointment but then looked at Parrot again, his hands holding Parrot's shoulders. "Parrot, listen… whenever you miss me, just go to the swamp biome. If you see slimes spawn, I assure you, those slimes will never attack you, just remember me in them… Even with your friends, the slimes won't attack them… You can even use them for your legs if they get paralyzed again… I requested this to my cousin and he'll do it."
"But, he said—"
"Yes, mobs are part of Life's domain, but... Slimes are made of magic. So technically, it's still his." He sighed. He stared back to Parrot and slowly stepped away from him, smiling softly.
"Goodbye, Parrot… Go. Be the best king that Unstable deserves."
Parrot ran after him, his hand trying to reach out, "Wait, Spep!"
And he woke up, the hand still in the air. In a position to hold onto something even though he couldn't reach it. It saddened him.
Even though he met Spep again for a proper goodbye in a dream, he cried again. And at least this time, his curse didn't hurt him.