Chapter Text
Pearl slammed into Xelqua with a hug, carrying way too much vibrance for how late it was. He was only able to stay standing with pure spite, but huffed in irritation at this interruption. Xelqua had set the sun hours ago, but hadn’t left to go to bed as the other Watchers had. His sister was prone to wandering, since she alone had the job of raising the moon as the others slept. This was as it had been for millennia, and neither complained.
It was only several months ago that Xelqua had found sleep suffocating that he’d spend the nights watching the Earth and all those who were peaceful below. Only then had Pearl found company other than whispered thoughts and the click of her boots on a rocky expanse.
She blew her bangs out of her eyes and smiled at her brother, red fabric draping over her entire figure except for her face, but dust covered every surface of it from one of the thousand side quests she did while no one else could stop her. Iridescent eyes shifting from blue to red with every tilt of her head, scanning Xelqua’s empty face. She bit her lip before covering it up with another easy smile.
“You’ve gotten quieter," she noted, stepping back from the hug that Xelqua hadn’t reciprocated. She fiddled with the sleeve of her cloak when Xelqua didn’t respond, barely casting her a glance before returning towards the world below the Watcher’s. “You used to cuss me out when I’d hug you.”
Ah. So that’s why she’d barreled towards him. To gauge a reaction. Siblings had strange ways of showing love.
She was still trying to get him to respond, as he never cussed her out, but tackled her to the ground and sulked for the rest of the day. But Xelqua wasn’t going to fall for her tricks and respond. He hadn’t talked to anyone in months, why would he now?
“I miss you,” she whispered, voice cracking at the end. “You’re sad, and won’t tell us why or how we can help–”
Xelqua swiveled to face her, unknown emotions spiking up so fast that he opened his mouth to speak…before he remembered he couldn’t. He closed his mouth with a snap and rubbed the scars along his throat. He hadn’t been able to speak for centuries, so why after all this time did he…?
That didn’t matter. Nor could he find anything else that mattered. In a moment, those emotions were locked up where they’d been trying to escape since his birth. The last remnants of emotion leaked into how he shook his head at Pearl. She couldn’t help. He didn’t know what was wrong, or why he felt this way, so she couldn’t help.
They stood in silence, Pearl’s desperation seeming to shrink her figure before his eyes. Her gaze flicked from place to place as she was furiously trying to think of ideas. By the time she found the words to speak, Xelqua’s eyes had gone cold again.
“Well, if you won’t tell us, then I’ll take matters into my own hands.” Long brown hair bounced as she hopped in excitement. “Maybe a break will cheer you up! I know how to raise the sun, and you can go on a vacation. To Earth perhaps?” She clapped her hands. “Wait, I’ll plan everything! Don’t you worry, it’ll be a nice surprise trip.” Xelqua signed for her to stop, but Pearl was too busy muttering to herself. She peeked at her brother, smirked mischievously, and ran off.
Pearl was always ready with thousands of ideas, but very rarely would they come to fruition. It was this in mind that Xelqua didn’t go after her. He stayed and continued watching. Watching lives flourish through each eye placed on Earth, seeing images that hurt him in a way that he didn’t want to stop. It was strange, but that was what his life had become.
Watching others live as he rotted above, rocks and dust the only other lifeform.
That next week, Xelqua tried to dissuade Pearl from whatever she was planning, but she deftly avoided any confrontation and Xelqua wasn’t about to chase her down. That would only spur her forward. It was only one night, where Xelqua had fallen asleep due to some poisoned drink the other Watchers had placed, that everything would unfold.
For Xelqua, one moment he was at his home, the next, he was falling from the sky.
Xelqua first stirred due to the wind and the uncomfortable cords binding him. Cracking open his eyes, he barely had time to brace for impact before he hit the ground. Shock hit him in the face as hard as gravity did, so it took several seconds of lying in an expanse of sand before his brain caught up. He sat up in gasping breaths. Pain hummed along his entire body, from throbs to stabs, every different kind could be found.
For one, he’d heard a strange sound when he fell. Something like a sizzle and a crunch. Once the cords that had bound his wings collapsed–most likely a creation of another Watcher–he could deduce what exactly hurt. His wings of light and fire bent awkwardly. Every piece of skin the wings had touched whilst he’d been bound were bleeding or red and raw, welts that swarmed his arms and face screamed when sand touched it.
They would be unusable for quite some time, but that didn’t matter as much as the sand in his eyes and his aching skin.
Xelqua groaned, sitting up amongst valleys of sand and strange spiky plants that was the only shade of green for miles. Watching from above, he’d always written it off as rocks like his barren home. How wrong it was to see something pulsing with life instead of a state of perpetual stillness.
Trying to gather his thoughts, Xelqua absentmindedly rubbed the burns along his skin where wings had grazed it. Pain was a new thing, something that made his hands shake and gasp for breath though not from exertion.
He should’ve worked harder to stop Pearl. He’d been too focused on the mess inside him that demanded something he couldn’t name. Normal duties as a watcher sent a pain similar to one he felt now, only it wasn’t a burn that you could see or fix with time.
That wasn’t an excuse for letting this happen, though.
Buzzing from all around roused Xelqua from his stupor. Eyes of purple smoke covered the sky, and a familiar voice boomed into his thoughts. Pearl, the grand announcer, seemed to beam with each word she said.
Welcome! You have been selected to participate in a fun game! The rules are simple. Pain is increased and health decreased to even out some scores. You each have three lives, and once you are on your last life, your only goal is to kill every other player. A mark on your body will turn into a different color depending on your life. Green for three lives, yellow for two, and red for one. The last one standing wins! Isn’t this exciting!
A game. They hadn’t told him what kind it was, when it would be, or how it would happen, but that was probably, again, to ‘even it out’. Xelqua glanced around his body as Pearl talked, trying to find a green mark. He stopped short when on his wrist a green jewel flashed in the sunlight. That had to be it. Other players would have different places where their mark would be, but Xelqua’s seemed to be his wrist.
Hidden among us are three Watchers, sent here to monitor and fix broken rules as necessary. Finding and eliminating them will lead to great rewards, and even an extra life! They are here to compete just as much as you, so don’t be discouraged to get them out of the game. Watchers have special abilities that will be invisible to the rest of the players except for those who’ve already found out if someone is a watcher.
You have each been put into random places on the map. There’s a village if you want to go there to socialize and form alliances, or you can prepare in caves to be able to take on any foe. Watch out for night, as minor obstacles are placed to make it more challenging.
Xelqua stumbled to his feet as Peal kept talking about minor details she’d added to the game, clearly proud of what she’d built. He might as well try to get a look around as she did so. Some of the eyes in the sky followed his movement, and Pearl paused in her speech when Xelqua winced at how his cloak aggravated his burns with each movement. Without a word, a red crescent flashed above his head and covered him in light, smoothing over every cut and bruise he had on his body not including his wings.
The red crescent shifted into a purple eye, and Pearl whispered, “Sorry, Xel. Human forms are more fragile than I thought…” The words were meant only for him, as afterwards Pearl switched back to her announcements in his thoughts instead of speaking and was addressing every player's mind.
Xelqua, having been mute for years, could only smile his thanks at Pearl’s kindness. Knowing that he had one friend still able to interfere for things like this was immensely comforting in this world.
Xelqua lifted his cloak enough to not trip over himself, and headed off in a random direction. It wouldn’t matter where he went, as this desert was immense and there was no indication of it being anything else. Pearl’s voice eventually quieted, and as day slipped to dusk,
soft sand had turned to scorching sandpaper on bare feet. Temperature wasn’t something Watchers were able to feel, as they barely had enough of a form to weigh anything. His throat tasted of iron every time he swallowed, and sweat made his clothes stick to his skin.
Walking and slipping over never ending sand drained his energy until he moved in autopilot instead of wondering what was in store for him. The only thing he focused on was taking another step, eyes dropping towards the floor like the sun itself was weighing on his head with its heat. It got to the point that he didn’t even realize that he was stepping in grass and not sand until his knees buckled. Xelqua narrowly escaped falling flat on his face with a few stumbling steps, and the shock of a squishy wet ground made him pause.
His feet were covered in this brown substance. It pacified the blisters on his feet, though it made a mess of his cloak. He didn’t care about that aspect, though. He was beyond the point of caring about clothing. Taking a few moments to remember that one of the watchers had explained strange things like this, Xelqua rummaged through memories to find the word of what he was stepping in.
Mud. Common, harmless, mud.
He dragged his gaze upwards, the setting sun clawing on the tips of trees and batches of long grass. Orange mixed with the blues of the coming night, ensuring that heat would soon be gone. Fallen stars flitted in the air as fireflies, always too far away to catch but close enough to light the way.
How could such an alien world be so beautiful?
Xelqua was tempted to stay there for the night, shaking muscles ready to collapse even if he’d get a mud bath for doing so, but that wouldn’t do. Pearl had mentioned something bad happening once night hit, so he needed to find shelter or climb a tree to safety.
The only problem was that he couldn’t get his heart to calm down. The world was spinning, and his wings twitched in reaction to whatever this emotion was, causing more pain.
Xelqua had thought that moving eternally would erase this weird feeling, but it’d crept up on him. No one had told him what they were doing, when they’d send him here, or why this would be fun at all. He was alone, covered in sweat and his eyes were stinging from something other than sand.
What was happening to him?
Why was he always a mess?
Why couldn’t he–
A clatter from the forest made Xelqua flinch. Dark wide eyes flickered towards the sound as his breathing got faster. A man stood there, brown hair framing emerald eyes that were just as shocked as Xelqua was.
“Oh, geez. Sorry!” The man sputtered, bending to pick up a cane that must’ve been the cause of the noise. His hair was just long enough to be tied in the back, and his accent sounded foreign. American, maybe? “You just–you scared me and–” he cut himself off and squinted his eyes. He took a sharp intake of breath. “Are you crying?”
Crying? Was that what they called it?
The man tilted his head, floppy hair covering one of his eyes as he seemed to be waiting for a response. Xelqua didn’t know how to tell him he couldn’t talk. Anyone who’d ever known him had so since he was a child. How could he explain that to a stranger? Besides, the way the man was looking at him made him shift weight on each leg and avoid his eyes. He didn’t know exactly why, but instead of answering, he walked off in the opposite direction of this stranger.
His face felt hot, probably from how much he’d walked and not from anything else. He’d never felt shame before, so why would he now? No, his body just wasn’t used to being without his wings.
“Wait!” Xelqua didn’t know how, but the man had managed to close the distance and was now grabbing his wrist.
Maybe the other players weren’t as normal as he might’ve thought.
“There’s a village just past these trees if you want to take shelter…” he bit his lip. “And please forgive me for earlier. Though I haven’t lost a life yet, I’m still jittery. I’m not used to…well, a death game.” He chuckled, and Xelqua couldn’t spot any nervousness in his smile. It was a lovely smile, and spread across his entire face. Now at a closer distance, Xelqua noted the scars stretching across his face and body, too discolored to be recent. His shoulders were broad and he had a firm build, to the point that it couldn’t be brushed off as normal but a conscious act from years of hard work.
Xelqua yanked his hand out of the man’s grip and kept walking. He didn’t want any part of whatever this stranger was doing. He acted clumsy and harmless, but speed and scars like that weren’t born out of naivety but practice.
Distant shouts sputtered a curse from the man, but its tone wasn’t distraught it was…gleeful. Xelqua cast half a glance backwards and–
The man was grinning. He wasn’t looking at Xelqua, but at the trees behind. They seemed to wave at the tips like they were part of the wind, glowing so brightly it was as if…the trees were on fire. Sparks burped and bubbled down from the tips of nearby trees and consumed further ones entirely. Only seconds earlier it had been subdued enough to mistake it for the sun’s last rays.
The scarred man turned back towards Xelqua, his smile turning more triumphant and smug than innocent. His eyes looked like they too were ablaze, that he was in the flames and relished in it.
Okay, so this guy was crazy. Xelqua had dodged a bullet by not trusting him.
“They’re coming if you want to escape,” his eyes trained on every move Xelqua made, from how he swallowed to every little twitch his hands made. Xelqua felt like the man was dissecting him and closer to finding out what made him crack with every decision he made. It was this that made Xelqua take a half second longer to register that maybe you should listen to words instead of internally freaking out.
Xelqua cocked his head to the side, eyes flicking around them in sight of anything other than them and the flames. Then he heard it. Somewhere cloaked behind the bubbling flames and his screaming thoughts, there were voices. Voices that were shouting and getting alarmingly louder with every passing second.
“Of course, it’d be more convenient for me if you stayed or went to the village as I left town.” The man shrugged. “Up to you.”
Xelqua scowled at the man then flipped him off. He didn’t have time to be wrapped up in this nonsense. Preparing for an unfortunate amount of pain, Xelqua grabbed the nearest stick and put it in his mouth so he wouldn’t bite his tongue. He grabbed onto one of his wings and yanked it into a more natural position. The action stunned his vision into black spots for several seconds, but now he could fly.
The man, not being able to see his wings as that would reveal Xelqua was a watcher, just stared at him blankly as Xelqua appeared to wince after pulling on nothing.
Good. Let him be confused and get caught for whatever crazy thing he’d done. Xelqua didn’t care. He sucked in a sharp breath, spat out the stick, and extended his wings. Pain twinged with each movement, but Xelqua had been walking all day. He wouldn’t be able to run, and there was no place to hide.
Very few people had the third option to fly.
Or…he would’ve, had someone not slammed into him from behind. Xelqua stumbled into a tree, preventing the both of them from crashing into the ground. Iron filled his mouth from the brunt force of the tree, and Xelqua was about two milliseconds away from choking everyone in sight and telling them to use common sense, their eyes, and NO ARSON.
If only he could shout–very calmly explain this to them. Mouths that worked were very useful for that sort of thing.
“Ren, I found them!” The voice shouted. A green bandana prevented blonde hair from falling over the player’s eyes. He wore clothes you might wear to bed in, a neon green hoodie and black sweatpants. Only, the hoodie along with the man’s face was covered in soot and tears from the unforgiving forest. He surveyed Xelqua briefly before shrugging and kicking him behind the knees so that his legs would give out. Xelqua was too close to nature to not get a few dozen scratches on the way down, but firm hands on his arms prevented him from mud to the face.
Xelqua wasn’t in a good position to see what was going on, but it was just enough to see the feet of a llama slow down and a man step off. This guy, presumably Ren, makes quick work of the arsonist. Though he wasn’t as sturdy of a build as the other man, Ren had restrained him with little effort on his part. Ren’s arm was around the other man’s neck, and no matter how many scratches he gained, Ren didn’t even flinch at it. He only huffed, “Thought I saw you behind the fire. You almost brought everyone and yourself down to a yellow life. You’re not that slick.”
“Oh please,” the man spat. “You didn’t see anything. Martyn just ratted me out.”
“What else do you want me to do?” Xelqua’s captor sniffed. “Here you are, talking about a monopoly on resources, and then you burn down the only valuable thing that village has!”
“Had,” Ren clarified with a flick to his victim’s head. Remembering that there was yet another prisoner, he locked eyes with Xelqua. “Do we wanna take this one in as well?”
Oh, for goodness sake.
Xelqua looked Ren dead in the eyes, gave him the most exasperated look he could and shook his head no. He would try to reason, but if any of the other players were as mental as the arsonist, he was just going to sit in a cave the entire time and watch everyone kill each other once he escaped. Screw the game.
“Too scared to speak, huh?” Martyn tried to sound cocky, but uncertainty leaked in. In Martyn’s experience, there would be a lot more begging and sobbing from prisoners. Xelqua was getting in an increasingly worse mood, and these words weren’t helping. It never crossed Martyn’s mind that Xelqua couldn’t talk, so he just went on. “Well, we still need to take you in for questioning. You see, the king won’t take traitors kindly. I’m afraid we’ll have to take you–”
Xelqua, who had been keeping his wings tucked away from touching Martyn, slammed them onto his hands. Martyn screamed and impulsively jerked his hands off of Xelqua’s arm. He got to his feet as Martyn cursed and rubbed the burns on his hands.
He was actually grateful for being rammed by Martyn earlier. Having barely moved his wings to burn him, he’d discovered just how much pain the human body could experience after how much he’d gotten beaten up today. There would be no flying for him without passing out two feet from the ground.
Ren had ended up on the floor, the scarred man having used Xelqua’s escape as a distraction to devise his own. Ren wasn’t making it easy, though. Covered in mud, Ren grabbed the man’s leg and tried to bring him down with him. Ren got a kick in the stomach for his efforts, but any more fighting was lost as Xelqua paid no more attention to the two.
Nor did anyone notice what Xelqua was doing until it was done. Carrying his tired body forwards as fast as it could, Xelqua hopped onto the llama Ren had brought and yanked at its reins. Mud stuck to the llama’s white fur when Xelqua tried to get his feet in the stirrups, but the llama didn’t mind.
“Pizza! You thief!” The man sputtered, directing the accusation at Ren with another kick to the stomach. The man must’ve assumed Xelqua would wait for him. The fool. The stranger finally broke free from Ren’s grip and started towards Xelqua before Martyn tackled him to the ground. Xelqua urged the llama forwards, but it seemed distraught. It brayed and stomped its feet, and kept looking at its owner getting beat to a pulp.
Well, if the llama—Pizza—wouldn’t leave without the man, then Xelqua wouldn’t either. There wasn’t much of an option. Xelqua absolutely hated this fact.
Ren was getting to his feet, dark locks blending with mud. His tacky clothing must’ve made him feel more like a king, as he held himself in a more regal and graceful manner than his actions portrayed him. For all that, he wasn’t smug or masochistic when he leaned down to face the man. It was a quiet somberness.
Not that it mattered if Xelqua was somehow helping out the wrong people. Morality could be dealt with after a power nap. He hopped off Pizza, the sound startling the two men. As they had stolen the llama, they didn’t care about where it went nearly as much as its proper owner might, and were more focused on the people they could capture instead of chasing endlessly.
Xelqua eyed them up, estimating just how he’d be able to subdue them enough to escape with the man. He didn’t get the chance to do anything significant before the man swung his cane at Martyn’s knees and jumped to his feet at an inhuman speed. The man was turning his eyes on Ren, but the glance he gave Xelqua told him everything he needed to know.
Xelqua lunged at Martyn, not using cheap tricks like wings. Unlike everyone else, Martyn had never shown violence towards anyone other than in means of restraint. His swings were a second too late, eyes wide instead the calm Xelqua’s was. Martyn was weak. As long as he kept hitting like this, it wouldn’t matter if Xelqua wasn’t skilled with fighting. If his intentions were to harm and Martyn’s wasn't, Xelqua had already won.
Martyn evaded a swing to his face, but Xelqua used his shaky balance to sweep his feet out from under him, similar to what Martyn had done to him earlier. Martyn fell so easily despite being dangerous if he was aggressive, it was like he fell on purpose.
Not that Xelqua cared. He turned back towards the scarred man. He had left Ren in a much worse position, but nothing looked life-threatening. It was more hits that were meant to
stun than to kill. Xelqua dashed back towards the llama so that the man wouldn’t just decide to ditch him if he beat Xelqua there. The man was close behind, trying to grab the reins from Xelqua. That earned the man a good elbow to the gut.
“Okay, geez!” He wheezed an apology. Xelqua nodded curtly and steered the llama lightly. The forest was out of the question, so that left the endless sand Xelqua had just left. Night had laid its head to rest, so soon their old captors would only be able to see inky figures. They would be safe, but completely isolated from everyone else.
Xelqua bit his lip and steered the llama back towards where it all began.