Chapter Text
Flamefrags handed a few golden apples over to Skrilley. He wouldn't typically waste good healing for simple nourishment, but they've been on this obsidian platform alone for multiple days now. It was either wasting gold-plated food or starving, and Flame wasn't called immortal for nothing. Flamefrags sat on the edge of the floating platform, letting his legs swing down and his mind spiral when he looked into the void below him. Cloud had left them here. Betrayed them under the guise of wanting companions to find a lost treasure, only to leave them to die.
Skrilley sat a short distance away, staring at the same endless void. "You know," Skrilley said eventually, "you shouldn't be this trusting."
Flame glanced sideways at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
"Even I saw signs that Cloud was going to betray us."
Flamefrags scoffed, straightening his posture to appear larger - a habit he took from his brother to feign insecurity. "No you didn't."
"No, I didn't." Skrilley sighed, "you're right. But you should've seen it. You're the reliable one."
"I've never considered myself reliable."
Skrilley looked at him for a moment, biting into his golden apple to heal his weakened stomach, before replying, "I know. Sorry to put the blame on you. This-" He waved his arms around, "isn't your fault at all. We're stranded out here; there's limited food, no way out, and no friend that knows we're here."
"...We have food."
"That's not the point! You're defending Cloud again, aren't you? You think there's a reason he did this."
"I don't."
Flame should have known. He shouldn't have blindly trusted him. And now they were sitting on an obsidian platform with no idea if they'll live properly again. At least they weren't going to starve. Between the two of them - two that prioritized survival - food had never been the problem.
Time was. They'd wait, and wait, and wait, until they'd lose the morale to even eat.
"Surely it wasn't Cloud's plan to starve us?"
"That'd be stupid."
They fell silent again. Suddenly, their features became visible in the dark void, tired eyes illuminated by the lit nether portal that appeared in front of them. Skrilley immediately lurched to his feet, "someone's coming, Flame!"
"Wait!"
Not hearing Flame's warning, Skrilley rushed towards it, and was met face to face with their visitor. The keeper of death. A Warden. Flame scrambled to his feet, but perhaps the days of surviving without living dulled his senses. Skrilley was killed in seconds.
NotSkrilley was obliterated by sonically-charged shriek.
Flamefrag's heart fell to his grounded feet. He pulled out his sword, holding it with a stance of a beginner as he lost the confidence to live that was once ingrained in his very identity. He started to fight it, just like he was used to. Flame had killed hundreds of wardens, thousands of players, in situations far more dire than this one. The warden cornered him, sniffing menacingly. Flame gripped his weapon. He thought of Skrilley, Cloud. Of Lomedy. Everyone he had once promised to protect.
'I'm sorry.'
The thought came before the pain. Flame webbed himself fully, each golden apple eaten tasted duller than the last as the warden continued to attack him. He'd always thought he'd die grander. Stronger. A combat grandmaster. But he hadn't. He'd failed, and Flame wanted to lie to himself that he was okay with that. The last thing Flame thought before the darkness consumed him was painfully simple.
The immortal demon has fallen.
--
Flamefrags respawned. That sentence was painfully uncomfortable, considering Unstable Universe was undeniably a hardcore server. His first thought was that death was unsurprisingly uncomfortable. His second was that he could still feel his hands, something that wouldn't be possible unless he was alive. He lifted his hands to his face, opening and closing the fingers before noticing the discrepancy. They weren't right. The skin - if it could even be called skin - was pitch black. Not his natural, dark hue, but an uncomfortable, cold darkness that could only be described as the void being covered in soot. He continued to stare. The color reminded him of someone, though he couldn't place who.
Faint shuffling around him made him notice the handful of people surrounding him, all with the same, eerie black coloring, all with the same slow mannerisms. Strangely, Flame didn't feel threatened. Even though he had nothing to protect himself with. The comfort made his stomach queasy.
Flame looked up to see one of their names - a habit any player shared - and immediately looked away. His head hurt instantly. What was above their heads weren't names at all. They were strings of nonsensical numbers and letters, something that shouldn't be readable. The pain of knowing stabbed through his skull, making him rub his head. He looked up hesitantly to his own name, "what the hell?" he muttered. His familiar nametag 'Flamefrags' was replaced by the same strange bug that carried through the other entity's names.
Random letters and numbers that stretched far beyond normality for an Unstable username. Flamefrags tried to read it. "…”
Pain. He stopped instantly. Whatever his name was now wasn't anything he could understand without feeling uncomfortable. Before he could think about it any further, footsteps approached. Flame turned his attention in front of him, noticing his surroundings being a small, empty room with glimmering, iridescent walls. Flame tried to look at their nametag, his peripherals catching something before they burned. Underscores, and the letter '5' amongst them.
The figure spoke, "you've died."
Flame's eyes widened.
“However, your benevolent new leader has caught your soul before you were banned. So because of his gift, you now owe your afterlife to Null.”
The figure's featureless face scanned the group of players before turning, "follow me."
Before Flame could process what they said, his legs began to move, like they were too light to follow his bidding. He died? The confirmation hurt more than he wanted to admit. Why did he get a second chance. Why did the people beside him did?
Flame followed the figure through the halls, still struggling to understand what was happening. Eventually, they stepped outside to reveal that they were in The End. Instead of a typical Endstone island floating in the vast space, an industrial archipelago took its place. A web of bridges and paths connected the large towers to a particularly spectacular one in the middle. Northern lights shimmered above it.
They approached the central structure before abruptly turning right to reach a smaller building. Flame coughed. He needed to speak, needed to get some sense of authority back to his identity, "uh, so-"
That was all he could say. The figure stopped, Netherite helmet facing him for a silent moment before turning around and continuing to walk. Flame continued to follow. My voice. It sounded like one of those default Batman voice changers that grew popular thanks to the Invisible Knight.
The stranger stopped at the entrance, nodding at someone before dissappearing.
Flame looked at the person they'd nodded towards, halting in surprised when he could read their username. It wasn't remarkable - only a bunch of underscores, but it was still something.
The underscores spoke, their voice deep and nasally, identical to Flame's altered one, “I'm sure you heard from 5, but you are now part of Null: the Empire that will unite the server. Call me the Commander.”
The commander gestured towards the interior of the building. A pearl cannon was seen inside, making Flame stiffen.
“Here, you gear up and use the pearl cannon to be sent to the Farlands, where our leader, Spokeishere, is waiting.”
Flame's brain stopped, “what? Spoke?” The words escaped before he could stop it.
The Commander blankly stared at him before distributing armor and gear. From the netherite armor with matching trims worn by the other 'recruits' calling Null rich would have been and understatement. Flame looked at his armor in surprise. It was the same, but with redstone trims. He stared down at it, then at the Commander. "What is-?"
An ender pearl was placed in his hand. Flame waited for the others to throw throw their enderpearls into the giant contraption before hesitantly stepping up to it, however he was stopped by the Commander.
“You're a rare one.” He started, “dead players aren't usually sentient.”
Flame's grip tightened around the pearl, "what?"
“Make sure Spoke sees your armour. He'll inform you further.”
Flame stared at them. "Am I dead? Where am I? Why is my name different?"
The Commander sighed and pointed at the cannon, "just throw the pearl."
"Bro, what? No."
The Commander moved, grabbing Flamefrags by the arm and snapping it forwards to launch Flame's pearl into the crevices of the hissing machine. Flame barely had time to react before his world vanished.
--
Flame reappeared, realizing his location immediately. Farlands. The repeating terrain was just as he remembered although now the ground was polluted by netherrack blocks and obsidian marking the actions of the swarm of players in front of him. All with pitch-black skin, scrambled named, and frantic, organised movement. The sight reminded him of ants, which made him snort.
They were constructing a path across the enormous gaps in the terrain, and in the middle of it all stood Spokeishere. Flame's old ally. The genius that both helped and sabotaged him. Flame's heart nearly stopped. He started running, yelling out his name.
Just as Spoke heard his footsteps, he spun around, one hand arming a loaded crossbow, and the other painfully griping a totem with an enchanted sheen to it. Spoke raised the crossbow.
Before Flame could say anything, twenty soldiers tackled him. "Huh-" He hit the ground hard. They piled on top of him. Luckily, his strength was still there. He pulled out his sword, slicing away at them and hearing the death messages pile on to of each other.
40jmy30x was slain by F1xx3F_4gs
hc8px78 was slain by F1xx3F_4gs
“Stop!”
The voice cut through the chaos. Spoke stepped forwards, “stop this instant.” The soldiers immediately dispersed, forming a strict formation around their leader. He stared at Flame, his white, dull eyes traveling over Flame's armor adorned with redstone trims, different from the rest. Trims worn strictly by commanders.
Spoke's expression changed slightly. “Speak. You can, can't you?”
Flame's hand flexed around his foreign sword, saying the only thing he thought was right, “Spoke?” What is this, bro?”
Spoke narrowed his eyes, studying him carefully, "you know me, don't you? Only a close friend knows I can be called Spoke and not Spokeishere. Who are you."
“It’s me, bro.” He gestured helplessly at himself. “Flame.”
Silence. Spoke opened his mouth, then closed it. Flame continued: “Why is my username genuine bullshit right now?”
He looked around, his voice cracking. "And what the hell is happening? Am I really dead?"
Spoke's eyes widened. One hand slowly rose to cover his mouth, and he began to laugh. Loudly. Flame's expression hardened.
“No way. Flamefrags? This is you? Oh, this is hilarious." Spoke drew out his vowels mockingly. The empty space that was once Flame's eye twitched.
“Spoke.”
“The Flamefrags died and is now in my Null!”
“Spoke.”
“Oh, this brought my mood back up!”
“Enough.”
Spoke's laughter quietened down, standing still as Flame approached him.
“What do I need to do to come back? How do I - how do I get my identity back?”
“Oh, Flamefrags, That’s the thing.”
Spoke looked down at the totem in his hand, holding it up to Flame to see. The enchanted glow bounced off of Spoke's dark skin. “You can't... See this?”
Spoke tapped the totem. “If this pops, you die for real. Every 'Null' player does. So you better put your full effort into protecting me if you enjoy life, Mr. Flamefrags.”
Flame's jaw dropped in anger, "are you fucki-"
Spoke cut him off, tapping Flame's redstone-trimmed chestplate. "But look at this."
Flame glanced down.
“You can speak, you have consciousness. That instantly puts you into the top twenty Null. You're fortunate.” He smiles, patting Flame on the shoulder as he stepped by him.
“Fortunate?”
“You'll be 100% aware as you live the rest of your days under my command." Spoke pointed at a cobblestone pillar in the distance, "and lookie-here! If that's who I think it is..."
Spoke's grin returned. “This will be your first test as a Null member.”
Flame stared at the distant pillar. Although it wasn't clear, a distinct, purple color fluttered in the wind. Someone he hadn't seen for a while.
Wemmbu.