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i. Curse of Binding
Turns out, being the all knowing eye isn't as omniscient nor fun as everyone said it was; at least, to Eggchan.
It's very powerful, sure. Eggchan understood the world's knowledge, learnt how the code of the universe works, and could easily gain any information he wished with a single moment of meditation or a short session of fact-checking his books. But everything has a price, and the world seemed to laugh at him when he had to pay it with his sight.
He never told anyone, though. Because not only will it make him look weaker, but because he doesn't think it's something worth mentioning. He could still see, albeit a little differently than others; where others see objects, Eggchan saw shapes. When chunguses see colors, Eggchan saw auras. It's hard to explain the intricacy of the universe when all the others had ever known and will ever know was just the thin skin of reality.
He never told anyone, he's pretty sure he didn't. But now, in the middle of the busy marketplace, he thinks he should have at least told Wemmbu– because Eggchan is definitely lost.
The angel had gone to the market in the early morning, where there were less people and he could see better. But he made the wrong, impulsive decision to do a 'small fishing session as a break' which turned into three hours– and now, there's way too many people and everything blended into one, weird milkshake gloop.
Everything was too loud in his ears, shapes melted into one another and all Eggchan could feel was how shaky his legs were.
No unlimited knowledge could get him out of this mess, no books to tell him how to see when he can't even open his eyelids for long; so all he could do was sit in some stingy corner of an alleyway in the Zam empire's market and hoped Wemmbu didn't wake up too late before he realized Egg hadn't gone home for lunch yet.
It didn't take long for the sound of an elytra swooping down and a familiar heel clicking on cobble to find him. If it wasn't for the sound of the accessories Zam gave him clinking against each other and the familiar purple blur in whatever was left of his vision, Eggchan would have already expected another kidnapping.
"Oh my god, Egg, there you are. I was about to think Clown had you hostage too, bro."
"Yo," Egg said, munching on a torn piece of bread.
Wemmbu laughed as he walked closer. Heels against cobble, the purple was getting brighter and more defined in its shape. "Why are you still here? I thought you left like, six hours ago…"
"Uhm, I got lost."
"In the empire?"
"...yeah."
"Sure man, you got lost in the one civilisation you frequent almost, like– everyday where Zam literally knows your name." Wemmbu clocked him, and Egg swallowed the stale bread nervously.
"What can I say, even the greatest of all have their small struggles," Eggchan shrugged.
"You– okay, whatever, just… let's go home, bro. I'm hungry." Eggchan heard Wemmbu sighed out his frustration and the sound of him equipping his elytra reminded him of yet another mistake of his on this beautiful day.
"Bro, wait wait! I didn't bring my elytra!"
Another sound of heels clicking to the ground, like Wemmbu was about to jump off but stopped midway. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah bro, let's like– take a scenic route today." Eggchan tried to suggest, reaching his hand to find Wemmbu's calloused, scarred one. He found air, instead. Wow, he must have looked so stupid.
"...what are you doing?"
Admitting that he wanted to hold Wemmbu's hands so he doesn't get dizzy trying to decipher the variety of shapes and instead rely on him was more embarrassing than he thought. He missed being the nonchalant and humorous one of the duo, dodging the bullet of questions in a way Wemmbu would accept and brush it off like usual. But there's not much else he could say, and Eggchan is way too tired to think about other lies.
Well, he did agree that he should tell Wemmbu about him. So might as well rip the bandaid.
"Bro, I'm blind."
"What are you yapping about?" Wemmbu raised his eyebrows after a short silence. "You're looking at me, right now, with your terrifying blue orbs."
"Well, yea I see you, but I can't see." Egg said, like it was the most logical sentence ever.
Which, wasn't logical enough for his demon friend who just stared at him like he had lost his mind. "That didn't, like, explain anything. You're just contradicting yourself, bro."
"Brother, I can't see," Egg simply repeated, "I'm blind."
Wemmbu blinked in confusion before something seemed to just strike.
"Ooh… Okay, so like– you need my help walking out. That's all, right?" The demon asked, earning a nod from Egg. "Yeah, sure. Let's get you out, just hold my hand."
Something purple entered his vision. Eggchan reached for it, feeling the familiar hand in his. It was warm, and a little dry– probably because of flying here from their home. Eggchan could feel the scar across Wemmbu's palm, precise and deep. It was still healing, he should get more salve to help it heal faster.
He knew how much trouble Wemmbu had to go through just to keep him safe. He could probably bet that half of his scars were just from his successful attempt on trying to keep Egg hidden from the danger of the world, to prevent death from ever touching a single tip of his white feathers. The least Egg could do was to repay him, even with how weak he is. Maybe he should visit the stronghold for the library, more knowledge to help Wemmbu out so he could at least pay his part of the rent.
"Yo, Egg."
Eggchan's thought was cut off with a question from Wemmbu. Which was when Egg realized they were almost half way to their home. Because he could sort of see the walls on the hill and Squiddo was yelling something in there.
"So, do you need like… aid? Or something like that?"
That's surprisingly sweet of him, Eggchan thought.
"Hm? Oh, no. I'm used to this, I think I'll be fine."
Wemmbu hummed, tugging Egg's hand so he didn't fall into a one-by-one hole some player left. "So," he dragged out the vowel, "you've been blind all this time?"
"Well, it just gets worse the older I get," Eggchan mumbled, "I still remember seeing you when we were kids, but now all I see are like… shapes. But it's not a big deal if there's a lot of light."
"Huh," was all Wemmbu had to say about Eggchan's unique way of sight. But Egg caught the small tone change in it, so before his friend fell into the deep hole of his own mind, he let a smirk grow on his face.
"What? You're worried about me?"
"Well… Worry is a strong word," Wemmbu tried to suggest, a nervous giggle rang.
"Okay, stop being nonchalant bro," Eggchan laughed before getting his head shoved into the nearest bush. They laughed.
And when the angel woke up the next day with a wooden walking stick leaning on his study– soft padding on the handle and the stick polished and waxed– Eggchan just smiled and never brought it up again.
ii. Breach
Wemmbu was just fixing up his sword when he heard a loud crash from downstairs. So, like any logical player, he prepared for a fight; gapples ready to chug through, armor in full durability, gambit in his hand and windcharges on his other.
It wasn't the first time they jumped while staying in the treehouse, and it won't be the first time Wemmbu will do anything to survive. His hand gripped his sword with an excited smile across his face. Maybe it was just the way Mane had been training him, expecting the invisible enemies to aim for his ass whenever he was free and wanting his head hung proud on whatever office the Mafia had.
What he should have expected was Eggchan laying face down on the floor with boxes on top of him. All his seriousness melted to a loud laugh at his friend's predicament.
"Sup, Wemm," Egg greeted. His voice was strained and muffled from under the wooden boxes and whatever was inside.
"What are you doing?" The demon said between laughs. He crouched to pick up the boxes that were weighing his friend down.
Once the boxes that were on top of him were off, Eggchan took his breath like he was drowning– and maybe he was, because holy these boxes are pretty heavy.
"Oh my god, you saved my life, bro."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, now tell me what the fuck are you doing?"
"Well I was walking," Eggchan grunted as he sat up, "and these boxes just like– appeared out of nowhere."
Wemmbu blinked humorously, staring back and forth at Eggchan and the multiple heavy wooden boxes. "There's no way this stuff just appears out of thin air, brother."
"No, I swear! There's usually no boxes here!"
"Well, okay. Maybe Mane forgot to put these back."
Curiosity got a hold of Wemmbu. He opened one of them, quietly like a child sneaking for the cookie jar. Inside the boxes, there were glasses of potions stacked up neatly; strength, speed, xp bottles, Wemmbu catalogued. Other boxes were filled with armory and spears, and even more speed potions. Yep, definitely Manepear's. God, this dude should really tidy up his boxes. It's starting to annoy Wemmbu himself, and he barely ever organized his chests!
"Ugh… I just managed to remember the outline of the house, bro." Eggchan mumbled from the floor, eyes absently staring at nothing.
Worry slithered back inside Wemmbu's throat. Right, he almost forgot about that.
"You've been hitting on more stuff recently, are you okay bro?"
Egg's shoulders tensed for a millisecond before it went back, but it was a millisecond enough for Wemmbu's question to be answered. A vision of invisible players in color coded netherite armor entered his head.
"Did the mafia have something to do… with it?" he threaded carefully.
Eggchan was silent– too silent for someone who was always up to talk about his recent books and whatever adventure he had around the jungle. But the silence didn't last too long, thankfully.
"...the invis pots were messing around with me for a while." He mumbled. It was almost incoherent, but not to Wemmbu's ears. "But it's getting better, it'll be fine. I haven't taken one for like, a week now, I think."
That should have been reassuring enough for Wemmbu. He'll be fine, he wanted to convince himself. He'll be fine, was the exact excuse he said months ago. Wemmbu knows, deep within his locked heart, that it wasn't enough. Maybe it'll never be enough, not until he finds a way to restore full sight for his best friend.
Yet all Wemmbu could do now was to just close back the boxes and sit down beside his friend. He's not strong enough, not tall enough, not rich enough– but at least Eggchan stopped tensing beside him, so Wemmbu will take whatever he could get.
"Did you even tell Mane about it?"
It sounded like a good idea, they're staying at his house anyway; a treehouse high above the ground with vines hanging from the leaves and fences that's probably rotting from rain water and– okay yea, this place is probably not safe for Eggchan who's visually impaired. He should give him more totems for safety measures.
But, it's Manepear. Sure, he's weird sometimes. He could probably help Egg with something, right?
"Well, that'd be kind of stupid. That guy would probably use it to his advantage," Eggchan rolled his eyes.
Doubt rose from his guts. "I mean… he's not too bad."
Eggchan rose up from where he was lying to just stare at him like he had just said the most outlandish thing. Blue eyes stared back at his black scleras.
"Brother…" The angel sighed.
Wemmbu raised his hands in surrender. "What? It's just what I think."
Eggchan didn't even try to argue, already understanding how Wemmbu worked. He doesn't know if it was for the better or for the worse. Egg just dropped back down to the floor, "I don't know, man. He seemed a bit sketchy, don't you think?"
"Like, he probably only wants your mace. He sounds really insistent on fighting that one diamond player. And like, no offense, but I don't think you'd be able to beat him when the time comes, bro."
Maybe, he wanted to say. He still hasn't finished training yet, and Manepear has yet to return.
"For a blind man, you sure notice a lot of things," the demon mentioned instead, shifting the topic away from him. His eyes fell back to the rustling leaves hanging above them.
Eggchan giggled beside him. "What can I say? I see everything."
"Except the boxes, yeah, right."
He heard Egg gasping in dramatic surprise. "Look, bro, in my defense, it's hard to see wooden boxes in between– like, literally more wood."
"Okay, whatever bro."
"No, bro, you don't get it! I—"
iii. Silktouch
Rejoice has a lot of questions in his head.
As someone who has been guarding (trapped) in this place ever since the server started, curiosity inevitably became a part of his identity. Especially so when there's a sudden influx of players staying at his civilization. Like; how did they get here? Who are you guys? Why are they fighting each other and why the white haired guy kept walking to walls.
It was funny the first few times it happened. Eggchan– the angel's name– giggled then, when his loose feathers fell as he hit his head against a broken light pole. Wemmbu and Loppezz laughed too, and then continued walking. But the more they spent exploring and more times Egg tripped and lost his way, it became less funny and more worrying. It got to the point where Wemmbu suggested Egg to stay at the house while he and Loppezz went exploring. Rejoice, the kind hearted soul he was, offered to stay with the poor angel.
So, here they are, sitting around a poorly lit bonfire while playing around with noteblocks and sunflowers.
"Are you okay?" Rejoice asked. His hands fiddled with the stem of a small sunflower he brought along.
"Oh, yeah, it's fine," Eggchan rubbed his forehead, it was bandaged poorly with whatever clean fabric they had, but at least the bleeding stopped. "It's just very dark here," He's shoving more sticks to the campfire, it had little to no effect on it. Rejoice merely hummed at the angel's response.
Well, he wasn't wrong. This civilization was underground, with only the light illuminating the area were from the crystals that hung from the ceiling of the cave and whatever redstone madness that was still working scattered across the map. But honestly, it wasn't too bad, unless the wardens noticed you and made you blind– which isn't too common when they're staying away from the main castle.
Maybe it was just Rejoice and his bias. He has been here for months. It wouldn't be a surprise if he had adapted to being able to see in the dark. He wondered if his vision would be different when he's outside of the cave. That'd be pretty cool, he thought.
But, Wemmbu and Loppezz did just fine traversing the area. What's up with this guy?
Glancing back at Eggchan, he was now just scribbling nonsense on the dirt. But the stick kept missing, hitting the firewood instead as he tried to draw even more nonsense away from the items. Can he even see what he's doing? Even if Rejoice wanted to tell him, the angel was… a little intimidating, he had to admit.
But Rejoice hated silence even more, and was very, very deprived of any form of connection with any living being.
Gathering all his resolve, Rejoice then lets his mouth open– a very amazing strategy of avoiding awkwardness. A variety of topics went through the two; about the overworld, who the mafia is, how they ended up here, who is Jaden and why they wanted that poor man dead.
It was confusing, Rejoice had to admit. But at least now, he had real people to talk with. Talking to unresponsive sunflowers all day was starting to have an effect on his stability– maybe he should try talking to wardens, next.
Eggchan was, surprisingly, nice to talk with when he's not too busy trying to walk a straight path. The angel seemed to know everything Rejoice asked, and his response was always so structured like he was reading an encyclopaedia. It was a little creepy, when his voice would be all monotonic and robotic when he explained– but once the words Rejoice didn't know had even existed stopped coming out, he'd be back and crack a joke that would make Rejoice snicker as he thought of another question.
Eventually, the rest returned.
"Yo, Egg, Rejoice! We're back!" A familiar high pitched voice cut off Eggchan's explanation on how the crystal here was glowing biologically.
Loppez was holding a chest full of items, some were even falling off from her hold. Their raid to the armory was bountiful, if he had to guess. The chest was dropped to the ground with a grunt and a few spilled items.
"There! I think that's enough to survive a Jaden encounter! Once we find his slippery ass…" The cat hybrid proudly claims. Rejoice tried to not let his smile falter when she mentioned back about killing the pirate guy. He really would have loved to talk to him, he seemed like a really cool guy.
He was waiting for Wemmbu to boast about his win too, presumably from his fight with Jaden, but all the demon did was make a straight line to the angel with something in his hand.
"Here, I think it'd help a bit," the demon muttered. He was whispering, but jokes on him, Rejoice's hearing was as sharp as his vision.
With a small glance and a little tuning out Loppezz's rambling about her and the demon's journey, he saw Wemmbu hand Eggchan an empty lantern and a stick. Huh, what a peculiar choice of items to give someone.
"Brother, am I supposed to like, catch fireflies with this bro?"
Wemmbu laughed. "No, no– here, look. If you click on this button…"
The lantern glowed after a click was heard. It had a yellow light emanating from the middle, with a glint of red underneath the wires and redstone. Oh, a redstone lantern.
"Yo! That's actually so cool. I can see now." This was the first time Rejoice had ever heard the angel expressively. If he focused more, he could almost see Eggchan's eyes glow brighter than the dull blue he saw. It brought a smile to his own face with how genuine it felt.
"Exactly, bro! I had to fix it up a bit, but like, you can just use this to go around now."
"This is sick as hell, thank you, bro." Eggchan grabbed the lantern and the stick, it laid leaning on the log he was sitting on, beside the old one he used to draw that was way shorter.
Rejoice could hear Wemmbu snickered, and he decided to stop listening there. He wasn't as curious anymore. Loppez asked him why he was smiling like a dumbass when she realized she had been talking to herself, finger pointing at him in a light manner. The blonde only smiled further.
"I'm just happy that everyone's here," was all he replied with.
At least once they hit the surface, they wouldn't see a stumbling Eggchan anymore. The sunflowers in his hands hummed.
iv. Slow Falling
The End was a beautifully vast space of void. It was the perfect place for Minutetech to live in; a voidling as the guardian of the End, that title itself brought a lot of power to his name.
His base was dark, most of the time. Dim soul lanterns were the only man-made light source that kept the place pleasing to the overworld eyes, while the rest was mostly covered by the sky with endless sea of stars and the natural beauty her majesty had left for the world. The End, in Minutetech's opinion, is the most beautiful place he's ever seen. Which was why he's confused as to why his temporary guest always refused to get out and watch the stars with him.
"It's cold. I'd rather stay here writing lore, bro," Eggchan whined, burying himself deeper into the book.
Minutetech tugged on Eggchan's book– an Atlas, Minute recognized. "You literally drink ice water on a daily basis. And I know when you faked your shivers, Egg."
Usually, it wouldn't be a problem. The angel was content enough with staying in the room with all the books he could ever read and all the empty pages he could fill to his heart's content. And Minute doesn't need to protect this guy 24/7 even if there's bandits that entered the dimension.
The problem was that Eggchan hadn't gotten out of the study for almost a week. He's pretty sure the chair now has an indent because of how little Egg has been moving. And Minutetech, being the warrior he is, understood deeply about the importance of exercise and fresh air– even if it was the End's freezing one.
"Eggchan, come on man. You gotta at least stretch. You're gonna turn into a mush if you spend another hour writing." Minute sighed.
"And I'll gladly be the first scholar to ever transform into a slime," Eggchan said with a deadpan face. Minute doesn't know if he's supposed to be impressed or annoyed, maybe the latter, because he really gotta get this guy out of his room.
Minute racked his brain on how to lure the angel out of the base. Maybe food, he seemed to enjoy apples. Or maybe he could put books in a line cartoonishly and Egg– with his nonchalant aura– would follow the trail outside. Minute shook his head off the thoughts, neither of those are gonna work.
"Wemmbu would scold you for writing this much," came out of MInute's mouth unpromptedly. Eggchan's headwings fluttered in recognition, and the voidling felt like those images of a guy with a lightbulb on top of his head he remembered Spoke spamming him about.
Bingo, he smiled.
"Huh… maybe I should text Wemmbu. He'd definitely like to see his friend again–" Minute was about to take his comms out of his pocket when Eggchan's hand gripped on his wrist.
The angel was near kneeling on the floor, the chair was knocked down and his blue eyes were panicked.
"Don't… Don't tell Wemmbu…" The angel gasped.
Minute smirked victoriously. "Oh, why?"
"Brother, just…" Egg sighed, he got up from his position and fixed his messed up tie. "All I need is to go outside, right? Let's just go, bro."
Minutetech snickered as he watched Eggchan get up and walk outside by himself. At least he's listening to him now. "Yeah, you can go back once you refresh your mind, don't worry."
The angel crossed his arm like a child. "Well, I wasn't expecting to be banned from the study, either."
"You will, if all you do is slump over your desk and not rest." Minute followed him out, the cold air of The End brushes against his dark skin. A familiar sense of home washed over him as he followed Egg to wherever he was walking to.
"Look man, there's not much I can do here. I'm not strong like you or Wemmbu, bro."
That was pitifully accurate. Sure, Eggchan could go fishing in the pond he made outside, but he understands that the books in his library would be a better way to spend his time. Yet, somehow, it didn't look like Egg was having fun in the library, too. Sure, the books seemed to light up his eyes, but only a few of those had the effect. Like the astronomy one, or the one about plants, and one book that Minute has yet to find out with its bindings nearly broken and the cover basically ripped off from the spine.
Eggchan reads more like he's trying to make up for something Minute has yet known about.
"Do you want me to train you, or something?"
Eggchan scoffed, "look at my long, noodle arms and tell me what it could do, brother."
Minutetech pondered a bit, seriously thinking about what he could teach Egg while he spent his time trapped in the dimension. A mace definitely isn't an option, with how rare they are and the lack of muscles Egg has. Maybe a sword, or a spear– those sounds reasonable enough. They're the basics of PvP, practically everyone in the server knows about it. Then, a memory of an arrow went past him.
"I could teach you how to shoot better," Minute offered. "I think I remember you having a bow with slow falling."
Eggchan's wings perked up at the idea. "Yo! Actually, that's actually not a bad idea! I won't be an untrainable mortal anymore. Manepear used to say that I'm basically hopeless, so like—"
Something shook, and Minute saw Egg lean dangerously to the endless void for a few seconds.
The angel's rambling was cut short as Minute had to grab on his jacket. Minute heard something rip, yet he still held his hold and carefully took Egg's shaky hand and led him away from the edge of the island. Pebbles of endstones fell into the void below, disappearing into the nothingness– but none were Eggchan.
The void swallows everything; gas, solids, liquids, powers. If anything ever touched the tip of it, they cease to exist. It's a shame something so beautiful could be so deadly.
They both fell back to a safer distance with a huff.
"W– woah…" Eggchan wobbly sat down.
"Okay," Minute took a deep breath, "when I told you to get out, I didn't mean to the void." He tried to joke, it came out more flat than he thought it would be. Eggchan did laugh, bless his poor taste in comedy.
"I.. I couldn't see it," came out of Egg's mouth breathlessly.
He heard stories from Wemmbu; about Egg and his comically short vision distance and him falling off of platforms. It was told lightly, then– as a joke. But now, Minute pondered if it was just how they tried to make it normal enough as to not ruin what they already had.
The two spent more time in silence after that, shaking off the weird feeling of almost dying by just laying down on the cold endstones and watching the stars instead.
"Minute?"
The guardian hummed, his eyes gazed at Eggchan who had his gaze locked to the sky instead. The angel had opened his eyes, but dull grey was covering his iris. A realization hits Minute. The dim lighting of the base and the darkness of The End suddenly didn't become as comfortable as it used to be.
"Thank you."
He wondered if Egg could still at least enjoy the stars.
"Anytime."
v. Luck of the Sea
The purge was, surprisingly, going better than Wemmbu had expected.
Sure, he didn't have the brightest idea, but at least they were surviving and alive. Determination and cruelty deserves the credit of giving the group another chance to breathe, even if the air is stale, damp, and very dusty. Wemmbu really can't wait to leave this stupid civilization and smell the fresh air of the overworld again. He already misses the feeling of sun against his skin, or the rustling of leaves against the wind.
Out of frustration, the purple demon kicked a small rock. It rolled down the hill, and he heard a small "ow," from his best friend at the bottom. With a smug smile, Wemmbu strolled down the rocky hillside to stand beside the sitting angel.
"Hey Egg," he greeted.
"Yo, look where you're throwing stuff," Eggchan said with no heat, his hand rubbing his back while the other was still steadily holding the fishing rod. "Did you find anything?"
Wemmbu moaned like a whining child, "Ugh… There's like, not much. I saw something underwater, but like– I don't feel like going there yet."
That was kind of a lie. There was something sparkling under there, with the shape of a clam and a familiar feeling of a weapon he had long since touched. It felt like it was calling him, like a siren in the water, and Wemmbu would be a willing victim if it answered his theory correctly.
But it's been too long since he's spoken with Egg in a conversation that's more than yelling for him to run and follow him. It has been a week since Wemmbu failed the Parrot mission and had Eggchan teleported away right in front of his eyes. That's a week too long without Eggchan, and god he really missed his friend, even if it was embarrassing for him to admit.
They were the only ones here, too. Codmaster had gone to another side of the lake for 'better luck'– his words– while the others were off patrolling and exploring the small island by themselves. It was as if they were giving the duo a time to themselves, because even Jaden had made eye contact with him but he didn't walk closer. He should thank him for protecting his chungus friend all this time.
"Go talk with Yungy for more gapples, bro. Beware of the wardens that roam the water." Eggchan went back to his tangent, and Wemmbu finally realized just how much he missed this.
"Hah! Okay, shut your corny ass up, bro." The demon sat beside his friend, letting the tip of his toes touch the cold water.
This was familiar, in a weird way. They used to do this often, in Highwater with the friendly civilians and the loud market that Wemmbu had to drag Egg away from to avoid getting scammed– when the civil war wasn't yet a thing and all the duo had to be concerned about was what new ways they should cook the fishes they caught.
Wemmbu glanced back at Egg, who seemed to be really focused. Which would be incorrect, because the demon knew that his friend wasn't exactly staring at anything. The angel's gaze wasn't even fixed to where the fishing line landed on the water, nor to the water in general. It was as if he's staring into a ghost above the water. Eggchan can't stare at anything.
Guilt crawled to his throat.
Wemmbu leaned closer to Eggchan. "So you're just… What? Fully blind now?"
Eggchan shrugged, "I guess, bro. I mean, I can sense you. It's just, you have to be really close."
Sense, not see. The word change bothered Wemmbu more than it should have.
"So… Worse than usual?"
Eggchan hesitantly nodded.
"Okay," Wemmbu sighed. "Wait– how many fingers am I holding up?"
Eggchan stopped looking at the empty air, and tried to face Wemmbu. His face was serious with his eyebrows furrowed and his free hand holding his chin like the angel was about to answer a jeopardy game.
"Hm… Two."
Wemmbu made a wrong buzzer sound with his mouth. "Wrong, it's five. You're not even looking at me, bro."
"Oh," Eggchan giggled. "My bad."
Then, Eggchan shuffled his head down a bit, staring right back into Wemmbu's surprised black sclera. The angel's usually bright, blue sky eyes were now dulled; a patch of grey had consumed almost the whole of his iris, and it sent something uncomfortable down Wemmbu's heart.
Oh, he was being real, Wemmbu realized. It's not the usual seeing colors stuff anymore. Eggchan is probably only seeing black right now, and it will only get worse the longer they spend underground.
"Am I facing you now?" His friend innocently asked. As if being blind was normal– as if this was normal.
Maybe, at some point, it became normal, the rotting part of him said.
Being captured, being used as a hostage, being turned into nothing more but a currency for Wemmbu's strength; as a mere item to barter and trade without knowing about what Egg's favorite book is or how he likes his fish cooked.
Wemmbu gulped back the bile that threatened to go up. "Yeah bro, sure."
Something tugged on the fishing rod. Wemmbu had to tap Egg's shoulders so he could pull the line back. A poor cod dangled off the hook helplessly. Wemmbu had to help Egg to capture the fish safely before he could stab himself with it. The cod slipped smoothly into the bucket, and the demon watched it stop wriggling. Eggchan smiled when Wemmbu told him it was a decently sized cod, and handed him another bait. The line was thrown back into the lake with a satisfying splash. The routine continued.
"How did… what– what happened in your cell? After being teleported and stuff…"
Wemmbu had his suspicions, and god forbid he wanted to make sure his friend was treated just as he was promised he'd be. There was something fishy (no pun intended) in Egg's movement that was more sluggish, and easily lost in his thoughts even when they were running away from enemies. It blared Wemmbu's danger alarm in any wrong way possible, but he can't do anything if he doesn't hear it from Eggchan himself.
The angel hummed, in the pose that Wemmbu understood that he was trying to recall something. Then, he sighed pitifully. "I don't remember."
Well, that wasn't new. Eggchan had always had the worst memory, and even worse eyesight because now– he's actually blind.
Wemmbu slumped back with a similar sigh. "Yeah, well, you didn't even remember who Codmaster was, so that wasn't much of a surprise."
"They didn't let me bring my books here, bro. It was lucky enough that Jaden found me first." Eggchan laughed. Because he found it funny, or maybe he just didn't enjoy the tone of Wemmbu's voice whenever he's guilty of something– of course he did.
"Yeah," Wemmbu scoffed bitterly, "Luck…"
Luck, like how Egg got that mending book and fishing rods. Luck, like how Wemmbu was with his maces and escaping fights by the strand of his hair. Other misfortune was just him being unlucky; the wrong time, the wrong people, the wrong words.
Will Wemmbu lose everything once his luck ends, too?
Wemmbu felt a hand on his hair; it was calloused on one finger from writing too much and soft from the lack of PvP. It's untangling the knots at the ends of his poorly chopped hair, and taking off the few cobwebs that had stuck from the fights they were in. He felt the angel miss a few times, reaching for the empty air instead of his strands– but it was Eggchan's hands, he's making small braids with whatever was left off his locks, and he's here.
Eggchan is here.
"I'll be fine, bro. I'm not fully blind, yet." Eggchan simply said after a few minutes of silent combing, assuringly and nonchalant. But the slight raise in his tone suggested that he noticed. "It's like, temporary– or something like that. I think it has to do with me being this deep underground for so long. So, like, as long as we go up again, I'll be back to my normal eyesight."
Normal eyesight, as if Eggchan had always been able to see better. That man could barely see what's in front of him and trips in every funny way the demon could ever imagine. Wemmbu wondered if all those nights spent writing and reading were actively making it worse.
He ignored the fact that something could have happened in that cell that had made it worse. But he didn't know if Egg was purposefully avoiding his questions, or there's some serious problem with his memory.
God, is there even therapy in Unstable?
Wemmbu buried it deep down again when he heard Yungy's footsteps coming closer. The purge isn't exactly a good time to have a heart-to-heart conversation.
"You keep running off, though. Do I have to tie you with a lead or something, bro?" Wemmbu said instead.
"Just keep talking bro, and I'll use echolocation on you guys."
The demon lets out a huff and jabs his elbow to Egg's side. "Hah! Bro's turning into a bat."
Eggchan giggled, pulling lightly at the hair he was braiding as a revenge. "With the lack of sun I've been seeing, might as well be."
Silence visited them again. The sound of the river lazily streaming was all they could hear, it echoed through the caves with its dripstones and stale air. It was suffocating, the longer they spent down here. Wemmbu felt Eggchan finished with his hair, the short braid reached his neck and he missed how it used to touch his back and his tail.
Eggchan traced his hands around the ground, searching for the familiar rod he put down minutes ago. Wemmbu laughed when he handed him the rod after he put on the bait for him. Egg casted another line.
A small splash reverberated.
"I miss fishing outside."
"...I know."
"What's gonna happen next?"
Wemmbu stood up, an almost broken diamond sword in his hands and gapples ready to be chugged.
"I'm going to kill Arachnid," the demon smirked, "and we can go home."
He could see Eggchan smiling in the dark, eyes crinkled despite not staring at anything. It tugged at something in Wemmbu, but he kept his smugness. Maybe, even if Eggchan is blind, at least Wemmbu will always try to lead him to the light.
(The sound of teleportation rang heavy in Wemmbu's mind– in the span of a few seconds, after he had just got him again, everything went back to static and darkness.)
+vi. Curse of Vanishing
Being the all knowing eye isn't as omniscient nor fun as everyone said it was; to Eggchan's unbiased opinion.
Well, nobody ever told him that, actually. In his knowledge, he's been the only one to ever make the contract to have access to this power with the exchange of his vision– at least, in this world. Some would actually say that he's dumb, a foolish, greedy person who wants power and is willing to trade anything to have a little upperhand. Trading something as vital as eyesight for wisdom isn't quite the brightest idea Eggchan had, sure, but he never regrets his decision.
Regret only weighs him down, regret doesn't make him hide better from enemies, regret won't let him help Wemmbu in fights and it certainly won't do him any good in surviving on this god-forsakened server.
Regret doesn't do anything, Eggchan learnt.
"So no, I don't regret it, Wemmbu." He smiled– strained, tired, stupidly, but a smile nonetheless. "I think I'll never regret meeting you."
"Well, you're more of a dumbass than I thought," Wemmbu mumbled.
The grass beneath them was soft, the night sky above them was bright; stars complimented the beautiful dark space, sparkling for eternity.
Eggchan hadn't been able to see the stars– or anything else, really– but today, it was beautiful.
They're free now. No more Arachnid manipulation, no more dingy, damp caves, no more imprisonment. They gained their freedom back, went to their home, and that's it.
That should have been it.
Today, Eggchan was finally able to see Wemmbu; not the weird purple unintelligible shape, nor the smell of blood and dust. Egg could watch his friend breathe in the same air as him, stare at the same sky as him. The demon and all his fancy clothing, a weirdly chopped up hair, his chipper horns and crooked smile and dimple. His friend was the same as he remembered him.
The sunflower pin hangs loosely on his belt, the ripped yellow cloth securing it and an eye-shaped accessory still worn proud on his chest.
"I've missed this," Wemmbu said. I've missed you, went unsaid.
Eggchan just hummed.
"We can go anywhere, now."
"Yeah." The angel nodded weakly.
Eggchan saw everything they could do. More adventure awaits the two; Stories to tell, actions to do, missions to complete. They could meet new people, make new friends, explore abandoned places, plant sunflowers and teach other players. So many possibilities, the server seemed endless now.
The world is infinite, his dwindling power suggested.
"Let's rest here a bit, I think." Egg whispered.
He could hear Wemmbu shuffle closer, grass blades against their bruised skin. "Sure, but why?"
Eggchan smiled. "I can see the stars, Wemm."
That seemed to shut his friend down, he felt him lean closer to him, half hugging the angel. The movement was sluggish, tired, weak– but it didn't stop it from being genuine and real.
"...okay."
So, there they lay, in the open field with trees on the edge of the horizon and the stars dancing above them. For those few minutes, it seemed like the world had given them time to breathe, a chance to see the world and its beauty outside of orbitals and viscera. Bugs hummed a tune, the wind offered them refreshments, the world gave them peace.
Eggchan could finally see the world, with all his flaws and beauty. And as he closed his eyes, he will never regret it a single bit.