Scarlet - In the World We Share Today (Part 3)

“Purple.. What are you doing with that?” I asked cautiously, raising both hands as a sign of peace and taking a step back. A small uneasy chuckle fell out of my mouth.

As they were around six feet from me, I heard a low growl laced in rage emanate from Purple’s lips. Their sword was drawn and at the ready.

They broke into a run. Poised to strike, Purple yelled, “YOU KILLED HER!” and before I had time to react, they were right next to me as the blade ran through my shoulder, piercing flesh and drawing blood. I shrieked in agony.

“YOU F**KING KILLED HER!” Purple screamed, tears flowing down their cheeks and I couldn’t do anything as they stabbed me again-

“PURPLE, WHO COULD I POSSIBLY KILL?!” I shouted back through my blind rage and blood red eyesight as more of the liquid flowed freely out of my own body, but I knew I was lying through my teeth. I had killed two people today.

“DO YOU SERIOUSLY HAVE NO IDEA?!” was the yelled answer as another stab from Purple’s sword pierced my lower leg and I collapsed onto the hard, sickening gray asphalt floor. The wind was knocked out of my lungs, drawing an elongated exhale as my cheek scraped against the loose pebbles.

Of course I had an idea. The Chosen One and The Dark Lord, the latter being the first to fall to the sharp metal of a bullet.

“WHAT IN THE INTERNET ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, PURPLE?!” I shouted from my place on the ground, only realizing that they had stopped stabbing.

Purple stood over me, their breathing heavy and their eyes filled with a mixture of anger and grief. They slowly lowered the diamond sword, their knuckles white from the force of their grip on the handle.

“I knew it was you,” they said as my heart dropped down to my stomach. “All you. The gun, the little piece of a chipped crown, a stitch from red fabric lying on the floor. What was the purpose for killing them anyway?”

I stayed silent, my mouth refusing to open to explain or answer.

Purple hesitated for a moment before slowly lowering the sword to the ground. They took a step back, their anger replaced by a mix of confusion and hurt. “I trusted you,” they whispered, their voice barely audible. “But now I know that you are just a vile and arrogant stick, using others for your own personal gain. Like me. And I’m done being something that you can just dispose of, a servant in need of your approval to have a life.”

I lay there on the cold, unforgiving ground as I bled out from the plethora of stab wounds gifted to me by Purple’s blade, and their words. This was not how I wanted this moment, nor this day, to go. But I knew that it was pretty much over for me; they would walk away from here, leaving me stranded and without medical attention. They could expose the whole illegal Minecraft setup, the portal, everything. I’d be ruined. Unless..

An alarm began to sound out across the complex, red lights blaring and projecting down the lengthy halls. Innumerable amounts of guards turned the corner where Purple and I were. My gaze shifted back to the frightened stick in front of me.

“What did you do?!” they breathed, looking over their shoulder at me and then quickly taking their sword back in their hands, turning around to face the platoon. Purple’s elytra quivered slightly.

“I didn’t do anything! That wasn’t me!” I shot back hoarsely as best I could considering my condition and the state I was in. I knew that they were outnumbered. They weren’t getting out of here alive, not if Victim could help it.

My vision blurred and contorted but I heard faint sounds of a struggle, outraged yelps, and.. Yet more gunshots. The shouting stopped abruptly after that. A purple blur and a thump. I let out a labored, shaky exhale.

Definitely not how I wanted this to go.

After giving up trying to see through unfocused eyes, I let my head rest on the ground, blinking slowly, feeling my eyelids start to droop.

Now my hearing started to slowly fade away as more waterfalls of blood seeped into the gravel but a pair of footsteps rang in my ears, coming from right behind me.

A faint “take him to a briefing room” was all I could make out before my eyes finally shut and my tense body relaxed, blacking out from exhaustion.

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First Person POV, Dark

“She’s been here, I can sense it,” I informed Vic who was standing right beside me. We had found ourselves in the heart of Stick!City, in the midst of a flurry of snow. The tall, towering skyscrapers lined with the early Christmas decor rose above the grassy frozen park, snowflakes coating the tops of roofs.

The gray hollowhead was currently looking up in awe at the white blanket falling down amidst the roaming sticks. I swore I heard a gentle whisper make its way out of their mouth: “So this is what life looks like…”

I didn’t want to disturb their moment, and frankly didn’t have the heart, so I muttered quietly, “Gonna go look around for clues.”

Vic didn’t turn to look at me but they nodded, signaling they had heard. I left their side and walked briskly across the park. Spotting a bench, I sat down, making myself as comfortable as possible by crossing my legs and leaning back on the backrest, hands resting on the wooden planks. Immediately, even when only my thighs had touched the edge of the bench, a warm shiver ran through my whole body. I stood up as quickly as I had sat down, but the tingling was still there.

“Amazing,” a voice sounded from behind me, and I almost felt the stick’s warm breath fan out across my neck. I had to admit, it made the hairs on my arms stand on end.

“Cursors, VIc! I almost thought you were a thug or something out for revenge!” I teased, side-eyeing them from my peripherals.

A surprisingly high chuckle radiated out across the Void as Vic clasped their hands and crossed their ankles in light embarrassment. “Sorry..,” was the soft apology. “But still, in all seriousness, you have a connection with Chosen I never thought you had! You know where she’s been by coming in contact with things she’s touched!” A wide grin broke out on Vic’s face, fangs flashing slightly.

I blinked once, looking back at the bench and tilting my head. “What if…” I reached out a hand, lightly brushing one of the wooden planks. The tingle resurfaced, starting at the tips of my fingers and pulsating like radio waves to my forearm, then by shoulder, finally ending by going down each vertebrae of my spine.

Vic looked so amazed their eyes looked like they were about ready to pop out of their sockets. “Whoa..,” they whispered, “Finding her will be alot easier now.”

It was my turn to crack a smile, a glimmer of hope surfacing. It was like taking a step closer to finally reuniting with Chosen after too many days of searching.

With renewed energy, I said, “Come on, Vic! We can scout for a trail.”

They nodded eagerly, enthusiastically, even. “I bet you could follow where she went, starting with the bench and her footsteps out of here,” they suggested.

I nodded and came in contact with the area surrounding the wooden seat, picking up on a trail. Vic and I slowly made our way out of Stick!City’s interior and walked through a dark alley.

After roaming around blindly for a couple of minutes, Vic spoke up, “Uhm.. Dark? Are you sure she went this way?”

“I’m positive. I’m still feeling her past presence along the street,” I responded, doing my best to sound reassuring.

“Okay, if you say so.”

The same tingling followed me everywhere, down the buildings and skyscrapers, through the ins and outs of the city. We came across yet another alleyway, just as dimly lit as the last. Even though I couldn’t see as well, I spotted Vic visibly tensing and drawing their hands and arms close to their chest.

“Got a bad experience with dark places?” I joked, elbowing them on the shoulder. In the middle of my snickering, I saw a faint glimmer of bright red appear in the alley just a couple meters from where we were standing.

Vic’s shallow breathing alerted me of a different tingle down my spine- a cold chill. I sensed the thing near us wasn’t a stick, far from that. As more of it stepped into what little light the fading day could offer, a sudden jolt of realization bolted through my head. Those long back legs, pointed spikes, red metallic sheen..

“Dark, what..,” Vic started, swallowing, “What is that?”

Their question hung in the air for a silent moment as the thing kept advancing towards us. A small tremor of fear ran through the stick beside me as they turned to look at me with frightened eyes.

The longer we waited, the more shiny things kept appearing on all sides of the buildings, surrounding us. Clicking and ominous hissing echoed through the alley, making my hands, on habit, create fireballs. I bared my own sharp fangs and stood in front of Vic protectively.

I took a deep breath, raising the flames up, ready to throw. My mind screamed the answer to their question and yet.. I didn’t want to answer. The sentence was at the tip of my tongue, the corners of my lips, but I couldn’t.

“Dark, do something!” Vic whispered, panic swimming through their voice. “Just tell me what they are!”

A pause.

“Dark! What are they?!”

The two words fell from my mouth before I could hesitate to reply.

“They’re Virabots.”