Spawn was brighter than Eggchan expected. Torches lined the path in somewhat even intervals, the glow stretching long shadows across the stone. The LS players walked with loose shoulders, easy laughter creeping back in now that no one was actively swinging weapons.
Honestly, every sound felt too loud to Egg. The boots on stone, the armor clinking, someone laughing behind him. His shield never left his arm. Wemmbu walked half a step ahead, subtly steering him, far more reactive to anything than Egg was. Silent corrections the whole walk: Stay left. Watch that rooftop.
Behind them, Jumper's voice cut through the murmuring. "You guys really haven't seen mobs in forever?"
Wemmbu shrugged without looking back, "Hardcore changes things. It could be a setting, but we're not sure."
A few LS players that overheard Wemmbu glanced at each other. Minute, who was walking a little ahead of them, slowed to match their pace. "Hardcore," he repeated carefully. "Like… one life?"
Egg snorted, "One mistake, one life, one chance." He shrugged, "Just one." The group quieted again, as everyone started listening in. Wemmbu tensed subtly at the attention, and Egg picked up pace to walk directly next to him.
Someone behind them muttered, "That's kinda insane."
Minutetech pursed his lips, tail swaying behind him slowly, "Agreed... I wasn't aware players were still originating from Hardcore servers." Before Wemmbu or Eggchan could speak, a turn around a hill led to a rather strange view that distracted them.
Spawn opened into a wide plaza, decorated by builds littered everywhere. Beds were placed in random areas, organized in a sloppy manner. Someone–sounded like Bacon–complained about color coordination to not mix the beds up. It was probably normal server nonsense, but Egg couldn't help but stare. Yeahhh our server could never.
Wemmbu stopped walking, and Egg stopped next to him. A quick look around showed that everyone had already claimed a bed, and someone with quick thinking left two empty spots waiting.
Egg's fingers tightened on his shield. Wemmbu walked over and sat down first, ever the overly confident guy he is. Egg exhaled and took the second bed. "We're so cooked if this is a trap," Egg muttered. Wemmbu rolled his eyes and didn't grace him with a reply.
The LS players were already joking again, in the center a loud Spoke and some other players shoving him around. All the tension from earlier felt incredibly distant. It was like the two were watching an alternate reality from behind glass panes. Which they sort of were.
Minute stood at the edge of the circle of people, looking at the two of them last. "Sleep," he said quietly to them. "We'll figure the rest out tomorrow."
Egg didn't trust tomorrow, but he did trust Wemmbu. So he closed his eye, praying he doesn't get dropped into lava.
It took a lot of Minutech's efforts to coordinate everyone, but once enough people fell asleep, morning came way too quickly. There was quietness once the sun rose, faint wind whistling through builds (very random looking ones), the sound of animals (that one agriculture word needs to go here) But compared to the chaos of yesterday, it felt much more still.
Eggchan opened his eye, feeling stiffness in his arm. The blue sky, faintly orange with the rising sun, was clearly visible. He sat up instantly, shield still in his hand. No wonder his arm felt awkward, he didn't take it off before knocking out. He looked around the circle of beds.
The plaza was still. Most of the beds were occupied, messy piles of armor and limbs and relaxed faces. Someone was snoring incredibly loudly and Eggchan would bet an emerald it was Spoke. Loud even in his sleep or something.
When Eggchan turned to glance at Wemmbu, he jumped. Wemmbu was already awake, staring directly at Eggchan, lightly running fingers through his own hair. He sat cross-legged on his bed, sword across his lap.
"Holy Notch bruh," Eggchan muttered, and Wemmbu cracked a smile. Across the plaza, Minutech stood alone on stone steps leading up to a church. His hands moved in small, frustrated gestures — a gray panel open before him.
Egg tilted his head. "He been doin' that long?"
"Dunno," Wemmbu shrugged and looked over at everyone else still laying in bed, tying his hair back up. "Probably stayed up all night maybe?"
They watched in silence as Minute muttered to himself and while Egg didn't understand the words, but he understood the tone. He was definitely going to crash out soon. A figure peeled out of the shadows beside Minute.
Spoke. Hm. Wonder who was snoring like crazy then.
Spoke leaned over Minute's shoulder like a cat, a grin visible on his face from afar. "Still can't do anything to them?"
Minute didn't look at him, "Spoke."
"Minutech," Spoke cheerfully sang back, "Tell me what's up."
"Earlier," Minutech started, "You suspected two parallel players could exist in the same world without overwriting each other. Literally how do you even guess that?"
"Well when you say it like that, it does sound kinda weird."
Minute turned slowly. "It is weird. You are weird."
Spoke shrugged. "Yeaaaah. Well, maybe I'm just a genius."
Egg snorted quietly. Wemmbu elbowed him without looking.
Spoke noticed their movement. His grin widened. He waved like they were old friends meeting at a café instead of living instances of some parallel crash between worlds. "Moooooorning!"
Minute pinched the bridge of his nose. "Spoke. Don't."
"What?" Spoke said. "I'm being welcoming!"
"You're like, poking a beehive with a stick."
"That's how you make friends. Through adventurous, dangerous deeds."
"No it's not????"
Wemmbu walked forward slowly, Egg reluctantly getting off the bed and matching him step for step. The sleeping circle behind them felt miles away.
Minute looked at them and softened his voice. "You two okay?"
Egg shrugged. "We're not dead. Thanks for not activating a secret trap and dropping us in lava bro."
"Uhm," Minute said. "You're welcome. I guess."
Spoke leaned in. "So," he said brightly, "Question. If you die here, do you die die, or do you just go home? Because like, would you gain basically immortality in your original hardcore world or like–"
Wemmbu's sword was in his hand before the sentence finished.
Spoke eyed the sword, no fear present whatsoever. "Ohhh. Mmkay. Your equipped items haven't disappeared either–"
"Spoke," Minute warned.
"What are you planning?" Wemmbu asked.
Spoke's smile thinned. Eggchan nervously looked between Spoke, Minutech, and Wemmbu, "Guys," Eggchan said, "We don't need early morning tension. Like, breakfast hasn't even passed yet."
"Spoke." Wemmbu repeated, ignoring Eggchan, "Tell us what you're planning."
Spoke sighed, "Okay, so maybe I did want to test a few things out… But I promise I wasn't going to like, kill you! It was an innocent question."
Minute nodded immediately, side-eyeing Spoke. "We won't try something like that"
Wemmbu rolled his eyes and sheathed his sword, hanging back with Eggchan. Eggchan faintly felt like a wall had been built between the two parties, and he silently massaged his forehead (imagine he has one).
Spoke clapped his hands once, too loud in the morning quiet. "Great! I'm hungry, and Egg mentioned breakfast, so like, let's go eat."
Egg blinked. "Breakfast?"
"Yeah," Spoke said. "Plus, you both almost killed three people yesterday. That, like, burns calories or something." Behind them, someone groaned awake. Another bed rustled in response. Wemmbu glanced at Egg.
Eggchan shrugged, "I mean, breakfast does sound good." Spoke beamed.
Eggchan sat rigid on the edge of the bench, shield still on his arm. Wemmbu sat across from him, eating mechanically, eyes scanning the area between bites. Spoke dropped a stack of bread in the center. "Alright, eat up, interdihmensional refugees!"
Minute elbowed him and took a seat next to Wemmbu. Next to Eggchan, Jumper leaned forward on her elbows, staring openly. "So," she said, "You guys always so on edge?"
Egg swallowed a piece of bread he was eating somehow, "Whaddya mean?"
"You know." She gestured vaguely. "Jump-anyone-on-sight-ey"
Wemmbu didn't bat an eye, "For starters, we didn't attack first."
Two LS players spoke at once.
"You literally did."
"You cut Planet???"
Planetlord raised a hand with a mouthful of bread. "I'm fine, by the way."
Egg set his bread down. "From our perspective, you surrounded us."
Another explosion of indignation.
"We were saying hi!?"
"Because we didn't know you guys! We had to approach sneakily."
Eggchan spreads his hands, "That's literally how ambushes start??"
The LS players laughed their asses off, and Egg stared back, suddenly aware that everyone else was genuinely relaxed, crumbs on their armor, genuinely not concerned whatsoever.
"…Oh," Jumper said slowly, seeing Wemmbu and Eggchan's stares. "You genuinely thought that like, 8 people would ambush you two??"
Wemmbu frowned. "Wouldn't be the first time."