Core Life

Chapter 5: Cursed

Flower husband crumbs and more people? Also TW: Death (this is a death game after all)

He ran through the foliage. Why must he be first? About 5 minutes ago, he would not have thought of killing anyone, but now...
Why did this happen to him?

'I wonder what Mumbo and those 15 other members are doing...' Scott wondered.

'Mumbo?'

'Oh, he was here not too long before you showed up. He left after the announcement with the curse.'

'Ah...'

Scott was looking at Jimmy's red heart now. It was on Jimmy's right arm, but was practically mirroring his own one. Jimmy noticed him staring.
'You know,' Jimmy started. 'These hearts have a similar colour to the rose over there.' He pointed at the flower pot.

Scott grabbed the rose and showed it to Jimmy.
'This one?' Scott looked at the rose, then the heart. Jimmy was right; they were practically the same colour. 'I can see that.' He twirled the rose between his index finger and thumb. Jimmy looked in awe.
'You know, you could have this rose, if you want.' He passed the rose over, smiling. 'I can get another flower for the pot.'

'Oh! Thank you!' Jimmy snagged the rose, slow enough for no petals to fall. He smiled back at Scott.

So this is what peace feels like...

There was no peace. He felt like he was going mad. The trees warped around him, and his vision was slowly turning the red of his heart. He had a glance at it now on his shoulder.
If only he could just rip it away...

Grian and Pearl descended into the mines.

Well, the mines at the moment was just a staircase downwards from a corner in the house. They were fortunate to have enough wood spare to be able to descend, and they soon found both coal and copper. While they didn't know what to use the copper for just yet, at least they had suitable torches now.
'Our goal is to find diamonds, right?' Pearl asked. He nodded.

'We'll need to go to -58 for the best chance. And with 4 people to equip we're gonna need a lo-'

Grian fell into another downwards staircase, coming from the opposite direction. Pearl peered down at him, holding in laughs. He was just staring up at her with a blank expression. After all, he'd forgotten to check where he was mining. That could've ended terribly.

'Who do you think made that?' Pearl pointed at the staircase Grian was in. It didn't go much further down, so whoever it was was on the surface.

'Want to find out?' Grian said, mischievously.

'Sure!' Pearl hopped down next to the little avian, and the two started climbing up.

He had found someone. They were alone, and not very equipped.
This was his only chance. He ran towards the person in a small clearing in the heart of the woods. Gripping his sword tight, he dove it into the chest of the person, just missing the heart on the side. Then another stab. And one more.
He tried to make it as painless as possible for the person in front of him, as they fell to the floor. He could only watch as the red now faded, from both the stranger's heart, and from his own vision.

...What had he just done?

...

Grian and Pearl were almost at the top when they noticed a light from the communicators.
'Oh....' Pearl checked it first, and was extremely saddened. 'It's a death...'

'Did we know them?'

Pearl nodded, causing Grian to go into a panic.

Not already...

<MumboJumbo was slain by InTheLittleWood>

He covered his mouth, small, silent tears falling. Pearl noticed, and consolidated him.

'Don't worry. It'll be fine eventually...'
Grian could see she was sad too, and was trying to comfort herself at the same time.

They ignored the continued buzzing of the communicators and instead decided to reach the top of the staircase.

'Mumbo's... out.' Scott was also a bit sad. Despite not really knowing him much, he knew how much he meant to Grian, as well as the Southlanders back in last life...

'You two close?' Jimmy wondered.

'We were just acquaintances, but I know he meant a lot to Grian some time ago...'

'Oh.'

The two stood in silence, perhaps mourning the sudden loss.

The silence was interrupted by the sound of knocking. The two froze, before readying themselves for who would be on the other side.

Creak.

The spruce door slowly opened, allowing the light of dawn through.

'Hello?'

Scott recognized the voice immediately.

Grian and Pearl had reached the top of the staircase. Now they were inside a very small building with oak walls and a birch floor. The light streaming through the oak door indicated that it was early in the morning. Then, the doors opened, as the assumed owner of the building entered. The young man practically jumped when he saw two people in his house.

Grian realised that he didn't recognise the man in front of him. He must be one of the new ones...

The man readied his sword. It was iron: much better than the stone swords Grian and Pearl had. Pearl readied hers too, but Grian made a motion to 'back down' to Pearl. She dropped her stance a little as Grian walked right up to the man.

'Hi! Your mines intersected with ours, so we came to investigate. We don't need violence, especially if we all have one life.'

'Sorry.' The man put his sword back. 'Between this world and my past, I have some trust issues.' He put his hands in the pockets of his cyan hoodie. Grian could see the heart of the man on his right chest, almost glaring at him.

'Wait... your past?' Pearl spoke up. 'Like, the series of events that lead you to this game? You remember it?'

'Yes, how could I not? How could I not remember what THEY did to her...' He was getting angry. Grian decided against prying into what happened, for the sake of his own life.

'You see, I don't remember my time before the games.' The man turned to look at her in shock.

'Me neither. I don't think that anyone here remembers their time before... we just know we had a life before this mess.' Grian added. It was a half-truth. After all, he knew what he was and how...

'What's your name?' Grian turned back to the man.

'...Fwhip. It's Fwhip.'

(1086 words - wow! The chapters are getting longer!)