Core Life

Chapter 6: Pieces

Sorry for not writing for a bit! I got carried away reading a Wattpad story that would take 2 days to read in one go...
I'm here now! :D

Scott froze as the door closed behind the stranger.

Well, stranger wasn't the right word. They had once been good acquaintances.

'Who are you?' Of course, Jimmy was unaware of who was in front of them. At least they couldn't kill...

'I'm Martyn...'

'You just killed Mumbo, didn't you?'
Jimmy tensed up a bit, and Martyn looked down.

'It... wasn't me though. It was that curse!' He protested. 'That terrible curse... that...'

Scott stepped forwards, much to Jimmy's surprise. 'It's okay, I understand. We also know that you won't kill us two now that you've cured it.'

Martyn slowly looked up once more. Scott thought he could see his eyes watering slightly, but it may have been a trick of the light.

'You do not want to get the curse THEY give you... It drives you to insanity... and even if you don't kill, someone dies. You can't just live through it anymore...'

'Anymore?' Scott locked eyes with Martyn. 'What do you mean?'

'...forget I said that.'

'No, please answer this.' Scott had to hint as subtly as possible now, in case Jimmy let on. Scott could tell that Martyn knew more than he should. 'Do you remember the fort in the shadows?'

Jimmy looked confused. He'd probably take that one a bit too literally. Martyn however, backed up a bit.

That was the answer Scott needed.

Martyn ran out of house.

'I'm Grian, and this is Pearl.' Pearl simply waved.

'So, do you not remember anything? No friends, or family?' Fwhip was a concerning character to Grian. How could he remember? Even worse, what did THEY want to do with him?

'No. My first memories were waking in the nearby birch forest.' Pearl responded.

'Uhm, Fwhip, do you want to form an alliance?' Grian tried to change the subject. After all, he didn't know how long he could keep lying before he tripped up.

'I'm already in a group, but seeing as our mines are connected, I guess we can make a miner's alliance?'

I nodded to Pearl. 'Sure!' She was overly enthusiastic for some reason.

'Great! We could go get resources together sometime. How does tomorrow sound?'

'That sounds good for me!' Grian was glad to make friends with this peculiar person. And besides, keeping him close could help him stop whatever THEY were hoping to do...

'If you don't mind, who are your allies?' Pearl was curious AND over-enthusiastic now.

'Joel, aka Smallishbeans, Doc, and Ren.' Grian didn't recognise Doc as he was one of the new ones, but he definitely knew the other two. After all, Ren played a major role to him in 3rd life, and Joel played a major role in last life.

'Ahh.' Pearl was looking at the communicator, probably associating the names with the faces shown on it. 'There's four of us, too! Jimmy, aka SolidarityGaming, and Scott, aka Smajor1995, are currently at our base. In fact, we probably should be heading back now!'

'Okay! Have a safe trip through those awkward staircase tunnels!' Fwhip waved them off as they descended once more.

Fwhip seemed to be a good guy to Grian.

Grian was first to come out, and he could immediately see Scott tensely watching a half-open door, and Jimmy... checking his shadow? What?

Scott immediately noticed Grian from the corner of his eye and turned, putting his hands onto the avian's shoulders.

'We need to talk.' Grian stared anxiously. Was this about Mumbo? Or did something else happen?

Grian simply followed Scott as he lead him outside.

The air was calm and crisp as the afternoon sun shone on them.

'Martyn came here.'

Grian immediately stiffened up. Had Martyn tried to kill them?

'It was after he got Mumbo.' Scott reassured, but now Grian was confused as to why Scott was mentioning this.

'He tripped up on his words.' Scott continued. 'And when I vaguely said about the shadow fort, he stepped back and ran away.'

Martyn could remember Last Life too? How did that happen?

'What place did Martyn get in last life?' Grian asked.

'3rd. He blew up his end crystal wrong while fighting me.' Grian was shocked by how serious Scott's tone was.

'Then him remembering shouldn't have been possible...'

'He also mentioned something to do with 'they'  or 'them' giving the curse.'

Grian froze. Martyn had had direct contact? How? Did they speak to him via the curse?

Scott easily noticed Grian's new defensive position.

'You know why he can remember don't you? And it's whoever 'they' are, also known as the organisers of this game, right?'

Grian was shocked by how swiftly Scott had pieced everything together. He slowly nodded.

'Is it the same way we can remember, then?'

'...yes. However, he shouldn't remember anything before he got the curse in Last Life...'

'So that's why he still went after Mumbo. Despite being in an alliance with him, he was gone at that point.'

Grian shuddered. He didn't want to remember about that. About who struck down Mumbo in Last Life...

'He'd remember all the others though. 15, including him.' Grian added

Right. Jimmy was also out of the picture when Martyn got the curse. Scott hoped that Jimmy wouldn't face an early erasure again.

'I... also have some news.'

Grian went in-depth about the events with the mines and with Fwhip. Scott simply sat on the short grass and listened.

'I think the... erm... administrators are targeting him for some reason. Not like a few of us already have targets on our backs.' Grian was bluntly referring to the two of them and Martyn.

Scott finally spoke up. 'You keep pausing when you say administrators. Do they have another name?'

Grian stopped for a moment, contemplating whether he should say. But, with Scott's perceptive gaze, he knew Scott would know sooner or later. And Grian preferred for it to be sooner.

'Yes.'

'What are they called?'

'...The Watchers.'

(987 words! Let's pretend that was 1000-)