Bloom

Chapter 1: The fulfillment of a prophecy

"Are you done?"

I freeze in shock, hearing the voice I knew so well in a moment when I really shouldn't have been able to. Giving the newly created Hero an incredulous look, I tried to come up with some words to explain my confusion, only to let out the kind of incoherent sounds you'd hear from someone having a stroke.

"Hi Sabre!" he continued cheerfully, ignoring all the gibberish I just said.

"Orange Steve, is that actually you?" I asked, not letting hope take over just yet.

"I mean, I think so"

"But how does that even work, I thought- oh, it doesn't matter. Are you feeling alright? Did the crystals get absorbed properly? Do you feel any different- dude put the pufferfish away"

"Darn it..."

Man, now I gotta make sure he doesn't take one of those out in the middle of a fight. Not what I had in mind when thinking of a Rainbow Steve, but it's better than losing Orange. Either way, I'm sure we can defeat the darkness now.

"So? Are you doing alright?"

"Still tired from Reverse's earlier kidnapping... but seriously now, how stressed were you when you turned me into Rainbow Steve?"

Shoot. Calm down Sabre. Just act cool.

"Uhhh... hey where's Gerald?"

"I'm not falling for that. C'mon, let's go inside so you can lay down. I don't even wanna think about the headache you've got now that you have twice the normal amount of flowers growing on you."

He's right, I gotta give him that. I haven't felt this bad since... well, since about 10 minutes ago. Still, surely we have more important stuff to do right?

"Don't you think we should visit all the colors first? I mean, they're gonna want to know that we finally have a Hero and- DUDE PUT ME DOWN"

"Yeah, right. We both know that's not gonna happen."

I try to protest, but he's just not having it, so I have to put up with being carried to the house then dropped on the couch like a sack of potatoes. Rainbow just looks at me.

"Sleep" he says, then grabs a book and sits on a nearby chair.

"But I don't wanna..." I whine.

"Would a pufferfish help you?" he asks, and I glance up at him, trying to figure out if he's joking or not. I decide it's the first one.

Truth is, I don't wanna sleep because ever since I got here, in this world, I've been having some very strange dreams. For example, I had a dream about the Nightmare King plotting to destroy me... and sure enough, next time I saw him, that's exactly what happened. I also saw the old green kingdom and the green crystal before we went there to retrieve it. It's weird, and while this could be an advantage later on, I'm rather terrified of both the things that I might see and the reason why I can catch a glimpse of them in the first place. It might have something to do with the plants growing on me, as I always seem to be a flower in these dreams (yay -_-), but if it's something else... Better not to think about it. I just hope I can get a peaceful nap.

Of course I'm not that lucky.

This is probably the worst dream so far. Not because I see something bad, but because I can barely see anything through the cobweb in front of me. I feel something on me, and I don't need to look to know it's a spider. As if that's not enough, the place itself is eerie, looking like the hall of an old underground crypt, dimly lit by redstone torches. Honestly, who thought that's a reliable light source? And why must I be a soaking moss block out of all things?