Demise (Old Edit)

Losses Rise

Creak, Creak. Tenn wished it was just the floor. Sadly, it wasn't. The creaking sound came from his knees. Tenn's age was finally getting to him. His artificial arm grabbed elytra from a chest hidden in the ground. As he looped the straps around his chest, he wondered how much time he had left. 

Tenn had only been on a few worlds, and they never changed his age. He always got older and older. Respawning caused problems for his weakening body. It wouldn't be long before his body completely gave way. 

Tenn spread his wings, shining silver, and tried to fly. He leaped off of the ground only to fall right back down. The earth greeted him rather roughly, as he flopped down. Pain shot through his one good arm and he heard a snap. His bone had broken, evidence of the toll his body had taken. Tenn lay on the ground barely able to think through the pain. What would he do now? He should try to get to shelter, as the failed takeoff had exposed him to the elements.

A buzz from his hermit phone reminded him he had communication. He hoarsly told Hemitee to call Xisuma. His vision had spots running across it, as the pain lanced its way up into his shoulder.

"Tenn?" Xisuma's familiar voice was muffled by the phone. Tenn gritted his teeth and managed to speak some clipped words.

"Fell. Broken. Base." 

Despite the vagueness, Xisuma seemed to know exactly what Tenn meant. "I'll be right there." The phone beeped signalling that the call had ended. Only then did Tenn remember that Xisuma was dead. He was easy prey for them now. What had he done?

His body had taken enough of the torturous pain and he blacked out, barely recognizing the winged figure flying on the horizon.

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"- be up soon"

"Are you sure he's okay?"

"I can't know for certain. I've never encountered someone die completely."

"Me neither. What if-"

"No way. You have no idea how much the code would be screwed up."

"I just wish..."

"I know Scar. It's hard. Just remember the legends that helped shape the world we have today. They aren't alive anymore. Everyone must die eventually."

Tenn slowly opened his eyes, finding himself on a cot much like one in a hospital. His arm still throbbed underneath what looked to be a cast. Xisuma and Scar were standing over him, Xisuma wrapping a bandage around Tenn's leg.

"I'm glad to see that you are awake." Xisuma spoke in a soothing voice.

"Where am I?" Tenn's brain swum as he groped for recent memories.

"You are in my base, away from the undead." Scar replied. 

The undead. It was as if that part of his brain had been sealed off then reopened violently. Torrents of information flooded his mind and fear gripped his body.

"You. You are undead." Tenn wasn't going to beat around the bush.

Scar and Xisuma glanced at each other, exchanging a silent agreement. Xisuma finished the bandage and tied it securely. "We are indeed, undead." Xisuma's tone was frank, brinking no argument. "We are also very much alive. Which is why you are still alive and we are taking care of you."

Tenn tried to push himself up into a sitting position, but was quickly intercepted by Scar. "You should not move until your body has healed up my friend."

Tenn felt the warmth of Scar's hand on his arm and recognized color in both their bodies.

"How?"

Xisuma and Scar alternated telling him all about their discoveries and what the command block would entail. They also stressed the point of needing to destroy it before everyone became undead by the code. 

"The world will crack when we all become undead." Xisuma took off the gloves he was wearing, revealing that he wasn't wearing his customary armor. "The code will become glitched and a wormhole will form. Everything will collapse in on itself, the code that makes things work, destroyed."

"So you want me to find the command block?" Tenn glanced at his malfunctioned robotic arm.

"Well...." Scar trailed off and gave a knowing look at Xisuma. "You might know this already, but we don't know how many times you can take the respawn."

Tenn flinched, wishing it weren't true. Xisuma picked up from where Scar left off. "Your code is becoming out of date. I could possibly change it, but it would leave too many things unpredictable."

Tenn closed his eyes, wishing to shut out the world. "You're saying that I'm becoming outdated."

"In a way, yes." Xisuma lowered his gaze. "As the Coders constantly upgrade our worlds, our birth code slowly becomes more and more obscure. It's why your experiencing trouble respawning and weaker body. We all will reach that stage. Pretty soon your code will start to glitch." Xisuma, not normally an extremely emotional guy, started crying. Scar wrapped an arm around him and finished the hard truth.

"It will hit the point of no return. Your code will no longer work, you will become disconected."

At this point Xisuma had completely broken down. He wasn't used to this part of Admin. All this power and he couldn't keep his friends safe from the expired birth code.

"X" Tenn held out a weak hand. Xisuma wiped his eyes and took it. "You are a very talented Admin. Do not be sad for me. I knew my time would come sooner or later. You have a very full life to live! I'm glad I was able to teach you things from time to time."

Scar had come up next to Xisuma. "I'm so sorry Tenn."

Tenn felt part of his body glitch. His code was failing. "Both of you, chin up." He commanded. "Even when I am gone, I live on in you. Continue on, fix this world."

Tenn closed his eyes, his heart rate slowing. Xisuma felt a notification on his Admin watch. "No, no, no!" He cried out.

"What is it?" Scar peered over X's shoulders.

"A major update." Xisuma's voice cracked. "Tenn isn't going to make it through this one."

Tenn didn't open his eyes. He felt the jolt as the update changed their world. The others would be fine, their code still fairly new. As the code spread across the world, it found an anomaly. Old code. In order to function properly, it eliminated that old code. Tenn became the erased code, leaving behind just his items.

Xisuma and Scar watched as Tenn disappeared forever. Xisuma collapsed into the bed. Why couldn't he have prevented this?

"Xisuma," Scar gently put his hand on the shoulder of the weeping Xisuma. "We should tell the others."

Scar's voice held nothing but kindness and sympathy but the words cut a hole in X's heart. They would never see Tenn again.

"The others." Xisuma replied, voice hollow. He put his armor back on and sealed his face away from sight. Without thinking, he drained the color from his skin. The command block was far from his thoughts as he took off into the night sky, leaving Scar to gather everything of Tenn's.

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A funeral was held in Tenn's honor that morning. Even the undead arrived, as if they had fought against the foreign code to honor the tragedy. Xisuma went up to speak, remembering the words Tenn had last spoke. Xisuma spoke those same words, in the language of the code.

"Enderera Mberi." He ended. "Continue on."

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I am so sorry for that ending. I have cried many times making this part. Soon this madness will be over X. It will be over soon enough.

-Buurn