Chapter Text
The taste of iron was strong in their mouth as Azure looked up at the night sky. The smell of the nightshades and snuffed out candles wafted through the cold night air, making their eyes water. He felt the stick of blood on their hands as they laid on the outline of a sacrificial spawn, drawn on the grass with his own blood. He heard the murmurs of prayers mixed in with soft sobbing, so close yet so distant from them. And he saw the night sky, moon shining down as if promising another day ahead, but Azure knew there would be no tomorrow for him.
The last thing he saw was the blue night sky, then nothing at all.
Actually, nothing seemed to be all he could see for awhile now. There wasn’t anything to do in the void he’d been stuck in for seemingly forever after his untimely death. He tried counting how long they’d been in there, but the highest he could count to was one hundred, which was quite impressive for where he came from. The place where they‘d grown up seemed to value…other practices above education.
And so he counted to the same number again and again. There wasn’t much else to do anyways.
“97…98…99…100…1…2”
Azure mummered to himself for what felt like the hundredth of hundreds of times. He sighed, laying down on their back and looking up at the same scenery that there was for miles. He held up a hand to his stomach, tracing the scar left there. Oddly, the wound that caused their death had diminished into a long scarred line. Azure shook their head, not exactly wanting to think about the events that led them here.
But he couldn’t help but wonder what exactly where he was. Sure, this place was dark and boring, but that’s all he knew. Wasn’t Azure supposed to have a second life, or whatever nonsense the elders preached so often that he even heard it in their dreams? It seems that their ‘second life’ would be spent in the dark expanse, being forever forsaken to be all alone. Was this some sort of unique place you go to after life? Azure thought if someplace like this existed, there would be more people. Maybe….no. Azure couldn’t think about them, let alone forgive them.
The piercing pain of the dagger was still fresh in their memory. Of how the blade cut through their flesh and bone brutally. How the one person he loved most plunged it in was what hurt the most though. their expression at the time…Azure could hardly remember it. He wonders if Two Time was still do-…no. He won’t think about them. He has better things to do-or as better as things get in wherever he is.
Azure stood up sharply when he started feeling tears form in his eyes. It was no use sitting around and wallowing in their feelings forever. He could try walking around, but because of how the entire area looked the same, he wasn’t sure he would even be moving in a direction. He would never be able to tell without a landmark to pinpoint their progress. Azure recalled an old story from their community, about a boy who had said bad of the Spawn, and was forever condemned to walk an endless field until he went insane. The community preached that when the boy begged for forgiveness, the Spawn granted him mercy. Looking back, Azure thought the story was stupid, that the Spawn was stupid. But what good is a dead person's opinion?
But Azure decided to try and test to see if he wasn’t in an “endless field" kind of situation. The first thing he did was place their hat on the ground, after he of course dusted off the lingering specs of dirt. He walked backwards, and the hat seemed to get further. Good, at least now he wouldn’t go insane thinking he wasn’t making progress. He picked it back up and trekked on, trying to spot…anything really. Hopefully an exit. But where would he even go? Well, they’d think about that later.
…
Azure has walked for 76 or so one hundred counts and nothing changed. He groaned in frustration, digging their hands into their hair. He paced around, feeling agitated and fed up. Maybe their plan didn’t work, and he really was just stuck in an endless black void for eternity. He turned back, planning on just trying the other direction, and jolted in shock when he saw…something.
Azure wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking at. A slightly humanoid figure with an odd hat stood before them, its presence imposing. The red ones and zeros that vibrated through its body made them feel off put, along with the slitted, black eyes that stared down at him. They were calculating, in the cruelest way possible, as if examining them as some pawn or toy. It then spoke, though Azure wasn’t sure how, as it didn’t have a mouth.
“You shall make my game much more fun indeed”
The creature mused, its glitched, monotone voice echoing through the dark expanse of the void. Azure shuddered, chills going down his spine. Game, what game? Whatever the creature was talking about, he wanted no part of it. But as he started to slowly back away, the creature snapped its fingers, and Azure blacked out.
——————
The first thing Azure saw when awakening was a wooden ceiling, alongside the conversation of two men.
“Ya sure this kid don’t got injuries?”
“For that of which I'm sure, injuries he did not procure.”
One of the voices seemed to have a slight accent, and the others words seemed rhymed and elegant. Azure slowly opened their eyes, holding their hand up to their aching head. How did he get here again? Their mind felt foggy, like they’d just woken up from a long dream. He shifted into a sitting position, staring at the two blurry figures in front of them.
The two guys turned towards them. One seemed to have grey skin and hair, along with a bright orange hard hat. The other had a blue pumpkin for a head, that of which Azure didn’t know was possible. He groaned, the aches getting worse the more the bright lights illuminating the cabin invaded their eyes.
“…Who are you two?”
If their head didn’t hurt so much, they’d be freaking out. The man with the bright hat seemed to look at them with pity before speaking.
“Name’s Builderman. The fellow there with the pumpk’n hat is Dussekar”
“Pleasure to meet you, new survivor of woe. I hope you shall get used to this strange place’s flow”
The pumpkin man, Dussekar, held out a hand to shake, but Azure didn’t miss how he made note of the spawn button he had attached onto his cloak. He shook their head, trying to banish the banging that reigned rampant through their mind. Azure couldn’t remember how he got here, it had all become a blur, mostly just the pain from what was now just a scar on his stomach and the memory of a large black void remaining. He got up from the couch, looking at the surrounding area. There was a mounted head of a red creature with wide eyes and sharp teeth. Near it were two pictures hung on the wooden wall, one of a crying yellow skinned robloxian, and the other was of a white seal. There was also a large bookshelf, with more books Azure had ever seen. There also appeared to be a cat lounging on top of it, its dark eyes staring down at them as its tail flicked lazily. But the warm atmosphere did nothing to help Azures’ now rising panic. Now that the initial haze upon their mind was wearing off, he was now panicking more than ever, fiddling with their fingers and digging their nails into the skin.
“W-where am I….I don’t remember coming here-this isn’t an area in the community, and-”
Builderman held up a hand, ushering them to calm down. The man paused, as if trying to put his thoughts into something Azure would understand. He eventually just sighed, taking off his hat and running his hand through his hair.
“Welcome to hell kid.”