29 - Afterlife

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Pix stood by the foot of the copper, Pearl and Shrub stood with him, they watched as a ripple of red consumed the chipped metal. Gem - the human Gem - landed with a crunch on the dirt, her fall slightly blocked by a metal mesh. Shrub rushed over, she scanned her like a lab rat.

"Broken arm," She told Pix. "She's unconscious, but should be fine..." Pix released a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness..." Pix coiled around to sit by her.

"Guys!" Pearl panted, her hands shaking. "Where's FWhip?" Shrub's stomach twisted. 

Joel trod over, his eyes red. 

"We can't lose anyone else!" Joel said, his voice coming out as a high pitched squeak. Xornoth came narrowly closer. 

Then FWhip was thrown down beside him, he was in a... worse state. 

His eyes were wide, they stared vacantly into the air. His skin was had a milky complexion, light patches streaked all over. His clothes were burnt, the colours bleed inky dye onto the floor. He was choking, his mouth quivering. 

"He's dying!" Shrub bleated, crawling over to him. Joel fell to his knees, he scratched the earth. "What can we do?"

"I don't know!" Pix panicked. "Can we do anything?" 

The group stood on awed silence, they all coughed out half-baked suggestions, Joel stood in a blurred daze, he didn't speak, he just stared his wife's urn.

The urn wriggled, it squirmed around slightly, the cobble chipped. Joel fell to the earth, the Pix fell silent as he watched Joel stumble toward the urn. He brought it towards his chest with clammy hands.

The urns lid whirled in its casing, the ash spurted from the seems. It was blue, and paste like. Water started churning out from the mouth, the water twirled into the air, it flew like a ghast. Every one was washed from the circle, the water kept flowing and flowing, everyone clung onto a weed, or a bush, the trunk of a bending tree.

"What the hell Joel?!?" Shrub barked, she held onto the dying hand of FWhip, the tinkerers head lazed narrowly above the water, should he go under, he drown.

"What did I do?" Joel yelled. "Scott's the one who..." He mumbled. "Her in the first place, he's the reason she was in there."

Suddenly, past the canopy, the sound of a swirling trident flung two flailing people into the air, they landed in the water with a large splash.

Joel tried to catch a look at them, but the water they spritzed into his stinging eyes distorted and warped their figure until they looked like two striders with arms.

They stomped the urn, the water stopped spilling, the grass was damp, Joel sunk into the mesh.

"What the hell?" A familiar voice gurgled.

"We have as much clue as you," Shrub replied, her voice coarse.

Joel wiped his eyes clear, Infront of him stood Sausage and Joey.

Joey blinked.

"Oh, hey Joel..." He stammered. "It's been like... Months? Right?" Joel nodded, he eyed the cobble flecks on his shoes, there wasn't a trace of ash.

"I wandered over here after being abandoned by Gem," he gestured to the unconscious body lying in a bush. "I found sausage on the way, half dead."

"Thanks for making a runner, by the way," Sausage spat at Joel, the mezalean king looked away

Pearl squealed, everyone turned to face her.

"I don't get it..." Everyone crowded around FWhip, the dying man was no-longer dying, his skin was a warm colour.

Joel stared upwards, a sky of stars twinkled, before he could truly relish the beauty....

Everyone was dragged into oblivion, they swirled backwards and were thrown into a black void. A console waited far away from them, the vortex they came through closed.

The void shook, the earth shattered and they fell into a sullen world, rain lashed on the earth. They spilled off a cyan gazebo, the grass blocking their fall.

They got up, each of them glancing around, Scott was in their midst, tears on his face, Xornoth lurked by his arm. His face red with guilt.

"I'm sorry..." He said, prodding the bloody sword away. "but it-"

"Was the only way..." Scott stared off into the horizon, his eyes glazed with a sheet of frost. A warm smile tugged on the edge of his face.

***

Pearl left after a week, she had a place in a world she had been postponing attending. She couldn't leave halfway through empires, so she left now.

Pix left too, he wanted to be on his own, move past these things. He started his own new world, and disappeared.

Everyone else stayed, they started up a new world, and for once everything was normal.

Until it wasn't...







Authors note

So this is the last chapter, The end of the book... I might make a sequel, I have lots of ideas for one, but idk.

And at this point, the "work on progress" cover, is just the cover

Anywho, ask questions if there's anything I left unanswered, and look out for the next one maybe

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