Hermitcraft/Empires SMP/Third Life/Afterlife Randomness

Déjà Vu

"I think you should be king of the server."

Ren blinked and tripped in surprise, gripping the balcony railing to keep himself from falling over the edge. "Me? King?"

"Yeah!"

Ren stammered but finally managed to get out, "The whole server?"

"The whole server!" Bdubs said, and grinned as if he just had asked Ren to give him a steak.

It was quite a bit to take in.

Why Ren, of all people?

Because he had decided to be a sensible human being and build a few roads?

Ren's breath got heavier as he felt the other side of him awaken: the Red King.

Last time he had been a king of anything, the consequences had been disastrous. Bases burned. Armies led. People killed.

The first time he had gotten a taste of power, he had let it consume him. And for what? A feeling of control over something he really was a small piece in? Revenge for something fleeting?

"...Ren?" Bdubs asked.

Ren looked at the moss-cloaked builder and hoped his face wasn't as white as his knuckles on the railing, which he still held like it was his lifeline. Of course Bdubs wasn't thinking about the Red Winter War right now. Whenever he mentioned Third Life, it was always him betraying Impulse, Scar betraying him, or generally something to do with the Crastle.

"I..." Ren said. "I'm fine. Just feels a little familiar for some reason, is all."

I'm not fine.

He relaxed his grip on the railing anyway and looked over the Spawn village: GigaPies, Scar's massive starter base, various houses and shops that hadn't been moved to the Shopping District yet, and the Hermissippi winding through it all.

"Everything the light touches is mine?" Ren asked, before realizing that he had spoken in his Red King-pirate-Scottish-thing accent and suppressing the urge to let the Red King return. It was also a Desert Hippie quote, on top of that. Ugh.

"Everything," Bdubs confirmed. "If you want it."

"I... I don't know," Ren said. "Why me?"

"You built roads," Bdubs said simply. "The Hermits need a leader who will take the initiative and keep them organized. Roads are a good start to an amazing shopping district unlike any of the other seasons!"

"I-"

"ACCEPT IT," Bdubs insisted.

"I... I accept it!" Ren said without really thinking.

This is roleplay, right?

This has to be roleplay. There's no way Bdubs has forgotten how crazy I get with power.

The Red King in him was cheering, but Ren decided that even if Bdubs was in fact insane and did not mean this as roleplay, Ren would not let the Red King take over again.

This was a similar beginning to the Red Winter War.

Ren would not be seeing the same ending.