Chapter Text
Wemmbu was restocking when Zam showed up. Flame had gotten him good that time. His armor had been broken by FlameFrags, the traitor, but he still had some netherite sets in his Ender Chest. He wasn’t able to retrieve them before the emperor interrupted.
Zam seemed to survey the area for a few moments as Wemmbu swayed on his feet. Something seemed off, but Wemmbu put it down to his fatigue after the fight. Egg was nowhere to be seen, but he wouldn’t have wanted him to see this anyway. Zam would not be happy about how his empire had been ransacked.
Zam and him spoke. He explained what happened, how Flame had come along and attacked the city. He explained that the defenses he had built were not enough, but he could rebuild the ruins into what it once was. Zam didn’t react to that.
It was almost suspicious, how his king was acting. His suspicions were confirmed when Flame came, completely casual despite his supposed betrayal.
It wasn’t a betrayal. At least, from Flame. Zam had set Wemmbu up, tried to get rid of him. Betrayed him. And now he was here to finish the job.
He finally realized the severity of his situation when he saw the shulker box. That could only mean one thing. He panicked, spread his wings to escape, but it was too late.
After that, everything went fuzzy. The server had always been Unstable, but he’d never felt anything like this before. He assumed chunkbanned people fell into some sort of sleep, as the server corrupted in that area and disabled the player’s function. This was far different.
The first thing he noticed was that he could still see, barely. It was if he was looking through a tunnel. He could catch a glimpse of Zam looking back, an expression he couldn’t decipher on his face. The guards came closer, and there was Flame and Mane. They placed obsidian around him, blocking his view of the world.
As soon as he had realized his sight had remained, it was gone. He was floating in a deep void, unstable to move or feel. Obsidian surrounded him, and noises, voices, too far away to decipher, were the only stimulus he received.
He did not know how long he stayed like that. Eventually, time lost its meaning and he gave up hope of rescue. The voices stopped ages ago. Just silence and darkness.
He did not realize what had happened when he finally was freed. Everything was still dark, and there was no noise, but suddenly, he felt something. He explored the sensation, the first in so long, and that was him. His finger moved, slowly. He thought his eyes might have widened, but that shouldn’t have been possible.
There was still no light. No sound. But he could move again.
Wemmbu tested his limbs. At first, he could only move his fingers, but he slowly seemed to regain motor control to the rest of his body. His arms, legs, tail, wings. He could even feel his horns shift. He wasted no time moving, for the first time in ages.
It did not take long before he made his escape. He pounded on the obsidian, slowly breaking off pieces until the first slivers of light flooded into his cell. He emerged from his prison to find he was in a room, decorated with a few torches. Underground, most likely. His fists were bloody from the effort, but he didn’t feel it. Adrenalin rushed through his as he broke the wood of the walls and started carving out the dirt, up and up and up, until he reached the surface.
His eyes watered from the brightness of it all. He shut them immediately, working blind to free himself from the Earth and rejoin the living world. His eyes adjusted after a while so that he could see where he was.
A barren wasteland. No civilization in sight. He must have been moved at some point, for he did not recognize this terrain. Finally able to gather his surroundings, he checked on himself.
His fists were bloody and bruised from breaking himself out of the prison. He used the grass to wrap them, temporarily stopping the bleeding. The rest of his body was alright, though he’d have to preen his wings before he would be able to fly.
He pulled out crooked and broken feathers and straightened the rest out, a time consuming process that made him impatient despite its necessity. In the meantime, he tried to figure out what had changed. He had no idea where he was or how long it has been. He didn’t know what, or who, had freed him. Uneasiness filled him. He didn’t know what was out there, and he was easy pickings for an anarchy server. His armor was gone and his inventory had been emptied. He wasn’t sure if they had gotten to his Ender chest, but if they hadn’t he should have resources in there.
As soon as his wings were in good enough shape to fly, he lifted into the air and set off in a random direction he hoped would be towards spawn. His only hope now was to find someone else and hope they were friendly enough to answer his questions.
He spotted the Zam Empire and immediately felt fear. He stopped midair, surveying the area. He wasn’t sure how long it had been, but if Zam was still in power then Wemmbu could not risk being spotted. Soon, however, he found that he had no need to worry. The Empire was in ruins, and no one was in sight.
Wemmbu could still use this. He landed by the palace and carefully made his way through the hallways, thankfully still intact. He found the storage room, where he spotted an Ender Chest. His stuff had not been touched, so he was able to get more armor and weapons.
He surveyed his options from here, after looking around and looting as much as he could. He still had no idea how long it had been since he had been imprisoned. Clearly a while, judging by the state of the empire. He could head towards spawn, which could have more people to ask. Judging by the state of the Zam Empire, he wasn’t sure any other civilizations he knew would still be intact. He could also try to track down some of his allies from back then, like Parrot or Egg, and see how they were doing.
That made him pause. Eggchan. The last he had seen the angel, he had told him to run. Did he know what happened? Was he even still alive? He hoped Zam had not found him. Egg may not have been in the prison he was in, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t been elsewhere.
He opted to go to spawn and search for answers. If he was lucky, nobody would recognize him. He was just about to leave until he heard voices.
He quickly hid behind a few chests as he heard them growing closer. The first people he had encountered in who-knows-how-long!
It turned out that it was actually only one person talking. While he definitely heard multiple sets of footsteps, the man seemed to be having a one-sided conversation, in which his companions did not respond. Wemmbu did not dwell on it.
“…what it looks like when empires fall. A failed mafia. Zam was many things, but smart was not one of them, ey? Pathetic. One of the first and most glorious empires on the server and it was blown up by a few ants conspiring against his back.”
This could actually be useful. Apparently, there was a revolution that had destroyed the empire. Knowing who Zam really was now, Wemmbu wasn’t surprised. Wemmbu debated revealing himself, but he decided to stay hidden just a little longer. The figures came into view this time.
It was three men. Two of them were invisible in matching netherite armor, with netherite trims. They did not speak, standing on either side of the third man. This one was visible, wearing some sort of purple, royal cloak. He must have been the one speaking.
He tried to get a better view of the people, see if he could recognize the visible man, but he must have been too loud as one of the armored men looked over. He froze, but it was too late, as he nudged the visible man and all three turned towards him. He stood like a dear in headlights, quietly praying these men were friendly.
“Well, well, well. Look who we have here?” The purple guy said, walking towards him.
Wemmbu was done for. He was infamous on the server, the man who looted all of the elytra’s, worked with Zam under his own empire, defeated the exploit master Spoke. He probably recognized him, maybe even knew Zam himself. He would turn him back in, and he’d be back to the black, black void-
“Now, who are you?” Wemmbu’s brain restarted. So, he didn’t know. Thank the Gods. He then realized he was probably expected to answer. Should he tell the truth? Lie? If he didn’t recognize his face, surly he wouldn’t recognize his name?
He decided, at this point, truth would be better. The would probably find out eventually, anyway. “Wemmbu.”
The man reached to that minutely, but seemed to school his expression rather quickly. “You are the one who conquered the end, yes? And built your own empire?”
Wemmbu shifted, a bit nervous. “Yes, I did.”
“You also defeated that exploiter, didn’t you? What was his name…”
“Spoke.” He replied. In his time, no one about what Spoke had attempted and how Wemmbu and Parrot had defeated him, but he supposed it must have become common knowledge over time.
The man smiled, eyes filling with… glee? It was odd, but Wemmbu didn’t dwell on it. This guy could give him some answers about what has happened on the server while he was gone. “So… what’s your name?”
The man smiled. “Oh, me? Name’s Ashswag. We have… much to talk about.”