#afterlife smp crossover

[thehyperrequiem]

BatIM peeps as Origins

So, in honor of BatDR coming up on Nov. 15, I decided to do the characters of BatIM as Origins from Origins and Afterlife SMPs, so yeah, enjoy!

😈Bendy - Wyverian

🐺Boris - Wolf

😇Alice - Angel

🙈Charley - Phantom

🙉Barley - Merling

🕷️Edgar - Arachnid

🖊️Henry Stein - Half-Dragon (Dragon form looks similar to Bendy but with glasses and different horn shape)

✒️Joey Drew - Half-Dragon (Dragon form looks similar to Bendy but with a mustache and different horn shape)

🧹Wally Franks - Thornling

🪕Sammy Lawrence - Enderian

📽️Norman Polk - Sculkborn

🎙️Susie Campbell - Vampire

🔧Thomas Conner - Wolf

🧸Shawn Flynn - Villager

🧮Grant Cohen - Raccoon

🗡️Alison Pendle - Angel

🎶Jack Fain - Atling

🎡Bertrum Piedmont - Giant

⚙️Lacie Benton - Lepus/Rabbit

💘Linda Stein - Half-Dragon (Dragon form looks similar to Henry's Dragon form but female)

Special Guest Bonus under here

🤠Showdown Bandit - Mothling

(I will show you "my version of the Origins" list someday so you will not be confused on what I am talking about here)

[kiwinatorwaffles]

I found This is About a Stuffed Bird bc of you and its one of my favorite fics ever. Do you by chance have more suggestions?

hermitcraft/mcyt fic recs? :0 let's go!!

i get a lot of my fic recs from other friends since i don't really go out and search on my own all too much for this fandom. but there are lots of great works out here! i will be listing out some of my favorites :3 mostly hc but a couple general mcyt ones that i think are an excellent read no matter what. all of the fics i'm listing will be genfic without ships!

also i just realized a lot of my bookmarks are grian-centric which is funny i guess because i am admittedly quite picky about content of my other favorites and grian just tends to have the most content in the fanbase. hope that'll be alright

(i hope some of my friends and mutuals don't mind me tagging them for their works)

hermitcraft longfics:

the last days of the free angel of carrows by @theminecraftbee - loved stuffed bird? here's another great longfic by second! this one is about joe and cleo in an urban fantasy mystery setting. again, second writes our beloved hermits into an captivating au!

leaping and hopping on a moonshadow by @lunarblazes - a fantasy au by luna my beloved! pearl suddenly gains magical powers and goes on a quest to find her long-lost friend grian who might know what's happening to her. she meets a lot of familiar faces along the way!

Recall by @redwinterroses - hey, i was the artist for this one! :D mumbo goes missing, so grian and scar search for him. they find that grumbot has been up to some... things along the way. the fic isn't finished but i think the chapters red put out is worth a read if you don't mind leaving off on a cliffhanger because it really is super interesting

dramaturgy by wormcity - a universe where gem and pearl join in a season 7 that was never finished. mumbo became the mayor, but the turf war went so very wrong afterwards. admittedly i have not finished reading this yet because ummm short on time xD but it's super interesting with a lot of layers of drama(turgy hahaha)!

hermitcraft short fics/oneshots:

for trying. by @autistic-evil-xisuma - a stuffed bird universe oneshot of x and xisuma during their lab days. great if you want to be sad over the doomed brothers again :D

the wheels on the bus by sparxwrites - a hilarious post-s8 oneshot about grian being a little shit towards the watchers. one of the first fics i've read from this fandom and i still love it

a body is an object by ruffboi - grian is a mimic, and pearl's arrival in s8 shakes him up. she hasn't seen him in a while and is quite upset to learn that the grian she knew died a long time ago. a great read for familial connections and conflict of friendships!

Goatman and the Rift by TheDepressedCanary - doc's eldritch powers start acting up when the rift appears. what shenanigans will ensue?

other mcyt fics/crossovers:

late at night, when the stars don't look quite right by @lunarblazes - an excellent empires s1 and hermitcraft crossover longfic, where grian lands into the server and is discovered by pearl! very great worldbuilding and relationships, i especially love the dynamic between gri and pearl and pearl and gem :D

every new discovery is just a reminder by amaranthinecanicular - grian begins pulling alternate versions of the hermits from the life series into the server. he does save a lot of them, but at what cost? it does end on a cliffhanger but this is genuinely one of the most captivating oneshots i've ever read... argghhh

The Fair and the Brave and the Good by @slashmagpie - an afterlife smp longfic centered around the shelby, scott, and sausage. i have never watched afterlife smp before in my LIFE and this is still one of my favorite pieces of literature ever. the characters and worldbuilding is impeccable and perfect if you like something dark with themes of hope and renewal.

Two Can Keep a Secret (If One of Them is Red) by anonymous secretmcblog - a 3L oneshot! ren suspects grian has stockholm syndrome with his pact to stay with scar, but his expectations are wrong. a truly excellent read and one of them first fics i've read! i still go back to reread it from time to time

dog at the door by fluffy_papaya & iamsolarflare - a longfic where doc and ren take a trip on a van on their way to s8. ren, however, is not quite himself, and doc has to learn to befriend the red king.

devil town is colder in the summertime by @bananasofthorns - a oneshot from a 100hsmp/life series d&d au! team BEST ventures into a cursed evil fucked up forest. uh oh.

Interview with the Aftermath by @ranchersrevenge (wanderlasts) - the last life contestants are invited for an interview. the responses vary greatly.

stars, smoke, and stolen car keys by wormcity - a 100hsmp modern au oneshot where grian, scar, and joel go on a hike. it doesn't go quite as they expected.

the beehive state by amaranthinecanicular - a dsmp oneshot after wilbur moves to utah. tommy visits him, and the two reconnect. i have to say i stopped following dsmp a long time ago but this fic made me BAWL. i don't even think you need to know any of the characters that well to really enjoy just how amazing the writing itself is

Can't Go Back (This Time) by @duckmumbo (musicaltvbooks) - soup group goes end raiding and accientally finds themselves in afterlife smp. nothing goes wrong, surely! also admittedly i havent finished reading this either but roy i swear i will. this is a great read nevertheless and the soup group dynamic is impeccable!

TommyInnit's unbeatable method of avoiding sudden death by eneliii - on the train of dsmp fics, this is the superhero au longfic that inspired my own hc superhero au, vdhau. it's a lot of funny shenanigans with tommy and his friends. the fic does take a dark turn at the end, but that can be skipped entirely (as said by eneli herself) if you just want the wholesome aspects.

if you don't mind a little self promo, here are some of my fics!

it takes two to play (the game of mutual secrecy) - the aforementioned hermitcraft hero au. this installment is centered around xisuma and evil x as brothers resolving their issues through hero work and solving the mystery of welsknight's disappearance :D there are other works that are set in the same universe if you're interested for more!

how to form the ultimate besties dynamic: an unreliable tutorial by hypnotizd - a oneshot! hypno is a warlock who goes treasure hunting under the sea. he meets a guardian who later becomes his unlikely friend.

smoke and mirrors, the hunt perseveres - grian's arrival in empires s2 unwittingly brings the watchers' suspicions with him. cue jimmy freaking out and a lot of shenanigans.

ballad of etho’s lab - my newest installment! a oneshot about etho's storied life as the redstone god.

i'm also currently working on the sequel to the game of mutual secrecy and a new (well not exactly new since i made concept art for it) au called private detective gem tasey! these will likely be released sometime late january or february. have fun with these fic recs! i haven't been reading as much lately but i hope ill be able to find more if anyone else asks in the future. cheers!

edit: the fics are out! here they are!

hiding in plain sight (the meaning of trust) - sequel to the hermitcraft hero au! it follows an escaped lab rat trying to acquaint themselves with human society while avoiding suspicion and making friends with familiar faces from tgms ;D

private detective gem tasey: a rotten mystery in london - a hermitcraft detective au where gem gets hired for a case that spirals completely into drama and politics!

[zathechaosgod]

Shelby Shubble Recommendation List!

If you want to show support to Shubble after the recent events or wonder who she is or just are looking for a new cool person to watch, here's an overview of all the cool stuff Shelby does!

If you like episodic/shorter content, here's a recent episode of minecraft hide & seek, where everyone builds their own map first! (which I Really hope they do more of, all the povs are so much fun to watch):

If you like interesting hardcore-twists, check out SOS SMP! Players can earn special coins in events that can then be used to resurrect other players, lest the timers on their graves run out and they are permanently out of the game:

For more long-form survival (with a side of Delightful roleplaying), Shubble has been part of both season 1 and season 2 of Empires SMP! This one is closer to a hermitcraft-sort of vibe, cumulating in the crossover of esmp s2 with hermitcraft s9 you might have seen around, but there is a ton of fun content outside of just the crossover events:

Other very fun series she has done on SMPs include Afterlife SMP, where players switch between custom origins every time they die, until they run out of lives, and Witchcraft SMP, a heavily story-based series where eight witches battle it out to become the new supreme witch!

Shubble has been around for a full decade, so this is only a brief overview of some of her more recent projects. If anyone has more recommendations or wants to expand on anything I mentioned above, feel free to do so!

[storytellerofuntoldlegends]

Writing Commissions!

Hi everyone! I am officially opening writing commissions. I will have three writing slots open unless otherwise stated, and the amount of slots I have open or if I decide to close commissions for whatever reason will be in this post as well as my pinned post! All commissions will be posted to Tumblr only (as it goes against AO3's rules to post commissioned work there) and you will receive a google doc link or PDF depending on your preferences. If you do not want your commissioned work posted on Tumblr that is fine as well, you just need to let me know! If you are interested, you can shoot me a message here or on discord (my user is storytellerofuntoldlegends) so we can talk about details!

My AO3, so you can take a look at what I've written!

Commission Status: OPEN [1/3 slots taken]

Pricing:

500 words = $10

1,000 words = $20

1,500 words = $30

2,000 words = $40

2,500 words = $50

3,000 words = $60

3,500 words = $70

4,000 words = $80

4,500 words = $90

5,000 words = $100

The minimum amount I am willing to write is 500 words, while the highest is 5,000. Pricing is $1 per 50 words. If I get inspired and go over your requested word count/payment amount, you will not be charged extra.

Will Write:

Ships, found family, AUs, fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, whump/sickfics, mild violence

Listed below are the MCYT series and characters I am most confident/comfortable writing. Crossovers between the below series are welcome! With characters, if it is someone who interacts with one of my "will write" characters frequently, I am willing to write them, but keep in mind it will likely be more focused on the character I feel the most confident in writing. (For example, I would be fine writing a fic about Grian that includes Mumbo and/or Scar, but I do not feel confident enough in my ability to write Mumbo or Scar on their own.)

MCYT Series: Empires SMP, Traffic Series, Hermitcraft, Afterlife SMP, New Life SMP, SOS SMP, Witchcraft SMP, Rats SMP, Pirates SMP, Origins SMP

MCYT Characters: Scott, Jimmy, Joel, Martyn, Impulse, Skizz, Grian, Mog, Owen, Tubbo, Philza, Sneegsnag, CaptainSparklez, Bek, Eloise, Shelby, Katherine, Gem, Pearl, Lizzie, LaurenZSide, Cleo

OC's, particularly if folks want to commission me to write their D&D characters. I am open to writing just general OCs though!

Won't Write:

NSFW (including anything that would require a Mature or Explicit rating on AO3- I'm certainly no stranger to writing adult content, but I am not sure if it is something I would want to be paid for.)

RPF (I'm not opposed to writing RPF, but again I would feel a little odd getting paid for it.)

sexuality bending of canonically queer characters (i.e. writing a gay man to be with a woman)

abuse

extreme gore

incest

pedophilia

If something comes up in your request that I am not comfortable with writing, I reserve the right to say no. I am comfortable with a lot of things, and I tried my best to put down the main concepts that I would absolutely refuse to write. However it is entirely possible that I may have forgotten something in my list. If you're unsure if I would be willing to write it or not, don't be afraid to ask! It's always possible that some kind of compromise could be reached as well.

My Ko-Fi:

[dressuprat]

FANFIC REQUESTS ARE OPEN!!!

INFO UNDER THE CUT! Hurry and send your asks in before you lose your chance!!!

FANDOMS I WRITE FOR: Outsiders smp, Lifesteal smp, traffic/life series, hermitcraft, empires smp 1&2, afterlife smp, new life smp, rats smp, pirates smp, SOS smp, witchcraft smp, portal 1&2, the stanley parable, whitepine, the magnus archives, the legend of zelda, vanitas no carte/the case study of vanitas, welcome to night vale*, bungo stray dogs*, yorushika elma & amy lore

*= Not caught up/may not do very many requests.

DO NOT REQUEST: nsfw of any kind, I am a minor so you could get in legal trouble for this (also i cant write smut anyways LMAO.), fics that are only fight scenes. i struggle. uhh & thats really it but I have the right to never do your request for whatever reason and not inform you ofc.

specialties/more likely to get done faster: sickfics, whumpy hurt/comfort, soup x owen, mapicc x zam (s4 specifically but im down for all), horror, body horror, trans characters, disabled+neurodivergent characters, demon outsiders!owen

I WILL write crossovers but i lean much more towards aus.

[the-witchs-cafe]

Directory | BYF | Witch Essays

Hello, hello! And welcome to the Witch's Cafe! Have you gotten weary? The crushing loneliness of your own self-torment became way too much? Fret not- this establishment is here for all witches; those who have fallen from the greatest of heights, to those who have been left with nothing at all.

Here in this little coffee bar settling between the cosmos, our customers have traveled far and wide just to socialize and find solace within their shared agonies- some managing to cross through universes; so be on the lookout for those whose faces you might have the luck to recognize!

We also herald our existence with this flag- oh, don't you worry! This flag is free for anyone to use, even if all our operations were to cease!

With all that being said, I'm certain you would like to know the way through these halls;

#Witching Hours: The customer list! Go right ahead and greet yourself to these fine folks! Maybe you'll find more similarities between yourselves than you would intially assume. (Gen. tag for crossover witches made by other people)

#Registered Witches: What cafe would this be if we didn't have any regulars? Recognized their choices of beverages just like the back of my hands! If you wish for a story, they're your go-to's! (Witch essays written by either mod H.N Elly or mod Charlotte)

#Witch cards: Every now and then, familiar faces start popping up more than usual; not as much as our regulars, but it is fun to observe their activities, even if from a distance. (same as the above, but in the form of much smaller witch cards)

#Would Witch Out: Passerby's and their rumors...honestly, you couldn't blame a gal for eavesdropping every now and then, no? Not even while getting the latest scoop on who was the poor soul whose destiny caught up with them? (due to the shutdown of YFWWO and in order to give its mod a break, I've opened up operations here. Submissions are now OPEN!)

#Would Survive PMMM: Of course, some folks do happen to be naturally lucky; finding a way and reason to keep going forwards even in the darkest of nights...it's admirable, maybe a little enviable, don't ya think? (The complete opposite of the above; if you know a character who would cakewalk through this universe's trials and tribulations, let us know with the full details regarding why!)

#There Is a Pipe Bomb in your Mailbox: Those lil' misfits out there and what tricks they got on their sleeves- ah, what fun would it be if I didn't allow any tomfoolery every now and then? (The joke submissions tag)

#There is no Secret Menu!: (The shitpost tag; hey, the great Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, had called his little self-insert fanfic in which he and Virgil went through all sects of the afterlife "The Divine Comedy" for a reason, right? We all need a reason to crack up since we're gonna be in our self-inflicted torment and punishments for some time.)

#You're now listening to . . .: Solace can be nice every once in a while, but a nice tune to distract yourself from the pain and get in the mood to continue working on your eternal goals is just as comforting! (general audio tag)

I do also have to warn ya'll that we also have to abide by the blacklist; yeah, we do try to cater to all that enter these doors, but an eldritch horror needs to have some standards, ya know?

Hetalia

Country Humans/Country Balls

Any of the media created by Okegom/DeepSeaPrisoner

Minecraft SMPs, especially Dream SMP

Building upon the above, we do not take requests for real world figures, unless if they were obvious jokes. This includes, and is not limited to, youtubers, musicians, pop idols, and individual game developers.

Percy Jackson

Harry Potter

Palworld

Genshin Impact (x)

UrbanSpook // The Painter

Abandoned by Disney, and other works by Slimebeast (x)

Good Omens, and other works by Neil Gaiman (x)

Omori (x)

[life-winners-liveblog]

[To Author, Idea: Since the Pearls don't remember Empires, what if instead of the Watchers simply making them forget, the Watchers separated it from them. By separating, I mean they took out the memories and the memories kind of formed it's own being and has been WATCHING each season and the asks on Pearl's magic TV in her floating castle between worlds. If you don't know much Pearl lore, I don't blame you, 95% of the lore is in other content creators' videos and not her own. Even AfterLife SMP Scott had a bit of ESMP Pearl lore, blaming her for losing his ability to go in sunlight as a vampire. I also want to clarify, ESMP Pearl and HC Pearl are canonically the same person, she just had amnesia in the crossover until the end of it. If you need more info, all you need to do is ASK.]

I mean this is the canon, always been, if you go back at the start of the blog DL!Pearl did ask about Empires Pearl and a bunch of sunflowers grew around her in the void. But this will be explored more later :)

[blocksruinedme]

Something big is happening in Empires & Hermitcraft. Let's discuss! Specifically, Grian, Smallishbeans, LDshadowlady and Fwhip's episodes the week of October 9, 2022. I've clipped all the relevant scenes down below. I'm very interested in corrections and commentary!

[Note: They all ended their episodes at a portal with weird stuff happening, so if you're looking to check videos for rift lore, maybe skip to the ends.]

- October 9 - Grian finds a button in front of his Hermitcraft rift. It says "Begin?" Grumbot[1]  gives him a message that says "Push the button". He tries not to, but eventually gives in. (This is typical Grian behavior.)  (HC 9: Ep 23)

- October 11 - Lizzie finds a portal on Empires that bears some suspicious resemblance to Grian's rift. Hoping she might get crystals, she sends a fox named Gary through on a minecart to investigate, and bring back "lots of crystals, the shinier the better". They hit the portal, Gary goes through, the minecart doesn't. (Is Gary a modded villager? That's lizzie's thing?) (Empires s2, Ep 11)

- October 13 

(1) Joel spies the portal from his bridge, having heard about it already. He says he'll send something through because Lizzie already did. He sends one of his Jimmy dolls - it's important to remember the doll is named "Smallishbeans's Head". There's no minecart, he just chucks it in.  (Empires s2, ep 19) (2) Fwhip hears an explosion and finds the portal, decides to not engage with any of it. Later, Lizzie comes to Fwhip for help rescuing Gary, and they send Fwhip's creature, "Sniff, Explorer of the Deep", through the portal on a minecart to get Gary. I have no idea what kind of creature Sniff is. Some modded goblin horse I get. Snort's older brother. idk. (Empires S2 : Building a GOBLIN LAVA FORGE, because he can't be bothered to use episode numbers I guess?)

Maybe it's not Grian's rift, maybe Hermitcraft and Empires aren't connected, but that would be WILD. If you don't know, Grian is IRL friends with Lizzie and Joel, so them collaborating makes a lot of sense. Sausage is having big flashbacks to Empires s1 and Afterlife SMP. Gem and FalseSymmetry are in both Empires & Hermitcraft, and False's plot is about having woken up in a strange place. Pearl is in Hermitcraft, and was in Empires s1, and there's deep lore about her that I'm not caught up on, but she already exists between series, she sent Oli (theorionsound) from Afterlife SMP to Empires season 2, from her base in the sky. She's been Watching everything! She's a Saint? A Goddess? (I am going to catch up, I only finished emp1 this month.) And I'm told her afterlife/empires sky base is her hermitcraft s8 base. 

The Jimmy toy looks like Jimmy and has Joel's name. Their Double Life soulmates are in Hermitcraft. I saw a comic once that had Tango finding a Jimmy doll and it feeling familiar. Thus, I am now insane and will be at least until empires s2 is over, probably forever.

Here's some videos and some transcripts, but I've been at this two hours and I'm not transcribing them all, sorry!

(I will hopefully keep updating as things develop, but no promises. Probably with less transcription. I'll tag them all #mcyt crossover, because who knows how deep this will go.)

Joel transcript, at 13:26 - Joel spies the portal. "and whilst we're here, look at that. that's lore right there. weird lore stuff's happening on the server guys. what is it? I don't know. But I saw that Lizzie put something in it, so we should go put something in it as well. So what better than this little toy man here? Well, the toy version of the toy man. Have fun little toy-- oh, it's missed. Let's try again." [toy name says "Smallishbeans's Head"] "Have fun little toy man! And just like that, he's gone. I hope he's okay, but if he's not okay, then that's fine as well to be honest.

Fwhip transcript

11:57 - Fwhip says Jimmy is toying with his heart. </3

12:00 - Fwhip hears an explosion. "What? Bridge? What is (x3) that? I'm sorry but this is brand new. How did this pop up here out of the wall? [confused goblin noises] You know what, if I've learned anything being underground in the goblin cavern it's don't dig where you're not supposed to be digging. I'm going to be leaving that as if I've never saw it [things about copper and cave safety] spooky things are happening". 

15:30 - (too long to transcribe) Lizzie blows the emergency horn, says there's a situation with Gary, the greatest explorer who ever lived in Animalia. She's upset that Gary hasn't come back, Fwhip tells her that he heard an explosion earlier, Lizzie is more upset, wants a rescue mission. Fwhip says his empire's greatest explorer, "Sniff, Explorer of the Deep" has just returned home, [they laugh heartily]. Lizzie takes Fwhip and Sniff to the "crystal cave". Fwhip says maybe Gary did the explosion. Lizzie says Gary had a very specific mission (get crystals) and he'd never stray from the mission protocols. They tell Sniff to find and bring back Gary. Sniff spins around a lot, because he's excited for a job. They put him on a minecart, Lizzie makes a Harry Potter reference (which she and Joel do all the time), and the episode cuts right there, no outro. 

Time stamped links to the original videos (give them a like!): 

Joel https://youtu.be/rUmWjXaJGcw?t=805

Lizzie: https://youtu.be/bunhaERjxmE?t=533 Fwhip: https://youtu.be/jI3bYNJXuVs?t=717 (second part is at 15:30)

Grian: it's the whole episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onsbmy3r70g

[1] Grumbot is... in HC s7 Grian and Mumbo he made a robot son to help Mumbo win the mayoral election, then they lied to him and sai that he won, and put him in a (nice) box. Now there's a grumbot here and maybe he's from an AU and he says creepy things like "My Grian was sorry too" and I've only watched bits of all this.

[sharpjay217]

A List of Every SMP I'm aware of Scott Smajor Being In...

A continuation of my previous thought: this man has been in far too many SMPs and I'm here to prove it. I came back to this fandom two years later and found him still here???? I'm impressed and astounded, and I feel the need to inform people. He is the final boss of MCYT. The crux of the crossover. He knows all. (FYI, I don't know everything about everything he's been in. I think that's impossible. I've researched a lot of this as I write it, but there's some stuff I might not know from just...not remembering it from back in the day when I watched it, and not having time to watch all of it over again.)

Full SMPs: 1. Crazy Craft (2015-2016) 2. Harmony Hollow (2015-2020) 3. Sims Craft (2016-2017) 4. Troll Craft (2016-2017) 5. One Life (2016-2019) 6. Chamber of Iris (2017) 7. The Deep End (2018) 8. Funcraft (2018) 9. Cutecraft (2018-2019) 10. KingdomCraft (2019-2022) 11. SMP Earth (2019-2020) 12. Legacy SMP (2020) 13. X Life (2020) 14. Traffic SMP (2021-2023/Ongoing?) 15. Origins SMP (2021-2022) 16. Empires SMP (2021-2023/Ongoing?) 17. Afterlife SMP (2022) 18. Area Unknown SMP (2022-2023) 19. Rats SMP (2022-2023) 20. Witchcraft SMP (2023) 21. New Life SMP (2023/Ongoing)

Various Minecraft Series (with other people): - Diversity w/ BBPaws (2015) - Build Battle (2015-2016) - Fairytale Fallout w/ BBPaws (2015-2017) - Halloween Ville (2016) - Cube UHC (2016-2019) - Bed Wars (2017) - Death Swap (2017-2019) - Minecraft Championship (2019-2023/Ongoing) - Nether VS (2020) - Escape Rooms (2020-2023/Ongoing?) - Caves & Cliffs VS (2022)

EDIT (10/16/22): Listening to the tags/replies, I have added SMP Earth and Caves & Cliffs VS! If anyone else remembers anything else that's more than cameos, feel free to point it out! EDIT (8/2/23): Updated the list acknowledging which SMPs had ended and which had begun since I first created this list! I also decided to count his Escape Room series in the various section, as he has it under a playlist!

[lunarsands]

Multi-SMP Fanfic: Which Fate’s Fairest To Us All - Ch 3

Afterlife SMP, New Life SMP and Empires SMP S2 crossover combo!!! I'm back with more MythicalSausage meets MythicalSausage shenanigans!

Characters: Mythical Sausage (1st), Rusty the Copper Golem, PearlescentMoon, Scott Smajor (1st), Mythical Sausage (2nd), Hermes, Mythical Sausage (3rd), Scott Smajor (2nd), Rocky the Goblin, and a couple of briefly mentioned cameos at the end!

WARNINGS: Character death (but they get better because Afterlife/New Life rules are in play), body horror

Chapter Summary: Myth finds the missing version of Scott, and then the two of them unexpectedly find another version of Sausage – but Myth remembers the time when he met this one in a place called Sanctuary.

Sequel to Mirror Tenfold, Beyond the Wall and follows sometime after the events of Thou, O Kings, Fair Be You All (“sometime” being relative to how much time passes in each universe)

(Also available on Ao3!)

[ Chapter One ] [ Chapter Two ]

_____

Chapter Three

Despite his hopes, Myth was disappointed yet not surprised about losing Rusty during the teleport. One second he was holding his metallic assistant, intent on keeping him safe from being overtaken by the oddly sentient sculk vein…

And in the next Rusty was gone.

When Myth’s vision was free of teleportation particles and he saw the distantly familiar walls, the emptiness between his hands resonated with something inside his chest. He saw no reason to not push the feeling down and ignore it, so that’s what he did. The limbo dimension’s whole purpose seemed to rely on separating the people who entered from anyone they might be with, anyway; flesh and blood or otherwise.

It was more important to figure out from his past experience if he could recognize where he was located. However, a cursory glance to his left, then to his right, revealed that this would not be the case by virtue of the passageway being covered in sculk. That had definitely not been there before.

Or, at least, not in the sections of passageways he had traversed the first time around while trying to find an exit while avoiding Smajor in his gravital form. As a blazeborn at the time, Myth hadn’t been able to fly anywhere near high enough to reach the top of the walls, plus a blaze’s natural gravity caused them to sink after a while anyway.

He might have a better chance as a phoenix, though. Perhaps he could use the force of a fireball explosion for an additional updraft…

He decided to walk for the moment in order to see how the sculk would react, keeping his wings folded loosely behind him. If it proved to be as lively as the stuff back in the Ancient City, he would burn it to discourage it. He scanned the walls as he walked. There wasn’t any sculk vein, and again no sensors or shriekers, and the darkness peppered with turquoise didn’t appear to extend all the way up. The ground remained partially stone in places, too, so he felt safe enough treading on it.

Then he recalled that sculk could spread when something perished atop it. That presented a question about what might have happened to previous visitors or even inhabitants. The parts of the maze he had seen last time contained neither bones nor graves.

Could it be that the ultimate fate to befall anyone who didn’t make it to the exit – or didn’t find their correct portal – was to continue to wander until they stumbled upon the sculk, and be consumed by it?

He had also wondered why all of the portals leading back to individual realities were clustered in one spot.

…Or at least, theirs had been in the same cluster. Obviously, there was an infinite number of realities, but there had definitely been a reasonable number of portals that could be counted in that particular spot.

Or maybe those were simply the portals that still crossed paths with the labyrinth dimension; Myth had once theorized that the Ancient City portal was supposed to lead somewhere else entirely – because what was the point of an entire city with a malicious Warden guarding a link to a dimension with absolutely nothing of value in it? There were no resources unless someone counted the water in the fountains. Not that it amounted to much when so many of them were empty. Then there were the generic statues that had no relation to Wardens or sculk. He highly doubted there would be any settlements hidden between walls. If anything, this was like the product of a bored deity, and some of the Ancient City portals in various realities had the misfortune of intersecting with it.

Myth wasn’t terribly concerned with proving his theory. It was all a rather big inconvenience at this point. He only needed to find Rusty, find the missing doubles, and figure out how to leave the labyrinth.

That last one was the real concern, after all.

Some five minutes of walking later, the sculk receded from the surface of the walls, although didn’t disappear completely. Myth saw the end of the passageway coming up and approached carefully, keeping an ear out for the sound of copper golem footsteps. He eased his head past the edge of the wall, looking to the left first to see what might await.

It was one of the open areas with a fountain in the center. A checkerboard-like pattern of sculk dotted the floor around it, spreading from the side Myth was on. The glowing specks of turquoise glittered more sparsely beyond the fountain. Myth used that as an indication of which direction to go.

Then two very distinct dots of light glinted from the fountain itself. Myth tensed; that wasn’t any sculk. Those were a pair of eyes. They followed his movement as he purposely stepped toward the right, then quickly moved back to the left. Myth abruptly launched a fireball into the air, both to gauge a reaction and to provide more light. What he saw was a face that resembled Smajor but with hair that was a mix of orange and blue as well as two different color eyes, also orange and blue.

Surely, this was the missing Scott.

The man in the fountain stood up as the light from the fireball fizzled out. He kept his hands on the edge of the fountain as if needing support. “Sausage? Is that you? Why do you look… different?”

Even though the combination of the sound of the voice and familiarity of the face made Myth’s eye twitch for half a second, he tried to act casual as he walked closer. Just to be certain, he asked, “What about you? Weren’t you purple and sparkly the last time I saw you?”

“Huh?”

A thin smile crossed Myth’s face. “Just checking. I’m not the Sausage you know, I just look like him. Or maybe he looks like me. I’m not sure how that actually works out since timelines always seem to be out of sync.”

Scott crouched down inside the fountain again, muttering, “I hope I’m not imagining things due to hunger.” He then raised his voice a little. “Hey, if you’re real, do you have any food? I’ve run out, because I had to keep teleporting away from that thing.”

The question made Myth realize that he hadn’t planned ahead for this rescue. He laughed out loud. “Sorry. I didn’t pack a lunch. I’m just here to find you, your Mythical Sausage, and Rusty, and then get everyone out.”

As if on cue, Scott’s stomach growled. He sighed in disappointment. “Then you can explain who you are on the way. The sooner we find, uhm, my Sausage, the sooner I can raid his supplies.” He managed to climb out of the fountain – not that it occurred to Myth to offer a hand, and not that he would have wanted to touch anyone who looked like Smajor, anyway – then Scott muttered, “I’m not completely sure you’re real, though. How can there be two of Sausage? …Does the universe really need more than one? I’m pretty sure one is enough…”

Despite not lending a hand, Myth was close enough by that point to overhear, and another laugh escaped him. “You have no idea. No, really, you don’t.” The smile he directed at Scott was sardonic and quickly fell. “I’ll tell you later when we find him so I don’t have to go over the whole story twice. For now, just accept that I’m from an alternate reality.” He abruptly switched subjects by asking, “Which way did you come from, and which way were you headed?”

Scott twirled the index finger of his right hand through the air in thought, as if accessing an internal compass. The motion created a small, glowing orange circle, which he hastily swiped his hand through, dispersing the circle into tiny glowing fragments. “That side, but opposite where you came from,” he finally said, pointing to the gap in the passageway Myth had exited. “And I wanted to head away from the sculk, but needed to stop and rest.”

“What is with all the sculk, anyway?” Myth asked. “I’ve been here before, but didn’t see any sculk back then. My only guess is there wasn’t any in the area I was last time.”

“I don’t know, I thought it was because the portal was in the Deep Dark.” Scott looked pensive, then abruptly gawked at Myth as he passed by to check out the opposite side of the fountain. “Y-Your wings are on fire—”

“Yeah, they do that. Isn’t your guy some type of Ghast? Is it that surprising to see someone shedding fire?”

“Sausage – uh, the one I know – didn’t ‘shed’ fire like that all the time.”

“Neither do I. It mostly happens when I’m agitated.” Myth went coldly silent for a second, then said, “You can call me Myth if it helps with the name thing.”

“Oh. Um, alright.” Scott finally climbed out of the fountain, revealing it to be one of the empty ones due to the lack of wet footprints as he followed unsteadily after Myth. “Sorry, I might be a little slow-moving. I have a very high metabolism due to my powers and I won’t recover until I eat something.”

Myth turned to size up the transporter. “For reasons I prefer not to discuss, I’d rather not have to carry you… But if it slows us down too much, I will. Also, it has nothing to do with a risk of burning you. Unless I throw a fireball, my flames heal.”

“Got it.” Scott replied. He was still a little worried as he fell in beside Myth as the phoenix looked around at the three options they had for continuing through the labyrinth.

Myth chose the one with the least amount of sculk visible on the floor, which happened to go straight out of the crossroads rather than left or right. “You definitely weren’t going to find any food in here,” he said dryly, then chuckled. “I doubt sculk is edible.”

“Ew. No, I never thought to try it. Although, now that makes me wonder. If it’s anything like chorus fruit, which can teleport whoever eats it, what would sculk do if you ate it?”

“I don’t know, but could you be quiet for a while? I’d like to be able to hear Rusty if we get near to him.”

“Sorry. I babble when I’m hungry. And it’s really a relief to finally see another living soul… Aside from that creature.”

Myth sighed. “Fine. I’ll bite. What creature? The last time I was here, the only creatures were me, my associate, and two other guys who looked like me and you.”

“Uhhh…” From the tone of the utterance, it was clear Scott hadn’t spared a thought to whether or not the Sausage he knew was the only one who had a look-a-like copy of himself walking around.

Myth made an annoyed face, realizing he was giving himself more work with explanations. “Don’t waste time thinking about it. Which are you talking about?”

“Th-The Warden.”

That stopped Myth in his tracks. “One followed you through?”

“No, this one didn’t pop up until I wandered into a spot of sculk and the sculk vein tried to grab me. Even when I teleported down the passageway it was hard to avoid the stuff, since no matter where I went every path had some. The Warden also, um, didn’t look like the ones back home.”

“You don’t say,” Myth murmured. He scowled. Flickers of flame spat from his wings.

Remembering how the phoenix mentioned being agitated, Scott felt this was a good moment to suppress his low-energy-addled mind from babbling. He did want to ask Myth about how he knew Rusty, but he decided it could wait until they found the little golem. He was hoping they found the Ghast Mage first, though.

Something about Myth was giving him an awkward vibe.

.

Some thirty or forty minutes of walking later – with fortunately fewer and fewer sightings of sculk, to Scott’s relief – the transporter perked up when the scent of cooking food reached his nose. He hurried ahead while Myth remained at his own pace, although he did raise an eyebrow at Scott’s sudden briskness.

Around the next bend Scott saw someone sitting on the ground heating something over a tiny fire. The smell made his mouth water and the sight of fire in this place that had no kindling to offer made him think of his Sausage’s Ghast powers. Regardless of how small the fire was, there was a familiar side profile being backlit by it; familiar enough that Scott began to step forward.

By then Myth had seen the seated figure. He also noticed something that Scott didn’t, and it set off that odd pang in his chest from earlier. Before he could intervene, however, Scott called out, “Sausage! There you are!”

“S-Scott??” The tone sounded like he had just heard a ghost, but was still definitely Sausage’s voice plus without the gruff edge that Myth’s voice had. Yet as the man fumbled the food he had been holding, scrambling to catch it before it fell on the ground, the light’s effect changed. Unlike the Ghast Mage who Scott knew, this man’s hair was silver-gray and he had obvious age lines on his face.

The delicious-smelling food was saved, also to Scott’s relief.

Maybe the question of who, exactly, this look-a-like was should have been more important, but at the moment Scott couldn’t help thinking with his stomach.

The man stood up, gingerly holding some type of savory-scented pastry. He squinted. “Wait. Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be in the celestial realm with el ángel guardián de mi hijo? Er, with the angel version of me? Why are you disguised as the ruler of Chromia again?” He squinted a second time. “Or, well, the ruler of Chromia down on his luck, judging by that outfit. But, I mean, your eyes. They’re two different colors again.”

Myth uttered a disdainful noise at the possibility of an extra Scott being in the mix.

The older Sausage shifted his gaze to Myth. “Oh! You’re both here! Why are you, uh, orange? And why do you have only one pair of wings?”

“Wrong angel,” Myth growled, letting his voice be the reminder of the first time they had met when this Sausage was younger. He strode over and picked up the Staff of Sanctuary that had been leaning against the wall. “Didn’t this have red mushrooms on it the last time I saw it, Protector?”

“Oh,” Sausage said quietly, “You’re. That other angel.”

“Why am I the ‘other’ angel?” Myth asked resentfully. “Is it because I wasn’t all brightness and shiny armor before?”

“N-No!” Sausage quickly asserted. “No, I didn’t mean it that way! It’s because the – uh – the one that I assume is still a seraph and I shared a body for a while. Like, in the way where both our souls were in the same vessel, not, uh… anything weird or anything like that—”

“Oh, no, nothing weird about that,” Myth scoffed.

“So,” Sausage attempted to continue, “I’m kind of more familiar with him, making you the other one! Uhm, anyway, what are you now? How did you get like that?”

Scott felt entirely out of his league, but when his stomach growled again he interrupted, “Sorry, um, it seems you two know each other and need to catch up. Can I – ah – can I bother you for that food you’re holding? I’m weak from using my powers too much, and I’m honestly desperate…”

“Oh, certainly!” Sausage exuberantly disengaged from the tense conversation with Myth. “I have plenty! Sanctuary’s finest export, delicious empanadas!”

He handed the pastry over, then turned to take a few more out of his pack and handed them right to Scott since the transporter devoured the first one in an instant.

Myth was in no hurry to answer the questions, so he waited. He wanted to ask about the changes to the Staff, and why there was a gemstone matching the ones in the Ancient City portals now affixed to it. There was an energy coming off the Staff that he was somehow sensing.

It made the back of his neck itch.

Meanwhile, Sausage seemed all too happy to make sure Scott was enjoying the empanadas, chatting away as if he had forgotten that Myth was even there. The fondness in Sausage’s tone had Myth rolling his eyes. This wasn’t even the Scott this Sausage knew.

Tuning out the chatter, Myth idly inspected the Staff. He didn’t have much of a chance to look at either it or the one used by the kingly version of himself back when they had all been in Sanctuary. He amused himself with the thought of how they each had some type of specialty weapon. He supposed that, technically, the Superhero and The Wither used their bare hands for their specialty. The reminder made him reflexively reach for his sword.

The one he could no longer use effectively, because he was no longer seraph-adjacent.

The one he didn’t even have on him anymore, because he had become accustomed to using fireballs.

Myth scowled at his own carelessness and gripped the Staff of Sanctuary a little tighter.

He didn’t notice when the gemstone twinkled, nor did he realize that he had begun to slowly wander back in the direction he and Scott had come.

“Hey, Myth – where do you think you’re going?”

It was Scott who said it—

But it was Smajor’s snide tone that Myth heard.

The phoenix wheeled around, wings flaring outward and small flames forming at the outside corners of his eyes. Scott startled, then disappeared in a brief flurry of orange particles. He reappeared two meters down the passageway with a brief flurry of bright blue particles.

Sausage, meanwhile, gave a stern look that came from years of experience as a father. “I didn’t catch your name back in Sanctuary. I guess there’s only so many times you can repeat the same one. Anyway, I think you should calm down and put the fire away. I assume you’ve both been in the same situation here as me: walking around with almost no sense of direction, trying to find a companion that you came here with? I’ve been trying to find a young man named Hermes.”

Scott walked closer to Sausage, although he kept an eye on Myth. “Yes. Myth here is the first person I’ve seen since getting here, and while I’m not sure anymore how long, exactly, my companion and I have been in here, it’s been long enough that I ran out of supplies.”

Myth made a noise of annoyance, then said to Scott, “It’s been at least a month back in your world.” He folded his wings in and dispersed his flames harmlessly into thin air. He then eyed Sausage. He twisted his hands around the Staff, leaning on it for a moment before sighing. “I came here with a copper golem named Rusty, but I came to your world through a different kind of portal than the ones for the Nether or the End. I was going to save this explanation for later when we found your Ghast Mage, but, well… I’ve basically been filling in for him, and my associate Smajor has been masquerading as you. No one there questioned why we weren’t a Ghast or whatever you are.”

Myth flicked a hand up and down to indicate the transporter’s appearance. Scott stared agog and stammered, “W-Wait, what do you mean masquerading as me? What is he that my friends didn’t realize it wasn’t me? At least you’re still on the fiery side, like some kind of evolution of a Ghast.”

“He’s a very good actor,” Myth replied flatly. When Scott frowned in a way that said this didn’t answer the question, Myth elaborated.  “He’s a fungal mage. He can influence the growth of mushrooms. And, you know… fungus-like objects…” He made a point of turning his head and moving his eyes to implicate the new details on the Staff.

Instead of picking up the hint as meaning Smajor, Scott shifted his attention to Sausage. “What are you, then, with a weapon like that? Do you have anything to do with the sculk here?”

Myth threw a glare toward Scott, his expression flattening in irritation at the missed hint.

Sausage shook his head, although at least he seemed to have cottoned-on to what Myth was implying – mostly due to extrapolating from Myth’s behavior that this Smajor fellow must be of a similar disposition to the abrasive former angel. “No. I’ve never seen this place before. Which is really weird, now that I think about it, because I—”

He paused, wondering if he was about to say too much, then remembered that Myth probably remembered how he had been pulled into Sanctuary in the first place. “—I can travel between realities. I’m basically an authority on them. You might even say I’m a guardian of them.”

Scott scrubbed at the front of his hair. “Okay, wait. This is starting to get to be a bit much. You’re both a version of the Mythical Sausage that I know, but you both know about other realities but I’ve never heard him mention anything about that kind of stuff. Does that mean he’s hiding something from me?”

Sausage glanced at Myth, expecting some camaraderie on the subject, but Myth only gazed back dispassionately. Sausage’s gaze then went to Myth’s right arm; he blinked in surprise when he noticed a very important missing item. He then turned to Scott and tilted his right forearm toward the transporter. “Does your Sausage wear something that looks like this?”

Scott studied the metal vambrace with what appeared to be an ovoid green gemstone or piece of glass embedded in it. “I… think so?” He glanced aside as if trying to access a mental image of the Ghast Mage. “I don’t remember if it looks exactly like that. I don’t really pay much attention to it. I thought maybe it was just some kind of ceremonial accessory from the Nether, or something that helped him maintain a humanoid form.”

Sausage shook his head, then stopped and tilted it in thought. “I guess the only way to know for sure is if I see it in person. Or just ask him! But, anyway, now we know who to look for as we wander around in here! I have total confidence in Hermes in situations like these, so we just need to locate your friends then get back to where we belong!”

Myth abruptly chuckled. “It looks like I didn’t need to come here at all. You can easily send everyone where they’re supposed to be.” He idly turned the Staff back and forth, then scowled. “I was literally thrown in here. Didn’t have as much choice in the matter as I thought I would.” He turned around and again started to head off the way he and Scott had come.

Sausage was about to say something about Myth just walking off still holding the Staff of Sanctuary but then he saw the gemstone twinkle. It made him seriously rethink the situation. He spoke in a soft tone, “Myth, you can hang onto my Staff for now, but if you could maybe wait a few minutes for me to pack everything up before leaving?”

Myth stopped. He shook his head -- more so to clear it than to reject the request. “Sorry, I—” His eyes darted from side to side as if only now realizing the other two weren’t with him. He glanced over his shoulder. “I – I’m just eager to get going. I don’t want to leave Smajor unattended too long. He’s… a troublemaker.”

Sausage nodded, thinking back to some things Myth had said during his visit to Sanctuary. He put out his meager fire by lightly stepping on the kindling a few times, then tidied up the few items he had removed from his pack before turning back to the little pile of kindling. To Myth’s and Scott’s surprise, he gathered it up into a bundle with no issues, neither burnt nor crumbling of what should have been resulting charcoal involved.

In fact, the sticks seemed to be returning to the pale-colored state they would have been in before being burned.

Sausage glanced up while in the process of securing the bundle atop his knapsack. He grinned. “Magical firewood from Sanctuary!  It’s reusable! No matter how many times you burn it, it rejuvenates!”

“Fascinating,” Myth muttered, tone sarcastic. He felt like the concept alone was mocking his form in that moment, causing his absentmindedness from earlier to give way to his usual resentful mood. “Hurry up already. Finding out that I’m redundant by being here made me realize this is now costing me time.”

Sausage didn’t reply. He checked over his knapsack one last time, then hefted it onto his back. “Oof,” he mumbled – yet not too quietly. “I’m getting too old for this.” He straightened up, then motioned to Myth. “Lead on.”

Scott reached after Myth in hesitation. “But we just—”

Sausage caught Scott’s other arm and whispered, “Just follow him. Trust me.”

Scott protested softly, “But there was nothing back that way except sculk. He’ll lead us into a death trap if he goes the wrong way.” Regardless of his warning they both followed after the phoenix.

“He’s not leading. The Staff is.”

“What? How can you tell?”

“I, uh, well I just have a feeling. … Wait, what do you mean, a death trap?”

“I suppose it depends how far he backtracks,” Scott replied pensively. “I used up my powers trying to escape a Warden.”

Sausage didn’t look as disturbed as Scott would have hoped. If anything, he looked intrigued. “I’ve always wondered where Dolores’ people went. Maybe this place has the answers.”

~*~*~

Translations:

el ángel guardián de mi hijo - guardian angel of my child

To Be Continued in [ Chapter Four ]

[thinkingabout-girls]

🌻

send me an infodump and I'll send one back we'll trade infodumps

empires smp is a survival multiplayer minecraft server where minecraft youtubers and streamers come together to roleplay a fantasy story using minecraft as a medium

oli theorionsound is a british minecraft youtuber known for minecraft, music, and never uploading. he was introduced in empires season 2 as the mystery person who killed the ender dragon, who was shown to have been slain before any of the other emperors arrived

olis story starts off in afterlife smp, a different minecraft series where players are given 10 lives and roll a new “origin” every time they die. once you lose all 10 lives you are out of the series

after losing his second life to a poorly timed lightning strike after winning a fight to the death, oli went MIA for 3 months and when he returned he found all his friends had used up all their lives and he was left alone in an empty world

after fucking around and losing 6 of his remaining 8 lives, oli decided he was going to fly himself up to heaven to retrieve his best friend, mythical j sausage, who he had sung to death before dying to the lightning and disappearing

he successfully made it to heaven, where he met god, an australian woman named pearl. she told him he could see sausage, but that oli- who was now an angel- could stay with her

oli did not want to be an angel, so he jumped out of heaven and landed in yet another empty world. he fucked around for a while, adopted a dog, his dog died, he defeated the ender dragon, and then he spent multiple centuries floating in the void

after finally exiting the void, he found the world he was in was suddenly inhabited by reincarnations of most of his dead friends, and that not a single one remembered him. he was then arrested, spent 4 weeks in a cage being starved, and was freed and decreed a bard by one of his reincarnated friends

he attempted to return to his previous world, and found that he couldn’t. he was then attacked and nearly drowned by a different reincarnation, and washed up on the shore of an empire belonging to none other than his old best friend, sausage

sausage didn’t remember him either. he nursed oli back to health and helped him get a new outfit, and oli was stuck trying to find his place in a world he didn’t belong in

he fucked around more, started a crossover, ended a crossover, birthed a dragon, ate a child, denied the cannibalism allegations, and eventually decided he’d had enough

he faked his own suicide, and attempted to escape the world with what was left of the rift that caused the crossover. instead he ended up time traveling(?) to a different world, one he lived in almost a decade ago. it was never confirmed if oli managed to leave this world and move on to a new one, or if he’s still stuck there

all of this happened in 4 episodes and doesn’t even cover all of it

[thehyperrequiem]

Batim: Ink of Origins

I decided to create an au based on the Origins from not only the Origins Smp, but the origins from the Afterlife Smp. Pretty Cool huh? Well anyways, here's how the AU works...

Basically, this AU is something like a Supernatural scenery and it is focused on the humans more than the toons (The toons are in it, they are just being some of the origins) where they have magical ancient devices called The Artifact of 10 Souls. The Artifacts are magical and grants any wearer the ability to turn into any Origin that the Orb of Origins pick out for them, which can be randomizing when it comes to choosing. However, as the name implies, the artifact has ten slots for each origin, so the user is limited to 10 origins that they are given...And the artifacts cannot be destroyed, which it can take form of amulets or any different wearables. (Think of it like a Ben 10 like AU, but instead of aliens, it is origins. Look at these following links to see the origins. Origins | Origins SMP Wiki | Fandom and Origins | AFTERLIFESMP Wiki | Fandom)

Humans

✒️️ Henry Stein

Artifact Shape - Wristwatch

Origins:

🌊 Kraken's Ink (Merling, Cephalopod classed with Mimic Octopus)

🐇 Lucky Feet (Lepus/Rabbit)

☁️ Air Rider (Elytrian)

🐺 Ink of Boris (Wolf)

🦋 Lepidombra (Mothling)

🐚 Shells of the Hard (Shulk)

🗡 Ink of Bendy (Vex)

🌌 Aquarius's Cartoonist (Starborne)

😇 Ink of Alice (Angel)

🐲 Blood of a Dragon (Half-Dragon)

🧹 Wally Franks

Artifact Shape - Choker

Origins:

🐇 Lucky Feet (Lepus/Rabbit)

🤖 Techno-Organic (Half-Robot)

🐺 Ink of Boris (Wolf)

💉 Geode in the Rough (Thornling)

🐝 Bumbling Janitor (Bumblebee)

🗡 Ink of Bendy (Vex)

🍪 Sweet Toothed Yeti (Cookieborn)

🕷️ Ink of Edgar (Arachnid)

🦠 Slimy Janitor (Slimecican)

🐥 Tweetin' outta here (Birb)

🔧 Thomas Conner

Artifact Shape - Glove

Origins:

🐺 Ink of Boris (Wolf)

🐚 Shells of the Hard (Shulk)

🧌 Supersize (Giant)

🤖 Techno-Organic (Half-Robot)

🍪 Sweet Toothed Yeti (Cookieborn)

🐉 Full on Dragon (Wyverian)

🛗 Force of Gravity (Gravital)

🐗 Hog Wild (Piglin)

⚡️Blood of Zeus (Thunderborne)

🔥Heart of Fire (Blazeborn)

🪕 Sammy Lawrence

Artifact Shape - Bowtie

Origins:

😇 Ink of Alice (Angel)

👻 Ink of Carley (Phantom)

🧛 Ink of Charley (Vampire)

🦋 Lepidombra (Mothling)

🗡 Ink of Bendy (Vex)

🦊 Tail of a Kitsune (Fox)

🧿 Eyes of Purple (Enderian)

👽 Intergalactic Slime (Goolien)

🧪 Magic Fingers (Illusioner)

🖤 Shadow Music Composer (Shadow Crawler)

📝 Jack Fain

Artifact Shape - Pocket Watch

Origins:

🫧 Amphibious Lyricist (Atling)

⛄️ Frosty's Charm (Snow Golem)

🐚 Shells of the Hard (Shulk)

🦝Trashivore (Raccoon)

🐗 Hog Wild (Piglin)

🦠 Slimy Lyricist (Slimecican)

👝 Super-Shrunk (Inchling)

🐾 Playing Possum (Opossum)

❄️ Ink of Barley (Iceling)

🐛 Insectoid (Crawler)

📽️ Norman Polk

Artifact Shape - Brooch

Origins:

🔊 Blood of Fungus (Sculkborn)

🖤 Shadow Projectionist (Shadow Crawler)

👁️ Soul of Chaos (Enigma)

🧿 Eyes of Purple (Enderian)

🐺 Ink of Boris (Wolf)

🦋 Lepidombra (Mothling)

🦘 Creature from the Outback (Kangaroo)

🤖 Techno-Organic (Half-Robot)

👽 Intergalactic Slime (Goolien)

👝 Super-Shrunk (Inchling)

🎙️Susie Campbell

Artifact Shape - Hair comb

Origins:

🎍 Going Red (Red Panda)

🗡 Ink of Bendy (Vex)

😇 Ink of Alice (Angel)

🌊 Siren's Scale (Merling, Ichthyes classed)

🧚 Dust of a Pixie (Fairyborn)

🐇 Lucky Feet (Lepus/Rabbit)

🧛 Ink of Charley (Vampire)

🧪 Magic Fingers (Illusioner)

🕷️ Ink of Edgar (Arachnid)

🌳 Daughter of Mother Nature (Forestborn)

🧮Grant Cohen

Artifact Shape - Tie

Origins:

🧛 Ink of Charley (Vampire)

🐈 Cat Scratch Fever (Feline)

🐝 Bumbling Accountant (Bumblebee)

👝 Super-Shrunk (Inchling)

👽 Intergalactic Slime (Goolien)

🦝Trashivore (Raccoon)

🦎 Color Changer (Chameleon)

🛗 Force of Gravity (Gravital)

🦊 Tail of a Kitsune (Fox)

🌱 Touch of Nature (Floran)

🍀 Shawn Flynn

Artifact Shape - Amulet

Origins:

🏘 Wooly Trader (Villager)

❄️ Ink of Barley (Iceling)

🌳 Son of Mother Nature (Forestborn)

🐛 Insectoid (Crawler)

🐇 Lucky Feet (Lepus/Rabbit)

☁️ Air Rider (Elytrian)

🐾 Playing Possum (Opossum)

👻 Ink of Carley (Phantom)

🔊 Blood of Fungus (Sculkborn)

🍪 Sweet Toothed Yeti (Cookieborn)

🎢 Bertrum Piedmont

Artifact Shape - Cufflinks

Origins:

🧌 Supersize (Giant)

🤖 Techno-Organic (Half-Robot)

🎍 Going Red (Red Panda)

🦅 Birds of a Feather (Avian)

🐚 Shells of the Hard (Shulk)

🌌 Taurus's Special Project Director (Starborne)

🐉 Full on Dragon (Wyverian)

🧛 Ink of Charley (Vampire)

🐗 Hog Wild (Piglin)

🔊 Blood of Fungus (Sculkborn)

⚙️ Lacie Benton

Artifact Shape - Anklet

Origins:

🕷️ Ink of Edgar (Arachnid)

🧚 Dust of a Pixie (Fairyborn)

🫧 Amphibious Engineer (Atling)

🐥 Tweetin' Fix (Birb)

🍬 Sweet Essence (Candy)

🦘 Creature from the Outback (Kangaroo)

🤖 Techno-Organic (Half-Robot)

💉 Geode in the Rough (Thornling)

🌱 Touch of Nature (Floran)

🐇 Lucky Feet (Lepus/Rabbit)

🗡️ Allison Pendle

Artifact Shape - Bracelet

Origins:

🐚 Shells of the Hard (Shulk)

🗡 Ink of Bendy (Vex)

😇 Ink of Alice (Angel)

🧚 Dust of a Pixie (Fairyborn)

🌳 Daughter of Mother Nature (Forestborn)

🐾 Playing Possum (Opossum)

🧿 Eyes of Purple (Enderian)

🐝 Bumbling Angel (Bumblebee)

🍄 Fun Gal (Truffle)

🌊 Siren's Scale (Merling, Ichthyes classed)

✒️ Joey Drew

Artifact Shape - Tie Clip

Origins:

🐲 Blood of a Dragon (Half-Dragon)

💀 Headless Horseman's Call (Dullahan)

🖤 Shadow Director (Shadow Crawler)

🌌 Ox's Drew (Starborne)

🧛 Ink of Charley (Vampire)

🐺 Ink of Boris (Wolf)

🗡 Ink of Bendy (Vex)

😇 Ink of Alice (Angel)

🥀 Withering Soul (Half-Wither)

👁️ Soul of Chaos (Enigma)

💘 Linda Stein

Artifact Shape - Necklace

Origins:

🌊 Kraken's Ink (Merling, Cephalopod classed with Mimic Octopus)

🐇 Lucky Feet (Lepus/Rabbit)

☁️ Air Rider (Elytrian)

🧚 Dust of a Pixie (Fairyborn)

🐚 Shells of the Hard (Shulk)

🗡 Ink of Bendy (Vex)

😇 Ink of Alice (Angel)

🐲 Blood of a Dragon (Half-Dragon)

✏️ Buddy Lewek

Artifact Shape - Collar Necklace

Origins:

🥀 Withering Soul (Half-Wither)

🐺 Ink of Boris (Wolf)

👻 Ink of Carley (Phantom)

🐛 Insectoid (Crawler)

🦅 Birds of a Feather (Avian)

🍪 Sweet Toothed Yeti (Cookieborn)

👽 Intergalactic Slime (Goolien)

⚡️ Blood of Zeus (Thunderborne)

🏘 Wooly Trader (Villager)

🦠 Slimy Cartoonist (Slimecican)

✍ Dot

Artifact Shape - Collar Necklace

Origins:

🧚 Dust of a Pixie (Fairyborn)

🐺 Ink of Boris (Wolf)

⚰️ Rotted Soul (Zombie)

🐝 Bumbling Writer (Bumblebee)

🐥 Tweetin' Sentence (Birb)

🍬 Sweet Essence (Candy)

🍄 Fun Gal (Truffle)

🌱 Touch of Nature (Floran)

🔊 Blood of Fungus (Sculkborn)

🐈 Cat Scratch Fever (Feline)

Toons' Origin:

Bendy - Vex

Boris - Wolf

Alice - Angel

Charley - Vampire

Barley - Iceling

Edgar - Arachnid

Carley - Phantom

Chester - Shulk

Gaskette - Half-Robot

Canoodle - Racoon

Dewey - Illusioner

Bonus Guest under here.

🖊️ Audrey Drew

Artifact Shape - Ring

Origins:

🐲 Blood of a Dragon (Half-Dragon)

💀 Headless Horseman's Call (Dullahan)

🖤 Shadow Director (Shadow Crawler)

🧚 Dust of a Pixie (Fairyborn)

🌌 Ox's Daughter (Starborne)

🐺 Ink of Boris (Wolf)

🗡 Ink of Bendy (Vex)

😇 Ink of Alice (Angel)

🦠Jelly Cartoonist (Slimecican)

🐾 Playing Possum (Opossum)

[antimony-medusa]

MCYT on Ao3 - Dec ‘22

The state of MCYT on Ao3, just for fun

The Cube SMP (8 works)

iDots SMP (14 works)

Legacy SMP (24 works)

30 Day SMP | Free Trial SMP (27 works)

Area Unknown SMP (28 works)

Cogchamp SMP (30 works)

X Life SMP (31 works)

Epic SMP (32 works)

Shady Oaks SMP (33 works)

100 Hours Hardcore SMP (49 works)

Bear SMP (49 works)

Rats SMP (97 works)

House Builder Gang SMP | HBG SMP (99 works)

Outsiders SMP (129 works)

SMPEarth (174 works)

SMPLive (245 works)

Evolution SMP (272 works)

Afterlife SMP (317 works)

Fable SMP (385 works)

Lifesteal SMP (471 works)

Mindcrack RPF (469 works)

Karmaland SMP (515 works)

Origins SMP (1,044 works)

Empires SMP (3,134 works)

3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series (4,300 works)

Hermitcraft SMP (12,441 works)

Dream SMP (65,977 works)

Minecraft (Video Game) (102,934 works)

Video Blogging RPF (228,896 works)

Notes:

No new SMPs this month.

Fandoms under 1000 fics are still considered a “small fandom” and are Yuletide-eligable, which means Origins is no longer yuletide-eligable (you could probably make an argument about crossovers).

Karmaland is the one SMP where the majority of fics are not in English.

Dream SMP went up by 2,269 works since I did this last month, a contrast to the previous month, when it went up by 7,292 works. Hermitcraft went up by 530 works, in contrast to the previous 1,003 works. Lifesteal is probably the fastest-growing “small” smp, as it went up by 72 works, contrasted with Karmaland growing by 33. Overall most fandoms saw a decline in posted works, possibly reflecting a dip in mcyt interest, or possibly just because of finals.

Cube SMP actually went down in number of posted works.

Mianite still doesn’t have its own fandom tag.

EDIT: Someone pointed out that Minecrack has its own tag! Looks like ethoslab and vintage beef in general is psueded under it as well. 

[lunaryarn]

Multi-SMP Fanfic: Which Fate's Fairest To Us All - Ch 2

Multi-SMP Fanfic: Which Fate’s Fairest To Us All

Afterlife SMP, New Life SMP and Empires SMP S2 crossover combo!!! I'm back with more MythicalSausage meets MythicalSausage shenanigans!

Characters: Mythical Sausage (1st), Rusty the Copper Golem, PearlescentMoon, Scott Smajor (1st), Mythical Sausage (2nd), Hermes, Mythical Sausage (3rd), Scott Smajor (2nd), Rocky the Goblin, and a couple of briefly mentioned cameos at the end!

WARNINGS: Character death (but they get better because Afterlife/New Life rules are in play), body horror

Chapter Summary: Sausage and Hermes enter the strange portal in the Ancient City. Meanwhile, Myth needs to be convinced to use the one Smajor leads him to. Later, Hermes finds himself alone, but not for long; he picks up a new friend, and soon after meets another version of his father, who in turn has found a relic left in the labyrinth from an entirely different universe…

Sequel to Mirror Tenfold, Beyond the Wall and follows sometime after the events of Thou, O Kings, Fair Be You All (“sometime” being relative to how much time passes in each universe)

(Also available on Ao3!)

[ Chapter One ]

Chapter Two

Regardless of having tamed Dolores, Sausage hadn’t found a way to establish a rapport with Wardens in the wild despite a few attempts, so he and Hermes stuck to careful movements and whispers when they reached their destination.

Hermes absently squeezed the straps of his backpack as he stared up at the portal. “This thing is always so intimidating up close. I’ve always wondered why it’s so big. It’s like something made to accommodate Ghasts if they flew in and out of portals regularly. Or maybe the Deep Dark equivalent of a Ghast. Can you imagine what a sculk-infested Ghast would look like? …Uh-oh… That just made me think of Ghasts that produce a sonic shriek like a Warden. They could level cities doing that. Maybe that’s what happened to the people who used to live here…”

Sausage hummed in agreement, amused by how his son had apparently picked up his penchant for rambling off a stream of conscience, although at the moment Sausage was more focused on comparing the gemstone in the Staff with the ones in the portal frame – yet avoiding holding the Staff too close. He had begun to wonder what other powers Sanctuary’s magic had imbued the Staff with. He murmured out loud, “They’re definitely the same. But these are… pulsing with energy. I never paid that much attention to them before to notice that, but I was kinda busy watching out for Wardens most of the time, eh-heh.”

Hermes glanced over at him. “Maybe because they’re part of what activates the portal, while that one was only meant to point us in the right direction?”

“Maybe… But this portal itself isn’t active right now. I don’t feel any trans-dimensional energy coming from it. Only from the gemstones.” Sausage continued to scrutinize the gems as well as the stone they were embedded into.

Hermes curiously studied his father instead of joining the portal examination. “I don’t often see you being this serious.”

“All the times I’ve been called on for Guardian of Reality duties have always been dire. I have to keep track of any detail that might be important for stabilizing whatever is wrong in the multiverse. Make note of that for your training, by the way.”

Hermes mimed writing on paper. “Got it, Dad.”

Sausage took a deep breath then let it out in a pensive exhale. “All right. Time to test my first theory.” He slowly lowered the crook of the Staff toward the empty air above the bottom frame of the portal. A bright turquoise spark leapt from the Staff to the surrounding gemstones, creating a chain of sparks along the sides that continued across the top until halting at a spot near the middle.

Sausage squinted up at it. Hermes quietly scraped the heel of his right sandal against the floor, triggering the godly-blessed wings on the sides of both sandals, and took flight to make a closer inspection. “There’s one missing,” Hermes reported.

“Right,” Sausage muttered. He glanced at the crook of the Staff, then drew it away from the portal and gingerly touched the gemstone in it. “I get the sense we’ll be needing this, so I don’t think we’re meant to remove it and place it into the frame.”

Hermes studied the indentation where a gemstone would have been, then hovered just above Sausage and held out his hand. “Let me try something.”

Sausage considered for a moment, trying to discern Hermes’ plan without asking, but handed him the Staff anyway. Hermes returned to the top of the portal and very precisely angled the crook so that the gemstone could be pressed into the matching indentation.

There was no audible sound like a Nether or End portal would make, but they both felt a pulse ripple through the air. Small, pale blue particles began to waft from the portal. Hermes cautiously drew the Staff away from the frame. The portal remained active. The gemstone remained in the Staff.

“Good work,” Sausage complimented with a smile. “The official father-son team sets off to protect all of reality! Stay close to me once we’re on the other side. Oh, and let’s get that wool ready, just in case there’s more sculk sensors wherever this takes us!”

~*~

Myth saw right away what could potentially be a trap for him in the Ancient City that Smajor had led him to. The only thing stopping him from releasing a fireball or growling any louder was the risk of Wardens. “If you think I’m setting one foot closer to that portal—!”

“It’s to hold back the sculk vein!” Smajor hissed in response. They had a glaring contest as Myth pointed to the mycelium that lined the area around the base of the portal. “It’s been spreading like crazy every time I come down here to try to think of an approach to this rescue mission! That isn’t normal! Something is wrong with the sculk in this world. It’s a type of fungus, but one I can’t commune with.”

Myth peered around at both the sculk and sculk vein that was on the other side of the supposed barrier of mycelium. Although he couldn’t put his finger on it, he realized Smajor wasn’t lying. “So, how do you want to approach this? Do we enter at the same time and try to find each other first, or do we use that as an automatic ‘split up to cover more ground’ tactic and look for them?”

“The second one. I mean, if we find each other on the way, great, but…” Smajor trailed off as a thought occurred to him. He then sighed in resignation. “I’m putting my trust in you to not leave me in there if you find both of them before you run into me.”

The corners of Myth’s mouth curled upward. “I don’t think I can make that promise.”

Smajor stared blankly at him. “I guess that’s fair. Just keep in mind that when I do find the exit, I might just go through the first portal I find.”

The mirth evaporated from Myth’s face. “No, all four of us get out, because after that we need to sort out what happens to us extras.”

“Good. Yes. Exactly. Now, one idea I had was—” Smajor abruptly went still, only his eyes moving as he looked at something over Myth’s left shoulder. Then he pointed and hissed, “There! See! The sculk vein!”

Myth frowned with mistrust again, but turned his head a little to try to glimpse it from the corner of his eye. But he quickly – and accusingly – darted his gaze back to Smajor. The fungal mage continued to point. Myth reluctantly turned further around to get a real look.

He then saw several strands of sculk vein actively flailing around the side of the portal frame as if intending to get purchase on the front of it and reach in.

Smajor stepped past Myth and swiped his hand upward through the air. The mycelium at the base of the portal surged up over the deepslate beside the frame, converting it fully within seconds. The sculk vein shriveled away and collapsed into dried up clumps of blue-black, the spots of glowing turquoise extinguished.

Smajor stifled a gasp, swaying, but kept his feet firmly on the line of mycelium. “S-See… Th-That’s… Oh, going that fast really eats up my mana…” He took a moment to catch his breath. “I noticed it creeping toward the portal more and more each time, and thought it was merely some random zombies falling victim to the Warden, but then I realized it was definitely moving toward the portal on its own. You saw it… That’s not how sculk vein spreads.”

He paused to allow Myth to affirm the observation, but the phoenix only stared back stone-faced. Smajor continued,  “So, I did what I could to slow it down. I can’t convert whatever the frame is made of, but by backing up the natural spread of mycelium with a boost of my own power, I can convert types of stone with it.”

“And am I to believe that you aren’t actually controlling the sculk vein because it doesn’t spread on its own, and it is a type of fungus?”

Smajor sighed. “I know you’re never going to fully trust me ever again, but can you at least see the bigger picture – that there’s a bigger threat? Maybe we were sent here, specifically, to bring an outside perspective and save this world from what others don’t see happening right underneath them. Since, you know, we spent so much quality time around sculk, right underneath everything in our world.”

“Don’t tell me you’re homesick.” Myth rolled his eyes, then gave a half-hearted smirk. “Do you miss your cell? You were safe in there from the sculk, oddly enough.”

Smajor scowled at him. “I think you let yourself get infected with it. You seemed hell-bent on accepting some kind of punishment for becoming a cursed angel—”

Spits of flame flared off of Myth’s body. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll shut the—”

“Shhh!!” Smajor tried to hush the phoenix before looking around in a panic. “Enough!” he then whispered in a harsh tone. “Too much talking. It knows we’re here. I can feel some new vibrations.”

Myth doubted this claim, yet he did go silent to listen for himself. He then noticed for the first time that there weren’t even any sensors or shriekers in the immediate area. He did, however, pick up on an approaching sound that was quite familiar to him, but likely not to Smajor, so he uttered a quiet laugh and turned toward the staircase that led up to where they stood.

The trundling footsteps were a far cry from the stomping of a Warden, or even of the taller, iron cousins of the copper construct that crested the edge of the platform. Myth shook his head with a mild scowl before whispering, “Rusty, you shouldn’t have followed me down here. You would be safer at home with your buttons to keep you busy.”

Intuitively enough, Rusty also kept his voice down. “Are you sure about this?”

Myth’s expression became puzzled; he was unable to discern the meaning behind the word choice this time. He decided to ask. “Are you saying that because you were worried about me, or do you think it’s not safe at home?”

Rusty didn’t get a chance to reply. A sudden surge of sculk vein appeared over Smajor’s layers of mycelium, strands of it even grabbing at Myth’s feathers and trying to tangle around his legs – as well as around Rusty. Myth grabbed the little copper golem and held him aloft while directing flames from the bottom of his wings to try to burn it off – or at least discourage it from trying to grasp at more of his feathers.

Smajor planted his stance wide on the mycelium at his own feet, now the only section remaining free of sculk vein. He made a motion with both hands like if he was pulling on a rope. The sculk vein was yanked from Myth’s wings and legs. “Go!! I’ll hold it back! Find them! I can’t do this alone! I’ll go back in the cell when we get back to our world, if that’s what you want!”

Myth glanced at the portal. Yet then he narrowed his eyes at Smajor once again. “You were able to use power over that sculk vein. If I go without you, that leaves you to run free in this world. You were quick to take on vampire powers again – maybe that renewed your thirst for world conquest, and with this fungal power you could also reshape the world any way you want! And I’m the only one who knows how much of a threat you are!”

Smajor glared back at Myth bitterly. “So smart, thinking you figured it out. I wish you remembered the time when I was a vampire and you were a wither, and we worked together. Even if it didn’t last long. Even if everything went to hell for us after that. Even if I still hate you and want nothing to do with you ever again. But we keep getting pulled back to each other.” He was beginning to look visibly haggard from the effort of fighting the sculk vein with his magic.

Smajor continued, “Gods, but I would have loved nothing more than to go to the opposite side of this planet and never see you again. But I couldn’t. The question of my double was eating at me. Something kept burrowing into my brain, like the fungus itself, like spores infecting my thoughts to turn them toward wondering why. Why did I end up here? Why this world? Why did I become this?”

He tried to gesture to himself, but the drain on his mana made it too painful to do more than spread his fingers. He winced. “…And why, when I died, did I come right back to life the same? If you want to witness that, then go ahead. I’m about to die from overexerting my mana. But for those precious seconds that I’m unconscious until I revive, the sculk will overrun you and your little friend. You can make a choice, Myth – or I can make it for you!”

Smajor’s face twisted in agony as he forced his left hand to move upward. Myth felt the ground shift under his feet. First it turned into mycelium, then a small red mushroom grew – and then it abruptly sprang up into a full grown, tree-sized mushroom, flinging Myth upward and at just enough of an angle to throw him and Rusty into the portal.

The last thing Myth saw before the portal’s magic swept him away was Smajor collapsing to the ground. The phoenix’s thoughts on the matter clung to the question of whether it was all an act or not, but then the world turned into swirls of blue-black and he resigned himself to merely hoping that Rusty didn’t count as a flesh-and-blood entity so they wouldn’t get separated.

~*~

“Dad? Dad??” Hermes called out in confusion. He knew he should keep his voice down in this strange, dimly-lit place, but having landed on the other side of the portal only to find himself alone made him worry.

In fact, he didn’t even see the portal he would have exited from. The solid wall at his back was devoid of any markings or indication that it even was where he had exited from. Hermes gazed upward, wondering if he had fallen; the wall was certainly tall enough for him to be unable to see if a matching portal was on top of it. His connection to the skies could have been what saved him from a splattery fate on the floor, but his human father wasn’t going to be as fortunate.

Hermes listened, but didn’t hear Sausage calling from elsewhere. He scuffed his heel against the ground and began an attempt to fly high enough to get a glimpse of what might be above.

He saw no colors except for dim blue-black. He spotted a few drifting particles, but they were everywhere, rather than concentrated near a portal. And the top of the wall still kept stretching upward… Hermes set his face in determination and let some demi-god power flow, his eyes glowing slightly as he summoned a boost to get higher. He couldn’t maintain it in a place like this, with apparently no atmospheric currents to grab hold of – only an oppressive, unseeable ceiling somewhere even higher up above – but he did clear the top of the wall before the boost ran out.

Hermes’ eyes widened in shock. Dismay flooded his stomach.

A gigantic labyrinth surrounded him on all sides with uninterrupted lines of the same towering, taupe walls disappearing into the distance. A split-second reflex had him lunging forward to grab the edge of the wall just as he began to lose altitude. He pulled himself onto it and huffed for breath, bent over from the brief adrenaline rush caused by what appeared to be an insurmountable task.

This was no time to feel overwhelmed. It was time to plan.

He already had the advantage of being able to view the place from on top of it. He would have no trouble jumping over the gaps between walls. He could leave a trail of markers to keep track of where he had been. Even though the ground was far away, his eyesight was godly; he was confident he would be able to spot his father below as he searched.

What did worry him was how Sausage might hold up in the meantime. Would he be worried about his son despite Hermes’ experience visiting other realities? Would being in a place like this raise concerns about Hermes’ ability to navigate, or would Sausage be struggling to fathom the size of the walls while worrying about tracking his supplies, or…

Hermes’ consolation was that his father would at least still have the Staff of Sanctuary to aid him if necessary.

He hastily built a marker using the wool he had brought along, choosing four different colors for each cardinal direction and placing a torch in the middle. He hopped across the nearest surrounding walls to extend the directional indicators, then gently clasped the earring with a pressed flower inside before murmuring, “Magic of Sanctuary, if you can hear me in this place, please guide me to the magic of the Staff.”

He would have chosen the words my father, but it might be better to invoke the prime source in a dimension that felt so closed-off.

Hermes shut his eyes and waited to feel any kind of tug or general whisper of magic. It came across fuzzy, so he wasn’t completely certain, but he turned to his left and opened his eyes to survey the layout of the walls ahead. He then set off, leaping from one top edge to the next, occasionally setting down a correspondingly colored marker while constantly observing the ground below for any sign of his father.

After what could have been half an hour, he began to consider making a tall marker to denote where he had stopped so he could turn back and try a different direction. He happened to take one last glance downward and saw something moving below – the first time he had seen anything at all besides the occasional crumbling statue or dried-up fountain.

Figuring that he could fly back up if it turned out to only be one of this dimension’s inhabitants – whether sapient or not – Hermes leapt from the wall. His sandals slowed his descent as he neared the ground, allowing him to land without a sound.

Hermes pondered the small creature he was now looking at. He was reminded of his robotic sibling, Sunny. But this smaller metallic creation was made completely out of copper and reminded him of an iron golem. “Hello there, coppery little fellah. Are you native to this dimension?”

The little construct didn’t immediately respond. The antenna on top of its head bobbed up and down.

Maybe it was trying to process his words?

Of course, there was no way of telling if it had any of the same capabilities as Sunny. Which would actually put it closer in relation to an iron golem, after all.

Hermes decided to keep talking. Maybe some key word would register. “Did someone happen to send you out to guide me around? I’m trying to find my dad at the moment. We got separated when we entered the portal and I haven’t seen any trace of him in this massive maze yet.”

The copper golem abruptly looked up at him. “What did you say?”

Hermes smiled in delight. “Oh, you can talk! That’s helpful. Do you know the name of this place? I’ve traveled to a few different dimensions, but I’ve never seen this one before. It makes you wonder why or even how someone built a place like this! Maybe it was originally for the Wardens, before they ended up in the Overworld. Reminds me of another legend from ancient history… Huh! Well, they are called Ancient Cities, after all!”

“Are you sure about this?” asked the copper golem.

“Well, they aren’t called Modern Cities, now are they? At least where I’m from. Or did you mean the theory about the Wardens?”

“No.”

Hermes thought back on everything he had just said. “Are you here to guide me?”

“No.”

“Are you native to this dimension?”

“No.”

“Did… you come from the Overworld?” Hermes now realized this might have been one of those times where he should be careful about which details he revealed about himself.

“Yes.”

The young man did a little more thinking. While he was busy with that, the copper golem started to walk off, continuing in the direction it had been heading. Hermes followed for the moment, trying to figure out which standing empire might have the technology to build a sentient construct. His first thought would have been that it was sent by his godly parent for the exact purpose of being a guide – for who else but a deity could have sight over a gigantic labyrinth? – however, copper was an odd choice for a god who favored gold the most.

The goblins were inventive creatures and would certainly have a steady supply of copper that they had mined up, and this fellow was around their height. On the other hand, Cogsmeade was known for technological advancements…

Hermes glanced ahead to see their path was about to take them into an intersection. “Hey, so—” He dashed in front of the copper golem to stop a possible random turn. “—Can you tell me where you’re going? Or if there’s someone you’re looking for? I can scout around a bit.”

“That’s an odd thing to say.”

“Well, I don’t mean to brag, but I have a few useful powers to help with that. What about you? Any tools or sensors in there telling you where to go?” Hermes was hoping to find out something about this golem.

He was caught off guard by the sadness within the reply. “…No…”

“Oh. I see… I’m getting the feeling that you’re as lost as I am.”

“Yes.”

“Poor little fellah. Here, you know what?” Hermes leaned over to grasp the copper golem under the arms and picked it up. “I’ll carry you for a while, and we can cover ground faster! In fact, if you’re not afraid of heights—”

“What’s wrong with you?!” The golem began to wave its arms around, forcing Hermes to adjust his grip.

“Hey, hey— easy now! I’m just trying to say that I can fly. I can get us on top of the walls to get a better look around! We might spot your person and my dad more quickly!”

The golem immediately stopped struggling. “Okay.”

Hermes gave a relieved smile. He wasn’t in the habit of lugging robots along on flights, and having one flail around at the same time didn’t make the job convenient. He waited, however, until they had passed through the intersection, sparing a glance through the other passageways before sticking to the direction that the golem had been heading, then performed his trick to reach the top of the wall again. This time he aimed to land on top rather than grabbing it like last time.

He almost fell short despite his plan; he felt slightly light-headed afterward, so he made sure to wait a moment before he started walking. After that, he remained on the same wall for several minutes rather than jump across right away. He wanted to ensure he would still be steady on his feet, plus it might help the little golem get used to being carried around.

Hermes couldn’t contain his curiosity for very long, though. “Can you tell me if you have a name?”

“No.”

“Do you even have one?”

“Yes.”

“But you can’t tell me?”

“No.”

Hermes ruminated out loud, “Hmm. Might be one of those things where I need to guess the correct phrase.”

“No,” the golem replied with insistence.

Hermes chuckled. “Mate, you’re an odd one.” He paused to glance toward the ground. He was feeling better now, so he hopped across the tops of the next two walls then glanced down again.

Onward they went, not seeing anything much of interest, until they came across a wall that had partially collapsed in one spot. Hermes leapt down to check out the rubble below – if just to distract himself from his mounting worry about how long it was taking to find his father.

There was the initial pile of rubble but also larger chunks of the wall that looked like they had been flung in both directions down the passageway. Hermes set the copper golem down to scrutinize the scene. “Seems something knocked it down, and either the same thing – or something else – threw parts of it… off? Did someone try to bury something? No way of telling how long it’s been like this. If someone was trying to stop a hostile creature, they might have succeeded, and it freed itself later. I’ll stick with that theory. It sounds more positive. Right, my coppery friend?”

Hermes looked around and saw the golem seemed to be making an investigation of its own by staring at the ground just past one of the larger pieces of the wall. Hermes went over, not seeing anything right away, but it was as good a direction to head as any.

Then he saw the scorch marks on the floor, which was apparently what had caught the copper golem’s attention. “You worried about fire, little fellah?”

“Yes.”

“I could understand why, since you’re made of metal.”

“Are you sure about this?”

Hermes laughed quietly. “As far as I know copper is still considered to be a metal.”

“That’s an odd thing to say.”

“Is it really?” Hermes wondered if the construct considered itself to be made of flesh.

“Yes.”

Hermes was suddenly struck by a realization. “You’ve got limited speech programming!”

“Yes.”

“Well, that will do it, then! I’m sorry I didn’t notice sooner. Is that why you can’t tell me your name?”

“Yes.”

“I see, I see. I’ll keep it in mind. Should we have a gander at where this trail leads? I have some experience with the aftermath of an environment being burned, so I would say this didn’t happen recently, which means we’re probably safe from whatever caused this. No promises about anything currently around that might be shooting out flames, so we’ll be careful.”

The antenna on the golem’s head bobbed almost in an excited manner, although its reply was a calm, “Okay.”

The line of scorch marks varied as they followed it, as if it had been created by uneven blasts. The largest singe mark marring the ground was at the end of the passageway, which led out into an open area with a fountain in the middle.

There was also plenty of evidence that a massive battle had taken place here at some point in the past.

There were smashed pieces of a giant statue scattered around and some of the surrounding walls had holes in them. Some looked like more partial collapses, but also appearing as if something had been thrown right through them to dent the next wall behind them.

Hermes recognized another type of scorch mark that danced over the vertical surface of a wall that was just past the fountain. He walked over to touch it, murmuring, “Lightning… and a… trident impact…”

A strained cough rent the air, then a quiet yet hoarse voice rasped, “Who… Who’s there?”

Hermes let out a soft gasp and spun toward the fountain. A figure wearing a dark red cloak was seated against it. He hadn’t noticed them among the unmoving debris. The person coughed again. It sounded like… “Dad?” Hermes whispered.

The thing stopping him from hurrying over was the question of where his father would have gotten the red cloak from. Neither of them had packed one, and Sausage had been wearing his dark blue one when they entered the portal.

The golem then proclaimed, “Yes!” and ran over to the figure. It waved its arms in the air while dashing back and forth in a semi-circle, shouting, “What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you?”

“R-Rusty?” the person said, the voice now definitely sounding like Hermes’ father. “Shh. Rusty, I’m happy to see you, too – well, ehhh, sort of but not really, I’ll explain in a minute – but keep your voice down!” They coughed again. “There’s something living in this labyrinth and it’s not pleasant!”

Rusty went still, then stepped up close and seemed to gently place a hand on the person’s knee before whispering, “What’s wrong with you?”

The figure pulled down their hood. From where he stood, Hermes saw a full head of hair and a beard that matched the color and style of his father’s when he was younger.

Well, that changed everything. This man must be one of his father’s alternates from another reality. Hermes swiftly made his presence known, coming over to stand three steps behind Rusty. “Um, hello, sir. I found this little guy as I was searching around this place for my dad. I figured I could help – Rusty, was it? – find you, it seems. Are you all right, by the way? Did you get hurt, or… do you just happen to have a cough? I’m Hermes, by the way.”

Blue eyes with black sclera and what appeared to be runny mascara lifted to meet Hermes’ gaze. That was the face of his father alright. Hermes smiled, albeit awkwardly.

It was always a little weird running into doubles of his parents in other realities.

“Well, hello there, Hermes! I’m Mythical J. Sausage. The ‘J’ is silent.” The answering smile looked weary as the man tried to push himself up using the fountain to brace against. Hermes grasped the other’s arm and helped him stand. “Whoa! Strong grip there! Well, you do look the part of a strapping young god. What type of hybrid are you? I’m a Ghast Mage.” He held out his hand, palm facing upward. Small wisps of smoke rose up from his skin. His smile faltered when it was all that appeared.

Hermes was too busy puzzling over the word ‘hybrid’ to comment on the lack of example, although the context clues of smoke and Ghast made him guess there was supposed to be some kind of fiery explosion involved. “Um, I guess you could say I’m a storm hybrid. I can summon lightning among other atmospheric-related things.”

“Oh, that sounds awesome!” The Ghast Mage’s eyes lit up, taking on an orange hue, but then they squeezed shut as he coughed. “Sorry. Yes, I am kind of hurt, actually. I, uhm, got a dose of my own fireball medicine.” He leaned on the fountain again while Rusty rushed to his side, waving his little arms in the air again.

Hermes watched with a faint smile. The little golem’s concern was endearing. “Sorry to hear that. You said there was something living in this place? I haven’t seen a trace of anything yet except a wall back there that came down in one spot, which is what got our attention to come over this way.” He paused to glance around. “It sure looks like a fight went down here, but I can tell those lightning strikes are old.”

“Oh, speaking of lightning!” The Ghast Mage leaned to his right and picked up something that scrapped the floor with a metallic sound. “I found this while searching for the best place to hide! It was really dusty and I can’t tell if it has any enchantments, but maybe you can use it! I just kinda used it as a walking stick to make it over to here.” He smiled as he held out an ordinary-looking trident.

“Thanks! Actually, that’s very helpful.” Hermes took the trident while trying not to seem overexcited; a trident was just what he needed to augment his power. He held it underneath the tines while running his other hand over the haft. “Hmm. It feels like there’s… something imbued in it. But, like… in its core, not cast upon it… It’s like… someone very powerful once touched it.”

“I’ll trust your stormy senses on that. And I’m just as surprised as you to see a spot like this! I stumbled on it while running away. This is one of the few places I’ve seen so far that isn’t half-covered in sculk. Or what might be sculk? It’s the wrong color – like someone combined sculk and mycelium!”

Hermes’ brows lowered in consideration as he thought back to all the areas of the labyrinth that he had seen on the way. “I haven’t noticed anything like that in the direction I came from, but I was checking for a person, not the color of the floor.”

“You would notice it, believe me! Sculk makes sense, because the portal was in the Deep Dark, but mycelium is only on Mooshroom Islands!"

“Tell me more. I was beginning to wonder how this place could be so empty. Sounds like I just happened to be in the most boring part of it.” Hermes sat down on the side of the fountain to listen to the Ghast Mage tell of his time in the labyrinth. It could give him an idea of what to expect out there when he resumed the search for his father.

To Be Continued in [ Chapter Three ]

[lilmiaswritingcommissions]

Fanfiction Writing Commissions

You can find my Writing Commissions page here, and examples of my writing on my AO3.

That is where I list my general rules, which all still apply to my fanfic commissions.

So, general stuff, if you commission a fanfiction from me I will write it, share it with you for final edits, and then publish it on my AO3.  If you have an AO3 account I can gift you the work as well if you’d like through AO3’s ‘gift’ system.  The work will be publicly available to anyone on AO3.  The idea is that you aren’t paying me for the fanfiction, you’re paying me to write it and post it, which means I’m not making money off of the fanfiction, just the writing.

Thank you legal loopholes.

My prices for fanfiction are the same as my base prices on my Writing Commissions page.  If you are interested in commissioning me message me here on tumblr!  I take payment through Paypal and Venmo.

If you are specifically interested in a self-insert or OC insert in a 'The Gamer AU' (as in your character follows video game rules/logic while everyone else is bound to the rules of their universe), I have the specific characters sheets to have prepared (or partially prepared) here!

Information I need to do your commission listed here.

Now the list of fandoms I will write for (including crossovers between any of the fandoms)!  Fandoms below the cut!

3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series

Afterlife SMP

Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon 2005)

Batman - All Media Types

Danny Phantom

DCU

Deadpool - All Media Types

Doctor Who (9th Doctor Throught 11th Doctor)

Dream SMP

Dream Team RPF

Empires SMP

Fantasy SMP

Harry Potter

Hermitcraft SMP (Seasons 8 - 10)

Icebound (Legends of Avantris)

Marvel

Merlin (TV)

Miraculous Ladybug

New Life SMP

Once Upon a Witchlight (Legends of Avantris)

Origins SMP

Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types

Pirates SMP

QSMP

Rats SMP

Sanders Sides

Shazam! | Captain Marvel

Sherlock (TV)

Slimecicle Cinematic Universe

SMP Earth

SOS SMP

Spider-Man - All Media Types

Superman - All Media Types

Supernatural (TV 2005)

The Flash (TV 2014)

The Hobbit - All Media Types

The Witcher (TV)

Ultraman: Rising (2024)

Uprooted (Legends of Avantris)

ダンジョン飯 | Dungeon Meshi | Delicious in Dungeon

人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga)

[pacificwaternymph]

i binged all of the actor au and i fucking lvoe it

i just wana know -- is the life series a series with half a script and a lot of improv? is hermitcraft an show where the actors write the scirpt beforehand and then dont stick to it? is rats smp an animated show? is afterlife an parody show the actors of empires decided to launch when s2 was still uncertain?

are other smps also shows in the au?

Yes, other SMPs do exist as different shows, and all of those ideas are absolutely amazing and most definitely canon.

the crossover event in s2 made the collective fanbase go wild