Hermitcraft/Empires SMP/Third Life/Afterlife Randomness

The Afterlife

Then a feeling like he was shrinking. Jimmy didn't know exactly what that would be like, but if he did shrink, this is how he imagined it would feel.

Then a searing pain in his head, in two spots just above his forehead.

Then the same pain in his shoulders.

Then - and this was the part that caused the most panic - the feeling of his fins dissolving. His webbed fingers becoming normal, the fins behind his ears going away, his gills smoothing over with uninterrupted skin.

And then the falling stopped, and he slammed into solid ground.

Jimmy stood up, feeling dizzy. There was a strange weight on his head, and when he put his hand to it, he found horns there. They were smooth and sharp on the tips. On his shoulders were small crystals that didn't come off, like they were a part of him.

Jimmy put a hand that was no longer webbed to his ear and was dismayed and terrified to find the fins gone.

The Codfather and Cod Boy were already gone. But what about the Slightly Damaged Egg?

It was all so much to take in.

Jimmy didn't have the slightest clue where he was, so he started with that. Everything seemed a little bigger than normal - no, he had gotten smaller. He seemed to be in a sort of gazebo, surrounded by azalea trees. A river circled the island.

Suddenly, he heard a scream, and then there was someone on top of him.

Jimmy screamed as well, before he was slightly squished.

He was too startled to realize that he recognized that scream.

"DID I NOT DIE?" A voice yelled.

Jimmy grunted, and then the person seemed to realize that they were on top of someone. "Sorry. Wait, no, I'm not sorry. Where am I? And why are you so spiky..." He trailed off as Jimmy got up.

"...Jimmy?" The stranger said, and Jimmy realized he was definitely not a stranger.

He was exactly as Jimmy remembered, but different - the streak in his hair was a sort of orangey-gold, and his eyes were the same color. Bits of flame flickered around him.

"Joel?" Jimmy asked, barely believing his eyes.

"It's me, mate," Joel said. "Why are you spikey?"

"You're alive?" Jimmy said quietly, as if speaking too loud would kill him again.

"Apparently," Joel grumbled. "I thought I died, but I'm alive now. You're not a fish anymore."

Jimmy frowned, looking at his hands. "I- no, I'm not."

"You've got Galactic runes all over you," Joel said. "And you're short. Even shorter than me- wait, no. You were always shorter than me. I am not short."

Jimmy's frown deepened as he realized it was true.

Suddenly, a third person materialized in the gazebo.

"WHAT THE-"

Jimmy stuck put a hand to help the newcomer up. All he saw was a panda hat and purple particles, like the ones around an enderman, at first. Then he recognized the face. A face he hadn't seen since X Life.

"Oli?" Joel and Jimmy said in unison.

"Hi," Oli said. "I thought I died. Like, died badly. I died from hitting the ground too hard on an ender pearl."

"I thought so too!" Joel said. "The death part. Not the ender pearl part. That would just be embarrassing."

Oli blushed, then yelped as a third, then fourth, then fifth person landed in the gazebo in a flurry of fur and feathers.