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Chapter Text

Tap, tap, tap.

The king did not quite know of what to do, tapping his iced-over claw on his throne in nirvana.

Tap, tap, tap.

Player didn't quite call on him often- his training had helped them grow into a strong warrior. He's proud of them; but also quite worried, as they have mentioned the voices of the swords piercing into their head.

Tap, tap, tick.

Icedagger, Venomshank, Ghostwalker, Firebrand. They should be after the Windforce now. Each of the Swords, deadly as they are, served a purpose. he could only hope that they are able to handle a feat even Telamon couldn't do. Knowing that they were from the future… he had hope. Hope that the future was somewhat bright- that at the very least, the Blackrock kingdom will have a legacy.

Tap, tick, tock.

He only truly wished to be able to try again- if only he hadn't picked up that accursed sword… he should have heeded Telamon's warnings. He shouldn't have listened to those voices. His only regret, was not treating his people well. His kingdom was his pride- his joy, he ruled justly with kindness and listened to the pleas of the people when something was wrong.

Tick, tock, tick.

The ticking of a clock snapped him out of his deliberation, when he looked up he was not on his throne- but sitting in an office chair, seated in front of a strange, obscured figure.

"My apologies- often you wouldn't have to wait as long as you have in order for your soul to get fully processed into the afterlife- but due to timeline issues, this had do be delayed. I do hope your waiting room- nirvana as it's called in your world, right? I hope it was sufficient to your tastes."

"… Processed?"

"Yes- often, because of how many deaths there are happening at one time, there can be a congestion of many souls at once- and in special cases, like you, souls need to be processed and atone for certain things before moving on to the next life."

"Ah, that makes sense. I suppose it's finally time for me to fully leave this world, correct?"

"Yes… it is. Your legacy is set in stone."

"Good… I am glad I was at least a kind and just ruler before I took that cursed sword."

"You will be sent off to live another life in another world- It says here in this file that this is because of your kind just rulership for the large majority of your life, and you will retain your memories and be given one wish for the same reason."

"I understand. Can you please tell me any other stipulations?"

"The world you will go to has another species as its predominant intelligent life, so you will be reincarnated as this species. Along with that, you will be placed somewhere random- no magically convenient place to live, but you will be given necessities. You will also be able to speak, read, write, and understand any language there and be given a substantial chunk of money to start your new life with. Finally, you will be reincarnated at around 21 years old- and will have a lengthened lifespan compared to others."

"Then, I suppose… I wish for power, so if I am ever needed to rule a kingdom or take up the responsibility of leadership anywhere, I'll be able to protect my people from disaster."

"… a noble wish. Consider it granted. It will take a moment for you to awaken in the new world that you are being sent to- so you will first dream. Good luck out there!"

The King felt his soul fade and fizzle, as he accepted his new life in full- whatever his new life has to offer, he's prepared for anything. He will help others as much as he can, of course, but he never truly did get to appreciate his youth in his last life… he wonders if he will in this new one.

—

The former King awoke in a ruined, old castle in a mountainous area, the place being covered in snow and ice- though he didn't feel cold at all. In fact- he felt a normal amount of warm- a perfectly fine temperature. He looked around a bit, noticing that he had a fluffy fur-lined cloak draped over him; he was certain someone gave him it, for some reason, as it had some sort of spell on it that protected him from the snow and other elements. How nice… he wondered who did such a thing. It was even snowflake patterned, and quite long to cover and wrap around his whole body- with his favorite color as well as the main composition- it even had a nice button to fasten it with a beautiful crystal embedded within.

He got up from the little shelter he had "respawned" within, noting that he had ended up in a sort of old king's quarters- clearly an old castle that had been abandoned for years and years on end. How fitting, he was a former king… looking through the blizzard, he could see that he was on a high mountainous forest of some sort. Plenty of food to hunt, and water to find. He pulled out the bag he had came with- it seemed to have plenty of essentials to last him for a long time: hunting equipment, another few outfits, a water flask, a map of the area, and a note.

He picked out the note, reading it. It seemed to be a guide of sorts on where he is.

"You are in a place called 'the inphinity', specifically 'the inpherno'. The predominant species here is 'inphernals' but is more commonly referred to as 'gear demons', or more simply just demons. Demons are named after their gears, which they are spawned with and are able to summon at will. As you have been reborn as a gear demon, your gear is called "Scepter of Everlasting Blizzards" and can be shortened however you like for convenience (demons do that, anyways). It is a fusion of multiple gears, but as this is typically an incredibly rare mutation, you should not tell a soul of that for the sake of your own safety."

Hm. He'll keep that in mind. He looked at his outfit- other than the cloak, it looked more simple, as he typically wore simple clothing anyways he wasn't quite complaining. Putting his hand towards his head, two sets of horns made themselves known, as well as a layer of fur before his hand meets his crown. He took off his crown, observing that it looked quite different than how it used to look- seeing that it had a more icicle-esque theming than it once had. He put it in his bag, seeing as such an item would essentially make him a walking target for bad actors.

He decided to go on a hunt for food, and a water source nearby. Better to establish these things early, than to be starving later on.

—

It had been a few months since he had arrived in this world, and he has established a few things. Firstly, it seemed he had delicate moth-like wings- made from ice and snow, mostly, as the wings were actually a lot smaller and more durable than they seemed at first glance. He had quite a few scares from almost ripping them before realizing that!

Secondly, he had decided to shorten his gear's name to "Blizzard" in case he encounters someone else while on a hunt or otherwise. It doesn't seem like anyone goes into this forest, and that's fine with him, he's honestly enjoying not having to suffer with old bones while hunting- he's quite glad to be young again. He sang to himself an old Blackrock hmyn every once in a while to keep himself busy.

Thirdly, someone else was here in the mountains with him- but they seemed to be incredibly shy, only really communicating through giving gifts to him and occasionally short letters written in a very nice glittery ink. He makes sure to leave portions of his hunt for them- which they always take and leave a small thank you letter for him.

Today, he was bleeding out a deer that he just hunted- he's gotten used to using his new gear not only for hunting via summoning icicles, but for preserving meat via a refrigeration-like spell. He had found some parchment, and began to prepare a letter for if he ever leaves and/or is picked up by a few inphernals that happened to yearn for exploration. He doesn't want to worry the mysterious friend he had gained, after all.

When the deer had fully bled out from the fresh hunt, he butchered it and saved the best parts for his mysterious friend- they had done quite a lot for him, so he decided doing such a thing would be a good way to repay them as he cast a refrigeration spell to preserve it for them to pick up. He cooked the parts of the meat he left for himself, eating them along with some roasted potatoes he had harvested from his little farm.

He was actually quite glad for this quiet start- it let him get his bearings on his new body and new youth. For some reason, he had a feeling about tonight- a feeling a particularly strong blizzard might come along, so he packed all of his things into his strange, pocket-dimension of a bag and got into as best of a shelter as he could before falling asleep that night. Conveniently, the letter that he wrote just in case had happened to slip out around where he had fallen asleep…

—

The next thing Blizzard knew, he had woken up in a bed within an unfamiliar area, hearing two demons talking in another room.

"Coil- dude- you can't just be telling me that you somehow just… FOUND a demon that had been living in a restricted Flippin DEAD ZONE and not have me asking questions."

"I'M TELLING YOU SKATE!!! They were just… curled up in some ruins asleep and clearly almost freezing to death in those clothes! I don't even know how they're not DIRTY!!! It looked like they had been holed up there for a long time!"

"It's just- you PROMISED not to do anything stupid this time- for all we know that demon could be a war criminal- or an assassin that wants to kill us!"

He listened in on the conversation as he internally regrets taking his cozy cloak off before going to sleep. That was dumb of him. Now he feels sick- probably the result of him almost getting hypothermia from his dumb decision fueld by awful sleep habits. And loneliness.

He's thankful that he was at least found before his own dumb thought claimed his bones. He doesn't quite blame himself though, as he supposes that dumb decisions are what young people make- and he was indeed young again. He still remembers the 'poet law' that he put in place to make all the knights in the kingdom talk like Shakespeare. That was dumb.

Right now, he was more concerned with how comfortable the bedding he currently was in was- and damn, it was miles better than the stuff in that broken-down castle. It probably wouldn't compare to the bedding he had back when he was a King, but it's the principle of the matter. He tried to get up, moving slowly as not to not end up hurting himself, but he lowers himself back down on the bed after realizing he can't really move his legs.

One of the two inphernals he heard from outside opened the door- they had two differently colored horns, one gold and one green, with the gold one having a crystal stabbed into it. They also seemed to be in an incredibly punk-looking outfit.

"Oh- hey, they’re awake!"

Blizzard weakly waved at them. He really didn't feel like talking right now…

"Can you… talk?"

He shook his head, doing a so-so gesture with his hand.

"Okay, you can talk but just don't want to right now- good to know- can you write?"

He nodded.

"Alright- let me just…" They ruffled around in their pockets, pulling out a pen and a note pad. Good, they were prepared. "Here, use these. Oh- I'm Coil by the way, he/him."

Blizzard wrote his name and pronouns down.

"Woah- rad name! Hold on-" Coil went to the door and yelled out "SKATE!!! THE DEMON I FOUND'S AWAKE!!" before another demon- with wide, red horns, one having a Crack in it and one having a band with a checkerboard pattern, along with a helmet with that same pattern on it- came in.

Blizzard waved at the new demon- assuming that their name was Skate. He wrote down a greeting and showed it to the demon.

"Oh- Yo, I'm Skateboard, friends call me Skate. He/him."

He kept that in mind.

"Dude- how long had you been living out there? It looked like you'd been holed up in there for a long while…" Coil sounded concerned.

Blizzard recalled the amount of days he had been there- and he wrote it down on the notepad.

"A YEAR?! You lived in a DEAD ZONE for a YEAR?!"

He… felt a little dumb as he used the notepad to ask what that was. He decided to act as an amnesiac, just in case someone asks about his past. Coil and Skate looked at eachother and then looked at Blizzard with a look of 'oh this guy must have the worst amnesia or might be lying to us'.

"Do you… even know where you were?"

He wrote that he had been in those ruins for about as long as he can remember. He wasn't lying about that too, he had been in those ruins the entirety of his second life so far. Skate and Coil's jaw hung open a bit, Skateboard was completely dumbfounded.

"Okay- okay- let's just… ask you what you remember-"

—

This questionnaire had been very informative for Blizzard. First, he had learned of the factions- although they were similar in name scheme as the crossroads he once knew, they were different in terms of government and structure. Very different. Currently, he was in Playground- but he was apparently in a Blackrock "dead zone" before, a dead zone being a place where a disaster had happened that wiped inphernal life out in that area and most inphernals aren't allowed to go in for safety's sake, though the one he was in was so old that the reason it was abandoned was lost to time.

Secondly, he learned that the Blackrock here is a disgrace to the name of his former kingdom. No regard for ethics, all they care about is money and a one-sided "war" that is only really petty at best, and a false sense of "progress" that laid on the corpses of countless inphernals to simply boost the ones up top. Now that, that got Blizzard pissed off- for such a faction to share the name of his former kingdom left a bitter taste in his mouth, though he didn't show it.

Lastly, according to legends he had heard from Skate and Coil, the Sword Fight on the Heights swords were deities in this world. This made complete sense- such blades held an incredible amount of importance in robloxia already, it would only make sense for them to be held to high importance here. Though, he did find it strange they did not mention Icedagger when speaking of the swords- perhaps it was a taboo or they simply did not know of the blade…

He decided it might be the best course of action to simply let himself be cared for by these two until he gains enough strength to go on and find out more of this strange world he had found himself in. And so, he began to drift off into a deep slumber, reminiscing on the day as he processed everything in his mind.

Chapter Text

Blizzard yawned sleepily when the next morning came. He certainly felt quite a lot better now that he's warmed up and actually able to stand now- he looked around in the room he had been placed in and found his bag, digging around and finding his journal he wrote down a new entry logging the events that lead to learning of this new world more and info that he needed to know.

He had made a habit of this, ever since he was a King, because of his terrible memory due to simply knowing so many things about his kingdom and his responsibilities that it could be hard to recall simple things in the moment. In fact, the first few pages of this journal were a record of his old life so he would not forget his mistakes and repeat them again, because younger people tend to have greater memory than an old man like he was.

It was… still strange being so young now. He had quite a bit more energy than before- almost too much. He's not used to feeling like he needs to run around constantly! Along with that, it seems his new youth had certainly changed his decision making to be far more spontaneous.

Nevermind that- he had heard the ones that took him in waking up a little earlier than he had gotten up. He supposed that he felt incredibly comfy in the netted bedding that he had laid in bed for about another hour before getting up- he's still not quite fully used to… being able to sleep in, due to ascending the throne quite young. Old habits die hard, he supposed.

He heard one of them knock on the door to the room and opened it, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Oh- hey, you're up? I thought you would have needed some more rest…" Skate had been the one knocking on the door.

"Mmm… Playground… warm…" Blizzard weakly spoke- he hadn't used his voice to talk for a while, so it sounded rough and tired.

Skateboard was startled a bit by Blizzard speaking, "Woah- dude, your voice sounds ROUGH-"

"Haven't… talked… in a… long… time… sorry…" Blizzard coughed a bit from his voice's disuse, "better… after… water… probably…"

"You should get some breakfast- it might help get your strength back."

Blizzard nodded in agreement, with Skate leading him to the dining being filled with the smell of eggs, bacon, toast, and freshly-brewed coffee. Coil had cooked breakfast- though Blizzard noticed Coil's once-green horn was now blue. He didn't bother to ask at the moment though, being too hungry to think about anything else but food now.

He stared at the food before him at the table for about… five seconds before grabbing his utensils and devouring it like a starved animal. Blizzard does not really blame himself for this decision to abandon manners- he has been out in the wilderness for a whole year, he can't exactly do much about his want to pack in as many nutrients as possible- especially after he asks for seconds… and thirds. Coil got a little concerned about that.

"Dude- when was the last time you ate? You're acting like this is the first meal you've ate in weeks…"

"Ate… before you… found me… but… haven't had… food like this… before…" it was true; BLIZZARD hadn't had eggs and bacon before. The former King had eggs and bacon before of course, but not in this life- and it tasted quite different with his new taste buds.

"Dang. Guess it makes sense, you have a bad memory from what it seems so it's probably like you're eating eggs and bacon for the first time ever-"

"What… is that… dark liquid…?" He pointed at the coffee pot.

"Oh- that's coffee! You wanna give it a try? It can be bitter, just warning you." Skate poured a cup of coffee for Blizzard.

Now, the former King absolutely loved black coffee in his previous life. It was often the bitterness that got him through a day of mountains of paperwork- but now, due to his new taste buds as an inphernal, he noticed things tasted differently for him now. Turns out that was the same for his taste of coffee.

Blizzard's face scrunched up like a prune as he tried to get the awful taste out of his mouth. Skate chuckled and Coil sighed as he added some milk and sugar to Blizzard's cup.

"Told you it would be bitter!" Skate chuckled at the funny face that Blizzard made. "It should taste a bit better with the milk and sugar now- but next time heed the warning on the bitterness!"

Blizzard made a pouting face as he took a sip of the coffee with added milk and sugar- noting that it was now a more smooth and pleasant bitter-sweet flavor. He hummed a bit, chugging down the coffee now that he could bare it.

"Taste better?"

"Better…"

"Alright- since you seem to be able to talk now, we can see if you remember anything at all!" Skate enthusiastically gave him fingerguns.

"Okay…"

—

A few hours of learning later, both Coil and Skate had their heads in their hands after realizing that Blizzard not only doesn't know some very basic things, but also has NO clue about anything at all around him other than the place he was before. Internally, Cruel King felt embarrassed by this, but he did essentially get unceremoniously plopped in an abandoned castle, so it made sense in his mind to simply ask basic questions.

He watched as Skate and Coil fiddled with their TV in fascination- seeing as he has not seen any technology beyond the 2010s Era, it was quite interesting to watch them look for an educational channel on a video sharing website connected directly to the TV itself. He sat on the couch as Coil wrote down a list of videos for him to watch as he learned about the world. Blizzard looked at the list and fiddled with the TV remote as he looked each up, getting cozy on the couch as he watched quite a few videos on various topics.

By far the most interesting ones were on gears and their mechanics, even in his past life the former King had an interest in the mechanics behind gears- that's what drove his curiosity towards the icedagger in the first place- but the gears that inphernals have had even more interesting properties! He stared at the TV and noted down all the most interesting parts about gears in his head, before hearing a section about fused gears.

Apparently, it was an uncommon mutation at spawn that multiple gears in the same category or series could fuse- and even rarer to have unrelated gears fuse together as well. The trade off to this is often the inphernals that have these mutations are weaker at spawn, and have lower stamina than most, often leading to them dying early deaths. Blizzard thought this might explain why he got exhausted easily when he first got here.

Coil came in and sat on the chair near the sofa, seeing the part of the video on gear fusion as a mutation coil spoke up.

"Oh- Yeah, I have that mutation- I'm technically a regen, gravity, and speed coil all at once- so I kinda found a way to switch between those modes since I was little. I usually just default to my gravity mode, though."

Blizzard's eyes widened with curiosity.

"You're like me…?"

"Huh? Whad'ya mean by that Blizz?"

"My full name… is Scepter of Everlasting Blizzards… I have a fusion gear too…!"

"Damn, the fact you survived this long must mean you were probably like… way tough before loosing your memories-"

Blizzard just shrugged, continuing to watch the educational videos that Coil and Skate put on the TV. Perhaps he should hang around these two, solidarity for similar rarities has always been hard to find- he would know, as a former king he didn't have time to form bonds like that once he ascended the throne. Perhaps that was one of the reasons he was so lonely.

—

After a day or two of learning things about inphernals, he decided to take a shower before going out for the first time. He grabbed his spare clothes from his bag, went to the washroom area, and grabbed a few towels. But… first, he took a look at himself in the mirror before getting into the shower itself.

He looked quite young- actually, he looked quite a bit younger than he actually was, guess even in this reincarnation he's a late bloomer with chronic baby-face. Ah, the genetics curse. His horns were almost ornate, looking similar to icicles on his head. Notably, he also had antennae similar to a moth, how fascinating.

When he took his shirt off though- he was met with a surprise.

He had the markers of incisions all over his body, markings that almost looked like those… high-tech sci-fi movies that he watched on occasion. Most notably, in-between where his wings were, was a magic geode crystal.

Now- in Blackrock, the one he knew, these crystals were not quite rare or potent unless refined by a master wizard or a scientist, as they are known to have explosive properties if not handled with care. In fact, that was the property used in subspace tripmines, he recalls. But, to modify one's body with one would require an immense amount of training to keep someone from freezing over due to their magical potency- a training he was required to take as royalty, but never quite used.

But to not only see a magic geode this large and not in the tripmine cut, and inserted into his back, it could only mean that he had been enhanced with another cut for a reason. Perhaps he did have memories in this world, a backstory of sorts, it couldn't be quite ruled out.

He took a shower while ruminating on these thoughts, making sure to do horn care and the such. He learned the hard way how itchy and flaky horns can get if he doesn't do so.

Once he was dry, he changed into his spare clothes- being sure to hide his wings, just in case- and yawned. Skateboard and Coil were in the living room, chatting about nothing in particular, but they perked up when they saw Blizzard got out of the shower.

"Yo, you ready to hit the town?" Skate questioned.

"Yes- I feel… refreshed, now that I have taken a shower."

"Cool! Now, let's get you some drip, no offense but you look pretty plain in that outfit."

"How so?"

"In the… gentlest way possible, you look like a medieval peasant and almost all of the clothes you seem to have are also torn up and ragged." Coil stated.

"…" Blizzard did not have a rebuttal. Perhaps a new outfit would make a nice experience anyways, as a former king he was used to many decisions like the clothes he wore being made for him due to how busy he was. "… Sure, I could use something different."

"Alright! Let's go then!"

—

Well, that was fun! In fact, that was the most fun he has had in years- finding all sorts of styles he could try, and finally landing on something that he liked that happened to pair nicely with his cloak. Blizzard fastened the fluffy cloak to his neck, burying his face into the fluff it produced- even if the weather was blazing hot or freezing cold, it seemed to be enchanted so he's always just the right temperature.

Finally, the highlight of the day he was excited for: dinner. One of the very few things the former King had never been able to try in his previous life was, embarrassingly enough, fast food. He was always treated to delicacies and expensive foods, yes, but he never knew the simple pleasures of a burger that the knights he trained spoke of.

And also, while he absolutely loved Kitchen Wizard's cooking, he did kind of get tired about fine delicacies after the fiftieth or so grand ball. He had never tried any truly junk-y junk food.

Blizzard stared at the burger, fries, and soda that he had been served and poked at the burger a bit- noticing the wrapper, he used it to pick up and take a bite. It took him a moment to process the flavors, but he will say… it was a certainly unique and tasty food. It was also quite filling- after finishing the fries, he was practically stuffed… or perhaps he ordered too big of a burger.

As soon as they all got home, blizzard practically crashed into bed falling asleep like a baby from how full he felt. The land of dreams treated Blizzard to dreams of hunting, of being one with the snow and journeying far and wide…

And so, he slept.

And so, he was at peace.

This was quite different than from when he was a King.

And he was okay with that.

Chapter Text

The former king had been… adjusting a bit.

He was still not quite used to some things, yes, but there were more specific things that were really hard to adjust to. For example, inphernal's natural tendency towards violence. Being one himself now, he of course gained this trait. It was… manageable when he had to hunt for food- he didn't even really notice it then. But it was especially noticeable now.

Another thing he wasn't quite used to, was his heightened senses- sure, they might have been heightened from sustaining himself via hunting and gathering for himself, but he also noticed that inphernals are naturally far more sensitive to things like sound. It was to the point where he could pick out someone summoning their gear from a crowd away. That's not to mention his vision being crystal clear unlike how it was in his previous life. The moth features did not help with the intensity of senses.

Recently, though, he has realized another major difference between inphernals and Robloxians, and it was one difference that did not affect him and that he retained from his past life: and that was the instinct of curiosity. Sure, inphernals were curious- but most of the time it was in the standpoint of either utilitarian understanding or of fundamentals within things, not the kind that brought Robloxians to space to build grand castles. Not in the same vein as building an entire mansion and then giving it away for fun. Curiosity on your own limits and imagination drove innovation and life in robloxia, it was how the combat card system was developed after all.

In fact, he noticed that inphernals, despite being farther into the future than he thought, were only about 10 to 15 years more advanced than Robloxians, perhaps even behind at times. Some Robloxians lived in more tech oriented areas than others, yes, but those robloxians were known for their specific building style, especially from the ones known as "Innovation Inc". Spaceships, inventions, art, all kinds of things to consider and inphernals have not even been to their own moon let alone space despite having the technology to create holograms and mass-produce war machines. He did quite wonder why this is.

The final adjustment point, though, is the social norms. Inphernal social norms were incredibly different than robloxians- they were not assigned pronouns at spawn, instead their gear and gear class is often equated with gender. Whenever he was asked his gear class he has always attempted to answer in some way, but it was nigh-impossible to figure out even if it is instinctively written in one's mind. After all, his gear has traits from all three classes…

Another social norm he did not quite understand at all was the general belittling of those with the support class, with most considering them "weaker" for whatever reason. After doing some research on the topic, he found this information to be factually stupid and fundamentally dumb, as support class inphernals simply have less of a drive for violence and have less of a chance of spawning as of late.

Possibly the most infuriating social norm he had seen though, was from blackrockian "aristocracy" and "nobility". They treated anyone poorer than them as trash, and basically worshiped the ones that are currently running the worst monarchy possible in the faction. As you can probably assume, the former king was pretty pissed off about this. If there's one thing he hates the most, it's Rich People that only care about Money and not their Responsibility To Take Care Of The Less Fortunate.

Right now, he was exploring the massive metropolis called Crossroads with Skate (Coil was sick today, as he had overused his "Fusion" ability) in order to reach a Cafe that one of Skate's friends run, to be introduced to some of Skate's friends and to hopefully help 'jog his memory' on a few things. He was thankful that Coil found something to muffle the noise for trips like this.

The large city was filled with life and bustling with noise, inphernals giving weird looks at Blizzard's cloak. It was understandable- but as the cloak was made to maintain his body temperature via magic, he can simply wear it anywhere. He fidgeted at the fasteners, following Skateboard before arriving at a quaint little Cat Cafe that seemed quite popular from the line.

"Don't worry about the line, I made a reservation. Heh, I bet Sling's gonna be glad to see my mug from how crazy busy he has been lately!" Skateboard exclaimed, leading Blizzard to the reserved entrance.

They both sat at the table, Blizzard making sure to keep his posture up as he grabbed one of the menus already placed on the table. He looked it over, starting to get hungry already from seeing all the options. Despite inphernals not needing to eat, food is important to those with a fused gear mutation- it essentially meant life or death if they didn't eat, because they had less stamina on an empty stomach. He supposed that could be a historical explanation for why inphernals have restaurants in the first place-

Ah, his mind was going on a tangent again.

He ordered the things he wanted, making sure to specify to make sure his coffee wasn't bitter while unconsciously bouncing his leg under the table. Even as a king, he had a tendency to not be able to sit still, he wondered why this is so much more intense now that he's no longer too busy to acknowledge it.

Soon, one of Skateboard's friends arrived at the table- a green inphernal that seemed at least somewhat popular, due to how many people he had heard talking about him with admiration in the background.

"Yo- you must be Skate's new pal, huh! I'm Boombox, he/him, nice to meet you!"

"I'm B-blizzard, he/him, it's nice to meet you. Sorry, I get a little… nervous around crowds…"

"Eh, that's fine! Honestly it's fair, super big crowds can be a bit overwhelming if you're not used to them!"

Boombox sat at the table with them, ordering something as well when one of the cats hopped onto the table, sniffing at Blizzard. Blizzard gently held out a hand, letting the cat sniff it before giving it pets with a warm smile. The cat jumped down onto his lap, where it purred loudly and be continued petting it.

Eventually, the food arrived- along with the owner of the store, who was on break. They were a blue inphernal, with cat-like horns.

"Hey, I'm Slingshot! He/him, I own this store- heh, looks like the cats like you, huh?"

"Seems like it… I'm Blizzard, also he/him. It's nice to meet you…!"

"Same with you!"

—

Traveling around crossroads was certainly a nice experience. He found out about quite a few gyms, interesting shops, libraries, and other establishments around- he even got to go to an arcade for the first time! But… something had been bugging him all day.

The missing posters.

There was missing posters plastered practically everywhere, of two very specific individuals, both of whom he somewhat… recognized. The first one- their name was listed as "Sword", and they looked eerily similar to the Player that he knew- he recalled player saying that they didn't even really use their own name on their adventures for safety's sake but… it was almost a perfect match looks-wise, down to the scar under his eye. Just add some ice, foliage, a translucent horn, eyebags, and some fire and they would look the exact same. The second one- their name was listed as "Zuka", he recalled being a shopkeeper that Player mentioned while on an adventure.

This felt… Eerie. Something was up with this, he might have to dig more into this when he can- along with the so-called 'dead zones' in each faction. He had heard a rumor or two about strange items being found around…

He wondered what that could possibly mean.

—

Figuring out how to use a phone with a touchscreen was… a tad bit of a struggle. It was kind of hard to get used to not having any tactile feedback that buttons would supply. But, there was one thing about the phone he was quite interested with- the ability to use the internet. He searched up a lot of things that he remembered (in incognito mode of course, he's not completely internet illiterate) from his past life and found some… interesting results.

First off, he found a few posts from trading card collectors finding battle cards in areas with older architecture. Now, this is a normal occurrence for robloxians- but not Inphernals, after all their battle system is entirely different. Secondly, there seems to be reports of artifacts depicting an ancient hero with 7 swords- which lines a little too perfectly up with Player's whole situation. Down to the appearance…

And any research he tried to do on Dead-Zones just came up empty… he'll look deeper into them on a library computer- he knows that phones can be used to easily track someone and he's really not willing to have the assholes running things breathing down his neck. Speaking of…

Someone has been watching him for the past hour as he has been trying out things around crossroads. He knows this, as he has heard the same footstep pattern the entire time and it wasn't Skate's, along with that he keeps seeing a glint of white in every alleyway he passes. He was thankful that, as a king, he had learned to discern if he was being spied on from many years of rulership- but why the hell was this individual so intent on watching him?

He sighed in annoyance, putting away his phone and turning to directly stare at the individual with sheer and utter annoyance.

"You are not very good at hiding your traces. Reveal yourself, please." Blizzard said with a clear tone of annoyance in his voice.

"Ohhh, so you did notice me! That's interesting, nobody's noticed me following them before!~" A cheerful voice came from the alley, a demon in a teal suit with a marble eye spoke.

"How so? Your dress shoes are quite loud when you walk, you know. Along with that, the tink of chains is also very easy to hear."

The demon chuckled, "How observant! You seem to be an interesting on-"

"What in the world do you possibly want."

"To the point, eh? Weeeellll, a little birdie told me you were found in a Blackrockian dead-zone! I was just curious on how someone could possibly survive, and what you were aaalllll about!"

"I'm not an idiot, tell me what you're really after."

"Pushy, pushy!~ I'm the one asking questions here, don't wanna start a fight do we?" The demon kicked their feet back and forth rhythmically like a schoolgirl in a cartoon.

"If you want any info from me, you'll have to make it worth my while. And no, I'm not talking cash."

"What could you possibly be doing that's more worth your time than answering questions from little old me?"

"Uh, look around, context clues genius, this is the area with the most restaurants. What do you think I'm trying to do, rent an apartment?" The words fell out of Blizzard's mouth with agitation. He often got unreasonably angry and had almost a change in vernacular and demeanor entirely if hungry enough.

"Well, I do know a good place to eat, if you're willing to humor me?" The demon stood up, a fake smile plastered on their face.

The former king sighed "Fine."

—

Blizzard fully and entirely expected this. An extravagant restaurant that screamed 'rich' was very fitting for a demon literally called The Broker to bring him to in order to butter him up. His tolerance for this nonsense was lowering by the second, but nonetheless he humored the demon and went along with it. Plus, he was hungry, and he'd (almost) never turn down free food.

Sitting at the (apparently and very suspiciously reserved) table with the broker, Blizzard made sure to keep proper manners even through his undying annoyance with this whole situation, especially because he noticed two other demons also suspiciously in a table nearby with the same teal and gold attire. Keep your composure and you'll have less of a chance of getting jumped, Blizzard.

He took a look at the menu, seeing all sorts of fancy food with pitiful portions. His eye twitched as he looked through the menu until he saw something that was actually substantial instead of the large majority of the menu. In fact, it was playgrounder cuisine he was familiar with, just needlessly fancier and more expensive. He ordered that along with a very specific drink, tapping his fingers as their appetizers and drinks were served.

Freshly baked bread rolls and a small bowl of soup, not bad for an appetizer.

He smelled the food and drink for poison out of habit, and then used the table manners he remembered from his time as a king to eat the appetizer with grace and delicate precision, earning a surprised look from the Broker. He politely ate his portion of the appetizer and took a sip from his drink, which was a mocktail due to his distaste for alcohol.

"Well, for a Playgrounder, you have good table manners!" The Broker passively commented.

"What do you mean by 'for a playgrounder'? Etiquette is important for showing respect, and I can tell you it is very disrespectful to say that."

"Oh- my apologies! I didn't mean to offend you, slip of the tongue!"

"Suuuure."

He just silently stared at them until the food came out. Taking a bite, he just found the dish to be… Lacking something. It didn't have the right flavor that it should have- but adding some salt and pepper seemed to do the trick. He swears, fancy restaurants always under-season food, kitchen wizard would disapprove. Otherwise- the dish was good, it just needed some salt and pepper.

After he finished his food, he felt far calmer than before, sighing as Broker finished their own meal.

"Now, what were the questions that seem so important to you that you would set up something so elaborate to butter me up?"

Broker almost seemed shocked.

"Don't look so shocked, it was very suspicious that you already had a reservation, along with that your two accomplices are a table away watching us. What do you take me for, the current Blackrockian aristocracy?"

"W-well, I simply wanted some answers on something! Tell me… what was it like living in a dead-zone? It must have been tough-"

"-It was. Very. I woke up there with no memories, and had to hunt for food daily to prevent myself from running out of energy. There, that's your answer, happy? I can't tell you how I got there, I barely remember it myself."

"How… informative! Was there perhaps anything interesting there?"

"This feels like an interrogation."

"It's noooot!" Their smile was nervous now.

He sighed, "There was some interesting plants that apparently haven't been discovered by the wider population yet. They make great tea. Along with that, there was some common animals that had traits unlike anywhere else, which is the reason I assume it was a dead-zone, because they absolutely would take down an average inphernal if they didn't know what they were doing."

"O… kay!" They cleared their throat. "Well, it is quite nice meeting you- have this, I'm sure we'll meet again!~"

Before Blizzard could speak, Broker left the money to pay for the meal and shoved a rotary dial in his hands, cartoonishly skittering away with their accomplices (one seeming just So Done With This). Wait…

Rotary dial? This is surely almost completely useless, there's no cable to plug it in! This thing is outdated and useless as shit! Into the bag it goes anyways, perhaps it'll prove useful later for spare parts or something. Unless it's a magic rotary- but those have been out of use for a long ass time even in his world…

Ah well, that's a problem for tomorrow Blizzard. He went back to Skateboard's place, and promptly fell asleep in his netting bedding in his room, exhausted from the day.

What a hassle.

--

Chapter Text

Another day rose, and slowly Blizzard was becoming accustomed to living in the inpherno. Though he was often empathetic to others - an unusual trait in inphernals - he did mostly ignore things that were not his problem. He looked at the newspapers reading the headlines.

"Windforce Gone Missing: Banhammer Claims Strange String of Disappearances Not a Coincidence."

He blinked a few times- how could a deity go missing? And- Isn't the Banhammer a few of the Admins' signature gear in a fight…? He picked up the newspaper and read the passage. According to the newspaper, Banhammer (apparently Windforce's son… that somehow felt almost familiar…) had found his beloved mother had gone missing with almost no trace: other than a clock rewound and slowly ticking away tracking the time of sometime else. According to the paper, apparently this is a similar thread to how the other deities disappeared- each having a clock nearby where they seemingly disappeared rewound to a specific time that seemed to sync with eachother.

… If there was one thing Telamon told the former king, it was that whenever the sword fight on the heights swords were involved in something related to time… it would mean that something terrible was afoot. An omen, even, of misfortune - when the Windforce broke a clock at one point for seemingly no reason, a terrible typhoon had escaped from natural disaster survival and caused a great amount of tragedy along the coast of Bizville.

And… the order of disappearances almost seemed to line up too well. Firebrand being the first to disappear ten years ago, after burning down a city- despite being a kind grandfather that wouldn't hurt a fly- it would line up with the ancient legends of the temple of the red sun. Icedagger (which he was a little bit surprised to see, due to how nobody ever mentioned the blade) having disappeared next, rumored to have been in the mountains of Blackrock living in solitude, would line up with the former king's young rulership and solitude as royalty.

Even the Venomshank of this world, despite being a deity of the undead, was rumored to be a worried fatherly figure to another person on the missing person's list. Ghostwalker was rumored to be essentially the grim reaper, emotionless in all fashions- which lined up with the fact that one would have to fight their flaws if they wished to truly wield the blade.

It all lined up almost too well. It was suspicious, as if the deities themselves had been direct reflections of their guardians or the strength required to wield them. Along with that, and the battle cards appearing all around… deep inside the former king's gut, he knew that something was coming- and whatever it was, it wasn't going to end well.

He walked around crossroads a bit more, and saw someone putting up missing posters- they looked similar to a description of Player's "best-est friend ever" that they missed very much and was their reason for using the rocket launcher in place of the ball, and they were putting up missing posters of both B. Zuka and 'Sword' (he was growing more and more convinced that Player was Sword by the minute, but he didn't want to intrude on their privacy, even if this is another world or- more likely, a far future). He approached the inphernal, tapping on their shoulder.

"Hello? I've noticed you've been putting missing posters all around…"

The inphernal saw the playground symbol on the button pinned to his beanie, and scoffed. "Why would a playgrounder like you care? It's not like you could help at all- not even Banhammer knows where they are. I'm just putting missing posters up so they can both see them and know I'm looking."

The former king gently furrowed his brow. "I have a question, and it may sound strange, but when did your friend go missing?"

"Why would you want to know?"

"I happen to have an interest in researching history, and… your friend, Sword- correct? Well… they look an awful lot like a hero depicted in recently-unearthed tapestries and clay carvings."

"… what."

"Give me a moment." Blizzard used his phone to pull up the saved images he had of the tapestries and engravings. "These seemed to be dated at around 2011 B.D. and… i find it suspicious how eerily similar they look to your friend."

The inphernal squinted for a moment- seemingly looking for any evidence the image was doctored or edited, and when finding none looked shocked. "What- what the fuck. WHAT. How- huh??? How did you even find these images and why do they look almost exactly like Sword?"

"That isn't the only concerning thing, though. Look closer at this tapestry."

"… D-DAD-?!" The inphernal was shocked and startled to see the tapestry depicting his father in a dessert shop in the background. Reasonable reaction.

"If you'd like, I could investigate more into this- there seems to be a suspicious pattern here, that I don't really like."

"… fine. If you really want to help that badly."

"Do you happen to know where your father or friend last was…?"

—

Rocket (as Blizzard learned his name to be) lead Blizzard to Zuka's shop with a sigh. "My dad was last seen in here. For some reason, the clock in here is broken- no matter how many times I try to change it to the correct time, it just won't change."

"That’s… alarming."

"I know."

Blizzard took a closer look at the clock- it was a digital clock, able to track not only time, but also temperature and date. He gestured Rocket to come over and take a closer look, pressing the 'date' button, which displayed a date with '2010 B.D.' as the year.

"What the fuck."

"I know this may sound crazy but I think your dad and your best friend may have been sent to the times before demons existed." Blizzard stated it with a cold shock in his voice, not because be was surprised- no, because it meant that the former king was in the far, far, far future, and that he seemed to be here for a reason. What that reason was, he didn't know, but it was a terrifying prospect for him.

"… Yeah it does sound crazy. It sounds like a bad sci-fi novel even. But all signs point to that being what happened. I… I need a minute."

"I do too, the implications of this are rattling."

They both took a moment to silently contemplate life and their very existences together, for very different reasons yes, but it was the principle of the matter. They exchanged contact info in silence, both in equally silent agreement to stay in contact because of their own variation of 'Holy Fuck'.

"We are never telling anyone that time travel is real, right?" Rocket asked in a haunted tone.

"Yeah, I don't think this is knowledge anyone else should possess." Blizzard said, equally haunted.

They both nodded in agreement as the former king left the shop, a haunted look in his eyes as he realizes that there is far, far more to this than he thought. He only wondered now, why was he brought back? And, if this truly is the distant future like he suspects… with what means? As there is one thing Telamon had always drilled into his head when he was training to become a sword guardian:

If someone is brought back from the dead in the same realm as they were borne as fully living once more, then someone else from the realm of the living had brought them back with something of their previous body (be it an organ, skin, or bone), and with that something connected to their very soul.

—

A day later, and Blizzard was still recovering from the shock and existential crisis he had a bit- but was still quite a bit better than he had been before about it. He was taking a walk around crossroads (the transportation between crossroads and playground was surprisingly fast) when he felt… something. A sense of pressure, of electrifying darkness lingering in the air. A sense he has had before, around one particular sword… and the one that was producing that aura was following him.

… Well- he expected this, sooner or later. After all, rumor of a mysteriously-appearing inphernal with amnesia found in a Dead-Zone (he felt like that was code for something more at this point) that survived a whole year by only hunting and gathering would surely get out. Especially because of that Broker inphernal, who seemed like the type to spread rumors to fuck with people. And rumors, eventually, are bound to reach important individuals. He knew this, as a former king.

He sighed, turning to the darkest, shadiest area that he knew nobody went to and tapping his foot a few times after turning around and looking down at the shadows.

"Darkheart, am I correct? I assume you know who I am."

"Oh, phooey, of course you sensed us…" the deity of chaos arose from the shadows, taking a short and courteous bow, "We were looking forward to messing with you, should have seen that one coming."

"I have multiple questions."

"Yes, we know you are the former king of the Blackrock kingdom and a sword guardian in the time before demons."

"That answers a few, but not one. Why were you following me?"

"… We thought it would be funny to prank you…"

"Yeah that tracks."

"Ohhhh, peepaw is learning playgrounder lingo! We thought you would be more aligned with Blackrock!"

"The Blackrock of this time is a disgrace to the kingdom I once ruled. Also, do not call me 'Peepaw' you are technically older than me by a vast margin."

"… fair enough."

The former king sighed, he had expected Darkheart to be like this. The suspicious parallels between the situations and/or wielders continued to be the trend, he assumed.

"I do question, though, how exactly you were able to tell I was a sword guardian?"

"Why- a demi-deity could pick it out; you have a multitude of halos above your head forming a crown, and wings made of snow!"

"… hm. Normal inphernals aren't able to pick those aspects out, I guess."

"We can basically guarantee that they can't- unless they are undead or ghosts."

"Checks out. Can I go now? Sun's still out and I wanna get pastries from a bakery I like."

"May we follow?"

"… if you promise to trip up any rich assholes from Blackrock who think they're better than everyone with minor pranks and misfortune whenever I pass them."

"NOW we're talking! Deal."

Darkheart slipped into Blizzard's shadow, as he walked out of the dark area and to the bakery he liked. Blizzard had to hold in his laughter as he saw small bits of misfortune occur to the rich, self-centered assholes he passed. The former king got his bread, coffee, and pastries in peace, relaxing a bit before he inevitably goes to the library to restlessly research again. At least one suspicion he had was confirmed: this was the same world he was borne of.

But yet, he had more and more questions, researching the cards collectors had found he realized all of them were the cards that Player- or- Sword, as he now was assured of, had at one point. There were even faded call cards that he had, of the ones known as Calypso, Griefer, and Red and Blue… he wondered where his own call card went, and in whom's hands it was. Many of his questions at the moment went unanswered, but one big question was haunting him.

Where in the world did the robloxians go? He… only knew of one place that could help him get his answers… and Telamon really didn't like visitors without reason…

… but he did have a reason, so he resolved to research as best as he can where Telamon's manor was located in order to put his anxious curiosity to rest.

Chapter Text

Blizzard had became one to frequent libraries around crossroads, often reading about gear mechanics (and gear modifications) and using the computer to research what Dead-Zones were all about. Looking through the registry after hacking into it - why would you make the password to your important registry literally just "Goldfish" that is exceedingly stupid - he noted that all the Dead-Zones were all familiar to him. Places he remembered from the past, most now in ruins except for one. Telamon's manor, or 'the lost manor' as they called it, had been reportedly surprisingly well-kept but was still to be avoided due to "unusually high undead activity" which… in all honesty he expected.

Looking into Dead-Zones a little more he noticed that the one he woke up in was his former castle, apparently being preserved as a historical site. He also noticed that, despite all of the Dead-Zones being sanctioned by Blackrock originally, they were all over the inpherno. Which, again, made sense due to them being places that he knew- but some were in other factions too, which made him question why exactly Blackrock was in charge of them all. In fact, surprisingly, Telamon's Manor was actually in Playground, just a little ways away from the outskirts of the entrance to Crossroads, too… with his research of the area, it made at least some geographic sense. Of course, tectonic plates had moved, so it had been shuffled around like most other areas.

He logged out of the registry as he got up and turned off the computer, grabbing some more books on gears which he went to go read in the comfortable reading nook that this library had. He wondered if he should go visit some other libraries later, as he opened up the book on the subtypes of support gears and began to read.

—

He had collected some supplies for the journey to the 'Dead-Zone' as he had traveled around crossroads that day, and now he was on his way back to playground at exactly noon. As he expected, the weather report said that it would be arid and dry that day, but his cloak prevented him from feeling the weather conditions. Darkheart, still in his shadow, seemed curious as to what the former king was planning…

When Blizzard got off the transport between Crossroads and Playground, he took a turn towards the area he would have to trek to and began walking. He would have to get a little farther into the scenery to prevent inphernals from seeing him flying at high speeds, so it made sense to him to just start off by walking. Takes less energy anyways. The walk into the scenery took a little while, but when he saw ancient, half-buried train tracks he knew it was safe to fly because of him being far away enough nobody would see him.

He flew until he met the entrance to the Manor; landing and watching as Darkheart seemed to be confused and curious as to why the former king had went to this area. It didn't really matter, Blizzard was already politely knocking at the door. The zombie butler opened it, blinked twice, and immediately began to bow before asking a question.

"Your Highness- it has been ages since your soul had passed… how are you alive once more? And… why does your body look so different?"

"I do not have a clue on the first question, but considering how far into the future this is and the fact that Robloxians are no longer around…"

"… ah, reincarnation? I assume you did not expect to be reborn in the same world as you were borne of first, and I agree it is strange... but I do not think this is the purpose of your visit, is it?"

"That is correct, I am more curious as to the disappearance of Robloxians for this visit."

"Right this way your Highness, I am sure you will find some clues, but I do not have an answer myself."

The former king sighed, following the butler through the manor into the backyard/garden/grave site area to go into the view of the spirit world. Blizzard paid respect to the ancient and mossy graves, before entering the gateway as the butler bowed.

Walking through the area, he politely passed by the legions of the undead that Telamon had instated to protect the manor. When he entered the manor (and got past the annoying parkour and looping rooms) he greeted the ghosts in the main area, he noted that some of them gave small useful crumbs of clues that they had personally found as to the disappearance of Robloxians. Eventually, he reached the kitchen and was met with a familiar face…

"Kitchen Wizard?"

The ghostly wizard turned around with a start, and took a moment to register before almost instantly hugging the former king as tight as a ghost possibly could.

"YOUR HIGHNESS!!! Oh, how have you come back to life? Are you eating well?? This is so far into the future, how is the kingdom doing now???"

"S-slow down, one question at a time- icicles I forgot how strong you were-"

The ghostly wizard let go of the king, bowing in an embarrassed apology. "Sorry, I have simply not seen you in so long- even with you being reincarnated, as I can assume with your changed appearance, I can always recognize your magical wavelength."

"Understandable, I was… Not expecting to see you as a spirit here. Now, you were asking me some questions?"

"Yes- how were you brought back? Reincarnation in the same world you are kindred of, especially in so far a future, can only be done if a certain spell is enacted- and even then, I have heard only Master Telamon was successful in casting it in full…"

"I have… honestly, not a clue. Before being reincarnated, a figure spoke to me and said that this was a different world… perhaps, because of the fact Robloxians as we know it are no longer the common intelligent species of this world- it counted as a different one?"

"That… still would not make sense. Do you remember what the figure looked like?"

"No…"

"Hm. Well- are you eating well?"

"Yes, I am, I make sure to have three separate meals a day at regular times, and I make sure they are ones that fulfill nutritional standards and are filling to keep myself going."

"Thank goodness, that's at least a relief to hear… how is the kingdom doing at this time period?"

"Oh don't even get me started."

"What?"

One long, long winded explanation of how the faction of Blackrock in this time works and how it is run, Kitchen Wizard was equally as pissed off as Blizzard was on how it is run. In fact, he was even more pissed off that magic had been denounced as a "hapless, naive, false fantasy" there despite the blackrock mountains, historically, being one of the more magic-potent areas in the world and one of the most poignant places for magic scientists to research.

"Why would they call magic a false thing? They care about science so much and they call the science of the nonsensical- the science of imagination fake? The audacity- even if magic is no longer in common practice that's just plain stupid, no wonder you refuse to associate with the Blackrock of this time."

"It truly is frustrating, I could rant about how much I despise the inphernals running the damn place all day."

The ghostly chef sighs, looking over to his wizard hat and mathematical scarf before getting an idea.

"… Your highne- I mean, Blizzard, may I come with you once you leave the Manor? I have been getting a tad bit stir crazy after so long, and there's a good chance I could cook for you again if you find something that I could possess that looks enough like an inphernal."

"… I see where you are taking this. Yes, I would very much enjoy having your company once more."

The kitchen wizard handed Blizzard the wizard hat and scarf, in which Blizzard promptly put into his bag in order to let the wizard follow him into the world of the living without having to worry about others seeing him.

After exploring the manor a bit more, the former king had gathered that something catastrophic happened that caused the world to go into ruins, making robloxians go almost completely extinct. Even the admins had not been safe, half of them dying with the mass extinction event and the other half mysteriously disappearing after creating structures in a desperate gambit to bring people back into the world. Wow, brutal. Blizzard, now enlightened with some more clues and info on what had occurred, went back through the gate to the world of the living (with kitchen wizard following along, and becoming only barely visible to Blizzard while being invisible to anyone else when they passed through).

The journey back was, once again, half flying and half walking. Thankfully he brought a snack along for this trip and was able to munch on it for the walking portion, kitchen wizard clearly being very curious about playground's architecture and latent magic. It made sense- according to legend, Playground was 'raised into the sky' by Windforce- though the floating areas are usually reserved for important areas such as museums and business (essentially acting as the common headquarters area for any playgrounder-created company).

Blizzard saw a few ads around about a new civilian model of Biograft being sold at a specific store called 'Cocoagraft' which… was really suspicious, because this was Playground. The faction that's. Technically at war with Blackrock. Okay he is going to tell Coil about this as soon as he gets back to Skate's place.

—

Turns out Coil beat him to it, and already stole one of the Cocoagraft models.

"I was concerned for a moment on how and why these are being sold here."

"Same man- Turns out, they're being used to spy on demons from other factions! Because, of course, Blackrock thinks playgrounders are idiots. I saw that it has a connection to Blackrock's servers and ripped it out, lol."

"I mean these are the same demons that thought that the registry for areas meant to be kept secret to the public for whatever reason should have 'Goldfish' as the password."

"Facts- that's not even the stupidest password that they have too, the registry for their tin cans' serial numbers is literally "Passwerd1234" man."

"Dear swords that's somehow even worse-"

Blizzard watched as Kitchen wizard, still being a ghost of course, looked at the Cocoagraft from the outside and inside. He also watched the ghost stare at Coil's crystal-stabbed horn for a solid minute when they got here, so it made sense kinda.

"Anyways wanna see a cool hat I stole from a Dead-Zone?"

"You. You snuck into another Dead-Zone? And stole shit? Wow dude, real Alpha move right there."

"It was a haunted mansion"

"Why would you steal from a haunted mansion"

"A ghost promised to make food because he was going stir-crazy from being there since before demon times"

"… why am I not suprised"

"Just. Trust me it's a cool hat"

"Fine, if you insist, let me see the hat."

Blizzard pulled out Kitchen Wizard's wizard had and scarf.

"… okay, yeah that is a cool hat. What's with the math equations though- Whuhhuh what the-"

Suddenly, the hat and scarf had began to float (kitchen wizard actually picked it up it just looked like it was floating due to. Ghost) toward the practically-gutted-for-electronics Cocoagraft. Within a few moments, the scarf wrapped around the robot's neck, and the hat gently settled on its head.

Rattle rattle…

The hollowed-out robot sat up, adjusting the hat on its head. It opened and closed its hands a few times before it spoke.

"Finally, icicles I have been unable to do shit for FAR too long."

Coil just. Stared, jaw on the floor in shock. Blizzard did his most convincing shocked face (which is more convincing than one might think, a lot of learning to be a king involves learning to act). The possessed Cocoagraft, Kitchen Wizard, proceeded to get up and walk upstairs, heading to the kitchen with absolutely no hesitation and begin cooking up a storm.

"… Well at least the ghost keeps his promises?"

"DUDE."