4 years ago...
The steady galloping of hooves against the cobblestone path was oddly therapeutic for Bloo. The light breeze cooled his slimy body as he rode on the back of the horse, moving further away from the kingdom behind him, holding on to the armored man in front of him. It had to be about noon, or morning, Bloo couldn't recall. The sound of the distant echoes of nature accompanied the view to the left of him, a range of tall mountains in the distance with trees wrapping around the bottom of it, all with the colors typically associated with autumn. The range didn't distract Bloo from asking the question, "Hey, Mac, where are we going?"
"I have no idea," the young man controlling the horse said, gripping the lead tighter, seeming angry. "At least those jerks back at the kingdom gave me a horse."
"Why did they kick you out? You didn't do anything wrong, right?" Bloo asked, ignorantly.
"Wanna know what I did wrong, Bloo? I murdered a man, with this bow," Mac gestured towards the stowed bow on his back, keeping one hand on the horse lead. "My poor excuse for a brother tried to hurt you, and I went too far and killed him."
His words made Bloo feel trapped, how on earth does he respond to that? He was only a young child, twelve in fact. He uttered out, nervously, "So you can't go back, like ever?"
"What do you think happens when you kill a loyal noble of a super religious hierarchy?" Mac rhetorically asked. "I'm lucky I wasn't beheaded in front of the peasants. Instead they just exiled me out of my own home, telling me that due to the evidence, Terrence did have malicious intent, but I should've told the king first. So here I am, alive and homeless." Mac sighed heavily, "So yes, I can't go back."
"Is this because he found out I was practicing wizardry with your mother?" Bloo wondered.
"Probably, Terrence didn't want you learning how to do spells and such, since he always wanted to be a wizard himself, like our mother, but he always failed at learning, so our father pushed him to become a warrior instead. The rash idiot was jealous of you," Mac explained.
"Your mother must be shattered, her own son killing his sibling. I wouldn't wish that feeling on my worst enemy. Maybe this is all my fault, I should have never practiced wizardry..." Bloo said as he looked down.
"No, it isn't, not at all. On the day my father found you, back when you were just five, you were severely injured, traumatized, and the only survivor in the slimefolk village after the raid from the orcs. He took you in, raised you, along with Terrence and I. You were part of our family, Bloo. We used to play around in the town all day and go on quests, when before, I used to only get beaten and bullied by Terrence. My childhood was horrible until I met you when I was eight. Him and I may share the same blood, but I don't see him as a brother, and I don't see you as just a friend. You're more of a brother to me, Bloo, and I protected you like one."
Those words hit Bloo in an impactful way. Mac really does care about him, enough to even kill his biological brother in order to save his life. Terrence tried to murder Bloo by injecting poison into him in his sleep. Mac knew what Terrence was about to do, due to him discovering his diary and reading it earlier that day, which outlined the horrible plan in detail. So Mac waited until the wee hours of the night and shot him with an arrow in the back of his head before he did the deed, killing him instantly. If Mac hadn't known what Terrence was about to do… The thought made Bloo wince. "You did all of that, for me?"
Mac tilted his head back, away from the path in front of him, smiling at the slime. His eyes were glossy as he responded,
"All for you."
"Mac?"
"What?"
"I'll always be by your side, no matter what."
The present...
Bloo consciousness was returning, with brief flashes of light pulsating amongst the darkness. He felt strange, something was sucking fluid out of his body. It didn't feel like a sharp and aggressive spider fang though, but more like a gentle and precise...
Beak?
Bloo's vision returned to see Coco kneeled over him, her beak within his slimy body. Shocked and disgusted, Bloo attempted to recoil, but only to realize that most of his body was still bounded by silk. "Coco, what the hell are you doing to me!?"
She lifted her head and spat out some nasty looking liquid at the grass by her. "Cocococococo, coco," She explained.
"Sucking venom out!? I was poisoned by the spider!? How long have I been out? Where's Wilt and Ed?" Bloo expressed in shock and hastily questioned.
"No need to worry about us, Bloo," a voice said near the proximity, soon coming into Bloo's field of view as Wilt, with Eduardo by him, carrying a large warhammer with spider blood on it.
"We took care of that scary spider for ya'. Didn't like being near it one bit though. Extraño..." Eduardo answered, while shuddering a bit.
While Eduardo was speaking, Wilt slashed the rest of the silk that was holding Bloo's limbs with his longsword, freeing them. "We're so glad to have found you when we did, any longer and the poison would've killed you. We saw you stuck and out cold on that giant web, and tried to get you down. Then the spider came back and gave us a bit of trouble, but I had Ed take it down."
"Ah man," Bloo said as he retrieved his bearings, wiping off left over silk. "That spider took me by surprise, thanks for rescuing me I guess."
"No problem, but this wouldn't have happened if you didn't run off into the forest alone belligerently. You almost got yourself killed, man." Wilt lectured.
"I could've handled it just fine if it weren't for the damn spider's fake out," Bloo said as he turned his attention to the deep pit the spider came out of. "Hmm..." Bloo stepped near the edge of the pit, examining it.
"Hey, Bloo, you haven't told us if you're okay. You were pretty messed up back there," Wilt expressed his concern.
"I'm perfectly fine, but look at this pit... It might lead to the tunnel with the chest in it!" Bloo asserted.
"We shouldn't go in there right now, do you realize the time? It's definitely at least midnight, I'm exhausted," Wilt said to Bloo while placing down his leather pack, taking out a bedroll and an undeployed canvas tent. "Let's set up camp and explore that pit tomorrow."
"I agree with Wilt, I'm tired from running so much, especially from when I was looking for you," Eduardo said before scavenging the moonlit area for firewood.
Bloo considered just travelling into the pit alone, but then decided against it. He did almost face certain death that night already, so maybe he should listen to Wilt for once, he is pretty banged up after all, he thought. Bloo stepped away from the edge of the pit and back to the work-in-progress camp.
Eduardo placed some firewood into a neat pile, making it ready for it to be lit. He was about to light it up, but realized that he didn't bring a firestarter or knew of any fire based spells. This stumped him for a solid minute, trying to think of any way of getting the bonfire lit up. He gave up and turned to Bloo, "Hey, uh, do you happen to have Fire Bolt or Burning Hands prepared?
Bloo rolled his eyes. He raised his hands and casted Fire Bolt at the fire pit, shooting a mote of fire at the wood, igniting it into a sizable flame. "There ya' go."
"Gracias, Bloo," the monster thanked as he crouched near the fire for warmth.
Wilt and Coco sat next to the fire also, with Coco taking out her rations to eat. Wilt began to make small talk with Bloo while eating rice, "What's Mac been up to, lately? Is he on some grand adventure or something?"
"He said he'd be gone for a few days this morning back at our hut, he wanted to go find some quality arrows outside the village, since the village sells 'arrows that can't even handle cotton,' but I think he's actually trying to go find a Comet Bow or something," Bloo rambled as he ate some nuts by the fire.
"Why didn't you go with him? You always want any excuse to skip class," Wilt said with slight amusement.
"He said that he wanted me to stay at the village instead, told me to go, 'spend time with your friends,' I sorta wanted to go actually," Bloo disappointedly admitted.
"Well if you did go, you wouldn't have cuddled with the spider tonight!" Eduardo poked fun at Bloo while gnawing on beef jerky.
"Cocococococococo!" The bird teased Bloo in a playful manner also.
"I didn't expect a huge freaking spider to creep up from under a rock, gimme a break!" Bloo said while plucking a nut at Eduardo's head, hitting him.
Eduardo still laughed, even when the nut hit him, showing no reaction to the projectile. His laugh finally ended after a moment, "Anyway, I'm gonna go sleep, who's gonna take first watch?"
"Coco!" Coco agreed to being the first one to keep watch.
"Alright then, friends, ¡Buenas noches!" Eduardo announced while finding a spot to put his bedroll down, eventually finding an area with the thinnest grass to get situated and sleep on.
Wilt finished his rice and stood up, shifting his attention to how Ed retired for the night. Getting ready to do the same thing, Wilt turned his head to look at Bloo, who was still by the bonfire, "Are you gonna turn in for the night? Or did ya' get enough rest when you were knocked out?"
"I'll go to sleep in a minute, I'm just gonna sit here for a moment," Bloo repiled.
"That's cool. Make sure you get enough rest, we're going into the pit at dawn. Goodnight." Wilt said as he left to go finish setting up the tent to rest in.
What is Mac really up to? Bloo thought. The slime let his mind wander as he gazed at the stars above.
Is he really just going on a fetch quest, or is he doing something related to their old kingdom? Maybe he's actually trying to go find and talk to his mother about what happened four years ago, back when Mac was exiled. After all, he didn't directly encounter his mother during his whole trial and he didn't have time to say goodbye to her when the decision was made to kick him out.
The slime pondered as he laid on his back on the soft grass of the clearing, laying there for what felt like hours, when it was really only minutes. The stars twinkled by the radiant half moon, with sounds of the wild accompanying it. Owls, crickets, the breeze, and the fire sang their song. Bloo was in a trance.
"Cocococo?" The bird scooted over by Bloo, seeming concerned about what he was thinking about.
"I'm okay, Coco. Just lookin' at the stars."
"Cocococo, Cocococo," Coco didn't buy Bloo's response.
Bloo chuckled lightly at the response, "You know me too well, Coco," Bloo led out a deep breath, "Just worried about Mac, that's all."
"Coco? Cocococococo."
"It's nothing, just hoping he doesn't get into any conflicts on his adventure."
"Coco, cocococococo, cocococo," Coco pressed for the real worry.
"Don't sweat it, Coco. It ain't a big deal."
"Coco, cocococo," Coco was still insisting for the truth.
"It's not major."
"Cocococococo."
"Relax, Coco."
"Coco, cocococo!"
"You don't quit, do ya', fine…" Bloo started to open up a bit. "Remember when I told you guys about how Mac and I came from a fallen kingdom, when we first met?" Bloo paused for a moment, "Well that's a half truth. The kingdom we came from never fell, we just left."
"Coco, cocococo?" Coco asked for more details.
"We left due to unforeseen events. The reason why I'm, uh… concerned, is because he didn't have a chance to say goodbye to his mother. So I think he might be trying to sneak into the kingdom to talk to her, for one last time…"
"Cocococococo?"
"As of this moment, the kingdom and the two of us don't mix well. I'm worried that something bad might happen to him, and I won't know or be able to help him, since he insisted on going alone."
"Coco, cocococo."
"I know he's skilled with his bow, but I just don't like him being on his own like that. We usually go together for this sort of thing. But anyway, he'll probably be fine," the slime said as he stood up from the ground.
"Cocococo!" The bird spoke as she gained her footing also.
"Don't lose your hair over me, Coco. I'm gonna go set up my bedroll for the night, have fun with your watch." Bloo said as he left Coco, looking for a place to set up. He remembered that Wilt set up a tent earlier, and decided to go sleep in there. He walked over to Wilt's tent while gazing into the still lit fire, thinking.
Hopefully Mac's head isn't on a pike, Bloo thought as he crawled into the canvas tent.
