Archive of Our Own ^beta

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A man with black hair and a big, bushy mustache sat in a cafe, depressingly looking at photos of a two people who looked similar to him.

“Uhh...May I sit here?” A girl asked. Not caring, the man nodded.. The girl, who had blond hair, blue eyes,  and wore a ponytail and blue jacket looked concerned. “Are...You okay?” She asked. The man shrugged. “Can’t seem to do anything right… I’ve tried everything. I have nowhere left to go….”
“I know a place…” The girl offered. The man shot up with hope bright in his eyes. “I’ll take it. Just tell me what to do.”

They walked out of the cafe together. “So, what’s your name?” The girl asked. “...Oliver.” The man said, wearing a black hoodie and keeping his head down.
“I’m Jenna.” The girl said. She walked into an alley, stopped and turned around to look at Oliver before whispering, “Rule 1. No questions.”
Jenna had a horrible job but she always tried to keep herself from feeling guilt by assuring herself that the people who signed up wanted it.
She turned around and saw a black car. “Hop in.” She told Oliver. He seemed slightly suspicious but still got inside.

They walked into a white a room with a single piece of paper on the table. “Sign this, and there’s no going back.” Without hesitation, the man signed the paper and the girl walked out of the room. Within a few minutes, he was unconscious.

Chapter Text

“I warned you”

Oliver woke up to groaning. Both, from himself and from others. Around him, people woke up, often in pain and groaning or like they just had the best sleep they’ve had in weeks.
A man in futuristic armor that looked severely damaged walked up to him. “Welcome. Why did you choose to join?”
“I...Where am I?” The man seemed to pity him. He looked down, shaking his head. “Should’ve read the contract. Do you know how servers...Or worlds work?” He asked Oliver.
“No...Not exactly.” Oliver saw 3 others nearby, seeming to eavesdrop.
“They, have ages. Younger servers don’t have completely established rules, making them easier to be in without many side effects. Our job is to try to survive in those young servers. There is no civilization. Our job is to tame as much of it as we can in a year.”
Oliver looked at him and walked to the exit of the cave. It seemed like there had already been people here before. The man in the suit of armor followed him. “How generous...”

Oliver was an orphan.
He used to be a child prodigy, having his own tv show where he taught about technology and made many technological advancements. But he made a pretty bad mistake...And left after that. He went into hiding.
In his world, if you’re alone, you are left alone. No one cares about you anymore. You only have yourself.

He eventually went from being an orphan to being an orphan and homeless.
And now, here he was, being taught how to make his own farm from scratch.
Now he is even more homeless than homeless…

From the distance, he saw people turn nothing into something. He wondered how many mistakes he would make before he died.

His first mistake was choosing to help build a plaza.

As Oliver, or Mumbo as he preferred to be called, placed down the stone for the plaza, the sun went down.
He noticed the animals had suddenly become restless, or, in the case of horses, grown quiet. He watched their behavior. Some of the others had taught him a few things about their body language.
They were scared. But of what?

Suddenly, an arrow flew past him. He looked at to make sure he didn’t hallucinate.
“Ahh!” There was a terrible pain in his shoulder. He looked for the source but couldn’t see well in the dark. Why didn’t he bring torches?
He looked up the hill and a saw a light inside one of the houses. He rushed up the hill only to scream in more pain and fall over. An arrow had hit his leg. He screamed in more pain as one lodged itself in his torso. A girl ran out of one of the houses and Mumbo’s eyes widened as he saw a human skull, it’s eye sockets glowing with a green substance. Other skeletal parts scattered and he felt more adrenaline as an arm crawled towards a bow and arrow, seeming to grow weaker and weaker before the girl stomped on it. Something fell on Mumbo and he saw a human corpse on him. It reached to bite at his neck and repeatedly attacked him, biting at his pect but the girl from before cut the creature into multiple pieces, being sure to stomp on it as well.
“Can you walk?” She asked. Mumbo stood up began to fall over, only to be caught by the girl.
She smelled odd. Or...Was that Mumbo? From the walking corpse?
Mumbo began to feel himself faint. Things began to grow fuzzy as the girl laid him on her bed. Mumbo thought he saw her eyes glowing.

Everything was beginning to grow fuzzy...And weird…

He saw the girl look outside and turn off the lights. She seemed to be waiting for something. But Mumbo lost all coherent thought at that point...

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Mumbo could only remember snippets of what happened. He remembered waking up and was fed something. And he also tasted something weird. Like burnt marshmallows.
But after that, he remembered nothing.

He opened his eyes to see he was in a log cabin. He felt dizzy and nauseous. “What happened?” He wondered. Everything was fuzzy…

“Mumbo!”
Mumbo found himself staring into glowing green eyes. He tried to escape only for them to look away. As if a fog was clearing, Mumbo saw that it was the girl from before. The girl who saved him last night. Or, was it last night? He couldn’t remember.

The girl was looking away from him. “Sorry for scaring you like that. You started hyperventilating.” She said.
After a bit of silence, Mumbo sat up. His wounds were only scars. “...H-how long have I been out for?”
“Two days.” Mumbo had a confused look on his face. “That’s the power of potions.” A man with dark hair and glasses said. “Potions…?” Mumbo remembered hearing about them in history class. Maybe he should have payed more attention. “They were too hard to make so we left them for modern medicine.” The man explained. “How are you feeling?” He asked.
“Better...I can’t remember anything, though…” Mumbo said. “You were attacked by a zombie and a skeleton.” The girl explained.
So that’s what they look like? News of undead encounters are everywhere. But defenses are always really strong. And everyone survives. It usually affects the lower class, who are forced to live near the borders. Mumbo had never seen them in real life, though.
“Why did I feel so terrible. Like-”
“The undead are controlled by a virus. You were infected. Your lucky we were able to get enough potions in time.” The man explained. “You stayed here with me. You did nothing.” Said the girl. The man glared at her. “Just saying…” She added. “You got really lucky.” The man said. “What’s your names…?” Mumbo asked. “I’m Cleo.” Said the girl. “Joe.” Said the man.
“Thank you...For saving me...”

Despite being unconscious for 2 days, Mumbo still felt exhausted. He had a hard time sleeping despite that. He couldn’t get the sounds of weak flesh nearly tearing apart out of his head. The glowing eyes as the monster tried to reach his throat. The feeling of rotting flesh grabbing a hold of him.
That disembodied hand moving like an inchworm toward the arrow.
And those eyes… The eyes that stared at him as he helplessly laid in bed.

Mumbo jolted awake.

He felt like he couldn’t breathe.
Before he knew it, everything became clearer. Cleo and the others were there. The zombies were outside.
As Mumbo tried to get some sleep again, he remembered something…Cleo, her eyes were glowing...

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Mumbo walked through a jungle, feeling the dense foliage would help him hide from danger. It also felt more peaceful, with the many creatures singing in the treetops.

With Mumbo was the trigger happy Keralis, the calm TinFoilChef, and Joe, who had proven himself to be very...Interesting.

“So, what else do I need to know?” Mumbo asked. “Monsters burn in daylight, they don’t like light in general, and if you hear a hissing sound, run. That would be a creeper and they self destruct.” TFC explained.
“Well, there are also the giant spiders and slimes. But the bigger type turns calmer in light but will still attack if provoked.” Joe added. “And if you see a tall and black figure, that’s an enderman. Don’t look at it’s face. And if you do, find water. It’s acid to them.” He said.

When Mumbo found the perfect place to set up his base, the three men told him that he should make a shelter.

That night, Mumbo started a diary, making cliffnotes. Something didn’t feel right. He shivered as he remembered the similarities of the glowing eyes of the undead and Cleo’s eyes.

One night, Mumbo woke up to a terrible sound. He grabbed his sword and carefully stepped outside, relying on moonlight to avoid monsters. There was the sound of splashing, Mumbo looked closer to see it was some kind of cat. He grabbed a log and reached it out toward the cat, which clung on. When it got out of the water, Mumbo saw it was badly injured and freezing. But he saw a familiar, sticky, slightly green substance in one of it’s wounds.
The undead virus.
Just as Mumbo realised that, he saw a green glow. It was a small animal, around the same size as the cat he saved. It also had brown fur.
It walked up to the cat, with no regard for anything else. Mumbo threw his sword at it, missing. Realising that was a big mistake, he grabbed the cat, ignoring it’s protest, and ran inside.
There was scratching at the door. Mumbo grabbed several things and pushed them against it.
The cat would be fine. Mumbo cleaned it’s wounds and gave it a potion.
It fell asleep as the potion calmed it down and Mumbo pet it. There were more monsters outside thanks to the scratching. He may not be able to sleep tonight.
That animal that attacked the cat was undead. And it had the same eyes as Cleo.
Mumbo was going to go on a trip...Once the monsters were gone.

Chapter Text

It took about three days for Mumbo to be able to come out again due to the monsters lurking in the jungle. During that time, he used up all of the regeneration potion on the injured cat.
The cat bolted out the door when Mumbo opened it but turned around, walked up to him, and rubbed against his legs before running out into the jungle.

Mumbo first spent his time gathering up supplies since he used all of it while waiting for the monsters to leave. Afterwards, he started a journal recording what he knew. Something about this place just felt...Off.
He began with Cleo. She covered every part of herself with a black jacket. Whenever people looked at her, she turned away. Mumbo has at least seen her eyes. They glowed a bright green. So bright it was almost white. Like the creatures infected with undead virus.
Mumbo also wrote about the situation he was in. It was common knowledge that there were many different worlds out there but how they came to be was a mystery.(So much of a mystery that even the author doesn’t know) People could start their own server if they were rich enough and qualified. But Mumbo had never heard of “taming” a world. He knew there were differences that could be dangerous.
Then, something clicked.
The Server Exploration Society. “Making Room For Humanity.” An organization dedicated to giving a head start for people wanting to  start their own server by selling worlds… That’s what this was...
The only information about them is from their website and what customers and former employees say about them. They barely advertise, too. They’re the only people selling worlds.