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Tommy has heard Philza’s story so many times by now, he could probably recite it by heart. It opens with Philza not yet a legend, as he, like a lot of other men in that time, decides to sacrifice the safe life he could have had, just to beat Hardcore and get his wings.
In the beginning he is like every other man. He enters the world in a big field, a forest behind him, and one singular red heart with two dark red markings inside it. He, like many others, begins his journey. He takes down tree’s, gets wooden tools, makes a bed and temporary house and then goes mining.
Here the stories will start to differentiate. Some enter the mine and never return, some and enter and decided that they would rather stay in a world with no dangers, the rest of their life's stuck with that one heart on their wrist and the fear in their bones. A large amount however goes in and leaves again, often with stone and iron. Philza is one of them.
The same pattern continues for quite a while in the story. During the first night, mining for diamonds, going into the nether, and hunting for Enderman. Not a lot of people lived through that. Philza did live. Even less men live through the second to last chapter of the story.
This chapter could be called “The End”. It describes the journey to the stronghold, the finding of an End portal, the placing of the Eyes of Ender, the entering of the end and the first sight of the dragon. After that almost always two things happen, one, the adventurers leave to a safe world, forever regretting the choices they made as a foolish young adult, or two, they believe they can do it, can kill the dragon. All of those men died either to the Enderman or the dragon herself. Some got close to killing her, some failed before they could destroy all of the crystals.
Philza is not one of those men. Philza entered the End, saw the dragon and did not flee. Philza destroyed all of the crystals, before focusing on the dragon and killing her. Philza left the End and got back to the overworld, a small red heart still on his wrist but now also with two large black wings on his back. It marks him as the first person to ever beat hardcore. That was eons ago.
Now you might notice how I said that that was the second to last chapter. That is because it isn’t the end just yet. Though we have had Tommy’s favorite part, this part is far more remarkable than that, as, by now, many other people have defeated the dragon. Because after Philza defeated the dragon and earned his wings, he got to work. He started sketching, collecting, and building. He made builds in the Overworld, Nether and the End, builds so great and gorgeous, that it got the attention from the Gods. And while the attention from the Gods was easily grabbed, never before had they been so fond of a human before. One in particular loved to watch over Philza and make sure he never could get hurt, and when at one point he almost died she decided to bless him. As the goddess of death, she could make sure that Philza would never die, and never die he would. That is the reason that Philza’s story gets remembered.
Sam was lucky that Tommy loved Philza’s story so much, for the young adult knew barely any other stories. Nonetheless he still thought it was insane that Tommy was willing to sit still just to hear a story he had already heard a thousand times. Although Sam thought it had something to do with that story being the only story, he remembered his actual parents telling him. But he could only guess.
Sam had found Tommy alone sitting in a tree when the blond was three. Tommy had helped the Creeper hybrid to the village he was looking for and in turn Sam asked if he could bring Tommy home. When the young boy however told him that he did not have a home Sam had eagerly taken the kid into his home. While he told everyone it was because he didn’t want Tommy to die on the streets he did not lie. The other side of the truth however is that Sam felt a lot less alone with the boy by his side.
When Sam got an invite to the Dreams SMP he was not surprised. Dream had not only been an old friend of Sam but he was also one of the best red stoners in probably the entirety of Minecraft. Sam's main reason for accepting however was that Tommy was allowed to come.
Sam had gotten a lot of requests from people to join their world, but a lot of them were not kid friendly or did not want a child to join as well. Sam felt protective over Tommy and would not put him in a dangerous situation or leave him behind. Dreams SMP was perfect for both Tommy and Sam. Tommy would have a safe space where he could have fun with other people and Sam could build to his heart’s desires.
So, Sam accepted Dream’s invitation and he and Tommy left for a new world. The enthusiastic boy had barely recovered from the nausea that came with world hopping just to take one good look at Dream and insult him. Sam had scolded Tommy but Dream had just laughed and told him that it was fine.
In the end it was more than fine when Dream became Tommy's destined babysitter together with George and Sapnap. Tommy hung out with the three of them when he could not hang with Sam, but Sam made sure that no matter how busy he was, he would always eat dinner with Tommy and tell him his bedtime story before tucking him in. That was until one of the annual campfire evenings, when the entire SMP gathered around one big campfire and just chatted. It was already long past Tommy's bedtime and it was obvious in the way the young boy could barely sit up straight. Tommy had however already decided that he would not go to bed without hearing Philza’s story.
“Tommy, I’m pretty sure you can tell yourself the story at this point, do you really need me to tell you Philza’s story again?” Sam asked ridiculed. Tommy definitely did not need to hear the story to fall asleep and both Tommy and Sam knew that. But if Sam had the audacity to send Tommy to bed, he was going to be a nuisance about it. Before he could make more of an issue about it though, Dream spoke up.
“You’re a fan of Philza’s story? Have you ever heard Technoblades?” Tommy immediately sat up straight, interested into what Dream would have to say. With a ‘go ahead’ from Sam Dream began telling the story about the great warrior Technoblade.
Although Dream did not start at the beginning, for it is a beginning very few know. The story starts in the Nether, when a young Pigling hybrid gets saved by a winged man. The man takes the boy home and teaches him everything he knows. He teaches him how to read, how to write, but more importantly, he teaches him how to fight. The Pigling picks it up quickly and before Philza knows it, the boy matches his talent. So Technoblade sets out, first small servers with small fight circles, then when he is unmatched, he leaves for bigger servers and before he knows it, he is dominating Hypixel with nothing but talent. By now not only millions of people follow Technoblades story, two Gods do as well. One follows him because she cares about him the same way Philza cares about him, like how a parent would care about their child, The other God follows him for his power. The Blood God decides that if Technoblade was able to defeat the strongest warriors, he would be the perfect champion.
So, the Blood God blesses Technoblade, the God blesses him with a thousand voices, able to carry over the Blood Gods will to Technoblade, but also able to aid the champion in battle. Technoblade gets a lot thirstier for blood after that. Instead of the meaningless Hypixel deaths he moves from server to server, always joining a battle he did not start but will end. He spills the blood of wrongdoers and scoundrel, and risks his life to fight corrupt governments. Philza sometimes helps but never stops Technoblade, he doesn’t see the dangers the Goddess of Death sees. She decides to bless Technoblade with the same immortality she gave to Philza. Technoblade keeps fighting.
Tommy falls asleep before he can hear the end of the story. This does not deter the young boy as right after breakfast Tommy all but runs out of the house to find Dream and hear the story again. And again. And again. Till the point that Dream gets sick of telling it. So, he sends the young boy to George when Tommy asks once again for the same story. Except George is terrible at telling stories Tommy finds out fast. So, Tommy goes to Sapnap, and oh that was a great choice. Not only does Sapnap tell the same stories without any hesitation, he also plays the story out with Tommy, and lets Tommy play Technoblade. Sapnap tells other stories about the Blood Gods champion as well, stories about Dream fighting him and myths of people who fought with him or survived a fight with him. Tommy loves every single story, although he will always love Philza’s story more.
When Schlatt and Tubbo arrive at the SMP Tommy is delighted to have a friend that is his actual age. Tommy welcomes them but only to steal Tubbo away from his dad to hang out with him as long as possible. They avoid both Sam and Schlatt the entire day. The young boys get sandwiches from Niki during lunch time and they eat dinner with Punz and Purpled. Dream tracks them down for bed time and the two new friends split ways. The next morning the sun has barely risen and Tommy stands atop of Tubbo’s porch.
It is a warm day when Tommy is telling Tubbo Philza’s story for the first time. They are seated in the grass in front of Tubbo’s house eating ice-cream. Schlatt is seated on the porch, keeping half an eye on the chaotic boys, when he asks: “Philza? You mean Wilbur’s dad?” The blond boy shuts up and stares wide eyed at the ram hybrid.
“What?” He finally croaks out. “Philza only has one son, Technoblade, right?” Tommy was already excited for the story, seeing as Philza and Technoblade’s stories were amazing, this Wilbur fella must have a great story as well. Tommy could not have been more wrong.
Wilbur’s story starts when he finds Techno in the village he lives and follows the Pigling home. Techno does not care and lets the boy follow him. Philza on the other hand tries to send the boy home to his parents, only to find out the boy is an orphan and homeless. Philza takes him in. The Death Goddess takes an interest in the boy, but as his life is not in immediate danger, she does not make him immortal. The boy gets raised in a safe environment, learning writing and music, by personal request.
Wilbur’s story continues when he decides to start travelling. He does not go to try and beat Hardcore like his dad, or fight in Hypixel like his brother, instead he goes to enormous worlds, with large amounts of people. He does not fight, in fact he talks himself out of every possible fight, a trait that sounds useless, but saved the man's skin more times than he can count. The Goddess of Death still worries and decides that she cannot take the risk and so grants him immortality.
After that the man keeps traveling. When he ends up by a small village next to a river, he meets Sally. She, as a salmon shapeshifter, lived in the river. She helped the people in the village, but when she met Wilbur, she fell in love instantly. Together they get a small daughter, a fox shapeshifter. When the little girl turns four, she decides she would rather be a he, and picks Fundy as his new name together with his parents. When Fundy is seven Sally becomes sick, and after a little prodding from Wilbur he finds out that because she is part salmon she has to move to the sea, or she will die. Sally however does not want to leave Wilbur and Fundy, scared to never see them again. But as time goes on Sally realizes that by killing herself, she is just hurting her family more and ends up saying goodbye before moving to the sea. Fundy and Wilbur will miss her and sometime wish she was still with them, but know that this is for the best. They both move on and eventually Fundy goes his own way, off to create more wonders. The Goddess of Death decides to bless the young boy, just in case.
It is then that Wilbur meets Schlatt, they become friends and do foolish things. They go to dumb worlds and do stupid challenges. They try and survive in a world where lava rises, and try to do the same thing in a world where the water rises. Neither of them is at risk of dying, but the Death Goddess still keeps a close eye on them. They go out to big servers and decide to start scamming people, both of them very skilled in the art of lying and deceiving. And that is how they spend their days, until they split up, Schlatt needing to take care of his new kid and Wilbur deciding to go visit family. When they say goodbye, both of them hope it is not forever.
“That was a shit story,” is the first thing Tommy says when Schlatt finishes, making the adult burst out laughing. “What? It was shit. Technoblade and Philza did cool shit, Wilbur is just good at talking,” Tommy complained. “I do the same fucking thing but do I get godhood? No.” Schlatt laughs harder at the reasoning of the boy.
“Alright, then I just don’t tell you Wilbur’s story anymore. I don’t have to you know?” Schlatt says teasingly. The ram hybrid watches the young boy’s eyes widen, clearly not agreeing with what Schlatt says but not wanting to look like he did like Wilbur's story.
“I mean, I don’t care, but obviously Tubbo does, we can’t take this away from him,” is the defense of the blond, Tubbo simply nodding his head in agreement. Schlatt laughs but says nothing else, knowing that he will retell the story to the boys many times.
And repeating he does. As Tommy ages up he decides that he needs to hear one of the stories every day, but the older he gets he starts to hear the stories less and less, and instead makes his own stories. At first safe supervised adventures through fields, later Bedwars in Hypixel together with Purpled and Tubbo. He gains more and more attention, sometimes negative, but mostly positive. He meets a group of boys his age, each with their own qualities. He meets grown men living their lives on other servers. He gets the attention from the Goddess of Death without knowing it. But his biggest adventure starts when he meets Scott Smajor.
Scott is an Admin like Dream, but a much stronger one. Scott’s power would probably match the power of a God. He tells Tommy about a contest where groups of four battle other groups. Scott tells him that he only picks the best people out for this championship, and after seeing Tommy fight, the Admin admits he would love for Tommy to compete in one. The blond teen thinks for a second before deciding that this could be his legendary adventure and agrees to compete. Scott tells him the details and Tommy comes home to tell the news to his family who all react excitedly.
The day comes before Tommy realizes it, and so he sets of with the entire SMP, some competing themselves, some just to root for their friends. Sam and Tubbo wish Tommy good luck and off Tommy goes. Tommy goes on a search for his team, the Purple Pandas. He does not actually know who he is teaming up with, but Scott did tell him he would like his team, so he had high expectations.
“Ey mate.” The blond hears someone call behind him. “You’re Tommy, right? Believe your part of our team,” the voice proceeds and when he turns around to face it, he is shocked to be face to face with Philza. Yeah, like the legend Philza. In fact, right beside him is Technoblade and Wilbur Soot, and Tommy feels like he could faint. He does not, of course, because he is a big man. Another thing he does not do is react to Philza’s question, making the man worry. “You okay mate?” he asks softly.
“Think you broke him, Phil,” Technoblade says casually. The Pigling was also definitely sizing Tommy up, and the young boy had never felt so insecure about his posture. Quickly he stands up straight and juts his chin out a little.
“I’m fucking fine, asshole. You’re part of the Purple Pandas?” Tommy asks. The three men look amused at Tommy but don’t say anything that provokes Tommy more. Instead, they all move towards the entrance where the games soon begin. The contest goes well. They keep top scores, and even end up in the finale. Which they win. Happily, they take their crowns and coin that shows they dominated this Championship and take pictures together. And the Goddess of Death looks down upon them. And once she catches sight of the way her family looks at each other, she blesses Tommy. The Goddess knows that Philza will feel she blessed the young boy, and she knows that the winged man will take Tommy in, and treat him like another son.
That is the beginning of Tommy’s story. Although he has made a lot more stories after that. Stories he tells Sam and Tubbo and the rest of the SMP, as a thank you for raising him to be who he is today, and for telling him the same stories thousands of times over. He still likes to hear those same stories however, although he can now hear them from the person who lived the stories.