Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A body hits the ground with a thump . His helmet falls and hits the ground behind him, exposing his unkempt silver hair. He had bruises and cuts all over his body, a gaping wound in his torso. Blood isn't exactly spilling from the wound, but with its red coloring- it's close enough. 

In front of him, the faces of his former friends- subjects- no, servermates looked at him with sheer disgust and vile for his existence. One of them spat on him as they glared. Another looks away with shame, for ever thinking someone like him was deserving of their respect. Their faces are hard to make out, everything is too dark. He can't see.

"Such weakness. Such frailty. Such shame. Why did we ever choose you as our admin? You are a disgrace to us helsmits." Helsknight spits, raising his sword. His armor is more crimson than Ex remembers, when did he get such an upgrade? And when did he get an enderite sword? Enderite is already extremely rare- rarer than the hermit's netherite, so how did he...?

Before an answer comes, Helsknight thrusts his sword down, stabbing through Ex's chestplate into his body. Pain spreads from his chest, a burning sensation. It feels like lava going through flesh. He screams like a wolf as the sword is pushed deeper, threatening to pierce his back. 

Above him he could see Helsknight's face emotionless. He doesn't take any pleasure from piercing his former admin in the chest. Still, he pushes the sword deeper and then twists. Earning another pained scream from Ex.  

Ex coughs, it's getting harder to breathe. Something heavy is pressing onto his chest. He's choking, he can't take any air into his lungs, he can't- He's going to die. 

It's fine. He'll respawn, he'll just run when he does. He can escape. He tries to sigh, but he could feel his lungs hurting as he tries to breathe. He closes his eyes, he can escape this. But suddenly the pain in his chest stops. He can breathe again. 

He looks up to see the sword still piercing his chest, but it doesn't hurt anymore. Helsknight isn't above him anymore. He's taken a step back, bowing for someone Ex can't see. It's all blurry, he can't see straight. Who is that man, and why does his former loyal knight bow to them instead of him?

Ex doesn't get an answer. However the only answer he gets is the vague chantings of something in Galactic that his brain can't comprehend right now. 

"ʖᔑリ! ʖᔑリ! ʖᔑリ! ʖᔑリ!" The crowds behind the man chant. Ex still feels dizzy, the pain may be gone, but he still can't think straight. The sword in his chest jostles, though it doesn't hurt.

"With the power vested unto me, may the forces of the Universe banish this player into eternal void. To always be plagued with nightmares and frights of today's events. To always relive his most terrible memories. To always suffer in the crushing, suffocating depths of the Void." The unknown man says, almost like a prayer. "Now, make our prayers come true, and grant my command!"

Energy flowed from the man through the sword and into him. It feels like frost. The cold travelled just beneath his skin, making every part of his body stiff and hard. Yet, he still could feel himself to be alive, despite the cold. He could feel his breath becoming shallower, he can't breathe yet he's still alive. His mind is still racing. 

He can't move. 

Everything is dark, he can't see. Total blackness. He's alone. The pain in his chest is still burning, yet still cold.

Suddenly, he hears a voice. "x- Ex- Ex!"

-

His eyes shoot open and he sits up on his bed. Beside him, Xisuma looks at him with worry. 

"Are you alright, mate?" the axolotl asks. Ex looks at Xisuma and then down to his hands, he takes a deep breath. Just a memory. That was just a memory. He's fine. 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Ex says, checking if his helmet is still secured on his head. It is. 

"Are you sure?" 

"Geez, what made you worried all of the sudden? Can't a guy just get some sleep?"

"You were screaming."

"And? I scream all the time. What made this time different?"

"You were sleeping when you were screaming, Ex. People don't just do that."

Ex gets up from his bed and darts out of his room, putting on his elytra as he does. "Leave me alone, Xisuma. Don't worry about me, you dumb idiot." He takes off to who knows where.

Xisuma sits in Ex's room, worried about his supposedly evil doppelganger. He'll have to check on him later.

He sighs and takes his leave from the room, he's got a meeting with Wels in a few minutes. 

-

At Wels's house, he is expecting Xisuma's company in a bit. He's just finishing with cleaning and tidying his house. He doesn't want Xisuma to see a mess after all. Until suddenly he gets a ping on his communicator. He looks at the text, expecting Xisuma to be telling him that he's on his way only to be greeted by something worse. Marginally worse but still worse. 

Helsknight whispers to you, "You're first to perish."

Chapter Text

Grian is a man of many things. 

He's a prankster, a builder, a friend, a detective, a superhero, a shop owner, a leader, and many other different things. His past is wrought with drama, conflict, battle, but he doesn't think that's ever defined him like so many others have. 

Sure, he's caused wars in his past (the Civil and Turf War comes to mind) but it was never serious. They were just playing like kids at a playground. It was Capture the Flag and mini-games  with extra drama thrown in. No biggie. 

He's not layered, nor is he complicated.

...that is if you only knew him only recently. 

Grian is a man of many things, but he is not simple. As he stands today, he is no normal player, far from it really. People usually call him a 'Watcher'. Some overpowering force that can shatter worlds and have mastery over the fabric of the world far beyond any Admin. 

Of course, he won't admit that to anybody. He was chosen and taken, never to tell a thing about how they worked. If anybody asks how and why he incited two wars, he'll just say it was because it was something to do. That it was just a matter of escalated circumstances. 

Hilariously, he's not even lying. 

He knows, however, that he'll never reach his true power as a Watcher. Sometimes, he even forgets that he is one. But there are reminders. The winding hum of the nether portal reminds him of how he was brought into their ranks, the hum ever present in the halls where they forcibly trained him. 

The power of the Watchers was maddening the first time he was fully exposed to it. He had nigh infinite power at his fingertips. Once, they placed him in a barren and stripped world, probably as a result of a World Eater those redstoners love. They imbued him with all the power he could ever want, and it was terrifying. His mind broke, and he lost consciousness. 

When he awoke, he realized that he rebuilt the entire world from the barren wastes it was before. Soon after, a portal appeared and out came the Hermits. It was unexpected to say the least. He only had half a mind to ask why they were there, might they be another test the Watchers had for him? He doesn't know. What he does know however, is that he made friends with them, and joined their ranks. 

The rest is history.

(On some nights, he wonders if the hermits appearing was truly a surprise the Watchers somehow did not foresee. And if it was, why didn't they just take him from them. Like they did before)

Scar was once a simple man. 

He lived in his world peacefully. It was back before the Mojang Pantheon had given them access to many of the now common blocks, it was all just cobblestone, logs, and planks back then. But he made due. He built houses, roller coasters, museums! It was such a simple and wonderful time back then.

Long after he got started on his world, he was invited to a new server by the name of Hermitcraft. They were on their fourth iteration of the server. It was a chance to branch out and meet new people, a chance for him to not be so alone. So he accepted and he became a Hermit. 

It was a blast to be one of them. Especially after he met Cub, the two would do so many things together throughout the seasons. At first they were friends because they were friends, but during the fifth world... it wasn't that simple anymore.

The two (stupidly, in hindsight) made deals- contracts with the Vex. The Vex were powerful entities, but only as powerful as Mojang allowed. The contract stipulated that in exchange for power and vex magic, both Scar and Cub must supply the Vex with chaos. Be it because they caused it, they are affiliated with it, or if they are bystanders of it, the Vex demands chaos.

They accepted the contract, and now... he's bound to them.

Back then, supplying them with chaos was easily enough. Pranks were apparently counted as chaos, so the two did those. In the sixth iteration of the world, they (as ConCorp) sponsored and watched the Civil War. The chaos from the war supplied the Vex with enough chaos to last for most of the iteration. 

When they transitioned to the seventh iteration of the world... Scar had gotten complacent. He forgot what it felt like to always have to sate the Vex's desire for chaos. This complacency would be the cause of the Turf War.

When he became mayor, the Vex were angered. How dare he, Scar, the one who had been contracted to cause chaos, be made responsible and be a symbol of order . The days before the Turf War but after his election, were hell .

He was plagued by hallucinations, faulty magic, voices, bad luck, it was all too much for him. 

So when Grian had given him the opportunity to start another war, he had to accept. If not, the Vex would've ended him permanently. Thankfully, the war sated the Vexes. So for the rest of the iteration he did not need to supply them. 

But he's learnt his lesson. He'll never be complacent with supplying the Vex with chaos anymore. Never again.

Mumbo is not a complicated man. 

Sure, he can be given complexity and then unravel said complexity into a frankly useless but oddly fascinating redstone contraption, but he's not inherently complicated. Not like Scar or Grian, who have trauma and scars they carry on their body (He just doesn't parade them). 

Mumbo is not that. He's simple. He builds redstone gadgets and contraptions. He doesn't cause wars, he doesn't have bigger ambitions than to create a mega base, create industry, maybe some redstone contraptions, but that's it!

He's never made deals with unknowable powers that be (Don't lie.) nor has he been taken and trapped by something far greater than him (Liar.). He bears no scars, he bears no trauma (None that he doesn't repress). 

All of his redstone abilities are skill, not boons. He didn't cheat. He learnt all of this from scratch. He is simply knowledgeable because he has practiced with redstone for so long. On a barren desert. With a red sun. For a long, long, while. 

(Stop resisting and close your eyes, Mumbo.)

He is just an enthusiastic redstone master that likes to make redstone contraptions! He's nothing more. He just wants to have fun.

(The Red Sun never sets, Mumbo. Do not let it blind you, Mumbo. Close your eyes, Mumbo. Yet you still keep your eyes open, Mumbo. Just close your eyes, Mumbo. Do not resist the Red Sun, Mumbo.)

He makes walking houses! Vaults inside vaults! Peaceful safehouse! Sure, he makes complicated contraptions but he himself is not. 

(You are weak, Mumbo. You need rest, Mumbo. Why is there red on your hands, Mumbo? Did you get angry again, Mumbo? Did you hurt Iskall again, Mumbo? Did you hurt Grian again, Mumbo? Answer us, Mumbo. Close your eyes and we will remove your pain, Mumbo. We promise we will take care of you, Mumbo.)

(Trust us, Mumbo.)

Mumbo is not a complicated man, but the world sure wants him to be.

Several hours before the Error Event....

They had spent the day endlessly end-crystalling each other, the chat log was spammed with their deaths. It was to the point where some of the other hermits were annoyed by them, they honestly couldn't blame them. 

They stopped when it was dusk. Mostly because if they continued, Xisuma would have definitely given them a stern talking to. So they decided that they would just relax for now, hang out, and catch up. Besides, Scar wanted to show them something.

It was rare that three would be free enough to relax and talk with others in Boatem. They were usually too busy to do so. After all, building a mountain and maintaining several gigantic wagons were no easy task. But for tonight, they decided to take a break.

They would've invited Impulse and Pearl, but the two had something else to do. So for tonight, it was just the three of them. 

The three headed to Grian's house, since both Scar's and Mumbo's were a bit too cramped for the three. 

"So, Mumbo, since when have you been a potato?" Scar asked Mumbo, as he looked him up and down, "I think I would've noticed the change."

"Well, obviously you didn't. That's because I never changed from a man to a potato, I was always one!" Mumbo said, and Scar chuckled. 

In front of them, Grian finally found the keys to his house and opened the doors. "Yeah, Scar. Mumbo was always a potato, why didn't you ever notice?" He gestured for the two to come in.

The two walk in, Grian following. 

Scar chuckles. "I'm so sorry, Mumbo. I just didn't know!"

Faux smugly, Mumbo says, "It's fine, Scar. You don't need to apologize!"

Scar snorts, while Grian grabs some spruce stairs, a fencepost, and a spare slab from his chests and sets up a table. "Sorry if the seating is a bit rough on your butt. I don't really have some spare beds lying around that I could use to make some fancy chairs."

Mumbo takes a seat, crossing a leg over the other. "It's fine, dude. I'm just glad we don't have to sit on the floor."

"Now that would be a murder on the ol' buns." Scar jokes as he also takes a seat. 

Grian takes a seat. "So, Scar, what did you want to show us?"

Scar perks up. "Oh! Yeah, hold on, let me just..." He ruffles through his inventory and brings out a few potion bottles filled with a brown liquid, and places it on the table. "Here!"

"I call it... 'Scar's Fantastic Chocolate Beverage'."

Both Grian and Mumbo leer at the bottle with some suspicion. Grian grabs one of the bottles and cautiously shakes it around. 

Mumbo squints at the bottle, trying to investigate what it is without touching it. "Are you sure this is chocolate, dude?"

Scar, oblivious to their suspicion, says, "Of course! It's one hundred percent chocolate, why do you ask?"

"No reason." 

Mumbo looks over to Grian, who has the bottle's cap open and is trying to cautiously smell the liquid. He gives it a couple of sniffs, but it doesn't seem like the concoction is anything bad. 

Bravely, Grian takes a swig of it, eyes closed, preparing for the worst. But, actually, it tastes delicious!

"Mumbo you have got to try this, it's amazing!" Grian says, taking another swig of the bottle. 

"Really?" Mumbo cautiously takes a sip, and also realizes that it tastes good. "Scar! How have you made this?! This is so good!"

Scar chuckles. "I'm glad you two like it so much! I just grinded some cocoa beans and then threw them in with some milk and voila, a chocolate beverage!"

"Scar, this is amazing! Wow, I can't believe that you've managed to make that!" Grian says, drinking more of the bottle, draining it.  

"Me too! I can't believe-" The words are caught in his throat. He can feel his hands freezing, he senses something. For a moment he looks around, trying to see what's wrong. He can't see anything that would be a danger to him. 

"Scar?" Grian asks, confused, "Did you see something?"

The feeling goes away for the moment, and he asks, "Sorry, did you say something?"

"I just asked if you saw something." Grian says, looking somewhat worried at Scar.

"No, no I didn't. Just... a feeling, nothing bad. I hope." Scar says. The two stopped talking, and Scar, sensing the awkwardness, covers it by saying, "So, Grian. Didn't you just get the tegg? I heard you got it from Impulse,"

The awkwardness drained away as Grian says, "I did! Gem was there too, we found a lava trash can thing and apparently there was a room there where Impulse hid the egg!"

"Wow, really?" Mumbo asks. 

"Yep!"

The conversation continued on, but Scar was suspicious that something was happening. His vex instincts don't just flare up like that for nothing. There is definitely something going on, but he doesn't want to worry the guys. So he'll just sit pretty and pretend nothing's happening. 

A dozen minutes before the Error Event...

"...so imagine my surprise when Mumbo blew me up from behind!" Grian says. Across from him, Scar barks with laughter, while Mumbo looks down, smiling, his starchy face turning red. 

It's been several hours since the three of them have sat down in his house, trading stories, and talking about inane stuff. Thankfully Scar had the foresight to bring several bottles of those delicious drinks. 

Speaking of Scar, Grian can't get it out of his head that something is going to happen. It's already been hours since his friend looked around suddenly and didn't respond. It was only for a few moments, not even a minute, but paranoia tells him that Scar knows something bad is coming.

He would try to sense the danger himself, but that would mean he has to embrace some part of the Watcher's power, and... he's not brave enough to do that. Not now at least. The memory of what happened to him the last time he embraced that power is seared into his mind. 

"Well, it's not my fault that you tried to fly away," Mumbo says, "Maybe blowing myself up was a part of my plan, did you ever think of that?"

Grian shakes himself out of his thoughts, and grins. "No, I didn't! Because that just sounds like a dumb plan to be honest."

Mumbo leans back on his chair, resting his hand on his head dramatically. "You wound me, Grian." 

Grian chuckles. "And what, turn you into mashed potato? I don't know what I would do with a cut up sentient potato."

Mumbo looks at him with faux concern. "I hope not! If you somehow had plans on what to do with me with my starchy corpse I would be terribly concerned."

"It wouldn't count as cannibalism, right?" Scar pitches in, "Since Mumbo's a potato after all."

"That is true..." Grian ponders. 

Mumbo alternates looking at Grian and Scar, distraught at what he's hearing. "You guys are not pondering on what to do with my corpse, stop it! This is getting disturbing."

The two of them chuckle, and Grian says, "Maybe we could bake you..."

"No! Stop this train of thought this instant!" Mumbo pauses, "At least plan what you want to do with me when I'm not here, sheesh."

Grian chuckles as he takes another swig from the bottle. He leans back in his chair, just looking up to his ceiling and thinking about how far he has come. It was only two world iterations ago where he was lonely, stolen from the people he loved.

Absent-mindedly, he glances over to the windows, just checking to see what's happening outside. It's still night, obviously. That wouldn't have changed in the brief few hours they were there. If he were to check his comms, he would probably see all- wait, scratch that only four hermits are currently asleep. 

Ex, X, Wels, and TFC. That's a bit odd. Would've thought Bdubs would be asleep by now. 

He looks up from his comms to his windows for only a brief moment, but in that moment, he swears he sees something crawl out of the Boatem Hole. It's too dark to see, but he thinks he definitely saw something crawl out, and it was definitely not a spider. It looked too humanoid for it to be a spider. Immediately after, it was gone.

"Guys?" 

Mumbo and Scar turn to look at Grian. "Yeah?"

"I think there's something outside."

In the corner of his eye, he sees Scar freeze. Mumbo seems oblivious. 

"What do you mean? Like there's another hermit?" Mumbo says.

Quickly, he tries to remember what he saw. It looked player-like, but it was definitely not something he would've recognized. It doesn't seem like anyone he's ever met before. 

"I don't know..." Grian trails off, but there's suddenly a crash from his roof. The trio jumped out of their seats. 

"There's definitely something out there." Scar whispers. 

(Close your eyes, Mumbo. We can handle this, Mumbo.)

Shush.

It doesn't take long for what Scar's said to sink in. Just in case, he takes out his communicator.

<MumboJumbo> Is anyone at Boatem right now?

<BdoubleO100> nah

<PearlescentMoon> nope!

<Keralis> nopearooni!

<cubfan135> no

<falsesymmetry> nope! Im with gem and stress

<falsesymmetry> sparring

<Docm77> nope. 

<Rendog> im with doc!

<Rendog> so no

<joehillssays> nope!

<ZombieCleo> no

<iJevin> nah

<impulseSV> Nope

<Zedaph> shush! You're still being experimented on!

<impulseSV> Sorry zed :P

<impulseSV> tango's here too

<xBCrafted> nope

<hypnotizd> nah

<Etho> no

<iskall85> nope!

That confirms it. 

The one outside is definitely none of the hermits. 

(Maybe they're lying, Mumbo.) 

They would have no reason to. Shush.

Mumbo looks up from his comms. He sees that both Grian and Scar are geared up. While Mumbo is still in his business suit. He rushes over to Grian's ender chest and grabs his armor set. 

He digs the set out from under piles of diamonds and frantically tries to put them on. As he tries, several pieces fall to the floor, clinking and clanging leading to both Scar and Grian looking at him with a face of disappointment. 

(They hate you, Mumbo.) 

They don't. Shush.

Eventually, after several minutes, he manages to put on every piece of his armor. He checks his inventory for anything that might be inconvenient to lose if he were to die, and he's embarrassed to admit that he stared at some redstone blocks for too long.

(The Red Sun never sets, Mumbo.)

He shakes himself out of the mini-stupor and grabs hold of his obsidian and end crystals. In front of him, Scar brings out his sword while Grian takes out his axe. The trio inch to Grian's front door.

Grian nods, and holds up three fingers, mouthing 'On three'. 

One.

Scar's grip on his sword tightens.

Two.

Sweat drips from Grian's brow.

Three.

The trio rush outside.

The first thing Mumbo notices is how he's rarely seen Boatem at night. Usually, he would've gone to sleep by now. But seeing the village shrouded in darkness, it's a miracle that mobs aren't crawling everywhere. 

Hold on. Darkness? 

Shouldn't the village be lit up? He swears that they've put torches everywhere. Or at the very least lit the area with other sources of light.

"Guys? Why is it so dark here? Where is all the light?" Mumbo asks, he clenches the obsidian in his hand.

"I don't know! Do any of you have some torches?" Grian barks, Mumbo can't see it but paranoia has all but taken over.

"I don't. Can you rush back and grab some, Mumbo?" Scar asks.

Mumbo sprints off to Grian's house, "I'll be right back!" 

He makes it in easily enough, and goes to dig through Grian's chest for some torches. Or at least craft some. In the back of his head, he's vaguely aware that he's alone. 

After going through too many chests, Mumbo finds a stack of torches. He stuffs it into his inventory and puts it in his offhand and goes back outside.

"Guys! I got the..." Mumbo trails off. He doesn't see them. Where did they go?

(They left you, Mumbo. They do not care about you, Mumbo. Let us take control, Mumbo)

He looks around confused. It's still dark, even the torch light isn't able to pierce that much of the night. He grabs his crystals from his inventory just in case, and starts walking to where Grian and Scar were. 

Slowly, and carefully, he makes his way there. 

The night is usually this quiet. Mumbo would think that zombies or skeletons would try to attack him, but it seems like nothing spawned. He's still wary though, he looks around with his torch in hand. He places some down as well for good measure. 

As he lights his way up to where his friends were, he starts to feel that he's being watched. 

Finally he's there and... there's something red on the ground. Some red liquid. Mumbo kneels down to investigate. It looks to be some sort of liquid, something red. It's clouded over but it doesn't flow anywhere. It's splattered on the ground in a way that Mumbo sort of recognizes. 

(You have made a mistake, Mumbo. Retreat immediately, Mumbo. The Red Sun does not control that freakish mimicry, Mumbo.)

Wait, what? Freakish mimicry?

Slowly, he dips a finger into the liquid and almost immediately he takes it out. It felt like something was flowing through it, like electricity. Like redstone. He thinks he gets what the voice in his head is saying. 

He stands up and flicks the red liquid from his finger and trudges to where his friends would've been. He tries to ignore the growing nervousness in the back of his mind. If the Red Sun didn't control that thing, then what did?

He's snapped out of his thoughts as his torch light illuminates something shiny. It looks like... chunks of diamond. Small chunks, like pieces. Not enough to be constituted as one diamond. 

How did those get there?

He outstretches his arm to get a better look, but his torch light illuminates something else. Something further from the chunks. 

It's the bodies of his friends. 

He dashes over and checks what's wrong. Apparently, the answer to what's wrong is that both of them are skewered by a sword straight through the chestplate. The blade is made out of some dark cyan metal. The question is how it managed to pierce through diamond armor that easily. Because even if it is stronger, nothing can simply pierce diamond armor.

(Those questions are not for you to answer, Mumbo. Run, Mumbo. You are in danger, Mumbo. Close your eyes and we will help you escape, Mumbo.)

A sinking feeling grows in his gut as the repeated warnings by the Voice are uncharacteristic for it. Maybe he should leave. Try to call for others. 

He turns around as he tries to find where he put his elytra, he doesn't immediately notice the figure in the dark. 

(RUN, MUMBO.)

The shout in his brain kicks him into high gear. But he's too late. 

Not a second that he's out of his inventory, something decks him in the face. He could feel his face smashed down into someone's steak side-dish. He's knocked back and falls on his back, he scrambles to get up and place down a crystal. To blow up his attacker, but he doesn't even manage to place obsidian down.

Someone steps on his arms. He could feel his potato bones crunching under the force, and he grunted in pain, gritting his teeth. There's someone above him holding another one of those swords- but before he could think of anything else, the person thrusts down, pierces through his chestplate, and skewers Mumbo. 

(We told you to run, Mumbo.)

Mumbo tries to scream but no sound leaves his lips. He lays there horrified as he lets go of the torch from his hand. Illuminating the figure before he can close his eyes. 

He looks familiar to him. Big body, brown hair, a black shirt. As his eyes trail up, he sees Impulse's unamused face looking down on him. 

And then everything goes black.

Chapter Text

Ten minutes before the Error Event...

Iskall was a man of many things. A bodyguard, an assassin, a redstoner, to name a few. But more recently a builder. He holds the bottle of beer by its mouth, taking a sip every so often as he looks up at the stars. 

He's outside of his base, just on the balcony, sitting on a wooden chair. He tips himself backwards backwards, balancing on the chair's two legs as he tries to get some shut eye for the night. Insomnia has not been friendly to him. Never has been.

The memories of his life before Hermitcraft was still sharp in his mind, threatening to break the box he keeps them in. He tries not to remember those days, taking another sip of his beer. He absentmindedly tries to unsheathe his sword, but as his hand touches its handle, he's just reminded of the sword he plunged into that man's chest. He lets go, and instead takes out his trident.

He holds it in his hand. Its enchantments glowing like shroomlight under the moon. Iskall touches the trident's handle, it's cold to the touch, different from the wood handles that he was used to. The feeling of familiarity doesn't try to worm its way into his mind, like it does with his sword, it doesn't try to remind him of anything from his past. 

"Can't sleep?" A voice from inside said. Briefly, he sat up expecting an enemy, but when he turned to look it was just Etho. Iskall heard a crash from beside him. "Woah!" He chuckled. "Didn't scare you, did I?"

Iskall huffed and sat back down, grumbling "Thought you were asleep." He goes to take a sip of his beer, only to find that it's smashed on the floor. He curses under his breath. "Good job, you startled me to drop my drink!" He said with mock anger. 

Etho walks up and passes him a bottle of water. "Sorry, sorry, will this do?"

"Ugh, for now, I guess." Iskall takes a sip, the cool water going down his throat. It feels like ice. Reminds him of his first kill. He puts the bottle down beside him. He looks at Etho. "So what are you up to so late?"

Etho puts down a chair beside Iskall, sits, and sips his water. "Can't sleep."

"Yeah, same here." Iskall says. There's a comfortable silence that falls between the two of them. It's not often that the two are together despite living in the same base. The two often just barely miss each other every day. Usually because Etho wakes up too early for Iskall and by the time he wakes up Etho's already off doing some other project. 

Etho's the one to break the silence, "Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really. It's not something that I want to talk about either. It's just memories that keep me up at night." Iskall goes to grab the bottle, but hesitates. 

"Bad memories?" 

Blood paints his cheek as his target is on the ground, defenseless, vulnerable. Iskall raised his sword and aimed for the man's heart and plunged it. The sword pierces flesh, burning the edges as his heart is split in two. The smell and taste of iron palpable in the air. Behind him, a woman screams bloody murder.

He whips around, adrenaline coursing in his blood, and decapitates the woman with his sword, still soaked in the man's blood. He takes a shaky breath, ice spreading in his chest and messages his employer with shaky hands that the job was done. He doesn't bother telling her about the woman that he killed.

Iskall feels like he's going to puke. 

"Yeah, bad memories."

-

A gentle breeze passed by Bdubs as he walked back home. Night had fallen long ago, but both Pearl and Keralis didn't let him sleep until he had given them one of his clocks. The reasoning this time was that it would be the centerpiece to a gigantic clock that they wanted to build. It took a while for him to give them a clock. 

He sniffed as the cold sea air seeped into his bones. He gripped his jacket tighter, wishing that he probably should've made one out of wool and not actual moss. It seemed funnier at the time. 

The walk to his crescent moon home took him a while. Pearl had dragged him kicking and screaming on Moon's back to a 'secret' area that turned out to be a cave that the two had dug out a few minutes before they got him. Meanwhile, Lulu was back at home minding her own business despite her owner being kidnapped to god knows where, and didn't even try to save him. Just stared. He couldn't blame her though, if he was her, he probably wouldn't try to save him too. 

Wait! No, stop! Don't think like that, Bdubs. Keep your head high! He slaps himself. It's probably because it's just night, his brain is starting to make up weird things about Lulu and him! 

"This brain of mine, haaa... can't ever trust anything that thing thinks." Bdubs mumbled, he barked with laughter. He trots as he can see the moon base, the top of its terracotta roof just peeking over the trees. "I gotta rest up when I get my head on that 'ol bed of mine! Can't believe Pearl stole my extra..." 

He passes over the dirt path, pushing past the spruce leaves. Tonight's been such a whirlwind with all the things that's happened. First, he helped restock most of the Pass N' Gas with the other Big Eye Crew (Most of them were sold out! Say hello to diamonds for Bdubs!). Usually, Keralis would've done it, but he was too 'busy' so he gave him a pile of books in a shulker box and told him to do it himself. He huffs. It was not easy restocking the gas stations (He gets what Keralis's been through, now. Knows where the man's eye bags come from). He frowns as he realizes what Keralis was busy with for the whole day- It was scamming him out of his clocks with Pearl! Bdubs can't believe him. Damn he! 

However, in his inner monologue he forgets to pay attention to the ground in front of him and he steps into an extremely thorny berry bush. Immediately it pierces through his jeans and right into his skin, causing him to yelp and instinctively destroy it with a single punch. He looks down to his foot. The thorns already sunk deep into him. He winces. He reaches into his inventory to grab some shears.

He shakes his head as he wakes up from the sudden vision and looks down to sidestep the bush. Crisis averted. Dignity intact. Celebrations should be in order! It's too late for any though. For good measure, Bdubs also uproots the bush, careful to not touch its thorns and throws it into the trees with all his might.

"Stupid bush." Bdubs mumbles as he walks away.

Just past the leaves, Bdubs manages to see the rest of his base. The hanging clock barely visible through the green. He sighs. As he takes the final steps towards his base, his trot becomes a shuffle as he can feel his body preparing to finally lay on his bed. The climb up to his bedroom felt like a moment and eternity. He can already imagine the creak it would give as he first laid on it, the at first cold, but always soft mattress, and the warmth of his body as he wrapped himself in the blankets.  

After such a long day, he deserves this...

One. Two. Three steps up his stairs. He's nearly there. He's coming for you baby! Papa's not too far! He looks up, his eyes drooping closed for just a moment. It was only just a moment. A second. Only a miniscule part of his life. But when he opened his eyes, he expected to see more stairs. He was drowsy, not thinking straight. Maybe his eyes haven't fully adjusted?

He waited one, two, three seconds and it stayed gone. Slowly, he sobers up, and realizes that it was just not his eyes. The stairs have truly disappeared. Not removed, more evaporated from existence. Actually- most of his base is gone. His head swivels around, a sinking feeling growing at the bottom of his stomach. There's only one question on his mind.

"Where did my base go?"

-

Boatem. What was once a peaceful village, though wrought with pranks and chaos, has been transformed into an industrial machine of demonic proportions. Houses, trees, mountains stripped clean. The nether purged of their quartz and the ground purged of their redstone. All to be made into a machine that shatters the world, makes it hard to breathe, suffocates it. Red dust floats in between cracks of ever-firing pistons, followed by the clicks of observers. The taste of iron is pungent like smog. 

Three figures stand-by. Two of madness and one of restraint. One the mastermind, and two the henchmen. One is a robotic thing, every part of him a sign of technological genius save for his left arm and eye, which he couldn't bear to replace despite its inferiority. Dressed in a singed lab coat that smells of burnt pork, he is the leader of the trio. Another is covered head to toe in crackling split yellow skin, his extremities covered in hot ash and smoldering charcoal, with a grin of glee at his creation, his red eyes burning with excitement. Since his body is hot to the touch, he has opted to not wear any clothes aside from a strider pelt loincloth tied around his crotch, the smell of sulphur pungent from it. The final member of their trio is dressed more blandly (or sensible, depending on who you talk to). Only sporting a t-shirt with an exclamation mark graphic and cargo shorts, he looks to be the most 'normal' out of all of them. He himself, however, looks completely average. Brown hair, brown eyes, pale skin. He doesn't look as extravagant as his peers. 

Together they make up Hels's infiltration team. 

In front of them, they have created a monstrosity of redstone. Pistons firing like gunfire, observers clicking like angry birds, mock redstone flashing like a strobe light. Even standing near the machine makes the trio have a hard time breathing, despite two of them not needing to. The trio watch in awe as the machine's pistons fire over and over. Like a disease, they could feel the ground beneath starting to break apart and evaporate. It spreads. And spreads. Thankfully, they are only here to supervise it.

One by one, the trio walked over to the Boatem hole, the entry hole that the stupid Hermits were kind enough to build for them. Unknowingly of course. Silently, the three stand at the edge of it, back towards the hole. A chill of wind tickling their spines, the void calling for them. They look again at their work, proud and excited for the invasion to come. 

Then, one at a time, they all lean backwards and fall. It doesn't take long for them to be covered in inky black. It will be alright however, they'll respawn. As the last of them dissolve, they say a prayer to their one god. 

"Hail Notch."

Chapter Text

"So... Helsknight. Nice of you to visit me. It's been a while hasn't it?" Wels says. Behind him, Xisuma is surprised that there was another evil hermit on the server. He thought Ex was the only one. Wels continues, "As you can see, I have a guest, so can we do this later? I know you want to fight me again, but I'm in the middle of something here. Also what's with the new get-up? You got a new blacksmith- or armorer?"

It's the first time Xisuma's seen Helsknight and, unlike him and Ex, Helsknight looks nothing like Wels. Well, he can't actually see if he's similar or not, Helsknight is covered head to toe in armor. However, it doesn't look like any armor Xisuma has ever made. It's a dark bluish-green that reminds him of ender pearls. It has a helmet with a visor with multiple horizontal slits on it that does not betray anything besides Helsknight's piercing red pupils, out the back of it is an ever burning spout of flame that Xisuma guesses would be where a feather would be. His chestplate is usual but strangely enough it has armor that covers the knight's arms. Meanwhile his leggings and boots are no different from what Xisuma has except for the small spike at the end of its toe.

Despite Wels telling him that Helsknight pose no threat to him, Xisuma can't shake the thought that he might be wrong. 

As if on cue, Helsknight speaks, "I came to you for a duel, and yet I think you are not worth my bite. I hope I won't be too cruel, so let us fight Welsknight!" 

"I can't believe you're trying to rap while you offer to duel me." Wels says, holding the bridge of his nose, "Fine, let's do this." It takes only a few moments for Wels to equip his armor, and yet in those moments, Helsknight thrusted his sword at Wels. However Wels sidestepped the attack, grabbed hold of Helsknight's arm and slugged him in the middle of his visor, knocking him backwards and separating him from his sword. "Cheap shots, Hels? And here I thought you were a knight."

Wels steps out of his home, clad in his shiny fully enchanted netherite armor. A cut on his cheek from Helsknight's sword. His eyes narrow down to Helsknight still on the floor, and he whispers, "Get up, copycat and let's have a nice clean fight."

Helsknight takes a few seconds to get back up, chuckling to himself. Wels raises his shield.

"What's so funny?"

"Here I thought you knew me, 'cus why would you assume I fight fairly?" Helsknight says, the shit-eating grin almost palpable through his visor. 

"Xisuma get back! He's got-" 

An explosion rocks the house, throwing the two of them backwards. Above him, he could only hear Wels's labored breathing as he pushed the man off him. From the entrance he hears the sound of someone laughing in too much delight for the situation. The entrance has been destroyed, the smell of burnt wood wafting in the air as Xisuma stood up. Xisuma doesn't miss the distinct smell of tanginess and spice that is unique to end crystals.

Everything feels a bit too slow and a bit too fast at the same time. His eyes are having a hard time adjusting, everything is too blurry.Though his senses are scrambled, it doesn't seem like he's hurt too badly. Wels is a different story. Below him, Wels seems to be unconscious. The man took the full brunt of the explosion instead of him, he needs to get him to safety until something worse happens. Xisuma bends down and tries to drag Wels, but as soon as he hears footsteps getting closer he freezes.

Stepping through the destroyed doorway is Helsknight. His shiny bluish-green armor devoid of any of the scorch marks the explosion caused. The helsmit bends down to grab his dropped sword and looks over to Xisuma, brandishing the weapon in his hands and not using the end crystals. Which means he's either out of them or he's playing with him. Xisuma's going to guess it's the latter. 

His communicator buzzes on his wrist, from the corner of his eye he sees that it's from Ex. It buzzes once more as Xisuma unsheathes his sword and shield, he looks over to Helsknight still in the doorway. Looking at him. A shiver goes through his spine. He can talk to Ex later. 

Sword in hand, he charges Helsknight. 

-

A few minutes before current events...

Ex's feet dangle over the Evil Emporium. Swinging his feet as he bites into some bread, his helmet's mouthpiece open. It's only been an hour since sunrise, his thoughts are still a mess. He holds his head in his head, looking over the mountain the emporium is sitting on. Looking over to the bright blue day he's currently having. 

It's been... only a month since he infiltrated Hermitcraft for good. End above, he hasn't been here for long has he? He takes another bite from his bread, he's only got half a loaf left. Don't tell the axolotl, but this is the only thing he's eaten since yesterday. He doesn't have the taste for golden carrots, and bread just feels so filling. 

Ex sighs. He doesn't remember much from his stint in the void. The chill of the deep dark abyss sent shivers down his body. It's odd. He hasn't felt the cold of the void in only a month, but he's already forgotten the feeling already. That's a good thing, he thinks. He drops his head into his hand, holding the bread aloft, looking down at the roof. Softly chewing it. 

He tries to wonder what happened since he got ousted out of Hels, but it doesn't take long for him to forget all about that place. His stint in the void has told him clearly enough that they don't want him, and he doesn't want them. No matter how much his heart aches for the comradery he had with them. Despite him being their admin, he never saw them as below him. He doesn't think about how much he misses their little community of bad eggs. 

He shakes his head, and slaps himself. Standing up. He spits the bread out, it was that mush-like quality that he didn't like, and closes his mouthpiece. He stomps his feet, and brings up his communicator. A brief moment passes as the messages crackle to life. He doesn't need them. Why would he need them? They were all just no good little shits that betrayed him the moment someone more powerful showed up. Guess that's the con for having a community of terrible people. 

Let's see what the axolotl is doing... He has some plans to make if he wants to take over this forsaken world. He scrolls through the communicator's system, finding Xisuma's direct messages. The axolotl's probably off doing errands, building that little cove of his. 

<EvilXisuma> X, where are you?

<EvilXisuma> We've got some business to do.

He waits for a beat. Then two. That's odd, usually the axolotl would've answered by now. What's taking him so long?

Cold wind breeze past him, making him shiver. He sniffs. He should really get something to cover his arms. He's not in Hels anymore. 

...

After approximately five minutes, his communicator buzzes. It's Xisuma.

<Xisuma> fighting helsknight

<Xisuma> help cant hold off

As soon as X mentions Helsknight, his heartbeat skyrockets. He can practically hear the beat in his ear. That dream and then Helsknight? That must be connected. There's no other reason for it. For a moment the sky grows dark, followed by a short grumble, before lightning strikes Ex. He disappears. Reappearing in the axolotls base, he quickly trades for some cheap diamond armor from the villagers. Shooting another message to the shapeshifter as he puts on the diamond boots.

<EvilXisuma> Where are you?

It takes another few minutes before Xisuma answers. His heartbeat slowly rises as he doesn't answer. It takes the axolotl another minute before he answers.

<Xisuma> wels

As soon as he hears the place, another lightning bolt pierces through dirt and stone to strike Ex. He disappears from the spot, now equipped with armor.

-

Xisuma crosses his arms as he is kicked back by Helsknight. He grits his teeth as he slams into the side of Wels's house. He winces as something cracks. However he doesn't have time to find out as he rolls to the side, narrowly dodging a stomp. He has to get away. Quick. Xisuma takes a breath and brings out his sword, blocking a slash from the Knight. His shield had long since shattered. 

"C'mon, just give up! You can't ever manage to keep up." Helsknight taunted, and quickly whirled, knocking Xisuma's sword out of his hand,  "Even together, I can still bring the slaughter!"

Xisuma grunted and moved back, pressing a button in his suit. The axolotl's skin drains away, replacing the pink with a kelpy green. His frills and eyes sunk into his head, his eyes reappearing on the side of his head. His previously smooth skin became leathery. From his back grew a large shell that covered his back, followed by his soft hands stretching to become fins. He lands on the ground, and pulls his body into himself.

For a moment, Helsknight stopped his attack. Looking at the turtled Xisuma. He barked a laugh. "Don't think that your shell can help you, because I am gonna break you in two!" 

Helsknight's eyes shone inside his helmet, as he held his enderrite sword above Xisuma. Ready to plunge it deep into Xisuma's shell. He can already imagine how satisfying it would be. In the back of his mind, he imagines the sound to be like stepping on a twig. He goes to plunge the sword downwards, inside the shell Xisuma prays that Ex will come before he's disposed of. 

The sword pierces through the shell and Xisuma screams in pain. From behind his helmet, he's smiling from ear to ear. It doesn't go any farther however, as the sound of crackling thunder rolls through the sky. A KRAKAKOOM shakes the ground as a bolt strikes Helsknight, frying him to a crisp.

Out from the lightning, Ex appeared. Sword at Helsknight's neck. "Hands off the turtle, hell knight."

"Didn't think you would appear. Thought I had the all-clear." Helsknight mumbled, unsheathing the sword from Turtlesuma's back and dropping it just beside him. 

"What are you doing here? Come to have a grudge match with the 'good' version of yourself?" Ex asks. When Helsknight says nothing, Ex's sword begins to crackle with lightning. Arcs of electricity travelling up and down the knight's armor. "You better say something, because even though diamond can't slash enderite, being superheated with lightning damn well does."

Out of the bluish-green tin can he speaks up, "Okay, okay, I'll say! You don't have to slay." 

"End above are you really trying to rhyme while I'm interrogating you?" Ex says exasperated, shaking his head, "Actually scratch that, why were you trying to kill the axolotl and that Wels fellow for that matter? The Helsknight I know wasn't that keen on dueling his counterpart."

"You speak of me too highly, so I must respond dryly. I tried to cause a massacre, but it was a bit lacklustre," Helsknight paused, Ex could feel something changed inside that armor of his. Something not good. "Because you see, I am only here to be, a nuisance at best-" Ex could feel heat coming off Helsknight's armor, hotter than before. It felt like he was touching lava, but that doesn't bother him, all helsmits are immune to fire after all. But from his visor a stream of what seems to be lava shoot out from the slits, forming and coalescing in the air to become something solid. 

The lava then cooled suddenly, becoming hard and black - obsidian - but unlike the lava before it, the lump of blocks fell. Ex moves back quickly, dodging the falling blocks, leaving Helsknight to be crushed in the middle of the pile. 

Ex and Xisuma looked at each other with confusion. Was that all just an elaborate suicide? Everything was quiet for a moment. The two counterparts didn't say anything, the two were speechless. Xisuma had shifted back to being an axolotl, using that body's regenerative abilities to heal himself quicker. Ex looks over the lump of obsidian with confusion and a sense of dread. There must be something more that. Something more was happening. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees something rising up from the cracks between obsidian and grass. It's some sort of smoke, he steps back, the smell of it reminding him of burnt fruit. The smoke crawls over the obsidian, seemingly stuck to it. It rises and rises. It looks as if the smoke is seeping into the obsidian, getting into the not-so porous chunk of nearly unbreakable rock. Ex gestures for Xisuma to step back, whatever is happening is not natural. It feels tainted and wrong, like moldy food. Parts of the obsidian start to melt and fall to the ground, liquifying but somehow being reabsorbed to the overall lump. The smoke's smell starts to rot, turning the blue into a dark shade of purple. 

And then, the obsidian rises.

Like an energetic slime, the obsidian sludge begins to shape itself into something larger. Meanwhile, Ex and Xisuma stand in front of it speechless and frozen. The sludge makes itself sprout pillars of obsidian from its side, strands of it merging and becoming what one can assume to be an arm. From the center and top most of its body, a structure that seems to be some sort of helmet starts to form. With piercing red eyes from behind its visor. Until eventually, the obsidian monstrosity finishes forming itself.

To describe as simply as a monstrosity would be simple enough. But yet, the creature- no, the structure in front of Ex is simply an abomination. It is large enough to tear down houses, and yet it is large with smaller legs compared to its torso. Bulky arms with extra thickness on its elbow and wrists that reach down to its legs. Streaks of purple lines that are far too straight and narrow that connect to every part of the golem's appendages like abstract wires. And a head that resembled Helsknight's helmet, with asymmetrical stubby horns growing out of its side that reaches to the sky, with purple piercing pupils behind its merged visor. 

For a moment, the creature looked down at the two Hermits in front of it, its pupils sliding over the two. Uninterested. But a whisper comes from behind the creature's visor that only they could hear, "But in truth, I am here for conquest." 

The beast looked to the sky above, its body groaning and moaning like gears as its visor split open, unleashing upon the world an announcement that it was here to destroy and fight, a scream so loud that every member of the world heard it. The roar split the sky, blasting the clouds out of its usual pattern.

A buzz shakes Xisuma's and Ex's wrist, displaying a health bar and the name of the beast. 

The Helsidian Monstrosity