Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When the dead arrived, he didn’t recognize them at all.

He was floating in the Void, slipping into the space between respawns between dreams that would long be forgotten in the morning. It wasn’t a special thing, he was Prophet of Death after all, the reason he was chosen to watch over The Vigil and Pixandria as the Prophets before him had been. Every ruler who died would pass through him, and he would watch the death unfold before his eyes before they were whisked away. As far as he knew, they never remembered it though it was usually not something brought up casually in conversation. But he did, and would leave a candle for each one when he awoke in the morning.

But this … this was not normal. No other rulers passed through him that night, despite knowing that at least the WitherRose Alliance had died that day at the very least (and probably Jimmy too if they were being honest). No, all he saw was someone he didn’t recognize. They reminded him of Joey a little, with messy dirty blond hair and vibrant parrot wings extending out. But it wasn’t Joey, he knew that much. He wore a red sweater and black pants held up by a utility belt (empty because … dead). His eyes started a light green, but they seemed to fade into a yellow the more Pixl tried to discern their color. Their right wrist held an .. odd tattoo—two L’s, one upside down and one not, with dots above them—while the left held a feather bracelet that seemed to change with his eyes.

“No … no, how are we back here?” The stranger asked themselves, pulling up the neck of their sweater to cover up the fresh scar that ran across it.  “The game … the game ended. I won. They were happy … why … why again?”

The stranger didn’t seem to notice Pixl, and the Prophet didn’t make any moves to make himself known to the unknown individual. Instead, he spent the time looking over every detail trying to figure out how they were connected. He didn’t seem like someone high up in the other 11 Empires, so who was he? How was he here when he’d never met this man in his life?

“Where … where am I?” The question brought Pixl out of his confusion, looking up to meet the stranger’s fully yellow eyes. Pixl smiled softly in comfort as he had done many times before.

“You’re in the Void; the place between respawns.” He explained. “You died.”

“I know I died, BDubs literally stabbed me!” The stranger exclaimed. “I scammed Scar for that life fair and square and he just takes it from me like that! God I trusted him! Etho vouched for him!”

“It’s going to be okay.” Pixl tried to assure him, despite not knowing anything of what this man was saying.

“No, it’s not. I’m back on 2 lives in this stupid Game. The fact that we are even back here is … It was over. And now there’s more of us?!” The confusion on Pixl’s face must have been palpable, as the stranger seemed to stop their rant. “Sorry, I don’t think that’s the best introduction, is it?”

“Not exactly, no.” Pixl chuckled. “But it’s fine; it’s normal to be so … passionate after you’ve died. Especially in betrayal as seems to be your case.”

“Yeah, that’s going to happen a lot, isn’t it?“

“I … look I’m really sorry but I don’t quite understand what you’re talking about.” The stranger’s head started to tilt, before his eyes became wide in recognition.

“You’re not part of their game. You’re … you’re on the outside.” His voice began to fill with a manic sense of hope that made Pixl float away a little. “You can help us; you can get us out. Help us out.”

The stranger floated forward, grabbing Pixl’s shoulders as if to plead with him. The word “please” floated soundlessly off his lips as the Void around them filled with white and the man was gone. The present version of him at least. Now he was looking over the past version of the stranger, a simple spectator to what had unfolded. He was covered in iron armor wielding a diamond sword and a shield. He stood on a circle of bedrock outlined in tuft on the edge of a small hill overlooking a river. An enchanting table stood in the circle’s center and a jukebox playing ominous music played off to the side.

“Are you gonna play that…Guys, please tell me you’re the Boogeyman so you can make this happen.” He asked, green eyes flickering between the other people that stood around the bedrock circle. One stood to his left, with white hair that was held back by a headband. He wore a dark green vest and a dark blue t-shirt that matched the headband’s color. The other thing that seemed to match between the shirt and headband was a 4 heart design: dark green, light green, yellow and red all nice in a row. A face mask covered his expression, but there was hesitant expectance in his eyes. Like … waiting for an outcome that he knew wouldn’t happen.

The other one though, the one on the right that began to play with the weapons strapped across his chest, was a different story. His eyes were wide with … bloodlust as he pulled out a diamond sword from under his mossy cloak. The dark green scrap of cloth tied around his head blew in the breeze at the lunged at the winged man with a sense of frenzy.

“You are correct!” He yelled as his victim began to panic as he was being attacked. “Ha HA! Yes!” A small chase began despite the stranger … well, they were both strangers to Pixl at this point [though we know who they are. We know all too well this scene. But let’s continue, shall we?] … despite the winged one having the better armor and a sword in his hand. “YeS! AH HA! IM THE BOOGEY!” The winged man didn’t make it far, just shy from the banks of the river before the killing blow was made. The third man, and Pixl, watched as the moss man grabbed his sword with both hands and cut the other man’s head off.

There was a few seconds of silence as the body and detached head settled. It was in those few seconds that Pixl saw a brief flash of someone else riding a horse. He couldn’t get a good glimpse of their features but he could feel the pang of their heart. As if they knew this man had died, as if their lives were connected. He didn’t have time to think about the implications of this fact as the body began to dissipate. And as it did, the Prophet faded with it.

~~~

When Pixl woke up, he wasn’t surprised that he remembered his interaction with the winged stranger. It felt just like when one of his fellow rulers die. But … he was still no closer to knowing who this man was. The names he gave—BDubs, Etho, Scar—none seemed to refer to the man himself. He did suppose BDubs was the Moss Man, the one that had literally stabbed him. He’s not sure if the other one in the scene was Scar or Etho, but based on what little info he had to go on Pixl thought it might have the latter.

Despite not knowing anything, he still felt like he needed to place a candle for the fallen man. Something about that place … the lives felt as sacred as he placed on them here. But they shouldn’t go with the others … they needed their own. A vigil just for this … this Game that the winged stranger had been so angry he had returned to. It wouldn’t be anything special, not until he could figure out more. Just a small thing for one lost life. He was mulling over candle design for this stranger’s vigil when his communicator buzzed. He looked at it and immediately he knew this was going to be a bigger project than he initially thought.

<GeminiTay> Guys, I think several people are missing.

Chapter Text

Pixl was tired by the time he arrived at the meeting at Katherine’s. The entire time up until that point was spent hoping flying in a slight panic, looking for any sign of his alliances. The large Matral Palace, still in the works to become even grander than it already was, overlooked an empty Mezealea. The axolotl army residing in the coral roof of the Prisma Palace swam patiently waiting for someone who wasn’t there. Even the Cod Empire, with its simple wooden houses and uncleaned corruption were left eerily quiet without their ruler. He was hoping it wasn’t true, hoping he’d run into them simply collecting resources or AFK at one of their farms. But after hours, he couldn’t find any of his missing allies. Not even a message sent on his communicator to indicate they were even there.

“Sorry, I’m late.” He said, sliding into one of the blue chairs of Katherine’s meeting room. Gem was stood at the one end while Katherine sat at the opposite side, watching nervously at the wizard and the two sides of the table. Shelby sat next to her on Pixl’s left, rubbing Katherine’s thigh in order to try and release some of the unease in the other ruler’s movements. But Shelby and Scott were close, that much Pixl knew, so his disappearance must have stung the gnome. FWhip sat on Pixl’s left closer to Gem, the tinker still somewhat covered in gunpowder from whatever he was working on in the new Grimlands Forge. His eyes were distracted on the tablet in his hands as he ran through line after line of server code. Nobody at the table seemed to mind though, for if anyone was able to figure out how their friends went missing, it would be the Admin.

Opposite the three of them were Sausage and Joey. Sausage was closer to Gem’s side, still dawning the corrupted robes and darkened wings gifted to him by the demon pulling his strings. He held a sense of … uncaring about the situation, leaning back in his chair. He looked very tempted to simply put his feet on the table and tone out whatever Gem was about to say if not for the daggers Katherine’s eyes would occasionally throw his way. Joey was slightly less terrifying, the only thing different about the Lost Emperor was the red eyes that stared at Gem like they needed vengeance. Probably because of her escaping his kidnapping thanks to Jimmy. Besides, Pixl couldn’t find it in himself to be overly scared about a man who wanted to get in bed with a demon trying to destroy everything around them.

“It’s okay, Pix.” Gem said, “I’d know how concerned I’d be if 3 of my main allies disappeared. We’ll find them.”

Joey rolled his eyes, not putting any sense of severity into the situation. “They probably just forgot to remind us that MCC was happening. I don’t see what all the panic is about.”

“MCC was last Saturday, Joey.” Shubble corrected. “And me, fWhip and Gem were all there. I can reach out to Wilbur just in case, but I don’t think he said he was going to Origins.”

“Please do. I want to know if anyone on Origins or the Dream SMP is missing as well.” Gem said.

“Wait, this is happening on other servers too?!” Katherine exclaimed.

“I don’t think it matters that much.” Sausage butted in, as Gem’s mouth opened to reply. “Listen, all 4 of them will retu…”

“Five.” Gem corrected, making Sausage sit up in his seat. Clearly he didn’t realize that it wasn’t just his enemies that were missing.

“She’s not ..?” The question was left unfinished as Gem shook her head. A concerned look flooded Sausage’s face now that he seemed more invested in his neighbor’s disappearance. At least, one of his neighbors anyways. Sausage slapped Joey in the side, trying to make him put more attention to the issue at hand.

“Ow. Okay, okay. I’ll care. Sorry, I don’t even know why I’m here, let alone why we’re having this chat. Them being gone is probably just punishment for not embracing my boyfriend.” Joey sighed, pretending to flip his hair like the sassy gay he is. Shubble faked coughed, slipping in the word toxic in between. A small chuckle escaped Katherine as Joey glared at the Queen of the Undergrove. Gem banged her staff on the ground, bringing everyone’s attention back to her. Except fWhip’s, who was clearly hyper focused on the Admin stuff.

“No, Joey, this isn’t involving Xornoth. If he was punishing those who opposed him, I’d think the only in this room would be you, Sausage and Joel.” Gem’s serious tone seemed to shut Joey up, at the very least for the time being. After all, even with the demon on his side she was still clearly more powerful than him. “But I was saying … yes, Katherine, it is affecting other servers. Right now all I know it affecting is Hermitcraft. About 10 people from there have disappeared, including Pearl. That’s where I found out about this whole thing, actually. FWhip, any progress?”

“No, not that I can see. Everyone who should be here is still whitelisted, save for Xornoth of course though that’s a lost cause trying to ban him. Trust me, I’ve tried SEVERAL times. All it shows when I try to look up their current server or try to find where they are server history is this … weird symbol. It’s the same for everyone who’s missing.” FWhip held up the tablet, showing Gem the symbol first as his fingers zoomed in on it. She shook her head in confusion.

“No idea what that is. Does anyone have an idea?” FWhip turned the symbol around to the rest of the group, and Pixl’s breath caught in his throat.

It was the same symbol on the arm of the stranger.

“It looks like the stuff that floats of the enchantment table to me.” Sausage pointed out. “Though I’ve never seen it before.”

“It’s not Enchantment. I studied that back ages ago.” FWhip added. “It’s not in the alphabet or any symbols that I’ve seen of the language.”

“It’s not gnomish, and I don’t think it’s elvish.” Shubble said, her eyes squinting to see over the edge of the table.

“I could ask the Overgrown if they’ve seen anything like it.” Katherine suggested.

Pixl, finally after the initial shock of seeing the symbol again, spoke. “Who from Hermitcraft went missing?” The question clearly raised a few eyebrows, and rightfully so. He wasn’t exactly forward to everyone about being a Death Prophet; he doubted anyone currently in the room knew unless they knew how Pixandria chose their rulers and the gift each one possessed. Well, maybe Gem knew but he doubted anyone else would pay that much mind to the matter. But he needed to know. It could lead to the identity of the Stranger in the red sweater who died last night.

“Do … do you know anyone in Hermitcraft?” Katherine asked.

“A few actually, though not all personally. I do a tournament sometimes called Clash of the Creators. I think Pearl and Sausage did a few as well.” Pixl watches as Sausage seems to think for a moment, before nodding in agreement. “I’ve been on a team with iJevin and Xisuma at least, though I have been in tournaments with Cub, False, Doc, Ren, Joe. Probably a few more I’m not remembering right now. Any of those people go missing?”

“Out of the names listed, only Ren is gone.” Gem said. “I know Shubble will know another one from MCC.”

“Who?” She asked, eyes full of even more concern than they already were.

“Grian.” She seemed to deflate at the answer; Pix would guess they were close or at least on very good terms. “Would you like more names, Pix?”

“Please. I … I have a feeling about something.” Again, more weird looks from all around the table, but his ignored it. He was used to it by now. “Can I stop you if hear one I recognize?”

Gem nodded, before she began listing off names. “Tango, Impulse, Mumbo, Cleo, BDoubleO or Bdubs for sho…”

“Stop.” Pixl’s hand shot up as well to confirm his words. “What does he look like?”

“Uh … darkish skin, big eyes, moss jacket?”

“I’ve seen him.” Pix rose from his chair, everyone’s eyes falling him with interest. Even Joey’s, though it mainly seemed to be for the drama aspect and less for the care of his fellow emperors [Remember, Joey is full on chaotic evil at this point in the story. He’s said as much himself. He’s kidnapped his friends, his only ally. He is alone. Just … remember that in this story. Joey, a simple puppet, is alone. But he’s not overly important in this story, so I would worry all that much.]. “He killed someone, in a red sweater and parrot like wings.”

It was Shubble’s turn now to act outraged and shocked, her voice raising with each word in her question. “He killed Grian?! WHY?!”

“Grian. So that’s his name.” He muttered, before speaking once more to the whole group. “I don’t know. All I know is that this Grian guy was killed by BDubs because BDubs was “the boogey” as he called himself. I don’t fully understand it.”

“Is this …” Gem paused, seemingly nervous to ask the question. “Is this your gift?”

“Yeah, it’s the Death Prophet thing. But I’ve never … never met Grian or BDubs in my whole life. I don’t … I only see deaths of people I’m connected to. Usually just you guys. So … I don’t understand why I could see his.”

“You can see deaths? You’ve … you’ve watched us die?” Joey asked, before pouting after Pixl nodded. “I wish had a cool ability like that.”

“Joey, you LITERALLY have wings and the most powerful being on the server as your boyfriend.” Sausage replied, before receiving an immediate smack upside the head from Gem. If they weren’t discussing serious matters, Pixl figured Katherine would have another Sausage head for her collection.

“Oh yeah. I can just ask Xorny for something cool.” Joey smiled, seeming to ignore the synchronized eye rolls from all the women in the room.

“Yes, Joey, I’ve seen you die.” Pixl continued, ignoring any mention of the demon. “It’s how the rulers of Pixandria are able to keep up with the Vigil. Usually we see every death that happens, which can be annoying if Jo…someone decides they need a bunch of heads of themselves or if there’s a death match happening.” His eyes flicker to each member of the former Wither Rose Alliance before continuing. “But … last night I only say him … Grian. And he had that as a tattoo on his right wrist.” He pointed to the symbol still on fWhip’s tablet.

“Pix, Buddy, I think we’re going to need everything you remember about that vision.” FWhip asked, his voice calm and even. Pixl opened his mouth to speak, but Gem held up her hand to stop him.

“Wait, I think it’s better if you only explain it once.” She stated, before pulling out her communicator. “I’ll message Xisuma, Hermitcraft’s Admin, to see if I get everyone here on the Whitelist, at the very least temporarily. If we’re dealing with this many missing people all at once, there’s a good chance they’re all in the same place. At the very least, we have one member from both servers missing. If we pull the information we have together, we might be able to figure out what’s happening sooner.”

The rest of the table nodded in agreement, and soon everyone was taking off to their respective Empires to get ready for a trip to Hermitcraft for an unknown amount of time. Joey had already expressed to Gem no need for him to add him to the HC whitelist; even if he was he’d probably stay on Empires with his Xorny. Soon it was just Pixl, Gem and fWhip left outside Katherine’s castle gates.

“Keep us updated on any visions, okay? Seeing how late it is, the earliest we’d probably be able to get to Hermitcraft is tomorrow morning.” Gem stated, watching as the sun began to sink below the horizon.

“I will, don’t worry. I just … I’m worried.” Pixl admitted. “The place where he was seemed like death. Where lives were not much more that barter. It felt …”

“Wrong?” FWhip finished, and Pixl nodded silently. “This whole situation feels wrong. Like I could have done something to prevent them from leaving. From …” The words remained in the air despite never being spoken aloud. Being Taken . Pixl shuddered at the thought, of his friends ripped from their beds, from their servers, into a scary new unknown. No, no—a familiar unknown, according to Grian. A game they had been a part of before. He didn’t know what was worse.

“FWhip, you can’t blame yourself.” Gem assured him, resting her arm across his shoulders. “You couldn’t have known any of this would happen.” FWhip nodded, though Pixl could see the words go in one ear and out the other. “We’re going to figure this out, okay?”

Pixl didn’t wait around to hear fWhip’s response, instead taking off with his elytra. His mind was already heavy with ideas, trying to make sense of everything he’s learned. The people he’s seen and heard—BDubs, Etho, Scar—must all be from Hermitcraft. He has a feeling that tonight he’ll see more people in visions. More he won’t recognize; more names he won’t fully understand until he has access to Hermitcraft.

He just to hope that one of those people is one he knows.

Chapter Text

The night didn’t start out the most promising.

To be fair, when Pixlriffs falls asleep the first think he’s greeted with is several minutes of void. It was kind of peaceful sometimes, floating in a black nothingness expanse with only a small hum and whatever noises he was making as he settled it. Maybe it wasn’t everyone’s idea of relaxation, but when your job is to watch death after death after death—sometimes of the same man shooting himself repeatedly—the silence was nice. But he knows silence is something always meant to be broken, so he just waits patiently for it to happen.

It’s a stranger again. He has a feeling that will happen a lot, strangers just appearing now. He hopes it doesn’t last long; it feels weird to be connected to someone you don’t even know. And what was he supposed to start the conversation with? It wasn’t exactly polite to ask someone how their death was, especially when it just happened. It was something he’d hoped to leave behind on Empires: where he only needed to keep track of 11 other people. But Death had other ideas for him I guess.

The stranger in question, one of the people missing from Hermitcraft he assumed, was fairly plain all thing considered. He was a white man with black hair and a very prominent mustache. Honestly, it was most probably the main defining feature about him normally, as the rest of him was covered in a simple black suit with a green tie. A tie that seemed to slowly change shades of green the more that Pixl stared at it. But it wasn’t any of that that seemed to draw his attention. It was instead the burns that seemed to cover his entire body, the lava that clearly ended his life still eating its way through his clothes in fire form. And he was laughing, a panicked and shocked laugh that seemed to be … accepting in a way? I guess that is the case with lava deaths; it’s hard to escape if you don’t have sand or anything to save you.

“Oh no!” He exclaimed, the laughter subsiding as he opened his eyes, looking down at his clothes. His hands moved to put out the fires, rebuilding the singed part of his suit and covering as much of the burns as he could. It was everywhere, like the man had fallen into a pool of it. The burns were still there, the damage of a death usually did hence why people usually avoided it even with respawns, just now much more concealed away with a perfectly patched up suit, save for some redstone stains Pixl hadn’t spotted before. “Oh no. That’s not …” His head moved up and spotted Pixl, waiting patiently as he got over the shock of death.

“Better?” He asked, trying to recover a sense of normalcy to this … well, how much normal could one get when floating in the void talking to a Prophet of Death?

“Who are you? And where … why I haven’t I respawned yet?” The voice had a noticeable British accent, close to probably what many would consider stereotypical.

“This is the Void: the place between respawns. You don’t have to worry about me; you won’t remember once you do respawn. My job is simply to observe and document your death.”

“Well, that’s a bit morbid. Um … wait, have you seen me before then? On Hermitcraft? God the amount of Boatem hole deaths you must have watched …” Pixl doesn’t know what a Boatem Hole is, but he can always ask in the morning when he’s in Hermitcraft.

“Surprisingly no, actually.” Pixl chuckles as the new stranger sighs with relief. “I’ve never seen you before in my life. Which is very weird since I need to be connected to someone in order to you know, watch them die. You’re the second stranger I’ve met in two days.”

“Who was … “ The stranger paused, seeming to considering something before starting again. “Grian was the first, wasn’t he?” Pixl nodded. “Makes sense I guess. So you’re connected to our deaths on Last Life but not … God this a Doc problem if I’ve ever seen it.”

Last Life. The words seemed to cling to Pixl’s mind, sliding in perfectly like a missing puzzle piece. That must be the name of this game that Grian had referred to before; the one they all seemed to be stuck in. Stuck in again. H e’d have to bring it up to the Hermitcraft people; he wasn’t on a server with people where this has happened before.

“Right well, can you help me get back to my friends?” The stranger asked, rubbing the back of his neck. “I … kinda need to get all new stuff.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of important when you die in lava.” Pixl hold out his hand. “Just touch me and you’ll be back.”

The stranger took it very quickly, the words barely spoken aloud before the familiar white filled Pixl’s vis ion as he was brought to the Nether. He was in a Bastion, specifically, the familiar sight of polished blackstone bricks surrounding three men. The stranger tried to place block on his level, trying his best to block the path of a piglin brute coming in hostile towards them.

“Hole in. Hole in. Hole in. Hole in.” A second man said, just as he fell through a one block gap in the floor to the other’s level. The second man was much more casually dressed than the first with a green t-shirt, denim shorts and sandals. The blonde man used the last of his blackstone to go back up in an attempt to escape. “Sorry, Mumbo … Ooooh I’ve blocked you in!” He said, not helped by the fact that he switched to obsidian to get the rest of the way up. “And now with Obsidian, oh jeez. Uh, I think he’s trying to come for me.”

The statement couldn’t be further from the truth. The first stranger, Mumbo, barely has time to block of a hole of lava in front of him before the brute is in front of him. He starts screaming as the brute pushes him back as he scrambles to grab a weapon to fight back.

“You alright, dude?” The second stranger asks, before Mumbo falls into a one block hole of Lava. The question is barely heard above the screams as panic erupts through the group, despite everyone knowing the outcome.

“AH NO! NO IM NOT OKAY!”

“I’ve got you, I’ve got you, I’ve got you! Get out GET OUT!

“NO HE’S DYING!” The third voice cuts though the air makes Pixl freeze in his spectator form. He nearly missed him, boxed off in own little blackstone boxes on the edge of the bastion.

It’s Jimmy.

“NO! MUMBO!” His friend screams as the death message pops up, either man unable to stop it as Mumbo looses himself and his stuff to the lava.

The death resonates in the hearts of the other two as well as a flash of two more people: one mining, another in a Nether fortress. He couldn’t see who they are but could feel their pain. Five souls connected to one life now gone.  Pixl hears more words but the screams are muffled as he fades back into the Void. The scene fades from his view, as does the mysterious Mumbo and he is once more alone.

~~

His second visitor was both familiar and … not at the same time. It was unmistakably Joel, as both his face and the dar…light green, now it was light green, streak in his hair gave it away. But his hair was long and scraggly, extending down halfway along his back, and his front too in the the form of a beard. And he was wearing … a robe? Pixl wasn’t quite sure. All he knows is that it’s green and it covers his whole body with purplish accents for a belt and sleeves.

“Uh … when did you grow a beard?” Pixl asked, his head tilting to the side as Joel ignored the question.

“I’m a wizard now. Can’t talk; need to murder.” The words were barely registered as Joel placed his hand on his chest like he was a Respawn Button (He guess he technically was, if he thought about it). The Void around them fad ed until he was in a cave. Joel was by a lever staring at … staring at Lizzie and some stone blocks over a very deep pit. A pit that could very easily kill someone if they fell down it.

“Joel!” Lizzie exclaimed, “Did you just try and kill me?” The silence between them was palpable as Lizzie looked back between the failed trap and her husband. Pixl notices the baby zombie also notices the baby zombie across the small one by two block gap as Joel hit Lizzie with his axe. “What are you doing?” She asks, as he resorts to trying to push her in the hole. He’s desperate now, as Pixl notices that same sense of bloodlust that was in BDub’s eyes from the previous night’s vision. “What’s going on?”

“Lizzie, um …” Joel didn’t know what to say, and Pixl couldn’t blame him. How else do you explain to your wife that you’re trying to kill her? Lizzie finally moves away from the small progress Joel was making with her towards the hole, eating a salmon to regain the health she lost.

“What’s happening?” She asked as Joel continued to stammer, though Pixl could tell from the look she gave him that she knew all she needed to know. She asked again as she pulled out her sword, “Did you just …”, hoping Joel would give her the confirmation she was looking for. When he was silent, flicking the trap’s now useless lever instead of saying anything, she started swinging without a word.

“Oh gosh! No!” Joel cried as a fight broke out between the two. There are still snickers between them, a small relieve for Pixl as that meant he didn’t have to deal with a divorce when they got back. There were screams of protest and apologize thrown across as Lizzie began to lose the fight, retreating to survive as her health began to dwindle. She cross over the gap easily, but the blocks got in Joel’s way, and he fell into his own trap.  “NOOOOOOOOOO!” The word echoed as he fell and Pixl was jolted back to the void as soon as Joel’s body hit the crafting tables below.

But Pixl wasn’t alone. Instead he was face to face with Lizzie. She looked the same as she always did, with her long pink hair hiding her fins and blue sailor’s outfit. The only thing that seemed different was a small pair of wings that seemed to stick out the back of her outfit and a flower crown adorning her head. Pixl scanned her body for the color changing thing everyone seemed to have on them, and he found in in a little shell necklace draped around her neck. She looked shocked, like she hadn’t expected Death to claim her so soon.

“Oh no….OH NOOO!” She cried, feeling around her back for the source of her death. From behind, the worst way to go.

“Joel?” Pixl asked, causing her look up from her hands at him. He felt a lot better breaking the silence between them than with either Mumbo or Grian because they’ve been here before. Different circumstances entirely but still.

She shook her head. “Zombie. He got me down to half a heart though. I … didn’t realize you kept track of our deaths here, too.”

“Well, I didn’t know either until Grian’s death yesterday.” Pixl admitted. Lizzie didn’t seemed to question anything he just said, simply nodding as if she already knew the events that happened. “Where are you guys, by the way?”

“We’re … “ Lizzie’s usually confidence seemed to falter as she racked her brain for an answer. “I don’t exactly know. We’re on a server with a border. A small one, though I’m not sure the dimensions. There’s … 17 of us including me. We know the rules but … I don’t know how we got here.”

Pixl nodded, taking in all the new information. From what Gem said, there were only 14 people missing between Hermitcraft and Empires. So there must have been 3 taken from other servers. Where was the link? What connected everyone to this place? Who was responsible for all this? Even with so little info spawned more questions.

“We’re going to figure this out.” Pixl assured her. “We’re going to find where you are and we’ll bring you back. We’re going to help you leave this.”

“I … don’t think I can leave before it’s over, Pix.”

“Before what’s over?”

“Before this game we’re all playing is over. We all have to stay until we loose our last life.” There’s that phrase again: Last Life. It felt … wrong, in a way. But I guess that was the case when he’s so acclimated to a world with infinite respawns or a hardcore world with only one life. Maybe this place they’re in was some kind of modded hardcore server with limited lives. But what were the other rules they had to follow? “I think you’re just going to have to wait.”

Pixl was so confused. Thousands of questions were spinning around his head to ask her that he didn’t even register her placing his hand on his shoulder and bringing the two of them back to the cave, right as Joel died. Lizzie was laughing, both in shock an irony watching the man who had just try to kill her fall to his death. The baby zombie was still in view as it scurried towards her and began to attack at her legs.

“Ohmygosh Joel died.” She laughed before realizing the baby zombie was still there and how low her health was from the axe wounds. “Wait, I’m gonna die! Oh my gosh!” Joel appeared in front of her, clearly from his respawn point, as he rushed her with nothing but his clothes and his fist. “AH! Please No! No No NOOOO~! No.” She rushed out of the cave as fast as she could, with Joel managing a few dwindling punches on her. 1 1/2 heart, 1 heart, half a heart left as the momentum finally carried Lizzie across the bridge and away from a Joel who had given up now.

[Imagine the ripples that would have happened if Joel had landed that last killing punch. Who would have Scar killed, since the Southlands wouldn’t come to Magic Mountain via a desperate Joel? What journey would the Enchanting Table take in this version, as Joel would not lose it upon his death to Pearl? Who would have won Tango’s Bet, with Lizzie not placing her bet? How would Session 3, 4, all of them look different had Joel not turned red so soon? Questions that I know I am not alone in pondering, but it is not my place to say the answers. Maybe another day for another voice. But, enough of the more imaginative ideas. We still have quite a few deaths to see.]

“I’m so sorry! You weren’t meant to die too!” She said, acting as if this whole encounter wasn’t initiated by her husband. The strained sounds of her husband began growing softer as the distance between them grew. “You’re going to have to kill somebody else, Joel!”

“Oooh.” A sound of defeat from Joel, quickly turning into desperation. “Please don’t tell anyone. Oh no.” Lizzie laughed, watching as her lover began to retreat into his cave. She grabbed a cooked salmon from her bag, trying to regain her health as she was oblivious to the mobs around her. She was near done with it as the zombie reached her and killed her. Simply, silently, suddenly. Pixl felt bad, both for what was clearly a desperate Joel and Lizzie. The question though of what caused Joel to try and kill her though, remained on his mind as the world around him faded again.

~~

Even in this new world, Joel seemed to also love dying. He soon appeared again before Pixl, the bloodlust still on his eyes and even more frustration and desperation in his face. Pixl watched as the once dark green stripe, now light green, slowly began to fade into yellow.

“Again!” Joel yelled, his voice echoing across the Void as he looked at Pixl. “It’s so … AGGGGH!”

“Why are you trying to kill someone?” The question made Joel pause in his anger and look up at Pixl in confusion.

“I’m the Boogeyman.” He said plainly, as if everyone was supposed to know the rules to the world he was in. It was just another term he’d have to bring up to Gem, fWhip, Xisuma and the others. “I have to, otherwise I’m on my Red Life.”

“Is that, like, similar to your last life?” Pixl asked, still confused about what was going on. Joel nodded.

“Yeah, it’s exactly the same thing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go commit a murder hopefully while there’s still 5 other people at my base.” Pixl had more questions, more curiosities about it all when Joel grabbed his hand, taking back to the scene of the crime, or attempted crime in Joel’s case. It was same scene where he had tried to kill Lizzie, the same trap even, just a lot more of a crowd this time. Grian, the one who had died last time stood with Joel on one side. 3 people Pixl knew to varying degrees—Jimmy, the Mumbo guy who died earlier, and the green shirted blonde from Mumbo’s first death—as well as a purple stranger. His cloak covered any haired covered, draping down to his feet over grey clothes. The middle and clasp were both a dark green that matched his eyes. His mouth was a look of concern yet something is eyes had a knowing look to them. As if he was in on the “Boogeyman” situation.

“Wait, hang on. Joel …” Mumbo started, before Joel hastily rushed across the small gap and pushed the purple stranger into the hole.

“SCAR NO!!” Grian yelled as the group went to go look to see if this Scar (he remembers that name faintly. He was the one Grian swindled the life from, right?) was dead. Luckily, someone before Pixl joined had placed water down in the hole, so Scar was just kind of awkwardly swimming in the stream as it flowed down to the bottom. “It’s okay, it’s okay.” Grian tried to assure everyone over the screams of panic as the possible loss of life.

“No the water!” Joel said, frustrated as the green shirt stranger (he really needed a name for him soon) quickly placed and removed more water into the hole in an attempt to help Scar up.

“This is a clear boogeyman!” Grian’s feathers began to ruffle up as he held up his shield in defense. The others began to back away from the hole and look around, clearly inspired by the display of leadership but still confused as to who it was that was trying to kill them.

“Yeah, this is a boogeyman!” Mumbo said, looking at Joel but still making no move to his weapon yet.

“Who is it?” The stranger to Pixl asked. “Is it Joel?” The words were barely put out before Joel attacked. War cries and screams of “It’s Joel!” from everyone filled the small area as 4 people began to attack the man. Joel began to push back Jimmy and his ally in this world as Mumbo was right on Joel’s behind. It was on the bridge outside the cave that Mumbo did the final critical hit to the man with only half a heart left.

“YEEEES!” Mumbo cried, and the others soon began to erupt in victory around him. “YESSS! With a Stone Sword!” He proclaimed, despite clearly holding a stone axe in his hand.

“Well that could have gone better.” Pixl blinked in a brief flash of light, seeing himself face to face with Mumbo again, the same circumstances as both his last encounter with him and with Joel. The suit was currently on fire, lava marks covering even more of the lower half of his body. And his tie, the color changing part of his look, began to change from the former light green to yellow. “Who would have guessed there were TWO boogeymen there?”

“What’s a boogeyman, if you don’t mind me asking?” Mumbo looked at him, hand partly outstretched as if to hit the respawn button as he looked at the other with confusion.

“Who are you, mate?” Pixl sighed. Right, people don’t remember the Void.

“Someone trying to get you back home.” Pixl responded simply. There was a small silence between them, the flames on Mumbo’s legs long forgotten. It was if he had said the wrong answer and now a thousand eyes were watching him despite it only being the two of them in the Void.

“I don’t know why …” Mumbo started. “But I know I can’t leave until it’s over.”

“How does it end then?”

“When I die for the last time.” Mumbo replied. At the same time, the Void spoke too.

∴⍑ᒷリ 𝙹⚍∷ ⍑⚍リ⊣ᒷ∷ ╎ᓭ ᓭᔑℸ ̣ ╎ᓭ⎓╎ᒷ↸

Pixl didn’t have time to react, didn’t have time to decipher the words as Mumbo apologized and placed his hand on his shoulder. It was exactly where they had left off before, Mumbo and the rest of his friends celebrating their survival of Joel’s murder attempts.

“My stuff!” Joel cried out as he scrambled to grab his things. Mumbo already had some in his hands, admiring some of the diamond tools he had stolen off Joel’s body.

“What happened?” Scar asked, coming to meet the rest of them after pillaring up out of the hole he had fallen into. Nobody around him seemed to pay him any mind and he used the opportunity to bring a bucket of lava to the forefront of his stuff.

“Let’s go!” Jimmy yelled, as Scar pulled out the bucket not five feet away from the both of them.

“And I’m geared up with diamond armor. Oh, I’ve got diamond tools now; thanks guys…” The last words began to fade off as the Brit looked at Scar, who had placed the burning hot lava at his feet. A grin and an unseen bloodlust in his eyes as he pulled out his diamond sword and finished the job. Screams and panic erupted in the area, both at the loss of life and the possible loss of stuff, in Joel’s case. Scar just laughed it off as he used the bucket to pick up the lava again, strutting through with confidence the area where the scorching hot liquid once was.

“WhAt IS GOING ON?” Grian screamed, his voice seeming to hit a multitude of new octaves as Scar approached.

“Ah, guys. Welcome to Magical Mountain. Can I sell you a free enchanting pass? Come on over!”

Pixl could feel the stunned silence everyone felt, especially Jimmy and the stranger who had watched Mumbo die not once but twice today. He was glad as the world around fa ded back to familiar black. He wasn’t sure how much more of that he was willing to watch.

~~

After all that chaos, the night still wasn’t over somehow. He had already seen 5 deaths to this mysterious world, and the previous night hadn’t quite prepared him for what to expect time go around. He could handle hundreds of deaths of the same man shooting himself with arrows to get his own head, but it was much easier when you can see the kill feel and prepare for it. Here he was flying blind to what was happening.

At least it was a familiar face. It was Scott this time, a gash across his chest ripping against the light green stripes of his shirt. It was outfit Pixl hadn’t seen the elf wear since all the Empires had met at the beginning. A blue flannel and blue jeans with sneakers to match, sneakers that now seemed to fade from light green to yellow along with the stripes of his shirt. There was also something new. Right above his ears, Pixl watched floating yellow crystals dance above Scott’s head.

“Well, this must have been an interesting night for you, Pix.” Scott said, running his hand over the gash and mending the fabric of his shirt. “How many deaths on that on Joel alone? Three?”

“You … remember this? Remember me?” Pixl had suspected Scott knew for a while, but to get confirmation here, now of all times was a little too much for the Prophet to take in at the moment. Scott chuckled as he reached into his pocket.

“You’re not the only one touched by Gods.” Scott flipped a coin at Pixl, who luckily caught it. It was a coin familiar to many in the Minecraft community; one plenty hoped to one day hold and own for themselves. A simple gold thing with a baby zombie with a crown on one side and that same baby zombie riding a chicken holding a sword on the other. Stars ran along its edges with the famous initials right there above the word Winner.

“MCC.” Pixl breathed as he tossed the coin back to Scott. “So, how were you taken to … wherever you guys are?”

Scott looked down, his arm playing with a band he didn’t realize was there. “Not all beings are created equal, Pixl. The Goddess of Death is much more powerful that a collective who only really rose to a sense of power about 2 years ago. We are dealing with things much more dangerous that capable of handling. I just have to play by their rules and hope I can keep as much of myself intact as I can.”

“What … what rules? What is this game?” Pixl was on the verge of a breakdown, his head spinning with questions that threatened to spill out at the slightest indication that someone was willing to answer them. “I’m so confused on all of this.“

“It’s too early to answer those questions yet. You just have to wait.”

“How long though?! We’re all concerned for you. Some more than others rightly but still. 5 of our own go missing and what? We’re just supposed to wait until this whole thing ends? How long will last? A month, two, six?”

“The last time lasted 8 days.” Scott stated. Grian had mentioned that too, the last time. That this has happened before. “It should be short. When I can, I will explain. For now, it’s better here if you just Listen. It will keep you safe.”

“Are there any rules you can explain? Like what the Boogeyman is, or what a Last/Red Life is?”

“I … don’t know where that line is. I’m sorry.”

“Can … can you at least say who the other 3 people are? Lizzie said there’s 17 of you, but we only know 14 missing between Hermitcraft and Empires.”

“I can do that at least. Shelby, Cub and False will know one: Martyn or InTheLittleWood. He’s played in MCC a few times. Sausage, and maybe Gem and fWhip, will know another from Legacy. Skizzleman. The last one … I’m not sure if anyone left will know his name. It’s BigB. He has a longer name, but everyone just calls him BigB.”

Pixl nodded, trying to make sure he remembered all their names. InTheLittleWood, Skizzleman, BigB. He held out his hand. “Are you ready to go back?”

Scott nodded. “I’ll see you again. Hopefully later.” Pixl didn’t get to ask about the comment as Scott returned the gesture and shook his hand. The world around him again took him in to where Scott was, which apparently was a cute little cottage made of wood and stone with a moss roof. Scott and Joel were talking as the latter admired the build, with Pearl bouncing on the cobblestone walls nearby. She was wearing her casual wear: the shorts, shirt and black hoodie she tended to wear when tending the fields or just coming back from Hermitcraft. She joined the other two as they head inside; Scott explaining that while they had a door there wasn’t much of an interior yet.

“We were focused on going to the Nether and doing things before this was a …” his voice trailed as he notice Joel place two stone blocks blocking the place’s one exit. “Joel?”

“Joel?” Pearl echoed, turning into panic as Joel began to rush her. “Joel!! No! nononononononono.”

“I’m sorry, Pearl.” The bloodlust was still there in his eyes, filling in as much of the space that wasn’t filled with the remorse of having to kill his friends.

“Joel.” Pixl has heard that voice from Scott. It was his commanding voice, his leading voice, the voice of assertiveness as he pushed Hoel back from a panicking Pearl. “Joel. Pearl, we can fight him, Pearl we can fight him.”

“We can fight him.” Pearl reminded herself, the fight back in her eyes as she pulled her bow as Scott took the close up fight. But the Diamond Axe and gear was better than the iron that Scott wore and wielded.

“Pearl, Pearl, PEARL KILL HIM!” Scott said as he retired but was ultimately unsuccessful at holding off Joel. But the view didn’t stop.

“YES YES YES!” Joel bounced around the place in excitement, but Pearl wasn’t done. She still followed with her sword, still needing justice to what happen to her partner. Joel seemed to realize this too, the panic flowing back into his words. “No wait! You have to Stop! I’m cured.”

“I’m killing him!” Pearl said. There was a slight hesitation in her movements as Joel crouched in the corner, weak as he tried to quickly eat some bread. But Scott’s words from outside as he respawned reassured her that what she was doing was okay according to their mysterious rules.

“No she doesn’t!” There was a small back and forth, as if this wasn’t a scenario imagined by either of them in their heads. It probably would have gone on longer if Pearl hadn’t concluded it.

“IM DEFENDING HIM!” She shouted, as her iron sword drove itself directly into Joel’s stomach. As the blade made contact, Pixl was jolted back to the Void along with Joel and his fresh new stab wound. After all his attempts, he ultimately became the thing he sought to avoid.

“I’m … I’m red now.” Joel said, echoing the thoughts on Pixl’s head. The blood from his wound did not leave as he pulled away, fingers sparking with red electricity.

“Joel, I’m so sorry.” Pixl wanted to touch him, wanted to reassure him, but he couldn’t without sending him away. But Joel … didn’t seem all that upset. He seemed ecstatic as the shock began to wear off.

“Don’t be.” He ran his bloodied hands through his hair, the yellow streak turning red as his fingers touched over the strands. His eyes completely engulfed in red as the new shade even leaked from the iris to his sclera. Pixl backed away as the color seemed to drain from his robes, becoming as black as the night. Any part left exposed, like his sleeves and shoes, was left a deep crimson. The lighting in his fingertips began to coalesce, forming a crown that still seemed to drip with the blood that formed it. But that didn’t matter as he still placed it on his head, closing his eyes as he seemed to soak in his new form.

Oh, so that’s what a Red Life is.

Chapter Text

Pixl arrived early to where he was meeting the travelers to Hermitcraft, only fWhip beating him this time. The siblings watched as he glided in on his elytra, his Royal attire put away for his more casual street clothes. Gem was also not wearing her wizard's robes. Instead, she was sporting the outfit Pixl spotted her in once when she returned from Hermitcraft: a green T-shirt underneath brown overalls with a flower crown under her more exposed deer antlers and features. FWhip was still dressed in his Grimlands Tinker outfit, but if Pixl had to guess the admin probably hadn’t slept much or at all since the people he was meant to protect suddenly disappeared. 

“Anything happen last night?” Gem asked as he landed, and fWhip glanced up as well from his admin stuff as well. 

Pixl nodded. “I’ll explain everything once we’re with Xisuma and the Hermits. Figured it might be easier to explain everything once and not like … 5 separate times as more people start flying in. You find out anything on the admin side, fWhip?”

FWhip shook his head, again looking at his admin tablet. “I’ve been trying to do more research on that symbol in the player’s code, the one you said was on Grian’s arm, but I haven’t had any luck. Tried reverse image search, scoured forums, nothing yet.”

Gem put a hand on fWhip’s shoulder, causing the sleep deprived man to flinch. “Hey, it’s okay. Maybe Xisuma can help with it. You don’t have to figure this out alone.” The Count of the Grimlands’ eyes flickered between the sympathetic Pixl and Gem’s understanding of her brother, and he only nodded in silence as he put his tablet away. 

“You’re right; you’re right. You’re always right.” Gem chuckled and a small bit of tension seemed to drop from her form. But despite the little victory, the sense of worry that permeated all of them remained. 

Sausage was next to arrive, and like the others he was stripped into more casual wear that Pixl doesn’t usually see him in. The jeans he wore were almost the same color as the short sleeve jacket with the only thing separating the two being a golden trim and the peaking outline of a grey tank top underneath. A brown utility belt was strapped across his torso, and his communicator was attached to his left arm as always. 

Katherine and Shelby arrived at the same time, gracefully landing from opposite directions. Katherine’s outfit was simple, wearing a long white shirt under a pair of overalls with sheep on it. Shelby hadn’t changed, still wearing the brown overalls over her green shoulderless top. She adjusted the mushroom hat on her hair as she landed, tucking her wing back underneath her matching cloak. Shelby’s outfit was a lot more casual than many of the other rulers, so Pix guessed it fit in with the vibe of Hermitcraft from what Gem had explained about it. 

“Right now that everyone’s here, I’ve got your books to access the portal.” Gem went to everyone and handed them each 2 written books, each titled the same thing: “Copy of HermitCraft Season 8 Pass” by XisumaVoid. She had two extra books, putting them in a chest closest to the end of her steps with a sign Pixl couldn’t see the words from this angle. “For Joey, in case he changes his mind.” She clarified before continuing on. “Each one has the HC Season 8 world server IP address in it, and one needs to be consumed each time you go through a portal to the world. You’ll emerge at the portal closest to spawn unless you specify a location, like I usually do with my base or …” The sentence hung but it was clear to everyone who was the other example. Luckily fWhip was there to continue in her silence. 

“Also, I have books and quills with our server IP in it in case you need to return at any time. It’s not signed cause if you put your kingdom’s coordinates in it, or at least cords close to your nether portal you can come out that one instead of … I think Joey’s is closest to spawn? Which, not sure anyone wants considering the XorXor relationship he has going on. Just publish it “Empires SMP” or something like that and it should be good to return if you need. Oh, and make copies before you do!”

Pixl nodded as he was handed his copy of the unfinished book. His communicator had his important screenshots and cords stored on it, so it wasn’t hard to place some that were relatively close to his hidden cave. He looked up to see the nether portal glowing instead a mixture of silver and teal instead of the normal purple. Gem stood by it watching as each of the rulers noticed the change one by one. 

“Um … Gem I trust you but are we sure this is safe?” Sausage asked. 

“I’ve done it hundreds of times. Just toss the book in and follow me. I’ll meet you at the Egg.” Gem stepped into the portal, the magic effects surrounding her until she was no longer there and the portal changed to its normal purple color. Pixl assumed it was a Hermitcraft thing, and based on the faces of his fellow emperors he could tell he wasn’t the only one confused by the sentiment. 

“Well then, uh …” FWhip chuckled in the silence. “I trust Gem. I’ll see you guys in Hermitcraft.” And with that, fWhip tossed the book into the portal and was gone. Sausage was next after watching his two alliance members. The three were naturally very close, and Pixl wasn’t surprised that the other followed in immediately after. Then Shubble. Then Katherine. 

And then he was alone. It was only him and the nether portal (and the occasional wing beat of the dragons protecting the Crystal Cliffs while Gen was away). But despite that fact running through his head, the hairs on the back of his neck still stood on edge. Goosebumps formed under his sweat jacket as he felt like thousands upon thousands of eyes were staring at him. It was a feeling he felt lightly with the others, since the Void responded to him with Mumbo, but now that there was no one else he felt all of that pressure on him. Nobody was there. He just had to remind himself of that. 

He was alone. Right? [The answer to that question is no. We know he’s not alone. At the very least he has you, dear reader. Watching over his action like the spectator you are. But we can’t tell him that. Not yet, if we even at all.]

Pixl took a breath as he tossed the book into the portal. It swirled into that mix of silver and teal that he’d seen now 5 times before. Ideas spun through his head as he tried to rationalize the feeling of uneasiness. He settled on it being Xornoth and the Corruption watching all of them leave as he stepped through the portal. It would just … go away on Hermitcraft when he wasn’t around all the tentacles and that Giant Eyeball he saw while working on the river. It was going to be fine. 

Well, as fine as one could be when 17 people are stuck in a game where they need to kill each other to survive. 

As Pixl emerged onto the Hermitcraft server, the first thing he saw was, admittedly, the back of his friends. The next thing he saw was that they were in some kind of oval domed structure made of birch, with chests lining the wall with signs indicating what supplies were in each.

“Gem, that’s everyone, correct?” Pixl looked down from where he was staring at the windows of the spawn area to see Gem standing in the singular doorway behind XisumaVoid. He looked the same as at the last Clash of the Creators Event: a Pink Metal suit with his current Axolotl form coming out the top. He’d never say this to the admin’s face, but Pixl liked it a lot more than the Bee version he’d teamed with before. Joe Hills was also there, standing behind the other two as he pushed his neon green tips out of his face and straightened his light blue @ shirt. 

“Everyone who’s coming, yep.” Gem nodded. “Joey’s the only one left on the server but that’s a bit more complicated of a situation.”

“Right. Hello everyone, I’m seeing a few familiar faces from Clash of the Creators.” He nodded his head at Pixl and Sausage. My name is XisumaVoid, but most people here call me X. I’m the server’s admin.”

“Howdy everyone, my name’s Joe Hills from Nashville Tennessee. I’m probably the hermit that’s been here the longest besides Xisuma. We figured we’d get you a familiar face or two before we just threw you into all the other Hermits. Cause there’s a lot of us, minus the 10 that are missing.”

“We’re meeting at my place.” Gem said, pointing towards a direction outside the egg. “It’s a little ways away in the swamp, but it’s nice and cozy. I think most of the others are already there.”

“Um, actually, it might be easier to do it here.” Docm77 interrupted as his head poked around the corner. He waved to Pixl and the others, but backed up a little upon spotting Katherine (which is understandable considering she’s a cat hybrid). 

Xisuma poked his head outside, doing a mental count of everyone outside while a few poked their heads in the egg to see them. He saw more familiar faces as he began to venture outside the egg: False was chilling on a villager house nearby, iJevin was watching nearby with a knight and what looked like a mix between a butcher and the creature from The Shape of Water, Hypno standing by xB, a much younger version of Cub than he was used to. But there were so many more faces he didn’t recognize, from a man with the biggest eyes he’d ever seen to an old man with cybernetic implants with the letters TFC on his shirt. 

“Alright, I guess we’re having the meeting here then.” Xisuma chuckled. “I think we’re here if I’m counting correctly. Well, figured let’s get started then, I think there’s a lot of introductions to be had, and quite a bit to discuss. But there’s a lot of people here who don’t know other people here, especially the lovely people from Empires SMP, so let’s just get introductions out of the way first before getting everyone on the same page. Okay?”

Everyone agreed in some form, so the conversation began. It was a lot easier than Pixl expected to remember everyone considering … oh. Oh, that’s why he was connected to the people on Hermitcraft. Sure he’d never met Grian or BDubs or Etho but he knew everything about what they did and reported on it on a daily basis! God, how could he forget about the show with Zloy?? Panic, maybe, it was hard to think. I mean, when all the people you considered to be in an alliance with plus some suddenly disappear, it’s a little easy to forget some of the less important details regarding the situation. 

A nudge from Sausage next to him broke him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to everyone staring at him. Right, guess it was his turn then. “Sorry. Hello, my name is Pixlriffs but most people call me Pixl or Pixs. I'm one of the Hermitcraft Recap People.” 

“Right, I think that’s everyone. So … to catch everyone up to speed that isn’t already, currently 10 hermits are missing along with 4 additional members of the Empires server.”

“Is this like last time?” Iskall asked, which led to a few stares, but also a few looks of recognition. Made Pixl feel better that he wasn’t the only one that had forgotten a possibly critical detail. 

“This has happened before?” Shelby asked, getting a couple of nods from others. 

“Towards the end of Season 7, yeah.” Stress elaborated. “Lot of people from the Jungle were just … gone one day. Disappeared for a little over a week if I remember right.”

“Yeah, 8 days.” VintageBeef added (turns out he was the monster, though Pixl hadn’t seen him or Hypno in well over a year). “I think it was like April or something. God, it’s only been 5 months since that happened?!”

“Yeah, we move fast here.” Xisuma agreed as he pulled out his admin tablet and scrolled through a few things. “I forgot about that; thanks for the reminder. And looking at the player lists, it seems 8 of the 10 people who were missing then are missing now. Only one who wasn’t before was … Mumbo. And we don’t know enough about Pearl yet to know if she’s been effected by this before.”

“Grian said there were more of them than last time.” Pixl added, and he immediately felt the stares of about 15+ people staring at him.

“You’ve … you’ve talked to Grian? Since he went missing?” Cub asked. 

“Let me start at the beginning with everything. Hi, I’m Pixlriffs. And I’m a prophet of Death.”

[I don’t need to explain this part to you again, about everything he knows now. There’s 3 whole chapters of that I’m assuming you’ve already read, so there’s no need to reiterate it all here. Where’s the fun in retelling what’s already been told in the same story? Though, it has been awhile. Maybe take the time to refresh yourself before we continue. I'm not fond of repeating myself. Everyone good? Good.]

There was silence once Pixl had explained everything. He guessed that was fair; he did just dump a lot onto everyone at the same time. He could feel his nerves rise as people began to whisper and talk amongst themselves. He knew it was nothing against him personally; most of it was probably about the game. But he still felt the countless eyes—more than what belonged at the table—staring down at him at every angle. It was … it felt the same as it had back on Empires. Unnerving, unnatural, otherworldly attention on all of him. 

It felt like he was in the void again. 

Xisuma cleared his throat, gathering some attention but not all though it seemed to be enough. “Right, well, I know that was a lot to unpack there for everyone. Let’s get a board going of all the info we have so far here at Spawn. Anyone want to be in charge?”

“Oh! I want to help.” Joe volunteered. “I’ve always wanted my own little red string murder board.”

“We’re not killing anyone, Joe, but alright.”

“I mean, if we do figure out who did this they WILL find out why I’m the Queen of Heads.” False added, and there were a couple of mummers of agreement, especially from the Wither Rose Alliance’s little corner.

“We need to figure out where they are first if we’re going to be killing anyone.” Shelby pointed out, her wings fluttering anxiously behind her. “Like besides that they’re all together in this game and that Pixl is connected to most of them, what else do you guys know?”

“Well, when they came back it's all they would talk about with each other for about a week.” Doc reminisced. “But they never mentioned it to anyone outside the … it’s weird to call it a game in hindsight cause I never knew what it was. I always just called it The Experience or The Vanishing. But after like the first week, nobody seemed to care about it anymore.”

“Yeah, they were all sketchy about it at the meeting after they all came back.” Zedaph added. “I remember trying to talk to Tango and Impulse about it and they were super cagey about it. But I tried everyday, for science of course, and … it was exactly a week after they got back. They didn’t even know what happened.”

“Yeah, I remember that.” Wels said. “We tried bringing it up at the meeting and everyone was so clueless. But … not Grian. Grian looked like he remembered.” 

“Grian, when I saw him in the Void, was like ‘Not again.’ You think that’s what he was referring to?” Pixl asked, and Wels simply nodded along with a few of the other hermits.

“Shawammy, did you find anything, umm, admin side?” Keralis asked, garnering an equal look of confusion across all those from Empires.

“Don’t ask.” Xisuma prefaced, before acknowledging the rest of the question. “But I haven’t looked too much at player codes and stuff considering I still had about 15 other people to worry about, and get another 10 added to the whitelist from Empires. fWhip, you have anything? I don’t think I’ve seen you look up from that tablet since you got here.”

Gem elbowed her brother in the side, who looked up slightly confused before noticing all the eyes in the area on him. “Oh, I’m being acknowledged. Um, repeat the question?”

“What have you found out about the missing players, admin wise?” Katherine reiterated, her presence still having an air of authority and kindness to it despite holding no power here. fWhip smiled at her and mouthed a quick ‘thanks’, not catching the eye roll as he started talking.

“Well, everyone gone has this weird symbol in their server history, though still no luck on what it is. It’s there twice for Jimmy, Joel, and Scott, but noticeably not for Lizzie or Pearl. If Mumbo doesn’t have it twice, I think it’s safe to say that it’s the same people who took your friends the first time are the same that took them this time. And that they’re taking more; whoever had it twice seemed to also be in the first game. But Lizzie and Pearl weren’t, for some reason.”

“Well, that’s … mildly terrifying.” Jevin commented.

“Does that mean Harmless Harvests and Boatem are not going to get restocked anytime soon?” TFC asked.

“Yeah, safe to assume that whatever stock is in there is all you can buy for the week or possibly longer.” Xisuma answered. “Can you show us the symbol, fWhip? Lot of us have been around for a long time; maybe we’d recognize it.” fWHip nodded, letting the broken rectangle design project out for all to see. If an exosuit could widen its eyes and raise its eyebrows in alarm, Pixl bets Xisuma’s would be doing it right now. The admin’s shoulders were tense, fins on the side flaring out just barely, hands in a fist held so tight it felt like the metal in his palm was about to bend under the pressure. Clearly, Xisuma recognized it, though he wasn’t sure how many people at the table recognized the reactions between the lack of knowledge about X’s habits or simply because they were distracted as they tried to rack their own brain for what the symbol could mean. But just as quick as the movements of anger began to appear, they disappeared once more as Xisuma turned on his more professional admin manners again.

“Right, well, I think it’s fair to say that nobody really knows what that is. But … It is a start. Anyone who wants is more than welcome to try and research what exactly that is …”

“It’s hard, though.” fWhip interjected. “I’ve been looking almost nonstop since I’ve discovered it. And nothing so far.”

“Oh! And this seems like it’s only really affecting our servers.” Shelby added. “I reached out to Wilbur Soot earlier, and nobody on the Dream SMP or Origins besides Scott is missing.”

“Yeah, and Ren wasn’t acting weird during MCC. Or Martyn. It was InTheLittleWood you said was involved too, right Pixl?” Cub asked, and he nodded. “Yeah, the 3 of us were on a team with H. They seemed perfectly fine.”

“I don’t think any of them expected this to happen.” Sausage pointed out. “Pearl and I had plans yesterday only really made, like, the day before. If she … she didn’t know this was going to happen. None of them did.”

“Right, well unless anyone else has anything to add, I think it’s safe to say we need to do some more research and figure out who that symbol links to.” Xisuma says, moving the conversation towards its logical conclusion. “Right now, it’s the only concrete thing we have linking everyone to who took them. Joe is in charge of the board at Spawn,”

“The Red Thread Mystery Board.” Joe corrected. “Nobody is dead so, can’t all it a Red Thread Murder Board quite yet.

“I’ll help.” False volunteered, adjusting the crown Pixl only just noticed on her head. “Just message us on Comms if you have anything.”

“Right. That’s figured out.” Xisuma said. “Now to the other important thing we need to figure out: where are all the new people from Empires staying?”

~

Since the hermits were all on one continent, everyone was still pretty close to each other. But still, Shelby was the furthest as she was currently residing with False and Stress over in the swamp with the promise that she’d switch on and off with them and Hypno’s giant shroom base. fWhip decided to stay with Xisuma, both for the deep slate aesthetic of the Evil Empire but to be able to dig through all the admin stuff together. Katherine volunteered to stay with Joe Hills and help with his farms in his and his friend Cleo’s flower forrest biome. As much as Sausage lingered at the empty build of Pearl’s, he ultimately decided to stay in the shattered savannah that Iskall shared with the missing Etho. And Gem had her own base she’d use when not hanging out with Keralis in Big Eye Bay. 

And that left Pixl, who despite the invitation from Doc to stay at Octagon, decided to stay at Boatem in Grian’s starter house. It wasn’t anything personal for Doc, and the creeper hybrid totally understood. Besides, if fWhip wasn’t staying at Xisuma’s place then he’d definitely be crashing at Doc’s considering all the deep slate and redstone contraptions. (Pix would be lying if he said he wasn’t interested as well. I mean .. that 8 spawner chunk alone was enough to get him interested in what Doc was doing.) But something about Grian, the man he had met that very first night they had met and from what Xisuma had said about the last time this happened 5 months ago, just seemed to both pull and push Pixl away simultaneously. There was … just something about him that seemed to be the linchpin in this entire puzzle. 

The home was small compared to structures around it, definitely a starter base by Hermit standards as he has seen. It was made of mostly moss, mossy cobble and cobblestone with oak supports and glow berries hanging from nearly every available surface. A spore blossom diamond chandelier hung from above the entrance way with end rods illuminating the place if it wasn’t already illuminated by the big windows on every side. His bed lay next to a giant assortment of unsorted chests right next to the door outside. It wasn’t much compared to what he’d gotten used to on Empires, but it was still enough. 

He felt it again. The staring, coming from every surface like the walls themselves were made of eyes. Now there was no excuse he could conveniently come with to explain the phenomenon or how strong it was here: Xornoth was on a completely different server, no player was around for at least a good hundred blocks to judge him. 

He was alone, and someone or something was Watching him.

Chapter Text

Pixl always knew he wasn’t alone. It was always in the back of his mind but never something he actively thought of when he was in the Void. Other prophets, others that were connected, other … beings. But now … the stares in the Overworld haven’t gone away, not that he had much faith that they would. He was right in thinking they’d only grow stronger in their home. 

“I know you’re out there.” Pixl said, floating in the eerie silence. “I know you took my allies, took people’s friends. Why?”

No answer. 

“Can you, I don’t know, stop watching me at least?” He chuckled, “The thousand stares every second are super uncomfortable.”

Silence.

“You know, I don’t know if this is more or less helpful than like … Scott’s response. Cause while he was dodgy, at least he like … acknowledged me at least. I know you can talk; I heard it with Mumbo. Do you guys like … have a point to all this?”

ᓭᔑᒲᒷ ᔑᓭ ||𝙹⚍∷ᓭ. ∴ᔑℸ ̣ ᓵ⍑

The sound of the void startled Pixl, and he was not afraid to say he would have jumped if he’d had feet on solid ground. “Well, that’s a … that’s a start.” Another small nervous laugh escaped Pixl’s lips, as he tried to orient himself towards the direction the void spoke [Useless task, really. They’re everywhere basically. I mean, so are we but that’s not very important]. “Can we maybe try to speak English so I can … understand what you’re saying?”

“Does Australian work?” Pixl flinched very visibly (he would have jumped but again … there really isn’t a floor on the Void) as he turned to see Pearl floating behind him. She was wearing the casual outfit she tended to wear leaving for Hermitcraft or when spending a day doing tedious work like farming or grinding build materials: a white shirt tucked into denim shorts under a black hoodie. The moon necklace she tended to wear was a dark green instead of the normal shining white it usually was, and a matching pin held back some of her long hair. “Sorry, did I scare you?” 

“Yeah, you kind of did.” Pixl laughed, glad that if someone had interrupted his attempt to talk to the beings controlling what was happening, at least it someone he knew. “Was … trying to talk to the Void, if that makes sense.”

“Oooh, can I try? Hi Void! It’s Pearl from Boatem! Do you remember me? I tend to fall in you sometimes. Not as much as Scar but still.” Well … honestly Pixl should have expected such a response from the ruler of Gilded Helianthia, who saw a demon and decided the best thing to do was to challenge it to a 1v1. 

“They’re … not very talkative.” He managed to squeak out as Pearl pouted. “Um, so … do you mind if we talk before you, uh, respawn?”

“Sure, Pixl. Wait … did you die too? I … you’re not playing the game with us.” Pearl immediately began to float toward him, and Pixl instinctively backed away. She stopped, raising an eyebrow in confusion. 

“If we touch, the conversation is over. And I have … a lot of questions from everybody.” Pearl nodded in acknowledgement, floating back a small distance. He was a bit surprise on how much control she had in movement, but it was Pearl. Sometimes expecting the unexpected was a lot easier than trying to explain things. “Right, um, first off … Joe says hi.”

“You’re in Hermitcraft?” Pixl nodded, and he saw Pearl’s smile grow wider. “Tell everyone there I said hi! Especially Keralis cause I still haven’t done the clock heist with him.”

“Right.” Pixl nodded, noting to ask the hermit later what that meant or simply check his recap notes later. “Everyone there is okay, right?”

“Yeah, we’re fine. Well, except for maybe Lizzie killing me. That … little bit my fault though.”

“Why did Lizzie kill you? Did you do something to her?” He had a feeling, based on other people’s interactions, what that answer was. Still … he had to ask. 

“No, nothing personal. She was the Boogeyman. She had to.” 

There it was, the boogeyman again. Grian had been scared of it the first night, Mumbo killed by one and Joel literally one the second. But he was still no closer to figuring out what it was, why it drove people to kill. Sure, he didn’t know the first 2 boogeymen and Joel was a bit bloodthirsty at times considering all the horse heads he had in the Matral Palace, but Lizzie wouldn’t stab Pearl in the back (probably literally too, since he couldn’t see the wound from where Pearl died) without a reason. What … What exactly was a boogeyman?

“Why?”

“She had to.”

“Yeah, but why did she have to?”

“Because … because she had to.” Pixl smiled softly at Pearl as her face folded on herself, trying to rack her brain for an explanation. It was like she never exactly questioned the rules laid out in front of her just … listened. “She would go down to her last life if she hadn’t; it was the only way to get rid of the curse.”

“That … explains a lot, actually.” Pearl smiled in return, seeming to gain some more confidence in her response. “I doubt this will work, but … can you explain all the game's rules to me?”

||𝙹⚍∷ ↸𝙹⚍ʖℸ ̣ ᓭ ᔑ∷ᒷ ᓵ𝙹∷∷ᒷᓵℸ ̣ , !¡∷𝙹!¡⍑ᒷℸ  ̣

Pearl talked, but it was like listening to an adult in a Peanuts Cartoon. It was muffled and garbled and any semblance of coherence was filtered out by the beings really in control. He tried to look as if he was paying to what she was saying, but his eyes kept drifting and wondering across details of the Void, hoping to catch … something. 

“You get it?” Pearl said, words finally ringing out loud and clear finally. 

“No, but not because you weren’t clear. Whoever took you … They won’t let me listen just yet.”

“Who is They?”

“I … we …” Pixl’s eyes drifted to Pearl’s arm, spotting something he hadn’t been paying close attention to. Something he hadn’t seen since that first night. “We’re not sure, but it’s whoever is represented by the tattoo on your wrist.”

“I don’t have any tattoos.” Pearl raised an eyebrow and Pixl pointed to the design. She looked at it, and now both eyebrows were up as her eyes widened in fear. “No …. Not them. We escaped … years ago. Oh god, oh that’s not good.”

“Pearl, Breathe.” Pixl said, trying to calm her down. “You don’t have to explain anything. We’re gonna get you out of this.”

“You better.” The two locked eyes, Pixl noticing a determination to her eyes that he hadn’t noticed before. “Just … you all better be careful. You don’t want to get on … Their bad side. Tread carefully, Pixlriffs.”

“I will, PearlescentMoon.” Pixl held out his hand, feeling as if he'd taken up enough of her time. Pearl smiled and took it in stride, and Pixl was in darkness, watching three people descending down a ladder. Pearl was the lowest and Scott was at the top with Lizzie in between the two of them. The three were joking, Pearl even pulling out her spyglass and looking up at Lizzie as they went down. 

“I realized this could be the most elaborate … uh,” Scott began, pausing as he struggled to find the word he was looking for. Lizzie and Pearl joked about it as Pearl made it to the bottom where there was a hole with water and a sign. 

“Oh, there’s a sign down there.” Pearl interrupted in their teasing, creeping closer to the hole’s edge to try and read the sign through the water. Lizzie came down, immediately going behind Pearl and pulling out a water bucket as Pearl saw the sign said nothing. “What’s the sign down there for?”

The next events happened quickly. Lizzie, still in the rear, removed the water from the hole and tried to push Pearl in. The latter screamed, backing away from the edge and down the small hallway he assumed Lizzie had made earlier. Scott was frozen on the ladder as Pearl screamed, finding herself at a dead end between stone and Lizzie. Lizzie, who held red in her eyes as she came at Pearl with a diamond sword. There was a brief moment where Pearl was able to push past using her buff form in a desperate scramble for the ladder, but it was when her back was turned that Lizzie landed the final blow into her back between the bones of her ribcage. 

“Idontwanttodie, idontwanttodie, NOOO!” Pearl’s last words echoed through the small space for a moment, stuff still scattered in the tunnel, before Lizzie poked her head up the ladder. 

“I’m cured, Scott!”

“What did I just witness?” His voice was high pitched and flabbergasted in the way only Scott’s voice could be as the rest of their conversation faded back into the Void. Pixl didn’t know if he’d have any more visitors tonight, but he figured he’d at least try again at talking to the … it seemed rude just to call them beings in the Void considering how many types of beings there were. 

“Do you guys have something I should call you?” It ended up being his first question, and he even explained his reasoning again, out loud this time. “Sorry if you guys read thoughts and it’s repetitive I just … I don’t know who you are. Little help with that, maybe?”

No response. He was expecting a lot of that tonight. 

“Is there anything you can tell me?”

ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ⍊╎ᓵℸ ̣ 𝙹∷ ∴╎ꖎꖎ ᒷ ̇/!¡ꖎᔑ╎リ ᔑꖎꖎ

Those were the last words he heard all night.

Chapter Text

Xisuma’s base was not exactly what Pixl was used to, but then again none of the hermit’s stuff was. But the admin’s area had a very distinct dichotomy. Half was a village with walls of calcite and dead coral supported by dark oak beams under copper and prymarine roofs lined with deepslate accents. Bushes and alliums decorated the windowsills along with the occasional berry bush against oak trap door accents. There was even what looked like a starter island with a lighthouse shining over it all. The other half though, was entirely deepslate with the occasional crimson wood accents. It was all dark and foreboding, with its centerpieces being a giant back and red version of Xisuma’s suit on one of the buildings and what looked like an evil Playstation Move remote: a black tower with a glass ball at the top.

“Right, if I was Xisuma … where would I be hanging out?” Pixl muttered as he landed on the roof of one of the buildings on the friendlier side of the base. He wasn’t expecting a response but should have expected after hearing the heavy fall of footsteps close to him.

“He’s been hanging out in his Villager Trading Hall a lot lately.” Pixl looked to see the shining armor of Welsknight beside him as the hermit approached the edge of the roof. “If he’s not there now, he’ll be there eventually to restock the Emporium.” Wels said, gesturing towards the dark building with the more evil looking Xisuma on top. “What do you need him for?”

“Just … part of me doesn’t think he’s telling us all he knows.”

“About that symbol your admin showed us, right?” Pixl nodded. “Yeah, so I am. Glad I’m not the only one that saw him tense up like that. I probably wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn't been working with him a lot more closely this season.”

“Yeah, it was really quick. Maybe there will be some others who saw it as well, not just us.” Wels nodded, knocking the weird metal flap on his knight helmet in front of his eyes. Pixl chuckled a little as Wels pushed it back up and secured it better.

“Sorry, that happens sometimes. Um … the hall is this way.” Pixl let Wels lead the way, the two gliding down off the roof and walking the rest of the way. Wels knocked on the door, and Xisuma was surprisingly quick to answer. He sighed, gesturing for the two to enter.

“Sorry, there's a lot of you here right now so space is a little tight.” Pixl entered to see immediately what Xisuma was talking about. iJevin, Gem, fWhip and TFC were all already there along with the two of them. “At this rate we might move everyone to one of the hills closer to the island so there's enough space. Wasn’t exactly expecting an audience today after yesterday’s meeting.”

“I’m assuming you guys are here asking a similar question to us?” fWhip asked, and the two of them nodded.

Xisuma sighed again. “God I hate being out of the loop for stuff. RIght, we’re moving cause I can already hear more rockets from elytra coming in and this is too cramped.”

“Plus villager noises are annoying.” Jevin added, and everyone murmured some form of agreement. The rockets outside ended up being Doc, and by the time the group had settled on the hill and were ready to start talking, Beef and Joe Hills had joined them.

“Right, I think that’s enough people for this … impromptu Q&A session.” Xisuma said, sitting opposite Pixl in the small circle they had found themselves sitting in. “What’s everyone’s issue?”

“You recognized that symbol.” TFC said, not taking a moment to sugarcoat the response. “The one that … sorry, kid, what’s your name again?”

“fWhip.”

“The one fWhip showed us. You know what that is.”

“That’s not a question.” Xisuma pointed out, leading to several eyerolls.

“Right, I’ll ask a question then.” Beef volunteered. “What do you know about the symbol fWhip showed us?” As if to refresh everyone’s memories, fWhip pulled up the symbol on his tablet, projecting it to the whole group. “Yeah … that one.”

Xisuma was silent for a few moments as he clearly weighed his options. He sighed, managing to lock eyes with everyone in the little circle. “I’m giving everyone a chance to back out right now. Cause what I’m about to say is very … it’s dealing with things much more powerful and much more deadly than anything you’ve experienced. And you get a target on your back if you know. So walk away now if you don’t want that.

“Xisuma, this is about our friends. I bet I speak for everyone here when I say we’re more than willing to risk our lives if it means getting them back safe.” Gem said, the air of confidence she carried as Wizard of the Crystal Cliffs shining through like the amethyst roofs of her kingdom. There were several nods around the group among even more determined stares.

“Right, right.” Xisuma nodded, like he’d hoped it would go the other way but knew this would be the outcome. “Oh god, where do I start?”

“Start with the server Pearl and Grian have in common before Hermitcraft.” Pixl spoke up, getting a few glances from Hermits who probably forgot about his connection to Death. “They both had that symbol on their wrist and were very scared of its implications. So … what server is it from?”

The admin took a breath, collecting his words before beginning his story. “It’s from Evolution SMP, or Evo for short. It was the server Grian was admining when he started Hermitcraft back in Season 6. It was a lot for him, but I was right there by his base and he came over quite a few times with questions. I found out about it back when I was looking for people to join that season. The premise was, from what I could gather from my searching and Grian, was that they would start in the earliest versions of Minecraft and work their way through. Though Grian didn’t exactly know how to program that stuff. So … they had a little help from Gods. There were clues they had to solve to find portals to go on to the next version of the game. Grian didn’t expect Gods to show up from what he told me, since he was still having fun and internally panicking about the logistics of the code when the first clues showed up. But he was thankful and they seemed helpful, save for the one time they covered his chests with obsidian. But Grian … seemed unhappy there. He was spending more and more time in Hermitcraft, and our conversations shifted from proper admin maintenance and pranks to ownership transferring and who he should choose. But apparently … The Watchers liked him. They didn’t want him to leave them.”

“Wait … is that why Grian went missing for a month in Season 6?” Doc asked. Xisuma nodded.

“They had a dragon fight, all 11 members one on one. And … after it was over they took Grian. He told me it would be his last update with the Evo guys; already told everyone goodbye in private. But apparently nothing escapes the Watchers there, and they took him when he hopped into the Void home. Grian refused to talk about what happened during that time, but apparently he escaped. Made it back to Season 6 trying to brush it like nothing happened. That it was just some … extended vacation.”

“Yeah, he was really dodgy and jumpy about everything for like a good portion of that season.” Joe reminisced.

“Sorry, off topic here,” FWhip interrupted. “But … Joe, why are you transparent now?” Sure enough, Pixl looked and saw a more translucent Joe (and was he bigger too? Not sure) on his right sitting between Wels and TFC.

“Yeah, I am. Didn’t expect a drop in Joepacity so soon, but happens sometimes during FaceCam expansion. Still about 15 away so should be pretty stable for a while.” FWhip stared at him like the green tipped man had about 5 heads. Pixl would too since it was the first time seeing this kind of thing in person, but from reviewing old Recap scripts he still had it the other day helped.

“I understood that most of that was English and that’s about it.” The Count said as Jevin put a hand on his shoulder.

“General rule of thumb, cause I know you’re new here, but it’s a lot easier to just … not question Joe Hills.” He explained. “This is … I want to say normal but … it’s normal for him. Like the man functions on his own logic. Honestly most of us are still trying to figure out what he is.”

“Hey! I am a perfectly normal human from Nashville, Tennessee thank you.” Joe rebutted, though his argument lost some credibility when Wels removed one of his gauntlets and slapped it through Joe’s face.

“Humans don’t do that.” He reminded Joe as he slipped it back on, not even looking at the ‘man’ sitting next to him.

“Guys can we please get back to the matter at hand?” Gem said, snapping her fingers like a teacher trying to garner attention back from rowdy students. Pixl was grateful; he had a feeling they’d be talking about Joepacity for 20 more minutes if she didn’t step in.

“Yeah, we should.” TFC agreed. “So … that symbol was the Watchers?”

“Yeah, found out when I finally got Grian to talk about it between Seasons 6 and 7.” Xisuma continued. “He was a mess, looked like he hadn’t been sleeping for days, not much on him but skin and bone. It’s partly why I didn’t invite anyone entirely new to the server that year: after learning what I could from Grian I didn’t want anyone I didn’t trust there. He told me about Evo and the Watchers. I tried to research what happened earlier, but after the whole of Evo ended and fizzled out every detail besides the server existing and it’s members seemed to disappear. To this day I still don't know if it was one person or a collaborative effort or higher intervention that deleted it all. All I know is that what happened in Evo is not known to anyone besides the members of Evo. But it took a while to get up to that point. Several dozen sessions off-world to even get to the point where he’d tell me anything about having nightmares or why he was so scared. There was … a lot of trauma. He was a lot better at wearing a mask during Season 7, but he didn’t tell me any of this information until about halfway through the season. And then … April 20th happened.”

“When all those people disappeared the first time.” Beef echoed. “Was it … was it the Watchers that took them?”

“I … don’t know. I think so. But I know it was probably the tensest 8 days of my life. And when everyone came back I tried to get anyone to talk about it. Their faces looked like they had just been through war. I remember Mumbo being the most worried, talking about new scars on Scar he wasn’t sure were there before, or how Grian seemed to linger on poppies with a look of guilt. Then they just … seemed to forget. Nobody seemed to remember when we asked what happened, talking about those days as if they just got lost in building or redstone. But not Grian. I know he tried to play it off but that mask was slipping and I know some of you guys saw it too. I remember he said to me he was leaving until Season 8 at the end of May not even a week after that. I think all that help I did earlier was my downfall this time; he was tight lipped about it all. Couldn’t even get a name out of him to what server he was on.”

“They keep seeming to refer to lives, so scared of being on the last one. Maybe …  maybe it’s called Last Life SMP?” Pixl suggested.

“I mean … it’s better than what everyone else came up with.” Doc stated. “Though I’m still impartial to The Vanishing.”

“I just called it Cleo’s ‘Trauma Squad’.” Joe added. “Had a nice ring to it. ~Trauma Squad~”

“I don’t think the name is all that important.” Gem course corrected. “So we’re up to the end of Season 7.”

“Yeah. Season 8 I felt more confident adding new people. I was mainly focusing on doing my normal process making sure I had the best applicants and trying to get some new styles and perspectives in. Pearl’s name came up earlier since she gave me permission to use the design for her sandcastle build and she was a part of Grian’s build team. I didn’t know she was a part of Evo before that point, and seeing her work I had basically made up my mind on inviting her. Finding out she was on Evo … it was equal parts curiosity about the events after Grian had left and that like dad instinct to help someone who’s going through a lot.” A lot of the older members of the server—mainly Doc, TFC, and Joe—nodded in agreement. “So I invited her. I never got a chance to ask about Evo though, not privately. Her and Grian seemed to bond so well, comforting each other when things got hard mentally. I didn’t want to rehash the trauma when they clearly were healing in their own weird Boatem way. I guess that conversation is going to get priority now once they get back.” A nervous snicker escaped Xisuma’s helmet as he began to lean on Beef for extra support. The other didn’t really seem to mind, using his hands to play with the fins on the side of X’s helmet.

“So besides Grian swearing you to secrecy, why didn’t you tell any of us this earlier? Why would this info put a target on our backs?” Wels asked, and Xisuma sighed again as leaned more into Beef’s touch.

“It’s easier if you experience it. Can everyone close their eyes please?” There was some confusion, but slowly the group one by one closed their eyes. All except Pixl, who simply stared at Xisuma. He already knew what the other was trying to do. “Pixl, please?”

“I’d rather not, thank you.” He declined. “I … I already know, I think.”

“How long?”

“Right before I left Empires, I think. After the second night. It’s still there; worse in the Void. I’d rather not close my eyes if I don’t have to.”

“What are you guys talking about?” FWhip asked, leg bouncing in impatience.

“Do you guys feel yourself being watched right now?” Xisuma asked. There was a deafening silence around the group as they all sat there, eyes closed save for two people who already experienced it. Pixl watched their body language. He couldn’t see for everyone, but there were some that he could see the moment they felt it. Gem’s shoulders tensed up as she tightened her grip on the staff she pulled out of her hotbar. Bits of Jevin’s slime began to droop and drip more quickly, and droplets began to congregate on his forehead. The hairs on Doc’s creeper side began to stand as he flashed for a few seconds before settling down.

“Oh.” Joe said simply, breaking the silence as his form flickered in and out of existence before settling on what Pixl assumed was a lower Joepacity.

“It’s light now, only a background feeling. Like someone is just behind but if you turn around nobody’s there. But it will grow …”

“Until it’s thousands of eyes staring at you.” Pixl interrupted the admin, as eyes opened to stare at him. “Until every moment alone is with them sitting silently just out of reach of your reality. Doing nothing; only Watching. Just out of our realm of existence.”

“You’ve … felt all that in 2 days?” TFC asked, as Doc put his bionic hand of Pixl’s leg as a show of support.

“I think it’s been accelerated by my exposure to the Void and the players they’ve taken but … yeah.”

“You guys will probably keep with a lingering sense of it.” Xisuma assured them. “I doubt the Watchers would put you on a very high priority. I can tune it out day to day, as I have been the past few years. Though some are harder than others admittedly. Never to the degree Pixl is describing though.”

“So why is Pixl so high on their watch list?” Beef asked. “What did he do to them?”

“I have two theories. One I’m much more scared of then the other. The first is that due to the direct connection I have to the players in their game, I think they want to make sure I don’t stop it.”

“But … if we try hard enough and get enough info we will stop their game though.” Gem insisted. “These are my friends; we aren’t leaving them there if I can help it.” Murmurs of agreement spread around the group, like they needed more confirmation of it. No one had backed down when hearing Xisuma’s warning in the beginning. Of course the Hermits and fWhip and ANYONE on this server would be willing to fight gods to get their friends back. [Not like they’d win, but the sentiment is there.]

“We’re getting them back.” Joe confirmed. “Even if we have sick False on them.”

“I’d go for the Wither personally, but False is good too.” Doc added. “I could probably come up with something deadly enough to destroy them if I thought enough about it.”

“Doc, have I ever said how TERRIFYING you can be sometimes?” Jevin said.

“I’m pretty sure every hermit has said that to me multiple times at this point, but it’s nice to have it reaffirmed.”

“I’m so glad I’ll never be on the wrong side of your wrath.”

“What’s the other theory?” Beef asked, directing the attention back onto Pixl. He swallowed what little spit was left in his mouth as he looked across to everyone.

“I think they like me.”

Chapter Text

On the fourth night, Pixlriffs saw Red. And, like a surprising amount of things in life, it came in three. 

The first was Grian. He wasn’t the first to die, but he was the first since Joel to watch turn to his Last Life as the newly deceased appeared in front of him. His eyes, once yellow, heating up now to Red as he looked at Pixl with a smile on his face, twisted like the predator he had become. It was the same Grian just … more unstable. More chaotic. More bloodthirsty. 

“Oh … this is going to be fun. I didn’t really get this last time.” He said, as the colors of wings felt like they had become muted to bring out the red of his sweater.

“Grian …” Pixl started, despite really not knowing where he wants the sentence to go. Maybe … he could get an answer. “What’s going to happen next?“

“I’m going after my list now.” Pixl watched the man seem to bounce around the empty unlimited space in excitement, unsure of what else to say. “Granted, it’s a very small list though, only BDubs and Scar right now. And … whoever killed me maybe. But it’s still a list. And there is nothing holding me back now.”

“But … why? They’re your friends.”

“It’s life or death, and I’m on the edge of the cliff. One stray arrow will be enough to push me off.”

“Oh, Joel’s here. Joel’s here.” Mumbo warned, alternating his glance between Grian—crouched on a cobble slab a minimum 50 meters above the Nether Roof—and Joel, who was pulling out his bow as Mumbo came towards him. 

“What?” Grian asked, clueless to the other lining up a shot towards him. “Mumbo…”Joel’s face was determined as he fired off a shot at the precariously balanced man, who didn’t even look up until the arrow had already embedded itself in the back of his shoulder. 

“Grian!” Mumbo cried as the other plummeted, his cries of pain and shock and fear and frustration echoing through the empty space until they were gone just as quickly. All that remained was Mumbo’s stunned silence and Joel’s ecstatic celebrations of a new ally. 

“This isn’t the end and you know that. You’ll die and return back to Hermitcraft and it will all be fine.” Pixl pleaded. “You don’t have to do this.”

“They don’t like it if we don’t play by their rules though.” Grian said, his voice becoming more monotone. Pixl tried to look at anything but his eyes, eyes staring at him with the ferocity of a thousand pairs. He settled on the wings, faded though now shimmer like enchants with an iridescent purple color to them. “They don’t like it when players don’t play. Running won’t help. Nothing with help until all the blood spills onto the forest floor.”

“We’re trying to help please. Just … stay patient. If we can’t get you out then we’ll try and stop it in the future from happening again.”

“||𝙹⚍ ᓵᔑリ’ℸ ̣  ⍑ᒷꖎ!¡. ∴ᒷ ᔑ∷ᒷ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᓭᔑᒲᒷ: ℸ ̣ ∴𝙹 !¡ꖎᔑ||ᒷ∷ᓭ 𝙹リꖎ|| ᒷ⍊ᒷ∷ ᒲᒷᔑリℸ ̣  ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ∴ᔑℸ ̣ ᓵ⍑.” The noises out of Grian’s mouth stunned Pixl. They were the same noises the Void would speak to him, the ones he wished he could understand. He couldn’t tell if sound came out or if his lips moved at all, but his questions couldn’t be answered in the short window between when Grian spoke (he assumed it was speaking. A very ancient speaking.) and when the avian touched his shoulder to imitate a respawn. Instead, the Void heard his cries. 

As always, it didn’t answer. 

~

Cleo was the second. She was also the first and the third, death wise that is. But she was the second to become Red. Two lives lost in the span of … not even an hour most likely. 

Pixl didn’t know her name at first when the night started: she was just some random zombie player decaying in front of him. She didn’t speak for a while, Pixl watching in silence as well as her exposed light green shattered to reveal the yellow underneath. Her red hair dripped from water and the flowers in her hair seemed to wilt with her current state. 

“He … betrayed me.” Her words were soft, and if Pixl wasn’t so acutely aware of the silence that preceded it he would have missed it entirely. “Day 1 and … he killed me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Cleo, I’m very sorry for this.”

“That’s what he said before I ended up with an axe in my chest!” Her voice was full of rage, staring at him with fury in her eyes as the heart in her chest beat faster and faster. “I trusted him! He could have told me at least like Ren did! But he didn’t … and look where it got me!”

“NO!” She screamed, pushing back against the diamond axe in her skin and out of the ruined tower they were in. She fumbled with her inventory, reaching for her sword as she made it to the stone and andesite walls, each hit from  her former ally’s diamond axe against her back reducing the time she had left. 

“What are you going to do now?” He knew better than to fight against someone this angry, this ready for revenge against a death so fresh in their mind and body. 

“Well, first, I need a new alliance. Second, I’m going to kill BigB.” She seemed to already be formulating a plan, as if she already knew what she was going to do for the first one. “Optional step: finding out who you are.”

“I’m Pixlriffs, Prophet of Death. And you are?”

“You ABSOLUTE—“ The words never quite finished as her health began to truly dwindle. 2 hearts, 4 hearts, 6 1/2 hearts gone as she hit the water with BigB right behind her with a diamond sword. He echoed her name louder and louder as she fumbled with her sword more, dropping it in the river she began to trudge through, her death looming right behind her. “No no no No noooo.”

“It’s Cleo.”

“CLEOOO!”

He wasn’t expecting to see her again that night, right after Grian turning red. But she was right after him, soot still lingering in her hair as clothes still flickered with some flame. Her eyes seemed more accepting than last time, as if in the moments before she had time to accept her fate.

“Goddamn it, Joel.” She muttered, brushing some of the debris off her clothes. Pixl nodded solemnly, knowing how Joel could be on a normal day. God only knows what he was like as a red life. “Of course the one time a TnT trap of yours works, it’s on me.”

“I’m … sorry for your loss.” Cleo looked at Pixl, a small tense exchange, before laughing. Cackling with a pure sense of joy despite dying; she didn’t seem to care. As she laughed, her heart seemed to pull all the color in her body towards it. It started with her hair and fingers, before draining from her face and clothes, before culminating with the beating heart in her chest. A heart that filled with that excess color and morphed into a fiery passionate bold red.

“This … this isn’t a loss.” She explained, wiping a small from her eye once she was done laughing. “I mean, it is and it isn’t. Now … Nothing is stopping me from hunting BigB. From revenge of his betrayal.”

“What about your new alliance?” Pixl asked. “The ones you were going to when you turned yellow?”

“They have each other; they’ll be fine without me.” She didn’t seem distraught over it, like she had been through this kind of thing before when turning red. “Not the first time being red has stopped me from teaming with Scott. But now I have Joel and Grian. So that’s technically an alliance, right?”

“You’d rather team with the man that killed you than …” 

“I’m Red; I can’t.” Clear interrupted him. “Being alone with so little left is a Death Sentence.”

“That’s weird; Grian said something similar earlier tonight.” Pixl commented under his breath, not expecting Cleo to respond. 

“Smart man. Hate to be on his bad side.”

“Hate to be on yours too, it seems.” Cleo smiled, nodding as if Pixl’s decision was the right one. He didn’t know what else to say, so he simply held out his hand to give her the option to respawn. 

“If you see BigB here, just know it was me.” She assured him, before taking the gesture and allowing the two to be brought back into the game, one present and one past. Pixl watched as Joel vanished into the dark oak forest as Cleo created the nearby hill. From what little Pixl had seen and heard, this was the outside of Scott and Pearl’s place. He watched as Cleo broke the two pieces of dirt blocking the hole into their base. 

A moment, where Cleo stepped on the exposed observer. Where the TNT minecarts began to light. Where it seemed like Joel’s trap had failed. 

And suddenly the ground was gone as explosions ripped through the area. Lava began to flow from the areas of vanished wall as the now weakened Cleo began to fall in the hole now created. She might have survived the blast, but the several blocks she fell into the open mouth of a hidden cave on 1 1/2 hearts finished it off. Her stuff splattered out onto stone as the ends of the explosion echoed out to the surrounding woods. 

And once more, it was quiet.

~

Bdubs was the last one. So close to morning too, as the darks of the Void began to fade into the peachy warm colors of sunrise. Most of him was covered in a moss hoodie, now partially burned and still a little on fire, but the parts he could see were covered in bruises and scars.

“Oooooooooooooooooooooooooh.” The syllable seemed stuck in his mind, seeming to barely register Pixl as his bandana changed from yellow to red. (Wasn’t it dark green the last time he saw it back in Grian’s vision night one?). “I … I need my stuff. I need my weapons.” BDubs looked up, and he locked eyes with Pixlriffs. That frenzied look from the first night is there, but now more intense that it ever was around the enchantment table that first night. More permanent. “Do you have a weapon? A sword maybe?”

“No, I don’t … sorry.” Pixl floated away, adding another name to the list of people he did not want to cross. Not because he looked scary, but because he seemed unpredictable. Not motivated by revenge but by chaos. “That’s not how this thing works.”

BDubs tilted his head and squinted. “Are you that Recap guy? Your voice sounds familiar.”

“Yeah, I’m the Recap guy. Pixlriffs formally. Hello.”

“I didn’t think you’d guys recorded that stuff in here. It’s so … empty.”

“We don’t. This is the Void. I’m a prophet of Death and because I’m, somehow, linked via the Recap to your game I can … see when you die and how.” Pixl smiled a little awkwardly at BDubs. 

“Oh. Um … how long has that been happening?”

“The Death Prophet thing? Most of my life. The seeing you die personally? That only started like this week.”

“That's … cool. Okay. Well, to make you job a little easier, I fell in a hole in a fortress after being shot by blazes.”

“I’m still gonna see it anyways but thank you.” Of all the ways to end his knight, this was not how he expected. BDubs took off his damaged hoodie, revealing more black and blue and a ripped white shirt with a utility belt draped across his shoulder. 

“Guess I don’t need this anymore then. Getting kind of hot in it too. You want it?” BDubs gestured toward Pixl with the hoodie in one hand. 

“Keep it. Looks like you might need it if you want to cover up those bruises.”

“Nah, it’s fine! More intimidating as I go to threaten a life out of Tango. Wish I could talk more but my stuff is going to despawn! Byeee!” Pixl barely had to register the sentence or the movement before he was in the Nether Fortress, watching the man in his last moments before he died. He was crouched and on fire, eating a piece of steak to maintain his hearts as another man fired a bow at the blaze across the way. The other man had red eyes and flaming yellow hair, with red clothes under a grey tactile vest. 

[Now an important thing to note is something that Tango says right before Pixl here joins our game’s final death of this day. “We’re getting Greedy.” What would have happened if they simply left at the one blaze rod and not gone for two? Would he still have fallen? Would we have seen the Obsidian box of Grian and Joel’s in action, since Scar would not have to give BDubs a life? Would Etho have killed Scar for his Boogey kill or someone else? Again, all a bunch of What Ifs other Universes could explore. But this story is about the facts. So let’s wrap this up, shall we?]

“OH! hOt.” He said, not focusing on his surroundings but rather the ability to stay alive. 

“Do you have …?” The words were barely off his friends lips before BDubs un-crouched, falling off the block he was so precariously balanced on. He screamed as he fell but he could do nothing as he dropped straight down to the gravel below. 

And with that fall, Pixl jolted awake. The unfamiliar yet familiar surroundings of Grian’s house took a minute to register, as well as the heart beating out of his chest as so often happens when a death occurs so close to the morning. He’s not sure what details outside the 4 deaths were important, but he takes his notebook out of the nightstand and begins to write down as much as he can anyways. He was about halfway through recounting Cleo’s second death when there’s a ping on his communicator. 

<ZloyXP> So … how willing are you to narrate fanfiction?

Chapter Text

“I hate how this is the best idea we could come with.”

“Correction: It’s the ONLY idea we came up with.” Zloy pointed out as flew away from the ship he was building for the Truly Bedrock server. One of them anyways. This was the second ship he was designing today. “You said we could not tell people the truth.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t think telling people that some of their favorite people had been taken by incomprehensible void beings into a death game where they’re forced to kill each other is going to go down very well.”

Zloy hummed in agreement. “Fair. Now before I tell you mine, do you have any ideas for the fanfic we’re writing for the people missing?”

“Does it have to be a cohesive narrative with everyone or is this more of a one off, one shot style?” Pixl asked.

“One to two sentences of the most outrageous but totally in character explanation you can think of.” Pixl chucked at the joke. “LIke it’s just going to be the vibe of that one Always Sunny meme like … ‘That doesn’t sound right, but I do not know enough to dispute that.’”

“That’s so … I don’t know if that’s genius, cursed or hilarious.”

“Yes.” Zloy grinned, which was a bit weird considering he was a zombie wearing a pirate hat and monocle. “Now, ideas before I make you say with a straight face that GoodTimesWIthScar decided to roll his wheelchair off of a mountain for clickbait.”

“Oh God.” Pixl laughed. “Well, we’re not doing that. For Scar I’d say he’s probably fallen into the Boatem hole but someone changed it to an infinite hole. The death message should be popping up any second now.”

“Oh that's good. I was thinking Scar was still out trying to find someone he hasn’t scammed yet. Or his donkey sports car has broken down on I-495.”

“No, that's Mumbo that the helicopters have found.” Pixl joked. “There’s redstone everywhere; it’s a mess.”

“What about the rest of Boatem? Well, besides Pearl because we can just say she’s on your server.” Zloy pointed out.

“Yeah, local Australian fighting a demon it’s totally fine.” They both laughed, and Pixl could feel some of the tension leave his shoulders. It may not be the most productive use of his time in terms of figuring out what happened to his friends, but it was very much needed. It was a small sense of normalcy in the craziness that these last few days have been. Cracking jokes together and half procrastinating writing the script. Though this exact scenario wasn’t exactly on his 2021 Bingo Card. “But what about Grian and Impulse then?”

“Grian is Grain temporarily. Xisuma is working on it.” Zloy stated in the straightest voice ever for a zombie in a pirate hat and a monocle. “Impulse is lost in the chocolate sauce trying to do more research on his Wonka Bars.”

“I … Love the Impulse one but Grain? Really?”

“Do YOU have a better explanation of where Grian is?” Zloy asked. “Otherwise he is bread; end of discussion.”

“Well, how exactly do you explain how Grian turned into grain? How exactly does that work?”

“Simple: We don’t explain anything. We’re not explaining how Grian became Grain just like we’re not explaining why Etho hasn’t come back from getting milk yet.”

“That’s not exactly a great solution just accepting the fact that were not telling our audience why the person the person they’re parasocially attached to is now wheat.” Pixl pointed out, before adding. “But I also cannot come up with another idea right now and I would like to pass on the question.”

“SEE?! It’s a good idea.”

“It is not and I will come up with a better one.” Pixl stated. “Cause right now I am more willing to accept anything over ‘There is a typo and suddenly he is grain now.’ I would much rather accept that he took a wrong turn down Midnight Alley and suddenly he’s on Platform 9 ¾.”

There was a small silence as the two looked at each other. “Honestly I do like that idea. Why aren’t we writing any of this down?” They both laughed, the absurdity of everything not lost on the two of them. “Boatem’s Done!”

“Yeah, but we still need excuses for BDubs, Cleo, and Ren. I’m saying Tango is up at Minecraft HQ trying to figure out where the Warden is to stop all the “Where’s Decked Out 2?” Comments.”

“Just have to add a disclaimer to not harass the devs online or IRL and that should be good. Bdubs is …”

“If you say moss I will figure out a way to kill you permanently.”

“Can we say that Cleo died since she’s a zombie too?”

“No.”

“Damn.” Zloy scratched his brain, literally, before snapping his fingers like that triggered an idea. “Cleo is on the run because she’s been caught Grave digging again for body parts.”

Pixl chuckled. “The Hermitcraft Recap: The Only show where it makes more sense to say your favorite creators are literal criminals rather than saying they’re dead.”  Zloy laughed, throwing himself back so hard his head nearly came off. Pixl smiled. He wished this feeling that was here at this moment could last forever. 

ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ⊣ᔑᒲᒷ ᓵ𝙹リℸ ̣ ╎リ⚍ᒷᓭ, ∴ᔑℸ ̣ ᓵ⍑ᒷ∷

“Cleo would win against the cops.” Zloy added, once he was done metaphorically dying. Physically he was already dead. “They stand no chance.”

“Oh absolutely. Now two hermits left: Ren and BDubs.”

“Hermatrix broke Ren and he’s currently just a Windows error noise. As for BDubs … he fell asleep.”

“Just … for a week straight he fell asleep?”

“Tango put a sleep mask on him, so he still thinks it hasn’t become day yet.”

“A broken clock may be right twice a day, but it is still wrong all the other times.” They both laughed. “These are all so stupid.”

“But you never gave me a better idea.” Zloy pointed out. “You’re stuck with reading out our stupidity with a straight face.”

“Oh god I have to read this.” The realization made Zloy laugh again. “So let me, pun intended, recap what we’ve come up with. What are we calling this segment?”

The Hermitcraft Recap Writes Fanfic

Pixlriffs: In the Boatem corner of the world, someone, whose name is most likely one vowel rearrangement from becoming grain, (Pixl's Note: I hate you, Zloy) pushed GoodTimesWithScar down the Boatem hole. Just this time it has suddenly become an infinite Boatem hole. Don’t worry, I’m sure the universe will fix it and the death message will pop up any second now. 

ImpulseSV could help him but he’s a little lost in the sauce, the chocolate sauce that is. After his most recent failure with recreating his beloved chocolate bars, he’s trying something different to try and unlock that secret formula. 

At least legally he’s trying to unlock it, unlike ZombieCleo. She’s on the run after they caught her grave robbing fresh corpses, though if the body parts are for statues for her base or for her remains to be seen. She’ll be fine though. 

Just like Pearlescentmoon, whose hands are a bit full with fighting a demon on the Empires server. If we had to place money on the fight though, it’s on Pearl. You never mess with an Australian.

You can mess with BDoubleO though, as he’s currently sleeping. His fellow Big Eyes member, TangoTek, put a sleep mask on him one night and so the Time King still thinks it’s night. Though  Tango of the Tek variety is not around to tell him otherwise though. He’s on his way to Minecraft HQ to calmly ask the developers where the Warden is so people can stop asking him about when Decked Out 2 is coming. 

Note for Zloy: The Image of Tango at Minecraft HQ talking to a Warden has him anything but calm. Think Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire Movie Version Definition of Calm.

 Pixlriffs: Please do Not actually harass any Minecraft Developers. This is all a joke and they do not deserve any hate. 

On an actually calmer note, Grian has found himself taking a wrong turn in Midnight Alley and accidentally ended up in Diagon Alley. He actually found the way out about 20 minutes ago, but the man is not just walk away from prime building inspiration now is he? 

Traffic helicopters have spotted Mumbo Jumbo with a burnt out donkey just off the M25. He’s been putting the pedal to the metal a little too hard, especially when the metal was all supplied by Tango. At least he got some excellent travel footage for the film channel while he was at it. 

RenDog is broken. No literally, we think he’s in a back corner of The Octagon making either the AOL or Windows error noises based on what generation you’re from. The running theory is that trying to figure out the Hermatrix broke him temporarily and he still needs time in the reboot phase before he’s all fine and working again. That or DocM is too busy breaking physics to notice his business partner needs to be turned off and back on again. 

And finally there’s Etho, who simply went to go get milk. He’ll be back soon, we cannot promise anything. 

And with all the crazy theorizing out of the way, now it’s time to get back to the actual events and mishaps that occurred on the Hermitcraft server this week.

Chapter Text

“Can I tell you a story, Mr Void Man?”

It was the first sentence that Scar asked Pixlriffs when he showed up the second time. The time when the rhythm of pistons pumped loudly in Pixl’s ears like a heartbeat while an ender pearl floated above Scar’s head like Fate's own cruel reminder of his failure. Where lava flowed down from around his sides, taking all the purple and … other colors with it. He could have swore Scar’s eyes and the accents of his robe were a dark green when he was here before. Now they all changed to yellow sometime in between the first time and now. Here the purple faded to black, and all the yellow seemed to burn away into a searing red. Pixl didn’t need to call a rocket scientist to figure out the general details of how Scar died this time. He wanted to say no; he’d see all the details soon anyways. But the eyes that hid in the Void, ones he was so used to looking at him, some seemed to focus their gaze on Scar the second the question left his mouth. The air of performance that naturally drew people in even seemed to apply to cosmic unknowable deities. And he was curious too, but for different reasons. It might be a chance to understand the mechanics of this game for once. 

“Um, I mean sure. Why not?” He chuckled in response. “What’s the story about?”

“It's the world’s greatest tragedy. It’s full of epic highs and the lowest of lows. A story of betrayal, blackmail, and death. This … is how seven lives turned into one in a single day.” Scar waved his hands above him, and 7 hearts appeared floating around him in a nice little arch. The one at the very top was red. To its left was a yellow heart and a light green heart on his right. The other four were the dark green, the same shade that Scar was wearing the first time he was here earlier. Pixl was more stunned though at how he’d been able to produce props for his story. 

“I was living the high life up on my Magical Mountain. I had just escaped the clutches of death at least twice at this point, once from the South and another from some of the Reds.” Scar explained as he picked the first dark green heart from the lineup. “Yet I was still alone on my throne of crystals & magic and wanted friends. And people wanted lives, lives I had. So a deal was created and a contract was formed. A life for an alliance, a friendship if you will. A simple enough concept. And it went well enough with Etho.”

Scar crushed the heart in his hand, and Pixl felt like a movie was being projected in front of him. The ability to follow this life that had been traded away, not lost for once. He and Etho stood in a small room with a dark oak floor and stone walls that came to a point at the top close to the center. It was Scar’s POV as he stared at Etho with hand outstretched. Etho was more reserved though, one hand gripping a blue and red shield with the letter ‘E’ and the other sliding an enchanted pickaxe. 

“How ‘bout this?” Scar said, the same voice and charm Pixl was hearing as he told the story to … Them. His tone was smooth and even, confident and charismatic as he took a step towards Etho. “You … don’t have to sign the contract.”

“Ok. I like that.” Etho nodded. Pixl found it hard watching to read his emotions, but his eyes gleamed with a sense of mischievousness that Scar seemed to miss. If he hadn’t seen that look earlier in the week on BDubs and Lizzie and Joel and even on Scar himself, he wouldn’t have noticed it. But it was the look of bloodlust that meant one thing: he was afflicted with the Boogeyman’s Curse.  

“You’re a free man.” Scar assured him. His grin turned more into a smirk as natural, human mischief snuck into his gaze. He had become an animal ready to pounce on the pinned prey in front of him. “But BDubs has to.”

“Deal.”

Scar looked and sounded giddy as he bounded over to a piece of purple resting on a pedestal of amethyst. “Haha! Break your crystal. When you break that crystal, I will transfer the life, Etho.”

Etho looked at him as he pulled out his pickaxe. His shoulders weren’t as tense as when he entered, and the bloodlust seemed to have subsided slightly. He swung at the glass and on the moment of impact, Scar closed his fist around the heart projecting the memory. His eyes were closed as he sighed as he grabbed another dark green heart from the lineup. 

“But all good things do not last. I put too much faith in Etho.” Scar floated up to Pixl; the prophet floating back in reflex. “You saw what I missed, didn’t you?”

“He has the curse.” Pixl nodded. 

Scar smiled at him like a proud teacher. “Very good. And since we’ve all already seen it, I don’t think I need to elaborate much on what happened next.” He pushed the heart over toward Pixl. The flicker of the first time he arrived in the void that night reflected on its surface as it drifted into his hands. 

A pillar of dirt. 

“I only have one block, Etho.”

A signature.

“Signed.”

A fishing rod. 

“Ithinkitsabombidontknowwhatshappening.”

A sword to the back. 

“I AM THE BOOGEY!”

“Break it.” Scar said, voice as cold as it was three nights ago when he was under the curse. 

“I’m sorry?”

“The man who Watches everyone die should be the one to break this heart.” The words didn’t feel entirely Scar’s. It felt like the Void’s words translated through the mouthpiece of a showman. His eyes even gleamed a slight purple as he spoke. “This Death does not belong to me anymore. You have taken it. You must break it.”

Pixl swallowed any fear he had and simply nodded. He grabbed both sides of it and drove his fingers through the middle, breaking the heart in two. Scar smiled, and Pixl watched the purple glint fade as quickly as it came. “So …” He asked after a moment of silence between them. “You were dark green when I saw you. Then suddenly you arrived at yellow. How?”

“Right! The story.” He grabbed another dark green heart from the side, twirling it a little in his fingers like a basketball. “Well, the next transaction of the day was a lot more straightforward at least.“ 

“That's it?” The words echoed in Pixl’s mind before he had even registered that the crystal heart had been broken. Cleo stood in the same spot Etho had once been, reading the same book as Scar watched on. He was a lot more nervous seeing the lack of color on Cleo as his eyes flashed between the open hole downstairs, the book, and the flint  & steel that lay on Cleo’s belt. 

“Are you interested in signing this contract?” He asked with a small reflection of hope in his words. 

Cleo flipped through the pages of the book one more time before nodding. “Yeah, I’m sold. Absolutely. This is something I will do.”

“Sign the contract.” Scar said. His voice was serious as he rubbed his back from the still fresh scar of Etho’s blade. “By the way, you have to abide by all of these rules.” Cleo giggled a little as she took out a pen. “Even …

“I do.”

“If I’m red and you’re red, you can’t kill me.” Despite being a color, Pixl had spent enough time with everyone’s stories to know what it meant. It was a whole different level of being compared to green or yellow. Red carried weight to it. Red carried the unspoken promise of blood at the tip of a sword through your chest. Red was dangerous for everyone. 

“Mhm. I agree to that.” The words had barely left her lips before Scar transferred over the life. The scene faded as Cleo continued to speak, but Pixl couldn’t hear what she said. 

“I had friends now!” Scar beamed briefly, before his smile faded. “And then it all went downhill. 2 reds still existed. And they were jealous of what I had.” Scar pulled down the last two green hearts, one in each hand. The dark green on the left had Grian’s face, pointing a crossbow at the person watching. The light green on the right had Joel’s face, the red scraggly wizard beard standing in direct contrast to the obsidian behind him. 

“They wanted your life.” Pixl breathed. He knew by what Joel had mentioned during his death frenzy that one’s Red Life was their Last Life. And no matter the reassurance that they would just go back to their home servers … nobody seemed keen to lose their last life. “They wanted to survive.”

“It was so sad too; I had a client all lined up ready to sign on the dotted line. But you can never trust a red name, can you?” There was a slight smirk in his voice given his current appearance that wasn’t lost on Pixl. “Not Grian isn’t any better when he wasn’t red. Swindled me out my first life just to lose it again minutes later.”

“I scammed Scar for that life fair and square and he just takes it from me like that!”

“And Joel is just purely unhinged. But they got what they wanted in the end. Well, I kind of had to give it to them…” The hearts in Scar’s hand began to merge into one as the scene changed to the top of a mountain, where Scar was taking signed contracts from both Scar and Joel while Jimmy seemed to simply watch on like a witness. His back was to an obsidian box with lava underneath, a bed next to it and some redstone hooked up to a lever. It didn't take a genius to tell that it was some kind of death, manipulating respawn mechanics to trap Scar to do what they want. Though it seems Scar got some good out of the interaction in the end, despite the crossbow and sword pointed at his face from Grian.

“How did…” Grian started, turning to his ally in red. “Joel, we’re … we’ve put him in a box and now WE’RE getting swindled!”

“Swindled is such a strong word…” 

Grian laughed, though Pixl couldn’t tell if it was out of embarrassment or sheer disbelief at the situation, “We’ve ended up being forced into an allyship. Well, let’s hold on; let’s wait. Let’s wait until we get our lives before we say anything.”

Pixl watched with rapt attention as Scar seemed to reach into his chest to give the men what he promised. His hand didn’t seem to be affected by all the bones and flesh in the way and seemed to just phase through, almost as if that was the intent. His eyes were closed and face was calm as he seemed to fish inside himself before pulling out two glowing green orbs: one a darker green than the other. One in each hand, he seemed to whisper something to them in turn before letting them go. The dark green one flew into Grian’s chest as the right side of the scene began to fade. The lighter green then flew to Joel. As it hit his chest, everything dissolved leaving just Pixl and Scar in the void. Only two hearts remained now. The yellow one floated down between them in the silence while the red one remained directly above Scar’s head.

“So that’s what a Life Transfer looks like …” Pixl muttered to himself. He was always curious about it back when Grian first hinted at the idea because of how foreign the concept was. Life was linked specifically to one person most of the time, so it was both fascinating and terrifying that one could simply detach a part of themselves so freely and hand it off like a commodity. He knows it’s not as simple as a complete removal, seeing glimpses of all the people a life has touched when it is finally ended but … it’s different seeing the end of a deal where Life is the ultimate prize.

“Life is as valuable as it is precious.” Scar lamented. “And we were all happy with the amount of life we all held. No more red and no more violence. It was a brief moment of peace among all of us in this game. A peace that ∴ᒷ didn’t ꖎᒷℸ ̣ last long.” The heartbeat of the crystal between them seemed to grow louder and louder. The cries of those around Scar in that moment seemed to grow louder and louder. His panic filled Pixl’s chest as Scar closed the distance between them. They locked eyes and a mischievous grin seemed to leak into Scar’s expression.

“I’m sorry this happened to you.” Pixl whispered as the two were now a breath away from each other. All eyes were on them as Scar’s smirk seemed to widen. “This … shouldn’t be happening to anyone.”

“Oh but here’s the counter argument to that, Mr. Watcher man.” Scar grabbed Pixl’s hand and guided it to the yellow heart between them. He seemed to take control, as Scar had done with his entire narrative so far, and used Pixl’s fingers to crush the heart. And as the scene faded around them to replay Scar’s latest death, the last words in the Void echoing in Pixl’s head.

“What if I wanted this?”

Chapter Text

When going to consult his business partner about a new idea to make Derpcoin even more profitable, Evil X wasn’t expecting to see a second sleep deprived admin passed out in front of him. He was used to it from Xisuma, the admin passed out at a table at one of the not-so-evil village houses. He knows it isn’t even Xisuma’s own house, as he has been so busy working on the trading hall and the Evil Empire of shops that he can’t even tell when the last time Xisuma slept in his own bed was. The drool that began to pool on the still glowing tablet was a common sight, especially considering what he had been told  about these ‘temporary potential customers’ coming to help resolve the missing existing clientele issue. What he didn’t realize was that the other Admin was very clearly the exact same way. At least, Evil X assumes it is the other admin based on what Xisuma had said earlier about a new guest staying with him. He was sprawled out on the floor against a litany of hand written notes with symbols and timelines that were hard to keep track of. Evil X could see the bags under his eyes despite the goggles doing their best to obscure it. The tablet wasn’t near him though, instead being handled by one of the newest members of the server that he hadn’t really had the ability or desire to interact with much.

“I’m his twin; it’s fine.” GeminiTay said without even glancing in his direction.

“I … didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t need to.” The deer hybrid glanced up, flashing a knowing smile at Evil X. “Most people probably would think that when they see me with the tablet of a passed out admin but it’s fine. I do this all the time.”

“Can you really just …” Tempted by the suggestion, Evil X tried to reach out and nab the elusive tablet from Xisuma. His goals would be made so much easier if he could get those admin permissions. Then the server economy could be all his to destroy rule as he pleased!! Unfortunately as soon as he got close, a bubble of purple shocked his hand and pushed it away. 

“Just because my brother lets me do this doesn’t mean your brother will.” Gem said, once more not even giving Evil X a sideways glance as he tried to regain some feeling in his hand. “You’ll be fine in about 4 minutes.”

“What did you do to me?”

Without even looking up, Gem reached next to her and grabbed a staff. It was a simple thing: carved oak with a glowing purple amethyst at the top. Some leaves adorned the split in the wood where the crystal was hovering, and smaller versions of the main magic source were embedded all throughout. “Simple shield spell mixed with the effects of a weakness potion with anyone who got close enough to come in contact with it. Don’t mess with the wizard.”

“But you’re not … I don’t …”

“Just accept that Gem is Great and move on.” She chuckled and continued to focus on what she was doing for the ‘good’ of the servers or whatever. He would figure out a way to best her though. Overcoming the magic part was going to be tough but he would be up for the challenge.

“I may consider it …” He began, but was rudely cut off before he could even finish his sentence.

“I’m not buying your Derpcoin or convincing my friends to buy it.”

“I hope you don’t mind the holes where the driveway is meant to go here.” JoeHills of Nashville Tennessee explained to his special guest: Lady Katherine Elizabeth, Guardian of the Overgrown, Protector of the Great Grass Field, Collector of Heads, Breaker of Leads and Mother of Sheep. “The papercraft model is still a work in progress and my coconspirator on this project, as she likes to be referred to as, has mysteriously vanished so I am unable to gain more input about the proper structural geometry of the roofs at this time.”

“It’s very nice, though I will say it’s not as colorful as I usually implore.” She commented as floated around the walls of the castle that JoeHills of Nashville Tennessee, wherever that might be, was building with his partner in crime ZombieCleo. It reminded her of the style Pixlriffs employed in Pixandria if he built it in Katherine’s lands. Lot less flowers than she usually likes for a flower forest but a bit of bone meal and time could change that pretty quickly. “Maybe the roof might look a bit better with some blue?” 

“Well I did in fact implore that but based on the images and models of the real Castle Hohenzollern, the deep slate tile was the most accurate for getting the correct texture and look despite the black color compared to the historical dark blue for the roof.” 

“I get it. It would clash too much with the pallet on the walls and the hay bale floor.” While definitely an interesting choice for a floor, she didn’t really say anything due to how good it felt to her claws.

“Well those are more of a safety precaution for my little toe beans then a design choice. When constantly moving around the roofs I didn’t want to constantly be dying. We’re probably going to go with a stone tile but that depends on how we do the driveway and the walls if we wish to break up some of that sandstone.”

“I feel like concrete is probably the best but … why do you need a driveway if there is nothing to drive?” Katherine asked. 

“It’s for accuracy.” Joe said as he pulled out an abacus from seemingly nowhere. “Thank you laboredpickles for the five dollar donation via https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/joehills. That makes us 15 dollars away from the next domain expansion.” 

Katherine didn’t quite understand what he was talking about, but according to the other Hermits she talked to neither did they most of the time. She simply nodded her head as he spoke and did his thing. “Congrats?”

Joe didn’t seem to register Katherine’s confusion and just continued on talking. “The medieval town surrounding the area has a lot more creativity for it but I like the style we have right now.” Katherine flew down to take a closer look while tossed an ender pearl to join her. Katherine mainly zoned Joe out, taking the small tour instead to appreciate the Mythland style in the light bases with dark oak support and deep slate accents. The Acacia wood roofs produced a nice contrast that Mythland didn’t typically employ and found nice despite the typically unorthodox color. She agreed it was a nice style even if it was something she wasn’t necessarily willing to build in herself. 

“What’s this?” Katherine asked as the two approached Cleo’s bodybuilding shop. The place was filled with statues with cod heads in various poses of workout and exercise all with different shirt colors. 

“Oh that’s Cleo’s business. She’s practically a wizard at statue creation. It’s so cool to see what she creates. 

“Seems like she’d use a lot of heads for this.” Katherine smiled as she pulled out her sword. 

“I mean … I guess? I don’t really ask her but she never has asked for help getting these for what she does.”

“I can get her some unique heads if she wants.”

“You know, I really think she’d like that.” Joe looked at Katherine, who seemed to be looking at him like a fresh tuna fish. “Though I don’t know if she needs any more of my head I think she might have enough.” He tried backing away but for every step he took Katherine took one forward. 

“This one's for me back home personally. As I am also a fan of rare collectible heads.” Joe tossed an Enderpearl as far as he could and just started running. “LET ME HAVE YOUR HEAD, JOE!!”

“I am so sorry about this folks but I think this is where the tour for Lady Katherine will have to end. If you do not see a death message assume I lived but I don’t think anyone needs to see this. Time skip!”

Shubble felt as close as she could to home in False’s base then anywhere else on the Hermitcraft server. Sure seeing Hypno’s big mushroom base was cool and all but it didn’t hold a candle to the underground tunnels of moss and roots that constituted False’s main base. It even has some small mushroom plants growing in one of the mossy paths above rivers beginning to be lovingly shaped towards the center. Despite those being where the similarities between The Undergrove and False’s base ended - as False operated on a much bigger scale, lived in a dark oak forest, and had a giant eagle carrying the land where she had all her stuff - it still felt very cozy and relaxing.

“It’s not the whole place,” False said as the two finished up their tour of the Swamp on False’s eagle. “BUT … I figured it would be easier for Gem to show you her base and some of the stuff she contributed. Like the Lump over there.”

“Oh THAT’S what that is? I was so confused. I thought it was just a really big rock.”

“I mean … yeah? Sort of? It hasn’t materialized as a business plan yet but I have faith in Gem.”

“Yeah … she’s very smart.” Shubble smiled as she looked out towards the sunset. “I think she’s going to be the one to figure this whole thing out.”

“I hope someone does. This whole thing feels like the worst possible timing.” False’s face became serious as she took the crown she was wearing off her head. Her fingers ran across an indent in the surface that Shubble knew all too well from the one she had all those competitions ago: MCC. “We promised each other to wear the crowns for the rest of the week at least since it was his first.”

“He deserved it. That Dodgebolt finale was amazing.”

“I’m surprised he even had a voice after that with how loud he screamed in the team comms when he hit it.” False chuckled. “Man nearly fainted too.”

“I could see it when you guys were on that Winner’s podium. He looked so in shock at everything. Almost mirrored my face when he killed me in SkyBattle.”

“Oh you were part …”

“Yeah I was a part of his 5 man TnT kill! Granted I was probably going to die anyways but I’m still upset about that. I mean I’m not that upset because that was really cool but he still killed me!”

False cracked a small smile as she went back to staring at the crown. “This almost doesn’t feel right without him.”

“Hey, you and Pete and SB all earned it too. Don’t discount yourself on that.”

“I said almost.” She chuckled as she placed the crown back on her head. “I guess it just means I have to be the queen just a little bit longer.”

“You will always be a queen to me.” Shubble said. She laid back, almost losing herself in the feathers of False’s eagle as the two sat in silence watching the world pass around them. It wasn’t much, but in this moment of uncertainty and confusion it was nice to simply relax with someone else in nature for once. Shubble hadn’t felt like this in a while, and she wasn’t sure when she would feel like this again with everything going on back home. So she took this peace while she could as warm skies turned into glimmering stars under a dark sky. Hopefully, one day, this feeling could last forever.

Even when he wasn’t asleep, the Void called. 

He couldn’t have known that the place he chose to live had a hole dug directly into the Void. Granted he probably should have considering he recaps the shenanigans of these people weekly but there were some bigger issues occupying his brain at the time. But here he was as he had been most days he had been in Boatem: sitting down on the edge of the hole looking deeply into its inky depths. Despite how dangerous it was, despite the pain that would engulf him if he were to slip, despite the toll it was taking on his mind and health, he still came here more often than not. Looking down at the Void was the only reprieve he felt from all the staring. It was like an old friend, constantly beckoning him into its embrace against the harsh judgement of the world he now found himself entangled in. He doubted it, but someone he felt as if the Void could give him some of the answers he was looking for. It seemed like his ally at least, this neutral territory giving him hints one player at a time to the game at large. Maybe once it could tell him more, tell him something outside the realm of Night and Death. Maybe if he went in and came to the Void rather than the Void coming to him…

“Excuse me, Pixl. You’re in the way of Science.” Pixl looked up from his silent contemplation to see Sausage smiling at him with an elytra on and some rockets in his hand. Cub stood behind him with a clipboard and pen, flashing a brief smile at Pixlriffs before returning to a more neural expression. 

“What sort of … science, exactly?”

“We’re testing elytra reflexes, pain tolerance under abnormal conditions, and reaction under high stress situations.” Cub explained. 

“I’m going to give the Void a little kiss.” Sausage added. 

“So you’re going to see how long you can last before trying to fly back up to safety? You’re playing Void chicken?” Pixl asked. “Do you even have enough rockets to do what you need?”

“Of course!” Sausage beamed, while Cub shook his head behind him. “I am a skilled flyer and I can get out of any tricky situation!”

“Sausage, you’re not my ally but you’re another ruler so let me say this: do not screw around with the Void.” 

“Actually, by definition, we are conducting Science since I am writing our findings down.” Cub interjected. “That is not screwing around.”

“Have either of you ever interacted with the Void like this before?” Pixl asked. Sausage shook his head, a small bit of worry finally sneaking its way into his eyes.  

“This is not the first hole through Bedrock on this server.” Cub answered. “So yes.”

“And you’ve decided to send someone into the Void because ..?”

“Why not.”

“Pixlriffs, what happens when you die in the Void?” Sausage asked. 

“I’ll show you. For Science.” Pixl stood up from his spot, looking down at the Void. The call was strong and irresistible at this point as he took a single step into free fall. He had nothing to save him until he hit the Void, which was much longer to get to than he realized. But soon he felt the black gooey substance at the bottom of the world. The fire that spread across his skin, ticking away his life as more and more of his body became submerged. Every part of him soon became one as he closed his eyes and embraced his death

リ𝙹, ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᓭ!¡ᒷᓵℸ ̣ ᔑℸ ̣ 𝙹∷ᓭ ∴ᔑℸ ̣ ᓵ⍑ᒷ∷ᓭ ∴ᔑリℸ ̣  ᔑ ⎓╎⊣⍑ℸ ̣. ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ|| ∴ᔑリℸ ̣ ʖꖎ𝙹𝙹↸.

Pixlriffs Fell Out of the World

Pixl woke up in Grian’s bed in a bit of a sweat. Respawn was usually meant to be quick with no sense of delay but this … this was different. This was sort of like a dream, or at least how people describe what dreams were like. He wasn’t supposed to have dreams; he was only meant to document the experiences of others. So the Void was trying to show him something. Now trying to figure what that was and how it plays into the bigger picture. 

“PIIIIIIIXXXXXX. THE SCIENCE!” Sausage yelled as he barrelled into Grian’s house. Cub calmly followed behind. “Tell us what happened. What’s it like dying like that? Did the Void feel like a hug? How far does the fall feel like?”

“Sausage, calm down.” Cub said, putting his hand on Sausage’s shoulder briefly before turning to Pixl. “Sorry about that. He’s just excited.”

“I’m very excited.” Sausage reiterated. 

“Anyways, tell us what you saw as you died.” Cub grabbed a pen from his shirt pocket, ready to take notes on whatever came out of Pixl’s mouth. 

“Well … I saw a cactus ring.”