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Someone had to remind them never to utter the phrase ‘it can’t get any worse than this, can it?’ ever again. If anyone even had a chance to. Things could always get worse, and by asking that you’re only tempting fate.
If being sick for months didn’t rub that in their face already, the whole moon situation definitely did. By the time they could get out of bed with only a sore throat and a half-working voice leftover from the sickness, the moon loomed over the world. The world was disintegrating before their very eyes. And they couldn’t do anything to help their friends figure out an escape plan. They were stuck to their home in the savanna, useless to their friends.
Iskall heard it when the moon finally broke through the atmosphere. Standing in the storage system, the noise that echoed through the savanna was unlike anything they’d ever heard before. Dread filling their shoes, they shuffled out onto the platform.
It was a spectacle. A horrifying spectacle made up of nothing but moon-rock and certain death.
Their shoulders sagged. This was it, then? Their friends had failed to come up with a solution. No one had found a way out. What were they supposed to do but sit and wait for the inevitable?
A shout ripped them from their thoughts. They looked up to the source of the noise only to find Etho standing atop their base, waving and shouting like a madman. But the howling wind and chunks of the moon crashing onto the world made it impossible to hear what he said.
Before they could try to shout back, a piece of moonrock crashed into their home. It didn’t hit close to them, but the impact came much lower. The whole mountain started to shake. They grabbed at the nearest wall to steady themself. Their face paled at the realisation that it must’ve hit the base. And seeing how thin the mountain was in places, it had destabilised the entire savanna.
“Get down from there!” They’d meant to shout. But alas, the sickness hadn’t magically disappeared. His voice was still rough and useless. It came out more like a whisper than a proper warning.
But Etho got the idea. Iskall could see him grab his trident from where it hung on his back.
What happened after, they didn’t know. Part of the mountain above them cracked. The sound reverberated in their chest, forced their heart to beat twice as fast. They looked up. Rocks came raining down from above. With newfound strength they dove back into the storage system just in time to miss being crushed.
But now they were trapped. Coughing through the dust being swept up, they shakily got back onto their feet. They waved their hand to try and get it out of their face. It only really helped to back away from the still crumbling rocks to the azalea tree.
The base was coloured the occasional red from meteorites flying by overhead. The trembling hadn’t stopped. If anything, it got worse with every minute. The mountain was breaking apart.
Etho was still out there. Alone and unprotected.
Unhooking the pickaxe from their belt, a fierce determination took over their mind. Even if all hope was lost, they wouldn’t let their friend die like that. They’d find him. He wouldn’t be alone.
The stone walls crumbled easily under heavy enchantments and netherite. They broke through only to be met with chaos on the outside. Rocks fell from the sky like rain. The wind howled through the base as if it were crying for their loss. But they wouldn’t look at the doom around them. Instead they scanned the quickly shattering base.
They found him, his back against a wall and wide eyes watching in terrified fascination how the world died before him, and instantly jumped to action. Leaping over stone — as much as their still sick and painful body would allow — Iskall dodged hell raining from above to reach their friend.
The ground cracked beneath their feet. “Etho!” they rasped out, chest heaving with effort. “Etho, get down!” Their feet sank away as the foundations they stood on gave away. Before they could even reach out, the entire base crumbled.
The world became a blur of dust and stone. They could do nothing but clench their eyes shut in a panic and let it wash over them. Their body went rigid as they dropped into a freefall. Rocks cut through their skin but the pain didn’t register.
Time passed before they finally found the energy to blink past the blurriness in their eyes. They … weren’t falling anymore? Blinking more and coughing through the dust that heavily coated the air, they tried to sit up from where they laid.
Only to find they couldn’t. At the first move of their leg, pain shot through the limb. Unable to scream, they threw their head back and gasped for air.
It took minutes of breathing through clenched teeth and fighting off the panic until they could get it under control. Chest heaving, they finally looked around. They were surrounded on all sides by rocks. They seemed to be in some sort of pocket, lucky to have survived without being crushed or dying of the fall. Sunlight didn’t reach them but they weren’t buried so deep no light could reach. A steady stream of water trickled down the side of a rock, adding to a pool somewhere below them.
They itched to grab their pickaxe again. If they could break out, they could find Etho. Then they could go find the other Hermits — preferably before it was too late. But wouldn’t digging up rocks just displace more? They could get crushed or stuck even more. Was it worth trying? Was it worth giving up?
So they were stuck. Incredibly, unbelievably stuck. Chances to make it out alive were slim to none.
That’s when they heard a soft whine. Raising their head from where laid on rock, they tried their best to locate the source of the sound. The whine was short, but a few choked off sobs followed it.
“Please … Not like this.” Etho’s quiet voice cut through the semi-silence of the area. “Not like this.”
The panic in his voice ripped their heart in two. They couldn’t remember a moment where they heard Etho panic. He was supposed to be strong, experienced, fearless even. But there he was, sobbing and punching at unmoving rocks, stuck and hopeless.
They tried to call out to him. They tried to say his name. All that would escape his abused throat was a quiet, nearly inaudible word. At the slightest bit of falling rubble echoing around, the noise was completely overtaken.
Was that it? Would they die alone because sickness had taken his voice?
Shaking their head, they searched for any gap that led to Etho. They couldn’t see him but maybe he could hear it if they knocked on the stone. So they reached out. Instead of trying to shout, they tried whispering. “Etho?” Their voice cracked and they could feel their throat protest. Swallowing their fear, they tried again. “Etho? Can you hear me?” They hit the stone, hoping beyond hope it would make enough noise to catch his attention.
No reply came. Iskall leaned their head back on the stone, sighing. They were so close, yet so far. Tears threatened in their eyes. They didn’t want to admit them. They didn’t want to admit this was the end of the world, the end of their lives. They didn’t want to admit they were alone after all.
Then a voice cut through their desperation after all. “Iskall? Was that you?” Etho asked, words hushed and full of fear but with that slightest hint of hope.
“Yes, yes! It’s me!” they whispered as loudly as they could. They tapped on the stone once more for good measure. “Etho, can you hear me?”
For a moment they were scared he’d missed it this time. But a hand wrapped around his own, as far as Etho could reach, and held onto him tightly. “You’re here!”
“Yes, I’m here-” a cough cut them off. Their body jolted, pain in their leg making itself known again, and they gasped. “I’m- I’m stuck.”
Etho squeezed their hand. “I know. Me too.” He groaned on the other side. “How bad is the water where you’re at?”
“Water?” They could feel it streaming down between rocks by their legs, but that was about it. “Not at all, what do you mean?”
“Ah.” The noise of water sloshing on the other side of the rocks met them. “It’s rising. I guess I’m a bit lower than you. It’s at my chest. It’s- it’s cold, Iskall. I’m so cold. And I’m scared.”
Swallowing back the fresh tears trying to spill, they took a deep breath. “I’m scared too. But we’re gonna- we’ll be okay. They’ll find us. Everything’s gonna be okay.” It was their turn to squeeze Etho’s hand. His hand trembled as he tried to hold on.
They couldn’t do anything else to help him. They hated that fact.
A shaky laugh echoed through the base. “Of course you’re sick at the end of the world. I can’t believe I based with you.”
A smile pulled their face out of the grimace. “Oi, you love me!” Though trying to shout only made them cough again.
He laughed. It was a tense but somewhat relieved kind of laugh. As the light leaking through the rubble brightened, Iskall could only join him. As the world started to rumble they held Etho’s hand tighter.
“Iskall!” Etho shouted over the breaking of the world. It still held a hint of a laugh. “We’re going to be okay, right?”
Eyes blinded by tears, they nodded. They couldn’t find their voice. Instead they held onto his hand like it was the one thing that could keep them both alive.
Before everything turned to white, they closed their eyes. The world shook on its foundations, the noise of destruction coming closer to them like violent waves about to crash on the shore. They gritted their teeth to prepare for it and then-