Unrecognizable

~Chapter Twenty-Six~

Xisuma's POV-

A dark abyss was all the eye could see in all directions. No floor, no ceiling, no walls, no light source. Just darkness. Xisuma knew exactly where this was. It was EX's abyss. What was he doing here? What did EX want now? What happened to his and X's deal? "EX," the admin called out, looking around for the evil clone. "What do you want?" 

Oddly enough, EX was nowhere to be seen. X scoured the void for the familiar pair of silver-gray eyes hidden behind a red visor of a hellish suit. "Where are you?" He asked, somewhat hesitantly. Half expecting to be suddenly jumpscared by EX's sudden appearance, X kept glancing over his shoulder as he turned around, his confusion increasing constantly. "Get over here. And make it quick; we had a deal, remember?" His impatience grew by the second as the other refused to make himself known. 

Typical EX. Always such a pest. Of course he wouldn't stop bothering Xisuma; why did he ever think that EX was telling the truth when he promised to leave X and the rest of HermitCraft alone? But generally, the clone was there to watch the chaos unfold. He was normally just nearby, watching his destruction cause pain to others with a stupid, smug look on his face. He never hid. He always fought, no matter if he thought he could win or not. That's how he ended up banned in the first place-- he underestimated Xisuma and wound up here, in the abyss. 

So why wasn't he here now? Had he managed to escape? Did he somehow die for good? Was that even possible? X's mind was swimming with questions. Whatever. He just had to wake up. He'd deal with this later. Right now, he had different things that he would rather be thinking about. The admin removed his helmet and pinched his neck, as removing his suit entirely so he could pinch his arm just wasn't worth the effort. Ouch. But nothing happened. He pinched himself again. He winced but still didn't wake up. What the... "...EX?"

How did he end up here? And why couldn't he leave?

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Sage's POV-

The sun was already high in the sky when Sage came over to Void's place. Sure, Void had told him he had plans today, but surely he would let Sage know before he left? It just seemed a bit odd to him; Void wasn't one to disappear without notice, not even letting Sage know. 

He knocked on the door again, as he had been doing periodically over the last ten minutes. "Er, Void...?" Something told him that it wasn't right to just barge into Void's room unwelcomed. However, Sage hadn't been able to talk to Void the night prior about his questions from yesterday, so he figured he should now. Of course, if the other wouldn't answer, apparently Sage wouldn't be doing that.

After a few more minutes, Sage had grown impatient. He was nearly certain that Void was in there; he hadn't seen him anywhere else. If he wasn't, Sage would look pretty dumb. "Void, if you don't answer I'm going to come in," he said warily. What if something was wrong with him? He hesitated for a moment, then took a breath and opened the door.

"Voi-?" He cut himself off with a yelp. "What in the world-?" Sage rushed over to Void's bed, where the admin seemed to be laying. But something was very wrong. His whole being was flickering. Void's body was blinking in and out of existence. One moment he was here, the next moment he wasn't. And when he was there, his expression was one of pain and fear. What was wrong with him? There was no way he should still be asleep; it was midday, and Sage himself had awoken hours ago. He shouldn't even be physically able to sleep, considering it wasn't night. 

Doing what he thought was the best course of action, Sage pulled out an axe from his pouch and tapped the bed-- quite roughly-- with it, causing the whole thing to shatter. If he wasn't preoccupied with trying to fix whatever was wrong, he might've found it funny how easily beds broke. Void immediately crashed to the ground-- as expected-- and sat up with a shocked expression. Before the bee-suited Hermit said anything, he stood up, breathing heavily. "What was that," he demanded, as if he figured Sage knew exactly what was going on.