Hermitcraft 9: Savage Lands (book 3)

7: The Fall of Hotguy

(Gem)

We got a whole new rep on the streets after Mumbo's announcement. A good one. Everyone knew who we were. And they loved us. Even the Royal Guards had joined us. Pearl seemed overwhelmed by it all for some reason.

We had to force our way back into the apartment the night after the announcement. The building was surrounded by news reporters. Tilly quickly chased them off.

Breathing heavily, Pearl and I collapsed onto the couch. Panting happily, Tilly hopped up and laid her head on my knees. Froggy meowled, curling up in Pearls lap. Pearl rocked Scarlets, who was fast asleep, crib. Impulse was in the kitchen, making some soup.

After a moment, Pearl giggled.

"What?" I asked.

"That's cool. I never thought people would be happy to see a red life." she said. I turned to face her.

"I've been meaning to ask. What exactly... happened to you over there?" I asked. She sighed, leaning back.

"The strain I had effected your soul. Literally. It tied yours to another's. If you got hurt, so did they. Same with death. My soulbound, Scott, abandoned me pretty early on to go run off with a girl named Cleo. I spent some time with Ren, a different one, and his soulbound BigB before... well, before I got them killed." she explained.

"You can't blame yourself." I said. She shook her head.

"It was. I thought it would be funny to ride over and mess with Cleo a little... but I forgot to close the stable door. And ender man got in. It killed them." she said. I frowned.

"What's an Enderman?" I asked. She looked at me with a startled look.

"You don't have them over here?" she asked. I shook my head.

"Well, The Savage Lands have monsters. Literal, never had been human, monsters. Endermen were some of the most dangerous. They can teleport, have more strength than multiple oxes combined, and a million other deadly things. Ren and BigB kicked me out after that.

"Months later, I found Tilly. She stuck with me through the hard times. We found a ruined tower, fixed it up, and moved in. We lived there for years. Of course, we had interactions with other people. I saw Scott and Cleo a few times. But after a few years, everyone in the area turned Red. A war in our little area broke out. Soon it was just me, Scott, Cleo, and Cleo's real soulbound, Martyn. I killed Cleo and Martyn, and I enjoyed it. Scott... he came with a kid. Him and Cleo's. He had found a way to break the soul bind a few months prior. Then... then he blew himself up. He didn't want to live without Cleo. He did it right in front of me. After that... well, I packed everything up and got as far away as I could from the Savage Lands." she said. I took that for a while before hugging her. She tensed up.

"I'm sorry... that sounds horrible. I can't even imagine..." I mumbled. She relaxed slightly and returned the hug just as Impulse walked back in, beaming. He handed us some soup.

"Thanks." Pearl and I said simultaneously. We laughed at that.

"Well, you two. Today was insane. What happened?" he asked. I sighed, exasperated.

"News reporters. Tilly had to chase them off." I said, pulling a chunk of meat from the soup and feeding it to Tilly.

"Good girl." I smiled, scratching behind her ears.

The oven suddenly dinged. Impulse smiled, standing. He stepped back into the kitchen to get the cookies.

"This is really good soup." Pearl mumbled. I nodded.

I heard the window shatter suddenly, followed by a heavy thud. Pearl and I stood. She drew her axe.

Blood tricked from around the corner, and a cookie rolled out.