"I've never seen that gem before," EX hummed as they scanned over the page with muted curiosity. Mumbo, on the other hand, felt a bit frozen as he stared at the page and its picture, it was an overwhelming yet underwhelming revelation at the same time. This simple gem had a hand in his past and was now causing havoc in the present, but now he knew its name and its unresearched malicious nature it didn't feel so simple anymore. Such a simple name felt too underwhelming, too simple, for an item that can and has caused so much damage.
His uncertainty must've shown on his face as EX cleared their throat before standing, "I'll uh... go get X." A sliver of worry could be seen through the twin's walled-off facade before they left the room. He could faintly hear their footsteps head down the hall, presumably to wherever Xisuma was along with a quiet conversation when they found him. He fiddled with his hands as he tried not to eavesdrop but luckily, they were too far away and too quiet even for his fuzzy ears. It wasn't long before footsteps returned and Xisuma stepped in without his twin, Mumbo hoped he didn't accidentally scare the evil twin off.
"Did you have an alright nap?" X greeted with a smile as he leaned on the doorframe, "I hope EX didn't scare you, I needed to take care of the admin panel and I didn't want to leave you alone."
"Y-yes. They didn't scare me but Um," Mumbo floundered and clutched the book tightly in his lap, "I know what's wrong with Ren!" He suddenly blurted out before cringing and mumbling an embarrassed sorry.
"It's alright. What's wrong with Ren?" The admin quickly took a seat next to the other hermit, glancing between him and the book in his lap.
"He hasn't been acting himself lately, enough that Doc was worried about him," Mumbo loosened his grip on the book and passed it over so Xisuma could read the page. "That crown Ren's been wearing since he started his monarch story has this gem in it and... I recognize it." He watched intently as Xisuma read the article; the admin's face pinched in worry.
"Oh... This isn't good," The admin sighed.
"Exactly, we need to get that crown away from him before anything happens." Mumbo dreaded the thought of Ren possibly going after another hermit due to the delusions of a harmless-looking gem.
"Now slow down. It says not much is known about this gem, we could be hurting him more than helping if we take the crown off of him," Xisuma pointed out as he looked back at the book.
"Pants... Yeah. But how would we figure that out? This is the only book EX and I found so far about it." Mumbo glanced around the room again at the various books, wondering if there could be another updated volume that had more information.
"This must be the only book I have on it then if EX helped you. He knows every book in here," X sighed and placed the book on the coffee table, a sudden determined look in his eyes. "Give me three days, and I'll ask around if anyone knows more information about that gem. If not, we'll take the crown, store away the gem, and help him as best as we can from there."
Mumbo nodded, "Sounds like a plan. Thanks, X." He hoped for Ren's sake that Xisuma found something wherever he looked, he hadn't considered if there would be adverse effects if they were to cold turkey him with the gem's influence.
A small smile returned to the admin's face, "Now in the meantime, I want you to take it easy. I know you want to help Ren, but you have to take care of yourself too."
The mustached hermit had to suppress an eye roll, "You sound like such a parent," He halfheartedly huffed with a telling smirk.
"Perks of being an admin for this long I guess," X chuckled before standing, "I'm going to start contacting some other admins and friends of mine as soon as I finish up the server pruning. You're welcome to stay, I think EX already disappeared for the day, so it'll just be you in here."
"I'll head back to my base in a moment, thanks X. Good luck with the server stuff." Mumbo smiled up at the admin.
X laughed, "I'll need it. See you Mumbo."
"See ya X," He called after the admin as he left and headed back to wherever his stationed admin room was. Mumbo sat with himself for a moment, taking the time to collect himself before he took out his communicator to check on it. He hadn't touched it since he left Doc's place earlier and he was curious what the server had been up to. He was surprised to find messages from Zedaph, Cub, and Doc who were all wondering how he was doing or if he needed anything.
A pebble of guilt sat in his stomach at the unread messages. They must've seen him earlier in the shopping district, X did mention that they tried to help but didn't want to make anything worse. He quickly sent a reply to each of them letting them know he was doing okay, and that he didn't mean to scare anyone. He also typed out another message to Doc and Grian, explaining what he found and asking if they were busy. That way they could meet up and he could show them his findings as well as their plan on how best to help Ren. The pair sent messages back relatively quickly and soon enough they had plans to meet at Mumbo's base in about ten minutes. The cow hybrid took a picture of the page of information and left the book open on the table before he headed for home.
After arriving back at his home base Mumbo kept himself busy while he waited for Grian and Doc to arrive. He idly organized some shulkers in his main storage room, something to keep his hands busy in the meantime. He was halfway through the shulker when he heard two pairs of footsteps enter his base. He quickly set the shulker aside and rushed to meet them in the living room. Mumbo went to greet them but suddenly Doc dashed over and engulfed him in a sudden hug. It was slightly unusual for the creeper to be so touchy-feely, but nevertheless, Mumbo hugged the other hermit back slightly confused.
"I'm glad you're alright," Doc mumbled into Mumbo's shoulder, squeezing him once before letting go. The cow hybrid imminently noticed as Doc pulled away that he wasn't wearing his signature white lab coat, and instead wore a simple black tank top.
"I'm okay," Mumbo reassured as Grian looked at the two with confusion, the mustache hermit avoiding his gaze as he tried his best to ignore it. If he ignored the issue, it would simply go away!
"What happened?" Grian gave a confused look to both the hermits, "And did you lose your lab coat Doc?"
"No, it's at my base. I need to do laundry is all," Doc answered before turning Mumbo, "What did happen? X didn't tell us anything other than you needed some space."
"I uh... I just got spooked at the shopping district because of- I'll explain later! But good news, I found the gem in one of Xisuma's books!" Mumbo quickly changed the subject, he'd tell them what happened eventually but it all still felt a bit raw, and he'd love a distraction from it. The avian looked at him skeptically but let the cow hybrid present his finds.
Mumbo pulled out his communicator and handed it to the pair so they could read through the short article he found. Both gasped at how little information there was along with the single image of it. He also got them up to speed with Xisuma's concerns and plans to get that crown safely from Ren. "X is asking around if anyone knows anything. He's going to spend the next three days seeing if he can find more information before we try to take the crown from him."
"Looks like we play the waiting game with the King then," Grian commented as the trio nodded, "Now, what happened at the shopping district?" He added and looked to Mumbo.
The hermit sighed, hoping the avian would've let that part go or had possibly forgotten about it. "I had a flashback... at the shopping district," He hesitantly said quietly, as if talking about it would trigger another one.
"Do you know what caused it?" Doc asked as his brows furrowed with concern.
"Um... I think it was the lab coats you, Cub, and Zedaph were wearing," Mumbo felt odd admitting this to the hybrid whose daily attire was lab coats.
"Void Mumbo... I'm sorry, I had no idea," The creeper's ears drooped as he apologized.
"It's alright, there's no way you could've known. Void, I didn't even understand why that affected me in the first place..." The cow hybrid sighed as his tail twitched with slight irritation. It had never been an issue in the past with him so why was it an issue now? The question only served to further frustrate him with the ordeal.
"My lab coat never seemed to scare you before, right?" Doc asked with concern.
Mumbo shook his head, "No, I think because it was a group wearing them instead of just one. I never had any issues when Zedaph was wearing lab coats last season. I don't get it." His own ears started to droop as the thought of a simple white lab coat becoming another weak point was a new level of pathetic for him.
"I think you've been stressed about Ren and that gem a lot lately. Maybe lab coats might be connected to why you recognize the gem, which is why it caused such a strong reaction?" Grian offered with a shrug.
Mumbo froze at Grian's hypothesis, quickly realizing the avian was right. A wave of icy cold washed over him as he shuttered at the realization, a wing was quick to wrap around his shoulders along with a warm paw resting on his arm. "It's from my previous server," He blurted out before the pair could speak up, "They wore lab coats and that gem," He added in almost a whisper.
"I'm going to assume they weren't nice, were they?" Grian asked gently to which Mumbo nodded in response, knowing this wasn't a topic the avian was going to push for an explanation. "Sounds like this calls for another sleepover tonight. Are you up for that?" Grian asked with a hopeful smile.
"I was going to ask but I wasn't sure..." The mustache hermit nervously said.
"For the record Mumbo, I'd never turn down a sleepover with you," Grian said with a smile.
"Me neither," Doc echoed with a smile too.
The trio soon moved to the nest room to get comfortable and catch up with the latest server gossip, making sure to take it with a grain of salt. The distraction was very welcomed for Mumbo which helped him relax and kept his mind off it all for a moment. They talked about builds, redstone, and upcoming projects until the sun started to set. By the time pinks and oranges colored the sky, Grian had brought up his memories of when he first joined hermitcraft. Doc and Mumbo talked about their own memories of when they first joined, joking that Grian was still young in terms of how long he's been on the server. Doc pointed out that Mumbo was the oldest member in the room as he had been on hermitcraft a season before the creeper had joined.
"Mumbo?" Doc spoke up as the trio settled down in the cow hybrid's nest, pulling blankets over themselves and getting settled in the nest.
"Hm?" Mumbo hummed and turned to face the creeper hybrid.
"Were you scared of me when I first joined hermitcraft?" Doc asked curiously, "I don't remember if I wore lab coats around the time or not."
"I was scared of mostly everything back then so probably a bit. Void, I was terrified of the wind if it blew too hard," Mumbo huffed thinking back to when the violent rustle of the trees and grass had made him spend weeks indoors due to fear. A handful of hermits would drop by to check up on him, mainly Xisuma and Keralis, and would drop off some food and materials. TFC had been the hermit who had finally got him out of his base after that incident, the hermit had taken him into his own base to show it off and his extensive mines, which had been a great distraction.
"The wind?" Grian asked cautiously and looked at the hermit in disbelief.
"When I first came to Hermitcraft I'd forgotten what most normal things sounded like or even looked like..." The cow hybrid trailed off thinking back to those stark four walls before shaking the memory, absently straightening a couple of Grian's feathers to distract himself.
"Wow..." Doc whispered, sounding like he had been punched in the gut.
"Let's get some rest, enough thinking for today," Grian spoke up and draped a wing over the hermits. The trio echoed sentiments of goodnight before settling in and falling asleep snugly tucked in with Grian's wing.
~~~~~~~
After yet another successful sleepover the hermits parted ways after they had gotten ready for the day and went to continue on their own projects. In the meantime, Mumbo had to keep himself busy until Xisuma got back with information, or until the three days were up. Said amount of days already felt daunting and long for him, he even finished sorting through the shulkers he started to organize yesterday, and it wasn't barely even noon yet.
Maybe he could see what another hermit was up to, with Grian and Doc working on their own projects he didn't want to bother them right now. He had to find someone else to either help out or hang out with to keep himself busy for the day. The sooner Ren was back to himself, and that gem taken care of, the sooner the server could go back to normal. He pulled out his communicator and mulled over the list of active hermits when a name stood out to him, Keralis. He really needed to say thank you and after what happened at the shopping district, he felt guilty about that situation but was ultimately glad the wide-eyed hermit had showed up.
Since he was already in his storage room, he decided to put a care package together for the hermit. With some metals, building materials, and some redstone Mumbo made a well-rounded gift box, something he knew Keralis would enjoy. He tucked the box into his inventory, strapped on his elytra, and grabbed a handful of rockets before heading out to the other hermit's base.
The flight to the hermit's base took a bit to get to but once he got there he gasped at the base. The view above the sprawling industrial scape was beautiful and Mumbo couldn't help but circle a few times to look at it all. Then, with a less-than-graceful but scrape-free landing, he landed and pulled out his communicator to message the owner of the intricate build.
[MumboJumbo] Are you at your base by any chance?
[Keralis] I am! Need something sweet face?
[MumboJumbo] I have a present for you! I'm over by your crane.
[Karalis] Bumbo! You shouldn't have! I'll be there soon!
Mumbo smiled and pocketed his communicator before he plopped the shulker down, idly looking around at the base as he waited for the hermit to find him.
"Here you are! Glad to see you!" Keralis called out as he glided over into sight and landed next to Mumbo. "A present brings you to my humble shipyard you say?" He smiled brightly.
"I wanted to give you this as a thank you, for what happened a couple of days ago," Mumbo said nervously as he gestured to the shulker sitting on the ground.
"You don't need to thank me! I'm only happy you're alright."
"I-I know, but I probably scared you half to death and I feel bad about that and-"
"Oh enough, can I give you a hug?" Keralis interrupted quickly and opened his arms, waiting for an answer.
Mumbo nodded and suddenly he had an armful of the hermit engulfing him in a hug, which was quickly reciprocated.
"I'm glad you're alright sweet face, I'll admit I was worried, " Keralis said as he squeezed Mumbo before letting go.
"I'm really glad you found me," Mumbo admitted with a smile, he genuinely was really glad Keralis found him.
"Papa K is always around to help, and I'm sure many other hermits are too. Remember that okay?" The other hermit said and smiled softly at Mumbo.
"I appreciate it, thank you. I've been trying to keep that in mind, but sometimes easier said than done you know?"
"Yes, it is definitely. There's always a handful of hermits awake at any hour for company Shashwammy likes to tell me."
Mumbo chuckled, "Especially with some hermit's sleep schedules, yeah. Now you have to take this shulker or you'll make me sad, I made it just for you."
"No! Don't be sad Bumbo, I'll take it! But only if you let me give you a tour of my shipyard base."
"Deal," Mumbo said and the pair shook hands while chuckling at each other.
The tour around Keralis' base was amazing and gave Mumbo some ideas of things he to add to his own base, he even gave Keralis some ideas too. The pair spent most of the day until late evening touring the base, which had taken a while due to the size and amount of detail of it all, and then Keralis insisted on eating together before Mumbo left for home. It was nice catching up with the hermit as they ate pork chops and steamed carrots together, passing on light-hearted server gossip and commenting on how other hermit's builds have been coming along. By the time Mumbo had gotten home his ears and tail had started to ache from being tucked away for so long. It had been such a relief to unpin his ears and let his tail sway free as he settled into his nest for the night.
~~~~~~~
It was the last day of waiting and Mumbo had continued to keep himself busy with how restless he felt. He trusted the admin but the sooner this gem issue was over the sooner he could relax. So, he kept himself busy today by doing what he does best, working with redstone. He started a simple circuit and challenged himself to see if he could improve it in any way. Mumbo wasn't sure how long he had been messing around with the red dust before he was jostled out of his tinkering as his communicator buzzed. He wiped his hands as clean as they could get with a nearby rag and pulled out the device to see who it was.
[Xisuma] Are you busy at the moment?
[MumboJumbo] Not really, just tinkering. Why?
[Xisuma] Mind if I drop by? I finally have information on that gem.
[MumboJumbo] I don't mind, head on over and come inside.
Quickly Mumbo got to work cleaning himself up, having to change clothes with how much redstone was caked on his sleeves, and getting the little project cleaned up and put away. He also made sure to pin his ears and tuck his tail away just in case they left the safety of his vault. He finally was cleaned up and had just sat down in the living room when he heard Xisuma let himself inside. "Hey X," Mumbo greeted as the admin joined him in the living room.
"Hi Mumbo. There was a note on the door for you," Xisuma said as he handed over the letter before taking a seat. It looked almost similar to the letter he got for Ren's coronation. "It looks like it's from the King," He added with a look of confusion on both their faces. The horned hermit quickly opened it and read it over, the gem information could wait a moment.
'To Sir Mumbo of the Jumbo,
You have been summoned to the Crastle to meet with his royal highness King Ren in the throne room. It is of utmost importance you come to the Crastle at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
King Ren'
"Oh boy..." The mustached hermit sighed before he handed the paper over for Xisuma to read.
The voidwalker frowned at the letter as he read it, "This is not Ren's handwriting. But this is actually perfect with the information I've gotten about the gem."
"Does it? What did you find?" Mumbo asked nervously and raised his eyebrows curiously at the admin.
"An old friend of mine, Jessassin, had some experience with the gem and was able to tell me more about it. Long story short it's alright to take the gem away from him because it's in the crown. I'll spare you the details of the other situation he told me about, but we need to be ready when we do take it from him as he'll be extremely weak," Xisuma explained and a wave of relief washed over Mumbo.
"I'm glad, I was worried taking it from him would make things worse," The cow hybrid said thankfully.
"So, this letter actually works in our favor, did you want to try and get the crown from him today if you're not busy?" The voidwalker asked and handed back the letter.
"I don't have any plans for the day. And I'd rather do this sooner than later."
"Alright then. Let's see what he wants from you and then we can see about taking that crown," Xisuma said as the pair stood and pulled on their elytra, "Ready to go?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," Mumbo said a bit shakily with an uncertain smile as the pair left the base and took to the sky.
The mustached hermit's stomach turned the whole flight to the Crastle with the voidwalker, landing in front of the front door they let themselves inside. The grand place seemed so quiet and cold as they led themselves to the throne room just as the note had said, he made sure to stay extra close to the admin as they walked. Ren was already slumped in his chair looking exhausted and half asleep, it took Xisuma loudly clearing his throat to get the King's attention. He jolted to attention and quickly sat up straight in his chair, soothing his outfit straight and retaining his composer.
"Xisuma, Mumbo, what a pleasant surprise," Ren greeted with a small tense smile.
"Your Majesty," X greeted with a nod.
"Your Majesty, I got your letter. You wanted to speak with me?" Mumbo said nervously as he glanced between the king and the admin.
"Yes, but X if you will, I wished to speak to Mumbo alone," Ren said eyeing the voidwalker, looking as if he was ready to throw Xisuma out if he argued to stay.
"Your Highness, are you sure Mumbo is comfortable with that?" Xisuma asked before turning to the mustached hermit, "I'll stay if you need me to," He added with a whisper.
"Well, Mumbo?" Ren grumbled and raised a critical eyebrow at the two.
"I-it's okay if it's just you and me, your Majesty. Could Xisuma wait outside the door?" Mumbo desperately didn't want to upset the King and it was more than obvious he wanted the admin gone.
"If he must, sure," The King reluctantly agreed and gestured for Xisuma to leave.
The voidwalker reluctantly nodded and left the throne room, the big door thudding closed behind him. A cold chill washed down Mumbo's spine the moment he was alone in the throne room with Ren, even with Xisuma outside his nerves still ran rampant.
"Now, Sir Mumbo of the Jumbo, I have some questions for you," Ren sneered, he stood from his throne and painstakingly sauntered over to stand in front of Mumbo, so close he could smell that Ren wasn't taking proper care of himself. "Apparently, a handful of days ago some hermits were trying to spy on me, do you happen to know anything about this?" He sneered through his diamond shades at the mustache hermit and began to slowly circle him.
"N-no, your Majesty," Mumbo stuttered as he kept his eyes on Ren for as long as he could. His nerves skyrocketed as Ren walked behind him and he couldn't relax until the King walked back into sight and paused in front of him.
Instead of circling Mumbo another time, the King stepped closer into the other hermit's personal space. They were nearly inches away from each other and Ren's sneer hadn't let up in the slightest, in fact, it looked like it had deepened. An idea struck Mumbo as Ren stood so close to him. This was the perfect opportunity to grab that stupid crown and take off with it. Mumbo darted his arm up and hit the crown straight off of Ren's head.
It fell and clattered to the floor just as Ren lurched forward and clamped his jaw into Mumbo's arm before he could pull away. The dog hybrid's sharp teeth and strong bite pierced the other hermit's skin straight to the bone. The world seemed to move in slow motion as the haze dissipated in Ren's eyes, enough to notice the coppery taste in his mouth. Ren's jaw went slack as he let go and recoiled back a couple of steps in horror at the site of dark red blood dripping down Mumbo's arm.
The cow hybrid felt frozen where he stood, but he couldn't hold his stance for long and suddenly crumbled to his knees on the ground. He held his bloodied arm close to his chest, his instincts screaming at him to run while past conditioning left him paralyzed in fear where he sat. Sharp heaving breaths wracked both hermit's chests as Mumbo couldn't take his eyes off Ren, too scared the hermit would do more damage if he looked away. Ren's eyes were wide with fear as he stared at the bite mark he left, briefly glancing up to look at Mumbo's face.
"M-Mumbo?" Ren said breathlessly, his face pinched in confusion and concern as the haze of the gem's effects started to dissipate further. "Wh-what just... Where am I... What's going on??" Ren tried to take a step toward Mumbo only for him to jolt and scramble back as best he could with one arm. He winced as in the process he agitated his arm, his shirt starting to get soaked crimson with his own blood. The dog hybrid paused and took a step back instead to create more space between the two. His face slowly morphed into horror as he realized what just happened, touching his mouth to find blood smeared on his lips, and now fingertips.
Mumbo hardly realized the door to the throne room creaked open, only noticing out of the corner of his eye that Xisuma was suddenly there kneeling next to him. He could see the voidwalker shout at Ren before turning to him and trying to speak to him, but he could hardly understand the admin's panicked voice over the fear and adrenaline coursing through him and muffling the world around him.
His eyes never left Ren as he watched the crownless king stagger before collapsing to the floor, only then did he look down at what the hybrid had done to him. The amount of blood splattered on him and the specks on the floor made him woozy, but that could've been the blood loss talking too. He felt Xisuma lightly shake him before everything went blissfully dark.