Word Count: 1850
All the hermits were gathered around a massive table. Xisuma sat at one end of the long table, stirring his soup absentmindedly. He had called a meeting during the dinner hour, so that it would be more welcoming. Various conversations ensued as everyone talked with their neighbor. The only person missing was Ren.
Xismua was troubled with the news that Grian had brought yesterday. Ren hadn't shown up to anything and Xisuma had tried contacting him to no avail. A warm hand rested on his arm.
"You okay Xisuma?" False pursed her lips in concern. "You are always overworking yourself."
Xisuma fazed back into reality, responding slower than usual. "I'm fine."
"No your not." False had gentle understanding in her voice. "You have dark circles under your eyes."
Xisuma started to protest that he could handle the phanm toms when False read his mind.
"I'm not talking about the phantoms. You can handle those. I'm talking about the stress."
He sighed, not able to argue against her sound argument. Pushing away the untouched soup, Xisuma's voice called for order. The room fell silent as every head turned to look at the admin. Mustering up the reservoirs of energy, Xisuma tried to speak loudly.
"Can everyone hear me?"
Some mutterings in the back came about not hearing. Xisuma solved the problem by summoning a tiny ball of purple light and swallowing it.
"How about now?" His voice boomed around the dining hall, earning nods of agreement. Xisuma cleared his throat. "I have summoned you here because of some strange happenings. Mostly because of Ren's death and disappearance. Has anyone seen him?"
Iskall spoke up from his seat next to Mumbo. "Shouldn't he have respawned next to his bed?"
Xisuma sighed regretfully. "Yes, he should have. I was informed by Grian and Mumbo that a strange thing happened when Ren perished." He paused to nod at Grian and Mumbo, sitting at the middle of the long table. "Instead of a simple, died by something, a voice announced that Ren had met his demise."
Hushed whispering followed the proclamation. "Now you see the urgency of finding Ren. I am searching for his code, but I have not come up with anything."
No one knew where Ren was. After that, X wrapped up the meeting with some weekly news and sent everyone to bed. False stayed behind, even though everyone had left. When Xisuma tried to make her leave she stayed stubbornly put.
"I'm not leaving until I see that you are actually sleeping. It's not healthy for you." False crossed her arms and followed the weary Xisuma.
"Very well." Xisuma walked the short distance to his base, False not losing a step. Women. Soon Xisuma had found his bed if you could call it that.
"This is what you've been sleeping on?" False's voice rose in disbelief. "No wonder you have dark circles! You are not sleeping on that anymore. I'll be back with some proper bedding."
Xisuma watched as she whisked out of his base flying on magnificent light blue wings. He sat on the uncomfortable lump of old sheets that he had thrown together. It felt as if no time had passed when False returned with multiple shulker boxes stuffed in her arm.
"Lets get you some actual sleep this time." She open the boxes to reveal that they were filled with sheets and pillows. She looked up and stared at him. "Are you planning to sleep in armor? Put your pajamas on! I'll be gone when you get back, so I'm relying on you to actually sleep."
Xisuma dutifully obeyed, dragging his feet to the bathroom. False watched him slowly disappear into another room. It was time to get to work. She picked a curve of the room that created a sort of cove. Layering blankets and pillows, False proudly created one of the comfiest beds ever. She should know, because when she plopped down on it, it took all her effort not to fall asleep instantly.
False was a woman of her word however, so she left before Xisuma emerged. She knew how sensitive he was about people seeing his scars.
When Xisuma came out, he found a note on the floor.
"I will know if you don't get any sleep" – False
He sighed and curled up on the bed, scared arms pulling the sheets over himself. Sleep soon took over his tired body and he forgot all about the troubles of being an admin.
"Thank you False." He mummered into a pillow before he was completely wrapped up in the luxury of blissful unconsciousness.
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Stress stared at the complex redstone of the storage room she shared with Iskall. So much for wanting to be a redstoner. This made no sense. Her eyes were starting to dry out. She was worried about the disappearance of Ren.
"Your talent lies in building."
Stress spun around, her brown eyes widening. Iskall was right there. Both his mechanical and regular brown eye were trained on her. His gaze was soft as he gazed at her. Stress moved a shaky hand to brush back a piece of her long brown hair.
"Sorry if I scared you," Iskall untucked his hands from his green suit. Turning to look at the redstone he continued in his Swedish accent that Stress knew so well. "Half the time I can't understand it."
"The redstone?" Stress asked. Iskall gave her one of his biggest smiles. "That, and your amazing talent in building." Stress felt the blush creep up her cheeks. The look he was giving her reminded her of the time he gave her a rose. She still had it, a memento. Both their phones rang with a text message from Ren. They read it out loud simultaneously.
Ren> "Hello everyone! How are you doing? Just thought I would stop by y'know? I'm fine by the way, sorry for scarin' y'all."
Stress and Iskall's looked at each other. What game was Ren playing? Suddenly, an explosion shook the room that they were in. Iskall suddenly grabbed her hand. Stress barely had time to register it when he pulled her into the swirling portal. Once on the other side they crouched, Iskall hovering protectively over Stress. The ice lined tunnel showed no signs of anything.
"We should start preparing for traps, or anything else unusual." He gently pulled her up. Then Iskall reluctantly let go of Stress's hand. Pressing a diamond into her hand he looked her directly in the eyes and told her, "I heard you were low." He waited till she nodded before taking off down the tunnel. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts. Diamonds, of course! Stress facepalmed. She was going to meet Grian for the diamond minigame!
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Stress found herself in a white concrete and cyan terracotta arena, the Sahara colors.
Whooosh! Stress looked up in time to see Grian spiraling downwards. He landed in a superhero pose. Out of all the people in the world, Grian loved flying the most. He looked up at her guiltily.
"Are you sure you still want to go through with this? After Ren..." Grian trailed off, eyes flicking back and forth. He nervously smoothed back his spiky golden hair.
Stress shook her head, trying to calm Grian down. "If I die, it will be fine. Ren is probably fine. Don't feel responsible for anything okay? It's no different than any other game."
"But with all the weird happenings..."
"It's happened before. Don't worry." She noticed that Grian was wearing golden armor. Paired with the red sweater, he looked a bit like Winne the Pooh. Stress decided to lighten the mood.
"Has anyone told you that you look a bit like Winnie the Pooh?"
Grian glanced down at his outfit a grin spreading across his face. Quickly regaining his demeanor, he replied, "Yes, and I'm owning it."
Stress had to laugh, forgetting about all the bad things that had happened. Grian walked back and rested his hand on the dispenser, all playfulness back.
"Pick your fate."
Ren stared at the suffocating walls his base. He couldn't do anything, if he did, whatever was controlling him would force him back. It was toying with him, taunting him. He was currently holding a phone, one press of a button and the others would know.
Instead, he was forced to stare at the text message he had sent. He decided to figure out what was going on inside him. He used his mind's voice to talk.
"You know you made me have a Texan accent."
The thing controlling him responded in a voice simaler to his. "You are human. Don't all humans talk like that?"
"No. I wouldn't be surprised if Xisuma doesn't fly in and talk to me about why I'm all of the sudden talking in an accent."
"Xisuma won't know anything. I control you, and therefore your memories. I know exactly how to act around anyone."
"Just like the text?"
"You don't want to push me."
Ren retreated out of his mind and stared back at the phone. Please, someone, help me.
Sress pushed the button tentatively.
"Catch-, catch the totem?" Stress, quite confused, looked up at Grian. "Do you have an elytra?" Grian gestured at her bag.
"Yeah I do. Do you need it?"
"No, you'll need it." Grian ran to a chest and started placing scaffolding. "Put your stuff in the chest, then grab the totem and start climbing."
Soon, Stress found herself at the top of the scaffolding with her elytra and totem. A twinge of fear twisted her gut. Stress hated heights, which was ironic since she lived in a tall castle. Fighting the feeling, she glanced down. Her gut twisted and she lurched back. The ground was so far away. Her heart started pounding.
"You okay up there?" Grian's voice barely made it up to her height, floating in the air like a ghost. Stress swallowed the lump in her throat. Shaky hands pulled her long hair into a tight ponytail. Her wings were apart of her now. Once and for all she would defeat this fear.
"Wish me luck," she whispered at the totem before tossing it off the side. A few seconds then she leapt. Stress closed her eyes momentarily. She was flying! The exhilaration! The ground! The ground? Stress panicked. No totem, and the ground was meters away. She was going to die. The thought barely registered in her head when the world went dark.
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Stress groggily stretched her cramped back. Craaacck. Well, that hurt. Something twisted inside her. Something foreign. Wait, the surroundings were unfamiliar. She stepped outside to see a graveyard. Ren one sitting on one of the stones sharpening an axe.
Scraaape. Stress winced, covering her ears.
"Ren! Why are you here?" Stress noticed how Ren's skin had turned grey, and his clothes had changed to be black. "What happened to you?"
Ren ignored her question. "Ahh Stress. You have come to join the dead. I think you and I are due for a talk."
The thing inside of her spoke to her. "Hello Stress. Do not worry about Ren. I am here to help you. Remember the elytra incident?"
Stress nodded to herself, listening to the voice. Ren watched with a grin spread across his face. The thing inside of Ren told him, "It has begun."
Who will die next?
-Buurn