Word count: 2230
Sunlight streamed into the futuristic base. Jutting into the sky, the massive build looked like a harness for a portal to another realm. Maybe the inhabitant did that on purpose. The owner of the masterpiece came from a time where redstone did strange things. Even builds could be made to harness a special type of redstone. This redstone was rare and did stuff that shouldn't be possible. It was called bluestone.
Grian, the owner of the build, was a master with bluestone. He manipulated it, turning it into new dimensions and new worlds. Grian also might have been responsible for shulkers' ability to levitate people. He was one of the oldest hermits in terms of when he lived. Grian was only twenty-six, but he was born hundreds of years before the others. He remembered a time before the Watchers.
Then something changed. Grian was working on a portal to a realm called the Iskallium realm when he suddenly blacked out. He woke up in a completely new world called EVO. This was hundreds of years after he was born. Somehow he had gone through time. Grian didn't think about it much, although his past sometimes trickled into parts of his builds.
He was thinking about even less as Grian groaned at the sunlight. Why did I build the walls out of glass? His phone buzzed on a table, a good distance away. Sighing, Grian got up and looked at the text. It was from Mumbo.
"Grian, are you the person who made the concrete machine blow up?" Grian winced. Ooops.
"B-blew up? I don't know what you're talking about." Apparently Iskall was in the chat as he texted as well.
"Oh no. I swear I'm the only one not blowing Sahara up."
"Oh, Grian. The fireworks are very amusing. You seem to have a talent for making something look complicated, when it's really just simple."
Grian thought about it for a second. He decided to tell the others about the redstone he used to work with. "Maybe the reason I'm so bad at redstone is because it was different when I worked with it."
Iskall scoffed, managing to do it through a text. "You, redstone? Look I know you were in EVO but..."
"You don't believe me? Then tell me how I managed to build a time portal. And remove Mumbo's mustache?"
Mumbo groaned through the text. "I hated that machine. What did you do? Use bluestone?" He was joking but Mumbo actually found the truth.
"Well.... I just got out of bed so I'll talk to you guys later." Grian decided against talking about his convoluted past. Especially over a text. His mind started waking up as he flew out of his base. When he opened the 'Find your Fellow Hermits' app on his phone, he noticed something very strange. All the dead people were in the graveyard. Something was up.
Grian decided to take the risk and fly over there. He took the nether because the distance to the graveyard was very far. It was about 5000 kilometers away.
The dead really didn't want visitors, because pressure plates lined the walkway to the portal.
"Well, here goes nothing." Grian said to himself as he bolted across them. Nothing. Apparently it was just a deterrent. He swiftly went through the portal.
"WOAH!" Grian gasped as he looked up. A massive castle now lay on top of the floating island. Vines, moss, and waterfalls dripped down the island's edge, framing the dead trees. It definitely looked haunted. Grian saw a chest. He landed, started opening it, then slammed it shut again.
Well that was dumb, Grian thought. That could have been trapped. It definitely was, but not in a killing sense. The dead crept out of the doorway, led by Xisuma. Grian panicked and flew away. He had been in the deadlands too long.
Grian spent the rest of the day working on a secret bunker. Then he decided to call it a night. As he lay in bed, he thought about the times back in EVO. He missed his friends, but he was happy for the ones he had now. Grian hoped the Watchers never took him away from his friends again.
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The next day, Grian found a note for him. It read, "If you wish to find out our secret ways, search the first floor of the dead castle. -The Gray Skins.
The message sent shivers up Grian's spine. The dead had left a message while he was sleeping. Mumbo flew in while Grian was eating his breakfast.
"Hey man," Mumbo greeted, taking off his elytra and winter coat. "Did you get a mysterious note last night?"
"Yeah," Grian pulled out a chair. "Was it about visiting a castle?"
"Yeah, it was. Though I didn't know the dead had a castle." Mumbo straightened his already perfect suit.
"They do. Just yesterday they were all meeting in it."
"You visited it? Not sure I would have the nerves to do that." Mumbo thoughtfully pulled at his black mustache. "I'm sure the castle is trapped with all sorts of things, especially since Xisuma and Impulse are now dead."
Grian re-fluffed his honey blond hair as he sheepishly started his next sentence. "I may or may not have opened one of the chests there."
"You, what?!?" Mumbo's eyebrows rose in shock. "Grian, I know you can't resist pressing redstone, but with the dead? "
"Yeah....." Grian mumbled. "Do you think we should follow the instructions on the paper?"
"I mean," Mumbo trailed off. "It's sure to be trapped. And we really are walking into the lair of the dead. We could just stay here."
"We also risk falling into traps." Grian glanced at the note. "It says here at the bottom, if we complete all three floors, we will get access to the book of all their traps."
Mumbo, despite the solemn conversation, cracked up.
"Did I miss something?" Grian asked, befuddled.
"I don't know if you heard," Mumbo started wiping tears from his eyes. "Jevin could really use that book. He's fallen and died in two of their traps."
"Wait..." Grian started to get why Mumbo was laughing so hard. "Isn't Jevin already dead?"
"Yup!" Mumbo leaned back in his chair. "I say we go there. Why not? Sure we risk a lot, but we risk more by not trying to get the information."
"Mumbo, finally you agree with my dare devil plans." Grian got up and grabbed some supplies from a chest. If you die today will you at least fix the hole in Sahara?"
"I get asked that every day." Mumbo got up. "So I stop getting bugged about it, I will. Hopefully we don't die today."
"I don't want to die either, Mumbo." Grian replied wrapping a scarf around his neck and equipping his elytra. "Let's go."
Mumbo started jumping, trying to activate his elytra. Grian began cracking up.
"Why can't I fly?" Asked a very confused Mumbo, who continued to hop around. "Oh! I forgot to put on my elytra!" Mumbo finally figured it out. It seemed he was not having the best of luck, as when he launched, he flew and nose-dived back to the ground.
"That's no better!" He cried. "I'll meet you there in about an hour, I guess. Gravity seems to hate me at the moment."
Grian nodded. "Don't worry. You'll take off soon." He immediately executed a perfect take off.
"You're not helping!" Mumbo called out, as Grian soared away. Grian snickered.
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Grian stared at the haunted mansion suspended in the air. Of course it took hours to get here. So of course it was night. Mumbo was brushing off his suit as he walked up.
"Finally we got-" Mumbo's mouth fell open as he looked up. "Woah.... The dead built that?"
Grian silently nodded. Hopefully the dead weren't in the castle. "Let's go over the plan again Mumbo."
"Fly in, don't die, find out as much as we can, escape." Mumbo promptly replied. "You've only asked that question a hundred times. Is the fearless Grian, who presses every button and lever, getting scared?" He teased.
"It seems as if we've switched personalities." Grian started walking. "You've gotten bolder and I've gotten more cautious."
"Are you saying I've never been bold?" Mumbo prepared to take off.
"No," Grian started to say as Mumbo finally took off, first try. "Hey wait for me!"
"Like you did for me? No way! Race you there!"
"I really don't think we should be doing this!" But Grian followed anyway.
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Red carpet lined the dim hall. Carved dark oak wood supported the looming ceiling. Glowing lava lamps were far apart, leaving spots of darkness. Buttons sat temptingly, begging to be pushed. Grian resisted the urge and followed Mumbo a few steps further.
"Wait." Mumbo held his arm out. "There is going to be traps, no doubt. I sense redstone." He pointed to the carpet in front of them.
"I can hear the popping of lava," Grian peered at the carpet. "But that may just be the lamps."
"I wouldn't risk it." Mumbo trailed off as Grian backed up. "You're kidding."
"Nope!" Grian replied running forward and jumping twice. Rip. Hiss. The carpet and floor had broken leaving one block in the center. That block just happened to be the one Grian had jumped on. "Well." Was the only response.
"Okay, I'm coming," Mumbo called out, grabbing some blocks.
"You aren't taking any risks are you?" Grian shook his head.
"Not a chance!" Mumbo slowly came closer, making a bridge. When there was only a space of about a meter, he jumped. (A meter is about three feet.) "Remind me again why I wore my best suit?"
"Because you only have suits." Grian laughed. "I can't remember when you haven't worn a suit, except maybe Halloween."
"Well," Mumbo sighed. "I probably should wear something different from time to time."
"Don't." Grian started climbing some stairs. "You look more professional. Though, I must say it wasn't the best choice for a trip to the deadlands."
"You can say that again," Mumbo carefully took another step on the strangely worn steps. They couldn't go further because an out of place wall blocked their path. "Go through this way and you are guaranteed to die." He read off of the sign.
"Friendly, aren't they?" Grian commented. "Let's head back down. The note said stay on the first floor anyway.
Creepy armor stands lined the next hall, seemingly judging the warm bloods. They made a right and found themselves in a map room. The map was set in the floor with various items lining the half broken shelves.
Grian decided it would be a good idea to jump into the map. Maybe it would lead to a secret room. Mumbo noticed what Grian was doing just in time.
"Grian, no!" He panicked. "There could be lava in there!" Mumbo took out some dirt.
"You just happen to carry that with you?" Grian asked, incredulous.
"These days you can't be over prepared." Mumbo tossed the dirt in. Hiss. There was indeed lava underneath.
"What would I do without you, Mumbo?" Grian walked out of the room.
"You would die a lot. In fact that's exactly what happened before this started happening."
"That's not what I was asking."
"Don't ask the obvious question then."
"I believe I was asking a rhetorical question."
Mumbo and Grian stopped in the hall. Xisuma was standing in front of them, fiddling with a potion. He looked up at the approach of the two.
"I see you have survived the first floor." Thankfully Xisuma put the potion away. "Beware, the second one is even harder."
Surprisingly Xisuma removed his mask. His hair was a chestnut brown, in contrast with his grey body. He whispered to them, "End this soon. I feel my body slowly being changed. My brain, it's getting slowly taken over. Find the command block that started this mess!"
X's hands started twitching. His eyes turned black and his stare hardened. "Leave NOW." Xisuma's voice had deepened. Grian took off immediately. Mumbo followed, but not before looking back at X. It seemed as if he was fighting himself not to chase them. "Go-o." He choked out. Mumbo nodded and left the cursed mansion.
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Grian was sitting in his secret bunker wringing his hands through his tousled hair. What was causing this mess? Xisuma believed that it was a command block messing with the hermits. Grian thought so too, he just suspected more. He knew the Watchers were behind this. Poor Xisuma, fighting himself.
What was taking over them? Were the actions of the dead involuntary or voluntary? How long before this madness ended. Would their lives ever be the same again? At this point hermits were dropping like flies, culprits of the growing madness.
Grian leaned back against the wall, looking at the wonder he had built, long ago. The time machine. Grian had made a bigger version of it in this world, but when he was eight he built a small functioning one. Wondering what his family was doing right now hurt him. He hoped they were okay. What was Isabell doing? Isabell. His little sister.
Nostalgia flooded his brain, but it was not to last. CLICK, CLICK, CLICK. Grian looked up and panicked. TNT was being dispensed from the ceiling. He tried to run, but too late. The world had just turned black. One more gone. Who would find and destroy the command block before it was too late?