Holy macaroni, 600 reads already? O.O well uh... what can I say...
...except you're welcome~
Haha see what I did there?
...
Sorry I'll just continue writing the chapter :')
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Grian and Mumbo decided to go for a walk after they had lunch. They had asked Iskall to join them but Iskall had told them that he'd promised Ren he would play golf with him.
"Why don't we join them?" He had asked Mumbo.
"Nah," he had said, with an almost unnoticeable nervous tone to his voice.
"I'm not really in the mood for it."
Grian had let it go only because they were near the other Hermits. But now that they were alone...
"Mumbo?" He said, keeping his eyes ahead of him.
"Yeah, Grian?" Mumbo said, taking in the view of the flower field they were in.
"You, uh," Grian paused in his steps, putting a hand on Mumbo's shoulder to stop him as well. "You seemed pretty nervous back there when Iskall mentioned golf."
Mumbo flinched. "Yeah... about that..."
Grian looked at his friend, raising an eyebrow.
Mumbo nervously inhaled a deep breath, "When-me-and-Iskall-were-playing-golf-the-previous-day-I-kinda-bumped-into-a-black-figure-thing-mid-air-and-Iskall-said-there-hadn't-been-anything-in-the-air-and-I-guess-I'm-seeing-things-now," he said it all quickly and in one breath and looked at Grian expectantly.
He frowned when he noticed his friend's expression. He had noticeably grown paler, his mouth half-open and his eyes slightly wide.
"Grian...?"
"Y-You weren't seeing things..." Grian stuttered. "W-What you saw was a-a C-Corrupted."
"What?" Mumbo was really confused now. "What's a Corru-"
Grian clamped a hand over Mumbo's mouth.
"Don't speak of their name, there could be one nearby-"
Mumbo pushed Grian's hand away. "I don't why it's gotten you so worried, but surely it's not that bad-"
"No, it really is bad, they're after me, they're here, and it's my fault, oh my god-" Grian stumbled backwards, tripping over a log and falling over it.
"Grian calm down," Mumbo walked over to him.
"What's wrong? Who's after you-" He faltered, suddenly noticing movement behind Grian.
Grian noticed his expression, and froze halfway of climbing over the log.
"What, what is it-" he said but flinched when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Mumbo quickly closed the distance between them, punching the dark-figure behind Grian.
Grian whirled around, backing up behind Mumbo, hiding behind the taller Hermit. He peeped his head over Mumbo's shoulder, his heart-beat quickening when he realised who the intruder was.
The Corrupted started to walk towards them, unfazed by Mumbo's punch. Mumbo pulled his diamond sword out, holding it out in front of him.
The Corrupted tilted his head to one side and seemed to pause for a second, as if calculating Mumbo's next move.
"When I count to three," Mumbo breathed, speaking softly. "We run, ok?"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Grian curtly nod from behind him.
"Three!" He yelled and started to sprint in one direction, dragging Grian as he stumbled behind him.
He came to an abrupt stop as the Corrupted suddenly appeared infront of him, Grian bumping into him from behind.
Mumbo stabbed the Corrupted without thinking, and when he tried to pull it back out, he realised it was stuck inside the Corrupted's chest.
"Just let it go!" Grian yelled, gripping Mumbo's forearm and pulling him.
Mumbo wiped away a fake tear, "Goodbye Looting III, Sharpness V, Sweeping Edge III, Unbreaking III, Mending-"
"Oh my goodness Mumbo," Grian couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's silliness, even in their current situation.
Mumbo made a mock-sad face, continuing with his act, "It left us too soon Grian, too soon..."
Grian was forced to stop running as he doubled over with laughter.
"You're impossible." He snorted.
Even the Corrupted that was chasing them with the sword sticking out of its chest seemed confused, and that said a lot considering how the Corrupted weren't supposed to feel emotions.
[Not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous about putting this art I did here, I don't usually draw humans, so forgive me if it looks bad :') ]
Grian put a hand on Mumbo's shoulder, leaning on him, as he continued to giggle, seemingly unable to stop himself.
"This is no laughing matter Grian," Mumbo said, smirking. "Come on, let's go while it's still confused."
Grian sighed, although still smiling.
"Alright, let's go."
They started to run towards the trees, Grian running ahead of Mumbo, where they would have better cover and better chances of getting away.
Mumbo glanced back to see that the Corrupted had disappeared and when he looked ahead again, he saw the Corrupted appear and pull the sword out of its chest, swiftly swinging it towards Mumbo.
His eyes widened as he narrowly dodged the sword, the sword nicking his forearm. He hissed in pain, gripping his arm and continued to run after Grian, although he was a bit slower than his previous pace.
Grian seemed to notice and came to a halt, running back towards Mumbo to help him. His eyes widened as he saw the Corrupted getting closer and closer to Mumbo.
Grian pushed his legs to go faster and ran past Mumbo, tackling the Corrupted to the ground and gripping the sword's hilt, trying to pull it loose from its grip.
They rolled and tossed around in the grass, each battling to get ahold of the sword.
Mumbo didn't know what to do as he stood and watched them. Grian punched its face with his free hand, and realised it didn't do much.
Grian snarled, his eyes getting a slight purple hue to them as his hand lit up, and he punched again. As soon as his fist made contact with the Corrupted's skin, it burst into shadows, the sword landing in the grass.
"Where'd it go?" Mumbo asked, casting worried glances around the field.
Grian froze as he realised what he had just done.
"Also," Mumbo hesitantly walked up behind him. "Were you the cause of that purple glow?"
Grian spun around, and Mumbo slightly withdrew at the sight of his eyes.
"Were your eyes always that colour?" He quietly said.
Grian blinked, the purple hue fading from his eyes, turning back to their usual baby blue colour.
"Grian...?" Mumbo almost squeaked.
Grian slowly stood up. "You already know I used to be a Watcher trainee." He murmured.
Mumbo sighed, still clutching his arm as blood continued to slowly drip out of it.
"At least you got my sword back," he said, sensing Grian's discomfort.
Grian half-smiled, "Let's get your arm fixed."
They walked the rest of the way, through the oak and birch forest as they saw the sky start to darken above them.
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One day. Less than a day even. About 20 hours until the Watcher came. Theodora curled up in her bed, anxiously waiting for Xisuma to bring her the good news. She glanced at the clock, 3:38pm.
Surely he must've found out who this Xelqua person is by now? It couldn't be that hard to locate a person... right?
Theo gently massaged her temples in an attempt to soothe her headache that had only seemed to be getting worse and worse as days went by.
That's what happens if you don't get enough sleep, she remembered Leah telling her.
"Whatever," she murmured to no one.
There was a knock on her door and she immediately jumped up, despite the tired state she was in.
However the sudden action had caused her to get lightheaded and caused her to freeze in the spot until the dizziness went away.
She walked over to the door, opening it. A really concerned Leah stood on the other side with a tray on her hands.
Theo stepped back so Leah could enter.
"How's your head?" Leah asked, walking in.
"Getting worse, that's for sure," Theo muttered.
"It's cause of all the stress and the lack of sleep you're getting," Leah sighed. "Why won't you just listen? It's not good for your health."
Theo slumped on her bed, pulling her legs up to her chest.
"You know I can't," she said softly.
Leah walked up to her, setting the tray down on the bed infront of her.
"Yes you can! You're literally doing nothing right now!" Leah sat down next to her. "Just sleep at least a couple of hours while waiting."
Theo sighed. "But what if Xisuma comes in and I'm just sleeping? I need to know as soon as possible who this 'Xelqua' is-"
Leah put a finger on Theo's lips, forcing her to shut up. "You're sleeping, no excuses."
Theo shook her head.
"You're taking this medicine, and you're sleeping, got that?"
Theo furrowed her brows in annoyance.
Leah took her finger away, opening the lid of the tray and setting it aside. The tray had a cup of water, a plate full of food, and a tablet for Theo's headache.
"Come on, eat up." Leah said.
"Don't you have people to heal?" Theo groaned.
"Yes," Leah said. "You."
Theo rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."
"Yes, I do and you're my top priority." Leah said firmly.
"I'm not a little kid anymore, Leah."
"You don't suddenly become invincible to sickness when you're older Theodora," Leah said as she raised an eyebrow. She grabbed the spoon and stuffed rice into her mouth.
Theo let out an annoyed sigh, watching as a few of the rice flew out of her mouth in the process.
"What was that you said about not being a little kid anymore?" Leah smirked.
"That doesn't count," Theo groaned as she chewed, swallowing the rest of the rice in her mouth.
There was a knock on the door.
Leah opened it.
It was Xisuma.
"May I come in?" Xisuma asked.
"Of course," Theo said, before Leah could say anything, which resulted in a glare from Leah. Theo shrugged it off, much to Leah's annoyance.
"Were you able to find a Xelqua?" Theo asked Xisuma.
"It's definitely an interesting name don't you think?" Xisuma said.
"Yeah, I suppose it is." Theo sighed. "But that's not why I asked you to find him."
"Yeah, I know," Xisuma said, tapping his helmet's chin with his index finger thoughtfully.
"And?" Theo urged for him to continue.
"There's a weather outside, you should definitely get some fresh air."
"X," Theo said impatiently. "You're getting side tracked. Just tell me if you found Xelqua or not."
Xisuma hesitated before saying, "I don't mean to disappoint you, but it seems that there's no Xelqua in any of the servers. None of the admins recognise the name."
Theo sighed sadly. "How's that even possible?"
"However, if you want I could also look into older servers that are no longer available to see if there was a Xelqua in those?"
Theo closed her eyes. After a while Xisuma thought she had fallen asleep.
"Prime Admin Theodora?" He said.
She snapped her eyes open. "Yeah, I suppose you could," she murmured.
"Alright." He said bowing his head respectfully before leaving.
"I don't even know how that would help, but I'm going to take every opportunity I get in order to save my people." She muttered to Leah.
Leah sighed. "I know you don't want to hand him over Theo, but sometimes the hardest decision require the strongest wills."
Theo smiled sadly. "I know Leah,"
"I know."
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1923 words
Wow, remember how like in chapter 2 or something I was like "Damn this is the longest chapter I've written."
Yeah now it's no longer the longest.
I've written two chapters this time sooooo enjoy :D
Ly all <3