Never Really Gone

Chapter 30

Hels's POV

When Ezra wakes up, BadTimes is long gone. He rubs his head, blinking several times.

"Hey..." I say hesitantly, not knowing how he'll react

"Hey" he grumbles

"Um... how are you feeling?"

"Like I wanna stab Xisuma"

Uh oh.

Despite being the one who got him into this mess, I try to steer his thoughts in a different direction.

"Well... would you really? I mean, he IS your brother..."

"And? You said it yourself, he left me here to die."

"Well... I mean he might-"

Ezra frowns

"You didn't LIE to me... did you Hels?" He asks, leaning in toward me.

I begin to panic. I could make things worse if I didn't tell the truth. I'd end up dead at the Vex's hands if I did.

"Of... of course not"

"Good. I didn't think so. So I have every right to want to stab my brother and intend to at some stage." He growls, picking his dagger up. "And I can't do that from this dank cave, so let's get out of here."

I sigh a little, following him. He was so sweet and innocent when I met him, and now Ezra's been replaced with the cold, angry man who'd do anything to kill his own brother. He can't even remember his own boyfriend.

"Yeahhh... I can see why you hate this plan." My friend admits, popping up beside me as Ezra leaves. Then he sighs too,  before mumbling to himself under his breath. "Grian, whoever you are, we are so fucking sorry."

Generik's POV

When I head to Xisuma's base, the admin-in-training is sitting cross legged on the floor, a stack of books beside him on the floor, looking something up on his laptop.

"Hey X... watcha doin'?"

"Oh! I'm reading a few books about running servers and also looking for more potential Hermits. I've found people called Sl1pg8tr, TFC Jevin, False, XB, Cleo and Mumbo who'd possibly like to join, but no luck with Grian and Ezra."

He shows me his screen, where I see some pictures of people.

"Is that a slime?"

"Yes"

"Is she a zombie?!"

"Yes"

"He has a nice moustache"

"He does"

"Wait... how old is he?!"

"55"

I sit back with a sigh

"Well, you certainly have... interesting plans"

"Yep! I want it to be very clear that Hermitcraft is accepting of all people, regardless of age or species."

"Well... yeah I guess that's fair. It's good to have diversity."

Then I pause to think.

"I really don't know how else to ask this, so no offence... but what are you?"

Xisuma frowns in confusion, before realising what I meant and laughing.

"Oh, I actually have no idea. Technically I'm a half-human dragon hybrid, but there isn't an actual word for that."

"Well, I've heard some people call people from the End 'Voidlings'. Just as a general term I guess."

"Voidling..." He repeats. "I like it! Maybe I'll use that until I figure out what to call myself."

"Alright, glad I could help you... label yourself? I don't know, I'm gonna go sleep."

With that, I leave Xisuma be, even more confident in my choice of the new Admin. He's already far more motivated than I ever was, has done a brilliant job at picking out new members, and is more than ready to put a huge amount of work into the server.

To be honest, my only concern is that he's gonna burn himself out.