Jay's Book of Hermitcraft Oneshots

The Heart of the Jungle Pt. 3

Third-person but centered on Tango

"Scar?" Cub started forwards but stopped in his tracks after taking a look at him.

Scar was a mess, covered in soot and ashes and bleeding from multiple open wounds. His hair was unkempt, and his clothes were torn. But the most alarming part was his eyes. They were a terrifying green-gray color that filled all of his eyes, not just the irises, and they almost seemed to glow. There was no doubt about it, the Heart had taken him over.

"Are you ok?" Bdubs asked. Scar smiled, and Tango's blood ran cold. The smile was a terrible, evil smile. 

"I've never been better." Scar's eyes settled on Xisuma and Grian, who were the closest. He lunged forward and grabbed Grian.

Grian screamed as tendrils of light the same color as Scar's eyes crept up his arm, enveloping him into a cocoon of energy. X shouted in surprise and backed up, tripping over his own feet and falling to the ground. Scar grinned and started towards him as he scrambled away. 

The rest of the hermits were in utter chaos. False, Tango and Iskall rushed towards Scar and X. False and Iskall started fighting Scar, doing their best not to hurt their friend. Tango grabbed X and pulled him up, glancing at the other hermits, who were running around, trying to avoid Grian, who had emerged from the energy with eyes the same as Scar's. Bdubs and Jevin were nowhere to be seen, but two new cocoons had appeared.

"We've gotta go!" Tango urged X forward. They started running, but before they could get very far Tango felt a hand grab his arm, keeping him where he stood. Tango looked back and saw Scar grinning back at him. Iskall and False were both missing, two new cocoons of light in their place. Tango shoved X away from him as the light surrounded him, hoping that the admin would have enough sense to leave Tango and run.

~POV switch to Impulse~

Impulse saw Scar take over Grian, but after that everything blurred together. Somewhere in the middle of it all, Tango ran toward the ongoing fight, yelling over his shoulder at Impulse and Zed to get away. Zed had frozen up, his eyes darting around the battlefield as he saw his friends slowly becoming infected with the green-grey light.

"C'mon, Zed!" Impulse pulled his friend along. That seemed to snap Zed out of his frozen state, and the two ran together to behind the Head Games. They ducked into a crevice in the rock, hiding from the fight as they caught their breath.

"I...Scar...the...he..." Zed stuttered, looking up at Impulse, his eyes filled with terror.

"Hey, calm down." Impulse put an arm around Zed to calm him down. "It's gonna be ok."

Zed took a deep breath and seemed to relax a little. Impulse let out a sigh of relief. They huddled there for a while, listening to hermits fleeing and screaming above them. Impulse started to worry about Tango. They had heard a scream that Impulse could've sworn was Tango's, but he was trying to be optimistic.

Impulse heard footsteps, and he and Zed perked up when they saw who was rounding the corner.

"Tango!" Zed whisper-yelled, starting forwards. Impulse held up an arm to stop him. Something was off about Tango.

"Don't be scared," Tango said, his voice sounding the same as Scar's had. Impulse's eyes widened. "Soon you'll be saved, just like I was."

Impulse and Zed bolted.

They didn't get far before Impulse felt something tug him back, and he looked behind him to see Tango with an almost painfully tight hold on his wrist. Zed, not realizing what was happening, kept running until he reached the nearest nether portal, diving through the second he got to it. Impulse breathed a sigh of relief. At least Zed was going to be safe. 

Tango dragged him back to the crevice where he had found Impulse and Zed and threw Impulse inside. Impulse's head hit the rock, and everything went black for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only seconds. 

He sat up slowly, reaching behind his head. His hand came away with blood on it.

"So." he started, glaring at Tango from the ground. "You're gonna possess me or whatever now, right?"

"No," Tango pulled a large slab of stone out of his inventory, moving it over the entrance to the cramped hole in the cliff. "We have special plans for you..."

And with the sound of stone against stone, the crevice was filled with darkness. Impulse sighed and brought his knees up to his chest, leaning back as much as he could in such a cramped space. he squeezed his eyes shut and pressed a hand to the back of his head to help stop the bleeding.

At least Zed's ok.