A Rift Through Worlds (A Dream SMP x Hermitcraft AU)

Out of instinct comes family

"So, are you only looking for Fundy?", Dream asked Iskall, breaking the silence that had befallen them for the past couple of minutes. The admin had led him down a path made of planks of wood, flaked with splinters and water damage -it was surely rotting under the surface.

Iskall wondered who kept tabs on the builds and preserving them. The poor state of the path reminded him of the first days of building the Omega Tree. The poor thing's roots had grown splinters and the wood had gotten soft from the relentless downpours of the jungle. That happened until Doc, another hermit, dropped by with his gardening expertise and somehow fixed the issue. From then on, Doc would come by every once in a while as Iskall worked on expanding upwards to observe the exterior damage. Perhaps he could find the builder and give them the few tips he had picked up from Doc during his two-day-stay.

Now, though, he was trusting Dream with leading him to Fundy, who he would ask about what had happened to the place. Had he trusted Dream more, Iskall would have asked him directly but he had a feeling that he would receive the cold shoulder or something much, much worse; something akin to a sword to the throat because he tried to pry into the server's perfect history.

"Yeah", he said, tone as casual as he could hold it, "I wanted to catch up with him, you know? See how that bunker held up for him before... whatever happened here", he finished, waving vaguely at the destruction just a few blocks behind them.

"A lot happened"

Buildings had come into view now, standing on either side of the path, holding it hostage. They weren't the best builds to be honest but there was some effort put into them and Iskall let the subject go. The wars were far more laborious than making a shop look all pretty, the owners deserved some slack thanks to that.

There was an infection running across the section of the path they were walking down, though. Thin and thick vines and tendrils of alien origin crossed above the planks of wood, that were obviously trying their best to win over the server's turf. It was a whole other fight all of its own. Many of the vines had been cut short, left to grow from another place on the remaining body and others had grown dark at the ends, dead and stale. The mere presence of them made Iskall feel uneasy and nauseous and he could only wonder how Dream could walk over the ones daring to lay across the path without so much as batting an eye.

"What are these by the way?", Iskall asked, pointing a hand at the vines as one tried to wrap around his ankle. He quickly moved away from the alien plant. Dream shrugged as a small mansion of marble came into view through some light fog.

"I don't know. These vines appeared one day and we were shearing them the next", and to emphasize his point, the admin grabbed the axe from his back and swang it down on the swirling plant in front of his feet. The red turned to black and the black turned to ash, flowing away with the wind. Iskall grimaced.

"They look like they belong to the Nether. Did they come from there?"

"Perhaps", with that, Iskall gave up on making small talk. Dream was too tense, too mistrusting and too suspicious for whatever reason. He was sure that Xisuma had not gone out of his way to inform Dream of Tommy's arrival directly and if he had, why was the admin acting so... weirdly? A feeling of dread swirled in his stomach, one that made him feel sick yet healthy at the same time. Some instinct told him to run, to escape while he still had time. But run from what, exactly?

"Iskall?", the startled tone of a high-pitched voice attracted the man's attention. There, walking up the small hill they had passed through was Fundy with his fluffy ginger hair and twitchy, pointy fox ears. Iskall smiled at the sight of the other, giving a wave as he drew away from Dream in favor of approaching his previous client.