Hels Rebellion

Chapter 44: Thinking with Portals

Iskall had felt a bit bad leaving Stress behind. The brit had seemed... off recently, and there was a tinge of guilt in leaving her behind. He had so much on his mind as well, though, so he couldnt stay on one thought for very long. 

He was flying over to Grian's base, which Mumbo had indifferently moved in. Hopefully the man had managed to pull himself out of bed and start doing something other than moping. Iskall couldn't blame him for that; but he knew it wasn't the best for his mental or physical well-being. 

He wasn't even sure if the man had been eating. 

When he landed, he noticed the doors to the mansion had been closed. That was either a very good or very bad sign. He darted down, poking his head into the empty mansion. The bed Mumbo had been sleeping on was still there, but the mustached hermit had vanished. He almost worried before noticing a bit of light coming from the corner of the large build. 

He frowned, walking over to the new structure. It was a large blackstone and spruce building, not one of Mumbo's best builds, but undoubtedly his style. There was a thick spruce door blocking the room - and Iskall considering knocking before deciding to step in anyway. 

Mumbo was there, facing away from him on a wool couch. There were bookshelves in the corner and several other books scattered around the floor and table. It reminded Iskall of the tiny reading area he had made when he was waiting, back before everything had changed. 

There was a fireplace in the far wall, the source of the light - and the only source of the light in the room. Mumbo was leaning forwards scanning through a book with the small amount of light he had. 

The swede walked up behind the man, looking over his shoulder at whatever he was reading. 

It looked confusing. Nothing redstone-y, just a lot of big words about the universe and world exploration and stuff. When had Mumbo become so interested in this sort of thing?

Before the man even had a chance to speak, Mumbo felt his presence. He looked up, before turning slightly, meeting eyes with the shorter hermit. 

Mumbo's eyes widened, and he practically launched off the sofa with a "Goodness gracious!"

Iskall laughed, covering his mouth as Mumbo dusted himself off and grabbed the book he was reading, which he had somehow managed to toss across the room. "Warn a guy!" Mumbo snapped, "You nearly made me jump out of my skin!"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry." The swede snorted as Mumbo sat back down, "Wasn't going to scare you - but I didn't even have to try."

Mumbo rolled his eyes with a small smile, he leaned back, and reopened his book, skimming back to where he was. Iskall blinked, "What are you reading anyway? Looks like more stuff about magic."

Mumbo hummed, "Something like that. After you took that book back to Stress she thought I was interested in the topic, so she brought me a few more right after. She seemed quite excited about it."

Iskall crossed his arms, leaning forward on the back of the couch. That must of been before Grian... or maybe right after, to help take Mumbo's mind off of everything. When the hermit got interested in something - he wanted to know everything about it. He glanced around the books on the floor, guessing that most of them had a similar theme. 

It was a good distraction, Iskall smiled. "What's this one about?" 

"It's about interdimensional travel," Mumbo held up the book, pointing to a drawing of a netherportal on one of the pages, "It talked about the origins of the common dimensions, as well as some of the few that are harder to travel to. A lot of these can only be accessed on certain worlds. It's really quite fascinating."