Everything At Once - HermitCraft AU

Chapter 4 [<|>] The Meeting

It's that time of day again where Xb's sculk just spreads more. And the more it spreads well, the more insecure he gets. And the more insecure he gets the more Keralis comforts him. Keralis just notices every single time. Although he wishes not to because well...he doesn't like to see Xb sad. But either way, Xb just gets more sad. What he enjoys is he can go to the Ancient City, he can freely roam around there. Keralis usually roam with him. Pretty sure the other Wardens are familiarized with Keralis by now. Right now, Xb is sitting on top of Shrieker. He was enjoying the silence. He doesn't know how much time he's been down there. But that definitely was long enough for Keralis to go and find him.

Keralis found him almost immediately since he knows the spots Xb usually hangs out on. Keralis doesn't yell in the Ancient City, he doesn't want to alert any Wardens, so he just went to Xb. "Xb!" He just yelled lightly. Xb looked up and saw Keralis, he wagged his tail and waved his hand. "Something wrong? You haven't left the Ancient City for half 2 hours—don't ask how I know—anyways, you alright?" Keralis asked as he sat next to Xb. Xb nodded "Nothing serious this time. Just need some reassurance" Xb answered as he stared off while he hugged his legs together. "Reassurance for what?" Keralis asked, Xb looked at Keralis at the side of his eye. "Reassurance... That I still look...well, I still look okay" Xb answered and looked away. He hugged himself tighter, he soon felt a warm embrace around him. "Princessa, you always look okay. You look fabulous!" Keralis told Xb while he hugged him and smiled. Xb just put a small smile on his face.

"Now, let's go up to the surface. Xisuma's calling a meeting" Keralis told Xb and smiled. Xb just nodded. Keralis pulled Xb up and went up holding hands. How sweet. Kerals was holding on so lightly since Xb's sculk is so fragile. He's scared he'd break it or well, something like that. He's just scared honestly. He needs to hold Xb lightly and not harshly or roughly. They soon made it to spawn on where Xisuma held the meeting. "Alright. Calling everyone here took half an hour... Using communicators would be much easier but it's broken as we all notice" Xisuma said as he crossed his arms and looked at everyone. "Yeah, what's up with it?" False asked, "Well. There's a bug in the Server. And me, Cub or Doc can't find where it's coming from" Xisuma answered. "I traced it down actually... It's coming from a lot. The Server's handling a serious issue with lag that it opened the data and leaked it" Doc announced. "Remove trace because you just found out it came from a lot from the Server and didn't actually trace it because you didn't find out where" Cub said sarcastically as a joke, Doc chuckled. "Alright then Cub" Doc replied.

"Moving on... Etho said something about Grian's Rift?" Xisuma said as he looked at Etho. For once he got noticed. "Hm?" Etho hummed as everyone looked at him. Etho got overwhelmed, Bdubs held his hand for support. "Y-yeah, Grian's Rift. Doc said something about the Date getting leaked" Etho started to talk, "How could my Rift be part of this?" Grian asked. "Well. It got leaked. The Data got leaked and who knows who got the data. Then the Rift magically opened up. So I'm guessing the Rift took the Data and it went through...somewhere" Etho explained. It did started to make sense but one problem; "But doesn't it crash you when you enter the Rift?" Xb asked. He wondered how the Date could go pass through "And how does the Data go pass through the Rift? Was it the bug in the server?" Xb continued to ask. Etho just got more overwhelmed. Xisuma, Doc and Cub were listening closely on what the Hermits were giving off. "Actually, yes. The bug. I'm guessing the bug is the Rift. But it isn't possible for the Rift to magically open up. I...let me just guess a Watcher," Etho said and shrugged. Grian compressed his wings. "A Watcher? Can someone explain what a Watcher is exactly?" Scar asked. "Far as I know... Grian's experienced with Watchers... Now don't you Grian?" Etho said as glanced at Grian. "Y-yeah, I am. Well Scar... Watchers are magical beings. Far from Mortals. Basically Gods... They can destroy servers and basically do anything..." Grian said, he explained while he hugged himself.

"Exactly. Anything. Unless a Watcher got in from the bug in the Server, using that bug created the Rift and the Watcher transferred the Date in the Rift! That could've made sense when someone tries using the Rift it crashes. It crashes from all the Data the Rift is holding!" Etho explained more deeply. He was onto something. Something. He knows quite a lot... Way, a lot. "That all lined up... Etho, do you know something about it?" Xisuma asked and glanced at Etho. "I'm just collecting all this right now..." Etho said, he was grinning underneath his mask. The man was excited and hyped from all the details. He's barely scared because of it. "I have another questi—oh, wait. Too many questions? G-got it!" Xb said as he stopped midway. "No, go on. It's a meeting anyways" Tango said and smiled. "A-alright..." Xb stuttered. "Well, my question was. How did the bug form? It's been fine for a couple of Seasons" Xb asked, "Unless there's a Watcher who joined?" He continued to spit his thoughts.

"X?" Doc said and glanced at Xisuma. Everyone turned to Xisuma, X was honestly...speechless. "I would've not known if one of you guys are Watchers. I would NEVER check your files. It's all personal stuff" Xisuma told everyone. He sighed from relief. "I-it's just a thought. I mean, Watcher's can do anything so they actually enter the Server... So maybe there isn't a Watcher here" Xb said just to reassure everyone. Everyone sighed from relief. Xb felt bad from even saying it. "Alright... We'll try to track down the Watcher" Cub said, Grian spoke; "How are we sure it's a Watcher? D-do we have physical proof?" Grian asked, he seems like he doesn't want them tracking down a Watcher. "Ask Grumbot. He knows everything" Etho said and crossed his arms. "Wait, have you been messing with Grumbot?" Mumbo asked. Etho shrugged as he closed his eyes. "Didn't Doc say the bug came from a lot? AKA different stuff in the Server? It can't just be The Rift" Zedaph said and raised an eyebrow. "Stop saying it came from my Rift without proof!!" Grian yelled, Scar just chuckled. The second smallest Hermit was acting like a kid saying 'I didn't break the vase!!'. Even Bdubs laughed at Grian for saying it.

"Zed's right though. Say, Wels. Didn't you crash for no reason?" Xisuma said and asked Wels. "That's a different occasion..." Wels said and looked away. Grian whispered something to Wels; "Maybe you should tell them about Hels. It may lead to a bug as well". "No" Wels said. Grian backed away and lipped the word 'okay'. "Well... Nothing else than the Rift? Meeting dismissed... Oh, and Etho. If you find anything else... Tell us. You too Zed, whatever your brains have been knocking around sure helps" Xisuma told them. Zed and Etho nodded. The meeting ended as everyone left. Xisuma did tell everyone to tell him if they notice anything. Or tell Etho or Zed. Scar found himself snooping around Grian's cave. He looked at Grumbot. He grabbed a paper and wrote down 'Hi Grumbot. Can you tell me about the Rift?'. He wasn't sure if he wanted to send it... He closed his eyes. He just shook his head and crumpled the paper. He just left it on the ground. After he left. Grian came in. He saw the paper on the floor. He read the paper. "Scar?"

...

"Zed, I know you're busy...like, helping Xisuma and the others but... Me and Impulse are going on an adventure to the Nether, gonna farm Wither Skulls. Wanna come?" Tango came inside Zedaph's Lab and asked. "I'd love to but Xisuma gave me a powerful thing in me—Mod powers—and I need to do something useful for him. And Mod powers aren't supposed to be messed and ignored. So no thanks" Zedaph replied. Tango just nodded and headed on. Zedaph continued to think about where the bug could've come from. It was hard, Etho guessed the first one. What else was mysterious in the Server? He couldn't think of anything... He sighs. "What else...c'mon now...think. This is where your brain actually can be used" Zedaph said and hit his head on his table. "I don't want to look useless for once..." He said. It was muffled from the table. He then remembered, communicators! "Communicators! Everyone else's communicators are broken!! X's isn't... His helmet is connected to the Server. He has an old helmet where he originated from... Holy...cow... I'm on to something!" Zedaph said as he felt inspired. He jumped up from his chair and pulled out a white board. There he started to write down his theories and thoughts. Trying to figure out the next part of the bug.