Hermitcraft Shots

Mumbo's Mansion -2

Mumbo had seen a lot of weird things in the last twenty minutes, but this was certainly up there. Whooping as she bounded out the door, Cleo led him through the front gates of the mansion, instantly screeching to a halt in front of a rickety old shack. Mumbo was surprised he hadn't noticed the place earlier, and he was equally surprised the place wasn't overrun with ghosts like the mansion was. He wasn't sure what to expect when Cleo led him into the shack and down the narrow wooden ladder, but he certainly didn't expect this.

The walls were reinforced by wooden beams, with stones pressed into the dirt walls like a wainscoting. He could also immediately feel a temperature drop, making it feel like the bunker was farther underground than it was. A large computer with many screens covered the far wall, filled with strings of numbers and graphics Mumbo couldn't understand. He also cautiously noted multiple doors branching off this main room. Mumbo was suddenly concerned that this woman had dug the whole place by herself, which wouldn't have been concerning except that she appeared to be a walking corpse.

"Welcome to the Lab, kiddo! By the way, I didn't catch your name." She talked as she bounced around the room, hanging up her vaccuum and checking things on her computer quickly.

"Uh, Mumbo." He supplied. "What is... this place?"

"Why this is the Lab obviously! This has been my base of operations for the last twenty years of my ghost hunting career- or was it thirty years?" Cleo pondered before quickly turning back to the computer.

Mumbo wasn't sure how to reply to that; everything about this was far too bizarre to be real. Zombies weren't real, ghosts weren't real, and zombies who hunted ghosts with vacuums certainly weren't real.

"Anywho, I feel like our paths were destined to cross. Well met Mumbo." She reached out a hand, and Mumbo took it slowly. It was cold, but strong; not unlike how he thought a zombie might have felt. Not that he had ever wondered that before. "These cozy quarters are where I do my ghost studying!" She gestured grandly around the room.

"Wait, so you really do hunt ghosts? For a living?" Mumbo had to ask.

Cleo have him an odd look. "Well of course! I've been studying ghosts for so long, you'd be surprised I wasn't one yet!" She laughed.

"But you're a zombie! How does that work?" Mumbo squeaked, trying his best to stay composed. He couldn't have ever imagined that this was a conversation he would ever need to have.

"Meh, I thought I would die at 80 or something, but I guess I forgot to since I'm 203 now. Don't ask me how; I study ghosts, not zombies!" She waved a hand, as if it was as normal as a sunburn.

"So you must be the one who built the mansion, right? And all the redstone?" Mumbo desperately hoped the answer was a normal yes, but all the evidence was pointing to the opposite, including Cleo's confused reaction.

"Simply put, no. You actually believe the mansion is real, huh? How interesting." She spun back to the computer, rapidly typing things in a language Mumbo couldn't read.

"Hold on, not real?" Now Mumbo was utterly lost. So ghosts, the spirits of living creatures, actually existed, but the mansion he was just inside didn't?

"Kid, I've been living here for thirty years, and I can promise that mansion appeared not even a week ago. Poof! The spirits sure have you fooled." She shook her head sadly.

A jolt shot through Mumbo's spine. It wasn't real? "Hold on, but I found you inside the mansion. How am I supposed to believe you're not an apparition too!" Mumbo cried, his head spinning. Everything he knew about reality was a lie, and he didn't trust anything anymore.