The Red Moon Always Shines

Chapter 12: One step closer

After the joint declaration of the Void twins and Markus a semi-awkward silence spread, no one really wanting to speak. Until X decided to break it, "Uh, Hi Scar! What brings you here?"

"There's some person in a dark cloak and mask laying in a crater of withered grass, so we were hoping you might know something," fidgeted Scar, glancing back at an annoyed Rodger, the robot having been the one to lead him here, "And can you please ask this guy to not look at me like that? Its scary"

"I don't need to be told what to do, thank you very much," sneered Rodger, a glare directed at the brunette Vex, "So when you ask something involving me, you talk to me"

"Alright, I believe that's enough!" interrupted Markus, "You two can talk about this, or fight this, out later! Right now I believe we've got something more important to deal with"

"Yeah, I still don't know who you are," said Scar, "So if you could tell me, that would be great"

"The names Markus with a C, and I've been afraid of big bodies of water my entire life," EX snorted as the teen was saying this, he had a feeling Scar would fall for this.

"Wait, wait, where's the C?" called it!

"ThEr'S a SeA?!?" cried Markus, voice cracking as he jumped to cling to the closest person, which was Xeres. And said person sided stepped, which made the mahogany haired teen fall flat on his face, "EX! You traitor!"

"That's what you get for eating the last piece of casserole," said EX, a playful glare on his face.

Scar just stood there, not knowing what to do with the situation at hand. Xisuma went up to stand beside the Vex, "Yeah, I don't know what's going on either. Now let's go," said the admin, putting on his helmet.

"Hey!" called both EX and Markus, "What about us?"

"You two are staying here to do the potion," said Xisuma, leaving no room for complaining, "Plus, the other Hermits don't like you EX, and they don't even know who you are Markus. So how well do you think they'll take if of you two just showed up out of the blue?"

Markus narrowed his eyes at the admin, "You speak the truth, yet you tempt fate all in the same sentence. I can't help but applaud you"

"Uh, English please?" asked X, looking at his twin for help.

"He means you have a point, but you tempt him to disobey what he's saying," sighed Xeres, "How long have you been awake X?"

"Why do you ask?" questioned Xisuma, avoiding the (admittedly) random question.

A light growl left EX, though it wasn't aggressive at all, more protective than anything, "When you get back from checking out this thing, you better go to bed"

"I will, I promise," said X, sincerity in his voice, "Now let's go Scar, I want to see who in the world managed to get in this world without me noticing it"

A few minutes after the two Hermits left Markus turned to EX, "What was that with Xisuma about?"

"He had a lot of nightmares when we were younger, especially around emotional situations," sighed EX, "It was especially bad after Xelqua disappeared. So he refused to sleep. We agreed that we'd tell each other how long it was we hadn't slept for, but if he'd been awake for more than a hundred hours he would never tell me. So now I know when he hasn't been sleeping"

"That's rough," said the mahogany teen, "But think positively! You and Xisuma are already closer again!"

"I suppose we are" grinned Xeres, happy that something good was coming from this situation.

—————————————With the Hermits and Evolutionists (Yes, their still here)—————————————

Scar led his server admin to where everyone else was, and where the dark figure had been found. It was right outside of New Hermitville, much to Bdubs dismay ("My pathway!!"). And true to the Vex's words, the area around the figure was indeed withered. He looked closer, and then quickly ran up to the group, "Has anyone touched the withered area?!"

"Uh, no," said Netty, not expecting the Hermitcraft admin to get here so soon.

"Good," sighed X relieved, "That's good"

"Do you mind telling us why that's good exactly?" asked Ren, coming up to talk with the other Hermit.

"Look closer at the grass, what do you see?"

Everyone gathered around the grass to look, it was Scar who noticed first, "Wait, there's black particles around it!"

"Like a withered rose, but worse," breathed Cub, "No wonder the ground is so withered, but how is it happening?"

"ℸ̣ ⍑ᔑℸ̣ ∴𝙹⚍ꖎ↸ʖᒷᒲᒷ" everyone jumped as the figure, who everyone thought was unconscious until now, sat up and spoke. They could all now see the saber tooth skull that sat slightly crooked on the figures face. And they were all surprised at the spoken language, no one knew what it was, except for Xisuma.

"Thank you for speaking this so much, Xel!" whispered X, thankfully no one heard him, "We don't understand Galactica, you'll have to speak English! Or German or Swedish, those could also work"

"Oh! My apologies, I've gotten so used to speaking Galactica around the Little one! Sorry for that," said the figure sheepishly, "What I said is; That would be me, I'm the one who's caused the withering. Here, let me fix that for you"

As they said that, they raised their arm and muttered some quiet words and soon the ground shifted and returned to normal. The gathered players looked on in amazement as it all happened.

"If only it was that easy to fix the Little one's arm, oh how good that would have been if it were able to happen" it was whispered, but almost everyone could hear it.

"Fix what?" asked Xisuma, "And who's this 'Little one' you keep talking about?"

The figure now finally properly looked at the gathered people, "...This is Hermitcraft, isn't it?"

"It is," answered X hesitantly, "How do you know?"

But the figure didn't answer, only looking up at the sky and muttering, "Grian, What kind of luck do you have? Out of every world you could have sent me to, and it just had to be Hermitcraft"

Everyone froze, and a silence fell over the group like a thick blanket. Everyone thinking quietly to themselves. It was then that Xisuma actually felt the strangers aura, and his eyes widened as he turned to Death (you all knew who it was, and I don't feel like giving Death different titles anymore). And Death just put up a hand to motion in a 'shhh' gesture, or so the admin guessed. Since the hand, or what he hoped was a hand of some sort, was covered in a long tattered sleeve. Same with the other arm. And Xisuma also had a feeling that the dark figure was winking at him, but with the skull mask didn't show any part of the face, so he couldn't be sure.

X didn't know who this person was, nor did he know how they got here. But he did know two things, this person was his family, and he had been with Grian. Let's just hope they knew how to get back to the lost Hermit, since it didn't sound like they left by choice.

For the first time since the whole serfs started, which admittedly was only three days ago, Xisuma felt a hopeful smile fall on his lips. Grian was alive! Though not so well if judging by the arm thing mentioned before. But he was still alive.

Grian was alive, his cousin was alive. And he'd be damned if they didn't push twice as hard from now on. He wasn't going to lose Xelqua, not again.

<>Sorry this took so long! But I wanted it to be as good as it could be! So I hope this was good enough! With that all being said, have a wonderful time everyone!<>