Red Flowers //Hermitcraft & Evo\\

2

        "Grian?" He heard the voice from behind him, confused and familiar. Grian spun around, looking into the crackling energy of the broken portal. 

        "Taurtis?" He could see his friend standing on the other side, surrounded by dark nothingness. Grian took a step toward him, but Taurtis put his hands out to stop him. 

        "No wait, I have something important to tell you. If you come through the portal, I'll be alone again." He warned, pulling his hands back after realizing how close he was to the purple energy.

        "What? What are you talking about? Where are you?" He took another step toward it, trying to get a better look at Taurtis's surroundings. 

        "I can't tell you. Look, there's something I need to tell you about bringing me back." 

        "What? What is it?!" Grian asked expectantly.

        "Grian?" They both heard the disembodied voice of someone calling out to him, and Taurtis began to look panicked.

        "Look, the only way to bring me back is on the anniversary and with-" He was cut off by another shout of Grian's name. Grian could begin to feel his body being shaked and himself being woken up. Not knowing what else to do, Grian jumped into the portal. 

        "Taurtis!" Grian shot up in his bed, smacking his head into the bent over head of Iskall. 

        "Jeez! What was the headbutt for?" He cried, grabbing his head in pain.

        "What did you do?!" Grian yelled, laying back down in attempt to fall back asleep. "Come on, come on. Let me sleep. Let me see him again." He spoke under his breath as Iskall watched confused.

        "Bro, you're late for the Sahara meeting." He stated matter of factly, and Grian sat back up. 

        "So you came here and woke me up?!" He questioned agrily, and Iskall shrugged his shoulders. 

        "I thought you slept in! We didn't want to start without you, you know, the CEO. Look, I'm sorry." He apologized and Grian rolled his eyes in response. After another moment of awkward silence, Iskall spoke up again. "Who's Taurtis?" He asked sheepishly, nervous of the answer.

        "None of your business." Grian snapped back before getting out of his bed and walking over to his chests. 

        "Look, I'm sorry for waking you up but there's no need to be so hostile." He snapped back, and Grian turned from his chests to face Iskall again. 

        "Well it isn't any of your business. Listen, I'll meet you at Sahara. But right now I need you to leave." He said the last part quieter than the rest. 

        "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

        " I get that your sorry." Grian interrupted. "But please. Just leave." 

        "I... Ok." He said in defeat before turning around and flying off. Grian sighed of relief as he heard the rockets get farther and farther away before they were gone. He resumed his daily process of planting a poppy, thinking about what Taurtis had said to him. The anniversary night. Now he definitely needed to figure out a way to get out of going to the party.

So, like I said in the last chapter, I'm changing up the format a bit. Most of you told me to do what was best for me, so I've decided to go for the smaller, more frequent chapters. I hope that's okay with all of yall. Anyway, thanks for reading. The positive response to the first chapter made me so happy to see people actually reading and enjoying this book. Thank you all for being here. I hope you have a good day/night, and you are loved.