The Eye of the Crooked [Hermitcraft Fan Fiction]

Chapter VIII

15 minutes.
Theo nervously flipped through the pages of the piles and piles of folders filled with paperwork and information about the admins and citizens who had existed in the previous servers before they had to be shut down; either due to them not being used anymore or because they were corrupted.

10 minutes.
"Come on, come on, come on," Theo chewed her lip nervously.

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of craziness," a voice said from behind her.

Theo almost jumped out of skin as she had not heard Leah approach.

"And begging the files to give you an answer isn't exactly going to help you either," Leah added.

Theo sighed. "Then don't just stand there and come over and help me."

Leah tilted her head. "I don't see how these are going to help find a citizen that clearly doesn't exist."

Theo paused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean let's face it," Leah said calmly. "If a person named Xelqua existed, Xisuma would've found him already."

Theo turned to face her. "He might not be in a server anymore."

"And where else would he go to live? He can't exactly survive in the woods."

Theo knew exactly what she meant. There was a ginormous forest that surrounded the HQ and it seemed to go on forever. No one ever returned from those woods, no one. Which was the reason why every citizen lived in a server.

"I don't know," Theo mumbled. "Maybe he survived in the woods." But even as the words came out of her mouth, she didn't believe them, and her expression was proof of that. She glanced at the clock.

5 minutes.

Theo looked into Leah's eyes pleadingly. "What do I do then? Help me find a solution."

Leah smiled sadly. "It really seems like we can't do much at this point."

Theo suddenly stood up, the chair falling over with the sudden motion she had caused.

"I'm not giving up," she said bitterly, taking Leah by surprise. "I'll sacrifice myself over and over again if it means saving my people."

Leah blinked. "Ok, geez, take a chill pill." She sounded unsure.

2 minutes.

"I'm going to the HQ Meeting Room." Theo said, grabbing as much files as she could and walked out of the room, leaving Leah to stand alone in the bedroom.

She wasn't halfway across the hallway when her arms started to burn from the weight she was carrying, and her lack of sleep wasn't exactly helping with her energy.

"Should've drank a coffee," she muttered.

She pushed the door open to the HQ and just dumped all the files on the table, breathing heavily.

Someone walked in from behind her, followed by another pair of footsteps.
She whirled around expecting Leah...

1 minute.

Xisuma stood there with the Aries Leader, mirroring each other's concerned expression.

"Prime Admin," The Aries Leader rushed over. "What is all this? And," he looked into her eyes. "You've worn yourself out." He said quietly, concerned for his Leader.