We landed in black void, which was much better than a hundred feet in the air where we would fall, but it was still alarming.

There was nothing nearby, just stars and blackess.

I grabbed on to Gem, my stomach churning. It reminded me too much of Last Life, where Grian had been exposed and we had been captured.

"Everyone, go down," Gem said. "We usually come into a world a long way above the person the crystal is locating."

The eight of us lit rockets and flew down.

"I think this is Hermitcraft," I said to Gem. "The remains of it. It would make sense, if they're still searching the remains."

That seemed to make Gem a little scared, and then I remembered that she hadn't seen it after the moon crash.

"Wait, hold on," FWhip said. We drifted to a stop. "I think I see something."

We followed his gaze.

"I see it too," Joel said, squinting. "What is it?"

Jimmy pulled Norman closer to him. "It looks like a plane."

We headed toward the object.

It was some sort of jet, floating. A warm golden glow came from inside.

"There's someone in there," Katherine realized.

We went to the door on the side and knocked.

A guy in shiny medieval armor appeared in the window. Katherine waved, his eyes widened, and then he held something up - an oxygen tank.

Katherine smiled and shook her head. Then she moved aside to let him see all of us.

"That's Wels!" Gem realized.

Hadn't he been one of the Hermits who they still hadn't found?

Gem approached the door and gestured for Wels to open it.

He did. "How can you - we - breathe?"

Gem shrugged. "I don't know. Hi, Wels."

"You're Gem, right?" Wels said, glancing behind him. "Who's your... company?"

Gem pointed to each of us, introducing us and our relationship to her. "Our world just got destroyed and a demon who we thought was gone came back and, well, long story short, we need help."

"So do I," Wels said bitterly. "Hermitcraft was destroyed, Gem. You won't find help here."

Gem hung her head. "I know," she said. "I was here when it happened. But there are search parties down there, looking for you and a bunch of other missing people."

Wels suddenly gained interest. "Who have you found?"

Gem looked at me. "You know this better than I do."

I thought for a minute. "We have Grian, Mumbo, Impulse, Pearl, Scar, False, Gem of course, Jevin, Xisuma, Joe, Cleo, and Tango but he's unconscious. We've found Ren, Doc, Beef, Iskall, Zedaph, and Hypno in another world. Etho, TFC, Cub, and formerly you were still missing, but you're right here."

"Cub's in here," Wels said. "He and his llama. I nearly ran into them."

"Where is he?" Gem asked.

"Asleep. But you're missing..." Wels counted on his fingers. "Three people. Bdubs, XB, and Keralis."

Gem, FWhip, Jimmy, and I exchanged glances.

"Sorry," Jimmy said quietly. "They're gone."

Wels hung his head. "I guess you can come in," he said. "But try not to wake up Cub."

"Did you hear that, FWhip?" I said. "Don't wake people up."

FWhip didn't smile. "I don't want to, now that Sausage and Joey are traitors."

You better not lose your sense of humor, FWhip. There's not many funny people left after what's been going on.

Wels let us inside. It was pretty cramped, and it got hot fast, but Wels opened the door and let cooler air in now that he knew we could breathe out there.

"So, what's been going on?" he asked, trying to make small talk as he fired up the engine.

"Just a demon, a friend losing her memories, two former allies deciding they want to work with the demon, a resolution of an ancient feud-"

A new villain in the story, my brain finished for him. Well, not a villain, but not a good guy either.

"A resolution of an ancient feud..." Lizzie muttered. "That sounds familiar."

Jimmy glanced at her with a worried expression but didn't say anything.

Another guy came in, rubbing his eyes. "What-"

Then his eyes widened. "Oh, gosh. Why are there so many people?"

Gem waved cheerfully. "Hi, Cub!"

"Everyone here's from a world called the Empires," Wels said. "Or so they say."

"It got destroyed," Joel said.

Cub frowned. "If you're looking for help here, you won't find it. Hermitcraft is gone, probably. Unless the moon missed, which is very unlikely."

"What happened?" Katherine asked.

"A lot of things," Wels said. "Moon big, blocks fly, gravity weird, moon crash."

"Oh," Katherine said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"Gem, why are you with them?" Cub asked.

"It's a long story," Gem said. "The short version is, I lived in both Hermitcraft and the Empires. We know where most of the other Hermits are. And now both worlds are destroyed."

"Fun," Cub said.

There was a long silence, during which the engine fired up and we started back towards the shattered remains of the Eighth World of Hermitcraft.

"Do you think Scott's okay?" Jimmy said finally, pulling Norman off of the control console.

Nobody answered. We weren't sure.

"If he's dead, then Sausage and Joey are not going to last long," Joel said.

"Why, because you're going to go in and murder them?" Lizzie snorted. "I can totally see that."

Most of the Emperors smiled bitterly at the thought of the short king avenging the elf.

"If anyone can survive, it's him," I said. "He'll be fine."

Everyone who had been in Last Life nodded in agreement.

"Don't know who Scott is," Cub said. "But I hope he gets out okay."

"Oh, you know who Scott is," Joel said. "You might not think so, though. He's one of the MCC workers. If you've ever been on MCC, you know who he is."

"Wait, Scott Major?" Cub asked.

"Never heard of him," Wels said, shrugging.

"It's because you've never been in MCC," FWhip said.

I knew about the championship. I had seen FWhip and Gem off several times as Noxcrew announced a new competition, but I had never gone myself, despite them encouraging me to. I would never be good at Build Mart, Ace Race would probably end in me falling into the Void a million times, and I wouldn't be able to kill anyone in Survival Games not because I lacked the skill but because I lacked the motivation. But apparently it was a great place to meet people from other Realms and catch up with friends who had moved away. There were forty competitors each time and millions of fans who flocked there to watch. I had gone to watch a couple times in the past, but I had never understood why people came back talking about the clutches and crazy maneuvers that the competitors made.

"They're just sports," Wels said, voicing my thoughts exactly.

"Awesome sports," Jimmy said wistfully. "That I am terrible at. But still."

"They haven't done it for a few months, though," Cub said.

"I bet it's because of the moon," Gem said. "Several players are Hermits. If they don't come, then a lot of people will be disappointed."

"Probably," Cub agreed.

The conversation turned to a clutch someone had made during Sky Battle, and I lost interest in the conversation.

A few hours later, Wels squinted out the windshield (would it be called a windshield if it was a spaceship?). "I see something!"

We all peered out the window as well.

"That's not it," I said.

Gem started laughing. "Hold on! I used to see one of those every day, since the Bigeyes built one next to my base. That's a Pass-N-Gas!"

"A what?" Joel laughed.

Gem flushed. "A Pass-N-Gas. The Bigeyes used to manage them, and they sold things to help you on the road." She smiled bitterly at the memory. "Keralis owed me half of his 33% of the profits because I gave them their first diamond."

"Isn't that how the whole 'Gem is Great' thing started?" Cub asked.

Gem grinned. "Yep. I learned that day that nobody likes birch or diorite, Hermits have big egos, and never trust Tango."

"They're right not to like diorite," I said. "It's ugly."

"It's okay," FWhip said.

"But birch is fine, when it's stripped," I supplied.

We passed the Pass-N-Gas that floated in space. Not long after that, the first bits of debris started to appear.

The mood in the spaceship dropped as everyone, especially Wels, Cub, and Gem, took it all in.

Then it came back up again when a familiar brown-haired figure appeared, wearing a yellow and black shirt with an I on it.

"Hi, Impulse!" Gem called as the door opened.

"Hi, Gem! You brought a crowd."

"A crowd that includes two Hermits!" Wels said as he and Cub pushed to the front.

Impulse brightened up even more, if that was possible. "HI!"

"If you don't mind, we don't have much food and we had to leave our home world," Shelby said.

Impulse handed out some golden carrots to everyone, which we gobbled down greedily.

"Where's Pearl?" Gem asked. "Do you know? We came here looking for her. She doesn't know what happened."

Impulse frowned. "She just left," he said. "She had a bad fever and needed to cool down a little."

"Oh, no, I just remembered," Katherine gasped.

"What?" Everyone said at once, except Jimmy, who said it half a second after everyone else.

"Pearl has a connection to her land. If it burned up..."

Emperors and Hermits alike paled and exchanged nervous glances.

Gem pulled out the locator crystal. "Everyone who wants to come, grab on," she said.

We all did, including the three Hermits.

"Hopefully she's in an actual world this time so we can fall and not just float," FWhip said. "That was scary. Still is."

"Welcome to my world," I muttered, too quietly for him to hear. "I float all the time."

"Pearlescent Moon," Gem said again.

The orange crystal started to glow as it located her, and then we were off.

"THIS IS WEIRD!" someone, probably Wels or Cub, yelled.

And then it was over, and we were hundreds of feet in the air at Gateway.

We all spread our elytra and glided down to the ground without too much incident, but Lizzie crash-landed in a tree. She fell to the ground a little scraped up, but fine. When Joel tried to pull a leaf out of her hair, she swatted his hand away.

"Pearl?" Gem called worriedly.

"I saw a river from high up," I said. "Impulse said she needed to cool down. Maybe she's over there."

We took back off on our elytra, making Lizzie groan. But we made it to the river to find Pearl there. Her clothes and hair were wet.

She looked up and saw us.

"What are all of you doing here?" Pearl asked, her eyes wide.

Katherine landed in the water next to her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I think someone set my land on fire. I got a really bad fever, and then it got even worse."

"The Smallholding is gone. All of it is gone," Joel said.

Pearl paled. "W-what?"

"It was mine and Jimmy's fault," FWhip said. "The Grimlands exploded, and then the rest of the world was destroyed."

Pearl scanned the crowd. "I'm not going to ask where you found Wels and Cub," she said. "And Impulse is here, which means that you stopped at Hermitcraft. But where's Scott? And Sausage? And Joey?"

We exchanged glances. "I think we need to cut off the connection with the Empires before we go any further," Gem said.

"I can do it," Pearl said. "I thought the fire would be put out."

"It might burn out on its own," FWhip said, shaking his head. "But that will take a while."

Pearl looked down at her hands. "I haven't seen the Empires since the Grand Crown started going around," she said. "I didn't take the opportunity to go back. And now it's gone."

Pearl whispered a spell and then, lowering her hood, took a clip shaped like the head of a wheat stalk out of her hair. Then she snapped it in half.

"As easy as that?" I said.

Pearl nodded and put her hood back on. Then she got out of the frigid water and, dripping wet, joined the rest of us on the shore.

Pearl wrung out her jacket sleeve, letting out a considerable amount of muddy water out of it. "So, Hermitcraft is gone. The Empires are gone. What now?"

All the Emperors looked at FWhip.

"What?" he said.

"Wristband or not, you're still Admin," Shrub said.

"I'm a failure, is what I am."

"Everyone makes mistakes," I said. "Forgiving yourself is just as important as forgiving others."

FWhip looked at me in amazement. "Where do you learn such pearls of wisdom?"

I shrugged. "They should be common knowledge."

"Agreed," Pearl said, starting to shiver. "Now can we go? I'm cold."

"If you die from hypothermia, I will turn all the animals right side up," Impulse threatened.

"Oh, no, don't do that," Pearl said, grinning.

"Are you guys still not registered?" FWhip said.

Impulse shook his head.

FWhip crossed his arms. "I need to have words with bird boy."

I snorted.

We headed through the forest. It wasn't far to the main village.

Gem fiddled with her robes, her hands, her staff, her elytra. When I asked her what was wrong, she whispered, "The dragon egg and the Red Crown are still in the Empires."

"So are Scott, Joey, and Sausage," I said back. "It'll be fine."

"Yeah, but Joey and the Crown..." Gem said.

I didn't answer. I hoped he wouldn't find it, but knowing Joey and Sausage, they would squeal with excitement at the whole world being theirs, search everywhere for valuables, and find it.

And then probably start a war over it, because in the poetic words of Sausage Myth, "Peace is boring."

But Scott was there, too. He would make them see reason, or at least be able to stall them until we could go back for him.

We headed into the town hall to see if we could find anyone. Like last time, nobody was there, so we went to Grian's rock. All of the Hermits and a few of the Evolutionists were gone, which led me to believe that Grian had already gone back to the Ninth World.

Impulse left for his base, and Wels and Cub went to pick spots of their own for starter houses.

That left just us.

FWhip fiddled with a gadget from his pocket. "I'm really sorry, guys. I had no idea that trying to stop a rivalry would mean the end of the world."

"What happened?" Pearl asked fearfully.

We told her about the Grand Crown, the cod and salmon rivalry, and Xornoth's return.

Her shoulders slumped more and more through the entire story, as everyone told the different tales of what had happened to their empires. Mezalea and the Overgrown had cracked due to the earthquakes; the Cod Empire, Ocean Empire, and Dripleaf Marsh had drained of water, a fire had started in the Undergrove, debris had rained down upon the Crystal Cliffs, and of course the Grimlands had blown up. None of us fully knew what had happened to Mythland, the Lost Empire, Rivendell, the Smallholding, and Pixandria. Many beloved pets and possessions had been left behind, including Gandalf and Goose. Gem was determined to go back and get them for everyone, and grab Scott as well.

"Gem, do you think you can make another transport crystal on your own?" I asked once we were done.

She shook her head. "Not without Scar."

"Scar?" Joel asked. "Like, enchanter thief Scar? Mr. Goodtimes but not really good times?"

Gem nodded. "It's kind of complicated. But we do have to get the Hermits back here, Blue. But I think it's more important that we go back to the Empires first, just so that we can get Scott and the other stuff. The Hermits are fine on their own. They know how to take care of themselves."

I agreed with her. Of course I did. Family, or people who might as well have been, were more important than some Hermits that I either didn't like or barely knew.

I did feel a little guilty about leaving Scar, though. But it couldn't be helped.

"Will there be a Second World?" Jimmy said abruptly as he stroked Norman.

"What?" I said.

"Like Hermitcraft. They have eight worlds, nine I guess. Couldn't we have a Second World of Empires?"

Jimmy actually came up with good ideas sometimes.

FWhip wrung his hands. "If we can find a bracelet. The art of making them has been lost for a long time."

"I'm sure we can find someone, once we get all the Hermits together," Gem said optimistically. "Even one of the Evolutioners might know. There's going to be so many people here with so many different talents."

"Building, redstone, terraforming, commands, magic, organics..." Katherine's gaze became unfocused. "Imagine what we could learn."

"And teach," Gem agreed.

I stood up. "Okay, great. While you're fantasizing about magic schools and learning impossible redstone, I'm going back to find Scott."

"I'm helping!" FWhip said.

The other Emperors agreed, and then Gem pulled out the crystal again. "Scott Major."

The message that appeared inside the crystal, like the dream communicator did when the target wasn't asleep, scared us even more than the Empires being destroyed.

The target does not exist.

We immediately jumped to conclusions.

"No!" Pearl said.

Katherine let out a small scream.

Jimmy stared at the crystal, dumbstruck.

Shubble looked away sadly.

I felt tears jumping to my eyes. What had happened? Was it just a malfunction? I hoped it was just a malfunction.

But the look on Gem's face told me otherwise.

"That's it," Joel said angrily. "Sausage and Joey are dead."

Nobody objected.

Still clutching the crystal, Gem said, "Xornoth."

"What?" FWhip yelped.

Gem looked at him. "If anyone killed him, Xornoth did. I need to know what happened."

The target does not exist.

"If one soul dies, the other is sure to follow," Lizzie recited. "I don't know how I knew that, but I think Xornoth is dead too."

Jimmy and Joel had such identical expressions of worry that I would have laughed if not for the circumstances.

Gem stared at the crystal angrily. "I guess we have to go to Sausage or Joey then," she said. "Sausage Myth."

We expected another failure, so when the crystal started to glow, we scrambled to grab onto each other. However, some of the Emperors were unable to grasp sleeves, hands, and arms in time, so when the world dissolved into light, some of us dissolved with it.

We glided down from the air, searching the forest for Sausage. There was nothing familiar nearby, only spruce trees as far as the eye could see. In the north, the taiga was covered in a layer of pure snow.

"We're up north," FWhip called. "Really far up north. Like, almost to Scott's ice palace."

Lizzie muttered something, looking strained, as if something was familiar but she couldn't quite place it. However, the freezing air rushing past our faces tore away the sound.

We landed and looked around. FWhip, Gem, Joel, Lizzie, and I had been transported, while Shrub, Katherine, Jimmy, and Pearl had been left behind.

"We'll find Sausage, and then go back," Joel said. "It's better if less people see me murder him." The king of Mezalea pulled out his sword.

"Joel!" Gem chided. "No murdering anyone! Not until we get some information."

We took off again and searched the forest below for any glimpse of red, gold, or dull silver, the main colors that Sausage wore.

"He might also be wearing his wizard robes," Gem said to me. "They're kind of blueish."

I nodded and continued to scan the forest.

"I see him," Joel said. "Down there."

"Surround him," I said. "We don't want him running away before we know what happened."

Everyone nodded, and then Gem went to stand in front of him, I came in from behind, and Joel, Lizzie, and FWhip filled in the sides.

"What are you doing so far up north?" Gem said, landing.

Sausage screamed and turned around, only to see me there.

"Sausage," I said. "What happened to Scott?"

"And where's Joey?" FWhip added.

"And Xornoth," Joel said.

Sausage looked around. "Why- we're friends, guys! Why are you attacking me?"

"We just want answers, Sausage," Gem said, pulling out her staff.

The rest of us pulled out weapons as well - crossbows, swords, potions.

Sausage paled. "It wasn't my fault!"

"What. Happened?" I growled, getting my sword ready to fight if necessary.

Sausage cowered but didn't answer.

"Don't make us do it," Joel warned. "Tell me, is Scott dead?"

Sausage hesitated, the nodded quickly.

I lowered my sword. "Oh, no."

"I still hoped..." Lizzie said, falling to finish her sentence through her tears.

"We've lost so much," Gem said.

"You're lying," Joel said. "You aren't seriously saying you believe this idiot?"

I didn't want to. But a part of me knew it was true.

When I had thought FWhip was dead, the shock and denial had turned into panic, then anger. But now, I skipped the denial part and the panic part and skipped to angry. I lunged at Sausage.

"This is your fault," I growled, pressing my sword against his neck. "You had something to do with how Xornoth got out, I know it."

"Blue," Gem said with alarm.

"Don't kill me!" Sausage pleaded.

"What happened to the whole 'no more red feelings' thing?" Joel complained.

All three of their protests were lost in the haze of anger.

I could finally release the feelings, if I wanted to. I could let out the anger from the recent events - the Listener not being who we thought she was, FWhip's almost-death, the destruction of the Dripleaf Marsh. Not much good had happened to me in the past few days, and I was sick of it.

A hard shove came at me from the left, and then I was on the forest floor. Pine needles poked into my side. I dropped my sword.

"Blue, stop," FWhip said.

"Yeah, stop!" Sausage said, then fell silent when I shot him a death glare.

I got up and picked up my sword.

FWhip grabbed my arm. "I know you want to," he said. "I want to too. But no."

"I didn't mean to bring him back!" Sausage yelped.

"So you did free Xornoth," I snarled, but FWhip held me back before I could attack him again.

"Wait, he was imprisoned?" Lizzie said.

Joel nodded with a pained expression. "One of the things you forgot."

"What else did I forget?" Lizzie said angrily.

"A lot," Joel said. "Like how Jimmy's your little brother."

"Wait, what?" Lizzie said.

"I'll tell you later."

"She doesn't remember... anything?" Sausage said fearfully.

"Nothing after Scott and I made the deal," Lizzie said.

"It was my fault, not yours, don't worry," FWhip said.

Lizzie wheeled on him. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing!" FWhip yelped, his voice going two octaves higher.

"Tell us what happened with Xornoth," Gem said.

Sausage coughed nervously. "It's this whole thing. Remember how I banished the bad side of my soul away when you destroyed the Dark Scythe's magic, and Bubbles helped me? Well, when you took the spell out, it went back to Xornoth. And then he, and my evil side, were locked into the crystal."

"I remember that," Gem said. "What does it have to do with anything?"

She sounded like she already knew the answer.

"Yeah, well, the spell wasn't super strong, and my bad side came back, and then I stole my staff and the Red Crown and freed Xornoth."

"Sausage," Gem said calmly. "I trusted you not to steal your staff back until you were ready for it. I trusted you."

"You trusted the wrong person," Sausage said darkly.

"What happened then?" I demanded. "Did you and your demon buddy go right to killing Scott, or did you build yourself a castle to rule the ashes of the world from first?"

"After I freed him, he took over," Sausage said. "I remember what happened this time. But he sent me to Mythland with some corruption to spread it around. Then suddenly I came back to myself."

"Because Xornoth died," FWhip said, relaxing his grip on me a little bit. "But how?"

Sausage sat on a rock. "I went back to Rivendell to find the whole place corrupted. In the center of the place were both twins' bodies. Scott had a sword in his heart. Xornoth seemed unharmed. There was blood everywhere, and it looked like summer and winter had started a party that turned into a massacre because everything was either on fire or covered in ice. Rivendell is just completely gone. The elves are gone too, but I don't know if they ran away or died."

I felt the tears coming. "And it was your fault."

Joel readied his sword. Gem noticed the tension and got ready to cast a force field. Lizzie looked betrayed. And FWhip tightened his grip again.

"It was your fault," I repeated, raising my voice to a yell.

Then a million things happened at once.

Gem tried to cast a force field, but her powers were too weak and it flickered out. I tore myself away from FWhip and lunged at Sausage with Joel right behind me. He had his staff out in an instant to block our attacks. Lizzie ran at FWhip, yelling about her missing memories.

"EVERYONE, STOP!" Gem screamed.

"YOU SAID IT'S YOUR FAULT THEY'RE GONE!" Lizzie sobbed.

"DON'T MAKE ME CAST A SPELL!" Sausage warned.

"IT WAS YOUR FAULT!" I yelled at him.

"I CAN FINALLY MURDER YOU!" Joel cheered.

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" FWhip said.

Gem tried to pull me off of Sausage, but I pulled away and attacked again. Lizzie was slowly backing FWhip up against a tree. Joel yelled a battle cry and slashed his sword. Sausage knocked him back with a spell, and he flew back and landed hard with his head on a rock. When Gem tried to help him up, I saw a red stain on the rock where Joel's head had been. He didn't move.

"Lizzie, it was an accident!" FWhip said, then screamed as he narrowly avoided her fist, because she didn't have a sword.

"No, it wasn't!" Lizzie yelled.

"It was!" Gem said, leaving Joel and running over to her.

"Gem, plant spells!" FWhip cried desperately.

Gem thrust her staff towards the ground. It glowed, and then a wall of sweet berry bushes erupted in between them, stopping the fight.

"Blue, stop!" Sausage yelled. "Don't make me kill you!"

That was the wrong thing to say. I didn't say a word as I mindlessly knocked his staff aside and stabbed.

"BLUE!" Gem and FWhip screamed in unison.

Sausage fell backwards, his eyes rolling back into his head, his face pale, his last scream still in his throat.

I had killed him. I had just deleted someone.

~~~

Mor deth :)

I warned you there would be deaths in Part 3

- Indigo