I decided to follow Ren around for the next few days because I wanted to see how this alliance with Lizzie played out. Ren brought deepslate, tuff, and stone from his tower to Lizzie's place, where he started building a military tower to watch over and protect the Fairy Fort.

I've already said that watching people build is boring, so I gave up on watching Ren. I headed out to see what the Southlanders were up to.

When I came to the Towers, Grian was the only one there, and he was building a wall between the Towers. Why was everyone building? Why couldn't someone be caving or in the Nether or doing anything interesting?

I decided to take a peek around the world to possibly spot any murderous plots.

Tango, Skiz, Bdubs, and Etho had apparently allied with one another to form Team B.E.S.T. It was pure coincidence that their initials spelled the rank that they hoped to achieve. Their plan was to steal the Enchanter from... Lizzie? Since when had she had it? But they wanted to bring it back to Spawn so that anyone could use it for free.

I went to Lizzie to see if the rumor was true, and it was. Lizzie, Ren, Cleo, and Bigb had the Enchanter inside the Fairy Fort.

I hadn't known that the Fairy Fort and the nearby Avengers' Tower were allied, but it made sense because they were so close together. When I visited them, they were negotiating a tunnel between the bases.

That only reminded me of when Grian had made fun of Bdubs' tunnel back in Third Life. It didn't exactly make me sad to think about because Third Life had been one of the most traumatic experiences of my life, but it did make me think about a time before Bdubs had gotten himself onto Grian's naughty list.

Also, what was it with Third Lifers and secret tunnels between bases? First there was the Crastle and Renchanting, then Renchanting and Skizzle Point, and now the Fairy Fort and the Avengers' Tower. And I'm sure there were more that I didn't know about.

Yes, I know I was caught up in the trend. I helped start it.

I watched Ren go back up to the foundations of the Fairy Fort Tower and start working again.

I was just about to leave when suddenly, thunder cracked, signaling that another Boogeyman was about to be chosen.

3...

2...

1...

Ren did not have the Glow.

I hurried to the Fairy Fort to make sure that none of his allies did. Cleo and Bigb were safe from the curse, at least for now.

But Lizzie...

She had an excellent poker face. Cleo and Bigb didn't see that she was the Boogeyman (Boogeywoman?). But I did.

I wondered who would go down this time. Would Lizzie turn on her allies? I didn't think so, but she was quite unpredictable. I wondered whether I should follow her until she got a kill, but I decided against it. I would see who died later.

I went back to the Fairy Fort Tower, where Scar had turned up and was negotiating to Ren over something in a barrel. I couldn't open the barrel, but I stuck my head inside and saw some junk and a whole bunch of shards of glass.

Ren opened the barrel, flooding the inside with light. "Okay, let's see what we got here... sugarcane... cactus... ooh, diamonds, that's cool... and some glass. Why would I want glass?"

"It's not glass," Scar said. "They're magical crystals. They can give you luck, courage, and so much more. I'd like to offer you a deal: a crystal and three items of your choice for a life."

Ren looked up. "I just barely got this life!"

"Well, if you will give it to me, I will reward you richly."

"Uhh..." Ren looked at the contents of the barrel again. "You know what? Fine."

I groaned. He had gotten a life from Lizzy, only to give it to Scar a few days later. I wondered if Ren would be her Boogey kill just because he had wasted the life she had given him.

"Take what you want and then give me the life. I am very trusting," Scar said.

Ren pulled the cactus, the diamonds, and the Nether wart out of the barrel. Then he started digging through the "magical" crystals.

"Luck, pfft, sure... courage of a lion, got that already... silver tongue, I doubt I'll need that... strength of a... badger? What?"

"Oh yeah," Scar said, nodding. "Badgers are very strong. They're the symbol of Hufflepuff, you know!"

"But Hufflepuff is kindness, not strength."

"Just... just choose a crystal."

"You know what? I could do with some strength." And to many facepalms from me, he took the Strength of a Badger crystal. Then he said the spell and his life heart turned back to yellow.

There was no change in Scar, probably because he was already a dark green life heart. But he pumped his fist in victory, thanked Ren, and left.

"Why did I just do that? How did Scar get me to do that?" Ren muttered to himself.

"Don't ask me!" I said, before remembering that he wasn't asking me. He didn't even know I was there.

Ren opened a chest, pulled out several stones, and brought them to his new tower to work on it. I stayed a little longer to see if anything interesting happened.

Something did.

Jimmy, who had access to amethyst, had a supply of spyglasses, partly because every time Mumbo made an "aha" related mistake he put his spyglass in the Aha Jahar. But apparently now he was selling them. He came to the tower while Ren was up on top, building with deepslate.

"Hello?" Jimmy called. "Anyone home?"

Ren, taken by surprise, dropped a heavy slab of deepslate on his foot. "OW!"

Jimmy winced. "Sorry. What did I make you do?"

Ren stuck his head over the edge of the tower. "Just made me limp for the next ten days," he grumbled. "What do you want?"

"Well, I have these spyglasses that I'm trying to sell," Jimmy said sheepishly.

"I'm interested. What do you want for it?"

"They're a diamond each."

Ren stuck a hand in his pocket and pulled out the diamonds he had gotten from Scar. "Deal."

Jimmy handed Ren a spyglass. Ren handed Jimmy a diamond, and he stared in awe at the piece of shiny rock in his hands. Then he left, whispering congratulations to himself at getting a sale.

Ren put the spyglass to his eye and peered through it at the departing Jimmy. Apparently satisfied with the enhanced vision it gave him, he strapped it to his belt with his other tools.

I followed Jimmy for a while, watching him sell spyglasses to people all over the map. But when it became apparent that he wasn't going home anytime soon, I headed there myself.

Mumbo and Grian were there. The wall that connected the Towers was almost complete, except it was almost completely made out of wood. And wood could be burned, as Scar had so politely proved to us in Third Life.

Mumbo stood on top of the wall, arguing with Grian. Grian was down at the bottom, working on the wall above Mumbo's bunker, which he had haphazardly connected to the bunker itself.

"It's not my fault you didn't build a tower!"

"But now it's like, half in and half out! You can barely see my little bunker from the inside!"

"I know, and that's no one's fault but your own!"

"Did I interrupt something?" A new voice asked.

I flew through the wall to see Scar on the other side, inside the Southlands. Why did he keep turning up? And he had his stupid barrel of fake crystals, too.

"No," Grian said. "What are you doing here?"

"I have some magical wares that I would like to sell you if you are interested," Scar said. "I have sugarcane, cactus, and of course, magical crystals!"

Grian sighed. "Crystals again? Scar, you need to come up with some new ideas."

Scar had done this before?

Mumbo and Grian took a peek into the barrel to see what Scar had to offer. Then Grian slyly pulled things out.

"Hey, you put those back!" Scar said.

Grian laughed and put some clutter into the barrel. Mumbo joined in, adding rotten flesh, stone bricks, and other random things that happened to be in his inventory at that time.

"Nooo this isn't a trash can!" Scar protested.

They started taking the items out. "Okay," Grian said. "What junk have you got this time?"

"Well," Scar said, somewhat back in control. "I have sugarcane- put that back, Grian! I have cactus, and nether wart, and of course all the magical crystals-"

"That don't actually work," Grian interrupted.

"You just have to believe in them! If you believe in their magic, then it will come true!"

Grian looked up at the sky like, Why me?

Scar, who had been ranting to mumbo about the properties of each crystal, finally got Grian's attention back when he said, "And there's the Soul Crystal, which represents a life."

Grian and Mumbo immediately perked up. "I'm interested," Mumbo said.

"You're talking to two of the yellow lives in Last Life, fella," Grian said. "What do you want for them?"

"Uhh..."

"You DON'T KNOW?" Grian said, laughing.

"Okay, how about you make the offer, and I'll decide whether I want to accept it or not."

"Okay..." Grian and Mumbo walked a few steps away to discuss what they were willing to give up.

"We could do an alliance," Grian said.

"But what about the other Southlanders?" Mumbo replied.

"I don't know about you, but I'm willing to betray the others for a life," Grian said, glancing around.

I hoped with all my heart that Scar didn't accept this deal. If he did, then that would probably mean the end of the Southlands, Aha jokes, and being able to keep track of two of the people I wanted to at the same time. Plus, if Grian and Scar teamed up again, then it would be catastrophic for the other Last Lifers.

Mumbo unsteadily agreed.

The two of them walked back over to where Scar was.

"We propose an alliance," Grian said. "We'll work together and help you, and we'd even betray the Southlands for that life. What do you say?" He held out his hand to shake.

"Uh, I don't know," Scar replied. "Tell you what, I'll give these crystals to you in pre-order."

"Okay," said Grian, pulling two of the purple crystals out of the barrel. "But if you sell these to anyone else, it won't end well for you."

"Is there anything else you two fine gentlemen would like?" Scar asked, ignoring Grian.

"This cactus would probably be useful," Mumbo said.

"What will you give me for it?" asked Scar.

"Uhh..." Mumbo checked his pockets. Then he dropped some rotten flesh into the barrel.

"Okay, cactus for Grian's boots, great deal!"

"Wait, WHAT?" Grian said.

"But- but-" Mumbo stammered.

"Hand over the boots, unless you don't want the cactus!"

Grian reluctantly pulled off his armored boots and shoved them at Scar.

"Okay, great, it's been a good day for business!" Scar said, wheeling his wares out of the Southlands.

Grian, now wearing only his red sneakers, turned to Mumbo. "We need to talk about selling my stuff to Scar!"

"Sorry! I didn't-"

"That was my only diamond gear!"

"Well, yeah, because ALL the diamonds are RIGHT-"

I didn't hear the rest of what he said because it was drowned out in Grian's laughter as Mumbo started to dig down.

I went back to check on Ren after that. His tower was almost complete, but he wasn't working on it. He was at the Fairy Fort with Lizzie, Bigb, Cleo, and surprisingly, Bdubs and Skiz. And while flying over the forest to get there, I spotted glints of gold and white that could only be the T and E of Team B.E.S.T. hiding in the trees. That was two major alliances in Last Life all at the same place, so something big was probably going on.

Inside the Fairy Fort, Lizzie was standing in between Bdubs and Skiz and the Enchanter, protecting it. Ren stood atop a pillar, aiming a bow at the two of them as a precaution, in case they tried to steal the valuable book of spells. Cleo and Bigb stood together on the side, watching and joining the conversation occasionally.

I still held a grudge against Cleo. Sure, her betrayal was in the past and didn't affect her, Martyn, or me anymore, but it still made me mad to think about.

I didn't know Bigb very well. The few times I had met him, it was in battle, on opposite sides. He had dark skin and black curly hair, and seemed more like the quiet type, but of course it probably depended on who he was with. Back in his home world, whatever it was, he might have been the chattiest person there.

"What do you want for the Enchanter- REN, PUT THAT BOW DOWN!" Bdubs was saying.

Ren did put the bow down, but only so that he and his allies could get in a huddle and discuss their demands. I floated closer to hear what they were saying.

"Lizzie needs armor," Ren said.

They all only had iron armor. But now that he worked for Lizzie, he had to put her needs ahead of his own.

"How many diamonds do we need for trousers and a chestplate?" Cleo said.

Lizzie did not object to their plan.

"Fifteen," Bigb answered, counting on his fingers.

"So, we're asking for fifteen diamonds?" Lizzie clarified.

They all nodded in agreement and got out of the huddle. Ren climbed back up the pillar and drew his bow again.

"Fifteen diamonds," Lizzie said, standing protectively over the Enchanter.

Bdubs and Skiz glanced at each other, then at the Enchanter, then at Ren, who had been holding that bowstring drawn for way longer than I thought possible.

"What do you want them for?"

Lizzie said, "Armor," at the same time Cleo said, "None of your business."

Bdubs and Skiz looked at each other. "What if Bdubs gave you his shirt and I gave you my pants and we called it good?" Skiz said.

"That would work, yes," Lizzie said. "As long as they aren't very used."

"That would work. But my pants, your shirt," Bdubs argued.

"Why does it matter?"

"Exactly. My pants, your shirt."

Bdubs pulled off his leg armor. Skiz threw off his chestplate. They handed both to Lizzie. Lizzie moved aside so they could take the Enchanter. Ren lowered his bow.

Skiz hoisted the table with both hands. "Bdubs, didn't Etho just give you those trousers?"

Bdubs looked down at his ripped jeans, now unarmored. "Oh, yeah. He's not going to be very happy."

Skiz laughed, and then they both left.

Lizzie put on the one-size-fits-all armor. Her allies helped her fasten the straps so it stayed on. Their work resulted in Lizzie being very shiny.

Ren left to work on his tower. Cleo and Bigb also went home to the castle that loomed over the Fairy Fort.

That left Lizzie alone with her Glow.

Until Scott and Pearl turned up.

Turned out that she had a trap all prepared for them. She led them down a ladder, tried to push Pearl into a pit, failed, and then resorted to her sword.

Pearlescent Moon was slain by Lizzie Shadow

The Glow faded.

What scared me was the fact that it said Shadow, not Smallbeans. Lizzie was married to Joel, but apparently this system decided to make her go by her maiden name.

Scott cried out in fury, but Lizzie looked so miserable that she had just killed someone that he couldn't attack her.

Pearl came back for her stuff. Lizzie gave it to her without making eye contact. She was just seeing them off when Grian turned up to see what commotion had happened.

They explained it to him. Then Lizzie gave him a quick tour of the Fairy Fort and introduced him to her dogs, Dragon, Ogre, and Taxes. They were named after scary things, a subtle threat that might actually scare someone off if they tried to attack her.

Of course, she didn't really need the three loyal dogs when she had Ren Dog, who was pretty much one of them at this point, but better at fighting and slightly more dramatic.

Grian went home to the Southlands, and I followed him. Scar obviously hadn't accepted the deal yet, because Grian's name was still yellow. I honestly hoped Scar never did deliver on that promise.

The Southlanders all met and told stories of the adventures they had experienced in the past few days. Then they all went to bed.