A few days went by, Grian and Ren trying every possible combination they could. They even started putting ground lapis in the potions, after asking Scar if it was edible of course. Luckily it was, as long as you only have a very small amount.

The lapis definitely helped, but it wasn't quite enough.

As of now, they had only a couple days left. Mumbo's heartbeat had gotten concerningly slow, and Grian was getting desperate.

At two in the morning, he sat down with the book, glaring at it. "Why couldn't you be helpful?" He mumbled. He was waiting on another brew, one that would take longer than he wanted. He had nothing else to do but search though the book again.

Grian rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He'd been pulling all-nighters in hopes of creating a cure. He thought he was doing fine, but threw that thought out the window when, of course, the book started to speak.

"Hello!"

At first, Grian glared at it, and walked away muttering "Not today, I am NOT going insane."

Then when the brew he'd just made turned out to be useless, he stalked back to the book.

"Alright, I'm talking to a book. What do you want?" He muttered, not sure whether to be scared or irritated, or hopeful.

"I'm not a book, silly!"

"I'm sorry, w h a t?"

"I'm not a book! Or well, I wasn't always a book."

Grian stared at the book.

"You... You're a spirit trapped in the book or something, aren't you?"

"You betcha!"

Grian groaned. "What else is new?"

"You know, it's not good to go too long without sleep, phantoms and all that." The book spoke.

Grian sighed. "And it can make you hallucinate."

"You think I'm a hallucination?" The book sounded mildly offended.

"Well," Grian set the book down, "It's two in the morning and I'm talking to a book."

"...Fair point."

Grian stood up to make a new potion. "By any chance, do you know the cure for the Faerie Stroke?" He asked. It was worth a shot.

"I'll tell you if you help me!"

"Never mind, forget I asked-"

"Fine, fine! I'll help you first, and then you help me. Deal?"

Grian hesitated. He knew that he shouldn't trust the book, but he was desperate. He suddenly understood why protagonists always looked for advice in clearly evil sources.

"Fine." He sighed and turned back to the book. "But you promise that when I help you, it won't change the server or its inhabitants in any way, right?"

The book chuckled. "Of course!"

Grian knew he was getting into something bad, something sinister. He wasn't an idiot. But Mumbo was dying, and the book was offering a cure.

"Alright Booky. What's the recipe?"

________________________________

Mumbo hated the fact that he'd completely lost his sense of touch. Now, the only thing connecting him to reality was the slow beeping of the machine he was hooked up to and the quiet hum of Doc's metal parts.

Mumbo fought to stay awake, scared that if he fell asleep, he wouldn't wake up.

Knock Knock

"Hm?" Mumbo heard Doc stand up and walk over to the door. "Oh, Grian."

"I have it!" Grian sounded out of breath. Mumbo heard the clank, sounding like glass hitting metal. From the context clues, Mumbo understood that Grian had shoved a potion into Doc's arms. "It needs to be administered into the bloodstream, that's all you."

Mumbo heard Grian run over to to bed he was lying on. "Hurry! We don't have much time Doc!"

"Okay! Okay! I've got it."

Mumbo felt something warm enter his arm, spreading out through his body. Tingles began running up and down his limbs, and suddenly Mumbo could feel again. The lingering cold seemed to wash away, and he heard the beeping get faster.

"Please work! Please work! Please work!" Grian was saying.

Mumbo tried to move his fingers. They twitched ever so slightly.

"Mumbo, if you can hear me, try to open your eyes." Doc's voice was calm, but Mumbo could hear the undertones of hope.

And he obliged, slowly blinking open his eyes. Everything was so bright, too bright. His eyes began to work, and he saw Grian and Doc standing over him. Mumbo opened his mouth trying to speak. His throat was dry, but he managed to croak out one sentence.

"Grian, don't you dare blame yourself."

Grian began to laugh-cry and hugged Mumbo. "I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened, I've been pulling all-nighters trying to make a cure and I don't know what all these Fae terms mean and-"

Mumbo managed a smile, his muscles slowly coming back to life. He wished he could return the hug, but his arms still felt like spaghetti noodles

Doc was standing off to the side, also smiling. "Glad to have you back, you spoon."