The field was dead now, black roots curling through the grass and dirt. Grian sighed as he stood up and wrenched his ankles free from the vines. He'd blacked out as soon as he'd reached the field, and when he woke up, this was all there was left.

He needed to see Joe again anyways.

Grian shivered and pushed off the ground, opening his wings and taking off in the direction of Joe's.

__________________

Xisuma wasn't sure how long he'd puzzled over the hacker's work. He glanced out one of the windows to see the sky getting dark. Grian was nowhere in sight, still not back from his "walk". Xisuma found himself beginning to worry, and he pulled out his communicator.

Xisumavoid: Hey Grian, where r u? Im getting worried.

Grian: M'fine, I'm with Joe.

JoeHills: He had a panic attack while he was on his walk, but he's okay now.

Grian: Sorry about not letting you know X

Xisumavoid: It's ok, I was just worried

Xisuma set his communicator down with a sigh. Maybe he was just being paranoid. He debated pulling an all-nighter on this bug, it was pretty serious after all. Then he got a message in chat.

Docm77: Hey Xisuma?

Xisumavoid: Yeah Doc?

Docm77: Iskall told me about the bug

Xisumavoid: I still haven't figured it out yet, sorry.

Docm77: I was gonna suggest that I look into it. Mumbo and I found something a week or so ago that may be connected. So if you want to sleep, I can take over for now.

Xisumavoid: Thank's Doc.

Docm77: Don't mention it. Now get some sleep.

Xisuma set down his communicator and removed his helmet. Just then, Grian swooped inside with a smooth landing as always.

The first thing Xisuma noticed was how frazzled and nervous Grian looked. His hair was askew, probably from flying, and his face only said paranoia on it.

"Hey, you alright Gri?" Xisuma asked, standing up from his workstation as he closed down his screens for the night.

_____________________

Grian opened his mouth, tempted to confess that the Hacker was his fault, but quickly closed it again and resolved to shaking his head instead.

Xisuma took a step towards him, and gently grabbed his hand, leading him over to the beds. "You should sleep, okay? You'll feel better after a night's sleep." He gave Grian a reassuring smile. "And don't worry, I won't pry."

"Thanks." Grian mumbled, lying down on his bed. And despite his anxiety, he fell asleep.

Xisuma also climbed into bed, falling asleep rather quickly as well. All was quiet on the server, everyone in bed, their communicators muted for the night.

T̓͌͟Ᏼ̟᷁ᚨỤ̥̃̌r̩̄͢tަ͏᷉i̧̥̍s̩ͫ͡ has joined the game

_________________

Panic was among the server the next morning, the Hermits trying to figure out who and where this new stranger was.

Doc had disappeared as well, which set off a few red flags in Xisuma's mind. He himself was trying to locate the new player, but to no avail. They didn't show up in Tab, nor in the Player list. Nobody saw an extra nametag, it was borderline terrifying.

Xisuma considered calling a server meeting and having everyone move servers early, but pushed the thought away quickly. Even if they did move servers, the hacker could probably just follow them, as long as the server's whitelist system was the same, which it usually was. The only way to change it would be to fully destroy the server and create a new one from scratch, which only he could join. Then, he'd have to invite the rest of the hermits, but that was the issue. Once the hermits would leave the server, he'd lost all contact information. He couldn't write anything, down, since he'd lose all his items as soon as he joined the new world.

There was a reason why only a couple people would join each season.

Xisuma dove back into the code, dissecting it again and again, trying to fix the system. He began to type a couple warnings into his communicator.

He'd only typed in half his message when a hand clamped over his mouth. Xisuma panicked, and tried to call for help in the chat, but his attacker had already yanked him backwards, before hitting the back of his head with something hard, shoving him into unconsiousness.

___________________

Xisumavoid: Hey guys, I still can't find this mystery player. Make sure you're armed at all times and properly suited up incasimgjhkljb;k

Mumbo Jumbo: Uh...

GoodTimesWithScar: Xisuma? You okay?

Xisumavoid: helghjlk

GoodTimesWithScar: Xisuma?

Iskall85: Xisuma why aren't you answering?

T̓͌͟Ᏼ̟᷁ᚨỤ̥̃̌r̩̄͢tަ͏᷉i̧̥̍s̩ͫ͡: Ÿ́o͢u̮ c͐a̦ṉn͠o̪t̳ i͐g̡n͎ōr͉e̳ u᷈s̳ a͏n̲y̋ l͝o͌n̾g̫e͊r͂

T̓͌͟Ᏼ̟᷁ᚨỤ̥̃̌r̩̄͢tަ͏᷉i̧̥̍s̩ͫ͡ has left the game

Xisumavoid has left the game

Grian: nonononononononono

Grian: HE PROMISED

Mumbo Jumbo: Grian? You know something about this?

Mumbo jumbo: Grian?!

_____________________

Grian didn't know exactly what he was feeling as he swooped down into Xisuma's base andsnatched up the book. Rage? Fear? Guilt? They all swirled together in a muddy mixture that sent chills down his spine and made his blood boil at the same time.

The roots sprouted up around his feet once more, and frost began to spread around the room. The frost was accompanied by occasional plumes of fire as random things caught fire only to be extinguished quickly by the bitter cold Grian has surrounded himself in.

"I did what you asked." his voice came out in a whisper, but was gaining volume as he spoke. "Why him? You knew this was going to happen and-and I fell for it!" The heat began to overtake the frost as clear rage surfaced in the mud, making his vision start to go red.

The book stayed silent. Cold and stoic. It felt wrong. But Grian didn't care. If the book could talk, it could hear him. It could hear him building up anger and rage towards both the book and himself, as the room began to heat up even more.

"You promised you wouldn't hurt anyone!" He shouted. He was angry. He wanted this to be over. For this to be gone. For this freaking book to disappear-

The book burst into flames, still as silent as it had been, no last words uttered, even as it crumbled to ashes in his hands.

And then that cheerful voice rang out behind him, sending a chill down his back.

"You can't get rid of me that easily."

_______________________________

The room was ablaze, fire surrounding the two men, but not yet touching them.

One is laughing while the other is frozen in shock and confusion.

"B-booky?"

"Yes. but you can call me Sam. Samgladiator. You shouldn't have left, Gree-on."

________________________

Mumbo Jumbo: Xisuma's base is on fire, and I can see Doc and Grian's nametag's inside!!!! What do I do?!

Iskall85: Anyone near Xisuma's, get a lot of water buckets and get above his base, and pour the water down from there. Tango and Stress, you two and I have the best resistance to fire, so we'll place water inside. Everyone else, try to get to the SD pronto!

Mumbo Jumbo: On it!

Stressmonster: Gotcha

TangoTek: omw

JoeHills: I'm bringing a lot of buckets!

ZombieCleo: Same here

________________________

"S-sam?" Grian took a step backwards. "Wha-why? Why are you doing this?!"

"You know why. You left us. You left me."

Water began to trickle down into the burning building, and Grian glanced up. He saw many nametags, all people he knew. He snapped his attention back to Sam.

"What do you want?" He said, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

He only got a laugh out of Sam. "You'll see. You know where to find me. Once you're there, go to where it all went wrong."

"Wait! What do you mean-"

Docm77 was killed by Samgladiator

_____________________

Allright, y'all can have my kneecaps now