Hey guys! This chapter is based off of an AU thing that I came up with a while ago that "explains" (I guess?) how new Hermitcraft servers/seasons are made. Obviously this is not accurate (relating to the members, who was in which season), but I thought of it to be a fun idea.

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"Everybody, stay calm," Xisuma shouted over the panicked voices ringing around the area.

"Stay calm?" Bdubs yelled. "We are under attack, how can anybody stay calm?"

"We've done this before, we just have to go to through a portal and into a new world."

"Yeah, but each time we've jumped worlds, we've lost somebody," Bdubs defended.

"I know," Xisuma sighed, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder," but we've got to move ahead or else everybody would die."

Bdubs nodded, but looked away, trying to hide his tears as he silently cried.

"Oh, Bubbles," Keralis brought himself closer to his friend, hugging him tightly. "Don't worry about anything, okay?" he slightly backed away too look at Bdubs' face, "I'll make sure you're safe," he smiled.

"W-What about everyone else?" Bdubs asked. He'd heard about the terrors that the attacks brought, how large lands with the strongest warriors would crumble under the raids. Only the absolute best ones survived.

Sure, all of the hermits had a set of skills that were useful in battle, but they were too few to survive, so their best - and safest - option was to make a portal to a new land. Yet, unlike nether portals, these portals only lasted for a very limited time. And though the amount of time that a portal stood varied, they never lasted more than half a minute. And whoever didn't make it through in time was stranded in the world, to eventually be found and killed.

"We'll all do our best to make sure that everybody gets through, okay?" Keralis reassuringly smiled and placed his hand on Bdubs' shoulder.

"Alright, everyone," Xisuma spoke up, grabbing the attention of all the hermits, "as soon as the portal is activated, run towards it. And do your best to help get everybody in as well, I want as many people as possible to make it through." As much as he wanted to say the word everyone, he knew it wouldn't be possible. At least one person stayed behind every time, whether it was due to being slow or the portal being too quick to shut off.

Xisuma studied the group of hermits in front of him, a feeling of unease deep in his gut. He didn't want to lose any of them, he never did, but it was seemingly impossible to keep all of them together when going through.

He snapped out of his thoughts as he heard some shouting. "They're coming!" Mumbo shouted in alarm. Xisuma placed the last few pieces for the portal to activate.

The portal glowed a deep purple as it activated. "Everybody, hurry up and go! There's no time to lose! Help each other get through as well."

Some of the hermits rushed past X and towards the portal.

"C'mon, let's hurry up!" Bdubs shouted, motioning for Keralis to follow as he ran towards the world's exit.

Keralis yelped in surprise as his foot caught onto a rock on the floor. Bdubs looked back at his friend in worry, but Keralis made a shoo-ing motion with his free hand. "Go! The portal is closing up! You can make it if you go right now!"

Bdubs looked back to see Xisuma motioning towards the portal, trying to get him to go in. "Sorry X," he shook his head and turned back around, sprinting towards Keralis.

"Hurry up, Keralis," Bdubs quickly helped his friend up and they both ran away from the group of raiders.

The two made their way into a cave, breathing harshly. The group of raiders quickly sprinted past, not noticing them. Slowly, Keralis slid down against the wall of the cave, and his friend followed suit.

"You idiot," Keralis shook his head, "why didn't you go? Now you're stuck here!"

"I didn't want to leave you alone," Bdubs explained, looking at the ground, "I-I would hate myself if I did."

Keralis' heart softened slightly as he smiled. "I appreciate it, Bubbles, I really do," his smile dissipated, "but you're risking your life."

"I know, but now we've got a better chance at surviving," Bdubs looked over and smiled at Keralis. "We'll get through this."

Once again, Keralis smiled tiredly at his friend. "Yeah."

~~~~

Xisuma's P.O.V. (ooh, I've never done 1st person)

I stared at the fading portal in disbelief. I couldn't believe that two people stayed behind. I haven't had more than one loss in the last few transitions. My job was to take care of everybody and I ruined it. I could've tried harder to keep the portal open, but the raiders were too close, and they were too many to fight off.

I sighed, there must have been a way to save them; a way to save everybody, maybe I'm just not fit for this job, it's obviously too big of a responsibility for me.

"Xisuma?" My thoughts were interrupted by somebody calling my name. I turned around to find who called me.

"Yes Cleo?" I asked, a small sigh making its way out.

"We've talked about this. It isn't your fault."

She knew exactly what I was thinking about. Everybody else would chat amongst themselves, but she always checked up on me. It was appreciated, sure, but it's always felt like it was something she needed to do as opposed to it being something she wanted to do.

I looked over at her with regret, "But that's my job. It's the only thing I need to do, and I can't even do it!"

"X, you've kept us safe," she explained, a small, yet warm smile making its way onto her face.

"I suppose so," I whispered, my mind still occupied with the thoughts of my recently lost friends.

~~~~

"Hey Bubbles, a new one just opened up," Keralis shouted over his shoulder as he inspected the odd portal in front of him.

The pair had managed to survive together over the last few years. It was a surprise; it was hard for large groups to survive against the raiders, so it must've been impossible for just two people to survive, especially for the amount of time that they did.

But, as it turns out, the raiders were only a small part of their problem. They were only there for some days, a few weeks at most, but they wrecked everything that had been built by hand.  Every farm, shop, and base had been destroyed beyond recognition, making it hard to get a hold of essential materials.

The two relied on portals that opened up in random parts of whatever world they happened to be in, and every portal led them into a new one. Most were abandoned and wrecked, but some portals led them into worlds that were booming with life. The people in them, however, tended to be hostile towards them. But who could blame them? It's been hard to trust somebody with the situation that's been going around within the last few years.

"Hmm," Bdubs examined the portal, taking in its odd shape. It was thinner than most portals, just big enough for one person to fit through at a time, and its rim was bright blue.

"Should we check it out?" Keralis asked, looking over to his friend for an opinion.

"I think so, yeah," Bdubs subconsciously nodded and took a few steps forward, tightly clutching at the straps of his backpack. "You ready?" he asked, looking back towards his friend.

"Yep!" Keralis smiled as he zipped his backpack closed and slung it over his shoulder. "I'm excited to see if there will be anybody on the other side," he admitted, studying the portal.

"Well, let's figure that out, c'mon." Bdoubleo stepped through the portal and Keralis followed suit.

~~~~

The pair stepped out of the portal and shielded their eyes as the bright sun shone up above.

"Where are we?" Bdubs asked, marveling at the area around them. It had been transformed into what looked to be a military base.

"I don't know, but this place is kind of giving me the creeps," Keralis shivered. "Let's keep moving, yeah?"

"Yeah, let's."

They made their way over to a military hangar. The world was obviously still inhabited, since there were perfectly built buildings surrounding them.

"I wonder if-" Keralis' sentence was cut short as he felt a cold metal tip press up against his back.

"Don't move," the voice commanded in a low whisper. Keralis nodded quickly as he swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Keralis?" Bdubs turned around and took a sharp breath in as he took in what was displayed in front of him. A green cyborg hybrid was stood behind Keralis, and Keralis had a terrified look on his face. "Whoa, what's going on here?" Bdubs asked worryingly.

"Come here." The cyborg motioned with his free hand as he adjusted his sword in his other hand.

"O-Okay," Bdubs slowly walked towards him and the hybrid roughly grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him close.

Bdubs and Keralis both knew from experience that the best thing to do was to follow his instructions, as they were always let go in the end.

"Walk in," he commanded as they came up to an entrance. They made their way inside the hangar, and were met with another person. "Hey Scar, look what I found."

"Where, in here?" Scar asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah, I'm gonna lock them up real quick to see what we should do next."

"Of course, yeah, go ahead," Scar nodded and motioned them to a hallway.

"This," the hybrid roughly pushed the pair into a cell with the heel of his hand, "is your place." He quickly put away the sword and closed the entrance to the cell.

"Hey," Bdubs asked, getting up and dusting his pants off," are you okay?"

"Yeah," Keralis nodded, also getting up, "I just- what are we gonna do?" he asked.

"Don't worry," Bdubs smiled reassuringly, "they're gonna let us go soon, they always do."

Keralis looked outside of the cell and found Scar and the hybrid talking intently. The cyborg then took out a communicator and began to type into it.

"Who do you think he's messaging?" Keralis asked.

"Probably their leader," Bdubs assumed, subconsciously sighing.

"I really hope they're nice."

"You and me both."

Keralis looked around, studying the cell. It was very tall and spacious, but it was a little dark.

Keralis and Bdubs decided to sit down and try to plan out a way to escape or at least reason with their captors.

"Do we tell them it was an accident?" Keralis asked. "The portal opened up and we needed to move because we were running out of supplies and-"

The entrance opening interrupted their conversation and three people stepped in. One of them, though, stopped as soon as he made it through the entrance.

"Keralis? Bdubs?" The man took off his helmet and wore a shocked expression as he laid his sight on the pair.

"Shashwami?!" Keralis jumped up and rushed to hug his old friend. Xisuma smiled and returned the hug.

Bdubs, however, got up slowly, mouth agape, and whispered, "Xisuma?" He walked towards the pair slowly.

Xisuma smiled and nodded, opening his arms wider and inviting his old friend to join in on the hug.

"I missed you guys," Xisuma whispered.

"We missed you, too," Bdubs and Keralis said simultaneously.

~~~~

Oh wow, that was long. I haven't written a chapter this long in quite a while. I know I didn't really explain the whole "raiders" thing very well, I thought of them to be like a sort of bug in the world that destroyed things. Random, I know, but it seemed fun. Anyways, I hope you guys liked this one, I definitely enjoyed writing it. Feel free to give me some feedback and requests if you want to.