The End dimension was way less interesting than the tiny piece they traveled through. Zedaph's portal had landed them on a tiny floating island, made up of the endstone they didn't really like. Powder from the stones crunched under their feet as they landed.

"Well, where to?" Tango asked, dusting off the grayish yellow powder from his wings. He stood out like a sore thumb in the black and purple environment. Xisuma blended in so much that if you looked away, it would be hard to find it again.

"I expect that big island over there." Xisuma pointed at the blankness of the void.

"I can't see anything." Tango squinted in the direction Xisuma had pointed. If Tango couldn't see it, no one could.

Mumbo looked at Xisuma with apprehension. Was the admin feeling okay?

"I'm fine, I think the stone is telling me there is an invisible island in that direction. I'll go scout it out." Xiusma prepared for flight.

"I'm coming with." Grian put a hand on Xisuma's shoulder, making him freeze. Xisuma opened his mouth to protest when Grian interrupted. "I had the void stone at one point, remember? I'll be fine. Plus you shouldn't be out here alone."

Xisuma reluctantly agreed to let Grian follow him, and soon he was gliding off on his purple wings. Mumbo watched as they became smaller and smaller specks in the blackness until they vanished from sight. A quick glance at Tango confirmed that he couldn't see them either.

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Grian followed Xisuma closely behind as they flew away from the tiny island. Xisuma seemed to know where he was going, because he continued to gliding in the same direction. Grian was about to ask Xisuma to turn back when he felt a strange sensation take over his body.

The tingling subsided just as quickly as it had come, and a giant end island loomed into view.

"How?" Grian asked as they landed on the surface.

"The end is a strange place." Xisuma's periwinkle eyes twinkled. He took off his helmet and gulped in the air. "I missed this air."

Grian didn't quite understand what Xisuma liked about the air. It stung his lungs slightly and had an acid feel.

"Welcome Grian and Xisuma," a merry voice twinkled from behind them. Grian and Xisuma spun around to find a glowing female figure clothed in a white dress.

"Who are you?" Xisuma asked.

"I am Etherial, guider of the stones."

"Why weren't you here before?" Grian pulled at one of his feathers.

"I am here to deliver a message." She replied opening both arms to her sides. "You seek the end stone, thinking you are almost to your goal. But I must warn you, the darkness cannot be defeated without the seventh stone."

Grian and Xisuma glanced at each other, each of them thinking the same thought. Seventh stone?

"How do we find the stone?" Grian shuffled and worried that this mission just became next to impossible.

The woman smiled and her eyes glazed over slightly. "One of you has the stone, but to reveal itself is untold. You must find your mortal enemy and trust him three-fold. To break free the bondage, find the other self within the wreakage. Where worlds meet, the mortals keep, the stone of light away from blight."

With those words her eyes stopped being glazed over and she gave them a final piece of advice. "The end stone is beneath you." She vanished leaving a small stack of chorus fruit.

"We need to get the others over here," Xisuma told Grian, scooping up some of the fruit.

"Agreed," Grian responded, preparing to fly back.

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Mumbo found the return of Grian and Xisuma just as disorienting as their departure. Shimmering into existence, the duo flew towards the solitary island the others were camped out on.

"I hate cloaking devices," Tango mumbled to himself, rubbing his head. Mumbo had to agree since it messed with his head too.

Soon enough Xisuma landed with Grian hot on his heels.

"Two things," Xisuma started once he landed. "One, we know where the end stone is and hence TFC, and two, there is a seventh stone that one of us has."

"Sorry, what?" Mumbo shook his head to clear it out. "What does it control?"

Grian cleared his throat and winced slightly. "We were given a riddle, it was called the stone of light."

Xisuma stroked his chin thoughtfully and stared at the dusty ground. "From what I can tell, one of us must face our biggest enemy and trust them."

Mumbo looked at the scraggly group with trepidation. "We all have enemies, some more than others."

Xisuma sighed and continued. "The person who has the stone must break free from their bondage by finding their other self within the wreakage?" A quick glance at everyone confirmed that thy had no idea what it meant either. "And the last part talked about the stone kept away from the blight, probably the darkness, by mortals."

"If you mean humans by mortals, that rules out Tango and I," Zedaph mused.

"Well either way we need to find TFC. We can worry about the light stone later." Mumbo announced and prepared to take flight.

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Grian simply shrugged when Xisuma glanced at him. Something about the whole riddle thing bugged him. Having created a few in his life time, Grian tried to dissect the riddle. When he glanced at Xequla, something nagged at the back of his mind. Something wasn't right with him.

Mumbo was practically jumping on his toes, wanting to get to the hidden island. Grian bumped his shoulder playfully. "You can AFK for hours but can't wait a few seconds to explore?"

Mumbo focused on his short friend and contemplated it for a second. "AFKing is different." He finally said, but stilled.

"Alright everyone," Xisuma brought the attention to himself before he continued. "We are going to fly through a cloaked island. Once there, we will eat chorus fruit to get teleported to the underground base."

"Are you sure it will be safe?" Tango asked. Chours fruit was notoriously unreliable, especially to Netherites. Sometimes it would teleport them to the void which was deadly.

"It's our only way," Xisuma pulled his helmet back on, probably for safety. "Follow me." Xisuma dove off the edge and after a second of hesitation the others followed. Iskall glanced at Mumbo, silently checking with him, before leaping off with much grace. Xequla didn't even bother jumping off the edge, he just simply jumped off the ground to fly.

Mumbo was the last one to leave, having watched the two expert fliers easily glide off the edge. Come on Mumbo. The void isn't that scary.

Despite having gone through much worse, Mumbo couldn't help but break out into a cold sweat. He would have to fly on the unreliable wings above the void. Time was of the essence, so Mumbo gulped down the lump in his throat and leaped.

"Good to see your skills have improved." Grian's voice made Mumbo open his eyes. He was gently gliding beside Grian and behind Tango. Somehow, Grian looked even more at ease than Tango, who had been flying for over a hundred years.

The cloaking was even more disorienting once they passed through it, as they couldn't see the island they had come through. Tango quickly noticed the small pile of fruit on the ground and angled towards it.

"Well here goes nothing." Tango sighed and bit into the fruit, vanishing from sight leaving some purple particles in the air. Zedaph followed and Iskall and Xequla bit into different ones at the same time. Mumbo could have sworn he saw Iskall give Xequla the eye.

"Cheers," Xisuma tipped a fruit towards Mumbo before he too vanished.

"Ready?" Grian ripped the last fruit in half and handed it to Mumbo.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

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Next part out soon! I don't know what to say now.... Oh, I'm working on 'animating' my stories. I use the term animating loosely, because if I go full out it will take years. 

Hi cat. Yeah, no joke, my cat is bothering me like crazy. Say hello to Tiger for me will you? Oh that reminds me that I left Rueben in Mumbo's base. Sorry Rueben, they will come back soon.

Love you all!

-Buurn