The first thing I notice upon waking is the music.

Somewhere, from a tinny speaker, is the all-too familiar hold music of the Permit Office. My breath catches in my throat. The room is pitch dark.  There’s rope around my wrists, another tying them the ground.

‘Hey! Let me out!’ I call to whoever’s outside. Cub. Cub did this. Cub tricked me. Cub’s not on my side. Cub’s working against me. Cub hurt me. ‘Grian! Cub! Let me out of here!’

The music just continues.

I struggle, ignoring the stinging, twisting and contorting my hands until I’m at risk of breaking something. The hold music taunts me. The thoughts sink in, drowning me.

Cub betrayed me.

‘Good afternoon, Scar.’ Grian’s voice crackles through the speaker. His tone is calm and corporate. ‘Thank you for your patience while we set up the Official Poe Permit Office Security Examination.’

‘Let me go.’

‘According to the official Permit-Office-Behaviour Handbook, you must attend a mandatory check on your loyalty. We cannot let you go until this test is finished.’

‘Quit with your stupid corporate shit, Grian and just let me go!’

A door opens, blinding sunlight filling the room. Cub walks in. I recoil.

‘You,’ I spit. ‘What the fuck do you want? What is this?’

He crouches next to me, pulling out a knife to cut the rope. I struggle against him, pulling free.

‘Come on, man... Just hold still.' He mutters, grabbing my wrist, forcing my hands to stop moving. I keep fighting. He saws through the tight knot and my constraints fall away. The skin beneath is torn and bleeding. Cub pulls me to my feet and into the next room, a bright corridor lined with dark wood. ‘It'll be worse if you fight their demands.'

‘Stop fucking pretending you give a fuck about me.' I spit back. My feet dig against the red carpet beneath me. Sunlight shines through vast windows. I don’t recognise the dense forest beyond.

‘Here at the Permit Office, we expect all of our staff to be treated with kindness and respect. Vulgar language and abuse will not be tolerated and they may-'

‘Fuck off, Grian!’ I snarl, trying to find the microphone, the camera, whatever he’s using to hear us. Before I’m forced into another room, still facing the corridor outside. Cub doesn't look at me.

‘On the order of the Permit Office you will remain in this room until the higher ups either accept or refuse your apology.’

‘Fuck you.’

‘I don't make the rules, Scar.’

I ignore him, turning to look at my new prison.

And freeze.

A stone slab lies in the middle, stained and splattered in dried blood. An altar to the display on the wall behind.

The grinning face of the Vex

‘Them.'

‘They want a sacrifice.’ Cub says. ‘It is up to your discretion what that is. And up to the Vex and newly-appointed High Evoker to decide if it is good enough.’

‘They made you give a sacrifice too, didn't they?' I tear my eyes from that face. 'Your arm. I knew you were hiding somerhing.’

‘A sacrifice must be given,’ Cub forces a knife into my hand. His eyes shine with tears. A dutiful fear. Concern. A deep pain at having to do this. I still don't trust him. 'I pray to Notch they accept it.'

He leaves the room.

The door slams shut in my face. I hear the click of a lock. I drop the knife, hammering against the heavy wood. The dark oak wood. Of course this is a woodland mansion. Of course the Vex are in control of this.

Cub's eyes flashed green, not blue. And there is no High Evoker. The Vex control the evokers.

I feel the white eyes of the vex boring into my back and turn to face them. The knife lies on the ground, bloody. From whatever the fuck they made Cub do.

‘I’m not doing what you want,’ I spit. ‘I’ve done enough shit for you.’

‘Failure of the Official Poe Permit Office Security Examination will result in exile beyond the edges of this server.’

‘You can't set world spawn outside the border. Xisuma will stop you.’ I force down the terror of being stuck there again. My hands shake. The stinging pain fills me. Pressure pushes against my chest.

‘New Permit Office Technology allows for a single player’s spawn to be set at a particular location.’

My heart races. I want to run. I want to flee this world forever.

‘Well- well other hermits will notice!’ I pace the room, searching for exit. I can’t just faze through the walls. They would've thought of that. ‘They’ll stop you. Xisuma will just bring me back. You will be banned from the server. Cub will- Cub will be banned.’ My voice breaks at the mere thought of Hermitcraft without Cub.

‘The reputation of the Permit Office is of the highest concern. Upon the banishment of a Permit Office employee, the protocol is to let our customers believe you are happy in another world.’

I think my chest is going to explode. The world spins. I can’t fight the ghost pain of being stuck outside the world border. Oceans of sunflowers, of scrolls, a world where no one even knows I am. Months, years, decades, of being alone. Constant agony. How long until there's no form left for me to respawn with. Or would the Vex stop that from happening. If the Vex and other Vexling’s stories are to be believed, the only thing that can truly kill me with my necklace on is bedrock. They won't let me remove that. I’d keep respawning. No one would find me. No one would even know.

‘That- that's what you threatened Cub with. Wasn’t it? That’s why he’s obeying you. You made him choose between fucking torturing himself and getting stuck in an eternal death loop outside the world border.’

‘Records involving the actions of other Permit Office employees are classified.’

‘Me getting stuck- that was a threat to Cub,’

‘Here at the Permit Office, we are deeply concerned about the physical and psychological health of our employees. Any punishment is solely meant to incentivise a positive work ethic-’

‘You’re fucking MONSTERS!’ I snarl, kicking the door as hard as I can, the closest I can get to causing damage to the fucking Permit Office. All I damage is my own foot. I still slam my hands against it. Again and again. Nothing. A scream escapes me.

‘You have 1 minute to start the examination, or you will be banished.’

I start sobbing, and sink to the ground. My fingers brush the sharp blade of the knife. There's no other way out of here. I take it and crouch next to that slab. I point the blade at the palm of my hand. Close my eyes.

And stab.

A scream escapes my mouth. Pain tears through me. I don't stop. I twist the knife. Blood pours across the altar. I let out a choking sob, tearing the blade free. The pain remains ceaseless, throbbing. I can see the world through the gaping hole in my palm as I crawl towards the nearest wall.

‘I- I offer my blood as a sacrifice to the Vex,’ I declare. I run my bloody hand across the wood, smearing it with red. 'And… and as a promise of loyalty to them.' One triangle. 'In fire and flame.' Another opposite. 'Present and future, death and chaos.' And then, above the triangles, lines angled down, an arrow pointing to the bloody ground. 'I will serve and obey them.' A straight line, beneath everything else. 'and do all within my power to spread their control and dominion.’ And finally, a long curved line beneath that.

I stare into the vex face, dripping and smeared with blood. My arm is twitching, shaking, in agony. It'd hurt less if I cut it off completely. The world spins from bloodloss. But the Vex don't accept the sacrifice. The door doesn’t open. It isn’t enough.

‘And may they help me to follow them.’ A flicker of Vex fire appears in my working right hand. I hold it against my left, still pouring blood. Tears run down my cheeks, I let out choked sobs of pain through the vow as it sets alight. ‘By their power I make the sacrifice.' The flames crawl from my hand up my arm, tearing my skin and flesh into motled black and red, stinging and blistering and raw. I don't scream.

'Praise be to the Vex. And praise be to the High Evoker.'

'The examination has finished. You have passed.'

The flames die down, extinguished and I cradle my burnt left arm, almost unrecognisable. I crouch there in silence, aside from the occasional patter of my blood on the wood below me, my ragged sobs for breath. Tears scar my cheeks. I don't reply. My fingers shift over the keyboard of my fire-resistant communicator. The door opens.

‘Scar?’

‘Go away.' I mutter. For a moment, neither of us speak. He doesn't move.

'Thank you for your cooperation in this examination. Your loyalty is greatly appreciated. With that being said, your physical efforts will be appreciated even more over in exile.'

'It'll be ok.' Cub steps over. I stand, before he can force me up, still crying, still shaking. He puts an arm around my shoulder, leading me out the room.

I send a message in chat.

You whispered to Skizzleman: jingle