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This chapter is time-skip heavy, so be warned.

I'm sorry it's so late. My motivation decided to enjoy sky blue. Hopefully the length will help make up for that. This chapters the longest so far with 1,942 words

Cw: funerals, self-blame, survivor's guilt, death and mourning of friends, swearing

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Grian's pov

     After another day or so, Grian was ready to talk to the others. They offered their condolences, although they didn't have much emotional help to give. They were all mourning the loss of their friends.

     After another few days, the hermits were ready enough to begin preparing for the funeral. They collectively selected an island near the end of the Hermississipi.

     The hermits collected resources and began building the island. Grian built the bridge to the island. Once it was done, he stepped back and admired it. It was a lovely arching shape with leaves draping down the side and lanterns illuminating the jungle planks with a soft, yellow-orange glow. He was honestly a little proud of it. His lips curved up just slightly in the most minuscule of smiles, the first one he'd had since they'd walked into the fortress.

     The other hermits finished up their builds around the same time. The island was ready. A few of the hermits had brought the coffins over.

     The precession walked over the bridge. They walked through a bit of oak and birch forest, along a path carefully illuminated with candles and lanterns in the trees. The lights set out a gentle ring around the wispy mist that had gathered. You have heard a pin drop there. The only noises were the soft steps and the leaves and trees. Not a single animal dared to disturb the fog of sorrow that hung over the group. 

     The hermits reached the clearing where the graves had been dug. The gravestones were carefully engraved with intricate designs that represented each of the lost hermits. Behind them were armor stand statues of each of the hermits, appearing graceful, and content. 

     Those who were carrying the coffins gently placed them in their final resting places. Last words were whispered and teardrops soaked into the ground.

    "Thank you for being the best friends I could ever ask for," Grian said softly over the graves of Scar and Mumbo, kneeling down next to them, his voice trembling slightly, "And thank you all for trying to help me, and I'm sorry for failing you all," he whispered, standing up. The remaining people said their goodbyes. Together, they closed up the graves and left back over the bridge, a tangible melancholy hanging over them all.

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     It had been about two weeks since the funeral. The quiet was starting to lift. People started to return to their regular lives. But not Grian. Grian had helped Gem out with her mega base, but his heart wasn't in it.

    Problems had started to arise. The world was gradually glitching more and more. Without an admin, the code had begun to unravel.

    Grian flew over the starting area, pondering what he could do. His wing was finally healed enough for him to fly; only a small scar remained.

     He swooped over the river when he suddenly had a thought. Scar's library has all sorts of weird books. I could check there. He fluttered down and landed at the base of the tree.

     The red-sweatered avian swallowed down his emotions as he walked into the tree. He climbed up the stairs, wincing as his foot rebelled. It was technically healed, but Gem had said that it might be sore for longer.

     At long last, he reached the top of Scar's twisting staircase and entered his library. Grian started combing through the books, remembering when he came when this all started. That seems so long ago now.

     Finally, he found what he needed. It was titled ᔑ  ⊣⚍╎↸ᒷ  ℸ ̣ 𝙹  ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ  ∴ᔑℸ ̣ ᓵ⍑ᒷ∷ᓭ. How on earth did Scar get this with his body, freedom, and sanity intact?

     Grian scanned over the table of contents and flipped to Most Powerful Magic, the last chapter. He had heard a story once about a spell to bring back- oh! There it was! He read the entry.

The Watcher's Trade

The Watcher's Trade is the most powerful thing any single being can do. It is a potent form of magic where the Watcher performing it is able to bring any one being back from the dead, be they Listener, Watcher, Player, or other. However, in doing so, the Watcher dies from draining their magic, hence the trade.

Note: There are only stories of the Old Watchers performing this. There is no solid evidence that it is even possible.

Well, I certainly hope it is.

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Gem's pov

     "Grian? Grian?" Gem called out from her roof. He had said that he was going to help her snow proof them.

     She pulled out her communicator.

Geminitay: where are you grian?

Grian: i can't come sorry. you'll find out why later

Grian: im sorry, but i have to do this. Bye

Grian whispers to you: and don't blame yourself

You whisper to Grian: wait what

You whisper to Grian: grian what are you doing

You whisper to Grian: Grian?!

Grian's pov

     Grian set down his communicator, turning off so it wouldn't buzz. He looked around the cave. The rocks around him were illuminated in a soft purple glow. The book had recommended he go somewhere powerful, and he figured this definitely counted.

     He had studied the book closely, and memorized exactly what he needed to do. He decided he would bring back X, because without an admin, the world would eventually crash. Also, he secretly hoped against all hope that he would be able to bring the others back.

     Taking a calming breath and closing his eyes, he began to activate his magic. It warmed up inside him and sent a tingling feeling down his limbs. He opened his eyes again, and more appeared over his hands, all glowing with the Evo symbol in their pupils.

     He dug deeper, and deeper still, until he hit his magical essence. While keeping and handle on that, he sent some of his eyes out, pushing his way through the deepest void until he found the broken code of X's soul. Then, still holding X's soul in his mind, he pictured X in front of him, imagining his blue and green eyes behind his helmet, his forest green armor, and his tall stature.

     In front of him, Xisuma began to flicker into existence in front of him, slowly becoming more and more solid until-

Xisumavoid joined the game

Xisuma's pov

     "What on- where, who am- oh. Oh," he exclaimed as his memories came crashing back in. Then he turned and saw Grian. "OH."

Grian's pov

     As Grian used more and more of his essence, he felt himself begin to slip from consciousness, crippling exhaustion creeping through his body.

      "Oh X, it-it worked. Thank goodness it worked. Y-your back," he stuttered out.

     And then he fell.

Xisuma's pov

     Grian's breath grew shallower by the second. Xisuma pulled out his admin panel, panicking as Grian's breath became a whisper.

He's used too much magic! He thought to himself. 

     As fast as he could, Xisuma scrolled down the options, looking for anything that would help. At last he found something. 

Magic: drawing from self

     What can I change it to? Frantically, he looked around until his eyes landed on the Rift. That'll maybe work! He thought as we changed the source to Rift. Come on, please!

     Just as he hit enter, Grian's breath came to a stop.

Grian died from magic exhaustion

     But just a second later, it disappeared. His chest rose and fell. He sat up, shaking his head, as if to clear sleep.

Grian's pov

     "Am I- and you're- alive?" Grian asked. He stood up and looked himself over. "I'm alive!" Then he wrapped his arms around Xisuma. "It worked! And you saved me. Thank you."

     "I should be thanking you. After all, you brought me back from the dead," Xisuma replied gratefully. He stepped back and looked himself over. He looked completely normal, and his helmet had respawned with him.

      "Why did you bring me back? Why not one of the others?" X asked out of curiosity.

     "Well, for one, the world's glitching more and more. None of us know how to fix it properly. And secondly, well, I was hoping that, I guess, if anyone can bring the others back without dying, it's you."

     Xisuma shook his head, "I can't do it. Even with admin powers, I'm not powerful enough."

     "Then it's a good thing I'm still here."

     Xisuma smiled. "Let's get them back together."

     "I'll channel the magic from the Rift into you."

     "Then I'll recreate some basic player code for them, which they should latch onto and fill out."

     "Okay, let's go," Grian said, pulling open the handful of eyes that had closed. With the new well of power from the Rift, he felt invigorated. He was no longer weighed with the tiredness that always came with his magic. Instead, he was able to send his eyes out effortlessly. He dug through the void, finally seeing the unraveled souls of his friends. He pulled them together and coaxed them back to the cave.

Xisuma's pov

     Xisuma pulled out his panels and began typing up new blank player codes, siphoning from the Rift the fuel it. In front of him, new blank players started to form. They all had the basic Steve appearance. Once he had the player-frames prepared, he alerted Grian, who nodded in understanding.

     Grian waved his hands towards the frames. And right before his eyes, the player frames began shifting. The skin color changed, the hair grew, the clothes re-wove themselves, all to their new soul's appearance. Finally, the shifts finished.

TangoTek joined the game

Pearlescentmoon joined the game

FalseSymetrey joined the game

GoodTimeWithScar joined the game

Mumbo joined the game

Mumbo's pov

     Mumbo's sucked in a deep breath before coughing up the cold cave air. Once he regained his ability to breathe properly, he looked around. He appeared to be in the Rift cave. Around him stood False, Scar, Pearl, and Tango, also looking around. He also saw Xisuma closing his admin panels, and Grian with a few Watcher eyes floating around his head and an eye-to-eye grin blossoming on his face.

     Grian half ran, half flew over to the freshly respawned hermits and threw his wings around them all, with X joining in too. "It worked!" he exclaimed, tears of joy running down his face, "You're all here!"

     "But didn't we all die?" Mumbo asked.

     "Yes, but X and I brought you back."

Meanwhile in the chat...

Geminitay: where are you grian?

Grian: i can't come sorry. you'll find out why later

Grian: im sorry, but i have to do this. Bye

Iskall85: Grian?

ZombieCleo: Do what?

ImpulseSV: What do you have to do?

Bdubs: Why are you saying bye?

Geminitay: grian just told me not to blame myself

Iskall85: oh no that's not good

Rendog: can anyone see where he is?

ImpulseSV: no admin no location tracking

ZombieCleo: fuck

Geminitay: what do we do?

Xisumavoid joined the game

Bdubs: WHAT?

ZombieCleo: X hello?

Grian died from magic exhaustion

Iskall85: GRIAN

[Grian died from magic exhaustion has been deleted]

Rendog: Huh?

ZombieCleo: I think we might have X back

Geminitay: but how?

ZombieCleo: good question

Bdubs: wait are people dead or not

ImpulseSV: i don't know

Iskall85: I'm very confused

TangoTek joined the game

Pearlescentmoon joined the game

FalseSymetrey joined the game

GoodTimeWithScar joined the game

Mumbo joined the game

ZombieCleo: ???

Bdubs: WHAT!?

Geminitay: Wait what?

Iskall85: Hooray!

Rendog: They're alive!

Xisumavoid: I'm going to teleport everyone to the Rift

Xisumavoid teleported @a to Xisumavoid 

     As everyone teleported in, the Rift cave was filled with cries of joy and laughter as they saw their friends they thought had been lost forever. The hermits were reunited.

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So that's the wrap for normal chapters. There will be an epilogue, though I don't know what I'm writing for it so it might be a bit.

In the meantime, I'd like to do a Q&A. Ask any questions you'd like about me or the story on this line

     -Meep

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