Requested by Pineapplevyibibhuv!
This ended up being a lot longer than expected, but I kind of like it! Please give me constructive criticism! You may correct any grammar or spelling mistake you see! I hope you enjoy and wish you have a wonderful day! X3 <3
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- Grian POV -

As I watched Iskall and Mumbo hop into the end portal ahead of me, I had no idea what to expect. The last time I was in the end dimension was in Evo, and, well… I shook my head, pushing former memories away. I was in Hermitcraft now. All things considered, despite my nervous anticipation, I was actually looking forward to exploring this new world with my two closest friends. Taking a deep breath, I followed, hopping in behind them. I immediately appeared, standing on the end stone island. Iskall and Mumbo stood nearby, waiting for me.

"So, how does this work? Where are we going?" I asked, looking back and forth between the two of them. Iskall looked at me and laughed, and Mumbo chuckled slightly.

"We're going through that portal over there," Mumbo explained gesturing behind him. I looked over and saw a small, 1 by 1 black portal almost completely surrounded by bedrock.

"Uh, how?" I asked, getting another laugh from Iskall.

"Just watch!" Iskall exclaimed, before quickly chucking an ender pearl at the portal. He immediately disappeared. I jumped at Iskall's sudden action, and Mumbo laughed. I looked back at him with a fake look of anger and serious, before laughing as well.

"Could I have an ender pearl, Mumbo?" I asked, once I could talk properly. He let out a sarcastic sigh of annoyance.

"Griiiiian, you were supposed to come prepared!"

I laughed. "You're one to talk."

Mumbo gasped, pretending to be hurt by my words. "Grian! How could you! I thought you were my friend!"

We both erupted into laughter, before we heard Iskall's voice from the communicator. "Hurry up, lovebirds! We don't have all day! I'm waiting for you!"

"Sor-pfft-sorry! We're coming!" I answered, trying to catch my breath. Mumbo finally passed me an ender pearl, and I threw it into the portal.
I appeared in a world very similar to the one we were just in. The main difference was the huge purple tree-like things sprouting from the ground and branching up into the endless night sky. I stood still, taking it all in. It was beautiful, in a strange, almost extraterrestrial way. A voice from above brought me back to reality, and I looked for the source.

"Took ya long enough! Come on, let's get going! I've been waiting!" Iskall yelled, circling above with his elytra.

"Alright, alright! We're going!" Mumbo's unexpected voice, still holding back laughter, yelled back from behind me. I jumped slightly, startled.

I quickly composed myself before adding, “Yeah, Iskall! Don’t rush us!”

I quickly took off into the air with a rocket and followed after Iskall.

Behind me, I heard Mumbo shot off several rockets, a sign of failed attempts at getting airborne, before quickly joining in behind us. After only a few minutes of flying in the same direction, we came across an odd shaped building, thin towers and spires leading to box-shaped rooms.

“Is that it?” I asked, already assuming the answer.

“Yep! Are you ready to start end busting?” Iskall replied, looking back at me before circling tightly and landing a little ways away from the entrance.

“Yeah!” I answered, quickly filling with excitement.

“Watch out for the sh-” Mumbo began warning me, before Iskall cut him off.

“Shhh! I want to see how he reacts! Go on, Grian, you got this!” Iskall exclaimed quickly. I looked at them both nervously, suddenly worried. What was Mumbo about to warn me about? I walked toward the entrance, looking back at my friends again. Iskall had a big smile and gave me two big thumbs up, while Mumbo’s eyes were wide and full of fear as he shook his head left to right furiously. I rolled my eyes at the two of them before continuing.

At the front entrance, what looked like two shulker boxes rested on the wall. Suddenly, the boxes opened and the two boxes shot out swirling projectiles. I gasped in shock and tried to dodge, but they seemed to follow me. They both hit me and I started to float. I started to panic slightly, confused.

While this was going on, Iskall was dying from laughter on the ground while Mumbo panicked, yelling out my name. “Grian! Grian, oh my gosh I’m sorry!” Mumbo cried, running to the entrance and hitting one of the boxes with his sword. The floating seemed to wear off and I quickly came down. I caught myself with my elytra and joined Mumbo.

“Ha ha, that’s alright Mumbo! I was really caught off guard.” I replied, finishing off the other box. “What were those, anyway?”

“Those were shulkers, they drop the shulker shells needed to make shulker boxes.” Mumbo replied.

Iskall was still dying behind us, and I remembered from earlier. “Come ooooon Iskall! You’re taking to looooong!” I teased. This only caused Iskall to laugh even more. Mumbo and I laughed, watching Iskall roll around on the ground crying with laughter.

After we all caught our breath, Mumbo, Iskall, and I made our way up the towers, killing ever shulker in our way. We split up to cover more area, and I entered a new tower branching out from the main spire. Looking up, I immediately regret everything. “Oh crap,” I gasped.

The communicator must have picked up my exclamation, because Mumbo and Iskall immediately panicked, asking what happened.

"There's shulkers EVERYWHERE," I managed to say, before being bombarded by three projectiles at once. I floating upward, I noticed the shulkers surrounded the walls, all the way to the top. I tried hitting the projectiles with my sword, but there were too many from all around to stop a decent number. I stopped blocking to eat a golden carrot, as my health quickly dropped.

Every time I approached a wall, something hit me back towards the center. I kept trying to fight them, but every attempt was useless. Eventually, I realized I couldn't escape. "Guys please help!"

"I'm coming to you! Where are you?" Mumbo called, his voice full of panic and concern.

"Uh the-ow!- tower- ah!- on the right!" I manage to reply through the storm of attacks. I hurriedly consumed another carrot, coughing slightly as I ate it too fast. I heard Iskall's signature giggle softly through the communicator.

"Where?! I can't find you?!" Mumbo voice grew in concern, as I heard him searching frantically.

"I- I don't know! Ahhh!" I cried as the shulkers slowly knocked my health back down. Each hit stung more and more. I heard rockets outside, and cried out again. A hole was broken in the wall and Mumbo appeared.

"Mumbo!" I exclaimed, relieved.

"Sorry I took so long, I couldn't find you! Are you alright? Do you want to go back? It's okay if you're not comfortable. Where's Iskall?"

"I'm fine, and I don't know where he is, I thought he was with you."

As we fought the shulkers off together, through the communicator, we heard Iskall's voice. "Where are you guys? I looked through the entire city. Are you still in the first one?"

"The first o- Iskall!" Mumbo yelled into the communicator. Iskall's laugh was once again heard. I sighed as we killed the last shulker.

"Thanks Mumbo, I almost died. Do you happen to have any more carrots I can borrow? I'm almost out." I looked at the three golden carrots remaining in my inventory.

Mumbo laughed, and said with sarcastic reluctance, "Oh, fine. You can have half a stack." He gave me 32 carrots and I smiled up at him thankfully.

Iskall flew into the tower finally, landing beside us. Seeing our interaction, he smirked. "I don't mean to intrude on you two lovebirds…"

"Iskall!" I yelled, trying to sound annoyed but failing as I held back laughter. Mumbo looked at Iskall, confused by his comment, but laughed anyway.

We flew to the next city and didn't meet any issues. Iskall suggested that I took the ship, and I gladly accepted. Landing on the deck, I went down the stairs. I removed the elytra from the item frame and opened the chest on the left. It had several diamond items. I felt a shulker projectile hit my back, stinging. I held in a cry of pain as I closed the chest and turned around.

Looking around, I couldn't see the creature. I walked towards the stairs, creeping slowly, sword drawn. Two shulkers appeared on both sides. I whacked at the mob on my right. It suddenly disappeared from in front of me, and I turned to the other one. I swung at the creature, but it remained in its protective shell. I felt another projectile hit the side of my head, and I stumbled back,vision blurring slightly. I quickly turned to look for the second shulker, but the sudden movement made me dizzy. I felt another projectile hit my head and I cried out as I was knocked backwards and on to the ground.

"Grian, are you alright?" Iskall asked, concerned.

"I'm perfectly fine! I've got thi-" suddenly, I was hit by another projectile. I wasn't paying attention to my health, and everything went red. My eyes opened, and I reappeared on the bed in my base. A death message appeared in chat, and several other hermits replied with an 'F'. I let out a groan of frustration, and sighed. I brought my legs to my chest and hugged them tightly. I looked down at my knees, angry at myself for messing up.

The other architects were silent for a moment. I heard quiet whispering. Iskall, cleared his throat, finally speaking up. "Uh, G-Grian? Are you alright?"

I let out a sigh, releasing my legs and straightening them out in front of me. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be right there." My voice came out dull and frustrated.
More whispering was heard as I reluctantly started getting up and out of bed.

Mumbo then decided to speak up. "A-are you sure? We don't need to get any more. We can get your stuff for you and be done for the day."

I sighed. "I don't know, what ever." My eyes started to feel teary as the overwhelming sensation and the adrenaline started to wear off.

"Alright, we're going to bring you your stuff and be done for now. Are you sure you're okay?" Mumbo replied, sighing sadly. I could tell he and Iskall were most likely exchanging worried glances, and I felt bad for making them concerned.

"Y-yeah, I was just a little overwhelmed. I wa-wasn't sure what to e-expect, and I got a bit scared. I- I think I'm f-fine now…" I replied, trying to keep the tears I felt growing from making my voice crack. I crawled back onto my bed and covered my eyes with my hands as I waited, trying to keep the communicator from picking up on my soft sobbing.

I must have been in this position for a few minutes, because I soon heard the sound of rockets drawing near my base. I quickly wiped my eyes and looked up. Iskall and Mumbo landed, and rushed over to me, concerned. They both squeezed me, and I couldn't help but chuckle slightly.

"I'm glad you're okay. If you feel overwhelmed, next time please tell us," Mumbo reassured softly.
"We don't want to force you to do something you don't feel comfortable doing," Iskall agreed.

I looked at my friends, and smiled. "Thank you," I said, and I felt my eyes tear up again, this time with happiness. "Thank you so much for being amazing friends."

Iskall and Mumbo sat down next to me. Iskall wrapped his hand around my shoulder, while Mumbo softly rubbed my back. "Of course!" Iskall said, cheerfully. "That's what we're here for."