Hello again everyone, sorry for not updating for 10 days, I swear I can explain-

So do you all know about the latest Hermittpad Authors war? Yeah, I'm kind of involved in that all. If you didn't know, there's currently a Hermittpad Authors war betweem Hermitcraft Protection Cult (HPC) vs Society of Angst (SoA), and then there's also Midwar Info Crew (MIC) and Flangst Is Better (FIB). What side am I on? If you're on discord, you probably know already.

On top of that, I've been more invested in Ace Attorney stuff right now on youtube, so I rarely have time to write. Oh yeah, then there's also homework.
And then there's also a new book that I'm working on-

Also, I know this chapter is crap, you don't have to tell me.
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/-+* Third Person POV *+-\

"Stress... are you sure you can carry all those by yourself?" Etho asked slowly.

Stress, carrying 5 containers full of packed ice, shrugged. "Of course I'm sure."

"Stress-" Etho said, unsure. "Are you sure?"

"Don't worry about it, Etho!" Stress chuckled as she started walking away, still carrying all the ice. "I can handle it!"

"Alright then... see ya!"

"See ya!"

Stress hummed to herself as she walked with the containers of ice, in the process of carrying it all back to her room. But before she reached her destination, she started hearing voices... of people arguing.

She turned to her right, and the voices seemed to be coming out of Mumbo's room. A bit concerned, Stress placed the ice containers on the ground, and walked towards the door to see what's going on.

"Mumbo, listen- please." Iskall sighed, while trying to calm the moustached panicked man down.

"Iskall- so it's true isn't it?"

Iskall gestured to the broken mini-jungle house replica, figurin, or whatever you would call it, "No, Mumbo." he said slowly, "If you're implying what I think you're implying..."

"Yes, that's what I'm implying!" Mumbo stressed, "Before I broke it, h- his ghost wasn't here!"

"..." Iskall stood here silently in disbelief for a second, "...so you are implying that..."

"Yes, Iskall, how many times do I have to tell you that!?"

"I- okay. First, calm down, pal." Iskall sighed, patting the panicked man on the back to try and calm him down, "You really believe that this- uh- thing was cursed?"

"Iskall, what other possibility is there-!?"

"Boys, what's going on here?"

When the both looked, Stress had already entered the room, looking at the two in confusion and concern.

"Stress!" Mumbo immediately jumped in surprise, "We are just- uh- um-"

"Stress? What are you doing here?" Iskall quickly asked.

"Well," Stress started, "I heard arguing from outside, and so I went to check it out." she stated, before shifting back into a concerned expression, "So, boys, what's this talk about a curse?"

Both Mumbo and Iskall went silent for a while. "Stress..." Mumbo started, "I assure you it's nothing."

"It's nothing?" Stress repeated in disbelief, "well, it certainly doesn't sound like nothing, luv."

Mumbo turns to Iskall for advice, and Iskall looks back at him and gives him a face that says "Oh well, just tell her.". With a sigh, Mumbo turns back to look at Stress, "Well... Stress, you see..."

"Yes?" Stress said, "I'm all ears, Mumbo."

"You know the ghost, right?" Mumbo started.

"Oh, you mean Grian?"

"Yeah, him."

"What about him?" Stress asked, "Do you by any chance know him?"

Mumbo went silent for a moment, before nodding. "...yes."

She blinked in surprise, genuinely not expecting that answer. She then replied, "Really? Well, who is he?"

"He's... an old friend of mine." Mumbo muttered slowly. "Back in the day, we used to work with each other a lot." He then gestured towards the broken small replica of a house in the jungle. "Years ago, he even gave me that as a gift of appreciation."

"So you two were close?" Stress asked.

"Correct. " Mumbo sighed. "were close."

"So..." Stress started. "What happened? Did he die?"

"He moved to some kind of plains, and I never heard from him ever since." He turned back to Stress, "What's more, when I started searching for him, and I looked up the plains, it seems like the plains he moved to didn't even exist."

"Oh... sorry."

"I lost complete contact with him from that point." He sighed again. "A year later, I met you guys." He shifted his view back to the replica. "I always kept the gift Grian gave me... but a week ago, I accidentally broke it."

"A week ago-?" Stress stopped when she realized. "...the same day Grian first appeared...?"

.

..

...

..

.

"So she's been with you for a long time?" Grian asked Scar.

"Yep, Jellie's been by side for a long time." Scar answered while petting his cat. "Grian, how about you? do you like cats?" He asked.

"Of course I do." Grian nodded. "I used to have cats too."

"Really? What were their names?"

"Pearl and Maui, if I remember correctly."

"Those are good names." Scar smiled, before a realization came to him. "Wait... Did they also...?"

Grian was confused with what Scar meant for a moment, but then he also realized. "Oh- don't worry, they're not dead- at least I don't remember them dying."

"But how are you sure?" Scar muttered slowly.

"I'm pretty sure. Before I died, I remember having to let one of my friends take care of them, so I'm pretty sure they're still where I left them." Grian explained.

"Oh, that's good." Scar sighed in relief. "And while we're on the topic, I wanted to ask, how did you die?" he turned back to Grian.

"How did I die?" Grian repeated, and seeed to start thinking about it. He stayed silent for a while, before answering. "I'm too not sure."

"You're... not sure?"

"I actually don't know." Grian said, seeming to be deep in thought. "All I remember is that one night I went to sleep, and I guess I never woke up."

"Huh, so you died in your sleep?" Scar said.

"I'm not sure, but that's probably what happened." Grian scratched his head. "I did remember waking up for a brief period of time, but I couldn't see anything, and I felt as if I couldn't really breath. So maybe it was suffocation?"

"Suffocation..." Scar repeated quietly. "And you never woke up again after that?"

"Yeah, I think that was the last time I woke up when I was still solid and alive. The next time I opened my eyes was about a month ago." Grian stated what he remembered, "And when I woke up, I was already floating, and I felt distant from the world."

"When you woke up, were you already here?" Scar asked again.

Grian stood silent for another minute. "I... don't think so," he muttered "It kind of felt like I was... underground."

"Really? So you're saying-"

"What are you two talking about?"

Both the alive and the ghost turned to the door, and it seemed that Stress had entered the living room.

"I'm really sorry to interrupt, but Grian, can you come with me for a second?" Stress said. "Mumbo wants to talk with you."

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Word Count: 1210 words