Chapter 11 - Stories About the Past

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WARNING: TALES FROM THE SMP SPOILERS

Dream SMP / Krew

Karl Jacobs was with his daughter, Silvia when he was approached by two Hermits. Silvia ran off to play with her siblings and to bother her two other parents, Sapnap and Quackity. Karl looked up to see Impulse and Ren.

"Hey Karl?" Impulse asked.

"Yea?" Karl asked, turning around as Silvia ran off to go bother Sapnap and Quackity.

"We found out that you were a time traveler," Ren said.

"How did you figure that out?" Karl asked, suspiciously.

"Uhhh-" Impulse said. "Well...We found one of your diaries..."

"And you READ IT?!" Karl asked, outraged.

"Yea," Ren said, sheepishly. "Sorry!!"

"And it's fine!" Impulse said. "We won't tell anyone!"

"Fine..." Karl said. "Just don't snoop around my stuff anymore."

"Can we learn about your adventures?" Ren asked.

Karl sighed. "There is a lot. But I'll only tell you two."

"What are the options?"

"Gogtopia, The Village That Went Mad, The Beach Episode, The Lost City of Mizu, The Masquerade, The Wild West, The Haunted Mansion, The Pit and the Maze."

"I guess The Masquerade?" Ren said.

"And The Pit," Impulse suggested.

Karl sighed. "The Masquerade was a party for the rich. At least...So we thought. The host and the owner of the mansion that the party would be at was Sir Billiam III. He had also invited some of his other friends. Their names were Sebastian who preferred Lord Sebastian, Lyaria, James and Oliver. There was also someone named Drew P. Wiener." Karl couldn't help but smile at the memory of his name. Ren and Impulse snickered. "And there was also Billiam's butler."

Karl paused, trying to remember more of the story. "Billiam, being rich and all had no heart for people of the upper middle class and below. So, he tried to poison Drew who was pretty much poor in Billiam's mind. The butler was also poor but Billiam had him become his butler because of that."

"He tried to poison someone?!" Impulse said in shock.

Karl continued. "We all thought that it was just a party. Nothing more, nothing less. But then the lights went out and we couldn't see anything. But there was someone that was outlined. And you could even see them through the walls. I hid in a vent and nearly got killed, but luckily for me, the murderer didn't see me. When the lights turned back on, everyone gathered back in the main hall. Everyone but Lyaria and Drew. Lyaria came late but Drew didn't show up so we all went looking for him. When we found him...He was dead."

Karl paused before continuing. "We discussed who could've killed him. We had found his head in the bookshelves. It was hidden in a secret passageway but the blood had seeped through the bookshelf. That was how we found it. Billiam bought everyone's silence with gold as a dead body found on property could reduce the price of it."

"So all Billiam cared about was money?" Ren asked.

"Seemingly," Karl said. "We tried to find clues on who the murderer could be but the lights turned off again. I tried to find the murderer by seeing them once the lights turned back on but I failed to do so. Lyria was killed this time. We found her body by some wine barrels. And then we found Oliver drowning in the aquarium. Not necessarily drowning but he was in there and we didn't know how he got there. When he got out, we regrouped and they started accusing me, so I showed them my path to prove my innocence. Billiam then had us empty out our inventories to make sure none of us had a sword with us."

Karl paused, trying to remember again. "I found a secret tunnel behind the wine barrels that I remembered hearing Lyaria using to hide from Drew during the first murder. I theorized that she must have been using it and while climbing out the other side, she got killed. I first thought it was Sebastian but he claimed that he was protecting the wine that was in the ballroom. When the lights turned off again, me and Sebastian were together. So we went to hide in a closet but someone killed Sebastian while we were in there. Unfortunately, I didn't see who it was. When the lights turned back on, we found his body in a dusty corner on the other side of the wall. Oliver suspected me but I suspected Oliver."

"Who in their right mind would kill people?!" Impulse asked.

Karl ignored the question and continued. "We then found Billiam who was locked out of the mansion. The butler helped him get in by breaking some windows having the cost of fixing that deducted from his paycheck. I suggested that we travel in pairs. I went with Billiam. Oliver and James went together while the butler went to tend to his duties. When the lights turned off, me and Billiam hid in a closet. Then we saw the highlight of the murderer enter the room. After a few seconds, the lights turned back on. Me and Billiam exited the closet to see Oliver over James's dead body. We suspected Oliver."

Karl paused again to recall the events of the Masquerade. "Oliver told us that if he were to kill someone, he would've used a gun. So we suspected the butler instead. The butler was given a temporary freedom of speech. The butler only said that it wasn't him. Then the lights went out again. The butler and Oliver went together while me and Billiam were together."

Karl stopped, trying to remember again. "When we found out the butler killed Oliver, we ran away from him, throwing gold on the floor to slow him down. The butler claimed that Oliver had died from a heart attack but we didn't believe him. Billiam ordered the butler to stand by the main door and he did so. Billiam showed me a secret room behind a painting." Karl paused. He wasn't trying to remember. He knew exactly what happened next.

"Behind the painting was a secret room, but it wasn't exactly what I thought. In it was an egg that was red. Billiam told me that the people he invited to the party weren't what he called 'rich' but are instead, 'upper middle class'. Billiam told me how the mansion that the masquerade was at was an abandoned mansion in the past. The mansion was the egg's breeding grounds. Billiam told me how he feeds the egg people who he conisderse 'not rich'. He told me how the egg could 'persuade' people to do things for it. Billiam told me how the egg persuaded Lyaria to kill Drew. Sebastian had then murdered her. Oliver then murdered both Sebastian and James. And the Butler then murdered Oliver."

"So when we saw the egg 5 years ago," Impulse said. "That was the same egg from the Masquerade?

"I guess so," Karl said. "I tried to escape through the painting but the butler was waiting outside. He told me that I couldn't leave. I was forced to go inside again and the light turned off. Billiam told me that the egg was hungry again. I tried to run but the butler caught up with me and killed me."

"If you were killed," Ren said. "Then how are you here?"

"I guess there are some benefits to being a time traveler. When I died, I got transported to the Inbetween."

"What's the Inbetween?" Impulse asked.

"There are two dimensions for time travelers," Karl said. "There's the Inbetween and the Other Side. After every adventure I had, I would get teleported to at least one of those places."

"Was there anyone in the Masquerade that reminded you of anyone you know?" Ren asked. Karl went silent for a moment.

"James..." Karl said softly. "James reminded me of Sap..."

"Can we hear about The Pit now?" Ren said.

Karl sighed softly. "I was transported to the middle of a market in the Subbin Empire. That was where I met Emperor Porkius VII." Ren and Impulse couldn't help but snicker at the name. "Emperor Porkius was looking for a cameraman man and I volunteered. He took me to the coliseum where an event will be taking place. The event was to determine a new general. We went down to the cellar to find the first competitors. There were many gladiators but we chose Jackie and Laggius Maximus. We brought them to two different elevators that led to opposite sides of the arena. Me and Porkius went to the royal box with Porkius telling me, on the way up the stairs, that the last cameraman was executed for filming the event in portrait mode. For the first event, Porkius made a tower rise up from the middle of the arena. Both, Jackie and Laggius headed to the top. But when they did, Porkius made the floor covered in lava and removed the tower. Jackie won with Laggius being knocked out.

"How do you get knocked out from lava?" Impulse exclaimed.

Ignoring the question, Karl continued. "We went back down to the cellar where we found Bartholomew, who was drinking beer. We also met Watson who was practicing at the shooting range. We chose the two of them to be the next competitors. We brought them to the elevators. On the way back to the stairs, we saw Jackie throwing up in the distance. We found that he had drunk some of Bartholomew's beer. I asked Porkius whether this was legal and Porkius told me that the legal drinking age was 3."

"That is surprisingly young!" Ren said in shock.

Karl tried to remember how the second round went. "During the round, Porkius used low gravity in the arena. It caused the fight to be slower and the arrows to fly very slowly. Bartholomew won and immediately asked for a beer before attacking us. We then sent back down to the cellar."

"Bar- Whatever his name is," Ren said, laughing a bit. "Only cared about the beer?"

"I guess," Karl said. "In the cellar, we met Levi and John. We dismissed John instantly for having a 'boring' name." Ren and Impulse snickered. "Instead, we selected Genevieve, the only girl fighting. This time, Porkius conjured a water loop and replaced the floor with lava. Genevieve won the fight. When we went back to the cellar, we realized that there were an odd number of contestants. We then met Ran who we excused for having a 'cool' name. We then met Edward and chose him for the next fight. We met John again and using a royal decree, Porkius changed John's name to 'Ugly'. I suggested 'Handsome' but my suggestion was dismissed. We chose him to fight Edward. During the round, Porkius filled the arena with many rabbits and flooded the arena with water. He demanded a boat battle. John, now named Ugly, won. We had all the winners and Ran sit around a table. Porkius decided to rename Ugly to Grievous." Ren and Impulse seemed so caught up in the story so Karl continued.

"We interviewed the competitors and chose Jackie and Genevieve to battle. This time, Porkius allowed me to decide the fight's event or events. I spawned an orb of water and turned the door to lava. Jackie won and we sent the final 3 to the arena. This time, Porkius activated dive mode and zombies. Porkius then disableed dive mode and the Zombies went after Grievous. Bartholomew was shot by Ran who was then shot by Grievous. I sent Jackie and Grievous to the arena. Many events were activated and deactivated throughout the round. Grievous was then shot by Jackie. To prove that he could be the General, Jackie was asked to kill all the losers. But the losers started to fight against Jackie. Porkius activated the lava and Jackie managed to beat everyone without dying with a fire resistance potion. The only people left were Watson and Ran. Jackie was then given the position of General. Porkius asked me to give him the fim. I did only to find that I had left the cap on. He ordered Jackie to kill me. And I let Jackie do so."

"You were killed again?!" Impulse said in shock.

"Yea," Karl replied. Karl pondered whether he should tell the two about what happened afterwards. How he found the Other Side and how the In Between tried stopping him. Eventually, the brunet decided not to.

"Karl?" Impulse said after the moment of silence. "Can we tell you something?"

"Sure," Karl replied. "What is it?"

"Me and Ren are also time travelers...But our way of time traveling is much different from yours..."

— — —

Hermitcraft / Empires SMP

Early the next morning, Grian went back to George and Dream's. Thankfully, Dream had calmed down from yesterday.

"George?" Grian asked as Dream began looking through some files, not hearing the Brits.

"Something wrong Grian?" George asked.

"About yesterday," Grian said. "Why did Dream get so upset?"

"It's...Complicated," George said. I'll tell you in private. Come here again tomorrow."

And Grian did. The next day, Dream was still looking through files. There were surprisingly a lot. George had told Dream that he would be going out for a little while. The Brits both went to somewhere where there were no people.

"So why did Dream get so upset two days ago?" Grian asked once the two had made sure they were alone.

"It was when you mentioned his parents," George said.

"What about it?"

"Dream didn't really have the best life with his parents."

"Can you tell me?" Grian asked.

George sighed. "Dream's father died when Dream was about 5. His mother never really liked Dream since she didn't exactly want a child. When she found out that she was pregnant, she wanted to get rid of him, but Dream's father refused to get rid of Dream. When Dream was 4, his father left to go to war. I'm not entirely sure on what the war was about but after a couple of days ago, I think he was involved in the war that Xisuma's father fought in. And as soon as he left, Dream's mother immediately started acting differently towards Dream. She was normally caring towards Dream but it was all just an act. As soon as Dream's father left, his mother became abusive. She drank nearly everyday and hit Dream for absolutely no reason at all. His only friends were me and Sapnap. According to him at least. Then one day, the day right after his birthday, he began acting suspiciously. He would sometimes act hostile towards us and afterwards, he wouldn't remember. Eventually, Dream told us about Nightmare. I guess Sap eventually forgot about it. But when Dream started the Dream SMP, he met Lucid and without consent, Lucid also took control of a part of Dream. Lucid is much stronger than Nightmare. And apparently, I guess I'm kinda the only one who can keep Nightmare and Lucid in line."

"You seem rather informed about this," Grian said, suspiciously.

"Dream told me. He had a few panic attacks while doing so."

. . .

"Hey, Bad!" Mumbo came running up to the demon.

"Do you need something Mumbo?" Bad asked. His daughter, Carla was with him.

"Um- Remember the Egg incident a couple of years ago?" Bad tensed up.

"Yea? What about it?"

"How did the Egg take control?"

"It." Bad hesitated. "Bribed us."

"With what?" Mumbo asked, curiously.

"For me...Skeppy. For Skeppy, it was me. For Puffy, she never really talked about it. For Ant, it was his boyfriend, Velvet."

"Ant?"

"Yea. Short for Antfrost." Mumbo decided not to ask anymore.

"Was there anyone else?" Mumbo asked.

"Well," said a British voice. Tommy was behind the two.

"Tommy?!" Bad said "How did you-"

"I was just walking by," Tommy replied.

"I highly doubt it."

"Anyways," Tommy said. "Me and Tubbo were visiting the Egg. I told Tubbo that he could take off his armor if he wanted. Tubbo did and yet the Egg started saying slurs to Tubbo which made Tubbo start crying. It even tried to convince Tubbo to jump into lava but I stopped him."

"Geez!!" Mumbo exclaimed.

"Yea. I hate that mother fucking egg."

"LANGUAGE TOMMY!!"

. . .

Xavier was sitting against a tree, staring at a picture before Draco found him.

"Hey Xavier, whatcha doing?"

Xavier looked up at him. "Oh, hi. I'm just remembering the past."

Draco raised a question. "Why do the Hermits sometimes talk about how you used to be evil?"

"Because I did." Xavier said.

"Why?" Draco asked.

"Well..." Xavier began. "Let me tell you."

Xavier was 6 years old, his brother Xisuma being 10. They were playing in the backyard of their house.

"One second, I'll be right back!" Xavier called.

Xisuma raised an eyebrow at first, then shrugged it off.

Xavier's parents were upstairs, so he ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. He then rushed to the bathroom and looked in the mirror.

He carefully slit two marks on his face to form an x. He then started crying loudly because of the pain.

Xisuma rushed in after 30 seconds, his parents rushing in quickly after.

"Get him to a hospital quick!" He heard his father say.

The people there stitched up the cut.

"I'm sorry, but a mark that big is going to leave a permanent mark. A scar." The nurse said.

Xavier slightly smiled at that.

Xisuma looked at him. "Why did you do that, Xavier?"

"I wanted to match you..." The 7 year old responded.

He wanted to be like his brother, he even wore the same hairstyle as him. He wouldn't dare change his hair and eye color, though. That was what made him unique. But he still wanted to match even more, so he thought it was a good idea to force the scar to appear.

He wanted the scar to match the x shaped scar Xisuma was born with.

But Xisuma started crying, embracing his brother in a hug. "No, Xavier. You don't need to look like me to be like me."

Their father put a hand on Xavier's shoulder, glancing down at his son with a warm smile. "Your brother will love you no matter what. You two are close. You don't need to change yourself."

. . .

Xavier and his older brother had just found out their dad died. Xavier had never been so upset.

A few days later, the 13 year old knocked on his brother's room. 

"Suma?"

"Go away Xavier."

"Xisuma, you can't shut everyone out."

"GO AWAY!"

The door wasn't locked, so Xavier decided to open the door.

He'd never seen his brother so upset. Xisuma's brown hair was messy, and Xavier couldn't see his purple-blue eyes beneath the amount of tears he was crying.

"Suma..." He walked over to comfort his older brother.

"STOP TOUCHING ME!" Xisuma cried, pushing his white-haired brother away.

Xavier nodded, and slowly exited the room.

. . .

It was years later, and Xavier broke down in tears as he watched his brother exit the door with a man they had never met before today. Who cared if Generikb wanted Xisuma to join his stupid Hermitcraft server anyway?

Didn't Xisumavoid know how much Xavier needed his older brother? Did he care how much his mum and brother would miss him?

He just left them, and they didn't even know if X would be okay.

A few months later...

Xavier's breath was shaky as he sat down in his brother's favorite area by home. It was a beautiful cobblestone bridge across a shiny lake of water.

He sighed and went back into the house for lunch. "Good afternoon, mum."

She smiled. "Good afternoon, Xavier. Missing your brother?"

Xavier nodded. "I think I need some time alone. As in, years to myself."

She sadly nodded. "Alright, just remember to visit."

"I will mum."

Xavier packed his things and set off.

When he found a nice cave to live in, he terraformed it a bit to look nicer. The forest surrounding him was gorgeous.

Inside the cave, he placed a bed, and a chest where he put his belongings.

He then grabbed scrap metal and glass that he took from his dad's old workshop and forged a helmet. A doomguy-looking helmet that was almost an exact replica of the one his father owned, and the one his brother currently had.

The only difference was that the visor was gray instead of purple.

He put on the helmet, and instantly felt connected to his older brother.

He then figured it was best to gather food and other resources.

That night, all he dreamt about was his brother. He wondered if he's ever see Xisuma again...

. . .

He had been living in the wilderness for years now. It was peaceful.

He was gathering firewood when he saw a creature through the darkness of the trees.

The figure had glowing green eyes, but appeared. One of his eyes had dried blood dripping from it.

"Who are you?" Xavier asked cautiously.

"I am Jeff the Minion. I got this scar from your brother you know."

How did Jeff know Xisuma? And how did he know Xisuma was his brother?

"I want some revenge on the Hermits," He continued. "Would you like to help? I know you have something against them too. They took the one person you love most. Your brother, Xisumavoid."

Xavier was unsure. Revenge sounded sweet. But he'd be hurting his brother too...He shook the thought out of his head. They'll pay for taking Xisuma.

Xavier let Jeff take control of him. After flashing green, his eyes changed from red to glowing red.

"You'll have a new name." Jeff said. "Evil Xisuma. Evil X or EX for short."

Evil Xisuma. The name sounded nice. The Hermits would live in fear of Evil X, surrendering Xisuma to him.

Hermitcraft would fall.

. . .

Many years have passed since Xisuma had banned Evil X from his Season 6 server. It was not too long ago since Season 8 was destroyed, and since Xavier sacrificed himself to save his brother.

It was now Season 9. Xavier, luckily, was now alive and now officially a Hermit.

Xavier found himself staring at the word in awe. "WOAH! This terrain is GORGEOUS!"

"It certainly is," The admin, Xavier's brother, chuckled. He put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Glad I get to experience it with you."

The first few days were amazing. Epic structures were popping up, and Xavier could have sworn he overheard Grian bragging to himself about how his boulder was bigger than Zedaph's. Gem built a treehouse, and Tango built a creepy looking building in a tree.

Xavier laughed at the sight of Impulse's amethyst roof, because the redstoner was eating shards of amethyst in the previous season.

Xavier was really impressed with his brother's build. The main building was sandstone, and the roof was warped wood. A combination Xavier didn't expect, but he thought it looked nice.

He walked around it and laughed. "You're just like Grian!"

The admin looked confused, then realized what his brother meant. "Xavier, I'm working on the back right now. Give me a break."

Xavier laughed. "Siblings never give each other breaks!"

Things were looking up.

"Wow." Draco said. "That's a lot of bad things. But it's good that things ended nicely, right?"

Xavier glared at the green eyed troublemaker.

Draco looked down in shame. "I'm sorry, I forgot Xisuma died."

There was slow clapping from an eavesdropper in the background. "So you were Evil X? That actually explains a lot..."

Xavier turned around to see Biffa. "Oh, hi."

"Hey, nobody's glad about X's death. Except maybe the Watchers. But he wouldn't want you to be sad." Biffa said.

Xavier looked up, and hugged the former Hermit. "I guess you're right."

An idea clicked in Xavier's mind. "I need to find Grian."

He found the small Hermit and started to talk about an idea. He didn't care if they weren't on good terms. They both had the same enemies. The Watchers.

"Yeah," The blond gremlin said. "I think this plan is brilliant."

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Foreshadowing for Book 3? This was written before Space Race. I found out about it on the wiki..."But you must understand. Commoners aren't people...They're POOR." - Sir Billiam lll ... This might be the longest chapter yet- I just realized...If this takes 5 years after Book 1 and Tommy was 17 in Book 1...Then- (No longer child. Now he's an A D U L T.-Galactic) NO- TOMMY WILL ALWAYS BE THE CHILD WE ALL KNOW-

- Pleb

Writing the Evil X flashback reminded me of "Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?" for some reason...I know he wouldn't have known Scar at the time, but do you know how EX terraformed the cave? He went into SUPERFASTBUILDMODE. I would've put him in a dark oak forest but those weren't added when S1 was going on...HERMITCRAFT SEASON 9 HYPE IT'S FINALLY HEREEEEE YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

-Galactic