Jevin landed with surprising grace on top of the spawn egg, his gaze automatically searching for the red-sweatered gremlin. He was relieved when he saw him, and with surprisingly few injuries as well. Apart from being slightly shaky on his feet, he looked perfectly fine.

"Is everything okay?" Jevin asked, turning to Xisuma. "Nobody hurt?"

"Nobody hurt," Xisuma confirmed. "It went surprisingly well, easy enough in and out." Jevin sighed in relief, his gaze turning to the rest of the people there. Pearl was staring at Grian, head tilted, seeming to be muttering something under her breath. Grian seemed unaffected, staring coolly back. However the second Pearl looked away, Jevin could've sworn his gaze turned murderous.

In an effort to interrupt this, Jevin walked over to Pearl, a smile on his face.

"Hey Pearl! How's it going!"

Pearl's head moved to face, seemingly surprised.

"Going pretty good, glad Grian's back," she smiled, genuine relief on her face. As far as he'd been able to tell, Pearl and Grian had known each other for a long time - before Hermitcraft certainly - it was only natural she'd be so concerned. The strangely familiar but also antagonistic relationship between them was strange, and one none of the Hermits seemed to understand, least of all Jevin.

"You've known him a long time then?" Jevin voiced his thoughts aloud.

Pearl nodded, an almost nostalgic look on her face. "Too long arguably," she laughed. "Met him when we were kids, drifted for a while before he invited me to his server. Then- nevermind." She stopped, seeming to have said more than she intended.

"It's fine, I don't mean to push," Jevin hastily added, glancing over at Grian. Grian was staring at the two of them with an air of suspicion, that he soon masked when he noticed Jevin looking. Part of Jevin wanted to register that as odd, but he was probably just on edge after Evil X.

"It's fine, it just got complicated," Pearl brushed off, forcing a smile. "Nothing we could do to stop it. Anyway, enough about me. How's your base going? Got any plans?" Jevin couldn't help but notice how much she was avoiding the topic but chose not to bring it up.

"Planning on doing a slime-esque base," he explained. "The glass'll be a pain to grind though." Pearl paused, searching through her inventory quickly.

"I have some lime glass in my inventory if you want that," she offered. "Just to get you started." Jevin smiled, grabbing the glass she was holding out, turning it over and frowning.

"This is blue," he stated, slightly confused. Maybe she was colour blind or something.

Pearl laughed, seeming slightly put off by that though.
"Right, sorry," she apologised, blinking a few times. "Colours are hard."

Jevin was saved from answering by Xisuma coughing to get all the Hermit's attention.

"Alright! Hermits! I'd just like to say, I'm so glad we're all safe. False, Iskall, Impulse, Mumbo and Scar volunteered to come on a rescue mission for Grian, which evidently succeeded. No permanent damage has been done, but I think it's best for all of us to be cautious still. As I'm sure you're all aware but I regret to confirm, it was Evil Xisuma behind all of this."

A shrinking sense of dread began growing in Jevin's stomach (if slimes could even have stomachs). He'd met Evil Xisuma a couple of times over the years, and it had never ended well. He'd tried to destroy the server in his earlier days but seemed to have gotten less serious over the years.

"Who's Evil Xisuma?" Gem called from the crowd, and it hit Jevin that most of the newer Hermits wouldn't know who he was.

"Well, as his name suggests, he's my brother," Xisuma explained, with a certain level of reluctance. "Except, y'know, evil."

"Isn't that a bit judgemental?" Pearl asked quietly, but still drawing everyone's attention. "I mean, who started calling him Evil Xisuma? It makes it seem like he's nothing but a worse version of you?"

Xisuma hesitated, before shrugging. "It's what he chose to call himself. Besides, he's lived up to the name a lot over the years. Got himself into a bad crowd young, never left."

Pearl nodded slowly, seeming to accept that as an answer. It had been a question Jevin himself had debated before, but at the end of the day, EX chose to call himself that.

"Anyway, me and Joe are going to carry on attempting to locate him, but he's very good at hacking code and the likes. Just stay alert, that's all you can really do. Try not to go places without telling people, that's it really. Stay safe. That's all."

The hermits broke out into conversation, apart from Grian, who brushed off Mumbo and began to walk away, unnoticed to most of the other Hermits. Jevin frowned, breaking out into a run to catch up with him.

"Hey! Grian! Wait up!"

Grian turned around, surprise on his face. "Hey Jevin," he replied dully, forcing a smile onto his face.

"Are you really going out alone, literally just after we got you back from EX?" Grian paused for a second, hesitation flicking across his face.

"I dunno, I just kinda wanted to get away from people," Grian shrugged. "Was getting kinda claustrophobic over there. You can come with me if it makes you feel better."

This time it was Jevin who hesitated. Eventually, he just shrugged. "Sure."

A smile broke out over Grian's face as he bounded forwards into a forest. Jevin started running after him, unwilling to lose him. After a while, Grian seemed to tire - though considering it was the hyper gremlin that took quite a while - and he and Jevin settled into a comfortable walk. It was then that Jevin noticed how isolated they were.

"So," Jevin started, trying to form some kind of conversation. "Read anything recently?"

Grian looked surprised when Jevin spoke, but didn't seem uncomfortable. "Nah, I listen to audiobooks. When I say audiobooks, I mean 7. On repeat."

Jevin laughed, not sure why he was surprised. It was Grian, of course he did something like that.

"So how are those 7 audiobooks?" He asked, grinning.

"Same as always. Not listened to them recently. Been a bit preoccupied with the new season," Grian shrugged. "You?" Jevin glanced back, now completely unable to see any forms of life. It was unsettling, but if Grian was with him, then hopefully they'd both be safe.

"Not a book person," Jevin shrugged. "Can't remember the last time I read something."

"Well this isn't a very good conversation topic," Grian laughed, suddenly stopping in a clearing. Jevin glanced around, not noticing anything in particular except a pool of lava. The only thing noticeable was scuff marks around the lava, which looked fairly fresh.

"Is there something here? Why'd you stop?" Jevin asked, confused. His confusion grew further when Grian turned around with a certain giddy energy to him, despite him trying to hide.

"Do you mind looking over there?" Grian asked, a nervous look on his face contrasting the giddiness from earlier. "I dunno, it gives me bad vibes."

Hesitantly, Jevin complied, stepping slightly closer. "It looks normal. Nothing wrong that I can see," Jevin shrugged, looking back at Grian who was wringing his hands.

"Step closer," Grian instructed.

Still uncertain, the slime stepped forward, frowning as he noticed something.

"It's not warm. Normally when you go near lava, it feels warm, this doesn't give off anything. I wonder if..." Jevin trailed off, tilting his head at the lava.

Despite his common sense, there was an indescribable urge to just step closer, just a bit, just touch it. All he needed to do was touch it, just to satisfy his curiosity. He stepped closer, against every instinct telling him to run. The unease was overruled by just the impulse to see what it felt like.

It was as Jevin was on the edge of the pool, hand reaching towards it that he snapped back to reality. What the hell was he doing?

He glanced back at Grian, confused when he wasn't there. He turned around, seeing Grian to his other side, and all of a sudden he felt a violent push to his side, which turned into a shove.

He gasped out in surprise, tumbling backwards into the lava- no, it wasn't lava. He knew that now. Bubbles escaped his mouth as the substance weighed him down, sinking, sinking, sinking.

Purple and green swirled around, as his vision faded to black.