wc: 1200

I should be doing math but OH WELL this is more important

if you didn't read my update titled "IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT" then the gist of it is no more third life, only last life, so that's what's happening. if you didn't read this then you may be a bit confused, but oh well, if you're reading it you know, rip to the people who didn't

also I'll probably post an extra chapter or two this weekend because I'm on a synchronized swimming team that has 4 hour practices on Saturday and Sunday so I usually don't have time -.- but the 12 under team is going to California for a competition and my coaches are going so I don't have practice! part of why im posting today and not tomorrow, since I also have Wednesday practices and Monday and Thursday flexibility, but since all my coaches ARE GONE I have a pretty empty week! wooo

enjoy!

The days wore on. Pearl left, to do... whatever it was that she did, nobody ever asked. Grian talked with Mumbo and Scar, failed a mayoral election, worked on his mansion, did anything to pass the time.

Every morning, he drank a potion and kept the strange episodes of breathlessness away. Every evening, Grian delved into the code to try and push back any attempts of breaking through from the Watchers. Occasionally, he'd have a little trouble, but it seemed most of the magic was fairly low level. At least, compared to him. 

It seemed to work. When Pearl left, the voices came back, but that was okay. He would... he could...

Honestly, there wasn't much he could do. Like now.

Why are you doing this?

Waste of time.

Waste of space.

Not worth it.

You'll be worth it if you go back...

Take someone down with you!

Kill!

Blood!

Go back!

Why were the voices so strong today? Grian supported himself against his unused storage system, breathing heavily. He tried to shake the voices out, but they kept coming back, screaming and banging against the walls of his mind, unable to break out but sure as heck trying to do so.

He steadied himself. He'd been through this already. He'd pushed back the voices when they told him to push Iskall off of his omega tree, when they'd wanted more than just campaign posters to get Scar as mayor, when they'd scoffed at Mumbo's redstone and verbally abused him about the back of his mansion. 

At some point they had started speaking in galactic, although Grian was so fluent in the language he had almost not noticed the change. He shoved the voices back and flew to the top of his mansion, where he sat and took in the view of the jungle.

It had only been a few days since Pearl left, but he already missed her and the feeling of serenity and peace she felt when he drew near to her. It was a strange feeling, but pleasant.

Instead of dwelling on his problems, Grian went with Mumbo to talk with Grumbot.

"I don't really want to tell him nobody voted for me, you know," Mumbo said as they met up in front of Grumbot, balancing on the end rods. Grian was much more stable than Mumbo, who was wobbling like crazy and flapping his arms humorously.

"Including us," Grian said, barely holding back laughter. His attempt failed and they both burst into giggles.

"What are we going to tell him, then?" Mumbo asked as they both hopped off the end rods, meeting in the middle and staring up at Grumbot. He was currently turned off, his eyes dark.

"Tell him that we won," Grian suggested.  "So he doesn't have a mental breakdown about life."

Mumbo chuckled. "Good idea." 

After changing into a more believable outfit, the two turned Grumbot on and looked up at the giant robot for his eyes to light up. 

"HELLO DADS!" he said, his robotic voice scaring away a few birds.

"Hello Grumbot!" Grian shouted up at him. "Mumbo won the election!"

Mumbo waved, barely holding back laughter. It was fine, Grumbot was never programmed to be very good with emotions, just mayoral elections. 

Grumbot seemed to blow up. He couldn't move too much but his thoughts overlapped with each other.

Grian and Mumbo could only look at each other and smile as Grumbot rambled about how life now had meaning.

~~~

As they closed up the white box and peeked through the small window they made to check on Grumbot every now and then, Grian realized the voices were awfully quiet. They'd been acting strange; earlier that day they were unbearably loud, and now there was nothing.

And then a rumbling filled the air.

Grian whipped around, and a flap seemed to open in the blue sky. It was probably the strangest thing a lot of them had ever seen, but Grian wasn't surprised by its form, just by its presence. Mumbo, on the other hand, had his jaw on the floor.

Instead of simply staying there or someone coming out of it, gravity switched directions and Grian found himself getting pulled forward. He scrambled for some purchase on the concrete but the cosmic forces were too much. Mumbo struggled much worse than he did, zooming towards the portal. Grian snagged the corner of his suit jacket and pulled him down, grimacing from the effort.

"muMBO!" Grian screamed, the octave of his voice rising rapidly. Mumbo looked at him with panic in his eyes. "Hold on!"

Grian knew there was no escaping this portal. It was too strong for even him. Grian felt as if the world tipped one way and he literally slid down the concrete, holding Mumbo tightly as they fell through into the abyss.

~~~

Grian fell.

The wind whipped his hair around his face and he turned it to see the ground rapidly approaching. His wings burst through the back of his jumper (his elytra was gone) and he spread them, hoping to stop his fall, but it only slowed his descent. Mumbo was falling much quicker than him, and Grian reached into his power, took Mumbo's form, and lowered it gently to the side with his magic in hopes of slowing the mustached man's fall.

The wind was promptly knocked out of him as Grian's back met solid earth. An oompf escaped his mouth and Mumbo let out a tiny yelp or surprise as he was dropped from a foot in the air. However, he quickly recovered and hurried over to Grian.

"Grian! Goodness, are you okay?"

Grian took a minute of collecting his breath and nodded. "I'll be fine." He climbed to his feet and saw that there were people coming from all different directions. Scar shot out from the ground which closed under him and let him fall onto it with a thump. Some people fell from the sky like him, some were ejected in from the sides. Grian quickly retracted his wings and was relieved that nobody had noticed.

As everybody picked themselves up from the ground, Grian spotted a group of people a few feet away and they noticed him as well.

His eyes widened in astonishment and he took a few steps forward before breaking out into a run, tackling the nearest one there.

"Grian?!" Martyn yelped, folding into Grian's embrace. 

"It's been too long," Grian mumbled into his shoulder before they let go.

"Oh my goodness," he said, sounding like he were on the verge of tears. "Jimmy? Big B? Scott, Joel, Lizzie, Skizz..." They all crowded around him, questions and greetings flying through the air.  Grian looked around, noticing that everyone here were... his closest friends. From admin school, from Evo, from Hermitcraft...

The Hermitcraft members had grouped together like a flock of birds, bewildered by the sight before them and scared of the current situation.

Grian took a deep breath. "So much has happened since Evo," he said, his voice cracking when he said the server name. Most of the Hermitcraft members looked confused. "What happened after I left?"

Martyn spoke up. "Everything was... different. A lot of stuff happened, but long story short, it's destroyed now." He spat out the last part.

Grian blinked. "It's... gone?" Martyn looked at the other Evo members, who all nodded sadly. Grian rubbed his wrist and looked away.

"What happened to you?" Big B asked. 

"Watchers just tossed me around, but I escaped," Grian said simply. He turned to look at all of them. "Martyn..." he frowned. "Do you have pointed ears?"

Martyn broke out in a tiny smile. "I'll tell you in a second..." he stared at a bulge in Grian's pocket. "But unless I'm mistaken, we only came with communicators, so what's in the pocket?"

Grian reached into his pocket and pulled out short book, inspecting the cover and flipping open the front page. After a moment, he said,

"Welcome to Last Life."

last life has started! sorry it came really quick I just want to fit everything into maybe 60, 70 chapters?

thank you for reading! have a good day or night, wherever you are!

-Ete