One last image of Foxalotl's! Such amazing art she's made, and this one is my favorite. This is the end of Xelqua Rising, when they're getting sucked into the worlds.

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So, some of you know this already, but I've started another book! It takes place immediately following the epilogue of A Change in the Horizon. It follows Martyn, who is being "trained" to become a Champion by the Listener King and the Listeners. I kind of think of it as a spin off because it stars Martyn instead of Grian, but there will be a few key developments there you might miss otherwise (namely, Listener lore <3 ). It's called Martyn and the Chamber of Echoes, so go check it out after this if you haven't already. ;)

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"Scar!"

"Scar!"

"Danger!"

"Scar!"

"Glitch!"

"Live!"

"Scar!"

"Danger!"

"Demise!"

"Scar!"

"Careful!"

"Not a game!"

It was all Scar could do to not go insane. Ever since Demise started, no less than at least three dozen Vexes swarmed around him at all times. They kept chanting about him needing to be careful. Part of him wondered how he didn't go insane as a child having to deal with hundreds of Vexes everyday, but then again, they usually weren't this persistent about something. They, at least, had let him get some sleep back then. Maybe they'd scream at him for a few hours straight every now and then, sure, but not for two weeks straight. The first few days he had been able to tune them out like usual, but this was getting to be too much. No matter how many times he had asked them to leave him alone, they would not listen.

Moving his wheelchair slowly as to try and not run over the blue vortex surrounding him, Scar let out a sigh. "Look guys. I get it, I really do. This game is a bit scary, isn't it? Zombies, murder, betrayal... it's spooky. But it's just a game. I'll be fine, okay?" He tried to reassure them yet again. Unlike back then, he saw the Vexes as they really were. On an individual level, they were only as bright as young children. The reason they stuck in groups was because the larger the number, the collectively smarter they were. Even this many likely were not so bright. 

"It's not a game!"

"It's not one at all!"

"Scar!"

"Careful!"

"Live! Live!"

The man could only hang his head. He knew it wouldn't work just like the other times hadn't, but he was desperate to get some peace of mind now. "Guys, please..." he begged, holding his head as he tried to think straight. "Please leave me alone... I'm not your Convex... not anymore... I don't want to be your Convex..."

"This isn't about the Convex!"

"This is about you!"

"Scar!"

"But he is our leader..."

"But even if he isn't--"

"Danger!"

"We love you!"

Scar realized that his breath was getting shallow. He subconsciously moved his hand to his breathing tube almost as though checking if it were still there. He eased when he found it, taking a deep breath to try and properly fill his lungs with air. "Please... I just -- fine. I'll be careful. I won't die, promise. I'll give you a whole stack of diamonds. I'll win and I'll give you the prize. Is that what you want?" he asked them.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes but you always die!"

"No!"

"I'll take your diamonds!"

"But that's not the point!"

Sure, it was true that he was prone to death loops, but did they really have to put it like that? Scar narrowed his eyes as he continued to remind himself to breathe properly. "Okay... if that's not what you want, then what will get you all to feel good enough to leave me alone?" He asked in return. For the first time in days, the Vexes grew quiet. The tortured man could actually hear the world around him. He tried his best to enjoy every millisecond of it as he could before the inevitable wave came rushing back again.

"The blessing!"

"Are we just going to forget the diamonds?"

"Give him the blessing!"

"He needs it more than Cub!"

"But the blessing is for--"

"He's not here. Surely."

"Cub is strong. He can handle himself."

"What are the chances of him--?"

"Scar cannot."

The Convex tried his best to not take offense to that. The Vexes had always spoke candidly to him, not caring to hide their thoughts from him. That led to a lot of moments like this one. "What blessing?" he asked instead. "If I get this blessing, will you leave me and Cub alone?"

"It's a protection."

"We set it up."

"We didn't even get paid."

"This'll be our payment."

"We love you!"

"Scar!"

As a child, he had been raised by Vexes just like these ones. Now that he was older, he couldn't help but feel as though any time he was with the Vexes, he was babysitting a plethora of toddlers. Having to ask something several times to get the answer was a given.... He hated how much he couldn't hate them. One more time he'd ask. "And if I get it, you'll leave me alone?" he repeated. A simple yes or no answer was all he wanted. When the Vexes were active like this, it helped to phrase questions like this; it led to less rambling and swindling.

As the Vexes mostly began to mostly agree, he eased. Finally, a way out of this madness. "All right then, show me how to get it." He told them. The blue vortex surrounding him dispersed, creating a trail that began snaking its way through his base. No longer afraid of rolling over the creatures, he followed them with ease to his portal. "A journey, huh? Well alright, then." he shrugged as he rolled on through to the Nether.

He welcomed the burning dimension with it's creepy, mysterious noises. It was a nice change from the overstimulating Vexes for sure. A nice stroll through the Nether Hub was perhaps exactly what his sanity needed. He took his time, rolling all the way instead of using the speedy way like he usually would.

Finally at last, the Vexes swirled themselves around the portal leading to the Shopping District. It was the main portal everyone used. "It's right in the Shopping District, huh?" he asked, shrugging. He supposed he was glad that it wasn't say, twenty-thousand blocks out or in another world or something. He passed on through carelessly, his mind only on the Vexes who themselves were too eager to protect him.

Appearing on the other side, his wheels rolling themselves with momentum, Scar suddenly found himself with no ground underneath of him. His vision still blurred by the portal, he screamed as he felt himself tip forwards. He wildly tried to assemble his electra as he saw the water filled with pufferfish getting closer by the second. The Vexes, flying in the air, were all screeching now.

He splashed in, the weight of his chair pulling him under. He held his breath, puffing out his cheeks as he felt around his chair. His instincts told him to get above the water even as he was pricked repeatedly by the poisonous fish. Among all the chaos, he hadn't realized how the Vexes flooded into him. His eyes flashed blue before his arm, seemingly acting on its own accord, pushed the button he couldn't find on his own. Immediately, the hidden raft designed into his wheelchair inflated, pushing him to the surface. Scar gasped at the sweet relief of air, but alas, that wasn't enough to save him in the end. With so many pufferfish, it was only a matter of time before he perished, even with the Vexes' help.

GoodTimeWithScar was slain by the Grey Skins.

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"What... exactly is this?" Grian asked. The angel had been going for a stroll around Sahara as he waited for Iskall to arrive. The two were due for their weekly business meeting. (Which, of course, was not for goofing off. Nothing funny ever happened in these meetings. Never. They were some of the serious meetings that Grian ever meeting-ed. Seriously.) Usually, Mumbo would join them, but he had his own things to attend to this time.

In front of him was some sort of long wall. Every few blocks was indented with a button inside. A blue wisp dashing behind it caught his eye. A stray Vex? He couldn't help but immediately think of his Convex friends. Had one of them set this up? Was this one of Scar's traps? He was immediately very wary of whatever it was. He began walking away from what quite likely was instant death.

... but another part of him was disastrously curious. He couldn't help but stop a few feet away. If he walked away now, that meant he wouldn't know for sure what it would do. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but the dog who stayed put grew old and died of boredom too. At least, that's how he liked to think of it.

Surely, not all strange things on this server were traps from the growing "Grey Skins" as they now referred to themselves. Maybe it would be a funny prank that he'd get to laugh about for years to come. Or maybe it was even a gift. One could never be sure with the Hermits.

It was a bad idea. He knew it was a terrible idea. But... he just simply could not resist. He slowly turned towards it. "I'll just press it and then run away." He told himself out loud, figuring that way he could dodge whatever it was if it was indeed a trap. he tentatively stepped in front of the first button. He reached inside, allowing his fingers brush up against the wood of the button. Feeling so close to what likely was instant death caused his breathing to quicken, but even as he found himself mildly panicking, he couldn't help it. He clicked the button into the wall before gasping, diving out the way as fast as he could.

He expected an explosion. Fire. Arrows. Lava. But what had come out instead had surprised him. Standing back up and wiping off the grass from his trousers, he walked back over and picked it up. The totem of undying gleamed in the sunlight, as though the world itself knew how valuable this item was now. "A totem of undying?" he glanced back at where he had seen the Vexes. They weren't there anymore, but he suspected that they were hiding behind the build. Though not considered Vex magic itself, the item was often associated with them due to being found in woodland mansions. There was a correlation there, no doubt about it now. "But why--" He waited, as though he expected the lurkers to come out and tell them. They did not.

Although he couldn't discern why the Vexes might have set this up, he couldn't help but notice that there were a few other buttons that basically begging for a press. What goodies did they have? Before he knew it, he was standing before the next one, his hand reaching in. After a press slower than the last, a golden apple shot into his hand.

Another treat. He eased even more. Not a trap. Just gifts. He couldn't help but stuff the apple and totem in his inventory and rush to the final button that basically was screaming to be pressed. He didn't hesitate this time either, scratching the never ending itch in his soul to press buttons. With a thunk, something hit the top of his head before clattering to the ground at his feet.

"It didn't work?" He heard a high pitched screech of a Vex asked from behind the station, it's accent so thick that the ex-Watcher could hardly understand it. The little creature peaked it's head just so Grian could see it's eyes.

"No..." Grian replied. He knelt down, taking ahold of the black object on the ground to study it. With a scaly texture, curved head and purple eyes, it was unmistakingly a dragon head. "Did Scar and Cub put you up to this?"

"No." The little creature replied, flying on top of the build.

"Why did you do this?" The blonde asked, studying the inside of the dragon head, moving it slightly so it would catch the light. Two enchantments shone ever so slightly as a result, reading ↸∷ᔑ⊣𝙹リᓭ ʖꖎᒷᓭᓭ╎リ⊣ and ᓵ⚍∷ᓭᒷ 𝙹⎓ ʖ╎リ↸╎リ⊣.

The text made him frown; Dragon's Blessing? Wasn't that... an Ender Dragon's magic? What exactly did that mean again? He closed his eyes, trying to think back to his Watcher training days. Yes... Miesall had mentioned it before, but what all was said? He couldn't remember...

But more importantly, what was a Vex doing with a Dragon's magic?

"I might tell you for a diamond." The Vex before him teased, giggling to itself.

"Might?" He frowned. "I'm not gambling with you. I'll give you a diamond if and only if you tell me the truth. And only after you do it." He grabbed a jewel from his pocket and held it in his hand as proof that he could afford to pay.

"Wait— you can understand me?" The creature asked as it flew towards the glittering masterpiece of a treat. It wasn't fast enough, Grian storing it safely away.

"Well I—" the man but his lip, feeling the panic beginning to swirl. Would the Vex figure it out? Would it tell their Convex? "Kind of, y...yeah..."

To the angel's relief, the spirit moved past this. "I want the diamond." It repeated instead, landing on Grian's arm and beginning to teethe on it. It drew blood in the process.

"Ow! Stop that!" He exclaimed, waving his arm to get the pest off. "I told you, tell me why you did this and then I give you the diamond." He tisked, waving his finger as if he was a mother trying to get her child to behave. How his two friends had endured dealing with these things for so many years, having what was essentially an army of evil toddlers inside their head, was beyond him. He was already over speaking to this one and it had hardly been thirty seconds. He frowned as he watched the Vex back off.

"I wanted to put it on your head." It tried. Grian only shook his head; that answer wasn't enough. "It was supposed'ta be funny." Pranksters as they were, such an answer did make sense, but his gut told him otherwise.

"Tell me right now or you can kiss the diamond goodbye." He said as one final warning. He showed the diamond one more time, the Vex rushing right back over as he hid it back in his pocket. He prepared himself for another lie or a half truth, but it didn't come. Something about the creature shifted, it's fragile wings drooping and it's glow dimming.

"A prank..." It repeated. Even it seemed to not believe itself, because it flew off into the distance, giving up hope of getting its beloved treat. Grian watched it fade into the distance with a frown.

After a few moments, he looked back down at the head. If it really was a prank, and it didn't seem like it was, it was an odd one. He placed it back where it had been before beginning to head back to the meeting room. As he considered the supposed prank more, he decided that it was just because the Vex wanted to give Scar and Cub the upper hand with a totem and other goodies. When they realized that he could understood them, it got bashful because the Convex identity was supposed to only be known by the Convex itself, and was afraid of making him figure it out. Considering that, perhaps he had been a bit too harsh on the little guy.

As the meeting began, he started with the meeting notes. As he spoke on, he couldn't help but notice that Iskall wasn't wearing a helmet like he was. If this man had stepped on the pressure plate, that weird dragon head with binding would be on his head. And as the idea entered his kind, he found he just couldn't resist. It'd just be too funny.

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"Don't do this!"

"Cub please!"

"Danger!"

Such were the voices of the Vex that plagued the other former vessel of the Convex. Though as much as the Vex had remained like a tornado around him day and night, he had been able to ignore them better than Scar had... mostly. "Come on, guys... I get you're scared, but even now, dying really holds no weight. It's just a few diamonds." He assured much to his audience's dismay. "Besides, this'll be fun too." He turned his attention back to to the lava pool below him.  Standing atop build height, it would be quite the fall. Yet, all he had to do was hit the slime block, jump to the next, and do that again and again before landing on the ground, safe and sound. The dead lurked in the shadows, watching his feat. He looked at Scar for a few moments, noting how his death had rid him of all his color... and, for some reason, his shirt. For some reason, there were many things that seemed to hurt his brother's ability to wear a shirt... and also any time this happened, a marker somehow always gave him a fake six pack. He couldn't help but giggle at his silliness. What he could not see from where he stood was the one bit of color Scar did have: his blue eyes. 

"See guys? Scar is fine, and I will be too." He assured, pointing at him. It stilled the Vexes, but only for a moment.

"But Cub!"

"Cuuubbb!"

"Scar isn't fine!"

"Danger!"

"Don't do this Cub!"

That didn't even soothe them, Cub realized with a sigh. "Here... look, I'm going to do this okay? And I'm going to survive and I'm going to be fine. Better than fine, even. I'm going to have fun." He explained. They once again began to protest, but he wouldn't hear it. The moment following, he took the leap off the edge.

It was nothing short of exhilarating to throw himself, everything that he had into that single slime block surrounded on all sides by lava. To going shooting back upwards. Not even the Vexes could keep up with him, though they did ride on his draft. He couldn't help but laugh, reminded of the days of childhood bliss where he played all the time just like this. But as he landed on the second slime block, he found that he hadn't been sent near as high enough to attempt the transition to the third block. He let himself land back on the same block, letting his legs absorb the shock. 

"Ahhh shoot... ahh shoot..." He lamented. He looked around, finding that the lava was so far on all sides that trying to swim across would almost certainly result in death. The dead began to move in the moonlight, beginning to act as the Vexes once again began to swarm Cub. If they had been loud before, they were so much more pronounced now. 

"Let us save you!"

"Please!"

"You can't die!"

"You can't!"

They moved themselves so that they were pushing up against his arms, lifting him up a few centimeters off the ground. For such small creatures, it was an impressive feat. 

"Guys, guys, you really...?" Cub began to ask. He knew it was a game, but with the Vexes clearly doing everything in their power to help him, slowly beginning to hover him above the lava in hopes of getting him to safety, he almost began to wonder...

"Please, just let us inside you!"

"Just for a few moments!" Just long enough for the vessel to sprout wings and fly to safety.

"We'll get you out of here."

"Promise."

But their cries were all in vain. Cub hesitated, not denying them immediately but not accepting either. As he made his mind, his mouth opening, a skeleton that X had lured over shot him right through the chest. He cried out as the impact caused him to fall right out of the Vexes' holds and into the burning lava. 

Cubfan135 tried to swim in lava to escape skeleton.