[Confirmed hiatus, I guess??] The Fall Into Darkness - HermitCraft fanfic

Chapter 35 - An Old Friend

(T/W for blood)

POV: Stress

Location: Hermitville

I looked up as Doc dashed out of the room, my eyes wide. I turned back to Joe and picked up his hands to examine his wrists. I looked up at his tired face and to my surprise, met his gaze.

"Stress," he said weakly.

I placed my hand on his cheek, a slight smile on my face. "Sleep," I told him gently. He nodded faintly and laid down, his eyelids falling closed.

I let out a relieved sigh and stood up. I turned to see the other hermits- Taurtis included- dashing downstairs. I let out another sigh and ran after them.

When I exited the house, I froze as I saw how many Listener Shadows there were in front of us.

"That's not..." Grian said aloud, his eyes wide.

I looked over at him. "Well, I guess all Listeners have Shadows," I said with a small shrug.

He glanced over at me and replied, "Well, there's probably a lot of exiled Listeners that we just don't know about." After that, he looked back at the horde. (Agh I just watched Avengers: Age of Ultron and now I'm imagining Stress as Wanda and Grian as Captain America -_-)

One of the Shadows stepped forward, looking a bit more human than the rest of the horde. However, when it spoke, it was nowhere near sounding human. "You captured one of our kin, where is it?" It hissed. Its gaze was set on Doc and Scar.

"It's gone," Doc responded.

The Shadow tilted its head.

"It left. We don't know where it is," he finished.

The Shadow growled. "You're lying," it hissed.

"Wish I could say I was," Doc responded.

The Shadow gritted its teeth and let out a roar. Suddenly, the horde jumped to life and sprung toward the cornered hermits.

Doc responded by pulling out his trident and defending himself. The trident flew through two Shadows and swiftly returned to his hand.

Glancing at Taurtis and meeting his gaze, I pulled out my mask and put it on before making it invisible. I turned back to the horde and pushed off of the ground with my pale purple wings. While the hermits got their bearings, I provided fire from overhead. Just because I was a nurse didn't mean I hadn't trained in combat.

Scar and Cub let out yells and allowed their Vex attributes to show before jumping into combat. Scar sent a blast at one Shadow while Cub slashed at another.

As I circled overhead, I realized just how many Listener Shadows there were. There's going to be damage to the village, I realized. Out loud, I shouted, "Lead them away from the village!"

The hermits heard and began to run and fly toward the forest. I spotted Grian and Taurtis helping Mumbo to his feet and flying toward the trees.

I let out a yell of pain as something struck my arm. I looked down to see a Listener Shadow pointing with his palm up at me. My arm had a fresh magic burn on it. I gritted my teeth against the pain and shot back purple magic at the Shadow. It pushed off the ground and flew toward me. I sent another blast of magic that sent it falling out of the sky.

Midair, I turned and flew toward the forest. Once I was sure I was far enough away from the village, I turned back and began to fight.

I blasted through one Shadow before hitting another. It struck back with a dark emerald blade, hitting me on my injured arm and drawing blood. I ignored the pain and swung my sword at it. It blocked and sent a blast of dark green magic at my chest that pushed me backward. I gritted my teeth in frustration and sent a blast of purple magic at it. The magic grazed its body, the wound glitching rather than blood coming out. It sent a blast of magic at me. I barely managed to fly fast enough to jab my sword into its chest. It stopped flying and dropped toward the ground, glitching into nonexistence.