Freeze or Fall

Chapter 1: Void Sickness

Grian let out a raspy sigh as he gazed into the white orb in front of him. He had a blanket wrapped around him and felt like death, and watching over his own grave wasn't making things any better.

"You okay?"

"M'gonna cry over my own grave."

"So a no then." The man standing a distance away strode over and plopped down next to him, holding out a bowl of soup. "Eat."

"I'm not hungry." The faerie muttered.

The voidling rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter if you're hungry, you gotta eat. You're almost as bad as X."

That drew a giggle from the winged Hermit. "Fine. But don't expect me to finish it." He took the bowl and sipped, wrinkling his nose. "This doesn't taste like mushroom soup."

"Yeah, cause I added some stuff to help you recover quickly. I know it tastes terrible, but the sooner you recover, the sooner we can get you out of here."

The fae pinched his nose before swallowing the rest of the soup in a few gulps. "Uck. At least it wasn't bad enough to make me puke."

"As if. You're so weak right now you barely have a gag reflex." Ex responded. "But for now you should sleep. Taurtis headed off hours ago."

"You still haven't told me everything, just that Taurtis is alive, there's two of him, and the void's making me sick."

The voidling rolled his eyes. "I'll explain once you're better. For now, just sleep."

"Fine." Grian yawned before curling up, his wings folding over him like a giant, feathery blanket.

Ex stayed there for a few seconds to make sure the avian had really fallen asleep before walking into a random direction. It didn't really matter which way he walked, the void would take him to the next occupied place no matter how far he was from it.

Sure enough, in seconds, he ended up by a makeshift house, with a few torches scattered about. He opened the door and scowled.

"You should be asleep."

"Yeah, but something woke the dream guy up early."

Ex sat down on a stray chest. "So you think that's a real player?"

"Not just that. Mumbo Jumbo. Doesn't that sound familiar?" Taurtis bit his lip. "I think I've heard of him before, but I can't remember where."

"Ol' Mumbo Jumbo? He's a Hermit, mostly does redstone. Been with the group since season 2."

Taurtis made a timeout sign with his hands. "Hang on, that means we have a means of communication with the Hermits."

"We could've known this earlier if you'd dropped his name when you first saw him." Ex shrugged. "Then again, the fact that you're literally telecommunicating with someone you've never met before, is pretty nuts."

"Are you sure that's what telecommunicating means?"

"...no."

Taurtis sighed. "Anyways, if this really is a means of communication, it's not very stable. I think Mumbo forgets his dreams like a normal person."

"On another note, It's likely Grian and Mumbo know each other. They were friends before Grian joined the Hermits, right?" Ex added.

"That's where I heard of him. Grian mentioned him once or twice. Speaking of, how is Grian doing? It's not like him to isolate himself." Taurtis asked, his voice etched with worry.

Ex stretched his arms above his head. "He's doing a bit better, I managed to get him to choke down some soup that I slipped a void healing potion into. The void sickness should begin to clear up soon."

"I meant emotionally."

"I'm not the person to ask then. I'm not very good with emotions. My closest friend is a robot, for void's sake." Ex sighed.

"And while we're on the topic of that..."

"I still want to risk it. He's got access to the server, since he's an ex-alter like me." Ex responded curtly.

Taurtis fidgeted. "Well, if you did, perhaps I could try to ask Mumbo to build another robot in the server, and then your friend could connect with it?"

"Depends on whether Mumbo would remember." Ex reminded him. "But it's worth a shot, right?"

"Yeah. I guess you should risk it. When do you want to leave?"

"Not for a couple days, just until the sickness begins to clear up. For now, perhaps you could try to tell Mumbo through dreams?"

"It's a plan."