Playing Open-Handed

Chapter 5: Holding Out For The Heroes

Zed had been running for days. And yes, running is the right word here. The gills had gone away after a few agonisingly long hours, leaving nothing but scars in their place. Which, in turn, explained the scarf trailing dramatically behind Zed as he legged it as fast as possible from Keralis' nether portal.

He checked over his shoulder — he seemed to have lost his pursuer for the time being. He sighed, and stumbled blearily through the nearest nether portal. He collapsed, out of breath, on the bright green grass, resting his head on cold obsidian of the base of the frame of the portal. He was there for a few seconds before he was aware of someone coming towards him in his periphery.

Zed flinched, bracing himself to get up again and make a run for it at a moment's notice. The person seemed to notice this movement, and back up. To be able to read someone from the distance this person seemed to be at... it had to be a good PvPer. Well, as long as it wasn't Etho, he was fine enough, and Etho wouldn't let Zed notice him. The person began approaching again, softly placing a hand — an oddly cold hand — on Zed's shoulder.

"Hey, Zed? You ok there?" Iskall's voice asked softly. Zed nodded, slowly making to stand up against the frame of the portal. Iskall helped him up. "...what happened?" Zed turned to face them, and, completely deadpan, rattled off:

"Impy and Tangy went missing a few weeks ago, so I went to Grian for help, and we figured out that it was a fish monster with mind control powers, but then Grian got got by the fish monster and I had to swim for it, and then I realised that the fish monster had somehow made me grow gills so I had to stay underwater for hours and hours and hours and hours. Then when I finally got back on land it suddenly seemed like everyone had been got, and then I found a note from Cub to X that told me that the fish monster was called an Aboleth, and then I made my way to Keralis' base and was chased here." He finished. "You?"

"...Well," Iskall began, "Well. Maybe we should do something about this?"

"Do I look like a PvPer to you?" Zed pointed out. Iskall shrugged, and pointed at the sword sheathed on their hip.

"Oh. Ok then." Zed agreed, and the two laid out a plan of attack: Iskall would dive in under Impulse's base and attack the Aboleth while Zed covered their back. The two gathered the weapons and other supplies they needed to carry out the plan, and were about to set off when Zed stopped. "We should leave something behind." He pointed out, pulling out a small, deep red gem from his inventory.

-Jack of Spades, Ace of Diamonds-

Zed and Iskall kneeled on the lip of one of the unfinished walls of Impulse's base, nervous that they were about to go and do this. They paused, and then both glided down, immediately swapping out their elytra for chestplates the moment they hit the ground. Good job, too: Ren was waiting for them.

Iskall made a break for it while Zed covered their back, as they broke a small hole in the floor and dove in to confront the Aboleth. Zed backed up towards the hole as more and more controlled hermits swarmed out. Zed held them all back, albeit with difficulty, and by the time all but one of the assailants was unconscious on the floor, Zed was panting and heaving.

And then the last one standing, Impulse, charged. Zed narrowed his eyes. He knew his friend's gait, and knew that if he swiped at Impulse's legs at just the right moment, then Impulse would trip and fall, no matter what. So he did, knocking Impulse to the floor, and holding his sword to the side of Impulse's neck, his hand trembling.

"Zeddy?" Impulse gasped, eyes wide. "Zeddy, it's me, Impy."

"No." Zed briefly made eye contact, searching for some sign of his friend, and coming up empty. "No, you're not Im-Impulse. How dare you. How dare you claim to be my best friend. How dare you USE him like this!?" Zed was practically screaming by the end, tears starting to prick at the corners of his eyes. Hand shaking, he pressed his sword against Impulse's throat. "Let. Him. Go." Zed whispered, anger seeping into his voice like poison.

The two remained like that for the longest time, Zed standing over Impulse like that, looking for any sign of recognition in Impulse's eyes. The only thing he saw, eventually, was a reflected flash of movement as something moved behind him. The second's warning this gave was not enough for Zed to get out of the way, as hands suddenly grabbed his arms from behind, drawing them back behind his back so he couldn't strike back.

Zed yelled, struggling. Every time one hand managed to slip out of whoever-it-was' grip, it was snatched before the other could be freed. Now free from the threat of Zed's sword, Impulse bounced up to his feet, smiling at whoever had got Zed.

"Why thank you," He said, half-grateful to them, half-mocking to Zed. He paused for dramatic effect, before finishing: "Iskall."

Zed gasped, as he realised the implications of this. Iskall had failed. They both had failed. Zed's shoulders visibly slumped. The feeling of being taken over began coursing down his spine, and he didn't care. The last thing that he did before he was fully gone, the last thing that he did as him, was let a single tear roll down his face.

-Jack of Spades, Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Spades-

"Iskall? Iskall, are you in here!? Hermit challenges!" Mumbo called out, his voice echoing in the emptiness of Iskall's base. There was, of course, no response. Mumbo sighed, adjusted his elytra. They were probably just in the shopping district, right? He made to take off, only to realise that he didn't have any rockets. He sighed. Iskall wouldn't mind if he borrowed a few rockets, right?

He went over to Iskall's storage system, and moved to open a chest when he brushed his fingers against a deep red gem. It began to glow vibrantly. Mumbo quickly grabbed it, worried that he'd broken something.

"Hey there!" The crystal suddenly began to project a red hologram, showing Iskall and Zed waving. Zed was wearing a scarf for some unknowable reason. "It's me, Zedaph," Hologram-Zed continued, "And Iskall's here too."

"So basically there's a monster, and we're gonna kill it." Iskall continued. "If we don't come back, or come back wrong..."

"Get this to Tango. He's the only one who can fix this, if we can't." Zed finished. "And this monster, this... Aboleth, I think? It can do mind control, so don't trust anyone. Not even your closest friends. Especially not your closest friends."

With that, the hologram disappeared, and a date appeared above the gem — last Wednesday. It was Saturday now. Mumbo gasped, and quickly grabbed some rockets from Iskall's storage and took off towards Tango's base. He was constantly checking over his shoulder as he flew, all of a sudden paranoid.

He stumbled into Tango's base shortly after, botching the landing as usual. The gem went flying out of his hand, clattering away with a series of pinging noises. Mumbo grunted, and stood up, to see Tango picking up the gem, turning it over in his hand.

"Hey Mumbo." Tango greeted, more focused on the gem. "Why... why do you have one of the recording crystals that I gave Zeddy?"

"I found it in Iskall's base. Zed- er, recording-Zed, asked me to bring it to you." Mumbo rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Tango frowned, and activated the recording, his face falling as the recording played out, until it reached the date at the end. At this, Tango violently shoved the crystal into his inventory.

"We need to stop that monster." Tango frowned. "We should have started ages ago."

"I'll join you." Mumbo agreed. "For Zed. For Iskall."

"For Hermitcraft?"

"For Hermitcraft."

-No Trademark Joker, King of Spades-