(P.S before we start, in this one-shot the hermits only have one life, and don't respawn.)

It was a regular day in HermitCraft, everyone bustling around doing their own thing. Meanwhile, Grian and Iskall were busy up in the air pranking Mumbo, placing obsidian around his AFK spot. That's when the question arose.

"Hey Iskall, do you know anything about this weird red string on my finger?" Grian asked, taking a pause to examine said string. "I can't take it off or even break it."

"Yeah. They appeared one day in season four, but they've never done anything so we just ignore it." Iskall answered, continuing to place obsidian.

"Okay, but what are they connected to? and why do some hermits like Joe have none?" Grian continued to ask.

"I don't know. Like i said, we never bothered to figure it out. It never disrupts anything, so we just let it be." Iskall placed down the last few pieces and grinned, "When Mumbo wakes up he'll be so confused."

"Oh he'll be so mad. But he gets a trident, and this is the price." Grian smiled. "Thanks for the help Iskall."

"No problem dude, and don't stress about the strings. I'm sure we'll figure it out someday." Iskall assured Grian before leaving.

"Well, if they haven't done anything for two seasons, I guess they aren't that important." Grian said to himself. He took one more look at the prank they had done, a satisfied smirk on his face before he left.

------------------Time Skip-------------------

A long time had passed since the prank on Mumbo, and a full fledged war was being waged. Both team S.T.A.R and G-team were getting ready for another battle for the win.

The G-team members were getting ready in their bunkers as Joe woke up, giving a small stretch and putting on his glasses. He glanced at his hand to see a red string tied to his ring finger.

"Hey y'all! guess what just appeared on my finger!" The hermit exclaimed excitedly.

Everyone gathered around to see what had happened.

Joe held up his hand to show a red string connected to his finger. "Looks like mine finally appeared."

"Wow, that's pretty neat." Stress commented.

As nobody knew what the strings meant, they didn't know whether to be excited or worried.

"I wonder if I'll meet my true love today." Joe pondered.

"Oh please. Some of us have had the string on for ages and nothings happened." Cleo stated, crossing her arms.

"You never know. Maybe I'll be the first." Joe hopped out of bed and started getting prepped.

"Well, let's not dwindle too much on this Guys. Let's get back to work." Grian announced, getting back to gathering potions.

The hermits were getting ready for a gruesome battle, but not one to the death. They would hurt each other yes, but none wanted to kill each other. It was a friendly fight, for the most part.

G-team and team S.T.A.R met up at the battlefield, each staring each other down. ConCorp. watching over them a safe distance away.

Each member waited tensely for the battle to begin.

Cub handed Scar a horn, "You wanna do the honor?"

"You bet!" Scar took the horn and blew it as hard as he could, the noise signifying the start of the battle.

With that, the fight started. Over at team S.T.A.R's base, Impulse barraged the opposing team with Ghast fireballs. On the other hand, Iskall and Jevin were releasing hordes of mobs out into the field.

As the battle heated up, the hermits were dodging explosive mines set by ConCorp. Doc was in the middle of fending off Cleo and Tango when Ren came into help him. Joe was clashing with False as he tried to teach her a lesson with words. Iskall left Jevin to man the traps as he went down to join the fight. Stress and Grian were charging in as calvary to attack Xisuma and Mumbo.

Things were getting hectic.

In all of the mess, Wels was trying to find a spot to shoot an arrow to knock Cleo's sword out of her hand. He had found the perfect spot and began to draw his bow back. Getting ready for the release, he launched the arrow...

Joe huffed as he held his sword in front of him. "False, ever think of just admitting defeat and humbling yourself instead of fighting this battle?"

"Well, i could ask you the same thing!" False replied pushing Joe back causing him to stumble a long distance backwards.

"Yes you could, but have you ever thought wh-"

W o o s h

Joe stopped moving, his eyes filled with shock.

"Joe?" False said hesitantly as she put down her sword.

The hermit fell to the ground, an arrow lodged deep in his back where the straps of his armor was. Behind him a distance away was a horrified Wels.

"JOE!" False yelled, dropping everything to attend to the fallen hermit.

Everyone else stopped fighting as they heard False. Turning to see what was wrong. The G-team members gasped and rushed towards their teammate, crowding around False as she held him in her arms.

Everyone was shocked, scared, fearing the worst for their friend. Wels rushed over, a look of pure panic on his face.

"I am so sorry! Please please please let him be okay! I didn't mean to hit him, I didn't want to hurt him!" Wels explained frantically, but everyone was too focused on Joe to hear.

There was a long silence as everyone watched Joe as Cleo checked his pulse...

Cleo started to cry. Cries turned into sobs as everyone realized what had happened.

Joe was dead.

Stress cried into her sleeve as she was comforted by Iskall.

Jevin watched from the window trying to distinguish what had happened, but he knew it wasn't good.

Impulse rushing down to see the commotion.

Grian lowered his head and cried as Mumbo continued to wipe his ever flowing tears.

Everyone was devastated.

Then, it all stopped when the red string on Joe's finger began to glow brightly. It started to disappear from Joe's hand and slowly weaved its way though the crowd and eventually to Wels own ring finger.

Everyone watched as the string fully disappeared into nothingness.

"So that's what it lead to." Xisuma murmured, astonished on what had just unfold.

"You...you KILLED HIM!" Cleo burst, rushing to Wels and holding a sword to his throat.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to kill him! I didn't want to! I was aiming for your sword to knock it out of your hands when he-"

"When he what? Happened to go right in front of you when you shot it?!" Cleo was ready to pierce through Wels chest.

"He's telling the truth!" False cried out. "I...I was the one who pushed joe back."

Cleo lowered her sword and stared at False. The sword slipped out of her hand as she collapsed on the floor in tears. Cleo held her face in her hands.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days had passed since Joe died. The war was called off to prevent another death happening. They held a funeral and had a meeting to discuss the red strings.

Xisuma stepped up next to Biffa to address the situation.

"I know we are all still grieving about Joe, but we need to talk about out discoveries of the red stings. They had been on our hands for two seasons now, and had never caused any harm. But now, we know what they lead to."

Some of the hermits bowed their heads, already knowing what it meant. Others looking confused and curious.

"Now, when i tell you what it is, be sure not to panic." Xisuma warned.

Hermits looked at each other with confusion.

"We've discovered that the string will lead to who kills you."

Collective gasps were heard all around. Fear started to settle in the hermits as they looked at their own strings on their fingers to see who it might lead to.

"Settle down. I know this is scary, knowing that someone you know will kill you. But let's not panic." X tried to calm everyone down, which they eventually did.

"How can we be left easy knowing this now?" TFC questioned, even though he had no strings himself.

"We can't. But let's not let this ruin our lives. So please everyone, don't stress out about this. It'll be settled as soon as we can found out how to stop the red strings from appearing." X answered.

Everyone dispersed, still unsure about the situation. Each went to go and hide themselves in their base.

The tension was thick, but what was to come would soon shock everyone on the server.

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Well! thats all i have for this one-shot. Yes! this book is not only for art, but also for ones-shots! And i'm quite pleased with this one. There's still more story to go, but for now this is it!

I got the idea from red strings that bring you to the one you love, and twisted it. Sorry if it's not clear how the strings work. It took me a while to figure it out myself until i said "Screw it, they'll just appear whenever."

And i don't regret anything. So have a gouda day!

words: 1563