Blood warning for some of the chapters.

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Doc (A/N: first person because yes)

I sat at my desk, fiddling with a pen and looking up at the mess of papers in front of my desk. I've been so nervous ever since the groups have let to go collect the items necessary to build the Time Machine. Mumbo and I have talked about a few plans to save Grian, we also discussed about the Dreamers while we were planing. I sighed as I stared at the multiple plans on my desk, I picked up a piece of paper and read over it. I'm a much faster reader but due to the cursive writing Mumbo wrote in, it slowed my reading down quite a bit. 

After I finished reading the text on the paper, I cupped my face in my organic hand and sighed, why did the problem have to be about Time Travel? Time Travel was so complex and one wrong move could change an entire timeline! I know that Grian is the type to mess around with things but messing with Time is a completely different thing! He could end builds, he could end the server, but the most perilous thing he could do is end lives! Has Grian not thought about-

knock, knock

I jolted out of my thoughts with a jump, I wasn't really expecting a guest today but I went down to get the door anyways. It's probably Mumbo, I told myself, putting my robotic hand on the handle. Once I opened the door, instead of a tall mustached man standing at the doorway, it was-

_____________

Joe (A/N: third person)

The dark Kitsune stared at the trio with glitchy green eyes, then launched itself at Scar who cast a shield spell as quickly as possible but failed. The wizard was now in the beast's jaws, Stress raised her arms and vines of thorns shot out of the ground. Joe jumped onto one of the vines and put his hands on the brown, thorn-covered vine. Then, he started to chant.

"⍊╎リᒷᓭ 𝙹⎓ !¡𝙹∴ᒷ∷, ℸ ̣ ⍑𝙹∷リᓭ 𝙹⎓ ⍑ᔑ∷ᒲ, ᓵ𝙹ᒲᒷ ℸ ̣ 𝙹⊣ᒷℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ∷ ᔑᓭ 𝙹リᒷ ᔑリ↸ !¡∷𝙹ℸ ̣ ᒷᓵℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ⍑𝙹ᓭᒷ ∴ᒷ ᓵ⍑𝙹𝙹ᓭᒷ."

Not long after, the coat of thorns appeared on Joe, Stress and Scar. The Kitsune dropped Scar due to the thorns poking at it's mouth, Stress used what was left of the vines she summoned to catch Scar. Joe jumped off of the vines he was sitting on and helped Scar down the long plants. Scar looked like he saw a ghost, his face as pale as silver and fear stained on his face and in his eyes.

"What do we do???" Stress called, whipping the beast with her vines.

Joe thought for a moment before answering, "We play a game of One Word Per Person."

Scar cast a whip spell and two glowing whips appeared in his hands, "WHAT? NOW??"

Joe nodded, jumping away from the Kitsune's dive. "Yes, now, we need to be clam while fighting this beast. For all we know, this thing can smell fear!"

Stress used some of the vines to grab Scar before the Kitsune pushed him into the void. "I'm in~!"

Scar whipped the Kitsune before running away, "BUT WHY NOW?????"

Joe hissed as his arm got scratched by the Kitsune, then ran away from the beast.

"CHEESE!" Joe yelled as he was running.

"Is..." Stress said as she grabbed Joe with her vines.

Scar sighed and cast a teleporting spell as the three-tailed-fox charged at him, "good."

The fact that the three Hermits kept getting away from the Kitsune's attacks made the beast angry, the Kitsune roared and three large, black swords appeared and dove towards each of the Hermits. The black blade zipped by Joe's glasses, while Stress untangled herself from the vines to avoid the obsidian sword. Once the blade embedded itself into the plants, the vines disintegrated into code. This shocked Scar and he stumbled, luckily, the sword zipped into his wizard hat, dissolving the thing into numbers and symbols.

"Good!" Scar gasped as he got up, "that was a close call!"

Joe nodded as he threw in a "and" into the game, Stress wasn't paying much attention to what Joe said and choked out a "also" as she summoned more vines. Scar spat out "amazing" as he ran from the fox-like beast's jaws.

"Period." Joe said before starting to chant again. "リ⚍ᒲʖᒷ∷ᓭ 𝙹⎓ ᓵ𝙹↸ᒷ, ᓵ𝙹ᒲᒷ ʖᔑᓵꖌ ᔑリ↸ ʖᒷᓵ𝙹ᒲᒷ 𝙹リᒷ ∴╎ℸ ̣ ⍑ ⚍ᓭ."

After that, Joe's arm stopped bleeding as well as Stress's and Scar's cuts on their knees. Stress thanked Joe before saying "in", continuing their little game they were playing.

"Cake!" Scar shouted as he cast a shield spell to block a rain of obsidian swords.

Joe looked at scar weird then chuckled, "Shop."

"You..." Stress quickly said then hissed as her foot got poked by bedrock spikes that rose out of the ground.

Scar drawled his diamond sword and bonked the Kitsune with it. "Can." Scar hissed as the Kitsune growled at him.

"Buy."

"A~"

"Pack-"

"Of."

"Cookies!" Stress shouted cheerfully as she smacked the Kitsune with one of the vines.

Scar thought for a moment before answering "And...?"

"Icecream." Joe said, taking out a sword too.

"Period." Stress hissed as she got 'booped' but the Kitsune's sharp claws.

"One." Scar whispered as he rolled away from a few bedrock arrows.

"Step."

"And." Stress said as she dodged a few obsidian arrows.

"Another!?" Scar shouted, running away from another shower of bedrock arrows.

"Will..."

"END!" Joe yelled as the Kitsune's claw caught onto his leg.

"Your...!" Stress hissed, using one vine to smack the Kitsune and the other to grab Joe.

"Mom..." Scar said shakily, "pick me up, I'm scared..."

Joe sighed as he chanted again, "リ⚍ᒲʖᒷ∷ᓭ 𝙹⎓ ᓵ𝙹↸ᒷ, ᓵ𝙹ᒲᒷ ʖᔑᓵꖌ ᔑリ↸ ʖᒷᓵ𝙹ᒲᒷ 𝙹リᒷ ∴╎ℸ ̣ ⍑ ⚍ᓭ." Once his wound healed a bit, Joe added an "And."

Stress helped Joe up onto his feet then looked up, "Snakes!"

There were, indeed, snakes. But the 'snakes' were more dead than alive, having chunks of code disappearing from the reptile. Before the rain of snakes came down, scar cast a shield spell over the trio's heads. Once the rain of snakes stopped, a few of them crumbled into code but a few of them survived. Joe took pity on them and started chanting again.

"リ⚍ᒲʖᒷ∷ᓭ 𝙹⎓ ᓵ𝙹↸ᒷ, ⎓╎ꖎꖎ ⚍!¡ ℸ ̣ ⍑𝙹ᓭᒷ ╎リ リᒷᒷ↸. Lᒷℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷᒲ ⍑ᒷꖎ!¡ ℸ ̣ ⍑𝙹ᓭᒷ ∴ᒷ ᓵ⍑𝙹𝙹ᓭᒷ."

Not long after, the snakes stopped disintegrated and slithered off towards the Kitsune, each of them biting the beast only once then quickly slithering off into the void. The Kitsune hissed at Joe, and Joe only. It launched itself towards Joe but tripped over Stress's.

"Period?" Scar suggested, running up to the beast and smacked it with his sword a few times then running off again.

Joe sighed, "This."

"Is."

"Not!" Scar yelped as he started to run away from the Kitsune that is now on its feet.

"That." Joe hissed, lumping his way to help Scar.

Stress chuckled then used her vines to scoop Joe up then said, "Kind." After that, stress set Joe next to Scar and watched them fight the fox beast.

"Of."

Joe gasped as he dodged a swipe from the beast's paws "Story."

"So."

"STOP!" Scar shouted at the Kitsune, smacking the giant paw every time it gets close to the him.

"Existing!" Joe yelled as his blade came down onto the monster's paws.

Stress dove in with her vines, wrapping a few around the limbs of the fox beast and a few around it's muzzle. "Period."

The Kitsune was angered by this little game the Hermits were playing, it's eyes glowed a sickening green and bedrock swords appeared and rained down onto the tiny beings.

"I" Joe stated, sliding under the Kitsune smacking the underbelly of the beast.

"Hate." Stress snarled, as her arm got caught by one of the black and white blades. She used a few more vines to shield her from the dangerous rain.

"Everything." Scar sighed, casting his hundredth shield spell.

Joe struck the cursed fox again, the Kitsune tried to stop him from continuing but failed. "So."

The rain of blades stopped and Stress used the last few vines to lift herself up to the Kitsune's eye-level. While Scar threw his trident at the Kitsune, a bolt of lightning hit the beast after the trident struck. Joe kept hitting the Kitsune from underneath, his arms getting slightly sore after each strike.

"You..." Stress hissed, pulling out her blade and pointing it at the Kitsune's neck.

"Better." Scar said, his three pronged weapon returning to his hands.

"Stop." Joe said, lowering his sword and slipping away from under the Kitsune.

"Being..."

"Stupid." Scar hissed, landing the final blow.

With that, the Kitsune roared, it's eyes glowed an emerald green, cracks appeared across the mystical-fox and the same emerald green light shone through them. Not long after, the animal disintegrated into green code, once the cloud of numbers and code cleared, there was a small item glowing with what seemed like purple light. Once Joe stepped closer he was greeted with a Fox Spirit, the trio took out their swords but the fox spirit just bowed.

Not long after, it disappeared and the three Hermits exchanged a few glances. Joe shrugged and walked towards the item, then, he noticed that there was delicate markings engraved into it, the item seems to depict a curled up white three-tailed fox. He picked up the item, and upon closer inspection, it was called "Fox Spirit Charm".

Scar and Stress inched closer to look at the item in Joe's hands, Stress gasped and Scar's eyes widened.

"I thought it was supposed to be the Code Heart Charm..." Joe mumbled, pocketing the item.

The three of them were silent, this gave Joe some time to think. What if we're in the wrong dimension? We're supposed to get the Code Heart Charm, not the Fox Spirit Charm... Did we enter at the wrong time? What if I read the chant wrong? But I'm sure that I read it right. How come the monster was a Kitsune? I thought they brought luck-

"So what kind of mess did we create?" Scar asked suddenly.

Joe cocked his head, "What do you mean?"

"Scar's talking about the One Word Per Person thing, honey." Stress said, plucking out a few thorns from her hair.

"Oh..." Joe mumbled, "Let me see... uh... 'Cheese is good and also amazing. In cake shop you can buy a pack of cookies and icecream. One step and another will end your mom and snakes. This is not that kind of story so stop existing. I hate everything so you better stop being stupid.'"

The trio laughed and snickered at the ridiculous paragraph they made, this went on for a few more minutes until Scar opened a portal back to Hermitcraft.

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Joe woke up to see Stress and Scar looking down at him, he sat up, fixed his glasses and breathed in. He opened his inventory to make sure the Charm was still there, and sure enough... there, replacing the Fox Spirit Charm, was the Code Heart Charm.

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Tango (A/N: first person)

I grumbled as made my way to Inferno Mountain, my Elytra is on half durability and I need that durability to get back to Hermitcraft. The journey to Inferno Mountains is hard enough, but having Blazes, Ashflyers and Firecrawlers scattered across the peaks just make it worse. I pulled out my pickaxe as I caught sight of Ash Peaks, climbing up the Peaks to Inferno Mountains will be a hard task due to the Blazes and Ashflyers. 

I attempted to climb the Peaks without my Elytra but failed, I looked around the area, seeing if there was a way up this mountain without flying. Eventually, I found a few entrances to a mine, since there wasn't any other way than flying, I decided to poke around the mines to see if there are any Burning Quarts in the area.

It was surprisingly quiet, the sound of iron on stone was absent and so was the buzzing of the Ashflyers. The only sound I could hear is the eerie echos of my footsteps and the wind, I poked around the area, looking in the minecarts and chests. I wasn't surprised when I found a lot of gold and normal quarts but every now and then, I found a few pieces of Burning Quarts. So far, I had enough to make three blocks of Burning Quarts.

I continued to venture around the mine, finding a few more Burning Quarts in chests, minecarts or just in the mountain itself. As I looked around the mine a bit more, I heard the faint sounds of mental clanging against stone. This peaked my interest due to the fact that it was so quiet the first few hours or so. I walked around the mine, continuing my scavenge for Burning Quarts, every step I took, the louder the clanging sounds grew.

After some time, I walked around a corner and found a skeleton... it was short like a skeleton but it had no bow, it was a fiery-red color instead of the charcoal black wither skeletons had. I watched as the skeleton continued to mine away the rocks, it was calming until the skeleton noticed me. Without a warning, it threw it's pickaxe towards me, I barely had time to dodge the mining tool but managed to not get hit by it. Not long after, the pickaxe flew back into the hands of the red skeleton.

I ran up in attempt to get a few hits on the thing but after my first hit, I was set on fire right after I raised my sword again. I gasped as the burning stung me, I ran around the corner and shoved a golden carrot in my mouth. After the burning stopped, I peaked over the edge and saw the fire skeleton back turned towards me, hacking at the stone again. I hummed to myself as I thought of ways to get past the thing.

I took out a few blocks and placed a few of them behind the skeleton, making a wall to separate me and the... thing. The skeleton didn't react, it just clacked around in annoyance and continued to mine into the mountain. I held my breath and sneaked across to the next the room... only to be met by tons of other fire skeletons, also hacking at the stone around the room. I stood still for a moment, not wanting to attract any attention until I spotted a few Ashflyers.

I attempted to slip into the previous room to avoid eye contact with the ash-covered bug but I was too late, the flock of Ashflyers spotted me and started buzzing over to me. I zipped into the previous room and took out my pick and started hacking at the wall. I was either too slow or the Ashflyers where too fast, but the bugs got me, they dropped a gust of ash on me. Once I made contact with the ash, the stinging pain of fire came back, my vision fogged and I stumbled around, I quickly boxed myself in and sighed as the pain went away.

"I doubt I can go farther..." I said to myself, "these idiots will get to me one way or the other."

I took out my map and placed a torch down, if I can't go up, I guess I'll go down. I searched the map until I found Deepflames, I found it... but it was on the other side of Fireswell. Of course it had to be on the other side of the world... I thought sourly, I stood up and dug out a tunnel for me to travel back to the entrance of the mine because I still feared about the Ashflyers. Once I made my way out of the mine and out into the open air, I opened my Elytra and took flight because it was the only way to get to Deepflames quick.

-----

After a lot of lava seas and islands, I arrived at a village on top of Deepflames, my Elytra was on the edge of breaking (even thought it had unbreaking and mending on it) so I decided to not fly over to Deepflames. When I was wandering around the village, I noticed how similar these 'villagers' were to the Flamesfolk but they were a bit more bug-like and pig-like. As I wandered around these 'villagers' would attempt to get me out of the village, but I fought them off and continued venturing down. 

Once I reached what seemed to be the end of the village, there was a large hole leading downwards, I jumped in and floated down to the floor. When I looked up, there were three figures, they were all sitting on thrones. They were all different, the one on the left was more bug-like and the one on the right was more pig-like, the one in the middle was a mixture. 

Since I didn't want to bother them, I walked towards a gate that kept me away from Deepflames, I guess I could understand due to how dangerous Deepflames was but I decided to go in anyways. I walked towards the entrance, I was stopped by a set of bars falling into place and a few loud claps. I tired to break it with my pickaxe but failed as it took ages to mine. 

"Halt."

I turned around to see that the three figures had their eyes on me, they were all wearing a mask but it was clear that they were angry. 

"Who are you and why are you here?" The figure in the middle asked, a sword appearing in her hands.

"I am Tango Tek, a Halfsfolk of the Aesidinkae Tribe. The Tribe up in the Burning Beaches."

The three stood up and drawled their weapons. "Turn back Halfsfolk. The land ahead you is no-creature's land."

"Sorry, but it is important. I need to enter to get the Burning Quarts-"

"No. Turn back." all three of them said. "Or we'll make you."

I stood my ground, staring right into the "eyes" of the masks. "No, I'm not leaving, I'm going in for a friend's sake!"

The one in the middle sighed and charged at me, I rolled away just in time and drawled my diamond sword. I blocked the masked bug-pig thing's next blow and shot a glance at the other two figures. They were just standing there, watching us fight. I shook my head and ducked under another swipe from the larger blade. 

I rolled away and tried to strike for the 10 foot tall being's leg but she was too fast and I only got her toes. I sighed in frustration and continued to block and dodge the attacks of the masked figure. This didn't last long because I started to get tired from moving so much. I run to the far end of the room and waited for the thing to attack. 

She raced off and appeared above me, then, she struck down with her shining blade. It cut the surface of my arm and I hissed when the crimson liquid flooded out of the cut. I turned around and struck the figure's back. The blade sliced through her cloak and her "skin", she hissed and sped off.

I looked around the room and turned my attention to the other two masked figures. They were still watching me fight against their... uh... partner I guess? A woosh noise reminded me of the opponent I was fighting, I turned around and attacked one of her arms. She hissed and jumped back a bit, then swiping the blade at me. I ducked and did a mini summer-slut, kicking the figure on the chin.

The masked "Firesfolk" staggered backwards and sped off to the thrones. She rested there for a moment before the other two stood up and disappeared. Then, they reappeared, one in front of me and the other behind me. They dashed past me at the same time, cutting both of my arms with their sharp weapons.

I yelled at the pain and looked around, the two masked things were studying how I fought! I guess I'll have to change up the way I fight... maybe try out False's way of fighting. I stood around, waiting for the two figures to come and attack me again. The two reappeared back at their previous places, one in front of me and the other behind me. They charged at the same time and I jumped up to dodge to weapons. 

Once I landed, I turned around and struck the figure that charged from ahead of me. She hissed and sped off, leaving the more pig-like figure to fight me. She jumped towards me and brought her axe down, I rolled away and struck her back. She hissed and sped off, just like the previous one. I waited around for a bit more and saw that they reappeared above me, I brought my sword up to block the spear one of the masked things threw. 

Then, grabbed the spear and threw it at the axe-wielding figure. She blocked the spear, she grabbed it and threw it over too the other one. While she was distracted, I ran up and hit her with my sword, she turned around and hit the sword out of my hands. 

"You are being childish!" The pig-like figure roared.

"Turn back and everything will be much easier." the other fighting figure said.

I take out my axe and shook my head. "No, I'm not running."

"So be it." The two of them said in sync.

They both disappeared and started appearing and disappearing around me, chipping away at me every time they appear. I silently observed the attacks, tanking the pain. After enough observing, I struck the stomach of one of the guards. They jump back, clutching their stomach. It was the more bug-like one.

She jumps back onto one of the thrones, resting with the first one. Okay, two down, one to go. I told myself. I stood straight. I stared right at the pig thing.

"Come at me," I challenged. "Bacon" 

Miss Bacon Lad growled and leap towards me, I slipped aside and pulled out my axe. As Miss Bacon rushed over, the sharp edge of my weapon slit their stomach. They leaped back and hissed. They leaped towards the again, despite their injury. I rolled away as quickly as possible, but their axe hooked onto my arm and I yelled as crimson bits flew up into the air. 

I stood up uneasily and glared at Miss Bacon. I waited for her to get here. When she launched herself towards me, I slid aside and swung my axe towards the figure. A loud crack and a few gasps echoed around the room. The mask of the pig-like figure was split in two, I pulled out my axe and the Firesfolk leapt onto one of the thrones. She still covered her face with her hand but it was pretty clear that she, along with all the others, were surprised.

All three of them stood up in sync and bowed, then, the set of bars retracted into the ceiling.

"You have proven yourself, Mr. Tek..." The one in the middle said.

"But be careful." The Bug-like one wheezed, still clutching their injury. "There are dangers in there."

Then, Miss Bacon started talking too, wincing through the pain the gash on her abdomen gave her. "Be weary of where you step, because you may never come out..."

"Best of luck to you traveler." the three of them said together.

I nodded and went into Deepflames, keeping the gate-keeper's words in mind. Soon enough, the whole tunnel was pitch black, the only bits of light came from nearby Soul-fires. I could feel myself slowing down, the soul sand and soul soil trying to drag me into their tombs. I pulled out a endrod and wished that I brought more torches with me. 

The only things that I could see are my hands, the few blocks of ground under me and the soul fire around me. I could barely see anything else with the dim light of the endrod. I could hear my breath and the sounds of the Deepflame's creatures scurrying about. I took a step further and everything went silent. It was almost like Time it-self stopped and I was the only one moving.

Soon enough, the sounds came back. I shrugged and ventured deeper into Deepflames. Just as I was about to walk a few more blocks, I felt something hard hit my head and everything went black.

I woke up to see glowing red eyes, I jolted up from my position but found it hard to do so. Everything hurt and ached, I tried to turn a bit but hissed at the pain that was caused. The other figure went away but returned with two items in it's two small hands, both of them were contained but one was contained in a bottle, the liquid in it was pink while the other item was a sack. 

It walked over and threw the potion onto me, the glass shattered and scattered around the room, but I did feel better then I used to. I pushed myself up into a sitting position while the figure helped me up onto my feet. Now that I'm standing up, I just realized how small the figure was, only up to my knees. 

It seemed to be wearing a blood red cloak and mask, it was carrying what seemed like a staff, the stick-like item spiraling outwards into a flower-like shape. But once it turned around to grab something, I noticed it had... a tail, a small red fire burning at the tip of it. In fact, the figure wasn't even wearing a mask! It appeared to have curved horns growing out of it's mask-like head. After a unnatural amount of time, I realized something.

"You're a Vyrm...!" I exclaimed. 

The figure turned around and nodded, then, it grabbed another sack. I cocked my head at this behavior, I crouched to be on the same eye level as this Vyrm. It turned around again and plopped the two sack into my hands.

"What is this?" I asked it.

The Vyrm didn't respond, instead it searched around the room for awhile, I figured that this vessel-wyrm couldn't talk so I handed it a half-burned piece of paper and a pen. It took it gratefully and scribbled something on it, after it showed me the piece of paper.

"'A half a stack of Burning Quarts'." I read out aloud. "Wait- you're just giving me this?!"

The Vyrm nodded. I was in awe, how could a thing be so careless about Burning Quarts? Not even the Luoshicire can afford to give away half a stack of this stone carelessly. I was snapped out of my thoughts as I felt a hand on my shoulder. Turns out I sat down too and the Vessel-Wyrm was patting my back, seeming to comfort me.

"But why? Are you going to ask me for something to pay you back?"

It shook it's head and scribbled another thing or two on the paper.

"'We only ask for you to save your friend.'" 

I smiled and thanked the Vessel-Wyrm again. It nodded again and raised it's staff. Then, my vision fogged and I heated up a bit. Not long after, everything went red.

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Yes, I know kitsunes have 9 tails and not 3, I know, shut up. Also... yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy 4000+ words! Also, Also... why do I have 2k reads? Someone explain. ALSO, school has started for me, so updates will be a bit slow. Um... the lore for this chapter is the very last "chapter" at the end of the book. I'm just too lazy to link it here... k, cya

-Wheat