Involves more sword fights and a smol amount of blood (only 5% of the sword fights have it, okay?)... yay.

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Zedaph

Zedaph and Impulse looked around The Abyss for awhile, placing down end rods so the Darkies around them wouldn't kill them... permanently. Eventually, they heard footsteps that weren't theirs'. Zedaph looked around the area, clutching his sword tightly.

"Come on... uh... thing! Can we make this quick?" Zedaph asked into the darkness.

Suddenly, a figure similar to the Darkies jumped at Impulse. Impulse raised his sword just in time, a loud clash rang out the (possibly) endless room of darkness. Zedaph ran over and bonked the figure on the head with his own blade. The small figure jumped out of the way and looked at the two Hermits as if they (Impulse and Zed) were aliens from another world.

"What is that?" Zed whispered to Impulse.

Impulse looked at Zedaph and shrugged. "Not sure... but it is probably as powerful as the Darkies."

(A/N DISCLAIMER: I do not mean to offend anyone with the word "Midget", it was what came to mind and I just rolled with it. If you feel offended, please tell me and I'll do my best to change it.)

Zedaph shuddered at the thought of that. Hopefully we won't die to this... thing. Zedaph inched his way towards the thing and stared at the frozen figure. It was like a dark grey midget with a weird looking sword. It was completely white with twisted edges. It didn't seem to have a face, or any cloak. In fact it looked almost like the Darkies, it just had a sword and took a physical, ghastly form. Once Zedaph inched close enough, the grey figure smacked it's sword across his face. It didn't do much but it still left a cut. Impulse ran over and bonked the head of the Midget. The Midget swiveled around and slashed Impulse's arm, it left a cut that looked like it was burning from the inside. Impulse screeched at the pain and smacked the Midget across the face with his sword.

It staggered backwards, towards Zedaph, and Zed raised his sword and split the midget in two. The remains of the thing just flopped onto the ground and dissolved into shadows. Zedaph turned away from the thing, he felt sick after watching the remains of the Midget just flop onto the ground. It was disgusting. Zedaph turned towards Impulse to check his wounds. Surprisingly, no blood was shed.

Impulse rubbed the cut and sighed, "That sword is weird as... uh... I dunno, it's just very weird. All we know is that it doesn't draw blood and it hurts like hell, we don't know anything else. For all we know the sword can have a withering effect."

Zedaph nodded and turned away from Impulse. He scanned the area and looked at the sword the Midget dropped, he carefully picked it up and it suddenly warped into the shape of a twisted stick. It was no longer a sword, it was more of a... staff thing.

"Hey Impulse!" Zedaph called. "The sword isn't a sword!"

Impulse looked up and walked over to peer over Zed's shoulder. Zedaph showed Impulse the weird thing and Impulse took it. Impulse observed it for a bit and then pulled out a book, he flipped around and looked back at the weird, glowing, pale stick. He jumped up and cheered.

Zedaph jumped back a bit, "What was that for?"

Impulse laughed at Zedaph's confused face and continued, "We have obtained our first End Staff for the Time Machine!"

Zedaph laughed sheepishly and looked around, walking in the Abyss for a bit. Eventually, he found a bit more Midgets socializing. Zedaph looked back at Impulse who was bandaging his wound and he shot a thumbs up. Zedaph nodded and sneaked up on the Midgets, he did feel a bit bad for killing the things but it was for Grian. Zedaph sighed and shot a arrow or two at two of the Midgets. All of them jumped up and grabbed something that was completely different from the sword the previous one wielded. Zedaph shrugged the thought off and drew his sword, Impulse not far from him. Two of the four Midgets pulled out a bow and arrow and started shooting weird, pale arrows at the two Hermits.

Impulse rolled aside and Zedaph just leapt out of the way. The other two Midgets drawled their swords and charged at the two Hermits. Two against one? I'm not very confident about this fight, we could die here, right?! Isn't that what Impulse said? Zedaph started panicking at the odds. It wasn't very likely that the two would get out of here alive. The two Midgets leapt away from each other in sync and slashed their sword across both Impulse and Zedaph's chest. Yells of agony echoed through the Abyss, despite the lack of crimson, it was still pretty violent. Zedaph landed on the skull-covered floor and winced. He rolled onto his left side to get up, only to feel a blade striking right next to him.

Shouts of protest could be heard as Impulse was smacking away three different Midgets. Zedaph laid on the floor, ready to die. He was ready for another burst of burning pain or something along the lines of that. He sighed and waited for the strange pale blade to slice away at him, only to realize that there wasn't anyone- no, anything standing beside him. Zedaph peered over his shoulder to see that all four Midgets were fighting Impulse. Zedaph pushed himself up and grabbed his sword, a burst of pain went through him but he ignored it. I ran over to Impulse's side and bonked each of the Midget's heads. Most of them turned around to face Zedaph, they raised their sword to attack Zed. He backed away but tripped on one of the skulls that were scattered around the area.

The two Midgets that were attacking Zed took advantage of this moment. They raced over and started swiping their blade across Zedaph over and over again. Zed could hear Impulse make a lot of attempts to get over to him and help him but after a few moments, he was down too. Is this how it goes? Is this how my story ends? Zedaph asked himself, a few tears developing in his eyes. And I wanted to finish my projects first! I wanted to do so much more before I went... Zedaph closed his eyes as pain spread across him. He was ready for his soul to be reaped. As more and more pain cascaded through him like ripples moving through a pond, he eventually found himself alone. He didn't feel the burning pain the strange swords gave him. He felt nothing but nice, cold water lapping at his arms and legs.

Zedaph looked up and saw Impulse sitting in what seemed to be a completely black room. The two looked around the strange place, the sound of water splashing against things calming them. Is this were all the people that died permanently went? Is this our peace? Zedaph questioned. A small foom made Impulse's and Zedaph's head snap towards the source of the sound. There was a small figure standing in purple smoke. Strips of black oozed down from what seemed to be it's eyes, a long, dragon-like tail coiling around the small figure's feet. Delicate yet broken, dragon-like horns sprouted from the being's head, a dark purple cloak stained with black was draped on the thing's back.

"Who and what are you?" Impulse demanded, "Where are we?"

The figure floated towards the two Hermits, "I am the one that haunts the endless Void," a strange sound echoed through the room, "I am the Void itself, sibling of Time. I reap the items the Players bring to me if they are not careful. But do not worry, I am not always that cruel. You two may keep your rewards."

Zedaph and Impulse look at the small figure then looked around for the source of the sound.

"You may be wondering where you are... I have bridged both Void and the mind of yours. This is a 'room' between Void and Mind," the same, drippy voice echoed around the room. "I am Void, one of the many Vyrmms. I cannot talk, I can only speak through thoughts. That is why sound is coming from everywhere."

Zedaph shuddered and Impulse scoffed, "Why are we here, Mr. Void?" Impulse asked. "I'm sorry if I sound rude, I just really need to know. If we're not here to die, then why are we here?"

A oozy laugh echoed around the "room", It made Zedaph shiver. He dipped his hands in the cold water and looked at it again. It was now stained black, Zedaph shook his hand off and shivered again. He and Impulse were sitting in a room filled with a shallow pool of Void. Zedaph stood up and shook himself off.

"You see, Impulse, I called you here because of Tyiime. I rarely listen to it but this seemed a bit... urgent. I'll hand you all the End Staffs you need. BUT..." the figure looked at Zedaph, an unpleasant chill running down his spine. "But... you must answer a question. Or more so, a test within 2 hours. There will be 9 questions you will answer, you must answer at least 7 of them correct. If you don't, you have to sacrifice all your items to me... including the End Staff you just got." Impulse huffed and Zedaph sighed. "Shall we start the test then?"

Zedaph gulped, and nodded slightly. Impulse nodded and rubbed his hands together, ready for the 9 questions. Suddenly, the room split into two and a test paper appeared out of the air. Zedaph grabbed it and a pen appeared in his hand. He breathed in and started to read the first question: "What is the rarity of pink sheep?" Zedaph stared at the first question and shook his head. Whatever... just answer it, Zed. He took in a breath and started to think. He heard Stress and X talk about this while the three of them were chatting about wool but he didn't pay much attention. Dang... he should've payed attention, it would've been so helpful right now! Zedaph sighed and started to read the next question: "In the Pocket dimension, can you build above the nether?" Zedaph sighed, what are these questions? He can't answer the second one because he doesn't live in the Pocket Dimension, so HOW in the world would Zedaph know the answer? He moved onto reading the next question: "How many beds does it take for someone to spawn a stray cat in a village?" Zedaph stared at the questions in disbelief. What are these questions? What the hell?

Zedaph sighed. "Hey, how long has it been?"

Zedaph waited for a bit before the same gooey voice responded from out of nowhere, "It's been 18 minutes... Take your time, don't rush."

Zedaph sighed in defeat. This is so ridiculous, why was he being asked these questions? Should I actually know these things? Zedaph thought to himself Is this common knowledge or are these very strange and random questions? Zedaph shook those thought away and started to read the fourth question: "How does one dive into the ground and not die?" Zedaph eyed the question and the scribbled down the answer, "Water". Minutes ticked by and eventually, it was over. Void pulled the two Hermits back into the same room and looked at the two with it's pitch black eyes.

"Okay... I have one question left for you, and then you can go." The Vyrm said, "This question will cost you everything. If you answer this question wrong, you will die, permanently, Despite all the questions you got correct," Zedaph breathed in and Impulse grumbled angrily, "But, you can chicken out. If you chicken out, you get to keep your life, but you cannot save the life of your other friend, Grian. If you want to chicken out, tell me, and I'll rid of the bridge between Void and Mind."

Zedaph shifted uncomfortably in his position and Impulse stood up. What do we do? Do we chicken out and kill Grian or do we continue? Impulse scrunched up his nose in frustration. After a few minutes, Impulse spoke up.

"Zed... what do we do?"

The statement was laced over with a bunch of emotions. Sadness, fear, anger, anxiety. Zedaph ran his hand through his fluffy, golden hair. He shrugged and heard Impulse sigh. Minutes ticked by and not a word was uttered. Both of the Hermit's mind too deep in thought to be bothered. At least an hour pasted and Zedaph was shocked out of his deep thinking. He looked up at Impulse and saw him raise his hand. Is... are we chickening out? Is he chickening out?

"I..." Impulse started, "I... I refuse to die! I refuse to let anyone die! Not me, not Zed, not G. If I'm going down, at least I died for a good reason!"

Zedaph smiled and nodded while Void cocked it's head slightly at Impulse.

"Are you sure?" The cold, dippy voice asked.

"Yes," Impulse and Zedaph confirmed in unison.

A few seconds of silence echoed around the room. Soon, Void started talking once again.

"Congratulations!" The Vyrm said, "You past the test!"

Impulse and Zedaph exchanged glances before Zedaph started talking, "What do you mean?"

The Vessel-Wyrm cocked their head, "You pasted the test. It was to test your loyalty and clearly, you both are incredibly loyal. I have deeply underestimated your loyalty. You may have your End Staffs now. Best of luck to you Hermits, best of luck."

The the void in the room started to rise, soon, the void swallowed Zedaph and Impulse, along with the Vyrm of Void.

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Xisuma (First person... because bored)

I, along with Iskall and False, have been traveling the lands of the Nethend for quite sometime now. We haven't been interrupted by any Stalkers yet, which was a surprise. It's been an hour or two since we left the small island we spawned on, and I was starting to get worried. The lack of mobs at the stronghold and the lack of Stalkers here is very suspicious... did something happen? Was this place raided already? What would we do if this was all for nothing? What if we can get back in time and Grian died? What if-

"Xisuma? Hallo?" The familiar voice of Iskall pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked at him through my purple visors and smiled under my face-mask.

"Is there something you need Iskall?"

False and Iskall shook their heads and False started speaking soon after, "I was just... where are the Stalkers you talked about? I thought we should've ran into one of them by now."

I nodded, "I was just thinking about it. I doesn't seem natural for this to happen-"

I was cut of my a demonic screech, one that didn't sound good or normal. False and I turned on our heels to find Iskall blocking blows from a 8 foot tall Stalker. It's clawed, black hands making a awful screeching noise as the claws dragged itself along Iskall's chest-plate, the piece of armor keeping the Swedish man safe from the dangerous, 4-inch-long claws. False drawled her sword and raced to Iskall's aid, soon taking down the Stalker. I ran over to Iskall, examining him to see if he was hurt or not. After some time, a band of stalkers emerged from the lands of the Nethend, leaping forwards and attacking us. False swiftly blocked blows from 2 different Stalkers and Iskall and I fought off 4 Stalkers. I looked around while swiping my sword across the Stalkers face, we were out numbered greatly, 4-5 against 1 if my calculations were correct.

I kicked away a Stalker and slipped out a scroll with golden lining from my inventory. I yanked off my helmet, revealing my brown-white hair and my unnatural purple eyes. I bit down on my thumb, enough to draw some blood. I unrolled the scroll with my other hand and drew my thumb down the center of the scroll, drawing a line of blood down the middle of the scroll. Once my thumb left the paper, I tucked on the scroll, rolling it back up with one quick motion. I quickly made some hands signs and slammed the scroll onto the ground, soon enough, two swarms of bees flew out of the ends of the scroll.

I stood up from my kneeling position, the scroll still clamped in between my hands. Some of the Stalkers looked at us and turned around, traveling back into the depths of the Nethend Lands. The rest that stayed were then chased away by the swarm of bees I summoned. It was strange... were they ordered to attack us? It doesn't seem natural for Stalkers to attack and then retreat... As False, Iskall and I wandered deeper into the lands of the Stalkers, I kept my guard up, I could feel eyes watching us. Whether it was from a group of creatures or just one, I did not know.

"That was..." Iskall started, "weird. Haha... Xsuema, those weird... Stalker things don't do that, right?" (Heh heh, I'm sorry...)

I shook my head, my helmet back in it's place. "No, not really. It's really rare..."

I kept walking until I bumped into False accidentally, I looked at her and saw her looking up at the sickly orange sky, distrust and worry painted on her face. I too looked up at the sky, Iskall following my gaze. I saw nothing.
"False," I whispered, "is there something bothering you?"

The blonde nodded, "I thought I saw something red up there, on that cliff." She said as she pointed her sword at  one of the many cliffs surrounding us.

As Iskall opened his mouth to speak, a silver blade shot down at him. A turtle shell appeared and blocked the blade, the dangerous item clattering onto the ground. A figure in a dull-red cloak jumped down from the cliffs, not soon after, the blade few back into the figure's hands. It had multiple horns jutting out from it's mask that looked dangerous to the touch, I drawled my sword as the eight eyes of the being stared down at me.
"That's what I saw!" False hissed, quickly taking out her diamond sword. "And we were ambushed by it."
I narrowed my eyes at the figure, it was standing still as if it was waiting for us to make a move first. Silence fell upon us for a few seconds, then, Iskall and False leapt forward. The clangs of mental against diamond rang out in the valley we were traveling through. I tucked the scroll away and grabbed out my sword, the bees I summoned quickly vanishing. The blade of my diamond sword reached for the neck of the eight-eyed creature but was lassoed away but strands of black silk.

The black threads threw our weapons around the valley as we flew across the ditch with them. I hit the rocky, orange stone. I winced at the impact, my armor did take some of the hit, but it was still painful. I cracked open my purple eyes and saw Iskall and False scattered around the valley. The horned creature still stood where it was, the black strings retreated back under their cloak, their attention to me. I would feel the hollow eyes piercing right through me. It leapt towards me and I raised my arms in an "x" shape to cover my face. 

In the distance I can hear Iskall yelling, I breathed in and an explosion of light  set off in front of me. It pushed the figure backwards in the air. It landed on it's feet as it looked up at me.

"That symbol..." it whispered under it's breath. It stood up and it's blade flew up to one of the many cliffs surrounding us, it then flew up with the sword and landing in one of the crevasses of the ravine. "So... you've came here for the Bindings... am I correct?"

Iskall stared at the figure, "Yes... wait- But you just attacked us..."

"And now you want to help us?" False asked, standing up and casting an unsure glance at me. I could only shrug in response.

The figure tips it's head towards us, "Is there something wrong? I'm offering help, but you can go through the hassle on your own. Your choice."

Iskall only narrowed his eyes even more, it almost looked like he was just forcefully shutting his eyes at this point.

False looked up at the horny creature, "Yes... so are you going to pretend a fight didn't just happen or...?"

I could sense the annoyance from the figure as it sighed, "The Weavers and I can help your mend your broken bones and weapons once we reach the village if you'd like."

The two looked at me and I sighed, "Let's go, we don't want to play around with death."

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???

A small, mask-wearing figure wandered through the bright hallways in Dreamscape, home to one of the most mysterious figures. The figure pushed away it's long, curly hair and fixed it's snake mask, they took a beep breath and pushed open these large, shining, pale doors. It walked up to two figures as bright as the sun and stars and bowed, waiting for the bright figures to react.

"Ḥ̵̢̟̉̉̃̑è̴̲͔̦͈̬͐̊͜l̴͉̱̙͈̈́̾̔͠l̸̙͉̩̂̉̒͛ǫ̶̼͈̖̹̤̏,̵̠̱̫̘̉́̏ ̴̩͓͙͐̈͒ͅC̵̨̥̻͈͑o̶̜͎̠͊̚̕d̸̠̹͔̀̍̋e̷̯̣̠͖͐-̷̧̼̮̲͖̣̍͋̀̿̍̕V̴̨̠̜̪́͘ị̵̡͓͕͙̬͘p̵̨͇̹̭̈͝ȩ̶̫̣͚́r̵̰͇̻̩͊̎͌̈.̵̜͌͋͘ ̵̫̾̄͂̈́̐Ẇ̷̧̨̹͙͎̜h̸̖̰͌̈́͆̓͝͝ȃ̸̩͕ͅţ̷͚̺͍̩̩͗̏͑̂ ̸̭̾͘̕ĭ̷͉̝͑̄͊̚ñ̷̟͍͗̎̀̊f̶̻̱̳̲̄͑õ̵̺̲̤r̸̝̈́̄͂̿̽̾m̷̨͖̝̜̈́̔̕a̴̦̦̱̋̊̒̆̊ẗ̶̙̖̟̗̓̈́į̵̧̣̬̮̻̈́́́̚o̷̜̻͋͊͐͌n̵͎̞̪͋̓̐̓͝ ̸̧̡̻̰̖̟͆̍͊̿̈́̿d̶̫͗̍̐̓͋o̷̙͓̦͆͐͒̎͂͝ ̸̲͋̓̃̋̋͠y̴̧̖̓̓̒͝ǒ̴̺̘̹͖̣͂u̴͔̓ ̸́ͅh̸̜͚̜̰̑̉͋̀ã̴͈̯͇͐v̵̻͓̥͂̂̈̈́͜͝e̷̮̫̗͉͌̀͐̾ ̴̙̹̥̲̙͜͠t̷̥̻͖̻̥͍̎o̵͉̳̠̥̪͙͊̀̆̕ ̸̫̠̿͂̎ͅo̸̖͉͖̪̭̳͆̾̑͐͗̑f̸̱̟͙̼̈́̃͜ͅf̶̘̼̉̾̒͜ë̷̮̮͙̤́̈́̐r̶̤͑͛̀?̶̮̮̀̈́" The tallest figure asked, their eagle wings twitching a bit.

The viper-masked figure stayed in it's position but answered the Dreamer, not even bothering to fix the golden hair that spilled infront of it's face. "The Time Traveler has done... an insane amount of damage, to Time itself and the Evo citizens."

The two Dreamers stood there, looking out to the sea of brightness while the messenger stayed on the ground, bowing. The tallest among the three figures shifted one of their eagle wings while the shorter Dreamer sighed and waved their bright hand. The viper-masked figure stood up, bowed once more and walked off into the bright fortress.

The small masked figure played around with the cinnamon-colored cloth it was wearing. It sighed and stood still in the halls, it traced a circle on the floor and a small flower sprouted in the center of the circle.

"Code-Viper... I guess I was one of the top students but..." the messenger sighed, taking off it's mask and brushing it. "Why was I thrown in here? Why couldn't I get into the organization?" (Only realized how out-of-context "cult" sounded lol)

The unmasked figure hissed and put the mask back onto it's face, it drew a large circle in the air in front of it with it's finger, opening a portal. The figure stepped in and was met by a shining meadow filled with flowers, a girl with long, orange hair sat in the center, plucking flowers and knitting them into a crown. The masked figure drew a small circle in the air then puffed into the form of a golden snake, slithering up to the girl in attempt to seek for help.

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Dang, I haven't updated this thing in... forever lol. So, I saw some DMs asking why the previous chapter was called "Multitasking" well, tbh, I made up that title when I was multitasking my homework and this thing so- yeah. I chose to keep the title as Untitled because why not :/ Also, SUPA BIG THANK YOU to CinnamonViper and Tunde444 for helping me develop this chapter! Anyways- I hope you enjoyed it and now I will go disappear for the next 3 months or so now. Happy late new years-

-Wheat

WC: 4062