Sage's POV-

As the moustached clone and the admin walked down the stairs to the laboratory, a loud thumping sound came from somewhat further down. What was that? Sage glanced at Void, who was staring down in the direction of the sound with an expression of concern. "Oh, dear.  Any clue what that could be?" A thousand scenarios ran down in Sage's head, though he didn't focus on any. Rather than being fearful, he was honestly intrigued.

Void, however, seemed to be the former instead of the latter. "I... have no idea," he admitted. His voice was low. He drew a somewhat shaky breath. "Let's go." As he quickly began to walk down, it was clear to Sage that he was just trying to push through. Hm. The ceiling closed up above Sage, and the faux-Hermit took that as a cue to follow Void. 

He pulled out a torch, as it was a bit too dark for his liking. Since he and Void had begun to develop this secret laboratory into something more than just a small room with a couch and a few machines, Sage had to be more careful where he was putting his hand as to not accidentally hit a button or lever. To be honest, it was a tad annoying, especially given that there was nothing like a railing to grasp onto following the stairs. The flickering flame illuminated the stairwell as he caught up with Void. The thumping stopped. The two made it down without encountering anything. How strange. 

"What could've been making that?" Sage questioned, glancing back up the stairs. He half expected someone to come down the stairs just then and couldn't deny having tensed up just a tad. He glanced around the room. Could there be a shadow lurking in the corner? For just a split second, he locked eyes with Mumbo Jumbo, who had a hint of amusement present on his face. He, suppressing an eye roll, quickly turned back to Void, who was also staring up at the steps. 

"I couldn't tell you," was Void's response. "It must've been some animal." The admin turned back to Sage with an expressionless face, much unlike the one he had before. "I'll go check." Sage gave a thumbs-up as the other began to ascend back up the staircase and turned away to the newest installment in the underground lab-- a locked door. 

On the wall on the right of the stairwell was an iron door that led to yet another secret room. Beside the door was a set of four buttons. Each needed to be pressed a certain amount of times to open the door. It was quite an interesting setup, though the entire time Sage and Void-- mostly Void, if Sage was being honest-- were building was almost filled up with Mumbo chastising them on how there was a much simpler way to build a combination lock. Very annoying. Even if Sage refused to let it get to him, he still had to focus very hard on blocking him out.

Sage didn't have the best memory ever, so he intended to make himself useful while he waited. A vague memory persisted of the code, so Sage quickly punched it in to make sure. Two first, one second, no third, three fourth. The imposter heard a click of the iron door being unlocked and pushed it open. As it slammed with a thud behind him, Sage pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and scribbled down the code. One would think that someone who was essentially AI would have a near-perfect memory, but apparently, they'd be wrong.

Before leaving, his gaze fell on the table in the dark room, dimly lit by a few scattered torches. On it sat a diamond sword, decorated with the hues of enchantment. Next to the sword was a piece of chorus fruit to be used later. Sage still wasn't entirely sure how Void intended to use chorus fruit, but the moustached man had agreed to supply them nonetheless. It wasn't like he had too much of a say in the matter anyway. 

A memory flashed in his mind. It was of when he was building the farm. Sage himself had never built anything before and lacked the muscle memory of placing redstone, so he had messed up a few thing. With all of Mumbo's memories all jumbled up in his brain, who could blame him for forgetting some things? However, it did lead Grian to make his detective business which eventually led to Sage revealing himself to Grian.

Why did he do that? Sage himself didn't entirely know nor remember. He thought it might be fun at the time. It would provide him more of a challenge. It would make all of this much more exciting. The cat's out of the bag, what to do now? But now, he was just... tired. While his showy flourishes used to come naturally, they had become more of an actual show lately, much more forced acting rather than just simply being himself. His conversation with Grumbot had taken a lot out of him, and it hadn't even gone well; Grumbot didn't relent and join his team. And he just dropped the act entirely around Void and Citrus. It's not like they cared much. Sometimes he did add a bit of flair, just to spice things up, but he was mostly just, well, normal around them.

However, differing from Sage, Citrus seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. It seemed to not drain her at all; she thrived on the attention of others. It was like that was her sole purpose-- which wasn't entirely untrue-- and so she did it well. She was always ready for something new, something else to make her feel useful. That was something that Sage admired a lot, but also feared in her. Just before Sage and Void had come back down into the laboratory, Void had helped Citrus get back to where Stress was. She had barely given herself a break at all. Sage was admittedly concerned. She could get hurt. She was seemingly not worried at all, though, and continued to push herself more and more, despite Sage's recommendations to chill.

A faint sound of footsteps came from the other room and Sage took that as the time to leave. Pressing the button to unlock the door, Sage came out of the room to see Void coming down the stairs. In his hands were a couple of feathers. "It was just a chicken," he explained. 

Sage blinked. A chicken? Surely that would not have made that much noise. He couldn't help being a bit suspicious. "You're sure it was just a chicken? It seemed pretty loud." 

Nodding quickly, Void put the feathers in his pouch. "That was the only thing I saw, anyway. Must've echoed," He confirmed with a shrug. Void changed the subject quickly, leaving Sage even more confused. "Anyway, let's not waste any time. Let's g-" His eyes fell on the paper Sage clutched in his hand and cocked his head. "What's that?"

"Hu-? Oh, that." Sage shook his head out of his stupor and held out the paper, which was now slightly crinkled. "I wrote down the password for the door in case either of us forgets." He chuckled slightly, knowing full well that if either of them would ever need the paper, it would definitely be him. "Want to see?" 

As Void nodded, Sage handed him the paper before turning back around to the door. He folded his arms. "So how much do we even have left to do, anyway?" He questioned. "We're almost ready, correct?" The two had been working almost nonstop, and Sage couldn't wait for all of this to pay off. Then they could release Mumbo and Jellie-- no hard feelings, right?-- and finish what they started. After that, Sage had no clue, but he'd deal with that when it happened. 

When. When it happened. Not if. When.

As Void punched the buttons, he responded, "Well, I still have to figure out how I'm combining the chorus fruit and the sword. I still need a few more pieces-- the more you can get, the better, really." Because the number of chorus fruit Sage got would directly influence the effect of the sword, the more the merrier. "I need some phantom membrane," Void continued as the door unlocked and the two entered the room. "Blaze powder would be nice; I'll hop by the Nether later to grab some."

The two pulled out chairs and sat down. "Anything else?" Asked Sage as he sat back in his chair, folding his arms. 

Seemingly mildly uncomfortable, Void nodded. "Yes, but I'm not exactly sure what it is yet. Or how to get it, for that matter," he added under his breath. Huh. What was up with Void lately? He seemed off. Of course, Sage couldn't expect Void to not be on edge; one small mistake and he could ruin everything. All of this would have been for naught. And not to mention the guilt he must feel.

Sage didn't feel any of this guilt. No; it's not like he was really supposed to anyway. Guilt was not something of Void's that Sage envied. Nobody was getting actually hurt, so what did it matter? The Hermits wouldn't die, Mumbo, even without his communicator, was safe in the cell, Sage, having Mumbo's communicator, couldn't die, no one was in real danger. So what was there to feel bad about? 

Getting back on track, Sage picked up the fruit on the table and began to fidget with it while he spoke. "Great," Sage remarked, pretending that he hadn't noticed Void's hesitation. "I guess this will all be coming to an end soon." 

Void nodded. "Yeah. I'd say maybe another week and we'll be golden." He let out a sigh. "I just hope that they can forgive me." A heavy silence settled over the room as the two sat, knowing that no one would probably ever forgive him. After a moment, Void broke the silence. "Well, what should we do today? As far as I know, things should be pretty straightforward from here on out."

"I was thinking the same thing," Sage admitted. "You've got this, Citrus is doing... whatever she's doing, is there anything left for me to do? Other than being my charming self," he added with an overdramatic flourish. He chuckled, placing the chorus fruit back on the table.

Smiling slightly, Void shrugged. "You could always help me. I'm not entirely sure how, but you could try. Or just stay on the surface for a bit. It's only a little longer; I'm certain you could survive socializing for a bit." His voice got stern. "But please, don't make any bad choices. I'm not going to be able to bail you out."

Sage grimaced, remembering the mishap with Scar the other day. "Yeah, I know. Not again." He had no clue what he would do, should he stay up on the surface. Maybe scout around, look at everything. Even though he had Mumbo's-- not great-- memories, he was still missing a good three-month chunk of activity and could do with some entertainment anyway. 

"I do have a life, though, and I was planning to do something tomorrow. Could you hold down the fort while I'm gone?" Void yanked Sage out of his planning with his words. "It'll only be a little bit, I hope," he continued. "If you like, I could leave you with a few things to do on the sword." He shrugged, sitting back.

Sage flashed a thumbs-up. "Of course! What are you doing?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow slightly. Maybe this was what Void was worried about?

His hunch seemed to be right, as Void seemed to hesitate before answering, "Just some routine checks. Making sure things aren't spiraling downward too quickly." He sighed. "I'm starting to wonder if I should tell somebody." This got Sage's attention. He sat up straight as Void continued. "I can't keep talking down these glitches as normal things. Someone's going to realize eventually that this isn't normal, and they're going to confront me about it. Sparatic sessions of rain? Blazes appearing randomly in an ice spikes biome?" He stood up and began to pace, so Sage turned in his chair, following his companion with his eyes. "Someone's going to find out. If not Doc, then Scar or Iskall. And then what? I have to explain to them what's going on, and it's going to turn their whole world inside out."

Sage nodded. That made sense. Not that he could relate, given that he always knew the truth about this world, but finding out that everything that they know was fake, that this world wasn't even real? That would probably do a number on somebody. "So? What are you going to do about it? All we can do is try and finish this soon eno-.... Void?" It didn't seem like the admin was listening. He had stopped in his tracks, and through his visor, Sage could see that his eyes had glossed over; he was staring into space, unblinking. "What are you thinking about?"

"What if I told all of them now, so they don't find out on their own?" 

What? No! That was a terrible idea, and definitely not what Sage was expecting. "Void, what?" Void didn't seem to be listening to him and went to move towards the door. Sage instantly jumped out of his seat and grabbed Void's arm. "Listen to yourself. How does that make any sense? You're concerned about them finding out, so you want to tell them all." 

This seemed to get through to him, and Void turned back to Sage, who dropped his wrist. He sighed and said, "You're right. I don't know what I was thinking; I got carried away in my own thoughts." The two stood there in silence before Void said, "Maybe we should just continue tomorrow. I'm not sure how much work I can get done today."

After a moment, Sage nodded in agreement. "I should get more chorus fruit. What exactly does it do, again?" He asked. Void had explained it, but he was vague and didn't really seem to know what he was doing either.

"Well, the amount of fruit determines the number of new worlds that should be made," Void explained. "The more the better. We can't have everyone ending up in the same world. Then there'll be the same problem all over again and I won't be there to help." He frowned and folded his arms. "I think ten or eleven will do."

It was clear that this was enough for today. "See you, Void. I'll go... do something." Waving goodbye, he opened the door and left the laboratory. 

Strapping his elytra to his back, Sage clambered up onto a relatively high rock. He dug through his pouch for a moment before pulling out a handful of rockets. That should be enough to get back to Mumbo's Industrial District. He found it rather funny how he still internally called the place Mumbo's given that, for all extents and purposes, Sage himself was 'Mumbo'. He felt fine with stealing Mumbo Jumbo's literal identity, so why not claiming his stuff as well? Eh, he didn't really care. It's not like anyone cared what he internally called things.

Sage took off, blasting off no less than four rockets as he did so. He still had to get the hang of the elytra-- it was hard to stay balanced. Soon enough, he was landing in front of his farm. Managing to stick the landing, the faux-Hermit stood up, putting the rockets away. He kept the elytra on, though. For some odd reason, it was rather comfortable. Above him loomed the farm. It was certainly something, and turning it on would have awful-- but temporary-- consequences for everyone in HermitCraft. Lag, it was called. Sage chuckled. It would be fun. 

He shot a quick message to Void, letting him know about what was about to happen. Luckily, he got back immediately.

You whisper to XisumaVoid: If you're planning on doing anything, don't. I'm about to start the farm
XisumaVoid whispers to you: got it

And with that, Sage flicked the lever. And immediately felt the repercussions. His movement was slower, the world around him seemed to falter. Was it strange that Sage actually found this all entertaining? The 'lag' along with the nature of the crumbling server was all entertaining, and while Sage didn't exactly feel the desire to witness what would happen when everything ended up shutting down... whenever that would be... this was plenty of satisfaction for now.

He couldn't very well leave the proximity of the farm, so Sage leaned up against it, zoning out. Well, he had plenty of time on his hands, now. What to do? After a minute of letting his mind wander, one specific memory-- one of his, not Mumbo's-- came to light. It was months ago, when Sage decided on his name. 

"Actually, I think I'd like to name myself," Sage had decided.
"Wh- You know normally you don't name yourself right?" Mumbo seemed genuinely confused at the notion.
"You named yourself."
"No I didn't." 
"Yes you did. You weren't always Mumbo Jumbolio, remember? Before X recruited you. That was an alias you made just for Hermitcraft."

Mumbo had seemed to not have any recollection of this event. But why? Why did Mumbo not remember? Sage could remember for him just fine. It was as easy as looking back into his memories. Out of all the memories, this one was the least faded, as if it had happened just yesterday, even though, in reality, it had happened years prior. So why could he remember it so well, and Mumbo couldn't at all? 

Could Sage go further back into the memories? He tried to think, to access the memories he didn't know if he had. But all he could get were snippets, fuzzy faces, the sound of someone's voice but no recollection of who it belonged to. A person in green armor-- wait, that was Void. And then the memory Sage had been referencing.

Oliver glanced around at his surroundings. Amazing! He still felt a bit nauseous from the sudden teleportation, but it was quickly fading. He was in a small room, lit up well by torches. It was almost all gray, aside from the table, which was a dark brown. There were no chairs, as the table was tall enough to simply lean on comfortably. 

"So," began the person standing before him. "If you have forgotten in the last fifteen minutes, my name is XisumaVoid. You can call me Xisuma." Oliver hadn't forgotten. Definitely not. But he didn't have time to defend himself before Xisuma continued. "In any case, let's make this brief, so you can get to where you'll be staying for the next few days. Sound good?"

Oliver gave a thumbs up. "You got it," he confirmed. "Short and sweet it is." In honesty, he had no clue where he'd be staying, only that once he was finished someone else would bring him over. "What's on the agenda?"

"Well, first of all, introductions are in store," Xisuma explained. Oliver leaned on the table as the other began to speak, pacing slightly. "Okay, so. Oliver, you are the newest re-"

"Wait," the brit cut him off. "Call me Oli." 

Xisuma chuckled slightly as he restarted. "...Alright. Oli, you are the newest recruit of the land of HermitCraft. You were chosen of six... dozen?..." He muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'Let's go with that,' and Oli smirked, folding his arms.

"No need to embellish anything. I don't care," he said. His tone was mocking, but it was the truth. He really did not care if he was the only one who wanted in; this was such a fun opportunity and he simply could not pass it up. "Continue."

Regaining his posture, Xisuma did just that. "You were chosen of six people to be a part of our group, and we are happy to have you. For our first order of business, I'd like to ask what you'd like your usern- alias to be." 

"My alias?" Oliver asked, confused. "What's wrong with just Oli?" He cocked his head slightly, standing straight up. Was everyone expected to choose a new name? Why?

Xisuma shrugged. "Well, you could, in theory, stick with Oli. But people rarely ever keep their names." He leaned forward slightly. Behind the green visor of his helmet, Oli could see Xisuma's eyes glint. "For instance, XisumaVoid isn't my real name." Huh, interesting. Well, Oli supposed there'd be no harm in choosing a nickname to go by. He'd still be Oli, deep down. Chances are he'd slip up anyway and accidentally forget to use his alias.

"I'll follow the trend, then. How about...Er..." Oliver thought for a good bit. He doubted he could change this later, so he'd better pick a good name now. Conflicted for a few moments, he stared at a crack in the wall as Xisuma waited patiently. But then it hit him. The name he had used when he and his friends were kids and would play games under false names. "Mumbo Jumbo. That's the one." He grinned stupidly. He used to be a bit of a blabbermouth and got the nickname of Mumbo Jumbo, and it just stuck. It only seemed right to use that now. 

This didn't seem to phase the other all that much, as Xisuma raised an eyebrow but didn't question it. "Mumbo Jumbo it is," he said, scribbling something-- assumedly Oli's new alias-- down in a notebook in his hand. "Next, I just have a simple question. What is it that you excel at most?"

"Most? Like overall? Or in specific fields?" That's a pretty vague question and Oliver didn't exactly know how to answer. Could he have meant in life skills? Because that would take a good bit of thinking. Maybe he meant something along the lines of math, literature, and all that. 

Luckily, he didn't have to wonder for long. "In terms of, say, building, terraining, reds-"

Xisuma didn't even get to finish his syllable before Oliver cut him off. "Redstone," he answered loudly. "One-hundred percent. Love that stuff to bits." This was true. Since he had learned of its existence, Oli had been tinkering with it, honing his skills. He was a bit of an expert, some might say. Well, by some, he met his close friends, but they still counted, right?

Smiling, Xisuma wrote this down as well. "Well, that's all I really need. See you on Sunday!" And with that, Oliver-- or Mumbo, as he'd be from then on-- left the room and

And that's where the memory ended and things got all fuzzy again. It was like that memory was trapped behind a closed door and kept in pristine condition. But how? And why? Why didn't that memory, and those before HermitCraft, act like normal memories? Though he hated to admit it, it was something that managed to completely stump Sage. 

As he stood there, Sage just let his mind wander through his and Mumbo's memories, not really looking for anything in particular. But something weird happened. He came across a memory that wasn't Mumbo's but Sage couldn't tie it to himself either.

He felt... intangible. That was the word. He couldn't see anything, but his vision wasn't black either. He couldn't feel anything, though he didn't have the limbs to do any feeling with at all. He was there, but not there. Intangible. He was painfully aware of his consciousness slipping in and out. A telltale sign of being nearly gone. His body had long since disappeared. He had lost it what, one, two months ago? It was too bad; he rather liked that, though it held a striking resemblance to someone else that he didn't especially care for.

But who? Apparently not having a body did not do wonders for one's memory. Almost all of the ones to which he still clung were messy, faded. He lost all of his powers in this weak state. He didn't know how much longer he'd be around. Would they hurry up? He couldn't remember who or what he was waiting for. Only that it would, in theory, save him. 

His name... he could barely even remember that. He knew so little... Curse this nonexistent form. The only thing he could remember about his name was that it was two initials. What they stood for, he didn't know. All he knew was that his name was EX.

Sage bolted upright. He had dozed off. Somehow. Without a bed. In the middle of the day. Checking the chest, he saw six chorus fruits stored in it. That was enough for now. He didn't know what just happened, and he didn't especially like not knowing things. He needed to clear his head, brush up on his acting skills.

He strapped the elytra to his back and flew away.

~(Author's Rambling)~

Well, that took me long enough. Oops.

Anyway, what could be happening? Ooh, what a mystery. Happy pride month to all of you lovelies! Not enough people remember that everyone is human... it's disappointing that we even need a pride month.

But this is the rambling section of a Minecraft fanfiction, not a ranting place, so enough with that! I am so sorry about the delay. With two more days of school left, I have a lot of work to finish up. 

But enough about me! Thank you all for coming, and I'll see you in the next one, my little Readers!

Promise out!