(1849 words)

Scar sat, admiring the night sky through the window of one of the houses in his village. The bed he was sitting on was rumored to be haunted in some way, as no one had ever been able to fall asleep in it, but he didn't care. He doubted he'd be able to sleep even if he wanted to.

There it was, Leo. He made out the familiar constellation in the sky, then looked down at his own arm, tracing the shape across freckles positioned identically to the stars. His whole life he had seen it as an unlikely coincidence, something by chance. Until four months ago, when his brother revealed that it was a trait possessed by wizards alone.

When was he going to tell the other Hermits? How was he going to tell the other Hermits? He repeatedly traced the pattern on his forearm, but it did little to calm him. His breath quickened with his rising anxiety. What if they don't react well? What if... What if Xisuma sent him away? He dared not think of the possibility. Xisuma wouldn't do that... would he?

A loud meow captured Scar's attention as Jellie leapt up next to him and began kneading the blanket. He picked up the cat and stroked her silver fur as she purred contentedly in his lap.

"You don't think I'm dangerous, do you, Jellie?" She looked up and meowed, which wasn't much of an answer, but the most you could expect from a cat, before curling up into a little loaf of fur.

<~~~>

Bdubs yawned and squinted at the rising sun. He would have much rather been sleeping, but False had insisted on him, Impulse, and Tango coming to redo a previous BOOMers job. Why she had chosen early morning was a question he was too tired to try and figure out.

Fixing his red bandana, he picked up a shulker box full of TNT and rocketed up to the contraptions they had built above the large pit of False's base. The three men filled the dispensers with TNT and flicked a lever, sending the explosives down, destroying the large "VOTE SCAP" they had made the last time False had asked them to blow up the ground.

Suddenly, Tango and Impulse leapt off the TNT dropper and gilded towards the ground. Bdubs blinked tiredly. What were they doing?

The sound of hissing caused him to turn and see a lit block of TNT fall from a dispenser and land right in front of him.

Yelling in surprise and terror, he jumped off the edge, launched forward by the explosion. He spun through the air like a starfish for a few seconds, too dazed to activate his elytra, before Impulse flew by, grabbing Bdubs' arms and practically dropping him next to Tango upon reaching the ground.

"Hey Bdubs, you ok?"

"Yeah, thanks for catching me."

Tango punched him in the arm. "Jeez dude, don't scare us like that!"

"Ow."

<~~~>

Scar looked around the spawn island. Xisuma had called a server-wide meeting and said it was the most central area other than the Shopping District. It was a wonder how most of them fit on the small island. There was the usual chaos before a server meeting: Ren had a baby mooshroom with him, which Stress was fawning over, Cleo and Joe were sitting in a boat playing Go-Fish, occasionally tipping the other out of the boat and into the water(Scar was fairly certain that wasn't in the rules for the game), and Tango was trying desperately to steal Bdubs' bandana without the man noticing. The only Hermit absent was Etho, who was currently lost in a cave somewhere.

Xisuma stood up on the large rock in the middle of the island and waved his arms for silence. Conversations bubbled down as the Hermits directed their attention to their admin.

"Thank you." He said. "Now, we don't usually have this sort of meeting very often, especially on such short notice, so I'm sure you're all wondering why we're having one now, and why here instead of in the Shopping District? Well, to put it simply, the SHopping District isn't safe right now." There were a few murmurs amongst the group, but Xisuma continued on. "Mayor Scar and I have found evidence suggesting that the mycelium which covers the island has been releasing infectious spores, something which has happened in the past to previous inhabitants of this world. I'll let Scar fill you in on what's being done to counter this." He jumped down from the rock as Scar climbed up onto it.

"Yes, well, the infection is an airborne one, and possibly blood transmitted as well, and we are currently working on finding a treatment. Just in case. As for making the Shopping District safe, the HEP's work to remove the mycelium will resume shortly with the proper equipment to ensure everyone's safety. The Shopping District will remain off-limits until the danger is gone, and anyone who needs to enter must contact me or Xisuma first. And if anyone sees Etho, make sure to let him know what's going on, as well. And I believe that concludes this meeting," he turned to Xisuma who nodded. "Does anyone have questions?"

"Why would the mycelium only now be considered dangerous?" Scar turned towards the voice, seeing Grian sitting on top of the unlit world portal.

"Well, the theory is that it remains dormant until something threatens its survival. It then releases spores in an attempt to ward off the threat, which, in this case, would be the HEP." Grian nodded, seeming satisfied with this answer. "If there are no more questions, you're all free to go. However, I'm asking the current members of the HEP to remain, as well as Bdubs."

<~~~>

Immediately after Scar dismissed the meeting, Grian slipped off towards the Shopping District. He was faintly aware of three other people heading in the same direction as he walked across the mycelium-covered land, but they weren't threats. He knew they were allies.

He made his way towards the lake with much more confidence than the night before. In broad daylight, the island was really quite beautiful, the buildings standing out yet fitting in with the fungal terrain. He wasn't sure why it had seemed so scary before.

He entered the underwater cave through the same entrance, though it was much less empty than when he had first found it. He had spent most of the night making the space feel like a real headquarters; the walls were mostly covered in a mixture of oak and spruce wood(save for the places where hyphae lead out of the earth), the floor was made up of granite and bricks, a large dark oak table sat in the widest part of the cave, and the darkness had been replaced by the warm glow of lanterns hanging from the rocky ceiling.

It wasn't long before the three Hermits emerged into the cave as well, and Grian finally knew who he'd be working with. A soaking Impulse and XB pulled themselves from the water, followed by Ren, who was carrying something. Was that an animal? Sure enough, the dog-hybrid set down a mooshroom calf, the blue glow of a water-breathing potion fading from it as it shook water from its back like a puppy.

"Well, I think that's everyone," Grian walked over to the table and stood at one end, almost ceremoniously. "Welcome to the Mycelium Resistance!" There were a few seconds of silence, which was broken by Ren.

"So uh, what exactly are we resisting?"

"I... Does the name not explain it?"

"So we're resisting mycelium," XB questioned. "Isn't the HEP kind of already doing that?"

"What- No! We're the mycelium and we're resisting the HEP!"

"Well why didn't you just say so?" Impulse asked. Grian slammed his face against the table in exasperation. "Careful, you'll give yourself a crazy headache."

Ren laughed. "You think he's gonna have a headache, dude? I've had one for the past five hours."

"Yeah headaches are bad and all, but have you been so disoriented you keep walking into walls?"

"Yes."

"Ok, when did this become a pain competition? XB, Ren, you should probably get that checked out-"

"Everyone stop talking." Grian lifted his head, suddenly hearing a muffled clank. He tried to block out the argument and focus on the sound. There it was again. A clank, then a cracking. Someone was breaking through the stone above them.

<~~~>

Etho could have sworn he had seen that patch of diorite at least five times now. He was definitely going in circles, but couldn't seem to find an entrance or an exit to the cave system. He wasn't even sure how long he'd been mining for. A few hours? A day? At this point, he was just tired and wishing for some sort of company.

There was a guttural growl as several zombies pulled themselves from a shadowy corner. Etho groaned. Not that company.

"Ok, there aren't too many, I can take them." He tried to summon his sword from his inventory, but it wasn't there. "Ok... This is fine." He gripped his pick, it was a good enough weapon. More zombies limped into view. There were at least a dozen now. Dropping his defensive position, he ran down the tunnel.

Where am I supposed to go? I'll only get lost, and then those things will catch up. Once the zombies were out of sight, he dug a hole into the cave wall, covering the entrance with wood. He sighed as he pulled out a torch and lit it.

Seeing as he was now surrounded by stone and had no intention of going back to fight the undead, he decided his best bet was to continue mining and hope to run into someone else's mine, or something. He began hacking away at the rock, but it wasn't long before shards of diamond started flying off the worn pick, and with a loud CRACK, one side of the head broke into several pieces. Clenching his jaw with worry, the man flipped the tool around and kept going using the other side.

He stopped when he heard something. It sounded like voices nearby. With newfound determination, he mined until the voices were just beneath him. He swung the pick downwards.

CRACK!

The remaining pick head shattered on the stone.

NO. He was so close. He began beating the rock with the wooden handle desperately, but he knew it was pointless. Filled with despair, he fell to the ground.

The sudden shift of weight caused a small crack in the rock to grow. The floor gave out, dropping Etho into a well-lit cave.

For a panicked moment, he thought he had ended up back in the cave he was previously lost in. Then he noticed the different blocks in the floor he was laying on, and the four Hermits around a table, looking at him with expressions of surprise and one of hostility.