Keralis slowly opened his eyes.

"Hello?" he called. In a few moments, Etho, Xisuma, Impulse and Grian were all standing over him.

"Oh thank goodness." Grian sighed. There were dark circles under Impulse and Grian's eyes, and by the way Xisuma was standing, he was probably pretty exhausted too. It looked like they had been awake all night for several days, waiting for Keralis to recover. Grian looked oddly guilty, but Keralis passed off that thought. His head hurt. Grian spoke to him in a soft voice.

"Do you remember what happened in the crater?" he inquired, typing into his communicator to inform the other hermits that he had woken.
Keralis's face screwed up as he searched for his memories.

We explored the crater... we found this thing... the black thing. I reached out to touch it... a crackle of lightning... a blast of pain.

He remembered, alright. He imagined that he must have been hit by the full force of that electric wave, since he was in the worst condition by far. Xisuma appeared to have a brand-new helmet, and Iskall had a bandage on his arm, but the other hermits in the room looked otherwise unharmed. In the back of his mind, he wondered why Iskall didn't just eat something and heal up. He tried to lift himself out of the bed, but his eyes became unfocused and he slumped back down again, looking nauseated.

"Hey buddy. Glad you're okay. The healing potions weren't doing anything..." Impulse rubbed his shoulder.
"What- that was was that? The shock that hit me?" He quavered shakily.

Xisuma's expression turned dark. "We... don't know. Whatever it was, it was strong. We were worried that you would die."

"But you would've gotten my stuff for me. It would have been alright."

"Keralis, your hearts have been, and still are, full. Whatever that blast was, it hurt you, but didnt do any damage. This kind of power... it could kill."

They all went silent as that thought sunk in. Something that could harm them... permanently.

Interrupting the sombre mood, Tango slammed open the door, closely followed by Beef.

"Glad to hear you're doing better!" Tango grinned, and gave Keralis a tight hug. He half laughed, half gasped in pain as his friend hugged him, and Tango quickly let go. Next came Cleo, with Joe and Stress. Keralis noticed Grian, Xisuma, and Iskall backing off to let the other hermits trickle in to visit.

Keralis smiled. He was going to be alright.

~ ⬩ !¡ᒷᔑᓵᒷ, ⬩ ~

Grian silently slipped out of his base. Keralis had recovered quite well over the last week and a half, and was back on his feet. Grian, however, was still curious about what the mask was.

I'll be careful, he promised himself. If I feel even a hint of the lightning on my skin, I'll snatch my hand back, and leave the mask where it is.

He had built a huge wall, separating the eerie abyss from the rest of the server. Its great stone facade loomed over Grian menacingly as he landed at the bottom. He mined through the wall with his trusty pickaxe, and covered the hole behind him. He was in.

The violet fog was denser than before, and the black spires loomed out of the fog like shadows. After what seemed like an eternity of stumbling over porous tan stone, Grian saw the ground transition into bedrock as he approached the mask.

Warily, he slid down and inspected it. There didn't seem to be any kind of strap, nor were there eye holes. The front had the same symbol as his hands. However, it was definitely a mask, as the bottom was moulded to leave room for the bridge of a nose.

He reached out to touch it. Just before his fingers brushed the mask, flickers of purple lightning raced up his arms. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. His vision went black for a moment, and strange symbols flashed across his mind. He couldn't read them, however. These characters were not english.

? ℸ ̣ ||ᒷℸ ̣

His vision returned to normal. He was sitting a few metres away from the mask, and he looked at his arm, which was still slightly crackling with thin tendrils of lightning. He shook it, and the lightning faded away.

~ ⬩ ʖ?¬ネᄋリ ⬩ ~

Grian held up his sketches to the light. He had been curious about the symbols, and he had a plan to figure out what they were, but he needed help. Upon the sheafs of parchment, he had written — or at least tried to write — some of the symbols that he had seen.

The first was like a i and a j without the dots. The second resembled an uppercase J, the third was like a T that was off centre, with a dot at the bottom. Then came two lines, an L with a dot next to it, and another one of those T-and-dot shapes.

He had no clue what they meant, but he was thinking that he should leave something interesting, like a tower or a symbol like the one that appeared in the sky with the other symbols, these symbols, etched into it. Then other Hermits would investigate, and they would help him figure it out, without ever knowing it was him.

He grinned. Just because it was caused by something eerie didn't mean it couldn't be fun. He sat back down on a random box that was lying around, and started to sketch out a plan.

~ ⬩ ᔑリᒷ∴, ⬩ ~

It was complete. Grian ran his fingers through his hair and admired his work. He was the only one awake, but he had only had a few hours. Soon, the server would be awake again, and it would be confusing to have a half-finished building with no-one working on it.

The shopping district was eerie at night, the mycelium giving slightly underfoot. Huge brown and red mushrooms dotted the shopping district, and two mooshrooms watched him balefully from underneath the eaves of the brand new building.

That very day, Grian had worked with Scar and Bdubs to complete it. The smooth brickwork and wonderful sandstone details had taken a toll on them, and they had all said goodnight shortly after. But Grian had secretly stayed. Although he had been exhausted, he had had one last thing to do.

The temple he had built was odd. It had plain stone pillars surrounded by cobblestone stairs. Grian liked the way it looked. It reminded him of something, though he couldn't remember what. The arch leading in was composed of obsidian, and the walls were made of clay with a base of sandstone. He wanted to make it accurate, and sandstone was as close to the odd yellowy-tan stone in the crater as he could find. Inside, tall thin windows of purple-coloured glass painted the walls in a mellow violet glow. At the end of the hallway, Grian had put a sign that read:

Past the pit blasted into the deep
Journey straight west, and rewards you will reap.
As soon as you reach the land of snow.
Seek out a chamber hidden below.

He was actually quite proud of his little riddle. It was pretty easy, and he was sure that the first to stumble upon it would solve it instantly. I mean, that was the goal, right? Grian had gone to the snowy area to the west of Scar's "Big Dig." As soon as he had reached the tundra, he had dug straight down, and made a spooky underground cave with even more obsidian. It was at bedrock level, so it looked even more convincing, little patches of the unbreakable stone speckling the floor.

He had etched the symbols into the walls, the first three on one side, and the last three on the other. At the end of the cave, he had etched the two Ls symbol, the same as the one on his hands. He figured that he should give them one last fun puzzle to solve, and the pressure plates on the floor showed that. He would have felt bad if they had solved his puzzle and there was no reward, so he had put a chest at the end of the wall that contained a stack of obsidian and some diamonds for them. He had also hidden some more purple glass and glowstone about the place, to give it the same spooky feel.

He grinned as he flew off across the fiery orange sky. Now, all he had to do...

...was watch.