There was another tall structure in the shopping district. It was full of the porous yellow stone that had filled the crater, and purply mist hovered about its base. Bdubs knew that this massive new stature was the real deal. None of them even knew what the yellow stone and fog were, let alone used it in a build. He had gotten word from Scar that when they followed the directions of the first temple, they were met with an explosive puzzle. Now, he wanted in.

Can't let everyone else have all the fun!

He hopped up, and flew up into the skies, on his way to see which of his friends he could recruit.

~ ⬩ ?↑ヨホ↸. ⬩ ~

"Hi Impulse!" Bdubs exclaimed eagerly as he glided over the ocean toward his friend.

"Hey! How ya doing buddy?" Impulse replied with a smile, setting down a piece of glass.

"Pretty good! Pretty good, actually!" He answered, the words soaring off his lips. He took off his elytra and folded it neatly. The straps always dug into his shoulders oddly, so he took it off when he wasn't using it.

His friend was just finishing putting glass casing around a huge pole. A strip of lights coiled around it in one direction, and a band of blue concrete spiralled the opposite way. There were four of them attached to the base of a large white and grey pyramid. At the top of each pillar, lay a huge disk. The massive structure roze out of the deep ocean blue, kelp and seagrass thriving around its foundation.

"Have you heard about the weird stuff that's happening? This- it's- I- I- it's so cool!" Bdubs stumbled over his words, breathing heavily.

"Woah there Bdubs," Impulse laughed," slow down. It's not all cool, is it? I saw what happened to Keralis in the crater. There was some kind of puzzle, wasn't there?"

"Yeah! And- and there's another! C'mon! C'mon! Let's go! " He attempted to jump off the edge, but Impulse grabbed his arm, chuckling.

"Alright, I'll go. But Bdubs," he conceded, "You'll probably need an elytra..." He pointed at Bdubs' shoulders, bare of any elytra, trying to keep his laughter at bay. He gave up. Both men slumped against the wall, wheezing with laughter and trying to regain their breath.

Wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, Bdubs straightened up.

"Alright! Let's go!" Bdubs strapped on his elytra and shot a good-natured glare at Impulse. In response, Impulse rocked with another wave of laughter.

~ ⬩ ℸ ̣⍑ᒷ ⬩ ~

"GRIANNNN! Grian, are you there buddy?" Impulse banged upon the large wooden doors one last time.

Bdubs was peering in one of the dark windows.

"I don't think he's there, he's not home..."

Impulse sighed in disappointment.

"I wonder why."

Shortly after they had taken off, Impulse had suggested that they bring Grian along too. Bdubs had agreed. The waffle-haired wonder would be a welcome addition to their little adventuring party, but his base seemed to be deserted.

The two hermits flew down to the main storage and interior of the mansion, gliding gracefully between the two stone staircases on either side of the entrance.

The hermits breathed in sharply. The place was a mess. Pearlescent, light purple feathers were strewn about. Shulker boxes were scattered, helter-skelter about the place, and a brand-new desk in the corner had sheets of paper spilling off of its gleaming surface.

The two friends waded through the mess, laughing at their friend's untidiness. Impulse swiped up one of the papers out of curiosity, and his face quickly transformed from jovial to befuddled.

"Bdubs, take a look at this..." He said with interest. Bdubs looked over, and his friend held out the paper for him to see. Upon it's snow-white surface, strange runes were etched.

"What? This is- it's the stuff from the structure that Scar found." Bdubs sputtered.

Bdubs picked up another sheet of paper. This one had blueprints, some kind of tunnel. Impulse leaned over his shoulder to look. Slipping on one of the many feathers strewn about, Bdubs caught himself on the desk as he fell, knocking a glass bottle to the ground. The crash echoed through the building.

"Hello?" Called a voice, "Who's there?"

~ ⬩ ⍊?¬ユホᓵᒷᓭ ⬩ ~

Grian had finally done it. After many late nights of research and study, he had broken the code. The symbols, the ones he has seen, were the same language as in the enchanting tables. He had determined that the message he had seen had said 'not yet.' He suspected that it was related to him getting the mask, as was trying to find out more about the language of the crater.

So far, he had actually managed to collect some of the pale, chartreuse stone and had bottled some of the eerie mist too. He was also practising writing the odd runes; in truth, he thought it was fun.

For his latest creation, he had used some of the runes and crater materials he had collected, and the magnificent statue looked a lot more authentic than the last one. He had decided to make it a person with wings. I mean, it did look cool.

As long as I'm careful, no-one will link it to did have to be more careful though. The last time he made a puzzle, it hadn't gone so well.

I was almost instantly rumbled... he thought ruefully.

The clicking of the pressure plates beneath his feet had almost alerted Mumbo to his presence.

To be honest, Grian wasn't quite sure why he didn't want to be seen. There was just something thrilling about observing others without them noticing you, watching when you cannot be watched.
So, that was why he had continued making structures. The first time was so fun, and he wanted to watch someone else do it. He had planned out a whole new puzzle, this time centralised around parkour. He had put in a fun twist at the end, and was excited to see how it would play out.

Now, he was lounging in his base, and watching his communicator, waiting for a group to begin.

A few minutes ago, it had buzzed, Bdubs asking Impulse where he was. This could be them going to do the puzzle, but he wasn't sure. He had also seen Cleo having a conversion with Joe about his statue, but they had decided against going in.

The sound of breaking glass shattered his thoughts. It had come from the main hall of his storage system.

"Hello?" he hollered, getting up, "Who's there?"

He quickly fastened his cloak around his shoulders, concealing his feathers. He emerged from the little back room he had made himself, rubbing the dark bags under his eyes, and beheld a strange sight. Bdubs was kneeling on the ground, trying to pick up the remains of the glass bottle, while Impulse was glancing nervously about.

Impulse met his eyes.

"Uhh... hey Grian... how ya doin?"

"Sorry about your bottle..." Bdubs sighed forlornly. He deposited the pile of broken glass carefully into his inventory.

Grian's face paled. In Impulse's grip was a sheet of paper. Grian stepped forward and took the paper out of Impulse's hands.

"What brings you guys here?" he said, trying to keep his voice devoid of any worry or fear.

Impulse looked nervous.

"Hey man, sorry for intruding... you busy? 'Cause there's a new little tower thing in the shopping district, and Bdubs and I were gonna check it out." At this last statement, Bdubs nodded excitedly.

Grian sighed and set down the parchment.

"I would love to, but I'm afraid that I'm a bit busy at the moment. Good luck!"

"Oh... okay..." Impulse smiled anyway and took out some rockets.

As Grian headed back around the corner to replace the broken invisibility potion he heard Bdubs say one last thing before taking off.

"I wonder why he has all these papers with the runes... do you think he has something to do with all of this?"

"No, no..." Impulse responded, "This isn't the kind of prank Grian would pull. Besides, Xisuma is sure that no hermit could do that to Keralis."

Grian exhaled his pent-up breath.

They didn't suspect a thing. Anyways, he hadn't hurt Keralis - at least, not directly - so what was there to be guilty about?

Still, a small pang of guilt pierced his mind whenever he thought of Keralis' still body, lying in that bed.

Shaking off the weight of his thoughts, he turned and headed into a different room, a secondary storage area. Large piles of dusty yellow stone were strewn haphazardly about the place. Smaller chests could also be found about the room. Most of them contained bottles of the purple mist from the crater. Others were full of invisibility and night vision potions, and a large group of them in the corner were filled with nothing at all.

A brewing stand gleamed in another corner, heaps of materials surrounding it. A small farm was growing nether wart in the third and final corner, diagonal of the entrance, and the odd golden carrot or fermented spider eye had escaped its pile to sit all alone on the floor.

Grian fluttered to the other end of the room, and retrieved an invisibility potion.

Once again, it was time for him to watch.