The circle broke with a chorus of overlapping voices:
"WOOD!"
"TOOLS!"
"Don't die yet, Marlow!"
"Ren, stop narrating your walk cycle!"
"Sterling, no redstone yet!"
"We JUST spawned!"
Hopper was the first to sprint off, arms flailing like a kid in a playground.
"FIRST WOOD OF SEASON FIVE, LET'S GOOO!"
Tessa shouted after him, "If you die to a tree, I'm making fun of you for the rest of your life!"
"Impossible!" Hopper yelled back. "Trees love me!"
Marlow jogged behind him. "They love me too—OW—nope, nope, berry bush, I take it back, nature hates me."
Faye already had her fist buried in the trunk of an oak tree, punching methodically.
"Remember when we used to spam-click? Good times."
Griffin joined her at the same tree like a polite lumberjack. "I still sometimes do that out of muscle memory."
"Boomer reflexes," Faye teased.
"Excuse me—I'm not that vintage—"
Melina stood beside them holding a flower. "Guys… look how detailed the petals are." She smiled, soft and genuine. "I can see every texture."
"That's actually adorable," Griffin said. "Keep it. Lucky flower."
Melina beamed a little, then immediately toned it down, embarrassed. "It's… just a flower."
"Nope," Griffin said. "Lucky."
Flint was nearby, already climbing a tree like a squirrel.
"I'm gonna get high ground!"
"You're gonna fall," Oliver predicted.
Flint immediately slipped, fell, landed in a perfect superhero pose he absolutely did not intend.
"Ha! Perfectly executed!"
"Sure," Oliver said. "Let's pretend that was on purpose."
Ren wandered by with a stick. "This is now the Staff of Realms," he declared.
Sterling, passing him quietly with wood in hand, said, "That's a stick, Ren."
"Not with that attitude."
Cyrus stayed a bit behind the group, opening his menu, then closing it, then opening it again.
"…weird," he murmured.
He shook his head. Probably nothing.
---
A Few Minutes Later
Everyone was spread across the plains but still close enough that their voices drifted between the swaying grass.
Hadrian was stacking dirt blocks beneath himself—slowly rising higher and higher—while Hopper stood beneath him cheering like a sports dad.
"GO HADRIAN GO!! HIGHER!! TOUCH THE SKY KING!!"
Hadrian waved regally from atop his wobbling pillar. "Citizens! The view is immaculate!"
"It's a dirt pillar," Tessa said flatly. "You've invented the world's saddest lighthouse."
Sterling passed by with a wooden pickaxe. "He's having fun. Let him have fun."
"That's why you're everyone's favorite," Hopper said. "You enable our chaos."
Sterling sighed. "I do, don't I."
Ren planted his stick—sorry, staff—into the ground. "According to my lore, this land is called—"
"Nope," Faye said, walking by with logs. "Not yet."
"When??"
"When we don't need wood."
Ren grumbled dramatically.
---
The Moment It Happens
Marlow, panting from running away from a bee he accidentally punched, said,
"Okay, guys—I'm gonna log off for two seconds. I need water IRL."
"Stay hydrated king," Griffin said.
"Yeah, yeah—BRB."
Silence.
A soft inhale.
Marlow's voice, thin and confused:
"…Uh."
Faye turned. "What?"
Marlow tried again.
"Uh… guys? My log-out button isn't… working."
Oliver laughed. "You probably misclicked—just—just hold it for a sec."
"I am holding it."
Flint snorted. "Try blinking twice aggressively."
Melina: "He doesn't have eye-tracking enabled."
"Try it anyway," Flint insisted.
Marlow blinked dramatically. Nothing.
He opened his menu again. "…It's literally not glowing. The log-out button isn't… lighting up."
Cyrus stopped moving.
Sterling looked over sharply. "That's… strange."
Hopper jogged over. "Let me see."
He walked through Marlow's menu hologram. "No, yeah, it's just… greyed out. Like it's decorative."
Hadrian jumped off his dirt pillar—exploded into two hearts—then sprinted over.
"Ow—okay—alright—what's happening?"
"Marlow can't log out," Hopper said.
"Probably just a startup glitch," Tessa said. "VR desync. Happens sometimes."
"Yeah," Melina agreed softly. "Let's not panic."
Marlow tried again, voice shaking slightly.
"It's… still grey. Guys, it's still grey."
Griffin immediately went gentle-dad-mode.
"Okay—it's okay. It's okay. Nobody panic. Someone else try. Just to check."
"Me," Faye said immediately.
She opened her menu.
The log-out button stared back at her.
Grey.
Unresponsive.
Dead.
"…Guys?" Faye's voice was too steady, too controlled. "It's not working for me either."
A wave of stillness rippled through the group. Even the VR wind seemed to quiet.
Sterling tried next. Calmly. Confidently.
Click.
Nothing.
Not even a sound cue.
He exhaled slowly.
"Mine's… also disabled."
Flint swallowed. "Okay—okay—that's—fine—we can just reset the headset, right?"
Oliver opened his menu.
"Nope."
Melina tried.
"…still grey. Oh no…"
Ren tapped his log-out button repeatedly. "My lore never predicted THIS."
Tessa tried.
A long pause.
"…it's not working."
Griffin: "Cyrus? Try yours."
Cyrus already had his menu open.
His hand hovered.
He clicked.
Nothing.
He didn't say anything—didn't have to.
Everyone could see the fear on his face.
Hadrian tried last, breath held.
Click.
No response.
"…Okay," he whispered. "That's… not normal."
The twelve of them stood in a loose circle again, no one meaning to form it this time.
Just instinct.
Just fear.
Faye finally broke the silence.
"Okay. We stay calm. We troubleshoot. There's a reason this is happening."
Sterling nodded slowly. "There always is. A bug. A glitch. Something server-side."
Melina hugged herself. "…Right. Right. Something simple."
Hopper forced a smile. "Guys. Relax. We just started the season. Bugs happen. This isn't—like—some horror VR 'you can't escape' thing."
Cyrus, voice small:
"I… don't think it's a bug."
Everyone turned to him.
Cyrus swallowed hard.
"When I spawned… my menu lagged. And some chunks… flickered for a second."
Griffin froze. "What do you mean flickered?"
Cyrus looked around the group, voice trembling.
"I think something's wrong with the world."
Silence.
Complete silence.
Not even the wind animation played.
---