~The First Step~ a Hermitcraft AU

Chapter 44

wc: 2026

The sleep was restless, though, and he found himself being gently shaken awake all too soon. Feeling quite the opposite of rested, he ran a hand through his hair and straightened himself. "Where are we?"

"About ten minutes away," Xayla replied. She cautiously handed him the mask again.

He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart and slotted the mask over the top of his face. The moment the cold porcelain touched his face his skin prickled and the hairs on the back of his neck stood. Cold shivers ran down his spine.

Seeing through the masks gave the world a slight purple tint. The change made Grian want to squeeze his eyes shut and hide his face in his knees, but in front of X and Stress, he focused on his inhales and his exhales.

In for four, hold for four, out for four, Grian thought, leg bouncing. He felt Stress' gaze on his trembling hands, and he clasped them together. They shook anyway.

"It's just until we get there," Xayla said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah," Grian muttered, looking up at the ceiling. The consoling made his face burn; he was Grian, Xelqua, the one that could save the entirety of the Watcher kingdom. He wasn't someone that was supposed to need comforting or have weakness. The truth hurt, that was for sure, but he shoved the thoughts to be picked apart later.

Stress and X were talking in low tones. Xayla turned to Grian. "We haven't really had a chance to properly chat yet," she noted, and Grian nodded. "What's been... going on?"

"After I escaped?" Grian asked, raising a brow, and she shrugged.

"Yeah, in general." She looked down at her hands. "I hope you've been treated well?"

"It's been amazing," he said with a chuckle, folding his hands behind his head. "Hermitcraft was a safe haven. At least..." Grian's expression twisted. "The people were the nicest group I have ever met, and I love them to pieces, of course. But the Watchers were trying to get in a lot near the end, and I recognized some strategies that are probably a little sketchy."

"How so?"

"Well, Hermitcraft is very well protected by a code barrier," Grian explained. "X is a wonderful admin." X smiled a bit. Grian wondered where his helmet had gone, but being able to completely read his expression was comforting. Grian palmed his own mask carefully; the lack of full black and white hair, which all Watchers had either one or the other, distinguished him from the rest, but the black streak that he'd been trying to hide was promising that that may soon change.

"I would go into the code wall and fight them off, but before I knew they were there, they were already making little appearances. I would see random particles and stuff like that. Luckily, I found out before anything happened, but..." Grian thought for a moment. "Do you know Pearl?"

"Pearl?" Xayla asked, confused, and Grian nodded. "No, can't say I have... why?"

"I was having a lot of weird side effects," Grian said instead of directly explaining. "I would suddenly be unable to breathe, and for a while I could hear... voices, telling me to come back." X and Stress' conversation had halted, and although they weren't trying to make it obvious, it was very apparent that they were listening.

"I assume this started when the Leader died," Xayla said. Grian bowed his head.

"I assume so," he said, heart wrenching. When Xeluph had eventually been overtaken by his duties and was unable to 'train' Grian himself, he'd assigned the task to the Leader, and Grian's life had improved significantly. Knowing he was dead still hurt. "I never expected the cause to be this. Pearl, an old friend of mine who'd been in the server I admin-ed that the Watchers destroyed, told me that part of it was that my magic was growing and was pulling me home." She hadn't lied, but it was a bit of an omission of truth. "I don't know how she knew, though. I believed her, 'cause I would have believed anyone at that point."

"Have you heard from her since then?" Xayla asked, and Grian shook his head.