~The First Step~ a Hermitcraft AU

Chapter 58

wc: 1156

see bottom of chapter for tws

"Everyone's in place."

Grian hefted his Staff over one shoulder, narrowing his gaze at the steel door that promised a fight. "Ready?"

There were murmurs of agreement and shuffles as everyone's stances widened, muscles tense in preparation. Grian inhaled, pushed the magic in his veins into the Staff, and swung.

The door crumpled easily, flying inwards into the room on the otherside. In response, what seemed to be a hundred gleaming masks turned towards the door, torchlight flickering to reveal the damp walls of stone barracks. Three heartbeats of silence passed before Grian charged, seizing the front of the closest guard's cloak and hurling him into the wall.

Chaos followed, with all the Listeners and Hermits and prisoners behind him following his lead- some of the prisoners were shouting, and Grian debated getting them to stop for all of two seconds before one spear flew a little too close to his face. Grian's hand closed on the passing handle and he whirled, spinning the spear to face the other direction and pushing it right back where it came. There was a grunt of pain as the tip embedded itself in the stomach of one unfortunate Watcher.

"Grian!" Bdubs shouted with a grunt, swinging his sword just in time to parry a blow. "They're getting- argh- stop it!" He jerked his head in a vague direction, and Grian turned to look.

A rack of armor and spears stood in the corner, quickly becoming a target that all the fighting guards seemed to be aiming for. Grian held out a hand, gold twining into a burning rope that wrapped around the top bar of the rack and launching him towards it.

"Alert the Elders!" a booming voice shouted in Galactic from behind Grian, and Grian pulled back the rope to snap behind him. The voice cut off as a gleaming rope cut across the bottom half of the Watcher's face, scalding hot, accompanied with a muffled scream.

Grian focused his attention on the Watchers scrambling for the weapons and armor rack, some already quickly strapping on chestpieces and hefting swords. "Someone help me get this thing out!" Grian yelled over his shoulder, launching himself and perching on top of the rack to sweep his hand, golden fire knocking back one wave of Watchers.

"What do you need me to do?" A Listener yelled, perching herself next to him with a flap of wings, a crossbow taut in her hands.

"Start cutting down the ones that have armor first," Grian replied, lying his hands on top of the rack to test the wood as the Listener fired three shots consecutively, accompanied by three screams. Out of the corner of his eye, Grian saw Etho dart behind fighting Watchers and breaking their necks, leaping gracefully out of the way of any attacks. As Grian watched, a hand reached towards Etho, purple magic already primed, but he unloaded a sugar blaster directly into the Watcher's palm. The man screamed, clutching his hand. Oh. "Got any sugar rounds?"

A small round object bumped against his boot, and Grian wrapped his fingers around it, the contents inside sending a shiver up his arm. "Get out of here."

The Listener obliged, diving into the brawl. Grian took a deep breath, ripped the pin off, and bolted.

There were shouts as some of the Watchers began to reach towards him- Grian clenched his fists closed to his chest and pulled, golden whips appearing and snapping around him. He continued to run, driving his shoulder through the crowd and-

With a bang, the sugar round went off, and Grian gritted his teeth as Watchers screamed from the scorching explosion, steadying his stance as the Watchers began to flock towards him.

And then he was in the zone, dodging blasts and countering with his own, calling back to the front of his mind everything he'd ever learned about fighting. A sweep of legs, punch to the gut and then to the face- Block-

To be honest, it felt amazing.

~~~

"Are there any more?" Grian asked, stepping delicately over limbs and wings. "Anybody hurt?"

"Stress is already working on it," Jevin replied. "You want me to pull the lever?"

Grian scanned the room- there hadn't been as many Watchers as he'd expected, but it had still been a battle. Just keeping his lid on his magic had been a struggle, but it had worked out in the end, seeing the bodies strewn across the floor. A wave of guilt rose in the back of his stomach.

"Yeah," he murmured. "Pull the lever." Grian pressed a finger to the comm in his ear. "We're done, Cub."

"Thank gods," came Cub's voice. "Everyone okay?"

"Nothing Stress can't fix," Grian replied, watching as Stress's magic closed a cut on a Listener's forearm. "We're going to pull the lever. Jevin left a piece of himself in the room."

"I'll tell Keralis to let them know," Cub said. "Get to it."

Grian nodded to Jevin, who closed his eyes. Five seconds later, he said, "Pulled the last bit of lever. Barriers should be down."

"It's done," Grian murmured into the comm.

A beat. "They're in."

Grian hefted the Staff in one hand as the group slowly came back together. "Let's go help out, then."

~~~

"What?" Xeluph roared, slamming his palms on the table.

The messenger didn't respond, shoulders rising to his ears from his position where he knelt.

"Get the soldiers from the barracks," Xeluph ordered, standing abruptly and sheathing his sword at his waist. "Now."

"Sir, I-"

"Did I stutter?" Xeluph shouted. "Go!"

"S-sir, the barracks are destroyed," the messenger said quietly. "The soldiers are dead."

Xeluph slammed his fist against the table again. "Then get the soldiers that are left, and go fight!"

The messenger stammered something indecipherable and ran out the door, leaving Xeluph to stew alone in his rage. Xeluph grabbed his last wrist guard and strapped it as he ran, down the hall and away from where he could already hear sounds of shouting and death.

He slammed the door of his office open, throwing himself towards the desk and yanking the drawers open. They were...

Empty. Xeluph groaned, fkinging opening cabinets and boxes to reveal that all the papers were gone.

Xeluph screamed in frustration, slamming his palms against the cabinet and letting it fall to the ground. I'm going to kill them, Xeluph thought furiously. If no one else will, I'll do it myself.

He stormed out, slamming the door behind him and beginning to run towards the commotion, wings flapping behind him to boost himself forwards- Normally, Xeluph wouldn't bother himself with these kinds of fights, but clearly no one around here was the slightest bit competent- and, to be honest, he was angry. He couldn't let those papers leave this building, and definitely could not let any of the revolutionaries leave alive.

Xeluph gathered his magic into his palms and leapt into the brawl.

tws: description of violence

battle of the capitol part two! 

sorry for late update, i am kind of struggling with these battle chapters- ik what i want the scene to look like but i 1) have no idea how to fight and 2) just dont know the words sometimes ;-; thanks for your patience <333

thank you for reading! have a good day or night, wherever you are!

-Ete