Unrecognizable

~Chapter One~

Grian's POV-

Grian stood outside of his mansion, staring up at the splendor. It was certainly a sight to behold; incredibly large, the mansion gave off a powerful aura to all who stood before it. The grays of the walls mixed with the blue-greens of the roofs painted the mansion with a regal, majestic feel, looking calmly down on everyone else. The sun had just begun to rise, casting the mansion with a warm glow. Grian was quite fond of his creation, though it had been left largely untouched for so long; he had never even got around to creating a matching hole on the side opposite of the one that already existed.

This was saddening to him; not only had he lost his friend, but now apparently the motivation to do his favorite thing: building, had diminished as well. Usually it was calming for him, losing himself in his work was quite serene, especially something as satsfying as the small details of his mansion.

But now, everytime he began to place or break any blocks, he remembered the fun he had slightly altering Mumbo's base those many times. Usually the remembrance of how long it had taken the redstoner to notice the huge Grian head he had put gave him a laugh, but now it just made him anxious with the wonder if Mumbo would ever be back to notice all of Grian's other shenanigans.

Grian's thoughts were disrupted as he heard a swish from behind him. He let out a surprised yelp as his back sparked with pain where an arrow had lodged itself. He whipped aroynd in surprise to find himself face-to-fleshless-face with a skeleton who was now notching another arrow in its bow. Of course, Grian should've expected this-- his mansion was still not quite lit up, and it was still rather dark. He drew his sword as another arrow stabbed into his arm. These monsters should die off soon; it was nearly light out. Even so, he made quick work of the skeleton, slicing it with his sword before taking some left-over bones and arrows for his storage.

Soon enough, just as Grian predicted, the sun rose high in the sky and distraught noises of burning monsters filled the area. Grian never enjoyed the noise, or the smell for that matter, of the zombies as their flesh set alight and quickly charred to ash, nor the cracking sound of burning bones from all the skeletons who hadn't retreated back into the caves.

Grian pulled his elytra on over his shoulders after checking it to see how it was faring. It was a bit worn, but he decided it'd be fine for a while yet. He flew over to his barge in the shopping district to check for any more sales. He wasn't surprised at his making of just twenty diamonds, but he would take whatever he could.

He flew off, gliding by the large form of Grumbot as he went after a moment's hesitation, he landed on the platform, staring up at the robot's face. He felt a pang in his heart as he glanced at His moustache, made to represent Mumbo's part of Him. Grian wondered once again, how sentient Grumbot was. He had been displaying levels of sentience, calling the two Hermits 'dad's for instance.

He fingered one of the diamonds he had thrown into his inventorial pouch before pulling it out with a sigh. He scribbled on a question.

"Do you know where Mumbo is?"

Grian knew in the back of his mind that this was worthless; he had tried this twice already to no avail. But he may as well try again, maybe Grumbot had figured something out?

He already knew what the answer would be even before he pressed the buttons.

He stepped back to stare at Grumbot as He thought. After a moment, an answer spat out of Him, His eyes tilting with sadness.

"GRUMBOT DOES NOT KNOW WHERE DAD #2 IS."

Grian sighed as he picked up the slip. He figured this. "Thanks for trying, Grumbot," he muttered as he flew away.

As per usual, Grian flew towards Mumbo's main base to see if anything had changed at all. He didn't expect to see anything but he had been going nearly everyday, and he wasn't about to stop now. He landed in the center of the ruined building in the middle and glanced around to see if anything new was there.

The base hadn't gained anything new since the last time Grian or the other Hermits had been around. But Grian noticed one thing.

The sign with the message was gone.