Grian wasn't scared. No, he had passed scared a long time ago. Now he was in the territory of full-on panic. He had done everything right, covered his tracks as completely as he could, been more careful than he thought was physically possible, especially for someone as chaotic as himself, but it didn't matter in the end. The watchers had found him. They had to have found him because the broken bedrock frame was sitting there, buried in the back of Mt. Scarmore, as if it had always been there. As if its presents meant nothing. As if it hadn't brought the end of Grian's world. There was no decoration, no fanfare, no grand spectacle—just simple bedrock, almost one hundred blocks above where it should spawn.
"Grian, you good man?" Tango's voice brought Grian back to reality with a jolt. He had forgotten anyone else was with him, in all honesty. He had been far too caught up in what this symbol being here could possibly mean.
Grian took another second to compose himself before responding. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. It's just not really what I expected when you said you wanted to show me something 'strange.' Ha- have you told Xisuma about this yet? This feels serious; we should get him over here ASAP." He internally cursed the stutter in his voice for betraying his fear, but Tango either didn't notice it or simply ignored it.
"Wow, saying Xisuma's name correctly? Something really is wrong, isn't it?" Tango joked, but words hit a bit too close to home for Grian's liking. Tango continued. "And yeah, I sent word to him the moment I found it. He said he'll be over later. Just figured I'd show you now, seeing as you're here and all, yeh know?" Grian could tell his friend was trying to keep the mood light for his sake, but the shorter Hermit just wasn't feeling up to it, not with that horrible bedrock staring down at him, crushing him under the weight of his past and all that he had left behind.
"I, yeah. I'm going to find Xisuma. This- I don't think this can wait until whenever 'later' is." At Tango's half concerned, half skeptical look, he added, "I may or may not have a hunch to who did this. I just hope I'm wrong." He knew he wasn't. "You coming?"
Xisuma didn't know what to expect when the newest member of the Hermitlands showed up outside his portal, his eyes wide with panic that didn't fit his bubbly personality one bit. Tango stood next to him, watching Grian as if worried he would break down any minute. This couldn't be good.
It was Tango, not Grian, who spoke up first. "You know the bedrock glitch I told you about? Well, I showed it to Grian, just to see what he thought and -"
"Please just come look at it." Grian cut him off. "Just- please." Xisuma nodded, his concern growing by the second. He strapped a shimmering purple elytra to his back and motioned for the duo to follow him through the portal.
The trip back to the shopping district was relatively quiet, save for the loud bang of Tangos overly colorful, explosive rockets and the occasional grunt of a piglen from far below. As they flew, Xuima couldn't help but feel a sense of dread growing in the pit of his stomach. Glitches like this one usually formed when new chunks were loaded, or just after an update. And bedrock was one of the most stable blocks; it hardly ever glitched. The pieces just didn't add up. And Grian, he seemed to know something about . . . about whatever it was that was going on. Noone had seen the chaotic Hermit this quiet since he first joined the server, and the change was concerning to say the least.
Said quiet Hermit led the way to the back of Mt. Scarmore, where the bedrock sat, plain as day. Xisuma did a double-take when he saw it. He knew that symbol. It was a broken bedrock portal, the symbol of the Watchers. This was no glitch, that was for sure.
"What do you think, X?" Tango asked septically. His eyes flicked between the two men, seemingly unsure of what to do.
"I think this is bad news, that's what I think. Thank you for showing me this, Tango. You too, Grian. We need to call a server meeting. The others deserve to know what's going on," the voidwalker said.
"Okay~ but, what is going on exactly?" Tango asked, prompting a sigh from the admin.
"This isn't some strange glitch. This is the work of Watchers, powerful entities native to the end, my home dimension. I can explain more, but I would rather tell everyone at once." The red-eyed Hermit nodded before pulling out his communicator as it dinged with a message notification
General chat:
XisumaVoid: Can everyone please meet behind Mt. Scarmore tomorrow at 10:00? There has been an important sever wide development.
ImpulseSV: sure thing x
StressMonster101: Umm . . . Ok
EthosLab: I can make it
Docm77: Why there?
TangoTek: Strange bedrock thing appeared there this morning
ImpulseSV: That's not possible
FalseSymmetry: ???
FalseSymmetry: How
XisumaVoid: It should be nothing to worry about, but this is serious. I can answer everyone's questions tomorrow.
More questions filled the chat, but Xisuma ignored them, instead opting to question a certain red sweatered Hermit.
"Grian, you recognized that symbol, didn't you." It was a rhetorical question, but Grian nodded anyway. "How?, Do you have experience with them? Most people associate them more with their masks than with this symbol."
Giran seemed to pick his world carefully as he said, "They were active in my old world. I saw a few of their structures during my time there, so yeah, I guess I recognized it." Xisuma could tell that that wasn't the end of that, but Grian looked drained enough already, his eyes trained on the floor, his shoulders hunched in just a bit.
"Hey, hey, look at me. It's going to be alright. Whatever they did to scare you, we will protect you," the admin reassured him.
"You can't hide from a Watcher."
"No, but we can protect you in other ways. They don't like to show themselves. Would you feel better if someone stayed with you?" Grian nodded, and Xisuma pulled out his communicator again.
Private chat (XisumaVoid, MumboJumbo):
XisumaVoid: Mumbo, would you mind staying with Grian for a bit? He's a bit freaked out right now
MumboJumbo: Of course
MumboJumbo: What's wrong
XisumaVoid: Hard to say, but I think he could benefit from some company
MumboJumbo: okay
MumboJumbo: I'm at my base rn. Need me to come get him
XisumaVoid: no, we'll be over in a few
The admin turned to Grian once again. Tango had left at some point in the conversation, leaving just the two of them. "I have a few things to finish up before tomorrow, but Mumbo said he would be happy to stay with you. Come on, I'll take you to his base." The older Hermit got the sense the younger would not want to be alone even for a moment. Grian breathed a sigh of relief, confirming the admin's suspicions, and the pair took to the skies.
YOU ARE READING
Resurfaced
FanfictionGrian has been living with the Hermits for years. Long enough he thinks he has escaped his past for good. He hasn't, of course. And when his past caches up to him, the Hermits are left to pick up the pieces.
