False watched with horror in her eyes as the Watchers appeared above the shopping district. Countless tears in the very fabric of reality formed in the sky, each glowing as intensely as a beacon to as bright as the mid-day sun. The vast majority formed near cloud level, above the shopping district proper. However, a few were much closer, close enough to hear the echoes of static as the beasts forced their way into reality. Without even fully thinking about what to do next, she and about half of the other Hermits simultaneously took to the sky, bows' taught and swords out.
The Watchers and Watchlings wasted no time; they swooped down on the shopping district, destroying mounds of hard work with powerful blasts of purple magic. It took False several attempts to get close enough to hit one with her sword, but when she did it screeched with rage and turned away from its rampage to fight her. It effortlessly dogged her next three blows and swiped at her with magic-enhanced claws, which she barely managed to avoid. She swiped at its massive legs, but it seemed to know exactly where she was, even when she was out of sight. No matter how hard she tried, it dogged her attacks, and no matter where she hid, it found her in seconds. It was all she could do not to get herself hit.
False was no idiot. No, she knew from the beginning that defeating this beast was a near-impossible task. Even lading a blow was proving difficult, but she had hoped to at least distract it from its mission of destroying everything in its path. It wasn't working. The Watcher seemed plenty capable of causing chaos and destruction while simultaneously remaining locked in battle. An extra-long swipe of its claws took out a signpost, a quick flare of its wings smashed the front of Lamps Plus, and a blast of magic reduced the road to rubble. False was starting to wonder how much longer the Watcher would remain distracted by their little game, and when it would kill her and go back to raining havoc on the server.
The warrior Hermit cursed as her elytra caught on a broken pipe, tearing slightly and significantly reducing its durability. No sooner had she freed herself then was she food to take to the sky to avoid getting her feet encased in bedrock. From her new vantage point, she could see the entirety of the shopping district, or what was left of it. Everything was in ruins, not a single building stood untouched, and strange purple fire gave the air a smokey hue.
Several smaller Watchers (Watchlings, Grian had called them) were flying out over the ocean in search of new places to wreak havoc. Most of the full-sized Watchers had turned to harassing the Hermits, taunting them like a predator playing with its prey before it feasts. She watched helplessly as Keralis fired an arrow into his target's back, only to be knocked out of the sky by a burst of purple energy. She let out a scream, shooting forward to check on the builder, momentarily forgetting about her own opponent in the process. A lethal, stupid mistake, one she usually considered herself above. The Watcher grabbed her by the waist, shredding her elytra beyond use in the process. It laughed as she shielded her eyes from its burning light, squeezing tighter and tighter until her lungs cried out in pain and her vision swam. A fizzing sensation formed in her chest, growing and spreading along her limbs and into her head. Then all at once, the world went
black, and her thoughts slowed to a stop.
Grian could only stare as the Watcher army descended on the shopping district of the Hermitlands. There had to be at least forty of them, the smallest Watchlings standing four blocks tall, the largest Watchers at over fifteen. Each one had its own style of destruction, some taking out large chunks of land with one blast of magic, others carefully picking apart the buildings, relishing in the chaos. Still, others seemed more interested in toying with the Hermits than sowing destruction, laughing as they battled the mortals. A good half the Hermits had taken off to fight the mammoth beasts, but it didn't matter. Even if every member of the Hermitlands fought, they would still be outnumbered two to one. Grian knew from experience that a single Watcher could take on three seasoned warriors no problem.
One of the Watchers, the tallest and most powerful of them all, seemed dissented in the chaos altogether. Instead, it leisurely drifted towards Giran; it's sixteen blocks of height sent it towing over the remaining Hermits. Grian recognized them as Adrian, a member of the Watcher counsel and one of the most powerful Watchers in existence. They didn't waste time with words. They seldom did. A glowing white hand shot out to wrap itself around Grian's neck, not quite tight enough to cause damage, but more than enough to cause discomfort.
Grian could feel Adrian's magic dig deep into his core, reaching for the well of untouched magic leftover from his time with the Watchers. The ex-Watcher knew that if they found it, they would suck it dry, destroying Grian and every physical object in a 100-mile radius. In the distance, he saw his friends fighting, Etho darted in and out of the fray, Iskall and Cub stood back to back, and False was taking one on all by herself, the crazy warrior woman that she was. The shopping district was in ruins, and everyone sported some kind of injury. He didn't want to let this continue. It would kill him to watch his friends sacrifice everything for his sake, as surely as the Watcher in front of him would. A hint of a plan started to take root in his brain, one that might even get him out of this alive. Maybe. But he needed to by himself just a bit more time.
Will all of his strength, he strained against Adrian's magic, holding out against its power as long as he could. "Xisuma," he gasped, "Get everyone out of here. Teleport them far away, somewhere random, where even you don't know where you are."
Xisuma, one of the few hermits who had not already joined the fray, shook his head at Grian. "That will only drag this out. They will find you eventually."
"I'm going to buy you as much time as I can, ok? Now GO!" Grian's voice grew steadily louder, till he was practically screaming. With a frightened nod, the admin did as he was told, reaching for his communicator and beginning to type. Unfortunately, Adrian took that moment to turn away from Grian to lash out at Xisuma, sending him flying back. Joe caught his body and grabbed his arm, where his communicator was bound. In the split second of relief the exchange brought him, Grian tunneled into his own inactive powers, his physical form slowly and painfully being exchanged for his Watcher one. He stood a measly 9 blocks tall, hardly qualifying as a full Watcher. Still, his form glowed as bright as the sun, and it only grew brighter with the energy he absorbed from the battle around him. The moment he had full access to his powers, he lept into Joe's head, whom, much to his relief, was completing the teleport command. He hit enter, and the Hermits *vrooped* out of existence. Grian waited for one more moment to be sure they were gone before putting his plan into action. Timing was key. Another second waisted and any Watchers still in the hermits' heads could find and kill them, but if the hermits weren't gone, then they would die for sure, and this would all be for nothing.
Grian, now fully Watcher, plunged into his magic, diving deeper than he ever had before, ignoring everything in his mind that screamed for him to stop, that it wasn't safe. He knew he had to work fast, before any of the Watchers present got bored and flew out of range, or worse, went after the Hermits. Then two things happened, in such quick succession they may as well have been simultaneous. Grian exploded, pushing outward with all of his magic, ignoring how much it hurt. The blast was powerful, so much so that it took out the bedrock beneath him with ease. The blinding purple light was visible for over a hundred miles, and the tremors it caused were felt a quarter of the way around the world. The magic tore through everything it touched, leaving not a single block behind. The nearest ruins were at the furthest edge of the Hermit Jungle, and even there, not much was left. The force of the explosion sent the Watchers tumbling through the air to the edge of the blast radius, destroying the weakest Watchlings all together.
And the second thing that happened? Without enough magic left to sustain itself, Grian's Watcher body imploded, crumbling away to be replaced with his worn-out human one. But even his birth-form couldn't keep him conscious, and he fell, disappearing into the void below
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.
