When Past Meets the Present

XXVIII

I'm still alive! I'm so sorry for not updating last week.

Word Count: 1000

Waiting for Zucky to throw off the remaining effects of the mask was surprisingly harder than I thought. For one, almost all the Watchers turned to me and started attacking at once. And two, I was already exhausted magically from earlier. True, I was one of- no, I was the best fighter back at the facility and probably the entirety of the watcher race, but I've been out of practice for an entire year. Up until I went to the mansion I hadn't actually fought with magic since and, no offence to them, the illagers just weren't at the same level. The only reason I wasn't killed immediately was the Onoro and Irka who stepped in and helped me.

"What are you doing back here, Xelqua?" Asked Irka, "I thought you were getting the players out of here with Quetta."

"He's getting them away, he said I could run in and unmask one so I did." I pointed to Zucky who was still squirming and trying to escape his bonds. "He'll help us once the last of the mind-controlling magic leaves him." I drew my own sword and stepped in to help out but the Onoro pushed me back.

"There's no way we're going to let you fight in your condition," he said sternly. "As soon as he's free, you'll take him and fly away to wherever Quetta took the players." I didn't want to leave them here but they were right, if I fought like this, I'd probably get killed or hurt.

"But what about you guys?" I asked, there was no way I could leave just yet. "You'll be overrun in a few minutes after I leave. At least let me fight while I'm still here." I drew my weapon again and moved forward. This time, no one stopped me.

"How much can you carry while you're flying?" Asked Irka, I might have a chance at convincing her. "Do you think you can get us out of here at the same time?"

"Deffenily, it'll be bumpy though. What about these guys?"

"We'll leave them behind and regroup and attack them before they get a chance to recover. If we can take out whoever made the masks then they should stop long enough for us to get the upper hand."

"Sounds like a plan." Zucky stopped fighting against the tree roots as hard so I knew the magic was losing its effect on him. We fought with the Watchers for a little longer. Alova was still keeping her distance but kept on shrieking orders at her army of zombie Watchers but never coming closer enough for any of us to get her.

Once he stopped fighting fully and started gasping for air, I knew he had more or less complete control of himself again. I released his binding and helped him stand.

"Grian?" He asked quietly. "Where are we? I thought they put a mask on me. You- you didn't come back for me did you?" He was stuttering and shaking but Isabelle can't rite that sort of thing so you'll just have to use your imagination.

"No, I didn't. They brought you to me so I got your mask off here. Anyway, we gotta get outta here before Alova finds out you threw it off Oh, and don't be shocked." I spread my wing slowly so he won't get startled. His eyes widened and he just stared at me.

"Ok, so you're part birb now, what's new? Where are we anyway? I'm assuming this is your home server."

"Oh yeah, welcome to Hermitcraft season 6. It's kinda in the state of being destroyed right now so the tour will have to wait. We're going, now." I hooked my hands under his arms and pushed off the ground with a few flaps. The Watchers started firing beams of magic at me since I'd become such an easy target that couldn't defend itself. Luckily, Zuck had recovered enough sense to throw up a shield of his own magic while the Onoro and Irka grabbed on.

Flying isn't easy, to just carry myself take a lot of energy which was why everybody thought I looked so malnourished all the time. Carrying extra weight made stuff harder but not impossible. Zucky had already been starved for who knows how long so he wasn't all that heavy. I'd never asked their ages but I'd put both the Onoro and Irka to be somewhere in their mid-30s, the prime of their lives. My point is, the trip hurt. I easily had the wingspan to support us all, but, did I have the muscle strength to hold on for the entire flight?

No, I did not have enough strength to get us all out of there. I made it to my beautiful blender's outer ring before I had to let go of them. I tried to apologize for dropping them while we were still 5 meters in the air but before I could say anything, the Onoro spoke up.

"Don't blame yourself, it wasn't your fault. We were too heavy for you." He held me up by my arm and started towards the main tower of my base. "It's a miracle you managed to get us this far." Irka grabbed Zucky who was still quite shaky but was getting stronger by the minute. They brought us over to the water and placed 2 boats down so and I  could row them across instead of waiting for them to swim with the old styles.

I really don't know how to end this again. Oops.

4.82k reads. This is fine

As I said, I didn't update last week because I had to do NAPLAN. It's a test that takes the entire week, and I  still got homework from any class that I went to (even if it was just for five minutes) so I just haven't had enough time.

Cheers,

Isabelle