"Welcome to Hermitcraft Season Six!" Xisuma announced, his eyes glinting in the bright sunlight. One of the prime admins must have been extra happy that day, Xisuma thought.
And he was right. Grian was having an absolute blast as he goofed off with the other hermits, collected his first recourses, maybe murdered a Mumbo a few times accidentaly, and overal caused trouble. And best of all... Grian felt normal.
"You look like it's your birthday, mate." Mumbo grinned down at the beaming hermit.
"It's better than any birthday I remember, then." Grian teased.
"Hey, G! Wanna test out my new contraption?" Doc gave a maniacle grin.
"Nooo-OOOOO!" Bdubs weaved into a nearby tree and lay dizzily at the bottom.
"Haha can't catch meeeee!" False zoomed around where Bdubs had just splat.
"Should I go for warped or crimson?" Cleo sidled up to the new hermit.
Grian didn't respond, he was too wrapped up in the happiness of finally finding friends. Real friends. It almost felt a like a mismatched muddy family... and Grian loved every second of it.
. . .
"Dude, I can't believe you've been with us for 3 years already! You're a real hermit, now!" Mumbo clapped Grian on the back. It was Grian's 3rd anniversary on Hermitcraft, and Season 8 would come in the next day.
"And you've already played more pranks than the entire server put together in 8 years!" X laughed. Many other hermits nodded and chuckled.
"I can't wait for season 8 to start!" A tall, 21 year old woman with strawberry hair wearing light blue overalls piped up. She was Xisuma's powerful apprentice, and the Hermits had seen her visit on many occasions. Xisuma had finally invited her to the server when she didn't need to live at the Admin Headquarters anymore. Xelqua might have had something to do with letting her go.
"What level did you get to, Gem?" Keralis asked.
"I'm a level seven now, thanks to Xisuma!" Gem said proudly.
"She's a natural. Besides, training an apprentice has helped me get better, too." Xisuma shrugged. "I'm a level 9 now, which is supposedly pretty admirable."
"That's only because the mystery admin went easy on him in the test! You should've seen what he did to me." False scowled. "I took the test 4 years ago and I still have back pain."
"The bi-annual big admin meeting is tomorrow. Me and Gem have a long day ahead of us." Xisuma said, looking tired already.
"It's the one the mystery watcher will have to attend." Grian sighed.
"How do you know?" False frowned,
"Gri's a level 1 admin, but he refuses to go to any of the meetings." Xisuma grunted, his annoyance obvious to all of the listening hermits.
"They're all so obsenely boring!!!" Grian defended himself, and all the hermits laughed.
"Well, now that you're a world-renowned prankster, builder, and the best elytra flyer around, I think you're getting at famous as Prime 2, anyhow! The admins'll be in awe when mystery prime walks up all silent and gore - and then in even more awe when Prime 2 slips on a block of mysteriously placed ice near Grian's seat!" Iskall roared. The other hermits agreed.
"Pearl probably won't have anything else to say, anyway. The watchers just disapeared into the shadows after that village attack 3 years ago." Gem sighed angrily.
"Positivity, Gem." Grian grinned, "I have another builders association meeting, I'll be out for a few days so I can't make the admin meeting anyway, Xisuma!" Grian smirked, knowing the Hermitcraft admin would try to persuade him to come again.
"Why are all your building nonsense meetings on other meeting days, anyway?" X skulked.
"Because we hold an annual meeting on the same day as the admins do every year! Not my choice!" Grian shrugged his arms in the air.
"I guess you probably have to go, dude." Mumbo's face fell a little.
"Stupid meeting rehearsal." Grian muttered, earning a few more laughs from the surrounding hermits. It was common knowledge how much Grian hated his builders association meetings - besides, it drew suspicion away from him regarding Xisuma.
"See you, Mumby!" Grian rocketed away, leaving the other hermits and Grian's cake behind.
"Mumby?" Stress giggled. Mumbo went a little red.
"Grian couldn't say my name properly when we were kids. So he always called me Mumby instead of Mumbo. It kinda stuck." Mumbo laughed self consiously as he stood up.
"Awww... Mumby! Bye Mumby!" Stress giggled. Mumbo huffed and puffed and rocketed away before any of the other hermits could tease him. Everyone burst into laughter.
. . .
"PEARL! PEEEEARL!" Grian yelled as he materialised in the main room of the prime admin quarters. Pearl jumped and her wings fluttered, carrying her high into the air. "Whoa, Pearl."
"I decided to go for a fly this morning. I guess I should've tucked them away." Pearl looked embarassed as she explained. Grian had never seen her wings before. They were just as large as his, except hers weren't morphed into parrot colors. They were the original white and golden feathered with cream lining.
"Well, have you memorised your speech yet?" Grian flopped down on the couches.
"Actually, I could ask you the same thing." Pearl turned towards Grian, grinning, eyes glinting evily. Uh oh, Grian shivered. The sunlight filtering through the window became incredibly bright. What on earth has Pearl planned? Grian glanced at the sun nervously.
"Pearl, you know I don't speak." Grian huffed nervously.
"Actually you do now." Pearl paused as if to allow her words to sink in. "I found an old prime admin document stating that historically and lawfully speaking, you have to host oen of the two bi-annual meetings each year." Pearl finished triumphantly.
"Noooooo..." Grian moaned, knowing that Pearl's document was the law.
"Yes!" Pearl's eyes danced.
"Ughhhh... man!" Grian stomped his foot. A cloud crossed over Pearl's bright-ified sun. Golden sparks shot out of his wrist as he nervously ran his fingers through his hair. "Pearl I don't talk for a reason!" Grian pleaded.
"Just use a voice changer! Stop being paranoid." Pearl waved Grian's protests aside.
"I... I guess..." Grian's shoulders slumped.
"Great!" Pearl clapped, "Let's get started!"
. . .
Xisuma slid into his front-row level nine seat alongside a few other talented admins. The level 9s sat in the front row of the level eight admin section. There were such little numbers of them that they wouldn't even fill a twelfth of their own section if they had one.
"Hey X!" Gem waved from the diagonal to him. Xisuma turned around and waved to his cheery apprentice. She was obviously excited to see Prime 2 show up. Gem was obsessed and determined to find out Prime 2's real identity for some strange reason.
As usual, the prime admins arrived at their usual dramatic entrance. One second the podium was empty, the next they were there is a swirl of golden sparks. The admins quickly hushed as they strained to get a glimpse under the mystery prime's hood. Xisuma had been trying for years, and by now he knew it was impossible. The hood stayed down with some kind of spell.
Xisuma watched in amazement as Pearl stepped back with a smirk and Prime 2 stepped forward and raised his head.
"Greetings, admins." The creepy voice echoed through the chamber. You could have heard a pin drop from the other side of the room as all the older admins gawked.
Grian surveyed the crowd through his one-way hood. He usually didn't see anything through his hood, but Pearl had used the same enchantment Prime 1 had used on her hood to make it so he could see through his hood like glass. His eyes lingered on Gem, and then on Xisuma. He smiled ever so slightly at their shocked expressions.
Xisuma watched the prime carefully as he walked down and up the podium, reciting frivolous information and greetings Pearl had obviously dictated for him. As he spoke his words were drawling, bored, and obviously shifted. It couldn't be his real voice... surely?
Grian spoke his last sentence, bored out of his mind and struggling to remember everything... "And... goodbye, we hope you the best year?" Grian's last sentence came out almost questioning and he cursed mentally. Pearl shook her head almost imperceptably, and in the second Grian turned to look at her he saw it. No, them.
The watchers were right above the glass dome. He could see everything in slow motion. The head watcher raised his hands, lightning frizzed in his hands, and suddenly Grian knew... he was not going to let anyone die this time!
Xisuma watched the prime admin's face turn towards the ceiling and in a split second he had raised his hand and suddenly a blast of golden fire roared from his open palm. The glass dome shattered from both sides as purple lightning blasted through the glass, and a millisecond later golden fire whirred through the roof.
The fire disintegrated the lightning and blazed like a beacon through the roof, burning and charring thousands of waiting watchers, all of them fluttering above the dome like vultures.
"RETREAT!" The head watcher yelled. Everything had gone wrong, over half his army was incinerated and the head watcher had already fought Prime 2 once - he never wanted to face the mysterious figure's wrath again. Especially since He wouldn't do that to him again. The head watcher shuddered.
He had meant for the new admin's death to be swift, like his mentor's... with no physical prime the admins would fall like flies. But no, this prime was cleverer than his predecessor. The head watcher's hand flew to his face, immediately feeling the large, veined scar the lightning had left him in the last battle Prime 2 had fought. He bolted away as fast as his wings could carry him.
Grian quickly laced his fingers together, creating a makeshift net over his admins. The net protected them from the falling watchers and doubled as a prison to the still living attackers.
Suddenly Grian saw the burned face beneath one of the hoods... a face he recognised. The net fell and all the watchers clattered to the ground. Pearl quickly threw up a golden shield dome over the low level admins who couldn't protect themselves.
Xisuma watched the mystery admin sprint towards the edge of the fallen watchers, his cloak billowing behind him. In a second the prime had pulled two of the watchers under his white cloak and disappeared in a shower of golden dust, whisking the watchers away with him.