The screams of pain turned to distorted roars as Zelk's body became deformed as his clothes tore at the seems as he transformed right before the groups vary eyes, his claws became hooked and large as they dug into the soil below him as he'd grown several more horns that where antler like as the second pair curved around his face and snouted jaw as black saliva pooled from his jaws as he bared his teeth in pain. This was forced upon him, his past and true identity was forced out of him as his tail dragged across the frosted floor with a spiked end as Zelk's spine protruded from his back looking sharp and deadly.
Zelk's ears pointed back sharply from the pain he was going through as his fur became rigid and spikey, he'd grown several spikes on his back as his appearance became much more brute like as he returned to his given form from the very start before disguising himself as an experiment from one of the now abandoned facilities. Zelk's eyes darted back and forth as he saw symbols and marking in his vision and voices hissed and sneered in his head, he could only hear these voices and see these words in front of him as he transformed.
Watcher grinned ever so slight yet it went unnoticed and Zelk screamed again slamming his arm down as chains rattled from him, Zelk no longer could hide, not any more, he was hidden by a vial of lies, he was no experiment, he was no hybrid made by the facility as Zelk's bones cracked and moved.
"Zelk!" The human and experiment screamed out watching their friend transform into a monster right in front of them as Watcher just rocked back and forth with a slight unnoticeable hum as Zelk looked up with glowing eyes that flashed slightly before dimming down as Zelk lowered his head.
"I'm sorry~" Zelk spoke in a strange sore voice as mimicking a normal voice had harmed his vocal cords for a bit, Zelk didn't want this, Zelk didn't want to truth to be thrown out their in front of his friends, but he was back in his normal form. His disguise has been broken by the sentinel.
"You can never hide the fact that you were created this way Jacob or shall I refer to you as Zelkam~" Watcher hummed, "you can't hide the truth from me, I know what you are and I know what you've done, Hiding cannot save you~" Watcher added with a harsh tone, "You will always be a Latcher, and you can't hide the fact you are a Latcher~" Watcher hissed as the dagger flicked towards Zelk, "I thought you knew better than this, Your mentor would of said otherwise." Watcher added sheathing the dagger as Zelk stood on his hind legs standing over his friends as he held his arms in shame.
"I should have told you all sooner, and I'm sorry~" Zelk said as he looked away as now the cat was out of the bag as the truth about him was revealed, he was a true blood tormented latcher, hiding within lies and false stories he has made to be accepted into this group, that what his mentor told him. Lie to those who are weak minded and foolish to let you into their pack, it was a rule all latchers where taught to do, gain trust and hope from the weak before ripping it right out from under them, most latchers didn't follow the rules exactly as they be slowly washed away and changed over the years by the Sentinels and the Master. It was like a council these powerful latchers held to discuss problems or ideas.
"You're a Latcher." Vurb spoke up looking at Zelk seeing him nod his head in shame, shame of lying to those he'd become friends with for a few years of living in this hellish world blending in as if he were just an experiment that escaped the facility like everyone else. Zelk forged a story of his past but he forged this lie out of lieful steel making it sound belivedable to those who heard it, yet it was all part of his manipulative plans to get close to others when he was a treat the entire time even though he made no moved to hurt Finn nor Vurb.
Zelk never wanted to hurt his friends that he's grown so close to even if the past told him too as the thought of vengeance lingered in his mind, after what had happen to Latcher Kind, Zelk swore for vengeance and the death of mortal kind to fall before him, But recently Master spoke of staying calm as time was ticking down, ticking down for fulfillment. Two more to go and they would win. Zelk didn't need to hurt his friends, he just needed them to trust him, which they did, but now it was unknown to Zelk as he became worried of the lack of trust.
"But you know the rules change my dear Zelk~" Watcher hummed walking by Zelk as claws dragged again the Zelk's shoulders, "the consistent changing and unpredictably is amazing to witness~" Watcher added before vanishing into thin air leaving the group frightened with the truth of one of their friends, and that of unanswered questions.
~~~~~~
"Truths out for one it seems like~" a voice hummed as ghostly airy wings flowed around like a nebula as the entity stood before the others as a bandaged up fellow sat a few feet away needing rest from his injuries. The entity looked at the group of sentinels before him as his four glowing horns stuck free from his cloaked head as lanterns with purple flames hung from them.
"Just for Zelk~ the others remain oblivious to the chaos among them~" a softer voice spoke up as their mermaid like tail flowed with a slight sway as their fins defied gravity. This sentinel adjusted their blindfold as the symbol on it flashed dimly to show they were alert for any action taken by the others. "Watcher knows what he is doing, Chimera~" the sentinel added before turning to check on the injured mortal who's been in this void for days now.
Chimera scoffed with smoke bleeding from his mouth as his four horns glowed slightly before dimming as his nebula-like wings closed up as Watcher showed up from the shadows with things to speak off as the sentinel's arms were hidden behind his back.
"Still oblivious to the chaos inside the walls?" Chimera bellowed at Watcher before moving to the side letting the sentinel be seen by the others.
"Of course they are, they shall never know the truth until the final battle as that's when the fulfillment while be achieved and Master will be whole again~" Watcher said, "but another truth still hides among the walls of friendship and i fear that it'll spill onto the floor like the guts of my victims~" Watcher harshly added before seeing symbols light up in front of his face, "Time? Right~" Watcher thought to himself before speaking to the group to go out and investigate a few things and that's what he 'did'.
~~~~~~
Pacing back and forth concealed under the shadows of the trees as grass was pushed to the ground by golden hooves, "where are you~" a voice whispered under their breath repeating words inside their head. Archangel looked at their hands and sighed with a shaky breath as they leaned against a tree.
"Where I'm I? I thought you'd never listen to me but it appears that you did, darling~" Watcher spoke up scaring Archangel into turning around to look at Watcher, "you know what you are Archie, you can't hide behind a veil of lies forever my dear." Watcher added moving a hand to touch Archangels wings watching them fade from this white and gold to black and purple as purple eyes opened up on them, "You're just like me Archie~" Watcher spoke with a soft voice as his hand moved to Archangel's winged face.
"I....I know~" Archangel said as their white furred hands with golden paws transformed into a deep grey fur with lavender paws everything changed about them, the blue outfit of Arch's changed to a dark greyish purple with a bright purple gem as the halos turned to a mystical purple as their horns became a light purple along with their hooves. At least Archangel was away from the group so they could show their true self to Watcher and only Watcher, "what's the point of hiding when your able to break through every disguise you see around you~" Archangel spoke as their wings lowered in shame, Archangel still didn't move away as Watcher slid his fingers under the wings on Arch's face.
"I've known you for twenty thousand years Archie, you can't forget that~ you know how I am with these things~" Watcher said before smiling slightly as he moved the darkened wing from Archangel's face, "Just like how I remember them~" Watcher spoke before moved his hand away a the wing closed up and Archangel snapped back into their purer disguise, "You should be heading back to Master's sanctuary, your vessel is growing worried about you...maybe another day when time is sparing for us...I'll see you some time later darling~" Watcher spoke before vanishing into a cloud of smoke.
Archangel shivered as the cold smoke drifted by and Arch backed off before heading back to the sanctuary to meet up with Bad and Skeppy, but Archangel noticed a group leave the sanctuary with closer inception Arch saw Sapnap, George, Halcyon, Cerulean, and Olympus walk the paths to some strange destination they were heading off to. Archangel also barely noticed that Olympus was limping as he followed the others as if he made just a slight enough of a recovery to be able to walk around just a bit, Archangel kept that information in mind if any questions came up about the five.
~~~~~~
"If I remember correctly Dream and Techno had told me that a nether portal just off in this direction, I think a few of the hermits mentioned it as well but I'm not too sure." George spoke leading the way, "well mostly Techno noted it to the group since he travels the most to trade goods and what not with people he meets with his hoglins" George added squinting his eyes beneath his goggles that he got back from his latchers.
"And it's just us two and three latchers, wh-" Sapnap stopped to realize George was basically fucked since he wasn't immune to fire or lava, "yeah we got to be a bit cautious when journeying through the nether again for the third time."
"You don't say." George uttered out from below his breath, he had to be extremely cautious as one wrong move will leave two latchers abandoned and cold, George didn't want that at all so he kept a close watch to his surroundings and environment as he and the others followed him. Cerulean and Halcyon were walking to the left and right of George keeping him guarded in the middle of the latchers.
"I mean, you weren't chopped up by piglins now where you." Sapnap said raising a hand to scratch bennthe Olympus' chin, "well even though there's like other things to be worried about such as wither skeletons, piglins, hoglins, hellhounds, lava serpents, blazes, ghasts... the list go on" Sapnap said as his hand fell back to his side.
"Falling into lava, getting crushed under a boulder of sorts, getting hung by a crimson vine, set on fire." George added to the list as he looked back at Sapnap, "I've got a lot of things to watch out for while you don't as you can just hang out in the lava and what not." George hissed before looking away up at the nether portal. George said nothing and walked into the portal followed by Sapnap then the latchers, but that wasn't the only thing that followed shortly behind the group.
A cloaked figure walked from the trees having watched this group of five travel from their town to this portal, the figure fixed their hood of their cloak as belt where tightly secured to their chest, arms, and legs with the chest belts holding small vials of glowing liquids and a few thrown knives just in case of any danger, but this cloaked person had a deadly punch to them when in combat as they walked forth to the portal entering its purple warping glow as the last thing out in the overworld was a tail that slipped right into the portal.
Is it a Friend or Foe?