Hermitcraft Randomness - S7 Oneshots

Nightlight - Zedaph x Grian

(WC: 2294
Category: Fluff, hurt/comfort, platonic shipping
Warnings: Panic attacks

Have some platonic Gridaph! I loved their interactions during HCBBS man, I hope they collab more in the future. This has been sitting in my drafts for a while, I just managed to finish it now, so sorry about the wait!!

Funny story about this oneshot: The original concept was written with the Dream Team, for a oneshot book that never saw the light of day. I lost the original oneshot sadly :(( But I listened to the song again a few weeks ago and got really inspired to write with it again, so here we are!

Also, yeah, Zed has little canon wings for me now :D

Enjoy <3)

Ever since he'd fallen down into the Void, Zed had tried to avoid the dark.

His Cave of Contraptions was meticulously lit up with torches in a neat pattern. He'd made sure that no dark areas—even underwater—were present. The hole that led to the void was patched up and lined with caution tape, just in case he was careless enough to fall in again.

Nowadays, just seeing a dark area reminded him of the Void. The darkness down there was worse than dead at night. Zed could still envision the light of the Overworld fading as he slipped and fell into the hole leading to the Void, falling further and further down, his wings useless...he didn't even want to go out at night anymore. You never knew what could be in those shadows.

Was he being overly paranoid? Maybe. But dying to the Void was different than, say, a death to a mob or fall damage. The Void slowly suffocated you, squeezing the life out gradually before what was left just kept...falling forever.

But there was nothing he could do to stop the feeling of dread whenever he saw darkness. The best thing he could do was take precautions.

So, Zed kept lighting up his Cave.

Then, HCBBS occurred.

The Hermitcraft Big Base Swap.

And Zed swapped bases with Grian, having to hand over his Cave of Contraptions.

And the mansion he received in return was dark. Very dark.

"Here it is!" Grian said, gesturing proudly to his grand mansion. From the outside, it was impressive. Zed could tell that Grian had put some serious time and effort into the exterior, and it wasn't even completely done yet.

Then, Grian had shown him the interior.

At first glance, it was just as impressive. The entry foyer was massive, with a chandelier made out of diamond blocks--which was honestly just showing off. The floor was a mix of crimson nylium and glazed terracotta, making a sort of large spiral pattern.

Gradient columns rose up from the edges, helping support the main room of the mansion. A fireplace made out of stripped warped wood was at the other end of the room, complementing the red floor nicely.

The wings of the mansion, however, weren't quite as polished yet.

The main thing Zed noticed was the sheer darkness that took up the walls. Grian had tried to torch-spam halfheartedly, but that didn't even begin to cover the dark. For a mansion of this size and proportion, lighting was a big issue. Mobs spawned every so often, but Grian just slew them quickly, like he was used to it.

Zed wasn't worried about the mobs, anyway. He was much more concerned about the darkness itself.

Grian didn't pick up on Zed's nervousness while showing him around. Instead, he continued the tour, dropping through a random hole in his base to get to the main part of his mansion--namely, his storage unit.