The Temptation of Power ||| Hermitcraft Watcher AU

Chapter Six

"You weren't lying," Grian muttered in Galactic to the Watchers, whether they were listening or not. The island was starting to become his safe place, his magic place, but not quite his place. It was shared by the Watchers, and Pearl, since he assumed this was the portal she'd seen. Unfortunately, his safe places never seemed to last and this one was no exception.

He put on his mask and destroyed the bedrock and the last trace of the portal, before taking it off and putting it back in his Ender chest. Portals were a dangerous thing to leave lying around, and he didn't want to risk the hermits trying to use it. If they came back here to look at it, they'd find nothing.

Doing it in daylight - at noon - was dangerous. But leaving it until dark was more dangerous.

* * *

Usually, the feeling of wind running through Grian's hair was enough to calm him. It normally made him feel free, like he was able to go anywhere and everywhere. Using an elytra made this untrue, of course, but it still felt like he could do anything. As the blond hermit flew back to his base with an Ender chest in hand, however, he felt nothing like this. He could bite into a sweet, spongey cake but couldn't enjoy it because the pillars of the world were falling down around him as the universe came to an end.

He found himself nearing his base and was about to prepare to land when he saw a figure outside his door, their armour reflecting the sunlight. Pearl.

A slightly bitter taste of dread entered his mouth and he bit the inside of his lip. Maybe it wasn't too late to change his path and avoid- no, she'd definitely seen him already; her head was clearly tilted towards him. She waved. It was definitely too late.

Anxiety and anticipation pooled in the bottom of his stomach. He didn't want to face her, he didn't want to find out that she knew everything about him, he didn't want her to feel sorry for him or to hate him or to be scared of him. But he didn't have a choice.

Gliding down to land just in front of her, he silently decided to make the interaction as quick as possible.

"Hi," he said. Pearl returned the greeting and asked if they could speak, inside. Her expression was like a book in a four year old's handwriting; the ink vaguely resembled letters but it was difficult to put all of them together to make words, and even more difficult to make sentences.

"Grian, I know that you already knew who the Watchers are." Pearl said, nearly straight away after the door to his starter base closed. He'd been expecting those words, but he'd still hoped they wouldn't come. He nodded, not sure how else to respond. "We'll defeat them though, no matter what it takes, don't worry."

"Okay," Grian said, trying his best to sound reassured. The other hermit obviously didn't know as much as she thought, and it was probably best left that way. Pearl smiled at him and left after that.

* * *

The blond stared at himself in the ocean. He'd found another small island with exactly two trees on about twice as far away from the continent as the first one, and this was his first night there. His reflection looked back at him with masked eyes, a familiarly foreign representation if himself.

With a mask covering his eyes, fingers going purple at the edges and enormous wings dwarfing him from behind, fitting between two perfectly sized holes in a dark black cloak draped over his body, he looked menacing. He looked nothing like the happy, optimistic, playful, energetic, human Grian. He looked like Xelqua, the Watcher.

His hand came aflame with magic.

He looked powerful, like someone that could kill people by simply wanting them dead. Simply a passing thought of dislike could hold the power of years of hatred.