Enderlight (Hermitcraft Watcher fanfic)

Chapter 5: Something Strange

It was nighttime on Hermitcraft. The moon was out, brighter than ever and the stars had a milky glow to them. Mumbo looked down below at the shopping district coming into view. The wind was rushing in his ears, almost loud enough to block out the sounds of the firework rocket trailing behind him. He was traveling really fast, the shopping district was appearing quicker and quicker. He was going to need to slow down. When he was close enough, he preformed one quick move, pulling back and doing a small circle in the air in order to gently float down. He felt his feet land on the solid pathway ground, and the Elytra on his back fall down flat.

 He stood there for a moment before sifting through his inventory to find his diamonds. He brought the shining gems out as his fingers brushed over them. He unequipped the firework rockets from his hand, and instead swapped them out for the diamonds. He was ready to buy some things. There were a lot of things that Mumbo needed. Resources for his Mega base, more redstone components, rockets, and maybe even some more golden carrots. 

He began walking as he went over all the shops and things that they sell in his head. The shopping district was unusually silent that evening. normally around this time, it would be really busy, Hermits Walking and flying around everywhere, but today, there was not a single player in sight. A little strange, but Mumbo didn't question it. Maybe everyone was really busy. It was still fairly early in the season, and there were still a lot of things to do. And so, He just continued on, merrily walking down the pathways of the shopping district, ready to purchase some things.

after a few minutes of walking, Mumbo had began to walk further to the opposite side of the district. He saw somebody in the direction he was headed. He was rather far away, but he could instantly tell that it was Grian. Grian was facing away from him, but Mumbo could still tell it was him from his recognizable Wings and the back of his head which looked like a waffle. Mumbo continued down on this path. however, as he approached Grian, he began to notice that he looked sorta strange... The fringes of his wings looked darker, and he thought he spotted something that looked like a tail... and horns? At first, Mumbo thought it was just his imagination, and even blinked a few times to make it go away, but he wasn't seeing things.

Something was definitely very off about Grian. Mumbo thought back to only a few days ago when he had rescued him after he had fallen into the ocean suddenly... Everything about that whole instance had just seemed off. He knew that Grian was still getting the hang of flying, but it was unusual for him to just fall out of the sky like that. And after he had woken up, he had just left without saying a word to Mumbo. Mumbo knew that he had been hiding something, but he didn't want to force Grian to tell him if he wasn't comfortable with it, and so he had just brushed it off and forgotten about it.

But now that same feeling of concern and uneasiness resurfaced, causing him to almost take a step back and turn around. But he just continued walking. maybe If he confronted Grian, he would explain to him what was going on...

But then Grian turned around, and stared straight at Mumbo. His eyes looked glazed, almost as if he was looking somewhere far off, yet at the same time they were as sharp as a blade. Even from afar, He could see their bright purple tinge, which stood out and made the entire background look darker. Mumbo took a step backwards, and then felt frozen in place. He had the sudden overwhelming urge to run away, and he didn't know why. Something felt very wrong. Grain was walking closer to him- or, at least, he assumed it was Grian... yet at this same time, it didn't feel like his friend was there. It was almost like their was something else.

Mumbo felt dazed as he watched the figure of it coming closer. He couldn't move. It's purple tinged eyes had a menacing glare in them. a smile was plastered across it's face. Even in the dark of night, he could make out every little detail of the menacing figure. It had long purple horns, and blackness at the tips of it's wings. It also had a long thin tail, with purple feathery fluff at the tip. Whatever this thing was, it definitely was not Grian. cold fear ran through Mumbo's blood as he watched it draw out a sword. There was only one clear thought that he could process through the blur of terror. 

Run.

Mumbo screamed as he tried to turn around and sprint away, but that thing- whatever it was- Lunged out at him as he attempted to run away. a jab of pain shot through him as he felt the cold blade of the diamond sword make a small cut in his arm. It wasn't a very deep cut. It was just barely enough to draw blood, but the surprise and panic slowed him down just enough for the thing to catch up. He felt it's cold hand grab his shoulder and he stumbled over, falling to the cold ground with a thud. He turned himself over to face up at the sky, and before he could move or get up, the thing forced it's hand onto his shoulder pinning Mumbo down.

He could do nothing but stare up into it's hate-filled eyes, glaring with menace. The shining diamond blade was pressed softly against his neck, sending chills down his spine.

"G-G-Grian!" Mumbo choked out, even though he knew that the thing he was talking to was not his winged friend. He was in so much panic, he didn't know what to do. This was it. He was going to die. He stared up at the familiar face of the friend he only known for a short amount of time, yet had already gotten so attached to. It hurt him inside to see that face filled with so much hate and anger.

But why did any of that matter if Mumbo was about to die anyway?...

He closed his eyes, preparing himself for the pain, however, instead, he felt the diamond sword lift away from his neck.

In relief and surprise, he opened his eyes. The thing that had been pinning him down only a few seconds earlier was gone. He sat up, and glanced around, trying to find the thing. For a second he thought it was gone, but he felt a jab of panic as he spotted it lying in the corner between two houses. Except, the horns and tail were gone and the wings were back to normal. It was just Grian there.

Was.... was the thing gone? 

What even was it...?

Had it been controlling Grian?

thousands of questions raced through Mumbo's mind. He stood up and walked over towards the body of Grian who was lying unconscious on the ground.

He knew that whatever had been controlling him was gone, but he still felt shaky as he approached the small unconscious hermit. As Mumbo glared down at him, Grian began to move a little. Slowly, his eyes opened and for a moment, everything was silent. Grian was looking up at  Mumbo, trembling. 

"...Mumbo???...."

Then there was more silence.

Author's note:

uh, sorry this chapter is so short, I couldn't think of what else to put, but I hope you liked it also I always end up posting these chapters days or sometimes weeks after I write them, and I'm writing this on Christmas Eve. :3 Merry Christmas Y'all. (unless you don't celebrate Christmas or are reading this at a different time of the year)

Words in this Chapter: 1337