Hels Rebellion

Chapter 38: The Past (Part 3) Evolutions

Nothing lasts forever.

Only months after growing his town, expanding throughout the entire field and getting closer and closer to completing the castle. Making friends and mines and builds and progress. Even their memories had begun to return, though no one was sure what to make of them.

He woke up again.

He didn't forget anything this time. But he awoke on a small field of stone and sand, with a shining blue sky with fluffy white clouds above him. He also felt different. He looked as his wrist to find the yellow heart he always bore was missing.

Did he.. die?

Everything around him seemed more saturated than normal as well, and he couldn't tell as if that was because he was so used to the darker shades of Hels or because things were.. older? It was a completely different world.

He met others there. None of them were as aggressive as his friends, but they were still chaotic, but kinder. It was strange, but he grew accustomed to them with time. They worked less as a group than the Helsians, each having their own individual base, but they still came together for pranks and other shenanigans.

Most of the Evolutionists, as they had begun to call themselves, were fine. Jimmy, Martyn, and BigB were close friends, as well as Netty, Tomohawk, Zee and the others. He enjoyed seeing their different builds, as well as the pranks each of them thought up.

But there were two players that stood out to him.

Taurtis and Pearl. He remembered them. He wasn't sure from where, but both of their faces and names were distinctly familiar.

Taurtis was fun to hang out with, though he wasn't exactly the same as Grian remembered. The winged man could have sworn they'd had more heart-to-heart conversations, but Taurtis had become rather.. one dimensional. His focus was to have fun, always.

Pearl was interesting. She was an avian, just like him. However, she could fly - as Grian had seen - but she didn't do it very often. She was more soft spoken than he remembered, but just as warm-hearted and amiable. They had become close instantly.

It was like he remembered growing up with them. They looked older now, but each conversation with them felt like he had spoken to them a million times. But... neither of them seemed to remember him, or at least, they certainly didn't act like it.

The old memories made him sick. Everything seemed to be coming clearer to him. His past life.... his current life.. was he the same? Why didn't they know him? Was he still Xelqua or was he someone new? Was any of Hels even real? Was this his real life?

He hated being this emotional around his new friends, but it was impossible to not miss what his life had once been. A part of him feared that he would be destined to grow close to these people, just to be taken away from them again.

His anxieties came out in the form of tears, and Pearl was usually the one to comfort him.

It was one of those times now, Grian was sitting in his castle's basement, tucked in his bed under the covers, while Pearl sat on the side, wing wrapped around him, petting his shoulder as he rambled about "past lives" and "Hels" and things she couldn't possibly understand.

It wasn't much, but she did her best. It seemed to work, at least partially, as a few minutes later Grian was silent and his breathing had settled. He eventually sat up, and leaned against Pearl who offered him a cup of tea.

Usually she'd offer water to someone crying... but Grian didn't seem to react well to it. Like even the slightest memories just set him off again.

She watched as he hesitantly sniffed the tea before drinking it. "Thank you, Pearl," he mumbled. "I'm sorry for.. freaking out."