Past

Chapter 2

Xelqua just stood there as Astaria flew away, how could that not be the end. What did she know that she wasn't telling anyone, Xelqua thought as he again shifted forms. He made it back through the nether to his mansion in the overworld so he didn't have to worry about having to do the journey the next time he entered Hermitcraft. He was still baffled at a few things, obviously, what was next but also at how both GA Zoridaii and Astaria managed to enter the server without alerting everyone, as far as he knew no spell he had heard of could do that, he'd ask when he met up with the council. Just before he left he checked his communicator to see if any of the other Hermits had messaged him while flying, he had a DM from Mumbo.

<MumboJumbo> Hey G do you want to visit the main world with Iskall and Scar tmr

Grian thought that it would be a good idea, he could use a small breather and he also didn't want to worry his friends.

<Grian> I should be able to

He left the server and went back to the alleyway so he could change forms again since flying was much more fun than having to walk. He also used his hidden inventory to change his robes so no one saw the state he was in. A few people below waved and he waved back at them as he neared the headquarters. He did his best to avoid some of the guards since up close you could see a few light burns on the lower half of his face since he was wearing his watcher mask like always.

As he landed he saw all the council members, minus the High Leader, sitting in chairs that they moved into the middle of the central chamber. Neferus seemed to be going around helping with the injuries of the others. "Are you guys okay?" he asked.

They all nodded at the same time as he pulled up a seat and sat down between Hayden and Cirrus. "What happened with each of you, I'm assuming everything was okay?" Xelqua asked the group.

"Most of us fought the smaller generals, which was a close battle but the server admins helped take them down," Lysabel told him.
"GA Vecoef hit Hypixel and he was harder to defeat," Gryff said and it was visible how hard the battle was.

Similar to Xelqua he had more cuts and bruises than the others, but Xelqua still had more injuries than he or any of the others. The admins' clothing was still ripped since they most likely teleported straight there and back but the watchers, who had to fly had robes adorning them. It hit Xelqua that unlike the battle of the academies this fight was harder, and he realised that these were the people that inspired the leaders at the academy.

He tried to not think of the battle even if there was no loss of lives. He didn't think about the battle since it made him think of his friends that the watchers destroyed. It also made him think of how unprepared everyone was for the battle. Six of the current council members weren't a part of the council and most of them had only been a part of it for a few years even though it had been around for 100. For so so long it was just the High Leader, Lysabel and Gryff which some people questioned. The High Leader had said that there were specific people with a special aura, then 25 years ago Via and Blaze joined they didn't have to fight any battles until 20 years later when they helped save Zyrex and Xelqua from the academy, they both joined the council. Cirrus joined not long after and the other five joined in the next few years. This showed them all a battle and they all knew that they needed to get better prepared.

"Did you have to face Zoridaii?" Lysabel asked coming over next to him with Xelqua and breaking Xelqua's train of thought.

"Yeah, but the same person who saved me from the void helped," He still wasn't sure if she would like to reveal her name.

The faces of Lysabel and Gryff changed and made them look unsure, "She seems to be around a lot when you get into bad situations," Gryff said.

"Be careful of her Xelqua we don't know anything about her," Lysabel said.

He could see why they would tell him to be careful, and he was being careful, but something about Astaria made him trust her. He also felt he could at least give her some trust after he had saved his life a few times but he was still unsure about who she really was and where she came from, it was hard to tell her age since she had white hair, which normally watchers and admins only got after they had lived past 200, but of what facial features he could see she seemed younger than 100.

This time he snapped himself out of his train of thought, "Did they cause much damage to the servers?" he asked.

"Luckily most of the code deflected most of the damage, a few people got small injuries from some of the bigger attacks spread out attacks but some of the servers' admins needed more care but their healer could help them," Zyrex said now coming over, "Also next time don't be such an idiot going to a server where you won't get help from the admin,"

"Yeah I should have thought about that," Xelqua said scratching the back of his head.

"You look quite injured Xel, you seemed to have been hit against something hard," Neferus said coming over to look.

She applied some of the reddish-pink healing potions along his back which seemed to help, then she came round his front and saw the wound across the fainting purple burns. "Xelqua this is a very bad wound, I'm surprised you got back,"

She applied more of the healing potion to the wound and continued her analysis, "It seems that you actually got lucky with is being over the burn," She said then touching the area around the wound, "It seemed that it warmed up and cauterized it,"

By the time she was done with everyone's injuries, all eyes had turned onto their leaders and the up to the balcony as a figure came flying down. The High Leader had come down to the minicircle that the council members had made. With a small wave of her hand, she had an area of solid air to sit on. The circle was informal, and even if the proper chair were just a walk away, the fact that the High Leader came down made her seem more like a person. "You did well with your battles and I apologise for not being there," she started, the others hadn't even thought about her not being there, they just assumed she was busy and she probably was, "I can tell you that those people were once dead and now once again are. This makes me believe that there is a bigger power at play. This showed we weren't prepared for these battles. For many of you, it was your first battle, and for the rest, it was your first one on one stakes fight. Erin, I wish for you to upgrade weapons for most watchers, admins and players to be prepared, do try and avoid causing panic. For plans to prepare I will leave it to Lysabel and Gryff who can work closely with you. I will begin watching for any signs of another attack,"

She didn't leave much room for discussion but they could see that something was definitely going wrong. The others turned to Lysabel and Gryff to hear instructions, "I believe we all need more training," Gryff said.
"Which means combat, flying, coding, magic and more. We need to improve whatever we can," Lysabel said, "I'll take combat and coding, Gryff is on the watcher abilities. We'll also get the other watchers and admins to get stronger as well.

"We also need to think who else could be involved," After saying this Gryff paused and looked at Lysabel then towards Xelqua, but only for a split second.

Lysabel then spoke again, "We need to suspect the mysterious watcher that saved Xelqua, they showed up just as this started picking up and they keep coming back,"

Xelqua agreed it was the right thing to do but something just made him feel uneasy. After a few more short instructions they disbanded to prepare for the unknown.

WC~ 1442

Hope you guys enjoyed this slightly longer chapter and hope you enjoyed it all together

-Azrin