Chapter Seven

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“What do you mean? Suma what did you see?” Pearl asked, sitting next to him, hugging herself.  “You- you cut yourself off there. What’s going on?” XB nodded looking at the admin with a cocked eyebrow. 
    “Somehow something found him. I…can’t tell what. There was a mark on his neck…It’s really faint so I can’t tell what it is, but it wasn’t there before.” Xisuma explained and wiped his hands on his pants. “You don’t think….” Hypno blinked as they processed what it could mean and the severity of the situation hitting them. 
“I don’t know. I hope not.” Xisuma muttered and laid back on the ground. “I hate to say this, but we may have to tell everyone else without Grian…better safe than sorry.”
“He’s going to be mad,but this is for his safety. X, I need a favor.” Pearl murmured shakily. She had been silent for a moment so it made the admin jolt and look at her. 
“You got a plan, don’t you little  missy.” Scar chuckled seeing her bright eyes forming something. Xisuma sat up and watched her pace. “What’re you planning?” He asked. Pearl stopped and to him. “We need to temporarily invite Marytn Littlewood and Jimmy. They were in Evo with us and a lot of the life series that Grian made. They’re the best bet right now.” 
Xisuma sat there for a moment, silent, before he sighed and nodded before waving his hand in the air. The air around his hand became displaced, like it would on a hot summer day as a screen only visible to him popped up.  “What’re their names again?” He asked.
“IntheLittleWood and SolidarityGaming. I’ll message them that you’re gonna send them invites. XB, Hypno you guys mind meeting them at spawn?”
“We’ll head there  now.” Hypno nodded and pulled his companion to his feet and they flew off. 
Pearl watched them leave and turned her attention to her out of server chat, starting to message Martyn and Jimmy without giving them too many details. Xisuma sends them the invites before putting a message in the server chat. 
<XisumaVoid> Two friends are going to be joining the server for a moment. Don't worry. 
<StressMonster101> okay xisuma
<DocM77> we got Grian warm, he seems that he’s sleeping now. No injuries.
Pearl and Scar slumped against each other seeing that sighing. 
“Thank lord..” Scar muttered and got up seeing two players join the server. 
IntheLittleWood joined the game
SolidarityGaming joined the game
“Let’s head to the town hall to meet them.” Scar helped the two up and started walking off. 
“Pearl, we’ll figure this out, but right now… can you please let go of my arm? Your grip is really strong.” Xisuma said softly. Pearl blinked and looked at his arm, her fingers bone white around it. 
She cleared her throat and laughed softly letting him go and shoved her hands in her pockets. “Sorry.” She snickered and walked with him and Scar. 
The town hall was really just one of their shops they gave up with and offered it for something like this. There were some barrels from all of them dotted around filled with small things as welcoming things. Food, rockets, elytras, simple tools and armor. 
The three waited lounging around for the newbies to come. Jumping when they heard four sets of rockets going off above the building. “Pearlio!” Jimmy was the first to land in front of the building and was about to go inside being knocked down as a blond man promptly landed on top of him laughing. “Shove off Martyn!” Jimmy snorted, pushing him as XB and Hypno landed on either side of them just snickering at the two bickering. They looked at Pearl,Scar and Xisuma and shrugged. 
“Alright you two get off eachother.” Pearl dragged her hand down her face hiding a smile as she rushed to them. After Martyn got off Jimmy, the both of them grappled her into a bear hug, lifting her off the ground. She tried wriggling from their grasp laughing before turning to Xisuma, “Little help?”
Xisuma smiled and sighed, shaking his head walking up to them, Scar bouncing behind him. “Can you two please put down Miss Moon?” He asked, putting his hands on the two boys' shoulders. Jimmy blinked after he turned his head and quickly elbowed Martyn in the ribs. They quickly set Pearl down and cleared their throats. 
It wasn’t the first time people were startled by Xisuma’s appearance. This tall man with a helm and tinted visor covering his face and his space suit made people wilt when first seeing him. He smiled and chuckled as they introduced themselves. 
“Nice to meet you two. I’m Xisuma and we invited you because there's…something going on.” He explained as he opened the chat. 
<XisumaVoid> were heading over there now Zed. 
<ZedaphPlays> oke mate
“What’s going on?” Marytn asked as they walked. “They’re looking for Grian.” Pearl murmured looking at him and Jimmy. Recognition flashed across their faces and Marytn pressed his lips into a thin line. 
“He’s been having some troubles, and we found out they were looking for their student. After wrongly exiling him. The troubles seemed to stop and we were all letting off steam in the gaming district, him using his wings to avoid snowballs. It seemed fine, he didn’t seem to be having any of the symptoms of them trying to interfere.” Xisuma started as they tried to match his pace. 
“Then he shouted in pain from the sky and when we looked up to see what was going on…he was unconscious and freefalling.” Scar murmured. “After Xisuma grabbed him he felt really cold and I helped try to wake him up.” Pearl continued rubbing her arm. “And that’s when I noticed something. There was something weird faint on his neck. It looked like a brand but it’s so faint I can’t make it out.” Xisuma opened the door to Grian’s base. “Zed, Doc we’re here.” He called out as they filed in. 
The two confused newbies silently walked behind them as they were still processing what the group had said as Doc walked down the stairs. “Hey. You guys must be friends with Moony.” He motions to Pearl.  “Zed is upstairs with Grian. He seems to just be asleep, his wings wouldn’t relax for a while, we had to pry them away from his body so they could loosen up. Whatever it was must’ve put him in shock when he got so cold so quickly.” 
“I’m going to see him. Xisuma you should give Doc, Jimmy and Marytn a full update. I’ll tell Zed to come down.” Pearl turned on her feet and started heading up the stairs before stopping and turning to them. The others froze and gulped as she said, “Show them our books. XB, Hypno can you check on everyone else?”
XB and Hypno nodded and ran quickly as she went upstairs. “Zed, go downstairs please. I’ve got him.” She sat on the bed and watched him leave before looking at Grian, laying there, sleeping soundly tucked in. 
“You’re such a tart.” she huffed and leaned against the wall closing her eyes. 
Downstairs, Scar and Xisuma had laid out every book that was filled with their theories on the table. “Oh reading?” Jimmy huffed as they sat down and started reading. The four sat in silence as they read for a long while until Martyn visibly paled and closed the book. 
“So basically…Grian is being hunted. They..they separated us fighting the dragon and took him all those years ago….and and locked him up before exiling him! Now they want him?! Suddenly wanting him now?! Doing this to him?!” He said in a near shout standing so quickly the chair landed with a crash. 
Scar fell out of his chair and the others, all but Xisuma, flinched and looked at him as he continued angrily rambling pacing. 
Xisuma waited for a while, before getting up. “Sit. Down.” He said pointedly. “We have a threat trying to get him back. There's no point getting angry right now. All we have to do is make sure they never find him and there’s no point if we get angry or panic. Xelqua is trying so hard to stay level headed himself while getting beaten by them. The least we could do is keep calm so we don’t cause him to spiral out of control. Pearl is his brother for god's sake and she’s doing her best to keep it together.” 
Martyn froze, listening to him before putting his chair upright and sat back down keeping his eyes trained on the table. “You’re right…I’m sorry.” Martyn murmured and cleared his throat. “You’re terrifying X.” Scar snickered and pulled him back to his seat. “We’re gonna have to tell everyone else, but that isn’t safe…” Doc rubbed his eyes.
“Well we can’t  without Grian.” Xisuma nodded and looked up to the stairs. “We gotta let him get comfortable with the fact that we know about it.” He sighed.
They sat there in silence for a few hours, occasionally looking at each other or through the books again.  Scar got up and yawned, heading to Grian’s room to check on him and Pearl. “Guys come look at the kids.” He whispered loudly down the stairs with a chuckle. 
“Oh?” Zed tilted his head and followed the rest of them meeting with Scar poking their heads in through the doorway. 
They smiled looking at the sight before them. Grian sprawled out untucked, one wing hanging off the bed completely. Pearl fell asleep the same messy way, her head on her brother’s stomach, Grian’s other wing tight around her like a blanket, an arm and a leg dangling off the  bed. 
“How are they still on the bed?” Jimmy asked bewildered. 
“I have no clue…” Xisuma admitted quietly. “That doesn’t even look comfortable.”
“Should we move them?” XB asked, looking at Hypno then Martyn.
The two instantly shook their heads. Having first hand experience of startling either of them awake. “Not unless you want a bruised rib.” Hypo rubbed his side. “Or a black eye.” Martyn huffed. 
“Okay then.” Doc huffed and went inside the room, followed by Xisuma. Doc gently picked Pearl up so Xisuma could fix Grian, before laying her back down and covering them with the blanket. The siblings jolted for a moment, squinting an eye open, before settling back down with groggy tired grumbles. 
“They’re exhausted so they’re heavy sleepers.” Xisuma snorted looking at wide eyed Hypno and Martyn. Doc smirked and nudged Hypno in the arm. 
“Did you guys see the sigil when you spawned?” Xisuma turned to Jimmy and Martyn as he closed the door. “Yeah…made Marytn a bit dizzy near it. We didn’t spawn in the center of it, just about….twenty feet away from the edge.” Jimmy nodded. 
Xisuma tilted his head at the new information and thought for a moment. “Ah. We have a Listener in our ranks.” He muttered under his breath and started walking downstairs. 
“A what?” Martyn furrowed his brows and followed behind him. He didn’t expect it to be picked up so quickly but figured it would be Xisuma being an admin and all. 
“Don’t play dumb Littlewood.” Xisuma chuckled. “Let’s leave these guys alone, let them sleep…you two can stay for a bit till we tell the other hermits.”

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