The Chained Watcher

He recoiled in fear and horror, expecting to be struck down by this being, this Watcher in front of him.  Never once did its eyes leave his, and he saw how drained they looked.  Much like its wings, none of the tell-tale glow of magic could be found in its eyes as it gazed at him with the emotionless gaze of one who has existed since time immemorial. 

Stumbling back, everything in him screaming Run! Before it's too late! as the Watcher gazed on, no emotions coloring its gaze even now.  He backed up all the way to the door, scrambling to find the handle without looking away.  Right as he found the handle, its eyes slowly lowered back down, returning to the same pose it had been in when he entered the room. 

'Deep breaths, Mumbo. In. Out. In. Out. In... Out... Okay, let's leave before it decides to smite you.'  He calmed himself down, once again taking in the sight of the chains draining the magic from the body of the Watcher in the center of the room.  It looks rather sad like this, quite different from the terrifying feeling its gaze gave him just moments ago.  'Those chains are probably rather painful too...'

He glanced over his shoulder, out at the endless winding halls, then back at the chained Watcher.  Before he could think about what a terrible idea this was, he speed-walked back over to the creature, and started searching for a way to get the chains off, muttering "I shouldn't be doing this.  This is a terrible idea."

Checking the back, where they attach to the spikes, Mumbo found a complex latch connecting the chains to their anchors.  After fiddling with it for a minute, the two parts separate, tension dragging the now loose chain out of his hand and away towards the wall.  "Well, that was rather simple," he remarked.  Slowly, he detaches more and more chains, focusing intently on the task at hand to the point of not noticing the returning color in the wings of the Watcher before him.

On the wall, one of the torches flickers before extinguishing, drawing his attention away from the most recent chain.  Goosebumps rise on his skin, and he turns to look back at the Watcher, seeing a wave of purple energy flood the room before the torches all go out, plunging the room into darkness.  His arms covered his face, in the hopes of somehow defending against the blast, and he fell to the ground rather jarringly after the impact threw him off balance.

Slowly moving his hands away from his face, Mumbo takes in the sight of the (formerly) chained Watcher's wings lighting up with a soft purple glow, illuminating a small area around them while its wounds melt away in the light.  With this new source of light, he can now see that the floor seems to have given way to a bottomless abyss around the edges of the room.  Wonderful.  And then it looks at him, its eyes glowing much the same as its wings.

Mumbo can feel a foreign emotion, like it's not coming from him.  Curiosity.  Confusion.  A question of "Why?"

He manages to stutter out "I-I-I don't really, I mean, I couldn't just w-walk away, y-you know?"

The Confusion strengthens.  A hint of unfamiliarity.  Of uncertainty. 

After prolonged eye contact, the confusion flickers to determination.  A favor given selflessly is one that must be repaid in full.

A query.  What would he ask of the Watcher?

Mumbo mumbled under his breath "A favor from a Watcher.  No pressure or anything..."

Amusement.  Seems like his mumbling wasn't quite as quiet as he thought.

"D-Do you know how to get out?  Me and some others escaped from a g-gladiatorial arena a-and w-we were trying to f-find a way back home..."

The Watcher tilted its head to the side, thinking, before nodding.

It started striding purposefully towards the door, paying no heed to the abyss where most of the floor used to be.

"T-the floor isn't... there..." Mumbo started, trailing off as the remaining stone floor on either side of the chasm extended itself to bridge the gap, thin, twisting, vine-like tendrils of stone rising to form artistically sculpted railings.  "Oh."

The Watcher glances back at him, eyebrow raised with amusement.  Seeming to ask another question with nothing but a glance. Are you coming?

"Coming, I'm coming!" Mumbo said, before running over to the new bridge.  'Don't look down. Just don't look down,' he repeated in his head. 

To his credit, he made it most of the way across before glancing at the yawning mouth of the abyss below the bridge.  The thin, dainty-looking bridge.  Oops.

Stumbling, he dragged his eyes back up, away from the endless stretch of nothingness below.  The Watcher was looking on in mild confusion.  Again.  This seemed to be happening a lot.

"I-I'm fine!  J-just a l-little startled by the amount of n-nothingness is all.  T-that's a lot more of n-nothing than most people usually see."

Comprehension.  And the amusement was back.  Great.

Pulling himself up to his full height, he marched purposefully out the door, saying "Well let's get going!  No time to lose, right?"

He proceeded out the door, turned right, and started walking. 

The amusement strengthened.

Looking back, he saw the Watcher still in front of the door, both eyebrows raised this time.

Seeing that he's looking, the Watcher points down the hall. In the complete other direction. Oh.

They both go down the hall (The correct way this time!) for several minutes, taking turns and side-tunnels that he could have sworn weren't there a couple seconds earlier.

As they were walking, something crossed his mind.  He and his fellow gladiators had just escaped from the Watchers.  And he's currently walking with, guess what, a Watcher.  This is a misunderstanding just waiting to happen.

"U-umm, I hate to ask this, b-but you know how I said me and my friends escaped from an arena?"  Confirmation.  Confusion.  What did that have to do with anything?  "W-well, I'm a bit worried there might be some kind of... misunderstanding, when we find them, because, umm... well... The arena was kind-of run by... Watchers..."

Realization.  Deliberation.  The Watcher examined him for a moment, before purple flames rose up around it, hiding its figure from view.  He drew back half a step, more out of ingrained reflexes than anything else, and watched as the flames hiding the form of the Watcher shrunk somewhat before dispersing.  Revealed was someone who looked almost human, if not for the pair of shimmering purple wings on their back.  They opened their eyes, the color a more subdued lilac compared to the literal purple glow they had earlier. 

The person standing where the Watcher had been opened their mouth, a harsh rasp coming out.  They frowned, eyes flaring back to the vivid purple they had been for just a moment before fading.  This time, when they opened their mouth to speak, a voice came out. "Will this do?"