Hermitcraft/Empires SMP/Third Life/Afterlife Randomness

this might turn into a full book help

Where am I...

Grian woke up lying facedown in what felt like grass. The last thing he remembered was the End. He hadn't seen his friends since before the Ender Dragon fight.

He felt guilty tears come to his eyes as he realized that he quite possibly never would again.

But the opportunity placed before him was too good. To become a Watcher... an elite, world-bending being. For Grian, it was worth leaving them. He'd still have memories. And besides, maybe the Watchers had some sort of... magic telepathy powers that he could use to reconnect with his friends from Evo when he got the chance.

The smell of the grass got boring. Grian pulled himself up from the ground and wiped away the singular tear that had leaked from his eye. He couldn't cry now, he needed to make a good first impression. There would be time to miss his friends later.

He looked around. He didn't feel any different, but surely the Watchers would be somewhere around here. He'd finally meet them in person, instead of through vague messages and riddles.

But there was nothing.

Grian's heart sank further with each passing moment. Had they tricked him? Had they teleported him to a random uninhabited world, to live out the rest of his days alone? But why would they do that? What did they have to punish him for... that they hadn't already, at least?

But it couldn't be uninhabited, Grian realized as he continued to examine the area. There were spots of dirt on the ground and floating leaves in the air that hadn't decayed yet. There was an unsupervised crafting table a few blocks away. Someone had been here, and from how recent the site looked, they couldn't have gotten far.

A Watcher, maybe? Did they do such boring and mundane tasks as chop trees?

Grian did some tree chopping of his own and climbed one of the remaining trees to get his bearings. He was on a small island. A large landmass was in view. Grian figured that was the most logical place for people to be, so he crafted a boat and headed for the continent.

He avoided the strange zombie-like creatures in the water, assuming they were some Watcher creation. He smacked one with his paddle when it got too close. It growled and sank back into the water. That gave Grian some satisfaction despite his confusion.

The bow of his boat ran up on a gravelly beach with the sound of wood scraping against stones. Grian stepped out of the boat and picked it up with his wooden axe.

He was at the base of an extreme hills biome. Grian groaned with dread and started the climb, one painstaking block at a time.

He finally reached the top and took the opportunity to mine some stone and make some better tools. He admired his handiwork, grabbed a small vein of coal, and continued his search for the Watchers.

Maybe this was some sort of test. Maybe Grian had to find them before they'd teach him their ways.

In that case, where would the Watchers be?

Grian's first thought was the End. It had been in the End that they had given him the offer, after all.

It wasn't a great lead, but it was the only one he had.

Grian climbed out of his tiny mine and stood at the edge of the mountain biome to get his bearings. He'd have to speedrun, probably; get to the End and defeat the Ender Dragon... again.

A new problem came up.

If the Watchers were in the End... who was with him in the Overworld?

He finally turned his attention to the landscape.

Not far from him, still in the extreme hills, was a tiny wood-and-cobble hut. Where the extreme hills ended, there began a forest biome that at first glance was undeveloped, but further inspection revealed several unnatural clearings, and Grian thought he saw a sign. No megabases in view. From how recent the tree-cutting at Spawn had been and the overall lack of structures besides the hut, Grian guessed that people had been in this world for a couple days at most.

He started towards the hut and knocked on the door. There was no answer. The owner was probably out mining, or material gathering. Grian could come back later.

He continued exploring the continent. He approached the forest area and found the sign. It had two words: Shopping District.

Maybe this was some sort of area where people sold things? It didn't seem like it. But it was evident that nobody had been in this world long, so Grian couldn't really hold it against whoever had placed the sign.

"Oh, you must be the new guy!"

Grian jumped, and his heart skipped a beat. He whirled around. "Oh, my goodness."

The stranger chuckled as Grian regained his composure. Oh, my little heart, that was terrifying.

His first thought had been a Watcher, but upon seeing the person who had spoken, he told himself that couldn't be true. The only thing extraordinary about this man was his mustache.

The first thing Grian noticed about the stranger was that he was tall. He towered almost a foot over Grian, and he wore a fancy suit and a red tie, both of which were stained with redstone dust. His blue eyes studied Grian, but there was no hostility. Not even suspicion. Just curiosity, as if Grian were a puzzling redstone contraption. And he didn't stop moving - fiddling with the edges of his magnificent black mustache, shifting his feet, tapping his fingers against his arms, then bringing his pale hand back to his mustache. Grian would have suspected the man was nervous if not for his expression.

"The name's Mumbo Jumbo," the man said finally, appearing to be satisfied. "I'm assuming you're the new person Xisuma recruited. Welcome to Hermitcraft."

"Grian," Grian said, bewildered. "Are you... are you a Watcher?"

"I'm a Hermit," Mumbo Jumbo replied, which didn't really answer the question.

"There must be some sort of mistake," Grian said. "I agreed to be a Watcher. I'm sorry, I don't think I'm supposed to be here."

Mumbo brightened. "Of course you are! Nobody gets on the Hermitcraft server without permission. Come on, I'll show you around. This is the Shopping District. I'm afraid there's not much here yet." he continued to talk about this strange place called Hermitcraft and the Hermits who lived there. He didn't say anything about the End or Watchers.

Grian tried to listen to what Mumbo was saying, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He'd just have to bide his time until he could find the stronghold and hopefully, the Watchers. Mumbo seemed nice, and if it was true that this X-I-Suma person had whitelisted him on purpose, Grian guessed that he was probably supposed to be here.

I suppose it's time to leave Evo behind. I'll find the Watchers eventually... but it couldn't hurt to make some friends before I do.