Hidden Within

Chapter 4, the real one this time

Previously

“The room was quiet, my whole body still aching from the pendant restraining my Admin powers. I take in a shaky breath and let it out slowly. Flopping over onto my back, I prepare to rest. What if this whole thing is a dream… Yeah, surely I'm still under the tree back at EVO. My friends are all still safe.

Suddenly, a small click sounded, followed by a hissing noise, and a purple mist began to enter the room.”

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Grian startled and quickly sat up to look in the direction of the noise. From the ceiling of the room, a small hole was leaking a glowing mist. Curiously, he walked over and examined it. Vaguely, he remembered Zayne saying something about it “awakening his abilities” or something like that. It smelled foreign and smoky and stung his lungs with every breath. Panic begins to rise in Grian’s chest, and he quickling darts around the room, looking for any way of escape.

At taking his first step, the world began to spin, and he started to feel nauseous. Grian stumbled forward and collapsed into his desk. “Let me out!” he heard himself shout in frustration, more fear than anything. Who are these strange creatures to take him from his server? What plans would the possible have in store. His whole body was starting to tingle, and an ache in his chest blossomed with sharp pain. A flicker of light caught his attention, and with fear, Grian watched his admin mark on his hand flicker in and out of existence. Terror settled in, and his breath caught in his throat. That was Grian’s only hope of getting out of this place. Without it, he was trapped.

Again, a burst of pain stabbed Grian in the core. He crumpled down on the floor near his bed and clenched the thin blanket in his hands. Tears brimmed at his eyes as his body seemed to be fighting itself from the inside out. Black began to sneak in around the corners of his vision, and in a quick moment, his body fell limp to the cold stone floor.

~~~~~~~ 0.o ~~~~~~~

Slowly, Grian awoke from his faint and sat up. Thankfully, the strange mist that had been creeping in was now nowhere to be seen. Getting to his knees, he gathered his strength and stood up. Everything looked the same as it did before. How long has it been? Grian wondered. He felt the wait of the pendent against his chest and groaned. “Might as well get this over with..” Grian mumbled with a sigh. Once a Watcher, I'm going to get out of here. Watchers are powerful. Surely, there must be a way to bring back the Evolutionists. That's when an idea formed in his mind. Join the watchers, then turn against them. I can use their own power to defeat them. It was a rough plan, but a plan, none the least. Surely, there had to be other players here that would be in support of going against the Watchers.

Satisfied with his plan, Grian rose and looked towards the book Zayne had set on the desk after bringing him to the room. Picking it up, he began flipping through the pages of rules. No doing this… No doing that.. Yada yada yada… His curiosity piqued back up when he got towards the end of the book. In the last few pages, it told of restricted players and other beings that no one should ever face, less they wanted to die. What was interesting was that some were forbidden to even search for, and not to have any contact with them, or be punished. The names and faces all seemed like normal players, Vexes, and Watchers, except for one.

The Watcher’s name was crossed out and unreadable. All that was left was a picture of her, black hair and gentle features. She had been a commander of her own leagueion of warriors. The book continued, after committing treason, she hadn't been seen, her squad found slaughtered. Grian shuttered and closed it. This all was a lot to process, and he was hungry now… it's been a while since he had something to eat. Though eating should be lower on his list of objectives, there seems not much else to do.

He looked at the closet and its contents within. A uniform consisting of a light grey cloak that fell knee length and a black shirt with silver buttons hung with black pants. A pair of black leather boots lay on the closet floor. After quickly dressing and slipping on the boots, Grian headed for the door of the room. If they expected him to remove his red sweater, however, they were sure to be disappointed. He walked to the door and pressed his ear against the hardwood, listening for the sound of movement on the other side. It's clear.

Steadily, he opened the door and peeked out. It was empty, a quiet hallway, just like he had seen it before. Grian walked out of the room and began walking back in the direction he had come from with Zayne. After passing a few rooms, he couldn't take the curiosity anymore and peeked through the keyhole of one. On the floor was another of the stolen players. Unmoving. Dead. their eyes stuck open, displaying foggy pools of nothingness. Grian's heart began to pound, and the world started moving too fast. He was kidnapped, and someone died here. How many others did not survive.

Another sound of pounding started. This time, it wasn’t coming from his chest. It was footsteps from behind him, moving quicker with every second. Grian tried to move and tried to look away from the body, but he was frozen. He tried the scream, but nothing could escape his lips. Suddenly, he felt a hand around his neck, and a sharp pain in his gut as a sword was stabbed through him.

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Gasping Grian sat up in his bed. A cold sweat clung to him along every inch of his body. Slowly, he lowered a shaking hand to his abdomen and felt around gently. He released a breath, just a nightmare. He tossed his blankets aside and kicked his feet off the edge of the bed. Lately, he couldn't seem to get a break from these recurring dreams. Surely it must be him? But he has no memories of these events. Grian looked down at the back of his hand, blank. But I never was an admin… And it’s pretty hard to forget something that is important, right?

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Author notes: My apologies. I know it's short. But I suppose an update is well overdue. And someone is about to be busy, so I thought I'd free her up a bit.

I promise the next chapter will be longer! And definitely won't be this long before you get the next one. I truly enjoyed writing this one. I missed it

See ya in the next one! :)