Those Who Whisper Always Lie

Chapter 9

"I don't think I can get these over my wings," Taurtis said as Grian slid the elytra over his head. The two of them were at Grian's elytra course in the shopping district. Grian wanted to teach Taurtis how to fly.

Taurtis didn't understand why the builder was so determined to get the fake wings onto him, but he seemed so happy that the Listener agreed to try. This is what being a Listener is all about, right? Understanding the culture of the world they were tuning into. And if this elytra course was important to Grian and Hermitcraft, he should at least try it.

Grian messed with the straps of the elytra, loosening them to their biggest length in order to get the fake wings over Taurtis' real, tiny wings. As soon as they were over, Grian tighten the straps up again. The elytra was a bit low on the Listener's back, but they were tight to his body, so he hoped they would work. He loaded the elytra with some of his extra rockets and placed the controls in Taurtis' hands.

"This button opens the elytra and this one launches the rockets. You use the rockets when you need to fly up or go faster," Grian explained while Taurtis... well... listened, "I'll go first so you can see how it's done."

Grian smiled then jumped off the platform. Taurtis had a moment of panic before seeing the hermit shoot up into the sky. He began to go through the various hoops around the shopping district and then off into the distance. It was Taurtis' turn to try.

He stepped close to the edge of the platform looking forwards towards the first hoop. He took a deep breath, reviewing the controls in his head. He didn't know why he was so nervous, he could teleport at will, but he felt his heart race.

He stepped off the platform, quickly pressing the button to open his wings. He closed his eyes and he felt the wind going through his hair. He was flying. He's never flown before. It was a strange feeling to say the least.

Taurtis was told that his real wings would never be big enough to carry his weight. He's never mind that, until now. The feeling of gliding through the sky made him feel powerful. It made him feel... like a Watcher.

"TAURTIS WATCH OUT!" The Listener looked up and realized he was heading straight for a building. Taurtis panicked. He spammed the rocket button and launched himself into the sky. He broke through the clouds, he was even higher than the build limit at this point.

Taurtis paused to look around. Even above the clouds everything was beautiful. But his peace didn't last for too long as his wings have closed and the Listener fell towards the earth. The sense of dread quickly set on Taurtis as he was falling. Even thinking for a moment about how painful his death will be.

But then he remembered, he was a Listener! They make landings like this all the time without a scratch on their body. He had to prepare fast as he didn't have much time. He took a deep breath, trying to remember everything he learned in training. He positioned his feet to the floor and closed his eyes.

Crash!

"MY PICKLE SHOP!"

Taurtis opened his eyes and found himself in a tank of water. He could breathe just fine but he was confused. Quickly he swam up to the building and through the hole he crashed through. He cringed at the damage. Not only he broke the roof, but some green figure that was on top was now caved in.

He pulled himself out of the water and onto the roof of the shop when Grian landed right next to him.

"Are you okay?" The brown haired boy asked.

"Yeah, yeah, just a rough landing," The Listener responded.

"I'll say, you destroyed the top of my pickle shop!"

"Is that what this place was?" Taurtis scrunched his eyebrows.

"Yeah! It was a giant pickle jar!" Grian threw his hands in the air, chuckled a bit.

"Ooooh," Now that Taurtis looked back on it. It did look like a pickle jar! There were floating pickles inside and everything, "I'm sorry."

"No it's fine. I honestly get no diamonds from this place," Grian said, now full on laughing. Taurtis started laughing along with him.

"I guess flying isn't really my thing, huh?" Taurtis shook his head, twiddling with the elytra's controls in his hand. He accidentally presses one of the buttons and causes the wings spread out. This made Grian laugh even harder.

"If you practice, I'm sure you could get the hang of it," Grian said, helping Taurtis get the wings back down.

"Maybe not today, though, I had enough of this elytra for one day."

"Fair enough, I'll help you get them off."

The two of them got back to Grian's base and took off Taurtis' elytra. Grian insisted that he kept them but Taurtis argued that he had no where to keep them. Grian decided to place a special chest just for Taurtis, placing a sign on top simply titled Taurtis' Chest.

Grian placed Taurtis' elytra in the chest along with the rockets. He also slipped in a few diamonds and other goodies too, just incase Taurtis wanted to try some other things Hermitcraft had to offer.

Taurtis smiled at the gesture. Grian was the same but so different at the same time. It was strange what two years could do. He was just happy to see Grian again. It's been too long. He wished they could of talked sooner, but it just wasn't possible.

But later was better than never. Taurtis finally found him and this time, and he wouldn't mess up. He would make sure that the Watchers couldn't mess this up for him. He'll do whatever it takes to keep Grian and his new world safe from the terror of the Watchers.