Broken (Hermitcraft AU) [NO LONGER BEING UPDATED, UP FOR ADOPTION]

4

(Hello! Just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has read this book so far, and shoutout to @Milanznsj and @sunlightzone1 for commenting, it really makes my day. Thank you all so much for reading, it really amazes me that after only about a week, this has already gotten more than 100 reads. I never thought that I was actually good at writing, since my stories in the past were all for school and I didn't put that much real effort in, so the fact that people are enjoying this literally makes me happy cry :) Hope you enjoy this next chapter!) 

POV Grian

Grian spent the next few hours at Tango's base, trying to understand all the information being given to him. Basically, he was a gargoyle, the main defence of the Nether Kingdom, which is basically a giant Nether fortress surrounded by even more Nether fortresses. The True Wither (apparently the ones that are summoned and killed are something like minions or clones or something, he didn't fully understand that part) lives in this kingdom, and, along with the True Ender Dragon (same situation as the T.W.), keeps the portals between dimensions steady and functioning properly. 

(P.S. The dragon's name is Ted and the wither's name is Tristan)

According to Tango, the resident gargoyle expert, when Grian gets mad, grey claws will come out of his knuckles, which can make other people turn into gargoyles if nearly killed by them. His stare will now turn anything he is truly angry at to stone if they meet his eyes, and he can turn different parts of his body to stone at will to protect himself. He will have a full gargoyle form once the transformation is truly complete, but he can only stay in the full form for a few hours at a time before having to transform completely into stone to regenerate his energy. Also, he can fly and he looks really freaking cool (Tango's words, not Grian's). 

The redstoner also explained that gargoyles are usually Netherborn, like himself, to avoid... incidents with lava and fire in their hellish homerown. For Grian to have became one after being Endborn... well, let's just say that it's really, really uncommon. As in, it's never happened before. Ever. Grian was confused about something else in that explanation, though. 

"Tango, why do you keep calling me Endborn?" he asked, perplexed. "Not even one of the watchers were actually born there, we're all turned from regular players to pursue a, quote unquote, 'higher calling'." 

Tango looked shocked, and he soon revealed why. "Well of course there has been at least one watcher who was truly Endborn, don't they teach you history when you're... how did you put it, turned?" 

G thought for a moment, then realized with a start that he really knew nothing about any past watchers, and even then very little about the present ones. "No, all I really know about the watchers is that we were all players and that we all have some capacity for magic, which is how we're chosen." He was hesitating, feeling shocked at himself that he never questioned that before, why didn't he truly know any of his peers? How could he have called himself their friend?

The Netherborn stood still for a moment, wondering how to go about explaining this to his friend. "I am going to tell you a story, and it's going to be long, all right, Grian?" 

"All right." 

"Long ago, before the Nether or the Overworld, there was just an island, floating in a sea of nothing. On this island lived a colony of dark, beautiful creatures with glowing purple eyes. They were looked after by a kind and generous ruler, a huge dragon, which had come up from the void when the island first became populated. 

"After a while, the darklings, as they were called, started to grow tired of the island and asked the dragon for something more. The dragon, who loved the darklings very much, tried to satisfy their boredom with new islands to explore. The dragon created gates to these islands, and to get there all the darklings had to do to explore was ask for a lift to the mysterious gateways. When they got the islands, they found a plant, which they called Chorus, and they soon found that whoever ate the plant gained the ability to teleport at will, which in turn made it easier to explore. 

"These new places and the new ability made them happy for a long time, but eventually, they got bored of the islands and went to the dragon to ask for something more. The dragon, who had guessed this was coming, had been preparing something special for the darklings for some time now. He presented them with a whole new dimension they could explore, full of plants and animals and life, with different biomes and many, many places to go. 

"Again, this kept them satisfied for a very long time, even longer than the islands did, but all too soon, they came back asking for more. So the dragon, being the kind ruler he was, started working on another new dimension for his people, so that they could finally be happy. This place was full of warmth and other creatures, ones who could finally understand the language of the darklings. They loved it, many darklings moved there permanently and eventually evolved to better fit the hot climate. They became what we know now as the Wither Skeletons. 

"The only problem was that the dragon was having trouble keeping all three dimensions open by itself, they were becoming unstable and it was scared they would become closed forever, unaccessible by each other. So, for months, the dragon put all its energy into making a ruler for the Nether, who would hopefully be able to help keep the portals open forever. It suceeded, and the new ruler of the Nether arrived. The Wither. Together, they could keep the portals open, and help the darklings pass from one dimension to another with ease. 

"The side effect to creating another being so strong, however, was that during the process, lots of slivers of power got created and sucked into the Overworld to balance the amount of power in the dimensions. These slivers gradually became the first players, and the worlds changed forever. 

"The players took over the Overworld, and were set on conquering the other dimensions as well. To try and teach them that this wasn't the right decision, the dragon took a few of the players with the highest amounts of power in them into the End, where it told them their history, gave them new powers and a mission, to try and stop their brethren from completely destroying all three dimensions in their quest for victory over all. To guide these new allies, Watchers, it called them, it created a teacher for them all. The Endborn, Xelqua."