The Turf War

The Watcher's Disease

It was another day in the world of Hermitcraft. The sun had risen, the birds were chirping and everyone was slowly waking up after yesterday's party. One could describe the scenery from Grian's mansion to be nothing short of a paradise. The rising sun contrasted beutifully with the magical village and the Omega tree. It was a sight to behold but unfortunately, there wasn't anyone awake to see it, anyone except Grian. He couldn't sleep last night, the nightmares had started again and he was sick of them. So he went to the only place he could think of, the only place he could think straight, the shopping district. The shopping district in the early morning was his safe haven, a place where he could think over his plans for the day, a place where he could relax without a care in the world. It reminded him of simpler times when the HEP and the Resistance didn't exist, when there was no mayor who could assert their authority, when everything was fun and games. He had started the Resistance to oppose Scar's absolute control over the district. The first member was Ren who fought for the mycelium in the district. Ren used to have a mooshroom named Pamela, back at the start of the year and he fought to uphold her legacy. The next member was Impulse, who had been cheated by the mayoral cabinet and, like Grian, despised them with every fibre of his being. The third member was Etho. He was being hunted down by Cub and he found the Resistance to be his safe haven and so he pledged his loyalty to the cause. Xb joined in after that. First he wanted know what the commotion was about but slowly and gradually, he started understanding the cause the Resistance was fighting for and joined in as their recruiter. His only two recruits : Jevin and Stress. Jevin just wanted in on the fights, but like Xb, he too understood and supported the Resistance. Stress was a different story all together. She was being heavily taxed for selling potions without joining the mayoral office and had to give away most of her stocks for free to the mayoral cabinet as they had special 'priviledges", as they put it. And so she joined the Resistance, to fight for a personal reason, and like Ren,she was engrossed in the Resistance's activities, climbing their ranks to be the chief stealth operative. Grian's thoughts were disturbed as an arrow flew beside his head, alarming him of the presence of an hostile. Grian jumped for cover and hid behind Tango's shop. It couldn't have been a skeleton, not on this island, not in the daylight. It had to be a human, someone with a relatively accurate aim. "Could it be ?" Grian thought, and to see if his suspicions were correct, he ran towards the Barge, and then he saw him. Standing there with his bow charged was Scar, he had returned from his expedition. And if Grian was to take a guess from Scar's newly acquired muscles, he had taken the strength potion and it had worked. There was no way out of this anymore, not without a fight. "Put your bow aside" said Grian as he walked out of the Barge. "Why, is poor little Grian scared now ?' mocked Scar, as he threw aside his bow."We will see" said Grian as he took his battle stance. He had no armour, no weapons, just an elytra and some rockets. "I will make this fair" said Scar as he took off his armour,"to make you fear me after I beat the hell out of you." finished the mayor as he took a battle stance of his own. Grian's eyes glew a violent shade of purple, with an almost evil gleam. To his surprise, Scar's did too. His eyes were a dark shade of crimson, with an uncanny resemblance to blood. And so they charged at each other. Grian started out with a roundhouse kick which Scar easily dodged, the mayor then caught hold of Grian's leg and threw him into the Barge. "You ve' gotten stronger" commented Grian as he wiped some blood from his face. "You seem weaker" retorted Scar as he stretched his limbs. As Grian walked out of his broken shop, realized that Scar was right. He was weaker than he was 2 days ago. Something had happened when he used his powers that made him grow weaker but nothing was wrong with him, or so he thought. Once he took a look at his left hand, everything became clear to him. There were faint traces of violet blood oozing out from his injured hand. This power was slowly but surely...corrupting him. His blood had turned violet like it used to be when he was an Watcher. It was spreading the more he used his powers. He had to end this fight quickly, he had to get off the island at all costs and so, he formulated a plan."Are we gonna fight or are you gonna keep looking at your hands ?" asked Scar as he approached Grian. Grian quickly stopped using his powers, his body had started healing and he made a mental note of that, "I don't need my powers to beat you" Grian said calmly and Scar was insulted by this. In a blind fit of rage, Scar charged at Grian who simply caught his hand and reeled him around before throwing him off onto the road. Not using his powers had been a good decision. It felt as if an weight had been lifted from his shoulders, he could move quicker now, and in this fight, speed and agility were going to be more crucial than the power differential. Scar simply shrugged off his injuries and charged at Grian once again, being more cautious this time. Grian dodged all his attacks by the skin of his teeth, Scar's attacks were getting faster every time he countered them, he couldn't keep up with that speed for longer, so he did something very risky : he took a punch from Scar on purpose. He meant to die right there, to be respawned again but his body was stronger than he realized and he went flying into Tango's firework shop. Barely alive, he stood up once more and looked around himself, he was in a firewok shop and an idea formulated in his mind. Scar was surprised to see Grian alive after he had taken that punch and flown into Tango's shop. Respect was something he now had for Grian but he knew that it was time to end the lead Architech's suffering. Grian activated his powers once again and fired some explodable fireworks at Scar and they distracted him. As Grian searched for someone awake, for someone to lock on to , for someone to teleport to, he was met with despair. It was 4 in the morning,who would be awake now ? But he kept searching, and finally he found his answer. As Scar launched towards Grian, the latter's eyes glew purple as he teleported off the island, to Iskall's Omega Tree. Scar simply stood there, realizing what had occured. As anger overwhelmed him, he punched the floor of the ground and fireworks went out into the sky, as if they were mocking him, making fun of his defeat. At that very moment he screamed out the one name he loathed with his very being, the name that made him realize that no matter what potion he takes, he will always be one step behind, the name of a certain Architech who made his life, a hell in the overworld, "Grian !"

Iskall had just woken up from his slumber after yesterday's party. Every month a party was held by a select hermit as a getaway from all the commotion. No matter what was going on, everyone was friends at the party. Hell, he even spotted Grian talking to Xisuma and False. With the turf war going on, they were the biggest enemies in the world and even they were having a good time. And he certainly did. Stress had asked him if he could continue their date and he did exactly that. They were watching a movie at his base when Cleo sent out the message and they decided to go as a couple. And they had a great time, Iskall danced with Stress and the party was very good. They were officially a couple now and things couldn't have gotten better. And then Iskall was interrupted in his thoughts as he heard a loud thud. He assumed something had fallen over and he turned around to pick it up, what he saw however, left him in a state of pure and utter horror. It was Grian, lying unconcious on the floor, bleeding purple blood and barely alive. Iskall fell onto the floor from shock and hurt his head, meeting the same fate as the once vigilante did.