The lies behind their masks - A(nother) Hermitcraft and Evo AU fanfiction.

Chapter 18

Grian looked out from his base at the jungle. He flexed his wings, before sitting down with a sigh. Nothing was going right. At all. Shame, anger, remorse, fear and hopelessness merged into something worse in his heart. He held back a scream, keeping his mostly-negative emotions in check as he watched the world ahead of him.

This is your fault. A voice told him. You're to blame here. You should've never gone to Hermitcraft. Grian tried to blot it out. He had enough pessimism to last him the rest of his life. 

'Hey... Grian...' The clearly exhausted form of Taurtis appeared in front of him, panting from his clime. 'How... how many stairs have you got?'

'Hey, Taurtis...' Grian tried to smile. His friend sat down next to him?

'What's up?'

'Nothing. Are you ok?'

'Been better...' Taurtis admitted. 'This isn't at all what I expected.'

'I know. I can assure you, it's been better.'

'Great... I missed the best.'

'Come on, Taurtis... it's not like you missed much...'

'You said I missed three years of your life. What happened in that time?'

'Well, I found Hermitcraft... or they found me...'

'I'm confused...'

'I build the entire world before this one from a bit of bedrock.'

'How long did THAT take?'

'Not as long as you'd expect... I think time was frozen, or just very weird... it didn't do much...'

'Oh.'

'And then the other hermits appeared, and I was basically... adopted...'

'You talk as if they're your family.'

'They were. Are.' Grian smiled weakly. 'We're just a huge family of brothers and sisters with one Dadmin keeping us all in line. Sometimes.'

'Wow... sounds amazing.' Taurtis couldn't help but let a hint of bitterness into his voice. 'If only I'd found this place instead of being trapped by the watchers...'

'You were with the watchers?'

'Against my will, yes. They trapped me in that place, gave me a mask, and made me work for them.'

'Are there any other survivors from Evo?'

'Most of them were killed.'

'Pearl?'

'I don't know. We were keep separate most of the time. I never saw her, but I don't think she was killed...'

'Ok... that's something...'

'You kept the wings...' Taurtis noted suddenly. 'The ones the watchers give us.'

'Yes. There was nothing I could do to get rid of them. Where are yours?'

'Never got them.'

'Oh.'

'Can you do much with them?'

'I can fly? And I can change them into different types of wings.'

'Really?'

'They were dragon wings for a decent period of time last season... I know someone who had chicken... wings...'

'Chicken wings? Like... some sort of poultry man?'

Grian laughed. 'That's exactly what they were called... Poultryman...'