The Watchers' Call

Chapter 6

TW: Violence, torture, mentions of violence and torture.

(I thought I should probably start adding these (TWs I mean))

a note: this story doesn't talk about evo or any of that, so this is grian's first time seeing the watchers - idk, just imagine he got his memories wiped if you really care, the backstory isn't important to the plot

----

"Welcome, Grian, to the city of the Watchers," the huge figure said.

Grian reluctantly stepped forward at the urging of the small Watcher.

"Why am I here?" he managed to ask.

"You? Well, you are special, you see. I have taken an interest in you. Or, more specifically, in hybrids. You are the perfect subject, as birds are fairly close to Watchers physically, with wings and all," it monologued.

Grian had heard of people who would come after hybrids for testing and such. He'd never encountered any himself, but he'd heard stories from people whose friends had been taken by them. This seemed to be similar. 

"S-s-s-subject?" he stammered.

"Well, you see, I have been experimenting with various mobs to see how they react to magic... I am interested in players, and hybrids are a great stepping stone!" the figure said.

Grian backed away, but the figure easily pulled him closer with purple magic.

"No running away, little birdie," it teased. 

Grian futilely struggled against the magic.

"Watch it squirm..." the figure said, a laugh in its voice.

Then, the magic moved, swirling around him, through him, into him-

Grian screamed in agony as it engulfed him.

Then, it stopped.

Grian fell to the floor, dazed, and tried to crawl away from it.

The figure cackled. "Tᔑꖌᒷ ⍑╎ᒲ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ᔑ ᓵᒷꖎꖎ, ᓭᒷ∷⍊ᔑリℸ ̣"

Grian felt himself being dragged once more across the floor. He didn't endure it for long before he passed out.

==| Timeskip - about a week |==

Mumbo was panicking.

Yet again, Grian was missing. And yet again, no one knew where he was.  

Mumbo was on his way to Xisuma's base. Despite the fact that Xisuma never knew more than anyone else when it came to where Grian was, Mumbo still thought that maybe, maybe Xisuma would know something.

Landing on the grass in front of Xisuma's base, Mumbo saw Xisuma fly down to greet him.

"No, Mumbo, I don't know where Grian is," Xisuma told him yet again. "But this time, I have a plan to find him."

"Really? What is it?" Mumbo asked.

"Follow me, we're going to Aqua Town."

A short flight later, Mumbo was seated next to Xisuma across a table from Scar.

"So, you require my services as a wizard?" Scar asked.

Xisuma nodded.

"We'll need to go to my jungle village; I keep my magic crystals in Larry," Scar said.

Yet another elytra flight later, the three hermits were inside the surprisingly spacious shell of Larry the snail.

"Stand back," Scar held up one of his crystals in the palm of his hard and whispered to it, "ᓭ⍑𝙹∴ ᒲᒷ ⊣∷╎ᔑリ."

An image shimmered to life in the air above the crystal.

There was Grian, red sweater torn and dirty, wings discolored and awkwardly bent, curled in a corner. There was no sound accompanying the image, but he was clearly crying, tired and afraid. His surroundings were- bedrock? Bedrock on the floor, with glass walls. What was beyond the glass wasn't clear. There was nothing in the room with Grian, not even a bed.

Mumbo glanced at Scar and Xisuma. As usual, Xisuma's emotions were hidden behind his helmet, but Mumbo could see Scar having a similar reaction to himself.

Shutting off the image, Scar said, "That's bad."

"Bad? Bad! Where is he? I need to-" Mumbo shouted.

"Mumbo," Xisuma interrupted. "When the other hermits see this, our full energy will go into finding Grian."

In his anxiety, Mumbo didn't question this at all. Fidgeting, he followed Xisuma and Scar out of Larry to gather the other hermits.

----

Grian had lost count of the days. There was no sun in the End, so he had no way to tell time, and it wasn't exactly his biggest concern either. After being brought to the huge Watcher's tower, Grian had awoken a while ago in this cage. Its ceiling and floor were bedrock, and its walls were glass. He didn't dare try and break it. The one time he'd attempted to, magic had shocked him and he'd quickly decided it wasn't a good idea. 

From time to time, he would be dragged out of the cage and experimented on. They would tear out his feathers or take his blood or hurt him with the magic.

Grian had tried to escape a few times. It hadn't gone well. He didn't want to relive any of those memories, besides to know that he was trapped. There was nothing he could do to escape.

He still clung to the faint hope that someone would rescue him.

-----

The other hermits' reactions to the vision of Grian in the bedrock cell ranged from confusion to determination to absolute rage. No one got to treat one of their fellow hermits like that. They would not stand by and do nothing.

After Scar had shown the image, he stepped down and let Xisuma take the podium.

"Now, I've checked my admin controls and I don't know where Grian is. His coordinates are simply nonexistent." 

Of course, this in itself wasn't totally unusual; coordinates didn't work in the Nether or the End. 

"I'd like to propose we divide into two groups, one searching the Nether and one searching the End. Meanwhile, Mumbo and I will stay here. I will see if I can find his coordinates in the End or the Nether, and Mumbo can be general support if you need anything," Xisuma continued.

Even being the spoon that he was, Mumbo realized why Xisuma had chosen him for this; if anyone found Grian, Mumbo would be among the first to know.

The hermits easily split into groups and headed off to scour the Nether and End. 

"I would almost pity the poor soul who is going to be on the receiving end of this anger," Xisuma commented, having jumped down to stand next to Mumbo.

Mumbo had to admit, the hermits were scarily skilled, especially when it came to defending one of their own.

Xisuma and Mumbo walked into the town hall and began their jobs.

-----

Full credit to Isabelle291 for Scar's seeing crystal idea, I got the idea from 'When Past Meets the Present:' https://www.wattpad.com/1009375212-when-past-meets-the-present (you'll need to copy + paste, idk how to do links, sorry about that!)