Words Unspoken - A Hermitcraft Story

The Secret

Scar gave Grian a tour of the compound and gave him a room. He would have a roommate, in fact, he already did, but the former prince seemed quite excited at the prospect. Must be something about being an only child. Then again, being around Keralis was something almost anyone would be thrilled to experience.

He told his people that Grian was now free to roam the compound, as they all knew would happen eventually. Now, he whistled as he walked the hall, a joyful tune that had no meaning other than to be.

"Scar!" That sounded panicked. Panic was never a good thing.

"What is it, X?"

"My brother! He's missing!"

"He leaves for weeks at a time, all the time. How do you know he's really missing?"

X shoved his hand out and opened his fist. In it sat three shards of a gemstone. A holding stone. They could hold mass amounts of magic, but only in their whole state. When broken, the magic escaped. Typically, these stones were used to hold specific spells that needed much energy or were very impractical to cast. This one, however, was used to use Watcher magic. Ex's watcher magic, to be precise. If the stone was broken, and Zara was gone, then that must mean...

Scar began to run, and X followed close after. He slowed down just before the main room before quickly scanning for... "Tango!"

"Yes, boss?"

"Lock down the compound. We have a problem. And keep it quiet, k?"

"You got it, boss."

Tango immediately turned to do the job Scar gave him, walking quickly, but not as if he was panicked. This is why Scar liked Tango. He didn't ask questions until after the danger passed. Now, he knew that there was a reason why Scar asked him to do the things he did. There was always a reason. And Tango was okay not always knowing the reason.

A couple seconds later, bright red lights went off all over the compound. Not alarms, just signals that all outer doors would be closing very soon. A message would be sent to anyone outside the compound to get to a safe house a soon as possible. People knew not to panic, this was actually quite the routine circumstance. If only the people knew how much danger they were actually in.

For the first time in a very long time, Scar didn't know what to do. He had spent so much time preparing for disaster, but now that utter destruction was imminent, he felt more vulnerable than ever.

He took in a breath. It was his job to protect these people. His job to keep them safe. Panicking would do nothing good. He walked back to his office and checked the wardings around the compound. The office was at the exact center, making his magic accessible to every corner of the compound for times like this. After triple checking the wards, he took his mind off of shielding the base. There was nothing else he could do except wait.

And wait he did.

For three days.

His people were getting antsy.

They had questions.

Questions Scar couldn't answer.

Not now, at least.

So he stayed hidden in his office.

Waiting.

But nothing came. No attack, no danger, nothing. Scar wondered if he reacted impulsively, but decided against it. This was one of the most powerful beings in existence, and he was angry at Scar in particular.

"Scar? Can I come in?"

"Sure." It was Grian. He visited quite often lately.

"How are you this morning?"

"It's morning?" Scar was genuinely surprised.

"Yeah. I brought you some breakfast."

Grian placed a bowl down in front of Scar. He looked down to see a tiny portion of stew.

"Portions have been getting slimmer and slimmer. People are starting to get angry."

"I understand," Scar said as he took a bite of stew, "being hungry has always been a prime ingredient in anger."

He ate in silence, very aware of Grian fiddling with the edge of his sweater. He had borrowed an oversized red sweater from his roommate, who insisted he keep it when he saw Grian wear it. Scar thought it was quite sweet, and way more so than Grian realized. Warm clothes were hard to come by in the compound, especially ones in such good conditions.

"Grian, why else did you come here?"

"Nothing, Scar. Just to bring you some food."

"Lies, Grian. Com'on, it's okay."

Scar set the empty stew bowl aside (not that it was very full in the first place).

"I was wondering about my mum."

Oh no, Scar thought, this was not going to be fun.

"Well... um... about that..."

"What did you do?" Grian's eyes turned to slivers. Scar forgot how easily Grian could read him. It was a real shock that he never figured out why Scar was so nervous throughout all of those years.

"The Queen... is..."

Grian's face turned to confusion, then shock, then disbelief, then finally to anger all within a couple of seconds.

"She's dead, isn't she? You killed my mum."

"No, Grian. She was not supposed to die."

"What was supposed to happen then?" Grian shouted.

"It was an accident." Scar's voice got quieter, nearly a whisper, as the sentence progressed.

"An accident, huh?" Grian growled, "What kind of accident is the death of the Queen?"

Scar nearly wished that Grian would go back to shouting, it would be less scary.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry? You've done nothing but cause me pain, and then just say you're sorry. You expect me to simply forgive you?"

No, Scar thought, I deserve your anger.

"Unlock the base."

"What? I can't do that!"

"Unlock. The. Base. I'm leaving."

Scar nodded with a quick bobbing motion. It didn't seem like the attack he was expecting was coming anyways.

He grabbed a small communicator that Tango had been working on. It was still in its very early stages, but it worked well enough within the compound.

<Message Tango> Can you turn the lockdown system off?

<Message from Tango> You sure, boss?

<Message Tango> Yes.

A few minutes later, the bright red lights indicating lockdown turned off. Scar opened his mouth to say something else to Grian, but the former prince was already gone.

Scar sighed. How was it that everything was going so wrong so fast?