~The First Step~ a Hermitcraft AU

Chapter 31 (Grian)

SO SORRY FOR THE DELAYS IN CHAPTERS!!! i promise i have no intention of ever discontinuing this and sorry again !

tw: injury, blood

wc: 1907

"I'm heading in for a shift," Xayla called to Xenith. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Have fun," Xenith replied, waving his hand. Xayla left.

The capital building was a cold place. The fancy carvings and decorations did nothing to hide the angry Leaders and arguing Elders. The prison was an ugly block of concrete, teeming with winged guards carrying heavy swords.

Xayla flashed her band and entered once the guard nodded. She wore a traditional healer's outfit, a long dress of white, short sleeves, and golden cuffs. A pendant dangled around her neck, supposedly used for emergencies. A Listener had engineered so it could be used for other purposes as well.

Several hallways branched off from the main room. Xayla walked down the one marked with a red cross.

The moment that she stepped in, one of the guards ran up to her, his eyes wide. "Xayla, thank goodness you're here," he breathed. Xayla tilted her head, confused. She saw the Listener symbol barely visible on the inside of his cuff and sighed.

"What's going on?" She hung her bag on one of the hooks, ready to go into the prison hall itself.

"Grian's here." The guard's voice was lowered.

There was a moment until she processed the information. Once she did, her eyes widened behind her mask. "Here?? In the hospital unit? Why?!"

"They removed his wings," the guard replied, a waver in his words.

Xayla moved before she even thought, banging open the door and scanning the hall. It wasn't hard to locate Grian. The second cell on the left's floor was covered in purple blood, and a figure was curled up on top. Xayla rushed to the bars, unlocking the door and kneeling at his side.

She felt the eyes on her. The guard who'd informed her of Grian was the only free Watcher here, the rest were prisoners. If she was careful, she could do this. Although, if they used the plan of extraction, there wouldn't be anything to hide.

"Grian," Xayla whispered in his ear. "Grian, you there?"

There was a soft groan in reply.

"I'm gonna move you, just stay quiet." She gently turned him over to peek at his wounds and felt bile rise in her throat. Grian's back was a mess of sickening blood and mangled skin. What remained of his wings were two stumps of feathers. Even with the low light, Xayla could see that Grian's skin was deathly pale. His eyes were squeezed shut and his teeth ground against each other, blood welling on his lip from how hard he bit it.

She gathered some energy at her fingertips and lightly touched one of the massive wounds. Grian jolted like he was shocked, tears welling up in his eyes.

The guard from earlier was standing nearby. Xayla caught his attention and shook her head. We can't do this here, she mouthed. He nodded.

There was a plan for escape. A one time emergency plan that had been sitting at wait for months. And now was the time to execute it.

~~~

At that moment, every Listening member's tracking band gave its owner a poke.

Every Watcher, young or old, male or female, rich or poor, had a tracking band. Some wealthier people had it decorated, others just had a dingy metal band around their wrist, but either way, it was something that every person owned and wore on a daily basis and was something that was not suspicious and was often overlooked. Besides, it was the literal representation of control, and there were many rumors about it having secret lenses where officials could spy through or secret sound transmitters.