Awaken (Hermitcraft Fanfiction)

III. Tale of Evolution

Pearl woke up in an unfamiliar place. The walls were simple oak planks, with barely any decoration or life in the room. She bolted upright, straightened the covers as an afterthought, and ran to the door, flinging it open. As she stepped into the fresh sunlight, the events of the previous day came back in a flurry, and she repressed her panic, although the new surroundings proved sufficient to set off a fresh bout of fight or flight.

Martyn was awake and standing in the middle of the foyer, struggling with what appeared to be a crafting table. He looked up at the sound of her footsteps, smiling and cheerfully waving her over to the disaster of breakfast.

"I was trying to get the baking function to work, but it always sets itself on fire." He grinned sheepishly, handing her a more than slightly burnt loaf of bread. "I hope it's good enough for you, m'lady," he added with a mock bow, chuckling.

Pearl accepted it gratefully, unaware until that moment how hungry she was. She ate ravenously, breaking away the charcoal and keeping it in her inventory. She could smelt iron later, if necessary.

Martyn heaved a sigh, his cheery demeanor dissolving. "I suppose you want to know some of the backstory of this server, correct?" he asked, finishing his breakfast and clearing the crafting table. Pearl nodded, suddenly ill with anticipation. She followed him outside to sit on a nearby grassy knoll.

They sat in silence for several minutes, which Pearl took to examine Martyn. His shirt was creased and rumpled, and his hair messy. A strip of black cloth kept the majority of his blond hair out of his eyes, but a good deal of it was long enough to flop over into his face again.

His posture as he leaned forward shifted into one of anxiety as his brow knit together and his jaw tightened. His sky blue eyes accentuated his apparent nervousness.

"You look tired," Pearl stated, breaking the silence and preventing it from stretching any further.

Martyn stirred, brushing his hair out of his face and turning to her. "Yeah," he replied slowly, "I didn't sleep well last night. However, you are not here to solve my insomnia. I suppose I should tell you more about this server, especially since Grian seems unwilling to do so."

Pearl nodded, gesturing for him to begin. He inhaled deeply, steeling himself for the unveiling of the server's twisted past.

"Grian started the server after a lot of struggle with the high-tier admins. Due to his lack of significant Magic, they were unsure they could train him, let alone allow him to run a server. However, he made it through the prerequisite courses and used his clever mind to work around the difficult Magic problems given to him. Although reluctant, the admins permitted him to join their ranks.

"All the people on this server are players he met while in university. We're the only ones willing to sign onto the server, especially since his Magic ineptitude was well known. We started in a simulated Beta version of Minecraft and played there until we voted to update.

"It was at this point that we discovered the terminated Admin magic. Until then, there hadn't been anything Grain couldn't fix with his wits, so we had no need to tap into the energy of the universe. Additionally, we uncovered clues left by an anonymous figure. The clues ultimately led us to a portal which allowed us to jump to the next version. After much deliberation, we accepted the offer and dove through.

"Midway to the next update, we discovered a statue at spawn. It resembled a human figure with two large, feathered wings, constructed of obsidian and bedrock."

"Bedrock!" Pearl exclaimed, breaking her studious silence for the first time.

"Yes, bedrock." Martyn pursed his lips, tapping his fingers together before continuing. "The statue concealed clues which led to an obelisk thousands of blocks away containing gifts. Furthermore, text inside the monument assigned the name of 'Watchers' to the mysterious beings. They've been helping us update every once in a while through vague clues and leaving gifts at other times."