Awaken (Hermitcraft Fanfiction)

XVIII. Trojan Horse

Pearl trudged up her mountain base. The rolling orange hills – topped with the stone lighthouse – had taken a week of sleepless nights to build as her mind was plagued with anxieties. Despite Zeroc and Xisuma's best efforts to calm her nerves, she remained tense as a bowstring and jumped at the slightest noise. She could tell both were suppressing their emotions to remain strong for the server.

At least no one had noticed their tension. She had been jump-scared numerous times by the other Boatem members using the simplest pranks. Grian had stated himself, after one occasion, that he'd never met someone so tense since high school. After trying to pry explanations out of her for a solid half hour – with Scar's help, she might add – he had left, only for Mumbo to face plant into the ground trying to get a view of his mega armchair base.

The lack of subtlety weighed on her mind as she attempted to get Grian by himself. It was as if the man had an alert tied to him that summoned another hermit the second she tried to separate him from the group. She had all but given up by now, and the older Watchers barely emerged from their bases to assist her.

"How have you hacked this?" Impulse inquired, startling her out of her reverie with a small scream. She tended to do that a lot. "Oh. Uhm- sorry, Pearl, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine, Impulse," she replied, although her heart was still racing. "Hack what?"

"This!" Impulse gestured to her position on the ground while he floated several meters in the air. "I've never seen you floating around!"

"Oh." Pearl cursed herself internally again. She was reflexively using her magic to resist the strange gravity of the incoming moon, which was yet another blunder on her part. "It might have something to do with my name?" she tried, hoping he would buy it with every fiber of her being.

To her immense relief, Impulse nodded thoughtfully as he floated back to earth. "Makes sense," he mused. "You're probably related or something, right?"

"Maybe," she muttered, folding her arms over her chest.

Impulse hugged her sympathetically. She returned the embrace, eyes roaming the landscape as she tried to change the subject. A white blur appeared in the distance, rapidly coming into focus. She pulled away sharply, pushing Impulse behind her as Zeroc landed at a sprint, using a dive roll to stop quickly.

"Pearl, we have an emergency," he said urgently. "You need to come to Xisuma's base right away. Don't bother with the elytra. Just go."

"When did you get wings?" Impulse cried, staring wide-eyed at Zeroc. "Don't trust Evil Xisuma, Pearl. He's a monster when you get too close." His voice had dropped to a dangerous whisper by the time he finished, one hand clamped protectively on her shoulder.

Zeroc dragged his hand down his face, the red lights in his helmet blinking randomly as his thoughts bounced into coherent sentences. "I am not evil, Impulse," he began, his voice slipping back into the stilted formality of a Watcher. "I was born with these wings, and my name is Zeroc. Not Evil Xisuma. As for your apparent trust issues, you may come and sit in on our meeting."

"But-"

"No time, Impy," Pearl said, removing her elytra. "Grab my hand, open your elytra, and let's go." She extended her hand to him, which he grabbed warily. A second later, she was running to the edge of the cliff, jumping off, unfurling her wings, and launching into the night sky with Impulse in tow. He yelled at the sudden increase in speed, closing his eyes as their surroundings blurred.

"Glide, Impulse!" she yelled, releasing his hand. Suddenly, he was falling over Xisuma's blue and white alpine village, the gothic towers of the Evil Emporium rising in the distance. He flew smoothly into the clearing in the center, bending his knees to absorb the impact.