The Next Version - Hermitcraft Au

Chapter 7

Hey look y'all, it's decently soon.

Actual important storyline stuff! This was fun to write

Tw: Intense flashbacks? Little like a panic attack? I'm not sure, if you know please correct me.

Enjoy!

{Grian's POV}

For about two minutes, my day was normal.

Naturally, once I rolled out of bed that changed.

I nearly stepped on a piece of paper. That was odd. I may have the biggest chest monster known to man, second only to Scar's, but I didn't leave items lying around. That bothered me, not unorganized chests.

I stooped to read the note, careful to not hit anything with my wings.

Go to these coords. 258, 64, 191

That was all it said. It was signed with a symbol.

That symbol... I recognized it. My memories were stirring and I didn't like it.

Might as well go to the coords.

I walked outside my hobbit hole and soared towards the coordinates, my communicator open. I waved to Iskall and Stress, the early risers I saw as I flew over the jungle.

The coords were the spawn coords. I didn't notice anything odd...

Until I got close.

I hovered over the island. Originally, it'd been grassy and sandy and relatively happy. Now, it was burned. The same symbol from the letter charred into the grass.

I dropped out of the air, landing with a splash. As I climbed onto the island I noticed one last thing.

Burnt words below the symbol.

You will never be safe.

Somehow I knew the words were meant for me.

My vision was blurry. The memories that had been erased were coming back, far too fast for my brain to process, vanishing as quickly as they appeared. I reached up and took off my eyepatch before it could burn.

I couldn't tell who wanted me dead more - my splitting headache or whoever had burned the spawn island.

Right. That. I should tell X.

I backed up and flew off, trying (and failing) to focus. I managed to fly to X's base without getting killed or taking massive bouts of damage.

"X!" I yelled, landing very badly on the ground by his starter base.

X came running from the build he was working on. "Grian? What's wrong?"

I was breathing hard, trying to get the flashbacks floating around in my head to get back to where they belonged - hidden until I was in a good position to think about them. "I got a note, and it had coordinates, and I went to them, and it was the spawn island, and it got burned, and-"

X grabbed my shoulders. I was getting dizzy, the grounding contact helped. "Woah, G. Slow down. You followed these coordinates, what did you find?"

I took a deep breath. Masks- gray wings- dark, endless void- a smile- red and blue-

"The spawn island. It was burned. Th-this symbol." I showed him the crumpled note I'd clutched in my fist. "And also words."

"What did they say?" X asked, grabbing the note.

I gulped. "'You will never be safe.' They were talking about me."

X tensed. "You- you don't know that," he said, though the words sounded forced.

"I do, X. I don't know how, I just do."

A moon- a gray hoodie- a black headband- limited sight- unlimited sight- strange voices-

He grabbed my shoulders again. "G. Try to focus. Follow me, we're going to figure this out, I promise."

I nodded. I managed to clear my head enough to see the communicator message he sent out.

<XisumaVoid> everyone meet at spawn. now. it's urgent

I fought to keep my head clear, following X to the spawn island. I tried to avoid looking at the symbol, but it was no use. It was huge.

The Hermits flew in one by one. Mumbo, Iskall, Ren, Cub, Tango, Etho... they came too fast for my scattered thoughts to comprehend.

Scar landed beside me. "Gri, you okay?"

I shook my head, not trusting myself to form words.

A warm feeling- dark brown eyes- the same smile- a blue shirt- a name- what was his name?

"Gri. Breathe."

I snapped back to reality and felt Scar's hand on my shoulder. I looked up, somewhat expecting to meet the warm brown eyes I'd seen in the flashback but instead meeting Scar's glimmering emerald ones.

I think X started talking. Something about how they'd seen this before and he was going to make sure everything turned out fine.

The noises in my head started to overpower the actual noises around me. I think Scar started to whisper to me, but I didn't hear what he said.

I was fighting a losing battle. Especially as my gaze landed on the words at my feet.

The symbol- a wicked smile- gray wings- masks- the void- a prison- a castle- training- a new name-

"Gri?"

I was too far under to respond to whoever had called my name.

You will never be safe, Xe-

{Scars' POV}

Grian looked absolutely out of it when I arrived, and it only got worse. He'd taken off his eyepatch, but he kept zoning out.

I kept my hand firmly on his shoulder. He didn't say a word, but I could tell he was fighting a losing battle in his head.

Either way that didn't prepare me for when he passed out. Into my arms.

The shorter boy's knees buckled and I caught him instinctively. Mumbo and Iskall ran over as I laid Grian down on the ground.

"Is he okay?" Mumbo asked.

I shrugged. "I dunno. He was really out of it. He kept zoning out and then he just passed out."

"Probably from his memories," X said from behind me.

I wasn't scared out of my skin. You were.

"He'll be fine," X said with such confidence I instinctively trusted him. "Just make sure he gets back to his base."

"How do you know, X?" Iskall asked.

X seemed very distant. "I just do. Trust me."

He turned to the group. "I know most of you are scared. Believe me, I am too. I know what happened last time. I know who we lost. Not a day goes by where I don't regret who we lost. But trust me when I say that we will get out of this okay."

There were head nods and mutters of agreement all around.

Part of me trusted X. We'd gotten through Season Five bruised and scarred, but alive. Because of our admin.

But the other part of me looked down at the unconscious boy at my feet and knew that whatever came next was going to be much, much worse.

[Word Count: 1068]

Story!! Yay! I will be very impressed if someone can name all the references in the flashbacks.

Hope you enjoyed! See you in the next one!

~Ax