The Lost Watcher

Running

Grian felt an ache over his body as he returned to the server. He looked around at Evo, but found that it was void of any Players. All of them were still fighting the dragon, he supposed.

He felt exhausted as he returned. Grian sighed and leaned up against a tree, but as he did, he was met with a startling surprise.

“What are-?” Grian began, then he stopped. “Oh, no, no no no,” he whispered as panic began to flood his mind. His hands shook as he felt around his body. He froze in horror as his hands met the feeling of feathers.

Two small wings were poking out of his back, still too small to function. Grian carefully plucked one of the small feathers, shock numbing any pain he could have felt. He held up a shimmering purple feather.

Grian continued to search around his entire body, and he then felt something else, just below his collarbone. He didn’t touch it, he didn’t need to. He knew exactly what it was.

When a Player turned, they would begin to “ascend” as it was called by the Watchers. The change from Player to Watcher was slow, painful. The feeling of the magic that grew, and the sensation of wings tearing through the back were almost excruciating at times.

As part of the transformation, the newly born Watcher was given an eye somewhere along their body. The Eye acted somewhat like a heart, holding all of their power, keeping them alive. Even if a Watcher was injured, or killed, they would still remain alive within the Eye itself. If it was ever shattered, or ever damaged,

..well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be good.

And now, Grian had an eye just below his collarbone, sat incredibly visible just below the green fabric of his cloak. Grian instinctively gestured to hide it, although no one was around to see.

Grian had to find a way to stop this. He wasn’t sure if it was possible to stop the turning process, really, but it was still early. And early meant there was hope of stopping this.

Grian wasn’t the kind to just give up hope.

Internally, anger stirred in Grian’s stomach. Lies, all of it. Everything that the Watchers.. that she had told him, all of it had been a trick. An elaborate ruse designed by the Watchers and used to ensnare him into this stupid life that he didn’t want. And now, he was a Watcher. Or at least, half of one.

But Grian had to be able to stop this. It had to be possible, and the Watcher’s had overlooked one thing.

Grian was still the Admin.

“Maybe if I just..” Grian mumbled, pulling up the console. Grian began to look through the commands anxiously. All he had to do was eliminate the problem. It was a simple plan, really. If he was able to just kill the Watcher part of himself, then maybe he could stop the process. Maybe he could just return to a normal life as a Player.

But if this didn’t work…

Grian shivered thinking about it. This was an incredibly risky gamble that Grian was about to pull. If this worked, he’d be free. And if it didn’t, then at least no harm would come to the server by him.

Finally, Grian’s eyes landed on a command. He took a deep breath as he began to fill in the target of the command. “Alright,” he spoke softly, for fear that just maybe the Watchers were listening. “/kill Xelqua.”

Grian’s finger hovered over the ‘Execute’ button. Truthfully, Grian didn’t want to do this. He was worried that this would backfire.

Oh, and backfire it did.

As Grian entered the command, he was suddenly hit with burning volts of pain and electricity all throughout his body. He let out an agonizing scream, feeling as though he was being ripped apart. There were no Players on the server to hear him, and he could care less if the Watcher’s stepped in at this point.