Grian Oneshots

♔ The Artefact ♔

A/N
Enjoy some more KOV lore!!
Also here is some completely unrelated fanart of Clown Joel:

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Grian woke up, the code glitching around him as he wiped the cold sweat off his forehead. He felt something tugging at him —tugging towards something connected to him, he could feel it. The magic coursing through his veins didn't feel like Watcher magic or admin magic, it felt ancient. It felt familiar. A certain type of magic he hadn't experienced in almost a thousand years. The parrot opened his watcher eyes, scanning the server for the source of the magic, and not long after, he found it — an enchanted star-shaped artefact made from the wood of Yggdrasil and an obsidian gem forged with the fire of Muspelheim and the ice of Jötunheim in the middle. His blood froze as he recognized the Viking Artefact.

Grian didn't waste any time, changing to his day-clothes with the use of magi, then he headed outside, taking off with his wings. He flew as fast as his wings could carry him. While in the air a message chimed:

[<XisumaVoid> Server meeting at these coordinates: -345, 234]

Grian landed in front of the admin, who jumped back in surprise, "Grian! How did you get here so fast? I just sent the message now" he asked, the blonde shrugged and took a step towards the artefact, he almost couldn't help himself, it was urging him to pick it up. "Grian, don't touch it" X said, and the blonde took a step back, "Of course not, how did you know this was here?"
"It's disrupting the code and bending it, I don't know what it is but it's powerful and I swear I've seen it before, in a book or something"
"Yeah, me too" he paused, not wanting to tell what he knew and why he knew it, but he still felt he needed to warn the admin. "It's best to be careful, you never know what ancient artefacts like that can do with something as little as a touch" The parrot said, fighting the itching in his whole body to pick it up. The Viking Artefact —the only reason he was still alive — it had turned him immortal at eighteen, it held the power to curse anyone with immortal life just by touching it.

The sound of rockets tore him away from his memories and Scar crashed down beside the two admins. He arose from the ground, dusted himself off and smiled a crooked smile. "Hey guys! What's the matter?" He asked, his emerald eyes landed on the artefact and his smile brightened. "Ohh, what's this?" He asked, taking a step towards it, "STOP" Grian and X yelled in unison, "It's an old artefact but we have no idea what it can do" X explained, the parrot already halfway towards the artefact, ready to pick it up, already immune to the power it held.

Scar's smile grew as he rolled his eyes, "Haha, very funny prank you guys, but that thing is just obsidian and wood, there's no way it can do anything" Scar chuckled as he reached for the artefact, except Grian was faster and soon the Viking Artefact rested in his hands where it belonged, and the itching throughout his limbs came to a halt. "Grian!" X screamed, as he reached for the parrot, then stopped, he wasn't sure if even touching the was safe. "Oh please, it's a prank... right?" Scar's voice broke at the last syllable, realizing the horrified expression plastered on X's face didn't go away.

Then another hermit arrived for the meeting, a ginger zombie who smiled warmly at them after a much softer landing than the elf before them. Then their face froze as they saw the enchanted object in Grian's hands. "Grian! that is an ancient artefact granting immortality to whoever as much as touches it, why would you pick it up!?" They demanded to know and Grian shrugged, beside him Scar turned pale, "He took it so I wouldn't" he sniffled, "I now know it was stupid of me, but I thought it was some kind of prank" the brunette explained, tears forming in his eyes, but he blinked them away.
"Scar, I'm fine, I promise" the blonde reassured both his friend and the crowd of hermits slowly gathering as the people reached the coordinates.
"GRIAN! Immortality is not a joke, it might seem cool to be able to live forever but I think in a few hundred years you'll change your mind" X argued and the Watcher grimaced, X was right, being immortal wasn't all that fun.

"I'm sorry Grian, I shouldn't have tried to pick it up, that was stupid of me and now you're paying the price" Scar said, throwing his arms around Grian who had packed the artefact safely away in his inventory,
"No, I swear I'm fine" the blonde insisted.
"You don't know that! You can't know what immortality does to you, or your mind or body!" Etho chimed in, his worry for his friend twisting into anger at the carelessness.
"I'm fine!"
"How can you know that!?" Etho continued, "The Viking Artefact is said to have been Guarded by Death himself back in the day, you have no idea the power this thing holds, do you?"
"Grian, I know you say you're fine, but is that just a way to stop me from feeling bad? I- It's okay if you blame me" Scar sniffled, his eyes glassy.

"I would never blame you Scar! This isn't your fault, it's the bloody vikings fault"
"Grian, why did you pick it up? It's okay to be selfish sometimes, put yourself first. You don't always have to sacrifice yourself for others' good. I'm sure Scar wouldn't have blamed you if he had picked it up and become immortal instead" Tango asked, Scar agreeing with a nod.
"It doesn't change anything anyway"
"What!? Of course it does!! You'll live forever! Do you even know what that entails!" Mumbo screamed at him, angry that his friend was just shrugging off a curse that would turn life horrible.
"Of course I know what that entails!" Grian finally snapped, "Do you think I want to live forever!? I don't want to outlive all my friends, forced to watch eons and centuries pass by without ever changing! It's horrible!" He yelled, breathing heavily as he saw the pity in the others eyes, his eyes locked with Scars and the guilt and regret in his eyes was enough to get the blonde to calm down. "Scar, this isn't your fault and I don't blame you"
"How can you not blame me?" He asked, his breaking voice almost a whisper, "Because this isn't my first time touching this thing, I became immortal back in the middle ages" he told, his eyes glassy from the memories around Valor. Everyone was quiet as they took in the information presented to them, everything horrible with immortality the parrot just mentioned, he had already gone through.

The Mumbo noticed the empty stare in his best friends eyes, "Grian are you okay?" he asked and the blonde nodded, "Yeah sorry, just zoned out"

"Do you know The Red Mage? It is said that him and his two friends befriended Death and got the Viking Artefact from him, turning them immortal, but he hasn't been seen in almost seven hundred years" Tango asked and Grian smirked, "Of course I know the Red Mage, he's me!"

~1232 words