Great escape. Great rescue.

Chapter 4

Somehow, being pushed down the side of a sharp cliff was turning out to be the best thing to ever happen to Grian.

Sure he had to deal with the stinging scrapes along his unprotected skin, and the strange hovering hearts (or lack of) making themselves present just above his head, but the upside was that he now had a stomach full of fire baked fish and ears full of Iskall's many embarrassed apologises.

Iskall, as it turned out, was the one to push him. Not intentionally per say. Apparently he hadn't wanted to launch them both off the cliff, but rather startle him into a friendly fright. He hadn't expected Grian to be so jumpy and it was just unfortunate that they both sported matching injuries because of it.

Grian was learning that Iskall was a strange guy. In a nice, friendly kind of way, but still pretty strange. The watcher was dying to ask about the strange cybernetic eye implant but felt it would be rude at this point in their friendship to pose the question. It was this star-like mechanism that fitted straight into the others skull. Made of what looked to be delicately cut iron and gold, and all of it painted an electric blue. Right in the center was a beautifully polished diamond that had a movable cover over the top of it. It was programmed to blink in time with Iskall's organic eye, making the robotics seem alive.

The rest of the Hermits at the camp seemed to follow Iskall's same sense of strange friendliness. Grian was beginning to think that maybe he had just spent so much time alone that his view on other people had changed but right now he didn't really care. Just talking to new people was like a dream come true.

He was even beginning to learn names! The zombie girl was Cleo and the blue slime guy he had seen her with was Jevin. The guy in the explorer's outfit was Scar and the cat on his knee was called Jellie. Shredded and looking very sad within her paws, was the red feather she had been teased with before. Wels, it's previous owner, sighed at his loss.

Iskall explained to him that there was more due to arrive through the portal soon as well. And some others were already off exploring the world. He would meet them in time. They didn't want to overcrowd him and scare him off anyway.

Grian felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Xisuma.

His face was hidden behind a thick full facial mask which the young watcher wasn't expecting, but with how strange every other hermit seemed to be he should have figured he'd have something like this anyway.

The other smiled. Grian could tell with how his eyes crinkled behind the visor. He seemed tired from the move but still wanted to stay up and awake until the rest of the Hermits were confirmed to be safe.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" Xisuma's voice was distorted a little behind the mask but Grian could still hear it well enough.

"A little sore." Grian admitted with a shrug, chucking a little to himself when he heard Iskall whine out a "I said I was sorry..." upon hearing him, "I'm glad I made it though."

Xisuma laughed, "I'm glad you made it too! It's going to be great having you here. We're all really excited for you to join us. It's not everyday that we get to play with someone new." He dug his hand around in his pocket before finally pulling out a stopped bottle with a light purple liquid trapped inside. "You should probably drink this now that you've had something to eat."

"What is it?" Grian asked, taking the small bottle. It was only just about the size of his hand.

"It's a healing potion. We used to brew them in the previous world and we'll be doing it again in this one. Now, I know it doesn't taste that great but it should get rid of all your scrapes and stuff so that you're not still aching by the time we all part ways to make our bases."