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Chapter Text

The moon had finally hit the server. The spaceship that Boatem had planned to escape on had long fallen apart, and the members of Boatem were left floating aimlessly in the void. Usually, the transition between servers was much smoother and only a step through a portal was required to transport them between one world and the next. But since this world had ended so violently even Xisuma had not had the ability to pull them all out of the void immediately. It could only be expected that something would go wrong, that someone would go missing or just decide to leave instead of waiting. In all of the chaos, no one would notice if one of the other Hermits went missing. It was probably Their only opportunity. And They were determined not to let it pass Them by.

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“Alright, is everyone here?” Xisuma asked as they all gathered on the rocky shore of Spawn. It had taken a few months for him to find all of the Hermits spread out in the void or the destruction of their last world.

“I think so,” Keralis responded, standing by his side.

“Wait, where’s Grian?” called Pearl. “He was with us on the spaceship from the last world, but I don’t see him here.”

Xisuma searched the gathered crowd of Hermits, not finding the blond builder. “Has anyone seen Grian?” he called out. Various Hermits also started looking around, but no one seemed to know where he was.

Grian has left Hermitcraft, and will not be returning.

“Did anyone else hear that?” asked Xisuma. The nearby hermits looked at him questioningly.

“What did you hear Shashwam?”

“Nevermind, it was probably nothing.” Most of the hermits looked as confused as Keralis, but Xisuma noticed Scar and Pearl observing him carefully. Pearl looked almost scared, but she quickly wiped the expression from her face when she noticed him looking at her.

“Ok, well, if he isn’t here by now, I don’t think Grian is going to be joining us this season. I am sure that we will all miss him, but I wish him all the best on whatever new server he is on. Now, I would like to officially welcome all of you to our ninth world as Hermits.” Everyone cheered and X watched as the Hermits dispersed, fighting to be the first ones to punch the nearby trees and creating the first of many crafting tables.

“Did you hear something too?” he asked Pearl, quietly pulling her to the side. “Or did Scar?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, X,” Pearl said quietly. She was trying very hard to keep her face neutral, but X could still see the trace of fear in her eyes.

“Ok, I believe you. Just be sure to let me know if you ever do, especially something about Grian.”

“Of course,” said Pearl, moving away quickly. Xisuma watched her leave, going off with Gem and Impulse into the dark oak forest. Obviously she knew something, but he didn’t make a habit of pushing his Hermits to tell him things that they didn’t want to. Hopefully it wasn’t anything too important.

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Scar couldn’t help but feel like something was missing as he and Mumbo went caving together. It must have been Grian, as Scar had been expecting him to return as usual for the next season. They had lost sight of each other in the Void, but Scar hadn’t thought anything of it at the time. He had assumed that Xisuma would bring all of them together safely. Now, he was worried that Grian had decided to leave because he felt like he wasn’t wanted on the server. Maybe if Scar had tried a little harder to keep all of them together, Grian wouldn’t have left. Maybe if the spaceship he made hadn’t fallen apart they could have all been enjoying the new season together. Maybe…

“Scar!” Mumbo’s voice called from deeper in the cave. “What are you doing just standing there? We have caves to explore, redstone to mine.”

“Of course you would only be looking for redstone, Mumbo,” Scar teased. “You’re not even interested in the diamonds? Or iron for pistons or hoppers or … I don’t know, what else do you use iron for in redstone?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course I want diamonds. I’m planning on being the richest hermit this season, you know.”

“You’ll have some tough competition there. You know how well Grian’s shops always do.”

Mumbo looked at him. “Scar, you do remember that Grian isn’t returning this season.”

Oh, right. “Of course I remember!” Scar said, trying to laugh off his mistake. “More diamonds for me and you then. Shall we?” he asked, gesturing to the boat that he placed down, ready for them to dive deeper into the cavern he had just discovered.

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Xelqua watched as the two hermits disappeared further into the cave they had chosen to explore. He wondered who this Grian was. The watchers had not told him about a player missing from the server. But, none of that really mattered to him. He was only there to watch.

He spent most of the first day carefully following the players in the caves. While he didn’t actually need the materials, it gave him something to do. Most of the other players would be doing basic resource gathering as well. He would have to wait a little until there was actually anything interesting to report back to the Watchers.

That night, he sat in the hills surrounding Spawn, watching as the players worked to get basic structures up to spend the night in. Some of them had already begun their starter houses after clearing out some of the trees, and someone had started a farm and community center at Spawn. Xelqua was intrigued by the teamwork the players showed. Most of the servers he had learned about were highly competitive, or at least not nearly so collaborative.

Something stirred in his memory then, an image of a long train track leading to a community area similar to what the Hermits were building. Xelqua shook the image away. He had learned better than to try to follow these occasional flashes of a past life. He was one of the only Watchers he knew that got them, and he had been punished enough for letting them show. “It does no good to focus on the past,” his mentor had told him. “Focus only on the task we give you.”

Xelqua closed his eyes, trying to remember the specifics of the task he had been given. Enter the server without being noticed by the players. Watch them through their first day. Find a hidden spot to create a base for the Watchers.

That part had surprised him. In all of the time he had spent with the Watchers, he had not known them to create actual bases on the server. They preferred to watch from far away, sending a few out to build temples or towers and give commands to players. They did not live in any of these structures. It had taken Xelqua a long time to understand the building style used by the Watchers. As he practiced, his hands had always fell towards softer materials, wood and clay instead of stone and bedrock.

Now he would have to learn a new building style, creating a base for the Watchers, but something that might still be mistaken for a player base if it was found by one of the Hermits. He decided to look for a cave as something underground would be less easily spotted.

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Pearl was scared. She had been looking over her shoulder all day, as she had fought her way through the woodland mansion with Impulse, Gem, and Cleo, and as they had parted to start gathering resources for their starter bases. That was where she was now sitting, among the beginnings of the alien base she had planned. All day, she had felt like there was something watching her, the feeling crawling over her spine.

It was familiar in the worst way possible. It reminded her of the Watchers. It reminded her of Evo, the empire that she had joined. It reminded her of the first time Grian had disappeared without warning. It reminded her of Their attempts to take her too.

“Pearl?” a voice called, snapping her out of her thoughts. It was Gem, wading her way through the river that separated their bases. “You shouldn’t be alone on our first night. Come stay with me, my base will give us a little more shelter than this.”

“Okay,” Pearl said quietly, taking one last look over her shoulder before following Gem across the river again. She could have sworn she saw a figure sitting alone on one of the nearby hills, but everyone she knew was safely inside whatever structure they had created for the first night. She must have just imagined it.

Chapter Text

Cold, white walls surrounded him. It was always cold and quiet in the Deep End, in the city of the Watchers. “We were made to watch, not hear or speak.” That was what his mentor told him.

“But you are speaking to me?”

His mentor looked disappointed. “That is only because you are still learning, Xelqua. Once you have completed your training, you will not need to speak to understand.” He didn’t understand, but even though he hadn’t been in training for a while, he knew better than to question. The Watchers had a way of making players feel unimaginable pain, and as he was not yet fully a Watcher, he could be affected by that as well.

“We don’t like to use this power often,” they told him as he lay writhing on the floor. “But it is necessary for you to understand.” They talked about understanding a lot. Maybe he would understand once he received his wings. Maybe then, he would finally be able to prove that he could be a full Watcher, more than just the players that he had been rescued from.

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“Xelqua.” A harsh voice woke him from his sleep, almost causing him to fall out of the tree he had been perched in overnight. He looked around wildly, eyes coming to rest on the figure of the Watcher in front of him. It was not quite dawn yet, and their dark wings blended with the sky behind them, helping to disguise them from any players that might happen to be awake so early. Xelqua stared at them. He knew better than to speak without being asked a question.

“You should not be asleep. You are meant to be watching.” Xelqua continued to stare at them. “Very well.” They sighed. “Have you found a place to build yet?”

That was a direct question. “No, not yet. My plan is to look for a cave, since that would be easier to disguise.” He had said too much, but the Watcher seemed to ignore his mistake, instead considering his idea.

“That might work to start with. We will want something more visible in the future, but it would be good to have a solid base in the server.”

“What will I be expected to build?”

“Your place is not to ask questions, Xelqua,” the Watcher snapped. “But, so you can select a good location, we will require you to build something that can act as a rift between our home and this server. Something that will allow us to actually have power here. The admin of this server is very strong. It is a testament to your growing power that you were able to make your way in undetected.”

“Thank you.” It wasn’t often that he got any kind of praise from an elder Watcher.

“Goodbye, Xelqua. Remember, you are only here to watch and build for us. Do not interact with the players. Do not let them see you.” The Watcher disappeared, dark wings swirling around them as they left the server. Xelqua stretched, shaking off the last vestiges of sleep. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but especially on this first night, none of the players were doing anything worth watching and he had gotten bored. Still, he should try to avoid sleeping out in the open like that again.

It was fully getting light now, and he was starting to see a few early-bird players leaving their shelters to start again on resource gathering or building. It seemed like everyone would be focused on building their starter bases for these first few days, so now would be the best time for him to start exploring to find a place to build for the Watchers.

His wings gave a few twinges of pain as he unfolded them to fly away. He ignored it, mostly used to it by this point. They didn’t seem to like the cold and hard positions he often found himself in when he got a chance to sleep. Instead, he pushed himself up into the air, heading southeast of Spawn.

He briefly considered a large, plateau-like mountain, but he decided that it would be too risky. He could already tell that there were many builders on the server, and a mountain like that would be too appealing to them. Even if he built underneath it, the chances that he would be discovered were too high.

Instead, he continued on, finding a similar mountain covered by a birch forest. Unlike the last one, this mountain seemed to draw him in. When he explored it further, he found a large cave deep underground. While it looked entirely different, the cave reminded him a bit of the Deep End, saturated with the presence of the Watchers. If there was anywhere a Watcher base could be built in the server, this cave was definitely it.

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“Pearl? Pearl? Are you still hiding away in here?” Gem’s voice rang through the mostly completed hallways of Pearl’s base. She had been sitting at her dining table, trying to figure out a plan for the statue she wanted above her base. She wasn’t hiding from Gem, or Impulse, or the mysterious figure she thought she had seen their first night and morning after. No, definitely not.

“I’m not hiding Gem, I’m planning,” she retorted indignantly.

“Ah, I see.” Gem walked into the room holding a bowl of soup. “Have you even eaten yet today?”

“Oh, right. Thank you.” She took the bowl. It was mushroom, her favorite besides suspicious stew, but this was better if she didn’t want the random effects. “Where did you get mushrooms this early in the season?”

“In the cave we explored, remember? Anyways, do you want to talk about it?”

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“I know you’ve been worried about something Pearl. Something’s bothering you, has been since the start of the season.” Gem sighed. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I want you to know that you can talk to me if you want.”

“Thank you, Gem.” Pearl wanted to say more, she really did. But, acknowledging that she worried that the Watchers were on the server would make it seem too real. She would much prefer to pretend that they didn’t exist, that Evo was some kind of bad dream, something that couldn’t actually hurt her.

“Okay, I’ll leave you alone then. Don’t stay holed up in your base for too much longer, okay?” Gem looked sad but resigned. Pearl couldn’t bear to see her leave like that.

“Wait, Gem. Have you and Impulse talked about finding a place for our megabases this season?” She looked hopefully up at Gem, and her bright expression was worth it.

“We had, but we weren’t sure if you were up for it yet. Do you want to go now? I don’t think Impulse is doing anything much now.” Pearl smiled at Gem’s excitement.

“Sure, why not,” she said, pulling away from the table. It would be fun to spend time with her friends. She only hoped that she wouldn’t see any mysterious figures like she had the last time she left her base. (Was that first night the last time she had really left her base? That wasn’t good. Oh well, more things for her to avoid thinking about.)

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Mumbo couldn’t stop looking at the empty spot left between his and Scar’s bases. Like he kept reminding Scar, it wasn’t good to keep thinking of Grian when he obviously wasn’t going to be there this season. (Or probably ever again, but he tried even harder not to consider that.) Still, it felt like something essential was missing, and the empty space was just continued proof of that.

Maybe he would build something there. He wondered what Grian would have built, if he had joined them for the season. He must have had plans. It made Mumbo wonder for the thousandth time why Grian had decided to leave without a word. He could understand if the pressure to make massive builds had gotten too much, or if he had gotten really interested in a different server and wanted to take a break. The problem was, he and Grian usually told each other almost everything. He would have thought Grian would have told him if he was unhappy on the server.

Mumbo was so deep in thought that he almost missed Scar flying over to land near him. His landing was surprisingly graceful today. “Hi Scar.”

“Hello Mumbo. How are you doing on a fine day like today?”

“I’m alright, I was thinking about doing some more building.”

“More building! Is your base not finished? It looks good to me.”

Mumbo smiled. It always felt good to get a compliment from Scar on one of his builds, given that he was known more for his redstone than his building capabilities. “No, I think it is. I just wanted to do something to fill up all of the empty space we have here.”

“Oh,” said Scar, more quietly than usual. “It does feel like something’s missing, doesn’t it?” They shared a look. “Well, what were you thinking of making? I’d be happy to help.”

“I wasn’t sure,” Mumbo said slowly. “Honestly, I was trying to figure out what Grian would have done this season. With the moon and everything, we didn’t really get to talk about our plans.”

“Right, okay.” Scar looked consideringly at the rocky ground. “Maybe we could build a giant rock!”

“Haha Scar, very funny.”

“No, really. Wouldn’t it be cool to have a giant boulder here, on the edge of the river?”

“Wait, you’re actually serious about this.”

“I’m always serious Mumbo, didn’t you know?” Scar laughed at him, and Mumbo realized how much he had missed spending this kind of time with his friend. He was almost afraid to, worrying that it would be a constant reminder to both of them about who they were missing.

“Alright, let’s get started then.”

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While he would normally take a little longer to enjoy the start of the season, Xisuma was already immersed in his admin duties. None of his regular administrative tasks were particularly heavy right now, as none of the hermits had the time to build any of the massive farms and builds that would become common later in the season. Instead, Xisuma was carefully checking all of the wards and firewalls that he had created, making sure there wasn’t a single hole or even a weak spot.

The voice he had heard at the start of the season had unnerved him more than he wanted to admit. In his almost 10 years of being an admin, he had never experienced anything like it. One of his players, disappearing without a word? A mysterious voice that only he heard, telling him that Grian wouldn’t be returning?

It definitely seemed like there was something strange happening on the server. While he couldn’t pinpoint anyone coming or going that shouldn’t be, there were several spots in the wards that were weaker than they should be. Curiously, it didn’t seem to be a problem in his work, but the world itself. He wondered how they had missed that in their process of selecting a new world.

Regardless, it wasn’t something he could fix now. Xisuma resolved to pay special attention to the weaker areas, making sure that they didn’t get any worse and cause any problems. It was still early in the season and he wanted to enjoy it, not be stuck in his base worried about problems he couldn’t fix. He was probably just overthinking the issue anyway. Everything would be fine.

Chapter Text

It was earlier than he had expected, when small sprouts started growing from his back. It hurt more than he expected too. The Watchers were unsympathetic, leaving him to wait it out until the wings fully came in. Somehow though, it felt familiar, like he was always supposed to have wings and they just hadn’t come yet. It was a strange feeling

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“Do you like the spot we chose Pearl?” Gem asked as they were flying back together.

“Of course I do. I put my pillar there, remember?”

“I know, but..” Gem trailed off.

“I promise, Gem, I really do like the area. I think it will be amazing,” Pearl tried to reassure her friend, hoping she would stop the questioning. “I think the cliff area will be great for –” She cut off suddenly. There it was again, the winged figure standing on a hill. Watching her.

“What is it?” Gem asked, looking even more concerned. “Pearl?” Pearl didn’t respond, instead starting to fall slowly towards the ground. Gem quickly flew ahead, holding on to Pearl and landing them safely among the trees.

She was standing on the edge of Spawn, somewhere that should have been familiar, should have been home. Instead, it had been destroyed and abandoned. The buildings were crumbling, the trees were dead, and cobwebs littered the ground and hung under the roofs. The rest of the Evolutionists had already left after packing up as much as they could. Some had used the ender chests provided by the listeners, but she was too afraid to. They had already taken her brother, she wouldn’t give them a reason to take anyone else from her too.

Suddenly, another figure appeared in Spawn. For a second, she thought that it was Grian, escaped or even allowed to come back. Then, she saw the dark wings and mask. She had never seen a Watcher in person, but the statues they had left had been clear enough. They turned toward her, and she ducked behind a tree.

Why were they here? Hadn’t they done enough, taking Grian and forcing them from their homes? She wanted to confront them, to yell at them and tell them to leave, but she was too afraid.

Then, a voice sounded in her head. You can’t hide from us, Pearlescent Moon. We know you are upset at the loss of your servermate and brother. But still, you respect our rule. The figure gestured towards one of the enderchests, abandoned at Spawn. So, we have decided to be generous, to give you a gift.

“What do you want from me?” she yelled back to them.

What do we want? The Watcher started walking towards her. We are offering you a chance to see Grian again. We are offering you a chance to become more than just a player. We are offering you a place among us.

“And what happens if I refuse? Will I be taken anyway?”

No, we will not force you. Just know, this will be your last opportunity. If you don’t take it, you will never see your brother again.

Pearl considered it. She thought about Grian, left alone with the Watchers. She remembered how much he had fought to keep them out of the server when it became clear that they were dangerous. He had fought to protect her. From them. She couldn’t throw that away now, even if he was gone.

“I do not accept. I want to stay here, on Evo.”

Very well. You have made your choice. Just remember, Pearlescent Moon, we will always be Watching. The Watcher left, leaving her standing alone, but she still felt the weight of eyes on her. From then on, the feeling never left.

“Pearl?” Gem’s voice cut through the memory. “It’s okay, you’re safe here, it’s okay.” They were sitting on the ground, somewhere in the forest. Distantly, Pearl realized that her breaths were coming too quickly, and she could feel tears dropping into her lap. Her hand shook when she lifted it to try and wipe her tears. She tilted her head up to look at Gem, but the worry in her eyes made her look back down again.

“Hey Pearl, you back with me?” Gem said softly. Pearl tried to respond, but the air caught in her throat, making her cough instead.

“That’s okay, just focus on breathing now.” Gem continued speaking softly. “You’re with me, in Hermitcraft. We were looking for a spot to build our bases, and right now we’re somewhere in the forest just past Tango’s base. You’re safe.” Gem kept repeating the information until Pearl’s breathing evened out and she stopped shaking so hard.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Pearl really didn’t, but she needed Gem to know in case something happened. “Did you see the figure on the hill? The one we had just flown by?”

“I don’t think so, why? Was it one of the other hermits?”

Pearl shook her head. “I don’t think so. They had wings, Gem.” Gem inhaled sharply. Pearl hadn’t told her much about Evo, but she knew about the Watchers.

“They can’t reach you here, Pearl. You know Xisuma makes sure of that.”

“I know he tries,” Pearl said darkly. “But what else could it be? This isn’t the first time I’ve seen it.”

“Ok, I believe you. Do you want to talk to Xisuma about it?”

“Not yet. I want to wait until I’ve seen it again, just to be sure.”

“Alright. I’ll let you know if I see them as well, just know that I would be happy to go to Xisuma with you, even if I haven’t seen them.”

“Thanks, Gem.” She looked up at Gem again, who was smiling down at her softly.

“Of course, always.”

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The rift had been simple, almost trivial. The location he had chosen had made tearing open the fabric of the world seem like an easy task, and he was quite pleased with how it had turned out. Not only was the rift powerful, it fit the wall of the cave he had chosen well, and the way that it shattered out from the center of the wall satisfied something deep within himself.

He had tried not to poke too hard at that feeling. It was enough to be content with the thing that he had made for the Watchers. Xelqua didn’t want to think about how satisfying it was to create rather than destroy, to build something for its aesthetics and not just its purpose.

It made him wonder again if he had been a builder as a player. He thought about what he might have created. Would they have been large, grand structures, or something smaller and more detailed?

He shoved those thoughts to the back of his mind. He was a Watcher now, not a player. He did not build for the joy of creation, he built for them. He built what they told him to, he reminded himself firmly. He would not let himself be distracted from his goal, or create something large enough that it would be noticed by the players.

That thought led him back to his current problem. Somehow, while creating the rift, it had caused the area nearby to act strangely. Some of the nearby rocks had started floating, growing shockingly large as they rose into the air. It must have been the excess energy from creating the rift, Xelqua thought. It was fascinating, but it caused a large problem for him. The energy seemed to have permeated the rocks, making them impossible to remove without risking removing the rift as well.

He would need to find some way to make the rocks less noticeable, a challenging task when they rose almost to build height. Hopefully, no one would come to the area soon.

Xelqua decided to return to the spawn area. He was sent to watch the players after all, not just build. It was a short trip by flight, much shorter than it was for many of the hermits who still had not ventured out to find an elytra yet. When he got there, he found that many of the hermits were gone, probably collecting resources or working on projects somewhere else on the server. However, one of them caught his attention. It was one of the players he had watched on the first day, who had now changed into a green outfit, with what looked to be elf ears? Xelqua truly did not understand the players.

It wasn’t the player’s appearance that caught Xelqua’s attention though. It was what he was building. The player was working on a rock which looked shockingly similar to the ones that were floating in the air near the rift. It was built in an empty spot on the riverbank between two other bases, almost out of place next to the intricate structures surrounding it.

Xelqua watched until the player left, seemingly happy with his work. Then, he couldn’t resist getting closer to get a better look. The rock was large, tuff and moss texturing the stone. However, he could already tell that it was at least somewhat hollow. He had noticed that even when something seemed finished, builder players always seemed to leave something incomplete or missing. However, this seemed to work out in his favor. This rock was similar enough to the rocks near the rift that it could reasonably be believed that they were built by the same player. He decided to put a little power into this rock as well, to make the idea more believable. This time, the power seemed to give the rock a heartbeat, making it pulse slightly and seem almost alive. It was perfect.

Chapter Text

He hadn’t slept in so long. There were no beds in the Watcher’s city, and he hadn’t been able to sleep on the hard ground. He had been told that it was training, that no real Watcher even needed to sleep. Sleeping was a player thing, and beds even more so. But he was so very tired.

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Scar stood with Mumbo in front of his base, looking out at the rock he had nearly just finished.

“Mumbo,” he asked quietly. “Do you also hear a heartbeat?”

Mumbo looked confused. “What?”

“There’s a heartbeat, I can hear it. It’s not mine or yours, it’s a bit louder. Do you hear it too?”

Mumbo stood still, obviously listening carefully. “I think I do. Where is it coming from?”

Scar started walking around, listening. “I think it’s coming from near the rock.” When he got closer to it, the sound grew louder. And, once he got close enough, he could see the sides of the rock pulsing slightly in time with the sound. He put his hand on it and could feel the heartbeat. “I think it’s coming from the rock.” He knew how crazy that sounded, but there really was no other explanation.

“What do we do?” Mumbo asked after touching the rock for himself.

“Leave it? I don’t think there’s much we can do. As long as it doesn’t start to cause a problem, it should be fine.”

Mumbo hummed in agreement. “Alright then.”

All throughout the rest of the day, Scar couldn’t get the living rock out of his head. He knew that it didn’t have a heartbeat when he built it, although he didn’t plan on telling that to the rest of the hermits yet. But, he wanted to know where it came from.

Just then, his communicator pinged with a message in the world chat.

Zedaph: who’s base is just southeast of mine? the rocks look great btw, i just didn’t realize anyone was basing there

More strange rocks on the server? Scar wondered if he should claim the build, at least until he figured out what was going on.

Xisuma: i don’t have anyone in the records there, although i think Mumbo and Scar were looking around

It was too good of an opportunity. If Scar claimed the build, he could continue to try to figure out what was going on without worrying any of the other hermits.

GoodTimeWithScar: it is mine, sorry X i forgot to claim it earlier

Xisuma: no worries! good to know!

After that was taken care of, Scar left his base to go find the rocks that Zedaph had been talking about. He hoped it wouldn’t be too difficult, he didn’t know how large they were.

It was not difficult. The rocks were massive, floating up in the air almost up to the world height. They were also impressively natural, despite the fact that they were floating. And, they were very similar to the rock that Scar had made at Spawn. He had tried to make it fairly natural, but the extent to which the patterns of moss and other stones mimicked the one he had built was uncanny.

Suddenly, Scar saw a figure coming out of a small opening at the base of the mountain in front of the rocks. It didn’t look like anyone he knew on the server. Of course, that would make sense. If there were mysterious builds on the server, there would also be mysterious players. Obviously.

He almost wasn’t sure if it was a player, although it definitely wasn’t any mob he recognized. They had large dark wings that almost seemed to act like a cloak. He couldn’t get a good look at their face.

Then, they turned, seeming to look right at him. Their face was covered by a white mask with some kind of dark symbol on it. While the mask should have restricted their vision, Scar still felt their eyes on him. They both stood there for a moment, just watching each other.

Nope. Scar was not staying there with the creepy figure just watching him. He fumbled for his rockets, flying away quickly once he found them. It might be time to ask Xisuma about this.

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He had been seen. One of the players had come to the rocks, and he hadn’t noticed them at first, and then they had seen him. Xelqua didn’t really know what to do about it. He couldn’t stop them from telling the other players now, but that was a problem he could deal with later.

The real problem was the way that seeing the player was bringing up memories that he didn’t know existed. He assumed they were memories, since they felt familiar, even though he didn’t recognize any of the people or places. The player that he had seen today was one of them. It seemed like they had interacted a lot, with how friendly they were in the memories.

He remembered laughing with other players, large buildings, and late nights spent looking at the stars or the moon. How had he known these players? Had he been on a server like this one before? Had he known these players?

No, Xelqua reminded himself firmly. Your past doesn’t matter, you are a Watcher now. Focus on your assignment, leave your past behind you. You need to prove yourself, getting distracted won’t help that.

He shook his wonderings away, focusing instead on strengthening the Rift. It needed to be strong enough to allow the other Watchers through, to allow them to actually have power over the server. Why this server? He wondered again, but again, that train of thought would get him nowhere.

Then, Xelqua heard the sound of rockets again, someone flying around the mountain. He was more cautious this time, using his Watcher vision instead of leaving his base. It was another player, one that he had seen with the first player at the beginning of the season. They seemed to be looking for something specifically, not just curious like the first player had been. They were looking for him, likely.

One person seeing him and probably reporting him to their admin was enough. Xelqua couldn’t allow it to happen twice. Even if he was seen, the player would be able to see the rocks, might even find the rift if they looked hard enough. His entrance was small, but not unnoticeable.

What would he do about it though? He didn’t have the power to erase their memories of this area of the server, and that wouldn’t work long-term anyway. He would have to stop the player from going back and talking to the admin. He waited until they landed, hitting the ground hard. At least they were near the entrance to the Rift.

He flew up to the entrance, making sure that they couldn’t see him. The player wasn’t wearing much armor, revealing a black suit and an elytra with a purple sheen. He quickly grabbed the player, ignoring their struggles as he flew back down to the rift.

“Hey, what are you doing! Who are you?” Xelqua couldn’t quite identify the player’s accent, but like with the player earlier, it felt eerily familiar.

When he got down to the bottom of the cave, he looked around for a place to put the player. He didn’t want to be unnecessarily cruel, he just needed them to not report back to their admin. The rift was too unstable, and he wasn’t sure where it would send them, so Xelqua decided to build another small structure to put the player in. To prevent them from leaving while he built it, he looked into their code, taking their elytra, tools, and what appeared to be a communicator.

“What? How are you taking my stuff? Give that back!” Xelqua ignored the player. Although it was for a good cause, he was already breaking a lot of rules by interacting with the players. He didn’t want to make it worse by speaking to them as well.

His building ended up being fairly industrial looking, but the large round room seemed like a good enough place to keep the player. The glass walls would allow him to still watch the player, but still keep them trapped. As an afterthought, he added a bed, as well as a chest, furnace, and crafting table like he had seen the players do when they started in the world. He didn’t want the player to be too unhappy. He carefully picked them up again, depositing them in the room he had built, and then flew out again to close off the top, making sure there was still enough airflow. All this time, the player was continuing to ask questions, seeming fairly panicked. Eventually, they calmed down, sitting by the side of the room.

Xelqua let his attention wander then, using his sight to check on the rest of the server, making sure no one seemed too concerned by the player’s absence. For now, all seemed to be well, and Xelqua finally let himself relax.

---------------------------------

GoodTimeWithScar whispers to you: Xisuma where are you? I need to talk to you

You whisper to GoodTimeWithScar: At my base, come on over

Xisuma watched as Scar crashed into his front yard. The sight wasn’t unusual, but Xisuma couldn’t help but feel like Scar’s flying was a little more reckless than usual today.

“Come on in Scar, would you like some tea? I was just about to sit down.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize what time it was. Sorry for interrupting you.”

“No worries, Scar. I am always happy to talk, although this seems like more than just a casual conversation?” He had noticed that Scar still looked worried, more jumpy than usual.

Scar nodded, following Xisuma as he went further into the base. “Is there a player on the server that you haven’t told us about?”

“What?” Xisuma stopped in the middle of the kitchen, turning around to look at Scar. He almost wanted to laugh, but Scar seemed serious. “No, there shouldn’t be.”

“You know those rocks that Zedaph said he found?”

Xisuma tried to follow the rapid shift in the conversation, but he was confused. “I thought you said they were yours.”

“Yes, well,” Scar looked sheepish. “They aren’t, I just wanted to be able to look around. I built a rock near my starter base, and it has also been acting strange, and I wanted to see if these rocks were the same.”

“Okay.” Xisuma nodded.

“So I went over there to look at them, and they look very similar to the one I built, besides the floating part. Then, while I was there, I saw someone come out of a hole in the mountain. They didn’t look like any of the other players on the server. They had wings, Xisuma. Big dark wings, and a white mask, and they just looked at me, and didn’t say anything.”

“Take a deep breath Scar, I believe you, but don’t freak yourself out.” Xisuma reached out to offer a hand to Scar, who took it gratefully. “Did the player do anything else?” he asked when Scar seemed to calm down a little.

“No, I left before they could. It was weird, Xisuma.”

Xisuma nodded, thinking carefully. This seemed to confirm his worries about the wards and the voice he had heard at the beginning of the season. Something was obviously wrong. He pulled up his admin panels, looking for other player data on the server, but he couldn’t find anything.

“I don’t see any other players on the server, but if something got in without me noticing, that wouldn’t be surprising. If I could actually see or touch the player, I could get more information about them. Or if they were to sleep in a bed or get an achievement, something that would identify them in the world code.”

Scar looked thoughtful. “I could show you where I saw them, maybe they would be there again?”

“That might work,” Xisuma agreed. “Hopefully they don’t mess with the server too much before I can find them.”

They both looked down suddenly at another message in the world chat.

Tango: has anyone seen Mumbo today? we were supposed to meet up earlier but he wasn’t there

That wasn’t good. Mumbo was one of the more prompt players, and they weren’t early enough in the season to have any major projects that might distract him yet. When Xisuma looked up, Scar looked just as worried.

“I saw him just before I came here, and told him what I just told you. He might have gone to investigate for himself.”

“Why don’t you go check his base, and any other places he has been around first. I will go over to the site with the rocks if you don’t find anything. Message me if you do.”

“Okay.” Scar left quickly, almost running out the door. Xisuma didn’t blame him. Something about this situation felt very wrong.

Chapter Text

You need to learn to build like a Watcher, they had told him. This is a player build. You must learn to do better. They had destroyed his building, an attempt at creating a house to live in. It had grown to be more like a mansion though, unintentionally. The process seemed so natural, so familiar, that it was easy to build large structures like that. But that was not what the Watchers wanted. They wanted cold, imposing structures, to impress not to invite. He hated building them. But that was what the Watchers wanted. Eventually, it became easier, and he began to forget the urge to create warm, cozy builds. You must learn to build like us to become one of us. So he did.

---------------------------------

He was laughing, piling boats and mobs and friends on top of each other. He was building, inspired by magical alleyways and wonky houses. He was lying with his friends in an observatory, watching the moon as it grew larger. No. Not watching. He did not Watch.

A loud voice woke Xelqua from his sleep on the floor. He didn’t remember falling asleep, but he was sitting by the rift, so he must have still been working. His head was fuzzy, like there was some dream he had forgotten. He shook his head, trying to clear away the lingering feeling.

“Hey! I can see that you’re awake. Stop ignoring me,” the player yelled at him. Right. He had kidnapped a player. Who was now in his base. Just what he wanted to deal with right now.

He stood up carefully, walking over to the player. He still didn’t want to speak to them, but it wouldn’t hurt to get at least a little basic information. He summoned a piece of paper, writing on it, and slipping it to the player through a small hole in the wall of their room.

“What is my name? Oh, I’m Mumbo Jumbo. Who are you? Are you a new player? Why did you kidnap me?”

Xelqua waited until the flow of questions had stopped, carefully considering which ones to answer. He wasn’t sure if it would be better to pretend he was a player, or if he should reveal that he was a Watcher so that the player would know that he was powerful and should not be messed with. He wasn’t sure how much this player would know about the Watchers anyway.

Making his decision, he slid another piece of paper to the player. Mumbo. He ignored how strange it felt to refer to a player by name, even just in his mind.

Mumbo read the paper, silently this time, and then looked back up at Xelqua, his face pale. He backed up towards the wall, but then his expression shifted, becoming something more like anger.

“What is a Watcher doing on Hermitcraft? Your kind has done enough, you shouldn’t be here.” Mumbo started pacing around the room.

Xelqua was confused. To his knowledge, the Watchers had never been on Hermitcraft before, and that seemed like something they would have told him. He also didn’t know that the players would be so familiar with them. It was a good thing that the player wouldn’t be going to tell the admin, if this was how he reacted.

What do you have against the Watchers? he wrote. He might as well try to understand how the Watchers are viewed on the server.

“What do I have against the Watchers?” Mumbo spluttered. “They’re likely the reason my best friend disappeared for the second time, after they kidnapped and traumatized him the first time. They claim to be protectors of worlds, an impartial force, but all they do is destroy servers and hurt people.”

So you think that’s what I’m here to do.

“What else would you be here for?”

Xelqua supposed he hadn’t had the best impression, given that he had already kidnapped a player. But the player had to be wrong. He didn’t exactly know what the Watchers wanted to do when they got onto the server, but they wouldn’t destroy it, would they?

I am not here to hurt you. He figured that was probably true. He had not been told to hurt the players. In fact, he had been specifically told not to interact with them at all, but it was rather too late for that.

“I have no reason to believe that. You’ve already kidnapped me, for goodness sakes!”

This conversation wasn’t going anywhere. Why did you come here?

“I could ask you the same question!” Xelqua just stared back at him. “I heard something strange was happening over here. I wanted to see what was going on.”

Shoot. That meant that there was at least one other player, probably the one he had seen earlier, that knew about his existence. They would probably tell others. This had all gotten much more complicated.

---------------------------------

Scar couldn’t find Mumbo. He had checked everywhere, even going back to the strange rocks he had seen earlier, but he hadn’t found anything. He had been messaging Mumbo constantly, but there was no response.

You whisper to Xisuma: i haven’t found him. can you track him?

Xisuma whispers to you: No. Can you meet me at my base?

You whisper to Xisuma: omw

He flew as quickly as possible back to Xisuma’s base. This time, Xisuma wasn’t there to greet him, but the door was left open. When he went in, he found Xisuma sitting in his living room, surrounded by admin screens. He had obviously been searching the code, trying to find Mumbo.

“It’s like he just disappeared, but he hasn’t left the world,” Xisuma said, after looking up to see Scar standing in the doorway. “Come in friend, sit down.” He gestured to a seat beside him.

“I even went back to the rocks, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. The hole that I saw the figure in earlier was gone too. What are we going to do, Xisuma?”

“I think we have to tell the other hermits. They might have seen him, and if they haven’t, they need to know that one of them has disappeared. I am not willing to keep something that significant from them.”

“Are you sure, Xisuma?”

“No, not at all. I have no idea what to do here, but maybe someone else does.”

Xisuma: An Emergency Meeting is happening at spawn in an hour. Everyone who is available should be there.

False: What’s it about Xisuma?

Impulse: Yeah, what happened?

Tango: Is this about Mumbo?

Xisuma: I will explain everything at the meeting, everyone please stay calm and wait until then.

“How much are you going to tell them?” Scar asked.

“Everything, I think. With your permission, of course.”

“Alright, that’s fine. Thank you, Xisuma.”

“Thank you, my friend. Why don’t we sit a bit before the meeting. I’d like to have you explain as much of the story as you can, so I don’t get it mixed up.”

---------------------------------

Being trapped in a room for so long was not helping Mumbo’s anxiety. Neither did the fact that he had been kidnapped and trapped in said room by a Watcher. The same Watchers that had taken and traumatized one of his best friends.

So yeah, everything was great.

The Watcher had been moving around the cave they were in, apparently working on the large purple portal that dominated the space. Suddenly, another Watcher appeared in the cave, near the first. How could they just join the server without notifying anyone? Xisuma had worked for years to make sure their worlds were safe, and the firewalls he created were impressive, almost excessive. But apparently, they wouldn’t stop the Watchers.

“Xelqua,” the second Watcher spoke. So that was their name. “Why is there a player here?” Their voice was cold, accusatory. Mumbo shrank back, trying to hide himself, but there was no use now.

“They had come looking for me. I couldn’t let them go back to their admin if they found anything.” So, the first Watcher could speak. Something about their voice seemed vaguely familiar, but Mumbo couldn’t quite place it.

“Do any of the others know that you’re here?”

“I think one might. I was planning to try to find them, bring them back here before it is too late.”

The second Watcher paused, wings spreading wide. “They already know.”

That was probably good, Mumbo thought. He ignored the question of how the Watcher knew that.

“What do you want me to do?” the first Watcher, Xelqua asked.

“We need to speed up the timeline we set. You will have to reveal yourself to the rest of the server, and set yourself as their ruler. We will tell you what rules to impose, and will be working on joining you here on the server.”

Xelqua hesitated, looking towards Mumbo. “Why?” He asked. “What are we doing on this server?”

The second Watcher’s wings swept out wide, imposing. “That is not for you to question, Xelqua. Just because we have given you power here does not mean you are fully our equal. You will do this because it is what the Watcher council has commanded.”

Was Xelqua not truly a Watcher? What had the second one meant when they said that he wasn’t their equal? Something kept pushing at the back of his brain. This situation seemed too familiar.

“Grian?” he gasped. Both Watchers turned towards him. Xelqua just seemed confused, but the second Watcher stepped towards him.

“Grian does not exist,” the second Watcher said. “He has always been ours.”

Chapter Text

“Do you want to see?” They asked. “ᒷ⍊𝙹ꖎ⚍ℸ ̣ ╎𝙹リ is gone.”

“You said they would be safe.”

“We promised no such thing, ̇/ᒷꖎᑑ⚍ᔑ. Watch, if you don’t believe our word.”

“I can’t watch. I’m not one of you.”

“You will be. If you don’t learn, you will never know if your friends are dead or alive.”

---------------------------------

Xisuma looked out over the crowd of hermits in Keralis’ base, all looking up at him expectantly. They didn’t yet have a dedicated meeting space, so Keralis’ large house was the best place for all of them to meet for the moment. He wasn’t prepared for this. Nothing like this had ever happened, not in the entire history of Hermitcraft.

“What’s happening, Xisuma?” Tango’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

“Right,” he said, trying to figure out how to start. “Most of you probably know by now that Mumbo has disappeared.” Most people nodded, but some were surprised, looking to the people around them for an explanation. He ignored them. If he stopped, he wouldn’t go on with the rest he wanted to say.

“That isn’t the only problem on the server right now. I have reason to believe that Mumbo has taken, and that some being is also inhabiting this server.” This time, nearly everyone but Scar was shocked. After a moment of stunned silence, most started to call out frantic questions.

“I’ll let Scar explain what he saw first, and then I can take any additional questions,” Xisuma said, gesturing to the hermits to be quiet.

Scar stepped up to the front of the crowd. “It started when I was checking out the rocks that Zedaph mentioned seeing the other day. They weren’t actually mine, but I had some suspicions about them.” Scar looked up, seeming to notice the confused looks from the rest of the hermits. “I’ll explain that later. What’s important is that when I went to the rocks, I saw a strange figure. They didn’t look like a mob, but it also definitely wasn’t a player. They had huge dark wings, but also a dark cloak and a white mask with a strange symbol.”

A sharp gasp interrupted Scar’s explanation. Xisuma looked over the crowd to see Gem and Impulse huddled around Pearl, who had sunk to the ground.

Gem looked up at him. “Is it alright if we go outside for a bit? I think Pearl needs a break.”

Xisuma nodded. The safety and wellbeing of his hermits would always come first. “Do you want us to wait until you get back?”

Gem looked at Pearl, still curled into herself. “I’m not sure we’ll be coming back. Do you mind just catching us up on any other important information after the meeting?”

“Of course, just let me know when you want me to come over.” He watched them leave the room, Gem and Impulse helping Pearl to her feet. “Keep going, Scar.”

“Right, well,” Scar said hesitantly. “Whatever the being was, they freaked me out, so I left pretty quickly. I was planning on going straight to Xisuma, but I ran into Mumbo first. I told him what I saw, and I thought it would be enough to stop him from going near, but he disappeared soon after.” Scar’s voice broke in the last sentence. “It’s my fault that he’s gone, he wouldn’t have gone near there if I had just gone to Xisuma first. I’m so sorry.” He turned away.

Xisuma hadn’t realized Scar felt that way until now. “It absolutely is not your fault that Mumbo was taken, Scar. You couldn’t have known. That is entirely on the player, or entity, that did it.”

Several other voices rang out in agreement.

“Of course Scar is not at fault, but do you know any more about this entity, Xisuma?” Doc asked.

Xisuma sighed. “Not much more than Scar has told me. I have been worried since the start of the season that there was something strange on the server, but I hadn’t been able to pinpoint what it was.”

“You mean you knew there was something wrong and you didn’t tell us?”

“Knew is a strong word. I didn’t know anything was wrong, and I have been monitoring the server carefully. I believe that between Scar’s experience and my research, I should be able to at least find the entity and hopefully get a hold of their code. Then we will know more for sure.”

“But are we in any danger, Xisuma?” Cub asked. “Is it safe to stay on the server?”

“I believe so. I haven’t been able to find Mumbo from his code, but there also aren’t any signs of significant danger to him either. However, everyone will be notified immediately if the situation becomes truly unsafe. Does everyone remember the emergency plans?” The assembled hermits all nodded. “Good. I’m sorry I don’t have more information now, but I wanted to make sure that you were all as informed as possible, and I hope that you will come to me if you have any more relevant information.”

“What are we going to do about Mumbo?” Scar asked.

“I don’t want anyone to go off on their own looking for Mumbo right now. While I believe that he isn’t in any immediate danger, I don’t want anyone else disappearing as well.” He looked over the assembled hermits sternly.

“Does everyone understand? Good. Then, I think this meeting is over. Please stay in groups, let me know if anything strange happens, and don’t go trying to find Mumbo. Stay safe, everyone.”

At that, most of the hermits left.

“I think that went fairly well, don’t you?” Scar asked.

“Yes, I’m glad we called this meeting.” Xisuma looked carefully at Scar. “Be careful, Scar. I know you are worried about Mumbo, but don’t do anything stupid.”

---------------------------------

There were Watchers on the server. There were Watchers on the server, and they had kidnapped Mumbo, and they were probably coming for her next. Xisuma was still talking, but Pearl couldn’t hear him. She didn’t even realize that she had sunk to the ground until Gem and Impulse followed her.

“You okay, Pearl?” Impulse whispered. She shook her head.

“It’s the Watchers, isn’t it?” Gem asked. Impulse looked confused, but Pearl nodded.

Gem stood up, saying something to Xisuma, and Impulse helped her to her feet. Her hands were shaking, Pearl realized distantly. They made it outside, going to Gem’s treehouse since it was the closest.

“Do you mind if I explain the Watchers to Impulse first?” Pearl shook her head, still not feeling like talking.

“Ok, so, this all started on an old server that Pearl was on, created by Grian. It was called Evolution, and while I don’t know the exact details, the point of the server was to go through the old updates, and the Watchers had something to do with that,” Gem explained.

“They helped us move between updates, leaving us with riddles and puzzles to solve to find portals.” She needed to make sure that Impulse really understood the Watchers, especially if they were already on the server. “They didn’t seem malicious at first, but then they started to try to control us more. They blew up some bases, and put obsidian over someone’s, over Grian’s, chests when he didn’t comply with their rules.”

Pearl paused to collect herself for a minute, then continued. “Eventually, we reached the End update. We all went to the stronghold together, and jumped into the portal together. But, the Watchers separated us, making us fight the Dragon alone. It was their final test. By the end of it, they had chosen Grian, so he was the one they took. They kidnapped him from our server, taking him to become a Watcher.”

“Kidnapped?” Impulse asked. “Just like Mumbo has been kidnapped?” Gem startled, obviously not having considered that comparison.

“That’s what I’m worried about. They’ve always wanted more players, especially ones who were close to Grian.” Gem reached out to Pearl at that, and Impulse looked between them, putting the pieces together.

“They tried to take you too, didn’t they?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“We’ll keep you safe, Pearl.” Gem said, pulling her close. “What do you want to do?”

Pearl took a deep breath. “I want to get Mumbo back. When Grian was taken the first time, he left the server, but since Mumbo hasn’t, there’s a chance we could still rescue him.”

---------------------------------

Regardless of what Xisuma said, Scar couldn’t just leave Mumbo to whatever mess he was in. It was a relief then, when Pearl came to him, followed by Gem and Impulse.

“Why hello there,” he said. “What can I do for you all on this fine day?”

“I want to get Mumbo back,” Pearl said bluntly.

“Right,” Scar said, becoming more serious as well. “I’ve been thinking about that. I think if we all went back to where I saw the figure earlier, we could probably find them, and Mumbo. And as long as we have multiple people, we shouldn’t be in too much danger. So, is it just you and I then?”

“We’re coming too!” Gem and Impulse both said together.

“Alrighty then, follow me everyone!”

---------------------------------

The older Watcher had left, finally, after giving Xelqua a few more sharp instructions.

“Don’t forget who you are, Xelqua,” they had said as they left. “Don’t forget what you are meant to do.”

That was the problem though. Xelqua didn’t know what he was meant to do. He did what the Watchers told him to do, but he also had to fight against all of the strange instincts, the half-forgotten memories that were starting to resurface. He didn’t know which ones were real.

Maybe the player, Mumbo, could help him. He had called Xelqua Grian, and the other Watcher had obviously known the name. He looked over at Mumbo, sitting restlessly in his room (cage).

“Who is Grian?” He asked suddenly.

Mumbo looked up, focused directly on him. “You are Grian. You are one of my best friends. You are a hermit, you have been since season six. You love building and playing pranks on people. You were the Admin of Evolution SMP until they kidnapped you, and now they’ve tried to do it again, and I won’t let them. I won’t let them take you from me again. Please, just remember. You are Grian.” Mumbo was crying, the last few words punctuated by his tears. Xelqua didn’t know what to do.

“How could I be Grian? I’m a Watcher. I will never be anything else.”

I’ve tried so hard to be a Watcher, to be like them. How could I be anything else? Please, he thought. Please just make this make sense.

“You’re a player, you always have been. They tried to take that from you, but you will always be a player. You will always be my friend. Please, just remember.”

“I don’t understand.” He couldn’t deal with all of this right now. He had a job to do. Xelqua turned around, facing the rift. It wasn’t fully complete yet, but he didn’t quite know what was needed. Maybe it would be good to watch some of the other players. He had been in the cave for too long. He was a Watcher, after all.

Chapter Text

“Don’t you understand, ̇/ᒷꖎᑑ⚍ᔑ? We have so much more power like this, as Watchers. You can have this power too, if only you listen to us,” they said.

“I don’t want your power. I want my friends, my family.”

“You will learn, ̇/ᒷꖎᑑ⚍ᔑ. You will learn to watch, and you will see how much better it is. This way, you can control the fate of worlds, see more than you ever imagined. You could even see your friends again, if you try hard enough.”

“I won’t. I’m a player, I will always be.”

“You will become a Watcher, ̇/ᒷꖎᑑ⚍ᔑ. There is no other choice.”

---------------------------------

Doc had been working on the World Eater for too long. Long enough, apparently, that he was beginning to feel a tingling sensation on his neck, like someone was watching him. He shook his head to try to clear the sensation, but it didn’t go away. He searched the land outside of the Perimeter carefully, but didn’t see anything. He continued to work.

A few hours later, the sensation returned. This time, a voice followed it.

“What are you working on?” One of the other hermits, maybe Mumbo, asked.

“The World Eater, to create my base for the season,” he replied distractedly, still focused on his task.

“Oh,” Mumbo replied, sounding a little strange. Wait. Mumbo was kidnapped. Doc looked up suddenly, seeing a cloaked figure a few blocks away on the solid ground. They looked like the figure that Scar had described at the meeting.

“What are you going to do with it?” They asked.

“Take out this area so I can build farms in it.”

“This area?”

Doc gestured at the trenches he had created already. “Everything inside here, all the way down to bedrock. The end of the area is a bit past render distance from here.” He really shouldn’t have been talking to the figure, but they weren’t threatening him at the moment, and he didn’t want to scare them away too quickly by pulling out his communicator.

“And it’s called the World Eater,” they said flatly.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool.”

Doc couldn’t quite catch what they said next, only that something makes sense now, and they have to know about this.

The figure then spread their wings, flying away. If it weren’t for their last phrase, he might have just let them go. However, that was too concerning to not follow up on. He quickly messaged Xisuma, letting him know that he had seen the figure near the Perimeter, and was going to follow them for a bit. He knew that Xisuma wouldn’t like it, but it could get them some more information.

Doc pulled his sword out of his inventory, keeping it close to hand, just in case, as he used his elytra to fly after the figure. They were far enough away that they shouldn’t be able to hear his rockets.

He didn’t have to follow them far. They slowed near the large rocks that had appeared earlier in the season, fairly close to his Perimeter. He watched as they spiraled down into the mouth of the cave, choosing to land near the entrance instead. He should still be close enough to see what was happening without putting himself in any unnecessary danger.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t hear very well. He hadn’t thought that there would be other hermits in the figure’s cave, but there definitely were, and he wished he could hear their conversation. He could see Gem, Pearl, Impulse, Scar, and oh, Mumbo too. That meant that the figure was definitely involved in Mumbo’s kidnapping.

Suddenly, magical purple particles started gathering around the cloaked figure, and the others jumped to fly away. Mumbo was coming with them, but it almost seemed like he didn’t want to. Strange.

They didn’t seem to notice Doc as they flew by, heading straight to Spawn. Probably to Xisuma, if he had to guess. He stayed where he was, wanting to observe the hooded figure more while he had the opportunity.

He was glad he did.

---------------------------------

Xelqua had been gone for a while, but Mumbo was still just sitting restlessly in the room. There really wasn’t anything else for him to do at that point. It was only because he was so attentive that he noticed the voices coming from outside the cavern. He couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but the fact that there were voices was telling enough. The hermits must have come looking for him. That wasn’t good. He needed to stay with Grian, to make him remember. Also, as much as Grian didn’t seem to want to talk with him, to remember, he also seemed determined to not let Mumbo out into the rest of the server. Although, that might change if he knew that the other hermits knew.

It wasn’t up to Mumbo, in the end.

“He’s here, guys,” Impulse called, face appearing at the entrance to the cavern. “I see him!”

Scar, Pearl, and Gem quickly gathered around, pushing into the cavern and floating down.

“Are you okay, Mumbo?”

“What happened?”

“How do we get you out?”

The questions came too fast for Mumbo to answer. “Guys, stop.” They all quieted. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“We came to rescue you, of course,” Scar said. Of course they did.

“I don’t need to be rescued. I can’t explain it to you now, but I need to stay here. You guys, however, need to leave as soon as possible. I don’t want you getting captured as well.”

“We’re not just going to leave you here,” Pearl said indignantly. “Also, if it would be so unsafe for us to stay, how could you possibly imagine that we would leave you to that.”

“You guys don’t understand, I need you to leave. I’ll explain later, I just need you guys to trust me.” Really, he knew his friends meant well, but this was truly the worst possible time. Suddenly, he heard wingbeats coming from outside. It had to be Grian. “Hide,” he hissed. “Then leave when you can.”

Unfortunately, it was already too late. The Watcher spiraled down before the others had a chance to hide. Not that they had tried, still standing around the room he was trapped in. They moved instead to group in front of him.

“What are you doing here?” Grian asked. His voice didn’t sound like Grian’s like it did earlier. It was deeper, cold and threatening like the other Watcher.

“We came to rescue our friend,” Gem said, stepping to the front and pulling out her sword. While she did that, Scar moved to the back and started to work on taking down the walls. “And to remove you from our server, by any method necessary.” She spun her sword threateningly.

“No!” Mumbo didn’t realize that he had yelled out loud until everyone turned to look at him. Scar had made a large enough hole for him to walk out, and he did so, trying to move in between Gem and Grian the Watcher.

“Mumbo, it kidnapped you. You can’t protect it,” Pearl said.

“You don’t understand!” he said desperately, then turned around to face the Watcher. “Please, Grian, just remember.”

“Grian’s gone,” Gem said gently, pulling him back. “You’re safe now. We will protect you.”

“Guys, I think we need to leave,” Impulse said, looking at the purple sparks that were starting to gather around the Watcher.

“Yep.”

Pearl and Gem grabbed Mumbo’s hands, pulling him up and out. He turned to look over his shoulder at Grian. “Please,” he said, the word feeling overused on his lips. “Please, come back to us.”

---------------------------------

Xelqua was more shaken by the players’ words than he wanted to admit. Not even just one of them, but all of the ones he had seen today. He sent a message to his supervisor, hoping that he would have enough time before they arrived to organize his thoughts.

On one hand, he was finally beginning to understand what the Watchers were trying to tell him. A player creating a World Eater, willfully destroying a massive chunk of the world, just to create some farms? That definitely sounded like some of the atrocities that the Watchers taught him that players committed. It made sense, that that kind of player would need to be watched and controlled.

But he was also surprised by the kindness and bravery shown by the other players. They had arrived to rescue their friend, willing to fight against him, a Watcher, to protect him. The players that his teachers had told him about would not have gone to such lengths to help each other.

And then there was Mumbo, the player who was convinced he was someone else. A friend of Mumbo’s, apparently. What Mumbo said didn’t make sense. He was a Watcher, not a player. He might have been a player once, but he didn't have friends or people that cared about him. It had been a bad server, from what the Watchers told him. When he really thought about it though, he could only remember the last year or so of his training. He had no idea where he had been, who he had been, before that.

Just then, his mentor arrived, obviously in a bit of a hurry.

“What do you have to report to me, Xelqua. This must be important, if you chose to contact us.”

He immediately cleared his head of his worries, there would be time for that later. “Yes, it is. I have been observing the players on this server, and found something of interest. One of the players has been creating a machine they call a World Eater. They intend to destroy a large chunk of the environment in order to create builds and farms.”

The older Watcher nodded approvingly. “That is concerning. What do you suggest to be done, Xelqua. This is your post.”

Xelqua thought for a moment before responding. “I suggest we isolate the player as much as possible, so their dangerous ideas do not spread. They would then be carefully observed to make sure that their destructive tendencies are not a threat to the rest of the server, and would be removed if necessary.”

They shook their head. “You still do not understand, Xelqua. All players present a dangerous threat to the servers they exist on. This player is not the exception, they are the rule. They have had contact with the other players before this, correct?”

Xelqua nodded.

“Just as I thought. Their ideas will have already spread. Before we know it, the entire server will be destroyed in this way. Players are never content with small amounts of destruction. The entire server must be placed on lockdown, no contact with the outside world. You must gain full control over the players. It’s for their safety, you see. To make sure they don’t harm themselves, or cause any other servers to fall.”

“Isn’t that a bit harsh? I’ve seen how the other players interact, they seem to be peaceful, kind even.”

“Players are not like us, Xelqua. They will always cause violence and destruction, it is their nature. As Watchers, we must control their chaos. That is what we are meant for. That is what you are meant for.”