AN

Hello everyone! Welcome to the second book of The Lost One series named A Change In The Horizon! If you haven't read the first book, Xelqua Rising, I would highly suggest checking that out first so you can get some context on a lot of things. 

On a bit of a sadder note, I wanted to take a moment to recognize the passing of TFC. He was, and always will be, an amazing Hermit. May he rest in peace. 

~🌤~

When Xelqua came to at long last, he found himself blinded by the sunlight peeking out between the leaves in the trees. He let out a loud groan as he sat up and began to look around. Trees surrounded him in every direction, an army of brown trunks surrounding him in the clearing he was in. Beside him was another Watcher, just a few inches taller than he was.

What exactly had happened? At first, he couldn't remember a single thing, but little by little, memories began piecing themselves together in his mind.

He was named Grian originally. For a few years, he was trapped on a server named Evolution with about ten others. Their captors, the Watchers, had ordered them around, forcing them to chase senseless clues under the false hope that just maybe, they could be let out one day. It was a terrible situation, but the players had all grown close and made the best they could of what they had.

Then that fateful day had come. The Watchers had become angry because one of the Evolutionists somehow made their way into their holy temple. As a punishment of some kind, they demanded that one of them become a Watcher. In the end, it was Grian that had volunteered.

There in their sacred temple in the dimension named the Downside Up, he was looked down upon by all the creatures. Little by little, he learned their ways, but not without insults and babying. There was only one Watcher that took little part of this, the only other one with a heart. The one that laid beside him now.

Xelqua's gaze softened as he studied the other with his detached invisible eyes. His white hair had become a bit dirty, and his robes of the same color had become creased by the way he was laying. His three pairs of wings laid outstretched as far as they could, speckled by sunlight.

Miesall, he had been named. Or as Xel liked to call him, Miesalt (or even just Salt). Considering Watchers did not have relationships with each other, romantic or platonic, the two had grown quite close. Xelqua had spent far more time with him than any other, although it was to be expected seeing as the the creature was his teacher this last century or so.

Xelqua stood up now, sending his detached eyes to search the area further. Since becoming a Watcher, he had hundreds of eyes. For some reason, however, now he only seemed to have ten, and instead of seeing everywhere, he could only send his eyes out about twenty feet from his body.  It unnerved him a bit, but being in a world after so long was what took his focus right now.

From what he saw so far, this was an empty world. That was good, he supposed. He sat back down, waiting for the other to wake. It wasn't until the sun rose high in the sky that Miesall did come to.

'Xel...' he signed silently with his hands. 'Where are we?'

"We appear to be in a forest." Xel responded in the tongue of the higher species, Language. He also signed his words, as was required of the Watchers anytime when speaking. Privacy of any kind was strictly forbidden among the Watchers.

Miesall rubbed his face, trying to get his bearings. Xelqua could feel that he was trying to send out his eyes, exploring this world. It was only natural for him to do, after all. Yet, there were only a few other eyes around him. 'I... can not see clearly.' He signed.

"I can't either." He admitted. "Why would that be?"

Miesall sat up, hugging his knees. He tried sending out his eyes for a few more minutes, dwelling on Xel's question. "This world must be a void of some kind." He decided out loud now. 'Do you remember what I taught you about voids?'

Xel nodded. "They're spaces that Watchers cannot see, but you never said what happens if a Watcher were to be in one."

Miesall shrugged. "Not quite, but I suppose lecturing isn't in order right now. I do not know what happens when Watchers enter them, but I do not know what else would affect our vision." He was frowning deeply, wings drawn in. Xelqua, being able to read the other like a book at this point, could tell this worried the stone-cold Watcher more than he let on.

Miesall stood up now. "In any case, it does not matter. I will just simply create a portal back to the temple and after punishment, forget this ever happened." He rubbed his hands together before they began to glow bright purple, magic coursing through his veins. He first created a box of obsidian to house the portal, then began to move his arms in a circular motion to begin creating the portal itself. 

Xel stood up now, watching as a small purple light began to flicker into existence right at the center of the frame the curly-haired male had made. It began to grow as he went faster, sparkling. And then, like a strong gust of wind in the face of a small flame, it vanished seemingly out of nowhere.

Miesall froze in place. "I am talented in all types of magic. The portal should not have disappeared." He frowned.

"What does that mean?" Xelqua asked.

The taller creature did not respond as he started the motions once again. This time, it did not appear to work at all, not even for a second. He tried a second and then third time, to no avail. A fourth, this time with ferocity that it looked as though he could strangle someone in that moment. And with one last attempt, he threw his hands up in the air as he turned around, looking as though fire might spew from his mouth. He kicked a rock with his sandal and he looked as though he might scream his lungs out in frustration, but he did not make a sound.

Xelqua could only watch in confusion and horror as the scene played out in front of him. He took a step back as his self-declared friend continued to become angrier and angrier with each passing second. That was their way home. They didn't know any other way to get back to the Downside Up.

"It should be simple!" Miesall yelled, throwing his hands every which way. "Just do the stupid hand motions with your magic and bam! Portal! That's how it's supposed to work!"

"Miesall..." Xel began softly. He wasn't sure what to say. This whole thing was his fault. He never should have tried to make a portal in the first place. If he hadn't, they wouldn't be stuck here. 

The two sat there quietly for awhile, neither one saying anything. With each rage-filled breath, the natural-born Watcher's wings opened and closed, dramatically at first but lessening with each breath.

"So uhh... what do we do now?" Xel began once he was sure the other had calmed down, nervously chuckling to himself

"I do not know everything." Miesall sighed, trying to not work himself up again. "This must be a ᓭ⚍ type of void. That is why or magic is not working properly." He fluttered his wings in annoyance. 'Stupid bastards.' He was trying to stay calm, but it was clear that he was heating up.

"If this is a ᓭ⚍, that means the others can't find us." Xel realized, stating the obvious. He recalled that the word ᓭ⚍ did not have a good translation. In the literal definition, it meant blind, but the world implied to cancel or get rid of sight. In that way, it could also be said that the word translated to vision canceling.

'Yeah, of course that is what that means!" The other replied, putting a bit more pressure on his fingers as he snapped them.  "This must be why the Great Ones forbid you from making a portal in the first place!"

Guilt flooded into Xelqua's chest, dragging him down. Both of them were sure to get large punishments because of this, if they ever made their way back. As much as he wanted to lean on Miesall, he knew that this was his mistake to fix. He took the time to formulate his response, aware that there could be a full fledged argument if he was not careful. "Alright, so if we return to spawn, there should be a portal to the Main Hub. From there, we can walk out of the void and then you can bring us back to the Downside Up." He proposed.

Miesall slowly nodded. "Fine." He muttered. He hated having to do this, but at least they had a plan now. He was tempted to huff, but he didn't. It was unlike Watchers to be annoyed by such a matter. Watchers were supposed to be perfect and upright, not bothered by trivialities, even if it was a mistake worth being sent to The Void for.

"I'm going to gather supplies." The blonde continued, hoping some forward momentum would help them both. He walked over the the nearest tree and began punching it. Miesall only stood there, observing the other closely with his eyes. He did not see a reason to comment on it, and so he did not.

Back in the worlds, Xel couldn't help but think of the old days when he was human. Back when he used to rough things out with terrible graphics and a bunch of strangers that became his friends. Gathering wood, creating a makeshift crafting table and creating tools was almost an impulse. Without thinking, he let his hands do the work.

"Why are you making so many tools?" Miesall asked, having not moved from where he had been standing. "I thought we were going to spawn."

"I'm not sure where spawn is from here. Our vision isn't working well enough to just scour the world for it, so we need to make a compass. Considering we need to gather supplies to do that, I don't think there's any way that we are coming home tonight. We need to prepare for mobs." Xelqua frowned, giving a serious look to the other. They understood his meaning— there was no telling whether or not this was a hardcore world, and they best not find out.

"It does not matter what the qualities of this world are. Our magic will protect us and allow us to respawn, even in hardcore if we were to somehow die." Miesall reminded. Xel relaxed at that, having almost forgotten that just because he was back in the worlds didn't mean he was human again. Watchers were nearly impossible to kill to begin with; a permadeath had to be impossible unless the Great Ones were retiring one of their subjects.

Xel then crafted some more tools, Miesall still only watching.

"Why is it that you are making even more tools?" He inquired, taking a few steps towards the crafting bench as the other finished making two of every tool out of wood.

Xel only forced a smile as he threw half of them on the ground. "For you, silly." He replied, forcing a laugh.

"For me?!" Miesall exclaimed, almost shocked. He took note of the wooden equipment laying in front of him. They barely looked like they were holding themselves together, ready to break at any moment without being used. "But I am a Watcher! I am not supposed to have material possessions!"

Xel's smile faded as he removed the crafting table from the ground and placed it in his inventory. "And we aren't supposed to be down here, either." He sighed, that guilt very much still active in his chest. "There isn't a way that we can get to spawn without getting a compass first." he reminded.

Miesall slowly knelt down and picked up the tools one by one. He felt it in his hands, running his hands over the uneven wood. The shafts were not straight, the wood splintered and the tips of the tools, although dull, edge surprisingly sharp. Well, not sharp, they were actually quite dull, but sharper than he had expected. It pricked his finger and a few drops of violet blood came out. His body was quick to heal himself, the wound closing itself in a matter of seconds and fading away.

"Come on," Xel said suddenly, almost startling the occupied Watcher. "We're going caving." Without waiting, he walked over to a nearby cave and jumped inside, letting himself fall almost to the ground before using his wings to save himself at the last moment. The drop was far enough down that he could not use his eyes to look around until he had landed on the stone. Outside of the light that came from up above at the entrance, the area was dark.

The curly-haired Watcher was slower following, wary of the cave that he could not see. It was not the mobs that worried him— he was sure that he could sit on top of a spawner with only annoying jabs of pain. What worried him was the unknowing. The idea that he did not know all that he was going into, even if the possibilities themselves did not frighten him, the uncertainty did. He had spent his whole life being able to see anything and everything all at once. Having that taken away from him was unnerving to say the least.

Walking around the cave and beginning to gather cobblestone, memories continued to flood Xel's brain. He had spent so much time in his human life gathering resources. It was a boring and mundane task, so often times the Evolutionists went in groups.

They would talk about anything and everything. Sad things, happy things, silly things, heart-to-heart conversations. He recalled one time that he had an especially difficult talk with Taurtis back then. He recalled how tears had blinded his vision so much out of nowhere, emotion spilling out of him. He remembered how he had tried to lie, blaming it on the redstone he had just mined.

Taurtis knew him so much better than that, seeing through the lie immediately. He proceeded to have a break down, telling his best friend about how he felt so small, so trapped, so useless and undeserving of the title admin. He did not garner sympathy from him, but rather empathy. He gained a sense of not only being heard, but also felt on a level that was beyond words.

He couldn't help but feel nostalgia wash over him now. He longed for those days way back then, he wished to talk to his friend one last time, to speak to him like he did back then. To talk about being trapped.

Xel waited for his thoughts to be redirected to Miesall like they always inexplicably were. This time, that didn't happen. Instead, he only thought more of his dead friends as he continued to mine.

"Why don't you try?" He asked the other Watcher. He hoped by doing so, he would open up a dialogue and save himself from these thoughts.

"I don't know..." the other signed as he stared at the floor.  He had spent his time standing there, unmoving, as he studied his surroundings instead of helping.

"Just try it." Xel insisted, forcing a smile despite his feels deep inside. Maybe if he faked it, he really would become happy. It was how he had gotten through Evo, after all.

Miesall only fluttered his wings. "Fine." He sighed. He dug through his inventory before producing a pickaxe. He walked over to a wall and began slamming it against the stone, using his full body to hit the tool against the rock. The blows echoed loudly around the cave.

"Woah, woah," the shorter one began as he walked the other's side, a careful distance away from the pickaxe. "This isn't beta. You don't have to hit as hard."

Miesall hesitated before striking the stone, much more gently this time. The stone continued to break at the same speed, and in a few seconds it was gone. He quietly picked up the cobblestone, hesitating. He wasn't looking at it but he was studying it with his detached eyes. He had never mined anything before, and he wasn't sure how to feel about it. He almost felt proud for some strange reason. What that reason was, he was not sure. It was just some stone after all. 

Xel walked deeper in the cave before pausing, looking back at the one who had never been in a world before. "Well, come on. This cave isn't going to mine itself!" He declared.