So this picture was drawn by SuspiciousSheep ! They drew this about 9 months ago, and I was really in awe when I saw it because it was just so good! 

A bit of a fun fact: When I was debating whether or not to write a fanfic, Sheep was the one to convince me to just go and try it. None of this would be possible without her so <3

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'We understand.' The Great Lady assured Xelqua after some time had passed in the Sanctum. 'Even after all this time, you mimic human behaviors. It is common for humans to drag themselves into despair, even though it costs them their resources and produces no benefit.'

Xel couldn't help but feel his wings shudder. He may have calmed down, but only externally. Anything that had been said about Miesall and his own grief still boiled his blood at the thought. He stayed silent, obedient, as a Watcher should as the Great Ones carried on.

'We understand that you are trying your hardest to put aside such infantile feelings.' The Lady continued. 'And so, we shall show you mercy and spare you from the depths of the Void just this once.'

Her words were signed oh so delicately, so gentle. Her fingers moved in a way that showed care, but it didn't reach Xel for the contents of such words were nothing short of cruel in his opinion. While he usually wasn't good at concealing his emotion, he bit down, trying to lock away any hint of it on his face. He could almost hear his gut tell him that they didn't mean it like that, they didn't know the words that they were saying. It told him that they were trying their best to be supportive.

Maybe that was so. Maybe it wasn't. Neither would change the fact that it had come as a full fledged insult. Not only to Xelqua himself, but Miesall as well. Miesall deserved to be remembered and lamented and cried over. To be loved. Xelqua was the only one willing (although technically not by choice) to take on the burden of doing so. His entire being forced him to. The Watchers, none of them held the same view.

It occurred to him that even Miesall was a Watcher. Both physically, and morally. Although he had begun to act human, he had strong roots as a Watcher. He recalled the time when he had asked if Xel had been done crying over his friends long ago. His words had meant to be kind, but they came harsh instead.

He didn't like to think about that.

In any case, he gave the two seers a practiced bow. "How benevolent of you." He replied, keeping the mock out of his tone, though with such a big fancy word on his tongue, one that sounded like one any other Watcher would use, he couldn't help but smirk ever so slightly. In this way, they did not pick up on his slight deception.

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With little more dialogue following, Xelqua excused himself to his room once more to be left alone with his thoughts.

He laid, sprawled out on the hard ground. He was tempted to kick off his sandals to be a bit more comfortable, but he resisted the temptation.

He couldn't help but think for hours, days, maybe even months about the Watchers. How each and every one, they hadn't cared about one of their own. Even if he personally were to not be close to the creature that had died, he would've given plenty of room for those who did mourn. He would've felt bad for them, and for the one lost, even if it wasn't such a personal dagger through his heart.

But the Watchers, all of them, didn't care one bit. How heartless! How cruel! To even say that he had been acting irrationally to even miss him!

He tried to reason with himself. Watching for hundreds of years was not easy; even he had seen his fair share of death, wars, destruction. Maybe that had hardened their hearts. Even at these times, his blood boiled deep underneath his skin. No, that was not an adequate excuse for how they had acted, and still were, and probably would always. Had the Watchers always been this way? He tried to remember way back when, his human memories that had taken place so long ago...

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"What... is this symbol? Is that bedrock?" Jimmy asked, leaning to get a closer look. He placed a single finger against the surface, running it down the side, verifying that it indeed was. 

"Look! I prayed to the Watchers, and they gave me leaves!" Netty chuckled, hugging some to her chest. There were so many that they all spilled around her.

"Another portal! Finally! I wonder if this means we'll be able to sleep!" Grian himself exclaimed upon spotting the familiar lavender glow of a portal. 

"How come it takes them awhile to give us updates if everyone else gets them? And how come they can't do anything to break us out of here?" Martyn asked, his arms crossed and his narrowed. The fire in front of him left menacing shadows behind him.

"Maybe they're the ones causing all of this..." Pearl whispered, her eyes darting around the seeming never-ending darkness on another night. 

"What kind of game are they playing?" Salem asked, studying the paper with the next clue etched onto it.

"I didn't mean to! I just slipped and before I knew it, I was in their weird, uh, dimension! Oh God, what have I done?" Taurtis exclaimed, holding his head. He paced back and forth past Grian, shaking in worry. There would be consequences, he knew. There always were.

"They're tricking us, I can feel it. Though, I don't know what their endgame is; surely we'll find it at the End. Everyone, be wary." Martyn warned, clutching his iron sword. The group surrounded the final portal, unknowing that they would all be separated moments later.

"I'm afraid a sacrifice must be made to atone for the crimes committed." It was Juden now. It was her and Grian alone, in one of the Ends. "The temple is a sacred place, those who enter mustn't ever leave unless it be the will of the Great Ones. They have decided to be merciful, however, and will allow any one of you to pay the price."

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It had been Taurtis that had messed up. Why was it then that Juden had approached him individually rather than the whole group at once? The words she spoke stated that it should have been Taurtis; if one was fated to leave, surely it must've been him. So then why did she approach him?

Unless Taurtis had gotten in the way, that Grian had been fated to fall into the Downside Up by mistake and pay the price. At the same time, wouldn't that mean one or both of them would be put on trial for breaking fate? And then why would they say they could chose who went? If they wished for Grian or Taurtis to come all along, wouldn't saying they had a choice be... a lie?

One thing was for sure: Something didn't add up here.

His gut pushed back, telling him that he didn't know the whole story, he didn't know what the Great Ones foresaw, what they spoke of.

A part of his brain reminded him of Allec. As much as he hated to think of the murderer, the words he spoke rolled in his mind. Hypocrites, he had called the Watchers. Cruel, that they'd let players like the loud naked one be tortured for all eternity.

In the very least, he agreed with that.

He considered his past self, Grian. What would he say if he could see his current self now? To know that he himself truly became a Watcher? One of the beings he had worshiped, feared, hated in that order. How had he gotten to this point exactly? To throw away his own humanity, his playerhood?

He replayed his life, trying to see the way Grian would see things.

Why had he gone along so quietly? So obediently? For the so-called Emperor of Explosion (as the Watchers once called him), one would think he would have protested much more.

He tried to remember that day when he was taken. It had been a long time since then, but he remembered how disgusted he was with the arrangement. He remembered holding back the urge to tsk "how convenient" or something, and how his blood boiled similar to how it did now. But more than anything, even his rage, was a deep fear. Fear that if he didn't comply, that something would happen to his friends. In honesty, he hadn't cared about being reckless; he never had, but it was different when he was putting people other than himself at risk.

From there, inside the walls of this prison called a temple, he was sure to behave himself, afraid what would happen if he didn't. The feeling slowly faded until he completely forgot it, and by then, he had learned to be the obedient dog they had wished for. That had all changed when he was shattered awake by Miesall's death and the Watchers' indifference.

Out of all of this thinking, there became to be one thing that was crystal clear: he needed to get out of this place, and fast.

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Ahhh boy, here we go!

.... I have no idea how to write the next chapter, uhh--- wish me luck.