(This first part doesn't have any warnings, but be aware that future parts will get much darker and more troubling.)

Part 1

Early Season 8

"We don't have to stay, you know."

EX looked up from the unsorted chest, confused.

"In Hermitcraft, I mean." Hels continued, idly turning over a stone in his hands. "It's not like we don't have a choice. We could leave, find a new world, one where no one's heard of us. Why not leave everything about this place behind?"

EX closed the chest, hesitating before he spoke. "I've thought about that too. And I want to, but..." He looked around at the surrounding spruce trees. "I feel like there's something unfinished here."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this is gonna sound crazy, but I just feel like something is going to happen here. And, whatever it is, I have to be here when it does. It feels... wrong to leave just yet."

Hels thought for a moment. "Is it the sixth sense?"

"Yeah." EX wasn't sure what had caused it, maybe from spending so much time in and around the Void. Starting about a year ago, he had known things that he shouldn't have been able to know. It was sometimes a feeling and sometimes that, in the back of his head, he knew something. He had felt this way before escaping the Void, before that huge lightning storm had happened, and, most interestingly, before he met Hels. He knew there was something coming, just never what or when.

Hels was one of the only people EX had told about this, and he was glad the knight took it seriously, as opposed to claiming he was a liar.

"Do you know if it's good or bad?"

EX shook his head. "I don't want to force you to stay here, though. I understand if it's too much. You can go ahead of me, find a new world, and I'll catch up with you after... whatever this is."

"No, I'm staying here with you."

"What?"

"I trust your judgement on this, if you need to stay, I'm not going to stop you. But I also think we need to stick together. Besides," he added with a smirk. "You'll probably need the help of a slightly more competent person."

EX rolled his eyes, but couldn't help chuckling. "You sure you can handle it?"

Hels grinned. "Bring it on."

<~~~>

~3 Months Later

It didn't come as much of a surprise to Hels or EX that most of the Hermits hadn't been too fond of the idea of them both being around. It wasn't unknown that they had been banished to the Void after separately attempting to mess up the server. They frequently played tricks on the Hermits and annoyed them from time to time, but, much to everyone's surprise, they hadn't caused any real trouble.

EX sat on a couch, excitedly flipping through a fresh stack of yellow sticky notes. Hels walked over, carrying another stack and some pens.

"You ready?"

"Took you long enough," EX teased. "You don't think walking around in armor all the time is a little excessive?"

"Of course not. One of us has got to look intimidating." While Hels wore the dark gray knight's armor almost everywhere, EX's red armor had been left in a closet for months, instead opting for a black and red hoodie he had found. The Overworld was surprisingly calm compared to the Void, and the extra protection didn't seem necessary.

EX stood up, nearly tripping over his feet as they exited the door. The two of them had decided on building a sort of cabin in the woods, seeing as living alone would be boring, and it was clear none of the others would particularly want them around.

"Alright, where to first?"

EX thought for a moment. "Boatem is just north of here. There's a lot of people, but they're probably all working on their larger bases. We should go unnoticed."

"To Boatem, then!" Hels declared dramatically, and they took off down a worn path through the trees. Neither of them had an elytra, but that didn't bother them. Flying would attract too much attention, anyway.

It was maybe a half hour's walk before the trees opened up, much shorter than EX had thought. They were closer than he realized.

They were immediately met with the sight of several huge wagons. Had they not been there before, it would probably be a shock.

"Looks like Scar's base is up first. We should probably make sure he isn't there before going in."

Hels laughed. "If he is there, it'll be much more fun."

When EX climbed the ladder leading into the main wagon, he stopped just below the top to listen. Sure enough, he could hear footsteps and whistling from one of the above floors.

He motioned for Hels to stay quiet as he pulled himself up into the first floor, an engine and control room. Pulling out the pad of sticky notes, he began sticking them to almost every available surface, seeing Hels doing the same on the other side.

It was a weird prank, and quite frankly a little childish. Most of the sticky notes were blank, but a few had little smiley faces drawn on them.

A soft thunk drew EX's attention. He turned to see Jellie standing at the bottom of the ladder leading upstairs. He put a finger to his mouth in a gesture for the cat to be silent.

Either she didn't understand, or wanted to spite him. Not breaking eye contact, Jellie meowed. Loudly.

Hels, having been unaware of the cat's entrance, fell over in surprise at the sudden noise.

"Jellie, what are you doing down there?" EX could hear Scar on the upper floor, making his way to the ladder.

"Welp, looks like we've been rumbled," EX sighed. Hels rushed out of the Waggon, EX following, but stopping to gently pat Jellie on the head. "Jerk," he whispered, smiling.

Hels was waiting just outside. "Should we run?"

"Hold on, I want to see how this goes."

A few moments passed before they heard footsteps coming down the the bottom floor, and Scar's shocked voice.

"What in the world? Jellie, did you do this?" Hels snickered and EX couldn't help laughing out loud. "...Is someone outside?"

"Now we run."

<~~~>

"Whose house is this again?"

EX tilted his head, looking at the gray starter base with what looked to be a telescope on the roof. "I think it's Grian's? Man, we should have planned a more elaborate prank for this guy."

"Hope he doesn't think we're coming after his shenanigan throne," Hels laughed, walking up to the dark brown doors. "I'll bet he's working over at his mountain thing. Won't this be a surprise when he gets back?"

"Let's just hope we're gone by then." EX tested the doorknob, finding it unlocked. Hermits never locked their doors, did they?

The inside of the building was much larger than it looked to be from the outside. There was no way they'd have enough sticky notes to cover the entire thing.

"Alright. I'll start over at this corner."

After covering one wall, EX realized they wouldn't come close to covering even half of the interior. "I knew we should have brought more," he muttered.

He was about to go see how Hels was doing, when he noticed something strange. There was a single large bookshelf in the middle of an otherwise empty wall. He didn't know much about interior design, but this didn't look right.

Upon approaching, it was even stranger. The shelf had several books on it, but they looked as if they hadn't been touched in months, all covered in a film of dust. Who puts a shelf in the middle of a wall and just leaves it?

He looked around the shelf. There was something on the wall behind it he couldn't make out. "Hey, Hels," he called out. "I need your help with this bookshelf."

Hels walked over, looking at the shelf. "What's that behind it?" EX shrugged.

They pulled the shelf away from the wall enough to walk behind it, finding... a door? A door that did not fit with the rest of the build at all. It was made of oak, and it looked old. Older than the building... Older than this world.

"EX, why does this guy keep a shelf in front of a door? And... What's this writing?"

He hadn't noticed it until Hels pointed it out, but there were words carved into the door, covering nearly every inch of it. It was all in Galactic. So much Galactic. Some of it had been worn down to unreadable over the years, but what EX could understand looked very similar to the enchantments put on tools.

And at the top of the door... was a symbol. A rectangle with broken corners.

"What the hell...?"

"What is it?"

"It's... some sort of enchantment. Whatever's behind this door... it's from somewhere else. This door, too. They were transported using magic. And..." EX held a finger up to the symbol, hovering just above the wood, as if it would burn him. "...Watchers... A Watcher did this."

"Watchers?" EX nodded. He had never seen a Watcher, few had, but he had heard stories of them. They were powerful and dangerous. Hels seemed to have heard of them as well, backing away from the door, almost unnoticeably. "What... What connection does Grian have with them?"

"I don't know. I might have to tell X about this." EX thought he should feel uneasy about this, but... He didn't sense danger, only... loneliness.

Hels looked around nervously. "We should put this shelf back and leave. We don't want to get caught here." He turned around, but EX grabbed his arm.

"There's something in there." He reached for the knob.

"EX, don't."

"It's locked. Dang it."

"We should just leave."

"Hels, we need to open this door. I don't know why, but... I think whatever is in there is what I told you about. Please, just trust me."

Hels was silent for a few seconds. "Fine. But just know this was your idea." He took his glove off and grabbed the door knob, his hand glowing orange as it heated up. The air wavered around it, and the metal knob melted in his grip. "There."

EX slowly pried the door open, the sudden air rushing in causing a swirl of dust to escape. He wasn't sure what he had expected to find. A curse? Valuable items? A horrible monster? There was just a closet with stacks of cardboard boxes and coat hangers strewn about.

And someone was inside.

For a moment, he thought it was Grian. It looked like him. But EX soon noticed the exposed metal plating on the thing's face and hands. A few exposed wires. And dents all over the robot.

The robot stared up at the two newcomers with a look of fear, changing slightly to include surprise. It barely moved, making EX wonder if it even could. It just sat, leaned against a few boxes in the back of the closet.

EX crouched down and held out his hand. The robot used its arms in a feeble attempt at crawling farther away.

"It's all right," he whispered. "We aren't going to hurt you." What would be the right question to ask in this situation? "I'm Exavier. Can you tell me your name?"

Hardly looking away, the robot hesitantly traced its finger through the dust covering the closet floor.

" 'NPC', is that your name?" The robot nodded. "Well, hi NPC. Are you alright?" No response. "...How did you get in here?" The robot shrunk back slightly.

"EX," Hels gestured to the windows. "We really should get going. The sun's setting and Grian could be back any minute." At the mention of the Hermit's name, the robot's eyes widened, and it tried once again to scramble away from the open door.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," EX reassured the robot. "Hels, we can't leave it here. It's probably scared for a reason." He held out his hand to the robot. "Do you want to come with us?" The robot switched between looking at EX's face and his hand for a few moments before nodding slightly and taking his hand.

EX pulled the robot to its feet, clouds of dust falling off, but its legs gave out and it collapsed to the floor. He tried again, slower this time, but the robot clearly couldn't stand.

"Hey," Hels crouched down next to the robot. "Is it alright if I carry you?" It nodded, still looking uneasy, but not as frightened as before. Hels picked it up gently as EX shoved the bookshelf back in front of the closet, hoping the scratches on the floor weren't too noticeable.

<~~~>

The walk back felt much longer, and was mostly silent. The robot in Hels' arms kept looking around at the darkening woods with curiosity. It was especially fascinated with the lanterns hung around the path nearer to the cabin.

As night grew, monsters began roaming around in the trees. Occasionally, one would wander close to the group, but they never attacked. EX was used to this. Since returning from the Void, monsters had stopped showing aggression towards him, instead regarding him with little interest. They acted similarly around Hels, only showing a small amount of curiosity before going back to whatever it is monsters do. Neither of them had needed use of a sword in quite a while, but Hels always wore his at his side, and EX's remained in his inventory, just in case.

The monsters only showed any real interest in NPC, but in the sort of way you would regard an interesting plant, never attacking. EX supposed a robot wasn't much of a target or a threat.

"So, what are we going to do?" Hels asked when they finally reached the cabin, setting NPC down on the couch.

"I don't know. He needs fixing up, but I don't know a thing about robotics." How did this even happen?  "We could ask one of the redstoners. Maybe Mumbo?"

"Can we trust him?"

EX shrugged. "I guess we'll find out in the morning." Despite everything going on, one question bothered him. That closet had a transportation spell on it. Why would Grian have a closet that follows him? And why was NPC in there?