"SCAAAAAR!"

Scar looked up from his storage just in time to dodge out of the way of Grian, who was running full speed at him. Grian skidded to a halt, nearly falling over, and stood there with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"You're- *huff* good with vexes, right?" he panted.

"I mean I guess. I don't wanna brag, but-"

"Good." Grian grabbed Scar by the shoulders, his eyes comically large.

"There is a vex. On the mountain. And I cannot get rid of it."

"How on earth did a vex get up there?" Scar laughed.

"An evoker spawned it."

Scar stopped laughing. "Is it still there?"

"Oh, no I killed it. Took a while, too. I just can't catch the vex."

"Did the evoker... try to talk to you?" Scar asked carefully, and Grian gave him a weird look.

"Scar, I don't think evokers can talk. They just mumble and make 'woo woo' noises." He waved his arms to emphasize the thought.

Scar sighed with far more relief than Grian would have expected. "Yeah, I just tend to find that evokers straying far from a mansion tend to be a bit odd. Let's go sort out this vex problem of yours."

It took a decent amount of time to climb up the mountain(especially since they didn't have elytra yet), but when they reached the top, Scar didn't see anything other than cherry trees.

"Are you sure this is wh-" Scar's question was cut off by small, shrill laughter, and Grian ducked as a blue fairy-like creature flew over his head and fazed through a tree.

"Yep, this is it," Grian muttered, pulling out a sword.

The vex circled back around, headed towards Grian again, but Scar stepped between the two.

"Hey! Listen to me, would you?" he yelled, which seemed to Grian like an odd thing to yell at a vex. But the creature stopped just in front of Scar.

"Yeah, that's right. Now what are you doing terrorizing my friend like that?" The vex started to float past Scar, but he held up a hand in front of it. "Now hold on, I'm talking to you. Surely you had friends at some point, right?"

The vex trilled loudly in a way Grian wouldn't have described as being anything like human speech, but Scar responded to it.

"I'm willing to bet you did. Just try and remember them."

He led the vex away a bit as he continued to talk to it in a quieter tone. Grian could only hear parts of Scar's side of the conversation(it really did sound like a conversation), though it was mostly prompts, or seemingly random.

"Do you remember much?"

"How many years ago was that?"

"Do you want to see a picture of my cat? You seem like you'd like cats."

Grian didn't know how long this went on for before Scar returned to where he was, the vex floating alongside him. It was sort of unnerving to see a vex so passive and not actively trying to claw his face off.

"So... you're not going to Ghostbuster it?"

Scar shrugged. "I sort of am. There's somewhere I need to go first. You can come if you want, but I'll warn you, it might be a bit of a hike."

<~~~>

The sun had already set by the time they reached their destination: a grassy hill which dropped off to meet the sea. Grian sat some distance from the edge, getting a small campfire going. True to Scar's word, it was a long walk from the mountain. And even though he hadn't said anything(in fact, Scar hadn't spoken a word during the journey), Grian knew Scar didn't have the energy to walk all the way back that night.

Plus(Grian turned away from the fire to see where Scar stood near the edge, the vex hovering beside him) it felt wrong to interrupt what was going on. Whatever that may be.

The vex itself cast a blueish gray light on Scar's face as he spoke to it, though Grian couldn't make out any words over the sound of waves crashing against the cliff face far below. After some time, the vex floated closer to Scar and pressed its tiny head against his forehead. Scar closed his eyes and smiled. Then he watched as the vex flew up into the sky before disappearing with a small blue spark.

Scar didn't head to the campfire immediately after that. He stayed where he was for a long time, staring up at the sky.

But eventually he did come over and sat down, sighing with exhaustion as he did so. Grian didn't say anything. He had lots of questions, but he wasn't quite sure how to phrase any of them. He just passed Scar some food he had cooked and stared into the fire.

It took a while, but eventually Scar was the one to break the silence.

"She wanted to see the ocean one last time."

Grian looked up, his head tilted in confusion.

"The vex," Scar explained. "Apparently she grew up by the sea. Hadn't seen it in years, though. I think being here brought her... peace. That's what she needed to move on."

"Oh." To be honest, that created more questions than it answered. Grian still couldn't get over the fact that Scar could really talk to vexes, or that they had so much to say.

Scar glanced at Grian, a sad sort of smile on his face. "They used to be players, you know."

Grian searched his friend's expression for any sign he was pulling his leg, but there was none. "You're serious?"

"Mhm, just like you and me." Scar chuckled to himself. "Well, a bit more like me, actually. Someone who encountered an evoker, long ago. Promised power beyond what they thought possible." He looked down at his hands, flexing his fingertips. "Illusions are a powerful thing, Grian. You can make people believe whatever you want them to. And there was no payment asked for in return. I knew it was too good to be true."

"Then why would you accept it?"

Scar crossed and uncrowded his legs, thinking. "We all have those moments in our lives. When things feel out of control, and we wish we could change something about ourselves or other people. We long to have control over something. And in those low moments, it's easy to make bad decisions. To accept magic when you know better... I know you understand. Watchers and whatnot."

Grian cringed, but he nodded. "So, does the magic turn people into vexes?"

"It can. Turns out, the more you lie, the more you begin to lose yourself. Your features get more angular. Sharp teeth, pointed ears. It can turn your eyes blue and even your skin. Too much, and a person can lose their humanity, forget who they are. They become a wandering spirit, a vex, angry and without direction... That is, until the evoker who gave them their magic finds them again." Scar stared into the fire, his tone suddenly dark. "That's the price they don't tell you upfront. Once you become a vex, the evoker essentially owns you. Forever. The way to release them is to get them to remember who they were. But so many are so lost that it might be impossible to remind them."

"Wow." Grian hadn't even touched his food, listening to Scar in astonished silence. "I... I feel kinda bad now for all the vexes I've killed."

Scar put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Don't. They're free, too."

Grian smiled back, glad he could at least have a clear conscience about that. But then a horrifying thought struck him. "Wait, are you and Cub going to turn into vexes?!"

"Not if we have anything to say about it," Scar chuckled, waving a hand in reassurance. "Don't worry, we have ways to reverse most of the effects."

"That's a relief... Wait, most of them?"

Scar's smile fell. "Well, magic like this can be sort of addictive. And using it too much, too frequently can leave some... adverse effects that we can't cure." He tugged at his shirt collar so Grian could see his shoulder. The skin there was a pale blue, and somewhat transparent. Grian swore he could see the bone underneath it, and it sent shivers down his spine. "At least, nothing we've tried so far has worked."

"Could I try to heal it?" Grian asked.

Scar shrugged. "I suppose. I dunno if it will do anything, though."

Grian put his hand on Scar's shoulder, feeling the familiar buzz of magic in his veins. His hand glowed faintly, and admin magic sparked off his fingertips in gold and purple arcs.

But when he pulled his hand back, nothing had changed.

"Sorry."

"It's alright," Scar said, only a hint of disappointment in his voice. "You gave it your best shot. And if it's any consolation, this corruption is very slow. It'll be a long time before I have to start worrying about it."

"Then we have plenty of time to find something that works," Grian declared.

Scar laughed. "Thanks, G. Yeah, I guess the only thing I'm worried about right now is the Life Series."

"Does that affect your magic?"

"Not really. I can still create illusions," Scar explained. "Though that's kind of the problem. You can't bring external magical objects with you, including the vex masks Cub and I have. They're what reverse the more immediate effects." He picked up a stick off the ground and prodded the fire with it, sending sparks flying into the air. "I guess I'm worried one of these games I'll go too far."

Grian tried to come up with some sort of solution for that, but he had nothing.

"So that's why," Scar continued, "if during the games you notice I'm starting to look a little too vexish, you have permission to stop me from using magic."

Grian nodded at that, and Scar gave him a serious look.

"By any means necessary."

Grian took a deep breath before responding. "All right. I will."

Scar smiled a bit and the two fell into silence again, finally deciding to eat before their food got cold.

Though they sat in silence, Grian couldn't stop thinking about everything he had been told. And it occurred to him why the beginning was one of his favorite parts of a season. There were no wars, no games, no big projects that needed finishing. Everyone took their time, getting used to the new world, and the first few days were quite slow by comparison.

But that meant they had the time to do stuff like this. To walk all the way to the ocean, just to give someone they didn't even know closure. To sit by a fire and talk for hours. Or not talk, and just enjoy the other's company.

That was what made the beginning of the season special. All those big plans were plans for tomorrow, or next week. For now, he could sit in the grass with his friend, a fire in front of them and the night behind, and he was content to do just that.

<~~~>

When Grian woke, it was to darkness broken only by the moon and a few glowing embers.

He sat up in the grass and looked around. The only sound came from the sea and the wind, but something must have changed to wake him. He noticed the patch of flattened grass a meter or so away was empty.

He decided he might as well get up, and made his way over to where he found Scar, sitting by the edge, his back to Grian.

"Can't sleep?"

"Oh!" Scar jumped in surprise, which Grian couldn't help but laugh at. "Grian! Did I wake you?"

Grian shrugged. "I dunno. I think I just woke up. What are you doing?"

"Just thinking."

"I see." Grian sat down next to him. "Mind if I think with you?"

Scar chuckled. "I'd say go ahead, but I'm guessing you want to think out loud?"

"Alright you caught me," Grian admitted. I just wanted to say thanks for telling me about all that. I get that opening up about that kind of stuff isn't easy."

"Yeah." Scar looked up at the sky. "But it's no good keeping it bottled up, either. It's nice to have people to talk about it with. People who really understand. You know?"

"Do you ever... wish you hadn't accepted the magic?"

Scar didn't respond immediately. "Sometimes."

"I know I do," Grian said firmly. "I never should have believed the lies the watchers told me. I wish I could go back and do things differently." He pulled his hands into the sleeves of his sweater and shivered against the ocean breeze. Scar put an arm around his shoulders.

"Here's how I see it: if you hadn't gone along with the watchers, you wouldn't have had to escape them. And if you didn't escape, you wouldn't have looked for a place to hide, finding Hermitcraft. If you hadn't taken the magic, you probably wouldn't be in this world."

"But does that really justify everything?" Grian asked quietly.

"Maybe not," Scar admitted. "But you're here. We both are. And I wouldn't trade that for all the magic in the world."