lol sorry I took so long to update. Just forgot about Wattpad for a hot second. Not overly proud of this but take it ig. 

Happy new year I think.

Scar and Cub set themselves over by a bookcase and gathered a small stack of books. Anything that might contain something about that symbol. The meagre bout of data they had, even with their top-secret vex connections, was pitiful. Out of the 15 they originally pulled out, only 3 were relevant. The other books mentioned it in passing but not enough to be useful.

Now the only issue was figuring out what was right and not. Each passage contradicted the other and a few disturbingly detailed sketches had the majority of the group dry heaving and choosing to sit by the corpse instead. Cleo managed to pull a sewing kit from somewhere and start planning a proper burial shroud. Pearl had done nothing to warrant a mangy blanket to be her eternal cocoon.

One book claimed the symbol was a sign of the end times because it started showing up in this one server before it was destroyed under mysterious circumstances. Another said it meant good things were coming. The server that one came from apparently was encountered by towering entities wrapped in void with hundreds of thousands of eyes decorating their bodies who saved them and granted them wishes. The only thing they could agree on was the name. They were called Watchers.

The outlier was a book simply called On Watchers, it was a diary by an admin from a unique server. There was a note attached to the inside cover that forenamed the book had been archived for anyone to use when encountering these creatures, the signature was signed S. G. Brinson in fancy calligraphy. The actual book described a server that somewhat co-existed with these watchers. They helped the players move effortlessly through updates and, as admin, frequented talks together. Every name had been blanked out for privacy reasons. Void forbid they ever found this book.

Here they were portrayed as more player-like than the others. They were helpful, yes, but they also saw themselves fit to dish out punishment to the other players. In the author's exact words; it's like they're toying with us, as a child would treat a doll or small animal. They act like gods, sitting up on their thrones, as they try to imitate our emotions. They almost gave up before they reached a page where the admin mentioned one of his players had gone missing because of them, they stopped to read the whole passage in hopes of finding anything regarding actually fighting them.

We moved to the new version today, but something was strange about it. My friend [REDACTED] didn't appear when we reloaded into the world. They told us he was running late but would join us later. Everyone else was convinced but I didn't buy it. Good thing too, they came to me late that night as I started my nightly service checks, this server can get so laggy in the older versions. I asked them where he really was and they told me he'd been too slow and fallen behind! He was stuck in the void between servers. I asked them how I could get him back and they said they could do it but I'd owe them my soul, which includes my life, sanity and freedom. I don't really trust them very much but I love [REDACTED] more, so I agreed.

The page continued to recount how the person, whose name had been redacted, was given back after signing some kind of contract. Under the entry, another sheet of paper was stapled on. It was full of childish scribbles that somewhat resembled the same kind of monster they saw attacking Pearl. Multiple wings, and way too many eyes. It was labelled on the back, [REDACTED]'s recount of a Watchers' true form.

They skimmed through the next few pages until coming across a new entry with different handwriting. This new person introduced themselves as the acting admin since the last one had been deemed 'incompatible'. Admin 2 wrote about how redacted had descended into delirium upon his return and the original admin was dedicating every moment to caring for their friend. Redacted, allegedly driven to madness after looking straight at the watcher's true eyes, had fled to the edges of the server and cut contact with everyone.

"Isn't that what Grian's doing right now?" Cub asked while reading the description of redacted's condition. "Do you think he has the same thing as the redacted person? He probably saw directly into their eyes and he just ran away at such a critical time. Maybe he 'descended into delirium' too."

"Let's hope not," X replied gruffly, growing more and more unsettled as they read on. "Does it say anywhere about what happened to them?"

"Here," Scar supplied, flipping to the end. "'We've been trying to reach [REDACTED] about his car's extended warranty, but we were too late. The message in chat said he was killed by something, or someone named ̇/ᒷꖎᑑ⚍ᔑ. The Watchers told us it was our old admin's fault for disobeying them. We haven't seen hide nor hair of him since they took him away though."

"So he's being sent away for leverage. They might want him isolated so he can be used as a hostage or maybe as punishment for something."

"What would they want from us that's so important that they need to hold him captive? If I had to guess it's most likely the latter," Xisuma reasoned. "He did attack them and clearly, they already hate him enough to set a trap. Given the information we have, it's reasonable to assume it's because of something Grian did on his own. It probably has nothing to do with us or what we can give them that they can't already."

"So, you think he's being punished by these watchers?"

X stopped to think for a minute. Grian could get annoying sometimes yes, but to actually try and kill him or worse. That was something else entirely- a whole new level of payback. Nothing could excuse what they had done and were probably planning to do. Torture was never a valid punishment, no matter the crime.

He shuddered at the memory of Alova's private message to him. A single image that burned tauntingly in his mind. One of a white-haired man laying in a pool of his own blood. A familiar red visor had been shattered revealing the scared eyes of Xylo Void

Ex hasn't told their family about their gender so X has no idea. He isn't purposely misgendering them. He totally would respect them but he doesn't know yet.