TW: Non-graphic violence (Nothing worse than Warrior Cats)

Grian perched on the roof of his treehouse as he looked out into the tangle of the jungle where he and other members of his flock lived. A few other treehouses were hidden in the trees and he could see the silhouettes of a few residents meandering about in their houses.

The treehouses looked like they were part of the trees themselves. Leaves and branches were weaved into roofs and walls while the trunk of the tree and the branches held up the few wood logs and planks that made up the floors. There were very few belongings because the flock were taught to not have emotional attachments to belongings, in case they need to drop anything and flee if they were found by the Admins. From the outside, the houses could barely be seen.

A dark blue parrot landed on Grian's head, its small feet softly digging into his short, fluffy, dirty blonde hair.

"Pesky biird," the young man chuckled to himself. The parrot tweeted in response, content with its current perch.

Grian was wearing his signature red sweater and the sleeves were pushed up, revealing his bandaged arms that covered small scars from branches that had scratched his arm while flying. He also sported too long grey pants that were also rolled up to a more suitable length, showing is dirtied black shoes. A pair of square-ish glasses sat on his face, covering his brown eyes.

The bird pecked at his forehead, causing him to nearly drop his glasses. He laughed, catching them. Opening his eyes, they appeared bright highlighter yellow. He shoved the glasses back on his face, and his eyes were brown again.

The parrot chirped once, then flew off. Grian watched it disappear into the trees, longingly. He turned to look at some of the members of his flock, who were wandering about on the forest floor. The Flock of East Verdant Oasis, EVO for short, originally came from a desert, thousands of blocks from where they were now. The flock was one of the oldest, back when there was barely anything added to the universe by the Watchers and Listeners.

Grian retreated back into his treehouse, brushing off the leaves that clung to his clothes. He fell back onto his red-blanketed bed that was messy as ever. He longed to leave the jungle and explore, but it wasn't worth the risk of accidentally getting spotted by Admins. He rifled through his half-empty inventory out of boredom but was unable to find any distraction in his axe, a ton of feathers, a previously drank potion, a pair of extra glasses, or his pile of miscellaneous blocks.

Small, navy blue scales appeared on his skin, his hands shifted into the form of talons, and a pair of ragged, bat-like phantom wings sprouted on his back. Grian stretched out his wings, they were numb from lack of use. He longed to fly even more, but shook his head and tried to push the feeling down, hiding away his wings and talons as well.

As he was reaching out to grab one of his few books, there was a knock on the trapdoor the lead down the tree. The young man sighed, got up, and opened to the door.

Outside was a man with brown hair and beard, somewhat pale skin, and dark blue eyes who was wearing a green vest, tattered grey pants, and black fingerless gloves.

"Hey Xelqua!"

"You don't have to be so formal," Grian chuckled. "What are you doing here?"

"The flock decided to have a meeting, we might've found signs of Admins being nearby," Mini said, scratching the back of his head anxiously.

Leaders of flocks, or for Listeners, leaders of packs, were often given a 'leader name'. For Grian, this name was Xelqua. They were often only used in formal situations or in meetings with other leaders, but with the near extinction of Watchers and Listeners, the names were only given to preserve the tradition.

Grian nodded, following Mini outside and down the ladder.

"What have they found?" Grian asked as they walked to the clearing that held EVO's haphazard 'town center'.

"Pearl found magic residue on some plants that sprouted overnight, I think," Mini replied, smacking away the branches in his way. He paused, realization striking him. "Oh gosh, do you think we're going to have to relocate?"

"Hopefully not," I barely know what I'm doing as leader, he thought.

The pair made entered the clearing, where the rest of the Grian's flock was waiting. The flock wasn't very big, only eleven members, including himself.

On a fallen log sat Pearl and Salem, while Tautis, Martin, and Netty perched on low branches. Jimmy, Anthony, Zee, and Tom were standing on the ground, chattering about something. All members of the flock wore glasses or something that partially obscured their eyes, except for Taurtis. Pearl spotted Grian and Mini and waved them over.

"Hello!" she greeted, standing up.

"Hi! I heard you found something?" Grian asked.

"I found some residue on some plants near Zee's house this morning. They weren't there this morning and the residue looked like an enderman's, so I think it might've came from an Admin." Pearl explained, pulling out a leaf from her pocket. On it were traces of a strange, glittery, purple substance.

"That's-" Grian started, but was interrupted by a sudden crash and something tackling him to the ground.

Grian yelped, trying to push the heavier weight on top of him off. As his attacker pulls out a sword and prepares to swing it at his face, Grian instinctively summons an axe and blocks the blow, the sudden clang of metal on metal causing his attacker to flinch. He took advantage of the moment to slide out from under them, finally getting a good look at the attacker. They wore a green cloak with the hood obscuring their face, a few clumps of brown hair poking out. Pieces of armor adorned their body, mostly mismatched, but placed in a way where it seemed almost fashionable. A pair of glowing purple eyes from under their hood as well has the pitch-black color creeping up their pale arms screamed enderman descendant.

The Watcher swung is axe at his attacker's weapon, in attempt to disarm then. He missed, the Admin teleporting away.

Grian whipped around, trying to see where his attacker went amidst the chaos that was wrecking the formerly peaceful community of Watchers. Admins and Watchers fought, a blur of bright purple and lime green magic.

Netty was struggling against a short red-hooded Admin, Jimmy was trying to flee, Mini and Tom were trying to take on 3 Admins, and the rest were lost within the chaotic mass of people and weapons.

A sudden stab of excruciating pain erupted from his back. Grian stumbled forward, turn around to see the same green-hooded Admin, this time with a sword covered with blood. His blood.

Stumbling from the shock, Grian fell to the ground and walls of bedrock burst from the ground, encasing him. He scrambled for the half-empty health potion in his inventory. He uncorked it and downed it in a single gulp, sighing as the pain in his back eased.

Grian lowered the barrier from around himself and launched himself at the green-hooded Admin, and finally managed to land a blow on them, leaving a gash on their arm. In retaliation, a sapling was placed in front of him and a tree grew in his face, and unhelpfully, shattering his glasses and the illusion of brown eyes along with it.

As quickly as the tree came, Grian managed to cut it down in one swoop, the trunk and leaves disappearing in a poof. He turned back to the Admin, and their fight became a clash of normal weapons and magic until Grian finally overpowered his attacker.

That didn't matter, though.

The flock was outnumbered, on top of being unprepared for an attack. Grian and a few others had won against some Admins, but more were coming and the flock was severely injured.

"Evacuate!" Grian yelled over the noise, hopping the rest heard him. With one quick glance back at the flock, he turned and leapt into the air, his wings appearing and opening to catch the wind. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a few others fly out of the jungle, as well as tridents and arrows flying in their direction.

Grian flew as fast as he could, not daring to look back. He heard the sound of rockets and the whoosh of elytra, fueling his fear.

He tumbled onto the ground, quickly opening a portal to the server hub. Making sure to hide his wings, he leapt through.

The crowds of people certainly were not expecting a tattered and bleeding man to run out of a portal. Grian shoved his way through the crowd while mumbling apologies to everyone.

Hundreds of portals to other servers were around him in an open, massive temple like building. Several portals were labeled, others had full banners and ads while some were blocked off entirely. Grian ran in a random direction, hoping to not run into a hardcore server.

He stopped in front of a random portal, its sign reading 'Hermitcraft - Season 6'. Grian hesitated, but the clatter from behind him that announced the Admins' arrival cleared all doubts and he jumped through.