First was the shock. Shock was the only emotion that I knew at the moment. I dumbly stared at False as she picked at her brown gloves, waiting for a verbal reaction.

Then came the denial. She couldn't have known. The only time it came out of my inventory was when I threw it in my started base. There was no way in all of Minecraft she could have known.

"How did you know..." I trailed off. "You- you couldn't have." She nodded, understanding my surprise.

"A few days ago I felt a power surge that was Watcher magic. The only person around was you, and it was still radiating off your skin." False explained in a small voice.

"Y-you're a W-Watcher also?" I sputtered. She only nodded. "Why would you ask about the mask? What's so bad about it?" She sighed in relief, looking at the sky and putting a hand to her chest.

"That means you didn't. Good. Actually, can you give it to me?" She asked, holding her hand out. I numbly nodded, lost in this situation. As soon as I touched it, that voice from earlier came back.

Don't give it to her, put it on.

I hesitantly stopped, looking at it.

"Grian, give it to me. Please. It's for our safety." False pleaded, feet preparing to stand.

Don't give it to her, put it on.

"I..." I said. She stood up, towering over me. I pulled the mask away, out of her reach.

Don't give it to her, put it on.

"Grian, please." False demanded, grabbing my other wrist.

"But-"

"Don't listen to the voice. You can't fight something in your own head off." Begged False, holding her hand out again. My eye twitched as a dull pain started growing in my head.

"What do you m-"

Don't give it to her, put it on.

As if in a trance, I started to bring the mask closer to my face. False yelled for me to stop, but I barely heard. She tackled me, knocking us both to the floor. I kneed her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. False grunted and pinned me to the floor, ignoring the knee I sent. I yelped as she put her knee on my arm. Ripping the mask out of my hand, she reached into her brown boot and pulled a shiny weapon out.

It was an obsidian dagger.

I tried to throw False off me with complicated moves I learned, but she countered every single one. She set the mask on the floor, still pinning me to the floor. I struggled under her, trying to get her off me. I screamed as she drove the dagger down, straight into the center of the mask. It shattered like glass.

Then suddenly, the pain and urge to hurt False stopped. I looked around, confused. What had just happened started going foggy in my memory. I clenched my eyes closed, putting my hands over my face. I released a shaky breath, rolling onto my side.

False exhaled a breath she didn't know she held. She looked at me in concern. I looked back with confused yet grateful eyes.

"Grian...? Are you alright?" She asked, pushing a strand of her yellow hair out of her face. I hesitantly nodded, confused with what just happened.

"I... I believe so... I'm sorry for screaming-" She shook her head, getting to her feet.

"No, it's alright. It wasn't you, either. It was the influence of the mask." She turned her blue eyes away from me.

"Excuse me? What?" I asked, contracting my eyebrows.

"That, my fellow Watcher, was their way of controlling Minecraft. Put it on, and you'll never have free will ever again." False explained, reaching her hand down to me.

"How do you know?" I asked, pulling myself up with her help. False ducked her head, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I... I put it on years ago." She sheepishly said. I jumped back, making my obsidian sword appear in my hand. False held her hands up.

"Woah there, I'm not under their control. I promise." She tried to convince me. I wasn't having it. I escaped those people. I'm not just about to get kidnapped and brought to them by someone I knew.

"How can I be sure? You just said-" I said, narrowing my eyes.

"I know what I just said, but please believe me." False tried to step towards me, but I raised my sword to stop her. She dropped her dagger to the floor. It clattered loudly on the concrete.

"Then explain to me how." I demanded, eyeing the fallen weapon.

"I had help. I was told to never say, but someone helped me escape."

"Sure." I say, turning and kicking the pieces of broken mask into a torch's flame. It burnt up like wool, quickly ceasing from existence.

"What do you want from me, a Code Oath saying that I'm not influenced by the Watchers in any way, shape, or form?" She asked, her tone of voice suggesting she was sick of my stubbornness. I paused for a second.

A Code Oath was the most serious oath in Minecraft, especially in Watcher terms. Should you break a Code Oath, you will be erased from Minecraft permanently. No one will remember you, as your code has been exterminated. Everything you have done would be erased. Any blocks you place, gone. If you interacted with a player, new memories would be made for whatever happened.

There is no way around it.

This is all Minecraft history, no outside influences. This means that any player, magical or not, applies to Minecraft's rules.

Think of Minecraft like another being who takes care of us. We just never see her because she provided these worlds for us. She has her spoken and unspoken rules we have to abide by.

I slowly turned to False, eyebrows forming a v-shape.

"You aren't serious about that, are you?"

"Dead serious." She said, looking me straight in the eyes. I looked for any indication she was lying. None. I slowly nodded, frowning.

"I believe you, False. Break my trust, and you will never get it again." I say, setting the sword I had down on the table in my library area. She nodded, picking up her dagger and slipping it back into its rightful place. I sat down, False following. We were back to how we were earlier.

"So," I started, still on edge. "You're actually a Watcher." The name of my kind tasted filthy on my tongue. Why have I been cursed with this blood that flows through my veins?

"Yes." She confirmed. "I graduated a few years ago. I was just a few generations before you." I hummed, bobbing my head a few times. We sat in a relative silence. The only sound I heard was the beacon under my base, the water rushing past, and the Nether portal swirl.

"Do you think anyone on the server knows? Your aura is quite obvious... well to me." False said, breaking the silence.

"Xisuma and Joe are suspicious of me." I say, crossing my arms and leaning backwards. She shook her head, adjusting her red and white striped shirt.

"That's not good. You know Joe studied Minecraft, right?"

"Not really." I replied, picking at my grey jeans.

"Well, he did. He studied anything Minecraft related... lore, history, myths, legends. Magic, I'm pretty sure, was a topic." She said, adjusting the goggles that sat on top of her head.

"I overheard him and Xiumsa talking. They don't know what it is, but they know it's something."

"Have you been trying to hide it?" I nodded in response.

"Yeah, but I can't do anything else about it. I have found a way to tone it down quite a lot and make it almost non-existent, but I can't do it now suddenly. Xisuma would get suspicious." I said. I stood up and grabbed the book I was reading. I squished it onto a place in the shelves, examining the other books I had. The colors were diverse, giving me a lot of things to choose from. False watched me silently, curious. I plucked another book off the shelf. It was labeled Illusions: Physical Effects. I dropped it on the table between us.

"I don't want it to come to this, but if we have to erase or change their memory-" False's eyes widened in horror. She furiously shook her head.

"No no no, Grian, that's dangerous! So many things could go wrong!" She exclaimed, crossing her arms.

"I know, but think about what will happen if they discover what magic we possess! The Watchers will destroy this server!" I retaliated. False sat there silently, trying to make an alternative. She sighed, continuing in a lower volume.

"Anything is better than that. I wish something could happen that allows us to say something. But I've been hoping that ever since I joined Hermitcraft." I hopelessly slumped back in my chair.

"Then we can't do anything. If they find out, they find out, I guess." I say, not fighting the logic.

"We have no chance against the instructors."

"Well, I dueled Aquinnternal once and was victorious." I commented, the corner of my mouth twitching up into a smile. False stared at me for many moments. Obvious shock was etched on her face.

"Wait, let me get this straight. You dueled Aquinnternal," said False, staring at me with wide eyes. I nodded. "And won against him." I nodded once more. She sat back, digesting this information.

"When I was at the Facility, Quinn told us that no one had ever beaten him before." She said. This time it was me staring at her with wide eyes.

"Wha-" I started.

"Yeah, you heard me right. What did you do?" She leaned forward, eyes glimmering with curiosity.

"I may have blasted him with golden magic and knocked him unconscious." I said, tugging at the sleeve of my red sweater.

"Golden magic?" She asked, gawking at me. I only nodded, looking away. My face started to heat up. I don't like talking about my level of magic. "Grian, do you know how powerful you must be to control that?"

"Yes, I do. My aura is blinding nowada-" I looked past Fase and at a part in the center of my base. A wispy shadow caught my eye and collected behind False, the form it took resembling a human. They shot Watcher magic at us. I quickly pushed False out of the way. Said magic hit me in the chest, sending me to the floor a few blocks back. False shielded us, making her way to me. I gasped in pain, trying to breathe. It felt like I had just taken an arrow to the chest, piercing and stinging the center of my chest.

The shadow figure glared at me. When it spoke, it sent shivers down my spine. It's voice was like nails on a chalkboard, sounding corrupted and rough like sandpaper. I couldn't recognize their voice even if I tried.

"The mask you were supposed to equip has been broken. Your consequence is to be taken and punished by us."