wc: 1467

woo its been a hot minute

Xerion's room was warm. Lanterns burned bright, casting the office in shades of orange and red. There was no window, given that the whole base was underground, but pictures of forest greens and lakes were pressed against the walls, giving the space a semblance of the Overworld.

"I've been there, you know," Grian mused, more to himself than to Xerion. "The Overworld. I lived there for the past few years."

"Mhm?" Xerion looked up from whatever book he was reading, a paper next to his hand covered in hastily scribbled ideas, some scratched out.

"It's beautiful," Grian whispered, looking at the posters but not quite seeing them. He thought of the towering spruces whose trunks groaned as the blade of an iron ax struck them, and thought of the fields of sunflowers who lifted their faces towards the sun; he thought of the lightning that would light up the entire world with a single strike and of the snow that covered the ground in icing and frost.

He blinked, the images dissolving as he returned to the little office. Xerion was studying him strangely, fuschia eyes burning as they bore into his own.

"I need to tell you something," Grian blurted. "About- about the Leader."

As if he'd struck a nerve, Xerion straightened up in the chair. "Yes?"

"I didn't learn everything about Watcher culture," Grian said, "But- the Leader's title is passed on through the ceremony of the Staff, right?"

Xerion nodded wordlessly.

Grian took a breath. "I have the Staff."

There was a pause. "What?"

Without any further explanation, Grian reached into the pockets of his cloak and withdrew a small metal rod. It fit perfectly in the palm of his gloved hand, and with a quick snap, it lengthened to nearly Grian's height. A small inscription near the top read, "ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ʖ∷ᔑ⍊ᒷ ᒲᔑリ ╎ᓭ リ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ∴⍑𝙹 ↸𝙹ᒷᓭ リ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⎓ᒷᒷꖎ ᔑ⎓∷ᔑ╎↸, ʖ⚍ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ∴⍑𝙹 ᓵ𝙹リᑑ⚍ᒷ∷ᓭ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ⎓ᒷᔑ∷." The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

The world seemed to still. Xerion shot up from his chair, hands slamming against the desk, mouth hanging open. "Since- since when? Why couldn't you tell us this earlier?!" Grian stood there silently as Xerion flitted around the room, grabbing papers and checking his (illegal) comm, sending messages and spluttering.

Eventually he made his way to Grian, looking at the Staff as if he wanted to touch it but was too afraid to. Grian held it out. "If- you want, you can, er, touch it."

Xerion shook his head. "No, but- this is huge. We have an advantage." His eyes shone as he scrambled back to his desk, knocking a notebook on the ground and paying no mind to the way the pages crumpled against the floor. "Have we told you the plan? No we haven't," he muttered to himself, then gestured towards a chair sitting next to his desk. "Sit."

Grian sat somewhat cautiously. "What plan?"

"Our liberation plan, of course," Xerion said, smiling brightly. The joy on his face made him look so much longer, and Grian remembered that he was Xisuma's younger brother, and had to be only in his early 20's. "It's not done, but it's decent." He ruffled through his papers and slapped one in front of himself.

"So we know that Xeluph was trying to use you to gain back popular support," Xerion said, serious again. Grian flinched at the name. "Our plan isn't very drastic. We just needed to get you back, which we did, and then we need you to make a statement. We need you to just turn everything around. If you say that the government is corrupt and that we need to take action, then they'll agree."

"But they'll think I'm biased," Grian said, face twisting. "I'm known as the guy who escaped, not like I was known for being some government official."

Xerion snapped. "That was an issue! But look, you have the Leader's Staff. You had to have known the Leader, right?"

Had. Grian's heart sunk. He never learned the Leader's name, but he was the one who taught him everything he knew about fighting and magic. Everything useful, at least. "I guess..."

"So then, we need to expand the Listeners." Xerion pointed at somewhere on the paper with some statistics. "And we need to train them. To fight. And to support the movement with money, supplies, whatever. And then we attack." He slammed his hand on the paper, covering it entirely. "We have guards from there already, and they were the best of the best. The ones they're using to guard the Capitol building aren't as strong as ours."

"What will capturing the Capitol accomplish?" Grian asked, eyes glittering as he pried Xerion's hand off and studied the paper. "Are we sure the people want this? We can't think of this only for ourselves. People are going to be mad."

"People are going to be free!" Xerion waved his hands.

"We have to prove that," Grian said, crossing his legs. Xerion sighed and nodded.

"But you need to lead us. You've been the hope of the Watchers. You escaped when no one could-"

"And then ran away," Grian argued. "Can I really help?"

"Yes," Xerion said confidently.

"..Okay. Then I agree."

Xerion grinned.

~~~

X, Mumbo, and Scar were found rather quickly.

They'd managed to hide for the night tucked in the back corner of an alley, invisibility potions in their stomachs. Early the next morning, as the sun rose, the sound of a lone pair of footsteps came to X's attention. He shook Mumbo and Scar awake. Mumbo jolted up immediately while Scar took a moment to rub the sleep from his eyes.

"Shh," X scolded as Scar yawned. "Listen."

The footsteps continued, the sound becoming louder as the person came closer. They each quickly downed a small vial of potion and pressing themselves against the wall.

Out of the corner of his eye, X saw the person near the entrance to the alleyway. He jolted when he saw the person had no mask on.

It was woman with short white hair and soft lavender eyes. She seemed to be in a rush, pace quick but footsteps light. X held his breath as she went by, curiosity filling him at the sight of an uncovered face.

"Oh-" came Scar's voice from behind him. X whirled as Scar dropped his box of small invis potions, dread filling his chest when he heard the clinking of the bottles spilling onto the stone floor.

The woman's head whipped towards them, brows furrowing. X felt around blindly for Scar's arm and whacked what felt like the faerie's sleeve, but Mumbo's wounded mmph! said otherwise. The mystery person took a few tentative steps towards the alley before snapping her fingers. A tiny purple flame lit in her hand, and she walked deeper into the alley, holding it in front of her. X heard Mumbo and Scar's breaths quicken. Scar, who was the one closest to the opening of the alley, and as her flame flickered near the little group, X had to restrain a gasp as Scar's arm became visible, as if the invisibility melted off of his skin.

X's reflexes kicked in and he immediately lurched forward, grappling for the flame hand. She yelped and held the flame hand away, the other hand blocking X's jabs.

"Wait!" She brought the flame hand over her head, and X flinched as his arm became visible. "I'm not hostile! Wait!"

X slowed a bit, frowning. As his attacks stopped, she stepped back and held the fire in front of her, and eventually all 3 of them came into view.

"Who are you?" X demanded, stepping back to hold his hands in front of Scar and Mumbo.

"I should ask you that," the woman shot back. "Are you with the Elders? Officials?" She seemed to take a more defensive stance with the question.

"No, not at all," X said quickly. He held out his hand. "We're from the Overworld. We're here to rescue a- a friend."

"Oh," the woman said, relaxing. "Alright. I'm Xayla." She took his hand, giving it a nice shake. "I'm with the Listeners."

X nodded. He'd met the Listeners before, when he was still an Admin on the board. "Nice to meet you."

"Who are you looking for?" she asked, and X was reminded of Grian.

"Ah, not sure if you recognize the name, but..." X glanced at Scar and Mumbo, who both nodded for him to go on. "Would you happen to know someone by the name of Grian?"

Xayla's mouth opened in surprise for a moment, and then she nodded. "I'll be happy to take you to him."

It had begun.

havent been very active on wattpad lately and its been over a month since i've last updated wow good times but uh

LIMITED LIFE IS SO POG

also we have surpassed 30k reads which is INCREDIBLEEEE tysm yall ToT i could never imagine this would happen 

as for future uploads, i promise there is 0 intention of ever discontinuing this book. im not very consistent with my motivation, but if you're willing to wait for however long, then i promise i'll get u smth juicy to read :) life is busy and ive recently grown a love for dsmp fanfics like those get real angsty but they seem like professional books istg but yes love yall <3

thank you for reading! have a good day or night, wherever you are!

ete