Xelqua - er, Grian - had just finished shifting when Pearl brought in her spare communicator. "Hurry up before I have second thoughts about this little arrangement." Pearl had whispered tiredly as she handed Grian the silver gauntlet.

"Thanks, Pearl!" Grian hugged the female prime tightly, something he didn't do lightly. Pearl was obviously surprised - she had never even seen Grian hug Prime 1 during all their joint training. Then again, after all the apprentices' joint training she'd never even known her future partner's name, so perhaps there was much Pearl didn't know.

Grian quickly raised his index finger and traced a portal into existence.

"Careful to use your gauntlet if you portal anywhere - only level six admins can summon portals." Pearl cautioned, massaging her forehead.

"Got it," Grian muttered as he stepped through the swirling red portal to Xisuma Void's exclusive server.

. . .

Hermitcraft was gorgeous. It was the diversity that made it so beautiful. The buildings, the plants, the hermits themselves. Grian could see it all as he glided towards Xisuma's base. His admin powers could easily pinpoint Xisuma's location from anywhere on the server.

As Grian saw the tops of Xisuma's megabase come into view, he quickly remembered to message Xisuma. Grian typed something on invisible keys as he glided through the air.

Grian >>> Xisuma: Hey, can I talk with you quick before I head to Mumbo's?

Grian pressed send. Within a minute Xisuma had replyed;

Xisuma >>> Grian: Sure, I'll send you my base coordinates.

Grian quickly replyed,

Grian >>> Xisuma: No need, I came early and saw where it was from the air.

Grian landed rather ungracefully (he wasn't used to flying with an elytra yet, he found his prime admin wings were quite suitable) on the elytra pad of Xisuma's base.

The helmeted hermit rushed out to greet Grian. "Wow, I can't believe you found my base so easily. Lots of hermits say it's too far away from the rest of society." Xisuma laughed, but there was hidden suspision veiled under his words again.

No one but Grian would have detected it.

"Oh, a level seven admin friend of mine lent me a com with an admin navigation system." Grian shrugged, "wanna see?" He quickly magiced his made-up contraption into the system. It took more effort than Grian was willing to admit.

"Ooh, that's slick!" Xisuma whistled when he eyed the gauntlet, "who made it?"

"Uh, my friend likes to boast that he was a mystery prime himself, but I don't believe him." Grian snickered. Xisuma chuckled slightly.

"What brings you to my humble base?" He queried, wiping sweat from his brow.

"I think... well, if it's alright... I want to take you up on your offer." Grian smiled nervously.

"Ah?" Xisuma tilted his hemet. "Oh, of course!" Xisuma grinned, "It'll be great to have another good builder on the server!" Xisuma commented. "The revamp should be in a week and a half, but you can stay with Mumbo in the meantime. If he doesn't mind, of course-"

"Nah, he won't." Grian responded easily.

"Presumptious, much?" Xisuma joked.

"Me and Mumby are best friends. He'll be exctatic." Grian shrugged, hoping his words were true.

"I still can't believe he never talked about you..." Xisuma frowned. Grian quickly grabbed some fireworks and called,

"Byyyye! Thaaanks!" Before Xisuma could question anything else.

"Mumby mumby mumby!" Grian called as he landed at the coordiantes Mumbo had written him.

"Grian?" Mumbo smiled. His frivolous suit was covered in redstone dust. "I was worried you wouldn't - never mind." Mumbo cut off, but Grian knew what he meant to say.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world!" Grian laughed, "Oh, you don't mind if I stay with you until the server revamp do you?" Grian ran his hands through hus curly hair, slightly nervous.

"N - no I suppose not. Why?" Mumbo queried in surprise.

"Oh, Xisuma says there's no point in starting a base before season six starts. Everything will be wiped except players' inventories." Grian shrugged.

"Wait..." Mumbo tried to register what Grian was implying, "are you joining Hermitcraft!?"

"Why not? Wait... you - you want me to, r-right?" Grian stammered.

"We can be neighbors again, dude!" Mumbo embraced Grian, looking exuberant. "Why the change of heart?" Mumbo asked suddenly.

"I work for a... admin building company of sorts. I didn't think I could leave since I'm a leading member. That means I have outrageously boring meetings all the bloom' time! But my partner said she'll take over my duties if I want to join Hermitcraft. But I still have to go to a few of them, unfortunatly." Grian's lie was much more truthful than his others. Mumbo believed him.

"I thought you loved building?" Mumbo chuckled.

"I do love ma- building. I just hate the super-organised long speeches I have to sit through about the technical details of the projects. I just... build." Grian was really talking about magic honestly, but of course Mumbo had no idea.

"I sort of get it." Mumbo nodded, "But why'd you lie about it?"

"Wh-why'd I lie?" Grian asked incredulously, "because I wasn't sure if I was allowed to tell you, Mumby! Obviously, I would never lie to you on purpose. Well - I mean I did lie to you on purpose but for good reason." Grian snorted.

"Why couldn't you just tell me? It's just a building company, man!" Mumbo laughed.

"I - well I wasn't sure if I was allowed to disclose whether or not I was involved." Grian fibbed, getting to the end of his wits and spelling Mumbo to completely believe him.

"Mhm." Mumbo trusted Grian fully. Grian felt bad and decided never to spell him again.

Suddenly jarring buzzes of magic emitted from Grian's marking. Thankfully Mumbo didn't notice as Grian spelled the emergency alarm to stop going off. Every high-level admin had an alarm system placed in their magic markings, one that was discrete and only they would feel.

Emergency meeting, brilliant. Grian rolled his eyes, "Um, Mumbo I gotta' go. My - er - building company just called an emergency meeting! See you soooon!" Grian rocketed to the air, leaving Mumbo and his full teacup behind. Mumbo raised his eyebrows is a bemused way and sighed, shaking his head.

There were many more secrets to Grian than he remembered.

. . .

"PEARL WAHATS WRONG!? I just left!" Grian raced into the room, pulling his prime robes over his red sweater and un-shifting as he ran. Pearl was standing by the door of the room, obviously white as paper and getting ready to race out as soon as Grian had barreled in.

"Xelqua!" Pearl screeched in surprise, "...You're on time..." She added, even more surprised.

"Obviously! The emergency alarm was going crazy! What's wrong!?" Grian cried.

"We just got a tip off from one of my spies... the head watcher is alive. We need to prepare." Pearl's voice shook slightly.

"Impossible! I hit him with a blast of pure primal lightning! He fell from the sky!" Grian yelled.

"I saw! I watched him fall in your mindspace! But he's alive, Xel!" Pearl shook violently.

"Very well," Grian's posture streightened and he stiffened.

"Xel...?" Pearl frowned,

"Pearl." Grian snapped. "We need to go and give the admins out greetings. I presume Void will be among them. I shall have to inform Jumbo that this meeting was a sensitive affair, and he should not disclose my absense to his servermates. It may arouse unnecessary suspision in Void." Grian had snapped into full-on prime meeting mode. It almost amused Pearl. Almost. She was still too shaken to be amused.

"Alright, do what you need to do. We need to tell the admins as soon as possible." Pearl teleported away, and Grian quickly followed.

. . .

Xisuma watched as the mystery prime appeared next to the technological prime, Pearl Moon. His hood remained over his face, masking everything but his mouth. Just like his mentor, Prime 1. Xisuma's eyes wandered over to the level one admins. It seemed Grian was to preocuppied with Mumbo to attend the meeting.

Instead a girl with strawberry-orangey orange hair wearing light brown overalls sat where Grian had sat across from Xisuma. "Hallo." The girl smiled nervously, "I'm Gem Tailer. What's your name?" The girl smiled nervously.

"I'm Xisuma. Xisuma Void. You can call me X, though, that's what all the other hermits call me."

"Hey, X. Someday I'm going to be a level eight like you." The girl looked about eighteen years old, and there was something powerful and convincing about her. X immediately knew she would be a level eight - and go even higher than that.

"Hello, Gem. It's so nice to meet you. Do you have a mentor, yet?" X raised his eyebrows,

"No. I just got into the system a week ago. All the level seven and up mentors are taken. A few sixes offered, but I'm set on a powerful mentor, so that I can be more powerful, too." The girl smiled sincerely.

"How would you like being my apprentice?" Xisuma offered. Gem's eyes widened and she looked like she couldn't believe his offer.

"Wait... Xisuma Void? As in, admin Void!? You've never taken on an apprentice before!" Gem's eyes danced and Xisuma immediately liked her even more.

"Sure! Are you in!?" Xisuma couldn't help but share some of her positive energy.

"Sure, mentor Void." Gem responded.

"Just Xisuma or X is fine."

"Admins!" Pearl called the assembly to order. "We have some grave news to share." Pearl dipped her head, gesturing to the mystery prime to step forward and share.

"Pearl, no I am not talking. Code of honor, remember?" Grian whispered low enough that nobody could hear.

Xisuma watched Grian whisper something and the Pearl step forward again. The eye roll was not missed. Typical mystery prime. He's said a total of zero point zero words to us since he appeared six years ago.

In truth, Grian was worried about whether or not watcher spies would recognise his voice... and the air of mystery and terror he radiated made it so walking down admin HQ hallways he was much less crowded.

"The head watcher... is alive." Pearl said finally. Startled, scared, disbelieving murmurs reverberated through the audience.

"I thought the new prime shot lightning at him and killed him!" One voice shouted.

"How did he become the new prime anyway!"

"What happened to Prime 1!?"

"Who is the mystery prime!?"

Xisuma saw the mystery prime's lips twitch upward in a smirk. He immediatly wasn't sure if he liked the robed figure. In fact, he was quite sure he disliked the new prime.

"It is none of our business who the new prime is! What matters is that they're the prime now, and nothing can change that! If my partner wants to keep their identity secret, then who are we to judge their reasons!? Didn't Prime 1 hide her identity for as long as she was a prime admin!? Why should we treat our new prime with any less respect!?" Pearl admonished the crowd.

The admins immediatly fell silent. Many's faces burned and they looked down at the ground.

"As to what happened to Prime 1... watchers attacked this server, they targeted Combre, the village where those with admin qualities wait to be entered into the system. Everyone was wiped out. They were trying to wipe us out before we were trained enough to survive."

Xisuma heard Gem take a sharp intake of breath and a single stream of tears ran down her face. She quickly buried herself in her lap. She had just come from Combre a mere week ago. People she knew had been murdered. Xisuma felt a burst of righteous anger blossom.

"Prime 1 felt the disturbance and tried to fight them off single-handedly... her apprentice," Pearl gestured to the mystery prime, "arrived just before she died. They saw her struck down by the head watcher. She passed the primeship on to them." Pearl dipped her head to the new prime.

"...Greetings..." The mystery prime's voice echoed around the room for the first time ever. He had obviously shifted his voice, and it was both high and feminine and low and musculine on different syllables. It sent shivers down the seasoned admin's neck.

Pearl looked relieved that he had finally spoken. "The new prime successfully destroyed the army, and we were sure that he had struck and killed the head watcher..."

"But apparently not," A drawling voice Xisuma recognized as Technoblade's, a level 9 admin, finished the prime admin's sentence.

Pearl shot him a cold glare and the mystery prime's lips shifted to a snarl. "Please welcome the new physical prime... you may call them Prime 2." Pearl had obviously made up the title on the spot, because he could see Prime 2's mouth twist sourly.

"An honor." Prime 2's voice snarled coldly. Pearl's eyes darted around the room anxiously as she quickly wrapped up the meeting. Prime 2 was the first to exit, his long ornate robes flowing behind him as he slammed the doors shut in his hurried exit.

"I don't like him." Xisuma muttered in Gem's direction. His new apprentice did not respond, but she wore an odd expression on her face. Distant and familiar...

Xisuma shook his head. Something was going down, and the primes weren't saying everything.