"It's been a while, he should be here by now," Iskall muttered to himself while walking through his and Stress's lab.

"Who should be here?" Stress asked, walking around a corner

"Grian, I left him a note to meet me at my base after I brought him back to his base a couple of days ago. Remember how I said I found him passed out in the shopping district?"

Stress nodded, "Yeah, I remember. You might want to go check up on him though. Just to make sure he is okay."

"Yeah, I think I'll go do that. See you later Stress!" Iskall dashed out of the lab, and started the flight to Grian's base, forgetting that the Nether would be much faster. Along the way, he texted Grian on his phone, a device given to all the hermits to easily stay in touch.

Iskall: Hey Grian, you okay?

Grian?

Hey buddy, plz respond

I'm headed to your base. Are you OK?

After Grian didn't respond to any of his texts, Iskall sped up. Grian always responded, especially if it was this urgent. Iskall eventually reached Grian's base. While he descended, hoping to land without taking fall damage, he circled Grian's base, praying to see him up and about in one of the upper layers of his base. No one. No signs of life except for the parrots in the aviary. Landing on the floating platform that encompassed Grian's base, Iskall looked down past the uncontrollable storage mess and saw Grian on the floor, surrounded by a mass of black and purple, something. Iskall couldn't tell what exactly it was from this distance. Texting Mumbo, telling him to get him and his mustache to Grian's base ASAP, Iskall glid down to the floor, a few feet away from Grian. Mumbo knew Grian best out of everyone, surely he would know what happened.

A few seconds later, Mumbo flew in looking extremely concerned, He landed next to Iskall, looking ready to run over to Grian. "What happened?" he asked, needing answers.

"I honestly don't know. I found him passed out in front of Sahara a couple of days ago, seemingly from pure exhaustion. I brought him here and left him a note explaining what happened and telling him to come to my base once he was rested. After he hadn't shown up, I came here looking for him, only to find him here, on the ground, surrounded by VERY non-Minecraft feathers. Then I texted you because you know him best, and here we are." During his explanation, Iskall started pacing agitatedly, his voice slowly rising. Mumbo stood there, his eyes darting between Iskall and Grian.

"Well-" Mumbo started

"Mumbo? Iskall?" Grian spoke up, voice quiet and weak.

"Grian!" Mumbo and Iskall exclaimed, rushing to sit in front of their friend.

"Grian, are you okay?" Iskall asked softly, kneeling in front of his slightly shorter friend.

"No, I-" he trailed off, sniffing softly, the mass of feathers seeming to pull closer to him.

"What happened?" Mumbo asked, kneeling next to Iskall.

"M-Mumbo. Y-you, remember w-when I t-told you a-about E-Evo, the SMP I-I w-was in b-before I joined H-Hermitcraft?"

"Yeah, the one where you traveled through the different versions of Minecraft? You told me about this in the building verses redstone competition, and I kept asking you about it afterward." Mumbo replied, although a little nervously.

"D-do you r-remember w-what I told y-you about the-the watchers" Grian whispered the last word, looking around nervously as if Herobrine was about to appear. Iskall pulled Grian into a side hug, sheltering his younger friend.

"Weren't they the deities that sent you to the next version and gave you really cryptic messages?"

"They-they did more, b-but that's t-the gist of it. Anyways, a-after we were stuck in 1.3.2 f-for months, w-we jumped to 1.7.10" Grian took a shaky breath. "We a-all geared up to-to fight the ender dragon. I-I fought the w-wither for the f-first time, d-defeated it, and-and renamed it to 'Key to Downtown'" Grian let out a small, weak chuckle. "I-I don't know why. I-I just h-had an f-feeling. O-once we were a-all ready," Another shaky breath. "We found t-the stronghold, w-which was really j-just an end portal set up by-by the w-watchers. The-the ten of us jumped in, b-but we-we all fought the e-ender d-dragon separately, I-I defeated m-mine, my first time doing so. I-I jumped into the portal, that w-was supposed to-to take me back, b-but then, the watchers talked to-to all of t-ten of us." Grian stopped, catching his breath, still shaking.

"You don't have to tell us, Grian" Iskall said, though he wanted to know what happened.

"Yeah, it's okay Grian, we get it."

"No, I-I need to tell you. G-get it off m-my shoulders. A-anyways, the watchers, r-reminded us of-of the good times w-we had and-and talked a lot a-about me. T-then, they-they t-told us t-that w-while t-ten fought, only-only nine would return." Grian's voice got shakier with each word. "I-I instantly k-knew it-it was me. Them-them actually saying it m-made it so, so much worse. T-then, they-they made m-me into-into a watcher, and-and the only goodbye I-I got to g-give my family, was, was..." Grian broke down, and Mumbo moved over to sit on the other side of Grian, and the trio just sat in silence.

After an unknown amount of time passed, Grian softly spoke up "Y-you won't tell the o-other hermits, will you? I-I'm not r-ready to share this w-with them quite yet."

"Of course! You are our brother Grian! We won't ever share this without your permission!" Iskall promised. "Oh, and also, what are all these feathers?"

"They're-they're my wings. The-the wings of a watcher." Grian pulled out of Mumbo and Iskall's grip, opening his wings and using them to help him stand. However, Grian quickly swayed, and fell towards the ground, the other two catching him and lowering him the rest of the way.

"I'm getting you some water, what did I just say about taking care of yourself!" Iskall whines, flying off to get some clean, non-salt water.

Mumbo embraced Grian, pulling him close. "You know you always have me and Iskall. You're not alone." And so they sat until Iskall returned with water.

Iskall made Grian drink it, and when it didn't help, Iskall became even more concerned for his friend. "Grian? Do you have a way to conceal your wings? I think we need to take you to Stress."

"Y-yeah, I can. J-just give m-me a second to calm down." Grian leaned against Mumbo with his eyes closed, his wings turning into the iron golem cape he had at the beginning of the season. After a few minutes of sitting Grian opened his eyes, and said, "Okay, I'm ready" though his voice was still a little shaky.

"Okay, let me just text Stress that we are coming. We will be taking the Nether Portal because it is much faster."

Iskall: Hey Stress, Grian is sick or something. It's okay if we come over for medical help right?

Stress: Of course! I'll get a room set up for him!

Mumbo scooped Grian up, walking over to the Nether Portal. Going through with Iskall close behind. "Um, Iskall, you might need to lead the way. I still get lost going to everyone's bases" If Mumbo had a free hand, he would have been scratching the back of his neck.

"You spoon," Iskall said playfully leading the way to Stress's portal. Once they went through the portal, Iskall leading the way to Stress's medical wing, him knowing her base better than Mumbo, due to them being neighbors. "Hey, Stress!" Iskall said, rounding the corner. Stress was right outside the room she had set up for Grian, expecting their arrival.

Word Count: 1294

Total Word Count: 1981

So, lots of stuff happening here. I wasn't sure where I wanted to end this chapter exactly, I just know I want the next chapter to be in Mumbo's POV. Also, feel free to share this story with fellow Hermitcraft fans!

Thanks for reading!

~Niza