"Come on," Grian groaned as he pulled on his pickaxe. "Dumb deepslate-"

He'd gotten his pickaxe - his newly enchanted diamond pickaxe - stuck in the rock as he was caving, and now he was pained with the task of trying to get it unstuck.

"Come... on! Woah-" With a hard yank, Grian's hands, sweaty from mining all day, slipped off the handle of his pickaxe. He fell backward and hit the stone wall with a grunt. "Are you kidding me?" he whined. "Why won't it-"

His breath caught in his throat as he watched the deepslate that held his tool captive begin to slowly absorb it, the rock seeming to ripple like disturbed water. "What the-" Grian rose to his feet and reached to start pulling harder, but with every tug the pickaxe slipped faster into the wall. "Hey!" Soon enough, it was gone. "Give that back!" Grian shoved his hands into the stone, the same thing that happened to pickaxe now happening to him. He gasped as he fell through the rock into a lush, tunnel-like cave.

He sat up straight on his knees and rubbed his forehead, sore from falling onto his face, as he scanned the cave before him. It was dimly lit by lichen that grew in pools of water in the soft clay that made up the floor of the cave, and it smelt damp, like rain. Moss grew sporadically in corners and in soggy spots of clay and stone, along with dripleaf that sprouted from cracks in rocks. There were two fully grown axolotls with a single baby that seemed to almost hide from Grian behind a large dripleaf plant.

He sighed heavily and with a sort of content that confused him. The place looked like any other lush cave he'd seen, but there was something weird about it. It felt different. Like there was some kind of otherwordly presence there that Grian couldn't quite put his finger on.

Standing up, he figured he might as well follow the tunnel to wherever it might lead, seeing as he lost his pickaxe and couldn't dig his way to the surface. As he walked through the overgrown tunnel, he noticed a purple glow at the end of it and it enticed him even more to know what was waiting for him there. He had a strong feeling this was all here just for him, like some diety - maybe a Watcher - had a purpose for him. Which was funny considering he didn'g even believe Watchers existed in the first place.

It took a while for him to trudge through the vegetation that somehow thrived in the dark cave, occasionally getting his ankles tangled in vines or his boot stuck in pools of wet clay. It did give him some time to appreciate how pretty it was, though.

The tunnel led to a large open tavern that was nearly empty aside from a large crack in the stone wall, a glowing purple mist coming from it.

Grian's eyes widened and his jaw fell open in awe of it. He heard a whisper come from it, murmuring his name in his ear as if it were alive. Knowing the crazy, wacky world of Hermitcraft, it probably was alive.

Come closer, child, it said to him, and his feet moved before his mind even thought to.

Now he was standing just mere inches from it, feeling its warm breath on his face as the mist fluctuated in the air before him. He held his hand up to it, plunging it inside the purple cloud. He couldn't help the giggle that escaped him at the ticklish feeling he got when his hand was surrounded by the soft cloud of mist.

Closer, it urged him, and he listened.

He held his breath as he entered into the fog, the softness of the gaseous subtance tickling him all over. It breathed over him like some sort of higher power blessing and anointing him, the mist pulsing against him gently. It was so calming and freeing, memories of laughter and joy echoing in his mind. But just as quickly as the gentleness came, it was gone.

It began to irritate the avian's skin and lungs, itching and burning and rubbing in all the wrong ways. Instead of the sweet breathing and pulsing, there was suddenly stickiness and yanking and shoving, and Grian was being thrown in all directions. He was tossed around like a balloon as horrible, horrible thoughts and voice that weren't his own flooded his head. Declarations of war, apologies, begs for help, surrenders, shouts and cries of pain, screams for mercy. He saw images of people he could recognize but not put a name to, each vision a twist of sadness, grief, anger.

He screamed as he was manipulated and handled roughly by the strange cloud, begging for all of it to stop.

It hurt.

Then all of a sudden, he was spat out of the sky, wings desperately trying to catch air, into an empty field of grass. He hit the ground so hard he bounced back up and went tumbling down a hill. When he finally hit flat land, he gasped for air. His lungs felt like they'd collapsed in on themselves then desperately tried to reinflate as a heavy weight sat on top of them. He sat upright and coughed.

"What the hell was that?" he wheezed to endless field.

"That, my friend," a gentle, feminine voice said from behind him, "was you traveling through the Rift. One of many Rifts you'll find yourself traveling through in your thousands of years to come."

Grian turned around to see the same purple mist forming the structure of a person. Or was it a person? They looked more like an angel. "I-" He blinked. "I'm sorry, did you say thousands of years?" His jaw fell open again as he stared at the source of the voice.

They giggled. "Yes," they answered, lowering themselves from the sky to be at eye-level with Grian on the ground. "Once your mortal body begins to die, you'll gain a spirtual one here to continue your work until that one dies as well."

"I'm... confused," he breathed as he looked the being up and down. "Who- what are you?"

They laughed again, then out of a puff of purple smoke came the same person, but in a more human-like form. But they weren't quite human, their back adorned with beautiful snow-white wings and two criss-crossing halos hovered just above their head. "My name is Aranfi," they explained. "I'm a Watcher."

"They're real..." Grian blinked and shook his head. "You- Watchers are actually real?"

"Yes, we're real," Aranfi said with a gentle smile, then they held out their hand for Grian to take. "I'm surprised the Entity never told you about us. Or Dwayne, for that matter."

Grian took their hand and let them help him off the ground. "You know my rocks?" he asked, then winced at how strange the question sounded. If he was in any other situation, he was sure he'd be called a freak.

Aranfi giggled. "Oh, they're lovely," they said. "Dwayne, especially."

"So, um..." Grian shifted as he looked around the field of grass. "Why am I here? ...And where is 'here'?"

"You're in the Multiverse of Hermitcraft," Aranfi said. "Every blade of grass in this field is an alternate reality to yours."

Grian jumped into the air, his wings catching him before he hit the ground. "You should've told me that," he said with a pout. "I wouldn't have stepped on them, then."

"You don't have to worry about that, dear." Aranfi took Grian's hand and gently pulled him back to the ground. "They're only representations of each universe. You won't kill them by walking on the grass." They laughed and Grian blushed out of embarrassment. "You'd have to do a lot more to destroy an entire universe. Now, as for the reason you're here..." Their smile faded and Grian very quickly became nervous. "The Watchers have chosen you to become a Realm Walker."

Grian stared blankly at Aranfi. "A what?"

"A Realm Walker's job is to protect the collection of Multiverses, or parallel realities, of their own," they explained, their serious tone a mighty contrast from their previous lightheardedness. "There is an unnervingly large amount of threats to the balance of the Omniverse, and they're multiplying quickly. On top of this, the Watcher Heavens has been infiltrated-"

"Woah, woah, woah," Grian stopped them, holding his hands up as if telling them to hush. "I'm sorry, did you say my job?" He shook his head when Aranfi nodded. "No, no, no." He let out a sarcastic laugh. "No, my 'job' is to build pretty things and sell ridiculously-hard-to-get resources and pull stupud pranks that never work on my friends. Not- not to save the universe, or whatever crap you Watchers want me to do." He turned around.

Aranfi frowned when Grian started walking. "Where are you going?"

"Home," Grian said, turning his head around to respond to them as he walked away. "The most I want to have to deal with is Doc launching charged creepers at my base, okay? I don't need-" He gasped when his foot slipped and he nearly fell off of a cliff into a pit of black parasitic-looking goo that bubbled and seemed to whisper to him awful, awful things whilst urging him to come to it. He began to panic, and his wings immediately flung open as if trying to catch him as his feet struggled to make up back onto the solid land that didn't crumble beneath his weight. Not seeming to use any logically reasoning, he didn't even think to fly away as he started to slip down the steep slope of land. He screamed and turned to try and claw his way out, the blackness reaching out for him. He didn't even know what the stuff was but it subconsciously terrified him, making his

"Grian!" Aranfi's voice shouted distantly whilst Grian's eyes filled with tears.

"Help me!" Grian wailed, reaching his hand out for them. "Please!"

Aranfi listened, rushing over quickly and taking hold of Grian's hand. They tugged hard on his limb, but he didn't budge a bit, the boiling parasite growing onto his ankles.

Shrieking, Grian was snatched from reality and shoved into places he didn't recognize; situations he'd never been in but for some reason felt a sense of deja vu, especially upon seeing his closest friends and his lovely boyfriends. Except they weren't so lovely as he watched them bring harm to him and say such horrible things to him. Then there was someone he didn't quite recognize very well. A man named Taurtis, standing turned away from him. Leaving him.

With a flash of light, Grian was back again and falling against Aranfi's body. They felt like how clouds looked. He wasn't crying anymore but he was breathing quite heavily as Aranfi ran a hand through his hair.

"Shhh, it's okay," Aranfi's gentleness was back and Grian melted into them. "Just relax, my dear."

"What... What was that?" Grian managed between heaves of his chest.

Aranfi sighed. "Those are examples of what happens when the threats to your Multiverse are successful," they said. "The Garden withers away into a corrupted, evil tar-like parasite that tries to eat away at the other parts of the Multiverse."

Grian let out a huff, staring horrifically into the pit which he almost just fell. "So, they're not actually destroyed-"

"-Until the entire Multiverse is infected," Aranfi finished, and Grian looked up at them. "Once an entire Multiverse is infected, the Watchers are forced to destroy it so the parasite doesn't spread anywhere else. But destroying an entire Multiverse heavily disrupts the balance and natural flow of the Omniverse, which can potentially result in the destruction of all life everywhere. Not even Watchers would survive."

Grian shivered. "What kind of threats are there that would do all of this?" He let go of Aranfi, but they kept an arm around his shoulders. The part of him that was still shaken was very thankful for that.

"One of the major threats is sculk," Aranfi said darkly, and Grian pursed his lips. "Is an infection, a parasite, and it's in nearly every part of the Omniverse. It turns people against each other, which spreads the virus until it devours the entire universe, and then to the next in that Multiverse."

"Wait, wait, wait." Grian shook his head. "You keep talking about the Multiverse, and then you talk about this Omniverse- What does that mean? And what's the Garden?"

Aranfi sighed. "You know less than I thought you did..." They shook their head and sighed again. "The Multiverse is all of the parallel realities of one original universe. The Garden we're in right now is the space between your Multiverse and the Void. The Omniverse is usually used as another way of referring to the Void, but it isn't quite the same thing."

"What's the difference, then?"

"The Omniverse is the collection of every Multiverse that exists," Aranfi said. "The void is simply the space and time between each Multiverse."

Grian nodded. "That's... not confusing in the slightest."

Aranfi giggled. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it."

"...Do I have to?" Grian murmured.

Aranfi lilted their head. "Hm?"

Grian sighed. "I just... This seems really dangerous, and I have my boyfriends at home, and- and I'm only nineteen! I've got my whole life ahead of me-" He cut himself off when he felt tears building in his eyes, not wanting to cry again in front of Aranfi.

They smiled gently at him and cupped a hand over his cheek. "Although it's dangerous, I promise no harm will come to you," they whispered. "I will protect you with my entire being to the best of my abilities. You will not be hurt."

"But- my boyfriends-"

"You will not have to stay in the Garden," Aranfi explained. "You will remain in your universe until you're needed. And when you are, the Entity will let you know to come to the Rift."

Grian stared into Aranfi's blue eyes for a moment, then glanced away. "Fine," he gave in. "I'll be a, uh..."

"Realm Walker."

"Yeah." Grian nodded. "I'll do it."

Aranfi clapped their hands together and smiled brightly. "Fantastic!" They giggled again, their wings flapping in excitement. "I am so happy you agreed! Your training will need to begin as soon as possible. Oh! And you'll a proper weapon, and you'll need to learn the lang-"

"Aranfi," Grian interrupted, and the Watcher stopped, staring at him curiously. "Can I... go home first?"

"Oh, why, of course!" Aranfi took Grian by the hand and began to lead him toward a tree he didn't notice before. "You'll need lots of rest, my dear, before we begin your training. Let's say... two weeks?"

They stopped and Aranfi waited patiently for Grian's answer. Images of Scar and Mumbo smiling brightly in his mind got him fired up, and he suddenly wanted to start his training right at this second. He wanted to protect them, and every other version of them.

"Two weeks is good," Grian said absently, staring at the bark of the tree.

"Good, good." Aranfi sighed contently, then reached out to touch the tree. The plant seemed to ripple under their touch, a bright light forming beneath their hand before what looked exactly like the Rift in that cave opened up before them. "I will let the Entity know when your training begins, and you will meet me here."

Grian didn't look at them, amazed by the portal in front of him. "Got it," he said.

"Tell Scar I said hi," Aranfi said.

Grian was going to question them before he was pulled in by the Rift and trapped in the same purple mist as before. It was soft and gentle again, but then turned harsh and mean for just a moment before Grian was bolting upright in a bed.

He looked around, finding himself in Scar's bedroom.

"Grian!" the latter exclaimed, noticing Grian from the hallway as he passed the open door. He was carrying an absurdly large amount of towels, but dropped them all upon seeing his boyfriend and ran over to him. "Oh, Void, we thought you were dead!"

Grian blinked. "Dead?"

Scar nodded. "Nobody could find you for, like, a week!" He spread his arms out wide as he spoke. "And you were unconscious in this weird cave when Xisuma finally found you. You were out for three days."

Grian's eyes widened. "It's been over a week already?" he asked. Please don't tell me that means I have to go back now-

"Yeah." Scar's expression turned worried as he held Grian's hand in both of his own, his eyes watering. "You scared us," he whispered, and a piece of his long hair fell over his shoulder. "You- You went out on a mining trip, a-and-" He lowered his head and pressed the back of Grian's palm to his forehead. "I'm sorry, I'm not try-" He cut himself off again to cry.

"Oh, Scar..." Grian took a shaky breath. I can't even promise it won't happen again... He shook his head and sighed. "I'll make sure to keep in touch next time I go on a mining trip, I promise," he said finally. That much I can do.

"You'd better," another British accent said from the doorway, Mumbo standing there with his arms crossed and his cheeks red. "Zed and Doc both said there was a chance you wouldn't wake up again, y'know." His words were stern, but not anywhere near angry. "We thought we lost you."

Grian's eyes fell to floor. "I'm sorry," he said. "I, uh..." Aranfi never said I couldn't tell them. "I found this thing called a-" He stopped. Called a what? He blinked, suddenly not remembering anything that had happened to him. Was it just a weird dream?

"Called...?" Mumbo asked.

"Called... a lush cave," Grian said with a small laugh. "Crazy, right? Never seen one of those before."

Mumbo blinked and Scar lifted his head to give Grian a strange look through his tears.

"I took you on a date in a lush cave," Scar said, his voice nasally. He sniffled loudly, then gasped. "Do you have amnesia?!"

Mumbo's posture straightened at the suggestion.

Grian shook his head frantically. "No! No, I don't have-" He bit his lip. "Um... What's..." He cracked a nervous smile. "What's amnesia?"

That sent Scar into a round of obnoxious sobbing, the brunette soaking Grian's hand in tears and snot.

Mumbo sighed. "C'mon, Scar," he said, coming over to put a hand on Scar's shoulder. "Let's give Grian a minute to try and remember what happened, okay?" Scar nodded, still wailing as Mumbo led him out of the room.

Grian sighed when they left, leaning back against the pillows. Everything that happened suddenly came back to him and he slapped himself in the forehead. Of course, I won't be able to tell them. He heard what sounded like metal on metal, and suddenly the Entity was jumping up onto the bed with him. It was much bigger than the last time Grian saw it, now about two and a half times the size of his fist when it used to be smaller than it. It also had legs, which was new.

"Don't tell me I have to start training already," Grian sighed as the Entity crawled into his lap and curled against his stomach.

Nope, the Entity said. Just wanted to check in on you. I noticed you wanted to tell Scar and Mumbo where you were.

"Oh, so you're psychic now?"

Perhaps. Aranfi wanted me to let you know that you're not permitted to tell any Hermits about the Watchers.

Grian sighed again. "I assumed so after that temporary amnesia," he said with a laugh, and the Entity laughed in return.

That was an executive decision, not mine. But I advise you don't even attempt at telling anybody about this for now.

"But why not?" he asked, pouting. "I mean, Mumbo and Scar deserve to know, at least, right?" He rubbed at a spot of moss on the sentient rock and the Entity sank into him even more.

The Entity sighed. It's not my decision to make, Grian, it said seriously. The Watchers are omniscient, and it's best we listen to them. There are dire consequences to disobeying their orders.

Grian let out a huff. "That's not fair."

Nothing the Watchers do is fair for us.

"How come you never told me they were real?" Grian asked. "You used to tell me fairytales about them, but you always said it was just folklore."

An order from Watchers, the Entity explained, and Grian nodded. They wanted me to inform you of their existence without outright telling you they were real. Which... sounds stupid, I know, but I'm only a servant to them anyway, so who am I to judge?

"Why did they want me to know about them?"

You had been chosen to be a Realm Walker since before you were even conceived. Your father was a dear mortal ally to the Watchers, and he wanted his first born to fulfill the same destiny as him. It wasn't planned for you to become a Realm Walker yet, but upon the recent death of your father- Suddenly, the Entity stopped talking, Grian frozen.

"But..." Grian blinked. "But Xisuma is my father," he said. "He- He's not dead."

Xisuma isn't your biological father, the Entity explained hesitantly. The only reason he raised you was because your mother passed after birthing your sister, Pearl, and your father couldn't watch over you whilst fighting against the evils of the Omniverse.

Grian was silent.

Grian?

"What should I tell Mumbo and Scar?" Grian asked quietly.

The Entity remained quiet for just a moment before answering, Tell them you were attacked by a hoard of mobs and lost consciousness whilst trying to fight them off. It's a plausible enough story.

Grian nodded. "You can leave now."

But-

"I want some time to myself."

The Entity didn't say anything else as it got up from Grian's lap and hopped off the bed to scurry out the door.

This was a lot for one day... Or week, I suppose. Grian sighed and closed his eyes. I'm tired.

° ' ° • ° ' °

Woahhh a new book that's probably cringe but it gives off semi-Voltron vibes somehow so I'm definitely going to be writing a lot??? Hell yeah. /pos

Yeah, this is very stereotypical and probably a bit cringe, but you know what? Who the hell cares, because I don't. I love it and if you don't, then don't read it. Simple as that /lh/gen

Also, I want you guys to sort of take this as, like, a writing prompt thing and write your own short story on it, too! Obviously you don't have to, but it would be so awesome if you did. I'd love to see how creative you guys can get! /nf/pos

Anyway, I do hope you all enjoyed, and I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day or evening, wherever you are! Love y'all <33 /gen/p