Chapter Text
Grian had always hated authority. —Well, that’s not entirely true. He respected the people who made accomplishments and who did good their community, they were the ones who deserved to have a voice over a crowd. What he hated were the ones who didn’t. The ones who did noting to better the world around them, who didn’t earn respect but demanded it, using fear and force, expecting respect to come with a title. They were the ones he couldn’t stand.
—They were the ones he should have been more careful around—
That’s the reason he wanted to create his own server. So many corrupt people in power, so many voices drowning out reason, abusing those they thought were beneath them. Servers with the right admin and community were becoming harder and harder to come by. Those that were good were often difficult to be accepted into, for good reason of course.
Admins who protected those they cared about— he wanted to be that. How could he blame them for keeping potential threats out of their servers? He knew better than anyone that not every person could be trusted… not every friendly face had good intentions.
Before, he had been rather naive. He came from a good home, a good neighborhood. His parents looked after him and Pearl. It wasn’t until high school that things took a turn for the worst, or when he moved out that he really got himself hurt. But even still, surely those he trusted didn’t truly mean him harm… right?
—Learning the hard way seemed to be his trademark—
The world turned upside down when he was finally pushed too far. Running, broken and battered, away from an abusive relationship. Hiding inside and covering up his vibrance out of fear of his past catching up to him. Jumping at every noise, hurrying past every shadow. —It had taken years to break out of his spiral. The people closest to him never giving up on his recovery, even when he wouldn’t let them know what really happened. A darkness he never wanted to relive.
While he managed to heal his broken soul, he never left his hatred for living on Central behind. A place where all servers were connected. Shops and towns, everything you could think of could be found there. A place that once represented shelter and peace, however, the people there slowly made that dream fade into a memory.
Most players who lived there rarely visited their private servers, something that Grian could never understand. They were safe there, leaving was simply seen as an unnecessary risk. This haunting memory of the past living through fairytales, keeping everyone on edge even if they didn’t believe in the monsters anymore.
It wasn’t always this way. In a time before Them, a time before the Watchers.
A distant past, now only thought of as folklore, where there was no need for such a place as Central. It’s so unbelievable now that peace like that could ever exist. Peaceful servers where people could come and go as they pleased. Passing through different worlds other players had built, exploring their opportunities being free, finding a good community to settle down in.
Central didn’t exist back then. There was no need for it. You’d live on a world with your friends, family, and neighbors. No need to worry about walking around after sunset, spending a night camping in the uninhabited forest, or even fearing bad people ruining such a public server.
It was truly peaceful— that was, at least, until the first attacks started.
Players would start to hear noises in the night, they would go missing in the forest untouched by the light of the city, and then it started to spread further into the towns.
Monsters emerged from the dark and pounded on doors of homes, attacking anyone who got too close. The surge of death made people panic as they tried everything to keep the new monsters at bay. Torches spread once they found that light worked as a deterrent. Every path and building lined with the flickering firelight, every shadow a reminder of the danger that lurked just outside.
Regardless of the lit pathways, no one dared to let their loved ones out of sight as soon as the sun fell below the horizon. Ushering everyone indoors where they were safe— or so they thought.
Now came a new problem. Not the monsters outside, but the people inside started to turn on each other. No one thought they would see the day where they feared the very people they fought to protect…
Fights started to break out, property started to get destroyed, such beautiful builds became places of griefing and chaos. Worst of all, the torches they spread began to flicker out.
The ones who truly went insane, the ones who burned down buildings and set off TNT in their neighborhoods, they could always be heard whispering. Whispering about Them.
“They want you to join Them.”
“They’ll give you power.”
“They are in control.”
“They are always Watching.”
“YOU CANNOT ESCAPE THEM!”
There was so much death, so much suffering and pain as things only got worse. —That is when Central was built. A place free of Watchers.
The people managed to make a place where They couldn’t get in and where there were laws and rules to keep people safe. All previously public servers were shut down and all players were rushed to Central.
There were a lot less citizens then.
Eventually, they figured out how to let players make their own worlds again, but not without difficulty. Not everyone could make a server for other people to join, there were tons of proper protocols to go through and excessive training just for the chance of becoming an admin. It was a process that could take years.
Admins were the people most aspired to be. They were trained and trusted individuals who were required to put up the proper firewalls to keep out the Watchers and maintain a safe world for their players, or at least that’s what they were supposed to be.
With such limited admin powers, the people who had that authority pushed the limits of their control. The Watchers had once infected the player’s minds, and nothing would ever get that back.
Fortunately, things were a little better in the current time. Slowly but surely, and despite some people’s best efforts, the access to admin powers were becoming more common. And with that, Grian knew he wanted to make his own server, he knew he could become an admin as well.
Life hiding in his apartment, blending into a crowd as much as he could, and generally spending his time being afraid, was taking more and more of its toll on him. So, he took some online training. In his excitement he realized he rushed the process a little more than he should have. There were a few people he knew could help him, and he called in a few favors to get his qualifications passed faster. The idea of getting off Central to a place where he could make a home for himself and his close friends was just to appealing for him to wait any longer— and so he didn’t.
Grian’s first world as admin was a server called Evo, short for Evolution. The idea for which came to him while he was stuck in his apartment by himself one day. A world that grew along with its players. A world that went back to the basics of what servers used to be and moved through the ‘updates’ they had become so accustomed to. Everyone he invited loved the idea and in no time they were all joining the world to have a great time.
—It had been so stupid—
All he could see now was a series of mistakes. Looking back on that world he created, he had known that there was something off. Something missing, something forgotten. But in his excitement he had brushed if off. What was the worst that could happen?
The Watchers had never been something Grian believed in. They were supposed to be a story, something akin to the boogie man hiding under the bed. If he had only realized that They were just as bad, if not worse, than They were foretold in the fairytales, he would have never let his loved ones stay. He would have immediately gotten everyone off that world and scrapped it entirely… but he didn’t.
—It was all his fault—
For the longest time, they convinced each other that one of them was setting up little puzzles for everyone to solve for fun. No one ever confessed to it, but they all just told themselves whoever was doing it was just playing along. There was no harm in a few games.
Eventually, Grian started to catch on and blew up one of Their statues in protest. Testing the waters of Their influence, and surely enough he was punished for it.
—So stupid—
He should have evacuated the server as soon as he became even the slightest bit suspicious, but again… he didn’t.
They hadn’t caused any real harm yet, all They had done really was set up a few puzzles and shrines. They only punished people who broke the rules of Their game. The majority of the server never broke the rules, they were having fun playing along.
If only Grian hadn’t broken the rules…
If only he had trusted his gut and gotten everyone off his server…
His friends, his family who were all his responsibility… Well. Maybe they would have all been alive today.
If Grian hadn’t failed the most important people in his life, then maybe everything would be different.
Maybe he wouldn’t be where he is now. Seemingly no warmth left in his body as he plummeted through the infinite void. Its horrid chill being the only thing to numb the pain in his limbs, the burns, the cuts and bruises all over his body. His colorless wing limp and weakly curling in towards him, the other bending in a way he knew meant it was broken, the pain simply not registering to his mind yet.
Maybe he wouldn’t be going over his life in what were likely going to be his last thoughts…
He had been successful in escaping, but now where was he? And where was he going?