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Chapter Text

Xisuma's POV

"Is everyone ready?" Xisuma asked.

The group of roughly 20-some Hermits were standing in the center of the shopping district. The Season 6 world had been fun for the time they'd been there but it was time to move on to the new updates and worlds, possibilities of all kinds waiting to be explored in the coming days, weeks, months. For most, their time together on Hermitcraft would continue. For a select few, other destinations would mean adventures in other places. The last goodbyes were being said to those leaving to other servers and Xisuma was doing a last-minute head count.

A loud popping sound and a burst of wings was heard and Grian, just coming in from another server, fell through the air and somehow managed to come down without taking too much damage. "Yep! Sorry I'm late, had some discussions about stuff on Wynncraft I wanted to check in on." Grian explained, brushing himself off and checking that th"Ready to go when everyone else is."

"I am, too. Uh, cats are able to travel through right?" Scar asked for what was probably the 10th time that day.

"Should be able to, after all Bdubs and Doc are bringing Grian's whole house with them. And the Architechs sent diamonds flying into next season." False pointed out.

Xisuma nodded. "Jellie should make it through." he affirmed. "Right, everyone who is leaving the group have the IP addresses for their desination servers?" Nods from the handful of Hermits standing to the side. "Great, you folks can head out whenever. We'll miss you but do keep in touch, yeah?"

"Definitely." Python affirmed. The others nodded. Xisuma turned to him and nodded-smiles didn't quite come through his helmet as clearly as he'd like but they all knew what he meant by it.

He then turned to the main group. "Alright everyone. Get together and let's go."

"Onwards and upwards!"

"To adventure!"

"To Season 7!"

Xisuma took one last look around the shopping district before he closed his eyes and activated the portal behind him. Stepping into the portal behind him, he began to forge the path to the new world.

And that's where everything started to go wrong.

The hermits were all behind him, he knew that, he could sensei it. All 24 of them. But something was off.

With almost no warning, Xisuma found him-and his hermits-falling off the precharted path and into swirling darkness. Screams and yells of "What's happening" and "This wasn't how we moved versions in Evo!" (Grian, obviously) filled the air. Xisuma reached out but to no avail, the code and path too far out of reach, the path redirecting, the feel of someone messing with what the Voidwalker had so carefully planned-

And then they landed.

And everything went black.

Runt's POV

Runt couldn't believe it. But it was real. There was no denying it.

Villagetown was in ruins, the Mayor knocked out cold. Breeze and Brio had revealed their true identities at last, prompting most of the residents (villagers and players alike) to stick around for the questions and answers. Runt, of course, stayed nearby-after all, he couldn't leave Breeze just because he was tired and wanted to escape the crowds. It wouldn't be fair since Breeze wouldn't get a break for a while.

He briefly considered taking a quick break, however, when he started getting hungry. However, he stayed for just a few moments longer sine everything seemed to be wrapping up and he was in the middle of talking with some of his friends.

He was glad he stayed. Because it was then that the mysterious players arrived.

Runt and some of his team-namely Max, Lola, and Breeze-were standing at the edge of the village center when it happened. Even then, Runt still couldn't quite get his head around everything.

They had been talking about what types of abilities they should try for when out of nowhere, the swirling black portal had appeared. That quickly got everyone's attention and people started crowding nearer, some drawing weapons. Kolb started yelling for everyone to stay back in case enemy mobs came out. Runt pushed his way to the front, just in time to see a player in a helmet and armor crash throw and land hard on the ground, shattering some of the glass in his visor.

Less then a minute later, more people came through, some landing on top of the first player others landing nearby. A few groaned in pain but the general majority of them seemed either dazed or unconscious, at least from where Runt was standing.

Most of them didn't look human, either. In fact, some of them looked like the mobs in the forest had combined themselves with a player and some random parts from Lola's redstone contraptions. Others looked similar to people of other races that he'd seen during his quest for the Aeron Forge but differed from them ever so slightly.

Silence fell over the whole crowd. Except for a few whispers here and there and the occasional groan from the pile of players in the center, everything was still. The swirling black portal disappeared as suddenly as it had come.

Elisa, second in command of the Lost Legion, elbowed Kolb. "Hey, do some of these guys looks familiar to you?" she asked quietly.

"...Wait, isn't that the building master, Grian?" someone else to Runt's right said much more loudly. That started a very fast chain reaction, which players starting to call out various things that made almost no sense to Runt but seemed to be understood by most of the players. Or at least a good number of them.

"That looks like Mumbo Jumbo! What's he doing here?"

"Hey, it's Welsknight!"

"That's Keralis1, almost no one looks like that!"

"That first guy looked like Xisuma! Then again it could be Evil X..."

"Is that Docm77 over there? In the creeper skin? Kind of looks like him..."

"That zombie isn't burning, it has to be a player there's no armor or anything to stop the sun!"

"Guys, everyone please quiet down!"

That last one came from Kolb, who was holding up his hands for silence. The talking died down to some degree. Runt noticed that most of the people commenting had been the players, some who looked flabbergasted at the new arrivals and others who looked like they were going to faint from excitement.

Kolb drew his sword and approached the pile of players, some of who were starting to look a little more awake. "Who...are you?" He asked.

One of the more humanoid players that hadn't landed in the pile blinked up at Kolb. He had a shirt with a creeper face on it and shorts and his gaze seemed rather unfocused. "...Huh?" he muttered.

"I don't think any of them are a threat in this state." One of the Lost Legion members said from next to Elisa. "Besides...aren't they-"

"Can't be too careful." Kolb cut him off. He turned back to face the player in the creeper shirt. "What's your name?"

"..Impulse...? X, you know that..."

"Who's X?"

"...Our admin-Wait, you're..not X. Who are you? Where am I?" Impulse's gaze was seeming to clear and he struggled to sit up, starting to panic a bit. "This isn't Hermitcraft-"

"Nope. This is Aetheria. Definitely not Hermitcraft." Kolb told him.

Impulse's eyes widened.

A player in a red sweater who had an expressionless face and a pair of wings raised his head. "..Aetheria? As in, the server?" Runt had no idea how he was able to talk without a mouth. Maybe it was player magic or he had a mask on? He sure didn't know and most of the players didn't seem to be concerned. But it definitely concerned him. Just like the names of some of the players he knew.

Then again, players could be weird sometimes. Runt turned his attention back to the matter at hand, just in time to hear Kolb's reply.

"Yeah. This is Aetheria. Uh, you're Grian right?" Kolb asked. He hadn't raised his sword, instead leaving it pointing at the floor.

The winged player, who Runt guessed was Grian, groaned and let himself fall back onto the ground. "Oh you gotta be kidding me...yes I'm Grian and I'm not here for admin reasons."

"Admin?" Max asked from behind me.

Elisa stared at us. "You don't know who the Admins are? Oh wait, you probably don't..."

Stump, who'd just gotten through the crowd, shook his head. "..Uh, nope. We definitely don't. Is it an Earth thing?"

"Hardly. Admins are the people who run servers. Entity is the creator of this world but he's also the main admin, for instance. If anything happens that shouldn't happen, he's supposed to be the one to fix it." Elisa explained. "And no, Grian isn't like Entity. He doesn't have the same amount of power." She added before we could ask.

Brio stepped forward. "Kolb, are these..." he gestured at the group of players, some of who were starting to get into more comfortable positions and detangling themselves from each other, "...are they a threat? Are they working for...him?"

"Nope! We just ended up in the wrong server. That is, if you're talking about who I think you are and not about Entity303." Grian seemed to be recovering fast and was now sitting up. Runt noticed his wings were slowly opening and closing and looked a bit banged up from the fall earlier.

Kaeleb, another Legionnaire, hesitantly stepped forward. "Uh, if these really are the Hermitcraft group, where's their leader?"

Silence reigned once more. Runt was starting to see a pattern here-talk for a bit, silence, talk some more, silence. It was getting predictable and they were going to be her all day unless someone did something about it.

He shared a look with Breeze. She agreed.

The duo walked forward to where Brio and Kolb had moved. "We should ask questions later. Some of these folk don't look to be in good shape." Breeze said.

"Only a few of them look like they have any kind of armor or items." Runt added.

"We have no place to house them after the last group that came." Brio pointed out. "Much less know that most of the village is destroyed."

"We can make room, part of the mine or something." Runt argued. "There's got to be some room and that admin thing seems pretty important."

Kolb nodded. "I agree with Runt. And if these people really are the Hermits, then they'll be out and building up their own place within the week. It'll probably put the rest of us to shame while they do it too. These guys are literal pros compared to us. They can help us rebuild faster, that is, if they agree to..."

Brio thought for a moment "I suppose..."

"Sounds great! Thanks!" Grian grinned up at us. "So just to clarify: You guys are in the middle of a huge war right?"

The rest of us exchanged looks. This was going to be a long day.

Chapter Text

Runt's Diary-Day after the attack on Villagetown

We had the "Hermits", as Impulse and Grian asked us to call their group, stay in one of the rooms near the entrance of the mine. At first, we thought they might feel crowded there, since there were so many of them and the room wasn't that big, but when Breeze and I brought them some food and items they seemed mostly fine with being in such a small space.

Almost all of them seemed mostly awake at that point and were really happy to see the food and some of the basic stuff we brought along. They even offered to help us rebuild Villagetown.

....Although according to Impulse it was because if they sat around for too long, someone was probably going to start some kind of mischief or do something stupid. That comment got a lot of the Hermits' attention and Breeze and I quickly and quietly slipped out before we got caught in the thick of things. It might have all just bee the Hermits poking fun at each other but we didn't want to risk sticking around, even if it was just bunch of jokes at the end of the day. Especially when a couple of players who looked a little like someone had turned them into mobs decided to join in and things started getting loud-both from the talking and the laughter.

Breeze and I went back to Brio and Kolb, who were discussing yesterday's attack, and told them about the Hermits' offer to help.

Kolb immediately agreed.

"We definitely should let them help, they might not know much about how stuff here works but they're supposed to be really good at building and redstone." Kolb said. "Besides, we can use the extra help and if they're offfering we might as well take them up on it."

Brio frowned. "But how do we know they won't turn on us? You said they don't know much. If we let them help, if they turn to the enemy's side they'll know how to breech our defenses."

"They have connections to Entity. I talked with some of their guys. They're good people. If we let them stay and help they'll be less likely to leave. Besides they're not going anywhere soon, their leader is in no shape to travel and the nearest town is kind of...not close." Kolb pointed out.

"We can definitely use the help. The faster we rebuild, the better." Breeze agreed. "What do you say, Runt?"

I thought for a moment, before shrugging. "Sure, they don't seem like too much of a threat-"

"I wouldn't say that none of us are a threat."

We all turned to see a blonde-haired player with goggles standing just behind us. She had two stone swords attached to her belt in easy reach. At first she seemed threatening but the edges of her mouth were curved up in a smirk. "Really now, don't look so surprised. I'm just saying, underestimating people is how you lose a fight. But don't worry, you folks seem like nice enough people. The only way you'll be getting rid of us is if we're taken by force or get a really good reason to leave. Grian seems pretty set on staying until X recovers and honestly? I'm not going to question his logic right now."

"U-um, that's g-great-" I sputtered out.

Breeze elbowed me and Brio gave a huff. "Well, I suppose..."

"Wonderful! Just let us know what you need help with. I think a few of the Hermits already started helping out here and there but most of us are still pretty jobless." The girl laughs. "Anyways, have a good night!"

We watched silently as she left, heading back where she and the other Hermits were staying.

The moment she left, Breeze turned back to face Brio, Kolb, and me. "She's definitely a fighter. I think she alreayd chose a class. She's a duelist."

"Isn't that a basic fighter class?" I asked.

"Yes. It's a class that specializes in duel wielding and fast movement." Brio agrees. "She probably just came from talkng with some of the Legionnaires. When she passed by earlier she didn't have those swords. She also looked less tired then she does now. I suspect she's already trying to learn abilities."

"That didn't take very long for her to learn then." Breeze commented.

"She most likely has a lot of experience fighting."

Kolb nodded thoughtfully. "Interesting..." He muttered, then shook his head. "Right. Anyways, we still need to start figuring out our rebuilding plans. I guess I'll go and talk with the Hermits tomorrow about what they'd be most interested in helping us with..."

We spent the next hour or so talking. Orphelia, Stump, Max, and some of the village elders joined us as well. We spent a lot of time goign over what kinds of defenses we could add into the walls and what kinds of special weapons we could make with the forge Breeze and I had brought back.

By the time we were done, I was exhausted and almost immediately collapsed into my bed.

Chapter Text

Xisuma's POV

t was dark and hazy. And he was falling.

The small lights of distant stars commonly seen in the Void weren't visible. Nor could he see the swirling binary numbers and various lines of codes he was used to seeing when worldhopping.

All he knew was that this wasn't natural.

Xisuma closed his eyes and reached out, trying to find the path. Trying to find his friends. Reaching for anything that could anchor him.

Nothing. He kept falling.

Falling.

Falling-

Suddenly it was as if he'd been thrown against the floor by a ravager. He gasped for breath, pain shooting through him in every direction. It seemed forever before the pain started to die away and when it finally did, he didn't even have the energy to try and open his eyes.

But he could hear. Sort of. He had barely noticed the noise earlier out of panic but now he could.

He knew those voices, they were familiar. He just couldn't place them quite properly...

Xisuma strained his ears, trying to make sense of what he was hearing,

"...potion...did..work..?"

"..maybe..can't...no supplies..."

"...abilities?..."

"..rebuild...find help...Legion..."

The voidwalker tried to open his eyes, see who was talking. His lids felt heavy, like he'd gone days without sleep and something or someone was trying to keep them closed. And he was tired. Maybe sleep would be good-

No.

He had to wake up. Who knew where he was? Where his friends were? He doubted they were in the Season 7 world. He was the admin. He had to take charge and figure this situation out.

He focused all his energy into opening his eyes. A small, slow, and exhausting process.

He almost immediately let them shut again, however, when his brain registered the bright light of...wherever he was. He breathed heavily for a minute, then tried again. And almost did it, before giving up again. It was too painful. Too bright. Much too bright. Why was it so bright?

"He's waking." Someone right next to him, to his right. "C'mon, X, almost there..."

They knew his name. Or rather, nickname. That was good...right?

"Block the torch, I think it's giving him trouble." A female voice said to his left. Stress, maybe? He couldn't tell for sure but at least he could hear more then just snippets of conversation.

"Try one more time, Shaswammy, you almost had it." Keralis.

Xisuma tried one more time. Slowly, his eyes opened...and stayed open.

As his eyes started to focus, he was just about able to make out several figures around him. Most were obviously using themselves or whatever they had on hand to block the light. Probably also as an excuse to see him.

He tried moving his hand to adjust his helmet. His hand moved sluggishly and it took too much effort. He let it drop again.

"X, you there bud?" Someone right in front of him. It sounded like...

"xB?" Xisuma's voice came out as a croak, his throat being dry from lack of fluids He inwardly cringed at how sorry it sounded.

"Yup! Glad you still got your memory." xB chuckled.

"Yeah, you took a nasty fall and having Doc, Ren, Mumbo, Joe, and Stress piling on top of you didn't really help." Iskall's voice from the blurry figure standing next to xB.

Xisuma blinked a bit, trying to get his focus so he could see better. As his eyes finished adjusting he was able to make out most of the Hermits. The Architechs (Grian, Mumbo, and Iskall) stod in a triangle formation next to xB. Joe and Cleo were on xB's other side. Jevin stood in front of Team ZIT (Zedaph, Impulse, and Tango), Hypno and Beef flanking them. Bdubs, Scar, Wels, and Keralis were on his right. Stress, Doc, Ren, Cub, and Etho on his left.

He did a quick head count and noticed something off. Panic grew inside him again. "TFC and False-?"

"TFC's in the mines and False is chatting with some folks here." Joe told him. "They're all safe. All of us. Uh, somehow the people who were supposed to join us in the Season 7 world like Beef, Etho, and Hypno also got dragged along.." Joe quickly started explaining. "Even Wels woke up from his self-induced coma. We're in an MMORPG server called Aetheria now."

"...I don't understand..." Xisuma tried to process everything and gave up. "That shouldn't have happened, we were nowhere near the Season Se-" He started coughing, which was not comfortable at all as he was still lying down.

Stress and Keralis quickly propped him up and Iskall handed over some milk. Keralis lifted up his visor and Streess held the milk to his cracked lips. "Drink." She ordered.

Xisuma obliged, the cool liquid hard to swallow at first but eventually getting easier. "Thank you..."

"No problem, X." Stress smiled.

"Did I miss much?"

Mumbo shrugged. "I mean, the only major thing that happened was Grian volunteering us into helping rebuild a village. There's a giant war going on at the moment and we came right in the thick of things."

"What?"

"Don't worry, I'm sure getting involved won't do too much to mess up anything! And they're being really nice and letting us stay here so I thought it was only right for us to repay them in some way!" Grian protested. "I'm almost positive it won't change the storyline."

"Let's hope not." Xisuma agreed, sighing. Disrupting the flow of an MMORPG was never a good idea. "By the way, what time is it?"

"Really late." Doc answered helpfully.

"Almost midnight. To bed with all of you, we've had quite the day and I'm sure you're all tired." TFC's voice carried over from the doorway. The hermits started mumbling agreements and began drifting off to various beds scattered around the room until Xisuma could finally see TFC and False near the entrance to the room. "Oh hello there, I see you're finally awake." TFC remarked.

"Cool to see you up X. I've been busy while you've been snoozin', already got a class picked out. Some pretty cool abilities and bonuses we can get from this stuff." False said brightly, walking over to pat Xisuma in the shoulder. "Oh and I think the people running the show here are going to want to talk with you tomorrow," she added.

Xisuma nodded. "I'll meet with them in the morning-"

"-If you're in good shape and not about to collapse for the second time in a row. Go to sleep, Xisuma." Stress scolded gently from a bed other hermits nearby-Keralis, Bdubs, and Hypno-laughed and agreed with Stress. TFC just winked and laughed under his breath as he walked to a bed near the back of the room.

"Ok, ok, I'll go to sleep. G'night, everyone." Xisuma chuckled as he leaned back down, only then just realizing just how tired he really was. It was surprising, really-after all, hadn't he been unconcious?-but then again he's used up a lot of energy trying to get himself awake earlier...

It wasn't long before Xisuma and the Hermits were fast asleep and oblivious to anything else happening around them.

Chapter Text

Kolb eyed the strange player warily. "So...you're Xisumavoid."

The helmeted man standing in the doorway nodded. "Yep. That's me alright.I suppose you're Kolbert?" He asked, offering a hand.

Kolb took it. Xisuma's grip was firmer than he expected. "Well, yes. Kolbert21337, Leader of the Lost Legion. The mayor asked me to meet with you, seeing as he and the other leaders are busy organizing rebuilding efforts."

Xisuma nodded as he sat down. "Understandable. Anyways, I guess Grian already told you who we are and some of what happened?"

"A bit, yeah." Kolb agreed. "Offered to help us rebuild too. There's actually a meeting on that right now I believe."

"Oh so that's where half the Hermits ran off too." Xisuma chuckled. "Though I should've known, they mentioned it last night. But that's not quite what we're here for, is it now? I believe you wanted to speak with me about our….situation?"

Kolb nodded. "Yeah, I mean coming from Earth to here was enough of a shock but you guys popping out of nowhere? And...I get the feeling you're not from Earth."

"As far as I'm aware, I was born via the Void." Xisuma affirmed. "I've heard of Earth in passing but I mostly dismissed any thoughts about it." He shrugged. "Someone in my group might know something though. We have quite the variety."

"That's...true. How's that working out?" Kolb asked.

Xisuma chuckled. "Yeah, when I left this morning Doc, our cyborg creeper mad scientist, was...less then thrilled, I'm not actually sure what he is now, he keeps complaining that his creeper side is acting up more then usual. Tango is currently convinced he's turned full demon somehow and I don't even want to know why Scar spawned in without pants and with a beard."

Kolb nearly choked. "Without...pants?"

"He's a wizard apparently. This server's apparently decided to give some my players some predetermined choices. And I get the feeling some higher power has something to do with this."

"Yeah, I'm almost certain most of your group hasn't ever played on this server at any point."

"And there's not much way out without freeing Entity?" Xisuma asked, twirling a torch in his hands.

"Yep." Kolb nodded. "And we have to defeat Herobrine first. Well, most likely anyways."

"Interesting."

Xisuma was clearly going to ask more questions but was interrupted by a white-haired masked player racing in "Xisuma, Cleo's not just a living zombie anymore. She's actually half dead and apparently has crazy summoning powers. Necromancy or something." he panted out. "Apparently that's not good, the last person from here to have whatever class she has was evil."

Kolb jumped up. "Oh no...Is she a nethermancer?"

"A lich, actually." Kaeleb stepped in, having followed the other player. "She's...not happy."

"She's fine with being dead, not with the powers." the other player clarified.

Xisuma groaned. "Etho, is anyone else sprouting new powers suddenly?"

"Besides False taking on the Duelist class and Wels being strangely absent, as well as Zedaph suddenly telling us he can read the stuff on enchanting tables, I don't think so." Etho shrugged, before remembering something. "Oh, Grian is a sapper. Turns out he's done more then just chat with server owners here, he's something called a "sapper" and whatever it is it involves TNT and more traps then the ones he's pulled in the past."

Xisuma facepalmed. Or rather, helmetpalmed. "Oh goodness...Kolb, there aren't any Nether-attured races or whatever you call them here?"

"I think so. But I'm pretty sure some of them went extinct. Why?"

"Do any of them have something to do with fire?"

"Yeah, why? Wait, hold up- ack, wait, I can't run that fast-" The leader of the Lost Legion found himself racing after Xisuma, nearly knocking over other people in the process.

At least they didn't find the Hermit's "base" entirely lit on fire when they go there. Just one blond guy named Tango and a lot of water everywhere.

Chapter Text

Wels leaned his head against the side of the house he, Beef, False, and a kid who said his name was Stump were building. The sun was hot, the blocks seemed heavier then usual, and he had a serious headache. That last one was probably because of his lack of coffee and his rather rude wakeup but still.

"You alright, Wels?" False called down from the roof.

Wels managed a small smile. "I'll be fine. Just give me a minute."

"The knight just needs to dig into his coffee reserves False, give him a minute." Beef joked as he passed by with an armful of stone brick stairs for the roof.

"Coffee? What's coffee? Some kind of Earth drink?" Stump asked.

False chuckled. "Yeah, I think so. Not sure what you folks here do but the way we make it on Hermitcraft involves cocca beans, hot water, and sugar. And some other stuff. Impulse or Wels can easily give you the recipe, they make way too much of it. Beef, that's a stone brick wall are you sure you want that there?"

Beef looked down and blinked. "Oh. Definitely not." He traded it out for cobblestone and smooth stone slabs. "What was I thinking?"

"Someone needs caffeine." Wels laughed, pushing himself off the wall and taking some of the blocks Stump was staggering under. "y'know, I should make it a business. Then I'll have an excuse to drink more coffee and no one can complain. I'll be rich with the amount of caffeine Impulse and Xisuma need."

"You guys sure love that..stuff." Stump commented. "What's the difference between coffee and caffeine anyways?"

"Caffeine is like that extra ingredient you add to a potion to give you an extra boost when drinking it. Coffee is like the potion, needs a little extra something to make it special." Beef explained.

"That....kind of makes sense?"

"Don't worry about it, I think you're a bit young to ned to worry about staying up for days on end like certain people in our group." False told him, jumping down from the roof and taking a heart of damage in the process. "Ouch. You'd think I'd remember fall damage exists but I still don't."

"No one does. Especially Grian, with the way he recklessly flies around and defies gravity half the time." Beef shrugged.

"Can Grian really fly?" Stump asked, in awe at the thought.

False chuckled. "Where we come from, everyone has a thing called an elytra. We all have one, well, once we fight the dragon and make it out the the outer parts of the End. It's really great. But here.....I think Grian can fly, he just hasn't done it ye-"

She was cut off by a loud yell coming from a nearby building. She turned just in time to duck and avoid getting hit by Grian, who had jumped off a nearby roof after finishing the build and was gliding around.

"Sorry False! He called back, landing in front of Wels and Stump with only a slight stumble.

Stump and the other villagers who'd seen Grian's little flyby were gaping in shock and awe.

"It's fine, Grian...just give a warning next time, yeah?" False straightened up and adjusted her goggles, a small smile on her face.

Grian flashed a grin (or what one could assume was a grin, seriously how did he go around without a visible mouth without a problem?) and a thumbs-up. "No promises but I'll try."

Wels groaned. "Yeah, I'm...going to go take a break and maybe see if someone can trade me some cocca beans or something...." He staggered away in the general direction of the mines.

The villagers (and some players) started to crowd around Grian to ask about his flying skills and False went to go help Grian explain flying.

Beef just watched from the side for a while, before going off to find something else to do. False and Grian could handle the crowd, they'd probably be fine.

Chapter Text

"This. Looks. Amazing." Emerald gaped at the new buildings.

The rest of Team Runt agreed. "These guys really are as good as the Legionnaires said they were." Stump said through a mouthful of potato.

"I can't believe they did all of this in just three days." Runt gestured around. "And only half of them helped with rebuilding too, Kolb says that two or three of the Hermits took a bunch of supplies and disappeared into the mines and they've only come up one time since to get another bed."

"I heard about that, my father says that he asked Xisuma about it but all Xisuma said was that it was perfectly normal, especially for this one player they call TFC." Breeze said.

"What does that even stand for? That isn't his actual name, right?" Lola asked.

"Maybe, I mean some players have really weird names." Max shrugged.

A loud yell from above cued Team Runt to look up as Grian, who was being a reckless idiot, sped by overhead. Less then a minute later, Cubfan135 came running in the same direction yelling at Grian to "slow down", "wait for me", and "if you die and lose all that stuff Etho went resource gathering for I'm not responsible."

"....I don't even want to know what they're doing." Emerald said as the duo disappeared into the village.

"Neither do I and I call them my friends." Scar the wizard quickly held up his hands and stepped back when Team Runt rounded on him. "Whoops, sorry, didn't mean to scare anyone. Just wanted to ask if any of you had seen Doc around. Y'know, the cyborg creeper that keeps complaining he doesn't have a trident."

"He's by the town fountain." Breeze said.

"Oh good, thanks. He's been trying to find a class that suits him and I think I found one. See you later!" Scar waved and ran off.

"Should we tell him he's going the wrong way?" Runt asked.

Team Runt exchanged looks and then raced after the wizard, before he got himself lost in the newly-replanted tree farm again.

Chapter Text

It had bee nabout a week and the Hermits were starting to settle in a bit. With the knowledge that going home wasn't going to be an option in the near future unless the current war sped itself up drastically, everyone was handling it in the best ways they knew how.

Joe had decided on becoming a bard. And unsurprisingly, he and Runt's friend Max had hit it off the moment they found out their common interest: books. And surprisingly, Joe had apparantly figured out he could read Ancient Toungue.

...Then again, this was Joe so really it would have been more surprisng if he'd grown a horn or something.

Wels, on the other hand, had immediately gone straight for the Knight class the moment he heard about it. And when he found out that he needed to get the Warrior class first, he dove straight into it. False found herself quickly overtaken by the ambitious knight in levels and abilities. Apparantly, Wels took not being a Knight class as a personal attack.

It wasn't long after Wels finally was convinced by Beef and Hypno to stop and rest when Doc finally figured out that he was an Ironsoul, via Joe running out of the library, thrusting a book at Doc, and saying what sounded like gibberish to his firned before running back into the library. The book had been about Ironsouls and Doc immediately dropped his axe and disappeared into the nearest building to sit and read from cover to cover, only stopping when Bdubs, Cub, Scar, and Mumbo used thier combined efforts to make him take a break to eat and move to somewhere that wasn't someone's soon-to-be house.

And then there was Etho. Etho had said nothing about what he was doing in terms of whether he was going to get hismefl a class or not and instead spent his time being his usual cryptic self, prefering to bring everyone what they needed to finish their work.

It was only when Xisuma and Keralis were passing by the school when they realized what Etho had been doing for hte past week, after Keralis got a glimpse of him deeply engrossed in a book about the Thief class. And when Xisuma found the locked door to a room he'd made for hismelf in an attempt to get some peace while he worked on an alternate solution to get out of the world open with Etho curled up in the cornor of the room, it was pretty clear what was going on.

"Etho?" Xisuma asked, seeing his firend in...Well, not the weirdest place he'd been found but still pretty random.

"Mmm?" Etho sleepily opened his eyes and yawned. "Five more minutes...."

"Etho, you have a bed. The floor isn't very comfortable."

"'M fine."

Xisuma sighed, then walked over and picked up the ninja. Etho attmepted to protest against this but X took no notice and just kept walking until he reached a bed where he could dump him. "If you're going to sleep, don't do it on the cold stone floor. You don't need to catch a cold or get back pain."

"..Fine..." Etho sighed, then curled into the bed and was soon snoring again. Xisuma shook his head and after makign sure Etho would be fine, left to go see what Mumbo was trying to convince Grian not to do.

Chapter Text

"Hey, has anyone seen Grian?" Iskall asked, poking his head into what was the new library.

Joe and Max looked up from some maps of Aetheria. "Grian? Nope, sorry. Maybe check with Scar, he mentioned that he was going to go make Tango's redstone look like it wasn't just a big stone box. It's supposed to be a chicken coop." Joe suggested.

"I already checked there. Scar hasn't seen him since morning when he stopped by to steal a few eggs. "

Max blinked. "Eggs..?"

"Grian has a thing for birds." Joe quickly explained. "Iskall, what about the Lost Keep? If Grian has eggs he might be planning a prank, he's been a bit too quiet lately. Or maybe check with Etho, I'm sure he knows where Grian is."

"Oh, that's a good idea. Thanks Joe. Cool seeing you too, Max." Iskall waved and started to leave the library.

And then he saw the gremlin-turned-hoverboard.

~~~

"Woo-hoo!" Runt cheered as Grian looped through the air, both laughing at the feleing of the freedom of flight. "This is amazing!"

"It sure is!" Grian grinned. "Oh hey, there's Iskall! Hold on tight!"

The gremlin dove towards the Swede, who barely had time to do anything besides pray. At the very last minute, Grian pulled up and droped some eggs on his friend.

"Hey! Wha- Grian!" Iskall yelled as Grian and Runt went off cackling.

"It wasn't me, it was the man in the chicken costume! Or those pesky birds!" Grian yelled back, before flying off to find another target.

~~~

Etho, Jevin, and two of the Legionaires were sparring when Etho caught sight of the Grian and the Runt. And like the good perosn he was, he said nothing, simply saying he needed to get a drink before slipping away from the target zone right before the eggs came splatting down.

"Argh!" Jevin yelped as one fell on top of his head. "No fair!"

"Why is there egg everywhere?" One of the legionaires, Ghost, asked, very confused.

"Scratch that, why is that guy flying around with Runt on his back?" Extreme, the other Legionaire, asked, pointing up at the now empty-handed Grian who was circling in to land.

""It's a Grian thing." Etho snickered. Then dodged a punch from Jevin. "What? It's true!"

"Whatever. I'm surprised no monsters spotted them." Extreme said.

"They already know we're here, Mumbo, Ren, and I went out to gether resources the other day and we barely made it back with the stuff before we got eaten." Grian pointed out. He and Runt had walked from Grian's landing spot to where the others were to look for something Grian thought he accidently dropped when he let the eggs fall.

Jevin shivered. "That forest is creepier then that time you, Ren, and False made masks that looks like Bdubs' head. And that was terryfying."

"Bdubs' head doesn't usually try to kill you." Grian shrugged.

"Bdubs is the guy with the weird eyes right?" Runt asked.

Jevin snorted. Which was a kind of odd sound coming from someone who was half-slime. "Dude, like half of us Hermits have weird eyes. You're going to need to be way more sspecific."

"I still don't get how you can see." Extreme told Grian, who just shrugged. And grinned, which definitely did not look natural.

"Bdubs has the blue shirt and red headband." Etho clarified before the gorup ended up in a never-ending discussion of odd anatomy. "Also, Grian? Iskall was looking for you."

"Oh. He's going to kill me." Grian grimaced. "We jsut egged him."

"Um...Good luck?" Runt offered.

"I'll take that luck. I don't have a saferoom this time..." Grian groaned, started to trudge towards the general direction of the library.

"Hey, at least I didn't send him after you this time!" Jevin called, a bit too gleeful-sounding.

Grian just groaned in response, albeit with a hint of a smile of his otherwise-expressionless face.
~~~

Deep below the chaos above, TFC was helping VIllagetown's miners to dig out whatever they could. The experienced miner was showing the effectiveness of branch mining, easily keeping up with the younger miners. And the branch min was doing well, they already had a good number of items. TFC himself had managed to get himself into full diamond gear, having done some trading along the way to get some enchanted books.

The King of the Grind hummed cheerfully to himself as his pick hit stone block after stone block, enjoying the feeling of the slightly-repetitive work.

A feeling that wouldn't last very long....

Chapter Text

Hello everyone!

THank you so much for reading this! I put quite a bit of work into figuring stuff out for this fic, lol. So it's much appreciated, all the kudos and comments and all.

But it's been a while since I updated, and my focus has shifted a bit. My writing style changed a lot, and I'm kind of a little scared to dive back into the giant mess called my "notes for this fic" doc. So here's a brief summary of what I have about what was supposed to happen.

The Hermits were meant to go on the whole trip with Runt and co to the capital, and at some point would meet Entity303, do some stuff, go to Herobrine's base, and there would be an epic boss fight. The fic wasn't ever meant to be too long- probably 20ish chapters?-, but I never got past the Villagetown phase. (After the boss fight, Entity303 would help the Hermits get back to their own world- after the Hermits did a bit of disaster relief ofc. Kinda like Empires' crossover, but with a cleanup and a boss fight.)

(also I have no idea where the plotline with TFC in the last chapter was going. Probably something like unearthing a secret dungeon or something)

So yeah, that was kind of it. I apologize if it feels anticlimatic- I was sort of following the books' plot loosely.

You're welcome to take this up, if you wish- just credit me and link back. I probably won't try to rewrite, but this was definitely a fun little venture. Of 9 chapters, i didn't realize this was that long lol.

Again, thank you for reading and have a lovely day! Don't forget to eat, drink, and sleep, and get a little fresh air if you can- I heard it's suppsoed to be healthy or whatever.

<3