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Chapter Text

The Links were exploring the area they were dropped in. They were transported into a land that was clearly filled with boats, large mountains, and enormous wagons. To the Chain, it was wacky, weird, and intimidating. (They didn’t want to admit that this era/world was wilder than Wild’s Hyrule.) The first sign of life they found was a living doll, wearing a red sweater with long sleeves and owl-like wings attached to its frame. The creature was working away in a cave full of wonky structures of varied colours. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to budge when the Chain entered with noise echoing ahead.

It was Time who approached the mysterious figure first, confirming along the way that their status wasn’t hostile to Hylians. He looked in awe as the doll worked away by itself, with no visible strings attached to the frame. “Hello, my group and I are travellers, can you please tell us where we are?”

There was no response, the doll continued to focus on the unfinished building without a care in the world. Their button eyes fixed themselves onto a seemingly complicated area, toning out the doll’s awareness of the surrounding area. It was very unsettling, were the Links visible or invisible towards this strange person? There was only one way to find out the truth: talk, communicate and successfully be familiar with them.

Time tried getting their attention again, tapping on their shoulder and trying to get it to face him and the group. “Excuse me?”

“╎ ᓭ⍑𝙹⚍ꖎ↸ ᓭℸ ̣ 𝙹ᓵꖌ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ⊣-ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑ╎リ.” The doll seemingly ignored the prodding from Time, and said something unintelligible to the Links, presumably in a different language they never encountered. "╎ ᓭ⍑𝙹⚍ꖎ↸ ᓭℸ ̣ 𝙹ᓵꖌ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ⊣-ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑ╎リ...."

“He seems very distracted with that building of his.” Sky pointed out the obvious. “We should come again later.”

Wild shook his head as he marched over and picked up discarded material to give the builder, who muttered his thanks and went back to work. “Nope, he’s very much aware of us, well now he is.”

Realization brightened the stranger’s face, as he suddenly jumped with shock and turned around to face the group in his base. “When did you come in?! I thought you were Scar or Mumbo playing pranks on me!”

“My apologies, we didn’t mean to scare you-” Time began to explain but was promptly interrupted by the avian shaped stranger, who's gaze danced across the group.

"Well." The man shrugged and calmly set down his tools beside him. “It’s alright now, I was distracted with the detailing here...along with other worries. You can call me Grian, I don't know how you arrived, but welcome to Boatem and Hermitcraft.”

The Chain glanced at each other, unsure of how to continue the conversation; it was clear nobody knew anything about Boatem or this strange new land. Hermitcraft was never a name mentioned back in any variation of their home. It was Sky who looked like he wanted to break the silence, but Warriors spoke first instead. “This isn’t Hyrule?” (Four kicked his shins in warning, making a scene that caused Time to glare at them for their behaviour.) He paused and reworded his question with a “What’s a Boatem?”

Twilight shared Time's disappointed look and facepalmed in second-hand embarrassment. "Captain. That doesn't make you outburst any better."

Instead of being confused or upset at the outburst, Grian simply laughed at the Chain's antics regarding the first question. “This place? Hyrule? Not in the slightest, Ha! I haven’t been ho- there in several odd years.”

Sky's eyes widened and his mouth dropped. "You're from Hyrule?" Was this another successor? Is he cursed from being a Hylian to a doll?

"Yep." With that bomb drop of information, Grian went back to work on the buildings in the cave. (which also remained backless.) "Since you're here, how does this look?"

That caught everyone’s attention off guard because nobody expected him to change the subject quickly, but that was that. Nine faces stared intensely in focus on Grian, all clearly interested in the reasons he (and they) were in this place. "Wait... What?"

"Er-Well. It would be rude not to introduce ourselves, I am Time….it's nice to meet you Grian." Time hushed the Chain and let the mood settle within the group (which took a while). "These are the men i'm journeying with: Sky, Four, Wind, Twilight, Legend, Hyrule, Warriors, and Wild."

(Grian's unusual purple-blue eyes returned to stare intensely at Sky and the Master Sword, but quickly unfocused to see the Hero of Hyrule, Hyrule.)

"A Hylian named Hyrule?" Grian raised his eyebrow and glanced at the fluffy haired hero. "His parents must love the Kingdom so much to give him that name."

("We are so good at nicknames," Twilight whispered with amusement. "Who's idea was it to give ourselves nicknames from our hero titles again?"

"The sailor," Time supplied. "It wasn't the brightest choice with Hyrule, but it definitely sticks." )

The aforementioned boy laughed it off, explaining that the name was an inside joke within the nine Heroes. "It's actually one of my nicknames, because…okay, this might be hard to understand."

"I'm sure you have a a tale to tell." Grian nodded in understanding at them before returning to his tools and the discarded camera. "Sorry, right now I am very busy and I have so much to do...this time-lapse and finding someone to room you."

Wind took a glance outside the cave, staring in awe at the balancing totem of boats in the center. "Why can't we stay nearby? Isn't it safer to stay with you? We could help out here!"

Wild agreed with the younger, but with the intention of living in one of the wagons. "It's nice here, why can't we build camp or stay in these buildings?"

The builder shook his head in response. "Boatem is definitely not the safest area, the Hole claimed so many of our lives." He paused and glanced at the "finished" builds, which aren't furnished much on the inside. "Also, this place is a mess, those interiors aren't entirely finished yet."

Twilight studied Grian, even without being Wolfie, he sniffed out the toned down nervousness and the speckle of awkwardness in Grian's body movement. He didn't question it, but there was something familiar about the man. "That's alright, but our offer to help is still available."

Grian shook his head stubbornly. "You are guests, whether I like it or not." He waved at them with a cuckoo egg in hand like it was a threat (it was). "l'll send Ren a message to tour you around the server. "

"No. I insist, we can help-'' Legend challenged, only to be quickly interrupted by an egg shattering noise nearby. "Oh sweet Hylia-"

Grian pointed to the egg in his hand again, and paused for the dramatic effect. "You'll get a face full of cuckoo feathers and egg yolks if you even consider sorting my mess, because, even I can't afford to look at my own chests."

Warriors, not believing how severe the situation was, took a quick peek into the mentioned chests in the nearby building, "Oh gods. This is worse than the veteran's."

"I tried getting better at sorting, but I resumed old habits making a chest monster mess." Grian admitted. "I don't want you to suffer by doing this for me."

An incoming voice quickly interrupted the captain before his words could do harm. "Hey G, I'm here to pick up the tour group!"

Grian looked relieved as a werewolf came into his line of sight. "Oh, hey Ren! Thank you for agreeing to take them for me, I would've done the tour myself, but as you can see..." He trailed off at the obvious answer that was mentioned several times before. "Timelapses are a pain to record, and they refuse to rest themselves."

"It's not a problem, my dude." The hybrid, Ren patted his friend's back. "But this favour won't stop the Octagon's arsenal of prankage!" He adopted a dramatic tone as he spoke to Grian about pranks and a brewing war of sorts.

the avian smirked, adopted the dog's sense of drama, and threw an egg in his direction. "It only just started, my friend, Boatem will not hold back against you or Big Eyes!"

"Bring it on, Poultry Man-"

("I fear the outcome." Legend admitted to Sky while the native residents of Hermitcraft bantered. "That power he holds scares me."

Sky looked at the latter in surprise. "It's not that bad, these tiny baby birds are harmless…. It's the cats you should be weary of.")

The two bantered back and forth for awhile, until Ren checked his communicator and gasped at the time. "-Enjoy your time-lapse making!" He finally waved goodbye to his rival and started leading the Chain towards the trains sitting outside. "We can start when everyone's ready, any questions my dudes?"

Wind and Wild both shared twin grins and got ready to unleash their whirlwind of questions of the limited knowledge the group knew about Hermitcraft and whatever Boatem was. There were questions suck as: "What's the Octagon? Are you a werewolf? What are the other residents like? How is there a hole in the world? What kind of books do you have?"

"Slow down, one at a time." Time reminded the chaotic heroes in amusement. "Please don't overwhelm our guide to these lands."

"You're no fun, Old Man." Wind challenged his predecessor and mentor. "I bet he can handle it!"

"It's all fine, Mr. Time." Ren agreed with the same excitement in his eyes. "I can answer these questions easy-peasy." He stretched his fingers and prepared himself for the rabbit hole of questions from the group. 

"I'll go first," Wild nodded and raised his hand excitedly as if he was not a 117-year-old. "How is there a hole in the world? And what are the other residents like here?"

"The Boatem Hole was created by all the Boatem members, then Impulse blew the bedrock afterwards." Ren explained. "The other Hermits are just as hardworking and passionate at so many different levels! When we tour Gemini and Pearl's bases, I'm sure you'll see why."

The resident blacksmith, Four was currently looking at the strangely made sword at Ren's side with interest. "What is the sword made out of? Did you make this?" 

"Diamonds and Netherite ." Ren answered truthfully as he handed the short hero to inspect it. "Not the best handiwork around because of the quick crafting methods, but sturdy nonetheless."

Four wanted to ask more questions about the craftsmanship, but was promptly interrupted by Ren gathering attention top himself. "I'm sure your questions will be answered as we go by." He clapped his hands and directed them to follow down the "station," (which was not as incredible with everything else they're going to see). "We don't want to run out of time before nightfall when the moon is out, so come on ladies and gentlemen get in line!" 

"I'm gonna steal that phrase, that was a good one." Warriors whispered to Hyrule as their guide led then around Boatem once more, describing the builds and those who made them.

"Don't you dare." Hyrule replied as the group headed towards the current tour attraction, Mr. GoodtimeswithScar's wagons. "Woah."

"This is Scar's crazy starter base," Ren gestured to the giant wagons, grinning at their shocked expressions at the term "starter base." "Now dudes, believe me when I say Scar's builds are amazing, because seriously this is not a starter base anymore!"

"Are you implying," Wind looked at him in disbelief and glanced at the build a couple times more. "This whole thing….WAS MADE BY ONE MAN?" 

"You're crazy." Legend shook his head. "This can't be built by one man alone! Look at the SIZE OF THEM."

Ren shrugged and waved his hand around the place towards the other large buildings. "Almost every build is built by one Hermit, with some little help from others later on." In the distance, a black structure loomed over. "The Octagon over yonder was built by DocM77 and myself!"

"That's quite the dedication you "Hermits" have." Twilight hummed as he brushed his hands on the wheels. "You could build a whole kingdom."

Ren laughed and shook his head fondly. "Wait till you see the redstone contraptions Doc made for Octagon; This is just a small quarter of a humongous world." 

"There's more ginormous bases outside of this area? This is crazy, Hyrule Castle seems so small compared to this!" Wind said in a surprised tone. "Also...What is redstone? Some kind of ore?"

"You don't know about redstone?" Ren asked while receiving blank stares and no responses. "Well then, the tour shall be expanded! I'm sure Doc won't mind letting us take a peak behind the scenes at Octagon ."

"Wait are you serious?" Wind stared at him. "That this isn't everything?"

Ren nodded. "Only on one condition, Redstone and it's other components can only be handed by professionals, my dudes." There was a serious tone replacing the normal cheery tone the links got used to on the tour. "It is very radioactive, you will get sick upon first contact…so don't get too close."

"Thank you for doing this, Mr. Rendog." Time smiled. "I'm-" glad that this Link has friends to count on here….Is Grian a Link? We don't know if he's a regular Hylian cursed to be a doll...I shouldn't say my suspisions yet. "-We're really grateful for you helping us around."

Chapter Text

Hello readers! if you know me from my previous work you know I am really slow on updates/known to abandon the fic.

Well, You don't have to worry with this one! I have decided to rewrite HOA and change a few things... So I promise to not give up on this one!

Thanks for sticking around, I'm so so sorry you had to wait so long for crumbs of chapters. See you soon!

- Minty