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Katy steps into the belly of her ship. Before she has even reached the last step she hears a little splash as her boot makes contact with water. Her ship had been flooded… again…
She smiles and shakes her head. “Darn you Ildra, revenge will have to wait.”
The sailor wades her way through the water to a hidden barrel under her stairs and has a quick rummage through it before pulling out a fully wrapped trident, adorned with red ribbon and a note: For Hawke.
She spins the oversized fork in her hands and hums to herself. “Well, this isn’t going to do anymore. We gotta get them back!”
With the weeks she had spent on empires, Christmas had come and gone on the Pearl SMP so she was late in dishing out gifts anyway. If the present was going to be late, she might as well make it worth the wait.
Time to look into that dimension hopping magic Gem and Sausage had told her about.
---
Night begins to fall over the horizon of the Pearl SMP. Hawke rushes down the path from the river near their little cottage, eager to climb into bed and sleep this night away. Every server has one; a member, or members, who will sleep as soon as twilight claims the sky. Each night, the other members of the Pearl SMP can find Hawke standing above their bed moments after the sky begins to darken, waiting for the perfect moment to hop into bed and sleep.
However, this routine is interrupted when Hawke notices a sign waiting for them outside the oak doors of their home. They had recently discovered a trident in a barrel gifted to them from Katy and with the holidays long since over, they have no idea what this sign could be about. Pulling a torch from their inventory, Hawke leans down to examine the words adorning the wood.
Stand just here in two days time at dusk.
Happy Yule, Hawke.
Hmm… Very cryptic indeed. Hawke wonders to themself who could have left such a note. Many of the members of the Pearl SMP were prone to leaving menacing or confusing messages around the server. But there is only one person who would leave one referencing Yule. Only one person knows of Hawke’s chosen religion.
“Okay, Katy,” Hawke murmurs to themself. “What surprise do you have in store for me?” they wonder aloud, chopping the sign down with their ax.
While normally, Hawke is out like a light as soon as their head hits the pillow, they find it surprisingly difficult to let sleep overtake them tonight. For hours they simply wonder what Katy could be planning. They had spoken briefly about Katy’s adventures on Empires after she had popped by for a visit. They had spent nearly an hour building in Hawke’s fantasy village while Katy regaled them with all the wonderful tales and people she had met.
It had brought such joy to Hawke’s heart to hear how Katy had enjoyed the little gift Hawke had bestowed upon her. Hawke always had a hard time choosing what to get people for gifts, but after tapping into their ancestory of the salmon, they had learned of realm magic. Katy deserved an extra special gift for being so wonderful, so Hawke had decided to send her on a little adventure to another realm. If she hadn’t returned within a few weeks, like she had, Hawke certainly would have gone after her. As if Hawke would send one of their best friends to another realm without a plan to get her back home.
All this in mind, Hawke has to wonder if Katy plans on taking them to another realm… Questions, questions. All will be answered in two days. For now, Hawke just has to figure out how to calm down enough to actually sleep. Finally, Hawke yields and sends a quick message to the only other person online, begging them to sleep through the dark night.
hawkwing03: hey, Ildra, could you sleep?
Lord_Ildra: sure, give me a second
Lord_Ildra has gone to sleep. Sweet dreams!
hawkwing03: thank you!
With night finally gone and the sun shining above them, Hawke decides to spend the day working on their village. They need to get this done so they can get some villagers in their homes and finally get some trades done. They desperately need looting and fortune books.
Time passes so quickly that night has come and gone once again, bringing Hawke to the setting sun the next day. In just a few minutes, Hawke will be meeting Katy outside their house to discover whatever she plans on gifting to them. Excitement bubbles in their chest as they make their way over the river to the path leading to their cottage.
Something strange catches their attention when they grow closer to their chosen area; every torch in the area has been replaced with soul torches giving off an ominous glow. Carefully, Hawke pulls their sword from the sheath on their hip. As they turn through the trees to the front of their home, looking out across the wheat fields rolling in the soft wind, a voice sounds from behind.
“Greetings, Hawke.”
Hawke nearly jumps out of their skin, whirling around to face the figure standing within the wooden house. It is dark within its walls, every torch and lantern having been replaced with soul lights. Katy - it is very obviously Katy - has placed a skulk block in the middle of the room to stand upon even though she is already several inches taller than Hawke. She has donned a black cloak, long enough to drape just slightly lower than her feet. It is clear she has set this up to be creepy and ominous. While it definitely startled Hawke initially, they have seen scarier things before they joined the land creatures.
“Hi, Katy. Why have you put a skulk block in the middle of my house?” Hawke asks, entering casually.
“I- I am not Katy,” Katy sputters. “I am a traveler here to offer you an adventure.”
Hawke grins under their salmon head. “Okay, sure. What’s the adventure, O wise traveler?” they question, deciding to play along.
Katy reaches into her cloak and reveals a trident nearly as tall as her. How she managed to conceal it within the fabric so well is impressive. “This,” she answers simply.
Hawke raises an eyebrow and reaches out to lightly touch the blue metal. The magic radiating off of it is nothing like the magic they had known growing up. While the salmon knew the magic of what lies beneath the turbulent waves, this is full of something different. “What is it?”
Katy grins. “This will take you anywhere you want to go in all the realms.” She pulls down the hood of her dark cloak and steps off of the skulk block to look Hawke in the eyes. Well, the eyes of the salmon head they constantly wear. “You brought me to a magical place full of amazing people. I made so many friends there. I want to give you the same thing, Hawke. We can go anywhere we want!”
Hawke’s eyes widen. “Wow,” they breathe. “How did you make this?” they wonder in awe.
Katy leans down with a pointed smile. “My new friends taught me. Oh, Hawke!” She takes one of Hawke’s hands in her free hand. “I want you to meet them so badly! It’ll be so much fun!”
Hawke never thought they’d be realm jumping again so soon. Not after what happened. And to think it would be not to escape an army, but to travel with a friend!
“Okay!” Hawke exclaims. “Let’s do it!”
Katy smiles brightly and pumps her fist into the air. “Yes!”
The two friends gather together, the staff made of metal, doused with glowing seaweed and shells being held tightly between them. The dim lighting from the soul torches and lanterns creates a dangerous feel. This is a kind of magic Hawke never touched as part of the salmon. They hope Katy knows what she’s doing because they don’t know how much they’ll be able to contribute to the accuracy of their destination.
“Ready?” Katy asks as she grips the staff.
Hawke nods, tightening their hold under Katy’s hands. “Ready.”
Katy closes her eyes and, for a moment, nothing happens. At first, Hawke thinks maybe it won’t work, that the staff doesn’t hold the magic they initially thought it does. It’s saddening. They had been so excited to go on an adventure, but it’s okay! Hawke will invite Katy to come explore their area and see where all their villagers’ houses will go once they’re built. It’ll still be fun!
The exact moment before Hawke plans to remove their hands from the staff, the world shimmers and whirls around them, just like stepping through a portal into the nether, before disappearing altogether. A singular second later, Hawke’s vision stabilizes and they look around, finding themself in a very strange place.
Katy and Hawke find themselves in a very well built hole in the ground looking up at what looks… very sus. Logically, Hawke knows it’s just rocks, but it… well, it looks very sus to put it plain and simple.
Whirling their head this way and that, Hawke finds a sheep farm lining one side of the hole, some test tubes on the other, in front of them is the rift, and in the center of the back wall is a mustached robot. While Hawke has never seen anything like it, Katy immediately perks up and rushes toward it.
“Grumbot!” Katy exclaims. “Wow! You look different. How are you here?”
Hawke moves to stand next to Katy and eyes the robot cautiously. “You know this… robot?” they ask.
Katy nods. “I gave him a heart mustache on Empires.”
Hawke blinks. “Excuse me, what?”
Katy laughs. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you all about it once we get out of this hole. Do you see any stairs?”
After a quick scan of the hole again, Hawke shakes their head. “No. How do you get out of here?” they wonder aloud. “This is quite impractical.”
“I don’t know…” Katy hums in thought.
Without another word, Katy walks to a strange setup in front of Grumbot. She reaches into the chest and pulls out a piece of paper which she immediately uses the anvil to write on. Then, she stuffs it into another chest and presses a button. Music begins to play and Grumbot’s mustache wiggles before another piece of paper flies at Katy.
She catches it just as Hawke joins her. “What just happened?”
“It’s how you ask Grumbot questions. Grian and Pearl showed me on Empires,” she answers while scanning the paper. “Good news: Grumbot says someone should be showing up any time now to help us get out.”
Katy turns to face Hawke and concern spreads across her face. “Hey, did you always have those scars?” she asks, gesturing to their face.
Hawke’s face flushes and they immediately turn away, hiding their face to the best of their ability. As soon as their hands touch their face, they yelp. “I don’t have my salmon head!”
Before Katy can respond, a whoop fills the air and a woman in a cleaning lady uniform lands on the stone flooring in front of the rift.
“Katy!” she exclaims, rushing to Katy and picking her up ecstatically. “You’re here!” She twirls around with Katy in her arms before carefully plopping her down again. “How are you here?”
“Pearl!” Katy laughs and presents the trident. “I may have used some magic Sausage and Gem told me about during my time on Empires. I wanted to introduce you to my friend, Hawke.” She gestures to the still-panicking salmon-person who is now frantically searching for a way out of the hole. “Hawke?” Katy questions with concern.
Hawke covers their face to the best of their ability and whirls around to face Katy and Pearl. “I need to get out of here!” they shout.
“Okay, well, I brought two pairs of elytra with me.” The second Pearl pulls the wings out of her inventory, Hawke yanks it from her hands along with exactly one rocket and takes off into the air and out of the hole.
Hawke can hear Katy call their name through the rushing air, but they just glide until a river can be spotted in the distance. As soon as they are close enough, they drop out of the sky and into the water. The next several minutes are spent punching salmon until they die. Each one drops food, but it isn’t until they kill the tenth salmon that Hawke finally gets a head.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Hawke shoves it on, covering their face, and steps out of the water to find Katy and Pearl watching them. “Hey guys!” they greet. “So great to meet you, Pearl. Katy told me how you helped her.” They extend their hand to shake Pearl’s hand.
Pearl shakes Hawke’s hand, somehow not fazed by their strange behavior. “Nice to meet you, too!”
Katy places a hand on Hawke’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Hawke nods sincerely. “Yup. All good,” they reassure their friend. “So, is this Empires?”
They finally take in the area around them. It’s similar to the village of shops the members of the Pearl SMP have created at spawn, full of beautiful builds. Behind them on the water, Hawke spots a large boat sitting in the water they had previously been splashing around in. High in the sky, floating above a starter build, is what Hawke can only assume is an alien being sucked into a spaceship. Every house is a different style. There’s even a rock making heartbeat noises from across a bridge. Hawke has to admit this isn’t exactly what they had expected Empires to look like from how Katy described it.
“Oh, no.” Pearl shakes her head. “This is Hermitcraft. The Empires folk were here for a bit too, but you just missed them. The rift started closing a couple weeks ago, so they all went back. Well, except for Gem, but that’s a whole other thing that I don’t really know about.”
“Wow,” Hawke breathes. “This is impressive.” They tear their eyes away from the incredible scenery around them to look at Pearl. “Who built all of this?”
“Well,” Pearl launches into a full on tour of the server, beginning with her massive alien floating atop her starter build. Honestly, how are any of these starter builds? Hawke has a tiny cottage and these people have stunning houses. To be fair, Hawke never saw any of the starter builds on the Pearl SMP. Maybe this is standard for humanoids?
The entire day is spent exploring just the starter area. Katy and Hawke walk side-by-side while Pearl leads them around. Periodically, other hermits will appear to show off their builds. Grian, who Hawke recognizes as the man Katy said carried the bicycle of his friend around, takes them to the “unbreakable” vault said friend built before he disappeared from the server. Apparently, there are rumors that he’s hiding out thousands of blocks away because he stole all the diamonds on the server to keep in his vault.
Ren takes them aboard the boat in the middle of the “Hermissippi” as the dog-hybrid calls the river. Hawke is quite intrigued by him considering he is another animal hybrid. How did he learn the magic to make himself humanoid? They want to ask, but another hermit named Scar appears to show them the most spectacular tree Hawke has ever seen.
“How did you build that?!” Hawke exclaims as they are shown around the beautiful interior.
Scar pauses, turns around slowly to look them in their salmon eyes, and whispers, “Pain.”
A dwarf named Impulse appears to show them his shops, “iEnchant” and another shop filled with three mini shops of emeralds, totems, and rockets. How he managed to stock up this many items so early in their world is a mystery Hawke may never be able to understand.
When night begins to settle upon Hermitcraft, Katy and Hawke are invited to spend the night in Scar’s Mattress-store. It has a sign hanging from atop where a ravager sits on a bed. It’s a bit worrying at first, but he assures them it can’t get down.
The friends settle on two comfortable twin beds situated next to each other. Hawke pulls the covers around them with only their head peeking out and looks around the room illuminated only by the moon.
It’s nice. This is nice.
The next morning, Hawke is awakened by Katy gently shaking their shoulder. “Hawke,” she whispers. “Wake up.”
Hawke groans and tugs the blanket over their head. “Five more minutes,” they grumble.
Katy chuckles. “Okay, five more minutes. But after that I can’t promise Scar’s elven cookies won’t be cold.” The last thing Hawke hears before drifting to sleep again is their own voice grumbling about really nothing in particular.
Five minutes pass and Katy shakes their shoulder again, “Hawke, it’s been five minutes.” Her voice is still gentle, but there’s a bit of laughter behind her words.
“Five more minutes,” Hawke mumbles again.
Katy laughs. “Okay. Pearl?”
Oh no…
Feet come sprinting at Hawke’s bed at an incredible speed and before they have enough time to roll out of bed, a body comes crashing down on top of them. All of the air leaves the body with a loud, “Oof!” and they frantically push Pearl off of them.
“Fine, fine!” they exclaim, jumping out of bed. “I’m up, geez!” Hawke trades a look with Katy and Pearl who is laughing boisterously. “I hate you both.”
Katy’s laugh joins in with Pearl’s and she pulls Hawke into a hug. “You love us. Now, come on. Cookies and adventure await!”
Hawke is pulled out of Scar’s Mattress Store and into his eleven cookie shop nearby to bundle up pretty much all of his stock. Pearl promises to pay him back for all of it.
“I want to show you both my base. Follow me!” Without another word, Pearl takes off into the cool morning air towards what Hawke assumes to be her base.
It’s not as close to spawn as Hawke’s and Katy’s respective bases are on the Pearl SMP, but not too far either. Hawke had only met Pearl the previous day, but when a gigantic, alien flower appears in the distance they have no doubt this is her base. She lands atop it and, shortly after, Katy and Hawke do the same.
“Wow,” is all Hawke and Katy can say.
Pearl has completely transformed the entire biome around them into a magical alien landscape. There are alien flowers and trees sprouting up all over the place, but there are also signs of humanity peeking through. A bridge coming from what Hawke assumes to be Impulse’s cave with statues of himself on the outside disappears into a tunnel that Pearl leads them into. It’s decrepit and abandoned and beautiful.
Katy and Hawke spend the rest of the day simply exploring Pearl’s area. She introduces them to Sonny who is hers and Sausage’s friendship child. Hawke likes Sonny. He’s friendly, spinning all around them and communicating in beeps that somehow Hawke can somewhat understand. It’s wonderful. When the sun goes down, Pearl pulls out three beds for them to sleep in the medbay of the tunnel.
The next day, it’s time to go home. It’s been a wonderful trip and they promise to return soon, but they have duties to attend to at home. Hawke and Katy are both building villages and Hawke has their own project that cannot be left too long. Every hermit they’ve met comes to the Spawn Village to say goodbye. Hugs are exchanged, goodbyes are said, and smiles are on everyone’s faces.
Katy grasps the trident in her hands and Hawke grabs on tightly. For a moment, in front of them are friends and laughing hermits, waving to the sailor and salmon-hybrid. Hawke smiles. The next second, the world disappears, thrusting them into a swirling mass of light and particles. Then, Hawke’s vision stabilizes and they are safely within Hawke’s cottage home.
Neither say anything, simply basking in the memories they had made. Then, Hawke wraps their arms around the taller woman. “Thank you.”
Katy smiles and hugs Hawke. “Thank you.”
The duo stay like that until the setting sun dips below the horizon and sleep tugs at their bodies. They say their goodbyes and Katy takes off into the starry sky.
Hawke stands at the front door, waving as their friend slowly disappears from their vision. Comfort and warmth continues to fill their body with the memories they had made. It had been so wonderful for so many reasons. They find themself reminiscing on old times before they knew of the horrible truth, before their life had been tossed upside down.
After several minutes of staring out across the rolling wheat fields in front of their new home leading into a beautiful river, they step inside and shut the door. Slowly extinguishing the lanterns around the room, Hawke slips into bed peacefully.
Wait… something’s wrong.
---
It’s been a couple days since Katy and Hawke’s adventures into Hermitcraft. Katy has been diligently working on planning out her village on the seaside. Before she knows it, three days have passed like only minutes. A few of her friends had come by to catch up and chat, but it isn’t until the third day that she realizes she hasn’t heard from Hawke since they returned.
They must have been busy with building plans of their own. Katy decides to stop by and check up on them.
Everything looks just as she had left it when she lands on the path between two fields of golden wheat. Well, it does until she knocks on the front door. The open front door. It swings in at the mere brush of her knuckles to reveal a frightening sight.
Chests have been thrown open, items cover the wooden floor, lanterns have been smashed to pieces, the bed is overturned, and the flowers Hawke had so lovingly cared for since their mysterious arrival on the Pearl SMP have been crushed. What has happened here?
Something bumps against Katy’s leg, causing her to swing around in shock, sword in hand. But it’s only Shadow, Hawke’s beloved dog.
Katy leans down and gently pets Shadow. “Hey, girl. Do you know what happened? Where’s Hawke?”
Shadow bumps her muzzle against Katy’s hand and she notices a piece of paper hanging from her jaw. Katy takes it carefully, still petting Shadow. She unfolds the crumpled, slightly wet parchment and finds that it reads one word:
Help.