We Were Rulers [Empires SMP × Genshin Impact]

The City of Wind, Song, and Apparently, Flying Lizards

Hermitcraft is weird!

That was Sausage's first thought.

First of all, he imagined Hermitcraft to be this massive industrial place full of Grumbots and huge ugly towers of messy redstone machinery. But there were no contraptions in sight here. And most importantly, no Hermits.

None of his fellow Emperors, either.

He appeared to be in a tranquil forest. Birds sang in the treetops. Sun streamed through the leaves, washing the forest floor in gold and green light. Wind whispered through the branches.

Whispering wind, Sausage mused. Whispering wind in the Whispering Woods. What a nice place.

He didn't know the real name of the forest, of course, or if it even had one. He was just guessing.

He started to wander around. It seemed around noon, so he should probably find a shelter before monsters came out. He found a path and followed it, picking flowers and examining stones along the way. He found a tree with fruit the color of a sunset. Taking a bite, he found it sweet. He rubbed juice off his chin.

Sausage didn't mind taking a stroll in a forest as pretty as this one. The other Emperors could wait a while, wherever they were. This was very nice, and he wouldn't mind one bit if he got to stay here a little longer-

A shadow fell over the forest. Sausage looked up, expecting a cloud.

He nearly screamed when he saw that it was a dragon.

Sausage dove into a bush. Thorns pricked into his skin. He stared up at the dragon- a dragon, in the Overworld?

It wasn't an Ender Dragon, either. It was blue, and had six wings instead of two. It was much more slender, less bulky than an Ender Dragon, as if it were made by Santa Pearla to cut through the air like a spear. It would have been beautiful if it weren't so terrifying.

Sausage let out a whimper. "Uhh, scary flying lizard..." he laughed nervously at his own description and stared up at the dragon as it passed overhead, then disappeared over the horizon.

Oh, great sunflower goddess, that was terrifying...

Maybe he needed to be more careful.

It slowly dawned on him that such dragons were not possible in Minecraft, unless it was modded. And Sausage knew that although Hermitcraft had resource packs, it wasn't modded.

This wasn't Hermitcraft, was it?

Maybe it wasn't Minecraft at all.

Sausage felt his breathing start to quicken. If the Rift hadn't sent him where he was supposed to be, what if the other Emperors had gotten there? What if he was alone in this world, and nobody would ever find him and he was trapped here forever-

"Hey, are you alright?"

It took Sausage a moment to realize someone was talking to him, and another moment to process what they said. "Uh- what? Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

He was very much not fine.

Sausage tore himself out of the bush and pulled a splinter out of his hand. "I'm fine," he repeated, trying to reassure himself more so than the stranger.

"Was it the dragon?" The person asked, extending their hand to help him up. Their voice was accented, but Sausage couldn't place where it was from. He could see them better now, though. They appeared to be a male. Their - his - blonde hair was short, for the most part, but in the back it was in a braid that went down to his lower back. He was shorter than Sausage. He wore light-colored clothing that Sausage didn't really recognize from any particular Empire, probably because this was not Empires. His face was round and ageless.