It's only matter of Time...

Oh, fun...

Trigger warnings!: Mention/description of a scar, briefly notes someone got shot 

The last thing Karl remembers is that he'd been reaching for the book.

He was walking around, making space for everyone, though Bad, Techno, and Sam were doing their best to take up as little space as possible, and glanced over when Tommy had spoken. "It reminds me of Ghostbur's handwriting..." He mused, tracing a few letters. Karl had paused, intrigued. "What's the difference between Ghostbur's and Wilbur's?" He'd asked. Tommy looked up at him for a moment, then replied. "Ghostbur's is a bit less neat. Still the same style, but not as much care put into the way it was written." Tommy sighed, carefully flipping the page as Ranboo stepped closer to peer over the boy's shoulder. "It smells...strange." He offered. "It smells like a normal, old book to me." Sam pointed out, and the young Enderian had nodded, glancing at the warden for a moment. "It's not easy to pick up...as far as I can tell, it's the smell of Magic. Not many people can pick up on it, and even though I can smell it, the scent is very weak and hard to pick out." He explained. Sam grunted, shifting to let Sapnap get past him. "Makes sense, it's a Time Travel book. Assuming It really is one." Punz had offered, from his position near the wall. "You watch me set trees on fire and Wilbur come back from the dead, but Time Travel is where you draw the line?" Sapnap asked, leading to a conversation about how mythical a thing could be before it was simply ridiculous to believe. After, Ranboo had supplied a little more of what he could. "Well, Magic always smells strange, but I've never smelled this kind before–until you reached out to me, Karl. I assume I smell the...Time Magic on it? Probably something like that. It's...familiar, though. I don't know why." Karl had listened with interest, he knew very little about the Enderian boy who befriended Tommy and Tubbo, but had seen that he knows more than his shy demeanour let on. Very perceptive.

Then, Karl noticed there was a light coming from the book. His heart fluttered into his stomach as it skipped a beat and dropped at the same time. Panic set in, he swiftly made his way back over to Tommy, weaving past Bad and Sapnap as he did, and reached for the leather-bound journal. "Close the book!" He had cried, and that is when it went dark.

He sits up abruptly, a moment of panic before he calms, and looks around. He's laying up against a tree, Tommy laying beside him as though he had suddenly collapsed into slumber. Ranboo is curled up by the boy's arm like a human-sized cat, and the great piglin warrior a mound covered by his red cape a few feet away. Looking around, Karl stands to orient himself–time travel could be rough, though he'd never passed out before...that was new. And not the kind of new he liked. Punz is on his side next to a bush of some kind, Bad luckily resting in a patch of shade. They're in a clearing, sun warming the ground like Sapnap's hands after he'd used his flames for a while. Speaking of, Karl is glad to note he's sleeping against a tree, like he had paused for a nap. Sam is in the middle of the sunny spot, looking content with his location of rest. For such a great, powerful hybrid, more combat-built than others of his species, he certainly doesn't look too threatening in his sleep. Moving on from this, Karl decides to climb the tree he had fallen asleep against.

"Going somewhere?" Karl jumps, turning to look at Technoblade, who has sat up and watching him. "Uh–yeah. I want to see where we are, get the lay of the land, you know." He always feels awkward around him. He doesn't know him well either, but he saw the scar he gave Quackity–a long, brutal thing that starts at his eyebrow, goes across his eye(which left him blind in that eye as well), and ends just below his lower lip. The healing of that scar left his mouth slightly deformed, and the entirety of his right side would remain in a sneer for life. Karl knows how dangerous Techno can be, both in the SMP and in other cases, but he forces himself to be open to acquainting himself with the warrior. At least here, they have no reason to be enemies. "Ah. Well, here. I can give you a boost up." Before Karl can assure the Piglin he is very well capable of climbing a tree, he has stood, strode over, and picked him up so he can easily climb into the thick branches to get higher. "Uh, thanks." He calls softly, and he nods. "Just be quick. They'll wonder where we are." Karl makes a face, but starts climbing. Once he reaches the top of the tree, he looks around. The view is stunning–trees, a massive forest, stretching as far as the eye can see in two directions, though to the north, he spots a mountain in the far distance. Maybe a three, possibly four day's walk from their location. To the south, about perhaps a 20 minute walk by comparison, is a field, smoke coming from the distance. A settlement of some sort? That's how his Time Travelling works, usually: a story set around people very much like the ones he knows. After a few moments of simply enjoying the view and watching a far, dark spot that was probably a bird fly around, he climbs back down. By then, Sapnap, Bad, Punz, and Ranboo are awake. Sam wakes up as he drops out of the tree, instantly on his feet, but he staggers for a moment. "Calm down, we're okay." Punz assures him. "Where are we? We were uh, we were in your house, weren't we...?" Ranboo asks, his ears pricked and responsive. He's smelling the air as he speaks. "The book. It...took us somewhere–the past or the future, I don't know." Karl admits. There's an unsettled silence that follows that statement, but Technoblade shrugs. "Well, Time Travel isn't usually my thing but let's go." Does he take everything in stride? Or is he familiar with it, too? Once everyone has woken up, Karl explains what he saw. "Our best bet would be to hide in the forest, but we'd have better luck knowing where we are if we went for the field, because that's probably a town, or a camp of some kind." Sam muses, pacing around the clearing. "We don't know where we are–WHEN we are. It's dangerous outside the SMP, for a reason." Sapnap points out, but Karl shakes his head. "There hasn't been any real evidence of hybrid issues wherever I went. Again, a lot of them looked very similar to you. And I was always supposed to be part of some group, so I suppose the sooner we find where we're supposed to be, the sooner we can get home." Sam grunts, snapping to a sharper attention and peering into the forest. "Well whatever we choose, we need to do it fast–I can smell something. People, I think." Ranboo stiffens, drawing closer to Technoblade, and while Tommy seems calm, he, too, moves for the comfort of the warrior. Punz steps forward, hands in his pockets. "We should play it safe–Karl and I can go and talk to them, maybe get them to leave peacefully. You guys hide." Tommy frowns. "I'm human too. I should come." Ranboo flicks his tail and lets his ears droop a little in what Karl thinks to be sympathy. "You don't know much English." He points out. "And Wilbur refuses to hear anyone speak it." Technoblade adds, a hidden meaning and a glance shared between the three ending the objection. "Go, hide. We'll figure out what they want and then we can go from there. Maybe they're just travellers." Karl urges.

It takes a few more moments to get them to hide, but it is done, and Punz looks around for the people Sam claimed to have smelled. "Oh! Hello!" He calls. Karl tracks his gaze, to where a group of maybe 10 people have paused to look at them. He notices that their clothes are distinctly more plain than theirs. They look almost medieval or of some like era. Regardless, Punz strides forward, all smiles and friendliness. "Who're you?" The one closest asks sharply, hand on the hilt of his sword. "We're travellers. Got lost. Who're you? Can you tell us where we are?" The man looks between the two of them, then indicates to his companions. "You aren't from around here, are you? We're hunters. Hybrid hunters. You know what a Hybrid is?" Punz nods. "Yeah–everyone does. We're lucky we haven't seen any, honestly." The mood shifts palpably, all the men bristle and their leader narrows his eyes. "And everyone well knows about their filthy nest. These woods here? They're full of the things. So..." Karl does his best to stay calm as the man draws a crossbow and points it at them. "...either you two are idiots, or you're not even human, after all." Punz stiffens, then glances at Karl. His eyes change meaning, but only for a moment: play along. "I can assure you we're human. Look–no fangs, claws, and our ears are normal. We, uh, didn't hear about any sort of nest." The man seems unconvinced, stepping forward. "You ever heard of that one man that sided with the beasts? Eyewitness accounts say he's with this scaly, flying lizard. He speaks their cursed languages, and whatever humanity he has is gone. He's as feral as those things are. Funny thing is? Well, he looks a lot like you." A lot happens within the span of a few seconds–Karl shoves Punz out of the way so that the arrow misses him and Sam roars, bellowing out a challenge as he leaps into sight to engage the now-proven hostiles, as does everyone else. But Karl has his attention drawn to something else–

He's been shot.