SEABLINGS IS CANON LETS GOOO!!!!i wonder if i can go the whole fic without having two chapters in one person's perspective.probably not, but we'll seeoh also all the hermits are like 14-16 unless specified otherwise (yes there is an actual reason for their age, you'll find out later)

False bounced slightly on her feet as she backed away to take a good look at her creation. The frame was looking great, the metal binding together just as it was supposed to.

She whipped her head around at the sound of her name from outside, heading out and slipping her goggles off her face and up onto her head. "Hey Doc!"

"What are you doing?" he asked gruffly but familiarly. Gruff... ha. False nearly chuckled, as she did every time she used that description of him.

"Working on my project," False informed him cheerily. "And you?"

"When are you going to tell me what your 'project' is?" Doc complained, trying to peek in the doorframe. False quickly shut it and smiled. Doc butted his head into it lightly, increasing the ever-growing dents from his horns.

"When I finish it. Where's Iskall?" she asked, peering around for the third member of their trio.

"Probably trapping some building. When are you going to join us again? You have the best ideas," Doc said matter-of-factly. False sighed.

"I used to. I'm busy now, I've got a job and I'm trying to be responsible," False told him, beginning to walk down the street as she talked. Doc followed habitually.

He smirked. "People like to pin me as the responsible one, you know."

She chuckled. "Honestly, I don't know why. You and Iskall have never been responsible in the slightest."

"Maybe because of my genius with redstone," Doc shrugged. It was true, despite being quite young at sixteen he was well known in the Grimlands for his famous seemingly-impossible tricks with redstone. His latest invention was a pair of bags that could synchronize their contents from anywhere in the world. False still had no clue how he'd managed it. Iskall was convinced that it was a scam, even after being shown how it worked.

"I can be responsible!" As if he'd been summoned, Iskall's voice popped out of nowhere. False jumped and looked around for him, spotting the troublemaker on top of a roof.

"Get down from there," False called, rolling her eyes. They'd figured out how to get atop the town roofs when they were eight, and had spent days running from rooftop to rooftop when they were younger. False still looked back fondly.

"Are you gonna make me?" Iskall challenged playfully.

"Fine, stay up there then, I don't care," False told him (She did care).

Iskall got down from the roof.

"Reverse psychology, works every time," False smirked.

"Oh, shut up," Iskall sulked, crossing his arms.

False laughed. "So, you two wanna go hunting?"

"Of course, we're always up for some adventure," Doc told her eagerly.

As it turned out, they didn't need to go hunting. Today's adventure found them.

"Psst," came a voice from inside a bush.

False blinked and turned, instantly bewildered. "Hello?"

"Hi," the bush whispered. "Can you help us?"

"Us?" Iskall asked, clearly just as confused as False.

From the foliage emerged a vivid figure, a burst of color in a monotone world. She stared for just a second at him. After the vibrant parrot hybrid came an excited dog hybrid, his tail wagging eagerly. "What's up?"

"Not much," Doc smoothly answered the dog hybrid. "What are you doing here?"

It wasn't accusatory, more like a friend greeting another. The dog hybrid headed over to Doc. "Well, we're looking for the ruler of the Grimlands."

"Oh?" False wondered curiously, intrigued. "Why?"

"We're gonna save the world!" the parrot hybrid announced boldly.

"Really?" Iskall asked interestedly, tilting his head to the side.

"Yep," the parrot hybrid replied confidently. "Anyways, can you help us?"

"Of course," False told him. "But first, what's your name?"

"I'm Grian," Grian replied easily.

False nodded. "I'm False, this is Doc and Iskall."

"And I'm Ren!" Ren piped up.

"We'll take you to Count fWhip's workshop, just follow me," False said, turning and heading down the pathway.

Grian nodded and the four boys followed her as she walked down the street and up to Tinkerer Way, the road that led up to the official buildings such as the Workshop.

"Here we are," False stopped in front of the doors. Grian strode right through carelessly. A bell suddenly began to ding and a well-known voice called down.

"Who's there?"

"My name is Grian and I'm here to get your help!" Grian called loudly, uncaring of the whirring machinery looming around him.

False saw a winged figure glide down to land in front of Grian. The red of the mechanical wings became strikingly clear as fWhip landed in front of Grian. He wasn't a tall man, but Grian was a midget and so he towered over the parrot hybrid. Grian couldn't have been more than 4'6''.

"Help with what?" fWhip asked, folding his wings behind him carefully.

"Help saving the world," Grian explained bluntly.

"Well, I'd love to help you but I'm a bit busy," fWhip informed the parrot hybrid.

"Busy?" Grian asked.

"I don't know if you noticed, but there's a bit of an apocalypse going on outside," fWhip pointed out.

"Well, that's why I'm here! I need your help to stop the apocalypse!" Grian told him.

fWhip sighed. "I'd love to help, but I really don't have the time. I've got an empire to run, which is hand enough as it is, and then on top of that there's kind of a demon trying to invade. Plus I have to deal with war supplies running low since the other empires have stopped sending resources."

"They've stopped sending resources?" False couldn't help herself from wondering out loud, concerned.

"Oh, hello," fWhip said. "Yeah, the other empires are in even worse states than ours."

"But you don't have to take that much time!" Grian protested. "All you have to do is wait for a message from Shrub and she'll tell you what to do. I don't think it'll take very long. She just said that there was a spell that she needed all the Empires' help with."

"Oh, Shrub sent you?" fWhip asked, finally sounding intrigued, like he was suddenly considering it.

Grian nodded.

"I guess I could spare a day or two of my time. I trust Shrub, she's got a good heart," fWhip said. "I'll await her message. Now I have things to do, go scatter."

Grian obeyed and scurried back out to where the others waited. "Alright, two down, ten to go!"

"Wait, ten rulers?" Iskall asked.

"Yep!" Grian confirmed. "We need all twelve so Shrub can do her spell to banish Xornoth."

False froze at the name. So did Ren, Doc, and Iskall. She took a steadying breath and carefully constructed her next sentence. "Do you know where you're going next?"

"Not really," Grian admitted, still completely oblivious to their reaction to the name of Xornoth.

"You could come with us," Ren suggested.

False considered it. She'd only just met these two, but somehow it felt right. She trusted them, and she could tell that Doc and Iskall were at ease with them too. Besides, it wasn't like she had anything better to do here in the Grimlands.

Doc and Iskall turned to her and nodded.

False turned back to Grian. "Let's go."