Katherine hadn't even cared much about the Hermits.

After all, what had they done for her? Stole her trade? She had only gone through the Rift because everyone else did, and she didn't want to be left alone in Empires with no one but her sheep.

Now, apparently, she was in a jungle somewhere, on the outskirts of a port city built in the roots of a few giant trees. The air was warm and humid. The sun was bright and high in the sky, but clouds were gathering that suggested rain. None of her fellow Emperors were in sight. Maybe they were in the city. That seemed like the most logical thing to do.

Katherine adjusted her elytra and lit a rocket, then thought better of it and landed back where she had taken off. Most of the Hermits seemed to love elytra, but it was better to be safe than sorry. She didn't know what laws they had here. Maybe it was best to stay on her feet.

Katherine approached the city. It was built where a river met the sea, in the roots of a massive tree. The building style seemed like something out of a fantasy movie - swooping rooftops in the shapes of leaves, wooden docks that creaked under her feet but held firm, mossy stone piers and ships of all sizes. Everywhere she looked, there was something new and interesting to see. Whoever's base this was, it was beautiful.

Most of the people there, whether carrying boxes of goods or docking ships or selling wares, seemed to have a strange glowing green earpiece. Katherine wasn't sure what it was, but she'd probably blend in better if she didn't ask. Probably some redstone technology that she had never seen before.

Someone behind her called out. "Hey, you! Katheryne!"

Katherine jumped and turned around. She came face to face with a man wearing a green outfit.

"I didn't know you ever left the reception booth," he said, panting. "And you grew your hair out, too!"

"Uh-" Katherine said.

"Sorry to bother you at this time, but are there any commissions available right now? You have no idea how bored I am, I was sent here to recruit but nobody listens- what are you doing in Port Ormos, anyway?"

"I'm sorry, have we met?" Katherine asked.

The guy blinked. "Well- uh, yes, but I suppose it's understandable if you don't remember me, you probably deal with hundreds of adventurers every day..."

"No, I think you have the wrong person, I have no idea what you're talking about," Katherine laughed nervously. This whole situation was quite embarrassing.

The adventurer wrinkled his eyebrows. "Oh," he said. "Sorry. My eyesight is... not the best. But you responded when I called you Katheryne..."

"My name is Katherine," Katherine said. "But I think you have me confused with a different Katheryne."

"Well," the man said. "In that case, would you be interested in joining the Adventurers' Guild?"

"What's the Adventurer's Guild?"

The man looked deeply wounded. "You don't know what the Adventurers' Guild is? Where do you come from where you haven't heard of the Adventurers' Guild?"

"Well, I'm sorry, it doesn't exist where I'm from," Katherine said, putting her hands up defensively. "I'm just trying to figure out who owns this base and whether they've seen anyone I know, and then I'll be on my way!"

"Please!" The guy begged. "I haven't gotten any recruits! I'm desperate. And you have a fancy axe, and you wouldn't have a fancy axe if you didn't know how to use it!"

"At least explain what this Guild is before you go and tell me to join it. I don't even know who you are!"

The man took a deep breath. "Yeah. Okay. Back up. I'm Stefan. I'm from the Sumeru Desert, but I sort of just snuck through Caravan Ribat and got to the rainforest. Now, I'm recruiting for the Adventurers' Guild here in Port Ormos. It's not going very well, everyone is all rush-rush-rush, sell-items-make-Mora."

"And what's the Adventurers' Guild?" Katherine asked.

"It's exactly what it sounds like," Stefan said. "A guild of people who adventure. We do commissions, explore..." he eyed Katherine's axe. "kill monsters. It's really fun! And you make money!"

"I'm a monster slayer when I'm from," Katherine thought out loud. "I suppose if I could back out if I needed to..."

"Of course you could!" Stefan assured her. "The Guild sometimes partners with other parties, but we have no real obligations to any nation, god, person, or organization. You can leave or rejoin at any time!"

God? They had gods here?

Of course, gods were nothing unusual. Several of the Empires had a god or multiple, but the Hermits had all seemed not to belong to any particular religion. This didn't feel right.

Katherine shook off the thought. "How do I sign up?"

Stefan beamed. "Thank you for considering, Katherine! To join, all you need to do is head to the small Guild base on the other side of the port. They'll give you a uniform, a fancy map, a handbook, and everything you'll need as an adventurer! You seem to be an outlander, so they'll probably give you an Akasha terminal as well." He tapped his earpiece. It was identical to the ones everyone else had.

"I- okay," Katherine said. She hesitantly took a step away from Stefan. At least she knew what that strange redstone was called now. Akasha.

He waved. "Ad astra abyssosque!" Then he ran off to annoy someone else.

Well, that was... weird, Katherine thought.

She had to admit that this Adventurers' Guild had piqued her interest, though. A whole group of people who killed monsters for a living?

Besides, maybe she could find another Emperor or two in the Guild. She wasn't really sure if any of them would be drawn to it like she was, but it was a good place to start looking.

As for who she'd find... as long as it wasn't Joey, she would be absolutely fine.

Stefan had said that the Guild headquarters in Port Ormos was on the other side of town. Katherine looked around, but found no bridge across the river - either in Port Ormos or on the outskirts, where she had spawned.

Then she glanced up.

How was she supposed to get up there?

Katherine started wandering again, searching for a staircase. She found one close to where the river widened out into the ocean.

She climbed the winding spiral ramp and emerged right at the edge of the bridge across the river. That went better than she thought it would.

The port was a lot more visible from the bridge than the pier. A few islands dotted the ocean, just barely visible in the distance. On the other side, upstream, a village was in view. Over the green, rolling jungle hills in the direction she had come from, Katherine spotted the tops of a few massive trees. She couldn't see much else. She'd head for higher ground after she checked out the Adventurers' Guild.

It didn't seem to be on this top level. Katherine looked for another staircase, but only found some sort of crane elevator thing that was probably mostly used for cargo. But there were people riding it, so it was probably safe... right? Once it reached the top level, Katherine hesitantly stepped onto it. A couple of strangers wearing beige and red joined her. She held back a yelp as the elevator gave a lurch and started to go down.

"First time riding a lift?" One of the strangers asked. His expression was amused.

Pale-faced, Katherine nodded.

"Nice axe," the other one commented.

"Thanks," Katherine replied.

Then the lift reached the ground with a slight bump. Katherine stepped off, maybe a bit too quickly.

This place had way too many intelligent human beings to be a private Minecraft server like Hermitcraft. That made Katherine a little smug - she had suspected that the Rift wouldn't lead to Hermitcraft. She'd been right, even if she was trapped in another world with no knowledge of whether the other Emperors were even here or how to get back.

She'd have to assume the worst, just in case. The other Emperors were in Hermitcraft, and she had ended up here. There was no way home.

Of course, she'd keep an eye out for them. And a possible way out. But she didn't want to get her hopes up.

So maybe the Adventurers' Guild was worth joining.

She found more green-uniformed adventurers just outside a ground-level building not far from the docks, and not far from the elevator, either. "Hi," she said to the first one she saw. "I'm here to join the Guild. Is this where I'm supposed to be?"

The girl pointed silently to the building.

Yeah. Of course they're inside. I'm an idiot.

Katherine found a small reception desk inside. There was a bored-looking receptionist who glanced up as Katherine entered. Her feet were propped up on the desk - clearly, she didn't get much business here. "You here to post a commission? Just a heads up, everyone is sick of moving merchant crap between the ships and the pier."

"I'm interested in joining the Guild," Katherine said. "I need more information, though. The recruiter guy wasn't very helpful."

The receptionist snorted. "Stefan? Don't think too harshly of him. He can't see well enough to do most commissions, so he doesn't get paid enough to get a pair of glasses imported from Fontaine. It's kind of a cycle. Really unfortunate."

"He mistook me for someone else named Katheryne," Katherine said, making a mental note to check up on the recruiter later. "Is she an important person in the Guild?"

The receptionist nodded. "She's the receptionist for the Adventurers' Guild in all the capital cities." As she spoke, she bent down under the desk and set a rolled-up paper, a handbook, a folded bundle of green fabric, and a small earpiece on top. Katherine looked at the items with interest.

"Alright," the receptionist said. She pointed to the paper. "This is your map. It's a full map of Teyvat - at least, the parts we're allowed to map. Some places, like the Chasm's Underground Mines, are prohibited for safety reasons, so we unfortunately don't have the entire continent."

Katherine nodded.

"The handbook is your Adventurer's Handbook," the receptionist continued. "You'll keep the commissions you take in there so you remember them. It also contains a catalog of monsters you'll find out in the wild, navigation guides to Domains where you can acquire things that might help you in your adventures - they're also on your map, and a list of things you can do in your spare time to build skills and such. Achievements, if you will."

Katherine leafed through the handbook. "Okay."

The earpiece was next. Stefan had called it something along the lines of Akasha, and the receptionist confirmed that. "This is your Akasha Terminal. It's something that only works in Sumeru - from the looks of you, you're a foreigner, so you don't have one yet. As you probably know, Sumeru is the nation of wisdom and knowledge. The Akasha gives you access to that knowledge. It works anywhere in Sumeru, but admittedly it only works well in large cities in the rainforest like Sumeru City and here in Port Ormos."

"That's cool," Katherine said genuinely. They didn't have anything like that in Empires. Just books.

The receptionist nodded in agreement and continued, putting a hand on the bundle, "That's your uniform. You don't necessarily have to wear it. It's just made for adventuring, and it makes you more recognizable as a member of the Guild, so a lot of adventurers like to keep it on."

"Thank you," Katherine said, taking the items off the desk. "Is there anything I have to do to join?"

"Nope," The receptionist replied. "One thing you should know, though - sometimes you'll have to complete a harder commission to gain further recognition from the Guild."

Katherine nodded. "Got it. How do I take commissions?"

"There's usually a bulletin board. But you can also talk directly to the receptionist. It all depends on how introverted you are, I guess." She shrugged.

Katherine giggled and nodded. "Thank you," she said. "One last thing - has anyone else come in here recently? A redheaded girl in a pink dress, or a girl with dark brown hair and a big green hat? They're my friends, and I'm looking for them."

Out of all the Emperors, Katherine decided to go with Gem and Shelby. They were her closest allies, after all.

The receptionist shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'll post a thing on the bulletin saying to look out for them. We look for missing people all the time." She smiled reassuringly.

"Thank you so much," Katherine said again. "I'm going to go figure out some... other stuff before I take a commission. I'll see you then, I guess."

The receptionist nodded and put her feet back on the desk. Katherine left the office.

She decided right away that she didn't want to use the uniform. She liked her princess dress - and besides, it was a link to Glimmer Grove. She was going to build something for herself in... what had the receptionist called it? Teyvat? Katherine was going to build something for herself here in Teyvat. But she couldn't just forget the past.

Before she took a commission that she knew nothing about, Katherine looked for a bench to sit down at and look through her handbook and map.

Teyvat was a big place. The nations were more spacious than the empires at home. Katherine spotted seven - Mondstadt, Liyue, Sumeru, Fontaine, Natlan, Snezhnaya, and Inazuma. She found Port Ormos to the far south of Sumeru. Upriver, the village she had seen was Vimara Village, and up from there was Sumeru City.

Finding the other rulers in a world like this seemed way too daunting for Katherine. She was definitely better off just doing her own thing.

Maybe as long as she was here, the curse wouldn't affect Glimmer Grove.

The handbook had all the things that the receptionist had said, as well as a bunch of notepages that Katherine assumed were for journaling.

She returned to the Guild headquarters and took a look at the bulletin board for commissions.

Move goods from warehouse to ship - Port Ormos, Quiwei

Kill Ruin Sentinals - Devantaka Mountain, Jazari

Collect 10 Harra Fruit - Port Ormos, Rama

Investigate abnormalities in Aaru Forest - Aaru Forest, Adventurer's Guild

Help merchants travelling from Ghandara Ville - Avidya Forest, Adventurer's Guild

Come join the Eremites and experience a whole new way of life!

The last one was probably an advertisement. Katherine ignored it.

She pulled down a random paper, which happened to be the merchant-helping one in the Avidya Forest. Great. She'd taken a commission.

What now? Probably actually doing the commission. Katherine took out her map to figure out where Ghandara Ville was.

"I have no idea what I'm doing," she muttered to herself.

Then she turned away from the Adventurers' Guild and followed the road out of Port Ormos to go help some merchants.

She had a lot to learn about this world, but she was sure it wouldn't be long before she fit right in.