There is a flash of blue-green light and then two boys...

...suddenly appear a few feet above the ground. They immediately fall face first on the grass.

After a moment of confusion they sit up and look around. They get up and dust themselves.

"What the fuck."

"You tell me. Are we in Elsewhere?" Aaron looks around.

They're probably not in Elsewhere. It's pleasantly warm wilderness. They seem to be in a wide valley - there are low areas around them, but mountains visible on all corners of the horizon. The swampy area to the north looks a little ominous. There seem to be ruins of some kind over there.

A deer is looking at them from the edge of the woods, chewing placidly. Looks like a normal deer.

Elsewhere does have mountains, but not that clustered (and even their mountains are more of the "tall hill" variety.)

And deer from Elsewhere are giant-sized. "Maybe this could be Earth or Elan, somehow?"

"Possibly. Do you want to explore a different set of ruins? Could be related to why we are here."

"Sure, why not? We were planning to spend all day poking at ancient artifacts. I'm annoyed that my danger sense didn't warn me soon enough."

Well, ruinsward they go.

The ruins look like... The site of an old battle, somehow. There are broken shields and rusty swords here and there, crumbling pillars mark what remains of what might have been stone buildings at some point, dotted between the filthy pools of water.

And there are a lot of destroyed machines that look like they might have been some kind of strange, walking robot.

Okay, this is kind of cool. He can see why Topher likes this sort of thing. "Any idea of what is this stuff?"

"It's not anything from a culture that I recognize. But I don't know much about Elan's ancient history... honestly, this looks older than Elan's first contact. I might be wrong."

Orpheus activates his danger sense and looks around. Does anything react to be prodded or poked?

There's something deeper into the swamp that will attack them if they approach.

Aaron reports this. "Gosh, it feels just like home."

"Yeah, and unlike home we should be able to avoid it. Huh, do you think we can put enough distance between it and ourselves?"

"I don't get that much detail, brother. I think so. We shouldn't set up camp this close, though."

"Fair enough. I do want to explore this ruins just a bit longer. Maybe detect magic."

"Go ahead. I will keep look out."

Temple detects magic.

The ruined machines are slightly magic, long-dead and dormant. It's like a concrete foundation - obviously there, but not much to look at.

The thing that will attack if they approach is more strongly magic, but not particularly powerful-feeling.

"Interesting. I kinda want to take this with us, but..." he waves at the size of the thing.

"Yeah, no kidding. We should possibly explore some more. Figure out how far from civilization we are right now and if we are going to do some impromptu camping."

"Fair enough."

Is there somewhere easy to climb so they can take a good view of their surroundings?

The hill they just came down from had a very tall tree.

Alternately, one of the more sturdy-looking stone pillars might be scaleable.

Temple tries the pillar with Aaron watching in case he falls.

They can see a giant horse-head fashioned out of wood and cloth atop a building in one direction. There also seems to be a road over there.

The swamp gets thicker and the destroyed machines more numerous in the other way.

Cool.

Temple amplifies his sight to see if he can get more detail out of things. Maybe he spot people around the building?

It seems to be a stable. There's some people there, sitting around a campfire. Two teens are taking care of a pair of horses in stalls. There's even a front desk of sorts.

Oooh, people! And horses. Temple tries to eyeball how far they are and how long it would take them to get there.

It's maybe half a mile or a mile off. No longer than half an hour walking.

"There is civilization around!" He describes.

"Cool. This means that the thing in the swamp can't be that dangerous."

"I don't know about that." Temple climbs down.

"I doubt people around here accept any currency we have."

"True. But they still could give us information."

"Oooh, idea! And since they are close we can bring some pieces of the magical machinery to study later. Maybe sell if it's worth anything."

"Good idea."

They scavenge for easy-to-remove-but-magical pieces of ancient machinery.

The pieces they can scavenge are... Mechanical parts. Gears, springs, screws, shafts. All of it with that low-key 'concrete' magic to them. They're extremely durable, if the pair tests that, and yet very light.

"Adam is really going to love this. Maybe it's a way to get him out of the room and explore things with us."

Snort. "Cool."

Temple assembles a diverse collection of mechanical parts and then they set off towards the stable.

The stable has bales of hay, a fenced area with a herd of goats, stacks of firewood, and a fire with a cooking pot over it. Someone is sitting at this last feature, monitoring some kind of stew, a big backpack on her back.

Her ears are pointy, where they peek out from her brown hair.

Huh, hopefully they are an elf.

"Hello?" Aaron calls.

She turns around. "Oh, hello! Huh..." She looks them over. "Are you two... No, no never mind. Welcome to the Duelling Peaks stable, travelers."

"Thank you. I am afraid that we are a bit lost and would like to know where we are."

"Oh, I know, it can be so easy to get lost! Like I just said, you're at the Duelling Peaks Stable. Where are you trying to go? I can give you directions."

"More lost than that. As in, we poked an ancient ruin and then we found ourselves about half hour in that direction."

"...Oh, so that explains why you two look like strange Gerudo. Uh, Duelling Peaks is a pretty big landmark so I'm not sure what to... Hmm. This is the Necluda region? In the former kingdom of Hyrule?"

"Does not sound familiar. Is the world called Elan? Or maybe Elsewhere or Efross?"

"I mean, if the whole world has a name, it's Ground or Earth. Where are you from?"

"Our is called Earth, but it lacks point-eared people and the sort of ruins and machines we saw earlier."

Frown. "I don't know anything about that. But 'pointy eared people' like me are called Hylians."

"Okay. Our species are called humans."

"Are you aware of anything that can do travel between worlds?"

"Woah, I don't know that much about magic! I make elixirs sometimes but... Well, something like that I would expect it to be lost Sheikah tech like the destroyed Guardians in the swamp... Or one of the dragons... Or maybe Hylia or Ganon..."

"It's okay. ...And we don't really have context to most of those things."

"Yeah... we probably should prioritize survival tips. Also, magical tips. Elixers are magical, right?"

"Uh... Yeah? I could give you some tips about elixers I guess. Also you are talking to exactly the wrong person here, I'm just a forager traveling to see my mom in Hateno Town."

"Oh, sorry. We didn't mean to impose too much."

"I'm more afraid of getting something wrong! Oh, I'm Sagessa. And if you're lost here, you really should know some things... Like, the dark castle you can see if you go through the peaks. Avoid it! The Calamity monsters still wander around there."

"Oh, right. I'm Temple Grayward. And this is my brother Orpheus Aaron Grayward."

"Call me Aaron. We will avoid the dark castle," probably, "what are The Calamity monsters?"

"Guardians, mostly. The dead machines in the swamp. Some of them are still active and they're extremely dangerous."

"I see. I think I sensed the presence of one when we went there to take a closer look at the ruins."

She sits straight and her eyes widen. "What, here? How sure are you? Because it's bad news if they're going to menace somewhere new... They mostly stick to the same spots. Maybe it was just a bokoblin?"

"I don't know what that thing is. But I have a danger sense and it picked something nearby so we avoided that area."

"It was probably just a bokoblin... Hopefully. They're also dangerous, just not nearly as much as Guardians."

"What are they? And how dangerous do they get?"

"They're small monsters that use pointy sticks and things as weapons. If you have a good sword and shield, two or three are beatable. Watch out for blue or black ones, though, they're stronger."

"I would naively guess that it was something more dangerous than a group of the lesser ones, but I'm not sure. My danger sense isn't that accurate and how dangerous something is to me affects my perception of things."

"Are they resistant to magic? We can defend ourselves with our magic if it comes to it."

"Not particularly? I guess that depends on what kind of magic you two use."

"It's probably not like yours? Our is called sorcery and it spends lifeforce. There are rituals, but on top of that there are magical gifts one can use at any time. Like Aaron's danger sense."

"Oh, around here, if your kind of person has magic it tends to be the ability to make magic things. Anyway, I should teach you about elixirs!"

"Oooh, you have my full attention."

Aaron snorts, but pays attention as well.

"You can make elixirs by mixing bugs, frogs, and other small creatures with monster parts and cooking them. Most of them are no good at refilling your health, but they can have a lot of different effects based on what you use. Some elixirs can increase your speed. Others raise your resistance to electricity or extreme temperatures, or give you more stamina. If you make a bad combo the elixir doesn't do anything. What things make good combos and what effects they have really comes down to memorizing it. You know, I kind of feel bad for you two, stuck here like this. I don't want it on my conscience if you get in a bad spot, so you can have one of my elixirs if you'd like."

"Oh, my god! Thank you! Is there anything we can do to repay?" He accepts the elixir. "And is there anywhere where the recipes are available? Are there any potions for wakefulness or youth? Is there any pattern to the mixing of ingredients?"

"My brother is the biggest magic nerd in the multiverse. If you want to, you can just tell him to shut up."

"Youth potion, now that would sell well. There's Hearty Potions, they make you more healthy... But the right ingredients are really rare. Here, have a speed elixir! It makes you faster. The recipe is just a hightail lizard - red one maybe a foot and a half long - and some monster parts. I usually carry like ten of these so one doesn't make a huge difference. They're handy for running away from monsters. A pattern to mixing, uh, just don't overcook them? It's usually done when it stops looking like goop and starts looking something like this." She hands over a small vial filled with sky-blue opaque liquid.

Temple accepts it. "Thank you! Anyone can do those? We asked about youth potions because some of our forms of magic spend it to empower various effects."

"There's no such thing as a youth potion and anyone who says otherwise is trying to cheat you." She yawns. "The magic's in the ingredients, I think? Sorry, but I think I should probably eat and go to bed."

"Don't be sorry. We are profusely thankful!"

"Always glad to help out a fellow traveler!"

Nod. "Before you sleep. Which direction is the nearest town?"

"Hm... You could go for Kakariko Village in the mountains due north, or Hateno Town off to the east. Hateno Town is a little further, but it's a bigger town. And there's usually a treasure hunters' camp just past the Peaks, if you want to head to central Hyrule later."

Sagessa heads inside the stable's main building. It appears to also be a hotel of sorts.

Really? How much does a bed cost? Are there other services provided? Are they willing to trade things?

The tired-looking desk clerk prices a bed at 20 rupees. They don't really have stuff to trade, they're just a stable, they do horse things dude.

No, they meant trading for stuff that the two brothers have. They are from a different world and have yet to acquire local currency.

"Sorry boys, but I'm not a trader or a charity. I'll give you a bed each if you help sweep out the stables and carry some hay around for two hours, though."

"That sounds perfect! Thank you."

He chuckles. "Go report to my boys Milo and Filo for your work. They're outside by the goats. I'm sure they'll get a kick out of it. But come back and get me if they give you trouble, yeah?"

"Alright! Thank you again, mister...?"

"I'm Tassaren. Pleased to meet you."

"Temple and Aaron Grayward! And likewise. We will go to Milo and Filo."

And they do that.

Milo and Filo are little kids! Well, not little, they're about 12.

They're pleased as peaches to have helpers to boss around, though they still work themselves. They mostly have the big-strong strangers stack a lot of hay inside the main building from where it was before. And then draw well water. They take great delight in babbling authoritatively about horses to their new 'employees'.

Well, if they are going to be like that. Then Aaron sees no alternative other than responding to orders with a salute and saying "Sir! Yes sir!"

Where the well water is supposed to go? If it's just a single location, then Temple can just make a small raincloud over it.

A merry little martial band they make, twins and strangers industriously taking care of the horses.

The well water is to fill up the horses' troughs and the tank in the kitchen. A raincloud probably can't do it, as much as the boys would like to see it.

Temple can make a small demonstration anyway. Once they are done with their chores.

Cooool.

"Hey if a Gerudo like you has this kind of magic how come Gerudo is still a desert?"

"Well... first, I'm not creating water. Just drawing it from the air. Second, using it takes from my stamina. Third but not least, I'm not a Gerudo."

"But your ears are round and your skin is dark. That's what Gerudo have. Even though I've never seen a Gerudo boy."

"Well, I haven't seen a Gerudo of any variety either!"

"He is human. Sometimes we come in different shades."

"Gerudo use sand seals instead of horses, too..." And he's back to horses.

He'll probably talk their ears off as long as they'll listen, but they've finished earning their beds.

They listen some (Aaron more so than Temple) and ask a few more questions about Gerudos and Hyruleans in general.

Well, it's Hylian, not Hyrulian. Gerudo women wander around Hyrule looking for husbands, and they don't worship the dragon-spirits. At least they still believe in Goddess Hylia. Hylians are the most common people who live in Hyrule and they're everywhere. Zora, Gerudo, Rito, and Gorons all tend to stay in their own cities mostly.

Temple pulls Aaron away before he can ask about Hylia. He does not want to figure out how religious tolerance works in this world before enjoying the comfort of his bed. They wish the boys good night.

This is about the same time as their father catches them and sends them off to bed, too.

They can sleep peacefully through the night.

Good, that is their preferred sort of sleep!

(They actually just need to sleep for four or five hours, but they can convert wakefulness into health. So they wake up when everyone else does.)

People seem to wake up at different times, but a couple hours after dawn works. The tableau of fellow travelers is different. Sagessa seems to have already set off.

They didn't expect her to stay. Are any of the fellow travelers talkative enough to give them a clue to what they should do next?

There's a pair of guys whispering to each other furtively. There's a middle-aged man in armor setting up his horse. There's a trio of young women discussing their plan if they get attacked by monsters while scavenging in the plains of Hyrule Field. There's a man with glasses taking notes on something.

Do the whispering pair look suspicious somehow? Like, are they eyeing people based on how vulnerable they are or something?

Are the three women amenable to being overhead. See, Aaron and his brother are new around here (that is an understatement) and are not sure how to defend themselves.

The whispering pair is puzzling over a piece of paper between them. They glare when Temple tries to approach. "We're not doing anything that's your business, bud."

The adventurer trio's leader says, "I mean, you use a sword and shield? Or a bow?"

"Sorry bothering you. We are still learning our way around."

Does the armored man looks more talkative? If not, then Temple might just try his luck with man taking notes.

"I use electrically charged punches."

"...Oh, hello. Don't mind me, I'm just puzzling over some research."

"Hm, nice. Some monsters use electric attacks themselves, and I think they're resistant. You'll see more of those up in Lanayru, though."

"That's our Cetra, so knowledgable!" One of the others comments.

Temple nods and goes towards his brother.

"How far is Lanayru? Would these monsters be resistant to other sorts of electric attacks?"

"Yeah, any kind of electrical attack. Lanayru is to the north, about as far past Kakariko Village as the village is from here. Maybe forty miles? I don't have a great head for distances."

"Huh, we could use a cold-based attack, but that isn't really energy-efficient."

"We are trying to learn our way around here," Aaron explains, "and basically trying to acquire knowledge and figure out our options."

"Cold and fire based attacks are the other two big categories. They're pretty effective against their opposites. Fire-themed enemies are weak to ice, I mean. But ice arrows and fire arrows are expensive so I usually just avoid them. Oh, if you're new here it bears saying - do be careful of the dark castle. Don't dare go near it. The area is very dangerous."

"We heard about the dark castle. What is up with that? It's curse? Haunted? Is there a prophecy about a couple of dashing young brother from another world surrounding it?"

She gives him a bit of a withering look, then it shifts to a sad one. "The Great Calamity. One hundred years ago, the dark god Ganon took control over the guardians and the Divine Beasts and waged war on Hyrule. Five champions and the princess who holds a piece of the holy power of Hylia went to face him... But they succeeded only partly. Ganon was sealed in the castle, but his foul influence on the Guardians and on monsters still reigns supreme. I really don't think you two are the holy champion who is said to be able to finish the job."

They blink.

"Uh, sorry for being tactless."

"Wait, is there literally a holy champion?"

"Or so the stories say. I don't know if it's all one hundred percent true. You pick this sort of thing up when you pick through ruins for a living... I believe in Hylia and Ganon, at any rate."

Nod. "We are from somewhere very, very far away and never heard of any of this."

"I gathered. These old legends don't really have a day to day effect, though. Unless you count them explaining why monsters are so hard to deal with sometimes. It's pretty peaceful in safe areas."

Nod nod. "We should be able to handle ourselves moving to and from most places. But we don't know what to do in the long term."

"How did you end up here? You could try to go home."

"We poked some ancient ruins and appeared here in a flash of light."

"Oh man, now I have to be worried for my choice of job. I wouldn't know where to start except maybe the Ancient Tech Lab near Hateno Town?"

"Choice of job? And thank you! That sounds like the place to take a look into."

"We're treasure hunters. We pick through ruins from the Calamity looking for valuable stuff. It's gotten harder over the last 20 years but there's a lot of ruins to explore."

"Huh, that sounds cool. Why is it getting harder? Less valuable to find?"

"What counts as valuable?"

"The easy pickings are gone. You have to go further into wilderness and closer to places monsters like to get good stuff, or dig through sites everyone else already looked through hoping they missed something. We look for old books, weapons and shields, magic ammo, old clothes, gems and such..."

Nod. "Are the magical things often somehow better than stuff made today?" Temple wonders.

"No. But they're still valuable, only master craftsmen can make fire arrows and so on."

"What does it take to make one, exactly? Is it the sort of thing that just takes rare materials or you have to ...sacrifice something else?"

"And just to be sure. Fire arrows are magic, right? They are not some weird chemistry?"

"I'm a treasure hunter, not a craftsman. Go to Goron City if you want to learn how to make fire arrows. And, we should probably get going."

"Of course, thank you for your time!"

"Let's go, Minki, Trest. Off between the Duelling Peaks!"

They start walking south.

"So, what should we do, Temple?"

"I'm more inclined to go to Hateno. But first I think we should go back to the hill where we landed and leave a signal there. In case they find a way to get us and land there as well."

"Do you think there still some sort of portal active?"

"No idea, but I wouldn't have expected to have been teleported the way we did. And we might as well leave something."

They agree this is a good idea and go hill-wards.

The hill still seems peaceful. Though their walk does take them through a small section of swamp, nothing attacks them.

Good. This means that Temple can find a nice, solid, long-lasting-looking rock and mark it with a magical sign. Plus a message. If people come searching for them they will know what happened.

And now they can travel to Hateno. They keep an eye out for danger and also food. (They had some meal bars with them for emergencies, but those won't last too long.)

The first leg of the trip to Hateno Town is slightly north and then east, around the top edge of the swamp. The path diverges near a river, the left fork indicating 'Kakariko Village' and the right fork indicated 'Historic Fort Hateno and Hateno Town'.

There's mushrooms growing at the base of a few trees. One apple tree along the path is a safer option.

Maybe they should consider catching one of the wild horses in the area and riding it? Or does that seem too risky?

Well, what his danger sense tell his about the wild horses?

Temple is a trained sorcerer with a family that often goes camping his knows how to magically identify poisoned mushrooms.

These mushrooms are all kind of unfamiliar species! Edible, though.

And the horses are... Mostly safe. The spotted ones in particular have very minimal danger to them.

Huh, maybe it's some sort of different breed?

He never tried to tame a horse before, one of his brothers can just befriend woodland critters.

Aaron has an stupid but awesome idea. He approaches a horse and the jumps on it's back.

Predictably enough, the horse tries to buck him off.

If he can hold on long enough, it will mostly settle down eventually.

"Eeeee!"

"Did you just... jump on that wild horse's back?"

"Yup!"

"Okay, let me know the next time you try that."

"Of course!"

If he dismounts does the horse reacts negatively?

It runs away! And then circles back to stare at him in slight confusion.

What if Orpheus tries to approach it again?

It makes an uncertain-seeming sound and sidesteps - but doesn't run away.

Careful approaching. Orpheus tries to get onto it's back again.

Fine, he can do that. Even if he doesn't know how to be a proper rider, the horse probably won't actually throw him off.

How about if Temple gets a try?

The horse seems annoyed. Like, make up your minds already. 

It starts walking in a random direction.

Aw, c'mon horsey be nice. Go that way. Pet pet?

The horse gradually gets more used to going where Temple wants.

Good horse!

Aaron tries to tame another one.

This is doable if he's sneaky enough. There are a lot of wild horses around in this almost pastoral patch of grassy hills.

Their horses continue to want to do their own thing once in a while, but they can make much faster progress than walking now.

The path east, towards Hateno Town, takes them along the edge of the swamp they looked through earlier.

Aaron keeps his danger sense on the look out.

They pass something potentially dangerous lurking in a ravine off to the left of the road, and they go near-ish and then past the dangerous thing in the swamp.

After about an hour and a half of horse-riding the path tilts slightly south again. The mountains rise up higher around them, cliffs casting shadows over the road. They can see an immense number of destroyed Guardians - not just isolated hulks, but literal piles of them getting denser and denser as they approach a long, sturdy-looking but damaged stone wall.

This must be Historic Fort Hateno. It looks like the road heads right through.

Cool, this place is exciting.

They walk through the fort looking around for anything unusual.

The fort seems to mostly just be this one wall, now. There are a couple of informational plaques informing visitors about the great battle that took place here one hundred years ago. Hundreds of knights fell, stopping the tide of Guardians in their tracks and saving the lands beyond from being ravaged. It particularly praises "The Gerudo hero, Urbosa, who slew over two dozen Guardians with lightning magic before departing to defend her own homeland."

Another plaque says Hateno Town took in thousands of refugees and sent search parties out once the Guardians stopped coming, but almost everything beyond the fort was utterly destroyed.

The forest beyond contains more edibles they could gather and a little house with wood-atop-stone walls and a wooden roof.

Is the little house off the path? Does it look like a business of some sort?

It looks like someone's house. It's a ways off the road. No signs of any kind. The chimney is letting out smoke.

An elf- A Hylian comes out the front door carrying a a book. He looks middle-aged. Balding. He gives a little wave to the pair before going to a firewood bin and hauling out some wood from it.

They tentatively approach.

"Hail, travelers. I'm Doctor Calip. What do you think of the fort?"

"Remarkable."

"Yeah, it's history is really something."

"It was the darkest time in centuries. Precious few records, precious few people, survived the Great Calamity in central Hyrule. But yes, it's a great history, an important moment. Are you two visitors from some outer land? Your ears are a bit odd."

"Well, yes. We are from veeeery far away. Our kind of person is called human."

"I wonder if we are going to need to wear hats or something to avoid the attention."

"Why would we want to avoid the attention?"

"Human. Interesting. I know I would like to avoid the attention."

"Why?"

"It's not really worth the bother. I can't see any benefit from it and I can't study ancient texts if people are asking annoying questions about my ears."

"True. What sort of things that you find out by reading ancient texts?"

"He wants to know about this place's magic. All of it."

"I'm more about the history of things. The Sheikah shrines, in particular. They liked to hide them and leave riddles sometimes."

"Sheikah?"

"That's the common name for the culture group that occupied Hyrule approximately twenty to forty thousand years ago."

"Ah, why did they do that?"

"We're not entirely sure. The common theme seems to be that only someone clever and worthy will find them, however. Sometimes it requires feats of strength, or climbing mountains, or other such things."

"And happens if you prove yourself worthy?"

"You find the shrine. Some texts refer to 'hidden power' or 'strengthening of spirit', but direct translations are hard so I'm not sure there's anything to that..."

"Man, too bad that mom didn't come with us. Or too good, since she does have a chance of figuring out any clues in the ruins that took us here."

"I would be a bit hesitant to share my life's work collecting and translating and studying these texts too freely, besides."

"Fair enough. Question: What advice would you give to strangers that never heard of Hyrule? Besides being armed around dangerous areas and not going near the dark castle?"

"I think it was black castle?"

"Are you asking as tourists? As tradesmen? Well... Don't trust the Yiga Clan. They are bandits, criminals. Their symbol is an inverted Sheikah eye."

He sketches it.

"We don't know how long we are going to stay. Intrinsically speaking, the possibility of never return is, well, possible."

"Well, there's nothing else you urgently need to know as a matter of survival, I think."

Nod. "Thank you. Is there any work around the house you'd need done?"

"Not particularly. Though if you choose to make a donation of any kind, I will certainly use it to assist in the preservation of Historic Fort Hateno."

"Maybe later."

"Good luck on your travels. It's a straight shot to Hateno Town from here if that's where you're going - ignore the side roads."

"Thank you! Good luck and skill with your research!"

"Cool guy."

The cool guy seemed vaguely grumpy the whole time, though.

He goes back inside with his firewood as the pair continue on.

The next major natural spectacle are some pretty spectacular cliffs above them, sheets of rock overhead forming what would be massive caverns if they weren't open enough at the sides and top to still be considered 'outdoors'. Rock falls must be a concern for this route. They pass someone else on a horse going in the opposite direction, they don't slow down long enough to do anything but wave.

They wave back and marvel at the sights. They have turned off their phones and Aaron isn't feeling that tempted to take a picture of now, but wow.

Once they round the top of a little hill, they can see what must be Hateno Town in the distance. A large building sits high above on a spar of rock. It looks like a ramshackle observatory. Downslope a ways from that, they can see windmills and what look like farm fields.

They note the observatory, but decide to go town-wards first.

It's past lunch-time by the time they're approaching the town. The road goes down a final hill and snakes between two patches of woods before rolling up to a town gate.

...The danger sense thinks something dangerous is in the woods on the left. Where a woman's scream just came from.

Aaron informs this to Temple. He also immediately goes towards the screaming.

Temple follows.

A short ways in the woods they find two teenage-looking Hylian girls, one of them laying crumpled on the ground, the other defending her fallen friend with a soup ladle and a pot lid. Their opponents are a pair of ugly red... Things, wielding crude wooden clubs.

"Laila! Laila get up so we can run!"

She grunts in pain after blocking a club-swing on the pot lid.

Great. Aaron dismounts with amazing grace and in a single fluid motion charges forward to punch one of the red things with an electrically charged punch.

It turns to face him, but meets the punch head on and goes stiff, letting out an almost-stutter noise, electricity arcing over its body. It freezes in place plenty of time for a follow-up punch to send it flying surprisingly far, where its skin turns black and it disappears in a puff of purple smoke.

The other... Thing... Has lined up for a running leap, trying to smash its club into Aaron.

Temple does not have the grace to dismount from his horse in an instant. But he can drop air temperature around the not-goblin-thing to the point it will have trouble standing up and moving.

And Aaron can dodge from the attack anyway and let a hand graze against a leg so he electrocute the damn thing.

It freezes - doubly so - and the stunned teen beats it around the head with her soup ladle, growling angrily.

This one turns into smoke, too, except for one of its claws and one horn.

The teen takes deep breaths. "Hah, hah... I knew this was a terrible idea..."

Aaron pokes the claw with a foot. "Are you two alright? What happened?"

"Laila, are you alright?"

The downed one slowly sits into a sitting position. "I'm- Fine, I think."

"Oh, thank Hylia. I told you it was a bad idea to go hunting for Hearty Radishes without Kas or someone! -Oh, and thank you too, kind strangers. You really saved our skins from those bokoblins."

Temple dismounts. "Does she need healing?"

"It was no trouble."

"I wouldn't want to use up a valuable elixir if I don't need it. I'll be fine after a good meal..." Laila stands up, wincing. "And Lannie, I really promise not to bug you to go out in the forest again! At least not until we get fighting lessons and decent gear."

"I guess you two are travelers visiting Hateno Town? Thanks again, you had really good timing!"

"Yes. We are."

"I wasn't going to use an elixir." He offers a hand.

"Ooh, you have some kind of special power?" She looks interested. Even if she already seems mostly fine.

"Lifeforce transfer." He explains. "I have extra and can boop you better. It's a human thing."

Temple looks like he is about to say something, but then just nods. "It's not infinite lifeforce, but you can help patching up people after fights."

"That sounds really neat and I kind of want to try it if you don't mind!"

Orpheus holds out her hand and something weird happens to their veins.

It's like something is pouring out of him and make her feel better by the second. And then. "All done."

"Woah... Almost like you gave two hearts to me. And you feel weaker now?"

"A bit, but I have more health than it's required for my body to function and that wasn't really that much of a drain."

"I wonder how many hearts you have then? ...Twelve or so?"

They blink. "Uh... what do you mean with hearts?"

"Your health level! How much damage you can take before you die?"

"Okay. Do you... experience that as what, exactly? By heart you mean a vague sensation or something more exact? Or what?"

"...Well most people can't tell exactly, but eating an apple restores half a heart, and there's magic items called Heart Containers that make you stronger by exactly one heart, stuff like that."

They're both looking at Temple like he's weird now.

Well, Temple is not looking like anything makes sense now.

Aaron stares at the ground where the suspiciously-similar-to-a-goblin creature vanished in a poof of smoke.

"Wow, we are far away from home."

"...We should go home... Do you want us to show you around the village?"

Laila bends down and picks up the bokoblin's horn and claw before offering it to Aaron. "Here, you're the one who killed that bokoblin. To the victor the spoils."

He accepts his loot. Because of course it's loot. He wonders vaguely if he is going to level up at some point.

"Thank you, we would love to be shown around."

"If you know anywhere where we can trade work for a roof over our heads that would be great."

"The inn charges twenty rupees a night...? You can probably gather food out here, or fight more monsters, and sell what you find. Maybe one of the farms would hire you."

"Of course." Video game logic. "Any idea how much these would get us?"

They glance at each other. "Eh... I'll buy both of those off you for ten rupees."

"Thank you!"

She hands over two blue hexagonal gems and pockets the loot. "They'll be part of a speed elixir, later. Anyway! We should show our two saviors the town, right Laila?"

"Definitely! It's a nice place, I'm sure you'll like it."

They start walking back towards the road.

They follow, if the horses haven't got away too far, by horse. The brothers can share one if the girls want to ride the other.

It's not far from here.

They go up a gentle slope that becomes a cobblestone-paved road soon enough. A pair of stone pillars support a wooden banner proclaiming 'Hateno Town'.

"I don't think I'm exaggerating much when I say that Hateno Town is probably the largest single settlement in all of Hyrule. We have over one thousand people here! So many you can't even get to know them all!"

"Wow." Aaron says, which is sincere, if probably not in the way she is going to interpret. "How did it manage to get that big?"

"My grandpa says it's because the farming is good and the Calamity didn't reach here. Even when lots of people left to go resettle the rest of Hyrule, there were plenty of folks left."

Nod. "I don't think we have that much of a clear idea of how bad the Calamity was."

"Me neither. We're only, like, twenty five."

They look more like sixteen.

Uh, they should figure out things like how long is a year or how long people live. "He meant more in the sense that we are from very far away."

"Well, it was really really bad, apparently. I don't know exactly how many people died in the Great Calamity, but it was probably most."

"There is sure a lot of broken war machines still doting the fields to this day."

"I don't know what else to tell you about it, really."

They pass the town gate. A guy with a spear and armor asks, "Laila, Lannie, these guys bothering you?"

"Not at all, Mr. Tyban. They've been perfect gentlemen."

"Thank you, we try."

"Well, run along then. Welcome to Hateno Town, travelers."

The town seems to have a nice, winding uphill 'main road'. There are multi-story stone buildings on either side of it, most advertising some kind of good or service in a banner.

"Okay, where do you two want to start the tour? Famous shops? The cool new housing areas? Or the best views in town?"

"Ooh, best views? Unless there are places where you can learn about magic or something?"

"Uhh... For making magic things you probably want one of the other villages. Or the Ancient Tech Lab at the top of the hill. We mostly just do elixirs here. There are a few best views, though. First stop, the Sheikah shrine! You can see most of the town from there."

Sounds like a plan!

Are they supposed to leave the horses somewhere or are all these places equine-accessible?

"You can bring your horses, I guess. Or leave them at the inn's stable. They look mostly wild, though...? You don't have bridles or anything."

"Literally caught them today."

"Well, the stables don't really like mostly-wild horses, but you could try them. They should probably eat soon."

"Fair enough."

They try the stables?

The stablemaster is a beared man who insists on giving them a proper riding lesson right now because they clearly do not yet fully appreciate the majesty and beauty of horses!

Well, after having them each feed their chosen steed an apple.

Okay, they are used to a brother that is friend to all living things. This is hardly any weirder.

The pair of teens promise to reappear in half an hour or so and actually do the tour.

The stablemaster is fairly good at teaching. Even if his method of teaching involves near-shouting.

And they are good learners! At least they're athletic and don't get tired easily.

And another important part of this lesson is to get the horse and person more used to each other - and here's how to use a bridle and so on you can pay him back later, it's fine really he just loves horses and they're not that expensive...

A few of the locals are snickering at the trio, or possibly just at the eager Stablemaster, they look a bit silly practicing in the stable yard.

Well, they snicker all the want. It's fun to learn.

It does seem good-natured. The snickering parties mostly leave after a minute or two. One person comments on their unusual clothes and wonders if they know how to make things like that...?

Temple might be able to replicate them, but it would require some trial and error.

"Well... Uh... Come by my shop later... I like new material to work with... I'm a tailor..."

This lady is rather shy and nervous, for all that she approached them on her own.

"Sure, of course. Where is your shop?"

"Uh... You can't miss it... It has a sign with a shirt on it..."

"Sure. We can come by sometime."

"Okay... See you later maybe..."

Off she goes.

The lesson concludes and their guides reappear soon enough. Smirking, one of them asks, "Have you figured out Elbiron's hobby yet? Hint, it involves animals..."

"Gosh, you can't just ask a hard question like that. You got to let a guy prepare. Maybe study for a few days."

"What if you suddenly need his help for an epic quest to win the favor of the Horse Diety so you can collect an ancient gem that unlocks sacred power from the three holy springs and lets you save the world? You won't have time to study!"

"Then I will have to guess... Is it horses?"

"Tch. Lucky guess. Now, let's go visit Shrine Overlook so you can get a proper view of Hateno Town! Then the dye shop, it's so colorful, then the maize maze, and we can watch the Big Mill turn, and finally - if you're up for it - a hike to the bluff the Ancient Tech Lab is on."

"Yes, the Ancient Tech Lab sounds like an interest last stop."

"Yep! But, uh, if they tell us to leave we leave. They have some really crazy things hidden away in that lab of theirs..."

"Got it. None of the typical protagonist nonsense of poking around things and causing you an accident that gives you powers... or releases a great evil."

"No great evil up there. Maybe an explosion or two. And a lot of yelling. Anyway, off we go!"

Off they follow. Temple amplifies his senses on occasion, just a bit.

They walk up a hill off to the right of main street, passing into a neighborhood of houses that look almost modern, in a cubic style made of wood and painted in bright colors. There's even a cookout on in front of one house. Laila waves as they walk past.

The shrine is a tall, ancient-looking building. Swirly designs on its surface glow orange. There is a sort of terminal, and what looks like it might an entrance.

"Here it is, the Myahm Agana Shrine. These ancient things have endured everything nature has thrown at them for over ten thousand years, and they're fair useless except for being historical and kind of pretty in a weird way."

"It is very pretty."

Aaron approaches one. Is it dangerous?

The shrine is not dangerous.

"It is, it even inspires a lot of our art, but it doesn't do anything."

"Temple? Is this the sort of thing that you can analyze or something?"

"Maybe? Detecting magic did pick up the various artifact things. But I would need to perform a more complicated ritual to check."

"Oh that's right, you two have some kind of foreign magic. You know, I think they might actually like you up in the lab for that. Maybe."

"Hopefully they will at least find us interesting."

"You should probably hold off on any 'rituals'. Some people have funny beliefs about these things..."

"Fair enough. But we probably should clarify what a ritual is in your cultural context."

"Dancing and chanting around a fire, laying out plants around it, bowing to it for hours, that kind of thing."

"Ah, what we are calling rituals is just a way to cast spells, some have elements of the things you said, but I doubt they have the same details and significance. And most don't last hours, unless you count setting them up. And I would use word-based rituals because I don't know I could find the specific necessary materials."

"I mean... Okay. Fine. Shall we move on to the next stop on our little tour? The dye shop is fun!"

"Sure!"

"Sayge is a little... Odd... But getting new colors for things is always fun!"

To the dye shop they go! It certainly looks colorful - brightly dyed tapestries draped all around the building, four huge vials of colored fluid sitting above the roof as decoration.

Sayge is inside, a partially shaved young man with buggy eyes, vivid red hair, a blue apron holding colorful vials, and green shorts. "Hey, Sayge! We're back for more! I think I want orange today..."

"Welcome welcome! Laila, Lannie, I see you've brought new customers! Welcome to you too! This is Kochi Dye Shop and today is a good day to dye! Heheh."

Did he just made an English pun?

"Hello! I'm Temple and this is my brother Aaron."

"And I'm Sayge! Look around, look around, while I take care of these two lovely customers, see if anything interests you!"

A workshop that looks like something out of an early vision of a mad scientist's lab is visible in the back part of the store, behind a counter. Splatters of color cover the furniture, walls, and floor back there.

In the front area are lots and lots of tapestries, clothes, swatches of cloth, wood planks, and a few other things all dyed in an array of colors, all impressively high-quality looking with rich colors for such a medieval-aesthetic town. Sayge really knows what he's doing with dye. There's also a display labelled 'skin dye', which appears to be about tattoos, tucked into a corner.

Are those permanent?

They last about a month, or so the sign claims.

"Another satisfied customer!" The proprietor suddenly shouts, striking a pose. "Strange-eared guests, are you looking to buy anything?"

"We are mostly getting to known our way around town."

"How do you get such a variety of dyes?"

"I turn ingredients into them though the power of trade secrets."

"...Are trade secrets such that you would regularly buy ingredients that we brought in for your or something?"

"...What? I'll buy ingredients. Or take them directly as payment for product. Sure."

"Okay. I was just vaguely expecting that you'd turn out to need something specific like ten wolf pelts or something, but ignore me, I'm weird."

"Yes. You are. Well if you don't want any dye, I'm going to get back to my experiments. Have a nice day!"

"You too!" He turns to their guides. "Nice guy."

"Want to see the inn, or skip straight to the Ancient Tech Lab?"

"Ancient Tech Lab."

Their guides walk them up the main street, past the inn, where it splits into a few different paths. One heads out toward terraced farmland, the other winds up the steel slope, lined with windmills. "You can just follow the signs from here. Sorry to abandon your tour, but... I really think we should just go home now."

"Of course, thank you for the help!"

"I mean, it's definitely not because we're scared of Director Purah! You know that, right? Yeah, uh, bye."

Off they go.

He keeps smiling until they are out of sight.

"They have freaking video game logic!"

"Any chance one of us is in a coma or something?"

"Well, yes. But not in a way that we can meaningfully address."

"Okay, well, maybe if we visit the lab we are going to get some sort of quest that will allow us to go back home."

Snort. "Good plan."

Off to the lab they go.

It's a decent hike, up a long slope. The land is pretty, as most of the rest of the land around here. A beautiful lake and then a high mountain range is to the left of the climb. Cliffs and the ocean are to the right.

Increasingly stringent signs appear along the way up.

"Hateno Ancient Tech Lab," with a pointing arrow.

Then, "Ancient Tech Lab Ahead. No soliciting."

"Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. Mind the lanterns - blue fire is dangerous!!!" (The lanterns are empty of flame.)

"Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. Enter at your own risk."

"Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. If the flame is BLUE - DO NOT TOUCH!!!"

The lab itself is a ramshackle-looking thing that appears to have been converted from a windmill. There is an impractically large telescope sticking out at an odd angle, and a furnace-like thing with some of the same markings as the Sheikah shrine out front, lying cold and empty.

"I wonder if this counts as steampunk?"

He shrugs and gives a quick check with the danger-o-meter.

Some danger, far removed. More like a power line you had better not touch than a monster that will jump out at them.

They knock at the door.

An elf in a white robe-thing, wearing glasses, answers it after a few moments. "Visitors? Interesting. That's rare. Greetings, I'm Symin." The room beyond is crammed full of books and notes on every available wall and table.

"I'm Aaron and this is my brother Temple. We come from a very distant land that is very different from Hyrule."

"I see. And you came to the lab to learn about the Sheikah, or perhaps to find a way home? Not that I can help you with the second thing..."

"A bit of both exactly? In the off chance you'd go. 'Oh, I heard the legend of a secret gate to other worlds' or something to that effect."

"Well... No. Dragons and gods must live somewhere, but I've never heard of any way for mortals to cross worlds."

"Where we are from there is a way to make portals to and from a world called Elsewhere and we likely came here through a similar mechanism."

"I see... I could have a look through our archives, but the only similar phenomenon I recall off the top of my head is temporal stasis. There's enough evidence that the Sheikah were capable of that."

"Oooh, temporal stasis is beyond the current capabilities of our magic system. Or at least it's the most replicable aspects. How much of a trouble is looking through your archives?"

He gestures behind him. "You're looking at half of them. It would take a couple of days if I wanted to be very thorough. You have foreign magic, yes, is any of it sensory? That's my specialty."

"Yup, between us, I have a danger sense and my brother can amplifies senses. Both at cost of wakefulness. We also have similar gifts that also cost aspects of lifeforce to use."

"I've been trying to find an intact Sheikah Sensor. No luck so far. How detailed is-"

"SYMIN! Who's at the door!" Shouts a little girl's voice.

"...Ah, you two should meet Purah." And a cute little girl wearing comically large eyeglasses walks down a set of stairs near the back.

"You invited strangers in again?" She asks Symin. "Hey, did you two at least read the warning signs?"

"Oh, yes, but we are foolish young lads so we pressed forward."

"Huh. Okay, welcome to the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab! Snap!" She does a little pose, one arm pointed up like a rock singer or something. "I'm the director, Purah. So why are you bothering us, huh?"

Symin explains, "Ah, they are from a distant land and arrived in Hyrule through mysterious means... I believe they hoped we would know a way to get home."

"Well trying to figure that out would really distract from our own research, you know? Are you two interesting enough to be worth it?"

"Hope so! We have different kind of magic."

"Neato! What's it do? Symin, get the Manascope!"

"If uses something called lifeforce, which is divided in five aspects, to empower magical gifts or magical rituals."

Orpheus demonstrates by creating a large spark between his hands.

"Fascinating! Our sort of magic all involves working with natural magical forces. Except for Sheikah technology, which does magic all on its own, and we're trying to recover knowledge of how."

"Oooh, what is the meaningful difference here? Does Sheikah technology means they generate their own power or the power is somehow efficiently self-contained or something else?"

"It requires a power source. Sometimes this is enchanted fire, more often it's from these devices we call ancient cores. They're very rare, sadly."

"And the knowledge to make them has been lost to the ages?" He guesses.

"Precisely. I've been studying them when I can get samples, but I've learned pretty much all I can from passive observation, and destructive testing... Well, it means 'no more sample'. We think it's a highly miniaturized version of the Sheikah furnace that powers the lab. When it's actually lit up, anyway."

"I have magic that might give you more information, but we haven't tested if any natives can actually use it."

"Oh yeah! I still need to hear about your magic! Snap! Five aspects of lifeforce power things. What are they? What else?"

"Ah, the lifeforce aspects are breath, stamina, wakefulness, health and youth. People can grow gifts associated with each of these aspects and that use them as fuels. There is also ritual magic that lets you create your own customizable effects."

"Gifts are individual powers? Snappy. But the rituals are the same for everyone?"

Symin says, "I'll go mix up a stamina elixir. For testing."

"Yup. The rituals are separated in different schools, which are like different ritual techniques... and they are sort of artificially made? The most likely theory is that someone developed the gift to make rituals and then started creating ritual components."

Purah scribbles down some notes. "Can you do a simple ritual and then use a gift while we stare at you with magic-sensing devices?"

"Of course!" He does a simple ritual to make a small object float and then causes a miniaturized whirlwind on the palm of his hand.

"Hm, hm, hm. I can discern that there is magic going on, but not much greater detail than that. You're not directly using Mana."

"I'm not surprised. It really isn't a separate thing than the thing that keeps beings alive. Where mana comes from?"

"Mana is a property of the world that some things interact with... Doesn't really come from places, though magical effects gather it and use it in various ways."