The first thing Xerean remembers is talking to Ren. The happy wolf hybrid always managed to say something that brightens her day, like Scar or Grian do, and they were having a lovely chat about how Ren deals with overstimulation from the heightened senses he has when out of nowhere, a black effect surrounded her and she felt pulled down. Jabber often simply teleported her places, this was new. She had a sense of danger, unable to open her eyes, but able to feel herself falling and tumbling through an empty space. There was whispers and hisses, angry, hateful words of curses and insults spat at her, and something being taken. Then, when she next had coherent thoughts and could take note of her surroundings, she found herself standing in an open field around a campfire, and several people seeming surprised at her presence. Her mind feels a little muddled, but she instantly picks out Grian, Tango, Cleo, and Scar from the faces, the rest coming to her: Bdubs, Etho, Pearl, Gem, Impulse, Mumbo, and even Scott, Lizzie, Joel, and Jimmy. There's three faces she doesn't know: a boy, or young man more accurately, with blonde hair, a bandana that looks to have hearts on it, a set of jean-blue shorts, and a green jacket with fingerless gloves. There's another man in a suit that instantly reminds her of Mumbo, though the sleeves seem to have been ripped off, or at least poorly cut off, and a third man with dark skin watching her with a cool but confused gaze. "Xerean?" Grian asks, drawing her attention. "Grian?" She replies, not sure whether she wants to yell about the fact she's been taken away from her conversation with Ren, ask about what's going on, or back away from the mass of people staring at her. "Xerean, I–what are you–no, HOW, HOW are you here??" Grian wonders, sounding just as flabbergasted as she feels. "I don't know! I was speaking with Ren, then I blacked out or something, and now I'm here!" Grian pauses, then nods and motions for the others to move back to the little seats they all have. "Right. Well, we can figure that out later..." There's an almost imperceptible emphasis on the 'later', clearly she and the Watcher are going to have a discussion about this after he's finished. Grian gathers their attention, then begins to speak.

"This is Secret Life. We all have three lives, and once we're on red, we become hostile. The goal is, as always, outlive all the others, but here's the catch. If you look at your health, you'll see we all have 30 hearts each. More than normal, but listen–if you take damage, you won't be getting that heart back. So taking as little damage as possible will be very important for success." The Avian smiles. "And there's a fun little thing about this particular Life Series: we all will be assigned a Task. You must fulfill this Task by the end of the time requirement or you fail. You can't tell ANYONE what this Task is, or you'll instantly fail. If you want a different Task, you can re-roll, but it'll be harder. If you fail a Task, you get nothing, but if you fail a re-roll, you will lose 10 hearts. If you successfully complete your Task, you go up to see the Secret Keeper over there." Grian points at the massive stone statue in the distance, and Xerean instantly knows she doesn't like it. She stays silent though; she's always wondered how these 'Life Series' work, and when her friends come back from one, they don't tell her much about them other than very vague or bare details. Grian continues. "It will give you gifts, and replenish the number of hearts you have if you're not at 30. Now, a few other things I believe are worth mentioning: There isn't a Boogeyman this Season, mobs might drop spawn eggs, but that's a very slim chance, once for each Task, you can gift a heart to another player, the recipe for TNT has gone back to its Vanilla recipe, and we can use high-level enchantments once more." There's a few appreciative murmurs, and Grian spreads his wings. "With technicalities out of the way, let's start!"

A pulse of purple energy causes the flames to crackle and spit for a moment, then disappears, and Xerean notices the change instantly. This feels like when Grian used his Watcher magic so he could help make her sleep. But his was gentle, full of good intentions. This feels like cold, iron bars in comparison to the pillow fort of Grian's effect on her. Bottom line? Something or someone has taken or restricted her power. Not all of it, else she'd be dead, but repressing what they left behind to keep her from using it. Most of the group ignores her, though a couple of the Hermits and Jimmy give her a quizzical glance before forming groups and immediately setting off on some adventure. Scar, Grian, and the blonde-haired boy come over, though. Scar comes up and hugs Xerean warmly, though she wonders if she feels a small tremor in his grip, or maybe it's a little tighter than normal. She's sure he's just happy to see her, though. "Fancy seeing you here! Grian, you never told me she was gonna be a part of the series this time!" Grian and Scar share a complicated look, and then the Watcher indicates to the blonde guy. "Just so we can get this through and over with, Martyn, this is Xerean. She's a new friend from Hermitcraft. Xerean, this is Martyn. He's been in the Life Series with us. "A pleasure to meet'cha." Martyn greets her warmly, offering his hand, which she takes and shakes, silently congratulating herself on not being awkward about it this time. "Same to you. I like the headband...wait, do those hearts have..." Martyn nods, and removes it to show her. As he reaches up for the headband, Xerean notices a scar on his forearm, the color making it almost imperceptible, but the lines are clear: it's a stopwatch, or some sort of clock. Oddly, there's no hands, only a symbol like a broken rectangle. "These are all the ways I've managed to die across these series. We all have some way of keeping track, whether we want it or not." There's a slight, bitter note to the last comment, but he doesn't elaborate before putting the bandana back on. "It's a death counter." She realizes, and with a mildly puzzled glance, Martyn nods. "I guess you could call it that. Anyway, I just wanted to meet the new Lifer, I'm gonna go off and see if I can find anything. See ya!" He leaves, and the trio wait until he's out of earshot before speaking. "What are you doing here?? The Coding was very specific to make sure you wouldn't be able to get in!" Grian says in a hushed but aggressive voice. He then pauses, waits a moment, and corrects himself: "You yourself aren't inherently what I want to keep out, but–" Xerean nods, not offended in the slightest. "I know." She confirms with a grim smile. "Now, I don't mean to stress you out, but...I can't leave." Grian cocks his head, while Scar simply blinks. "You mean like, the Rift is down again?" She shakes her head, already disliking this. "No, I mean, I legitimately CANNOT leave. I don't have the power. Watch." She lifts up her hand, Grian tensing, but when she waves her hand, nothing happens. He relaxes, then furrows his brow. "I can't make portals, I can feel it. Something has removed my abilities from me." Grian's wings go a little slack. "Let's move somewhere out of the open for this." He says, glancing around. "There's not much available to hide in, buddy." Scar notes. "Well, if we went over to your big statue guy, that would probably work for now." Xerean suggests. The avian looks at it and sighs.

With Grian's assent, they move over to the statue, which sets her on edge. There's a dark effect in the background, like it's zeroing in on her and only her, taking away the world so it's only focused on her. "I don't like the way it darkens when you get close." Scar observes, as they all sit on the ground. Grian, eyes distant and posture slack, snaps back into focus for a moment. "I dont know why it does that, it just does. Now shh, I want to check something." Grian's eyes go out of focus once more, leaving an awkward silence. Xerean decides to take a closer look at Scar. He's wearing a simple beige shirt underneath a poncho that looks to have gotten actual sunflowers woven into the rim, though it only really covers one side, green-blue pants, and tall boots good for long-distance travelling and covering various types of terrain. His green eyes seem less bright, but so far, she hasn't seen any distinct change from the Scar she knows. Maybe it's just the weird lighting, because Grian's feathers look duller, too. "I like the new look." She says quietly, and Scar smiles softly. "Thank you. I gotta admit, it's kind of...growing on me." She snickers, and sighs. "It gets very...quiet, without you all on Hermitcraft. You all randomly disappear for what, a couple of weeks, then act like nothing happened when you come back, despite the fact some things do clearly affect you. Why do you keep coming back if you're so distraught by the end?" Scar doesn't look away, but a sort of melancholy expression comes over him while he fiddles with the flowers on his clothing. "We...don't...exactly have a choice..." He admits, speaking carefully, but before he can elaborate, Grian comes back. "Okay. So. Xerean, you're not part of Code, we know that already. But somehow, now, you're practically entirely immersed in it, more so than normal players...You function in the same way a normal player would, but when you die on your last life, you don't respawn, you don't go home, or enter spectator mode, you're just...no longer there." Grian stands, talons scraping and clicking against the mossy, weathered stone as he starts pacing. "I disappear?" Xerean asks,not all too happy with this new development. "Like an object thrown into the Void: entirely erased, your Code simply ends." Scar looks between the two, worried. "You're Admin, here, you can fix that, right?" Grian frowns, then turns to the two. "Okay, so...let me–right, let me just set things straight, here...you just...appeared, after visiting Ren, but you don't know how or why, correct?" Grian asks, returning to his pacing. Xerean nods, trying to keep her hands still. "And now you're saying that you're unable to use your abilities, like they've been taken from you." Xerean holds her arms a little tighter, but clarifies: "They can't be wholly taken from me, not only have we not found anyone with the power since nobody's managed to do it yet, but I wouldn't be here if that was true. I have just enough to keep me alive and functioning, but little enough that I cannot use my Chaos abilities. Someone had a certain plan in mind by doing this." Grian exhales long and slow, frowning in deep concentration. "I can't get you out of here, at least, not at this moment. If we're lucky, there will be a loophole somewhere, but until then..." Grian stops to look at her. "Welcome to Secret Life."