Now, she's in the mouth of a cave, and can feel the Rift behind her. This is a different place, but still a Server-World. THAT Server-World. That she heard the voices from. But it feels different from Hermitcraft. It has the same air as the Dream SMP did, a sort of 'important story happening' feeling she has decided is the feel of 'Lore'. Assuming Lore to be a sort of power or magical thing. However, it's not as 'impending doom' feeling, no, it's lighter, happier, like Hermitcraft. So where am I? She can sense magic here, used by the people who inhabit this world. So where are they? Curious, she climbs up to see above the bits of earth in her way, looking out at a river and the hill across from her, noting a big bridge to her left, before abruptly being pulled somewhere. It catches her off-guard, usually she's the one teleporting herself, but a few silent moments tell her she isn't in danger. Yet. Now, she's deep underground, surrounded by the skulk, on a wooden platform she bets to be a roof, considering the way it's shaped and has a chain tethering it to the top of the cavern. Out beyond the structure she's on, the beginnings of a town can be seen. A well-built one, lights and dark patches placed to create a unique sort of atmosphere that intrigues her. It's probably a deliberate design, either to hide its true size it conserve light. She takes a step forward, the wood creaking under her feet. "Hello?" She stops, taken by surprise. "Is somebody there?" It's a man's voice, tired but hopeful. Sounds to be coming from below her. So she sits on the roof, leaning forward till her momentum flips her upside down, meaning that now, she's only hanging on by her crossed legs. Of course, her body weight is nothing to her, which keeps her from falling. Sure enough, there's a man, with a ripped-up shirt and messy blonde hair, covered in dirt and bruises. He doesn't look to be faring all that well, either. There's a dark spot over his right eye and he looks very tired. The surprise is evident, though, when he sees her, as he cries out and stumbles backwards, causing the structure–which now is clearly a cage–to swing a bit. "Hello." She says brightly. He takes a few moments to recover, sitting down and taking deep breaths, probably to calm his heartbeat. "Uh, hi. Who are–who are you?" He asks, brushing some of the hair out of his eye. "Name's Xerean. Why're you in a cage?" She replies, giving him a smile. Smiles always make you look more friendly, as Scar says. "My name's Oli. I uh–I stole from someone, so they got mad and trapped me here." This piques her interest. Reaching up to grip the ceiling, Xerean lets her legs fall and lands on the fence, perfectly balanced, perching like a bird. "Well, that makes sense. People tend to get a bit uppity if you take their things...a whole war and a bunch of side-wars started that way, and a...hm. Well, put simply, it ended in someone kind of dethroning a high-standing economical figure." She says, thinking back. "Really? Wow." She shrugs. "They ended out alright." Well, more or less. "Say, do you think you could get me out of here? I haven't seen the sun in WEEKS, and I can't stand these shriekers." As if to prove the point, one goes off below them. "I–" She cuts off as once again, she teleports away. 

"What??" She says, both surprised and a little upset. She was speaking! Couldn't whatever teleported her have at LEAST let her finish her conversation, or even her SENTENCE? I still need to understand what made me teleport in the first place...she reminds herself. Looking around, now she's in a mesa, standing atop one of the wide, flat mountains made of various clays and terracottas. Nearby is a big bowl, the top of a few wooden buildings visible. On the other side of the bowl, she can see a Nether Portal, so someone clearly lives here. Maybe she can use this opportunity to spy in and get information on what the other side is. She doesn't understand why she wasn't shown the other people she'd seen, though, so she assumes that was an entirely separate matter. Taking to the sky, it becomes swiftly clear this is a sort of western town, or at least themed to be as such, and seems sort of quiet. Oddly, out past the bowl, there's a cloud-themed wall, near the upper rim of the bowl, a small statue of a three-eyed green alien, and an even smaller one of a snake in a boot at the far side of the top of this mountain. Those don't seem very Western town-y. I wonder who lives here? Other than a few cats, an allay, some farm animals, and a horse or two, it seems mostly barren and lacking people at the moment. Landing on the ground, she picks up a handful of sand, then throws it in the air, drawing on its memories and things that tread over it to see what lived here. There's a small thing, a person, about the size of a large doll. He looks like a sheriff. Makes sense, given the theme of this town. Another person materializes, far taller, requiring the sand to draw on more from the ground to create the image of. He looks quite similar to the depiction of a Greek god, towering over Xerean, although, that isn't exactly any big achievement to begin with. Heck, Grian's taller than she is. Those were the most recent, or the ones who most often returned here, it seems. Letting the sand fall back to the ground, she tries to explore the town. The big building seems to be someone's house, a big wagon of TNT beside it, quite tempting to light, and she spots a board of some kind, with signs and writing. "People who respect the Law and the Sheriff: fWhip, Sausage, Katherine, Smajor." She stops at the name Smajor. "Scott?" She knows a Scott, or Smajor, as the Starborn from Origin. He's the one who gave her the book she later gave EX, if it's him, maybe he'd remember her. Starborns have very good memory. That'd be great, Scott was always fun to hang around with. Moving on, she keeps up her self-given tour. There's a hole in the mountain, letting a railway in the process of being built go through, and up close, the buildings are a little more warm-feeling. She only actually saw the roofs, so she can appreciate it better from the ground, seeing what more it has to offer. Curious to see more, she walks through the tunnel, enjoying the echoes of her footsteps, then it opens up into the rest of the mesa, boxed in by those cloud walls, a massive opening of wood providing the only means of entry or exit on foot. There's a church and a barn, a jailhouse, and various other buildings of which she doesn't know if they have a specific purpose or not. When she lets herself float a bit to see the place better, she thinks she even sees a saloon. Every good western town has a saloon. The train rails end just outside the cave, with a barrier and a sign that reads 'Day 11571 Of The TUMBLE TOWN RAIL Being Closed...'. Evidently,  this is a very big project. "Excuse me!" A new voice! Looking around, Xerean scans the area for who spoke. "Excuse me, who are you?" She spots the speaker approaching her from the big tunnel, being the little sheriff she saw from before, striding up with more confidence than she expected, especially considering the fact he's almost three times smaller than she is. Quite frankly, he's doll-sized. Is he just a really big Inchling?  They're more action figure sized, so she has some doubts, but who knows? Every world is different. Letting herself levitate closer to the ground, she takes a chance to get a better look at him. Cute little star badge, cool sheriff hat, the whole western theme, and elytra behind him. Who made them so small? Did he? Or are there magic items that make things small for people like him? "Hello, little guy. My name's Xerean. What's yours?" She replies, speaking a little softer in case he's more sensitive to louder sounds. She's met several smaller beings where this was the case, so she's not going to risk it. "My name's Jimmy, I'm the Sheriff of this here Town." He states. "Jimmy." She repeats. It's a nice name, sort of cute in a way. "Well, you certainly look like a Jimmy." She informs him, smiling. "Uh...thank you?" Jimmy replies, confused. Maybe? Facial expressions are still hard for her to fully understand. "What are you, by the way? An Inchling? You'd be a pretty big Inchling, but you don't physically look like a doll, either, so you aren't a puppet come to life or something. Are you?" Jimmy fervently shakes his head. "I'm not a toy or a doll or an Inchling. I'm a human being, someone just decided it'd be funny to make me really small." She nods. "Ah. Yeah, that makes sense. And to that end, I have to ask, aren't you scared? There's a GIANT walking around." The little sheriff pauses, either to consider or in hesitation, she doesn't know. "Well, that 'giant' is someone called Joel, the god. So he says." That last part is mumbled, almost unheard by Xerean. "But no, I'm not scared. I'm the Sheriff. I can't be, and I'm not." Quite a brave little thing then, isn't he? "And nobody's tried to take advantage of this?" This may be an odd question, but if her people are intending to use this Rift, then she needs to know if they've been here. That's an important first step. "No? Why? You won't, right?" She puts her hands up as Jimmy steps back. "No, no, I won't, I just want to understand. Like, do they respect the Sheriff? Your town seems pretty safe and untouched, after all." Jimmy relaxes a little. "I should hope so. Not all of them do, but there's a few." That's good. She may not have the same intentions as any other Chaos Witch, but if they'd seen someone like Jimmy, he certainly wouldn't have said that. Let alone been here in the first place. "Glad to hear it. As a Sheriff, you uphold the law, after all. Can't disrespect the law." Technically, this doesn't apply to her, but sometimes rules are fun. "Thank you! You get it." The sheriff sounds relieved, very happy at her comment. It's then that she decides that she likes this guy. Not in any sort of romantic way, that isn't her sort of thing. But as a potential new friend? Absolutely. She'll have to protect him, too, if her people come through the Rift. Of course, same with whoever else lives here, but small things are in more danger. Out of nowhere, another one of those aggressive buzzes runs through her, causing the world to go blurry and murky around her. When it sharpens back into focus, Jimmy is watching her in confusion and concern. "I think I'm supposed to be leaving, now. If I come back here, I'll come look for ya." She explains, smiling at him. Slowly, the little sheriff nods, so Xerean reaches out for that weird buzz-shock thing, which she suspects came from Grumbot Prime. Or, at least the first time, anyway. This time, though, it reaches back out for her, grabs her, and pulls, dragging her somewhere new. This place is a shattered planet, chunks of rock flying off into space, one of which Xerean is standing on. 

"So there you are."

 She whips around, meeting eyes with a girl, who looks around 16 or 17, assuming she follows the years of humans, and most other species. She has short red hair, the color of her eyes is a sort of blueish green, and Xerean has to admit, she looks amazing. She has a black denim jacket with shiny metal buttons, pins, and patches, the sleeves cuffed and ending just above her elbows, and black fingerless gloves. There's a sort of long, flowy skirt that's open in the front, although, maybe it's not even a skirt, as she has shorts under them, so maybe it's just attached to a belt? Xerean isn't entirely sure. She has tall grey socks that are ripped over her knees, and tall, leather platform boots with laces and buckles. Her shirt is a lighter grey than the dark greys and blacks the rest of her clothes are, and there's a choker around her neck with spikes. "You weren't supposed to see that yet!" She tells her, not mad, but amused. "Who are you?" Xerean demands, already on edge. "Name's Jabber. And you're Xerean. The Rogue, as you've been nicknamed." She does a sort of elaborate but joking bow motion, the not-skirt thing flapping a bit in whatever wind has appeared. "How do you know my name?" She has three guesses, and the first two don't count. "I'm a Chaos Witch, too. Duh. Surely you can tell?" Jabber replies, spreading her arms. There it is. Unwilling to take chances, she lets her tail curl up behind her, tipped with a scythe-like protrusion that she favours from the Andalites. This doesn't go unnoticed by the other Chaos Witch. "No need for that. If I wanted to hurt you, I'd have done it already. You're fine." Jabber assures her, which isn't comforting in the least. "Prove to me I can trust you." Xerean challenges, her tail flicking. "Well, I can't show, but I can tell." Jabber picks up a rock, crushing it into dust, and gathers whatever other bits of dust she can. Like Xerean did to see who lived in Jimmy's town, it forms into Xisuma and Scar, who seems greatly disturbed, arguing about something with the Admin. "I managed to find you just as this happened. Of course, you were knocked out at the time, so you didn't notice me. I put the idea of bringing you along in your friend's head. Scar, right? Anyway, it wasn't too hard, he probably would have done it anyway, but I had to make sure. Once you were safe and out, I followed you all to your 'Hermitcraft Season 9' World. I made a Rift under the Watcher's big rock, originally to give you strength to help you wake up, but then to allow you a way between worlds and realities again." The dusts shift into different forms with her words, a small recap of what she'd found out from Scar's head. She hadn't known about the influence, and that scares her a bit. This Chaos Witch could have easily torn her friends and new home apart. And she wouldn't have been able to do anything, because the stupid Moon was keeping her in a coma. The Rift was a mysterious appearance, one Grian didn't explain fully, more that one day it wasn't there, and the next, it was.  "I didn't expect that robot thing to get through, though, and again, you weren't supposed to interact with it, it wasn't finished! It takes time to make this, you know." Jabber sighs, shaking her head in feigned disappointment. "Oh, well, I'm sorry, what would YOU do if you suddenly discovered a potentially dangerous portal underneath your friend's house?" Xerean points out defensively. "Jump into it." Jabber admits, without a moment's hesitation. Despite herself, she laughs for a second, before pulling her guard up again and regaining her cool. "You aren't the same anymore, are you?" Jabber asks, a strange question . "What do you mean?" Who is this person to tell her if she's the same or not, anyway? "You've grown more hesitant, Xerean. You killed a city and then, when you escaped, you fell in with the sheep. You forgot how to be a wolf." Jabber informs her, an abrupt comment that catches her off-guard. "I can be a wolf." She objects, a little offended. "I just don't want to scare them all. Unlike everyone else, I like having friends in these worlds." Jabber nods, leaning back to let the dust collect into a seat under her. "And you're trying so hard. Would you like some help?" Xerean narrows her eyes, that moment of laughter gone. "And why would you say that? What kind of help are you talking about?" Jabber points at herself. "Me! I helped you before, but now we can make it official. You just woke up from the Watcher forcing you to sleep. Surely you're in need of an extra set of eyes. Or several." The air around Jabber glitches, and a bunch of eyes appear, fixed upon Xerean. It gives her memories to what her people portrayed the Watchers as. And again, it makes her laugh. Why? Because it's silly. "So, what do you say?" She offers out her hand, the eyes disappearing as she returns to seriousness. Xerean considers. On one hand, a second Chaos Witch could be a good ally, especially if she's up against more of them, but on the other, she could be a spy or laying the groundwork for a trap. "I understand your hesitation. I don't really care about the people you do, I just care about you. We aren't exactly meant to be alone." 

And thus sets in the greatest decision Xerean has made in all the years she's been alive. 

She takes Jabber's hand, and shakes. "Very well." Jabber grins, and the world once more disappears. Now, she's back in front of the Rift, which warbles as always, but seems stronger, now. Now that she understands what is behind it, she realizes it WAS Jabber. Stepping back, she notices the lodestone that was beside her, the little button atop it, and the sign that reads 'Begin?' That's new. Another thing from Jabber? But to begin WHAT? "Oh, there you are! I've been looking for you all day!" Grian calls, swooping down to land beside her. "I was just walking around." She says, partially true. Except in this case, the walking was walking through dimensions. "Oh. Well, now that you're here, what do you think about that button?" She looks at it again. "I wanna press it." She admits, a common impulse she shares with the Avian. Buttons are meant to be pressed, levers pulled. The buttons make nice clicking noises, too. "I know, right? I've been trying NOT to all day, but even GRUMBOT wants me to. My suggestion for content today was literally 'press the button'. I'm hesitant to, though, there's a lot we still don't know about this thing." If Jabber placed the button, there must have been a reason for it. "I'm gonna press it." She announces, walking up to it. "Wait—shouldn't we talk it over, first?" Grian asks, following her. "Well I think I know a LITTLE tiny bit of what's going on, and I'm betting this is part of it." Jabber never said she had to keep silent about her existence, and if she decides to randomly pop in one day, it'd be best that nobody would panic. "So, yeah, I'm gonna press it. We could do it together, to satisfy your button-pushings." Grian looks from her to the button, then inhales deeply and nods. "Okay, let's do it. On three." He puts his hand out over it, the action copied by Xerean, and begins the count...up? "One...two...three." On three, they both hit the small button, hearing it click, and wait. Nothing happens. Curiously, Xerean smells the air. No change in the power or magic, the portal looks the same, as does everything around them. She tries hitting the button again. Nothing. "Huh. Well, I guess we'll figure THAT out later." Grian nods, just as confused, if not a bit more disappointed. Buttons are supposed to DO things. This one didn't have any clear effect. After a few more minutes of nothing happening, they decide that was it, and move on. "Now, you were saying you thought you knew something?" Grian asks, sitting on the stone ground. "Yeah. So, um, some things happened. When I woke up, I went over and touched the portal, right? When I did, I...saw things. A bunch of people from different realities, different worlds. It only lasted a second, but for me, it was a few minutes. Then, when I came back just now, I actually managed to go...through?" His eyes widen instantly. "You did?! How?" She glances at the Rift. "I just touched it again, and willed myself into connecting to and through it. I was trying to see those people I'd seen in it before. It seemed to have other plans, though. I arrived through and was teleported into a massive cavern, met someone, and then teleported into a mesa to meet a little sheriff named Jimmy. Had a nice chat with him, then, I was taken OUT of that world, and dragged somewhere else." She pauses for breath, and to figure out how to describe this. Grian is heavily invested, paying rapt attention to what she says. "I met another Chaos Witch." Grian's interest turns to shock  and worry, but she puts her hands up in a calming gesture. "Her name is Jabber. She looks to be my age, maybe a few hundred to a thousand years older. Still, pretty young, like me. She's...uh...she said she wants to help. That she HAS, helped. Claimed to have made the Rift, not only to help heal me when I'd been recovering from the Moon, but also to help me travel between worlds again. She's offered to help ensure the rest of my people don't make it through, which I suppose we will have to wait and see if she'll keep her word, because I accepted the help." Grian runs a hand through his hair, rendered speechless. "I...have no words. I thought the rest of your people hated you??" Xerean shrugs. "I thought so, too. This one doesn't. She has better conversation skills than the rest of them, though. Banter isn't a major thing in Chaos Witch social interactions. Just say the thing you're going to say and move on. No jokes, no comments other than necessary ones, and...well, it's just not the same. She's not like that. Too bright." This is why Xerean herself struggles with talking to others. She literally never learned how. Not entirely, anyway. Chaos Witches have very few expressions, emotions either repressed or well-hidden at all times, and there's not as much depth to their conversations. "Do you trust her?" Grian asks, in what sounded to be a 'not suspicious' tone. She hopes. "I think. If she'd wanted to hurt me, or any of us, there's any number of ways she could have gone about it by now." She points out, half reassuring herself of that. Grian nods, his wings relaxing from their tense position. "If you trust her, then so will I." He states, a warm ball of air rising in Xerean's chest, something she's come to understand as gratitude. "Thank you. Now, why don't we go bother Scar for a bit? I've been missing him." She can come back in a few days to check on the Rift. That will give her some time to reset, too. Grian stands, taloned feet scraping the stony floor, and flares his wings. "Yeah! Maybe you can come see Hotguy, too!" He shoots up and out of the cavern, Xerean following close behind. 

Don't let me down, Jabber. 

A/N

Just needed to say that Jabber is NOT actually my character, instead she's one of my friend's, whom was kind enough to allow me to use her for this story, that friend being the wonderful @JabberJabb

Just wanted to clarify :)