Xerean sits up, angry before she can understand why. She's in a bed, the portal thrumming in its deep bass nearby. When did I fall asleep?! I could have missed them! She bolts up, and promptly falls out of the bed, wrestling with the blanket. Why didn't she just use her abilities to stand? She huffs when she looks at her arm. A lilac purple shackle is dissipating. Watcher magic. "Grian forced me to sleep." She realizes. How long was I out?  She tries to think back to what she last remembers, which comes back as the haze of sleep leaves her. 

She was still watching the Rift, as she had been for two weeks straight, without stop. "See anything?" Grian asked, coming up beside her. "Not yet." She sighed, without shifting her gaze. "Do you think you'll give it a little break soon? You're starting to look like me and Mumbo last Season." He told her, not as an insult, but out of genuine concern. "I'm fine. You worry about the Hermits and your people, and I'll take care of worrying about mine." She didn't mean to sound so harsh, but she's been increasingly on edge. Grian spread his wing over her back. They were never really good at the 'physical contact as signs of friendship' thing, but he tries nonetheless. "You're tired, Xerean. Take a break. It'll be fine. Just a couple of hours. Please?" She shook her head, both to disagree and stop her vision from blurring, her body betraying her for the allure of sleep. "No. I'm fine." She growled. "But you're NOT fine. I didn't want to do this, but..." a weight overtook her, and she looked down at her wrists. The shackles were there, chains attached and held by the Watcher. "I can't let you do that to yourself. I get you want to prove you're not like other Chaos Witches, but you won't do any of that if you're burnt out. You're tired, and I'm making sure you sleep whether you like it or not. I'll make sure nothing dangerous happens." Grian promised, the shackles dampening her powers so she couldn't fight back. Grian and Xerean both rival one another in terms of power, meaning that Grian can use his abilities and they'll have a genuine impact on the Chaos Witch, which is precisely what he did. They also had the effect of making her even more tired, which made her frustrated all the more. "I have to...watch..." she mumbled, already slumping into him. Grian's only about two inches taller than she is, but he made the most of it to start carrying her to a bed he must have laid down beforehand. "And who's the Watcher here?" Grian replied, laying her down. "I'll come get you once you're well rested. Just...sleep." That was the last thing she coherently remembers of the interaction. 

"Ugh, Grian! Stop being a good friend to me." She huffs, partially grateful. She feels better. Her eyes don't feel dry or hard to focus on things, her mind isn't so scattered, and she can actually feel her limbs again. The shackles are gone, so she waves her hand to remake the bed, then notices a strange feel to the air. The portal. She hadn't noticed it, but the portal is DIFFERENT. Full of life and unspoken words. She walks up to it, before hesitantly putting her hand out. Closing her eyes, she focuses on understanding what this portal connects to. If it connects to her people, she needs to know. So she specifically focuses for people somehow connected to her. Be it in knowledge or the same species, someone who has some other connection to her, anything that may give her a clue.

Instantly, everything fractures, like a mirror full of cracks. In her head, she sees things. The first thing she sees is a vampiric monster that hides what she is and her need for blood, angry and hurt by the world. She knows this without knowing: Mazikeen Maize. She lifts one of her long, pointed but rabbit-like, sandy blonde ears, whipping around. Her eyes are dark brown, but they look almost entirely black, like holes in her skull. She's weak and tired, that is very evident by her sunken eyes and bags, but she's still sharp nonetheless. "Who's there?" She demands, angry and fierce. "Where are you?" She puts her hand into her sleeve, pulling out a knife. Suddenly, she throws it. Xerean reaches out to catch it, but she glitches away just before she can touch it. Now, a massive dragon-dragonfly thing screeches, clinging to a vertical, rocky surface. It has a deep blue base color, marked with streaks of purple and lined with light blues and oranges, also appearing to have no legs, and two sets of eyes, calling out in screeches and chitters to something. This is a creature, with blue skin and big, yellow eyes, small, lighter blue dots scattered across its face and body. It also has a long tail, seems about 9 feet tall, and presently appears to be skillfully climbing the rocks over to it. It, or she, as it looks to be one, calls back in a strange tongue, swinging over and settling down beside it. It looks like a sort of flat space, and further exploration shows it's overlooking a cliff that reveals the clouds below, and more of these brightly colored dragon things. The girl and the beast go back in forth, making cries and calls, the girl occasionally speaking some dialect, but not one Xerean's familiar with. A girl, with dark brown hair in a braid down her shoulder, green eyes, pale skin, and white streaks in her hair like Anna from Frozen stands before her now. She wears what's clearly a man's clothes, while they fit her, they aren't fit for her body type. There's three scaly beasts surrounding her: dragons. One of them, the biggest, is black, with little golden spots, lays curled around her in a clearly protective manner. The second biggest one is also black, with pinkish red whorls on its scales and red wings. The smallest one is a pretty, deep shade of navy blue. And unlike the other two dragons, whose eyes are orangeish yellow, this one's eyes are a shade of red that compliments its scales well. The girl–Aedys–growls at the dragons, who rumble deep in their throats in reply, perking up and growing wary. It's as though she was actually speaking to them. She climbs with clear expertise onto the big, black one's back, before it spreads its wings, roars, and leaps into the air. She only has a simple rigging of rope. No saddle, no straps, just the ropes to hold on with. They're gone a few moments later, and it changes. Now, there's a glitching, warbling voice, just as it finishes speaking. She recognizes this one; he's the guy who keeps losing at Uno. She cocks her head, looking around. "Do you feel that?" Xerean asks. That wasn't her voice, though. This one's Canadian. Not fully, but it's still a little noticeable. Her name is Zee. She isn't...real? Not entirely, anyway. She's a different version of somebody else. But she doesn't know that. Not yet. "Feel what? I can't feel anything." A man answers. Despite being FAR bigger than this 'Zee' person, Xerean can somehow tell that this guy isn't a giant. Instead, Zee's just...really small. "Huh. Weird." She blinks, this time in the middle of a battle. She's a wolf...with wings? Snarling savagely, she bites into someone's arm, bowling him over and clamping her jaws tightly, using her tail and making it really long to cool around him. A shapeshifter. She had a dream about her once. Koware, right? Someone grabs her from behind, forcing her to let go in order to retaliate. This one's a shorter...what is this? A vision? Whatever it is, it's short and moves on shortly. This one's a new shapeshifter, watching this man with white hair and golden eyes. "You knew they'd do this." She hisses, clearly upset about something. "How was I? Jaskier and I barely talk anymore." The man growls, poking a fire they sit in front of. The girl, also named Mazikeen, minus the Maize part, scowls. "Regardless, I'm getting him back. You very well wake up in the morning to me being gone. I didn't just lose my Songbird, I lost Kielf." The man stays silent, staring at the flames. "They want you back." He tells her finally. "It's a trap." She lifts her chin. "Yes. But they won't stop me, and neither will you." The man sighs heavily, then an aggressive buzz runs through Xerean, tearing her focus from the things in front of her. She jerks her hand away. She only touched it for a second, but that second sent her to places she shouldn't have gone. And two of them NOTICED HER. This portal, this Rift, is dangerous. She needs to tell Grian so they can remove it. 

Spinning, she stops. There's a GIANT. ROBOT. What did she miss?! A quick estimate of the past time says she's been asleep for a good three days. What? Ugh, Grian. Mildly annoyed and mildly impressed, she advances, inspecting the machine. It has a sort of Mumbo face, with the iconic moustache and it looks almost cute, in a way. "What are you?" She asks it. There's a chest with paper inside, and another few quick looks in the past of the paper tells her what to do. "What are you?" She asks again, this time following the given procedure. There's a set of rapid clicks she enjoys the sound of, a little boopity-boop, and the paper comes back with new text. "Anomaly found: error code MX-3112008. Loading virus protection protocol." She stares at the page. "What." She says. She gives it a few seconds, there's a thrum building, like the fan kicking in on a computer, then dies down. Must be this loading thing. "What are you?" She tries once more. "Why are you here?" It replies. Grian named it 'Grumbot Prime'. With little to no idea what that means, she considers what to tell it. "Because I can be. Stop dodging my questions. What are you, and how did you get here?" Maybe asking something else will help? "I am called Grumbot. I was brought here through the Rift." Xerean glances back at the cursed thing. She's convinced it's cursed. She's fairly certain she saw other realities and universes, echoes of something she has a tie to. She even heard voices. She's certain they're from another Server-World, too. Something is on the other side of this Rift, and if Grumbot Prime is from a Server-World, maybe the voices were too. She was merely more connected to these Alters, she'll call them. Reflections of self, of someone, different stories portrayed by echoes of the same being in all universes. Is this what her people are going to use? And what if they use it to go through to other worlds?? She can't focus on that now. "Okay, then. Now, what is this anomaly thing you found??" She inquires. Sitting on air, she waits for the response. "You are error code MX-3112008." She frowns. "How do you know that I'm an Error in this world?" She doesn't trust this. Those who know are either her greatest allies or worst enemies. "The Simulation for H-8 is in my records. It defined you as an error/anomaly. Your origins of arrival are unknown, but what little is known about you is that you are dangerous." It explains. "I don't want to be dangerous. I only am because I must be. Are you dangerous?" She responds. She doesn't want to trust the robot, but Grian seems to have an attachment to it, so at the very least she can't damage or tamper with it. "Do I need to be?" She snorts. "Preferably not. I have enough to worry about, I don't need to add 'murderous multiversal machine' to my list." Although, she's pretty confident she could take this thing on in a fight. It's just a matter of if she wants to or not. "Well, I'm done here. I need to go talk to Grian about all this. Don't cause mass destruction, and I'll see you later." She informs it, then shoots out of the hole. Grian's base seems just about done, now, a massive boulder with smaller, floating ones around it, and a bridge connecting his tower to Mumbo's own base. Grian's presently responding to a message he'd received in the chat, so she decides to dive-bomb him. While she doesn't land ON him, she does land very close beside him. "Hi, Grian." He doesn't exactly scream, but it's definitely a loud shout. "So you're awake now." He observes, once he's gotten over his mini heart attack. "You let me sleep for three days!" She replies, helping him back up to his feet. "It was 4, actually." He corrects, clearly not in the least bit sorry of his actions. "Whatever. Apparently a giant robot appeared in that time. Do you have any idea how that may have happened?" She raises her eyebrows at him. "That'd be Grumbot. Or, Grumbot Prime, I call him. Mumbo and I made him to help Mumbo win a mayoral campaign in Season 7. Now, get this: I'm fairly certain he's from another universe. Mumbo didn't win, not in ours, but apparently in Grumbot Prime's, he did." Grian searches Xerean's face for a reaction. "That would explain some things." She admits. "You're less impressed by this than I thought." The Avian deflates a little, obviously he was looking forward to telling her. "I kinda figured it out myself. Had a talk with your robot." She shrugs, bumping his shoulder apologetically. Saying 'sorry' feels weird. "Oh. Of course you did." He sighs. She considers, then decides not to tell him what she saw. "But if you're worrying about him, you don't need to. He's just here, generating content for me and the rest of the Hermits. For example, I got to do a puppet show about Wardens." This catches her attention. "Not actual wardens, I hope?" He shakes his head. "No, I just pretended to be one." She grins. "That would be entertaining." She agrees, momentarily distracted by this new notion. "Tango's been working hard at Decked Out 2, you should go take a look. The redstone's insane. And you haven't seen him yet this Season, have you? He looks a little different this time." Grian informs her, waving a wing in Tango's general direction. "I'll keep that in mind. But I think I'm going to go keep an eye on that robot anyway. Maybe Tango'll come by and I can say hi." She's never spoken to Tango directly. Once she'd gotten the Ilve out of Xisuma, he called the Hermits together to make Xerean's joining them official, which meant that everyone is now aware at least OF her and a little bit of what she can do. Some people, like Gem, BDubs,  and Ren, were happy to welcome her, but others were a bit more apprehensive and unsure, namely being Jevin, Doc, and Tango. She hopes to get on a good track with them, Ren's said he's been trying to help ease Doc's perspective when she comes up in a conversation, but either way, she doesn't want anything to be forced. EX made the very good point that they'd either like her or they wouldn't. 

But, is it really her fault if she just so happens to be in the same place at the same time as the fiery hybrid? Besides, I still need to understand what I saw. Saying goodbye to the Watcher, she dives back down, sideyes Grumbot Prime, and approaches the portal once again. Last time, she was sent off to fractured moments of someone, like Doctor Strange messing with time. She wants to understand what that was. So taking a deep breath, and preparing for anything, she touches the Rift again. And again, the fracture happens, this time dragging her somewhere new.

A/N 

I cannot tell you HOW many edits this went though, it's taken me SO long to just figure this out, but I hope it's at least snared your interest a bit. The Rift gave me a whole lot of ideas and potential to work with, so I'm gonna be experimenting a bit with that. Bear with me, it may be really cringe, but I'm not gonna be a better writer without making a few mistakes, so onwards we go!!