This will be connected to *Painfully changes the 30 chapters for lore*(The OG Short Story) one, which is sorta like this one but set a little bit before this one takes place.

With that being said, sit back and enjoy the ride!

She can't do it anymore.

She needs to tell him.

It's only been about a week and a half, but it's eating her up inside, she can't sleep, her appetite is nonexistent, and even Helsknight, who usually doesn't pick up on her unspoken issues, knows something is up. Neither he or EX have dared mention it, trial and error has taught them that if something is distressing the young Chaos Witch, it's probably best to let her admit it on her own. The last time Hels attempted to get her to talk about something, she lashed out and he ended up with cracked ribs and a dislocated shoulder. She healed it immediately after, but the point was noted: she doesn't do well when confronted. Of the two, EX takes a quieter, gentler approach to that, being discreet and cautious while Hels is blunt and forthcoming by comparison. Which is why Xerean is going to tell EX. At least, him first. Helsknight will be out terrorizing the forest, a way she's been trying to help him curb his impulses to go after Welsknight. Since hearing about his first encounter with his good counterpart, she has a few things against him trying to do anything in revenge. So they settled on slashing out on either her or various animals. Yes, she meant slashing. She and Hels will spar often, she gets to learn how to safely fight people without accidentally killing them, and Hels gets an interesting challenge, a way to blow off some steam, and keeps his skills sharp. And with EX as a voice of reason, it works out. Presently, the Admin's brother is reading a book Xerean had found for him, an old, historical text about an old, historical race known as the Starborn. She met one once; he was nice. He looks up and fully diverts his attention to her when he realizes she's approaching him. "I'm taking you somewhere." She says. This isn't a question, she needs this done so MAYBE she'll feel okay, and EX literally has nothing better to do, or he'd be doing it. EX pauses to check his page number, then sets it down and writes it on a little notepad so he doesn't forget, standing up to come over. Technically, he doesn't have to, but it'll help. "Whenever you're ready." He assures her, the Chaos Witch ducks her head a moment and decides exactly where she wants to go. Then, as a scene would have suddenly changed by the difference of one frame to the next, they're outside, on a mountain. Had EX been a few feet further, he'd have fallen off the edge. "You brought me here to talk?" He infers, looking around. She produces his elytra, giving them to him, waiting till he's out them on before developing her own wings. "We have to fly up to reach it." She explains curtly, more anxious than anything else. She walks over to the ledge, turns to him, then leans backwards, falling, before opening her wings and flying up. EX follows shortly after, letting her take the lead as they ascend. Rockets are not a problem for EX, she continuously will put another several or more into his inventory when she counts past 32 rockets firing. It's higher than I remember... she notes, pausing as the rockets can no longer be heard below her. Flapping to stay in place, she looks down, then gasps, diving down.

EX has fallen.

She reaches him quick enough, grabbing his arm and growing bigger to hold onto him better, while trying to rapidly slow their descent. He'd climbed into her palm when she grew to help, so she makes a platform of thick ice(water in the air), placing him on it, and hovering. "What happened?!" She asks, though the problem is evident the moment the words leave her mouth: his elytra shattered. Where they used to be smooth, rounded wings, now there are broken, jagged edges at the bottom, a slight sheen to it that doesn't come from enchantment. It comes from ice. "It appears elytra have a height limit." EX observes, his calm tone betrayed only by his eyes shifting everywhere and the fact he's out of breath. So using the elytra is out of the question, then. "Would you be able to carry me?" EX wonders, which is a good idea. She nods, scooping him up so one hand goes around his torso and leaves his arms free, and the other cups beneath him so there is no way he can fall. Using the ice platform, she takes off again, short hot after, finding what she's seeking: a strange, black sphere that seems to curve and bend unnaturally. The outer part of it is shades of muted, light blues, pinks, and purples, but the middle is black. It looks like a solid object, smooth and unyielding. "This is a portal. The one I escaped out of." She explains, willing the falter out of existence in her voice. She WILL take EX into the portal, and she WILL be fine. Nobody would dare go back. Of course, here she is, doing exactly that. "It's huge! How has Xisuma not noticed?" She shrugs. "Somehow, it's nonexistent. A null object that still takes up space. It's how we jump from universe to universe undetected." She answers, the massive sphere looming up before them. It warps and bends, like a spherical funhouse mirror, but doesn't seem to open to show a way in. EX even braces for a an impact, which never comes. See, a trick that comes with this strange occurrence is that the black part in the middle IS how you go in, although it looks solid. It's an illusion. In reality, it is a tunnel. Inside the tunnel, it is slightly cold, but the air is safe to breathe and it isn't too bad. The sides of the tunnel are a muted lilac purple, with the same shade but colored in blue and pink mixed in, physically, they're smooth, crystal-like, and strange, slight orange flashes spinning around them. She can practically hear the whispers. Meanwhile, EX is stunned and speechless. Objectively, it's beautiful. But once he knows the truth, she doubts he'll ever consider it that way again. As they continue on, it gets colder, the end of the tunnel another dark, deep misty blue hole. Without warning, she banks, causing EX to cry out, dodging past the massive hand and opening into the massive space beyond.

Her home.

Just like last time, the memories come back, the shrieks and yells and threats that pursued her escape ringing in her ears, clear as day. "This was my home. It had no name. We don't do things like that." She states, glancing down at her friend. He's speechless, taking in everything before and below him in awe. Swooping down, she picks up the head, landing on a building and setting him down before reverting to her normal height. "And these were once my people." She sighs. The Admin's brother takes the crystallized head, looking quite similar to that skull Indiana Jones adventured for, but purple and with features like glassy eyes, hair, lips, nose, and many more facets than the skull had. "How did this happen–WHAT happened?" EX eventually asks, setting the head down. She looks away, up to the glowing blue entrance they'd come from. "I was escaping." She starts, hoping to clarify that before continuing. He's been comfortable and lax with her capabilities and tendencies, but this is no doubt far beyond anything she's ever done before. "When a Chaos Witch turns 12, they are tested to see how strong they are, and discern their temperaments. I was found to be far stronger than anyone they'd ever seen before, and after a few thousand years of deliberation, they decided they needed to be rid of me. That didn't happen. Instead of being killed, I killed the guy instead, and in the uproar, fled." She looks up at the temple above them, the enormous stalactite where she was supposed to die. With a wave of her hand, a hazy illusion of her leaps from a window, falls for a moment, then snaps open her wings and starts flying toward the entrance. Behind her, a multitude of people are gathering, chasing after her. "They tried to kill me themselves, thinking to overwhelm me with numbers." One catches up to her, ripping savage claws into her arm, another ramming into her side with inhuman speed and force. More of them converge on her, some stabbing her, others wrenching her limbs into unnatural positions, and others helping drag her down. After several moments of writing and falling, she breaks free and continues on, nearly there. From there, Xerean changes the perspective so she can show him what happened in the tunnel. "One of them reached out to grab me again, and..." As the massive hand draws near, she kicks off it with all her might, leaving a swiftly spreading layer of the crystal that surrounds them. She never looks back, but now she can see exactly what happened. There was no time, none of them understood what was happening before they were frozen. It even seems like the more the crystal consumed, the faster it went. Once the entire place has been set in stone, so to speak, a sort of sickly grey cloud lays over the place, before a muffled boom summons it all to condense into a small object, and fall. Xerean takes the illusion down, and carefully turns to face EX again. Instead of hate or fear, she sees pain and sympathy. "I didn't even know it happened. I only discovered it last week. I knew I'd killed them, but I didn't know it was like...like this." She sighs, hunching her shoulders a bit. "I had no idea. I'm so sorry." He says softly. He's at a loss for words. What would one say to this? She's a monster–she got a SOUL-EATER from it! It's still here, even, she refuses to take it somewhere else. "What was I supposed to do? For an immortal being, I'm afraid of death, like the rest of you." She sits down heavily, followed by her friend. "Sounds like you didn't have much else you could have. You couldn't help being born with however much power you had. It was unfair of them to decide that you needed to die because of that." He says quietly. "You know how we are. We're not SUPPOSED to be fair. To my people, that was NORMAL. Minus the whole 'massacring a city of our own people' part." She points out. "That doesn't make it right." He insists. "Why are–HOW are you so calm? I understand, you're aware and unbothered by me and what I am and CAN do, but this is...you should HATE me, at the very least FEAR me, I–" At her outburst, EX grabs her hands, which had been making gestures to go along with her words, lowering them and rubbing her wrists with his thumbs, something she does when she's trying to calm herself down. "Listen. Yes, you killed them. You even got a Soul-Eater. It was awful, and a great display of power, but I can see how badly it's been affecting you and how bad you feel about what happened. It tells me that you're not a monster. Nor are you a bad person. You're just a girl, born into this life you didn't ask for, and scared of what your accidents made you." He tells her, and while maybe anyone else would have wished for a better choice of words, Xerean doesn't care. It's more positive a reaction than she'd hoped for. She still cannot shake this feeling, though, and presses her concerns further. "But what if I do it again? What if I hurt you? Or a hermit?" EX inhales deeply, choosing his next words with more care this time. "Hels and I don't have the cleanest of records either. Not to the same extent, but it's still a far cry different from any hermit on the server. But we haven't killed each other, and we haven't actually killed anyone, not even each other...yet. But in any case, you're just like us. Supposedly the villain, but deep down you find out you need some friends. We trust you to not hurt us, because you genuinely care about us." EX somehow always knows what to say to Xerean. She claims to be smarter than anyone in this world, but EX beats her in that regard. But it's a good thing. As strong as she presents herself, she's still the equivalent of a 16 year old teenager. She isn't fully developed enough to handle these sorts of situations on her own, and EX knows it. "If you're feeling better, I think we should head back now...don't want Hels to wonder where we went." Xerean nods, that hot, tight, heavy feeling in her chest is gone. She feels like she can breathe properly again. She stands, then snaps her fingers. They're back on the mountain moments later. There wouldn't be a point to flying out, he's already seen it. And she wanted to be gone as soon as she could. EX stands now, turning to her. Whatever he was going to do next is effectively postponed, as she embraces him in a hug. "Thank you." She murmurs, and EX smiles. Xerean doesn't often express physical affection, she prefers to show it through actions or gifts, so the rare times she does, it's special. The Admin's brother returns the hug, they stand there a moment before releasing. Xerean wipes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and nods. She's already standing straighter, a small smile on her face, and a lighter air around her presence. As they walks back into the caverns leading to their home, Xerean reflects. She came to these two with the idea that she doesn't need them, and they meant nothing. Her time with them would be horrible and dreary. But in the months that followed, she learned to rely on them, to trust them, and that they're her friends. The first ones she's ever had. And they don't hate her for who she is or what she's done, as she'd grown to worry.

Maybe it'll all be okay.