Grian couldn't sleep.

It was late, the sun had already set and the screech of a phantom could be heard just outside Grian's alchemist tower. The man was sitting in an armchair, book in hand, lantern next to him. He couldn't sleep, but it wasn't surprising. Sometimes it's just like that. Your body is too full of ideas, of thoughts, and you're wide awake.

He wasn't sure what time it was. 11pm? 3am? As far as he knew, nobody else was awake, aside from Impulse and Pearl, both of whom didn't even need sleep. Impulse was probably using his collected energy to work on his base, while Pearl was likely flying with the phantoms.

He kinda missed that. Flying with the creatures of the night, over the ocean and through the waves, it had been a long time. He'd have to dig up his phantom costume from his unpacked shulkers of costumes so he could join her on one of those nights.

When was the last time he flew with phantoms? Back in season six, which was... Wow, that was a long time ago. Season six had been wonderful, a new door in his life. Season seven was almost as good, but both it and season 8 had gone by too quickly.

Rain started pattering on the window. Grian closed the book, turned off the lantern, and slipped on his yellow raincoat. As he stepped out into the cool night air, something itched. He walked farther into the central spawn, the rain falling onto his head like fingers to drums.

He pulled up his hood.

Distantly, he could hear wet footsteps followed by the sound of a door closing. Seconds later, the lights in Pearl's starter base flickered on. A thunderclap sounded in the direction of Impulse's base shortly after a flash of lightning. Grian kept walking, finding himself near Scar's tree. Climbing up, Grian settled down on the highest branch, staring out over spawn.

The rain was cold, Grian thought distantly. Yet, as he reached out his palm to feel the drops, it felt very nice. He wondered if it was raining anywhere else. He wondered if the private worlds, ones Hermits had made as a home before hermitcraft, were getting rain too. He thought back to his own private world. It hadn't really been a home, had it? After high school, he needed a place to go before he looked for work.

He'd stayed with Pearl for a bit, before applying for ownership of a random seed. Then, he'd explored his new world, setting up a small house before going out into the greater worlds. He'd worked on sets, some minor construction projects, and met many people, including Mumbo. His web of contacts grew, and one night, while talking with Pearl, the idea of his own SMP came up.

The rest was history.

He wondered if that house was still standing. He probably would never return, not after what happened.

Still, he didn't want it to be forgotten completely. Those closet doors, the basement lock, he didn't know if he wanted them to hold or not.

They wouldn't last forever.

The rain was nice, but he was getting tired. Grian carefully climbed back down Scar's tree, and headed back to his own house. While on the way, Grian spotted a small creature, hiding under the Entity from the rain.

A small bunny, shivering from the cold, looked up at him. Grian kneeled down, taking off his coat. The rabbit looked like a Czech Red, its coat a vibrant shade of dark ginger. Grian gently picked up the rabbit, covering it with his raincoat as he made his way back to the house.

By the time they'd stepped inside, Grian was soaked to the bone. He set the bunny down, hanging up his coat and rummaging through a shulker for some hay for a temporary nest.

The rabbit seemed grateful, making itself comfortable.

Grian yawned, grabbing a towel and running it through his hair as he made his way to his bed.

(The rabbit left once the rain stopped.)

-

The sky was quite bright despite last night's rainstorm. A thin layer of dew covered anything without cover, leaving the world damp and fresh. Grian rubbed his eyes blearily as he got ready for the day.

Now, what was his agenda again? Grian snatched his to-do list from his enderchest. Lets see,

To-Do:

Pick up Giga-Pies

Check on Scar

Move the Entity

Check the Rift

Mining

Not too bad, just an errands day. Grian stuffed the list in his pocket before pulling on his elytra. Giga-Pies first, guess he was heading to Ren's shop.

-

He wasn't sure how many worlds he'd visited by that point. Bouncing around aimlessly, trying to find a place to settle, it was tiring.

However, this server had been abandoned a long time ago. He supposed he could stay for a while.

Spawn wasn't anything special, an oak forest with some mountains in the distance. There was a cabin, however, and a nice one at that.

The door creaked when he pushed it open. The inside smelled of must and lingering moss. The first floor had a small kitchen, a guest bed, and a table with a couple tools scattered on it. There was a staircase leading up to what was probably the master bedroom, and there was a basement door as well. He stepped inside, quietly shutting the door behind him.

He dropped his backpack on the bed, turning around to fiddle with a window- oh.

There was a closet there, the doors banged up. He watched as they creaked open, bit by bit...

-

"Thanks Ren! See you later!" Grian waved to the werewolf, heading on his way. He idly scratched the back of his neck as he put the pies in his inventory. Hmm, there was a definite itch, though he didn't know what. He chose to ignore it as he set off towards Scar's tree.

The Elf in question was sitting outside, staring in awe at The Entity, which was definitely not where Grian had left it.

"Hi Scar."

"The Entity has legs."

Grian hummed as he looked up at the Entity. "That does seem to be the case, yes."

He mentally checked moving The Entity off his list. The boulder had seemingly grown spindly spider legs and was slowly making its way to the shopping district.

"Grian, why does The Entity have legs?"

"Dunno. Well, I'm off to check on the rift. Let me know if it does anything else weird."

"Weirder than growing legs!?"

-

The cave was coming along. Grian hummed as he landed inside, pausing to look at the enormous violet portal thrumming with power before him. He'd discovered it while lighting up smaller caves for his eventual mob farm. Xisuma hadn't seemed too worried when he'd first shown him (something about a glitched nether portal and seeing weirder stuff from Doc), only making Grian promise to not step in and to immediately inform him if anything odd happened.

Grian turned away, digging in a nearby chest for his notebook. Not much was different about the portal today, maybe it was brighter? Grian shook his head as he retrieved the book and some bread, and stepped towards the rift. It was still pretty early in the day, the sun hadn't risen high enough to stream into the cave as usual, making the rift seem brighter, when it really wasn't.

As usual, Grian tossed a stale loaf of bread into the rift, waiting for something to happen. It had started as small items, such as singular gold ingots, and every few days Grian would upsize it a bit. Perhaps he'd try a full block tomorrow, he didn't want to try any magic-based items until last. Perhaps a block of hay, or maybe something like granite? Grian scribbled the ideas in his notebook, crossing bread out on his list of attempts. It hadn't done much the last couple days, and it hadn't done anything yet today. Bread was a no-go.

Grian walked back to the chest and placed the notebook back inside. As he closed the chest, the rift grew brighter behind him. Grian whirled around to see, losing his balance and crashing to the floor.

The rift was glowing brighter by the second, the tell-tale sound of a nether portal growing louder and drumming against Grian's ears, louder and brighter until Grian squeezed his eyes shut and slammed his hands over his ears.

He could feel his chest tighten, breathing feeling impossible. His fight or flight reflexes kicked in, but his legs refused to work, instead becoming akin to jelly. He could faintly hear someone screaming- the sharp pain in his throat revealed it to be him- and suddenly his ears erupted into an awful ringing as everything faded to black.

-

The first thing he felt was the pounding of blood in his head. Then, he could feel his lungs working overtime to get his body awake again. His arms moved clumsily to pull him up, and he immediately regretted it. A splitting headache made him collapse back to the floor as his brain tried to get its bearings.

Eventually, the headache subsided to a dull pounding, and Grian finally pulled himself into a sitting position. His head felt heavy and his chest felt hard, but he didn't seem to be dying, at least.

Grian cracked open his eyes. He couldn't see anything for a few seconds, but he was eventually able to make out the stone floor and then the rest of the cave. The rift was in front of him, but it looked normal. So did the rest of the cave.

Maybe he'd imagined it but- No, that felt real. Should he go to Xisuma?

No, Xisuma would just fret over him and quarantine his base for a bit. Grian really didn't want that. For starters, nothing had actually happened, and Grian was 90% sure he was fine. He also had plans for the base tomorrow, and didn't want to put them off any longer.

Okay, if it happens again, he'll go to X. But first, he needed some water. His head was still pounding and his throat was sore. And maybe he'd take a nap, he felt really tired. Grian winced as he stretched, stumbling to his feet. He tripped rather ungracefully over a shulker, which tipped over, half of its contents falling into the rift. Oops.

Was it... Darker? Grian frowned as he stepped out of the cave. Yeah, the sun was going down. That meant he'd been unconscious for about... 9 hours? Grian shivered. He must've been knocked into the AFK state if he was out that long. At least that meant the impromptu nap hadn't messed up his sleep schedule.

What a day. Maybe he should just turn in. Yeah, that sounds good. Grian yawned again as he lit a rocket, soaring up to his portal and landing inside.

The trek back to spawn was a blur, as well as the walk to his house. He vaguely remembered greeting Mumbo before stumbling into his alchemist tower and immediately passing out on his bed.

The server was none the wiser.