Author's Notes:

April 3rd, 2018: I'm finally back at FanFiction after all these years. Sadly, the other story that I wrote many years ago I ran out of ideas/drive to continue and finish it. But I finally got an ambitious crossover idea now that I am willing to try to write, bare in mind my writing skills are average, to say the least, and I am taking a lot of risks on writing these characters journeys knowing how complicated their characters are. For The Witcher, it will be set after 'Blood and Wine' expansion with Ciri being a Witcher instead of being an Empress. As for Mass Effect, it takes place after 'Destroy' ending on Mass Effect 3. Sadly Mass Effect Andromeda was a 'failure' as it puts the question if they will ever continue the franchise at all. That's why I'm not using Mass Effect Andromeda plot points on this storyline. If anybody reading this story is seriously interested to help me out and even contribute to the writing process let me know. Feel free to write any feedback as you see fit.

April 4th, 2018: I base this story on how much I know from the two franchises. For The Witcher, I only know it from the three games CD Projekt Red developed while hearing some context from the books online, while Mass Effect I continue the story from the original trilogy. If there are some details on the characters I missed, I'm sorry about that. In some cases I may be able to edit the story depending what it is.

April 9th, 2018: I edited a few details in this first chapter and I will be on my way to complete the next chapter of this story.

Mass Witcher

Chapter 1 - Convenience

On a lonely road in an unknown part of the wilderness is a relatively young woman riding on horseback. Her name is Ciri, who appears to be aged now in her late 20's with ashen-colored hair. She grew up seeing just about almost everything life has to show for her age.

Most of the things that have happened to her usually turned out negative rather than positive. Most people she came across with either turn out to be complete jerks or fools who despised her for what she is. However, she did find countless friends she would come to like. She is a well-known witcher, arguably to be one of the best. But this made no difference to most people. Growing up was equally rough for her as she had been abused numerous times even at a younger age, but she found comfort from her adoptive mother and father. After the Wild Hunt and White Frost were eliminated she continued doing normal things a Witcher does and continued to master her skills. She loves her adopted parents because they were there when she needed it at the most, now she doesn't need them as much since she can take care of herself. Ever since the White Frost was taken care of, she visited her adoptive father and mother at Toussaint. She decides to live with them for the rest of their lives while having her own house close to theirs to give personal space since she preferred not to be their nanny. With Ciri's unique abilities, she used her teleporting and sword skills to good use but she wasn't quite perfect as she still has a lifetime to yet reach her peak.

Ciri sometimes felt 'bored' from her Witcher life and decided to try to change things up by going on random adventures, going to places many other people would dare no to go. Her adoptive parents did not object to this idea since she always insists she can handle anything that comes her way. Even if something managed to overpower her she can easily teleport away from harm's way with no fear of being hunted down. Now, she decides to travel down a very quiet part of the world nobody dares to go to, the locals that she very rarely manages to come across told her too but she ignored them as she wasn't going to be told what to do.

An hour passed, two hours, six hours, eight hours. On the second day of her ambitious adventure, she hasn't found anything that peaks her interest. No monsters to hunt down, not even a griffin. When the sun finally began to fade with night setting in she thought of giving up and settling in for the night as there was nothing new to see. She looked around, surrounded by the thick forest with not much noise to be heard anywhere. She made up her mind and started galloping fast with her horse to return to the nearest settlement in the area that she knew of. Not long after she sensed something in her that something was out there but couldn't explain what it was. She brushed this thought aside and continued on, as she had to get rest and not safe to be alone in an area she wasn't very familiar with.

She started early at dawn the next day and returned to where she left off. Again, she found nothing that she hasn't seen already but she didn't give up. The area that she was in looked too much the same with nothing standing out. Just another typical rainforest with its share of rainfalls and even the wildlife was friendly. Some areas had roads that looked like living beings have traveled before and some did not. She thought of giving up for good as she thought her sense from the day before was just an illusion. This time she made up her mind and retraced her steps to return home. On her way back she noticed something odd that stopped her and her horse to a standstill. Ciri saw what looked like an ordinary rocky cliff out in the distance with thick plant life covering the cliff. Deciding to examine it more closely, she came close to it and got off her horse. Ciri remembered the Witcher's sword Geralt gave her and draws it out, preparing to use it. She started slashing the plant life covering the cliff, revealing a hidden cave that looks to not have been inhabited or visited in a long time.

Ciri wasn't the kind of person who would back down from anything.

"Stay. And if I don't return, you know what to do", she said to her horse.

Before entering the cave, Ciri spent quite a bit of time building a convincing makeshift wall to cover up the opening on the mysterious cavern. She felt she didn't want to be followed or anyone to sneak up on her while she went about her way.

Holding an improvised wooden torch with her one hand, she grows more curious as the cave is deeper than she thought. After what it felt like half an hour of walking she noticed she was approaching the end, what looked like a small room shaped like a circle. In the middle of the room what appears to be a rounded ball held off the ground by a big rock shaped like a cylinder, as if this object was to be held and presented to whoever visited this cave. She raised her torch to get a good look of the room, there were no writings or secret levels that she saw. Unbeknown to Ciri, the Artifact in the middle of the room belonged to the Protheans, an advanced alien race thought to have been wiped out by the Reapers long ago. Ciri is now looking at the Prothean artifact shaped like a bowling ball but a few times bigger. Her curiosity grew and wanted to see what the object was, she touched the ball using her whole right hand. She felt some presence beginning to occupy the room, followed by the artifact levitating off the rock platform. Before she had the chance to react, the ball started glowing green and a bright green light shined in the room, opening a portal taking Ciri in it. Not even a few seconds has past and the room was now completely empty with the Prothean artifact resting on the platform.

Milky Way Galaxy

Commander Shepard was laying in his Cabin in full Allience military uniform on the top level of the Normandy SR-2. He is now in his mid 30's. He was thinking about the past and how he managed to cheat death, barely.

It has been about five years since the Battle of the Reapers on Earth concluded. It took about a week for the Allies to find Shepard critically wounded in the Citadel, some of the technology that helped keep Shepard alive internally got damaged from the explosion when the Crucible released an energy shockwave that destroyed all synthetic life in the galaxy. Nobody believed he would survive based on the condition he was in, even for Admiral Hackett, his superior. He was held temporarily in the medical bay on one of the Alliance ships for some time while Citadel was undergoing repairs after the Reapers were defeated. The Citadel only became fully operational again after three years of repairs and renovation. New rules and regulations were enacted to prevent any further attacks on the station, including how to be accustomed to the portal that goes directly from the Citadel to the ground on London, England. Shepard in all, spent about four years rehabilitating from his injuries. The new medical technology was eventually researched to help rebuild Shepard this time, similar to what he went through on the Lazarus Project. For the most part, Shepard made a full recovery but he would never be the same person again. His physical condition is no longer at his peak but he was still able to serve and fight about as well as he used to before the battle.

Shepard woke up from his beauty sleep and started to catch up on his paperwork on his personal tablet on his work desk. As he was working, a random thought came to his mind. He remembered the Prothean artifact he recovered many years ago while he was working for Cerberus only to defeat the Collectors. The Collectors were a threat to the galaxy at the time only to be a precursor to the Reapers. The planet he got the artifact from he still remembers, a planet called Kopis. Shepard had nothing else to do and everything so far has been at peace since the Reaper threat and decided to revisit the planet and see if there was he may of missed. Shepard tried to ask Javik, the last Prothean, what the artifact was about but he didn't know. Indeed, the Protheans knew how to keep some things secret, even to each other.

Shepard took the elevator down to Deck Two to speak to Joker, his friend and the best pilot the Alliance military has ever had. Joker was sitting in his pilot's chair keeping everything in check when Shepard approached him.

"Joker", Shepard said.

"Commander. Back so soon?", Joker asked in surprise.

"Can you take us back to Kopis? I want to check that place out again."

"That shiny ball you found years ago? Why?"

"Want to find out if there are any clues I may have missed. Why the artifact was even there", Shepard has his usual serious look on his face but Joker decides to make a joke like he always does.

"Detective Shepard. Should call you that from now on."

Shepard couldn't resist smiling from his humor.

"Thanks, Joker. Let me know once we arrive there."

"Aye, Commander."

Four Hours Later

The planet and its grounds where the Artifact was found hasn't changed much as Shepard found when arriving on site. There still is no air on the planet for a human to breathe normally, so he brought his oxygen mask covering his face, enough to survive a few hours. He decided to investigate the site by himself while keeping two of his random crew members nearby as his assistants, in any case, something would go wrong. His usual teammates such as Garrus, Liara and James were all busy attending to other matters in the Alliance so he was all by himself in the meantime.

Deep down in the ruins, he went to work scouring the area for clues, especially near the area where he saw the Artifact once floated years ago.

For half an hour, Shepard found nothing. No trick walls, no secret rooms hidden from him.

Suddenly the place started to shake a little, particularly near the area where the Artifact once was. Shepard looked around the room trying to figure out what was going on. A bright green light portal appeared from the corner of his eye, Shepard turned his head towards it and saw an ashen-haired woman emerge from the portal and falling to the ground. The portal disappeared permanently as Ciri landed on the ground.

Immediately, Ciri was in trouble. She couldn't breathe as if she was being suffocated or by something unknown. She decided to try to teleport back home but suffocation prevented her from doing anything rational at this point, catching her by complete surprise which very rarely happens even for her. Ciri began to hold both of her hands around her throat as she was struggling for fresh air. No time for her to think in this particular situation.

Shepard saw the young looking woman struggling to breathe and immediately grabbed his medical bag that he had been carrying and rushed over to the dying woman. He instantly felt something was special about this woman as he noticed that she wasn't wearing clothes that don't look like it came from this time period, her sword that she had strapped on her back was also something not seen ever in this lifetime. He grabbed for his only reserve white-clear oxygen mask from the medical bag and turned it on. He knelt down beside her.

"Here! Breathe."

Ciri noticed the man trying to put something on her face and she resisted immediately. She was never keen on strangers especially this close to her.

"Please! This will help you breathe normally!" Shepard urged as he refused to let the mask leave her face.

Ciri felt like she was going to lose consciousness and reluctantly followed Shepard's advice and lowered her hands from his and let the oxygen mask cover her face completely. He grabbed the straps on the mask and hooked it behind her head so it would stay securely in place.

A few seconds later she felt fresh air enter her body. As much as she doesn't want to admit it, she realized that she avoided certain death if it wasn't for Shepard.

For a few minutes, Ciri calmed herself down with neither saying a single word. Shepard held Ciri securely as she was still sitting on the ground.

"Who are you?" Ciri asked.

"Shepard. And you are?"

He took a good look at her face. Shepard noticed that she has a soft British accent, he noticed the red long scar on the left side of her face and her bright green eyes. Honestly, he felt some physical attraction to her at this moment.

Ciri was always cautious to strangers and never let her guard down and decided that in this rare instance it was time to be open, after all. She noticed he was looking at him with a very subtle smile on his face. Reminded her of Geralt looking at her but this was different. She thought nothing of it but felt something in her by the way he looked at her.

"Ciri. What happened?"

"I don't know. I saw you appear out of nowhere right there."

Ciri realized it was the Artifact back in her world that caused this to happen. She then thought of teleporting back to her home without any second thought.

Shepard was anticipating an answer from her but noticed that she was thinking, he thought of choosing his words carefully as he didn't know what she is capable of. And for good reason.

Going back home was an easy solution for her but then thought not to. She saw he is dressed differently compared to what she has seen back in her world and the device that she was breathing in is not something she would not likely come across back in her world. She loved adventure, seeing new things and this was probably something she didn't want to go away from, at least.

"Right. The ball that I touched made me come to this place." Ciri said matter-of-factly.

"Interesting. The same one that I recovered years ago, I tried to do just about everything with that thing but nothing happened."

"I can return home easily without it.. but I am in no hurry."

Shepard raised his eyes since he has never heard a story like this. Shepard has come across many unknowns in the past, he looked at her and thinks she is telling the truth.

"Why not?" Shepard asked, curious to know why she doesn't want to leave.

"Because I can teleport whenever I want. You.." She felt vulnerable, not used to being this close to somebody this soon. "You didn't take advantage of me like many others I have met."

"I'm glad I could help." Shepard smiled and attempted to bring Ciri to a hug. She resisted at first but remembered what he did for her and they both embraced each other in a warm hug. Shepard is probably the only other person in her life to make her happy besides Geralt, not knowing how much abuse she has experienced in her life. What felt like an eternity they started to let each other go.

"Where am I?" Ciri looked into Shepard's eyes, now more curious than before.

"You're on a planet named Kopis. Your sword on your back is not something I see at all on anybody these days."

Ciri was confused for a moment, but then thought nothing much of it. She is no stranger to teleporting to different worlds where nobody would believe her even if she did tell the truth.

"Wherever you come from sounds like something that has happened in our world but centuries ago. Things have changed, for example what I gave you is one of them.

Shepard referred to the oxygen mask that she is wearing by nodding his head.

She continued to be speechless, Shepard sensed she must have many questions in her head and isn't saying anything about it.

"This planet that you are in, there's no air to breathe at all. This oxygen mask is why you are still breathing right now. There are many other planets outside this one that I have been in."

She was puzzled to how Shepard was able to visit other planets without her abilities but saw that there was truth to everything he has been saying.

"There's many more out there?"

Shepard gave a look in his and Ciri realized he said 'yes', even without saying a word.

"I don't want to show you the world I come from. Not now." Ciri was feeling sad, knowing her world is worse than it is good. Shepard said nothing as he thought carefully what to say next.

"What we have is no different from yours. Looks like you can handle yourself, but let me tell you this: I am not going to let anything bad happen to you while I am with you. I have been through tough times too.

Ciri gave a genuine smile, something she doesn't do enough of.

"Want me to show you what this world is like?"

"Yes," Ciri responded immediately, not hesitating at all.

She felt like a new day has come for her, an escape from the very harsh reality her world has treated her. Shepard has never felt this good since the Reaper War, but knew there was more to this woman and there was a lot of explaining to be done. He stood up and helped her stand up as they walked away. To a new journey.