"You need to remember to follow the rules in this land, or your very existence will be forgotten..."

Erin bolted up when she heard those words, it had felt as if she was just stabbed in the chest with a knife. Though she was unaware of what those words meant, she felt a shiver go up her spine just thinking about them. Could something like a dream have any meaning? No, it couldn't. There was just no possible way. Her sister had always told her dreams were a silly thing to think about.

After she reassured herself that nothing terrible was going to happen to her, she sat up and put her long, bright red hair in a ponytail. It was a nice day out, it had been like this ever since the month had started. It was then that she heard the voice of her sister, who was calling for her from downstairs. "Erin, it's time for breakfast! If you don't get out of bed, there won't be anything left for you!"

These words didn't bother Erin in the least, she knew her sister was only playing when she said things like that. Nevertheless, she got out of bed, changed into her everyday clothing, and made her way downstairs. "I'm up, Sis, don't worry about me so much." Erin stated as she was making her way down the last few sets of stairs, still feeling terribly tired. "So, what's for breakfast?"

Her brother and sister were in the kitchen, sitting at the table which had been set with the plates and other necessary silverware for them to enjoy their meal. "Nothing special, just some pancakes to start off the day," her sister answered her question, "now, did you sleep well, Erin?"

At this, Erin shuddered again, remembering those words which had woken her up with fear. Normally she wouldn't lie to her siblings, who had taken care of her ever since she was an infant, but surely they wouldn't believe something so outrageous? "Yeah," she answered quickly, looking away for a brief moment, "anyway, I'm done, so I'll be going outside." She put her plate in the sink, pushed in her chair, and promptly walked out of the room before anyone could say anything in regards to her statement.

Once she reached the safety of her backyard, Erin let out a sigh of relief. She felt terrible for lying, but it was the only thing she could have done in that situation. Shaking her head in shame, she walked to one of her favorite spots in the garden. This spot was perfect for reading or taking naps because it was being watched over by the shaky shade of a willow tree. She sat down, opened a dream journal, and felt herself going into a deep sleep.

"Erin, Erin..." A voice called out in her dreams, "Wake up, Erin. I want to take you somewhere special, somewhere where you can hide away from this guilt you feel." When she opened her eyes, Erin saw a boy sitting next to her, almost as if he was waiting for her to wake up. He had black hair, dark blue eyes, thick glasses, and rabbit ears, which were quite strange. "Good morning, sleepyhead." he said as Erin looked at him in disbelief.

She was dreaming, surely she was dreaming, this boy was just too unreal for Erin to have been awake. Even though she thought this, she asked him a question, "Who are you? What do you want?" The boy simply laughed and proceeded to extending his right hand out to her. His laugh sounded as though it was familiar, like she had known him for the longest time even though she had just seen him. Her body felt the impulse to take his outstretched hand, but her mind made her hesitate.

"Don't be afraid, Erin, I am a friend of yours," the boy said in a comforting tone, still keeping his right hand at reaching distance. "I'm here to take you away from the shame you feel, I'm a messenger sent to change your life for the better. As for the 'Who are you?' all I can say is that I'm someone who you have known your entire life, you just haven't been able to see me because you weren't burdened."

His words turned from comforting to unbelievable, Erin knew for herself that she wasn't feeling burdened at all. This man was telling lies, or so she wanted to believe. "I don't know what you're talking about," she stated, backing away a few inches, "I just met you, how do you expect for me to trust you in the slightest?"

"Oh boy..." Erin could hear the boy muttering to himself as he stroked the back of his head. Then he snapped his fingers, as if he had just gotten a brilliant idea. "If you think I'm lying," he continued, "then why is it that I look and sound familiar to you?"

"How did-" Erin blurted out before she was interrupted.

"My dearest Erin, I told you that I have been your friend for a while. I should know these things if I am to call myself your friend. You can believe everything I say. After all, I am an honest rabbit of my word."

"If that's true, then what is my full name and who do I live with?"

"Your name is Erin Machey, you're a girl who lives in this very house with your Sister and Brother who you affectionately call 'Guy'."

Erin was astounded, only her closest friends would know every single thing that the boy had stated. She looked down for a second before taking the boy's hand. "You won't regret your decision, Erin," the boy smiled once more, "you'll be happy where we're going!"

After bringing Erin up to her feet, the rabbit-eared boy started running as fast as he possibly could. Erin felt like her heart was going to explode from how scared she was, but something told her that everything was going to be alright, just as long as she trusted the boy who was now taking her by the hand. They ran together into the forest and jumped down what seemed like a giant rabbit hole. And then, everything went black.

There was a dizzying feeling as Erin felt her body drop to the depths of the rabbit hole, it was as if she was falling from the highest mountain imaginable. She couldn't feel the boy's hand anymore, she couldn't open her eyes, and she felt as if she couldn't breathe. Not being able to know what was going on around her, she felt scared. It was right then when she felt the cold floor against her skin, something that surprised her considering how quickly she was falling. She opened her eyes and pushed herself onto her knees.

Erin was on top of a castle-like structure and even though she didn't know where she was, she felt right at home. She got up to her feet and looked around, a single door catching her sight. Her feet began advancing towards the door, as if everything was going to be fine. When Erin opened the door and walked into the room, she saw a rather short, gray-skinned boy putting some books into their proper shelves. She felt the need to say something, but simply stood there and listened to him talking to himself.

"Goddammit, Kankri," he grumbled, "why do I have to be the one to put your stupid fucking books back where they go? I'm not the one who took them out in the fucking first place!" He continued grumbling like this to himself before he turned around and finally caught sight of the strange girl who had walked in. "Who the fuck?!" he said, obviously startled.

"I'm sorry for startling you," Erin finally spoke, as if she had been freed from a spell, "but I'm afraid I'm lost..."

"Lost?" the gray-skinned boy said, in a rather irritated tone, "Of course, you're fucking lost! Look, whatever country you came from, you should know very fucking well that we're not involved in some bullshit war, now leave before I have something to say about it!" After he finished yelling, the boy took out a sickle which looked like a crab's claw.

"No," Erin jumped, "it's not like that at all!"

"If it's not, then what country do you come from and what is your business here?"

"Um.. I don't have any business, but I come from America..."

"Ameri- Oh no..."

The boy suddenly went silent, his eyes were wide as if he was looking at a ghost. He paced around for a little as he muttered to himself before taking a deep breath and speaking once again, in a calm but frightened tone, "Come with me..."

Erin followed the boy without a second thought as he led her down several flights of stairs, which seemed to go down forever. When the stairs finally ended, they were standing in front of a single wooden door which had a red slash with some drippings going down it as a symbol. The boy walked up to the door, knocked, and signaled for Erin to get closer. A barely audible "Come in" came from inside the room, which obviously showed that the boy permission to walk inside.

Inside the room, there was another boy who, although slightly older, looked just like the one Erin was being led by. "Ah, my dearest Knight," he spoke, not turning away from a book he was reading, "What is it that brings you to my quarters this fine morning? Surely you're done with the assignment I gave you a few minutes ago? If so, then you should go back to learning everything you can about your position, it takes a lot to become a true-" The older boy was cut off by the younger one before he could finish.

"Can it, Kankri," the younger boy yelled, "and yes, I did finish putting the damn books where they went. But enough about that, we have some more important fucking matters that we need to attend to at this very moment!"

With a slight huff at the boy's impatience, Kankri turned around and stopped in utter shock and terror. "Karkat, what did you do?! I asked you to put some books away, not to blatantly disobey me and break another vital rule of the neutrality of our state!"

"I didn't do anything, just fucking listen to me, okay?"

"Do you expect me to believe you after the other times you ran away from your studies to do something else of your choosing?! Don't treat me like I'm a wriggler in a fool's paradise! I know for certain that you did this, you're one of the only people who knows how to bring an outsider into our world!"

"If you would listen, you would know that I had nothing to do with this! First of all, this girl came in while I was putting the books up, so I obviously couldn't have fucking brought her here myself!"

The two continued yelling at each other until Erin decided to speak up about the situation, "Um... Mr. Kankri, Karkat is telling you the truth."

At hearing this, Kankri stopped and responded with, "I'm glad that he wasn't breaking any rules, but it still begs the question of why an outsider would be brought here after the conflict that happened several lifetimes ago..."

"Ain't that the fucking truth..." Karkat said as he looked once again at the outsider, this time with more confusion than anything. "Well if that's the case, who DID bring you here?"

Erin tried to remember, her memory still foggy from the dizziness she felt before, "It was a boy with black hair... He was wearing thick glasses if I remember correctly... His eyes were a dark blue... And he had rabbit ears..."

"Rabbit ears you say," Kankri added, looking as if he was thinking very hard who it was, "could you have seen the one who plays the role of the white rabbit? Or in simpler terms, could you have been escorted here by the ruler of the Colony of Breath?"

"Maybe?"

"If he is the culprit, what would his reason for bringing you here be? Our world is still at war, and as such, it isn't a place where we can have outsiders roaming around... At least, not without any injury or, in the worst case scenario, death. If that ever happened, then we would all be at war. Being neutral would mean nothing..."

"What's this war about anyway? Neither of you have gone into detail..."

"The reason for that is because no one can remember the details very well, it HAS been many lifetimes since the war began. All I can tell you is that the other countries are fighting one another, some for land, others for reasons unknown. You can't go anywhere without fearing for your life... at least if you're part of those other countries. We here in the State of Blood have decided to remain neutral in the last couple of lifetimes, so we won't be getting attacked any time soon..."

"I see..."

"However, like I said before, we can't have you harmed because it would only cause more of an uproar. We've been hoping for this war to end for a long time now, and all those hopes would be for naught if an outsider was the oil put into the fire."

"I don't wanna cause any more of a war than there already is, if that is the case..."

"Well then, the only way to keep others from targeting you, using you as a shield, or anything else of the like would be to put you under the protection of the neutral state. But in order to do that, you would have to become a sort of apprentice to either Karkat or myself. Would you be willing to do something like that?"

"I would!"

"Fine then, but anything you learn while under our protection is to be kept between us and us alone."

"Understood."

With this, Kankri went into an adjacent room and came back with something that looked like a dress. "You're going to have to wear this as a disguise, we can't have anyone else knowing that you're an outsider." Erin nodded and took the dress.

"Thank you," she said as she walked out to change, "you're both very kind."

"Kind my ass..." Karkat said, in his usual grouchy tone.

Within a few minutes, Erin came back into the room wearing the dress. It was brown and the skirt went down to her feet, and it bore the same marking that was on the door she saw before she came in. "How does it look?" she asked as she turned.

"It looks great," Kankri said in response, "I can't even tell that you're an outsider anymore."

"I actually have to agree with him on this." Karkat huffed.

Kankri then continued, "With you now wearing those clothes, I feel like I should try an experiment. It probably won't work but..." He walked towards the book he was reading earlier, picked it up, and handed it to Erin, "I want you to study this book on the Blood Aspect, and do the same with a book I found a few days ago on the role a Sylph plays."

"Why would you want me to do something like that?" Erin said as she took the book, she had a rather strange look on her face.

"I want you to do something like that so that I can see if an outsider can learn the same skills as a citizen of this world. Just something that came to mind when I found that dress you're wearing. Now you and Karkat have something to do, other than the chores I may give you from time to time. Young Lady, I deem you a Sylph of Blood in training. And now, let me introduce myself properly. I am Kankri Vantas, ruler of this zone, Seer of Blood, the Holy Muse's scribe, and the Mighty Lord's Aspect Carver. It is a pleasure to meet you." Kankri bowed slightly after his introduction.

"Nice to meet you too, Kankri... I am Erin Machey."

Kankri then gave Karkat a slight nudge, as a sign to introduce himself as well. With a sigh, he complied, "I'm Karkat fucking Vantas, vice ruler of the zone, Knight of Blood in training, the Holy Muse's hymn writer, and the Mighty Lord's defender of bonds."

Erin giggled at the fact that he was acting like a stubborn child, "Pleased to meet you too, Karkat."

The two then proceeded to show her around the tower, and where she was allowed to go and otherwise. She was intrigued by the many halls and passage ways that were in the tower, despite both Karkat and Kankri claiming it was a rather small place. It would be a miracle if she didn't get lost tomorrow. Nonetheless, she felt thrilled to be here and fortunate that she wasn't going to be out in the cold for the night. It felt safe here, for some reason or another.

The last place they directed her to, and with good reason, was the room she was going to be staying in until things were sorted out. It was a small little room with nothing much in it except for a small bed with white bedsheets, a desk with a chair, and an empty bookshelf beside the desk.

As Erin went in, Kankri decided to apologize for the lack of furniture, but Erin didn't really mind. It looked similar to her old bedroom, with the exception of the bookshelf being completely full. She thanked the two once more for their kindness and bid them goodnight before she closed the door.

There seemed to be only one problem with this situation, it was still very bright outside. "I could've sworn we took way longer to go around the tower," Erin thought as she lay in bed, playing with her long red locks, "why then would the sun still be up in the sky?" It was puzzling, but she couldn't be wrong, she had a good sense of time. She went to check the clock on the nightstand next to her bed, it read 7 o'clock at night. "Then again, the clock could be wrong and it's actually 7 o'clock in the morning..."

She walked out of the room in search of either Karkat or Kankri to make sense of what was going on with the sky. If she was remembering things correctly, Karkat's room was the closest place for her to go from here.

After ending up at all kinds of dead ends, she finally found her way to Karkat's room. Unknowing of how he would act, she knocked on the door and prepared for the worst. Surprisingly, she was just welcomed with a barely audible, but noticeably grouchy "Come in" from him.

When she walked into the room, she found the boy studying a book similar to the one Kankri had given her earlier in the day. His room was also quite small, but it was a bit better furnished than her own. Posters were set to hang on the walls, many of them seem to come from romantic comedies and others seemed like book titles to her.

"What do you want?" he asked, his eyes not straying away from the book. He also sounded calmer than he had been before somehow.

"I think the clock in my room's broken..." Erin said, still feeling rather shocked at Karkat's calmness in the moment.

"Nope, that clock's fine as it is."

"But why is the sun still out if it should be nighttime?"

"Time runs differently in every country, but the universal clock here is the same."

"Really?"

"Yeah, this world doesn't work like yours. I should try to teach you about it... that is, if you want to..."

"Well, Kankri did say that I'm your apprentice as well as his, so why not?"

"Great, we can start tomorrow when I don't feel like I'm too busy."

"Sounds good," Erin's attention went over to the book that Karkat was reading, "what are you reading?"

"I'm studying, because I'm sure Kankri made it clear that I'm not a full fledged knight. I still need to learn about my role in this society, but what use is there for a knight in a neutral place? But whatever the reason, it gives me something to do when I can't sleep, which is most of the time."

"Do you have insomnia?"

"Pretty much, it's a terrible curse."

"Yeah... Anyway, I should get going now." Erin bowed to the gray-skinned boy before turning towards the door. He somehow seemed a lot nicer now that he didn't seem confused by her sudden appearance. It was actually kind of nice, as if she had a younger brother by her side now.

She went through the gray halls of the castle, making extra sure not to get confused by the ongoing walls that looked similar in every room. Afterward, she stumbled upon what was now her new room and fell directly to sleep as her head rested on her plain, white pillow.