Chapter 10: Trapped

The black bubble seemed to grow bigger, and its menacing aura surrounded the duo who were still staring dumb-founded at the darkening space. It was something neither of them had seen before.

Faye wasn’t a player or a person from the real world, so glitches were not something she was familiar with, and Jarreth knew they existed but had never seen them appear in this form before.

With her hand still on the Hero’s arm, Faye thought about what she should do. She had acted without thinking, spoken to Jarreth, and could’ve exposed her non-player status in its entirety. And before she could rectify her mistake, this situation occurred.

Before she could say anything to him or do anything, a banging sound came from the direction of the shop’s front and, looking that way, they saw Ashlyn pasting themselves against the window, and a Nox standing by their side.

He looked calm on the surface, but on the inside, he was freaking out. From what could be seen from the outside, he realised what was going on; the same had happened in the dungeons so he had some experience with these glitches - even if he didn’t know the exact name of them.

The bubble had appeared in the far-off corner of the dungeon, and with it came a dark fog that spread out, until it almost engulfed the entire space and started infecting the players and even Nox himself. It wasn’t until Nox decided to get rid of it, and touched the glitch with his bare skin, that the bubble exploded and shut down the dungeon, making it hard to enter, and the players unable to complete their tasks.

And while the Main Computer attempted to fix it, Nox had made his escape.

He watched as the Hero and Faye slowly backed away from it, and his chest ached at seeing Faye’s uncertain appearance. She looked composed most of the time, so seeing her in this state was something new, and he hoped to never see her like it again.

Ashlyn had moved away from the window to open the door, but it was like someone had glued the door shut, and nothing they did would make it budge. This meant that Faye and Jarreth were trapped in the shop, with no way to leave, and the ones outside had no way to get inside.

At least they were lucky that most players were preoccupied with the event, and they wouldn’t be seen by anyone who would see that the NPCs were acting out of character. Although, it wasn’t the players they had to worry about, the Main Computer. Since the glitch had appeared, all had been quiet on that front, but it wouldn’t be long before they would take notice of the happenings going on in the bookshop, and see what the NPCs were doing.

Besides that, amongst the players by the fountain was Jarreth’s party, who were waiting for his return, so it wouldn’t be surprising if they started to wonder about his whereabouts and came looking for him.

“What should we do?” Ashlyn exclaimed as they continued to tug on the door’s handle. “We need to get in there.”

“It’s the exact same.” Nox breathed out, and Ashlyn almost missed what he said.

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They rounded on him and grabbed him by the shoulders. “You know what this is?”

“Yes.” Nox was a little taken aback, but still replied to the question. “It’s what helped me to escape the dungeon.”

“It is?” Ashlyn released the taller male and asked, “what did you have to do to get rid of it?”

“I-I touched it.”

“You touched it?” Ashlyn looked bewildered and like they couldn’t understand what he was saying. “And that helped?” Nox just nodded, and Ashlyn turned back to look at their friend through the shop’s window, and then they sighed.

“Let’s just hope they’ll figure it out before something bad happens.”

Dark fog seeped out of the bubble and wound itself about the legs of Jarreth and Faye - it was cold and made them shiver. Their fear was becoming stronger and there was now an urge to move forward and touch the object that was floating in the air.

Faye, who prided herself on her self-control, could resist the impulsivity somewhat, but it was Jarreth who was the most troublesome one. It was becoming harder for her to hold him back, and he was getting closer and closer to the bubble. In the struggle, Jarreth broke free from her grasp and lunged at the bubble. However, he fell to the ground just before it; Faye had grabbed his legs and made it hard for him to stay on his feet.

Faye breathed out a sigh of relief and made to get back up when a flash of light blinded her and she fell to the ground once more. Then she was blown backwards when an explosion rocked the bookshop.

When Jarreth had fallen over, they had both assumed that he hadn’t managed to touch the bubble, when, in fact, his fingers had briefly touched its surface, triggering the explosion.

If no one, namely the Main Computer, had noticed what was happening in this part of town, they certainly had done so now. It was only a matter of time before they would be discovered, and the NPCs found out what it meant when they were told they would suffer the consequences if they ever went out of character.

If the explosion hadn’t destroyed them, now was their only chance to escape. 

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