Chapter 11: Location Unknown

The explosion, which was more of a blast of light than anything else, shook the grounds of the bookshop and the surrounding area. Nothing was damaged, but the sound still reached the players, who were still gathered around the fountain. The Speaker, who had been standing on the edge of the fountain, stumbled and tried to right himself so he wouldn’t fall into the water behind him.

As the players worked out where the noise had come from, an eruption of voices sounded out in the square. The ones who had been with Jarreth looked at each other in concern and rushed to the bookshop. It was the one place they knew he would’ve gone to after he had run off earlier.

It was just like when the glitch exploded in the dungeon. Nothing was damaged on the outside - in fact, the bookshop looked like it always did, but the party could tell something was off about it. They rushed up to the door and attempted to open the door, but nothing they did would get it to open; it was like it was glued shut.

Stepping back, they each tried to figure out a way to get in. Ayda was the first to notice that something was wrong on the map that was always within their eyesight. Once they entered the game, it was like their entire selves had been transported inside of it, and with it being so immersive, every touch and sensation could be felt as well. It was this experience that made the game so popular, and even though it was like they were going through the game themselves, it still had some features that would help them: such as a map of the world, a system they could pull up that included an inventory, their stats and other such things.

“There’s something on the map,” Ayda exclaimed and told the others to open the map up fully.

The location they were standing at now was marked on the map with a red dot, and if they zoomed in on the bookshop, there was an exclamation point above it and an error would come up when it was clicked on. No one could open the bookshop’s information, or see the tasks that were associated with it. They had only seen this happening one other time, and that was when the high-level dungeon had unexpectedly closed down.

Like other games, Archeline also had bugs and glitches from time to time. It was unusual that these two had taken place so close together, and it made the players curious, but it wasn’t enough to catch their attention. There were so many other tasks and things to do in the game that having one dungeon out of commission wasn’t a big deal. But now was different.

This time, their friend was involved. Jarreth might be a goofball and too over the top sometimes, but he was still their leader, and if he was ever in trouble, they would be there to help him out of it.

It was just that, at this moment, they weren’t sure what they could do. They couldn’t get into the bookshop, and they couldn’t accept a task so they could see if they could bypass the glitch and enter the shop that way, so they had to come up with another way to get in.

“Can anyone see inside?” Asked a tall wizard, that had crimson hair tied in a high ponytail. In their hands, they clutched a silver staff - the knuckles on their hands were turning white from how tight they were holding it. 

“No, it’s too dark in there.” Rael, a petite elf girl, cupped her hands around her face, which was pressed against the window. “There’s a strange fog inside, making it hard to see anything.”

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“Let me see.” Eilron had on his usual grumpy expression, only this time there was a little concern shown there. He joined Rael at the window and looked inside. The fog billowed about inside and seemed to be coming from one direction, but that was all that could be made out. 

Eilron moved back to the group and said, “she’s right. It’s impossible to see what’s happening in there.”

The group turned to Elex to see what he would say or do. While Jarreth was away, Elex would be automatically appointed as the next head of the party, and they would all wait for his instructions. 

Elex saw all of their hopeful faces, which put him at a loss. He felt bad for them, and Jarreth - especially him, who had been so close to the explosion, and his whereabouts now unknown. Nonetheless, he wasn’t sure what to do in this situation. For nearly six years, he had been playing this game, and this situation had never happened before. 

Since the start of the game, he had been in a few guilds and had made so many friends, yet; it wasn’t until he joined the one he was in now, and met the people there, that he felt like he had found his second family. All of them were important to him, and seeing any of them hurt made his heartache. And it was happening even more so now, with Jarreth being missing and the party members looking distraught.

It was hard for him to put on a brave front and not run away from this situation. The members of the party were looking to him as their leader and wanted him to tell them what they should do. 

Sighing, he sheathed his sword at his side and stood tall in front of his family. “First, we need to think of how we could get in the shop, and make sure that Jarreth is ok. And then we can take it from there.”

“What about the event?” Sylian, who had been at the back of the group the whole time, wondered. 

“Forget the event for now,” Elex said, a little irritated that someone was bringing up the event instead of worrying about Jarreth. “The most important thing right now is to get inside and get Jarreth out.” 

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