Glitch Infection AU (RQ) [Slow updates]

Chapter 7

Ryan sits up completely and winces, not knowing what's going on and being in pain he decides to lay back down.

Big mistake.

That put him in more pain than he was already in, and he jolts back up. Conflicted, he looks to Sabre. "Is—" He starts coughing a bit violently. "Is that re- really you guys?!"

Sabre slides to the ground next to Ryan and hugs him softly, knowing the pain he's in and not waiting to make it worse. "It is, it really is."

Ryan hugs him back, but he's still confused. "What even happened, Sabre? I don't remember.. anything really. The last thing I can remember clearly is.. telling you to run?" He shakes his head. "I don't know."

Sabre then takes his time to explain to Ryan what had happened. He's still a bit out of it considering he basically just woke up from a coma, but it seems he understood.

———

The group had decided they'd stay in the cabin for a few hours, to make sure Ryan is alright. It was past midday before they decided to adventure on, bringing Ryan with them. He and Sabre refused to leave each other's sides. They've known each other longer than Sabre's known his father, which is sad if you really think about it.

Cliff had brought the flying blue creature, as it had seemed to be attached to him in some way. That or it was lonely. They didn't know what it was or if it had a name, so they just let it hang out around them.

Finally making it out of the forest, they're met with a big stretch of plains. They can't really see the end of it, but Time knows which direction they need to go. They're going the right way at least, if they had taken a wrong turn this would have been pretty annoying.

As they're making their way across the plains, Sabre notices there are a few trees scattered about. He thinks nothing of it, until he sees those same red eyes staring at him again. He doesn't say anything, hoping not to alarm his friends.

———

About half an hour later, they stop at the edge of the plains. Met with a mangrove swamp, they visibly cringe.

"You've got to be kidding me, Time." Sabre shudders. "No, I'm too lazy to drag myself through that murky water." He shakes his head and crosses his arms dramatically.

"And you created the guy who created us?" M jokes. "I can't believe this."

Sabre rolls his eyes. "Well, is there any way we can go around this swamp? I doubt anyone here wants to walk through this!"

As the others argue, M notices something in the swamp. "Guys..?" They ignore him. "Hey! Don't ignore me!"

"Huh?"

"Sorry M—"

M shakes his head and points towards the swamp. "What is that?"

Sabre, Ryan, and Cliff recognize it vaguely. There aren't any steves who live in houses like this, so it's understandable they don't know what it is.

"That would be a moving house." Sabre says.

"I'm sorry, a what?"

"It's a house on a boat." Ryan explains.

"Oh."

Something flies out of the boat and lands on a tree next to them. They all look at the tree, and whatever it was is gone. Sabre looks back towards the houseboat and jumps backwards, knocking his father over by accident. "Who are you?!"

He's faced with someone, not a steve or a human, that looks to be related to a spider. Their clothes, which is a dress actually, has a spiderweb pattern on it. Their hair is pure white, their eyes are red, and they have huge fangs. Not creepy at all.

Sabre realizes this is the person who saved him, and who has been stalking them. The spiderweb and red eyes give it away. "Why have you been following us?"

His father stands up behind him, and the rest of his party stare at this person.

"I didn't mean to, I've just never seen you before." They walk in circles around Sabre. "Well, I vaguely know you, I just don't know from where." They jump back in front of him and smile, holding their hand out. "My name's Alaina!"

Sabre shakes her hand. "I'm Sabre.." He takes his hand back. "What are you?" His dad smacks the back of his head. "Ow! No offense.." He looks at Cliff and rubs his head where he had been hit.

"Don't worry about it. I'm what you'd call a Spider Druid!" She exclaims happily.

Sabre nods, looking back at her. "I thought you'd be related to spiders." He's still confused, but he'll ask more about that later.

Alaina nods excitedly. "Yup! From what I know, I wasn't always humanoid." She looks down, seemingly thinking. "But anyways, you need to get to the jungle that's just past this swamp don't you?" She looks back at Sabre.

Time Steve nods. "We do." Alaina turns her gaze to him. "We need.. cocoa beans of all things, and there are no other jungles that we know of." He looks at the map again.

Alaina runs back to her houseboat. "Hop on, we've not got all day! Well, we do but I'd like to hurry this up." She giggles.

They all get on the boat, and that's when Alaina notices the blue creature. "Wait is that an Allay?!"

"A what?"

The creature flies over to Alaina and sits on her shoulder. "Awhhh!!" She pats it on the head. "What's your name?" It looks up at her and she smiles. "Lily? That's cute!" She walks to the front of her boat.

"Wait you can speak to it?" Cliff walks up to her.

"Hm?" She turns around. "Oh, Lily? Yeah, I can speak to them!"

"Oh. That's neat." Cliff walks back to Sabre and sits down next to him. The deck has benches for some reason, but nobody questions it or complains. They all sit down as Alaina steers the houseboat. They start talking to one another, or just looking around the swamp and the boat.

Alaina starts talking to Lily. "So.. what's your gender, Lily? If you have one that is."

"I don't have one.."

"Awh, that's alright! You don't really need one anyways." She smiles at Lily.

———

Eventually, the adventure group had fallen asleep. Alaina had made it to the jungle by then, but had decided to let them rest. They'd need it with the creatures in here.

She looks around, making sure nothing would attack them.

"Miss Alaina, sleep. I can keep watch."

Alaina smiles at them. "Awhh, thank you Lily." She pats them on the head and goes into the cabin of her houseboat. She lays on her bed and falls asleep shortly after.

———

Alaina was startled awake by growling and confused yelling. Confused, she jumps up and runs outside. She sees the adventurers and runs over to them. "What's wrong guys?!"

Yellow points towards the jungle. "What are those things?!"

Alaina follows his gaze, seeing wolf sized ocelot looking creatures. The only difference is their size, and the fact that they seem to be made out of plants.