Fight or Flight (V1)

Chapter 32

Grian thumbed through the book, unconsciously wondering why Booky hadn't spoken up yet. Perhaps he'd managed to escape the book. Or maybe he'd decided to be quiet until Grian accomplished his promise.

Grian was sitting on the floor next to his bed. He'd retrieved the book from his camper earlier that morning, while Mumbo was still asleep. Mumbo had left about an hour ago to work at his farms, leaving Grian alone for a little bit.

Grian absentmindedly muttered a couple words under his breath, the spell for summoning light. He'd been practicing that one for a while now, and was slowly getting better and better. 

As he flipped through the pages, a small paper fell out of the book. Grian had gone through the book hundreds of times and never saw it. Besides, it was written in english, and the paperfelt fresh, meaning it was recent. Grian curiously read over the paper.

Time's ticking away

Causing poppies to wilt and

Somebody to watch

Nine days give or take

An old friend welcomes you home

Fulfill your promise

- Booky

Grian mulled over the words. He didn't question how Booky had managed to write that, but it looked like he'd given him a deadline.

What unsettled him was the line, "An old friend welcomes you home."

He was home already. He'd left Evo for a reason. There'd been nothing left for him there, so he'd moved on. As for the possibility of Tokyo, well, he'd never considered that place home. He'd left there to escape the drama and strange events. And an old friend? Grian almost wanted to think it was Taurtis, but that wouldn't be possible. Taurtis was gone.

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Scar rubbed his eyes wearily. He, Iskall, and Xisuma had been looking through the log for a few days now. Jellie was perched on his knee, mewling for pets, and Scar obliged.

Scar pressed a couple keys and the next log popped up. He'd been working backwards from present day, and were currently looking at the logs around the time just before the civil war. Scar scrolled down, spotting a couple bug fixes but nothing interesting.

"I found something." Iskall said, his voice laced with hope. Unlike Scar and Xisuma, he'd been working from the middle of the season back to the start.

Iskall showed Scar and Xisuma the screen and log. The log was dated to around the time of the Phantom Hunt Event.

Xisuma looked over the log. "That... Actually makes a lot of sense." He showed the screen to Scar.

The log showed different players and the XP they gained that day. Grian's was noticeably high, meaning this was from the week that he'd farmed the phantoms to attempt to get ahead in the competition. "So you think the huge increase in EXP triggered the changes?" Scar asked.

Iskall nodded. "A couple logs later has the first 'glitch' fix for Grian. The 'bug' was that he'd gotten trapped in his mail tube while he was finishing it. Apparently the water wasn't letting him through."

Scar frowned for a second. "I remember in legends how Faeries had a strong dislike for running water, since it would severely mess up their wings. While the water around Grian's base was stationary and fine, the water in his mail tube was flowing. He probably had an issue passing through because the Fae part of him was hydrophobic."

"When Grian first got his Elytra, he rarely used boats, but a little after the mail tube incident, he dropped using them altogether, even when traveling to Hermitville and back." Xisuma added. "I think we have our answer. A surplus EXP coursing through him stirred the physical changes, but they didn't quite take hold for a bit, mainly changing instincts, like how he flies everywhere, or the whole water thing. Finally, it began to give him wings, and that's where this story started."

"So, should we tell him?" Iskall asked.

Xisuma though for a second. "Some of it, yes. But the idea that he can access Admin commands and Creative mode, and all that? We should wait until he's recovered from the trauma from a couple months ago. Joe told me that Grian's mind is still shifting back to a sense of security, so his emotions are still reacting to triggers like his life's in danger, and as we've discussed, that brings out his magic. Once he's gotten a hang of his magic and he's recovered as well as he can, we'll tell him. But as of now, that's a burden I'm not sure he can handle."

Scar stood up, setting Jellie on the floor. "I guess we should let him know, then."

"Agreed." Xisuma said pulling out his communicator.

_____________________

Six days had passed since Grian had found the note in the book. His sleep had been getting better since he started sleeping in the same room as Mumbo, so at least that was good. But he still had a lingering feeling of anxiety thanks to the deadline set by Booky.

So when Xisuma finally finished that secret project between him, Scar, and Iskall, Grian thought the Anxiety would get better. But it got worse, as Grian hated the idea of stealing something so important. But he couldn't break a promise.

_______________________

Doc had gone over all the possible ways to gain back control of his body, but nothing had worked. He'd deduced that he was being controlled remotely, like a robot or drone. That left few ways to try to gain back control and none of them had succeeded. So he had to try to outsmart Sam.

He knew he couldn't lie, since Sam knew his thoughts thanks to the complex code. But he could leave details out.

So when Sam asked where Grian liked to hang out, Doc gave him two locations. Sahara, and Grian's own base. He knew that Grian did go to those places a lot, but they wouldn't give away anything about anyone close to Grian. Sure, Sahara would connect him to Iskall and Mumbo, but from an outside view, the Architects were nothing but a few business partners.

The only time Sam left his mind was at night, after Doc had fallen asleep. In the morning, he'd have a few precious seconds of control Before Sam was back. If Doc used those seconds to try to alert anyone, Sam would get rid of the attempt. Before night, Sam would place his communicator far from the bed, so Doc had no time to write a message. If Doc tried to scribble it in a book, Sam would tear up the page.

And nobody suspected a thing. Sam was a grudgingly good actor, or maybe Doc was easy to imitate. Either way, nobody wondered why 'Doc' kept hanging around Sahara, or how 'Doc' had been a bit secluded lately.

And nobody noticed how 'Doc' usually seemed to be in the same area as Grian, or at least close by.