Fight or Flight (V1)

Chapter 34

So. I have not uploaded a new chapter in a week. I promise I didn't lose motivation or give up or whatever, I just had a lot going on XD

So, Author-Chan presents:

Chapter 34!!!

Beware, there is angst in this chapter, but it's not too bad. Xisuma will be safe for this chapter, so no worries. Just gotta do some setup for the climax first. :)

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The moment Xisuma woke up, he felt something off.

Xisuma quickly checked his communicator, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No one had any troubles, and the code seemed fine.

So why was he feeling strange?

Xisuma glanced over to Grian's bed.

Ah. That's why.

Some thorny black roots had popped up around the edges of the bed, and the blankets and the pillow were on the floor. Some purple feathers were strewn about the mattress, as if Grian had been tossing and turning in his sleep. The Faerie in question, was curled up in the middle of the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Grian? Are you alright?"

Grian sighed and sat up, swinging his legs off the bed. "Had a nightmare." he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. He stretched out his wings and began preening them, or at least trying. He winced every time he touched them.

Xisuma walked over and sat down next to the builder. "I can do it, if you'd like." He suggested.

Grian nodded. "Thanks, I slept on them weirdly, and you know I'm not that gentle."

Xisuma slowly began straightening the feathers, touching the wings as lightly as he could. He noticed the black roots begin to retreat into the floor, as Grian muttered some foreign words under his breath. Either Grian was speaking in French, or he was reciting a spell.

Xisuma finished grooming the wings a few minutes later, and Grian tiredly stood up and stretched, almost smacking Xisuma in the face with them.

"So, do you want to talk about your nightmare?" Xisuma asked. "You don't have to, if you don't want to."

"I'd rather not." Grian said, slipping on his red sweater and hippie beads. "I gotta get going, I have a Sahara meeting soon."

"Okay, take care." Xisuma said, gathering up the stray feathers. Grian gave him a tired nod before spreading his wings and flying off.

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"Hey Xisuma?"

Xisuma glanced up from his work to see Iskall. "Oh. What brings you here? Found a glitch?"

"Sorta, but it's actually a little concerning." Iskall opened his hand and a little transparent figuring of himself floated up. "I called my cam account from the camera server, and something strange happened when it entered the server."

Xisuma set down the shulker box he was organizing and frowned. Cam accounts were basically transparent figurines of oneself that recorded you while you were working, for future reference or just memorabilia. They originate from a camera server, and you can call yours from that place whenever. Not everyone has them, but most of the people on the server do.

"Alright. Go on."

The swede pursed his lips. "When the cam account slipped through the firewall, I noticed that the whitelist-blacklist system is down."

Xisuma pulled out his communicator and quickly checked the server systems. "The server wall is still up and strong, as is the whitelist-blacklist system, but from what I see, you're right. There's some kind of glitch in the system that's allowing anyone with a specific bit of code to enter."

"Can you patch it?" Iskall asked.

"Not sure, but I have to try." Xisuma replied. "Thanks for letting me know, this is a pretty serious issue."

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"Whatcha workin on?" Grian asked, hovering around Xisuma's admin workstation. It was late afternoon, and Xisuma was still working to patch up the glitch Iskall found.

"Iskall found an issue with the server wall and whitelist-blacklist system. Apparently, anyone with a specific but of code can enter the system. I'm dissecting the code right now, to see what exactly I have to patch. If I don't fix this as soon as possible, we could end up with strangers on our server. Or worse, Griefers." Xisuma explained, still focused on his work.

Behind him, he didn't notice how Grian paled, or how black roots pushed up out of the ground around Grian's feet.

"Hey Xisuma? I'm gonna take a walk for a bit. I'll be back before sundown." Grian said quickly.

"Alright. Just stay safe." Xisuma said, looking over the numbers for the thirty-seventh time.

Grian quickly left Xisuma's base, flying off to an uninhabited area, and sat down. He just needed some peace and quiet to calm down, and sort out his thoughts.

And if a certain cyborg creeper was watching him from the shadows, Grian didn't notice.

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Guess what? The climax will officially begin in a few chapters!!! The end is nearing, or is it?