Chapter 11: New Notification

The Llama ran out of the gates a few moments later and started scanning the woods in a furious huff. Stamping its hoof once before turning back, they paused a moment to look in their direction before prancing back into Zeonsi. “I get robbed and judged by a snotty Llama in the span of 5 minutes. What has this world come to?”

Settling down, they watched the lights swing to and fro before they started to rise gently and get carried off in the light breeze with a soft song. Closing their eyes to the sweet, comforting darkness they were met with something different than the usual Saving Screen.

A dark shadowy figure stood before them, the darkness was soon giving way to light, “-ven! Draven! Oh thank the Clouds you're awake. Don’t you dare scare me like that ever again you idiot!”

They were brought in for a tight hug by the shadow, they felt like they couldn’t breath, it was difficult to even try to bring in a breath that wasn’t followed by a fit of coughs.

[SAVING...]

[SAVE-POINT SAVED]

[LOADING...]

[SAVE-POINT LOADED]

Opening their eyes quickly to search for the mysterious figure, they found that it was just the calm forest and the usual commotion from the Guards about the Dog. Seeing them turn in their direction they pointed and yelled, “Why can’t you keep that blasted Dog out?”

Blinking a few times before giving small bounces to show that they were laughing at their misery and wished for more.

“Forget it! The stupid thing doesn’t even understand us. All it ever does is eat whatever lands in front of it and sleep, just get back to work and don’t let it bother you.” The Guardsmen resumed their guarding while they watched the day slip into night. ‘I wonder what happened to Food Giver? I haven’t eaten today and he usually shows up when I wake up.’

The Tamers were starting to gather once more but quickly gave up when they only stared at them. Turning away from them they started their journey down the Flower Path talking about different Quests that are popping up in the next town. ‘Always with something new, they don’t work for it like they should to create better bonds. Actually their way of playing sounds more fun, but I will always admire the ones that put in the extra work.’

Darkness decent over the lands as the moon started to rise to take the Sun’s place, relieving the heat of the day to the cool touch of the night. Sighing they watched everyone finish their daily routine and Log out. The night was only coming alive from the lights that fluttered on along the Flower Path and then show the Under Weredog among the flowers.

“You’re awake more, but not often enough since everyone’s getting sick of you.” The dark dog figure was wearing the white boxers with red hearts on them and a flower crown.

“Hello, Under Weredog. I love your new disguise,” they were being honest, this dog had a lot of character to them and it was lovely to see.

“Why are you even here? Shouldn’t you go with one of those humans? They gather around you just so you can go with them.” The Dog snorted, ‘Ah, they took it the wrong way. Oh well an argument was also fun just to get a reaction.’

“I don’t like them. They don’t know what I like and don’t stay long enough to even try, I don’t want to go with them if it means I’ll be left somewhere alone.”

“You should,” the Dog said lowly with a growl but all the same they heard the words.

“Why haven’t you? You're very defensive about this, were you left out and was told to Sit?” They asked, ‘An abandoned dog, that’s sad. Hopefully they find someone trustworthy to hang out with now. But then again Dogs were very loyal creatures, it will be difficult for them to find someone new to be friends with.’

“You don’t know anything! I like being alone! I don’t need anyone!” He was still hurting. ‘It seems the previous owner got tired of him, it's a rather shame. I like thisDog and their quirks, they were probably too much or too little of something that can easily be corrected.’

Lazy Owners.

“I’m sorry that happened to you, but don’t tell me what I should do or shouldn’t do just because I have the option to. I would like to know the people I’m travelling with, enough to know that I won’t be left behind just because I got tired. I don’t handle being abandoned well.”

“... I’m... going.”

“See you later, try not to get caught because I would like to see you later.”

The dog slowly walked away, they hoped that what they said helped in some way and hopefully develop a healthier way of dealing with things. Now for a more important issue.

“Where is Food Giver? They should be here waiting on me two days ago,” watching the gates for a bit it was clear that he was not going to show up just because they thought of him. ‘Oh well, I’m used to this. Hopefully I see them tomorrow?’

[SAVING...]

[SAVE-POINT SAVED]

[LOADING...]

[SAVE-POINT LOADED]

It was a rather restful sleep, yawning and stretching a bit they looked around to see what went on while they were out this time. The sun was high in the sky, the Guards grumbling about what happened during the night, the Flower Path grew more flowers and has a brick path now.

‘Either the Game updates while I was asleep or I slept longer this time and not woke up the next day. It seems to happen a lot lately and I’m starting to get worried.’

[It’s not you]

‘Oh! Your back.’

[You sound disappointed]

‘Very. What’s happening?’

[I won’t tell you now~]

‘Oh good! See ya later~’

[WAIT!]

‘Where am I gonna go?’

[...]

‘Just talk you stupid screen.’

[The Bug is getting more active]

‘Ah, then this Quest should hurry up. Is there a way I can leave without getting Tamed?’

[I can give this a try]

The Food Giver walked out of the gates and towards them, they gave a few bounces actually happy to see him. But it took a lot of energy. ‘Energy? Where did that come from?’

Food Giver set down the food and sat beside them to look out into the woods. Taking a few bites they wondered what had happened to their normally happy Food Giver. “Tomorrow is creeping closer...”

‘Oh, does time work differently here than out there? Or is he talking about a Tomorrow where he doesn’t wake up from? That does sound scary... if I don’t wake up tomorrow when will I?’ They leaned a bit closer to Food Giver and ate happily, enjoying the food while it was still warm and delicious.

“Untameable, is it ok to just talk to you? I know I have been talking to you this whole time but can I really talk to you?” They looked to Food Giver for a few long moments before nodding and returned to eat while Food Giver started talking. “I’m in the hospital... I’m playing on my Laptop... I’m... sorry I think I’ll Log out now.”

They looked at Food Giver and smiled, the action itself sent Food Giver a small Green Heart in a speech bubble.

Returning to the food they watched the night life of Zeonsi and the Flower Path. The Dog has returned and was silently stalking along the Flower Path. They bounced once happy to see the return of the Dog. Under Weredog turned to them gave a nod and continued their recon mission of getting more underwear. They were determined to stay awake for the whole heist to see how it ends up how it ended up the last few times.

Glancing over to Food Giver they wondered how the Game System really worked. How did everyone view the Game, did they just vanish or were they stuck in time frozen to stare out without really seeing? Was this Glitch only for them?

The sounds in Zeonsi were quiet other than the shuffling and silent opening of the doors, Under Weredog was working hard it seems. They were also getting better, but maybe the Llama was also getting better. They’ve heard the gentle soft hooves walking around the town and through the streets. If they paid attention to just the Llama they would have a mental map of the town. But that requires work. So just listening to something fun is better and that fun is starting to get interesting.

Under Weredog never disappoints as he rushes out with Coin pouches, some small weapons and of course underwear of their latest victims. They quivered with fits of giggles as the Dog made its return to steal more from the sleeping town.

An hour before the sun rose the Llama called out and the chase was on in the streets, the Guards rushing towards the Dog and to hopefully block the exits. The Dog made it out before the Guards got there but so did the Llama, the Dog threw the stolen goods into the woods as far as they could and turned to face the Llama and growled. The Guards caught up and drew their weapons.

“Look at that, the damn Slime probably helped the Mutt in. YOU STUPID SLIME!”

The Dog charged first and bit the Llama while it was distracted and tried to run away quickly but was soon kicked in the side by the Llama. The Guards rushed forward to try and block the Dogs path, Under Weredog regained its footing and attempted to attack the Llama again in hopes to make an opening. The Guards slashed at the Dog to keep it in the circle they have created. ‘Can I help the Dog?’

A bow materialized before them and out of reflex they drew the string back and an arrow was placed where it should be. Looking up to see their targets they started to shot at the guards and rain down arrows.

‘It feels so nice to hold a bow again.’ Putting it away, they sat and watched to see what would happen next. The Dog turned to them briefly, nodded and ran off to collect their bounty. The Guards and Llama searched around to figure out where the arrows had come from but only met with a Slime that had an arrow on the top of their head and bounced at the mayhem that had happened earlier.

“Well it wasn’t the stupid Slime- Argh!” A guard hit the back of the one who spoke.

“Of course it wasn’t, you idiot! Slime's don’t know how to hold a bow let alone shot one or a thousand of them at once. Let’s just collect the free arrows and go back to work.”

The Llama stayed out and stared out at the woods where the Dog had been. Stamping their hoof down and turning to head back to their post.

“That was fun, same time tomorrow?” They called out. The Llama turned in their direction to see the Slime continuing to bounce, then looked beyond the happy Slime.

“Who ever you are, you will not escape. Not before my project is finished,” the Llama walked into town elegantly.