Chapter 00110001 00110100

As we travelled I got to take a good look at our surroundings. The sun was a diamond (◇) in the sky. Bright yellow and as I looked around it I noticed something else. The plains warped into and inverted globe with the "sun" in the center. The smoke pillar was actually above us to the right. I could see some kind of commotion in the distance there. But not exactly what it was. It took a while to get to the smoking pillar but I found out why we came this way.

There were loads of viruses. Serpents, spiders, turret looking tower viruses, a large horse covered in spikes, and on the other side was a shady hole and I thought I saw a tuft of white. I remembered a question I had wanted to ask before.

"I have a question. Not necessarily about this but.... " I pointed at the hole on the other side. "I saw some filler viruses on the other side." Persephone nodded and looked at me. "What about them?" I hesitated a moment before finishing my question. "How many can you take as pets?"

I asked nervously. She shrugged as we slowly began to circle the horde of viruses. "As many as you want really. I imagine since you asked that question that you already have a couple in your pet area. Have you checked to see what they turned into?" She grunted. I suddenly remembered the ones in my pet area and quickly opened it. And what I saw astonished me.

Large. Black. Scarabs. Their carapace's were all onix black. Big red pincers adorned each of their fronts. Small black spindly legs scittered about in places while others used large hexagonal gossamer wings to fly about. One saw the pen was open and flew out to land on my shoulder.

I held up a bandaged hand and it skittered onto my hand and suddenly dove beneath the bandages. I freaked out and tried to unwrap the bandages to no avail. But I felt the scarab find a resting place somewhere in the area between the ulnar and radius of my arm.

The other scarabs must have felt where the one in my arm was and poured into my bandages. Right into my arms below the bandages. Persephone raised an eyebrow in interest. "They really like you. And what were those?" She said amused at my situation. "Scarabs... I think." I said nervously as I felt them shift under my bandages which just felt... odd.

Persephone pointed at the hole on the other side of the horde. "If you want to catch a few give it a try. But if you get caught I get to see what this horde does to you." She said with a wave of her hand. I nodded and began to slink among the grass. I had lowered myself to all fours so I fit in better in the tall grass. I wove through the slightly bumpy, grassy terrain and sent out a chain ahead of me. As I ventured forward I came across a serpent. It hadn't noticed me yet. I made the chain strike it lopping off it's head without a sound. I saw the points enter my body and continued forward.

Soon I found a way to the hole. Inside was packed with fluffballs. A scarab crawled out of my bandages and grabbed one before looking at me. The puffball was quivering. I sighed and opened my pet space. Inside the scarab flew letting the ball go as soon as it entered before returning to grab another.

Soon all 15 scarabs had come out of my arm and were moving the Puffballs. I counted them quickly as they moved. 20 puffballs in all. I closed the pet space after realizing the scarabs refused to go back in again. They crept back under my bandages and waited in their comfy place. I rolled my eyes. "I won't get used to this place." I grumbled as I sat up.

That was a mistake. A snake saw me and hissed which caused the others to notice me. I looked around seeing Persephone and the others a fair ways away. She politely waved a hand lightly. I cursed under my breath and whipped out my chains. After that it was a bloody catastrophe. The snakes and spiders were easy. The Turrets were the pain in the ass. They shot out balls around me which spawned smaller turrets. Those would shoot at me. Each doing 1 damage. I whipped the blades at them cutting them to pieces. Soon the air was filled with points that were filling my body. But some were heading to the others in the distance. Persephone was nodding her head and pointing at the big turrets. I understood. I had to take them out to stop the tiny ones from being produced. I jumped and lashed out wrapping a chain around the barrel before pulling me to it. It tried shooting me which caused my heart to jump. But it missed as I flew through the air.

I landed on the turrets base and began to hammer it with my blades making a semi large hole in it. And before I could react my scarabs flew into the hole. There was a chewing sound and the turret began to malfunction shooting turrets that began to shoot the other viruses.

The turret finally couldn't take anymore and turned into points. I almost sighed in relief when I noticed the viruses were almost gone. Then I noticed the horse was untouched. It glared at me with red eyes. It's spikes began to turn and buzzed like saws. I realized what was going to happen. It would charge or so I thought. Instead it's chest opened up and a swarm of small balls rolled out. They formed a formation of a malteze cross before their real form was unleashed. They expanded into large 7 foot tall trojan warriors. Each had a large buckler with a gladius. They were pitch black with no indications of lines or glowing points. The scarabs returned to me at this point. Except they didn't go under the bandages. They sat on my shoulders and seemed to be waiting. The Trojans roared at me while the horses chest closed up again and the light in its eyes went out before turning to points that were absorbed by the warriors.

I breathed in, calming my nerves. Opened my eyes. And roared. It was the sound of a lion. It echoed through the air causing a couple of the warriors to take a step back. It was then that I charged. I felt the energy coursing through me and I whipped my chains out. A trojan blocked the blade with his shield while another struck out with his sword catching my arm. It cut and I felt an uncomfortable pressure. I instantly backed off and my bandages covered up the wound. The strike had taken 10 points of my health which I really didn't like. My bandages glowed as I moved my arm a bit.

I moved toward them again. This time my chains were withdrawn and the sickles sat in my hands. I ventured forward and the trojan who struck me charged after me again. He swung his gladius from overhead and I moved to the side. It smashed into the ground before quickly being brought upwards to strike my head. I raised my sickles and caught the blade. The force of the strike making me take a step back. I pushed against the blade and spun as another spartan swung at me. It smashed into the other Spartans head beheading him. He disintegrated into points that everyone absorbed. I smirked a little at the humor of it.

The spartan continued to swing at me which I found amusing. It was then that Persephone took action. Roots wrapped around the feet of the Trojans holding them in place. Grass filled the area as skeletal plants formed around the area. Achlys spread her tears through the air which disintegrated the Trojans in seconds. I plopped to the ground exhausted. "What made you guys wait so long!?" I asked as I laid down in the grass.

Persephone bent a little to look down at me in the grass. "You really are immune." She said with an amused grin. "What convinced you of that? Not my word huh?" I grunted, unamused at the prospect I was dealt. "Perhaps if you had listened I wouldn't have had to go through that mess." I said with a glare. She sighed.

"True but it gave you valuable experience and furthered our knowledge of you in a negatively viewed situation. Trojans have a 100% bleed affliction rate which you blew through like it was burnt paper." She said as she started walking away. I looked at my health which was just below 50 points. At least I got some pets out of the deal right? I slowly got back up and we started our journey again.

This time we didn't head toward a smoking pillar. Instead we headed into the plains where there were no players. We spent an hour moving into the grass before Persephone stopped us. "Alright. Time to plan our course of action." She knelt down elegantly in the grass and Achlys sprinkled some tears to clear it away revealing the dirt. Persephone pulled out a knife and began to draw in the dirt. It was a circular map. And as she drew it became apparent that it wasn't ordinary. Small bones appeared. Like a tiny animal similar to a mouse. Its parts were used to form a person which it then moved and sat at a location.

"Persephone is strongest in jungles, forests, or places with alot of vegetation. She can find anybody so long as there is grass close to them." Henry/Grim said as he pointed at the figures. "It would seem that our old friends the goblins are actually staying away from us for once." Beth said pointing at the mouse headed person moving toward a skeleton with a skull shield on their arms with a pointy bone held like a sword and a moles skull.

"But they're going after the warrior faction. Well. Warriors and goblins have about the same amount of brains but goblins have less brawn on their side." I chuckled a little thinking about Bell and how stubborn she was. Picturing her facing off against a goblin... I could only really feel sorry for the goblin. Henry leaned in close.

"Lily. Seems we need to move soon. The guardian faction is closing in on our location." He said. I looked and saw a bone mouse covered in mud. It certainly looked heavy for what it was worth. It was moving toward our location which was just marked with a skull.

"I assume that even though I have 2 friends in that faction doesn't mean they'll be friendly." I said. Everyone nodded nonchalantly. "Had several pals over the years. In truth very few people in different factions manage to stay friends for long." Beth said as she used my shoulder to stand herself up. I looked at her and nodded sadly.

"Well... I couldn't think of a better way to go than at the hands of a friend." I whispered. I stood up after everybody and did my duty of carrying Beth across the grasslands. We ventured further and further till we found a burrow of some kind. It was massive and everyone paled at its size before Lily nodded.

"We might as well hide here. There's nothing else we can do. Either we go against the guardians who recently obtained an Ymir and Geb from what I've heard or we stick it out and wait in this Worm hole." She said. We all nodded and entered the hole.

It started as a shallow incline but the further we went the more it turned into a steep incline. We settled at the sweet spot between the two inclines for a bit. The tunnel entrance was far enough we wouldn't be seen easily. But close enough for us to see if someone came in. The surroundings you might have thought to be dirt. They weren't. The first 3 feet down were dirt. The rest was pixelated hexagons that stuck to their spots and gave a haunted glow.

Lily once again drew on the ground. The bones appeared again and we could see the factions milling about. The goblin factions skull was missing pieces now and had lost an arm and a leg. Meanwhile the warrior factions skeleton was still normal looking.

"Rakish took heavy damage. I still wonder how a leader such as that can keep his station." Lily grumbled. Suddenly a Gong went off. the ground vibrated and Achlys quickly hopped on my back. "We need to get out of here." She wheezed. I glanced over my shoulder at her in confusion. "Why?" I asked. "The worm... It's coming." She said and I saw the fear in her eyes.