I make my way toward the storage room where the entrance is hidden.

On the way there, I don't meet anybody. It really looks like people either don't know about the illusory wall mechanic or consider that Darius might be there. I guess I'll soon find out how much time we've wasted on this idea. Not that we have any other ideas left.

The storage room is also unmanned. As before, most of the room is covered in shelves full of books and document binders, except someone finally got rid of all the dust. I guess that makes it slightly less suspicious. But only slightly.

I take out my security card and hold it in front of the hidden contraption to unlock the hidden entrance. After a tiny rumbling noise gives away the change, I step through the fake wall and follow the stairs downwards.

Halfway on the way down, I suddenly run into Eclaire.

She immediately shouts at me, "We've found him!"

Of course, we were right, "So he really was here!"

"He's dead..."

"Shit, so much for the situation not getting any worse..."

Seriously, can this whole situation get any worse? The general glitch plague, the potential side effects of the hybridization and now we might find out why the barrier was a necessity for survival.

I mean, isn't it quite a typical story that powerful ancient civilizations or heroes were only able to seal their great evil adversary instead of properly defeating it, only that years later a ragtag group of misfits accidentally breaks the seal and hours later beats the sealed threat to death by the alleged power of friendship. How is this any different?

So since this isn't a story, the situation will suck. Thanks for nothing, Darius.

"Okay, change of plans then... Eclaire, please go to Therese. Tell her, her nap has to wait, she needs to act now. We don't know how to keep the barrier up, how to replace Darius' place in this, but she does. Well, Karen could help as well, but she's even farther away. They should've prepared a replacement just for cases like this. I need to see what the situation is like with my own eyes."

"Alright, I'll go and ask her", she hurries off.

I also pick up the pace and hurry downwards.

Once I arrive in the underground area, I quickly look around. A few dead people cover the ground. What has happened here?

It feels like someone is staring at me, but I have no clue who or from where; as far as I can see, no one is around. Might've just been my imagination.

I don't see my wife anywhere nearby, so I try to telepathically call out to her, (Hey, Lucy, can you hear me?)

After a moment, she answers, (Yeah, Jared. We've found Darius. Dead. He's hidden here in a dark corner. Lydia is here as well.)

Lydia? Our pink blob spirit? What is she doing here?

(Can you guide me there?)

(Yes. You head -), she describes the path to me, and a few minutes later I arrive at her location.

"Hey, any idea what happened here?", I see the dead Darius leaning against the wall, no wounds to be seen.

"No clue. When I got here with Eclaire everyone was already dead. We found Lydia standing over some of the corpses."

The pink blob waves her arms around, "Ti t'nsaw em! M'i tneconni!"

Not even hurt? No SP used? Yeah, that was someone else.

"Yeah, yeah, keep making excuses, goo girl. But jokes aside, there's no way in hell, Lydia is strong enough to beat Darius in a straight fight, not to mention everyone else as well. And all of that unhurt."

Lucia agrees, "Yeah, and neither would she have a reason to do that, but who else could've done that?"

Lydia pouts, "Yeh won, I nac ekat meht ylisae!"

I ignore her, "Beats me, but sadly we have more pressing matters. For example, the barrier around the glitch zone may break at any moment. By my understanding, they were already short on the magical energy to keep it intact, and now the whole pillar of Darius' life energy is missing. That can't be good."

And right on cue...

Creak Creak Shatter

Open mouth, insert foot...

Lucy frowns, "That... came from the barrier. We better check that out, Jared."

"Yeah..."

Running away would be pointless anyway. I've already seen how bloody fast the glitches can spread when unchecked.

"Yeh, tiaw rof em!", Lydia signals something but we've no time to guess what she wants.

We hurry over to the barrier, and sure enough, it has severe cracks all over. On its top half, it has even formed a whole where now black-green glitch soup leaks out and... flows upwards, rising towards the ceiling like a miscolored, reverse waterfall.

I swear I can hear physics crying right now.

"Great, what now? How do we un-break this before everything goes up in glitches? Though I'm surprised it is kinda tame. I expected it to undergo explosive growth and engulf the whole area in a matter of seconds. The last one did that after all."

"You know, it kinda looks... beautiful. In a weird way."

Lucy, you have strange tastes. Though that might explain a thing or two about our relationship.

"Nah, I'm not seeing it. Looks more like a garbage truck unloading his shit in a dumpster to me. Just upside down."

She looks at me as if I was crazy, "I don't follow."

"Skrej!!", Lydia has finally caught up to us with her hobblewalk, diving in and out of her slime puddle.

"Doesn't matter. Just standing around here doesn't tell us of a way to make it disappear."

Suddenly, the flow of the glitchy liquid slows down to nothing. It just stops flowing upward, yet more of the soup tries to escape from the hole in the barrier, which creates a large lump of shaking glitch pudding.

And again, another broken error message...

I wish I could read it, or better yet, that all of these glitches would go away. I've got enough of this. All of this is too much.

Is this how my life ends?

I was just supposed to help with a small artifact problem, and afterwards, I could lean back and enjoy eternal life. Not... this.

You damn glitches, I've had enough of you!

Get!

Out!

Of!

My!

Sight!

Just disappear!

What?

Uh, forget it, we've got more pressing issues now. The glitch pudding finally starts spreading.

As pointless as it may be, "Run!"

But before I can even finish the first step, I'm already drowned in the glitch soup.

And then it is suddenly gone, leaving me feeling cold and my clothes wet.

I do not feel well and sink to the ground.

"Jared!", shouts Lucia, "What just happened!?"

"Doof?", Lydia scratches her head.

Everything sounds more distorted than it should be, my vision is a mess as well. Everything looks to be tinted in green and grey colors.

I try to hold back the urge to vomit, "No clue. I'm in no shape to move. Please. get Karen or someone quickly! Hopefully... she can help!"

I'm not sure if I even successfully said that, nor do I hear what my wife replies. I can only see her storm away leaving me alone here.

I look around but find no more signs of the glitch liquids. Not on me, not in the area, and not inside the barrier either. All of it is just gone.

Considering how I feel right now, it seems like I've absorbed it, and that's not a good thing. Everything hurts and feels like my body is about to burst.

Yeah, tell me about it... Wait, I can read that?

I wonder out loud, "Who is that?"

The strange error box then sends me a set of instructions for a bizarre meditation technique.

With no other option, I follow the instructions.

3QGN73

Maybe Jared has forgotten, but as a vampire, he should drink blood and not primordial glitch juice. Eh, just a minor mixup, nothing bad will come of it, I'm sure.