The group dashed through the yellow smoke and raced after Ruben, who was moving at an inhuman speed. Saffie threw a few spells as she ran, trying to slow, stagger, or stop him, but his reaction speeds were abnormally fast too, most likely being boosted by the effects of another one of his potions.

As Ruben changed direction, Nate threw his dagger, but Ruben ducked and the dagger impaled itself into a tree trunk with a thud.

“Zavar Jaxica!” Cora shouted, hurling what had to be another one of her glitched spells at Ruben’s back, but he even managed to dodge out of the way of that.

With none of their magic or attacks working, Acorn dived into a roll and whizzed ahead in an attempt to knock Ruben over like a skittle, and for a moment, Saffie thought he’d actually managed it until Ruben turned his stumble into a jump and regained his footing.

Then a thought hit Saffie; she remembered something Ashmi had said to her - that the strength of certain types of spells were exemplified by their surroundings. Since they were in a forest, would nature based spells be more powerful?

“Tangle!” she shouted, splaying both of her hands at Ruben.

A bunch of vines burst from the ground, reaching for Ruben’s legs. He jumped and almost missed them, but as Saffie had hoped, the vines were longer, stronger, and faster moving than usual. As Ruben’s left leg hit the ground, a tip of a vine snatched at his ankle.

That was all it took. With a yank, the vine sent Ruben crashing to the forest floor, Bultras flying out of his arms and landing with a heavy thud a yard or so in front of him.

The remaining vines wrapped themselves around Ruben’s legs within seconds, completely tethering him to the spot. He squirmed and tried to wriggle out as Bultras slowly crept back to him, but it only made the tendons tighten.

“Aaaaaagh!” Ruben wailed as the group caught up.

All three of them were panting and out of breath.

“Why did you poison my unc-” Saffie started, but Cora stepped in front of her.

“WHERE is Liam?” she demanded.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” said Ruben. “Liam who?!”

“Liam O’Sullivan!” Cora raged.

“O’Sullivan?” Ruben looked genuinely confused. “I haven’t seen him for weeks. I thought he’d gotten himself eliminated. Let me outta this thing! There’s a thorn sticking into my knee!”

He yanked his left leg but wailed again as the vines tightened their grip.

Cora stormed away and punched the nearest tree in frustration. It was only then that Ruben seemed to notice Nate.

“Dude, I told you where I was going in confidence! You ratted me out!”

Nate crossed his arms.

“When you poison someone’s uncle, it’s kind of justified, don’t you think?”

Ruben groaned and whimpered.

“Come on! Please let me outta this thing!”

“Not until you tell me why my uncle has been in a coma for the last three weeks!” Saffie asserted.

“A c-coma?” Ruben stuttered.

“Yes! He’s been on life support in hospital ever since you slipped that poison into his frappe!”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ruben gulped.

“Oh man. Oh man, oh man! I had no idea he’d end up on life support!”

“So, what?” said Saffie. “You just thought it would knock him out for a little bit? Just enough for you to break into his apartment and steal the Onyx?”

“The what?” Ruben spat. “I have no idea what you’re talking about! She tricked me!”

“She?” said Saffie. “Who’s ‘she?’”

Ruben’s face turned even paler than usual.

“I’m begging you, please let me out of the Tangle vines. I’ll tell you everything, I swear.”

Saffie looked at Nate, who readied his dagger and nodded.

“Wither,” said Saffie. She wafted her arm and the vines shrivelled up to dried, grey twigs that cracked apart.

Ruben let out a huge sigh of relief and collapsed back onto the mossy ground.

“Now,” said Saffie. “I’m going to ask you again. Who’s ‘she?’”

“The green woman,” Ruben said, sitting back up. “I didn’t see her face. She was wearing all green robes and this really creepy mask. She visited me at the Alchemist’s Guild. Said she’d discovered a new ingredient right here in London. I laughed at first. I said I know every ingredient there is in London, then she pulled out this vial of black liquid. I did a scan, and low and behold, it was an unnamed ingredient I’d never come across before. She wouldn’t tell me what its properties were, but she said I could have it in exchange for a small favour. She wanted me to add one drop of it to a Sleepsbane and slip it into the drink of some guy named Dax Farrow.”

“And you didn’t think there was anything wrong with that situation?” said Saffie.

“Look, I knew it was wrong, but how could I resist getting my hands on a mysterious ingredient like that? Turns out this Dax Farrow guy was a glitch hunter living in North Acton. I went there with the modified Sleepsbane, but he was leaving his flat as I arrived. So I drank an invisibility potion and followed him to Hampstead, where he went into this house that had a garden with a low fence. I jumped the fence and climbed a tree, and there he was in one of the bedrooms. As soon as he placed his frappe on the windowsill, I knew that was my chance. I poured the entire potion in without him noticing. He was too busy looking for something in his backpack.”

It had to have been when Dax had been rummaging for the Overworld key to give to Saffie.

“It was only after I’d done it,” Ruben continued, “that I saw Saffie Sparkes in the same room. I climbed back down the tree as fast as I could and made a run for it.”

“You scuffed Oakley,” Saffie reprimanded.

“The tree?” said Ruben. “You named your tree? Of course you did. Why wouldn’t Saffie the Strange give her tree a nam-”

“Don’t call her that!” Nate snapped, thrusting his dagger perilously close to Ruben’s throat.

A bead of sweat ran down Ruben’s forehead.

“It’s… okay,” Saffie said, pushing Nate’s arm down gently.

“When I got back to the guild and analysed the properties of the mystery ingredient,” Ruben continued, “it started to become clear that I’d done something awful. It seemed pretty useless on its own, but combined with other ingredients, it would make their effects last much longer.”

“How much longer?” Saffie urged.

Ruben swallowed hard.

“Forever.”

Saffie felt like she’d been punched in the stomach.

After a few moments of silence, Ruben said, “I’ve decided to name the ingredient Eternity Ink,” and Saffie and Nate glared at him.

“I think things are beginning to make more sense,” Saffie said, trying to remain calm. “This woman got you to send Dax to sleep forever so she could steal the Onyx from his apartment without the risk of him ever coming to look for it.”

“What is this Onyx you keep talking about?” said Ruben.

“The Onyx is the ultimate glitch,” said Cora, suddenly coming out of a trance. She was sat at the base of the tree that she’d punched, holding the silver arrow that Saffie had seen her with at the library. She twirled the arrow through her fingers, letting the reflected light run over her face. “We sometimes find that glitches have been encased in protective shells by other players to prevent them from being exploited. Liam has a knack for breaking through those protections. That has to be why this woman kidnapped him.”

She got to her feet and began pacing back and forth.

“There’s an antidote for Sleepsbane, right?” said Nate.

“Yep,” Ruben confirmed.

“Then we just brew some of that and wake Dax up,” Nate concluded. “Simple.”

“Not so simple,” said Ruben. “Antidotes require the exact same ingredients plus reversal ingredients. To make the correct antidote, we’d need more Eternity Ink.”

“This woman must have gotten it from somewhere,” said Saffie. “You’re the best Alchemist in London. We go foraging for it.”

“I know the foraging location of every known Overworld ingredient in London,” said Ruben, “but Eternity Ink is not one of those known ingredients. I still have no idea where she got it. The only way we’re getting more Eternity Ink is from the green woman herself.”

“If we’re confronting her, I want in,” said Cora. “You get the Eternity Ink for your antidote, I rescue Liam.”

“The problem is,” said Nate, “we have no idea who this woman is or where we can find her.”

“I might be able to help with that,” said Ruben. “Follow me.” He picked up Bultras and began trotting away.

“Where are we going?” said Saffie.

Ruben didn’t turn around.

“To the Alchemist’s Guild.”