My System has a Glitch

She pulled away from him and kept her eyes low but William was still stunned, her scent still filled his senses and it still felt like her lips were still pressed against his own.

William slowly pulled back and hadn't realized he was up ten hours. For the rest of the night they remained silent, so silent they could hear their hearts beating which only made them nervous and made their hearts beat faster.

So much so that William was deeply grateful for the sound of crackling in trees and the heavy brush of the wind which penetrated through the thick petals of the man eater.

He was too distracted by the tension inside the Maneater to realize that the noise of the wind and the crackling of the trees was actually a result of the snake moving through the trees tops.

"Oh no," William said and she finally raised her eyes to him which only made him see her as more than a friend, he paused for a moment and stuttered but finally got the words out.

"The snake,it's out there, I think it's close to us."

"How close do you think?"

The moment she asked this unfortunately became the moment before the tip of the snake's tail brushed against the branch of the tree hitting the man eater, the very one they had taken for shelter, almost knocking it off.

The man eater hung on by its tendon-like roots that were attached to the body of the tree. It held on against gravity but it couldn't hold on for long as the tendons began to tear.

They snapped and sent them falling down. William and Ingrid felt the impact as it crashed into a branch and began spinning around.

They flew an even worse impact as it crashed on the ground. William had done all he could to protect Ingrid, he shielded her with his arm at the last moment as he tried to take the full impact of the fall.

[impact damage -20]

William saw his damaged report.

Impact damage -10]

Ingrid saw her damage report.

The impact left then in a darkened silence and soon a crowd of hissing snakes over swarmed them

They had landed at the center of a snake pool and the snakes were active again. The man eater was dead and they could feel it, something had changed on the inside the petals weren't as prickly anymore.

"Are you alright?" William asked her and she nodded and said, "believe me, I've had greater falls."

William chucked and said, "me too but I just hope we're not sinking, I don't like sinking especially not in a pool of snakes.

The plant had crashed on its side leaving them lying on their sides as well.

William couldn't see her face but still he felt like he was being watched or admired, especially in a position like this it was no honeymoon sweet but the soft insides of the man eater did leave him with the feeling of lying on a warm soft bed, with some dear to him by his side.

"What do we do?" She asked.

"We have to get outside. I don't think this plant will be giving us any more oxygen."

They waited for a moment watching through the tip of the flower bud for whatever signs they could see .

The tip of the cocoon was lighter and since the plant was dead they could see a bit of light shining through it.

At first they had believed it to be the moonlight but it had a faint reddish hue so William realized it was actually the poison gas the one the snake had spewed.

They could hear faint cries that they judged were a lot much closer than they appeared as the thick petals were likely dampening the sound that came through it.

It was clear to them that it was total chaos out there.

When they were certain the gas had washed past them, William punched through the top of the cocoon and tore through the tip.

Immediately he felt a sting in his arm and a system notice appeared.

[DAMAGE: snake bite -2mins]

'Damn it, these snakes are wasting my time.'

William tried peeling the petals open and was surprised at how easily they gave way.

'This thing's really dead,' he thought.

He pushed away the petal and immediately they got up, like butterflies bursting out of a cocoon as they didn't want the snake up in their face.

They quickly scanned the place and the nearest ladder to them was resting on the body a black tree.

It was about fifteen feet from them and knowing they could be pits around they could sink into, they had to keep their movements swift and light on the bed of snakes.

The snakes were already moving into the cocoon and coiling around their heels.

"Alright! "William said, "one two,go!"

They jumped out of the dead Man-eater and began running on the snakes. It was like running on a slippery surface that not only moved on its own but would bite you for stepping on it.

Williams feet sunk into the pool of snakes a could times and he felt the heat of the snakes on his skin which only gave him chills but still he kept on running

Notices came one after the other and before they made it to the tree they had each sustained well over ten bites.

Ingrid got on the ladder first and William followed behind her and the snakes were crawling after them.

"They're coming!" William said and Ingrid did her best to move faster.

The tree was as tall as a five floor building and had very peculiar golden rings around its branches.

William had a strange feeling in his mind like he was forgetting something but he brushed it off as him just being worried about the snake pursuing them.

"There's a good ladder tied to the branch of that other tree," Ingrid said. "It'll take us across."

Ingrid quickly got off the ladder and onto a branch of the black tree. The branch had several golden rings around it that on a much closer look appeared to be fused together.

Although the ladder ran all the way to the top of the tree she decided it was best they switch to the blue ladder tied to the branch of the other tree as it was snake repelling.

She ran to the end of the branch while William got on it but the snakes were catching to them fast.

"Hey we need to cut this," William said.

Ingrid quickly threw him her sharpened tree bark. William caught it and looked it over then he said, "very creative."

He quickly cut the rope ladder and waved farewell to the falling serpents.

William wanted to hurry to her but after his first step she screamed at him saying, "don't move!"

William stopped dead in his tracks but before he could ask her what was wrong he felt something move under his foot.

He looked down to see what it was then she said, "William I think we're in trouble"

He saw the golden rings under his feet move, it was alive but flat and two dimensional but still it was moving, then he remembered what it was.

He had briefly read about it in the encyclopedia, that's why the tree and the rings had stuck out to him, that's what he couldn't remember.

'What are the odds,' William thought 'there's only one, what are the odds I'll be standing on it.' He looked at Ingrid and said, "you have to jump for it. Jump! Don't worry about me! "

But….

"You can make it just go!" Willaim felt something growing under his foot; he looked down and saw that the rings were no longer two dimensional; they had transformed into the three dimensional body of a golden snake.

"Jump!" William screamed and she listened and jumped but the tail of the snake sprang out and caught her in mid air.

"No!" William screamed then he tried to kick the body of the snake but its body detached from the tree.

Its body stretched out, expanding in the blink of an eye and before he knew it he was standing in the middle of golden loops of the snake's body, hanging high above his head.

In a flash they tightened like a knot, catching him by the neck, pressing him against the tree and trapping him.