Glitched Life - A Last Life AU

Prologue

An eerie purple glow emanated from a hollow tree. It flickered through shades, from deep, rich violet, to lavender, to something so pale it was almost white. The surrounding trees, the living ones, seemed to sway away from the dead, glowing tree, as if it were a person infected with the flu, standing in a crowd of healthy people, coughing. As his feet pounded against the rain-damp ground, he was growing closer and closer to the tree. He almost wanted to reach out and touch it—

"No! No closer!" Scar shook himself awake, looking around, panicking. His sweet, gray-tabby cat, Jellie, meowed in alarm and leaped onto the bed.

"Just a dream, Jellie." Scar stroked her soft fur. "At least I hope." He rolled over in bed, glancing at his alarm clock. 6:00. Time to get up for more work in Scarland!

Pulling on his usual maroon jacket and button down over a pair of khakis, strapping on his shoes, and combing the stray strands of brown hair away from his mossy green eyes, Scar left his little home above one of the shops, Jellie at his side.

Scar was an early-riser, often the first of the Hermits to start their day. He could see Grian's rocks floating in the sky above, and also had a good view of the huge white flag marking Doc's Perimeter. The crisp air hit him like a punch to the face, and Scar regretted not wearing an extra layer or two.

Patting Jellie, he tried to keep happy and confident, but the dream had him really shaken. Almost every night since about a week ago, that purple glow had infected Scar's dreams. He had contemplated telling someone about it—maybe X, he was the admin after all—but had shrugged it off in favour of it being the result of Scar overworking himself.

With a sigh, Scar went to finish some of the terraforming of Scarland. He worked for about a half an hour, when he heard a voice calling him from behind the Jellie-ears store.

"Scar? You over here?" The voice was British, and undoubtedly female. That narrowed it down pretty well. "Scar, get your [redacted] over here, I've got a problem."

That narrowed it down far enough. "Coming, Cleo!"

Scar met the ginger-haired zombie outside Scarland. A look of terror sat on her face, not something normal for her. "You okay?" Scar narrowed his eyes. "You look like you saw a ghost!"

"It's worse than a ghost." Cleo shook her head. "I've seen the Boogeyman."

"That's impossible! We haven't had to deal with the Boogeyman Curse since Last Life!"

"That's the thing," Cleo reached out to pet Jellie, "I think Last Life is restarting. I think the curse has come back."

"It sounds like you need rest," Scar grasped her hand and walked with her into Scarland. "You can stay here if—"

"Scar! I've seen it. It's here." Cleo let go of his hand. "It's happening. We need to let everyone know."

"You need to get some sleep, your eyes are baggy, and you're clearly not...right in the head, today. Here, take Jellie with you!" He handed off his cat, but the magnitude of the situation had gotten to him.

"Grian? G!" Scar pounded on his best friend's door. "Come out here! I have something to tell you!"

A short, fluffy-haired man in a red jumper opened the door, yawning sleepily. "What?"

"Listen, you might need to sit down for this." Scar placed his hands on the shorter man's shoulders. "I've been having these dreams—every single night. I didn't think anything of it, until Cleo came to my base, and...Grian, I think Last Life is restarting. I think I'm seeing the Boogeyman curse."