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They slowed to a stop as the rumbling sound faded, and the world stopped shaking. Pinwheel forced himself not to tremble, desperately thinking. This is bad. Really bad. What else will we possibly encounter during this journey?
Invincible let them get off and took a breath. “That was something, little ones. But nothing can stop Invincible.” His eyes then fell upon Wendigo.
“Who’s that?" he growled, unsheathing his claws. “Did I let him ride me without noticing?” He leaped and bowled Wendigo over, planting his claws on the cat’s chest.
Wendigo hissed in desperation, scrambling to get up, but Invincible held him. “What are you doing here with these kits? What’s your business? To spy? Are you going to report back to Sleek and her little Guards once I let you go? Will you-”
“Invincible!” Pinwheel exclaimed. The tiger turned to him, pausing. “Wendigo, here, is no harm. He is actually a friend. We found him not long ago, before the earthquake. I told him he could join me, as we will have our own world in the future, and he agreed. He is no enemy. Let him go.”
He felt guilty ordering his leader what to do, bracing himself for a retort. But Invincible, instead, nodded in understanding and stepped back.
“Well, thank you for telling me. I was about to rip his throat out. Welcome, Wendigo. In order to become one of us, though, you have to go through the Mark and Mask ceremony. Please, repeat after me.”
Pinwheel watched as Invincible and Wendigo did the ceremony, slashing each other’s throats and placing on gear. Once they were done, Wendigo looked at his pelt and touched the skull on his face in shock.
“Wow. This is . . . insane.”
Pinwheel was about to laugh when something caught his eye. He looked around, and the world then seemed to change. It was a darker version of the land around him, and his brother and friends were gone.
“Hello? Where am I?” he called, fear threatening to tear through him. “Invincible? Rapier! Brother, are you there? Wendigo!”
There was a creaking sound behind him, and a twig snapped. He twisted around, but nothing was there. But there was. Something was lurking before him. “I’m coming closer,” the mysterious creature said. Then Pinwheel caught a glimpse of it. A dark form crept around him. And then he saw the bright, red eyes. It glinted in the gloomy world, looking straight at him.
“Pinwheel,” it murmured. “Pinwheel.”
Pinwheel took off as fast as he could, yowling in terror. “I summon the Black-and-White Tiger! I summon the Black-and-White Tiger!”
Invincible never came. The Red Eyes was as calm as ever, walking slowly toward him as he bolted away.
“You can’t run, Pinwheel.”
That made him run even faster. “HELP!” he howled.
He suddenly saw Uraza, looking at him with pain in her eyes. “Pinwheel, I’m sorry.”
That look. Pinwheel would never forget that look. It hurt his heart more than the terror dragging him to a sprint. “Uraza!”
He felt claws hooking into him, holding him down. The Red Eyes bore into him, slowly ripping him to shreds.
“Pinwheel. Pinwheel,” it kept saying. He felt it fall on top of him, dragging him into the gloomy world.
“Pinwheel.”
He saw another figure in the darkness, watching in triumph.
The Red Eyes let go of him, and the vines moved. It curled around him as he screamed. He tried pushing it away with his claws, biting at it. It was as if his armor was invisible. He felt the spikes and mask on his body, but it was also not there at all. Not there to protect him from the vines. The Red Eyes. The Fake Uraza. The figure watching him.
The vines looped around him, screeching as if it had mouths. It crawled into his ears. Went into his mouth. He was blinded as it felt like the vines were in his head. Literally. Red Eyes laughed out of sight, still whispering.
“Pinwheel. Pinwheel!”
His eyes opened, gasping for breath. The vines were gone. He was out and in the real world again. Invincible, Rapier, and Wendigo, were looking at him, prodding him. When he saw that Pinwheel had opened his eyes, Rapier flung himself at his brother.
“Pinwheel! Pinwheel! What in the world happened? You were screaming, yowling, saying ‘Pinwheel and help.’ You also said ‘I summon the Black-and-White Tiger', but Invincible didn’t know where you were, so he couldn’t! It was like . . . it was like you were somewhere else. Like you were seeing something we couldn’t. You . . . you were running away from something. Oh, Pinwheel, and then you dropped to the ground like you were being held down by something. Are you alright? What happened?"
Invincible nudged Rapier away. “Give him space. Whatever he encountered, it terrorized him. We need to let him calm down. Touching him won’t help. Let Pinwheel explain when he’s ready," he said calmly.
Pinwheel was still breathing heavily from the "Fear World." It still drew at the edge of his vision, and he was scared he would get summoned back into it. He whispered without helping it.
“Red Eyes . . . the Vines,” he murmured. They all pricked their ears, listening.
“Not safe . . . danger in every turn . . . Red Eyes!”
He gasped as it lurked in his mind. “Pinwheel.”
He screeched and ran in blinding terror, and stopped before he crashed into a tree. The world was normal, and he was out of the horrible place. His friends and brother chased after him.
“What do you mean, Red Eyes? Killer Vines? Did you see anything else?” Rapier exclaimed.
“Yes. Yes, I did. I saw Fake Uraza. She was hurt. Sad. Devastated when she saw me. Not happy! She was fearful. We need to find her!” Pinwheel yelped. Rapier looked at him with the same expression as he felt.
“I don’t know what just happened. I’m as confused as all of you. But it was like . . . was like . . .” He took a deep breath. “It was like a dark, gloomy version of the land around us. Like . . . the center of the land. The Core. Yes, the Core. And there is evil in every pawstep of it.”
Invincible narrowed his eyes. “Pinwheel, this is a mystery, and I promise we will solve it. But for now, I must go. I have my own mission to make. Call for me, Rapier and Wendigo, if Pinwheel acts like he’s having . . . I don’t know, just we do know that he fails to get me when he is in there. In the Core.”
In a flash, he vanished. Pinwheel was still shaking, trying to get the memory out of his head.
Mist, I really need your help.
Of course, there was no response.
“Come, you two,” he ordered. “It’s very dark now.”
They gathered below a tree, stuffing some moss and leaves together to make nests. Pinwheel curled up, not fully settled. He had no idea whether he would experience it again. He just wanted to find Uraza and have no more fears or journeys.
He sighed, trying to find a position to sleep. It was almost impossible. Mist wasn’t talking. He wasn’t guiding him. What was he supposed to do? Was Mist even alright?
He hissed silently at the thought that Mist was going through something terrifying too.
Something that blocked his connection to Pinwheel.
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“Pinwheel.”
The voice! He looked around, startled.
Red Eyes peered at him.
It loomed in the sky, its black body blocking out any light that could be found. He was frozen to the spot in his terror. It laughed, a sound that shook the ground and made him jump. “Hello, Weird,” it said.
Pinwheel gathered as much courage as he could muster and bared his teeth. “That’s not my name,” he growled.
“Yes, it is. Invincible just let you name yourself to make you feel better. You are Weird!”279Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZA9Rtr72tn
His fur bushed up. “Go away.” He unsheathed his claws, the invisible armor no use. It just laughed again.
“Go away. Go away,” Pinwheel repeated.
“Go away. Go away. Go away! Go away! GO AWAY! GO AWAY!”
He clawed at the earth, but he couldn’t move. Red Eyes slowly crept toward him. It seized him, and he thrashed, clawing at the mud and dirty grass.
There was something that flashed before his vision, a massive creature holding down a familiar shape.
Mist!
It threw him into this den with no escape route.
Pinwheel gasped in Red Eye’s claws.
They’re imprisoning Mist! They won’t let him talk to me!
He yowled in horror and rage, trying to get Mist’s attention. But it was like he wasn’t even there for him.
I’m coming, Mist. I won’t let you down. You won’t be trapped here forever!
His gaze drifted to another figure, his mother, Uraza. She was being dragged by dark shapes, into another imprisonment.
Pinwheel cried out.
It hurt himself by just the sight, more than Red Eyes’s claws could ever inflict.
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