Wonderer's Wish World: An Empty Land

The Beast and the 'Feast'

"GREG!"

Kipo quickly got to her feet, reaching out to Wirt. He jumped when he felt her touch on her shoulder. He was panicking, Kipo realized.

"Wirt," Kipo said quickly, trying to keep her voice gentle. "Wirt, it's alright, you-."

"It's not alright!" Wirt cried. "I can't leave Greg alone, he's just a little kid! We need to-I need to-!"

Wirt was choking over his words now, pacing around the room now with his shadow dancing on the wall from the light of the fire. Kipo watched him carefully.

"I-I was already a horrible brother to Greg once, I can't leave him alone again! Greg is a good kid, but he's too trusting, too irresponsible... he won't survive out here, especially with this cold..." Wirt finally paused, burying his face in his hands. "I don't-What do I-?"

Kipo finally stepped forward, putting her hand on Wirt's shoulder again. This time, he seemed to relax, just a little bit. "Wirt..." Kipo wasn't quite sure what to say. She tried again. "Wirt, you need to calm down. I know you're worried, but there's no way you can do anything like this."

"H-Huh?" Wirt asked, looking over to Kipo.

"Take a deep breath, Wirt," Kipo ordered him. "You can't start panicking, alright? When you start panicking, that's when everything goes wrong."

That's the first thing Kipo learned from Wolf: when something goes wrong when you're camping, you don't panic, because then everything else goes wrong. While they weren't camping, exactly, Kipo assumed that the advice worked here, too.

For a second, Wit didn't do anything. Kipo frowned at him.

"Wirt?"

Kipo watched as Wirt froze for a second, and then he took a deep breath and shook out his head. "Y-Yeah, you're right," Wirt rubbed at his eyes. "I can't panic. I just-I can't believe I'm back here. I thought I'd escaped..."

Kipo gently took Wirt's arm, and led him back to the fire. They had been cold while Wirt had been panicking, but now they were suddenly bathed in warmth.

"Escaped..." Kipo repeated thoughtfully. "If you escaped once, can't you just escape again?"

Wirt frowned. "I don't know-I don't think so. I can't remember how I escaped before."

Kipo's eyes widened. "You can't?"

Wirt shook his head sitting down. "All I remember is when I defeated The Beast, I woke up in a pond, or something, in our world. Then I passed out. Then, once again, I was in this world again."

Kipo thought about that carefully, sitting opposite of Wirt. "Right," she hummed. "Tell me about The Beast. How'd you defeat it?"

"W-Well, The Beast was this thing that took children's souls when they sunk into despair, or when they got too depressed, I think," Wirt explained. "I defeated him by blowing out his l-lantern. Uh, the lantern was this thing where-."

"Uh, Wirt?" Kipo sheepishly raised a hand. "Why don't you start at the beginning?"

Wirt blinked. "Oh... right."

Wirt thought back, and started describing his previous adventures into The Unknown. Kipo's eyes widened as he described his brother, Greg, their encounters with The Woodsman, their friend Beatrice... and The Beast. When he was done, Kipo sat back, thinking to herself.

"I've never seen anyone like that around," Kipo thought out loud. "I feel like I would have."

Wirt frowned. "Well, he was kind of hiding... But he did sign some weird song..."