Eight

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"Everyone better stop thinking about the dead rubble beneath us and shut it," Rosemary commanded. You were brought out of your trance and realized that you had forgotten Charcoal.

"Charcoal!" You scream, looking back at the person that called themselves 'The Seer'. They were holding a small white cat while the woman behind them pet Charcoal, who was unaware of the events going on around him.

"Oh, the dog is yours. Well, then now I need to find out who this cat belongs to." They grinned maliciously. At that very moment, you heard Fundy cry out in what seemed to be pain.

"BUNZ! BUNZ, NO! BUNZ!" He sobbed out from the hippogriff next to you. He tried leaping towards the two Astant people from his father's arms, tears falling quickly down his tiny face.

Wilbur clutched him tighter, eyes set forward. "Fundy, no." He mourned quietly, yet his voice darkened in anger. Fundy sobbed more, clinging to his father.

"Bunz!.." He called, staring at the small cat in grief. The Seer smiled a wider, much more psychotic smile, staring at the young prince.

"Oh it's his cat?" They grinned, petting the cat lightly. Their white gloves almost blended with the feline's coat, and you suddenly wondered why they had them on whatsoever.

"What do you want?" You fumed, staring back at them still. The Seer's smile turned to you and they began to laugh, stepping closer to the balcony's edge.

"What do I want?" They repeat, smile still on their lips. Fundy's eyes still watched them as they stepped to the edge and took the cat by the scruff of his neck, dangling him off the edge. "What do you think I want, Y/N? You called me here, and... you need to return home, my friend."

"Home? What do you mean home?" You thundered, eyes not moving from them.

Their smile fell for a moment and their eyes darken. "You don't remember home? Astant? You don't... You don't remember me? Us? Your family?" They sniveled, looking at the ground. "The Attähan Desert...?"

You stiffened, eyes wider than they were during that bloody incident with Zalkhain. "How do you know about Attähan?"

"We lived there together!" They cried out, eyes angered, hand holding Bunz shaking. You could faintly hear them from outside of your head, showing just how loud they were. Fundy mewled out a sad 'Bunz'. "Please.. Please re-"

Then the voice cut off, and your mind buzzed with questions. The world swiftly changed to red and hot, much, much hotter than the Ensidionian empire. Quickly, you shrugged off your jacket, sweating profusely.

"Why were you talking randomly, by the way?" Eret asked softly, not turning towards you. "It was like you were... communicating with them."

Fundy sobbed from Wilbur's arms as the hippogriffs landed on the netherrack ground. "They were talking to me," you respond, barely thinking. "Like, in my head. When we got to the nether, it stopped. They spoke of my old home. The Attähan Desert."

"Attähan Desert? I've never heard of that before." She replies, nodding and sliding off of the beast. You follow and kneel next to its ankle, grabbing its calf and yanking the knife out. It screamed, but you were practically unphased. Eret winced at the noise, and Fundy sobbed louder.

"Yeah, I know. Not many people know it exists..." You respond, looking around to notice that you were approaching a warped wood forest.

"Maybe I can look in the archives here, they would have more information about Nether stuff." He stated, and began talking to themself.

You didn't bother disturbing her as he thought to themself. Looking ahead, you saw a large blackstone castle begin to fade into view. It was larger than the Ensidione castle and looked far more majestic than it. The hippogriff let out what you thought was a sigh of relief as you made your way through the obsidian gates.

Everyone got off of their hippogriffs and saw that the castle itself was larger than you thought.

"This is what Fundy calls 'Aztak'," Rosemary narrated. "Or, more commonly known among its people: Aztalkia."

"Rose, they can find the name out for themselves." Zalkhain interjected. Everyone got a chuckle out of it.

Both Rosemary and Zalkhain began leading you inside the castle. There were large red banners of fabric hanging from the ceiling showing symbols of a language that you didn't recognize. They led everyone to a spiral staircase that looked like it went on until it hit bedrock.

"You can take them up, I think you still want breakfast." Rosemary told Zalkhain, who nodded and looked at everyone.

"Well, is everyone ready to go up a few thousand stairs? 'Cause I know I'm not." They responded. You all started up the never-ending staircase.

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After what felt like three (3) hours, you reached a balcony that faced a ledge. There were weird black metal pipes (or at least that's what they looked like) that stretched down from the ceiling.

"Does anyone not know what a zipline is?" Zalkhain asked. You and a few other people raised their hands in response. "Okay, everyone is going to grab a metal bar—except for maybe you Fundy—and," They grabbed a metal bar and walked towards the edge. "Put it on top of the big metal bar. Then you push, or if you want speed, run off of the platform. Please don't have any questions."

Everyone began grabbing the metal bars that were set up against the wall behind you.

"Everyone needs to go on a singular line, so wait around five (5) seconds after the person in front of you goes before you." Zalkhain added. Everyone nodded in agreement to the statement.

Zalkhain led the group with Fundy on their back, they ran off the platform and disappeared into the dark mist. You felt everyone count five (5) seconds before Wilbur pushed off the platform. You could hear his screams until he found words.

"Brace yourselves for air!" Wilbur warned.

The five (5) seconds were over not long after that, and you went next. After pushing off of the platform, you realized just what Wilbur meant. It felt as though you were falling, even though you weren't, or falling downwards.

You saw everyone that had gone before you standing on a different platform after a few seconds. You nearly landed getting off of the metal bar.

"Good, now move so that whoever is behind you doesn't crush you." Zalkhain commanded. You did as they said, for not long after that, Eret came down as well. He was able to land correctly.

"What are you guys doing? We're eating breakfast, not sleeping!" Rosemary yelled from downstairs. Everyone looked at Zalkhain as if they had committed a crime.

"Why me?" They asked themselves. You walked to another ledge that led into what looked like an endless pit.

"Why is there a bottomless pit in a castle?" Wilbur questioned. You saw Zalkhain whisper something to Fundy before they ran and jumped off of the platform into the pit. Fundy 'wooed' in excitement as he fell through the pit; then you heard a small 'oof' when you assumed he hit the floor.

"It isn't a bottomless pit, dad! There's like a large mattress type thingy at the bottom!" Fundy yelled from the pit. Wilbur sighed and rubbed his face. You figured that it would be okay if you just simply jumped off, so you did.

This time when you felt you were falling, you were actually falling.

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CRYPTOMNESIA // Eret x ReaderWhere stories live. Discover now