The Inverse Realm

Guardian bond

Jumping towards the roof if the cave, whimsy ignored the pain of his back paw every time he hit the ground again. He had found a hatch in the roof hidden by darkness. Every time he hit it with his head it popped open a few centimeters and let light into the cave room. For the short split seconds that whimsy could see outside, he saw another, much larger cave entrance and beyond that, trees. At this point he was sure that no one was keeping watch on him because they surely would have seen the ground jolting open.
Whimsy stopped and took a break, panting hard and whining over his back paw. Then he remembered something, "Mary's portal!"
Mary's portal was long gone by now. It was probably in Suminear by now. Whimsy couldn't sense it's location. He must have been in Morase swamp, enemy territory.
Whimsy stood up and with one more good jump using all his strength, the hatch sprung open and hit the ground behind it with a loud thud. Before anyone who might have heard it could come check it out, he lept out of the hole and into a small cliff top cave that lead to nowhere. Getting to the edge of the cliff, whimsy realized that a bird must have brought him up here, because he was trapped again. No path to go down the mountain, no tunnel to travel in the cave. The only way out was to plummet into the murky lake of the untouched land below.
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Mary sat by a mud hole in the cave. Ma'am had told every solider, including Mary, to cover themselves in the caves mud to mask their scent from the second-rates. Mary drug two muddy fingers across either side of her cheeks then shampooed her hair in mud before twisting it up into a dirty bun. She pulled off her dirty dress to reveal her bloomers and tank top underneath. Taking a pine needle and some string from the rope vines, she sewed her top to her bottoms in attempt to keep her shirt from flying up in the battle. All of the visible skin on her neck, arms, and legs was replaced with an ugly brownish color as she smeared a thick coat of mud onto her body.
She was ready to fight for her guardian.
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Whimsy was out of options. He paced to the back of the small cave walking along side the wall, searching for openings that he might have missed. He moved a medium sized bolder from against the wall hoping to find a passage way behind it.
None. Still no way out.
Plan D, whimsy got as close to the edge of the cave as he could. Some sand and pebbles fell. He looked down below. Just what he had wished for. A small, slender ledge had hold to the side of the cliff about 10 feet down. Below that was another ledge, then a skinny path down to what looked like another small cave.
Whimsy took and deep breath. He had to jump at the right angle and with the right force or he would be feeding the buzzards. He took the leap of faith. Off the cliff he went, plummeting towards the ledge. He landed on the ledge with a thud. The ledge was weaker than whimsy had anticipated and it crumbled into dust below him. Falling again he twisted to land on the next ledge. He failed. Missing the next ledge he plummeted again, gaining speed, towards the little lake below. Whimsy's life flashed before his eyes, there was no way the Lilly pad-covered lake was deep enough to break his fall but whimsy closed his eyes and hoped for the best.
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Mary popped her head up from where she had been making a spear with a rock and a stick. She gasped for air, she felt like she was drowning. Had oxygen betrayed her after all this time of it being the key for survival? She choked, falling over backwards. Many of the guardians ran over to her, grabbing at her body and her face. Just like her, they had no clue what was happening. She hadn't eaten anything, what could possibly be causing her to do this? Just when she was about to give up the ghost, her air way cleared and she coughed up water. Gasping and hyperventilating she held her chest. All of the guardians led out a sigh of relief.
Ma'am raced over to her and scooped her up. Petting her head to sooth her, she turned to the guardians.
Both her and Mary spoke up simultaneously,
"It's whimsy."