It was easy enough to trace her own steps back the way she came. Soft footsteps echoed off the cool, marble flooring as she raced through the halls and out the door, minutes later reaching the cobblestone trails. Again, as she looked over the city, she was struck by a familiar feeling, but she dismissed it and pressed onward.
Much of the foreboding she'd felt when she'd first entered the Horizon had ebbed, replaced by a wide-eyed curiosity toward the strangeness of the place. Much of the town looked simplistic, but also had a mystifying elegance to it that was difficult to ignore. Part of it was because of the sheer awe that the nearby woodlands exuded, but it was also the design of the city itself. Everything was set with neat purpose, to the point that it made her feel like as if she were walking through a ceramic, Christmas village that decorated someone's mantle.
The fact that it felt like she largely had the streets to herself didn't help chase away that vision. True to the shy traits most of their fellows shared within Subcon Forest, the Dwellers that floated around gave Hat Kid a wide girth. A few of them shot their own curious glances her way or stared at her from around the corners of buildings. However few, she also began to notice other ghosts among them. A lot of them weren't fully materialized, mimicking the Dwellers' snake-like bodies without the masks. The ones that were each seemed unique, if out of place with each other. Their figures either ending in ghostly tails or with a pair of translucent legs, she saw an owl in a lab coat, one of the fish-men, and a cat dressed similarly to a detective—who tipped his hat at her as she passed by.
The girl slowed down as she entered the city's main strip. She would have to keep marching forward to reach the forest, but since she didn't know how long she small journey would take, she decided to stock up first. As clear as the streets were, it wasn't hard to find the bakery. Its wooden sign was marked in bold, old-fashioned lettering and the window lined with a small display of different breads. The door was wide open and she let herself inside.
She couldn't smell the telltale air of fresh-baked bread, but everything inside still looked good: Rolls and breadsticks were tucked into baskets and pastries and cakes were set in neat rows on shelves. There weren't any other customers and no one stood behind the small counter. There was just a tiny bell with a sign that read 'ring for service.' The handle fit delicately within the palm of her hand, its gentle chime echoing off the walls.
Soon enough, a red, glistening shape peered around the opposing doorway. A faceless mask with pointed ears stared back at her, emitting an alert murmur. It was larger than many of the other Dwellers she'd seen, hovering a head over her from the other side of the counter as it crept forward. "So there really is a living soul lingering around," he mumbled to himself in a somewhat gruff, masculine voice, "I thought the prince was pulling our legs…"
"Does everyone know I'm here?" She rocked on the back of her feet, shyly ducking her head low. The more Hat Kid caught the ghosts staring at her, the more subconscious she felt about it. At least when Snatcher's minions treated her like the odd-one-out, they were upfront with it—albeit with the thought in mind that she'd just be yet another one of their boss's doomed victims and a rookie to be toyed with by extension. Here, she might as well have been the ghost: A strange, otherworldly apparition to be wary of.
The Dweller nodded at her question, "Not much happens in this quiet place, so you could say you're the latest gossip. I'm just glad to finally have a steady customer for a while."
"Everything looks so good…" she scanned her eyes over the various sweets and loaves. It seemed a shame if the ghosts didn't eat much, even of their own food. Despite the lack of necessity, there was a clear practice in the work. The breads were a crisp, rich gold and the cakes were all unique, decorated with curls of frosting, little flowers, or odd fruits she didn't recognize.
He seemed to stand a little straighter at her compliment, mask raised with pride, "Well… I gotta spend my hours somehow." The baker whirled along the counter's edge, motioning toward the displays. "Take your pick."
After a moment's thought, Hat Kid pointed to a single, ovular loaf and a couple of bite-sized cakes. Surely she could get something more filling later, but she wasn't about to turn down tasty food. Handing over a few pons, she tapped the surface of the counter as she waited for him to wrap them up for her. A thought suddenly occurred to her curious mind, "How do plants for food even grow here anyway? There's no sunlight."
"You probably already noticed, but the Horizon has its own environment, and it works by its own rules," he explained, "Everything feeds on a kind of spiritually based energy instead of a living one. Part of it's the ether that flows through here and the spirits that look after the place. Perfect conditions for its plants, fine for us… if not so good for you."
While she still hadn't gotten the grim explanation on why that was and the topic itself wasn't a thing she fully understood, she could make a few guesses. The miasma in Subcon Forest worked similarly. It too was a spiritual energy, but one that fed on negative forces—keeping the entire woods locked in a perpetual state of darkness and decay. The ether here seemed to play a more neutral role, but made the realm more suitable to the spirits and the dead than the living.
That in mind, something else the baker mentioned caught her interest, "Are the spirits here like caretakers then?" Hat Kid hoped that some of them were nice, at least, since it would make collecting her Time Pieces that much easier. The fire spirits had been kind enough, but lacked the moral understanding to show it. If they were outwardly malicious like the swamp spirits though, that meant trouble.
His hesitation gave her no confidence. At last, he gave her a simple reply, "You see all types. What I really meant were the more… let's call them 'seasonal' spirits." Head perked up, as if a thought just occurred to him, he leaned forward intently, "Don't just go snooping for them, ok? Not all of them like mortals, and it's usually worse if they do."
As he handed over her sacked goodies, she nodded and stowed them away in her backpack for later. She couldn't make that promise, but she did take his warning to heart. Experience demanded that much caution.
With a small bid goodbye, she immediately resumed her journey toward the depths of the woods. In minutes, the soft white glow of its trees and undergrowth surrounded her. Hat Kid marveled at the sight of it all. There were the shimmering flowers like the ones that grew in the Alpine Skyline and the colorful mushrooms like the ones in Subcon. The whole forest teemed with so much light that she doubted any one of the plants could cast their own shadow. As it was, her own was barely more than a humble silhouette confined to a few centimeters around her feet.
Was the forest's luminescence because of the ether too? Moonjumper mentioned that the ether was stronger down here than near the Twilight Bell. If there was a way it was somehow able to seep into the mortal world, it would explain why she saw some of the same kind of plants. It was just that they could only grow in areas with strong, spiritual energies where that kind of leak happened.
Not too long into her trip, she found an old signpost that pointed her in the direction of the Magnetic Field. Along the rightmost path, some of the flora appeared to change, long stalks of grass lit with a golden hue now mingling with the blues and whites. Hat Kid moved to follow it when suddenly a faint, quiet noise broke through her own, busy thoughts. It sounded like singing, coming from the opposite road, although she couldn't make out the words. It was hauntingly beautiful though, like gentle chimes carried on the wind.
She almost considered following the noise before reminding herself of her mission to tear her focus back to the path ahead. She could explore the other road later. Soon the singing went away, replaced the by the soft crunch of her own footfalls along the grass as the trail wore off. The trees began to thin, their vibrant canopy opening up to reveal the Horizon's empty, endless sky. The more the forest broke away, the more the golden grasses multiplied until Hat Kid soon found herself standing in a large meadow of it.
The name of the place made a lot more sense now. Throughout the rolling landscape, sparks wove through the grasses and darted through the air. What few, thin trees dotted the field were split apart or had the bark blown off of them. One of them seemed freshly carved out, its interior burning with a yellow-violet glow. Even the air was charged, some of Hat Kid's hair left standing on-end thanks to the concentrated static.
Keeping back as one of the sparks flew too close to her for comfort, she thought she heard it make a high-pitched giggle. It took two more passes for the child to realize that she wasn't just hearing things, and not long after that to piece together why the sound bothered her so much. She'd heard it before: The noise had ricocheted everywhere within Dead Bird Studios' basement level, coming from the dangerous, electric wires that hooked to the Conductor's and DJ Grooves' various equipment.
She'd been shocked a couple times along those cords—it'd taken some effort not to cry out in pain and blow her cover. However, she'd thought it was because the wires were faulty or not properly insulated. It was so much like laughter, that she felt like the noise mocked her before: Now, she wasn't too sure that it hadn't. Squinting, she noticed another one of the sparks fly over to one of the electrified trees. It was only for a brief second, but Hat Kid made out a tiny, humanoid shape morph from its light. Then, it swiftly curled back into a blinding orb that channeled itself along the branch before taking flight once again.
I guess those are the lightning sprites… Annoying as they were, a part of her was glad she was facing something she was more used to than a new, random enemy. They'd hurt her before, but nothing about them seemed outright malicious. Besides, she'd accidently stepped on a few of them, so she'd already had her fair share of payback.
The Time Piece's own bright light was practically indistinctive from the spirits, to the point that she barely noticed it, only its distant shape giving it away. She froze in a moment's panic, watching as the spirits carried the object—much larger than themselves—by the edge of its rim and tossed it to one another like some kind of toy. She'd seen Time Pieces break before, but the way they recklessly played with it made her internally scream.
The young alien couldn't wait a second longer. Mid-throw, she sprinted for the hourglass at a bullet's speed, missing the catch as one of the sprites zipped above her and snatched it out of the air before she could. It swung the Time Piece in its tiny grip like a pendulum, chiming at her with a teasing, sing-song tone before giggling and speeding off once again. None of the sprites must've been familiar to her: Instead, they just seemed to recognize her as a new player for their dangerous game.
As they continued to mock her and throw the Time Piece to one another, the girl stamped her foot, "That's mine! Give it back: I'm not kidding around!"
If they understood her at all, they ignored her. Soaring overhead, the lightning sprites continued their play and kept the Time Piece far from her reach. When Hat Kid jumped at them, they flew higher. When she charged at them, they moved faster or tossed the mystical tool off to another one of their kind. Huffing, she watched them a while longer with a pout, then slipped off her backpack and dug through its main pouch until she retrieved her sprint and time stop hats.
Let's see how well you guys outrun me with these! She plopped the first on her head and shuffled once more onto her feet. Using a nearby rock to propel herself, she sped off once again. Unprepared for her sudden boost, the sprites whirled apart in surprise. Her fingertips grazed the side of the Time Piece, but she couldn't shake it free from their hold and dropped back to the earth in a crouch.
The chase was on. The sprite with her Time Piece darted away, a line of sparks trailing after it. Hat Kid followed close behind, brushing through the tall grass as they tickled her arms and face. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the other sprites weave through the air after her. She gritted her teeth and tried to keep her concentration on the sprite ahead, spinning around a second as it tore past her with yet another one of their high-pitched laughs.
Careful to avoid the spirits, she picked up her pace. Maybe they could roughhouse with each other, but one small touch from the twittering sparks was enough to wrack her whole body with electricity. The group only flew after her, a line of sprites like a swarm of large bees on her tail.
The one she was chasing led her over a series of rocks and around one of the larger, electrocuted trees. Then it flew over a small ledge. She barely noticed it in the tall grass, unprepared for the drop, scrambling to get back on her feet without losing her speed. Even then though, she didn't realize just how obscured her vision was until she was sent air-born by a mushroom hidden in the foliage. She charged right into it, rebounding off of its round surface as if hitting a spring.
Luckily, it sent her in enough of an arc that she wasn't thrown back into the midst of the lightning sprites. Her pride, however, didn't fair as well as her body did. Hat Kid came back to the earth rolling, brushing herself off to the sound of the spirits laughing at her. Even the one with her Time Piece seemed to pause to smile and jeer.
She felt her cheeks flush. Before she could even think of some snappy retort though, the sprites began to fly toward her yet again. Hat Kid dove away from them, circling around to aim for her Time Piece once more. She was getting frustrated, but it only boosted her determination. The sprite ahead, mid-laugh, jumped in surprise at her quick recovery and then zipped off.
They weaved once again through the thin, scattered lines of trees, then it tried pinning her by rounding them a second time to loop back with the rest of its kind. The group created a natural blockade, allowing the one to pass them, but cutting her off. Without breaking her speed, Hat Kid thought quick and looked for another mushroom. Shifting direction to the nearest one, she used it to vault over them, landing steadily on the other side and a few steps closer to her target.
In an instant, her hand few to her time stop hat: With a speed that came only from habitual practice, her sprint hat was flung off and caught in her other hand with the former resting on her head in its place. She didn't want to summon its abilities and soon the world around her shifted into blurry, strange, and dark hues. As always when she used its power, everything immediately slowed in her mind's eye—as if she was functioning in a separate reality from the one that played around her.
It was never more than a second's advantage, but it gave her just enough of an opening to close the gap between her at the sprite. She was just under it now, the Time Piece just a hair's distance away. Reaching up, she jumped for it and again could just barely graze the glass. She wasn't high enough!
Then she spotted just one more mushroom. With little time to spare, she went for it: She pounced on the cap and was sent flying yet again, adjusting her descent to aim right for the Time Piece. She falling just as her surroundings returned to normal, the world once again catching up to her, but all too late.
Hat Kid dragged out her umbrella, swinging out for additional reach and catching the sprite off guard from—to it—her sudden appearance by its side. She struck it full force, knocking the Time Piece away from its grasp. Then the young alien snatched it out of the air, clutching it against her chest to protect it as she tumbled back to the ground.
Sitting up, head dizzy from the rapid series of motions, she quickly examined the hourglass for any damage. She sighed: Miraculously, there wasn't even a scratch. Well, she wasn't one to question good luck. In the first place, when all of the Time Pieces—and herself—originally fell down to the planet's surface, none of them should've survived. Somehow though, beyond the handful of time rifts she'd had to fix, she'd managed to recover every one with little repairs.
However, relief didn't last long. A low, steady buzzing sound started up behind her. She didn't really want to, but she looked back. The sprites had gathered together once more. Their toy stolen from them, their bodies shifted from their bright yellow glows to a dangerous red. The one she had batted away recovered, flying at the front of the group with an angry stream of shrill sounds twittering out of it.
Hat Kid scrambled back to her feet, backing away slowly. There wasn't a way for her to outrun them. Even with both of her hats, they could only buy her so much time. She risked a glance over to the forest: There was no guarantee that they wouldn't chase her all the way back to town, and if that happened—even if the people there could help her fend them off—she wasn't sure what Moonjumper would think if she brought that kind of trouble with her, especially this soon after letting her explore this place. She needed cover—and fast.
The minute the lightning sprites dove her for, she reactivated her time stop hat's abilities. This time, however, she bolted as far away from the spirits as quickly as possible. The area was too open, there was no where to hide! Then her eye caught one of the glowing mouths of the trees.
It would have to do! Sliding inside, the child curled her body to make herself as small as possible within the confined space—not only to help hide her, but also to keep from touching the searing trunk red with heat. It was like sitting in the middle of a hearth, walls of embers all around her.
Not long after, her hat's effects, went away once again. She remained silent, crossing her fingers and hardly able to watch from her position as the sprites darted past her hiding spot in an electric wave. Her hair seemed to stand further on end as they passed, the air even more charged than before.
They didn't find her though. They passed one, two more times and then she gradually heard the sound of their whirring bodies fade away. She gave herself a few more minutes, then released a deep breath.
That wasn't the hardest thing I've had to do to get one of you back… Hat Kid looked at the Time Piece still held tightly in her arms, but you sure don't make things easy.
It was easier than dealing with the fire or swamp spirits, or the ghosts that roamed Subcon, at least. Still, she had the dreaded feeling that this was only the beginning. There was too much ground to cover and she'd had too many warnings to leave her guard down just yet. Peering outside, she looked around before crawling back into the open—although she still kept herself crouched low, ducking beneath the grass until she'd made it all the way back to the forest and the safe blanket of the undergrowth hiding her from view.
Hat Kid paused to stow everything into her bag and whip the soot out of her clothes. Before she could close it, she saw the cakes and bread tucked with the rest of her belongings. How often did she need to eat again? Maybe she could just reward herself for a job well done…
She thought it over, then plucked up one of the desserts and took a large bite out of it before carrying on her way.
