Last time, Nezumi, Anomaly and Zettai were scattered by an unknown force, Nezumi ended up unconscious in a village, Anomaly fell through the ground into an Uncanny Location, Zettai was sent to a dimension filled with monstrous creatures.
This time, we focus on Nezumi.
𝓝𝓮𝔃𝓾𝓶𝓲: 𝓜𝓸𝓸𝓷𝓯𝓪𝓵𝓵
Nezumi was... Not there... Well, she was there phisically, but mentally, she was absent, which brings us to inside her head.
Right there, she was falling, falling down, not being able to see the bottom of the pit she somehow got into, the only thing she knew, is that the walls around her were made of wood, almost like she was inside a tree. Other than that, the only thing that she could see were hallucinations, or what she thinks are hallucinations, faces, items, places and trhe horrifying sound of someone laughing at her.
Just when she thought that she would lose her mind, Nezumi landed to the bottom, right on top of a puddle that shouldn't have been more than a finger deep, yet, when she made contact with the water, it was like she plummeted into a lake, but not wanting to spend more time in the water than she had to, she quickly swam up, only to see a room fit to be the inside of a tree, grassy ground, flowers, the only thing weird was someone floating in front of some kind of door, along with two pixies floating besides it.
It had the body of a child, but it was as if it was made of crystal, not only that, but it was also wearing a blue Oni Mask, looking at it was unsettling, but it didn't stop Nezumi from asking "...Who are you?", the figure didn't reply, instead it's mask started glowing, sending Nezumi in a panic, she felt as if her body was falling apart, she wouldn't normally feel pain due to her shell and the few times someone managed to hurt her, it wasn't nearly this bad.
The worst part however wasn't the pain, that came when the pain subsided, as Nezumi's body turned paler than death, her hair now a sick white eyes cold and lifeless, all visible to her thanks to the reflection on the water, and seeing how the changes made Nezumi scream.
The figure only laughed at the reaction, with the same haunting laugh that Nezumi heard while falling, and while it laughed, it floated away, opening a hole in the wall, revealing a path that went through the ground.
This didn't go unnoticed as Nezumi quickly started chasing after it, but one of the pixies stopped her, only to be locked away with Nezumi in the room, much to the displeasure of the other pixie, and when the pixie holding Nezumi off noticed, it went into a panic, "Ovrachar! Snit! Wait! Don't leave me here!" The pixie exclaimed while hurrying to the closing wall, but didn't get there in time.
Nezumi took a moment to regain her senses due to everything that happened in that little time, but the pixie had other intentions as it quickly backed up to her, "YOU! This is your fault! If I didn't have to stop you from following us, then I wouldn't be stuck here with you!" The pixie scolded Nezumi, who didn't really care, because why would she?
Not wanting to waste time, the hybrid just ignored the pixie and walked to the wall the figure went through and punched a hole big enough for her to go through, "What was that!?" The pixie exclaimed in surprise seeing the wall crumbling just like that.
Still ignoring the pixie, Nezumi followed the path wanting to gently break the bones of the guy that transformed her, but when she reached a canyon filled with waterfalls, the pixie cut her off "Wait! Listen, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I also know that you are not from around here and could use some help, so I thought, I can help you go around the place, and you can help me go back to the others, what do you think" The pixie suggested, leaving Nezumi in quite the position.
"Alright... So you're right, I don't know where I'm going and could use a guide, but I also really wanna squash you like a fly." Nezumi brought up the dillema, only serving to make the pixie nervous, especially the 'squash like a fly' part, "W-Well... I-" The pixie was about to say something, but Nezumi grabbed it with one hand, "I accept your offer, but remember, try anything and I'll keep my word..." Nezumi threatened and squeezed the pixie slightly to make a point, "Get it?" She asked the pixie who quickly nodded in response.
Nezumi let go of the pixie and said "Glad you understand." Nezumi said, still in that threatening tone, but then, like if a switch was flipped she said "By the way, my name is Nezumi, yours?", this kind put off the pixie who replied "I'm Cher... Nice to meet you... Anyways... Do you have a way to pass?", Nezumi thought about it for a moment and decided to use her magic to freeze the waterfalls to make a bridge to the other side of the canyon.
While Cher was surprised about the wall, he didn't seem surprised about the freezing, this made Nezumi realize that magic must be used more frequently than hand-to-hand combant here, but aside from that, there wasn't anything, or so she thought, while her home is no stranger to weird space deformities, Cher guided her to an hallway that was twisting around on itself, not really something that you would find often, even less in such a specific place.
This bothered Nezumi a bit, but not much more than that, however the hallway took her to a room that had a waterwheel, a river and many, many gears, "What's this place?" Nezumi asked Cher who replied simply "Inside the Clock Tower.", this answer confused Nezumi as the path they took should have brought them underground.
"Question, do you know about a place called the Vortex Kingdom?" Nezumi asked the Cher who made a confused sound in response, "Vortex Kingdom? There is no place like that here, there isn't a kingdom in miles for that matter, the only thing that comes close is a settlement in a frozen swamp." The Pixie replied, "Okay, where the hell am I!?" Nezumi exclaimed, realizing that she wasn't home by a long slide.
At that moment, a giggle came from behind her, "Welcome to Maelstrom." A voice said. When Nezumi turned around, she saw a man that had a bag full of masks, the man also wearing a mask himself, the only defining feature that could be seen were the incredibly long lime colored hair.
"I believe we ran into the same little troublemaker." The man said while approaching Nezumi.