Story Summary:
This is the sequel to The Measure of a Mammal, my first epic work set in Magic205's Zootopia AU. Set in the current day, and after 3 long years lost on the streets of Zootopia after the conclusion of Dawn Bellwether's mad reign, Judy Hopps has been found by the one Mammal she never expected to see again - her favorite Cliffside Doctor, Dr Hugo Wiedii. He's saved her life, and now he has to come with grips with the journey Judy has made to reach him. She's encountered old lovers, new friends, and felt the touch of forgotten enemies. But now a new crisis rocks the streets of Zootopia, and all that stands between the city and chaos is the sanity of one broken bunny. Also included are flashback chapters that deal with Judy's attempt 3 years ago to penetrate Dawn Bellwether's mad plot to destroy and enslave predators, all in the name of personal power. The rabbit will have to endure hardships and madness to gain Dawn's trust so that she may engineer the mad lamb's downfall. She's alone, with no friends and no allies, thrust in amoung Zootopia's mightest mammals, her only weapons her wits and her unshakeable faith. She will prevail. She must. The alternative is to horrible to contemplate.
Notes:
Inspired by The Measure of a Mammal by Aegis_Di.
This is the second act of the Legacy Of Latrans, the first act being The Measure of a Mammal. For those of you familiar with the story, this act will be darker and more violent, both in the current day and in the flashback chapters. Judy is going to have to endure her own nightmare to prevent a catastrophe of biblical proportions, and it's not going to be pretty. Let's hope she has the strength. For those unfamiliar with the story, I've included a short summary of The Measure of a Mammal in the beginning of this chapter. Next chapter will be a flashback chapter, and it will also have a short summary of the flashback chapters from The Measure of a Mammal.
Chapter Summary:
Across Town, John Wyeld and his unwilling ward, Joshua Bittersnow have arrive at New Horizon's laboratory, where John contemplates his hatred of the place and Joshua contemplates the coming consequences of his actions. At the Tundra Town Hospital, Nick and Wolfard visit with an injured Clawhauser, and they try to debrief him about his encounter with a mad goat. And back at Hugo's place in Snowy Hills, he tries to deal with Judy's surprise admission: She is the heir that Dawn had bequeathed her empire to.
Previously on The Measure of a Mammal
Once, there was a rabbit from Bunny Burrow who had become the first rabbit officer to server in the Zootopia Police Department. As part of a desperate gamble to prove her worth to her police chief, she took on an impossible case and with it an impossible partner. But with luck, skill, and the help of that same partner, the sly con-fox Nick Wilde, she solved her case and saved her city.
Four years later she would embark on a similarly desperate case with her partner in law-enforcement, the re-minted Officer Nick Wilde. They would be pitched against a zoophobic cult that sought to bring about the end of all mammalian civilization, and even thought they were aided by mystic Cheryl Silverheels in the final epic battle against the cult's messianic coyote leader, dark sorcerer Carl Latrans, they would loose everything.
In desperation, as she watched her partner spill his bleeding guts out all over the floor, Judy would try a desperate gamble only to be blasted to ash by forces beyond her comprehension. But even in death all was not lost, for the Divines would interceed and offer Judy a Faustian bargain: The life of her precious fox and the lives of all she loved and held dear in exchange for a lifetime of suffering. Judy took that bargain gladly, and ended the threat to her loved ones by merging her desceased soul with her nine year old self and assassinating Carl Latrans decades before before he could destroy all of mammalia (please see Magick205 excellent Debts Unpaid on Deviantart).
This is the story of what comes afterwards.
It's been 19 years since she killed Carl Latrans by putting a bullet in him. Her journey of suffering has lead her through juvinile incarceration and eventually, madness at the Cliffside Insane Asylum. On her 18th birthday she is released to make her own way through an uncaring world. Unable to adapt to life of peace in Bunny Burrow, she drifts westward, and lives happily for a time on the Pacifica coast. But after the death of a dear friend, Judy leave the ocean behind and journey eastward to face her destiny at the paws of Dawn Bellwether.
Judy is 28 now and living as a homeless and slightly mad rabbit on the streets and canals of the rain forest district. After encountering Nick Wilde Monday evening out for a stroll with his mate and kit, Judy could no longer take the heartbreak and suffering that the Divines had promised her, and she runs off into the night. Soaking wet, she arrives in Tundra Town in the dead of night, and begins to feel the effects of the cold. Delirious, she wanders through the alley ways muttering to herself, slowly dying of exposure and hypothermia. She is rescued by an old doctor of hers, a margay forest cat named Dr Hugo Weidii, who was a doctor of her at Cliffside where she spent as a young felon. Shocked to find her here after 13 years, he struggles to save her life (Ch 1).
He enlisted the aid of his neighbors Dale and Meredith to assist him in saving her life that evening. Once she was stabilized, he set down to write her a note before falling asleep himself. Waking up in a strange place, Judy struggle to remember the events from the previous evening. Reading the note, she realized that the last mammal she ever expected to see had found her breakfast Tuesday morning, where Judy had dropped the bombshell that she had been homeless for the past three years, the four of them take a trip to the local free clinic in Tundra Town where Judy can be examined (Ch 3).
At the clinic Judy struggles to fill out the paperwork, letting slip to Hugo and Meredith that she goes by another name these days – Jessica Lapine. He has to leave her in Meredith's care while he attends to another doctor's patient. Judy is examined by the duty nurse and then talks to a nutritionist about her diet. The doc comes in last, and gets her started on a treatment for hypothermia and pneumonia(Ch 5).
As Hugo returns to her room, the nutritionist instructs him on Judy's care. Hugo takes a photo of Judy, and then leaves to called her mother with the good news that at long last the lost bunny has been found(Ch 7).
Overwhelmed by the news, Bonnie and Stu are unable to talk to Hugo, leaving the difficult task to their daughter Beth, a professional social worker, to get the details from him (Ch 9).
Hugo returned to the Clinic examination room where he and Judy had a tense confrontational moment that passed as soon as it began, and afterwards he reveled why he was forced to abandon her at Cliffside. Later after Judy had passed out from exhaustion and stress, Hugo discovers more about Judy past life on the West coast than he ever expected(Ch 11).
Hugo struggles to understand the enigma that is Judy Hopps and to reconcile what little data he has about her life. Lacking clarity, he sought focus and tranquility though Tai Ji meditation. Judy woke from her nap and wrestled with her own terrible demons. Left at an impasse in her own mind, she followed a tantalizing scent she hasn't experienced in years and it leads her to witness something she had never known about Hugo. On the basis of her new experience, she comes to a fateful decision. She would stay(Ch 13).
Judy awoke Wednesday morning to the smell of baking apple, but before eating she luxuriates in her first hot shower after three long lonely years on the streets and alleyways of Zootopia. After breakfast, Hugo took her shopping to replace what she had lost, and she began to experience powerful and conflicting feelings toward her former doctor. Prompted by an emergency message summoning him to the Tundra Town Central Hospital, Hugo is forced to leave Judy with his trusted friend and little fox, Homeless Counselor Fennick Zerda (Ch 15).
Forced into the role of babysitter, Fennick quickly figured out what's really going on with the rabbit and who she really is. Being the one fox every mammal trusted with the truth, Fennick was unable to decide what he should do with that information now that he's met Judy for the first time, so he invites her to met with the homeless kits he mentors, where she displays the depths of her life experiences. As he came to understand just who she is, he in turn worked to help her find her start to own place in this new world (Ch 17).
Meanwhile, Hugo had arrived at Tundra Town Central Hospital to examine his partner's new patient, a homeless and naked goat with severe head trauma. As they struggled to understand what the patient had gone through, the blood work reveled the presence of a new contagion, one that Hugo never expected to ever see – that of Dawn Bellwether's lost biological warfare weapon. Shocked by what they have seen, they are forced to deal with a savage patient attacking every mammal in sight (Ch 19).
Alerted to the medical crisis, Chief Bogo and the ZPD SWAT arrived to contain the situation, and he is accompanied by the newest rabbit member to the ZPD Night Howler Task Force, Interpol Special Agent Chi Daman. Hugo works quickly to bring the newcomers up to speed on the dangerous situation at paw, and in doing so realized that they were not prepared for what was coming (Ch 21).
Since Hugo is busy with the ZPD, Fennick is forced to feed the rabbit dinner with his mate and her friend Skye. He thought he could pull a prank on her by introducing her to an arctic fox, but the jokes was on him since it turned out that Skye was in fact Judy's long lost lover from her time on the west coast. As the vixen and the rabbit spent some time getting reacquainted, Fennick and his wolf lover put all the pieces together (Ch 23).
Judy got to know Skye's bike and Skye in turn got to know Judy's troubles. At the hospital, Hugo talked to Emmi about discovering Judy, and how his Grandmother living 2000 miles away knew where to send him to find his long lost patient. They made plans for a welcoming home party for Judy on Thursday night, and then Agent Daman sought out Hugo's advice on how to deal with crusty Chief Bogo and the sly Sargent Wilde (Ch 25).
Judy finally got to go riding with Skye after eight years apart, while Nick was across town hunting for a mysterious homeless rabbit he thought he saw Monday evening. Finnick took some very pretty pictures of some very pretty females in the sunset, but after Judy caught him in the act they quickly came to understand that there is a hidden side to each other. After the motorcycle ride, the mammals returned to the Tundra Town hospital where Hugo got to meet Skye for the first time, and Skye was not sure she could tolerate the feline's competition for her rabbit's heart. Finnick finally brought his friend the coyote Professor Cheryl Silverheels up to date, and back at Hugo's place Judy figured out how to make her cat purr in the night (Ch 27).
Hugo woke up Thurdsay morning with a nearly naked Judy still in his arms. He tried desperately to groom her, but found her fur not to his tastes. He still made an interesting discovery, a set of divots that had been drilled into her skull long ago and since healed over. But Finnick called and interrupted his exploration, so Hugo leaves to go talk to him about Skye, Cheryl, and the power of legends. Meanwhile, Judy worked her way through a very strange dream (Ch 29).
Judy's dream turned into a nightmare about Bellwether, and going savage, her paws stained blue. She woke with a start, relieved to see that she was still sane. She got in search of Hugo and more blankets, finding him in his office talking to Fennick. She's directed to his bedroom closet, and there she makes some discoveries about her caretaker's particular bedroom proclivities. She used that as an opportunity to find out more about her host and rescuer, the irony being that he sought to know about her as well (Ch 30).
As they talk to each other in his bedroom, Judy and Hugo found out how they kept missing each other over the years. After Hugo went out to get her new clothes, Judy followed him downstairs and ended up having an other-worldly experience. After Hugo rejoined her in the light, Judy convinced him to teach her about his family mystic beliefs, and Hugo agreed to show her the Ritual of Healing (Ch 31).
Across town, Nick journeyed to the ZPD headquarters to see his partner Wolfard and show him last night's souvenir from Nick's hunt. He briefed the old wolf on what he find, and they decided to go visit an injured cat for more information. But before they can leave, they were intercepted by Chief Bogo, who instructed Nick to properly brief Agent Daman Friday morning, and over Nick's objection, Hugo as well. He told Nick that because of what happened at the Tundra Town Central Hospital the day before changed everything, and so now Nick must change as well. Meanwhile, down in ZPD Central Holding, Duke Weaselton's day started out boring, but after a visit from a mysterious fox it definitely didn't end that way when a battered gang member in his cell went savage and tried to kill him (Ch 33).
Back at Hugo's basement, Judy and Hugo sit down to his grandmother's ritual to summon the Lord of Death, and this moved Judy to bare her soul to him. Nick and Fennick had a short chat while Wolfard drove his partner to the Tundra Town Central Hospital. Fennick talked with Cheryl in her office, and they are visited by two nurses seeking wisdom. At the end, Hugo provided Judy with some much needed support, and she rewarded his efforts with a bombshell (Ch 35).
For she is Dawn Bellwether's Favorite, heir to the power crazed lamb's empire of blood and madness.
Deep in the Meadowland Mountains
John Wyeld and Joshua Bitter Snows stood for a moment just outside the lobby doors, fox to coyote, waiting to be buzzed in. They had driven over to their destination in the back seat of their taxi without a single word exchanged between the two canines. John sat with a frown frozen on his muzzle, while Joshua's own face alternated between a sneaking smirk and flashes of fear. But by the time they had arrived at the New Horizons latest laboratory, far to the north of the city and tucked deep in the Meadowland Mountains, Joshua had settled on a brittle and regal air.
John just snorted to himself, laughing at the foolishness of youth. Now that they stood before the doors, the wind whipping the falling river spray about the building into a fine and constant mist, Joshua's facial fur sagged under the weight of all that gray moisture, and instead of a looking like a royal prince he simply looked the miserable pauper.
T he wolves that guard this place, do they pity the cub? John mused to himself. Did they recognize that his proud face was just a mask to conceal a coward's heart? Or did they envy him for his relationship with their a u gust master? Perhaps did they dream in their ambitions of rep lacing the youth, and stand at t heir master's side ? No. That shan't be their fate. Not them, these f oolish creatures, these hired goons. Wolves in form only, no true b eta s among them, none that dared to truly p onder what their master dreamed about, in his cold and lofty spire.
The door buzzed and swung open slowly, John stepping through as soon as the crack was wide enough to admit himself. He disliked the chill mountain drizzle of this place, his lungs contracting painfully as they sought to expel the dank air and drink in the lobby's warmth. He shook his head, water whipping of his ears, and brushed the clinging dew from his coat sleeves on to the alabaster floor.
"You're late." The voice behind him rumbled like a slow landslide.
John turned and address the low pitched speaker, "We were accosted by a ruffian who escaped ZPD custody while we were trying to leave. The officers perforce fell over themselves in apologizing, and then tried to make up for that lapse in manners with reams and reams of paperwork." He stared up at the large sandy-gold wolf, his combat armor pristinely polished in stark contrast to his grizzled fur, tarnished after years of fighting petty battles in pointless wars. He towered over the shorter fox, looking for all the world more hyena than wolf, lacking only the twisted sense of humor and crazed laughter to complete the image. No, he didn't image that the Chief of Security for this particular facility had a sense of humor, and it all the years he had worked with him, he had never once heard him laugh.
"He's expecting you." The voice rumbled again, his scarred muzzle barely moving as the words slid out between the sharp ivory teeth.
"Isn't he always?" John offhandedly remarked as he strode over to the elevators. He wanted to be free of this place, and the sooner he was removed of his charge, the sooner that he could make that happen. His skin crawled in to be confined once again inside these walls, the sterile effluvium of the cast concrete abrasive to his nerves. He had spent too many years confined here to be nostalgic about this building, years spent as patient, then prisoner, and then finally hostage. Hostage to the mad power dreams of other mammals, dreams he never sought or shared but to which he was bound, body, mind, and soul.
The elevator dinged, and the door slid open. John stepped briskly through the threshold into the steel cage and spun smartly back, his paw automatically seeking the buttons. He frowned out the empty portal at Joshua, who had suddenly lost his feet. He stood rooted to the gray granite tile, as if he had stepped in wet concrete and forgotten how to walk. He stood there, staring not at John, but at the railing that ran around the inner perimeter of the elevator carriage, his paws gripping his arms until the claws sank below the fur, disappearing into flesh.
The door began to to close, forcing John to stab at the door-open button. As the doors began to reopen, he drolly observed to the young coyote, "I can just tell him that you decided not to see him? I'm sure he'll take that in stride, don't you think?"
Joshua eyes snapped up from the railing they had been boring holes through and locked on to John's with a look of pure loathing. John smirked, as he waved his paw towards the empty space beside him. Joshua sullenly shuffled into the elevator next to him and turned to face the door. John pushed the button for the top floor, and stood silently next to the young coyote as the doors began to slide closed.
Tundra Town Central Hospital – Clawhauser's room
"Hey, hey, hey! Some officers will do anything to avoid a patrol, ya know? What'cha do, Benjamin? Slip on a banana peel?" Wolfard sauntered through the recovery room door.
Benjamin tried to laugh, but he just ended up coughing instead. He lay back on his bed, clutching his chest lightly, "Owwww… Don't make me laugh, Wolfard. Please… It just hurts." He gasped.
"That's wolves for ya, Benji. Always the sensitive types." Nick observed coolly as he followed Wolfard through the open door. He held up a paper bag, "Here, we brought you a couple of donuts. Figured you might be sick of hospital food already." He held it up to Benjamin grasping paw.
"Thank you," The cheetah whispered, as he drew a twist out of the bag, and nibbled on the end. He sighed in pleasure.
Wolfard sat down on the overstuffed chair and spoke again, "Seriously though. What'cha do this time? Fangmeyer kind glossed over the details."
The cheetah flicked his eyes over Nick's eyes, "Bogo told us to come down and talk to you about it." Nick told him, as he climbed up onto the end of the bed. "What happened?"
"The chief sent you?" He asked them, to which they nodded, "Okay… It's still all kinda confusing to me, but… Okay." Benjamin took another bite of his coveted doughnut, and began his story.
"It all started with what sounded like a case of petty vandalism, the kind that teenagers do on a dare or too many drugs. Run into a garage, smash a few headlights, and run out before they get caught." He paused for a moment and then continued, "Except that it wasn't. It was a homeless mammal having an episode. Even so, I figured it was a job for a uniform, not me. It wasn't until the chief pulled me in and explained the mob angle that I agreed to take the case."
Sitting back, his paws tucked behind his head as he relax, Wolfard piped up, "Mob angle?"
Benjamin shrugged, "I suppose, if you can call it that. The low rider truck that got dented belonged to one of Mr Big's bears, Raymond I think it was. He were kinda of annoyed by the dents, so he complained to Captain Snarlov, who passed it up the chain to Bogo. Who gave it to me. And here I am." He waved his paw about the room.
"What?" Wolfard threw up his paws, "Is that it? You just magically crack yer ribs or something?"
"Huh? Oh... No sorry… Um… Where was I? Um.. Anyway, I got here to talk to Mr Goat, except that he was sleeping, so I figured that I might just wait until he woke up, except this cute nurse doe came over and yelled at me to leave, and I told her that it was okay, and we could talk to Dr Wiedii when he got back, but..." Nick interrupted with a moan.
"Oh, Gawd… Of course he'd have to be involved with this! Why me?" Nick bellyached.
Wolfard snickered out his nose, "Face it, fox. You and he are headed to an epic confrontation, and I'm starting to wonder if I should start selling tickets, maybe sell some popcorn, ya know?"
Nick turn 90 degrees to growl at his partner, "You, sir, are an asshole. You know that, right?" he asked him. Wolfard laughed.
"Wait? What? You don't like Hugo?" Benjamin asked them both.
Wolfard shrugged, "I think the cat's alright. It's Nick here with the problem."
"Why? He's a cutie!" Benjamin objected.
"Huh?" Nick looked at him, "Cute? No, he's not!"
"You like him?" Wolfard asked the cat.
"Ohh… goodness yes. He's adorable! If I wasn't a happily married cat, I'd love to have him climb all over me with those claws of his!" Benjamin gushed.
Nick shuddered and turned away.
"What? A cat can fantasize, can't he? Beside, didn't he help save you?" Benjamin turned to look at Wolfard for confirmation.
Wolfard nodded, "Yeah, but that's not it..."
Nick threw his paws up in the air, his frustration finally getting the better of him, "It's the DAMN rabbit, that's what!"
Benjamin looked confused, "What rabbit?"
Wolfard answered for a steaming Nick, "You remember the CI from Prey First? That's her."
"Huh… Isn't she dead or something?" Benjamin asked them.
"Yes! She DEAD!" Nick bit out. Wolfard shrugged and nodded.
"Then what's the problem, exactly?" Benjamin asked Nick.
"It's not so much what she was, but rather who Nick didn't tell about her death." Wolfard explained. Nick grunted.
They both turned to the sound of resignation in Nick's voice, "A long, long time ago, she was a patient at Cliffside. Hugo worked with her, and apparently he got quite attached to her. He was devastated when she disappeared after getting released, and he spent years look for her. Years." He looked up at the cheetah.
"I didn't want to tell him how far she had fallen, what horrible things she had done with the Prey First movement, and most of all I didn't want to tell him how she died. I didn't want to crush him, not after he worked so hard to find her." He sighed, "I thought it was a small mercy, letting him hope. Except..." He trailed off.
"Except that you're too honest a fox to let it go." Wolfard gently reminded him.
Bitterly, Nick agreed, "Yeah. Every time I would see him, he would babble about how he had searched this city or that, and how he had talked to her mother, and, and… Oh, gawd..." He sat up and turned to face them, "I would stand there, as he would go on, and I just had to bite my tongue. I wanted to tell him the truth, but the longer I kept silent, the more painful it got to watch him hope. And eventually I couldn't stand it, and I started to avoid him."
"Avoid him?" Wolfard noted, "You were an ass!"
"I know!" Nick yelled, "Damn it, I know! I know..." He sighed, "I owe him everything, and now I don't know how to face him..."
Gently, Benjamin pointed out, "Well you don't have to face him today." He pointed out at the hospital, "He's not here today."
"He's not?" Wolfard asked.
"No," Benjamin shook his head. "He's got a former patient visiting today, according to Doctor Muskat. He's supposed to be spending the day with them."
"Well, there is that, then. A reprieve for the condemned!" Wolfard smiled at Nick.
"Yeah, great! A single day's commutation What, so I have time for a last meal?" Nick growled.
Benjamin was lost by their interplay, confusion evident on his face.
Wolfard tossed out, "Sure! Why not? Since he's not here, your day can't get any worse, can it?"
CLANG! Buuuuuzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..
The door to Clawhauser slowly swung shut, cutting off the sound of feet running down the corridor. Puzzled, Wolfard slid out of his chair and walked quickly over to the door. He pulled on the handle, but the door stayed resolutely closed. He turned back to look at his partner and asked, "What the hell?"
Nick sat up as comprehension dawned, and along with it a spurt of fear. The other two officers strained to hear his stunned whisper.
"Lockdown…!"
Meanwhile, Back at Hugo's Place in the Snow Hills
Stunned, Hugo's jaw dropped open. Judy swallowed and nodded in again affirmation to her claim. He tilted his head in denial, and she only responded by down looking at her paws as her ears fell. That she would admit to being the architect of so much pain and suffering, his patients, his friends, his own pain.
His eyes narrowed as a rage built inside him, his ears going back and his shoulder's tensed. Judy caught the change in his movement, watching his claws slide in and out of his paws as he fought for control. But when he slid his laptop to the floor silently, his paws flexing, she knew her time had finally come.
She was ready, finally at peace, and if her death had to come, at least it would come from the paw of a friend. She closed her eyes and sighed, tilting her head back, offering him her throat. That movement of prey submission was enough to unlock his predator instincts, and his arm rocketed forward, to take what was offered, to abate his rage and end his pain.
He froze as a powerful voice rocked through his mind, forcing his claws to stop just millimeters from the rabbit's offered throat.
The voice of his abula. His mentor. His priestess.
"GATITO! ¡Pare esto de una vez! ¡Deberías avergonzarte de ti mismo!"
"Be Calm, and put away your anger! You sit in Holy Ritual, bound to His Power and beholden to His Purpose! You are my chosen acolyte, and I expect better of you!"
Her voice rang in his ear, cutting through his rage, forcing him to heed her once more. His feral eyes dilated as he became aware of another presence joining the circle, a presence forming to his right, just beyond Poy'Ya, the Moon. The sage of truth. The path of wisdom in the darkest of nights. It's candle flared with new power as another sought to add their essence to the circle, not penetrate or pervert, but to strengthen the Ritual of a Thousand Tears. Something only another member of El Orden del Señor de los Muertos Infinitos could accomplish.
The ghostly outline of candles sprung up around the outline of Dem Se Uk, The Past, the first of three ancient symbols that bound his family's ritual circle of power to this plane of existence. Dark mists swirled above that symbol, coalescing into a cowled robe of black velvet, hung with beaded feathers along it's hem. Under the dark hood peeked two wise and kind yellow eyes, gazing at him in a mixture of loving joy and tired exasperation.
The eyes of his Abuela.
She shook her head slowly, the fetishes hanging from her hood brim swaying gently. She spoke kindly now, in a whispered voice he more felt than heard. " Gatito, gatito… Put away your anger… Your feline passions blind your senses and muddle your mind… Let go, and embrace His Wisdom , just as he embraces you..." Her right paw slid out from her robe and pointed at Judy.
"She has come to you, at long last, at her very end... And what does she do, now that she stands but an instant from Death? Does she cower, hide, or try to lie to you? No, my gatito... She trust you absolutely and seeks to give you all! Her past... Her truth... Her sins... Nay, even her life, given freely unto your very claws..." His Abula smiled, her teeth stained with weary age.
"The measure of a mammal does not lie within the mistakes of their past, but within the choices of their future... A future she has offered to you freely, and you must take that gift and use it wisely... Look beyond your own rage, and see what she offers you, gatito… Then ask yourself what you in turn can offer her..."
A flicker of moment, a sound, a shrieking wail grew in his consciousness. His eyes dart to his left, to the symbol that lay just outside the circle beyond Suw, the herald of truth unto the people. The third anchor, the symbol with no name, for it was not yet. The unknown future that sought to consume them all, as above it formed a maelstrom of purple clashing energies and rent time-space. A wind howled from it, sick with madness and burning flesh. Death screaming in agony as sentient life itself died, for from the center of that insane hurricane a ringing demand pealed forth in a voice sick with rage and madness, a peon of ancient power and purpose turned to ash.
"...WHAT'S MY NAME?..."
Hugo's ears flattened in fear, and he tore his eyes from the nightmare that threatened to consume his soul as he sought comfort in his grandmother's wisdom, but she only shook her head. Her work was done now, and he must look elsewhere for help. She lifted left paw from beneath her robe to point at the symbol behind Hugo. He turned his head to the right, away from the nightmare vision, back to the symbol just behind him, and he beheld Night!
He quailed at the vast emptiness that sat just above X'ti, the second anchor, the Present, and it was filled with darkness incarnate.
He fell backwards, screaming into the inky depths.
Notes:
I wrote this chapter with The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" stuck on loop.
