The conversation they'd had, don't get out of his head. Souls in them? Ritual? Deaths? There was a lot to ask, in which the answers had to wait. His green eyes followed closely the small figure of his bunny in front of him. There was a lot that was hidden, and he felt that there was a secret in which Judy did not want to tell him. This secret would be discussed when he had the opportunity.
Judy turned at the end of the initial corridor. Remembering that Yae had turned to this side with a mammal on her paws. After turning around, they saw a large sliding door on their right side. Without delay, she opened the door. A smell of rot, got in their nostrils, both of them being forced to cover their nostrils with their arms. The initial darkness was illuminated and when it happened, the horror in both their expressions was visible. On the ground, from every corner, the bodies of the villagers. Many intact, others dismembered. The blood made the bodies half submerged like a small lake. In the center of the bodies, Yae. Vigorous, and with a smile on her lips. Her lifeless eyes went against them, breaking the silence with an insane laughter. After a few seconds, everything changed. The floor was empty, Yae disappeared and there was no blood. The hall was well lit, clean, and as if he had been tidied up that same day. Nothing old. Nothing from the passage of time.
"She's crazy," Nick said, going in first.
"Tell me about it," she babbled between her teeth, following him closely.
Oo~oO
Jack started to regain consciousness. His vision began to become clearer.
Where am I? he thought.
Looking around, the rabbit realized he was in the small amphitheater on the street. In front of him was a small wooden stage. Next to him were the stone benches. Where had he been brought?
He realized that his paws were tied and that his back was leaning against... A tree!?
A pleasant melody began to be heard. Suddenly, the image in front of him changes. The empty benches began to fill up. The villagers began to sit down, occupying the benches until there was no room. The balcony that ran the small amphitheater was also filled. A show was about to begin. Which one? Jack was confused to see four small cubs in each corner of the circular stage. Remembering the positioning of a compass. The cups' costumes were a white kimono. On one of their paws, a small wooden stick with a bell and a white ribbon. Both of them rang the bell according to the melody. Suddenly, in front of his, from a large door, two priestesses came out. With them, a female. She was a female with a mask that covered her eyes, a large and wide white kimono and a crimson cloak on top, with the hood covering her head and half the mask. The priestesses led her up to the stage. Another cub ran with the same stick with the bell and the ribbon.
"Let the dance begin," the villagers announced in unison. Silence fell on the amphitheater, until a different melody began to be played.
The light of the full moon shone the figure of the female, as a spotlight always positioned in the main actress, if it was treated. One step forward, an elegant wheel and a ringing of the bell, began the dance. Jack couldn't take his eyes off those magnificent movements. Elegant in her presumptuousness, just like the melody that accompanied her.
Everything, at first, was fascinating. Something in which the eyes would be impossible to remove. But all of a sudden, the dance begins to become crazy. The cubs start ringing the bells more quickly. What was fascinating at first began to become horrifying. The cubs began in a shrill laughter. The villagers followed the crazy rhythm with their clapping. The priestesses approached the main female. A female that Jack, when he glimpsed who she was, his heart was broken. It was Alisha. Her eyes, once magnificent blue crystals, had lost their iris and were in a kind of trance.
That's when Jack started trying to free himself. Something told him it wouldn't end well. The dance continued. The rhythm increased. Alisha's breathless breathing indicated that she was running out of strength, and if she stopped, she would faint.
"ALISHA WAKE UP!" Jack shouted as he tried to free himself from the strings that held him to the tree. "PLEASE, WAKE UP," he screams.
No effect. She couldn't hear him. Lost in the trance, her only intention was to dance. Dancing, the one that had been interrupted abruptly. The shock broke Jack's hopes down. The tears in his eyes didn't take long to form. Palms were beaten with enthusiasm. One more sacrifice made, one more year of rest. And everything disappeared. The ropes that held him together untied on their own. It didn't take Jack long, to straighten up and run to the stage. Alisha was there.
Jack knelt before the Vixen. He took her by the arms, asking her to open her eyes to wake up. By then, the tears were running down his cheeks. One of his paws ran into the wound on Alisha's belly in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding.
"Jack..." her voice was hoarse.
"Stay with me, Alisha."
"No... I can..." and she coughed...blood.
"It's all going to be fine. You'll be fine."
"Jack, save yourself!" a little smile and the eyes closed...forever.
"No... Alisha... NO!"
Oo~oO
"To soothe the curse of the village, while Yae is wandering the streets, it will take several sacrifices a year to calm the gods."
Nick threw the book down hard on the floor. Just hearing the word 'Ritual' moved his nervous system.
"Were they all crazy in the old days?"
Judy remained silent. If she told him that he was the main bait for the final ritual, his mental sanity would break.
"We need to be mentally stable."
"Speak for yourself! You're too calm for my taste!"
There they went to argue. Judy thought.
"For your information, when you disappeared, I was suddenly terrified, not knowing what to do."
"And how did you get there? Without a map, you'd walk around!"
"My sixth sense." Judy advanced to the stairs. Maybe the top floor gave her clues.
"You didn't answer my question!" Nick approached her. And it was true. She hadn't answered him honestly.
"I've already answered you, my sixth sense!" Shaking her head, Judy began to climb the stairs.
"Carrots, you're not being sincere. I know you very well" the fox's eyebrows came together in an angry expression.
Damn it. She didn't want to tell him anything about what had happened before. Not that she wanted to omit it, but talking more about it, it would even lead to the truth about the situation of her fox.
"My instinct guided me." she repeated the same words. It was not entirely true, but it was not entirely false either.
"You have good hearing, but that alone doesn't lead you to be able to find me."
"Nick, please, it's true. I followed my instinct."
Nick arched his eyebrow. She didn't tell him the truth. Taking a deep breath, he decided to stop and believe that little trick.
"Whatever you say," he replied, and Judy noticed the tone of displeasure in his voice.
Nick advanced first, passing through her and hitting the top of the stairs. Judy took a deep breath. She would have to find a solution quickly to break the damned curse.
Oo~oO
Jack's tears were over. He carefully rested Alisha's dead body and covered it with his coat. Anger controlled his state of mind. This was not what he imagined. He just wanted a good story for his newspaper. Now, an important member of his team, a dear friend, a fox that his heart had begun to see differently, dead in that village. So young with a brilliant life ahead of her. Yes, anger and hatred. Two raw feelings. Two feelings that, if not controlled, would end up killing his healthy mind. He would have to find Judy and Nick. Talk about what happened and get out of there. But, trapped in an endless maze, where doors don't open, endless corridors and parallel dimensions, would make it difficult for him to find them. In a long sigh and a last farewell to his friend, Jack got up and started his way back. At a beginning he wouldn't know where he would be.
To be continued…
