Devastated, her feet crawled. She had managed to get out of that cubicle giving way to the main road of the village. The house from which she will leave stood in front of a huge stone wall. Next to It, were stairs. She went down them and found a gate already half-open. She didn't think much and decided to go that way. On the other side, the river smiled at her. The bridge invited her to pass by and the thunders burst firmly over her. In a long sigh, she did the honors to the bridge. Judy knew she should hurry up and look for Jack, Alisha, and Nick, but her instinct and discouragement told her to go slowly. Appreciate a little the calm around her and try to calm her spirit. However, that tranquility was interrupted. Judy felt a chill. Instinctively, she looked in the direction of her left side but saw nothing. Then, murmurs, horrible laments, in a terrifying echo, made her violet eyes look forward. It was Yae, but there was something different about her. The familiar and even a little comfortable feeling began to change into a terrible sense of fear. Her body refused to take another step and then remained motionless, looking at the wolf.
"What?" She wondered why her body didn't obey her. Once again, she tried to move, but couldn't.
"Natsuhiko/Judy" (NA names were said at the same time. One in Yae's voice and the other in the voice of the terrible creature who possessed her) Judy raised her head and, as soon as she did, her heart petrified. That was not the wolf.
"The ritual. Sae is already at the ritual!"
Everything fell on the poor rabbit. From her lips, the word 'no' came out repeatedly. Her head was shaking the same measure that the word was preferred. Tears formed quickly in her eyes and her brain told her to run as fast as possible. Just as she turned to the rabbit, she turned again to the path in front of her, beginning her walk for once. Judy struggled with all her strength to make her body move. The creature was already a long way away.
"Free me!"
In frustration, she screamed at the creature. Tears were already running down her cheeks. I must free myself. I have to get there before Yae. She kept repeating it in her mind. But whatever it was holding her, it had no intention of letting her go.
Nick came out of the little 'prison' almost running. The attempt to reach Sae was in vain. Since, as soon as she turned to the corridor, she disappeared. However, a small runner cut further ahead. The darkness smiled at him. Nick removed the flashlight he had put in the pocket behind his pants and lit it. He went down three small steps in front of him and twisted his nose when he came across the water. With the other paw free, he leaned on the wall on his right side. Despite the flashlight, the light wasn't enough, and his night vision didn't help much either. A few steps forward, he reached the intersection. Pointing the flashlight in all directions, he noticed that there was no door, but a passage to a place totally different from any other around the village. After crossing another small corridor, he stopped when he reached the other part. There, two large old candlesticks with provided some light. With slow steps, he advanced a little further. Nick realized that he was underground in the village. The floor was concrete just like the walls.
"Nick!"
The echo of his name came from a cavity far from where he was.
"This way!"
The voice was from Sae, the twin dragged over there. Nick decided to follow her. The feeling that things were not going to go well invaded him. But still, he didn't hesitate and continued his way.
"Nicholas!"
Now the voice was different. The voice that stopped him suddenly, looking for where she came from. It was then that, in front of him, candles piled up in a circle. The small circle was made of the white ribbons he had seen at the entrance to the village, next to the clearing. In the center of this circle, the image of Judy. He began to run towards the circle, shouting his name, but suddenly stopped when he saw that the rabbit in front of him was just a mirage. It was when he realized where she was. It was the same bridge where he had passed a few moments before. However, what saddened him most was the expression of hurt and the tears that ran down her face.
"Judy..." he whispered.
ooOOoo
What seemed like hours, didn't take more than a few simple minutes of suffering. As soon as the creature began to climb the hill, the supernatural force holding the rabbit, wear off. Due to the strength, she was doing, she became unbalanced and fell to her knees on the ground. She didn't take long to get up and start running. From her mouth, she shouted for Yae, told her to stop. Not to perform the ritual. All useless words, she knew it. The creature seemed to move faster, but Judy ran everything she had and stretched an arm to try to reach her. Only when she did, she regretted it.
There was no solution. They all knew that. Ten priests in a circle by a well. A very deep cavity, where deafening noises interspersed with each other. Screams, lamentations, requests for help. It was like hell. The golden stems of the priests beat on a melody well known to the rabbit. The same one she had heard on the stairs. The same one that made her shrink, hide and put her paws in her ears to ward off that torment. But in there, the melody did not cause those such feelings. Yae, together with the dark shadow, advanced in large steps to the great hole. She stopped, as soon as she reached him. The melody and the voices ceased. The silence fell on them.
"Sae!"
Judy looked to her right. Near the concrete door, Sae would descend the stone steps toward her sister. The wolf's features were expressionless. Her paws in front and head down, indicated that Sae had succumbed to her destiny.
"No...No...SAE!" Judy shouted.
Her body moved. She tried to reach the twin, preventing her from going to her sister. When Judy interrupted the journey, her eyes opened in shock. It wasn't Sae in front of her. And, yes, Nick. The glow in his eyes had disappeared, his expression had given way to the void.
"Nick, please wake up!" With her paws on both the fox's forearms, Judy shook him. He had to come to his senses. "It's Judy, Nick. I was able to reach you. NICHOLAS!" And she shouted again but in vain.
She felt herself being pulled. The fall was big, and her tail went down to the ground far away. A squeak of pain came out of her lips. However, she ignored the pain and returned to reach the fox, but the creature's patience disappeared, and that was when Judy was thrown again, her back stroked the wall with force and she fainted.
Still lost in the mirage in front of him, he only returned to reality when he felt a paw on one of his shoulders. Turning his face to the side, he went against the twin. Sae.
"I'm sorry for everything you and your friends are going through. I didn't have time to save my sister, but I can do it now!"
Nick sighed and, looking one last time at the image of Judy, stood up.
"I understand!"
He took the backpack off his back and left it there. He wouldn't need it for what he had to do. The only regret he had, was that he couldn't tell Judy his feelings and see her one last time.
Two paws on the big door. Leaning body. Her chest filled and emptied ferociously. She had run like a madwoman. After the vision, when Judy opened her eyes she was on the hill. As she straightened, she groaned in pain. Her back was throbbing, and tears invaded her eyes. Damn it! She grumbled mentally and straightened out. Then, ignoring the pain, she ran up the hill without stopping. She only did so when she found the support at the door. She would lose him. He would die. Sae would surrender and Natsuhiko would not help. Everything had fallen.
"Be proud of who you are. Get on with your life. And I thank you for your sacrifice."
The wolf passed through her, going through the door. Judy's eyebrows came together in an angry expression. It was nothing lost yet. She was going to figure out how to save Nick. Although she sent such positive words to her brain in order not to die anymore inside, Judy had no idea how to end it. Taking a deep breath, she stuck the big doors with all her strength. She still has a chance. And she entered.
To be continued…
