Chapter 24- a nightmarish hallucination

Quaoar found himself exiting the Gathering House and into a corridor flanked by a long row of trees on each side. All the trees were coloured either white or resembled stacks of ice crystals or were cauliflower-like and coloured in various shades of colours like clouds. The Kitsumiho looked around in wonder and confusion.

"That's strange," he said, "Where am I? I am in the Sky Domain, aren't I?"

He then began to follow the corridor of Sky Domain trees to see where it would lead, hoping that it would lead him back into the streets of Nuvem. However, to his confusion, he could not find any houses or buildings at all, no matter how far he walked. There was not one sliver of artificial object or structure in sight... just natural structures and trees. Perplexed, Quaoar continued his walk through the corridor. The corridor of Sky Domain trees continued for a while until finally, a change happened. As Quaoar travelled further, the white and unusually-coloured trees gave way to greener trees and shrubs, the sort Quaoar was most familiar with on the Land Domain. However, this confused him even more and he began to look around.

"Am... am I on the Land Domain now?" the Kitsumiho asked, "But I thought I was in the Sky Domain."

He then continued to walk on, confusion saturating him as he continued to look around at the now-green forest. This clearly made NO sense whatsoever and the last thing Quaoar remembered was being in the Gathering House of Nuvem in the city the building's name bore. Nonetheless, he continued walking. Suddenly, he detected movement out the corner of his eye. Quaoar turned his gaze to the movement's direction but saw nothing there.

"Hello?" he called. When he got no answer, he continued.

"This is bizarre," Quaoar mumbled to himself, "It's like I've been teleported from the Sky Domain to the Land Domain."

He flinched when he heard movement. He snapped his gaze in the source's direction and to his surprise; he saw two trees change position behind him. They slowly crossed paths and then replanted themselves in each other's former spots; they had swapped places. Quaoar looked on, wondering if these trees could either be Ents or Dryads. After all, those Tree beings sometimes moved between areas though Dryads could also project their spirits from their tree bodies as well while Ents were actual Tree Beings that couldn't do this. Slightly unnerved, Quaoar continued.

Quaoar continued his walk until finally; he came to a break in the tree corridor. The corridor opened into a clearing and Quaoar began to look around for his friends.

"Moana," he called, "Morla, Caesium... Thunderbolt?"

However, he got no answer to his further confusion. He continued to call for them, even for Momotaro, Saru and Inu but they didn't answer.

"How bizarre," Quaoar mumbled, "They had been right with me when I entered this area."

He continued looking around the clearing which was sprinkled with Land Domain flowers largely no different from the flowers of our world such as daisies and buttercups until finally, he stumbled upon a form. It was a bipedal Cat figure and it had a colourful pelt, two tails and cascading white hair on its head, some of it tied in braids and ponytails. Quaoar instantly recognised the figure for there was only one Nekomata with these traits.

"Naihanchi!" he called and leaped over to her. Inside, however, he was utterly confused. This couldn't be; Naihanchi had gone off with the other group to investigate Nuvem for any Sky Arachnoids. Nonetheless, Quaoar began to try and talk to her.

"Hi, Naihanchi, what have you found from your investigations on the presence of the Sky Arachnoids in Nuvem's other areas?" the Kitsumiho asked. However, the figure, Naihanchi, didn't reply and continued staring blankly ahead.

"Naihanchi, I'm talking to you," Quaoar said more firmly, demanding an answer, "Did you find any Sky Arachnoids with your group?"

Still no answer from the Nekomata; she continued to stare off into space. Quaoar then waved a paw in front of her face to try and get a reaction. However, he got none. Naihanchi was as solid as a statue, her face unmoved. Not even her ears or her eyes twitched.

"What are you staring at?" he asked, barely restraining himself from losing his patience. Still Niahanchi didn't reply. Quaoar then raised an eyebrow and followed her gaze. When he saw that she was staring at nothing, Quaoar decided to leave her, having finally lost patience. He was a no-nonsense Kitsumiho who always found insignificant behaviours VERY irritating; especially during such important tasks like investigating Nuvem for any Sky Arachnoids.

"Well, if you're gonna be silly then I'll have to leave," Quaoar said, "I don't have time for silly games like what you're playing," and with that, he left Naihanchi and continued. He then entered the forest of more Land Domain trees and shrubs and began to look around.

"I'm DEFINITELY NOT in the Sky Domain as almost none of the flora of the Domain has green leaves," Quaoar said as he examined the trees and shrubs but as he did that, he passed by a large Elephant. Quaoar stopped and returned to the Elephant.

"Jumba?" he said with surprise, "What are you doing here? I-I-I thought you were supposed to be taking care of our community back home."

Like Naihanchi, the Elephant, Jumba, also seemed to behave rather oddly. He, too, was staring into space. Then his trunk rose to a nearby shrub and plucked a flower from its brach. Quaoar looked on with surprise.

"You like picking flowers?" asked he, "But I thought flowers didn't appeal to you at all."

Suddenly, Jumba's trunk rose and took hold of the same flower and picked it. The flower came off the branch but another flower immediately appeared in its place as though nothing at happened. Quaoar winced. This was odd and Jumba continued to stare creepily ahead, his face deadpan and dehydrated of emotion as much as the Narnian desert or salt flats. Quaoar continued to look on until Jumba's trunk rose to the flower and picked it again, only for another flower to suddenly appear yet again. Quaoar flinched with a short grunt.

"You know what, I'm gonna leave you to that and return to Nuvem," said the Kitsumiho, "My group needs me right now as I am on a VERY important mission while you need to return to our community as they need you, so bye."

With that, he left the deadpan Jumba to his flower. Quaoar continued walking through the forest. The trees looked a bit odd and some more trees changed spots and moved around. Quaoar gazed at them in wonder and continued his walk. He continued to walk until he came to another corridor of trees. However, as Quaoar entered it, it seemed to trap him in a loop, the trees looking the same as the Kitsumiho continued to follow it. As it continued to loop, Quaoar's panic levels began to bubble.

"How has the forest become suddenly looped!?" Quaoar demanded, "I can't find a way out!"

He tried backtracking his steps but still no result; the loop remained. Quaoar, despite his panic boiling within him, kept his composure and continued trying to find a way out of the loop until finally, the forest opened up into a corridor again and he followed that path. He continued walking until he came across a red-orange bird.

"Crimsonandil?" Quaoar said, "I thought you've left to get your flywheel replaced. What are you doing here?"

The red-orange Phoenix didn't reply at first. Then some butterflies flitted by but they did so jerkily to Quaoar's slight startle. The butterflies moved in a similar manner to what we'd see in the pictures of a faulty film except what Quaoar was in was not a film. And besides, the Narnians would be totally unfamiliar with the things humans called movies anyway. Ignoring the jerky butterflies, Quaoar returned his gaze at Crimsonandil.

"So did you get your flywheel replaced?" he asked, "It being made out of Urulite, it will be VERY useful for when we have to deal with Kurama's cronies should we cross paths with any of them..."

Suddenly, the Phoenix moved and when it turned its face with Quaoar, a shockwave of terror course through the Kitsumiho. The Vermillion Bird's face was not like what Quaoar expected of the Cardinal Bird of the South. Its eyes were large and menacing and its beak resembled that of a large Bird of Prey. In fact, the face of the Vermillion Bird resembled something straight out of a nightmare. Quaoar, creeped out, turned and fled but he soon came across other familiar figures among them Morla, Moana, Aang and another figure of Naihanchi. All their faces were distorted and replaced with frightening eyes and mouths reminiscent of some of the cronies of a certain Witch. In fact, Naihanchi's face resembled the face of a certain surviving Feline Horror that fought during the Golden Age only to be foiled. Quaoar released a scream of terror and bolted like a frightened deer, his fur puffed out and his white and ivory tails shaped like feather dusters; every hair on them stood on end. Though Quaoar was usually a courageous Kitsumiho who rarely got scared, he still had his moments of terror.

"WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOUR FACES!?" he cried as he ran. He then stumbled upon Momotaro, Kiji, Saru and Inu mounted on their Arrow-Tongue steed Stingray and their faces were also twisted into demonic forms and Stingray's head, into that of a Xenojaw, a species that served under Jadis the White Witch that resembled a horrific extraterrestrial creature from another universe.

"MOMOTARO, INU, KIJI, SARU, YOU TOO!" cried Quaoar in fright, "AND YOUR ARROW-TONGUE LOOKS TERRIBLE!"

Quaoar then shot past the demonic-faced Peach Elf and his three friends and their Xenojaw headed Arrow-Tongue and plunged into the forest as fast as he could. Quaoar ran and ran until finally his gaze spotted something far more pleasant. Immediately he stopped and gazed at the form harder. It resembled a glistening golden Cat with a glinting mane. Joy and relief swept through Quaoar and he darted off for the creature.

"Aslan!" he cried but as he pursued the Lion, the Lion vanished to his confusion. Quaoar stopped and looked around once again until his eyes found the Lion again; his back turned to him and walked away. Immediately, Quaoar tore off after the figure as the Lion walked.

"Aslan, WAIT!" he called but the Lion didn't answer and continued walking. Quaoar continued pursuing Aslan until he found himself in yet another area of the Land Domain. He gazed at the trees and saw that their leaves had changed. No longer were they green but were a metallic blue, green and silver. Decorating them were gleaming baubles, like the apples of the Garden of Youth. Quaoar was confused once again.

"I-I-I'm in the Garden of Youth now?" he said to himself. He then looked around and saw a colourful bird perched atop one of the trees. Quaoar immediately recognised this bird as the Guardian Phoenix. Quaoar continued looking around until his eyes rested on what appeared to be a white construct with water pouring down its sides and gushing out of its top like a geyser. Quaoar was REALLY confused this time as this was the fountain that decorated the Garden of Youth and served as the exclusive fruit trees' water supply. Quaoar then looked around for the hedge that closed the Garden off from the surroundings with only the golden gates breaking the hedge but found no hedge or even a set of golden gates. However, as Quaoar continued to search for the hedge, his eyes spotted something behind the fountain. Immediately, he gazed harder at the objects and saw that they were a few locks of fur coloured ivory and white. Quaoar darted over to the fur locks but as he did so, he stumbled upon a familiar figure. That figure appeared motionless and it bore the same pelt pattern and tails as a certain Kitsumiho he knew. The moment Quaoar recognised this creature; he released a MASSIVE wail of anguish, rushed over to the motionless creature which was indeed a Magical Fox in its Nine-Tailed stage and picked up its head and upper body in his forelegs and paws.

"SIVEEEETH!" cried Quaoar and he began to try and shake the creature awake. However, when he saw that the Fox, which was Siveth his twin sister, wouldn't do as much as a twitch, Quaoar broke down into tears and cried into his sister's motionless body. As he did that, the atmosphere began to change but not for the better or to comfort him. Quaoar continued frying over his sister's motionless body when he heard something yell at him. That voice was cold, mocking, devoid of any sympathy.

"It's all your fault she's dead!"

Quaoar, his eyes sending rivulets of tears cascading down his cheeks, looked around for the speaker as he continued to hold the head and upper body of his motionless sister Siveth. At first he saw no-one but then the voice increased in intensity and loudness.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT SHE'S DEAD!"

Quaoar continued to look around all the more until finally, his tear-flooded eyes landed on a form. It was Naihanchi but her face was twisted into a demonic look like that of the Cartoon Shadow Cat and that look bore into Quaoar like an icy beam. In that look was a boiling concoction of mockery, scorn, coldness and callousness. Terror once again flared within Quaoar and he dropped Siveth's head and upper body and scrabbled backwards. His nine tails' fur flared into feather dusters once again and the rest of his pelt puffed out. His eyes, widened with sheer terror continued to look around as more and more figures with demonic faces, among them Jumba, Crimsonandil, Aang, Caesium, Morla, Moana, Momotaro, Kiji, Saru and Inu mounted on the Xenojaw-like Stingray (which even talked; the REAL Stingray was a dumb beast like a dumb horse) and even his own pure-blooded Kitsune mother Leia, melted out of the Garden of Youth-like forest and began to hurl insults and caustic remarks at the Kitsumiho.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT SHE'S DEAD! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Quaoar, terror exploding within him BIG time, dropped Siveth's motionless body, scrabbled to his front and was about to take off when suddenly, he heard a terrifying splash from the fountain. Terrified, the Kitsumiho snapped his gaze at it and saw a golden Lion's paw emerge from the water and grasp onto the rim of the fountain. Then another paw reached out of the water and latched onto the rim. Quaoar trembled violently as the rest of the creature then emerged, that creature hauling itself out of the water like a fish able to move on land. First its head surrounded by a mane like that of Aslan appeared, then its body, and then finally its hind legs and tail. Then the Aslan-like Lion eyed Quaoar but its face began to change. In the background, the demonic-faced figures in the form of Quaoar's friends and mother Leia continued to hurl insults at the poor Kitsumiho and chant, "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT SHE'S DEAD! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT SHE'S DEAD!"

The Aslan-like Lion's face morphed from a shining golden Lion's face to a chilling bone-white. Its face shapeshifted into that of a Humanoid and the mane hairs directly above its head stood on end and assumed the form of icicles like that of a crown of a certain tyrannical monarch Quaoar knew and who dominated the Age of Winter with a diamond-ice fist. The Lion-like creature, its face completely morphed into that of the White Witch, once it was completely out of the fountain's water shot Quaoar a predatory glare. Quaoar, UTTERLY terrified and FAR more so than he had EVER been in his LONG life, then whirled round and tore into the forest like a prey animal. The Jadis-faced Lion, its eyes wide and black and frightening, flooded with predatory delight and mania of the worst sort and its mouth widened into a maniacal toothy grimace, gave chase. Quaoar ran for his life. He flashed a glance behind him and saw the terrifying demonic beast pursue him like a predatory Lion; certainly NOT something the REAL Aslan would do and he certainly did NOT resemble something like THAT. Quaoar, SHEER terror overwhelming him, flared one of his paws in a ball of foxfire and shot a beam of it at the form. However, it shook off the fire-lightning which was coloured both orange and electric blue based on Quaoar's heritage VERY easily and continued its relentless pursuit of Quaoar, TOTALLY unfazed by his deadly foxfire. Quaoar, seeing no other choice, continued sprinting. However, the demonic Jadis-faced Lion began to gain on him. Quaoar continued his escape and flashed a glance behind him at his pursuer once again. However, he saw nothing there. Then suddenly, something appeared and pounced onto him from the front. Quaoar released a terrified cry as he was flung onto his back and as he looked up, he saw the Jadis-faced Lion pounce onto him and glare at him sadistically and triumphantly, its eyes enlarged and COMPLETELY black like death and its ENORMOUS mouth widened into a toothy, demonic grimace like that of the Cartoon Shadow Cat but its teeth resembling long needles. It then released a LOUD, high-pitched roar similar to a Banshee scream, opened its mouth wide and plunged its teeth into his face. Everything went black... until Quaoar heard his name get called.

"Quaoar... Quaoar... Quaoar, wake up!"

Quaoar didn't want to open his eyes at first in case he was still in the nightmarish version of the Garden of Youth with the demonic Jadis-Aslan creature but as the shouter of his name, Thunderbolt, continued to call his name, he had to. As he did that, he began to take in his surroundings but when he saw that he was lying on the ice-grass of the clearing in Nuvem just outside the Gathering House, he shot the Raiju, the REAL Raiju, that is, an UTTERLY confused look. Accompanying Thunderbolt was Aang and he looked on with concern. Quaoar then raised his head and looked around. He was back in the real world but confusion, together with fright, saturated him. his fur was puffed out and his long shimmering nine tails bearing the fur colour of both Kitsune and Kimiho due to his heritage, flared like a cat's tails.

"Wh-wh-where am I?" he demanded, "A-a-and why are my paws and legs bound!?" he saw that his legs were tied together with some thin ropes. Aang launched into an explanation about this.

"You were suffering from a severe waking nightmare when that Golden Stingerfan released its defence mechanism when Moana slashed it with her dagger and you inhaled a billow of it. And when you shot a blast of lethal foxfire to drive off some monster in your hallucination, we had to take action and bind you and restrain you until the effects wore off."

"You almost struck Weywot with your blast," added Thunderbolt. When Quaoar heard this, his confusion boiled all the more but it soon gave way to UTMOST horror. He shot the male blue Insect Rabbit-Dog a remorseful look as he stood nearby and looked on with concern. Then Momotaro, his hand holding his left pink cheek, came in with his wood knife and cut Quaoar's binds free. As soon as Quaoar's legs were freed, the Kitsumiho stood up.

"Excuse me," Quaoar said and before anyone could ask why, the Kitsumiho left to somewhere where he could release his emotions. He could NOT believe that he had almost killed Weywot with his foxfire during that hallucination and he had hoped that it would NEVER, EVER happen again and that had severely upset him. As Quaoar left, Weywot saw Momotaro holding his cheek.

"Momotaro, have you been struck on the face?" asked he. Then Inu and Saru came in to explain.

"Momotaro fell victim to the Golden Glitter Gas released from that Golden Stingerfan," explained the former, the Dog, "And we had to snap him back to reality."

"And to do that, I slapped him hard several times on the cheek," said the latter, the Macaque, "We didn't want to bite him or we'd hurt him too badly but we had to inflict enough pain on him to dispel the effects of that rotten stuff," he then turned his gaze to Momotaro, "He was acting UTTERLY clownish and like an idiot while under the influence of the Glitter Gas."

"And it's a good thing you did as well, Saru," said Momotaro, "And please don't apologise for slapping me across the face. That sort of behaviour I exhibited was UTTERELY shameful so I am thankful that you took that kind of action."

"However, Moana got the brunt of the Stingerfan's defence mechanism and received a larger dose of the Glitter Gas;" said Aang, "Send it sent her into an emotional frenzy accompanied with stupid behaviour like laughing maniacally. We had to take drastic action to snap her out of that trance too."

As he said this, Moana came in, wondering where she was. However, she seemed elated.

"That was quite a pleasant experience," she dreamily crooned, "I ought to..." suddenly, Momotaro rushed in and slapped the Azure Dragoness across the face to snap her out of that stupid idea and the temptation to take another breath of that gas from the Golden Stingerfan.

"GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER, MOANA!" the Peach Elf bellowed.

"Yeah, that stuff is UTTERLY dangerous and insidious," put in Aang. Then Morla walked in as Moana, stunned from the blow from Momotaro, looked on confused.

"How do you think poor Ozone felt when he saw some of us behaving under the influence of that gas, EH!?" the Black Tortoise demanded. Moana, shame gripping her, turned and gazed at a certain Cloud-Man as he continued to shudder and whimper, an avalanche of bad memories triggered by that Stingerfan's defence clearly gripping him hard. Heather was nearby trying to comfort him. Morla then turned back to the shameful Moana and continued.

"It's also a GOOD thing Quaoar sent Glitterwing off with Naihanchi's team or she would have ALSO had a meltdown from seeing that stuff," he added.

"Yes, there is absolutely NOTHING pleasant about that Glitter Gas whatsoever," put in Momotaro, "So SNAP out of that delusion, Moana and get your act together."

Moana then bowed her head in shame and rightfully so. That 'pleasant' experience from inhaling such a chug of Golden Glitter Gas when she slashed the Golden Stingerfan was NO pleasant experience at all. In fact, the 'pleasantness' while 'pleasant' in those moments was a mere sham and Moana's behaviour while in those moments had been UTTERLY shameful and disgraceful. Momotaro added, "That is EXACTLY what Yong Bao and Cielo had warned us about back in Nuvola. Now let's just get our act together and start our mission in destroying those Stingerfans, okay!?"

Moana nodded and once things were restored, Quaoar's team regrouped. Quaoar had finished regaining his composure over the shock of that horrific waking nightmare caused by the Glitter Gas and in the process almost killing Weywot with his foxfire and was now back with his group. Quaoar had apologised to the Insect Rabbit-Dog over and over again for almost killing him and he considered going back to Nuvola as he felt he was a danger to his group due to the immense powers he had as a Nine-Tailed Magical Fox, especially his foxfire but Momotaro and also Weywot had told him that he will be needed to confront Kurama eventually and unless they had a Nine-Tailed Fox on their side, they would be ABSOLUTELY no match for the evil Nine-Tailed Kitsune at all and Xenon would agree. Being reminded of this, Quaoar abandoned the idea of going back to Nuvola. Additionally, Momotaro, Inu and Saru had managed to calm Stingray who had also been affected by the Golden Glitter Gas and had been sent into a brief panic. Thankfully, Stingray had only received a small dose of the stuff but it was still enough to stun him. The effects of the Golden Glitter Gas on dumb animals varied with the dosage but in severe cases, it had been known that dumb animals would get themselves killed while under the effects of the Golden Glitter Gas, so the Gas was dangerous even to dumb animals as well. Ozone remembered how a flock of Purple Tetrapteron, the Sky Arachnoid's main predator, were driven UTTERLY mad by a cloud of Golden Glitter Gas and flew into a pool of water where they drowned themselves. If Golden Glitter Gas can cause dumb animals to behave like that, it was dangerous to Talking Beasts and other Sentient Beings Aslan created as well, especially in high concentrations.