Chapter Text
They'd been walking for a while, not really sure where the where headed. We'll, Pomni didn't. She wasn't really paying attention to what they were supposed to be doing. She just decided to follow along with whatever the others did and get the day over with.
Caine had dropped the group in the middle of some forest, with only a map for each of them. The jester kind of wished she had payed attention, now. Because she had no idea what was going on. Though, it probably wouldnt have done her any good, since no one seemed to.
Right in the center of their papers was a picture of a shrine, the one that the ringmaster told them they need to find. And on the rest of the map, nothing but pictures of trees.
They all looked around at their surroundings. Nothing but trees.
Pomni just walked with the group after they picked a random direction to search. It's not like she could navigate on her own, anyway.
“How're we supposed to find this stupid shrine, if we can't even figure out where we are?” Jax complained out loud, turning his map in his hands, as if a different angle would make it easier to read.
“We've got to stumble into it, eventually.” Ragatha was walking a few feet in front of him, also looking at her map, confused. She turned back at him to smile, reassuringly, “I'm sure it'll be easier to read these, once we have a landmark.”
Zooble followed, all the way at the back of the group. They didn't bother trying to look at their map, instead focusing on trying to keep up with the others without tripping on the forest terrain. “Yeah, but there's only one landmark, and once we find it, these maps will be useless.”
Gangle was ahead of them by a few feet. She trudged, pathetically, hugging her folded map like it comforted her. She kept her eyes to the ground, tears hanging from her face. “And finding the shrine can't be it… It's probably going to be harder than what Caine told us.”
Pomni was right in the middle of the group. She looked between the other with a slightly annoyed expression. “Did Caine even say why we're looking for this shrine? What are we supposed to do when we find it?”
Kinger looked up, thinking with his finger to his chin. “He said that we'll learn more about ourselves and eachother.”
“Learn what?!” Pomni turned to him, “Why does he always have to be so vague about this stuff?!”
“He just likes to keep us on our toes.” Ragatha lowered her map to turn back at her. “It's all part of the fun.”
The jester wasn't satisfied with that answer. She was tired of being kept on her toes.
“This is fun?” Zooble rolled their eyes.
“Well, it's… stimulating, at least.” The doll shrugged, still smiling.
“For you, maybe…” Jax glared at her. “If I have to look at one more tree, I'm gonna snap.”
Pomni couldn't agree more. Navigating this place felt absolutely tedious when every tree looked exactly the same. She wondered if they were to accidentally travel in circles, if anyone would notice. She definitely wouldn't.
“Oh, you should look at something else then.” Kinger happily suggested.
“Like what, Einstein?” The rabbit retorted, not bothering to look in his direction.
Kinger stopped walking. “Like that pillar, over there.”
The rest of the group turned to him. He was pointing off to the side a giant, crystal monolith, just a few yards away. They all stopped in their tracks.
“W-wait…” Pomni unraveled the map in her hands, “Is that the shrine?”
She looked at it, hopefully. The map showed a circle balancing on top of a rectangle, while the one in front of them was just a big, rectangular shard.
Gangle cocked her head at it, “It doesn't look like the picture.”
“Who cares about that?” Zooble started toward the large object. “A shrine's a shrine.”
Everyone else followed their lead, except for Kinger, who stayed in place. “It doesn't look like a shrine at all. It looks just like all the other pillars we passed.”
They all paused, turning their heads back to him. Ragatha blinked, “What pillars? We didn't pass any pillars.”
“Sure, we did!” The man jabbed pointed his thumb in the direction that they came from. “We passed at least seven of them.”
“Wha!...” Pomni shook her head in frustration, “Why didn't you tell any of us?!”
He cocked his head at them, “Did you not see them?”
They all slumped in place, simultaneously letting out dramatic sighs. Except Ragatha, who patiently walked back to the old man, “Uh… Where, exactly, did you see these other pillars?”
“The last one I saw was about…” He tapped his chin, “200 meters that way. And the one before that was another 200 meters, going North by 72 degrees.”
“Oh! That's… very specific.” She opened her map back up, showing it to him. “Do you think you could point them out on the map?”
She handed him the paper, then reached into her hair, pulling out a few sewing pins.
“This, here…” Kinger pointer at a random spot on the map, then to the monolith. “This is that one.”
Ragatha took one of the pins, stabbing it into the map, where he directed.
Pomni would have been impressed if she weren't so tired and ready to collapse. The only thing keeping her going was the fact that she would rather be in her bed than sitting on the gross forest floor. And these people were her only chance of getting there.
“Then, there was one here.” He pointed to another spot. The doll did the same thing to it, marking it with a needle.
The rest of the circus members had made their way around her map at some point, all curious to see where the clues could lead.
He pointed out five more locations, each equidistant from eachother. The pins curved into a circular shape. It made it easy to tell that there were probably other pillars that they hadn't passed yet, completing the pattern. Ten, in total, all perfectly surrounding the shrine.
“Okay!” Ragatha held the map up, victoriously. “Good job, Kinger!”
“With what?” He blinked at her, confused.
She ignored that, focusing on the piece of paper, instead. “You said North was that way, right?” She pointed in the direction they came from. “So, the shrine should be that way!” She pointed in a different direction.
“Finally!” Jax complained, rolling his eyes. He started walking, “Let's get this over with. My feet are killing me.”
It still took them a while to get to the center of the circle. But once they found what they were looking for, they all got excited to finish their adventure.
Stuck in the middle of the forest, a small shrine waited for them. It was about the size of a drinking fountain, much less grand than the other landmarks. Especially since it was made of was made of dirty, vine-covered rocks. The only thing really interesting about it was the glass-clear orb, sitting on top.
“This is what we came for?” Jax was the first to make it to the shrine. He glared at it, insulted. “All that… for a crystal ball?”
“Hey, at least it finally over.” Zooble caught up to him, only to lean on a nearby tree.
Pomni panted, walking up to the destination. She threw her head back, exhausted, “Can we leave, now?”
“Come on, guys.” As usual, Ragatha tried to lift everyone's spirits. “It wasn't so bad, so far. Walking's not the worst thing we've been through.”
Gangle shook her head, miserably, “Caine didnt open a portal back to the circus, yet. There's probably going to be a last minute surprise.”
Kinger walked toward the shrine. “We're probably supposed to bring back this big ball.” He grabbed it, pulling it from its spot.
“Wait! Kinger, don't touch that!” The doll shook her hands at him.
“Hmm?” He looked back at her, holding the sphere in his hands.
It began to glow and emit a quiet noise. The chess piece looked at it closer. “Oh! It's beeping!”
The group all tensed, each taking a step back. They exchanged glances, silently agreeing on one thing.
Beeping is NOT good.
Ragatha yelled to him, “Get rid of it!”
“Uh…” He took a moment, while the orbs glow seemed to get brighter and the beeping got faster. “Here!”
He tossed it to Gangle. She caught it, taking a second to process that she was holding it. “W-wait! What?!”
Zooble quickly pulled it out of her arms, “Not like that!” They threw it at Jax, thinking he'd put it back on the shrine, considering he was standing closer to it.
“I don't want it!” The rabbit watched it shine brighter for only a moment before throwing it at Ragatha. “Here, you take it!”
“Jax!” The doll caught it, only to drop it on the ground and jump back, like it was sizzling hot. She wasn't sure how much longer it would go without doing something. And she sure wasn't going to throw it to someone else to let them fall victim.
Though, almost naturally, it rolled toward Pomni. With her luck, of course it would roll right to her feet. She's not surprised enough to react, but she's just aware enough to know she's probably in danger. She watched it with wide eyes as the beeps became rapid. “Uh…”
She was cut off when the orb suddenly flashed brighter than ever, causing everyone to have to shield their eyes. When they opened them again, the beeping had stopped, the glow died down, and the jester was gone.
There was a few seconds of silence. The group stared at the vacant spot that she was previously in. Their eyes were wide and those of them that had mouths were hanging them open.
Gangle brought her hands up to cover her mouth. “Did… did we just blow up Pomni?!”