Wonderer's Wish World: An Empty Land

And Then NOBODY Died (Act Two)

The intermission seemed to go on forever, though Kai suspected that in reality, it only lasted a couple minutes or so. It seemed that every person(?) in the audience was eager for it to end, excitedly anticipating the next act.

As for Kai... he couldn't say that he wasn't entertained, but he was also confused. He didn't think they were trapped here, because when Kai stood up, nothing stopped him. Kai was surprised at first, he wondered if he could leave if he wanted. Not that he really did, at least, not when his friends were still here.

Where they the ones who were trapped? Kai had only seen two of them in the story so far, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Luz's 'stabbing' had been particularly enthusiastic, while Fei Fei just seemed to be nervously going along with it. It didn't look like they were being forced, they were just going along with the story for... some reason.

And speaking of the story, what was that all about? It seemed so random and kind of boring, and without Luz's acting, Kai probably would have fallen asleep. Why had that shadow person seemed so eager to preform it, and why force Kai's friends to participate? It didn't make any sense, and for a second, Kai tried to figure out how they got from exploring an abandoned castle to here. He couldn't find a satisfactory answer on his own. It probably had something to do with the shadow person... but that was a whole other can of worms Kai didn't want to get into.

Not that he had the time. Suddenly, the lights around the audience dimmed, and the cut-outs settled back into their seats, taking a second to whisper among themselves before quieting. Unnerved, Kai sat down, too, and turned his eyes back to the stage.

"With civilization torn down, something else rose in its place. The Dark Ages, but just with a hint of danger and magic. The council members were set up around the remains of World as guardians, hunters and trappers, and, when they were lucky, explores. The betrayal of the council member had destroyed the world, and used as many people he could find to keep it going, building it up into something better. But with the rate they were dying, people were not as much of a renewable resource as they should be, and this new World, this Dark World, had to turn to other places."

Actors filled the stage again, but no actual people this time, only the cut-outs. The background was changed again, with a much more modern city popping up, the sky a deep red and the buildings silhouetted in black. In front of it, the cut-outs milled around, and Kai got a strange sense of depression, emanating from all of them.

Suddenly, Kai frowned, leaning forward. Was it just him? Or were there a lot less cut-outs than there were before? No... he was certain of it. Luz had killed some of them, but there were less than half of the surviving ones still here.

Where had the rest gone?

Kai shook his head, not even bothering to figure it out. Luckily, he got a pretty good distraction as Kipo, Tulip and Mabel suddenly walked out, looking around and blinking into the bright lights shining into their face.

"These three were some of them many taken from distant lands to feed this ones gluttony for blood. There was Ben..."

A spotlight suddenly shone on Kipo, making her jump.

"Danny..."

The one on Kipo disappeared, just as quickly as it had appeared, and then reappeared on Tulip, who seemed startled, frowning up at it.

"And their ghost friend."

And last but not least, the spotlight appeared over Mabel, who giggled and bowed deeply.

"Now, as many would have thought, it would have been easy to slaughter them were they stood, as they first stepped onto the soil on the dirt of this land, after all, it was alive with the will to kill, but that was not the point of this Dark World. With no knowledge of why they were there, or who they were, they all travelled forward into the world, set on a journey set in motion by people they couldn't even have imagined existed."