The group of four spent a long amount of time going from one place to another in search of the churches, but with enough time, they managed to find one church after another until it was time for the final one, primarily for Caitlyn and Yoko, because they were one square ahead of Jake and Zoe. Despite being nearly done with this disaster of an event, everyone, except for Zoe, were very troubled, since none of them found the people they were looking for. The girl saw their increasingly worsening states and felt really bad for them. She wished she could do something to help, but there wasn't anything she could do except for handing out a handful of superficial reassuring phrases. The quartet was navigating a city, at the time, and by the looks of it, they were very close to reaching the end. However, Yoko couldn't take it anymore. She stopped in her tracks and told the others: "Hey, guys, listen. I'm sorry, but I can't go any further than this. I need to find them before getting out of here. If you want to continue on your own, then I have no issues."
Caitlyn: "Are you positively sure? You might get stuck here forever."
Yoko: "I... Ah, shit, I didn't really think about that..."
Zoe: "And if you get stuck in an infinite place like we did, you won't have anyone like Ziggy to bail you out! We still don't even know how, why, or even when it could happen! Honestly, I know this will sound cold, but..."
Yoko: "What? Are you telling me to abandon them?!"
Zoe: "Honestly, I was going to say that, but I realised it'd sound completely asinine. But still, you can't deny that it's extremely risky!"
Yoko: "I know, but... Agh, I don't know what to do!"
Jake: "...Bark! (I'll accompany you, I've yet to find Corna's head either.)"
Caitlyn: "Tell you what, I'll come with you, My father is definitely still lost out here."
Zoe: "Huh?! You can't be serious! You're all going?! What about me?! I wanna get out of here, damn it! You can't just leave me by myself in this place!"
Yoko: "Well, what do you suggest we should do?! Our interests and yours clearly don't align!"
Zoe: "Why can't we just leave and let the authorities find them?!"
Yoko: "How can we be sure they can even do that? We don't even know the cause of all of this! For all we know, this place is inaccessible from the outside? If not, how come we haven't encountered any rescue teams?"
Zoe: "How should I know?! Texas is the largest state in the US! Maybe we're just unlucky and haven't run into any of them! Or maybe they got stuck in an infinite space, too! Hell, for all you all know, those twins, her dad, and that severed head could all be in an infinite space for all eternity!"
Caitlyn: "...There are only two churches left for you, right? We'll help you find one, the dog will help you find the last one. That way, you get to escape and we can continue to search. Does that sound good enough for everyone?"
Zoe: "That's... Actually, yeah, that sounds good."
Yoko: "Nice de-escalation, Caitlyn."
Having finally come to a win-win conclusion, the group began their side quest to escort Zoe out of the labyrinth while they searched.
Meanwhile, Killakee was still limping onward, one paw at a time, with unending determination and repeatedly chanting to himself internally. The struggle continued for quite a while until he suddenly stopped because he felt two extremely powerful presences. One of them was of the giant tree, which prompted him to think: "Hold on... There's no way... Did the Catalyst Tree sprout already?! Were L'étranger's conditions met? If I remember... The first one was that he had to be deep underground, the second one was that he needed to be in the bucket, so that we could move the tree, and lastly, the Florida kids must be there to absorb and safely contain its essence... I have no idea where he is, so Ziggy better be keeping things under control, wherever he and the tree are... Wait a second! We're still in the labyrinth! SHIT! Ziggy, you fucking bum, you better be doing your damnest to remove Levia so we can try again in the real world! Hah... In the meantime, I should investigate that other presence, it's unlike anything I've ever felt. It seems like it's coming closer. Let's see if I can make them my pawn for the time being."
Upon further investigation, Killakee came across the last thing he expected; One of the Florida Kids.
Sixty-Eighth Feather:
Plucked
YOU ARE READING
BEYOND 3A: BloodRed and ScaleBlack
Action"You idiot, 'A' is not a number!" Shut up. Following the tragic ending of the previous entry, 3A takes place one year later and now we're following along two intertwining stories, one of the homeless Corna and Jake in their quest to find the spirit...
