The Heroes of Aeseganora: Part 1 - The Oca-Tree

Escaping The Slaves - Part II

Inkling did his best to concentrate on the portal he was conjuring up.

"You cannot do this," Ollum tried to reason with the Slaves, yet again. "Aeseganora can be saved. I can help you - we can help you!"

Brone laughed while the others smirked. "You think you can try to educate us again? You think you can try to find some common ground with us again? Never! This world was a beautiful one, until it wasn't, anymore. Do you know why that is?"

No one said anything - they truly didn't know what was happening to Aeseganora.

"Oh, so you don't know, then," Brone retorted. "You really are children, aren't you? Running in the dark, travelling about sea and land in those vehicles of yours, saving creatures and their homes like conquerors, and yet you have no idea what the true stakes are. If any of you knew what we were up against - what we were all up against - you would hand over those ships to us in a heartbeat."

"Well, tell us then!" Dashi said, her eyes welling up with tears of terror. "Tell us what we are up against!"

Just as Brone was about to speak, a smell of cold air wafted out from the vortex - the portal was conjured up, and it was time for the Slaves to leave.

Uncertainty fell upon Lino's face.

"We simply step through?" they asked.

"Oh my goodness me, are you nuts?" Innes asked, exasperated. "It's a portal, of course we step through, you utter ninny!"

Ollum stepped forward again. "Please, High Lord, listen to me. You owe it to the people of Aeseganora to tell them what is happening. You can help to stop this threat that you fear so much, please!"

"I don't owe this place anything," Brone said. "You have given us a whole new world, and we are going to take it."

And with that, he stepped through, and everything seemed to happen so quickly...

Brone, Innes, Scud, Lino, Raquel, and all of the other Upper Class slaves stepped through, one by one, as if they were chained together and had no choice but to follow the High Lord. They didn't even stop to think about the situation - their black-dark grey cloaks just vanished into the vortex.

Raquel punched Ollum in the face, knocking him down to the ground. As he got back up, anxiety crossed his face - there was no way he could convince them to stay now.

And with that... the portal disappeared.

The Slaves were gone.

The Octonauts and Ollum all stood silent for quite a while; the caves felt eerily still and quiet, as if something gigantic and evil was hiding in the darkness, waiting silently to leap out and perish a few victims.

They felt as if they'd just witnessed the best magic trick in the world - amazed at the fact that Inkling conjured up a portal to another world.

"Where have they gone?" Kwazii asked.

"I don't know," Inkling replied gravely.

"They'll be in Dophelas," Ollum answered. "A sky island, so high up there is practically no land for miles and miles."

Peso gulped and his beak dropped open. "You mean they're going to be stuck in the sky? Forever?"

"Well, I hope so," Ollum replied ruthlessly. "But I'm not certain of anything."

The Octonauts tried to process this. The Slaves had been extremely horrible and cruel to them, but to leave them stranded like that...

"These portals to all the other worlds are generally only used as a last resort." Ollum explained.