Pic didn't say anything as he walked beside Line, proving that she was really short. Lynx walked at a normal pace and ended up walking beside Pic.
I didn't really know what to do so I just walked behind the trio. Dexis didn't seem to care about anything at the moment so he walked beside me. As we walked, it was obvious we were already nearing Winter Territory. The air grew cooler and trees began to thin and have powder-like snow dusted on their branches.
In the distance I saw a cluster of small wooden houses, decorated with glistening snow. I glanced at Dexis to see him staring at it with an embittered look on his face. I wondered why he had such distaste for his own Territory.
"We've left Matruel." Pic announced as he studied the war plans in his hands.
Lynx looked at everything around him with pronounced nervousness. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt and continued walking, trying not to draw attention to himself.
We entered the village way earlier than I had expected.
The villagers inside were running around and chatting with each other, going about their usual day. But once they noticed the five of us, they stopped and stared. I heard whispers.
"Is that...?"
"It's the witch..."
"Who's with them?"
"The Princes... and a half-human..."
We walked on a cobblestone path that cut directly through the middle of the village. I looked to my right and saw a mother and her son standing on the porch of their house. The little boy had to be about six or seven.
"Mommy, is that the witch that everyone is scared of?" The boy asked as he brushed blond strands of hair out of his eyes.
"Yes dear, now please get inside..." The mother said as she began shuffling the boy towards their house.
"She doesn't look so scary." He commented before disappearing inside.
I turned to look at Dexis. He had one hand in his pocket and the other one relaxed at his side. He studied everything around him with a look of pure distaste. The Winter Prince caught my eye and I quickly looked away, changing my attention to the houses around me. They all looked like they were in good shape, but there was one house that stood out in the cluster. It looked like it hadn't been lived in for several years, there were cobwebs everywhere, chipped light-blue paint, the windows were broken, and the door was missing. As I was turning back to look at the rest of the houses, I noticed Dexis was staring at the run-down house with a look of dejection.
I decided to try to have a conversation about it. "You seem to have an awfully strange connection to this village." I said in a normal tone. Pic, Lynx, and Line were farther up the path then we were, so there was no way they could hear our conversation.
The Prince nodded slowly, "I spent most of my life here."
"You used to live here?"
"Yes. This place was a lot better-looking than it is now, and the people here were much nicer." He looked downwards at the cobblestone path. "I lived in that run-down house with my parents and my brother. Nobody has lived there since we all moved out."
I tilted my head, "Shouldn't royalty live in the castle?"
"My parents never told me we were royalty until I was fifteen." He sighed, "When I was a child, before I was fifteen, my parents neglected me and only payed attention to my brother. I grew up independently, and barely spent any time around my family, they didn't care anyway. I often ventured out to Matruel and pondered why my parents always payed attention to my brother and not me. I thought that I grew up faster than him even though he was older than me, always thought I was more clever than him, yet my parents didn't pay any attention."
"Did you have any friends when you were a kid?" I asked.
He shook his head slowly, "Nobody really talked to me, and they still don't. To this day, I'm not sure if they knew that I was royalty or not. I suppose they feared that they might give away the secret when my parents didn't want them to."
"Why didn't they tell you you were royalty?"
"Because they wanted my brother to be the Prince, not me. But when I became fifteen, on my birthday, they told me we were royalty. Tradition calls for a duel between siblings to see who will gain the throne. My brother had years worth of training, and I had none. I was never interested in becoming a Prince, but I won the duel on accident..." He paused for a long moment and then sighed, "After I had rightfully gained the throne, my parents disowned me. I was perfectly fine with that, even if I was a fifteen year old with no home or family. I left for the castle, and after about three months of traveling through the Winter Territory, I made it. I was greeted nicely and all of the Fey there treated me well. One of the Fey servants told me, after a year of being there, that we had to travel to the Summer Territory for a festival called Teraso."
"Is it an annual thing?" I asked with curiosity.
He nodded, "Every year that festival takes place, and the Territory it takes place in changes every year. This year it takes place in Winter Territory."
"And I would assume that you met Lynx there?"
"Yes, that's where I met the Summer Prince." Dexis replied with no emotion. "It was much less formal than I had expected, even when the Fey servants told me it was for signing contracts and such. Lynx followed me around like a lost dog the whole time, he had no idea what to do with himself."
"Yeah, that sounds like him." I said quietly.
There was silence between us, a long and awkward pause that made us both uncomfortable.
"Dexallyn!" A voice similar to Dexis' called out from behind us. The voice wasn't as deep as Dexis', but it was close to sounding exactly the same.
The Winter Prince stopped in his tracks and turned around. I turned too. What I saw utterly confused me. It was a man who seemed to be in his early twenties with coal-black hair that tumbled down to his shoulders, pale white skin, and icy-blue eyes. He was a lean and tall figure, wearing a light blue heavy jacket, black jeans, and black boots. He looked like an older version of Dexis with a less terrifying vibe.
"Dexallyn? Is that your name?" I asked completely confused.
Dexis looked at me, "Doesn't matter." He looked at the man, "It's pronounced 'Dexis'." he growled.
"Well, you haven't changed." The man replied as he began walking towards us. He studied me, then stared back at Dexis, "I didn't know you found yourself a damsel... I thought you were still with-"
"No." Dexis snapped.
"Don't be so rude to your brother, Dexallyn." The man who was apparently Dexis' brother sighed.
"You're no brother to me, Lerva. Your parents disowned me, don't you remember?"
Lerva glared at Dexis, then turned and walked away.
The Winter Prince turned around and continued walking in the direction we were traveling in before. "Good riddens." I heard him mutter as I caught up with him.
I noticed a house a small bit larger than the others at the end of the cobblestone path. I watched as Line, Lynx, and Pic entered the house. Dexis and I were far behind them because of our little run-in with Lerva. We both hastily walked to the house and quickly slipped inside. I almost ran into Pic when I stepped inside the house.
"You have to believe us! We have the plans right here!" Pic said with pronounced worry in his voice.
"How am I supposed to know this isn't a joke?" A voice I didn't recognize asked.
I stepped around Pic and placed myself beside him. Dexis closed the door behind him and placed himself beside me. I studied an older gentleman that stood with the war plans in his hands. He wore a cream-colored heavy jacket, black pants, and grey combat boots, his hair was light-brown and was thin atop his head.
"We're traveling to both villages and warning them, we wouldn't travel here as a joke. That's pointless." Line stated clearly with a hint of anger.
The man looked at her, "I don't have full trust for you, the people in my village are still terrified of you, Tellingly."
Line rolled her eye and stared at the man, "Mr. Tyra, we're not that dimwitted to know that the Demon Fey are indeed coming to attack. We brought three Princes to your village to prove our point."
I figured Mr. Tyra was the leader of the village. "I only see two Princes, where's the third o-" He semmed to just notice Dexis standing beside me. "I see..." He looked down at the plans and then nodded.
"You have the job of warning the villagers about the attack. I'll send some of my military here. Expect an army of Demon Fey in four days." Dexis explained.
"Very well. And I see that they are planning to attack a Summer village too. I'll let you go and do that." Mr. Tyra said as he handed the war plans to Pic.
We all nodded and quickly left the house and began swiftly walking back to Matruel.
"How come you two took so long to get into the house?" Pic asked as he picked up the pace and gained the front of the group.
"We got caught up with one of the villagers." I replied quickly.
Line was walking with a large amount of speed and made it look easy. I was practically running by now.
I turned to my left and saw Lerva standing in the shadows, his eyes glowing like a wild animal's in the night. I looked back in front of me and tried my best to ignore the fact that he was watching me.
The snow was already melting and the burnt trees of Matruel started surrounding us in a depressing forest of grey and black. I heard the howling of wolves and everyone picked up the pace, now we were all running through the forest. We arrived at the clearing that we set up camp in earlier, stopped to catch our breath and continued trekking through the forest.
We made it to the second village in record time.
The village was very similar to Tyra Village. It had small wooden houses, a cobblestone path that cut through the center of the village, and a house at the end of it. The air around us was overwhelmingly hot and the plant life was bright green and full of life. The sun was blinding, I had to block it out with my hand as we walked. Lynx seemed content.
We walked in a big group down the path, the villagers were waving and greeting us the whole time. Our pace was slower, mainly because nobody could handle running in the heat.
"What's this village called, again?" Line asked as she took off her witch hat and wiped sweat from her forehead. She put her hat back on and shadowed her whole face.
"It's called Tipli Village." Lynx replied.
Line sighed and stared at the house at the end of the cobblestone path.
We continued walking in silence. We all piled into the house at the end of the path and were relieved when the cool air hit us. A man who seemed to be in his late thirties stood at a table in the middle of the entrance. He had short blond hair and a faint tan. He wore a white shirt, long blue shorts, and white sneakers. He looked up at us with yellow eyes, "Problem, Prince Lynx?"
Lynx nodded, "Yes Mr. Tipli. We have come to warn you about an impending attack from the Demon Fey."
Pic handed Mr. Tipli the war plans. He studied them for a long moment before nodding, "I'll alert the villagers."
"I have my military already traveling here to aid you in the attack." Lynx stated.
Mr. Tipli handed the war plans back to Pic. "Thank you for warning me, Prince Lynx. I suppose you will be off now."
We all nodded and exited the house.
"That was faster than I had expected." Pic said quietly.
Line nodded, "Thank god it's over. What're you guys going to do now?"
Pic sighed, "We'll go into detail about that later."
We walked in silence, and I could tell we weren't heading back to Matruel because the burnt trees never reappeared.
"Uh, where are we going?" I asked Pic who was leading us... somewhere.
"The human world." He replied simply.
"And why are we doing that?" Dexis asked with a hint of anger.
Pic didn't reply. Line seemed a bit nervous, she broke away from the group and said, "I requested to join you to the villages. So, uh, I did and now I'll be off."
I nodded, "Will we see you again?"
"You have the phone, call me whenever, I really don't care." She walked into the dense forest and waved goodbye.
"Why're we going to the human world?" Lynx asked, trying to make Pic answer the question that Dexis asked.
"That's where the Demon Fey are. They are planning to kidnap humans and use them against us. In experiments, to make super weapons." Pic replied in a hushed tone.
"How're you planning to stop them?" I asked.
"I'm going to tell them there's a change of plans." The Demon Prince said. "I need you guys to come just in case something goes wrong. You never know what might happen."
What help am I going to be? He's the one who said my word doesn't matter here because I'm not Fey. I wondered. Pic suddenly stopped in his tracks and I almost ran into him. I peered around him and saw a perfect circle with no grass on the ground.
He raised his hand in the air and the circle faintly glowed red and then the ground pulled apart to form a glowing red hole. I stared at it for a few seconds before I felt somebody grab onto my hand. I looked to my right to see Lynx standing there with a straight face staring down at the portal. Then I remembered that the last time I went through a portal, everyone was connected to form a circle. I felt Dexis put his hand on my shoulder. I watched as Pic completed the circle by putting one hand on Lynx's shoulder and another one on Dexis' shoulder.
Pic jumped into the portal and dragged the three of us with him. Everything went red, I couldn't see anyone or anything. It felt like I was being pricked by needles all over my body. It wasn't as painful as when I first went through the portal to Hiorb, but it still had a notable amount of discomfort. There was a sudden flash of bright white light and I could see the three Princes. Everyone was wearing their normal clothes, Dexis with his heavy jacket, Lynx with his brown tunic, I looked down at myself and I was wearing my normal clothing, and Pic was wearing his black shirt with strange spikes on the sleeves.
But as I studied Pic I saw all six of his eyes were open and had no pupils. He was breathing out of his mouth and seemed to be deep in thought. He looked up at me and smiled, his awkward black fangs covering most of his mouth, making it look strange to me.
Suddenly that weird and terrible elevator-stopping feeling made me feel sick. Everything went red again.
I slowly opened my eyes and felt terribly sick and my vision was blurry. I remembered that when I stood up I felt much better. I slowly got up on my knees and then stood up. My vision cleared and I didn't feel sick anymore. I looked around and saw that we were in a park on a dirt path. There were small trees dotted around us. I saw Pic stand up and gaze around him. Lynx and Dexis were standing next to eachother and were gazing around the park.
I walked over to Pic and asked him what we were going to do next.
"I just need to find the four Demon Fey that are kidnapping humans. You, Dexis, and Lynx can hide in the shadows." He replied.
The Demon Prince began walking around the park, studying everything around him.
I walked over to Dexis and Lynx and asked, "Can't the humans see him? And you two?"
Dexis shook his head, "No, they can't."
"It's not that they can't, it's that they won't." Lynx said. "The human mind doesn't want to see what they don't think is real."
"Then how come I can see you?" I was puzzled by his words.
"Because you have the unique ability to quickly understand that these things are real, princess. When you thought I was Leo Sumor, you didn't think Hiorb or any of the Fey species existed. But then you understood and my cover wouldn't last around you." Lynx explained, "So now you might see some of the Fey mixed in with the human world."
So basically he's saying that humans are blind to fantasy in real life...? I wondered.
My thoughts were interrupted by Pic's voice speaking to someone with a much deeper voice. I turned in the direction of the voices and silently crept towards them. Lynx and Dexis followed me. I made it to a bush and hid behind it because we were getting too close to Pic and the bearer of the voice.
"So you're saying our Queen has told us to call off the plans?" The voice hissed.
"Yes." Pic replied, "She told me to get you and your officers and bring you back to Demon Territory."
"You sure?"
"Yes, yes, yes! I am completely sure." Pic said quickly, I could tell he was getting frustrated. "Now get your steel-plated ass over to the other officers and get back to the Territory!"
Lynx looked at Dexis and whispered, "Steel?"
Dexis looked worried and nodded, "Steel."
I wondered why they were so worried about steel.
Something grabbed onto my shoulders and pulled me back in one big movement. I screamed and tried to pull away but the person's grip was too strong. I looked behind me and saw a fully-armored demon standing there. The demon began dragging me through the bush that I was hiding behind and placed me in front of the demon that Pic was talking to. Seconds later Lynx and Dexis were dragged through the bush. I stared in horror as the two demons that were dragging the Princes had one arm wrapped around their neck and another on their shoulder. Their flesh was burning where the armor touched them.
They have a weakness against steel... I thought in terror as the demons tightened their grip on the Princes, burning the skin on their necks and their shoulders.
I whipped my head around the clearing to find that Pic was nowhere to be seen. Did he fucking bail on us?! Or did he get captured too?
The demon that Pic was talking to studied the two Princes and then studied me. "Discard of the girl. Bring the three Princes with me." The demon stepped to the side and revealed the Demon Prince, who was held in place by two demon guards.
The demon that held me in place picked me up by the shoulders and threw me aside at least ten feet. I was slammed against a tree, and I heard a terrible CRACK and I couldn't feel my left foot anymore. I couldn't move. All I could do was watch.
A red portal appeared in front of the demons and they began tying all three Princes together with seven different ropes. The demons let go of Dexis and Lynx and my eyes widened when I saw glistening crimson fall in rivulets from Lynx's neck. Dexis began coughing, a terrible noise mixed with the sound of choking on blood. I watched as the demons shoved the Princes down into the red portal, head first they went and I could've sworn I heard Pic screaming an array of cursewords. The demons began laughing hysterically and high-fived each other, then jumped down into the portal. I began to crawl on my stomach towards the portal in hopes to be able to jump inside. But as soon as the demons went through, the portal closed. I slammed my fist on the ground and laid face down in the grass and almost began crying.
I clenched my fists and slowly got up off of the ground and balanced all my weight on my right foot. I studied my left foot and saw no blood, but I still couldn't feel it, and that crack wasn't the nicest thing I wanted to hear. Since Lynx said that there are Fey in the human world, maybe I can find one...
"Hello?" I called out into the field, "Is anyone there?"
I waited for a long time and nothing happened. "The Princes are captured!" I yelled. "Please, is anyone there?!" The growing desperation in my voice rung out in the park.
I remembered the phone that Line gave me. I pulled it out and pressed on the button to make a call. "Line." I said a little too loudly.
There was silence.
More silence.
"What?! No! Please!" Line screamed to someone. "Alice? Alice, please h-" Her voice couldn't be heard over loud crashes and bangs in the background.
"L-Line?! Line!" I screamed.
Silence.
I turned the phone off and shoved it in my pocket. I gazed around the park and sunk down to the ground and buried my face in my hands.
Time seemed to fly by, and I had no idea how long I was sitting there. I heard a twig snap and then a soft sigh. I looked up from my hands and saw a creature standing in front of me.
I labeled it as a female satyr who seemed to be about four foot five. She had short black hair that didn't reach her shoulders, it was shaved on side. She had short brown horns that were rounded at the end that poked out of her hair, large white goat ears that were perked up in curiosity. Her eyes were wide and were a mixture of yellow and amber. She wore a large black sweatshirt with the words "The Knocks" printed on it in white text. Her goat legs were white and her hooves were brown. She had a bright orange backpack slung over her shoulder.
"Are- Do you need help?" Her voice was small and silvery, it was wobbly too.
"You heard me?" I gasped, "Yes, please! I need so much help right now." I showed her my foot and explained what happened. I also explained that the three Princes were captured.
The satyr slowly crept towards me and set down her backpack, then took out a bunch of medical supplies. "What's you- your name?" She asked as she started working.
"Alice." I replied. "And you are...?"
"My name is Knocksen." She paused, "But you're- you can call me Knocks." As she spoke, she didn't look up at me.
"You have no idea how happy I am to meet you, Knocks." I said, my voice full of relief.
Knocks looked up at me, "So you're saying that Prince Lynx, Prince Dexis, and Prince Pic are captured?"
I nodded slowly, "They took them somewhere... I don't know wh-" The phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked to see who was calling. It said 'Prince Lynx'. I pressed the button to answer the call.
"Did it work?" Line asked.
"Alice, I don't have much time but we're in the Demon Territory! The tallest tower, the main one!" Lynx whispered hasitly. "You have to find the portal in your house!"
"You're in the park closest to your house, it's just down the street." Pic whispered.
"No more t-" Dexis began but his words were lost in the yelling of demons and strange sounds like hissing.
I bit my lip and ended the call. I placed the phone in my pocket and stared down at the grass.
"That was them... You're- you weren't lying." Knocks sighed as she began packing up the medical supplies. "If you- if you would like, I can help you with this whole situation and accompany you." She said with a shrug as she closed the backpack and put it on. "Oh, and you can now stand on both feet, but just... be careful. I only studied at college for a few months."
"You went to college?" I asked as I stood up. I was surprised when my I could feel my foot again and could walk on it.
She nodded, "But I went to a satyr collage... for healing. I left after three months because I wanted to explore the human world more."
"Oh..." was all I could say. After a few moments of silence, "I guess we'll go to my house now."
Knocks nodded and didn't look up at me as we began walking out of the park. We weren't far from the exit, it only took a few minutes to get there. We walked out to the street and continued down it on the sidewalk. I looked up at the huge grey office buildings around us and glanced at an alleyway for only a second. What I saw confused me.
I could only see the creature's head, the rest of it was in the shadows, I could tell it was some sort of canine. The left side of it's face was black with half of the nose white, and the tip of it's pointed ears were purple and had a small white ring-like pattern on them. The right side of it's face was white and half of the nose was black, it's ears had a cream colored tip. Both of it's eyes were closed and the left edge of it's mouth was curled up into a smile, while the right side was downward like a frown. I could've sworn I saw a purple crystal hanging from it's neck.
Knocks looked up at me, "Did you see them?" I slowed down to get a better look at the creature, but she pulled me along by my arm like a small child.
I looked back at the street, "Yeah, I saw... them." I looked at the satyr, "Do you know who that is?"
She shook her head, "I just studied their species for a small bit. It- they are mammals that hatch from eggs and can grow up to almost four feet tall, in feral form. I read that they can turn into an anthropomorphic form of themselves and stand at almost seven feet tall. They're called Two-Faces... I think."
"Strange..." I whispered as we continued walking. We walked for only a few short minutes before I found Dixon's house, my house. I pointed, "There."
Knocks nodded and walked beside me as we made a sharp right and walked up to the front door. I reached out and turned the doorknob. Unlocked... I thought with curiosity as to why nobody had locked it. We stepped inside and I led Knocks up the stairs to my room. Once in the room, I was immediately relieved when I saw the portal ringed with flowers still on the ground.
We stood at the edge of the portal, Knocks held onto my hand, it reminded me of when I had held my brother's hand when I was scared, when I was a child of course. I looked down at her, "You ready?"
She looked up at me, "Yeah- yes."
I drew in a deep breath, and stepped into the portal, instantly slipping through the floor into an orange domain. I felt no pain, but sudden loneliness. I gritted my teeth and changed my thoughts to how I will save my friends and will get Phenom back somehow. I felt Knocks tighten her grip on my hand. Suddenly there was a flash of bright white light, I was already used to it. Knocks appeared at my side with her eyes closed and a faint smile upon her face. The feeling of everything speeding up started and continued for quite some time until everything stopped and my stomach felt like it lurched up into my throat. Then everything went black.
I opened my eyes to see a dying forest around me, but it wasn't Matruel. I leapt to my feet and gasped as I recognized the clearing that Lynx and Phenom had brought me to when it was the first time I went to Hiorb. I gazed around at the whole place. Everything was dull, the leaves on the trees were brown and grey, the grass was brown and crunched under my feet, and the sky was blanketed with grey clouds.
I heard Knocks rustling around behind me, she walked up beside me and sniffed, "So this is what happens when... when..." I could tell she was holding back tears as she choked on her words.
"Yes... but it's okay, Knocks. We can fix this." I said with full confidence.
She looked up at me, "R-really? Us?"
I nodded, "Yeah, us." I looked around, "Now all we need is a ride." I smiled, Hello? Aaron? Talus? Any pegasus around here?
I heard the sound of beating wings above us, and watched as the large white pegasus with gold wings lowered himself to the ground in front of us. Hello, Alice. Aaron said cooly.
Knocks gasped, "Aaron? The- You're the Prince's pegasus!"
Indeed, satyr girl. Now, how may I be of assistance? The pegasus said with a whinnie.
"Can you give us a ride to Demon Territory?" I asked.
He drew in a deep breath, then nodded his head. Anything for a friend of the Prince...
I smiled again and climbed up on the winged horse. I pulled Knocks up and placed her in front of me. I held on to the golden reins and nodded, Okay, Aaron. Let's go... top speed would be nice.
Are you sure? Top speed might cause you to fall off, or the satyr... Aaron warned.
I wrapped my arm around Knocks. We'll be fine. Now, please go. We have no time to lose.
The pegasus reared up on his hind legs and kicked at the air, letting out a loud whinnie. He sprinted for the edge of cliff and leapt downwards, soaring gracefully with his wings angled with his head. Halfway down the cliff, he angled his wings upwards and instantly soared up towards the grey clouds. He tucked his legs under him and beat his wings faster than I could ever imagine, it reminded me of a small bird flying away from a predator.
I looked down at the ground and everything below was moving in blurs. The whole Summer Territory looked the same, bland and dying. We soared closer to Matruel and the cloying scent of rot and decay hit me and almost made me throw up. I studied the black and grey blurs of burnt trees and saw that some of it was on fire. I looked over at the Winter Territory in the distance and saw that most of it was melted, revealing almost grey land underneath the now strangely colored snow. Aaron flew along the border of Matruel for about ten more minutes before I could see the Demon Territory.
I wouldn't call it a Territory, more like the Demon Castle. I saw the huge canyon that separated the Demons from the Fey, it wrapped around the whole Demon Castle, causing it to be isolated from Matruel. I took note that zero grey clouds were above it. The red flames atop each tower in the Castle were glowing brighter than before, even in broad daylight. The main tower's flame was alarmingly large, almost taking over the whole top of the tower.
After maybe fifteen minutes of flying, Aaron began slowing down and lowering himself to the ground. We were at our destination, already. It seemed like we had arrived too soon.
Aaron landed in the grass with a loud thud. I dismounted and helped Knocks down off of the pegasus.
The winged horse turned to us and gave a nod, Good luck, Alice and satyr girl. Save your friends, and this world... our home. He drew in a deep breath and leapt in the air, then flew back towards Summer Territory.
I turned to face the Demon Castle. "How're we going to save you guys..." I sighed as I studied the huge steel door that stopped us from entering freely.
Knocks stood beside me and pointed to the shadows. "Maybe it- they can help us."
I looked in the direction she was pointing in and almost screamed. Almost.
It was the same creature that I saw in the alleyway. It's eyes were still closed and it's mouth was still half-smile and half-frown. It stepped out the shadows and into the sunlight, it walked as if it had it's eyes open. It stopped a few feet in front of us and studied us, moving it's head up and down. It had seven dark grey spines down its neck and along its back, ending at the base of it's tail. The left side of it had a white chest, a purple stripe and a smaller white stripe down it's back ending at the start of it's tail, there were multiple black dots of different sizes on it's legs, but I couldn't count them. There were also white bands of fur around it's ankles, and a purple band with two smaller white stripes around it in the middle of it's tail.
The right side of it had a black chest and cream-colored stripe with a thinner black stripe running down it's back ending at the base of it's tail. There were multiple light-grey dots on it's legs that I still couldn't count because they were barely visible against the white fur of the creature. There was a black stripe around every ankle, and there was a cream-colored band in the middle of it's tail, outlined with two thinner black bands. I stared at the purple-ish pink gem hanging around it's neck for a few seconds, then changed my attention to the creature itself.
It angled it's head towards me and said, "I believe you've lost one of your friends, yes?" I labeled the creature as a female. Her voice was sort of metallic, as if it was coming from a robot. It was a normal pitch for a female, or at least ones that I've heard. Her mouth didn't move when she spoke, and it didn't creep me out as much as it should, mainly because Line's mouth didn't move either.
"I've lost more than just one friend..." I sighed as I looked at the ground.
"How- Who are you?" Knocks asked, taking a small step forward.
The creature shifted around on her paws, "I am Two Faced, extremely glad to meet you and...?"
"I'm Alice, and this is Knocks." I said as I looked at Two Faced.
Two Faced raised her head in the air a little bit, "Alice... after all this time I've watched you, I finally know your name." She hopped in place a few times and seemed to disregard Knocks. "I am here to help you." She said with a high amount of excitement in her voice, "I can bring you to the main tower, if you want."
I let out a sigh of relief, "That would be wonderful, Two Faced." I didn't care if we had just met this strange creature and that I was already trusting her to lead us to our destination, I was desperate to save all of my friends.
Two Faced nodded slightly and then turned away from us, "Follow me. There's an underground entrance just this way!"
She began hopping away, and Knocks and I followed close behind her.
**this is just a quick note to say: Two Faced doesn't belong to me, she belongs to Iost-Soull on DeviantArt**