Don't Hug Me I'm The Chosen One: Bound With Fate (Book 2)

in the realm of critters

Soon, we've arrived back home. The sun was still about to rise. Paige assists us inside, telling that we should be careful because Tony is still around and he wasn't freed from being enslaved by you-know-who yet. I yawned and realized how long we've been up but being kidnapped and tortured in an abandoned house is the worst way to spend the whole night awake!

"Tomorrow, we'll be leaving," remarked Robin. "We're off to the realm of critters for important stuff."

"Have a nice voyage and I hope he-who-must-not-be-named won't be able to track on you," Paige said with a smile.

"What will you be doing while you're here?" I asked curiously.

"I'm going to take care of the king of time. During that, I'll start my journey on being the first free spiator," she explained. "I'll create an army of all the survivors and work hard on getting the realm of spies freed from you-know-who. When the right time comes, you'll be one of the captains of the army I created and together we shall bring him down and bring back the good old days when Dehamis lives in peace and harmony."

"Woah," I replied in awe.

My sleepiness haven't left yet Robin already insisted that we'd leave right now. Harry clones himself and then helped on carrying our stuff into the car. I kept complaining about going so early but Robin said I can just sleep during the road trip. In no time, all 3 of us are seated inside the car.

I looked out the window. This world is indeed more interesting than the one I grew up in. Weird yet interesting stuff decorate the town. Fascinated, I stared at the window for so long before eventually getting bored. I yawned and once again looked at the window.

"Are we there yet?" I asked.

"Quite a bit, Doi," said Robin.

This journey would probably take long so I took the opportunity to sleep. Right after I woke up from my nap which lasted for half an hour, our car stops by a cliff that was surrounded by a thick mist. Harry and Robin went out. I was confused why but I did the same anyway. Robin kneels down and forms a small triangle in the air using only his hands. A creature, which has the head and tail of a fish, wings of a hawk, and limbs of a panther, appears out of the thin air, exactly where Robin formed the triangle.

"Before you enter, I must identify you visitors," said the creature. "Only outsiders who mean no harm may enter."

"As you can see by my appearance, I'm an original resident of the realm of critters. My companions are my husb...I mean friend (Harry blushed at Robin's vocabulary mistake) and this child we're taking care of," explained Robin.

The creature flies nearer to me. He inspects me carefully, which is making me nervous.

"I'm sensing that you are the boy from the prophecy," the creature told me.

"I-I guess...I guess I am?"

"WONDERFUL!" it declared happily. "Enter the realm of critters and train yourself so you'll be powerful enough to bring down you-know-who and free his slaves."

The creature vanishes into nowhere. Soon, the cliff transforms into a complete road. Robin, Harry, and I hurried back inside the car and went forward. I looked at the back window and noticed the road that was in the realm of race breaks down and falls into the mist. We entered a bizarre town in which only anthropomorphic animals like Robin live. Their houses were like natural habitats, except they come with windows, doors, and some bit of roofs, chimneys, and stairs too.

"Woah!" I gasped in awe.

"I know right! My home is a really cool realm," bragged Robin.

"Why are we going here again?" asked Harry.

"Here's where we stay while we help Manny find his real parents," replied the duck. "At the same time, I wanna keep an eye on you-know-who and make sure he would be unsuccessful in capturing the dear boy."

Soon, we stopped nearby a lake. Ducks, swans, and geese swam by the water. Robin smiled at the sight of them. He parks the car near an unoccupied house below the hill. (A/n: imagine that certain house is like of the hobbits' home from the hobbits movie series or whatever.) We went out of the car and went inside to settle in.

"Is there something one of my real parents left to you before you migrated with me to the human world?" I asked curiously.

"Yes and it's a message your mom delivered to me through telepathy," said Harry. "She tells us to hide you in a safe place and more instructions. Other than that, nothing else."

"Oh..."

"But we still have the blanket you were wrapped in when you were still a tiny little baby," Robin added happily.

He pulls out a piece of cloth from one of the traveling bags we brought. The cloth does looks like something you'd wrap your baby with. I touched the tiny blanket and it's softness reminded me of what warmth my real parents gave me for a limited time before we were raided by the enemies. Soon, I suddenly remembered one of the goals I set up on myself.

"Can we at least find where you-know-who's headquarters or base or something is?" I questioned.

Harry chuckled. "Don't get too excited. He's really powerful. You need lots of training before you have to confront him. There are things to consider like, for example, you need to be careful not to end up being one of his puppets or having your life taken away."

"Oh yeah..."

"I just had a talk with my cousin Gabriel," noted Robin. "He said he heard that someone started a cult in this realm, gathering all of the manipulated critterians and their main job is help you-know-who gain more slaves."

"Maybe that way I could find out what they did to my real father?"

"Well, I'm not sure, Doi."

After a nice breakfast, I decided to go have some nice rest. Robin showed where my new room is. The mattress of the bed is hay instead of cotton. But the hay is covered with a huge cloth so it's not as itchy as I expected it would be. I flopped on the bed. Thanks to the comfort of the bed, the nice summer breeze coming from outside the open window, and the exhaustion from last night, I managed to fall asleep quite fast.

For some reason, instead of the house we moved in at the realm of critters, I woke up inside some kind of crypt. Cultists whose faces were covered by the hoods of their cloaks surround me. What's so remarkable by their cloaks is that they're being held in place by a huge golden heart-shaped button. I was lying right on the top of some kind of stone platform, which is surrounded by candles.

"What is this all about?" I asked.

"Our king is starving," said one of the cultists. "He shall feast on you tonight."

"WHAT NOOOOO!" I shouted in fear. "I'M NOT TASTY ENOUGH! THAT THING YOU CALL YOUR KING WOULDN'T LIKE IT ONCE HE GETS A BITE OF ME, I SWEAR!"

"No no, he doesn't wanna eat your flesh. He wants something else in you," replied another.

"Man that's ridiculous imma get outta here."

I tried to get up but I couldn't. It seems as if I froze in one place. But then I started to realize that my hands and feet were strapped tightly at each corner of the platform. I got nowhere to escape, unless I do something. Using the energy I have in me, I tried to break the straps but it was no use. I just struggled and struggled. Someone, which I assume is the leader, approaches me and holds his hands flat on the air above me. Scared of what he might do, I tried even harder but it just feels like as if my ankles and wrists were being squeezed.

"C'mon, keep on trying to escape," muttered the cult leader. "The king will be satisfied."

Everyone else started chanting random ass words I couldn't understand. Soon, some kind of white green light that looks like a whirlwind comes out of my body and makes their way into the cult leader's hands. I felt like as if something's sucking my breath away and my organs felt like they're being squeezed. It was so painful, I helplessly screamed really loudly, hoping someone would hear and come rescue me.