A collection of short stories featuring miscellaneous adventures in the Universe of Ferretopia
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Strange, nonliving entities known as the Nulls have leaked into the Universe of Ferretopia, threatening to rewrite the Reality Worldline.
While Lester...
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The sky was a dark-blue, filled with swirling wisps of black smoke.
Lyla stood at the edge of the rooftop, clutching a lit candle in her paws. The scraggly-furred, sooty-gray ferret was shivering and mumbling, her eyes wide and panic-stricken.
"The hills, she hears....beneath softness of soap to forms of ears......" There was an unusually raspy edge to her fearful, trembling voice. As she spoke, the locket around her neck would blink in and out of existence. She had that locket on her neck for a while— she had spontaneously summoned it, while her brother Nokio had spontaneously summoned the Anti-Null Orb inside it. The Orb had contained in the locket in order to be nourished. When the Orb became powerful enough, Jedidiah, Lester, and Lula were to use their combined Powers to open the locket, allowing the Orb to release its Anti-Null Mist—when Zaden, inhaled it, he would be able to summon Iz Liquid that was potent enough to enable Jedidiah, Lester, and Lula to combine their Powers to summon a permanent Spectrum Zero that would prevent Nulls from ever leaking into the Worldline again.
Lyla's nose twitched. It would be nice to stop having Nulls leaking into this Worldline. It would be nice to stop having these vivid visions of the Would-Be Worldlines that the Nulls came from. She already had enough vivid visions without them.
The sky thundered and Lyla gave a loud scream and a jump—the locket vanished around her neck and did not come back. Her wild, terrified eyes blinked rapidly and her paws clenched tighter around her candle.
The sky made a lower, continuous rumble. Lyla's trembling resumed, her eyes cracked as she kept her gaze forward.
Then the rumbling died down. Lyla's quick, quiet panting sounded over the slight, chilly breeze.
The breeze extinguished the candle in her hands. Lyla shifted her eyes to gaze down at the thin wisps of smoke that ascended from the small candle prick.
Behind her, a white, thin figure emerged from the shadows beside the chimney. Ian gazed up at the night sky with a calm, smug smile, watching as Lester, Sherwin, and Erwin zoomed across. He could hear their wild, drunken laughter.
Ian gave a haughty chuckle, shaking his head. He spoke to himself in his smooth, uppish voice. "My. How disdainful that ferrets with such noteworthy titles choose to engage in such repulsive behavior. I ought to just downgrade them from their top-ten status." He hovered forth his hands behind his back and his head held high, closing his eyes and smiling primly.
As he approached Lyla, he opened his eyes and gazed at her. As he saw her staring at her candle with a crazed look of fear in her eyes, Ian's gaze faded. An unusually soft look flickered in his eyes.
"Lyla, my dear," he murmured. His typical smug tone had vanished—there was nothing but warmth in his voice. "Your dinner is getting cold. Would you like me to–"
"GALLAHAAAA!" Lyla became a blur as she whirled around and zoomed toward Ian. In a split second, she had him pinned against the chimney.
Ian gave a slight grunt, wincing in pain. Lyla's paws pressed hard against his shoulders, her small but sharp claws digging into his fur. The candle she held was lying beside Ian's feet, now shattered in pieces.
Lyla gazed at the elegant white ferret with her crazed eyes, her face twisted with horror and anger.
"GET AWAY, WILDLING!" She screamed. She grabbed Ian's shoulders and banged him against the chimney wall. "Lost diamonds must repay! THE GREAT MARSH SHALL PATRONIZE!"
"Lyla!" Ian gently grabbed her wrists. "Please...it's me. I–"
Lyla grabbed his crown and jabbed its center into his chest.
Ian gave a sharp yelp before Lyla flung him away. He landed on his side, turning a pained gaze to see Lyla standing in front of the chimney with her head tilted. She was holding his bloodied crown in front of her face, staring at it with a wild, crazed grin. She mumbled a bunch of incoherent words and brought the crown to her mouth– she chomped and chewed at the bloodied tips, causing a few to crack and break.
"Lyla..." Ian winced in pain as he rose to his feet. It had been a while since she had pushed him this hard. He whisked his tail to summon some lavender mist– breathing it in caused his shattered bones to heal in an instant. When his strength was renewed, he hovered forward and rested a hand on Lyla's shoulder.
Lyla whipped her head to him, giving him a crazed scowl as she gripped his crown between her teeth. Ian gently took the crown from her, tossing it aside. She picked out a sharp piece of its shards from between her fangs.
Lyla's angered face quickly morphed into a look of surprise. The gray ferret gazed at the blood on Ian's shoulders and chest. Her eyes began to water with remorse.
Lyla jerked out of his grip, whimpering in between her loud, rapid pants. Then she let out an earsplitting wail. She turned and ran against the chimney wall– the gray ferret was a blur as she backed away and rammed toward the wall multiple times.
"Lyla! Stop!" Ian grabbed her shoulders with a look of desperation.
"UHHHHHGGGGGAAAAHAAAAH!" Lyla thrashed around in his grip. Her face was now disfigured and covered in blood– it splashed in all directions as Lyla shook her head around.
Ian dragged the gray ferret away from the chimney. His grip on her shoulders was tight so that she couldn't ram herself against the wall again, but also gentle so that he didn't break her fragile bones.
Soon, she calmed down and allowed him to lead her away. The locket began to rematerialize around her neck as the two of them disappeared down a hole in the roof.
