Day: 1228

Days Left: 4252

Lives Saved: 6

With his undefeatable egotism, O'Sullivan had rallied his peons to abandon their perfectly safe camp with all the food and water they needed and headed to the nearby sector. But, unfortunately, this nearby sector was occupied by a large group, all with powerful masks. They were titled the Kings of the Abyss, despite not ruling over anything but the resources in their sector... and O'Sullivan believed that he could beat them and gain everything for himself.

After packing, the group set off, guided reluctantly by Henry, who seemed to be the only person believing that this was a terrible idea. However, O'Sullivan was set on this ambition, believing that Henry's knowledge would guarantee their victory, and his followers possessed an unhealthy level of devotion and trust in their leader.

It took a week to trek to the next sector, the dry and cracked sand turning into grassland and short trees. Unlike any human realm, these trees would occasionally glow and sprout another branch instantly, completing all of their growth within short bursts rather than prolonged moments like anything else would. This strange phenomenon created numerous situations of branches snapping and tripping someone up or knocking them out.

"Where should we set up camp, darling?" Karina asked O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan looked to Henry.

"Uh..." Henry glanced around.

"Show him the map, Karina," O'Sullivan sighed.

Begrudgingly, Karina approached Henry and showed him the map he had drawn in his notebook.

After Henry indicated an area, Karina snatched the notebook away and stored it in her jacket pocket.

With his guidance, Henry led his captors to where they could safely set up camp and prepare for 'victory' against the Kings of the Abyss. Whilst tents were pitched, Henry was tied to a tree with Nia close by in her glass lantern, one of the hyenas standing guard. Henry had hoped it would be Terra this time; he didn't know why he kept on wanting to speak to her. On the journey here, he could hear her enthuse the food they could get. She was just as brainwashed as the others; Terra did not appear to show pity or sympathy with Henry and Nia being prisoners; no one did. They all truly trusted O'Sullivan to the point that they would go on this suicide mission.

No, the only thing that drove Henry to want to talk to Terra was to tell her the truth, that she used to be Fern and had escaped, only to be thrown back down here. The guilt of that knowledge was getting worse with each passing day, but he never had the opportunity to tell her.

But perhaps he should focus on escaping with Nia.

"We'll attack after the blood moon when they are at their most vulnerable!" called out O'Sullivan to his gathered followers. "And then what we deserve shall be ours!"

Henry scoffed, listening from the tree that he was still tied to. What do they deserve?

O'Sullivan raised his cyclops mask. "With this gift, we shall make this world ours!"

A jet of green liquid sprayed above the canopy and descended into clumps of pellets. O'Sullivan jolted to the side for cover as it rained down, the liquid burning and eroding the skin of all who were hit.

Karina screeched as a large splat landed on her leg. She tried to brush it off with her jacket sleeve, but it merely destroyed the material.

"Stop screaming and fight back!" yelled O'Sullivan as he donned his mask.

His panicking followers all calmed down with just their leader's words and transformed, taking on the stampede of monsters that charged through their camp.

The hyena guarding Henry and Nia glanced at them, then at their friends and rushed away to join the fray.

"This is our chance!" Henry whispered to Nia; the pixie was swirling around in the lantern with glee. Henry attempted to undo his bonds, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not escape. Nia banged her fragile arms against the glass cage to no effect.

The monster responsible for the acid attack revealed itself, a deformed humanoid covered in warts and a bulging sagging chin, like a frog, whose skin slowly glowed a brighter green, charging up before releasing another descent of acid.

A few splodges landed near Henry; he gasped in shock, retreating away as he saw fumes rise as it consumed the grass, but then an idea struck in his head. He spotted a tree branch nearby and picked it up using his legs. Manoverering the stick over, the acid spread to the branch. After a few failed tries, Henry somehow bent his body enough to touch the acid to the rope.

The acid eventually burned through the rope, weak enough for Henry to untie himself. He stood up, his eyes tearing up as freedom was so close. He turned to Nia in her lantern cage, about to go over, when there was a flash of red light with a droning humming.

A red beam incinerated the opposing monsters within seconds, their severed bodies falling to the ground in a delayed moment. There was a long silence as Henry saw the monsters, still very much conscious thanks to the Eternal Abyss, the red laser beam cutting them in half and bleeding out, staining the grass red.

Nia banged on the glass, screaming out, but she could not be heard.

Henry was frozen in the spot, seeing O'Sullivan's mask transformation.

The creature was a humanoid with a frail body, its rib cage showing through its fleshy skin, its fingers creepily long. Like O'Sullivan's mask, the creature was a cyclops; only its eye was the same size as its head, with no ears, nose, or mouth, only a bloodshot eye.

The creature slowly turned, its eye staring right at Henry.

"Why, Henry..." the creature hushed, O'Sullivan's voice distorted and deeper. "You appear not to be tied up."

Henry glanced at Nia, then back at the bloodshot cyclops. Then, with no commands, Henry sat back against the tree, and someone tied him back up.

O'Sullivan skulked over, his long arms and fingers trailing along the ground. He crouched down and caressed Henry's cheek with his long index finger. "It seems that you did not believe in us succeeding."

"I- I didn't know that was going to happen," Henry stuttered.

"No, I believe you, Henry." The large bloodshot eye remained ever unblinking. "Perhaps I need to prove to you my true strength." The creature rose and turned to its followers, who had recovered from the acid spit attack. "We will not wait! We will attack now and show them who the true Kings of the Abyss are!"

Day: 1229 (Blood Moon)

Despite the endeavour requiring haste, O'Sullivan still dragged Henry over with them, along with a hyena guard carrying Nia as motivation for Henry not to try and escape again. The Evil Eyes snuck to the enemy camp, smiling as they overheard them arguing and fretting over their members of the skirmish attack that had yet to return.

The sky above faded into a scarlet red, the milky white moon darkening and turning into a blood moon.

"I thought you were going to attack after the blood moon," Henry hissed, feeling even more vulnerable and weak as his wrists were tied together and a soon-to-be group of bloodthirsty monsters down below. "They'll become more powerful."

"As will I," said O'Sullivan, his singular eye appearing even more bloodshot.

Once the blood moon was in full effect, all those who had masks transformed if they were not already. Nia hissed and shrieked inside the glass lantern, flinging herself violently inside her cage.

"Hey, Nia, it's alright," Henry hushed. "Don't let it affect you. You can control this." But the pixie had already lost her mind.

"Try anything, dear Henry, and we'll let her out," said O'Sullivan, his focus unbreaking from the enemy group below the cliff and through the trees.

There were footsteps, and everyone turned to see Karina's eyes glazed over, her face vacant. She spun around in the opposite direction and then started walking away.

O'Sullivan chuckled slightly. "Someone's finally getting a new mask." He glanced at the enemy group below, all of them now monsters. "Now... on my signal..." He raised his hand as his giant eye turned completely red, just like the blood moon, emitting a low hum that grew louder and louder until-

A large beam of red energy shot out from the eye with a shriek and wiped across the enemy encampment, cutting through the horde of monsters.

O'Sullivan lowered his hand, and his peons charged, attacking the enemy that had not been cut in half by the laser surrounding them.

This mask surely must be illegal, thought Henry. It must go against all of the rules. There had to be some form of weakness... He looked to O'Sullivan, who remained at the top of the cliff, almost panting and exhausted; his eye, though bloodshot as normal, appeared to be puffy and sore, the veins on its body larger and pulsing as if agitated. Then, after a long moment, they calmed down, and O'Sullivan prepared another laser beam attack.

That's it, Henry realised. If O'Sullivan used his power for too long, it came at a cost to his own body. Still, this mask was perhaps too overpowered compared to other masks.

The battle was won within minutes, most of the enemy surrendering in fear of the blood-shot-eyed creature. The remains of their comrades lay smouldering in pieces, some still conscious and screaming in pain.

O'Sullivan made his way down to the camp, surveilling his new prisoners. "Well, Henry? Will you doubt me again?"

Henry bowed his head, wanting to look away from the alive corpses.

"This is what we can achieve when we work together, you and I," O'Sullivan continued. "We can dethrone the Kings of the Abyss."

"I made little contribution." Henry swallowed. "This was all because of your strength. In the end, you did not need my help."

"Oh, Henry." The blood-shot-eyed creatures raised Henry's face with a long finger. "In this world, well... in any world, those with the resources and the knowledge have power. That is us-"

"I can make you a copy of my map."

"You still want to go find your beloved cousin?" cooed O'Sullivan. "My, that is very disappointing to hear, Henry. Though you may not remember it, you were in charge of the Eternal Abyss, the one in power and control, and now you do not want it? You may have a higher chance of finding your cousin when we become the next rulers of the Abyss."

"You can never be a prisoner and a ruler. No matter what you do, they will always control your freedom and power; what you have achieved is because of the mask they gave you. You did not obtain this power yourself; you were handed it to by your warden." Henry bit down on his lip, silencing himself before he made matters worse.

However, O'Sullivan appeared amused by this, or at least as much as Henry could determine from a giant eye.

"And how about we strive to change that?" said O'Sullivan. "We-" He paused as a purple mist rolled and swirled through the camp, circling them. Some of the monsters attempted to swipe at it but to little effect.

A high-pitched demonic giggle resounded through the camp.

O'Sullivan chuckled. "At ease," he ordered to his followers.

The purple mist gathered into one place in front of O'Sullivan, forming the silhouette of a woman before fading into...

Into Karina.

"Well?" she sang, turning around, her body translucent and giving off a dark purple glow. "Do you like my new mask?" Karina looked around at the surrendered monsters and sighed. "I guess I missed all the fun; what a shame."

"There will be more fun, do not worry," said O'Sullivan. He motioned to a follower who had been carrying a small wooden crate. "We have to deal with our prisoners. Release Terry."

Nia appeared to become even more agitated within her cage as the wooden crate was lowered to the ground.

Everyone stood back, and Henry copied. What was in there?

The wooden crate was opened, and a small monster walked out with the body of a snake with two legs and the face of a rooster partially covered by a cloth.

"A cockatrice..." Henry gasped under his breath.

"Oh, you know of this creature?" asked O'Sullivan. "Then you know it is best to look away."

Terry the cockatrice hobbled forward, his head bobbing like a rooster while his snake tail flicked jarringly.

The surrendered monsters screamed for mercy, some attempting to escape their bonds.

"Now!" ordered O'Sullivan.

Terry's keeper undid the cockatrice's blindfold, and Henry and the others instinctively looked away.

After a moment, all the screaming and yelling was snuffed into silence. Henry slowly dared to open his eyes and saw before him numerous stone statues of the enemy monsters; their faces were frozen in horror and pain; others that had succeeded in breaking their bonds did not make it in time, still in their running.

Terry squawked and pecked at the grass, the blindfold back on.

"Good Terry," said the cockatrice keeper and placed him gently back into the wooden crate.

Karina darted around the statues in her mist form, mocking their stone faces.

"Oh, don't worry, Henry," said O'Sullivan. "They won't be stone statues forever. It only lasts a minute or so."

Henry could not respond, unable to control his breathing; his breath caught in his throat. Why did he do this? Was this another threat to those who disobeyed him?

O'Sullivan motioned to his followers. "Alright, you can have your fun now."

The monstrous followers cheered and charged at the statues, smashing them into pieces until there was just rubble. And like O'Sullivan had promised, the stone statue effect would only last a couple of minutes, and the broken pieces of stone returned to...

Karina laughed as Henry threw up.

"Clean this up," O'Sullivan ordered. "We don't want our new home to be in such a state, do we?" He approached Henry and patted him on the back as the last vomit exited.

"Why did you do that!" Henry screamed. "You could have shown mercy! They could have joined you!"

"I already have enough followers," O'Sullivan said. "If a group becomes too large, there is a higher likelihood of betrayal and mutiny. No, what I want is devout loyalty. These former Kings of the Abyss only obtained the title because there were so many of them. They used numbers, and yet look where that got them. A group is only as strong as its weakest member. No, if I want to recruit more members..." O'Sullivan raised Henry's face up. "Then I want quality, like you, Henry, with all your knowledge... it just appears you have yet to learn loyalty."

"I have nothing more to teach you," Henry gagged, catching a glimpse of the mutilated bodies.

"You will change your mind, Henry." O'Sullivan rose. "I know you will."

Day: 1230

Oscar gazed up at the sky, seeing small streaks of red still bleeding through- the residue of the blood moon.

"I'm sure they'll be back soon," said Ivette, placing a comforting hand on Oscar's shoulder.

"Yeah..." Oscar mumbled as he returned his attention back to cooking dinner. He stared into the bubbling water, wondering if his face looked bloated, perhaps due to him transforming into a human too quickly or his insecurities. "They just haven't taken this long before. What if something has happened to them?"

Ivette sighed. "We'll give Rin and Sumit a few more minutes, and then we'll send out a search party. How about that, dear?"

"Corinna and Lili haven't returned yet either."

Ivette paused. "They're likely still walking around and have forgotten the time. You know it takes Corinna a bit longer to transform back."

Oscar nodded, somewhat more assured, but his fears were yet to be quelled. He gazed at the sky again, the remnants of red still there alongside dark patches of clouds.

A storm was brewing.