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For a moment, everything had been going perfectly.
The six of them were out on another adventure in the summer between junior and senior year, making the most of their time together until school reopens and Fig leaves. Even if they didn’t have to save the world anymore, there was still plenty of stuff to do — dangerous criminals, ever-changing dungeons, and a myriad of people’s problems that were waiting to be resolved.
What else would they be doing that summer? After all, adventuring was in their blood.
Which brings them to now: on yet another quest, this time in the Mountains of Chaos. An elven druid by the name of Adra Mossane had been causing problems for those living nearby, and the Bad Kids had chased her into the snowy peaks, doing their best to take her down. She was strong, but they were stronger — six versus one, especially when the six had a reputation for saving the world four times, was quite the uneven match.
They had managed to beat her down, battering her until she was bloodied and bruised. Now, she glares at all of them as blood drips from her open wounds, staining the snow.
“Gorgug, NOW!” Adaine shouts, as Gorgug leaps forward, going in for the kill.
That would have been the end of it, the evil druid vanquished and the six of them free to return home, if not for one tiny issue: magic.
Because as Gorgug takes a flying leap, Adra Mossane suddenly raises her arm, magic crackling from her fingertips. And maybe it’s because they’re all exhausted too, their fight against this druid having been a difficult one, but in the blink of an eye, everything shifts.
And in that moment, Adaine watches as the world suddenly becomes all too large.
She struggles to regain her bearings as she gets plunged into something cold, cold, so deeply cold, a darkness that smothers her from all sides. Scrabbling frantically, she bursts forth from this ice-cold surface, blinking her wide eyes as she takes in the scene around her.
It hits her, then, what has happened. It clicks for her faster than for her friends, as Adaine listens to them yelp in confusion and outrage and fear. She looks down at her hands, only to be greeted by the sight of tiny little claws on light-furred paws. And as she reaches up to pat her face, Adaine’s claws brush along long whiskers, twitching as she sniffs the air.
“Oh,” she breathes, her voice coming out as a squeak.
“I think we’ve been turned into rats.”
“I hate this,” Fabian complains, shivering. Next to him, Gorgug presses against him, and against everything that tells him he shouldn’t be weak and curl against a friend for some warmth, Fabian does so anyway. Gorgug’s bigger than him, and he’s warm, and— Fabian’s cold, okay? His fur — and fuck, does he hate thinking about it, that he has fur — is thinner. It offers no resistance against the cold of the mountains.
A squeaking snort. “All of us do,”Adaine replies, glancing over at Fabian. The six of them have scurried into a tiny cave in the rocky mountains — to regroup, sort out what to do next, and take refuge against the cold. Their items and armour had disappeared with the transformation, and in the wake of their sudden powerlessness, their target had managed to escape.
And, like— okay, yeah, sure. This situation sucks, and all of them hate it, except maybe Fig who seems delighted. But Fabian hates it more, can’t even stand to look down at his arms, because he’s now one of the things he’s most scared of. His mind has been tormenting him nonstop, ever since he took a look down at himself and screamed, that he’s just like it now — that awful fucking rat Fig loves to conjure up, a blight on his psyche.
Fabian would really like to escape this. But none of them know how to reverse the effects right now. Druid spells are out of their wheelhouse, and no matter how long Adaine discusses matters with the girls, none of them seem to have any clue what to do next.
Distracted as he is by his thoughts, Fabian doesn’t notice the sound of it approaching, tiny claws scrabbling against the rock floor. He only realises it when the rest of his friends suddenly snap to attention, whirling around towards the back of the cavern. “What?” Fabian gasps as Gorgug suddenly moves. Spinning around, he scrunches his face, feels his tail stiffening. “What’s happening—”
“We can hear you!” he hears Riz call out, into the darkness. “Show yourself!”
Silence. And then—
Scampering out of the shadows is a rat. “Hi!” it calls out to them, tilting its head. “Sorry to scare you, but I heard some of what happened to you guys earlier.” Nose twitching, the rat seems to smile at them. Fabian’s head spins with the sudden knowledge that a rat can smile. “First time getting caught by that awful druid?”
“You know her?” Kristen asks.
The rat nods. “Yeppers! She’s caught an awful lotta people. You’re not the first bunch. Um, if you wanna get turned back into people again, you’re gonna have to come with me. I’ll take you to Rat World.”
Rat World?
“Isn’t that in Elmville?” Gorgug asks, echoing Fabian’s thoughts.
Another nod. “Well, yeah! But we’ve got a lot of Rat Worlds. They’re everywhere across the world! And the one under this mountain— ooh, we’ve got a lot of history, I tell you!” It sounds almost proud.
Briefly, the six of them meet each others’ eyes. “So…” Riz starts, almost hesitantly, “who’s up for a trip to Rat World?”
“If it breaks this spell faster,” Fabian mutters, already scampering over to the rat stranger, “then I’ll gladly go anywhere.”