The Snowy Forest is long gone. All of us have made it out of it alive, but now we’re in a valley. The sun is at its highest point. It blazes down onto us, and the weather is now extremely hot. The blue sky doesn’t have any signs of clouds in it. We are walking by a river that flows through the center of the valley, and in the valley there are many trees. The grass is very green for early autumn.
I gaze at Rocky. That lion thinks he can take Nova away from me. I know he likes her, and if she accepts him as her man, she won’t talk to me anymore. Nova paces along in silence; she must be deep in thought. Could she be thinking about Rocky and I?
I take a step back from the group and drink some of the water from the river. I haven’t had water for days, and I was starting to think I would die of dehydration.
The others decide to stop for water, too. And that’s when I realize Nova has disappeared.
I wander off into the distance, getting closer to the trees. Then I find a large rock that looks like it has just been moved. I walk over to it, and I fall into another deep hole. The ground is hard, but there’s light down here- and it’s coming from a torch.
I scramble to my paws, shaking off the fall. I look around. I’m in another hole, but this one looks like it is a home for something- or someone.
Looking around once again, I find a dirt path that leads into a different underground room. Torches still light my way, and it looks like someone has been here recently. The scent is definitely not stale.
I then enter a large room filled with hay and grass- and more of it. There is so much hay and grass down here you could fill up a forest.
But why?
“Is that you, Cup?” a hear a female voice ask. In the corner of the enormous room, and dark grey wolf comes out. It’s Nova!
I rush over to her, but then find out that hundreds of rabbits are behind her. They look like the ones from Jamaa. They are very similar.
“Is this your friend?” the largest rabbit asks Nova. She nods.
“Hello, wolf. We are the Rabbits. We are not just rabbits, though. As I said, we are the rabbits,” the rabbit explains thoroughly.
“I like your home,” I say. The largest rabbit looks confused.
“This is our home, but why do you like it? I thought wolves did not like anything about rabbits,” he still looks lost in thought.
“No, we come from a land called Jamaa. All animals live in peace, and we support everyone- even rabbits. Jamaa is a wonderful place to be, and without it-” I start to tell the story of Jamaa, but the rabbit interrupts with a grin that looks like a quarter moon flipped onto its side.
“Jamaa! We are the ancestors of Jamaa! Is Liza, a kind and caring panda, one of your alphas?” the rabbit questions us. I stare at him in shock. How does he know?
“The Panda took our spiritstone we offered her. It was a long time ago, and we had two, so we gave her one. She told us we would be part of a new land called Jamaa,” a female rabbit much smaller than the original one speaking comes out from the crowd.
“Actually, the spiritstones were changed to heartstones,” Nova says with a grim look on her face. I look her in the eye, and I can tell that she wants us to get back to where the others are. Rapicik, Padanda, and the rest of them are probably looking for us. Maybe even Rocky.
Then the female rabbit speaks up again. “I am Kirisha, the leader of the rabbits. That larger, male rabbit you talked to was Ankoos.”
“Have you heard of Peck?” Kirisha suddenly asks. I gaze into her green eyes. Kirisha, the leader of the rabbits has dark grey fur like Nova. Ankoos looks just like her. He has the same green eyes and dark grey fur.
“Actually, yes. She is the Bunny Alpha for Jamaa,” I explain.
“Is she doing well?” Kirisha continues to ask questions.
“Yes.”
“Ankoos, Peck and I were all siblings But she decided to go with the panda to help create Jamaa,” Kirisha looks down at her paws.
“I’m sorry about that. But I promise you that she’ll never forget you and Ankoos,” I guarantee. I feel a pang of guilt for the two of them.
“Cup, we really should get going…” Nova whispers. I nod, and explain to the rabbits that we have to go.
“Very well,” says Kirisha. “I wish you well on the rest of your journey.”
“Wait a second- how do you know that we’re on a journey?” I question before Nova and I leave.
“Why else would a Jamaasian be out here this far?” Kirisha says. I understand now. Nova and I say goodbye, and then we head towards the area where we both fell into the hole.
“Umm, Nova, how do we get back up?” I ask. She tells me that there is magic in this place. Out of nowhere, we both start to float up into the air. And then we’re out of the rabbit’s burrow.
“Woah- how did that just happen? That couldn’t of been magic!” I raise my eyebrow.
“Every one of the ‘the’ animals have a tint of magic,” Nova explains.
“The ‘the’ animals?” I get even more confused.
“Yes. They called themselves the rabbits. That’s how all of Jamaa’s ancestors did. They all have magic within their paws, and the burrow is made of magic. That’s why it is available to use there. The magic is why Mira chose all of these animals. They would never lose their imagination,” Nova smiles.
It makes sense now. These animals are special, and Mira chose one from each of their tribes to start Jamaa. I completely understand now! The spiritstone was taken from each tribe that had more than one. They wouldn’t want the ‘the’ tribes to die, so they only took one to help Jamaa grow.
Then Rapicik spots us. He races over to us, and hugs us both.
“Where were you? All of us were so worried!” he exclaims, glaring at us.
He follow Rapicik back to where everyone else is sitting, waiting for us to make our return. Rocky hugs Nova quickly, and I feel more anger flow through my veins.
Just when I am about to say something to him, a new thought comes into my mind. What if one of the ‘the’ tribes got angry with Jamaa, and they invaded us? They seem innocent, but maybe not all of them are. What if the final battle will be against one of them? They might want revenge for taking one of their members, which is what Nova explained to me. Nova must’ve asked Kirisha how the alphas came to be, and how the ‘the’ tribes are our ancestors. What if my new thoughts are true? All of us decide to stop and rest for the night.
As I explain to Rapicik what Nova and I discovered, we finally manage to get out of the valley. It is a new now. We have to be getting close by now. But I now remember that Ersel told us this journey would be much longer than the last.
It is now getting late in the afternoon and all of us have entered a cloud forest. The sky is turning darker, and it is really cloudy. Fog surrounds the trees, and it’s hard to see my way around. I continue following Rapicik in the direction Ersel told us to go. Then I see a shadowy figure sprint in front of us. I can’t make out what it was, though.
“Rapicik, what was that?” I ask with a concerned tone.
“I have no clue, but let’s just keep going,” Rapicik orders.
Nova races up to us, and it is now us three leading the way. This cloud forest is creepy. The trees seem awkward. Their branches are longer than normal, and the leaves are very, very, dark green. The branches also form to twist odd shapes. And to top it all off, you have the fog that swallows the forest whole.
Out of nowhere, a large brown wolf with seemingly red eyes attacks the three of us leading the way. It pins Rapicik down, but he bites at its paws and he tosses the large creature off. Rapicik snarls, and then the wolf attacks me. Why would a wolf attack a creature of its own kind? I scramble out of its grip, and try to claw its face, but it dodges it. It slams its huge paws against my chest and it knocks the wind out of me. I try to get back up, but I am stunned. It leaps onto me, and tries to bite my neck open. Luckily, Nova pulls the wolf off and claws it across the snout. It whimpers, but that doesn’t stop it. The wolf picks up Nova with his teeth and throws her into a tree. She slams against it hard.
Rapicik jumps onto the wolf, trying to kill it with a bite to the neck. The wolf shakes him off, but Rapicik gets back up again. Rapicik and the wolf get into a wrestling battle.
“You shall not disturb the Wolf King!” the wolf snarls as he bites onto the left leg of Rapicik. Rapicik squeals, but still doesn’t back down.
“Hey, look over there! Watch out!” I can hear Rapicik scream. Is he talking to me?
The Wolf King looks in the opposite direction, and as he does, Rapicik bites into his throat. He clings onto it, and the Wolf King struggles. Bt Rapicik’s strong grip is to hard to get out of. The Wolf King falls down dead.
Still stunned, I can see Rapicik scrambling to his paws. He races over to Nova, who is barely breathing. If it wasn’t for her, I would’ve died. Wait! Is she dying right now?
I sprint to where Rapicik helps Nova with her wounds. Nova looks badly injured from when she hit the tree. Just as Nova slowly speaks, the others arrive. They had to of been a little ways behind.
“We heard fighting going on. Is everything alright?” Padanda asks, panting.
“We have to help Nova!” I explain my concerns.
Rocky comes up to where Nova lies, and starts helping her. He licks her wounds clean, and then searches for something. He then pops a bone back into place, and I can hear Nova screech with pain. But then Rocky tells her to calm down. She stares at him with a gleam of happiness in her eyes.
“You saved me,” Nova exclaims.
“It was for your own good,” Rocky replies.
He helps her to her paws, and they walk together. As I go up by Rapicik to start the journey again, I can see Rocky staring at me with a cold and calculating look.
“Cup, I have a feeling that the Wolf back there wasn’t alone. He must’ve been the King of a Wolf Tribe that lives here in this cloud forest,” Rapicik whispers as we both continue leading the way through the trees.
And he’s right. Ahead of us are hundreds of wolves that look similar to the last one.
“Everyone stop,” Rapicik demands. Everyone, including the animals behind us, obey him. Then Rapicik explains that we have to bolt northeast to get out of here. On the count of three, we sprint as fast as possible. The wolves try to bite us, but we all barely dodge them. Rocky is carrying Nova and they both fall behind. Even though I don’t care for Rocky, I need to save Nova.
I fall behind and pick up Nova. Rocky just stares at me. Then I ruin forward as fast as possible. Rocky is right behind, and we catch up with Rapicik. The wolves are still following us!
We finally make it out of the cloud forest and the wolves stop dead in their tracks. It’s almost as if they can’t exit the forest. Rapicik stops, then the rest of us do. I take one look at the wolves, and then they disappear back into the forest. Then I spot what Rapicik is looking at. Ahead of us is another mountain- but it has a beautiful lake on it. Trees surround it, along with many rocks. There are many animals up there. Could this be where the Forgotten Alpha is staying?
I then realize that there’s a river in the way. And it’s getting late at night. The mountain is much farther away than we all think it is. Rapicik agrees that we should rest here for the night, and that’s what we do. The wolves won’t leave the cloud forest, so we’re safe in this small hollow surrounded by several trees. I lay down by Nova, and on the other side of her I spot Rocky. We lock our eyes together, then stop. I fall into a very deep sleep.
I am in a very, ancient cave. Carvings are all along the walls. There is a dim light in here, but I have no idea where it is coming from. I look down at my paws, and put them together as I lurk around the cave. What is this mysterious place?
Peering at the carvings, I realize that none of them make any sense. So why am I dreaming about this? Is there something I’m supposed to understand here?
“Remember, Cup, follow your instincts.”
The same voice Zios has is the voice that just spoke. There’s no sign of him, though. Since he tells me to follow my instincts, maybe my instincts should figure out what I need to do here in this weird cave.
Then it comes to me. Go right, Cup!
My instincts are ordering me where to go now. I decide to go right, and as I go right, I start to understand more of the carvings. The farther right I go, the more easy they are to understand. Then, at the very end of the cave, I can see Zios sitting. He smiles.
“I am glad you followed your instincts,” he says out loud. He is currently a brown arctic wolf with blue eyes.
Then I gaze at the final carving.
The final carving reads “a former enemy shall return, and be under the order of your greatest. Be aware, and listen carefully to the Forgotten so you may succeed.”
A former enemy? Could this be the Phantoms? Kurkah? Archie? Or anybody else? Heck, even Rocky is my enemy. This opens up alot of ideas.
“Zios, I know you probably won’t tell me the actual answer, but can I have a hint at who the former enemy is?” I beg.
Suddenly, the cave cave turns to blackness. Just blackness. And I hear two animals laughing, side by side.
I jolt awake. Everyone else is already up and about, ready to continue the quest to find the Forgotten Alpha.
Nova and Rocky are talking to each other. I ignore them, and go up to Rapicik. We now start heading towards the mountain in front of us, and once we get to the river, Padanda offers to help everybody go before her.
“Thanks, Padanda,” Rapicik and I say at the same time. The three of us go and gather logs around the river, and bring them back to the shore. The river looks to deep to wade through. Also, we only have three logs.
“Everyone, grab onto a log when you get into the river, and don’t let go of it until you get to the other side. Use your hind legs to push yourself to the other side,” Padanda orders. The oldest stay behind. Nova, Rocky and I all grab a log first. We all easily make it across to the other side, then push the logs back across the river. They hit the other side with a thud, and this time Rapicik, Dawn and Mincero get onto the logs. They push through the water, and eventually make it to the other side. They all weigh more than us because of their age, so it takes them slightly longer.
The final three, Keenen, Padanda and Sinsar, get onto their logs. They push themselves across the water. Once they all get to the other side, Rapicik and I begin marching forward again, leading the group of animals towards the mountain northeast of here.
“Rapicik, does the Forgotten Alpha live alone or no?” I ask as we continue making our way towards the mountain.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. I never saw him again after he left.”
We continue walking in silence and I stare at the mountain. The day is getting close to noon, and is almost halfway over. We might be getting close to where the Forgotten Alpha is now! I suddenly feel energy surging through my body, and I feel ready for whatever events are going to occur in the near future.
There are barely any trees now, but there is a ton of grass and flowers. We continue walking through the grassy area and we finally reach the mountainside. We travel along the mountainside, and then I spot Rocky laughing with Nova. I go over to Rocky.
“Rocky, get away from her. She doesn’t even like you,” I snarl, baring my sharp teeth.
“She never said anything like that?” Rocky defends himself, and gets up into my face. Luckily, nobody else is looking, so I pounce onto Rocky and pin him down. I try to bite his tail, but he wriggles out of my grip and slams me onto the ground. He claws my face, but then I scratch his belly and blood trickles down it. It gets onto me and he screeches. I bite his right paw and he backs off, but then out of nowhere we start to wrestle around. Nobody is getting the upper hand. Then, to my surprise, Nova is the one to separate the fight.
“Guys, if you don’t stop fighting, I won’t be either of your friends. Now stop acting like little babies and behave yourselves!” Nova speaks with just about as much authority as Dawn. I never knew Nova could be so stern.
We finally reach the top of the mountain. On top, there are hundreds of different animals staring at us all in shock. The lake gleams in the sunlight, and the sight up here is much more beautiful than I expected.
“Who are you?” a dark gray wolf slightly bigger than Nova comes out from the crowd of animals. He must be their leader.
Rapicik steps forward. “We are from Jamaa, on a journey to find Faber, the Forgotten Alpha.”
“Faber? He is the leader of Zone Two,” the dark gray wolf with nearly white eyes replies.
“What is this place, then?” Rapicik asks, stepping forward even closer to the wolf.
The dark gray wolf hesitates, then decides to respond. “Zone One. Animals live in peace in these areas, but are divided into two different zones. The humans are slowly destroying our land, so our peace is fading. On the other side of this mountain is a large city, and if you travel through it, Faber’s zone is on the other side.”
“Thank you,” says Rapicik.
Nova, Rocky and I push our way through the crowd of animals, and on the other side there’s a large cliff. Down below it are tons of buildings. But the humans live down there. They live in those buildings. How are we ever going to get past them?
Rapicik comes by my side. He says that we should spend the night here. I look up at the sky, and I can see that the sun is setting. I nod to him.
“What is your name?” I walk up to the dark gray wolf. He spins around quickly, and glares at me.
“I am Imin, the leader of Zone One.”
Imin continues staring at me, and I realize how much authority he has. Then he turns around and continues talking to the members of his zone. There’s a mix of many different animals here, and suddenly I feel a pang of homesickness. This is just like Jamaa.
Rapicik talks with Imin, and in the end of their conversation Imin nods. He must have allowed us to stay the night. Rapicik comes over to me, and tells me that there are dens in the bushes. I follow him to the bushes, and there’s a little opening next to one. We enter it, and inside, there are mini openings for every animal to stay in. These bushes are huge.
I cuddle up next to Nova. Rocky looks angry, but he finds a spot elsewhere. And then Padanda finds me, and gestures for me to come with her. I exit the den, following her.
“Cup, I need to tell you something,” Padanda says. We are chatting by the cliff, and no other animals are by us. The sun is just barely showing its final rays of light, and the darkness is consuming the light that makes daytime possible.
“What is it?” I ask.
“You know how I was once in love with the Forgotten Alpha, Faber? Well, I am nervous now. I’m scared about what he’ll do to me, or what he’ll say,” Padanda admits.
I can’t believe that a brave Panda, that has been through so many battles, that is so wise… would worry about anything. But why, of all animals, would she tell this to me?
“Don’t let that get to you. He’ll be your friend no matter what,” I guarantee to Padanda. She looks at me with a gleam of hope in her eyes.
“I just need to tell you, Cup, that I’ve never seen any Jamaasian like you. You truly are the one to save us all,” Padanda smiles largely. Before I can say anything, she dashes off to the dens.
I stare out into the city below. Weird, futuristic things are moving- are those what humans call cars? And all of the humans are bustling around, even at this hour. What will the city be like? I’ve never been in a human city. I guess I’ll just have to find out tomorrow. I head back to the den, and fall asleep in the same spot that I found earlier.
“One shall not survive The rest shall be fine. One shall not survive. The rest shall be fine. One shall not survive! The rest shall be fine!” a voice shrieks into my ear.
I open my eyes. I’m in a dark, dark forest. A beautiful blue heron is staring into my eyes. She repeats herself again. “One shall not survive. The rest shall be fine.”
Does this mean one of the members coming with me on this journey won’t survive?
Then a whisk of air comes my way, and an arctic wolf shows up in my dreams. It looks very familiar.
“Hello, Cup,” Archie says. He grins.
“Archie? How are you in my dream?” I ask him, raising an eyebrow. It’s just Archie and I, but everything else is plain whiteness. We’re the only two colorful things in this white void.
“I came to apologize. For everything I’ve ever done. I never got the chance to do that in the real world. I never thought you would become the one to save Jamaa. Cup, I was jealous of you,” Archie admits, looking down.
I stare at him with hesitation. Is he telling the truth?
“I was killed by the Phantoms. I can’t believe I liked Kurkah. He was evil, and if it wasn’t for him, nobody would’ve died that day,” Archie stares up now, growling.
“Nobody likes Kurkah. But Archie, I’m glad you finally understand. Thanks for visiting me,” I dip my head. The spirit of Archie smiles, then disappears.
Then, out of nowhere, a dark entity comes into the whiteness.
“You will be killed. I will kill you, if the one doesn’t himself. I will take over Jamaa!” the shadowy figure laughs hysterically.
That’s when I realize there are two other shadowy figures by the entity. Who are these two? They are much smaller. The shadowy figures then disappear. I find myself on a very, very frail bridge. We’re in a rocky land! But then, I feel terror surge through my body. Something terrible is about to happen.
“Wake up! Get up, Cup, we have to go!” I feel Nova breathing beside me. I race out of the den, side by side with Nova. Rocky looks at me with another icy stare. I ignore him this time, though. Rapicik tells Imin that we have to go, and he nods.
“Hey, Imin, if you want, you could always come back to Jamaa with us. There’s no humans there,” I offer before we leave. Imin just stares at me. But before we start scuffling down the almost vertical cliff, I look back and see that Imin has hope shining in his white eyes.
We go down the cliff, and it is very hard. I have to pierce my claws into the dirt sometimes to make sure that I don’t slide down the cliff. I’m leading the way with Rapicik, Nova and Padanda by my side. Once we get to the bottom, we’ll be in the human’s city.
And once we get down, fear pulses all through my veins. We are on a cement pathway. Cars are going down it. We have to hurry, otherwise, we’ll all be dead on here!
“Rapicik, run to the other side. Now!” I say out loud, while everyone else is confused with the human pathway.
We all bolt to the other side of the car path, and just after we make it to the other side, two cars bolt down the path in the same spot we were just in.
There are tall poles with lights on them. These must be lamplights! And then I look around, staring at the city. There are so many buildings here it’s unbelievable. How are we ever going to make it to the other side, where Faber controls his zone?
“Guys, I think I have an idea of how to get out of here,” Rapicik says as he spots five humans staring at us. One point, then they all start to run away. They’re staring at Dawn, the very large rhino that accompanies us. Then I realize that we are wild animals. If we don’t hurry, they might try to kill us!
“We have to get out of here. Now. What is your plan, Rapicik?” I ask.
“We need to find an animal that lives in this place. They might know how to get through the human city and to the other side without being caught by a human,” Rapicik explains.
And we’re in luck. A cat the size of Nova comes out from behind a trashcan, stuffing his face with food he found on the street.
“What are you doing on my territory?” asks the cat, acting tough. But then he looks closer at all of us, and starts to back away.
“Don’t go away. We need your help,” I hear Rocky, of all animals, step forward.
“Have you heard of Faber? The one who controls Zone Two?” Rocky asks the leader of the cats, who has tan fur and blue eyes.
“Yes. You can call me Kaine. None of the other cats have names, they are just my followers that want to survive,” says Kaine.
“If you want me to take you to Faber, can you tip over that trashcan for me? There’s alot in it, and it’s too heavy and big for me to do,” Kaine demands, staring at Dawn, the biggest of us. Dawn almost immediately goes over, and tips the trash can over. Kaine digs into the food, and once he’s done, he starts leading us northeast. Yes, we are going the right way. But then I spot many more humans staring at us, probably wondering what wild animals like us are doing in the city. Especially Dawn. And then a car comes down the cement pathway, and on the side of it says “animal control”.
“Kaine, run! We are being followed!” I scream. Then we all start to run. Kaine dodges the cars on the path. We are heading straight down it. Is Kaine idiotic or what?
Dawn steps forward, and his horn plows through all of the cars in front of us. I stare at him in amazement. The cars are sent flying through the air. Now there are humans in some kind of uniforms shooting bullets at us. We’re racing through the city, though, at top speed, and it’s hard the bullets to hit us. I can see human babies being frightened, and many of the humans are running away. All the cars have turned down a different cement path, and now it’s clear that we’re going to make it out of the city.
Kaine leads us down a very small cement path that is dark. The humans behind us don’t see us go in here, and they are now gone. There are large buildings surrounding us, so we must be safe here, where we are hidden for a little while. Kaine explains that we are taking a risk by coming through the city. But then I realize that the city isn’t as big as I thought it was. According to Kaine, we’re nearly out of it!
Kaine peeks out of the dark area we’re in, and nods for us to all come. Outside, the city is now deserted, probably because the humans are too scared to come out. Kaine still sprints down the cement pathway, however and we follow him as quick as possible. The buildings fly past us, and I know that I never want to see this place again. I hate going into cities.
“My thought must’ve been wrong. We are only halfway through the city,” Kaine blurts out. We take a rest for a moment on the deserted street.
Only halfway? How big is this place?
“Right there!” I hear a human shouting. They start pouring out from all of the corners, carrying nets and some kind of guns. They shoot one at me, but I dodge it.
“You guys follow, Kaine, I’ll hold them off!” Rapicik, Dawn and Padanda say together. Mincero joins them, but I don’t want to leave all four of them behind to fight off the human. I start to go to where they are, but Rocky stops me.
“If you’re going to save Jamaa, you have to be alive,” I see a little glint of humor in his eyes. He’s never been like this to me before.
Keenen, Sinsar, Nova, Rocky and I all follow Kaine northeast. I look over my shoulder to see that the humans are still having trouble fighting the four off. And when a human finally shoots a bullet into Rapicik, I stop dead in my tracks. I turn around, and race towards them. Kaine stops, shouting for me to come back, but I ignore him. Then Nova catches up with me, thinking the same thing I am. We can’t let the humans do this to Rapicik.
I pounce onto the human about to pick up Rapicik’s limp body, and knock him over. I bite down onto his hand hard, and blood starts to trickle down. He shrieks in pain and I let go. Nova knocks two of the guns away from the human’s hands and then Dawn shoves them away. The rest of the humans start to retreat. We are finally safe from them!
Padanda limps toward me, with her leg badly injured. Dawn looks tired, and he is breathing heavily. Mincero has scars all over his body now, and everyone has wounds from fighting off the humans. Those humans have so many weapons on them.
“Okay, we have to catch up again. If we stay here, they’ll all come back with more reinforcements,” says Dawn, who is carrying the limp body of Rapicik. He is still breathing, so it must’ve been a sleep bullet. Or whatever the humans call it.
Kaine once again leads the way, with all of us sprinting behind him. I spot more humans up ahead, but they don’t have any weapons. Most of them make weird noises then move out of our way. I guess not all of them are harmful.
The city finally ends after a long period of running, and Kaine tells us to keep going northeast for a little longer.
“Faber is tough when allowing animals to enter his Zone. Good luck,” Kaine says as we exit the city. Kaine stares at us until we’re out into the open. Then he disappears back into the city.
We’re now in a rocky landscape with jagged cliffs. It is getting dark and it is impossible to see here. Dawn is now leading the way, and Rapicik is finally waking up.
“I think we should rest here for the night,” I say out loud. It’s getting too dark to find our ways through the rocky land. We could fall off a cliff at any moment.
“I agree,” says Rocky. Since when does he agree with me?
We all settle down on one large, flat rock. It is dangerous out here, but soon we’ll meet the Forgotten Alpha. Tomorrow we won’t have to travel much farther. He could be here anywhere. But then I remember. One shall not survive. The rest shall be fine.
I awake with the sound of Rapicik talking to Dawn. Rapicik is finally fully awake after the bullet.
“Hey, Cup, we have to go now,” Rapicik says at the sight of me waking up. Padanda is already awake, and she smiles at me. Everyone else is ready too.
Nova is the first person that I talk to today.
“Hey, Nova, what do you think is going to happen once we meet the Forgotten Alpha? Will he agree to come back to Jamaa with us?” I wonder as we start making our way through the rocky landscape again.
“I believe that it might take alot of convincing,” Nova says
“I do too,” I reply.
We continue walking through the rocky land and then I find a very large mountain made completely out of rock.
“I have a feeling that The Forgotten Alpha’s zone is on the other side of that mountain,” I say to everyone. They agree. We can’t go around the mountain because its width is even more than its height.
We start climbing the rocky mountain with Rapicik now leading the way again.
“Hey, Rapicik, what kind of bullet did the humans shoto you with?” I ask him while we both lead the way.
“It was a tranquilizer bullet. It puts you to sleep,” explains Rapicik.
We continue walking up the sharp, rocky cliffs. I cut my paw on an edge of one and it starts bleeding. I lick it as we continue making our way up the mountainside. Rocky stares at me with disgust on his face. Now what is he mad about? I was actually beginning to think he liked me.
As if Dawn knows that Rocky and I were about to exchange blows, he steps in between us. I just continue walking up the mountainside, and then Nova dashes to me.
“Cup, I know that we are almost there. This journey has been amazing. We defied the odds. Ersel said someone would die, but nobody has!” Nova exclaims.
Padanda comes back to me, and starts talking.
“I am still nervous,” she whispers into my ear.
“Don’t be. Why wouldn’t he like you?” I tell her.
“I regret so many things I’ve done in my life. I used to do some bad things, and I know he’ll think I’m a bad animal. But I’m not. I’ve changed. And I’m ready to prove it. After all, with you by my side, could he really doubt me?” Padanda looks up into the blue sky. Why does she keep mentioning me? There’s nothing special about me.
We are about halfway up the side of the mountain. This one is taller than the last, but it is easier to travel up because it isn’t as steep.
“Rapicik, I feel like time flies by too fast. I feel like I just started the journey, and now it’s over. Everything happened so fast,” I tell him, but everyone else hears me.
“I feel the same way,” Padanda exclaims.
“In fact, this journey has brought us all so much closer together,” Dawn admits.
“Yes, it has,” says Sinsar, then Mincero nods. Keenen steps by my side now, and he whispers into my ear that he feels like this journey was the best part of his life.
Rocky doesn’t say anything. He just stares ahead, waiting to find the Forgotten Alpha Faber.
We continue walking up the mountainside, and then I see that Nova is once again talking to Rocky. Then Rocky looks at me with satisfaction in his eyes. He’s slowly getting Nova back onto his side again. No, I can’t let this happen!
I start to tell Rocky to get away from her. I can’t stand this lion anymore. I hope he’s the one that dies on this journey.
Then Rocky tries to pounce onto me, but Dawn catches him in the air.
“There will be no fighting, Rocky! How many times do I have to tell you?” Dawn snarls.
Nova looks the both of us, then closes her eyes. She falls to the back of the line that’s heading up the mountainside. I know she doesn’t feel very good right now. But if it wasn’t for Rocky, none of this would’ve happened.
Finally, we reach the top of the mountain. And on top, there is flat land with no plants or trees on it. Just rock. But in front of us, maybe in about twenty feet, there are two animals guarding a bridge. Under the bridge is an empty river, which is now just a bunch of jagged rocks way down there. The water must’ve evaporated. It is the place Ersel was talking about, but over time the water has evaporated. But is this the bridge from my dreams?
“Is this Zone Two?” Rapicik asks one of the guarding animals, which is a wolf. The wolf nods.
“We need to speak to Faber. We are from Jamaa,” rapicik exclaims. The wolf gets wide-eyed, and immediately lets us in after hearing the word Jamaa.
One shall not survive. The rest shall be fine.
Is this bridge going to collapse? I stare at the wooden planks that form it. It seems very old, and I’m very worried that it is going to fall. We could all plunge to our deaths and hit the jagged, sharp rocks below.
“Rapicik- I had a dream. Just be careful when crossing this bridge,” I say as we start walking over the wooden planks. He just nods.
Once again, one of us won’t live on this journey. But who will it be? When will they do? How will they die?
We all make it onto the bridge without it collapsing. I gulp as the planks creak. I step carefully across each one, following Rapicik, who is in front of me. We are about halfway across the bridge when there’s a loud cracking noise. One of the planks falls off of the bridge and snaps in half once it hits a sharp rock below. Keenen gulps, because he was just in front of the plank when it fell.
“Everyone, just be careful,” I warn.
We continue crossing the bridge in a crouching position, ready to sprint as fast as possible to the other side if the whole bridge collapses.
Rapicik is the first to make it to the other side. Then I make it. And everyone else does, too. We have survived the old, scary bridge!
To my horror, there is another, even older bridge ahead of us. On the other side is a boulder, and I assume that the Zone’s camp is behind it.
Now we have to cross the second bridge. Rapicik steps off of the small, stone rock that elevates high into the air, and starts walking across the second bridge step by step. I follow him. Behind me, Nova races to my side, and Rocky is just behind her. Dawn follows, and Padanda is the last.
Once we all get onto the bridge, I figure that it’ll be just like the last one. No problem. It just makes you scared.
But I am wrong.
Halfway through, the side opposite of Zone Two falls off the small rock that we came from. The other side clings on, but now the bridge is vertical. I’m hanging onto a plank with my teeth as we all dangle above the jagged rocks below.
Nova closes her eyes tightly. Rocky and I remain close to her, but Rocky lets out a snarl as I do the same he does.
“Hold on, everyone, I’m going to get to the top and pull the bridge up. Just stay where you are!” Rapicik orders. He bites down onto the plank, then moves up. His strong jaws help him, but none of us can go up as easily as Rapicik.
He gets to the top, and starts tugging on the bridge. It doesn’t budge.
“It’s too heavy!” I can hear Rapicik gasping.
Then I hear Padanda mumble something.
“Cup, you remind me of Faber. That’s why I’m so fond of him. He always doubted himself until he became the greatest soldier Jamaa has ever seen. He’ll pass on the torch to you. I will always be watching over you,” Padanda is now the only thing I can hear. Her voice echoes through my mind. No wonder she kept talking about me. But she is going to be watching over me… wait a second!
“Padanda, no!” I shout with Nova, as she realizes what I know. Then Padanda lets go of the bridge. It seems like time is frozen in this spot as Padanda stares me at me once more with her beautiful eyes. Then she plummets to her death and hits the horrible, deadly sharp rocks below.
“No!” I shriek at the top of my lungs. “No!”
I feel myself being lifted up on the bridge. With Padanda gone, Rapicik, has just enough strength to lift the rest of us up. The bridge is now at the top of the cliff, but Padanda is dead. I feel so bad. Tears roll down my cheeks.
Rapicik just stares down below. I don’t want to look. Rapicik closes his eyes and dips his head, along with everyone else except for me.
One shall not survive. The rest shall be fine.
Yes, that prophecy is now true. Padanda died for the rest of us. But we’re fine. Well, no, I am not fine. I feel horrible.
And then a large, wise-looking tiger walks out from behind the boulder.
“Who is there?” the tiger asks. It’s Faber, the Forgotten Alpha!
“Faber!” Rapicik shuts at the sight of him.
“Rapicik?” exclaims Faber. H looks very shocked. His dark, amber eyes are filled with sudden excitement and his tiger fur looks more loyal now.
Rapicik and Faber have a great reunion.
“Faber, we have so much to explain,” Rapicik admits.
“Tell me right now,” Faber demands. I listen to their conversation, trying not to think about Padanda’s death.
“Jamaa is in danger. Our greatest enemy is coming soon, and it won’t be the Phantoms. We need you to help us defeat them. So, we embarked on a journey to find you. We met so many different groups of tribes and animals. We came so far, and now we’re here. But the bridge collapsed and I couldn’t lift everyone up. Padanda risked her life for us to survive,” Rapicik explains with tons of respect in his wise voice.
“I always knew she wasn’t a bad animal. I just didn’t know when she’d change. I wish I could see her now,” I feel guilty now, thinking how Padanda will never see Faber again.
“But, I don’t believe that Jamaa is in danger. Not yet. I have my Zone to take care of. You’ll have to convince me alot more for me to return there,” Faber now talks sternly.
“No, Faber, you don’t understand. We need you right now!” Rapicik exclaims.
“You’re right, I don’t understand. And that’s why I’m not going yet. If you want to stay, you can, but you have to have alot of evidence for me to return,” Faber explains.
Faber then leads us all into Zone Two. It is much bigger than Zone One, which Imin controls. This zone has tons of caves that go deep into the mountain. Plants are growing from cracks on the flat, stone surface. The cracks have dirt in them. There is an even larger variety of animals here than in Zone One. It looks much healthier here, too. There is even a river on the far side of this zone, and no sign of humans around unless you count the city.
“We’ve been having trouble lately with a member of our Zone. He wants power, but I won’t let him have it,” Faber whispers to Rapicik. Rapicik nods, still thinking about returning home to Jamaa.
Then, on a higher cliff, I spot a shadowy figure. Then it comes out a little farter. It is a wolf that looks exactly like me. He glares at me with a look that’s hungry for power.
Is this the one who seeks power? The one that Faber is talking about?
I am lead to a den by Faber, and Nova ignores me all the way there. Rocky stares at me again, and I stare at him- into his soul. He’s evil, and I know it. In the bush dens, I spot the wolf that looks like me again. He has light brown fur and light blue eyes. He jumps down from the cliff and into a den. He settles by me.
Then he speaks. “Hello, Cup.”
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