The cold air bit into Huo’s hands as they trudged the two miles to the carnival. The wind was blowing much quickly now, and the snowfall was heavy. Huo was hoping that their master got caught up in the storm, but as they looked around, the visibility was rapidly decreasing to zero. The road in front of them was covered by snow. There was nothing around but howling wind and the rapid descent of powdered snow. Pressing their hands into their sides for warmth, Huo continued forward. When they arrived, the gates were closed and locked tight. There was nobody to be seen. However, this did not deter the young mage. They rubbed their hands together and unleashed a stream of fire into the lock. The gate sparked briefly, then fell on the ground, burnt and black. Huo steeled a breath and pushed open the gates. They opened with a loud screech, and Huo stepped inside. Once inside, Huo began to look around for Fashi. The carousel was buried under thick snow, with only some carousel horse heads visible. To make out anything that Huo had seen before was nearly impossible.
The shop doors were iced over, and the popcorn machine was frozen. Huo did a brief spell to warm their hands and headed to where they believed their master could be. As they did, however, they spotted the fortune-teller machine. Huo felt a chill up their arms as they did so. The fortune teller’s grin was larger than before. With visibility at almost zero, Huo had no choice but to enter one of the many large circus tents on the other side of the carnival.
Most of them were not accessible. But at the last tent, it was open. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary when walking in. The lights were dimly lit, but the mage could make out circus tent walls, an unfinished stage set up, and sets of different doors. Huo thought to themselves as they walked towards the hall of doors. Guess these are the stage doors? Taking a deep breath, Huo tried to open one of the doors. It was locked. The other doors were locked too. Sighing, they decided to find a place to wait out the storm so they could look further until they tripped over something. Picking it up, it looked like a mirror. Shaking their head, they put it back up and sat in one of the corners to wait out the storm.
The soft wind and the pattering snow slowly began to lull Huo into sleep as they waited. They hoped that Fashi was already home and was coming back here to get them. The lingering thoughts faded off as the young mage drifted into sleep.
They woke with a start. The wind had not decreased outside. Confused, Huo tried to recall why they were there. I should be at home right now with Fashi. How did I end up here? But the circus is locked- Wait, that’s why I’m here. I left the house hours ago because Fashi wasn’t home when he was supposed to be there.
Huo stood up immediately and steadied themselves on their feet. They stumbled about until they passed in front of the mirror again. Shrugging, they continued forward until they heard something. It sounded like footsteps. Huo stopped for a moment to listen for it. But the footsteps weren’t coming from outside. Where? Huo looked around in confusion until they heard it again. Their eyes widened. The footsteps were coming from inside the mirror. Huo shook their head in disbelief. There’s no way. They looked closer at the mirror. A faint glow came from it, almost ethereal. Huo reached out their hand to touch it and felt jelly instead of glass. They immediately retracted their hand. The mirror went still again. Well, if this is the only way, this is the only way. Looking around and taking a deep breath, Huo pushed the rest of their body into the mirror. There was a flash of light. Huo fell through the other side.
The light from their eyes was too bright at first as they tried to gain clarity. When it did, Huo looked around in complete confusion. The world was…different. The sky was a pale green color with a whirlpool surrounding it. Flashes of lightning lit up every few seconds. Slowly, they began walking around, confusion and fear taking hold, for they were not alone. Hooded figures walked with chained children and someone with a hood over their head to a big tent. The children were shoved inside. But the person with the hood over their head was taken away. Huo immediately ran to the children after the men were gone.
“What’s going on? What is this place?” they asked. The children were almost too frightened to answer. But one of them did.
“The men took us away to this bad place, very bad. They took that man away, too.”
“What man?” Huo asked.
“The man with a blue pointy hat.”
Huo inhaled a breath of air. No, that can’t be him, he-he’s too smart to have ended up here.
“Did they say where they were taking him?”
“No, but they want to hurt us,” one of the children said. “We just want to go back home.”
Huo attempted to take a deep breath, but the shock of the situation made it difficult.
“I’ll find a way to free you, I promise,” they said.
Huo walked directly towards the carnival and stopped. Nothing looked…right. The entrance was covered in spiky creepers, with the sign warped. The carousel horses were nearly skeletal, with a bit of flesh hanging off them, the structure of the carousel itself a bone cage. The popcorn machine was nowhere to be seen. Every shop that had once been filled with delicious candies and other delights had been replaced with empty shelves and uprooted by thorny roots that seemed to move every time Huo looked at them. On the other side, there was something Huo hadn’t seen before. It was a giant Ferris Wheel. It would be fun if not for Fashi getting himself into trouble, Huo thought. As they walked towards the carousel again, they caught sight of the fortune-teller machine. There’s that machine again. It looked the same as it was in the real world.
Except for one thing. The fortune teller was smiling much too widely. Huo saw its smile widen as they looked at it.
Huo felt a chill and slowly walked away before hearing something fall. After a moment, they turned around and picked it up. It was a fortune paper.
Your master and the missing children have been taken here for the sacrifice. Save your own life. Or you’ll be next.
Screw that, Huo thought, tossing the paper down. That’s what I came here for.
The young mage deduced that they probably didn’t have a lot of time and quickly began trying to formulate a plan in their head.
First, take the kids back to the main world, and then go rescue my master. But I don’t know what time I have, or even where he is. Then they ran back to the tent, hoping there was still time.
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