After the fall, the moment they regained their senses, panic crashed over both of them almost instantly.
Their situation was awful.
“RAGATHAAAAA!! JAAAAAAAX—”
Pomni screamed herself hoarse trying to reach the others above them before breaking into violent coughing fits.
“There’s no way we’re climbing back up, Pomni.”
Kinger absentmindedly brushed shards of broken plastic geometric figures off his cloak, his voice unsteady. The upper half of their improvised landing cushion had completely collapsed during the fall, turning into a massive avalanche of junk.
Far above them, through the distant opening overhead, Ragatha’s panicked voice could barely be heard.
But the words themselves were impossible to make out.
Pomni immediately started panicking even harder while Kinger stared upward in shock.
“Did he reach them…?”
—●—●—●—●—●—
Zooble was the first one to grow nervous.
Something felt wrong.
Then it became obvious.
The growing low-frequency hum made everyone immediately stop searching through supplies. Gangle dropped everything she was holding and covered her mouth with both hands. Jax began frantically scanning the ceiling, searching for any sign of Abel’s presence, while Ragatha struggled to steady her breathing.
Something was happening to the Circus.
It felt like the structure itself was changing somehow.
The humming slowly began to fade away—
…but Abel never appeared. What the hell was that?
“A-and where is he…?” Ragatha finally broke the silence.
“Fuck, I’d prefer if he didn’t show up at all — where the hell are Pomni and Kinger?!!” Zooble snapped, leaning out from around the corner while searching desperately for the missing pair.
“W-what? Where?!” Jax immediately grew tense and rushed over to them.
They really were gone.
Did Abel take them…?
Or—
The rabbit bolted toward the pit, desperately hoping the horrible thought forming in his head wasn’t true. Ragatha sprinted after him.
Then both of them heard their names echoing faintly from below.
…Oh, fuck.
Jax reached the edge first.
At a glance, the abyss looked wider than before.
So they definitely fell.
Carefully stepping toward one of the less corrupted edges, he looked down and spotted the two unfortunate victims far below.
“Well… guess we don’t have to argue over who’s climbing down there now.”
Before he could continue, Ragatha’s voice cut through the air behind him.
“Y-you guys are down there?!!” She rushed to the edge and stared downward in horror. “H-how did you even fall?! Did the hole get bigger?!” The red-haired girl was fully panicking now.
“Ooooh, Captain Obvious finally showed up,” Jax shot back immediately, pointing at her painfully obvious conclusion.
“SHUT UP!”
Ragatha suddenly snapped at him so harshly that even Jax froze in surprise.
“Heeeeeeeey!!!”
Gangle’s voice rang out from behind as she hurried over to them.
“A-are they really down there?” Her voice sounded just as tearful and frightened as before.
At this point, maybe they should focus on actually solving the problem.
Luckily, the solution was already running toward them.
Zooble rushed over carrying an armful of ropes along with a pile of other random supplies grabbed in a hurry.
“We’re way too low down here. Are you sure the rope’s even gonna reach?” Kinger’s voice echoed upward from the abyss.
“W-we have to try,” Zooble answered immediately.
They gestured toward the ropes in their hands, and seconds later everyone dropped onto the checkered floor, hurriedly untying old knots and tying new ones together.
“B-by the way… where the hell did you even get this much rope? It’s not exactly something you just casually find lying around the circus…” Jax asked, genuinely confused. And honestly, he had a point — getting that much material should’ve been nearly impossible.
Gangle and Zooble exchanged glances. Then Zooble quietly continued,
“W-well… remember when Kinger snapped back to normal in the café? He said we could create objects the same way Caine could. So… I remembered that and started trying to make useful stuff. I kept it hidden so Abel wouldn’t notice. If he caught me doing that, I’d probably end up with something worse than an endless game of mix-and-match.”
They shut their eyes and let out a heavy sigh at the mention of the last “adventure.”
Gangle picked up where they left off.
“I noticed Zooble doing it, so I started too. I-I’m honestly surprised none of you questioned why I always somehow had my sketchbook and pencils with me…”
Now that she mentioned it…
Nobody really had questioned it.
Ragatha suddenly paused mid-motion while listening.
How had she forgotten about that?
“O-oh… I think I just got so used to surviving without those abilities that I completely forgot…” She awkwardly scratched the side of her head—
“RAGATHAAAAAAAAAAA-!!”
Pomni’s scream from below instantly reminded everyone about the victims currently trapped in the abyss.
“W-we’re here!! Hold on!!”
—●—●—●—●—●—
With the last of his strength, Kinger managed to lift Pomni upward—
—but immediately lost his grip and dropped her back down with a loud crash.
“S-sorry…” he muttered, kneeling beside her.
He had to admit, though…
His ability really was pretty useful.
His hands were essentially floating gloved palms, completely detached and unrestricted. He used to be able to launch them surprisingly far and lift objects much heavier than they looked.
Well.
That was before.
After Abel’s modifications, that unnatural strength had mostly disappeared.
And Pomni suddenly felt way heavier than she looked.
The jester sat down on something soft before looking upward toward Ragatha, who was now clutching her head in full panic.
“D-damn it! They’re too short!!”
Her voice sounded exhausted.
The rope simply dangled helplessly in the empty air, swaying slightly nearly seven meters above the trapped pair below.
It wasn’t even close to long enough.
“Whoa, whoa… that’s way too much swearing from you lately,” Jax pointed out.
Surprisingly, there wasn’t even any mockery in his tone this time.
He actually understood why she was losing it.
Ragatha narrowed her eyes at him in response.
“…Wish I’d thought to make more ropes,” Zooble muttered, immediately blaming themself.
Gangle quietly grabbed their hand, giving them a pleading look.
The path upward was officially cut off now.
Kinger looked around thoughtfully, considering whether they could retreat farther down and gather more junk to stack beneath the rope.
…Though honestly, it probably wouldn’t help much.
The mountain of debris hadn’t disappeared after the abyss expanded, and now the edge itself sat frustratingly far above them.
Jax glanced down at Pomni, who sat silently with her head lowered.
"Of course she had to end up stuck with Chessboard Alzheimer’s over here…"
With a tired sigh, he suggested the others search the circus for anything useful, hoping the two idiots below wouldn’t disappear somewhere while they were gone.
“I’m assuming you guys have at least some survival instincts left,” he called down into the pit. “So maybe don’t go exploring the creepy abyss without us just because you spot something interesting down there. Though honestly, you’ll probably just get eaten by some underground monster.”
After delivering his warning directly into the hole, he walked off with the others while the girls immediately started grumbling at him again.
------
“Uhhh… Gangle? Wasn’t there a hole here before?”
Zooble pointed toward the spot where another opening into the Void used to be.
“W-wait… yeah, there was,” Gangle answered, walking closer while staring at the area in confusion.
“Maybe Abel patched the circus back together? Did you feel that too during the humming?” Zooble asked quietly, hoping they weren’t the only one who noticed it.
“W-well… it’s not like he actually cares about us,” Gangle murmured thoughtfully. “So why would he bother fixing the circus? Doesn’t he just want to exploit us?”
She paused for a moment.
“…Though I hope he’s trying to restore the world after all this apocalypse-level chaos.”
—●—●—●—●—●—
Pomni and Kinger sat together in silence.
The girl had pulled her knees tightly against herself, arms wrapped around them in her usual defensive posture. The figure beside her simply rested his hands on his knees, occasionally glancing toward the girl to his right… then back upward toward the distant opening above them.
“I-I think they’ll figure something out,” the older man tried reassuring her.
Pomni stayed silent.
With a quiet sigh, Kinger continued waiting for some kind of miracle.
Then—
a rustling sound echoed nearby.
It was accompanied by a strange squeaking noise. Not animal-like… mechanical. Like a broken toy desperately trying to imitate a scream.
Pomni flinched instantly, whipping her head around while trying to locate the sound. Kinger carefully scanned the darkness around them.
Something was moving below.
Shuffling.
Scraping.
Climbing upward toward them.
A small green square-shaped creature struggled its way higher along the debris. Slightly farther left, another shape moved. Then Pomni noticed a third one even farther below.
“Th-those are… Gloinks…”
Recognition suddenly hit her.
She remembered those little troublemakers from shortly after she first arrived here.
“WHO?” Kinger immediately stared at the approaching creature while it stared right back at him.
“O-oh, they were part of one of Caine’s inside-the-cast adventures when I first got here,” she explained quickly before adding, “Remember when you, Jax, and Gangle saved Zooble from getting eaten by their Queen?”
Kinger grabbed his head slightly.
“I-I kinda remember the cave…” he muttered thoughtfully while the creature finally reached them.
The little thing curiously looked the two of them over.
Pomni immediately tensed.
After finishing its inspection, the tiny creature casually waddled past Kinger, grabbed one of the cushions nearby, and immediately began dragging it back downward while both humans watched in confusion.
Suddenly, Kinger frowned.
“W-wait… you said their Queen tried to eat them?”
He turned toward Pomni with visible concern.
The girl immediately caught the panic in his voice.
“W-well, yeah, butttt… shouldn’t they still be in their cave?”
…The answer came much faster than either of them wanted.
The Gloinks surrounding them suddenly began squealing excitedly.
Every single one of them turned toward the darkness below the mountain at the exact same time.
Then, from somewhere deep beneath them, came a horrible scraping noise — like an enormous leather sack stuffed with boulders being dragged across jagged stone. The unstable mountain beneath Pomni and Kinger trembled violently.
A deep, guttural rumble echoed upward.
And from the shadows below, the Gloink Queen began climbing toward them.
Massive body segments crashed against everything in her path with deafening force.
She was far too enormous and unwieldy for the fragile slope.
A loud crack split through the air.
The Queen accidentally threw her full weight against the base of the debris pile, and the supporting structures instantly gave out beneath her.
Pomni didn’t even have time to scream before the avalanche swallowed her whole.
Kinger went tumbling after her, wildly flailing his arms.
Coughing heavily while dusting off her jester hat, Pomni weakly pushed herself upright onto her elbows just in time to hear the gigantic creature begin lamenting her suffering.
“Ohhh, just LOOK at this catastrophe! This barbaric disrespect toward a superior lifeform!” the Queen wailed dramatically. “My flawless, magnificent body has been condemned to rot in this filthy, God-forsaken pit because of that blue, round… CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT!!!”
Her bruised body, covered in dust and scratches, trembled violently with emotion.
A wheezing sob escaped from her mouth.
“My poor, delicate, innocent babies… my perfect offspring! Wiped out! Destroyed! Crushed beneath that pathetic creature above us!” she cried. “My sacred bloodline is on the brink of extinction! Can your tiny primitive minds even BEGIN to comprehend this agony?! No! No species in this miserable universe could EVER compare to the greatness of the Gloinks!!!”
Still sprawled across the rubble, Pomni and Kinger stared in horrified silence at the emotional breakdown of a fully sentient AI, desperately hoping this encounter would somehow end well.
“DO YOU UNDERSTAND MY PAIN?!!!”
Suddenly, the Queen’s tear-filled eyes snapped directly toward them.
Pomni practically launched herself upright.
“Y-YES!! THAT’S HORRIBLE! THAT BLUE, AWFUL, C-COMPLETELY HEARTLESS, UHHHH… CONCENTRATED MASS OF CRUELTY HAS CAUSED US A LOT OF SUFFERING TOO!”
She forced a painfully nervous smile, desperately trying to flatter the wildly unstable creature standing before them while simultaneously validating every ounce of her misery.
“I-I must restore the population as quickly as possible…”
The Queen’s gaze slowly shifted toward the shrinking Pomni first…
…and then toward Kinger.
Her massive body leaned closer, looming over them both.
There was something terrifyingly cold and calculating beneath the fanatic desperation in her voice.
“But the will of the Queen cannot be broken. The Gloink bloodline will survive. No matter the cost,” she narrowed her eyes. “My body requires resources. And since you so graciously fell directly into my claws… you shall serve a greater purpose. Consider it the highest honor imaginable — becoming part of the rebirth of my glorious population!”
Pomni heard the Queen’s dramatic speech, but the words barely reached her, as if muffled beneath deep water.
Her gaze turned glassy.
Instead of the abyss around her, dull gray-and-white static began swimming across her vision.
Kinger snapped out of the shock first.
Grabbing Pomni by the arm, he immediately ran, practically dragging her along with him.
Panic ignited like gasoline.
Pomni suddenly bolted forward so violently that her legs blurred into a spinning wheel for a split second like an old cartoon character. Kinger stumbled after her as the two sprinted away from the squealing swarm of little Gloinks just as their Queen ordered them to capture the pair.
~~~~~~~
Their lungs burned.
Running blindly through the endless abyss drained every last bit of strength from them frighteningly fast. Panic had evolved into something worse now — a suffocating adrenaline crash crushing down onto their bodies.
Their legs felt unbearably heavy.
Pomni’s jester hat kept slipping over her eyes, making it harder and harder to see where she was going.
Beside her, Kinger could barely keep pace, breathing in rough, ragged gasps. His enormous eyes darted frantically in every direction, searching for even the tiniest crack, opening, or pile of debris that could serve as cover.
Both of them were reaching their limit.
Meanwhile, the Gloink Queen had no intention of staying behind.
Deeply offended that her future “building materials” dared to escape, she personally launched herself into pursuit. Her enormous body dragged itself across the ground with thunderous crashes while her children either chased after her or rode atop her massive body like passengers on a horrifying living bus.
Stumbling repeatedly while grabbing onto Kinger to keep him from falling behind, Pomni desperately searched ahead for anything — a wall, a pipe, a ledge, somewhere that massive creature physically couldn’t reach them.
The checkered floor stretched endlessly like a twisted circus stage.
Gigantic columns towered overhead. Massive stone blocks formed uneven hills and piles that could potentially work as hiding places.
“POMNI, LEFT AHEAD!!!”
Kinger pointed toward a direction where metallic clanging, rattling, and cracking noises echoed through the darkness.
The girl’s eyes widened in terror.
“N-NO, NO, NO, SOMEONE’S THERE—”
Tears immediately welled in her eyes.
This was such a stupid, horrible risk.
“PLEASE, TRUST ME.”
The old man looked at her almost desperately.
Pomni squeezed her eyes shut against the tears
…and turned left.
------
He has no idea how much time has passed. Time never used to matter, because he always had something to keep him busy.
Inspecting the world he built with his own hands, patching up technical glitches, maintaining order, watching over the people, eager to please them, and, of course, creating incredible adventures!!!
He could work for days on end on one thing while simultaneously dreaming up concepts for another. He could do anything; he had so many ideas, so many projects he just *had* to show people. Surely, they would have loved at least one of them!!
With a heavy sigh, he tries to slip his second pair of hands under his aching head, just to lie there and dwell on the past.
His upper arms are already aching from the shoulders, so he carefully lifts himself and slips the lower pair underneath. Is it better? Perhaps. He has to stretch his lower arms forward, which makes his "muscles" ache, but hey, at least his shoulders aren't hurting anymore.
With a soft groan, he settles back down. He’s been doing this for hours; there isn’t much else to do when you are blind, mute, and locked in chains and a muzzle.
How he longs to talk, to scream. Now, all he can do is coo and hum—it’s pathetic... maybe someone will hear him? He used to be such a chatterbox, always interrupting people and never truly listening to them. And now—he can't speak at all, and people probably don't even want to hear from him, let alone know about him.
The loneliness is driving him mad; it is the most agonizing torture. He barely endured it the first time, back when they locked him in a digital box to work on another AI. Now, his patience is running out. He just wants to whimper. In the past, if people weren't thrilled with his company, he could always spend time with his assistant, Bubble. Who would have thought... who could have known that he wasn't really a friend...
Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts.
The deafening silence is shattered by a distant crash. He has heard it before; from time to time, something would thud and fall, but now it's happening again.
Piqued by curiosity, he lifts his head toward the sound. There seems to be a noise in the distance... a voice. This fires the giant up even more!
A minute later, the crash echoes again, and then again. Something is happening out there!!!
"I just hope it isn't Abel," he grows anxious.
"He can destroy anyone. Please, hold on." He would be thrilled to see even a lifeless mannequin right now; he desperately needs "someone". It feels like years of isolation are screaming out for even the slightest bit of contact.
The crashing grows closer, accompanied by the roars of something massive. This isn't good. He rises to his knees, his chains clanking loudly, grating on his nerves.
He waits.
—●-●-●-●-●—
← Previous and Next→ Masterlist
The chapter turned out to be sooo long, 3 hours of work, and I’ll even have time to get some sleep (no)!!!
Yeah, I didn't have time to write everything I wanted, I'm tired. But there will be more intrigue in the next chapter, wait for it!
The Amazing Digital Circus backupau! Fanart for @/katzebruh im legit so obsessed with this au that i dreamed about it and I subscribed to their patreon...I need more.. im so normal about it
