Caine’s Lesson - Part 3
•••
Pomni had slowly started to recognise her surroundings. If she had to guess, she’d say she was around twenty minutes away from the Candy Kingdom!
“H-Huh, guess I’m not so useless out here after all!” She hummed, quietly to herself with the ghost of a smile on her face. Everything was going pretty well, considering the circumstances in her opinion!
But then of course, because we love dramatic irony, it wasn’t.
Pomni heard a low growl. She spun around quickly to find what looked to be a mix between a gummy and chocolate wolf. Several of them, as a matter of fact! One thing she knew for sure, is that they didn’t look healthy… And they definitely weren’t pleased to see her walking around out in the open. It kind of reminded her of how Kaufmo had looked when he abstracted-
Just, uh, a lot stickier-
So, it looks like she’d be running now.
She wasn’t sure how many where behind her, but their was no way in [——] she was slowing down to have a look. Those things would bite and it would 100% hurt.
Just keep going Pomni.
Just keep going.
You’ve got this.
Just keep going.
If you don’t… it’s back to the circus.
Luckily, she could see the Candy Kingdom on the horizon. The gates were wide open, so she had a clear shot! Hopefully, someone would let her inside to hide from these weird… wolf type things. Hopefully.
The Candy Kingdom was deathly quiet. The crowds of adoring citizens were long gone. The hustle and bustle gone. Something was wrong. She skidded to a stop, turning to face the pack of wolves. The creatures followed suit, back to growling at her.
“I- Uh… Go! Go on! Get out of here!” Yelled Pomni, doing her best to sound intimidating.
A shadow loomed over her, causing the creatures to start to cower and back away with scared whimpers and whines.
Pomni really didn’t want to look behind her, but she had a hunch about who was behind her.
“MORE CANDY?!” Exclaimed the fudge monster, lunging for the pack of creatures.
Pomni squeaked at such, taking the opportunity to run and hide. The kingdom was in disrepair. The parts of candy mannequins lay around everywhere.
“Jax, you [——————]!” Hissed Pomni, diving into the rubble of a nearby cottage. It was better than nothing.
Unfortunately, she inadvertently clipped through the floor in the process. Luckily, there was no creepy asset room. Only a boarded up basement.
She groaned, rubbing her face as she sat up.
•
“Caine?! Caine? Where are you? Don’t you think Pomni should come back now? Caine?” Yelled Ragatha, pacing the main floor of the circus.
“Ughhh… Dollface, what part of their being no answer you not understand?” Snapped Jax, rolling his eyes. “You can’t make Caine bring her back. Besides, don’t you think the quiet is nice~?”
“No I don’t Jax! Because our friend is [———] god knows where! On her own! When she’s only been here for two days!”
The group went quiet.
“Wow, haven’t heard that kinda language from you in a long time Rags.” Grinned Jax.
“Oh, I’m gonna kill you-“ Seethed Ragatha.
“AARGH!” Exclaimed Kinger, managing to shut up the pair.
“Thank you Kinger.” Sighed Zooble.
“Why? What did I do?” He hummed, looking to them curiously.
She groaned, rubbing her forehead at this.
“Right- Ragatha, you’re not helping anyone by yelling at the AI who does as he pleases. Jax, stop being a [————] [——]. Ragatha is allowed to worry.” Spoke Zooble.
“Oh I’m hurt Zooby~ How could you say such a thing!”
“Don’t act like a [——] if you don’t want me to call you such.”
“Y-Yeah! Jax! Don’t be so cruel to Ragatha, she’s just being n-nice!!” Nodded Gangle.
Zooble gave her an approving smile at this, nudging her with what she assumed was her elbow in a playful manor. Gangle reciprocated said smile.
“That was pathetic.” Mused Jax.
“Oh, I’ll show you pathetic-“
Things were going wonderfully in the circus.
•
Pomni had only taken a few steps into the basement, glancing around at the boarded up room. There wasn’t much down here, but it was safe.
“A-Are you the hero our god sent to us?” Spoke a shy, familiar voice.
Pomni turned around and came face to with Princess Lou.
Her dress and crown were noticeably missing. She wore only her corset and her undergarment pants, alongside some boots Pomni assumed she had had under her dress. She looked exhausted.
“I-I don’t understand how you’d have found me otherwise- So… You’ve got to be the one.” She whispered, softly. “He sent us knights… a few weeks back, to deal with some bandits… But he must’ve misplaced his trust in them… They… let that thing into my kingdom… And. Everything. Is. Ruined.”
Pomni felt awful. So…
“Yes, I’m here to help. But your god didn’t send me. I came on my own accord. Because I want to help.”
“O-Oh! That’s wonderful! I’m so glad, you can call me Lou. …That thing outside is the fudge monster… He used to be one of my citizens… but I was naive. I let a monster into my kingdom walls. I turned a blind eye, I’d hoped he’d change, that one day I’d wake up and he’d stop eating people. But he never did. We managed to get him to leave the kingdom… And we would’ve been fine… Until those stupid knights…”
She paused, taking a deep breath.
“Sorry. Chocolate is just… everything awful in this world, everyone knows that. I don’t understand why one of those knights would give the key to the gates to him…”
‘Probably cause said knight is a [———] idiot.’ Thought Pomni, to herself. She looked back to Lou.
“That sounds a-awful. I’m so sorry… Can I ask… what makes chocolate so bad?”
“Y-You don’t know the story?” Gasped Lou. “Alright, listen here. It’s a long story but I’ll be quick.”
“A long time ago, in the beginning of everything our beloved god created Candy and it was perfect. However, with the creation of Candy, came Chocolate.
And it was everything Candy wasn’t. Hard. Bitter. Unforgiving. Violent.
My great great great grandfather, King Chews The Third spoke to god, on one lucky day. He asked for guidance, help. As a king he wanted to protect his kingdom, but as a Candy it was practically impossible to face the wrath of chocolate.
So they struck a deal, God would send us savours in our times of need and in return we would build our society surrounding him. We’d praise his name and devote everything to him. As centuries went by, with the help from our saviours who’d appear and disappear as time went on, we’d have a kingdom. A safe place. For all of the good Candy kind to thrive in.” She sighed, wistfully. “And then that brings us to now. Everything is ruined, because of some stupid, stupid knights. I should’ve never trusted them..”
Pomni hesitantly put a hand on Lou’s shoulder, standing on her tippy toes to do so.
“I’m so sorry Lou… I-I don’t blame you for trusting them! They’d been trustworthy all those centuries before! Why wouldn’t they be now? I-I’ll get you out of here.. Promise! T-Then we can start a new kingdom! One that’s self sufficient and isn’t reliant on any silly old god!”
Lou was quiet at this but nodded.
“He… has helped a lot… But.. his saviours tend to cause as many problems as they solve… So, I think I’d like to try something new! What’s your name, saviour?”
“Oh- Yeah! It’s Pomni… That’s the name the god gave me….”
“Huh. Well, Pomni is a lovely name, but if we’re pulling away from God… How about I give you a nickname?”
“O-Oh. I didn’t think about that- Only if you want too- I-I don’t mind going by Pomni-“
“How about Poms! Think about it: Poms, Saviour of Candy Kind!”
Pomni did her best not to snicker at this. Poms was a little silly but she liked it nonetheless.
“Sure, Poms it is Lou.”
Part 4
