The obelisk was terrifying. If not for the desert waiting for her at the end, she would have tried to turn around. But she didn’t. She fortified her heart, took a deep breath and forged on into the grey.Their childhood best friend.
A song that is sweet and sad and terrifying all at once.
A sand structure with ornate designs along its every surface
She’d been warned that she would see strange things and that she must not stray from the path. Watch Me had spoken of his travels as if it was a lark, just a little fun jaunt. Prize had said he was too stupid to be afraid but she thought perhaps that his bravado was what gave him the strength to make it through.
So she walked steadily through the shifting expanse, holding back the urge to run, with her head up and her eyes straight. She tried not to look at the forms that merged from the gloom, tempting her to stray. Not until something pink and familiar caught at the corner of her gaze and instinctively turned to see her.
Red-stained Blossom pranced beside her, bearing a familiar smile. But this was a younger version, from before her ascension, before she’d changed into someone intrinsically linked to the swamp. Like a distant star that Sing You Home could only glimpse every so often.
“Rouge,” she murmured fondly.
But this wasn’t her Rouge because no dogs trailed at her heels and there was something wrong in the tilt of her head and the look in her eyes, and so when her friend asked her to follow her into the gloom, Sing You Home refused.
She regrettably left her behind, hardening her heart.
The path wound strangely, turning in on itself, winding up and around, over hills and then through a shadowy canyon, the walls made of sand. As she passed by she realized the walls were covered in ornate designs, intricate markings, scenes from the desert, from her life, from... the path diverged. A false path led away, following the wall and the promise of images of her future.
A terrifying prospect, especially with how curiosity gnawed at her belly.
She missed Cuddles.
If her dear puppy had been there, surely this would have been easier.
It was the thought of her pet that kept her going, away from temptation. If she didn’t return home, her poor Cuddles would be so sad.
The song was nearly their undoing.
It was her voice but the song wasn’t one of her own. It was changed, unknowable. It chilled her to the core and yet something about it called to her as well. In the song, all her hopes were answered, all her wishes given. She wasn’t alone, she wasn’t afraid, she wasn’t homesick. But there was a darkness there too, a deep, horrible undertone that scared Sing You Home to her core.
She ran.
Head down, following the path, letting it wind her, around, and around, keeping a picture of the desert in her mind. Until finally the obelisk set her free. Perhaps it grew bored of her, he refused to be tempted, and she emerged to the harsh bright light of the desert, blinking confused, the smell so immediately nostalgic that she instantly burst into tears.