17 The Meerkat Show ⑤ The labyrinth of pipes

Out of print. That was the words that best defined Arun's condition when he and his two crew members finally arrived at the next obstacle, which looked nothing like the first. They had to run a few kilometers...

And yet neither Kast nor Miraj seemed more in trouble than that, as if they ran marathons every day.

"It's not possible... How are you doing ?" Arun asked crouching for two minutes to catch his breath.

"Tell yourself, for example, that as a squirrel, I spend my days wandering for miles, climbing trees several feet high and jumping from branches to branches. That's why an animal will often be superior here." Kast explained with a big smile, reminding Arun how he was not athletic.

"Unless the animal in question is a koala or worse, a sloth. There you could have a chance, Arun." Miraj quipped gently, turning to the entrance of the next obstacle.

Unlike the first one, which was only a big hole, the second obstacle was more particular. The race track had gradually narrowed until it reached the entrance to a pipe that plunged beneath the ground.

That said, the vet was not necessarily unhappy to dive under the sand as the sun still high in the sky made the race even more difficult.

"It would be better for you to stay behind us for this obstacle, Arun. I don't know what's underneath but it would be silly to put you on the front line when you can't fight." Miraj was right on this point, but Kast drew closer to add a detail.

"No, you pass in front of me, and I go behind. If we get caught in the back, it's Arun who's going to get attacked. The best thing is that he stays between us." The red squirrel was not wrong either.

The vet sighed. The more time passed, the more he felt that he was a handicap to the two animals who were far more talented than him in all areas. Was it really good to qualify through them?

Arun put aside his thoughts and contented himself with entering the pipe following Miraj who was walking in front of him. Even she was taller than him by several inches, it was almost ridiculous as it was humiliating.

After just a few meters, the group was already at an intersection that separated the road into three more pipes. It was dark, and only a few bulbs arranged on the ceiling allowed to see. And no distinctive sign permitted to choose one path more than the other.

"Is it a labyrinth ?" Arun approached one of three possibilities before being pulled back by Miraj.

"Watch out !"

Several swords fell from the ceiling in a resounding clatter that echoed through the walls. The blades stuck to the ground like a knife in butter, showing their sharpness that would have reduced the veterinarian to pieces if he had not been saved by the Cape ground squirrel.

"We... Can we really die ? What is this competition?" The young man had fallen on his buttocks when his partner pulled him back, and was still in shock.

"Don't worry, we are in the world of pets. If we get killed, only our spirit disappears from this world." Kast said, helping Arun get up.

"You mean we can't really die while we're in this world?"

"Let's say that if you die in the world of pets, you can't come back here for a while, and it can be rather disabling, knowing that we have to go through this world to reach Magna Rosa."

"Magna Rosa ?" The doctor picked up the name he had already heard in the mouth of another animal. Astera had mentioned the holy land of the goddess when they were in the Bird Temple, but the vet had not had time to ask her more details about it.

"Ah..." Kast looked away with an embarrassed smile, rubbing his neck. "I said a little too much, sorry. I can't explain anything more about it to you, Arun."

"A human has nothing to do in the world of pets, so don't worry about Magna Rosa." Miraj spoke much colder than usual, walking past the vet to inspect the two remaining paths.

Although this story intrigued him, Arun said nothing more and just kept his questions to himself. It was not really the moment anyway... The first thing to do was to advance in this labyrinth avoiding to die there.

The woman was standing in front of the entrance to the second path, and was trying to trigger some mechanism like the one that had made the swords fall on Arun. She was ready to retreat quickly if such a system was triggered, but nothing came.

"It probably has to be that way. It's better to avoid looking for the traps. Maybe they won't all be as simple to avoid as this one." Miraj pointed out, pointing to the blades planted in the ground. Arun shivered at the pain he felt when he was impaled by Alden's spear, and was glad he could escape it this time.

The group then resumed its march in the narrow and dark pipes of the labyrinth, which became more and more sinister as they advanced. Compared to the outside, it was now much cooler, and the temperature kept falling, which no doubt indicated that they were sinking deeper and deeper into the earth.

"Hey Arun, you know it's not to bother you that I can't explain to you more about Magna Rosa..." Kast tried to break the heavy silence that had followed Miraj's instructions, after the woman has ended the discussion.

"I know, don't worry. I understand." Arun smiled at the red squirrel to reassure him, though deep inside he wanted to know more.

But he did not really have time to think about it any longer since a huge creak echoed through the pipe, announcing nothing good.

Miraj stopped short, watching, signaling to Arun and Kast not to make any noise. The sound escaped abruptly under their feet, and the pipe in which they were broke in two at once. If they had managed to jump over the hole of the first obstacle, it was not to fall into another !

The fall was long and Arun closed his eyes, fearing the moment when he would touch the ground. It was also the second time that it happened to him in the same day...

And the violence of the shock caused a great deal of pain in all the members of his body, but not death. The vet felt himself floating. He was in the water ?

Back quickly to the surface, trying to ignore that his whole body was sore, Arun looked around. A large surface of black water stretched as far as the eye could see, and he could no longer find any of his companions. Above him, a small luminous dot indicated the spot from which they had fallen.