Carousels. Tents lined with countless mirrors. Archery galleries where a person was made to hold a target for the shooter. Dart throwing games where one needed to pop an inflated balloon; which was actually a disfigured lung disguised in gold.

There were even fishing games where one could successfully fish an organ from a murky pool of black and red liquid. The prizes won were usually food and organs. Stella knew where the sweet fruits were stored. Her occupation within this section of the Triple Paw Complex was essentially a guide.

The meaning of Star was very similar to the ones belonging to the Nexus.

Stella elaborated as they wove through a busy intersection, with Res and Ber glued closely to Frost. Both remained silent to the best of their abilities to blend in, whilst Frost had her eyes sealed. Even with her eyes closed she could easily make out her surroundings thanks to her Eyes of Judgement.

The number of observing eyes drastically dropped as a result.

“A Star is someone who guides people. A part of the city skies and the city nights. When sleep soundly knowing that we have a Star to protect us from the monsters.” Stella spoke.

The cities were huge according to her. A Star was essentially a person who oversaw a city and encompassed a great, big heart. If one listened closely within such a city, then they’d be able to hear its thumps reverberate beneath their feet.

The Monkey Paw Complex was considerably smaller in scale according to her and was like a prison in a way. She said this quietly to avoid being heard by the sea of observant ears around them.

“We must be happy. B-Because we were unhappy with the cities we came from. The closest is the City of Vocals. My h-home. Um. I used to be an instrument. But they didn’t like my voice anymore.” Stella added as they descended a flight of stairs and entered a dimly lit underpass.

The only source of light came from the vibrant orb above. It barely managed to peak into this gloomy place, where they found many blind children huddled here. They slept in groups for warmth and had a small pile of what appeared to be fresh, red apples.

She carefully approached one of these ill-protected piles and clasped one, quickly analyzing it.

It’s normal. With all the talk about a forbidden apple, I was half expecting to find something sinister.

“P-Please… please don’t steal…” A young boy timidly pleaded.

“I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intention. Here.” She returned it to the pile after cleaning the apple with [Cleanse].

The young boy didn’t understand a word she said, but he understood her intentions after their food was left alone. Upon checking his status, she found out that he was an emasculated Demi-Human. His ears were missing entirely. His fluffy tail suggested that he must’ve been part dog from what she could tell.

“Stella. Are we close?” Frost asked as the girl stood still, recognizing the subtle, echoing voices around them.

“W-were here… this is where the food is. U-um… T-take… take what you want.” The girl stated, causing Frost, Res and Ber to stare at her like she was insane.

“You want me to steal from them?” Frost questioned her intent, feeling the girl hold onto her palms as she clarified meekly. “This isn’t the food cache.”

“No… it’s ours. But… if it means that you won’t hurt anyone then –”

“Our goal isn’t to hurt you. It’s to help. We are not going to take your food away from you.” Frost assured, shocked that the girl even offered them this in the first place. “… and I think your heart is slightly in the wrong place. If you all share the food here, then what happens to everyone else? They’ll starve.”

“I’m sorry.” Stella apologized, trembling in her grasp. “I’m sorry… I-It’s no wonder they sent me here… I-I’m a bad… bad instrument.”

It was difficult to pin any form of blame onto her. Her voice resonated within this underpass that housed many children, whom of which knew her name. They seemed to be a tight knit group, and they were the ones who Stella referred to when she spoke about other aspiring Stars.

There were no spying Impuritas in sight. And so, Frost took the girl aside and sat her down at a crumbling half-wall. They made a brief effort to calm her down as Ber and Res idly watched with scrutiny.

Stella revealed that by instrument, she meant that in a literal sense. They were made to sing, scream, and shout as part of a perpetual symphony played by Leitmotif in the nearby City of Vocals.

It turned out that the carnival music they heard came from that place, which resided somewhere after the Triple Paw Complex. The more Stella spoke, the more Frost understood the very nature of this place. At the same time the children slowly crept towards her, moving in to comfort their fellow friend in the face of who they thought was a bad person.

Every single one of these people was unhappy with their lives as living instruments. Since they refused their role, they were sent into the Triple Paw Complex to be ‘happy’. The meaning of ‘organized’ suddenly had a second meaning now. It was not merely a play on words for a monster that stole a person’s organs for their own.

It was a correction. A reorganization of a person. A literal transformation.

The Blood Festival were trying to convert them into one of them, rather than outright stealing their organs. The only organs that they seemed to steal were their eyes, tongues, and ears. To keep them ignorant of their cruel reality.

“It… was never like this.” The eldest of the children then spoke up, feeling obligated to speak. “15 years ago… we hated the gold-wearing animal jesters. But suddenly, we were talking. We were walking the same streets…”

This girl’s name in particular was Aster, and she was glued to Stella like a protective sister. She was easily older than 15. Hardly a child, but she may as well be in Frost’s eyes. She was also blind, but unlike Stella, it was not a condition from birth from what she could tell.

Frost refused to heal them. Not until this was over. Healing them now risked jeopardizing their life. So long as they had one of their 3 senses deprived, then they’d be left alone by the Blood Festival.

Hearing them speak was saddening enough and it added fuel to the flames in her heart. Stella was useful for the most part now that they had some insight regarding this… tragedy.

They could no longer take her along. Not in her current state.

“Thank you, Stella. Thank you for helping us along the way. It was short lived, but believe me, your words have their weight in gold. I promise we’ll be back.” Frost vowed, patting her head before leaving her. “Fresh fruit should be impossible to find underground. Unless they were being taken from the surface. The Heart will have the rest of our answers.”

Frost departed, suspecting that they’ll find the origins of the fruit where the Heart is.

“U-Um! F-Frost! If… if you hate them… then maybe – um… y-you can talk to the Painter.” Stella suddenly advised, clutching at her chest hopefully. “They’re… they’re unwanted by everyone. Y-You’ll find the imprisoned one at a jail cell! Next to the Blood Fountain! It’s here in the Blind Paw area!”

Obviously, it was impossible to know what she exactly meant. But this Painter may be their next best informant. In the meantime, Frost slightly tweaked their goal.

Knowing that gathering a surplus of food was impossible unless they played their games, which they certainly did not have time for; they’d have to reach the Heart.

They left the other side of the long underpass and entered the light. Res remained silent as she peered over her shoulder, observing the children with a blank face. When the blinding light mellowed, Frost watched as a monolithic tube rose from the castle.

It hooked itself into the ground, causing the world to shudder right as countless tubes emerged from its back. They burrowed into the distant ceiling, flailing like worms.

Frost’s heart sunk.

“The hell is that giant tube for?” Ber questioned, preparing for a fight.

But none of that arrived. For them, at least.

Frost recognized the shape of that structure. If there truly was a Heart somewhere within the castle, then that arcing structure was the equivalent of an aorta. When this realization hit, she watched as the silhouettes of thousands of Reorganizers shoot up the tube and disappear into the ceiling.

They were being pumped straight into Brandar.

“That’s how they get to us?” Res was frozen in place, stunned by the horrifying spectacle.

With Frost knowing how the aorta worked, they were also being pumped somewhere deeper beneath. In fact, she could feel them travel beneath her feet as if the entire place was built atop a network of veins.

Get Ignis to warn everyone! Trouble might be coming! And let Jury know as well!

Before long, the streets were quickly vacated. Silence befell the world in only the blink of an eye. Suddenly, the bricks beneath them split like the sticky maws of a creature. The fingerless hands of a slimy, gold-bearing entity emerged before them.

They were hideously close in appearance to a newborn bird, for their body was sickly thin with skin so transparent that their organs could be seen through the light. But these organs were misplaced. In fact, they didn’t appear like organs at all.

Gears churned within like the innards of a clock, and when their mouth opened she saw their tongue and throat lined with similar cogs.

They were tall and looked as if their legs were made of stilts.

A beautiful dark blue robe draped their being. A pair of boney protrusions extended from their back, stretching the fabric behind them into false wings.

But what stood out to her the most was the strand that hung from its head.

“A meeting of two false birds. One with the aspiration to realize themself, and the other who deems it unnecessary.”

It began, speaking in a deep, reverent voice like they were reciting sacred scripture.

“How bizarre that our great leaders were incapable of interpreting your fate from the mechanism itself, Black Dove. Come, Color. And descended Moons of the parasitic rock.

Allow us to become acquainted through civilized means.”

Syringe

Next chapter releases in 30 or so minutes! Can't leave you all on a cliff hanger again!