Captives {Prologue} Treacherous “You will decapitate her and finally finish what you were supposed to do in the first place,” said Outland, Echo’s boss. Echo stepped back, “b-but why?” He asked confused and frightened. “I said you will do it tonight and you will finish the job,” hissed Outland. Echo’s ears lay flat and his paws began to shake, “What did she ever do to us? What did her kind do to us that was bad enough that you want every one of them dead?” Echo argued. Outland leaned forward, a growl began inside his throat, “back talking is not permitted here, Echo,” he stated rather aggressively. Echo stepped back again and lowered his head, “I-i’m sorry, sir,” he replied. Echo gulped “I’ll…” he paused not being able to say the word,” I’ll get… rid of her” he finally said quietly. “And if you spare her once more…” Outland said. He picked up an apple near his desk and crushed it to bits. “You'll be like this apple,” he said dropping the crushed apple on the ground. Echo nodded “Y-yes, sir” he replied and turned around to walk out the office. “Don’t be a traitor, Echo, or I’ll find her myself and kill you both,” Outland said just as Echo walked out the door. Echo took in a huge breath as he walked into the storage room. “I won’t kill her,” he said to himself quietly, “I love her…” as he turned into one of the storage rows. Echo remembered the legacy he heard over and over again when he was younger. At the end of our waters, they all go to one place… That place is known as the wondrous Portal Falls. Once a traveler fell into the falls and was taken to a different world, a world where everything was different, a world where everything was better than here, and a world where there were still resources available. Yet, the traveler never came back… Then an idea popped into Echo’s head. It was a stupid idea, yet it was their only way out of this mess. Echo began to search for items they would need. He got a bag and took items like weapons, an inflatable raft, food and more. He sighed “I-i know it’s a crazy idea,” he said to himself, “But it’s the only way me and her can be together.” He said as he finished packing the necessities and took them with him out the company’s building. Once he got to Eclectic Bay it was night time, perfect to hide away and finally be free from their treacherous world. Finally, we can be together and no one can separate us. Echo thought as he walked up to the water and sat down in the sand. He waited, waited for her to come and greet him, to be glad to see him and overjoyed that he thought of a plan for them to be safe. He sat there for five minutes maybe more when she finally came to him. “Echo!” she said as she swam up to him from the water. “Atlanta! Atlanta please listen to me, we… we can finally be together I found a way! You have to come with me!” Echo said pleading to her. Atlanta coked her head, “really how?” She asked him swishing her tail side to side with excitement. “We go to Portal Falls! We go to a different world together! There no one can take you away from me, no one can force me to hurt you, we’ll be safe!” Echo replied. “I thought that was just a story, do you really think it’ll work, that it’s real, that the stories are true?” Atlanta asked him. “I’ll take the risk to finally be with you,” Echo said leaning towards her. “I… I would too,” Atlanta replied leaning in and putting her nose on his. They stayed like that only for a second, but it was the best second they ever had in their lives together. Echo then pulled away from her, “Come on then! Help me get out the raft,” Echo said taking it out from his bag. They unraveled the raft and blew it up. Echo hoped on to it being careful to not poke a hole into it with his six metal spider legs. Atlanta giggled and pulled the raft into the water some more. “I’ll help you get across the water, but what will we do when the waterfall comes?” Atlanta asked Echo. “We’ll stick together and let ourselves fall into it,” Echo replied nervously. “And hopefully make it to the other world…” he said. Atlanta agreed with a nod and they began to make their way along the rivers and canals that would bring them to Portal Falls. It was soon morning and the sun blared in Echos eyes as he opened them, he adjusted his position within the raft. Atlanta was on her back floating on the water while she slept. He nudged her a bit to wake her up, “Atlanta we have to keep going,” Echo said to her as she yawned and opened her eyes.
“Your right, we’re almost there I can almost hear the waterfall ahead,” She replied. Atlanta was right Echo could hear the roar of the waterfall close by as they began to get closer to it. Echo all of the sudden felt nervous, what if they just fell in and died? He thought to himself, then we die together. An hour past and the water began to go faster and faster each second. “Hop in with me!” Echo meowed to Atlanta. “What? You want me to go in with you?” She replied, “Yes I do!” Echo said. She then swam up the back of the raft and was helped in by Echo. She laughed “I look silly when I’m not in the water!” she said as she flapped her tail around a bit. Echo laughed with her “I think your pretty inside or out of it,” Echo said to her. Atlanta blushed a little “Aww, you too,” she purred. Echo laughed “I can’t swim though,” he stated, “You’ll be fine with me!” She meowed back, her laugh was then cut off as they both saw what awaited them. “It’s amazing!” They said in unison as they saw the huge circular waterfall that plummeted towards an endless hole. “I’m scared…” Atlanta said to Echo holding on to him. “I never expected it to be so amazing and terrifying,” she said. They soon reached near the edge of the falls. They held onto each other and braced themselves for the fall to come. Atlanta closed her eyes and hugged Echo for comfort as they reached the very edge. The horrible feeling of falling made Echo sick, he couldn’t breathe well as they plummeted toward the almost endless hole. He didn’t dare look down or move a muscle in his body. The air got thinner and thinner and they kept falling, falling and falling. They each took in one more breath before they fainted as they still fell down into the infinite waterfall. The fall felt horrible, unbarring, and it was a nightmare, but for some reason, it also felt like a dream, like nothing could hurt them, that they would finally be free to be together, it was like a dream that seemed to go on forever, until they awoke. Story/Art- @gotcha76 Music- (Not mine)
