A Dangerous Journey

The train station was already closed for the night, but Duncan Cow managed to sneak in. He was well-prepared, having everything he needed in his backpack. He looked at his watch. It was about time. Duncan Cow, who had travelled around the world to visit ancient ruins and raid forbidden tombs, was about to embark on a dangerous journey in search of a sacred artifact known as the Obsidian. The legend has it that anyone who possessed the Obsidian would have unfathomable powers.

Suddenly, Duncan heard footsteps coming from behind. He was shocked to see Piggy Pig and Chicken Little. They were very drunk. When they became sober the moment they arrived on the station platform, they too were surprised to find Duncan, who was their friend at work. Piggy and Chicken Little left the party very late at night. It was a party organized by their head of department, a party Duncan did not attend. Both of them did not take a taxi because they were so drunk and thought the trains might still be running. They managed to get into the station somehow. Both of them did not know that their friend Duncan was a treasure hunter.

"Oh, what a bloody coincidence!" Duncan said to himself.

Before they were about to ask each other questions, the midnight train arrived. Once inside the train, a train attendant came and he indeed looked like a werewolf. Once he saw Chicken Little, Piggy Pig, and Duncan Cow, he immediately stuck a ticket on each of their foreheads and left. The three animal guys took a closer look at the tickets and were shocked to see the word "Netherworld" imprinted on them. Except for Duncan as that was where he was headed. Piggy and Chicken Little immediately looked out from the window and saw no streets or buildings but a wilderness beyond their imaginations. There was no moon, but the land was indeed illuminated by mysterious lights seeping from the cracks. Then, the train was suddenly filled with ugly-looking passengers that came out of nowhere. The countenance of all those passengers were constantly fading in and out. Some of them even were more like just lumps of bloody rotten flesh, exposing a bone or two. Piggy Pig squealed and pushed the emergency button right off the bat. And soon enough, the train took a drastic halt and the train attendant was approaching them with a very stern face. Piggy Pig tried to explain to the train attendant that they had taken the wrong train and all they wanted was to go back to the world of the living. But the train attendant kicked the three of them out of the train. They found themselves in the middle of the desert. The railway track suddenly disappeared, probably covered by the wind of sand. Duncan cow began to traverse the desert alone. The other two followed, thinking that Duncan was finding a way home.

After countless hours of walking, they finally saw a desert town. There was a huge sign that showed a big letter M, probably served as the town's symbol. Although Duncan wanted to continue his journey, his friends stopped, saying that they were already too exhausted and needed a place to rest. Once they reached the town, A lady in an exotic red dress came to greet them. She was wearing a cute mask of a cat. She claimed that it had been many years since a traveller came to this town and she was sure that the town’s people were willing to give them the best hospitality the town could offer. Piggy Pig thought the girl behind the mask must be a pretty feline due to the tenderness of her voice and the excellence of her figure. They were already served with exotic vegetables and tropical fruit juices. The mere sight of it, its arrangement, and its splendid presentation were enough to make Piggy and Chicken Little’s mouth watering. It was like being at a king’s banquet. Duncan, however, did not take a bite of the townspeople’s offerings as he already had his rations in his backpack. Three of them were even offered a huge mansion, with everything brand new, to stay for absolutely free of charge. Piggy Pig thought everything here was too good to be true and that something wasn’t right. But he immediately banished the thought when he saw a king-sized bed where he could have a nice sleep.

However, much to the contrary, he wasn’t able to sleep that night. His back was incredibly itchy. Then, he heard something.

"Indeed. Something is not right ... not right ... not right." A mysterious echo came out of nowhere and startled him like hell.

Piggy tried to warn the others. Chicken Little had already woken up. He too suffered from an itchy back. But Duncan Cow was nowhere to be found. Piggy switched on the lights and both of them wandered from corridor to corridor. The lights began to flicker. In that instance, the brand-new walls disappeared and were replaced by old tattered ones with great scars of wear and tear. And some of the walls had words written in red.

~Your Doom is Nigh~

~Welcome to Hell~

~No Turning Back Now~

The strokes were made as if it was written in pure blood.

Piggy and Chicken Little were able to make it outside. They realized that they were in a ghost town, with derelict houses comprised of bug-infested wood, rusty twisted metal structures, and crumbling walls. And the streets were filled with dead bodies.

Then, Piggy felt a weird wriggling feeling in his throat. Piggy coughed a few times and a few maggots fell from his mouth down to the ground. As he saw those maggots were still wriggling, alive and well, rolling in his saliva, he became extremely uneasy and vomited and more maggots came out in an avalanche. Chicken Little too vomited in the same fashion. The food they had consumed before was definitely cursed.

"Hello, dear travellers." It sounded like a loud whisper, accompanied by an icy breeze. They both turned and saw the lady in red dress floating towards them. Then, she transformed into a hideous-looking clown-like creature. The creature screeched, carrying a huge scythe when it approached them. Piggy and Chicken Little had to run for their lives. Every dead body they ran past, its head turned towards their direction with its sinister glowing eyes.

Both of them finally made it out alive, further away from that terrible town and back in the desert. Chicken Little noticed that the desert was made up of gigantic circular mounds. The ground was extremely sticky to walk upon, always creating mushy-gushy sounds at every step they made. What they did not know was that they were actually stepping on gigantic chicken pies. Soon, Piggy Pig began to notice one or two chicken feet sticking out of the ground. Before both of them had the time to react, countless chicken skeletons burst out of the crust and were chasing after them. And even though they were finally out of the land of chicken pies, they were still not at ease. Many a time they got entangled in tentacles made up of living sausages. They were also been chased around by monstrous beef burgers with trillions of razor-sharp teeth on their burger bun jaws. All these encounters were not only terrifying to them but also extremely baffling. For the chicken pies, sausages, and beef burgers belong to a dark era known as Humanity. Humans had long been extinct and their civilization had ended after the animals gained intelligence. So why is something as gross as chicken pies, sausages, and beef burgers still present in this world?

They had been running for hours now and they were completely exhausted. If only they could have something juicy like an apple to fill their stomach. Just then, as if responding to their wish, a small tree appeared before their very eyes and it was filled with big apples. Although the apples were emitting a devilishly red glow, Chicken Little could not care less and plucked one of the apples off the branch. Piggy Pig tried to stop him, thinking about their past experience in that horrible town. But it was too late, Chicken Little had already eaten it whole. After a few seconds, Piggy saw nothing happened to his dear friend and so he decided to take a bite as well.

Sometime later, they finally found Duncan Cow. Duncan actually left them behind in that desert town in order to go to the sacred dungeon. There he avoided many traps and successfully retrieved the Obsidian. He did not expect to meet Piggy and Chicken Little again.

"Oh, what a bloody coincidence!" Duncan said to himself.

One final step for Ducan was to bring the Obsidian back home and placed it together with other sacred artifacts he and his ancestors had collected. With the whole collection being complete, he would have the power to take over the world. But first, he had to deal with his ‘friends’ as they were in the way.

Ducan led them to a nearby cave and told them they could get some rest there. And they slept.

Piggy Pig woke up due to great sounds of struggle and was shocked to find Chicken Little strangling Duncan Cow. The appearance of Chicken Little had been mutated beyond recognition and his eyes were devilishly red which was the same color as the fruit he had consumed. Piggy Pig tried to stop him then was attacked by Chicken Little. Chicken Little was far too strong and had the intent to kill Piggy Pig. Piggy Pig saw a big knife just beside Duncan’s backpack. He immediately used it to defend himself and accidentally slit his friend’s throat. Piggy Pig went over to Duncan Cow and found that he was dead as well. He looked at his arms and was shocked to see glowing red veins beneath his skin and he was beginning to lose control of his body. He just remembered that he had eaten the same fruit as Chicken Little. He was going to be turned into a monster like.

"I want to get out of this place alive!" He cried out.

The Obsidian, as if responding to his desperate cry, shone as bright as the sun. When the light had faded, Piggy found himself alone back at the train station. He looked at his arms again and they were very normal. It appeared that the Obsidian had the power to grant people’s wishes. But that artifact was nowhere to be seen. Then he felt an icy breeze piercing through his back. He turned around and saw Duncan Crow and Chicken Little. But their bodies were translucent and their feet were more or less invisible. And they followed Piggy wherever he went.