A narrow path branched off from the grand underground space, like a hidden passage embedded in the big mansion-like burrow. The path was low and shallow, made of hardened mud and sand, and maybe stone.
The passage way was obviously untouched for a long time.
Daku's gaze moved slightly, focusing on the path.
The meerkat's eyes lit up, excited because he knew what his dear friend was about to do.
Linda followed their gaze... something was there.
Daku stepped forward, going towards that path and Linda frowned mentally. Were they just going to act like they didn't bring up something so crucial just now?
The meerkat glanced back, grinning mischievously at her. "Follow, little miss. Don't get lost."
Linda hopped along.
At the path's end was a door made of very strong sand and mud, ancient and heavy.
Daku pushed it open as it didn't have a handle.
Inside, he picked up a stick with a metal tip and drew on the ground, igniting flames that burst up.
The fire lit up ancient walls covered in symbols, paintings, and hieroglyphs like Egypt's. And on the wall was a rabbit that looked eerily like Linda.
Linda's rabbit heart skipped a beat.
Where she stood, a drawing stared back at her.
The rabbit in the drawing looked exactly like her. The same shape, the same ears. The same tiny size that made her feel too noticeable and yet too easy to miss in this beast world. But there was something strange—on both sides of the rabbit's hindquarters bloomed a strange star-like flower marking, etched deep into the clay wall like it was the rabbit's tattoo or birth mark.
Linda's chest tightened.
Since she had been born into this world, she had only ever seen her face in water. She had never seen her body properly and so she doesn't know how her back looks like or if there was anything like that on her.
Her paws were too small and short so no matter how she decide to twist it, she wouldn't still reach her butt.
And there were no mirrors in this world. At least, she hadn't seen one.
The frustration made her shift her weight, one hind leg forward, then the other, hopping slowly along the wall as she followed the drawing.
The rabbit in the carving hopped then opened its mouth.
A puppy dog appeared in the next carving. Although the puppy was bigger than the rabbit in size, it was unmistakably a puppy. Linda knew that much because even here, knowledge clung to her like instinct.
The rabbit in the next carving swallowed the puppy whole.
"…"
The drawing continued.
The rabbit in the drawing hopped again.
This time, a wolf appeared. It was a massive and wild beast wolf and its tails burned like fire, licking upward, furious and alive. It reminded Linda of the fox-land fiery foxes.
The rabbit in the next carving swallowed the wolf.
The further the rabbit in the drawing hopped in the drawings, the more it swallowed and the more it swallowed, higher it seemed to rise.
A beast cat appeared in the next carving and the carving after that the little rabbit had also managed to swallow it.
Next was a huge and dominant beast-lion. It was so huge that its mane filled the wall.
Yet it was swallows again by the little rabbit like it was green pea.
Linda's eyes traced the changes now, her heart pounding as understanding formed without permission.
When the rabbit swallowed the puppy, its ears shifted and drooped into a rounded, human ear.
When it swallowed the wolf, the flurry rabbit tail vanished.
When it swallowed the beast-cat, the legs changed from rabbit hinds to human feet although still bent awkwardly.
And when the rabbit swallowed the lion, the whiskers retreated into the face and the nose reshaped into a human nose.
That was the end of that drawing.
Linda stood frozen.
Slowly, she turned her head and looked at Daku.
Why was she understanding this so clearly?
Where Daku stood, there was another drawing behind him.
Linda noticed it at once.
She rushed toward him in a flurry of white fur, nearly skidding to a stop at his side.
Throughout it all, Daku didn't move. He simply stood there like he was part of the wall itself. Beside him, the meerkat watched her with a wide, bright, and knowing smile. The kind of smile that said he had been waiting for this moment.
Daku's face, however, was empty of expression.
Behind him—on the wall opposite the rabbit carvings—was another set of drawings.
These wasn't the little rabbit this time, these ones were very weird beasts.
One carving showed two animals fused into one body. The lower half was a horse but the upper was unmistakably a rabbit.
Another drawing showed three beasts merged into one.
The head and wings belonged to an eagle. The body and tail were that of a lion, but the skin… the skin was wrong. It was layered in scales, like a snake's.
Linda swallowed.
Above them was another carving. It was four animals in one.
She stood there, staring.
It reminded her of Egyptian wall art from her human world. To a foreigner who didn't know the language, it would mean nothing. She felt the exact same way with these drawings.
The combinations confused her. Why were these beasts merged?
Then she went further.
The carvings continued in a single flowing line, as if the wall itself was telling a story and refusing to pause for breath.
Linda slowed, her hops growing smaller and more careful.
There, etched into the clay, was a sack that was tied tightly at the mouth, but from the knot sprouted several delicate, tiny carrot leaf.
Beside the sack stood the rabbit drawing that looked like her again.
In the next carving from there, the sack was gone and so was the rabbit. In its place a human girl that had long hair flowing down her back in smooth lines. But there was no face.
Linda froze.
A chill crept through her fur, starting from her paws and crawling up her spine.
She didn't know why she understood this part so clearly, but she did.
Her gaze snapped back to the earlier carvings, to the sequence where the rabbit had been hopping and swallowing beasts. She followed the line forward again, tracing the story as it continued.
Now there was another figure that looked like Daku, on the wall of carvings and drawings.
She turned back to look at Daku then looked back at the wall again. It was him.
Even without color, the likeness was unmistakable. The tall ears, powerful build, posture that radiated quiet dominance. In the drawing, he was adorned with jewelry—bands around his limbs, ornaments at his chest and neck.
Linda couldn't see color because it was sand drawn, but somehow she knew they had to be gold. It would suit him, she thought.
Beside the drawing of Daku stood the rabbit again.
Around the two of them was a spiral.
It wrapped around them to, bind two of them together.
Linda's heart skipped.
She wasn't foolish. If this had been a story carved in the human world, the meaning would have slapped her in the face. Fate. Bond. Mates. Destiny spelled out in bold lines.
But this wasn't the human world. This was the beast world.
So she didn't let herself jump ahead into conclusions. She swallowed the feeling down and forced her eyes to move on.
In the next carving, the spiral was gone.
The rabbits that looked like them were still there, but they were no longer facing each other. They stood back to back, in opposite directions.
In the carving after that… they were gone entirely. Instead, the faceless girl appeared again.
This time, she was seated and men had surrounded her.
Linda felt something twist in her stomach.
The story ended there.
Slowly, she turned.
Daku was still where he had been the entire time—motionless, unreadable. The meerkat stood beside him, tail swaying lightly, his smile small now.
Linda hesitated. Then she hopped forward and gently touched the meerkat with her paw.
She didn't even consider touching Daku.
He was the type—she could tell—who wouldn't fill silence just because it existed. In the human world, he would have been the cold underboss or the expressionless CEO. The man who spoke only when words were necessary.
So she chose the one who talked like there was no tomorrow.
She tapped the meerkat, then pointed to the drawings, gesturing for him to explain them so she could confirm if they were what she understood them to be.