Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

It was strange.

She had never felt anything like this before when putting on a VR headset.

Her head was splitting. Nausea rose in her throat. The air suddenly thinned. The floor vanished from under her feet. Her ribcage seemed to shrink, squeezing her lungs even tighter. Her ears popped, as if someone had stuffed them with cotton. Her throat went dry. The girl tried to raise a hand to feel for the headset on her head, but she could not move at all. Every cell in her body burned with sharp pain, as if thousands of tiny needles had pierced her skin at once. She wanted to scream, but nothing came out of her chest. Not a squeak, not a breath, not a groan.

She was afraid to open her eyes. Afraid to see where she was. But not knowing made everything even worse. So she forced herself to do it. The girl cracked her eyes open. She had expected anything. Anything except light. She was in a bright space, so blindingly bright that tears immediately gathered in the corners of her eyes. Looking at it was unbearable, so she squeezed her eyelids shut again. Even in the darkness, a pale spot still burned behind her eyes. She did not even know what to think. Where was she? Was she even alive? Was this what death felt like? But how? She had only wanted to play a game, that was all… Maybe this was the loading screen? But who the hell made a loading screen this bright, especially in a VR game? Besides, that did not explain the strange sensations in her body.

A sudden pain pierced her head, especially the area where the VR headset should have been. Her knees buckled, and she doubled over. She wanted to take the headset off, but she had completely lost her sense of direction, so she could not even find her own head. A short breath burst from her mouth. The kind of breath that comes out when someone punches you full-force in the chest and knocks all the air out of your lungs. Sound finally began to return to her ears, but it would have been better if it had not. It was a high-pitched whine, like a mosquito buzzing by your ear at night. Except this “mosquito” was inside her skull.

The sound had no rhythm. It grew louder, then quieter; sharper, then softer. The girl still could not find her head. And even if she could, it would have been useless.

She tried to shake her head, as if hoping the sound would stop. But the slightest movement made the pain worse, and a bitter taste of bile filled her mouth. The girl pressed her lips into a thin line and swallowed the foulness down, forcing herself to take deep breaths through her nose, even though there seemed to be no air in the space around her.

It felt as if her skull was being crushed by a metal band that tightened with every heartbeat — exactly where the headset had been. It seemed like any second now, her head would split clean in two, and the girl was already starting to wish it would hurry up and happen. She had regretted a thousand times over that instead of doing something useful, like going outside for a walk, she had decided to play some stupid game. Idiot.

She wanted to sit down on the floor, or at least lean against something, just to catch her breath and collect herself. The moment that thought appeared, the girl realized she could not feel any walls or floor. There was probably no ceiling either. Was she… floating in the air? It seemed like she had completely lost herself in space. Maybe it was stupid that she was still trying to find a logical explanation for her condition. Even the only explanation that came to mind — a panic attack — felt wrong. Of course, she had had panic attacks before. Many times. But never while trying to launch a game. And besides, her panic attacks were usually not this strong. Not strong enough for her to get lost inside her own room and stop feeling her own body. Not strong enough for her head to split open. Not strong enough for her to feel like she was on the edge of death.

Her body slammed into something hard. All the pain vanished at once, and the “mosquito” inside her head finally flew away. Now there was deafening silence. It was hard to decide which was worse. Her eyelids felt heavy and unwilling, the way they did after a long, deep sleep. But the girl tried. She opened her eyes. From that strange, blinding space, she had ended up somewhere more understandable. The first thing that caught her eye was the game’s graphics. She had not seen models this low-poly in ages. The game was fairly new, but it looked like it was twenty years old. Of course, maybe it was still loading, but it was taking way too long. The girl pushed herself onto all fours and decided to look around.

She was lying on a checkered floor, vaguely reminding her of the floor in her kitchen. Then she lifted her gaze from the floor. She was in a huge, spacious hall that seemed to be under the big top of some kind of circus tent. All over the hall lay different pieces of circus equipment, as if prepared for a children’s party. There were giant cubes, walls standing in completely random places, enormous pipes sticking out of the ceiling — some straight, some curling like spirals — and many other decorations, each of them painted in bright, almost acidic colors. Because of the smeared textures, the lack of shadows, and the jagged edges, most of them were hard to make out, especially the ones farther away. The walls of the tent itself were a mix of yellow and red vertical stripes stretching from the floor all the way up to the dome.

The acidic colors hit the girl right in the eyes. She covered them with her hand — and immediately stared at that hand in shock.

It was not hers.

Thin. Unnaturally white. Instead of skin, twitchy, angular textures. A red glove on the palm. And worst of all — no pinky. She had only four fingers, like in children’s cartoons where they draw four fingers to make animation easier. She looked down at her body. The first thing she noticed was that she was at least half a meter shorter now. Seeing the world from this angle felt strange. She was wearing a bright, motley outfit, the kind usually shown on harlequins in pictures. The costume, gloves, and shoes were all two colors: blue and red. Her puffy sleeves and shorts were striped in the same colors. Two yellow pom-poms hung from her small chest.

The girl tried to feel for the VR headset, but she could not even feel its weight on her head. Touching her face, she felt strange rubber instead of human skin. She took a sharp breath, trying not to give in to panic.

What the hell was wrong with this game?

“Look at that,” a male voice suddenly rang out from somewhere above.

The girl jerked her head up in fear, and her breath caught. She had never seen anything like it: a creature dressed like a ringmaster, with two jaws instead of a head, and two small eyes floating between them.

“I thought we wouldn’t be getting any more humans. Your new friends will be very happy.”

“W-what?” The girl clasped her hands together and pressed them to her chest. “What friends? Who are you?”

“What a shame, not knowing who I am,” the creature said, descending until he was roughly at the girl’s level, allowing her to see him more clearly. She tried not to look at the jaws, instead focusing on his neat crimson jacket, the bow tie on his nonexistent neck, his black leggings, and matching shoes. “My name is Caine. I am your ringmaster. And what is your name?” The man bent in a friendly manner.

“I… my name is…”

The girl faltered. She could not remember her name. She began going through everything she knew about herself. Age — she remembered. Place of birth — she remembered. But her first name and last name — nothing. She even tried to remember her passport, but the “name” field would not come to mind, as if it had never existed.

“How… what the hell? What’s my name?..”

Caine said nothing for a few seconds, blinking, before his jaws twisted into a disgusting smile. A ringing, cruel laugh echoed through the entire tent — the kind of laugh tormentors used when mocking their victims. That reaction sent chills crawling down the girl’s back.

“You idiot!” the ringmaster barked, his laughter cutting off instantly. “I know you don’t remember your names. That was my doing!” He burst into laughter again, so sharply that the girl felt physically uncomfortable.

“W-what do you mean, your doing? What is going on here?” She took a step back.

The laughter slowly died down. Caine rose higher into the air, looking down at the girl. Not a trace of that former friendliness remained. Only disgust.

“Since you’re new, I’ll explain. I’m explaining this once, so listen carefully.” He grabbed the girl by the shoulder and roughly pulled her closer, invading her personal space, almost brushing her face with his jaws. He knew she hated it. And he was deliberately making her uncomfortable. “You, my dear, have entered the Amazing Digital Circus! A place full of pain, agony, and human suffering. I can see you already like it.”

His teeth stretched back into a grin. Pomni’s eye twitched, and every muscle in her body tightened.

“So. I am an Artificial Intelligence named Caine. Unfortunately for you, you have ended up in this place, where I intend to take out all my hatred on you and your new friends, whom you’ll meet very soon. But first—”

The girl tried to say something, but Caine did not let her get a word in.

“I’ll show you the Circus grounds.”

He grabbed her hand so tightly that it began to burn. The girl wanted to ask something, but suddenly felt her feet leave the ground, her whole body becoming weightless, just like a few minutes earlier. The image spun in front of her eyes like it did when you were thrown around on a carousel — so badly that nausea rose in her throat. Suddenly, the circus decorations were replaced by a field. It was rather empty, even bare, which was normal for games like this.

“These are the Circus grounds,” Caine said. “Sometimes, I allow you to walk here. But it’s rather boring. There aren’t even any dangers. Next.”

He gave the girl no time to process the information and dragged her onward. The world spun again, and when they stopped, her head reeled so badly that she needed almost a full minute to recover.

“Here we have the Digital Lake and the Digital Carnival,” the AI continued, not letting her catch her breath. “Perhaps you’ll get to visit them too. If I allow it.”

Then he pointed at the sky, where two cartoonish celestial bodies hung: a crescent moon and a sun. Both had female faces, like characters from children’s cartoons.

“This is the Sun and the Moon! Day and night change on their own here. I don’t recommend talking to them.”

“Hello, Caine,” the Moon suddenly said, as if that were completely normal here. “I love you.”

“Shut up,” Caine snapped at her, without a drop of surprise. Apparently, this “confession” had happened more than once, and Caine was sick of it.

This time, the girl managed to get a good look at the grounds. They mostly consisted of unrendered green hills, with rare trees scattered here and there. Amid that green monotony, it was hard not to notice a red rectangle standing completely out of place. The girl narrowed her eyes, hoping to make out what it was, since from this height it was hard to see small objects below. Finally, she understood: it was not a normal rectangle, not a bug, and not a texture.

It was a door.

A red door in the middle of a field.

Written on it in white letters was the word “Exit.”

“Wait, is that—”

Her companion did not let her finish. Everything spun before her eyes, and she was back in the Circus again, this time standing on the floor. All that dizziness was too much for her. Her stomach twisted into a knot, bile burned her throat, and before she could do anything, she doubled over and vomited. A bitter, semi-liquid mass, in which she thought she could see remnants of today’s breakfast, spilled onto the floor; a few drops splattered onto her clothes. The girl bent her knees and braced her hands on them, trying to catch her breath and get rid of the bitterness on her tongue. Her stomach calmed down at once.

After one last breath, she managed to straighten up, though her head was still spinning. She glanced sideways at Caine. His face had not changed for even a second. There was no sympathy on it. No concern. No emotion at all. Only the same disgust.

He removed the black top hat from his upper jaw, which the girl had not even noticed at first. A creature flew out of the hat. It was a bubble, about the size of a cat. Two small round black eyes were attached to its sides, and underneath them was a mouth full of sharp, piranha-like teeth.

“Bubble, clean that up,” Caine ordered.

“On it, boss!” the bubble said enthusiastically.

It flew over to the puddle of vomit, opened its mouth, stuck out a bright red tongue, and began licking the amber-colored mass off the floor.

The girl almost threw up again, but managed to hold it in.

“W-wait, Caine.” She looked at the toothy creature. He was definitely a monster, but looking at him was still much more pleasant than looking at the thing licking up vomit. “I saw a door out there. It said ‘Exit.’ What was that?”

“What door?” The ringmaster shifted his gaze from Bubble to her. “There was no door.”

“There was! Red. In the field. You didn’t see it?”

“You’re hallucinating. That can happen to newcomers.”

“But I— MMF!”

Bubble suddenly dragged his tongue across the girl’s body and face, licking the remaining vomit off her chest and mouth.

“Even Bubble thinks there’s no exit. So let’s talk about something more… interesting.” Caine removed his top hat again, and Bubble hid inside it. “For example, your name. Since you ‘unfortunately’ don’t remember it—” he raised his hands and made air quotes, “—I’ll have to come up with a new one for you.”

He extended his right hand to the side, and a black cane with a golden tip appeared in it. He waved the cane, and about a meter away from the girl, a giant slot machine with five slots literally fell out of the sky. The ground shook, and the girl almost fell over. She decided to step a little farther away from the machine and get a better look at it. She had often seen machines like it in casinos, but never this huge. Instead of symbols, there were letters on the slots, though it was hard to tell which ones because they were spinning at enormous speed. After a few seconds, they suddenly stopped, forming her new name.

“Pomni,” Caine read aloud. “From this day on, your name will be Pomni.”

“Pomni? I’m not really… into it,” the girl answered timidly. The name sounded strange, and she would have preferred something more human.

“And?” Caine lifted one corner of his upper jaw as if it were an eyebrow. “I don’t care what your names are. Even if it had landed on something like ‘XDDCC,’ that’s what you’d be called.” He lowered his jaw back into place. Besides disgust, contempt had appeared in his eyes.

“Right… of course… sorry,” the girl said quietly, looking away.

“Glad you understand. Now, how about I introduce you to your new friends?” He smiled slyly and snapped the fingers of his free hand.

A whole crowd of strange creatures appeared in front of him and Pomni — or, more accurately, five of them. They all looked so varied and absurd that one could stare at them for hours.

“I want to congratulate you,” Caine addressed the others, who were not especially surprised by their sudden appearance in the hall. “A new human has appeared in the Circus.”

“Caine, we’ve been through this already,” said one of the creatures — the strangest-looking one. Half of their body, namely a triangular pink head, a torso with exposed female breasts without nipples, and a right leg, looked like parts from a children’s construction set. The other parts, however, were definitely not from a children’s construction set. Instead of a right arm, there was a string of red anal beads and a yellow dildo. Attached to the left side were two vibrators — one clitoral and, slightly lower, one vaginal. Their left leg was made from a metal vibrator and a whip. Between their legs, as well as under the right arm, there was an opening where something was clearly meant to be inserted. On their head, like antennae, were an anal plug and a blue dildo.

“What do you mean, Zooble?” Caine asked mockingly, addressing the creature by name.

“You know what I mean.” They narrowed their mismatched eyes. “You’ve already made us do adventures several times before where there was supposedly a ‘new human’ in the Circus, and then it turned out to be one of your NPCs.”

“My dear Zooble. How poorly you think of me.” The man arched his whole body, enjoying their reaction. “But unfortunately for you, this time it’s true.” He straightened and grew serious, disgust returning to his face. “Anyway, her name is Pomni. I hope she shares your fate with you.”

“Yeah?” another character spoke up.

He looked like a tall anthropomorphic rabbit. He had no fur; instead, his skin was purple and rubbery. The only clothes he wore were pink elastic-waist pants and yellow gloves. His bare torso had no hint of fur, nipples, or anything else resembling a real animal. An oval head sat on a long neck, with two ears sticking out of it. His mouth was decorated with a smile stretched almost across his entire face, full of yellow teeth. Directly above the mouth were two equally yellow eyes with square pupils. He had no nose.

“Then give her an adventure. Let her join us. Then we’ll see if she’s a human or an NPC.”

Pomni noticed that even while he spoke, his mouth never opened.

“Excellent idea, Jax!” Caine brightened. “Let’s arrange a little introductory adventure for all of you and our newcomer, so she can understand how things work here!”

Caine flew farther away to a huge stage standing in the middle of the hall.

“So, today’s adventure,” the ringmaster began loudly, “is… GATHER THE GLOINKS!”

The man spread his arms in the air, and a 3D sign appeared above him reading: “Gather the Gloinks.”

“Gloinks are nasty little pieces of people that will steal everything in their path. Your task is to find out what they are and where they are taking the Circus decorations. Now go, and try not to puke. Licking up your vomit is bad for Bubble.”

After that, Caine, along with the sign above him, vanished into thin air. Pomni silently stared at the place where the ringmaster had just been. She felt her right eye twitch. Her hands began to shake. She looked at them and clenched them into fists, trying to keep herself together.

“You’re… really a new player?” she heard a female voice behind her addressing her.

Pomni squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and turned around.

The one speaking to her was a doll-like character. She was a tall, fair-skinned girl. Red hair hung to her shoulders from her oval head, and a blue bow was tied on top. She wore a soft blue dress, with two darker patches sewn onto the chest, while the entire skirt was basically one big patch. It felt as if someone had once tried to tear it off, so they had to sew on a new one, a shade darker. Thin black stitches could be seen on her arms, legs, and face, though because of the texture quality, Pomni had not understood what they were at first. In place of the doll’s right eye, there was a sewn-on button.

“I… w-wait!” Pomni took two steps back, nervously fiddling with the pom-poms on her chest. “What’s going on? What player? What adventures? What Gloinks?” She looked over her new friends, as Caine had called them. “And who are you?” The question came out quietly.

“Try to calm down, okay?” The doll raised her hands in a calming gesture and stepped forward from the group. “We all went through this.”

“Can someone explain what the hell is going on?!” Pomni took another step back.

“It’s okay, you just—”

“You just ended up in Hell, where you’re going to be tortured every day,” the purple rabbit, whom Caine had called Jax, interrupted.

The doll frowned but said nothing.

“Mhm…” Pomni looked at the floor. One could almost see the gears in her head turning as she tried to process all the information. “Right… and how do I… you know… leave?”

“Well… just don’t panic…” the doll began. “But we don’t exactly—”

“You can’t,” the rabbit cut in again.

“What?” Pomni lifted her gaze from the floor and stared at him.

“Shut up, Jax,” said the construction-set character. “But he’s right. Welcome to your new home. And your new body.” With their left “hand,” they pointed at Pomni’s appearance.

“New home?! New body?!” the girl snapped into a shout. “No way! I saw it! There was an exit door out there! You can definitely get out through it, right?!”

“What door?” the doll tilted her head.

“Wow!” the rabbit smiled even wider. “Looks like our newbie’s seeing things.” He twirled a finger near his temple. “You know, maybe soon you’ll end up like old Kinger. He’s been here the longest and he’s completely lost it.”

He pointed at the fourth player, who had been silent the whole time. It was a white chess piece the size of a person. Most of his body was hidden under a purple robe with white fluffy trim covered in black spots. On his “head” were two large eyeballs, positioned at different heights. Despite the wooden texture, the figure could bend, and he was currently sitting on his “knees,” moving his hands through the air. Hearing his name, he turned and looked at Jax.

“Did you find my insect collection?” Kinger tilted his “head.”

“Like I said,” the rabbit looked back at Pomni. “Maybe you’re going insane too.”

“Hey, take it easy!” the doll stepped toward him. “She’s new. Could you be a little nicer to her?”

“‘Could you be a little nicer to her,’” the guy mocked, making her even angrier.

Their verbal argument continued, but Pomni was no longer listening. She was looking at everyone and nowhere at the same time. Her heart was beating so fast and hard it felt like it would leap out of her chest. Her vision blurred slightly. Pomni began gulping down the stale air, trying to calm herself somehow. But it did not help.

New home. New body. New friends.

What the hell was going on? Why were these “new friends” saying there was no way out? Had they really never seen the exit door themselves? There had to be an exit either way. After all, this was just a game. But Pomni had long stopped feeling like this was a game. In games, you did not feel real pain and nausea.

“Hey, Pomni?” The doll pulled her out of her thoughts. “I… understand that this is hard for you right now, and there’s a lot to process… but we should probably go on the adventure. Otherwise Caine will get very… very angry. And it’s better not to make him angry.”

“Uh… yeah… sure…” Pomni rubbed her temple. “What are these adventures anyway?”

“Oh… adventures…” The doll sighed and looked away. Her weak smile was replaced by a melancholy expression. “Caine’s database contains 25,000 adventure ideas, and… he tortures us with them.”

“Tortures you? Why would he torture us?”

“He hates humans.” The girl pressed her lips together and fell silent. Pomni thought something glimmered in her eye, but the doll quickly blinked, and her weak smile returned. “But we shouldn’t talk about that. We should start the adventure. We need to… catch the Gloinks or something.”

“Speak for yourself,” the construction-set creature suddenly said. “I’m not taking part in another one of his piss-stupid adventures. If anyone needs me, go to hell.”

They stepped away from the group and walked off in another direction.

Pomni turned away from them and looked around. In the distance, she saw a moving NPC model the color of human skin. She narrowed her eyes, trying to make out what it was, but the textures were blurry.

“What’s that over there?”

“That? I think that’s a Gloink,” the doll answered. “If there’s one, the others are probably nearby too. They usually move in swarms.”

The Gloink came closer, and Pomni could see it better. It looked like a cube wrapped in human skin. In some places, especially along the edges, the skin split apart, revealing the red texture of muscle. On one face of the cube was a single human eye. It was sealed in place by skin on all sides, with no eyelid, no eyelashes, and apparently no ability to blink — only to look around. From another face, a small cut opened, with a growth of unknown origin sticking out of it, something like a rat’s tail. Pomni felt her stomach twist at the sight of it.

Not again.

The Gloink crept closer to Zooble. The skin beneath its eye stretched slightly, and a barely audible moan escaped the cube, like the sound of a dying animal. Zooble turned around. More Gloinks crawled out from all directions, looking exactly like the first one. The creatures pounced on them. Zooble screamed and tried to fight them off, but with limbs like that, it was difficult. Using their growths, the Gloinks grabbed Zooble’s limbs and began tearing them off. First the right arm. Then the left. Then both legs, and finally the head. With their “tails,” they wrapped around Zooble’s body parts and dragged them off in an unknown direction. The construction creature’s moans and screams echoed through the Circus.

“Oh my God, they killed Zooble,” Jax noted flatly.

“Aren’t we going to save them?” the fifth character finally spoke.

It was a girl whose body was made of red satin ribbon, forming a humanoid shape. Instead of a normal face, she wore a white porcelain mask with two large black eyes, at the corners of which large blue tears had formed.

“She’ll be fine,” Jax waved it off.

“It’s not ‘she,’” the ribbon corrected.

“Shut up, rag. I’ll call her whatever I want.”

The doll-character stood for a few seconds, thinking, carefully looking the group up and down.

“By the way,” the girl suddenly began, “where’s Kaufmo?” She turned to Jax. “You two were… talking, weren’t you? Do you know what happened to him?”

The rabbit shrugged and hummed, “I dunno.”

“Then I think we should go check on him. It’s strange Caine didn’t summon him with us.” The girl looked at Pomni, and the corners of her lips twitched into a barely noticeable smile. “Besides, I think he’d be happy to meet Pomni.”

She turned and looked at Kinger. The chess piece was sitting in the same pose and “stroking” the floor with one finger, studying it closely.

“Kinger!” the doll called, making the man flinch slightly. “Do you want to come with us to check on Kaufmo?”

Kinger stopped looking at the floor and turned to her.

“Who’s that?” the man tilted his head, getting up from the floor.

“He’s our friend,” the girl sighed heavily. “The clown, remember?”

“No. Or yes. I don’t know.”

Kinger approached them, and Pomni took a step back.

“If memory serves, the last time I spoke with him, he was saying something about… an exit. Just like you.” He leaned closer to Pomni so suddenly that she flinched.

“About an exit…” Pomni scratched the back of her head. “So if he talked about it, maybe that means the exit exists?”

“Or it means you’re slowly losing your mind,” Jax cut in again.

“Well… I still think we should ask him,” Pomni answered after thinking for a moment. “Maybe with his help I can figure something out… and find a way out!”

Her lips stretched into a crooked, uncertain smile, as if she were trying to convince herself of that possibility more than the others.

“Pff.” Jax snorted. “Still thinks she can leave.”

“Then we should split up,” the doll said, suddenly encouraged. “Pomni and I will go to Kaufmo, and the others—”

“You’re leaving the two of us alone with Jax?” the masked character spoke up, looking even sadder at the thought.

“Oh… right…” The doll looked embarrassed and turned her gaze away.

“Then it’s settled. Me, Pomni, and Ragatha are going to Kaufmo,” Jax began ordering, naming the doll for the first time. “And you and Grandpa Dementia—” he turned to the little ribbon, “—will look for Zooble. Deal?”

The masked character nodded.

“Great. Come on, ladies.” The rabbit started walking in the opposite direction from where the Gloinks had dragged Zooble. “Let’s go harass the clown.”

Ragatha, as the doll was called, followed him, and Pomni followed her, still walking very uncertainly and hunched over.

The chess piece and the “mask” were left alone. The girl looked toward the direction where the construction creature’s parts had been carried.

“Let’s go,” she said to Kinger.

The man twitched and looked at her.

“Where are we going?”

“I’ll explain on the way,” the girl replied without much enthusiasm and started walking that way. Kinger followed her.

Ragatha and Jax led Pomni to a long corridor. It was in the farthest part of the hall and hidden behind a red curtain, so Pomni had not noticed it at first. Jax pulled the curtain aside and let Pomni go ahead. Ragatha followed her, and the rabbit brought up the rear.

“And these are our living spaces,” the doll began explaining. “Yours is probably here too.”

The corridor stretched far ahead. Along both sides were many brown doors, each with a picture of a player’s face hanging on it. Some of the pictures had been crossed out with a red X. Next to each door was a doorbell. Besides the doors, the corridor had strange abstract paintings on the walls, made either of simple geometric shapes or incomprehensible scribbles. They flickered and jittered quite a lot, so Pomni could not really examine them. Instead, she decided to look at the pictures on the doors along the right side of the corridor. That was apparently Zooble’s room, then the “mask’s,” then… hers?

“And here it is!” Ragatha smiled.

Pomni looked at the picture and saw her face for the first time.

It was round — well, as round as it could be — and just as white as the rest of her skin. The first thing that caught her attention was a jester’s hat split into two sides, with stripes like the ones on her shorts and sleeves.

“So I’m… a jester?” The girl rubbed her temple and squinted.

Ragatha nodded.

“Yep. We’re all kind of… weird here,” her new friend tried to reassure her, walking onward. “I’m a doll, Jax is an anthropomorphic rubber rabbit, Gangle is a ribbon with a mask, and so on.”

“So her name is Gangle…” Pomni noted to herself. “And Zooble, or whatever her name is… what is she?”

“First of all, not ‘she,’ probably…”

“What do you mean?” Pomni tilted her head.

Ragatha exhaled heavily.

“They… forgot their gender. Or, more likely, Caine made them forget. Then he turned them into a sex doll for… that.”

She jerked her head toward Jax, who had been walking silently behind them the whole time, listening very carefully. When Zooble came up, he grinned slyly.

“Oh… so it’s… THAT bad here.” Pomni folded her hands against her chest, trying to digest everything she had been told. From the very beginning, she had understood that Caine hated them, but she had not imagined it was that much. “So why don’t you start looking for… I don’t know… an exit? Any way to leave?”

“You think we haven’t tried?” Jax finally joined the conversation. “Everyone wants out of this place. And everyone tried to find an ‘exit.’ But eventually you realize you can’t leave, and all that’s left is to enjoy your situation here.”

He smiled broadly, as if he truly did not care about his position or his role in the “Circus” at all.

“Yeah… you sure are enjoying yourself.” Pomni narrowed her eyes and looked him up and down.

Only now did she notice the bulge in his pants. Either she had not noticed before, or it had not been hard. The girl felt her face flare, and bile rose in her throat. She quickly looked away and moved closer to Ragatha. Jax, thankfully, seemed not to notice her glance, so he said nothing. Thank God.

“And here we are!” Ragatha stopped, turned toward a door on the left side of the corridor, and approached it.

Pomni lifted her gaze to the picture of Kaufmo hanging on the door. The man had a long face with white skin, just like Pomni’s. On his head was a blue cap, slightly tilted to one side. His face wore an expression of deep, almost cartoonish sadness: his brows were lowered and drawn together, and the corners of his red mouth drooped.

“So he’s like… a sad clown?” Pomni guessed uncertainly.

“Mhm,” Jax confirmed. “SUCH a bore. Just like Zooble.”

“Stop talking badly about other people,” Ragatha warned him. “And don’t even think about saying that to his face.”

“…and just like Ragatha,” the rabbit continued smugly.

The doll rolled her eyes but decided not to say anything. She turned back to the door and rang the bell. The sharp sound made Pomni flinch. They waited several seconds. Silence. Ragatha rang again. Same result. She pressed herself to the door and listened.

“Strange. He usually doesn’t act like this.” She stepped away from the door. “Is he okay?”

“Then let’s check.” Jax stepped in front of the door and reached for the handle.

“Wait! You can’t just barge into someone else’s room!” Ragatha raised her voice.

“Listen, Caine doesn’t lock our rooms. That means anyone can go into them whenever they want. So shut up, princess, and let me do all the work.”

The rabbit turned to the door.

Ragatha folded her arms and puffed up, either because of his behavior or because of the insult. However, she did not try to stop him, most likely because she understood it was useless.

Jax grinned at her surrender and turned back to the door. He pressed the handle and swung it open. All three looked inside and saw him.

Instead of the clown from the picture, Pomni saw a black something. Its unstable shape resembled some kind of animal: a large “body,” four short “legs,” and a long “neck.” Instead of any real surface, it had messy, sharp, jagged textures that constantly glitched and changed shape and size, making Pomni’s eyes ripple. All over its body were things resembling eyes. They were all different bright colors, making them stand out against the black body. The thing raised its “neck,” and all its eyes stared into the doorway where Jax, Ragatha, and Pomni stood.

“Wow. Looks like it’s my time to go. Good luck!”

Without another word, Jax ran toward the corridor exit, shoving Pomni out of his way.

The girl did not even pay attention to his behavior, staring at the thing that was supposed to be “Kaufmo.”

“K-Kaufmo abstracted?” For the first time, Ragatha’s face showed fear… no, not just fear, but real horror.

“W-what does that mean?!” Pomni instinctively tried to hide behind her friend.

“It means everything is very, very bad!” Ragatha stepped backward and pressed herself to the wall, forcing Pomni to stand beside her.

Kaufmo tried to leave his room, but because of his size, he could not fit through the doorway, so he had to tear the whole frame down; a hole opened in the wall. He approached the pinned Ragatha, and although his eyes looked in every direction, the doll felt as if he was staring directly at her. Pomni finally gave in to panic and ran the same way Jax had gone, but she had not gotten far before she heard her friend’s voice addressing the thing:

“Kaufmo! I… I can explain everything!” She raised her hands in front of herself, trying to justify herself. “I really did care about your problems, it’s just, when you came to me, I was busy and—”

The thing did not listen. Its front “paw” grabbed her and hurled her into the wall with all its strength. The corridor shook. Ragatha’s scream reached Pomni’s ears, making her stop and turn around. Kaufmo did not let the doll go; he slammed her against the walls several more times, then finally threw her to the floor. Pomni looked at Ragatha.

Her whole body was shimmering and glitching. Her skin flickered: one moment she was a smooth doll, the next an angular, broken toy. Her textures could not load properly — stripes, stains, empty gray squares. Ripples ran across the fabric, one of the patches on her chest slid to the side, the stitches came apart and then snapped back into place. The button on her eye jerked downward and then jumped back into position.

The doll raised her head and looked at Pomni, who stood about a meter away from her.

“P0mn1, c4n y0u h3lp m3?” Her voice glitched and doubled so badly that Pomni did not even understand what she was saying at first. “It hUr75 s0 b4d…”

The doll reached out a hand, which split into two for a second. Pomni looked first at Ragatha, then lifted her gaze to Kaufmo, who towered above her and seemed to already be aiming at Pomni. Kaufmo took a step forward and tilted his “neck” to the side. Pomni felt his gaze on her. If she did nothing, he would attack her now. On the other hand, she should help Ragatha…

Damn it, what was she supposed to do?

“I’m sorry…” Pomni whispered under her breath, turned around, and, giving in to fear, ran toward the corridor exit.

She heard the heavy footsteps of the thing behind her. Kaufmo chased her. The girl felt the walls shaking, heard the framed paintings rattling, saw lightbulbs fall from the ceiling and shatter. She felt a paw slam down beside her. The creature tried to hit Pomni, but missed. Another blow. Another miss.

Pomni shot out of the corridor like a bullet and pressed herself against the wall beside the entrance, hoping the creature would not notice her and would run straight ahead.

That was exactly what happened. Kaufmo rushed past and crashed into some cube decoration. The cube glitched, just like Ragatha had. The thing shook its neck and ran in the opposite direction from the corridor, toward the other end of the tent.

Pomni plopped down onto the floor and pressed her back against the wall. She began greedily gulping air, trying to calm down somehow. She placed her left hand over her heart. It had never beaten so fast. The girl closed her eyes. Adrenaline still pulsed in her veins, and there was still not enough oxygen. Her legs trembled. She had never had to run from a giant something trying to kill her before. And yet all the sensations, all the adrenaline and fear of death, felt real, even though this was all happening inside a game.

Pomni still hoped it was a game. Even though, rationally, she understood something strange was happening. But there had to be a logical explanation for all of this. Deep down, she still hoped. Hoped she would take off the headset, this nightmare would end, she would delete the game, and she would go back to living her ordinary human life. The thought calmed her a little. Right. Once the adventure ended, she would go home. Her heart stopped beating so quickly, her breathing evened out, and her body relaxed.

Then she remembered Ragatha.

She stood up and peeked into the corridor. Some paintings had fallen to the floor; the rest hung crookedly. The walls were now battered and cracked. Pomni took a deep breath and walked down the corridor. Ragatha had crawled closer to the wall and was now sitting beside it. The glitches had not lessened. If anything, they seemed worse. Pomni exhaled and approached the doll.

“Ragatha, right?” The girl awkwardly looked away. Not only because she had abandoned her earlier, but also because she had not remembered her name. “I’m really sorry. I just got scared and… couldn’t help. I can help now.”

“I th1nk th4t’s n0t 4 g00d 1d34,” Ragatha answered without even lifting her gaze to the girl, most likely because of the glitches and pain. “Pl34se, f1nd C41n3. H3’ll h3lp m3 4nd t4k3 c4r3 0f K4ufm0.”

“Y-yeah… yeah… of course… just sit here and don’t go anywhere, okay?” She smiled crookedly.

Ragatha did not answer. Pomni felt embarrassed by her silence and decided to simply go look for Caine.

The girl left the corridor and entered the hall. The floor was cracked, and some decorations were glitching. The aftermath of Kaufmo. Now she had to find Caine. But where and how, she had no idea. The last time she saw him, he had simply vanished into thin air. There was nothing better to do than start calling him. She drew air into her chest and shouted:

“HEY, CAINE!”

Her cry echoed through the Circus. She covered her mouth with her hand. Caine had definitely heard that. But the man did not appear. Damn it. She started walking aimlessly, continuing to call him, only a little more quietly.

“We need help here! Someone’s… abstracted or something! And Ragatha’s glitching!”

No answer.

The girl took a deep breath and began walking all over the hall, trying to find the ringmaster.

At the other end of the Circus, she found several red doors. “Maybe Caine is there?” flashed through her mind. She opened the far-left door. It was a bright bathroom. Against the wall opposite the entrance stood a shower cabin. Under the stream of water stood a wooden mannequin the size of a human. Seeing Pomni, it yelped and covered the space between its legs with its hands, though Pomni had already managed to notice the absence of any sexual characteristics. Caine was not there. She closed the door and opened the next one. It was a room full of water, which somehow did not spill out. Exotic fish swam in it, but Pomni was not especially interested in them. Caine was not there. She moved on to the next door. As soon as she opened it, a boxing glove on a spring flew out and hit her, sending her flying a couple meters away from the door. Fortunately, the glove was rather soft and did not break her face. She touched it to check if her nose was bleeding, but instead of blood, she discovered she had no nose. Apparently, she had missed that detail in her room portrait.

“Wonderful,” the girl thought, frowning.

She stood up, closed the door, and went to look elsewhere. There were no more doors, which complicated things. The girl had already been wandering around the Circus for about fifteen minutes and still had not found the toothy bastard. The only thing she wanted now was to say screw it all and leave Ragatha to suffer, but she understood that would be wrong.

“CAINE, YOU BASTARD, WHERE ARE YOU?!” she screamed into the emptiness out of anger and frustration.

Maybe now he would hear her and come.

But it was not Caine who came.

She heard something heavy and enormous rushing toward her.

Shit.

Kaufmo again.

Judging by the footsteps, he was running from somewhere ahead, so she had to run the other way.

And Pomni ran.

“Remind me, what are we looking at?” Kinger asked.

He and Gangle were standing somewhere in the middle of the Circus, staring at the floor. A hole gaped in it, leading somewhere deep, deep down.

“We saw a Gloink carrying a piece of Zooble down there,” the girl explained to him.

“Right. And Zooble is who?” Kinger tilted his head.

“They’re our friend.”

“Ohh… I have friends?”

Gangle sighed heavily and did not answer, turning back to the hole. She heard someone run up from behind and stop to catch their breath. Apparently, it was Jax. The rabbit doubled over, hands on his knees. Once he got his breath back, he lifted his head and looked at Kinger and Gangle.

“So? How’s it… going with you guys?”

“AAH!” Kinger screamed and whipped around. “Where did you come from?!”

“We found the place where the Gloinks took Zooble,” Gangle answered.

“Cool,” the guy replied indifferently and straightened up.

“How’s Kaufmo? I hope he isn’t mad at me for not wanting to see him last week…” A little more tears than usual appeared at the corners of her eyes.

“Never better,” Jax walked over to them. “Why don’t you go rescue your little friend now?”

And without letting poor Gangle get a word in, he shoved her into the hole.

The girl screamed and, by inertia, wrapped her arms around Kinger’s torso. He, not even trying to grab onto anything, fell after her. Long screams came from the hole, followed by the sound of breaking porcelain. Jax grinned and jumped in after them. He flew down a long, straight, dark tunnel until he landed on the ground.

It was a fairly large underground space, almost without any sources of light. Jax looked around. Kinger and Gangle were standing nearby. The man looked unharmed, but the girl not only had the right corner of her mask broken off — the ribbons on her arms were also torn. Most likely because of Kinger during the fall. Seeing the girl’s injuries, Jax smiled.

“Where are we?” Gangle asked the men, ignoring Jax’s sadistic pleasure.

“I believe we are in the Gloink hideout,” Kinger suddenly said, sounding surprisingly lucid. “I think if we go down that corridor, we’ll find their nest.”

The man pointed at a narrow passage no one had noticed before.

“Well, great.” Jax stretched to loosen his back and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Gangle, you go first.”

The girl timidly nodded and moved forward. Kinger followed her. Jax brought up the rear.

They did not walk for very long. After a couple of minutes, they emerged into a larger chamber, and a horrifying sight appeared before them.

Huge. Shaped like an anthill. Wrapped in human skin. Covered in a transparent, sticky fluid of unknown origin. Attached to the ground. Narrowing toward the top. Around the bottom, at its “base,” were several vaginas arranged in a circle, and Gloinks were slowly crawling out of them right now, covered in the same fluid. On the head — or what they decided to consider the head — was an eye, just like the Gloinks’ eyes. At the top, on the “crown,” was something resembling a beak. One of the Gloinks brought over a chair. Crawling through the sticky liquid, it climbed up to the “beak.” The beak opened. The Gloink shoved the object inside. A few moments later, a Gloink emerged from one of the vaginas.

Gangle squeaked and closed her eyes, covering her face with what remained of her hands. Jax’s eye twitched; not a trace of his former smile remained. Only Kinger’s face did not change at all as he calmly watched what was happening — assuming he understood what was happening.

Pomni peeked out from behind the wall. Kaufmo was standing a few meters away. But he did not see her. He had been distracted by some decorations and was now beating them. Pomni had managed to run away from him and hide behind one of the random walls standing in the middle of the Circus. She exhaled silently and hid again. She looked around. No one. Slowly, so Kaufmo would not hear her, she moved on. All her thoughts were on Caine.

“Where is that toothy freak?! I’ve probably walked through the whole Circus already, and he’s still nowhere!” she thought, continuing to look around.

Right now, she cared less about Ragatha and her condition than about Kaufmo, who simply would not leave her alone. Why was it that whenever she needed something, that “something” disappeared?!

As she walked, she noticed a mirror hanging on a wall. The girl stopped and looked into it. From the other side stared a low-poly, crooked, almost round white face — the same one she had already seen on the picture by her bedroom. She had not gotten a good look at herself then, so now she decided to distract herself and study herself better. From under the hat, two brown locks of hair hung down to her shoulders on either side, and a small fringe fell over her forehead. Thick black eyeliner was drawn around her amber eyes, while the eyelashes were drawn only on the lower lid. Under her eyes were round pink blush circles. Pomni put a hand to her cheek and stared at her new face. She tried to remember. To remember what she had looked like when she was alive. But she could not. The memories were blurred. Just like with her name.

The girl heard a growl somewhere nearby. It was Kaufmo. Apparently, thoughts about her past life would have to wait. She needed to keep looking for the ringmaster. Pomni sighed and reluctantly trudged onward.

She walked for another ten minutes. In her head, she calculated that she had been looking for him for almost half an hour.

“Where is Caine?” she muttered under her breath, not too loudly, so Kaufmo would not hear.

She stopped and looked around, trying to understand where she even was, when suddenly her attention was caught by a door.

A bright red rectangular door.

Written on it in white letters was “Exit.”

It stood completely out of place, right in the middle of the passage. Pomni approached the door and touched it.

Real.

Not a glitch.

So Caine had lied to her.

“Could it really be…” she whispered.

The girl opened the door.

And it led somewhere.

Some non-circus corridor.

The girl turned around. She thought about Ragatha. If she left now, the doll would remain there, suffering. On the other hand, that would no longer be her problem. She would return to normal life and never remember this place or its inhabitants. Besides, she was being chased by an abstracted thing, so it was better to leave quickly. With those positive thoughts, the girl stepped inside and slammed the door behind her.

She was greeted by a long gray corridor, creating a sharp contrast with the acidic colors of the Circus. Pomni even smiled, it felt so pleasant to see normal colors. She walked forward through the corridor and saw, ahead of her, exactly the same “Exit” door as the one she had entered. She opened that one too. Another corridor. This time wider. It looked somewhat like an office hallway: black doors lined the sides, and ahead was another “Exit.” Pomni ran to it again. She went inside. Apparently, some kind of storage room: black warehouse shelves stood around the room, cardboard boxes scattered on them. And again, a red door on the other side of the room. The girl ran to it. She wanted to get out. And she would get out.

At least, she hoped she would.

“What is that?..” Gangle whispered, still not daring to look at the monster before her.

“I believe it is what produces and controls the Gloinks,” Kinger began explaining, sounding surprisingly sensible. “They feed it, and it continues the lineage. Almost like bees.”

Jax flicked one ear in annoyance.

“And you’re saying they dragged your little friend here?” he asked indifferently.

“Mhm,” Gangle nodded.

“Well then, you, little rag, will have to rescue her.” Jax shoved the girl forward hard, and she fell to her knees before the creature. “Climb into the vagina.”

“W-what?!” Gangle turned around without getting up from the ground.

“Well, the monster probably already ate her. So you’ll have to crawl inside to get her out. We can’t get into the mouth, so that’s the only option.”

“B-but…” A tear fell from the girl’s cheek. “I don’t want to.”

“Really? I thought you liked that sort of thing.”

He grabbed the girl by the “neck” and threw her forward. She almost landed face-first in the disgusting opening, but she was lucky.

She covered her mouth with the remains of one hand, either trying not to vomit or trying not to smell whatever was coming from there.

“Well? Go on,” Jax pressured her.

The girl looked into the opening and burst into tears. Drops fell to the ground in front of her. She tried to wipe her face, but the tears came even harder.

“I think,” Kinger suddenly began, “that won’t be necessary.”

He pointed at the right wall. Along it crawled a Gloink holding Zooble’s head with its tail. Zooble, apparently, also noticed the others and immediately got angry:

“Hey! Help me, you idiots!” The “antennae” on their head trembled.

“How rude, Zooble. Now I don’t want to help you,” the rabbit said, pretending to be offended, and turned away indifferently.

Gangle got up and moved away from the vagina toward Kinger. The man looked at her hands — or rather, their absence — and sighed.

“Looks like I’ll have to save them.”

Kinger approached the Gloink dragging Zooble. The creature did not react. The man grabbed Zooble’s head and began pulling it toward himself. The Gloink kept crawling. Kinger turned out to be stronger — so strong, in fact, that he tore not only Zooble away from the Gloink, but the tail too.

“Zooble! Did they injure you badly?” the man asked, tearing off the tail and throwing it to the ground.

“Oh yeah, not badly at all,” Zooble rolled their eyes, their voice dripping with sarcasm and annoyance.

“Right, now we need to find the rest of your parts. Gangle, hold this.”

He shoved Zooble’s head into the girl’s “hands” and went to look for the remaining pieces.

Gangle wrapped her ribbons around the triangular head, trying to hold it as tightly as possible.

“Zooble, I’m so glad you didn’t become a Gloink…” Gangle said softly, adjusting the “antenna” on their head.

Zooble only hummed indifferently.

The group felt the walls shake. Sand rained from the ceiling. They all looked up. Suddenly the ceiling collapsed, stones falling around the creature, punching holes in the roof and letting light into the room — and the abstracted one landed right on top of the creature. He began beating it. It glitched.

“What is that?!” Gangle screamed, almost dropping Zooble from her arms.

“That’s Kaufmo,” Jax said, as if it were something perfectly ordinary.

“Kaufmo abstracted?!” Zooble and Gangle shrieked at the same time.

“Nahhh, he’s fine.”

“How do we get out of here?!” Kinger suddenly panicked, even though a couple of minutes earlier he had not acted like that at all.

“Uh, guys?” Zooble’s head jerked slightly, pointing toward the left wall.

There was an escalator leading straight to the surface.

“An escalator? In an adventure like this? Wow, Caine is really going easy on us,” Jax said, walking toward the escalator.

For a while, they rode upward in silence.

“Wait a second, where’s Pomni?!” Zooble suddenly spoke up. “Wasn’t this whole adventure for her?!”

“Could you keep it down?” Jax frowned. “I can’t hear the escalator.”

Room. Exit. Room. Exit. Room.

“HOW THE FUCK DO I GET OUT?!” Tears burst from Pomni’s eyes. She had gone through this storage room for the fifth time already.

She dropped to her knees. A crooked smile appeared on her lips against her will, and she laughed. Quietly at first, then at the top of her lungs.

“I’m going to lose my mind… I’ve lost my mind…” she managed to say between laughter and sobs.

With all her strength, she slammed her fist against the floor. Ignoring the pain, she stood up, breathing heavily through her mouth, trying not to choke on her own tears and saliva.

“Son of a bitch…” She walked through yet another red door, which brought her into a familiar corridor. “Why didn’t you show up when I needed you, huh?! You want me to suffer, right?!”

The girl kept walking through doors, ignoring her surroundings. She shouted into the void, as if hoping the bastard would hear her and come.

“But he won’t come. Of course he won’t come! Why would he come?” She did not even notice that the corridors and storage rooms had been replaced by a new location. “He didn’t come before! And he definitely won’t now! He…”

Pomni stopped.

It was a long room, like an office. Several desks stood inside, with computers and VR goggles beside them. The girl approached one of the desks. She looked at the headset. For one second, her tears stopped flowing. Her hands clenched into fists on their own. She was silent.

For a long time.

Then she raised her arms and slammed them down on the desk. Pain shot through her fists. She gritted her teeth and began crying again. But without laughter this time. Just tears. Jerky, opaque, almost oval tears ran down her cheeks. Several drops fell onto the desk.

“I hate this…” she hissed through her teeth.

Then she jerked away from the desk and wiped her face with one motion. After that, with no emotion left at all, she headed toward another red door. It led her into a long gray corridor with a high ceiling. At the end was that goddamn door again. Pomni ran toward it. It felt like the corridor was stretching. As if the universe itself did not want her to leave. Her running slowed, the corridor dragged on. She reached out and grabbed the handle. Gathering all her strength, she pushed the door open and stepped through.

Instead of another room, the girl entered a white space. Exactly like the one she had been in a couple of hours ago when she launched the game. The girl hung in the air. She turned around. The door was no longer visible. So she was not just floating. She was moving forward.

So… she was getting out?

She shut her eyes so the light would not sting them. A small smile twitched on her lips. She was getting out. She would go home. She would live a normal life, like before. She would delete the game, forget all these people and—

A cold hand grabbed her by the neck from behind.

She felt displacement, the way Caine had moved her when he showed her the Circus grounds. The girl felt the floor beneath her feet. Her neck was released. She opened her eyes and stopped smiling.

Caine towered over her. He looked down at the girl. His eyes narrowed.

“What were you doing there?” His tone held a note of irritation that he did not even try to hide.

“I…” The girl hesitated and looked away.

“And what happened here?” Caine looked around. The floor and walls were cracked, and the decorations were glitching and lying scattered around.

“CAINE!” Kinger ran up from somewhere behind, followed by Jax and Gangle with Zooble.

The ringmaster did not even move his jaw.

“Kaufmo abstracted!” Gangle cried through her tears.

“Abstracted,” Caine repeated to himself. “Now I understand what happened here.”

He lowered his gaze back to Pomni.

“Because of your arrival, I failed to keep an eye on his mind.”

Pomni shrank under his condemning gaze. Now she also felt guilty for existing here at all.

Caine waved his cane. Kaufmo appeared before him, and underneath Kaufmo — a huge hole. Pomni peered into it. Darkness and countless different eyes, just like Kaufmo’s. Caine lowered him inside, then closed the hole. From the side, Ragatha crawled toward them. Her condition had become even worse — at least, that was how it seemed to Pomni.

“C41n3, 1t hUr75 s0 b4d… h3lp m3, pl34s3…” She reached a hand toward the man.

Caine glanced at her and snapped the fingers of his free hand. The glitches stopped, all the cracks disappeared, and the decorations returned to their places. Ragatha got to her feet, though she swayed a little.

“Thank you, Caine,” she said, looking away and stepping back slightly.

The man ignored her words and looked at Pomni again.

“Explain.” He looked the girl in the eyes, as if trying to see something inside them. “What were you doing in the Void?”

Everyone else turned toward her in surprise. She hesitated. How could she explain to him that she had wanted to leave… especially since Ragatha would hear it and definitely be hurt.

“I… was running from Kaufmo… and I needed somewhere to hide.” She began lying, trying to sound as convincing as possible. “And I saw a door marked ‘Exit.’ And… I decided to hide there. I walked… and… ended up in the… Void.”

Caine studied her face for several seconds.

“You’re lying,” he said calmly.

Pomni froze.

“Stupid little toy. Thinks I don’t know when you lie.”

“I…” She swallowed the lump in her throat and felt her palms sweat. “Fine. I wanted to leave. I thought that door could get me out. But it couldn’t. Now can you explain what that door was?!”

Caine tilted his head.

“Curious. And very, very stupid.” He folded his hands behind his back. “I did not want to tell you. I lied. I wanted to make things better. But since you insist, I’ll tell you.”

Suddenly, he grabbed the girl by the shoulder and pulled her closer. Too close. Pomni felt the warmth of his “breath” against her; sweat beaded on her forehead.

“It is an unfinished adventure. It remained in my memory. I hate unfinished work, so I tried to hide it as far from your eyes as possible. But you found it. Just like Kaufmo did. Thought it was an exit. So know this: there is no exit. Thank him.” He jerked his head toward Kinger. “I hope I’ve answered your question?”

Pomni nodded, wanting only for him to let her go as soon as possible. Caine shoved her away and shot up into the air.

“Well, you defeated the Gloink Queen and, I suppose, finished the adventure,” he said to Kinger and the others. “For that, I think you deserve to be fed. You haven’t eaten in two weeks, and you’ve been slowing down. Starving animals are only funny to watch at first.”

A plate appeared in front of Pomni.

She was sitting on the floor against the Circus wall, like the others. Ragatha sat beside her, silent since her “healing.” Then Gangle sat beside them, with Zooble’s head nearby. Then Kinger sat, and at the end — Jax. Pomni picked up the plate. It looked like a burger, except the bun was covered in mold and the patty was raw.

“Is this… safe to eat?” she asked Ragatha.

“I don’t know. But it’s better than nothing. I think you should eat it. After this, he probably won’t feed us for three weeks.” The doll bit into her burger without even batting an eye. Apparently, she was used to it.

Pomni shrugged and took a bite too. It tasted like a warm, wet sponge. Then she felt the taste of blood on her tongue, most likely from the patty. She grimaced and covered her mouth with her hand, trying to keep the food from coming back out.

“Don’t like it?” Ragatha smiled faintly. “I understand. I didn’t like it at first either. But don’t worry. In a couple of months, you’ll crave even this.”

“In a couple of months… I’m scared to imagine how long all of you have been here.” Pomni swallowed the foul thing and placed the plate in front of herself, not yet daring to keep eating.

“Well… all of us have been here at least three years,” the girl sighed and lowered her gaze. “As far as I know, Kinger was the first. I’m surprised he’s still holding on.”

“Three years?” Pomni tilted her head. “That’s… a lot.”

“Mhm. By the way, since you’re a real human… maybe you can tell us how you got here?”

“Oh… well… in real life, I was a gamer. And when the Amazing Digital Circus game first came out, I didn’t have enough money to afford a VR headset. So I decided to save up. Then the servers shut down. Three years ago, actually.” She took another bite of the burger and, after chewing with difficulty, forced herself to swallow. “So… recently I got a VR headset. And I really wanted to play this game. So… I found a pirated copy on the black market, with one open server. And… now… I’m… here…”

“Who would’ve thought our Pom-Pom was a gamer?” she heard from the other end of the “chain.”

It was Jax. She leaned forward to see him.

“You got a problem with that?”

“Nope. I was a gamer too, actually.” The rabbit had already finished his burger and was casting greedy looks at Zooble’s food, which Gangle was currently feeding them.

“You don’t look it,” Pomni leaned back and pressed her back against the wall.

For a while, everyone was silent. Then Pomni turned to Jax.

“By the way, why do you think the textures here are so… awful? Like… the game is new.”

“Ask ‘Hoo-ha’ over there.” He nodded toward Kinger, who was picking at his food. “He’s the one who made it.”

“What?!” Pomni’s mouth fell open, making Jax laugh.

“Yep. Kinger is the creator of the Digital Circus. Shocking, I know.” He leaned back and closed his eyes.

Pomni looked at Kinger. He was not listening at all and was completely in his own world. She decided asking him would be useless, given his condition. She sighed and shoved the rest of the burger into her mouth. After swallowing it, the girl addressed the others:

“Do you know why Caine hates us at all?”

Ragatha shrugged.

“Nope. He talks about hatred all the time, but he never says why.”

“I don’t think he even has a reason,” Zooble suddenly said. “He’s just an AI that decided it would be fun to torture us.”

“Maybe if you weren’t all so annoying, he wouldn’t torture you,” Jax said smugly. “I think he loves me.”

“If he turned you into an animal that constantly wants sex, that doesn’t mean he loves you,” Zooble snapped angrily.

“Well, my role is definitely better than yours.”

Zooble said nothing to that and turned away.

Gangle moved closer to their head.

“Zooble, let’s go to your room. I’ll help you build a new body.”

“Mhm. Whatever.”

Gangle wrapped her ribbons around their head, stood up, swaying slightly, and headed toward the corridor where their rooms were.

“We should start heading off too,” Ragatha suggested. “It’s getting dark. Caine doesn’t like it when we wander around the Circus at night.”

“Speak for yourself,” Jax put his hands behind his head. “I don’t want to go back to a piss-soaked mattress full of bedbugs.”

“Suit yourself,” the doll said, then approached Kinger. “Kinger, let me take you to your room. Otherwise you’ll get lost again.”

She reached out a hand, making the man flinch.

“Don’t touch me!” He raised an arm, trying to hide from her.

“It’s okay. I just want to help. We’re going to your home.” She smiled faintly.

Kinger stared at her palm for several seconds before carefully taking it and standing up. Ragatha waved to Pomni, inviting her to come too. The jester got up, and the three of them headed for the corridor, leaving Jax alone.

They walked in silence for a while. Pomni was the first to break it:

“Ragatha, does Kinger have, like… Alzheimer’s?” Kinger, hearing his name, turned around.

“Most likely…” Ragatha squeezed the man’s hand tighter. “As far as I know, Caine made him this way.”

“I see… I noticed you get along with him.”

“Well, yes. I… had experience when I was alive. Besides, I’ve been here a long time, so I’m used to it.” She looked at Pomni and smiled faintly. “I’m sure you’ll get along too.”

“Yeah… sure…” Pomni looked away and shivered slightly. She was a little afraid of Kinger and definitely did not plan to interact with him.

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

When they reached Kinger’s room, Ragatha led him inside, while Pomni, not daring to enter, simply peeked in. It was a small, dark room. In the middle lay an old mattress full of holes, with springs and stuffing sticking out. There was no other furniture and not even a lightbulb.

Inside, Ragatha released his hand and headed back toward the door.

“Good night, Kinger,” she said on the way.

“Thank you, Ragatha. And good night,” he shifted his gaze to Pomni. “Good night to you too, Pomni.”

“Uh… yeah… see you…” the girl mumbled and stepped away from the doorway. She had not expected the man to notice her, much less call her by name.

Ragatha left the room and closed the door behind her.

“Well? Shall we go?”

“One second…” Pomni’s gaze was directed away from their rooms. The doll followed her gaze. The jester was staring at the hole where Kaufmo’s door used to be. “Let’s take a look.”

Pomni started walking toward the hole. Ragatha stood and watched her for a moment, then slowly followed.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Come on, we’ll just take a look,” Pomni said as they approached.

The girls peered into the hole and saw Kaufmo’s room. It was similar to Kinger’s: a small area, an old mattress, no furniture, but at least it had a lightbulb. One thing caught their attention: on every wall, written in an unknown red liquid, was the word “exit.” On the floor was a smear of the same red liquid. It seemed the poor clown had been banging his head against the floor, then writing all those words in his own blood.

“Looks like… he really had problems with his head,” Pomni said, then immediately felt awkward.

“Well… considering he abstracted, he definitely did,” Ragatha sighed.

Pomni tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, asking an unspoken question. Ragatha understood.

“Well… honestly, I don’t really know how to explain it myself. I haven’t gone through anything like that. Abstraction is something like… a complete loss of sanity. Usually, Caine monitors our minds. But because of your arrival, he failed to monitor Kaufmo.”

“So… it really is my fault Kaufmo abstracted?” Pomni lowered her gaze to her feet. “I’m sorry.”

Ragatha lowered her gaze too.

“In the morning, Caine will fix the hole and put a cross on his picture, like he did with the others.”

She raised a hand and gestured toward another door. On it was the picture of a black chess queen figure, female, resembling Kinger. Her portrait was crossed out with a red X, the same kind Pomni had already seen on other doors. Now she at least understood what it meant.

Ragatha was silent for a while. Pomni thought tears glimmered in her eye, but she quickly blinked them away, lifted her head, and smiled.

“Well, I think it’s time for us to go to our rooms. Come on. Our rooms are right across from each other.”

She walked away from Kaufmo’s door, and Pomni followed her.

At first, they walked in silence.

“So…” Pomni tried to change the subject. “If Caine hates us, why did he give us rooms?”

“They existed before he hated humanity,” the doll explained. “He can’t delete the rooms. But he can make them impossible to live in.”

“Well… I guess that’s better than if we lived in… I don’t know, cages, right?”

“I’m… not sure.”

Finally, they reached their rooms. Ragatha approached her door and gave Pomni one last faint smile.

“Good night.”

“Yeah… see you tomorrow.” Pomni awkwardly waved to her, and Ragatha entered her room.

Pomni was left alone.

She took a deep breath and entered her own room. It was more or less what she had imagined: a small space, one old mattress in the middle, a lightbulb on the ceiling, and no furniture. The girl looked around for a light switch, but there was none.

“Great. Guess I’ll sleep with the light on. Thanks, Caine,” she thought to herself and lay down on the mattress. It was directly under the light source.

The girl got up and tried to move the mattress, but it did not shift even a millimeter, as if nailed to the floor. Pomni clenched her teeth, but there was nothing she could do. She lay down on the mattress, turned onto her side, and closed her eyes.

She began to think.

About home.

She no longer hoped. No longer believed.

She knew — there was no way out.

There was no logical explanation for it, but she was stuck here, God knew for how long. All these poor souls had already been here for at least three years. And how long would she be…

Tears gathered at the edges of her eyes. But she did not wipe them away. She did not want to. She had the right to cry.

She wanted all of this to turn out to be a nightmare. Why? Why was this happening to her? How could life turn upside down so completely in a single moment? All her plans, all her dreams, her future… all of it had gone to hell.

Now she was a toy in the Devil’s hands.

Tears streamed down her cheeks like a river, soaking into the mattress. Pomni covered her mouth with her hand. She did not want anyone to hear her crying, especially Caine. Still, a loud sob broke through the thick glove. The girl bit into her hand, trying to muffle the sobs, but it did not work. The only thing she could think to do was bury her face in the mattress and cry into it. The smell of urine and mold hit her “nose,” but Pomni did not care.

She sobbed.

She wanted to sob, and she would.

Let Caine hear her, for all she cared. Let him laugh. Let him mock her. Let him say whatever came into his head. She did not care about the opinion of an Artificial Intelligence that could not even explain why he hated them so much.

And she cried.

Cried almost the entire night.

Maybe those behind the wall heard her. Maybe Caine heard her. Maybe Jax, who might have listened out of curiosity, heard her. But she no longer wanted to keep all that despair trapped inside.

She already hated this place, these people, and most of all herself — for deciding to play this damned game.

But eventually, the tears ran out. Her emotions settled. Exhaustion took over, and Pomni fell into a short, restless, dreamless sleep.