I woke up that morning. The sun was coming up, all the trees were knocked down from last night, the lions were still asleep, and the birds were gone. Everything was missing. I felt a little tickle on my shoulder. It was one of the lions trying to comfort me.

I was still sad about what happened last night. Everything was gone. All gone. Mom was back with her giant robot. She quickly got in it without anyone noticing. She turned it on, and everyone jumped back.

"Look who I’ve got now!"

Mom yelled.

"Shut up, mom!"

I replied.

"Don’t you talk like that to me, young one! You’ll pay for this!"

"What did I do?"

"Everything! Now it’s time to end you, little kitten!"

King cat decided that he’s had enough.

"All right you two, knock it off!"

He murmured.

"What should I?"

Mom asked.

"Because I’m king of the jungle!"

Mom shut up. Everything was silent.

"Here we go again,"

I muttered.

"Yep."

King Cat replied.

"It’s time you end your mother, now, young one!"

Mom jumped in her control room. She turned on the robot as I tried to run.

"Stay there, kitten! I’ll handle this!"

I ignored him and jumped out of the cage. The other lion’s blocked me from going near her and held me down. King Cat clawed onto Mom’s giant robot and climbed it. Mom tried to fling him off, but King Cat was holding on too tight.

"Pass me The Legend Sword!"

King Cat yelled to his guards. One of them put me back into the cage and put a roof on it, while the others threw The Legend Sword to King Cat.

I watched them as they battled and flung each other into the air. They were very fascinating to watch. King Cat finally stabbed the robot and jumped down.

"Get away from the robot! Save yourselves! I’ll get the kitten."

He shouted. Mom kept trying to control the robot, but it wouldn’t do anything or activate itself. King Cat threw off the roof of my cage and lifted the bars. I ran out, away from King Cat.

"I’ll be there in a minute!"

He yelled.

"Follow the others! Save yourself, young one!"

I did as I was told to do. King Cat fought mom again, and I ran back to the others.

"What’s he doing?"

A guard asked.

"He’s fighting with her!"

I replied.

The guards rushed back, and I stayed here all alone. One guard screamed at another.

"One of you, go watch the kitten!"

The guard sprang into action and rushed back over to me. I quickly hid over to a bush.

"It’s okay, little kitten! You’re safe with me!"

I came out of my hiding spot and pawed at the guard.

"You’re a sweet little one, aren’t you?"

I squeaked out a meow. My meow was so tiny, that it sounded like a squeaking mouse!

The guard held out his arms and squeezed me tight.

"It’s going to be fine. I promise."

I never met a lion as nice as this one. It was my second day of being born, and I met a lion already? Tears came out of my eyes. I glared at the nice lion guard with big eyes and a smile on my scratched-up mouth.

The other guards and King Cat came back safely.

"I think your mother’s dead, young one! I’m sorry. I wish that she didn’t treat you like no one. She wasn’t that nice to me either."

King Cat said.

"If she was nice to me, then I’d be sad,"

I began.

"Because she wasn’t, I’m not going to forgive her, ever."

King Cat cried a little bit. He fell to the ground. Mom was standing over his body with a bow and some arrows.

"No, mom how could you?"

I asked. I ran away and sped up. Mom killed all the guards, and the last one screamed,

"Fight and defeat this filthy cat! Win this battle against her! Survive against the evil and dangerous turns!"

I listened to what he had to say. I ran from my new home, far and farther away from King Cat and the nicest guards I’ve ever met so far.

I paused for a moment, breathing heavily. I ran over to a pond to get a quick drink of water.

"What should I do now?"

I asked. I ran even more, until I entered a strange stone in front of me. It was a wall of ancient bricks and strong, thick vines. I pressed on the wall, but nothing came. I felt a movement in the wall and came to the right side of it.

"What is this? What is it doing here?"

I found a strange map in a bottle lying in the sand.

"What’s this doing here? Dos it have something to do with the wall?"

I opened it up. It had a map and a compass inside of it. I saw a code on the back that read this:

I am a silver and awkward thing. You can unlock me. I give clues, but I’m not a person. What am I?

I thought for a long while, until I read it repeatedly. It got me a second later.

"Is it a lock?"

I asked. The stone wall opened. There was a secret door hidden behind it! I walked inside, and the door closed. I entered a tunnel and felt my paws feel wet.

"Gross! This is a sewer of some sort! It has old water in it!"

The water was bright green and had a bunch of bugs hanging around in it. I looked forward, trying to igrnore the water. I walked farther into the tunnel. There was a left, right, and a straight path.

"Which way do I go?"

I whispered. I watched the sewer water dry away. I saw it flow into a light that was too bright for me to see. I covered my eyes and kept walking straight. I entered an area I’ve never seen before. I quickly walked forward, then looked back.

"What is this place?"

I asked.

"How did I get here?"

Again, there was the same thing, except for lots of traps and obstacles that could get in my way. I walked forward and watched my feet. I saw purple lasers that could spawn lightning and fry you in less than half a millisecond.

I saw the same thing. Tunnels leaving to different directions. Sharp parkour courses and a strange, white sword. I snuck up onto the bricks that were covering up the white sword. I tried to touch the glass, but it was electric! It electrified me, leaving a big, white scar on my left paw. I back up and decided that it was too dangerous to touch.

"That thing looks like it belonged to someone else!"

I whispered. A flash of another tunnel caught the corner of my eye, and I followed where it led me to. I left the white sword and kept following the other tunnel. I bonked into a wall.

"Ouch!"

I yelped, looking around and shaking my head.

"What’s this? It looks like a secret code!"

I’ve never seen stuff like this before. I scrubbed off the lettering, in what case it was covered it dirt. I peeled off the vines and read it. It was a message that wasn’t even readable. I tried it repeatedly, twisting my tongue a bunch of times. I couldn’t get it at all, not even one word right.

"Wait a second,"

I paused.

"Could this be in another language? Or is it something with the tunnel itself?"

The lettering turned from mysterious letters to great English that I could read. It explained some sort of process.

Tunnel Escape Plan

It began.

"What does that mean?"

I kept reading it.

Step 1: Using the tunnels, find your way using your lefts, rights, straight and backwards.

Step 2: Crack each code going into all the 650 tunnels.

Step 3: Avoid traps and shortcuts. Using shortcuts could end your adventures.

Step 4: Find the second bright light. The second bright light should be red.

Step 5: After seeing the bright light, you’ve now found an ancient crystal that could take you to another tunnel area!

Step 6: When you find the crystal, hold it in your hands for 5 seconds, exactly, then throw it on the ground.

Step 7: Once the crystal’s fully broken, you’ll get to repeat steps 1-6 until you reach the end of it! There will be ancient cities, different animals, mythical creatures, and more on the way!

Step 8: Once you have completed all the following steps, please remember to finish the maze by finding the end of the last tunnel. Once you have found it, crack the code at the end of the tunnel to see what to do next to escape.

I was confused.

"What is this thing? Is this some kind of joke?"

I asked. I stared at the steps for a few minutes, then I got it.

"Step 1."

I began.

"I’ve got to start Step 1."

I pulled out a pen from my pocket and wrote down all the steps. I pushed down onto the stone wall and finished the steps. I put it in my pocket and decided, that whatever this is supposed to be, or whatever I’m supposed to do at the end of the maze, should be done.

"Let’s do it!"

I said, running over to one of the tunnels.

Next Chapter: Chapter Three: Tunnel 1- The Crystal’s Arrive