They barely made it out of the Candy Keep before the ground started melting behind them.
Literally.
A wave of liquefied caramel sludge oozed from the throne room, gobbling up everything like a molasses tsunami.
"RUN!" Rafael shouted, even though they were already sprinting across a cookie cobblestone bridge that was rapidly turning into soup.
Calyx yanked Stanley by the collar. "We get one moment of triumph, and the dungeon goes full gastric reflux!"
They dove off the bridge just as the final chunk collapsed behind them. The caramel wave crashed into a gingerbread tower and dissolved it with a burp.
They landed in a pile of sour sugar sand.
For a moment, no one moved.
Then Stanley rolled over, still in his sticky marshmallow armor, and groaned, "Is it over?"
"No," said a voice that sounded like it gargled with soda syrup.
They turned.
Sitting atop a gumdrop boulder was a massive gummy worm. Translucent, rainbow-colored, and easily the size of a small elephant, it pulsed with weird energy. Its head turned toward them slowly, its beady candy eyes gleaming with eldritch awareness.
"I am the Gummy Oracle," it intoned. "And you are late."
"For what?" Calyx asked, visibly done with sugar-based surprises.
"The Prophecy of the Forbidden Flavor," the worm said ominously. "It has begun."
Stanley blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"
The Gummy Oracle slithered down the rock with a squish, its body undulating with an almost sensual grace that made all three of them slightly uncomfortable.
"The Dungeon has many truths," it said. "Most are sticky. Some are chewy. But one… one is sour."
Rafael narrowed his eyes. "Let me guess. We're involved?"
"You are the Unbaked," the Oracle said. "The Unflavored. The ones who must choose."
A scroll made of taffy appeared in its mouth. It spat it out with a wet slap onto the sand.
Calyx unrolled it. "This is just… a map to a place called the Citadel of Citrus Wrath."
"Only there," the Oracle moaned, "will the Forbidden Flavor reveal itself."
Stanley stared. "Is it lemon?"
The Gummy Oracle's entire body convulsed in what looked like religious fury.
"NEVER SAY ITS NAME."
"Okay, wow," Rafael muttered. "So, what happens if we just don't go?"
The sand darkened.
The Oracle's eyes glowed.
"The Dungeon eats itself," it said. "All flavors collapse. All walls melt. Even the sluttiest demons become… tangy."
Everyone went silent.
Calyx slowly turned to Rafael. "We need to go to the citrus place."
"Yeah," Rafael said. "No one's getting turned into orange-flavored anything on my watch."
"Good," said the Oracle. "But beware. The path is guarded by the Jawbreakers of Judgment. They test your resistance. Your crunch. Your inner strength."
Rafael sighed. "Of course it is."
Stanley squinted at the map. "Looks like we go through the Licorice Marsh, the Taffy Dunes, and then past something called the Gelatinous Choir."
"What the hell is the Gelatinous Choir?" Calyx asked.
The Gummy Oracle shivered. "They sing."
"That doesn't sound so bad."
"With your memories."
"Okay," Rafael said. "Nope. We're leaving."
As they started walking, the Oracle called after them, "Wait!"
They turned.
"You'll need this," it said, horking up a glowing green orb the size of a grapefruit.
Stanley caught it. It pulsed in his hands and made a high-pitched giggle.
"What is it?" he asked.
"The Seed of Sour," the Oracle whispered. "Keep it safe. If it hatches early, you'll all taste colors that shouldn't exist."
"Yay," Stanley said flatly.
They continued through the sugar dunes, the orb pulsing gently in Stanley's arms.
After an hour of walking, the novelty of dessert hell had worn off. The dunes gave way to a shallow licorice bog, where licorice vines tried to trip them and whisper bad pick-up lines.
Calyx cut one in half. "If I hear one more sentient vine tell me I 'look sweet enough to lick,' I'm going to salt the earth."
Eventually, they reached a taffy village, or rather, what remained of one.
Melted, stretched homes sagged around a central plaza, where the ground had caved in to reveal a circular sinkhole of deep purple goo.
A signpost leaned nearby, half-eaten by something with syrup fangs.
It read: [Welcome to Chewton Hollow – Population: Not Anymore.]
"I don't like this," Stanley said.
The moment he finished speaking, the ground beneath them shuddered.
A low hum rose in the air.
Then a horrific harmony of voices echoed from the sinkhole, each one mimicking a different part of their lives.
"I never wanted to be a loser," one voice said, Rafael's voice.
"Please don't leave me behind," another Stanley's said.
"I don't need anyone," came Calyx's voice, tinged with bitter pride.
They turned, weapons ready, as a wave of gelatin bear rose from the pit. It pulsed and shimmered like oil, its mass shifting constantly. Faces formed and vanished across its surface.
The Gelatinous Choir.
It sang in them.
"Back away slowly," Rafael whispered.
"No," Calyx said, stepping forward. "Let's do this."
She hurled a gumdrop grenade.
It exploded with a harmonic shriek. The Choir staggered, splitting into smaller blobs that lunged forward, screeching with fragments of their voices.
Stanley lobbed the Seed of Sour into the biggest one. The orb struck, pulsed, then hatched, unleashing a neon green explosion of tart energy.
The Choir screamed.
It vibrated violently, shook itself apart, and splattered across the ground in a puddle of shivering goo.
Rafael stared. "I guess that was the right move."
Stanley blinked. "I taste lime. In my bones."
Calyx picked up a still-shaking blob and squashed it. "Let's keep moving before something worse sings at us."
They made a move.
Past broken candy ruins. Past melted statues of gingerbread kings. And finally, they stood before a gate made of lemon zest and glowing limes.
Beyond it, the Citadel of Citrus Wrath loomed.
Spiked spires. Electric yellow walls. And a scent so sour it made their eyes watery.
Rafael groaned. "Here we go again."
Calyx grinned, whip at the ready. "Let's stir the pot."
Stanley looked at the pulsing orb fragment in his hand and whispered, "Forbidden Flavor, here we come."
***