Redwall: Behind the Mask

I just want you to know that this isn't what you expect it to be. This isn't some cliched lost episode creepypasta, but a link to one of the most terrifying and heartbreakingly cruel human experiments in history. Prepare to have your heart shattered to pieces.

The Disc
Redwall, an amazing fantasy series about anthro animals, isn't nearly as innocent as it seems. It is really quite scary, but made to seem adorable by using those funny creatures. Well, I'm not talking about  the books when I say this, but rather, the cartoon which was based on it. I recently received a disc from a friend of mine, but they said that they'd made a horrific discovery about the Redwall cartoon, and I had to see it.

I glanced down at the disc, on which was written, "Redwall: Behind the Mask" I, of course, had to watch it. What I saw was horrible. It was a scene of Redwall Abbey, on fire. Smoke was rising up from the belltower, and the Redwallers were screaming, trapped in the flames. Even Cluny the Scourge, the GUOSIM, the Sparras, and Squire Julian and Captain Snow were there as well, screaming, trying to claw their way out.

Cluny looked at the screen, crying. "Help us! he yelled. "Please! We should live normally! We are real! For the love of God, HELP US!" Then, his tail caught fire. Cluny gave a deafening, disturbing scream as the flame spread up his body, and he began trying to roll out the flames, but he just lay there, burning to death, with the others dissolving to ash around him. Something flashed across the screen. I paused the video, and rewound it frame by frame. The picture was something I have never seen before. It was this strange, reddish brown mist, hovering about, but it had a single, bloodshot eye floating above it. It was terrifying. The last frame of the video was a piece of French text, which roughly read, "Some are angels, some are devils. Most are the latter, few are the former."

The Children At The Studio
I had no idea who, or what, had made that video, but I was desperate to get to the bottom of it. So I traveled to Nelvana Studios, posing as a tourist, but really trying to work out what the hell made them design that video.

I was passing a room with the words, "Staff Only" written on it, when I heard someone screaming inside. "We can't just kill them!" screamed a man's voice. "They're humans, too!" "Then just kill the rat!" shouted another man's voice. "NO!" Shouted the first man, and I could somehow tell he was crying. "I'm not killing my own son just because of what you did to him!" "He's not your son anymore!" The other voice insisted. "He's Cluny the Scourge!" I was pretty alarmed by now, but the worst was yet to come. The first voice sounded more full of hurt and anger than ever before. "Cluny the Scourge, my foot! He was just another living person, and you turned him into a monster! I hate you! I hope you burn in Hell!" Then, there was the loud sound of a blow, and a body hitting the floor.

Suddenly, I heard someone running towards the door, and quickly backed away. A tall man with dark hair and pale blue eyes came staggering out. He just stared ahead of him for a few seconds, before falling to his knees and bursting into tears. I walked over to him, unsure of what to do or say. "Are you okay?" I asked. "Who was that, back there?" The man looked up at me with a timid, almost childish expression of hopefulness. "Will you help me?" He asked. "That man, back there, he has done something unspeakable. He's taken human beings and broken their beautiful spirits." "Who are you?" I asked. "Hunter Pluckheart, most people call me." he replied. With that, he began to pour out his terrible story.

"I was an intern who got to see the episodes of Redwall, just days before they aired," he said. "but I knew that there was more to this show than cute, fluffy animals. I don't know why, but I thought there could be a link between the show, and the disappearances of several children who lived in my town. It wasn't until my own son, who's already in his 20s, went missing that I decided to search the studio for clues. I found something unspeakable. But who are you, sir?" "John Birchleaf," I replied. "Will you show me what happened? That is, if it isn't too hard." There was a moment of silence. "Well, you'll need to see it if you'll tell the police about it," said Hunter.

As I followed him into the studio, I couldn't help but ask him why he didn't call the police himself. "That man, his name is Charles Burner, he said to me that if I didn't tell anyone, he'd let me live. If I told anyone, he would turn me into Ironbeak." "What does that mean?" I asked, but I was instantly distracted by the sight of a flight of stairs right ahead of us. They were heading down. Hunter switched on a light, and we went slowly down the rusty metal stairs.

At first, it seemed as though the corridor in front of us would never end, but we reached a door with the words "I - AM THAT IS" written on it. Just like that quote from Redwall. The door swung open. What I saw in that room was like a sight from Hell. There were gigantic cages in the room, all with a human child inside them. They were labelled like luggage and chained up like animals, each cage bearing the name of a Redwall character.

Matthias

Cornflower

Constance

Mattimeo

Basil Stag Hare

Orlando the Axe

Auma

Abbot Mortimer

Tess Churchmouse

Slagar the Cruel

In each cage, the children were dirty, beaten and barely alive. They were dressed in grubby animal outfits, complete with bunny or mouse ears. "Heeeelp..." they called feebly. "Hellllp uuuuusssss..." I felt tears running down my cheeks. I was horrifed with this insane crime against humanity. But what shocked me the most was Constance. She wasn't a human girl, nor was Orlando or Auma. They looked like...mutants. They were the result of a gory experiment involving the creation of human/badger hybrids. But what I caught sight of was a cage with a cloth over it. I walked over to it, but Hunter whispered desperately. "John, my son is under there," he hissed. "Don't lift the cloth!" But I already had.

The words "CLUNY THE SCOURGE" were scratched onto the top of the cage, but the monstrosity inside it was a terror to behold. It was a man, but genetically altered to resemble Cluny. His arms and legs were replaced by primate limbs, and his skull had been stretched to seem rat-like, and he had a robotic tail attached to the base of his spine. The tatty brown fur which had been fused into his skin had come from a bear, judging by its thickness. The poor creature looked up at me, reached out his hand and called pitifully. "I no' Cloony," he moaned. "I no' a mosta! I a man!"

Hunter began to cry. I could stand it no more. Turning on my phone, I saw to my relief that it still had a signal. I quickly dialled 911, and asked for pretty much all the emergency services. Before long, the children were returned to their families, and Hunter's son was submitted into the hospital. Burner was taken to the looney bin.

Epilogue
I think I know who made that video showing the true colours behind that cartoon. It was Hunter. It turned out that Burner had been involved with making the Redwall TV series, but before he could start work on season three, his family was killed in a huge car accident. He was driven to insanity with the loss, and began to capture children, forcing them to dress up as Redwall characters. He was driven deeper into insanity when he caught an entire family, and mutated them to look like badgers, and he also captured Hunter's son, transforming him into a mutant rat creature.

Hunter had made that video to get someone to watch it, so that they would come to the studios, and save those children. I guess I just saved a bunch of people's lives. But I haven't explained one thing. That strange, misty creature at the end of the video. It was an artists' depiction of Satan. Strangely, Hunter said he had had no intention of putting that picture in the video, and couldn't imagine why anyone would. At least I know I did a deed which would make me a hero, and a hero which would be way greater than Matthias, Mattimeo, or Martin the Warrior.