☆～Wings of Dreams～☆

Chapter 2: Feathers and Fur

      I woke up suddenly, as if I had been plunged into a lake. The air felt humid, and everything seemed to have grown. I felt so... small. I tried to take a step, testing my balance, and I realized I didn't have hands to balance with. Weird. I could walk, although unsteadily, so I didn't think much of it. I was feeling a strange calling to the forest, like I needed to go there. There's a shortcut through the forest anyway, I thought to myself as I carefully  across the forest ground. I had a bad feeling about this, as if my head was telling me to go home, but my heart wanted to go to the forest. I've been told to follow your heart, so I went through the forest. You'll be fine, I told myself as I wobbled toward the forest. I had the strange feeling that I'd come to regret this much, much later. Who knows?  I thought to myself as I headed into the woods.

•☆•【<◊>】•☆•

      I continued moving through the forest for over an hour, but I couldn't find the shortcut that I usually took. The forest had almost no signs of any life form besides (obviously) plants. I was really alone here. I definitely wouldn't be back for dinner, like I told my mother. Sorry, Mom, I guess I won't be home for dinner after all. Walking through the forest felt easier now, as if I had been doing it my whole life. I walked for a bit longer until I found a pathway. It must be the shortcut, I told myself. After all, I was already lost. Things couldn't get any worse. I followed the trail.

•☆•【<◊>】•☆•

      The trail until I came across a mysterious lake. The lake was beautiful, shimmering, and it looked... purple? Almost purple, like a periwinkle. I felt drawn to it, just as I had felt with the necklace. Then I remembered that I had lost consciousness after I put the necklace on, and I took a good three steps away  from the lake.

      "Are you lost, kit?" Said- wait, no- Meowed a rough female voice behind me. I felt as if I were going to jump out of my skin, because of how that voice startled me. I turned around to confront this voice, to tell her that I wasn't lost or a... whatever she called me. I was very confused why it sounded like a meow, but was completely understandable. When I turned around I saw...

       "A cat?! What? How are you talking?!" I said. This was so confusing. I must still be dreaming, I must still be unconscious, this has to be a dream...

      The cat laughed. "'How are you talking?' I could ask you the same question, kit."

      "Stop calling me 'kit'! My name is Aurora!"

      "I'm calling you 'kit' because you are a kit. You look only 5 moons!"

      "What's that supposed to mean?"

      "It means you aren't old enough to start training, or even leave camp!"

      "Can we go back to the fact that I can understand you?"

      I was talking with a cat. She had stone gray fur, with darker splotches scattered across her pelt. Right between her eyes was a splatter of dark ginger fur, covered by a jagged scar. Her green eyes were harsh, and had a dullness hidden in them that I was familiar with.

      The gray she-cat looked at me weird, but didn't reply, so I continued. "It's so weird because you are a cat. People aren't able to understand what cats say, so I shouldn't be able to understand you."

      "Um, in case you haven't noticed yet, you are a cat. Are you stupid? Did you hit your head and lose your memory? Or are you just trying to aggravate me? If so, I wouldn't recommend that. I am not one who sheaths her claws in battle," She said.

      I was shocked. Then I started to laugh at this comedy of a dream, though it was a nervous laugh. Wow. This is a super weird dream. Really entertaining. Can I wake up now? "What do you mean?" I said, barely getting the sound out between breaths, my voice shaky. "I'm not a cat."

      The cat's expression turned from patient to aggressive. I had never noticed that cats had expressions. She walked toward me, and then took her paw and swatted at me across the face.

      I immediately stopped laughing. I felt that. "Ow! What was that for?!"

      "To shock you back from insanity, you prey-brain. Get a grip on reality, because you are a cat. Did you hear me? You are a cat. Look at your reflection in the water if you still don't believe me."

      Is this a dream? That slap really hurt. ...What if this is real? No, no, this has to be a dream. Humans don't understand cats. I'm not a cat. Lakes aren't purple. But most importantly, I am not a cat. "Ok, sure, whatever, but I'm not a cat."

      Wow, real convincing, my brain said.

      Shut up, I told it.

      I walked towards the purple lake, my heart beating so fast I thought it was going to fly out of my body, my very human body. After what felt like a century, I reached the edge, and when I looked into the lavender depths, I was shocked to my very core.

      "Uh?" I said intelligently. In my reflection I saw a black cat, with one blue eye and one green eye. Just like my normal eyes. But those aren't my normal eyes. My eyes were cat eyes, just like all the cats in those pet food commercials. But the ca- my  fur wasn't completely black. There was a white spot on my forehead, like in the shape of a four-pointed star. 

      "What?!  H-How is this real? This can't be real. I have to be dreaming," I frantically told myself, probably reinforcing the notion that I was a crazy person to the she-cat, who, unfortunately, was still  here.

      "It's very real, I assure you," she said, her stare burning into me, making me uncomfortable. "But the question I'm asking you is how you got that amulet you have."

      "Why are you so interested in it?" I asked, feeling my fur rise and my ears swivel back.

       "Because that is one of the 6 Elemental Amulets, and you are obviously oblivious about the amount of power they contain."

      "I got a demonstration. I'm supposed to be a..."

      "What? You're supposed to be a what?"

      I stopped myself from saying human. I shouldn't be so quick to trust a random person.

      "Ah, okay. So you just found a sacred item of great power. I got it." The cat laughed, but it wasn't a friendly laugh. "You're still messing with me. Okay, okay, I get it. You're just some fancy Sky Kingdom prey-brained fox-heart who thinks you can pick on the Earth Kingdom cats like me. I get it, I get it. I'm probably your easiest target. Okay, kit, I want to see those fancy Sky Kingdom skills."

      Then she attacked.