Way of the Slugcat

The Unexpected

The cycle ended as usual. Boring. Mundane. Find a shelter, wiggle inside, and go to sleep as the rain begins to fall. It really was getting on Thorns' nerves. Oh, how he longed for silence, the complete, blissful silence of the void. He knew now that it had spat him out for a reason.
"Oh Thooorns!" A voice called. Was that Night? It sounded much more cheery than normal. "It's time to get up! Hurry, hurry, this cycle is a big one!"
Thorns lazily pried his eyes open. Night was standing over him, a huge grin plastered across his muzzle. In his paws, he held a brightly colored mushroom by its stem. The shade of white that coated it's surface was so prominent in Thorns' eyes that it almost seemed to glow. At first, he took interest in this new oddity that his friend had discovered. Then, he realized what it was.
"Night! What the hell do you think you are doing with that!? The last time I consumed one of those mushrooms, the Elders scolded me for cycles! Where did you even find it?"
"Oooh, there were a few outside!"
"And you ate one!?"
"What? No, I only had a teensy bit of a taste!" The black slugcat leaned forwards, his nose almost touching Thorns. "Just a liiiiitle bit! And then that little bit turned into a lot bit, so now there's only one for you..."
"NIGHT!" Thorns thrust both paws onto his friend, sending him stumbling backwards. Somehow, he stayed upright. "Why on earth would you think that was a good idea!?"
"Well," Night frowned. "...you looked sad and slow, but we need to go speedy this cycle! I figured that we needed a little pick me up, so I picked some mushrooms for us. Besiiiiiides, it doesn't last too long!" Night extended the mushroom towards Thorns. The white slugcat took a deep breath. It's release startled up a small cloud of sediment from the ground, tickling his nose ever so slightly. He resisted the urge to sneeze, just as he did the urge to angrily scold his friend.
"I do not want one. Thank you for thinking of me, but I can move quickly enough without its effects."
"Then how about you try to keep up?" Night's cheery expression returned, this time with a hint of mischief behind his usually calm eyes. A split second later, the only thing left in Night's previous position was a cloud of dust. A fit of hysterical laughter echoed from outside the chamber. "Catch me if you can, little kitten!"
"Kitten!?" Thorns exclaimed. No, he would not stand for this. He was no mere kitten, he was a fully grown, adult slugcat! He felt his lips part as a smile spread across his visage.
"Ready or not, Night, here I come!"

He had never seen anything move so fast in his entire existence. Night's body went from a slugcat to black streak in a matter of seconds. Thorns followed the best he could, jumping from the shelter's entrance into the hallway on all fours. His front paws pulled him forwards through the air, his own momentum flinging his ears backwards. Pipes and barrels flew by the corner of his eye. Thorns was not entirely sure if going this speed down an unfamiliar tunnel was a particularly good idea, but Night seemed to think that it would be fine. Then again, he wasn't exactly in his best state of mind...
A burst of sunlight hit him in the eyes as the tunnel abruptly ended. The slugcats left the vines and pipes behind them as they continued into the open. Night had not slowed his pace. Still, Thorns seemed to be gaining on the blurred streak of midnight in front of him.
He will not get away! I can outpace him! Just a little closer...
A skyward screech caught the Slugcat off guard. His eyes flew to the sky in search of his familiar sounding assailant. It was only then that his mind slowed down enough to take a gander at where this chase had put him.
Two steam pipes rose from the base of the crumbling factory on either side of him, one of which he had just emerged from. The other pipe rose from the remains of a completely separate section of the lonesome building. The only thing connecting the two was a strip of iron scaffolding, suspended above a mere skeleton of what was once a bridge. Thorns wrenched his eyes skyward, doing his best to convince his mind that the scaffolding was much wider than it actually was. The clouds seemed much closer now, splattering the baby blue sky with swaths of white. It was almost beautiful. There was, however, something ruining it.
The clouds parted to reveal a curtain of green wings descending from the heavens. A vulture's head followed, beady red eyes shining bright on its maskless face. They were centered right on Thorns.
"Woah, Night! NIGHT! IT IS BACK! IT CAME BACK FOR BLOOD!"
"Whaaaat? I don't have any mud!"
"No, BLOOD! I said BLOOD!"
"Whaaaat?"
Well, he is not going to be of any help. Stupid mushroom...
Wind rippled down his back as the vulture neared his position. Thorns could smell the noxious gasses that spewed from the predator's body, propelling it forwards in pursuit of its revenge. It obviously recognized him. That stupid, no good rat with the pointy stick! It was his fault that the vulture now lived without its precious mask! The bird wanted revenge, and the slugcat wanted life. The tables had turned.
All Thorns could think about now was running. Night's silhouette seemed so far away now... His legs ached, his lungs burned. Like batflies to clothing, it seemed as though they would eat a hole through his chest. He could feel the vulture's breath on his back. It's feathers brushed his tail as it plunged its wings into the scaffolding, giving up on flying entirely in favor of a grounded chase. Thorns sprinted faster, as fast as his tiny legs could handle! He could see Night clearly now, waiting for him on the other side of the bridge. An opening in the steam pipe sheltered him from aerial attacks. Thorns was almost there... almost there! Closer... closer...
Wait. What is that beeping noise?
His ears instinctively swiveled around in an attempt to locate it. He could easily hear the vulture's frustrated cries, as well as the sound of its wings pulling it along the scaffolding. The beeping was not coming from its direction.
Then where is it-
The vulture screamed. It screamed a scream that Thorns had never heard before, an agony that he had never witnessed. A glance over his shoulder revealed the beast plummeting off the scaffolding head first, its ribbon like feathers following close behind. Something else came with it. A massive, red stained horn had embedded itself into the bird's neck. A ghastly sight it was, to see his pursuer tumble into oblivion with such a crude weapon plunged straight through its throat. A wire was attached to one end, and seemed to grow taught as the vulture fell. Then, a blur of red feathers consumed Thorns' vision.
"Night! Night! What the hell is that thing!? Ni-"
"Stop!"
Thorns skidded to a halt. He had finally reached the other end of the bridge and was more than relieved to have a roof over his head once again. He felt as if his chest were about to burst with anxiety.
"What the hell, Night! You should have warned me about that!"
"I did not have to! It warned you." Night giggled. "Did you not see the red lights?"
"No! I was too busy running for my life!"
"Oh, okay. That makes total sense!" He still had a giddy smile plastered to his face. He put a paw on his forehead. "Oh good karma, my head hurts. I think... it is wearing off..."
"Good! Now tell me, what happened back there? If that horn had been a little further forwards, I would have been impaled!"
"Well, vultures do not like each other when they lose their masks. It makes them look weak, so the others pick on the maskless ones."
"So that thing with the red feathers was another vulture!?"
"Yes. Except that one had horns. Flying horns. Oh... I need to sit down..."
Night plopped himself down in the exact position of where he stood. Thorns did the same, still working on catching his breath.
"So... the horned vulture hunted the green vulture down because it did not have a mask?"
"Mhm... yes."
"And it did not have a mask because of me."
"Correct."
"Will it get its mask back when it wakes up?"
"I am not sure."
"Oh..." Thorns sighed. A tinge of guilt crept its way to his heart.
Something touched his back. Thorns looked over at Night, who was using both paws to massage his head. He turned around.
A massive, orange insect had crawled out from somewhere in the rubble behind him. Its body was at least thirty feet long, sporting a countless number of tiny black legs. It's pincers had grasped Thorns' back. He screamed and tried to pull away, but the centipede did not have any plans of letting go. He watched in horror as its abdomen crept up from the other side of the room, sparking as it drew closer to its other end. As he scrambled to find a weapon, he saw that Night was already on it, taking handfuls of rocks and flinging them at the horrid insect. It did not seem phased. Its other end clamped onto Thorns' squirming body.
Sizzling pain coursed through his chest, his limbs, his tail, his head... everywhere. Electricity sparked before his eyes. Every nerve in his body was fried, melted, burning up...
And everything went dark.

Mechanical clanks and whirs filled the room. Thorns startled awake to their cries as a soft light filtered into the chamber. The shelter door was open. He stared at it, inhaling heavy breaths as quickly as he could. He could still feel the singing shock of the centipede pulsing through his body. The pain was only a ghost, only a memory, and yet it still felt as if it were fresh from the insect's pincers. Thorns' breath mingled with the dust on the floor, the newly formed clouds tickling his nose. This time, he did not bother resisting.
"Ah-chew!"
"You sneeze like a kitten." Came a half hearted chuckle from the corner.
"Night!" He is here! He is still here! Thank the good karma! But... how? Did he...!?
"That fall kind of hurt. You had better be worth it." His friend's little light shivered slightly as he adjusted himself, grimacing in pain. Thorns watched him bring a paw to his neck and massage the back of it.
"Wait, fall? What fall? I only remember-" Thorns shuddered at the memory. The fact that he could now check off the "being shocked to death by a massive centipede" box on his "activities I would never like to participate in" list threw him for a bit of a loop. Had it all been a dream? It had felt like one, but Thorns knew better than that. He knew much, much better than that. Never again would he underestimate the capabilities of a bug.
"Oh. Yes, you would not know, would you? The scaffolding bridge was fairly high up, so I ran over there and tossed myself off of it. Electrocution is not the ideal way to go."
"Y-you... you WHAT!?"
"I ran over to the bridge and tossed myself off of it. I am fairly certain that I hit my neck somewhere on the way down, because I don't remember hitting the bottom."
Thorns could not form any words for a response. Night shrugged.
"Oh well."
Oh well. Oh well? Was that all he had to say? Surely, a trip into oblivion would have at least some impact on an individual, no matter how many times it happened! The fact that he had willingly given himself up just for the sake of staying together, let alone accepted it right after it occurred, left Thorns in a state of disbelief.
"It is nothing to be afraid of, Thorns." Night continued. "In this world, you use all things to your advantage. Death is not always a setback, nor is it unavoidable. It is not indefinite, making it more of a tool, or slight frustration, than anything else. If it were more... permanent, however..." Night's white gaze fell onto Thorns. The beginnings of a shiver prickled up the back of his neck.
He knows.
But how? He seemed so clueless before.
"Alright, that is it!" His eyes locked on to his target, holding him there, attempting to pry into his mind. He would not get away this time. "When we first met, you seemed utterly clueless about the concept of ascension. Since then, you have mentioned it several times. You have given me extremely specific orders on multiple topics and have refused to answer any of my inquiries. Speaking of which, I still have no idea where we are headed! Where are we headed Night? Where are we going!?"
"Well..." Night squirmed a bit. His gaze flitted from one side of the room to the other. He seemed to be holding his breath. Then...
He blinked. He blinked and walked away. The grasp that Thorns had thought he had was no more.
"We must get going!" Night commented, almost too cheerily. "We need to make progress before the rain begins. Hopefully we can avoid the centipede this time. We know exactly where it is this cycle, so if we hurry we can..." The black slugcat droned on as he made his way to the shelter door. Useless bits of information spewed from his mouth, his words filling the empty space around him like a leak sprung from a hose. He left no room for anything else. Thorns followed him outside, a slight feeling of frustration bubbling up inside his chest.
He will not be able to dodge the question forever, he reassured himself. One of these cycles, I will get my answer.

Death
A synonym to rebirth.