The Beginning

Chapter 11

Riley's world went dark again, and the whispers assaulted her, wavering her confidence and giving her self doubt. "Just relax and let the journey take you. Close your eyes," Jhaufyther whispered to her. She obeyed, and let herself sleep.

When Riley opens her eyes again, she notices that she's wearing a chiton and sandals. She looks around for her friends, not seeing them anywhere. A yell comes from the sky, and she looks up to see Carlos plummeting to the ground. Panicking, she tries to catch Carlos, only to be a couple of inches off. Carlos groans and rubs his head. She runs over and checks him for any injuries. "Are you hurt?" she asks, looking over his arms.
He shakes his head. "I'm not. Thanks for asking, though."
Sam comes out of the bushes, her hair disheveled. "Where are we? This isn't the present," she says, looking around her.
"REALLY? I didn't KNOW this wasn't the present, thanks for noticing," Carlos says, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"That was... fair," Sam admits. "But where are we?"
The ground shakes as something approaches them. Riley turns to Carlos and Sam. "Hide!" she hisses, diving into the nearest bush. She hears Carlos hide to her right, and she sees Sam hide in the bush next to them.
A Catwing comes slithering through, taking Riley's breath away. It is so STUNNING. It has white fur with brown patches on its back and sides, and blue and gray fur on its neck and tail. It's breathing heavily, taking deep breaths. It gasps and collapses at the entrance, yowling out, "Beri! SLAUGHLITTE! THE KHITS ARE COMINGGG!"
A massive gray Catwing comes flying down, its fur straight up. "Lephhice, just breathe, okay? You're really, really close to the healing den," it says, pushing the female up.
Riley just realizes that she can understand what they're saying. "Carlos, am I the only one that knows what's going on?" she whispers to him.
He shakes his head. "I can also understand them. Is this, like, a vision of the past?"
Riley is about to answer when the female snaps, "How am I supposed to walk when the khits are about to be born?"
A smaller brown Catwing flies in and lands beside the female. "We can carry you inside the den if you can't walk there," she soothes, gently nudging the smaller female.
The female closes her eyes and breathes deeply. "Alright. Just... be careful, please? I don't want to hurt the khits," she says.
The gray male licks her head. "We'll make sure that we don't do anything to hurt your khits," he meows, nudging the female toward the den.
The female gets up and waddles toward the den, lying down on the bed. Riley slowly creeps out of the bush and peeks inside, a disgusting smell coming from the den. She tries her best not to gag even though the smell assaults her nostrils.
The female roars in pain, and Riley can see the sweat that's pouring down the female's body. Another brown furred female licks her head. "Everything will be okay. Just hang on for a couple more minutes," she whispers.
A blue and tabby male flies in, panting. "Is she okay?" he says, looking at the female.
The gray male nods. "She is, but the khits are having a hard time getting out. Just hang on for a bit more."
The other male walks inside and nuzzles the female. "It's going to be alright. I'm here now."
The female stops roaring and sighs. The gray male smiles. "The khits are out now. Congratulations!"
The female smiles in relief. "Thank you for being there for me."
As soon as the male sees the khits, he steps back. "How..."
Riley looks down and tries her best not to gasp out loud. The khits are the most beautiful thing she has ever seen. One of them has gray fur that looks so slick, its tail promising to be like a long plume of smoke. The other one has gorgeous, luscious, silky brown fur, its tail soft and bushy. What throws Riley off the most, and she sees the Catwings slowly step away, is seeing the last khit. Its fur is a silky, blue and white coloration that looks like it can blend in with the sky. Its tail is a plumy, bushy plume of smoke that trails behind it. The female looks at two of the Catwings. The other female leans against the gray male. "They're so beautiful," she whispers. The gray male nods. "They are. I can see where they got their coloration from," he meows, looking at Lephhice's fur markings.
"Do you know what's happening right now?" Carlos whispers to her.
"Some khits were born," she whispers back, looking at him.
"I don't get why they reacted that way though," he answers. Then he looks over Riley's shoulder and inhales sharply. "NOW I see why," he says, his eyes widening. The blue and tabby male nuzzles the smaller female. "As long as I have healthy and happy khits, it doesn't matter for me whether they're not pretty," he says teasingly.
The air bent around Riley, yanking her out of the vision. She was back in the Kaos, and Jhaufyther was sitting beside her. "Do you know what that was?" he asked, tilting his head.
She shook her head. "Those khits seemed familiar..." she said.
Carlos popped out beside her. "Was that... you?" he asked, looking at Jhaufyther.
He nodded. "Yeah. That was when we were born. The blue and tabby male is my father, Claugrouw. The white with brown, blue, and gray patched female is my mother, Lephhice. The gray male and the brown female are Slaughlitte and Burnscritch. There was another Catwing there, my mother's sister, Beriflit, but the vision ended. I just wanted to tell you that this is only the beginning."
"The beginning of-" Riley got cut off as she was transported back into the vision, this time in a different place.
She sees Lephhice walk out of her den, breathing in the sunlight. She turns and gasps, stepping back. Riley peeks in and sees big blue eyes from baby Jhaufyther, a blue so startling that she too steps back. A young Clauchice opens earth green eyes and stares at her brother, her eyes shining. Lhrioun's eyes are glowing magma, pulsing a bright orange. The young Jhaufyther rolls his eyes. "Mommy, tell Clauchice that she's NOT supreme McFart, and that I'M supposed to be them today!" he says, his long tail in the air as he walks toward her.
"Jhaufyther, you aren't worth enough to be them. Me and Lhrioun are stronger than you," Clauchice snarks. Riley winces. That was really, really cold, she thinks.
Jhaufyther's tail and tiny wings droop. Lhrioun runs out and bows down, his tail flicking from side to side. "Jhaufyther, don't listen to her. She's just jealous that you are very pretty," he says sincerely. Jhaufyther brightens and smiles. "Thanks! Mommy, can you please tell Clauchice to stop being egotististical?" he says, looking up at her.
Lephhice laughs. "It's 'egotistical', and of course I'll tell her."
Jhaufyther frowns, looking offended. "That's what I said! 'Egotististical' See?"
Lhrioun lunges and tackles him, pinning him to the ground. "It's 'egotistical'! You added another 'tist' to it. But you do have a point. She IS very egotistical."
Clauchice tosses her head and narrows her eyes. "Whatever. I still think Jhaufyther is worthless."
The vision went blurry, and Riley blinked. "Why were you saying those things?" she said to no one in particular. Matter shifted as Clauchice appeared, her tail drooping. "I haven't told my brother yet, but I was really, really jealous of him. He is easily the most beautiful Catwing to exist, and I felt demoted by that," she said sadly. "I'm not proud of it, but he did get me back."
The vision wrapped around Riley again and she was put beside a lake.
Riley sees Jhaufyther glaring at his sister, and she guesses that she made a snarky comment to him, as usual. Jhaufyther whispers, "Sky, blast her with lightning! Everything you got, blast her with it!" A flash of lightning appears before Riley's eyes, striking Clauchice. The smell of burnt fur wafts into Riley's nostrils. She gags, covering her nose.
Riley watches as Jhaufyther looks at his mother, who widens her eyes and watches in shock. "Who's the small one now, Clauchice?" he hisses at his sister. "After years of being tormented by YOU, I've had enough. You deserve the punishment that I gave you."
His eyes and fur stop glowing, and she hears him yelp, looking at his paws, then looks at the sky. Uncertainty is on his face as he walks toward Clauchice, who is still trembling in fear. His tail flicks and he looks at his brother. Riley expects Lhrioun to start yelling at his brother, scolding him for what he did. To her surprise, Lhrioun awe-strikingly whispers, "How did you do that? That was really, really cool!"
Jhaufyther's eyes widen and he shrugs absently. "I... I don't know, to be honest. I, um... just told the sky to zap her with lightning. I didn't know it would actually happen!"
He stands in front of Clauchice, and Riley can see that he is catching up to her. He licks her head, and touches his nose with his. "I'm so, so sorry for zapping you, Clauchice. I was so angry for everything that you have told and done to me that I-I just... snapped."
Clauchice sighs, her wings drooping. "I deserved it. You were right, Jhaufyther. I KNOW I've been teasing you all these years, and I know I made you mad. Thank you for making me realize," she said. She rubs herself against him, and Riley can hear her purring.
Jhaufyther smiles and touches his forehead with hers. "Thanks." She walks off with Lhrioun toward the lake, leaving Jhaufyther standing there, his eyes glowing. Then he turns to Riley. "See what I did?" Riley backpedals in horror as the vision pops out again.
Jhaufyther sighed. "I still regret it to this day. Fifteen-thousand years ago, and I still remember it like it was yesterday," he said, looking off into the darkness.
He shook his head and looked at her. To Riley's surprise, there were unshed tears glistening. "I never like hurting my sister. She is one of my best friends, and I love her so much." He blinked. "But I was angry that day. She made a comment about my size, and something inside me just snapped. The bad part is, this isn't the worst thing I did according to human standards."
"What do you mean?" Riley asked, having a sense of foreboding.
"What you're about to see next is how young Catwings-khits, actually- hunt humans."
Riley was transported back to the camp, except there were three Catwings that she'd never seen before.
A mottled brown and red female chases Jhaufyther, laughing as she catches his tail. "Got you!"
Jhaufyther frowns. "No fair! You didn't tell me you were gonna sprint to me!" Though Riley can tell that he's happy playing with her.
A white tabby male with blue eyes noses Jhaufyther. "Jhau, you're half Windwing. You KNOW that you can catch us faster than Klickhaze did."
Jhaufyther rolls his eyes. "I know that, Hazefhur. She's younger than us. I let her beat me on purpose," he says.
A brown female with black tabby patches steps forward, pulling Klickhaze off of his tail. "That's really sweet of you to do, Jhau."
"Why, thank you, Cloodhot."
Klickhaze's orange eyes shine. "I'm hungry. When is she coming back with food?" she asks, flopping down onto the ground.
Jhaufyther noses at her. "She'll be back in no time. I just wish she brings us full grown humans, not the little khits that we have gotten before."
Lephhice's white, with blue, gray, and brown patched fur comes into view. "Don't worry, Jhaufyther. Your father found these trying to escape. They're full grown."
Clauchice's eyes gleam with a hunger that unsettles Riley. "Perfect. Who's ready?" she says as Lephhice drops off the three humans onto the ground.
Riley steps away. "What is going to happen?"
Jhaufyther appears beside her. "This is why humans are afraid of clowns. Whenever you hear a clown laughing, that's not actually them."
Hazefhur opens his mouth and lets out a sound that sends chills down Riley's spine. Her most terrifying memory was of a tall clown looking down at her, offering her some balloons. She now knows why clowns are so terrifying.
"Because those aren't clowns," Carlos whispers. "They're the sound of a Catwing about to feast."
Riley watches in horror as Klickhaze started dragging the human around, emitting the sound that terrifies people who have coulrophobia(fear of clowns). The person's eyes widen and they start screaming in fear, trying desperately to get Klickhaze's sharp claw off their leg. Jhaufyther and Clauchice grin at each other, then a sound like a crowd of clowns laughing at the circus echoes around the camp. The laughing isn't the giggly laugh of a clown either. The laugh is low, creepy, and reverberates in Riley's ears, sticking in her head. Hazefhur steps forward, lashing out a paw, his claws catching on one of the human's throats. Blood starts flowing from the wound as the human gurgles, trying to scream but only letting out more blood. They collapse in their own pool of blood, their eyes glazed with death.
After the other two humans get killed by either being mauled by claws, ripped apart with sharp, shiny teeth, or simply just being tortured to death, the young Catwings start fighting over the dead bodies, and Riley can hear them growling at each other.
Jhaufyther lets go of one of the bodies, his mouth and teeth red with blood. "I killed this one, this one is MINE," he snarls at Clauchice.
"Don't be ridiculous," she snaps, grabbing one of the lifeless arms. "I was the one who vocalized the loudest," she hisses.
Jhaufyther shakes his head. "Yes, you did. But I killed it- you know what? Let's just share it. I like eating humans with my sister," he says, smiling.
"So do I," Clauchice says, plunging her mouth into the succulent flesh.
Jhaufyther looks up and emits an alarm call that sends the rest of the Catwings down to the camp. "FRESH HUMAN! IT'S A FEAST!" he yells, then plunges his head back into the human.
What Riley witnesses next is by far- BY FAR- the most horrifying thing she has ever seen.

The Catwings began to molest the humans by driving their stinger into the humans' butthole. Their eyes gleam as they dig the stinger deeper and deeper into the butthole of the humans.
Jhaufyther goes around smacking any humans with his wings, then he disembowels them with his jaws, the head of the human dripping blood all over the place. Some humans manage to escape and frantically try to swim out. Some young khits notice the human and they circle around it, trying to get close.
Riley turns to Jhaufyther. "What are they doing?" she asks, not really wanting to know.
Jhaufyther nods toward them. "The human can kick a young khit in the eye, causing them to be temporarily blind in that eye. To avoid that, they swim around the human. You'll see what happens."
The khits make the human tire. The human just stays in place, their legs moving to keep them afloat. Then one of the khits nips the leg of the human, and newfound energy causes them to lash out, struggling to kick the khit while keeping afloat at the same time. The khit swims back, and all the khits start making that sound: the clowns laughing, but the laugh sounded as if it was warped, then put in hell, then the throats of the clowns were burnt. The human is tiring, and Riley can see their head drooping. Swim! Get out of there!, she wants to yell.
The khits jumped on top of the human, the water splashing everywhere as the khits mauled their prey, turning the water red with blood. The khits are laughing, and what's left is a bitten, bloodied human that is basically dead. Then one of the khits sinks its teeth into the neck, totally killing it. They bring the human to the shoreline, where they start eating it with gusto.
The adults meow with approval and praise the khits with purrs. They puff out their chests and bring the dead humans to the camp, where the adults tore it apart and ate it.
The vision blinks out and Riley is left with Jhaufyther, Clauchice, and Lhrioun in front of her.
She rubbed her forehead. "That was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen," she confessed. "Now I know why clowns are so terrifying."
Lhrioun walks around her, and Riley could feel his orange eyes looking at her. "That was just the beginning of the vision. We wanted to warn you that what comes next is nothing compared to what you're about to witness."
"You will be walking among the ancient humans and you will be put in their perspective of the Massacre," Clauchice said, her tail moving from side to side.
"Good luck, you three," Jhaufyther said.
The Void rippled, and Riley blacked out, unsure whether this vision is actually as traumatizing as they said.