The Spirits Animals Cult Story Remastered

Recovery

Shadow groaned as she opened her eyes.

She felt someone clutching her hand and saw Lenori staring down at her.

"Hey, Shadow," said Worthy from beside her. "Are you okay?"

"No." She groaned. "What happened?" She felt dizzy, and it looked like the room was spinning. She closed her eyes and tightened her grip on his hand.

"Hey, hey." He whispered. "It's alright."

"Worthy, do you want to tell her, or should I?"

"Tell me what?" She groaned.

"Shadow, you fainted. You've been out for the whole day, and I've been terrified. Rollan said he accidentally..." 

Worthy trained off, unwilling to finish the sentence for fear of what might happen to her.

"I-I remember..."

"There is nothing wrong with you," Lenori said. "The only way to stop this is if you get over that fear."

"I'll try, I promise." She said. She tried to sit up, but her whole body ached, and Worthy supported her as she stood.

"Are you sure you can walk?" Worthy's asked. She nodded.

"Just stay next to me in case I fall." She took a shaky step forward, Worthy not leaving her side. With Worthy supporting her, she managed to stumble to the dining hall where everyone immediately turned to look at her.

"Shadow!" About a million voices cried out before she was surrounded by people.

"No- no, stop it, go away-" She said, turning and hiding her face in Worthy's chest. He stroked her hair as she could still hear them all trying to talk. She knew they were trying to talk to her because they cared about her, but she still found it overwhelming and uncomfortable. Even though she loved being the center of attention, today, she just wanted to be left alone or alone with Worthy.

"She said stop!" Worthy's strong voice echoed across the room, silencing everyone. "Come with me." Worthy whispered into her hair. 

"She just needs a bit of space to process everything." He shouted to the others, and then walked with her out of the room, leading her to the river outside Greenhaven. She sat on a fallen tree, creating a bridge across the shallow water. She loved it here. It was so calming to hear only the sounds of the birds singing their sweet songs and the river bubbling the melody of the water. She loved the feeling of the rough mossy bark beneath her fingers and the water trickling, just beneath her feet, not close enough to touch but close enough to feel the splashes of the little fish that jumped out of the water every few minutes. Dappled light filtered through the trees, filling the forest with light as she listened to the rustling of the bushes and the scamper of little feet running along the forest floor, the occasional drill or a woodpecker making the noise sound like a song with no words.

"How did you know I would like it here?" She asked the boy sitting on the dry mud path next to her."I remember when we were kids." He said, slightly sourly. Shadow knew better than anyone how he felt about his past. "How when someone came in the river near Trunswick Manor, I would yell at them...unless it was you." 

Shadow and Worthy had had an... interesting past, as Devin had had such a large crush on her she could break the law and get away with it, but that didn't make her like him back in any way. She pretended to be his girlfriend for a few years, just to win favor for her family and to keep her beloved sister alive.

"If it was me, you would sit and watch me hidden in the trees, I remember well." She sighed. "I used to run away because I used to wish for you to treat me like a normal citizen, but you didn't."

"That's because I knew there was something special in you." He smiled. "I don't deserve you, honestly."

"Shut up!"

"No, Shadow, I really don't deserve you."

"You do... It's me who doesn't deserve you." He stood up and walked over to her, wary of the water beneath them. She pulled her bare feet up the black fur covering her left foot where her Spirit Animal tattoo once shone silky and beautifully in the dappled light.

He took her hands and looked into her eyes, and she looked right back into his the slit pupils and yellow covering the eyes that she had first been scared of, and now loved the eyes that watched her, observing her every move with respect, appreciation, and love. The eyes she looked into when she was sad or scared, the eyes of the boy she had married... four times.

They stood there like that, the sun finding its way through the holes in the leaves and landing on spots of their bodies, the river, and the forest floor around them. Hands entwined, bare feet inches apart, Worthy's looked mainly human, and so did Shadow's right one, but her left was an explosion of fur going up to her ankle and down almost to the ends of her toes. They wore similar clothing, Shadow in black leggings and a sleeveless black top, her pale arms exposed to the sunlight. Worthy was also dressed in all black, but he was wearing a tee shirt, so his arms were also exposed, but the difference was the fur where his spirit animal's tattoo had once laid.

Both had their iconic red cloaks hanging from their shoulders. There was no wind to pick them up and make them flutter the way it often did, so they both hung limply down their owner's backs, Shadow's long black hair trailing down over the top of hers, perfectly straight as it normally was. Worthy's hair wasn't neat like his wife's. Instead, it was scruffy and out of place, making him all the more handsome to Shadow.

The two half-cat people stared at each other as Shadow took the tiniest step closer to Worthy so their tails were touching. On the rough wood of the log, in a synchronized movement, they both let their tails out and touched the tips, forming the shape of a heart with them both standing inside it. In the picture-perfect forest, with the music created by nature, they kissed. Shadow felt the soft touch of Worthy's lips against hers like she was walking through the fluffiest clouds. She knew she was lucky to have him. Even though the thing she had feared most as a child had happened four times, she was happy, as it happened not four times out of force, but four times out of choice. When Worthy finally pulled away from her and lowered his tail, hiding it away again. Shadow smiled at him.

"Do you feel better now?" He asked.

"Better? Worthy, I feel amazing!" He blushed and looked away. "No need to be nervous." She told him, bringing his focus back to her. "We're not like them."

"Like who?"

"Like Reilin and Jaisholt. They won't admit it. They keep denying it. We're not afraid to tell each other how we feel." He smiled and wrapped her in a hug. They stayed like that in the forest all day, Shadow and Worthy lying in the long grass under the partially hidden sun. Shadow had discarded her cloak along with Worthy, and as they lay there side by side as the sun set, Shadow closed her eyes. She smiled as she felt Worthy drape her cloak over her while she drifted into a deep, nightmareless, sleep.