A Shifting Land

Chapter 7

She stirred slowly, an ethereal white glow reflecting off the walls around her. Soft black fur summoned the light, ensnaring it deep in its shafts. Each breath stuttered, wheezing gasps marring the dead silence of the place. She stretched out a paw, a faint prism reflecting through her fur against the floor.

She slipped, long black nails peeking from her paw pads. A single tiny window pierced through the eternal whiteness, her mind shining back through at her.

The smile drew her eyes first, pearly white teeth gleaming from scaled lips. The creature, no, the demon, she corrected herself, focused on the controls in front of it. Scales raced it's form,each pearly black bead set perfectly to overlap one another. They sighed, lowering their head to the controls. "A child. I didn't want a child. Why this child?"

Swift reeled back, her rump meeting the ground with a thump. Her claws sank in with a hiss, her muscles rippling over her shoulders as she pulls herself back to her feet with a whine. "Bladen. Bladen! Wake up! We're trapped. I- It did something. The creature, the demon you warned me about." She leaned down, giving him a hard shove, "Bladen please, this isn't funny. I need you to wake up. Please." She threw her head back with a growl of annoyance. 

His breath slowed, hitched for a heartbeat before being drawn deeper. He winced, one paw flexing in the everpresent light. It raised to rest across his face, muffling his quiet cry of pain. "Swift." 

She sighed with relief, nuzzling up against his chest. Her little face peeked out, studying his before resting against his paws. "Bladen." 

He groaned, tucking his muzzle against her side. "Did we get home, to safety?"

"I think so... But can we take a moment first?" She asks.

He closed his eyes, relaxing against her. "Time is ours to take kitten."

Minutes ticked by, a soft chirring the only sound in the room.  Swift eventually pulled her face free. "I think one of those demon things grabbed us." 

Bladen shook his head, fear in his eyes. "Swift, I don't know if I can get our body back if that's the case..." He extended a limb, deep gouges still healing along them. "I was losing back on the island." 

She leaned forward, her tongue rasping along them with gentle laps. "Why didn't you ask me to help Bladen?"

"You haven't had a chance to learn to fight, and I really didn't want you to have to deal with that kind of deprived souls I was fighting. They...they're interesting. They aren't just one sided, some of them, especially newer souls aren't truly evil. They are just so desperate to live past death that they end up floating in the beyond, lost to time until an unlucky creature ends up breaking enough to give them a way in."

"Why are you so scared then?"

"Most of the time when someone is desperate they will do anything, and I mean anything, to get back to a place to get back to their home or family. Much like you and your mother." Bladen wraps his tail closer and flexes his leg, the cuts healing enough to break the scabs away.

Swift shook her head, a low snarl burning deep in her throat. "My mother doesn't want me. I won't be going home. If I'm dead to her then she'll never see me again except with teeth bared when I'm all grown up. Kiri is my pack now."

Bladen smacks her with his tail. "Swift!" He scolds. "Hurt and hatred are not the same thing. Don't speak out of turn so quickly when you don't know what pressed her to end it so early."

"What if I don't care?" She huffs, "She..." She eyes Bladen, "What do you think of my mama Bladen?"

Bladen ran his tongue across her head, "Shh." He shifts, his back legs stiff with pain as he pulls himself to his feet. "Lets not think about that right now, shall we?"