The Hovering Ingress: The Hidden World

Chapter 51

Not the Last

A Ninth Sune and Four Sune Cycles Later

After many cycles and passing through the Plains Region and the tundra of the Ice Region, the beasts and bifers flew through a forest. At some point, the group found a river and decided to land to take a quick break and to get some water. Crackle stood a great distance away from the water and the bifers stuck around him for warmth. Latif seemed to not want to be so close to the flabir, but Marsh dragged him in to stay warm and safe.

Jasar quietly wandered a bit in hopes of finding something for the group to snack on, Xengu trailing behind just for his safety. The cat inspected the frosted plants around the group in the forest, humming and searching in a bush. He tried finding something like a berry to no avail. Quietly he sighed and lifted his head out from the bush when he saw something in the distance and squinted his eyes.

There was an old building made of stripped logs and had a worn-down look to it, especially some moss building up on the walls. The cat stared at the small hut and stepped over the bush toward it, flicking his ears. Looking back, he found Xengu sniffing at a tree with rough bark before beginning to rub against it. Good, she was distracted.

Quickly Jasar jogged up to the old building, looking up and at it with perked ears. It had to have been vacated a long while ago, but it was probably only just before the fires, because a closer look at it, he found that it wasn't badly worn-down. He followed the perimeter of the walls, looking to the windows, finding that they were foggy and difficult to see through.

There was an old water-pumping system and an unused water bucket off to the side, which had a dirt trail leading to it. Whoever lived here didn't use very much technology going off of that. Sure a few patches of grass were forming over the trails, but the path still held ground. Finding the front, Jasar found there to be a wooden porch with two rocking chairs by the door.

The wood creaked under the cat's paws as he stepped up the stairs and came up to the wooden door. Pushing on it, the male found that it wouldn't budge, some kind of lock was inside. Sighing, he looked to the closest window and found that it wasn't as foggy and looked pretty weak. Quietly Jasar came up to the window when he saw a shadow and whipped around with a squeak.

Finding that it was only Xengu with her arms crossed in front of him, the cat nervously laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"O-oh! Hey Xengu, didn't see you there," he mumbled, casting a glance back to the weak window.

"What are you doing?" she asked boredly.

"Investigating this hut. It looks to have not been used in a long while, so I was wondering if it had anything inside. Strangely, the door's locked from the inside. I dunno how anyone can get in since there isn't a lock on the outside!"

"Maybe because someone's in there right now, or it's meant to stay locked. Maybe- wait, what's that smell?" Xengu asked.

"Eh, what do you mean- "

Jasar was quickly cut off when Xengu held a hand out in front of him and whipped around, her wings flaring and blocking his view. Forcing the wing down, he widened his eyes at a person in a cloak holding some form of burning incense. Only now did he smell smoke. Xengu and the person, a snow leopard judging from the tail poking out from underneath the cloak, stared at each other for a long while.

When the winged feline took a step forward, the person quickly ran off, dropping the burning incense and the hood falling off. Xengu charged after the person as Jasar ran up to the incense stand and quickly set it on the porch, then came running after the two. In a flash the panther tackled the snow leopard down, who flailed her arms and legs as her mouth was quickly covered.