A Tale of Three

Chapter 24: Breaths

Stygian trees ripped at her side as she ran through the forest. Her paws wanted to turn around and flee, but she couldn't. She couldn't go back, not now. Someone knew the prophecy, and that meant there were more.

Cyrene's heart pounded in her chest and she had to bite her tongue to keep from crying. It was about to happen. She was about to be faced with the choice. She had always hoped to avoid the day, but it seemed Feluna had a different idea. Her mind drifted back to when she had first woken up, how Feluna had been so nice, pure almost. The idea darkened. If she killed Feluna, she would be killing a perfectly innocent panthress too. But then again, that panthress was almost dead already.

She saw the ivy lined mountain up ahead, with the Sky Fang on top. Cyrene remembered when she had first arrived, how everything was an amazement. Now all it did was strike fear in her heart. She approached the ivy like it was poisonous. Her search for the opening was half-hearted, and when she found it her body stiffened. With a heavy heart, she stepped inside.

No feline looked at her as she walked in. Her eyes focused on the cavern, she chanted an invisibility spell. Cyrene let out a sigh of relief as a circle appeared on her tail under the ice and her pelt started to fade. Cyrene sneaked through the felines, feeling to urge to jump every time someone spoke. Cyrene scolded herself. She had never been this jumpy. What was wrong with her?

"Did you hear the news?" a panther asked from beside her. Cyrene spun towards him, expecting to see him asking her. Instead, he was staring through her at a youthful cheetah.

"About Fida's death? Of course, sad news. Killed by Jinx too. I wonder who will take his place now that he is put away," she answered. Cyrene let out a strained smile as she saw a small love spell appear on the cheetah's tail. It seemed the panther had an admirer.

She passed through their gazes and continued through the cavern. As she walked she thought about her choice. It was simple. She could breathe in the light, whatever that meant. It was the right choice, but if she did that Feluna would kill Otium. She would no longer have a choice in any of her actions, if Feluna didn't kill her too. The prophecy would still complete itself and Atra would be safe from the killings needed to summon Amare. Feluna would be alive, and her curse would be complete. She'd turn completely dark, and no one could stop her. If she breathed in the dark she wouldn't care what happened to her sister. She would become like Feluna and she would become powerful. She would have to kill hundreds of felines. She would live.

When she arrived at the small cave hidden by the darkness, she felt her heart's rhythms speed up. The pendent with the stone inside pounded against her chest, like a count down. She was here, she was about to make her choice. Ducking her head, she slipped inside.

She felt the blind panthress stirring beside her as she stood in the cave. What was taking Cyrene so long? She couldn't have misinterpreted Cyrene's personality. She had to come. So why wasn't Cyrene coming?

"You're fighting a war yourself, aren't you?" Cyrene's sister asked, looking up at Feluna with her big white eyes. Feluna stared at the panthress in disgust.

"You know, pretending you can't hear me will do you no good. I can see your struggles," Otium continued.

"If you knew what I've been through then you would be standing at my side with blood on your claws," Feluna hissed, her eyes flashing.

"But I do. I know that you have two sides, that you are good and evil. I also know that evil hasn't won just yet," Otium explained.

"Oh yes, and how do you know that?" she sneered.