Flight

Chapter 6

Flight

Chapter 6

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“The edge of the Starite Kingdom?” AE2 asked with a sadness still ringing in her voice, “You sound as if that’s a bad thing.”

“That’s because it is.” Seto told her as he sat in front of her, "The whole kingdom is trapped behind something they don't know about or understand. No one can leave."

"But I was able to get in, shouldn't I be able to leave as well?" AE2 slowly stood up and walked over to her hat and scarf, placing them on as she spoke.

"No. The wall was designed to strange things keep things out, like the dog things you mentioned on the first day you were here. But cats can pass through the wall easily, though once you are inside the Starite Kingdom, you can never leave." Seto touched the barrier softly with his paw, admiring the work that was put into it. Streaks of light blue and white flowed from his spot where he touched the wall. They moved across the air as if tracing the lines of a microchip, one of the rare, expensive, objects in the kingdom.

"Well that's stupid," AE2 said bluntly as she trotted over to where Seto sat, adjusting her glasses. Seto ignored her as he continued to think to himself.

“Do you remember anything that happened in the past three mornings?” he asked, the potion’s effect slowly wearing off as he became more exhausted.

“I remember waking up with you on me for two mornings, but then you were hurt downstairs this morning…”

“Think harder, search far into your mind.” He looked up at her and deeply into her eyes in a very serious tone. AE2 shut her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could, searching deep into her mind, slowly finding it strange that she couldn’t remember anything before she came here. Lots of memories were fizzy, indistinguishable, mostly blurs that flew across her mind. They had colors, some were bright and quick, while others hurt. She focused harder than she has ever done before, slowly seeing the shape of a cat, a white cat with fluffy brown hair, struggle underneath her blood covered paws.

She snapped open her eyes and wrapped her forelegs around Seto, in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, “There was so much pain that I couldn't get rid of, something was attacking me and I didn’t know what to do.”

Seto sat there surprised as he slowly moved his forepaws to her back, returning the hug, “It’s okay,” He said quietly, “I understand the feeling.” They sat there for a long time, each others forelegs wrapped around each other in a comforting way. Finally, Seto backed away and looked at AE2 with a gentle gaze. “Tell me what you remember,” he asked calmly.

“I remember feeling scared, and wishing to leave, because something was telling me to go away from here. Far away from here,” she explained, moving her right paw around in circles as she spoke.

“Anything else?” Seto asked.

AE2 hesitated to answer this question as she tried to avoid the parts in the fuzzy memories of Seto struggling under her paws. Her eyes took interest on the dried leaves she sat on, noticing the dried blood still staining her claws. “I don’t remember anything else,” she mumbled under her breath, not looking up. Seto felt slight suspicion crawling up his spine when she said those words, but pushed the thought away as he didn’t want to continue to beg for her to say more.

As the effects of the potion wore off, Seto felt the exhaustion from chasing after AE2 and from earlier in the morning drop on him like a boulder. He started swinging around on his own feet as he tried to keep himself from falling over. While the scratches on his wings and shoulders have healed, he still had to wait for his energy to build up from using so much magic earlier. Seto stumbled on his own paws as he sat on the forest floor. AE2 noticed Seto starting to rock on his feet as he leaned towards his left.