Decay of Yesterday

The Felecetii turned to face Ellie's hut, the fur along his spine and his tail stood upright as he regarded the structure made of roots. It seemed serene upon first glance, but he took a few wary steps toward it and rose his voice, “Ellie? Ellie, are you there?”

He didn't have any time to react before the ground around them began to shake and tremble. Suddenly, a massive root burst forth from the dirt to wrap around the feline. Another exploded from the forest floor to wrap around Muhlsaan's body. The roots lifted them from the ground and held them suspended in the air, so tight that they could barely wiggle their bodies in it's grip. The white cat grunted uncomfortably, “Ellie!”

That's when she came to the doorway. This human-like, yet ethereal creature stood there in awe of who was in her grasp. She appeared to be nearly human, only she was shorter than the average woman and her eyes were perfectly golden. They glowed in the shadows of the forest that surrounded them, like fireflies. Her beauty was captivating, almost to the point of hypnotism. Her skin was a milky white, her hair the color of flames that undulated down her back in waves. Instead of clothes, she wore a thick cover of ivy around her waist and her torso. It took her a moment, but a smile crept upon her porcelain features.

“Snowcat...?”

“Yes! It's me!” He gasped for air and the root that was wrapped around him loosened just enough to where he was able to breathe effortlessly. The root around Muhlsaan, however, stayed the way it was.

“SNOWCAT!” Ellie came forward, her steps like a graceful and flirtatious dance. The root lowered the feline until he was eye-level with the nymph, who grabbed his face by his cheeks. She grinned before she, suddenly, kissed him; he didn't seem to react. As if he expected it, though he wasn't into it. He regarded her calmly as she stared into his eyes, but her expression began to turn into a deeper concern. “Your eye... can you... see out of it yet?”

“No.” He spoke, his eyes glancing over at the wizard, who seemed to be running out of oxygen. “Can you, I don't know, maybe not kill him?”

Ellie glanced over at Muhlsaan.

“Of course I can, Snowcat! My my, I'd almost forgotten you'd brought a friend.”

As Ellie spoke, the root that clutched the mystic loosened it's grip as well. He could breathe now, at the very least. She danced over to him as she glanced up and down at the wizard. She waved her hand toward the ground and the root brought Muhlsaan down to the nymph, but it didn't free him. She tilted her head to the side, her gaze seemingly penetrating into his very soul. There was something in those golden orbs that betrayed her thoughts which were riddled in skepticism and suspicion. After a few moments, she granted him a nearly blinding white grin before grabbing his cheeks and kissing him as well. She let him go once she was satisfied with the information she gained by doing so. Ellie gave him that same look before she took a step back and chimed, “Any friend of Snowcat is a friend of mine! Who are you, wizard?”

“My name is Muhlsaan...” he said, still caught completely caught off guard by the spell cast upon him. It was unlike any magic he had seen in some time. The wizard hadn't been caught off guard in a long time, he didn't even sense a trace of magic before the tendrils manifested. Had the pixie been malevolent or evil in nature, she may have killed them both. She was certainly capable of it. What was this feeling Muhlsaan felt? Something he had forgotten long ago; the emotions were like an old friend he couldn't remember the name of. Was he afraid? No. Not afraid, cautious... intimidated--caught entirely off guard. He wouldn't make that mistake again, the woman was dangerous.

“I am Muhlsaan and who are you? That was magic...” he paused. As he spoke he formulated plans, thought deeply about the words he spoke. Should he reveal his ability as well? Or play the helpless elderly traveler angle? As powerful as she appeared to be she surely knew of his strength as well, wouldn't she? He didn't know, but for the first time in a long time he was on his toes. In his mind the wizard knew exactly why he was the last to be released, it was a message. She knew his strength and she was quick to let him know hers.

Ellie stared at him for a prolonged moment before she spoke. She seemed to be wary of him, bringing the feline's attention to Muhlsaan. He narrowed his eyes at the mystic, but he knew that he should never question the nymph on such matters. If she chose to let the Felecetii know, she would tell him. Simple as that.

“My name is Ellie. I am a Forest Nymph, but you know that, don't you? I've been waiting for you, half a century it seems.”

“What do you mean, 'waiting for you'?” The snowy cat questioned, choosing his words carefully in the case he angered the quick-tempered nymph.

“Don't you know, Snowcat?” Ellie seemed genuinely surprised by the feline. “There's a prophecy, one an eternity in the making, and I have my suspicions.”

Caught off guard as well, the ivory cat blurted out the words before he could think about them, forgetting to control the tone of his voice, “A prophecy? What in the Gods are you--”

“SILENCE!” Ellie flicked her wrist and, suddenly, a tendril of the roots she commanded whipped the feline across the face. He took the hit with a wince as his midnight blood began to bubble from the slash it created on his cheek. He was silent, still held suspended in the air by the root that was wrapped around him.

“A prophecy! Do you not remember the night you lost your eye?”

“Not entirely.” The cat replied, “Do you think you could let Muhlsaan and I down now?”

“Of course I can, Snowcat!”

Very suddenly, the roots unwrapped themselves from the bodies of the two travelers and slid back into the dirt underneath their feet. The Felecetii hit the ground with a grunt and a plume of dust, but he got to his feet almost immediately. He swept his hand across his robe, swiping the dust off of the fabric, before he regarded the nymph.

“What prophecy are you speaking, Ellie?”

“You do not remember for a reason then, kitty cat. I won't tell.”

Her cover was blown, she was playing relatively innocent but her affinity for cruelty was apparent. She wasn't afraid to be violently persuasive, Muhlsaan saw her whip the cat across the face. She, like many other powerful entities, had a very convoluted moral compass. One moment capable of great blessings, the next- great cruelties. Muhlsaan saw this trait in himself as well, he blamed it on the long lives given to those that use magic and the power itself. Power had a tendency to change perspectives. When you're capable of destroying entire city-blocks with a thought, or able to end life with a murmur, life became cheap and those incapable of serving you were often nothing more than insects scurrying frantically from day to day. He knew forest sprites weren't to be trifled with but never thought of them as inherently evil. He would trust her, for now. Unless she proved less than helpful...

“What is this prophecy m'lady? If I may ask. I too have felt propelled to seek this forest and this boy and meeting couldn't be a mere coincidence. A white Felecetii stumbling across my path, a journey to meet a forest sprite... and that fox woman... Please. I can be of great assistance. Tell me.” Muhlsaan waited, basically pleading with her wasn't exactly pleasant but maybe he'd gain her trust through a virtue he'd thought forgotten. He humbled himself and asked. “Please.”

Ellie regarded the wizard with an eye of harsh suspicion. She weighed her words for a moment before she replied, “You do not know, either? My, what a disaster! The White One must want you to figure this one out for yourselves. I have power, Muhlsaan, but my power will never succeed the White One. I do not wish to anger it.”

“The White One?” The feline was hopelessly confused, never had Ellie spoken to him on a level such as this before. Only when she spoke of his eye did she become so intense. “What?”

“Snowcat! You must remember seeing the White One, don't you?”

He was silent as the “dream” he had become accustomed to seeing in his mind's eye flashed across his vision once again. He saw the deep scarlet of the orb glancing about Ellie's hut and the snowy skin encasing it once more. He opened his mouth to speak, but shut it when the words couldn't find his tongue.

“Oh, kitty cat.” Ellie sounded almost playful as she glided up to him. “Have you got your own tongue?”

He gave her a half-hearted glare, to which she gave a bright smile. She noticed the ebony liquid sliding down the feline's face and dripping on the ground he stood upon. Ellie ghosted up to him and licked the blood from his fur until her tongue caressed the cut on his cheek. He didn't move away from her, nor push her away. He stood, tolerant. As soon as her saliva touched the wound, it began to heal at an unnatural rate. She took a step back to observe the wound, then gave him a sweeter smile.

“I apologize, Snowcat. You do not know what destiny awaits you and this wizard. But it is not my story to tell. Your dreams should guide you... and when you follow them, you will speak to the White One. The only thing I can say to you... Use the eye you have been granted to seek the secrets you're chasing.”

The feline was silent.

“The White One is waiting for you. Don't disappoint! You two aren't alone in your journey. Seek the fox-woman, convince her to join you. You can't undo a lock without the right set of keys, can you?”

The Felecetii kept his silence as he regarded the nymph. She still had an intense expression on her face, but after a moment, she glanced up at the stars beginning to sparkle in the darkening sky. She hummed in thought before her glowing eyes swept slowly between the two travelers, “It's too late to follow your destiny this day. Please, stay with me for the night. Get some rest and set off in the morning. Snowcat and friend.”

But as she said this, her skepticism shone in the amber of her eyes as she met Muhlsaan's gaze.

“Thank you, Ellie.” The feline breathed a sigh, his shoulders slumping in his relief, “I was hoping you'd say that.”

Ellie looked at the cat instead and met him with a genuine, bright smile. She caressed his cheek with the tips of her fingers, “I care for you, kitty cat... and, as I've said, any friend of yours is a friend of mine.”

The Nymph stepped away from him and swept her arm as she gestured to her hut enthusiastically.

“Come, come! Welcome to my space!”

The two followed her inside, the exhaustion of the day groaning in their bones.

* * * * * * * * * *

The Felecetii was in an abyss. All around him, all he could see was darkness. First there was silence, but then he heard the beating of his own heart. Suddenly, he thought he'd imagined it, but he swore he could feel it in his ears. When he realized that this wasn't an illusion, he opened his eyes and became aware that he was standing in a field of wheat. It loomed over him ominously and swayed in the breeze that blew through the stalks. The cat swallowed uncomfortably as he began to stumble forward in a blind direction.

He guided himself through the field of wheat until he parted the stalks and he saw in front of him an open grassland. There was a barn at the end of the property and one that he immediately recognized. He was about to turn back into the wheat and try to escape before he was seen, but he realized that the fox-woman was in the middle of the grass before he could. She was standing with her back to him, her three sandy tails lashing one by one.

The white feline tentatively stepped out of the wheat and into the open. He opened his mouth to speak, but found that he couldn't.

“Hush.” Her voice was soft and had an inborn sultry tone, a voice that would catch people's attention.

Enola stood a little ways off, her eyes on the barn. Her sorceress robes fluttered in the wind that had begun to strengthen around them. The feline took a step toward her as he held his paw up to shield his face from the sand, every step seeming to get increasingly harder to take until he couldn't go any further. He was a few feet from Enola, who turned to gaze at him.

Her eyes were still like ice and her expression was deadpan. “You're Atki, aren't you? Speak.”

“How did you know that word?” The feline found that his voice returned to him at her command.

“A little bird told me.” Enola smirked at him, “Nameless in Felecetii, so I've heard.”

The cat's eyes slit as he stared at the fox, who cracked a coy smile.

“Who are you?” He asked as the wind began to kick up even more dust. He was forced to put both arms up to shield his face from it, his robe whipped with the unrelenting force.

“I think the question you're looking for is 'what can you do'?” Enola laughed, the sound was nearly like music and yet mirthless. Her smile turned cold, though her lips never moved. She began to move toward the Felecetii in an almost feline stroll. When she reached the cat, she held her hand up to his face with her fingers spread out. She hovered her hand over his injured eye for a moment before she laid it on that side of his face.

“Show me yours and I'll show you mine.”

Suddenly, the ivory cat felt a pop in his skull. The pain was unbearable; he cried out in his agony, though he was paralyzed from the neck down. Only when her hand fell and she stepped away from him did he have control over his body. He clutched his eye, his lips pulled back in a silent hiss, when he felt a warm liquid slipping between his fingers. He took his hand away from his face to look at his hands, wet with his blood.

He didn't realize it at first, but he could see out of it. When that fact occurred to him, he glanced up in shock at Enola. She met his gaze with her eyes of ice, “Meet me in the woods, Atki. You and the human.”

The Felecetii was startled awake by his dreams. He sat up the moment his eyes popped open and he clutched the robe he wore at his chest. His heart was pounding at his ribcage, his breaths were erratic as he realized he was still able to see out of the mysterious eye. The feline was forced to close the healthy one to ease the pressure in his skull. As he did so, his hand went up to his cheek and he wiped his fingertips across it. When he glanced down at them, he saw the onyx instantly.

He turned his head to call Ellie's name, but his words caught in his throat when he realized that she was standing at her window... and, in the window, the blood-colored eye of the creature he saw in his 'dream' the night he lost his original eye. His fur rose as he sat in silence and he, slowly, realized that Ellie was speaking. He didn't hear the words with his ears so much as he perceived intimations of them. It didn't seem to be real, yet he was seeing it with the eye he thought he had lost.

He screwed his eyes shut as the pain became unbearable and as he screeched, his hands flew up to his face.