She lay flat on her back and saw the forest canopy above her, the sun filtering through the leaves, and a narrow set of sunbeams piercing through. All around her was the forest, and behind her, a log cabin that seemed eerily familiar. Wait. Wasn't I just...
She scrambled backward, fingers trenching into the loose dirt beneath her. Heaped in a pile only a few feet from her was the shadowcat, a single arrow sticking through its eye and out the other side, the arrowhead dripping blood. She scrabbled backward, unsure whether it was truly dead.
It remained unmoving, and she sat on the grass, gasping. It was as if the rest of the world were standing still.
Where...why don't I remember this? There was something else. She'd blinked between dodging the pouncing creature, and the next second, she was on the dirt. Vivi? Where's Vivi?! Where's her mom and dad?!
She bumped into something behind her, startling her. She twisted her body to look upward, letting out a sound of relief when she saw the imposing form of Vivi’s father above her. His drawn bow remained trained on the beast, and she took in his imposing profile: stern-faced, tensed, watching for movement and well disciplined. She turned back and saw no sign of life from the monster, then turned back to him. His chest barely moved as he let out a soft exhale and brought the bowstring back to a relaxed state.
He peered down at her with a look of relief, a short dark beard and close-cropped hair accenting his face, and a few greys that he tried to tuck away. “Neska, you alright?” he asked in a low tone.
“I…yeah…” she looked at the scratches and cuts she’d gotten from the near miss--including one deeper cut. A claw must have nicked her, if barely. “I threw the herb. It didn’t like that.”
“You disrupted its shadow phase. That scream got my attention.” He peered up at the tree where Vivi sat, crying. “Girl, come down, it’s safe.”
“You almost died, Neska!” Vivi sobbed, tears streaming down her face, even with her furious tone breaking through. She slid down the bark to her father’s waiting arms, offering her soft words that Neska couldn’t hear. Vivi ran over to her a second later, tiny fists lightly pounding her chest before she hugged her tightly, sobbing and shaking. “Don’t ever do that again!”
“It would have gotten your mom and dad,” she said distantly. How was the only winning play still the wrong one? She didn’t understand. “It would have gotten everyone.”
Warm trickles dripped onto her shoulder, and she held her sobbing friend, her body trembling. “It would have gotten you, first.”
“Girls. Head inside, lock the door, and see the missus. Neska, you’re scraped up; get bandaged. I need to scout the woods, make sure it was alone,” Vivi’s father stated in a flat voice, and took a dagger to the fallen creature's throat for good measure.
“O-okay, father,” Vivi mumbled, pulling Neska toward the open doorway, where her mother came running out, looking worried.
“Thank the gods you two girls are okay. Where were you?” she asked, hugging her daughter tightly.
“We was…we skipped chores, mother. We were playing in the trees,” Vivi sobbed. “I’m sorry. Then we saw the shadowcat, and the door was open, and...”
She was too inconsolable to finish. Her mother let out a soft sigh and pulled Neska close, giving them both a big hug. “I’d thrash your backsides for skipping chores, but a shadowcat prowling in my backyard? Oh, this won’t do. Neska, come with me. You’re cut, and your mother will be furious at me for letting you get so close to danger. What was going through your head, girl?”
“Shadowcats are harmed by some of the herbs we grow. It was just a matter of knowing which one,” she said calmly. “I won’t apologize for applying my knowledge.”
Vivi’s mother let out a grunt. “At least you’ve got the brains to back up your bravery, unlike the village young lads with all brawn and empty heads. Magical herbs...smart woman, your mother."
A short while later, Neska sat at the kitchen table while Vivi's mother attended to her wounds. One set of claws had cut her arm deeply, even with her successful evasion. The pain was considerable as they cleaned the wound. The smell of sharp herbs filled her nostrils when Vicona packed something pungent over the wound to cover it, then wrapped a rough but thick bandage over the area.
She accepted this pain as the cost of keeping her friend’s family safe, but not without reprimand from Vicona. “You’re lucky I’m not stitching your guts back into your tummy. Those claws of theirs can cut a man’s head off with one unlucky blow,” she said sternly, tying off the bandage. “We’ll change this once a day. I’m fairly sure you won’t get infected.”
“Mother? If the monsters are coming closer…will we have to leave?” Vivi hadn’t left Neska’s side, and her face was marked by apprehension.
“They can take our land and home from our cold, dead hands. They’re not as smart as we are,” her mother rebutted. “And you’re not as smart as you need to be, Neska! Especially if you’re gonna dance with shadowcats with nothing but garden herbs!”
“You’re right. I’d need a class,” she replied objectively. “But we don’t get them until we’re sixteen. Plenty of time to brush up on other things, in the meantime. Why did the Divine Beasts set an arbitrary date?”
“Oh, child, ask your mother. I hope she gets back soon.” Vicona let out a soft sigh. A clack of the doorframe by the front, and her husband entering, melted her mood with a growing smile. “Howland, glad you’re back.”
“Glad to be back. I let the village know about the shadowcat. We need those fancy arcane relays that are prominent in the big cities,” he said as he hung up his bow. Then he gave Vicona a deep hug, who nuzzled against him gently. “It was alone. I backtracked its trail a ways.”
“Good to hear,” she said, then waved the two children. “Well, I guess after that scare, we should settle in early, lock the door, and have supper.”
“Aye. But first…Neska, you’re the oldest. I can’t have you going out in the woods anymore unarmed like that.” He withdrew a dagger from a sheath on his belt that looked familiar to Neska. “We’re doing training tomorrow, you and Vivi. I prefer the bow, but that takes practice.”
“I can shoot a little,” Neska said boldly. “Quite a bit, actually.”
“But can you do it well? Monsters are dangerous up close, to a fault. A bow won’t do you much good when they’re clawing your innards," he said matter-of-factly. "Gonna train you two to at least defend yourselves. Small monsters can die with a few well-placed stabs, if you're careful.
“Howland, don’t scare them!” Vicona scolded. “Bad enough these two were closer to danger than I ever figured us to expect!”
“Dear, they need to be forewarned and forearmed. I know Neska’s mother has been teaching her about the monsters and their weaknesses," he countered politely.
“The ones we’ve proven out,” Neska pointed out. “Her writings, and the ones at the Academy, indicate we don’t know everything.”
Vicona let out a reluctant sigh. “Aye. Let’s get supper on the stove, then, tuck in for the night."
Neska couldn’t sleep that night.
It wasn’t the fact that Vivi was tucked against her in the small bed, under light covers, holding onto her as if she might escape.
It was a worry for her mother. She should have been back by now. She’s strong. She’s smart. If she were delayed, it would only be temporary.
She turned on her side, Vivi never quite letting go. A slight lump in the mattress felt as uninviting as a sharp rock digging into her side. She knows how to deal with danger. She breaks down threats, analyzes them, and finds a way to overcome them.
And yet, Neska couldn’t close her eyes and let her mind rest. She gently pulled away from Vivi and gave her a pillow to hug, while she climbed down to the first floor.
The second floor didn’t have regular stairs. It was a ladder and a railing protecting the second floor from a nasty fall. Harder for the monsters to climb if cornered. She didn’t know if that would help much if they were already that close, but people believed it could help.
The door unlatched gently, and she pulled her shawl over her, rubbing her hands against the cool night air. She closed it without a sound and peered out into the forest.
Nothing. She kept looking for something she couldn’t put her finger on. Something she should be aware of.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
She glanced at the ground where the shadowcat had died. Vivi’s father hadn’t moved it, but he had covered it with a burlap netting to keep it out of sight. The Seekers would likely want to dissect it and analyze it in the morning.
Seekers. They were almost as ruthless as the monsters. There were a few good men--young lads barely older than her, who proclaimed they were protecting humanity. That along with the Awakened, the 'good' monsters, they'd find a way to win.
Neska was drawn to the sound of shifting fabric. The mound shifted, and Neska’s eyes widened as the shadowcat slowly rose. Worse, the arrow through its skull remained, and its cut throat hung unnaturally.
Then, it laughed. Not in the way of people, but a guttural, animal laugh. “Neska…this is the memory you wrap around yourself. You clutch it tight against your soul, like a shield. How childlike. I forgot how young you were.”
It prowled toward her, step by shaky step. But fear rooted her to the spot. Recognition that there were uncanny inconsistencies in what she saw, said, and heard.
A mind, realizing that this wasn't a playback of a past event. I am asleep. It’s not real. It can’t be. Dead monsters don’t come back to life.
But if this wasn’t real, what was this?
She stood firmly in place, never taking her eyes off it. Then, it circled her mere feet away and peered at her with a tilt of curiosity. Sizing her up? This was already an impossibility. Monsters didn’t talk, not like this. And they never passed on an easy meal.
Least of all, shadowcats couldn't self-resurrect. This was the work of an illusion or a nightmare.
The shadowcat laughed, edging out rows of razor teeth. The rasp of air past its cut throat let out a small hollow sound, almost a wheeze. “I see your thoughts. Trying to break down what’s before you. Analyzing. Making inferences from data. What have you concluded?”
“That this isn’t a memory. I’m a participant in something…else,” she answered, gripping her shawl tightly. “But if it’s not real, then the danger here isn't physical. It’s the terror of the mind that is.”
The shadowcat stretched its body, then scrunched down to sit on its haunches. The wheezing sound of its cut throat couldn’t be real–it was a phantom sound of what it might sound like. Disturbing, to put it mildly. Then its face creased into a toothy smile. “Do you know who I am?”
“A dead monster.”
“No. Try again, child. With an answer you believe in.”
She furrowed her brow. She remembered something…else. A life through the eyes of one low to the ground. A scaly body.
A memory of a dagger plunged through her witch’s heart.
And a final promise.
“You’re the Voice. The one who directed Marikand. Their connection to the Interface,” she concluded as a fog inside her mind lifted. Her lip creased upward, ever so slightly. “You’re connected to them. Or you guide them.”
“Oh? So, you figured that one out fast.” The shadowcat let out a soft purr, an infernal sound of rasping air and grinding stone. “I am that which will reset the cycle. Life. Death. Rebirth. A necessary function of the world.”
“You’re taking credit for a natural cycle of the world. That’s not how it works. That cycle existed before the monsters came. We live, we perish, our remains nurture the soil, grow bountiful crops, and feed the living once more.” The logic rose like separating the curds from the whey in her mind, like she’d had these thoughts before.
“I predate that which you call natural rhythms. I am the one who set the tempo. Like a conductor directing a symphony.” He licked his paw with the large barbed tongue, in a grotesque mockery of what a normal feline would do if it weren’t dead already.
These words...life, death, rebirth...the domain of Ouroboros? But Ouroboros was a serpent. This is a monstrosity puppeting others. A twisted manipulation of death.
She narrowed her eyes. “And you come to visit me. A girl who died and came back as a snake. A girl you directed your monsters to kill, again. Yet, you come back to converse. Why?” She folded her arms tightly, looking for other inconsistencies.
If this weren't a memory, it might be a dream tainted by her memory. Inconsistencies started cropping up. The inability to recall before the shadowcat leaped. Something was missing. Was this real?
Was Vivi real? Howland and Vicona? She was sure they were real, but the line that separated memory from dream couldn't be defined. She had to proceed carefully.
The creature spoke again, deep and commanding. “Because the circumstances have changed. You have to fulfill a new purpose. And you can’t do that if you don’t survive what’s coming.”
“Purpose?” she echoed, brow raised. “My purpose is to stop the monsters. Stop them from tearing apart the sapient races. They hunt for sport, not for meat. They exhibit cruelty that suggests wicked intelligence, a free will. Cruelty by choice.”
“But why do you have to stop them?”
“Because I made a promise.”
The shadowcat let out a mocking laugh. A roaring laugh that echoed off the trees and the cabin walls, yet no one inside stirred, no lights flickered on. “A promise to a dead woman? That’s the funniest thing you’ve said so far. You don’t even remember your past life. What makes her so special?"
“So you know I’m an Awakened,” she said sharply. “But why me? Something makes me different. I doubt you visit all the Awakened in this way. Nothing I remember suggests this power to navigate minds exists within your kind.”
He scoffed slightly, that wheezing rasp returning. “You are our kind. From now until the day you die. You can’t escape what you are. Or, what you will become.”
Warning. Corruption Attempt Initiated.
She ignored the interface dialogue. She stepped toward the shell of a corpse. “What I become is my choice. But why me? Am I different from the other Awakened?”
“You’re different, because you’re mine. You’ll always be mine. And in time, you’ll want to be mine. That is, if your ideals don’t get you killed first." His face drooped, looking almost disappointed. "I would be saddened if that proved to be the case.”
It sounded like the creature was pouting. “You could have everything you ever wanted. Everything you needed. All you have to do is ask, Neska."
“And when I have that, what will be left to desire? Nothing. It’s paradoxical. Scarcity and challenge are what shape life. It’s what gives people purpose.”
She watched as the creature slowly canted its head, looking at her with an amused smirk. “And you think your purpose is to battle against your own kind, in a never-ending cycle of violence?”
“No. My purpose is to stop the monsters. I never said how I’d reach that outcome.” She waved to the house, darkened behind her. “I'll do so, so that children don’t lie awake at night, terrified of becoming the meal of a predator. So wives and husbands don't clutch their children, telling lies that everything will be alright."
The shadowcat sneered at her, deadened eyes locked on. “You think you’re strong? Brave? Smart? Do you believe you’re the one to close the door that Lachmir the Damned tore asunder? You’re on a fool’s errand; there is no coming back from what he did. Many have tried and been devoured. Our power grows with each passing season."
"Ours? Collectively? What are you, exactly? You hide behind talking corpses. You work through monsters who mimic men. As if you worry if I could put a name to you, the beast behind the puppets."
An affirming silence followed. She continued with her deductions. “I know the monsters must come from somewhere. They can be killed like any man.” And if there was a door that kept them out, then it’s entirely possible to put it back in place.
The fact that this was the second time she’d heard Lachmir mentioned meant it must be important. She had to find out about this man, understand his life, and what he did. There might be a piece of the puzzle to get rid of the monsters. Or, their means of arrival in the world. It might not be a physical door–but something else? A door to another world, as she’d heard before?
The creature didn’t wait for her internal thought and looked disappointed. “What do you think happens to all the Awakened? They die. They all do. You know the outcome. You can see it in the scars of the veteran, you can hear it in the broken voice of your scout.” His eyes narrowed to deadly slits, his words quieter.
“That’s not how I view it. They hold on, despite adversity,” she responded in turn.
A mocking laugh was his retort. “No? How about something closer to the heart? You can feel the futility in the mouse's trembling, locked in your coils. You fight for every second she's near you to not view her as a meal.” He licked his lips, stained teeth shining in the moonlight.
That presence in her mind reached out. Logically, he wasn’t wrong. The sapients weren’t winning. Lachmir the Damned might not have doomed them all right away, but it was a closing vice. A set of constricting coils around the neck of fragile prey–
She shook her head vigorously. She couldn’t think like that. “If you had real power over the Awakened, you would have used it on them by now. Logically, that would be the best course of action. But you haven’t. And you still haven’t answered why I garner special attention. or what you are. You’ve dodged these questions the entire time.”
Warning. Corruption Attempt Intensifying.
The beast peered at her, studying her, while thoughts of futility seeped in. An outcome where the tunnel viper devoured Juni with a scream and a crunch. Another one showed Bregin having fallen, and Felix had feasted on the body of Hadley, ripping into her while she was still alive.
A last one came in the reminder of the clench of talons around her body, as the hawk tore into her with its hooked beak. Every one of those outcomes had been likely.
Why keep fighting? Why should she put her life on the line? Why not cross over to the other side, knowing her safety was assured?
Because Risha paid for my life with her own. Like a mother protecting her young.
The logic brought her back–Risha had not chosen to do this out of desperation. It was to ensure Neska’s survival, no matter what.
She stepped toward the beast, forcing the intrusive thoughts away. The churn in her mind slowly transformed into the stoic calmness of the icy glaciers in the northern retreats. “You think I’m a threat.”
“I think you’re an asset. Someone who needs to return to where she belongs.” The creature slowly sneered at her, teeth edging out. “I only want what’s best for you, Neska.”
Those poisonous words. Risha had spoken the same words to Neska on the day she died, but the memory of grief was what drove them. These creatures' words were colored with the desire to control.
It set Neska firmly on her path, and she stood tall and unintimidated. “I had somewhere I belonged. A woman who cared for me, taught me, and helped me remember myself. You killed her, remember? Even though she was important to you, too.”
The beast’s facial muscles twitched. “She killed herself.”
“Liar. But you’re lying to yourself, more than you are to me.” She stepped forward. “Your words were ‘you had so much potential.’ You cared about her, and you still killed her through your monster, Marikand.”
“Only because she betrayed me.”
Neska stepped closer, prey and predator now dangerously close. “Is that your rationale? Or did she betray you because she saw you for what you are?”
“And what am I, Neska? What are you, exactly? Do you even know?” His body lowered, just a fraction. Less imposing. “I can teach you that. I can give you a place you belong, something that Risha couldn’t.”
An offer of knowledge? Power? This was all this beast had to offer her?
“Risha is gone. But you’re wrong. I have somewhere I belong already,” she said in a low tone. Her thoughts instantly went to Juni, Jurik, and Hadley. And likely, others, if fortune favored her. “You are not taking that from me, beast.”
Corruption Attempt Resisted. Soul Resistance Increased.
The creature tensed its body, all its amicable behavior gone. All that was left now was a predator, stalking potential prey.
And anger, at her continued defiance. “I won’t have to take that from you. You’ll destroy it on your own. It’s in your nature, Neska. You can’t fight being who you are. Well, not for long.”
"I'll fight it long enough to find you, and finish what Risha started," Neska vowed.
The shadowcat coiled its body, and she stood firm, looking it right in the eye as it screamed in a primal roar. A message appeared from Vivi as the creature pounced, claws reaching out to tear her asunder.
Evolution Complete.
You have gained the attention of those infinitely your greater--oh, you're threatening me? Oh, that's cute.
--Famous last words of the Voice
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