Chapter 70: 4-11 Flight of the Kitten

A White Void

The world was white, all-consuming, and infinite. Stretching out into the endless horizon as far as the eye could see, an endless expanse of nothing. Despite being made of the same material, it was odd that the floor and sky were distinct. By all accounts, the line between the two should not exist, but any entity with the capacity to perceive its surroundings would notice the point where the floor ended and the sky began. It was best not to consider such things, lest one lose their grip on reality.

Well, the vast realm was not entirely empty. There was a single occupant. A young girl with black hair that hung down to her waist. Her lack of clothes exposed skin that was a few shades darker than snow, and her pale blue eyes darted around confusedly. By her recollection, she should be dead. Her own life used to fuel a power utterly beyond her reach and station. Yet here she was.

Tentatively, the girl rose to her feet; the last time she saw her legs, they had been a twisted mess of torn and sundered flesh. But now they were intact. Once it was confirmed that she could stand, the girl fixed her gaze on the horizon of this realm and started walking. There was, after all, nothing better for her to do. She did not get far, or perhaps it was a great distance before the bleached void was once more disturbed.

A loud crack split the air asunder, causing the girl to whirl around and face what appeared for all intents and purposes to be the automatic sliding door of a convenience store. Granted the glass panes seemed to block sight, rather than serve as windows to what lay on the other side of the door. But at the same time, they were still see-through. The girl wisely put such a logical inconsistency out of her mind before it could cause any damage.

The door slid open, and a perfectly androgynous figure passed through the opening. The figure waved as they entered, calling out, “Yo George! Looks like you died again huh? Man, you just aren’t very lucky.”

The girl’s curious stare instantly shifted to a more guarded expression. After all, that was not her name. Not anymore. The androgynous figure slowed and gave the girl a funny look, “George…? That is you right? Aww man, did I go to the wrong afterlife?” They pulled a small device from their pocket. After tapping at it for a few seconds, the androgynous figure looked up at the girl.

“Well this is certainly a surprise, you are actually George. Or I supposed Stahlia would be your name now…” The girl’s eyes flashed in sudden understanding at the figure’s words.

“So I did die then, I was wondering what happened… Are you here to reincarnate me again?” Her voice was drab, and if her assertation were correct the androgynous figure may have questioned how she knew of reincarnation. But the girl’s guess was not correct, that was not what the figure was here for.

The figure smiled and shook their head, “No, that’s not why I’m here. Before that though, this is kind of awkward so…”

The figure pointed the device in their hand at the girl and tapped a few icons on it. A beam of light emitted from the front and flew towards the girl where it then proceeded to wrap her in a soft glow. When the glow faded, the figure nodded to themselves, “There, that’s better.”

The girl looked down at herself to find that she was now covered by a simple white frock. It was a style of dress she had seen a few times two lives ago, such a thing was often worn by religious depictions of angels. Looking back up at the figure, the girl saw that they were now seated on a plush armchair. Where such a thing had come from she did not know, but at this point she thought it better not to question something so trifling.

Since there was a second chair that lacked an occupant facing the first in which the youth sat, the girl decided to seat herself, “Thank you, for the clothes and the seat… Might I ask your name? Also, what did you mean earlier by this being surprising? What is this place exactly? Didn’t I die?”

While she thought it might be rude, it turned out that this person was surprisingly easy for her to talk to, and the questions seemed to come out before she could stop herself. The figure seemed to take it in good humor.

“Right, you mortals do attach a lot of importance to things like names. You can call me Adroni if you want, my actual name would be a bit… incomprehensible. As far as things being surprising, I was actually expecting a dude. This is your astral body… kind of like your soul? It really shouldn’t have already taken the appearance of Lady Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas.”

When the girl heard her name, she cringed slightly. That was odd, she thought. After all, she was actually a bit fond of her name. She certainly did not find it embarrassing, despite what one might suspect if they were informed regarding her circumstances. The figure nodded a few times to themselves, “I see I see. So you managed to fully accept yourself. That’s surprising, I didn’t expect that to happen so soon, how very interesting.”

The girl narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the youthful figure, “Who exactly are you?”

It was a fair question, this person seemed to know an awful lot about her, yet she had no idea who they were. The figure shrugged, “I told you, you can call me Adroni. A new name for the new you. If it would help you understand what’s going on though, George knew me as ‘EvilGod’.”

A look of anger flashed across the girl’s face and she glared at the androgynous figure. She recognized that name, it was the one responsible for putting her in the situation she was in. Except… it really wasn’t. Thinking over her life, sure there was a lot of bad. But there was a lot of good mixed in as well. Most of the worst stuff was in some way a result of her own actions. Her facial expression gradually softened as she considered everything that had happened to her.

The androgynous figure grinned, “How forgiving of you, have to say I wasn’t expecting that from the person who used to fly into a rage at the very mention of the gods.”

“I haven’t forgiven you.” The girl snapped at the figure, after all this was the person that had, more or less gotten her killed the first time. But she had to admit, that all things considered, her second life had been far more entertaining than her first, “But I didn’t exactly read the fine print either, so I kind of agreed to what you did.”

An awkward silence reigned for a length of time. The androgynous figure was content to sit idly, while the girl did not want to accidentally cross a line she did not know existed. Reincarnation was one thing, but it was a distinct possibility that this figure could do far worse to her if they were upset or angered. After some time, the androgynous figure broke the silence, “To answer your other questions… This place, it’s sort of like a buffer. An overflow region if you will. I set it up to prevent memory leaks from crashing the system. As far as what happened to you, yea you died. At least, your body is broken beyond any conceivable method of repair your allies have access to.”

It did not surprise the girl that the figure knew about her allies, after all the way it was talking about her so far indicated that it had been keeping an eye on things. It certainly would not be the first godly entity to do such a thing, and as irritated as that made her, she knew that arguing or expressing that frustration was an ill-advised course of action.

“Well, if that’s the case, what happens now? I honestly don’t know what all I agreed to when I accepted those terms.” The girl had a resigned expression on her face as she looked at the androgynous figure.

For their part, the figure flashed her a cocky grin, “What? Aren’t you curious about the people you left behind?”

The girl’s face fell into a frown, “A little… I guess Jacqueline is probably dead, Claire should be able to keep Felicity safe. Rupert will manage somehow, since I took down that asshole Five and clipped Sitri’s wings. Edith and Sarala will manage, Sana… well I guess you know more about her than I do, huh?”

“I sort of lost myself when Rosial died… when I killed her. So whatever happens now, I guess I deserve it.” If her self-deprecating tone was anything to go by, it would seem that the girl believed that she was not going anywhere pleasant.

The figure’s face showed a playful smirk, “Are you sure about any of that? No offense, but you weren’t exactly around to see… I could show you if you want.”

The girl’s eyes narrowed and she fixed her gaze on the youth’s face. Leaning forward she spoke in a stern tone, but she could not hide the mild spark of hope completely, “What would it cost me.”

The androgynous figure’s smirk morphed into a blatantly malicious deep smile, “Nothing much, just consider it a thank you gift for being so interesting. Who would have expected you to go and disconnect yourself from the system like that? Not I.”

The girl sat back in her chair and closed her eyes, “So you want something; nothing much isn’t nothing. Of course, you won’t tell me until after I agree…” She opened her eyes, “Fine. Show me what my friends are doing.”

The figure’s grin widened, and they set the small box down on a table that appeared between the two chairs. Now that she could see it properly, the girl recognized that the box was actually a smartphone. Though, given everything else in this space, she knew that there was no point in questioning this. Even if she was inclined to question the cellphone, the figure had first contacted her via a live stream chat anyways.

Several beams of light fired out of where the camera would have been, and drew a picture in the air. The girl recognized the person being depicted in the picture; it was a young catkin named Felicity. She was running down a street in the noble quarter of the city. After a moment, the youth snapped his fingers, and the girl found herself seemingly sucked into the image.

★★★★★★

Felicity & Claire, Six Years Old, Third Month of 948.

“GET AWAY FROM ME! I ORDER YOU!”

The force of Stahlia Neechan’s voice struck us just as we were picking ourselves up off the ground. The impact knocked Felicity out, though Claire Oneechan was able to maintain her presence. That didn’t mean she wasn’t affected though, the magic Stahlia Neechan had used implanted a strong compulsion to leave her presence immediately, “Damnit Stahlia! You better pull through this, you hear!?”

With that said, Claire began piloting our body away from the immediate area.  Out into the hallway, it was a good thing that the stinky girl had already gone. Down around a corner, making our way for the main entrance. We ran headfirst into Jacqueline Oneesama, looking up in confusion and surprise, Claire Oneechan made a snap decision. With Felicity still confused and delirious following the impact of Stahlia Neechan’s magic, there wasn’t much point in discussing things.

“Jacqueline! You have to help her!” It would be obvious to all three parties who “her” was, given the context. Jacqueline’s eyes flashed in understanding, “I will. Go.”

Claire Oneechan nodded curtly and then continued our mad spring away from the big house. It wasn’t clear where we should go, but it was obvious that we had to get away from here… though Felicity was loathe to leave Stahlia Neechan alone like that. Coming up to the entrance, we froze. Sniffing the air a pungent odor threatened to overwhelm our senses. It wasn’t clear who this smell was coming from, but it was the most revolting thing Felicity had ever had the misfortune of smelling.

It was so unpleasant, that it snapped her out of her delirious state and even gave her the strength of will to eject Claire Oneechan from control over their body. Clamping her hands over her sensitive nose, Felicity tried in vain to block out the pungent aroma. {Blegh! It’s like old fish, blood, and poo all at once!}

[Well, that’s a… colorful way of putting it. Are you sure those are the comparisons you want to make though?] Claire Oneechan’s mind-voice was in full agreement with Felicity regarding how revolting the smell was, but she had her own thoughts on what to compare it to. [To me, it smells like rotten chicken, sulfur, and vomit… Either way, we need to get away, and I think we should avoid whatever it is that’s making that smell.]

Felicity was in full agreement with her thought-sister. The two of them also realized without discussing it, that whatever this was, the smell was similar to Dominic’s. Though, much more intense. Though Felicity wanted to go back to Stahlia Neechan, the magic was forcing her away. Something that Claire Oneechan had realized, and was why she did not try and forcibly take control again. After all, Stahlia had invoked the contract that bound Felicity’s soul.

[Though, there was something more… something else layered onto her words. After all, they affected me as well, and the slave contract doesn’t hold my soul like it does yours.] Felicity couldn’t really follow what Claire Oneechan was saying, not without her sharing some memories or conveying her meaning directly. But that would take time and focus, so for now Felicity just made sure to remember Claire Oneechan’s words. After all, she had learned to trust her thought-sister when she spoke like this.

We managed to get out of the big house without running into anyone, something that Felicity was happy about. But for some reason, the lack of anyone made Claire Oneechan suspicious. Still, we were out, and that was the most important thing right now. {Felicity doesn’t care about the guards. Will Stahlia Neechan be ok?}

[That girl is a lot tougher than she has any right to be, she’ll pull through, somehow.] Felicity huffed, but Claire Oneechan had a point. Stahlia Neechan had been through a lot, and always managed to pull through in the end. Though Felicity had a sort of suspicion that this time was different somehow. Even though Claire Oneechan assured her everything would be fine, there was an inkling that something bad would happen.

A feeling that was quickly punctuated by an explosive pressure from the big house. The force of whatever was happening knocked Felicity on her bum. She tried to sit up but found that the pressure wave had not passed. Rather, it seemed like it was only growing in intensity. We were effectively pinned. [Felicity! We need to move… I can’t…!]

{Felicity can’t move! Claire Oneechan, what…?}

Felicity’s thought trailed off. Something felt wrong. Something was missing, she felt empty, like there was a piece of her missing. Like she had misplaced something extremely important to her. {…Felicity, we need to go. Now.}

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Saying that was all well and good, but Felicity still wasn’t able to move very well. She could sort of twitch her arms and legs a bit, but that was it. Suddenly, another blast assailed us, this one was rather loud and made our ears ring. Right after, the force that was holding her in place vanished, and Felicity was able to get up and move. Taking Claire’s advice, she picked a direction and ran. Claire was being strangely quiet the whole time, which was suspicious, but Felicity knew better than to ask questions right now.

As Claire Oneechan and Stahlia Neechan were so fond of reminding her, curiosity killed the catgirl. As it turned out, the direction Felicity had run was towards the outer wall that led from the Noble Quarter into the Upper City. Being a beastkin slave, it was unlikely that she would be able to keep going in this direction without being caught. {What should we do Claire Oneechan?}

After several moments of silence, Claire responded. [Felicity, listen carefully. Do you remember the sneaking stuff you learned from watching Stahlia and Jacqueline?]

{Felicity remembers, why?}

[Ok, wait for a carriage to come, and then sneak under it. If we’re lucky, news of what’s happening won’t have spread this far yet.]

{But Stahlia Neechan told us not to, so we can’t.}

[…I think you will be able to…]

Claire Oneechan’s words didn’t make sense to Felicity, but the way she spoke was very serious, so Felicity would trust her. Luckily, a noble’s carriage came by soon enough, and Felicity was indeed able to sneak underneath it while waiting for the guards to be looking the other way. It made her arms and legs hurt, but she was able to hold on until the carriage had gotten out of sight of the gate.

Dropping onto the street with a groan, we let the carriage pass over us with the driver none the wiser. Then we picked ourselves up and kept moving. Claire Oneechan seemed to think it was a good idea to get out of the city completely, so Felicity tried to move towards the gate to the Lower City. She didn’t know the way, but Claire Oneechan was adamant that if we moved downhill we would find the wall eventually.

It turned out that Claire Oneechan was correct, and Felicity was able to get to the wall as the sun was setting. She was very tired, but Claire Oneechan was adamant that we should get to the Lower City before stopping to rest. Thankfully, we were able to pull a similar trick with a merchant’s cart before the gate locked for the night. Utterly exhausted, Felicity made her way into an alleyway and collapsed on a pile of refuse.

Normally, Claire Oneechan would scold her for doing something like this, but her thought-sister was strangely quiet. {Claire Oneechan… why are we running so far…? Won’t it be hard for Stahlia Neechan to find us again…?}

[…Yes, that will be the case, but you let me worry about that, for now you need to sleep. Our body is exhausted.] Claire Oneechan then proceeded to feed Felicity a happy memory about a woman living with a dragon for a maid.

The next morning, the streets were abuzz with whispers of armed conflict breaking out in the Noble Quarter. Nobody was sure exactly what had happened, but Felicity felt like Claire Oneechan knew more than she was telling. There were even some people who used scary words like “rebellion” and “coup d’état”, neither of which Claire Oneechan was willing to explain. This was extremely frustrating, but after being promised an explanation after they got out of the city, Felicity agreed to keep moving.

It took most of the day for us to cross the city and arrive at the wall separating the Lower City from the Slums. This was because, as a beastkin, Felicity had to be very careful not to be spotted, otherwise we would be detained and questioned. The Noble Quarter and Upper City were also smaller and less populous than the Lower City, so the latter was actually far more difficult to navigate even if the quality of guards was lower.

Still, security was stricter on those going up the mountain than those going down in Drakas City, so getting past the final gate and out into the slum that surrounded the wall was fairly easy. From there, Felicity ran until we were a decently safe distance away from anyone. As safe as we could be in the slums, anyway. Felicity then collapsed into an exhausted heap. {Ok, Felicity made it… Claire Oneechan, what’s happening?}

[I suppose I would have to tell you eventually… And I did promise. Felicity, that empty feeling? The one that feels like you lost something important? That’s… Fuck, there isn’t any easy way to say this. That hole, chances are it was caused by Geo- by Stahlia’s contract being nullified… by her death.]

Felicity sat in silence. She didn’t wholly understand what Claire Oneechan was saying at first, but the latter helpfully supplied a series of memories and directly fed context across the mental link to help fill in the gaps. So Felicity was able to realize that something had happened and that Stahlia Neechan was probably dead. Felicity also realized that Claire Oneechan had realized something like this was probably what had happened right from the very beginning, when that hole first appeared.

Felicity did not react to the news in the manner Claire had been expecting. Indeed, Claire had expected that Felicity would scream and cry, possibly blame Claire for making them run away, even if that had been Stahlia’s order. No, the way Felicity reacted was arguably worse. She retreated so deep within herself, that Claire could barely hear her thoughts anymore.

Not that Claire didn’t understand where the girl was coming from; she herself was fairly upset about how things had turned out. But she had the benefit of an adult mind to cope. For all her advanced behavior and unique circumstances, Felicity was still a child. A child that was tentatively alone, in an abandoned building, in the middle of a slum. It was a situation that could not be allowed to persist. Tentatively, Claire reached out her consciousness and took control of our body.

Picking us up, she moved to a more sheltered area of the rundown shack and seated us down with our back against a wall.

{Claire Neechan… can you help me sleep?}

It had been a few hours since Felicity retreated deep into our mind and walled herself off. To be honest, I was just happy that she had come back so soon. I had been expecting to have to look after us for a while. Then again, she had been through a lot in our short life, so perhaps this degree of resilience should be expected. But that request was troubling in its own way.

[No… I’m sorry Felicity, but I won’t do that. You can’t run away from what’s happening. We need to work together to survive… Don’t you think Stahlia would be sad if we died? We owe it to her to keep going.] I felt dirty exploiting the girl like this, but I wasn’t about to let her expire just because I didn’t want to get my hands dirty.

{…No, she would be sad.}

[Good. For now, let’s sleep. In the morning we have work to do.]

{…Ok…}

It took a bit of time for Felicity to fall asleep without the assistance of Claire Oneechan’s memories, but in the end, she was able to. While she slept, I made plans for tomorrow. There were some things that we would need to survive, but as a beastkin in the kingdom of Drakas, getting them would be hard. But that was only if we followed the law. We were technically already considered a criminal for being a slave without an active contract, so I had few moral conniptions about breaking other laws.

The next day, Felicity found herself lurking on a rooftop. She was using her vantage point to watch a particular man that Claire Oneechan had singled out earlier. Though she didn’t know how watching this man would help her and Claire Oneechan to survive, she knew she should trust the voice in her head in this case. Even if being kept in the dark earlier was upsetting.

{Claire Oneechan, how will this help Felicity?}

[Don’t worry about it. Just watch… Ah, perfect!]

Felicity watched as the man bumped into another pedestrian. Just as they made contact, Felicity’s eyes and ears twitched oddly. They itched a bit like they hadn’t been used in a very long time. Felicity distinctly heard the two men shouting at each other, though her ears were nowhere near as sensitive as her nose so she couldn’t make out exactly what was being said. But it was certain that she heard it, rather than simply knowing what she heard. Then the sensation vanished.

[Alright, that should have done it… Do you feel anything different?]

{Different…?}

[Good. I was worried about that, but we need the money… Now we need to spend some time training up the new talent to a degree where it’s usable.]

★★★★★★

A White Void

The girl felt a sensation of vertigo as, for lack of a better word, she “fell” out of the catgirl’s body. With a gasp, she jerked upright and looked around. After confirming her surroundings, she glared at the androgynous figure, “What was that?”

The figure shrugged, “I offered to show you what your acquaintances were up to, that was Felicity and Claire.”

The girl spat back angrily, “I know who it was! I meant the part about sticking me in her head!” After a moment’s pause, her shoulders sagged, “…I’m glad, Claire will be able to keep her safe for me.”

The figure stretched their shoulders, causing a satisfying string of popping noises to echo across the empty expanse, “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Well, you saw the ending. Claire allowed Felicity to use that dangerous skill of hers… What do you think will happen, now that her connection to your divinity has been severed?” The girl’s face adopted a look of horror even as the androgynous figure’s creepy smile widened.

The girl’s voice was small, but seemingly carried across the void with ease, “…How long until… How long does she have?”

The androgynous figure pursed their lips nonchalantly, “Hard to say, and it would be no fun if I told you. Suffice to say though, you were the main reason the skill wasn’t progressing. Sure, Claire helped with that sensory trick, a really cool exploit you figured out by the way, but that wouldn’t have been enough to stop the progress without your [Champion of Winter] and soul connection.”

The girl flopped back into her seat, a look of pained anguish on her face, “…First Jacqueline, then Rosial, now Felicity…? Wasn’t there anything I could have done?” Though her words were merely whispers, the androgynous figure heard them clearly. They clapped their hands, “Well shall we proceed?”

The light show emitting from the phone on the table changed, now depicting a tall man that most people would recognize as the current crown prince, Rupert von Drakas. The girl’s eyes narrowed and she held up her hand in a panicked effort to stave off the inevitable. It was for naught, as she soon found herself being sucked into the image.

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