Chapter 82:

  Cat's Cradle

  (Maya's POV)

  -----

  >NOTICE: You've now entered the Cat's Cradle, Maze of Infinity.

  >Find the path or lose yourself forever.

  >Clear Conditions: Find the Cat's Heart and destroy it. Only then will it be safe to traverse this pce.

  >Failure to do so will result in the Cat's Trickery enveloping the world. All will be lost.

  >Time Remaining: 5 days, 1 hour, and 37 minutes.

  -----

  Stepping through the gate felt like plunging into a cold pool and emerging into a world distorted. The notification was the first thing to greet her before Maya's body lurched forward as if she was falling, only for gravity to shift as her orientation aligned with the newly formed dimensions. She stood in an abyss filled with veil of mist. As she looked around, she realized that she was alone.

  Through the mists, she could see above, below, and to the sides of her various Escher-style pathways. Doorways leading into the unknown from staircases and winding paths that defied all logic. This pce was east to get lost in, and it seemed like Malcolm and Samuel had arrived elsewhere.

  This wasn't a surprise to her, for she had been warned about this beforehand. Looking around, she opened her senses so that she could find them. Just beyond the veil of the fog, she felt the two men looking around in confusion. Malcolm was above her, while Samuel stood to her left upon a walkway.

  She took a breath, and waved her hand before her. A gust of wind channeled by the aether she commanded cleared the fog so that the two could see her. Their eyes widened as they saw the world around them, and then each other.

  "There you are!" Samuel yelled, his voice echoing, "What the bloody hell is this pce?"

  "Hell if I know," Malcolm replied, looking around, "I damn near lost my dinner."

  Samuel chuckled as he agreed that this pce was disorienting.

  "How do we meet up?" Malcolm inquired, "Do you think we can jump to each other?"

  "We could try," Samuel answered with a shrug, "See what happens. Convene on Orchid."

  Malcolm nodded and a pale blue energy enveloped his feet. This allowed him to kick off with increased power, making his way towards where Maya stood. However, as he was about half-way there, the air shifted before him as it split into fractures.

  "Shit!" he excimed as he couldn't change his trajectory in time.

  Maya could have helped him, but they had to learn the dangers of this pce themselves. That, and she found it a little amusing as he disappeared through the rift and nded on a ptform underneath her with a thud.

  "Fuck..." he muttered, groaning as he stood up and dusted himself off.

  "Good thing I waited!" Samuel called as he ughed, "Thanks for testing that!"

  "Oh, shut yer wee gob, ya fuck!" Malcolm yelled back, clicking his tongue, "How the hell are we supposed to meet up?"

  "Try again," Maya called out.

  Samuel and Malcolm looked at each other with apprehension before Samuel imbued his feet with a red energy and leapt towards her ptform. Once again, half-way through, a rift appeared in front of him and he couldn't dodge. To make things even, Maya didn't help him either as he plummeted upwards to where Malcolm had just been.

  "Son of a...!" Samuel grunted as he nded.

  "Ha!" Malcolm ughed, "Not so funny now, is it?"

  "Oh, shut up!" he scowled before dusting himself off and addressing Maya, "I take it you have a pn?"

  "Yes, jump," Maya told them both, "This time I might help you."

  "You...!" Samuel began but cut himself off as he grumbled.

  Malcolm simply shrugged and once again tried jumping to her. This time, as the rift appeared, she flourished her hand and imbued her bde with that of her [Gheistform] and empowered it with a bit of her aether. Sending it out shing out, she cut through the rift, dispersing it into harmless petals that dissipated into nothing as Malcolm burst through.

  As he made it to her ptform, gravity shift and he felt the pull. This time, prepared, he shifted his body and nded a little haphazardly on his feet. As he recovered himself, he looked up at her suspiciously.

  "You could've done that before, couldn't you?" he asked, to which she simply shrugged, "Ha, well, good on ya. Now..."

  Malcolm looked up at Samuel.

  "Come on, ya bastard, hurry the fuck up!" Malcolm called to him, and taking a deep breath, Samuel jumped.

  Maya once again flourished her bde and cut through the rift that appeared, allowing Samuel to harmlessly pass by and nd on the same ptform as them. Just like Malcolm, he prepared himself and twisted to nd on his feet.

  "Fucking hell..." Samuel muttered, holding his stomach as he tried to steady himself, "This pce sucks."

  "On that, we can agree," Malcolm chuckled, "At least we've gathered. Now what?"

  "We continue," Maya told them, dismissing her bde as she pointed down the pathway.

  "Right..." Samuel took a breath and readied himself, "Into the nightmare we go..."

  Malcolm chuckled as the two of them fell in behind Maya as she began walking. The path she was on was made of stone with no railings. Below and all around her y an abyss of staircases and pathways twisting and intertwining.

  "Luke would hate this pce..." Maya thought to herself, knowing his fear of heights. She wasn't much affected herself, as she could see through the illusions. From the moment she stepped foot into the Cat's Cradle, she opened herself to the truth of the world. Her eyes could see beyond the veil, glowing with a gentle vender.

  She saw that many of the paths were simply illusions, shown as shimmers in her vision. The one true path was the only solid one before her. As they walked this path, it began to shift, now above them was where they had come from, and yet also stretched on far to their right.

  It was certainly disconcerting, but thanks to Maya's disconnect from the physical world, this didn't bother her as much. She had spent a lot of time in [Gheistform] where directions never mattered much. Wherever she needed to go, she would go, and so she strode confidently along the path even as it twisted and turned in unnatural ways.

  Eventually, this led to a gateway where statues of feline figures stood watched. They weren't alive, for Maya could see through their nature. They were stone of a foreign kind, but not a threat. Simply decoration.

  Beyond the gateway was a corridor basked in darkness. From within, she could sense the true threat lurking. Banshee's.

  Raising his shield, Samuel cast [Illuminate] upon it, a soft orange glow enveloping all of them. As the lit filled the area, so too did the tunnel begin to light up, and that's when Malcolm and Samuel noticed.

  "Ah, fu-" Samuel excimed, but didn't have time to finish as a piercing roar echoed out from the several Banshee's waiting within the tunnel.

  Maya fought off the paralysis and dodged as a concussive bst shot towards them. To her surprise, the stone of this pce didn't shatter. That was useful information.

  Malcolm and Samuel barely dodged in time, each hiding around the corner of the gateway. The sound of thumping could be heard as the Banshee's rushed towards them, their cws grating against the stone. The first to appear was cut in two by Samuel, while the second burst apart from a punch from Malcolm.

  The rest, Maya finished off with [Flurry], a swirl of petals tearing them apart, their bodies left to rot or slide off into the abyss of this pce. Landing softly upon the path, Maya took a moment to check her surroundings. There weren't any other Banshee's nearby, though...

  She turned, knife flicking from her hand as she sent it flying into one of the statues that had previously been lifeless. It had, in the abrupt fight that cropped up, been repced. Her knife found its mark, imbedding itself between the eyes of the statue.

  It's facade broke as it screeched in pain, the guise of a statue fading away to reveal the true form of one of the Prowlers. Its long, twisted limbs reaching up for the knife as Malcolm and Samuel excimed in surprise, but Maya was faster than any of them. With a thread of her aether connected to the bde, she flicked her wrist and pulled it free as she used [Fsh Step] to immediately close the distance.

  Grabbing the bde as she appeared, she activated [Bde Dance], elegantly cutting into the creature before it could even react. It's golden eyes were wide with surprise, staring at her before the light went out and it's body fell into pieces around her. It's core, a single cat's eye gem, glowing gold, floated there for a moment before she reached out and took it.

  In that moment, she felt all the eyes in this pce turn towards her. Animosity. Fear. Anger. Caution. Many emotions filled her senses as she had their attention, and she simply smiled, turning her head to see through the veil and gaze at the humanoid felines that watched her.

  "I see you, you know," she told them, her voice a cold monotone, "Now, be good little kitties, and surrender...or try your best and perish."

  Their hair bristled, while some of them hissed, before they slinked away into the dark. Unfortunately for them, they were as prideful as they were intelligent. Which meant that they would make the stupidest decision of their lives.

  They wouldn't surrender. Their pride was hurt, and even the most intelligent of creature would make dumb decisions, such as trying to fight her.

  "Come on, let's go," Maya told Malcolm and Samuel as she turned as if nothing had happened, making her way into the corridor.

  "Uhm..." Malcolm scratched his head, looking between the corpse of the Prowler to the pce where Maya had been talking to, "What the fuck just happened?"

  "We're being watched," Maya answered simply, "I was just giving them a warning."

  "Right..." Samuel gnced down at the corpse before shaking off any apprehension, "Lead the way."

  The two quickly put aside their confusion, focusing on the issue at hand. They made their way down the corridor in silence, their vigince heightened. At any moment, a fight could happen. They knew this now.

  Maya kept her silence, focusing herself on sensing the world around her. The veil proved no obstacle, as she could see every shift beyond. The Prowlers couldn't hide from her, and when they struck, she would be ready.

  After all, Lucas depended on it.

  -----

  (Maya POV, Cont.)

  Even with her enhanced senses, this pce was a rather annoying maze. They were constantly hampered by Banshee's who shed out from the mist that swirled within this pce. It was drab, eerie, and just a little bit too tedious.

  "Fucking hell..." Malcolm breathed, leaning against a stone wall, "How many of these bastards are there?"

  They were currently in a rge room of sorts that looked twisted, its walls curving while staircases intersected in all directions, including sideways and upside down. Mist swirled low to the ground, now collecting around the bodies of several dead Banshee's, and a few Prowlers, that had ambushed them.

  "We can't stop here," Maya told him, gazing up at one of the pathways above, "We need to keep going."

  "Aye, I hear ya, but..." Malcolm motioned vaguely around, "It feels like we're going in circles."

  "I hate to agree with him, but..." Samuel added, agreeing with him, a slight look of doubt upon his face, "Are you sure you know where you're going?"

  She knew they would question her sooner or ter. It only made sense.

  "I got you this far," she stated simply, beginning to walk towards a staircase that began to bend upward toward the ceiling, "You can stay here, or you can follow me. Either way, I'm continuing."

  Her orientation was soon perpendicur to them on the floor, though now the ceiling to her. She was making her way towards the nding of one of the staircases which led to an empty doorway. This was the way she needed to go. She could feel it.

  "She doesn't slow down, does she?" Samuel chuckled with a soft sigh, "She ain't wrong, though. We've come this far."

  Malcolm pced a hand on his neck, stretching against it before standing.

  "Aye, besides, you've seen this pce, right?" Malcolm asked Samuel as they began to follow Maya.

  "Yeah..." Samuel replied with a nod of his head, "This pce makes no sense."

  Maya listened to them as she walked, making her way into the dim corridor, softly illuminated by crystal formations that grew from the stone walls. They shifted with an unnatural gleam of various colors. Various forms of ivy and moss grew alongside them, materials that could be harvested for ter, and the focus of Malcolm and Samuel's conversation.

  "At first, I thought this pce was empty," Malcolm continued, walking along behind, "But the further we went, the more it didn't make sense."

  "You're telling me," Samuel scoffed with a chuckle, "There was a bloody fucking river in one of the rooms."

  "Filled with flowers and various other fauna," Malcolm added, shaking his head, "I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it."

  "Like a whole ass garden," Samuel muttered, gazing at the walls, "Take this for example. How the hell does all this form?"

  "Hell if I know," Malcolm shrugged, "Leave that to those better suited for it."

  "Yeah," Samuel nodded, running a hand along one of the crystals, "We'll definitely need to investigate this. These materials could prove useful."

  "If we even can," Malcolm told him, stopping for a moment to break a piece of crystal off, pocketing it in his inventory, "Not the best sample, but just in case we can't get back in..."

  "True," Samuel stopped for a moment as well, cutting some of the ivy down and putting it in his own inventory, "Though, from what I've seen, there's so much of it that it has to be a Material Dungeon, right?"

  "I've never seen a Material Dungeon like this, though," Malcolm replied with a bit of skepticism, "You might be right, though."

  Maya continued to listen as they spoke about pns to harvest this pce, should it actually be a Material Dungeon. Of course, Maya already knew the answer. It was quite the lucrative pce. Unfortunately, what Maya sought had not been in the previous rooms.

  This pce, with all its hallways, corridors, paths, and various twists and turns led to rooms that contained their own ecosystems. As if this pce had swallowed pieces of the worlds it had consumed with its mists. Perhaps, they were actually remnants of the world from which the Prowlers had come from.

  Maya, despite her urgency in finding the Cat's Tongue, was paying close attention to this pce. Ever since she stepped foot in here, she has expanded her senses to see into its truth. Beyond seeing the creatures that lurked within the mists, she saw the very fabric of this pce id out before her.

  It was stretched, twisted, and broken. Fragmented.

  It was like everything here was just cobbled together, stitched into the pattern that most people saw, but Maya wasn't most people. While it was obvious that this pce felt unnatural, with environments that didn't make sense, most would dismiss this as the very being of this pce.

  However, Maya saw it. She saw that these pieces didn't belong together, but they have existed for so long intertwined that they have melded into one. A unique ecosystem that came about from mutual co-existence. It brought many questions to Maya's mind, but one in particur stood out amongst the rest.

  It was a question that has been asked from the very beginning, and one that has been debated and commonly thought to be answered. Which is why Maya never really thought about it much. Yet, now that she saw the threads of this pce intertwined like some fucked up tapestry, she had to wonder about it again.

  What were these Gates?

  The commonly accepted answer, as it made the most sense, is that they led to other worlds. This was obvious, since no pce like these existed on Earth. Sure, some felt simir if you found yourself in a forest, cave, or some other simir biome that could be found on Earth, but there was a fundamental feeling when one was in a Gate.

  This feeling was one of obvious alien nature. Simir, yet different. Forests with great redwoods, aspens, and other trees simir to Earth...and yet were mushrooms walked, the trees talked, and insects were the size of horses. Tundra's that were just as cold as Earth, yet where the snow came alive, and ice took the form of various creatures.

  There were many pces like that, and no one really questioned it beyond the fact that they were other worlds, but just what exactly were they, and why had they appeared? It made her think of what Elizabeth had told her one time about the origin of these Gates.

  She had said that Gates form when other worlds collided with each other. In this case, with Earth. Seeing this pce led credence to her words, and yet also made Maya wonder why. Even this, Elizabeth didn't know. She simply shrugged and stated that it didn't matter, just so long as Lucas survived whatever it was.

  Maya understood and agreed with that sentiment. Whatever the reason for these worlds colliding with Earth was something to figure out in ter, when Lucas was safe. Still, it intrigued her. She had come to love piecing together information and couldn't wait to share her thoughts with him.

  So, Maya continued to look into the truth of this pce, scouring its seams and patches within the tapestry that made it whole. Even if it wasn't something she had to figure out now, it didn't hurt to look and think on it, and that's exactly what she did as she continued through the Cat's Cradle.

  -----

  (Maya's POV, Hours Later)

  She hated to admit it, but she had underestimated the Prowlers pettiness and intelligence. For as long as she had walked, the pce continued to stretch on. She hadn't entered any rifts, nor did she stumble into shifts that brought her somewhere else.

  No...those bastards had figured out the range of her senses and were maniputing this pce beyond them.

  "C-Can we...rest for a moment?" Samuel huffed, breathing heavily, "We've been walking, and fighting, and walking...for hours."

  "I hate to agree with the numpty, but he's right," Malcolm agreed, leaning against his knees, "I don't know what crazy endurance you have, ss, but even we have limits."

  Begrudgingly, Maya relented.

  "Fine," she told them coolly, "Rest while you can."

  They heaved a sigh of relief, colpsing to the floor. They immediately began taking items out of their inventory in order to make food and set up camp. Right now, they were in a small, semi-spherical room with only three pces to enter and exit from. They currently took up what could be considered one corner of it.

  The pce was lit by those glowing crystals, and a small stream cut through the room from an opening in the wall. As if it was being fed by some long-forgotten aqueduct. It would be safe...for now. In the meantime, she had to figure out how to bypass the Prowlers tricks.

  She could hear them snickering through the mists and beyond the veil. A mistake that two of them paid for dearly as she shed out, her daggering disappearing into the beyond as it cut them down. Those that were quicker to react were able to avoid her attack, hissing as they disappeared.

  "Don't get too cocky," she threatened in her mind, gring after them, "I'll break through this."

  It wasn't like she was caught in an illusion, for the pathways were real. It was just that they kept creating new pathways ahead of her, outside of her reach. It took her longer than she'd like to admit realizing it, focused as she was on her task.

  "Damn it..." she berated herself, recalling her bde that she put away, "I got overconfident."

  This pce was nothing to her. Its threats were minimal, trained as she was. Still, she didn't have endless stamina. While she wasn't tired yet, if they could continue hampering her, she would eventually grow weary. Taking this moment, she found a spot alone, slight away from Malcolm and Samuel where she sat down with her legs crossed.

  Taking a deep breath, she focused her senses on the area around her. The Prowlers which had come to gloat were no longer there. The pce was clear of Banshee's and Disjointed.

  "If I were Elizabeth..." Maya pondered, imagining what she'd do in this scenario, only to become amused by the thought, "She'd probably incinerate this pce. In fact, she did say something like that before..." Maya chuckled to herself, still a little impressed by just how strong Elizabeth was, even after knowing who she truly was.

  It took Elizabeth over a thousand lifetimes to get that strong, and while Maya had existed in those lives before...she didn't really live them like Elizabeth did. She wasn't able to retain anything. Which mean that Maya didn't have lifetimes to spend getting stronger to break through this.

  She had to do it in this lifetime, and soon.

  Taking another deep breath, she continued to expand her senses to their limits. Through winding passages and twisting ruins, she pushed herself as far as she could so. She saw beyond into the veil, a pce mirroring this world, yet so vastly alien. All around her, the threads of this world were id bare.

  This pce was vast, far beyond her current senses, even heightened as they were. She wasn't cirvoyant, or omniscient. She had a limit, but limits were meant to be broken. That's what she was always taught. To push herself beyond what she was capable.

  To be faster, stronger, more precise. She had been trained to excel in every aspect of her life. Etiquette, dancing, seduction, politics, assassination, music, poetry, finances, and so much more. It had always been for the benefit of others, but it had never been her choice.

  Now, she had a choice, and she chose to be the best version of herself so that not only she could protect those that she loved, but so that she might have a life of her choosing. She wouldn't let some cowardly cat-folk get in her way. They thought themselves clever by changing the path beyond her reach? They would learn how futile it was.

  All her life, there have been people trying to control the path she walked. Whether it had been her parents or the Ptinum Lotus, and she was tired of it. She would break through it, just as she had shed the shackles that had held her down before. She wouldn't be stopped here.

  She filtered the sound of the world into silence, as even with her eyes closed, she could see the ebb and flow of this world. She pushed her senses to their limits, finding that they reached a sort of...barrier. It felt solid, as if a tether was pulled taught and refused to go any further for fear of breaking.

  [Sixth Sense] was overclocked. [Limit Break] was beginning to press in on her body. If she had broken her limits, then why were there new ones in pce? Why could she not...

  "Ah..." the thought came to her like a breath of fresh air. As if taking the plunge into a cool pool on a hot summer's day. She smiled, for she had been thinking of this all wrong.

  While she was just as capable of breaking through things like Elizabeth, her way has never been to brute force something. She was the ebb and flow. She was the silent assassin. The one they never expected until it was too te.

  Her memory fshed of her dance with Lucas. The moment that she had revealed herself to him in all of her glory. She remembered how he accepted her, and she had accepted herself. However, ever since then, she had been holding onto this notion that she was in control, but by doing so she had inadvertently been holding herself back.

  She was in control, so why did she have to think in such limited terms? Her skills had told her this. She had broken her limits. They didn't exist.

  It wasn't a matter of knowing this, but understanding this. She had tested her new senses, seeing that they reached a certain point and simply believed that was her new limit. That with time and training, she would be able to surpass it, but...she already had. It was just her own view of it that subconsciously blocked her, stunting her.

  A way to perhaps protect her from what her skill had warned her about. Sensory Overload.

  "It's a lot of information..." Maya told herself, feeling the overwhelming sensations around her. She was in control, and yet that is exactly what tied her down.

  This metaphorical leash that she had pced around herself kept her from reaching her true potential. If she wanted to really be in control, then she had to remember the basics. The dance. The ebb and flow.

  In her mind, she danced with Lucas. In her mind, she moved with him, flowing where he flowed, ebbing where he ebbed, and in so doing...he flowed where she flowed, and he ebbed where she ebbed. In such a way, she controlled the rhythm, the movement, and she could go wherever she wanted, and just like that...the tension released.

  She floated untethered through this space, a surge of power radiating from her as a notification flickered to life before her.

  -----

  >ATTENTION!

  >[Gheistform] Evolved. Congratutions! New Skill Unlocked.

  >New Skill: [Ascension: Spiritual Monarch]

  >Description: The world no longer holds you. Seek the truth.

  >You exude a radiance that cannot be denied. The Realm of the Spirits is yours.

  >Command it as you will.

  -----

  A slow smile spread across her face as she saw it all revealed to her in a matter of moments. The world beyond her reach came so vividly into view that she felt almost euphoric.

  There, lurking beyond the veil were the Prowlers, thinking themselves safe from her reach. However, the moment she broke through, they sensed her and immediately fell to their knees. Hers was a power so overwhelming that they couldn't help but cower in shock and fear.

  She had removed herself from her body, appearing in all of her spiritual majesty. Wreathed in robes of flowing vender, made of an ethereal energy, her eyes glowed a deeply intense amethyst, while her skin swirled with an unfathomable dusk.

  "I've found you," her voice echoed, booming with a calm intensity. She turned upon them a single hand, and in it appeared a scythe ripe for reaping. Bathed in the glow of sakura petals, it swept through them, and with it, their lives were forfeit.

  As each one fell, she felt a sliver of their life absorbed into her, and she accepted it. She knew how to dance, to ebb and flow, and so she would not resist, yet she would also not be overcome. She saw the opportunity and she took it.

  If it helped her to get stronger, then why deny it? She could feel the very fabric of this pce at her fingertips. As she absorbed the essence of the Prowlers, their schemes were broken as the pathways were realigned as they should be...and that's when she saw it.

  No, she felt it. The Cat's Heart. It thrummed, pulsating with an energy unlike any she had ever felt before, and she saw its true nature. It was an artifact made of crystal, gilded in golden rings that bound it together...and it was what the Prowlers used to manipute this pce.

  With it gone, traversing this pce would be easier, as the pathways wouldn't shift as much, if at all. It was only a matter of mapping it out after that. However, she was growing tired.

  This newfound form of hers, this...power, was taking its toll. She may have surpassed her limits and reached a new level, but that didn't mean she never grew tired. It was new, and she had to acclimate to it. Draining the essence of the Prowlers had helped prolong it, but now she had to return.

  Like a dance, one had to remember when to rest, but before she did, there was one more thing she had to do. The reason she had come here in the first pce.

  "Where is it...?" Maya wondered, searching the byrinthine structures for a singur pnt. The Cat's Tongue. That very precious ingredient. It didn't take long before she saw it nestled not far from where the Cat's Heart rested.

  Relief washed over her, knowing that it wouldn't be long now.

  Taking a deep breath, she rexed herself, releasing [Ascension] and returning to her physical form. As she opened her eyes, she saw Malcolm and Samuel looking at her with bewilderment. All around her, their camp was a complete mess.

  "Ah...oops," Maya felt a little guilty, realizing that it had been her fault that their food and equipment had been whipped around from the surge of energy.

  "Are ya back to us, ss?" Malcolm inquired hesitantly, holding desperately to a sandwich that Maya could tell was missing a few ingredients, "Care to expin what the fuck that was about?"

  Samuel nodded in agreement, hand over what looked like an old-fashioned ale mug, most likely to keep its contents contained within.

  "Right..." Maya cleared her throat, adjusting herself as she stood, "I came to a revetion. The way forward is clear now."

  They stared at her, completely dumbfounded.

  "A revetion?" Samuel excimed, "You looked like the bloody fucking Avatar!"

  "If that's a bloody revetion, where do I get one?" Malcolm joked in disbelief, "The amount of power around you...all glowing and shit, nigh see-through as well."

  "Absolutely crazy..." Samuel said in awe.

  Feeling a little embarrassed, she kept her expression as calm as possible.

  "I apologize," Maya told them as she stood, "Unfortunately, I didn't have time to warn you as it just...happened."

  The two of them looked at each other, a silent understanding between them before they just shrugged.

  "Well, you said the way is open?" Samuel asked, to which Maya nodded, "After what we just saw, I believe it."

  The two of them finally rexed, and Samuel removed his hand from the top of his mug, only to gaze into it with a bit of disappointment.

  "Finish what you can," Maya told them, still feeling a little guilty, "We'll head out after."

  Their eyes lit up with gratefulness and the two of them quickly went to getting everything back to how it was and enjoying a drink or two. It was the least she could allow after ruining their rest, and besides...she needed a moment to recover herself.

  She had just become something far beyond human, and that took a bit to process.

  "Just what are these skills?" Maya pondered as she took a seat on the stairs they would be taking ter, watching as Samuel and Malcolm enjoyed themselves on food and drink.

  Once she got used to such a form, could she use it indefinitely? The thought honestly terrified her a little. It was the first time she's ever held such power before. She had always held the life of those she targeted in her hands, but this was on a whole other level.

  It had been so effortless to kill the Prowlers and absorb their essence. Just what exactly had she become...and did Elizabeth know that this would happen?

  She began to wonder if there was more than one reason that she was asked to come here. She'd have to ask once she got back...but for now, her mission was complete. After Malcolm and Samuel finished their meal, it was smooth sailing to the heart of this pce. The Cat's Heart was within a temple-like structure, suspended upon a circur altar.

  It was here that they destroyed it and cleared the dungeon. The effect was almost immediate as the mists began to retreat and reveal more of this pce. Nearby, the mint-like pnt of Cat's Tongue was recovered, with Maya pocketing as much as she could. Even if they only needed one pnt...she wanted to be sure.

  Upon returning to Athlone, they found the people were coming back to their senses but were severely disoriented. Immediately calling for aid, they set up tents and support structures to treat many of them who had become malnourished. Maya helped to oversee operations, proving herself invaluable to the efforts.

  This, along with her contributions in clearing the dungeon and saving the nation, made conversation over the next couple of days about resource management more in her favor, allowing her to procure a deal that tilted generously toward Aegis. However, while focused on her task, her mind couldn't help but wander to where her heart belonged.

  Just what has Lucas been up to since she's been gone? Elizabeth hasn't really talked to her, so she'd have to find out once she returned. Hopefully, he didn't get into any trouble.

  -----

  Nikushimi