Ch. 31
“Vying”
Devlyn is still so much faster than I am, even if currently we are biologically the same entity, every cell matching. She still embodies a sense of power and grace I have yet to master. Even after years of training. Quiet your mind she would tell me as if I am supposed to know what that means.
I mean I haven’t gotten a full peaceful night’s sleep in…I can’t even remember how long, what did she say two weeks? Or even brushed my teeth. Nyx, I bet my breath is horrid. Or that I haven’t even had a good soak in a bath, in a normal persons sized bathtub. Or that my powers are changing, again. I’m putting myself in people’s minds, and commanding things of them. Or that the ice within me is coming out and causing snow. Or that creatures in the forest are changing and being binded by someone or something. Or that Mother is meeting with nymphs while I was gone. Oh, Nyx. Mother…Or that I have an increasing number of voices in my skull, one being a smug mortal vampire man. Not to mention said smug mortal vampire man. Ha…quiet your mind she says…. Like how?
Her paws pounding just out of reach of me. We pass trees, weaving in and around them. Ragged breaths passing the whiskers that lay along my full cheeks, back and forth. I see Devlyn glancing past her shoulder. A toothy grin moves past her lips. It is crazy that a creature can have such large teeth in its mouth like how do they all fit. It looks even more unnatural to smile with them. They could rip the skin from your bones, tearing through muscles and tissues. Devlyn reaches a point where two trees have fallen and collided with each other. Her body arches down and she leaps. Her powerful legs soaring her large feline body clear over the obstacle. With grace, deadly precise power.
I know having the power to wield fire, wind, and wild ice is cool, and all, but shifting is different. The ability to have your body change into something completely altered. The act of your body filling the space of another. There is more than a handful of shifters within the clan. The ones among the scout and guards have patches on their leathers to help better identify themselves. Mother wanted to have a safe place for them to learn and practice their skills. While many only have one or two shift forms. Only a handful have the ability to shift into anything. Being one of them is such an unworldly experience. Anything that enters my brain, that I have studied, that I have seen, I can be. I am usually the one being watched, but watching Devlyn makes my heart race. I hope when someone looks at me, they feel this same feeling, they sense the power of endless possibilities. Lately I have the feeling that they see me as wild, untamed, and pure chaos. I don’t wish to be feared although I feel like some people should be cautious. I would rather be seen as someone filled with potential. Currently I am not living up to the image that I want.
I reach the tree that Devlyn glided over. My breathing is ragged. My poor body. I can’t wait to just fall into a bed. A normal full adult sized bed. With pillows and the silk covers that will hide me from the world for a while.
I manage to jump and then slowly climb over the top of where the trees met. I jump down and continue running, more like a trot. Devlyn has gotten some distance away. At this rate I am not looking like the winner of this race, but over my dead completive body will I let that happen.
Devlyn has always been my teacher and has beat me more times than I would like to admit, mostly on the training mats. I can figure out a way to beat her in this race, though, hopefully. Even if it is the death of me. Or a broken bone or two.
Since we saw the guard posts, I know we have to be at least half a mile from the castle. I know Devlyn is probably going to go through the forest to get to the castle from the main stone road, but there is a dirt vine covered road that leads to the castle as well. Given that Devlyn brought wagons to come find me, I doubt Mother wanted anyone to see the hoard she brought. So I’ll bet coin that most of the vines would be flattened out.
Devlyn is out of my sights now.
I raise my head to the sky, and smell.
Her power is fading, but there is another smell that fills my nose. Mother…her power, so bitter that it almost fills my mouth, like the brussel sprouts the cooks would sometimes try to hide in meals. Gross. I have always felt like she could be smelled miles away, and that means she is home…well shit…but that is not the smell that will lead me to victory.
It is pine. Pinecones to be technical.
Mother always has some roasting in the fireplaces within the castle. That is a smell that has engraved itself into my childhood, into adulthood, my soul. I follow the smell.
My claws digging into the earth below as I pick up speed. I am not going to use my wind to help increase my speed because I wouldn’t hear the end of it from Devlyn and I am not a cheater, most of the time that is. May just bend the rules a little and find other ways to victory.
Just need to get to the dirt road before Devlyn gets too close to the castle. I move through some shrubs, brushes, and broken trees. I can feel the small cuts being left on my skin, past the fur. So much for not looking like shit when I see Mother.
I’m moving. As fast as I can. My breaths coming out as ragged wheezes, but I will not stop. I nearly run past the road, and I dig my claws into the ground to slow myself and turn my body. I feel my muscles twitching and pulling against the force.
I twist and start picking up my speed again. My paws landing on years of overgrowth. Thorns pushing into the soft parts of my paw pads, but I keep going.
I feel my lungs are about to explode, but I am determined. I am focused. I am strong.
I see one of the guard posts that follows the road. The smell of pinecones roasting are soaking into the sky around me. I know the post is guarded and I have probably already been spotted, and Mother is going to get word of a wampus cat arrival…and I know they can already smell my changing power giving my true identity away, but this is my best chance.
Ch. 31
“Vying”
Devlyn is still so much faster than I am, even if currently we are biologically the same entity, every cell matching. She still embodies a sense of power and grace I have yet to master. Even after years of training. Quiet your mind she would tell me as if I am supposed to know what that means.
I mean I haven’t gotten a full peaceful night’s sleep in…I can’t even remember how long, what did she say two weeks? Or even brushed my teeth. Nyx, I bet my breath is horrid. Or that I haven’t even had a good soak in a bath, in a normal persons sized bathtub. Or that my powers are changing, again. I’m putting myself in people’s minds, and commanding things of them. Or that the ice within me is coming out and causing snow. Or that creatures in the forest are changing and being binded by someone or something. Or that Mother is meeting with nymphs while I was gone. Oh, Nyx. Mother…Or that I have an increasing number of voices in my skull, one being a smug mortal vampire man. Not to mention said smug mortal vampire man. Ha…quiet your mind she says…. Like how?
Her paws pounding just out of reach of me. We pass trees, weaving in and around them. Ragged breaths passing the whiskers that lay along my full cheeks, back and forth. I see Devlyn glancing past her shoulder. A toothy grin moves past her lips. It is crazy that a creature can have such large teeth in its mouth like how do they all fit. It looks even more unnatural to smile with them. They could rip the skin from your bones, tearing through muscles and tissues. Devlyn reaches a point where two trees have fallen and collided with each other. Her body arches down and she leaps. Her powerful legs soaring her large feline body clear over the obstacle. With grace, deadly precise power.
I know having the power to wield fire, wind, and wild ice is cool, and all, but shifting is different. The ability to have your body change into something completely altered. The act of your body filling the space of another. There is more than a handful of shifters within the clan. The ones among the scout and guards have patches on their leathers to help better identify themselves. Mother wanted to have a safe place for them to learn and practice their skills. While many only have one or two shift forms. Only a handful have the ability to shift into anything. Being one of them is such an unworldly experience. Anything that enters my brain, that I have studied, that I have seen, I can be. I am usually the one being watched, but watching Devlyn makes my heart race. I hope when someone looks at me, they feel this same feeling, they sense the power of endless possibilities. Lately I have the feeling that they see me as wild, untamed, and pure chaos. I don’t wish to be feared although I feel like some people should be cautious. I would rather be seen as someone filled with potential. Currently I am not living up to the image that I want.
I reach the tree that Devlyn glided over. My breathing is ragged. My poor body. I can’t wait to just fall into a bed. A normal full adult sized bed. With pillows and the silk covers that will hide me from the world for a while.
I manage to jump and then slowly climb over the top of where the trees met. I jump down and continue running, more like a trot. Devlyn has gotten some distance away. At this rate I am not looking like the winner of this race, but over my dead completive body will I let that happen.
Devlyn has always been my teacher and has beat me more times than I would like to admit, mostly on the training mats. I can figure out a way to beat her in this race, though, hopefully. Even if it is the death of me. Or a broken bone or two.
Since we saw the guard posts, I know we have to be at least half a mile from the castle. I know Devlyn is probably going to go through the forest to get to the castle from the main stone road, but there is a dirt vine covered road that leads to the castle as well. Given that Devlyn brought wagons to come find me, I doubt Mother wanted anyone to see the hoard she brought. So I’ll bet coin that most of the vines would be flattened out.
Devlyn is out of my sights now.
I raise my head to the sky, and smell.
Her power is fading, but there is another smell that fills my nose. Mother…her power, so bitter that it almost fills my mouth, like the brussel sprouts the cooks would sometimes try to hide in meals. Gross. I have always felt like she could be smelled miles away, and that means she is home…well shit…but that is not the smell that will lead me to victory.
It is pine. Pinecones to be technical.
Mother always has some roasting in the fireplaces within the castle. That is a smell that has engraved itself into my childhood, into adulthood, my soul. I follow the smell.
My claws digging into the earth below as I pick up speed. I am not going to use my wind to help increase my speed because I wouldn’t hear the end of it from Devlyn and I am not a cheater, most of the time that is. May just bend the rules a little and find other ways to victory.
Just need to get to the dirt road before Devlyn gets too close to the castle. I move through some shrubs, brushes, and broken trees. I can feel the small cuts being left on my skin, past the fur. So much for not looking like shit when I see Mother.
I’m moving. As fast as I can. My breaths coming out as ragged wheezes, but I will not stop. I nearly run past the road, and I dig my claws into the ground to slow myself and turn my body. I feel my muscles twitching and pulling against the force.
I twist and start picking up my speed again. My paws landing on years of overgrowth. Thorns pushing into the soft parts of my paw pads, but I keep going.
I feel my lungs are about to explode, but I am determined. I am focused. I am strong.
I see one of the guard posts that follows the road. The smell of pinecones roasting are soaking into the sky around me. I know the post is guarded and I have probably already been spotted, and Mother is going to get word of a wampus cat arrival…and I know they can already smell my changing power giving my true identity away, but this is my best chance.
