Chapter Eight
I am now sitting on the bed in my room staring at a black cat in front of me. After we came home, I told Anne to stay inside the room and not going anywhere while I took a quick shower. I always took a bath before nightfall to get a more effective rest. Fortunately, Anne the cat do as I asked and stay on the bed waiting for me to finish my shower.
“What’s going on here?” I said, folding my arms and putting on a grumpy expression. The cat just looked at me, silent and unresponsive.
Or maybe she really can’t understand.
“Sigh… If Eve saw me talking to you like this, she’d probably think I’m losing my mind,” I said, lifting Anne up and putting her face on the same level as mine. “If you are Anne, please give me a sign. I need to set things right.”
“Nyaa~” The cat just meowed softly in response.
“I’m starting to feel like an idiot,” I said, laying back down on the bed while still holding the cat up between my hands. “I can’t think of any other explanation for all of this. Why were you missing in the first place? Why did we find you so deep in the cave? If you did get lost somehow and your curiosity kicked in when you found a cave, why did you not directly go inside the cave? I have a theory. You found a cave when you were playing catch with Gabe and you sensed something was there. You knew it was probably a monster so you took Gabe home first and then faced it at night.”
I continued to explain my theory, trying to make sense of why I believed this cat was Anne, Gabe’s late wife.
“You probably think that if left alone, the monster will just get more and more dangerous so you fought it. There is no way a cat would be brave enough to face a monster. Nope. You know you could take it on. My second question is why do we find you laying on the ground? I mean if you just get lost and then your curiosity makes you enter the cave, the Tesák-Worm would probably eat your whole body and we would only find your remains in the cave, like other animals we found. The only explanation for this is that you have some set of skills that kinda removes your presence? hide from enemies? or something along those lines that saves your life even after you lost.”
The cat was silent.
“And last but not least how does Gabe survive?” I continue my theory on why the cat was actually the late Anne.
“Easy. Because you were with him. Eve and I have interrogated Gabe after the battle and he got no clue whatsoever. When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Gabe as a warrior who only knows a little bit of magic will never escape the Worm’s mouth without any physical resistance. But he did. Along with you. And not with bursting through at the monster’s stomach but just suddenly appears in an old well. Teleportation Skills? You were the only thing that could be the last piece of this puzzle. I tried to find another piece to fit but no there is no other explanation.”
The cat remained silent, and I sighed. “I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong. But something just feels off. And there’s also my dream… Sigh, let’s just go get some sleep.”
I put the lights off, put Anne on the bed, and closed my eyes.
“…”
Eve was standing outside the door while holding two cups of hot chocolate that has become cold. She was on her way to Cyan’s room to bring her some snacks and maybe chat a little bit. She was then held up when Cyan starts talking to the cat and now she overheard everything. Eve then gets back downstairs with both the cups and the snacks on a tray.
A blazing fire roars across the town.
The houses were ablaze, the flames licking at the sky.
The trees were blackened and twisted, their leaves curling and ash raining down like snow.
The birds had fled, their panicked cries a distant echo.
But it all happening on the other side of the picture.
All I see now is a white floor and blue sky with nothing but a neverending horizon in front of me.
“…”
When I tried to close and re-open my eyes nothing really changes. On the left side, there is the dream I always had. I tried to walk to that scene only to understand that it is not possible to do so. What is this?
“Cyan.”
Suddenly a voice is calling me from behind.
“!” I turn my head and saw the woman again.
“………………”
I tried to talk but no sound came up from my throat.
“…” The woman silently walks in my direction.
It was the same woman that suddenly shows up in my dream twice before. The woman wore a white cape and carried a sword on her left side. I can see now that she was wearing full white armor with a golden accent every little bit here and there making it looks really beautiful. I can also see her long red hair and pretty face clearly from this distance. Only her glowing green eyes are missing. She now has a blood-red pupil on both her eyes, matching her beautiful hair. Her face was filled with regret, the same as what I remembered before.
This is Anne. Or at least that's what I thought. And this is probably not just some dreams I used to have. She tinkered with it somehow. I tried to ask about this but there is still no sound coming out of my mouth.
The woman then touches my cheek with her right hand and I started to feel something change. I was in a little kid's body when I am in this dream. The world is what I remembered from my past so I always have my five-year-old body here. But then after the woman touches my cheek, I feel like my soul comes out of my body and my little kid's body runs back to the scene. I am now the fifteen-year-old Cyan again.
“How did you…” I speak.
“My voice is back?”
The woman smiles a little bit after she finished.
“Are you Anne?” I asked immediately.
“I am.” and the woman answers.
“THEN ARE YOU THE CAT???” I shout happily thinking my theory was right.
The woman look shocked after my shout and smile wryly.
“I bet there is a lot to talk about, but first let me change the scenery a bit. I bet this scene didn’t sit right with you.”
Anne said while turning back and start walking further away from ‘the scene’ of my dream. She put out her right hand and a door came up from below.
“After you, my fair lady.”
Anne acted like a noble knight and open up the door. I go inside the door only to find a huge grass field hill with a single huge tree above it. Anne gestured to the bench underneath it. I sit down and Anne follows.
“My heart beating fast for some reason.”
It would probably be because of the beautiful landscape. No, definitely because of the beautiful landscape.
“I… think I owe you a lot of explanations.” Anne starts talking.
“Let us start with your questions.”
“Are you the cat?” I asked again as this is could be the answer to what was bugging my mind for a while now.
“Haha… That one first? Yes. I am Anne the cat and also a human before I died.”
“ALRIGHTTTTT!!!!!!” I stand and shout.
“Ah, sorry… I mean, I feel like I was getting crazy for thinking something like that so… But wait. What if this all just a dream because I did am going crazy???” I started to lose my mind again.
“If you want to I could bring you something from outside as proof this is not just a dream. Would a lily from the backyard be sufficient?”
“You’re a genius!” My eyes shine like a puppy.
The red-haired woman then smiles again.
“No, you are the genius one.”
I sit beside her once again.
“You got everything right. Well, almost.”
“Almost?”
“I did find the cave by chance and then took Gabe home before I try to fight it and you were also right about teleportation skills. I could teleport myself and everything near me to another place that I already visit before but was limited to an area near my location.”
“Ah… That explains it. I was wondering why are you not taking Gabe back to town if you did have teleportation skills.”
“But I didn’t fight the monster because I know I could win. I fight so that Gabe and the town didn’t have to.”
Eve's story about Anne who dreamt to become a Hero immediately shows up in the back of my mind.
“I am pretty sure that if I bought Gabe there without proper equipment I would only bring doom to him.”
“Ah… I can vouch for that.” Cyan recalls her first battle with Gabe.
“That’s why I fought it. My strategy was to teleport the monster far high above the ground and let gravity do its magic.” Anne continues to explain.
“But it didn’t work?”
“Yes, the Worm was too big. I then could only use the skill to bring myself to the cave entrance after my body was battered. It’s thanks to your potions that I could somehow use my skill again when Gabe and I were eaten.”
“I see…”
“Is that enough answers about the battle?” Anne asked after explaining the battle from her side of view.
“How many times can you do that skill per day? Does that cost you anything?” Cyan continue asking questions.
“I think I could take around ten times a day but if I need to bring someone along like when I took Gabe, I don’t think I could do it more than once. And distance also counts.” Anne replied.
“Hmm, then I will guess that your mana in that cat body could only take you that far. Can we try to replace that burden with my magic stones? We should try it sometimes.”
“Never thought about it that much. I think we could try that.” Anne answers positively.
“So, besides teleportation skills, you can interrupt someone’s dream and create things you want to?” Cyan asked while looking at the environment surrounding the both of them.
“I could only show people what they have in their memories. I couldn't create new things in someone’s mind. This clear blue sky, this bench, this tree, the green field hill was in your memory regardless of whether you remember them or not.” Anne replied.
“I see…” Cyan replied while looking at the greens stretching all the way into the horizon.
“Oh! Weren’t your eyes green? I mean, that is one of the reasons I think you were the cat.”
“You already saw Eve’s eyes right? We all choose these abilities when we advanced to the Silver Rank. My green eyes helped me see things from far away, and it could also helped to focus on the enemy’s weapons and any danger that might come in front of me. A little bit different from Eve’s but it pretty much enhances our sights. We only put them on when we needed to because it took a toll on our bodies if we put it on too long.”
“Choose?” I asked.
“Yes, it was a reward when you successfully advanced to the Silver Rank. It was basically a magic item. I put on my ring to trigger the skill.”
“Did Gabe also pick that?”
“He picks a normal greatsword,” Anne answered.
“…”
“…”
Gabe’s stupidity really runs too deep.
“Then about my dream…” Cyan tries to ask what it meant.
“I am sorry to cut you out but this has to end now my fair lady.”
“Huh? Why?” Cyan asks confusedly.
“Time works differently in the dream realm. You might be getting eight hours of sleep but you could only dream a few minutes at most.”
“Ah, I see. I sometimes take a five-minute nap but then after I woke up it turns out I slept like a log for hours haha.”
Anne smiles again.
“Don’t worry. We can do this every night if you want to. I also still have a lot of things to say to you myself.” Anne replied in her soft voice.
I remembered her words in my dream before. I got some idea about why she said sorry but I’ll just keep it out for now.
“Hmm, I probably need to find some way for us to talk in the real world,” I said while putting my hand on my chin.
“That would be much appreciated, my fair lady.”
“Aww, you should stop saying things like that. Just call me Cyan.”
“Alright, Cyan.” and Anne smiles again.
The dream world then starts to fade away to nothingness. All the green grass field starts to crumble away like dust. I guess this is my time to wake up in the real world.
“It was nice talking to you, Anne.”
“The pleasure is mine.”
“And have I told you that you are such a beautiful ladyyyy~~????”
Anne starts smiling again and then vanishes behind a blinding light.
When I woke up in the morning a white lily rests on the table beside my bed, indicating that all of that is not just a dream as Anne said.
to be continued to Chapter Nine
~Terti
