As the hellecat, Kuroki, led him out of the clearing, Boneroot was still having trouble coming to terms with the reality of the current situation. He wasn’t necessarily taken aback by the cat’s power. It wasn’t too rare that a hellecat would break into the third realm, though this was the first he’d seen. He wasn’t even that surprised by the creature’s ability to speak. The Village had an old legend implying the possibility. No, Boneroot was most taken with the potential of a companion.

It had been quite some time since he’d last had an actual conversation. Sure, Kuroki didn’t act any older than a child of the Village, but that was still a step up from no one. Besides, he’d always liked helping out with the young ones. They were the only village members who actually looked up to him. And they’re gone. Probably dead. Boneroot flicked his chin side-to-side, trying not to let the dread overwhelm him. He was too far gone, though.

The boy dropped to the floor of the clearing to meditate, beginning to cycle his qi before he even hit the ground. In the last two years of living on his own, the boy hadn’t had to consider whether his cultivation habits might be rude to someone else. Not to mention, the ability to clear his mind near-immediately was invaluable, given his circumstances. Fortunately, Kuroki didn’t have a human point of reference.

“What are you doing? Is it fun? Helloooo?” The furry ball of energy circled its new human companion. Feeling the stir of the ambient essence, Kuroki quickly realized what the boy was doing. Curious, he settled a few feet away to observe.

An hour later, Boneroot rose from his meditation. While this was hardly more than a warm-up compared to most cultivation sessions, he was still struck by the recklessness of doing so in the middle of the forest. In front of its deadliest predator. Remembering his present company, Boneroot whirled around to find the hellecat lazily pawing at some dandelions.

“About time! I was getting bored! Don’t worry, though, I didn’t let any bad cats come close.”

Boneroot sighed in relief. He was more worried about the danger of Kuroki, himself, but there was no need to voice that concern. Mentally, he had to admonish himself for meditating under these circumstances to begin with. He’d have to work on breaking that habit. Putting that aside, Boneroot reassessed the situation. Namely, Kuroki. While he was unsure if the hellecat would prove to be a true companion, he was happy to not have already been killed.

After a quick, satisfying-looking stretch, Kuroki led the way once more. As he waltzed through the forest, the cat held his head comically high. Even Boneroot, who wasn’t the best at reading people even before he’d lost all contact with them, could tell Kuroki was a bit full of himself. Then again, if he was in the third realm, he’d probably have something of a complex, too. And at such a young age, too! The way he acted, Kuroki couldn’t be even ten years old.

The more he thought about it, the more Boneroot started to marvel at the anomaly walking him through the forest. For now, at least, he felt comfortable accompanying the creature. At least it was something new. With no one to talk to, play with, or ask for guidance, Boneroot was willing to follow just about anyone, regardless of their ability to effortlessly bisect him.

As he walked, Kuroki began to tell his new friend all about his supreme power.

“And one time there was a bear! It was so big! So big! But I’m the strongest in the whole forest! Except for Feli. I went PAH and PTCHOW,” Kuroki relayed into Boneroot’s thoughts with surprising expressiveness, “Feli was gone so I did it all by myself. It was so yummy, too! Do you like bear? It’s my favorite!”

The boy couldn’t help but laugh. The thought of him going after a bear, instead of the plentiful, harmless rabbits he usually hunted was just ridiculous. Still, he had to admire the little one’s courage. Or creativity. Those bears were twice the cat’s size and frequently in the second realm themselves. Nonetheless, Boneroot found his mood improving with every step. He really had someone to talk to!

The odd duo carried on like that for some time, exchanging their best anecdotes from life in the forest. Kuroki was shocked to find out an entire village of people had been living there just a few years ago. For his part, Boneroot couldn’t believe that Kuroki was nearly 20 years old! Apparently, his species only gained sentience when they broke through to the yellow realm, what he would call the Third Realm. Kuroki only accomplished this a couple years ago, but that certainly justified some his behavior, at least. Boneroot also learned that hellecat was just a name used by the Village. They referred to themselves as tsovars.

Boneroot thought he had offended the third-realm at first, but Kuroki quickly decided hellecat was cooler. However, he warned Boneroot not to say that in front of Felindei. At some point in their journey, the cat revealed it was actually to Felindei that they were going. He was very excited to introduce Boneroot to her. Rather than see this as cause for concern, the boy was thrilled at the prospect of meeting yet another creature to whom he could speak. And so, throwing caution even further to the wind, Boneroot followed Kuroki into the heart of the tsovars’ territory.

As they moved closer to Kuroki’s home and farther from Boneroot’s, the boy started to notice distinguishing changes in the landscape. The brush was much thicker, for one, while the trees were lower to the ground. The vegetation was much darker in color, yet a number of curious plants contained stalks of pure white. It was becoming ever clearer that this area was unlike any part of the forest to which he’d been so far. If that weren’t hint enough, he kept seeing the momentary, black blurs in his peripheral vision that suggested they were being followed. When he voiced this concern to Kuroki, he was given a careless shrug.

“They’re just peeking. We’ve never had a human come here who didn’t already know Feli!”

Finally, Boneroot was beginning to piece together that this ‘Feli’ might be more important than he initially thought. Before he could work up an appropriate level of apprehension, though, Kuroki announced their arrival.

“FELIIIIII! COME PLAY!”

Just as Boneroot started to consider how this sort of announcement worked within the tsovars’ unique communication system, though, his entire being was thrown into disarray.

He had yet to even see or hear the enigmatic creature, when Boneroot felt the overwhelming onset of Felindei’s presence. His heartbeat quickened, yet his senses dulled to the point of numbness to anything outside of Felindei’s overwhelming existence. The boy was only able to focus on a familiar sense of doom seizing the entirety of his attention. He had come face to face with the hellecats in the wild a handful of times before. That moment before they moved on to easier prey always set off every instinctual alarm in the young cultivator’s body. Now, those instincts were pounding at the edges of his consciousness.

When it finally spoke, it was still out of Boneroot’s vision. Or so he thought. His vision was hardly trustworthy at the moment. More surprisingly, though, was the sound making its way to his ears. Actual sound, not a mental voice. It was light and melodious in a way utterly at odds with the terror it invoked. Under different circumstances, it would probably be pleasant. Unfortunately, the current circumstances had Boneroot paralyzed from fear, which didn’t fade as the creature spoke.

“It has been some time since a human entered this place. Kroshieshi when was that? Two years ago? Three?”

Another voice, deeper than the first, sounded from behind Boneroot, startling him with how close it was.

“Why ask questions you know the answer to? The poor boy is scared to death. Your attempt at the humans’ ‘banter’ isn’t helping.”

At that, the source of the first voice appeared in front of Boneroot, as if without moving. He found himself unwittingly locking eyes with a human. He was so surprised by this revelation, Boneroot hardly noticed the return of his senses, no longer overwhelmed by density of the ki around him. Before him stood a tall, slender woman. He guessed it was a woman, anyway. Her features were drawn back toward her long ears and white hair, which tumbled down her back and, impossibly, into her shadow. Before he could assess the mystery, though, the woman addressed him directly.

“This should make things easier, yes? I suppose I can’t fault you for your inability to bear my magnificence.”

Behind him, Boneroot heard a gruff snort.

“Quiet!” The human shot an admonishing glare in the same direction. “As my precious Kuroki undoubtedly informed you, I am Felindei.”

The utterance of his name reminded Boneroot that he had lost track of his young companion. Right on cue, however, the jet-black cat pounced at the woman before him from Boneroot’s shadow. He quickly realized the tsovar actually came out of his shadow.

“SNEAK ATTACK!” The words reverberated in Boneroot’s mind as he watched the blur of black fur shoot towards Felindei at breakneck speed, only to be stopped with an idle swat of the target’s hand. Kuroki landed on all fours a few feet away, still tensed, but looking dejected.

“How many times has Kroshieshi told you that announcing your sneak attack prevents it from actually being a sneak attack? Hmm?” Felindei leaned towards Kuroki with her eyebrows raised, drawing Boneroot’s attention to the unmistakably feline, slit pupils beneath them.

“But I hid so well! Nobody saw me!”

“We all saw you, silly cat. Maybe not the human, but that’s hardly surprising.” Her lips quirked up in a sly smile. Though it was a kind gesture towards his new friend, Boneroot was not put at ease by the fangs it revealed. As Kuroki pouted off to the side, Felindei turned back to the only real human in the grove.

“I hope our little one did not scare you at first. I know his behavior belies his power.”

Kuroki couldn’t figure out if he’d been insulted or complimented, so he just sulked even more. It took moment, though, for Boneroot to realize it was now his turn to speak. He paused for another moment as he gathered his wits about him, finally replying,

“It was a bit of a shock at first, yes, but I think we’ve started to get along quite well.”

Though the littlest of the nearby tsovars was dismayed to learn Boneroot hadn’t been scared by his fearsome might, Felindei seemed please by his response. Now that he was more at ease in the simultaneously bizarre and terrifying environment, Boneroot took a look around. He was surrounded by trees with impossibly long stalks reaching up into a twisting maze of a canopy streaked with all manner of unnatural colors he had never seen in the forest. They all curved inward over the grove, creating a dome that Boneroot assumed to be intentional. If the power he felt at Felindei’s entrance was any indicator, such a reshaping of the forest would be child’s play.

When he got around to looking behind him, he found the other speaker, Kroshieshi, uncomfortably close to his back, staring right at him. Awkwardly, Boneroot gave him a nod of acknowledgement. The boy thought he spotted a quick eye roll as the tsovar returned the gesture. Off to the side, Kuroki was vibrating with some mix of excitement and apprehension as he waited for Felindei to approve his new friend.

“Kuroki, dear, why don’t you show your new friend around the grove.”

Taking that as an endorsement, the young cat jumped up to fulfill his new duties.

“Follow me!”

Despite all of the things he’d seen today that were making him uneasy, Boneroot wouldn’t count the furry ball of energy bouncing toward the exit as one of them. So, he followed the cat out, still marvelling at the otherworldly plants lining the tsovars’ home. On all sides, the boy found some kind of vegetation he’d never seen before. Overlarge fruits dangled from defiantly thin branches, while some of the flowers at his feet appeared to physically dance in the light shining through the canopy. However, he didn’t see a single of the black and white shrubs that marked the journey to the cats’ encampment. This far into their territory, he supposed, there was no need to blend in. He also had a sneaking suspicion that all of the decor was the choice of one individual: Felindei.

As Kuroki told half-finished anecdotes about all his misadventures in each area of the grove, his guest had a hard time focusing. He kept coming back to Felindei. With some time to reflect on the encounter, the boy grew more and more concerned with the overwhelming power with which he’d been faced. It was an absolute, an immutable fact of reality. Boneroot understood the depth of Felindei’s power just as he understood the mountains extending into the clouds. He shuttered and Kuroki took notice.

“What’s wrong? Are you cold?” The little cat spoke looked as sincere as could be.

Smiling, Boneroot responded, “No, no, I’m fine. I was just thinking about Felindei. She seems strong.”

“Feli? She’s the strongest in the whole world!”

Boneroot probably would have felt better if he could pass that off as a childish boast, but, for all he knew, it was correct. It was then that he began to wonder what exactly he was doing here. He’d followed Kuroki to try and make a friend, even if that friend was a feline toddler of exceptional strength. Now, though, what was his path forward? Befriend the rest of the hellecats?

Despite Kuroki’s eagerness, the boy had a hard time believing the rest of the grove’s inhabitants would be so welcoming. He had watched them hunt for a while, so he knew exactly how territorial they could be. Still, there was a possibility they might help him with his cultivation. It was modeled after their own, after all.