“The Kathron Legacy” (81.1) (Anastasia)

"I'm not one for long goodbyes."

Those words from a distant time ago and very recently rang through my mind, but I couldn't remember it very well.

My ribs hurt. I noticed that before I processed much else. Then everything else started to hurt. I was on the ground, on dirt. My head was throbbing, every muscle was sore.

How did I get here?

Everything was dreamlike. Maybe I was dreaming. The last thing I could remember was that I got on stage with Zoey, and she was so cute and awesome and she sang right beside me...

I dimly noticed my hands didn't look like my own. They were clawed, like a tiger or a lion or any big cat, but with the distinct oil like look of Elka on top, or mixed in maybe. The dirt ground felt warm. I tried to get up, but with everything hurting, I couldn't. I could only look ahead to the trees around me. I was in a clearing. The wind flowed gently, smelling of the sea, and birds chirped above. As my vision got less fuzzy, I noticed a blob in front of me wasn't just a blob, it was another monster like me.

I didn't remember how I knew, but I knew. It was Zeta Faleur, my long estranged sister and most hated enemy.

Zeta. She did this. I don't know how, but she did this.

My anger managed to pull me upward until I stood on all fours. Zeta was responsible for my pain, and she needed to pay for it. I growled as I approached. Walking like this didn't feel right, but it didn't matter. Zeta stirred as I approached, blinking as I stood over her. She came to more quickly than I did, likely due to the fear of waking up to me ready to rip her to shreds.

We were at the dance. Something happened. Zeta and I became monsters. She did this. She ruined the dance. She ruined my chance with Zoey. My dream girl. Of course Zeta would take that away.

I rose to my hind legs, ready to scratch and maim and destroy.

"Ana?" Zeta's mouth didn't open, but I heard her voice in my head as she scooted backwards, a low growl coming from her. I was so surprised I stopped mid-attack.

"Can you hear me?" Zeta said. Well, "said." I wasn't sure how, but I could hear it. It was immediately apparent that any "saying" we were doing in this form with words and not growls or hisses was through thought. And we could hear those thoughts, apparently.

I tried to not think anything, not liking the sensation of someone else's voice in my head, but my attempts to not think anything gave away that I could hear her.

"Whoa, you can...!" Zeta shook her head. "Uh, what are we right now?"

"Monsters, clearly," I said.

"How'd that happen?" Zeta asked. "Last thing I remember...we were at the dance...you were in trouble, and I remember running to help. Or maybe I dreamt that part."

"You probably were. Or you must be remembering it wrong," I said. "I'm sure whatever this is is your fault."

Zeta got up and huffed. "That doesn't make any sense. How could I even do this? It's probably another imp." She looked around. "Is it just us here...? Dang, you're freaky looking."

"You're pretty ugly too," I said. "Not that that's much of a change from before."

"Oh, whatever," Zeta said. "Is it just us here?"

"How should I know? I just woke up," I said.

Zeta bounded forward. "Then let's get looking. If Oka's in trouble, I gotta rescue her."

"Wait, idiot!" I said. I don't know why I didn't just let her run off. It's not like I cared if she got lost out here. Or if she ran into danger. Maybe some annoying void imp would show up and snatch her away, and I'd be free of her.

I wasn't sure where she was headed, but there was a path past the clearing, so we were at least going somewhere. No monsters had jumped out at us yet. Though I guess we were maybe the monsters in this situation.

Making matters more annoying, Zeta was fast in this big cat-like form, trotting ahead easily while I stumbled every few steps behind her.

"How are you walking so damn easily like this?" I asked.

"It isn't the first time," Zeta said. "I had Feral Flu once, and Common Shift Sickness another time, I got turned into a cat. Smaller than this, I think? Remembering stuff is kinda hard right now."

I tried to think privately. I wasn't sure exactly how that was different than the thoughts Zeta could "hear" me say, but I just thought to myself, So damn annoying. She didn't react to that, so maybe I had to actually try to reach out for her to hear?

"Haven't you had either?" Zeta asked.

"The labs are kept clean, no sicknesses like that allowed." I said.

"But not even after you went to Wildfire Hearts?" Zeta said. "That was out in public and junk."

"That's part of what the helmet was for," I said.

"Oh, right," Zeta said. "Probably easier without it now, huh?"

"Well, I got turned into this and I'm stuck with you, so maybe the helmet wasn't so bad," I said.

"I bet if you had the helmet, you'd be like a cat wearing one of those cone things right now, shaking your head around trying to get it off of you," Zeta said. If I was in my normal form I would have chucked dirt at her, but I had to settle for just scoffing.

"Aren't you sore?" I asked. "I feel like I got hit with a truck."

"Yeah, maybe shifting made our muscles hurt more?" Zeta said. "If you need to rest, just say so."

"I don't," I said. "Wait, do you hear that?"

We both stopped. Before we could only smell the sea water on the wind, now I could hear waves. I wasn't sure being on a beach would be greatly better than the jungle, but maybe someone was out there. We rushed ahead, passing through more trees until we were greeted by a vast, blue sea.

"Wow," Zeta said. "This kinda looks like Vita Coa, think we're there?"

"I don't know," I said.

"Yeah, now that I say that...this doesn't feel like Vita Coa."

I wasn't sure how she made that assessment, nor did I really care. Scanning around, I didn't see any landmarks from past void nodes I'd visited. 

"Careful about getting too close to the water," Zeta warned.

"Why, did you see something?" I asked.

"No, because of undertow? That stuff is scary, it'll pull you in," Zeta said.

"I think I can avoid undertow," I said.

I wanted to go looking on my own, sending her one way and me going the other, but now she was staying right at my side.

"Maybe go look somewhere else?" I asked.

"We probably shouldn't split up," Zeta said. "It'd be dangerous."

"I feel like you keep forgetting that I despise you," I said.

Zeta didn't answer for a bit, scratching one of her ears with a paw.

"Hopefully now you remember that," I said. "Go look somewhere else."

"What's that?" Zeta asked, completely ignoring what I was saying.

I thought it was a large table at first, some kind of four legged piece of furniture was resting in the sands, one that was taller than both of us. But as we got closer, it was clear it wasn't furniture at all, it was a piano.

"What do you think this is doing out...?" Zeta trailed off as she circled the piano. "Ana, Ana!"

The idiot's mental exclamations made her also yelp out loud.

"Shut up, what?" I said.

"There's someone here..." Zeta said.

I spotted a long flowing gown first, then sandaled feet. A woman was seated on the piano bench, leaning forward.

"Is she alright?" Zeta asked.

"Just shut up and look," I said. "Is she breathing? Start there."

Zeta sniffed at the air. "I think she's OK. Just sleeping."

"Did you get that just by smelling?" I asked.

"Yeah, my sense of smell is really good right now," Zeta said.

I smelled as well, and sure enough I had a bizarre innate sense that this tall woman was just sleeping.

"Should we wake her up?" I asked.

"Don't!" I said as Zeta started pawing at the woman's legs.

"What? Why not?" Zeta said.

"Because she might be the imp running this place, moron," I said.

"Oh..." Zeta said.

We both watched the woman sleep, trying to analyze if there were any tells that she was a void imp. My gut said we should run and maybe avoid all the unpleasantness of dealing with yet another void imp, but before we could do that, the woman started to stir.