A few weeks passed by without any sort of problems arising. The town and its people did not face anymore threats since the attack of the demon dog. The guards, who were supposed to be guarding the town, were all punished severely. The establishment has commissioned new warriors to ensure no attacks happen again, making sure several warriors roamed the area in a wide net.
During their investigation, they were surprised to discover six demon dogs wandering around. They did not know what had caused them to come so far from their homes, but they promptly defeated them.
One evening, Lakshman was eating dinner when his father, Indra, came home. He walked up to his room and promptly switched into his normal dress before coming down for dinner. Sitting at the table, he sighed deeply and leaned back in his chair.
Lakshmi, Lakshman’s mother, asked him how the day went and everyone at the table was surprised by the news.
“It’s unusual that this many monsters wandering so away from their dens,” he said as he spooned food into his mouth and swallowed.
“What could be the reason behind the recent unusual changes, Indra?” Lakshmi asked in a worried voice.
“That’s a good question. The boys in the Monster Control are investigating the issue. However, I feel the recent monster hunting going around and adventurers carelessly might be driving the monsters from their dens.”
“Idiots… Do you know who it might be?”
“I do, but it’s not like I can just walk up to them and whack them for their idiocy now, can I?” Indra said in a sarcastic voice.
“Well, it’s a good thing our boy was there to save the day!” Lakshmi said and she patted Lakshman on the head, but he was munching and promptly caused him to start coughing.
A few days later, Lakshman was taking a day off from training again. On that day, he felt he should go back to the forest and do so some exploring. And so, he got dressed and headed out.
It took him a while longer than usual to get to the forest. The reason was not because he was delayed by saving kids from bullies. Rather, It was because of the people of the town. Just before heading to the forest, he went to check on the condition of the town.
When he arrived in town, everyone started greeting him enthusitcally. In a matter of a few seconds, he was surrounded by a mass of people wanting to talk to him and his autograph. Then he was hampered down by the many questions the people asked like his age to the last technique he used to destroy the monster.
Thinking of a way to escape, he remembered Sumara, his home tutor, instructing him on using a non-verbal spells. It was called the Morse code and she had shown him how to do it. Although he understood it, he was still a beginner at it, but he was confident he could pull it off under these circumstances.
While other people were talking and arguing with each other, he started drawing the Morse code on the ground. Once he finished, light appeared and the Morse code vanished. The next instant, a gigantic ball of water appeared floating high above the crown before pouring down on the crowd.
When the crowd scattered, he took the opportunity to make his great escape. He ran out of town until he reached the crossroads where the sign was pinned to the ground.
“What the heck is up with that crowd,” Lakshman said once he reached a safe point and sighing.
Ignoring the crowd, he went on his way towards the forest. Half an hour later, he arrived at the forest. Since the last time he came here, he felt nothing had changed. Calmly, he walked into the forest and instantly regretted having gone to town.
Maybe, going to town and getting all worked up was not a good thing. In a way, he felt more relieved and peaceful in the forest than in town.
A while later, he arrived at the lake and, like last time, saw the water spirits dancing above the water surface. Seeing him, they quickly moved towards him.
Once he sat down, he took off the shoes puts his legs into the lake. The cool water felt refreshing to the touch of his feet. He closed his eyes in bliss and sat there while listening to the sounds made by the cheerful water spirits.
Like this, he spent his time sitting and then lay on the ground in relaxation while he listened to the sounds of the forest. He might have accidentally drifted off to sleep and it was not a surprise for anyone to sleep in such a peaceful place.
“Meow…”
He suddenly opened his eyes after hearing the sound. He felt a little sluggish and wondered why. Suddenly, he remembered where he was and thougt that he might have fallen asleep. Then he felt a something soft and furry touching his face.
“Meow…”
He blinked in surprise before turning his face in the direction the noise came from. His eyes made contact with the form of a cat as the cat continued to nudge his face.
Looking at the cat, he suddenly felt as if he had seen this cat before. As he finally remembered, his eyes widened because it was the same cat that had an injured leg which he healed.
“Oh, hello,” he said as he greeted the cat before sitting upright.
Lakshman suddenly felt his legs getting cold and decided to finally take them out. After shaking them off the water, he put his shoes back on. As he sat back down, the cat got close and started rubbing its head against his legs. He was surprised, but he quite liked the feeling of the cat rubbing against his leg.
Sumara told him that this forest is inhabited by one of the beast tribes, the cat people. Apparently, they had the power to transform into their humanoid form and their cat form, although the beast tribe cat people do not usually interact with humans.
Thinking about what she said, Lakshman was not sure what to make out of this cat, but he did not think it was bad. Sumara admitted to never coming across anyone from the beast type people on her journey. All she told him was that they are a tribe that isolate themselves from outsiders.
“I wonder… Can there really be transforming cats? And if so, I wonder what they look like in a Human form?” he muttered as he looked down at the cat.
At that moment, he imagined a girl with cat ears and a tail with sharp nails. He did not know why, but from just imaging it made him feel excited.
Going with the flow of his feelings, he suddenly raised his hands into the air and shouted “Cat people are cute!”
His voice echoed throughout the forest. The water spirits stopped what they were doing and stared at him. For a moment, he was pleased with himself. Then he realised he accidentally shouted out loud.
Just then, the water spirits came over and started to circle him. He has not learned to communicate with the spirits, but he could guess what they wanted.
“Who is cute? What is cute?”
“I mean, I ah… um…”
Lakshman was hesitant to speak and made flustered movements. The cat stopped rubbing its head against his leg. He thought he saw the cat give him a puzzled look, but he thought must have imagined it.
Deciding to distract them, he began playing with the water spirits. The spirits easily avoided him and started bouncing on his head. They were light, but that was because they were still in the growing stage.
“Well then, I think I’ll go explore around a bit…” he said and got to his feet.
So he walked away from the lake and further into the forest. The cat also followed, which he didn’t mind. It almost felt like a small companion and he didn’t like to linger long since he felt slightly lonely.
“Oh my god!” Lakshman exclaimed in shock.
Several minutes later, he suddenly came to the point where the forest showed an entrance ahead. Walking towards it, he suddenly shouted in fright and quickly grabbed onto the nearest tree to hold onto.
What frightened him was that he was standing at the edge of a cliff where the trees ended. Down below he could see more trees and more stretch of land.
“That’s a long drop to the bottom,” he muttered as he looked down.
The drop looked very long. It was clear there was no chance for a man to live after falling from this height, even worse for a kid like him. He wanted to leave the place immediately. The cat was sitting at the edge of the cliff and seemed to be observing the scenery below while he hung off the branch.
“Meow?”
“It would be a dumb move if I fall right now. This is ridiculous, even for me!”
Just as he finished speaking, the ground began to shake. It shook violently and a chunk of the land suddenly got torn off from the cliff. Lakshman watched, in shock, as the broken part of the cliff began to fall.
Lakshman sighed in relief to not be standing on it. At that moment, he suddenly heard the frightened sound of a familiar cat.
“Meow! Meow! Meow!”
The cat was floating in midair as it was about to fall. He realised, with horror, the cat was sitting at the edge of the cliff where the land got separated.
“Goddammit!”
Lakshman lets go of the tree he was holding on and landed on the ground. Then he moved forward and kicked off the ground with tremendous forcefully and soared towards the cat. The cat slowly spun in the air before he grabbed it and held it between his arms.
As he rescued the cat, he realised, too late, he was was the one falling this time. “Hold on tight!”
His eyes widened and he prepared himself. As he drew nearer to the bottom, he frees his right hand and raises it above him.
Instantly, he gathered energy and formed it into a ball in the palm of his hand. The next instant, he brought his arm forward and released it into beam energy, aimed directly at the ground below.
“Whoa yeah!” he shouted as the beam hit the ground and propelled him up into the air.
A few seconds later, the beam energy vanished and he found himself floating high in the air with the cat. Looking around, he yelled happily when he got to see the world from such a height. All worries left him and were replaced by the sheer pleasure of seeing the world stretching for miles.
“Hey, cat! That’s the dumbest move you made, sitting so close to the cliff! Still, though, if
you hadn’t I wouldn’t have rescued you and if I hadn’t rescued you we wouldn’t be floating way up here and seeing the world!” he shouted as the wind howled back his ears, making it difficult to hear.
The cat was making noises, but he simply could not hear them. It looked like the cat was also excited to soar so high in the air. Then they started to drop and he realised, he had no idea how to land properly.
“If only I had learnt wind magic, I could gently land us,” he thought hopelessly.
Looking down, Lakshman saw the lake and realised they were headed towards it. He tried to whistle only to blow air out of his mouth. He had watched his father whistling happily, but was unable to replicate it, even with him explaining how it was done. It seemed like whistling is not something he could do easily.
“Get ready, cat! We’re about to have a crash dive!” he shouted and tucked the cat between his arms safely.
Lakshman prepared for the fall and braced himself. He was quite sure a fall from this height might cause some sort of concussion when he lands in the water. At the last moment, he closed his eyes and was hoping for a miracle and hoped that his body was capable of handling this kind of dangerous fall.
With a great crash, they plummeted deep into the lake. He hit the lake with his head first and instantly, he regretted it. Letting go of the cat, he slowly clutched his head. Then he wore a pained expression when his head stung painfully.
“Must’ve… hit harder than... I... thought,” he tried to say, but only bubbles came gurgling out of his mouth.
Lakshman felt himself sinking into the watery depths. He tried to move his arms, but his arms ached from falling so recklessly. Suddenly, he felt his consciousness leaving him and began to fear for his life. He accidentally gulped the lake water in and suddenly felt like he was going to suffocate.
After the incident with the demon dog, he had retold his encounter with it to his family. They then told him to try and stay above the water. Otherwise, he will drown and die from lack of air. Remembering their words of concern, he tried to move up, but his strength started to leave him.
At that moment, he felt familiar strong hands gripping his body. He tried to tilt his head to see who it was. With the glow of the sun behind them, he could not make out the figure except that this person had cat ears.
As they broke the surface, he was able to breathe easily. A moment ago he had begun to suffocate with a lack of air, but now it was fine. Due to his rescuer’s effort, he was alive again.
With difficulty, he was pulled to the shore and was laid on the ground. His eyes were half open and his breathing was shallow.
Then he felt a powerful impact on his stomach and he lurched before spewing out the water he swalled. He turned over and let out the water, he swallowed earlier. Once it was over, he started to breathe easily and he calmed his shivering body.
The experience of life and death was not something to laugh about. Then he sat up and looked around for his rescuer. He was sure he had seen the figure with cat ears, but,
because of the darkness, he couldn’t see their face. Looking around, he only saw the spirits and the cat that made its way to him. He smiled when he saw the cat in good health.
“I’m sure glad you survived,” he said as he spoke to the cat.
“Meow,” the cat said and it rubbed its head against his leg affectionately.
Watching the cat rubbing its head, he thought of something. He sat up properly and looking at the cat and wondered if it was possible. Sumara told him about the beast tribes’ capable of transforming into humanoid and cat forms. He seriously wondered if this cat was his rescuer just pretending to be an ordinary cat.
“Hey, cat,” he said and the cat looked up. Then he asked “Tell me… are you one of those… beast tribe people?”
“Meow?” the cat said, tilting its head sideways.
The cat was adoringly cute he seriously wanted to hug it. Apart from that, he got nowhere with his question. Instead, he decided to approach it in a different way.
“Listen. If you see my rescuer, could you please say thanks on my behalf? I am aware the
beast tribe cat people don’t approach humans actively but I still want to see them to say my thanks personally. Since that can’t happen, can you do it for me, please?”
Lakshman felt a little stupid talking to a cat. This could just be an ordinary stray cat living in the wilderness like any free animal. However, the cat nodded and purred softly. He affectionately started to rub the cat down and the cat seemed to enjoy the sensation.
“By the way, I think I haven’t told my name to you lot,” he said, addressing both the cat and the water spirits that came over to play. “Lakshman Reddy is my name. Call me Lucky though since my parents call me that and I liked being called that.”
With that, he made his first friends with a pair of water spirits and a cat that he suspected of being a beast tribe cat. The water spirits happily danced around him while the cat lay on his lap. He has nothing to gain by forcing the matter of revealing whether the cat was really an ordinary stray or not.
After that, he played with them until evening. Seeing the setting sun in the horizon, he decided to return home for the day.
“See you later!” he said and ran out of the forest in high spirits.
The day had been exceptionally normal except for the part where he had soared into the air and almost drowned because of hitting hard against the water.
That evening he told all of his day's adventures to his family. Both Sumara and Indra, his father, were impressed at his control over the Energy Force. On the other hand Lakshmi, his mother, scolded him for doing something reckless. She did, however, relent after hearing that he did it to save a cat.
Overall, he was happy with the day’s events. He made friends with an unlikely pair; water spirits and a cat. He still somewhat suspected the cat was a beast tribe cat masquerading as any stray cat. However, he was not interested in revealing its identity. Even so, he was glad to make friends.
Elsewhere, deep within the forest, in an area lighted by several torches hung upon tress. There sat the people with cat ears and tails moving about from the tents. In a large tent, two people sat staring at each other with serious expressions. On one side the cat eared man looked like an elder and the other was a young girl.
“So, did you meet him?” the elderly looking man asked the young girl. “Yes.”
“Has he seen you in your cat form?”
“Yes.”
“What about your humanoid form?”
“I think he caught a glimpse of my form when I rescued him from the lake today, but that’s about it.”
The elder narrowed his eyes at her words and asked “Did he suspect anything?”
“He did suspect that maybe my cat form was me, but he didn’t say anything about it,” she said a little hesitantly.
She remembered him asking her cat form to thank her for rescuing him twice. She suddenly blushed when she found his speech, about wanting to thank her personally, cool. The elder noticed her reaction and shook his head.
“This won’t do, Rasha. Remember our pledge. We are not to make ourselves known to him until the day he turns sixteen years of age,” the elder said before sighing heavily.
“I know,” Rasha said and she looked slightly disappointed.
“Remember… This is the pledge we have taken in the name of the Phoenix Titan.”
“Yes, I understand,” she said and nodded with a serious expression on her face before taking her leave from the tent.
