I have Nine Lives

Chapter 15: Nightmare

Felix sat neatly in a well-lighted sparsely decorated room as he dozed off slowly into slumber, he already paid the bronze bones to the innkeeper which was a rather sharp-looking lion woman.

The light in the room started to dim as night was slowly coming, up till now Felix didn't have time to sleep as he had to go through a lot of things, he didn't even sleep when he went back to the cat village, after that he was immediately sent on a mission and his nerves were stretched taut, this was also one of the reasons he was hit by Lindo, normally speaking he should have been able to dodge the strike even mid-air using his nimble and acrobatic body.

Felix's eyes were slowly closing as he fell asleep on the big bed in the inn room.

Felix woke up to find himself back in the underground arena, he looked around and found nothing strange but he was puzzled why he was back here, didn't the underground arena collapse? How come he was sent back here?

Was it a dream?

Felix started to walk slowly in a random direction, he tried to smell or hear but there were no smells or sounds around, there was only darkness that even his feline eyes couldn't see through very well, it felt rather strange for him, someone who could see through the dark to fumble around just like the other creatures without nocturnal vision.

Felix finally bumped into something after a while, he felt his paws getting wet as he inspected them he could see that there was a crimson sticky substance on them, he finally could smell, the overwhelming scent of blood and despair stuck into the air, it was reeking of it.

Felix quickly looked around and then looked down only to see Sahee's naked and violated dead body!

Felix jumped backward multiple times to avoid her body, he was scared out of his mind, what the hell did this mean?

However, the smell followed him around, the acrid smell of despair combined with the overwhelming iron scent of blood that touched the inner palace of his nostrils, every time this type of smell would enter his nostrils he would be happy and would even go ahead and eat but now the iron smell only brought him disgust and a tinge of sadness.

He looked down again to find nothing below him, he sighed as he felt that he ran away from the body only to feel a cold pale hand grasp his head, he looked up only to see Sahee with no eyes, in place of her eyes were two dark voids, she was bloodied and naked as she looked at him and said slowly:

"You left me alone..."

"You left me to die..."

"YOU KILLED ME!"

The last one was a screech as her mouth contorted open at an angle that wasn't humanly possible, in her mouth existed tons of razor-sharp teeth that were ready to slash Felix's body open and then she would eat Felix in one gulp!

Felix fur was full of cold sweat as he was eaten by the monster that took Sahee's looks, he didn't know what to feel, it wasn't the feeling of death, it wasn't like the void, he was just back in the underground arena...

Felix looked around again only to see more bodies, they were all Sahee's, and they started to twitch and moan, even shriek, a big body was pressing against her for hours on end ravaging her pure form until the wound on her leg opened up and sprayed blood everywhere, the brute didn't care as he continued until he wore her out, she passed away with wide eyes filled with pain and sadness, also anger, anger at herself for being weak, but more anger at Felix for abandoning her while he had more lives which he could burn through!

Suddenly her head was decapitated and floated in front of Felix as a soundless shriek came out of her mouth, Felix felt his fur stand on end as he jumped 3 times backward but the head followed him and then it headbutted him while shrieking:

"YOUR FAULT!"

Felix fell backward and then started to fall, seemingly as if he was experiencing death again!

Felix wanted to shout but his voice couldn't be heard, he wanted to say anything, call for help, he wanted to move, even try to escape from the endless void that surrounded him, the cold darkness and the light that was slowly unraveling below him, but it was no help.

Felix gasped for air as he slowly approached the light that started to burn his whole body, his skin was roasting while his fur burned. Leaving him naked.

He could feel a being standing in the fire beckoning to him, trying to quicken his fall into it, it had a wide small on his face and Felix could see some horns on his head, but his figure was rather obscure and couldn't be seen clearly, he would have to fully fall into the flames to see him.

Suddenly a mighty arm grabbed Felix by the scruff of his neck, the arm was pure jade white and had no scars or blemishes, there were no accessories on it, it was a normal gigantic human arm, however, it felt like it wasn't big when it grabbed Felix, it felt that it shrunk to his size to grab him properly.

The hand was cold, freezing even, but it felt better than being roasted in the flames, Felix's fur grew back in an instant as he felt that he returned back into the underground maze, he could see Sahee standing there, she didn't have the same horror visages from before, it was the same young woman who found Felix in the forest and wanted to befriend him in hope that he would be able to help the cat tribe out of its lack of talents.

She slowly walked to Felix and then patted his head as she said slowly:

"I resent you for what you have done to me, leaving me alone to die, I was even sullied by those beasts, even though they followed behind me soon after, at least my soul could get some rest because of their deaths."

Felix's eyes widened as he watched Sahee talking without any problems, his head trembled as he asked:

"It's really you?"

Sahee gave out a sweet smile as she continued to pat Felix's head and nodded while responding to him:

"Of course it's me, you know I'm still mad at you but I guess I will forgive you, I saw what happens to you when you die, it's not a good experience, actually if I was you I don't think I would have been able to resist more than one or two times before I became insane."

She sighed as she looked up and the underground arena disappeared as they returned into the forest, she looked around slowly for some time before she said:

"I will have to go home, I just wanted to talk to you one last time before I left, I want to tell you that you don't have to blame yourself over what happened anymore, I have made a mistake and paid the price, at first I was angry with you, disappointed, even hated you, my hatred for you even surpassed the one that I aimed at the black bear tribesmen, but after I saw what you went through I can understand you."

Sahee gave Felix a small hug as she slowly went towards the same path that she took when she returned to the village with Felix in tow.

Felix looked as her silhouette started to flicker and said with a firm tone:

"Let me escort you home."

A giggle could be heard as Sahee stopped and waited for Felix while she beckoned with her hand to him quickly:

"Come, come, this is the last time you will see me, you can't follow me inside but you can escort me to it."

Felix started to walk alongside her as they slowly made their way to their village, it didn't take them much time, at most 10 minutes of silent walking.

Felix followed Sahee as she walked to her house, it was a shoddy house at the outer rings of the cat settlement, Felix's eyes widened at the sight as he asked:

"This is where you lived?"

Sahee nodded and asked:

"You thought that because I was friends with the Shaman of the tribe that I would have gotten preferential treatment?"

Sahee shook her head:

"He wanted to give me a better house but I refused, I wanted to get a house for my own merits instead of him gifting me one once he became the Shaman of the tribe, I wanted to elevate the status of the cat tribe with my ability alone, you should have seen how happy I was when I got that rare ability..."

Felix felt awkward as he didn't observe her back then, he was preoccupied with his thoughts.

Seeing his ashamed look Sahee shook her head as she slowly went to the entrance of the house and told him:

"This is where we part ways, I'm happy that I got to talk you with one more time and I hope you will not blame yourself over my death anymore in the future, I have one request of you can you fulfill it?"

Felix nodded quickly, he wanted to get rid of the sharp feeling that he had in his chest, his heart was beating quicker as Sahee opened her mouth to tell him:

"Take this and give it to Lucian, he will understand and he might even forgive you, I just hope he won't be too hard on you, he did love me quite deeply, after all, I was his cheeky little sister!"

One last smile was given as she opened the door of her house, bright light unlike the one Felix felt engulfed her, Felix could feel that the light in front of him was pure, unlike the one he felt when he was falling down which was corrupted and hurt him, this type of light from Sahee's house gave him the feeling that he wanted to walk into it.

Sahee waved her hand as she slowly disappeared into her house, Felix was enticed by the light and took one step towards it, however, the light immediately turned in the same one that Felix felt and a burst of deep laughter could be heard from behind the door, Felix jumped backward and everything started to break around him.

He didn't understand what happened as he woke up, his body was full of cold sweat and he could see at the corner of his eye four remaining heads, was it just a dream or something else?

He looked down at his paw and he could see a horned rabbit necklace, it was made from the horn of the rabbit and it looked quite shoddy.

Felix's eyes widened as he took a better look at the necklace, it was Sahee's!

That wasn't a dream at all.

Felix ate the breakfast prepared by the innkeeper and decided to hit the road, he wasn't summoned by Landers yet so he thought he still had some free time that he could use by going back to the cat village and give Lucian the necklace, even though he told him to never come back again he couldn't help it as he promised Sahee.

Felix looked at the sky as he was on the road towards the cat village and closed his eyes for a bit while thinking:

"Sahee, wherever you went, I hope it's better for you there, I can't promise I will help the cat tribe as it was your dream, but I will surely give Lucian the necklace!"

It took him around 5 days to get back to the village, his body was adapting to its changes quite quickly and he even started to use the breathing techniques that he learned from the ancestral memories he was given, even though he could use them only for a few split seconds before his lungs would start burning, it was still something that could be useful in battles.

Lucian was at the front of the village as he looked down at Felix and said:

"Didn't I tell you to never come back?"

His eyes were covered by his hair which was now pretty messy, he stood there for a few seconds and waited for Felix's response, his aura was heating up and he was getting ready to fight!

The moment Felix would explain his reason for coming back he would attack viciously!

Felix took the necklace off his neck as it was getting covered by hir fur and Lucian couldn't see it well.

Lucian's eyes widened as he saw the necklace and then he slowly started to get near Felix, his aura mellowed down until it disappeared thoroughly.

Now they were ready to talk.