It was not faster than him and cheetahs were not known to run for so long, but D’Argen feared it would endure longer than him. He already felt his thighs quaking and his feet hurting after hours of running

 The cheetah’s maw snapped so close to his flying robe that he could have sworn he felt it. If not for him forcing his mahee just a hair wider to help his balance, he would have been tumbling head over heels with sharp fangs and claws already tearing into his body.

The close call had him open his mahee just a tad wider, adding another burst of speed. The cheetah matched him without an issue. D’Argen could hear it breathing down his neck as it took in the scent of his magic and used it for its own, keeping up with his unnatural speed. He opened his mahee wider still, but this time did not use it to quicken himself. Instead, he brought his hands up in front of him. He could not remember the chant for the new spell to save his life, even if he had the air to breathe it out while running, but he remembered the finger movements that guided the mahee into an unfamiliar spell.

D'Argen ran another circle around the patch of dry grass before the spell was completed. When the scent of his mahee faded behind him, he waited for the magic to fail at his feet as well. It did not. The cheetah did slow and D’Argen pushed faster, leaving the cat behind in the dust. He slid to a stop right in front of the rock where his companions were hiding and hunched over, arms on his spread legs and head down. He was breathing heavily, trying to get more air in his lungs.

“You got it yet?” he asked while gasping.

“Almost, I promise,” Abbot answered him and though he could not see his companions he knew that the man was smiling wide.

“I do not,” Lilian answered and they sounded frustrated. D’Argen always trusted Lilian to be on his side even if that was true only half the time. “I cannot figure out how it is using your mahee at all!”

“That spell just now? Stop it,” Yaling said in a terse tone. “If it cannot take your scent, I cannot figure out how it is doing it.”

D’Argen straightened himself and noticed the cat was once more stopped, crouched low to the ground and staring at him. Its mouth was open and, even from so far away, D’Argen could see its heavy breaths. He was glad to note that it was getting tired as well.

“I do need you to keep running though,” Abbot spoke up again. “I have enough sketches of it still, but I would like to record it in motion.”

The cheetah’s ear twitched but its large eyes remained focused on D’Argen. The runner groaned in annoyance, placed both hands at the back of his waist, and bent back. The action caused something to snap and pop, releasing the tension he felt there, and this time when D’Argen groaned it was in pleasure. He released the spell at the same time and let the scent of the ocean fade away into the heat of the plains.

“Okay… and you said… jump?”

“Well, I need to see the cat jumping a few times,” Abbot replied but his voice sounded distracted. “A bit closer, preferably.”

D’Argen had nowhere specific to glare.

“If you could do that and…” Abbot’s words trailed off as D’Argen shot off once more, the cheetah hot on his heels. It passed right in front of where his companions were. Abbot better well be close to done with his stupid sketches. D’Argen was tired and this voided cheetah was becoming too much of a pain. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that demons were easier to outrun than this thing.

D’Argen was successfully able to get the cheetah to jump multiple times, two of them right in front of the spot where Abbot and his other two companions were hiding. He was also able to get it to pounce and though his robes were almost completely destroyed, his skin remained unscathed from claws and fangs.

Two more laps and D’Argen’s head started hurting from lack of oxygen. The cat started taking more breaks as well. On the following break that the cat initiated in a patch of grass, it crouched so low to the ground that even with D’Argen looking right at it, he lost track of it multiple times.

“Are you done?” he growled out to the rock. He was hunched over to try and breathe but his eyes remained focused on the spot where he last saw the wild cat hiding.

“Oh? Yeah, yeah. All good.”

“All—” D’Argen cut himself off. He wanted to shake Abbot. He shook his head instead though kept his eyes focused on that seemingly empty spot where the cheetah had been a moment ago. “Lilian? Yaling?”

“I cannot do anything more from here,” Lilian answered

“We should try to catch it,” Yaling added in.

“Alright, get ready,” D’Argen said, and he knew the smile on his lips looked feral. Time to show this voided cat what it really meant to have the mahee and why even the demons feared him. He found a hard purchase for his feet, dropped his centre of gravity, and then opened his mahee as wide as he could. In the blink of an eye, he was gone, leaving behind only a deep crater where he had stood a moment before.