With his mahee opened as wide as possible, D’Argen could outrun anything. With that speed, however, came one disadvantage; he could not see the world around him. Instead, everything became so light that it faded away slowly, leaving behind only dark dots and streaks to indicate where something that could get in the way of his run was.

The cheetah turned into a dark silhouette in a field of smoke.

The cat had moved from its original hiding spot, much closer to him than he had thought. He passed it in the blink of an eye, startling the cat into jumping and swiping at empty air. D’Argen pivoted so sharply that he scraped the ground into a mound and then passed the cat again. It attacked once more and still touched nothing. Another pivot had him passing so close to the cat that the wind from his run ruffled its short fur. Then that wind became stronger and turned into a harsh blast of air that sent the cat tumbling on its side.

D’Argen slid to a stop and watched the cat recover. Lilian must have been the one keeping the invisibility spell in check because now all three of his companions were visible while Lilian walked towards him and the cheetah, using their mahee to churn the wind faster.

The cat seemed to sense the danger. It started growling, hunched in, hackles raised, but it did not attack. Its head was on a swivel, moving between D’Argen’s wide stance to the short figure on its other side.

The wind picked up, carrying with it a subtle scent that could only be described as morning dew. Normally, it was unrecognizable. In the open plains under the hot sun, it felt like an oasis. The cat scented the air and it hunched further. D’Argen widened his stance. Lilian continued their slow approach.

When Lilian was as close to the cat as D’Argen was, the cheetah shot off. D’Argen was barely a breath behind it, chasing it this time as the cat tried to get away from him. Lilian opened their mahee wider and the wind picked up even more, throwing the cat off course and slowing it down. D’Argen pushed just a little harder but not hard enough for the world to start fading in his eyes once more. When he saw the cat right in front of him, he leaped.

“LILIAN!!” Yaling’s loud yell startled him but it was too late. D’Argen was already in the air and he would fall on the cheetah under him any… second…

The cheetah was not there!

A strong gust of wind hurled him off-course and then tried to soften his fall as he landed hard and rolled a few times. When he came to a stop, he was covered in dirt and dust. He cleared his eyes and looked around him to double-check. The cheetah was really gone.

“Are you okay?” Lilian asked as soon as they were beside him. They were crouched and had a hand on his shoulder. D’Argen realized that he was bleeding when Lilian touched the raw skin.

Yaling and Abbot jogged towards them.

“What in the void was that?!” D’Argen growled out at Yaling as soon as she was within reach.

“Something happened,” she replied and though she looked worried, her eyes quickly scanning over D’Argen, she quickly dismissed him and turned to look for the cheetah around them. “It just—”

“You can’t do shit like that, Yaling,” D’Argen was annoyed. He sat up slowly with Lilian’s help. Abbot reached into his pack for medicine.

“I know, I know, just…” Yaling trailed off. “It disappeared.” Her eyes narrowed into the distance.

D’Argen turned his head to follow her gaze and could not see the cheetah anywhere. D’Argen had not seen how it had escaped out from under him a moment ago or where it had gone.

“What did you hear?” D’Argen asked, his voice wary.

“Nothing,” Yaling replied softly. “It is not… it is not here.”

All four of them looked around to try and spot the animal. It could have been hidden somewhere in the grass but Yaling would have been able to hear its heartbeat if that were the case.

“Do you think it…?”

“No, no way.”

“But it is—”

“It’s not possible.”

“What else could it be?”

They argued over one another, none of them daring to stop searching the horizon for the animal. If the voided cat ran faster than him that was even more worrying than it using the scent of his mahee at all.

D’Argen narrowed his eyes at the sky in contempt. “So, what? We just leave?”

“There may be no point in staying,” Yaling answered without looking at him.

“No. There is. If this is… actually, Yaling, you were in Evadia most recently. Have you heard anything about this?”

“D’Argen, if I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it possible. A cat? Running beside you? I would more likely believe that the demons are back.”

“That doesn’t—”

“No,” Yaling interrupted him. “There have been no talks in Evadia of cats running fast, or any creature at all running fast. Or anything at all using the mahee. None. It is impossible. It is—”

“We just saw it,” D’Argen interrupted her in turn. “And as much as I hate that cat, it’s no demon.”