“A while, Lady?”

“Yes, Temple. You live as long as the two of you work together. Alontheus has much to do. Besides, there are benefits to your new nature.”

The biped and I both asked, What benefits and what new nature?”

“Besides, what use is he to me? The things I will likely have to do will require more than a little furball.”

“I will have you know I am part of a line of warriors who slay the undead. I, myself, have slain the vile creatures.”

“Ahem!” interrupted the lady. “Alontheus ruled an empire and destroyed two universes. So you two should probably dispense with the posturing. You need each other. I will leave you two to get acquainted for a bit.” She promptly vanished.

“Now what, Biped?”

“If you continue to address me that way, I am going to call and introduce you as ‘furry quad’. Are we clear? I did not ask for you, and you did not ask for me. Why don’t we make the best of things, since we are stuck with each other?”

Grudgingly, I had to admit he had a point. “What is this business about ruling an empire and destroying two universes?”

“My people exiled me. I went about gaining power. When I returned to that world/universe, my distant cousin had taken over and turned the place into something worse than it was before I fled. I dueled him and took over when I won.”

“That covers the ‘Empire’ part of the question. What about the destroying two universes part?”

“That is the part I am not proud of,” he admitted as his shoulders slumped. His black uniform wrinkled as he slouched. The silver trim, with electric blue highlights, emphasized his posture. “I discovered that the structure of that universe was breaking down because of something my people had shortsightedly done for a very long time. I could not convince them to escape. So, I had to try to fix the problem. The way I tried to fix it was complex, but it involved another universe that was extremely new. I didn’t mean to put them in danger. When I failed, the backlash destroyed both universes and rendered me immortal.”

I was momentarily speechless. “So, undead? How do you kill such a thing?” he asked.

“Do you know what undead are?” I responded.

“I can’t say that I do. Undead seems like it would simply mean alive.”

I shook my head. My ears were laid back against my skull as though angry. “They are beings that should be dead, but have clung to their existence through sheer will, consuming innocent lives, and unnatural external forces. They are disgusting, putrid beings of evil.”

“Are they small or large?”

“About your size,” I replied calmly.

“Are they weak?”

“No. The one I killed nearly tore me in half, even when it was almost dead,” was my deadpan reply.

The oaf Alontheus looked at me with widened eyes. “What was The Lady talking about concerning a baby?”

“I was fighting the undead thing to protect the baby. It was close to what had to be its mother. The thing must have killed the mother. It smelled like a carrion eater.”

“I see. We may have a couple of things in common. The Lady seemed to indicate you were tied to my abilities. Did she tell you anything?”

I shook my head, “No. You heard what she told me about it. I do know that she fed me some of your blood to save me.”

“Why would you fight that creature and take the blood?”

My head and tail drooped as I replied, “I was born broken. My kind is reincarnated through our hereditary line. The Lady told me soon after I was born that I wouldn’t get to reincarnate. This life is all I get. She said my only chance was to be brave and to accept the collar. Oh, and I had to cover my claws and teeth with a strange metal clay. I think the metal was called silver. I also swallowed some of the clay.”

“Did the clay help you fight the thing?”

“Every time it touched some part of me that had silver on it, the creature was burned. I used all of my strength and claws to tear its throat out. I think it took a bite out of me. It must have swallowed some silver, because it began burning from the inside.” Retelling all of this helped put it in perspective.

“My Mom got injured pretty badly when she killed a blood drinker. I think some people call them ‘vampires’. Maybe that injury caused my defective nature.”

“Have you examined your claws since you woke up?” This was a strange question from the biped… I mean Alontheus. I lifted a front paw to inspect my claws. As they cleared their fleshy sheath, my eyes widened and my tail stuck straight up in shock. My claws gleamed like metal! It was that pretty white, shiny metal the humans called silver! It was not squishy like the clay had been. My new claws were hard, shiny, and sharp! My mouth was open wide in shock.

“Should your teeth also be metal?”

“No! They should be gleaming white. Are they the same metal as my claws?”

“Yes. Your fur looks normal. Were your eyes always purple like mine?”

“What?!?! They are supposed to be gold!”

“It looks like you have eyes like mine. You should be able to see in the ultraviolet spectrum now. If they are just like mine, your eyes will turn green in bright light.

“I wonder if there are more changes…”

The Lady picked that moment to shock us both. “Well! You two seem to be getting along well enough… What have we learned?”

“We learned that he has potential, and I made a big mistake,” he said

“Let’s not focus on the past. The future is where our efforts will bear fruit!” she replied with enthusiasm that neither of us was feeling.

“Temple,” The Lady started, “Alontheus and I need to attend a gathering for a bit. Now might be a good time for you to stretch your legs and explore.”

“What do you mean? This room doesn’t even have a door for me to exit.”

With a knowing smile, she replied, “You may find that doors are not that important now. Focus your mind on visiting your old home. Be discreet. We don’t want your old humans seeing you. They made a grave for the collar that you were wearing. As far as they are concerned, you are dead.”

I was shocked. Now I knew I needed to let my parents know I was alive and on an assignment for The Lady.

“I will try. I want to tell my parents I am alive. I will keep the humans from seeing me.”

Alontheus spoke up then, “Try imagining yourself looking different. Either fur length or color. If you have an ability to pass through planar barriers, maybe you can camouflage.”

I concentrated on being a grey tabby for a few moments. The Lady giggled. “What were you trying for?”

“A grey tabby. What did I get?” I asked as I opened my eyes. I saw that my paw was a vibrant orange.

“That should work fine. Work on fine-tuning the colors later.” The Lady replied with a smirk.“Now, go explore! Your parents should hear from you. I’m sure you will come back when you are needed.”

I spent a few moments, eyes closed, thinking about the balcony of the apartment where my parents kept their humans, then I began walking in the direction that seemed right. Something in my fur tingled, and there was a strange, quiet ‘pop’ in my ears. The sun on my fur was comforting and almost made me sleepy as I opened my eyes. I looked straight into my mother’s eyes through the sliding glass door.

She looked into my eyes like a stranger. “We don’t have room for another cat. You can look around, but get no food.”

“I don’t want food. I wanted to let my parents know I am alive. Are the humans home?”

“The humans are not home, but Ra and I don’t have any orange sons.”

I allowed my fur to return to its normal color. Her eyes widened, and she yowled to summon my father. “How is this possible?”

As my father came to the large, transparent, sliding door, I told her what had happened to me. My father was surprised too. I could tell he was having trouble with it, but Mom would help him get it.

They both told me about the human baby. The humans had been trying to adopt one, but the emergency rescue of the baby had made the whole thing go so much faster. On top of that, the female human had also just discovered that she was pregnant.

At that moment, I had an inexplicable urge to see what the strange biped was doing. “I’m sorry. I have to go now. There is something important I need to do,” I said as I turned away and concentrated on going back. It was easier this time. I watched as a silver ring that grew in mid-air until it formed an opening that I could see Alontheus and The Lady through as they sat on tiered benches in a stone amphitheater.

Walking through the portal, I saw a fat-looking beetle crawling away from Alontheus on the stone floor. I figured a free-range snack would hit the spot. Scooping it up with my paws, I took a bite. A bit crunchy, but it was satisfying. I licked my paw clean and looked up at The Lady. Her expression was strange. Alontheus began laughing so hard that he fell over onto the floor.

Looking quite pale and with a hesitance that seemed unlike her, she asked, “What did you just do?!”

“I caught a beetle and ate it. Did you want some?”

“No. That’s alright,” she replied shakily. “Why don’t you explore a bit more. Alontheus and I have to attend a trial.”