In the two years that Mau had lived among the Mongara people, a lot had changed in the world beyond the snowy plains and the Giant's Steps mountains. Apparently a political party going by the name of the Deathdealers, led by a man named Thanatos, had come into power in the Capital, and made life quite interesting and miserable for the other demi-humans that lived there and beyond.

Mau had noticed that most humans had taken to looking at her with glances of disdain or scorn, while elves and dwarves tended to gaze upon her with mistrust in their eyes. She rectified this as best she could by trading her wolf fur cloak for a heavy travel cloak with a hood, to hide her ears and tail. The next two years were somewhat more difficult thanks to the mounting mistrust and suspicion that had been growing towards anyone with even mildly inhuman features and soon enough even elves and dwarves found themselves in the same position as Mau and her people, learning a very hard lesson in the process about the 'equality' between humans, demi-humans, and the other races.

Their first order of business had been to join the continent-spanning Adventurer's Guild. Mau couldn't help but make an amused face when Suvdaa protested receiving the lowest rank of the guild and they got their tin novice badges, but within their two years of traveling the pair quickly advanced to the rank of full fledged adventurers.

Nevertheless, Mau and Suvdaa celebrated their sixteenth birthdays on the roads, traveling the countryside in search of any jobs and prey they could take for Mau to grow even stronger.

Eventually, the pair hitched a ride with a caravan of elves on their way to the city of Dorn. They had just taken up a job to clear the roads of a wandering band of orcs, and handily accomplished their task in almost record time.

It was as the elven caravan was settling down to camp for the night, with only a day or so of travel left to Dorn, that Mau and Suvdaa were hunkering down for a breather of their own. The elves were thankful for the pair's help in rescuing them from the recent orc attack, but were still wary of a demi-human that had somehow apparently known their ancestral sword techniques, so the two decided to camp just a little bit further away from the elven encampment, and to keep to themselves for the night.

"So why Dorn, now?" Suvdaa asked as Mau unrolled her sleeping bag and blanket.

"The Blossom Festival is in just a few days." Mau replied. "I've kind of always wanted to see it since I first heard about it, a few years ago. The whole city was built around a massive tree, and it's supposed to bloom every five years. I heard it was the prettiest thing you could see."

Suvdaa stared at Mau, incredulous.

"We are taking a detour so you can smell the flowers?" She asked.

"Well yes. But also no." Mau replied as she wiggled into her bedroll with a yawn. "We also came this way because of the increased orc activity on the roads. Seeing the tree bloom is just a bonus. I figured I could use the practice, and the orcs we killed didn't disappoint."

Suvdaa pursed her lips thoughtfully as she sat herself down to lean against a nearby tree.

"You never did tell me just why you wanted to become an adventurer. Why you are so dead set on always getting stronger. I want to know." Suvdaa suddenly prodded.

Mau was already starting to knock out, though, and cracked open an eye to peer at her travel companion.

"I need to get stronger. There's something I have to do, and I have to do it before the next nine years are up." Mau answered.

Suvdaa frowned harder, arms folding under her chest as she wrapped herself up in the folds of her bear-skin cloak.

"Well? Are you going to tell me what that is, or not?" The raider girl pressed.

Mau yawned, propping her head up on her backpack as a pillow.

"I'm going to kill the Demon Lord." She said.

Suvdaa snorted.

"You? Kill the Demon Lord?" She scoffed. "Dumb cat has lofty dreams."

"It's not a dream." Mau replied, suddenly looking much more awake. Suvdaa felt her travel companion's stare drilling into her.

"You're serious." Suvdaa realized. "You really are stubborn."

Mau nodded slowly.

"It's destiny?" Suvdaa asked.

"More than just destiny or fate." Mau answered. "It's duty."

Even Suvdaa was struck by the catgirl's far too serious tone. But then Mau rolled over and placed her head back on her rucksack.

"We should get some rest." Mau said. "Dorn is just one more day away."

Suvdaa pursed her lips thoughtfully, sobered by Mau's admission, she had no sharp comeback nor retort for it, so she just went to sleep.

The pair woke up the next morning with the sun. The elves had already been awake, spending much of the early morning hours repairing and preparing their wagons for the journey ahead of them. Mau and Suvdaa joined them for the last leg of the trip to Dorn.

"You really don't have to walk alongside the wagons." One of the drivers said to Mau, "You can hop a ride and take it easy."

Mau shook her head at the offer and patted the blade at her hip.

"I'd rather be on my toes and ready in case of another orc attack." She replied. The elf nodded but then warned her.

"Just be careful, then. This region's got a lot of venomous animals on top of orcs to worry about."

"Noted." Mau said as she followed alongside the wagons. The last thing she wanted was to get bitten by something nasty without an antidote potion or a cleric around. That would not only be a nightmare, but would end her adventures pretty fast with her in a coffin. It wasn't something she looked forward to as her boots crunched along the grass and gravelly road, keeping her eyes peeled on both the ground and the tree line for anything that might try to take her or the caravan by surprise.

After making such quick work of the orc attack party, though, Mau had done a fine job of scaring any other potential bandits into thinking twice about assaulting the elves while she and Suvdaa were with them, and the wagon train took a break around the middle of the day to let the horses rest and have a meal. This was when trouble struck.

It wasn't a bandit attack, but tragedy struck all the same, when Mau spotted one of the elves, a girl by the name of Lifiel picking berries from a bush by the side of the road. Mau saw the snake before the girl did and lunged. The sheer speed with which Mau moved startled the elf, but Mau didn't care if she scared the girl or not, what was important was keeping her from being bitten, and the serpent lunged...

With a flash of Mau's spare and trusted short blade she severed the animal's head neatly from its neck and body, but the head continued to fly, fangs bared, and in a final act of defiance before death the snake's jaws clamped down on Mau's wrist.

"Ah. Shit." She muttered staring down as the severed snake head pumped its reserves of toxin into her veins while the elf stared at her, incredulous.

"You just... For me... I..." The girl stammered while Mau sheathed her blade and waved her off. "Don't worry about it." She said, playing off her action as though she hadn't just taken the bite meant for the girl, herself. This was going to be a problem as she tugged the snake's head free from her arm and plucked up the headless body. Maybe if they brought the snake to town it could be identified and she could get the proper anti-venom at the temple or a potion crafter. Assuming Mau made it to Dorn now as. She turned away from Lifiel and returned to the wagon train, headless serpent in hand.

"I have a problem." Mau announced as she held up the snake's body, ears splaying sheepishly. "I got bit."

In an instant Suvdaa was in her face. "What the hell happened?" The raider girl asked, tone tense and short. "I can't keep my eyes off you for one minute, I swear, you dumb cat." She snapped, tugging Mau's arm to get a look at the bite wound. Four pin-prick wounds dotted the top and bottom of Mau's arm just under the bone of her wrist, and Mau winced. The wounds were already feeling sore and tender.

"Did you at least suck as much of the venom out as possible?" Suvdaa pressed her with a surprising urgency. Mau shook her head.

"Oh, shit, I should have done that shouldn't I. At least the girl's safe." Mau muttered. It was the first basic thing she had remembered when it came to situations like these, get as much of the venom out as possible before seeking professional aid like a priest or apothecary. She had been so preoccupied with keeping Lifiel safe that she didn't bother to consider her own safety and wellbeing in the heat of the moment.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"AH FUCK!" Mau squealed as she suddenly saw stars, a burst of pain lanced up her arm from her wrist as her vision blurred. When her vision came back into focus, Mau was staring at Suvdaa, attached to her arm by the teeth, biting into the snakebite wound before sucking hard.

In an instant Mau suddenly was in a lot less pain. She didn't seem to notice the reddening heat in her cheeks, though as she stared dumbfounded at the raider, when Suvdaa finally detached from her wrist, turned her head, and spat a vile mix of blood and neurotoxins.

"That should keep you on your feet a bit longer, but I couldn't get everything out." Suvdaa said, wiping her lips on the back of her wrist.

Mau stared dumbfounded. For a second, it had seemed as though Suvdaa was genuinely worried about her wellbeing there. More so than usual, anyway.

"The hell are you staring at?" Suvdaa snapped and shoved Mau towards the carts. "Get in. Everyone is ready to leave and we need to get you to Dorn's temple as soon as possible."

"But-" Mau started to speak, only to have herself shoved into the back of a wagon.

"I will keep an eye out for attack, you sit on your hands and don't do anything." Suvdaa said as she trudged to the head of the wagon train, leaving Mau sitting there stunned.

"Ah." Mau suddenly realized staring at her wrist. "My arm's numb."

❧

The Hero was late for work. It was a regular day like any other really; a bright and sunny summer day-- or was it spring? The details always felt distant and muddled by this point, but all the Hero knew was that they had to make the next train or they would never get to work on time, and so they rushed out of their house with a piece of toast clasped in their lips, still haphazardly throwing on their suit jacket as they staggered out of their apartment complex.

"Yeah yeah! See you later tonight!" They called back over their shoulder to... Someone sticking their head out of the apartment door. A mother maybe? The details felt really distant now. But that didn't matter, the Hero was late for work and they had to run.

They pumped their arms, legs driving them down the sidewalk in a brisk pace, if they kept it up, they might make the train after all. Bolting down street after street, the subway entrance stood on the corner, waiting for the Hero, countless nameless and faceless people shuffling their way up and down the stairwell into the underground station and platforms, and he filed into line with them, chewing on his toast.

"Geeze, almost didn't make it." They muttered as they slid their subway card into place at the turnstile and entered the station proper, just barely squeezing past the train doors into one of the many packed cars that were full of people on their morning commute. The Hero sighed as they slumped into an open seat and pulled out their cellphone. It was the newest Pear model available, something they took pride in, being able to afford such nice things with the money they saved up. But something was strange. As they started to scroll, they squinted their eyes, frowning. Every app was a blur, every webpage a hissing screen of static. Something was wrong, but they couldn't put their finger on just what exactly as they rode the loudly rattling train through the city tunnels.

They opened their music app. All that played was garbled words and static at best, and they immediately shut it off, opting to have their ride to work in boring silence rather than listen to the mentally jarring noises the phone produced.

They had to count the stops, because the longer the morning stretched on the stranger things became, when they realized that the sign on every station was a garbled and jumbled mass of nonsensical letters and numbers rather than anything actually legible. But ten stops later and the Hero was finally at their station. Pushing past the morass of faceless people in drab undefined clothes, they stepped off the train and onto the platform and bolted up the stairs and out of the subway system. It was just a five minute walk, or run today, to get to the office and he had four minutes to get their on time as they stood at the crosswalk and waited impatiently for the light to change and signal it safe to cross the street.

The light changed. It was safe to cross.

The Hero took one step before they heard the horn...

They turned their head just in time to see the truck careening around the corner at top speed, unable to slow down in time as it headed right for them...

"Ah..."

The pain of being slammed at full speed by an oncoming vehicle was at least brief before the Hero stopped feeling anything at all...

❧

"Mau... Mau! Wake up... Wake up!"

Mau vaguely stirred as she heard Suvdaa's voice calling out to her, but she didn't really want to wake up. She felt like she had been hit by a truck all over again from the old memory coming back to her. Part of her just wished she could remember more of what her home world was like without all the blurring and static.

"Mau! Wake up dammit! Dumb cat, don't be dead, I swear if you're dead...!"

"Nnnnhhhh..." Mau didn't want to open her eyes. She felt a mild confusion on hearing the sound of a voice she had never heard before.

"The venom's already taking effect on her. This won't be easy. This won't be easy at all..." The new voice said.

"Just do something." Suvdaa snapped back. "We'll donate to your temple if we have to, you're a cleric right?"

"More like an acolyte! I haven't gotten my full fledged cleric sash yet! But I really hope that one day I can-"

Suvdaa made a noise that clearly unsettled the new voice; a sound somewhere between a snarl and a growl that made the young sounding voice halt.

"R-right! I'll do what I can!" He said.

Mau cringed, the feeling of two warm hands setting on her shoulders sent pain rippling through her nerves as she tried to twist away from the contact but found herself too weak to move.

Then the warmth spread- radiating from the hands on her shoulders- flooding her body with a sensation of peace... And perhaps a mild sense of unease at the same time. It barely registered to her that this was divine magic at play. Mau disliked going to temples for healing; the sense that the pious and pompous priests always gave off a holier than thou feeling was one thing, but there was the slight fact that the gods of these worlds were the reason Mau was here in the first place always infuriated her.

The worst thing out of all of it was that the one goddess people usually prayed to for healing was...

"Oh Galatea, we implore you! Please cure what ails this humble servant of yours!" The new voice implored the heavens as Mau trembled with a sense of unbridled fury.

Mau's eyes snapped open and in an instant she was very awake, very coherent, and very upset.

"Stop that." She hissed, staring up at the figures looming over her.

She recognized Suvdaa easily enough, but the other person was someone she had never seen before in her entire life. He was young, maybe two years younger than herself, and that would put this 'acolyte' around fourteen years old. His short blonde hair was a little scraggly, and the pair of bright golden canine ears sprouting from the top of his head said that he was a demi-human just like her.

"Brightly shining Galatea, goddess of life, light, and rebirth, we beseech you to heal the wounds and ailments of your humble vassal and that she may- URK!" He didn't get to finish his beseeching as Mau's hand clasped fingers tightly into the collar of his white acolyte vestment and robes.

This made him blink, bewildered. Suvdaa however smacked Mau's hand away.

"Dumb cat! Let him do his work!" The raider snapped.

"O-oh!" The dogboy said, stunned. "I- I think I actually did it." He said, unable to believe it, himself, at first. "I mean- I did it, yes! I purged the toxins from her body!" He said, suddenly incredibly excited. "Ah! I did it! I did it! I did it!"

It was like he couldn't believe in his own handiwork, and Mau scowled, shooting Suvdaa a look while the boy wagged his tail with the excitement of a puppy.

"... Who the hell is this?" Mau asked, tart and petulant over someone invoking Galatea in her favor. "You know I don't like Galatea or her priests." She huffed.

Suvdaa punched Mau's shoulder lightly.

"You stop your whining." She replied. "If we didn't run into him on the road to Dorn you'd have been dead before we reached the city." She pointed out. "You could at least be thankful."

Slowly, Mau sat herself up, and she immediately wrinkled her nose.

The dogboy was still too busy wagging excitedly and giggling to himself about his newest accomplishment.

"The head mother isn't going to believe this!" He babbled, "I've never managed to pull that off, this is a first for me! --I mean I knew one day I'd be a conduit for Galatea's power like all the other clerics, but I didn't think I'd manage to pull it off now! I thought I had so much more training ahead of me-- I'm Andy by the way-- I was on my way back to Dorn from a training mission to another nearby town, you're really lucky you found me on my way back-- I mean I was always told I bring good luck, and-"

Mau reached up with her unbitten hand and lightly placed the tip of her finger on the boy's lips. He immediately went silent and crossed his eyes to stare down at the fingertip that was shushing him.

"... Too much?" He asked, ears splaying sheepishly.

"Way too much." Mau and Suvdaa said in unison, staring back at him.

The youth rubbed at the back of his neck, flashing a broad grin with sharp canine teeth as his tail resumed wagging.

"Ahah hah..." He laughed awkwardly. "I'm sorry! I tend to get really excited a lot." The boy apologized, bowing his head. "Like I said, I'm Andy. I'm an acolyte at the temple in Dorn, it's our jobs as priests and clerics to heal people when they get hurt, so when your friend saw me and practically grabbed me off the side of the road, there was little else for me to do."

Mau stared flatly for a long moment now that he was calm enough to not ramble, but the thump-thump-thump of his tail rapping the floorboards of the wagon was only exacerbating the mounting pounding feeling in her head.

"My head hurts. Can you do anything about that?" She prodded him, glowering. Suvdaa jabbed her arm again.

"Ugh fine." Mau grumbled. "Thanks..." She muttered glumly through her teeth.

She really disliked priests of that hack that called herself a god, knowing full well that Galatea's real job was running over innocent people with a truck.

Much to her chagrin, Andy simply smiled brightly at her.

"It was my pleasure!" He chirruped way too excitedly and opened his mouth, clearly gearing up to go on another excited stream of rambling. Thankfully he caught himself when Mau stared flatly at him long enough, and he cleared his throat.

"You're both adventurers, yes?" He decided to ease into a new topic. "You have badges- wow, you're Steel rank at your age? You must be really good at it."

Mau nodded slowly. "Yeah. I know what I'm doing."

Suvdaa scowled.

"Barely, you mean. Getting bitten by a snake trying to save someone else." The raider girl said indignantly. "You should be faster than that! You're quite possibly the most incredible person with a sword, but when it comes to using your head, you really are a dumb cat."

"It got lucky!" Mau huffed, petulant, and crossed her arms over her chest before she turned her head away.

"Um. Excuse me." Andy interjected, raising his hand like a child in the schoolroom as he sat back on his butt.

"... Are you two lovers?" He asked.

Mau and Suvdaa both blinked, at first, before the question and its very direct nature sank in just a second later.

Mau opened her mouth to speak.

Suvdaa looked ready to haul off and deck the poor acolyte though, and in the next instant Mau was holding her traveling companion back in a firm headlock.

Andy blinked several times, struggling with how to process the reactions between the two girls while Mau did her very best to keep Suvdaa from becoming an outlaw for killing a member of the clergy.

"Ahahaha... I guess not." He considered after a good moment, smiling brightly.