The air thickened, crackling with unfamiliar qi. Veins of light, delicate like a spider’s web but burning hot coursed through the sky. Storm qi? No time to analyse.

I streaked my way through the grasses, belly low to the ground, running by instinct away from my home, from my Maud, my garden, my cottage. Whatever followed was bent on destruction, I knew it in my gut, but the focus was on me, so I would lead it away. Away from my precious things.

Trees flew past, left and right.

The wind howled as I leapt a fallen log, a stream, a gully, running, running, running, cultivating as I went. Making myself as fleet and strong as possible to face whatever was coming.

A bolt of lightning seared the ground ahead of me.

A flash of white. Tree trunks burst, spraying me with debris. One split and toppled, its core licked with flames. I kept running, as lightning flickered above. Thunder crashed, deafening rumbles, the ground underfoot quaked. I urged my legs faster, keeping the qi cycling. The acrid scent of smoke filled my nostrils but still I didn’t stop, my breath ragged now despite my enhanced body. I was fast, I could outrun anything!

As if in response to my thought, the unfamiliar qi seared through the air in jagged lines, sharp, metallic, dangerous. The entire sky illuminated. Two strikes of lightning to my left. One ahead. I swerved to avoid a falling trunk, skidding under the branches and sprays of earth as the roots ripped clear of the soil. Then I was out and up, galloping, my paws kicking up dirt and moss.

Almost - this was fun.

Me against the sky!

Risking a peek upward, I swallowed my bravado - storm clouds boiled in a vortex centering on me (as was only proper), but not even I would survive a direct strike of that lightning. Not yet. At least not without dying. Dodge, dodge, trees flying by. While death was not the end, not for me, relying on my cat-given superiority felt like cheating - and I was not sure it would allow me to pass the tribulation. I should have asked.

But if dodging lightning was all that was involved this wasn’t too diff-

A roaring from the heavens shocked me to stillness.

Skidding to a halt, I gazed up at the gigantic winged lizard that was wending its way through the rotating clouds, dark as the storm. Or was it the storm? A giant dragon, limned in lighting, was stirring the heavens like a pot, clouds scudding in its wake. Eyes sparked white, flashing with the thunder. It was slow because it was the size of half the world. Sheets of lightning rippled down the serpentine length.

Twisting, coiling, wings beat, luminous eyes moved, searching the ground. Searching for me.

The crackling eyes found me.

My legs obeyed, just in time. A bolt hit the spot I had evacuated moments before. Tossed backwards, I tumbled head over tail slamming against a rock, my body cracked and bruised. My vision blurred but I clambered up on shaking legs. Staying still was to court death. I could not yet fight a storm dragon - not until I could fly. I bared my teeth at the monster. Oh how I needed wings! But I didn't have wings, only legs, so I ran.

Careering through the forest I knew I would not lose a storm dragon between the trees but I could try. Perhaps I could find somewhere underground? A burrow or a cave? My limbs were unsteady, no, no it wasn’t me that was unsteady- it was the treacherous ground rumbling, rumbling in time with the sky. Perhaps hiding underground was a bad idea.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the enormous dragon open its maw.

A deluge of rain crashed earthward, a waterfall torrent of darkness, flooding out, down. It crashed into me, sweeping me away with the force. This was no polite rain, no happy puddle or friendly River. This was rage and hate and fury. I could not outrun it. I could not stand against it, I could only let it carry me as I fought desperately for air, fought to cultivate.

Away it carried me. I smacked against rocks and trees, scabbling to keep my head above the water. I was seeing stars, and not the good kind that sang to me in the night. Flung like a piece of jetsam, jagged branches tore at my sides, as I was swept along in the mad current. My head hit something, hard. I saw more stars. When I came too I was under water.

All was rushing darkness.

I didn’t know which way was up. Water filled my nostrils, I snorted it in by mistaked, the liquid burning my nasal passages. I could not breathe. I was going to drown again. NO. I was done with drowning, I would not let it happen. I was friends with a River. This was just another aspect of water. Angry water.

But I was angry too.

So I cultivated, through the swirling hateful madness, I cultivated, drawing to me snatches of water, and the strength returned to my heart. My legs, bruised and battered, powered through the darkness till my head broke the surface. I took a glorious gulp of air, and grabbed out at a passing tree trunk. I missed. The tree vanished as quickly as it had come, but there were more. I slammed into another, missed again, and was swept away.

Another was coming, I angled my body then grabbed at it, reinforcing my claws with qi.

This time I managed to cling on. The water dragged and battered at me, begging me, screaming at me to join it back in the dreadful maelstrom. I clung on, ignoring the howls. With a great heave I managed to pull myself up a little higher. I would do as I wanted. This was better. My body felt lighter, only my haunches and tail were touching the current. Afraid to move more, I crouched, soaking wet, bedraggled but safe enough.

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The rain continued to fall, squalls pelting me from every side. The wind kept changing direction. It was exhausting, and my legs drooped but I kept ahold of the tree. The lashing rain drops were ice cold, and stung where they landed, especially the ones that fell on my nose. I had nowhere to tuck it.

Circulating qi through every part of me kept myself from freezing. I shut my eyes, and reminded myself that soon I would be home, in front of the fire, and I would have a marathon grooming session and my fur would shine like satin. And I would be Radiant. I would be Radiant.

The storming dragon crackled once more.

I peeked up at it, through the branches. It was turning away. My heart sang as the rain lessened. One last flash, one last rumble and the dragon vanished into the clouds. It had tormented me long enough, and realised that cats should not be messed with.

The raging torrent of water below me dropped, and dropped. Then it was a trickle, and then there was just dark forest ground once more but still the rain continued to fall. Unsure it was safe to let go of my trunk, I stared up at the fat drops.

The tree I was clinging to had no leaves and not many branches, offering little in the way of shelter but a good view. These raindrops were still bigger than any others I had ever seen. Now the rain had slowed each one was …. toadshaped? Round, fat, corpulent. Transparent rain toads. Little spirits? They reminded me of tiny Montadies and I wondered if this was how my mentor had started her journey towards immortality. If it was, she must have found her purpose quickly, somewhere between cloud and earth.

The cute toady raindrops jumped en masse from the cloudy heights croaking and squealing weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee as they squished against the ground, spraying me with their remains. Some of them jumped several times before meeting their end in gleeful spray. They seemed happy enough about the whole thing.

After some time the deluge of rain-toads abated to a more genteel plip-plopping. Water dripped from everything. Then the plip-plopping, too lessened, and then only puddles remained, scattered amongst the sodden earth. The silence, broken only by the occasional plop, was wonderful.

The tension drained from my bones and I breathed in a great sigh of relief.

Was that it? Had I successfully broken through to the second stage of cultivation? Stressful as the lightning and the flood had been it felt… slightly anti-climatic. No, that was a silly thought to think, it had been horrible.

I eyed the heavens once more with deep distrust, checking the leaden sky to make sure the storm dragon was well and truly gone. It was. Perhaps it was a blasphemous thought but given the great progress I had made… surviving had not been all that difficult. Scary, yes, unpleasant, yes. Had all the worry truly been unnecessary?

Above, the clouds grumbled a little, and I winced but the storm truly seemed to have gone.

So where was I?

Nothing I could see was familiar. I had been swept far away from home. The woods seemed particularly dark in the cloudless night. Everything smelled wet and… a little off. Acrid. There was also still smoke lingering in the air now it was clear of rain. The source was a burning tree-stump not so far away, still smouldering from a lightning strike. It cast the area around it in low levels of lurid orange, and the slight breeze made the shadows dance.

I had had enough of being magnificent, I wanted to go home.

There was no sun, no moon, no stars - only heavy dark clouds suffocating the sky. Slowly, carefully, I unhooked my stressed and very wonderful claws from the trunk of the tree that had saved me. They extracted from the trunk with a surprising squish, leaving behind a filthy residue which I attempted, not very successfully, to wipe on the trunk. This was because the trunk itself seemed to be black and slimy.

It was only then, nose pressed against the bark as I shimmied my backside down, that I realised the tree was dead. Dead, dead. Soul-sucked, no qi remaining dead, like the ash had been. I exited the rotten tree rather more quickly than I intended, landing on my rump hard.

The slime of it coated my claws. I stared up at the gaunt, leafless thing with some horror. It was not a solitary tree. This tree was part of a foul, rotting copse. Corrupted, blackened trees, each one a blight, were everywhere I looked. The ground between them foul and barren.

I moved back, and the weird, slimy earth stuck to my paws.

A chill squeezed at my heart. This was not my forest. My forest was living, breathing, sleeping, yes, under the cold blanket of winter’s touch - but these trees were something else. Time to go, and I trotted forward through a silence that was very loud. I missed the wind, the birdsong, the rustle of little creatures and fae going about their nightly business. My breath was too loud, my heart thundered in my ears.

That strange, unpleasant smell filled my nostrils. Which way was home? I turned, seeking some landmark. Underfoot was foul and-

Someone was watching me from the darkness.

Two eyes, low on the ground, reflecting the smouldering fire. Before I could move there were more. More shadowy figures. More eyes opening in the darkness, two, four, ten, twenty, eyes opening everywhere, glittering with malevolence. I could not count how many. But I could see they were rats.

I whipped my head around.

More on the other side. Every side. I was surrounded. So many rats. The glint of red watching me.

“What tasty morsel has the rain washed in?” The voice was harsh and low.

“A damp toy.” High pitched and nasal.

Whiskered noses quested forward, grey paws, deceptively delicate. They were an ugly lot, even for squeakers: patched, and gaunt, torn fur, dirty, wounded. Not fat and healthy like Lavellan Vollj. Here scabs and scars were abundant. They clearly had no care for cleanliness or health in general. One of them was covered in so many pustules I was surprised it could move. It looked like a growth given flesh.

They were creeping forward, and I had nowhere to go.

I gathered in fire qi from the smouldering trunk, feeling it burn my hesitation away.

Bunching my muscles I sprang for the nearest one. My teeth fastened over its throat and I ripped it away. Spitting flesh and blood from my jaws, I leapt for the next. Foot met flesh, a bone snapped, not mine. I needed to get away, they would overwhelm me with sheer numbers. I sprinted through them, picking a direction at random.

Three rats hung from my coat, clinging on as I rolled, smashing their heads into the ground with my qi-infused fire strength. With brute strength I dragged them with me towards the empty forest.

“Wait,” said a voice.

A whipcrack voice laden with authority. I ignored it, but the rats did not.

They cowered before the voice’s owner. Bigger and leaner than the rest, she stared at me, those red eyes reflecting the fire-light. “Can you not see this one is Awake? ”