Okay, I’m in a very different culture with a Lady-cat on my shoulders and kneeling cat-men… Oh boy.

“Look, do you want that collar removed?” Said Liam, fishing for a yes/no answer.

“Uhm, it’s not possible sir–”

*Clink*

The collar fell free of the man’s neck, with a trickle of light and dark affinities entering Liam’s outstretched hand. And to Liam’s horror the man began to weep, one of his friends patting his shoulder consoling him.

What in the world? Thought Liam.

Lady-serval licked his elongated ear, her whiskers tickling him.

“Oh, hey, that tickles– YYYEEAAOOOOWWW!” He shouted, as the serval chopped into his ear, hard enough to pierce skin.

He snatched the cat by its scruff, holding it in front of him as he probed his ear. It was still intact, surprising since its exposed incisors could easily pierce his ears. But he was bleeding from at least eight punctures, blood made his ear slippery, coating his fingers.

Stupid cat. Thought Liam, channeling his healing mana to the wound.

In an instant it was gone, and Liam considered tossing the cat at a nearby tree. It would probably land on its feet and be fine.

Probably.

Instead he dropped it and folded his arms. The feline licking its lips.

“If you weren’t so cute, I’d chuck you off the edge for that.”

“Meow.”

Liam threw up his arms. “Fine, take me wherever. Let's go!” Snapped Liam.

The cat slunk away, then began trotting. Making Liam jog in order to keep up. Something wasn’t sitting right with any of his interactions since entering the forest. It was as if he had sat down to take a test after reading ‘Moby Dick’ only to find questions about Tolkien’s ‘Silmarillion’. The collar hadn’t been difficult to remove, so the felinids clearly weren’t in charge, and the man had thought he was going to mock him.

Did you trade one master for another? Immortal elves and cats that make rabbits look chaste are a weird combo–

Ah, I can look into that later.

“Time to find out who kidnapped me.”

“Meow.”

Liam rolled his eyes, not really understanding why he was following the serval. But it led him through the city, parting crowds of elves and felinids wherever it went. A surprising feat considering the creature wasn’t very imposing, and fully capable of slipping through a crowd unnoticed.

Soon enough they came to a ring of black trees, at its center stood an immense tree, one of the grand Aelorns. Similar to what Liam had awoken in, except this one was pure white, with silver leaves that glittered in the sunlight. Yet it was distinctly lonesome, with a single rope bridge connecting to a ring of ebony wooded trees. Coniferous blackwoods that were surrounded with armed elves, some carried bows, others spears, but all wore armor, and there were steel gates on both sides of the wooden walkways. The steel would have seemed out of place, but it was forged into sweeping patterns that gave it a wooden appearance, complete with forged leaves and thin branches.

“Meow meow.” Said the serval, and both the inner and outer gates swung open to the cat, its tail swishing, beckoning Liam forward.

“Uhm… Thanks?” Said Liam, walking past the armed elves.

“Welcome sir.” Was their only response.

Although, what did he expect? Their skin was as dark as his own, in fact, he bore more resemblance to these elves than he did to the men of Khereshetal. Even their height was similar, and he noticed that all the elves around him were at least seven feet tall, with one particularly slender woman rising to nearly eight feet. Her bow was the only one made of steel, and her arrows seemed to be different, slightly thicker and made entirely of the ebony wood that he now tread upon. In her hands was the body of a feathered velociraptor, a diminutive therapod that she tossed upwards. The body rose into the air, seeming to hang for a second as its momentum inverted, approaching zero, then four legs and two fangs emerged. Snatching the carcass and accidentally biting through the neck in a single chomp.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Oh great, dark elves and giant forest spiders.” Muttered Liam.

His words drew her attention, and the guard lady gave him a wink.

Sorry but I'm taken. Was all he could think.

Liam looked away, trying not to frown or smile as he stared at the serval’s tail. It led him across the black tree and another gate was opened to her. Four times larger and looked as if it could hold back a dozen stampeding elephants, yet it was adorned with streamers of brightly dyed silks. He touched one of them, running the material between his fingers. It felt like real silk, which came from worm cocoons on earth…

But that didn’t seem in line with Taloc’s pantheon. Something vicious had probably made this, like some kind of extra poisonous scorpion that only lived in these woods. Or the giant guard spider. But, this was a lot of silk for just one spider to spin.

“I wonder…” Muttered Liam, closing his eyes and peering into the world with his extra senses.

He’d been aware of the ambient mana, it had been constant since he’d woken up, similarly to how you don’t realize it’s warm when it’s summertime. But he’d just strolled into the dog days of August. The trees were practically on fire, with arcane wardings and mana reinforcements, while the silk carried wards meant to strangle assailants and pinpricks of ferocious affinities lingered in the branches, creatures of magic who dwelled above the elves, with eight legs and hundreds of children on their backs. Beings that spun webs and would devour an ostrich if given the opportunity. But those were sideshows compared to the white tree. It felt like Liam was staring at the sun, he immediately crumpled, kneeling and covering his head while he shut his mana eyes.

“Oh! Owwwww!” Cried Liam, his physical eyes crying from the sudden intensity of the tree.

“Ouch! What is this place?! Even Pandora wasn’t that bright!” Snapped Liam, talking to the serval and immediately realizing he fucked up.

At the mention of Pandora’s name the guards sprang forward, swords aimed at Liam’s throat as they stepped between him and the serval. They threw him against the blackwood trunk, pinning him against the wood.

“Who are you!” Shouted and elf.

Liam said nothing, he couldn’t. There was a blade pressing so tightly against his neck he could hardly breathe! Forget about talking.

“Answer me!” Shouted the elf, and the blade pressed deeper into his skin.

A hissing sound made the four elven warriors freeze, and the serval pounced, nipping all of their ears until they stepped away from –a still teary eyed– Liam. Who collapsed.

“Worst- hospitality- ever-” Liam gasped, rubbing his throat and finding blood there.

A trickle of healing magic sealed the cut, but he shuddered to think what might have happened. If they’d pressed a little harder he would be experimenting with healing arteries, a preposition that made him ill. Maybe he should start modifying his body, reinforcing the spine and neck with isolated bones. Create a sort of subcutaneous kevlar around his vital bits–

–A tail ran across his face.

Great, just what I need.

“Yeah, I'm fine.” Muttered Liam, finding his feet as the serval trotted off, with the dark elf guards following behind him.

Their forward curving swords glinted in the light of the silver tree, and more than one archer walked with an arrow on the string. They all halted on the edge of the walkway, not wanting to step onto the white tree’s landing. Though they glared at Liam, just waiting for the moment he misstepped and they could cleave his head from off his shoulders.

“Real friendly folks out here.” Said Liam, following the serval onto the tree.

Why are elves listening to a cat? God, I feel like I’ve woken up in Wonderland, any moment now some drunk clown will start singing about half siblings being the best or how to shoot a ballista.

The second his bare foot touched the platform his entire body began to pulse, his own mana responding to the tree’s. Two unconquerable powers mingled, like dogs sniffing new friends, potent, personal, and entirely too close. It was too much for him. He stumbled forwards, falling to one knee. Steadying himself with a hand against the trunk. Mentally he tapped into the [mana domination] skill and flicked the foreign mana on the nose, ‘hey, knock it off, or I will MAKE you stop.’

[admin recognized]

Appeared in Liam’s mind, identical to the levelup alerts. His vision cleared, and the foreign mana withdrew, as if obeying his command. While ahead of him the serval stood, all legs straight, back arched, tail upright and all hackles raised.

“Sorry, maybe I should go…” Said Liam, pointing back towards the elves.

They stepped aside, eager to see the interloper ejected but the serval hissed furiously, sprinting over and latching onto his hand, then it backpedaled, guiding him deeper into the inner sanctum.

“Ya know what, this is some bullshit. I’m tired of chasing tail!” Snapped Liam, picking up the serval by the scruff.

It curled up, tucking paws into its stomach, trying to make itself small.

“Better.” Said Liam, cradling the too intelligent animal in his arms. “You point, I’ll walk.” He ordered, following the animal’s directions.

It took him around the tree, and had him walk for what felt like a mile, though the path never looped back. Apparently the platforms here were all connected, but they sloped upwards in the rear, so it had given the white tree the appearance of having many separate floors, instead of a gentle spiral. Eventually the serval tapped his chest pointing to a steel door. Liam approached it, noting how metallic it appeared, like the stainless steel of Taloc’s prison ship. The serval touched the door and it slid open silently.

“Great… You want me to go in there don’t you?”

“Meow.” The serval nodded.

Liam glanced back at the dark elves shadowing him, they had hung back, but were wincing now.

“You guys got any warnings about what’s in there?” Asked Liam.

“It’ll flay the skin from heretic bones!” Shouted the man that had given him orders on the bridge.

“Keep barking.” Muttered Liam, stepping into the dark gateway.