Liam awoke to the sound of claws scratching wood. A memory of Nyota’s fingers running through his hair entered his thoughts. Her gentle song, the first ray of hope he’d heard in this world. An epiphany that guided his path back to her.

Taloc had eschewed all other variables to place Liam in Nyota’s hands. She was the key, the answer to his perpetual question. This was their avenue to peace. Enslaving humanity would only turn the felinids into a slightly cuter version of Viscount Blackwood. A shudder ran down Liam’s spine at the thought. He pictured a coliseum of stone, the stadium filled with spectating felinids. While in the sandy center humans fought, never to win. Should one win, they would be pitted against a fresh opponent until they fell. Or poisoned by archers. For no master race could allow champions to rise. Such hopeless violence would cause humanity to rebel, to start a total war, where every human being would fight to survive. They could not enslave the humans, nor could a broken felinid race fight them directly. Peace would have to come slowly, one city at a time.

One city at a time… I can march back to Greenwood, and change the towns and cities one by one… Damnit… Wait for me Nyota. Please don’t fall in love with… Jenkins? HA.

Liam rubbed his eyes, covering his face, and knowing full well that Nyota was potentially the most eligible MILF in the kingdom. He pushed that thought aside, at least she was surrounded by men who were already taken. Jenkins and Arlet were both committed, Matimeo was too old, and possibly related… But the royal magi had been infiltrated by umbraquins, felinids with an innate dark affinity and an artificial genetic loyalty to eclipsiarchs such as Nyota.

If Taloc could engineer the eclipsiarchs and umbraquins, he can engineer a way to coexist. Okay, march back to Greenwood, change people’s opinions on felinids, free the asshole god. Oh boy… I’m leaving a lot of details out of this plan. That’s either the sign of a flexible plan or a worthless idea.

Liam spent a few moment’s puzzling out his plan, and refining it, right up until he asked how exactly Taloc could alter humanity or the felinids. A longer gestation period for felinids as well as single births instead of litters would be necessary changes, the world wasn’t at war, those wartime adaptations had served their purpose and now only served to turn neutral humans against freed slaves.

I wonder, will he give humanity four ears going forward? Hmmm, he has a mean streak wider than a monkey’s paw. An ear fetish would be the least surprising thing about him. Bah, that’s a question only God can answer. Thought Liam, turning to see a glowing blue orb in the window.

It seemed to float above two amber eyes, connected to a sort of sabertoothed, anorexic cheetah, that was staring at him like he was a juicy sparrow. The desert cat —more closely related to lions than house kittens— locked eyes with him.

Liam froze.

His body involuntarily locking against his will. The Kheresh desert was an inhospitable land, to survive here the wildlife learned how to drink blood and never pass an opportunity to acquire water. A serval normally wouldn’t threaten a human, but he was a toddler.

An unprotected toddler.

Liam could feel the mana flowing through the third eye, and comprehended the spell of paralysis it cast. Could sense it binding his limbs and pinning him. He was dead. And he knew it.

Would Mom even help me if she were here? He wondered.

The serval crept through the window, crouching atop the windowsill then standing tip toe on lanky limbs. Like a gimbal to keep the third eye from breaking contact. Three inch claws gouged the wood, locking the creature’s limbs in place.

Liam tried to blink, failed, tried again. Nothing would move. His stomach gurgled, but the spit up reflex refused to bleh. He tried to fart, literally anything to move, or make that cat blink! He had lightning! No matter how bittey the pint sized cheetah was, a bolt would kill it. If only he could move!

The serval strode forward, it was only a few feet away now. Fangs longer than Liam’s hand filled the creature’s mouth. Clearly strong enough to bite through his cartilaginous bones. In fact, a pounce would probably crack Liam’s skull open. I can’t heal brain matter… CRAP!

Hind legs bunched, front legs crouched, claws extending to their full three inch lengths. How such a slender, and elegant creature contained such potent blades was a mystery. If Liam was certain of revival, or a better reincarnation then he might have felt honoured to die at the hands of such a graceful monster. But given Taloc’s track record he was more likely to get reincarnated into a squirrel, or an obese gopher, or a soft-shelled turtle that was already on its back.

Liam’s short life flashed before his eyes as the sabertoothed-serval pounced. Claws gleamed through the darkness, shining, reflecting a golden light–

How are they shining?

A streak of white light plowed into the serval’s shoulder, knocking it off course and into the nearby table. It rolled, a streak of white clinging to it like a leech–

–And Liam was free.

Immediately he raised his fingergun, index finger aiming directly at the serval’s head. The cat had an instant to face him, and its face contorted into a half smile, as if it was… happy?

“Pew”

A bolt of lightning arced through the air, connecting with the servals third eye and cooking the creature’s brain and sentience in a nanosecond. It went limp, wearing a grin of death as it flopped onto the floor. Where it lay, dead.

Silence settled, and Liam let out a gasp of air, realizing just how close he had come to dying. Desert cats weren’t supposed to wield magic, the third eye was a rare mutation, so rare that Duke Kheresh had offered a breeding pair to Duke Hamilton as a gift! For one to target him… Either all of Kheresh was starving, or this assassination attempt was Pandora’s doing.

The dark goddess would love to see him die, if only for vengeance’s sake. Since he had slain her body in a previous life. He glanced down at the white streak of salvation that had hit the serval, blinking as came into focus. Smooth white scales rising and falling as it extracted itself. Gold pinstripes lined the serpent’s albino body, like a white and gold gardner snake.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“No way…” Said Liam.

The gardner snake aimed an eye at him, gathering mana –Liam knew what was coming and raised his hand– before a thread-thin lightning bolt arced between the serpent and Liam.

[connection established]

[familiar ‘Quetzalcoatl’ acquired]

A voice that was eerily familiar and entirely new entered his mind. The deific serpent that had shown him Nyota’s suffering; as well as her value spoke once more.

‘I leave you alone for six months and you almost die!? How hard is it to suck titties and sleep all day?!’ Said a rather squeaky voice.

The words came through a sort of mental link, almost like a private chat, discrete, distinct, yet intrinsically personal.

‘Dude, you… uhm… got smaller… You’re like an albino danger noodle now?’ Thought Liam.

‘Albino… Danger… Noodle?!? Bah, Taloc sent me to watch over you! And really! You almost died to a furball? Maybe you should bleach your hair and become more dangerously noodl-ie yourself!’ Retorted Quetz.

‘Hey, I get you’re not a mammal and all, but being a toddler sucks! We don’t start out mobile! I can’t go anywhere by myself and nothing works right. Look around you, do you see anyone else around here? If Taloc wanted me to be safe, he should have given me a loving family! Not a mom who sneaks out and steals things to survive! Really, what the hell man! Taloc can send a god but can’t give me a dad?’

Quetz ignored his complaints, slithering towards the serval’s head.

‘What are you– oh… oh god…’ Thought Liam, equally fascinated and horrified as a foot long danger noodle began swallowing the sabertoothed-serval.

At three feet tall and five feet long, the serval was many times the size and mass of a gardner snake, but Quetz wasn’t a gardner snake, not really. He was the divine mount of Therun Perun Taloc, this world’s version of Zeus or Jesus Christ, if you mashed them together and made the amalgamation go through prison. So when Quetz swallowed the Serval whole, it was only a little surprising, but very disconcerting.

‘How… actually, it doesn’t matter, if you’ve been watching me, how is Nyota!?!’ Thought Liam, picking up the –surprising– light Quetz and tucking him into the holey blanket.

‘Nyota? Who is that?’

‘Don’t be an albino turd! You know exactly who she is! How could you forget the nightmare you put her through?! The Lightning Lord catgirl who happens to be the love of my three lives- oh, you called her ‘Lightning Daughter’ last time we met.’ Thought Liam, crawling under the bed and snuggling into the blanket.

One attempt on his life was enough for today, and with the shutters open he had no way of closing them, so the bed frame and blanket would have to provide cover from other misfortunes. And if a sabertoothed serval was out wandering the night, what else had Pandora sent? Hellhounds maybe? Giant scorpions?

‘Oh, the Lightning Daughter, yes, she is doing quite well. Though her pregnancy is giving her a great deal of grief.’ Answered Quetz.

His words crushed Liam’s soul harder than the iceberg that pimp slapped the Titanic. She’s pregnant? I know I died, but… Already? It can’t be mine, humans and felinds cannot crossbreed. Wait, how long was I aboard Taloc’s prison… Actually, it was more like a stainless steel starship, but I couldn’t see out of the room he was trapped in. I don’t know if Taloc even put me in the same timeframe, he could have moved me backwards or forwards…

‘So… She is pregnant. Uhm… Who’s the father…?’ Asked Liam, careful to keep his private thoughts internal.

‘Don’t know. Mammal procreation is strange. Far too messy for me to understand, what with all the fluids and spit going everywhere. Eggs are much more evolved. Cleaner too, but Taloc didn’t seem to agree with that when he altered the felinids. Said he didn’t want to change things too much, despite my suggestion clearly being a refinement in replication.’ Said Quetz.

Liam considered riding Quetz like a skateboard, but decided that would be counterproductive since the snake-god was more of a lumpy-basketball shape currently. Tragically, there would be no grinding down stairs or kick flipping of the divine serpent.

‘Hey Quetz, thanks for saving me from that cat. But, can you take me to Nyota?’

‘Take you? Sure, hop on, I'll just fly across the world, forget about wyverns or dragons or large sparrows! Do I look like I can fly with your fat head hanging on?!’

Liam tried not to laugh, how could he not? Snakes couldn’t fly at all! They had no wings or air bladders that might buoy them into the stratosphere. To think Liam could guess his capacity to flight, was silly, but was probably perfectly logical to the steed of an imprisoned deity.

‘But you flew in here… Did you have too large of a dinner? Do you need a nap? How did you get so tiny anyways?’

‘How did yooouuu get so tiny?! I died! Duh. Now i’m going to sleep.’ Said Quetz, somehow absorbing his face and tail into a ball of gardner snakery.

Did I just get snubbed by a flying serpent? Who is also my familiar? Aren’t familiars supposed to be friendly and casual, as in, familiar with their masters? Ugh, what a rip off. Like a familiar from Wish.com.

He curled up next to Quetz, sharing the blanket as he nodded off to sleep. Only to be awakened by noise in the cellar. Claws skittered across dirt, and Liam heard the sounds of heavy sacks being dropped off in the cellar below. Mom was back. And the window was still open. She wouldn’t stab me for that…

Right?