The floor was getting closer and closer and I couldn’t help but hug Allee as tightly as I could, I wanted to absorb the damage, I’ll be fine, that’s for sure, or at least that’s the myth a lot of sorcerers say, but even if that doesn’t happen I’ll be happy to save this girl, at least with that I’ll gain a place in heaven if there’s such thing for sorcerers considering we’re the incarnation of the sins!

“Kazz…” The girl said in a tone full of despair and I knew what she was thinking, I couldn’t do any other thing than smile for her.

“It’s okay… We’ll survive thanks to my magic… Don’t worry!” I screamed as loud as I could, the air was making it difficult to understand each other, I’m glad she nodded though even if she didn’t look that convinced.

The floor was just a few meters away from us and I couldn’t help but think of all the things that I didn’t do, all the regrets I had, I closed my eyes waiting for the imminent thing to happen, I knew I wouldn't survive this and I tried to believe that I will, but reality sometimes hits bigger than anything else, and just like reality itself, we were about to hit the floor.

Or that’s what I thought, my eyes remained closed for more than a minute before I opened them and I realized something, we stopped in mid-air and there were just a few inches between us and the floor.

“We did it!” I said not believing what was happening.

Allee suddenly opened her eyes, she was having a hard time believing we stopped, she even rubbed her eyes, I couldn’t help but do the same, and we couldn’t do any other thing than laugh about this, we’re alive!

“Uh… Kazz… Can you put me down, please?” Asked the girl with a flustered expression as I continued holding her.

I felt a little embarrassed and it didn’t take too long before I placed her on the ground and she was looking at me just as embarrassed as I was, I acted too cool for my own good this time, I showed fear, as I sorcerer I feel like a failure right now.

“What’s this place?” She suddenly forgot about what just happened and concentrated on the place where they were in right now.

Her survival instincts kicked in, she was in a foreign place, and her instincts were telling her this, thankfully she has her fair share of knowledge when it comes to survival situations, Sir Louis took her to train on a stranded island once for a week, so, whatever thing might be waiting for us shouldn’t be a problem, or at least that’s what she told me when we were on our way here when I expressed my concerns about adventuring in the middle of the night.

“Wait a minute,” I mumbled as I looked around the place.

There was something familiar, so, I took the map I was carrying and I started to look around and there it was… The obsidian triplet peaks were in front of us just where this map was showing they should be, in the north direction.

“We’re in Mont Noir!” I answered with a worried expression.

I’ve been here a few times in the past, this is just a place to prepare yourself before starting the challenge to defeat the demon lord, but this didn't look to be the same place in my memories.

The night was kind of different, as the sky was deep blue, and the stars were moving constantly like dancing, this wasn’t good, and even though I’m a weak sorcerer, I still could sense the presence of magic.

“We need to get out of here,” I mumbled with a worried expression.

“Why?” Allee asked kind of confused in my change of attitude.

But all the attention that we had to this place suddenly was interrupted as some kittens appeared.

“Oh, look at them… They’re so cute!” Allee said as she lowered her body to be as low as she could to get close to the kittens.

It was a pack of four and they had different colors, Allee didn’t waste time, so, she tried to caress them, but suddenly, they started to run.

“Hey, wait!” Allee said a little worried, she couldn’t stop herself from following them.

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“Wait Allee… We need to get out of here!” I screamed before I ran behind her.

I don’t know for how long we ran, but surprisingly, the kittens decided to stop for a few moments, but then I realized something, we weren’t alone.

“What the…” I tried to say but I couldn’t finish my phrase because I suddenly felt intimidated.

The reason for that is simple and yet scary, we were surrounded by a lot of cats, we were in the middle of the plaza, and we were being circled by the cats, so, there was no way for us to escape from this place unless we used some extreme methods something that wouldn’t happen because Allee would cut my head if I do something to these cats.

“Are all those cats your family kittens?” Asked Allee not caring too much about the mass of felines that were surrounding us, they were looking at us with complete superiority, I could see it in their faces.

“Allee… Let’s get out of here… I don’t think It’s a good idea to be with these kittens,” I couldn’t help but gulp after I said those words.

My friend stared at me for a few moments before she looked at the cats and then, she looked back at me once again.

“It’s okay, they’re cats… They wouldn't do anything bad to us!” Allee was clearly biased when it came to cats, she couldn’t conceive the idea of these felines being what they were... Predators with huge numbers.

And that’s a really bad philosophy, cats despite being cute have a reputation for being savages that can erase entire local species even if they're domesticated, so, contrary to her, I am aware of the way these creatures can act, hell, that’s why they’re the sorceresses’ favorite animals and trust me, there’s nothing more scary than a sorceress.

Our attention changed once again, as the kittens started meowing, we looked at the four kittens and something surprising suddenly happened, the kittens eyes suddenly turned blue and it didn’t take too long before they turned into fire, to be more precise blue flames.

“W-What!?” Allee couldn’t believe this.

“I knew there was something wrong!” I got close to my warrior friend as the blue flames started to circle us, and they were doing it at a low speed, but little by little they were increasing the speed until their speed made them look like a halo, and then, the blue flames just covered our bodies and they took us to whatever place they were planning to teleport us

The only thing I know is that this happened way too quickly, and when I came back to my senses I realized we were in a very fancy room, it was like a playroom.

“Was that a dream?” I asked myself as I looked around, this seemed to be a room for a rich kid due to the huge quantity of toys that there were inside. “Allee where—” I couldn’t finish my phrase because I suddenly realized I couldn’t move.

“No… Leave me alone!” I heard Allee say on the other side of the room and the sight in front of me would give me nightmares for months.

“Allee… Run away from here, try to escape!” I tried to encourage her.

She was being lifted in the air by someone I knew and it seems like now she was wearing a cute dress clearly made by the person who was playing with her.

“Jaggi!? Is that you!? Leave her alone, your problem is with me… Probably,” I said not remembering if I did something to the long-haired sorcerer.

You see, Jaggi and I used to hang out secretly during our days in the magic academy, we hung around with another guy named Hansso and a girl named Lunita.

We used to hangout secretly because they were members of the four founder families, the ones who control not only magic and how it gets used but also the world, yes, the four leaders could practically destroy not only the world but the universe if they wanted to, after all, they’re the ones who created magic a thousand years ago, and even if one member is missing, just one of them is scary enough, trust me I’ve seen a show of their power.

Somehow I managed to become friends with them, however, as I said, it had to be a secret friendship because it's forbidden for commoner sorcerers to aspire for a better life, they're not honest about it, however, the rules set for the commoners are clearly created so there won’t be another powerful and influential family.

Our friendship ended in the last year of our education after I started dating Lunita secretly, however, that didn’t last too long as I was accused of something awful and I was banished from sorcerer town.

But it seemed like Jaggi didn’t listen to me or maybe he forgot about me, he was too focused on lifting Allee in the air, I tried to make her snap of the mental control Jaggi had put her through, however, that’s easier to say it than doing it, even if in my group of aristocrat friends he was the weakest, he’s on a very different level of weakness compared than me.

“Jaggi… Come on man, get out of here!” I complained as I continued struggling to free myself from this.

As I looked at my surroundings, I realized something, my hands and legs were glued to the ground, and my arms were open just like my legs I couldn’t see too much but then I realized something, there was a drawing circling my body… The figure was like a pentagram but this star had twelve points instead, so, technically it was a dodecagram, and I knew why he was doing this!

“Oh… Sorry for not paying attention to you my old friend, but as you can see… I needed to take care of the strong one first,” Jaggi said with a smirk on his face as he looked at me.

“Jaggi you bastard… Set me free, this isn’t going to work, I know what you’re trying to do, you need something else to do it… If you free me I’ll tell you how to do it, we’ll use this girl!” I tried to convince him, but I just earned a chuckle from him.

“Oh no my dear Kazz, not anymore, we fell on your tricks in the past because they were fun and it didn’t affect our lives, I know you’re lying… And you know why?” Asked my former friend with a very wicked smile.

“Don’t tell me that…” I mumbled completely shocked.

“Yes… It’s just what you’re thinking, I’ve already experimented with humans countless times… It doesn’t work at all, you need a sorcerer, don’t worry, your worthless life will finally have a purpose!” He started to laugh like crazy which caused me to cringe.

“But immortality is a curse for non-sorcerers! Why would you want to make someone immortal!” I complained finally unveiling his plans.

And then I heard a meowing that I could recognize anywhere.

“Sir Whiskers… You have to stop him!” The grey cat appeared and I could see that he’d been slacking, he looked fatter.

The cat looked at his owner and gave him a look, Jaggi nodded and then he launched a light towards me.

“Why should I stop him when this will benefit me?” The translator was working and thanks to Jaggi’s spell I could hear this cat talking once again just like in the old days.

“What… Don’t tell me that…” I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing.

“Yes Kazz, I really like your name because it reminds me of the word 'cat', anyway...All of this… This is my plan, my masterpiece… Soon humans will be replaced by cats… It’s time to welcome the era of the cat and you’ll be a key piece for that… Because thanks to you I’ll become immortal, you should be happy to have that honor,” the cat told me before he licked one of my cheeks.

“Don’t worry… It’s going to be quick, however… First I need to take care of something,” Jaggi said to me with a wicked smile.

What he did made me feel horrified, he grabbed Allee by her neck and it didn’t take too long before her body got completely covered with green flames, soon her figure was replaced with a small replica that looked like a figure, and then she was placed in another place with other female figures who were also wearing cute dresses.

Curiosity #7: At some point during their youth, Kazz tried to steal “Sir Whiskers” from Jaggi.