Chapter 11The Second Door

I made it back home to the temple late at night after I had been welcomed by a thousand and one Felines into the village. They had loved to see a fresh new Huntress on board with the rest of them. Comments on the meat, good luck and good fortune was just a fragment of what they had admired. I deeply thanked each and every one of them.

Many had even said their grievances and apologies to hear that the old Huntress Celentine had passed away. I told them that when I see her I will let her know that she is missed.

Celentine had forsworn her duties, just a few years before I had come around. That left her to do as she pleased and keep the garden up, tend to personal matters and form the curriculum for my training.

I climbed into bed thinking about the next day and what it would bring for me. I had already felt so much older from the night before.

Ares came to me that night and welcomed me to the village hierarchy officially, now that I had made it through the first door.

We walked up to the peak of the mountain to gaze at the full moon that so many other eyes were watching this night. The full moon was what marked the anniversary, thus the festivities.

We were both silent, but so much was known between us that I couldn’t even begin to tell you everything I learned that night. I felt the warmth of her presence, the fertility of the motherhood that she was. Knowledge spread like a wildfire from her to I.

It was this time that I became the Huntress. Knowledge from generations past, flaws and successes analyzed, their honed training, their abilities and traditions, all filtered down to me. I am the summation, the epitome, the Huntress.

A notable experience. As when I learned to swim, when I learned to conquer darkness and weather the cold. This topped them all, a turning point in history.

But it wasn’t just their gift, it was my gift added to theirs. That was something more valuable than the rest.

The only thing was that I didn’t know what I had added myself, but I received the knowledge and knew that the rest was up to me. Fate’s stream bend to my will.

As we approached the top of the mountain I saw that Xeres had come to meet us, already sitting on the stone bench and gazing at the moon with his wide eyes. He looked at me and cherished the sight he held in his eyes. Like mother and daughter taking a midnight stroll. He looked me up and down catching sight of the garb I had been dressed with for my inauguration. “This will never do,” he said. “We’ll see to it that you get proper clothing. The Huntress doesn’t wear nylon trash like this.” He smiled, as I noted the surprise coming for me in the future.

He inspected me further and picked up the necklace I had been presented with just hours before. He set it back down on my chest and smiled his loving smile once more.

“It will lead you to the future.” Ares said.

They wished me good night and walked off into the thick forest greenery leaving me alone at the top of the mountain.

Tonight I didn’t feel alone. Their love and the thousand other Felines watching the same moon as I. The feeling that I have the love of a thousand behind me, the same thousand that I serve to protect to keep their peace, a thousand under my responsibility. The thousand of which I lead through the stream called fate, If I don’t, they would all be lost.

I never thought of it that way, the visit from Ares had been more than enlightening, I am her, and the incarnate.

I headed back to the temple, wondering all the way down what did they mean by the last few words, “It will lead you to the future.” It couldn’t be the key.

I made my way inside and past the first door. The second door, now the one that should be open. I looked at the lock and the keyhole to see what kind of key it needed. The pendant is too large, I tried it just in case. No screen with blue writing showed up, no magical appearance of anyone or anything.

I sat in my bed looking at this figurine of the two, dancing in the light. There wasn’t anything that led me through to this next door. It was an impossible task.

I laid down to sleep until the next morning.

Maybe now I can visit my family. They’d love to see me with the rest of the village standing in line behind them. I did promise to visit them someday. The work of the Huntress has been anything but boring. Even walking through the forest, knowing the forest and my home was fruitful to my endeavors, I’ve learned more than I can tell you, it’s the way of the Huntress.

I awoke the next morning. Sunlight beaming in through the window.

I made my way outside grabbing some leftovers from the night before.

My first stop, family.

As soon as I entered the village all eyes were on me, people stopped to stare. Many bowed in the middle of the streets and I learned that wearing the same clothing isn’t much of a disguise in your home town.

I made it to my house after many greeting and found that they had left to the farm for the day. My siblings were still there and preparing some sort of breakfast. I entered and they all tackled me to the ground, laughing and giggling. I felt like the older sister of the three of us, though I was, I was much more matured. Yet, I looked nearly the same to them, just somehow different, I already had such an experience in life that most don’t have. I have ventured farther than most Felines, and conversed with more Xenos than one would in a lifetime.

I quickly reversed the tackle they had me in and pinned all three before they knew what was happening. The giggles didn’t stop and by the time I had them all pinned on the ground another jumped on my back. But then there were more and more kittens all jumping onto me. Finally I had counted eight, apparently two more litters, and the last ones weren’t even a year old.

There was no winning and no losing. The game continued for a few more minutes until smoke drifted through the air. Breakfast was burning.

The eldest of the two took the food off the fire and separated it into bowls. Their faces said that it wasn’t good, burnt. I told them if they wanted we can get something fresh from the forest.

Oohs and awes came from their excited faces and they all put their plates down and headed out the door.

The youngest of my own litter had been the last one out. He asked me where I had been, if the training was fun. How was it to kill the buffalo and antelope? I answered him just as any big sister would. Telling him in full detail as we kept walking into the forest to find a good breakfast.

Mid my story of venturing through ice and snow he interrupted to ask, “Did you dream of us Dawn?”

“I did.” I told him.

“What did you dream?”

I told him of a dream one from the first nights in the Temple, “I dreamt that we were in the forest, like this. We had been playing and dancing, venturing out to find gold. And we did. We found a cave, and at the end of the cave was a statue just like the one I have on my neck.”

“You have a necklace?”

“Yes, I was given it by the King and the Queen. Didn’t you see?”

I showed it to him and they touched it and admired it for what could have been hours, but I asked him. “Did you have the same dream?”

“Yes. There were spooky things in the forest, then we hid and found a cave and when we went farther and farther there was this same statue, but bigger, shining gold and dancing in the mysterious light.”

“Do you remember where the cave was?”

“No,” he said, trying to imagine where it might have been. “But we can find it again!”

I enjoyed his enthusiasm. There was something about him that I feel I had lost, naivety, or something?

We headed off, now rushing past birds and boars that we could have taken for breakfast. But after hours of searching, none of us could remember where it was. Instead I took them to the training grounds where I had fought the largest Felines I have ever seen, just before I had turned a year old.

They stared in wonder at the sheer size of it, a giant playground. How is it that they could never have seen this before? It wasn’t far away from the village. They climbed the pillars, jumped over the logs on the ground and chased after each other as the sun shone through the roof the trees. After a while it was noon. They were exhausted.

We decided to actually get some food and took the long way back home, hoping to find the cave we had dreamed about.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I stopped to snatch a bird or two for us to eat and carried them back home to cook up for lunch.

Mom and dad were home and hugged me for nearly an hour. Tears rolled into their furry faces and soft sighs had echoed from one to the other until the lunch was ready and we sat down to eat.

“We missed you so much, all of us have been thinking about you everyday for the last year. There’s so much that happened,” my mother said. She continued to tell me of the things she does at work: gardening and preparing the vegetables to be sold in the village.

My father told me about his work; the animals he cares for, the hour long walk he takes out to a clearing to collect the milk from cows, butcher the animals and haul them back by cart to be sold.

It wasn’t pitiful, it was life, the work they did to keep the food on the table and the mouths fed, they enjoyed it, keeping the Felines alive, family, not just the ten of them. I admired the work they do for the family. They love it and do a good job of it.

“I told them about the traveling I had done, going to the beach with Celentine, meeting the farmer on the way, fishing in the water, learning to swim, eating pancakes then coming back to learn more of the history of Xenobia. I told them about the traveling I did and the meeting of the Equines, the cold mountains of the north and the hunting of the animals for the feast.

They were curious about how I killed them, “My claws.” I told them and I showed them my foot with Ungu, large steel claws extending from my foot like a mutant as I flexed. They were first scared, but I told them, “I am the Huntress. I hunt.”

It didn’t seem to make them feel better. “This is how I got the food for the feast.”

They cheered up on that note. It was simply a tool.

We finished lunch and I stayed around for another hour or so chatting with my parents and keeping my siblings entertained.

The day faded away and I headed towards the door. My mother cried when I left and I got long hugs from each and every one of them.

I talked to my closest brother in secret, taking him away from the others, “Remember that dream where we found the statue?”

He nodded happily.

“Dream of that again.”

He agreed and seemed excited that I wasn’t leaving him, that we would see each other again, tonight in thought.

I walked through the city in the fading day’s light and made it back to the temple once more.

I walked into the garden and found myself picking the vegetables and spices off of the plants, pruning them and caring for the garden. It was peaceful, something that is done to keep the temple looking homely, a second job to keep my mind from wandering too far.

I came back inside with a bucket of greenery and, finding a couple of birds outside, made a stew.

I sat and ate, fiddling with the pendant around my neck. It was beautiful. Every time I touched it, felt it on my chest my world lit up with the memories of Ares and Xeres. The light caught it in ways that made their eyes glimmer and Ares’s gold gown flow and their fur wave as if in a breeze.

There’s something about this that I still didn’t know, something Ares didn’t let me in on when we walked to the top of the mountain. I turned it upside down, twisted it, nothing made it open or unlock. There wasn’t anything hidden in this figurine.

I finally cleaned up and went to sleep, still fingering the pendant and dreaming of my siblings.

We were walking through the forest again and had started singing songs, playing in the trees, climbing and jumping from branch to branch. We had a joyful time.

It wasn’t until I felt tired that we stopped to catch our breath and noticed the cave, right were we stopped. I exchanged looks with my brother. The cave!

He entered with the others and hurried off inside. It seemed to stretch on for miles and miles. But just ahead there was a glimmering light, we crept up to it and found that statue again.

The statue talked to me, “I knew you’d come and find us again, Dawn.”

The statue was nearly life size. The figures danced, stepping on and off the pedestal. They stood taller, over my head. I touched their faces with love, and felt the gowns and fur that was molded in gold. So lifelike.

My brother was watching, sitting silently in the corner, not awestruck but he seemed to know what I was doing. There was a reason for everything. A reason for this dream. Something I must do.

As they danced in the light they had parted from each other’s hold, in a pose of passion, and watched me. Around the neck of Ares was another pendant. I thought it was the same one I was wearing. It wasn’t, this was brass.

She handed it to me and traded it for the one I had around my neck, and put it on, admired it for a moment and let it fall to her chest.

They continued dancing, moonlight shimmering in every direction, the shadows weaving gracefully.

I gave them a kiss and the three of us, my brothers and I left the cave. We danced and sang in the forest all the way back home and I saw them back to their beds, leaving me to continue on my journey.

I went back to the temple once more, slowing as I got to the hallway of the three doors. The one at the bottom was cracked open again, noises were coming out of it. Sounds, like metal clanks and hammers banging. I looked at it curiously. Something about it that made me need to go through, that I’ve been there, yet I’m lost as to what is inside.

I made my way down the stairs, reaching the bottom one step at a time, hoping it wouldn’t shut before I got there.

I reached for the doorknob, pushed it open and a bright light shone through my bedroom window and woke me up.

Curiously, I looked around, getting my senses in order. It was morning and the birds sang outside, the wild animals called.

I climbed out of bed and went to stretch, walk around to soak up the new life and knowledge of our species. I felt I knew so much about our lives, the passage of Felines over the last thousands of years. That I am the one they follow.

The pendant hung around my neck and I reached up to fiddle with it as my new habit had been recently. This wasn’t the pendant I went to sleep with last night, it was the key!

My heart rushed and I hurried back inside to the second of the three doors. The fourth was at the bottom of the staircase, unopened, dark and mysterious as it was—out of my dreams.

I turned back to the second door and inserted the key. My heart beat faster, my hand started to shake. What is inside?

I took deep breaths to calm myself. There is much ahead. I told myself. No need to rush.

I turned the key, with the steady Feline hand of the Huntress that I have, and opened the door.

Suits of skintight armor gleamed back at me, hanging on the walls in cases that kept them dustless and ageless. I toured the room like I did in the first. Looking at the suits, the descriptions of each one. I knew I had to choose one, just one. There was no returning it. I must choose wisely.

I read the inscriptions. There was one to withstand concussions, one for poisons, one to give me impenetrable skin, to swim underwater, to withstand fire, withstand the cold. The options varied and seemed endlessly unnecessary. But I couldn’t make up my mind. I kept going through the options and finally went to pedestal in the middle of the room.

Welcome to the room of vestments.

Well done on completing the first task, there are more tasks for you to succeed at. The suit you choose may help you on this task. Yet once you choose, you may not change your pick. The one you choose will be yours and forever yours.

The first task will be given to you now.

Proceed?

Yes No

I pressed yes to continue.

The suit you choose will be very important to you on your journey. Please make a decision. The quest will be given once you have chosen a suit.

Ok. I guess I’ll have to choose a suit.

There were quite some options, silent stealth, I already have that. Puncture resistant, that’s never been a problem.

I really wonder what the quest will be. I don’t know of any more upcoming feasts. I might have to go and help the farmers, like my mother and father. Maybe even the guards who constantly roam the forest in case of any threats. But they’re already efficient enough at it, and those are not things that the Huntress does.

I gave up trying to guess what it will be and decided to just choose a suit.

I looked at the fire resistant suit.

Disclaimer: Lava and such high temperatures will make it falter. It’s merely flame resistant and heat resistant only to the degree that it will insulate you for some time, after an hour the heat may transfer through the fabric of the garment and cause an inconvenience for the wearer. If you have any feelings or signs of heat exhaustion, leave the area immediately.

I’ve never had to worry about fires.

I kept searching. Ice resistant, another type of stealth, bullet proof, an anti-conductive material made to resist electricity, even a space suit.

Still nothing caught my eye, I guess I’ve never been in any such situation, without it being resolved immediately and somewhat mystically.

I finally found one that might have been useful before. Impact resistant. I read the panel that was next to it.

Able to withstand large amounts of force, nearly bullet proof, but may be faulty with multiple bullets or recurring shots in the same area. The suit merely protects the area that it coves, broken bones from contortion or whiplash type of injuries are not protected against. For use from heavy objects or falling to reduce the impact and/or pain of impact on the user.

I guess I could have used that when flying with Midnai the Ancient beast I had slain. I guess I should enhance my faulty areas.

I pressed the button to open the case and the glass door swung open revealing a smell of new clothes. I took it off the mannequin and put it on. It was a little bit loose but after I had zipped it up something happened and everything fit. Nice and snug.

The mannequin flipped under the case automatically so that I could look at the mirror behind where it was. It was perfect. The fabric seemed nice, stretchable, breathable, I hope it doesn’t get too hot. There were a few holes with grommets to let body heat out and reduce sweating. I love it!

I walked back to the pedestal in the middle of the room and pressed the button to continue and read my next task.

Very good choice. Please read all cautionary advice on wearing the suit. And do keep care of it. There are no replacements available.

The next task will bring you to the island of Dakur. On that island will be many beasts, small and large. Use your weapon and defenses wisely, Huntress.

On the island an important relic is being kept. The Feline’s relic of good fortune. There are most likely many other items and impressive jewels. The one you need to take belongs to us, Felines.

Please familiarize yourself with a sketch of the item.

A few photos appeared of a smiling cat, gold with painted features. I familiarized myself.

Huntress. Good Luck.

The screen turned off and I left. Leaving the second door behind me, and wondering what might be on that island.

I set off to find some meat to dry before I leave.

My next thought was how to get there. The map told me it should be to the west, I’ve been to the beach, I could swim there, maybe take a ferry across the ocean to the Dakur.

I slept on it and left into incoherent dreams.