I was rubbing my arm. An hour of fighting and I thought I had my father, going for his arm that was overextended in a feint I had set up. But he leapt to the side, up and around me, twisting his arm out of the way. I wasn’t able to avoid the blow to my side and went slamming into the padded wall. Even with the padding, the blow was incredibly hard, and the impact had left me shaken.

“This old cat still has some moves it seems,” my father said with a grin.

“Laugh it up while you can. I can’t believe you exploited an opening I created, to create your own,” I replied.

“Instinct. You have quite a bit of it. But you were getting tired. Which made it hard for you to react when I moved in three dimensions.” I nodded at the advice. “Well, your endurance is fairly good, and your combat skills are solid.” I perked up at that.

“While you would come out ahead in most fights, in others you would struggle. Experience will help fix that and lots more training. After your claws are coated, you will have a lot of book learning and to learn procedure in various situations. Now get cleaned up, I will meet you at the front of your room. We need to go to the vault.” I nodded at this and quickly left to get cleaned up and ready for our trip.

I was soon outside my room stretching while I waited. My father came up with a smile. “Good, always stretch. Maximum flexibility for a cat is a must. Now we are going to the vault. You have your ID on you?” he asked me.

“Yes. Always keep it on me,” I replied and held it up.

“Good. This isn’t a place to mess about. The creatures guarding it, take their duties very seriously, and the Paladin in charge has no sense of humor,” Tom Cat replied.

“Bloodclaw has a sense of humor?” I asked and Tom Cat chuckled.

“It is buried deep down, but it is there. He is one of the better ones. But the vault is where they assign the most stubborn of Paladins and the meanest good creatures.” I followed my father as we made our way out of the building through a side entrance. “This is the entrance you should use when you leave and enter. The front entrance is meant for creatures not part of the organization.”

“Who would show up not part of the organization?” I asked out of curiosity, as we went past several guards with guns and out of the building, flashing our IDs.

“Contractors, visitors from the Covenant Church. If we bring in a prisoner. They go through the front. There are concealed rooms with soldiers ready to act at the slightest alert.” I nodded at this, feeling a bit ashamed I had missed this the first time I had gone through the front entrance with Mousethief.

Just as I thought of him, he came speeding up in a car. “Mittens! Long time no see,” he said with a grin.

“Mousethief. Just as dangerous as ever behind the wheel,” I replied.

“Don’t pick on poor Mousethief. Congratulations on making Neophyte.”

“Thanks,” I replied.

My father went in through the sunroof. I was a normal creature, so I used the passenger side door to sit in front. I made sure to buckle myself in. The car sped off. “Ah the vault. It is past the main base here, a little distance away. If you get anything dangerous like a talisman, alter, it gets brought here. Your technician will handle that.”

Mousethief sped up on the winding road. I kept my breathing under control and my body relaxed as he kept his foot firmly pressed down on the accelerator. “Also, celestial ore?” I asked.

“Yep. The stuff is priceless. Only found from falling chunks of rock. Can’t be replicated either. Trust me, the Covenant Church has been trying for centuries. Whatever happens, don’t lose whatever you get. When your father dies, his claws will be removed and the metal repurposed,” Mousethief said.

“What?! Really?” I asked.

“Yes Mittens. The stuff is incredibly valuable. The high quality you will be getting even more so. That is another huge limitation on the order, the use of celestial ore. It is the easiest way to damage an Ancestral Spirit without another one. Without use of the ore, the organization would have a much harder time existing,” my father explained as the car went airborne for a moment.

We then came to a screeching stop at a guard post. “Really Mousethief, you have to come in that hot?” The rabbit soldier asked.

“Use those skills or lose them, I say. Chief Technician Mousethief. Warrior’s Shadow Tom Cat. Neophyte Mittens. Nothing to declare. Purpose of visit is equipping Mittens,” Mousethief said, and my father passed him his ID. I quickly copied my father. I noted his ID was gold and black. The soldier passed them off to another soldier who took them into the guard post.

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“Well, he is in a decent mood. A chunk of celestial ore was recovered,” the soldier said.

“Thanks for the news. Have a box of these fresh cookies,” Mousethief said. I narrowed my eyes as he seemed to whip out a box from nowhere. He turned towards me and gave me a wink as the soldier took the box of cookies.

“Fresh, just how I like them. You are the best Mousethief. Your IDs,” the soldier handed them back to Mousethief who passed them to both my father and me. My mind was still trying to figure out how Mousethief had gotten that box of cookies and why no one was saying anything.

He was a bit gentler on the accelerator as we didn’t have far to go to a parking lot with a large concrete building with a single metal door. There were no windows. I followed my father and Mousethief as we got out and made our way to the door.

There was the sound of machinery and it shifted open to a large entry room with more soldiers and an elevator. We had to each show our IDs again and then got in the elevator. There were only two floor buttons. We went at least ten stories deep, there were two cameras watching us. The elevator was quite large and could easily fit two cars side by side.

Once we reached the bottom, we entered into a well-lit room. There was a well-dressed older mouse waiting for us along with two rabbit soldiers. “Welcome Mousethief, Tom Cat, and Mittens. I am Curator Whiskers. Paladin Stormsong is waiting for you.” We followed the mouse and he began to speak while we traveled through a well lit corridor.

“Since you are new, let me welcome you Neophyte Mittens to the vault. This is where the mysteries of ancestral spirits are studied, and celestial weapons are forged. While you will most likely rarely need to visit yourself in the future we are on constant alert. All individuals must be accompanied at all times and we operate under a buddy system with frequent check-ins.”

“In our entire history, there has only been one assault that has breached the entry way. And no thefts. Every creature, no matter their rank or station is strip searched upon leaving without exception.”

“Do you tell all creatures this?” I asked.

“Of course. These are the obvious security measures. We have many more. While many of them are most likely over the top, we take no chances in the vault and there has never been a containment failure. In the event the facility is truly breached. Several charges will detonate, crushing this entire facility and flooding it.” My eyes went wide at that.

“We take security very seriously. Everyone who guards this place is sworn unto death to protect it no matter what. It is considered one of the more prestigious postings,” Curator Whiskers explained.

“Any luck replicating celestial ore?” I asked.

“An ongoing project. There is talk about sending up rocks into space and recovering them. But such plans are considered top secret. Along with everything about this place, including its very existence and location.”

“I understand.” My father had explained during all my paperwork that I now had top-secret, eyes-only clearance. That meant anything I interacted with I had the right to know about. One of the concessions the Covenant Church gave the organization. The threats we were facing required information to be shared, not horded away. The constant reference to the death rate was a reminder that even with information, this job was dangerous.

We entered a large room, there were several modern pieces of equipment. I couldn’t tell what they did exactly, but if I had to guess, I would say working with celestial ore. A large badger, who was heavily scarred had his back towards us while he fiddled with a machine.

The Curator pulled out a small bell and tapped it with his paw. It let out a soft chime barely audible. The badger didn’t turn around and I kept silent along with everyone else. There was a sense of danger about the badger.

He finally let out a grunt and turned around to face us. I had to work to keep my reaction contained. I had thought Redfur was scarred, but the badger was lucky to be alive. His right eye was missing along with quite a bit of fur on his face, exposing burnt flesh and his teeth, giving him a fearsome appearance.

“Another cat. You!” he pointed at my father. “Show me,” my father held up his extended claws. “Well maintained. Good. I will never see my work tarnished or disrespected.” The badger roared while speaking. He was probably hard of hearing, but his very voice was deafening to me.

“Why are you here?” he asked. Mousethief gave me a nudge and I stepped forward. I made sure to speak loudly and clearly.

“I am Neophyte Mittens. I have come to get high grade celestial ore put onto my claws,” I replied and held my paws up.

“Another cat, claws. Tricky work. High grade. You have the points for such a thing?” Paladin Stormsong asked. I pulled out a piece of paperwork I had filled out. “Give it to him,” he pointed at Curator Whiskers who took it and inspected it.

“It is in order. Eight points for eight claws, not the opposable digit,” Curator Whiskers said.

“Very well. Come cat. You can scream, but do not move while I coat your claws.” Paladin Stormsong gestured, and I followed him over to a large machine. He began to fiddle with various knobs. After half a minute he turned towards me. “Paw,” he commanded, and I held out a paw. “Extend your claws,” I did so, and he looked at them.

He then turned back to his machine and fiddled with some more knobs. It began to beep. “Each drop of celestial ore is precious beyond all measure. High quality ore even more so. This is a coating machine, normally used for weapons. But can be used for claws.”

“If you move, your paw will be ruined beyond repair. Don’t move. It will hurt. We will have to go quickly. Stand here and hold out both your paws with claws fully extended in front of you. Let me maneuver your paw and digits. Don’t resist.”

“Yes Paladin Stormsong,” I replied. He just let out a grunt. The machine beeped some more and he put a metal screen over one part on the machine with a tiny opening in the middle. He reached out and took hold of my paw. I let him maneuver my paw in front of the plate, stepping forward a couple of times, so my arm could extend a bit.

He yanked down on a lever and there was an intense amount of heat from the opening. He forced my claw into the opening up to a certain distance and kept a firm grip on my paw. It felt like it was being burned off. He yanked my paw back and quickly repeated the procedure with my next claw. Once he was done with one paw, he went onto the next one.

Tears from the pain rolled down my face.