Chapter 56: Tsuki

Following the trail of white smoke, Diana and I ended up stopping in the upland landscape with a single stone house covered in vines hanging in the wall. Layers of moss were seen on every single corner of the stone structure. Surrounded by wonderful greenery. I walked unhurriedly towards the path of rocks and went to the front door of the stone house.

Throughout the trip of this mission, I'm always on guard. However, upon arriving at this place, I've always felt that there's something unusual about this place. My senses can't detect any danger or had the instinct to be on guard, but instead, I was greeted by this sense of peacefulness and warmth from the surrounding. It's a weird feeling.

I knocked on the door a few times...

However, no response came. I opened the door slowly.

"Pardon my intrusion... Hello?"

Upon opening the door, the cold, sweet aroma tickled my nose.

"Claude?"

"What was that smell... It's something sweet. *Sniff* *Sniff* *Sniff* Yeah, I can't be wrong. It smells sweet in here."

Opening the door completely, what comes before was an empty house with nothing—absolutely nothing. It only has walls, floors, and a chimney—nor a speck of dust can't be seen. The pale-dead atmosphere that this house exudes is making me feel sad for some reason.

"This house is so depressing..."

"Wait, Claude. I can hear the voice getting closer, let's go!"

"Wait!"

Diana hurriedly entered the house, so naturally, I followed her. Upon entering, Diana went in through a wooden door with some unknown hieroglyphics engraved in it. I ignored it and as I held the doorknob, a bright white line came to light going through the hieroglyphics lighting them. Afterward, the entire wooden door shone brightly opening itself and pulling me in.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa! Aaaaah—!"

As soon I opened the door, I lost my sense of balance, what comes next was the sound of me falling on the stairs. However, at the time that I reached the ground, there's only darkness. I stood up. The light of the sun was nowhere to be seen, so I snapped my finger creating a tiny flame in the tip of my finger.

"Damn, that's the lamest thing ever. Haah... Diana? Diana? Where are you?"

I walked to the pit of darkness. The sound of my footsteps echoed deep through the darkness. The walls in the cave were covered in carved drawings. In each section of the wall, there are drawings of a black cat with two tails. And on another one, a woman was fighting against some unknown distorted entities. The most eye-catching part of them all was the woman herself, a woman which has the head of a cat but the body of a human female, and two cattails behind her back, being surrounded by people bowing to her.

Taking a closer look at it, I could see the resemblance of the black cat from earlier; however, the only difference would be that the cat carved in the wall only has two eyes. Also, some texts are written on the wall, which looks be some sort of ancient language.

"Weird... Diana's probably right about the cat luring me in. Oh shit, I need to go look for her. Diana! Where are you?" I worriedly looked around.

After walking a few minutes later...

As I reached deeper into the passage, the sound of a water stream became apparent. Following that, a supernal light comes right after me. I continued walking toward the passage, but the air was getting moist and the passage to the supposed to lead me in the light was getting narrower. The bright light at the end of the passage was getting brighter and brighter, as I get closer to it.

Soon after, it revealed an ominous room filled with black miasma. At the center, I saw a gigantic statue of a black cat with two tails sitting with its head looking up, surrounded by a small stream of water flowing. The only source of light in the room was the reflection of a light coming from the statue, originating directly to the eyes of the cat. I looked at the entire thing and silently said. "Whoa... Wow..."

In front of the statue, I saw Diana floating as her eyes are fixated on the cat.

"Diana! Where have you been! You left me behind."

Diana looks at me and said. "Claude, Claude look. I could her voice inside the statue. She's crying for help. I wonder who trapped her here. It's heartbreaking whenever I hear her lonely voice. I want to help her. Can we help her, please?"

"Are you sure? I'm not trying to be pessimistic about it, but the miasma around here is too strong and it gives the vibe of evil. But..."

"No-no, you don't get it. The miasmas are her emotions. She's depressed and lonely. I can feel it." Diana looks back at the statue with a worrying look.

I went beside Diana and looked up with a defeated look. "Okay... Haah... If you really want then let's do it."

"Really? Thank you!" Diana joyfully celebrated jumping up and down.

"Now, the question would be... How can we release her?"

It might be bad to do it, but my guts told me to do so. 

"We need to break the seal by forcing it."

"How sure are you that would work?"

"Hehehe, got a feeling."

"You cheeky one..."

The statue of a cat was made that seems like marble and in front of it; there's a stone tablet with a written ancient text like from the walls earlier. I wiped the dust out of the tablet, to make the text clearer. Behind me, Diana was also taking a look at it.

"Ohhhhh—! I'm familiar with this language! It's the language that we used back in Avalon!" Diana exclaimed.

"Huh?"

"Whoa~ It's the old language. Hm... 'The Forsaken Cat'. That's probably the title that was given to her by the person who sealed her here, and there's nothing more other than that."

"Why did I just expect something good about it like it will tell us how to undo the seal? I feel stupid..."

"Wait, there's a small text below it. 'To thee whoever will free her. Love her.'"

"That's only it?"

"Mhmm... What if... Since this was written in my language, it must have some sort of connection with Avalon or the Old gods. Why don't you spread your quintessence around and we'll enter into her consciousness?"

"Oh, like what I did before the spirit ceremony. Okay then. Hoo..."

I scattered my quintessence in the air and focusing my consciousness on filling the entire place with my quintessence. The air drastically changed, as the miasma dispersed mysteriously. Shortly after, my vision became hazy and feeling light-headed. I fell to the ground with my consciousness fading.

Opening my eyes.

I'm standing on a stone platform surrounded by water dyed in blood. Looking up in the bloody sky, countless stars welcomed me, as they shone brightly in the sky along with the gigantic white crescent moon over the horizon. The air in this place feels heavy.

"What is this place?"

(Inside of the statue's consciousness.)

(Wait, where are you?)

(Since we're inside of someone's consciousness. I can't manifest my projection here. However, since I'm inside of your soul, we entered her consciousness as one.)

(Okay, but where's the... There's nothing in here...)

"Nya~ Nyahallo~!"

I looked around to find the person who spoke.

"Below~ Nya~"

I looked below and saw a black cat from earlier. The black cat was in between my legs resting. I picked the cat up and raising it in the air.

"Oh, hello cute one~ Are you the one who spoke?"

"Nyes~"

I stare into its vertical black pupils and blue iris; however, the third golden eye in its forehead was gone. The cat licks its paws and said. "Nya~ Hello~"

"Are you a spirit?"

"Spirit? I'm a nyirit~!"

"You're a spirit?"

"Nyes~!"

(Is she the one called for you, Diana?)

(No... She has a different voice. She's asking to free the cat...)

(Hm... So what are we going to do? I can't leave this cute fella here.)

(Ask her if has a name, or if she doesn't then you can name her. From the look of things, she's a wandering spirit trapped in this world.)

"What's your name?"

"Name? I don't know... Nya..."

"Do you want me to name you?"

The cat smiles joyfully, squirming around. "Name~! Name~! Name~!"

I smiled and saw the glimpse of the moon over the horizon, and said. "Tsuki? How about that?"

I named the cat Tsuki because it reminded me of the cat from my past world; the cat that's always in front of the cherry tree in the garden of the hospital. Recalling those memories brings joy to me.

"Tsuki~! Nya~!"

"I'm Claude, your new master. Nice to meet you, Tsuki."

"Claude~! Claude~!"

(So cute... Processing covenant familiar contract.)

Afterward, a string made of quintessence came out of my chest wrapping around Tsuki. Then Tsuki vanished in thin air still joyfully celebrating.

"Wait..."

"Tsuki~!" Tsuki joyfully said as she fades.

Everything around me trembled. The platform that I'm standing on suddenly collapsed. I then fell in the ocean depth of blood, as the light gets dimmer. The voice of Diana resounded in my mind.

(Relax your mind. I'm always here for you.)

Then everything around me darkened. As I sunk down, an unfamiliar woman's voice whispered to me.

"Thank you."

────────────

"Waah—!"

Upon opening my eyes, I ended up back in the dark alleyway from earlier. I looked around to see if I'm seeing things or not, but at the end of the alleyway; I saw the busy street. I stood on my feet and looked around once again, to see the depressing dark alleyway.

"Nyaaa~"

Suddenly, I felt a little animal standing on my shoulder, and saw Tsuki sitting in my shoulder, rubbing its cheeks and licking my face.

"You're finally free?"

"Yes~"

I rubbed Tsuki's chin. "Hoo... Thank god. Aren't you a cute little fella?"

I still can't get over the bizarre feeling, but I'm happy and got a huge relief inside my chest when I saw the black cat. 

(Diana.)

After calling a few times, Diana responded to me sounding half-asleep. (Hm? Sorry... It took my energy to create the contract... I guess you have questions regarding Tsuki.)

(Not really, I'm just asking if she's a goddess like you.)

(No. But, I have a hunch that someone tampered with her memories. Probably her last owner, the person who put her in that seal. Her owner was probably a goddess ancestor way back thousand of years.)

(Oh, Tsuki's a 'she', huh? Don't worry about her past, as long everything's fine.)

"Oh shit, I need to get back." I grabbed Tsuki on my shoulder and put her in my arms, running back to the tavern inn.

When I reached the inn, I saw Clara and Adelle sitting at the table eating. Adelle noticed me. "Where have you been? I thought we're going to look around together, but you left us. Because of that, we will head to the town's mayor mansion after we finish eating."

"Sorry. But look, meet Tsuki, my spirit familiar." I showed them Tsuki.

"Familiar?" Clara tilts her head in confusion.

"So? Why are you showing it?"

"Look! Isn't my Tsuki cute? Look at it! Isn't it adorable?!"

"Meow~!"

Tsuki wags her two tails and meowing happily to the two. Adelle chose to continue eating, ignoring the cute cat in my hands. For Clara, she's still in a state of confusion.

"What's your problem?! How can you ignore this fluffy thing in my hands?! Look at it!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Stop being annoying."

"Young master Claude, stop embarrassing yourself. People are looking at you weirdly."

"Humph, I don't care. They're just jealous because of my cute Tsuki."

"Young master Claude..."

Xeoz