Chapter 4: Ariya Vale, the City of a Thousand Stars

"Move a muscle and I'll sever your friend's vocal cords, now tell me who you are and what you're doing here." The person said, holding the blade steady. By the sound of it, the intruder was female and was obviously disturbed by our presence.

"O-okay, I'll tell you everything you want to know. My name is Matsuda, and the person you're holding your blade to is Aspen. We have no idea how we got here and we have no intention of disrupting anything involving your way of life." I heard Matsuda explain, trying to hide his fear.

'What's going on? Who is this woman and why is she holding a knife to my throat?' I thought, trying my hardest to stay calm and trust Matsuda to help me get out of this situation alive.

"How do you not know how you got here? Do you have some kind of mental illness or something?" She said, putting slightly more pressure on the blade.

"I can't answer that." Matsuda replied, giving me a look that indicated 'stay calm'.

"Your scent tells me you're not lying, so I'll believe you for now." She said, removing the blade from my throat.

I backed away from her, holding a furry hand to my neck where the blade was until I was well distanced.

"Who the hell are you, and was it really necessary to threaten us to get us to give you info? I asked, attempting to control my breathing.

"One, I'm not answering that, and two, yes. You're coming with me, I have orders to bring you back alive. I'd suggest you keep quiet and cooperate unless you want to get dragged back by force." She said, standing up.

I could see her more clearly now, she had mint green fur, yellow slitted eyes, one tail, and a ton of tiny golden spots forming lines down her back and around her facial features. She was pretty, but not my type.

"Where do you plan on taking us to?" Matsuda asked, hesitantly standing up.

"My home." She replied, turning around and disappearing into a cluster of large ferns.

Matsuda and I quickly followed, trying to catch up with the newcomer. We weren't great at keeping up, she was so agile and fast that compared to her, we were like dogs chasing after a cat.

I could feel the wind rolling off my body, getting left behind me as I booked forward. My senses were heightened, smell, sight, sound. Miniscule bits of adrenaline surged through my veins, pumping down to my legs, arms, brain, and everywhere else. And god, was it such a high.

"Matsuda, these bodies have so much stamina! I feel like I'm literally gliding over the terrain!" I said, dashing alongside him neck-and-neck.

"More like sprinting with lead boots on, you're as clumsy as a newborn calf in this body." Matsuda commented, laughing at his own joke.

"You're one to talk, you look like you're trying to run over sand dunes." I snickered, rolling my eyes in embarrassment.

I swiveled my head back to the female in the lead, just in time to watch her leap 20 feet high and land elegantly on top of a giant mushroom. I gawked at the sight.

"EHH?!?!?! How are we-" Matsuda seemed to have the right idea, because in the middle of me speaking he leapt up after her and continued sprinting.

"You have got to be kidding me..." I said, backing up before full-on dashing forward and leaping a whole 35 feet in the air.

'HOLY SHI-' Falling through the air, I face planted onto the mushroom, making the entire surface illuminate with the sudden impact.

I heard laughter in the distance. "You better catch up Aspen, or you'll get dragged back!" Matsuda yelled back, continuing to run after the sleek female.

Something inside me snapped, like a thread had just been cut. I trusted myself up off the ground, determination spreading through my veins like wildfire. With one swift push, I was bouncing back and forth between the trees, not even bothering to touch the soil on the ground below. Soon enough, I had surpassed Matsuda and dropped down just behind the mint green female.

"I'm surprised you could keep up, your boyfriend doesn't seem to have the same capabilities as you do." She said, swerving a sharp left.

My face immediately started to burn up with embarrassment.

"H-h-he's n-not my b-b-b-boyfriend!" I stuttered, instantly denying her claim.

"The fact that your face is glowing and you're stuttering only proves my theory that it won't be long until he is." She retorted, snickering before speeding up the pace. Reluctantly, I followed.

After minutes of sprinting, we finally stopped sprinting and took a break.

"We're here." The feline said, twitching her tail slightly. The breeze had drifted towards us, Cooling us down from the run and relaxing our nerves.

We had stopped in a small grassy clearing surrounded by large ferns, mushrooms, and enormous trees.

"I don't see anything." I said, looking around, hoping to see something incredible yet not finding anything.

"That's because you're not looking in the right spot." The mysterious female replied, pulling back a wall of tall ferns. Behind those ferns, was a chasm revealing a whole kingdom built into the cliffside on the opposite side and extended up into the most enormous tree I had ever seen.

Waterfalls were pouring through caves in the chasm, filling the bottom with a strong rushing river flowing off to the left where it dropped even further down into what looked like the ocean.

There was no castle, no moat, no wall. Only an entire civilization connected and built into the environment like an extension of the terrain.

"What is this place?" Matsuda asked, completely consumed by the awe of the kingdom.

"Welcome to Ariya Vale, the city of a thousand stars." She said, her voice echoing through the clearing.

Before Matsuda or I had time to process what had happened, a sharp pain shot through the small of my back and I stumbled forward. The ground beneath our feet disappeared in an instant and we found ourselves falling straight down into the strong current below.