Chapter 32

-EDITED-

Ember looked around the area she was in. It was nearly pitch black, not even her night vision could see past the intimidating obsidian black. It was terrifying, from what little light shone, it was a small room. Ember squinted as the black faded away and showed a burnt down house. It was barely standing as the walls looked like if you scratched them, the charcoal would fall off. Ember moved her hair out of her face as she turned to see the rest of the room.

Everything was burnt or had its edges burnt. From what little wallpaper had managed to survive the fire, it looked like a nursey. A nearly broken cradle stood in the middle of the room, with a burnt teddy bear.

Ember turned around as she heard footsteps approach the nursey. Ember's eyes widened as a male neko stepped in. His violet eyes almost on the verge of letting tears spill. His black ears twitched and lowered as his eyes fixated onto the cradle.

Ember stepped away as he approached the torched crib. He picked up a blanket from inside the bassinet as held it to his face. Grief-filled anger filled his eyes as he held the cover.

"That night of the fire, you were taken from me. Your mother's golden heart turned to stone and filled with anguish from the loss. She passed away soon after that night. Now here I am, lost without you. My daughter, Anala, I hope you will find your way back home. That those people will tell you the truth. You deserve to know your true family."

Ember stumbled back, why was she seeing this? Why did this pull at her heartstrings? She had no connection to this man or his family. Sure, it was a sad tale, all tales like this were, but why was she seeing this? Or was this an overly complicated dream?

Ember looked around, searching for a way out before she was launched away and pulled into another room. It was a spacious room, the walls decorated with history and exquisite jewels. When Ember turned to the end of the room, she saw steps leading up to elegant gemstones and shiny marble with velvet covering the areas where the body laid.

The sound of the door opening caught her attention as she turned to see a neko man, with dark brown hair, teetering on the edge of black, walk towards the throne.

The same man from the burnt room followed quickly behind him, speaking to royal Neko in distress. "Brother!" He shouted, "Our spies have informed me that Fufthlion is sending troops towards us. We need to prepare for a navy battle and land ones too." The man pleaded.

"Aviur," The royal man spoke, "You have told me this 3 times today. I am preparing troops. Esgion is also sending some of their militaries to help us in the fight. We knew that Fufthlion would come after us, they have been power-hungry and been seeking war for 20 years."

"But Brother, that's not all. They have the prophecized one with them. A young woman, no older than 16, coming with them." Aviur warned.

"Have you ever seen the prophecy? It says she will lead a country to greatness. If we can get her on our side, we can win." The king said as he sat on the throne. "How old did you say she was?" He asked.

"16, brother. Why do you ask?" Aviur asked.

"We must show her how wrong Fufthlion is, to show her what non-racist society looks like. Her age helps us in this cause, it will make her more influenceable. Keep strong brother, we will find your daughter one day."

"Its been nearly 16 years brother, there is no hope." He finished, his ears lowering.

"Do not give up now, there is hope as long as you live. There will always be a chance to find her." The king comforted.

Ember awoke to the sound of a bell being rung. She sat up and quickly ran towards the bell. As she slowed down, it was the General, sitting on a rock with a basket of fruits next to him.

"Take two fruits and move along. Anyone with three that were not traded for something will be punished. Ember, your breakfast is over there." He said with a smirk and pointed to live pigs.

Ember grinned, "Thank you." She smiled, "Atherton! Come on! We have some pigs to catch." It wouldn't have been the first time that Atherton and Ember had chased down and killed animals, most of her meat came from rabbits she caught.

Ember began to chase after the pigs who ran away with Atherton on her heels. After she was done, she had enough meat to share with most of the troops, but just shared with Atherton and Damian.

Ember happily tore into the meat she had just cooked over the fire. The General looked at her with fear and confusion. She squirmed underneath his gaze, but she felt proud of being able to make him fear her. She licked her fingers as she looked at the bones which had a little meat on them.

"Hey, whoever wants the rest of the meat is welcome to it," Ember said and watched as soldiers ran towards the nearly meatless bones. Ember smirked to herself. Who were the real savages?

Was it the person who could get what they needed or the people who jumped at the chance to take from the person?

Ember knew the answer, and it came obvious if you had ever spent long enough looking at Nekos and humans interact.

Ember walked back towards her cart as she thought to the dream she had. It seemed too real to be a dream, but the sight was a rare ability. Only 5 people had been documented to have the sight and that was over 100 years ago. Ember thought to the man called Avuir, it was a weird name. Definitely not of the language everyone naturally spoke.

Ember sat on the edge of her cart as she entered into deep thought as arguing over the bones continued from a distance.