Chapter 15 - A cat bullied me

"I understand your astonishment, mortal. You find yourself in the presence of a magnificent being. An adequate reaction, indeed. Worship me, mortal child."

Raven narrowed his eyes at the sight of the cat. The cat might look awesome but it spoke with words heavier than the sky itself.

"Haste yourself! My temperance wanes—"

Suddenly, the tree rustled and struck the cat with its branches in disgust, sending him barrelling into the ground. Raven's eyes froze when he saw all this. He immediately recalled that it was the tree that saved him, not the cat. The tree was sentient.

"Ouch! Why did you do that?" The cat hissed as he landed beside Raven.

The tree rustled passionately. Its branches waved in a gentle motion, and Raven had a feeling it was scolding the cat.

"What?! I wasn't bullying him!"

The tree rustled.

"I certainly wasn't. You saw wrong. You bullied me unjustly."

The tree rustled, calling its bluff.

"I was— Hey, idiot, did I maltreat you?" The cat turned to Raven and questioned with a threatening gaze.

Raven almost croaked because of the attention he got from the two entities. He quickly replied, "It's alright."

"Hmph, I guess you have some good qualities after all," The cat scoffed. "Let me ride you, mortal!"

The cat jumped on his shoulder but Raven swatted him off in the blink of an eye. The cat snarled in rage. Raven ignored it and turned to the tree.

"Thanks for saving me. I'm Raven. Sorry, I have questions. Who are you?"

The cat pompously replied, "This is Tree and I am a being with a thousand names."

"It's name is Tree?"

"Yea… what's wrong with that?"

"A tree's name is Tree?" Raven almost chuckled, but forced it down as it might come off as rude.

Tree rustled once more. Raven could feel its anger was directed at the cat for some reason. It extended its branches and slapped the cat. Then, the tree rustled, but this time it seemed to be crying.

The cat pleaded, "There's nothing wrong with the name, I promise you. It's a perfect name for your earthly bearing. This mortal here merely has some ugly perception!"

Raven looked at the two and sighed. "Let me guess, you were the one to name him?"

"What's wrong with Tree? It's a perfect name for a treant. I am astounded, mortal. You fail to comprehend the complexities swirling around this profound name. It's a declaration. It's a—"

"Yeh. Yea. It's so unoriginal that it actually might be genius. Haha," Raven released a slight chuckle. "I'm guessing I should call you Cat then? It's such a pity that I am not an actual bird or we might make quite the trio."

The cat straightened its body and menacingly glared at Raven, "You call me Cat, and you might find yourself in a den of spider ninjas. You have no idea how lucky you were to survive. Those things are nigh endless."

The tree rustled and slapped the cat immediately after it spoke. It could feel the double standard of the cat. It was alright to name it Tree, but not alright to call the cat Cat?

The cat sighed, "You have only just met him and you are taking his side. What happened to our months of friendship?"

"Uhh, might I ask where we are?" Raven threw a sudden question.

"Oh, I forgot you are a visitor. Albeit, a foolish one that recklessly wandered without protection and in its fragile physical vessel. Well, mortal, welcome to the Astral Realm, the realm of infinite wonder. You find yourself in the domain of the Wildlands."

"Astral Realm?"

"Okay, mind freeze? I hear visitors get that a lot. It must be hard to ignore their two-dimensional minds and comprehend the wonder. But as a saintly being, I am here to help you, mortal. I am—"

"Just get to the point."

The cat glared at Raven and said, "Fine. Allow me to enlighten you. I'm sure you must be familiar with the concepts of Heaven, Earth, and Hell or is your world so backwards?"

"Yes. I mean, I know of Heaven and Hell."

"Good. That's a basic cosmological model and a stupid one— might I add. In truth, there are countless other models belonging to different worlds. The Heaven, Earth, and Hell model represents the three major planes of existence that a world usually adapts. However, that is erroneous since there are also countless major independent planes on the same level as the titular Heaven. The Astral Realm is one of those, and is something far greater than a regular plane of reality."

"Ahhh… What in the narnia…"

The cat's statement only made him more confused. Nonetheless, he would like to think he understood a few key details.

"So, I'm in a whole different world. Why am I here?"

"You received a beacon from the Wildlands. We all felt your arrival and your delectable scent. Plus your endless screams helped us narrow the search. In your folly, you recklessly wandered the Wildlands without sufficient preparations and knowledge. Tree knew you would sooner be in danger. Tree was worried about you. I wasn't, by the way. Can't bother with mere mortals. There are always so witless."

"Thank you for sharing that with me." Raven rolled his eyes.

"You are welcome. I always aspire to be my best honest self."

Tree swatted the cat again. It carried Raven to its top and began to move while ignoring the wailing cat. After a while, it forgave the cat, letting it nestle on its branches.

"We have much to discuss, young mortal. Walk with us. Oh, and by the way, you can call me Amethyst."

"I go by Raven."

"You already introduced yourself. Now, don't be dumb."

Raven's eyes flickered with anger, but he managed to gather himself and restrain the thoughts of pummeling the annoying cat. Luckily, Tree felt the same way.

"Hey. Hey. I was just messing with him, Tree. Stop—"

✤

✤

✤

✤

✤

✤

Hours passed in the blink of an eye.

Raven quickly became accustomed to the nature of the Astral Realm. He learnt why Amethyst insisted on his foolishness. As it turned out, the reason he was easily attacked when he arrived was because his foreign aura had attracted all hostile beings in the vicinity. Raven's aura had always been activated subconsciously. He might not have been aware, but his aura provoked every proud predator in the Wildlands.

Raven even suspected that the mirror imps in the plane of mirrors located him because of his exposed aura.

Another thing to note was his method of entering the astral realm. Just like he had noticed, he was here physically, which meant he could die here if he was careless. Most beings entered through astral projection or dreaming. But Raven's body was pulled into this plane of existence. This brought many consequences. If he died here, there would be no reincarnation. If he got injured here, it would remain the same in the material world, or even worse. Most importantly, any injuries sustained here would harm his soul.

Luckily, his current injuries were not fatal enough for that.

'I just wanna go home. Hopefully, this beacon is not another shenanigan. I hope I wasn't gone for so long. Wait, does time even work the same here?'

He asked Amethyst and the reply he got was perplexing, to say the least; "Time? Time is more irrelevant in the astral realm than in most material worlds. The relativity of time and reality differed between domains. In the Wildlands, a day in the material world was the same as a day here. However, beings in the Wildlands experienced time differently. They perceived time at a faster level due to their superior existence."

Raven gradually absorbed the "newbie" information about the astral realm. 

Soon, Tree halted at the end of the ominous path. In front of them stood a large wooden gate that bordered a land of white trees with speckles of blood and bones staining their beautiful visages. 

Atop the gate, the title read: "Circle of Vel'kor" in words Raven could somehow understand.

"This is it. This is the origin of your beacon. The Ancestral Grove, a magnificent thing of the past. It's been dormant for centuries. We part ways here, young mortal. We await good news from you."

Raven got down from Tree and said, "Thank you for bringing me here."

"All is good. It's been so long since these lands have experienced a variable."

"A what?"

Amethyst chuckled, "Just go, young mortal. Need I remind you, time is not on your side."

"Ok. I guess, bye."

Tree and Amethyst smiled in return. 

After a minute of hesitation, he bravely walked past the gate.

Watching Raven depart, Tree rustled and communicated with Amethyst.

"Really? Is he who I was searching for? I guess so, perhaps even surpassing my expectations… things just became more interesting, don't you think?" Amethyst revealed a slight grin as he watched Raven's departing silhouette.

The young mortal didn't even know of his potential. How foolish? Did he think just anyone could enter the astral realm with his physical body?

'With him, there's hope.' Amethyst began to hatch his scheme.