Cristali

I step into the forest. I have made it through the Ghul territory without much harm done to me aside from the spell that's been placed on me, and I am now headed deep into the heart of a jungle. And this isn't just any jungle. It's the Sith Jungle, and it is deep in demon territory. People rarely venture here, and when they do they are never seen again. And that is because of one of the most feared creatures in the land. Cat Sith. He is the namesake of the jungle, and a monster most horrifying. Only once has a human escaped him. And they brought back tales of a monstrosity. Deep crimson eyes that pierce your soul, razor sharp claws able to shave through anything, and incredible speeds? Cat Sith is the monster demons dream about. Any sane being would never venture near this jungle, but there is a reason I'm going in. Yes, I might be slightly insane. But I also happen to know that in this jungle lies the only constant source of Corpse Lilies, guarded by Cat Sith itself.

Corpse Lilies are mythical flowers, almost as feared as their guardian. They can only survive when watered with fresh blood, and they are what gives Cat Sith its heightened abilities. Rumor has it that their nectar can cure anything, which is why I need them. They are my last chance to save the World Tree. Which means I will have to risk Cat Sith to find them.

It's not hard to find my way to Cat Sith. I just have to follow the sounds of screaming and excruciating pain the come from the deepest parts of the forest. I slowly make my way through the undergrowth, doing my best not to make any sound. Not that it would be heard, it seems that the cat has a victim. And that victim just so happens to be in a lot of pain. The screams sound vaguely feminine, and somewhat alluring. Before I know it, I am jogging towards the sound, wondering who could make a noise so hauntingly beautiful. And then I hit the clearing.

I slow to a stop as I see the brush thin out, just soon enough so that I'm not seen. The feared cat is on the other side of the clearing... But is that really it? Cat Sith, if that's really it, is the size of a normal tabby cat. But the Fae girl under him is quivering in fear, as if she knows something I don't. Maybe this is the one. And then there is a rumble coming from a bush near the cat. A warrior jumps out at him. She appears to be a vampire, with her pale skin and long, flowing red hair. In the blink of an eye, Cat Sith swipes at the neck of the Fae girl, killing her instantly. He then jumps at the face of the vampire, clawing at her eyes. Within seconds, it is over. They both lay dead, and Cat Sith is victorious.

It is then that I notice the single lily at the edge of the clearing. I pluck it from the ground, and hold it up. Miraculously, it is a corpse lily, the exact bloom I was looking for. I grab it tightly, and sneak away from the clearing. Mission accomplished.

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Brigitte

In the strangest sort of way, Brigitte felt a connection to the Cat Sith. She wouldn't say she would keep at as a house pet, she was neither that crazy nor that stupid, but she regarded the creature with great respect, like one might worship a dark deity. The Cat was evil, and it was dangerous, yes, but Brigitte felt like she understood what it was like to be the Cat Sith.

How different her life might have been, Brigitte mused, if they hadn't burned the city after they killed the people inside of it. Rather than being a flame archon, born of that great fire, she might have been a wood one, growing from the corpse lilies that bloomed from blood. Others, looking for the corpse lilies, might have come to kill her instead of the Cat.

She knew that she should have felt scared as she walked further and further into the forest. It had been days since she had seen another living creature, all of them keeping their distance far, far away from the Cat Sith's domain. But this Cat wanted human blood, and fire flowed through Brigitte's veins. She had probably been in more danger in the King's courtroom than she was at the moment. Still, a haunting voice reminded Brigitte that the Cat killed anything entering its domain.

Brigitte's path was dark, overgrown with tangled messes of weeds. It had obviously been quite a long time since anyone had used this road. It was still a road though, and the first beside her was a mess of brambles, dead wood, and corpses. Whatever archon that had once ruled over this forest had long-since disappeared, either abandoning their domain, or killed by the Cat. If they'd done the former, they deserved the latter, Brigitte thought bitterly.

So absorbed in her own thoughts, Brigitte hardly noticed the corpse lying on the ground until she almost tripped on it. She flailed her arms at her sides, trying to regain her balance, and then looked down at the body she had tripped over. A human corpse should have been laying there, Brigitte thought, but, instead there was an archon. If the Cat wanted blood, it only got ice, slowly melting as it seeped out of the gashes in her chest.

The Cat didn't want blood, it wanted to be left alone, Brigitte realized with a start. It would kill her regardless of her humanity, or lack thereof.

No longer calm enough to simply walk to the middle of the forest, Brigitte began to run. At first a light jog, she quickly began to sprint. She couldn't die here, not now, not surrounded by the corpses of humans. If she was going to die, her death had to serve a purpose. And getting mauled to death by a demonic cat did not serve any purpose whatsoever.

In the distance, Brigitte saw something, white as snow against the gloomy background of the forest - the corpse lilies, they had to be. Reaching down a little deeper inside of her, she gained even more speed as she ran towards the flowers. She swore she could hear something in the bushes next to her, something hissing angrily at her. Finally, she got to the lilies, and she slid to a stop right next to them.

For a moment, she was distracted by the corpse laying next to the lilies, his face as ghostly white as the flowers themselves. He looked undeniably human, save for the black tail growing out of his rear. How much werekind blood was being used to water these lilies, she couldn't help but wonder. But a moment was more time than Brigitte could spend distracted, so, snapping back to reality, she picked a handful of the flowers, and shoved them into her satchel.

A strangled cry broke through the forest, not more than half a mile away from her. Brigitte had heard that cry a thousand times before - someone was dying and dying painfully. The Cat was nearby, and Brigitte knew that she would be its next target if she didn't get out fast enough.

Brigitte hardly felt her legs as she ran out of the forest, she hardly noticed the other archon's corpse as she leaped over it. All that she was thinking about was running, pumping her arms harder and harder, stretching her legs farther and farther, getting out of the forest faster and faster.

The great light of day reaches Brigitte's eyes, only a short dash away from where she was standing, when she heard something bounding through the forest behind her. This time, she knew it was more than just her imagination. This time, she knew it was the Cat Sith, coming to finally kill her, use her body as a reminder. No one can escape the Cat Sith - not even the oldest beings like herself.

The sunlight felt so good on her skin that Brigitte almost started to cry. Finally she was out of the forest, finally he was out of the Cat Sith's domain. Finally she was safe.

And then she heard a meow, and turned to see just an ordinary tabby cat, its tail flicking playfully, blood dripping from its mouth.

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Eira Ottoline

I've never liked cats. 

 They're arrogant. and anytime I've encountered one they've always looked at me like I'm nothing. Naturally, I kill them. Most of them. 

 This stupid cat was different. He was more powerful than me. 

 ....But only slightly. Obviously. Still, he was beyond creepy. 

 "Hm, Cat Sith has never had a meal provide its own appetizer before." The cat licked its blood-smeared paw calmly as it watched me with far too intelligent red eyes. "Although the blonde one may as well be the appetizer... she's too small." 

 My eye twitched. How dare this cat use telepathy to insult me! I threw the human carcass don on the swampy ground at the cat's feet. "Here," I snapped, "we brought you this, but now I don't even think you deserve it, you ungrateful--" 

 Cestil stepped in front of me and gave me a sharp look, then he dropped the body he'd brought on top of mine. "What the blonde one means is we brought you an offering, oh mighty Cat Sith, in the hopes that you will allow us to use one of your lilies."

 The dumb cat continued to lick its dumb bloody paw and ignore what we were saying. "Maybe Cat Sith should just kill them now and avoid the hassle..." 

 Behind me, Seraphina shifted uncomfortably. 

 "We would only take one, and then we'd never return to your domain again," Cestil continued. He really seemed to be pouring on the charm, though I wasn't sure what good that would do on a cat. Cats were terrible at identifying sexiness, otherwise they wouldn't try to scratch me every single time I came near one. Stupid cats. 

 "Cat Sith's lilies? Why would Cat Sith let someone have lilies?" Stupid-Cat's fur bristled, and its claws kneaded the mud. 

 "Look, we brought you six whole bodies, fresh ones! You don't even have to kill them yourself, just enjoy." Cestil smiled. "That's certainly more interesting than trying to eat the five of us... there's no guarantee you could catch us all anyway!" 

 "Insulting Cat Sith's hunting ability? Foolish demon... Cat Sith should kill him this second just for saying--" Cat Sith's ears suddenly perked up. "Five. The demon said five, but there are only four here...." I could see his eyes narrowing as he scanned over us. "One is missing. One is trying to steal lilies while Cat Sith is distracted! They try to trick Cat Sith, but it fails. Cat Sith is too wise! Too powerful! The intruders shall pay!" 

 In the blink of an eye Cat Sith vanished, but I watched its tiny paw prints mark the mud as it dashed away from us with impossible speed. If the stupid cat was going to make us pay, why was it running the other direction...? 

 Not to far away, someone screamed. 

 "Greta!" Seraphina cried. She took off through the trees, her wings creating a sharp breeze as she flew. Over the course of our quest the two on the side of good had grown close. They bonded over the fact that everyone else constantly lip-locking made them uncomfortable. 

 "We should probably help them," Marlow sighed. He pulled out his sword and started in the direction of the scream. 

 "I most certainly will not!" I huffed, crossing my arms. "I will not stick around to be turned into minced cat-food." 

 "But you'll let our allies?" Cestil noted, raising an eyebrow. 

 "They're expendable, obviously. We knew we'd have to break it off eventually, so why not just let the psycho cat do it for us?" I made my way to a patch of corpse lilies and picked one, stuffing it into my satchel. "See? Good to go."

 Marlow shrugged, "then go." 

 Cestil stood by him without speaking. He only watched me with a tilted head. 

 My lip twitched slightly. Toys should not be defiant to their owner. "Fine, I will go. Whatever." 

 I ran from the forest while they ran toward certain death. 

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Selyse Bellanessa Ivory

There were hundreds of questions in Selyse's mind about the task she was about to attempt. The most important of all: How angry would the Queen of Air and Darkness be if she took the lilies for herself? 

The lilies would restore her voice. Surely she couldn't be expected to find the tree without her voice. By that logic, she would be contributing to the ultimate health of the tree by providing herself with a voice to find and heal it with.

Of course, that left the unfortunate question of what else could heal the tree, if she used the lilies for herself. In all her searching thus far, she hadn't found anything with half the healing power of the legendary lilies. 

She would cross that bridge when she came to it. Besides, surely she would only need one lily for herself, and one for the tree. There must be at least two lilies in this forest.

Selyse craned her neck to see around her. She'd been in this forest for at least an hour already.

A ripping sound shredded the silence. Selyse's breath caught. She tiptoed toward the sound. When she had first dressed herself in non-dress attire, she had felt hideous, but the tight pants and shirt came in handy now. 

Selyse peered around a tree trunk. Immediately she had to grit her teeth to keep her jaw from dropping. 

The body of a blonde Archon lay on the ground, already dead with her blood seeping into the soil. Next to it was another body, that of a redhaired angel girl, her throat ripped out of its body. And the creature doing this fearsome throat ripping? 

A cat.

The Unseelie Court didn't have much respect for cats. Cats were generally pets of humans. The toys of toys, so to say. Yet this cat stood there with bits of muscle and flesh dangling from his jaws. 

Seeing as Selyse had a very healthy dislike of creatures with the capacity to kill her, she would have spun on her heels and fled at that moment, if not for the flash of white beneath the cat's paws. The white flower appeared to be a shade of bone white that would look very good as a dress on Selyse, exactly as the corpse lily was described as. (The source of her information hadn't added the part about Selyse looking good in that color, but she knew it was just as true a fact.)

The cat lifted its head. It glared at her with eyes that matched the blood of its victims.

That was a good idea. Next time Selyse was in a Siren mood, she should make her eye color match something on her victim's corpse.

But first she'd have to survive this cat. She lifted her hands placatingly. If only she had her voice, she could soothe the cat verbally.

Selyse sniffed. If she died here by the cat's paws, she would kill that stupid Duchess.

The cat bared its teeth in a growl. Selyse stepped back slowly. She bumped into a tree trunk and subsequently swore silently.

The cat lunged. Selyse dove to the ground underneath the cat's arching figure. She plunged her fist up into the air when directly below the cat's underbelly.

It shrieked. Selyse rolled to the side. The animal hit the ground growling. She suppressed a sigh. Didn't this creature know how to die properly?

Her gaze caught on a cliff less than a foot away leading to a rapid river. A plan formed in her mind. The cat growled once more and burst into a run.

Selyse's instincts took over. She rolled around until she felt the ground disappear beneath her body. Her perfectly manicured nails snapped a hold of the cliff's edge. The cat skidded off the cliff, and fell past her to the water below.

She pulled herself up to the ground and peered down at the river. She could see the cat, clutching at a piece of driftwood and floating in the water. It looked up at her and growled.

Bastard cat was still alive. Figures. Well, that didn't matter. Selyse plucked the white flower out of the soil. She had the flower. That was what mattered.

With the one flower in her hand, she could restore her voice. She could also fulfil her Queen issued quest and save the tree. What to do, what to do...As much as Selyse wished she could use it to restore her voice, she had to admit to herself that having her voice back wouldn't be as much fun if the Queen killed her shortly afterward.

Tree it was.