For two weeks, Chance had feared that he would never have full use of his left shoulder and arm again. He was greatly relieved that the albino were-cat had managed to completely heal him. And he also felt indebted to her, for more reasons than just his arm.
"I don't know how I can repay you, Bahati."
I do, but that must wait for later. Now we must go. Come.
Chance walked forward and gently placed a hand on the tiguar's shoulder, motioning for Felina to do the same on the other side of her. He knew the drill now about crossing through the Gauntlet. Nakela and the other three shifters moved to stand around the pride's young leader. Felina looked around a bit nervously at the group of shape-changers.
"Okay, exactly what is going on here?"
Chance smiled.
"We're about to cross over into the Spirit World. It tends to be a bit easier if you close your eyes and simply move forward when she does."
The white tiguar nodded in agreement. Her mother had obviously taught the kat well. Felina tentatively placed a hand on the large creature's shoulder, surprised at how silky-soft and thick the white fur was. She exhaled slowly and closed her eyes. Typically, shifters needed to see their reflection when they stepped through the Gauntlet, but they all joined together around their leader, letting her make the first step so they could all follow trough together. All but Bahati closed their eyes. The cat lifted a paw and slowly took a step. Her milky-white eyes didn't need to focus on her reflection, as they could not see the physical relm anyway. She looked beyond it, at the world in which she was trying to enter, and saw the shimmer of the Gauntlet in front of her. The shimmer surrounded her, and the others moved with her as she took several more slow steps.
Felina's breath caught in her throat as it felt like she was passing through the wall of a thick bubble that wrapped itself around her from the front, then fell away behind her as she moved through it. When the she-kat opened her eyes again, she was they were still in the cavern, the pyramid looming before her. And yet, it was not the same. There was a haze covering everything, and the pyramid wasn't so worn away. It was as if a thousand years of time had reversed on it. And more, there were ghostly creatures of mist, some white and some of pale colors, that seemed to appear and vanish all about her.
"Where the heck are we?"
Chance and Nakela both smiled, and it was the Mokole who answered.
"This is the Penumbra. The nearest part of the spirit world."
Bahati nodded, her voice echoing in Felina's mind.
Yes. And now we must go. We must travel fast, for I would like to avoid being spotted by the vampire's spies if we can possibly help it. You kats cannot run as fast as we, and so you must travel with us.
The two male jaguars then both shifted up to their powerful, and massive, chatro forms. Felina jumped back in surprise at the giant saber-toothed cats. Chance had thought that Sarita's chatro form was large, but her two sons were certainly larger, each having two to three inches in height on her, and a couple hundred extra pounds of weight as well, all of it muscle. Akin-Cúrri had to be close to three quarters of a ton! The larger male moved to stand beside Felina.
Do not be afraid. Get on.
She looked to Chance and Nakela, the human giving her a slight shrug, then forced back any sign of nervousness, and carefully climbed onto the were-jaguar's back. He kneeled down to make it easier for her, but she really didn't need the help. Chance knew Bahati was right about the speed, and he remembered exactly how fast Sarita was able to run in her feline form. Without any protest this time, he got on Tommy's back and held tight to the thick fur of the short dorsal mane. Nakela then shifted up to her archid form. The group took off at a sudden run, lead by Bahati into the opening of the pyramid. Inside, all was no longer shadows. A golden light seemed to illuminate the walls, bringing the ancient hieroglyphs to life with a soft glow. They ran swiftly down the main corridor, and everything ahead of them began to swirl into mist. The silver mist bordered a pathway of blackness, lit by tiny white dots, like stars. Bahati then slowed her pace, allowing the others to pass her. Akin took the lead as he ran along the pathway.
As soon as they entered the mist, everything changed. Looking behind them, they could see the inside of the pyramid through the mist's swirl, but everything around and ahead of them was now blackness. They were running through the very night itself, the stars shinning brightly everywhere around them. The waning moon hung low in the distance, and they could see to the east a soft glow. It was morning, but still very early, and the sun had not yet risen. But they could see no trace of it, or of the land beneath them. There was nothing but endless space and stars. As Bahati passed through the barrier, it closed behind her, and the ancient temple-pyramid could no longer be seen. The only thing that stood out against the stars was the silver path on which they ran. It could have been only a few minutes, or it could have been an eternity. The kats seemed to loose all sense of time in the void.
At length, another swirl of silver mist appeared ahead of them on the path. Through the swirl they could now see green. It wasn't long before they were close enough for Chance to recognize what he saw beyond the portal. Rainforest! Sarita's Den Relm! As Bahati ran in the rear of the pride, the silver path behind her faded as soon as she passed over it. They could only go forward, not back. Akin reached the other end of the Moon-Bridge and lept through the mist, landing easily amidst thick green ferns. Felina couldn't believe her eyes.
"Where are we?"
The others quickly followed suit. Bahati was the last to jump through, and the portal swirled, then closed behind her. The cats, wolf, and dragon were all breathing heavily. They had been running for three hours in the void of the Deep Umbra. And they had made it just in time. They could already see clearly in the morning light. The sun would come up over the horizon in only a matter of minutes. Once the sun rose, the Moon-Bridge would have melted away beneath them. The air was filled with the songs of tropical birds and the humming of insects. Chance and Felina slid down off of the jaguar's backs, and the brothers then returned to their felis forms.
After somewhat catching her breath, Nakela re-took her homid form again. Felina looked around in awe at the beautiful rainforest. Chance smiled. He had grown quite fond of the place, despite the heat and humidity.
"This is Sarita's Den Relm. Believe it or not, we're actually in Megakat City Park."
"There isn't any tropical jungle in the middle of the park!"
"Not in the physical world, no. We're still in the Spirit World."
"Huh?"
"Heh. Come on, Lieutenant."
The group began walking through the thick jungle. Only Felina had no idea where they were headed. They had come out on the eastern edge of the Den Relm, and it was about a mile and a half to the massive home-tree. Eventually they came to the very heart of the rainforest mini-relm. Both Chance and Nakela noted that the place had changed somewhat. Instead of one giant tree, there were now five! Four slightly smaller trees stood around the original one in four exact corners, NW, NE, SW, and SE. The other four had the same rounded structure to the branches, forming natural dens, with stairs formed right out of the living wood that wound up the trunks. Longer, flat-topped branches stretched between each den in natural bridges.
Chance and Nakela were quite surprised at the change in the Den Relm over the past two weeks, but nothing could have prepared them for what they then saw up in the center tree, standing on the edge of the rim of branches looking down on them. The sleek and powerful chatro Balam stood with head held high, her coarse coat shinning bright gold in the morning sun. From her shoulders grew a pair of large, powerful feathered wings. They were deep red at the upper tips, turning to a fiery orange-yellow throughout most of the upper portions, then to brilliant green on the flight feathers, fading down to blue, and finally indigo at the tips of the primary's.
Nakela gasped and put her hands over her open mouth. She felt her eyes moisten with the still unshed tears, and one finally broke loose and rolled down the right side of her face. It simply wasn't possible!
Chance likewise was in shock as he looked up at the imposing creature. His heart skipped several beats and his breath caught in his throat. He looked up at it's eyes, and starred into the endless depths of deep blue, like the ocean itself.
"Sarita..."