The Shield
Aura's tail twitched as she snuffled in her sleep. Kero was in his true form, sleeping in the sun coming through the window. They had been headed south-ish and still found nothing but ruins. Kero was getting anxious to at least see a human around somewhere, but the void areas suited Aura just fine so he didn't complain much. They had been going through ruins for about a week now, and were close Hong Kong now. Kero tried to put thoughts of more ruins out of his head. He was probably just being stupid, It had to be repopulated I the plague had struck there to, it was a huge city, someone had to be there by now right?
Aura rolled over and started to growl and snort in her dreams. Kero never could figure out why she always seemed to have fights in her sleep. Aura gave out a muffled roar and thrashed around on the floor, with her claws scraping anything in reach. Kero walked over carefully and pounced on her, pinning her to the ground and stopping her imaginary fight. She cracked an eye open and looked up at Kero. "Was I fighting nothing again?" She asked. Kero nodded. "Yeah, what do you always think you're fighting anyway?" He asked. Aura relaxed and Kero go off her so she could stand up. "My fights? Never mind, it's nothing important." She said slowly. Kero sighed. "It sure doesn't look like nothing with all that kicking and clawing you always do." He said. Aura looked out the window.
"No, I said it's nothing, it's just a dream now." She said. Kero looked over curiously. "Now? Wait, so whatever it is wasn't a dream once?" He asked. Aura looked over with a glare. "Look, just drop it okay?" she said s she hopped out the window to the ground below. Kero sighed and followed her. The two started to walk along the streets with Aura sniffing for leftover food as they went. Jump hopped over.
"What cha doin?" He asked. Aura looked up then started sniffing again. "Looking for food. You seen any around?" she asked. Jump nodded. "Yeah! I saw a lot of cans this sway!" he said. Aura ran after Jump as he bounced to the left. They followed him into an old house and rummaged around. Aura looked over to a racket of clanking and clunking. Kero swatted and chewed and jumped on and flame blasted a can, trying to open it. He sat down and started to simply glare at it when Aura walked over.
"I take it you haven't found a can opener yet?" She asked plucking up the can. Kero grumbled something under his breath as Aura looked over the can. She put it on its side on the floor, pinning it in place with one paw. She opened her mouth and began to chew at the edges. Kero watched as she used her sharp cat teeth as a can opener. She spit out the lid and a little blood from cuts in her mouth. Kero winced as she started to scrape out the food with her paw. She took about three quarters of the can for herself, handing the rest to Kero. Kero looked into the can.
"HEY! There's hardly any left for me!" He exclaimed pouting. Aura looked at the mass of chicken on her paw and over at Kero. She raised her paw and opened her mouth wide, choking down her chunk in one gulp. Kero whined aloud. "Hey! Why can't you share??" He asked. Aura talked as she started to turn over the area for more food.
"I'm from the woods, it's eat what you can when you can get it, besides, and I thought you didn't even need food." She reasoned. Kero scowled and glared at her back as she nosed an old tabled out of her way. Kero gripped the can and raised a paw, chucking the can at her. She yelped as the can hit the back of her head. Kero stiffened and gulped, thinking that through a little to late. Aura whirled and glared at him, snarling and showing her long sharp teeth. Kero lowered his ears and rolled onto his back, showing his underside like a wolf that knew it had been bad might for the leader of the pack. Aura walked over and smacked a paw over his nose, chomped down hard on his right ear and barking like a dog. Kero yelped and grimaced as Aura walked back to forage. He rubbed his nose and walked out into the street cross-eyed and staring at his smarting nose. He sighed and flew over to the roof of a large house. "Why did I do that, stupid Keroberos, you should have known she wouldn't just ignore that. Next time, think before you throw, think before you throw." He scolded himself as he rubbed his nose lightly.
Aura walked out of the house, having eaten what she could stomach of the canned food. She scraped her tongue with her paw, trying to wipe the awful tastes off it. She walked back to where she had left her stuff. When she got there she looked around, Kero still wasn't back yet. She snorted to herself and shook her head like a horse would shake its mane. Harriss floated over. "Kero's sitting on a roof scolding himself for that, you should have split it in half. You still have lots of food right?" Harriss asked. Aura snorted and trotted over to the area where she had left her cloak and book. She reached for them and yelped as a black bubble appeared for a moment. She swatted at it and it flashed up again. Aura began to bat at it curiously. She poked it once more and looked around. It seemed she would have to find Kero to see what it was.
Aura hopped over the roofs, and closer to Kero. Kero was still rubbing his nose when Aura got over. "Kero." She said. He looked over his shoulder and lowered his ears submissively. Aura's tail rose up in dominance and shook her head over to the old house. "I think there's a card around here." She said. Kero got up and followed her back.
"It's the shield, you heave to cut it with Sword then you can catch it." Kero said after poking the card a few times. Aura did so and soon put the card in the book. The two packed up to leave and took to the sky. They flew for a while in silence through the cloudy skies.
"Kero, is it just me or is the sky looking like a storm's coming?" Aura asked him. Kero nodded. "Storm coming all right, we should find a spot to land and wait it out." Kero said. Aura nodded and the pair floated down to a bamboo-wooded area. Aura stashed her wings and sniffed around. They found somewhat sheltered spot to sleep at just as the rain started to fall. They watched the storm as it rolled through the sky. Aura sighed and put her head back on her paws, trying to catch a little more sleep.
Aura looked around the woods, bamboo like where she was now. She walked through the mist over the wet ground. She picked up the scent of a strange cat and turned to where it came from. She blinked in confusion when she found that this time it didn't fade away once she noticed it. She began to follow it and came into a clearing. Graves lined the clearing, nine of them. In the center of the site was a statue mad of plain stone. The gray figure sat watching over the land. It was a cat with a slender build, like a cheetah with huge leathery bat wings. Around the tail were tied two feathers. Aura took another step closer into the clearing. The statue jolted up, looking at her. The cats eyes were red with blue pupils. Her coat was light gray on the underside, with dark gray paws and back. Purple fur lined her eyes and she wore a silver armband around her left paw. It had a small purple stone set in it. She looked over at Aura and snarled.
Aura backed out of the gravesite and turned to flee. She remembered now what always happened in this dream and she didn't want to feel those claws in her flesh and teeth on her throat. She pounded away and panted in the humid air. The cat flew over her. "I am Aven, and you should not be here, I will kill all who come!" She shouted. Aura ran harder and harder. She heard the sound of beating wings stop and then felt claws in her back. She yelped and thrashed around, eyes shut in pain, trying to get in a position she could fight from. Aven snarled and bit into Aura's throat. Aura trashed and screeched, waiting for the dream to end. She screeched and tried to shake the cat off, without result. Aura let out a jet of fire over her shoulder, trying to get free.
"AURA!" Kero shouted. Aura opened her eyes and saw Kero pinning her to the ground with his claws. She shivered and went limp again. Kero got off her. Aura looked around the area, as the rain began to halt. Kero put a paw on her back again, preventing her from standing. "Aura, whatever you keep dreaming about is getting to be too much trouble, you were screeching and thrashing, if I had fallen asleep your claws could have done a lot of harm with all the thrashing you do. What is this nightmare that you keep having?" Kero demanded. Aura sighed and lowered her ears.
"I'm not sure, I'm wandering around in this mist and then I pick up this strange scent that I've been getting whiffs of, and usually it disappears, but now I doesn't so I go to check it out. I'm wandering through this bamboo forest and all I can smell is a cat and mist, and…" She tailed off and perked her ears. "And… I've been having this even before we left on this trip… The area I'm in when I dream is just like here!" She said. Kero blinked and looked around. "Well, why do you kick and scream so much about that?" He asked. Aura continued. "I get to this clearing and see a bunch of graves, and a statue of a ct in the center of the graveyard. I walk in to get a better look and the statue comes to life. It starts to chase me and it catches me easily. The statue's a cat that calls herself Aven and she attacks me. Usually I wake up right before I'm killed but this time…" She trailed off. Kero nodded.
"All right, I se why you keep thrashing around. But you say you've been having this dream before we even left, I think it might be trying to tell you something. I know you don't think so but I do." He said. Aura sighed. "Maybe… It's so real and it's just so creepy." She said. Kero looked around and got up. "Anyway, I'm going to go get some breakfast for us." He said taking off. Aura watched him sail off to hunt. She stretched and got up, looking around again. She jolted when she picked up the cat scent again, and it wasn't fading, it was getting stronger…She looked around for Kero, but he was a distant speck in the sky now. Aura turned to face the cat, but the smell was gone again.