"Nngh.."
Eva holds her head and looks around. The oppressing heat she fell asleep in was gone. She could tell they were somewhere back in a forest.
She was laying on the usual blanket that Lucas always laid out for her.
'Wait, why am I used to waking up in strange places?'
Without realizing it she had unconsciously gotten used to Lucas just walking her to another location throughout the night.
'Speaking of which, where is Lucas?'
Getting a closer inspection of the clearing around her she saw him lying against the trunk of a tree. It seemed he was asleep.
The smallest of movements would normally cause Lucas to be awake, but it seemed that he was deeply asleep this time.
Eva looked up into the sky and realized it was dark.
'Then why is this clearing filled with light?'
It wasn't that it was daytime, but the plants around them seemed to be emitting light. Now that Eva was looking closer the whole clearing seemed to pulse with energy.
That same energy swirled around Lucas and formed a barrier around them.
"He is not in danger, don't worry."
The voice of unknown origin came from directly behind her. She rolled onto her knees to face whatever had spoken to her.
Her hand went to her empty side. It seemed Lucas had neglected to leave any weapons near her. She bit her lip and cursed under her breath.
Shock flooded through her system as she realized that there was a black cat where the voice had come from.
"A kitty?" she mumbled under her breath.
"Yes, isn't this form adorable?" The black cat stretched while sinking its claws into the grass.
Eva's jaw dropped since the words she was hearing were definitely coming from a cat.
'Am I hallucinating from the fever?'
She just couldn't accept the fact that a cat was talking to her. Closing her eyes she counted to five and reopened her eyes.
"No use. It is still there. Have I finally lost my mind?"
Eva's depressed voice was instantly followed by laughter from the cat.
"I forgot how amusing humans are sometimes."
The cat settled onto its hindlegs and stared up at Eva with glowing green eyes. Eva settled into a sitting position across from the cat and put her hands in her lap.
"So, um… Let me get this straight, you are responsible for that?" She pointed her fingers at the glowing wall.
"Oh? You can see it? I was not expecting that much with your current blessings."
The cat began circling Eva, while staring at her with those glowing eyes. Eva immediately felt like she was being examined. She felt stiff until the cat finally returned to its position across from her.
"Your pathways seem to have opened recently. They were helped further along by a recent blessing."
The cat seemed to be talking to himself without paying any mind to Eva. She felt confused at the words he had been using.
'What are pathways and blessings?'
These were terms that she had never heard used before. She wanted to ask what the cat meant, but it felt like a heavy weight was weighing down her limbs.
"Still that bloodline blessing is pretty strong, despite how faded it is."
The cat laid its head down at its paws. Its face seemed to be glaring at Eva. She unconsciously gulped down her saliva.
Eva felt a small bit of relief when the cat glanced over at Lucas for a moment. She didn't know how to describe it, but this cat was a lot stronger than her.
It was not something that you could see. It was something that only your body could feel when something was overwhelmingly stronger than you.
She didn't need to look down to see the glowing lines holding her in place. She could feel the crackling energy just above her skin.
This cat was much stronger than even the beast that they had come across in the forest. She flinched slightly when the cat's eyes were upon her once more.
'How terrifying!'
Pure terror flooded her veins. She couldn't help but call out for Lucas, but no sound escaped her lips. Her eyes flicked over to Lucas, silently pleading.
"Hmmph, don't you have any shame? Relying on the elf for everything?"
The cat's taunting voice hurt her ears. The worst part was it was right. She did rely too heavily on Lucas sometimes.
"Not that you can help it, but listen to me, human. Work hard. If you can unlock that power that is inside your blood, even you can be as strong as that elf."
The cat pointed its paw at Lucas. It flicked its tail in annoyance and walked up closer to Eva. Placing one paw on her chest and the other on her forehead it spoke its last words.
"I will have to wipe any memory of me from your head. Don't worry, my warning will remain. Do your best and we can meet again in the future."
Eva's mind went blank and she fell limp facedown into her blanket. The energy that had been restraining her dissipated and her memories of the cat were as if they did not exist in the first place.
When Eva did eventually wake in the morning she felt different. She couldn't describe why she felt that way. It seemed that after the fever she had that her body felt lighter and the difficult training she was enduring was slightly less difficult.
Lucas woke just before dawn and was already cursing himself for actually falling into a deep sleep. He immediately checked on Eva, who had turned onto her stomach sometime during the night.
Feeling her forehead he was relieved to find the fever she had developed had disappeared sometime during the night. A sigh of relief escaped him.
'Thank goodness I bought those herbs at that human village.'
Her rapid recovery must have been due to those herbs that were meant to relieve heat exhaustion, which he had purchased from the town herbalist. He was slightly annoyed that he never found out where they grew.
Wearing a wrap over his ears was annoying, so he tried to leave the village quickly. Seeing elves was more common in this area, but he didn't feel comfortable amongst humans yet.
Hearing a slight grumble where Eva was, he turned to see her waking up. He grabbed the fruits he had bought and began peeling them for breakfast.
******
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