Throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening, BekkaNeko had a difficult time keeping herself in check. The urge to tell someone, anyone about the secrets she’d been told was nearly overwhelming, as was the urge to play with the soul-crystal. Several times she glimpsed her littermate taking out her crystal to stare at when she thought nobody else was around to see.
A plausible bedtime finally rolled around, and the two girls went upstairs eagerly, much to the surprise of their parent’s. They lay silently awake in their beds, waiting for midnight to come. The clock read 10:29 when they heard their parents coming up the stairs. From the shrieks their mother was making, Father was visiously tickling her. It sounded like Mom was getting a few good shots in as well. The sounds became a bit muffled as they went into their bedroom and shut the door, after a little while BekkaNeko couldn’t hear them anymore.
At precisely 11:30, the girls slipped out of their beds and quickly put on the dark clothes they’d set out. Within four minutes they were climbing through the window onto the garage roof. From there they could step onto a decent sized tree limb and climb to the ground.
When they reached the dimly lit park, they found Akira sitting on the fountain waiting for them. The old elf was munching contentedly on chocolate bar. As they approached, he popped the last dark morsel into his mouth and stuffed the empty wrapper into his pocket.
“You’re a few minutes early. That’s good”
“We didn’t want to be late, and figured that with Mom and Dad occupied, it was a good time to get out of the house,” BekkaNeko said. Her sister just grinned. “So, where do we start?”
Akira held out his hand. “First I need you to put these on,” he said, handing them each a blindfold. It was the kind that rich ladies always seemed to wear when they went to bed.
“What are they for?” ReaNeko asked.
“We’re going somewhere less public. It will make the transportation spell simpler if you two can’t see.”
After a moment, they held the pillow mask over their eyes and lopped the elastic band over their heads. BekkaNeko felt a brief, but harshly intense blast of coldness wash over her, before she could even compare it to falling through thin ice, the feeling was gone.
The air was cooler than it had been, and felt a bit thicker, while tasting thinner and less substantial. The ground was uneven and hard, nothing like the soft manicured grass of the park. “You can take those off now,” she heard Akira say. She thought there was a hint of an echo.
“Oh wow,” she said as she peeled the mask off. The catgirl found herself standing in a cave. It looked much like the wizard’s laboratory in every bad fantasy movie she’d ever seen. There was no visible means of illumination, but the entire room had enough light to comfortably read by. There were tables covered with dusty books and scrolls, strange objects piled everywhere, the walls were lined with crude bookcases crammed with tomes of every conceivable size and shape. Behind them, between two cases was a large mirror, about a meter wide, by two meters tall. In one corner where was human skeleton with a large black bird perched on the skull, either a crow or a raven, she couldn’t tell.
Hanging over the desk to the right of the skeleton, the only one in a neat and organized manner, was a large piece of wood, with five carved niches; each lined with colored felt. The center niche was empty and had a black lining, above this was an empty one with blue lining, below was a red niche, likewise vacant. To the right was brown niche with a crystal much like her own, but with an earthy color. And on the left of the center was a white lined pocket with a clear stone. BekkaNeko guessed these stones belonged to others that Akira hadn’t found yet.
“This is where I spend a large portion of my time,” he said as the girls looked around. “I’ve been using ancient star charts and astrological documents to try and figure out who these stones belong to. So far I’ve only found you two.”
ReaNeko nodded, but BekkaNeko looked at the remaining stones again. “What happened with the black one?” she asked.
Akira looked at the empty niche, reached up and scratched the back of head. “Well, I sorta lost that one. One of my birds grabbed it and flew off a few months ago. He hasn’t brought it back, nor has he told me where he dropped it.”
BekkaNeko looked around again. This time she noticed a second bird sitting atop one of the bookcases. She glances at the skeleton again to make sure the first bird hadn’t moved. She decided they were twins.
“These two keep me company most of the time. Thought, Memory, say ‘hello’ to our guests. They’re going to be coming here quite often from now on.” The bird on the bookcase squawked at them, the other made a noise that sounded very much like a hoarse child saying “hello.”
“What kind of birds are they?” ReaNeko asked, standing up on her toes to get a closer look at the one standing on the skull. The bird cocked its head and looked down at her just as intently.
“These are my ravens. That’s Memory, and up there, being anti-social, is Thought. Hmmm...now, where to being your lessons. Perhaps we should start with seeing just how much you can learn from your previous lives. Sit down here, the floor should be fine, hold the stones in your hands and concentrate.” The girls did as he instructed, and within moments, BekkaNeko was seeing images of fleeing from a large stone building. The building was on fire, and in the middle of a large castle. She had lived in there, helping the other, older catgirls to keep their dresses clean and put n make-up. The hand she was holding belonged to her sister, and they were taking the opportunity to run away.
After a bit, she opened her eyes. She was still sitting on the floor of Akira’s cave. ReaNeko, a few feet away, opened her eyes as well. “What did you see?” Akira asked, leaning forward in the chair he’d sat in. She told them about the burning building and running away in the night, while her sister’s vision mirrored the dream she had the night before with the ugly stone monster.
After learning how to look back into the surface memories trapped within the soul-crystal, Akira promised that, in time, they would be able to see more things more clearly. He also warned them that at night, during their sleep, they were likely to have strange, uncontrollable dreams. These were most likely more memories surfacing, rather than nightmares, no matter how horrible or disturbing they might become.
Then he took them into another room; this one was set up much like the karate club’s dojo at school. The stone floor was overlaid with three layers of woven tatami mats, and along the back wall was a long rack of various weapons. There was everything from daggers and swords, to full-sized polearms and guns. Many of the weapons looked strange outlandish to BekkaNeko, but most of them seemed simple enough.
“You will need arms if you are to fight against Oni-san’s minions. Each of you, walk along the rack. Touch each weapon with your hand. Take the one that feels right to you, and we will make it yours.”
BekkaNeko slipped out of her shoes before stepping up on the mats, as did her sister. They girls walked along the rack, running their hands over the cold weapons. BekkaNeko felt a tingle in her fingers as she touched a simple wooden staff. It was taller than her, standing a few inches over her head. She took it from the rack and bounced it in her hands a few times. She made a few practice lunges and strikes with it. She decided that this must be the weapon meant for her.
As she experimented with the staff, ReaNeko picked a similar weapon from the rack. Hers was a short spear, about five feet in length. The head was like a short curved sword blade, with a single edge, attached to a four-foot shaft. “I like this one,” she said, hefting the naginata.
“Very well, if you have chosen, then sit. Place the weapon across your knees and concentrate on it. Concentrate on the feeling of holding in your hands. Feel its solidity and its weight. Now concentrate on your soul-crystals.”
As she meditated, BekkaNeko could swear she felt the weight of the staff pull at the cord around her neck for a few minutes. Then her trance was broken as she realized that her hands, which had been on top of the staff as it sat on her legs, were now in her lap and the weapon was gone. Her crystal felt somewhat warm. BekkaNeko opened her eyes and looked around. She was just in time to see her sisters, crystal glowing brightly, while the weapon she held across her knees faded from sight, becoming more and more transparent until it was gone.
“There, you have now dedicated these weapons to yourselves. As long as you have your soul-crystal, you can summon these weapons to you. Go ahead, try it.” Akira said, standing up from where he had knelt on the mats.
Doubtfully, BekkaNeko stood. She felt a little silly, but she instinctively acted as if she were brandishing a staff and said in a clear loud voice, “Soul Staff!” Suddenly she could feel the weapon in her hands. She looked down, and there it was, just as solid and as real as it had been before. Stunned, she turned to look at her sister.
“Soul Lance!” ReaNeko shouted and likewise mimicked an offensive posture. The weapon was in her hands instantly, just as if it had never left her grip. “Wow, this it really cool,” she said, looking at the naginata and then at the old elf, who grinned proudly.
“Congratulations girls. You have just preformed your first acts of magic. I will teach you one more spell tonight then you must go home and get some sleep.”
“How do we get rid of these once we’re done with them?” BekkaNeko asked.
“Simply will it away. These weapons are a part of your souls now. Should they become damaged or broken, will they away, and when you next someone them, they will be whole again. They will grow and change with you from now on. As your understanding of magic expands, these weapons might change. You might find yourself suddenly summoning a pike or a halberd instead of your naginata, or perhaps even something such as a sword or dagger. They will also adjust themselves to your fighting styles, adding length or end caps as your soul sees fit.” The catgirls nodded, then as one, concentrated of a brief moment, and the weapons were gone.
“Now, to teach you how to come and go. We’ll need the mirror for this.” Akira took them back into the study and had them stand in front of the large mirror.
“This is a bit tricky. From here, you can only go home with what I can teach you. The full-length mirror on your closet door will do nicely. Now focus on your room and going back there. Look at the mirror while you do.”
The girls thought about their room, how they’d left it that night, and how it should look now. As they watched, the surface of the mirror rippled and pulsed, then it calmed down. Instead of showing their reflection, it was like looking through a window into their room. It was dark, with just a hint of moonlight seeping through the blinds to land on the floor.
“Do the same thing to get back here. You will be able to come here through any mirror that you can fit through, but only to here. Perhaps as you learn more, you will be able to step from mirror to mirror, but for now you will have to settle for this. Perhaps in time you can learn to travel without using a mirror at all. Now step though and get to bed. I will here tomorrow night to teach you more.”
The girls nodded, then dubiously stepped towards the mirror. BekkaNeko put her hand on it. It felt like the surface of a pool of water. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into it. There was the same blast of intense cold, and just as before it was gone instantly. She found herself standing in her room. She stepped aside to give ReaNeko room to pass through the mirror. She watched her sister push through the surface of the portal and pop into the room.
The mirror rippled in the wake of their passage, before calming again. They could see through to Akira’s study. He smiled and nodded to them, then the mirror darkened briefly before showing a reflection once again. Exhausted, the girls stripped out of their dusty clothes and climbed into bed. As sleep overcame her, BekkaNeko realized that the alarm clock only read 12:55, but her wristwatch said it was closer to 3 am.