The object was suddenly plopped onto Garfield's fluffy paw.
He blinked down, the entire cat froze.
"…What in the nine lives is this?"
Something was squirming on his paw. Small. Winged. Fanged.
A tiny humanoid creature, barely the size of a hummingbird, was gnawing fiercely on his fur with all the menace of a teacup chihuahua. It let out an angry whine between bites.
Garfield raised an unimpressed eyebrow, lazily pinning it down with one paw.
He glanced up at Ancient One. "Uh, Master? Why is there a flying gremlin biting me?"
Before Ancient One could speak, the creature let out a screech.
"You insolent furball! Unhand this lord immediately or suffer my wrath! I will bite you to death!"
Garfield blinked again. "Lord? Wait, you're the bad monarch of the dark dimension?"
"You look like a malfunctioning garden sprite." He peered closer.
"That's the Dark Lord." Ancient One face calm as ever, probably that classic facial paralysis again.
"Currently, without dark energy, returned to its original form."
Garfield stared at the wriggling fairy-thing. "So… this is the terrifying force of interdimensional evil?"
"Looks like something that gets stuck in flowerpots."
Ancient One nodded slightly. "You can question the aesthetics later."
Garfield was returned to his physical body, still perched in front of the table, tail flicking lazily.
Only difference?
There was now a soaked, furious pixie clinging to his foot, trying valiantly, and failing to puncture his paw pad.
h-1
h~10
No damage.
Garfield ignored her and looked up at Ancient One again. "Alright, Master. I need the full story. Preferably with subtitles."
Ancient One folded her hands. "The creature in question is, indeed, a monarch-level entity of a dark dimension."
"Stripped of dark energy, her essence regressed to this original form."
The tiny figure huffed indignantly and flew up to the edge of a teacup, wings fluttering like dragonfly silk.
"Original form?! How dare you speak so casually of my greatness!"
She peered into the teacup, then started gulping tea like it was mana from heaven. Garfield tilted his head.
"…I didn't expect her to drink it all."
The next moment, the fairy slipped and tumbled face-first into the cup.
Sploosh.
She flailed in the remaining tea like a soaked dumpling.
Garfield sighed, reached into the cup with a paw, and fished her out gently. The little monarch now looked like a drowned leaf with wings.
Still dripping, she crossed her arms and glared up at him. "You'll regret this. Just wait until I get my powers back."
"Sure." Garfield said, deadpan. "What's your name, oh mighty soggy one?"
The creature puffed out her chest proudly. "You may address me as the Great Dark Lord Pandora!"
"…Pandora?" Garfield repeated. "Like the one who opened the box and ruined everything?"
Pandora nodded like it was a badge of honor.
"Okay, then... What are you exactly? Fairy? Sprite? Discount Pokémon?"
"I don't remember." Pandora rubbed her temple. "I went out to play, got hurt, and… now I'm here. Something-something… memory loss."
Garfield stared. "Classic plotline."
"You're either the daughter of some overpowered interdimensional ruler or a failed mascot from a gacha game."
Pandora didn't respond, choosing instead to preen her soaked wings indignantly.
Ancient One cleared her throat. "Since the two of you are now bound, I've arranged a room for you here in Kamar-Taj. Get along. Learn from each other."
Garfield's ears twitched. "Wait, hold up, what do you mean 'bound'?"
"This filthy feline is not worthy to be my slave!" Pandora pointed an accusing finger.
"Excuse you, I'm a Devourer." Garfield flared his chest and flicked his tail high.
"That's like the apex predator of cosmic entities. This is not 'just' an orange cat, meow."
"Hmph!"
"Hmph!"
╭(╯╰)╮
They turned away from each other in dramatic unison.
"…" Ancient One.
Garfield and Pandora were still glaring daggers at each other when Ancient One, amused by their bickering, turned to leave.
She smiled lightly. "I'll leave the two of you to settle… whatever this is."
Then, without another word, she vanished beyond the hallway, robes swishing quietly.
Garfield's tail flicked as he watched her go. Outwardly, he wore the proud look of a smug housecat with all the answers. Inwardly, though, gears were turning fast.
Why me?
Why did Ancient One pick him, of all creatures?
Why had she drained the energy from the so-called Dark Lord?
And more importantly, why did that 'Dark Lord' look more like a deranged fairy from a flowerbed than the ruler of nightmares?
Pandora, despite all the snarling and posturing, didn't exactly scream 'evil incarnate.'
She looked more like a half-soaked garden elf with an attitude problem.
Ancient One had to know more than she let on.
Garfield narrowed his eyes. As a scheming orange cat, he mentally filed every suspicious detail.
He knew Ancient One wouldn't harm him… at least, probably not.
If she did, he'd just activate the legendary 'Paw of No Return' and go out dramatically.
...Or maybe she saw his true potential? Was he the Cat of Destiny?
The future companion to Sorcerer Supreme?
Would he one day be walking beside Doctor Strange, cape billowing behind him, tail held high?
He snorted. Stephen Strange, that smug egomaniac...
Shortly after, a young apprentice came to guide him. Her name was Baima.
She looked around 13 or 14, Tibetan heritage, though her skin was paler than most. Her dark hair was tied back neatly, her eyes were large and expressive, and she smelled faintly of wildflowers.
She bent down and carefully scooped Garfield into her arms like he was a sacred artifact.
"Master Garfield." She said respectfully. "This will be your room. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to call me."
Garfield purred softly. Cute kid.
As Baima left, Pandora suddenly popped out from within Garfield's soul space, lounging on top of his head with a scowl.
"You're a pervert."
Garfield blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Don't pretend! I saw your evil thoughts back there!"
"What? I was looking at her with the pure, protective eyes of a kind older brother."
"Hah! That brother has a full resume of digging emotional mines."
"It's called being free-spirited. Admiring beauty is natural."
"That's not admiration, that's drooling. You're a full-on licking dog."
"Correction, we are standard children. Technically, nothing is happening."
"You're a cat. I'm a soul. We don't even qualify for statutory anything."
They continued to bicker until Pandora, bored with her own rant, phased back into his soul with an exaggerated hmph.
Garfield yawned, stretched out on the warm bed, burrowed into the blankets, and promptly passed out.
✦••┈┈••✦••┈┈••✦
The next morning, Baima returned with breakfast.
"Good morning, Master Garfield." She said cheerfully, placing a tray on the low table: warm yak milk, seasoned yak meat, and some tsampa.
Garfield wolfed it down like a seasoned monk-cat. "Mmmph. 10/10. Worth reincarnating for."
Then came the beginning of his magical education under the Ancient One.
The first week: Learning ancient texts.
The second week: Meditation.
The third week: Still meditation.
When they finally got to physical training, Garfield's tail perked.
"Cat fist is invincible!" He declared confidently.
"I can throw seven slaps per second. You want a demo?"
Ancient One merely raised an eyebrow. "Try not to scratch the walls again."
Pandora would often come out to spar with Garfield, floating around and zapping pebbles at his face. Other times she'd vanish into his soul or hover near Ancient One.
Garfield occasionally caught them talking, but neither of them would tell him what it was about.
Days blurred into weeks. Weeks flowed into months.
Before he realized it, half a year had passed.
For a normal orange tabby, that was practically teenagehood.
For Garfield, now a developing Devourer, it was nothing more than a blink in the cosmic scale. His kind was rare and nearly forgotten.
Even in the mystical texts, the Devourer Beasts (Flerken) were barely footnotes, enigmatic, godlike entities with bottomless potential.
In six months, Garfield mastered basic spellcasting, learned to open portals, and understood how to manipulate magical energy.
During his final assessment, he formed a clean portal with a casual flick of the tail.
"You've done well, Garfield." Ancient One smiled faintly.
"You've graduated."
Garfield blinked. "Wait, that's it?"
"You are ready. You may return to your owner's home in England."
"…?" The orange cat sat still for a moment.
"…So I really am the Cat of Destiny."
Pandora floated above his head. "More like Cat of Delusion."
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
Phantom your way through a treasure trove of chapters waiting on P@treon!
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