The walls were suddenly closing in. Lyor could feel them. He sat in the chair, hands slightly aching where he had clenched his fingers, and listened to Mira's soft voice explaining things he could not process.
Barrier. Goddess. New beginning.
Lies. Just lies.
This was his only chance to escape.
"I don't want to stay here," Lyor said, the words flat, final. He stood from the chair, legs trembling, and ran toward the door before anyone could respond.
Lyor did not pause when he bumped into Sol, and did not dare to look back. He ran down the path, past the houses with their weird roofs, past gardens that had grown without concrete borders. His leg ached, the metal bone protesting, but he did not slow.
The path narrowed. Trees closed in. He recognized the forest from before, from when he had carried the cat. The clearing where he had seen the village. If he could reach that clearing, find the other side, maybe there was a road. A bus. A city where he could lie low for a while.
His breath came shorter as he sped up.
-------------------------------------------
Lyor wasn't sure how far he ran, but he ran until his leg gave out.
Not collapsed, precisely. Simply stopped obeying, the metal bone screaming, his stride shortening, then stumbling. He caught himself on a trunk, bark rough against his palm, and stood there, gasping, listening.
No footsteps. No shouts. No pursuit.
He had done it. Escaped.
The thought should have brought relief, but instead, he felt hollow, the black hole inside expanding to swallow the forest itself.
Where am I escaping to? Not even the villagers want me.
No one followed.
The question surfaced now that motion had stopped, now that adrenaline began its retreat.
He pushed off the trunk and started walking.
Sol's POV.
He had lied about having rounds to do, and Mira understood. The moment he was outside, away from Lyor, he was leaning against the wall outside, forcing slow breaths. The grief inside that room had been thick enough to choke on, and his senses were still recovering.
Sol had decided to stay outside till the discussion was done. He felt oozing sadness again before he heard the door membrane push open and walked towards it, registered the white hair appearing, moving fast, and bumping onto his arm as he ran past.
"Watch where you're going, dumbass," He snapped.
The word left his mouth, and the world twisted. Shrinking, softening, colors bleeding into different spectrums.
Spoof!
Even that was a curse word? Sol was ready to murder Elowen for the second time of the day. He felt his clothes pool, his sword clatter, his perspective drop to below knee height.
A meow escaped him. Indignant. Utterly useless.
He sat there, brown and ash fur ruffled by the breeze, and watched Lyor disappear into the path without looking back, and man, he had never been so grateful for a person avoiding him.
Teebu and Mira emerged, hurried, their footsteps stopping at the sight of him. Sol tried to glare, the expression feeling wrong on his feline face.
"Can you follow him, please?" Mira asked. "Keep him in sight, but don't approach. He'll run too far if he thinks he's pursued. It's too dangerous when you are like this." Teebu added.
Yes, he was useless like this, and no one else in the village was strong enough to handle a monster alone if one showed up.
Sol nodded, the motion feeling wrong in this skull. He sped towards the trees, paws silent on the path, and heard Teebu's voice behind, making arrangements.
The tracking stones would help them. Each villager carried one, attuned to their life force, and Teebu could sense them across distances, could teleport anyone to any stone's location, using his ability.
Sol would follow, they would wait, let Lyor make a stop, then teleport Mira and Ceera to Sol's location to speak with Lyor and bring him back.
He moved through undergrowth that towered, following the disturbance in the forest's rhythm. Broken twigs.
Disturbed leaf litter.
The faint scent of fear and sweat.
Close.
Unguarded feet littered with cuts and bruises.
Found you!
Sol followed Lyor quietly, covering behind tree trunks. He seemed to have hurt his leg running.
Dumbass.
He saw the root before Lyor did, massive and above ground. He tried to call out, to warn, but only a meow emerged, small and swallowed by forest sounds.
Lyor's foot caught just like he worried. He tumbled, shoulder hitting the ground, finally coming to rest over the root itself.
"Hunter?"
Sol watched him lie there, gasping, and felt something shift in his chest when the kid's first movement was to check on him before checking his own injuries.
Lyor pushed himself up, pain ignored, looking around. "Is that you?"
He remained hidden. The name struck Sol oddly. Hunter. As if he were a separate individual in this form, not diminished but simply cared for.
"I just want to see if you're okay. I fell on you before. Remember?." He said.
Stupid kid and his stupid worrying. Sol stepped out, not wanting to drown in his worry.
Sol stepped out, marched over, and stopped two feet away from him. Lyor sighed in relief, sank back against the root, patting the ground beside him, calling to come near.
He had forgotten that the kid didn't know who he was. The moment he sat down near him, Lyor wrapped those stupidly thin arms around him and pulled him towards his chest, and started running his fingers under his chin.
Fuck cat biology.
He had started purring.