Grove Path: The Cat

Ever since Flint was a young boy, he had always wanted to shapeshift like his father. To Flint it seemed like his father had a superpower as he was able to fly and see in the dark. He became so entranced that his favorite bedtime stories was of how his father met the great owl. He would ask for the story over and over to the eventual weariness of his Father. Luther found it amusing but was only a normal satyr so needed his breaks. Luckily for Luther, Flint was an easily distracted child and the boy either forgot he asked about the story(cause he saw something else) or could be persuaded to another activity. On the days he got the story, Flint would try and commit to memory anything that he thought would help him meet a great spirit like his father. Flint even went through a phase where he tired to visit the spirit himself. Since he was only a boy, his parents had to constantly make sure he didn't run off. Luckily for them Flint had a terrible sense of direction so if he did slip away he would only get as far as the town nearby before becoming lost. Seeing that he was terrible with directions, Flint even tried to build an owl gate himself. He was quickly banned from climbing anything for a long time afterwards. As he got older, Flint forgot about his desire to seek out a spirit as more interesting escapades popped up for him. 

Flint was now a man. He was an attractive man as some would describe him but could still be as dull as a butter knife. It was now that he was ready to find himself a spirit. He did a little research about which ones existed. Little research as in, he heard other satyrs at a local drinkery talking about a cat spirit in the woods. A cat would be perfect for him. They were agile, quick, could see in the dark, land on their feet, stealthy, all the qualities of an adventurer like him. "Where is this cat spirit?" he had asked and the satyrs directed him to a local lore keeper on the other side of town. This was all in the span of 24hrs. Today, Flint had a scribbled map which he clutched in his fist. 

Flint walked up and down the street of a tourist trap. There were shops of goods likes shirts, jewelry, books and games with restaurants thickening the air with scents of baked goods and food. Flint stopped at a vendor grabbing himself a custard. It was still warm and the sweet aroma it gave off was irresistible. Flint wasn't there to shop but they looked so good. Taking a bite his taste buds sung as it melted on his tongue. It was so creamy and good that Flint went back for another. Now! Now he wasn't there to shop. While his focus was on the lore keeper, he still made many more purchases. His backpack now contained various cat knickknacks, Fate's focus, and a muse's treasure. 

Flint clipped the muse's treasure onto his neck and then took a photo of himself on the fate's focus. He waited as the photo popped out and then waved it in the air to help it develop. He smiled when he saw himself. He looked pretty good. All this reminded him of his father's trip. He wondered if the cat spirit would be as chill as the owl spirit. Flint knew normal cats so had packed his bag with cat treats, nip, and toys but kept thinking about the owl spirit. While yes, mostly an owl, was huge, ethereal and intelligent. Flint shrugged. It would all work out. He was confident he could persuade the cat to like him.  

Flint passed by many vendors on his way to the local lore keeper before coming across the building. It was a grand looking building. It sat at the top of a hill, cat tail plants and nips all over. The front had many windows to let the sun pour in. Two cat statues sat at the doors that could be seen from the bottom of the stairs. Flint trotted upwards as he passed a few sleeping cats. At the top, Flint was able to get a better look at the building. There were many pathways hidden on the building's surface. They could be easily missed but were visible due to some currently being used by cats. Many cat carvings decorated the building, some slightly scratched away closer to the walkways. The front door was also made of glass at the top with a cat-like door at the bottom. A gold placard on the side side said "Library of Conservation" 

Flint entered the library and it was just as grand as the outside. The building boasted two stories with more cat paths in the rafters. Sunlight streamed in from every window with a reading chair or carpet near each pool. The whole place was indeed a library, books were stored on shelves that had glass paneled doors. Flint went up to a shelf and tried to open one, it was locked. That was weird. Flint walked to another shelf and pulled. Locked again. Tried both doors. Locked. "What kind of library is this?" Flint continued to try more doors.

"Would you like to look at one of our books?"

Flint stopped to look around. He spotted a male satyr smiling at him. 

"No. Why are the books locked up?"

"The head lore keeper decided to do so after many of our collection were destroyed by cats. Are you looking for something in particular?"

Flint paused to think. He didn't need any books. Why was he here? "I am looking for the Lore keeper actually!"

"Ah, she is upstairs on the terrace. I'll show you the way." The two passed by many a sleeping cat on the way. The librarian led Flint to a spiral stair case aligned with the wall. "Walk all the way up and onto the roof. If she's not in the garden, she will be in the observatory."

Flint thanked him and clomped up the stairs. When he got to the top he was greeted by another door with a cat panel at it's base. Flint opened the door to a sun soaked garden. A few cats were basking on the paths in the sunlight. "Hello? Lore keeper? Head librarian?" He called. No response. There were a lot of plants up here that Flint didn't recognize. They all smelled great though. It didn't take long to spot the observatory. It was a hard to miss dome in the middle of the roof. Flint dashed over to it, his clip-clopping very noisy on the roof. Flint opened the door "Head lore keeper??" he called out.

A rather sleepy satyr looked at him very annoyed. She didn't say anything to him and suddenly grabbed his shoulders to move him aside. "Shoo! Get off my roof you trespassers!" She ran at the cats waving her hands. She snatched a garden rake on her way over increasing her threat level. The cat hissed before scatter panicking to get away. Once the cats were gone she looked around "They squashed some of my plants." Her cat tail flicked in annoyance. She sighed.

"Head lore keeper?" Flint asked. 

The woman who had recently been chasing cats like a bat out of hell turned to look at him. She was taller than him(not hard to be when Flint is 5ft) wearing a very flowy silk robe. Her garment was decorated with cat imagery with suns and moons sparkling in gold. Around her shoulders was a shawl with golden tassels and every time she moved she tinkled from a few bells adorned on a golden necklace and arm and leg bangles. Her hair was very neatly kept with butterfly clips holding some strands back. She straightened her spectacles and walked over to him. Unlike Flint's clopping hove, her feet were silent on the concrete. In place of where her hooves would be were a pair of cat paws. "Yes?" she flicked her cat tail. 

"I'm looking for the cat spirit! The people in town said you would know how to get there."

"Ah. This way." She walked back to the observatory and entered. Inside she approached a golden door in the side of the wall. "Through there." She pointed at the opening causing her bangles to jingle.

Flint's eye lit up.

The lore keeper watched Flint. It reminded her a little of a dog. 

The door was a fairly small cat flap style door. Much bigger than a cat door but not tall enough to just walk through. The outside had cat symbolism etched into the trim with a little welcome mat at the entrance. There were a few cat paw prints on it from many passers. 

The lore keeper observed Flint in silence.

Flint squatted to get a better look. If he were to go through this door he would have to crawl through it. His back pack was small enough to fit through if he shoved it through vertically. He shoved that through first. Next he pushed the flap up to look through. He could see red plants and trees beyond. A lot of them similar to the ones grown on the terrace. He was so close to meeting the cat spirit. The very thought made him excited that he quickly tried to crawl through the door. Flint got stuck for a few moments but managed to make it through with much struggling. The cat flap swung a little bit behind him until it settled shut with a click.

"wow..I didn't think he'd try to crawl through." she shrugged and then spotted more cats. Obviously she chased them away. On her desk was a map to the cat grove but that didn't matter now.

On the other side, grass, plants, trees and flowers were all a crimson shade of red. Even some of the bugs and birds were red, blending in with the environment. Flint dusted himself off and recollected his bag. The door he had crawl through was gone. In it's place was a fortune lightglass. It was decorated with the heads of cats, each eye lit up with a red glow from the fire inside the lantern. Flint picked the lantern up and then proceeded to explore the cat grove. More butterflies flew around. Unlike their red cousins, they were a  bright white. The flowers in this area too were a different color. The flowers instead were a pale blue that appeared to twinkle like the stars. Flint looked up and saw that in this world it was night but also had the warmth and glow of an after noon sun. The ground looked like it had lots of soft grass perfect for napping in. He was starting to feel sleepy but shook it off. 

Soon Flint came across a well trodden path. On closer inspection, it was all made of sandstone with slight golden sparkles on the surface. Flint stepped onto the path. At the end was a giant gate in the distance. It reminded him of a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. If that wasn't were the cat spirit was, he didn't know where they would be. Flint quickened his pace, getting a little huffy as he dashed forward. His backpack made much noise from all the merch that was banging around in it. The lightglass swayed violently as he ran. The light from inside was casting weird shadows the forest. Many eyes watched Flint's progression. Not that the he noticed nor did he care.

The gate was a brilliant white. It seemed to shimmer with faint stairs moving within it's structure. Flint admired it's size. He placed a hand on on of it's supports. It was so smooth. A pleasuring heat seem to radiate of it. Flint hugged it and felt a comforting warmth and an almost purring vibration. Flint started to feel sleepy again so quickly pulled himself away from the pillar.

A cat sat in the middle of the gateway as if waiting. There was nothing special about the cat. It was dark in color with white pools for eyes.

It took Flint a little bit of time to notice the small cat but when he did he didn't hesitate. "Are you the cat spirit?" Flint quickly grabbed a cat treat from his bag and offered it. 

The cat stared up at him completely ignoring the offering. Stretching and standing up it turned away. Flicking up it's tail they ran deeper into the forest.

Flint of course chased after it. "I have other cat stuff!" Flint cursed himself. One simple cat treat. He should have given the cat god the whole bag. Flint's hooves now clapped wildly as he ran. Cats seemed to pop out of every nook and canny in the woods. All of them sitting silently watching. All he cared about now was catching up to the cat and hope he could try again. 

Flint chased the cat to a clearing. More of the shimmering flowers and butterflies were here with many cats gathered around. The light here was even more comfortable and soothing. In the center was a giant tree with ever stretching canopies. The cat that was leading Flint stopped when they got to the base of the tree and then sat.

Flint stopped to catch his breath. Holding his knees and breathing heavily. He spotted another cat. This one was much bigger than all the rest sitting at the base of the tree. Maybe this was the real cat spirit.

End Part 1