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Prompt: The village always has dull weather during the daytime, but it's easy enough to navigate through. Though the sky is cloudy and little light breaks through, by nighttime the climate changes. The air cools rapidly and within an hour of the sun setting, a chilling mist rolls from the forest and covers the village. It is almost suffocating and inhaling it even for only a moment will result in hallucinations. The visions are terrifying, often including shadows covering everything, the sensation of eternal falling, and the appearance of a great beast attacking. These hallucinations are always frightening and can last anywhere from a few moments through the entire night. There is no way to dispel the fog and it is too dangerous to stay outside past sundown.

Cybele had been out in the city alone for only the second time. She had meant to go draining, to keep up with her duties, but she had found herself distracted by something else.

The sky.

She'd heard that the sky was blue, but when she'd teleported into the park, it had been a flaming orange-red in a way that had made her breath catch. She'd sat under a tree for a full hour and simply stared upwards, only really focusing on the draining bit when passerbys came close enough for her to reach out and tug away some of their energy.

The sky changed. It turned bloody crimson and then a darker shade of red. The clouds were coming in thicker and thicker, each one a darker and darker shade of soft violet or gray. Eventually the clouds came even lower, obscuring the skyline. Fog. That was the word.

Then, everything was brighter again, but the colors were gone. The trees were different, too, Cybele noticed with the same. She stared at them the same way she'd been staring at the sunset, although she was soon interrupted.

Someone was talking, and when she turned, she found herself face to face with the largest cat she'd ever seen. "Oh, hello," she said, and her face softened. She smiled, and her instincts told her to reach out a hand, so she did. "Is there a conundrum?"

Was it the sudden change in weather? She still didn't quite know what was normal.

She was so soft. Cybele ran a hand through her fluff, and then both hands. Ever since she'd awoken in the Negaverse barracks, she'd simply gone along with what she'd been told, not seeing any reason to argue, but now?

Now she wanted to help this cat. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to, though.

"A forest," she said, glancing around. She could see the triangular shapes of roofs off in the distance, although they were quite different from the tall, square apartment buildings that had ringed the park where she'd been sitting. "A village? We must have been teleported, but I'm not sure where. I'm new. I don't know the city very well." She shrugged, apologetic.

She glanced down, blinking slowly. Cats liked that, she somehow knew. "Would you like to look around, or should we go back?" Despite her claims of being new, she had the wings of an Eternal. She could get them to the castle.

"Hidden?" Cybele glanced down at her hands for a moment, but they didn't seem hidden. It must be something else, then. "What is it that you guardian cats do, exactly? You're the first one I've met."

After giving her one more soft pat on the head, Cybele rose to her feet. "As for me, I'm Cybele, Senshi of the Hunt. I should be able to fight if it comes to that. We can protect each other, all right?" She hadn't tried, yet, at least not against enemies, but a trip to the training hall had proven that she had the muscle memory for it. Perhaps she'd find something dangerous here, in these woods.

She glanced back towards the buildings in the distance. "Those look the most curious to me," she said. "Shall we?" She began to walk in that direction.

When Cybele closed her eyes as instructed, she could feel the pinpricks of energy scattered around the forest around them. "Auras?" she asked, voice quiet. "You can hide them? That's a useful skill." She couldn't feel her own aura, but she knew from the generals she'd met that it was very strong, even at a distance. It was difficult to be a huntress when magic announced your every move.

Her smile widened as she looked down at the cat, who was both beautiful and capable of making her much more effective.

They made their way through the forest slowly at first. That was the best way to observe things. The light was shifting here, too, Cybele noticed. It was getting darker. This would be her second sunset, and so soon after the first. Although this one seemed to be skipping the red and going straight to the gray. Interesting.

"It's just mist, isn't it?" It did send goosebumps up her arms, but that had often happened in her trips to the city as well. Her clothing was loose. It did little to keep out the cold.

Then, the mist reached her nose and mouth and shot up her sinuses, cold as ice. Her eyes went blank and distant, and for a moment her entire body shivered.

She couldn't quite describe what she saw. It was all bits and pieces. She thought she saw a skull with dark, living, eyes inside of it, and a flash of antlers. She was sure she saw claws, sharp and deadly. They slashed towards her and drove the breath from her body.

She blinked and was back in the forest, although she bent down with a heavy sigh, her hands on her knees. "You're right. There's something dangerous out here," she said. Looking over the guardian for a moment, she extended her arms, not seeming intimidated by her size. "I can carry you, if you'd like. I should be faster, especially if I use my magic."

If there was a time for that, it was right now.

"I'm all right," said Cybele with a practiced smile, although there was still something about her gaze that wasn't quite there. This sweet cat did not deserve to worry. "Whatever it is is in the mist. As long as we avoid that-"

Cybele trailed off, not sure how to finish the thought. It wouldn't be wise to make promises about the safety of these woods, but also now that the mist had passed some of the deep-set feeling of dread had passed, too. The weight and warmth of the cat leaping into her arms helped, as well. Cybele caught her easily and settled her against her chest. Her smile widened as a soft cat cheek brushed against hers.

"Swift I can do," she whispered. It took some shifting to get her hands free enough to use her magic, but she managed it. "Hunter's Grace," she whispered, and when the bow formed, she did her best to fire it upwards. The magic came back to her, and she could feel everything shift into sharper focus. She could see the very edges of the mist.

Then she ran, and she ran unnaturally fast, even for an Eternal. She could feel the wind at her back, and every texture of the ground under her feet. Her eyes were locked on the shape of one building. It was the closest one from what she could tell, and that was where she ran, even as a branch or two caught in her hair.

They got there quickly, and Cybele was glad to find the door unlocked. "Here," she said, as she nudged the door open with her shoulder.

The paint was peeling off the walls in curls. Cybele rested her fingertips on the wall and some of the paint chipped off entirely. She couldn't remember the insides of many houses, she knew enough to know that this one was in a bit of a rough condition. The floor creaked as she stepped across it, but it didn't collapse.

The windows were solid enough to keep the mist out, and that was all Cybele could ask for now.

"I don't think wolves could break in here," she said as she finished a lap around the main room. "Perhaps something bigger could, but it doesn't appear to have done so yet." The fact that this house seemed abandoned didn't exactly bode well for the safety of this place, but there were no signs of a struggle, either.

She started trying the doors. She found a kitchen first, although it looked very different from the modern ones she'd seen so far, with its woodstove and simple sink. There was a closet, too. Behind the third door was a large, simple bed that seemed sturdy enough.

Cybele touched it first, then sat down carefully. It didn't collapse, and she found herself relaxing a little, her shoulders sagging.

"A dream?" she asked. She ran a hand over the mattress, where she could feel the tiny threads. She didn't think she'd be able to do that in a dream. Her brow furrowed. "I'm not sure. My mind was damaged when I was brought over, but not in the way that I see things."

In that moment, she realized how much she needed to be able to trust her senses. She glanced back to the Mauvian. "You're not a dream, are you?"

Cybele took off the tiara, and also the shoes and all of the thorny decorations that were on her wrists and heels. There wasn't much that could be done about the wings, but those were only lumpy, not quite sharp, and they laid flat enough once she shifted her position a few times.

She put an arm around the Guardian and scratched, sleepily, behind her ears.

"You are very warm," she murmured, "And I'm glad to have met you, even if it was only a dream."

Having such a large and soft cat nearby did wonders for chasing away the memories of the frigid mist, and before long Cybele found herself drifting off with a smile on her face.