“So how exactly did you get this way?” The child asked, leaning forward on the bed to get a better look at the black and white cat.

“Well... do you want the long story, or the short one?”

“I gotta get to bed by 9:00 so better make it the short one... but don’t leave any good parts out!”

“Ok then, lets see. I guess I’d have to go all the way back to the second day of my life. That’s 234 years ago, if you were wondering.”

Chapter 1

The first 5 years

The small kitten stumbled slowly away from his mother and three brothers. At only one and a half days old his eyes were already open and gathering in all the marvelous things in his small domain. Witch really only consisted of a empty beer barrel on its side, with some leaves over the opening. He was the oldest of the four kittens, also he was the only one to have any coloring like his father, who was a very fat black and white house cat.

The kitten was black with white paws, white tip at the end of his tail, a large white belly and a V-shaped white just under his eyes, but above his nose. His nose, he found, was by far his favorite thing. He could tell a lot about everything with it, and it was also for his nose that a small child happened to stop and see him.

A girl, with light green hair slowly took some of the leaves away and uncovered the liter with the mother. “Oh my, how cute!” She picked the adventurous kitten up and then ran back to her house. “Mommy, mommy! Look what I got! Can I keep him?”

Her mother looked down at the small bundle in the childes arms then smiled. “Ok Rydia, but you have to take care of it.”

“I will!” The girl ran into her room and set the cat down on her bed. “I guess you need a name huh?” She asked petting him on the head gently. He purred and then looked up at her, his eyes shining brightly. “How about Cait?” He purred again and then started to bat at her hair playfully.

2 years later

“Come on Cait! Hurry up!” The girl and her cat ran swiftly threw the forest until. “HERE!” She cried out, and stopped suddenly. “Here it is!”

The cat almost slammed into her feet, but some how managed to stop and look. There was a large metal ring imbedded in the ground. It was very shiny , and had markings all over it.

“You know what this is?” The girl asked, knowing she wouldn’t get an answer. “Its a summon ring. This ones for Phoenix, the bird of fire and also eternal life! Should I call it?” She said already sitting by the edge of it and starting to read the inscriptions.

After she was done a large fire bird flew out of the sky and down at them. It stopped for a moment and looked at the to, then it roared loudly. “Those who foolishly summon me with out reason, shell die!” He then formed a fire ball and threw it down at them.

Cait instinctively jumped in front of his master and was hit by the fire. He then jumped up at there attacker and slashed at the bird with his small cat claws. The fire beast hit the animal to the ground and almost laughed.

“Your very brave little one.” Then the bird flew off and vanished over the forest.

Cait stayed there for a minute more and growled low until he saw it was safe and walked back to his master.

“Oh Cait. You saved me!” Rydia scooped up the animal and hugged him close. “I’m sorry, I just wanted to summon it. Just so I could prove I could.” She cried slightly but stopped when she felt Cait’s little cold nose nudge against her face. She looked down at him and smiled. “Thank you Cait.” She hugged him again, then stood up. “Come on, lets get back home!”

---

“After that day I seamed to stay the same.”

“What do mean?” The boy asked, enthralled by the talking animal.

“Well... it’s kind of hard to explain. I think something happened when I attacked Phoenix. Maybe it was getting hit by the fire and staying alive or maybe not. But that’s the only explanation for it really.” He stopped talking and curled up into a ball and shut his eyes.

“And then?” The child edged closer.

“I thought you wanted the short story...”

“Well, how’d you learn to talk? And how‘d you get here?”

The cat let out a long breath, “Now that, can take a lot of explaining.”

“So, I wantta know.”

“If you insist.” He got up again and walked in front of the boy and sat down. “It wasn’t long before I was a stray cat again. Only about 3 years later, that’s right the day that they came to the village. It started like every other day, Rydia wanted to go pick some flowers so I went with her but then...”

---

“Oh look at this one Cait!” The girl picked up a light purple flower that had faint blue lines on the edge, “Mommy will love this!” When she didn’t see the cat by her feet, she looked around for him.

The cat pounced on a butterfly but missed. “There you are Cait! What on earth are you doing?”

He looked up surprised that she wasn’t praising him for saving her from the terrible creature he just scared away. “Oh Cait you silly boy, you don’t have to attack butterflies.” She picked him up and cradled him in her arms. “Your so weird.” They played for a wile longer then headed back to the village.

But then when they got back they found the most horrible sight, the village had been attacked. Rydia immediately found her mother. “Mommy what happened!”

“My dragon... it was... killed... and then... they came... Rydia...” Slowly she lost her last breath of air and her form drooped as she laid motionless on the ground.

Both the child and cat were in shock until they saw to men approach. One a lancer and the other a knight, both were in black.

“Your the one’s who did it!”

“Hey wait a minute kid...” One of the men tried to say but she continued.

“You killed her!” Rydia quickly chanted a spell and the earth started to shake. Cait tried to run to her but was hit back.

When he woke he was out side in the forest, lost. Slowly he stood and looked around. It was dark and a little cold so he decided to search for his master or the village. He walked for a long time until he came to a cave. Exhausted from the day and the long walk he slowly jumped up and into the dark cave. Soon after he found a clear dry place to lay he fell fast asleep...

To Be Continued