Sonhu's heart pounded in his chest. His fur stood on end. Writhing, twisting, struggling under the grasp of the tendrils. The being loomed over him. She was tall. Almost inhumanly tall. Her skin was a deep olive tone, and her hair was long, straight, and jet-black. The most striking aspect of her appearance was her eyes.
A deep, piercing purple. Her gaze was uncomfortable and alien.
"Do what exactly, my little kitty?" Her voice was soft and comforting, but underneath it was something indescribable. Laced with authority and presence, the words washed over Sonhu like waves. He shuddered.
She lowered herself, resting her arms lazily on the altar next to Sonhu's head. She laid her head down on her arms and watched him. Sonhu cocked his head to the side to meet her gaze and then growled at her. Deep and guttural. He had not intended to growl, but his body seemed to respond on its own.
"Feisty." The being said, with soft amusement. Her voice was calm, and her tone was soft, soothing Sonhu's mind, but his body remained tense nonetheless. On edge, as if it knew something he did not. She reached out with her hand and stroked his face, grazing his fur. He recoiled from her touch. She pulled back, and her jaw clenched slightly, and a momentary frustration flashed across her face before it returned to its softer expression.
"If I let my grip go, do you promise not to run?" She says coyly. Sonhu watched her. Quiet observation. As the moment stretched on, her brow furrowed, and her posture shifted. She continued. Hints of annoyance in her voice, "Fine, but I'm trusting you."
The tendrils released their grip on Sonhu, and instantly, he rolled off the altar and, on all fours, backed his way into a corner of a room. As he did so, the tendrils quickly shot out and towards the door across the room from Sonhu, blocking the passageway.
Sonhu studied the tendrils from the corner. Remaining crouched, he paced back and forth in his corner. The being watched him for a moment, her posture tense and anticipating. Watching him with those intent eyes. Slowly, her body relaxed, and she began to take steps towards him. The dark mist flowed out from around her as if it emitted from her. It seeped around the floor, tracing swirling patterns like a snake slithering across the floor, rising and obscuring the room. Sonhu jumped back as it neared him. The room was quickly engulfed except for a thin path between him and the entity. Sonhu nervously reached out into the dark fog. Testing it.
Chilling. It sent shivers running from the tips of his fingers, shooting all the way up his arm and spiraling through his spine and then the rest of his body. His hand retreated quickly, almost on its own. Sonhu looked back to the entity and retreated further, his back now against the wall as she hovered over him.
"What do you think you are doing, my kitty?" She asked, her cold voice snaking into his mind. Sonhu darted around her briskly, retreating across the floor until he reached the other end of the fog wall. Whatever she was, she had let him live until now, but the small path was closing, and Sonhu couldn't help but get a claustrophobic feeling as she stepped closer, and the path only became smaller. This odd game of cat and mouse was approaching a more and more unavoidable end.
"Why do you insist on running?" She asked, a twinge of frustration and sadness seeping into her words. Questions blazed through Sonhu's mind. He thought of how to respond and how to demand answers, but all his words seemed caught in his throat. All he could do was shrink back further. She was upon him once again. Her domineering figure towering over him.
"What… what are you?" Sonhu finally managed to choke out.
"I am Ketra." The being said so definitively as if she expected that to answer all questions. She reached out her hand towards Sonhu. Instinct screamed at him once again, and his body tensed to move, but then the voice suddenly became silent, and his body relaxed. Sonhu gasped at the sudden quelling of the urge. Its silence felt alien and unnatural. Ketra held Sonhu's chin now between her thumb and index. Tendrils peaked their way through the fog and slithered their way toward Sonhu; he remained motionless in his crouched position.
His mind cried out to his body to move, but there was no response. The tendrils wrapped themselves around Sonhu slowly, gently. Climbing up and around his legs, then his torso, and resting on him, not heavy, but present around him.
"Tell me, my little kitty, what is your name?"
"Sonhu." His mouth moved abruptly and responded without thought. His own voice betrayed him.
"Sonhu…" She repeated with a delightful pur, his ears twitching uncomfortably as she did, "Tell me, Sonhu, why do you flee from me?"
One of the tendrils had made its way up to his head and slithered around, rubbing against his chin. Sonhu wanted to pull away, but his body refused to move. The tendrils were cool to the touch, not cold, and they pulsed rhythmically. They were smooth and soft, but Sonhu knew how strong they could be when they wanted to be.
Ketra's eyes continued to pierce him expectantly. Sonhu pondered how to best answer the question. What answer would let me live? Her jaw shifted, and her eyes narrowed, and the tendrils grasp tightened subtly. She's growing impatient. Sonhu thought to himself.
"I don't know…" Sonhu replied carefully. An easy answer to test the waters. Nothing committal yet. She is still unpredictable and dangerous.
"Don't know what?" She inquired further, leaning closer. The tendrils shifted as she did, readjusting. A numbness rippled through Sonhu, but now he could wiggle his fingers. He focused on this. He could not move his body entirely, but it was something. The numbness that persisted felt as though they had been asleep, and now they had begun to wake.
"I didn't know, I was being… pursued," Sonhu said, watching her movements, feeling the natural swell of the tendrils. She raised an eyebrow, and the tendrils constricted slightly around him.
"Really? Even in my temple?" She said, her voice tainted with suspicion. Damn. Sonhu thought. His tail flicked, once again his to control, but she didn't seem to notice.
"You must understand… my suspicion and… misconception there. I didn't know what you were then." I still don't know. Sonhu added, but only in thought. The tentacles loosened. Readjusted. Then, they returned their grip. It seems to do that when she is thinking. Sonhu noted a small window of time, but something was missing.
"Suspicion?" She said, her eyes narrowing, "Even after I brought you back, protected you from those Humans." She said the word Humans with disgust. His instincts moaned groggily at him to run, the voice finally coming to life.
"Well… I was a bit disoriented after I… returned, so I wasn't thinking all that clearly when I ran." Sonhu countered quickly. The numbness in his body had now been replaced by soreness in his muscles, but there was still a feeling. The tendrils readjusted again.
"Then why are you still afraid?" She asked, her gaze fixed, her eyes questioning.
"Well… uhm," Sonhu scrambled for words. Ketra's eyes narrowed, and the tendrils began to adjust. Now or never. As they loosened their grip, Sonhu twisted in their looser grasp and managed to slip through them. Ketra stepped back, shocked. The tendrils grasped at him somewhat aimlessly, a momentary pause, then became focused, and frustration shone through Ketra's face.
The tendrils jumped at him, but he was quick. The way they shot out was in sweeping movements. They can curve their move moment, but it is mostly fixed. He ducked and weaved as he made his way to the edge of the mist.
There is a momentary pause as his body wants to recoil from the wall, but he pushes through into the dark fog.
He scrambled through the darkness, the cold clinging to him and seeping deep into his skin. It was hard to breathe, and the air was thin, but Sonhu pushed through, scrambling to find the walls of the room and orient himself; however, the wall never came. He was sure the room had not been this big.
Sonhu's muscles were weary, and he slowly collapsed to the ground. The dirt was coarse against his fur… Dirt? He ran his hand across the ground. A rocky, cold, dirt floor greeted it. Sonhu felt around the floor, but there was nothing but dirt and rocks.
After a few moments, the tendrils found him. They wrapped themselves around him gently. This time, he did not resist. They dragged him through the endless fog until eventually pulling him back through the mist wall, and he was back in the room with Ketra. She glared at him with her purple accusatory eyes. All he could do was stare at her, defeated.
"Seems you really can't be trusted at all." She said, her words coated in disappointment. The tendrils lifted Sonhu to her. She reached out and placed her hand on Sonhu's forehead. Her palm was warm and familiar, like a comfortable ray of sun. Sonhu's body reacted to it, pushing his head into it, nuzzling the warmth, then—
All the color faded to black and white, Sonhu's head lulled back, and the room slowly faded away until he was alone in the darkness.