At first, the booming voices were scary. But they were somewhat familiar to the child, though she didn't know how. She was sure she had never heard those voices before. However, they mentioned some form of bet, mazes to go run. Neera agreed that it sounded fun, and would be happy to help the fox-child to go through it. On the back of a dragon, a form that the puca really did not like using for such luxuries, the pair sped off in the direction of Vada Valley. When they got there, not that many people were outside, as most should already be attempting a maze.

"Maze like puzzle?" Akira asked, to which Neera nodded in her ferret form upon the child's shoulder. The pair entered, and the child was entranced. Knowing that the fox was likely not going to move for a little bit, the puca jumped down, darted over to the scroll. Climbing up the wall, she began to read. "Huh, so the orbs are the keys to the maze. It takes two for each maze." "Keys?""Yup, put one in each groove on the ground. Each orb is a different thing." Snowy tail swishing, Akira grabbed two random orbs and darted to the magical circle behind the shrines. "Akira, wait!"

The puca jumped off the wall, rushing to Akira's side. Which two had she chosen? Praying it neither was death, Neera closed her eyes as a bright white light enveloped them. Blinking their eyes, Akira darted down a random path with giggles. "Akira!" It was a job and a half keeping up with that child! Many, blind turns were made, and Neera had forgotten exactly the way they had gone. By the time that the puca caught up with the child, Akira was standing before a monolith of a pillar, sparkling golden with promised treasure. Plopping down on her butt, arms crossed with a pout on her face, Akira said three words that she'd never dream of ever hearing from the child. "I give up."

Cerberus stretched out on the table in the middle of the library. Opened before him was a story book a patron was reading. The story told of a cat, and a dragon who met in an ancient ruin. The friendship was short lived. It had saved his life, and he had cleaned it in kind. Eventually the dragon became over possessive of the cat. It began to lash out at everyone that would approach him. There was even once a nice lady who wished to adopt him, but the dragon wouldn't have it. The dragon flipped out on both, after a long arduous conflict the deities of Revaliir had banished the dragon to a land far away. They also made it impossible for her to return.

The cat yawned, and sat up. He woke up from what he swore was a terrible nightmare. The patron stopped reading, and glanced over at him. “Hello kitty, have a nice nap?” an out stretched hand scratched behind his ear. Cerberus meowed as an affirmation, and began purring. The patron had been coming more, and more recently, he would visit the orange cat and read to him. At first he was confused by the cats appearance, because the cat was wearing glasses. The librarian stated that the cat was already wearing them when he showed up. The librarian was a kindhearted lady who took him in out of the rain. She was getting along in the years, and flowing gray hair covered her head. She adopted the cat right away because she had needed a companion.

But that day a voice echoed across the land. It seemed that the goddesses had dreamt up a challenge for brave travelers. Luckily for him, the valley wasn't that far of a journey. The cat walked over to the librarian's desk, and hopped up on it, careful not to knock anything off. He looked in her eyes, and meowed. “What's up Kitty?” She heard the summons, and then looked at the cat as it glanced towards the ceiling, and its ears twitched. It mowed again, and turned towards the door. “I understand, it's time for you to move on,” the old lady let him out into the street, “I'll miss you be careful little one!” A single tear rolled down her wrinkly face as she watched the cat take off down the street towards the north.

The cart stopped just outside the gathering. The driver shooed off the cart after all the other passengers had disembarked. “End of the line kitty, “ as the cat darted off towards the maze the driver found a silver laying where the cat was sleeping. He turned in the direction the cat ran, and scoffed, pocketing the coin. Inside, Cerberus scoped out the crowd. He watched carefully deciding who he would tail into the maze. Plenty of heroes lined the outside waiting to enter. There were people of various ages, genders, races. There were even a few beast types like him. He spied a young fox girl, traveling with animal companions. He followed them through the entrance, and attempted to stay out sight. When he caught up to them he took an over look position of of sight, to his amazement she grabbed whatever orb she wanted and placed two random one next to each other. Which did she pick, he wondered to himself. He followed slowly behind as they went through the portal. By the time he caught up with them, the little one had stopped, and sat on the ground, It was clear that she was discouraged, and had given up. Cerberus approached slowly, and meowed at her, and motioned to the pillar.

Neera's ferret eyes watched the approaching kitty with a narrowed distrust. Just who the heck does this cat think he is, waltzing right up to Akira. The child in question blinked and looked at the cat, to the pillar, and back to the cat, her innocent eyes huge with wonder. "What you want with pillar? Obviously, it broken. Too high for Akira to climb!" With a sigh, the puca came up to them. "Akira, all you have to do is ask. Besides, what happened to your language? It's gotten atrocious since you've left your mothers' house!" She shrugged.

"Could you get Akira some shiny?" the question was asked as the child pointed up there. Another sigh escaped the puca as she shimmered and changed her shape to a small blue jay. Flapping her new wings, Neera attempted to make the flight. However, no matter how high she went, the top of the pillar remained that much further out of reach. It seemed that the child was not fated to have this treasure. Returning to her ward, the puca returned back to her ferret state. "Sorry, Akira. It's magically enchanted out of our reach. Perhaps if we finish the mazes without being foolish, we can find the treasures you seek?"

Akira pouted, arms crossed. "But I wanna give up!" Something nagged at her mind however, as she turned her attention to the cat. Why was it here? Was this part of the test? "Kitty…" With a gasp, she pointed at the cat as she looked at Neera. "Puca! The kitty is not ghost!" "Excellent deduction. Now that we have that out of the way, can we just leave it and continue on with this? You wanted to return home to your parents, didn't you?" The child nodded, stood and scooped up the cat. "I take Kitty. It be my shiny. Like its glasses." Akira giggled as she began walking around the pillar, the forbidden treasures completely forgotten now.

Cerberus watched the ferret change from its form into a bird. He tilted his head in curiosity as it soared to the top of the pillar. Only, as hard as it would try, the small blue jay could not reach the top. It seemed as if some type of magic was keeping the treasure out of reach. His animal instincts caused him to pay more attention to the bird though. His tail swung back, and fourth as his golden eyes zeroed in on the little birdy as it swayed from side to side. After a little bit the bird came back down, and changed back to the ferret.

The fox girl had seemed disgruntled by the restrictions set in front of them. The cat could tell she was still quite young, and that she had very little patience. But it makes sense for the goddesses to create a sort of magic barrier there. It would make it too easy if they could just fly to the treasures. Considering the variation of powerful beings in Revaliir it would be over quickly. Prizes this valuable would come with a great challenge. But just what could they do to solve these puzzles?

The cat lost its train of thought as it was picked up off the ground. The girl had scooped him up, and cuddled him as they left the pillar. The ferret seemed annoyed by the things she said. The cat glanced up at the girl, and meowed. He sure did love being carried around. It took him back to the old days, when he once adventured with the daughter of a goddess, but that was ages ago he thought. The mazes walls seemed to close in at one point then open back up as the approached another open chamber. Cerberus nuzzled into the fox girl's embrace. He wondered if the shapeshifter would get jealous of him. Usually animal companions are a bit territorial.

Neera sighed yet again. ”Are you seriously going to carry that mangy thing around? What if he’s got fleas? Or he’s carrying a disease? You’re part animal, you may be more susceptible to catch them.” The orange cat meowed and nuzzled into the foxling. Shaking her head, the puca shifted once more into a full grown Bengal tiger, walking next to the child and her new companion.

”Relax, Neera. Kitty cute! You need a name… Let’s see…” In the open chamber, there was a fountain of which they could all drink from. It perked all of their spirits, giving them renewed perseverance ”How about…Coco?” the child giggled as she continued walking down the path, not actually paying attention to which turns she had or should have made. ”Akira, you’re walking around in circles. Let’s take this path instead.”

”Neera, why you stay with me? Akira knows you like Akira, but why?” Another pillar shot up before them, with more treasure on top. Still unclimbable as the first, and Akira knew better than to ask. Glaring at the treasure on top, the child pouted. ”That unfair! Gods mean. Keeping shiny from Akira. Which direction you think we should go, Coco? Akira want to get away from shinies, sitting up there, calling my name.”

The tiger hung back, now, watching the child with sorrowful eyes. ”Because… I made a promise…” she whispered, mostly to herself. This was not a conversation she wanted to have just yet.

As he thought, the shapeshiftrer was very territorial. Cerberus sneezed at the thought of him having fleas. How dare she, this cat had lived with a godesses daughter, in temples, libraries, and was always well taken care of. The cat nuzzled his head into the child's are, and shot a curious look.

There seemed to be a fight between the two. Maybe fight wasn't accurate, but the child began asking hard questions. He could see the hurt in it's eyes. The shapeshifrer was now a fully grown bangal tiger. He had to admit, it was gorgeous, but that sad look. He felt like he should say something, but didn't want to cause more tension in the group.

They came upon another tower. Like the first one, it was topped with gleaming treasure. Not to his surprise the fox was complaining again about the height, and unobtainable treasure. The test seemed to be difficult, but to be fair they really didn't plan out which orbs to use. They were completely unprepared, and this Akira, had a very short attention span.

He could get use to the name coco. Its not the worst name he has been given, and it seemed quite endearing. The orange cat pointed his paw toward a path to the left. The girl asked if he was sure, and he meowed in confirmation. He wondered how long he could keep this up, eventually he might let something slip. Would the tiger tear him to shreds for his deceit? Most people either are shocked or immediately untrusting.

At this point the tiger had started to fall behind a bit. Coco stared at it through Akiras arms. I seemed to say something but it was to low to hear. The approached a fork in the road. To the left was another tower visible in the distance. To the right was barely visible as the path curved off to another direction not far into the path.   Cerberus jumped down and strode slowly down the path to the right, he glanced back at the to beckoning them to follow.

To her surprise, the cat pointed towards a path. Arching an eyebrow, the child gazed skeptically upon the fluffball in her arms. "Coco sure?" Did the cat actually understand what she was saying? Sure enough, the cat gave a meow. "Okay, Akira trust you!" The fact that cats typically didn't understand to common tongues completely forgotten as she took the suggested path.

While Neera seemed silent, the child pushed on ahead, following the trail until a fork was presented. "Why maze hard? Choices, choices. Just like Life. Choose eat or starve. Full belly or pain keep Akira up all night?"  Coco jumped out of her arms, insisting the right one. "I don't like the look of this…" Neera had pressed up against Akira's hand now. "Something smells fishy. Do you notice it, Akira?" Tentatively, Akira sniffed at the air.

"No, Akira smell nothing." She went to follow  the cat when the puca jumped to block her path. "Child, think!" Exasperated, the foxling tried to push the puca away. "Shush, Neera! We follow Coco." Neera didn't like this, and was now towering over the cat, growling her disagreement. "No ordinary cat understands speech. What are you?" Despite Akira's efforts to pull the tiger away, Neera held fast. The child burst into tears. "Stop it! Stop it!" Yet, Neera was just trying to do her job and protect the charge she had been given.

He could hear the commotion behind him. This companion was very protective, more like a caregiver than an animal companion, he thought. What was their story, and where did it come from? His thoughts were cut off as he looked up to see the tiger towering over him. It inquired about his true identity. It was true real cats don’t understand the common tongue. Cerberus whipped it’s tail from side to side, and stared the tiger in it’s eyes. These intimidation tactic might work. He walked slowly to the side, but it matched his moves. Akira was yelling in the back ground.

Should he break the illusion here or make up something? He could lie now, but might get torn to shreds later. He couldn’t begin to comprehend the amount of forms the shape shifter could take. Fighting was probably the worst choice he could make. But how would he approach it? The tiger was still growling, and bearing it’s teeth. They looked as if they could tear his body to pieces. He glanced backwards towards Akira, then back at the tiger.

“Kitty has got teeth I see,” He said cocky like. He took a defensive stance. “You aren’t the only one out there who can speak, and understand common." He watched her teeth closely and changed the tone of his voice. "Though I can’t take any fancy forms like you can.” Cerberus began to back away slowly from the tiger. He was fearful how she would react. A talking cat wasn’t very common, and less so was his kind. He hadn’t seen a relative for decades.

“Should we really do this in front of the child?” Cerberus inquired, buying some time. He was gaining no distance as the tiger was matching his moves, step by step. Maybe it thought he meant to hurt the child. It was protective to the fault that it seemed to trust nobody, “Show your true form, and I promise I’ll show you mine.” As he said this he leapt backwards over the child, and head back towards the tower, he wondered truly how fast the tiger was. He quickly ran into a dead end. “Oh come on that isn’t fair!” Apparently the maze changed behind them. He heard the rapid approaching steps of the tiger, and turned to face it. Cerberus changed into his human form, and bowed before the tiger, “I guess the cats out of the bag, “ he chuckled nervously.

Akira’s cries ceased the moment a new voice was heard, perking her ears. Her eyes, red rimmed and wet with tears, gazed upon the cat with extreme shock. ”No, but I’m not masquerading around, pretending to be something I’m not. It was true, Neera could take many forms, some fearsome, some cute and unintimidating to the extreme. As the child watched the display, unmoving, Coco attempted to back up, Neera matching, refusing to let her tactics fall.

”You wouldn’t stand a chance.” the puca chuckled darkly. Of course, if she could help it, she would not put the child in harm’s way by fighting this close to her. A bark of laughter escaped her throat, leaping over Akira to chase the runaway. Now, the shock was wearing off as the child began to give chase, calling both of their names, begging them to stop. ”I wouldn’t want to scare Akira!” It was true that pucas in their natural state are not the most pleasant of creatures to behold, and thus they prefer to polymorph into more pleasing forms.

What happened next stunned both child and protector. Before them, bowing low and chuckling nervously was a boy. Too old to be a child, yet too young to be a man. While Neera was smuggly grinning, sitting back on her haunches, Akira giggled and clapped her hands. ”Teach Akira! Pretty trick! Please Coco!” She ran up to him, skirting around Neera’s paw that wished to subdue her, and threw herself in Coco’s lap. ”Teach Akira be animal too!”

Cerberus couldn’t tell yet if revealing his true for was a good idea or not. Before him was the tiger glaring at his new form. After he finished laughing he continued with a nervous smile. The tiger now grinned down at him, and his initial thought was that couldn’t be good. His cat like ears twitched under his orange hair. In the back ground he heard the child giggling, and clapping her hands. To his surprise the little one was amused by his transformation. Usually when people find out about his true form, they act offended and untrusting because he was hiding something from them.

The child plopped down in his lap, and begged him to teach her how to change. He nervously laughed, trying to figure out how to tell her exactly why he couldn’t in a way she’d understand. His kind wasn’t very common, and they were also very secretive about who knew their secrets. Cerberus stretched out a hand, and rubbed the child’s head. “I really do mean you no harm, you can stand down now.” He smiled at the child, then at the tiger. It was still watching over the girl like a hawk, probably assumed he meant her harm.

“I am what’s referred to as a Tibbit,” Cerberus started, “We are a race of shape shifters who only have 2 forms, that of a house cat, and the human like creature you see now.” He flexed his hands, it had been a long time since he used this form. Last year or so he had taken up residence in a library, and choose not to show the form, mainly because he didn’t want to give the older librarian a heart attack. He had spent many years in libraries before that, including one in a goddesses realm. “And what of you my feline friend,” he gestured toward the tiger, “I know of a few races of shape shifters whose true forms would scare mostly anyone, but which are you?” He patted the floor next to him, beckoning the tiger to come sit next to them.