No doubt about it, Nahai was going to be a huge city. I wasn’t even technically in the city, still in the outskirts, and yet it seemed as if I had been walking forever. The ground I walked on was grass, but further ahead it changed to dirt. Visible from the outskirts of the city stood a few rather tall buildings. They were so tall that they stood a few feet above the large, narrow trees that lined up along the outskirts of the city.
A few minute of walking and I stepped among a dirt pathway that curved outward to form a larger path. I became crowded in-between by many small wooden houses that were spaced out far enough from each other to be comfortable, but close enough so that it made the area seem crowded. The houses on the sides of the main path stood facing each other, but ones behind them along the intersecting dirt path faced otherwise, with no apparent order.
As I walked along the main pathway I noticed young cats at play; adults doing their laundry and other outside chores; and even farmers who worked in flooded fields planting their rice stalks, milking farm animals, or harvesting crops. This small town was definitely the suburbs of the city, where all the food and supplies were made with manual labor, and business was made with the city to supply them with these needs. In any sort of business like this, the town supplies their work in exchange for money to the city, and the town then uses the money for other things to buy. Of course, the town still keeps a little less than half of the supplies they make, otherwise they would have nothing to live off of.
Traveling further into the town, I came to spot a few cats here and there sparring with each other using real swords. They must have been training to be accepted as a fighter, or whatever form of human defense the cats used in the city. I also saw burly looking cats pounding metal on an anvil, most likely making the swords that the sparring cats were fighting with. Other workers were fixing houses and other forms of carpentry.
This was when I realized that the cat and wolf nagual were not so different, that in fact, we were much the same. Both of our species had to work for a living, and living wasn’t always easy. But they both tried to make the best of it, no matter what happened. Then the terrain changed from dirt to concrete tile.
As I walked into the city, I saw many cats bustling everywhere, market stands posted around in a very organized manner, and many cats in armor. The armor-clad cats wore metal shoulder pads, grieves and gauntlets to protect their body. They also wore a brown belt, and dark blue clothing underneath, the shirt being decorated with a pattern consisting of lighter blues. Some carried around a sword and shield, while others carried just a spear, and some wore a helmet while others did not. The helmet was designed so that it came down over the eyes just above the nose, and curved in a v-shape up to their ears, which stuck out of the helmet, along with a bit of their hair, and curved sharply back down the back of their head. The helmet also had a complex symbol on the front of it, colored in a dark blue.
These armor-wearing cats were apparently knights of the city, destined to protect it and its inhabitants from any danger. Most of the knights stood around looking serious about their jobs, but why so many of them were needed, I did not know, even though they were the only peacekeepers for the city.
I realized then just how different the wolves and cats were. The wolves had no fancy metal armor. Instead we had only leather armor. The closes thing we had to concrete was the rock on the land that nature provided. Our cities were smaller than the cats town, and supplied less. Compared to the cats, the wolves lives were not as luxurious, but that didn’t mean we were not any less happy.
I continued walking despite this thought until a large castle came into my view. The outside of the castle was a light silver with dark gray rooftops. Two large double doors served as the main entrance, and decorated on the doors was the same symbol that was on the knights' helmets. I wondered what the relationship was between the castle and the knights, and also how people opened such large doors. A guard stood on either of the double doors, equipped with a sheathed sword at their waists, a shield resting on their backs, and a spear held straight in their arms. They appeared to be menacing and very serious about guarding the doors, so I was too scared to ask them what the castle was. I stopped a simple civilian who happened to walk in front of me at the moment to get information.
“Whats so important about that castle?” I asked, pointing at the castle.
“Haha! As if you don’t know!” The man laughed at me, thinking I was joking. When I stared blankly at him, he realized I wasn’t and replied, “That's our fine queen Kahlia's castle. She and all of her guards, royal knights, servants, and family lives there.” His gaze shifted from me to the castle, his eyes looking, wanting. “What I wouldn't give to become a knight...unfortunately for me, I never made the acceptance into knighthood...” The cat said with a sad look, pouring his life-story into me. I looked at the man inquisitively and then he walked off without another word. I then turned my attention back to the castle.
“So Nahai's government is a monarchy, eh? And this queen Kahlia seems as if she's really looked up to by the commoners, every cat wants to be a knight and live as luxuriously as her. Not exactly the information I wanted, but at least I’m learning a bit more about the cats,”I thought to myself.
I continued on walking erratically past the castle until I lost my bearings. I seemed to be in the center of the city, but I wasn’t sure which directions I had gone to get there. The city looked the same throughout, and there was almost nothing that distinguished one part of it from the next. The only landmark noticeable here was a round, open top building with many tiny entrances on it. One of these entrances was larger than the rest, so I assumed it was the entrance. Knights guarded every entrance on the round building.
“Hm..they oughta know the way out of the city, or at least the way back to the castle,” I thought, pondering over whether I should ask them or not. “And if they don’t, they're pretty stupid guards,” I giggled to myself. I walked up to one of them guarding the main entrance.
“Do you know which way leads back to the castle?” I questioned.
“Um..that way,” the guard said, pointing to my left, “but shouldn’t you...already know?” He replied suspiciously, knowing that all cats should know their way in and out of the city. I took a second to think of a smart comeback, but I came up with nothing and decided to run my way out of it.
“Uh..okay! Thanks!” I replied and turned around to rush in the direction back to the castle.
“Hold it!” The knight shouted at me. I froze in my tracks and turned around slowly.
“Y-yes?” By then I had noticed that I caught the attention of the whole guard that stood around the building, every one of them was staring in my direction. The knight that stopped me took a few steps closer to me, and out of nowhere, sniffed me. I stared at him, shocked at what he was doing. “W-what are you-?!”
“You're not really a cat, are you?” He replied, saying it slowly while checking over my features. My fear reached its fullest. I remembered that there was a distinct, yet subtle difference between the scent of a cat and that of a wolf. Despite my appearance of a cat, I still held my wolf-like scent, and if one were to stick their nose close enough, would be able to smell that difference. I didn’t know what to say to prove my false innocence, so I turned around and ran. It wasn’t until I bumped into a knight a second later that I realized I was surrounded. Turned out, when the guard went up to sniff me, the rest of the knights that bordered the round building had taken up position around me. I hadn’t noticed because I was so caught up in the danger that stood right in front of me. I looked up at the knight whom I had bumped into. He was glaring down at me.
“Die wolf!!” A voice behind me yelled. I felt a sharp pain on the back of my head and then the world went dark.
