Ninj4 Effect - Sharpen Thy Senses

[AdventWings]

Notice: This is a Writing Exercise

The sky.

Dark blue, turning black as tar. Glittering stars shone through the unfathomable fabric far from my grasp. Dark shapes wave at the abyssal heavens, my hand following its motion in unity with the rest of the world.

I laid there in the grass, watching the stars glow with vivid lights in the darkness of the intruding night. For how long had I been asleep, I do not remember. The sky was still an amber glow of sunset when my eyes slowly shut in slumber. Now, the night has full control of the world around my bed of grass.

Man, I'm starving...

I was not going to last without a meal, so I decided it was time to check on a small instrument I had made. The moonless night made the ordeal no less than a chore just finding my way around the clearing - I dreaded having to enter the darkened woods now.

Slowly but sure, guided by the flattened blades of grass and broken sticks I've planted in the ground, I made my way to the edge of the woods where I had set up a small trap. I had learned it (More like vaguely recalled) from Survival Class 101 about how to trap small animals with a string and a stick.

But as I parted the brush which I used to conceal the device, all I saw was the dark outline of a stick... Broken in half with the loop of string missing from the wooden pole.

"...Well, so much for that." I muttered, frustrated by the fact I had not remembered to use a sturdier wood. "Looks like I'll have to go find that damn critter."

[Breaker]

Concordia at night was truly psychedelic.

The sky fell in waves of stormy blue, breaking on the sharp tree tops. The evergreens that held a friendly, comforting hue by day were a dismal, dead green at night. They speared the offending sky as it hardened like a burned out coal, the last heat of day seeping away with the dying light.

Walking as fast as I did, dodging trunks became a serious issue. Even with my vision, those solid wooden posts danced and dined with the shadows. I had only run into two so far that night, toppling them like tenpins, but it was never a pleasant experience. The dark, pressing shapes of those trees, some as wide as cottages, other little more than cornstalks, flitted past. A flock of sparrows I had not wish to harm.

I had studied a map of Corone for some time, and departed Underwood with Akashima as my destination. As the bird flies, with my breakneck pace, the journey could be accomplished in twenty four hours. I had heard tell of an international invitational judo tournament in Akashima City, and wanted to attend as a competitor, or a spectator if I had missed the registration. I enjoyed the eastern kingdom's culture.

I swooped over roots, swung on vines and slid around tree trunks. What a night to be alive.

[AdventWings]

There was no way I could track the rodent that had escaped from my trap with my eyes alone. Frustration, mingling with the gut-twisting sensation of hunger, weighed heavily on my mind as I took a lungful of the moist twilight air. I immediately caught the stench of the tiny creature, a mix of disgusting sweat, soil and urine, as it wafted through the air from the bush.

Ahh, thank you, nose. I smiled with apathetic glee. The thing was, by all account, probably scared to death by the fresh smell of pee marking a trail in the grass. But for myself, it was better than having to part the earth to find its impossibly small tracks.

Taking a few quick sniff, I set off to hunt down my would-be dinner with whatever little clues I had. But the longer I traveled through the grass, the smell became progressively less apparent. A grove of magnolia cut into my hunting ground with its sweet, overbearing fragrance and it took me a few seconds to regain my tracks. I cursed my luck, hoping my prey had not escaped while I was lost in the woods...

Just as I lost the smelly trail of my hunt a second time to a tree of unripen apples, I looked around to find myself lost within the darkness of the forest.

"...I knew I shouldn't have just followed my nose."

[Breaker]

Smell is a fickle sense. Or perhaps more aptly, air is a fickle thing.

I halted amidst a settling of leaves and twigs, inhaled deep into my cavernous chest. The great forest bounced scents across my bath like colored lights in a pinball machine; fruits and berries, old rot and fresh life, streams and small critters alike, my nose noted each as I dashed headlong through the night. What caused me to stop, wedging the heels of the breaker boots deep into the soil, was the distincly familiar smell of a feline.

Many vicious beasts roamed the Concordian Night, from bears to wolves to the gorian'fel. But few deserved as much respect as the fearsome mountain lions. I had encountered the eight foot long beasts before, while cross the Comb mountains, but knew they ventured far south into the forest when hunting. Those carnivorous cats with the ferrous, dripping fangs and meticulously marked territory stood out above the odorous trails of smaller, lesser beasts.

I moved silently, even my heart holding its breath, through the inky night. The wind crackled more leaves than my large feet, but still I feared my stealth was not enough. Sprinting through the spastic terrain had left me dripping with sweat, and even with their lamplike eyes, I knew the mountain cats hunted mostly with their whiskered, twitching noses.

Ghosting over the ground, I entered an apple grove, intent on finding the devil cat before he found me.

[AdventWings]

-Crash-

I turned with a start, sensitive ears catching the uncharacteristic night-time noise of an otherwise serene woodland scene. Ears twitching for that odd clashing of leaves once more, though none could be heard asides the silence of the night. Then, as I remained still within the shadows of the apple tree, the night exploded in a symphony of the natural world.

Crickets chirped in unison with the idle rustling of leaves against the wind, proclaiming its place in the pantheon of the insect world's fiddling champs. Intermingled with its piercing whines the uncharacteristic croaks of tiny woodland frogs interrupted the unified piece with its deep, yet chirpy croaking. A trumpet of sorts, if I was to describe it to my pilot friends, but the words were inadequate for such a display.

The occasional night bird called amongst the trees, a soprano among the orchestra musicians vocalizing her piece above the ascending motions. The howl of a wolf, lonesome, foreboding, echoed in the background as a timpani mark a piece's transition.

And just when Nature's cobmined string symphony was about to reach its peak... All was silent saved for the rustling of the wind.

I tensed, slowly backing myself into the only defense I had. With the tree acting as my shield, I watched the darkness with my ears out wide.

[Breaker]

Breathing.

A calm inhale and luxurious exhale, again feline to my experienced senses. I crept straight up the nearest tree, the Breaker Boots boasting the barest of rustling as they gripped ridged bark. As I crawled through the branches, quiet as a snake in the sun, a breeze stirred the tree and hard green apples bumped against my skull, each one resounding like a church bell in the silent night.

I focused past the buzzing of insects, the flitting of birds and prowling of rodents. Focused on the rhytmic rise and fall of the unseen beast's chest. I climbed from one tree to the next, timing the click of each branch with the rhythmic swaying of the warm wind.

Crash!

I almost ignored the sudden, driven sound. It was loud, but echoed from a medium distance, not in my direct vicinity. The creature who I had smelled, whose respiratory system I still swam towards like a dolphin reading sonar, was much closer.

Surprise and disapointment comingled in my mind like warring bands jamming to the same beat when I saw the neko cowering by a wide groaning tree. I had met some of the Akashiman-native catpeople previously. This one looked frightened, as near as I could tell through the fur, so I dropped uncerimoniously to the ground and tossed him a friendly wave.

"You lost? Don't worry, I think I can get us to the Royal City. My name is Josh Cronen."

[AdventWings]

"Nyar-!"

I nearly jumped from my skin as something dropped so very close to me. But even then, I was pretty sure the ground disappeared from right under my feet as I instinctively flew two feet into the air and grabbed the nearest overhanging branch. Feverishly clambering against the rough-hewn bark, I managed to pull myself up onto the limb when I saw a waving hand in the nearly impenetrable darkness.

I remembered something familiar about the motion - Hand motion, I believe, but my attention was divided between keeping a balance on the hard, tiny surface with my hands and feet and the rocking motion of the branch.

Is that... It's called "Waving" isn't it...?

I think I remembered seeing a little girl with pointed ears show me what it meant. Something about a greeting signal... Hopefully it was true. The last time I saw her, she was a long ways ahead of me and making the same hand gesture.

I ignored the creeping of insects as they strolled across my fur-lined hands while I was still deciphering the odd stranger's intent. The person sounded deep... Must be a guy. I also managed to catch that same, difficult passage in his speech again.

"My... Name..." I repeated. But before I could say anything more, a sharp pain rose from my finger and I leapt down from the tree, a small red blister appearing on my hand.

"Nyar~!"

[Breaker]

I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I could feel nervous energy radiating out of the cat boy like shockwaves. Just standing close to him made me nervous. He no longer looked frightened, but almost vibrated, like a hummingbird, as he clung to a low hanging branch.

These nekos have some weird mannerisms... Unfortunately, it seemed this one didn't speak common. He managed to introduce himself in a thick accent, but his name was an indecipherable feline noise I could not hope to reproduce. Not only did I not have the right vocal chords for with, I wouldn't know whether to start with a honk or a hiss.

Good thing I'll probably never have to introduce him at social occasions, I quipped arbitrarily, and gestured again, more clearly, for Catnoise to follow me.

"Akashima," I said, overenunciating so hard it hurt my jaw. I had banged it pretty good on a tree earlier on. I pointed again. "Akashima."

[AdventWings]

I blinked at the word this man was telling me and I tried to focus my sights. The blurry surrounding came together and the familiar sensation of blood rushing to my head told me where I was.

Gyah- That's the last time I climb a tree. I sat up and brushed my face, spitting gritty dirt from my mouth.

I looked at him again while wiping my tongue clean of the soil residue stuck inside my mouth, but the smelly green flavor did not disappear. There was no light to guide my hands and, considering my midnight-colored fur did not aid me in the endeavor of finding my digits at all, it took the combined efforts of motor sensors and strained eyeballs to finally bring my finger into my mouth.

"K- Plergh-!"

I pulled a wad of grass free from my face - Which was in fact stuck between my teeth. Thoroughly washing away the nasty taste with a mouthful of saliva (followed by a salvo of spits just to get my taste buds clean), I looked back at the traveller with inquisitive eyes.

"Akashima?"

Someone had spoken something about my kind being in Akashima, but I was never sure where or what it was. If he could take me to the region, perhaps I could finally find someone to talk to and tell them of my dilemma.

"Akashima..." I repeated, following the man's gesture.