Very, very old story. Nona: Part Two.

 Katelyne was starting to wake up. The day of Christmas was behind her and was just a memory, or a bad dream. Her vision started to come back, she wasn't on the couch. She was in a king sized bed. Her mother never had a king sized bed. She gasped and crawled up the bed, her back was against the wall. She looked around at the room. It had a Japanese architecture to it. The walls were beige, the floors and the ceiling were made of ebony wood. Light shined on Katelyne's face through a open window. You could see the dust in the sun light.
    Katelyne quickly got out of the bed and onto the floor. She was in a white dress shirt, black jeans and , her hair was all messy. She smacked her lips and looked out the open window. She saw the blue sky and big pink blossom tree with pedals falling down from it onto the earth. Katelyne had never seen or even heard of a blossom tree. It was rather beautiful. She saw that is wasn't winter here, it looked as if it was spring.
    She walked out of the room, there were no doors to stop her. She looked around this strange place. There were paintings of Anthros doing these poses as if they were about to fight or already fighting. Katelyne had never seen paintings before, pieces of art in Nona were either just sketches or fabricated by a computer. The paintings were truly beautiful.
    She saw a painting of the masked man with a background of fire. Katelyne almost gasped and she jumped back away from this painting. Her heart started to race and the memory of the fires that destroyed her home and her family started to come back. Tears fell from her eyes. The memory was starting to hurt her in the inside, it made her heart ache.
    She heard foot steps approaching her. The memory started to fade away like dust. Her eyes still glassy she looked around, she didn't see anyone there.
    Her breathing started to become shaky. Fear entered her heart. Fresh tears fell from her face. She still looked around. She noticed a chair with a black cloak and the mask on it. Katelyne started to breath more rapidly. The footsteps started to get closer and closer. Katelyne's heart started to beat more rapidly. She felt a hand touch her shoulder. She jumped and quickly turned her head towards the person.
    The person was a female fox Anthro. She was a tall 6'1, she was thin, she had snowy white fur, icy blue eyes and she long blonde hair up in a bun. She wore a black eye patch on her right eye, a white and wrinkly dress shirt, scorched black jeans and rainbow socks. She had a friendly smile on her face.
    Katelyne back away from the fox woman and looked terrified.
    "Don't be scared, I mean you no harm" the fox woman said in a warm and calm voice, she had an Russian accent, which Katelyne had never heard before.
    Katelyne quickly looked back at the chair with the black cloak and the mask on it, then she looked back at the woman.
    "You burned my house down and killed my family!!" Katelyne shouted at her with anger in her voice. She looked angry, angrier then she ever has been before in her life.
    The woman's smile dropped. "I didn't burn you house down....." she said in a gloomy yet calm tone.
    Katelyne could not believe the word that had came out of this woman's mouth. "You liar!" she angrily shout.
    The woman sighed. "I didn't burn down your house, it was the government" she told Katelyne.
    Katelyne scoffed in disbelief of this woman, hatred started to spread through her heart.
    The woman sighed. "I'm sorry of what happened, but I didn't do it. Look if I did you wouldn't be here right now, I would have killed you" the woman told Katelyne still sounding calm.
    Katelyne sighed, she relaxed her face. The woman did make a point. If this woman burned down Katelyne's house, she would have a reason to kill her and her family, but Katelyne was very much alive and she woke up in a bed safe.
    "I guess you do make a fair point, I'm safe, I'm alive, but why were you at my house?" Katelyne asked the woman.
    "I was always there, you just didn't notice me. See after you put on the ring you started to notice things. That ring is a mystical artifact" the woman explained to Katelyne. "The ring emitted a low level of mystic radiation. It's harmless to any biological entities but the government is apposed to magic of any kind"
    Katelyne sighed again. "So why did you knock me out?" she asked the woman.
    "You were scared and I didn't want the hassle, plus I wanted you to sleep safely" the woman explained to Katelyne.
    Katelyne sighed once more. "Thanks, I guess" she said to the woman trying to sounding happy but she sounded more sad and gloomy then happy. She tilted her head a little to the right and brought her eyebrows closer together. "Might I ask your name?" she asked the woman.
    The woman smiled and chuckled. "I'm Viper, and I already know who you are, Ms. Katelyne Starkey du Nord" the woman said sounding cheerful. She took a stage bow.
    Katelyne gasped. She was surprised and shocked. How did this "Viper" know her? Maybe she was a friend of her mothers. Maybe she was a friend of her fathers. Maybe she met "Viper" when she was really young. Either way, it was freaking her out, but what was with "Du Nord". Her family wasn't royalty or so she's been told. Most of the Starkeys has been miners and blacksmiths, one of her ancestors was a werewolf hunter and another was a crime solver, but not royalty.
    Viper chuckled. "Now why don't we have some breakfast and I can show you around the Sanctuary?" Viper asked Katelyne.
    Katelyne tilted her head to the right again and had a puzzled look on her face. "What's the "Sanctuary?" she asked her.
    "Well it's where we are, not the house, it's the area, where Anthros who are casted out from the humans come here, plus it's the only place where you can learn martial arts" Viper explained to Katelyne.
    "What's martial arts?" Katelyne asked Viper. There was no history on karate or any type of martial in the Dwelf education system, in fact the subject of history wasn't mandatory and you would learn basically nothing from the class. The government had the idea of trying not to teach the children history since it might give them the idea of the government's corruption in the past and people might be superstitious on the government. Plus they outlawed home schooling so they would have control over what the children were taught, and they also outlawed martial art schools all over Dwelf so they would have no defence without weapons.
    Viper chuckled. She walked over to her kitchen ignoring her question.
    Katelyne sighed, she walked over to a oak chair and she sat down on the chair. She looked up at the beige ceiling, it had swirls and stars of gold as if it was painted. Katelyne smiled, she started to find this house pretty cool.
    Viper soon had in her hands two wooden plates with omelets, forks and knives made out of bone on each of the plates in her arms. She walked over to Katelyne and handed her the plate in her right hand.
    Katelyne smiled and took the plate with both her hands. She placed the plate on her lap and picked up the knife in her left hand and the fork in her right. She held the knife and fork quiet formally, not like a caveman, just how formal people would hold it to eat. She started to cut into the omelet with her knife.
    Viper moved her mask and her cloak onto the ground. She moved the chair closer to her "guest". She sat down on her chair with her legs crossed. She had her plate of food on her lap. She began to dig into her omelet. She looked up at Katelyne to see if she was enjoying the omelet
    Katelyne started cut her omelet and she started to eat her omelet. Her eyes widened in amazement. This was the most delicious omelet she had ever ate. A beautiful tasted filled her mouth, it was like she was eating heaven in omelet form. She quickly devoured the omelet like she hasn't eaten in days. She finished it in less then a minute.
    Viper chuckled at the sight of the ravenous girl. Viper quickly ate her omelet so she wouldn't keep Katelyne waiting.
    Katelyne smiled widely. "That was the greatest omelet I have ever ate in my life" she told Viper, complementing her omelet.
    Viper smiled and chuckled. "Thanks" she said to the happy cat. She got up and walked back down to a room.
    Katelyne waited for Viper to come back. She wanted to see the "Sanctuary". She stretched down to her feet and she looked up at the ceiling.
    Viper came back wearing a brown leather jacket and black military boots. She had the long red trench over her right shoulder. She walked over to Katelyne and threw her coat over to her.
    Katelyne looked at the coat flying towards her just at the nick of time, but she didn't catch it in time. It just hit her face. Katelyne sighed and started to chuckling. She took the coat off of her face,. She got up from her seat and start to put her coat on, she had a happy smile on her face and excitement gleamed in her eyes.
    Viper chuckled at the sight of this happy cat girl. She walked over to Katelyne and ruffled her already messy hair. She walked over to the door and held the door open.
    Katelyne purred like the cat she was when Viper. Most of the time Katelyne loved it when people ruffled her hair. She walked over and out the door. Viper followed after her.

    Outside was a small village with colorful trees around it. There were no cars, no tall buildings, no sketchiness, and not technology. Just a small village with anthros walking around in colorful kimonos or traditional orange karate gis. The buildings had a Japanese architect. Some people were in pairs as a couple, different anthros, different or same genders. In Nona marriages of different species of anthros were very rare. Some people didn't like different species of anthros getting married or dating.
    Katelyne didn't see much of it, but seeing a whole small village different species of anthros together blew her mind. This place made her feel happy, it made her feel calm. It was like she was underwater.
    Viper took a deep breath, exhaled then she smiled. "So where would you like to go?" she asked Katelyne calmly and happily.
    Katelyne looked up at Viper and smiled. She was about to say something, then they heard punching, kicking and shouting.
    Viper moan in frustration and placed her right hand on her face. She started to quickly walk to one of the buildings with a big white sign over the door marked "Tavern".
    Katelyne followed Viper, since she was the only person she knew and Viper was her tour guide.
    Viper was about to walk into the tavern, then a male wolf anthro who was rather tall and pretty muscular flew out of the tavern. He landed in the streets with a loud thud.
    Katelyne was rather shocked. She quickly walked over to the entrance of the tavern.
    She saw about five men beaten down on the ground, they were all big, muscular and either wolves, foxes or cats. At the middle of the tavern where the action was still happening, a female tiger anthro had a big muscular wolf anthro in a arm lock. She applied pressure to the arm lock and his arm snapped. The wolf anthro cried in pain and the tiger anthro threw him onto the ground. The tiger anthro was 5'10, she had orange fur with black stripes, she looked as if she was in her early twenties, she had green tiger like eyes, she was thin yet she had a muscular tone, mainly in her legs. She wore a red gi with a design of a dragon on the back of it and a ying-yang symbol on the upper right side of her chest and a black belt with seven little lines on both sides of the belt indicating her rank. The tiger woman stood there tall and proud with her victory against the men.
    Katelyne was amazed by this woman. The men were much bigger then her, and they of course out numbered her, but the tiger woman was like fire. A dangerous and wild fire.
    Viper walked up beside Katelyne and sighed. "That's Petra, granddaughter of the grand master who teaches everyone the art of karate" Viper explained to Katelyne.
    Katelyne smiled. She admired this Petra and her skill of the art of karate.
    Viper sighed. "Looks like she's gone and knocked a few teeth out" she said sounding disappointed.
    Petra looked over at Katelyne and Viper and she scoffed. "Look if you want to fight me fine, but don't go crying to me when you have your legs snapped in half" she boasted, she had a Nonaian accent yet there was a trace of an Irish accent.
    Viper face palmed with her right hand. Katelyne wasn't sure of what to do. She just stared at the tiger and zoned out.
    Petra scoffed and crossed her arms. "What are you looking at?!" she asked Katelyne sounding rather mean and rather loud.
    Katelyne snapped back into focus. "Umm..." she mumbled.
    "Ummmm?" Petra asked Katelyne sounding rude.
    Katelyne looked surprised. She started to look down at the ground.
    Viper sighed again. "Petra can you please stop this, she's new around here" she told her.
    Petra walked over to Katelyne ignoring Viper. "Think your so tough?" Petra asked Katelyne, she was only an inch away from her. She grabbed her by the collar of her coat.
    Katelyne let out a whimper, but she didn't feel scared. She looked right up into Petra's eyes. They were like green emeralds. Beautiful green emeralds.
    Viper quickly walked over to Katelyne and Petra. She grabbed the back of Petra's gi and the back of Katelyne's coat. She pulled they away from each other and looked at Petra with anger in her eyes.
    Petra scoffed. "Look I'm just having a little fun with the new girl, that's all" she told Viper sounding sly.
    Viper grumbled. She was about to say something, but she was interrupted by a deep and loud Irish accented voice saying "Petra, that is not how we treat our guests!"
    Katelyne, Viper and Petra looked over at the entrance of the tavern. There was a old tiger anthro man standing at the entrance of the door. He had a long white fu manchu mustache that was down to his chest, aqua eyes, big white bushy eyebrows orange fur with black stripes like Petra and he was only a hair taller then Petra. He wore long robes that was one side black and the other side white, it was like the ying yang symbol on Petra's gi.
    Petra and Viper faced the old tiger and bowed in respect for the old man.
    Katelyne didn't know what was going on. She felt a little embarrassed from not knowing what to do.
    The old man looked over at Katelyne with his wise old aqua eyes. "Who might you be?" he asked her sounding calm yet fierce.
    "I'm Katelyne, Katelyne Starkey" she told the old man, she sounding slightly scared, but she had a nice smile on her face.
    The old man raised his eyebrows and look disbelief.
    Katelyne cocked her right eyebrows and had a look of confusion on her face. "Excuse me sir, are you okay?" she asked the old man.
    The old man lowered his eyebrows. "Come with me, Viper, Petra, you two come along" he ordered, he started to walk out of the tavern.
    Katelyne looked over at Viper. She didn't know what to do. Viper was the only person she knew in the Sanctuary.
    Viper sighed and let go of Petra's and Katelyne's jackets and followed the old man.
    Petra grumbled and had an angry look on her face. She followed after Viper and the old man.
    Katelyne quickly followed them and walked next to Viper.
    Petra walked behind Katelyne and Viper, and Katelyne and Viper walked behind the old man.
    No one said a word during the walk. Katelyne looked back at Petra a couple of times. Petra looked like she didn't want to see her, like she was angry at her.
    Katelyne looked forward and sighed. She wondered what was with Petra, why was she acting that way to her?
    The walk took about ten minutes, then they came across a cave. The entrance to the cave look like a head of a dragon. Cherry blossom trees surrounded the cave. The pink pedals fell off the trees and were in the gust of wind, they danced and twirled all around in the wind. The light shined in the cherry blossom trees. It was a beautiful sight. Katelyne smiled at this sight; her eyes started to become glassy. Then she looked forward towards the dragon cave.
    The four of them soon entered the cave. The inside of the cave was big and rather dark. You could hear a eerie wind that echoed throughout the cave. It was haunting, but Katelyne found the sound of this wind beautiful. Petra walked beside Katelyne. Katelyne looked at the magnificent tiger martial artist. Petra didn't look at Katelyne; she just looked around at the dark cave.
    They soon came to a light blue-green pool, there was an opening in the roof of the cave so they could see the pool. There was a small island in the middle of the pool with a cherry blossom tree. There were pedals in the pool but they just calmly floated in the pool. There was a carving of a dragon in the stone wall behind the pool.
    The old man walked over to the pool, he looked over at Katelyne. "Starkey, can you come over here?" he asked Katelyne sounding serious.
    Katelyne looked at Viper, she didn't know what to do. She was nervous and scared.
    Viper looked down at her and tilted her head towards the old man. "Go over to him, he wants you, don't worry you'll be safe" she told Katelyne.
    Katelyne looked over at the old man. She took a deep breath and swallowed her fear. She started to walk towards the old man.
    "Look into the pool" the old man told Katelyne.
    Petra crossed her arms and scoffed. Viper looks over at her and gave her a angry look. Petra look over at Viper and snickered towards her.
    Katelyne stepped forward towards the pool. She looked down into it. She just saw herself reflected into the pool. Then the reflection started to ripple. There was a blind flash of light that came from the pool. Katelyne closed her eyes and gasped. She started to feel like she was underwater. She opened her eyes. She wasn't in the cave.
    She was in 1940 downtown New York which was called Stella. It was around the middle of the day in the middle of summer. She was in the middle of the streets. Humans and Anthros in suits, trench coats and fedoras walked down the street. No one looked at her, like she was invisible. Katelyne gasped. She looked around and she noticed a cat anthro walk out of a apartment. She kinda looked like Katelyne. She had red 1940s retro hairstyle, she was around 5'11", a sharp-short face, a thin body type, grey fur and steely blue cat-like eyes. She wore a long grey trench coat, a black pinstripe suit, a red pinstripe tie and fancy black dress shoes. Katelyne tilted her head to the right. This woman seemed to stick out more then everything else. Everything soon started to turn grey and time stopped around her. The woman was still in color but she was frozen in time. Katelyne gasped.
    "Victoria Starkey" a elegant feminine Kwae voice echoed in her mind. Katelyne gasped again. She looked around, she didn't see anyone who wasn't frozen in time except herself. "Born 1913, Stella city. Died 1979, the Sanctuary. Detective from 1936 to 1957. Loving mother and wife."
    Katelyne felt as if she was in the water again. She closed her eyes and the blinding light flashed again. She opened her eyes.
    She was in a tavern in 1784, she was sitting in a chair at the bar. She sat next to a big and muscular cat anthro. He had smoky grey fur, a scar across his left cheek, around 6'5", a long-broad face and fiery orange cat-like eyes. He wore a long black leather trench coat, a raggedy black werewolf hunter's hat, a raggedy white dress shirt, well-worn black leather pants, a black leather ammo belt across his body and well-worn black leather boots. He had a mug of mead in his left hand. Katelyne just looked at the man. Then everything around her started to turn grey and time stopped around her. The man was still in color but he was still frozen in time. Katelyne still just looked at the man.
"Garrett Starkey" the elegant feminine Kwae voice echoed in her mind. Katelyne closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Born 1742, Ádh mór" Which was the city of Dublin. "Died 1802, the Sanctuary. Werewolf hunter from 1763 to 1799. Karate instructor from 1790 to 1802. Great teacher, founder of the Sanctuary, loving father and husband".
Katelyne started to feel like she was in water again. The blinding flash of light soon appeared again. Katelyne opened her eyes. She was back in the cave. Everyone was looking at her.
"So, what did you see?" the old man asked Katelyne. He had his arms behind his back.
"I... I think I saw my ancestors.. Garrett and Victoria" she told the old man.
The old man raised his eyebrows. He had a happy and excited look on his face.
Katelyne tilted her head to the left, cocked her right eyebrow and had a puzzled look on her face.
The old man walked over to the dragon carving. "Do you have the ring?" he asked her.
Katelyne checked her coat pocket. She pulled out the ring and showed it to the old man.
The old man's smile grew wider. "Now come over here Starkey" he told her sounding very happy.
Katelyne took a deep breath and exhaled. Her heart started to race. She had a strange feeling like this would be a big deal. She slowly crept towards the old man and the dragon carving.
Petra scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Taking forever" she muttered under her breath. Viper looked at her looking cross. She put her right index finger against her lips. She sharply shushed her and looked back at Katelyne.
Katelyne soon got over to the old man. She held up the ring towards him.
The old man softly chuckled. "Now place the ring in the dragon" he told her.
Katelyne looked around at the dragon carving to see if there was a section she could put the ring in. She noticed the right ring finger on the dragon was slightly lifted up from the wall. It was lifted enough that Katelyne could put the ring on the finger. She quickly yet gently place the ring on the ring finger. She started to feel the ground beneath her rumble.
    The old man and Katelyne stepped back from the dragon carving. The grounding was rumbling, then it stopped. The eyes on the dragon turned from stone to icy blue lights, as if it was coming alive.
    Katelyne gasped and started to look amazed. This was surely something fantastic. Viper, Petra and the old man were all amazed by what was happening.
    The ground started to rumble again. The wall with the carving on it started to raise. It was a door leading to a secret room and Katelyne had unlocked the door. The wall carving had risen and it make a click noise when it got to the top. There was a room, like a vault behind the wall carving.
    Katelyne quickly walked towards the room and looked in. The place was filled with cobwebs and dust. There was a dusty bookcase with a few books on it with old, dusty, leather covers. There was a wooden table with a note on it. There was a medium sized steel crossbow leaning against the bookcase, it was dusty and slightly rusted. There was a small black satchel next to the crossbow. There was a silver long sword next to the crossbow. It wasn't bent or dusty or rusting. It looked as good as new. It had strange symbols engraved on the blade of the sword.
    Katelyne walked into the room. Her heart started to beat faster. She had a strange feeling like she's been here before. She walked over to the table and grabbed the note. She opened up the note and she started to read it.
    "Dear reader, hopefully a fellow Starkey. My name is Victoria Starkey, I was a detective in the city of Stella. I have found this place call "The Sanctuary" which was built by my ancestor "Garrett Starkey" who was a werewolf hunter and a master of the martial arts of karate.
    I have came here to store away a magical artifact and books on the mystic language, which has been long forgotten for most people. I have stored away all of that in a place I'm calling "the vault", which I will have people help me to build it. I have chosen this location for the vault so the decedent Starkey would look into the past in the pools of reflection and see myself and Garrett.
    I have also stored away Garrett's equipment in here so people won't steal away his equipment and sell it off. It has a much great purpose for our world. If you have any troubles with caring all the books, the crossbow and the sword. Don't worry, there should be a small pouch I have magically enchanted to has a limitless capacity, but don't put anything else in there.
    I wish you the best of luck, Katelyne.
    ~Love your ancestor, Victoria"
    Katelyne was amazed. This was more then half a millennia ago, and Victoria could tell Katelyne would be reading the note. Katelyne wasn't exactly a common name in the Starkey family. She was actually the first Starkey to be called Katelyne.
    She slide the note into her trench coat pocket. She looked around the vault to find this magic bag. She looked over to the bookcase. She noticed something small and red, it kinda looked like a pouch, but one of the books were leaning on it. She walked over to it and she lifted up to book. She saw the pouch. She quickly grabbed it and opened it up. The inside of it was pitch black, you couldn't see the bottom of it. She reached her hand in the pouch. She fit her whole arm in and she could onto touch the bottom of it with the tip of her middle finger. She took her arm out of it and looked around at the vault.
    Viper, Petra and the old man waited outside for her. The old man was patient and silent, Petra was taunting Viper and making mean and taunting faces at her and Viper was trying to ignore Petra but it was difficult for her.
    Katelyne started to grab the books off the bookcase and place them into the pouch. There was about ten books, they all looked the same, except each book had a different symbol on the front cover. She soon grabbed the crossbow, the small black satchel and the sword and placed them into the pouch. Everything fit easily in the bag, and it was strangely light. It felt like it weighed as much as a can of spray paint. It was incredibly light for a pouch with a sword, a crossbow, a small satchel and ten books. She placed the satchel in her pocket and she walked out of the vault.
    "So, Starkey, are you ready for your adventure? Since you have the equipment." the old man asked Katelyne sounding content.
    Katelyne cocked her left eyebrow. "What do I have to do?" she asked the old man.
    "There is a great evil, it will shroud the world in a forever darkness, a forever winter. It is up to you Starkey to stop this darkness" the old man told Katelyne.

***

    A new day dawned over the Sanctuary. Katelyne was just saying goodbye to Viper and the old man. Katelyne had She had her long, slightly wavy red hair tied back into a pony tail. She was in her long red trench coat, a raggedy, old light brown vest, a raggedy, burnt white t-shirt, raggedy, burnt black jeans, a pair of black fingerless Steampunk gloves and a pair of scuffed, burnt military boots. She had a brown leather backpack on her back. This was going to be a long and dangerous journey, but she was determined and prepared to make the journey.
    Petra was coming along with her on her journey. She didn't say goodbye to anyone, she was just in a surly mood. She was in a well-worn, thin black leather jacket with a hood, a black t-shirt with a big yin-yang symbol on it, black gi pants and black military boots. She had a light brown leather backpack on her back. She had her hip pointed to the left and her arms were crossed. She just really wanted to go, get away from the place. This was going to be her first time away from the sanctuary, sure it was with Katelyne who she didn't like but it was better then Viper or her grandfather.
    So the two of them went off, they walked out of the sanctuary and down a small dirt path leading down a meadow hill. They walked beside each other but Petra kept her distance with Katelyne. They didn't speak a word, it was just the sound of walking boots and the rattling in their bags.
    After two minutes of walking Katelyne spoke, breaking the awkward silence.
    "So how's it going?" she asked Petra sounding a bit nervous.
    Petra sighed, "I'm actually pretty good, I'm finally away from that place" she told her sounding content.
    Katelyne looked up at Petra with a puzzled look. "Why do you want to go away from that place?" she asked her.
    Petra scoffed, "It's dull and boring there. There's no one fun enough to fight and my grandfather is always telling me what to do. Plus it's just peaceful, no action or anything" she exclaimed then she scrunched up her nose. "I bet where you come from, you had tons of fun" she sighed and envied Katelyne.
    Katelyne giggled and blushed, "Well... thank you, but Nona is so big and noisy, too many people" she told Petra. "Just when I'm older I just want to live on a nice small cottage on the side of a lake. Just the sound of nature" she sighed, looked forward and thought of the idea.
    Petra chuckled, "Yeah I can see your point, I would love on a lakeside cottage" she smiled and started to walk an inch closer to Katelyne.
    Katelyne giggled and smiled, "Hey, maybe when we're done this quest and save the world, maybe we can live together in a lakeside cottage?" she asked her jokingly.
    Petra looked over at Katelyne, she slightly tilted her head and smiled. "We'll see" she told Katelyne sounding rather happy. Then she looked forward at the path, they got off the hill and onto flat ground.
    The two of then still walked down the path. They soon got to what looked like a highway, but it was torn-up and cracked. Katelyne and Petra looked at each other.
    "So shall we go on that large looking path?" Katelyne asked Petra.
    Petra looked over at the abandoned highway and sighed. She got on it and then she started to walk down it.
    Katelyne followed her trusting it was the right thing to do. Petra was the only one she got on the journey, so she was the only person she could trust.
    As they walked down the empty and torn-up highway, Katelyne pulled out her little pouch and she reached inside of it. She pulled out one of the books. She placed the pouch back in her coat pocket. She opened up the book and flipped to the first page.
    Petra looked over at Katelyne and her strange book. She didn't care that she that was reading, she just cared that she was happy. She looked back forward at the highway.
    The book had strange words and strange symbols written in it. Words like "Feue" and "Eise" and strange symbols that looked like a little drawing of of a campfire and a little drawing of a shard of ice or glass. Katelyne couldn't make out anything. She closed the book and placed it back in her pocket. "Maybe I'll try to learn this before I go to bed" she thought to herself.
    Petra quickly glanced at Katelyne then she looked in front of herself. She quietly sighed. She bit her bottom lip and she raised her right eyebrow; she looked kinda nervous. She looked away from Katelyne then she quickly glanced over at Katelyne again.
    Katelyne was just looking at the road ahead of herself. Her thumbs against the inside of the straps of the backpack. She looked like she was blanking out or she was just thinking. The two girls didn't say anything, they weren't mad at each other, just thinking.
    After two hours of walking down the highway, the sun was at highpoint, it was around noon. Petra's stomach started to lowly growl. She stopped and sighed.
    Katelyne looked back at her and stopped "What's up?" she asked the hungry tiger.
    Petra sighed again. "I'm hungry" she mumbled and she looked down at the ground.
    Katelyne looked around at their surroundings, she didn't want to stop in the middle of the abandoned highway and open their backpacks. The highway had an eerie and mysterious feeling to it, as if it was haunted. That was Katelyne's superstition.
    She looked around and noticed something hidden behind the trees. She squinted; it looked like a rather large wooden cottage. She started to walk over to it.
    Petra followed Katelyne just in case if something would happen.
    Katelyne walked off the highway and towards the cottage. There was smoke coming out of the chimney, she heard people laughing and having a good time inside.
    "What is it?" Petra asked Katelyne to find out what was going on in there.
    Katelyne looked back at Petra, she had a look of happiness on her face. "There's people inside" she said sounding content. She ran around the cottage the look for the door and Petra followed after her.
    The two made it to the door; they looked in the cottage and saw people dancing, drinking and having a good time, there was also a bar with a fat and tall male husky anthro behind the bar serving people drinks and food. Petra walked into the cottage and she made her way to the bar.
    There weren't any humans at the bar, just anthros. It was a little strange but Katelyne got use to the humanless life. Katelyne sighed and she followed Petra.
    Petra sat down at one of the bar stools and she waited for the bar keeper. She tapped her fingers against the bar in a beat of four. It was a little maddening but it was probably a thing she does when she's waiting.
    Katelyne looked around at the loud and lively. "Maybe I should ask around if someone would help us to the city" she thought to herself. She walked away from Petra and she walked up to a tall, rather muscular and happy brown bear anthro. "Excuse me sir, can you help me with something?" she asked the bear anthro.
    The bear turned towards Katelyne still laughing. "Come here and give papa bear some sugar" he said in a drunk slur then he puckered out his lips for a kiss.
    Katelyne just simply walked away from the bear and sighed. She scanned the cottage in search of someone who was sober enough to tell them how to get to the Cyberpunk city. It was no use, everyone looked pretty drunk and merry. She sighed again. Then she had an idea, a brilliant idea. She curled her right index and placed it on her chin, she scrunched up her face just a bit and she curled her tongue inside her mouth.
    She scanned the cottage again; not in search of someone, but for something. She spotted a dark mahogany violin and a fine oak violin bow. She looked over to see if anyone was going to take the violin. The coast was clear, so Katelyne walked over to the violin, almost like a dancing motion so she wouldn't get hit or knocked down by any of the drunken men. She got to the violin and picked it up. She walked over to the bar and climbed on it; Petra looked at her as if she was crazy, but the bar keeper didn't do anything, he just looked up at Katelyne. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She started to play "The Rocky Road to Dublin".
    Everyone in the place stopped; everything went quiet. The only noise was Katelyne playing her beautiful song. Some people started to clap to the rhythm of the music. Katelyne still played the violin ever so beautifully, she didn't miss a note, she kept a steady pace. Some people started to get up and dance. Everyone was looking at Katelyne and her talent with the violin. Katelyne smiled and was still beautifully playing. She eyed over at Petra to see if she was watching her.
    Petra was clapping along to Katelyne's tune and she had a great big smile on her face.
    Katelyne winked towards Petra as she played; she didn't fumble up. It was fantastic. The cottage was even more lively then ever. People danced and clapped to the violin's tune. Katelyne soon ended then song and she took a deep bow. Everyone cheered and clapped for her. She looked up; her heart was racing and she was taking long breaths. "Now"-She took another deep breath-"Can anyone help me and my friend to the city of Fulgur!?" she shouted at the top of her lungs so everyone would hear her.
    The cottage went quiet; everyone looked at Katelyne as if she was crazy.
    "I can help you" a deep yet calm masculine, Nonaian accented voice told Katelyne in a loud tone.
    Katelyne and Petra looked back at one end of the bar; a 6'0" man wearing black hooded robes sitting at the end of the bar was smoking a long wooden pipe. He took off his hood revealing his face, he was human that looked like he was in his mid forties, he had a broad, rugged face, he had short brown hair that stuck forward, he had a rugged five o'clock shadow, peach colored skin, steely blue almond shaped eyes and a happy smirk on his face.   

    "I can take you, but can you tell me why you're going?" the man asked Katelyne