Metamorphose [7]

Prologue: The Dream

"Well, this certainly is a sight for sore eyes, now isn't it?" The chilling familiar voice that echoed through my ears made them twitch with dismay as I opened my eyes, expecting to be greeted with the creature that this tone belonged to, but instead I was greeted with nothing but an endless ocean of darkness before me. I came to realize that I was currently sitting down in my feral feline form, the floor underneath my paws feeling cold and smooth, like a finely polished marble stone. I did not know where I was or where I had heard that dreadful voice, it didn't even come from a certain location - it sounded like it had come from everywhere, at all angles like it was surrounding me in an echoing cave. All this darkness made me feel a large sense of uneasiness due to my past of living in the darkness. I still liked the dark, there was always a certain warmth to it, but this was different. This was a cold and evil darkness that now was all around me and in the back of my mind, I could feel myself being watched like a rabbit that was about to be prey for a hungry predator. My claws came sheathed from my paws, but there was no dirt or soft ground to dig into, so they just mindlessly clicked on the smooth, rocky surface that I now sat upon. "Oh my, you look rather distressed, Rebecca." That deepened voice spoke again, "Whatever is the matter? Cat got your tongue?" There was a mockingly chuckle that now echoed around me and I was starting to become irritated at this, feeling like I was being toyed with or played like a goddamn harp of some sort right now. I leaped to my paws, letting my lips peel back to sport my gleaming teeth as I snarled into the empty darkness in front of me now as my tail lashed angrily behind me. "What do you want with me?" I shouted, evident frustration in my tone, "Are you that much of a coward that you won't even torment me face-to-face? Only a coward hides in the dark instead of facing their foes head-on, even I know that!" As my voice rang through the void, there was only mere silence that greeted me for about thirty seconds before another chuckle sounded, except this was more softened and did not echo as it came from beside me. "Do you really have the right to call me a coward, Rebecca? I think you're being a big hypocrite right now and deep down, even you know that." I turned my head almost immediately towards the voice and I was greeted by the familiar shining red-hued eyes of Robin, the dark-furred lynx that had terrorized me and the rest of the manor many months prior to this day. It felt so much longer than almost a year, but in reality, that's how much time had passed since the incident out behind the old mansion. That was not something that I wished to remember and just by seeing this feline, all those cursed memories came flooding back and a certain burning emotion of anger formed within my chest as I glared up at Robin. "What the hell do you want?" I hissed at her now, "You are dead and I am supposed to be done dealing with your madness." The dark-furred lynx tilted her head to the side at me with a neutral expression on her face as she just simply stared at me for a few short seconds. "I remember a time when I was apart of the Feral Plains family instead of your enemy. It saddens me that the cruelty of man has caused me to become your foe, Rebecca." She said and the burning within me worsened. "You are an enemy of our family because you tried to execute Henry in front of all of the other hybrids because you saw him as a traitor of our kind." I retorted and the lynx softly shook her head, giving an amused huff of air as she stood up and walked past me into the void.

Robin turned around sharply, facing me head on now with a certain darkened look within her scarlet-hued eyes. "I'd love to sit around and reminisce about our past, but unfortunately, that is not why I decided to visit you tonight. I am dead and gone, that is true, but just remember, Rebecca, that I will always be a part of you." She lifted a paw and pointed to one of her eyes with a sly smirk resting on her maw as she stared at me, "I can never leave you because I am apart of you - but that's a bit too cliche, heh." Robin withdrew her paw now as I did not answer any of her words now, not wanting to even think about what she said. I was past that time in my life and I did not wish to go back to it ever again. I then watched as she began to slowly walk around me, circling my form like I was an omega and she was the alpha of a wolf pack. I hated this, but for some reason, I was frozen in place. "You've been very conflicted about things lately." The lynx mentioned, "I won't go into details, but I do know what's been going through your head. If I may ask, have you ever taken into consideration the true power that you possess by being the creator of this world and all the creatures within it? I assume you have not since so much tragedy has happened." There was a moment of paused silence before I shook my head, looking at Robin with a glare. "I do know the power that I possess, I am not an idiot when it comes to my own creations." I spat at the feline, whiskers twitching on my muzzle, "What does that have to do with anything that I'm going through? You're an idiot, Robin, and I want you to leave me the fuck alone right now." As I said that, the abrupt force of a paw went across my face, causing me to fall to the ground with a groan as the lynx stood over me now with a hint of irritation now in her own expression. "So you admit that you have true conscious belief of your power and yet you still let the creatures of that manor suffer, eh? I am not the idiot, Rebecca, you are." The lynx hissed and backed off, letting me get to my paws as I sat up and muttered some inaudible things under my breath as I rubbed my cheek with one of my paws due to the painful sting that I felt now. "Suffer? Oh, please. Ever since Hyde burned you to ash, we've been through the most peaceful times that our family has ever seen." I retorted back at her, even though I could tell that she didn't even really care about what I now said. "What I am trying to say, if you'll actually let me speak, is that you don't have to go through the fear of changing. You can rewrite the past and all of it will seem like it was completely normal. Think about that for a moment. All the bad things that have happened in their pasts, because of you, can be redone to a more positive light. You keep telling yourself, and the rest of the manor, that these are happy times - but is everyone really happy? Or are you too caught up in your own selfish desires to see the actual true livelihoods of your hybrids?" The dark-furred lynx gave another laugh that made my ears flatten against my head with disgust. "If you really cared about these creatures, you think you would give them all better lives and make sure that they were truly happy. Ah, but luckily for you, Rebecca, you have the power to rewrite their pasts and make sure they do have good times. With that, you can also change yourself however you want and everyone will just see it as completely normal. Sounds simple enough, now doesn't it?" Robin smiled at me, but there was something off about that expression upon that dark lynx that made my skin crawl as I looked up at her in silence now, unsure of what to say now. "Like I said before, be smart and think about it, okay?"