The den he'd been born to, a ledge hidden behind the roaring falls, darker than any spot in Pisces, had quickly become the boy's homestead. He'd returned there after tiring himself each day since birth to sleep, but today, as he pawed his way up and onto its high perch not to rest but to investigate, to learn, it felt like a foreign land to him. His paws brushed over damp, cool stone as warily as he'd moved in Cetus.

Dragon. The ancient reptile had recognized him like every other old one seemed to. Except until those who'd expected greatness of the cub, Dragon had been weary and more hostile. Defensive. Protective. It had been Layla's influence that had stopped a fight before it could start, and even now, the boy felt both guilty and grateful for her company. He'd left her in Cetus with a promise that she'd find him in Pisces; the misty cavern was simply too hostile, too alive, for the black cub to bear right now.

Especially with all these mysteries in his head.

He stroked a heavy paw across the stone wall with its pale etchings, stories and characters and maps drawn into stone quickly, ages ago, as if He'd been in a hurry to write it all down. A bird, a bear, a lioness.

His story was cut short, though, and gave no details; just an impression of His journeys as a youth; for surely he'd been as small as he was now to have drawn these all so low to the floor. A smear of a paw print on the stone caught his eye and he found himself placing his own paw over it, stunned by how well it fit the print's smudged impression...

^{Intended to be a solo / self thread, but all welcome as well.}

A flood of words and images bereft of sound and form flooded the young cat's mind. A ghostly reflection of a scene echoing through the halls after the final curtain came to a close. In the sight without vision and the conversations upon deafened ears only a few basic concepts could be grasped:

---

The shapes upon these stones, living and breathing to view their own likeness.

A speaker of shadow and horns, placed in a seat of honor, quartz in hand.

What is our purpose? For what reason do we live?

What are our selves? What tools do we bring?

Who shall we follow? I speak first, but mine may not always be the last word.

Rabbit and deer, beetle and tree; what lives must we take that ours should continue on?

Who shall we trust? What strangers shall we tolerate?

A ring of trials; of body, mind, and soul. These alone shall forge the iron of our essence.

---

As quickly as it had come the vision of that which was not faded away, only memories of its passing left in the young feline.

His breath was sucked clean from his lungs and body fell lax, propped by a stiff paw against ancient stone walls; eyes glazed over, pupils full, unseeing. Ears were fidgeting in every direction as sound berated the cub's mind, unintelligible save for a few sparse phrases, ideas even. Barely whispers yet a hundred voices, but one that sounded louder than the rest, a murky vision like a foggy mirror. Choices. Hard choices for any one mind to make. Overwhelming in its end, as the vision fades, he is left gasping in cold sweat.

Eyes regained partial vision but did not focus as his brain churned to register everything the memories of stone had just shown him- for this was what he'd come to call this strange magic. Echoes of the past. He could tell that much at least. Eyes refocused on the self-portrait so similar to his own.

What is our purpose? Mechanically, he traced the images on the wall, seemingly entranced by them now. For what reason do we live? He hadn't cared before. Suddenly though, this had become such an important question. What are our selves? Sure, he and Layla were Snow Leopards, Dragon an Alligator... but how were they the same, as he felt in his heart they were? The same species... but so different.

What tools do we bring? His claws were an obvious answer- too obvious. He dragged them carefully across the stone's surface, so not to scratch it. Who shall we follow? Certainly not the old ones who thought they knew so much but had no clear answers. Certainly not the stone memories, vague and confusing. He pressed his nose to the stone and breathed in its cool, mineral scent. His breath warmed it with a mist.

I speak first, but mine may not always be the last word. His head felt light and airy. Rabbit and deer, beetle and tree; what lives must we take that ours should continue on?" He spoke the words as they cleared in his mind and they felt so important to him. "Who shall we trust? What strangers shall we tolerate?" Clearing from the vision, he turned his eyes from the lowest images, upwards, to tired etchings less worked on further above.

He carried his weight on front paws up the wall until he stood against it on hind legs, tail curling idly behind him, his fur long since smoothed once more.

His eyes fell upon the white scratches that formed a familiar shape.

The quartz. Where is it now? He turned almost franticly towards the rest of the cave as if gripped by shock and panic. Is it here? Will it hold more memories? Desperate to know himself as others knew him the boy began a frantic search to find the missing quartz rod.

^tags

His search spanned a good hour's time, from the Warrans to the falls and back. He felt a constant level of anxiety washed over him like Cetus' heavy mist the entire time.

Until finally, oh, finally, he found it. Disappointment thudded in his chest as his eyes spotted the glinting white quartz... resting on a precarious ledge under the surface of the lagoon, almost seven feet down he'd reckon. Still, he'd found it, because this was most definitely the same thing drawn in his mind and on the wall. Alas, he'd have to get wet for it though.

After having to wash the mud from his fur upon returning from Cetus the cub was not looking forward to the hours-long process of drying it again.

Still, it was worth it. Barely.

He hoped.

With a deep sucking breath, the cub plunged fearlessly into the lagoon's dark waters and took a second to orientate himself in the new weightlessness of the water. Eyes, bleary and stinging from the water's cold and salt,
found the Quartz again and with more practice than the first time the boy churned his way to it. It took a moment of juggling the thing between his paws before he defaulted on carrying the thing in his teeth, tongue pressed flat against the roof of his mouth so not to let water down his throat as he made a frantic rush back for the surface again.

That the old ones, they also started life small, and the cub found it easy to carry the thing out of the water and back to dry-ish land. He placed the quartz under his paw and gave a hearty shake before relenting himself to another vision- or, well, he hoped anyway.

He focused on it and the feeling the vision had brought on and hoped he was doing this right, because that first vision had been confusing as was...

^tags

Within the crystal another memory stirs. Friendly faces gather to hail the return of their beloved leader and a new member of their family.

Memories of joy and prosperity. Memories of triumph in exploration. Memories that bring with them but a single clear image- a new map to light the mystery of the cave.

The crystal's resonation shifts to a different tone with the arrival of that concrete image. The concepts of smiling faces taking on an evil hue as an overwhelming sense of dread can be felt from the bottom-left side of the map. The memory is incomplete, but would exploring more tarnish the song of adoration and peace it had cast before?

The new visions that came, came with feelings of triumph and joy. Carcino felt himself purring along with it, entranced, until all of that stopped and ebbed into fearful dread and bad feelings he'd never felt before. The boy snapped his paw away from the quartz and panted, ears pinned and eyes wide, brimming with tears that weren't entirely his own.

...what had happened? His eyes moved towards a familiar shape etched into the wall. The map. Bottom left. He scooped the quartz up in his teeth and headed over to sit at the wall's base, staring up at the map and especially at that lower section of it.

Quartz still in his jaws, the boy reached up, touched the map's lower image, hoping to learn more...

^tags

"Traitor!"

Unlike the last two visions of the past this cast brought with it a flurry of sound and emotion. A beloved leader standing amongst familiar faces, scorn burning in so many of their eyes.

"Murderous monster!" the voice bit again, as though directed at the caster himself.

"... you are to be put on Trial for the attempted murder of.." another voice called out with authority, most if its words obscured by the overwhelming echo of emotion etched into the stone.

Almost all vision of the real world faded momentarily as the map twisted into a nightmarish version of itself.

"Ever since that first day, you hated me; ever since we met, I knew you'd hurt me." a mocking tone sounded, the mapped representation of Pisces churning into a visual anomaly that could only be described as the essence of fire and pain. Blood seeped from the rock into a flow through the tunnels until it reached the bottom-left room.

"Rest in pieces, shit bear," the mocking tone came again.

The view of the map jarred away, replaced by a swirl of black and yellow and a distorted voice full of betrayal and pain. "Fine! Condemn me! Banish me! DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO ME! I'm DONE! Nothing I say will convince you! Nothing I do! I've done EVERYTHING for you and you still won't even listen"

The swirling slowed as the fury of the statement broke, replaced by helpless sorrow. While not clear the distorted imagery began to take on distinctively feline features.

"He was your friend, your family, and you ABANDONED him" another voice sounded, quickly quieted as the view went back to distorted impressions of former friends and acquaintances filled with desire to see punishment delivered.

The vision began to fade, words becoming harder and harder to translate. When the authoritative voice called out again only a single word could be recognized: "Banished"

Emotions and sights and sounds continued to fade, the impression of a dark honed feline running away and another creature's pleading words "Don't forget us" barely a whisper as the magic finally released.