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| - I decided not to tell Rock about my encounter with Embre, even though I figured he would eventually find out. If he could read my mind, he would know - that was all I was thinking about the whole time I tagged along behind Rock to the "training place". The only thing that worried me was how I had felt around Embre. I could definitely feel a sort of aura around her, a sort of veil that made you know for certain that you'd met someone special. I couldn't quite place what I'd felt yet, but I knew it was odd and that it meant something. And that was still besides the point. For heaven's sakes, if my eyes weren't lying to me, Embre had morphed into a shadow. My rogue days taught me to have sharp eyes, and I knew I couldn't be wrong - there was nothing I missed. Ever. "Come now," Rock called from ahead of me. I hurried and caught up to him, walking side by side, and he nodded in the direction in front of us. I looked. "There's nothing," I replied, confused. "Yes there is," Rock mewed. "Step forward." I stepped forward - and almost fell to my death. In front of me, an enormous pit gaped, grit showering from where I'd made a hasty stop to prevent my body from being flung into the hole. I turned around and stared at him, teeth gritted, and dug my claws into the gravel. "Is there?" I prompted angrily. "This is where your faith divides," Rock continued, stepping beside me. "Wintergreen - do you believe in the Trust?" "I do, yes. I think." No'. I don't know! "You must make up your mind," Rock insisted. "If you do not believe in the power of the Trust, the power of magic, you shall fall to your death." I gulped. "And if I do?" "You'll make it to the training area safely." I blinked. "But that's not fair!" I protested. "You can't ask that of me! How can I believe in the Trust so quickly? The past few days have been a blur for me and I can't even believe I'm in Aphyix, let alone this." He shook his head. "I repeat, this is where your faith divides. You must decide or step down. And by stepping down, you are losing everything your life is built on, you must go back into Aphyix, no longer under my protection, prey for the Captain and his guards. And you'll never find this Mystic Flower." I prevented myself from gaping, then shook my head. How does he know about the flower? "There's got to be another way." "Every hero I have trained says the same," Rock meowed, dipping his head. "And believe me, not all of my heroes are but brawn. They have the brain, and can perservere through anything by the sheer power of knowledge. You, Wintergreen, have both, and I have faith in you." I tried to stop the tears from coming and swallowed again. "I-I don't want to go back, Rock," I murmured. "I know you don't," Rock meowed, with the hint of a smile. "It was written in the stars before you or I were born." I stared at him, my eyes wide. "When the stars were born?" I asked, surprised. "They already decided my destiny that long ago?" Rock nodded, his expression grave. "You have a great destiny in store, Wintergreen, and I expect you to live up to it - if you do not, the world may end at your expense." Then he stepped into the pit - - but he did not fall. He floated as if miraculously, orbs of golden light wreathing around his paws, guiding him. He stepped up, one paw in front of the other, until he disappeared altogether. Right. Time to get a move on. I would have to pull myself together before Keyes' guards finally tracked me down. Keyes himself was probably still chasing down Embre - I had already begun to think her as my partner-in-crime. Smiling a bit, I looked back at the task at hand. Step after step. I shuffled to the end, and then placed a paw on thin air. It bounced back a little, but then dropped, gravity taking over. I knew it. I didn't believe in the Trust. How could I possibly get to the training area? I would die! Deep breaths. I thought back through all my experiences in my life, trying to convince myself that the Trust was no lie, that I was part of it. When I'd met Embre, I'd felt some sort of connection - and she obviously used magic, which would explain her shadow feat - the Trust? When I'd flipped through the pages of time and landed in the conversation of the cave leaders - the Trust? Then I'd seen the creation of the stars themselves, and they had whispered to me - a subconcious voice that spoke as if I were thinking it myself, yet they weren't thoughts of my own. They had told me that I was the Trust. And I knew the stars didn't lie. Even as a rogue, looking up at the stars at night, I confided everything - my deepest, darkest fears, the crimes I'd committed, the crimes committed against me - to the stars. And even when I admitted something I never would for the span of my lifetime to any other cat, they still twinkled endlessly. They were always there for me, and they reflected to me my emotions in their soft glow, like looking into a tranquil pond and staring at my reflection. They couldn't lie. I couldn't lie, to myself. The Trust was real. I'd gotten Stirrings. I was the new branch of this ancient promise of the stars, and I couldn't deny it. I stepped into the pit, and I felt myself levitate up; it was as if I was walking on clouds, with the light, airy feel, and the weightlessness. I glanced down, the ground far, far away, and my eyes widened. What if I fell? What if I lost my grip and sunk to the deepest, darkest corner of the bottom...? My body dangerously dipped. My line of clear thinking was ebbing, and I needed to go up, not down. I kept climbing the invisble mountain, praying I wasn't going to die today - I'm too young to die! - and I finally reached the top. The sky had looked perfectly clear from the cliff, but as I climbed I passed through an invisible barrier and a whole new world opened up in front of me. A huge stony field opened up in front of me, and I stepped down. The sun shone brightly overhead, and cliffs surrounded us. Rock was waiting for me. "I knew you could do it," he congratulated, "and you knew it too." He was right: I had known. At least, I'd known I wouldn't be going back anytime soon. I would have tried, even if it meant my eventual death. "We must start right away," Rock continued, striding over to a crack in the rock and slipping in. I followed him, the cave reminding me all too much of the one that had collapsed. "I have to prepare city defenses." "What will I do?" "...You're my city defense," Rock replied as he continued farther into the cave. I sighed and followed him. I felt more like an object being pulled on a string than the prestegious cat of the Trust. The cave tunnel opened up into a larger cavern, not quite as big as the one I'd shared with Lazuli but much bigger than the tunnel. "Step into the middle," Rock instructed. I did what he said. A small sheen of light poured through a crack in the ceiling. "Do something." "What?" "Do something," Rock insisted, looking annoyed. "Have you not gotten Stirrings before?" "I have!" I defended myself. "But I just don't understand what you're talking about!" Rock took a deep breath. "So you're saying you have no experience with your abilities yet?" Did he expect me to? "No," I answered simply. "Then what did you recieve in the form of Stirrings?" I thought back, to the time when Lazuli first explained to me the Stirrings. I'd seen a vision of a jeweled cat in the midst if the battle, looking down at the scene. "In a pool of water," I replied. "A vision." "Ah." Rock nodded. "In that case, this way." He led me through another branch of tunnels, which kept rooting of each other until I had lost total sense of direction. How could Rock possibly navigate through here? We finally stopped, in a little clearing less than half the size of the previous one. The center had been washed away to reveal a dip; when I approached it I saw it was filled with crystal-clear water. "Try it," he prompted me. "The same way you made yourself believe in the Trust, whichever method you used. Do magic." Okay. I clenched myself and tried to think, think deeply, trying to get out the tiny spark in me which I knew to be the Trust I had in myself. Slowly, I poured everything I had inside of me out until I felt withered out from the inside. I stared at him helplessly. "It's no use! I thought you were going to teach me - I didn't know I already needed to learn it!" Rock sighed. "You're right - I will have to start on you from scratch. Most of my heroes have a little experience, but at least you know how to fight...I wouldn't have to cover that part of your training..." Then he launched into mumbling to himself, walking out of the cave, and I followed him. We traveled along the tunnel adjacent to the cave containing the pool, my paws feeling worn from walking so long. We reached another shallow dip, this time cut into the cave wall and containing moss with feathers lining the rim. When I looked up I could see a row of other nests, set up the same way. "Sleep, child," Rock murmured. "Be ready for training in the morning." Then he turned and left. I sighed and curled up in the dusty bedding, trying not to sneeze and got comfortable. Today had been a long day, and Rock was right - I did need rest. I thought again about the cave collapsing. Would it happen here too? Would the cave crash in on itself or would it survive because of the magical layer it was in? I thought about the pool, and my Stirrings. And then it hit me. Lazuli had explained to me what I had experienced - how had she known what the Stirrings were?
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