Kat continued to fly higher and higher, with the only way to tell she was progressing at all, was using the increasingly shrinking roiling puddle of darkness, but eventually even that was out of sight.
*Should I use some energy to improve my eyes?* Kat checked her reserves and found them teetering on the edge of nothing. *Definitely not! I can't fall now… though actually… does gliding use up energy? Could I recover that way…*
Kat's thoughts on gliding were interrupted however as she came into contact with a sticky film like substance pressing down on her horns. It was a very strange feeling. She was about to question Minor, but her kitsune companion spoke first. "Keep going if you can Kat, if you can break through the edge it should change the scene"
Kat nodded and renewed her efforts. As she tried to fly and push against whatever this substance was it increased its resistance to her efforts. Eventually she was flapping her wings as fast as she could, and yet she was still trapped in the current scene.
*Do I use some of my flames? I don't really have the energy for that, I'm already risking falling down and locking up… what about just stabbing it… with my tail I guess?*
Kat coiled her tail around itself, making sure to keep up her efforts and stretch the wall as thin as possible, before lashing out, striking the edge. As soon as her tail came into contact with it, Kat heard a quiet pop.
Then suddenly she wasn't straining against a thick film, she was face down in the snow and Minor was no longer in her hands. Trying and failing to move, Kat strained her eyes hoping to find some clue that Minor was ok.
"Kat? Is that you?" asked Minor from somewhere nearby.
*Well… yes it is me but I can't exactly move at the moment to warn you now can I?*
Kat felt the edge of her left wing get poked a few times. *Yup, that's me, can you just I dunno pull me out?*
Luckily Minor was thinking along the same lines as Kat, and had started to dig away the snow surrounding Kat. A few minutes later and Minor was crouching beside Kat who had been left leaning against a nearby tree.
"So… ah, how normal is this?" asked Minor "I mean, it was weird when you disappeared only to reappear in that next memory, but now you are just kind of sitting here… but I can sort of tell you're still home? If that makes sense"
*I suppose that means she can tell that I'm not just a husk, or a fake Kat… which is good information to have… but I can't exactly give you any encouragement at the moment… unless my tail maybe?*
Kat focused on her tail and tried to get it to move, but it was happily curled in her lap curtesy of Minor, and seemed to have no desire to move at this point in time. *Well… that's a bit of a lost cause.*
*Wait what about a little bit of energy in my eyes?* Kat reached towards the few embers of demonic energy she had left and tried to order them towards her eyes, but found it to be similarly unresponsive.
"Well… I guess you might not be able to hear me… though your eyes are open which is a little weird… anyway at least we seem to have a mostly safe place to rest up. Hopefully you aren't affected by the cold… that could be a problem" said Minor
*Wait how come you aren't? I mean I don't know why I'm fine either but at least I can recognise that my powers are bullshit and don't make sense. Minor's used to make at least a degree of sense.*
"Huh… I can almost see the question in your eye. Well, I mentioned that the only thing that really affects me here is the Nightmares and I mean that very literally. I can just choose not to be cold because I'm more like the scenery than anything else" said Minor
*Huh… still not sure that makes sense. I mean now that I look the snow is falling though you Minor, like, it just ignores your existence. At least the trees have the decency to collect some snow once and awhile.*
"Anyway, as I was saying you can just relax for a bit. I can keep a look out, and make sure that the black stuff or the Nightmares appear. Then we have to find our way out of this part of the dream… I think it's here because of Major's ice affinity. We were sort of half in a memory before but now we are really in a dream. I think Major might be trying to keep us away for some reason" said Minor.
*Well that's just great. But I still don't understand how this is different to the memories? Or why exactly we can move through them? Like isn't a dream a dream? Why can we move between them?*
Minor seemed to be done talking though as she sat down next to Kat and pulled one of Kat's wings around herself before gazing out at the snow swept landscape. Kat let her mind drift to random topics once Minor was settled, for she was right, Kat just needed a bit of energy to be back on her feet.
A short five minutes later Kat managed to flex her fingers. Control slowly returning to her body. Minor felt her shifting and looked over waiting for confirmation. "I'm fine. This is just what happens when I run out of energy. It's kind of weird. I'm not unconscious but I just can't move at all"
Minor frowned "For how long?"
Kat shrugged "Until I recover. I think I can do little things if my life is threatened but I've only seen one example of that"
"Ok… so what should we do? Keep waiting?" asked Minor
Kat shrugged again "Well, I should be fine to walk, that doesn't really eat up much if any more energy than sitting around. It is stuff like flying and running at full speed that drains me. Especially my demonic fire. Summoning that can be a massive pain"
Minor nodded "Ok… hmm, I say we sit here for a little bit longer I have a plan"
"Ok?" said Kat before settling back down slightly and leaning into the tree. *I wonder what her plan is? Does she want me to fly up again? I mean I guess it could work but at the same time… I feel like that's a little too easy.*
##
After another thirty minutes of recovery Kat was back to full. But for once she'd actually had the peace of mind to properly examine the recovery process. It seemed like it wasn't as linear as she'd originally thought.
*So it seems like, as long as I'm sitting still, my regen increases exponentially? Or at least additively. I was only around a third at fifteen minutes… but does it increase the longer I stay motionless, or the more energy I have? It has to be motionless right? Because the drain and regen is constant when I fly or run.*
"I'm full, and ready to go Minor" said Kat
Minor shook herself out of her stupor. At some point she had fallen asleep. *Which is still really weird. I mean… can you sleep in a dream? How exactly does that work? I'd have thought she'd sleep when Major did but now that I think about it, Minor's 'world' would be more active at night.*
Standing up and stretching with a yawn "Ok, so I'm going to see if I can twist this little trick into a skip for us. Give me just a moment" said Minor
With that she started to peel the bark off the tree they had been leaning against. Once she had a small pile of bark in her hand, she proceeded to snap it into smaller pieces and built a tiny campfire on her hand.
"Can you put a bit of fire on top Kat?" asked Minor
Nodding, and summoning the requested flame Kat let it spout from her finger, and hovered it slightly over the campfire. "Now just hold it there" said Minor.
She took a step forward and held out her hand while looking at Kat's flame and the sticks in her outstretched hand. After much humming and hawing, Minor nodded to herself, and dropped the sticks.
Instead of them falling like Kat had expected, she felt her flame leave her control and vanish. Startled she looked around, and noticed a bright light in the distance. Enhancing her eyes revealed… it was a campfire.
"Ok, what? How did that work?" asked Kat
"Well, I just made a campfire, lined everything up and then… bent things a little with my control over Major's mind. Now come on, we should head for the campfire" said Minor