There was a yard, a garden as its called by some people, kept green and living forever etched in the memory of the cat, Ageru. This was a place for fun, a place where freedom was closest and joy was evident. It was the place, one of the only parts of his job that he actually liked, where he got to watch over and play with the rich merchants son, and even though he would wish the father, his master, would stay out just a little longer it seemed like clockwork. His master would leave the same hour each day and come back late evening and so with the setting of the sun, despair and thought of what will come came creeping, encroaching upon his mind, as the darkness settled in.
Ageru was a slave, sold when he was born, and owned by the merchant family. Though he wished to call the son, Edward, his master, it was his father that really owned him. There was a tradeoff though, it seemed, that confused the cat, but in reality wasn’t a tradeoff of ownership at all. He would be ‘owned’ by the kid while the father was at work. It was to his understanding that he was bought to keep the kid company but also to insure the safety of family and do whatever work, which was usually all of it, that needed to be done that didn’t necessarily pertain to the business world. There was a system of power and whose commands he had to listen to first. First and foremost it was the merchant man, whose name Ageru didn’t have the will to remember and the man forever be called master in his mind, then it was the will and wishes of the kid.
The great castle-like place that Ageru lived in was more like a prison, and every night as he would watch the young boy fall asleep he would gaze out the window to the open field that surrounded the place. It was taunting him in the moonlight because he knew full well that there was what the humans called a ‘shield’ around the place. Not to keep people out, but to keep the cat in. Like an invisible fence, and in invisible chains the kelvic was kept there, but the fears was well founded. He would run away the chance he got, and had before, which was probably why that strange guy was hired by the family to erect such a wall.
Though the merchant was rich for a well off mining business the only reason that Ageru was kept at the house at all was for the kid, and the multitude of chores that needed done. With his first escape he was threatened to work at the mines themselves, but he was saved, by the grace of the gods, by the merchants kid who protested and threw a fit until he got what he wanted: Ageru to stay.
He was kept well enough. Given just enough food and water, it seemed that the family didn’t want to go and spend just a miza more to make him happy. It was a one way relationship, a slave/master relationship. The only happiness that mattered was of his master, and while he did find that important he didn’t much care, sometimes, about it. He would rather just been Edwards. He was rather fond of the kid and found himself wishing to bond with him, but such an event never played out. He liked the name that he was given so affectionately by the six year old, Ageru, and loved keeping him company. That was only one part of his job.
During the day he would sweep, clean, prepare dinner, lunch, breakfast, water the many plants that dotted the property, pick fruit out of the prized fruit tree of the familys, watch over the kid, and even bath the youngster. He was also in charge of clothing, not for him but for his master(s), and patchwork that needed to be done on them. Household chores and if they weren’t done to perfection, or the master felt like it, he would beat the cat. The latter usually being the safest decision, and the beating were usually nightly, and they consisted of rants how he should be bonded already, and how the chores weren’t done, or how the bath water was ‘too cold’ or it was dirty and unchanged. Though usually they, the reasons spouted out of why he was being punished and the numerous curses had no significance to the real reason why, counting that there was one.
With each night the cat would tuck the kid in and wait for him to fall asleep, sitting there, on the edge of the bed until he would go off and do his other nightly duties. Such as patrol the property for any intruders. Though, if he was lucky, the kid would ask for the cat to sleep with him, and with that request Ageru would gladly transform to a cat and snuggle right in. It was those nights he loved the best, but it was also those nights that were so few. In those nights he would have wonderful dreams. Dreams about freedom, and the magical wall around the place abolished, and him slipping away to freedom only to meet a woman in the woodland wilderness that was beyond the property. He would see her turn around and began to say something, but then, as always, he would wake up.
Though the nightly beating were hard, and the work never-endingly tedious it was those kind of dreams that kept him going, that kept him in the mindset that one day he would escape, and one day it would be great, and everything would be ok. Exactly as it seemed in the dream… That was what he was counting on. He could vividly remember the feel of the woman as she turned around, in the world of dreams, and lay her eyes on her. She held a sense of authority. A kind that he has never felt before and it was energizing and even picturing her made his day go by that much more smoothly and even the beatings didn’t seem as bad as they once were. Just enchanting...
One night the kelvic would be asleep in Edwards arms when he would wake up upon hearing a sound. Investigating he would snake out of the child’s grasp careful not to wake him up and slip though the cracked door, the darkness easily being navigated by him because of the fact that he is, indeed, a cat. He stopped in the doorway to the kitchen. Jumping up the counter he surveyed the area. Nothing seemed wrong or out of place, but this is where the noise came from. Spotting a glimmer on the floor it was shining in the dark moonlight that came through the window, that was strangely open, but just a crack. He would sigh as he jumped down and observed the broken plate that was knocked down by they open window. It must have been the wind, and he knew what was coming once the master found the plate. The fine china that the family ate off of, he was informed, was worth more than his life. He simply couldn’t let this be found out.
Quickly shifting into human form he grabbed the pieces hastily and tried to pick up every last little bit, but in his haste he cut himself on one of the sharp sides of the broken dish. Quietly he snuck outside and went into the flower garden and started digging frantically until a hole was large enough to bury the pieces without a chance of them being dug up by planting another bush or flower. The work was hastily done but the fragments that could spell the worst beating in his life were concealed and kept within now the bowels of the earth. This had to be his little secret.
Relieved with the outcome he began to make his way inside, but, as he always does when he knows no one is watching, he would check and see if the shield was still up. It couldn’t hope to dream, but this night would be different. Walking calmly to the barrier that marked the boundaries of his prison he smiled getting more and more hopeful that it wouldn’t be there, but just because you cant see it doesn’t mean its not there. He began walking along the edge of the shield, for he knew the limits, having walked it so many times before, and, by accident or force unknown, he tripped and fell. Laying there for a second, a bit dazed, he wondered what had tripped him and he looked around more carefully as he was on the ground only to realize that he had fallen where he shouldn’t have. He fell into the barrier, the shield, and wasn’t stopped by it… Meaning… It took him a minute or two to comprehend what that meant, but he still didn’t understand it. What could have caused the shield to give in and be gone?
Once realizing what had happened he got up and booked it. He ran as fast as his human legs could carry him and he loved it, Soon he was out of sight of the house and into the woods beyond. The happiness that overwhelmed him was unexplainable and it kept him running and running and running until he reached a small clearing the forest where the trees seemed to avoid growing. He didn’t see her at first, the woman standing there in the middle of the clearing, but when he did he stopped and with the sudden stop almost falling over.
He looked on the woman with disbelief as she turned around to meet his eyes. She commanded the presence of the woman from his dreams, and she looked exactly like her, well, from behind. The woman wasn’t garbed and her limbs were as white as sheets, pale, but she still commanded a power. Was she some divine being that the humans worshipped? And as she turned around he realized that everything that has happened so far happened in his dream. Though with differences, but in his dreams there was a broken plate, the shield was destroyed, and the woman was here in the forest.
He had dreamed of this moment for so long that it seemed unreal, and he could swear once she turned fully around that he would wake up, but as she did he didn’t wake up. It seemed the dream was transferring from imagination to reality. A sick, horrible, but oddly delightful transition, but this was as far as his dream had got… He had no idea what was going to happen next, but he really didn’t care as he was caught up in the womans beauty.
“You have been hurt for a long time,” A soft voice that demanded a certain silence to be heard came from the woman, “And I have been watching you.” She said, smiling at the cat extending her hand, “Come closer.” She said steps towards him, “I can help you.”
The offer was tempting and it seemed that he had no choice but to obey the woman, stepping forward, meeting her, and as their bodies contacted she grinned, “You are a slave.” She spoke simply. The cat unable to find words as she embraced him, “You work for the pleasure of others, yet take no happiness yourself. You are miserable, and have been hurt for so long.” Her hands glided over the cats toned, tan body, “You’re so beautiful, so perfect” She continued, “And yet you suffer. I’ve been watching you and I’ve come to help”
He absorbed every word like some intoxicating drink, and just felt at ease in her presence. It was a dream come true. He smiled not saying a word, “So,” She kept on going, “I’m going to help you feel the joy and happiness that you bring to others. I give you my gift” The masked woman spoke as she slid a hand down brushing lightly the pelvic area, “You will find happiness in the satisfaction of others,” and as she said those poisonous words a slight burning sensation became evident where her fingers had graced, and the burning turned to a much higher level of pain that made the kelvic cry out as the mark started to appear In the shape of a chain, scarlet, and only one link (Correct?). The stain on his skin forever marking him and then the woman was gone.
Ageru found himself on the forest floor with hand covering the mark and only looked at it as the pain subsided. Rising he felt himself fall again as a rock caught him squarely in the back of the head. Scarlet blood flowing from the wound he tried to get up again but was kicked, and kicked again. Oh, he felt pain, but he had also felt something that he never felt before when he was being beat, pleasure. Trying to get up again the cat supported himself with his arms, “You’re worthless” a snarl came from his assaulter as he felt the impact of another kick to his side, the force sending him sprawling to the ground again and to cry out. As he laid there stunned by the blow another came and then another and another. This went on, along with the insults, until he lost consciousness.
Waking up the cat thought it was all a dream, but the pain from the nights beating told him otherwise. He just laid there for a moment observing the coldness of the stone floor he was placed and how much he hurt. It was from that point on that everything changed for him. His chores became enjoyable and his playing with Edward became even more so. Everything was bathed in a different light of content and joy. Life seemed to be looking up, and even with the acquisition of new ‘jobs’ he found them all equally pleasurable. Often, the merchant seeing value in this, he was sold for nights to please anyone who bought him through any means necessary and he found himself enjoying every second of it. Wither it be a more physical pleasure such as sex, or just conversation he found it impossible to say no and really just found himself doing what the buyer wanted. It was like an instinct that couldn’t be fought, a part of him now. He found himself mostly being bought by lonely widows that had the mizas for the high price that the merchant sold him for. Though sometimes by other people to settle more grotesque urges such as someone to beat or experiment on. He went through a whole manner of things and enjoyed each and every one of them. It seemed the only times he wasn’t happy was the time he wasn’t serving someone food, or massaging them, even satisfying the curiosity of some males, or doing a hard days work in the fields or mines. The times he wasn’t happy was the time that he had to himself, not serving anyone. Those were the times he was sad, and so he actively sought out things to do. Servitude and serving was now his drug.
But this didn’t long at all, no, when the word got out that the family that owned him had someone marked by Nikali there seemed to be jealousy in the air and he noted that there was a lot more hired guards in the place than ever. The family wasn’t safe anymore and that was clear. Most people wanted a slave like him but didn’t, and so they plotted to get one. Soon the extensive place which was called his ‘home’ was burned down and attacked by mercenaries. They were trying to get him, but he escaped. It was reported that his long master, the only master that he knew, perished in the fire, but Edward was never found.
