Rebirth and Second Chances

"What did you do?" Tia asked.

I hadn't heard her return, but the [Bond] between us allowed us continuously to monitor each other. I'd subconsciously noticed when she and Ag had arrived, but I had been too focused on the changes I had undergone to acknowledge them.

"I've established the first [Fairy Ring] on Asgard," I said as I turned to face her. Only then did I notice that the changes of fully claiming my [Domain] had extended to Ag and her. They had both changed as well, something I should have expected considering the [Bond] made us part of each other.

While we could share our thoughts before, now it appeared we could share our talents once the color and pattern inherent to her Ocelot bloodline, Tia's hair had morphed into a corona of red, yellow, orange, and blue fire.

Her eyes had changed as well. The vertical slits for her irises remained, but they were filled with shadow, an almost smoky effect of shifting shadow and light. The changes of light within the shadows were disturbing, flashes that illuminated the things hidden in the dark. Her claws were also affected, each formed of fire, ice, or shadow, changing shape and type in a random pattern that seemed beyond Tia's control.

The changes to Ag were even more pronounced, even more impressive. He had grown a set of horns, the type a ram might sport. Instead of curving backward, they curled forward. They could be used for impaling and slashing damage instead of blunt force damage.

His coat had the same shifting pattern as Tia's eyes. Shades of darkness and shadow flowed in pools of shimmering colors as the dark responded to the ambient light. Fire blazed from his eyes while streams of frost and snow were exhaled with each breath.

He had grown larger, not much, perhaps a foot in each direction. His teeth had taken on the exact shifting change of fire, ice, and shadow as Tia's claws, while his claws had created a braid of each element, combining all three into a potent weapon.

Where Tia had been worried and confused about the changes, Ag was excited, even playful, as he experimented with his new body. I was surprised to see him shred a nearby plant, his teeth and claws destroying it quickly.

My attacks had had no effect when I'd attacked the Forest, and that his attacks did must mean something had changed. I watched carefully, extending my newly evolved senses to try to understand what was different.

It was no surprise when I realized that his attacks were now laced with elements of my [Domain]. The divine energies I was beginning to cultivate added to the matrix of magic that defined who we were and how our magic and skill worked.

The [Forest of Nightmare Plants] was laced with the Divine energies of Asgard; now that I had control over the Divine energies of the Tuatha de Danann, Ag's attack circumvented the protections the Forest had to share injuries.

"Tia," I said, once I realized what had happened, "go check on your kittens, see if the changes have been passed down."

She'd blinked in surprise at my suggestion before vanishing. I wasn't sure what she would find, but if she was going to share my status, then it was entirely possible she would be the wellspring for the creation of a new bloodline.

Her kittens might owe their existence to the first burgeoning Goddess to rule the Cait Sith and that Realm.

I experimented with my own attacks against the local plant life while I waited for Tia to return. My weapons still had no effect, the forest able to spread and heal any damage I did so quickly it seemed they took no damage. But my spells were another story. My large-scale area effect fire and ice bomb completely annihilated a section of the forest.

I repeated that attack on a smaller scale, using a blade forged of fire to slowly cut through the branch of a tree. As I did so, I used my enhanced perception to see and understand what was happening.

That divine spark that had melded with my magic worked on multiple layers of reality. It attacked the Divine, magical, physical, and astral layers simultaneously, so the damage I did now that I cultivated [Divine Fairy] crossed all barriers of reality.

The power I now wielded could affect reality.

That made sense, I was dealing with the very foundation of order and chaos, but it was still unsettling. I worried that I might accidentally do something that might change the foundation of reality, something that would have disastrous consequences.

Without a mentor from the Tuatha de Danann to explain and train me, I would have to rely on experiments. When wielding the powers of the infinite, trial and error tests seemed like idiocy. And now my Cu Sith had the same connection with creation and destruction as my [Bonded].

Tia arrived, and the look of relief she allowed to cross her face allowed the tension in my shoulders to ease.

"They are safe but changed. The kittens now have [Illusion] that allows them to fade, masking them from all senses. The shift seems to affect the mind at the same time. Those tasked with caring for them begin to forget they exist," Tia informed me.

"How thorough is the memory loss?" I asked. I wondered if their teeth and a Cheshire grin would be the last part of their bodies to fade. It appeared that Tia's connection to her children and me had just created a species of Cheshire Cats.

"The loss of memory and focus on their duty and the kittens is absolute. They have no idea why they were there or what they should be doing. Once a kitten becomes visible, that loss of memory and focus vanishes, and their memories are restored," Tia replied.

"Any confusion or impairment to their minds or their ability to perform their duties?" I wondered.

"There don't seem to be any ill-effects to guardian or kitten, and the shifts in memory don't seem to have any real impact on those affected. I think the concept of [Time] that sets the tone and structure for [Cait Sith] is mitigating any confusion or harm that might occur."

"[Cait Sith] is working to keep the change from becoming [Paradox]?" I ventured to guess.

"I believe so. Once the kittens are older, I will test their abilities outside of [Cait Sith] to determine if there will be any temporal ripples across [Time] if memories are affected. I will also need to make sure that no changes to timelines happen."

"How would their ability change a timeline?" I wondered.

"As far as I can tell, no one is aware of the missing memories. It's like they glitch from one moment to the next. I'm unsure if those glitches in memory are because of a movement in [Time] or something else.

"Until they are older and better able to understand and defend themselves, it is best to keep them protected and contained inside [Cait Sith]. I am afraid to even think about what would happen if [Time] decided these new Cait Sith were responsible for [Paradox]," Tia explained.