Chapter 11 A Stray cat appears. Part 3. (Edited)

Waking up in a daze Anna was quite confused.

"Ugh, my head is spinning, what happened?"

"The last thing I remember was using magic, and the philosopher's stone together to heal my body."

Opening her eyes nothing but darkness greets her.

"What the... Where am I?"

Looking around she saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing. It was as though she was in the void. She had no senses, nor did the world around her have any feeling, like it was there but not there. Feeling as if this was not real she tried a few things to no avail. Trying to move however brought a different sensation. It was like she could feel the darkness move, yet at the same time there was an odd sensation on her back as she did so. It felt... It felt like she was leaning against bark, but that was not possible unless...

She was in her mind.

( No it couldn't be. My mind space was a small fealed with a swirling lake in the middle. Nothing this large. )

Trying a method from her past, she tried to create a rock.

Succeeding she was surprised.

"I am in my consciousness? But that's not possible. This is too large."

(Let's say it is though. What does it mean? I have never heard of anyone's consciousness being this big, let alone dark. However, if this is my consciousness it means, that my future is limitless. I have to test out a few things in that case. )

Closing her eyes, she felt the space around her.

Responding to her will the area around her slightly changed, and ten dim lights appeared around her. However, the light was so dim no one would notice them. Then the space around her started to shake, and instead of a dark abyss, there was a ground, and the 10 dim lights gathered in the sky and hid behind what seemed to be a sun.

Concentrating some more, the surroundings altered, themselves, from a desolate earth to a prairie filled with trees, grass, flowers, and even a gentle wind. At the center of it all, a chair and a table appeared with a cup of water that was constantly swirling. Opening her eyes she moved to sit down. The sky was black. Looking up she was confused.

"Odd. I changed it to an orange why did nothing change."

Trying once again, the sky shook, and changed colors slightly before going back to normal. Shaking her head she tried a third time, however, the sky cracked apart, like glass shattering, before millions of eyes appeared throughout the sky. Staring at the falling sky, she was stunned, by the sight, however, when the table she was sitting at shook, she snapped out of it.

Before her, there was a book.

( It must have fallen from that thing. )

Looking back up, and shaking her head, she grabbed the book and giving it a once over.

The title of the book was, how to *&$#@(*#

Unable to make heads or tails of this book, she opened it without thinking much. However, as she did so the sky full of eyes started to grow teeth and shake like it was angry. Dropping the book out of fright, and falling out of her chair, she was terrified. The thing in the sky was not a manifestation of her fear like she thought it was, but a living entity within her consciousness.

The book that had fallen to the ground glowed in a gentle pink light and the sky calmed down. Flying back to Anna the book hovered in front of her.

Looking at the book suspiciously she held it in her hands and not seeing any reaction from the sky she opened it.

Within the book was a drawing of a cat's body, with 10 orbs next to it.

Closing the book and looking at the cover again, it still said how to *&$#@(*#

"How is this possible? I didn't have this in my past life."

Opening the book again and looking at the orbs. These orbs must represent Light, Dark, Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Electricity, Void, and Time, but this last orb, I have no clue what it could be.

"This does not make sense, in my last life, our people did not cultivate like this, we mainly hunted to get stronger, however, this cultivation method resembles that of humans, by absorbing the elements around them."

After saying this something changed. It was like the book started to shake out of anger this time.

The eyes and teeth in the sky started to close and disappear after seeing this.

The book started to shake even more and broke free of Annas's hold.

Before anything could happen though 10 orbs of light appeared between the book and Anna.

Taking a few steps back out of surprise at the sudden appearance of the light, Anna tripped and fell on her butt.

A voice resounded within the mind-space.

"You can not hurt her. She is the next candidate."

Shaking even more, the book opened and its pages could be seen flipping rapidly, as images shun from it.

"She does not know, her first life sealed the memories."

After receiving this answer the book shook even more violently before teeth started to appear along its spine.

Seeing this the ten orbs of light combined into a person and grabbed the book, before reaching forward grabbing it and tearing out a page, before dropping the book to the ground.

"Wait who are you?"

There was no answer as the body broke up into ten balls of light.

Without saying a word, the ball of light slowly disappeared, and the book floated up and grabbed the page that was ripped out. Catching a glimpse of the page Anna saw a dragon, but when she blinked it was just a cat. Unbeknownst to Anna what she saw was correct, and the scale on the back of her neck, changed from one to four.

Scratching her head out of confusion, however, she felt two furry ears.

"What is going on? My ears should not have appeared until I started my cultivation, just what is written in that book that can affect everything so much, why does my sky have eyes and teeth, and those orbs of light where did they come from, or who are those orbs of light."

"Ghaaa, one problem at a time."

Looking down at the book, she asked it a question.

"Are any of you a threat to me? No never mind, can I at least trust you three?"

There was no reply, however, the book flipped open and on the page, there was just one word.

Yes.

Stunned by the answer, she stood there frozen. The book took this opportunity and flew towards Anna at blinding speeds. Smashing into her forehead, knocking her out. As the book was absorbed into her forehead, it left a mark, and the shape of the mark changed turning into the number 12 before disappearing.

Waking up with a violent shake, she about fell off the tree branch. Catching herself just in time. She was scared, if she was just a second too late she would have fallen and broken something.

O_O

( That was close. )

( I have too many things on my plate right now to worry about that space, I need to focus on one thing at a time, and when I'm safe, then I'll think about the other things. )

Fixing her position on the branch, she grabs her sack. Opening it up, she started to dig through the various clothes, and items, only stopping when she saw two plastic bags. In one of the bags, there was an ID card, a birth certificate, some money, an inhaler, a torn photo of a man with no head, and a woman holding a baby. A set of car keys, and a security lock box key. Taking a second to understand what she was looking at she stuffed that bag back into the sac, before turning to the other bag. In the other bag, there were a variety of odd things. Two items of note, were a blue vile, with a note attached, and what looked like a notebook filled with odd letters.

Grabbing the blue vile she looked at the note. The note said that by using this on yourself you can cure your sickness.

Gritting her teeth and looking at the notebook in her other hand she was stunned. Wasn't this the same notebook in my mental space?

( No I can focus on that later. )

Gripping the blue liquid with fury in her eyes, she opens it and pours it onto the tree. When the liquid came out, it was not like that of water, but more of a viscous substance, and when it landed on the tree branch, it shaped itself into a glowing blue slime.

"If I had known this last time around, I would not have drunk it. If only the note said that it was a monster instead and that I needed to kill it. None of that pain would have happened. If... No, there is no time for regret.

Lifting her hand high in the air, she smashed it down on the glowing blue slime at a blinding speed smashing it. Sending the body of the creature all over the place. After the slime had been slain its body then started to disappear into the air, while light particles were given off and surrounded Anna.

With a violent shake of Annas's body, she almost fell off the tree again.

Looking up at the starry sky, she sighed.

"I have taken my first step."

( I have experienced many things in this life, and my last. I have suffered unimaginable pain under those "caretakers" care. The caretakers ended up escaping in the end and became quite successful when mana finally broke free, and in this life, I won't let that happen. After having my insides melted by the slime after drinking it, all the experience went into fixing my body, After killing it by digesting the little bugger, it had only improved my body's state to that of a normal human. I even found out that I was not human. I learned to cultivate by chance and had a husband and children, who betrayed me and killed me. I now have a second chance at life, I won't use it for revenge, but now I don't know what to do. Yea I can get stronger by cultivating and absorbing dead monsters, but this world won't awaken for another twenty years. )

( What to do, what to do. )

Taking out the notebook, she flips it open while glancing at each page.

( I guess, I could take the time to learn other languages, and see if I can translate this. )

Closing the book, she carefully put everything away into the sac.

Looking up into the sky, a small smile formed on her lips, and in a quiet voice, she said.

"I am finally free."

Lifting her hand into the sky, she reaches out and acts like she's going to grab the moon.

"I will pursue my own goals."

Annas' eyes flash to a crimson red color, a pair of ears pop out of her head, and a tail shoots out of her lower back.

Pulling her hand back like she was grabbing a solid object, the space around her hand warped, before tearing.

With deep resolve in her eyes, she shouted "I WILL LIVE!"

With a final yank, the space made a popping sound and tore open. Getting up from the branch, she took one last look around before she jumped into the tear.