Wait! Was I Seriously Just Reincarnated As a Cat?

Everything was over. The skinwalkers were tamed even after my Purr-suasion effects wore off, and all the beasts in the village were asleep, including Aristella, Condo, and Rowan.

All of the skinwalkers returned to their settlement for now, gathering their resources and bringing them over under Naldoola’s orders.

Currently in my makeshift hut, I was sitting on a red pillow as Naldoola sat crisscross in front of me, staring at my small size with a nervous gaze. I was questioning him.

"We’ve conquered many territories in our lifetimes. Pillaged beasts and humans under the name of the blood god. It is he who blesses us with the blood affinity."

Naldoola was answering my questions about his kind—and the blood god that they served.

"...That explains why all the beasts in Nekoria were afraid of you guys when you set foot in the village."

I swayed my tail sideways, tilting my head.

"So this blood god, what’s their name, exactly?"

"His name is Voreblopochtli!"

I suddenly widened my eyes, blinking multiple times in confusion.

"Voreblo... what?"

"Voreblopochtli. He is the god who gives all living things blood, for he is its maker. He demands daily sacrifices and the offering of blood as nourishment."

"That doesn’t really sound... Egyptian."

[Uhh, Spiritus?]

[[To answer your question, which I obviously know you’re gonna ask, most gods can exist in multiple worlds at once. There is a hierarchy of them, ranking from Lower Divine Authorities, Major Divine Authorities, and Primordial Divine Authorities. But there is also another rank known as Special Authorities. These are gods born from the collective belief of multiple worlds, rather than just one. Voreblopochtli is one of them, and he is born from the collective belief of skinwalkers across other worlds in the Axis Mundi.]]

[So he’s... not just from this world?]

[[Correct. Special Authorities are unusual existences. They are sustained by belief across multiple civilizations in different worlds simultaneously. Their influence manifests wherever followers exist.]]

I stared blankly, confusing Naldoola who couldn’t hear the Grand System.

[So basically... he’s a multi-world cult god.]

[[That is... an oversimplified but acceptable interpretation.]]

"...Lady Keiko?"

Naldoola’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I realized I had been staring off into space while Spiritus and I were talking mentally.

"Oh, right, sorry." I waved a paw casually. "You can continue!"

Naldoola nodded slowly, though he still looked slightly unsettled by my strange pauses.

"Voreblopochtli rewards those who spill blood in his name." He explained cautiously, as if mentioning the blood god was dangerous in of itself. "Strength. Blood manipulation. Enhanced vitality. The more sacrifices offered, the greater his blessings become."

I frowned, ever so slightly.

"Sacrifices meaning... killing people?"

"Yes." He said without hesitation. "Blood must flow. That is his doctrine."

My tail stopped moving.

"Yeah... we’re not doing that here, bro!"

Naldoola stiffened a little at my words.

"...Then his blessings will fade from us." He said.

"I mean... good?"

He blinked multiple times.

"You’re serious?"

I leaned forward slightly on my pillow, narrowing my eyes.

"Let me ask you something, Naldoola."

"...Yes?"

"How many villages did you raid for that power?"

He hesitated.

"...Many."

"And how many of those people were actually your enemies?"

There was silence between us as he slowly lowered his gaze.

"...Very few."

I nodded.

"I see, good!"

The little hut was quiet except for the sound of night insects outside and the distant rustling of leaves in the forest.

"For now, you and your tribe are part of Nekoria. That means you follow our rules."

"And those rules are...?"

"No unnecessary killing. No blood sacrifices. No terrorizing travelers. And definitely no worshipping creepy blood gods that demand murder as a hobby!"

He stared at me like I had just outlawed breathing.

"...That will be difficult."

"Yeah." I said. "Growth usually is, ya know?"

Naldoola sat there thinking for a long time.

He looked rather tired from all of this, but I couldn’t exactly blame him. I was taking their culture from them to make them better beasts, or err, people?

"...If we abandon him... Voreblopochtli will not be pleased."

I shrugged.

"Sounds like a personal problem."

He let out a small breath that might have been a laugh.

"You are fearless, small beast.

"Not fearless, just stubborn. Also, that’s Lady Keiko to you, pal!"

He widened his eyes before lowering his head in respect.

"I apologize. Lady Keiko."

I flicked my tail in approval.

"Good. Glad we got that sorted out!"

Naldoola kept his head lowered for a second before slowly raising it again. His eyes no longer carried that wild, bloodthirsty look they had earlier in the day.

"...Lady Keiko." He said carefully. "If I may ask something."

"Shoot!"

"If our tribe abandons the Blood God... what becomes of us?"

I tilted my head again.

"What do you mean?"

"Our entire identity was built around him." He said. "Our strength, our rituals, our victories. Even our name as warriors was tied to Voreblopochtli’s blessing."

He glanced at his hands.

"If that disappears... what are we?"

Oh jeez, I didn’t exactly know how to answer that. Very good question.

I suddenly sat like a loaf of bread, gazing at the ground below me.

"How about you figure that part out?"

"...What?"

"You heard me." I said. "You guys spent your whole lives letting a god tell you who you were. Now you get to decide it yourselves."

Naldoola stared at me like I had just handed him the most complicated puzzle in existence.

"...That sounds difficult."

"Yup."

"...And uncertain."

"Also yup."

"...And dangerous."

I glanced at him with a feline smirk.

"Welcome to freedom."

He fell silent again. I could practically hear the gears in his brain grinding against years of tradition and belief.

After a moment he spoke again.

"...Voreblopochtli is a god born from belief by our kind... abandoning him may not go unnoticed."

"Eh. Meaning?"

"He may notice the loss of followers." Naldoola said. "Gods tied to faith are sensitive to such things."

Oh, just great, how freaking fantastic.

Just what I needed. A cosmic blood cult god noticing my tiny forest village. What in the hell am I gonna do to something like that if it gets upset?

[Spiritus.]

[[What?]]

[Hypothetically speaking... if a Special Authority loses followers in one world, do they get cranky about it?]

[[That depends on the entity’s temperament. However, most deities often respond negatively to sudden drops in devotion.]]

Well fuck me then. So I might have just accidentally picked a fight with a multi-world blood god.

"...Lady Keiko?" Naldoola asked cautiously.

"Eh, if he shows up, we’ll deal with it."

Naldoola nearly choked at my words.

"Deal with a god?"

"Relax."

I said, hiding my nervousness.

"One problem at a time."

"...How does one like yourself live with such confidence... Lady Keiko?"

"Don’t worry about that..."

Naldoola just stared at me before changing topics.

"...There is another matter."

"Oh?"

"My people will arrive by tomorrow evening with what remains of our settlement." He said. "Weapons, tools, supplies... and families."

"Families?" I asked.

"Yes."

That actually caught my attention.

Up until now, I’d mostly been dealing with scary blood-magic warriors. The idea that they had actual families, and likely kids running around somewhere, made this whole situation feel a lot more complicated.

But then again, I should’ve expected this. I mean like, why wouldn’t I?

"...Alright." I said, lowering my head into a sigh. "We’ll just have to make space and expand Nekoria a bit."

Naldoola bowed his head slightly.

"My tribe will not forget this mercy."

"Yeah, yeah." I said, though not annoyed, but trying to wrap my head around this. "Just don’t turn the place into a blood sacrifice festival again."

"...That will no longer happen."

Glad I got that out of the way.

Naldoola suddenly looked around the hut briefly before returning his gaze to me.

"...May I ask one final question, Lady Keiko?"

"Of course."

"...Why are you doing this?"

I widened my eyes, gazing him in the face.

"Huh?"

"You defeated us. You could have killed us and been praised as a hero by every beast in this forest." He said. "Instead you spared us, gave us shelter, and now you are dismantling the very foundation of our beliefs."

He leaned forward slightly, curiosity evident in his expression.

"...Why?"

I scratched behind my ear.

"Honestly? Because killing you guys would’ve been the easy solution."

He frowned slightly at my words.

"And this one is harder?"

"Way harder." I said almost immediately before grinning. "But if it works, we get more people protecting the forest instead of destroying it."

My tail flicked behind me lazily.

"And that sounds like a pretty good deal to me!"

Naldoola just glared at me in awe, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Not many beasts agreed with my decision, and that’s fine. I don’t expect beasts to have morals, especially in the beastly kingdom. They normally just act on instinct to survive. But I’m different, ya know?"

Huffing a relieved sigh, I kept my head up.

"I want to change things up a bit, and live in a perfect world!"