While I was still trying to get things to make sense he stopped at his next destination.

 

This time he had stopped in grassland, a green sea as far as my eyes could see. Unlike the oasis with many different animals this time all I could see were some creatures that looked a bit like my furball, just with a lot less fur.

 

“Stay.”

 

Just as my mind moved on to how fun they would be to chase them he told me that. Though I did stay put my tail did not, excitedly swaying from side to side. We followed the creatures for the next few days without a word being said and at this point I knew better.

 

Sure enough, after a few days of following them something happened. The sun was high in the sky when a creature not unlike me jumped out of the under brush. It had spots and was yellow though. It pounced on the nearest creature and took it down with a bite to the throat and ended its life while the rest scattered. Ah, I see.

 

“What do you see?”

 

“Death.”

 

With my answer he turned around and left. Questions about whether my family was dead or when I would die rushed through my head.

 

“What are you trying to show me?”

 

He didn’t respond to my question, he just kept walking.

 

At last, one day, we once more were at the oasis.

 

“Look.”

 

I did as he told me and looked. It was the same oasis as it was before.

 

“Life is the warm sun that you love, life is the beautiful moon that you love. Life is everything, but death is not the end of everything. Death is a part of life and just another step on the journey. From death comes life and from life comes death.”

 

“And me? Will I die?”

 

“Beings like us don’t die or live. We simply are.”

 

I didn’t understand what he was talking about at all. Or maybe I did but I didn’t want to understand.

“Don’t say it.”

I burrowed my claws in his fur and dug my head into it, trying to block out his voice, but it still rang out in my mind.

“Your family was never real. A part of you created them to help you grow up, and that very same part removed them when you were mature enough to venture off on your own.”