W | Tails Cat Delusionworld 1

Kairo looked at his hands. Five fingers. Still five. For now.

The kitten yawned. "Relax, Chronos. This one's different. He counted his fingers when he woke up in the alley. He checked for reflections. He even named me." W licked a paw. "He might last nine loops. Maybe ten."

"Don't look at the signs," Kairo muttered to the kitten. "Don't read the graffiti." W TAILS CAT DELUSIONWORLD 1

Kairo ducked into a stairwell that led up into the ground, heart hammering. "What do you want from me?"

"That's new," a voice slithered from the kitten's twin tails. Not hissing— speaking . "Usually they don't notice until Level 3." Kairo looked at his hands

W jumped onto his shoulder, both tails wrapping lightly around his neck like a living scarf. "No. You're . There's a difference. Dreams have exits. This place?" The kitten purred—a sound like a broken radio tuning into a scream. "This place digests dreamers."

"I'm dreaming," Kairo whispered.

Suddenly, the sky cracked open. A giant eye—pupil a clock face—peered down from where the moon should be.

He looked around. The other "people" in the alley had smooth, featureless heads—mannequin faces wearing stolen coats. They shuffled past, humming a lullaby about a cat with nine lives and a god with none. For now

W grinned—and for a split second, the kitten's grin was wider than its entire body, filled with stars that were screaming.