Truth of Shadows: Prologue & Chapter 1
Prologue
Humans have many explanations for the behaviors of a common housecat, all of which are comically wrong. They rub their faces on objects in their environment to mark the world with their scent glands. They work their paws in a “biscuit kneading” manner as an echo of their instinct to push milk out of their mothers. They purr to appease their human partners, or to promote healing, or something else just as outlandish. It doesn’t matter; it’s all nonsense.
Anyone who has owned a cat for more than a day intuitively understands the truth: cats are multi-dimensional beings that exist partially in some other world loosely connected to our own. They pass between these two planes with only the slightest effort, almost as though moving through a little door that swings back and forth on a hinge, spilling a bit of each space into the other.
Once you understand this, most cat behavior makes perfect sense. They rub their faces on things because they are constantly picking up bits of aetherial energy, and need to scrape it off. They “knead biscuits” because the motion and rhythm invoke a kind of kitty meditative state that they enter during sleep, when they drift furthest into that other place. And they purr because — well, you try crossing realities a dozen times per day…
