We ran for our first ‘light’ exercise. My feet dragged me down, from the pavement, to the gravity pushed me down. The catboy, however, kept up with the pace.

  The pavement seemed so damp from my skin. I held back the sensations that screamed for the sweet intake of air, and the pain that crawled on my legs. My body twitched from catching up with the beastkin, who did laps around the courtyard.

  The demonic 1st class watched as we ran. He noticed that my disposition changed. A tendency brewed within him. He wasn’t going to make me stop unless I called.

  But I won’t, I’ve been through worse.

  I once exhausted myself until my heart turned into a rapid puddle with the nyancan. This was nothing in comparison.

  I got this. The pain was nothing compared to how I would feel if I stopped. My feet picked up the pace. I went swifter than the catboy, and yet he… maintained the same pace as I passed by.

  Was he taking pity on me? I was the only one struggling, so that must mean he is—

  I found the last in my strength to finish the laps, still ahead of that catboy.

  The beastkin rested not long after. The blood going through my veins slushed. I breathed out steady breaths to appear fine. I looked at the catboy — he seemed fine.

  No, he was more than fine. There wasn’t an ounce of struggle on him, like a carriage in pristine conditions. He could’ve gone far beyond, and yet he didn't. He wasn't pitying me.

  I know what was in my nature, Donovan knew as well the catboy was along with the ride. Sweat trickled down my spine. I kept myself from toppling over when I finished running my laps.

  Donovan got up from writing in his notebook, “So, you finished with the light exercise?”

  The catboy’s ears twitched, “yeah, running around wasn’t so hard,” he said as if his statement was agreeable.

  Yeah, only one simple jog after another

  My body gave off the heat as nothing else before, yet the feeling was nothing compared to what I witnessed.

  I knew right then and there that I would never catch up to Mekiko in terms of precision. The gap that we had now felt like an ever expanding chasm.

  “I guess I’ve been too easy on you, Mekiko,” Donovan said, yet he looked at me.

  “Yeah, nothing more than a jog,” the catboy said.

  Donovan eyed me before speaking, “Since Lyle appears fine, how about we do something special?”

  I asked about what he meant. There was little I knew about him, but there was one aspect I could rely on. The term ‘1st class’ slipped out of my mouth.

  “Lyle, please,” he rested his hands on my shoulders. I resisted every urge to flinch. His fingers were gentle to the touch. “You should refer to me as Donovan when talking to me.”

  I breathed in some calmness, “Of course, Donovan,” I replied. “Where are you taking me if I may ask?”

  “So you can be polite, Lyle,” the demon said. “Mekiiko and I haven’t been out in quite a while, you see.”

  The beastkin’s ears perked up. “So, are you finally doing something different? You have an assignment that you need me to do?”

  “In a way, yes,” The way that the 1st class talked to the beastkin compared to me, there was an obvious difference. Donovan making that point obvious didn’t help. “There is a place that we are going, unless any of you have any objections,” Donovan said, looking at me.

  “Hmm, none,” I replied, almost naturally. Donovan guessed that I wouldn't object, and he was correct. More in a way in which he punished me for not disagreeing with him, but that was in my nature, a disposition that everybody had. The beastkin and I included, one that could never change.

  The catboy asked where we were going, I thought the same.

  “There’s a particular spot in the Iron Graveyard. That we can get to from the motorized carriage,” Donovan said. “Get to it, and we can take our test of acrobatics to the next level with all the debris and broken buildings around.”

  “We go around The Iron Graveyard?” asked the catboy. “Well, not like I hadn't been there before,” the nyancan replied.

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  “I see, how was the Iron Graveyard?” Donovan asked.

  “The trip was mostly fine, you know, until—”

  “We should go to the Iron graveyard before it gets late,” I interrupted the catboy.

  “Okay then, Lyle,” the catboy said. “Donovan can drive us there… I mean—”

  “To ride us there?” Donovan asked. “Driving is a weird word to describe it,” indeed it was.

  “You know, drive,” the catboy waved his hands. “To propel, displace an object by force…” he trailed off. “Why am I explaining my word choice for locomoting a car?”

  “You said car?” Donovan pointed out.

  The catboy fidgeted. “It’s a… nyancan thing. Can we go? I would rather be at the Iron Graveyard right about now, so that Donovan can ride us there.”

  Hold on, Mekiko,” the 1st class petted around the catboy’s ears, “who said that I was riding?”

  The nyancan’s tail swished, “Wait, why me?”

  “Dolores has been teaching you how to operate a motorized carriage, and I believe that right now is the opportune time.”

  “Like, right now, right now?”

  “You are correct.”

  The catboy deflated, “Of course. Every time I’m offered to go inside a motorized carriage, I have to act as a chauffeur. You might as well paint the whole thing yellow, since that's where I’m going with my line of work,” he muttered.

  “Mekiko, what are you talking about?”

  “Nothing, it’s a nyancan thing! Okay?”

  -o–0–o-

  The motorized carriage shifted into multiple directions. I heard the engine cry. My eyes were as shaky as the carriage, so much that I couldn’t make out the outside. The road blurred at that speed.

  Donovan, the demon, gave directions to the catboy as he bumped through the dissipating roads; 3 people inside a 2 man carriage. 3 people crammed such a small space, although the catboy was barely the size of a person. That didn’t help the nausea running through my head.

  The motorized carriage stopped abruptly. I held onto the door handle, and opened with my dizzied addled brain. My mind couldn't react fast enough. I fell down right into the mud.

  Donovan stepped off without missing a beat, “Mekiko, you went too fast. Next time, you have to ride more slowly.”

  “Next time, it’s always the next time,” the catboy chimed, “I was going slow! Just what everyone was telling me!”

  Slow — that was him going slow? If I weren’t dizzy, I would have mouthed him off, but first, I had to get the waste off me from the mud in my mouth. Who thought that giving a cat wheels would be a good idea? I wiped off the sludge from my face.

  The catboy extended a hand when I was in the dirt.

  Mekiko offered his arm, “Lyle, uh… are you okay?” That genuine concern in his voice was my first thought.

  Soiled and shamed, that's what happens every time I’m with the catboy, “Of course I’m fine!” I bursted out, yet took in a deep breath, “Yes, I am alright. Mud doesn't hurt in the slightest, it shouldn’t,” I pushed away the thought of shaving the nyancan away.

  “Whatever, Lyle,” he then looked up at Donovan, “I know that this is the Iron Graveyard, but where are we exactly?”

  “Out in the field,” the 1st class responded.

  I got the mud off my face. The filth tarnished my duster, however. I felt the revolver inside my coat. My body shifted in a way that protected it. My eyes scanned the area when I cleared my vision from the humiliation.

  This was indeed the perfect place to practice. The abandoned building towered over me with twisted metal. Structures from a bygone time, poetic.

  We got away from the motorized carriage, into a covering from some of the ruins. I spotted a pile of rubble with burn marks. Someone was here not long ago. I checked the ashes. Are they vagrants? No, that pile of rubble is flame retardant. Lighting such a bonfire would require anima.

  Donovan kicked the pile of rocks over before I concluded.

  “An apt spot to be out in the field,” the nyancan said. “So, how did you know of such a place, Donovan?”

  “There isn’t much story behind how I found this area. Dolores and I used to stay here to get away from the city, way back,” he replied.

  “Come on, Donovan. That sounds more like a story.”

  Donovan smiled at the catboy, “More like a lesson in history. There are more pressing matters on why we’re here. Talking about how I got here is not one of them.”

  He trailed off, but before he spaced off, he held a pen with a notebook and started writing.

  Donovan pointed with his pen, “See the distance over there?” The 1st class noticed that the catboy nodded, “Good, keep looking in that direction,” he finished the last stroke in his notebook. “I’ll be far ahead, checking for cretins and other monsters.”

  “So the buildings then?” the catboy asked.

  “You, my dear, Mekiko, are doing a test of acrobatics. The waste of the unfinished buildings of yesteryear is beautifully sprawled out for you. There will be a signal laid out for you. Your duty, both you and Lyle, is to follow the signal. I don’t have exactly that much time left, so speak your mind if you have any questions.”

  “What do you think about the time? No, what do you mean by the signal? You have to specify.”

  “Oh, you know the signal when you see it.”

  “You have the time? You’re standing right here,” he pointed.

  “Who said that I was standing here?” Donovan went over and reached out. His hand passed through the nyancan’s shoulder as his eyes widened.

  The 1st class body dissipated into smoke. The catboy clawed at the disappearing body until it vanished. The beastkin stared at where the man once was. The catboy bit down on his lip. He appeared to be holding in a meow.

  We were alone, that was another problem stacked on an unsolvable heap.