Chapter 1 The Cat-talking Girl

In the Plateau of northwest of Tibet province , a small village named Qifeng lied amid the southwest undulations of one of the deepest and longest canyons in the world-the Brahmaputra River valleys, it was an engirdled and secluded region which few tourists have ever set their feet in the wonderland yet. It was believed that some of them moved to this inconspicuous place in order to live a life hidden in the wild.

"Time is running out."

Christ Gao heard a voice coming from the courtyard. He brushed at the corner of his loose polo shirt self-consciously as he stood up, and stepped out of the house.

It got very hot and stuffy in the village even in the early summer, Christ found himself in a gloomy, downbeat mood when he saw the sun was comfortable sitting behind the dark clouds. The bad light in the late afternoon, the gates of the village were vaguely visible in the distance. There were azaleas bushes in blossom in the yard with petals scattered all over the ground, which brought together the energy to his house.

"It is really a sad day." He spoke in a low mumble.

Suddenly, a cat burst in the bushes, catching the attention of the man who was standing in front of him. The little creature was nothing remarkable, and it would have looked no different from millions of other cats in the world. The petals float around to the sky, refreshing; the scent of the azaleas awakened his memory of his unexpected appearance of the afternoon years ago.

It had been almost six years since Baby first arrived at his home. He remembered vividly that his hairs white as snow with several pieces of yellow markings in the middle. Baby was wandering around in the bushes while its tail was wagging madly; it seemed he owned the whole world at the moment.

"Stop it, Baby." Christ spoke in a warm whisper with his left forefinger tapping his head.

Immediately, the cat crawled from the bushes, which leapt to the ground in front of Christ, sat up, tranquilly wiped its crimson muzzle with a fore-paw and looked up to Christ with a pair of bright eyes.

"Do you have any plans? Joy will be sixteen in two weeks." Baby was talking to Christ, puzzled by the issue.

Christ seemed to give a lot of thought to the matter, paused, and apparently lost in meditation; after a while, his eyes rest upon Baby’s.

 "Baby, it looked as though it might rain at any minute, but it didn't, you know what I think? I think it definitely will be raining this evening." Christ pointed at the sky while he was talking.

"Good luck then." The cat was lying down as he spoke.

There was an awkwardly long silence for some time, and then a gale was blowing and the creaking of the fence sounded very loud in that silence, it seemed like the wind was trying to tell people a great big gigantic secret. Christ sighed with profound resignation, turned and went in through the door while Baby was following his footstep. A moment later, baby was already curled up on the couch in a leisurely way.

The house they were living was a large, aged, wooden, three-bedroom house with a beautiful yard garden. Suddenly a bicycle stopped on the road in front of the yard, parked as if the place was especially made for it. Joy came inside after school while Christ was preparing their dinner in the kitchen.

She looked like a girl from the countryside, yellow-skinned, black hair with bright eyes, sporty- a runner, or a climber. She was wearing the school uniform which had been used up to the nineties. She was hanging her bag carelessly onto the coat hanger behind the front door. As soon as her eyes locked onto Baby, She rushed to the couch. The small cat was lifted up, patted on the head, and kissed cheerfully while rolling him into a ball.

Baby was pissed off; he yawned and stretched lazily in the couch.

"Hey, girl, I’m dreaming. Could you please tell your daughter to leave me alone?" Baby shouted at Joy, though he was looking at Christ.

"Dad, did you hear it?"Joy screamed in a shock. "Baby is talking."

Unsurprisingly, Christ stopped what he was doing with mixed feelings which he was trying to maintain his focus on his daughter. At this time, the thunder, the rain and the wind mixes together, as if the sky was falling down. To remind the people looking forward to something good to happen that one day their wishes would come true. Christ was disturbed by the rain pattering on the window-panes, and he hurried to the windows to shut them.

"Where are we? Oh, you said Baby was talking." He just finished closing the windows.

"Never mind, is dinner ready? I am starving." She ran into the kitchen to change the subject.

"You are not crazy, you know, your father can hear me too." Baby followed her.

Joy turned her back around to stare at her father in terror as if she was hearing the most unexpected news in the world.

"Dad. Is that true? You can hear Baby?"

"Are you OK?"Christ nodded.

"Thank God, it’s about time, we have been waiting long enough."Baby was circling around them right now with his high tail.

"Told you. Baby."

Christ announced with satisfaction, to remind Baby his earlier conjecture about the rain have been substantiated. Joy was still processing the information, as she was turning down her father’s hug.

"Is that why we have to live in the middle of nowhere? Is that why we don’t have any relatives or friends nearby? What are we? Aliens ? Witches? "Joy was crying out aloud.

"Joy. Take a deep breath, Calm down."Christ was holding her daughter’s hands.

"Do you still remember the story I told you about the Habitat of Shamans?"

"Of course I do. You never stopped talking about it when I was young."

 For as long as Joy could remember, her father loved to tell her about all kinds of legends about the Habitat of Shamans, an ancient and mysterious wonderland. She recalled that there were also Shamans who could understand cat’s language. Joy looked at her father and turned round to look at Baby, it occurred to her that her bedtime story had come true.

"It is time to tell you everything; I am one of them, so are you. Now that you need to go to the Nine-Tower to learn how to control your spiritual power in a week. "Christ paused to take a breath.

"You do not need to go to your school here anymore tomorrow; I will show you how the Habitat is like in the next few days. By the way, Baby will be your guide."

"My guide? "Joy asked with eyes widening.

"Yes, you humans can't get there without us." Baby sounded like a spoiled brat, he came back from outside sopping wet.

Finally Joy was fully aware that why her father was acting weird these days, which was why he never talked about going into college or why she could not have any friends come over.

"Okay, is Mum one of them, too?" Joy was looking at her Dad expectantly, studying his face intently to see if she had provoked him.

"She was." Christ avoided eye contact with his daughter.

The topic of her mother was a taboo subject in the family, more than at any time, Joy desperately wanted unequivocal answers.

Christ glanced at the cat on the ground, and then drew his attention back to his daughter.

 "Is there anything else, do you show any sign of power besides hearing Baby?"

Joy shook her head heavily, Christ frowned at her wondering why was Joy’ ability suddenly awaken?

"If we are Shamans, why aren’t we living in the Habitat?"

"I heard rumors that children cannot survive in their early ages in the Habitat." Baby was jumping in.

"There are things you are too innocent to comprehend, but what Baby said was true. It is not your concern right now; you just go to the Nine-Tower to study. It is the safest place in the universe."

He disappeared into his room for a moment and returned with an old, quarto-size manuscript bound carefully in leather, which she had never seen it before. He handed it over to his daughter.

"Keep it well; it will be useful in the future."

She took over the manuscript and laid it on her lap only to find out that she could not be able to read it.

"You may not read it now, but once you gain your powder, you will need it."

Christ marched into the kitchen as speaking, leaving his daughter doubtful and confused.