Chapter 2 — The Gatekeeper of Earth Village
Calling me mischievous?
Garfield turned his head—and instinctively clamped his legs shut.
Holy crap.
A flowing yellow robe. A bald head gleaming brilliantly under the sunlight.
Wasn't this the legendary Gatekeeper of Earth herself, the Ancient One? What was she doing here?
Could it be she mistook him for a Dark Dimension invasion?
What if she decided to "humanely eliminate" him?
Pretend I don't know her.
For survival's sake, he'd beg and act cute, consequences be damned. Dignity? Principles? Screw 'em all. Garfield meowed at the Ancient One: "Meow meow meow?" Three humiliating cries.
But the Ancient One had clearly seen right through him. A faint smile curled at the corner of her lips. "If you were truly a cat, those three meows would be far too emotionally rich. Also—don't you want to know why you became this way?"
"Ha! I'm just a cat. Really. I swear on the sun."
The Ancient One pointed at the sun with an odd expression. "Then go ahead. Swear."
Garfield was dumbfounded. "You can understand cat language?"
The Ancient One explained, "No. This is direct communication with your soul."
Garfield propped himself up on his hind legs, paws together, bowing to the Ancient One with an ingratiating, flattering look. "Oh greatest Sorcerer Supreme on Earth, Ancient One-sama, can you send me home? Being a cat is pure suffering."
The Ancient One didn't answer. Instead, she casually opened a portal. "Come. We'll talk inside Kamar-Taj." She stepped through herself.
Was the Ancient One planning something against this adorable kitty?
Seemed unnecessary. He wasn't even on par with some of her background extras. Heck, one dog could probably take him out.
Think, think.
Garfield lifted his feline head and scanned his surroundings.
"Hurry! Prepare another steak!"
It was the butler Philip's shout.
"Whoever stole that steak will pay. I'll shove that steak up his—!"
Uh.
Garfield glanced at his bushy tail, assessed his body size, compared it to the massive steak he'd just devoured, and concluded: I think a little trip abroad might do me good. Experience the exotic charm of Kamar-Taj. Yes. This decision is made.
Lifting his soft pink paws, Garfield dashed into the portal at full speed. Was he afraid Philip would catch him? I'd never admit that. It's just that some villainous subjects are always plotting against me.
---
Kamar-Taj stood in the Himalayas—a mystical sanctum, a utopia. Legend had it that Kamar-Taj was originally named after the village where the Ancient One lived. Together with her friend Kalu, she discovered the secrets of magic and devoted herself to study. With magic, the Ancient One aspired to build her homeland into an ideal utopia.
As for what happened later? The Ancient One grew increasingly formidable. Kamar-Taj became a sacred ground. She became Sorcerer Supreme, guardian of Earth for at least five hundred years. There was apparently a conflict with Dormammu. Too much lore, really. Garfield had skimmed some American comics online back in the day.
The place he'd landed wasn't just anywhere—it was the exact same sitting room where Doctor Stephen Strange first met the Ancient One, the same room where she knocked his astral form out of his body.
Garfield entered and surveyed the space. Rich classical ancient chinese aesthetics. The Ancient One sat upright on a cushion, meticulously brewing tea.
Garfield knew better than to pull a Doctor Strange and freak out. He sat dutifully across from her, waiting for her to finish.
He watched her deftly rinse the tea, clean the utensils—a true tea ceremony master. And Garfield, in his feline body, possessed over 240 million olfactory cells. That was more than forty times the five million in humans. A human's olfactory area was about ten square centimeters; a cat's was twenty to forty square centimeters—three times larger.
In terms of olfactory sensitivity, cats had eighty times that of humans. Perhaps even more.
In the tea leaves, Garfield detected a faint scent of a maiden's skin, the smell of earth, the breath of morning dew. These were pre-Ming leaves. Absolute top grade. And the water used for brewing? He was certain it came from melted Himalayan snow—pure and unpolluted.
Garfield almost envisioned a young girl, tea basket on her back, walking through dew-soaked mountain soil, plucking fresh leaves from tea trees. Each harvest brought her joyful laughter. The lingering fragrance of her fingertips. Then the vision shifted—white Himalayan snow, melting drop by drop, gathering into droplets carrying subtle sweetness, trickling down ancient glaciers.
Plop.
A drop of Garfield's drool hit the floor. He snapped out of his olfactory hallucination, embarrassed, wiping his mouth with his tail. "Sorry. Got lost in a daydream just now."
The Ancient One smiled serenely and passed him a teacup. "This body of yours is no ordinary cat. That vision wasn't ordinary, either."
Unable to resist the tea's allure, Garfield extended his tongue and lapped at the cup. A cat's tongue has over two hundred taste buds, precisely sensitive to subtle flavor variations.
The tea was so exquisite Garfield couldn't stop. Slurp slurp slurp. He attacked the cup with reckless licking.
Only when every last drop was gone did he lift his head in satisfaction. He raised a paw and instinctively licked it.
Then—
He froze. His paw mid-air.
What... did I just do?
How could he—a gourmand from the Empire of Foodies—lose all composure over a single cup of tea? No. This couldn't continue.
Chin up, pretending that tea incident never happened, Garfield asked the Ancient One: "Um, Sorcerer Supreme... what kind of cat am I, exactly?"
The Ancient One reached into the void and withdrew a spellbook. She opened it to a page and placed it before Garfield. He lowered his head. The page, previously covered in incomprehensible script, instantly resolved into an illustration of a cat and accompanying text.
Flerken: One of the most terrifying organisms in the universe. Appearance resembles a cat. Its stomach is another dimension—another universe. Possesses immense devouring capabilities; even colossal spaceships are no challenge. Other abilities unknown.
Garfield stared at the cat illustration, then at his reflection in his teacup. His expression was sheer disbelief. "I'm... a Flerken?"
The Ancient One shook her head. "Your body possesses some Flerken traits. Flerkens are blind; they navigate by scent. You, clearly, can see. And although you inhabit this Flerken's body, something else resides within you."
Garfield's heart clenched. He remembered that so-called livestream system he'd cursed out 108 times. He asked urgently, "Sorcerer Supreme, do you know what that thing is?"