Warhammer: Start with a dog.

Chapter 764 Interlude Part Two: The Crowd Remains Silent, Simply Accompanying -
Out of caution, Horus tied the pigeon that was tilting its head and cooing at him with a strip of cloth torn from the edge of his robe and placed it aside. He then sat cross-legged and waited for the time it would take for 1,800 heartbeats to pass.

During this time, Horus carefully savored his surroundings.

The gravity here is a standard 1G, the temperature is a pleasant 25°C, and the air composition is also standard Terra atmosphere, even mixed with a trace of humid moisture.

The ground was very smooth, but extremely hard, and there were no seams or anything like that that could be pried open. Horus even suspected that it might be a large, hard crystal made of solid material, strong enough to withstand the full force of a Primarch's fist and jump.

It's a pity we couldn't dig out a sample to take with us.

He waited another sixty heartbeats, and it seemed there was nothing more to see. Just as he was about to pick up the pigeon and examine it closely,

"Meow."

A soft, almost teasing call came from right behind him.

Horus felt a chill run down his spine, as if someone was watching him.

When he turned around, he was met with a pair of cat eyes staring at him.

A cat? When did it arrive? How did it appear?
Even the Primogen's hearing and senses failed to notice the small animal's approach, but when he reached out to grab it, the cat nimbly and deftly dodged away.

—It is highly unusual that a Terran cat, which looks to be of a very ancient breed, could evade the grasp of the Shadowmoon Wolf Primarch.

While keeping an eye on the pigeons, Horus tensed his muscles, intending to test the cat, which had long, gorgeous black and white fur and exceptionally sharp claws.

—Anyway, there's nothing else to do for the time being. There are only three living creatures in this space right now. Pigeons seem to have too small a brain, while cats at least have more possibilities in many ancient legends.

But hunting this creature proved far more difficult than he had anticipated, undoubtedly dealing a blow to the Moon Wolf Commander's warrior pride, which he had been so proud of until now.

Just as he finally gave up trying to catch the wretched cat, it came closer and stood within arm's reach, igniting a faint flame of hope in his heart.

After several more back-and-forth battles with the cat amidst the incessant cooing of the pigeons, Horus finally lost his patience. The cat, looking at his frustrated expression, arched its back, raised its tail, curled the tip, and even swayed it.

Wait a moment?
perhaps?

Horus's green eyes darted back and forth between the cat and the pigeon.

I've heard that a cat's diet should include small birds like pigeons? Maybe...?
Under the wide-open gazes of both the cat and the pigeon.

Horus Lupecal placed the bound white dove in front of the black and white long-haired cat, then stood aside pretending to look elsewhere.

"..."

"..."

Because Horus could only catch glimpses of movement out of the corner of his eye, he was completely unaware of the complex and indescribable expressions that flashed across the faces and eyes of the two animals in that instant, or perhaps of any other form of communication or conversation that took place between them.

All that is known is that the cat didn't eat the pigeon in the end; it just came over, squatted down in front of him, and stared at him. This time, it didn't seem to have any intention of teasing him.

...If you play tricks on me again this time, I swear I will dismantle that pigeon and use its body to make a catapult to throw at you.

Horus murmured to himself.

The pigeons cooed like a broken engine, while the cat's tail drooped down and twitched happily.

Horus then tried to reach out to it, and the cat gently meowed again, jumped onto the warlord's strong arm, and then easily jumped onto his shoulder.

Well, now at least he can take the cat around and explore this godforsaken place, Lupecal. To his dismay, even with the cat and pigeons this time, the place remains the same—a chaotic mess except for the pleasant air and the light that follows him.

"So where did you two little things come from?"

Perhaps it was a certain emotion that arose when one was alone in an unknown, enclosed space, but Horus also sat down and began to talk to himself, addressing the only two living beings besides himself.

"It's impossible that I'm still in a coma or some kind of hypnotic state, and you're animals in my hallucinations. Sigh, if it weren't for the fact that my soul left my body is so bizarre, I would have thought I was encountering some superstitious old myth from ancient Terra."

Then he saw that the two animals he had placed in front of him subconsciously glanced at each other and then immediately turned their heads away.

...?
Do animals usually look at each other like that?
"You wouldn't..."

As Horus frowned, a strange scent of burning matter, exotic spices, and the stench of wild beasts wafted past his nose. The Primarch of Shadowmoon Wolves immediately reacted, turning and alertly assuming a fighting stance in a direction from the darkness.

—The cat was very unhappy, but at least it didn't bristle or run away, so the thing that was about to appear probably wasn't a huge threat.

He would also be able to observe firsthand how things in this place appeared out of thin air.

Just as it smoothly transitions into view from the human eye, a claw with sharp tips and covered in gray fur appears at the hazy boundary between light and shadow.

Then a soft tapping sound rang out as claws struck the smooth ground.

The animal that appeared this time was a larger creature, one that Horus was more familiar with, because it was painted on the banner of his beloved legion.

A wolf with fur that was between gray and brown emerged from the blur of light and shadow, its heterochromatic eyes staring at Horus, its drooping tail tip motionless.

Then the wolf cautiously raised its front paws and tentatively and carefully placed its paw pads on the ground, step by step.

It looks like it's thinking about how it should walk.

Although the idea was ridiculous, Horus couldn't help but think of it.

"Meow."

The black and white long-haired cat seemed to perk up, running over and circling around the wolf, as if it wanted to provoke it.

The wolf, with one golden eye and the other brownish-blue, stared at the cat for a while, then glanced at the pigeon, and finally stared at Horus again.

For a moment, Horus even thought that the wolf would speak to him or ask him some questions.

In the end, the wolf merely twitched its nose a few times, blinked, and then walked over with the black and white cat. It neither showed any aggression nor any particular affection, and plopped down next to Horus.

So now, Horus finds himself in this strange space facing a white dove, a black and white long-haired cat, and a gray wolf.

"What exactly is this [Kzunian swear word]...?"

Suddenly, an extra beam of light interrupted him again. Horus clenched his fists, feeling his patience running out.

He turned around and found that a floating projection screen of light had appeared out of thin air in the direction the animals were looking.

The image is now gradually transitioning from interfering snow and noise to a clear picture.

(End of this chapter)