A Beast Among Mages

Moonlit Wonders

- Tiikeri - 

   Leaving the reaping of my hunt deep within the den, I headed to the lake to clean myself. Unlike Lyr, who enjoyed showing off her blood soaked muzzle after a kill, I hated having blood on me. Without thick fur to protect myself, it dried to my flesh and left me feeling itchy and stiff when not rinsed off right away. The lake water sparkled in the moonlight, undisturbed by the hunting happening throughout the night. If only my mind could be as settled. 

  I couldn't help myself. The being in my dream, there was something about them. Something almost familiar yet different. Inhaling sharply as I stepped into the cold lake, my mind finally went blank for a moment. Though as my body became more adjusted to the cool temperature of the water, thoughts of the dream flowed back at me. Whatever I saw, something felt recognizable. Almost as if it might have been the same as me. Shaking my head, I scrubbed the leopard's blood from my shoulders. Impossible, there is just no way there could be another being out there like me. Ryth always said that I was one of kind, a particular kind of human that hadn't been seen for centuries. If she said I am the only out there like me, it must be true.

   Yet a voice in my mind kept nagging at me. Pushing it aside, I finished cleaning myself up. A dream is just that, a dream. Perhaps knowing that one day, Lyr would need to leave me and find her mate was getting to me. Perhaps my subconscious was hoping that I could find a mate of my own and started to create things that don't exist. That must have been it. Anything else just did not make sense, or rather it couldn't make sense. If Ryth was wrong then that would mean my entire life up til now was based on a lie.

  Crawling from the lake, I let myself dry using the warm breeze of the night. My tan flesh glistened slightly as I walked back to the den. The pathway was worn, every tree marked with Lyr's scent and claw marks. She had claimed the territory as her own years ago. Looking back, it was one more thing she had done for me. I had ventured out on my own to swim at the lake when a rogue tiger passing by caught a sniff of my scent on the wind. I wasn't nearly as aware of my surroundings back then, and the tiger had stayed downwind. I didn't know what had hit me until I was staring straight into the jaws of my assailant. If Lyr hadn't followed me that night, there is no way I would still be alive.

   Chuckling, I remembered how I had tried to make a deal the rogue. He was surprised I was able to communicate with him, but otherwise my pleading was to no avail. He was hungry and I was helpless prey after all. To be honest, that night when my pleas were ignored, I had given up. I probably screamed more when the rogue was ripped off of me as opposed to when he first pounced on me. Lyr was always the braver one between the two of us. Always the one who charged headfirst into things. She never gave the rogue a chance. Without a second thought, after she ripped him from me by the neck, she sunk her teeth in deep to deal the final blow. She was angry at me for venturing out on her own, angry at herself for not being beside me soon enough to prevent the attack, and mournful of the tiger she had just slain so indifferently.

  After everything that night, she marked up every trail I intended to use. Every tree, every bush, every rock. Anything I might pass by was marked as hers to warn others away. If they wanted me, they had to get through her. Of course, this is when we decided that I needed to learn how to defend myself. We practiced for days and nights without rest. Training continued until Lyr was confident enough that I could at least survive until she could arrive. We still have practice rounds every so often, but since I started hunting it has happened less and less. 

   I must have spaced out, since I found myself at the den before I knew it. Lyr was licking her paws clean and grooming herself when I arrived. Briefly pausing her ministrations to glance at me, I nodded to her. It was my way of telling her that I was fine. Before feasting on our successful hunts, we mourned those we slaughtered and thanked the heavens for the meal. It was a common practice among tigers to honour those who gave their lives as nourishment for the den. Anything we didn't eat was used for other purposes. The pelts used for bedding to keep me warm as well as increase the den's comfort, and the bones were left for me to sharpen as I pleased to help with future hunts. As Ryth taught us, nothing was to go to waste. 

   "Lyr." Her ears flicked towards me, showing that she was listening even though she wasn't looking. "If I see that thing in my dreams again. What do you think it means?"

   "Nothing. It means nothing. You shouldn't concern yourself with things that don't exist." Her response sounded snappier than I expected. Almost like she knew something and wasn't telling me. For now, I let it go. However, if that being does appear one more time then I knew what I was going to do and it probably wouldn't be the something that Lyr would approve of.