Username: EchoIre
Lion name: Alshaytan Awkl (Alsha)
Lion gender: Genderless
Link to pride: Motoheri Pride Lion status: Captain of the Guard
Long before the time of your great-great-grandfather, the nights shook with the cries of terrible beasts. These creatures could be as small as a mouse, or large enough to pluck the clouds from the desert sky - though
that is a story for later.
These dark, strange beasts were known as
Alshayatin - devils. The
Alshayatin did not come from the desert, nor any mortal plane. They came from Beyond, and ventured into the land of lions to sow chaos. They reveled in the destruction of life, in the emotional and physical death of everything around them.
The worst
Alshaytan of all was Sariq Alwajh, the Face Thief.
Sariq Alwajh was capable of stealing any living creature's appearance by drinking their blood. In his grim masquerade, the devil would ruin the life of the lion whose identity he stole through various bloody acts. His favorite trick to pull was to steal the face of a king, and convince his subjects that the true king was
him. Sariq Alwajh would slowly become more and more tyrannical in his rule, pushing the boundaries of his stolen subjects and their allies, eventually starting a war or causing mass famine in the worst of cases.
He was impossible to track, vanishing with a cruel grin and a puff of smoke as soon as he was discovered. Prowling the night alongside his beastly siblings, Sariq Alwajh was next to unstoppable.
Like all
Alshaytin, however, the Face Thief had a weakness.
Silver.
One fateful day, a king whose name has been lost to the tides of time decided that Sariq Alwajh's reign of fear had lasted long enough.
He called forth the greasiest alchemist in his pride, and gave her the task of creating something that could defeat the Face Thief.
The alchemist set to work immediately, venturing to the farthest reaches of the desert to collect what shw would need. Obsidian was pried from ancient ruins, and ground to dust with the finest ivory powder. She then told her king she would need silver, as much as the priests could spare. Neighboring prides were called upon when that wasn't enough. Some scoffed at the notion of creating a foe for Sariq Alwajh, yet all sent a tribute of silver regardless. Even with little faith in the project, all could agree the Face Thief needed to be stopped.
In the wan light of a moonless night, the alchemist set to work.
She gathered her materials around the bones of one who had died at Sariq Alwajh's cruel teeth and began to draw runes in the sand around both her and the skeleton. The alchemist began to murmur a chant, which the wind returned in whispers. The wind grew more and more fervent as the alchemist completed the circle of runes about her project, reaching a fever pitch as the last sigil was drawn. Still inside the alchemy circle, the alchemist began to chant.
Suddenly, the circle flashed a blinding white. The alchemist screamed, but there was none around to hear. She had made sure of that.
As the light faded, a dark silhouette loomed at the center of the circle. At its feet the alchemist lay.
The alchemist's creation, the devil killer, looked down at its creator's corpse curiously with fear in its silver eyes.
To create life, you must
give life. This the alchemist knew. Sariq Alwajh needed to be stopped, at any cost. Her sacrifice would not be made in vain; her creation would not fail.
The devil killer returned to the ancient king.
It was a fearsome beast, one of night-dark pelt and chilling eyes. It had a mouth of silver fangs, and dreadful horns of the same sheen. It walked with life stolen from the alchemist in her dark transaction.
With its fearsome stature, the creation was able to make it before the king without interruption, for none were brave enough to question to black best who walked with such purpose. It bowed before the mortal king, its crown of silver horns gleaming.
"I am Alshaytan Awkl." They rumbled. The Devil Eater. "I was made to protect you."
The king did his best not to tremble before the frightening beast. Had it not been for the unmistakable glimmer of silver about their body, he would have been certain they were an
Alshaytan. He raised his maned chin, though Alshaytan Awkl stood a good head above him still.
"We are grateful to have you." The wise king replied. "But, tell me, Devil Eater, where is my alchemist?"
For the first time in the obsidian lion's life, sadness fell over their face. "Life must be given in order to create life." The construct rumbled. "I'm sorry."
Terrible grief crashed over the king's expression, yet vanished in an instant, leaving only distantly sympathetic eyes to stare up at the Devil Eater. "Do not apologize, child." He bowed his head to the construct. As he spoke again, he voice hitched ever so slightly in his throat. "It is a small price to pay for what you must do."
The king paraded Alshaytan Awkl around the pridelands and beyond. Terrifying though they were, the dark lion was a savior-to-be, and was treated as such. Everywhere they went with the king, lions met the both of them with smiles, gifts, and grateful tears. The newborn creature took it all in with heartfelt amazement. In the first few days of their life, the Devil Eater was met with such strong, foreign emotions. It surprised them, confused them... and endeared them.
Everywhere they went with the king, there were prayers for their good fortune, curious cubs who went from cowering in fear to playing with their wispy mane, and gifts of colorful flowers that said cubs were all to eager to weave into Alshaytan Awkl's mane. They were monstrous compared to the lions they were created to protect, this much the Devil Eater, knew, but the lions loved them still. Just for being there, despite the cost of their creation.
They were a hero.
Eventually, the time came for the Devil Eater to live up to their name, metaphorically or otherwise. With a surprisingly heavy heart, Alshaytan Awkl bade the king who ordered their creation farewell, and took to the desert alone to search for Sariq Alwajh. The longer they swept through the shifting dunes, the more the obsidian and silver construct realized exactly how well they fit the path before them.
With their pelt of obsidian swirled with ivory stars, they blended in seamlessly with the night sky. Their frightening visage allowed the Devil Eater to blend in among their foes, using them for information on Sariq Alwajh and avoiding needless skirmishes. However, not all devils were so easily fooled. It was during these encounters that Alshaytan Awkl learned why their claws and fangs gleamed that moonlit silver; any devil who was unfortunate to meet her claws was scored with burning gashes, while their teeth left corrosive wounds in the flesh of the dark creatures.
The Devil Eater was a fragment of the night. They were dreadfully, terrifyingly lethal to the world's most terrible beasts. To said beasts, they appeared as kin. They roamed the day and night tirelessly with a life that was no theirs.
And they were a hero.
They had to be.
The Devil Eater was relentless in their pursuit.
For two years Alshaytan Awkl chased Sariq Alwajh across the desert. There were many close-calls that left one or the other near-death and stained crimson red, but their final confrontation would not come for three years after the creation of the Devil Eater.
It was a dark, cold night. Moonless, like the sky Alshaytan Awkl was created under. In the dim light of the stars, the Devil Eater's eyes shone like polished silver as they searched the dunes for the Face Thief. Many times had they encountered their fated foe, but something felt... different about tonight. The Devil Eater knew in their heart of ivory that this would be the end to her journey.
The Face Thief was waiting for them at the bottom of the dune.
Emboldened, the Devil Eater charged, unknowing of the trap the cunning devil had set for them below. With a great leap, Alshaytan Awkl crashed into the soon-to-be battle field with a triumphant cry, which soon turned to shrieks of pain as their very flesh began to burn. In an instant, the great Devil Eater was brought to the ground.
Sariq Alwajh barked a cold, cruel laugh, sauntering over to the writhing Alshaytan Awkl. He lowered his face of twisted fangs to their level, clicking his tongue with disappointment. "Me dear friend," the devil grinned, "did you really think me capable of only one trick?"
Alshaytan Awkl could do nothing but gasp in pain. They were burning, they felt it, but so no mark on their body. What was happening?
The Face Thief brought those wicked, yellow fangs closer to the Devil Eater's throat. "After all, how do you think I hunt for victims, my friend?"
Alshaytan Awkl's eyes widened, realization dawning upon them just a second too late. Sariq Alwajh's cruel fangs plunged into the soft flesh of their throat, further paralyzing them. They were helpless; a fly caught in a spider's web. Desperately the Devil Eater tried to free themselves, tried to fight back, but they grew weaker by the second.
They had lost.
After what felt like an eternity, the Face Thief pulled away. The last thing Alshaytan Awkl saw was their own face grinning back at them, face drenched in blood.
The great obsidian beast gasped, scrambling to their paws.
The sun scorched their back. An alchemy circle singed the sand 'round them, the corpse of a lion lay at their paws. Memories and realization struck the Devil Eater at the same time.
They buried the lion quickly, not wanting to waste a second that they could spare.
If Sariq Alwajh had lived, and been alive for who knows how longer
with their face...They tried not to think about it.
Alshaytan Awkl ventured deep in the desert, planning to go back to the king who first ordered their creation. They followed the stars, paws moving by memory through the sand. They could tell just by the landscape that a fair amount of time had passed, but the sky never changed. The Devil Eater could always find a froend in the sky.
Why, then, did the might lie to them and say
'This is where your pride lives.' when there was no trace of lions on the wind? Why would the stars trick them so cruelly?
Refusing to believe what was before their very eyes, Alshaytan Awkl turned back to the desert, now searching for any who may help them find their home.
The first group of lions they found confirmed the Devil Eater's worst fears.
Where they had been met with song and gift before, these lions greeted Alshaytan Awkl with shock and fear. There were screams. There were angry shouts. There were pleads for one's life, or the life of a loved one. They begged, demanded the Devil Eater to turn away. They had betrayed lionkind many years ago, the had said, and were not welcome in the desert.
With a heavy heart, Alshaytan Awkl turned and fled.
The moon shone off the still water. Grass whispered around the Devil Eater's paws. They gazed into the silvery pool, white eyes wide with shock.
Once gilded with silver, Alshaytan Awkl was now burnished with a gruesome crimson. Twisted horns of nightmarish sanguine, and a mouth of blood-colored fangs; the Devil Eater now looked the part of a fiend. A part which 'they' had apparently played for the better part of the last two decades. They drew in a short, shaky breath.
They would not cry.
Sariq Alwajh was still out there.
It was time Alshaytan Awkl was true to their name.
A hero once, and a fiend made, the Devil Eater no longer cared which role they played as they turned back to the desert. So long as they got revenge.
