[♡HappyAlpaca♡]

MaRk

[Raw_Silver_Studios]

mork

[wucaian]

mark!

[sapphirespirit]

Mark!!

[Vyraal]

Mark?

[Zeena]

Mark

[ThatOnePython]

I'm excited!

[Panda-Love-100]

Mark!! I plan to do better this time.. >:3

[minifun990]

Username: minifun990
Lion name: Chao
Lion gender: Male
Pride: Mystic Isle
Pride status: Wanderer
Prompt:

It all started with the boy. He was nothing special for a human child. Small, filled with hopes and dreams, a little grubby.
Nothing special except that he was going into the building Chao protected. It wasn’t a place for young creatures, far too important for their ways.

Chao reached out, evaluating his intentions. One could never be too cautious, he thought, you could never know who sought to harm. But the boy had no such ill wishes, his intentions purer than Chao had ever seen before.It was nothing like the often greed tinged thoughts of adults that often visited.

Unsettled he turned to keep surveying his domain, something a little difficult given the short height of the pedestal he lay on, but he never let it hinder him.

It was a shock to feel the boy’s warm hand run across his shoulder and down his back.

It was a shock when he did it again on his way back down, especially as Chao didn't see it coming. For a moment he almost felt like he would slip from his marble form, but he controlled himself. He was a guardian lion, he wouldn’t be undone by accidental affection.

The boy returned often now, sometimes in bad moods as he followed his father, his skips muted and a frown on his face. But he always took the time to rub Choa between his ears. One day he even poked his nose with his little pudgy finger, muttering something that sounded like the word ‘boop’.

It was sacrilege!

It was the most affection Chao could ever remember receiving.

Blaike often talked to Chao now he was older and the idea of fairness took hold. He complained about his parents and their busy jobs. He delighted in tales of his friends, toys and his house. Chao often felt he could imagine the boy's life with such vivid detail he forgot he had never left his stone pedestal. Oftentimes Blaike’s life seemed more real than his own.

Chao often looked to his female counterpart as the boy talked. He was supposed to be the scary ferocious one while Jia was his kind and nurturing equal. But Jia just rolled her eyes at Blaike’s rambling, teasing Chao as he left for being so chummy with one of their responsibilities. That’s all it was to her, Chao realised then, a chore they had to do.

He still trusted her to do the chore though, depending on her as he rested. It got tiring, dissuading humans ill intentions, especially when Jia rarely helped.

His rest was interrupted as Chao felt his entire body tremble and burn.

No. He shook his head trying to deny it, but enough wave of heat moved across his form.

His heart sunk.

“Jia! What the hell is happening!” Choa roared, fury filling him as Jia looked up sleepily. He had trusted her to protect their building as he slept. How could she be so negligent? How could he be so foolish?

“I’m not sure. It hardly matters though.” She murmured, stretching out within her granite casing. Chaos fury built along with fear. They had protected this building for centuries just for Jia to give up?

“Hardly matters?!” He practically screeched. “Jia this is our building, the one we swore to protect.”

“So what?!” She growled back, standing up with her fur bristling along her back, the stone cub beneath her paw almost crushed. “They did nothing for us! They ridicule us with pedestals that let them tower over us and their- Their offspring are allowed to put grubby paw prints across us. They have disrespected us. We owe them nothing.” The words swam around Chao’s mind, making Jia’s actions come into focus. Her distrust for Blaike, her constant inaction and - how the intruder got in only as Chao was sleeping.

“That isn’t true…” Chaos whispered. He shook his head determined. “They trusted us.”

“They trust nothing but their own weapons of violence.” Jia was still speaking, but it didn’t matter. Instead, his own voice seemed to echo in his mind. They were trusted. Chao wasn’t one to let down other's trust, and he certainly wouldn’t let down Blaike.

It felt like he was trying to drag himself up through quicksand, stone creaking as Chao tried to pull himself to his feet. His stone form cracked, then shattered and Chao in his true form stood in its place. He glanced momentarily at Jia’s shocked face before doing something he’d never been able to do before.

Chao turned to face the building he protected. He was sure it would have been fantastically intricate once, something worth protecting.

But now its appearance knocked the air from his newly formed lungs. A dark and heavy smell, tinged with terror. The sound of a building being eaten by flames, slowly succumbing to its doom. It was almost blinding to look at, far brighter than Choa’s own mane.

He had to do something! Long buried instincts surged up. His mane glowed brighter, shining off his body like flashes off of crashing swords. From his maw a roar that overcame the sound of flames cracking like whips. He dashed into the wreckage, hardly caring as his paws scraped sharp rubble and the heat tried to force him back. He had to find Blaike. If only he could see, his eyes blurred and stinging from smoke. He could hear calls, his boy pleading for anyone for help. He ran as fast as he could, jumping over beams still burning. He skidded to a halt, his heart still for a moment at the small body lying on the floor. It restarted though as Blaike gathered the strenth to lean against Chao.

It felt years as the two plodded towards safety, but was likely only a minute or two. And as they entered fresh air Blaike turned to his saviour. Chao expected terror at his burnt and likely blinding appearance but Blaike just smiled.

“Thankyou guardian.”

(995/1000) Whew, finally under word count
Art
-The Fire

[snapshot]

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☀ 𝑄 𝐼 𝐴 𝑁 𝐺 ☀

[name meaning] strong, powerful, energetic [pronouns] he/him/his [gender] male [rank] protector

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The day of the Great Trial was one that every young guardian lion awaits with both eagerness and nervousness. That is the day that one finds out whether one has what it takes to be a Protector. If you pass the trail, it brings honor to you and to your family, and you go on to be given a charge to protect. But if you fail, you are shamed. Only a few make it through the trial. In a given group of young lions, usually only one will make it.

No one speaks of what happens in the trial. All that is known is that each adolescent goes before the High Guardian, meeting with him in a private room, a gazebo wrapped in tapestries, at the heart of the city.

In preparation of the meeting, Qiang fasted and bathed, making sure that he was presentable. The eldest Protector in the city said a prayer for him, and then lead him to the gazebo. Qiang took a breath, and stepped inside. It was dark and empty. The tapestries blocked out all light, so that Qiang couldn't tell the difference between having his eyes open or closed.

"Qiang."

Qiang turned quickly, slightly startled by the voice. There, appeared from nothing, was the High Guardian. A soft glow surrounded him, and in fact just barely lit up the entirety of the small room.

Qiang bowed before him. "High Guardian. I am humbled and awed to be in your presence."

"Rise," he said. "Come, follow me."

He began to walk, and Qiang followed alongside him. Though the gazebo was small from the outside, it was as if time and space had melted away, and the pair walked for a while. Qiang wondered if perhaps they had left the plane of reality and ascended to a different plane, a spirit plane.

The High Guardian stopped, so Qiang stopped too. A scene appeared before the pair. A great Protector with flames the color of blood sat proudly before a sacred relic. He looked mightier than any Protector that Qiang had ever seen.

"Who is he?" Qiang asked in awe.

"It matters not. Watch."

Qiang watched. Some lions approached the Protector and spoke with him in low tones. The Protector looked thoughtful, and then an odd look entered his eyes. He stood, and left his post. Qiang's mouth dropped open in shock. How could that mighty Protector abandon his charge? That was the worst offense a Protector could commit. A Protector NEVER abandons their post.

Someone came and stole the relic that was left unguarded. The scene shifted, to reveal the Protector receiving a large sack of gold coins. He had been bribed into leaving his post.

"He failed," the Guardian commented as the scene faded, "In what way?"

"He failed in his duty," Qiang replied immediately.

"How so?"

"He left his post, and abandoned his charge. He didn't protect it."

"Hmm," the High Guardian looked at him closely. "Is that all?"

Qiang gave him a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

The High Guardian didn't answer. "Come," he said, "there is more to see."

He lead Qiang before another scene. This time, a Protector stood outside the doors of a house, presumably guarding a family inside. As Qiang watched, another lion came by, moving silkily around the Protector, whispering in his ear, brushing against his side. The Protector blushed at something that was said. Ultimately, he too left his post, following the other lion. Later, someone came and broke into the house, harming the family that lived there.

"He has failed too," Qiang said.

"How so?" The High Guardian asked again.

"He failed to protect the family."

"Is that all?"

Qiang was silent this time. He didn't know what he was missing.

The Guardian lead him to two more scenes. In each, Protectors left their posts, chasing after something else.

"What have all these lions failed to protect?" the High Guardian asked as the last scene faded. The pair sat facing one another, encircled by the soft glow of the High Guardian.

Qiang thought about the scenes. They had failed to guard their charges, obviously. But what else? The first had gone after money, the second after love, the third after food, and the fourth after fame. They let their desires overpower their duty.

"Their hearts," Qiang realized. "They didn't protect their hearts. They chased after what they desired, instead of protecting their charges."

"Indeed," the Guardian said. "Anyone can protect a relic or a treasure. But if they do not first and last protect their heart, they will always fail. This world has many temptations that would lead you astray and cause you to abandon what you protect. Many a great being has left treasure, friends, even family, behind in the pursuit of things that have ensnared his heart. If you are to be a Protector, you must always guard your heart."

"I will," Qiang vowed.

"It is not easy. The heart is deceptive and a strong motivator, it is easily won and not easily tamed. Guard it well."

The High Guardian stood then. He began to fade away, like the scenes he had showed Qiang. Taking this as a sign of the end of the Trial, Qiang bowed low. Just as the last rays of light disappeared, he heard the High Guardian's voice once more.

☀ "That is your most important task." ☀

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[username] snapshot [pride] Lions of the Waves

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