Rebirth
Username: Goddess Sword
HW cat or VOK lion?: HW cat
Link to group/pride: The Wayfarers
Explain a major change that happens to them and how it effects them:
///To live is to change. As one lives, their experiences shape them, and they grow into somebody new. When they awaken in the morning, they are different from the them of the previous dawn.
///To die is also to change. In death, all grows still. It brings with it quiet as one returns to the earth or feeds the hungry. It is a change that brings with it sadness, but also peace.
///And it is a change that feeds into perhaps the greatest change of all - That of rebirth.
///They remembered their past lives all at once.
///In the first, they were an ocelot - It was a solitary life, as most are, but it was pleasant enough despite the vague sense of loneliness that pervaded it. Hunting in the evenings and resting in the shady branches in the mornings… It was a good life, until the droughts came.
///How ironic, it would prove in hindsight, that the very cougar who took their first life would be the source of their second. They wanted to be angry at first, but… who were they to blame her? She did what she felt she needed to to protect her cubs, to eliminate competition and ensure her children… ensure that they, themselves, would survive.
///The third was quite the change; in this life they were human-owned, a pampered seal point Himalayan, the latest in a long line of their breed. Their owners brought them to shows, touted them as the best… though they never won. It was at least a nice change of pace.
///Fourth was a tiger, white with black stripes. The workers kept them well-fed, and they supposed now, with the context of their life as a show cat, they must have been at least a little famous, with cameras pointed at them so often. Still, when they watched the guests run over to feed the deer across the path, they wanted so badly to chase after.
///In the next they got their wish, a feline of the same species as the enclosure next to them in the previous: A lioness, a proud hunter who worked alongside the others of their pride to provide for them all. At least… until they crept just a bit too close to a clutch of snake eggs during their final hunt. A few bites was all it took - What antivenom could a wild lion find to save them from their fate? They tried not to dwell on it.
///They were a hunter in the sixth as well, though their prey was not so extravagant this time around. Rather than hunting antelope, they were a mouser, a Maine Coon with orange and white fur. They lived with a lobsterman, who gave them the task of ensuring no rodents made their way onto his boat. It was a good thing they were still a somewhat large cat in this life, though; they could have sworn some of the rats they drove off were nearly as long as they were tall!
///Seventh was a wildcat, though you wouldn't guess it from their size. They remembered being found by humans, caught in a trap for weasels while hunting mice in a rice field on the edge of their territory. “Kucing congkok,” the humans had called them - Leopard cat. They hadn’t felt much like a leopard, those people towering over them so.
///And then was the eighth, a life as simple as could be. They were a human’s pet, a real pet this time - Not a show cat or mouser, but just a companion. They remembered chasing strings dangled from backscratchers, napping in the sun, their human’s hands running through their cream fur, the crunch of kibble from their bowl, the mewls of their kittens. It was nice.
///They remembered all of these lives at once. And they heard a voice in their mind.
///Life, death, and rebirth are one, it said. In the past, life and death fought until both their ends. But perhaps, in this new life, you will impress me.
///And they were terrified.
///Should the other two begin to quarrel again, said the voice, clearer this time, as if addressing them specifically, do what you can. For you are rebirth; It is you who must remind them that without life, there can be no death, and without death, life cannot begin anew.
///They wanted to scream, to cry. “What do you mean?!” they wanted to demand, “Why should it be my job?! Why should my ninth life, my last life, be one of servitude, with all of these memories of others in my heads?! I can’t do this, I’m just a...” Cat? Kitten? Which were they now?
///But no words could come.
///So instead, when the darkness at last began to fade and they awoke in the roots of a grove of tiny trees, they looked around. Felines large and small gazed with awe and expectation at them. It felt like they were seeing double.
///Why, indeed? Why were they chosen? What could they possibly do? Torn from their life - Eight lives! - with the people they loved. Thrust into a position of responsibility and power with no say of their own, expected to mediate between two forces that they only just comprehended.
///They wanted to be responsible, to fulfill their duty. And yet…
///The pressure they felt. It was so much. Too much.
///They stared at the felines watching with anticipation, and at the two by their side, still asleep. The two they were to guide, to quell.
///And then they bolted.
///They couldn’t do this. Not now, at any rate.
///Perhaps they would return someday. But there was still much growth, much change, for them to undergo.
(1000/1000)
(995 plain text, 5 dragonscript in art)
(995 plain text, 5 dragonscript in art)
