Username: Arrikanez
Cat Name: Depth Strider
Gender: Male
Rank: Knight
Clan: The Dark CarnivalAge: 3
Prompt:This was... new. This whole being a cat thing. He had been with his 'Clan' - at least Viperstar called it that, even if Fortune's End, and Heart Hunter didn't. Not that they'd know what a 'Clan' was anyway. Depth Strider was used to his pod. Now all of that was gone, thanks to a well-timed harpoon in the chest, and a painful reminder that yes, they were still at war with the opposing faction. None of that really matter
now though - in this new world, this new life.
He had been having dreams lately. Dreams of that previous life, in the coolness under the waves, the comforting feel of the hilts of blades in his hands, and the rage in his heart. There were... some parts of the dream that he wished he could dive in and fix, change around, make better choices in. But the opening was always the same. His cousin ordering him into a hunting pack with his two brothers, and their 'friend' from the other pod. Here is where his first change would be. Teasing that other packmate. It made no sense now that he came to think of it. Just because he had been from another pod did not mean that he was all-in-all an inefficient hunter in any way.
Even watching the silent exchange come to blows, as there was no sound in the dream, made him feel as though he might have made the choice to befriend the strange mer rather than fight him. Just one of the many changes. Time flashed forward, past their rather unremarkable hunt, and past the re-issue of the decree of War against the orcakind. He could have stood up for them. Made it clear that they were a peaceable race, not looking to fight - but he had decided to stand with his Queen - even though he had known at the outset that it would be a mistake.
Fast-forwarding again to the end of the second battle of the war, with him on the front lines. Seeing the look in a young orca's eyes as he went to finish her off. He could have stopped here too - reminded himself that this was a war for peace, not a massacre. But that was something else he
didn't do. Her screams would forever haunt this part of his mind, the deep darkness where his memories resided. He could have let her go. Gods only know why he did not.
Again, time super-sped onward, slowing down finally at his brother's first battle. This was the part where he could have stood up and demanded he be taken off the roster. Not that he would have been obeyed - but not even trying? That was something he would always have to live with. He would always have the urge to reach into his dream, his memory, and rewrite the way it played out. Maybe then he could have kept him safe. The dream seemed to mock him here, and flashed images of his corpse straight into his brain. His brother - dead because he was inexperienced enough to charge into a battle half-cocked and unprepared.
Both he
and his brother had thought they were the bravest warriors under the sea at that point, but it was foolhardy at best, and downright suicidal at worst. The enemy had proven too strong, and both of them had been taken prisoner. The dream flashed by the days they kept them in prison. First, it was the two of them - then just him as they slaughtered his brother, and paraded his body in front of him as a special kind of torture.
Here, too, he would have made a change. He would have fought to his last breath to retain the freedom that he had been stripped of. Instead, the dream played out the way it had been in real life. He gave up. His eyes were sunken and lackluster by the time the part of the dream rolled around where that harpoon, a lucky shock by a member of his OWN species, had found his chest, his heart, and stopped his hurt forever.
... At least until he woke up here on the beach, without his tailfin, his weapons,
or his pod. Woken up a four-legged beast of the land, when he was a Prince of the Sea. Woken up with regrets and decisions he should have, could have, would have made if he had been able to see what lay ahead. And now, he was beholden to Viperstar as much as he had been beholden to the orcakind in those cages. Doomed to forever hear a voice in his head speaking of redemption and cruel irony.
Viperstar interrupted his reverie with a quick tap of his tail upon the cat's flank. "Daydreaming again, Depth?" The younger Ringmaster said with a chuckle. "C'mon. I need you to lead HeartHunter in a few drills before you head off on patrol. Which is tonight. You haven't forgotten, have you?"
"... No, Viperstar." the ex-mer prince said with a respectful cant of his head, and a wary look at the snakes that twined around his leader's shoulders. "I will attend to my duties. I am sorry for... as you say, Daydreaming."
"No need to apologize you know." Viper said offhandedly. "We're all a little messed up right now. Even Chroma's having some fairly big issues. Just remember to go on a patrol before dusk. And train HeartHunter a bit. That's all I ask."
"Very well, Viperstar." Depth said with another small nod, and meandered off, tail in the air. He would not make the same mistakes again. This time he would grab his fate and shove it where the red sun couldn't reach. He was ready this time.
