Hati - Designed by Yugi
I am standing in a lush meadow shrouded in rich green blades of grass which cover the ground like a blanket, all except for a perfect circle around where I stand. Above me, several moons gleam down, each a different color, with trillions of dazzling stars shimmering just beyond them. It's peaceful and gently sweeps my cares away.
But the peace never lasts.
From the shadows of the forest surrounding me, a viscous snarl echos out and sends pinpricks of fear coursing down my spine. I turn to face the sound, but it is everywhere. The snarl continues, a deep resonating sound which pierces me to my core, and then I see him: A massive six legged beast with black fur and jaws so wide it could swallow me whole like a blueberry.
Fear immobilizes me and I stare at the beast, watching as it approaches. Then it roars, a sound that would make even the largest dragon tremble in terror, and I scream. The beast runs at me, jaws agape to swallow me whole, and above me each moon turns black until suddenly, at the last moment, light bursts from the moons on my body and everything fades to white.
This dream has haunted my mind since I could remember and it seems to be all that I dream of. I have searched desperately for some sign of what it means, but I have yet to come close to a valid interpretation. I don't know what or who the beast is, if it is a symbol or a physical creature, and I don't know the meaning of the several moons or the light that comes from me at the end. Even my best guesses never seem to grow close, and I fear that I may never understand it...
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It was peaceful by the crystal pond. Soft ripples waved on the surface while in the distance the gentle songs of crickets could be heard ringing through the air. In the peace of the crisp night, two viscets stepped from the shrubbery. The first was tall and dark and bore vibrant blue markings which seemed to almost glow in the darkness. She paused as she stepped over a bush and looked back and down, waiting for the small one to follow after. The child shuffled clumsily through the bushes and stumbled slightly before looking up at his mentor with curious eyes. The larger, Yukti, nodded slightly and approached the water. Slowly, she lowered herself to the ground with the tips of her claws resting in the cool liquid. The viscling, Hati, followed soon after and mimicked her as best as he could.
When Hati was just an egg, he was found by Yukti on one of her nightly journeys. The sight of such a helpless and soft egg amid the elegant grass and darkness of night drew her heart to it and she took in the egg to raise it as her own. As Hati grew under Yukti's care, a love of knowledge and mythology began to fill his heart and mind, so much so that Yukti often caught Hati asking questions or finding answers that Yukti had never thought of before. It became hard to keep up with the rapidly learning viscling, and so Yukti did what she knows best: travel.
ImageOn the eve of Hati's second birthday, Yukti packed their few belonging and the two set off to gain more knowledge. They traveled long and tedious journeys but not once did Hati ask to be carried or complain. The viscling was set on learning more in anyway possible. He became enraptured in the knowledge he gained from the various places they viewed and found himself falling in love with mythology. To Yukti, this was a strange obsession for a viscling so keen on knowledge, but when she would try to question the young one on it, Hati would only smile and say that it interested him, leaving the nightmarish dream which tainted his mind at night from the knowledge of his mentor. At least, he did for a few years.
It happened one night, when Yukti was laying away, her insomnia taking it's toll. Without a warning, the little one beside her yipped and flailed in terror. Yukti rushed to wake him up and stared into the panicked visclings eyes. It was then that Hati could no longer withhold the dream from his mentor and told her every detail of it. Concerned for the child, Yukti set out with him to find an answer. After several failed encounters with knowledgeable packs and herds, they found one which seemed promising.
It was within a small pack of nine viscets, each bearing odd jewelry of bone and metal, that they finally found some who knew about dreams. Yukti approached them first and explained their problem and her growing concern for Hati. The pack quickly pulled the two in and asked several questions about the dream, mostly concerning the appearance and actions of the creature. After several hours of conversations and questions, a viscet bearing a birds skull around his chest raised a paw to silence them. He leaned foreword and gazed at Hati for a moment before speaking up. He talked of a pond which would reveal the truth of a haunting problem to one of pure heart and intention. Hopeful that this pond would bring the answer of Hati's dream, the two set off to visit it.
Hati laid in silence beside his mentor and slowly lowered his head to the pool, gently touching his nose to it. His fur rose slightly from the chill of the water and his muscles tensed briefly, but after some time he pulled away and gazed up at Yukti with sadness in his eyes. Yukti frowned and pulled him close, embracing him beneath an arm. "Sometimes you just aren't ready to understand something... But I know that we will find the answer in time, we just have to be patient."
Hati gazed up at her mentor for a moment before looking at the water, reminiscing back on what it had shown him before he pulled his nose away. He hated to keep secrets from Yukti, but felt it was best to hid it for now until he knew the meaning of the vision from the pond. "I suppose so... It will all come to me in time..."
