[minifun990]

I thought this was better than my others, it is slightly but no where near as much improvement as I thought
The night of thisday


Part 1/3 - Ladon's Theocret
After the bad day he had Ladon went to sleep fitfully. He was moved into the ‘high up’ den, though Bilas was the only other in it as the other leaders had joint mate dens. Bilas had accepted him happily, mussing up his fur with a few play wrestles before bed. Sometimes it seemed Bilas was more a cub than he was.

For a moment he remembered Pura’s warnings of everything she had seen the night of her Axicret. The others had dismissed most of it as some sort of vivid dream but her newly gained knowledge of plants even Omisha didn't know and cows, which none had seen except Kinnaz. It gave credence to her claims but everyone was still a little doubtful, gods and realms and life and death where something to believe in, not something one went and saw for themselves.

Ladon still remembered seeing Mysrek though. He knew she was real and had seen her with his own eyes.

So, when he opened his eyes and saw a huge savannah stretching in front of him, he wasn't completely surprised it wasn't the den he went to sleep. However, he was surprised it wasn't a forest like Pura had described, nor was there a ‘cow’ anywhere near. Instead Ladon could see a pack of dogs running towards him, they were all different kinds, many different variations Ladon had never seen before. Some had curly tails and fluffy bodies, others were tiny and sleek, some long, some tall.

One thing they had in common though was something Ladon had seen in a few lions eyes. It was the focus and determination of a hunt. What's worse though is that they appeared to be hunting him.

He turned, broke into a sprint but could hear them gaining on him. There was one particularly large dog, with a short tail and rather muscular running almost extra laps around the other dogs. Ladon could understand him, switching between commands and praise, barking out strategies and motivation to each dog as they needed it.

So, when he got cornered up against a rock face when he turned and stared down that dog specifically, he was clearly the leader, perhaps he could be reasoned with.

“Hello! That was a nice run, hows everyone doing today?” Ladon smiled a little at their shocked faces for a moment, before they looked at each other, quickly mumuring and talking over one another. Shushing the others the leader stepped forward to look Ladon down.

He was suddenly larger now, Ladon noticed, now looking up at the dog.

“You are a mortal?” The dog spoke, his voice gruff as he spoke to Ladon. Ladon nodded cheerfully.

“I am indeed. Do you happen to be immortal yourself?” He asked.

“Yes, I am the god of leadership, with me are the minor gods of hunting.” Ladon bowed, and gave them nods of respect.

“Well, its nice to meet you all.”

“Can we eat the prey already?” Another dog piped up, a resounding chorus of similar sentiments erupted and Ladon paled. The leader only side eyed Ladon and he quickly eyed up the cliff again. Unsurprisingly it was still much too high to claim, and looking at the pack of dogs he was no fighter. He would quickly be overcome.

“We will only eat him if the majority of the pack wants to,” The alpha calmly reasoned, it made Ladon feel hope for a moment before almost all the dogs yipped up in agreement. Whelp, great.

“Well, sorry Ladon, looks like we're going to eat you, any last words?”
(598/500)