World of the Beasts
“Dad! Is my bag ready yet!” a young cat girl called as she made her way up the winding stairs to her attic. “Calm down, it will be ready soon enough,” her father smiled as he stuffed a few more items into the bag. She stood in the doorway tapping her foot when her father stood up and looked over at her. He was a good six foot one and was a very strong wolf man to boot. Most people would be scared out of their wits to see such a thing; but on this planet, it was common. “Got your sword?” “Right here on my belt,” she rolled her eyes and patted the sheath hanging from her left hip. “Go find your brother for us,” her father smiled tossing the bag at her. She smiled, gave a salute and was off down the stairs.
“Kristal! Kristal LotusWolf! Come here and give your mother a hug and a kiss,” the girl’s mother called to her before she ran out the door. With a sigh, Kristal set the bag down and went over to the cat woman that stood there with tears in her eyes. They hugged each other like it was the last time they would ever see one another. “You come back to us in one piece you hear me?” her mother whispered in her ear. “Of course, and I’ll bring Race back too!” the girl replied giving her mom a kiss on the cheek. With a smile and a wave to her parents, she grabbed her bag and was out the door without another word.
She drew close to a crowd assembled in the center of the ancient city and pulled her hood above her head. Every person there was an animal person of some kind, with the exception of bug people, who had been sent off the planet millennia ago. It was dusk and the torches had been lit. Talking spread through the crowd like some kind of epidemic as more and more people gathered there.
A tall older looking Feline stood up on the stage. He was a lion man with a large full mane. He looked stressed beyond age but still moved as if he was rather young. “Fellow Creatures!” he called his hands raised into the air. The power in his voice alone demanded attention and controlled it. “We are here today to yet again send four youths out into the world beyond the mountains, one youth for each cardinal direction; North, East, South, and West!” With each direction named he pointed a staff he held in his right hand toward the named point.
The crowd grew unnervingly silent as they awaited his judgment. Four youths. Four young people would be sent out into a world where none that went had returned for whatever reason. “To the West, we send Nicole the Feline.” A great cheer went up from the left side of the clearing where a figure could be seen making their way to the stage.
“To the South, we will send Linare the Bird.” Cheering this time raised from the right side of the crowd as the bird person flew towards the stage. “To the East, we send Relif the Lizard.” Cries where heard from the center of the crowd as yet another form moved toward the stage.
“And now the one I’ve been waiting for,” Kristal whispered under her breath from her spot on top of a small up rise at the rear of the crowd. She could care less about the other directions; it was North that interested her. North was the direction her brother had been sent out in ten years before. She had to know who was going there now so that she may get them to let her go with them or before them. “And finally, to the North we will send…Rave the Canine.” A deafening roar was heard from the whole crowd as the young man made his way on stage. “Perfect,” Kristal smiled and turned making her way to the North Gate.
“You four youths have a great task set before you. You must go out into the world and tell us of what has become of our brethren there. You will set out tonight, may the Spirits guide you,” the lion declared and then stepped away with the four 18 year olds closely behind.
Kristal LotusWolf sat in the shadows as anticipation gnawed away at her. A footstep sounded down the path and her heart leapt with joy. She leapt form her hiding spot and stood in her targets path.
The two of them stood, frozen, staring at each other. “Let me go first. Give me a month,” Kristal broke the silence. “Why should I? You aren’t even old enough to be going on this trip,” the Canine replied. “I have to find Race, and it would look a lot less suspicious if the gate was only opened once. You can camp near the gate for a month while I go look. After a month you can do whatever you want.”
“Fine,” he sighed with a shrug and then made his way to the gate. Kristal fallowed excitedly. Finally, after 10 years of waiting she was going to get her brother. “Hey Rave,” she started softly. “Yeah,” he huffed opening the lock that would open the door. “Thanks for letting me go.”
“I know how much you’ve been waiting for this. You’ve pushed yourself so had to become strong enough so that they might have considered you. You really should be the one going out there, not me,” Rave said quite matter-of-factly as the doors eased open.
Standing on the other side of the gates, staring at the fast wilderness ahead of her, Kristal’s heart jumped inside her chest. “You be careful out there, Kris,” Rave said behind her as he set his bag down. A blush cut across her face at the mention of her brother’s nickname for her. “I told you a million times already, only Race is allowed to call me that.” “Well he gave me permission before he left and you know it.”
Kristal stuck her tongue out at him and then took in a deep breath. “See you later Rave.” “See you,” he gave a small wave as she disappeared into the wilderness.
A week had gone by since Kristal had started out. Being half Inu really helped out considering that she had an Inu’s sense of smell and knew she was a day away from a town. She had decided that she would enter it early the next morning and had spent the day sleeping and conserving her energy. She had no idea of what awaited her in this new town and she wanted to be ready for anything.
The sun sank below the horizon casting a shadow across the vast wilderness that still consumed the planet. Though most feared to step foot into these vast uncharted lands one girl stirred as the cool air hit her body.
Kristal sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she realized the sun had sunk. The smells of dinner down in the town came to her on the wind and her stomach began to complain about the lack of food it was receiving at that moment. She shifted through her bag and found her last bit of bread and a strip of beacon.
She had saved most of the meat on her trip knowing that it would be the most important energy reviving food she had, but the smells that came to her on that breeze sent her mouth watering moments after she had swallowed the small meal. She shrugged on her pack and decided to get a move on if she wanted to get there by breakfast.
The night passed slowly for her. Around midnight, she came across a stream and ate a quick midnight meal, and had a quick bath as well. The sun was just rising when the town came into view and Kristal sat down for her breakfast. “Will he be here?” she kept asking herself, as she got more and more hopeful the closer she got.
“Hey! You! Stop where you are!” a Canine yelled as Kristal took her first step into the town. She was startled as the man ran at her with a stick that had sparks emitting from the end that was pointing at her. She instinctively dodged the attack and tripped him.
A whistle sounded that hurt Kristal’s ears and called the rest of the guards to her position. “What to do?” she thought as she saw the armed men run toward her obviously intent on causing her some harm. Most of the men where ether Canines or Bears. The Canines would be easy to disarm but one wrong move dealing with the Bears and it would be all over for her.
With a deep breath and a second to focus herself, Kristal charged the leading Canine sending him to the ground unconscious in seconds. She moved quickly to the other three Canines. Using their own weapons against them, they too where out of the fight with almost no effort on her part at all, but for the four guards she had just taken out twelve more where coming to take their places.
She fought as well as she could, getting nipped here or there by the electric tips of their rods, but one screw up on her part and it was all over. She had miss judged the strength of one of the Bear men and got the tip of another’s spear in the center of her back. With a scream of pain she was out like a light.
