The leopon trekked through the jungle effortlessly. The trees he climbed across brushed through his mane like silk and he made several sudden sharp turns against dead branches while tracing a path he had walked a thousand times previously. The way home. The way to the bloodletters.
Only months earlier had he found them. By luck at that. He was on his march with a basket of jewels and glittering shining gems that he had collected and ready to deposit in yet another of his safe havens littered throughout the savannah. If one was to find but a single treasure stash of the leopon’s then they would marvel in shock and glee at the vast amount of riches they had stumbled upon. Within a bush, up a tree, buried under what was designed to look like a sink hole… He had shoved pockets full of treasures into every crevasse and cave the jungle contained. That day was no different as he carried on with his newest jewels and marched unknowingly to the bloodletter territory.
Quaid discovered him. The wild dog found potential in him and Mzuka was granted the permission to join the cult, revere in Unni and her blessings. Gain endless power through her perks and sparks of bloodshed. Yet never to harm a comrade would benefit him.
He had to admit the cult wasn’t what he was expecting. He had the most limited diet ever and the society itself was rather normal. Yet at the end of the day he could still be a thief and feel at home. It was a nice feeling, a feeling Mzuka was vacant of for most of his younger life. Power struggles, rivalries and secret societies flourished and allowed the hybrid to bask in the glory of rumors and delicious gossip. It had everything he dreamed of and more!
He joyfully walked home with a locket under his neck. One of the many treasure stashes he had dug up only recently, near a pride where hybrids like he ruled. Imagine that! He couldn’t wait to tell his friends.
It was then that his cream colored steps brought him to a sight that made him blink. Once. Twice. This… This had to be a dream, right?
The cult was vacant, life that normally dwelled and greeted him was gone. The grass that once seeded itself in every inch of the nourished land had been reduced to nothing but ash and dust. Trees he often had the pleasure of lounging in when delaying guard duties, much to the disappointment of his boss might he add, now were nothing but charred thin timbers that’s life had been ripped away in a single stroke of terrifying lightning.
Nothing seemed to remain. Indeed, was anyone there at all?
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Kohi still lingered in the area. Her brother had been so kind as to stake out the night and come back to inform is sparkling backed sister that the danger she feared did no longer exist. That as she had been told by him time and time again there was no need to fear enslavement again.
But now that she was outside, exploring what not days earlier was a thriving society and growing culture now nothing but stumble… Well, she could understand perfectly what her brother had been trying to commune.
“Wow. There really is nothing left of it.” She observed idly to herself. It was remarkable what mother nature could do when she was willed enough.
Mzuka might have been relishing in pain at the thought that his precious cult was destroyed but Kohi was relieved beyond believe. No more slavery. No more serving the icy queen…
“Yahoo!” She did a leap for joy. “Yes!! Ha, ha, take that!”
---
The echo of Kohi’s voice did not fall on deaf ears. Mzuka turned, startled and perhaps a little alarmed with glee that someone had survived the fall of his nation. Yet this individual was jumping for joy? Why…
“Excuse me.” He said in a rather demanding voice. “I’ve been away; can you explain what happened here?” He was in no mood to smile falsely or give a stupid answer on demand. Mzuka starred with his silver eyes in complete seriousness towards the leaping female.
“Freedom happened!” Kohi laughed, she failed to remember who this guy was but she could only assume he used to be in the cult.
Yet without Uuni’s magic, just how much of a threat was he?
“Yeah!! No more bloodletters! Woo!!”
Mzuka was taken aback by Kohi’s thrill at the desolation of his home. Though if she was this excited then she must have been a slave. “No more… Bloodletters.” He sat down and tried to soak the information in. Just when he had finally made a life for himself, a home. Now it was gone?
Kohi stopped her enthusiasm to watch as Mzuka starred vacantly into nothing. He must have been torn from the shock, poor guy. She moved her black colored pelt near the hybrid, careful to remain out of his claws reach. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think anyone died.” There had been that one cheetah who had his tail set on fire, but you know, she didn’t really try to think of what happened to him.
“I just…” He struggled to think of an appropriate feeling. He wasn’t scared, he wasn’t lonely, he wasn’t even angry. He didn’t feel upset but he felt… Empty. “They were destroyed and I wasn’t even here?” No, he was off with the mindset that nothing bad would have happened to his palace of a home when he returned. Yet now, they were gone.
Kohi tried to comfort him briefly, yet the peach shade of her brother’s eyes caught her attention. It was time for her at least to move on. “Listen, it sucks that the pride was destroyed and all but don’t try and dwell on it. See you.” She turned and continued a shout of pure energy while chasing after Sundai who was awaiting her. No more cult! No more traps! Only freedom awaited her!
Mzuka on the other hand still sat where he was. Lost, a little confused. What now, he pondered. Where was he to go to next?
“Oh…” He stumbled upon a thought that rekindled the flame of his grin. “There’s always that place.”
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