The Goddess was unhappy. She had been healing well, but she was still furious that some pathetic mortals had managed to get the drop on her and, not only that, but actually manage to defeat her. Yes, she had caused her own damage to them, but she had managed to get torn up, and that was just unacceptable. She was furious at herself just as much as she was them, and though she wanted to find the two specific ones that had attacked her, she was ready to take her fury out on every mortal she ran across. She was walking across the rogue lands today, as she was still not well enough to fly without risking reopening the wounds on her back and near her wings. At least the bites on her neck and ankle were healing a bit better, and she was no longer worrying about upsetting them with the smallest of movements. Though she was a God, she did not particularly like being in pain any more than mortals might, and was healing as fast as she was able to. She was not ready to go back to her ‘home’ pride, the Tokakinji, as she was on the brink of war there, and could not risk losing her battles because of these injuries. No, she had to be at her best strength, and that meant hanging out in the rogue lands for a bit more until she was feeling much better. It was annoying, to say the least.
Unlike Afriti, Miwani was in a very good mood. She was enjoying this new stretch of rogue lands that she had settled into, because it was quiet, but had more than enough food for her to happily live on for a while. She was not a wanderer so much as a stray: she wanted to live some place, she just did not have any place in specific to call home. So she made residence in different spots in the rogue lands, away from prides, and stayed there until she got bored, ran out of food, or just wanted to go out and have a change. The last place she lived in had been a wooded area, but this was more open, and her current den was actually a hole in the ground rather than a cave or the hollow of a tree. She liked it a lot, though it was small. It stayed warm at night, and there was nothing damp or leaking in it, so she could hardly complain about the accommodations. Plus, no one had been living in it already, which could sometimes lead to very awkward situations when they came home to find someone sitting in their den that they had not invited. She hated having to explain herself, and usually got chased off before she could really put up a good argument. But she never carried hard feelings, as she was a very patient and open lioness who was just doing what she could to understand the world around her.
Bilashi was a female hyena who happened to wander near Miwani’s home, and was sniffing around when the lioness poked her head out of her den. It was very strange for the hyena to see a blue lioness suddenly appear from the ground, and she leaped back with a surprised yelp. Her tail fell between her legs and she stared at the other with wide eyes, caught completely off guard by the appearance. Her nose was not the best thing around, so she had not actually smelled a lioness anywhere nearby. Sure, she was following a strange scent, but she always assumed it was not actually there when she did manage to ‘smell’ something. Her nose, she had come to accept, just did not work. It made her feel like half a hyena, and she did her best not to tell anyone about it if she could avoid it. Why bring up something embarrassing and pathetic about herself if she did not have to? It was not like she particularly enjoyed sharing, anyway.
Miwani blinked at the hyena, and then smiled, climbing out of the hole and shaking off the dust that clung to her blue fur. That was the only down side of this new little home… she had to constantly clean dirt from her fur. It got kinda dusty down there, if she spent too long in one stop, or if it was particularly windy out. But that was not enough to make her want to leave in a hurry, and she was still very happy with this little place. She looked at the hyena curiously, having never met one before, and wondered if she was aggressive. The hyena looked pretty tense, after all. She opened her mouth to say something, but a mighty roar from behind her interrupted her and scared them both. She leaped into the air and coiled, landing next to the hyena, who immediately shrank closer to the female lion in fear, both looking around for the source of the very angry and vicious sounding roar.
“W-What was that?” Bilashi asked, clearing her throat as it cracked.
“I… don’t…”
Their answer came swiftly enough as a large lion with massive, bat like wings appeared from the long, yellow grass not too far from them at a break neck speed. She was running toward them at full pelt, and neither really had time to question why they were suddenly under attack by a very strange and horrifying creature. Maybe if they survived they would talk about it later. Miwani’s instincts told her to stay and protect her home, and this new stranger, and she tensed, growling and sinking her claws into the ground as she lowered her head and bared her teeth. Bilashi’s instincts were not so brave, as she was quite a few feet away, running as fast as she could go, before Miwani even noticed she was gone. Miwani looked around in surprise, but there was no time to really understand that she had been abandoned already. The large, winged lioness was on her, and she had to throw all of her focus into not getting torn apart immediately.
“Pathetic mortal!”
Afriti knew this was not one of the two that attacked her. Wrong color, wrong build, wrong attitude. This one was noble, like the insufferable Tokakinji tried to be back in her home
pride. They always had to stick their noses where they did not belong, and stand up for the innocent or helpless lions that got in her path. What a pathetic notion. Worrying about others would only get this lioness killed, as the hyena she seemed to want to protect had already high tailed it out of there. Afriti would hunt that one down later, once she was done with this one. It would be a waste of time and energy, but her anger had her so blind and desperate that she could hardly focus on anything else. She could almost smell their blood already, and she was eager for it to be spilled.
“What the heck are you?! I didn’t do anything to you, stop attacking me!”
Miwani was not an attacker. She stuck to defense, bouncing away from the massive claws the Goddess was swinging around at her. She could spare no other thoughts to the hyena at the moment, shaking her head and trying to keep her focus. Bilashi, for her part, was feeling guilty as she came to a stop, panting and looking back toward the battle. What she needed to do was go and get some help. Sure, she could try and be that back up, but she had no hunting skills! She could not even smell things right! No, there had to be someone around here better suited for fighting. With that thought in mind, she took off again, only now she did not feel like she was just running away. She was trying to help!
Afriti growled at the lioness, swinging her tail behind her. She could not waste too much time here, as she did not want to get herself more hurt, even in her thirst for revenge. Not that this little thing looked like it would put up much of a fight. She charged with a snarl and managed to land a hit this time, anticipating the way Miwani moved to try and get out of the way. Her paw collided with the side of Miwani’s head and sent her sprawling quite a few feet away, though she did not manage to dig her claws in. It was just a very powerful and disorienting hit that left Miwani sprawled out, and the world seeming to spin around her. Whimpering, she dragged herself into the hole in the ground that was her den, digging down as deep as she could go and just hoping that the large winged lioness would not follow her.
There was no space for her, though she leaped at the opening and tried to reach in, swinging but not able to grab on to Miwani. She would have to dig her way down to get to the lioness, but she was alright with that. She was winning now, and having fun: she loved seeing the way mortals shook in fear.
So she started to dig.
Word Count: 1552 in Google Docs