These sisters would like a home for Halloween! To win them, all you need to do is partner up with a friend and give them a background story. This contest will stay open for one week from the time of its posting, and you may only be involved with one entry.
Entry Form:
[b]Usernames:[/b] [b]Lioness Names/Meanings:[/b] [b]History:[/b] (This can be in whatever format you like - explanation, story, RP, etc.)
Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 6:29 pm
Usernames: Chisato Mikami (Zombie) and CaliWolfe (Bone) Lioness Names/Meanings: Ngozi and Mifupa Swahili for "Skin" and "Bone" History: When Ngozi and Mifupa were cubs, their mother died and they never knew who their father was. They lived in their den on a hill, but because they looked odd, no one would take care of them. They relied on each other for most of their lives and soon their hill began to be called "Haunted Hill." No one dared to come get close to the hill, expect for cubs trying prove how brave they were. They leave 'the hill' once in a while to go hunting, sometimes to spy on those passing through the area. Tend to run away and seemingly vanish if a rogue tries to approach them.
Usernames: Tanakako (white sister) & nessiaing (green sister) Lioness Names/Meanings: Luu'kallo (bone skull - Finnish) & Odöda (undead - Swedish) History: Born non-identical twins to a Priestess of the pride, the two young girls were taught from an early age that they were different. Special. Their mother was known as being not entirely 'all there' and the two sisters are no different. While they are extremely talented, both having been trained by their mother in the ways of folk law and ritual, they also possess a fierce intellect that makes them dangerous, especially when paired with their rather blood-thirsty nature and inherited insanity. Together the pair of them are a true force to be reckoned with, as they respect no one but each other and have no boundaries when it comes to right and wrong. They would just as soon sacrifice you as perform one for you. Being born Vikings they are naturally talented fighters and with their knowledge of the arcane and occult, they are not anyone you want to make your enemy.
Posted: Sat Oct 10, 2015 1:14 pm
Usernames: Schicksalswende (Bone) & Seaki (Zombie) Lioness Names/Meanings: Craidhneach (Skeletal Remains, esp. Skull) & Tòcill (Arise from the Grave); both Gaelic History: Once, there was a small pride that lived near the mountain. It was a peaceful pride with humble beginnings. That all changed, however, when a plague struck. The sickness ran rampant in the pride, driving members to madness as they attacked their friends and family.
In the midst of the plague, however, a miracle. A pair of twins born under the light of a blood moon. Soon after the twins were born, their mother succumbed to the sickness as well. The sisters grew in a time of hostility, growing up protecting each other from the rest of the pride as more fell to the plague’s madness.
As time went on, those who had not fallen ill began to eradicate those who showed signs of the illness, destroying them in an attempt to stop the illness from spreading even further. One day, however, one of the twins contracted the illness, while the other remained free of the disease. Craidhneach, the white twin, watched as her sister suffered. She hid her sister’s illness from the rest of the pride as long as she could, but she could only hide it for so long.
The pride saw her sister dead, burying her in an attempt to stave off the illness. Craidhneach kept vigil over the grave, attacking anyone who got too close. A day later, her twin rose. She pulled herself from the shallow grave, snarling and weak.
Fear rippled through the pride, seeing a corpse rise from the grave they had dug. The pride fled, fearing the others they had buried would return from the ground.
Reborn from the earth, Craidhneach dubs her sister Tòcill. The pair is said to haunt places of anguish and mourning.
Seaki Crew
Divine Star
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AstoriaFallen
AstoriaFallen
Winter Wolf
Online
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2015 4:19 am
Usernames: AstoriaFallen, Greenie EA Lioness Names/Meanings: Zonbi (zombie), Bokor (haiti sorcerers or houngan (priests) or mambo (priestesses). Basically a witch doctor) History: We were doing up a RP to best show their personalities and traits but as the time is growing nearer I'm going to post what we have and explain what's going on.
So what we have is Bokor and Zonbi are sisters and Bokor is a little crazy. She's a witch doctor gone mad and has been infusing puffer fish toxins into her sister to give her a zombie like state for a period of time in which Zonbi believes are just blackouts. What's really going on is the toxins revert her to a feral state and she goes around killing others. This in turn has everyone believing in the dead having come back and they realize that Bokor is the cause of it, along with Zonbi and they are banished from their pride.
We hadn't gotten to that part of the RP yet. Also, I'm a derp and thought when Greenie was saying "where had she gone" i thought she meant mind wise. Not actually physically wise so the the first two posts might seem a bit odd. However, Greenie made it work. And I finally caught on and attempted to salvage what was going on. XD
Brown font is Bokor and #7299C2 is Zonbi
Bright, mud colored, orbs gazed down at a gathering of crudely made bowls filled with a mystery liquid. The owner of said orbs was simply beaming at her work, the look gave evidence of pride and of the potential glory. "Where has she gone to, why has she not come back!" The low rumble of comments was spoken lacking the lustre of the attentive orbs on their prize. The tone, in fact, carried partial disgust.
"Zonbi, where have you gone?" This time her words came out sharper, nastier and seemed to not end at their silence. Rather they seemed to promise some form of punishment should the owner of the name 'Zonbi' not approach soon. The pale lioness stood, clearly not wanting to pull her longing gaze away from her work, but held the search for her green-ish companion to a little higher of a priority for the present moment. She was sure her fellow lioness would know she had done wrong upon seeing the pale lioness away from her den.
The lioness - quiet, assumingly gentle, and agile - moved with ease across the area directly in front of her home. She had an idea as to where her companion had gone, but had expected her back ages ago. Their ingredients could wait, after all they weren't even sure if collecting in large quanities would pose to be useless. They wouldn't know that until their first group trial. The lioness' grin was deadly upon the thought of their tests. Only one other had had a sampling of liquid she had prepared. That individual was still unaware, as far as she was concerned.
The true first test, not that anyone would ever find out, was on her own companion, Bokors 'friendly' green Zonbi.
Warmth, darkness and a red haze. That was all that she could focus on, could see. She wasn't too sure of how long she had been gone, but it seemed like ages. She felt heavy, like a rock against the sand and faint voices murmured into her bleak existence. The voice seemed familiar but it was muffled sounding. She wanted to come back, but something kept pulling her deeper.
The haze was fading and she was feeling lighter. She felt strange and eyes fluttered open, a pale, almost dead colored gaze peering forth. Pupils extended and shrank as she blinked, eyes focusing on the blurry shape before her. It seemed familiar. What had she been doing? Head turned and she stared at the the blurry image of a pale lioness before her.
She wanted to speak, but her mouth and throat felt like cotton.
"Ah."
Bokor made the quiet sound, but didn't feel it necessary to expand on her emotions towards it. Though, where her mouth ended her facial expression began. The grin that had entertained her maw while gazing at her crudely made bowls had returned. This was partly due to finding Zonbi and partly due to the realization that she had indeed finalized her product. The use was open ended, something that may intimidate others, but instead drove Bokor.
"Come Z." The pale lionesses used to loving nickname in a way to coax the other towards her. Sometime Bokors voice alone would trigger the 'follow' reaction, but often times it was the nickname that truly seemed to make the mind of the other begin ticking. "You should see what you're loving sister has developed."
It was slow, leading her sister back to their home, but the time was a worth while investment.
Iron, she tasted iron when her mouth finally moved on her own. She rose up at the sound of her sisters voice. Almost like it was something she had done a million times... She was drowsey. Yet, she widened her gaze and blinked as heavy footsteps moved forward. She was curious now, as her mind began to clear a little, but still seemed hazy.
"What...... is..... it?" She managed to get out as she followed her towards a familiar sight. She felt a little strange,, but then again she was always feeling strange. What was the last thing she had been doing? She had recalled eating and then her sister had asked her to try something. She couldn't remember. She had a black out. Which wasn't that odd, but it had been something that was happening more lately.
Her sister was a skilled witch doctor. She liked to help her figure stuff out and test her products on her. It gave her something to do.
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2015 6:25 am
Usernames: Princess_Feylin, ChezaRain Lioness Names/Meanings: We haven't yet decided who would keep which yet, so Cheza is thinking either Thana or Morana, both of which mean "death" in Greek and Slavic, respectively, and I'm thinking Nimetön (Finnish for "nameless") for the Zombie Girl and Golysh (Russian for "pebble") for the Bone Girl. History: Sometimes a SB father will decide not to claim a cub because they're sickly or weak looking, and Zombie Girl was one such cub, although her near-twin Bone Girl was kept. Before Zombie Girl could die from exposure, another freeborn in the pride, with less harsh beliefs, came along and took her for her own, but as a thrall. When the two sisters met for the first time, older, they became fast friends, despite the disparity in their station, and Bone Girl made it her goal to free Zombie Girl.
At first the two thought if they could just convince Zombie Girl's owner that Zombie Girl was possessed, she would give her up willingly, but that turned out not to work. instead, it just gave Zombie Girl a reputation as a thrall to keep away from. Determined to win her sister's freedom, Bone Girl took the next step and (without telling her sister) murdered Zombie Girl's owner and went ahead to claim Zombie Girl as family, elevating her to freeborn status.
But Bone Girl didn't stop there. Even after Zombie Girl became a freeborn, she continued to feel it was her duty to look after her sickly sister, and so she continued to "take care of" people who upset her or did her ill turns, real or imagined, arranging for nasty accidents to befall them, a practice she had gotten into while her sister was still enthralled, to prevent people from picking on Zombie Girl because she was a weak thrall.
Zombie Girl takes these attacks against her enemies as proof that she is actually being haunted and protected by the spirit of the freeborn who once owned her, forgetting that they started while the lioness was still alive. So now Zombie Girl has a reputation around the pride for being both possessed (thanks to her previous acting) and haunted (thanks to her sister). Bone Girl remains on constant vigilance, determined to protect her sister. No matter what.
For years an elderly lioness by the name of Mwata lived a double life. A twisted life.
She resided near the mouth of a underground cave system, and kept many of her ‘projects’ underground. When the Gods saw fit to give her cubs, often times she would return their gift in whatever way she could. Drowning, asphyxiation, ritualistic sacrifice, etc. Just when she thought herself past the fertile years, she became pregnant once more. This time, she gave birth to twin girls, and there in hatched her evil scheme.
One daughter for life, and one for death.
Mwata kept Asha topside with her. Since she was a known shaman and spirit healer, it stood to reason that she would need an ‘heir’. Throughout the entirety of her life Asha had no idea that she had a sister, much less a twin. All she knew was that she needed to please her mother and to follow in her pawsteps. Every morning she would wake up early and go about her routine as to not anger Mwata. As her only known family, Mwata was cherished by the cub. She yearned for her mother’s smiles, rare as they may be. Instead of the traditional love that most families are so freely based upon, Asha found her own life to be ‘different’. The harder she worked to communicate with the spirits and to keep herself ‘pure’ in Mwata’s eyes the closer their connection became. There was an innate curiosity about the young female that drove her mother mad. Asha wished to learn more about the families that visited her, about the easy love they displayed with one another, but Mwata shunned the practice. Their kind had to sacrifice to live ‘pure’ in the eyes of the spirits. And so, all Asha could hope for was that in the next life, should the Gods see her actions as just and righteous, that she would have that which she secretly cherished most of all; a family.
As the years progressed, Asha began to accept that would lead a mostly solitary life as her future position would require. Isolated from all but Mwata, Asha found herself immersed in spiritual studies. Yet the blossoming hope and desire for familial love kept her dedicated to Mwata. The connection of blood was a strong, and powerful draw to spirits, so it was only right that Asha remain so close to her mother. At least, this was the reasoning behind her connection. She hoped for a bond that would never be, and was instead rewarded with only more isolation and grief.
So it was that even when Mwata forbade Asha from entering the caves the normally curious lioness listened. She could go into the mouth, since it was their only shelter, but that was it. She spoke of a monster in the caves; one that would eat the bones of any girl foolish enough to wander closer.
Many a day and night, Asha would wait for her mother to return. As the years progressed she saw her mother less, and became the voice of their daily rituals. It was now Asha who blessed ailing children, who called on ancestors to heal their descendents, and whom prayed upon the bones of the deceased for good fortune. When Mwata would show herself she was often tore bloody, with scratches and bruising so severe the shaman needed many days to heal. Asha would beg her for answers, but her mother would always snap at her for being insolent. It was enough to keep her from asking questions...for a time. Although she had much to distract her, the young female always found herself drawn to those caves. It was as if a voice were calling out to her…
....and then the screaming started.
One morning, just as Asha was laying down for her daily rest, a piercing wail carried from within the caves. This was not the first she had heard, and usually the noise would die down after a while. When the wail became a contorted mix of her mother’s cries of help accompanied by a monstrous roar Asha jumped into action. Whatever her mother had been doing to appease the monster was no longer working.
It was up to her.
Asha ran through the stone tunnels. At first she had worried about becoming lost, but to her surprise the way was lit with a steady stream of fireflies, caught in tiny traps. The sight was as beautiful as it was eerie, but Asha had little time to dissect its meaning. She raced, running as fast as her aching paws would allow her to. The voices crashed upon the stone like waves, echoing in her eyes to the point of pain, until all at once, they stopped.
It wasn’t long before Asha found out the reason why.
Inside of a small cavern, tied by it’s neck to a stalagmite, was the monster. Asha couldn’t do anything other than to scream when she saw what dripped from his maw. Mwata lay in pieces on the floor and the left side of her jaw oozed onto the monster’s paws. Bits of flesh sloughed off the flesh, plopping onto the stone with a sickening squish that sent Asha’s stomach into flips.
How had she never noticed the smell? From inside the cavern it was a grotesque scent, one that wreaked of the death and decay scattered about the space. She could only assume it was a direct result of living so close to it, all this time. The worst of it she had been shielded from, but it’s residual smell had just become part of life.
When her eyes moved up from the carnage to the monster she found something much worse.
The monster looked exactly like her.
Asha fell to her paws as her screams were choked out by sheer panic. She yearned to run, her body all but performed the action for her, but she couldn’t find the strength.
The monster never looked up form it’s meal. With every rip, every slurp, Asha felt her tears intensify. Whatever Mwata had been to her, she hadn’t deserved that. She was her mother! Shouldn’t that cause her to feel more than this? All of her dreams, her hopes of having a true family was lost with Mwata.
And yet..
If she was honest with herself, the horror in her heart wasn’t over Mwata’s demise, but over fear of her own. What would this creature do to her once it had it’s fill?
“Hungry.”
The harsh word garnered Asha’s undivided attention. She snapped her head up, forcing herself to focus in the dimly lit area on the creature as it slothed it’s way closer. It knocked the remains of Mwata’s head away as easily as a stone, and Asha noticed that her brain was gone.
“Mother. Hungry.”
Asha shrank back when the monster was nearly upon her. In the brighter light she could see that while they may have looked like twins in their markings, the physicality of it was lost. This lioness, if she could even be called that, was so thin the bones of her hips could be outlined through her fur. Her soulless eyes were nearly unseeing, as she seemed to have trouble focusing in on Asha. In fact, the longer she sat frozen, the longer the creature seemed to search. Surely after spending so much time in this room of blood and decay her sense of smell was lost. She lumbered, her steps slow and dragging, as if her legs were too heavy to bother picking up.
She moaned and bits of furred flesh slid free from her fangs.
Asha felt herself gagging, which brought the monster’s attention to her. “Yo-you stay away from me! Don’t touch me!” Finding her paws amidst her fear, the young lioness scrambled to stand and run into the passageway. “You’re still hungry?! You just ATE mother! My mother! YOUR mother! How could you?”
Remorse passed over the monster’s face, and it’s lumbering head looked down at its paws, then slowly rotated around the room. “Too slow. Forgot me. Hungry. Too hungry.” Her eyes found Asha in the light of the fireflies and she moved forward once more.
“Don’t come any closer! Stay right there.”
The monster stopped, listening to the order as if it came second nature to her. Asha’s mind was in an uproar. Her mother had forgotten about her? Then that meant that...Mwata was feeding this...this thing all this time...but why? And what? She had known her mother was darker than most, but this was…wrong.
And as horrific as it was, Mwata’s death was completely justified.
“You’re...not going to eat me, are you?”
She shook her head. “No.”
No, why would she? She was full, after all, Asha thought sardonically. After taking another look at her, Asha noticed the length of rope pulled to it’s very edge. The creature was as close as she could get, and still, there was a curious air about her frightening countenance. An innocence in the killer.
There were too many questions and not enough answers. Why would her mother keep one daughter with her, and another on a leash? Why would Mwata preach about respecting the afterlife while creating the living dead so close to their own home?
“Do you know why she did this? Why she kept you here?”
That seemed to take the creature aback. It took it’s time working out the details before speaking. “Revenge. Mwata Queen. Lost Kingdom. Sister took. Exile. Gods gave her us. We good. You good for ritual. Blessing. Me good for eating sister. Not you sister. Other. Her sister.”
So her mother had been a Queen? Of all the…Asha shook her head. Her mother had tortured and abused one child in the ones of using her as a tool. It explained the secrecy, but little else. They had a good enough living for two, even three, lionesses. Her mother had been feared, but respected for her craft. Had revenge twisted her so much?
“I have one more question; why did she need you to eat her? Wouldn’t killing her outright have been alright?”
“Gods would mad. No good. You help spirits, bless Mwata. Mwata use big power spirits-” She furrowed her brow, her body leaning to the side while her paws slid on the blood coating the ground. “-she use...fix it. Gods no mad.”
“I would have blessed her...then she would have had enough spiritual clout to excuse your actions against the Gods?”
The monster nodded slowly. With her energy spent, the other lioness tracked herself back to the middle of the room, where she lay atop a mound of rotting flesh. Over time that which had separated the pieces had fused together in a congenial mass of oozing, squelching filth. Evidently she was tired, as she seemed content enough to close her eyes.
The horror sank into her bones. This creature had been conditioned to eat the flesh of her own kind, just so that she wouldn’t hesitate at the final moment. That much was clear and yet it still seemed like a far away dream to Asha. As if such cruelty couldn’t truly exist.
“Wait, you can’t-” Asha stepped further into the room, then seemed to take a pause. If she left the thing here it would die out on it’s own and no one would know about her mother’s derangement. She could still practice and continue to move up in the community. On the other paw she couldn’t just leave her here. No matter what she had done, what she had been forced to consume, this was her sister. A daughter of Mwata, the same as her.
A sister.
Her family.
She had to make things right.
“Do you...want to come with me? Do you want to be free?”
Opening her eyes, the monster turned towards the sounds. Confusion marred her features. “Free?”
“Yes. Do you know what that means?”
“...No.”
“Then I’ll show you.” Asha crossed the space separating them, and moved closer to the stalagmite holding her sister down. She carefully undid the knots her mother had placed, cutting through the ones she couldn’t quite undo, and after a long struggle the monster was set free. “And now, you’re coming with me.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what you do with freedom. You leave. And you’ll need a name...I’ll call you Daitya.” A truly monstrous name for a truly monstrous creature.
Asha left the room and went into the passageway, waiting patiently as the monster picked her way through after her. Never in her life had she walked this far, so the sensation was one of both curiosity and outright fear. Her emaciated form was hunched forward, sliding across the slick stone like a snake.
When they reached the mouth of the cave, Asha moved forward as was natural, but Daitya hesitated. The creature saw the natural light coming into the cave, and feared its power. It’s wrath. Sidestepping the beams, she moved to look outside and when the light touched her eyes, she screamed.
And thus began the sisters’ journey into building a ‘family’.
Notes for their futures -Asha has no plans of murdering for her sister’s food, and yet, Daitya still has a craving for flesh. Kind of a hard habit to break when it’s all you’ve known. Asha’s solution is to try and break her sister from the habit by introducing her to a healthier diet, as well as slipping her ‘treats’. That is to say, Asha is a Shaman of the Dead. She helps to send the spirits of deceased lions into the afterlife, and is in charge of disposing the ‘remains’. Most of the body will be taken care of in the ritual, but the brains will be extracted for Daitya to consume. -Daitya herself will struggle to assimilate to this new lifestyle, and will have many ‘accidents’ along the way. What’s a few missing lions between friends?
For years an elderly lioness by the name of Mwata lived a double life. A twisted life.
She resided near the mouth of a underground cave system, and kept many of her ‘projects’ underground. When the Gods saw fit to give her cubs, often times she would return their gift in whatever way she could. Drowning, asphyxiation, ritualistic sacrifice, etc. Just when she thought herself past the fertile years, she became pregnant once more. This time, she gave birth to twin girls, and there in hatched her evil scheme.
One daughter for life, and one for death.
Mwata kept Asha topside with her. Since she was a known shaman and spirit healer, it stood to reason that she would need an ‘heir’. Throughout the entirety of her life Asha had no idea that she had a sister, much less a twin. All she knew was that she needed to please her mother and to follow in her pawsteps. Every morning she would wake up early and go about her routine as to not anger Mwata. As her only known family, Mwata was cherished by the cub. She yearned for her mother’s smiles, rare as they may be. Instead of the traditional love that most families are so freely based upon, Asha found her own life to be ‘different’. The harder she worked to communicate with the spirits and to keep herself ‘pure’ in Mwata’s eyes the closer their connection became. There was an innate curiosity about the young female that drove her mother mad. Asha wished to learn more about the families that visited her, about the easy love they displayed with one another, but Mwata shunned the practice. Their kind had to sacrifice to live ‘pure’ in the eyes of the spirits. And so, all Asha could hope for was that in the next life, should the Gods see her actions as just and righteous, that she would have that which she secretly cherished most of all; a family.
As the years progressed, Asha began to accept that would lead a mostly solitary life as her future position would require. Isolated from all but Mwata, Asha found herself immersed in spiritual studies. Yet the blossoming hope and desire for familial love kept her dedicated to Mwata. The connection of blood was a strong, and powerful draw to spirits, so it was only right that Asha remain so close to her mother. At least, this was the reasoning behind her connection. She hoped for a bond that would never be, and was instead rewarded with only more isolation and grief.
So it was that even when Mwata forbade Asha from entering the caves the normally curious lioness listened. She could go into the mouth, since it was their only shelter, but that was it. She spoke of a monster in the caves; one that would eat the bones of any girl foolish enough to wander closer.
Many a day and night, Asha would wait for her mother to return. As the years progressed she saw her mother less, and became the voice of their daily rituals. It was now Asha who blessed ailing children, who called on ancestors to heal their descendents, and whom prayed upon the bones of the deceased for good fortune. When Mwata would show herself she was often tore bloody, with scratches and bruising so severe the shaman needed many days to heal. Asha would beg her for answers, but her mother would always snap at her for being insolent. It was enough to keep her from asking questions...for a time. Although she had much to distract her, the young female always found herself drawn to those caves. It was as if a voice were calling out to her…
....and then the screaming started.
One morning, just as Asha was laying down for her daily rest, a piercing wail carried from within the caves. This was not the first she had heard, and usually the noise would die down after a while. When the wail became a contorted mix of her mother’s cries of help accompanied by a monstrous roar Asha jumped into action. Whatever her mother had been doing to appease the monster was no longer working.
It was up to her.
Asha ran through the stone tunnels. At first she had worried about becoming lost, but to her surprise the way was lit with a steady stream of fireflies, caught in tiny traps. The sight was as beautiful as it was eerie, but Asha had little time to dissect its meaning. She raced, running as fast as her aching paws would allow her to. The voices crashed upon the stone like waves, echoing in her eyes to the point of pain, until all at once, they stopped.
It wasn’t long before Asha found out the reason why.
Inside of a small cavern, tied by it’s neck to a stalagmite, was the monster. Asha couldn’t do anything other than to scream when she saw what dripped from his maw. Mwata lay in pieces on the floor and the left side of her jaw oozed onto the monster’s paws. Bits of flesh sloughed off the flesh, plopping onto the stone with a sickening squish that sent Asha’s stomach into flips.
How had she never noticed the smell? From inside the cavern it was a grotesque scent, one that wreaked of the death and decay scattered about the space. She could only assume it was a direct result of living so close to it, all this time. The worst of it she had been shielded from, but it’s residual smell had just become part of life.
When her eyes moved up from the carnage to the monster she found something much worse.
The monster looked exactly like her.
Asha fell to her paws as her screams were choked out by sheer panic. She yearned to run, her body all but performed the action for her, but she couldn’t find the strength.
The monster never looked up form it’s meal. With every rip, every slurp, Asha felt her tears intensify. Whatever Mwata had been to her, she hadn’t deserved that. She was her mother! Shouldn’t that cause her to feel more than this? All of her dreams, her hopes of having a true family was lost with Mwata.
And yet..
If she was honest with herself, the horror in her heart wasn’t over Mwata’s demise, but over fear of her own. What would this creature do to her once it had it’s fill?
“Hungry.”
The harsh word garnered Asha’s undivided attention. She snapped her head up, forcing herself to focus in the dimly lit area on the creature as it slothed it’s way closer. It knocked the remains of Mwata’s head away as easily as a stone, and Asha noticed that her brain was gone.
“Mother. Hungry.”
Asha shrank back when the monster was nearly upon her. In the brighter light she could see that while they may have looked like twins in their markings, the physicality of it was lost. This lioness, if she could even be called that, was so thin the bones of her hips could be outlined through her fur. Her soulless eyes were nearly unseeing, as she seemed to have trouble focusing in on Asha. In fact, the longer she sat frozen, the longer the creature seemed to search. Surely after spending so much time in this room of blood and decay her sense of smell was lost. She lumbered, her steps slow and dragging, as if her legs were too heavy to bother picking up.
She moaned and bits of furred flesh slid free from her fangs.
Asha felt herself gagging, which brought the monster’s attention to her. “Yo-you stay away from me! Don’t touch me!” Finding her paws amidst her fear, the young lioness scrambled to stand and run into the passageway. “You’re still hungry?! You just ATE mother! My mother! YOUR mother! How could you?”
Remorse passed over the monster’s face, and it’s lumbering head looked down at its paws, then slowly rotated around the room. “Too slow. Forgot me. Hungry. Too hungry.” Her eyes found Asha in the light of the fireflies and she moved forward once more.
“Don’t come any closer! Stay right there.”
The monster stopped, listening to the order as if it came second nature to her. Asha’s mind was in an uproar. Her mother had forgotten about her? Then that meant that...Mwata was feeding this...this thing all this time...but why? And what? She had known her mother was darker than most, but this was…wrong.
And as horrific as it was, Mwata’s death was completely justified.
“You’re...not going to eat me, are you?”
She shook her head. “No.”
No, why would she? She was full, after all, Asha thought sardonically. After taking another look at her, Asha noticed the length of rope pulled to it’s very edge. The creature was as close as she could get, and still, there was a curious air about her frightening countenance. An innocence in the killer.
There were too many questions and not enough answers. Why would her mother keep one daughter with her, and another on a leash? Why would Mwata preach about respecting the afterlife while creating the living dead so close to their own home?
“Do you know why she did this? Why she kept you here?”
That seemed to take the creature aback. It took it’s time working out the details before speaking. “Revenge. Mwata Queen. Lost Kingdom. Sister took. Exile. Gods gave her us. We good. You good for ritual. Blessing. Me good for eating sister. Not you sister. Other. Her sister.”
So her mother had been a Queen? Of all the…Asha shook her head. Her mother had tortured and abused one child in the ones of using her as a tool. It explained the secrecy, but little else. They had a good enough living for two, even three, lionesses. Her mother had been feared, but respected for her craft. Had revenge twisted her so much?
“I have one more question; why did she need you to eat her? Wouldn’t killing her outright have been alright?”
“Gods would mad. No good. You help spirits, bless Mwata. Mwata use big power spirits-” She furrowed her brow, her body leaning to the side while her paws slid on the blood coating the ground. “-she use...fix it. Gods no mad.”
“I would have blessed her...then she would have had enough spiritual clout to excuse your actions against the Gods?”
The monster nodded slowly. With her energy spent, the other lioness tracked herself back to the middle of the room, where she lay atop a mound of rotting flesh. Over time that which had separated the pieces had fused together in a congenial mass of oozing, squelching filth. Evidently she was tired, as she seemed content enough to close her eyes.
The horror sank into her bones. This creature had been conditioned to eat the flesh of her own kind, just so that she wouldn’t hesitate at the final moment. That much was clear and yet it still seemed like a far away dream to Asha. As if such cruelty couldn’t truly exist.
“Wait, you can’t-” Asha stepped further into the room, then seemed to take a pause. If she left the thing here it would die out on it’s own and no one would know about her mother’s derangement. She could still practice and continue to move up in the community. On the other paw she couldn’t just leave her here. No matter what she had done, what she had been forced to consume, this was her sister. A daughter of Mwata, the same as her.
A sister.
Her family.
She had to make things right.
“Do you...want to come with me? Do you want to be free?”
Opening her eyes, the monster turned towards the sounds. Confusion marred her features. “Free?”
“Yes. Do you know what that means?”
“...No.”
“Then I’ll show you.” Asha crossed the space separating them, and moved closer to the stalagmite holding her sister down. She carefully undid the knots her mother had placed, cutting through the ones she couldn’t quite undo, and after a long struggle the monster was set free. “And now, you’re coming with me.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what you do with freedom. You leave. And you’ll need a name...I’ll call you Daitya.” A truly monstrous name for a truly monstrous creature.
Asha left the room and went into the passageway, waiting patiently as the monster picked her way through after her. Never in her life had she walked this far, so the sensation was one of both curiosity and outright fear. Her emaciated form was hunched forward, sliding across the slick stone like a snake.
When they reached the mouth of the cave, Asha moved forward as was natural, but Daitya hesitated. The creature saw the natural light coming into the cave, and feared its power. It’s wrath. Sidestepping the beams, she moved to look outside and when the light touched her eyes, she screamed.
And thus began the sisters’ journey into building a ‘family’.
Notes for their futures -Asha has no plans of murdering for her sister’s food, and yet, Daitya still has a craving for flesh. Kind of a hard habit to break when it’s all you’ve known. Asha’s solution is to try and break her sister from the habit by introducing her to a healthier diet, as well as slipping her ‘treats’. That is to say, Asha is a Shaman of the Dead. She helps to send the spirits of deceased lions into the afterlife, and is in charge of disposing the ‘remains’. Most of the body will be taken care of in the ritual, but the brains will be extracted for Daitya to consume. -Daitya herself will struggle to assimilate to this new lifestyle, and will have many ‘accidents’ along the way. What’s a few missing lions between friends?
Winners!
Thank you, everyone, for the effort that went into these awesome entries. emotion_bigheart
