 The portal throws you out violently and you stumble forward. You snort and glare back at it like it were a person who disrespected you. It closes without a care. Holding your head high, you turn and smack right into a tree. You are sent back on your behind and rub your face. You shake your head and realise only your pride has been bruised. You're sitting in the smallest of clearings, three feet in diameter at the most and surrounded by trees. The trees are enormous, some are even larger than the clearing you're in. Their trunks are black with silver veins and their leaves are deep red, purple and dark blue. You furrow your brow and stand. As you stretch your back, the scratching of wings against the wind catches your ears. You turn to see an owl circling above you. He lets out a long whoot that seems to end with a hiss before he dives down. He catches your sleeve as you shield your face and tugs at it, scratching at you with his mighty talons. Feathers fly as you try to ward him off and run at the same time. Seemingly satisfied, he jumps to a low, twisted branch and gazes at you. He puffs out his black and white feathered chest and fixes his glowing red eyes on your soul. Cobwebs adorn him like a fine cloak and a rumbling whoot thrums from his throat. His sharp, predatory talons (with which he has excellent aim) squeeze the branch beneath him. You watch the tree shake, threatening to break and unable to support his weight. You return your eyes on the owl's eyes and he seems to reach into you. Without warning, he takes to the wing, his perch breaking and falling to the ground. Compelled by some unknown desire, you follow him. He takes you winding through the large trunks of the black trees and you only take pause to find where he is. He stops and waits for you every now and again, never allowing you to get close enough. Mist begins to encroach upon the area like a woollen blanket and you can see lightning flickering in the breaks of the canopy. A bellowing growl of thunder seems to have qued your entrance. You step out from the forest and now stand on a cliff edge. The jutting rock stands above a canyon about ten feet down. You could easily slide down at the end of the cliff but decide to peer out at the landscape. You stand at the very edge of the rocky outcrop when the owl swoops down. He cuffs your ear and swoops away. You have brought your hand to you ear, everything's intact, but you feel a few drops of warm liquid. You glare up at the owl as he swoops from side to side and finally vanishes into the mist at one extremity of the gorge. You stare hard into the fog, seeing shadows stir within it, and something bursts out of cloud. It looks like a feline with leathern wings. The creature scurries down the wide path below like it has gone absolutely mad. You can see it panting and looking back frantically. This makes your eyes wander back to the fog. You watch another shadow burst from the cloud and your eyes widen in horror. The black creature with its bright green points is a blinding streak moving at a frighteningly fast pace. It races along the earth thrashing it with its forepaws and beating it to all Hell with its hind hooves. The spikes that protrude from its shoulders gleam menacingly in the dim light of the clouded sky. It seems to be gaining momentum as though its current speed was not enough, never enough. You watch it inch closer and closer to the feline being and when the pass adjacent to your perch you recognize one. The larger creature now circling the smaller one is a Naavainemar, much like Lih Reaf. He, however, is not playing around. He snaps and headbutts the other creature until he finally pins it down. Without thinking, you rush down the slope to your right and run as fast your legs can carry you towards the two.  The Naa is holding his sharp, golden claws to the feline's throat as it paws nervously at the air. You see it panic as the stallion presses his paw closer to the creature's neck. You notice his tail ends in a small hand grappling at the cat's tail then it's hind leg. Even his threateningly sharp ornaments do not throw you away and you rush over, hollering and screaming at the Naa. He momentarily looks up and it's all the time the feline needs to push his loosened paw away from its throat. You watch the cat run and leap into the air before he is gone. The Naa fixes his furious golden eyes on you, head lowered, snorting and slowy advancing toward you. Your eyes are wide despite your subconcious shrieking to close them and hope it's all a dream. You begin to slowy back away as he inches closer but the second your first footfall hits the earth, he pounces. Something darts infront of you and diverts the Naa's attention. "T'her," snarls a much too familiar voice. Clad in her leather outfit, the feline anthro is crouched a little to your left infront of the Naa. She has one leg extended, fingertips to the ground, hair tied back in a tight, high pony tail. She's waiting for him to move, their eyes are locked, connected. He tries to get around her, to you, with an insane determination. He weaves and twists and still she keeps dead infront of him. He snorts and she replies with the same sound. He seems to cool down, raising his head and standing tall. Lady Reaper composes herself as well wiping dust from the front of her leather pants. This brief moment, he takes to leap at you. The cat-morph just manages to slide her hand on his muzzle and he stops dead. She turns his head toward her and breathes on his nostrils. He flares them and returns the gestures. He circles her, his back to you and lowers his head over her shoulder. You can see her in a perfect profile view as she rests her hands gently on his cheek and nose. She purrs deeply and rubs her cheek against his. It doesn't strike you as odd that Lady Reaper would get along so fine with something so very vehemently vicious. With a flick of his tail-hand, he trots away into the mist. Lady Reaper watches him leave and falls to the ground in exasperation when he's out of sight. You step closer to see if she's alright and she looks at you sharply. "Are you absolutely mad?" She exclaims and jumps up. "What in all the Rift were you thinking!" She growls and then something dawns on her. She takes a deep breath bringing her hand to her forehead and then, after a moment, she looks at you. "Did the Valnor not warn you?" You raise an eyebrow at this question and she shakes her head. "The owl thing, a Valnor, big, black beastie of a bird." She holds out her arms to exaggerate his size. You nod and tell her how an owl led you here. At first her mouth gapes as she fumbles for words and the fury swells inside her widening eyes. Lady Reaper stomps off and you follow. You can here sqawking and hissing as you come to a large tree all by itself. The great owl is swooping down on the feline you saw early. The cat-morph swats him away and with a roar-like whoot it vanishes. She holds the checker-patterned cat in her arms and he smiles triumphantly. She looks at you. "This is Azrael, a gremlin cat." She dangles a strand of hair from her ponytail for him to paw at. "He's got a nasty habit of disturbing everyone and always picks fights with those he should not mess with." She glares down at Azrael who grins toothily, not ashamed at all. He squirms and darts away from the two of you. Crossing her arms, Lady Reaper leads you away from the canyon. "T'her is the Naa's nickname. His full name is Xöliten T'her, tranlating to Chaotic Frenzy, for that's what he is: A creature of boundless and savage energy. He has to work it off somehow, it's probably why he tolerates Azrael." You recount to her the near death experience of the Gremlin Cat, she laughs. "He does it deliberately, the two of them. That explains why T'her turned on you, figured you were faster and more endurant than Azrael since you interrupted." She smiles and looks back into the mist. A shadow breaks through and the large form of T'her is present. He stands still and eyes Lady Reaper who stares right back. Without warning, the cat-morph darts for a large tree. You watch the white and black figure become a blur as she ascends the tree to the very tip of its highest branch. The branch snaps and she soars through the air. You blink in amazement as she lands cleanly a few feet away and jump back when T'her leaps in the air after her. You hear the drum-like fury of his footfalls slowly disappear as he chases the feline deep into the mist.
Shadow Entrance Realm Lady Reaper Background courtesy of Myrror of Lanse'shri. |
