Post by seriouspudding on Oct 6, 2009 13:52:31 GMT -5
Okay....this goes into the story way too quickly......(:C) but otherwise, enjoy! ^^
The sunrise mystery
sunrise. The most important cat in the world. The cat that walks in dreams and whispers in your ear through the wind. He held many armies and controlled a vast amount of land. He was told in great stories and myths even though he lives to this day.
But there is one thing wrong..........
where is he?
*******
Serrak yawned and stretched out of his bed.
Another lousy day, he told himself with a snarl.
He stumbled upwards and peeked out of his den.
Nothing new today.
He then walked over to the feeding bowl and finished off a piece of mackerel.
Sunrise is still missing. He thought worriedly. What will happen to us lowly cats now he's gone?
He drank up some fresh water from a puddle and then made his way to Jackie's den.
'Hey, Jackie!' he called out.
A russet coloured she-cat popped out of from underneath a pile of tyres.
'Yeah?' she answered.
'.....let's go hunting again.' maybe this was his time to own up.
'okay.' she mewed and skidded down the rubble of black rubber and debris.
'Let’s go over to the gates today.' he told her.
She acknowledged him and ran for the metal bars that were dotted ahead.
She stopped suddenly and lifted up her nose.
She drooled at the fact that mouse was around there somewhere
Serrak came up behind her walking calmly up to a post.
He leapt on top of it and positioned himself.
'It’s my turn for lookout.' he hissed under his breath.
Jackie nodded cautiously and silently crept around.
He watched her with a bored expression and a thousand thoughts floating in his head.
Do I ask now? He thought. Or do I ask later? Do I make a move? Or should I not?
He perched, confused on the end of the post and clumsily fell off.
Dust poured everywhere around him and he struggled up with slight effort.
He grunted and looked up.
His heart skipped a beat.
His eyes turned into paper-thin slits.
He scrambled up to get a better view and made sure he was correct.
............he looked out at the forming shapes.
He was correct! He had to get himself and Jackie out of there at once!
'Jackie!!!' he mewled.
She looked up at him with a mouse dangling from her jaws and slowly crept up to him.
He searched their surroundings with peril.
They’re gone! He thought, shocked. They’re gone! We have to be careful! Very careful! Very, very careful!
'Quickly!!!' he hissed as Jackie made slow progress towards him.
It was surprisingly quiet. No, wait-- too quiet. Suspiciously quiet.
He clenched his eyes together and opened them again.
What he saw was not imagination.
A huge figure loomed above the unsuspecting small Jackie.
A stone was in Serrak's throat, as he could not warn her. His legs would not move and his arms would not lean.
His teeth grinded together as the creature almost grasped her.
Suddenly-acselaration hit him and he flew into action. 'Jackie!!!!!' he shouted and collided into the russet aqua-eyed female.
She meowed in surprise and dropped her mouse, flying backwards with a startled expression.
Serrak fell over and looked up swiftly at the growling creature.
It was a mascaroque.
A cat-like creature with a jester's mask and an evil, cold grin on its face. It was triple his size-about two times bigger than a human.
Its eerie mask-eyes seemed to smile at him with a dangerous glint.
Serrak jumped up and escaped after Jackie.
He looked back only to find it staring at him with the same expression Mascaroques always have.
He fell headfirst into a ditch and his fur mangled up from the dust.
He brushed himself off and searched for Jackie.
He found her hiding with a wide look on her face. Her eyes were fully open with fear and her fur stuck up like knives.
'Jackie...' he meowed silently.
Any cat would be scared with their first look at a cunning mascaroque and even fully grown tough cats would run away like kittens.
Jackie is so brave. He told himself. She waited for me to come past here.
This place is our secret den and Jackie was very open to danger by being here. She must have only come here for me.
'Thank you.' he said politely to the startled she-cat.
She nodded slowly, still shaking and staring at the same wall.
Serrak sat down beside her, mewing comfortably.
He then remembered the face of the mascaroque and shivered.
'Will it....come back?' she asked.
Serrak shook his head. 'no.' he answered soothingly.
Jackie sighed with relief and got up.
'we......we should go back home.' she told him, with an unnerving glance at the direction of the mascaroque.
'Sure.' he grunted as he staggered up and lightly followed her to the underground exit.
The dirt crumbled as she entered first and got up his nose, which made him sputter a little.
'Sorry about that!' she called over her shoulder. 'Come on, you never know when it's going to search around here!'
He nodded gently, even though he knew she couldn't turn around and see him, and crawled through the murky soil.
It was rather cramped- nothing like when they were kits, the walls seemed to press against his ragged fur and the space felt confined.
He was relieved when he saw the morning sunshine and stretched his paws far, making sure he didn't get a cramp.
Jackie was pretty far in front of him by then, but he galloped after her with eagerness to get back to his den.
He raced past her and saw the twinkle in her eyes.
It was a mixture of fear and interest- she probably wanted to know more about the terrifying creature, but was too afraid to ask.
He glanced at her with sympathy, keeping at the same pace as her, making sure she knew that she wasn't alone.
Finally, their home came in to sight and they parted to stroll steadily up to their own dens.
He turned his head to look back and saw terror flash across her eyes, but she shook it away to climb the tyres.
A few moments later, he saw her tail stream behind her, as if waving goodbye to him.
He turned back and squeezed into the gap that was the hole he dug himself.
Inside, there was a whole stash of human objects and tools that he had found in places around the dump site.
A rug where he would sleep, a feeding bowl where he would eat, and he found some scraps of cat toys that amused him.
He also had a window-like hole at the side of his makeshift human house.
This was his prized home, the place of which he had been decorating and creating for years.
He felt proud of his work and sometimes stood in front of the den to admire everything, from his dirt mound roof, to his neatly flattened flooring.
He also had an almost busted T.V., he could view the shows, but they were very fuzzy.
Not that he needed a T.V. anyway.
Mixed thoughts swam around his head, daring him to suppress a puzzled look.
He had everything he had wanted. Why was he so unhappy?
Maybe it was the fact that sunrise was missing and could possibly be dead.
The thought of that made him shiver.
Nothing would be worse than sunrise being dead.
He was the idol for all cats, big or small.
He even kept the mascaroques at bay.
But now that he was gone...........
Serrak jolted back to the world, realising that it was time to eat.
He strolled up to the feeding bowl and eyed a measly piece of salmon.
He sighed, but gobbled it all up, he WAS really hungry anyway.
'I wish I had more food'...... he whispered tentatively.
But just wishing wouldn't help him. He already knew that.
So, he struggled up to his rug and fell down onto it.
The last thing he saw as he dozed off was a fly desperately trying to get free from a tiny crack.
Serrak was dreaming. He dreamt of a dark blue sky filled with the ashes of unexplained remorse.
He knew something was wrong, but couldn't move, as his gaze was fixed on the stars dotting the velvet covering that was the sky.
His eyes turned bright and his legs quivered with something trying to break free.
He looked left and right, as noise emanated from no-where.
Faint rustles disturbed his thoughts; twitching leaves distracted him from trying to escape.
Something was terribly wrong, but he could do nothing.
A sudden voice yelled his name.
Serrak! It seemed to call. A million voices shouted his name and his breath became shallow. He fainted into a vivid swirl of orange and red, and then all was black.-
he gasped as he woke, a ghastly smell reaching his nose.
He swiftly shot up with the presence of something evil.
His heart skipped a beat as he searched around for a sign of anything with life.
He only saw the fly, still trying to get free and he sighed with relief.
He padded up to sit silently and gently pulled it out.
But as it got free, bits of the wall crumbled and gradually huge chunks were looming down, aiming at him, but failing to attack him.
He dodged them all, with a panic of knowing what would come next.
His thoughts became true as a massive face appeared from behind the wall, its eyes glinting with menace and it's painted on smirk staring madly at him.
A mascaroque was waiting for the wall to collapse right in front of the frightened serrak.
It grinned even more and a slow paw lifted in the air, creating a silent tension.
Serrak slowly backed away, twisting his head sideways as if to tell himself he was still dreaming.
But he could take no chances as the paw slammed down next to him, making him jump from the quake that followed.
His fur stuck up, and his face wide with shock, he galloped out of the way and crashed outside, scattering stray bits of soil onto the concrete ground.
He dashed onwards, heading for Jackie’s den, and- with a mighty leap- he crawled into the hole, jumping downwards onto a soft patch of hay.
He looked around, trying to figure out which hole to squeeze through.
He took the chance of going left, scurrying impatiently up to another hole.
He entered and in dismay, he had taken a wrong turn.
He backed up quickly, zooming forwards to the next hole.
Luckily, Jackie was fiddling with her cat toys in the cramped up space he bombarded into.
She jerked up and turned to face him with a puzzled expression.
'A mascaroque!' he planted in distress.
Jackie knew what he meant straight away and followed him outside into the rising sun.
Their pelts glistened with gold colours as the sun dyed them red, then orange, then brown.
They fled past the waste that surrounded them, jumping through a fence that carried on into a messy field.
Once they could see the dump site no more, they stopped to catch their breath, their fur ragged and torn, their breath stinking of worry.
Serrak wobbled on his legs and almost fell over with exhaustion, so Jackie heaved him up to the right level and glanced at him with a fearful daze.
He, too, was scared at what might have happened to their beloved homes while they were running.
Jackie gulped down what seemed like a question, her face smeared with tints of brown from the mud.
Serrak was also muddy, but he had fallen into a puddle, so his fur hung down like a weight.
The two waited in a deserted barn with devastation clinging to their eyes, not letting go.
Swirls of rage and fear were also hanging like old cobwebs in the roofs of the barn and the whole world seemed sad for them.
They had possibly lost their home and all that was there for them.
Serrak glanced warmly at Jackie.
But not each other.
A breeze suddenly knocked the cobwebs off and hope dazzled in front of them like the sun that was doing so, right at that moment.
Wincing their eyes to see, they could just about make out signs of future.
After a long wait in the barn, the sun slowly dried off serrak's pelt and they agreed to see what had happened to the dump site.
They skirted the grass with outstretched paws, skimming edges of mole hills with their fur.
Dashing as fast as light with tails streaming out behind them.
birds watching with interest as they skittered across their branches, squirrels and dogs alike shocked at the speed of the cats as they ran quicker and quicker.
The evolved form of the cat would impress many and even those who do not get impressed easily......
cats and humans had evolved all of those years, but the cat had been gifted by god, to have super-natural powers, like running so fast that the eye would only detect them as a blur.
A fade of colours.
Everything spinning, turning, halting around them with waves of background alert and keeping an eye on them with kindest glances.
Eventually their paws muttered a stop and a flash of white sun pressed against their squinting eyelids told them that they had stopped.
Nothing there looked any different and they couldn't help but suppress a small sigh between both of them, sharing it with their breaths.
But- they were out of luck as glinting eyes erupted from the ground beneath and tore their hope in two thin sheets of blank paper.
A mascaroque beamed at them with cold, mad eyes and targeted them with huge, sharp teeth.
Jackie startled up and stared, shivering at the beast.
It was ready to attack- when serrak jumped in the way before it got to her.
He growled in anger and his eyes turned bright.
Jackie watched, motionless, as serrak's voice turned deeper and he grew twice as large into a fluffy, maniac-eyed bear with a huge roar that bellowed out of him.
Claws as big as a rabbit, teeth as large as a rat, he beckoned the mascaroque over with a grunt of mockery.
The mascaroque was not impressed and raced up to him with terrifying speed.
Serrak got ready and both of them crashed into each other.
The surface of the floor blew away in the dust, with Jackie watching in horror.
Serrak bashed the Mascaroque's head and it roared in a mixture of anger and agony.
They both tussled around for a bit, giving Jackie some time to hide in a small gap between two rocks.
She watched on in awe at the two monstrous beings battling each other.
Debris flew in all directions, cries of rage following it.
Serrak’s feet were almost falling onto each other, so he had to escape soon.
But......
his bear side was stubborn, so he couldn't escape just yet; he had to at least KILL it first.
Serrak’s feet were just about giving way, when a sudden burst of energy flowed through him.
He stood up even bigger than before and bashed the Mascaroque's skull with a mighty paw.
A terrible cracking sound went around the whole dump site.
Jackie emerged again, shaking and peering all around.
The two of them had disappeared and everything was surprisingly quiet......
nothing seemed alive.....everything seemed dead.......no rustles, no sound.....
But behind her......a gigantic figure loomed over and breathed harshly, her fur pricking with intense fear.
she slowly turned her head to see what was waiting.......
slowly....slowly.............
eyes pinpointed, teeth bared, she stared up at what was peering down coldly at her with sharp eyes, almost as sharp as its teeth.
Serrak was holding up a dead mascaroque with joy of defeating it, he roared aloud to show who had won.
Jackie’s eyes turned into slits, her teeth still bared.
Serrak gave her a puzzled look, not knowing why she was being so hostile to him.
Does she not know who I am?! He thought in panic.
But Jackie knew all too well what the bear was......
She hissed in rage, bravely striking her claws out threateningly.
Serrak sighed, calming down to be in his other form, he went smaller and smaller, until eventually, he was but a cat again.
But Jackie was still angrily hissing as if she wanted to claw his throat out, and then gut him.
Serrak was very confused by her behaviour.
'I.....saved you.' he told her.
She shook her head.
'You saved yourself, MONSTER! I’d kill you if I could, but you'd turn into a beast again and attack me, won't you?!' she asked in a mad roar.
Serrak was hurt by her harsh words, his ears drooping.
'Die, evil creature! Die!!!' she spat, with her tail bristling outwards and her hackles raised.
She was trying to hold back the urge of ripping him to shreds, but managed to stay put.
'I hate you!!! Go away!!! Don’t hurt anything ever again! Monster!!!'
All of those words hit him like bricks smashing into a newly built card tower.
He believed that Jackie was a very gentle cat, always trusting the right cats, but now.........
he looked at her crazed face, eyes narrowed in an ugly twisting anger.
He knew that she was being unfair, but maybe he IS a monster.......
a sudden gust of soil told him Jackie was attacking and he dodged out of the way, before she could bite his throat.
She fell down with a disagreeing grunt and wobbled up again, drooling like she hadn't eaten in days, and had found some juicy prey.
And I’m the prey! He thought worriedly, turning left and right for a hiding place.
She screamed as she dashed forwards, her teeth readied to bite.
Serrak could find no-where to run, and he could not hurt his best friend.......so he had to face it.
He squinted, screwing up his eyes.
A hundred images flashed through his head, making him remember how much good friends they were.
'Serrak!'
He remembered her soft voice and sighed as he waited for the pain to strike him.
Then his eyes flew open again.
Jackie was no-where to be seen.
Scents of hidden past dangled in front of him like a mouse-toy waiting to be caught.
He stretched his paw out and looked at the barren waste-land.
Silhouettes of unspoken creatures dotted the mountain top and serrak believed that he was in the Temple Grounds Of No Being.
It was a place where cats go when their destiny was even too vague for god to know.
He was there for some reason and he thought that the reason was not a good one.
Swans fluttered in the dewy sky, a colourful wave welcoming them into the background of the picture.
He stared up at the wave and sighed, as it relaxed him.
It was pink, purple and green.
Fading shades of colours, like it was there for centuries beyond counting.
It was pointing north, giving him a direction for possible answers.
He was sure that he could smell the faint scent of sunrise........the cat that went missing two months ago.
Maybe this is where he went.
Delved into here, by mascaroques planning his death and the wind turning against him.
Serrak sighed with utter defeat. There’s as much chance of finding him here than in the real world.
But maybe this was what he had been taken here for........ To bring sunrise back.
He bent forward with a fierce determination.
Bring it on! He thought wildly. Throw anything you've got at me, I WILL find sunrise!
*******
his breathing was turning strongly sharp and his eyes dulled.
How long is it going to take to find sunrise?! He thought in dismay, searching around, even though he knew it was hopeless.
But the scent lingered on, beckoning him to keep moving forward.
Regret started to tumble down his mind, making him think how useless he was in finding the most important cat in the world.
He peered over lumps of recoiling dirt, it moved backwards as if it was hiding something. In fact, this whole WORLD was hiding something..........
something important...........
He heard a faint rustle and turned around as if sunrise would be standing right in front of him.
But- no, it was a Meer doe, her speckles glinting in the everlasting moonlight.
She looked at him with interested eyes, and galloped forward with ease.
As she ran, her form changed little by little.
Not long after, standing right next to him, smiling gently, her eyes closed in politeness, was a female cat.
His jaw dropped in shock.
So, there are others like me........he thought.
He was jealous of her other animal form, though. He was stuck with an enraged bear, while she had a graceful deer.
'So, it is you.' she said with an alien-like voice.
He was puzzled at what she meant.
'Follow me.' she told him, smiling.
'I will show you the path to what you seek.'
Serrak was confused, but maybe she knew where sunrise was.......just maybe.......
he shrugged and followed her up the winding path.......it was so dark. Shadows were giving off some light so he could see in the midnight air.
A dozen pictures flew into his head as it suddenly became lighter.
The swan he saw when he first came here was waiting in the clearing and around it, was a wolf, an eagle and a jaguar.
He looked around in awe, with the creature's eyes directly on him.
He felt nervous with all the glances and shuffled his feet.
The she-cat looked at him in sympathy.
She strode forwards and began speaking.
'Ember-' she faced the wolf.
'Sky-' she faced the swan.'
'Ice-' she faced the jaguar.
'and.......Sunrise.' she lastly faced the eagle.
'I, Pine, have found Serrak, the last of the spirits!'
Serrak’s eyes turned into slits.
Me?! He thought in shock. A spirit?
And didn't that she-cat say sunrise?
'You.....' she then faced him with the same gentle gaze. 'Are the spirit of rage.'
His thoughts turned numb and his voice was clogged up with disbelief.
The others looked at him reassuringly.
'so, are you sure he is the one?' asked Sky, pointedly searching him up and down.
'He must be.' answered Ember with a viscous snarl. He didn't seem nasty, just fiery with plenty of will-power.
Ice just nodded quietly.
Sunrise looked very happy to see serrak for some reason.
'Do you wonder why you turn into a bear?' pine asked him gently.
he nodded slowly, still taking everything in.
'well......we are the chosen to be the six great spirits of the world.' she explained.
' Sky is the spirit of Guidance.' she pointed to the swan who bowed.
'Ember is the spirit of Determination' she gestured at the over-exited wolf.
'Sunrise is the spirit of Wisdom.' she pointed again to the smiling eagle.
'Ice is the spirit of Strength.' Ice nodded politely, but her structure and claws looked dangerous to serrak, so he was very wary.
'and I am the spirit of Protection.' she told him, staring him deep in the eyes.
'As you can see, we can turn into cats, but these are not our true forms.'
serrak was shocked at the thought of that he was really a bear.
'there was a seventh spirit.....' she bowed her head in sorrow.
'Venom, the snake. He was......a little daring, but he got lost in the forest. We probably won't ever see him again. His spirit was Forgiveness.'
He saw her eyes glaze into a mess of sad shades.
'Why don't we find him?' he asked, confused.
All of the spirits looked at him in surprised awe.
'Are you crazy?!' Sky asked in a squawk. 'He doesn't deserve for us to save him, anyway!!!'
Serrak was getting angry with the swan's behaviour.
'He is a spirit.....' serrak started with a growling tone. '....just like you. He is also the spirit of forgiveness. You must forgive him for anything wrong he has done!'
Sky was speechless, so he turned his head away to stare at the bare stone rocks.
Pine understood what he was talking about.
'and I am the spirit of protection!' she told them all, brightening up.
'I will protect him!'
Ember jumped forward with teeth glowing.
'Let’s save him from that wretched forest!'
'we must change into our true forms.' she glanced at serrak.
'Do it on will.'
He looked at her gracefully close her eyes, and a flash of light pounded into his face. He saw her deer form stand before him, with an expecting look wiped across her eyes.
He jumped up and closed his eyes also.
Miraculously, he grew and grew, until he was the massive shape of a bear.
She went up to him and rubbed her fur against his flank.
She then beckoned him to follow her.
He dashed up to her, trying to keep his pace.
He saw Sky and Sunrise fly at full speed up above.
Ice and Ember were having a race; both of them were evenly matched.
He was surprised to be lagging behind, but he was trying his best to run as fast as he could go.
It was an amazing feeling, having the wind press up against you.
He felt like he was dreaming again, swirls of colours blurring beside him.
His thoughts flew out and he was happy running with all of the spirits. It felt right.
He suddenly came to a halt and an intimidating forest loomed ahead.
He gulped at the sight of it, it looked so evil.
He brought up his courage and stepped forwards, but he had been overtaken by Ember.
'Come back, Ember!!!' sky screeched.
Ember snarled and trudged back. 'You’re no fun!' he hissed at Sky.
Sky seemed pretty offended, but he wouldn't let Ember know that.
Instead, they all entered at the same time.
Serrak kept close to pine, thinking she would be easy prey, but she didn't look scared at all.
He sniffed for any scents and smelt something like a mascaroque, but different, somehow.
He walked onwards in the dullness, looking around for any danger.
Nothing was there.....like creatures were waiting in the shadows for them.
He heard a twig snap and he turned around, he straight away lunged for the creature.
He heard an angry, familiar hiss and saw his teeth around Ember's neck.
Serrak had never been so embarrassed.
He backed away saying sorry more than fifty-million times, but Ember didn't seem to care.
He sighed and thanked god for letting Ember be so care-free.
The other spirits, except for sunrise and pine, looked at him with unease.
He pretended nothing happened and strolled onwards next to pine.
She was sniffing leaves and branches for any clues of venom, but all proved unsuccessful.
He was starting to think he led them on a mad goose chase that they would never find him. He didn't even know what he looked like, or smelled like!
Serrak was going to give up, when pine stood eerily still, then ran off into a dense part of the forest.
He scrambled after her and found himself, surprisingly, in a clearing.
He scented her in the opposite direction he was looking, and followed her smell all the way up to a dark river, with big rocks here and there.
He searched his surroundings warily, and pinpointed the deer, struggling to get what looked like a rope, from between two rocks.
He straight away knew that she was trying to save venom.
He carefully placed his paws across the rocks, as the current below looked dangerous, and used them as stepping-stones.
He eventually reached them and came up beside pine to see fainted venom hanging limp, jammed in, and stuck between the cruel rocks.
Pine seemed determined to get him free, and struggled to even move him an inch out.
Serrak rolled his eyes and gently grasped the snake in his jaw, making sure not to bite too hard.
Pine looked worried, as if she feared that he would accidentally hurt him.
But, luckily enough, venom was not hurt as he came free.
Serrak heard growls behind him, and beckoned pine to follow him back to the others.
She nodded and ran with him past the stepping-stones, and up through to the forest again.
The first spirit he saw was sunrise, his eyes squinted with rage, and serrak turned to see what he was looking at.
A gasp of horror erupted from him.
It was one of the rarest monsters of all!!!
The masdoroque, a dog-like creature with a jester's mask attached.
It looked even more menacing and cold than its relative, the mascaroque.
But nonetheless, serrak faced up to it bravely, alongside his spirit companions.
The masdoroque sneered at them with a wide grin across its face, threatening them to make a move.
serrak blinked and recoiled, like it was going to attack any moment, but it kept still....
like it was waiting for them to get scared first......it's drool dangling down, and it's unblinking gaze through the mask........
They circled it, with patterns of aggression........
Its teeth, tempting to make a move.
The first to attack was Ember, with a snarl bellowing all around the forest.
The dog was quick to launch itself after him, the tiny wolf colliding with the massive masdoroque.
Serrak’s closed eyes opened again, after a brief moment of shock.
He was awed, his eyes widening again, at the bleeding masdoroque, and Ember on top, howling with victory.
Ice nodded with respect, and sky sighed with the thought of having to praise him.
Sunrise was smiling at him with a gratitude gleaming in the ocean depths of his eyes.
There was, for the first time ever, a shine of light penetrating the dark forest.
'It’s gone now and the forest is safe.' Pine said with a calm look on her face.
They all nodded and looked at the pathetic rope that was venom, dangling in the jaws of serrak.
He jolted up with exclamation, and dropped him onto the ground.
They all crowded around to see if venom would wake up, pawing him in the side every now and then.
A combination of fear and hope mustered pine's smell, making her seem very worried.
Serrak didn't know venom that well, but was trying his best to get him to wake up, by pulling his tail and kicking his jaw.
The others seemed offended by his attacking, but the truth was, he was just trying to help.
After a long wait, Ember got up and picked out a leaf.
He went to the lake, collected some water in it and strolled back with a serious face.
the others were haggard from the thought that he might not wake up, but were suddenly delighted again, when Ember poured the water over venom's face and he woke up, sputtering with the stale liquid being thrashed around.
Pine was the first to squeal with joy, as she prounced around with a mock dance.
Serrak felt relieved that they hadn't come here to find him dead, so he slumped down with utter exhaustion, his eyesight turning into a faint blue.
Gradually, his eyes closed and darkness had found him.
**********
'wake up!' he heard a flurry of muddled words swirling through his mind, beckoning him out of his sleep.
'Wake up!' he heard it again.
His eyes slowly opened with an insecure feeling, his fur standing on end.
He saw a huge ropey figure staring him in the face, its nostrils flaring and its eyes tiny slits.
'c'mon, wake up, you big furry lump of laziness!!!' it hissed mockingly.
Serrak felt somewhat offended and jolted up, baring his teeth at the thin creature.
'Calm down.' he heard a sweetly familiar voice and turned his head to see the graceful deer, pine, glancing worriedly at them two.
'It’s only venom, he means no harm.'
Serrak nodded half-heartedly, trying to tear his gaze away from the snake that was belching with laughter.
Pine gave him an unbelievably angry look and he stopped giggling, turning his head away, as if to appear innocent.
She then smiled as she faced serrak, trotting towards him.
'Thank you, you were a big help.' she nodded happily to him, showing respect.
He blinked.
'I’ve been meaning to ask you...' he started.
'Have you guys known each other before today?'
They turned to each other, each animal's gaze looking confused, yet they waited for one of them to speak up.
'Well.......' pine was the only one to answer.
'.....I, ember, ice and sky knew each other before.
We met sunrise and venom a few weeks ago. Apparently, sunrise had died being attacked by a mascaroque, and venom died being attacked by other feral cats.'
'A huge gang of them.' venom hastily remarked, trying to look stronger than he sounded.
Pine went on speaking, once she cast an impatient glance at venom.
'Ember died being hit by a huge truck.' ember snarled with satisfaction at venom, having a tougher way to die. Venom spat rudely at him, and once again, pine waited for them to calm down.
'ice died being eaten and savaged to death by a pack of hungry boars.' ice looked away with embarrassment
'sky died being burned alive by his owner.' sky's face turned to horror by the mention of it and he looked like he was going to barf.
''And I.......' she smiled reassuringly. '....died getting shot by a wild cat hunter.'
Serrak's jaw had dropped down and his mind was whirling with fear.
'I’m pretty sure your friend had killed you.' pine grimaced while telling him.
He stood as still as stone and his eyes became lifeless.
So it was true.....Jackie had really killed him.
Pine had a sympathetic aura surrounding her, and Serrak couldn't help but feel a little unstable.
So.......I can never go back down to the earth?' he asked with a shake of his tail.
'Well.....we're not necessarily dead, because we were saved by being transported over to this place.
Pine gestured the plants around her.
Serrak’s voice couldn't speak out, because of utter awe at what was happening.
Saved? He thought anxiously. By who?!
Pine flicked her head and turned around to face the exit.
'Come on, let's go.' she told them with a soothing voice.
They nodded and followed her slowly with delicate paws and feet.
Serrak’s eyes were fixed on her like she was a piece of juicy meat running away.
His feet pounded the earth as he gradually broke into a dash, sending dust flying in all directions.
He ran with ease past pine, glancing warmly back at her as he overtook her.
She laughed slightly and ran quicker to catch him.
He smirked, dodging her galloping hooves and tumbled over with a giggle, rolling smoothly down a jutting hill.
Ember sky and ice all sighed at the same time, sky's was more exaggerated.
But ember's face turned into a sly grin and he ran after the two happy spirits.
Ice shook her head and a small smile took over her mouth.
Sky was the only one to still wait at the top of the hill, while the others played around like children.
He searched around, watching the horizon in peace, his face turning orange and red.
The sun was setting and venom was a black dot on the next hill, his eyes slitting as he stared at them with longing.
He finally turned around and slithered off slowly back to their camp, with sky watching him.
********
the bright, glowing moon had risen up again with welcome and serrak giggled at the fact that ember was itching to howl at it.
Sky’s eyes rolled, not for the first time that day and pine shot him an angry look.
Serrak suddenly noticed how weird it was that he was so comfortable with all of them around him, especially a very unusual combination of a deer and a jaguar.
Sunrise’s warm and friendly gaze had rested on him again, making him very self-conscious, with an important cat- no, an important eagle actually bothering to look at him.
He felt rather special, but still shuffled out of sight in embarrassment.
'well then, everyone.' sky mumbled, being irritated at the silence.
'We’re all here.'
'........yeah
-sure
-right
-uh-huh
-yes.'
Everyone answered, but they were clearly focused on different things.
This made Sky even more irritated, so he sat down and waited for sleep.
Serrak didn't understand that bird-he was a good guy, but he was angered easily. He was also
probably the most mature one out of the bunch.
Serrak shrugged and leered at the moon.
It was shining brightly and many stars were out, maybe because there were no electric-powered lights hogging all the room. Twinkles and gleams filled up inside his eyes and the reflection was almost a huge clump of light bundled together, making his eyes almost seems white.
Suddenly, a huge yawn made his mouth gape higher than his nose, which reminded him what time it was.
he curled up comfortably, with one eye still on sunrise. Something was weird about him. He was the most important cat, yet he seemed to be the least important spirit.
********
serrak opened his eye a slit, and the first thing he saw was-
a. great. Big. Buttocks.
He leaped out of the way in time to dodge a huge fart from ember, who was trying to wake him up with a ghastly smell.
'I’m awake! I’m awake!' he yapped franticly, this time, his eyes were darting around in panic.
Ember sniffed viscously and padded off into ice's direction.
Serrak sighed in utter relief, but recovered quickly and made his way to a bunch of his so-called ''friends'', who were planning out an attack on the mascaroques.
'This-' sky pointed to a pebble.'-is us. This-' sky then pointed to a twig.'-is the mascaroque den. We need to go around the forest.' he pointed to a clump of leaves. 'The only way to get around there is to climb the cliff.' he showed them the rock that was waiting next to them. 'we need me to carry pine in cat form -since she is the lightest- up to there, ember, ice and serrak can climb up with their strength, and you can carry venom up there.' sky turned to sunrise, who nodded to the plan.
Venom and pine also nodded.
Serrak was waiting next to pine, but everyone only just noticed his arrival.
'Ah!-serrak, did you hear my plan?' sky asked him with a somewhat fiendish gleam in his eyes.
Serrak bolted up. 'Yes, of course, sky.' he nodded three times to get his point across.
Sky snorted and the tension built up as they both glared at each other for a long five seconds.
'G-guys don't fight! We need to carefully plan this entire out TOGETHER so we don't make any mistakes, right?' she grinned nervously which got the approval of both of the angry creatures.
Sky carried on in his bossy tone again. serrak couldn't be bothered to listen to him speak anymore, so he rested and spaced out, staring at the purple-blue shaded sky above
'HEY!' serrak, once again, bolted up and turned to face sky.’ this is important! Listen or you'll just be a burden we have to carry along with us!'
Serrak growled in anger. 'a burden, hey?!' he asked ungraciously.
'You call ME a burden, but you're just a pretty little swan, who likes to clean his pretty little feathers in the river every five minutes!'
Sky’s jaw dropped and his eyes darkened in rage.
'Oh really? Bears are so dumb, that they can't tell what a branch is, and what a kitten is!'
Serrak’s bear roar was so loud, that even ember and ice were startled when hearing it.
'SHUT UP!!! YOU HAVE NO PROOF!!!'
Sky grinned in triumph.
'Is that a branch or a kitten then?' sky pointed to the twig he used earlier.
Serrak was so angry, that he leapt at the swan and savaged him with brutal force.
Pine was stone still, in terror or awe, as they tussled together, blood spraying around them.
Sunrise’s eyes were as clear as crystals and he puffed out his chest threateningly.
'STOP.' he ordered in the most demanding voice serrak had ever heard.
They broke apart immediately, venom accidentally getting squished under serrak's paw.
sunrise eyed them both, with his eyes searching around for a glimpse of hostility, but the only angry thing he saw was the rope squirming violently under serrak's huge foot.
'good.' he turned around, deciding to take over the duty of arranging the ambush.
Sky’s eyes reflected his anger, torment and frustration as he watched sunrise talk the battle over with venom, who had given up on trying getting out from under serrak's foot.
'It’s not fair.' he whispered with a slight grimace.
He swished his head around to face serrak.
'If we were in cat form, you would be dead meat.' he told him dangerously.
Serrak signalled to him that he would not back down.
That proved it. Serrak’s first enemy in his gaggle of spirit-friends was sky, the one they all knew and trusted.
********
ember's rasping yawn was the loudest thing the spirits heard at that moment.
All was quiet.
Not a sound.
They all walked in single file with great tension cutting through the air.
It wasn't unreasonable to say that one of them might die- they were going into enemy territory where a great number of mascaroques were living.
True, they were skilled fighters with much power in their hands, but serrak had already worked out each one's strength.
(Smallest to largest)
serrak-pine-venom-sky-ember-sunrise-ice
he gulped as he knew that he was the weakest so far, which means he would have to rely on the others.
Serrak’s gaze fixated upon a huge mound of rock ahead of them, its looming figure reminding him exactly of mascaroques.
Then it occurred to him.
What were mascaroques doing here?
Sunrise grinned at him, clearly reading his thoughts.
Serrak was amazed by his spiritual power. Sunrise really must be a god after all.
'this is where mascaroques originally spawned.' he answered politely.
'We must destroy them and their ties to the original world before they cause mass destruction and kill us all.'
Serrak’s serious expression turned even more serious as he thought about how Jackie might be defending herself from those evil creatures.
'We’re here!!!'Ember howled exaggeratedly.
Serrak sighed in exhaustion and stared solemnly at a huge gaping hole in the cave.
A sudden glowing image came from behind him, and he leapt away in from it in surprise.
It was pine, turning into-no! It can't be! That form would be too hard to recreate!
But it was true, she smiled gently and the glowing stopped.
He stared in awe as he saw a young yet old (teenage) human standing before him.
She had long, curly, light brown hair and a fluffy long dress that made her seem all the more sweet.
Her smile had grown nicer, since humans actually had the muscles built into them that let them smile, and her hand had a blue bracelet wrapped around it.
'We must turn into humans-it may sound crazy, but humans have more ways of attacking, being able to use 'hands' rather than paws. But if you're in dire need of claws, then change back.' he was informed this, but had no idea if he was capable of making a feat of turning into a human.
Sky snorted and he also glowed into a white shape, he grew bigger and stood straighter than before.
He had medium length hair white hair, a white cloak, blue eyes and two fluffy white wings.
He looked like a- now what did those humans call it? Oh! That’s right, an angel!
Sky had a new vicious scowl; one that seemed to threaten all that looked at him.
Venom nodded, glowing also, and ice, sunrise and ember too.
Venom was a very feminine looking human though he was respectfully a male.
He had long green hair and a snake-skin outfit, very tight for better movements and prowling around.
He had a somewhat dangerous grin that made serrak well up with respect at his optimism.
Serrak was eager to see what sunrise looked like.
Sunrise was blond-haired and he surprisingly enough, didn't have any wings, though he looked very powerful with his army uniform, a green shade with a badge on it.
'Oh, this?' sunrise asked, confused. 'I got this badge when winning the great world war for the humans!'
A likely story! Serrak thought, knowing it was a lie, while sunrise smiled curelessly at him.
Ember whistled next to him, showing off what he looked like.
Serrak turned around to see a grey-haired teenage boy with wolf ears.
His outfit was a sporty one, with a tick symbol and the word nice.
Ice stood next to him without saying a word, just staring at serrak.
She had long blonde hair, but it was in a ponytail, and she had a t-shirt with shorts.
Everyone looked at him expectantly and he gasped, knowing that it might be too hard for him.
They nodded in reassurance and he paused, closing his eyes.
'Like doing that is going to to' work, idiot.' sky rolled his eyes and took a punch from Sunrise, who had a very serious scowl on his face.
Serrak’s form suddenly changed and he almost could not believe it.
His human form was a short dark brown teenager who had bear ears and was wearing a leather suit.
Serrak wondered why he was wearing leather, since he did not like that shiny look on it; he shrugged it off and turned to face his 'friends'.
'Right, remember the plan, everyone?' sky blinked at his comrades and took a sharp, disgusted look at serrak.
Serrak growled viscously and pine broke them up.
Sunrise sighed. 'Sky, we know what to do. You pick up pine in her cat form and I’ll carry venom in his snake form.'
Both pine and venom changed back, and venom seemed distasteful, as if he hated being a snake.
Sky and sunrise flew up, and serrak started to climb the cliff, surprised by his strength.
Ice climbed with ease, and ember looked fiery as he dashed up the steep slope.
Serrak wouldn't be beaten,
so he ran up with all his might, catching up to ember.
The sunrise mystery
sunrise. The most important cat in the world. The cat that walks in dreams and whispers in your ear through the wind. He held many armies and controlled a vast amount of land. He was told in great stories and myths even though he lives to this day.
But there is one thing wrong..........
where is he?
*******
Serrak yawned and stretched out of his bed.
Another lousy day, he told himself with a snarl.
He stumbled upwards and peeked out of his den.
Nothing new today.
He then walked over to the feeding bowl and finished off a piece of mackerel.
Sunrise is still missing. He thought worriedly. What will happen to us lowly cats now he's gone?
He drank up some fresh water from a puddle and then made his way to Jackie's den.
'Hey, Jackie!' he called out.
A russet coloured she-cat popped out of from underneath a pile of tyres.
'Yeah?' she answered.
'.....let's go hunting again.' maybe this was his time to own up.
'okay.' she mewed and skidded down the rubble of black rubber and debris.
'Let’s go over to the gates today.' he told her.
She acknowledged him and ran for the metal bars that were dotted ahead.
She stopped suddenly and lifted up her nose.
She drooled at the fact that mouse was around there somewhere
Serrak came up behind her walking calmly up to a post.
He leapt on top of it and positioned himself.
'It’s my turn for lookout.' he hissed under his breath.
Jackie nodded cautiously and silently crept around.
He watched her with a bored expression and a thousand thoughts floating in his head.
Do I ask now? He thought. Or do I ask later? Do I make a move? Or should I not?
He perched, confused on the end of the post and clumsily fell off.
Dust poured everywhere around him and he struggled up with slight effort.
He grunted and looked up.
His heart skipped a beat.
His eyes turned into paper-thin slits.
He scrambled up to get a better view and made sure he was correct.
............he looked out at the forming shapes.
He was correct! He had to get himself and Jackie out of there at once!
'Jackie!!!' he mewled.
She looked up at him with a mouse dangling from her jaws and slowly crept up to him.
He searched their surroundings with peril.
They’re gone! He thought, shocked. They’re gone! We have to be careful! Very careful! Very, very careful!
'Quickly!!!' he hissed as Jackie made slow progress towards him.
It was surprisingly quiet. No, wait-- too quiet. Suspiciously quiet.
He clenched his eyes together and opened them again.
What he saw was not imagination.
A huge figure loomed above the unsuspecting small Jackie.
A stone was in Serrak's throat, as he could not warn her. His legs would not move and his arms would not lean.
His teeth grinded together as the creature almost grasped her.
Suddenly-acselaration hit him and he flew into action. 'Jackie!!!!!' he shouted and collided into the russet aqua-eyed female.
She meowed in surprise and dropped her mouse, flying backwards with a startled expression.
Serrak fell over and looked up swiftly at the growling creature.
It was a mascaroque.
A cat-like creature with a jester's mask and an evil, cold grin on its face. It was triple his size-about two times bigger than a human.
Its eerie mask-eyes seemed to smile at him with a dangerous glint.
Serrak jumped up and escaped after Jackie.
He looked back only to find it staring at him with the same expression Mascaroques always have.
He fell headfirst into a ditch and his fur mangled up from the dust.
He brushed himself off and searched for Jackie.
He found her hiding with a wide look on her face. Her eyes were fully open with fear and her fur stuck up like knives.
'Jackie...' he meowed silently.
Any cat would be scared with their first look at a cunning mascaroque and even fully grown tough cats would run away like kittens.
Jackie is so brave. He told himself. She waited for me to come past here.
This place is our secret den and Jackie was very open to danger by being here. She must have only come here for me.
'Thank you.' he said politely to the startled she-cat.
She nodded slowly, still shaking and staring at the same wall.
Serrak sat down beside her, mewing comfortably.
He then remembered the face of the mascaroque and shivered.
'Will it....come back?' she asked.
Serrak shook his head. 'no.' he answered soothingly.
Jackie sighed with relief and got up.
'we......we should go back home.' she told him, with an unnerving glance at the direction of the mascaroque.
'Sure.' he grunted as he staggered up and lightly followed her to the underground exit.
The dirt crumbled as she entered first and got up his nose, which made him sputter a little.
'Sorry about that!' she called over her shoulder. 'Come on, you never know when it's going to search around here!'
He nodded gently, even though he knew she couldn't turn around and see him, and crawled through the murky soil.
It was rather cramped- nothing like when they were kits, the walls seemed to press against his ragged fur and the space felt confined.
He was relieved when he saw the morning sunshine and stretched his paws far, making sure he didn't get a cramp.
Jackie was pretty far in front of him by then, but he galloped after her with eagerness to get back to his den.
He raced past her and saw the twinkle in her eyes.
It was a mixture of fear and interest- she probably wanted to know more about the terrifying creature, but was too afraid to ask.
He glanced at her with sympathy, keeping at the same pace as her, making sure she knew that she wasn't alone.
Finally, their home came in to sight and they parted to stroll steadily up to their own dens.
He turned his head to look back and saw terror flash across her eyes, but she shook it away to climb the tyres.
A few moments later, he saw her tail stream behind her, as if waving goodbye to him.
He turned back and squeezed into the gap that was the hole he dug himself.
Inside, there was a whole stash of human objects and tools that he had found in places around the dump site.
A rug where he would sleep, a feeding bowl where he would eat, and he found some scraps of cat toys that amused him.
He also had a window-like hole at the side of his makeshift human house.
This was his prized home, the place of which he had been decorating and creating for years.
He felt proud of his work and sometimes stood in front of the den to admire everything, from his dirt mound roof, to his neatly flattened flooring.
He also had an almost busted T.V., he could view the shows, but they were very fuzzy.
Not that he needed a T.V. anyway.
Mixed thoughts swam around his head, daring him to suppress a puzzled look.
He had everything he had wanted. Why was he so unhappy?
Maybe it was the fact that sunrise was missing and could possibly be dead.
The thought of that made him shiver.
Nothing would be worse than sunrise being dead.
He was the idol for all cats, big or small.
He even kept the mascaroques at bay.
But now that he was gone...........
Serrak jolted back to the world, realising that it was time to eat.
He strolled up to the feeding bowl and eyed a measly piece of salmon.
He sighed, but gobbled it all up, he WAS really hungry anyway.
'I wish I had more food'...... he whispered tentatively.
But just wishing wouldn't help him. He already knew that.
So, he struggled up to his rug and fell down onto it.
The last thing he saw as he dozed off was a fly desperately trying to get free from a tiny crack.
Serrak was dreaming. He dreamt of a dark blue sky filled with the ashes of unexplained remorse.
He knew something was wrong, but couldn't move, as his gaze was fixed on the stars dotting the velvet covering that was the sky.
His eyes turned bright and his legs quivered with something trying to break free.
He looked left and right, as noise emanated from no-where.
Faint rustles disturbed his thoughts; twitching leaves distracted him from trying to escape.
Something was terribly wrong, but he could do nothing.
A sudden voice yelled his name.
Serrak! It seemed to call. A million voices shouted his name and his breath became shallow. He fainted into a vivid swirl of orange and red, and then all was black.-
he gasped as he woke, a ghastly smell reaching his nose.
He swiftly shot up with the presence of something evil.
His heart skipped a beat as he searched around for a sign of anything with life.
He only saw the fly, still trying to get free and he sighed with relief.
He padded up to sit silently and gently pulled it out.
But as it got free, bits of the wall crumbled and gradually huge chunks were looming down, aiming at him, but failing to attack him.
He dodged them all, with a panic of knowing what would come next.
His thoughts became true as a massive face appeared from behind the wall, its eyes glinting with menace and it's painted on smirk staring madly at him.
A mascaroque was waiting for the wall to collapse right in front of the frightened serrak.
It grinned even more and a slow paw lifted in the air, creating a silent tension.
Serrak slowly backed away, twisting his head sideways as if to tell himself he was still dreaming.
But he could take no chances as the paw slammed down next to him, making him jump from the quake that followed.
His fur stuck up, and his face wide with shock, he galloped out of the way and crashed outside, scattering stray bits of soil onto the concrete ground.
He dashed onwards, heading for Jackie’s den, and- with a mighty leap- he crawled into the hole, jumping downwards onto a soft patch of hay.
He looked around, trying to figure out which hole to squeeze through.
He took the chance of going left, scurrying impatiently up to another hole.
He entered and in dismay, he had taken a wrong turn.
He backed up quickly, zooming forwards to the next hole.
Luckily, Jackie was fiddling with her cat toys in the cramped up space he bombarded into.
She jerked up and turned to face him with a puzzled expression.
'A mascaroque!' he planted in distress.
Jackie knew what he meant straight away and followed him outside into the rising sun.
Their pelts glistened with gold colours as the sun dyed them red, then orange, then brown.
They fled past the waste that surrounded them, jumping through a fence that carried on into a messy field.
Once they could see the dump site no more, they stopped to catch their breath, their fur ragged and torn, their breath stinking of worry.
Serrak wobbled on his legs and almost fell over with exhaustion, so Jackie heaved him up to the right level and glanced at him with a fearful daze.
He, too, was scared at what might have happened to their beloved homes while they were running.
Jackie gulped down what seemed like a question, her face smeared with tints of brown from the mud.
Serrak was also muddy, but he had fallen into a puddle, so his fur hung down like a weight.
The two waited in a deserted barn with devastation clinging to their eyes, not letting go.
Swirls of rage and fear were also hanging like old cobwebs in the roofs of the barn and the whole world seemed sad for them.
They had possibly lost their home and all that was there for them.
Serrak glanced warmly at Jackie.
But not each other.
A breeze suddenly knocked the cobwebs off and hope dazzled in front of them like the sun that was doing so, right at that moment.
Wincing their eyes to see, they could just about make out signs of future.
After a long wait in the barn, the sun slowly dried off serrak's pelt and they agreed to see what had happened to the dump site.
They skirted the grass with outstretched paws, skimming edges of mole hills with their fur.
Dashing as fast as light with tails streaming out behind them.
birds watching with interest as they skittered across their branches, squirrels and dogs alike shocked at the speed of the cats as they ran quicker and quicker.
The evolved form of the cat would impress many and even those who do not get impressed easily......
cats and humans had evolved all of those years, but the cat had been gifted by god, to have super-natural powers, like running so fast that the eye would only detect them as a blur.
A fade of colours.
Everything spinning, turning, halting around them with waves of background alert and keeping an eye on them with kindest glances.
Eventually their paws muttered a stop and a flash of white sun pressed against their squinting eyelids told them that they had stopped.
Nothing there looked any different and they couldn't help but suppress a small sigh between both of them, sharing it with their breaths.
But- they were out of luck as glinting eyes erupted from the ground beneath and tore their hope in two thin sheets of blank paper.
A mascaroque beamed at them with cold, mad eyes and targeted them with huge, sharp teeth.
Jackie startled up and stared, shivering at the beast.
It was ready to attack- when serrak jumped in the way before it got to her.
He growled in anger and his eyes turned bright.
Jackie watched, motionless, as serrak's voice turned deeper and he grew twice as large into a fluffy, maniac-eyed bear with a huge roar that bellowed out of him.
Claws as big as a rabbit, teeth as large as a rat, he beckoned the mascaroque over with a grunt of mockery.
The mascaroque was not impressed and raced up to him with terrifying speed.
Serrak got ready and both of them crashed into each other.
The surface of the floor blew away in the dust, with Jackie watching in horror.
Serrak bashed the Mascaroque's head and it roared in a mixture of anger and agony.
They both tussled around for a bit, giving Jackie some time to hide in a small gap between two rocks.
She watched on in awe at the two monstrous beings battling each other.
Debris flew in all directions, cries of rage following it.
Serrak’s feet were almost falling onto each other, so he had to escape soon.
But......
his bear side was stubborn, so he couldn't escape just yet; he had to at least KILL it first.
Serrak’s feet were just about giving way, when a sudden burst of energy flowed through him.
He stood up even bigger than before and bashed the Mascaroque's skull with a mighty paw.
A terrible cracking sound went around the whole dump site.
Jackie emerged again, shaking and peering all around.
The two of them had disappeared and everything was surprisingly quiet......
nothing seemed alive.....everything seemed dead.......no rustles, no sound.....
But behind her......a gigantic figure loomed over and breathed harshly, her fur pricking with intense fear.
she slowly turned her head to see what was waiting.......
slowly....slowly.............
eyes pinpointed, teeth bared, she stared up at what was peering down coldly at her with sharp eyes, almost as sharp as its teeth.
Serrak was holding up a dead mascaroque with joy of defeating it, he roared aloud to show who had won.
Jackie’s eyes turned into slits, her teeth still bared.
Serrak gave her a puzzled look, not knowing why she was being so hostile to him.
Does she not know who I am?! He thought in panic.
But Jackie knew all too well what the bear was......
She hissed in rage, bravely striking her claws out threateningly.
Serrak sighed, calming down to be in his other form, he went smaller and smaller, until eventually, he was but a cat again.
But Jackie was still angrily hissing as if she wanted to claw his throat out, and then gut him.
Serrak was very confused by her behaviour.
'I.....saved you.' he told her.
She shook her head.
'You saved yourself, MONSTER! I’d kill you if I could, but you'd turn into a beast again and attack me, won't you?!' she asked in a mad roar.
Serrak was hurt by her harsh words, his ears drooping.
'Die, evil creature! Die!!!' she spat, with her tail bristling outwards and her hackles raised.
She was trying to hold back the urge of ripping him to shreds, but managed to stay put.
'I hate you!!! Go away!!! Don’t hurt anything ever again! Monster!!!'
All of those words hit him like bricks smashing into a newly built card tower.
He believed that Jackie was a very gentle cat, always trusting the right cats, but now.........
he looked at her crazed face, eyes narrowed in an ugly twisting anger.
He knew that she was being unfair, but maybe he IS a monster.......
a sudden gust of soil told him Jackie was attacking and he dodged out of the way, before she could bite his throat.
She fell down with a disagreeing grunt and wobbled up again, drooling like she hadn't eaten in days, and had found some juicy prey.
And I’m the prey! He thought worriedly, turning left and right for a hiding place.
She screamed as she dashed forwards, her teeth readied to bite.
Serrak could find no-where to run, and he could not hurt his best friend.......so he had to face it.
He squinted, screwing up his eyes.
A hundred images flashed through his head, making him remember how much good friends they were.
'Serrak!'
He remembered her soft voice and sighed as he waited for the pain to strike him.
Then his eyes flew open again.
Jackie was no-where to be seen.
Scents of hidden past dangled in front of him like a mouse-toy waiting to be caught.
He stretched his paw out and looked at the barren waste-land.
Silhouettes of unspoken creatures dotted the mountain top and serrak believed that he was in the Temple Grounds Of No Being.
It was a place where cats go when their destiny was even too vague for god to know.
He was there for some reason and he thought that the reason was not a good one.
Swans fluttered in the dewy sky, a colourful wave welcoming them into the background of the picture.
He stared up at the wave and sighed, as it relaxed him.
It was pink, purple and green.
Fading shades of colours, like it was there for centuries beyond counting.
It was pointing north, giving him a direction for possible answers.
He was sure that he could smell the faint scent of sunrise........the cat that went missing two months ago.
Maybe this is where he went.
Delved into here, by mascaroques planning his death and the wind turning against him.
Serrak sighed with utter defeat. There’s as much chance of finding him here than in the real world.
But maybe this was what he had been taken here for........ To bring sunrise back.
He bent forward with a fierce determination.
Bring it on! He thought wildly. Throw anything you've got at me, I WILL find sunrise!
*******
his breathing was turning strongly sharp and his eyes dulled.
How long is it going to take to find sunrise?! He thought in dismay, searching around, even though he knew it was hopeless.
But the scent lingered on, beckoning him to keep moving forward.
Regret started to tumble down his mind, making him think how useless he was in finding the most important cat in the world.
He peered over lumps of recoiling dirt, it moved backwards as if it was hiding something. In fact, this whole WORLD was hiding something..........
something important...........
He heard a faint rustle and turned around as if sunrise would be standing right in front of him.
But- no, it was a Meer doe, her speckles glinting in the everlasting moonlight.
She looked at him with interested eyes, and galloped forward with ease.
As she ran, her form changed little by little.
Not long after, standing right next to him, smiling gently, her eyes closed in politeness, was a female cat.
His jaw dropped in shock.
So, there are others like me........he thought.
He was jealous of her other animal form, though. He was stuck with an enraged bear, while she had a graceful deer.
'So, it is you.' she said with an alien-like voice.
He was puzzled at what she meant.
'Follow me.' she told him, smiling.
'I will show you the path to what you seek.'
Serrak was confused, but maybe she knew where sunrise was.......just maybe.......
he shrugged and followed her up the winding path.......it was so dark. Shadows were giving off some light so he could see in the midnight air.
A dozen pictures flew into his head as it suddenly became lighter.
The swan he saw when he first came here was waiting in the clearing and around it, was a wolf, an eagle and a jaguar.
He looked around in awe, with the creature's eyes directly on him.
He felt nervous with all the glances and shuffled his feet.
The she-cat looked at him in sympathy.
She strode forwards and began speaking.
'Ember-' she faced the wolf.
'Sky-' she faced the swan.'
'Ice-' she faced the jaguar.
'and.......Sunrise.' she lastly faced the eagle.
'I, Pine, have found Serrak, the last of the spirits!'
Serrak’s eyes turned into slits.
Me?! He thought in shock. A spirit?
And didn't that she-cat say sunrise?
'You.....' she then faced him with the same gentle gaze. 'Are the spirit of rage.'
His thoughts turned numb and his voice was clogged up with disbelief.
The others looked at him reassuringly.
'so, are you sure he is the one?' asked Sky, pointedly searching him up and down.
'He must be.' answered Ember with a viscous snarl. He didn't seem nasty, just fiery with plenty of will-power.
Ice just nodded quietly.
Sunrise looked very happy to see serrak for some reason.
'Do you wonder why you turn into a bear?' pine asked him gently.
he nodded slowly, still taking everything in.
'well......we are the chosen to be the six great spirits of the world.' she explained.
' Sky is the spirit of Guidance.' she pointed to the swan who bowed.
'Ember is the spirit of Determination' she gestured at the over-exited wolf.
'Sunrise is the spirit of Wisdom.' she pointed again to the smiling eagle.
'Ice is the spirit of Strength.' Ice nodded politely, but her structure and claws looked dangerous to serrak, so he was very wary.
'and I am the spirit of Protection.' she told him, staring him deep in the eyes.
'As you can see, we can turn into cats, but these are not our true forms.'
serrak was shocked at the thought of that he was really a bear.
'there was a seventh spirit.....' she bowed her head in sorrow.
'Venom, the snake. He was......a little daring, but he got lost in the forest. We probably won't ever see him again. His spirit was Forgiveness.'
He saw her eyes glaze into a mess of sad shades.
'Why don't we find him?' he asked, confused.
All of the spirits looked at him in surprised awe.
'Are you crazy?!' Sky asked in a squawk. 'He doesn't deserve for us to save him, anyway!!!'
Serrak was getting angry with the swan's behaviour.
'He is a spirit.....' serrak started with a growling tone. '....just like you. He is also the spirit of forgiveness. You must forgive him for anything wrong he has done!'
Sky was speechless, so he turned his head away to stare at the bare stone rocks.
Pine understood what he was talking about.
'and I am the spirit of protection!' she told them all, brightening up.
'I will protect him!'
Ember jumped forward with teeth glowing.
'Let’s save him from that wretched forest!'
'we must change into our true forms.' she glanced at serrak.
'Do it on will.'
He looked at her gracefully close her eyes, and a flash of light pounded into his face. He saw her deer form stand before him, with an expecting look wiped across her eyes.
He jumped up and closed his eyes also.
Miraculously, he grew and grew, until he was the massive shape of a bear.
She went up to him and rubbed her fur against his flank.
She then beckoned him to follow her.
He dashed up to her, trying to keep his pace.
He saw Sky and Sunrise fly at full speed up above.
Ice and Ember were having a race; both of them were evenly matched.
He was surprised to be lagging behind, but he was trying his best to run as fast as he could go.
It was an amazing feeling, having the wind press up against you.
He felt like he was dreaming again, swirls of colours blurring beside him.
His thoughts flew out and he was happy running with all of the spirits. It felt right.
He suddenly came to a halt and an intimidating forest loomed ahead.
He gulped at the sight of it, it looked so evil.
He brought up his courage and stepped forwards, but he had been overtaken by Ember.
'Come back, Ember!!!' sky screeched.
Ember snarled and trudged back. 'You’re no fun!' he hissed at Sky.
Sky seemed pretty offended, but he wouldn't let Ember know that.
Instead, they all entered at the same time.
Serrak kept close to pine, thinking she would be easy prey, but she didn't look scared at all.
He sniffed for any scents and smelt something like a mascaroque, but different, somehow.
He walked onwards in the dullness, looking around for any danger.
Nothing was there.....like creatures were waiting in the shadows for them.
He heard a twig snap and he turned around, he straight away lunged for the creature.
He heard an angry, familiar hiss and saw his teeth around Ember's neck.
Serrak had never been so embarrassed.
He backed away saying sorry more than fifty-million times, but Ember didn't seem to care.
He sighed and thanked god for letting Ember be so care-free.
The other spirits, except for sunrise and pine, looked at him with unease.
He pretended nothing happened and strolled onwards next to pine.
She was sniffing leaves and branches for any clues of venom, but all proved unsuccessful.
He was starting to think he led them on a mad goose chase that they would never find him. He didn't even know what he looked like, or smelled like!
Serrak was going to give up, when pine stood eerily still, then ran off into a dense part of the forest.
He scrambled after her and found himself, surprisingly, in a clearing.
He scented her in the opposite direction he was looking, and followed her smell all the way up to a dark river, with big rocks here and there.
He searched his surroundings warily, and pinpointed the deer, struggling to get what looked like a rope, from between two rocks.
He straight away knew that she was trying to save venom.
He carefully placed his paws across the rocks, as the current below looked dangerous, and used them as stepping-stones.
He eventually reached them and came up beside pine to see fainted venom hanging limp, jammed in, and stuck between the cruel rocks.
Pine seemed determined to get him free, and struggled to even move him an inch out.
Serrak rolled his eyes and gently grasped the snake in his jaw, making sure not to bite too hard.
Pine looked worried, as if she feared that he would accidentally hurt him.
But, luckily enough, venom was not hurt as he came free.
Serrak heard growls behind him, and beckoned pine to follow him back to the others.
She nodded and ran with him past the stepping-stones, and up through to the forest again.
The first spirit he saw was sunrise, his eyes squinted with rage, and serrak turned to see what he was looking at.
A gasp of horror erupted from him.
It was one of the rarest monsters of all!!!
The masdoroque, a dog-like creature with a jester's mask attached.
It looked even more menacing and cold than its relative, the mascaroque.
But nonetheless, serrak faced up to it bravely, alongside his spirit companions.
The masdoroque sneered at them with a wide grin across its face, threatening them to make a move.
serrak blinked and recoiled, like it was going to attack any moment, but it kept still....
like it was waiting for them to get scared first......it's drool dangling down, and it's unblinking gaze through the mask........
They circled it, with patterns of aggression........
Its teeth, tempting to make a move.
The first to attack was Ember, with a snarl bellowing all around the forest.
The dog was quick to launch itself after him, the tiny wolf colliding with the massive masdoroque.
Serrak’s closed eyes opened again, after a brief moment of shock.
He was awed, his eyes widening again, at the bleeding masdoroque, and Ember on top, howling with victory.
Ice nodded with respect, and sky sighed with the thought of having to praise him.
Sunrise was smiling at him with a gratitude gleaming in the ocean depths of his eyes.
There was, for the first time ever, a shine of light penetrating the dark forest.
'It’s gone now and the forest is safe.' Pine said with a calm look on her face.
They all nodded and looked at the pathetic rope that was venom, dangling in the jaws of serrak.
He jolted up with exclamation, and dropped him onto the ground.
They all crowded around to see if venom would wake up, pawing him in the side every now and then.
A combination of fear and hope mustered pine's smell, making her seem very worried.
Serrak didn't know venom that well, but was trying his best to get him to wake up, by pulling his tail and kicking his jaw.
The others seemed offended by his attacking, but the truth was, he was just trying to help.
After a long wait, Ember got up and picked out a leaf.
He went to the lake, collected some water in it and strolled back with a serious face.
the others were haggard from the thought that he might not wake up, but were suddenly delighted again, when Ember poured the water over venom's face and he woke up, sputtering with the stale liquid being thrashed around.
Pine was the first to squeal with joy, as she prounced around with a mock dance.
Serrak felt relieved that they hadn't come here to find him dead, so he slumped down with utter exhaustion, his eyesight turning into a faint blue.
Gradually, his eyes closed and darkness had found him.
**********
'wake up!' he heard a flurry of muddled words swirling through his mind, beckoning him out of his sleep.
'Wake up!' he heard it again.
His eyes slowly opened with an insecure feeling, his fur standing on end.
He saw a huge ropey figure staring him in the face, its nostrils flaring and its eyes tiny slits.
'c'mon, wake up, you big furry lump of laziness!!!' it hissed mockingly.
Serrak felt somewhat offended and jolted up, baring his teeth at the thin creature.
'Calm down.' he heard a sweetly familiar voice and turned his head to see the graceful deer, pine, glancing worriedly at them two.
'It’s only venom, he means no harm.'
Serrak nodded half-heartedly, trying to tear his gaze away from the snake that was belching with laughter.
Pine gave him an unbelievably angry look and he stopped giggling, turning his head away, as if to appear innocent.
She then smiled as she faced serrak, trotting towards him.
'Thank you, you were a big help.' she nodded happily to him, showing respect.
He blinked.
'I’ve been meaning to ask you...' he started.
'Have you guys known each other before today?'
They turned to each other, each animal's gaze looking confused, yet they waited for one of them to speak up.
'Well.......' pine was the only one to answer.
'.....I, ember, ice and sky knew each other before.
We met sunrise and venom a few weeks ago. Apparently, sunrise had died being attacked by a mascaroque, and venom died being attacked by other feral cats.'
'A huge gang of them.' venom hastily remarked, trying to look stronger than he sounded.
Pine went on speaking, once she cast an impatient glance at venom.
'Ember died being hit by a huge truck.' ember snarled with satisfaction at venom, having a tougher way to die. Venom spat rudely at him, and once again, pine waited for them to calm down.
'ice died being eaten and savaged to death by a pack of hungry boars.' ice looked away with embarrassment
'sky died being burned alive by his owner.' sky's face turned to horror by the mention of it and he looked like he was going to barf.
''And I.......' she smiled reassuringly. '....died getting shot by a wild cat hunter.'
Serrak's jaw had dropped down and his mind was whirling with fear.
'I’m pretty sure your friend had killed you.' pine grimaced while telling him.
He stood as still as stone and his eyes became lifeless.
So it was true.....Jackie had really killed him.
Pine had a sympathetic aura surrounding her, and Serrak couldn't help but feel a little unstable.
So.......I can never go back down to the earth?' he asked with a shake of his tail.
'Well.....we're not necessarily dead, because we were saved by being transported over to this place.
Pine gestured the plants around her.
Serrak’s voice couldn't speak out, because of utter awe at what was happening.
Saved? He thought anxiously. By who?!
Pine flicked her head and turned around to face the exit.
'Come on, let's go.' she told them with a soothing voice.
They nodded and followed her slowly with delicate paws and feet.
Serrak’s eyes were fixed on her like she was a piece of juicy meat running away.
His feet pounded the earth as he gradually broke into a dash, sending dust flying in all directions.
He ran with ease past pine, glancing warmly back at her as he overtook her.
She laughed slightly and ran quicker to catch him.
He smirked, dodging her galloping hooves and tumbled over with a giggle, rolling smoothly down a jutting hill.
Ember sky and ice all sighed at the same time, sky's was more exaggerated.
But ember's face turned into a sly grin and he ran after the two happy spirits.
Ice shook her head and a small smile took over her mouth.
Sky was the only one to still wait at the top of the hill, while the others played around like children.
He searched around, watching the horizon in peace, his face turning orange and red.
The sun was setting and venom was a black dot on the next hill, his eyes slitting as he stared at them with longing.
He finally turned around and slithered off slowly back to their camp, with sky watching him.
********
the bright, glowing moon had risen up again with welcome and serrak giggled at the fact that ember was itching to howl at it.
Sky’s eyes rolled, not for the first time that day and pine shot him an angry look.
Serrak suddenly noticed how weird it was that he was so comfortable with all of them around him, especially a very unusual combination of a deer and a jaguar.
Sunrise’s warm and friendly gaze had rested on him again, making him very self-conscious, with an important cat- no, an important eagle actually bothering to look at him.
He felt rather special, but still shuffled out of sight in embarrassment.
'well then, everyone.' sky mumbled, being irritated at the silence.
'We’re all here.'
'........yeah
-sure
-right
-uh-huh
-yes.'
Everyone answered, but they were clearly focused on different things.
This made Sky even more irritated, so he sat down and waited for sleep.
Serrak didn't understand that bird-he was a good guy, but he was angered easily. He was also
probably the most mature one out of the bunch.
Serrak shrugged and leered at the moon.
It was shining brightly and many stars were out, maybe because there were no electric-powered lights hogging all the room. Twinkles and gleams filled up inside his eyes and the reflection was almost a huge clump of light bundled together, making his eyes almost seems white.
Suddenly, a huge yawn made his mouth gape higher than his nose, which reminded him what time it was.
he curled up comfortably, with one eye still on sunrise. Something was weird about him. He was the most important cat, yet he seemed to be the least important spirit.
********
serrak opened his eye a slit, and the first thing he saw was-
a. great. Big. Buttocks.
He leaped out of the way in time to dodge a huge fart from ember, who was trying to wake him up with a ghastly smell.
'I’m awake! I’m awake!' he yapped franticly, this time, his eyes were darting around in panic.
Ember sniffed viscously and padded off into ice's direction.
Serrak sighed in utter relief, but recovered quickly and made his way to a bunch of his so-called ''friends'', who were planning out an attack on the mascaroques.
'This-' sky pointed to a pebble.'-is us. This-' sky then pointed to a twig.'-is the mascaroque den. We need to go around the forest.' he pointed to a clump of leaves. 'The only way to get around there is to climb the cliff.' he showed them the rock that was waiting next to them. 'we need me to carry pine in cat form -since she is the lightest- up to there, ember, ice and serrak can climb up with their strength, and you can carry venom up there.' sky turned to sunrise, who nodded to the plan.
Venom and pine also nodded.
Serrak was waiting next to pine, but everyone only just noticed his arrival.
'Ah!-serrak, did you hear my plan?' sky asked him with a somewhat fiendish gleam in his eyes.
Serrak bolted up. 'Yes, of course, sky.' he nodded three times to get his point across.
Sky snorted and the tension built up as they both glared at each other for a long five seconds.
'G-guys don't fight! We need to carefully plan this entire out TOGETHER so we don't make any mistakes, right?' she grinned nervously which got the approval of both of the angry creatures.
Sky carried on in his bossy tone again. serrak couldn't be bothered to listen to him speak anymore, so he rested and spaced out, staring at the purple-blue shaded sky above
'HEY!' serrak, once again, bolted up and turned to face sky.’ this is important! Listen or you'll just be a burden we have to carry along with us!'
Serrak growled in anger. 'a burden, hey?!' he asked ungraciously.
'You call ME a burden, but you're just a pretty little swan, who likes to clean his pretty little feathers in the river every five minutes!'
Sky’s jaw dropped and his eyes darkened in rage.
'Oh really? Bears are so dumb, that they can't tell what a branch is, and what a kitten is!'
Serrak’s bear roar was so loud, that even ember and ice were startled when hearing it.
'SHUT UP!!! YOU HAVE NO PROOF!!!'
Sky grinned in triumph.
'Is that a branch or a kitten then?' sky pointed to the twig he used earlier.
Serrak was so angry, that he leapt at the swan and savaged him with brutal force.
Pine was stone still, in terror or awe, as they tussled together, blood spraying around them.
Sunrise’s eyes were as clear as crystals and he puffed out his chest threateningly.
'STOP.' he ordered in the most demanding voice serrak had ever heard.
They broke apart immediately, venom accidentally getting squished under serrak's paw.
sunrise eyed them both, with his eyes searching around for a glimpse of hostility, but the only angry thing he saw was the rope squirming violently under serrak's huge foot.
'good.' he turned around, deciding to take over the duty of arranging the ambush.
Sky’s eyes reflected his anger, torment and frustration as he watched sunrise talk the battle over with venom, who had given up on trying getting out from under serrak's foot.
'It’s not fair.' he whispered with a slight grimace.
He swished his head around to face serrak.
'If we were in cat form, you would be dead meat.' he told him dangerously.
Serrak signalled to him that he would not back down.
That proved it. Serrak’s first enemy in his gaggle of spirit-friends was sky, the one they all knew and trusted.
********
ember's rasping yawn was the loudest thing the spirits heard at that moment.
All was quiet.
Not a sound.
They all walked in single file with great tension cutting through the air.
It wasn't unreasonable to say that one of them might die- they were going into enemy territory where a great number of mascaroques were living.
True, they were skilled fighters with much power in their hands, but serrak had already worked out each one's strength.
(Smallest to largest)
serrak-pine-venom-sky-ember-sunrise-ice
he gulped as he knew that he was the weakest so far, which means he would have to rely on the others.
Serrak’s gaze fixated upon a huge mound of rock ahead of them, its looming figure reminding him exactly of mascaroques.
Then it occurred to him.
What were mascaroques doing here?
Sunrise grinned at him, clearly reading his thoughts.
Serrak was amazed by his spiritual power. Sunrise really must be a god after all.
'this is where mascaroques originally spawned.' he answered politely.
'We must destroy them and their ties to the original world before they cause mass destruction and kill us all.'
Serrak’s serious expression turned even more serious as he thought about how Jackie might be defending herself from those evil creatures.
'We’re here!!!'Ember howled exaggeratedly.
Serrak sighed in exhaustion and stared solemnly at a huge gaping hole in the cave.
A sudden glowing image came from behind him, and he leapt away in from it in surprise.
It was pine, turning into-no! It can't be! That form would be too hard to recreate!
But it was true, she smiled gently and the glowing stopped.
He stared in awe as he saw a young yet old (teenage) human standing before him.
She had long, curly, light brown hair and a fluffy long dress that made her seem all the more sweet.
Her smile had grown nicer, since humans actually had the muscles built into them that let them smile, and her hand had a blue bracelet wrapped around it.
'We must turn into humans-it may sound crazy, but humans have more ways of attacking, being able to use 'hands' rather than paws. But if you're in dire need of claws, then change back.' he was informed this, but had no idea if he was capable of making a feat of turning into a human.
Sky snorted and he also glowed into a white shape, he grew bigger and stood straighter than before.
He had medium length hair white hair, a white cloak, blue eyes and two fluffy white wings.
He looked like a- now what did those humans call it? Oh! That’s right, an angel!
Sky had a new vicious scowl; one that seemed to threaten all that looked at him.
Venom nodded, glowing also, and ice, sunrise and ember too.
Venom was a very feminine looking human though he was respectfully a male.
He had long green hair and a snake-skin outfit, very tight for better movements and prowling around.
He had a somewhat dangerous grin that made serrak well up with respect at his optimism.
Serrak was eager to see what sunrise looked like.
Sunrise was blond-haired and he surprisingly enough, didn't have any wings, though he looked very powerful with his army uniform, a green shade with a badge on it.
'Oh, this?' sunrise asked, confused. 'I got this badge when winning the great world war for the humans!'
A likely story! Serrak thought, knowing it was a lie, while sunrise smiled curelessly at him.
Ember whistled next to him, showing off what he looked like.
Serrak turned around to see a grey-haired teenage boy with wolf ears.
His outfit was a sporty one, with a tick symbol and the word nice.
Ice stood next to him without saying a word, just staring at serrak.
She had long blonde hair, but it was in a ponytail, and she had a t-shirt with shorts.
Everyone looked at him expectantly and he gasped, knowing that it might be too hard for him.
They nodded in reassurance and he paused, closing his eyes.
'Like doing that is going to to' work, idiot.' sky rolled his eyes and took a punch from Sunrise, who had a very serious scowl on his face.
Serrak’s form suddenly changed and he almost could not believe it.
His human form was a short dark brown teenager who had bear ears and was wearing a leather suit.
Serrak wondered why he was wearing leather, since he did not like that shiny look on it; he shrugged it off and turned to face his 'friends'.
'Right, remember the plan, everyone?' sky blinked at his comrades and took a sharp, disgusted look at serrak.
Serrak growled viscously and pine broke them up.
Sunrise sighed. 'Sky, we know what to do. You pick up pine in her cat form and I’ll carry venom in his snake form.'
Both pine and venom changed back, and venom seemed distasteful, as if he hated being a snake.
Sky and sunrise flew up, and serrak started to climb the cliff, surprised by his strength.
Ice climbed with ease, and ember looked fiery as he dashed up the steep slope.
Serrak wouldn't be beaten,
so he ran up with all his might, catching up to ember.
We have a cbox again and we're opening the place up as a closed, members only rp