But what is that?
A being created in the forges
Of science's ever marching army
Kept as a success
Mocked as a creature
Am I man, beast,
Or... neither?
She rumbles a growl and gets up, annoyed at having thought of the school and those annoying children. True, she did have the build of a human female crossed with a cat, all boneless grace and intelligence of both races, but that didn't mean she enjoyed being what she was. Besides, those human males had no reason to stare at her like she was a fish and they a cat prepared to eat her even if she didn't obey what those stupid human adults said about wearing clothes.
She runs a furred hand over her sleek golden brown fur, her eyes gaining a faraway look. Her name, Morriera, was a human joke, true, but it was close to the name of the only other anthro cat she knew of, Morrir. Morrir, the one who looked like he had a death mask on his face and a black cape falling down his back. For all she knew, he could use a scythe as well.
Morriera looked down at the floor, her tail twitching with irritation, remembering the joking remarks the humans had thrown at her.
Morriera without Morrir. Has died without Death. Poor Morriera has died for wanting Morrir back at her side, isn't that so cute?
Her eyes narrow and she stalks out onto the balcony, settling down in a patch of light and starting her daily cat bath, since she hates water.
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Her ears perk up and point towards the open balcony suddenly, just as she finishes giving the tip of her tail a last few licks to make sure the fur is entirely in place. Morriera rises gracefully and walks towards the railing, ears still trained forward, trying to catch any tiny sound of what alerted her in the first place. Then she sees it, a tiny disturbance far off at the edge of the city.
Without a thought she leaps up on the railing and pushes off, landing gracefully on the top of another building then leaping to another roof, taking the path she travels on every single night that she has spare time in order to leave the city to go searching, for Morrir, of course.
The disturbance quickly approaches, and she slows her pace until she lays crouched on top of a roof right above the disturbance. What she sees quickly takes her breath away.
A tall anthro cat with jetblack fur in slightly varying shades down his back, a cape. A cape that stands out against his glossy black fur like it was white on black instead of black on black. He twirls a scythe in his paws, using it with deadly efficiency, but with such grace, he almost seems to dance instead of attack. His face turns towards her, and the final proof of who it is shows itself to her. His face is jetblack like his 'cape' but crossed with white patches that look like bones. His eyes are red, almost like a blazing fire.
Morrir turns his head and roars, a loud, defiant sound, scaring the rest of the humans into a run. Quickly, Morriera leaps down from the roof and walks up to him, carefully stepping over the dead and unconscious bodies all around her. Up close he was exactly how she remembered him, almost skin and bones, but radiating a confidence that would make the most fearful person feel brave around him. If, of course, he was on that person's side, otherwise the coward would run. There was no pride in this being besides pride over a skill well learned and a dangerous situation gotten out of without a scratch.
Morriera flicks her tail with amusement, realizing as she gets closer to him that she was now taller than him. She saw his tail flick as well and, as she got close to him, she could sense his amusement at this turn of events as well, he had always been at least a hand taller than she.
"So, it seems you have been living comfortably," Morrir's voice comes out a rich, silky sound.
Morriera gives a cat smile, "Of course I have, they dare not do otherwise." Her voice is silky smooth as well, but of a slightly higher pitch than his.
Morrir wipes the blade of his scythe on a dead human's jacket, "Have you felt the wrongness lately?" When Morriera nods he continues, "The humans have finally unbalanced this realm, there are forces loose that haven't been loose since the Creating."
A cat's myth, the Creating, but one that held more truth than the human's version, since this one was handed down in the very genes of the cat race. Every feline, from the lowliest alley cat to the mightiest tiger could repeat it word for word without more than a few word differences between the different classes. Forces were beings that were magical in birth and upbringing, not all of them for a good purpose, neither good nor bad were allowed to outweigh each other, of course. Forces loose could only mean one thing, when the world had finally been created and populated to the Creator's satisfaction, he locked the bad Forces away and let the good ones hold sway, only occasionally letting one of the bad Forces out in order to keep balance in the world, but always on a short rein. That humans had managed to break some Forces loose without the Creator's knowing was terrible.
"Bailbain and Renjazo are loose." Morrir remarks oh so casually. To a human it would be as if he was remarking on the weather, but to a cat, with a cat's sensitive nose, ears, and eyes, he was plainly terrified. And well he should be, Bailbain and Renjazo were the two Forces never let loose in all of time, they were to powerful even by themselves, but to have them both out and on no leash? It was horrible.
"How.. how did they get loose?" she asks.
Morrir twirls his scythe absently, watching the silver blur its blade leaves in the air, "As I said, the humans unbalanced the world, they destroyed two Rraria despite my warnings."
Morriera pales and Morrir pulls her close to him, holding her up. Rraria, keystones, stones that could not be destroyed, and now to hear that two had been destroyed by these stupid humans! And to top it all off, the keystones to the seal on the two most powerful Forces there were.
"Th... that's impossible, Morrir. Rraria are unbreakable!"
"Humans have broken them, Morriera, the same humans who created freaks of nature like us just because it was something interesting to do, something that had never been done before."
Morriera gasps and stiffens, "Morrir... look."
Morrir turns and stares wide eyed as the crest of... something, crashes down on top of them.
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She felt like a rag doll being fought over, but she clung to Morrir. He was the only one she knew in this strange world gone mad. Suddenly, though, she felt something snap and the buffeting lessened, then stopped altogether. The next thing she knew, she was dropping several feet out of the air onto two humans who were conversing.
Morriera twists, trying not to land on top of the humans, very bad manners that, no matter what other cats thought. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Morrir toss his scythe to one side so that he doesn't accidently hurt the humans. That was the last second she had to think or try to move, the next second she had landed hard upon the woman, knocking the breath out of both of them.
Scrambling to her feet, she reaches a hand down and helps the woman up, then backs away, bowing slightly as she goes and saying, "Excuse us for dropping in so... unannounced, Mistress, Sir."
The woman brushes herself off, remarking, "It's ok." as the man nods acknowledgement.
"If I may ask," the man inquires, "what are your names?"
Morriera pauses, glancing once at Morrir who is retrieving his scythe, then says, "I am Morriera and he is Morrir." she steels herself for the jokes to start, but, surprisingly, none do.
"Interesting names," the woman remarks.
"Where is this anyway?" Morrir asks bluntly.
"Cy Dragonstake, home of the Cy Dragons," the man answers.
Morriera glances at Morrir, then notices the position of his tail, deferment, she knows more in this area of study than he. Her tail flicks, acknowledging the deferment, but admitting lack of knowledge of this place.
"May I see a map?" she asks.
The woman nods then turns and walks into a building, "Of course, come on."
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Morriera stares down at the map, realizing that she doesn't know a single place marked on it, "How is this possible?"
Morrir glances down at the map, "Bailbain, that was his Rsaza we were caught in. Just thank Cktalak that we landed in an actual world."
The woman looks at the two anthro cats, then says, "You may stay here as long as you wish."
Morriera turns to the woman and inclines her head, a diplomat accepting terms she hadn't thought of but liked, "We accept your offer. We will remain until we find a way back to our own world," her unspoken words sound all the louder for being unspoken, If there even is a way.
Adolescent
Adult