| Survival: Chapter One |
| The sunset was bright red this night. Redder than any Sierra had ever seen. She watched the sun slowly drift away as she folded the last of the days laundry. As she finally finished, the first star came out. The one called Polaris or the North Star. She watched it entranced; she always preferred the night's silvery beauty to the golden ones of the day. But she admitted both worlds seemed at their peak just as a new night or day was to begin. ~~~*~~~ The strange lonely figure walked along a palace's halls. A palace made out of a substance never seen on Earth. It gave off the appearance of opal. Only it was so hard nothing on Earth could destroy it. Not fire, not ax, nothing on Earth, but then this was not Earth. The halls changed different shades of color depending on who was walking along and what their mood was. As the strange figure walked along it's ancient walls, they glowed a grim brown. He was sad or unhappy according to it. But the walls and floors only spoke half of it, he was devastated. He came to a door and rang the chia. "Come," called an ancient voice within. The door unlocked itself and the figure, who had been shielded by onlookers with a hooded cape, lowered the hood. The figure however, stuck to the shadows, his features all hidden except for a powder white face with whiskers and eyes that shone in the light. "Well?" "Dead, sir..." The other figure, another hooded one, stood up. He nodded, then removed his hood. He was not a man, nor was he an animal. He was both. He was a catman. The other figure emerged from the shadows- another catman. His fur pattern was black and white, his lumious blue eyes were a deep blue and filled with tears. "I'm sorry my son.", the old catman said as he came over and held his grieving child. the black and white tom buried his face in his father's grey tabby fur. He then pulled him away to look at him. "Now, Mistoffelees, how is your mate fairing?" The young tomcat looked away and stared out the window for a moment. "She's beside herself with grief. She wants to...", tears filled the catman's eyes again,"...die." He blurted out the last word and sank to his knees in greif. The old cat man just looked at his son and thought to himself. This had been thier fourth child. All save one had been born dead. It had finally came to the last straw. Their race had interbred so much that now most of their newly born children were born dead, deformed, or unable to have chidren with some of their own kind. He looked up at a movement he sae in the doorway. A long robed, pure white catwoman stumbled weakly into the room. Mistoffelees came to his feet and caught her in his arms as she almost fell down. Her belly was swollen from her recent pregnancy. "Victoria, you shouldn't be out of bed. Your too weak", he said helping her to her feet. She looked at the misery swollen eyes of her mate and then at his father. "Deuteronomy, this is the thrid child I have had that was born dead. I know I'm not alone in this. Others are having the same- problem. Our race is dying. Why?" She barely uttered the last word then collasped into wails and sobs on the floor. Suddenly, they felt ground beneath them shake violently. All three looked out the window toward the scenery of the mountains. Slowly, the tallest peak began to crumble and break away. "What is happening here? We're surrounded by death!" Victoria screamed in anguish, the she began to wail and grieve without control in her mate's arms. Deuteronomy looked at his son who returned the gaze with tear filled eyes. Mistoffelees gave a solemn nod, gathered his mate in his arms, picked her up and carried her away back to their chambers. Deuteronomy looked out the window and saw the ashes and dust that remained in clouds where the mountain had recently stood. He looked at a section of what appeared to onlookers as a wall decorated with symbols of the moon and stars on it. The with tears finally coming to his eyes he muttered, "It's time." ~~~*~~~ Sierra collapsed on her bed and thought about the day's events. She had had better days. Things just went wrong entirely. Her purse was stolen; the money she didn't care about but her driver's license she did. Then her car played havoc with her nerves. Her friend called her to tell her, despite her advice about her moving in with her boyfriend. A total loser in Sierra's opinion. He often beat up her friend in his fits of rage. Then her nasty baby brother totally demolished her room and his and wasn't a bit sorry. The only comfort she had the whole day was when she had admired the sky's beauty. She remembered it in detail. She sat down on the porch steps and looked up to the stars. Then she felt the brush of something furry on her arm. She looked over and saw a furry face with whiskers, a sleek body, and a calico fur pattern with a set of luminous eyes. A cat. It stared back at her obviously frightened. She slowly extended her hand out to the frightened feline. It paused for a moment, then seemingly have weighed the possiblities or had curiousty overcome it's fear, walked over to her, sniffed her hand then let her pet it. She and the cat were becoming good friends when that brat of a brother of hers hit his fist on the glass to scare them both. Sure it had been a fine day! She didn't understand a lot of things she knew she should have. Things like why people were the way they were, or why no matter where she went in the world the climate was either too hot or cold for her to be comfortable. Or why she had always had such a good relationship with the feine species. Even the most feral cat would come to her. Or why she never felt truely strong or energetic, as if something was missing within her to make it so. Even the doctor couldn't figure that one out. She concluded that time would take care of all her oddities. Hopefully. |