| Sinews tighten and muscles tense as it crouches down in the lush and moist soil just beneath the grass-ceiling blocking anything from seeing it easily. The ice-blue eyes, calm and collected, dart left and right with a mechanical smoothness to them as it absorbs its surroundings. An overcast day - clouds dotting itself in an irratic checkerboard design, much like a small child playing with crayons for the first time and the sky rotating through the colors of a deep springtime blue to an almost icy grey, but confused and not picking either - just spazticly throwing both out there. It had been following a trail. It's orange hairs on his back and face swooped and swithered much like the tall stalks of grass did as a gentle but noticable breeze picked up and it, shall we say he, thanked the fates for days like these. This animal was a tiger. Bright orange and midnight black were the colors he sported as well as blue eyes that made crystal ice seem dull. The trail he followed had been a strange one. Already proven himself in this forest, he had grown tired of nothing to do. That is when.. he found it - this trail. The grass had been beaten down just slightly to where it was barely dipictable, yet, this was a tiger. He notices things impossible for other things to see. On the ground had been a foot-print. More like a hoof-print, it was. It wasn't a horse, not a deer either. It had the raw power horses protruded, but it had such grace and finesse that the mark wasn't skewed by flying dirt particles horses usually kicked up. And the print was slender. It almost.. had a beauty to it. He had taken an almost immediate interest in it. What made it? Why was it here? Where was it going? These were the repeated and redundent questions that ran at break-neck speeds through his head. He was drawn to them. Not actually to the prints themselves, though they were something to marvel at, but he was drawn to what had made them. His mind's eye made thousands of mental pictures of what this creature could look like. Fur or scales? Tall or squabbly? What color? It didn't matter. He liked it. So he continued. His breathing making no sound at all, his rippling legs gently placing his feet with an almost humorous gentleness as he followed these prints. He could smell a scent now, though it wasn't really like smelling. It was more like having the scent waft around him and he absorb it with exctacy. It swirled around him and he had to double-check hisself from not falling over for his legs had just become unreliable. It took him effort now to not break his stealthy - completely civil mode and make a wild run for whatever this was, though now he was walking faster, following the tracks and the scent which was now growing stronger and more deliciously intoxicating with each step. The thick undergrowth was becoming more and more dense while he followed. This part was unknown to him. He stopped a moment to input his surroundings, quite confused to where he was. Colors were brighter here, though light was not shining through the thick tree-tops as much as it usually was elsewhere. The ground was rich with moisture, making it a deep - almost majestic - dark brown color. As well, the incredibly large tree trunks were full of dark brown and had an aura to them that they had much more wisdom and expierience to them. He felt like a child. Who knows? Maybe he was. Everything else, including the glistening leaves - dangling and weaving around like a crowd of billions of people all moving in giant waves as the wind rustled through them, the numerous and exotic plants littering the ground, and the vines which hung lazily from their tree-branch perches were all a brilliant green. It was like looking through clear water on a beach and everything described was beneath the waters surface - making it sharper and clearer than ever imagined. Even he cast a small orange glow around him, he could see it. Whatever this place was, he knew he was meant to be there. He looked down again. The print below him, now illuminated by a strange light that swirled a rich blue and purple hue around it, made his eyes water. This was what he was looking for. This.. was why he had lost countless hours of sleep at night because something was not right in his soul. Something.. was missing. This was it. He knew now. He looked forward and, as usual, there was another print - also illuminated. He followed the trail with his eyes and noticed an arched opening in the wall of trees. A path. He looked around, searching for any other living creature around - none, and sprinted up towards it. His shoulderblades pivoted as he ran, his eyes shone and twinkled brightly from the moisture, and his breathing was quick and haggard. He went through the path and skidded to a stop abrubtly behind some bushes of undergrowth. His eyes got wide as he looked through the small gap in the bushes. A creature, so divine - so majestic - so.. perfect stood in the middle of a perfectly circular clearing. What was this creature? It had the body of a horse, if a horse could be so perfect, every muscle finely tuned - every hair reflecting in a shimmering grey the strange light that shone down on it from the tree-tops. If the abstract idea called beauty had taken physical form, this is what it would have made. It had diamonds for hooves, a mane arching down the back of its neck in a silvery wisps, and a single horn - whiter than ivory - spiriling out of the middle of its forehead. Unicorn. The name came to him almost instantly. That creature was a unicorn. That was, with absolutely no doubt in him, what he had been looking for for so long. He stood up, no longer crouching, still wide-eyed, and gazed at it from above the bushes. If it was breathtaking from behind the bush, it was life-threatening gorgeous with no sight-hinderers. He had to see it up close. He stepped forward, legs trembling. This once ferocious orange beast had been withered down to a shaking muttering kitten. As his foot reached the ground, the unicorn's head whirled around and its eyes fixed on him. I'm not worthy, he thought. How could I have possibly thought that something as.. as... perfect as this would, in fact, take me? The unicorn never tooks its eyes off of his, and they stood there - frozen in ice - locked in each others eyes. Even those were beautiful. Sharp green faded into a hazel brown in the center, and so full of intelligence and understanding. His heart was beating against his chest, his blood pumping furiously within his body as he remained rigid in his ackward position. Oh how he needed it now more than ever. Only with this, could he rest in peace, would his soul not long for something he did not know of. ------- Her eyes flashed. What brilliant orange! you make up the rest. |
| Tiger |