Ynear
All the pups were grown now, or at least old enough to leave the mothers group to train. Ynear was left without children but knew her half sister had a plan to keep them busy once again. The pups could move down into the basement until the alphess arrived. They would be placed into their spots soon. And hopefully they would get some helping hands.
"We can rest a while Nymph, Warriors are not allowed down here." She said soothingly, moving down into the middle area and curling near the wall. The coolness of the earth flooded the area in an invisible pool. So comforting, so relaxing.
Nymph
A sigh and a purr ran through her system as she settled her great length across the floor. Thank goodness. I'd wondered if we'd ever be free of the bacteria! And she took to washing down her ebony coat, talking in between strokes. So... other than loving the kits, what else is there to our friend Ynear? Surely you were born somewhere, did something else before you lived here. Care to share? Heck, might as well get to know Ynear, as it appeared they would be spending quite a bit of time together.
She had finished bathing, and lay listening with her silver eyes half-closed, as felines are wont to do.
Ynear
Ynear began to groom her own coat as she spoke with the cat. She smiled weakly and nodded. "Aye, but I was brought here when I was but a pup. There was a war against my family and a band of wolves. I don't remember much of it, But I was saved by Sacrifice and brought to my new mother Nachi. Nachi cared for us and helped us grow. After losing my parents, the only thing I wanted were my sisters; Wither and Palitina." She paused and shook her head. "On an outing, Pal was attacked by evil wolves.. Those wolves we fight against dailey.. Nachi tried to protect her, But there were to many. When she returned we went on a ceremonial hunt. Severed the animals heads and now I know my dearest Palitina watches me from the skulls that watch over our temple."
She looked up to where the skulls of prey and enemies looked out. "It is said; if you sacrifice your prey and keep it's skull, you can summon a loved ones soul to it. They will be able to see and hear, but they cannot talk. And I feel my sisters presence every now and again when I walk past that great moose cow."
She continued to think, her memories blurred with belief that all was just a rescue mission. Nachi had been so kind. All had been kind to her here. " Others say the Haunters are evil and heartless...." She sniffed a little. "I do not believe so. D-do I come across as heartless? We have had no major fights break out. Except for the war against Betrayal. Since then we have lived in peace amongst one another. Protecting each other, feeding each other, Social or not we get along..."
She smiled, "I'm sorry, thoughts bubble through thoughts, I should resume to the past. My mother was killed, My father's status is unknown. Some say he died physically, some say he died mentally. My brother has told me Crucified has gone deranged and is no longer what he use to be. I know the Haunters must have foreseen it, they saved me from his evil ways. But Kalaber, my brother, fell into the darkness. He is against us. He wants us to join him, but I know he is the one who is evil now. As well as Vestige and their pack. T-t-to take a pup. An innocent pup and to hold its life in jaws. O-Onslaught would have been killed by one of Vestiges pack... A-And I have no doubt Kalaber had Leikki killed. They say the boy was killed by a tiger... pfheh, My brothers commands two of them. No doubt they did it. I can never join him, not after what he has done to us. He joined the wrong side in this war. I wish I could forgive him, but he tells me I'm wrong... When I know I am in the right."
The fea had ceased cleaning herself and was staring off into space. Flames of pain flashing through her soul. She wanted to cry, but she had to be strong. Soon her nose gave a small shake and she looked more kindly to Nymph. "And what about you? What is your history before coming here?" She smiled. Trying to keep the pain away.
Nymph
She listening attentively, her body sinking a bit as she spoke of pain. Perhaps Ynear might not know it, but it was in this non-verbal fashion that felines expressed sorrow for another's pain.
But she soon seemed to come out of it, or at least to distract herself, and Nymph thought for a moment before she spoke. Me? My father was the Rai, or king, of our pride, but he wasn't... well he was more interested in making children than in raising them. There were three of us: Faerie, Sprite, and I. We lived in a country far from this one... I still do not know the name, only that it is not here. And then, when I was hardly over two moons... the dark two-legs came for us. Africa... and the blackened people there. They traded in live cubs, to be tamed by other two-leggers as guards.
My mother tried to protect us... but they took their flint-sticks and killed her. My sisters and I, they took and put in their cages, and sold. I've not seen my sisters since. I was sold... to a slave-den of the two-legs, where I was to be an exotic pet of the master of it. There, they... they robbed me... of my beautiful tail... For the first time in the tale, her voice was not completely steady, for the loss of her tail was yet a new wound. She flicked up the ragged end of it for Ynear to see, which was quite obviously nearly a half foot too short. Those... those bastards... stole my tail...
But she closed her silver eyes, breathing steadily to restore her calm. Finally, they opened again, and she spoke levelly once more. And when I tired of being their play-thing... I killed them, and came here.
Ynear
Ynear listened to the story and nodded when appropriate. She sure has been through more than Ynear. As she spoke of them stealing her tail, the sight of her half sister, Silver Trace, flashed through her mind with her own newly docked tail. It was times like these Ynear was happy to be a Mother and not a Warrior. She didn't want to go through the pain the others seemed so destined for.
All she could muster up was a meek "I'm sorry..." She said then lowered her eyes. "We are ment to be here. I believe, with enough power, we can even take down the two legged. But we would need an army over 300 times the size of us." Her eyes flicked up, the thought jumping around in her mind. But again a familiar feeling tugged at her. She felt drowzy. Shaking her head she lowered it. "I beg your pardon... but it feels as if Sister Sleep is calling me... everything is soo... dim and perfect in here to sleep....."
With that she quickly dozed off, as if her body had been over exausted by the confrontation of the others. The enemies.... but now was rest.
Palatina
Palatina had been waiting for this moment when her sister would fall asleep. And it finally came. Bounding into her sisters dream."Sister Ynear Sister Ynear?" She repeated quietly.She didn't wish to wake her sister up.
Ynear
She had fallen into her REM now, a lucid dream engulfing her entire body. Her real body twitched now and again but nothing major. When she heard the voice her ears twitched, signifying that she had conceived the vocals.
It was snowing outside, a soft drizzle of white powdered ice. The ground was washed with blue and white and the trees were encased with the crystal looking ice. The sky was gray, giving off just a simple hint of light but nothing more than gloom. Her dark blue orbs looked around as the snow began to rise around her feet and knees. She looked down at it and touched it with her muzzle, but it did not freeze her like the snow in the real world did.
Her head perked up as she heard her name called. Looking around but she did not recognize the voice yet. The voice scared her for she saw no one yet. "Wh-Who goes there?" She trembled somewhat. The snow continued to fall, raising up to her belly. There was no tracks in front of her, no tracks behind her. It was just her in the ocean of snow. In a field of snow with just the edge of the field being a thick dark forest. She wasn't sure if she should move......
Palatina
She hadn't waited for Liekki to get started. She steped out into the open."Sister it is me Palatina. I know its hard to believe. Im a spirit and can only visit you in your dreams. Now I came here to beg you to sneak away from the haunters. They are the evil ones my sister. Not Kalaber Nor was mother! I was Killed by one of them. I forget the wolves name. But please for me and mother at some point sneak away and find Kal.."She said standing still.
Ynear
Ynear looked at her sister and shook her head. Her only movements were a step back and her lowered head. "You are wrong sister, they are not the evil ones. They have protected me and all who live here..." She whined flashing back memories of her family. Wither was with her still. Kalaber, had tried to kill a pup. "Our own brother killed a Haunter pup, one that I had helped raise! You were not killed by Haunters.... You were killed by outside wolves. And mother was killed by Blitz... Wasn't she?!" she snarled in fear and pain, backing down into the snow as if to hide.
Pal
She lowered her head."im sorry to here that kal did that. But I was killed by a haunter.Sacrifice Helped... She chased after me not to bring me back. Sister you have got to believe me. They brainwashed you. They killed outcast too. Risen is evil. I don't want to see you die in this war that will come. The haunters will not win. They are corrupted. I wish to save you and wither but I am afraid that you will not listen to me cuz you are completly brainwashed"She started to cry because now she felt like a failure."sister Kal is out for revenge. He saw me and mother killed . He knows where you and wither are and wants to save you but Tyrant has told him it probably will be impossible seeing as you and wither are almost completly brainwashed! Tyrant can't let kal die if he is present he promised our father. Please sister believe me!"
*Liekki*
Liekki soon approached Ynear in her dream. His eyes widened when he saw the wolf which had once been his friend. He did not like what either side was doing. The Haunters were taking over the Valley, and the so-called Guardians were the reason for his death. Upon seeing the female, he remembered why he was born. He was born to aid the Haunters. "The tiger killed me, Ynear, not your brother." He said sorrowfully. He knew that he would still be alive if Kalaber had not broken his legs, but he did not want to say that. "I have seen the tiger in the Temple. She walked in and was seen by everyone, but did not get scolded for invading territory that was not hers, for she lived there. She was one of us." He was still a Haunter and he knew that. 'Once a Haunter, always a Haunter.' He thought. "You may do what you do, but the Haunters may not touch your brother's family, nor may they touch Aurinka. No punishment may be given to my mother. They all must be left alone. If they do not harm you, you do not harm them. The rest is yours."
Ynear
The world began to rotate in her mind. She began to growl with both fear and confusion as suddenly a clap of thunder rung through the sky. In that instant beads of rain came hailing down upon the ground and beings. The snow melting away leaving but an empty field of puddles. Ynear shook her head and growled. "You lie! Sacrifice helped me save Onslaught! She would never kill a pup! Risen wishes to see the safety of this pack, you do not know her." She did not know Risen that well, but she could see the change the alpha was going through. She held the importance of the pack above all...
Ynears body stiffened as the word was spoken out. Uttering it coldly under her own breath... "War...." She shook her head. She remained quiet as Pal continued on through the story. "Kalaber is the evil one! How do you know he didn't send the evil wolves who killed you?!" She laughed as her uncle was brought into the story. "Dear Tyrant can't let Kalaber die huh? I haven't seen that old fool in a while now. I am not brainwashed... It is you who must have been brainwashed when Kalabers minions killed you! Kalaber is the one who killed you! He must have sent them after you and told them to claim as being Haunters... That is why your view is so wicked..." She began to shiver backing away with tears streaming down her face. The Haunters had done only good in her eyes. They nursed each other, they protected each other, banding together, eating together. The children... They protected all of her children.
"Sister... I will be safe in times of war. They will protect me. They care for me... Even if Risen were evil... the others are not... You never met Silver Trace and her kindness, nor Shattered and her broken heart. Nymph is so pleasant to be around. Along with many others..." It was pure denial, a denial she believed. Ynear was completely washed with the truth that they had created. The false reality. And the dream she was having only strengthened her beliefs.
In life, her muscles convulsed as she trembled and stumbled over herself in the dream. If canines could sweat, she would be soaked.
Pal
She growled."he was the one killed by kal. and no kal did not send them after me he was but a mare pup when i died. and he was there. How dare you accuse kal of being evil when he is not. He is just sick with revenge for the loss of me our mother nad you and wither. True most of the other haunters are not evil. They have been brainwashed just like you and wither. I wish they all could be saved but some are too far gone and i was hoping you would not be but it appears you have been if you can't believe your own sister!"
Ynear
She shook her head continuously as Leikki soon arrived. She turned and looked at the child and shrunk back even more. Growling now with fear and bitterness. "If she killed you, she is no longer a Haunter, Risen would have nothing for one of us killing our own." She turned her head back to her sister and cried. "You do not know evil, How can they be brainwashed when they are the spine of the pack!" She fidgeted under herself. Wailing through blinded eyes.
She froze sulking in a puddle as the water began to create a flood. Raising two inches from the ground. She looked dead inside, her eyes now glazed as thoughts raced through her mind. Doubts, doubts that she never wanted there. Risen had not wronged her, Incalia had not wronged her. Nachi stood up for her as did most of the others. The thought of doubting her sister ringing through her head. B-but she was dead... and- and this was a dream. "THIS IS ALL JUST A DREAM!" She hollared with closed eyes and stood up abruptly. Staring coldly at what she now dismissed as figments of her imagination. "Leave me alone! You will drive me insane! I don't need to be insane! Let me go!" She cried and reared up hollaring ear piercing yelps as she fell over herself and began to run away from the two.
As she neared the forest, the trees withered and died before her, crumpling into a shower of dust as she grew close to clear a way for her to escape. The forest was flooding, the water growing ever deeper as she ran, splashing into the cold liquid as the forest finally ended. Ended into a sea with but a white background. There was no sun, no color to the sky. It was as white as snow but brighter. She looked back to the land and shook her head then continued forth into the emptyness. "LET ME WAKE UP!!!" She howled.
As she howled, her bad dream turned into a nightmare. The waters around her began to shake and she could feel a suction under her. The rumbling of the shaking soon ceased, followed by a sucking sound. All the water, and her, began to fall. The water breaking into beads of rain. Falling.... Falling.... falling.
Into darkness she fell, then with a splash she landed in an oily black lake. The sky was as dark as night with no moon and no stars. A single beam of light highlighted a tiny island. A single palm tree upon the shore with but an eight foot diameter of sand. A bush was just below the palm and when she made her way up. The two, Leikki and Palitina, were standing on the banks.
She stayed in the darkness of the shallows. Reaching just enough to stand and not down in the water. The land was ten feet from her, bearing the two spirits upon it. "Why.... why do you haunt me so?" She whined under her quivering voice.
Through the dream came much twitching and a few whines in real life. The howling was formed into a long low whine from her jaws.
Palatina
"i do not haunt you my sister please calm down."Tears still fell from her eyes."we shall leave. But i shall return. I know you still have goodness in your heart and maybe somday you'll join the right side"She whimpered and began to leave.
Ynear
Ynear could do nothing but watch them go. Whining and growling under herself as the two departed. She shook her head in great pain then turned her face. As it turned a great darkness engulfed her
Blue eyes shot open with a start and she jerked her body upward. Leaning against one arm she looked around the cool damp basement and then to the cat who sat by her. Shaking her head she tried to clear her mind of thoughts. The dream was so real, she began to doubt herself. "I-I am on the right side!" She proclaimed. She could not change her mind. Not after what everyone had done to her. But still, she grew curious as to who did really kill her sister and mother now.
Nymph
She had watched quietly as Ynear whined and twitched, but the sixth sense that cats possess made her loathe to wake the fae. No, Ynear was dreaming something that needed to be heard, no matter whether it was pleasant or not. When she finally awoke, Nymph let her voice flow softly, a hint of soothing purr at the back of her throat. Ah, the dream-demons have come for you. Never fear. They frighten the mind and unsettle the heart, but they cannot touch the soul. A riddle in a riddle in a riddle... not a common way of speaking for the cat. She beleived in calling a spade a spade.
Ynear
She looked around in a panic for a moment longer until the cat spoke out with a soothing voice. She paused and shook her head with tears bubbling up in here eyes. "Aye, but what does it mean when the dream-demons are those of past family? It is unsettling that they tell me such lies... To leave the Haunters and join the "Right" side." She lowered her head unto her paws. Eyes closed and her body held still. "I don't get it, the Haunters aren't bad. They aren't as bad as others make us out to be. We are a force, but inside that force there is warmth and order." She shook her head again and looked up. "I just don't get it..."
Nymph
Her eyes closed again as she listened, and when Ynear was done she opened them again, rising into a sitting position and settling herself with her head held high and her tail curled neatly about her haunches. She was now in what her pride had called "the Teir of Wisdom", for it was in this position that the elder members of the pride taught the kits important things.
When she had settled, her voice came again, low and soft. Revered White-eye always said that when a loved one speaks in dreams, it is your own heart telling you something that you do not want to admit to yourself. They do not always speak the truth, but it is because they do not know it. When loved ones speak, they tell you of your own suspicions, your own dreams, your own fears. Whether the things said will become the truth is up to how you bear the knowledge. That said, she opened her eyes again and lay back down, tail swishing a bit, voice still softer so as not to carry in the echoing room. I came here because the Haunters wanted me, not because I agreed with their principles. I was ignorant of their intentions, and I still am. And, truly, I don't care. Whatever anyone thinks, Ynear... I am a cold-hearted bitch, and only the kits move anything in me. Until such day comes as the Haunters being to harm innocent kits, I shall stay and raise the young here.
She took a deep breath, considering her companion carefully before continuing. But it is different for you. I can come, I can go, and it will harm me not. Your life is here: it will be harder for you to leave. But remember this: there is fault in any group, any gathering of members, because there is fault in the members. The way to judge their worth is by the primary force of them. Is it more good that they do, or evil? That is the measure of it, and the answer is different for each of us. At this moment, I believe the Haunters do more good than harm... for now.
Ynear
She listened to the wisdom speech of the cat and nodded her head in agreement. But she felt as if she had never doubted the Haunters, not even for a moment. Nachi was so loving to her and had always been. Even as she dismissed other pups after she was done with them, she made Ynear feel the more special of the group. "The only thing I am told with their intentions is that they want to end the fighting among the Valley, though to do so, they need to loyalty of those who reside in the valley. The others fail to meet the intentions and think that we will do nothing but harm." She kept the part of the dream where Pal had said she was killed by Haunters hidden from the cat. For she did not believe the Haunters would do such a thing, not with how highly they held their own young. "I wish never to see harm on an innocent cub. And what Vestige's pack did to Onslaught only deepens my hatred for the others, and what Kal did to Leikki. Vestige's son took Onslaught, while he was but a tiny critter, into his jaws to threaten us." Her hackles rose up slightly at the thought. "If we had not killed him, he would have killed the innocent child. And Kalaber... I still believe, his tigers killed my Leikki." Her eyes flashed back into the dream where Leikki had said he was not killed by the tigers, but there was no other explaining it. Even still, it was those Kalaber allied himself with who killed the pup.
"If I leave, I leave my life. I am not a loner. And I wish not to join the other side. If I leave the world will smell Haunter on me and slaughter me in an instant. They know who I am and want me dead. So far, The Haunters, in my eyes, are the good side. And I will serve them until I see wickedness in their true plan." She nodded in agreement with herself. This is what she thought, what she thought was truth. And she would not abandon that thought.
Nymph
Now you know the truth,
And the truth will set you free...
She listened to Ynear's words, eyes closed as was her habit. In her years, the cat had learned that the eyes may often deceive, but when one is quiet long enough to listen, she hears only the truth. When the wolf was done, she nodded and curled her head around to rest near Ynear, a comfort gesture, almost afraid of being rejected. But she let her voice flow softly, a murmur in the echoing shadows. Remember only this, Ynear. While enmity is always placed between pride and pride, pack and pack, not every member of the pride is guilty of the crime. You say that Vestige's son harmed Onslaught. If that is the only case where harm has been done, then the blame lies with Vestige's son, not with the pride. I do not know of any other crimes this Vestige has committed, so I cannot completely cleanse his name of grime... but, only remember... if we lay blame at the paws of innocents, we are no better than those we fight against. Remember that. And she was quiet again, waiting to see how the wolf recieved it. Nymph really knew nothing of the circumstances, but she DID know that everyone is the master of his own fate, the ruler of his own soul, responsible for his own actions. It would not do to lay blame on innocents.
Ynear
She sat silently, accepting the cats words. "
Ynear smiled, "They are family." She said simply then rested her head against the cool ground.
Nymph
Nymph shook her dark head, laying still as though she had not heard Rasheetah's words. Family... family can be dangerous. It is a weapon that some can use to hurt you, if they know who you care for. Better to cease caring... if you don't feel, you can't get hurt. There was an edge of an old bitterness in her voice, but she said no more, simply waiting for food to be brought back.