Sorry this took so long, it was mainly just because I was taking a while to complete the art
And, yes, I know the story is going fast. It goes fast, and it gets faster. I know this isn't a good story, but it's all I've got.
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“I found some valerian! Over here!”
Lynx was still young, but he was old enough to travel with me outside of the safety of the colony by now. The spring sun shone over us, giving life to all of the greenery. We were collecting herbs to help Krampy and the other doctors stock up. (Mostly the other doctors in the border camps. Krampy rarely ever uses herbs when they have leeches.)
“That’s great, Lynx!” I congratulated him, but turned back around to face the Forest Colony territory.
Fallow and I had become friends, as strange as that was. We’d begun to meet in secret occasionally, since our colonies did not allow our meeting outside of festivals. Today was a day we were supposed to meet, but I hadn’t seen Fallow arrive yet. I would assume that she just decided not to meet me, that she chose her colony over me, but…
Smoke was rising from their territory in the distance.
A loud splash from behind me broke through my thoughts. “Lynx?” I turned around to face him.
The gray kitten was gone. In his place, there was only a river.
“Lynx!” I ran as fast as I could towards the river, my paws skittering on the ground.
“Come on, come on–”
I was about to jump in when Lynx crawled out of the water, huffing.
“Fish are a lot harder to catch than they look,” he pouted as I stared at him with wide eyes.
I regained myself and forced a smile. “Well, of course they’re hard to catch. I haven’t taught you how to hunt yet, have I?”
Lynx beamed.
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A mouse skittered along a tree trunk, its whiskers twitching as it ran over the gnarled roots. It groomed itself for a moment, and its ears perked. Its beady black eyes turned directly towards a hidden cat in the grasses. Predator and prey stood there, interlocked for a long moment.
The mouse was the first to move.
Letting out a squeak of alarm, it raced in a blur of gray-brown fur deeper into the woods, the cat a few moments behind it.
“Get ‘im, Lynx!” I called, racing after the two. We ran into the prairie copse, in direct pursuit of the mouse.
Had I not been so absorbed in the hunt, maybe I would have noticed that something was wrong with this place sooner.
The mouse was crushed by a cat’s paw and killed instantly, blood spurting out onto the ground. Lynx and I both froze as we looked up. The cat was a huge calico that cast a shadow over us. Lynx skittered behind me, and we interlocked eyes for a moment that seemed to last for eternity.
That's a Mountain Domain cat.
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