"You know she never loved you. She used you, then left you here alone. She's gone where you can't follow. You know she's had cubs with others...but never you. Perhaps you just weren't enough for her." The dark being's voice rumbled and grated. His glowing markings lit the cave he was peering into eerily. Outside a heavy rain was falling. Where it splashed onto the hulking beast's body steam erupted, and the air was full of a vile hissing sound.
"You are old, decrepit, and alone. No children of your own blood. No family. No lover. No one will miss you when you die. Why not come out and let me end it swiftly. Turn your heart to hate for HER, and deny her her rite, let-"
"Enough." The god's tirade was cut off by a gentle but firm voice from deep in the cave. A sigh followed. "Let me be, dark god. I have no fear of you, nor the power to hate anyone. Posca owns my heart, and you have no power to corrupt it." Another sigh. Bombei knew very well that he was physically no match for this god that had come stalking out of the gloom to torment him. He had grown old, as was the way of mortals, and his face and paws were stained with the silvered fur of age. He was still large and rather plush, but the frame beneath the fur was less robust; thinner and softer to the touch.
Bombei was dying.
The god snorted. He couldn't fit in the cave in his true form, and though he could become smaller and slip in to get at the mortal, it would do him no good. If he could not break his will, make him loathe that which he now loved, then it would be a murder, but for no benefit. It was hatred Neltharion fed on, not death.
"You tell yourself these things, but you know she could never be with you. She fears mortals. Fears her own children. I have seen your mind, and your memories of her. She will not let herself love a mortal."
The aged male's smile faltered. "It is true, she fears her influence on our kind. But she does not hate us, and if she could, she would be with me even now. I know she would." He shifted on his stone bed, the rain making his old bones ache. When he'd been younger he'd fought with himself over Posca's ideas towards mortals, but he'd long since come to terms with her fears and why she had them. He understood her trepidation in being close to any mortal.
If only he could live forever, like her. Then perhaps he would have time enough to show her that she didn't need to be afraid, and that he wasn't afraid of her just because her domain was that of decay. He thought she was beautiful, and he knew that everyone deserved someone to love them and care for them, to stand beside and lean on when times were tough. He would gladly have given her all of those things, if only he had the time to do it, and the strength.
Oh boy oh boy. This mortal was clearly going to be of no use to the god. He could feel the old male's life force fading. Likely he wouldn't die this very night, but his time was short now. And more over, he was totally resistant to everything the mighty god was saying. He refused to despise the love of his life for not giving him descendants. He refused to turn away from her for leaving him. He refused to not love her despite her intense fear of all mortals.
What was this lion? The god had of yet not come up against anything quite like this. Was it because he knew that soon he would be byond either Neltharion or Posca's reach? Because he would soon be beyond that great gate that not even gods could cross through? The mortal would be free, dead forever and free to bask in the light of Mkodi...Mkodi. She had turned away from Neltharion. THe god felt a burning surge of love and hate mingle and twist in his heart, and he bellowed in a rage.
He couldn't be with his beloved and it tore his body literally apart, so why should this...this MORTAL be more at peace with the same situation?!
Enraged, the god slashed at the mouth of the den with his huge paws. Rocks tore loose and tumbled down into the mouth, half sealing the cave, with the mortal inside it.
Bombei heard the god's roar of rage, and felt a shiver pass over him. He did not fear death. If it meant Posca would return to him, if only to tend his bones, he almost welcomed it. But he did not relish the thought of being torn apart by this god.
The sound of claws on stone and then falling rock made him finally rise from his seat and peer down the passage to the mouth of the den. It was hard to tell if anything had changed--the dark skies and the god's shadow had long since blocked out any light filtering in through the entrance. It had sounded like the exit had partly collapsed though. The god roared again, making his ears ring, and then a ray of light broke through the gloom--the god had gone. For what reason Bombei couldn't hope to guess, but he was relieved.
He slunk down the den's tunnel towards the exit, eager to stretch out and resume his search for his dear Posca as soon as the rain ended. But to his dismay, there had indeed been a rock slide. With a little difficulty he managed to work one paw through the open space remaining between the fallen stones and the roof of the cave. He stuck it, and then his whole front leg out, feeling around for any loose stones. There were none.
He withdrew the leg and nudged the stone barrier. It gave, but only slightly. He was trapped, and he was suddenly unsure his old bones would be up to digging his way out. If...if he died in here, even Posca might not be able to get to this body to coax it back into the earth. Fearing for the first time, he hurriedly started working at the rocks. Even if getting free killed him, he'd do it. So she could find him.
